The CEO's Painted Skin

Catherine awakened to the sound of the birds chirping outside the room where she and her companion were sleeping. The sun rays were pa.s.sing through the room.

Outside the window, the morning was calm and beautiful.

She sighed.

Another day again!

She looked at Dana"s sleeping form on the other bed.

It"s tiring to get up since there"s little thing to do around the house, and Dana does most of the housework, she was pampering her because she was pregnant that was her reason, so Catherine closed her eyes again.

She slowly opened her eyes and wish she was back in the room at Infinity Jade Tower, back in her husband"s arms. She missed John and baby James so much! Her heart was aching to go home.

All it takes was an ordinary trip to the market and her life changed overnight. She was abducted and taken somewhere far away, forcibly taken against her will.

She looked around her.

The room was bare, there"s two-bed, blanket, pillow"s, a small table and two chairs inside, and a cabinet where they put their clothes, that"s the only furniture inside the room and thankfully there was a calendar hanging on the wall.

She still can remember that horrifying night when she rode the taxi from the market to go home only to discover that the driver left a horrible smelling chemical inside the taxi that rendered her unconscious. And from that moment onward they"d been traveling for several days, she was blindfolded and both hands tied, she can remember well that they"d been traveling by land and water-based on the sound of the vehicle running and the waves rus.h.i.+ng against the speedboat. She"d been given water and food, three meals a day and was not hurt physically in any way as long she will obey their command. The men who abducted her wore a black face mask all the time.

Finally, the grueling journey ended.

She was brought in this isolated place out of nowhere, for several days no matter how many times she screamed for help no one comes to help her until her voice got hoa.r.s.e and then she retreated into silent mode. From that moment on, she realized that her location must be situated in an area that was a thousand miles away from the nearest neighborhood.

It"s a wooden house surrounded by lots of trees, with a kitchen area, toilet and bathroom combined, there"s also a living room and veranda, but no appliances, there"s nothing, not even a radio. Inside the house, she can move freely. In the first two weeks of her stay in the house, she cooked her foods since there was a ration of foods such as rice, vegetables, dried fish and canned sardines in the kitchen pantry. In short, the raw food arrives once a week including the purified water. She has no problem cooking the foods because there were lots of dry woods at the back of the house that she can use to make fire.

The house looks like a rest house erected out of nowhere.

On the first day of her captivity inside the house, she told the masked men that she was pregnant.

And on the first week of her stay, she was given several clothes mostly maternity dresses, underwear, shorts, and some comfortable medium size blouses, they were all brand new. She was sure that the one who bought the clothing was a woman.

From that night in the market, she never saw the taxi driver face again. Every time she attempted to talk to the masked men and asked them where they are and who mastermind her kidnapping they just ignored all her questions.

On the third week of her captivity, she nearly went crazy of extreme stress, worry, fear and loneliness since she has no one to talk to.

One day, she felt so happy when a woman that was also blindfolded arrived into the house and her name was Dana.

Dana"s story was that she comes from the province to seek work in the city and meet a lady who offered her a job as a babysitter for a rich family"s child. When she agreed, she met the lady and she was offered some refreshment on the place where they met and that was the last time she saw the outside world. The next time she opened her eyes, she was blindfolded and hand-tied, they were on constant travel and then she ended on the same house where Catherine was.

The puzzling thing was, they were never physically hurt in any way.

As long they become obedient and follow all instruction they won"t be hurt, that was the leader of the men told them and they obeyed what they were told.

They were grateful though, it could have been a lot worse than what they already imagined in their mind.

The questions swirling in their mind was how long they will be captive inside the house? Will there be another chance to see the outside world again aside this vast two-hectare land where they were currently held against their will?

What lies ahead of them?

Will they be able to get out alive from their captivity or died waiting for a rescue that probably will never come, which way it will be?

Dana was already awake, they looked at each other, both were still tucked in their bed.

Dana grinned. "We"re still alive! Isn"t that something to celebrate every day?" she said.

Catherine forced a smile out from her lips. "Yeah, I guessed we should be thankful that we are still alive," she agreed.

"I wonder what they wanted from us?" Catherine said aloud.

Dana dropped her eyes, sighed deeply and shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe they will harvest our organs and sell it somewhere? Or maybe we will be sold to a brothel for prost.i.tution, just like we heard from kidnap victims in TV news or worst feed our dead bodies to the piranhas," she said in a horrified tone.

Catherine closed her eyes, feeling the dread gripping her senses, she put her hands on her stomach and ma.s.sage her protruding belly feeling afraid for the dark destiny that awaits her unborn child while she was in captivity.

She just hopes a rescue will come soon!

Every day she feared for her life and her unborn child"s safety.

She has this feeling that those men were just waiting for something to happen before they make their moves. If that time comes she will try to make a bargain, to allow her to give birth to her baby and begged them to give the baby to her husband and she will do anything they want from her even if it will cost her life. She just wants to see her baby, alive, safe and sound in the arms of her husband.

As for her, if it"s her destiny to suffer and die early then it will happen in this lifetime. All that she wanted was for her unborn child to have a chance to live and be reunited with John and baby James.

Catherine released a heavy sigh, her eyes swam with tears.

Another day of captivity has just begun.