CHAPTER 11: Piper
I hauled my ass back to Madam X’s. By that time, thankfully, I was feeling practically nothing. I was numb. I walked in through the side doors in a daze. I barely registered Anna, beckoning me into the break room, but I followed her there anyway.
“Darling,” she said, almost whispering, “You’ve had your fun now, I hope, but it’s time you grew up. You need to face facts. I just can’t turn down this deal with Vinnie.”
“I know,” I muttered.
“I don’t think you do, Piper,” she said more urgently. “I couldn’t turn down this deal if I wanted to, do you understand?” I nodded slowly. I was beginning to understand now that Anna was as trapped by Vinnie and his connections as I was about to be “And be clear on this; if he ever hears about you even going near Theo again, I guarantee Theo won’t survive another day.”
“It doesn’t matter anymore,” I told her, “I’ve made my choice.”
“Good girl,” replied Anna. I thought I spotted a hint of regret around her normally uncaring eyes, but decided I was imagining it. “Now get ready, Vinnie’s already here for his Monday session with you. You should get upstairs.”
I swallowed and headed off to meet my fate.
***
Approaching the door to Vinnie’s usual room normally filled me with dread, the long walk there always give time for beads of sweat to break out on my back, for my mouth to go dry and my knees to start shaking. Only today, I just didn’t care. I reached the door, took a breath and put on my game face. My fake, fun smiles and cheery eyes never failed to make my clients believe I’d been holding my breath for him to come back and see me.
“Hey, baby,” I sang as I breezed in. Vinnie was there, tall and broad in his dark suit. He smiled as his eyes traveled up and down my body. A movement drew my eyes away from him to one of his goons standing in the corner. This was unusual. I heard the door close behind me and felt strong hands on my shoulder and arm. Another of his mobsters had appeared behind me and was now marching me to the soft green armchair in front of his boss. As usual, the whole room had this tropical feel to it, with lots of artificial sunlight, palm fronds everywhere, and a pleasant water feature in the middle of the west wall. Aside from the armchairs, one of which I had been sat in, were recliners, cushioned wicker benches, and a four poster bed fashioned from bamboo in the furthest corner from the door. In nearly a year, Vinnie had never had me on that bed.
“Stay seated, Miss,” growled Vinnie’s man. These weren’t the same guys that pulled their guns on Theo the other day, these were new guys.
“Vinnie, baby,” I kept smiling at the guard as I spoke, “we talked about this. Whether they join in or just watch, each extra guy doubles the price, remember?”
“Don’t worry about that right now, beautiful,” replied Vinnie. His voice was a low, dangerous sneer. If I gave a single, solitary fuck about myself right now, I would have been nervous. I’d seen him like this a few times and it had always meant a harder time for me. I figured, though, I should get a little more accustomed to the pain. The way I felt about myself at that moment, I might even start to enjoy it.
“It’s your money,” I smiled, turning my face back towards him. “So, what’s your pleasure today?” I parted my legs, lifting one foot up onto the chair, exposing my bare pussy to him.
He walked slowly towards me. I drew in a soft breath as his fingers tickled their way down my thigh. When his hand reached my knee, he unbent it and gently lowered my leg back to the floor. I just kept smiling, giving him control. It was the easiest way to get through these sessions, just let him do what he wanted until he exhausted himself. He rarely hit me anymore. It provoked complaints from Anna and, anyway, he was more into less obvious ways of hurting me. He liked to bend my arms or legs uncomfortably, try large and unusual objects and devices in me, choke me, humiliate me. The worst time I remembered, he bent me over the bathtub and held my head underwater as he took me anally, letting me up to snatch some air each time I thought I was going to drown. For two hours straight, until he finally came in my ass as I was about to pass out.
He held out his hands for mine but, as I reached for him, he grabbed my wrists tightly. I let out a small shriek of surprise but kept up my smile.
“Don’t I treat you good?” he asked me, sounding hurt. The pressure on my arms forced me to stand up.
“Sure you do, baby,” I reassured him. If I told him he was hurting me, it would only turn him on more.
“Then why do you want to hurt me?” he whined. “Madam X says you didn’t want to come and be with me.”
“I made a mistake, baby. I do, now.”
“She says you tried to run, that you were thinking of running again,” he hissed through clenched teeth. Yeah, today was going to hurt bad. “She told me you were out with that biker last night. Did you fuck him?”
“Vinnie, baby, you know I sleep with other clients.” I pleaded. “Until your deal is done, I have to.”
“But you don’t have to go out and have fun with a pretty biker you barely know,” he roared, shaking me by the wrists until I fell back into the chair. He turned and stomped away from me. “I think you need to be reminded of what can happen to girls who run. Reminded of what could happen if you run from me.”
Vinnie snapped his fingers and I saw the guy in the corner heave out a long duffle bag. He slid it towards Vinnie. It was clearly heavy but it slid well along the smooth, tiled floor. Vinnie looked at me over his shoulder and gave me a grin so evil, it made my blood run cold. I had a feeling I knew what was in the bag and prayed I was wrong. I was scared now. Not for myself, I still didn’t care about me, but I was terrified of what Vinnie was about to show me. The big mobster bent down, unzipped the bag and stood right back up. Being held upright by the neck, in his huge hand, was April.
Horror silenced me. I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t think, just stare. Her long dark hair was limp and straggly, her waif-like body naked and bruised. Her hands were bound behind her back and the black tape over her eyes and mouth made it difficult to see her face, but it was her. And she was conscious, struggling to hyperventilate through her nose as Vinnie kept her standing.
“She ran,” he hissed, his face so close to her ear that the words made her scream and jump. “We found her the day before yesterday, after your little boyfriend got wise with me. As you can imagine, Rico and Pauley were pretty distressed by your hero’s threatening behavior. So I let them have April here, for a while, to make them feel better.”
I was shaking as he spoke. I could only imagine the suffering she’d been through over the last forty-eight hours. And it wasn’t over. Now, she was being tortured, made an example to me. I felt the tears roll down my face and I only hoped they had enough mercy in their hearts to kill her after this mental and emotional trauma. It would be cruel to force her to go on living.
“Don’t cry, beautiful,” Vinnie mocked me. Too fast for my eyes to follow he delivered an accurate and brutal jab to April’s skinny stomach. The tiny girl silently doubled over in pain and fell to her knees.
“Please, Vinnie,” I cried. “I’ll never leave you. I’ll do whatever you want, just don’t hurt her anymore.”
Vinnie got down on his knees at April’s head. He crouched right down, putting his face level with hers, reached out and quickly tore the tape off her mouth. She yelped, coughed, and then just fell forward onto her face, quietly panting. Vinnie straightened up and undid his belt. He loosened his pants and they hit the floor, revealing his fat, erect cock. April must have heard his pants drop because she started whimpering. “Oh God, Vinnie,” I sobbed, “please don’t.”
“It’s okay, beautiful,” he whispered, to which of us I don’t know, “we’re just getting started.”
Roughly, he grabbed April’s nose, pinching it between thumb and forefinger, and raised her head up. April gasped and hurried to draw breath through her open mouth. Vinnie turned to me and smiled, before forcing himself into that same open mouth, his smile widening as her desperate, muffled screams grew louder.