She coughed as she waved the smoke out of her face, slowly slipping off of the bed while her eye remained to the man that was standing on the other side of it. Her heart was racing and her eyes were filled with tears. "Wh-Why did you do it?" She asked as she slowly backed away to the door while lookind down at the floor. Flames were creeping at her feet and she quickly side stepped to avoid them. She looked back up and the man was right in front of her and she shrieked, stumbling back but she had caught her balance.

"Because they betrayed me, Iliana. Caused me pain. Took my life away from me. It's only right if I take theirs too, right?" He smiled as he slowly advanced on the small child while holding knife in his hand. He had such a sinister smile and cold, calculating eyes. His free hand twitched slightly.

She whimpered and turned on her heel to run down the vast hallway that seemed to stretch on forever. She looked down at her feet. She felt like she wasn't getting anywhere, just stuck in place. She heard his loud footsteps advance and a scream rose up out of her, but no sound came out. It caused the little girl to panic as more tears stream down her cheeks. She looked back to see the man reach for her and she broke out of her bind and started running again only to have him grab her upper arm.

"Shh-shh, sweet child." He whispered as he stroked her cheek with that crazed stare of his. "Everything will be okay..." He said softly.

~*~

Iliana slowly came to, feeling a tingling sensation on her cheek. The words "Everything will be okay" echoed in her mind and she slowly opened her eyes to find a set of blue ones watching her. She let out a muffled scream and scooted away, finding that her hands were bound and her mouth was covered with duct tape. She was in a decent enough looking room. Looked as if she had checked into an upscale hotel. The wall was a beige color with cream stripes and Victorianesque white trimmings around the base and top of the walls and a cedar wood chest was against the wall and a vanity and little stool sat against the other.

"Everything will be okay, my pet." He pulled her back towards him. She looked stricken with fear as she looked at the older man. The same man that she had seen at the mall. The same man that she swore she saw at the clothing store. He had a sickening sweet smile as he gazed at her. It was sort of mixed with awe as if she was a long lost artifact that had been long forgotten from history.

He reached out to touch her face but drew his hand bacl and she closed her eyes, praying that this wasn't real. She hoped that it was just some nightmare that she couldn't wake from. She cried and shook her head as she tried to scoot back.

"Oh no, you're crying." He said in a concerned tone as he stroked her cheek. "There's no need to cry. I'm not going to hurt you yet." He whispered and she whimpered and shook her head, not believing that such a thing could happen to her. She tried to scoot away from him and he continued to pull her back. "You know it took me forever to find you." He chuckled as he continued to stroke her hair with such delicacy as if she was going to break. She tried to stifle her cries as she kept her eyes closed tightly.

"Oh sweet darling, there's no need to be afraid of me. I'm not going to hurt you. Now that I found you, I'm going to take good care of you. Like I could have done my Eva." He whispered as he stroked her cheek and her eye's widened at the name. A name that she hadn't heard in years. It echoed in her mind.

'My mother?' She thought as she stared at the man and the man chuckled and nodded. "Familiar name isn't it? Too bad she was a filthy whore. Left me... but now you look just like her. Same pale green eyes, the nose..." He chuckled and booped her. "The resemblance is almost uncanny. But who knew that I'd find you all the way over here. Last time I saw you, you were still in Santiago's care, hm? I heard he didn't take good care of ya. Too bad, isn't it?" He rambled as he laid on his back, staring at the ceiling.

Iliana laid there motionless trying to process what he was saying. His ceaseless ramblings caused the floodgates of suppressed memories of her childhood to burst and she was holding back a sob as she shook her head. All of it was starting to make sense and her worst fear came true. She had been kidnapped. Kidnapped by the same person she had tried her all to get away from. 

'But how did he end up in the States? What caused him to leave Europe?' She looked down at her bound hands, tuning out the older man's words. Everything seemed like a daze to her. She just couldn't believe what was happening to her but she needed to find a way to leave. She couldn't just stay there. She had a baby who needed her, a fiance. They were supposed to get married soon.

Silence filled the room when the man realized that she was no longer listening and he turned over to look at her with a raised brow. "It's rude to not pay attention when someone is talking to you." He said with a blank tone.

Iliana slowly turned her head to look at him as a tear streamed down her cheek and she looked back at the ceiling. She was trying to remain as calm as possible. She still had to figure out how to get away from the psychotic man.

Her lack of reaction caused anger to rise up in the man and his calm expression changed. His face turned bright red and he was wearing a deep scowl. He sat up and raised his hand. "WHY AREN'T YOU ANSWERING ME!" He shouted which caused her to jump and look over at him with alarm, while flinching away from him.

He stopped and stared at her and her mouth and it was like he flipped an emotional switch and he chuckled. "Right... you can't speak." He said as he leaned down and slowly pulled the tape from her mouth. "Much better isnt it?" He asked as he ran his thumb over her bottom lip and stared down at her. She was shaking from fear, unable to speak and he frowned at her. "I asked if it was better?" He asked a bit more forcefully as he glared down at her, raising his hand threatening to strike her.

Illiana nodded rapidly in response to the man and cowered away from his hand. The man lowered his hand, seemingly satsfied with her response and smiled once more. "Great, I believe you're going to love it here. I have everything you need. I even picked out your wardrobe." He helped her sit up and began to untie the ropes around her wrists. She rubbed them, scooting a bit away from the man, still shaking a bit. He stared at her expectantly, waiting for an answer. His cold, piercng blue eyes boring a hole in the side of her head. She looked up and met his gaze and tensed up. So many thoughts were running through her head, but a thought that weighed heavy on her mind was that there was a chance that she wouldn't make it back home to her fiance or son if she didn't go along with what he was saying.

She took a deep breath and softened her expression as she looked at the man and gave a half smile. "That was very thoughtful of you.” She said softly.

He smiled warmly at her words and then took her hand. “Come with me.” He said as he got off of the bed and she timidly followed his lead. Her body was still trembling with fear because of the unstable man. He towered over her as they walked towards the wardrobe and he opened it. “I have all of your dresses and clothes in here and your undergarments along with your nightwear are in the bottom drawers.” He explained as she stared into the wardrobe. 

She was relieved when she saw that nothing was too revealing. She saw plenty of sweaters and loose fitting dresses and tops and her pants and such seemed to be the same way. Now she was a bit hesitant to open the bottom drawers. She didn’t know what the older man wanted her to wear at night, would it be something skimpy or nothing at all. She hoped it was as modest as the clothes hanging in the wardrobe. She slowly opened the drawers and her body relaxed a bit and in the drawers were simple bra and panty sets and her pajamas were silk pajama sets with pants and shorts. She picked them all up to get a good look at them and neatly folded them back and tucked them away in the drawer and closed it.

Meanwhile the man kept his eyes on her. He had a small smile on his face. Her actions seemed to satisfy him and keep him calm. “How do you like it?” He asked as he placed a hand on her lower back and she tensed up and looked up at him with a forced smile and nodded. “I love the choices you’ve picked out for me. Thank you very much.” She said softly with the warmest smile she could muster.

“If I just play the part, I could make it out of here. Think of Zach. Think of Anton..” The woman thought to herself as she kept eye contact with her kidnapper. He smiled and rubbed her back. “I’m glad you love it.” He said and guided her to another part of the room and opened the door. “This is your bathroom and I have all of your necessities.” He opened the bottom cabinet and the medicine cabinet to show her. “How do you like it?” He asked as he kept his eye trained on her as he stepped to stand behind her in the mirror.

Iliana tensed up yet again and took a deep breath to keep her composure to not anger him and she looked up at him through the mirror and smiled. “I’m very happy that you thought of me with all of this. It’s greatly appreciated.” She spoke softly, barely above a whisper as she tried to calm her breathing. Him standing directly behind her made her feel so uncomfortable.

He stepped closer and wrapped his arms around her torso and kissed the top of her head. “She smells so nice… What if I just-” He thought to himself as he subtly sniffed her hair, his hands slowly trailed up and down her sides and buried his face in her neck.

The poor girl was terrified. Too scared to fight back and squirm away from him. She closed her eyes tightly and tried to imagine herself anywhere but this situation to keep her calm. His hands stopped at the hem of her shirt, slowly lifting the fabric just to graze her skin.

“You’re scaring her. Don’t want her to run away like the last one…” 

He lifted his head and looked at her in the mirror, seeing her tense and terrified expression and slowly let her go and took a small step back. “Calm down, Eva. I’m not going to hurt you.” He said calmly and placed his hands on her shoulders.

She slowly opened her eyes and looked at him and he dropped his hands at his side and clenched his fists. “I’m going now to let you get accustomed to your room.” He said as he slowly backed away. “If you need anything, I’ll be downstairs. Dinner is at six so be ready.” He said simply as he left the bathroom and left the room entirely.

Iliana slowly backed against the wall with her hands in her hair and slid down the wall and onto the ground tearing up. “Is this my life now? Is this really it? There’s no way my life is in the hands of this psychopath. I have to get out of here…” She thought as she stood up and looked around. There were no windows in the bathroom, only one vent that was directly over the door but it seemed to small for her to crawl through. She stepped out of the bathroom and walked towards the window in the room to find it nailed down and boarded up. She let out a small sigh and stepped away from it, rubbing her arms.

“What to do, Iliana. Just focus.” She said softly as she began to pace the room with her eyes trained on the ground. She looked up at the door and walked over to it and turned the knob and slowly opened it. The cool brass in her hand felt warm and clammy. She was still shaking slightly and her breathing was slightly heavy. She listened for what the man was doing. She could hear the channels chanong on the television but it seemed like the man stopped on a news station.

“At this time, the Sheriff’s office is asking for help in locating twenty-three year old Iliana Perez. She was last seen yesterday, November 30 walking her dog on a nearby trail.”

Iliana slowly descended the stairs as she heard the news report and crouched down on the bottom stair, looking at the television. Her face was on the screen. There she looked happy, she reminisced to the time when the picture was taken. Anton had just asked for her hand in marriage and she felt like she was ontop of the world then.

“Perez is five foot five. She weighs 125 pounds and she has pale green eyes and light brown hair. She was last seen wearing a red parka jacket, blue jeans, and black winter boots. If you have any information regarding the location of Perex please contact the sheriff’s office.” The screen then switched to the sheriff who was standing in front of a podium.

“Given the circumstances of the case and the description of the victim, we believe that this has some connection to the serial kidnappings and murders that has transpired in our quiet town recently. My team and I will do everything in our power to bring this young woman home and provide closure to the families that have been affected by this monster. That is all for now.” He walked away and then the man turned off the television and stared at the dark screen before slowly turned to look at her. She froze on the spot and looked back at him.

“You need something, darling?” He asked softly, pulling an eerie smile that made her tighten her grip on the banister. He was being sickenly sweet and that made her uneasy.

She slowly shook her head. “I was just um… wondering what you were watching is all.” She said softly as she stood upright, mustering what bit of confidence she had in herself to keep eye contact with the man. 

“Oh, then come join me.” He said as he patted the spot right next to him with a small smile on his face.

She nodded and descended the last step, slowly walking over. She stood in front of him with a raised brow and he chuckled a bit. “Come on now, I don’t bite.” He said as he leaned back in his seat.

“That’s not what I’m worried about-” She muttered and slowly sat down on the couch and he chuckled and put an arm around her and pulled her closer to him and patted her arm as he turned the television back on.

“What would you like to watch?” He asked as he flipped through the channels. 

“Anything is fine.” She responded rather blandly.

The longer she sat there, the quicker she switched to survival mode. She knew this was going to be more difficult than getting away from her crazed godfather, Santiago. She zoned out while staring at the television with one thought lingering on her mind.

“I’m going to kill him…”