LILLY

I don't know how long it has been. Two days? Three? I can't even tell because there's no sun where I am. My watch has stopped working, stuck at 9.

AM or PM?

But I think it's been two days, judging by the amount of food they give me. Once a day. A piece of dry bread. No water. I haven't had water in days. My lips are dry and my tongue feels like sand.
I hated my long hair so much at this moment because I couldn't tie it up properly. Had to pull out the strings of my scrub pants and use them as a way to pull all my hair up.
No visiting from the guy in the red mask or the guy named Romano. Just footsteps, and then a silver tray is sled down the corner of the cell and in front of me. I ate it the first time they gave me but I didn't eat it the second time. The dry bread made me parched.

I sit in the corner of the cell, fanning myself with my hand, falling in and out of sleep. My body went into stress that it couldn't get itself up. My other option was to drink from the little water puddles in the cement but I didn't want to take the chance of it making me sick.

"You haven't been eating, Lilly." My body perks up and my sleepy state is pushed back. I hear footsteps and then the lights outside the cell are turned on. Bright red that hurt my eyes but it didn't have any effect on him whatsoever. His skin appeared red but he wore a black or blue shirt with black or blue jeans. With a cold water bottle in his hand, he plays with it. Rolling the bottle between his hands or sometimes dropping it and catching it with his other hand. I wanted to cry then and there but I stay quiet and stayed firmly in my space. He crouched down and keeps the bottle beside him. Close enough that if I crawl to the iron bars and reach my arm out, I can take it and I can drink it. Just a sip. Or even a cold drop. Just a little bit.

He notices my gaze and trails it to the bottle "You want this, Lilly?" I swallow and ignore him. He takes the bottle, twists the cap open, puts his to the mouth of the bottle and I watch as he throws his head back and swallows. The column of the neck worked, pushing it down his esophagus.
He finishes half of the bottle and sighs with a hum. Cruel man. He stares at me, looking at my face and then down my body. I pull my feet together and wrap my arms around my knees.
He tilts his head and I watch his hand going behind him. What is he getting? A gun? A knife? A condom? Ropes? A lighter to burn me alive?
None of the above. Just another cold bottle of water. He keeps it inside the cell this time. Close enough that he could snatch it any time he wants.

"What are you waiting for? Go on." He urges. I shake my head and stay at my side. He smirks "You can have it, Lilly." I don't believe him. He nods "Okay. Do you want to earn this? Fine. Answer a question honestly and you can have it, alright?" I wait for him to ask the question and he does "What's your full name?" I answer meekly, barely having enough voice to say it "Lilly Hastings." He shakes his head "I said full name." I say again with a cracked voice "Lilly Jane Hastings." He approves and points to the bottle. I don't even walk, scared that getting to my feet will change it. I crawl on my knees to the bottle. Keeping my distance. Just close enough to reach my hand. He notices and pulls the bottle out "No. Closer." I take a step but he isn't satisfied "Closer, Lilly." I sniff and I close in.
My knees are almost pressing into the iron bars and that's what satisfies him. He gently puts the bottle onto the floor and I grab at it, twisting the cap open and throwing it back. Drinking the water down like a parched animal. My gaze on him as I finish the water. He smiles as he watches me, and says faintly "Brava ragazza (good girl)."

I threw the bottle to the side and say "One more, please." He smirks again "Okay. But only if you answer another question." I was ready for this. I'd answer another question like the previous one if that meant I'd get more clean cold water. He asks "Are you a virgin?" My eyes go wide. Wasn't expecting that. I press my lips together and nod. His brow raises and he curves his finger at me "Lean in." I do it slowly. His hand pushes in from between the bars and he gently, ever so softly, puts his palm against my cheek, brushing his thumb across it. His hand was cold compared to the humid cell I was in. I lean into it but with fear every second. A little bit of coldness was perfect on my warm face. He whispers under his breath "Gli uomini non sanno cosa si perdono (the men do not know what they're missing)." He pulls his hand back, reaching behind and taking out another bottle. He keeps it in front of but I do not hesitate, grabbing it and drinking it down. But as soon as it's in my mouth, I spit it out. Saltwater. Too much salt that it made my tongue into sandpaper again. I cough loudly, spitting it all out. He watches with amusement.

I cough out the water, hating the saltiness on my tongue, feeling it getting cracked. My throat getting dry again. I gasp "Please. I earned another bottle!" He raises his brow "Did you?" Tears start forming in my eyes and I hold onto the iron bars "What do you want from me? I promise I didn't do anything nor do I owe anyone any kind of debt. Please, just let me go." I cry now, I cry endlessly. His hand pushes in again, on my cheek, wiping away the tears "I would love to, but you're not answering to me, Lilly." I sniff, tired of the back-and-forth game he wants to play "Who do you work for?" I cry even more "I don't know. I don't know what you want me to say."

"I want you to tell me about the man that you saved in the hospital."

"What man?"

"The one you helped run away."

I shake my head "I don't-" then I realize "I didn't help him run. He just disappeared." He exhaled through his nose and pulls his hand back about to get up and walk away but I bang on the iron bars "I don't know who he was! He was bought in by the paramedics in the ER with a bullet in his chest. That's it! He got a heart transplant and then four hours later, he almost flatlined. I don't know his name, I don't know who he was and I do not know why he got shot. Believe me! I'm not lying. I swear!" He sighs "You're a dead end, Lilly."

The cell doors open and I back away as fast as I could, going back into my corner when he walks in. Furious at me. I twist my face to avoid looking at him but he takes his time in crouching and grabs my jaw, making me look at him. His fingers dig into my skin and I whimper. He says "Look at you. Filthy. And a liar." He calls out "Someone get some water! Lilly needs a bath."

Seconds later, a blue tub filled with water is pushed inside by another man in a different mask. A sponge inside it. Romano lets go of my jaw and say "Bidders don't like dirty girls, Lilly." He pulls the tub to himself; soaking the sponge and then squeezing the access water out. Grabbing me by the shirt of my scrubs, he tears it apart from the middle. I scream but he has me cornered. Rubbing the wet sponge down my arms and then under my arms. He pulls down the straps of my bra and keeps scrubbing, stopping only to soak the sponge in the water again. I cry, holding onto the cups of my bra but he has it off my breast in a second. I hide my chest by covering it with my arms. He moved to the pajama of my scrubs, tearing the fabrics leg by leg. And then pulling it from under me. He cleans down my thighs and then between them, dangerously close to my core. I cry loudly "Please, stop! Please, please, please, please." He shakes his head and says again "Bidders don't like dirty girls, Lilly." My scrubs are in a pile next to me as I sit only sit in my underwear, covering my chest with my arms. My bra with broken hooks on the floor next to the scrubs. I wanted to die then and there. I prayed to God to take my soul at that moment but nothing. I was breathing, I was crying, and I was being touched. He says, throwing the sponge back in the tub "Should've started the bidding at 10 million. People would kill for those." He pointed with his gaze to my chest and ran his hand down my thigh "Blue eyes, heavy tits, smooth milky skin with no scars... people would pay double for that." I hide even more when a masked man walked in, taking the tub away. Romano takes my discarded clothes and walks out, closing the cell behind him, and says before he leaves me "Be careful. I don't know what happens to girls behind my back and I don't even care to know." And then he's out the door. Leaving me alone. Naked, scared, and crying.

♡

CARTER

Humiliation, that's another form of torture. I learned it from my father the hard way.
Clothes are like this shield to us, and taking that shield away was a way to weaken the opponent.
Lilly is a short woman. Blue eyes. Long brown hair. A round face. Milky skin. People would pay double for her. The virginity- maybe triple. This is how we run the trafficking business. You gotta know what you sell and how to sell.

I say to Elijah "Make sure she gets a shirt and a bottle of clean cold water. I don't want her dead today. The bitch knows something." Elijah just nods "Where are you going?" I raise my brow "What do you think?" He understands and nods.
I walk out and make my way to my private area in the villa. My haven.
I take off my clothes and get in the burning hot shower. Letting the hot water burn my skin clean, letting it cleanse me thoroughly from the sins I've committed since I've been alive.

'Carter, just look away, okay? Just look away. I am gonna be okay. Just look away!'

I clench my eyes as I hear her screams in my head. The screams from when my father tortured her. She cried and cried and cried and nobody believed her. She begged not to be raped by thirteen men in the cell and nobody had the heart to stop. They raped her from dusk till dawn until they wore her out. Filled her with their DNA and then left her in agony in the humid cell.

Shit! Stop thinking about it, Carter. Stop thinking about it. She's gone. Buried six feet under. She's fucking dead.

I get out of the shower and wipe the fog off the mirror, looking at myself. My tan skin turned burning red and I smiled. That would do the trick. Maybe not forever but at least for an hour or two. My phone rings as I walk out with a towel wrapped around my hips "What!" Nico says on the other side "Your father wants to see you." I want to scream that I don't want to come but he's the ticket to my freedom "I'll be there in 20." I close the phone before he could even speak another word. Getting dressed in black jeans and a white t-shirt, I walk out of my corner and go straight to my father.

When I arrive, Nico is there, standing outside the door in his black expensive suit. I raise my brow "What up, penguin?" He hisses "Shut the fuck up." I snort and wait as he moves out of the way and then I walk in.
Unfortunately, my father was getting better by the fucking day. Wished he didn't. He looks at me and smiles. I act like a son "How are you feeling?" He shrugs "Stronger."

"Good. Why did you want to see me?"

The way he looks at me, I knew some fucked up shit was gonna explode in my face "I heard from Nico that you hosted the bidding today. You never host those." I shrug "Wanted to try it."

"They loved it. They want you to do it often."

"Is that why I'm here because you want me to be a fucking host?"

"Yes, and I also heard that you took the new girl off the market. Told everyone that you want to keep her."

Shit. Of course, nothing is a secret from him.

I shrug and act like I didn't give a shit "So? Am I not allowed to keep the goods to myself for once? I thought you wanted me to be like that." He smirks "I do. I always wanted you to be like me, Carter." He paused "What's her name?" I had to tell him or he would find out otherwise "Lilly."

"How much do you think people will pay for her after you're done with her?"

"I don't know. Six or seven... million."

He shakes his head "No, more than that. Because Carter Romano is gonna let her go after he uses her. People always want your leftovers, Carter." The fucking people are always after me. Fuck. He pressed on "Where is she?" I say "In the humid cell."

"Why?"

"Because I want to break her before I can fuck her."

My father chuckles at that "That's my boy. Did you take the clothes away?" I nod "Just like how you taught me." He compliments "Good boy. Go get some rest. You remember what you have to do tomorrow." I nod "Embarrass her in front of the crowd." My father nods his head in satisfaction.

That piece of shit.

I storm out, walking as fast as I could to my corner. Shutting the door and locking it so no one could get in.

I took my shirt off and dial the number on my phone "I need a good rough fuck. You up for it?" Selena moans into the phone "I'll be there in 10 without panties." I hang up before she could try dirty talking. Fuck that bitch. I just needed something to push my dick through.

♡

LILLY

I shiver because I had no fabric on my body. Even though the cell was humid, my skin was sweaty, and I shivered as I cried in fear. Embarrassed at how naked I was. Anyone could see me. Anyone could see my skin. And he had. He had touched me and he had seen it. It was like something was ripped away from me.
I stay in the corner of the dirty wall, curled to myself, hiding my chest from them. I don't know if there were cameras anywhere but I didn't want to take that chance. I cannot.

Today he tore my clothes. God knows what he will do next.

I hear footsteps and I gasp, curling even more to the point I felt the burn in my thighs. The cell door opens and in comes the man in the red mask. Holding two bottles of water- I bet they had salt in them too- and a white shirt. He throws the water bottle to my side and I scream. Then the shirt is thrown on my head. He scoffs under his breath and walks out.

When I hear no more footsteps from him, I grab the shirt and wear it. It was white, it was oversized and it reached my thighs. I close the buttons and sigh at the fact I had something to cover myself up with. Looking back at the water, I take one bottle and twist open the cap, smelling it and then barely poking my tongue in. No salt. Yes, thank god. No salt.

I hide the other bottle on the side for myself and drink the one I opened in one go. I drank it all.
The coolness of it made my throat groan in satisfaction.
My eyes burned with no sleep. How many hours has it been since I've been awake? I remember I was on a 17-hour shift at the hospital and then I'm here for- I don't know. I'm so tired. I want to sleep but I can't. I need to stay alert.

God, help me.

♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡

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Love, Hope
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