CHAPTER FIVE

JASON

I had to attend a meeting with James at Hogar Restaurant, one of the best restaurants in Bogotá. I wasn’t in a good mood and didn’t want to attend the meeting in the city but I had no other choice because James was my best client, I knew that sealing a deal with him would benefit my company.

I didn’t want to go out that night, but it felt like something big was about to happen—or there was something that was pushing me to attend the meeting. I quickly fixed my black tie and made sure that I looked good in my black suit, then got in my car and headed to the city.

An hour later, I walked inside the restaurant and immediately saw James sitting at the table that allowed him to have the beautiful view of the city through the ceiling-to-floor window that the table was next to. We shook hands and got straight to business. The meeting didn’t take long because we reached an agreement quickly. We ordered some food and drinks to celebrate the deal.

Although I was happy with the deal that I had sealed with James, something felt strange and I couldn’t stop looking out the huge window that was across from me—as if I was waiting for something to happen. James went to the bathroom to facetime his girlfriend, who didn’t believe that he was at the restaurant for a meeting with me—one of the many reasons why I didn’t want any relationship.

I was left alone to enjoy the beautiful view of the city through the huge window. I was admiring the view of the city when I saw a young lady being chased by some men in black suits. At first, I didn’t care, but then I got a glimpse of the face of the young lady that was being chased, and the whiskey that I was sipping immediately choked me. I couldn’t believe my eyes. It felt like I was in one of those weird dreams that I always had of her. I started to sweat and shiver at the same time.

It was Alicia, my ex-girlfriend.

She was screaming and crying out for help, but my body couldn’t move even though I wanted to run to her and save her. I was only able to move after witnessing Smash slapping her and one of his men hitting her with his gun on the back of her head. I knew Smash—everybody knew who he was. I ran outside to try and stop them, but by the time I stepped outside, the wheels of the van were already rolling.

“Stop!”. But it didn’t stop. James came outside running. He was confused and didn’t know what had just happened while he was in the bathroom.

“What’s wrong?” he asked with the concerned look on his face.

“It’s Smash. I have to leave right now”. I said while taking my car keys out of my pocket.

“What did he do?” he was still confused as fuck.

“He took what belongs to me”.

I entered my car and drove back to my house. I knew that going to Smash’s club without my men would only end badly—I would leave the club with Smash’s head or leave covered in that motherfucken repatriation foil. I knew that I had to pay some money to get her. That’s how Smash did his business.

Shit. That son of a bitch had to pay for putting his dirty hands on Alicia. On my way back to my house, I was so fucken worried. I knew Smash and the business that he ran. He was a drug lord and he was trafficking girls, and I knew that Alicia wasn’t safe around him.

The thought of what he could have done to her made my skin crawl. I felt sick and so lost at the same time. What was Alicia doing in Bogotá? I had no answers to all the questions that I had. I was so mad and the only thing that I wanted at that moment was to put a bullet in his head. Smash had declared a huge war and I knew that the only person who would come out alive in the war was me—killing him was now at the top of my bucket list.

An hour later, I pulled over to my driveway and went straight to bed but I couldn’t sleep that night, trying to come up with a way to save Alicia.

All the good memories came back and played over and over again that night—the memories that I was fighting so had to destroy but kept on failing. The good memories then disappeared, allowing that one bad memory that I had of Alicia to keep on playing. The only memory that always clouded the good memories that I had created with her, that one bad memory that made me hate her so much.

The thought of the betrayal that I got from her made me so pissed and felt like whatever that she was going through was what she deserved for deceiving me. I had zero love for her, but I knew that I had to come up with a plan to get her out of that club successfully.

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ALICIA

I felt very weak and was in pain when I woke up. I tried to open my eyes but couldn’t. The flashbacks of the previous night made me sick to my stomach. I was hurt and scared of what was about to happen to me. I knew that I had zero chances of getting out of the club, there was no way Smash would allow me to escape again and I had a feeling that he would try by all means to get rid of me—he would kill me or sell me to his clients.

The thought of being a slave or getting fucked by someone who I didn’t even know made me so sick and frustrated. I spent the whole afternoon sleeping because I was in a lot of pain due to the beating that I got from Smash when we got back to the club the previous night.

The sound of the key unlocking the door from outside the room that I was in made me sit up on the and I immediately got scared, not knowing what was about to happen to me. Luke came in, then Smash followed. I was pissed when I saw Smash, thinking about all the pain that he had put me through when we got back to the club. He had the evil smile that he always wore on his face.

“My clients are here, go and get ready. I want you to wear this. I’ll come back soon. Make sure that you cover those little bruises on your face with some makeup or something…I don’t want you to chase away my clients.” He tossed a red dress on the bed, then opened the door to leave but paused before exiting.

“If you ever try to escape again, I won’t be so forgiving. I will kill you and burn your corpse.”. He then left the room with Luke.

I could still hear Smash and Luke mumbling from the other side of the door. I quickly got ready, and I wasn’t impressed at all. The dress was a see-through and was way too sexy, tight, and revealing—wasn’t exactly my style, and I wasn’t comfortable. I had never in my life imagined myself wearing a very short dress that only covered my boobs and pussy.

Moments later, I found myself following Smash into a VIP room. There were four men who were old enough to be my father. They all looked like rich guys judging by the suits and the briefcases that were placed in front of them. They had their eyes fixed to two strippers that were entertaining them, then they all stopped watching the strippers and focused on me the moment they saw me—they undressed me with their eyes.

“Darling, come and sit here.” Said the guy who sat next to the door, he was patting his lap. I stood there like a statue, not ready to get touched by those men. I could feel the tears forming in my eyes. I looked like a whore; I felt so dirty and worthless.

“No, I’ll just stand here.” I said while covering my boobs by folding my hands.

“If you don’t do as they say, there will be consequences.” Smash whispered in my ear while faking a smile. I didn’t allow his words to scare me. There was no way I would allow those men to touch me. I kept on standing there without moving.

“Smash, why is she acting like this? Is she the new girl?” one of the men asked.

“She’s still new, you know…she is the new girl I was telling you about. She is just a little bit scared.” Smash said.

“Do as they say bitch, you don’t want to piss off my clients, do you?”. His words fell on deaf ears, I didn’t move.

“If you keep on doing this I will…” Smash couldn’t even finish his sentence when a familiar voice interrupted him.

“You will do what?” Jason walked inside the room with a black briefcase on his hand. I felt so relieved to see him, but also pissed because I felt like if he hadn’t betrayed me, I wouldn’t be in that fucked up situation. Smash seemed shocked to see Jason but then his mouth curled to a huge smile.

“It’s so good to see you amigo.” Smash extended his hand to give Jason a handshake but Jason ignored him.

“Just say the price, I have other important things to do.”. Was he going to save me? I hoped so because I knew that I wouldn’t survive being a slave to one of those men.

“She’s one of a kind…she is very expensive…Six hundred thousand dollars will do.” Jason didn’t seem shocked by the price; he just tossed the briefcase on the side table.

“There is eight hundred thousand dollars there. She’s coming with me.” Jason grabbed me by my wrist—while ignoring eye contact with me and headed to the door when he paused and went back to where Smash was standing to give Smash a punch that made him bleed immediately. His men took their guns out, but Smash instructed them to put them back.

“I’ll give it to you, Amigo…You punched the shit out of me, but I will console myself with the money that you paid for her.” He chucked while wiping the blood that was coming out of his mouth.

“You haven’t seen shit.” Jason said while roughly grabbing me by my wrist again and led me to the front door.

The fresh air outside allowed me to finally catch my breath. Relief and a touch of freedom filled my heart. It felt like the first time when I escaped. The only difference this time was that I wasn’t running away from a group of men.