Traded

4- I can't believe this shit...

"So what do you think about my home?" he asks as the car stops before the mansion.

"Oh, it's gorgeous! It is so big." I replied to him, not even trying to hide my admiration of his beautiful home. It was so big. He was obviously very rich. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad if I lived in such a magnificent home.

"Thank you, I am proud of my home." He says, climbing out of the limo, then climbing out myself I notice a big garage in the back. He turns to the guy who has just walked out of the front door, "So this is Samuel Parker, my chief of security here. He is escorting you to your room!" He says, flashing me his pearly whites.

I turn and smile at Sam and follow him into the huge house, inside the entryway I see an impressive staircase but he doesn't head that way. Instead, he leads me to a side hallway where I notice he pauses outside a door. I watch as he pulls out a key from his pocket and immediately wondered why it was locked. I got a bad feeling that wasn't sitting well with me, so I turn around and start running for the front door at full speed; I wanted to escape as fast as possible.

When I got to the front door, I smashed hard into a brick wall of a chest, and two strong arms engulfed my body. I looked shamelessly up into his face, and I couldn't stop the tears from falling down my cheeks as he looked down at me angrily. He held me there so forcefully that I could not hide. "Where the hell are you going?" he growls at me.

I swallow some air before answering, "I was trying to escape from here." The truth would be best for this situation since he was holding me down. I watched as his eyes turned a darker shade of brown.

He clears his throat, saying, "You won't be going anywhere as long as I own you, as long as you owe me all that money. As long as I own you, you will stay here and do as you are told." He growls, handing me over to Samuel.

"Take her to one of the empty cells and don't feed her for the day; we're going to let her starve, for now, maybe that will teach her her lesson." I stare at him with wide eyes as he turns and walks away without another look at me.

I look up at Samuel in shock as he drags me through the door, heading down a staircase down into darkness. It was then I realized he was leading me down these wooden stairs into the basement of the home. I disliked basements because they were always creepy. Once we went down below, I noticed all the cages, and inside the cages were lots of people. They seemed of different ages, and the first thing I noticed was that they were all women or girls. "Welcome home!" he chuckled a bit.

"What is this? I thought he told my Dad he would take care of me?" I demanded and tried to move out of his grasp, but that just caused him to tighten his hold on my wrist.

He laughed as he continued walking past several of the cages, "Oh and he will, you will earn your keep like everyone else here. He doesn't favor any of the girls here because they are beautiful. So get some sleep, sweetheart, because 7 am comes pretty early and that's when you'll start work just like everyone else."

"What?" I stare at him.

I tried to stay quiet as he walked past more cages, getting to one in the corner of the big room. He opens it and shoves me inside before closing the door again and locking it with his master key. I watch quietly as he walks over to two men who seem to be guarding the cages, I realize he was probably telling them what Milo said. That I was not going to be fed today for my escape attempt. Then he turns back to me and raises his voice, "Seriously though, get some sleep while you're down here." he says as he walks toward the stairs with the keys. I look around and see a single cot next to the back wall, with a single blanket and a single pillow. Looking around at all the women around me I noticed that there were many of them in a cage, and I wondered why he would put me in one by myself. I was certain to learn soon enough, but I was not pleased with Milo's accommodation in this whole deal.

I noticed the pretty girl in one of the neighboring cages, and I walked over to that side of my cage and asked her name and age... "It's Tessa, Tessa Black! I am 17 years old. How old are you?" She asks me. Her smile felt sweet and genuine.

"I'm Naomi Clark and I'm 18-years-old. How long have you been here?" I asked, serious in my goal to find out.

"Oh, I've been here for three months already. My mom borrowed some money from Mr. Hawthorne and they worked out a deal, and now I'm stuck here working that debt off for my mom." You see she's in a wheelchair and can't do the work herself, so I'm here. And if I don't do everything he asks then he will kill her and then sell me off to his client who deals in Human Trafficking. That is pretty much why most of us are so young!" She exclaims and my eyes widen when I hear what she has to say. I wonder if my Dad knew what he did with the people he traded for money.

"How much do you have to work off?" I ask.

"My mother borrowed around $300,000, and I have repaid about $7,000 of it now in the past three months," she delighted, it was as if she was so proud of herself.

I stare back at her in wonder as I realize what she just said, "Really, wow! Apparently, my dad owed him and a few others quite a bit of money. Milo told me it was more like 2 million, so I am thinking I'll be staying here for a while," which astonished me since I doubted any of these girls owed just as much money as I did.

"Wow, that's a ton of money, girl... I think you should sleep. Since this is your first day, it can be rather stressful if you are not used to hard labor. You are going to need your rest," she says, as she smiles back at me and lays down on the hard, cement floor. I noticed there were 4 to her cage and only two cots. Wishing I could trade her, I turn around towards my cot and climb in so I can do as she just told me. As I closed my eyes, I wondered what my Dad was going to tell my sisters when they woke up to find me gone. I wondered if he would tell them the truth, that he traded me so that he could be debt-free. None of this was fair to any of us who are stuck here with this monster paying a debt that was never ours in the first place.

As I felt myself start to finally drift off, I heard the click of the lock. Turning my head to the door, I sat straight up as I saw Milo and Samuel standing there, staring at me, just inside the door. Milo's big brown eyes glowed with lust, seeing him against the light, I could see just how handsome he was. That dark olive skin, built lean body, and dark brown hair. His square jaw made him look dangerous with its ruggedness. The expensive suit he was wearing looked very nice, and I could feel the butterflies in my stomach as again his eyes traveled up and down my body as if he were assessing me. Not knowing what to do I send him a friendly smile, hoping that would make him say something. "Hey," he says with a playful smile toward me.

I stare up at him, "Hello Milo."

I watch as he grits his teeth before growling, "It's Mr. Hawthorne to you!"

"Oh, I am sorry." I sigh and narrow my eyes at him. I was wondering why he was watching me so closely like that.

"I guess that's fine, but I think I know what I am going to do with you. Please follow me." Samuel says calmly as he turns and walks out of the basement, and I watch with confusion as he gestures for me to follow him up the stairs. I rush forward to keep up and follow him into a large office on the ground level of the mansion. The office suited him well, I noticed as he sat in the big leather chair behind the big oak desk in the center of the room. The walls were painted in a dark color, and the floor was painted with reds with wood tones all over the room. It made it feel very comfortable. He smiles at me as I sit down in the chair in front of the desk and says, "So I have decided that you will be my personal servant inside my home."

I look at him with wide eyes, "P-personal S-servant?" I stammer a bit.

"Yes... my personal servant! Your duties will be special and personal to me. Besides cleaning my private spaces like my bedroom, which I never let anyone enter, you will tend to me, to my person. You will draw me baths, start my showers and help me decide on what to wear for the day. If you make me happy, I'll give you a big reward. Do a good job and I might upgrade your accommodations even more than I already intend to do from now on. Do I make myself clear on your role?" he asked, flashing me his pearly whites, and I couldn't help but wonder what he was up to.

"Wait, you want me to do everything for you personally? But why?" I ask in total shock, as it dawned on me what he had just said.

I watch as he smiles at me and clears his throat, "Well, to be honest, I'm having a hard time keeping you down with everyone else. It is just not sitting well with me, I have spent the most on you, so I have made you a job to keep you close to me so that I can get to know you. "The absolute best part of this is that you can't really say no right now." He smiles at me again, and I stare at him without knowing what to say. How could he be serious about all of this, I just got here, and he keeps a bunch of girls in his basement, and I'm the only one he doesn't feel comfortable keeping there?

"Can I ask you a question?" I ask him.

"Sure..." he replies.

"Did my Dad know?" I almost whisper it out.

"Know about what exactly?"

"Did he know what you do to the girls you trade for the money you borrow out? Did he know that I would be slowly earning the money back from him?" I stare straight at him.

"Nope, no one does. I make all the same promises to everyone." he laughs.

"What?" I was shocked. I gulped down some air, glancing down at my hands feeling a little awkward I start to fidget with my hands. "Are you going to kill him if I refuse to work for you?"

He pauses before answering that question. "Yes, my dear Naomi. You have no choice, you must do as I say! After all, I own you!" He says harshly and laughs a bit as he speaks; I swallow some air as he speaks. I flinch a bit from him as he stands up and walks around the desk.

"Oh, okay, I'm sorry," I murmur out to him as he stops to the side of my chair.

"It's okay this time, but moving on..." he starts.

"Wait? What accommodations are you giving me?" I interrupt him.

"Oh I'm giving you a special one, you'll see." he smiles and holds out his hand towards me. I stare up at him for a moment before accepting it. I let him lead me out of the room. "Follow me, I'll show you what I mean," he said, tugging lightly on my hand as he led the way. I followed him down the hall to the stairs, taking the stairs up to the second floor. He walks up to a set of double doors and pauses before opening them to reveal an amazing bedroom.