Page 72 of Love Me in the Dark

“Just do as you’re told and we won’t have to hurt you or your sister,” she said, her face devoid of emotion.

She opened the door and roughly shoved me inside. There were multiple women inside. A group of three huddled in the corner, and a few others were dotted around the room's edges. All of them looked incredibly young. Each wore a white slip like me and had a number on the front. One girl sat at a table strewn with make-up and brushes. My chest tightened as I realised Rada wasn’t here.

“Elena, hair, make-up,” Charlotte snapped, and a girl with dark hair sat at the table glanced our way.

Elena’s gaze raked over me, but her expression was blank. Burns covered part of her left arm, the skin looked almost melted, and her face was acne-scarred. She nodded to Charlotte, who disappeared out the door. The lock click echoed in the room, filled only with ragged breathing.

“Ela tuk.” Elena gestured to the seat before her, telling me to come to her.

I shuffled over my eyes on the other women in the room who watched me with various expressions, but pity was the one I could pick out the easiest.

“What is happening here?” I asked Elena first in English, but then switched to Bulgarian when she didn’t answer.

“Auction,” she replied in English.

“Auction for what?”

“For you. You are being sold to men for pleasure, if they need. Maybe work, maybe both.” Her tone was expressionless as the bottom fell out of my stomach.

Despite worrying for days straight, I hadn’t quite believed what was happening even when I saw the guns.

“Have you seen my sister? Her name is Rada,” I asked, my heart in my throat.

Elena shook her head, and my scalp screamed as she began combing my hair.

“If she wasn’t pure, she wouldn’t have come to me for preparation.”

“Pure?”

“Untouched. A virgin.”

My skin prickled uncomfortably. Rada had a boyfriend while she was in the UK, so I imagine they’d had sex, but it wasn’t something we discussed. She always acted like I was too young to know about those things. Now I wished I’d agreed to trade my virginity for something practical when I had the chance, and we would still be together.

“Where will she have gone?”

“It depends. Does she look like you?” Elena’s dead eyes studied my features before returning to brush my hair.

“Yes.”

“A workhouse, then.”

“What’s a workhouse?”

“For prostitution. The pretty ones fetch a higher price. They send the ugly ones like me to do other work.”

I gaped at her, my stomach churning.

“Don’t worry; when your owner has had enough of you, they’ll sell you back, and you might see her again—unless they damage you.” She gestured at her burns.

The bile rushed up my throat so fast I only had time to turn my head as I vomited onto the floor.

Panting, I wiped my mouth. “We have to get out of here.”

Elena barked a humourless laugh. “How? Where would you go if you got away from all the guns?”

“Anywhere.”

“Your sister would pay for that.”