Page 5 of Rising from the Ashes

That weak girl is dead and gone. Now, I am determined, focused on my mission.

If my faceless angel would not have pulled me from my fiery hell that night, I would not be standing here now, fueled with rage to hunt down my father and make him pay for his sins.

Never again will I let anyone take advantage of me.

Kneeling down in the dirt before me, I pull the last lush burgundy flower from my purse, plucking the flower from its thick green stem. Crushing the petals across my grave, I let out a breathy exhale and repeat to myself.

There is a new version of myself being reborn.

A desire burns within me,

I will not falter nor fear what lies ahead,

as I have already died.

Chapter two

Calista

My eyes flutter open as I feel drops of water on my skin. My head feels like it is in a vice, pounding behind my eyes. I recognize where I am.

My father’s old factory. The factory he uses for his persuasion room.

I attempt to sit up, until I realize my wrists are bound together in large cuffs connected to the metal post bolted to the wet concrete floor. Struggling against the cuffs, the sounds of the chains rattling against the floor echo off the walls.

Once my eyes have adjusted to the dim light, I see my father standing before me with Silas at his side, grinning.

“Now, my little phoenix, why did you have to go and run your mouth?” My father sneers through gritted teeth. “You see where your disobedience landed you?”

He waves his hands around, motioning to the room.

“Father…What?” My disorientation begins to fade as realization hits me that my father is not the man I once thought he was.

“This wouldn’t have to happen if you would have kept your mouth shut, Cal,” Silas pipes up.

My eyes shift to the man standing before me, his eyes dark, void of emotion. Void of the love he once felt for me.

“But instead, you had to let Demassi know about my little plan to take over his share of the docks.”

Finally succeeding in sitting up, I struggle against the restraints, “You can’t shuffle women in and out of the city. Selling them against their will.” My voice begins to crack, “You’ll turn Edinburgh into a cesspool.”

Turning to Silas, I ask, “H-how can you be okay with this?”

“Money talks loud, Cal.” He grins as multiple men walk into the room, “Now you’re going to experience what these women will feel, before you die.”

My father chuckles as he exits the room, “Make it quick.”

Bile rises in my throat as the first man pushes me down against the hard cold concrete. I close my eyes tight as he pulls my leather pants down, trying to catapult my thoughts to any place other than the reality before me. I fail miserably. The cries of the chains clanging resonate through the room as they rake across the cold concrete floor. My back grinding against the loose rocks on the ground with every thrust of their bodies against mine. Turning my head away, I let the tears fall.

The last man in the room decides to prove a point and flips me over onto my knees. They scrape against the hard concrete as he leans over and whispers in my ear, the smell of rotten alcohol filling my nose.

“I don’t want someone’s seconds.” He slaps my ass and snarls, “I want this.”

As he invades a part of me not even Silas has explored, I try like hell to mentally go to a place that isn’t here and now.

When he is through with me, he walks out of the room. Silas walks over to me with a cigarette lit in his hand, leaning over my used body. “I already know what you feel like, and I don’t feel like getting my dick wet on your used pussy.”

Grabbing a bottle of liquid, he pours it around the perimeter of the room. The smell of lighter fluid invades my nostrils.

---