Chapter 11
Chapter
Eleven
“One more,” Henry said as he held up another outfit.
“Really? You’ve been at this for two hours now,” Mateo said, no longer even bothering to keep the irritation out of his voice.
“You can leave if you want to. No one is demanding that you stay here,” Henry shot back.
Ally’s gaze quickly flew to Mateo. He was lounging against the wall by the door, the same place he’d been standing for the entire two hours she’d been having photographs taken.
She didn't want him to leave. He was the only thing keeping her sane, and any time this all got to be too much, and she was overwhelmed and scared out of her mind, she sought him out, finding his quiet strength soothing.
If she wasn't terrified of what would happen to both of them if she did, she’d demand that he stay.
Trying to make that clear with her gaze, she knew she did, because he gave a small head nod, and an even smaller encouraging smile.
He wouldn't leave. Relief flushed through her, and as it did, she realized that the arousal was starting to dim as well.
She no longer felt the need to touch herself, ease her own discomfort.
It had been so bad earlier that when Henry had positioned her on the bed and told her to make herself come, she’d done it without hesitation, the need too great to worry about having an audience. She’d barely even noticed the flashing of the camera as he snapped photos of her.
He didn't always let her get herself off, though.
One of the photos had been on a spanking bench, and while he hadn't actually hit her, the way she was positioned had her aching center spread open for view, and if it had just been her and Mateo, she would have asked him to make her come. There had been pictures with her bent over the side of the bed, too, and dressed in outfits ranging from skimpy lingerie to a cat and a bunny, and he’d even made her dress up like a baby for one shot.
There’d been photos with clamps on her nipples, gags in her mouth, and some with her using toys on herself.
Henry had let her come a few times when she played with those.
Now, though, she was exhausted and drained, emotionally, psychologically, mentally, and physically. All she wanted was to get out of here, get sold, and then be rescued.
Regardless of what happened to her in the time between when she was sold and when she was rescued, she was going to walk away from this ordeal with deep, running scars, and it had been unfair of her to place that burden on Mateo’s shoulders.
It wasn't as if he’d gotten her out yesterday, or the day before, or the day she’d first been brought here, that she wouldn't have suffered those same long-lasting wounds.
“Hurry up then,” Mateo snapped, and Henry rolled his eyes.
“She’s going to look stunning as a princess,” Henry said as he rifled through the wardrobe taking up most of one wall, and pulled out a blue princess gown. Well, not a gown like you’d see a Disney princess wear, but a gown like if you took a Disney princess gown and made it X-rated.
Because Ally knew the quickest way out of this room was to put the clothes on and let Henry take her picture, she held out her hand. It didn't take long to slip the sexy princess gown on, and when he handed her a tiara and a pair of heels, she put those on too.
Then she let him arrange her in one provocative pose after another.
How many other women had passed through this room? Stood, fighting back tears, alternating between feeling completely numb, to so scared it was hard to draw oxygen into their lungs. How many had allowed themselves to be posed like a doll because they’d already accepted their fate?
“Okay, I'm done,” Henry finally announced, sounding practically giddy with excitement.
“Go upload them and I’ll put her away,” Mateo said, striding toward her, and practically yanking the tiara from her head, making her wince when it snagged in her hair.
“Want to make a bet on how long it’ll take her to be snapped up?” Henry asked.
“Less than an hour,” Mateo replied.
It was the weirdest feeling, because Ally hoped he was correct.
She was well aware that she was going to be sold to some disgusting pervert who got off on buying women like they were nothing, just toys to be played with.
But because she knew that Mateo was going straight to his boss once she was sold, it was actually the best-case scenario for her.
The quicker she was sold, the quicker she was rescued.
Maybe if she repeated that to herself a million times, it would sink in.
“I’m going to go with less than thirty minutes,” Henry said as he hurried out the door with the camera in his hand, leaving her to assume that making bets on how quickly women were sold was normal amongst these men.
Whoever won probably got a reward, too, and she didn't even want to think about it coming at the expense of one of the trapped women.
“You need relief?” Mateo asked when they were alone, his hand brushing lightly between her legs.
She probably should have been embarrassed about coming all over his face in the bathroom, but one thing Ally had realized while she was here was how quickly you could be desensitized to something.
It still terrified her to think of a stranger touching her, raping her, assaulting her in any way, but Mateo wasn't a stranger, and if the arousal had still been strong, she would have said yes.
Since it was more like an annoying hum now, she shook her head. “I'm okay, I just want this to be over.”
“Me too, little mouse,” he said as he helped her shimmy out of the tight princess costume.
“What happens now?” Stepping out of the heels was a relief, even though she hadn't been wearing them long. Ally rarely wore high heels, and if she did, they were usually chunky wedges on boots.
“Now I take you back to your cell, and you wait there.”
“Until someone buys me.”
“Until someone buys you,” he agreed.
“Once that happens, how long until they come to get me?”
“Depends on where they were. If they’re out of the country, it could be a couple of days.”
“If it’s a couple of days, what happens to me in the meantime?”
“No one will touch you once you're sold. You’ll stay in your cell and get your meals until you're collected. Most buyers don’t like anyone touching their property,” he said sadly as his fingers drifted up and down her bare arms.
“I hate that word,” she whimpered, unable to stop a shudder rippling through her.
“Me too, baby, me too. Sometimes the men are nearby, in which case they’ll come straight here, and sometimes they want you packaged up and sent to them.”
Ally gulped. “Packaged up?”
“Usually, that means the women are drugged and put on a private flight somewhere. Sometimes the buyer will want them caged or boxed, other times, just drugged is fine. They’ll either send someone to collect and transport, or we take them to the airfield and load them on a plane.”
“That’s … so inhumane,” she whispered, fresh tears filling her eyes.
“That’s why I'm here, little mouse, to stop them, to destroy them. Make no mistake about it, they’ll pay for what they’ve done to you.”
“I just want to go home.” It wasn't that she didn't want these people to pay for their sins, it was just that being safe, knowing the others would soon be safe, was more important to her than revenge.
“Soon, baby.”
“I wish …” It was silly to say it out loud, because she still had so much anger directed toward Mateo, but despite that, he was her safe place in this horror show, and she wanted to cling to him.
“Wish what, little mouse?” he asked as his large hand cupped her cheek.
Nuzzling into it was nothing more than instinct on her part.
“I wish that I could stay with you until … it’s time.
” Going back to the cold, hard, loneliness of her cell felt like more than she could handle right now.
One burden too far, and she just might shatter into a thousand pieces.
Which sounded stupid considering what she’d just done in this room.
Compared to this, the cell should be nothing, especially if no one could touch her anymore.
“Oh, little mouse, I wish that too. I wish I could hold you here in my arms forever, kill anything that tries to hurt you.
Letting you get sold is killing me, baby.
I swear to you, if there was another way, one where I didn't think I was risking your life in the process, to get you out of here, I'd do it. I would. I know I said that justice is bringing these monsters down, but—”
Before he could finish his sentence, the door swung open, and Henry rushed in.
“Guess we were both wrong. Didn't take thirty minutes or an hour for her to be snapped up. I’d only got the first picture up, and I got a request for her. She’s been sold. Payment is being finalized as we speak. Don’t bother putting her back in her cell, she needs to be prepped for her new owner.”
August 19th
12:20 P.M.
Beside him, Ally whimpered, and Mateo felt like his entire world came crashing down around him.
Every reason why this was the best thing for her, how the quicker she was out of here, the quicker she could be rescued, all went flying out the window as the reality of the situation began to weigh down upon him.
His girl had been sold.
Sold.
Like a piece of meat.
To an as-yet unknown entity who could do absolutely anything in the hours or days it would take to get a team to her location and figure out an extraction plan based on who the person was and what kind of setting she was being held in.
There were too many variables, too many things that could go wrong, and it was making him nauseous.
Was it too late to snatch up his girl, find a weapon, and kill everyone here on the outside of the cells, then send in Prey to rescue the women?
They wouldn't get the head of the snake, but surely they’d put enough of a dent in the operation that the person couldn’t easily just start back up again somewhere else.
Only deep-down, Mateo knew that person would start back up again somewhere else.