“Get out of bed, whore.” Amy’s shrill voice wakes me up. Opening my eyes slowly, water’s thrown over me. She’s standing there, over top of me, with a bucket in her hand while I freeze on the bed I’ve been in for the last two days. At least I’ve been fed. “Get up,” she screams again.

I scramble to get up. Pulling the sheet with me. But she’s not having any of that and yanks it from grip, so it draws from my grasp. I’m in a pair of tracksuit pants, and a large shirt. It hangs on me, but I don’t care.

Her eyes rake me up and down then she sneers. “We have company. You are going to please our guests. Get dressed, whore.” Amy walks out of the room not even shutting the door as she leaves. A guy walks in—I have no idea what his name is.

“I wouldn’t keep her waiting. She’s far worse than him,” is all he says.

I wrap my arms around myself, afraid he’s going to come in and grab them and bruise me even more. But he doesn’t. Instead, he stands at the door with his back to me, waiting for me to get ready. “You should wear a dress... in the top drawer,” he tells me.

With a pull on the drawer, I notice an array of different dresses. Grabbing out the first one on top, I pull it over my head then pull my clothes off underneath it.

“Heels,” he stipulates when I look around. He’s not watching me, but he seems to know exactly what I’m doing. In the bottom drawer are two sets of heels. One pair black and one white. I pull the black ones out, slip them on my feet, and then comb my hands through my hair.

He turns around and crosses his hands over his chest. “You look presentable.”

Do I say, thank you? I think not.

“Where am I going?”

He waves his hand to start walking out the door. The door that I’ve been locked behind for two nights. It’s nicer than the other room, and I think if I did something, even the slightest bit wrong, I’d be back in that dungeon in a second. Especially if Amy has any say in it.

“Don’t speak unless you are spoken to. Mingle with the guys. Flirt and show an interest.” His hand touches a doorknob, and he looks down at me. “Antonio will be watching you tonight, so don’t disappoint.” He pulls the door open and pushes me through.

What I am meant to do? I have no damn idea.

It’s the same place I was in the other night. The music is loud, and it mainly consists of guys. There are few girls scattered around surrounded by men. But the men outnumber the women five to one. Stepping further into the room, I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing, none whatsoever.

Looking around, I see her, her eyes firmly affixed on me. Amy’s death staring me from where she’s seated with Antonio next to her. Just as I go to turn back, a small hand touches my arm. My first instinct is to pull it free, to get it away from whoever’s touching me because when people touch me, it never seems to turn out for the best.

“Smile. Don’t lose the smile and follow me.” She seems kind, but that could be a total fucking lie for all I know. This is the underworld, after all. They could all be dangerous killers, and I’m just a lamb to the slaughter. “We have a main fight tonight. All the people you see here are very high bidders. We entertain them until the main event. That’s what you will be doing. So, please, smile before you piss her off even more than you seem to be doing by just being in the same room as her.”

My lips pull up, and my smile is as fake as Amy’s boobs, but I listen to this girl anyway. “What do I do?” I ask, confused. She looks at me, and I can make out her features better now we’re away from the dark entrance. She’s beautiful, with long dark hair which almost touches her ass, and a silly red lace dress over her body.

“You smile, you laugh, you offer drinks. These men will spend up to one hundred thousand dollars each here tonight. It’s our job to make them want to spend more.”

I get it, but I don’t want to do any of it. I follow her anyway because what choice do I have? She stops at a group of older men. I would guess most likely in their late forties or early fifties. They all look up, smiling as we walk up to them. I’m the only one without makeup on. Looking around, all the other girls are done up to impress, while I had five minutes to throw something on and hope for the best. She touches a guy’s arm but doesn’t linger, just a taste. I watch what she does and realize she’s a tease.

Is that what we are here for? To tease them?

Being here at all is not something I want to do. I don’t have my medication. And each time I think back to what I had, where I was finally going with my life, it all hits me like a freight train. But not moving from a bed like I would typically do is not an option for me anymore when I’m in those moods. These people could kill me. For what? For following Ryken one night, and he ultimately ended up choosing her anyway. Livia’s the one he loves, even if he says he loves me. It was her, and it will always be her.

My mind screams at me to run, to never look back, and take what money I have left and hide. Ryken told me they would find me, and I believe him. This is my next best choice. And so far, I have all my limbs, and I’m not dead, so that’s a gigantic plus. Isn’t it?

Only five and a half months to go in this hell hole. I close my eyes, trying not to think about it.

A hand touches me. Goddamn, I’m sick of being touched. I could go the rest of my life without a single hand touching me ever again. I’m not a touchy-feely type of girl, and all this touching is really playing on my last nerve.

“How about a drink, darling?”

I look at the girl who’s showing me around, and she raises her chin at me. Turning to the guy, I plaster the best fake smile I can muster. “Of course. What would you like?” My hand touches his shoulder. I do the same thing she did and brush it away fast. Touching other people isn’t something I like to do, but owning my own business in customer service has taught me to smile when even I don’t want to. Even if my heart’s hurting and my head is pounding.

“Surprise me. But make sure you bring something back for yourself, sweetheart.” I cringe at his words and turn, looking for the bar. I’m nudged and see her walking ahead of me. I follow her and realize I really need to learn her name. “What’s your name?”

She stops, leaning her body on the bar. Another set of girls work behind the bar in nothing but a black sports bra and black booty shorts.

“Cecilia. Now order your man one whiskey straight up and use this juice to add to your glass. Don’t let him touch it, or know you aren’t taking supply of the drinks he’s offering you.” I nod my head and grab an empty glass when the apple juice is placed next to it.

“You do this a lot?” I ask, pouring the juice.

“We can’t be drunk. But we want them to think we’re having a good time like they are. So we lie. It’s also a bonus if we don’t drink the expensive alcohol the customers are paying for.”

“How often do you do this? Work here, I mean?”

Cecilia looks down to the floor, her eyes look dark when she looks back up to me. “I’m one of Antonio’s girls, so every night we’re open.”

“And Amy?” I ask carefully so as to not look back to where she’s seated.

“Don’t even look her way or speak to her. You got it?” I nod my head at her words. “Because she’s pure evil, and trust me you don’t want to be around that.” Cecilia walks off with a tray of drinks. She goes back to the group we were just with, and I follow her with my two drinks in hand. The guy smiles at me when I reach him, and I offer him his drink then shoot mine the same time he does.

He pulls out a one-hundred dollar bill and slides it into the strap of my dress and kisses my cheek. “Buy yourself another and keep the change.”

My smile is fake, and inside I’m screaming at him, so much so that I want to punch his face in for touching me. Instead, I smile and walk away.

What the fuck am I meant to do with change? It’s not like I can spend it while locked away in my fucking room.

“Hey, girl,” Cecilia says, moving to the next. “Take this.” She offers me a tray full of drinks and smiles, overly bubbly.

Why’s she so happy?

Is she one of them as well?

She couldn’t be with a smile like that. I want to thank her, but I don’t, just take my tray and start walking around again.

***

THE FIGHT STARTED AND finished all within twenty minutes. Guys yelled, girls stayed back near the bar, apart from Amy who was glued to her position near Antonio. She occasionally eyed me.

Cecilia doesn’t live here. She said she had to get back to her cat at her apartment. It makes me wonder why she’s even here then.

The same guy that likes to pull me around is waiting at the door for me when I finish. I’m guessing he’s here to escort me back to my room.

“Saskia.”

I remember the voice attached to that dark sound. Turning slowly, I manage to offer a small smile as I face Antonio. He steps up to me, and his hand picks up a strand of hair then he drops it, looking up to me. He isn’t an attractive man. At least to me, he isn’t. He’s a dominant man, though. Someone who could kill me without batting an eyelash. That’s how I see him, and that’s probably the best way to always see him.

“Yes, sir.”

His lip quirks up. Then drops. I notice a small scar he has on the side of his lip. “You did well tonight. What reward would you like?”

“Sorry?” I ask, confused. I did well? It felt like I was being pulled and dragged everywhere I went. Men’s hands touched me all night, and I drank so much apple juice that I had to pee so many times I felt like a baby.

“You get one reward, my dear. Choose wisely.”

My eyes drop while I think. “My pills.”

“Done! Scott, get her her pills.” He’s speaking to the man that bruises me. At least he now has a name—Scott.

“Of course, sir.”

Antonio looks me over, his head dropping to the side as he assesses me. “Does he know you’re broken?” My eyes open slightly in surprise. “I mean, his Livia isn’t broken. You are. Does Ryken know you are?”

“He doesn’t.”

Antonio’s lip lifts up in a curl. “It’s a pity you love him, isn’t it? Think of where you’d be if you didn’t love him. If you actually loved the person you were meant to be with.”

My eyes stay down as he speaks. “I don’t love him.”

Slap!

My cheek burns. Actually, it’s on fire. He hit me, and he did it damn hard. Silence falls around me while my ears ring and I blink a few times as I endure the pain.

“One thing I don’t like... is lying. Don’t lie to me again, Saskia. Got it?”

“I’m sorry.”

“I can make you not love him, Saskia. As a matter of fact, I can make you hate him. Don’t make me do that because if I do that it would involve hurting you most of all.”

A shiver runs through me, and all I do is look to the floor as he walks past.

“You would be the perfect soul to sell. I could get a high price for you. Remember that.” Then he’s gone without another word, and I’m left with a smarting cheek and a loss for words.