Robert was sitting on the couch of the sitting room, hugging Georgie tightly. He tried to make an imprint of her body on his, concentrating on how warm and solid and comforting she felt in his arms, not wanting to forget a single thing about her.

“I love you so much, Georgie. I love you so much,” he murmured into her hair, breathing in her special smell.

“I love you, Robert. I’ll never stop loving you. I’ll love you forever,” she whispered back, her face pressed into his neck.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can to get you. If he moves you, I’ll find you. I’ll never stop looking, Georgie. I swear it.”

“I trust you, Robert. I’ll wait for you. No matter how long it takes, I promise I’ll wait for you.”

Then Robert heard the locks on the door to the outside being thrown open and he suddenly felt fear, his heart racing. The two of them stood up still holding onto each other as they listened to the last lock click open, both of them shaking. There was a moment of silence and then the door was thrown open and hit the wall with a bang, making them jump.

The first thing Robert saw was a guard with a gun pointed directly at him. He immediately pushed Georgie behind him for protection and she wrapped her arms around his chest, clinging to him as they watched guards pour into the room. The bastard came in last, his smug smile plastered on his face. As soon as Robert saw him, he could feel rage boiling through his body. When the bastard saw the expression on Robert’s face, his smug smile broadened with delight.

“It’s time, Robert!” he exclaimed happily, clearly enjoying himself.

Georgie cried out “No!” while the guards began advancing on them, spreading themselves out even more.

Knowing what was coming, Robert immediately turned and wrapped his arms around her. The two of them clung to each other as tightly as they could, Georgie wrapping her legs around him just as the guards reached them. Hands grabbed onto his arms as Georgie started crying, “No!” over and over.

It seemed like every single one of the men was surrounding them, so close he could hear their heavy breathing as they pulled on them. Georgie’s plaintive cries of “No!” were more desperate and mixed with sobs as her arms were pulled off him.

His strength was no match for all the men pulling on him and he could feel an ache in his chest growing as he knew he was going to lose his fight to keep his arms around her. It wasn’t long before he was pulled off her, but she still had her legs around his waist and he could hear the men grunting as they worked to pry them apart.

At the exact moment she was finally wrenched off his body, Robert felt the ache in his chest turn into a crushing pain and Georgie screamed a heartbreaking, “No!”

The men holding him started dragging him away from her as he fought wildly against them, shouting, “Georgie!”

Two guards held onto her and she thrashed her body violently, desperately trying to free herself from their hold as she screamed, “Robert!” over and over mingled with sobs.

No matter how hard he fought to keep from losing her, he was being taken further and further away, her piercing screams for him breaking his heart. When they reached the door to the outside, he wrapped one of his legs around the door frame in a futile attempt to keep from being pulled through, but more men grabbed him and he was yanked out of the flat.

The guards holding Georgie threw her backwards to the floor and ran to the door while she struggled to get up. She ran after them, frantically trying to get to him. He saw the desperation and sorrow in her eyes as she looked at him, knowing she wasn’t going to make it. Then the door was slammed shut and the locks quickly turned, trapping her in the flat alone.

Robert heard Georgie’s tortured screams of anguish muffled through the solid door as he was wrestled away from it by the guards. He tried to call out to her, but he was sobbing too hard.

He was held still by multiple guards as hands searched under his t-shirt and all over his jeans, Georgie’s muffled screams in the background breaking his heart. His trainers and socks were pulled off, and then – his jeans were unfastened and the zipper pulled down.

He shouted, “No! Stop!” and struggled, trying to get away, suddenly afraid of what they were going to do to him. He felt hands feeling all over his briefs and then sliding inside them. They roughly groped him all over, not caring that they were hurting him while he repeatedly cried out, “Stop! Stop!” and struggled wildly, desperately trying to free himself to escape the assault. Then the hands left him, and he was suddenly released while he was still struggling. He fell to the floor sobbing, with his jeans around his knees and his briefs partially pulled off, feeling utterly violated.

Robert woke up sobbing, having just fallen out of his bed, tangled in his bedding.

He heard his dad shouting, “Robbie! Robbie, are you alright?” and his bedroom door was thrown open. Robert quickly looked away so he could wipe his face before his dad saw his tears, deeply ashamed.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a dream,” he managed to choke out.

“Are you sure?” He could hear the alarm in his dad’s voice and it made him angry.

“I said I’m fine!” he shouted at him. He wasn’t fucking mental.

“Alright, alright,” his dad said quietly with concern, but he still looked at him like he thought there was something wrong with him.

Robert stayed silent, not wanting to say the rude things he was thinking. His dad hesitated for a moment, then left, closing the door behind him. As soon as he was alone, Robert untangled himself and stood up, throwing his blankets on the bed. Then he sat down, resting his head in his hands, feeling like shit.

It had been five days since Georgie’s call and ever since then, he’d been having nightmares about what happened to him that day. He didn’t wonder why he was having the nightmares. Out of everything that'd happened to him when he was kidnapped and held a prisoner, that day was by far the worst.

---Then---

Robert could hear the grief and despair in Georgie’s muffled screams as he laid on the floor sobbing. He suddenly became terrified for her, for what she might do, and he struggled to stand up. He pulled up his briefs and fastened his jeans with shaking hands.

“For God’s sake, don’t leave her in there alone!” he pleaded to the men standing around him. “She’s going to kill herself! Please! I’m begging! Someone has to go in there!”

He saw the bastard nod to one of the guards and he went to the door. The locks were unfastened and the man was let in. For the few moments the door was open, the hallway was filled with Georgie’s piercing screams. The door was slammed shut and locked and Robert leaned against a wall, sobbing uncontrollably, his heart absolutely broken.

After a few minutes, he realized no one was taking him away, no one was leaving. He looked up at the bastard through his tears, pushing his hair out of his eyes. He was leaning nonchalantly against the wall, not looking at anything in particular. He seemed in no hurry to leave. Robert stopped crying and wiped his face with his hands, looking closely at the guards surrounding him in the hallway. Everyone was just standing around.

---Now---

Robert sighed deeply and laid back on his bed, putting the crook of his arm over his eyes. He’d known the bastard liked to toy with him, playing mind games just to fuck with him. But his experience with the bastard before had been nothing compared to what he and Georgie were put through the day they were released. It was like that on steroids.

---Then---

Georgie’s screams were fading as she began to lose her voice. While everyone continued to stand around, Robert kept his eyes on the bastard, watching him carefully. It slowly dawned on him what the bastard might be doing. Now that Georgie thought she’d lost Robert, the bastard was cruel enough to want to prolong her suffering by waiting to take her out of the flat.

It was just as cruel as letting Robert believe he wasn’t going to honor the agreement and forcing him out of the flat without her. He felt a tiny spark of hope in his chest – the bastard might actually intend to follow through with the bargain.

After a hesitation, Robert asked him, “How much longer?”

The bastard looked at him coldly, saying, “Put on your shoes and socks, Robert.” He did as he was told.

When it was completely silent in the flat, the bastard moved toward the door. As he passed Robert, he looked at him, his steely deep set eyes hard and cruel.

“You don’t move and you don’t make a sound. If she knows you’re here, you leave without her,” he said quietly, his voice malevolent.

Two guards pushed Robert further down the hallway and shoved him against a wall. They positioned themselves on either side of the hallway, one of them blocking Robert’s view of the door to the flat. He heard the locks being unlatched and the door opened.

The guard who’d gone in came out holding Georgie around her waist from behind, pinning her arms to her side. When she came into Robert’s view, she looked dreadful. Her hair was half pulled out of the braid, her shirt torn and hanging open. Her face was red and tearstained, her eyes wide with fear as they looked around wildly.

“What did she do?” the bastard asked.

“She tried to smash windows with the fireplace poker,” the guard said in heavily accented English and one of the other men whistled. Robert was grateful she’d been stopped. She could’ve been hurt by all that flying glass.

The man let go of Georgie and she staggered a little until she saw the bastard in front of her and then became very still. She cowered in front of him with her head hanging, her body hunched over, trembling with fear.

---Now---

Robert pushed the memory out of his head. It was horrific enough going through all that the first time, he thought bitterly. He didn’t need to fucking relive it again and again. He rolled over, pulling his blankets over his head and concentrated on his breathing, trying desperately not to think so he could go somewhere else.

He was awakened by his dad’s voice.

“Robbie.”

He kept still with the blankets over his head pretending to be asleep, hoping his dad would decide not to wake him and leave for work.

“Robbie!” he said much louder.

Shit. He was serious.

He pulled the blankets off his head and looked at his dad standing in the doorway. He looked upset and exhausted, like he hadn’t been able to get back to sleep after the nightmare had woken him up. Robert was dismayed. He hoped it didn’t mean his mum had been up too. He felt the near constant guilt burn through him yet again.

“Yeah, dad?”

“I’m going down to get my tea and I want to talk to you before I leave. I expect you downstairs in five minutes. Understand?”

“Yeah.” His dad closed the door.

He laid there for a bit, stretching out the time before his five minutes were up. He didn’t blame his dad for losing his patience with him. If he had a son who’d been lying in bed for nearly three weeks because a girl left him, he would’ve given him a swift kick in the arse. He knew he shouldn’t be doing it, lying in bed all day and all night for weeks on end, but he just felt so damned awful. It was like he couldn’t make himself do anything else. And he despised himself for it, for being so fucking weak he couldn’t manage to pull it together.

When he’d come home with Georgie, even after everything they’d gone through, he was unbelievably happy. They had their whole future ahead of them and he couldn’t wait to get started living it. Where was that person, he wondered, the bloke who felt like he could conquer the world? Hell, back then he felt like he had conquered the fucking world. And now – it was like he was broken.

He forced himself to get out of bed and go down to the kitchen. His dad was just getting his tea ready in his thermos. His jacket and rucksack were on his chair, ready for him to leave. Robert slouched down in his chair at the kitchen table, crossing his arms over his chest and looking at the floor, waiting for what he knew was coming.

His dad sat in his mum’s chair, looking at him and Robert looked up at him, pushing his hair out of his eyes. Every time he saw his dad now, it hit him how much the kidnapping had changed him. He looked older, his narrow face more lined than it used to be. His close cropped light brown hair had more grey in it than it ever had. His hazel eyes were usually filled with worry, the dark circles permanent from months with little sleep. It hurt too much and Robert quickly looked at the floor again. His dad sighed deeply before he began.

“Robbie, I know what you’ve been through has been difficult. And I’m not just talking about Georgie leaving.”

Robert kept his eyes on the floor as the ache in his chest started to hurt more. He didn’t want to talk about her.

“I think we all recognize you’ve been affected by what happened. I suggested you get therapy and why the two of you refused is beyond me.”

She didn't want to get therapy, and at the time it had seemed pointless to go without her. She was the one with the problems, not him – at least until she left him, he thought grimly.

“Your mum and I have decided that things can’t continue like they have. I think we’ve been patient but it’s clear you’re not getting better. In fact, I think you’re getting worse.”

This was obviously a reference to the nightmare.

“Will you agree to get therapy? Set up an appointment with a doctor today?”

“No,” he said pointedly to the floor, slouching a little more in his chair. The last thing he wanted to do was chat with a fucking stranger about what had happened over the last three and a half months, and especially the two months prior to that.

“Well then, you only have one other option – you have to get a job. I’m giving you two weeks to find one. If you don’t, you’re going to have to move out. I’m going to start charging you rent a month from now. I’ll figure out what’s a fair rate for the area so I recommend you find one that pays a decent wage. If you decide to go to university, we’ll help you once you’re taking courses, but until then you work. Is that clear?”

“Yes,” he said loudly to the floor, unable to disguise the anger in his voice.

The anger was at himself, for being so fucked up his dad had to step in like this. Robert had always been the responsible one of the three children in their family. He’d been the one to move out as soon as he was finished with school at the age of eighteen, supporting himself entirely with no help from his parents. He missed the feeling of independence he’d had then, the feeling that he was entirely his own man. Now he was the one who had to be told to get out of bed and get a fucking job.

His father sighed again. “Robbie, y’know your mum and I love you. We’re trying to do what’s best for you. We’re worried about you,” he said gently.

“I know, dad,” he said quietly, his throat hurting more by the second.

“When we thought we’d lost you –.” His father couldn’t continue and Robert kept his eyes on the floor, trying to stay in control, blinking back tears.

“At the time, I’d have given anything to have you back with us, no matter what state you were in,” he said, his voice rough and breaking. “But it’s not healthy for you to continue on like you have, lad. I can’t stand by and watch you give up like this. You can’t wait for Georgie. You’ve got to pull yourself –.”

“D’you think I’m waiting for her?” Robert shouted suddenly at his dad.

“Watch your tone with me, Robbie!” his dad shouted back, wiping tears off his face.

Robert looked at the floor and slouched down further in his chair. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly, guilt burning through him yet again.

He didn’t want to lose his temper with his dad, but he couldn’t begin to understand what was going on with her. Hell, Robert didn’t understand her anymore – aside from the fact that she didn’t want to be with him. That he understood.

“When I get home, I want to see you’ve shaved. You’re not going to find a job looking like that. Understand?” he said firmly.

“Yeah.”

“And I don’t want to hear from your mum you’ve spent the day in bed. Is that clear?”

“Yeah.”

After a moment, his dad stood up with another sigh, saying, “Well, I’m off,” and waited.

Robert stood up so he could hug his dad, avoiding eye contact when he did it.

“I love ya, lad. Y’know that, don’t ya?” his dad said quietly, patting him on the back while he hugged him.

“Yeah, dad. I know. I love you too,” he said into his dad’s shoulder, and held him a little tighter

Before he’d been kidnapped, he didn’t know if he could’ve remembered the last time his dad had told him he loved him or given him a hug. His mum had done it more, but it had become less frequent the older he got. He’d never questioned his parents’ love, they’d just never been the kind of family that showed a lot of affection. But since he’d been kidnapped, his family had become a lot more careful about hugging and saying ‘I love you’ before leaving each other.

His dad released him with a last hard pat on the back. “Unless you’re out, I’ll be expecting you at the dinner table tonight, yes?”

“Yeah,” Robert replied.

He watched his dad put on his jacket, slide his rucksack over his shoulder and leave, taking his tea on the way out.

Robert sighed deeply. Now what the hell was he going to do?

****

I have to say, it’s fun writing Robert interacting with his dad.  I love that now that he’s in his home, he slips into the role of sullen teenager.  I know I still do that sometimes – and I’m way older than he is!  But I also love how much love he and his dad have for each other. 

So, this chapter answered the biggest question left hanging at the end of Stolen Hearts and gives a few more clues to what happened afterwards – and how much time has elapsed since they were released.  How did things go so horribly wrong for Robert and Georgie?  Why did Georgie leave him?  Will they ever get together again?  You’ll have to keep reading to find out! 

This story is dedicated to my oldest daughter, who also made an account on here just so she could read my book.  No, she hasn't finished it yet. :(