ROMEO (book 1)

53. DELILAH

Who hijacks an ambulance?

Mafia men, apparently.

It isn't Lorenzo, they aren't speaking Italian. It sounds like Polish that they're speaking but some guy was also speaking Russian so I have no idea.

I just know I'm in a basement with my arms tied behind my back and feet restrained. It's very cold down here. I didn't expect it to be warm but I also didn't expect it to be cold.

The paramedic was going to take me to the hospital to get looked over because I kind of just froze from shock, as well as my extremely high blood pressure.

Romeo took two bullets for me. He's probably in surgery right now.

Who's going to come and get me?

He probably can't even walk for the next couple of weeks or so.

The door slides open and another girl gets thrown in here. I've never seen her before. She's a pretty black girl.

They kick her like they did me, kick her until she's right beside me on the wall. "Don't look at me like that." The man says.

I lower my head.

He leaves.

The girl looks at me, "Let me guess, you're 19 years old, a student at NYU and have no tattoos."

"How did you-"

"My friends went missing and I wanted to do my own research because the police are useless. I think they're taking us to a trafficking ring. I'm nineteen. I study criminology at NYU. I have no piercings. It's the same with all the girls going missing."

"They hijacked an ambulance." I look away. "They shot the two paramedics and took me."

"They just drugged me." She stretches her arms, "Why are you restrained?"

"I don't know."

She leans over and unties my legs first, then my arms. "My names Kasey."

"Delilah."

"I pretended to be asleep when they were dragging me through here. There's fifteen men from the front door to here."

"Too many." I close my eyes.

The doors open again and two more girls get thrown in.

Both 19. Both NYU students. Both had no tattoos.

How on earth did I end up in a trafficking ring?

"They must watch us before they take us."

"My boyfriend is a high-end criminal. If they watched me they would have known that and would have stayed away." Everyone is scared of Romeo.

"Who's your boyfriend?" Kasey asks.

"Romeo Reign. Tall, blonde guy."

The door opens before she can respond and the guy looks at me. "Where's Reign?"

"Who's that?"

He crouched down, grabs my neck and squeezes, "Where is Romeo and Matteo Reign?"

I gather saliva in my mouth and spit it at his face, "None of your damn business."

He slaps me right across the face, "Stop playing games. Tell me where he is and I'll let the girls go."

"I'm not stupid." I clench my jaw, "and I don't know where he is. You decided to crash into my ambulance remember?"

He gets up, walking away.

"You have nerve." Kacey holds my face in her hand.

I have given up.

I do not care what happens to me anymore, nobody else cares so why should I?

I move my face away, leaning my head against the wall as I close my eyes.

Six more girls get thrown in, then they hold chlorine rags to our mouths until we're unconscious.

I woke up in a cage, opposite me there was another cage and Kacey still asleep. I didn't have the energy to walk, so I crawl over to the opening and see there was an entire room full of cages, women in these cages.

When we went to prison, I interviewed the guy that participated in a trafficking ring. He said that they didn't go for people with tattoos, piercings or evident scars because their easily identified.

I touch around my nose, all of the metal was gone from it. I was still fully clothed which meant they hadn't seen my scars yet.

If they do, are they just going to kill me here? Get it over with? Or are they going to dump me back on some streets in New York.

I could hear some of the cages being opened and closed again. A man gets to mine and he opens up, holding white material in his hands.

He forcefully removes me from my clothes, groping my body as he does so. I haven't ate in two days, I have no energy to fight back.

He pins me against the cage and presses the front of his fully clothed body against the back of my completely naked body.

The girl beside me looked teriffied.

He pulls the shirt over my head and makes sure to cup my breasts, "Put these on." He throws the shirts at me and walks away. "Fifteen has scars across her back, stomach and thighs." He shouts, then moves onto the next girl.

I had to turn around, because he raped her right in front of everybody.

Another guy walks into my cage and lifts the shirt up to look at the scars. He doesn't say anything, just looked at them and takes notes, then walks away.

They took all my jewellry and shoes off.

The most haunting sound was hearing the girls scream 'stop' and 'no' as the men twice their size forced themselves on them.

I didn't know what time it was whenever they bought trays of food down here. There was an apple, a sandwich and a bottle of water.

I eat the apple, as much of it as I could. It was only a couple of bites. I take the water too. I was too weak to twist the cap off so I couldn't do much.

The next day, more girls get raped, some girls get taken out of their cages; only a few return. I'm right by the door.

The day after that, they take me out of the cage.

They put shackles on us like we're criminals and lead us to a room.

In this room, there's masked people. I can tell they're rich by how they dress.

They put us in a line and let the men look at us, touch is if they wish, then they pick the ones they want and the rest of us get sent back.

Nobody wanted me.

I was laying on the bed when my cage opened again. A woman walks in this time. She looks at my face and body and then nods her head and the man closes the cage with her inside.

She cleans me with water and a sponge.

She changes my outfit for me.

She brushes my hair and teeth.

She opens a bottle of the water I've been collecting. "Someone has eyes on you and is willing to pay a good amount." She holds the water to my lips. "So I need you to look your prettiest."

A small glimpse of me hoped to God that Romeo found me.

But then she leads me out and takes me to a special room. An old Asian man walks in. I have never seen this man in my life.

He grabs my face, "pretty. very pretty, I like her a lot."

He has a Korean accent.

In Korean, I say, "this isn't very ethical of you."

His eyes light up, but then they fall again. "I don't want her anymore. You didn't say she was Korean."

The girl tries bargaining but it was useless. He didn't want someone that could understand him.

She lets the men beat me when I'm put back in the cage.... And they laugh while doing so.

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word count: 1277