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Domenico Five
I stared up at the ceiling, completely bored and wishing something would happen instead of the nothingness. My stomach was a constant knot as I wondered what they were going to do with me.For two days it had been nothing but waiting, and it continued to be so. Food was minimal, entertainment even less so.After that first day, I’d resigned myself to the fact that I was sitting in reality. I had been taken against my will, but that didn’t mean I was defeated. Far from it. I kept mostly to myself, not engaging in the cat-calls and egging from the animals around me. I stayed focused, continuing on my quest to keep the fear minimal and my mind busy with the task of finding some weakness that would allow me to escape.But the awful truth was that there was no way. From the constant guard to the inability to even escape the cage that held me, I was well and truly trapped. There was no way to even maybe loosen the bolts on the door, because someone was always watching.Instead, I
Domenico Six
Days had passed, and still no information.It was a sex-trafficking ring—that much I’d gathered, but why was I the only one? And why was I still there? I listened in to every conversation I could, faking sleep for inside information, but there was nothing.Marco was in charge. He said little to me, barely even acknowledging my existence. He directed those who were there and fielded a few phone calls.Domenico showed up late in the afternoon, with what looked like a case of sports drink under one arm and a duffel bag in the other. Marco took the case from him, and he passed by, not even looking at me as he headed to the crowd of men who were playing a game of poker. From what I could tell the one named Joey was winning handily, so much that the others were claiming that he was cheating.They were right.I was as invisible as a piece of furniture to them most of the time. While someone was always watching me, the others leered only from time to time, and I watched as Joey de
Domenico Seven
In all my life, I never envisioned I would ever be in the predicament that I found myself in—taking a sponge bath, in an open cell, in an open room, in front of ten men, half of whom were watching.Still, it felt good to get the blood and grime off me. However, a bucket of warm water wasn’t enough, especially when returning to the same clothes I’d been wearing for days. The warmth leached away, the cold air cooling the water quickly. A shiver moved through me, and I pulled my clothes back on, trying not to give them a show. The days of showing off my body were over the moment they cornered me on that bridge.My eyes locked onto the splatter of blood dried into a deep red and clashing against the yellow of my sweater.A lackey, some young, thin guy about my age, opened the door to my cage to retrieve the bucket. I blinked, saw nobody in my periphery, and shot up.I bolted, knocking the guy over and sprinting toward the door. My muscles hadn’t been used much for days, causing
Domenico Eight
I was watching Domenico pluck another petal from the rose, trying to remember how many that made. Seven? Ten? I could easily remember at least six and the rose still looked full, but that may have been due to its opening up. The rose was dying but it retained its shape, the head beginning to droop.While I was transfixed by the odd ritual, Roman stepped into view.“Your dinner is served,” he said with a smile.“Thank you,” I replied, returning his smile, taking the plate and setting it down before relieving his hands of not one but two drinks.“A little something extra,” he whispered, giving me a wink before walking away.Immediately I downed over half the bottle of water. I’d been constantly parched since about day three. Whatever food and drink I was allotted was always just enough to keep me from starving or dehydrating, but only just.The sandwiches ranged from the terrible bologna and mayo to ham, cheese, and mustard and other deli concoctions. Which was why I was pl
Domenico Nine
Fighting the sleep in my eyes was hard. My mind was foggy, weighed down. Something said it was better to sleep, but something else nagged at me.As I surfaced, the nagging began to slowly become apparent. From the pounding that turned into a thumping in my head, to the nerves firing off around my body and the cold that was seeping into my skin, it all paled to the ache between my legs.The putrid smell of decay filled my senses as I roused, ever the reminder that I was nothing more than a caged animal.As my senses awakened, cold seeped down to the bone. Cracking an eye open, I found that I was lying naked atop the grimy mattress. The blanket was haphazardly lying across my body. It shielded little and warmed almost nothing.When my eyes were able to focus, there was only one thing in my view. His silver eyes stared at me, and their shiny surface gave nothing away.The memories were sluggish and fuzzy, but two things were obvious in the light of day: I’d been drugged at so
Domenico Ten
High-pitched wails, sounds of begging and pleading, rang around the empty walls, and the few men were suddenly on high alert. All except Domenico.My chest hurt at the sound because I knew, I just knew. There was about to be one less empty cage.Another girl abducted from the streets.One associate was carrying a lantern, lighting the path as Roman and two other men carried the struggling girl up the stairs. I hadn’t seen Roman since he’d given me dinner that night, the night Domenico claimed me. His eyes locked with mine before quickly looking away.I swallowed hard. Was he ashamed of what I’d done? How I had reacted to Domenico? I remembered the anger in his eyes.“Shut her up!” Domenico yelled from the darkness.My hands were white-knuckled on the bars as I watched them throw her into a cage a few down from my own. Her eyes were wide, tears streaming as she begged to be let go.“No! No! Please!” Hiccupping sobs rang out as she drew in ragged breaths, her words heavily
Domenico Eleven
I wasn’t sure how many petals a rose held, but I guessed somewhere between thirty and fifty. More than half the petals were gone, and I began to wonder what would happen when the last petal fell.A pit formed in my stomach as I looked at the number of men. Something had shifted and Domenico’s crew had either surged in membership, or they were all converging on that building.Most of them were familiar faces that I’d at least seen before, but out of the more than twenty men around, there were one or two I didn’t recognize.All day I’d watched, listened, and waited. Even Marco seemed on edge as he sent men out on different jobs. Domenico had been gone for almost the whole day, and I vibrated without him near.The increase of testosterone had led to a few scuffles, and my anxiety increased as the day progressed. There was a safety I’d begun to feel with Domenico, but when he wasn’t around I felt a darkness stirring.He arrived late in the afternoon, but if it wasn’t for the s
Domenico Twelve
In the days that followed, I spent more time out of my cage and chained up close to Domenico. The atmosphere held more tension than usual, even with fewer men.The rumble beneath the surface was obviously unusual, especially because I’d seen both the fear and reverence for la Bestia. The atmosphere created a buzzing in my veins, an anxiety of what would happen when it came to a head.Domenico entered the room carrying a box. It was evident by the flex of his muscles that it had some heft. It clanged when he dropped it to the ground near me.“What’s that?” I asked, but as usual I received no response.A groan left me when he released my arms from the shackles, but when I stood, he pulled me to a stool and sat me down. He handed me a sandwich and drink that were sitting on top of the box, then stepped to the doorway. It was just a blink that he wasn’t watching, a blink that I was fractionally free, but with a small window and no level of real strength, there was no use even t
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