Erik must’ve come back from wherever he’d gone because his voice came in loudly as I stood and worked my arms and legs to move through the stiff pains. With the one-sided nature of his tone, it seemed that he was on another call.
Concentrating on breathing through the aches, I listened to another episode of him trying to speak with someone from this Rivera family.
Two months.
That was what he’d told this man a few days ago.
The day I’d been so stupid to think a pigeon was encouraging me to flee.
But how?
When?
Just how the fuck can I get out of here?
I would be a reluctant and unwilling bride to the Riveras in just eight weeks. The short term of that sentence depressed me, yet as I listened to more details, something inside me shifted as I strained to push myself up off the dirty floor.
“I’m doing you a favor, all right?” he said.
A moment of quiet followed, presumably while the other side spoke.
“It’s an insult that you’re trying to lower the price at all,” he said. “I’m talking about a virgin. She’s not just a common whore, but a virgin.”
I swallowed hard.
“Fuck, man. I don’t care if you want to sell her after you’ve bought her. See if I give a damn.”
I tensed, rising onto one foot.
“No, there are no stipulations. You pay me the money, the original price, and you can do whatever the hell you want with her.”
Oh, God.
“Hey, come on now. We’re friends. No, I’m not going to demand commission if you sell or share her after you’re through with her.” Filthy chuckles followed his crude words.
No!I shook as I stood, ignoring the splicing pain that shot up my calf.
No.
Oh, my God, no.
This can’t be true.
I can’t let this happen.
I shook my head despite the pain from how hard Yusef beat me. Aches stabbed along my spine as I moved my neck at all, but Ineeded the physical rejection, the denial at what was being said about me.
The images his words evoked were too gruesome to believe. Flashes of nightmares of being raped filled my mind. They yanked me out of the visage of numbness. They pushed me straight out of this hole of hopelessness.
I couldn’t let this happen.
Fourteen years had come and gone of this training for this moment. A moment I couldn’t face.
I saw how impossible it was to get away once before, but this was the moment I couldn’t back away from.
This was it.
This was the moment I would die fighting to get free.
