𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 - Mitch Rapp

Fifteen- it's not your fault.

• trigger warning ( This chapter will contain very explicit scenes of sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and torture).

A cunning expression suddenly appeared on Ethan White's face.

Ava looked so fragile right now- helpless, even. Which Ethan found to be quite amusing. As his icy irises stared at her worrisome features, a dark idea flickered on inside his mind like a lightbulb. While his accomplice was taking care of things for the online market, Ethan decided to amp up the situation, and make Ava feel even more degraded than she already felt. Petty payback was always one of his favourite things to do.

"Have you seen yourself recently?", he commented with a fake smile. "Can't have any potential buyers see you like this. It's bad for business".

Ava subconsciously grinded her jaw out of fury. Ethan was gesturing at her torn dress, that had bloodstains, and dirt marks all across the front. She opted to not entice him with any further comments or comebacks, and stayed silent as he waited for a snarky reply.

"Nothing to say?", he added while continuing to gawk.

Once he realised he wasn't going to break the brunette so easily, Ethan proceeded to act on his vile plan of humiliating her further.

"I think the customers would prefer to bid on you while you're not so..covered up".

Before Ava could react to his disgusting plan, Ethan shoved her back onto the hard floor, and began tearing her dress off with a viscous looking expression. Ava tried to fight him off, but every time she attempted to strike him, he would repeatedly punched her on the face with great force. Ava couldn't help but give in to her outburst of cries and screams, the reality of her situation hitting her like a tonne of bricks.

Ethan ignored her pleads and rose to his feet once her dress was scattered across the floor in pieces. Ava dragged her aching body towards the couch, grabbing the only blanket in sight in an attempt to cover her bare chest. Ethan smirked and shook his head at her reaction- which only proved how cold hearted he truly was. As Ava laid on the floor with her knees curled up to her stomach, she made a vow to not hesitate to end his life if she got another chance to aim a gun at him again. French government rules or not.

"How long is this gonna take? I have a flight to catch in a couple of hours", Ethan remarked as he strolled back to the kitchen.

"Shouldn't take that long- I just hid the VPN and logged the details into the chatroom. Maybe five minutes?", Daniel replied, fingers rapidly typing on a keyboard in front of a laptop.

"Thanks so much for doing this, man. There's a share waiting for you once the auction ends", Ethan countered.

"A profitable share no doubt, considering the bitch is American".

Ethan chuckled in response, seemingly enjoying the ordeal Ava had landed herself in. Daniel then informed him that the auction was moments from commencing, and to fetch Ava so the potential buyers could see her. Ethan eagerly obliged, and made his way over the girl who was currently going in and out of consciousness.

"Stay awake. The buyers need a good look of you", he spoke as he knelt down in front of her. "Oh come on, I didn't hit you that hard", he added once he observed her semi conscious state.

Ava kept her eyebrows furrowed, trying to comprehend what was going on. She could see Ethan kneeling in front of her. The urge to hit him was powerful, but not enough to give her any strength to move.

"At least keep your fucking head up, I don't wanna look bad in front of the buyers, got it?".

After a few moments of no response from the brunette, Ethan began to pull her up to a standing position. He struggled at first, her body having no support for itself, but gathered a better grip of her waist nonetheless and impatiently dragged her towards a wooden chair that sat in the centre of the shabby room. Ethan tore away the blanket that was covering the front part of her physique, but a part of him felt a little guilty, the reason being how fragile she looked as she slipped in and out of consciousness.