Unwanted Fate (40 page)

M
y eyes are unable to focus in the darkness of the room; my mind is blank and unable to remember how I got here as the smell of decay and urine assault my nose. The last thing I remember is having a few drinks at the bar and talking with Victor, but after that, everything is black.

Muffled crying beside me tells me I’m not alone, but I don’t know who else is here or how many, wherever here is. I try moving my hands, but they’re bound in front of my body, as well as my legs. I close my eyes, trying to remember something about how I got here and my mind fades to Victor. Did Victor bring me here?

A loud scuffling noise in another part of the building alerts me that someone is coming. I don’t know if I should pretend to be asleep or I should say something in case it’s someone, Patrick, looking for me.

I stay quiet because I have a gut feeling I’m not going to like who this is. A blinding light from a flashlight hits my face before I have the chance to close my eyes.

“Good, you’re awake,” the voice says behind the light. “I was wondering when you’d come to.”

He flashes the light away from me, shining it on the shivering bodies around me. I gasp before I can stop myself, and he shines the light back on me.

“Yes, I knew where Tasha was all along, but I wasn’t going to tell you that. She’s worth a lot of money. Not as much as you, though,” he says as he moves the light off me and onto a table with candles on it.

“Why are you doing this, Victor,” I say as my voice shakes.

He takes something out of his pocket and walks over to the table, lighting the candles. The soft glow of the candles dimly lights the room, and my eyes slowly adjust to my surroundings.

“Because I know that Patrick will come through with the money, or your father will if he doesn’t. I figure one of them has ten million at their disposal.”

“I don’t even know what to think or say because that’s crazy!” I rush out.

“Not at all. An actor worth hundreds of millions and a CFO worth tens of millions and I have something they love and want to protect. So I’m sure I’ll get the money later today.”

“This behavior isn’t like you. What did they do you to make you this way?” He sneers with disgust at my question.

“If it wasn’t for Patrick, Emily, you would have been with me. But Patrick had to whip his money and dick out and you were all over him. Now, I’m taking something of his, money or you. Either way, I’ll get paid.”

“Victor, I don’t know how you came up with all of that. You’re a nice guy and all, but I didn’t feel the same way you did. Patrick isn’t like that at all…and I never date co-workers…”

“It doesn’t matter now, does it? You’re here, and if something happens and the two men you depend on in your life don’t come through, I have a few bidders that would love a piece of you, and will pay top dollar.”

“What do you mean?”

“Sex slave, Emily. You will be theirs to fuck whenever they want. Mmm, what a fine lay you’ll make with your firm breasts and tight little ass.”

“Noooo! You can’t do this, Victor? Why are you punishing me?”

“You shouldn’t have turned me down, we could have been really good together,” he says as he runs his finger along my jaw and down my neck to my cleavage.

“So you’re selling all of us into sexual slavery? We aren’t yours to sell!” I yell out.

“Ah, but other countries don’t care about that. What these men care about is fresh meat. Virgin meat,” he says as he licks his lips.

“I’m not a virgin. How can you even sell me?” I glare at him, looking for answers.

“Beauty. I have a couple buyers who like your looks, and a couple of others fuck anything with a tight hole…” he trails off.

“What can I do to make you change your mind?” I plead for answers.

“End it with Patrick,” he coldly states.

I freeze in place. Not having Patrick in my life would be devastating.

“How could you even ask that of me?”

“I want him to feel the pain that I feel,” he spits out as he kneels down in front of me.

“I’m so confused. Why don’t you just keep me for yourself, then?” My head is unable to process his words, his hatred for Patrick.

“Money…that’s all you’re worth to me, now,” he sneers.

“Even if I did end it with Patrick, you still would sell me?” I question, trying to make sense of everything.

“Yes,” he says as his cold brown eyes stare at me.

He takes his hand and runs his fingers down my face to my collarbone. His fingers play with the lace on my blouse and dips behind it, fondling my breasts. “Mmm. Maybe I’ll just have to have a taste of you before I let you go for good.”

“Please, no, Victor,” I beseech, squirming away from him

He yanks me up by arm and kisses me hard. I feel nothing as bile threatens to come up, and he pulls away angrily. Backhanding me with his right hand, he throws me back on the floor.

“You’re such a cocktease. Always teasing me with those stares and touches.”

“I promise you, I wasn’t. I’m sorry it looked like that.” A faint ring of a cell phone stops him from answering. Victor digs around in his pants pocket and pulls out a cell phone and smiles.

“Looks like your daddy and boyfriend went to the police and they are sniffing on the wrong trail. So I’m sure they will be texting me soon with the money delivery,” he says, laughing. Chills run down my sore spine because I know this isn’t going to end well for someone.

“I’ll be back in a bit, my little bitch. I have some errands to run before tonight’s bidding starts.” He blows out the candle and darkness surrounds me once more.

My only hope is that someone finds us soon…

I
sent Addison home from the station a few hours ago to shower and get some rest, and she said she’d return if new leads come in. She’s upset that I wasn’t going home and doing the same, but I refuse to leave. I don’t care if I haven’t showered or changed clothes in almost two days, neither has Emily, and I won’t rest until I can do so with her in my arms.

Twenty hours after reporting Emily missing, the police might have a possible lead on where she is, but they have to go through the proper chains of command to get a warrant to investigate the lead. We don’t have time, because it’s getting close to 6 pm. Ken and I overheard where the house is located. From what I can gather, it’s a known house for human trafficking, but has been vacant in the past months.

The house is located on the Southside of the city. Ken and I tell the detectives that check in on us often that we are going out for some fresh air and decide that we are going to check this place out on our own. The heat outside leaves me almost breathless as we exit the police station, and the unrelenting sun is beating down. I hope it’s a sign that we are going to find Ems. We get in his SUV and head to the closest home repair store for a few supplies.

Ken buys a few things in the store; crowbar, hammer, baseball bat, and he had a Taser in his vehicle already, which will come in handy if we do need to break in. I’m positive that Victor that has her, but I don’t have any hard evidence.

We leave the store without drawing attention to ourselves, get in Ken’s SUV, and drive south. The area isn’t far from where we are, maybe a fifteen minute drive, and it’s close to the interstate. He drives onto the interstate and speeds to the exit, signaling to quickly exit the interstate five minutes later.

As we turn onto a side road, the area looks run down with old houses that have boarded up windows and roofs that are missing or caving in. After twenty minutes of slowly driving up and down the side roads, Ken takes another right. He drives slowly down the road and a house that looks like it’s had someone in it recently sticks out.

“Ken, I think that’s the house on the right. Look how the weeds are trampled down around the garage and the brush is flattened by the porch.”

“Yeah, none of the others have noticeable signs that someone’s been around the property.”

“I wonder if we can find some way to look in without being seen,” I ask, looking at the house for any other signs of activity.

“Possibly. Let’s look at the other houses down this street,” he states as he continues driving down the street at a slow rate of speed.

“Yeah. Then we can go down the block to the right and park, then come around from the backside of the house.”

“Okay. Sounds like a plan,” he says as he slowly drives down the road, looking at the houses meticulously as he drives by.

He turns the corner and parks his SUV on the right side of the road. From where he parked, you can’t see the house in question, but from the alley that runs behind this house, you can. We get out quietly and Ken manually flips the lock button before shutting his door.

As we slowly walk onto the property, the brush and weeds snap under foot as we walk around the vacant house, and I hope that they can’t hear the snapping stems echoing around us. Pausing to listen, I don’t hear movement inside of the house, so I try to find a window or something open to look into the house.

There’s a crack in the side window panels, but I’m not able to see inside of the house. The crack is big enough I can hear someone inside talking. A few minutes of silence go by and I hear her voice. Emily. She’s in there, and I can tell she is scared. I need to get Kenneth, and I walk to where he’s at on the other side of the house, thinking of a plan in my head before I make it to him.

“She’s in there and I’m positive that Victor is in there with her,” I whisper to him.

“Do you think he has a gun?” he murmurs back.

“More than likely. He’s probably expecting the cops or even us.”

“How do you want to do this?”

“I’m not sure, because I don’t know if there’s anyone else in there with Victor.”

“Maybe we should call the police and wait for them?” he asks, worried.

“I don’t think we have the time.” I look down at my watch. “It’s almost five thirty, and he wanted a call by six.”

“Okay. Let’s go back to the SUV, call the cops, and grab the weapons. We need to rush the house. I think that’s the only way we are going to be able to do it.”

“That works for me.” We jog back to the SUV and I grab the baseball bat while he calls the police, letting them know that we’ve found her.

“They said they dispatched some officers to the location and not to enter on our own.”

“I can’t promise that. If I hear something going on, I’m going in.”

“I’ll be right there with you.”

“Let’s go,” he says as we run back to the house.