Page 84 of Pin-up Girl

“I’m sure you’ll be okay.”

“Kid, they’re going to hurt me, and they threatened my sister. Please let me out? I can help her if I get out. I can protect her. All you have to do is let me out.” She pounded on the door with the last few words.

She sounded really sad. I wanted to help her, but I didn’t want to get in trouble.

“What did you do to get in trouble?” I brushed my fingers over the doorjamb. If I helped her, I needed to know that it was worth Dad being pissed.

“I was too pretty.” Her voice sounded weird, like she was a robot, or something. “My sister is going to be even prettier, and I have to help her.”

“Okay, I’ll let you out, but you can’t tell anyone it was me. Promise on your life?” I hit the door on my side so she’d know I was serious.

“Yes, please, I promise,” she repeated over and over again.

“Fine, but you have to be quiet, or I’m going to leave.” I wouldn’t really, but she needed to listen.

“Okay,” she whispered.

I ran and got the ring of keys in his nightstand then ran back. It took three tries to get the right key, but the door opened easily once it was unlocked.

A beautiful girl was on the other side. Much older than I had thought, she had to be a teenager at least.

“Thank you!” She kissed me on the cheek and ran toward the stairs and right into the arms of some man I had never seen.

“Beautiful Emma, how did you get out of your room?” His words sounded different, like he wasn’t from here. Harsh, maybe that was a good word for it, harsh.

He grunted as she kicked him between the legs but he didn’t let go of her.

“No! You can’t do this! I’ll tell the police! They won’t let you keep doing this.”

He took the last step up to the hallway and frowned when he saw me. Immediately he turned to the stairs and yelled, “Gregory!”

Emma kept fighting until he took her by the neck and squeezed. Her face turned red, and she eventually stopped struggling as my father came running up the stairs.

“What’s going on, Nate?”

“You tell me.” The strange man jerked his head my way, where I stood holding Dad’s keys in my hand.

Dad’s face fell, as he stared at me. “Oh, no. Jules, what have you done?”

“Your brat doesn’t know his place.”

“She was sad! I wanted to help her!”

“Your son needs a lesson, Gregory. Deliver him to my men. They’ll bring him home when we’re done with him.” Nate carried a kicking, red-faced Emma to the bedroom.

My dad took three hurried steps into the hallway. “We don’t touch our kids, Nate. That’s not how we do things.”

“Ah, but these places are also off limits, are they not? You broke the rules first. He pays, or you pay. And if you pay, you might not be breathing when I’m done. You’ve already caused too much trouble.” He tossed the girl on the bed and shut the door, locking it from the inside this time.

She screamed, and a loud smack quieted her down.

I didn’t hear anything else as my dad took me to the steps and told me he was sorry, right before he handed me to another strange man.

“You let a girl out of the room, thought you could comfort her, maybe even save her. It was just your bad luck she was purchased by one of our associates. I must say, because of that incident, we kept the girls inhouse only. No more friendlies were offered a chance at auction.”

The room tilted as memories assailed me. I wished I could block out his words, but they were loud and clear, each one pelting me with its truth.

“They were Russian. Did you know that? I heard they took you to one of their surgeons in the city to cut your vocal cords, then delivered you home after a good whipping to boot. And that your parents never spoke of that incident again. You know, they sold that house.”

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