Chapter 17

I ran to my room, with my heart fighting to get out of its cage. I changed into my clothes. I had to think fast. I had to run away.

I got out of my room, ran on my tiptoes to Roy's room, and looked around for some tool, some weapon. And there I found, on a desk near his bed, his blue diary and a gun, along with my phone.

I came back to my room, made my makeshift rope again, and tied it to the bookcase. I took a sling bag and put the book and phone in it. Then I went to the window and, breathing hard, fired far away at the sea, opposite the gate, before hiding hastily behind the curtain. Okay, firing is definitely not everyone's cup of tea. Especially mine, as I could still feel the vibrations within me.

I heard the guards shout and run in that direction, and sliding the gun back in the bag, I threw the bedsheet, now a rope, out of the room and swung out of the window.

Sliding down the rope, my hands burned and I had to grit my teeth to stop myself from screaming.

The bedsheet ended a floor above the ground, and I made the jump without giving much thought.

I fell and a sharp pain shot in my legs.

I got up and ran to the door, where Singh stood. I pointed my gun at him.

"Miss. Gill, what are you doing?" He panicked.

"I will tell you what you'll do, Singh. You'll stay here and keep your mouth shut." I said. "I might seem silly, but I am definitely good at shooting." I bluffed. He looked at my shaking hands, and I swore.

"Scarlet, listen to me—" he began.

"Shut up! Okay? I have been raped before, and I don't want to be again. He will send me to that haunted place again, and I can't go there. Please!" My eyes were watering now. "Please, let me go. Please, I beg you." I said, still pointing the gun.

"Okay. Okay. Listen to me, let's do this thing. I'll call Mr. Malhotra right now. You guys can talk it out, okay?" He said softly as if trying to calm me.

But I was becoming hysterical.

"Okay, okay." I agreed.

He nodded, pulled out his cell phone, and dialing the number, turned a little to talk.

Taking advantage of the moment, I pushed him with all my might, and he dropped three steps away. And picking up the time, I ran away.

I was far enough away to deceive him when I heard Singh's voice calling my name.

I hopped into a cab and vanished into the traffic.

******

I waited with my feet dangling on the cliff, trying, again and again, to get in touch with Rosa but with no luck.

I had nowhere to go. I couldn't go home because that was the obvious place they'd look for me. I couldn't ask for help from the orphanage because Roy knew about that.

God! I should have let the orphanage thing out of the conversation!

Only if Rosa could pick up her call, we would flee from the state. Start somewhere else. But where? Where would Rover or Roy or Garnet Ebony or any of their businesses be unable to reach us?

Probably in Afterlife! My head mocked.

I looked down the cliff, whose base seemed invisible from up here. This was the only place both of them knew nothing of. No one knew about it. But I had to move.

What if Rosa is in danger? What if they got hold of her?

Oh god, oh god.

I called her again and again and again, but I still was unable to reach her.

Then from the corner of my eyes, I saw a silhouette and turned to see him sitting next to me.

Rover.

I jumped and he caught me, or else there was a possibility that I would have lost my balance and fallen off that cliff. But unfortunately, that was the option I preferred, rather than being with Rover.

I would choose Death instead of Rover.

"And the lovers unite." He gave a devil smile. I found myself unable to utter.

But I didn't have to. Because before I could think of anything, somebody enveloped my nose with a handkerchief, and I inhaled a familiar smell. Chloroform.

******

I woke up in my room, my Firecracker room.

I checked my clothes, but fortunately, they were still there. Then I looked around. The sling bag was there with the diary protruding out of it, but the gun and the cell were gone. I jumped seeing Rover sitting on the chair next to my table.

"Hey, sexy." He called out and reached over to brush my hair, but I flinched away.

Exasperatingly, he got up and mounted the bed. Then he sat astride on me and got closer.

Then, without warning, he slapped me hard and I fell back on the bed rest. My head began spinning, and my vision became blurry.

He grabbed my shirt, pulled me to him, and slapped me again, harder than the last.

Everything inside of me was spinning.

"How dare you run away? Why would you betray me like that, Scarlet Gill! You are the one among the very scarce girls who got the opportunity to have sex with me. And you betray me like that by being invisible for almost a week!" He yelled in my ear.

"What? What are you talking about? I didn't run away." I said over the ringing of my ear.

He pulled me again through my shirt and didn't let go.

"Oh yeah? Then did you magically vanished, Ms. Gill?" He spat.

"You sold me. To Roy. For a week." I mumbled, unable to listen to my own voice.

"What? So this is your story?" He asked and slapped me again. And I knew I was on the verge of passing out. He grabbed me by my cheeks and said, "Don't you even try to lie to me again, pit me against my brother, or run away! You understand!" He said and snatched at my shirt, tearing the buttons apart, and then forcibly pulled my bra down, to flash my breast, and hit me with something round and cold.

I looked down and through fogged vision saw 'Sexy Firecracker' inked on my breast.

And then, I passed out.

******

I woke up to Millie tending to my wounds. I felt so numb inside that the pain didn't bother me.

"You shouldn't have run away." She said in a caring tone.

"I didn't. Rover sold me to Roy for a week." I said.

She stopped and looked at me frowning.

"I didn't take you as a lying kind." She said.

"What do you mean?"

"Girls at this hotel aren't for sale. Their time is. Which has to be enjoyed, here, at the hotel. And Roy? Seriously? He was here for two days after you ran away looking for you, for your time. But then he settled for someone else. And since you were the one he liked, he stopped coming after those two days. Rover was crazily angry. He didn't want to lose you of all the girls, and then after you, one of his rich customers went away, who happened to be his brother, and he liked that his brother was enjoying one of his girls. And he likes you around in his own Rover way. He even asked not to set you up with anyone, that you need to 'rest'! So I suggest you quit running because Rover won't quit chasing you. And stop this bullshit story of yours too because no one will believe you, and you will end up making Rover mad more than he already is." She said. "There's food on the table. Eat it if you want." Saying, she left the room.

I grabbed my head and tried to make sense of things. Why was Rover lying about selling me? If he didn't want me to tell this to people, why didn't he just say so? Or was Roy lying? But why would he?

The next day, I went to the dining room, and each girl made sure to turn to look at me atleast once and gossip. I spotted Kareena sitting with her usual friends, and I went to her.

As I set my tray on the table, the other two went away.

"So you really are back!" She exclaimed, not happily though. "Where did you go?" She asked nibbling on her toast.

"Would you believe me if I said Rover sold me to someone for a week?" I asked hopefully. Maybe she'll believe me.

"Not at all." She replied straightly.

Losing hope, I returned to my food.

Then I saw that Indian girl, who was in front of me the day we were being stamped, her eyes were red and she looked upset, but when our eyes met, she nodded a little.

*****

After breakfast, we were taken to the training room, where they showed us porn in a theatre to make us learn things. A nice way to get out what we just ate.

I took the last seat, and the Indian girl sat beside me.

She pointed at the man sucking a woman's breast on the screen and said, "My name is Laila."

I frowned watching her stilted introduction.

I copied her hand action, pointing at the screen, and said, "We are talking like this so that the sex stylists (more like our nannies) won't realize we are talking something personal?"

"Exactly." She replied.

"I am Scarlet."

She squinted her eyes on the screen before replying, "Yes, I know. Everybody does."

"Good to know." I coughed.

She bent over as if to scratch her leg and said, "This is stupid. Meet me in the bathroom in 10 minutes." And then she straightened up to watch the porn show.

Later we met in the washroom.

"Oh my god, I am happy and sad to see you here, Scarlet." She said.

Wow! This one didn't address people by their Firecracker name. Thank God!

"I-I don't understand," I said.

"When we got the news that you managed to run away, I was trying to follow your footsteps, figuring out how you managed to do it so that I could run away too. But nothing seemed possible. I am sad to see your plan didn't work for long, but now that you are here, we can know how you did it, do some considerable modifications and run away together? I did all the homework, Scarlet. There are fifty girls here, ten among which are brought here forcibly and thirty-five for the need for money. But they all have earned enough and want to get out. The rest five enjoys the sex way too much." In her last sentence, I was reminded of Roy's mother.

Laila sounded urgent. But I wonder how she managed to get such sensitive information in so little time when we are forbidden to talk personally to each other.

"So tell me, Scarlet, I beg you, how did you manage to run away."

"You won't believe me if I told you," I said looking at my feet, feeling guilty under her hopeful eyes.

"I am so desperate to get out that if you told me a fairy helped you get out, I'd believe you." She said.

"I didn't run away. A guy, Roy, he bought me from Rover for a week. I guess that's not allowed here. But that's what happened. And I recently learned that Roy is Rover's brother. So he might have made an exception for his brother. But I think since it's not allowed, he excused that I ran away."

"Okay, I was ready to believe everything but that! Because Roy came to me for sex for two days after you vanished. Why would he spend money here if he had already bought you?" She said.

"He said sex with you?" I couldn't stop myself from asking.

"Well, this is a secret, but it's not mine and I don't give a damn. He came to me but couldn't do anything. Seemed troubled. And FYI! There's no reason for Rover to hide that he sold you because the fact that you ran away brought more shame to the Magnificent business than it would have if River had broken some of his own stupid rules." She talks way too fast.

I could tell she wanted to speak, but we heard footsteps and Millie entered the washroom.

"What are you two doing?" She asked, eyeing both of us.

"Feisty was showing me her five-star positions." Laila lied.

"Get back to the theatre. You're missing the movie."

And definitely not regretting it.

*****

That afternoon, Millie announced that they were having a theme week, where we'd be wearing costumes to spice up the experience of a crime.

"Millie?" I took the courage to ask her as she did my make up.

"Yes?" She asked motherly.

"Would you do me a favor?" I asked. "Will you try to find out how Rover found me?" I asked.

"Someone tipped him off about your possible whereabouts." She said.

"Do you know who did?" I enquired further hopefully.

"I don't want to break your wounded heart, but I know you have accepted to cooperate with Rover for your sister. And I want you to reconsider for whom you sacrifice yourself." She said.

My heart drummed when I asked, "what do you mean?"

"Your sister, Rosa, told him about your whereabouts."