Ashlynn's POV:
The only thing on my mind is my parents. I can't even sleep without them disturbing it. And they live hours and hours away from me. At least I think they do. I'm not sure where I'm at anymore.
I glance up for the first time and look around the dark room, and I see two figures in the corner. I let a scream, fearing that they'll come towards me. It's my parents, I know it is. They are here to get back at me for leaving. They are going to hurt me again. I can't do that. I let out another scream and I bury my face in my knees. They have to leave. I can't face them, I'm terrified.
I hear footsteps stomping and I jerk my head up. I stare at the wall and let the tears fall down my cheeks. They're here. They found me. I'm dead. I hear a loud buzzing echo around me and I know it's over. It's hard to see, the only thing I can see is a bright light. What is happening! I want to go home.
The sound of footsteps only grows louder and the first this I see are a pair of black dress shoes next to the cot. My head jerks upwards and I see the man who kidnapped me. His eyebrows are furrowed and he looks mad. I start to say sorry, and I keep looking at the corner. They aren't there. Where'd they go?
"Why did you scream?" The man asks, his voice is in a demanding tone. I feel my body start to shake. He is with my parents. That's why he hurt me earlier. He has to tell me where they are. "Excuse me, answer the question."
"Nightmare," I squeak out. "They aren't here right? They are still away?"
"They? Who the fuck are you talking about?" He asks, obviously getting annoyed.
"I can't see them, please keep them away," I cry and my sobs cause my body to tremble.
"Go to sleep," He orders me. "No one is here. You're alone. Now shut the fuck up and stop screaming. People are trying to sleep."
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry! Please don't hurt me! I'll listen, I swear!" I apologize profusely and I feel a hurtful pinch on my arms. I can feel the man still staring at me but I can't get the courage to look at him. My body won't stop shaking and my fear never leaves.
His shoes disappear from my sight and the light disappears. I quickly duck under the thin sheet I was given and try to hide. It's better than nothing. I'll do anything to stay away from my parents. I'd go to hell over seeing them again.
***************************************
"Ashlynn, wake up dear," a soft voice says. A gentle hand is on my shoulder.
I open my eyes to see the woman who helped me yesterday. I believe her name is Jill. I forgot. She gives me a smile and hands me a small plate with a water bottle. The plate has two pieces of bread, along with a few slices of an apple and cheese cubes. I hesitantly take it from her hands and she sits next to me on the bed.
"Is everything alright? I know that your current situation isn't good by any means, but I was told you had a moment last night," Jill says and the night starts to come back to me. I feel fear just when I think of the nightmare I had, then I realize I went insane. My fear literally drove me mad and I had no idea what I was doing.
"It was a nightmare, nothing more," I answer her and take a bite of the bread. "Thank you for the food."
She nods her head and thankfully doesn't push me to answer her question. After eating the bite of bread I realize how hungry I actually am. I scarf down the bread, realizing that it's filling my stomach. Jill stays next to me and begins to check my bandage. She begins to pull out a new set of bandages and I let her work on the injury while I continue to eat my food.
I finish all my food and Jill finishes my bandages. She takes the garbage and tells me she will return later. I just nod my head and stay sitting on the cot.
The hours pass and I feel myself growing more fearful by the minute. First I have the terrifying memories from my parents, then I have the man who kidnapped me. Can my life get any worse?
As if God was answering my question the door swung open and two men walked in. They order me to stand and I do so. I feel handcuffs lock around my wrist and then I'm being pushed out of the room once more. The cold concrete makes my feet feel like they are freezing but I can't go anything about it. I'm screwed and I can't escape. My life is an eternal damnation and nothing good will come from it.
We arrive into a small room that has two chairs and a table in the corner that is covered by a thin sheet. The men force me into the chair and tie my wrists and ankles in a similar way they were tied last night. The force a gag into my mouth and tie it so tightly that my eyes begin to water. Once they've done their job they leave the room, leaving me alone once again.
Minutes pass before someone walks into the room, and it's the same man who tortured me and found me after I screamed last night. He sits in the chair that is directly across from me and he looks exhausted. He has dark bags under his eyes and his clothes are messed up.
"Ashlynn Grace Deters. Twenty three. Daughter of Tracy and Greg Deters. Originally from Peoria, Arizona but moved to New York to attend Hunter College, where you earned your business degree. You've been working at Divine for a year as a dancer. You have no family in the city and have been alone for five years," he says and my eyes widen. How has he discovered this stuff? I never let anyone know about my past, but here he is dropping my parents names. "Now, tell me everything you know about Iris Freedman."
Iris? What does she have to do with this.
"Iris? She's one of my coworkers," I choke out.
"Keep talking," he demands.
"I don't know-"
He stands up abruptly, knocking down the chair he was sitting it. I cringe at the sound of the chair crashing to the floor and I keep my gaze down. He stands in front of me and grabs my chin roughly, forcing me to look at him. His eyes are dark and they look ready to kill.
"I don't give a fuck about anything besides getting to know everything about Iris Freedman. Now, speak," he growls and my eyes start to tear up. You think at this point I wouldn't have any tears left. I begin to hiccup from holding back my cries and the man looks pissed. He goes over to that table that is covered and grabs something. It looks like a small dagger you'd see on television, except this one looks like one poke would cause me to bleed out. "Speak, or I'll do the same to your other cheek. Tell me about Iris Freedman."
"I don't know much! She was my mentor at work but we never really hung out outside of club. She was very secretive. She did say that she was moving away soon but I have no idea where to!" I cry out, telling him any information about Iris that I know. I feel guilt run through me, knowing that I could be the reason Iris ends up in a similar situation that I'm in.
"You have to known more cupcake," he says with a sickly, sweet smile. He rubs the flat part of the blade on my cheek and I jerk away from the cool metal. "Tell me everything."
"I swear that's all I know! She often would be a private dancer at the club but I never knew who it was for. All we ever talked about was our awful job and how we hated being money makers for a bunch of perverts!" I exclaim, my crying only continuing.
"Worthless," he spits out and puts the dagger right under my chin. He pushes my chin up with the knife and smirks at me. "I'll deal with you later. For know my men will take you back to your cell and you'll wait there. I haven't decided what I want to do with you yet."
After that he drops the knife to the floor and leaves the room. The same two men who brought me to the room are now leading me back to my cell, where I'll be living until the kidnapper decides what to do with me.
Thanks God for answering my earlier question. Life for me only gets worse.
Sitting alone in the dingy room has gave me a lot of time to think. I've accepted that my life is most likely over at this point in regards to my freedom. Even if I do survive, I have a feeling that they'll sell me or something like that. No one comes to see me, which I'm grateful for to an extent. I don't have to be manhandled by two guys who take me to another room so I can get screamed at. But at the same time Jill has been nothing but kind to me, which is weird considering my circumstances. She makes me feel a little safer when she's around, but that feeling disappears if she leaves. It makes me feel so vulnerable. Being alone also means being stuck with my dark thoughts. What if my family is here? What will they do after not seeing me for five years? They may not have been here physically but they've disrupted my sleep almost every night I've been away from them. I don't think I could handle seeing them again. I'd rather die than be tortured for not doing the smallest things. I
As I'm staring at the wall I hear the door open. I can't bring myself to see who walked in. Being alone is my new life now. I don't want my hopes up when someone comes to drag me out of the room, only to be left alone in the end. The door closes with a loud click and feet make their way towards me. I close my eyes in an attempt to stop the temptation of looking to see who's here. Please just leave me alone. "Ashlynn, darling, here's some food," a soft voice says and I know it's Jill. I just nod my head and wait for her to leave. "I have to clean your bandage before I go." I don't give her any form on a response and she begins to clean the bandage. I keep my eyes closed as she goes through the process. After a few minutes Jill leaves the room and I open my eyes. It's the same meal as yesterday. But I got smart after yesterday, so I eat half the slice of bread. I take a few sips of my water before I put my meal under the cot. I glance over at the tub that's sitting in the center of
Ashlynn's POV: "This is where the maids stay. We each have our own little room with a community area. Mr. Cutler always makes sure that we are well taken care of," Tori says as she shows me around where I'll be living until I die. "Umm, who's Mr. Cutler?" I ask. Right now I only know Jill and Tori's names. No one else's names have come up, well besides Iris's. Still confused about that but I ignore my own thoughts. "Mr. Cutler? He's the boss," she says as though it's obvious, "the man who orders everyone around. We only address him as sir and speak when he asks questions. He's a very private man and doesn't like to be disturbed." I just nod, glad to know this information. I only got a little glimpse at the torture he caused me, I don't want to see anymore of it. She leads me to the bathroom so I can finally clean myself. It felt so nice to have the warm water running down my skin. I can feel all the grime coming off my body and my hair is already starting to soften. I was a
Gage's POV: Friday comes and I'm beyond pissed. We discovered that she left the country through a private plane company. We were able to get the pilot of her plane and he's currently down in the basement for questioning. I've changed from my suit to a black t-shirt and sweatpants. Alex told me that everything was set and that I could go down whenever. So I'm going down now before I have to go finish work for the night. I head downstairs and I notice a few of the maids scurry out of my way as I'm walking downstairs. The entire house has known how pissed off I've been the last few weeks and they've all done their best to appease me. Which gets annoying to a point because I don't need to be smothered by the men. "Here's his file," Alex says, handing me a folder for the pilot waiting in the room. I glance over, getting general information that can be used as a way to get him to talk. When I'm done looking at it I turn back to Alex and hand him the folder. "Let the game begin,"
"Make sure Alex gets record of all the files," I tell Felicity as I pull on my pants. She nods as she fixes her make up. "I'll be back in a few weeks for another report. Call me if anything happens." "Got it boss," she smiles at me. "See ya later sir." I just nod my head at her before I leave the office and head back to the main room. Alex is still sitting at our table, engrossed in his phone. He recently got engaged and hates coming to our brothels and what not. But his fiancƩ knows it for his job and she trusts him. "When we get back to the house I'll need you to sort the files," I tell Alex as I sit down. "Always so bossy Gage," Alex chuckles and I roll my eyes at him. "Next time you say that I'll shoot you," I retort. "More lies tonight. Keep 'Em coming!" He continues to mess with me. "You're such a dick," I say and sit down. I glance up on the stage and Ashlynn is still in the same spot. My eyes just gravitate towards her and I can't stop them. I can't contro
Ashlynn's POV: Dancing on stage tonight felt like things were going back to normal. Sure it was a job that I didn't like because of the audience, but it was fun to dance. Being on that stage helped me forget everything for a little while. All I had to listen to was the music and my body did the rest. As weird as it sounds, and as much as I want a different job, dancing was relaxing to me. It cleared my mind, which allowed for my internal demons to go away. What happened tonight wasn't a first, and it probably wasn't going to be the last. If men find something that they want, they'll get it by doing whatever they can. Their pride and pleasure is worth more than anything. Men love to be in control. I've had similar experiences at Divine. Where a drunk customer comes to the back and tries to have his way with me. No matter how many times I refuse they just think it's a game. I mean, if I'm a stripper I have to be a slut right? The job comes
I told Jill I would try to eat more, but it's hard to eat when you're scared or nervous. And right now I'm feeling both. Why do I have to meet up with Mr. Cutler? I told him everything was fine if we kept it down low. If he wants me to go back to work I will, I just don't see why we have to meet in his office. Privately. That's the part that scares me the most. I can't just ignore the time before I was released from the room downstairs. He hurt me. I'll have a scar on my cheek for the rest of my life because he had the wrong girl. So, I'm scared to be alone with him again. Last night was different, he saved me from the man and didn't try to do anything afterwards. But today is a new day. I break away from my train of thought when I hear the sound of a chair being pushed back. I look up and see that Mr. Cutler has already finished and is now leaving the room. I glance down at my plate and realize I've barely eaten half, but I don't want to keep him waiting. So I stand u
"Are you ready?" Felicity asks me as she fixes my hair. "Yep!" I say with a smile. There's a part of me that's scared of what happened, but the other part of me is telling me that I'm strong and can do this. So I'm getting ready to go out on stage and dance. Just like how I used to at Divine. "Perfect, you'll enter stage right tonight," she tells me. "I'll meet you backstage right as you end your dance." "Thank you," I tell her and she nods. "Now go out there and shake your ass!" She grins and I can't help but let out a small giggle before I turn myself to go out on stage. I hear the bass of the music start and I walk out on stage in my five inch heels. The outfit tonight is a vibrant blue, I think it brings out my eyes. Not that anyone is looking at my eyes while I dance. I don't care what they think and look at, I only care about what I think. And I think this outfit goes great with my eyes. I go to the very end of the stage to begin my dance. I drop slowly into a s