Page 102 of Pride
He stood up and stepped back, keeping his eyes on me as he did. Then he walked over to a nearby tree and said, “Let me just check this is working,” before adjusting something he’d set up there.
I couldn’t make out what it was, but I spent the time that he was distracted trying to prize my wrists apart, dragging the plastic cable tie against the rough bark of the tree and pushingat the restraints on my ankles. But the cable tie on my wrists wouldn’t budge, and the plastic and wood of the tree cut into my skin. The duct tape around my ankles was bound so tight and so thick I couldn’t shift it. And when he turned around and saw me struggling, he laughed.
“You’re going nowhere, Emma. I suggest you save your energy for later.” He pointed at the tree beside him. “The numbers are always higher when there’s a struggle.” And knowing I had no idea what he meant, he added, “We’re currently streaming live on the dark web. The sick fucks there love violence and depravity. I know we’ll give them what they want.”
I felt sick, and I rolled onto my side, desperate to do anything to get away.
He strode towards me, grunting as he leaned down and grabbed me, yanking me back into a sitting position. And then he got right into my face, his nose pressed against mine with a flaming fire of anger in his eyes.
“You need to be sitting comfortably for the story I’m about to tell. Show some fucking respect.”
I glared back at him, panting each breath through my nose as my head screamed. ‘Fuck you and fuck your story. I won’t ever show you respect.’
He stood back up, sighed, and then smiled as he took his jacket off and folded it over his arm. He turned his back to walk away from me, heading over to a tree opposite where I sat, and he draped his jacket carefully over a branch. Then he turned to face me again, walking forward slowly as he rolled his sleeves up, first the left, then the right.
“This,” he suddenly announced, his voice booming and echoing in the dark void of the forest. “Is the story of Elizabeth and William Kingston.” He stood with his legs slightly parted like he was giving a lecture, his hands on his hips in such a casualway it made me feel sick. “A couple who to the outside world looked respectable and honourable, pillars of the community. Picture perfect, some might say. But all was not as it seemed.
“You see, Elizabeth loved William more than anything in this world. And William, he loved Elizabeth even more. They lived for each other. They’d have died for each other. There wasn’t room for anyone else in their life. It would always be them, together, against the world, forever. They didn’t want anything else. They had everything they could ever need in each other.
“Elizabeth loved to travel, and William would’ve followed her to the ends of the earth. It was on their travels that they encountered different cultures, tribes, philosophies, and ethics. It was also on their travels that Elizabeth found out that she was pregnant.
“At first, she thought it was the end of the world. She didn’t want a baby. Neither of them did. A baby would ruin everything and take their attention away from each other. They didn’t want that. They didn’t want him. They decided that they needed to make a plan.
“They arrived back home and made an appointment with their doctor, but in a fit of despair, Elizabeth broke the promise she’d made to William before they’d returned. She’d broken down and told her housemaid what had happened. No one else was supposed to know. It was supposed to be their secret.
“Why are you upset?” the housemaid had asked. “This is wonderful news. You love each other so much, and you’ve made a whole new life from that love. Why would you want to end that?” Elizabeth wasn’t sure. Everything was becoming confusing. Her judgement was clouded. She didn’t know if she wanted to end it or not. The baby was a part of both of them. If they destroyed it, would it destroy a part of them too?
“Eventually, she told William that the housemaid knew, and in a fit of anger, he sent the rest of the staff away, banishing themfrom the house for the foreseeable future. But at Elizabeth’s insistence, he kept the housemaid on. She knew their secret, after all. Maybe she could help them? William had noticed that Elizabeth had started to withdraw, to become depressed, and he was at a loss for how to fix it. He’d do anything for her. He couldn’t lose her. Not now. Not like this.
“Eventually, the doctor arrived and checked Elizabeth over. He used his own personal ultrasound machine and made a discovery that would shatter their world completely.
“It wasn’t one baby.”
“It was two.”
“Elizabeth cried. William shouted in frustration. And the doctor stayed quiet as he looked across the room at the housemaid who hid in the shadows.
“I can’t do it,” Elizabeth had wailed. “I can’t get rid of two babies. It doesn’t feel right.”
“I’ll do whatever you want me to do,” William pleaded, his only thought was with his tortured, pregnant wife.
“For days, they lived in turmoil and anguish, mourning the loss of the life they knew and loved. It’d never be the same again. Not now. Not after this.
“Or could it be different?”
“You see, Elizabeth had always been a philanthropist, more daring in her outlook on life than William. And one night, she had an idea. Maybe this wasn’t the death sentence they thought it was. Maybe it was an opportunity. A chance to test something in this world. To research and establish an answer to the long-standing question of nature versus nurture. The golden opportunity to leave a legacy, make a name for herself. The legacy being that she’d find the answer to the question that had baffled generations before them. To prove it with her own experiment. Oh, how naïve she was.
“What if we kept one baby and gave the other away,” she’d suggested to William. He’d listened to her idea about one being raised with the wealth and opportunity they could provide, while the other languished in another world, a very different world to the one they knew. One filled with poverty, deprivation, prejudice, hatred, and greed. “Let’s see what happens as they grow older,” she went on. “Will they both achieve success? Will the poorer sibling flounder? Who knows?” she’d exclaimed with glee. She didn’t care about the impact it’d have. Her ideas made her feel free.
“William loved Elizabeth; he’d do anything she said. But Elizabeth was a cold-hearted bitch to everyone else in her life, she only had love for William. And he was so blinded by that love that he didn’t care what the outcome of her outlandish idea would bring. She was happy again. She had a plan. That was all that mattered to him.
“So, they decided to put their test into practice. Elizabeth would give birth to the babies at home, with the help of her housemaid, Alma, and the private doctor that they had on their payroll. They’d keep the firstborn, and the second would be sent to the village to live with a childless couple that Alma knew. A couple that had no idea about the test. They’d been promised a baby by an old family friend, and that’s all they cared about. They didn’t ask any questions. They weren’t the type to look a gift horse in the mouth. Their morals were non-existent, and they simply didn’t care.
“The woman had always wanted a baby, and she’d have done anything to get one. At least this way, they didn’t have to abduct a child from its mother or procure a baby in some other nefarious way. This one had quite literally fallen into their lap. Alma knew them. She knew their desperation. She also knew they weren’t the type of couple to cause trouble, make waves, or ask questions. But Alma didn’treallyknow them. She didn’tknow what kind of future lay ahead for the baby placed in their dubious care.
“On the night Elizabeth went into labour, Alma was on hand to assist in the delivery. The doctor was called and paid off with a hefty sum of money to keep the news of the birth quiet. They explained that they were only keeping one baby, and the fate of the other was none of his business. Money talks, and the amount credited to his account for his silence was more than enough to stop his tongue from wagging.
“At twelve thirty-two in the morning, Alex Kingston was born and placed straight into the housemaid’s arms, as his birth mother screamed at the doctor to get the other one out. And William clung to his wife, only interested in her well-being.
