Mandy had found Lewis. Throughout it all, she had remembered him, and been in love with him. There was a time when she was young and innocent where she’d thought they would be happily married together, but now that was all a fantasy. She had been taken, stripped of all kind of innocence, and learned how to play dirty.
To gain trust, she had done despicable things, getting girls to trust her, and in doing so, she had been fighting to bring down the men that thought women and girls were to be used as cattle.
Part of her wished she had never remembered. To remember meant it actually happened, and right now, she couldn’t look at her own reflection.
Moving away from the somewhat family moment, she made her way to the café in the hospital. Grabbing a shit cup of coffee, she took a seat, staring down at the dark liquid. Her life meant nothing. It had no meaning. She had saved a couple hundred women by feeding information to Lewis, but there were still thousands of women every day being traded.
She didn’t deserve to be free.
Taking a sip of the cup, she relished the burn as it slid down her throat. She had no place in this world. Mandy hadn’t finished any kind of schooling. Her knowledge was basic, if that. There was nothing for her here. She didn’t have the kind of knowledge that others had.
Her knowledge was in obedience, pleasure, sex, and knowing what her master wanted.
God, even now it made her stomach roll just thinking about what she’d had to do.
“There you are,” Lewis said, coming into the room.
“Hey.” He was a very handsome man.
Lewis was also a man who deserved someone much better than she was. Someone clean. She wasn’t clean. She was dirty, filthy, and there was no cleaning the dirt on her skin.
“You just left.”
“You needed to be alone.” She sipped more of the burning liquid.
“They got the torturer. He’s in custody.”
“There’s more to replace him.”
Lewis paused. “What?”
“Do you remember when we were little, younger? You used to say that nothing would ever happen to a good girl because there was no way darkness could touch someone good.”
“Mandy?”
“That’s not true.” Tears filled her eyes. “Darkness touches everyone, and the monsters prey on the good, the weak.”
“You remember?”
“I remember.”
“Shit, why didn’t you say anything?”
She looked away, unable to stare at the man who had saved her. “You were never supposed to save me, Lewis. You were always supposed to help them.”
“Mandy, I had to help you.”
She shook her head. “I’m beyond help. Those women, those innocent girls, they need your help. I’ve got to go back.”
“No! You’re not going back.”
Her shoulders slumped. “What use am I here? I can’t even spell.”
“You can use a computer, and you can help me.”
“I’m dirty, Lewis. I did things that I don’t ever want to think about or remember. I don’t deserve to be free.”
Lewis grabbed her hand. “I started the club. I made sure we did these missions. I lied to them. Everything I did was in order to find you. You’re the only one I was searching for. The only one I cared about. I thought once I had you, I’d stop, not look back.”
“Lewis?”
“Let me finish.” He held her hand so tight. “I can’t give up. I started something in finding you, and we were lucky to find each other. I’m not giving you up, but I will stop fucking looking.”
“What?”
“If you go back and put yourself in danger again, I will stop, and I will never start again. You’ll be on your own, and I will thwart any attempt you make to help people.”
“That’s blackmail.”
Lewis’s jaw clenched. “I lost you once. I had to live knowing that you were being hurt. Every night I lay awake hearing you scream my name, begging for me to save you. I’ve saved you. I don’t give a shit what you did. It’s you, Mandy. You did it for a reason. You’re going to be more help to me here than anywhere else.”
She knew he wasn’t bluffing. Lewis was stubborn. He would make sure no one else was saved to prove her wrong.
“Where do we get started?” she asked.
“That’s my girl.” He held her hand tightly. “You’re not dirty.”
Mandy snorted. “I’ve sucked enough cock and pleasured enough men to know that I’m dirty.” For punishment she had been passed around. She wasn’t going to go into detail of the party she was presented to, and how her owner, to punish her, had made her available to everyone.