Copyright © 2023 by LeAnn Ashers

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contents

  Preface

  Saving His Forever

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Chapter

  One

  EMILY

  Ican see bright lights through my eyelids. I can feel the sharp pain in my back. My eyes snap open and the nurse’s face is in front of mine.

  I look around the room, the light blinding me, but the panic to figure out where I am is killing me, overwhelming me.

  She touches my arm and I scream loudly not wanting this person to touch me.

  She snaps her hand back and she is replaced with a huge, imposing man. I gasp when the memories of everything return. He reaches out and touches my face. I can see his mouth moving and I know he is trying to talk to me, but my brain is lost in the memories.

  A few days ago

  I laugh at the sight of this dog with the zoomies running through the park. I look down at the reader in my lap enjoying my book.

  It's a beautiful fall evening. The air is cool and the leaves are falling around me every time the wind blows.

  There isn’t anyone here. I yawn and pick up my blanket and tablet stuffing them under my arm. I need to go home.

  I live right down the block. I hear the small dog bark and I look back smiling one last time but the owner with the dog is gone and two men are standing on the edge of the woods, staring in my direction.

  Okay, this is weird.

  I turn around and look away from them so they don’t get the idea that I want to talk to them.

  I turn the corner feeling relief when I see my apartment complex. I push my hair behind my shoulder hurrying myself along.

  The streetlights are coming on in sync in front of me. I push in the code to get into my building when an arm bands around my waist, lifting me off the ground.

  My blanket hits the sidewalk and my reader cracks in front of me. I scream and try to spin around to see who has me in their arms.

  It’s one of the men from the park. I push at his face trying to pry him away from me and drop me.

  “Stop! What are you doing?” I scream, hoping that I can get someone’s attention to help me.

  “Shut the fuck up, bitch,” he hisses in my ear and another man comes in front of me, slapping his hand over my mouth, hard.

  My eyes widened at the hard slap he just gave me. I kick my legs out and push him away from me, his hand slipping off my mouth. I scream once more and fight with everything in me to get away from them.

  In the distance I see a woman holding the dog I was staring at earlier. I scream for her to help but she smiles and walks away.

  With the distraction, I’m thrown into the van and we are speeding away. I look at my kidnappers, screaming and trying to fight my way to the door, wanting to jump out of it even if it's moving.

  “Why are you doing this?” I ask them.

  “Why the fuck do you think we have you?” he fires back and grips the belt buckle on his pants, starting to pull them off.

  My whole entire body freezes to my core at the terrifying and the sinking realization. They lunge for me and everything goes dark.

  ~*~

  I shift my wrists of where I am hanging from the ceiling of a building, my toes barely touching the floor.

  I gather myself, not wanting to make a sound to give them the satisfaction of knowing they have hurt me in ways that I can’t even think about right now.

  But they haven’t broken me.

  That is why I’m here, stripped bare, waiting for them to break me, to give in to them and let them traffic me.

  It won’t happen.

  I’d rather be fucking dead than give into these men.

  I clench my jaw when the door opens and I hear the sound of a whip smacking into the wall to scare me, taunt me, and torture me.

  He walks around in front of me, looking into my eyes and I don’t blink, staring them down.

  “Ready to give in yet?” he asks me.

  “Never.”

  His face changes from smugness to full anger. I look at the ceiling of the basement of whatever building I’m in.

  He smacks the whip once again into the wall. I flinch slightly and close my eyes praying to God that I can get out of this.

  That I’m strong enough to make it through.

  ~*~

  Hours later

  The door opens and my ex-boyfriend Cameron walks into the basement and the shock of this hurts more than anything.

  We broke up because I found him doing shady things and I didn’t want any part of it. I threatened to call the police to get him to stop, but he freaked out and I ran away from him.

  I moved away from him, changed everything so he wouldn’t find me.

  He laughs when he sees me. “Not such a tough bitch now are you, cunt?” he taunts me, but I don’t let my face show my true feelings.

  The pain in my back is overwhelming me. I can feel the blood running down my back, to the back of my legs and dripping onto the floor.

  He tries to get me to talk to him, to make me beg him to save me from this but I’m so far out of my mind that it doesn’t even faze me.

  I want to die; I want my life to end so I can have some peace.

  He leaves, screaming at me as he goes out of the door, slamming it shut behind him and leaving me in the dark and the silence. It’s peaceful.

  I hope when I do go, it’s filled with peace. Right now, I crave the silence and the freedom to let go.

  I know my thoughts are incoherent, but the pain is so bad. I’m not sure I can hold on much longer to get through this.

  I’m not sure how much time has passed when the door opens again. I lift my head just slightly to see who is coming in through the door.

  One of the men who had kidnapped me is dragging a woman through the door. My heart lurches when she is hung up beside me.

  Everything turns dark as they have shut the door leaving us alone and I can hear her breathing.

  I try to shift and my shoulders scream at me in pain. I’m honestly not sure how I’m alive at this point.

  I want this to end, but no matter how much I want that, I won’t let them win.

  I won’t.

  My face falls, not able to hold the weight up anymore. I haven’t eaten since I arrived here and I am not sure how long that even is. They have force fed me water, but I can feel myself deteriorating.

  ~*~

  I wake up to chaos. I try to open my eyes and I can hear men yelling all around me, gunshots going off and lots of screaming.

  I manage to lift my head and see the girl that was in here with me is being taken down from the chain holding her off the ground.

  I can tell the guy holding her cares for her very much.

  Good, maybe this is the end of the pain for me.

  A man walks in front of me. I can see the fury on his face as he looks at me. “Can I take you down?” he asks me in a soothing tone.

  “Yeah,” I manage to say, my voice rough from not using it for so long.

  He raises his arms to my chain. He lets one of my arms loose and I scream at the pain from all the blood rushing down suddenly. He moves to the other arm and the pain is too much and I start to fall the second I’m free.

  “I’m so fucking sorry,” he tells me. He holds me with one arm and with his free hand, takes off his shirt.

  He slips it over my head and I close my eye at the feeling of being covered. The fabric touching the whip marks on my back is uncomfortable but bearable.

  “Can I carry you out of here?”

  I nod. I must put my trust in him, nothing can be worse than this. He reaches down and gently picks me up and I can’t even hold my head up, it falls to his chest, his grip tightening on me.

  Chapter

  Two

  EMILY

  Isnap back to myself, the memories hitting me hard. All the things I endured hitting me even harder.

  The nurse tries to touch me again and I flinch back not wanting her to touch me. The guy who got me down for the chains walks over and takes her place.

  “Are you in pain?” he asks me. His tone is soft which is a wonder because he doesn’t look soft in the least.

  If I didn’t know how gentle he was with getting me down, covering my naked, broken body then I would be terrified.

  I nod and look at the table beside me seeing a cup of water. He reaches over and takes the cup, holding the straw for me so I can take a sip.

  The first feel of the cool water touching my tongue has me wanting to weep. With shaky hands, I take the cup from him wanting to chug it.

  He lets me take it but holds the bottom so I don’t drop it. I can feel him staring at me. I hand it back to him, my head collapsing back into the pillow.

  Why is he still here?

  I’m rubbing my face when the door opens and the nurse comes back with a shot. “This is for pain,” she tells me and pushes it into the IV.

  She walks back out, leaving me alone in the room with him. “What is your name?” I ask, not even recognizing my vo ice.

  “Isaac.” He sits down beside me in a chair.

  “How did you find me?” I ask, trying to lift the blanket further under my neck. I feel more secure and love that I’m covered. I’m dressed in a hospital gown and my hair feels clean so they must have washed me.

  “Sydney, my friend’s girl, was the other girl that was down in the basement with you.”

  I try to sit up in bed, concerned about her. “Is she okay?” I ask.

  He nods. “She is a little banged up, but she is fine and worried about you.” He reaches for the little remote and pushes the button to call for the nurse. “Can you bring some warm blankets please?” he asks them.

  “I found out my boyfriend was doing shady things, including trafficking women. He got pissed when I threatened to call the cops, so I decided to try and hide from him. He somehow found me and you can guess the rest.”

  He looks down at the floor and I can see his body shaking. Is he angry at me or for me?

  There is a knock at the door and he gets up to meet the person. He comes back from around the corner holding a few blankets.

  He pulls off the current blanket on me and places a new warm one over me. “Oh my god, this is amazing.” He smiles and tucks it around me.

  “Thank you for helping me.” I need him to understand how grateful I am that he’s here, helping me and that I’m not alone right now.

  He reaches out and takes hold of my hand, squeezing gently. “Do you need me to call anyone? I will be here for you until a friend or family member arrives. I’m not leaving you alone.”

  I shake my head no. “I don’t have any family and no friends to turn to so I appreciate this.” My bottom lip trembles, the tears I have held back through all this are threatening to burst free.

  “It’s okay to cry. You’ve been through a lot.”

  His kindness is my undoing. I cover my face and cry for the girl who was just reading in the park; for the woman who let a man take advantage of her and for the woman who has been hurt in ways no one should ever be hurt.

  I can feel him hovering over me and every sob has my back hurting, pulling at the stitched-up wounds all over it. “Can I hold you?” he asks me.

  I hesitate a minute, unsure if I’m ready for someone to touch me. But I so need to be held right now, to feel safe.

  I nod, tears rolling down my face. My heart feels like it’s going to burst out of my chest. The pain in my heart is worse than my wounds.

  He sits on the edge of the bed, making sure not to jostle me. He pulls me to him, holding my face gently and scoots towards me until my face is pressed against his chest.

  “You’re safe; I have you,” he whispers to me softly. My whole body is shaking from the power of my sobs.

  I grieve some more for the girl who has been through so much trauma; for the woman I used to be and the possibility of the woman I could have become.

  I don’t know who I am anymore, but I know I want to live more than anything. I fought with everything in me so I can make it out of there.

  That is one thing I do know. I will live and I will live for the person who made it out of hell.

  He pulls back slightly and wipes away my tears. Why is he so nice to me? “Thank you for being here but you don’t have to be here. I’ll be okay,” I tell him even if my heart is twisting at the idea of being alone.

  I’m so scared of the thought.

  The door opens and a nurse walks in pushing a cart filled with gauze pads. Isaac scoots away from me, but doesn’t let go of my hand.

  “I need to clean your wounds,” the nurse tells me. She has a sympathetic look on her face. I dry my face and wipe away the rest of my tears.

  “If you don’t mind, can you set your legs off the side of the bed?” she asks me and moves behind the bed.

  Isaac takes my hand and helps me turn in the bed very slowly, my back screaming at me the whole time.

  I take the pillow from the head of the bed, putting it under my stomach and leaning over. Isaac sits in front of me, holding my hands.

  My eyes connect with his, so thankful he is here with me, but so confused as to why at the same time. Does he pity me?

  Right now, I can’t bring myself to care about that.

  I can feel her untying my hospital gown, exposing my back. I can hear her sharp inhale as she looks at my wounds.

  I know it’s horrible because I felt every whip & mark across my skin as it happened to me. All because I wouldn’t give In.

  They wanted women who would bend to the will of their buyers. They tried to force me anyway they knew how and this was one of the things they used against me.

  Nothing would be as horrible as losing myself. I’d rather die.

  “I am so sorry. This is going to hurt.”

  I let out a deep breath, bracing myself. “I know,” I tell her honestly.

  I don’t flinch at the first touch of her dabbing my wound. Isaac turns his head to the side, looking at the wall like he can’t bare to look at me.

  I lean my head forward not thinking nor caring that he might not want me touching him. I rest my head on his shoulder, breathing in his scent.

  He feels safe.

  Isaac

  It’s extremely difficult to sit and watch her try to hide the pain she’s feeling as they clean her wounds. She’s trying to so hard to be strong and put on a neutral face but I know how deep those wounds are; how gruesome and painful they are.

  I saw what they did her when she was hanging from the ceiling. The paramedics had to put her shoulder back in place because it was out of socket from the way she was hanging for so long.

  She tightens her grip in my hands. I clench my jaw and look over her shoulder at the nurse who’s in tears.

  “Can you increase her pain medicine or something?” I ask the nurse, hating this shit more than anything.

  The nurse stops what she’s doing and pushes the button on the wall asking for another nurse to bring some more pain medicine for her.

  Emily takes a deep breath once she stops touching her back. I cup her face in awe of how tough she is.

  “You’re so strong.”

  She smiles for the first time and I feel like she just fucking gave me the moon to see that smile on her face. I would do anything to see that again, over and over.

  From the shit that was handed to her, seeing her smile proves that they didn’t take away her spirit completely.

  Another nurse walks to her IV giving her more meds and soon Emily relaxes, her eyes drooping.

  The other times she got her wounds cleaned she was completely out of it and had been asleep for days.

  One of the reasons I’m here is because I want to protect her and make sure nothing ever happens to her again. I can’t explain why I feel this way towards her, but it’s almost like a natural instinct or reaction to her.

  Secondly, we saw papers when we tore that fucking building apart. She was sold to this man in Mexico.

  When I was shown that shit, I wanted to fucking murder everyone involved. The ones who had died in that building where she was, isn’t enough. Nothing is enough for the way she had been brutally treated.

  I don’t want her to know that she had been sold nor of the danger lurking around all because money exchanged hands.

  I pray to fucking God that he comes after her. I want to hurt them a million times worse than what they did to her.

  Emily doesn’t move while her wounds are cleaned. “Can you come over here so I can show you how to clean these when she is released tomorrow?”

  Emily looks up at that and I can see she is frightened at the thought of leaving. I keep her hand in mine, walking to the side of her, letting the nurse walk me through everything.

  The hospital staff believes that I am her fiancé. It’s why they have not questioned my presence here and make sure that I’m aware of everything pertaining to her.

  The nurse leaves, taking all of the supplies with her. I make a note for Chase, one of my friends, to pick up everything for me and take it to my house.

  Emily

  I try not to panic when the nurse mentioned I could go home soon. I don’t want to go back to my apartment.

  They found me there.

  It feels like everything that I had doesn’t belong to me anymore. Life is so different now and I feel like I need a new start; all new things, new place to live, just a completely fresh start.

 

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