“Hello!”
I yell out into the darkness, banging my hands on the door, my voice hoarse from the hours of yelling I’ve subjected myself to already.
I know I should give up. I know I should try and get some rest, but I can’t even think about that when I’m in the middle of a nightmare bigger than I ever imagined.
I stagger back from the door, rubbing my aching palms, and crumple down into the corner in a heap. There’s barely any light in the room where I’m being held, aside from a single streak that comes in through a window above the door. I can’t see out of it, so I have no idea where they’re keeping me. I tried to count out the minutes that we were in the van, so I’d at least have some idea of how far I was from home, but my brain was and is so scrambled I can’t hold my thoughts together.
The only thing on my mind is her. Polly. I need to know she’s okay.
I have gone over what my attacker said to me a million times, trying to work out if he meant it when he said he wasn’t going to take her. Now that I’m here, I have no way of stopping them if they decide to go back to my daughter and steal her away too. Maybe that was always the plan, to get me away from her by convincing me this was the right thing, only to turn around and make me pay as soon as they got the chance…
I want to cry, but I’ve already been sobbing for so long that my body is utterly spent. I don’t even know how long they’ve had me in here—I’ve watched the darkness pass outside, to be replaced with light again, so I know it’s at least been a day, but nothing more than that. My stomach is aching with hunger, and my eyes are burning from the lack of sleep and the endless tears, but I can’t even think about resting. Not until I get to Polly again. Not until I know that she’s okay…
All at once, I hear footsteps approaching the door, and I spring to my feet, rushing over and pressing my ear to the thick wood. The room is dank, old concrete dripping with moisture that has made room for patches of mold here and there. I need to get out as soon as I can. I can’t stay here any longer than I already have—I feel as though I’m going crazy…
The door opens, and I spring back from it in a panic, my eyes wide. I don’t want to be this close to the man who took me. He hasn’t actually done any real damage to me—at least, not yet. Apart from the slap in the apartment, he’s just pushed me to and fro, making me go wherever he tells me, but I can handle that, as annoying as it is.
He stares down at me for a long moment, lit by the flood of light that has followed him in from outside. I notice there’s a packet of food in his hand. I don’t know what it is, but I will eat it anyway. I’m so hungry I can barely think straight.
He sees where my eyes travel to, and he grins, lifting the bag in front of his face.
“Oh, you want this, do you?”
“Please, just give it to me,” I beg him, reaching out before I can stop myself. My hand swipes for what he’s holding, but he tugs it out of my reach before I can grab it. I let out another groan, wishing more than anything I could just have a bite.
“I’m sure I can think of a few ways you can earn that,” he remarks, his eyes traveling down my body with a pointed glow. I shudder—I can’t even think about that, not if I want to hold on to what remains of my composure. I know what these guys are involved with, if what Luca has told me is anything to go by. They might be—God, I can’t even think about it…
“I’m not doing anything,” I tell him sharply, mustering up all the strength I have in my voice.
He laughs again, a little louder this time, the sound filling the air around us as though the mere sound of those words is ridiculous to him.
“Oh, I’m sure,” he replies. “That’s what they all say. Give it a couple of days, with no food, no sunlight…you’ll start to change your tune. The rest of the girls did.”
Nausea twists at my stomach. I want to lunge at him. The way he’s talking about this, as though it’s some kind of joke…I can only imagine what those women have been through, how they ended up in a situation as bleak as the one he’s describing. Nobody would have walked into it if they had any kind of choice, and he knows that. They starve them, trap them, leave them in solitary for God knows how long…yeah, by the end of that, I think I would be willing to do anything to get out as well.
“Give me the food,” I tell him once more, trying to steady the shake in my voice. “That’s all I’m asking. Please.”
“You know what I’m talking about, don’t you?” he goes on, almost casual, as he strides into the room and turns to face me. I’m right next to the open door. I glance over to it, and he presses his hand against the gun at his side.
“If you think you’re going to play action hero and run out of here,” he warns me, “you’ve got another thing coming.”
I turn to face him, my hands clenched into fists at my sides. I don’t feel safe being alone in a room with this man. God knows what he will do to me. God knows what he has already done to so many women who have found themselves in the same position I am right now…
“We get plenty of girls staying here,” he tells me. “Girls who come to work for us. Not the kind of work you’re used to, though.”
“I know what you do,” I grit out, forcing myself to look at him. I’m not going to let him think he succeeded in getting under my skin with all of this. I’m better than this, better than he’s giving me credit for.
“Oh, you do, do you?” he chuckles. “And you still got involved with Luca. Seems like you must have known you were risking us coming after you, huh?”
“Of course I—”
“Maybe you even wanted this,” he continues, leaning in close to me, his foul breath suddenly filling my senses. I almost gag at the scent of it, but there’s nothing in my stomach to bring up, acid burning in my throat instead.
“Maybe you were hoping you’d be brought in and turned into the version of yourself you know you want to be,” he suggests, reaching out to run a finger down my cheek. His nail is sharp, tugging at my skin, and I twist away from him. I don’t want him touching me, can’t stand the thought of it. My entire body feels as though it’s going to heave in protest, but at the same time, I’m frozen to the spot, too terrified to move, too terrified to find out what happens if I outright reject his advances.
“But even if you didn’t,” he remarks. “You’d learn how. You’d have to.”
And with that, he tosses the bag of food onto the floor. I pounce down on it and tear it open, stuffing hunks of potato chips into my mouth, barely even tasting them as I chew them down and swallow.
“You can have this for free for now,” he sneers at me. “But don’t think you’re going to be getting a lot of that down the line, you hear me?”
I don’t even look up at him—I barely dare to. As he heads for the door, I realize I can hear something. I glance up in the moment before the door swings shut, and I catch sight of the corridor outside. To my horror, I realize that there are other doors there, other doors just like mine.
And the noise that has attracted my attention is of women screaming for help.
I stop eating—I feel like I’m going to bring up everything that’s already in my stomach. I can’t take this. I can’t take the thought of other people being stuck here too, other people having to face off against this hellish nightmare. How many of us are there in here? How many of them will be used in their sick brothels?
I sink down into the corner once more, the cold terror of realization shuddering through my body. No—no. This can’t be real. It can’t be…
The last light fades out of the room and leaves me sitting in darkness once more. All I can do is stare off into space, my head full of the cries I just heard. Those women might have heard me, too, if they were lucky enough to get something to eat. Or perhaps that man has been slipping into their rooms for other reasons entirely…
If what he said is anything to go by, then I’m going to have to start earning my keep here sooner rather than later. I’m not exactly sure what that means, but I know, sure as hell, that I am not going to like it.
I draw my knees up to my chest and rest my chin against them, closing my eyes. I need to sleep. I know my dreams are going to be anything but easy tonight—but that doesn’t matter. I’m going to need to have my wits about me for when that man comes back.
Because I won’t let him lay a hand on me without fighting tooth and nail first.
