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SARAH CRIED OUT IN shock as two older women poured cold water over her head. She shivered, frantically trying to cover her head and face with her hands. The Mexican woman who’d brought her food earlier stood off to the side, talking rapidly in Spanish.
“Clean! Take off clothes!”
Tears smarting her eyes, she trembled as the women poured more water over her head.
The women began pulling at her sweatshirt, and she swiped at them, backing away as she wiped the water off of her face. Her wet hair hung around her, and now her clothes were soaked as well.
“Undress! Need undress!”
“Fine, fine,” Sarah finally muttered, pulling the soggy sweatshirt up and over her head. She knew she looked ridiculous standing there in her bra and oversized sweatpants, but a part of her was relieved to be semi-clean again.
Shivering, her eyes darted around the cellar and she wrapped her arms around herself. Why couldn’t they have taken her somewhere else to bathe? Certainly, there must be a bathroom or something in whatever house or building they were keeping her in. These women all appeared to be clean and groomed. Did they live here? Work here?
Sarah watched in horror as they tossed her sweatshirt off to the side, leaving it in a soggy pile on the cold floor. What was she supposed to wear?
One woman gestured at her sweatpants, and Sarah shook her head, no. She wasn’t about to completely undress in front of them. Wet sweatpants or not, what if the men came back? She wasn’t about to stand down here buck naked.
The door to the room rattled, and her mouth dropped open in shock as it opened and another woman was pushed inside. She was thin and frail, wearing only an oversized tee-shirt, and her eyes widened in surprise as she took in Sarah.
Sarah didn’t miss the dark circles under her eyes or hollows of her cheeks. She looked like she hadn’t slept well in weeks or been fed or cared for.
“You must be new here,” the young woman said, her voice hoarse. She coughed once, and Sarah realized in shock that she sounded American.
“Quiet!” the older Mexican woman admonished, hustling toward her.
Grabbing some clothing from the other bucket she was carrying, Sarah realized they had dresses for each of the women to put on.
“What’s going on?” Sarah asked, her voice trembling. She almost didn’t want to know the answer. As horrible as being locked down in this dimly lit room had been, no one had harmed her. Bathing and dressing her did not look to be a good sign.
“Today. We move you today,” one of the women said, grabbing onto the newcomer’s arm and bringing her over to where Sarah stood.
Sarah gaped as the woman turned, and she saw a huge bruise across the back of her thighs. Apparently resigned to the situation, she pulled the tee shirt up and over her head, standing there naked as the women poured water on her. There were small bruises covering her back and stomach, and Sarah wondered what had happened to her. Had she been beaten? Raped?
Her ribs were practically poking through her skin, and Sarah wondered how long the woman had been in captivity.
She averted her gaze, not wanting to stare.
She was lucky no one had actually harmed her yet, but what had happened to this poor woman at her side?
Sarah squealed as one of the women tossed cold water on her from behind, feeling it run down her bare back.
Why the hell were they attempting to bathe them this way? When she escaped—which she would, because there was no way this was her new life—she was going to take the longest, hottest bath of her life. Heck, maybe she’d never get out of the bath. Ryan would hold her in his arms and—
Splash!
She yelped as more water ran down her back.
Shivering, Sarah took the dress the woman shoved at her and took a step backwards. Her wet hair hung limply around her face, and her soaked sweatpants were practically falling off.
The very last thing she wanted to wear was this tiny dress with its thin straps and barely enough material to cover her ass. It was better than running around naked though. Moving to the far corner, she pushed down the wet sweatpants and quickly pulled the dress on. Her bra and thong were wet, but there was no way in hell she was taking them off.
She cringed, realizing she’d been wearing the same undergarments for days.
She wanted to thoroughly wash her hair, brush her teeth, and forget she’d ever been in this horrible place. Looking over, she saw the second woman pulling on her dress, too, and it hung loosely on her frail body. The older women were already gathering their things, readying to leave.
“What’s happening?” Sarah asked. “What’s going to happen to us?”
The newcomer shot her a look, and the three women grabbed their buckets and walked out without so much as a single word. Sarah heard the door locking behind them and then turned to the young woman.
“Are you okay?” Sarah asked, her heart clenching as she looked at the clearly injured woman.
“I’ve been here for nearly a month,” the woman said, looking resigned to the situation. “They beat me when I wouldn’t do what they wanted, and the one guy held me down and—”
She broke off and looked away as Sarah gasped in horror.
The woman brushed her blonde hair back from her face with shaking hands, trying to wipe away her tears.
“I’m Sarah. I was kidnapped two days ago—I think—from a hotel in Virginia Beach. They drugged me and somehow got me on an airplane down here. I mean—I was awake by then, but they must’ve bribed people at the airport or something.”
“I was at a nightclub in Miami,” the woman said. “I was with another girlfriend of mine, but I have no idea what happened to her. I’m Alyssa.”
“Are there other women being held here?” Sarah asked.
“I’m not sure. No one knows where we are,” Alyssa said. “The first few days after we arrived in Mexico, they kept moving me from building to building. I saw some soldiers or something—Americans—that were looking around, searching, but they didn’t see me.”
“Oh my God. Well, maybe they’ll come back,” Sarah said hopefully.
“Nah. They’ve moved me around since then. I don’t know what happened with the original men I was with, but I haven’t seen them since. I think they took me far away from the first place though. We rode for a while in a car. Even if they’re searching for us, those soldiers won’t know we’re here.”
“Oh.”
“They’re selling us,” the woman said, her eyes shining with tears. “Only one man has raped me so far—only one,” she said sarcastically. “As if that makes it okay. He disappeared though right at the beginning.”
“We’ll get out of here,” Sarah assured her. “I don’t know how, but we’ll do it.”
Wiping tears from her eyes, Alyssa sank to the ground. “I hate to break it to you, but we’re never getting out of this. Even if they moved us and we somehow snuck out or jumped from a moving vehicle, some other guy would just get us. There’s too many of them.”
“I’m not letting them sell me off like some sort of possession,” Sarah said sharply, her heart pounding.
Alyssa looked at her, her own eyes sad. “We don’t have any other choice.”
