~ Lexi ~
I hadn't slept.
Not properly.
Every time I closed my eyes, I was back there.
That room.
Those girls.
The silence.
The way they looked at me like they already knew how it ended.
I sat on the edge of the hotel bed, staring at nothing, my hands curled tightly in my lap.
Trying to process everything.
But there was too much.
Too much to even understand.
The masquerade...
It hadn't been a party.
Not really.
It had been a cover.
A front.
The real event had been hidden behind it—quiet, controlled, invisible to anyone who didn't know where to look.
I swallowed hard, my throat dry.
They had taken us one by one.
Not all at once.
That would have caused panic.
No—this was organised.
Calculated.
A door would open.
A name—or rather, a number—would be called.
And a girl would be taken.
I remembered the first one.
She didn't cry.
Didn't scream.
She just... stood.
Like she'd already accepted it.
That was the worst part.
Not fear.
Acceptance.
I squeezed my eyes shut.
I hadn't lasted long in that room.
They came back for me quicker than I expected.
Two men.
Well dressed.
Like businessmen.
Like this was just another transaction.
"Number F122," one of them had said.
My stomach dropped all over again at the memory.
They didn't even look at my face at first.
Just the number.
Like that's all I was.
I had backed away instantly.
"No," I'd said. "You've got the wrong person—"
They didn't listen.
They never do.
One of them grabbed my arm, pulling me forward.
"Good condition," the other one said, like he was inspecting something in a shop.
I felt sick.
"They'll pay well for this one."
This one.
Not me.
Not Lexi.
Just...
YOU ARE READING
The Billionaire Recluse & The girl who stayed.
Romansa⚠️ Trigger Warning ⚠️ This story contains themes of violence, kidnapping, human trafficking, trauma, grief, and mental health struggles. Reader discretion is advised. He was broken. She stayed. And loving him almost destroyed her. Jasper Monroe is a...
