CHAPTER FOUR

ALICIA

The knock on the bathroom door woke me up. I scanned the room, trying to remember where I was. My back was sore from sleeping on the ladies room’s floor.

“Occupied.” I said with a sleepy voice. I unlocked the door and headed to the sink to wash my face. There were two ladies who were taking selfies and admiring themselves in front of the huge mirror that was in front of us. They didn’t pay attention to me. I left them in the ladies' room and left the train station.

It was a sunny morning. The streets weren’t as busy as the previous night. There were few people in the streets. The smell coming from the different food stands on the street made me nauseous. The heat from the sun drained the little energy that I had. I had nowhere to go and I couldn’t call Ms Jones, I had left my luggage and phone at the club. I was very hungry and tired. My feet were swollen from walking for hours without shoes the previous night. Roaming the streets was the only thing that made sense to me at that moment, I wanted to clear my mind and I had some hope that I would get some help, maybe from someone who understood English.

I started to feel better and forgot about my issues for a moment. The dancers and singers at the busy street that was a few blocks away from the train station entertained me. They had lovely voices, and their songs were awesome, although I couldn’t even tell what their songs were about because I didn’t know Spanish very well. Their dance moves were entertaining, and I was impressed by the way they played their instruments. Everything was going well for that moment, until I saw Luke and two guys I had seen at the club before.

Shit.

It was obvious that they were looking for me. Luke saw me in the crowd but didn’t say a word. He acted like I wasn’t there. My heart was beating faster than the speed of light. I was scared to death but also happy to see that Luke was still alive after helping me escape. Luck was on my side that day, I was able to escape before the other guys could see me. The crowd made it hard for Smash’s men to spot me. I opened the door of the restaurant that was across the street and took the first seat that I saw. I used the menu to cover my face. I had a hard time breathing; I was so scared and couldn’t hide it.

I saw Luke and the other guys walking away from the crowd, and some relief settled in me. A lady—who I believed was a waitress approached my table with a glass of water on her hand. She placed the glass on the table and stared at me without saying a word.

“Hello…” I didn’t know what to say to her.

“What is wrong? Is everything okay?”. She looked worried. She was a beautiful lady with long dark hair, hazel eyes, and pink lips. For some reason, it felt like I had seen her face before but couldn’t recall from where.

“I am from America. I came here thinking that I got a job but that wasn’t true. I’ve lost everything, and I am homeless. Please help me...I need a job.” I felt like an idiot for telling a stranger my business. I instantly felt so stupid and wanted to swallow what I had just told her. What if she worked for Smash? What if she was also dangerous? These questions were racing all over my mind, but telling her my problem felt like I was doing the right thing. I had to get a job for me to survive, and I felt like she was the only person who was going to help me.

“I’m really sorry.” She had some sympathy for me. It was all written all over her face.

“We already have enough workers here, but you can work for me if you don’t have a problem. You will help me with the house chores ‘till you get your life back together.” She was an angel sent from above.

“Thank you so much!.”. I released a sigh.

“I’m Lisa, by the way. I’m the owner of this restaurant.”. I thought she was a waitress.

“I’m Alicia…nice to meet you.”

I waited for Lisa to finish what she was doing at the restaurant, and then we walked to her Condo. It wasn’t far from her restaurant.

Lisa’s Condo was very beautiful, cozy, warm, and had a very nice view. It had a lot of windows that made it bright and welcoming by allowing more sunlight inside. Almost everything in her Condo was White, with a touch of rose gold and grey. It was very neat, and it kept me wondering what my job was because the condo was already clean. I was happy and felt safe. Lisa showed me around her Condo, and we spent the rest of the evening talking about basic things and getting to know each other.

Lisa was a very bubbly, friendly, and very open person. She was very kind.

Two weeks passed. I was more relaxed and was so grateful that Lisa played the role of a sister in my life. I wasn’t her helper anymore, but her little sister—that’s how she made me feel. She got me a new phone to call Ms Jones. She was worried about me because she wasn’t able to communicate with me for about a week. I didn’t tell Ms. Jones about what was truly happening in my life. Stressing her was the last thing that I wanted to do to her. She had helped me in the past, asking for her help again wasn’t on my bucket list.

Lisa tried so many times to take me out, but fear kept controlling my life. I was so scared of getting captured by Smash’s men. I spent most of my time indoors. I always came up with lame excuses when Lisa tried to take me out with her friends, but on Lisa’s birthday, I had no other choice but to go out with her friends to celebrate her birthday. I had a bad feeling and was afraid, but after everything that she had done for me, I wanted to support her on her birthday.

We celebrated Lisa’s birthday at the club. The club wasn’t far from Lisa’s condo. It was packed with people, and the music was really loud—it wasn’t a place I wanted to be.

Lisa and her friends were enjoying but I wasn’t feeling so good, I knew that something bad was about to happen to me. I wanted to join Lisa and her friends on the dance floor but got stopped by the incoming call from Ms Jones. I had to take her call just to let her know that I was fine and to make sure that she was okay. I went outside and stood a few steps from the entrance, but I couldn’t take her call. Two guys in black suits were waiting outside, staring at me. I knew them very well—they worked for Smash. I took my heels off and started to run, and those guys chased after me. The short dress that hugged my body made it a little bit hard for me to run faster. One of the guys grabbed me by my waist and walked with me on his shoulder toward the black van that was down the road.

I screamed, scratched his face and hit him but he didn’t react, he kept walking toward the black van. The front door opened, and Smash got out of the black van. He wore his daily theme—A white T-shirt, white pants, and red sneakers. He slapped me so hard that I fell to the ground. I got a little dizzy from the slap.

“How dare you?”. He was furious. He looked like he was ready to kill me. He looked at me like I was his worst enemy. I was in deep shit.

“Put her in the fucken car!.”. They forced me in the back of the car but I wasn’t willing to just give in so easily.

“Help! Somebody help me!”. I tried to fight them, but one of them hit my head with something heavy, forcing my knees to be loose, and finally succeeded in putting me at the back of the van. I could still see and hear everything that was happening, but I was very weak and couldn’t release a single word from my mouth. I knew that I was going to faint, or even die any moment.

‘’Hey! Let her go!” The voice didn’t stop the car from moving.

“Alicia!. Let her go!”.

Damn.

I knew that voice very well. I knew that it wasn’t a dream, it was him.