I whimper on the floor as he dries me. The towel feels like sandpaper on my skin at his harsh rubbing but I don’t fight him. What’s the point when my reward will always be pain? When he pushes my legs apart and continues the same treatment on my vagina, I lift my head from the floor.

With the palm of his hand he sends it crashing down again. The pain eats through my cheek before spreading to the rest of my head. The inferno doesn’t stop there but rages through my neck, throat, and shoulders, refusing to stop until it has ignited my entire body. I clench my teeth to contain the pain.

“Good.” I hear him say but his voice is so distant. “Now you’re going to pretend to be my little virgin again, not the slut Damien has turned you into.” He gathers me from the floor and throws me over his shoulder. Blood rushes to my pounding head as it sways and bounces against his hard back. Saliva drips from my mouth and I can’t stop it. I don’t care, anyway.

I wish I had a knife on me to stab him in the back with. But I have nothing, no weapon, no strength, no life to call my own.

He drops me onto the bed that had been my refuge for a few short hours, the bed that had protected me from him or so I thought. My naked body falls onto the pink and white quilt. His narrow gaze lands on me, sweeping across my naked body. My skin feels the heat of both his anger and sick desires. My brain tells me to move away from him but my body doesn’t obey. I’m frozen. The anger I had felt toward him earlier has transformed into mind- and body-numbing fear, more powerful than any chains. If he walks out of this room now, without chaining me, he might return to find me right where he left me.

I want to fight him, to stop him from killing me, but I don’t stand a chance against his revenge. Everything has been taken away from me. Damien started with the taking, eating away at me before his brother showed up to take the leftovers and to finish me off. I have a body and a functioning brain and mind, but I might as well be dead right now.

“It’s a shame you won’t be enjoying this as much as I will.” He bends to lick my unbruised cheek, his tongue hot and repulsive. “But it would be so much more fun if you try.”

My stomach churns at the thought of him inside me. There’s an itch under my skin, one brought on by his touch, his gaze, his very presence. I want to scratch it but I’ll never be able to get to it unless I peel my skin back.

He moves away from my healthy cheek and moves on to my injured one. His touch is gentle but his eyes remain hard and blank. He has the eyes of a snake. How did I not see it? How could I have visited this man in prison? How is it possible that I had searched his eyes and missed the evil buried beneath the depths of green? His eyes are a deep, dark sea, hiding many unknown dangers. Dangers only visible to those who are unfortunate enough to dive in and see them up close.

I’m one of those unfortunate people.

He places his handgun and knife at the foot of the bed, not far from my feet. Having crushed me completely, he no longer perceives me to be a threat. I don’t blame him. He did a fantastic job at breaking me.

Now he’s peeling off his drenched clothes, opening the buttons of his shirt one by one, his eyes holding me hostage. He throws the heavy shirt on the empty floor. The sound it makes as it touches the wood brings on a distant memory.

My drenched photographs had made the same sound when they’d hit the bottom of the trashcan months ago inside the new dorm room, the room that had changed my life forever.

“In case you’re wondering, I am a real professor.” He’s unzipping his jeans now. “I do hold a PhD in Art History. But lecturing was not a job to me. It was . . .” He stops undressing and places a finger to his lips. “It was an enjoyable hobby that gave me the opportunity to meet innocent little pussies in search of an adventure. Sometimes I was lucky enough to meet little virgins leaving home for the first time, craving their independence.” His lips twist into a sneer. “Many of them are well aware that the world can be a dangerous place. As little girls, their parents told them the story of Little Red Riding Hood. But guess what, they never expect the big bad wolf to be so close. I love the look in their eyes when they come face to face with danger. They look the way you do now.”

“What?” The single word comes out but the effort of talking makes my jaw ache so much I shut up. Which is just as well since I don’t even know what I want to ask him.

He tilts his head to one side. “What, ma chérie? Do you want to ask me something?” He waits for a response and when it doesn’t come, he continues talking while peeling off his pants. “Aren’t you going to ask what I did with them? I’m sure you already know that. Did Damien tell you about our lucrative family business, the one he was stupid enough to abandon?”

My eyes blur with tears and I blink them away furiously.

“I have lots of employees working for my company of whores all over the world, but I always enjoy the hunt. I never delegate that to anyone. I enjoy the thrill of meeting students and locking them into my web. I have to tell you though, I don’t normally sample the goods first but I make exceptions for the irresistible girls. You and Jennifer were among the lucky ones. I wanted to fuck you first before I sold you to another hungry cock. And the other faculty like fools wonder why some promising students suddenly abandon their studies and vanish. Parents search for their missing children, never knowing they are in a place where they are much more useful.”

I swallow the sour bile inside my throat and turn away from him. I can barely breathe as my anger returns. It warms my frozen body, bringing it back to life. I unfurl my fingers while glimpsing a snow globe on the bedside table. There’s a little cottage inside with a bridge on one side and miniature trees on the other.

I used to love snow globes as a kid. They reminded me of how magical the world can be. My father had been a collector. Every time I traveled to a place he hasn’t been before, I always brought him one to add to his collection. When he died, I was crushed to find my mother had thrown them all away as though they were trash and not memories.

I look back at Judson when I feel the bed sink from his weight. He’s fully naked but I don’t look below his waist. I don’t want to see his evil dick, to wonder how many girls it has defiled, how many innocent lives it has ruined. The thought of fearful abducted girls and grieving parents sends fire raging through my veins. He can’t continue this evil. I can’t let him hurt any more families. I will not let him hurt any more innocent people. He has to be stopped and I will be the one to do it.

Before the anger-fueled drive leaves my body, I grab the snow globe as he’s positioning himself above me. I strike him on the side of the head with it and watch him crumble on top of me.

“I guess you underestimated this pussy,” I push him off me and lunge for his gun.

“Bitch.” As he clutches his bleeding head, I aim the gun at him. He tries to move but his body is fighting the unexpected pain. I try not to think of the fact that from this moment on I’ll be a killer. I think only of my freedom and of saving other lives.

“No,” I say with tears streaming down my cheeks. I get onto my knees. “You are the bitch, and I’m the big bad wolf you never saw coming.” My eyes are closed as I pull the trigger and shoot. I shoot him again and then once more. I feel him jolt and try to scream through a mouth full of blood. I hear him sink deeper into the small bed. His blood sprinkles my face, drop by evil drop. Finally I lower the gun to my thighs and open my eyes.

I don’t see him, not any more. His face is completely unrecognizable.

I did it.

It’s over.

I’ve ended the horror. Then why do I feel sick instead of relieved? My stomach clenches and before I can stop myself, I throw up onto his body, over and over again until I have nothing left inside me to give.