I dream of a salvation so real it frightens me. Even the taste in my mouth seems alive with the strawberries we'd shared together at sports day and the kisses we'd exchanged in his parents' cottage. The twist in my stomach is urgent, and for a fleeting moment I know exactly what to do.

Then I awaken to a blue-tinted reality that is both languid and raw, and the memory fizzles away, oppressed by the cold stench of the room and the weight of the tiny baby in my stomach who has caused so much pain.

I expected to lie awake all night in fear of Ridley and longing for Adrian to save me with a smile that could light up Piccadilly Circus. He would curl my body into his and whisper words that would make my heart set to explode. Instead, I dreamt of David Azure. Blue. A ghost from my past whom I believed I'd never see again.

****

'Mondeiu, mondeiu!' Pam says.

'Argh, that's cold.'

'You need to lie in the bath for a long time, Dave,' Dr Jenkins says, 'or you'll swell like Verruca Salt from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.'

It's so cold I'm certain my heart will stop. Never did I think it would be possible to lie in an icy bath but feel like my body is on fire at the same time. Wet jeans and a thin white top stick to my body. Blooms of diluted red smudges my shirt. 

'This is what I was afraid of,' she continues. I see it then in her eyes. Remorse. She'd wanted to collect information on the birthing scheme but had she wanted to this much?

'We need to get out of here, now,' she continues.

'Ridley.' My eyes close momentarily, reliving the horror of the attack. 'He's out there in the entrance garage.'

Her eyes become moon like.

'If they find out what I did to Ridley, we're done for.' I say. 'They'll turn against us. I have no way of keeping the girls safe, of keeping us safe...'

'What. Did. You. Do?'

The colour drains from everything but Dr Jenkins' red painted fingernails when I tell her how Ridley launched upon me in the store garage. She understands better than anyone that if we help Jade we sabotage their entire operation and they will come after us. There is not the time nor the means to escape. And even then, they know me. At least half know I'm on probation. Ridley knows where I train. It would be all too easy to come for us.

'Whatever we do needs to look like an accident,' I say eventually.

'An escape?'

'It can't be connected to us.'

She goes quiet. A million ideas swamp my brain until it's as muddied as the bloodied water in which I bathe. Then, from the icy bath, where my skin has turned a pale blue and my ribs feel like they're suffocating my lungs, I sink under the water until the cold screams at my ears and drowns out my thoughts.

****

A banging noise resounds. It's not the first time I've heard it. Still, I ignore it; leafing through the drawers to see what I can find.

Why is it that women seek permission, psychiatric testing, evaluations, months of paperwork and bureaucratic nonsense to conceive, whilst I caught by accident? And more importantly, why does Blue care? Everything that once was certain in my life is suddenly unhinged, and Blue is at the epicentre of the tornado.

The knock sounds again, and the door opens. I straighten, scanning for an object to protect myself with. The ball point of a pen is the best I can see but I'm not quick enough to grab it.

'Jade.' Blue says, in a clipped tone with a croissant in his hands. He's wearing the same stony face as last night: low straight eyebrows over guarded eyes and a jaw so hard the muscles stand out, like he's grinding his teeth.

I snatch the croissant from him and chew the tough pastry greedily.

'You OK?' he says, standing wooden by the door.

'It's freezing in here, and your bed has made my skin itchy.'

'We can get you back to your garage lock-up in no time.'

'You asked,' I say, my mouth full.

'Only being polite.'

'A kidnapper with manners, how ironic.'

He's sporting a different jumper now, this one darker with a round collar that pinches at his Adam's Apple. It's so tightly fitted, it hugs at muscles in his chest. There's more growth on his cheeks. Even if he'd had facial hair at school, the dress-code guidelines forbade him from growing it. I search his face for something callous but can find no ugly feature. Even scowling, his eyebrows set off his eyes perfectly, and the way his mouth twitches before he speaks teases my patience.

'They're going to want to know why you're not in your cell and why the test results were unclear,' he says.

'What are you going to tell them?'

He doesn't reply, his eyes leaving me and settling on the bed. I dumped my clothes on the floor and slept in one of the T-shirts I'd found in his cupboard and a pair of jogging bottoms twice my pregnant size. The old Blue would have given me the clothes off his back.

'I didn't think you'd mind, given the extenuating circumstances,' I say, pulling at his T-shirt. 'I made that decision all by myself, for the first time since my wedding.'

Raising one eyebrow, he moves over to the cupboard where more tops are stacked. For reasons I can only put down to insanity I folded them into a straight edge when I woke. Not including the one I pilfered, there were only three T-shirts; either he packed to come here in a rush or he wasn't planning to stay long.

'What did they do to Belinda yesterday?' I ask. 'And what about the pregnant one? Will they kill her baby?'

'All these questions.' He sighs as if my voice exhausts him.

'Will they, Blue? Will they kill mine?'

'No, they won't.'

'Are you sure?'

His eyes are not sure. They are unable to focus on me.

'You've got to give me something, Blue. You have to tell me something!'

'They wanted to know if Belinda is like you, which she's not. Well, not entirely,' he says. 'She'll be fine.'

'Until what, the next examination?' I narrow my eyes.

If he 's surprised I know so much about her, he doesn't let on.

'You really think she'll be fine? She's not with her baby, she needs to be with her daughter. You don't know what it's like to break a family apart. It's burning a hole in her heart.' My voice has grown louder and angrier. 'You want to learn how to have a family, you've first got to be able to protect them.'

'I tried to!' he shouts and then immediately clams up. I haven't noticed his hand clenched into a ball until now. 'Get dressed. We're going.'

'Not until I see Belinda. Not until I know she's okay.'

He rolls his head around, emitting a frustrated groan. 'Don't make me use this thing,' he says, pointing to the gun sticking out from the waistband of his jeans.

'You wouldn't.' I jump out of bed, squaring up to him in a burst of confidence I've not really thought through. Then, for a moment, I think he will call my bluff and I stagger backwards.

He stays while I wash and dress, this time his face set on the window. I tie my hair up in a loose knot to splash water on my face. Why didn't I take a bath while I had the chance? It might have cut a chink at the chill in the room—assuming there was hot water.

I know why.

I don't trust him.

But I had trusted him once.

As I walk out of the bathroom, Blue has messed up the T-shirt stack and is holding a green long-sleeved one with yellow threaded writing across it. When he pulls his jumper off, I catch a glimpse of dark red and purple bruises lacing his toned abdomen, setting his body on fire.

'Jesus,' I say. 'Blue, who did that to you?'

He looks up—a fleeting glance—then slowly pulls the T-shirt on.

Dismissing my wide-eyed stare, he grabs a jacket and leads me out the door. It's quiet now, our footsteps more pronounced. And still he doesn't explain. There is an invisible wall between us, a line he won't cross. And for what? To protect these people? These lunatics?

We return to the hospital building, crossing the foyer towards the examination rooms.

'Am I safe here?' I ask.

Blue raises his eyebrows and marches ahead. He must know I can see the way he grits his teeth and hunches his shoulders as he walks. Whatever they did to him hurts like hell and he's too proud to admit it. Instead he shields the hand cradling his torso like he's got an itch and forces strides that are causing him to wheeze through gritted teeth.

'Okay, so where are those other people?' I ask. 'Are they always here? What do they do all day, apart from shout their mouths off?'

An image that they occupy the bedrooms alongside Blue's springs to mind. Had I thought of that earlier, I'd never have slept.

'Are you going to say anything?' I ask.

'It's better for you not to know,' he says, eventually. 'They only congregate down here when something's going on.'

'Don't they have homes to go to? In case you hadn't noticed, it's Christmas.'

He shakes his head. 'There is a bigger picture to think about, Jade. These people are strategising for the future, not wondering what gifts to buy grandma.'

'Okay, bigger picture,' I muse. 'So what's wrong with my ovaries that has your knickers in a twist?'

His long, even steps waver slightly.

'Blue?'

'Nothing,' he replies, finally. 'They're absolutely perfect.'

A girl with buckteeth, who doesn't look a day over sixteen, approaches from one of the side rooms. Her mousy brown hair is tied up in a low ponytail with an elastic band.

'Hi, Mr Foster,' she says, her face lighting up. I know the effect he has on women, and I'm glad she's not using his real surname. She doesn't know him at all. 'Pam's waiting for you in room three.'

Great. I try to quell the bilious feeling that rises at the sound of her name.

'Those people don't have jobs?' I ask, once we're out of earshot of buckteeth girl. 'Or girlfriends? Husbands? Mothers?'

He frowns and gestures ahead to a doorway where Dr Jenkins is hovering.

'Belinda's in there,' Blue says.

I rush into the room to find Belinda perching on the bed. It's different to seeing her through the crack in the wall. In person, she's chubbier than me with bigger breasts and fuller frizzier hair a stark shade of red.

'I thought you were dead!' she says, jumping up and rushing over to hug me tightly. 'When they didn't bring you back, I thought...'

I steal a glance behind me. Dr Jenkins and Blue are talking just outside the door in hushed voices. She touches his chest and he flinches.

'Belinda. I think I've found a way to get us out.'

I hold out the small bunch of keys I took from Blue's desk. It wasn't the only item I stuffed into my pocket, but I'm not about to tell her that.

Thanks for reading Chapter Nineteen of Sever where Jade has her first big break. But will she use it? Find out what happens next as Detective Pike catches up with Blue. The next chapter is now LIVE!

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CAST LIST (so far)

Jade Lively - Lilly Collins (the protagonist)

Blue - Liam Hemsworth (the protagonist / anti-hero and Jade's ex-boyfriend)

Terrence Ridley - Mackenzie Crook (one of the pirates from Pirates of the Caribbean)

Belinda - Lindsay Lohan (fellow kidnappee)

Adrian Lively - Alex Pettyfer (Jade's husband)

Marcus Lively - William Fichtner aka Alex from Prison Break (Adrian's father)

Mikey Drosner - Jack Black (Blue's lawyer)

Detective Pike - Viola Davis (Blue's prosecutor)

Prime Minister Christopher Seaford - Gary Oldman