AllFreeNovel
Share Us
1
ELENA
My time is running out. If I don’t make a move soon, I’ll be doomed to a life of degradation and abuse by a husband with no honor or morals. Leaving is dangerous for so many reasons. I have no money of my own and few skills. My father and would-be husband would see my leaving as an act of betrayal punishable by death.
On the outside, I appear to have it all—wealth, beauty, charm—but I’m a prisoner.
I first learned of the termgilded cagewhen I was about ten years old and overheard two of our family’s servants talking about it in terms of me and my older sister, Lucia. It didn't sound positive, so I looked up the term and discovered it referenced a wealthy person's prison. At the time, I didn't understand why the servants would think Lucia and I were in a gilded cage. I didn't feel imprisoned. While my parents weren't affectionate, my nanny was. I spent most of my day playing, reading, and enjoying my life.
It wasn't until I turned twenty and I watched my father ship my sister off to Italy to marry a Don who was older than my father that I finally understood what living in a gilded cagemeant. No matter how much my sister begged my father, she had no say in the matter. It was punishment for thinking she had a choice in the man that she would love. The young man she'd been caught with who prompted my father to send her away was found dead just before she left.
I understood then that while I lived in the lap of luxury, I had no agency. I also discovered the type of man my father truly was. He wasn't just a ruthless businessman. He was a Don, and no one, not even his children, had any power in the Family.
In the three years since my sister was sent away, my powerlessness has become more and more evident. My father doesn’t care about my interests or my goals. I’ve been groomed to be a Mafia wife. I know everything about being submissive to a man… well, everything except pleasures of the flesh. I find it odd how men want a virginal woman for the purposes of sex. Worse, virginity is a commodity for my father to barter with or sell. My sister’s actions not only brought shame to the Family, but they reduced her value in my father’s eyes. His grip on my life tightened, determined to keep me innocent and at top price.
My life is the very definition of living in a gilded cage. Today, I spend all my time and energy figuring out how to escape my prison. I live in a family with wealth, but I have no assets, no money to survive on my own. My only escape at the moment is through the classes that I take in computer science. Of course, I had to lie to my father to get the money to take the courses. I told him I was taking cooking and other homemaking classes so that I can be a good wife. What I really want is to learn a skill that will allow me to support myself.
But my time is running out. In two months, my father is marrying me to Romeo Abate, a man who is known to take pleasure in hurting women. It’s rumored that at least two of the women in his life have disappeared, and everyone suspects they’re dead. I can’t live a life like that, but I’m not prepared toleave. I haven’t been able to save enough money for everything I need to escape. I need funds to travel, including getting a passport. I’ll need money to change my name. It takes money to eat and find shelter. My plan so far is to get to Italy and pray my sister and her husband will protect me. It’s probably naïve. More likely, her husband will ship me back home. But I have to hope that Lucia can help me.
I walk out of class, realizing I didn't catch any of today's lesson because my mind is filled with the terror of becoming Romeo's wife. Desperation is consuming me. I have to find a way out.
I stop by the coffee kiosk before leaving campus. Caffeine may not be the right thing to have when I'm already feeling anxious, but I need a moment to think.
I stand in line behind two women I've seen around campus but haven't ever had a class with.
"Look at this." One woman pulls out a flier from her bookbag and hands it to the other woman.
The second woman scans the page and rolls her eyes in disgust. "Just when you thought women had earned equal standing with men, here they are, dragging us back down."
I lean to the side a little to see what has sparked her comment. The page is a flier for a club in New Jersey that is auctioning off virgins. I may have been sheltered, but I understand sex. In particular, I understand that men value virginity, although I can’t fathom why.
"Why would a virgin want to prostitute herself?" the second woman finishes.
"I heard the last time they did one of these, one of the women made $20,000."
My jaw drops.
"It's still prostitution."
"I thought you were all for women's freedom. If that's what she chooses to do, shouldn’t that be her choice? Her body, her choice, and all that?"
The first woman has a point. In my current situation, I have no choice. My life, along with my virginity, is being given by my father to Romeo. I don’t know the terms, but I know there’s some benefit for my father.
However, I can take charge of my life and get the money I need quickly by selling my virginity myself.
"Are you even a virgin?" the second woman asks.
The first woman shrugs. "I don't know that they check you for those things. All you gotta do is act like you don't know what you're doing. Look innocent and confused. Let them fuck you and walk out with thousands of dollars."
"I think I'd rather knock off a liquor store."
The first girl laughs. "You're such a prude sometimes."
When the girls finish ordering, I step up to order my coffee and then hurry to my best friend's apartment. Kate, like my studies, is outside the Mafia world, or “The Family”, as my father refers to it. To hide what I’m really studying, I store my books at her place. It’s also near where I pick up a to-go meal and repackage it at her place to bring home as an example of something I made at school. Today, I skip the stop at the restaurant and head straight to Kate’s.
"Hey, girl, how was class today?" Kate asks as I put my bookbag in the corner where I normally leave it.
"Do you know anything about virgin auctions?"
