by Melissa Jane
I screamed. I screamed as loud as my lungs would allow because for all I knew there could have been someone on the other side of the door with a compassionate heart. A meaty hand smothered my mouth, muffling any further noise and for the second time in five minutes a mouth grazed my ear.
“So you’re the bitch, eh? We finally meet.” What did he mean by that? Perhaps this was a case of mistaken identity and could be sorted out quickly without any further hassle.
“Keep your fucking mouth shut, puta, or we will make light work of you. You think you have it bad now, just wait.” The heavily accented voice sounded calm but his deathly intent was serious. “You will listen to everything we tell you to do. We don’t want any defiance. You step out of line, you will be punished. And believe me...” A calloused hand slid up between my thighs “… you don’t want the punishment Raul and I can dish out on you.”
I whimpered into his hand.
“Understand, bitch?”
I understood perfectly well. I nodded as much as I possibly could have given my face was sandwiched between his hand and the mattress.
“That’s a good girl,” said the second man, Raul, who stood some feet away. “Keep your mouth shut and you will be ok.” He sounded like the nicer of the two.
My captor released my arms and lifted his hefty weight off me. Grabbing frantically at my dressing gown I tried in vain to cover up my nakedness. Mocking laughter sounded behind me and my face and chest flushed crimson at the humiliation. The two men must have felt some pity for me as they held my upper arms, leading me from the room, allowing the gown to remain folded across my chest.
There were many closed doors leading off from the narrow passage and I couldn’t help but wonder if they had other young women like me locked up behind them.
We descended an elaborate staircase, cool marble beneath my bare feet. The place was nothing short of magnificent with obvious attention to detail and historical heritage. Colorful oil paintings of voluptuous naked nymphs lined the walls and intricate crystal vases were housed in specially lit alcoves. At the bottom of the stairs lay what looked to be a marbled ballroom with an extravagant glimmering chandelier that hung from the center of the ceiling, giving the room a regal elegance.
To the right, I was abruptly stopped in front of double wooden doors and the brute on the right knocked on one of them. Whoever was in charge of this whole sick and twisted operation was on the other side and I was about to come face to face with him or them.
The doors opened slowly and beyond the threshold was an almost homely library. Two tufted brown lounges were placed in the middle of the room on top of an ethnic patterned rug. A bookcase to my left revealed the spines of thousands of books while the incongruous modern lamps created a muted glow. My captors pulled me forward into the room and it was then I noticed two men watching from the shadows, scrutinizing my every feature.
What felt like an eternity passed and nobody had spoken a word. The silence was deafening and the tension palpable between me and everyone else in the room. My waning confidence took a flying jump off a very steep cliff and my gaze dropped to the floor at my feet.
A man approached, standing directly in front of me, his warm breath hitting my face. I maintained my downward focus but this time on the man’s shiny, multi-colored crocodile skin dress shoes. His hand cupped my chin, pulling my face up to meet his dark, impenetrable eyes. I recoiled immediately as the bitter recognition slapped me in the face.
It was him!
Mr Dark and Dangerous himself!
He laughed knowingly at my reaction, his fingers digging deeper into my skin. Memories of my day spent looking for Ethan in the streets flashed through my mind. This man had the kind of face you could never forget even if you wanted to. His eyes, while beautiful, were a dark mystery lacking all forms of emotion except for a cruel intent. It would unnerve the most stoic of opponents.
“Why?” I stammered before thinking about the earlier warning of remaining silent.
His expression lost all humor. “What do you think?” Dark and Dangerous hadn’t broken his hold on me, but I suspected the question wasn’t mine to answer.
The man he had been standing with when I walked in came into view.
He was at least a couple of decades older than Dark and Dangerous but just as handsome. He looked fit, with salt and pepper hair and caramel skin and, while he certainly carried some history behind him, age had been kind, revealing only a few soft laugh lines around his dark opaque brown eyes.
While both men were dressed in what looked to be designer clothing, the older man carried himself with a more distinguishable air of sophistication. I deduced from his obvious show of arrogance he was clearly the one who wielded the power, even of my demise.
A narcissistic smile revealed Dark and Dangerous's beautifully straight teeth while his eyes glistened in a cruel and callous way. His curious gaze studied my face and lingered over my robe covered body. At that point I decided I would do everything within my power to not be intimidated. Whatever his plans were for me, he could expect a fight.
He noted the challenge in my eyes and a smirk pulled the corners of his lips. With a little wave of his fingers, he commanded the two men behind me to wrench my arms away from my body, holding them out wide. I hadn’t expected it so they found little resistance, not that I had the strength to put up a physical fight.
My gown fell open and settled on each side of my body, my nakedness on full display. With the brutes holding an arm each, I stood twisting in a lame attempt to hide my private areas, humiliation engulfing me as four sets of eyes lingered.
He had won. It was a brief challenge, but I had lost. I could no longer hold my stoic gaze. Dark and Dangerous scoffed in victory as he moved to the side, allowing the older man to take charge. At that point, I was unsure who I should fear the most.
The older, distinguished man stood before me much like his younger counterpart, his eyes doing all the talking. My traitorous body began to tremble uncontrollably under his critical assessment. He too seemed to be amused by the humiliation I felt.
The brutes released my arms only to wrench the gown over my shoulders letting it fall to the ground behind my feet. I was now left with nowhere to hide. With my teeth clenched tightly shut, my jaw ached like it had been punched. Blinking furiously to rid the tears of anger that burned my eyes, I turned my head shamefully away from the two men in front of me and focused on the darkest corner of the room.
It was then I noticed another set of eyes watching on from the shadows, his muted expression unreadable. The dim lighting made it difficult to see his features which only added to his ambiguous demeanor. He sat unmoving on the arm of the chair, his arms folded across his broad chest, the position he played in this twisted game unknown to me. Although I couldn’t make out his face in great detail, there was something about the look of the shadowed man that both comforted and alarmed me.
Keeping my eyes focused on the dark corner and the strange enigma of a man who held my gaze, the two burly men behind me fell away and stood near the door we had walked through. The older man began a slow walk, his eyes studying a new part of my body with each step. His perverted stare burned into my skin as he passed behind me. I loathed that he was where I couldn’t see him – it only amplified my vulnerability.
Moments of dread and anticipation passed and my skin began to crawl. The older man’s proximity suffocated me as his nose moved from the base of my neck and raked through my hair. The sick bastard was breathing me in and shattering my resolve at the same time. I thought better of my rebellious intensions and fought the urge to throw my elbow back into his gut. I stood rigid as he grazed his nose through my hair, travelling around my head to the other side, inhaling deeply as he moved. His warm breath on my neck only encouraged the shudder I had tried desperately to suppress. If he noticed my repulsed response, he remained unperturbed as he sauntered in front of me again.
“Excellent, Juan,” he said, speaking for the first time, his
taunting eyes still glued to my body with a jovial smile while clapping Dark and Dangerous on the back.
“Mixing pleasure with business. You have done well.”
Chapter Four
Aiden
I couldn’t help but openly stare at the beauty in front of me. She was beyond doubt fucking exquisite.
I hadn’t moved an inch since the girl was walked in. One part of my anatomy had grown a few inches, but what man wouldn’t have such a reaction to this glorious creature. She certainly wasn’t what I was expecting and I was positive she would also have come as a pleasant surprise to Hector.
Typically, the girls Juan brought back home were tan-skinned, with long coffee brunette hair; Latina basically. And they usually came here of their own free will with little coercion needed once they learned Hector could give them a life off the streets or help their families out of poverty. But this girl… this girl was something else.
Hector had ensured I was present for tonight’s meeting, but I had yet to be briefed on the details. From the way they were treating her, it appeared there was more at play than usual which only further piqued my curiosity. The girl's body trembled uncontrollably, which meant she obviously hadn’t come here on her own accord. Hector's presence clearly intimidated her, which in turn had made her face and breasts glow crimson, perhaps with anger or humiliation – or both.
I watched him circle like a vulture, openly assessing her body. She stood about five three, short platinum blond hair cropped a little longer than a pixie style. It suited her delicate features and framed her face perfectly. The girl’s skin was as pale as porcelain except for the constant blushing, but what caught my attention the most when she turned her face to me was her startling blue eyes. They were large and frightened. Her trembling, kissable full lips were a deep rose pink hue that held a grim line as her chin quivered with emotion.
My gaze moved from her pretty face to her luscious, naturally rounded breasts which sat perfectly on her chest. Her waist was small and her hips were that of a woman. To put it simply, she was fucking stunning.
Hector and Juan obviously shared my approval, as well as the two muscles standing behind her. Their eyes hadn’t moved from her round ass and I noticed both had readjusted themselves more than a few times. She was different, unique looking, and for those very reasons a fear resonated within me at what fate was planned for this girl. Not only would her beauty work against her in this situation, but her apparent determination to stand up to Hector would only bring on his wrath and in mass proportions.
The beauty looked at me straight on with her unwavering gaze and I found myself wanting to memorize every inch of her face. Her expression told a sad and desperate story, almost as if she was pleading to me. I don’t know why, it’s not like I could do anything to help her. She would become another of Hector’s girls who wasted the prime of their life in this place to be tossed out once she reached her due date.
But still, in knowing that, I couldn’t help but sense there was more to this girl than the others were letting on. Juan seemed particularly proud of himself over his find and I knew precisely what he had in store for her over the next week. It wasn’t good. Hector was a cruel man and he would break her will every way he could.
Who was this little enigma, and how had she ended up in this godforsaken place?
Chapter Five
Laila
Silence had once again descended on the room so I deemed it time to find out what these bastards wanted from me. It was my constitutional right, despite what the two muscle-man assholes had warned earlier not to do.
I built up enough courage and mentally demanded my lip to stop its trembling. The older man had his back to me pouring a glass of amber liquor for himself and his counterpart who watched me from the corner of his eye, a cocky smirk plastered on his face. He was clearly proud of his efforts in stumbling across me in the street.
The older man raised his glass to the other and they drank.
Do it! Just ask and be done with it.
“Who are you and why did you bring me here?” I demanded with as much authority as I could muster, yet I knew my voice was weak.
The older man rounded on me, his gaze a raging fire.
“You speak as if you are not afraid of me, my dear. Is that true? Do I not send fear through that little body of yours?”
His provocative tone incensed me. I loathed him.
“I’m not afraid,” I lied. “I just want to know why I am here. You owe me that much.”
I watched, albeit a little shaken as he cocked an eyebrow at my audacity.
He fell silent but was careful not to break eye contact as he weighed his next words.
“I owe you, do I? Hmm, interesting. Alright then. Do you like stories, my dear?”
I considered his question carefully before answering. I knew it was not a straightforward inquiry into my likes and dislikes. Everything I said in this place could potentially land me in deeper.
“Depends what they are,” I replied indifferently.
A smile played on his lips, the balance of his expression cold and serious.
“Let me tell you a story then,” the older man put his glass down and sat on the arm of the couch, his arms folded across his chest. The tone he took was mild, but I wasn’t fooled.
“Not too long ago, there was a rat that lived within these walls…”
I watched as his darkened gaze swept across the room as if he was reliving the experience.
“You could hear it scratching, gnawing through the walls at night, working its way through the house one room at a time. For months this went on. The vermin had made my house its home.”
He rose and walked languidly over to the crystal decanter that held his amber liquor. I watched in uncomfortable silence as he slowly poured himself another drink.
“I learned to live with it; after all, it was causing no harm to me and it clearly considered this his home too.”
He turned to face me again.
“Then one day, after listening to his scratching within the walls, a thought came to me. You see, this rat sounded like a big fucker, as if it had been eating like a king its whole goddamn life… while under my roof.”
His tone had taken a sinister turn, his menacing dark eyes boring holes through mine.
“You see, I could handle the fact that the rat used my home as his home. We stayed out of each other’s way, never laying an eye on each other. But that didn’t mean that he wasn’t indulging in a little too much of my hospitality. You see, dear girl, the problem is this – I don't like being taken advantage of.”
He paused for effect, as if somehow his sudden silence should emphasize his message that so far eluded me.
“I had my people check through the kitchen. Can you guess what they found?”
He looked at me expectantly but waited not for a response. Through his diatribe, I couldn’t help but wonder why his accent became thicker the more hostile he became.
“The fucking rat had been eating through packaging and helping itself to the food. My food! Not only that, but it had been shitting in the cupboards right next to where it had been dining.” The man placed his glass on the coffee table, his eyes boring into mine. Slowly, he advanced toward me, a sardonic smile playing on his lips as he noticed me shift uncomfortably under his careful watch.
“Enough was enough,” he continued. I could smell the alcohol on his breath as he looked down at me.
“Do you know what I did next, girl?” Another rhetorical question.
“I set a trap. It was a little cage that required the rat to crawl through it if it wanted the cheese I had left. What the stupid asshole didn’t realize was that once it was through the passage it would not be able to crawl back out. The next morning I woke to discover that my little friend was indeed a big fucker. Biggest fuck I had ever seen actually. Its eyes were big and round and when I got close to him I could almost hear it pleading for its fucking life.”
His face was now only an
inch away from mine. The slight smile he wore at first was now a wide, cruel grin. He chuckled to himself and took a few slow steps to stand behind me, his arm obnoxiously knocking my shoulder in the process.
The man’s voice was low as he breathed into my ear. “I left the asshole in the sun for three days while it starved. No food, no water, barely any room for it to move an inch either way. Then I got tired of watching its beady eyes watching me hoping I would release it. So I emptied the bastard into a plastic bag, went to my garage and tied the bag around the exhaust of my Mercedes.”
A chill spread down my spine as the man further lowered his voice, the words slow from his mouth as if he was wanting me to picture his every action.
“I only pumped the gas a few times to asphyxiate him, but not to the point of death. I wasn’t finished with the fucker yet.”
His mouth was close to my ear, his lips grazing my skin. I felt sick to the core.
“I took him out to the yard, emptied the bag and watched as he gulped for fresh air, his tiny little lungs working overtime. There was little he could do. The greedy fuck was too tired to walk, too weak to even look me in the eyes, too fat to move. Probably for the best because he never saw what was coming next.” He paused for effect, not that he needed to, I was already struggling to keep the bile down.
“Open your eyes, mamasita,” he said gently, but I knew it served as a warning. I hadn’t even realized they were closed. Juan was studying me curiously, while the other man remained in the shadows, his face down.
“I took a spade and placed it over his neck.”
My breath faltered as the man drew his forefinger across my neck. He was enjoying the storytelling far too much.