ABDUCTED
Chapter 5
She parted her li-ps but sensibly shut them up once more.
He returned to the pot and she watched his back for a moment, hating him. He didn’t know who he was dealing with. Who the hell did he think he was? Filthy peasant and not worthy so much as to clean her sneakers let alone breathe in the same air that she did. He might be handsome with a good physique, but without money to his name, his physical look was useless unless you were looking for a temporary distraction.
Well, first things first. She had noticed the protector before one of the doors in the sitting room and it had been unlocked. If she was lucky, the door itself would be unlocked and she could make her escape. Her eyes scanned the tiny room once more in search of a weapon and she found one.
A rolling pin.
It was the last thing she expected to see in a bachelor’s kitchen but it was just her luck. Moving slowly as he dished the jollof rice into a bowl, she reached for the rolling pin and before it occurred to him that he was about to be attacked, she sent the rolling pin down on his head. She took off even as she heard the shattering of a plate. She shut the kitchen door behind her to delay him. The wrapper made running difficult but she was soon at the door. Her prayers were answered: the door was unlocked.
She shut it behind her and raced into the night. There was no light indicating nearby homes, just gras-ses but she didn’t let this deter her. She heard her abductor’s movement behind her. She gave him a good run, showing off her skills as a one-time 100 metres champion in her secondary school but the night and the lack of knowledge of her surroundings were her undoing and he finally caught up with her. As she screamed a large hand closed over her mouth and another clasped around her ne-ck.
‘Br@t!’ he swore.
She tried to bite into his palm but found it impossible to do so. His hold pressed her against his body so she could feel the heat emanating from him. She struggled with him and the grip on her ne-ck ti-ghtened. She lifted one foot and brou-ght it down on his own with all the strength she could muster but it didn’t have a satisfying effect since she was ba-refooted. If she had one of her long stiletto heeled shoes on, she would have successfully and satisfactorily maimed him for life!
He lifted her fireman style and ignored the punches she gave his back and ne-ck as he headed back into the building. He released her, tossing her on one of the chairs. She landed with a thud. Before she could protest he as-sured her that the next time she tried to escape he would shoot both legs and let her go throu-ghlife as a paraplegic. His cold eyes dared her to contradict him and she sensibly didn’t.
He locked up and returned to her.
‘Let’s get one thing straight. I am not your babysitter. You are my prisoner and you shall do as you are asked.’
She eyed the gun he was waving over her face, not sure whether it was a real one or a fake one but not prepared to find out. Besides, she had heard of accidental discharges, and although he appeared to be in control, he could do it just to spite her.
‘Do you mind keeping that where you got it from,’ she told him, moving out of its range, ‘before you hurt somebody.’
‘It would serve you right,’ he told her before sticking it into the wai-st band of his jean.
‘And it would serve you right if you accidentally shoot yourself in the groin. That way, the world wouldn’t worry about you producing more of your likeness,’ she returned. ‘Now, what do you want from me?’
He warned her to stay put while he hurried into the kitchen and returned with a tray and a big bowl of food, 2 ceramic plates, 2 aluminium cu-ps and a bottle of water. One look at the water told her that he hadn’t bought it but had perhaps fetched it from a tap outside.
‘I am not hungry,’ she informed him, folding her arms across her che-st.
Did he really expect her to eat anything he had cooked? Or even worse, use a ceramic plate? She had never eaten in one. Even as a little child. And aluminium cu-ps? God forbid!
‘Starving yourself isn’t going to make me sweet on you.’
He picked one of the ceramic plates and dished out food for himself.
‘I’ll pas-s,’ she told him stubbornly. ‘You eat your own poison.’
He ignored her and began to eat.
‘Where are my batteries and sim cards?’
‘In safe custody.’
‘I want them back.’
‘You’ll get them when I am ready to rele-ase them to you.’
‘And my purse and chequebook?’
‘The same applies to them.’
‘I don’t trust you.’
‘I would be feeding you for the duration of your stay here and it is only fair that you pay for your keep,’ he simply told her.
‘And I didn’t ask to be abducted. Look, this joke is getting too expensive. Which one of my friends put you up to this?’
‘I don’t know what you are talking about.’
‘Don’t you? If you had been a regular kidnapper you would have made a call to my father by now and asked for a ransom.’
He ignored her and walked over to the television, turning in on.
‘And to my surprise, you didn’t have to hit it for it to start,’ she said sarcastically. ‘And look, it actually shows colours beyond black and white.’
He ignored her.
‘Well, who put you up to this?’ she asked, returning to her earlier question.
He picked up his plate and focused on the programme that came on and this annoyed her. She rose to her feet and stood between him and the television.
‘Get away from there this minute,’ he told her.
‘Or you’ll do what? as-sault me?’
‘I am sure you would love to have my hands all over you,’ he said insultingly. ‘You can come to my room later tonight and I will give you the night of your life, but at this moment I have no use for your body. Now move!’
‘You bas***d!’
‘Move Ibitoru.’
The dangerous glint in his blue eyes made her move aside even though she was physically steaming.
‘Enough is enough. I want my things now,’ she insisted.
‘And you are becoming a nuisance.’
‘How dare you speak to me like that?’ she demanded with righteous indignation. ‘Don’t you know who I am?’
‘Ibitoru Davids, the spoilt and undomesticated daughter of Senator Sotonye Davids. Now leave me in peace, woman.’
‘Woman! Don’t you dare use that condescending tone on me. On a good day you wouldn’t have the guts to speak to me.’
‘You are trying my patience.’
‘You should have left me in peace. By now, I should have been in Lagos.’
He ignored her and continued eating.
‘I’ll pay you N1,000,000.00 to free me.’
I am being too generous, she thought.
‘All right, N3, 000, 000. 00,’ she amended when he said nothing. ‘I am sure it would make a hu-ge difference in your life. I’ll get the money back from my father and we can both pretend this incident never happened. You’ll have your money and I’ll be on my way for my vacation. I am sure I can get another flight to Lagos tomorrow morning.’
‘Shut up.’ He snapped at her.
‘I can pay you. Keeping me here is very risky. My dad has his connections and when they find you what will happen to you will make the holocaust look like a Sunday picnic. I am actually doing you a favour, you know. I don’t owe you one and if you had any sense at all you will take it.’
‘If I nee-d your money, I’ll let you know.’
‘My father may not give you that amount of money. Even if he does, you would have to pay throu-ghyour nose and you may not be able to raise N3,000,000 even if you were given the rest of your sorry life to do so.’
He didn’t bother responding.
‘N3,000,000 is a lot of money,’ she continued. ‘I won’t ask for a refund.’
‘I am sure you won’t,’ he ground out. ‘But one more word about your money and I shall silence that thing you call a mouth.’
Her li-ps parted to make a suitable retort but his look shut her up.
‘Ill-tempered mule,’ she thought as she headed for the bedroom he had kept her in.
He ignored her completely to her annoyance and she banged the door with relish.
~*~*~*~
The young man told himself that he had his hands full keeping Ibitoru there with him. She was proud, saucy and stubborn, a total spoilt Br@t, but he was going to tame her. He was going to make her useful to herself and to others. He wouldn’t have wasted his precious time with her if he didn’t have to pay her father back for a wrong he had committed while he was a serving Governor and thus immune to criminal and civil suits. He could call her father’s line right now and make a hu-ge demand on him but that wouldn’t make up for what her father had done. Keeping his only child for a long time would have more effect.
He was no rapist. He believed that only a man who had serious issues with his se-xuality would for-ce himself on a woman and he frowned strongly at that. But Ibitoru didn’t know this and that would work to his advantage. She said there were only two things he could do to her: rap-e or kill her. And for all her boldness, she wouldn’t survive a rap-e . She hadn’t kept her V¡rginity this long only to have it taken by for-ce. It was something she used as a bargaining chip, to get the guys interested, dangling it over their noses like a bone before a dog.
She was beautiful. He would give her that. She took after her paternal grandmother who at the age of seventy-nine was still breathtaking. But her parents hadn’t given her the least home training, unlike his mother who had domesticated all her sons.
Let Chief Davids lose sleep wondering what he was doing to his beautiful little girl. When he was tired of keeping Ibitoru, he would make his request known.
To be continued…