Free A Captive's Submission by Liliana Rhodes

Part One
     
    Veronica Clark was lonely. She moved to the city of Portsmith a few months ago after being offered her dream job as a reporter for the Times Daily, the largest newspaper on the east coast.   She didn't have that big of a family and most of them didn't keep in touch, so the 1,000 mile move didn't seem like a big deal to her but things were different in her town and she felt isolated.  
    She sat in her small apartment and drank a glass of wine which was going straight to her head. She never drank much. She never had much of a social life either but she was used to that. Being shy and quiet she never met that many people or had many friends, but since moving to Portsmith she felt more alone.  
    In the background she heard a tv commercial for a dating website. Her last and only boyfriend was in college but they broke up just before graduation, three years ago. Since then, she had been set up on a few dates but they never amounted at much. Veronica was looking for her prince, her soulmate, and she wouldn't settle for less.  
    She brushed her wavy blonde hair out of her blue eyes and focused more on the tv.  
    "Meet your soulmate. Our test algorithms are so accurate, you don't pay a dime until you meet someone."
    "Yeah right." She laughed and lifted her glass towards the tv. "Maybe I'll just take you up on that."
    She pulled up the site on her laptop and looked around at all the pictures of good looking, happy couples. She shrugged and started filling out the form which was mostly a bunch of personal questions. Lastly she needed to upload a picture.  
    She used her webcam and didn't think it came out bad. She thought she was kind of pretty with her small nose and high cheek bones but plain. Some of those old dates told her she was beautiful but she knew men would say anything to get into a girl's pants. When she was done, she looked over her answers while she chewed her bottom lip, then closed her eyes and hit 'send'. She figured she'd never hear from the site again.  
     
    Two Months Later
     
    Veronica looked at her watch then around the fancy, crowded restaurant. She felt so embarrassed to be sitting there by herself. She was sure everyone knew she got stood up and that her date wasn't coming. She took another sip of the wine she ordered and tried to look calm and relaxed.  
    About a week after signing up for the dating site, she got an email from Dr. Andrew Tallingham, a doctor, and your basic tall, dark and handsome package which she kept thinking was too good to be true. Veronica and Drew had been emailing and chatting online for the past two months, it became part of her after work routine.  
    She asked about talking on the phone or even via webcam but he always said no. She tried to make excuses for him but the only thing she could imagine was that he was secretly a troll and not who he pretended to be. Then one day Drew asked if she wanted to meet in person. She was hesitant at first but he easily convinced her.  
    As she waited at the restaurant, she kicked herself for joining the dating service in the first place. She felt ridiculous sitting there by herself, all dolled up. Her normally wild hair was neatly held in a clip and she had taken her time applying a little make up, making sure her blue eyes popped. She wore her go-to little black dress which showed just enough of her ample cleavage and shapely legs without looking trashy.  
    She nervously bit her lip then looked at her watch again. Twenty minutes late. She checked her email but no messages. Maybe he got called into the hospital for an emergency , she thought as she considered possible scenarios for his not being there. Unfortunately she kept tormenting herself, thinking that he saw her and left thinking she wasn't pretty enough.  
    "Would you like something else?" The waiter asked. He had an accent that was Eastern European with a touch of something else she couldn't place.  
    "No, thank you. I guess I'll be going." She grabbed her