Toughen Up

Magda walked along the shore trying to keep her tears at bay. She told herself there were women in the world who were kidnapped who were in far worse situations than the one she was in but she hated this. She hated everything about it. She wanted to go home.

This morning after her breakfast, Alvar had taken her into an office space and made her sit quietly on a leather sofa while he worked on his computer. The way he moved his fingers across the keyboard spoke of a man who had decades of practice. He had three monitors in front of him, all positioned away from her view. His face was set and serious and he worked silently. Each time she’d opened her mouth to speak, he’d held up a finger to silence her.

Then he had taken a phone call and his rapid-fire Italian was far too quick for her to follow the conversation. All she knew was whoever was on the other end of the phone was probably debating suicide based on the tone of Alvar’s voice beca