Behind Closed Doors: One woman’s attempt to escape her captor

Behind closed doors by B A Paris

Do you feel suffocated when your parents don’t let you out on that trip you wanted to go?… Or when your boss does not let you take that leave you wanted so badly.

So, how would you feel if you were held captive by a psychotic and narcissistic person with an impeccable and clean social image!

What would you do when you see no prospects of escaping the grips of your captor, how would you convince people that he is keeping you captive when the entire world believes that he is a super successful lawyer. And to top that up, he specifically takes up cases of domestic abuse where the women are battered and helps them get justice!

For the entire world, Jack Angel (Yes, he named himself Angel!) and Grace are this perfect power couple with Jack handling high profile cases and his wife Grace, living the life of her dreams in a house that can make even the wealthy jealous.

But, behind this facade of a doting husband and a cherished celebrity lawyer, is evil and neurotic human being who has successfully held his own wife captive in plain sight.

The Present

‘Behind Closed Doors’ opens with the Angels hosting a dinner for friends and neighbors. Right from the beginning, Grace is anxious and worried. Paranoid that her husband would catch her doing something stupid. Something like talking to a guest alone in a different room, eating too much, or even getting too close to any of the guests.

If you’re thinking ‘How did Jack manage to hold her captive?’. It’s 2022, there’s got to be some way to communicate with friends or family or even law enforcement.

I wondered the same, but let me tell you about the evil genius!

The grand sketch

The hunt

Imagine a psychopath who gets off by instilling fear in people, and he is out looking for a perfect victim whom he can torment for the rest of his life.

Here comes Grace with her innocence and her little sister Millie with Down’s Syndrome. Grace’s parents are not really interested in taking care of Millie. They want to move back to New Zealand. With practically no family and very few friends, Grace became the ideal target for Jack.

The manipulation

The thing about psychopaths is that they are master manipulators and exceptionally good at deception and diversion. Jack charms Grace and pretends to be in love with her. He wins her over by being overtly interested in taking care of Millie too, for the rest of their lives.

Millie is currently in an Institute for special children, and will soon be done with her stay there. And with the parents out of the picture, she will become a full-time responsibility of Grace. This is exactly what Jack wants, ‘to torture a young girl for the rest of her life, or as long as she can take it before she’s dead, in a specially constructed basement in his own house.

Once Grace and Jack are married, he takes sole guardianship of Millie along with Grace and decides to implement his evil plan once she’s home from the institute.

There’s no escaping hell

It’s not like Grace did not try escaping the clutches of Jack, she deserves more credit than that. Jack told her about his grand plan of torturing Millie, on their wedding night itself. Their honeymoon in Thailand was one hell of a rollercoaster ride for Grace. Jack booked a very secretive room on the top floor in a secluded hotel where he already knew the staff. Jack kept Grace locked in her balcony for hours together while he was out.

Attempt 1

There was just one room adjacent to Jack’s room. While Grace was locked in her balcony, she could see that there was a Spanish couple in the next-door balcony, as she heard the guy say something in Spanish. She was very tempted to shout out for help but was not really sure if they’d understand.

When a few more days passed, and the routine continued, she lost it and dashed out of her room the first chance she got and started knocking frantically at the neighbor’s door asking for help.

And, Jack comes out of that door with a smug smile on his face. He had rented both the rooms!

He was there in the other room while Grace was locked in her balcony. Waiting for her to try and escape. He was always one step ahead!

Attempt 2

She even tried alerting the staff downstairs and asked them to contact the London embassy. But instead of doing that they called Jack, as he already spread the news that Grace was sick and that she was on medication. And also added that sometimes when the medication wears off she behaves like Jack is keeping her captive and what not!

A couple of failed attempts later, Grace realizes that it’s not going to work. These calls for help and trying to prove that Jack is a psychopath are futile attempts as Jack has taken years to create a very strong and excellent image in society with his profession.

One last try

Grace decided to just act like she has given up and just wait for the right opportunity to get away from all of this. For her the biggest fear is Millie, and she cannot let that monster lay his hands on her.

And with every passing day, Millie coming to live with them was getting closer and closer. She has to do something before she comes home, else they will be stuck here forever.

You’ll have to actually read the book to find out what Grace does to save Millie and herself from the situation.

Conclusion

‘Behind Closed Doors’ shows how hasty decisions put you in situations that are difficult to extricate from. It is also about the triumph of grit and perseverance. There were a thousand reasons to give up and just accept her fate, but just one reason to keep fighting and that was enough for Grace.

Similar Read: The Kind worth Killing

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