“You don’t speak? I know you must be afraid. You have nothing to fear, provided you don’t give me any trouble. I have had a room prepared for you. We will speak later. Either your fiancé will come for you or we will talk again about, ah, options.” He stepped to me and tipped my chin up and then touched my face. I winced. Tears were threatening but I held them back.
“So beautiful.” he said, “I don’t know if I’d sell you or maybe keep you for myself.” His hand trailed down to a breast and he cupped it.
I felt bile rise up in my throat and remained stiff.
He sighed and let go.
“Flora!” he shouted.
A different older woman in a standard black and white maid’s uniform came in. She motioned for me to follow. She took me to a little bedroom in the basement of the house. It was an unfinished basement and it was dingy and dirty, unlike the main floor of the house. When she opened the bedroom door and led me in, I felt sick at the sight. It was decorated like a little girl’s room, strangely, with a pink single canopy bed, rocking chair filled with dolls and stuffed animals, and it had a tiny bathroom adjoined with toilet, sink, and shower. She said nothing to me, just led me in and closed the door and locked it. I noticed a mounted camera pointed at the bed in the corner where the wall met the ceiling.
I sat on the bed, feeling numb. I sat for a while and then went into the bathroom and saw that there was a camera in this room, too. Oh man, how could I use the bathroom with a camera pointed at me? The bathroom had baby shampoo, child’s Disney character toothpaste and soap. It was weird.
I walked back to the bedroom, deciding to hold it as long as I had to. It didn’t last long before I had no choice but to go. At least I’d been wearing dress so I could try to keep myself covered. I tried not to look at the camera. I tried not to think about what this room might be for but I knew. I swallowed back the bile that rose in my throat.
I looked down at my dress. This was one of my favorite dresses. It was black and white checkered with a red collar and belt and now it was filthy and there was a rip at the hem. Funny that I was upset about a dress right now. Maybe that’s all I could let myself focus on. If I focused on what was really going on here I might not be able to handle it.
What felt like several hours later the door opened and Flora had a tray that she left on the floor. She backed out of the room. I sat on the bed and ate a little bit of rice, beans, and fish and drank the bottled water she’d left. There were two other bottles there for me so I supposed that might be it until tomorrow. I wasn’t wearing a watch and this room had no windows. I guessed it was nighttime by now but I wasn’t sure. I wasn’t hungry but didn’t know what was in store for me so ate as much as I could manage so I could keep my strength. I decided to try to sleep.
I prayed and prayed hard asking God to deliver me from the nightmare that was my life. I prayed that He would also keep the ones I cared about safe.
Later, much later, I didn’t know how long I’d been here, I started to hope that Tommy would rescue me. Better the evil you know than the evil you don’t. Even if I had to be his wife, even if I had to be his sex slave, it was back home and if I played my cards right maybe I could maybe have somewhat of a normal life some of the time. Maybe I could see my friends sometimes. Maybe I could figure out how to keep him sweet or at least not piss him off. But it was probably too late for that. He’d known me for just a little while and I’d pissed him off repeatedly. He’d find someone else to marry. He’d just leave me here and move on with his life. Juan Carlos had said Ferranos didn’t usually bargain. This was probably hopeless.
Tommy
Two days later…
Negotiations were done and if I’d really meant the things I’d agreed to I’d be feeling like I’d been fucked up the ass right now. Of course there had been a lot of back and forth as I had to make it look genuine. Now all was done and I had to wait for Castillo’s men to come back to the table to tell us if Juan Carlos would accept our latest counteroffer, which was so close to his last offer that he couldn’t possibly refuse it.
We’d tried to make our negotiations sound more like a reason to move forward due to mutually beneficial business ventures that could benefit both sides much more than it being about getting my girl back.
I was like a caged predator on the edge and if it weren’t for Dare, I’d have lost my shit by now. He dealt with our translator who dealt with the Castillo translator and they showed me a
live feed of her in a kid’s bedroom on the bed looking at the ceiling with a lost and distraught look on her face. The feed was open so I kept checking it on my phone. I was assured she hadn’t been touched.
I speak a bit of Spanish, enough, but I just don’t have the fucking patience right now, not when I want to rip anyone associated with Castillo apart. There were ten of us in the room and countless outside all with guns and I want blood. I want it to fucking rain blood on this shithole. And as soon as I get her out of here, there will be a storm coming. Why the hell were we even involved in this business down here? Pop and I needed to have a talk about this.
Tia
I bolted awake. I wasn’t alone. The bedroom lights were still on as they had been the whole time I’d been here. A man was standing over me. It was the Mexican man with the ponytail who’d been driving the car that took me. I didn’t know how long I’d been here. There were no windows and the lights were always on. I think it’d been two or three days judging by how many times food had been brought in. Too much time alone with my thoughts, with my fears, with my regrets. All that’d happened was that a few times that Flora lady brought food and water. She didn’t talk to me, just came and left.
I don’t think I could ever survive a lengthy stay in solitary confinement. Being locked in this room with nothing to do was awful. But I’d tolerated it as best as I could because I didn’t know what would happen once I left this room.
“On your knees,” he growled at me.
I stared at him, frozen. He grabbed my hair and pulled me off the bed with it until I was on my knees on the floor.
“Ferrano says no one fucks you or the deal’s off but he didn’t say you couldn’t suck me off.” He unzipped his jeans. Oh fuck no.
Before I knew it he was forcing his thing into my mouth, hanging onto a handful of material at the back of my dress. I started to choke and sputter and then he slapped me across the head and when he hit he hit so hard I saw a kaleidoscope of colors. He pushed his dick into my mouth again and I just gagged and then tears were streaming out of my eyes. It was disgusting, he stank like old cheese and sweat and tasted nasty and I couldn’t stop gagging. He didn’t care; he just kept pumping in over and over around my gagging.
“Bite me, Puta, I’ll knock your teeth out!” he grunted this and then I heard a scuffle behind him and then hollering and then his grip loosened on me and I heard a bang, a gunshot. He fell beside me. Earl had shot him in the back of the head. Earl had a look of ferocity on his face. He helped me up and put me on the bed and then disappeared into the washroom. I stared at the man on the floor in the puddle of almost black blood and his vacant eyes. His penis was still hanging out of his pants. Earl came back with a wet cloth and started wiping my face.
“That should never have happened, honey, I’m sorry,” he said, then walked me to the bathroom and turned the tap on. I splashed water on my face and scooped a handful of water and spit it out and then repeated it two or three times. The taste in my mouth was vile, beyond vile. I couldn’t stop shaking.
I looked at him with a hurt and betrayed look on my face. This guy had been assigned by Tommy to keep me safe. It was a joke, of course, because I hadn’t been safe since I’d been given to Tommy but this whole thing had just been so ugly and so so confusing. From the other morning when Tommy had been tender with me to the incident with his sister and seeing her babies in the car, to running, calling my father, Tommy finding me and being so angry, and then all of this. I wanted…I didn’t know what I wanted. I felt like I was on the verge of a complete breakdown.
“Let’s go,” Earl said.