Amy managed to close the door.

They’d destroyed the lock when they got in so she couldn’t secure herself in properly. She put the bin in front of the door to hold it shut because that was all she could move.

Everything was gone. Her clothes, all her stuff, everything. All she had was what was on her back and in her bag.

Agonized by despair, she sat in the darkness, crying. Not knowing what to do or where to turn. She thought of Josh but didn’t want to call and involve him. Dom had a gun and he just told her he’d be back.

What should she do?

She was shaking so much she had to hug her knees to her chest to hold it all in. Fear knotted her insides, pulling her between anticipation and dread.

She stayed that way all night, crying and shaking until she watched the sunrise. Dom hadn’t come back but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t. She’d thought of every escape route she could use, but each would be bad. She was too high up to go through the window and there was no ledge or anything to grip on. It would be sure death. She thought of going out the corridor and making a run for it, but that was terrible, too, because either Dom or his lackeys would see her.

She saw the way things worked here and always kept her head out of it for fear of getting mixed up. Now look at her.

As the time pressed on she thought about work. How was she going to go?

Amy managed to send both Josh and Hilda a message. She said she had a bad cold and wouldn’t be in today. Hilda messaged back instantly telling her to take care of herself. Josh didn’t message back. It was fine, he never usually responded to her messages anyway.

She had to think of a way to leave. The only viable plan was to just make a run for it. The only problem was finding the strength and the courage to go.

* * *

Josh shook his head as he watched Hilda. They’d been at Zuma Beach all day with the crew from Sports Illustrated taking pictures of him for another ad he hoped would be the last. These sorts of events took up his precious time, precious training time.

“I can do this pose, or this.” Hilda did her best model’s pout and pose for the Sports Illustrated photographer who was having a field day with her. The poor guy had taken a shine to his pretty maid and had jumped at the chance to get a few snaps of her when he was done with Josh.

Hilda was only too happy to accompany Josh to this dreadful shoot. He really hated anything like this and had been eager to get it over and done with. She’d come along to help with the PA stuff Amy would do and for the opportunity. Unknown to him, Hilda wanted to be a model and loved being in the spotlight. So this was good for her.

He missed Amy today, missed her a lot. He’d gotten used to the fact of not seeing her on weekends, but the middle of the week felt off. He planned to take her some flowers tomorrow if she was still sick. She more than deserved it.

Hilda skipped over to him with a bright smile on her face. “Oh my gosh, he just took my number and said he’d put me on the list for extras.” She looked so excited.

“Sweetheart, you can do much better than working as an extra.” She could, she was beautiful, with her striking eyes and rich wealth of dark hair. “Hey Robert, or whatever your name is.” Josh signaled the photographer. He couldn’t quite remember his name.

“It’s Robin, sir.”

Josh knew it started with an R. “Does she look like a damn extra to you?”

Hilda looked horrified. “Josh, I’m happy with whatever I can get.” She nodded at Robin and turned back to Josh. “This is the furthest I’ve gotten, please don’t ruin it for me,” she hissed at him under her breath.

He ignored her. “You didn’t answer my question, Robin.” Josh eyed him with curiosity. “You just took a host of pictures and she proved she’s a natural. Why’d you do that if you were going to just add her to a list of extras?”

“Okay, I’ll put you forward to be added to the model list.”

Josh had a lot of influence with magazines like this. They knew he could always say no, and they didn’t want that because his pictures sold their magazines. There were plenty other athletes they could ask, but they seemed to like him. It wasn’t his fault that he was blessed with all the great looks God could give a man, and the body too.

Hilda screamed and hugged him. “Thank you, oh my gosh.” Now she started jumping up and down.

“I’m going to get back to sorting out those shots. But if you’re free we can go over some stuff on how it works,” Robin said. His tentative manner told Josh that was just a clever ruse to ask Hilda out.

Josh spoke before Hilda could answer. “Man, why don’t you just ask her out and be done with it?”

Hilda’s face turned red, but wasn’t worse than Robin’s, whose face colored fiercely, making his fair features and blond hair stand out.

Josh wasn’t into this beating around the bush crap and making up clever excuses to ask a woman out. He’d never been like that and found it to be such a waste of time.

“Josh, geez,” Hilda scolded.

But Josh once again ignored her. He knew what he was talking about. “Well, don’t just stand there, man, state your intentions for my Hilda and I will let her know if you are worthy of her presence.”

Robin laughed now and Hilda looked up at him with an expression of awe on her face.

“I was hoping to ask her out to dinner,” Robin confessed.

Hilda looked surprised to hear that.

Josh nodded. “Okay, isn’t that better? You seem alright and not too shabby. What do you think, Hilda?”

Hilda started to laugh. “I think I would love to go to dinner.”

“Cool, there you go.”

Robin smiled and left them. Josh shrugged into his jacket and swung his backpack over his shoulder.

“Thank you.” Hilda still looked at him with gratitude. “I’ve never had anyone do that for me.”

“You’re most welcome. I have another thing like this tomorrow. Will you come if Amy is still sick?”

“Of course.” Her eyes sparkled.

“Have you heard from her since this morning?”

He hadn’t managed to call or message back yet because of being here. When the message came through he was already late to leave. He thought he’d have a moment throughout the day but hadn’t had much of a break.

Hilda shook her head. “I was going to swing by her place tomorrow and see her.”

“Let’s go together after the shoot.”

He thought he’d call her now, though, because he just wanted to hear her voice. He’d never called her before.

Hilda went to gather her stuff as he took out his phone and hit Amy’s number.

Amy answered on the second ring. “Josh.” Her voice sounded weak.

“Baby, I miss you so much.”

“Hey.” There was a smile in her voice. “I miss you too. Did…um your shoot go okay?” Now her voice sounded shaky. Not like when you were sick, but more like…

Worried, scared maybe. Maybe that was just how she sounded when she was sick.

“There were women all over me; I had to fend them off.”

There was a long pause, then she breathed into the phone. “Oh, that’s good.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Did you hear what I said?”

“I think so.” Now he was sure she was crying and alarm struck him.

“Amy, baby, are you okay? I was totally joking about the women.”

“I’m fine. I should go. My throat really hurts.” She was crying.

“Okay baby, I’ll see you soon. Don’t worry about tomorrow if you’re still sick.”

“Thanks.” Yes she was definitely crying and he felt now that something was wrong.

He hung up, looked over at Hilda, and bit the inside of his lips. “Hilda, where does Amy live? You have an address, right?”

“Yes. It’s downtown in the old freight apartments,” Hilda replied.

Josh widened his eyes in horror. “She lives where?” His mouth dropped. He wouldn’t even venture down those parts himself because it was so rough and one sure way for something to happen to you. He could defend himself if there was trouble but never went looking for it. And as for the freight apartments, they weren’t even livable. They looked more like small county jail cells. He couldn’t conceive that his Amy was living in a place like that.

“I know, tough area, right?” Hilda scribbled down the address and handed it to him. “I’ve tried to tell her how rough it is but she maintains she’s lived in New York and Atlanta and would be fine. I guess, though, that it’s more about saving what she can for her mom.”

What was Hilda talking about? What was wrong with Amy’s mom?

Amy had never mentioned anything being wrong with her. He supposed, though, that was because they’d never talked much about her and her family. He’d never asked. All these weeks she probably knew everything there was to know about him, and it just occurred to him that he knew very little about her.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to ask, he just hadn’t wanted to pry. She seemed to want to keep her private life separate from him, so he respected that.

“Is her mom okay?”

Hilda raised her eyebrows at him. “No. You didn’t know?”

“No. But I’ll ask her. I think I may go there now and see if she’s okay. She didn’t sound too good on the phone.”

There must have been a reason why Amy hadn’t told him whatever it was he didn’t know. She deserved her privacy but clearly felt comfortable enough to tell Hilda. Why wouldn’t she tell him too?

“I’ll come with you,” Hilda offered, looking concerned.

“No. I’ll see you tomorrow. Enjoy your date with Robin.”

Hilda smiled and blushed a little. “Thank you. Please call me if you need to.”

Josh nodded and headed to his jeep.

He hoped Amy was okay and that she wouldn’t mind him stopping by. He’d simply go and see how she was and if she needed anything. Then he’d go.

* * *

As the night drew by Amy could scarcely breathe. Several times throughout the day either Dom or one of his idiot friends would come by and stand outside the door. They taunted her with vile words and filled her in on what they had planned to do to her later.

They could hear her crying and that encouraged them to taunt her even more. Dom had turned off the electricity in her apartment so she couldn’t even charge her phone. Now the battery had run out.

She wished she’d asked Josh to get her. Or better yet get the police.

At the time when she spoke to him she was so scared she couldn’t think straight. Then she’d heard one of the men at the door, who’d apparently been spying on her all these weeks. The things he said to her were so revolting and despicable she just about managed to finish the call with Josh.

Now it was later. It was later now and she didn’t know what would happen to her.

With the fear of God in her, she’d grasped so tightly onto her legs that her fingernails dug into her skin, making her legs bleed. And she couldn’t stop shaking. She’d heard of things like this happening to women. Being kidnapped and gang raped, then killed. These men weren’t decent, none of them were. They were all animals, and from what they’d said during the day she was sure that she was in for a terrible fate.

There was a knock at the door. It made her jump and shake even more.

“Amy.” The person sounded like Josh, but how could it be? He wouldn’t be here, he didn’t even know where she lived. She thought she would pass out from the shaking and the terror that took her when she watched the door and the bin move.

“Amy.” The person moved the door with a little more force, prying it open.

She moved up against the wall under the window, recoiling away, as if that could help.

“Please have mercy,” she begged as the tears wracked her body.

“Baby, it’s me.” She looked up and saw Josh coming towards her. He came up to her and lowered next to her so he could pull her within the safety of his arms. She threw her arms around him and held onto him so tight her hands tingled. How had he known to come?

“Josh,” she cried into his chest. Then he pulled back and looked her over.

“Amy, what the hell are you doing in this shithole?”

She couldn’t talk, she was crying too much.

“What happened?”

“They took my stuff, everything is gone.”

“They? Who is they?” He released her and stood up so he could flick on the light switch, but of course there was no light.

“They turned off the power.”

He got out his phone and shined the flashlight on her so he could see her better. She could see his eyes widen when he looked at her face and could only imagine that that hit Dom gave her left a mark.

“Jesus. Who did this to you?” He held her face.

“It’s okay. I’m fine.”

“No. You tell me right now who did this to you and who they are,” he demanded.

“The landlord and his jerk friends.”

“Do they live here?”

She nodded.

“Okay, pack up what you have left.”

All she could do was look at him and try to work out what he meant. “What are we doing?”

“We’re going home, but first we’re going to get the rest of your things back.”

Amy looked at the stern, very serious expression on his handsome face. She opened her mouth to talk but didn’t know what to comment on first. She didn’t have a home, and going after these guys would be dangerous. Dom had a gun.

“Home?” she breathed.

He reached out and held her face and his expression softened a little. “You’re coming home with me, and I’m going to take care of you.”

That moment was the most safe and secure she’d ever felt in her life. And as she gazed into his eyes she didn’t think she’d ever experienced the warmth and care she felt from anyone. Not even her mother. Her mother tried to take the very best care of her and Tristan, but sometimes she just couldn’t. Sometimes they really had to rough it out. Whether that was the trailer park, or in the back of a car.

“I’ll take care of you,” he repeated with an assertive nod. “Now come, get it all together and let’s go.”

“Thank you.” She continued to gaze in his eyes. He took her hand, brought it up to his lips, and kissed her knuckles. She savored the moment for a few brief seconds, then pulled in a sharp breath at the memory of the gun. “Josh, they have a gun. The landlord pointed it at me. You could get hurt.”

His eyes blazed when he heard that. “Baby you let me worry about that. Come on.”

Since she didn’t have much to grab they were out of there within minutes. He kept her close as she directed him to Dom’s apartment. Loud music came from inside and it sounded like there was a party going on.

Josh knocked on the door with so much power the wood shook. The music died down and she could now hear mutterings. They probably thought the police had come.

Josh knocked again with the same intensity. Dom opened the door.

“Is this him?” Josh asked her.

“Yes.”

Before Dom had the chance to even move and process what was going on, Josh head butted him, sending him straight to the floor in an unconscious heap.

“Stay back, Amy,” Josh warned.

She did as he instructed. As he walked into the apartment, two guys rushed him but Josh effortlessly sent them to the ground with his fist. When they tried to get up he hauled them right back. With his height and build they were no match for Josh. She could see why he was called the Mancini Machine, and why he played defense for his team. Nothing and no one could get past him, unless he allowed them to. One guy tried to escape but Josh caught him and lifted him off the ground, holding him by his throat.

“You and your friends messed with my girl,” Josh balked, squeezing the man’s throat. Amy stood back and watched. It didn’t escape her that Josh just called her his girl, but she was too shaken to think. “I’ll show you a bit of mercy because you weren’t dumb enough to attack me. Give me her things if you want to live.”

The guy coughed as he tried to speak. “Okay,” he managed.

Josh dropped him on the ground.

Amy looked around, there were five of them lying there. She couldn’t believe that Josh had done that and was impressed with his strength. She was impressed that he would defend her, as if she really was his girl.

The man scrambled off the ground and ran into the backroom. Josh waited for him with asserted dominance. The man brought the sewing machine first. It seemed like it was intact, probably because they wanted to sell it. He then went back to retrieve her other things and she could see that her mannequin was broken in half and her dress was ruined. All the stones were gone. The material was cut in places and filthy with what looked like grease on it.

“Is that all of it?” Josh asked.

“Yes, we sold the rhinestones.”

A tear ran down Amy’s cheeks when she heard that. She spent a whole month’s salary on those stones.

While Josh picked up the heavy stuff, she took the bags with her clothes and held her dress.

“You better hope like hell I don’t see you again,” Josh cautioned the guy who nodded vigorously. “I know you know who I am, you look like you recognize me, and must know I’m bat shit crazy. So don’t fuck with me. Pass the message on.” Josh motioned to Dom and the other men on the floor.

Amy followed him as he walked out; she tried to stop herself from crying but she couldn’t. The showcase was a month away and this dress had taken her months to make. Not because she couldn’t sew fast or put a dress together quickly. It was simply down to the fact that it was her winning ticket. It was the dress that was supposed to land her the job. She’d spent time designing it with all its intricacies. She didn’t know what she’d do.

Josh put the stuff in his car then took her into his arms again where she broke down.

She’d reached that point, that breaking point where she couldn’t take it anymore. It was all too much.