Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 59521 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 298(@200wpm)___ 238(@250wpm)___ 198(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59521 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 298(@200wpm)___ 238(@250wpm)___ 198(@300wpm)
Joel grunts, again, sounding pleased. “Good, keep it that way. If chaos unleashes, this whole plan will be ruined. Those girls are worth a fortune and if anything goes wrong, you’re going to suffer for it.”
“Understood.”
“I’ll check in again later tonight. No more calls until then.”
The line clicks off. I feel nausea climb my throat, not from seasickness or alcohol this time.
What the fuck is happening?
What does he mean we’re worth a fortune and we are being sold for money? Where the fuck are they taking us? Is this some sort of brand deal? Are they selling us to some kind of dancing institution? I don’t understand. Surely it doesn’t mean what it sounds like. My heart is slamming against my ribcage, but I know I need to move. If the captain opens the door right now, he will see me, and I will have no excuse for being here. I backpedal, soft as I can, until I’m around the corner, my breath coming short and sharp.
Bile burns my throat. I want to run to my room, lock the door, but instead I hurry up to the deck, praying Aggie’s still there, because I don’t know what the hell we’re supposed to do now. If they’re going to sell us, that can only mean one thing, right? Trafficking. Why would my father sell his only daughter, though? Maybe I got it wrong, either way I need to talk to the girls about it.
Aggie’s on her phone, muttering curses at the dead connection. When she sees my face, she sits up straight. “What happened? You look like you saw a ghost.”
I drop into the chair beside her and try to keep my voice steady. “I just heard the captain talking to Joel.”
“Joel?” Aggie repeats. “As in that sniffling little rat of an assistant your father hired?”
I nod.
“Aggie, they’re not taking us wherever we were supposed to go. They said something about a transfer and selling us. About us being worth a fortune. About security making sure we stay put.”
Aggie blinks in confusion. “What? You’re not making any sense.”
I take a shaky breath, pressing my hands together in my lap and tell her everything I just heard. Her face twists, and I wonder if that fear is the same one that is washed over my own features.
“I...I don’t really understand. They’re selling us? Are you sure that’s what you heard? Maybe they have done some sort of deal for us and our dancing?”
I stare at her, not wanting to believe that is even possible, and yet, deep down, I know it is. Girls get kidnapped and trafficked all the time. But by my own father? He is a horrible, cold man but would he truly sell me just like that?
It doesn’t make sense.
“I honestly don’t know, all I know is that I heard what I heard. They said they couldn’t believe my own father was selling me. What else could that mean?”
Aggie’s eyes grow a little sad. “I’m scared.”
I nod, taking a shaky breath. “I know, me too. But we have to do something because whatever is waiting for us at the other end, is really bad.”
Aggie pushes to her feet. “Let’s find Tati, we need to get the fuck off this yacht.”
She’s not wrong.
The only problem is, how?
3
“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU talking about?” Tatiana cries, sitting on the end of the bed with her hands on her lap, staring in horror.
I know how she feels; I myself still feel numb.
“Look, we don’t know for sure what’s happening, but it doesn’t sound good,” Aggie tries to reassure her.
“You think?” Tati mutters. “They’re going to fucking do something awful to us.”
My heart skips a beat.
“Do you think we should talk to the security guys?” Aggie goes on, taking a deep breath. “Maybe they can help.”
“We can’t risk it,” I say, shaking my head. “We just can’t. I’ve seen the movies where people go to the wrong man and end up in more trouble. We don’t know who is in on this, and who isn’t.”
“How the hell are we supposed to get off this fucking boat?” Tatiana pushes to her feet, her eyes frantic.
She doesn’t handle stress well at the best of times.
“I don’t think getting off the boat is a good idea. We have no idea where we actually are. I think we need to reroute it, try and get somewhere, anywhere but where they’re taking us,” I suggest.
“How do we do that?” Aggie asks. “Hold a gun to the captain’s head?”
I raise a brow.
It’s not a bad idea.
“We don’t know how to fire a gun,” Tati squeaks. “Besides, where would we even find one?”
“We need a weapon, at the very least,” I say quietly. “Something to make the captain listen.” I feel the idea settle in my chest with icy certainty. “We can do it. We just have to be smart.”