Chapter 9

"Stay strong, Daddy. Mummy will be here." She whispered as she closed her eyes again and curled into a ball next to him, holding onto his arm. He felt his heart skip a few beats when he looked towards the doorway to see LeBrock standing there with what appeared to be a hooker. Wearing nothing but a small mini-skirt and a tank-top, she dropped her handbag to the floor and dropped her cigarette to the floor before stepping on it.

"Here you go, Darlin', he's all ready for you." He pointed towards Horatio and then closed the door behind him. The scruffy woman stumbled over towards him and flicked her stilettos off. He noticed the needle punctures on her arms and knew she was a drug addict, he also noticed that her pupils were constricted in the dim room, indicating that she'd recently had a dose of her favoured drug. He shook his head while his breathing became more rapid, his heart fluttered in his chest as his mind went into a frenzy.

She began to undress with her head high in the clouds. "No, get dressed!" He yelled in a terror, when suddenly he realised who the woman was; she was a widowed wife of a man he'd shot and killed 2 years back. He remembered the scene where the deceased criminal had butchered young teens and then sent the family a lock of hair of their daughter or son. He recalled shooting the murderer in front of the wife when he picked up a gun and then having the wife restrained when she tried attacking officers.

"No, please don't do this, Rachel, I'm sorry about what happened, but you don't have to do this! I have a wife… a family. Just get dressed!" he begged her while squirming on the bed, trying to get loose of the painful restraints. Despite the desperation in his voice, she continued to remove her underwear before looking at him with a scowl.

"Rachel, please do not do this. Please don't!" He pleaded as he violently tried to break free. He was panicking, he was confused and he didn't know what to do or what to think; this was the worst torment anyone had ever put him through.

The door then opened and LeBrock stalked in to stun Horatio with the taser before gagging him with a dirty cloth. With a blow to the head, his consciousness decreased slightly. But he felt Rachel tear off his ripped boxers when Joe LeBrock made an exit. Shaking his head frantically, Horatio tried to turn onto his side to face away from her but she turned him back and sunk her long nails into his flesh. There was nothing else he could do but shout mumbled words.

"I hope you suffer as much as I did." She growled before she climbed onto the squeaky bed. Turning his head, he looked at Maya who lay still and felt tears escape the corners of his eyes. All thoughts turned to Zoe and his two daughters, believing that Zoe was dead and that his daughters were being tortured along with the impending situation was too much for him. He'd already turned to blaming himself and praying for death to come to him once Rachel's skin touched his.


Once she'd left, Horatio remained still and silent, just staring up at the ceiling with a blank mind. He didn't feel like he was in his own body, he felt as if he was looking down on himself, watching himself. He was broken, torn apart at the seams and unsure what was reality and what was not real. He was not the man he was an hour previously. He was in denial, he was sure it was all a horrific nightmare, but the feeling of being dirty and degraded felt very real. He shook his head as tears once again formed at the corners of his eyes; he'd never felt so disgusting or guilty before.

His entire body was in agony, even blinking had become too much of a task any longer. He just wanted to let go and fall into the light, to never wake up again. The sensation of life slipping through his fingers was a welcomed feeling, he had no intention on fighting.

"Daddy, it's nearly over… I'm so sorry." The angelic voice called quietly, but he didn't even register it, he just stared up at the ceiling. What else did he have to live for? He believed that his family had been taken, that they were no longer alive, and he'd been violated beyond imagination, he didn't want to live on an Earth so cruel any longer. Not even the shrill of his babies via recording brought his attention back to reality.

His body shivered as the cold sweat drenched his body, soaking the mattress below. His wounds stung and throbbed while his soul had been ripped in two. He had no idea how much time had passed, it could have been 5 minutes, it could have been 5 hours, reality around him was falling to pieces and he had no motive to put it back together. Only his family could put it back together.

LeBrock entered the room once more, with a satisfied grin plastered on his face. He had a knife in his hand and was going to end the man he detested so much. He smiled down at the broken man before him, content with the reaction he'd received. Pressing the tip of the knife against Horatio's ribs, he'd planned on killing the Lieutenant slowly and painfully. He wanted Horatio to beg for death as desperately as he begged to have his family.

The blood had stopped oozing or slowed considerably from Horatio's wounds, while his limbs began to turn blue. The pain from the knife didn't even provoke a reaction which aggravated LeBroke immensely.

But, Horatio's mind had taken him elsewhere, he was reminiscing about the previous morning, sending a pleasurable sensation to flood his brain. A smile tugged at his lips as he envisioned both his little girls happily enjoying their bath with Zoe beside him, laughing along. He felt the bubbles in his hands and listened to the cheerful squeal and giggle of the twins when he clapped, dispersing the bubbles everywhere. Laughing himself, he looked into their eyes and felt his heart melt before he turned to his wife and drank in her blissful smile. He was gleeful, warm and at peace, everything he felt when with his family. Placing his arm around Zoe, he looked back to Isobel and Ella, he felt overjoyed and euphoric before everything went black.