Doll Face

“Get to that fucking house! ~Now~!” Lucas sped off in his truck with Ron at his side, shotguns in tow.

“Fucking Christ, Lucas!” Ron was blubbering. “It’s been three days. Jesus God, let her be okay.”

“You can kill me yourself if she isn’t, Ron, because I can’t live without her.”

Lucas plowed down the dirt road leading to that place—the place of nightmares—and slammed on the brakes in front of the house. Heath and the others came running out of it.

“There’s no one here, Lucas! Not one damn person.” Tim heaved as the men lowered their weapons. They heard sirens in the distance, and Perkins pulled in.

“No one’s here!”

“Who’s not here then?” Perkins asked without exiting his squad car. “You figure this out and give me a fucking list.”

***

“How long has it been, Doll Face? Fourteen years? You were such a sweet little thing,” he said, running his lips over her cheek. “You were sweet then and you’re sweet now—or so I’ve heard.”

“P-please let me go…”

“Damn, I remember you saying that so many years ago—half-stoned out of your mind.” The man laughed. “But you were such a good girl, and forgetful. We used to call you Forget-Me-Not so they wouldn’t know it was us.

“How did it feel, Layla? Now that you’re more aware of your surroundings. How did it feel to have so many of us admiring your sweet little body?”

“Y-you hurt me…,” Layla sobbed, filling the blindfold up with tears. “But I don’t remember you, so please let me go. I won’t tell anyone. I won’t.”

“That’s exactly what you said when you ran away from us and then, then you were called out for your sluttiness and promiscuity—just like Sylvia. I was tickled that they didn’t even try to believe you. Enough money does that, ya know. Enough drugs too, and whatever else the big heads want.”

“I truly don’t know. I can’t see anything. Everything is a blur!” Layla wailed, before feeling someone tug her boots off.

“It used to be a blur, but then it wasn’t once you got with Lucas. We knew there’d be a day when you needed to be reminded of what the repercussions were.

“We didn’t want to kill you. We wanted to keep you all to ourselves because we knew this is what you’d turn into—a fucking little prize, a beauty, a sex goddess waiting to be fucked by so many,~ many~ men… For a good price too. So, die or comply. We’ve kept our eyes on you for a while and then ole Paul got involved.”

“Paul?” Layla cried, not believing any of this. “Why?”

“Because they paid me good fucking money to make sure you didn’t run to the cops again.”

Paul’s voice echoed through the room as someone ran a hand up and down her leg. “And someone is willing to pay a huge price for you and other girls.

“These fuckers didn’t kill you then because kids going missing or dying looks more suspicious, so they used any means necessary to block everything out—including me.”

“How long?” Layla demanded, “How long?!”

“Since we hooked up,” Paul confessed. “You were and still are so fucking gorgeous, but I got a call from my father, who needed me to keep you quiet, and I did…”

“What? How? Your father?!” Layla thrashed her head around, not knowing if she really wanted to see who was in the room.

“Yeah! Money is in the trafficking and sex industry, Layla. I wasn’t trying to change you when I had you dress up and put on wigs—I was testing the waters. You’re perfect just the way you are. Every time you’d think of something from that week, I’d slip you some more pills. Pop! Pop! Pop!”

“You son of a bitch!” Layla screamed.

“I’ve been so good at handling the situation until Lucas fucking Foster wanted you—and he does. That man loves you more than I thought he did, but he’ll be dead soon, so who cares?”

“Nooooo! Please!!!!”

“Yeah, so yada yada—didn’t kill you because you didn’t recall anything, and you were so good the clients just kept coming.”

“You are sick! This is sick!” Layla felt her stomach churning.

“And now?” Paul chuckled. “Now, we need you to be fully compliant with everything, or we will have to kill you.”

Layla felt someone tug her panties off. “Oh, no, please, no. Don’t do this…please…,” Layla begged. “Lucas…”

“Sure, cry for Lucas. It’s not his fault you’re here. Should have left well enough alone.”

***

Lucas gave Perkins a list of everyone to check out, and by the time they were done, he was in a fervor.

“Where the fuck did they take her?” Lucas kicked his truck. “I can’t stand around here. I gotta go.”

Heath jumped in the truck with Lucas and Ron as Lucas floored it down the road.

“Any other abandoned houses around here?” Lucas asked. “Anything?! Perkins said he was trying to trace everyone’s phone, but they’re not responding.”

“They’ve got burners, I’m sure,” Heath said. “There’s a couple of abandoned farm houses a few miles down. We’ve got a guy headed to Paul’s dad’s house.”

“Paul’s dad’s house?” Lucas scowled. “Why?”

“Big ass house out in the middle of nowhere and Paul’s nowhere to be found? Fucking covering everywhere, Lucas.”

“Sylvia’s gone,” Ron said as he read a text from Tim. “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! ~Fuck~!”

***

“I’m just going to take this off, okay?” Paul said to her, leaning in to take off the blindfold. “There… Can your eyes adjust?”

Layla’s eyes fluttered open and she squinted as she looked at Paul and then to the other side of him.

“Colt?”

Colt stepped forward. “Hey you…”

“What—why?” Layla closed her eyes, still adjusting to the light. “Money?”

Colt nodded and shrugged. “I like you, and you’re a nice fuck. Damn, you are so good at that, baby. With this body and the way you make a man feel? People will be paying top dollar for you. I’m only interested in getting paid, and you played right into my hands. Lucas never trusted me, and he was right. I am the bad guy.”

“Oh good! Look who the fuck is up! I am so goddamn tired of babysitting you!”

“B-Billy?!” Layla tried to move, bucking her hips every which way.

Billy smiled. “Oh, girl…you keep doing that and I’ll jump right in that pussy.”

“You were Lucas’s friend!”

“Friend?” Billy laughed. “I worked at a night club to get bitches like you out here. God, this is too fucking easy.”

“What about Wanda?”

A little feminine giggle came from behind Billy. Wanda stepped out in front of her husband, “Oh, sweetheart…”

“Wanda, you bitch!” Layla screeched as the other woman came closer to her to unbutton Layla’s dress. “Who else?! ~Who the fuck else is in on this?~”

“Well, Sylvia was just as surprised, to be honest. She’s not as compliant as we’d hoped, and Lauren’s…”

“Lauren’s dead.” Paul shrugged. “Oops.”

Layla’s head was spinning so much that she didn’t notice when her dress and bra came off. She was completely exposed now and didn’t even care.

“You killed her?”

“I had to. She found out everything. Now, she was a cruel woman, but she didn’t want you to be in this position, so she tried to bully you into leaving town. I caught on to that trick quickly.” Paul smiled. “But that’s none of your concern.”

He waved in someone else and Tony Gates, Paul’s father, came into view.

“Tony?” Layla couldn’t even process this situation properly. “Why?”

Tony smirked. “Have you seen yourself, girl? I’m paying big money for you today and for your friend, Sylvia. Millions, actually, and Paul’s told me you’re worth every penny.”

“You’re going to keep me?” Layla asked softly, her voice barely audible.

“Depends,” Tony said, licking his disgusting lips. “I can keep you, use you, and sell you out. Simple. I’ve done it for years to lots of folks. You think anyone cares? No!

“We keep people distracted with stupid bullshit so no one bats an eye when it comes to this industry. Easier for them to be brainwashed and turn the other cheek—which they will, again and again and again…”

***

“We’ve searched everywhere, brother,” Heath said as the posse met up on the outskirts of Dallas. “Even Paul’s big ass mansion seems vacant.”

Lucas was in combat mode. He was ready to do anything in his power to get her back.

“Can’t figure out where Billy is,” Tim said softly, as if that wasn’t a gut-wrenching truth.

“I fucking trusted that asshole,” Lucas said, knowing if Wanda and Billy were nowhere to be found, they were either in on it or dead.

“She could be gone, Lucas,” Tim muttered, not wanting to believe it. “These people are elitist assholes who get what they want.”

Lucas couldn’t believe that. He couldn’t believe that he’d have to live the rest of his life without Layla by his side.

“Hell, they would have nabbed her if you’d stayed with her,” Heath chimed in. “It was only a matter of time, I’m sure.”

Lucas was going to kill every last person involved in this and was going to do it nice and slow…

***

“Welp!” Paul moved out of the way, exposing her to the occupants of the room. Tears streamed down Layla’s face as she heard some commotion in the doorway. “Looks like our VIPs have arrived. They’ve waited a long time for you and the others.”

Layla’s pulse quickened as Liam smiled his nasty little smile, his eyes trailing her body like a man in need.

“It was you!”

“Me?” Liam chuckled. “Contrary to what you’ve been thinking, little lady, I was nowhere in the area at the time, but…you might have gotten me mixed up with this guy.”

Hard footsteps could be heard crossing the threshold as everyone seemed to move out of the way. Layla guessed this man was the “big boss,” and he looked familiar.

“This is my dad, Larry,” Liam said, putting a hand on the older man’s shoulder. “See the resemblance now? I mean, I’m totally going to get myself a piece of this action, but this is the guy you’ve really been afraid of. What was it? The boogeyman?”

Layla stiffened as Larry moved closer. He’d already been in here multiple times while she was blindfolded and sleeping peacefully—just like she was so many years ago.

Kneeling down, Larry caressed her cheek as the tears slipped down her face and her heart beat out of her chest.

“You are the one. You’ll definitely make me a rich man. You were so eager to get in my truck years ago—so naive, so trusting, and soaked to the bone. I could see why you’d confuse my son for me. He is the younger version of me, of course.

“The minute you gave yourself away in Liam’s presence, we knew we had to act. And poor fucking Lucas… He’ll have to be eliminated because he’ll never stop looking for you—or us—and we can’t have that.”

Layla sobbed. “Please, I’ll do anything, just don’t hurt him.”

Larry chuckled, sighing heavily. “You don’t have much of a choice, Doll Face.”