A/N.. No guys, I'm not dead! Haha. Hope everyone enjoys the newest instalment.

Chapter 4 –Secrets Revealed

It had taken her every ounce of self restraint to not try for another escape. She had been sure, later, if she had done it, it would've worked. The way Jackson had held her when he had dragged her throughout the house to find the missing card had filled her with disgust –she kept imagining how his hands had been there before, on her arms, her stomach, her most intimate places. And she hadn't even been able to do anything about it at the time.

The most cruel thing about it was, she still couldn't help but dream about him. It was some sort of sick and twisted mind game it seemed he had played on her, because whatever she did, she still dreamed about him. After three years, she still did. And every dream was the same. He would be making love to her. In her dreams he was so different, in her dreams he was loveable. Likeable. Was it just her mind trying to block out that Jackson was in fact capable of doing something so bad as raping her? Or did she just not want to believe it? Why was she so surprised, anyway? Was it really worse than knocking her out cold and trying to kill her? Why?

Why, why, why, why… why…?

Stars started to swim in front of Lisa's eyes and she gently massaged her temples with her fingers. She had to start by calming down if she ever wanted to get out of there.

She'd never believed Jackson to be a rapist. A cruel man, yes. But also calculating and professional. And let's not forget rational. But someone who took their pleasure out of forcing themselves on harmless women? No.

Even if someone had come up to her to tell her that on the red eye flight, she wouldn't have believed it. Even after all of his terrorizing actions, she had been convinced he would stay professional about the job. Just get it over with, as he had mentioned in not so many words so many times before. It seemed it had been her greatest naivety to hold that thought and live by it.

Of course Jackson was nothing better than the rapist. Why would he be, anyway? What did he have to lose, really, if you looked at it from his point of view? Nothing. If they ever found out about the rape, it wouldn't even matter, anyway. The police was already looking for him and he would be locked up in no time for the rest of his life if they found him. No rape could make his punishment worse. Lisa was sure of that.

In the meantime though she had to put up with him while he worked out his little plan of terrorizing her. If she just knew what kind of stupid card he was talking about she could find a way to escape. She was sure she would catch him off guard long enough when she handed him the card. A triumphant feeling washed over her. Wouldn't it be great if she was able to do that… to outsmart him. But how in the world would she be able to find this card with his eyes watching her 24-7? Lisa closed her eyes in defeat. There was no possibility. He had shown her before that no matter how hard she tried he would still be able to get her to stumble and fall. She was at his mercy.

A flicker of light came through the keyhole of the closed door. Lisa had been locked up in her own basement after Jackson had thrown an angry fit when he'd finally realized she really didn't have the business card he was so intend on finding. She had been there for three hours now, and he had showed up only once to offer her lunch. She wasn't really grieving about that. It gave her more time to think about a new plan. Her mind would go into debate mode, and the process would keep on repeating itself:

-Oh My God what am I to do?

- Jesus Christ calm down Lisa. Do you want him to get a chance to rape you again?

- No, no, please no. I will never get out of here. I will never-

- Shut. Up. You won't if you keep on whining. Now get your scrawny ass up from this nasty floor and start

looking for a way out.

- No, he will hear me and then I will be in even more trouble.

- More trouble? How do you see that, really? More trouble than being locked up and raped? Things cannot get any worse, Lisa. Now please listen to the rational part of your brain. Thank you.

- Ok. I will. I will get out of here.

- Yes, finally.

- But…. How?

And again she would end up with asking herself the first question. Her thinking was going in circles. She would panic, and calm down. Be emotional, then rational. Be scared, then determined. And if Jackson didn't show up any time soon which would force her to make a decision she would go crazy from analyzing every detail and every way her plan in the making could go wrong.

In the end it seemed she'd fallen asleep because when she woke up she found herself sprawled out on the hard concrete floor, the light coming from under the door so bright it was almost unnatural.

Lisa thought about life for a moment. If you thought about it people didn't really have much time to live. To actually do the things they wanted to do. Most of their lives they were busy with getting themselves to the point where they've reached their goals; living life how they wanted to live it. But then, before they knew it, life would be over. People lived their lives too much like it was never going to end. They wasted so much time. With everything. With work, hesitating on difficult matters, thinking twice when they shouldn't, not thinking twice when they should, it was almost unbearable to think about. But since Lisa had nothing physical to do, her brain worked itself into a stupor to make up for the lack of physical activity.

When she took it to her own life; she realized to her own disappointment she had been the same. Always looking back on the past. With the rape, with her job, her parents' divorce. If she ever got out of this alive she would make drastic changes and actually start living by her grandmothers' advice.

And then the door opened to reveal a dishevelled Jackson standing in the doorway. His hair was all messy and his eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep. As she took in his appearance she also realized he was still wearing the same clothes from, what was it.. yesterday? The day before yesterday? Lisa absolutely had no concept of time.

He stood there for several moments when Lisa realized she really wanted to know how much time had gone by. And if he wasn't going to start by saying something, she definitely would.

"What time is it?"

That line was the first one she'd spoken in quite a while, so the roughness of her voice got Jackson's attention immediately when it seemed he'd totally forgotten what he went to visit Lisa for.

"It's 8 in the evening. You've been here for about 14 hours."

Lisa was used to Jackson's voice being quite emotionless, but this time it was down right robot like. She gave a great sigh as Jackson took one step forward to grab her by the arm.

"So, what happens now?"

Jackson stopped his actions for a moment and it finally seemed he was really looking at her, like she was there and not like he was in some dream world. He inhaled and eyed her warily.

"Well, as it seems you turned out to be true to your word for once, you are going to help me find a way to find this business card."

Though Lisa'd never thought she would think this, but Jackson was getting quite predictable. Which was a good sign for her. She thought she'd found a good way to get out of this hellhole right when he breathed the last word of the sentence. Yes, she had found a way to escape.

"Okay Jackson. Let's give it a try. What's your plan?"

The emotionless Jackson from just a few seconds ago had turned surprised all of sudden as he turned around to twist her arm as if trying to make her start struggling or fighting against him.

"I see you are finally learning something."

Lisa grimaced from the tight grip he had on her arm, not to mention the unnatural way her arm was now held.

"Well, what do you want me to say, huh? If I ask those questions I'm stupid. If I don't you twist my arm. What could I ever do to satisfy you!"

Lisa screamed the last words as she managed to break free from his grasp. This seemed to satisfy Jackson, however. His eyes had a mischievous gleam in them as he spoke.

"That, is quite an interesting question you ask me there, Leese. What could you do to satisfy me? Hmm… is there even a way for you to satisfy me? What do you think? You think there is something hidden inside of you that could satisfy me?"

Lisa realized where this was going even before she heard his voice.

Satisfy.

S-a-t-i-s-f-y.

Why was she being so thoughtless around this man? Hadn't she learned by now she couldn't afford to be this careless where Jackson was concerned?

Nothing happened when Lisa thought he was definitely going to act on that last spoken sentence. Instead a heavy tension filled the air, and she was getting tired of being jerked around with no positive future perspective whatsoever. So Lisa was going to end this surreal situation right there and right then.

"Well, Jackson. What are you waiting for. Are you going to take me upstairs with you or not? I want to get this over with. In fact, I'm sick and tired of sitting here being your obedient little dog."

Lisa was quite satisfied with herself. Jackson had 'hmmphed' and had taken her upstairs -still not without hurting her, though- and had sat her down on the couch. He'd told her for about four times that everything was locked and she wouldn't be able to escape so he wouldn't advise her to try, and only when she finally screamed "fine!" he shut up and hadn't said anything else ever since.

He'd prepared some food for them both and had given her some new clothes to wear for he wasn't going to let her leave any time soon –that was for sure. When she asked him where he had gotten those clothes he hadn't given her an answer, in fact, it had almost seemed like he was ignoring her. It made her wonder; was it because she was somehow invading his personal space now? Wasn't he able to handle her sharp remarks? Or was he just tying the last loose ends together for his plan?

She was still unsure of what this plan was for now, though she was also sure he wasn't going to keep it from her for much longer. He had to find this business card and all the time they spent in her apartment bickering would be risking the fact that the police would find his card even more.

Lisa took the last bite from her chicken sandwich and wiped her mouth clean with a napkin when she spotted Jackson's wallet lying on the salon table. Her eyes flew from left to right to see if Jackson hadn't returned from the bathroom yet and when she found he was nowhere in sight her eyes were drawn to the wallet once again. Could she take the risk? Or was it some trap?

But what if he walks in when I am just taking a look?

Again Lisa's curiosity won the battle and she stood up slowly, silently making her way over to the table. She was only one step away from said table when she heard the toilet flush and a sound of a door being opened.

Shit, shit, shit, shit.

Afterwards she wasn't sure how she did it, but when Jackson appeared in doorway of the living room only seconds later, Lisa was sitting on the couch, legs tucked into the cushions and her hand just reaching out to put her empty plate on the floor.

"Well, finally, Leese, the moment has arrived where I reveal the plan I have been working on for ages."

Jackson smiled in a smug kind of way, made a gesture that Lisa made some room for him to sit down and when she didn't, grabbed her legs and put them back down on the floor.

"You need to realize the importance of your presence in this task, Leese. This isn't the same as putting an arrogant costumer back in their place. This is the real deal."

Lisa didn't break the stare to make him realize she was up for it. After all, she was going to escape this time. Too bad poor Jackson didn't know it yet.

"First we're going to visit my boss. Today I've heard that they're willing to speak with me again, so I'm gonna go there and make sure that they know I'm still interested. Of course you are coming with me. I'll tell you the rest when we've finished talking to my boss."

Lisa's insecurity hit her once again. She'd forgotten there was a whole organisation behind him. How was she ever going to outwit them to escape? Before she'd only thought of escaping from Jackson, now she realized she had to escape from the whole organisation.

She was going to ask him why he wasn't telling her right then what they were going to do next when she suddenly realized they'd also left him rot in prison. Why take him back then?

"But why in the hell did they leave you rot in prison then Jackson?"

Jackson eyed Lisa as if she'd just asked him something incredibly stupid.

"Tsk. Tsk. Leese. I already knew you weren't the most intelligent person, but come on now."

When Lisa didn't answer Jackson faked a surprise and spoke once again,

"You really can't figure that out yourself? Oh, well. Let me tell you then. It's simple really. They just thought it was far too risky. They tried it once before, you know, the first time I visited you after your date with Joe? The police almost found out about the organisation right then when they tried to track me down so I had to turn myself in once again. Of course they just pretended they had caught me, not to damage their reputation, those cocky bastards. As if they could ever catch Jackson Rippner if he isn't willing to get caught,"

He paused for a moment, a triumphant look on his face and caught up in his own arrogance.

"So. Now you know. Now, what I want you to do before we go. You just go and put on some of those nice clothes I bought you, hmm? Wouldn't want you looking like a homeless girl in those dirty clothes you're wearing right now."

Lisa took a glance at her reflection in the window and realized Jackson was right. She was definitely not looking nice at all. The whole mention of the organisation had made Lisa downright depressed and so she tried one more time to trick Jackson.

"You know, I have to let my dad know where I am. He will be worried."

A this time genuinely surprised expression fell over Jackson's face when she said this.

"Wow, Leese. I would never have thought you think so lowly of me that I wouldn't even know your father died 3 years ago."

Lisa immediately turned away from his penetrating gaze. A feeling of shame washed over her. That had been downright disrespectful towards her father. But then again, she had to try everything to get out of this place. When she thought this she suddenly thought of Joe, the man that had been her boyfriend for the past three years. He would be looking for her. He would. She hadn't even thought about him since Jackson had made her life a chaos just a few hours ago.

He cared for her like no one else had done since her father had died. He had helped her through that difficult period in her life, he had always been there for her. A tear rolled down her cheek when she considered the possibility she might never even see him again. If Jackson's plan turned out to fail, she could easily be killed. Even when she didn't know the full version of his plan yet, she just knew it was a dangerous plan. If it wasn't because of the fact that danger couldn't be avoided then it would be just because Jackson had a fetish for danger.

"I'm just going to pack a few things for you and then we leave."

When he was out of sight Lisa's eyes immediately fell on the wallet once again. What if there was something in there she could use against him?

She made no effort in being silent this time as she made her way over to her own salon table once again. Why the hell did she have her telephone in the hall, anyway? Then she wouldn't even have to worry about the damn wallet and just call the police. But it seemed the whole lay of her apartment was now working against her. First the bathroom window, now the telephone. She sighed and tentatively took the wallet from the table. Half expecting it to explode when someone else but Jackson opened it, she kept it at arms length and looked inside. She found one photo there, it was a photo of Jackson and another guy. Somewhat surprised Lisa smiled faintly and took a closer look at the picture. Jackson and the man were in the garden, both sitting on a plastic chair and holding a beer in their hands. Jackson wasn't smiling, but Lisa could tell from his expression he didn't mind the arm around his shoulders at all. Lisa's eyes fell on the man sitting next to Jackson, and blinked a few times.

No. This is not true. My eyes are deceiving me. Please, God, let it not be true.

And everything suddenly fell into place. Lisa remembered Jackson mentioning Joe, and just now realized she'd never even thought of how weird it was that he knew Joe's name.

Sitting next to Jackson was Joe, the man that had been her boyfriend for three years, smiling like he wasn't sitting right next to the very man that had terrorized his girlfriend in the most horrible ways for five horrible years.