"Remember girls, nice and quiet please when we go in," Anna kindly reminded the three children as they walked the small distance from her car to the front door, "Your mom has a headache and Lulu is asleep so no running around or shouting okay?"
"Can we watch TV straight away?" Aurora tried her luck.
"Usually I would say that you have to change first as you well know but if your mom is upstairs sleeping you can watch TV straight away just this once."
Vaughn bounced excitedly up the steps to the door, "Yay! Cartoons!"
"I'm choosing," Aurora began crossly before Anna chastised them both gently, "Shush now. That's too loud." She unlocked the door and led the children into the silent house. She had been afraid of the possibility of coming home to find Luisa crying and Stephanie unable to deal with her due to her own problems, whatever they were now. It had been very tempting to take the baby with her but the combination of the fact that she was settled and asleep and that it would offend Stephanie had made her decide against it. Hopefully Stephanie had taken her upstairs and they were both asleep by now. Anna was no expert on mental health issues but she had been told enough to know that all of Stephanie's problems resulted from the loss of her mother more than a year ago and the poor woman was plainly still struggling. It must have really hit her unbelievably hard.
The children took off their coats and handed them to Anna so that she could hang them up near the door without being asked. Anna smiled, most of the time these three were the sweetest and most well behaved girls she had ever worked with. Clearly Paul and Stephanie had been very good parents until Stephanie's problems had started. They still were good parents but it was just a lot tougher for them now.
"Lulu's asleep. Can we still watch TV?" Vaughn whispered from the doorway of the living room as Anna finished hanging her own coat. She walked swiftly over there, silently chastising Stephanie for going upstairs to sleep and leaving Luisa alone downstairs. What was she thinking? "You can put it on but very quietly."
Anna checked on Luisa who was still sound asleep and then she evicted the dog from the couch. He knew that he was not allowed on the furniture. Deciding that she really should check on Stephanie in case she needed a doctor Anna walked back into the hallway intending to head upstairs but at that moment her brain processed something. When she had parked her car on the driveway just now it had been empty. Stephanie's car was not there.
"My god Stephanie," she whispered. She had gone somewhere and left Luisa alone. Unless the car had been stolen of course. Anna made sure that this unlikely scenario was not the case by checking upstairs and sure enough Stephanie was gone. This was too much, anything could have happened to the baby. Stephanie was out of control and the only thing Anna could do was call Paul. Maybe he could talk some sense into his wife or even come home himself?
Paul was doing what he enjoyed most as the disaster unfolded thousands of miles away. It was evening in England and Smackdown was in progress. Producing a live show was always one of the highlights of his week and this had been no exception. The crowd was wild as they always were in England and the show was going well. Despite missing his family and worrying about Stephanie he had managed not to focus on it. He would be heading home the next day anyway and if Stephanie was still struggling she could take more time off work. He noticed his phone flashing on the desk in front of him so he picked it up to see who was calling. Anna. Why would she be calling? Not for anything good that was for sure. "I need to take this call," he announced to the rest of the guys in the office as he removed his headset and headed for the door and answered the call before voice mail could do the job for him.
"Anna? Everything okay?"
The voice sounded a little unsure on what to say, "Uh... sorry to call you when you're away Paul but it's Stephanie."
Paul closed his eyes, "What's happened? Are the headaches bad again?"
"Well yeah, she came home from the office early with a headache..."
Assuming that this was the entire problem Paul cut in, "Oh no. Is she okay now? Tell her to go to bed..."
Anna took her turn to cut in, "Paul just listen please. I left Stephanie and Luisa at home when I went to fetch the girls from school but when I came back Stephanie was gone. Her car is gone. She left Luisa home alone and I don't know where she is. I know you can't do much from England but maybe like, call her or something?"
As Anna had passed on the news Paul's heart sank. Really, they were going back there again after so long? After all of the therapy, all of the marriage counselling and all of the help and support that Paul had given her Stephanie had gone off the rails again after just a few days. It seemed that this was never going to end. "I'll call her now Anna. Are the girls okay?"
"Everyone's fine Paul, apart from Stephanie apparently. I'll let you go."
"Okay bye." Paul ended the call and immediately called Stephanie. "Fuck," he breathed as voice mail picked up without the phone ringing. She had gone missing and her phone was off. A potential disaster was unfolding. If this was anything like before she could be anywhere. Anna had said that she had taken her car and Paul would have made a bet that she was in no condition to drive. His heart began to beat faster and he exclaimed to the empty hallway, "Why Steph? I'm coming home tomorrow god damn it."
Further calls to family and friends turned up nothing but everyone promised to call him immediately if they heard anything from Stephanie. It would not help him to locate Stephanie as he had no clue where she could have gone but he decided to head home immediately. If nothing else he would be there for the girls when they started to ask questions. Who knew, Stephanie could show up back at home at any moment. The phone could ring at any second with Stephanie's name flashing at him. Soon Paul was at the airport and boarding the jet to head home, but head home to what? As the plane took to the air he found himself mumbling, "Come on Steph, don't do this. Just come home."
There was nothing in the world that Stephanie wanted more than to be safely at home but instead she was in the trunk of Nikki's car and she was terrified beyond words. Her head was pounding and she felt sick. She had no idea how long she had been lying in the trunk or where she was being taken. The trunk of the car was not separate as it is on some models, instead it was covered with a parcel shelf which meant that when Stephanie had risked trying to cry out through her gag when the car had been stopped, presumably at a red light or something similar Nikki had heard her and shouted a final warning about coming back there and inflicting a very painful death with a kitchen knife. Stephanie was in no doubt that Nikki was serious so since then she had tried to remain as quiet as possible.
Nikki had said that it was pepper spray that she had sprayed in her face. Thankfully it was now beginning to wear off and although her eyes still burned they were no longer full of tears. Breathing was now a little easier although it was still difficult with whatever Nikki had stuffed into her mouth leaving her nose as the only available option. These were the only small positives of what was the scariest situation that Stephanie had ever been in. How could this happen twice? Twice in her life she had been kidnapped. The first time she had managed to talk her way out of it but she was under no illusions, this was going to be an altogether different situation. Nikki Bella was sick and god only knew what her intentions were. She had been talking about Paul paying her money but what would happen when he did? Stephanie had no doubt that Paul would pay whatever Nikki demanded if she was not somehow rescued first but would Nikki really let her go when she got the money? She doubted it and that was the most terrifying thought of all. The likelihood was that she was not going to live through this.
The desperate attempts she had made to free her wrists had been fruitless and had only increased the pain that the rope or whatever it was caused as it bit into her skin. The realisation began to sink in that there were only three ways to come out of this and only two of them involved being alive. The only ways to survive would be if Paul paid the money and Nikki let her go which she had already decided was unlikely or the other way would be to wait until Nikki got to wherever she was going and then try to get her to take the gag out of her mouth so that they could talk. If she could at least talk to Nikki maybe there would be a chance but what could she say? What would possibly convince the psychotic woman to let her go? Offering money would not work as Nikki was demanding money already. Stephanie willed her mind to come up with something but all she got in return was the terrible pounding in her head. Thoughts of Paul and the girls came to her as she desperately tried to avoid crying. Not only would the noise enrage Nikki but it could also block her nose and leave her unable to breathe. Had she already seen her family for the last time? It really was likely to be true, she would never see any of them again. Despite her best attempts she began to cry hopelessly.
Nikki had not really expected Stephanie to remain silent throughout the journey as panic would inevitably take over but she had hoped that the repeated threats would do the job. Judging by the crying and struggling sounds coming from the trunk this was clearly not the case. Murdering Stephanie was not something that Nikki wanted to do but it was a better option than getting caught. If Stephanie really wanted to force her hand then she would do it. She could still call Paul and claim to have Stephanie alive as a hostage if in reality she was dead. She would be the one in control of the so called negotiations after all. Maybe giving Stephanie one more absolutely final warning would be fair?
Two minutes later Nikki saw an entrance to a dirt track at the side of the road. Presumably it led to some farmers fields or something but the important thing was that it would be deserted. She pulled the car into it and drove far enough from the road so that no passing motorists would be able to see her car through the trees. She parked the car but left the engine running just in case a quick escape was necessary for some reason. After removing the large kitchen knife from her bag she popped the trunk and walked slowly around to the back of the car. The pepper spray would have worn off by now and Stephanie would be able to see the knife quite clearly. The sight of it's huge blade would terrify her for sure. As Nikki opened the trunk Stephanie immediately started protesting desperately into her gag and wriggling around, exactly what she was not supposed to be doing. Her eyes were already wide with fear as she stared up at her captor before Nikki ordered, "Shut up!"
The order was obeyed but Stephanie continued to stare at Nikki with her wide, terrified eyes. Perfect. Nikki reverted to her soothing voice, "I didn't want to do this. I really didn't but I told you if you didn't stay quiet I would have to. I didn't want to kill you." She raised the knife so that Stephanie could see it and immediately she started attempting to scream, clearly believing Nikki that these were the final seconds of her life. Nikki leaned down and touched the knife to Stephanie's throat for a long moment with the pressure causing a mark to appear in the skin. The muffled noises now coming from Stephanie were clearly attempts to beg for her life. Theatrically Nikki closed her eyes as if trying to make a decision before sighing, "I'm too good to you Steph. That's been my problem all along honestly." She moved the knife so that the tip of it was touching Stephanie's nose, "Focus on this knife Stephanie. Focus on it."
Again the order was obeyed with more panicked moans and Stephanie's eyes crossed slightly as they focussed on the long blade that could so easily take her life from her. "Good," Nikki continued softly, "Now this is the absolute last time I'm going to warn you. If I hear one more sound of any kind from you before the end of this journey I will use this knife to cut your throat from ear to ear. Is that understood?"
The response was only a nod as Stephanie was now silent. "Good. Now, you've been doing a lot of struggling so let me check your wrists. Now! Roll over!" Stephanie did as she was told and Nikki checked that her wrists were still as tightly secured as they had been at the start of the journey. Some kind of bruising or rope burns had started to appear on Stephanie's wrists so Nikki chastised her, "You're only hurting yourself you silly girl. Your wrists are all bruised, that must be painful. Just stay still and things will be so much better. Now let me check your gag." Stephanie rolled over to lie on her back again and Nikki checked that the cloth was still secured just as tightly between her teeth and sure enough it was. Stephanie's struggling with it and attempting to bite her way through it had only succeeded in making the material damp.
"Hmmmmm mmmmmm!"
More pathetic protests and Stephanie's eyes were flicking from Nikki's own and then downwards, clearly attempting to indicate that she wanted Nikki to remove the gag. She wanted to talk. "You must be joking, right? That's staying in your mouth until we get home. Maybe then we'll see what happens but until then you lie there and shut the fuck up." With that the trunk was slammed shut and a few seconds later the car was moving again.
Despite the terrible situation she was in Stephanie felt relief washing over her even though the awful pounding in her head continued, if anything worse than ever. The pain was becoming unbearable and she knew it was a result of anxiety, hardly surprising as she had just been a second away from being killed before Nikki had a change of heart. She had felt the steel cutting into her throat and had been certain that she was about to die but no, she was still alive and staying alive was all that mattered until this ordeal came to an end. She had learned two things from the exchange; firstly Nikki was undoubtedly willing to kill her if she continued to make her angry and secondly they were heading to Nikki's home. Surely Nikki would not kill her in her own home? That would be stupid. It gave Stephanie a very slight lift and she decided to do as Nikki said and stop struggling as it was achieving nothing and had already almost gotten her killed. When they got to their destination hopefully things would improve. You can be home safely in a couple of days Nikki had said back in the hallway at home. Maybe it was really true.
