Earlier that day…
"Are you sure you'll be okay on your own?" Marco asked as she got out of the bathroom dripping wet, with a white towel tied around her chest, reaching her thigh.
"I mean I know I was the one who suggested you start studying again, and that you try going out sometimes, but…"
"Marco, I'm going to be fine. I really want to do this on my own. And besides, I'm just going to some bookstores, and libraries. That's all." She assures him. Yes, she was terrified to step out alone, every time she tried going out on her own, the thought of running into her ex-bosses scared her, she was scared she'd be dragged away by them again, and that she might never get to see him again if that happens.
But today, maybe it was the joy caused by the fact that she was being given the chance to study once again, or maybe it was the fact that the morning just looked beautiful and she wished to just step out of the cage she created for herself… There was no specific reason, she just felt like today was a good day for a stroll.
"Okay, fine… Go on your little city tour, I won't send anyone with you so you'd be comfortable. But please, please and please be in touch with me. In fact, call me at every street you enter, every shop you visit, just please keep in touch with me…" He cups her face in his palms, and kisses her lips, "okay?" She nods like an obedient child and he kisses her again.
"Now go I need to put on my clothes…" she chuckles as he playfully kisses her neck and shoulders… "Uhh! Marco," she gasped as his hand had quickly crawled under her towel, grabbing her butt in his hand and squeezing them.
"I'll help you put them on." He teasingly says as he loosens the knot she tied and lets the towel fall to the ground, and he kisses her all over.
He had promised to not send anyone with her, but he didn't say he wasn't going to send anyone to follow her, so he had two of his men carefully follow her from behind. Just as a safety measure.
Being the first time that she had walked out alone ever since Marco took her, she was a bit scared. Always turning around if she felt a person was too close to her, then telling herself over and over again that no one could touch her.
Telling herself that they would not come for her again, telling herself that she had Marco, so she had nothing to worry about. And with those words playing in her head over and over again, her nervousness would cease, and she'd boldly move on again.
"Marco said I can get as many books as I want, but I don't want to overdo it, right?..." She tells herself since she had bought some books already. She had no money of her own, all the money she gained from forcefully selling her body over and over again, everything went to her ex-bosses, so she had nothing to her name.
They only left her with enough cash to survive each day. So even if Marco had told her that the card he gave her was expressly for her needs, and that it was unlimited, she still felt a little guilty about spending money she didn't even work for.
But standing in front of another bookstore, she couldn't help wondering if they had more books than the other store, and if the books were things that would interest her… "Just one more book, and that's it." She firmly tells herself before running into the store.
"She spends like thirty minutes in every store she enters, so that gives us like thirty minutes to go grab something to eat." One of the guys Marco ordered to watch her says.
"I think it's better we just stay here, what if she doesn't spend that much time, let's just stay here. I'm sure she'll be done soon."
"Okay fine, you can stay here hungry. But for me I'm off to fill my raging belly." The first one says again and without any delay he climbs out of the car. Leaving the other guy confused, till eventually… "Wait for me," he calls out and runs after him.
She said just one, but then when coming out of the door again, she had five different books. "Practically speaking, it's just one book." She tells herself. "It's the same book in five different volumes. I can't start with volume one and not get to the end of volume five… I'll explain it to him, I didn't mean to buy much, he's going to understand." She smiles to herself and walks towards her taxi but the smile was slowly slipping from her face as a black van suddenly pulled up in front of her.
Her heart instantly skipped with fear, as two human hungry looking men stepped out of the van, the books in her hand dropped… Her legs were fidgety, her trembling hands instantly reached for her phone in her back pocket, she tried stepping back but she was too scared to even move…
"don't come near me." she managed to say, and the man leaped forward, and some strength from nowhere reached her legs, and she turned and took to her heels, but she hadn't even ran five steps when his strong hands viciously landed on her, pulling her, forcefully holding her tight and she struggled and struggled but she was no match for one man, more or less two.
For the other descended on her too, covering her nose with some cloth, and she'd seen this in movies, so she tried not to breathe in, tried to fight out of their clutches, but she couldn't fight for long. Her eyes fell close, and her hands that clawed at them wearily fell to her side, and she was carried into the van and they drove away…
"What just happened??" Some passers-by wondered out loud, for everything seemed to happen in a flash…
"OH no…" Their faces dropped… "I told you we shouldn't have left…" Running into the store to see if she was maybe hiding in there, but no, she wasn't.
Her books, bag and phone were the only things they found on the ground outside the store. "We're dead… Boss is going to kill us." The guy cried. "This is all your fault!" He Yells, grabbing the other guy by the collar
"This is no time to point fingers." The first guy says, yanking himself free from his grip. "We need to find out what happened and find her…" He says, walking up to the couple who seemed to have witnessed the whole thing.
"Did you see what happened here, did you see a lady? Tall, blonde hair, blue jeans, big yellow shirt? Did you see anything?"
"Y_Y_Yes, Yes that's right, she just got dragged away into a black van, and they went that way." the lady quickly says, pointing in the direction that the van had gone.
"Let's go__ if we're quick enough, we'll catch up with them…"
"Are you out of your mind?? We need to call the boss and tell him now. What if we are just chasing smoke, and we don't find her, it'll be too late then. We need to call the boss and tell him this instant…"
"Standing here and wasting time is worse. Let's go after her first… We'll definitely catch up with them." The other guy insisted.
"That's stupid… let's just call Boss while we chase after the van." He tried to stop him, but he was viciously yanked and Pinned to the car, with his hand bent to his back and he screamed in pain, trying to free himself from the uncomfortable position.
"Listen to me, imagine we catch up with them and we rescue the lady but we already called the boss and told him everything, you think he'll spare us even though we bring her back, huh? Of course not… So let's just go and rescue the girl, and we can then beg her to keep it a secret from the boss."
The strategy seemed rather foolish and unwise, because Marco had told them to call him the instant something happens, but in a way he was right, so… "OH we're so dead." He says and they both enter the car and drive off.