A Year and 365 Days

Chapter 20

10 months into the disappearance of Olivia

Olivia
I walk down the block with Amber in the middle of the day. Surprisingly , we get to go out in the middle of the day every once in a while. We weren't dressed for the night yet, just in clothing that we had gotten a hold of. Amber and I paced at the same speed down the block. She jammed her hands into her pant pockets and took a deep breath.

"Olivia?"

"Yeah?" I responded in a concerned tone

"Do you truly think that we're going to make it out some day?"

I stopped walking and stood in the middle of the sidewalk. Amber kept walking until she noticed I wasn't next to her anymore. I stared at the sky for a few moments until Amber came back over. Looking at her in the eyes, I said what I truly believed.

"I would say better to die fighting for freedom then being prisoner all the days of your life."

Amber took a long hard glance at me. She smirked and then we continued pacing our way down the street.

Squad

"We've been in Italy for half a month, I never knew I would get sick of it though." Munch said placing his coffee down onto the table

Munch and Amaro had gone down to the plaza nearby the hotel they had been staying at. The others were sleeping in and Munch offered Amaro to get coffee with him. In the half month that the squad including agent Broderick had been there, each of them had gone from blazers and sports jackets to board shorts, tanks, and t-shirts. The sun over them had given each of them color to their cheeks. They didn't have time to look around at the sights, only wanting to entirely focused on finding Olivia.

"At least there's some benefit to it, we've traveled a hell of a lot in the past month." Munch added with a slight chuckle

He tried his best to cheer up Amaro who had been staring blankly into his coffee cup.

"Nick?"

Nick ignored him who was still clearly lost in his thoughts. The heavy burden of carrying a weight of guilt was noticeable by Munch.

"If I had watched her back, she wouldn't have been-"

"Nick, you can't be blaming yourself, you can't change the past, we need to focus on the future. We've gotten this far, and hey, we're in Rome for Christ's sake."

Nick looked up at Munch.

"Like I've said before Nick, if your given lemons, make lemonade."

Munch leaned back against the wood chair, drinking his coffee while looking at the view of Rome in front of him. Nick shifted in his seat and continued his train of thought.

Olivia

Amber came out of the bathroom in a black form fitting dress. The neckline was straight that dropped off her shoulders and across her chest, exposing her shoulders and back. I had waited for Amber before I had changed into a gray dress that had an exposed back with white detail on it. It fit me with even some room to it, as I had lost quite a bit of weight. I don't think anybody would recognize me at first if they had seen me now. We both wore red pumps. Each night before we had to go out, Alex and Damien would look at our outfits to make sure the "customers" enjoyed what they were paying for.

We headed downstairs to where Damien and Alex waited in the living room. Vedrana, Laure, Valentina, Kerianne, and Rika were waiting as well. Amber and I had been few of the first to go off for the night. Niklas had called in again for me. As usual, we made our way through town and ended the night in his room. That night was different though, he had gotten drunk as usual but had brought his buddies with him. He had two other men with him who only spoke German to him. All three of them decided to use me. The feelings of degradation, dehumanization, objectification and uselessness came to mind again.

I left the hotel room into the cold breeze that roamed along the streets.
I had gotten back at four in the morning, and being the last of the girls. Alex found me sneaking up the stairs. There went another "session" for the night. Alex finished fifteen minutes later and told me to go upstairs. I made my way up stairs and washed the guilt, shame, and disgust off of me. On the outside, I didn't want the other girls to know how much I was broken inside, I had to stay strong on the outside for them, but on the inside, it didn't matter, I had already fallen apart.

Ten and a half months into the disappearance of Olivia:

With no leads on their own in the past month, Agent Broderick and the squad head over to the U.S. Embassy in Rome. They meet with a officials, and explain their situation.

"Agent Broderick Martindale of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, these are members of the New York Police department, Detective Rollins, Tutuola, Amaro, Sergeant Munch, and Captain Cragen."

"For the past ten months, we have been looking into the disappearance of missing NYPD detective Olivia Benson. She was taken the night of September fourteenth and we believe she was taken across the Canadian border, and taken to Rome. Her location may be extended farther within Europe but we need as much help as we can get."

The official who identified himself as Consular Henslee listens to Martindale as he takes quick notes on a paper pad. He looks up at the desperate squad.

"As you are the concerned people of Ms. Benson, we as consular officers will use the information provided by you of the missing person to locate this individual. We will check with local authorities in the country for any possible reports of a U.S. citizen hospitalized, arrested, or any other circumstances. Depending on these circumstances, we may personally search hotels, airports, hospitals, or even prisons."

"Alright, I have updated files on hand here, I would like to be able to start as soon as possible" Broderick said taking a file from Amaro and handing it to Henslee

Henslee opened the file to see pictures of Olivia, Alex, and the unknown man. He studied the pictures closely and stopped when he flipped through to the unknown man's picture. He dropped the file on his desk and turned around to the file drawers. Sorting through several drawers, he took out a file containing a picture of a man under the name of Damien Arsov.

"That man in your file photo, we've seen him before, he's an ex-convict of one of the main so prisons here. He served six years for kidnapping. I believe this is him, we have him under the name, Damien Arsov."