A fingertip strokes along my cheek and I panic. He’s never touched me like that before. Not in a way that implies he’d rape me. But I can already tell this kidnapping is nothing like the last one. Last time he was very young. Early twenties at the most. Ten years later and that boy who wanted me to like him, wanted to win my cooperation with some sick form of domestic seduction that included keeping house and taking care of him the way a wife might, is gone.

In his place is a man who wants very different things. In his place is a man who wants… a woman.

“I’m still so young,” I try.

But his hand presses on my head even harder, making me whimper. “I’ve been patient, Daisy. I let you graduate from college. I watched you have your fun. Date a few men. Have sex. And now look, you’re nothing but a whore.”

Oh, God.

“You’re pregnant with another man’s child. If we want to be happy, that parasite inside you needs to be dealt with.”

And then his hand slips between my legs and shocks me out of my compliance. I elbow him, striking something hard, like his cheek or his neck, and he grunts in surprise. I have a split second of satisfaction before the throbbing in my head takes over.

“How dare you!” he bellows, his fist connecting with the back of my head over and over. “How dare—”

I elbow him again and this time I twist out from underneath him when he recoils. He recovers and pins my shoulders to the table with both hands. “I’ll kill you for that.”

I spit in his face. “No, you won’t. You want me. If you kill me, you can’t rape me.”

Besides, he’s got no free hands at the moment. It’s my turn to smile because he can’t hit me like this. If he lets go of one of my shoulders, I will fight.

“It’s not rape. You’re mine.”

“It is rape, you sick fuck. I will never let you rape me. Never. I hate your fucking guts. You ruined my life! You killed my parents!” I headbutt him, connecting with his nose, and blood starts to drip immediately. He recoils and one hand goes to his face.

I twist my body and draw up my leg, placing my knee between him and me, and then I kick him back. My fist connects with his ear and then automatically grabs for hair, but my fingers find the mask instead. I pull and this panics him. I pull harder, wanting to get that stupid mask off him even if I die trying. “Take it off, you coward! Take off your fucking mask.”

I rip it and he lets go of my other shoulder to try and stop me from removing his shield. I reach up and punch him in the face.

“You fucking bitch! I will kill your baby right now!” He regains control and pulls me up off the coffee table, then flings me down on the couch face first. I can hear his belt being unbuckled. “I’ll fuck it out of you, whore.”

“If you kill this baby,” I gasp through my labored breathing. “I’ll never be yours. Do you understand? If you kill this baby I will fight you until you kill me. I will never be yours!” I scream the last part and his whole body presses against my back. The weight of him makes it hard to breathe. Maybe he’ll suffocate me and this can all end for good right now?

“You don’t want to be mine,” he seethes into my ear. “You never did.”

“You killed my family, your freak! Why the fuck would I want anything to do with you?”

“They sold you!”

“No! You’re a lying asshole. You’re not even an original one, either.” I laugh this part out because it’s true. He’s a joke. His whole story is plagiarized from another case more famous than mine. “You’re a copycat! You’re nothing but a copycat. You think I never heard of the Black Hills kidnapper? How he took that little girl and kept her captive until she was grown up. Convinced her she was his wife and made her have his babies. You copied him and you didn’t even do a good job because you let me go. You’re weak and stupid.”

He goes still on top of me. “Is that what you think? That I let you go because I’m weak?”

A trap, Grace! It’s a trap. Say nothing!

“I let you go because you begged me for months.”

“Then why are you back? Just leave me alone!”

“Because, dear Daisy. You made me promise.”

“No!”

“Yessss,” he hisses back. “Yes. You were hysterical when I said I had to take you home. You cried, my little flower. You cried big fat tears and begged me to keep you.”

“No!”

“I tried my best to console you, but I had to drug you to calm you down.”

“That’s not how it happened! I fought you. I told you to kill me quickly, so I didn’t have to suffer.”

“You made me promise to come get you, Daisy. You made me promise that our love was true.”

“No, no, no! That’s not what happened!”

He gets up and walks across the room to the front closet. “I’ll prove it.” I just stare up at him. His mask is all crooked and there’s blood dripping down his neck from my retaliation. “I have you on tape, flower. I have it all on tape.”

He pulls out a shoebox and comes back to me. “Sit here.” He points to the couch.

I obey automatically. My mind is spinning. I know I was fucked up. I know I did agree to some things out of fear or brainwashing or whatever. But I didn’t want him to keep me. I wanted to be free. I did.

“Let’s watch it together, shall we?” He sits down on the couch and pulls out a video camera and some old tapes. The kind that go inside the camera and have to be played back.