Chapter 1

She was tired of being beaten; she was tired of being looked at like she was property to buy. What could she do though? She didn’t fully understand what was going or why this was happening to her.

“One six nine!” the scary, bulging, tattooed man yelled out for her.

She shrank back into her dark, cold, stoned room. She didn’t know why she moved, there was nowhere for her to hide. The only thing in the room, besides her, was a very thin mattress and a holey sheet, that never kept her warm. Add the white t-shirt and skimpy red panties she was made to parade around in, and she could about freeze to death.

“One six nine, now!” the burly man yelled again.

She let out a long sigh, clamping her eyes tightly and moved closer to the metal door that locked her inside her four walled prison for as long as she could remember. She was lucky to get a tray of scrap food once a day. She could only imagine what Burly wanted this time.

The metal door was pulled open hard, slamming into the wall beside it, ringing echoed, as she tried to back away quickly.

She was yanked out into the stoned hallway by her shoulder-length ash-brown hair. She stumbled a little but was pulled up harder.

“You best be on your best behavior today, someone is here to look at you, and you’ve been a pain since day one, but this is what you were made for, no one wanted you, so I took you and now you are mine to do whatever I want with, you best remember that, especially right now, this could be your last chance to get out of here you know, and if that doesn’t happen you’re not going to like what I will do to you.”

She was yanked down the hall by her hair then up the wooden steps. She didn’t want to go with any of the men who came and looked at her. She didn’t even want to be in the place she was now, she would take hell over this place. As she was dragged up the steps, she heard more yelling, but the voice was female. It had been a while since she had been allowed out of her prison, she didn’t know if she was the only one there or not anymore.

But that screaming suggested that she wasn’t the only one.

She was pulled into the small room that was in the middle of the building she was kept. Her eyes darted around the dimly lit room beneath hooded eyes. She was never supposed to look at anything. Her gaze landed on the six platforms that were low to the ground. There was only one empty one, which was no doubt for her.

The other girls had signs around their necks, probably because they hadn’t been branded yet, as she had been. Two five six was a blonde with beautiful green eyes, her fair skin covered in black and blue, she looked to be the youngest of them all. Three seven two had deep chocolate brown eyes and tight curly black hair, four two six had blue eyes and brown hair, they looked as bad as two five six and herself, if she had to guess. Five six one was a redhead with cornflower blue eyes, she still had some meat on her. Six two zero was breathtaking beautiful, she had smoky gray eyes and was a blonde as well, and nothing on her looked harmed, yet.

She was struggling the most, one six nine flinched as six two zero was slapped hard and shoved to the platform, a booted foot was slammed into her stomach, but that didn’t stop the girl.

“You assholes will pay for this, I don’t belong here, none of us belong here, my parents will find me and take all of us away, I’m not a damn number, my name is Marnie Benson, my uncle will kill you for this!” she screamed and was hit again.

One six nine made a move to help the girl, maybe she was right, was it possible none of them belonged to this hell hole? Why could this Marnie Benson remember who she was but one six nine didn’t.

She was yanked back hard and slammed down on the only open platform, face first. She was almost numb from the beatings she received, but sometimes they still hurt. She was pulled to her feet by her hair and came face to face with a tall, lanky man with wavy brown hair and icy blue eyes.

She stepped away from him quickly but was pulled back hard. The man gripped her chin in a painful grasp.

“She looks so uncared for.” He murmured, his eyes narrowed as he looked her over uncomfortably slow.

“Well, she’s a lot like six two zero down there, she’s stubborn and needs to be punished a lot, six two zero should get a good look at one six nine, because this could be her fate, isn’t that right, one six nine?” Burly demanded from her.

She jerked her chin from lanky’s grip "She seems to be a little older than the rest of them, how old are you?"

"I'd have to say how ever old they told you I am, I don't know myself." One six nine answered bitterly.

"Attitude, that may entice the boss, he likes to rough his toys up every now and then," the lanky man's gaze iced over even more as they locked eyes.

She barely gave herself any time to think as she jerked her chin from Lankey's grip and bit his thumb hard. She was tired of the roughing up. No way was she going to somewhere else like this. It was too much for one person to handle.

He pulled his hand back and slapped her hard causing her head to whip to the side, “No one wants a bitter, I think my boss would prefer everyone, but her and the blonde down there.” Lankey shoved her down on the wooden platform and stepped away. “One month and my boss will arrange transportation to the port and from there, who knows maybe you’ll get these two under control, and he may take all six of them off your hands. One and half million per girl.”

Burly shook Lanky’s hand, the other girls were shoved from the platforms and taken to each of their separate quarters.

She was slammed back into a wall and gripped tightly by the throat. As her air supply was cut off, she began to struggle, trying to claw her way free with her

nonexistent fingernails.

Burly slammed his other fist into her cheek but held her up when she would have fell from the force, “If they didn’t prefer virgins, I’d teach

you some manners really quick, but then I wouldn’t get what you are worth, and that’d be such a waste, learn your place, bitch.” He hissed out the last four

words against her ear then pushed her to the ground roughly.

She was dragged to her room and pinned against the floor hard. “You better hope I can change his mind about you, I am so done with you, no matter how much fun you may be, you aren’t worth it.” Burly kicked her hard then let go of her but she stayed curled up in the fetal position.

She coughed as she heard the door slam, air burned her lungs as it reentered. She listened for a moment. She didn’t hear the metal grind that let her know her door was locked. She sat up slowly. Could six two zero be right? Was it possible she had a family too, who was looking for her? If so, what were they like? Did she have siblings?

There was only one way to find out. She had to escape, but how?