My new husband.
1835 Words
I swallowed hard and started to tear up.
" Please don't cry, I can't take it. I am glad she fired you, it made me see who she really is.
I too saw her in the shadows last night. I'm so sorry. I wanted to say, I love you Josephine Brennan.
When you sent me that text the other night on accident, saying that you loved me. My heart was filled with joy. I know you meant to send it to your father, but Jo...I love you."
I was sure he was lying.
" Stop Charles, I can't play games like this. I'm not like a sophisticated girl, I'm sensitive."
I was crying, I didn't want to be, but I was.
" I wish you would have had my baby, all I can see is how much losing that baby must have destroyed you. Jo, I will make it all up to you. I promise you.
I can't break things off right here on the cruise, it wouldn't be right. But I swear to you my love, when we get home....I'm done with her. I promise you.
Here, take this as a sign of my love for you. For you alone."
He gave me a gold bracelet.
On the inside it said our initials. CH loves JB forever.
" When did you do this?" I asked.
" After you left my apartment that night. I knew I was in love with you then. I had it made for you." He smiled.
I stood to leave, it was all too much.
He pulled me into the corner of the little shop and tenderly wiped my tears away, he slowly kissed me.
Lana Hill was watching us, she knew it was over for her and Charles. I didn't see her then, but it must have been the catalyst that sent her over the edge. Soon she would destroy me, my whole life.
I held Charles very tightly and nodded, feeling hope and...joy.
" Now, go be with your folks and stop sulking my love." He left me there.
I thought I saw Lana there, talking intensely to a man. They moved away into the shadows. I went after them.
" Daniel, Daniel Jackson?" I yelled. He stopped cold. Lana was nowhere around.
" Oh hey, how are you?" He smiled.
" You on another day off chef?" I asked him, suspiciously.
" Oh, I quit. I can't stand the inferior food they make me serve." He looked around as if he was expecting someone.
" Well, I guess I'll see you later then, or not." I laughed as I adjusted my new bracelet.
He licked his lips and stared at my wrist. " Yeah, sure. Ok."
I felt weird, like he wasn't at all who he portrayed himself to be. I shook it off and went to find mom and dad.
I didn't know the true Daniel then, nor that he was actually arranging my kidnapping. Lana had paid him well, I was sure.
___________
As evening approached, I went to the beach for a special party put on by the cruise ship. Mom and dad were dancing. I smiled, seeing them so happy now. I was sitting at the bar, drinking soda.
The sun dipped behind the trees and it began to get dark. I wondered if Charles would try to get me alone. I hoped so.
Lana sat next to me, she grabbed my arm roughly.
" Sorry I can't let you leave Mexico. I have a great surprise for you Jo. I saw you with Charles, I know he thinks he loves you, I'm not blind."
She nodded at two men near the entrance, they walked towards me. One of them was Daniel. The betrayer.
" I need the money, Jo. Nothing personal really." He advanced towards me now.
I jumped up to run, too late.
They placed a rag over my mouth and dragged me off into the darkness.
"Wait!" Lana yelled. "The jewelry, I want that. My little souvenir."
She smiled as she took my bracelet from my wrist.
She slapped me, hard.
They covered my mouth again with the dirty rag and injected me with drugs.
I was officially kidnapped in Mexico. Sold into the s*x trade by none other than Lana Hill.
_____________
Four weeks later...
Being in bed with a strange man was very frightening at first.
Manuel actually took good care of me compared to the first man who sold me.
He rarely hurt me as long as I gave him my body as he needed me. I never cried anymore.
We were married a month ago, a simple ceremony. I wore a white silk gown. When the minister asked me if "I do." Manuel said she does and kissed me before I could open my smart mouth.
Manuel's mother didn't speak English, so it was hard to communicate with her at first.
But now, I was picking up some Spanish. She was actually very sweet.
Manuel left me at home with her when he had to travel for business.
They lived in a large compound on an island near the Bahamas.
I was allowed to go to the beach. My hair was long and bleached out. I had a tan from being in the sun so much.
I was always looking for a way out. I thought about swimming out to sea. I couldn't leave Manuel's mother behind.
She was very kind to me. I thought maybe she was afraid of her son as well.
There were men coming in and out of the compound every day dressed in camouflage and wearing guns.
I was instructed to avoid these men as they had cartel connections.
Today Manuel was coming home after being gone for 5 days.
I saw him walking towards me in the sand. He was extremely fit and in any other circumstances, I would have lusted after his body.
" Phina! You look so pretty!" Manuel always called me Phina as he wanted me to distance myself from my true identity for my safety.
He picked me up and swung me around. He was incredibly handsome, I must admit.
His skin was bronzed, his hair kept back in a hair tie. He had a prominent nose and chin.
Still, I knew that I was only a slave to him, something he owned.
I had been pretending that I liked him, but I think I was growing fond of him.
I hated that my heart sped up when he was near me, I felt a warm heat rush through my body when he touched me.
He kissed me and looked into my blue eyes.
" Do you love me yet?" He grinned.
I just smiled with my mouth closed, my expression not reaching the sadness in my eyes.
He hugged me.
" Someday I will get the words from you pretty girl."
I couldn't say them. I played his games though.
" Listen, I want to take you to my bed, but I have a business meeting in a few minutes. Would you mind waiting for me in bed?"
" You are my owner, I am yours." My mind said what I could not verbalize.
I am just a slave, why ask me if I mind.
I minded when you made me marry you, when you hit me as I came off the drugs, when you raped me against my will and I fought you, scratching your thick skin.
I shook my head, trying my best to keep quiet. I moved to go from him.
" Phina, you have pleased me greatly. I regret how I hurt you in the beginning.
I admit I did not know you, know your heart. The way you treat my mother, well you have captured mine and her heart.
Please never try to leave me. I would hate to have to kill you."
I turned to him and scowled, then composed myself, trying not to speak in anger.
" To say such kind words of love and destroy them with a threat, Manuel, please I am not just a girl you kidnapped away. I am your wife now, I think."
He laughed then.
" I know, but you also must know that I am ruthless by my very nature. I am slow to anger, but once my fuse is lit, I blow up."
I took his face into my hands and pressed my forehead to his.
" I know this, I will tell you something though. The man right here, right now...I could grow to love him." I placed my hand across his chest, over his heart.
"Not the other man, the one who wants me to always feel fear and anxiety if I make one wrong move, not him, him I despise.
Never him. Please Manuel, leave that talk outside. A woman only desires love words, not threats."
He pulled me to his warm mouth and kissed me deeply.
"You said you could love me. I am growing on you aren't I?"
I nodded, unfortunately as I got to know him, I found my body betraying me.
"Let me tell momma you are home now. She worries about you. Then I will freshen myself up, I'm all sweaty now." I needed to get away from him.
He squeezed my butt and growled.
Picking me up over his shoulder, he carried me to a shady spot in the sand.
He slowly removed my bikini top and my sarong and spread my legs with his knee.
He took me right there under the sun, he couldn't wait.
He wasn't intolerable, but I wasn't his true wife. I knew he was a dangerous man who could kill me or those I love, he told me this constantly to keep me in line.
He made his money illegally, I wasn't blind.
I had never known womanly joy with any man. I pretended he was Charles.
I had dreamed of Charles this way, though we had only made love once.
I knew Charles thought that I ran away from him. He wouldn't know that his beautiful, wicked fiance-probably wife by now- had sold me to a s*x trader.
I let Manuel kiss and touch me, it was never by my desire only his.
I always closed my eyes.
When he was close, I held flaccid as he grunted over me.
He held my slim hips and ground deeply inside.
I didn't want any children with this man, he agreed that he wanted to enjoy my body, besides he had 7 children already. He had allowed me to use birth control.
When he was close to his release, he flipped me over and slammed himself into me.
My face was full of white sand. I felt tears welling up, I pushed them down as far as I could.
It was the quickest way for me to get through it, to not fight him anymore, besides I believed he enjoyed it more when I fought him.
- Writer
