- Two weeks later -
“May, wake up.”
This was the beginning of my new life. I would be living in Bangkok with Jacques and Sherry, who now went by the name Everleigh. According to Sherry, Lee Jung had provided us with a new identity each, and Jacques changed his last name as well, from Jacques Jones to Jacques Jensen.
My new identity was Maybel Wright, May for short.
I didn’t know how the last two weeks passed, but out of my cage, everything seemed to get better as Jacques promised. While I no longer felt my body was disgusting as before, it was only that fear of darkness in me that struck at night.
He was always there for me.
His voice always calmed me, and
“What did the specialist say today?” Sherry was lying on the couch with her bump pointed upwards.I giggled, staring towards Jacques.Jacques adopted a serious expression on his face, looking glum. “Erm, she needs a long series of therapy sessions to recover. That’s for occupational therapy.”“For psychiatry, it will depend on herself. We won’t know for sure.”She immediately pushed her bankbook towards him. I widened my eyes curiously at the massive number of zeros in her account.“Hey, you’ve got a lot of money!” I chuckled, bouncing on the nearby recliner. She instantly cupped her hands protectively over her bump.
When I got back to the house, I found the door was left wide open. Immediately, I rushed into Sherry’s bedroom, but the door, too, was open. A few of Sherry’s belongings lay strewn over the carpeted floor, including her phone and a few toiletries. But she was nowhere to be found.A pool of liquid, most of which had dried up by now, left a mark on the black carpet.My intuition told me it must have happened minutes while I was unconscious earlier. Emotions rushed inside me.What do I do now?“Piper.”I heaved a sigh to hear Jacques’ voice.As he came towards me, I flung myself into his arms, still panicking, “Sher…Sherry… she&hellip
We were in the hospital, and I held onto Jacques, while watching Sherry holding her baby and talking to him.Though I didn’t say it out loud, her son resembled her, but also had inherited part of Anderson’s features. It made me think of how I wished I could give Syl a family of his own. And now, I wanted to give Jacques a family.I didn’t want to tell him that right now, but I was eager to get to a gynaecologist to determine whether I could ever have a baby.Jacques, however, wasn’t keen on sending me to the gynaecologist, as if he was afraid the outcome of seeing the doctor would traumatise me. Thus, I put down my plan to see the doctor, and just went for my usual appointments.During this time, the neighbours offered to help Sherry with the baby
Sherry hadn’t noticed the difference in me, nor did she see the tear of my dress. She handed Jacques a sum of money. As Jacques had his back turned to me, he didn’t see me enter.Her son, Andrew, was asleep in the Pack and Play in the living room. I understood she must have just received another instalment payment from Lee Jung.As usual, I had to fake a cheerful smile, speaking in a high-pitched voice, “I’m heading to my room!”She didn’t keep me at all. Neither did Jacques follow. I knew they were discussing. Probably discussing my matters, or possibly what Sherry wanted to do in the future.I locked myself in the bathroom and broke down in tears. Tears that I was reluctant to allow The Master to see. I couldn’t understan
I saw a few holes at the top of the bag, probably to prevent me from suffocation, but most of it made me feel it was dark and dizzy being inside the bag. A hundred questions flooded my mind, which was thinking whether I would make it back alive, or who it was that wanted my life. But being in hell before changed my mindset about everything. During my occupational therapy sessions, I used them as an opportunity to rebuild myself. Starting from my strength and my stamina. I worked out until I couldn’t any more. So, if I would fight to the death, if that was what it took for me to live. Instead of screaming in panic, I calmed my senses and took my time to figure out an escape plan. The atmosphere outside the bag felt chilly, but I bore with it. A chance to be taken while you were in your bra and panties was rare, I had to make the best out of i
“Serve the Master for one night.”“And after that?”“Kill him.”The idea of killing the Master with my own hands was gratifying for me. It was like music to my ears. But what were the chances of succeeding? He had dozens of men at his command in Bangkok. Neither did I know the reason for his presence in Bangkok.Had it anything to do with me or Sherry? Or did he have ties to anyone here?I was sure he was a difficult target to take down. He had to be a powerful figure to lead the mafia. With my weakness right now, I could barely brandish a knife, much less kill the Master with it.“That doesn’t seem possible in one night,&rdquo
Remembering the self-defence tricks Jacques had taught me, I curled my body easily and went right to the floor, scrambling as fast as I could for the dagger.No matter what, Lenard Lee had to go down tonight. Hearing his fast footsteps, I evaded his grasp in the nick of time as he made a powerful lunge towards me.“Don’t come near!” I shouted, flashing the weapon in front of his eyes.He just laughed.“Stab me then! Go ahead, do it!”He waved his hands at me with a sickening laugh. As he came closer, I held the dagger more firmly, swallowing hard. My hands felt clammy. I had never hurt a fly all my life, and it just scared me more of how I would kill him.
-One and a half years later- Saying goodbye was harder than it seemed. The time I spent with him made me love my life with Jacques, even if it was a loveless marriage. Two weeks after our second-year anniversary, we registered our marriage at the nearest district office. It was an intricate process as it involved us getting clearance from the embassy of our home country. However, Jacques settled it easily and in addition, he even threw us a special celebration. We restricted the private party to just the two of us, and it was a secret from everyone we knew. In my heart, I still wondered if it all didn’t come up to this, would I be walking down the aisle with Syl instead? Maybe then, yes. But now, it would never happen in this lifetime. It was a truth I found it
I thought about Jacques’ words to me as I spent the next three days in seclusion at the safe house. Lenard frequently sent people to visit me and ensure I was fine, and knowing he wasn’t coming, I just felt gladder. The discomfort in my body from sharing a bed with the person who hurt me in the past, plus how I was being used by Kaiser for his needs and then, slept with my ex, tended to make me dizzy.I had to strike eventually. Lenard and Lee Jung were why I was in this sorry state. If not for what happened to me, I would be living a happy blissful life with Syl now as his woman. Thinking of Syl, I recalled his dismayed face after we had intercourse. He wasn’t in love. I was just a fragment of his past affection for the easygoing and spirited Piper who was the best buddy of Sherry Summers.Not to forget that I now wished she was dead.
“What happened? Why am I here?”I fought the blanket, struggling to move from the bed. I don’t remember what happened after Lee Jung threatened to record the video. All I wanted was to get away from him, to escape. He had pointed a knife at my neck to make me do his bidding, gloating at me like how Kaiser Klef used a gun to force me to have sex with him.I am now in an unfamiliar bed. Some young men and women are attending to me. A girl wipes my forehead with a damp cloth and another scans my temperature with an infrared gun. Some are watching over me, and two men are guarding the door.“Is anyone listening? Why am I here?” I raised my voice, wringing my hands to get attention. The girl wiping my forehead cowers and retreats, stammering nervously from a distance.“Miss Piper, please don’t get mad. You were found in a disarray in a ditch, soaked to the skin and unconscious. You were also running a high fever.”I scrutinised the girl, unsure whether to believe her words. Lee Jung had us
Syl looked at me sympathetically as I told him about the agony I suffered at Kaiser’s hands, starting from the interview up to bedding his brother-in-law and then being sent to serve Lenard Lee. “I shouldn’t have trusted him.” I said, not allowing myself to shed any tears. “But I did, and I made the wrong choice.” “Piper,” he heaved a long sigh and took me into a bear hug. “I thought you were going to hate me for all I did to you then.” My heart numbed. If only I knew the truth, would things have turned out differently? I was still infertile and could never give him biological children. This was why I had left him in the first place, and things could never go back to the past. “I don’t hate you, Syl,” I answered after a short pause. “I just know we… can’t.” “Why not, Piper? After how I opened up to you about my secret of being an undercover agent? You still can’t trust me? Are you still mad about how I treated you then?” “It’s been so long, Syl. Of course, I can’t be still angry a
“What’s up? You’ve been quiet all day.”Lenard Lee glanced at me as I finished my food silently. My lower abdomen hurt like hell. I don’t know what beast the man I loved before had turned into after he consummated his relationship with Erica Gao. I regretted moving here, even though it was where Kaiser was allegedly from. What I thought to be a new start between us, turned out to be a total nightmare.Even my tormentor had turned into a different person overnight. I was clueless about what was happening, and why he had a strange side to him, but it wasn’t until the last two months that I discovered his considerateness. He had been rather harsh when Kaiser sent me there, but it wasn’t until I discovered he was seeing therapy himself, that I realised what was the reason behind his change of personality. His sweetness was starting to dissolve the hate I had for him, although I still feel inclined to have my revenge. I felt lost like I no longer had my sense of direction. From the day Ka
I was discharged over the weekend. Lenard sent his men to get me, and I reflected on Kaiser’s words during the silent car journey. “We can torture her further. You just need to know you’re worth more than them. And how to execute your plan right.” Would he say the same about his wife? I watched the man guarding beside me flip his newspaper. There was an article about Kaiser Klef and Erica Gao. On the outside, they looked like any happy couple. But Kaiser hadn’t been going home for weeks now, and Erica probably was sick somewhere. I hoped that she was being kept at some mental institution because she deserved it. Not that I was any happier doing what I did. Lenard had been nice to me while I was in hospital but it didn’t change the fact I was not going to be his wife. I was his possession and sex slave. A lover was just a fancy word considering it was with someone who raped and broke me. I could never bring myself to be a lover of that monster. “I hope you’re better now that that j
After Kaiser left, I stayed for one more day in the motel, staring aimlessly towards the ceiling before I finally found the courage to return. It didn’t take me long before Lenard Lee’s men captured me and took me back to see him.I didn’t say a thing. They were very polite, but when I passed the main hall flanked by his best guards, what bothered me was not the sight of blood, but a woman being disrespected. The irony was this was the same woman who had lost me in the streets, Freya. Some cuts ran over her thighs and dried bloodstains over her back.But noticing how the men pleasured themselves with her body was more than I could stand. It was bringing back the traumatic past in me. I whirled around, screaming as I relived how Lenard’s men had used me like an object three years ago. How they shared with me and treated me like I was garbage like I deserved it. I hadn’t asked to be captured. I hadn’t asked to be raped. I just couldn’t fight back at that time because of the weakness in
I was in a daze when I woke up the next morning. Our clothes lay on the floor in a crumpled heap, and there were glasses of beer. I couldn’t remember when either of us left the room to buy the beer, because I was suffering from a tremendous hangover.Kaiser handed me a glass of warm water and some pills. It was already the second day that I was hiding with him in the love motel, and it couldn’t get any spicier. However, the fact that Kaiser didn’t have his phone with him, since he left it at the coffee shop, and that he wasn’t concerned about his businesses unlike before, aroused my suspicion.I laid back with my eyes closed, my back hitting the headboard of the flimsy bed. Honestly it was a horrible place with a weird stench and I doubted they had acceptable hygiene practice in handling food and water, but this was a place that didn’t hold records of the guests who stayed. It would be hard for them to track us down. The medicine started to kick in, offering instant relief from my m
We were gone for some considerable distance when Kaiser stopped me in a dark alley. There were a few shady love motels nearby, but they didn’t deter me. After all, if I murdered him in cold blood, his corpse would be barely noticeable. I clenched the knife closer to his throat and urged him to move faster.“Piper, it doesn’t have to come up to this.” His voice bore some emotions, playing with my mind. I didn’t want to listen anymore, but he still went on and on about our past and how he deemed me his woman. He just didn’t mention the word love, although I know that he had sacrificed me for some unknown gain. If it was the work of that b*tch, all the more I didn’t want to show him any mercy.“You f*cking played me, Kaiser Klef!” I roared at him, but my hand didn’t budge. I was scraping his neck lightly. He suddenly moved, pulling the knife and pointing it to his chest.“If you don’t believe me, Piper, then kill me now. The reason you haven’t made a move to do so is that you still love
The traffic lights flickered with a bright colour. Clear luminous digits appeared, indicating the countdown. I stared at the crowd outside. A beautiful young teenage mother with bright red hair, pushing a stroller, crossed in front of us, and the driver hummed. Pedestrians that took their time were infringing on his patience.Then, I focused on the door handle to my right. The doors of the car were unlocked. All I had to do was open it while they were not paying attention, and run out as fast as my long legs could take me. It wasn't even a plan, it was survival.'Piper, it is now or never,' the voice in me spoke. I mustered all the energy I had. Freya had her head turned to watch the young lady, mumbling something inaudible under her breath. Before she noticed, I had opened the door quietly, before I slipped out, making a roll on the ground. Then, I dashed out as if my life depended on it. Who was I kidding, of course, it did!I took shelter among the crowd, catching my breath. From a