Page 83 of Choices

Vitale will find his mutilated body right back at the docks where we found him and not blink an eye. But everyone needs a delusion, right?

The cellar door creaks open, but I ignore it. My current masterpiece is my sole focus. That is until Rico and Matty jump into action.

"Get her out of here!" Rico shouts and my stomach bottoms out. There's only one 'her' it could be. A cold sweat seeps from my pores as my biggest nightmare plays out before me. Matty moves in front of her, blocking her from seeing me at work. But it's too late.

She's here for book club. Why did we leave her alone? She should never have seen this side of us.

Hannah wretches almost onto Matty's leather shoes but he jumps back, his arms flying out to hold her shoulders. She waves him off of her and a sense of dread I've never experienced before settles over me. It feels worse than the day Rico found me. That day, I didn't have much to live for, so dying wasn't that dreadful. Hannah? She's giving me love, life, a purpose, a family. Which means I have a lot more to lose now.

This is it.

It's over.

The love of my life. The womanof my dreams. The angel who saw me and gave me back my life has seen the worst of me. She'll never want me now. She'll be disgusted, appalled, and she'll reject me. I close my eyes and turn away. I'm a coward. I can't see the horror in her eyes. I can't see the judgement. She saw my scar, my muteness, my virginity and never judged. She knew my story and what I do but she never judged. But knowing and seeing it first hand are two different things.

I look down at my hands, covered in blood, holding the knife. My hands start to shake but I ball them up. Our creep notices the change in the atmosphere. His beady eyes bounce from Rico, Hannah, Matty, and myself. Before he smiles.

I level him with a glare.

Matty and Hannah are conversing in harsh whispers. "You should really go back, Princess. You don't need to see this."

"If I'm going to be a part of your life, I need to be in all of it. I need to see all of it."

Please. Please, no, Hannah.

Rico grips my shoulder tightly, giving me a look like 'trust her', before stepping back and looking behind me.

I hear Hannah's small footsteps and smell her heavenly lilac perfume. The perfume she wears for me. And I swear my heart cracks a little.

It's silent for a beat while I gather the courage to turn around. The rest of the room is silent except for a steady drip-drip-drip of blood, and the wheezing as our creep breathes through a broken nose.

Suddenly, I feel small hands slide into thefront pockets of my jeans and I let out a breath. She's touching me. Willingly. At the very least, she's not afraid of me.

"Oh, this is rich." Creep chokes out. "Where'd ya'll pick up stay-at-home Barbie? You think she won't see this and turn you in? She's not a part of this life."

We all ignore him. He's grasping at straws, trying to exploit any perceived weakness we may have.

"Do you know what her being here means?" Matty asks. "It means you don't leave this room alive enough to tell anyone about her. Got it?"

The creep has the audacity to at least look surprised. He had hoped he would get out with a beating and a warning or a message. But seeing our girl? We can't risk anyone knowing about her, and creep realizes it. He blanches even more.

"What did he do?" She asks, her voice tiny.

Rico answers on my behalf. "He works at the docks where Vitale imports trafficked women and children."

A shudder runs through her that I feel through my back and she pulls me closer to her, her breasts pushing into my back.

"It's not like we pick them up off the street!" Creep squeals, his voice high and tinny. "There's a farm. They're bred for it."

Suddenly, Hannah's warmth vanishes and she runs to the wall. She throws a hand against it and heaves, once, twice, but nothing comes out. Matty rushes to her side and rubs her back.

"I'm alright."

She turns to the creep. "What do you mean 'they're bred for it'?" The creep latches onto Hannah, hoping that she'll be kind and soft like she appears. I know our girl, though, and she's imagining the poor women trappedin a 'sex trafficking farm' and she's about to burn the world down.

"There-there's this place in Russia. They take the prettiest girls and they breed them. Then the kids are raised up and sold when they're old enough...sometimes when they're not...if the buyer..." The creep's eyes widen and he realizes how much he divulged in the hopes of a woman's mercy.

"And you just, what? Guard the dock? Keep track of shipments?"

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