Kaden's vixen

(Content warning) 

Flashback 

The child's arms are wrapped tightly with zip ties, and his feet are bound with chains when he is out of his cage. He has been here (wherever here is) for three days now and he isn't sure what exactly will happen to him. He has been well fed; too well, if possible, and this would have been a great vacation if you took out the cage, restraints, and lack of a TV. However, rich trappings don't excuse what this is: a kidnapping. His dad had told how some people take other people for money. While he neglected to mention what he should do if he were ever kidnapped, he is sure that his parents can afford whatever payment the kidnappers want. 

Looking at the giant bed in the middle of the room, he has to stifle a yawn. The bed looks pretty comfy and he has had to sleep on the carpeted floor for two nights. The floor was hard, the cage was cramped, and fear had him in a chokehold most times. When he was asleep, he couldn't see if someone came in through the sturdy, blue painted door of the room, and he couldn't fight them off. He was so tired, though. Apart from bathroom breaks by some silent guard, he hadn't been allowed to bath, or do much of anything, really, except wait. 

A key turning in the lock wakes him up fully and he struggles to sit upright. A tall woman walks in and sets her handbag on the table beside the door. She is really beautiful with grass-green eyes, blonde hair, and a wide, choppy smile. She looks like a princess in her beautiful dress and high heels, but something about her unsettles the boy, causing him to shrink back fearfully when she squats right beside him. 

"Hello, baby. I'm sorry you've been treated this way. Don't worry, everything will get better soon." She runs a gentle hand over his hair, and it takes everything in him not to shudder. Even then, he instinctively knew to stay still in the presence of a predator, lest he fall victim to snapping teeth and slobbering jaws. 

Rising to her full height, she walks to the door and speaks to someone outside "He is fine. His lessons will start tomorrow." With another gentle, closed lip smile at him, she leaves the room and shuts the door. 

The next day dawns bright and he is woken up at the crack of dawn. He is still groggy as he is ushered by a middle-aged woman into the shower. At first, he protests the early wake up call, but a stern look from her has him scrambling into the bathroom. Stout with dark hair flecked with gray, she doesn't say a word but stands still until he removes his clothes and steps under the shower. Only then, does she whisk away his dirty clothes (never to be seen again) and leave. Heart pounding, the terrified little boy steps out of the bathroom, ready to face anything in the room. He is only six, but he has decided to be as difficult as possible while he waits for his parents to find him. His dad is the best and strongest dad in the world, and he will surely find him very soon, but if he is irritating enough, they just may allow him to leave out of anger. 

Clothes have been laid out on the bed, and he stands in the middle of the room, unsure for a few minutes before dressing up quickly. Anyone could come into the room when they pleased. Looking back later, he would wager that that was the most pleasant part of the day. He would soon come to know the middle-aged woman as Ms. Lee, and she was the most terrifying person he had ever met in his short life, second only to the green-eyed woman. Ms. Lee was a mixture of a housekeeper, governess, and jailer. She was also the one who enforced the green-eyed woman's rules: 

Rule 1: Never speak until you're spoken to. 

Rule 2: Children must be polite, always. Vulgar talk is for delinquents. 

Rule 3: An educated child rules the world. Lessons must be taken seriously and applied to with the required discipline and enthusiasm. 

Rule 4: Do as you're told; Good behavior may be rewarded, but bad children are always punished. 

Rule 5: Do not try to leave. Bad things happen to people who leave this house without permission. 

The first three months were a trial for the jailers and the boy. All five rules were broken, multiple times. He screamed, bit, scratched, outrightly refused to eat, and destroyed the lesson books brought for him. Each tantrum ended with a demand to see his parents and a corresponding punishment from Ms. Lee. His punishments ranged from food deprivation to corporal punishment, but he was a stubborn little boy. Nothing seemed to work, and Ms. Lee was visibly reaching the end of her tether. Everything changed though, when another child was bundled into the room with him. 

She was tall for a little girl and seemed to be much older than him. However, she was a quiet thing, and Ms. Lee soon realized he could be controlled by punishing her. Don't want your dinner? No problem, Cerise gets no dinner also. Deliberately messed up your etiquette classes? Cerise gets to sleep in the cage of shame (a metal contraption no self-respecting dog would even sleep in). Refused to go on your mandatory morning run? Lovely! Cerise gets to run until she pukes up bile. Slowly but surely, the boy starts taking the path of least resistance, and the punishments stop. He is soon rewarded with the removal of his chains, and access to the big, fluffy bed in his room. He is permitted to roam the manor, and he and Cerise spend their free time exploring the nooks and crannies of the big house. The doors are still locked though, there are cameras everywhere, and they only go outside the house with guards, but it's still something. 

By the end of the sixth month, he is almost fully broken into the obedient hostage they want, and his dreams of his father coming to save him have stopped. By the time he turns seven, he has resigned himself to life at the manor, but his dreams of escaping haven't died; he only must figure out how to leave with his best friend.