Blind Date Turned Proposal

She followed the sound of the voice with urgency, and she saw a woman in the corner of the basement. “Laura!” Josie shouted as she sped towards her.

Josie knelt down to see how she was doing.

Hopelessness etched on her face as if the world had crumbled upon her.

As soon as she saw Josie, her eyes lit up with a glimmer of hope. “Josie,” she whimpered.

Josie could feel her tears welling up as she looked at Laura’s back. Laura’s clothes were torn, and her bare skin was covered in red marks.

The crisscross of bloody marks was a testament to the brutal beatings she had suffered.

Josie was frozen in place, and her eyes brimmed with tears. “Laura…

Arnold’s forehead wrinkled in disgust at the ghastly sight. “Zach must be crazy!”

As he looked around, he saw an array of weapons used to abuse her. Arnold felt a shiver run down his spine as he saw some of them stained with blood.

Josie tried to lift Laura up. “Let’s go. I’ll take you out of here. We’ll go see a doctor. You’ll get better, Laura,”

Laura said breathlessly, “I can’t leave now.”

“Why not?”

“It’s Summer’s birthday today. Zach wouldn’t let you get away with taking me out of here.”

eyes filled with worry: “What do we do now?” she asked.

a lot of people outside, including reporters. She can’t go out now,” he responded,

but her body was still shivering. She couldn’t warm her up no matter how close she held

Arnold looked at them. “I called Andy to get a doctor

by his plans. “So you mean Laura can’t leave this place?” she blurted, her

cracking.

come in here at any time. We can’t take her out

held onto Josie’s sleeve as she nodded in assent to Arnold’s suggestion. “He’s right. I can’t

that seemed feasible at

themselves as an employee of the Carter Group

to ignore Arnold’s atypical

said, his eyes tracking

“Have someone keep an eye on him.”

“What about us?”

“We’ll stay put.”

“Ms. Brandel, I can’t administer anesthesia under these conditions. I’ll need you to bear with the

out from the excruciating pain when he placed the gauze pad soaked in antiseptic on her

bear watching her in pain. She turned around and quickly wiped

He lifted his hands but paused midway. Eventually, he patted her on the shoulders to