Chapter 2 #2
“I was in bed by midnight, hardly a late night.” Even if it had been, he would have been the one to deliver breakfast to their newest girl this morning.
It was important to him that he be there at the start of that first day.
The drugs would be out of her system, yet the woman wouldn't have had time to accept and acclimate to her new reality.
It was the best time to do the most thorough assessment, and he never missed it.
It was, after all, one of the reasons he was so respected in Azure’s operation.
“Whatever.” Ernie shrugged, placed the last of the trays onto the trolley, then turned around to commence the task of cleaning up.
Their cook was well paid for his relatively easy work, preparing low-cost but highly nutritious food for the women who would soon be sold for a small fortune.
Better-quality products led to higher price tags, so healthy food was important.
Ernie received a salary much higher than he’d make working anywhere else, and that didn't even take into consideration the additional compensation he received in the form of occasional visits to one of the training rooms.
Grabbing the handles of the trolley, which was similar to one you might find in a hospital, Nathan started the trek from the kitchen to the elevator.
There were two that led down to the basement.
One from the garage that he’d used last night, it opened on the training end of the basement complex.
The other went down from the kitchen and opened to the housing side of the complex.
Once he’d eased the trolley into the elevator, he shut the doors and hit the down button.
The elevator also went up to the top two floors of the warehouse, where there were several apartments.
It wasn't a requirement that you live on site when you passed your initiation and came to work for Azure, but it did make things easier, so he’d taken the offer of one of those apartments.
It was clean and modern, not luxurious by any means, but a decent place to live.
Much better than the accommodations he was heading to.
Currently, Azure had sixteen girls awaiting sale, including their newest. Some were mostly ready for sale, others were early on in their journey.
Azure operated almost exclusively through private sales but held the occasional auction.
There was less risk vetting a single prospective buyer and ensuring they entered the property without weapons on their person than trying to keep an entire auction off the cops’ radar.
When the elevator opened onto the basement, he rolled the trolley out.
Two guards were stationed down there at all times, in a small room by the elevator.
It wasn't because anyone at Azure believed the women capable of getting themselves out of their cages, but it never hurt to take extra precautions.
That was one of the reasons Azure had such a good reputation in the trafficking world, they took those extra precautions, provided a top-quality product, and minimized every risk not just to themselves but their clients as well.
“New one only just quieted down,” Van said with a chuckle as he stepped out of the room to look down the row of cages. “Got a set of lungs on her that one. Someone is going to find themselves one lucky guy.”
Nearly all of their clients were men, but a few women were interested in purchasing a female slave.
Azure produced the occasional male slave, but most people wanted a woman, and whatever the market dictated, that was what they provided.
If there was an influx of clients seeking a male, they would pivot the business to provide that.
“The ones that scream the loudest are usually the hardest to break,” he commented as he headed for the first cage in the line.
“That they are,” Van said with another chuckle.
Van was one of the coldest men who worked there, and that was saying something.
Everyone there had their own reputation, and while Nathan's was being calm, logical, and controlled, Van’s was literally caring nothing for the women who passed through their hands.
Everyone saw them as just products to be molded and then sold, but Van somehow took that to a whole new level.
As soon as he stopped in front of the first cage, the woman inside immediately shifted to her knees, hands resting on her thighs, head bowed, the perfect picture of submission. This one was ready to have her profile uploaded to their website, and then bidding would begin.
Unlocking the cage, he set the tray down on the floor inside, but the woman didn't move toward it. She wouldn’t move until she was given express permission.
There wasn't anything you couldn’t condition a person to do, to become, if you found the right motivation.
Some people responded more to pain, some to humiliation, some were easier to train, some harder, some you had to completely break before you could then rebuild them in the image you desired.
Cage by cage, he repeated the process, each woman inside moved into the same position as the first. Some moved quietly, quickly, and well-trained.
Others were slower, still reluctant to submit, their spirits not broken.
Some snuck glares at him when they thought he wouldn't notice, but of course, he was trained to notice everything.
Only one woman met his presence with outright defiance.
Angry blue eyes shot daggers at him when he stopped in front of the cage of their newest addition. She was so self-righteous, so determined to fight every step of the way, despite his warning to her to make things easier on herself.
“Good morning, Emma. Did you get some sleep?” he asked as he paused, wondering if she would try to attack him the second he unlocked her cell. She wouldn't get out, surely she had to know that, fighting was pointless, it would only bring more pain than she already had to endure.
“How do you know my name?” she growled, her voice a little hoarse, no doubt from all the screaming she’d been doing, but still powerful despite the inequity in their positions.
“Your name was collected from your driver’s license before you were brought here,” he replied. “Can I assume you didn't sleep well?”
“Of course I didn't,” she snapped. “You drugged me, brought me here, locked me in a cage. Why would I sleep?”
“Technically, I wasn't the one who brought you here,” he said, aware he was infuriating her when he should be trying to de-escalate the situation and convince her to do as he’d suggested, but something about her made him want to verbally spar.
Maybe it was the ramrod straight way she stood, maybe it was the fire blazing in her eyes, maybe it was the inner strength he felt emanating from her.
That wasn't a good thing.
Not here.
She wasn't going to break easily, and the thought of the coming torture she would endure left him feeling uneasy.
“You think this is funny? Kidnapping women, making them do that.” Emma waved a hand at the other cages where the rest of the women were on their knees, waiting for permission to eat.
“Not particularly, blondie.”
“Don’t call me that. We’re not friends, so you don’t get to give me a cutesy nickname. A demeaning one at that. If you're implying I'm some sort of dumb blonde, then you couldn’t be more wrong.”
“Never thought you were dumb,” he drawled, just too stubborn for her own good. “You know what to do if you want this food.”
“I'm not bowing down to you,” she snarled.
The thing was, Nathan knew she believed that in this moment. But reality was that she would. She’d be broken down, the same as all the others. She’d willingly bow down and submit because she’d learn it was the only way to avoid pain. Or at least minimize it.
“You want to eat, you get on your knees, otherwise you’ll starve.”
“I'd rather starve,” she shot back.
Curling his fingers around the bars, Nathan leaned in and lowered his voice, aware that everything down there was monitored by several cameras.
“No, you wouldn't. You're a smart girl, Emma. You know that you need to keep up your strength. Being stubborn can be admirable, but it can also be stupid. Don’t be stupid. Take the food.”
Expecting her to shoot back another sassy retort, to argue further, to tell him where he could take his advice and shove it.
Instead, she studied him with her shrewd gaze, and he knew the second she accepted his words as fact.
Without breaking eye contact, she lowered herself to her knees.
Her hands were in fists rather than fingers spread out on her thighs, and she didn't fix her gaze on the floor, but he’d give her both concessions since she was new.
It seemed Emma Beaumont was smarter than he’d given her credit for.
Stronger as well.
It took a strong woman to make it through this ordeal and out the other side. Emma should be no different from any of the others, but as Nathan found himself unable to break eye contact with the pretty blonde, he found that something did feel different.
Which wasn't a good thing.
Because Emma had been brought there for one reason and one reason only, and he didn't have the power to change her future.