All Chapters of Salt And Steel: Chapter 1 - Chapter 5

Lucy Roshid. Wednesday, February 4th. New York. Night. I draw in a breath. Sharp and painful. It’s like the air wants to tear my lungs in two. A cough rasps out of me, raw and burning. Most likely from whatever was pressed to my nose before I was brought here. My eyes, my eyes won’t open. They’re bound by something soft. Silk. Like a second skin. And above it something heavier, covering half my face. Why is half my face covered? My senses feel disoriented. Foggy. Like I hit my head. I tug at my hands, trying to tear away whatever feels heavy over my face. They don’t move. Ropes, strong ropes hold me. Panic spikes violently inside me. My pulse slams hard against my ribs. The scent in here is heavy with oak, pine and old money. Cold air conditioning wraps round me. A complete atmosphere I’ve never known, back home and at the brothel, where I started working just a week ago. My heavy panting fills the silence of the room, fast and shallow. I’m breathless. Exhausted by f

Lucy. Saturday, 6th February. Two days later. Evening. I sit in front of a mirror in the room, all dressed up. A rhinestone encrusted kitten mask on my face. Hair pulled into a high bun on my head. Skin, silver dress, and diamond jewelries all glowing under the soft light at the slightest movement from me. I inhale shakily as I suddenly start feeling nervous. My body begins to suffer those withdrawal symptoms from the orgasm inducing drugs I used to take at the brothel. Ugly memories try to visit me. But I banish them and choose to focus on now. This rediscovered me. This me that chose to stay here with Chase, because I feared what lay behind these walls in store for me. Because a part of me was thrilled by the idea of being possessed by someone like Chase. The night he first took me rushes into my mind. The way he looked as soon as he opened my eyes. Handsome. Strikingly handsome. Tall. Muscles built in every corner of him. Eyes dark. Shaped like beautiful almonds. And his l

Lucy. “Give me our coats and the car keys,” Chase barks at his men as I’m carried over his shoulder and we’re thrown into the cold. “Let me go, Chase!” I struggle, but his hold is iron. The man, Cameo, hands him the coats, and Chase keeps moving toward the car. That’s when I elbow him hard. He grunts and his grip loosens. I fall onto the snow covered ground, scrambling up again and tearing the expensive rhinestone shoes off my feet. I rip the mask from my face. A wail rips out of me. A wail for May. For all the girls who are going to die in there. “You bastard!” I scream, stumbling toward him and shoving him hard in the chest. “Is this your version of protection?! Bringing me to a slaughterhouse?!” My voice breaks. “They just killed May! She was my friend back at Davenport!” He doesn’t even flinch. He just stands there, solid. Watching me through dark eyes. “Put your mask back on, Lucy. Someone can see you. My father can see you...” “Fuck him. Fuck all of t