Chapter 2

I knew how these things go. Women who were kidnapped get trafficked and sold like dogs, and I was not about to let these girls be victims. I let myself ponder for some time trying to figure out how to get out of this mess. I weighed all the options. But sadly, there wasn't anything except for one, and my heart had no desire to do it.

"Listen I have a plan. When those doors open, you wait five minutes and then you take these girls and you run. You keep running and you don't look back."

Her face was in complete shock.

"What about you?"

Her eyes were scared, yet she was determined.

"I said to run and do not look back. Don't worry about me, just know you will see home again. These girls will return home. Understand?" She nodded her head and she followed through.

I thought my plan would fail, but to my surprise, it worked, and it haunts me every night as I dream of what happened. I never told anyone how I rescued those girls, and I am not proud, but they got to see another day. Unfortunately, I wasn't so lucky. I endured four months of nonstop torture. I was raped repeatedly. Beat over and over, until they decided I was too old for them. They brought me to an auction where they sold women to people all over the world. When you're a full-blooded Latina, you became a huge diamond in the haystack apparently. You were worth the money, and that's an opportunity as our reputation was rife with nasty stereotypes. I was forced to wear a spaghetti strap and short shorts. The guys made me, and all the other women walk around so everyone could look at the merchandise. I had all the energy beaten out of me. They stuck me in a room that had a beat-up mattress sitting in the middle of it. It was the first time I'd seen something other than a cockroach. I wanted to soak this in, this small comfort I had before I was sold to some nasty pervert. I snuck into the bathroom so I could finally wash myself. I hadn't been allowed to bathe for a week. You're probably wondering why I haven't run out and screamed for help. The answer is really, that everyone here knows what's going on, and I personally could not take getting hit again. I had a plan that failed, and now I am suffering the consequences. I let the hot water soak into my skin. I wiped my face with some paper towels. Twenty minutes had come and gone, so I forced myself to walk out the door. When I opened the door to walk out, I slammed into a hard body that swept me off my feet. Living this life for those four months, I learned that it's best to beg for forgiveness because no one gave a damn about you. I found myself staring at some expensive shoes that belonged to a man. The pit I felt in my stomach knowing that it was a man, set off my anxiety to the fullest extent.

"I am sorry! Please forgive me."

I held my head down as the tears escaped my eyes. It was silent all around, yet this man had not left.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

I slowly scanned my eyes up, taking in the expensive clothes finally meeting with the lightest bluest eyes I had ever seen. It was a man with pale white skin, red hair, and freckles which wrapped around the bridge of his nose. Out of everyone I've seen, he had the kindest aura. He reached for my arm to help me up.

But when you're in a place like this, you know what he was here for. I nodded and tried to walk away, but he grabbed my hand again.

"I am not what you think I am. What is your name?"

My head turned and my eyes met his. They were sincere and I wasn't sure what his intentions were.

"Nadia," I said.

He had a smile that went ear to ear.

"Nadia, I am Carlos."

He let go of my hand and re-extended it to me, so I slowly put mine in his to shake it.

"If you're in a place like this, you're here to buy, aren't you?"

Oh, I wish I could have stopped myself from talking, but I had been deceived for so long I felt compelled to say the truth. He looked down, twirling his fingers together. Trying to find the perfect response, but he knew that no response would ever make sense as to the predicament we were in. I turn away to save us both the trouble.

"My father is a powerful man; he owns a large operation and wants me to take over. I don't have a choice in that matter. But it requires me to be married. Love isn't an option, and neither is disobeying him."

He looked down at his feet, like a dog with his tail tucked between his legs. How could someone who seemed so innocent be so cruel to me at the same time? He was his father's son. Because when push comes to shove, he wasn't just an innocent man.

The auction was about to start, my owner showed up and showed me into a line. Tons of men and women were looking at us. It was my eighteenth birthday and I was finally getting sold. I scanned the audience and found Carlos's blue eyes. His father, Erick, was whispering in his ears, but his eyes were looking deep into my soul. One of the girls had mentioned that men were crazy for Latina women whenever they heard that one was being sold. They all made a concerted effort to come. One by one each woman was sold to someone for thousands of dollars. Until my turn came, and thousands turned into millions. I was crying, staring at Carlos and he did something that caught me totally off guard,

"Twelve million!"

I was in a trance, I saw his mouth move, but everything went silently in slow motion. Gasps came from everyone's mouth. It was on that day I became forever in his debt.

The gavel was pounded, and he owned me. He said he wasn't like them but he bought me. Priceless was only a term, as I was worth that much. A group of men grabbed me and rushed me out of the auction into a black SUV. It went by so quickly yet those memories are so vivid. After being stuck in the SUV with Carlos and his father for what seemed like an eternity, guards shoved me into a private jet where they placed a blindfold over my eyes, tied my hands, and threw me onto a bed. Tiredness took over. I was completely and utterly exhausted, I slept the entire twelve hours in Ireland. Once we landed I was rushed off the plane and thrown into another car. I felt the blindfold and rope taken from my hands when I opened my eyes I saw I was in a fancy car with only Carlos. He looked at me with such pain in his eyes. I was mad as hell and freaking out,

"You disgusting pig! You said you weren't like them."

I found myself hitting his chest over and over, and he took it.

"I couldn't let any of those men buy you, and hurt you like I knew they would. You're a kind girl, who gave the time of day to a guy in a place like that. Not many have that kindness. You won't be the first, Nadia, and you certainly won't be the last. They buy, hurt, and kill."

I let my arms fall to my sides as I balled my eyes out.

"I had no other choice, I am sorry. I don't own you."

He settled into his seat and laid his head back while pinching the bridge of his nose.

"What do you want with me then?" I asked him.

He slowly turned his head and met my red eyes.

"I am going to take you to my house and let you get settled. I am going to help you find your family, and you will be free to go. I am sorry."

He rescued me, he said. But who knew from that moment on I would forget my family ever existed, and fall so hard for him? I knew if I called them, they would whisk me away, and I'd never see Carlos again. He treated me right and took care of me. Until he didn't. There was that day that changed my entire life when I learned that "freedom" never really existed.

I was there for about a year, while our love blossomed into something serious. I was standing out on the balcony when I felt a pair of arms wrap around me,

"Hey, beautiful. What are you doing out here in this cold?"

I rested my head on his chest just enjoying it, soaking him in.

"I was waiting for you to get back. I needed to talk to you."

He spun my body around so we were eye to eye and planted a peck upon my lips.

"What's going on?" he asked as I took a deep breath.

"You knew when I was being trafficked. I never had a choice of who touched my body until I met you right?" He nodded, but a worried look flashed across his face.

"You told me you used protection, were you saying the truth?" Once again he nodded.

"You threatened to cut it off if I didn't, why?" he asked.

We were supposed to be a team. He told me we were, I thought to myself.

"It must have failed because I am pregnant."

His entire demeanor changed. I was pregnant with our son, and the only thing that came out of his mouth was

"okay"

before he walked out of the room and didn't show his face for two days. I hadn't slept and my mind was wracked with worry about what was going on. I heard voices downstairs in the pool room. I was angry. No, I was mad as hell! I dashed downstairs and burst in seething until his eyes met mine and I shoved him.

"You jerk! I told you I was pregnant, and you just abandoned me!"

His eyes rolled at me,

"Your girlfriend is pregnant?" a voice quipped.

"Who the hell are you?" I said vehemently.

A guy who looked like he was in his teens was staring at me, questioning something that was none of his business.

"I am his cousin, Carter. It's nice to meet you."

I didn't have time for this. I was about to give him hell!

"I don't care who you are, stay out of grown folks business"

I turned back to Carlos,

"I understand it's a shock, but you don't walk away from me after news like this."

His eyes met the inside of his eyelids as they rolled.

"I mean you trapped me, and you expect me to hug you, and tell you we are in this together. Thanks for ruining my life, Nadia. Now, leave."

I once again shoved him. Why was he being so cold towards me?

"Trapped you? It was an accident. But no worries, it's not your problem anymore. I am nothing to you and this baby is nothing to you."

He started laughing and Carter took his leave as things got progressively worse.

"You trapped me with a baby, and now I am forced to marry you. Being pregnant with my baby, now means you hold an heir. So, congrats you're rich now."

Once again, I shoved him. Who did he think he was to assume I was going to marry him just because I was pregnant?

"It wasn't my fault dammit! What? You want me to get rid of it?"

His hand was on his chin, thinking about it as if it was the best option.

"Actually, that's a great idea. Abort it, then you can leave."

That was the final straw for me.

"You're an idiot if you think I will abort my baby. You're more of an idiot if you think I will marry you and playhouse. I am leaving. You and I are through."

I turned my head away and suddenly everything became a blur. Carlos gripped me by my hair and slammed my face into the corner of a wall, lacerating my face and giving me a severe concussion. I was in the hospital, and so out of it. I was conscious enough to hear him tell the doctors some lie so they wouldn't get suspicious. That day had left me with a scar from the left of my brow across my nose. A daily reminder that I was a prisoner. He had broken every part of me, forced me into a marriage in which I gave birth to my son where I was seen as nothing but a maid, and a mother. From then on, Carlos controlled every waking part of my life for the next eight years. I would wake up early to make him breakfast and feed our son, Bently. Clean the house and make his lunch for when he was home, then clean and take care of Bently. I was forced to lay with this man and with every little mistake he would beat me.

I played a dangerous game just to feel anything other than pain.