“Please... please, stop…” I cry, trying to wiggle out of their hold, but my futile attempts just seem to egg them on. The one behind me is grinding his erection into my backside and the one in front of me starts smiling while he squeezes my boobs painfully. When one of his hands travels down between my legs, roughly grabbing me there, another rush of anger floods my system, giving me just a little bit more strength.
I grit my teeth and push through the pain. In my final attempt to fight them, I throw my head back as hard as I can, hitting the guy behind me somewhere in the face. He releases me with a grunt, and I use that moment to bring my knee up and kick the guy in front of me between the legs. He falls to the floor, swear words filling the air. Without looking back, I bolt toward the door and out into a well-lit hall. I’m out… I’m outside of the cell. I glance back at the man over my shoulder and see out of the corner of my eyes that I can see through the mirror into my cell like it’s a window.
They’ve been watching me this whole time... watching me, seeing me struggle and cry. Adrenaline floods my body, forcing me forward. I start running, without thought to where I’m going, only that I need to get away from those men. I hear someone following behind me, heavy footsteps, and words in a language I don’t understand.
Once I reach the end of the hallway, I take a sharp turn around the corner, ready to pick up speed. Instead, I slam into a wall… or what I think is a wall. When I lift my eyes, I discover that it isn’t really a wall, but a wall of muscled chest.
All the air leaves my lungs at the impact, and my knees buckle. Strong arms grip onto me, engulfing me in warmth…in safety. My hands land flatly on his huge chest, and I curl my fingers into his shirt when I hear the two men trying to hurt me approach behind us.
I look up at the face of the man holding me. His eyes are gunmetal gray, reminding me of the sky before a storm, but as he looks into my eyes, his gaze softens.
“Help me, please help me,” I whisper, my voice trembling. I grip onto his shirt tighter, willing him to help me, to save me from these horrible men. He doesn’t say a word, he just stares at me, no emotion whatsoever in his eyes. When the heavy footfalls of the two guys chasing me stop behind us, I see his eyes move past me to where the two guys are standing.
I feel their presence without looking, and it terrifies me. I pray he isn’t going to give me back to them, I don’t know what will happen if he does, but I won’t just let them have me. No way. I bury my face into the unknown man’s chest. His scent washes over me, like expensive whiskey and cinnamon. Feeling his muscles move underneath my touch, I know he is so much bigger and stronger than those two. He could protect me from them.
An eerie moment of silence falls over us, and my body starts to shake uncontrollably.
“That bitch tried to run, boss. We were just going to put her back in the cell,” Luca says into the silence.
“And who opened the cell door for her?” the man holding me asks. His voice is deep and dark, and dread fills my veins at his words. He is not going to help me. Maybe he is the one who put me in that room. The one who kidnapped me. Sobs rack my body at the disappointment. I’m never going to get out of here. I’m never going to be safe again.
“Ivan… boss, we were just going to have a little fun… we weren’t going to hurt her...”
“You don’t touch the merchandise and by the looks of her fucking face, it seems like you did a whole lot of hurting her,” Ivan growls.
One single word stands out from his sentence: Merchandise? I know what the word means but I can’t comprehend what it means for me. They can’t possibly be selling me... or anyone for that matter, right? It’s illegal to sell humans… men, women, it doesn’t matter.
As I listen in shock to their conversation, I realize that I’m still holding on to the man who obviously has something to do with me being here. Why do I feel safe in his arms? I should push him away, fight him like I did the other two men. I should try and escape, but instead, I lean into him for comfort. I feel safe in his arms, even though the rational part of my brain tells me I shouldn’t.
I enjoy his big hands sprawled out over my back, and the warmth his body gives me. For a moment, I can forget the throbbing in my face and the split in my lip. I can forget that I’ve been kidnapped and held prisoner.
“She tried escaping, boss. We had to stop her. Maybe if she didn’t try and claw our fucking eyes out, she wouldn’t look like she does,” the other man starts, but Luca cuts him off by clearing his throat, as if he knows better than to disobey.
“It won’t happen again, boss. We just wanted to have a little fun. Clearly, we made a mistake. We’ll put her back in her cell and lock it up.”
My body stiffens at his words, and my fingers clutch Ivan’s shirt. Please say no. I beg in my head like a prayer. If he gives me to them, I’m going to run. I’m going to run as fast and hard as I can.
“I’ll take her back myself and if I see you two around her cell again... I’ll kill you both. We don’t touch the merchandise. If you want to fuck something, go to the whorehouse,” he warns them.
“Of course, boss,” they both mumble and when I hear their feet pounding against the floor, going in the opposite direction of where we’re standing, I sigh. I cling to the man before me, my fingers refusing to let go of him.
A whimper escapes my lips when he pries my fingers from his shirt and lifts me into the air, holding me like a groom holds his bride... like I weigh nothing at all. I probably don’t, considering his size. I briefly catch a glimpse of a large tattoo on the side of his neck before I lower my face so he can’t look at it.
He cradles me to his chest like I’m a small child. His skin feels so warm against mine, and I want to sink deep inside him and stay there forever. I twist and burrow my face into his chest. I remember then that I’m completely naked, other than my panties. I’ve never been naked in front of a man before, and now I’ve been naked in front of three all in one night.
“Please, don’t put me back in that room,” I murmur into his shirt. He doesn’t respond or stop walking in the direction I just came from. He just continues walking as if he didn’t hear me at all. With every step he takes, I lose a little more hope that I’m ever going to get out of here.
2
Ivan
Her blue eyes pierced through my heart like a dull butter knife. I’m so fucking angry right now. More than angry, actually, and I don’t understand the emotions I’m feeling.
I carry her small body back into the cell. With her fingers curled into the fabric of my shirt, she is holding on to me as if her life depends upon it. I glance down at her, but her face is buried into my chest. She is crying, sobbing, her whole body shaking with the force of her tears, and I can’t get her stupid pleas out of my head. She’s stupid, so stupid. Without knowing who I am, she begs me to help her, like I’m some kind of fucking hero. She has no fucking idea how wrong she is. I’m just as bad as those assholes who bruised up her face and tried to have their way with her.
Still, hearing the desperation in her voice, seeing how scared she, feeling her cling to me like I’m the only one who can save her gives me an ounce of hope that maybe there is some good left inside of me, when I thought all of it had been snuffed out a long time ago. I saved her, protected her, and that does something to me, even I don’t want to acknowledge it.