Little Doll (6 page)

Silence
, again. I was rendered speechless, my fate totally out of my control. Aiden stood motionless, one hand on his hip, staring at the carpet.

“Thank you.” My voice was small but a slight
twitch of his jaw indicated he heard me. I
was
grateful.

“For what?”

“For being kind to me.”

Aiden shook his
head slightly, seemingly troubled by my words. “Don’t thank me.” His jaw clenched. He was pissed off. “Tomorrow.”

“
Tomorrow?”

“You will be
immersed into this world tomorrow. Remember what I have told you. Discipline is the key or it may cost you your life.”

He turned and headed for the
door, but paused as his hand reached for the knob. “When was the last time you ate?”

“I’m sorry
?” I asked, dazed and confused by his sudden change in demeanor.

“
Have you had anything to eat?”

“No.
I think they drug the food.”

Aiden
turned and left, locking the door the behind him.

Although I was certain my stomach was
gnawing me away on the inside from hunger, the thought of eating food after what I had gone through tonight only made my gut churn.

Chapter Nine

Aiden

Four tequilas down and I still couldn’t think straight.

Normally, alcohol
would dull out the unnecessary shit in life and allow me to think a little clearer about the important matters. Tonight has been just one of those damn nights where nothing was working.

The bullshit bad luck that found this dangerously
naïve girl on the streets is the same that threatens to expose me and all that I have done. But that wasn’t what was consuming my thoughts. It was the fucked-up effect she was having on me. The type I didn’t want to have to deal with at the moment. The type I thought I would never have to deal with.

She looked like she would have been a sophisticated woman in the outside world. Everything about her oozed a rare mix of sensuality, matur
ity and eloquence. The way she squared her shoulders in front of Hector showed bravery I had not seen before in a woman. Most of the girls that came through this place were willing to lose their independence and submit, but they all still feared the ruthless Hector. They knew his reputation and the consequences involved if they fucked up.

But not this girl.
She wasn’t as scared as what she should be. Or if she was, she certainly wasn’t letting on to it. Very few women I’ve ever met have had the balls to challenge Hector… naked even! But what good is confidence when you are as good as dead?

Downing another tequila
, my grip tightened on the glass as a series of flashbacks involving her naked body beneath mine plagued my thoughts. The girl didn’t even bat her pretty lashes when she felt my hard-on pressing between her thighs. Her breath had quickened, perhaps in fear, but in all honesty she looked curious. Perhaps she didn’t see me a threat. Or perhaps it was just ego talking.

Fuck it to all hell.
She was going to fuck everything up including me, and not in the way I would like. I swallowed more of the burning clear liquor, angry at myself that I hadn’t covered all areas of the plan. I thought I had, but clearly I fucking hadn’t.

The horizontal mirror b
ehind the bar reflected a man I had tried desperately not to become. I was
one of them
. The man I saw was a monster, a man who was to allow this girl to become yet another victim of Hector’s sick and twisted game. Stomaching that fact was a little difficult. What was proving harder to swallow was the scene from earlier that was frozen in my mind. It took every ounce of mental strength I possessed to not put my boot into Juan’s ribs. Seeing that asshole on top of Laila had incited rage from deep within me. I knew the reason why, but admitting it to myself only made the fucked-up situation all the more real.

“What do you think, puto?”

As if on cue, he
strolled into the room, a cocky grin plastered on his face.

“Fuck off
, Juan,” I said, twirling the shot glass between my fingers. He replied by laughing arrogantly, approaching me at the bar and helping himself to the tequila. He placed the full shot glass on the counter and spread his arms out either side of him, his fingers gripping the edge. 

“She sure tastes good! Sweet, like berries.” He looked like he was about to come in his pants. “And if it weren’t for you I would have eaten her as well.”

I sighed
irritably. Tonight had been fucked in every essence of the word and I was too far over it to put up with Juan’s shit talk.

“Do you want something?”

“Yeah, I do actually now that you mention it.”

He sat on the back of the couch.

“What?”

“Send out word we have
his sister. The motherfucker will come running home with his tail between his legs once he hears what we will do to her.”

“And if he doesn’t?”

“I’m sure Hector told you what will happen. We sell her and make some of the money back unless of course Alexsonov decides she makes a suitable replacement.”

There was something about the way he said this made my skin crawl.

I had been in this family virtually my whole life and had become desensitized to the bullshit goings on yet some things were just too blatantly depraved to gloss over as if they never happened. Alexsonov had specific tastes. Fortunately, Ethan’s sister didn’t match the sick criteria the bastard possessed. In saying that, it wouldn’t at all surprise me if he insisted on having the girl out of spite.

“She’s America
n, Juan!” I stated, expecting him to at least acknowledge the extra line of trouble that followed when dealing with a human life from across the border. Shit was bound to catch up with you and in some cases it simply wouldn’t be worth it. Not everyone could be bribed!

When he returned
only a look of indifference, I continued: “What makes you think people won’t come looking for her?”

“Her only fami
ly is on the run from us, Aiden,” he said, matter-of-factly. “And I doubt anyone else would care.” He shrugged his shoulders. “They will probably think she just walked out. People do it all the time.”

“
You’re an even bigger fool if you think it will be as easy as that. It’s when you get hit from the blindside you know you fucked up and that blindside generally tends to come from north of the border so perhaps your little plan for the girl isn’t quite as bulletproof as you hope,” I stated, doubting every word he said.

He eyed me with a mix of
skepticism and curiosity. “What the fuck, puto?” A patronizing smirk twitched the corners of his mouth. “What the fuck is going on inside your head, brother? You know something I don’t?” He was baiting me.

“Just use your fucking head that’s all I’m saying.”

“How about you just stick to your job, puto, and I will make sure the bitch is taken care of.”

So help me
, fucking god!

“I just don’t want any gringo assholes knocking on my door looking for a fight because you
we've abducted one of their own.” I replied evenly.

Juan
clearly didn’t want to dwell on the details of potential issues. “You’re security, you take care of it. So can you use your fucking good-for-nothing nobodies to spread the word or not?”

“Done,”
I said flatly, hoping he would get the cue to fuck off.

“One
other thing,” he said, his tone growing deathly.

“What?” I
growled.

“Next time
don’t interrupt me when I’m about to claim my prize. I would hate for you to see her taken by five men,” he warned.

My eyes
flamed with fury in the reflection.

“Don’t worry
, puto, if you want to get your dick wet there is plenty of pussy within the walls of this place. I could even send you some tonight. One at a time or all at once, you—”

“Fuck off
!” I spat.

Juan
laughed at his own joke. “Salud,” he said, still smiling. He raised his glass to me and downed it as if it were water. “Later, puto.” He backed toward the door after slamming the glass on the table, smirking all the way until I could no longer see his arrogant face.

Juan was a strong
man, but he was smaller than me and placed little emphasis on training as I did each week. I could take him down if required, but it would be a vicious fight. We had grown up together as young boys, always scrapping in the house, and grew used to the constant bickering that preceded the violence. Juan rarely dominated those fights and, as we developed into men and our bodies changed, he became less inclined to engage in that sort of behavior. Now there was more than reason enough to pummel the prick.

I knew I wouldn’t have to wait long
for the chance. Something within me warned perhaps a battle worse than those in the past was looming ahead.

Chapter Ten

Laila

The next day I woke with a throbbing headache. Thanks to a restless and teary night, I had slept through most of the day and now the outside light shone dimly through the gaps in the curtains. The Latina was in the room again, moving about with grace, her long dark hair flowing behind her while laying clothes out on the antique chair.

With much disappointment
, I noticed they weren’t my clothes which I longed for so much. In fact, they were not even clothes as I first thought, but pieces of lingerie. Tiny little scraps of expensive material.

“You have
to get up and get dressed,” the woman said, startling me out of my nightmare. She pulled the comforter off, exposing me to her critical eye. “Move,” she instructed gruffly.

“I heard you.”

She stood with her arms folded at the end of the bed as if waiting for me to make my move.

Aiden’s words of warning rang clearly in my head from the night before. I had to give him the benefit of the doubt and trust he had my best interests at heart. A foolish thought? Absolutely. But I had no other hope.

R
eluctantly, I slid off the bed and walked toward the chair displaying the lack of garments. The woman stood motionless, only her eyes following me across the room.

“Shower first
,” she demanded.

“What is your name?” I asked her
casually, but she looked as though I had slapped her.

“Sophia,”
she managed after a pause.

“Sophia
, how can I get out of here?”

I tried to keep the desperation from my voice
, but I knew I had failed.

Sophia went from being stoic and demanding to a bundle of nerves
all in a microsecond. “You need to hurry, we don’t have time.” she said, turning her back on me and the conversation.

***

Turning off the shower, I stood zombie-like, lost deep in thought, thinking of nothing in particular. Droplets of water fell from my body and into the puddles already on the tiled floor. A chill passed through me, sending shivers up my spine. Sophia stood in the doorway, arms crossed tightly over her chest, a frown knitting her brow.

“Stupid girl, what are you doing? Dry yourself.”

I did as she said, still lost in my trance. Once dry, Sophia grabbed the towel from my hand and threw it on the floor before ushering me to the edge of the bed.

“Sit down, chica.”

Once again, I did as I was told.

Kneeling in front of me, Sophia opened a beauty box full of various makeup items.

“What i
s happening?” I asked as she rummaged through the contents.

She paused to look at me square in the eye
, careful to not reveal any emotion. “Hector expects his girls to look a certain way. You are no exception.”

“
No, that’s not what I meant. I mean, whyam
I
–”

“Keep still
!” Sophia instructed gruffly. Grabbing my chin and holding me in place, she performed almost robotically as she applied a thin layer of foundation, mascara and color to my cheeks, and finally some gloss to my lips. Normally when I made the effort to apply make-up, I felt my confidence grow, ready for a night of laughs and dancing with friends. Tonight, however, all I felt was an overwhelming sense of dread. A sense of dread that took hold of my stomach and tied it in undoable knots.

After a few minutes of heavy sighing and impatient grappling, Sophia had me dressed
in the scraps of expensive lingerie that barely covered my private areas. I felt as if all pride and self-respect had been sucked from my very being as she walked to the door, knocked twice and stood to the side. The double doors opened and the brutes from the night before made an appearance, sauntering into the room. As they approached, I got to see what they really looked like for the first time.

Both were large
with shoulders to rival a quarterback. The most intimidating one wore a permanent snarl and sported a smooth shaved head and tattoos that travelled up his neck and onto his left cheek. His hands and fingers were also covered in intricate patterns and there were individual letters across his knuckles, but I couldn’t quite see what they read. No doubt that under his suit he was mapped with more ink.

The other brute
, who had thick black hair gelled back to a small pony tail, appeared less interested in the goings-on and merely followed behind his colleague.

“Well, well, well, puta, they will have fun with you tonight,” the meanest brute smiled with undue enthusiasm.

His menacing snarl quickly returned as he latched his hand onto my upper arm, his pudgy
, tattooed fingers digging painfully into my skin. Sophia mouthed off a string of words in Spanish at my inked aggressor as he carelessly yanked me to the door. I couldn't understand what she was saying, but it seemed her words were angry.

The thug
was quick to reply in equal tones and I noted an icy look pass between them.

We
took the same route through the hall and down the marble stairs to the lounge room. The man on my right knocked twice on the double doors just as he had the night before. After a few moments, the tattooed brute opened the doors to reveal Hector, Juan and Aiden waiting expectantly around the sofa.

I
failed miserably trying to cover my shaky breath. Both the brutes heard and tightened their grip on my arms before pulling me inside the room.

T
hree critical faces looked at me with apparent approval, their wicked gazes lingering too long for comfort. Resentful of their intimidation act, I stole a guarded glance at Juan whose primal, almost carnivorous expression sent arctic chills down my spine.

In contrast
, Aiden’s expression remained somewhat reserved. However, his eyes told a different story. For a moment, his gaze met mine and I was sure I could see something similar to regret and lust mixed together as a raw combination.

All three men were
elegantly dressed in stylish designer suits, which only made me feel even more naked and exposed. I couldn’t help but think it was a shame that such beautiful looking men were the assholes operating a drug and human trafficking cartel and not the kind of men you could meet on a night out.

Hector’s
crisp white shirt had the three top buttons undone, revealing a handful of chest hairs. Around his neck hung a rather ostentatious gold link chain with a diamond pendant the size of a quarter, a piece clearly demonstrating the love affair between his apparent wealth and insufferable ego.

Just
as he had the previous night, Hector taunted me with his menacing and lecherous appraisal, but this time he didn’t hesitate to touch. The brutes either side of me maintained their stronghold, making it impossible for me to resist.

Hector
’s right hand cupped my chin, lifting my despondent gaze to his eyes. He studied me as if trying to see deep within my soul. His thumb grazed my cheek, wiping at a stray tear that had fallen more out of anger than fear.

“Calm yourself
, chica. You don’t want another lesson in manners do you?” he said, his salacious grin turning serious.

I j
erked my chin out of his hand and hardened my stare. Just who the hell was he to say I needed to be taught manners?

He raised a
quizzing eyebrow, seemingly curious at my unreceptive response. Then he did the one thing I wasn’t expecting. The motherfucker laughed and indicated to my guards to release their hold.

He turned his
back to me and continued laughing jovially to Juan who replied with a condescending smirk directed at me.

The
movements Hector made when he turned back suddenly were stealthy, fast and unexpected.

He advanced on me like a raging storm and
, with each hasty step I took backward, he took two forward. I backed against the wall and a microsecond later Hector had me caged in.

He placed an arm each side of my head, his cologne
obnoxiously filling my airways. Hector had mastered the ‘if looks could kill’ face and, at that moment, I had the unwelcome sense I was not going to come out of this alive.

“
You are not the first bitch to come through this place, girl. As easy as it is to keep you alive, it would be just as easy to discard your body on the street.”

The thought unnerve
d me but I remembered what both Juan and Aiden had told me.

“
From what I hear, you need me!”

He scoffed and I knew I was venturing down a dangerous path. But this battle wasn’t just one
-sided. I may as well be dead if that were the case.

“That may be so.
But I am a very wealthy man and could quite happily cut my losses if it means unburdening myself. However, I am also a keen business man and I hate losing.”

“Selling women is not good business
,” I replied, my voice shaky.

He
ctor leaned in close so only I could hear his words. “I beg to differ. You are going to make excellent business for me.”

Hector closed the distance between
our faces, his mouth on mine in a bruising, degrading kiss that acted more as a warning. He pulled away, a self-righteous, satisfied sneer contorting his features. Stepping back, he uncaged me and turned to address Juan.

“You are right
, my boy – she does taste good. I am sure she will received very enthusiastically. Now come, vamos.”

He gestured to all in the room to follow him.

The brutes attached themselves to my arms once again and guided me through a door at the rear of the lounge room.

Passing Aiden along the way
, I saw he made no effort to move from his chair. He was not following and, for some reason, I was sickened by the thought. His brief display of kindness had left me almost dependent on his presence, as if he would protect me from the evil within the house.

The barely
-lit passage came to an end. We passed through another door and my mind spun at what I saw. The room we entered was just as elaborate as the lounge room except there were four other women dressed exactly as I was. They each wore suspenders, lace panties and a matching bra. The only difference being that I was in white and they wore black.

My
stomach dropped with nervous apprehension at what that small difference could mean for me. I was being singled out and that was a scary enough thought on its own. All the girls in the room were stunningly beautiful with long dark hair and deeply bronzed skin. What struck me as odd was they showed no sign of being here against their wills; in fact, their faces lit up with apparent delight when Hector and Juan entered the room.

Hector
beckoned to one girl who was fixing her makeup in the ornate mirror at the far end of the room. She turned and I recognized her as Sophia. Immediately dropping the lipstick tube on the counter, she approached Hector like a diligent puppy. She listened attentively to his Spanish instruction and said nothing in return, only nodding her head.

The goons released my arms and
Hector and Juan left the room through a different door to the one by which we'd entered.

I stood
alone, feeling heat rising to my cheeks, embarrassed by the provocative nature of my outfit. The raven-haired beauties in the room openly assessed my appearance, their clear lack of warmth making me want to cry. I felt isolated and vulnerable.

From behind, s
omething thick and heavy wrapped around my throat. In my obvious state of discomfort I had blocked out my surroundings and dropped my guard. It was a dangerously stupid thing to do in a place like this.

“Keep still,”
came an impatient voice. It was Sophia.

Feeling numb mentality and physically, I did as I was told. Touching the foreign object
I felt a mixture of emotions. I was saddened, horrified and sickened by what was transpiring and I could do nothing to stop it. Sophia had secured a leather collar to my neck before moving in front and attaching a yard long chain.

“Why do I need to wear this?”

“They do not trust you,” she said simply.

The feeling was mutual.

Aware the two brute men were watching my every move and anticipating trouble.

Sophia
looked me straight on, a warning flashing across her face.

“You will
do exactly as you are asked. Understand?” her voice that was laced with contempt. “Say something,” she snapped, annoyed I had taken longer than a second to answer.

“I understand.”

“Chica, do not play the fool. You are nothing in this house.” She looked at me pityingly. “Hector and his friends… they do not take too kindly to disobedience, especially by their girls.”

“I am n
ot one of their girls!”

She yanked at the chain
pulling my face towards hers.