Protettore.

Chapter 1.

I woke up and groaned in pain. My whole body was sore, and I could see I had several bruises that littered my body. Last night had been another rough one and I couldn't help but cry silently, thinking about what my life might be if I could only get out of this damn house.

After my parents died, I had been sent to live under my uncle's care. He had a drug and gambling problem and would occasionally take frustrations out on me if things didn't go well for him at the casino. He made my life miserable. He pulled me out of school when they started asking questions and he told the state I would be home schooled so they would stop snooping. I can't remember the last time I had a proper meal, and he would beat me for every little thing. I thought the beatings would be the worst of it, but he proved me wrong.

He had taken out a loan with some pretty dangerous people and came home one night with his face completely black and blue. He had given me a beating to match his and then locked me in my room for two nights. When he opened the door again, he dragged me by my hair down to the basement and told me to wait. The unfinished basement had exposed walls and a concrete floor, but he had cleared out all of his junk and replaced it with a queen-sized bed. He placed a cuff on my ankle and chained me to the bed. That was when the men started showing up. He had started selling appointments with me to men to help him pay off his debt.

I heard his footsteps coming down the stairs and immediately tried to stifle my crying. He couldn't stand seeing me cry. He said he'd never seen anything uglier. Crying was all I did when this all started. A man complained to my uncle once, and he hit me so hard, both of my eyes were swollen shut for weeks.

"Did you have a good evening pet?" he sneered at me.

"Yes sir." I mumbled, not meeting his eyes. I was only to look him in the eye when ordered to.

"Now I have some very important men coming over to see you tonight, so we're going to let you have a bath. Won't that be nice?" He was standing right in front of me now and I could feel my hands trembling. I hated bath days. He bent down and unlocked the cuff that sat around my ankle. My skin crawled as his fingers lingered on my skin. Before I knew what was happening, he slapped me across the face, one of his rings catching me under the eye. He snatched me up by my hair and I cried out in pain. "When I ask you a question, I expect an answer. Now, wouldn't it be nice if you had a bath tonight?!" he roared in my face.

"Y-yes sir!" I responded as quickly as I could. I could smell the drink on his breath, though there was almost never a time that he was sober these days. I tried to push my head back into his hand to relieve some of the pressure on my scalp. He gave my hair one final yank, throwing me onto the concrete floor. My scalp was throbbing, and I couldn't help the tears that collected in my eyes. Don't cry Nora. Things will be worse if you cry.

"Get your ass over there." He pointed to the corner where there was a drain and a hose set up. The icy spray stung my skin, and the high-water pressure highlighted all my cuts and bruises. This was one of the only times I was uncuffed for an extended period of time. I tried to run once, but I didn't get far, and the consequences were bad enough, I never tried again.

When he was done, he threw a towel at me, and I dried off as best as I could. We finished my bath just in time. The doorbell rang just as he cuffed me back to the bed.

"Now you behave down here. If you embarrass me in front of these men, it will be the last thing you ever do." He warned, and with that he hung the key to my cuff on a hook above the door and headed upstairs.