The drive through the city feels like it takes an eternity, my heart rate picking up with every bump on the road. Crystal’s palm is sweaty, and she shivers beside me.
“It’ll be okay,” I tell her.
“I’m so scared,” she murmurs.
“I know,” I whisper back.
Slowly, she begins to cry, so I squeeze her hand.
“I won’t let them hurt you,” I say.
“I’m sorry,” she murmurs. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault—”
“Yes, it is,” she says, her tone fluctuating. “I took you to the park for some ice cream.”
“Oh, girl …” I lean closer to her, despite being unable to hug. “You don’t need to apologize.”
“Yes, I do.” She shudders. “When I heard about the fight from Brooke, I got too scared to tell you the truth. I was afraid you never wanted to talk to me again.”
She swallows while I narrow my eyes to see in the dark because I really want to look into her eyes.
“That picture that got shared around … it’s my fault.”
My heart practically stops beating.
“Nathan gave me his passcode once, so when I saw he left his laptop at the library, I figured he wouldn’t mind if I used it to look something up for my course. But then I saw that picture of you and them. I thought he’d taken that picture without your permission, and I wanted to send it to you so you’d know about it. But I didn’t understand how his email worked and then I accidentally sent it to the entire school.” She cries again. “It was too late to un-send it. The damage was already done.”
I don’t even know how to respond, but my fingers still instinctively unlace from hers, disgusted by the mere idea that someone I consider a friend would do this to me.
Out of all the people I suspected of sharing the picture … Crystal was last on the list.
“I’m sorry, Lana. I’m so sorry,” she says, whimpering from fear. “I didn’t mean to. It was an accident. Please, don’t be mad at me.”
If it’s true what she says, if it really was an accident, if she really intended on sending it to me alone …
Then I accused the boys without merit.
“Shut it!” someone yells from the front of the van.
Fuck.
I look at Crystal, but I can barely see her in the dark.
I wish more than anything I knew what to say, but my heart is so full of hurt that I opt for nothing at all.
I don’t want to give these bastards more reasons to hurt us.
When the van comes to a stop, I’m jerked harshly against the chains that hold us down. I groan in frustration and wait until they finally come and get us so I can kick their asses.
The van doors open, and some guy steps inside to unlock the chains around our wrists.
The moment I’m released, I punch him in the jaw and knock out some teeth, then ram my other fist into his belly. He bucks and heaves while I kick him aside, fighting my way through the men as they try to subdue me.
I look back at Crystal, who’s frozen to the van’s floor, desperate for help.
And I realize then that I can’t stay mad forever.
It was an accident. She didn’t mean to do it and tried to help me get through it.
Despite it all, she’s still my friend, and I don’t want her to get hurt.
The nefarious plans these men have aren’t something I’d wish upon my worst enemy.
I have to get her out of here.
“Jump! Now!” I yell at Crystal.
Crystal’s eyes burst open, and she bolts out of the van, but she’s captured within seconds.
“No! Let her go!” I scream.
One of them smashes his hand in front of my mouth to silence me. “Give it to her.”
I shake my head and bite him in the fingers while another stabs a needle into my neck.
All the energy flows out of my body like a faucet that has been turned on, and I lose both the will and the strength to fight them off.
“Bring them inside,” one of them snarls.
They put my arms over their shoulders as they drag me inside, my feet scraping across the pavement. I try to scream, but no sound escapes my mouth. It’s already dark outside, and no one can even see me, let alone hear me.
Crystal tries to shriek, but her mouth is stuffed with something to keep her quiet.
I don’t know what happens next.
One second, we’re going through a door, and the next, I’m shoved into a tiny cell. The time between is a blur, and it all happens so fast. I don’t know what they put in that syringe, but it’s overpowering and taking away all my sense of time.
“Make sure she doesn’t try to escape,” one of them says.
Cold metal wraps around my wrists.
CLICK.
I’m strapped into place against the wall.
Instinct kicks in, and I fight the two men trying to chain me as best I can, throwing kicks into the air with all my strength. One of them grabs my leg and pushes it to the wall. “No!”
“Stay down, you bitch!”
I manage to kick one in the cheek, and he makes an oompf sound before grasping my other leg as well and pinning it to the wall.
CLICK.
My ankles are bound by the same metal clasps as my wrists, stopping me from kicking and punching anyone in my vicinity and forcing me to stay upright. The men in front of me laugh. One of them smothers my face between his thumb and index finger.
“Not so catty now, are we?”
My eyes burst open. “Catty? Fuck you, I’ll fucking skin you for this.”
They both laugh. “What a fucking joke. You know, I think we’re going to have lots of fun with you.”
He slaps me harshly, and then they both walk out the door.
“Wait!” I yell with the little energy I have left after whatever concoction they gave me. “Where’s Crystal?” When both of them laugh again, my blood begins to boil. “Don’t you fucking lay a finger on her! I’ll kill you!”
The door shuts tightly, sealing me into a tiny prison.
It’s so quiet in here.
Deathly quiet.
Except for that one scream that penetrates the walls.
“CRYSTAL!” I yell, but no matter how many times I raise my voice, every call I make falls on deaf ears.
If they hurt her, I’ll never forgive myself.
I have to get their attention somehow. But what do I do?
They’d only bring me here because they want something from me. Which means I’m an asset they don’t want to lose.
I bang my head against the wall hard enough to make myself bleed.
Over and over again.
Until finally the two come storming back in. “What the fuck are you doing?”
Blood pours down the back of my head. “You want me alive? Don’t fucking hurt Crystal.”
The one in the front snorts. “You think you can make demands now?”
The other one approaches me. “This cell is soundproof. His grimy hand touches my face, and I lean away as his filthy fingers slide down my neck. “I could do anything I wanted to you, and no one would hear you scream.”
“But that wouldn’t make me a valuable sell anymore, now would it?” I retort with one eye closed.
He grinds his teeth, angered by my comment.
He knows I’m fucking right.
“No one will want me,” I mutter.
“You’re just scared one of those fuckers will bid a million on you just to torture you,” he retorts.
“No … I just know they’ll see in my eyes I’ll rip off their balls and feed it to them in the night if they ever so much as blink in my direction.”
The guy leans away, his finger shaking as he swallows away the bile.
I smile at him. “You think I fear them? No. They should fear me.”
The guy backs away slowly.
“This bitch is mad,” the other one says.
“Seal her in. Tell Romeo to come handle it,” the guy who touched me says, and they run out and shut the door tightly.
But I don’t think they’ll lay a single finger on Crystal now.
Not until that Romeo guy has talked with me. And I’ll make sure he understands what he’s dealing with too.
“Hey, motherfuckers!” I yell, pushing through the fatigue from the shot I got. “I’m still here!”
I bang my head against the wall again, but it hurts like hell.
Finally, someone comes into my cell again. His black hoodie is stained with blood, but the syringe in his hand catches my attention.
“Oh no, fuck no,” I say, shaking my head.
“You won’t behave? We’ll make you,” the guy says, spritzing out some of the fluid.
“Stay away from me!” I yell. “Let me go!”
“You should be happy we’re trying to sell you,” he says, approaching slowly.
“Fuck you!” I spit, fighting the chains that hold me down.
He pinches my cheeks and makes me look at him. “If you’re going to fuck someone, you should at least know their name.”
My eyes narrow. “You … you’re the reason I’m here, aren’t you?” I swallow back the unsettling fear. This man is responsible for all the trafficking this group does. “Romeo.”
“Bingo.” He smiles the most wretched smile, showing off his golden teeth.
I spit in his face.
He wipes it away and smears it on my clothes. “Bad girl.”
Suddenly, he flicks out a knife and cuts me in the cheek.
It stings enough to wake me the fuck up. “Where did you take Crystal?”
“She’s safe … for now.”
“Fuck you,” I growl again, straining against the metal clasps that keep me down. “You’re not even man enough to face me. I’d kill you with just one hand.”
“Sure you will,” he muses. “But if you don’t start behaving soon, no one will want to buy you. And that’s a problem, even for you.”
What the fuck is he going on about?
He taps my chest with his filthy fingers. “Because then we’ll be forced to keep you and make you our personal toy.” His hand travels down across my chest, touching my breasts. “So what’s it going to be? Us or them?”
When his finger reaches my face, I bite and miss, but I think I got my point across.
“Bad choice.”
He rams the syringe into my neck, and I scream out loud from the burning pain searing its way through my veins again.
“One way or another, you’re going to break for me. And I’ll be ready to pick up the pieces and crush them with my bare hands,” he hisses into my ear, but his voice sounds off as I begin to fade. “You murdered my men … and in return, I will destroy your soul.”
The drugs are too strong to fight, and I feel myself slipping away, regardless of my will to fight.
I don’t want to lose. I don’t want to be trapped. I don’t want to succumb to the will of these monsters. But I’m all alone in this cell, and there’s no way I can win.
What if I never get out?
Terror seeps into my heart as, one by one, my senses all shut down until nothing is left but me and my thoughts and that demonic voice laughing like a goddamn devil taking me to hell.
