The billionaire's mysterious lady

Episode 8

A quick throwback of what my father did runs through my mind; Maxwell, Isabella, and I are sea creatures. Being a mermaid was my nature and just like my mum, getting married to a sea monster was the norm. The sea monsters are the masculine sect of our kind. I had adored my beautiful tail and my blue skin glowed like the sky, Life then was perfect for me until I became a teen, the period of my life where I learned about our race and our abilities to leave the deepest oceans where we inhabited and transformed into humans using the west coast portal,

Tracing the history of how these portals came to be was as a result of hunger for civilization which sprouts deep in the waters, Sea monsters discovered another kind known as the human race. The humans had heavy machines that encroaches on our territory, the submarine. The inquisition of some young mermaids led them to be caught and taken away. In the quest to bring back the mermaids. Every of our kind donated a scale that formed the great portal.

The link between sea creatures and Humans. It was only possible for either a monster or a mermaid to transform into humans using the portal and were referred to as sea humans. Though every attempt to return home the missing girls proved abortive as many who transformed into humans were either caught, their true nature unraveled, or enjoyed so much pleasure in the Human world, abandoning the purpose of their existence in the world outside their own. Time passes by and the disadvantage of having the portal grows deeper and deeper it seems the devil had penetrated the creatures of the sea. Monsters and mermaids caught by humans worked for them. They return to the waters and lure many out and traded them as slaves to humans. Day after day the portal experienced monsters in numbers traded to the human world. The monsters who traded their kind in the human world were so rich and powerful, that they enjoyed all the comforts of human life. While many who escaped the human markets that traded monsters fit into the normal society. Drugs were like honey to sea monsters living in the human world And drug addiction rained numerous disadvantages not only on normal humans but also on sea humans. Sea humans would return to the sea as monsters and mermaids most time if they are close to mortality.

My father Travis was a sea human that traded monsters and mermaids, but instead of having affluence, he was an addict and was always indebted to humans. My father had always left my mother broken with her disapproval of his destruction of our kind. He was indebted to humans, many a time they sent their sea human servants to go after him.

Even though I had loved my father, The fear of what he does keeps burning in me, His business gave me constant worries and I hoped it would end someday.

A mark is engraved in my waist region the junction between my tail and my upper body, this marks are what makes sea humans distinct from normal humans, they are always padded with a nylon plastic skin, else contact with water may make a sea human transform into a monster in the human world.

The day an unforgettable scar is created in my heart is the day my father did the unthinkable, My mother swam to get us underwater yeast for food. I was alone in our coven when my father called me out of the coven

decorated with cactus. He then took a piece of metal and carved out my marks and sealed them with the nylon skin. I respected my father so I never questioned his opinion. He made us swim towards the portal. Fear grips my heart as we approach the sky color portal and passing through it we are seated at a bus top air night am surprised to see my new body. I have heard only tales of being a sea human but I've never experienced it. My body is looking different, my blue scales have faded away. My skin is white like that of a human, My father handed over some padded jeans and a worn-out blouse for me to close my half-naked body. Then approaching us was a blue car, some men in black interrupted my question of the inquisition of what we are doing at the bus stop. Travis replies “Am sorry my love but I just have to give you out to the humans am owing, else they would kill me”...oh no..no.no..!!!” I yelled with agitation my life is about to take a new turn, I have been double-crossed by my father. Dragging me into the back of the car with a little resistance from me. The door is shut and the car drives away, river of tears flows from my eyes. I am in pain I lay my head over and gently rub my behind to see if my mark is well concealed by my nylon skin. My mother had told me stories of how an exposed mark in contact with water would make a female sea human lose control of oneself like a zombie and acts as someone spellbound while a male sea human with an exposed mark will transform from a sea human into a monster in the Human world. The car stops at a brick house, everything is different over here. The houses, the cars, the roads, and even the human locomotion. I could barely feel my legs but they carried me gently as one of the men from the front seat of the car held my hand dragging me into what seemed like an abandoned brick house. Entering the house are different men all dressed in black smoking and drinking, it seems like a party. Their attention is narrowed on me as am forcefully directed to the room. I can feel my heart sinking. The human skin is never comforting and it's burning like wildfire. I retire into a little corner in the room, All I can think of is my mum, what is she doing," how would she feel about what Travis has done to her only offspring?

Loud, heavy footsteps stop abruptly outside the door. The voices are hushed, and I hear the tell-tale squeak of the knob turning slowly. The sound of the lock twisting is my impending doom. the noise I fear more than anything else in the world.

She's not f*****g here! You promised me, and you know I always collect. You find her or suffer the f*****g consequences!”I hear arguments erupt in the background.

The door slams shut, and I let out the breath that I’m holding so ardently, so fearfully. My lungs constrict and release. Reaching my hand out to the cubbyhole door, I rattle the handle.

The footsteps retreat from outside the room, and are drowned out effortlessly by the volume of the music drifting from the other room, and a couple moaning relentlessly in the room next door.

My eyes feel heavy, and I make myself as comfortable as possible for the long night ahead. The party doesn't sound like it is dying down anytime soon, as a matter of fact, it sounds like it’s getting louder. Surely it can't be going on for much longer? My only consolation is that my father will cooking up lies to my mother and reporting to the ses police about my disappearance.

I can only hope, that am found by maybe good humans because the ones here seems like bad guys to me.

Holding myself tight in the darkness, my mind wanders through all the things I should be doing right now. How I wish I’d had a normal life and not the one given to me. How I wish I had a father who won't trade my innocence for his dirty business.

Regardless of what occurs inside this house of horrors, my main priority is my mother - which I stupidly left to go get yeast all by herself.. If I’d known I was going to be in this godforsaken place , I would have gone with her, rather than wasting being in this agony. The only way I am escaping this shithole of an existence is unknown to me.

A tired sigh escapes my throat, and my eyes are unquestionably heavy. Groaning, I realise that if I make it through tonight - undiscovered and unscathed - I am going to look for a way out by tomorrow.

My eyelids begin to droop as sleep beckons me, but I can’t let it tempt me. I have to stay awake. I have to fight. And I do. I fight so hard not to let it take me away with it, but I lose the battle when an almighty yawn ripples from deep inside, and stupidly, I allow it to.

The cubbyhole door flies open at speed. The sound of wood and metal cracking snap me out of subconsciousness. Rubbing my eyes as I come to, the frame of a large man fills the doorway. The light of the room floods in behind him. Ironically, I might have mistaken him for an angel, if I couldn’t already see he has the face of the devil. His mouth contorts into a wry grin, and his arm reaches inside towards me. I push myself back against the wall, but there is nowhere left to hide in this six by three space. His hand grabs me, and I fight with all I’ve got for him not to touch me. Unforgiving fingers tighten around my wrists, and with one swift pull, I’m up on my feet, and he drags me to him. I tilt my head to the side, as far back as I can manage, while he sneers at me and licks his lips.

“We're gonna have some fun, sweets!” He hauls me out of the cubbyhole and throws me on the bed. I turn just in time to see a familiar figure closing the door behind him, leaving me to my fate. I scream at the top of my lungs, praying he will come back.

But he won’t.

He never does.

Tears form in my eyes, realising my safe haven is no longer safe, and I have just been sold to repay his debt.

I crawl back into the bed until my spine hits the wall, and the pain reverberates up and down each vertebrate.

There is nowhere for me to run.

The man standing in front of me, still with a grin on his face, shrugs off his jacket and begins unfastening his belt. A strange sense of déjà-vu overcomes me,

“Please, don't!” I cry at him. “Please, I'm begging you!” I scream out as my tears fall like a river, burning everything in their path. I reach my hands up to try and push him away, but it’s pointless. I already know what the outcome will be tonight.

I silently pray not to see daybreak.

The man reaches over and yanks the back of my neck, and my body turns limp. He’s holding me prone by my ponytail, as he looks me up and down. The burn developing at the back of my head, from my hair stretching at their follicles, is agonising.

“Don't struggle you little b***h; you'll only make it worse. Or maybe you f*****g like it rough?” he says, a little too satisfied.

An eternity seems to pass by, but finally, my instincts kick in like a wrecking ball, and I slap him hard across the face. My hand burns in the aftershock of the action. My arms flail out, and I scratch him repeatedly, clawing like a dog, trying to escape him. Beyond angry, he tosses me back down like a rag doll. Bringing his hand to his mouth to inspect the damage, he spits the watery blood onto the carpet and turns back to me enraged.

“You little f*****g b***h! What did I tell you?” he screams at me.

I scramble off the bed, not knowing where to turn. I spy the open window, knowing it’s my only escape. But before I can put my plan into action, a large, unforgiving hand restrains my ankle and jerks me back. Flipping me over, I am now underneath him. Trapped.

He smashes his fist over my face, and I feel my jaw dislodge. Screaming out in agony, he leans over and drags my arms over my head, securing them in one hand. I kick my legs out, and he shakes his head as a sudden, white-hot searing pain engulfs the top of my thigh. Looking down the length of my body, my eyes widen when I see the knife, its tip coated with my blood. He brings it up to my face and then presses it into my neck until I can feel the sharp edge begging to penetrate the surface of my skin. I quiet down instantly, sobbing at the inevitable that will come to pass before tonight is through.

Defeated, I close my eyes, struggling in vain to try and shut him out. His hands rub over my middle and bile seeps into my throat. The acid burns and vomit enters my mouth. I swallow it back down, blocking out the putrid taste of my own stomach. If only I could block out the feeling of him touching me, violating me.

I whimper, as he starts to drag my jeans down the one Travis had given me at the bustop earlier and rips the blouse from my torso. The ringing in my ears is loud, but all I can hear is the flimsy, cheap fabric being shredded under his hands. They then roam over my body again. I feel sick - not that it went away in the first place - and I dry heave, as his hands touch me in places they shouldn’t. I want nothing more than to die this instant.

My breaths come out in long, fear-infused pants, while my heart beats out of control, thundering hard and painful against my chest. I fear I’m going to have a heart attack, and I pray that if I do, it takes me quickly.

My eyes are still closed in the final minutes before the last remaining items of my clothes are forcibly removed, and another set of footsteps enter the room. And somewhere between the second heavy punch to my face - which annihilates my sight completely - and his hand getting higher and higher on my thigh, my ankles and wrists are being restrained by another set of hands that I cannot see.

Something then pricks sharply at my neck, and I pass out.

“You son of a b***h!”

“Say what you want, p***y! I'm f*****g done here!”

My body feels broken and ravaged. This pain is far worse than anything else I have ever felt before. It seeps through my limbs at an excruciating rate, and I scream out in agony, trying in vain to position my arm underneath myself to lift up. The weight is too much to bear, and I drop back down with a soft thud. My body feels incapacitated and unresponsive.

I wince under the soft, caring touch of a stranger I can barely see. My eyes are partially closed - and it’s not because I am squeezing them shut. The pain coming from every nerve ending and muscle tells me I have not only been r***d, but beaten beyond comprehension.

“Easy, don't move. I've got you. I've got you.” The stranger's arms hold me gently, but firmly, as he lifts me up. My body stings with every step he takes. Even the smallest jolt is a complete shock to my system. I’m trapped in a dark place of never-ending pain.

The cold air of early spring whips around my body, chilling me to the bone. The indicative signs of my skin breaking out in goosebumps implies that I am completely naked now. The scattered memories of what the man did start to break out clearly inside my head. I replay them over and over in order to block them aside. It’s the first step in my mission not to remember.