Page 6 of Cruel Promise

My education? Over. Jason and my other friends at school? I’ll probably never see them again. My mom? Dead.

So, there’s no point in fighting.

My father drives us into New York City, which takes just over an hour. In that entire time, neither of us speaks. I don’t try to escape, and he doesn’t try to hurt me again.

I grew up in this city. I always thought it was magical as a little girl. People everywhere. Central Park being home to fairies. Cute cafés and bookshops on every corner.

But as an adult, I see New York City for what it really is—pure ugliness. Dark and damp and trash everywhere and people who don’t help others. People who are so preoccupied with their phones that they don’t see what or who is right in front of them.

My father never allowed me to have a cell phone growing up, so I never had experiences with social media. And now, as an adult, I’ve avoided it since I found it overwhelming.

It was just another way for my father to control me. And I hate that he’s still controlling me.

Eventually, he pulls up before an elegant-looking members-only club. Instead of going through the front door, he takes me around back.

A man opens a back door. He has a weasel quality to him that sets me on edge “Is this her?”

“Yes. But before I hand her over, I want to get paid.”

“You’ll get paid by the man himself. But we’ll take her in the meantime.”

Father tightens his hold on me. “No. I want to get paid now.”

“That’s not how it works. Only once he has her will he pay you.”

These two men are talking like I’m not even here. How can people treat others this way? How can my own father?

“Fine,” he grits out. “Take her. But I expect to get paid.”

“You will.” Weasel man grabs me, shoves me inside, then closes the door on my father’s face.

“Please, just let me go,” I beg. We’re standing in what looks like a storage room full of boxes.

“Begging won’t get you anywhere, little girl.” He forces me down a hallway and into a dark room. In the middle of it is a cage.

I back away. “No. Please. No!”

He sighs as ifI’minconveniencinghim. “Let’s just make this easy, shall we?”

Before I can react, he punches me in the face, and everything goes black.

I wake up in the cage.

I call out for help, but no one responds because no one here wants to help me.

When the sleazy-looking man appears and tells me it’s time for the auction to begin, I know I have to confront what happened.

My father sold me for money.

And my mother is dead because of it.

Sleazy man opens the cage and pulls me out. I take one look at the open door and make a run for it, but he grabs me and locks my hands behind me in cuffs.

“You’re not going anywhere,” he growls. “You’re going to make us a lot of money.”

He pushes me forward down the hallway and through a door that leads onto a stage. In the middle of the stage is one chair, and it’s meant for me. He locks me to the chair by my hands and ankles so there’s no way I can escape.

Before me is just darkness. The spotlight on me is so bright, I can’t see anything. But I can sense there are people here, and they want me. They want tobuyme.

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