I looked at Logan, my body beginning to shake as I realized wherever we were was not a place I wanted to be. His hands gripped the steering wheel so tight that his knuckles turned white, and I could hear the leather crack beneath the pressure. It scared me. No, it terrified me.
He got out of the car as did the two men in the back, and I sat with my knees to my chest watching as he spoke to them and nod toward the house. Both men disappeared inside, and Logan stared at me through the windshield. It was like he was unable to move, his body stiff and looking every bit the fierce fighter, not the gentle rock star who wrote me a song I never had the chance to hear.
He strode toward me, and I wanted to disappear into the leather seat. I couldn’t control the trembling, and it made me angry that Logan would see it. I wanted to be tough, to have him feel nothing but anger from me, but the panic treading across my body was too overpowering.
The door flung open. “Out.”
It took me several tries to unclip my seatbelt, because my hands were shaking so badly. When I finally did, he snagged my forearm and pulled me out. “Do exactly as I say.” His voice was low as he spoke. “Don’t look at anyone. Eyes down at all times, and do not speak unless asked a question.”
“Where are we? Logan? Please why are you doing this to me?” I couldn’t help it. The words tumbled from my mouth in quick succession. What little connection I felt he tried to make shattered the moment Logan grabbed me by both shoulders and shook me.
“Don’t you get it yet, Emily? Raul owns you. He’s ruthless, and he’ll break you down, torture you, and when you beg him for mercy he’ll torture you some more.” His bruising fingers tightened, and I winced. “Do not fuck this up.”
I broke. I couldn’t help it, and I hated myself for falling so low as to let him or anyone else see me do it, but for that one second I let the fear take hold of me as I said, “I’m scared.”
Logan stared at me with eyes that were cold, dark, and without a spark of … anything. “You should be.”
My breath hitched, and it was at that moment I knew I had to face my fear head-on and conquer it or I was going to die. Logan wasn’t going to save me; only I could do that.
Walking into what looked like a huge dining hall, I kept my head down like Logan told me to, but my eyes drifted upward. It was an uncontrollable reaction. Survival maybe, I didn’t know why, but I was facing the unknown, and I had to look at what the unknown was.
The room was filled with over a dozen men, most sitting at a long wooden table laden with food. I could smell the aroma of cheeses, wines, and the sweetness of an array of fruits. The sound of laughter echoed off the walls, along with the clinking of glasses and men talking and shouting.
But it was the subtle sounds of groaning and sobbing that caught my attention. My heart started pounding harder and faster. The noises were wrong. They reminded me of trapped animals in cages and their sobs of despair. I raised my head, eyes searching the room as the sounds pulled at me.
Lying shivering on the floor was a naked girl.
Then another tied to a chair.
Beneath the table.
Over in the corner of the room, a girl kneeling.
My eyes widened, and my breath caught in my throat as I stared horrified at the women … They were young, some maybe younger than me.
My stomach rolled and lurched, and I staggered backward, fighting against Logan’s grip as I heaved with revulsion at the scene before me.
I shook my head back and forth over and over. “No. No …” I repeated, my hand over my mouth.
One girl knelt at a man’s feet while he fed her pieces of meat like a dog. She had a metal collar on that had a chain attached to the man’s belt. She was naked, and I could see red welts running the length of her spine.
Beneath the table, another girl was between an overweight man’s legs. She was … her mouth was on his cock as he groaned and pushed her face back and forth into him.
But it was the girl kneeling on all fours nearest me that was the one sobbing quietly. Her cheek was pressed into the floor with her butt in the air as a young man pumped into her from behind. He was also naked and wearing a collar, and he had scars running the length of his back.
“Emily.”
Alfonzo was standing beside the girl laughing and drinking his wine as he watched with a sickening gleam in his eyes. Another man, tall and lean, who looked in his thirties stood beside Alfonzo watching as well, but he wasn’t smiling. The girl. Oh God, the girl’s eyes stared at … nothing. Blank and empty, yet filled with tears. Her body rocked back and forth, her hair swinging with the motion. It was when Alfonzo raised a crop and hit the guy on the back and said, “Harder” that I lost it.
I was hyperventilating, and I couldn’t hold it together any longer as I turned my head away and bent over coughing and choking. I couldn’t look as a girl screamed, and I knew … I knew it was that girl with the dead eyes.
“No. No.” My mind was like a tornado filled with the sounds and images of what Logan had walked me into. Nightmares couldn’t compare to this. What I thought couldn’t exist in this world … The realization that people could be so cruel. That this … slaves … girls … It was hidden from the eyes of the world, but it was alive and real.