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.”

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

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

body was still shivering. She couldn’t warm her up no

ten minutes, Arnold looked at them. “I called Andy to get a doctor in here. They’ll be coming in disguise. They mustn’t

“So you mean Laura can’t leave this place?”

cracking.

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

onto Josie’s sleeve as she nodded in assent to Arnold’s suggestion. “He’s right. I can’t leave today,” she muttered, her breath growing thin.

was the only one that seemed

an employee of the Carter Group and arrive at the

it was difficult to ignore Arnold’s atypical behavior.

eyes tracking Arnold’s secretary, Andy, as he rushed into the Olsen

and ordered, “Have someone keep an eye

“What about us?”

“We’ll stay put.”

medical supplies from his bag and said, “Ms. Brandel, I can’t administer anesthesia

pain when he placed the gauze pad soaked in

pain. She turned around and

but paused midway. Eventually, he patted