Chapter 3

Iris's Pov.

“Don't touch me!” I snapped, trembling from fear and anger of being groped again.

The man laughed.

“I like this one. She's feisty.”

The man holding me pulled me into a room and down on my knees. I was in total darkness because of the cloth still covering my head and I had to rely on my senses to tell me about my surroundings. I picked up the voices of four men. They were speaking in a language I just couldn't quite place. It sounded Spanish. Maybe it was Italian?

The bag suddenly came off my head and I shut my eyes from the sudden light. I pushed past the headache and opened them again, trying to adjust to the light. A man entered, carrying the other girl over his shoulder. He tossed her onto the ground beside me and she cried out, rolling to her side. When the man removed the cloth from her head, she trembled in fear.

I took in the sight of her to make sure she was okay. She looked to be in her early twenties just like me. How the fuck did she get mixed up with these dangerous men? I sighed in relief when I saw no physical injuries on her. The only thing unusual about her appearance is her disheveled brown hair and the smeared mascara staining her cheeks.

The men in the room just had their dark eyes fixed on us.

The two men from the club stood in the corner and when the one I kneeled noticed me looking at him, he smirked, taking a drag from his blunt. White smoke came from his grinning lips and the pungent scent of weed floated in the air.

Just then, the door opened again revealing yet another man with black hair. I noticed the men in the room fixing their posture when he arrived and I knew without a doubt that this was their boss.

A lump formed in my throat when I saw the leash in his right hand. He tugged on it and a frail woman with black hair walked behind him

“Carlos.” The men in the room greeted each other.

He walked into the room, paying them no mind.

The girl in the short, neon green dress trembled. She looked at me and our eyes locked. Her eyes were bright red and glossed with tears. The only color visible on her fair skin was the bruises on her face, thin legs, and arms.

Carlos sat on a chair in front of us and drew his bottom lip into his mouth as he watched us closely. When this wasn't enough, he rose and made his way towards us.

He motioned with two fingers for the men at the back of the room to come forward.

They lifted the other girl onto her two feet and she started yelling at them to let her go but Carlos gripped her throat and her eyes widened.

“Let her go!” I tried to stand but one of the men shoved me back on my knees. Carlos turned to me and backhanded me across the face so hard that I fell to the ground. The burning sting from the slap spread across the right side of my face and my mouth filled with the copper taste of blood.

The other man dropped the girl and proceeded to lift me up on my feet.

“Name?” Carlos’ dark green eyes burned holes into my face as he waited for me to answer. But no words came out of my mouth. I'm both unwilling to give in to his demands and too stunned by everything that was happening.

I stared at him and then at the girl with a collar around her neck and my disgust toward him rose.

I already knew he was going to do vile things to me regardless, whether I'm submissive or not so I wasn't going to go down without a fight.

He repeated the question and this time, I spat on his chest.

“Go to hell.”

Carlos gave me a murderous glance and bent down to my level, allowing me to get a whiff of his musky scent.

From behind him, the girl with the collar made subtle hand gestures pleading for me to cooperate but it's too late. I already got him angry enough that he wrapped his hand around my neck, lifting me effortlessly from the ground.

I thrashed under his grasp, little strangled noises coming from my mouth. I was at his mercy and I couldn't do anything about it. Maybe this was the day I'd die!

“Luca,” Carlos called and the man I kneeled over at the club straightened, walking towards us.

“Their names are Iris Paige and Elizabeth Rodriguez.” I shuddered in disgust when the man I now know to be Luca, twirled a strand of my hair with his finger.

“Let's just say Iris is here because she pissed me off and her boyfriend was more than willing to give her away as long as we cleared his debt. As for Elizabeth, she's here on a college trip from California. You know…wrong place wrong time kind of scenario.” He laughed. He actually freaking laughed.

Carlos tossed me to the ground and I burst into a coughing fit, unable to ease the burning in my throat.

“That wasn't so hard now, was it?” Carlos said, glaring at me.

“But the real information I want to know is, are they virgins?” He stalked towards the other girl, whom I now know to be Elizabeth, studying her like she's a dog in a pound he's debating on buying.

I watched helplessly as he gripped her cheeks, squeezing them together and turning her face to the side to inspect her.

“Are you a virgin? And don't think about lying. We'll find out if you do and it won't be pretty.”

Carlos warned and when she didn't answer him fast enough, he slapped her hard.

“Answer me, bitch!”

“Y-yes, yes, I am.” Elizabeth nodded through tears.

“Good. You'll fetch me a lot of money.”

He moved his gaze towards me and cupped my face, doing the same thing he had done to Elizabeth.

“Are you a virgin?” He asked.

“Although I don't expect you to be, seeing as you're already a

stripper with a boyfriend who must always want to fuck that pussy.”

When I don't answer him, he gripped my cheek harder.

“Answer the fucking question.”

“No,” I whisper.

“Bummer.” He sighed.

“But you're a pretty slut. You'll make me a lot of money regardless.” He grinned as he patted my cheek, letting me go.

He walked over to a cabinet by the side of the room and pulled out two black leather collars and tossed them in front of Elizabeth and me.

His men grabbed the collars and wrapped them around our necks.

“You two belong to me now.” Carlos's eyes narrowed at us, his lips tilting up in a grin when he saw the fear on our faces.

“And you will obey me.” He said, his gaze fixed solely on me now.

“If you don't, I won't kill you but you'll sure as hell wish I did.”

I took in a shaky breath, biting my tongue to stop the rising sobs that were threatening to spill out.

“Mady!” Carlos called and the girl in the room rushed to his side.

“Yes sir.” She whispered in a shaky voice, her head cast down.“Get the girls cleaned up and into their outfits. I want them ready by midnight and if you don't doyour job correctly, you know what will follow.”

Mady trembled from his threat.

“Yes sir.” She mumbled.

Two of his men lifted Elizabeth and me off our feet, attaching a leash to the collar and tugging us out of the room like slaves.

“I'm scared,” Elizabeth whispered and there was nothing I could say or do to ease her fears because I was fucking scared too!

I was freaking terrified!