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They all hurried toward the mouth of the alley, a few hanging by the door with guns pointed directly at it. They took off out of the alley and into a couple cars parked along the street, the tires screeching as they took off. I launched to my feet, taking off down the other end of the alley. I didn’t stop running until I was blocks away from the club, ducking into another abandoned alley. I pressed my hand to my chest, my breathing out of control.
It took a while before I felt like I could move. I’d glued my back to the wall, my eyes constantly darting in different directions. I was certain that the men from before would pop up out of nowhere and take their revenge. That never happened, and once the adrenaline wore off, exhaustion hit me hard. I stumbled down the alley, finding a spot in a little alcove that looked clean enough to sit. Not that it really mattered. I couldn’t remember the last time I felt clean. I sat down, resting my forehead on my knees, and tried to figure out what I’d gotten myself into.
Desperation led me to this point. The point where I felt loyal enough to someone to put my safety at risk. That made me stupid. I never seemed to learn. Pulling the phone out of my pocket, I didn’t bother looking at the message. There was a dumpster not far away, and I chucked the phone inside without an ounce of hesitation. Never again. I wasn’t going to put myself at risk. Especially for a man. No amount of money would be worth the consequences.
* * *
An entire month went by before I ran out of money again. I tried again and again to find a job, something to supplement what little I had left, but no one was willing to hire someone without an address. Someone who didn’t have the basics when it came to paperwork. No copy of my social security card, no ID. Even if I had those things, I couldn’t use them without being found. I was a ghost and ghosts made terrible candidates for jobs.
Eventually, the money ran out and so did my hope. Nothing I did made it any better. I had no future, and I felt so alone, even surrounded by people as I walked down the street.
I found myself back in that alley by the club, scrounging for something to eat. My brain had convinced itself that I’d left something behind the other night, a can of food or something. Not that it’d matter. It’d been so long, there wasn’t a chance that it was still there. I felt stupid peeking around the dumpster, hoping to find something to eat.
“I was wondering when you would come back.”
Jerking upright, I whirled around. I recognized him right away and my stomach hit the floor. I didn’t notice him when I showed up, and yet it looked like he’d been sitting there for hours. He lounged so casually against the door to the club, like he’d been waiting for me this whole time. The security guy from the night I sent the video to Viktor. He looked the same as I remembered him, a cigarette dangling out of the corner of his mouth, a deep scowl on his face. My first instinct was to run, but when I darted toward the opening of the alley, another one of the men from that night appeared out of nowhere.
“Now, now, little one. Don’t be that way. If you run, we will have to chase you. Don’t make things more difficult on yourself. You were the one sticking your nose into other people’s business.”
The security guy approached from behind me, both of them trapping me on either side. There was nowhere to go, and I didn’t have any fighting experience to protect myself. I could sprint, if needed, but there was no way I could outrun them, even if I found an opening.
A whimper worked its way past my throat, and the security guy chuckled. “I love it when they cry.”
The other one grinned. “Think we can spend some time with her first?”
The threat made me panic, and I darted forward in an attempt to dodge past him. He caught me easily and tossed me backwards, straight into the arms of the security guy. He grunted and tossed me to the ground. I landed on my hands and knees, tears stinging my eyes.
“Fuck. She stinks. No way in hell am I touching that.”
If I had room to feel embarrassed, I’d be ashamed of his comment. Since it worked in my favor, I was grateful for the extended period without showers.
The smaller one made an irritated noise. “Well, shit. That just ruined my fun. Let’s get this over with then. Plenty of beauties inside I can slip a little something to.”
The first kick got me in the gut, knocking the wind out of me and making me collapse into a heap. They didn’t give me enough time to catch my breath before the next one came. I curled in on myself, the pain overwhelming me. Time lost all meaning and when blackness overtook my vision, I let it take over willingly.
This was what I got for trusting a man. Maybe in death, I’d learn the lesson.
I had no idea how long I was out. Long enough for them to stop hurting me, but not long enough for them to leave me alone. They argued back and forth about who had to be the one to drag me to the car. I wasn’t fully awake, not enough to run or anything. Just enough that I could hear them, even though everything sounded muffled.
My body screamed as they moved me, dragging me by the arms to a car nearby. No one seemed to notice or care what they were doing as they dragged me into the back seat. The security guy must’ve pulled the short straw because his voice was the closest, complaining constantly about being forced to sit next to me.
I assumed they were going to kill me, maybe dump my body in the river or something equally awful. I didn’t have the strength to swim. I’d drown instantly. So when I was pushed out of the side of the car and hit the pavement, it surprised me. I let out a quiet groan, unable to move to protect myself from the fall.
“Tell your boss that we’re coming for him,” one of them shouted before the car squealed away.
Every inch of my body hurt. I struggled just to open my eyes and what little I could see, I didn’t recognize. It looked like a construction site. I didn’t know where I was or what would happen to me next. Whatever street we were on was empty, not a soul in sight. No one to call for help. I should have been grateful. I couldn’t go to the hospital anyway, but the unending loneliness on top of the pain was soul crushing, and I felt tears slip over my cheeks.
I must’ve done something horrible in a past life to deserve this. Whatever it was, I hoped it was worth it.
ChapterFive
I’d criedmyself to sleep at one point, slipping into blissful unconsciousness to block out the pain. Waking up was slow, my brain feeling sluggish. It wasn’t until I felt my body being moved that I woke up completely, the pain doing an excellent job of chasing the sluggishness away. I twisted and jerked, trying to do what I could to avoid more agony.
“Stop! Stop! You’re hurting her!”
“Gabi, get back in the car,” someone snapped.
“Look at her face! She’s in pain! We should call an ambulance. You’re making it worse.”
