Julia POV
The first few days of captivity blurred together in a haze of anxiety and exhaustion. I was trapped in a dim, cramped basement room, its single bulb flickering overhead and a thin mattress my only comfort. Cody watched me constantly, either perched in his battered chair or hovering nearby, his attention both suffocating and unpredictable. Sometimes he was gentle, bringing me food and speaking in soothing tones; other times, his frustration boiled over, and his anger left me cowering in silence.
My body began to ache almost immediately, my joints stiff from the hard floor, my back sore from the thin mattress. I worried about the baby, doing my best to eat what Cody brought me and stretch when he wasn’t watching. I counted days by the changes in my body and the slow, relentless t
