Ava tried to stop her sobbing. She couldn’t stop the tears or the fear, but she continued crying in silence. The men had opened the garage door and they were now backing out, avoiding hitting her car, and started driving down the road. Ava was left with her fear and a pit in her stomach as she wondered where they were taking her.
They drove for what felt like hours to Ava. But as they never left the city it felt unlikely. At some point, her tears stopped, not because she had resigned to her faith but out of sheer exhaustion. She had been tired when she arrived home, and now as the adrenaline started to wear off, she was left feeling like a balloon that had lost its air, empty and deflated. Her two captors hadn’t sad a word since they had left her house. In her mind she had dubbed the short one Mr Tiny and the other Mr Muscle. It made the situation feel less intimidating. T was just a coping mechanism, but t served her well. The car slow down. From Ava’s point of view, it was hard to see anything other than the top of the buildings and the night sky. But she could hear the steady beat of club music and the occasional shout from people. Ava perked up, if there were people around, she could be rescued. She had a firm belief in the inherent goodness in people. You would think after three years working in the E.R, her rather naive worldview would have faded. But she found examples every day of the good people did for each other. She, therefore, was convinced if she only could let the people outside the car know she needed help, they would provide that help. She just needed to figure out how to let them know she was there. As she was thinking, the car pulled in to what looked to be an alley, judging by how close the walls of the buildings were on each side of the car. Mr Shorty turned around and gave her an intense look. Ava would rather not think about what was in that look.“You better be quiet, bitch, if you know what is good for you. If you try to scream and someone comes over to check on you. I will put a bullet in them. Do I make myself clear?” he asked. Ava felt herself go pale. There went her plan right out the window. She would never endanger another human being like that. She nodded. “Looks like the bitch finally understood she shouldn’t speak,” Mr Shorty laughed to his friend. Mr Muscles chuckled as both of them got out of the car. Ava tensed up and she felt the adrenaline kick back in as the back door opened. Someone cut the zip ties from her ankles and hauled her up and to her feet. Her legs felt stiff after being folded into an uncomfortable position for so long. No one cared as Mr Muscle pushed her forward, her hands still tied. They were indeed in an ally, Ava noticed. It was wide enough for the car, but not much else. Further down there were a couple of dumpsters and three flickering lamps on the side of one of the buildings that provided some light. They were headed toward a green steel door, the only door in sight.
Mr Tiny knocked on the door, and after a moment it was opened by a blond man in a dark blue suit. He looked like he came right out of a board meeting. Even through the fear and panic, Ava could see he was a mouth-watering man. The kind of man that made women go crazy. He looked at her, without meeting her eyes and one of his eyebrows shut up.“I thought you two went out on a collection round,” he said in a cool voice. Ava wanted to plead for him to help, to not let the other two men take her away. But he seemed to know them, she had a sinking feeling that he wouldn’t help her.
“Does it look like we come back empty-handed?” Mr Tiny told the blond hunk. The blond man looked down at Mr Tiny, Mr Tiny didn’t even reach to the blond man’s shoulders. The blond god looked at Mr Tiny for a long while, all that could be heard was the steady beat of the music coming from the building.
“Take her to the counting room,” the blond man said, and Ava felt all hope die. Mr Tiny and Mr Muscles grinned, and pushed Ava through the door and into a long, white corridor with doors on both sides. “Untie her hands and wait for me,” the blond man said as they stopped in front of a door. He took out a security card and held it up to a reader by the door and entered a number sequence. The lock clicked and Mr Tiny pushed it open. Ava was roughly escorted into the room and the door closed behind them with a thud. To Ava, the sound was the final seal of her faith. She had no chances left to escape. Mr Muscle took out a knife and Ava jumped. He chuckled and cut off the restraints around her wrists. Ava brought her arms forward, rubbing her wrists and starting to feel the blood flow being restored to her arms. Her right shoulder, the arm that Mr Muscle had wrung behind her back, ached. She didn’t think it was badly injured, maybe a small tear in the muscle tissue or a stretched-out ligaments. As Ava rubbed her wrists, she started backing up, making sure she had an eye on both men. They were watching her as the back of her legs hit the table that was standing in the middle of the room. Ava carefully followed the shape of the table, never looking away from Mr Muscle or Mr Tiny. The blond god had not joined them in the room. She got to the edge of the table and started backing up again, putting the table between her and the two men.
“Come on now, poppet. No need to be scared of us,” Mr Muscle grinned. If Ava wasn’t already scared beyond her mind, that grin would have scared her senseless.
“Yeah, bitch, we are nice,” Mr Tiny agreed.
“Stay away,” Ava told them with a clear wobble to her voice.
“The little bitch has found her voice again,” the short man taunted.
“Stay away, don’t come near me,” Ava repeated, desperately.
“But we need to test the merchandise,” he told her with a broad grin.
“W-what merchandise?” Ava asked and looked around to see what she could use to fend for herself. The room was empty besides the table in the middle. On top of the table, there were a couple of pencils, a bill counter, and a stapler. Ava hated her life at that moment.
“You, you are the merchandise, poppet,” Mr Muscle informed her.
“Are you crazy? I’m a person not a thing,” she screamed at them.
“Bitch, you are a person that we will sell to other persons. You will make them enjoy themselves for a while and then it will be the next person’s turn,” Mr Tiny told her. “But first I need to sample you, we need to know what price to set,” he grinned and started moving towards her. Ava had moved beyond panicked at this point. They were going to sell her body to men to have sex with? The thought of it made her sick to her stomach and cold out of fear. No, she couldn’t let that happen. She needed to do something, anything. Ava could not let that vile human who was moving toward her rape her. He was revolting and cruel and she hadn’t waited for the right man to have sex with for him to be her first. She recognised she there wasn’t much she could do. But she needed to try. Something snapped in her, and she picked up the bill counter from the table and hurled it at Mr Tiny.
Zane walked with determined steps through the nightclub. He had been in his office on the third floor when Jax had called him and asked him to come down to the counting room. Zane knew Jax wouldn’t have asked if it wasn’t something that Zane needed to deal with. He was still irritated to be interrupted and whoever had caused it would be facing the consequences. Zane smiled as two women called for him to join them. He didn’t have time to stop and talk, but he let his eyes move over both of their bodies. He made a mental note he should go back after he had handled the situation. He came to the door that led to the back area of the nightclub, he held his card up to the scanner and entered his code. He sighed as he stepped into the white corridor and relaxed as the sound of the music and the people muffled as the door closed behind him. The nightclub was a good investment and a good base of operations. But the noise of it could drive the sanest man mad. He walked along the corridor, spott
The man was clearly expecting Ava to answer. She nodded without meeting his eyes. “And your name is?” he asked.“Ava,” she told him in a thin voice.“Ava Cobler?” he wanted to know. Her name had never sounded so beautiful before, it surprised her. She almost forgot to nod. “My name is Zane Velky,” he introduced himself, holding out a hand. Ava’s eyes grew bigger as he heard the name. Oh no, not that, anything but that, she thought. “You have heard of me,” he smiled, he sounded satisfied. Ava nodded. Everyone who lived in the city knew the name Velky, it was the largest mafia group in the state with its centre in the city. And Zane Velky was the head of the family, the don, the big boss, the huge honcho, the Al Capone of the modern world. Ava felt her panicked brain spin out of control. “Calm down, angel,” Zane told her and placed his hand on her shoulder. His thumb went down in front of her throat. If he squeezed, she would be struggling to breathe, Ayya realised, but somehow his han
Zane looked at the trembling woman before him. His men shouldn’t have hurt her, they definitely shouldn’t have made the deal with her uncle. And they would pay for that. Zane didn’t believe in keeping his men at a short leech or babying them. But he had four rules everyone in the organisation had to live by. His word was law. They didn’t hurt women and children. They didn’t deal with human trafficking. No one was to sell drugs to children. The four rules were enforced with ruthless strictness. What his men had done to Ava was a violation of rule number two and a clear attempt at breaking rule number three. But this angel in front of him didn’t know that. Zane’s need to possess her had only grown. Her innocence was like a light in the night, and he was the moth. He needed to possess her, to corrupt her. He smiled his wicked smile and saw her tense up. She may be innocent, but her instincts were strong.“We need to get our money back and that is one way,” he shrugged.“How much does he
Ava felt her gut clench for the hundredth time since this conversation started. Was she really considering this?“Angel, any man that hangs around you will be interested in getting you in his bed unless he is insane. I don’t want you around crazy people,” Zane told her with a smirk.“And if he isn’t interested in women, if he is gay?” she asked. Zane looked at her with surprise. “I’m guessing you have a particular man in mind?” he said. “My best friend,” she nodded. “And you are sure he is gay?” Ava couldn’t help herself but smile.“I’m sure,” she nodded.“I could allow it if you agreed to let my men or me be present when you met, at least at first.” Ava nodded. She didn’t like the idea, but it was betting than losing Gabriel all together. If she would have to give hm up, it would have been a deal breaker.“I do have to treat male patients,” she told him.“What do you work with?” he asked.“I’m an E.R nurse,” she said, she was proud of herself for her work.“It won’t be an issue si
“Boss,” the mountain greeted Zane as Ava got into the vehicle. There was a second man in the driver’s seat. “Tom,” Zane greeted the mountain before getting in and taking his seat next to Ava. “Boss,” the man in front said.“Ryder,” Zane nodded. “Everything good?” the man called Ryder asked.“We should have no issues,” Zane said as he placed an arm around Ava. She jumped at the touch. Zane shot her a disapproving look. Ava took a moment to regret the fact she had never learnt to swear. She felt like this situation could have used a couple of good swear words. But she couldn’t really seem to use them even in her own mind. As the car started and she once again found herself in a black SUV with gangsters, without knowing her destination, she forced herself to relax her body. Fudge, fudge, fudge, she repeated in her head. Ava focused on the city passing by outside her window. She wondered if her aunt and uncle had got free from their restraints. She shouldn’t care. After all, it was her
Zane’s lips were as soft as his kiss was rough. The contrast did interesting things to Ava’s mind. She felt him drag his tongue along the seam of her lips and she couldn’t help but let out a small moan. Zane took the opportunity to invade her mouth. His grip around her neck getting more forceful. Just as Ava lost herself completely in the kiss he ended it and took a step back. She almost stumbled at the suddenly empty space where he had been. “Better than a handshake. Now, angel, I show you your bedroom,” he told her in a dark voice. There was a promise in the voice that terrified Ava. She was his now, he could do what he wanted with her. He led her to the door he had pointed out as hers. He pushed her up against the closed door and kissed her until her mind went blank again and all she could think about was his lips against hers. Zane felt his desire grow as he pressed Ava against the door. She tasted of lemons, and her soft lips moved in perfect sync with his. As he used his teeth
Ava was awakened by a light knock on the door. She was confused for a moment; she didn’t recognise the sheets, or the bed, or the room. Last night came back to her as a freight train mercilessly ploughing through her sleepy mind. There was a second knock on the door. Ava sat up and called for them to enter, making sure the cover was up around her waist. She had been sleeping in her tank top and panties since she didn’t have any of her nightclothes. The older woman from the night before walked into the room with a smile on her face.“Good morning, miss Ava,” she said.“Good morning, Anna,” Ava replied. At least she thought that was the woman’s name. The smile she got back had her thinking she had been right.“I have some new clothes with me and some make-up,” Anna told her and put the bundle she had in her arm on the dresser. “Thank you,” Ava said.“Not at all. Let me have a look,” Anna said, walking up to Ava and turning her head to look at Ava’s cheek. Anna made a tutting noise. “Ba
Zane looked up at her.“Say whatever you want,” he told Ava. “Obviously I can’t say I’m your girlfriend. How about I tell them you hired me as a private nurse?” she pondered.“Why is it fucking obvious you can’t be my girlfriend?” he asked. She thought he sounded angry, which confused her. Were her questions irritating him?“Because you told me yesterday it wasn’t what this was. I can’t go around telling people you are my boyfriend and then pretend to turn a blind eye when you pick up other women. Anyone that knows me know that isn’t what I would do,” Ava explained. “Right,” he said. But he didn’t sound happy. Maybe he just wasn’t a morning person, Ava thought. They sat in silence for a while longer. They had both finished eating when the two men Ava vaguely remembered had driven them from the club last night entered the dining room. “Ava, this is Tom and Ryder. They will take you shopping and anything else you need. Just let them know where you need to go and they will make sure y