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  As the minutes rolled by in the back of the van, the scenery outside had not changed a whole lot. All I could pick out was miles of lush green fields on both sides of the road. Every so often I would see a car drive past in the opposite direction, but not once had we had a car behind us. Wherever our adultnappers were taking us, I had a sense it was going to be somewhere remote.

  But why did they want us in the first place? What did we have to offer them? What had we done to them? I was still unsure. What I did know, though, was that I was grateful I grabbed both our winter jackets and boots for this adventure, because it was cold outside, and I did not fancy dying from hypothermia.

  We had been driving for what felt like an hour now. I was unsure on how long Sophie and I had blacked out for at the start, so to accurately try to figure out the distance we were from home was not going to be very precise at all.

  The van came to a sudden halt as the driver pressed hard on the brakes, resulting in Sophie and I rolling forward and hitting the dividing wall with the impact.

  “Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ!” Sophie yelled. I looked at her, confused as to why she would say such a thing. “Sorry, I just have Outlander on the brain, and I really hurt my shoulder, too.”

  I didn’t have time to reply to her little outburst, as the sliding door was aggressively opened, and there stood two familiar faces—faces we least expected to see at this very moment, and we didn’t really care to be seeing. But on the other hand, at least we knew what they wanted without them even having to tell us. Sophie and I glanced at each other, our hands still tied behind our backs, and gave each other a look of understanding, one that said, “Like hell they are going to get what they want.”

  I decided to talk first and not give these two people the satisfaction of doing so. “Well, well, how very predictable. Really, Milla? Really, James? You couldn’t have come up with a better plan to get the loves of your lives back. You do know that Scott and the new James in Sophie’s life will come looking for us, and once they see what you have done, I somehow don’t think you will have a chance in hell, just as you have never had a chance in hell to get them back. So I’m still rather confused as to why you have carried out such a ridiculous plan—”

  James stopped me right there with a gigantic slap across my check that took Sophie and I by surprise. My skin on my cheek burnt with the pain of the slap and decided to shut my mouth for a while.

  “Would you just shut up for one minute, Letticia. Your talking is giving me a headache, you never stop!” James yelled in my face.

  Milla then took over. “Predicable it may be, but let’s see if your two lovers even make the effort to find you two, before we decide what to do with you both first. You see, Letticia, you took my husband away from me, you broke up a happy family. I, for one, will not let you get away with such an act. I’m taking back what is mine, and that is Scott.”

  I laughed in a very unfrightened way. “Ha! Really, Milla? You believe I was the one who broke up your happy little family? Maybe you should ask all the empty bottles of whiskey you have lying around the place just who really broke up this so-called happy little family of yours. If I remember correctly, Scott wasn’t even with you when I met him.”

  Milla didn’t have a chance to reply, because then it was James’s turn to confront Sophie. “And as for you, Sophie, how dare you just leave me the way you did? You discarded me like a piece of disgusting rubbish while you ran into the arms of another man. If I can’t have you, then no one is going to have you,” James declared angrily.

  “Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ, James. I left you because you were indeed a piece of disgusting rubbish. You were toxic for me, and you also drank far too much for my liking,” Sophie replied.

  James then proceeded to slap Sophie across the face, resulting in her falling backwards onto the floor of the van. The sliding door was then slammed shut in our faces, once again leaving us alone and still tied up in the back, unsure of what was in store for us, and not wanting to find out, either.

  Once Sophie recovered from the slap that her toxic ex-boyfriend had only moments before given her, we decided we needed to escape from these two alcoholic maniacs.

  But how? That was the million-dollar question.

  Chapter Five

  We had both fallen asleep in the back of the van, either due to boredom, or extreme tiredness. I decided to put it down to both, and the added issue of hunger.

  We were woken by the door sliding open, and rough hands belonging to James and Milla got a hard grip on both our arms and dragged us out from the back of the van. I was glad to be out, even it meant we were still in the hands of these two maniacs.

  I scanned the location we now found ourselves in, trying to pick up a clue as to where we actually were. I looked over at Sophie and noticed she was doing the same thing too. We gave each other a very clueless look after a moment. All we could see were fields all around us, occupied by cows and sheep. James and Milla proceeded to push us in the direction of what looked to be a walking track. With our hands still tied behind our backs, we almost lost our balance with the rough push, so we did as we were ordered and followed the track, with James and Milla following closely behind, both holding backpacks I hoped contained food.

  We had been walking for what felt like half a mile or so along an overgrown, unkept track. It wasn’t until I looked out towards the north with the wintery sun shining behind me that I was presented with an imposing, lonely silhouette of what appeared to be a remarkably complete and well-preserved sixteenth-century castle. As we approached the magnificent L-shaped clearly abandoned building, I was in awe of its beauty, and how much of it appeared to still be standing. Its exposed ruins of yellow sandstone still gave out a breathtaking feeling of warmth and serenity. I only wished Scott was here with me to see such a beautiful sight. For a minute or two I had forgotten the situation I was actually in as the castle drew me into its world. My imagination took over as I imagined who once lived here so many years ago, and the sort of life they must have led inside the walls of the castle. Even with a roofless shell, most of its outer walls were still standing, and it still radiated with divine beauty.

  “Move it!” James yelled as I stopped in the middle of the track, observing the view ahead.

  Sophie had become very quiet since the slap and looked almost like she had given up all hope. Even with such a sight in front of her, she was unable to lift her head to enjoy it, unlike me, unfocused and able to forget about the present easily and wander off into my own little world, even if it was only for a minute or two. But I had now been brought back into reality as I was ordered to continue walking.

  Once we arrived at the entrance to the abandoned castle, I was now really able to appreciate its sheer beauty, which overpowered me. To a lot of people, it was just a pile of ruined stone, but to me, it was history. It had a story to tell, and I was here to listen.

  We approached a small solid metal door, which looked to be the only entrance to the castle on the east side. It was bolted, which made me think we were not meant to go inside, but this did not stop our so-called adultnappers, who proceeded to break down the door and push us both inside. All the time I was still in Letticia’s World, trying to take everything in, the pure scale of what I was seeing in front of me with my very own eyes so very overwhelming. Just as Brysen had a thing for aeroplanes and bagpipes, I had a thing for Scottish castles. Always had done, for as long as I could remember. I always fantasied about what it would have been like to live in a castle—the smells, sounds, and structure of castle life always made me curious.

  As I stood there looking at the ruins before me, it was not at all hard for me to imagine being the lady of this castle, alongside my lord, Scott. It wasn’t hard to imagine these bare stone rooms once being full of life, colour, and sounds. I could just imagine the kitchen bustling with cooks and servants preparing food for the lord and lady’s table—Scott and I, of course. The smell of dough being kneaded and baked in huge stone ovens as the night’s
feast of boar and venison roasted on spits. Red wine and ale being drunk throughout the evening’s festivities. The area that once was this castle’s kitchen still housed a sizable, sturdy-looking work bench, which stood alongside a huge open-fire oven.

  As my eyes continued to scan the castle ruins, I came across what would have been two spectacular spiral staircases, one being a lot narrower than the other. Through my research on castles, I knew that the narrower staircase was for the servants to service the great hall from the kitchen and cellars below, while the residents used the wider staircase. I had an image of myself walking down the grand staircase wearing a corset, stockings, and boots underneath my floor-length empire-style dress, my hair curled and done up in a stylish bun. I walked ever so elegantly into the arms of my Scottish lover, who was dressed in a kilt, boots, and jacket, and waiting at the bottom of the staircase with his arms held open, ready to take me into them and protect his lady from the world, before heading off to the great hall where our clan waited to dine and drink the evening away.

  Unfortunately this image was cut far too short with the sudden noise of Milla yelling in my ear, “Stop daydreaming about Scott and get a move on!”

  I was shocked, and a tad embarrassed—how on earth did she know what I was daydreaming about?

  “Torwood Castle isn’t that amazing, it’s in ruins, not sure why you look so gobsmacked,” James added.

  I wanted to say that unlike him, I see the beauty in everything, but I decided to keep my mouth shut and prove him wrong. See, I didn’t always talk, like James had accused me of doing earlier.

  “So this is Torwood Castle, then,” I said to Sophie when we were left alone in what I could only imagine was once a bedroom.

  Sophie was looking down and rather depressed. “I want to see my James. I need to see my James. I miss him so much. How are we ever going to get home from here?” she said in a panic.

  “They will come for us, Sophie, A very special man once said to me, ‘You just have to have a little bit of faith.’ And you know what? He was right. Once I started having faith in the world, everything started turning out.”

  Sophie finally cracked a smile. “Let me guess, it was Scott who said that?” she asked, already knowing full well my answer.

  “Why, yes, how did you guess that?” I asked, grinning at her.

  “It’s such a Scott thing to say, that’s all,” Sophie replied.

  I laughed, thinking how true that was. I too was missing my Scott and my children.

  I looked down at my watch and saw it was just on 3:00 p.m. My parents and James would be arriving at the school now to pick up Polly and Leah. Scott would almost be finishing his shift. Everyone was still unaware that Sophie and I had been adultnapped and were in huge danger, at risk of being hurt further, or even worse, by these two jealous, revenge-stricken maniacs, ready to prove a point and take back what they believed was rightfully theirs. Come to think of it, Sophie was completely safe, as Aussie James wanted her back, so it’s not like he was going to hurt her. But me on the other hand? I’m not needed in any size, shape, or form in Milla’s eyes. She needed me gone in order to have her Scott back, and is obviously delirious if she thinks that Scott would ever go back to her. But I was not about to spell that out to her.

  James and Milla returned with cans of baked beans and spaghetti for us to eat, and I was relieved that at least they were not planning on starving us to death. Maybe their plan included us freezing to death out in the Scottish wilderness in the middle of winter. But that, too, was obviously not their plan, as just before 5:00 p.m., they marched Sophie and I back to the van, still parked down in the carpark, and threw us into the back again, where we stayed for the night. This time, at least, they untied our hands before locking us inside.

  Before I fell asleep that night, I looked at my watch; it was just after 7:00 p.m. Clan King/Little would all be home by now at Swans Cottage, no doubt worried sick and confused as to where on earth Sophie and I were. Had they called the police yet? I wondered.

  As I drifted off to sleep, I could hear sobs coming from Sophie. I laid my hand upon her back to let her know she wasn’t alone, but within seconds, we had both fallen asleep.

  Chapter Six

  Swans Cottage in a panic - Scott

  * * *

  James, Polly, Leah, Olive, Kevin, Brysen, Bonnie, and I—also known as the King/Little Clan—along with my parents, Billy and Sue, who had been invited around for dinner that night to meet Letticia’s parents, were now all at Swans Cottage, confused and worried about Letticia’s and Sophie’s whereabouts. I knew something was wrong—the fact Letticia had left her phone switched off and sitting on the kitchen bench sent off major alarm bells, because I knew she always took her phone everywhere with her. James was just as confused, as Sophie’s phone was also left plugged in and charging. Sophie would have sooner stayed until her phone was charged and risk being late for where she was heading off to, than leave her phone behind.

  The other strange thing I noticed was an arrow made out of sticks on the front doorstep. I didn’t want to jump to any conclusions just yet and decided to give it until 8:00 p.m. before I called the police. After this morning’s fight, this could just be Letticia’s way of getting back at me, by leaving me here to entertain her parents and the rest of the clan on my own. And with all due respect, I did deserve this, I thought to myself.

  As each minute slowly ticked by, me and the rest of the clan grew more and more concerned but were not wanting to let it show too much for Polly and Leah’s sake. Ken and Oliver, Letticia’s parents, were sitting in front of the fire with Polly and Leah, playing card games in the order of Go Fish, Memory, Speed, and Snap. Anything to keep the two girls from noticing the worried and anxious vibe that was beginning to brew inside Swans Cottage.

  It was now 7:55 p.m., and I could not wait any longer. I grabbed my mobile phone and went outside onto the veranda in the blistering cold Scottish evening temperature and dialled the local police station’s number. I explained the whole situation to the police officer on duty that night, who reassured me that this kind of thing happened a lot after a couple had a fight, and that not until forty-eight hours had passed could they open up a case in this instance.

  “Hells bells!” I yelled into the phone, so loudly that the police officer on the other end had to move his phone away from his ear in the hope to not have his eardrum blown out.

  “Mr King,” the police office started to say, in between mouthfuls of a donut. “I understand you are worried, and understandably at that, but it is our policy to not start looking for missing people until forty-eight hours has passed since you reported it. This gives people who have merely just run away after a fight time to return home, and not waste police time, resources, and energy in searching for them.”

  I was growing more frustrated by the second. “That’s all very well, sir, but not in this case. I know Letticia, she wouldn’t just run away with no contact over a silly little fight we have had, and with the fact her parents arrived from Australia today and she hasn’t even seen them as yet? There’s something wrong, I know it.”

  The police officer gave a very unprofessional little snigger. “Really? Her parents have just arrived? That gives anyone great cause to run away, I would have thought.”

  I could not believe what I had just heard. “This is not a time to joke around. You are obviously not going to take this seriously until the ridiculous forty-eight-hour policy is up, so you will be hearing from me then, and not a second later.” And with that, I hung up and re-entered the warmth of Swans Cottage, more irritated than before I called the police station.

  Kevin and Olive had been getting Polly and Leah ready for bed while I was on the phone. I took over from them and read the girls a story before kissing them good night and turning the light off.

  Nobody had been able to eat dinner that night, either due to being too worried and stressed, or the fact that all that was on offer was canned haggis, thanks to Letticia's eventful shopp
ing trip to Tesco’s that morning. Instead they all decided on a nip of whiskey to settle everyone’s nerves, before my parents left to go back home, and everybody else retired to bed, apart from James and Scott, who felt powerless and confused as to where to look first for their women.

  “This isn’t like Letticia,” I assured James.

  James agreed. “Even if she had run away after you guys had a fight, that doesn’t explain why Sophie went with her.”

  “Letticia wouldn’t have run away, leaving Polly and Leah here, and knowing her parents were arriving today,” I added.

  “None of this is adding up in the slightest,” James said.

  “We need to get some sleep, you and I are going to go search for them in the morning. I have no idea where, but we can’t just sit here doing nothing,” I said.

  “I agree, but I doubt I will be getting much sleep tonight, if any,” James said.

  “You and me both,” I replied as I filled up both our glasses with another nip of whiskey. “Cheers. To sleep, and to getting our women back.”

  James and I sculled our nips of whiskey back in one go, then James headed off to Sophie’s room where he’d decided to stay that night, alone, without the comfort of Sophie beside him.

  I was unable to make the journey up the ladder to the mezzanine level without the company of my Sassenach, where we had been resigned to sleep for the next month while the in-laws were visiting. Instead I fell asleep quickly, thanks to the last nip of whiskey, on the sofa beside the log fire, which was roaring fiercely in order to warm Swans Cottage up.