Page 95 of Thaddeus

“Where are we?”

“No idea. I was in Tijuana with my boyfriend when they grabbed me.”

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

“The others? Have you talked to them?”

“Yeah. None of them know who, or where, we are. Some have been here a while.”

“A while?”

Panic was bubbling to an all-time high.

“I think I’ve been here three days. Maybe four. I’m not sure.”

I scrambled to the metal enclosure and pressed my ear against it. Nothing. I couldn’t hear a damn thing. I wasn’t sure if that was good or bad, but I had to come up with some way to get out of that box.

“How many times a day do they open the door?” I asked.

“Only when they’re taking someone out. Yesterday, I think, they opened it and grabbed one of the girls. She fought them and it was…it was bad. It hasn’t opened again until—”

“They tossed me in,” I finished for her.

“Yeah.”

I glanced back at the other women and a look I’d seen many times was present on each of them. Hopelessness. They’d given up or were beginning to.

Shit.

“We have to get out of here,” I told her.

“No shit?” she clipped.

“What’s your name?”

“Patty.”

“Patty, I’m Emerson. You’re my new best friend, and me and you, we’re gonna get us all out of here.”

Patty looked at me like I’d lost my mind. Which at that point I probably had. But there was no other choice, we had to do something. We needed a plan before that door opened and one of us was taken out. I had a good idea what would happen if I was pulled from this box, and I wasn’t going to be sold.

I’d die first.

Death was a better option than being put up for auction and dying slowly as I lived out the rest of my life, chained up and being violated.

“You’re crazy,” Patty hissed. “Did you hear me? They beat the hell out of the last woman who tried to fight them.”

“And what did the rest of you do? Sit back and watch? The next time that door opens, no one is sitting still. We all go on the attack. If one person can slip away, they can get help.” Patty’s eyes flashed and I sighed. “Listen, I’m not judging you. I know everyone is scared, but the only way to save ourselves is if we all work together.”

“Why aren’t you scared?” Her eyes narrowed and her question sounded like an accusation.

“I’m scared to fucking death, Patty. I’m so scared of what happens to us if we’re trafficked, I’d rather die in this box fighting than be sold. I know what happens. I’ve seen it. Believe me when I tell you, it is worse than you can imagine. Not only for you, but for your family. So I’m sorry if you think I’m acting a little crazy, but we need to get out of this box, before we all become sex slaves to a bunch of disgusting pigs whose greatest pleasure in life will be to hurt us.

“We all have a choice to make. Do you want to sit here and be a victim, or do you want to fight and be a survivor? Because I’m telling you right now, I will die here fighting for all of us. But I’d rather not. After ten years of misery, I finally found happiness again. I have a great man who’s out there right now searching for me. He wants to marry me, build a life with me, and have babies with me. So, I’d like to be breathing when this is over.”

I hoped like hell I was telling the truth and Thaddeus was out looking for me and he hadn’t come home, found me gone, and thought I’d taken off again. Meaning he’d be furious and hurt. Further meaning he wouldn’t be looking. He’d be sitting in our hotel room seething.

That thought hurt my heart—it was bad enough Thad would be freaking the hell out when he found our hotel room empty, but even thinking about him not trusting how much I loved him killed me. But I’d done that, I’d earned his hesitation. I just prayed he believed in us as much as he said he did and would know I’d never willingly leave him.