Chapter 27
Texas
I wasn’t sure how much time passed. The dark did that to you. I was trapped in this cold, damp room with no light. I could hear fighting behind the door.
They weren’t on the same page about what to do with me. One wanted to take me back home and condition me. They wanted me to go back to doing my job.
The other wanted to train me and put me up for sale. Both sides agreed on one thing, they wanted to break me. I knew from the conversations that my family were here.
Meals were never on target, so I couldn’t pinpoint the days. I knew it’s been a long time. My tummy revolted again, and I puked in the corner.
The stench of vomit, piss, and shit saturated the air. They didn’t even give me a bucket. I was thankful dehydration was kicking in.
The door opened, and a woman screamed as she was pushed into the room. The light hurt my eyes. My ankle was chained to the floor, and my hands were cuffed in front of me.
“Please, let me go,” the woman, begged.
I expected tears and maybe more begging, but she just slid down the wall a few feet away. The door slammed closed again.
“What day is it?” I ask her.
She screamed again, and I cringed. The sound hurt my now sensitive ears. Being in the dark lessened my senses, but now they started to work in full gear. Some of my other senses becoming more prominent.
“Who are you?” she demanded.
“Date please,” I demand.
“The 17th,” she replies.
“Of?” I ask.
“June,” she replies.
Closing my eyes, I did the mental math. I’m sure it was April when I was shopping so it’s been weeks? Months?
“What are you in for?” I ask her.
“I don’t know,” She replies.
“I’m Texas,” I tell her.
“Layla,” she replies sweetly.
“Am I going to die in here Texas?” She asks fear laced through her voice.
I wasn’t going to lie, not to either one of us.
“We both are,” I tell her no point in sugar coating it.
“Oh, god,” she cried.
I expected fireworks or an explosion of tears and screams for help. Her silence was the complete opposite.
“I just didn’t want to marry him,” she says into the silence.
I felt bad for her. Marriage. She was here because of marriage.
“Who?” I ask.
“Some gangster,” she replies through her tears.
Ah, I get it.
“Yeah, I guess, we’re both the same and yet so different. I wanted my gangster to find me, and you want yours to let you go.” I tell her with the humor of the situation loud and clear to hear.
Her laughter was infectious. I know they wanted to break us, but I wasn’t going out like that.
“I just wanted to work at the school take care of my class and live my life. I never meant to draw his attention.” She tells me.
“It doesn’t change that you did,” I tell her.
“I know,” she replies.
“Tell me about yourself,” I ask her.
I had a moment where I wondered if I was crazy, and she was a figment of my imagination. Our situations were very similar.
“I’m nobody really. Just a girl who wants to get by,” she replies.
“We are trapped in a fucking hole. There’s no getting by so the least we can do is enlighten each other,” I tell her.
“Just in case one doesn’t make it?” She asks.
“Yes,” I tell her.
“Okay, I’ll start. I’ve been living in a little shell for years. My family’s written me off. All because I won’t marry this man.” She tells me her voice thick with tears.
My eyes widened. Marriage seemed to be the bane of her existence.
“I was one of the wealthy. I had dinners with the famous and rubbed elbows with important people. My parents wanted a higher social standing and were never happy with what they had,” she continued.
She stopped and took a deep breath, and I could tell she was trying to compose herself. She was crying now. Her voice so thick with tears it was almost impossible to understand her.
“I fell in love with a gangster when I was in high school we were high school sweethearts until he left me joined the army and literally ran away for his life here,” she paused before continuing, “Like a fool I let him back in.”
When she didn’t elaborate anymore I realized It was my turn to tell my story, and it was the hardest thing I’ve done to date. Taking a deep breath, I let it sit in my lungs before releasing it.
I hoped she’ll make it. I hoped she escaped and Kell found her. I wanted him to know the truth, I wanted someone to know, me, know all of me.