Chapter 4

My body tremored uncontrollably. Pure terror raced through my veins. This was the very man who was in my room. And he was right here right now.

Living proof I was not losing my mind. I"d been right all along. He was real. And he was more terrifying than I remembered. I trailed my eyes over him, his skintight jeans buckling at the seams from the pressure of him squatting before me. He didn't move. He didn't speak. He was stoic. And he sat in a way that gave the impression he was only happy to let me study him.

I flinched, catching sight of the knife that he was twiddling in his hand. By then I had started to sob, which only elicited a deep growl from within his core. My fear was his amusement, his fuel. He wanted to scare me, for reasons I had no idea. I tried to shuffle back again, attempting to make my escape, but I only managed to squirm, merely an inch.

"Get away from me!" I cried. But my plea was left ignored. A sadistic purr rattled from his chest as he stood, taking another step closer and throwing a leg over me. Still, he didn't speak. Only tormenting slow movements, growls and grunts. Which only made him more terrifying.

"Help! Get away from me" Somebody help!" I cried out again, but no one was around. He pulled a cloth from the back pocket of his jeans and leant toward me. I panicked and instinctively threw my arms out to stop him in my defence. But he was too quick. He grabbed my wrists, shoving one back onto the ground and lifting his foot onto it. I winced, crying out from the unnerving unfamiliar pain of a man stepping on my arm.

As much as I had tried to yelp louder, the sound that left my lips was a mere squeak. "No, please. No, don't hurt me!" I begged. "Why are you doing this? I"ve not done anything!"

He left me no choice but to lie flat on the ground. I didn't have the core strength to hold myself up.

He twisted his head, like he was enjoying seeing me defenceless on the ground. I was no match for him. His knife met the sensitive skin of my arm and I sobbed harder, the tears burning at the sockets.

I mindlessly went to pry his weapon away with my free hand and he growled, pressing the jagged edge of his knife into the soft pink flesh, hard. A clear message to not touch, move or object. I wriggled and opened my mouth to plea again, and because I clearly didn't get the message the first time he growled deeper, pressing harder into my skin. Drawing a thin trail of blood onto the concrete and stepping harder onto my arm. I snapped my mouth shut with a whimper, and the second I did, he released my arm. Lesson learned. Fight, get hurt. Submit, release.

The same question raced through my mind over and over again. "What do you want from me? Money?" I whispered. He didn't answer, but he tilted his head. "A car?" again, he didn't answer. He didn"t move other than tilt his head the opposite way. His breath rippled against his mask, like the Star Wars movies. That's what he sounded like. I don't know what I was thinking, I didn"t even have a car. I didn't even have money, much of it anyway. Certainly not enough to pry off a robber. But, he was no robber.

"What do you want? Please…" I begged again. The tears just kept flowing down my face, to the point where it felt like I could fill an Olympic pool. The man sighed, as though feeling a sense of relief. The sensation of hearing it was unnerving. And so was the silence. Not receiving an answer only spun me into a frenzy even more. All I could do was cry.

This freak was a professional. He wasn't new to this. Not in the slightest. I don't know how it happened, I didn't have time to process it but, somehow his foot nudged under my thigh, and he flipped me over onto my stomach without so much as a struggle. His foot pressed down at the small of my back, and my wrists were met with the tingling fibres of an old rope, straining at my joints as he secured them behind me.

I wriggled, shuffled, and thrust, but his strength was too much for me. It was no use. He stepped off me before pulling my hair, so that my head yanked back. My body straining at the belly, I cried out from the pain of the muscles being stretched so brutally. At this point, I was a sobbing mess. And no one could hear me.

I caught sight of a group of men walking toward us, also with masks on. I squirmed again, it felt like I was choking on my own gasps. "No! No. Please no!" But the shadow man pulled my hair so hard I had no choice but to manoeuvre myself onto my feet. I howled from the pain against my scalp and the numbness on my arse from meeting the concrete. Whatever alcohol I had consumed and it"s numbing effect was long gone.

The shadow man pushed me towards the three men in black fabric masks, and they crowded me. Brushing up against me, tormenting me, nudging into the middle of their circle. My body bounced from one to the other as they muttered insolent things that I couldn't hear fully, drowned out by my sobs. The fear had turned entirely into terror, and I could barely keep myself standing anymore.

"This one's pretty. I like this one." The tallest male in the black leather jacket toyed. His sharp blue eyes looked almost black. Typical ‘bad boy' attire, with rings and studded bracelets. Fuck. That voice, that jacket. That was Damon, from the club. Who left with Tilly.

"Mmmm, I think this ones is the prettiest H has found for us yet, brothers. And that smell…" The muscular tattooed one growled as he brushed my hair with the palm of his hand before inhaling the scent of my hair. "So sweet and innocent." I shuddered and as soon as I saw the broad chest, I knew it was the man from earlier tonight. He was huge, not as tall as Damon.

His eyes were the colour of the ocean, electric and piercing. His muscles were excessive and downright terrifying. My heart sank into my chest, as the shortest who was preoccupied with twirling my dress between his perfectly manicured fingers, was Caine. This was a set up.

Caine had set me up, and now I was probably going to get raped. Or worse, killed. What happened to Tilly? Would they take me somewhere? My phone was dead, so I couldn't call for help. I was completely fucked. All I could do was muffle my tears and let my body be thrown between three masked men. The shadow man was just standing there with his arms crossed, watching on like a perverted freak.

"Pretty little diamond, isn't she? I knew this one wouldn't resist me. I could smell her desperation a mile away." Caine groaned. "Remember when I said we like diamonds?"

The shadow man moved into the circle and stood sternly behind me, entwining the rope that was tight around my wrists into his palm and yanking it, slamming my back against the front of his body. His torso was rock solid, and he panted against my ear, sending a shiver down my spine. I flinched again as his movement was so fast, my lips parted in a panic, and the cloth he had in his hand was shoved into my mouth.

My jaw was locked open from the pressure of the cloth, I tried to pry at the damn thing with my tongue, but I couldn't. It was shoved in tightly.

My lungs bellowed out a feared cry, but it made no sound. He drew in a breath through his nose, smelling my scent like it was intoxicating him. Nausea roiled in the pit of my stomach followed by the never-ending flow of tears burning my eyes.

He pushed me into the front of the muscular man with an elicit groan, and I had no choice but to let my body fall against his. The man rolled my head back by my hair, not as rough at the shadow man, but enough to wince at the blow of my tender scalp from all the hair pulling. He pulled my head back enough to look me in the eyes, holding the small of my back to balance me. I froze for a moment, getting lost in his eyes, taking me by surprise a little, they were bluest I had ever seen in my life. They tore right through me, and my terror became his incentive.

The glint in them under the streetlight above us showed the split second of a sadistic grin, but it was gone as fast as it had appeared.

He took a firm grip of my body, lifting me up with ease, and tossing me over his shoulder. He chuckled deeply at my pathetic defence mechanisms; it seemed to humour him as I tried to squirm and cry out for help, but muffled squeaks and a mere helpless wriggle was all that I could manage. This man was absurdly huge, and all 220lbs of me was clearly not an issue for him.

Regardless, I kicked and punted my legs with all my might. Wrong move, Esme. I saw stars as his arm squeezed down against my thigh. The heavy ache crushed my leg, bruising it instantly. He barely needed to try.

My heart pounded, and I screamed harder, catching sight of an open trunk. Without a chance to wrack my brain on what the fuck was happening, he heaved me into the trunk of a black SUV.

A chuckle, twinkling icy blue eyes, and darkness was the last thing I saw.

My breath was heaving, panic and terror marrying each other, to the point where I was beginning to fade in and out. A panic attack more than likely. How did I get this twisted? How in the fucking blue blazing fuckery shit balls did I go from celebrating my twenty-first fucking birthday with my best fucking friend, falling over and hitting my fucking head, to flirting with a stupid man in a stupid suit with his stupid hot fucking face, to falling for his stupid trap to being thrown into a fucking trunk of four masked men?

That mother fucker, I bet he was what tripped me over.

AND NO FUCKING CELL BATTERY?

Are you kidding? I mean come on, seriously. Of all the luck.

Gah!

The trunk was so dark I couldn't even see the tip of my nose. Nonetheless, I tried to bang my heels against the enclosed space, and the sound of a snap echoed through the SUV. I had heaved so hard I snapped the heel of my shoe, great. The silence tugged at the panic in my belly again, but after pummelling my feet hard against the interior of the SUV for what felt like hours, with no response to my pleas, I finally grew tired.

My eyes felt heavy, and I floated in and out of a drift. The SUV thundered, going who knows where; time had no limit when in a fog. I could tell this wasn't their first abduction. With the set up they had, this couldn"t be new. They knew what they were doing. Had they been planning this the whole time I was having those nightmares, or reality visions whatever you want to call them?

Why?

I was not worth a fucking thing to anyone. I didn"t own a car, I wasn"t rich, I owed no one money, I"d never stolen anything, I stayed away from drama, actually I stayed away from people in general. What could these people possibly want from me? I shuddered and without warning the SUV's engine cut off. My heart skipped at least three beats before the doors opened.

The vibration of a bassy thud ripped through my ear as each door was slammed shut and the footfalls of the men disappeared somewhere in the distance.

They left me. Where did they take me?

The silence hitched my breath for some time before the eery sound of a single pair of shoes trailing over stones grew near, a glint of light and idly cool air whispering through the slit of the trunk as it opened.

Temporarily blinded by the bright light, my eyes squinted nearly shut. The blurry, bulky figure hovering by the trunk looked down at me momentarily before throwing me over his shoulder once more. Except this time, I put a hundred percent into making my body completely dead weight. Letting it fall heavy against itself. The vibration of a chuckle hummed from him.

"Deadweight as much as you like, little one, you're coming with me whether you like it or not. You're ours now."

There was really no room for doubt. I was absolutely, fucked. I had been abducted.

I had no phone, a broken shoe, I was gagged, tied up, and had no fucking clue where I was or if the names of these people were even real. I was in pain, practically all over my body, especially my head. And my arm had a little red line from his knife. My skin sang with goosebumps, and compared to the trunk, the garage the man carried me through was absolutely freezing.

I took a glimpse at my surroundings, making it very clear that wherever this was, was a long way from home.

An excessively large garage, underground. Polished concrete, a handful of what I assumed to be million-dollar vehicles, all black, and a motorbike. There was a crushed old car in the corner, remnants of an accident of some sort, and behind the big steel panel shift door as it was closing conveyed a backdrop entirely of trees. Pine trees. Laced with a dismal layer of fog and a sunrise.

Shit.

I attempted to make a mutter of a noise, but all that followed was a squeak. My voice was dry and hoarse from crying and panting for a breath in the hot trunk. And damn this fucking cloth. We met the opposite end of the garage, and the sunlight had completely subsided behind the panel door. He lowered himself slightly, not letting me writhe an inch as he picked up a lit candle and stopped at a closed door.

He pried at the handle and walked us in. The room was pitch black other than the subtle glow of the candle, but I could only see the door from the angle I was being held. The unsettling smell of dampness, urine, and faeces filled my nose, curling my stomach into a knot. I gagged at the scent, which stimulated nearby gasping and panicked soft feminine voices to fill my ears. We were not alone.

At each footfall of the man carrying me, more muffled, panicked sobs formed. I could hear them getting louder and louder the further we entered the room. Twangs of iron at the fingertips of soft hands, subdued mutters and weakened pleas. It quickly became clear what, or who, else was in the room. Hostages. Shit. The glow of the candle finally revealed the contents of the room.

Women in cages, naked. Some bound, some chained, others curled in the corners of their enclosures. There were many of them, fifteen, maybe twenty. All in their own shelter. Side by side, row after row.

I screamed, more tears burning my eyes again. These women were terrified, cold, hungry and lying in puddles of their own secretions. I mimicked their terror. God only knew how long these women had been here, and what in the fuck were they here for? The unsettling thought of my own fate, in finding out for myself in time sent a shiver up my spine.

The man stopped at one of the empty cages, unceremoniously dropping my body onto the cold concrete. My body ached all over. My cry was yet again muffled, but none the less, the volume in my own head was loud. Terror washed over my face as he closed the barrier door behind him.

Darkness closed in around me as he took himself and the slither of light with him out the door, leaving me in a heap on the ground. Gagged and bound. Trapped.

A prisoner.

I squirmed in a disorderly fashion in attempt to get myself up off the floor, but with my hands tied behind me and no brain to limb coordination even at the best of times, there was no fucking way I was going to accomplish it now, not in the complete darkness anyway. I tried again, somehow managing to prop myself onto my knees by pushing on my head.

Using every muscle in my body, pushing through the throbs of exhaustion, I pushed myself onto my feet, taking the weight more on one foot than the other due to the heel that had snapped off. Unease swam through me as I shuffled my way to find my surroundings, blind.

I couldn't see the door, but I had somewhat memory of where it might be from when he dumped me here. My breasts were first to meet the cold iron bars. Using my forehead as a pair of hands, I felt my way around, learning the barriers of my cage. It was silent. Despite the quantity of women in here, it was too silent. The three walls were entirely concrete, solid serrated concrete.

With nothing else in my cage other than my own snotty breath and tears as company.

I resigned to my fate and sank myself to the floor with my back against the concrete that was my enclosure. My body trembled around itself as I dropped my head into knees, letting the tears puddle between my thighs and the cold of the concrete heave through my bones.