Chapter 9
Hours later – perhaps a few, perhaps more, she couldn't be sure - Erica stirred. Her head and her face ached and throbbed in pain. She blinked and realized that she was staring at the same ceiling again. Sobs welled in her chest at the last memory she had before being drugged again. She fought them back as she tried to shift herself into a seated position. She realized in horror then that both of her wrists were handcuffed to the wooden bed frame. She pulled frantically at the handcuffs but only managed to hurt her wrists and hands in the process.
When she realized that her dress and undergarments were still intact and apparently untouched, the tears she'd been fighting finally slipped down her cheeks. Her emotions were a swirling mess of relief and fear: relief that she hadn't been raped or hurt even worse, and fear that before this ordeal was all over, she would be.
Jonathan had placed a pillow or two under her head before handcuffing her to the bed, so her head was elevated enough that she could look around. She raised her left leg slightly and tried to focus her vision on her ankle. It looked worse than it had before, and it ached as well. Clearly running with an injured ankle hadn't been a great idea.
She closed her eyes again and thought back to the last few days, the last hours when her life had been more or less okay. Not perfect, it was never perfect, but it had been okay. She was married to Jack, and they had a beautiful home together, his Christmas gift to her. He was raising his teenaged children and focusing on his law practice, and her career had taken a new and fabulous turn with her television show "New Beginnings." Admittedly, she'd prefer it if Bianca and her sweet baby Miranda would move back home to Pine Valley, and it would be nice if Kendall could get over some of her own insecurities and settle down with a decent man, someone other than Zach Slater. And, well, if she was being completely honest, she could do without Greenlee in her life, but now that the widow Lavery was expecting, even Greenlee had mellowed and become more tolerable. Jack had reconciled himself to the idea of grandparenthood, and Erica, who'd been on Ryan's side in the constant 'Jack versus Ryan' fights that seemed to crop up frequently before his death, was admittedly happy for her stepdaughter, as long as no one expected this baby to refer to her as 'Grandma.'
Jack had offered to drive her to her meeting at the Valley Inn. Why hadn't she let him? She could have prepped for her meeting there and then called the car service to take her to the studio. She could have spent that time with him, and she'd have been safe with him when Kinder showed up on her doorstep.
Jack must be frantic by now. She had no idea what time it was, but she'd been gone at least all day and into the night. Surely Jack had alerted the police by now. They had to be searching for her by now. He'd never rest until he found her – she was certain of that. He was smart, smarter than Jonathan, and he'd surely figure out that Jonathan had kidnapped her, and he'd come for her. If she could just hold on for a few more hours, a few more days at most, Jack would rescue her, and she'd be safe in his arms again. She was sure of it.
