Chapter 4
Elijah
Ploppingdown in my black leather chair, I held my head in my hands. The girl, Dawn, was so lost to the pain and abuse she’d suffered. I could tell she had no idea how much pain she held inside of herself. I wasn’t sure how long she’d been in that awful place, but I knew it was longer than any of the other girls. From her submissive personality and reactions, it would be a hard road to get her to not be so withdrawn. I would do everything in my power to help her find out who she couldbecome.
She still had a fever, and I’d given her Motrin. If her temperature wasn’t down by the end of the day, I’d be calling my father to come check on her. I’d have to call him soon anyway, so I could get a checkup done and her injuries documented. He was the only man I could trust to give Dawn the health care she needed tosurvive.
Taking her to a hospital was out of the question. With her most likely tagged as a runaway like many of the other slaves, it would bring up flags when her name was entered into their database. I didn't want her taken away—she would be safer withme.
However, her health had to be documented down to a T. It had to be to bring her abusers into custody with charges. Any little thing would add to their sentence, and this case could come to aclose.
While Dawn took a shower, I changed the sheets on her bed and called my mother. I didn’t have a whole lot of food she’d be able to eat. I was hardly ever at home lately, with my demandingjob.
Groaning, I opened the FBI database on my Mac and entered her name into the search engine. I hoped beyond hope that she wasn’t who I was thought she was, and I hoped beyond hope that she was, and I had found her. If she was my Dawn, I had no idea what I woulddo.
* * *
Dawn
A few hours later, I was awoken by someone sitting beside me on the bed, smoothing my hair back from my forehead. Groggily, I opened my eyes and saw a blurry Elijah. I blinked again, not understanding why he’d woken me up. Did he want me to service him? If so, why couldn’t he just stick his dick wherever he wantedit?
“Time to rise and shine,” he smiled. “My mother is getting a bowl of soup ready foryou.”
Huh?
I pushed myself into a sitting position, wrapping my arms around my knees. The lamp closest to me was on, making a soft glow around the room. It was dark outside as I looked through the slight opening of the curtain-coveredwindow.
“I would have woken you up sooner, but you looked sopeaceful.”
I remained silent, looking at the place my toes were under the covers as I tried to keep my tears at bay. My throat felt like it was on fire, and my body like I had been run over by a truck . . . three times or more. I was afraid of what was going to happen to me. When would he quit beingkind?
“Are you feeling any better?” Elijah asked, ducking his head down to try and meet myeyes.
I closed them and shook my head. I felt worse, like death was knocking on the door, but at least my head wasn’t pounding right now. My throat was still sore and my chest felt like an elephant was sitting onit.
“As of right now, I recommend lots of rest until you’re better. Your fever isn’t as high, but you kept coughing while you slept. After you eat, I have some medication you can take. It’ll hopefully kick this bug out of your system.” He laid a hand softly over myown.
This time, my body didn’t jerk at histouch.
“Hello, dear,” greeted a woman as she came strolling into the room. I kept my position, but saw her frown from the edge of my vision. Her clothes were simple for this late hour. “I wasn’t sure what you liked, so I made one of Elijah’s favorite soups. I didn’t bring much up, just to be sure you liked it.” She handed me the steamingbowl.
Slowly, I moved my arms from around my knees. I grabbed the blue plastic bowl tighter than needed, afraid it would be taken away from me. Morgan would do that constantly, and I learned to just wait it out most of thetime.
“Thank you, ma’am,” I whispered, looking up at her through my eyelashes. She had shoulder length light brown hair, and warm green eyes. Her face was familiar, but I couldn’t place where I may have seen her before. With my cloudy thinking, I probably wouldn’t be able to anytimesoon.
“Oh, none of that nonsense. Call me Joslyn,” the woman smiledwarmly.
I nodded before I began to eat the food, trying not to gulp it down. The soup was warm and soothing along my dry, scratchy throat, and the bowl heated up my chilled hands as Iate.
“Joslyn is my adoptive mother,” Elijah explained. “She will be staying here with you tomorrow while I have a few meetings I have to attend. I expect you torest.”
“Yes, Sir,” I answered as I finished off the bowl ofsoup.
“Here is another Motrin and some Nyquil, which will hopefully let you sleep better. We don't want to give you an antibiotic until the doctor checks you out. Joslyn will be here when you wake up, and I will check on you a few more times,” Elijah said, taking the empty bowl from my hands with ease. He took enough care to not touch me more than heneeded.
“Okay,” I said through a yawn once I’d swallowed the medicine. Joslyn then helped me to lie down and tucked me back into the bed. It didn’t take long for my body to sink into the mattress inoblivion.
* * *
