You Loved Me At My Darkest

by Evie Harper

  Jake closes his eyes tightly, and then opens them, nailing me with a penetrating stare. “I could, but I won’t. I won’t save you, or anyone else.” His tone is stern and absolute.

  “This doesn’t make any sense,” I say, shaking my head. “Why do you need a human trafficking empire at all?” I ask, struggling not to cry.

  He stands frozen staring at me, again surprised that I keep questioning him. “None of your goddamn fucking business,” he snaps back angrily. “Now, get dressed.” He heads for the door.

  The blood running through my veins bubbles with anger.

  He could save us, but he won’t. Bastard.

  I want to go feral and scratch his eyes out. I want to smash everything in this cage they call a room. I may be physically weak, but I’m still a fighter.

  “You sick bastard,” I hiss at his back as he tries to leave the room. He stops in his tracks and turns back to me. He gives me a blank expression, uncaring to my growing anger.

  “Glad you finally figured out who I really am.”

  “Oh, I know who you are. You’re as bad as those men who raped me and the other women from the collection last night.” I stop to catch my breath and find I’m panting heavily.

  Jake’s whole body freezes. Deceptively soft, he asks. “What did you just say?” I should feel terrified by his tone, but I was too angry to care.

  “You heard me arsehole,” I reply.

  The room goes eerily quiet. Then I feel it. The anger and the ferocious tension in the air. Jake looks like he’s paralysed, his eyes black, his hands fisted causing his knuckles to go white. The only thing moving on his body is his ticking jaw.

  Losing some of my anger at realising just how angry Jake is, I swallow and take a step back.

  “The Collection was there?” Jake’s asks. Still frozen in one spot, his voice is low and taut.

  I nod, too scared to talk right now.

  “Who?” he demands and finally moves by taking one step toward me. “Who the fuck was there, Lily. Did you see them? Did you talk to them?”

  Panicking, I answer, “Y- Y- Yes I met them and got their names. There was Natalia, Cho,” I shut my eyes tightly, trying to steady my heart and remember all the women’s names. “Emily, Adanya and Megan,” I quickly finish.

  “How many guards were there?” Guards? Where is he going with this?

  “I think four. Four walked us to the stage, maybe five. There was another guard who walked me to and from the villa.”

  Jake sits on the end of the bed with his hands clasped in front of him, muttering to himself under his breath.

  I walk over to stand in front of him. I should have more thought for my safety, but curiosity wins out. “Jake,” I say to him. He looks up at me as if only just realising I’m still in the room. “What am I missing here? Why do you care who was there and how many guards there were?”

  Jake narrows his eyes at me then stands. I think he’s going to just walk out of the room, but he doesn’t. “I need to know how many women are in the collection to know how many guards there are. I need to know there is still a spot for me when you arrive there.”

  My mouth flies open at his words. He’s only worried about himself. Am I that desperate to want the man who cared for me last night to have some redeeming qualities, that I am now making them up in my head?

  He smirks at me. “Oh, Lily, don’t go making me the good guy. You will be disappointed.”

  Jake moves away from me and leaves the room.

  Well, if Jake refuses to see me as a person worth saving, I’m just going to have to change his mind.

  Let the games begin.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  If Only She Knew

  Jake

  It's day six of Lily being at the mansion and I’m walking out of my room this morning with a huge fucking annoying smile on my face. For the last four days, Lily has tried every trick in the book to get to me. However, I see straight through her actions. I see her plan. She wants me to care for her, to see her as a person so my conscience will get the better of me, and I will save her and her sister. I’m wondering what new strategy Lily will try today. This damn smile, I can’t get rid of it. So far, she’s told me jokes which I laughed at, but only because they were so bad.

  “Hey, Jake, what do Eskimos get from sitting on ice for too long?” I’m silent, looking at her with my usual blank expression knowing she will pop out with the answer soon.

  “Polaroids.” Her eyes sparkle with laughter, and her expression shows her eagerness for me to react to the joke.

  I bark out a laugh, shocked at how much the stupid joke makes me laugh and her cute determination to get a reaction out of me. Damn, this woman will be my downfall.

  Then Lily moved on to tell me stories about Sasha and herself as children. I listened intently, eagerly wanting to learn anything new about her. Lily explained that her and Sasha would talk for hours in their favourite childhood tree.

  “When Sasha was seven, she wanted to take over the world by making an addictive chocolate so she could control everyone. However, after we talked to our mum, she informed us that, number one, people were already addicted to chocolate and that plan would only work on women. So we went back to the drawing board.”

  I would try to cough or cover my mouth to cover my chuckle, but Lily would spot me and jump head first into her next story.

  She broached the subject about her ex-boyfriends, which made me grunt and walk out of the room. I didn’t leave because of the topic. No, I left because that just happened to be when I’d had enough of her playing this game. Lie.

  I went back to her room hours later to install a new bathroom mirror for her since I punched the other one. Luckily this place is so huge I could just take one from another bedroom that’s never been used. Lily followed me into the bathroom, sat in the bathtub and changed her tactic to telling me about her family’s farm, a farm that has been in her family for four generations. Every memory reignited the light in her eyes. The room lit up with her beautiful smile. You could tell she had a wonderful childhood surrounded by family who loved her very much. Her childhood reminds me of my own, filled with laughter, love and big family get-togethers.

  Day four when I returned after taking her lunch away, her locked door handle was rattling, and I laughed aloud realising she was trying to pick the lock. As soon as I laughed, the rattling stopped. I opened the door, peeked into her room, and she was casually sitting on the bed reading a book... upside down.

  I examined her and found nothing. When I asked her what she was using, she just shrugged, and said she had no idea what I was talking about. I wanted to throw her across the bed and rip her clothes off at that very moment. The sneaky minx was fucking hot when she was defiant. I searched her room and found a metal spoon with a bent handle hiding under the bed.

  I’ve since talked to the slave girls about all Lily’s cutlery now being plastic, Lily was not impressed at dinnertime that night. Her response was a lot of muttering and cursing me under her breath. Fuck, my cheeks are starting to hurt from grinning so much. I shouldn’t be having this much fun with her, but I am.

  Day five, I could see as soon as I entered her room she was agitated, narrowing her eyes at me. She had given up on talking about herself and had started confronting me with questions about me.

  “Why are you pretending to be someone you’re not? I can see you’re trying to show me the big bad man you think you are, but too many times you slip and I see a gentle, caring man.”

  This woman, she constantly shocks me with her defiance. She has no defences yet she doesn’t give up her fight. Why isn’t she scared of me? I’m not saving her. Her stories of home and family will do nothing to deter me from what I want.

  “It’s complicated and not something I will discuss with anyone. I am off limits. If you try to dig too deep, I will walk out of this room and not return until we leave for Marco’s house. That could be weeks, months. Do you want to be alone that whole time?” I’m a liar, not ev
en King Kong could hold me back from being around Lily now.

  I see her flinch at thinking about having no human contact except for the parties for that long. She walks away from me and into the bathroom, slamming the door closed. I smile at her attitude, and again look to the heavens and pray I can hold on to my sanity when it comes to her. If God had created a woman to truly test me, that woman would be Lily Morgan.

  Lily’s plan is working though. She is getting to me. Every moment we have together and every story she shares with me is slowly breaking me down. When I feel myself losing my fight, I leave the room to remind myself of why I’m here, and why Lily is staying here too. If Lily was suddenly able to leave this house, it would probably devastate me. Her smile is the only bright thing in my life right now. I’m desperate for her to know the real me, to choose me, even if all she will ever have is my dark side.

  No matter what Lily does, I’m intrigued. I want to know more about her. I want her to show me how much further she’s willing to try to test me. I’m a sick bastard, but I’m getting off on it. I’ve never needed to get myself off since I was a teenager. In the past I’ve headed into town taking whatever woman is willing. I had a fucking fantastic time, but in between those times, I’ve never felt the need to take care of myself, but I’ve never had a fucking gorgeous Lily Morgan wrapping me around her finger before either. Now, every night I go back to my room with a rock hard cock and the need to relieve myself, so I don’t crash tackle her to the bed the next day.

  Stroking myself, one hand to the wall, the other imagining it’s Lily’s defiant mouth licking and sucking me up and down, slowly. All it takes is remembering her strength, resilience and each time she tried to out manoeuvre me or get to me. I let out a roar of ecstasy as my cum spurts onto my hand. I fall against the shower wall breathing heavily.

  If only she knew what she did to me. It would probably disgust her.

  My now hardening dick brings me back to the present. As I turn from my door, which is only one room away from Lily’s, my cell phone rings. I take it out of my pocket. It’s Marco. Could this be the day we leave for his private house.

  I answer quickly. “Jake,” I clip out.

  “Ah, Jake, how is everything?” Marco asks in his horrible croaky voice.

  “Everything is fine, Marco. What can I do for you?”

  “Dr Kingsley will give Lily a full check-up today. Make sure Lily is compliant.” A doctor’s appointment, that’s all, damn.

  “Will do, Marco, anything else?” I’m hoping he might give me some information on our moving date.

  “No, just keep watching my precious piece. I’ve had a lot of intrigued men wanting to know when my next party is thanks to Lily. Nothing can happen to her. Do you understand, Jake?” Marco demands.

  My stomach feels like it’s churning up sharp nails as I reply, “Understood.” Marco hangs up.

  I head to Lily’s room, needing to get her ready for the doctor.

  All the slave girls have gone through the same check-up. The doctor is a woman. She sees the girls when they arrive and for any other medical treatment. I know Doctor Kingsley is unhappy about what she does. She’s not here just for a job. She’s here because she feels she has to be.

  I unlock Lily’s door and enter as she’s exiting the bathroom, showered and dressed in a pair of denim shorts and a white t-shirt. Her style is casual and comfortable, yet she looks like a goddess, her dark blonde hair flowing over her shoulders and her curves begging me to caress them with my hands.

  Our eyes meet, and my dick instantly goes from semi-hard to rock hard. Fuck. Every time I see her, her eyes always knock me on my ass. I will never forget the way they sparkle and how they make me feel. It’s as if they pierce me right through the heart. They will haunt me every day for the rest of my life. They entrap me. I force myself to look away, feeling like I’ve just stripped her naked with my bare hands.

  I clear my throat and look back at Lily. She’s still standing, staring at me, her look now inquisitive.

  “Marco sent a doctor here this morning to see you. She will be waiting for us in a cottage out the back of the house,” I explain. Lily’s face goes from furious to quietly angry. She calms as soon as I mentioned the doctor is a woman.

  “It’s standard. She will test for diseases and illnesses, but you will need to strip for her. I will wait outside the cottage until you’re done.”

  Lily ignores me, goes into the walk-in closet and pulls out a pair of sandals. She sits on the floor and starts putting them on without a word to me and what I’ve just told her, so today must be ‘ignore Jake day’. That could work for me.

  She stands, finished with her shoes. Lily walks to the door and waits, fidgeting with her hands and staring at the ground. She looks lost in her thoughts. Is she planning again?

  “Lily, you should know, the doctor is on Marco’s payroll. Telling her anything won’t help you.” Lily’s head shoots up to me, and after a moment, she scoffs and rolls her eyes at my comments.

  “Christ,” I curse under my breath, while massaging the aggravation out of my neck. She was going to talk to the Doctor.

  I take Lily’s upper arm like I always do and we walk through the hall and down the stairs. I lead Lily toward the back of the house. She tenses as she realises we will be walking down the hallway where Lily last saw Sasha. I glance down at Lily and see the hope on her face.

  “I can’t promise you will see her.” I can’t stand seeing the anticipation on her face when my job is to keep them apart.

  Lily looks up at me. Her face is hopeful and sad at the same time. “That’s better than nothing,” she says softly and the ache in my chest returns.

  I lead Lily down the hallway, into a huge kitchen area, and then out the door to the backyard. I hear her sharp inhale as she feels the sun on her for the first time in six days. Her eyes explore the lush green grass of the massive backyard. The grounds stretch out until it hits the cliff, and all you can see is the deep blue sea that goes on forever.

  Lily looks to her left and sees the rows of veggie gardens. Behind them are fruit trees—apples, oranges, and bananas. Part of the slave’s jobs is to maintain and collect the fruit and vegetables. Marco believes if they are kept busy, then there is less chance of them trying to escape. Crazy enough, the man doesn’t think the public beatings are enough to sway the girls from trying.

  Marco has twenty-five guards who guard this mansion and twenty slave girls who work it. This house is where he has the auctions for the girls he kidnaps. Three times a year, he sends out hunters to pick up girls, just like we did for Lily, but when we search for a collection piece, Marco has a particular type of girl he wants, and he doesn’t care where she comes from. Usually, he instructs us to pick up homeless girls, or women who look like they are alone at college, or just moved to a new city. The hunters do an assignment for about two months making sure the girl won’t be missed. Then the girls are picked up, brought here, and work until their auctions. Marco does the auctions through a video message. The buyers look over all the slaves and they put in bids—highest bidder wins. Highest bidder always wins. Marco only ever does anything to make more money and have more power for himself. His obsession is power. He has as much as one person probably could ever have, but he never stops striving for more.

  I keep us walking down a path to my right, seeing the cottage just five metres from us. I’m focusing on the steps that are coming up when I feel Lily use all her strength to twist and yank her arm from my grasp. “Lily!” I quietly shout to her. My hand slips from her arm, and I try to grab her with my other hand but only lightly brush her skin as she makes a run for it.

  She sprints to the left, and I quickly peer around her, searching for where she’s headed. I spot a brown-haired girl kneeling on the ground picking tomatoes. Sasha—Lily spotted her. I could quickly catch up to Lily, but I delay my reaction and then start chasing after her.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Auction

  I’m sprinting
, my pulse beating heavily against my skin. I see her, my sister. Nothing is going to stop me from reaching her. Finally, she’s in my sights again. Kneeling on the ground with her head down, she’s touching plants in front of her. I look around, and I see a lot of women kneeling around the plants, their heads down in concentration as they work.

  I come to a stop behind Sasha—her hair looks ratty, and she’s wearing a filthy white dress that looks like it has never been washed.

  I bend down and gently touch her shoulder. She flinches at my touch. I pull my hand back and softly speak, “Sash?”

  She spins around and my eyes widen. No. Her lip is severely cut and her right cheek has a purple bruise. Oh, God, what have they done to her? I grab my sister and hug her tightly hoping to fuse us together so no one else can hurt her, and Sasha hugs me back just as furiously. I feel her tears hit my skin, but I hear no sobs coming from her, and I gently rock Sash, hoping to soothe her.

  “You can’t be here.” I hear a rough voice say behind me.

  “What the fuck happened to the girl, Mick?” I hear Jake demand.

  “I have no idea. Maybe she slipped and fell over,” Mick responds with a sly tone. My body stills, and my hands curl into fists at his response.

  “Bullshit, you know the rules, Mick. You don’t touch the face when they are punished. Sasha is up for sale in a few days. If Marco finds out, there will be hell to pay.”

  “Fuck off, Jake, she’ll heal and be fine for the auction. Marco never needs to know,” Mick spits at Jake.

  My blood runs cold. Sale, Auction. Sasha tenses in my arms.

  As Jake and Mick argue in the background, I hold Sasha’s face in my hands, careful not to hurt her bruises. I wipe away her tears and look into her eyes. She looks defeated and lost.

  “I will find a way out before then. Please trust me. Do what they say until then, okay?” Her eyes are shining, and her lip quivers. “I know this is the hardest thing you have ever had to do, but please hang on just a little bit longer for me,” I beg.