Among Wolves (Number 117)

Chapter 3: Linda, The Girl Filled W Broken Promises

"You stay in there, you wretched bitch. You're lucky if we don't kill you for what you've done." The man with a husky voice threw me into something that could only be describe as a piss hole.

What else was I supposed to do? How was I supposed to deal with all this hate pent up inside of me? This betrayal? All this hurt? He made me do it. I had no other choice. He treated me like I was worthless. Used me, paid for me. I was his, but not in the way that I had once wanted to be.

I wanted to hear him say he loved me. That's all I ever wanted. And he knew that. That's why he took advantage of me.

~~

I had always been the prettiest out of my sisters. I was tall and curvy in the right spots. I had long black raven hair and a set of deep blue eyes. My mother said I was destined for great things. I was young and desperate to get out of my home. Mother said to hurry up and find myself a good looking man, with money. A noble if so. That she could no longer take care of me. She needed to take care of my younger sisters. There were four of us. My older sister had married and left the house. She had married a soldier. He wasn't necessarily a noble, but he made a good enough income. My younger sisters were only ten and twelve, and needed my mother, but I had turned fifteen. Old enough to marry.

It was then that I met him. Nathaniel. He seemed so serene with that angelic green eyed look. He certainly dressed like a noble. It all spiraled from there. He showered me with things. As well as his kisses. He promised me the good life. He told me he loved me, ever so much. Too many times, that I actually believed it. Still to this day, even so. Or at least I wanted to. He said our love was true. So I said good bye to my mother, and left home. We traveled miles away from where I had once called home. And never had I felt so happy. To be with someone so lovely. I made all the other girls jealous. I could see the way they stared at us in the streets. He was stunning. With a warm spray of light freckles across his face, and a jaw so sharp and defined. He was tall and walked with such grace and confidence. I felt lucky. And loved. With the way he would pick me up to kiss me. How he looked at me. I had given myself to him. My everything, every ounce of me. Soul, body and mind. It had hurt, but he showed me the way adults loved and with time, I grew to enjoy it. My mom had told me to never give myself to a man before marriage. That my virginity was sacred. I came from a very religious home, but I truly felt like we were soulmates so it didn't matter. I thought  I had found the man I would spend the rest of my life with.

And then all of that changed.

When he brought me here.

He betrayed me. I was stripped of all the love and warmth only to be welcomed by coldness and loneliness. I wasn't his anymore. I had never been. he had dared call me merchandise. He was the son of the broker. The sick mind behind all of this. The one they called Mr. Smiley. I still had no clue as who the monster truly was, but after being here for half a year I had heard rumors that he was one of the most powerful nobles in the world who was by day a politician and business man and by night King of the underworld.

And then I broke. Every sense in me withered and I lost myself. I gave in to the rage that I felt in my once thumping heart.

Because he hurt me, and then he rubbed salt in the wound. He had called me his, and then thrown me to the wolves. Old, repulsive men. Men who weren't him. Men who touched me the way he once had. Every strong feeling in me that I had once felt for him, tarnished. He said he would take care of me, and love me for ever. He was full of nothing but broken promises.

And the hurt grew, when I realized I wasn't the only one. He was married. Married to a lovely girl with eyes bluer, and hair shinier and darker than mine. And what hurt the most, would be when at nights he would come and sneak into my room and single me out of the other girls here. He would grab my hand in his cold one, and lead me to a room. He would tell me he loved me and undress me and make me his again. The first time, the first time he did that, I thought it had all been a sick joke and he was taking me with him. I cried my eyes out to him, and kissed his neck telling him how much I loved him. And he took me in his strong arms and devoured my body. And when morning came, I was no longer in in bed with him. I was alone, and cold and naked. He'd left me.

And he would continue to show up and make love to me once in a while and then drop off the face of the earth until next time. It was then, that I decided no more. I would not let him get away with this. He had hurt me so very much, made a fool of me and wrecked me from the inside out.

It was then that it happened.

He came late at night as usual and took me out of my bed. He was just as handsome as ever. Those green eyes of his like emeralds.

"I've missed you." He whispered in the darkness as he lead me to the special suite. In all reality, the suite was tacky and of poor taste. With a giant red bed, and roses and candles. The entire corny package. And a bucket of ice and a bottle of champagne and two small thin flutes sat int he nightstand besides.

He laid me down thinking it would be the same. He undressed me, and began to kiss my neck. I remained emotionless as his lips ravaged my neck, my chest, my breasts. I breathed in, closing my eyes and blinking tears as I stared up at the ceiling. When had this become my life? I had loved this man so much, and he had taken all that love and used it against me.

Anger blossomed in my chest, and my cheeks burned with it.

"Why Nate?"

He looked up at me, his green eyes ever so angelic but I knew otherwise. He was the son of the devil.

"Why what?" He asked feigning innocence.

I pushed him off of me and sat up, covering my bare chest with my arms and turned my back to him.

"Why did you tell me you loved me, and then brought me here? I would have preferred you knocked me unconscious and done so, instead of being fed lies. Did you enjoy it? Playing with my heart, and then ripping it apart with your bare hands? You must have laughed on the inside, feeding those lies to a pathetic girl. Was it hard to hold your laughter as you looked me in the eye...and told me you loved me?"

" Lin-"

I spun around furiously,"Don't call me that! You don't deserve to call me that! You're a monster! And I hope that you know that I hate you. Every kiss, every touch. It's revolting. I hope that you know that you're going to hell! You'll rot in there for what you've done, Nathaniel."

I was heaving mad when I was done, so his response only made my skin burn up in heat. His bell like, angelic laughter echoed in the small bedroom, and as I looked up at him, the green eyed demon began to make his way to me. It was then that I realized, I was spot on right. This man was a demon.

"My sweet Lin. You were so desperate to fall in love. Can you really blame me?" His hands came down on my face, warm and inviting. But I knew otherwise. His thumb slowly ran over my lips as his cool breath washed over my face. He leaned in and kissed me ever so softly. A kiss so poisonous. And I didn't resist. I let him have a little taste of me. The last.

Behind me, the bottle opener laid ever so innocently on the night stand. I wrapped my cold fingers around it and unfolded it.

"I'll see you in hell, Nathaniel." I whispered into his kiss.

He pulled away to look at me with a devilish grin that would have made my heart flutter a while back.

"And why is that?" He arched an eyebrow.

I looked him dead in the eye,"Because murder is a sin."

He looked at me bewildered for a second or two and then when he realized it was too late.

I jabbed the cork screw deep into his chest with every ounce of hatred and strength in me.

"I'm not your Lin anymore, Nate."

~~

please do let me know thoughts on this book. I know I'm introducing a lot of characters but I'm trying to show the horrors of human trafficking. Thanks.