LIAM (Book Two)

THIRTY-SIX

I don't know how long it has been since Devin kidnapped me.

Hours. Days. Months?

I have no clue since there are no windows to see if dawn has risen or nightfall, no clocks to tell what the fuck time it is. They have taken my phone and purse after the abduction.

I've eaten a little to keep my stomach from growling and feed my baby.

I'm disgusted with myself. Sick to my stomach to think I will kill myself with the baby. I kept apologizing to it. Sings lullaby. Even tell stories to kill time to show how much I love him.

I was sitting on the couch facing the fireplace in the room. I didn't bother to look when the rustle of locks was heard and see who was at the door.

I know Maria came back with a tray of food. Set it on the table.

"Maria, what time is it?"

"It's nighttime," she answered weakly.

I snort.

Of course, she wouldn't give me the accurate time. Devin will punish her. The fresh bruises on her arms and legs are shown. Nothing on her face tells me he wanted her face unmarked.

"You know, you could do better than stay with Devin," I began to say.

"Señor DuPont saved me."

I look out the corner of my eye. "Saved you?"

"My mother was a prostitute, and my father, I don't know who he is. My mother sold me for pesos for her drug addiction. I was only seven." I could hear the sadness in her voice. "A man from America, who my mother sold me, would make me dress up, comb my hair, and in front of the camera, he would command things to do stuff with him, and then his friends would do the same. I was raped repeatedly, and no one was there for me."

"How did Devin save you?" I asked.

"The man that bought me beat me senseless and called me useless. Before I could get my last beating, Señor DuPont rescued me, and I'm devoted to him."

"Are you two having sex?"

Maria stayed quiet.

I didn't need an answer when she already gave me the reaction.

A young girl who can be my younger sister. I would not let her be near a man like Devin. He might have saved her from getting beaten by the man who bought her but sleeping with another older man who can be her dad isn't much of a haven for her.

I can't persuade her that she can live a better life than having sex with a middle-aged man. Being assaulted by plenty of men at a young age made her walk down that path.

I rose off the couch, facing her. "Devin may have saved you, but you should consider your future." I step closer to her. She hugged the tray against her chest. Scared. "Girls your age should go to school, hang out with friends, go to school dances, go shopping, meet a boy, and fall in love. That man who bought you ruined you, and Devin saved you only to make you his little slut."

"You don't know Señor DuPont the way I do!" Maria snapped at my face. I insulted Devin but felt I did it toward her. I could see the love for the man who could take away her life.

I need to add oil to the fire.

"I don't know him?" I scoffed and grinned. "Did you know he and I were about to get engaged set up by my grandmother?"

"Liar! Mentirosa!"

"Devin isn't the savior he says he is," I told her. Maria looked away, frustrated. "He kidnaps and traffics young girls around your age. He has them induced with drugs and lets them have sex with men to get babies, and then he will sell those babies into the black market for other perverts to play with and use them throughout their lives."

"You are crazy! Loco! Estás inventando mentiras." She practically screams. "Señor DuPont will never do that."

"Really?"

"Yes." She backed away. "I have a son."

"Where is your son now?"

"He lives in another house. One of Señor DuPont's aunts is taking care of him."

"When was the last you saw your son."

"A long time."

"How long?"

"Three years." She replied. "After Señor DuPont rescued me. I was already pregnant and ready to give birth. After my son was born, Señor DuPont told me he would have to live separately from me because I was still young. But he promises that I can take my son with me to live here once I turn seventeen."

Devin took Maria's son away because she was too young to raise a child for whom she was still a child. She has not seen her son for three years because Devin gave her son away to some pervert, not an aunt. But she doesn't know that.

If she were to find the truth, she would be heartbroken.

"You lived with Devin for a long time and didn't notice?" I licked my dried lips and brushed my hair back. "Okay, how about this? Why am I here? Do you know?"

"Señor DuPont says you are a special guest."

"Special?" I wanted to laugh. Laugh that this is all a joke. "What kind of host put his guest in a room away from everything? No windows. No clocks. No one to talk to. Nothing. I'm no guest, Maria. I'm a prisoner. Devin abducted me because he wants what I can exchange for taking something from him."

Maria gave me a look.

"I fell in love with a boy who had been tormented by Devin when he was young. That boy and I are having our first child. Don't you understand Maria, he wants my son. My unborn son." I feel hurt and angry, and scared. Tears fell from my eyes. I grabbed Maria, piercing my nails to her skin. "He wants to see my baby boy, who I will never get to meet, to love and to raise with his father and our family. Please, help me. I'm about to give birth soon, and I don't want to have him brought up here. So, please, Maria. Help me. Let me out of here."

Maria shakes her head. "I-I can't. Señor DuPont will be mad at me."

"If you come with me, you will be safe. The father of my child and his family will come to look for me soon."

Maria glances her brown eyes at me. "How do you know?"

"Huh?"

"How do you know the baby's father will be looking for you?"

I smiled at her. "Because he loves me. Our love is too deep to know. He must have figured it out. I've been missing and going loco." I chuckled.

Maria stayed quiet and avoided eye contact. "No one ever looked for me. I was all alone for a long time. I was never loved. Señor DuPont is the only person I'm loyal to."

"Maria, come with me. And I promise you, the life there is much better than here." I begged her, holding her hands together, squeezing them.

I want her to make a choice. Forcing her to leave her savior with whom she has sex isn't better than what she can have if she goes to this place. She's so young and fragile. I felt sorry for her life with a prostitute mother and sold when she was seven to a man in America. Maria has been passed down around like a favorite doll to different men to play with until the other is bored.

I need to get out.

I have to leave this place.

I have to think of a plan that can risk everything.

Before, my son was born in a place isolated from the world. Before Devin takes my child away. I need to convince Maria what kind of man Devin is. I hope my voice can reach her. She has been used as a sex slave, a toy. I must convince her Devin is not some holy man who rescued her. He may seem nice to her despite the bruises he gave her, but if she were to stay longer and learn the truth about her son. He will kill her.