Chapter 12
DORI
Heavy footsteps filter in from outside of my room.
The curtains shift, and Mort comes into view with a vile smile lifting his lips. “It seems your brother won’t help, so you’re all mine.”
My stomach squeezes in terror. “My brother would do anything to help me out of here.”
Is Aiden so angry with me he would leave me out to dry like this?
“That’s not the message I received.” Mort’s gaze travels over me. “I guess he wants to play hardball and thinks he can negotiate.”
I hug my knees, backed against the wall with my nerves ripping through my chest. Tears prick in the corners of my eyes. I suck in a breath and swallow them. No way will Mort see me scared and weak.
He creeps into the room and crouches before me. “Now you get to be a dirty girl, starting with me.”
I stare into his cold eyes and don’t move a muscle. He reaches around his back and plucks something from his jeans pocket. When his hand returns, he’s holding a syringe. I jump to my feet, knowing that won’t stop him from injecting me with whatever is in it.
His wicked laugh rings out. “Nice try, dirty girl. But you need to be manageable, and this will do the trick.”
He yanks my arm, spins me so my front is forced against the wall, and pushes up my shirt sleeve. He jams the needle into the back of my bicep. It takes only a few seconds before my head grows light and my body weakens.
“Feels good, wouldn’t you say?” He jerks me to face him.
“What was that…stuff?” I slur my words and try to focus on his face.
“Drugs to help you get ready for the auction.”
“But…” My vision doubles. “Please…don’t.”
He advances on me. The repulsive nicotine on his breath coats my face. I back away, but he comes right along with me.
“Jami…”
“I’ll be whoever you want.” He presses his pelvis into my stomach.
He’s got a hard-on. I want to run, but I can’t move. My head falls forward, and I go limp, so he pushes against me with more force.
His hand moves across my waist, and his calloused fingers run along my skin. They travel up under my clothes and over my bra.
Please don’t let this happen.
I rest my head against the wall, trying to figure out a way to stop him. He cups my breast in his hand while the other moves my shirt up.
“Please…” I try to focus on him.
“Oh, now you’re begging for it.”
“No… Stop.”
“Mort!” A heavy accent reverberates around me. “I need some help downstairs.”
“Fuck off, Xander. I’m busy.” Mort’s hot breath hits my neck .
“You know I wouldn’t interrupt, but we’ve got trouble.” Three images of Xander twist beside Mort. “She’s not going anywhere.”
Mort licks my face. “Be ready, dirty girl. This ain’t over.”
“Mort, we don’t have time for this.” Xander peeks over his shoulder.
I want to thank him, but my brain’s running in slow motion. By the time my words come out, they’re nothing but garbled syllables.
Mort turns to Xander. “This better be good.”
“You know I don’t overreact.” Xander claps him on the shoulder. “Come on.”
Mort’s evil gaze roves over me from head to toe. He shoulder-checks Xander on the way out.
Xander whispers into my ear, “I can only keep him away for so long, but I’ll do my best.”
My knees wobble as they grow weak. I slide down the wall as my eyes fall shut.
In a last moment of resilience, I mumble to Sasha and pray I’m making sense. “Sasha… If you have my bracelet…and don’t want to tell me because you think I’ll be mad, hit the center of the rose. Someone will find us if you do.”
A second later, my world goes black.
Warm wetness between my legs brings me out of my sleep. “What the…?”
I squint to get my eyes to focus. It’s barely light in my room. I look down to see urine soaking my pants.
Gross.
I groan and try to sit up, but I’m weak and unable to stand. “Sasha?”
She doesn’t say anything. Nothing moves. Silence fills the room.
Did they already take her?
My heart thuds against my ribs in a slow, heavy rhythm. I want to change out of my pants, but it’s probably best to keep them on. I’m numb as I lie still and take in everything I can.
Birds chirp outside the window. Nothing else filters in.
What day is it?
It takes me what seems like an hour to piece together the time difference from when Mort left me. It must be significant because before he injected me with that drug, I had just used the restroom. I only had a bottle of water, so for me to have peed myself, it must be a new day.
My brain tells me I should be terrified, but the drugs have me in a fog and I’m having difficulty comprehending my feelings. They’re muted, gray, and choppy.
Where am I?
Where is Jami, and why hasn’t he come to help me?
What is Aiden doing by rejecting whatever Hunter’s mom is asking him to do?
I fade in and out of consciousness, trying to hang on to all my strength. Since I’m still here, I conclude Sasha didn’t have my bracelet or else I would’ve been rescued by now.
Emptiness hollows me out. I’m clearly overpowered and ready to hand my fate over to whatever treacherous forces have me in their clutches, but Jami’s transparent face floats around me.
Dori, feel me and fight for us. His voice is muffled and strained.
I try to track the vision of his loving blue stare, but it fades into the ether. I close my eyes. Maybe I’ll be able to see him better this way.
A distorted memory fuses with a dream. It’s during my college days, and I’m early in my pregnancy.
I run my palm over my belly. It’s flat right now but won’t stay that way much longer .
Jami and I are sitting on Aiden’s apartment patio. Jami squeezes my hand and smiles my way.
I beam at him. “Are you happy I’m pregnant?”
Now Jami is Oliver. “No. You told me this wouldn’t happen. I trusted you, Dori, and this is what I get. A life where I’m struggling to keep us afloat. How do you think that will affect this kid?”
My elation slips away. My face heats. “I’ll work and do everything I can to help.”
“That’s not good enough. I don’t want this.” Oliver and Jami fuse before me.
My heart breaks. “I thought you said you wanted this with me. When we were in your son's nursery.”
Jami’s eyes light up. “I want this more than I’ve wanted anything in my life.”
The dream or memory wanes into the background.
Desperation fills my lungs, and I suck in a breath. “Find me, Jami, and I’ll give you whatever you want.”
Chains rattle next to me.
I roll that way. “Sasha, are you still here?”
She moans. They must have drugged her too.
I force myself up. My wrists throb as the skin beneath my shackles flame with irritation. I should be scared and fighting to escape, but my strength is shot.
I rest my head on the top of my bent knees and pray for something to go my way. A long stretch of time crawls toward morning. My room grows lighter as the sun comes up.
Gravel crunching under tires comes and goes sporadically. As my head clears, I figure we must be in a warehouse somewhere off the beaten path because the cars are rarely heard.
I try to stand, but I’m a wet noodle. I close my eyes, drifting into the darkness.
“Time to wake up, Red.” Xander’s accent-free voice startles me.
I lift my head to meet his gaze. He’s standing in the opening of my space. I’m on my side, waking from a dream-free slumber.
“Xander, what day is it?” I shift, but it’s like moving in drying concrete.
“The day of the auction.” He peers down at me with an apologetic frown. “You have about ten minutes before it takes place. We’re just waiting for the buyers to get settled.”
Panic fires in my chest. “You can’t let them sell us.”
“I have no other choice.”
“You do. Leave and get your contact to send someone.”
“It doesn’t work that way.”
I try to stand, but my knees buckle. “You have to help us.”
He groans out a painful sigh. “I can’t.”
“But why? There’s no way the FBI would be okay with letting us disappear in the hands of traffickers.”
He stalks over to me and kneels. “The case I’m building isn’t against Mort and his crew. We’re aiming for the big players. If I get them involved on this level, we’ll never have a chance of stopping these sick fucks.”
I stare into his troubled gaze. My body hollows out. I knew things like this were part of taking a criminal organization down but never imagined the authorities would let terrible things happen before they could do something about it.
How could I be so na?ve?
Xander’s brows pinch together. “The best I can do is stop Mort from touching you.”
I whimper in resignation. “And how are you going to do that?”
Xander sits back on his heels and considers that for a beat. “I’ll stall him so there’s no time. But if something goes wrong, tell him you have an incurable STD. Maybe that will stop him.”
My dream or my memory springs to life an idea, a sliver of hope. “What if you told him I was pregnant? Would he still try to sell me? ”
Xander’s expression grows pained as his gaze drops to my stomach. “Are you?”
“Yes,” I lie.
It’s my only hope because something tells me the guys they’re selling me to won’t care about an STD. They don’t have to tell anyone who wants to buy me for sex because it comes with the territory.
“Fuck!” Xander rises to his feet and paces the small area. “This is so fucked up.”
He storms out of the room. The curtains rustle as he disappears.
A minute later, two male, muffled, angered voices slice through the air. Xander must be telling Mort about my condition. My heart thumps and my limbs tingle.
Sasha’s chains rattle. “You’re pregnant?”
“I—”
“You can't seriously be thinking this way!” Xander’s accented words scream down the hall.
My curtains flip open, and Mort growls. “She told me you were going to be a problem, but I have a better idea. Some guys get off loading pregnant girls full of their cum. You just upped your price tag by giving us the news.”
My eyes widen. My plan has backfired, and dread rains over me.
I instinctively cover my belly. “Please don’t do this.”
Mort’s gaze flashes with a sinister gleam. “And once you have this bastard child, they can sell it. Call it a triple crown, of sorts.”
Xander tenses. “This is the sickest thing you’ve ever thought about doing.”
Mort spins toward him. “Since when do you care?”
“Since there’s an innocent baby in play,” he hisses.
“Now you have a conscience?” Mort glances back at me. “Sure, it’s a little different, but I think it can work.”
Xander stands in place, red-faced and pulling in quick, shallow breaths. Mort stalks over to me and lifts me up by the armpit.
I struggle to stand straight on my wobbly legs. The drugs he gave me have their intended effect. I can’t do anything other than try to stay stable.
“Strip her and get ready for the auction. Once you're done, prepare the other girl and bring her with you. Have them on the stage in five minutes.” He reaches into his back pocket and pulls out a pair of scissors. As he’s leaving my room, he shoves the handle of them into Xander’s stomach.
“You know what to do, so don’t give me any lip. ”
Xander flashes his gritted teeth and rips the scissors from Mort’s grip. He doesn’t argue, but his glare is enough to say he’s sick about this idea of Mort’s. Once he’s gone, Xander turns to me and shakes his head.
He marches over to me and whips me toward the brick. “Hands against the wall.”
My thoughts scramble. “What are you doing?”
“What does it look like?” His tone is full of hostility and defeat. “I’m going to hell for this.”
At a loss for what to do, I place my palms on the cold brick. He cuts up the back of my shirt, through my bra straps and down each arm sleeve. The material falls to the floor. Cool air slaps my naked skin.
Zaps of lightning tornado through me. “Please don’t do this.”
He yanks down my yoga pants and my underwear.
“Step out.” He tugs on the material that’s bunched at my ankles.
I sway as I pull each leg out, mortified this is taking place. He’s not going to help. Tears spring from my eyes as he rips my pants off.
I weep as he trudges out of my room and into Sasha’s. She doesn’t make a sound other than a whimper here and there as scissors shred through her clothes .
Chains rattle, and Xander’s dead tone cuts in. “Come this way.”
A moment later, he enters my room, avoiding my gaze. Sasha and I make watery eye contact.
She’s a beautiful, pure young lady. Her olive skin is perfect. Her long black hair is pulled forward and covers her breasts.
Other than that, she’s bare skin in shackles, just as I am. Her brown eyes are full of fear. There’s nothing I can do to help her. Xander keeps hold of her chains as he unlocks mine from the bolt on the floor.
This can’t be happening.
Anxiety shoots through me, but the chemicals in my blood make it impossible to flee.
Xander curses as he takes our restraints and leads us out and through the dingy warehouse. It’s both humiliating and terrifying.
He takes us down a dark flight of stairs and into a large, dimmed room. As soon as we enter, bright lights flicker on and shine on us so I can’t see anything. I keep trying to find Xander’s gaze, but he avoids me.
I tremble, realizing this is it. There’s no way out of this disaster.
Mort steps up to us and releases the chain from our wrists. “Show time.”
Xander leaves the room as Mort guides me and Sasha onto a stage where the blinding light shines directly in my eyes. I try to hide my naked body with my arms.
Mort places us in a spot and moves to the side. “I have something special for you today. The red-headed girl is pregnant, so her price has doubled.”
A few male voices grumble, and then an angered female voice snags my attention.
“She’s pregnant?”
I’m not sure if I’m imagining it or if it’s the drugs, but I swear it’s Isabella’s voice. “Isabella? ”
“Stop talking,” another female demands.
It must be Hunter’s mother. Maybe they’re here to see the sale through.
I raise my hand to block the light just as a loud crack and wood breaking blast the wall behind me.
Thin plywood flies through the air as uniformed men slam through the barrier. More men rush through the doorway. Chaos ensues as a gun fires and people scurry around the area.
Adrenaline shocks me, and I duck to avoid any bullets. I scream, but a hand goes over my mouth. I’m pulled out of the room by a man in black.