The world around me was a blur from the time Anatoly left the room I was held in. I was forced onto the couch and held down while someone force-fed me pills. Heat spread through my body and I stopped fighting. My vision went in and out as I slumped onto the couch, sinking into the warm leather. With the heat came a wave of euphoria. A smile tugged at the corner of my lips while I stared out into the dancing shapes and colors in front of me.

Voices around me hummed in an approval but I couldn't make out their words. I could feel hands all over me, fingertips ghosting over my skin sparking heat between my legs making me moan. It felt like I was floating up off of the couch towards the bed.

I lost time after that, unable to remember what happened from the time I was put on the bed. When I came to, I remember it being so hot. I could barely breathe from the heat around me. My hands roamed my body, trying to peal off my clothes but it only caused me to moan from my own touch.

Again, everything faded out.

Then there was a camera in my face. Hands around my neck and tangled in my hair, keeping my drooping head up towards the lens. The red blinking light was blinding. I was sweating from how stifling it was. Muffled laughs. I could swear I felt more hands over me but I can barely discern if I was dreaming or if it was reality.

More darkness.

Something cold is shoved up my nose followed by a stinging at the back of my throat. I'm ripped from the darkness, shoved back into reality and blinding light. Before I can even adjust I feel a hand slap across my face.

When my eyes adjust, I see Alex standing at the side of the bed I'm laying on. My hand comes up to touch my burning cheek. I can't stop from gagging from the burning, dripping feeling at the back of my throat.

God, what the hell was that?

"Time to go, little sister." He says, grabbing my arms and hauling me off of the bed.

I try to fight back but my limbs are still useless. Everything hurts and I feel so weak, powerless. I'm clutching onto Alex's shoulder for dear life, unable to stand on my own. Annoyed that I'm making this harder, Alex forces me of off him. My legs are shaking and the world is tilted on its axis. I can't help but to grab onto his arm again to keep myself from falling.

"Let's go!" Alex yells in my ear making me flinch away from him.

Forcing me out into the hallway, I see two other girls in a similar state to my own. They can barely keep themselves upright and have to lean on the wall for help. Their eyes still hooded from whatever drugs they gave us. One is shivering so violently I can hear her teeth chattering from where I'm standing. The heat I felt earlier is starting to dissipate causing me to feel the biting cold of the building.

Men with guns start screaming in another language, pushing the two girls in front of me so they start walking. I recognize the one as Cassidy. She's in a similar dress to the one that's damp and clinging to my skin and my heart speeds up.

"Cass," I try to call out to her but my voice is just a hoarse whisper. I work to clear my throat and yell for her again.

She turns her head to look back but the moment she does the guard who's at her side grabs the hair at the top of her head and forces her to look forward.

"Don't... don't touch her!" I yell and try to run for her but Alex elbows me in the stomach. I double over in pain, crumbling to the ground with a whimper as I clutch my stomach.

A splitting headache sparks in my brain. What the hell happened? Why do I feel like this? I remember Anatoly being in the room but his words were muffled when I tried to think back to what he said.

"Where are we going?" I mumble, grabbing my head.

Alex gets me to my feet and pushes me to follow the others.

"Alex, where are-"

"You're new owner." He responds with an amused tone.

Anatoly's words instantly become clear in my mind. "We have to give you some sweets to make you more agreeable. I promised Demyan a pretty little obedient Irish whore."

I was drugged. Oh god. I was drugged and they, they recorded me. I looked down at the wrinkled silk dress through my tears. My stomach churned. What the fuck did they do to me when I was knocked out?

My chest tightened and I struggled to breathe. My lungs felt like they were filled with wet cement. I could feel my panic attack starting to take it's hold. I fell against the wall, unable to walk thinking about what these sick creatures possibly did to me.

Alex grabbed my bicep and pulled me from the wall, dragging me along with him.

"What did you do to me?" I choked, unable to control my breathing.

He turned on me, a sickening smile on his face. "We didn't do anything to you. You did it all yourself. You're a natural on camera, by the way."

Tears burned at the back of my eyes as the feeling of humiliation flooded me. Everything around me suddenly had the intensity turned down. It was like nothing mattered anymore. I've been threatened, kidnapped, drugged, and now made to do unspeakable acts on camera for a man who paid money for me. A man who now owns my body.

I choked back a sob. I am nothing anymore.

The nagging voice that's been in my head since before I can remember was finally silent. There was nothing else it could say or push me to do at this point. I've been reduced to nothing more than an object. Less than human.

More tears burned trails down my cheeks at my realization. I am nothing. What's the point in fighting my fate? No one is coming to save me. Not a single person knows I'm missing or will be trying to find me.

Declan is dead. My heart tears inside my chest justing thinking about that. Ben, Paul and Noah have no ties to me anymore. There's no reason for them to be looking for me. Hell, I'm the reason all of their family is dead. This is my payment. A soul for a soul.

Putting my head down in acceptance, I stopped fighting against Alex. It was useless.

The smell of sea salt and impending rain fill my nose the moment I step out of the building. The sound of the crashing ocean waves is the only thing I can hear over the sobbing coming from the other girl ahead of us. Cass, like myself, is silent while she follows the man at her side obediently.

We're at the shipping yard at the edge of the city. There are tall rows made of stacked sea boxes blocking off the view of the city and the possibility of someone seeing what's happening to us.

The hum of motors and the crashing sounds of heavy machinery bring my attention to the massive cargo ship that's at the dock to my left. A crane is busy loading the last of the boxes onto the ship while workers yell back and forth to each other.

Thunder sounds in the distance and I could see a bolt of lighting tear through the clouds over the ocean. The rough waves made the ship sway slightly despite the taught lines keeping it tethered. The lights of the ship light up the heavy storm clouds that are rolling in off of the ocean.

"Looks like you're going to have quite the ride." Alex laughs, looking out to the ocean and seeing the choppy waters.

I look up at him but can't find the words to respond. Can't find them or don't care enough.

The men handling Cassidy and the other girl break off from Alex and I, taking them in other directions.

"Cass!" I yell, trying to go to her. Alex grabs a hold of my tangled hair to keep me from running to her.

"Knock it off." He hisses. "She's bought and paid for."

"Look familiar?" He brings my attention to the large shipping container in front of me. I know what he's implying instantly. This is one of my dad's shipping containers, his business logo 'Ocean State Shipping' is printed in its large blue letters on the side.

"Poetic, isn't it?" He asked with a smug smile.

"What are you talking about?"

Alex laughs, tugging my arm to stop me from going any further. I can hear the rain starting to drip around us before I feel it on my cheeks.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell you. You're going to be on your way soon and where you're going, you won't be able to get a chance to tell anyone worth a damn. You'll be too busy sucking Demyan's dick for the rest of your life." His smile spread when he saw more tears spilling over my lashes.

"Declan found you because he and his cronies crashed one of our shipments. That's why Nick and his other douchebag detective came to the lot that day asking a bunch of questions. We had shipped a bunch of Z, guns and bodies over to one of the branches of our syndicate in London. In return they sent us back bodies and drugs." Alex explained.

I remember all of this. Going into the lot that morning and getting the place ready for when everyone arrived. I sat at my computer and was scrolling through the news when I saw that article about the break in at the shipping yard. There was a picture in the article with yellow crime scene tape hanging from one of my dad's shipping containers.

Alex had come in right after Nick and the other detective went into Uncle Mike's office to discuss what was in the sea box. He smelled of smoke and gasoline, his clothes all torn up and stained. Alex blamed it on getting into an accident on his motorcycle but I knew from the tone of his voice and his body language that he was lying. I remember how jumpy he was, asking about why the police were there and who they'd spoken to.

He continued, pushing me to keep walking forward. "At the time, they owned most of the Police and the DA. We knew they would be coming in to question us after the mess that night and we had everything in order to get them off our backs. But you handed Nick your business card. Mother fucker managed to put two and two together, you being Patrick's daughter. That put you on Declan's radar."

I can recall the look on Nick's face. That stupid curve of his lips when he read my name out loud. And me, the idiot I am, proudly declaring that Patrick Murphy was my dad. That it was his shipping containers we use.

I know deep down it's much more than this. I was involved from the time Isabella and Alex entered our lives, long before Nick had walked into the lot that day. There was a huge possibility that Declan would have found out about me eventually but I still can't help the disbelieving laugh that escapes my lips. All of this because of a fucking business card.

"It's poetic." Alex said with a smile. "This mess all started with these shipping containers and now that's how it's going to end. Isn't that just a cute love story?"

Before I had a chance to say anything he twisted me so that I was looking up at him. He brushed back the hair that had fallen in my face and looked me over. "You won't be getting a happy ending but if you're a good girl, Demyan will have many happy endings."

"How can you do this? We grew up together." I seethed, finding some resolve.

"Scarlett, I fucking hated you since the moment I found out my alky, whore mother had to marry your spineless bitch of a father." His tongue rolled over his front teeth, making sure to make the sound his tongue made when he sucked on them as dramatic as possible. "You really think I care about this?"

I could feel my chin starting to tremble from his words. God, why the hell did they still hurt after everything that's happened?

"Once Anatoly kills Desmond and dismantles the Irish syndicate, he's putting me in charge of all of their businesses. I'm getting promoted for this, sis! Honestly, if it wasn't for the pathetic look on your face and seeing how crushed you are from all of this, I would have put your ass in there already." He uses his thumb to point to the open sea box.

"I wish I could be there when they kill you." My tone is sharp as I take a step closer to him.

He snorts out a laugh. "But you won't be. Instead you'll be taking it in the ass from some old-"

I couldn't take it anymore. I sunk my fingernails into the side of his face until I felt his skin break under the pressure and scratch down his face, his skin tearing as I went. I could feel my nails catching his eye and my middle finger sinking into the socket making his scream, jerking back from me.

His hands let go of my arm and clutched his face while he writhed in the pain I'd caused. I could see his blood trailing down his face from under his hand.

It wasn't enough for me. Not after everything he's done. I lunge at him and grab a hold of his head. My wet, blood-soaked hands slide over his making it so I can't get a firm grip on him. With my burning need to cause him pain, I sink my teeth into his jaw. The coppery taste of blood fills my mouth the moment my teeth break skin.

Alex's screams alerted the other guards that were around us. I was tackled to the ground by one of them, the air kicked out of my lungs the moment I hit the wet ground. Dazed and struggling to take in oxygen, I spit out his blood from my mouth. I could see Alex through my tears pawing at his bleeding face as he wailed.

I didn't try to fight when they dragged me into the sea box. I laid there, soaking wet from the rain and covered in Alex's blood on the cold metal and watched the door close leaving me in darkness. I'm going to be quite the sight to behold when they open up this tin can when I get to London. Some old man's shiny new toy, covered in blood. The sounds of the pouring rain against the container and Alex's screams have a delirious smile spreading on my face.

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Thoughts?