Shattered Love

Chapter 1

Lyla's POV

"Kenzley Anne, if you don't get out of this car and help me take dinner upstairs, I'm going to eat your dessert," I threatened my little sister in the back seat. She knew I wouldn't, and I also knew that this was one of her favorite games that I would never understand. She liked to get me all riled up, or so she thought.

She giggled and got out of the car and grabbed her chicken nuggets and fries, while I got our food and drinks. This was our weekly ritual. On Fridays, I picked her up from school, and we went to the park, and then we got take-out and when we were home, we would eat it while watching a movie of her choice. It was my way of getting her worn out before bedtime. That way I could get something done. I had schedules to write for work, and I also cleaned the apartment.

"Can we go to the beach tomorrow?" Kenz asked.

"Is your room clean?" I asked as I put my key in the door, but it was unlocked, which was weird because I always locked the door. I stepped in the door first and didn't see anything out of place. Maybe for once in my life I forgot to lock the door.

"Why don't you go put your backpack in your room and wash your hands and I will meet you on the couch." I told Kenz and she ran off laughing.

Approximately four seconds later she had let out the most blood-chilling scream that I had only ever heard from her. I dropped the food and ran to her room. My heart stopped beating when I heard her and I had the worst feeling that came true when I made it to her door. She stood there while he had his hands wrapped around her ponytail so she couldn't run.

"What are you doing here?" I seethed out and he laughed.

"You forget who is in charge here."

"No, you're not. What do you want, William?" I refused to call him dad or father. He didn't deserve that title. I could see his jaw clench. He hated it when I did that.

He jerked Kenz ponytail, so she was falling to the floor and letting out cries. He knew she was my weakness, and I would do anything to protect her. "I need twenty thousand."

I started laughing if he thought that I had that kind of money. I didn't have any money. My savings were slim, but I made enough to get what Kenzley needed and keep a roof over our heads and food on the table.

"I figured that you didn't have any, so you are going to earn it for me."

"No. I'm not doing that again. You can't make me. The cops have been looking for you." I threatened. This isn't the first time he has done this. He did it three years ago and, for once, I filed a police report, and they've been looking ever since, or they say they have been, but after about two weeks of not finding him, they stopped looking.

"I don't think they are looking all that hard and if you won't do it, then she can do it."

"NO." I screamed.

He started laughing, "I didn't think so."

He grabbed a needle out of his back pocket and shoved it into Kenzley's arm, and I watched as the lights slowly went out in her eyes, and he pushed her onto her little bed and turned to me and pulled a gun out of his back pocket and pointed it at me. "Room now," he demanded, and I had no choice but to comply.

When I walked into my room, there was another man in there, and he grabbed me by the hair and jerked my head back. "Sweet dreams," he said as he jabbed a needle into my neck. He'd done this before, and I knew what was about to happen. The world around me started to fade quickly, and my legs started to feel like Jello. I could hear them laughing, but it sounded like I was underwater as it took full effect, and I felt the blackness take over.

"No," I yelled, or I tried to yell. I could feel someone on top of me, but I couldn't move, and I couldn't open my eyes. They were keeping me too drugged to be able to do anything. It felt like I was floating, but I knew I wasn't.

I felt the prick in my arm this time and I tried to fight the effect of the drug, but it was too powerful, and I was back out.

This haze went on for what felt like days, but I honestly had no clue how long it had been, but it was finally starting to wear down. I wasn't floating anymore, and my brain was forming coherent thoughts. I could feel my arms were tied above my head, but my legs were free. My shirt was pushed up, and I could feel my pants down around one ankle. My entire body felt like it had been run over by a truck.

"It's about damn time. We have to move," my father said.

"Where's Kenzley?"

"You want to see her, then you will comply with what I tell you. Now you're going to get dressed, and we are going to leave here and there won't be any funny business from you."

He came over and undid the ropes around my wrist and I pulled my shirt down as fast as I could, which, with the drugs still in my system, wasn't fast. By the time I managed to get myself fully dressed, he was impatiently waiting for me at the door. I didn't know where we were at all.

"Where is she?"

"You will see her soon enough."

He stomped over to me and grabbed my arm, jerking me up and gripping my arm tight enough that it would just leave another bruise on my body. I'm sure at this point that I am covered in them. We were in his old house, which meant he drove us back to my old hometown, but we weren't staying.

He pushed me into the back seat and yelled at me to lay down. I happily did so because it didn't hurt as much if I didn't have to hold myself up. Unfortunately, it was for only about ten minutes when he pulled into another driveway and got out without saying a word. I knew better than to move or get out. I waited until the door was jerked open, and my ankle was grabbed, and I was jerked out of the car, hitting my butt and back on my way out. I suppressed the groan that I wanted to let out.

"Get up," my father growled at me, and I knew if I didn't get up fast enough, I would get hit or kicked, so I got up as fast as I could. He grabbed my arm in the familiar bruising grip that he always used. "You had better do whatever they say, because if you don't, they are going to come after me next, and you won't like what I do to get out of this. If you want your sister to live, you won't f**k this up."

He pulled me into the house that we had pulled up in front of. It wasn't just a normal house either. It was big and perfectly manicured. It wasn't the size of a mansion, but it also wasn't far off. My father rang the doorbell, and we stood there waiting for several minutes and just when he reached up to knock again, the door was jerked open and a larger-than-life guy that looked mean as s**t stood there.

"What?" he said in a voice that was just as big as his body.

"I have a meeting with Mr. Briggs."

"Name?"

"William Powers."

The man stared my father down with the nastiest glare, but when his eyes moved over to me, a chill moved over me, and I knew his intentions weren't good. He wasn't a good guy. I could see that. He finally stepped out of the way and let us into the house, but he was quick to grab my other arm and if I thought my father's grip was tight it was nothing on what this guy was doing. It felt like the bone in my upper arm was slowly starting to break.

We were led into a dining room where two men sat at a table drinking an amber-colored drink. Alcohol of some kind. I kept my eyes down on the floor because I could only imagine what my father had in store for me and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it.

"William, I see you finally decided to show your damn face."

"You're a week late," the other man said.

"Sorry, but I have the cash you wanted, and it took me a little longer to find her, but I told you that she was pretty and will bring a good amount," my father said, and it was worse than I thought. They were going to sell me like I was some type of property. I couldn't stop the tears that had formed. "Look at her," my father said as he brought his other hand up and forced me to look up at them. I tried to look down again, but that wasn't allowed as the big man grabbed my hair and jerked my head back.

"Strip," the older of the two men said, and I just stared at him in shock. I wasn't about to take my clothes off in front of all of them. I wouldn't be doing that for anyone. "Do it now or Big Joe will do it for you."

"Please no," I begged quietly, but I was only met with laughs and Big Joe pulled a pocket knife out and flipped the blade open so fast that I didn't have time to process anything, but all I knew was that I couldn't physically bring myself to do it.

The older man nodded at Big Joe, and he moved so fast with his knife cutting right through my top and a little bit of my skin. I screamed and thrashed around trying to make them stop, but it didn't work. He cut through my bra, letting my breast pop out. My face turned red, and the tears flowed at a quick pace. I continued to look at the ground as looking at them would only further my humiliation.

"Is she a virgin?" one of them asked.

"No," my father laughed. "She is a bit of a slut, but I promise that she will bring a good amount at the sale."

"Fine, go put her in the basement and William, if she doesn't bring enough to cover your debt you will get lead poisoning," they threatened, and before I could react to anything happening, Big Joe grabbed my arm even tighter, making me wince in pain as he dragged me out of the room.

I was taken through the kitchen and into a door that was kind of hidden and down a set of stairs where he practically pushed me down them and into a dark cold room. When he flipped the light on, there were several other women down there, and they were all chained to the wall. Most hide their faces from the lights shining bright and probably hurting their eyes. He pulled me to an empty spot on the wall and jerked my arm to the chair and hooked it up.

"Enjoy your time down here because it will be the last nice thing you get," he said, laughing and turning around and walking out, turning the lights out. The sobs instantly racked my body.

"Don't make any noise, they will come down here, and we don't want that," one of the women said. I tried to be quiet about it, but I couldn't. I knew there was no getting out of this and all I could think about was Kenzley. She wasn't going to be safe. I prayed that someone would realize that we were gone and find her and protect her since I failed to.