In moments, Dubaku was back at my side, holding a leather belt in his hands. " I need you to tell me where you put the money and jewels," he told me.

"What money and jewels?" I wanted to know, trying to act innocent. Of course I knew where they were. After getting so many different expensive gifts from David, along with large sums of money, Tony had wisely suggested I opening a separate savings account for the cash and get a safe-deposit box for the jewels, especially since they were too grand for me to wear to any parties I attended.

"Ms. Emerson, I know that you have a safe-deposit box that you opened not to long ago. I need you to get the jewels and money out of it," Dubaku insisted.

"I don't have any idea what you're talking about," I lied, trying to at least look like I was telling the truth.

Dubaku shook his head, stood up, and walked into the bathroom. I heard him turning the bathtub faucet on, but none of it made sense to me. Not until he came into back into the room, yanked me to my feet and began to bind my wrists behind my back with the belt.

When he pushed me into the bathroom and I saw the tub filling up with water, I knew something bad was coming. I'd seen enough movies over the years. Begging, however, wasn't something I was prepared to do.

"You have ten seconds to tell me what the security code to the safe deposit box, or I will make this very unpleasant for you," Dubaku threatened me.

I shook my head. "I'm not telling you anything. You're a terrorist and I've—I've seen what you do to people's lives."

With that said, Dubaku kicked me in the back of the knees and I collapsed next to the tub. With all of his strength, he forced my head under the water. I struggled frantically which caused me to swallow the bathwater. When he pulled me up for a minute, I gasped for breath and tried to cough the water out of my lungs.

"Do you want to tell me now?" he wanted to know.

I shook my head, even though it took all my self-will and strength to do it. If this was what drowning felt like, I never wanted that to happen to me.

For the next half hour, Dubaku continued to torture me in this manner. Finally, he seemed to give up and he left me gasping for air on the bathroom floor. Once again, my mind traveled back to a memory of Tony.

FLASHBACK:

I opened my apartment door to see Tony standing there. He had a jewelry box in his hand this time.

"Hello," I greeted him. "How are you?"

"I'm good," he replied, handing me the velvet box. "Goodnight." He turned to leave, but I caught his arm.

"Wait, Tony!" I took a deep breath. "Would you…do you want to come inside and have something to drink?"

He looked at me hard for a minute. "Sure."

In ten minutes, we were sitting on my sofa, drinking Cokes. Tony was pretty quiet for the most part, but I could tell something was bothering him.

"Is something wrong?" I asked him. "You seem quieter than usual, and you actually came in this time. You've never come into my apartment before, and you've been coming here for a while now."

"My wife died, three years ago today," he finally explained. "I guess I'm feeling a little depressed."

"I'm so sorry, Tony. I had no idea you had been married before." Sympathetically, I reached my hand over and touched his. To my surprise, he took it in his and held it tightly, something I definitely wasn't expecting.

"It was a long time ago," he whispered, leaning closer to me.

I was frozen where I was, right up till his lips touched mine. At that point, I melted against him, letting my empty coke can fall to the floor as my hand slid up his chest and around his neck.

Gently, he eased me back against the sofa cushions, his strong arms around me tightly. I sighed, unable to process exactly what was happening between us. All I knew was that this was one of the best moments of my life."

END FLASHBACK