I raised my chin in silent defiance and his eyes flashed dangerously.
“Tell me Abi or I swear” — he raised the back of his hand to me — “I’ll beat you myself.”
I kept my bold stance, looking anywhere but the closet. Seconds passed, his hand trembling before me and then he withdrew, shoving his hand in his pocket. “Christ! You’re your mother’s daughter.”
“Take her into the living room, Nate, and give her something to make her pliable.”
“No!” Emma flew out of the closet, launching herself at Dr Tate. He shifted his body just in time to bypass her move and my stepfather grabbed her, pulling her back kicking and screaming against his chest.
His hand shot to her mouth to muffle her sound and I flipped, diving across the room in a desperate attempt to get her out of his grasp. But Dr Tate moved quickly, grabbing me by the waist to halt my attack.
“Your stepfather has a few things he wishes to discuss with Emma,” the doctor said through gritted teeth as he began hauling my rebellious body back into the living room.
My eyes remained fixed on Emma’s restrained form through the doorway, sobs racking me from head to foot as I tried desperately to prise his hands off me.
“You mustn’t blame your stepfather, Abi,” he continued, “he just wants to protect you from bad people like her. Of course, if you had just been a good girl in the first place none of this would have hap—”
“Fuck!” he cursed.
My flailing fist made perfect contact with his groin and he buckled, tossing me onto the couch. Before I could run, he was upon me, one hand pinning me down while the other rummaged around in his bag on the coffee table.
I could hear muffled voices coming from the bedroom and then the sound of skin making contact with skin in a loud crack. My father’s angry voice bit back and I realized Emma must have slapped him. He emerged from the room, his cheek blood red, his hand thrust in Emma’s hair as he used it to drag her struggling form with him.
They moved to the kitchen and I heard him yanking open drawers. There was the flash of something metal and then they disappeared back into the bedroom, the door slamming shut on Emma’s terrified sobbing.
“Don’t worry, Abi, he won’t kill her, I think your stepfather simply wants to make sure that no man, or woman for that matter, could possibly desire her again.”
No!A surge of adrenaline rushed through me, giving me the strength to take him by surprise and make a break for it. I legged it to the bedroom, breaking through the door to find a barely conscious Emma lying on the bed, my stepfather holding her by the neck, the knife mere inches from her face...
“No!” I screamed running forwards just as my stepfather shot to his feet, his hand coming up to hold me back.
“Nate, for God’s sake, can’t you keep her under control!”
I felt Dr Tate come up behind me, his hands moving around my waist. “Sorry Edward, she’s feisty!”
And then he was dragging me out of the room again.
“Emma!” I shouted, trying to get her to move, to fight back, but she didn’t even flinch. She lay there completely immobile, her head flopping to one side.
“It will all be better in just a second, Abi,” Dr Tate assured me, pausing to lift something off the table and my worst fear was realized as he brought the shiny tip of a syringe toward my neck.
“No, Doctor, no!” I sobbed against him as he used his arm to hold my head off to the side.
“Shh, Abi, don’t worry your pretty—”
“Drop it!”
I felt Dr Tate freeze against me. “What the...?”
He turned, keeping me positioned against him, the cold tip of the needle pressing at the taut skin of my neck...
“I said drop it!” An armed cop crouched in the broken window, his pistol trained on Dr Tate. Slowly the doctor lowered the needle but he didn’t loosen his grip on me.
The cop kept his eyes fixed on us as he lifted his receiver to speak into it. “All clear.”
The front door flew open as two more officers launched into the room, just as my stepfather swung open the bedroom door.
“What the hell is—” He stopped dead as he took in the scene before him.
