Opportunist- (noun) someone who takes unfair advantage of a situation.
Chapter One
Duncan Carlisle sits on the wet shower floor, preoccupied with his thoughts. The Sanders really do have a nice plumbing system. I could get used to this. He reaches for a bottle of men's shampoo and works it into his hair. He needs some time alone to just think. Sandrine and Kramer have been such pains lately that it's hard to just sit back and relax. They're probably screwing something else up as we speak.
He leaves the bath when the water practically freezes over, although he does consider staying. I could use a cold shower, especially after looking at Ellen Sanders... no, stop it. Duncan has noticed himself having these strange thoughts frequently. He can't tell if they are good or bad. He finally decides that thinking about Ellen in that way is nothing but harmful.
He knows that he needs her, and that he may have to kill her entire family. That would leave her with irreparable, psychological wounds that would never heal. Not that she doesn't already have plenty of those... because of me.
Duncan forces himself to stop scolding his brain. It's not his fault that he's attracted to Ellen. Wait a second... did I really just say that out loud?
No, shake that. He just cares about her more than he should. There. That sounds a lot better.
No, no, it sounds worse. Ellen is a hostage. His hostage. He shouldn't have feelings for his hostage. He cannot become attached to her. That would ruin everything. His plans would be engulfed in flames.
Duncan slips into a bathrobe, which happens to be one of Brian's. It's a little small on him, but it'll do. He wonders for a moment if Brian had ever worn this bathrobe after... no! Get a hold of yourself!
He takes a moment to rub his nose against the shoulder of the cloak. It smells like Ellen.
It smells like Ellen. It smells like her.
Once he starts huffing the scent, there's no turning back. It smells just like her. Her hair, her face, her blood-riddled medical utensils... this bathrobe is like a drug to him. There's no way he can stop. All attempts to stop are hopelessly futile.
He won't quit. He has finally realized this, and it scares him. Duncan Carlisle does not get scared, and he's let this woman scare him. Ellen Sanders is the cause of his dreaded fear. He is afraid of failing her, mostly.
She doesn't deserve any of this. Not his feral behavior, not his unkind words, and definitely not his frisky malevolence. She did nothing wrong. All she ever wanted was the best for everyone. She is anything but the murderer he accuses her of being. Ellen Sanders is much more wholehearted than he'll ever be. Maybe that's what he likes about her. She's a better person than him. She'll always be better.
Some aspects of him are strong, though; devoted, manipulative...
Manipulative. He's always been that , somehow, even while holding complete power over everyone, he feels like the weakest person in the world. Does he believe that Ellen could knock him out? Absolutely. Does he think that she's willing to hurt him? Absolutely not.
There is one key difference between him, and the rapist that Ellen killed while in surgery.
The rapist committed a malicious crime unto a small girl. The child resembled Ellen's in more ways than one. She thought about what that experience would be like for her daughter to go through. Then she let him bleed out.
Duncan wasn't like that in the beginning. He stated that he was holding them hostage for a reason. A good reason. One that made sense. One that, in essence, would keep the Sanders safe and out of harm's way.
The thing is, Duncan can make this family do whatever he wants, whenever he wants. That seems to be the fun of keeping hostages; they're like your own personal servants. But Duncan doesn't like to control them like that. He just makes sure that they are punished when necessary.
He realizes that the only one he's really been regulating is Ellen. He's forcing her to murder the president. He supposes that he could make her do other things. Things in bed.
Yes, Duncan. Because surely she'll want to date you then.
Or do women like that kind of thing?
No, Duncan. That's wrong. Forcefulness is never the way to a woman's heart.
What are you really trying to accomplish here?
I don't know. One minute, I'm trying to kill them all, and the next my emotions start taking over and I'm suddenly unable to function. Or move.
Why don't you just put Kramer up to the task, then? Y'know... have him kill the family for you?
Kramer's an idiot. He can't do anything right. And even if he went through with it, kept his hands clean and everything, do you have any idea how much Ellen would despise me then?
Trust me, she's already disgusted with you.
Shut up.
Duncan tries to return from his haze. He attempts to belt his robe, but it's no use. His hands are shaking so much that he can't tie the ends together. So, he just resorts to slipping on a pair of boxers. He really wishes that his hands would stop shaking.
He heads downstairs, only to find Sandrine and Kramer making themselves some coffee and searching the web. Sandrine sits in front of her laptop screen. Duncan figures that she's just playing angry birds or something of the sort, because her expression is facile and her eyes are weary. She takes a long sip of her coffee. He walks up behind her and she doesn't move a muscle. Surprisingly, she's actually doing her job. She has a file open, something involving Dr. Sanders's work schedule, and is sending it over to Duncan's computer.
"Hey," he pats her on the back. "Great job."
She slurps down the remaining drops of her coffee, and proceeds to pour herself some more. Duncan watches her, a pleased looked spreading across his face. Well, at least she's not entirely useless.
Duncan sees Ellen approach the stairway. She looks frightened. She probably thinks that someone's going to pop out and shoot her at any moment, and she isn't wrong for thinking it. Duncan's held a gun to her head on more than one occasion, both times being utterly serious. He could've really shot her. She knows that.
She believes that someone she loves is going to die. She may or may not be correct. It all depends on how she chooses to cooperate. So far she hasn't been doing the most amicable job.
He'll give her time to work on that. Not too much time, though.
"I see you've been wearing Brian's bathrobe," Ellen comments, crossing her arms as she glares at him.
"It's quite comfortable, actually," he says, trying to reduce his hand movement. He resorts to placing them behind his back, pretending to stretch a bit. Real smooth, Duncan.
"He loved that robe," she says with a shake of her head. She shoots Duncan a look, her eyes full of pure hatred. She steps away from him, obviously trying to regain her composure. Her hands are shaking, too.