Ten
TEN
Reagan
The barest hint of light I’d had in my cell of a room went out not long after I’d stopped throwing my shoe at the glass wall and had collapsed on the floor crying. I didn’t know how long I’d been here or what would happen next, so I thought it’d be wise to rest my body.
Even if finding sleep in such an uncertain and terrifying situation was virtually impossible, I’d expended massive physical effort in such a short time. It hadn’t been just the excessive rage I’d released on the glass wall with my shoe. There had also been the fight I’d put up against those men when they barged into my house, and my body now ached where I’d been hit and punched by them.
So, while I didn’t doze off and experience a blissful sleep, I’d given my body the reprieve it desperately needed.
I didn’t know how much time had passed, but it was when the light filtered into my cell again that my eyes fluttered open, and I got myself upright once more. My mouth was dry, my throat parched. I would have given anything right now for a drop of water.
It took me a moment to gather my bearings and to work out what was happening, but I eventually realized the light wasn’t coming from inside my own cell. My eyes stared out the glass wall, and what I saw left me feeling horrified.
Another room.
Another room that looked identical to the one I was in.
The lighting in that room was just as mine had been when I first woke up in this place—bright enough to take stock of what was immediately around me without providing the ability to see much beyond it.
And inside that cell was a woman. A young woman. She couldn’t have been more than twenty-two or twenty-three years old.
My heart squeezed painfully in my chest at the sight of her expression. She looked as terrified as I’d felt when I woke up in the same exact situation as her.
Her arms hung limp at her sides, her eyes wide, as she spun around slowly and took in her surroundings. The emotional toll of her new reality took hold, her chin and lower lip trembling uncontrollably.
Terror consumed her. When she lifted her hand to her stomach and began taking steps backward, I could only watch with a painful ache in my throat. She made it to the far corner of the room, spun around, and vomited.
Was this what these people were doing? Making a spectacle of each woman here?
I couldn’t see much on either side of the lit cell across from me, but I had a sneaking suspicion there was an entire row of rooms, just like this one on both sides of the hall.
Were there other women in those rooms? Had they all watched as I lost control and took out every ounce of rage I felt on that window? Had any of them reacted similarly, or did they respond to this situation like the women across from me?
With so many questions and not a single answer in sight, the only thing I could do was sit and speculate. And there wasn’t anything good that came from doing that.
Women being abducted and placed into dark, solitary spaces with no way out. Full glass-paneled walls, as though we were subjects to be studied. Like we were animals in a zoo. Animals to be watched and gawked at. But by whom?
I attempted to swallow past the lump that had formed in my throat, but without any saliva, it was hopeless.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out what might be ahead for each of us. As much as it would have been easy to admit defeat, I couldn’t do that. If I had an opportunity to get out, I needed to take it. And if escape was an impossibility, I was fully prepared to cause a problem. Life had taught me that much. When nobody else was willing to fight for me, when nobody else cared, I had to be the one to do it for myself.
The girl across the hall crumpled to the floor, wrapped her arms around the front of her shins, and dropped her forehead to her knees. Her body shook in such a way that made it clear she was sobbing. Seeing her like that, confident she was so young, I decided I’d do everything I could to be the person for her that I wished I had in my life at that age. If I could escape, I’d find a way to get her out, too. That’s how I thrived anyway. I’d made a whole career out of focusing on helping people find what they needed—even if it was just a home.
With nothing else to do, I rested my head against the glass wall and watched her, doing it while thinking about one person.
Hart.
We were supposed to meet up after he left work, and I wondered what he would think when he arrived at my place. Would he show up, see my car in the driveway, and realize something was wrong when I never answered the door?
Without knowing how long I’d been here already, I wondered if Hart had even gotten to my place yet. I didn’t have high hopes about how he might respond if he knew I was in trouble and needed help, but I desperately wanted to believe the best. We might have had a mutual understanding about what we’d never be to one another, but at least we had that—respect. Surely, if he believed something was wrong, if he had the slightest inkling that I wasn’t okay, he’d contact the authorities to investigate, wouldn’t he?
Maybe not.
Maybe he’d just assume I’d gone to bed early and would leave.
It might be days before anybody would realize something was wrong, likely the result of people calling about homes I had listed for sale, or clients wanting to look at new homes that popped up on the market, and those emails or calls going unanswered. I could only pray that one of those individuals would call the office and somebody there would realize how unlike me it was not to respond.
My thoughts drifted back to Hart again, and I found a sliver of contentment. I continued to reminisce on my time with him over the last year, until the light in the cell across from mine finally went out. At some point after that, my eyes drifted shut.
I didn’t know how much time had passed, when a blinding light woke me again. It took me a few seconds to adjust to the light, and when I did, what I saw left my stomach roiling. Even though I’d already imagined as much, it was different to see the reality.
I’d been right about what was around me. Rooms lined the hallway, each with a glass wall at the front. Like little display cases.
But the most unsettling thing of all was that each room I could see had one woman inside it, and each of the women on the opposite side of the hall from me had their eyes pointed in my direction. Every single one of them.
Either that meant I was the only one on this side of the hall, or I was the freshest of the bunch. As I took in the looks on their faces, an unwelcome ripple of fear slithered down my spine. Because where the woman directly across from me had a look of confusion and terror in her expression, the rest of the women didn’t. They all seemed… defeated? Like they knew why they were here and had already accepted their fate. I wondered how long ago they’d been brought here, how long it took for them to succumb to whatever horrors surely awaited me, too.
Muffled voices and the sound of thundering footsteps filled the air. I tore my attention away from my inspection of the women in the other cells and twisted my neck to look in the direction of the approaching voices.
Men.
Four of them, to be precise.
As they walked past, two of them looked in my room. They located me, matching sinister smirks forming on their faces. I expected them to continue walking down the hall, but they stopped on the other side of the steel door. The two other men turned toward the door to the cell directly across from mine.
I heard a buzzing sound just before the lock clicked. God, even the doors were wired up, just like those in a prison.
Despite telling myself I needed to get out of here, I wasn’t quite sure I was ready for whatever this visit would mean. And the looks those two men had given me were enough for me to know that this wasn’t going to be pleasant. The more I learned about this place, the harder it became to see any possible positive outcome.
My breaths came quicker, my heart pounding as the door opened, and the men stepped inside. “Get up.”
Even sitting on the floor, I thrust my chin up and crossed my arms over my chest. I wasn’t some dog to be beckoned by men I didn’t even know. My muscles were tense, and I was aware that being defiant probably wasn’t the best thing I could do, but it was all I had. There was no way I could just give up and give in.
The taller of the two looked at the shorter one and said, “They said this one was going to be trouble.”
I didn’t know who’d made such a claim about me, but I felt a sense of pride wash over me.
Good.
I was glad that whoever was responsible for this knew I wouldn’t go down without a fight.
“So, what do you want to do?” the shorter guy asked.
“Give her one opportunity to rethink what she’s doing and change her mind.”
“And if she still doesn’t comply?”
The tall one shrugged. “Then we teach her a lesson, Chris.”
My eyes drifted to the movement on the other side of the glass. The girl who’d been locked inside the other room had instantly complied with the request she’d been given, and as she stepped out of the room, the two men flanked her sides. She was trembling, her eyes meeting mine. Something passed between us, though I wasn’t quite sure what. Maybe a sense of solidarity on my end; on hers, a silent plea to not make her experience this on her own.
I returned my attention to the two men standing just inside my cell. “Get up and come here.”
If only because I wanted to give that girl some reassurance and possibly get the lay of the land for a potential escape route, I stood. While I wished I could have been tougher about it, I couldn’t. My body screamed in agony at the swift movements, and I hated that I winced in front of these men.
When I came to a stop a few feet in front of them, they smirked again. “Looks like someone changed her mind, Javier,” Chris said.
A look of accomplishment washed over Javier. “She might be easier to train than everyone originally anticipated.”
“Fuck you,” I spat. “What do you want from me? Why are we here?”
Javier grabbed me around my bicep and yanked me forward and out the door. “You’re not here to ask any questions. In fact, you’re not here to do anything other than what you’re told to do.”
He shoved me forward roughly, and I stumbled, falling into the men positioned outside the room across the hall. One of them caught me and pushed me back, where I landed against Chris. He gripped my arms and forced me to stand upright.
That’s when I realized I needed to rethink what I was doing.
These men had barely put any effort into those movements, and I was easily tossed around like a rag doll. This was going to be much harder than I thought.
Smart.
I had to be smart about this.
“Let’s go,” Javier ordered.
“Where are we going?” I questioned him, unable to keep the bite out of my tone.
His fingers curled painfully around my arm again. “What did I tell you about asking questions? Do not speak unless you are spoken to. Do you understand?”
I narrowed my eyes on him, my jaw clenching.
Pulling roughly on my arm, he yanked me to the side. I walked down the hall with him and Chris on either side of me. And judging by the sound of the footsteps, that girl and the two other men were right behind us.
As we walked, I looked in the rooms on either side. One woman after another sat there, alone in the barren cells. Some watched us as we passed, and others seemed unwilling to dare even glancing in our direction.
I lifted my chin high and held it there until we made it to the end of the hall, turned to the right, and came to a stop outside of a door just a few feet away.
Chris opened the door as Javier pushed me inside. The girl in the other room was urged inside behind me. She brought her terrified eyes to mine, pleading with me for answers. “There’s a toilet if you need it. If not, you don’t get to use one until we come back to your cell hours from now.”
Perfect.
I could take some time to talk to this woman, to see what she had to say. As I reached out to close the door, Chris put a hand against it. “The door stays open.”
A choked sob escaped from beside me. “You can’t even give us some fucking privacy?”
All four men chuckled before Javier spoke. “Oh, this is nothing. Just wait until the buyers arrive.”
My eyes widened.
I knew it.
I knew this was all going to be bad, but I never anticipated it was going to be this bad.
“Buyers?”
Chris looked at Javier. “Nobody’s told her.” His tone was mocking. They were delighted to see the fear and feel the tension in the air. Looking back at me, he explained, “The buyers will be here in a few days. And they’ll pay a pretty penny for a sex slave.”
My legs wobbled. The room spun. It was only by some miracle that I didn’t fall over.
It was a good thing we’d gotten this information here in the bathroom. Because the girl beside me turned and ran for the toilet. She vomited again, and I went to help her.
“Don’t move,” Javier ordered.
“She’s sick, you asshole.” I ignored him and moved toward the girl, reaching to hold her hair back for her.
She finished heaving, stood, and looked at me with nothing but despair in her eyes. “What’s your name?” I whispered.
“Erin.” Her voice was so small. So defeated.
I squeezed her hands in mine. “I’m Reagan. We’re going to get out of here.”
Laughter sounded right behind me, and I looked up to find Javier had entered the bathroom. “That’s cute. But you’re not leaving. Not anytime soon, anyway. In fact, time to get everything off.”
“What?”
He opened a closet door, reached out to a stack of folded material, and tossed one at each of us. “Everything off. Put that on.”
I unraveled the fabric—if it could even be called that—and Erin gasped at the sight of it. It was a sleeveless dress made of nothing but mesh black fabric. One look at it, and I was convinced it wasn’t going to cover me. Not only was it completely see through, but it was the shortest thing I’d ever seen.
“Are you out of your mind?” I asked, dropping my hands and pinning my stare on Javier. “I’m not wearing this.”
“You will.” He shifted his attention between Erin and me. “You both will. And if you choose not to put it on yourself, the guys and I will be more than happy to peel your clothes off you.”
I looked at Erin. She was white as a ghost, slowly shaking her head. “I can’t,” she whispered.
“She can’t,” I told Javier. “And I can’t, either. We’re not going to do it.”
One half of his mouth quirked. “Looks like we’ll have to do it for you, because this isn’t optional.”
The men behind Javier looked far too happy about their prospects.
“If you touch either one of us, you’re going to regret it.”
More laughter spilled out of him. “Oh, yeah? And I suppose it’s you who’s going to teach me a lesson?”
“Yes.” I didn’t know a thing about self-defense, but I couldn’t possibly put this scrap of material on. It would be humiliating.
Javier was done discussing this. So, when the look of determination washed over his expression and he reached out for me, I spun around and reared my elbow back into his cheek. He fell backward, stumbling, and he yelled. “You bitch!”
Chris came forward, and I charged at him, jabbing my fingers into his eyes. He doubled over in pain, yelling out much like Javier did.
“Get her in her cell!” Javier shouted.
The two men who’d escorted Erin to the bathroom grabbed hold of me. With each one holding an arm, they hefted me out of the bathroom.
“Erin, run!”
I attempted to twist my neck to look behind me, to see if Erin was able to get away. The men dragged me back down the hall the way we’d originally came, and I thrashed and yelled the entire way back to my cell. “Let go of me. Let me go!”
They didn’t do that. Despite my struggles against them, they succeeded in getting me back in my cell. They threw me inside and slammed the door shut behind me.
The only thing I could think of was that I was grateful I’d gotten back here with my own clothes still on my body.
Minutes passed, my chest heaving as I fought to regain control of my breathing.
And after a long while, it happened.
Erin was led back to her cell by Javier and Chris, and she was wearing that awful, awful piece of material. She was beyond broken, and I hated myself for not thinking about how she would respond when I jumped the gun on escaping and reacted the way I had against four men.
I felt sick to my stomach, thinking about what they might have done to her.
A moment later, the door to my room opened, and Javier and Chris both walked in, Chris carrying the dress.
“Looks like you’ve decided to be a troublemaker. It’s time you learned your lesson.”
Both men advanced on me, and I stepped back. But there was nowhere for me to go. My back hit the wall behind me, and I was instantly rethinking all that I’d just done.
“I’ll put the dress on,” I assured them.
“Of course, you will. But that’ll be after we teach you some manners.”
That was the last thing they said before the blows began. By some strange miracle, they only did minimal damage to my face. But my body… my body was destroyed. They’d been so ruthless; I couldn’t even fight back when they decided I’d had enough and eventually stripped me out of my clothes to pull that hideous excuse for a dress over my head.