Chapter 1

Sarah’s POV

"Who are you?" I looked up at the strange men who had taken off my blindfold after tying me to a wooden chair. "What are you doing to me?" I looked down at myself, bound tightly by the rope.

I shook my body violently to get out of there but to no avail. My efforts were in vain and only ended in laughter for them, which made me stop moving, raising my gaze to them, staring frantically at the terrifying strangers in front of me.

One of them looked at me with a scornful smile. He tilted his head to look at me, saying, "Don't try too hard; it won't do any good. You'd better be quiet until we tell you to scream." He warned me with his face that had a stitched scar on his eye.

My heart was beating wildly. What was happening? I stared at them, then moved my eyes, sweeping around, exploring what the place was. That place is precisely like an abandoned warehouse, but why did they bring me to this place? With my hands tied and like I was being held hostage?

Taken hostage? I looked straight at the men, who did look like pieces of bad guys. I looked back at myself, now with a sense of panic. "What the hell is going on? Who are you, and what are you doing to me?" I voiced hysterically, moving my body and almost crying.

He replied indifferently. "To get a ransom from Alex, your husband, of course." He looked at me intently. Every movement of his eyes was disturbing.

"Call him immediately. Tell him that his wife is currently being held hostage." His breath wafted towards me, and the smell of alcohol stung my nose.

"Good boss!" exclaimed one of them, who I noticed immediately took out his phone, took a picture of me and called someone. "Did you see? If you want her safe, send 20 million dollars and put it in the timesquare this afternoon at four." He spoke in a haughty tone, making me tighten my hands.

"What did you say?" the expression on his face changed. He looked surprised and came closer to me. "Tell him something, he said that he won't send the money. He thought I was joking and played a prank on him. What?" the man made an annoyed face.

What was Alex doing? Why did he ignore me? Why did he say that to them? My heart ached until it felt tight in my chest.

"Tell him to save you." the stranger holding the phone snapped at me loudly. Then afterwards, the man with the scar near his eye came closer to me and grabbed my chin so hard, I'm sure my nails were imprinted on my skin.

I whimpered louder and louder as his hand pressed harder and harder on my chin.

The man took over the phone and pressed something before bringing it closer to me. "Scream!" His booming voice made me cringe in fear."

"Alex, help me!" I screamed in panic. "Save me, Alex, please save me, I'm scared..." Ultimately, I cried, showing my fear and hoping he would come soon.

"Whatever you want to do to her, I don't care." My eyes stared with wide-open retinas at the familiar voice speaking through the speakerphone so nonchalantly. "I don't want to spend that much money on him. "It's no use." He ignored me. My body shook. I felt my spine weaken and made my body limp and numb.

"What is this?" the man screamed, but I no longer paid attention. "You said she was his wife? Why is he reacting like this?!" he sounded furious and kicked the other man until he collapsed and bent over.

I was still in a state of disbelief, but I couldn't ignore their voices as they added to my pain. I saw the man crouching down, then held his gaze. "Looks like we took the wrong hostage, sir. I think he loves his wife more than his mistress." I turned to the man immediately.

So they were planning to bring that woman to this place, too? The woman who was close to Alex? Hearing that, the pain in my chest grew even more.

"Bring that woman here right now! Take her!" the man shouted, which made my body jerk, but more than that, I still couldn't move on from what the man had just said. Something like squeezing her and making me want to bend my body because of the pain. Shortly after, I saw the woman being thrown while screaming over there.

"What are you doing to me?!" The woman named Emily roared and kept struggling, making it difficult for them.

"Now, quickly contact her." The man called the boss and gave an order, and immediately, one of them gave him his cell phone. "You don't want your wife. Now let's see if you will react the same after hearing this woman's voice?" The man approached the woman.

As soon as the phone was dirty, she screamed even louder. "Alex! Alex.... help me, please save me," she cried hysterically, even though they barely touched her.

"Emily!" Alex's panicked-sounding voice made my body relax even more, my lips and chin trembling as I realised what was happening before me.

What I saw was that the call was disconnected afterwards. There was no answer from Alex, which annoyed the big men, but shortly after, Alex appeared.

I stared at the man with many feelings raging in my chest. There were various pains until I stared at him, who appeared with a black bag that was not too big. He walked and threw it unceremoniously at them, then ran towards Emily.

I averted my face from his gaze and looked the other way, hiding the pain and hurt I felt because Alex chose that woman over me. Before I was done with my worries, Alex said.

"Are you okay, Emely? They didn't hurt you, did they?" I stared with my body shaking violently at Alex, who embraced the woman's body while she nodded and cried in his arms.

Shouldn't I be the one there as his wife? Then why is she the one in his arms? "Alex, did you come for her and not me?..." I couldn't continue, our eyes met, but all I saw was that she was indifferent to me.

He turned away from me as if not seeing me. "My business is done here. I'll take her." He then went out with that woman.

My eyelids opened wide, watching him move away from there, leaving me. "Alex... Alex! What are you doing? Don't leave me here, Alex!" the account shouted, but he did not turn around and look at me.

I heard the raucous laughter of the kidnappers appear afterwards, then gathered in front of me, blocking my view from seeing Alex, who had left the doorway. Their laughter made my crying even more pathetic.

"Are you this stupid? He ditched you, so what did you call him for?" the man with the wound in his eye spoke, then placed his hand sweeping across my face and down to my chest. "Since you're already here, how about we have fun?"

The man approached me, ignoring my horrified stare at him, and then the others moved to untie the bonds on my body and hands. Just as the bonds were untied, I tried to escape by running, but my weak legs made me fall there.

"Where are you going?" The man caught me quickly, then pulled my hair again and made me whimper and fall from the pull. "I told you, let's have some fun first." I gasped, screaming as the man forcefully ripped off my dress, tearing it to reveal my stomach down to my thighs, where my panties were visible.

"Stop it! What are you doing? Stop it!" I yelled at him.

The man laughed as he was greeted again by those there who were looking at me with dirty eyes. "I knew you were so beautiful and seductive. I don't understand why you left for that woman earlier." The man moved closer to me, tucking his head into my nape and trying to kiss me.

I tried desperately to dodge and kept dodging until I got the chance to kick his private parts. "Damn it!" the man screamed and removed his hand from my hair.

I quickly ran away, but behind me, the men were chasing me again quickly. I turned my gaze to the front and tried to find a way. The only thing I could see was an open window at the end, but seeing the clouds from that window meant that this building was on a reasonably high floor.

"Don't come any closer, or I'll jump!" I yelled at them, with me cornered near a large open window with no glass installed.

"Hey, come on, why are you jumping?" They responded in a huff, then tried to approach. They seemed to ignore my words.

I gulped down the water in my throat, looking at them quizzically. Maybe jumping from this place was better than me having to let them play with my body. I closed my eyes. Then jumped. "Hey, stop it!" I hear their screams faintly in my ears.

As I jumped and the wind passed through my falling body following the force of gravity, the pain in my chest appeared. It felt like it was being torn and torn apart, as well as stinging at the same time. In one moment, I was betrayed by the man I loved, and I was also abused and almost raped by them. My heart was broken.

I opened my eyes, seeing what was happening one last time while hoping that all this pain would disappear once I reached the bottom.