Sold Away

Rebecca shuddered as she sat in the back of the limo, her head down with a black bag over it, her eyes further covered by a blindfold, and her mouth gagged. Her hands were tied together, and rested on her bare lap, preventing her from even rubbing her arms for warmth from the cold emitting out the air conditioner.

“Aww. What’s the matter? Feeling a little cold?” came a voice on her right. One with much chill in his tone, as Rebecca flinched upon feeling a large hand rest on her thigh, massaging it in a suggestive way.

“Cut it out, Jared. You know the lord won’t be happy if you do something to his property,” a stern voice warned from her left.

“What? It’s not my fault she has to wear that rag. Surely she must be feeling cold from the strong air conditioning in here. I’m just trying to help her get comfortable.”

“And you think the lord will take that excuse? You know how he is.”

At that warning, to Rebecca’s relief, the hand left her person.

‘Why?’ she wondered then. ‘Why am I in this position?’

It was but a normal day that day, where she would be up and about, spend her day at school like any other teen, and then return to her humble house to get her homework and studying done. If not for two things.

The first being that she was not like most other students. Not when she was labeled as a criminal’s daughter. It was not that much of a heavy crime that her father had committed, but given that he was the treasurer of a relatively large, major company, known to many in America, embezzling the funds of such famous company does come at a very heavy price. The man even claimed he did not use the company’s funds for anything but what they were intended for, only for evidence of the misusage to pile up, including that of gambling, unauthorized increase in payment for himself, and even falsify donations made to charitable events, only to keep the funds for himself.

Rebecca could not believe what her father had done. As a young child, she had thought with how he was working under a famous company, it was normal for him to make all that wealth. For her to live a rich life. For that to be a lie? A lie that came with heavy consequences?

How her world had turned upside down from that point forward. Not only was she isolated from her many former friends, but even the teachers and principals made as little contact with her as possible. Treated her like some nuisance. For after all, making an enemy out of someone as powerful as the owner of Riverdale Corp was equivalent to death. No one wants to be seen as an accomplice to the man who has done him wrong in some way. Not even to a relative, like her.

Thus leading to the other reason why her life was different from others her age. Her father. He who was tried and imprisoned for the embezzlement. Whether prison has changed him or this was who he truly was, Rebecca did not know, but he was no longer the loving father she remembered. Not when he would either drown himself in alcohol or beat the living shit out of her or her mother every time either one did something he did not like, or just because he felt like it.

Her mother could not bear to just leave him as he was, even after the heavy abuse inflicted onto her, and how horribly their lives changed after his imprisonment. Rebecca could still remember the reason why her mother refused to divorce him.

“I can’t just leave him. I know deep down, under all that abusive exterior is a man who is mourning,” she once told him. “Yes, maybe he did embezzle Riverdale’s funds. But I know your father better. If he did do such a thing, he wouldn’t have done it without a reason. There must be something more to this. I won’t leave him, no matter what.”

Rebecca did not know what to think at the time. She was only a small child, who only knew that her father did something that deserved him time in jail- in a place where all bad guys go. And given how that changed her life, took away the friends she had, the home she once had now into a shack? She could not understand what her mother was thinking.

Not that it would matter. As she had died some years back.

It was said that her mother died from a disease, but to Rebecca? She was certain it was something else. Certain that her mother, in the end, could not handle any more of the abuse, and decided to end her suffering. Leaving her little girl behind in the cold, cruel world. And yet, even though she wanted to hate her mother for leaving her to this fate, Rebecca couldn’t. Instead, wanted to honor the belief her mother had about her father, and stuck to him. Supported him however she could.

Or so how she had been living all these years. Only for her efforts to come back and bite her, when these strangers- these mafia- barged into their home, and demanded money from her father. Money he had apparently been borrowing from them for the past several years. All spent on nothing but beer, food, and electric bills.

Money, in which she offered herself to to pay off the debt.

She didn’t know what she was thinking at the time, making such a demand in front of these frightening men, in these rags she had no choice to wear at home. But seeing her one remaining family at their mercy? She couldn’t help it. Rebecca had to help him. A help her father so happily accepted, pushing her into their clutches, selling her off to them. Leading her to her current situation.

‘Not that they said anything about accepting the terms, though,’ she mentally recalled. ‘One of them only made a call- probably to their boss- and took me along right after that. They said nothing about accepting the terms.’

Rebecca hoped they did not accept her and her father’s terms. As much as she wanted to keep her mother’s belief in him alive, she was unsure if it was worth risking her life over. Not when it brought her mother’s death, and certainly not when it led her to being sold off.

“We’re here,” the man on her left spoke. “I’m sure you already know, girl, but be on your best behavior, if you want to live.”