Page 60 of Corrupt Game

Now that it appeared my needs were being cared for and I had no other worries or stress, my body wasn’t sure what to do. Fight or flight had been ingrained since birth, and I was able to use the down time to come up with several plans to escape.

Unsure if this was going to be a weekly thing, I decided to play things by ear and see what else he had in store for me. Maybe at some point we’d get around to having sex.

Hopefully he was leading up to that.

He had to be, right?

***

The door was unlocked, and I walked out into the main room without any issues.

Mr. Holdt was sitting at the kitchen table, reading the paper while sipping a cup of coffee.

Evidently, weekends weren’t meant for sleeping in like normal people. Then again, it was becoming blatantly obvious that neither one of us was normal.

“Did you sleep well?” He smiled as I walked over to take a seat on the cushion next to him.

“I did, thank you.” Unsure if I should just be quiet or if I could ask questions, I decided to take a chance.

“Are we doing anything special today?”

“Nope.” He lowered the paper. “Was there something you wanted to do?”

Now that he’d asked the question, I was blank. It wasn’t like I could come out and say, how about we solve my brother’s murder? Could I?

“Um, I have no idea what to ask for since I was thrown in a dark basement for two weeks.”

His laugh rang out as if I had said the most hilarious thing.

“Look, I get that seems a little extreme, but it’s part of how I operate. I’m not a monster. How you feel is extremely important to me.”

While the words might have said he wasn’t a monster, anyone that killed innocent people and held others captive weren’t good in my mind.

“If I wanted to take a walk, what would you say to that?” I was testing him, but the thought of a walk after all the weeks in the basement sounded fantastic.

“We can manage that with a few restrictions. Exercise is good for the soul.” He tapped the table thoughtfully, “You weren’t in San Francisco for long before you applied to work with my company. There is quite a bit of our fair city to see.”

One of his staff brought out steaming plates of breakfast and placed them in front of him.

“Eat up, and I’ll give you a few rules.”

Silence passed as I tried to reconcile the image of this Ian Holdt to the evil horrible man that had killed in cold blood.

Eager to get out and take in the outdoors, I ate breakfast with a vengeance. Each bite was accepted without argument.

“Full?” Mr. Holdt wiped his hands on the napkin in his lap.

“Yes, sir.” The word slipped out, but I couldn’t be mad at myself, instead, it felt right.

“There are a few things that you must remember. Speak only when spoken to by others. Do not try to run or make contact withsomeone as it will mean an instant return to the basement and you’ve made such wonderful progress.” He frowned and looked stern.

“This is a special treat. If you behave, there may be outings like this in the future. Do you understand?”

I nodded, but then realized I did have a question.

“Am I allowed to speak to you in public?” It might have seemed stupid, but I wasn’t sure how that worked when we were around other people.

“Yes, and you’ll sit at a table to eat. I’ll order you food and still expect you to eat everything I give you. You need to have certain nutrients to make sure that you’re healthy.”