Chapter 7: It Rings a Bell
Georgiana knew her brother was away for at least the next two days, probably longer. She could not help feeling vulnerable, she had made terrible decisions in the past and lived in constant fear of firstly, being conned and taken again, secondly, make more and/or worse decisions and finally, disappointing her brother again.
She wandered to the kitchen to see what Mrs. Reynolds was doing, perhaps they could bake something, but there was no-one in the kitchen. A glance out of the kitchen window revealed Mrs. Reynolds in the herb garden, this was something she and her husband had started when they first started worked for Mr. and Mrs. Darcy, just before Georgiana was born. Georgiana's her mother died shortly afterwards from childbirth complications. Anne Darcy should never have fallen pregnant a second time, after giving birth to William the doctors had told Anne Darcy that because she had Factor 5 blood clotting disorder, she had been lucky with the birth of William, a second pregnancy might not go so well. The doctors were right and despite tremendous pressure to have an abortion to save her own life, Anne Darcy refused and carried Georgiana to full term, only to lose her own life days after giving birth to her daughter. George Darcy and William did their best to make sure that Georgiana was well taken care of, despite his crippling grief George Darcy was a wonderful father, he refuse to remarry, Anne had been the love of his life and he had no intention of replacing her, He was quite happy with his two children, albeit lonely without his wife.
Georgiana only knew love from the day she was born, Mrs. Reynolds step up as a mother figure, giving the girl guidance right into her teens, at which point Georgiana pulled away and tried to assert her independence, she was almost an adult after all. Georgiana realized that had she kept her close relationship with Mrs. Reynolds there was no ways George Wickham could have tricked her.
She felt so rebellious and grown up, being George Wickham's girlfriend. She had literally grown up with George; he almost fulfilled the role of another older brother, but then he just left. It was years later, she was leaving her piano lessons when he walk passed the music school, she recognized him and called out to him, Georgina realized now that it was no accident that he walked passed the music school that day. He looked pleased to see her, they talked for a while and he told her how beautiful she had become, just like her mother. That pleased her no end, her mother was a beautiful woman. When she asked him why he left, he said he had to make his own way in the world, that was who he was. He told her that her brother had not been happy with his decision, and they had a bad argument and after he left they never really made up. He advised that it would be best not to mention him to William, he said that his life had been an adventure and he had come quite successful in the global trade industry, something that William did not understand and was quite jealous of, George was a self-made man, he did not just inherit his future, he made it.
Georgiana was not sure she agreed that William was jealous of George, but she was so glad to see him, she just let it slide. After exchanging numbers, they started to see each other regularly, she would lie to Mrs. Reynolds, her husband, and William to see George. Then he suggested they spend the night together, he wanted to book them into a fancy hotel and show her the nightlife. Even at 15 she knew that was not right, and she would not be able to explain that to her brother, or Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds.
But then the field trip came up, the school was planning a field trip to the coast, and it would work out perfectly for them, she would pretend to be sick at the last minute and she could slip away for four days with George, he loved the idea, and helped her plan it right down to changing her emergency contact numbers at the school to be his.
It took some persuading to get her brother to agree to her going on the field trip without Mr. and/or Mrs. Reynolds but eventually he agreed, paid, and completed the consent form. George helped her change the form to show Georges details instead of her brothers in case the school decided to follow up.
On the day of the trip just before the bus was about to depart, Georgiana had run off the bus to the bathrooms and stuck her finger down her throat so that everyone in the bathroom could hear her getting sick. When she came out, she naturally looked pale and red eyed and the teacher in charged phoned her brother, but because they changed the form the call went to George who then arrived 15 minutes later to take "her home".
They had driven to the coast but in the opposite direction of the bus, the school did follow up and George put on his best William Darcy voice to assure them that his sister was getting the best possible care.
At first Georgiana did not suspect a thing, the hotel they went to looked dingy, George looked perplexed and said it had look so classy on the website. They decided to stay the night and look for a better place the next day. When they went down for supper, the dining room was in the pub and halfway through their meal, a friend of Georges saw him and came to sit with them. He made Georgiana so uncomfortable, the way he looked at her and spoke to her, she was pretty some of his comments were totally inappropriate, but George just laughed and hugged her.
It was strange to lie in a bed with another person, she had often snuggled in with her brother when she was little and had bad dreams, but this was not her brother, this was her boyfriend. She was grateful that George was contented to just hold her that night, she was not ready to go to the next level. The next morning, she woke up feeling sick, George encouraged her to stay in bed, while he would look after her, that was when everything changed.
He would give her medication, to help her feel better, she would fall asleep ten minutes later only to wake up feeling even worse. She started to beg George to get a doctor for her and then he laughed at her. He ripped the covers off the bed, eyed her body as if she was five course meal and said, there is nothing wrong with you. I control you now, if you want to feel better you need to do as I tell you. Do you understand?""
She was so confused, and he must have noticed because he repeated "Do you understand? Otherwise, I am going to have to make you understand." She nodded, still not understanding but instinctively knowing that things were going to get worse regardless.
He handed her a glass of juice and demanded that she drink it, to make her feel better he said. She seriously doubted that but was too afraid to disobey him. Sure, enough she fell asleep shortly afterwards.
The real nightmare began when she woke up after that. She felt cold and felt for the covers, they were not there, and she was no longer in her pajamas, she opened her eyes and saw that she was in a very small black leather bikini that left nothing to the imagination. George was leaning over her and moving the small triangles of the bikini top so that they covered even less. She reached up to try and readjust them and he slapped her hand away.
'No Georgiana, I don't want to hurt you, but you need to do as you are told. Now smile for the camera." There was no more pretending to love and adore her, she was now his plaything. Every photo was more and more degrading. She never got the covers back and had to sleep on the bed just like that, often waking up in another equally degrade outfit that covered literally nothing. She did not get food regularly, George said he did not want her getting fatter.
She was humiliated, there were cameras in the room twenty-four hours a day, her every moment was recorded, she had no privacy, not even in the bathroom. She tried to escape and then he started to tie her up, but never just bound by her hands and feet, always in a degrading position that made her muscle hurt so badly. He would touch her inappropriately, always on display to some camera and then he revealed that those cameras were a live feed to a site where people, men were biding to buy her, she was going to make him rich.
Georgiana was shaken from her flashback by the sound of the doorbell, she realized she was safe and in the kitchen at home, Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds had reacted to the doorbell at speeds that totally belied their ages.
"Its Caroline Bingley, Georgiana" Mrs. Reynold called from the door. She recognized the look on Georgiana's face and although she did not like Caroline Bingley, Georgiana needed a distraction and that is what Caroline was going to be. She would sit with Georgiana after Caroline and find out what had brought on the flash back. It had been a while since the last one.
"Georgiana, my darling, how are you?" Caroline breezed into the kitchen look as impeccable as ever.
Hello Caroline, I am well, and you look stunning as always. Let's go to the living room and Mrs. Reynolds will organize us some coffee."
They made there way to the comfortable but stylish living room. William had kept with the general style his mother had introduced but updated it as time when by. Georgiana had always liked this room; she could feel her mother here. The large portrait of her parents above the fireplace might have had something to do with that.
Caroline distracted Georgiana with a humorous account of some lady's day event she did where the hostess's best friend decided to prank her and her other guests by letting a few mice loose. The resulting stampede was chaotic, and it turned out that only two of the women feared mice, the others did not know what was happening but decided it had to be serious and joined the fracas. Caroline and her team manage to salvage the event and turned it into an award ceremony for the Running of the Mice, Caroline was quite proud of herself for the play on the Running of the Bulls. She also managed to get the hostess and four of her friends to return the favor and dump the trickster into the pond. She and her hostess were banned from the event venue, but Caroline still counted it as wonderful event!
Georgiana was amazed, this was not the Caroline she knew, Caroline was a social climber, the woman who desperately wanted to be with her brother William, in fact the only reason Caroline ever visited her was in the hopes of convincing William that she was perfect for him. But today was different, it was like Caroline came to visit her, Georgiana. She had mentioned that she knew William was out of town, normally Caroline would not bother with her if her brother was not home.
Caroline had just finished regaling Georgiana with the tale of her latest event, she had put a funny spin on it because despite it not going to plan, it was the one event she thoroughly enjoyed, she got to make fun of the snobby rich women who looked down on her and make them think they were getting awards. She had two calls already from guests at the event asking her to do their events, and they were hoping for something even better than the Running of the Mice!
Caroline gasped, she had just glanced at the portrait of Mr. and Mrs. Darcy and there on Mrs. Darcy's hand was the exact same ring that Anne had shown her, the engagement ring George had given her, this proved to Caroline without a shadow of a doubt that the George Wickham Anne was engaged to, was the self-same kidnapper that had taken Jane and Elizabeth's sister. That is why Anne's ring looked so familiar, Caroline had seen this portrait multiple times, and even admired the ring to William a few times.
"Georgiana, that ring on your mothers' hand, is that a real ring or add by the artist? "Caroline decided to play detective.
"That is a real ring, my father had it made specially for her, and it was given to William to give to his bride one day when he gets engaged."" Georgiana was a bit hesitant to tell Caroline for fears that she would insist on seeing ring as she was "obviously" going to be the next Mrs. Darcy.
To her amazement Caroline did not even go there. "I imagine that you keep that in a safety deposit box, a beautiful ring like that must be coveted by anyone who sees it." Caroline was very matter of fact as she said that, trying not to blurt out that Georgiana's cousin Anne, was wandering with an identical ring on her finger.
"William, has it stored with the rest of the family's historical jewelry, some of it is quite gaudy, but of great historical value, and you know William and history. "Georgiana could not remember ever having a conversation with Caroline that was so normal, it was either nasty gossip about general and specific acquaintances or a fishing expedition about William and his feelings for her.
Caroline was speculating, could George Wickham have stolen the ring from the Darcy's whilst he was part of the family, or even after to get revenge? Or did he have one made in the likeness of this one to poke at the Darcy family. Caroline was ready to wager it was the former. George Wickham was notorious for spending money like water through a sieve. Mainly on gambling debt or outrageous get rich quick schemes that backfired or were illegal.
It was two hours before Caroline took her leave of the young girl, she felt compelled to stay, there was a fragility to Georgiana she had never noticed before. She encouraged Georgina to play the piano for her, and it was easy to praise the girl she was gifted on the instrument. Caroline could play herself but in moments of honesty she could only play well because she used to practice for hours under the rule of her mother. Neither she nor Louisa had touched the piano since their mother had passed.
Mrs. Reynolds checked on the ladies a few times, each time being quite pleasantly surprised that Caroline was being quite considerate of her ward. Georgiana had relaxed considerable since her arrival, normally Caroline caused Georgiana endless anxiety and by the time she left Georgiana was a wreck, today it was quite the opposite. Perhaps Caroline was finally really in love and not just chasing the richest bachelor she could find.