Jacob was my only choice.
I stole his apartment because I had nowhere to sleep. I could have gone to the police and turned Jacob in. I would have gotten a free motel stay and maybe cash for food but that wouldn’t get me far. With that hundred thousand dollars I could start over. I could get an apartment and take my time finding a new job. I didn’t feel pathetic asking for that money.
If you asked me, it was mine.
I was the one who paid that debt. I was sold to a madman and I worked for every penny of the fortune people collected. It was only fair I got a cut after I gave up my body to the devil. I didn’t care how Jacob got that money.
It was mine.
Despite the fact I was back in America I felt alone. That Tuscan estate made me feel safe. It felt like home. I went to sleep every night knowing I belonged somewhere. Crow made me feel like a person rather than an object. He showed me the greatest generosity anyone had ever given me. He was in a situation where he could have done whatever he wanted without any repercussions but he never did. He always gave me a voice and a choice.
But now that was gone.
New York didn’t feel the same. It was more foreign than the country I just left. It didn’t smell of fresh bread and grape leaves. It was full of pollution and smog. Instead of stunning hillsides all I saw were billboards with half naked people on them. People walked on the streets every single day without knowing how good they had it.
It was despicable.
I couldn’t sleep in Jacob’s bed so I laid on the couch with a thin blanket. I’d lived in this apartment for a year but now it felt like a new place. All my clothes and possessions were gone because Jacob probably sold everything at a garage sale. All my pictures, my yearbooks, anything that ever meant anything to me.
It was all gone.
The second I closed my eyes I saw Crow’s face. I never told him what happened to me or that I escaped. The tracker was still in my ankle where he inserted it, so he probably figured it out on his own. He never came for me so I assumed he let me go. He didn’t expect me to pay off the debt.
I was finally free.
I should hate him for everything he did to me but I didn’t. When I thought of him, respect and longing were still in my heart. I confessed that I’d somehow fallen in love with him during our time together.
And that was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done.
He rejected me—coldly. I locked up my heart and threw away the key. All I was experiencing was Stockholm Syndrome. He gave me a home and took care of me. He made me feel safe and valued. Afraid and alone, I latched onto him. But I forgot he was the one who kidnapped me. I forgot he made me sleep with him in exchange for freedom. I forgot all of that because he made me feel loved.
I was so stupid.
I wanted to keep sobbing because it somehow made me feel better but I knew it’d gone on long enough. An hour was all I would allow myself before I shut everything down and got my head in the game. A lot of bullshit had happened to me in the past year, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t get my life together. I could find a good job, a nice apartment, and start over.
I could start over.
***
After I got the cash from Jacob I went to the police department to take myself off the missing persons list. If they were still looking for me they were wasting their time—because I was right here.
They questioned me about everything in the hope of getting a lead on the men who ran the operation. Sex trafficking was still a huge problem in the nation and the police were determined to put an end to it. I told them everything that I knew—except that Jacob was the one who sold me.
I didn’t care about turning him in. He only did it to pay off his gambling debts and I knew he wouldn’t do it to another woman. The damage had already been done and I needed the cash more than letting him sit behind bars. Besides, I could always ask him for help and threaten to turn him in if he didn’t cooperate. For the rest of his life he would look over his shoulder and dread seeing my face.
That was punishment enough.
When I was at Crow’s estate the police came looking for me. At the time, I thought it was just Cane who tipped them off but that didn’t make any sense. If someone was looking for me, I wanted to know who it was. Maybe it was on of my friends and they could get me in touch with them. “Who reported I was missing?”