Chapter 1

Radhika

Throughout my body, I am numb, my throat has been dried up, and my stomach is growling for food. The tears rolling down my eyes reached the floor beneath me. I wept them, sensing the tips of my fingers had grown insensible too. I had nothing on me other than the deadly marks of cuts, belts hit, and torn clothes were barely covering me. I was crying so badly that my breath stopped for a few moments, and all I wished for was for death to consume me.

I was lying flat on the frigid floor of my bedroom, with no bed or room to speak of. It was a basement that had nothing, except for broken, dusty, spider-web junk furniture. Not to mention, darkness. When I was a child, darkness used to scare me to death, but now I am all used to it. I’ve been living here for the last six years, bruised, tortured, sexualized, and totally isolated from the world by Sikha, and her husband, Javed.

They one day suddenly showed up at my home, calling themselves 

took advantage of my family’s poor financial and health conditions and fooled them by saying they were taking me with them to Hyderabad. They hoped to give me proper education so I could become something and support them. But all they did was to sell me to a different man every night, earning money from it. The reason I didn't tell my parents everything was that first, Sikha sends them money every month. In addition, they won't be able to cope with what I've been suffering through. They will die the next second if they become aware of my situation. They are the sole reason that I forced myself to live. 

If I died, who would feed my family? 

But the pain I am feeling right now is unbearable too. How many more days could I survive without food?

Sikha decided to leave me without food and water as a punishment because I wasn't in the condition to pleasure the man she brought to sex with me. This was due to the amount of pain my body received because of how they and those strangers abused me. 

I am not more than a plaything for them.

I heard the footsteps approaching the door, I knew that's them….the knob twisted and it swung open. It took me a considerable effort to lift myself so that I could face them with a modicum of respect. I don't want to think of the terrible things that I would have to go through. Unfortunately, my body wasn’t responding and I didn't make it all the way. 

"My teeny bitch is still alive, I see," Sikha said, throwing the bucket full of ice water on me. I got up to my left elbow, coughing off the water that had gotten inside of my mouth and nose. I felt ice cubes slipping down my body. My hair was mercilessly grabbed by her long fingers as she attempted to make me see her evil face before I could react. My teeth clenched as I cried, "Do you still have the nerves to show me your attitude?" She asked, "Looks like you still haven't learned anything from your punishment," she said to me as she stood on my hands.

“Leave me! What’s my fault?” I shouted. 

“Your fault is that you’re a girl!” She screamed back, throwing me on the floor. When she stepped away I brought my hand to myself, feeling intense pain in my fingers where she stood on them. “If you had been born as a boy you must have been a great help to your family but since your birth, you have brought nothing but misery! That your father had to sell you to us!”

Incredulity took me, I gaped at her. I was unable to speak because of the lump formed in my throat, this can’t be true…my father can’t do this to me, he loves me and my sister a lot, “You’re lying, ain’t you? Tell me, it’s a lie!”

“Why would we lie to you, dear?” This time it was Javed who spoke, he leaned at my height while trailing his hand over my naked thighs, “You’ve been our favorite whore and at least all we could do is to tell you the truth that your father told us to keep it from you but now, you’re leaving, the last thing we would do is to keep you in the dark," I couldn’t feel the floor beneath me. They are terrible, but my father has been the most horrendous. How could he sell his own daughter? All this time I was thinking that he'd break down, knowing that his daughter is forced to do prostitution here. Didn't he feel remorse for a brief moment before throwing me in this hell?

“W-What do you mean by I’m leaving?” I asked.

"The decaying remains of your body are no longer useful to us, so now we'll sell you at auction, where rich people pay millions for girls like you," he hissed at me. I tilted my face away when his awful breath of smoke blew into my nostrils.

“And do you know what they do with girls like you there?” Sikha asked as I shook my head in no, innocently, she replied, "If you fail to do as they say, then they will force you into prostitution, slavery, feed you to their pets, sell your body parts on the black market, and worse that you do not want me to complete. We hope you go through each one of these,” 

I ignored the chill that ran down my spine as Javed threw a bag of clothes and other essentials to me, “Quickly get ready I’ll be back in fifteen minutes to take you,” Sikha ordered me and left alongside her husband. What did I do wrong to deserve all of this? But if that’s how God has written my fate I’ve no choice but to accept it no matter what.

Getting up somehow, I managed to walk over to the small bathroom attached to the basement. Freshening up, I changed into a plunging chest cut, sew wrap metallic dress with black high heels. Sikha returned and did my makeup. She hid my cut marks under the foundation cream. In spite of this, I looked beautiful and sexy in the hand mirror she brought. The hunters wouldn't show mercy to me because I was just pretty prey to them.

“We should leave or we would be late," she murmured to me. I nodded and walked behind her silently towards a white Mercedes Benz car, waiting for us. We got in, Javed was sitting in the front seat whereas Sikha sat next to me. I was soon on my way to another hell as the driver started the car. It was a luxurious casino.

"Listen, my dear whore," Javed said as we got out of the car, "don't talk back to your new owner or disobey them if they have a complaint against you. You won’t be able to imagine what we would do to your sister, understood? UNDERSTOOD?!” He screamed in my ears.

"Un-understood," I repeated. I’ll never let anything happen to her, it doesn’t matter what happens. 

We were taken to the back entrance of the Casino by a bald detrimental-looking man wearing a tight black suit, his eyes traveling around my revealed skin every then and now, especially to my open breast curves, dripping invisible saliva of lust for me. I cannot explain in words how awfully uncomfortable I am because of him. I pretended not to notice his stares at me. 

We entered a large room filled with helpless girls like me, some of them were even crying and why not, after this night, we all have no idea what could happen to us or how many days we have left to live. A man hit them with a belt who seemed like their agent, forcing them to stop their tears.

“Stop these tears, you bitches! If those people bidding outside didn’t buy any of you, I’ll slit the skin from your bodies and give you all to eat!” His threat made them go silent in fear. I felt pity for them but it was all normal in the lives we were living. His eyes flang towards me and I averted my head, acting as if I didn’t witness him saying anything to them. I already have enough problems on my plate to deal with, being their savior won’t bring me anything good either.

“Have it,” the detrimental man said to me, snapping his fat fingers at me. I stared at a tablet that was in his hand, suspiciously as he said getting near my face, "Gulp it, yourself. You won't like my way of feeding you this.” I don’t want to know what his way would be, I gulped that tablet down my throat. I flinched away when he squeezed my ass indicating to me to join him over the stage with a crocked smile playing on his rotten mouth, and all of a sudden I felt my head growing heavier.

“What did you give me?” I asked him.

“Don’t worry, babe, it’ll just numb your consciousness for an hour so you won’t try to run away from here or create problems till you’re sold off,” I heard him say before everything began to blur for me.

.

.

.

Having my senses reawakened, I wasn't on stage anymore. Wherever I am, I felt comfortable, smooth, and cold. The next instant, I realized I was laying on the seat of a….plane?! The sharp throb was still passing through my head when I got up, possibly caused by the tablet the man gave me earlier. Messaging my temples to release some pain, I heard a soft masculine voice speaking to me.

“You’re awake,” 

"And it seems like you’re having a headache,”

I stared at the owner of the voice. Despite being on his phone, he looked up at me as he sat on the seat in front of me calmly and composedly. He has pretty attractive facial features and a well-muscled body. He came forward and I don’t know with what intention. Yet I immediately put my guard up. Is he the person who bought me? A wave of fear crossed me. I lifted the knife which was stuck in the fruit basket on the table between us and pointed at him. It was too shocking for me to say anything, and my action made him rethink his decision.

He backed off, raising his hands up in the air, faking surrender, “Relax, dude, I mean no harm, I just wanted to check if you’re having a fever too,” I didn’t trust him, although his eyes didn’t seem to be lying, no, don’t trust, I told myself and kept him on the knifepoint, “Hey, trust me, I won’t harm you, you don’t need to fear from me,” His words were more assured this time, in no time, he took the knife away from me and placed the back of his hand on my forehead which felt cold against my skin.

His hand was restrained as he murmured, "My guess was right...". He pressed a button fixed on the side of his seat and a flight attendant came, smiling at him. “Bring food and some painkillers,” He ordered her.

“Sure, Sir,” She bowed to him and left slowly.

He turns back to me, “Well since you’re awake, I should introduce myself. I am Arjun Shekhawat, and you are currently on my private jet, so let’s start with your name, where are you from, and anything you like me to know or wanna ask."

“R-R-Radhika, A-Are you the one who bought me?” Out of everything, this was the question that slipped from my lips.

He looked surprised and baffled at the same moment as if he didn't know how to respond to my inquiry, “Hmmm, not quite well, I know this is going to sound crazy to you but you are actually a present to me,” 

My eyebrows arched up in puzzlement, “Present?”

“Yes, my best friend gifted me you as my birthday present. I am ashamed to call him my friend, in fact, we don't even know each other anymore." He sounded hurt, guilty, regretful, angry, and irritated at the same time. He hadn't mentioned anything else before I could figure out why, the same flight attendant came back with a tray full of food. The aroma of food filled my nostrils and I swallowed down my saliva, feeling the rats jumping in my stomach.

“Anyway, have some food first." He dismissed her and forwarded the tray to me.

“I-I c-can r-really eat them?” I asked, dismayed.

"Of course, I ordered them exclusively for you," he said as he allowed me to grab whatever I could from the tray and fill my plate. I suddenly felt a jacket land on the plane's floor from my body as I realized I was still in that skin-revealing dress and my upper body must have been exposed to him. In picking it up to cover my body, I saw that he noticed something that must have gone unnoticed by him. The pressure of the jacket against my body and the rise of blood in my face left me unsure of how to react.

“As you were asleep, I covered you with a jacket to keep you warm, but don't worry, I'm not a pervert. I'll make a call while you finish your food and take your painkillers," He looked at the awkwardness of the situation and got up to leave. 

Food drew my attention back to it. I began to eat. The taste spreads over my buds. I stuffed my mouth with one after one dish placed on the table. It’s been ages since I've eaten this much. I've never had such delicious food in my entire life! I took the painkillers that he gave me, and because of the pain, I began to drift to sleep. Before my eyes closed, his words were replaying inside my head. Apparently, I am a gift for him. But he doesn’t look like those pervert men who crave my body, he seems least interested in me that way anyway so why would somebody gift a girl, especially like me to someone like him? What is he going to do with me now?