With a groan Nikki awoke and rolled over on the uncomfortable mattress. Still only half awake her hand failed several times to find her watch which lay nearby on top of her stack of clean clothes which she had arranged the previous night. Finally she located it and saw much to her surprise that she had slept all the way through to morning. Next her attention went to her bound and gagged prisoner who sat only a few feet away, from the chest down covered in cuts and her own dried blood. Stephanie was also awake but she had apparently not been making any noise during the night. The threat of another round with the razor blade must have taken care of that problem. "Jesus, fuck," Nikki moaned as she stood, the pain from her ribs was quite intense.

"Look on the bright side Steph, whatever happens today you won't be sitting there in pain this time tomorrow," she said pleasantly as she began to dress in a deliberately cheap and nondescript outfit of jeans and a dark red hoodie. She looked like exactly what she needed to look like today; a nobody. "You'll either be in a hospital getting fixed up or you'll be dead. Depends on your husband huh?"

There was no attempted response from Stephanie who stared ahead blankly. "Are you listening to me? Don't start being ignorant now. I just said you might be seeing Paul later." Again there was no response so Nikki clicked her fingers a couple of times in front of Stephanie's face. No response. "Oh," Nikki grinned at the realisation, "That's why I got such a good sleep. We're back there again huh? This was when you used to need your step-mom Nikki to come help you, right? You'd shut down but step-mom Nikki would be there for you. Well I know you can still hear me you little bitch. Nikki is still here and she wants to find out if you really fake these little shut downs. Shall we do that? Huh?"

Again Nikki clicked her fingers in front of Stephanie but there was response apart from the regular blinking of her eyes. "Fine, have it your way." Nikki picked up the blood covered razor blade from nearby and showed it to Stephanie. "You can still hear and that means you can still feel pain, yes? I do hope so." With that Nikki made another long cut along the top side of Stephanie's right forearm. "Ohhh," Nikki purred. "That was a good one, that must fucking hurt? Damn, I wish all day to have fun but I have things to do. Sit still and I'll be back soon." Nikki hurried from the basement leaving Stephanie motionless and with yet more of her blood dripping onto the already stained concrete floor.


When Nikki returned to the basement she looked different because her hair was now blonde. "Say hi to Gemma Bradley, Steph. That's right, Gemma is a blonde and today she's going to Dubai. Well, either that or she's coming back here and cutting your throat but hey, let's hope for the best from Paul huh?" Now, I was just thinking upstairs and I realised that telling you about my Gemma Bradley false identity was stupid and I'm sorry to say that it means that you won't be going anywhere today. I can't have someone rescuing you and then you telling them to detain anyone using the name Gemma Bradley at an airport now can I? Of course not. So, here's the new plan. If Paul gets me my money I'll mail him a letter with this address on it. Maybe he'll get it tomorrow or maybe it'll be the next day. I don't give a fuck honestly because I'll be long gone. Well, this is it Steph. We'll likely never see each other again."

For a moment Nikki paused and then feigned disappointment. "What? You're not even going to try to say goodbye? You're not going to wish me the best? No manners some people. Come on, I'll be extra nice and let you finish this bottle of water before I go." It took several moments for Nikki to remove Stephanie's gag but when she did there was still no response from the older woman. "Fine then," Nikki sighed, "Just drink." She tipped the water into Stephanie's mouth, some of it was swallowed and some poured down Stephanie's chin and chest and then onto the floor. "Right, enough with wasting time. I have to get out of here." Nikki replaced the gag just as tightly as it had been tied before and left without another word.

Forty five minutes later Nikki had driven far enough away from Stephanie's location and had called her old friend who had helped her to set up this operation. He would by now have in turn called his contact and told him to be ready to transfer the money from the account that Paul would be wiring it to, take out the agreed upon cuts and forward the rest to a secure account overseas for Nikki to access as and when she wanted to. Now it was time for the moment of truth and her heart was racing as she pulled her car over to the side of the road in another remote location. It was time to call Paul for hopefully the final time so she took out a cell phone and called the one number which was saved in its memory. The phone rang several times which was surprising but not as surprising as the voice which eventually answered the call, "Nicole, it's Brie."

It had been a year since Nikki had spoken to her sister and she missed her badly. The sound of Brie's voice instantly brought tears to hear eyes and her voice faltered, "Brie? Oh Brie. I've missed you so much. Why are you on Paul's phone?"

"I miss you too Nicole and I want you to come home," Brie said gently. "I know that you're not on your meds and that you're not in control of what you're doing right now. Please, let Stephanie go and come home or bring Steph back here. You don't want to be doing this and if you come here and bring Stephanie back safely we can help you."

At that moment Nikki's expression hardened and with it Paul's plan failed because Nikki sensed betrayal. Yet again someone had betrayed her. "Oh Brie, even you'll stab me in the back huh? What is it with everyone? Well, it's not going to work. Get Paul on the phone now or Stephanie's dead I swear to God I'll kill her."

Paul's voice came through so quickly that the phone must have been on speaker. "Don't do it Nikki, don't you fucking hurt my wife."

"Get me my fucking money!" Nikki screamed as loudly as she could, her composure totally deserting her. "Wire the money right now or she's fucking dead!"

"I want proof that she's alive!" Paul screamed back.

Nikki tried desperately to regain herself, realising that losing control now could see her carefully constructed plan fall apart, "Fine. Fine, you'll get your proof and I'll give you one hour. The money or your precious fucking wife, you decide." With that she ended the call and quickly sent the two pictures of Stephanie to Paul's number. She knew that the cops would have traced the call so she hurled the phone out of the car's window and drove away.

"Nikki's not a killer Paul," Brie said gently as she touched his arm in an attempt to reassure him. He had just ended the call and looked like he was about to have a stroke at any second, his face was bright red with anger and he was literally shaking. "She's acting crazy I know but one thing she's not capable of is murder, trust me," Brie continued. "Send her the money and she'll let Steph go, I'm sure of it."

At that moment Paul's phone beeped and then quickly beeped again. Two pictures had been delivered. He opened the first one and stared for a moment in horror at the image before dropping the phone and rushing from the room into the kitchen. Brie picked up the phone and looked at the picture herself as she heard the sounds of Paul being sick coming through from the kitchen followed by the sound of a glass object breaking. "Oh Nikki, what the hell have you done?" She breathed as she fought off her own wave of nausea. The image showed Stephanie tied to a chair, covered in blood and she had cuts all over her stomach and sides.

"Let me have that," the detective in charge of the police detail demand and held his hand out for the phone. Brie handed it over and the guy looked at it as Paul walked back into the room, his voice breaking due to a combination of shock, devastation and rage, "She's fucking butchered her. Look at what she's done to her for fuck's sake. I'm sending the money, I'm sending it right now. We've got to get her out of there."

"Paul," The detective spoke up, "I have to be the one to tell you that these pictures don't prove that your wife is alive. They could have been taken yesterday. If you send the money it doesn't guarantee that we're going to find her alive. I have to tell you that."

Paul swallowed deeply to clear the lump in his throat, "I know. Don't you think I know that? I don't give a fuck about the money, I'm sending it and I have to hope to God that Steph's alive and that Nikki tells me where to find her. It's all I can do."

"She's alive Paul, Nikki's not a killer," Brie insisted delicately.

"Look what she's fucking done!" Paul screamed as he pointed at the phone.

"I know. I know Paul, it's disgusting and it's awful and it makes me sick too but I'm telling you, Steph is alive. I believe that, I really do. Nikki could not kill someone. She's my sister, I know her." Paul squeezed his eyes together as tightly as he could and took several deep breaths. When he spoke again it was a little more calmly. "I'm sending the money. Nikki's going to call back and tell me where Steph is. That's what's going to happen."

The detective spoke after a brief pause. "Paul, if Brie is so sure that her sister is not capable of murder you could consider calling her bluff and refusing to send the money."

"Fuck that," Paul growled, "And fuck the money. I don't give a shit about it, I just want Steph away from that psycho bitch before anything else can happen to her. I'm sending the money and that's final."


Waiting for an hour to go by had been torture for Nikki, she was so close to getting her money but yet it still had not actually happened. If Paul decided to act the hero now then it could still all fall apart even at this late stage. What if the stupid cops talked him out of sending the money somehow? What if they did not believe that she would actually kill Stephanie and they convinced him to call her bluff? That was probably what fucking Brie was telling them. Her own sister of all people, in the same house as that bastard Paul, taking his side on this thing. It would be good to get away and forget about everyone and everything that she was leaving behind. The hour was up, it was time to call Paul.

"Money!" Was her simple, angry demand when the call was answered.

"I've sent your fucking money," Paul growled. "Now where's Steph? Tell me Nikki, now."

"I'm afraid that won't be happening. I'll be checking that my money is really there now and if it is I'll mail you the address where you can find her. If the money isn't there then you just killed you wife."

"Wait!" She heard Paul yell but she once more hurled the phone out of the car's window and drove away. There was only one more call to make and she could use her own phone for that. A couple of minutes later after making her final call the wave of emotion that she was riding was like nothing she had experienced before. She had done it. The money was hers. Her genius plan had played out perfectly and now all that she had to do was mail the address of the apartment to Paul and then get the hell out of the country. Just one final hurdle to get over and she would be in the clear.