“Please don’t do this,” I beg, but I’m crying so hard I can barely get the words out.
He ignores me, running his hands over my body, pawing at me and touching me like I’ve never allowed any man to do. As stupid as it sounds, I’ve been saving myself until I met the right person. I wanted to be in love. I wanted my first time to be sweet and gentle and I wanted to feel safe in the arms of someone I trusted, and instead it’s being taken from me by a monster.
Rough hands bunch my dress up before I hear the sound of lace ripping as he tears off my panties and tosses them aside. Next, he grabs the top of my dress and roughly pushes the fabric down and makes quick work of the strapless bra I’m wearing, exposing my breasts. I struggle hard against the restraints, only stopping when the pain in my wrists is too much to bear. I sob when he roughly cups my breasts. His disappointed sigh hangs heavy in the room, adding to my humiliation.
“I have to admit for a million dollars, I expected bigger tits. How disappointing.” He eyes my legs, giving one of my thighs a cruel pinch. “Longer legs and thinner thighs would’ve been nice, too. Here’s hoping your virgin pussy makes up for it.”
“Please,” I say, giving one last desperate plea, hoping like hell that he has some long-forgotten shred of morality that will make him stop what he’s about to do.
When I hear the sound of his zipper, I know he’s given me his answer. He doesn’t bother taking off his clothes, just frees his cock, rolls on a condom and then slams into me, pulling a scream from my body and destroying every innocent thing I possess. He doesn’t just take my virginity; he kills a deep part of me with every hard thrust, and I know I’ll never be the same person I was before I walked into this room.
I cry and struggle against the restraints until I’m too exhausted to fight anymore. It feels like it lasts forever, the pain almost more than I can bear, until he finally groans as his body slams into me one last time. He rolls off me, and I try to make myself as small as possible. Fisting my hair, he lifts me up, showing me his flaccid cock and the blood that covers it.
“That’s what fucking million-dollar pussy looks like, sweetheart. It’s not easy to find a virgin nowadays unless you’re willing to go really young, which despite what you might think about me, I’m not.”
He runs a finger up my slit, making me wince from how tender I am. He brings his fingers up and smiles.
“Rest while you can. I have all night with you, and I plan to get my money’s worth.”
By the time he lets me go, I can barely walk. Ruby comes to escort me back to my room. She notices the way I’m limping but doesn’t say anything. I don’t beg her to let me go. I don’t waste the energy. Instead, as soon as she opens my door, I head straight for the shower, wanting to scrub every inch of my body. Even as I grab the bar of soap I know it’s pointless. I’ll never feel clean again.
The next week and a half passes by in a hellish blur. Every night there’s a new man knocking at my door. None of them care that I don’t want this. None of them listen to my pleas to stop. No one else even bothers to cover their face. They know I can’t do a damn thing about it, and that scares me more than anything else. They should be worried that I’ll eventually leave this place and be able to identify them, and the fact that they aren’t even slightly worried about that scares the hell out of me.
I don’t know how much longer I can handle this. Every day I wake up thinking I can’t get through another day, and yet here I am, still breathing, my heart still beating, even though I’m no longer sure I want it to. When Mindy drops off my lunch, she sees me huddled on my bed and walks over. As soon as I feel her hand on my arm, I start to cry. Even though it’s been less than two weeks since I first came here, that one small touch of kindness is enough to have me gripping her hand while I sob into my pillow.
When I can finally speak, I ask, “Has anyone ever gotten free of this place?”
She hesitates, and my heart sinks before she’s even whispered a “No.”
“I can’t live like this.”
“Just because I’ve never seen anyone get out of here doesn’t mean it won’t happen. I’ve been here less than a year. I ran away from home and when I applied for a job here, I thought it was as a waitress. I’m only seventeen, but I think once I turn eighteen she’s going to force me to do other things.”
I squeeze her hand, promising myself that if I ever manage to get out of here, I’m taking her with me.
“Who are the men who come here? The first man wore a ski mask so I couldn’t see his face, but the others don’t even bother to hide who they are. What kind of man comes to a place like this?”
Mindy gives a disgusted sigh. “It’s safer not to know who they are, but I’ve seen enough to know that it’s a mix of very powerful men and ordinary men with wives and kids who probably go to church on Sundays with big smiles on their faces. I think a lot of politicians come here, but then there’s the mafia.”
“The mafia?” I ask, sitting up and letting go of her hand so I can brush the tears off my cheeks. “I’ve heard rumors that the mafia was starting to creep into the city, but I wasn’t sure if it was true or not.”
“Oh, it’s true all right. The Irish mafia owns the southern part of the city, and everyone’s talking about the Medvedev Bratva that just took over the northern half. They call the guy who runs it the Devil from Moscow. I’ve never seen him, and I hope I never do.”
I shudder at the thought of meeting someone who’s probably crueler than ski mask guy. With a nickname like that, how could he not be? People don’t call you a devil unless you’re capable of some truly heinous things.
“Try and eat something.” Mindy scoots the tray closer to me. “You need to keep your strength up. Don’t let this place destroy you.”
“I’m trying not to, but knowing I might never get out of here makes it damn hard to get out of bed in the morning.”
I give her as big of a smile as I can muster and grab the sandwich she brought me. “You better hurry up. I don’t want you to get in trouble for being in here too long.”
Mindy rolls her eyes. “Ruby is such a bitch,” she whispers.
I let out a small laugh because she’s not wrong. Ruby is the definition of that word. Mindy surprises me by giving me a quick hug before leaving to go and deliver the other lunches. She’s the youngest person here and the only one to show me any true kindness. I force myself to take a bite and wonder at what was so horrible about her home that she felt she needed to run away from it. Not too long ago, it would’ve been hard for me to imagine anyone hurting someone as sweet as Mindy, but my time at Ruby’s has changed my opinion on that.
The man who visits me later speaks with an accent that sounds Eastern European, and Mindy’s words come back to me about the mafia. I don’t dare ask him. His eyes are hard and devoid of all empathy. I’m nothing to him, just something he can use. After he laughs when I beg him to stop, I grit my teeth and keep my mouth shut. Like most of the men who come in here, he doesn’t even bother to take his shirt off, just pulls his pants down and shoves me roughly onto the bed.
When he’s finished, he gives my cheek a hard enough slap to make me wince and whispers, “Amerikanskaya suka,” before laughing and getting up.
