"Tell me more about what has happened," the cop said, as he drove down the road, picking up speed with every passing second.
My heart continued to hammer against my chest, hardly able to believe my luck. Hardly able to believe that I'd escaped through the skin of my teeth.
"I came to Italy with my father. Him and a crazy man called Marcello had a business arrangement. But now Marcello has killed my father, and held me captive in his home, saying that he will be forcing me to marry him!" I wept manically. "I just want to go back to England and go back to my normal life. Please!"
"I'm so terribly sorry that this has happened to you," the cop said sincerely. "You're lucky that I was the only English-speaking man in the service station. If nobody had understood you, God knows what would have happened to you. You don't have to worry anymore. I will make sure that you get back to England. I'm sorry to hear about your father."
He trailed off his sentence, pushing his foot down on the accelerator.
"We have such a hard time tackling men in organized crime circles. It makes my blood boil, the way these thugs treat women, forcing them into prostitution, forcing them into sex. It's terrible how it happens to so many women. You're lucky that I was able to get to you before you became a victim of it too. Has this man raped you or abused you? We will need to collect DNA samples, so that we can pinpoint who this man is, and deal with him accordingly."
"No, he hasn't raped me, thank God…" I whispered, feeling hollow. "Just locked me away in his bedroom, threatened me, smacked me. Please, I'll do whatever I can to help you find this man. He says he is the kingpin of the Camorra. His family are trying to take over my father's Oud fragrance business now that my father is dead. I can't let them destroy my father's legacy, everything he worked so hard for…"
I was rambling now, my body a wreck of emotions. The cop stared at me with a sympathetic look on his face, and continued to drive. I stared out of the window, taking in my surroundings.
Feeling at peace that this was the last time I would be seeing Italy, and I would be deported back to the United Kingdom…
And my nightmares would finally be coming to an end.
Thank you, God.
Thank you for pulling through for me…