Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. Edited by Sjdavis84 and StillDreaming85.

WARNING: This story contains mature themes and is intended for mature readers.

ISABELLA SWAN

Victoria was a beautiful woman. She had long black hair and a set of striking blue eyes. She had killer long legs and a figure to die for. Victoria was also a nice person.

On my first night here, she had put me in her room. She did everything that she could to get me to calm down, to make me feel comfortable. I felt bad for her efforts, because there couldn't be anything she could have done to get me to relax in this place.

I won't lie, last night after Victoria left me, I contemplated locking myself in the bathroom, I contemplated ending it all and making the pain go away. I debated between the razor in my hand and filling up the bathtub. If it weren't for Garrett, maybe I would have gone through with it as well.

He came in after he thought I had been in the bathroom for too long, I didn't realize I had to stick to a strict time limit. He saw me with the razor in my hand and knocked it right out.

I hated Garrett, he wasn't James, he wouldn't talk to me, he wouldn't even offer me a small bit of comfort, not that I wanted him to touch me in any way.

He just sat there on the end of the bed and watched my every move for the remainder of the night. Of course he had to tell Victoria of my failed attempt. He thought I was asleep, but I heard him tell her everything.

"That was a very stupid thing to do," Victoria said, she was sitting on the bed behind me brushing my hair.

"It wasn't stupid," I mumbled. Being dead was better than being stuck here.

"It was, and you know it."

"Did you ever stop to think that I had a reason for doing it?" I said, trying to move away from her, but she tugged on my hair keeping me in place.

"I don't want to be here, but I don't have a choice, he won't give me another choice and it's not fair. Why do I have to pay for my father's mistake? It's not mine, it's his and it's not fair," I yelled and for the first time I let it out, for the first time, I accepted I was here because of my father, because of a deal he made and broke.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I know it must be hard and I won't try and understand what you are going though. Being betrayed by your own blood, that is a hard pill to swallow. But killing yourself isn't an answer, believe me, I've tried that option and it's not as glorified as it sounds," she said, as she finished braiding my hair.

"Why did you try and kill yourself?" I asked, turning around to face her.

"I wasn't trying to die, or at least that's what I like to tell myself." She offered me a weak smile. "I was looking for a way to numb the pain, to feel anything other than…"

"I'm sorry," I said. It was hard to believe that someone like her was ever so broken, she looked so put together, so in control, but looks are deceiving no one really knows what lurks in someone's mind.

"I've seen your face on the news. You're practically in every newspaper. I'm sorry that you are here because someone like you doesn't belong here, Isabella," she said, leaning in, she kissed the top of my head.

"I'm glad that you feel that way. Now, do you think you could convince Anthony of that?" I chuckled.

"Don't ever use his name here again," she said sternly, grabbing onto my jaw and making me look at her. "None of these girls know his real name, not even the men keeping guard. They don't know his name, his brother's name or his father's name and we need to keep it that way."

"Why?" I asked. Was this all some security thing? Or was it something more? What did they think, that because no one here knew their real name they couldn't be identified? They saw their faces and I'm sure they could give an accurate description if need be.

"You ask too many questions, you know that. Let's get you downstairs, I've got clients arriving very soon and I need to make sure the rest of the girls are ready," she said.

'Clients? You mean perverts," I spat. Men paying their way for sex with women who didn't want to be here. Victoria had kept me up here for the past couple of days and Garrett would bring me food. But I knew she wouldn't keep me up here forever, I knew eventually she would make me go out there.

She shrugged as she stood up and fixed her dress. "I guess that's your way of looking at it."

"Aren't you or An..him, afraid someone will recognize me? You said it yourself, my face it everywhere."

"They probably will, but they will not care because the men that come here are not outsiders. They are all connected and they are all loyal. If they dare to speak out, there will be dire consequences. Not one of them are going to risk their lives or their families for you." Her words, although harsh, were true. Everyone that I had come in contact with since being here all feared Anthony and Edward and their family in some way or another.

I was trapped here, Victoria knew it, Garrett and James knew it and Anthony...Anthony knew that there would never be any escape.

DINY

I hated this damn dress, no matter how much I tugged it down, it was still too damn short. Victoria apologized, but there was no other clothing here that would fit me. Right now, I would kill someone for a pair of track pants.

Sitting on the sofa in this living room, with Garrett close by me. I had never felt so cheap in my life. It was as if the air in this house was stale, it smelt of sex, and trash, and old men. That was another problem, the men that came here, they weren't all old, they weren't what I expected. Yes, there were the old gray men with bald spots. But the rest were younger, dressed to perfection, presented themselves well, not the sort of men I would have ever imagined needing to pay for sex.

I had been down here for a few hours now, and in that time seven men had come in here, picking someone and heading upstairs. I held my breath each time I heard Victoria come in with a different man, pushing myself to not go into a panicked fit.

I watched as the other women stood up in a straight line almost like soldiers, all of their faces void of any emotions.

I didn't know what I had to do, Victoria never gave me any specific instructions. Was I supposed to stand up with them? I didn't want to, I wanted to crawl into a hole and die right now.

I guess Garrett made the decision for me. He stood in front of me, every time someone would come in. His large frame blocked me from anyone's view.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked, as Victoria lead the man and his chosen...Woman for the hour, out of the room.

"Doing what?"

"Shielding me away from them. Why are you protecting me?" Although I had mixed feelings about Garrett, I never wanted to jump up and hug him more in my life than I did right now.

"Would you prefer I didn't?" He challenged, raising his brow.

"No, I mean, thank you for doing this for me."

His face softened and he came and sat down beside me. He looked different when he wasn't acting all tough, he looked normal.

"I'm not as bad as you think I am, and I promised James I wouldn't let anyone hurt you here, and I'm not going to, alright?" He said.

"Thank you," I smiled. I leaned over and kissed his cheek, taking him by surprise. Neither one of us spoke after that. We sat in that awful room in an uncomfortable silence, the only noise coming from a TV in the corner.

Victoria came back, offering me a small smile. "How are you doing?" She asked.

"Is that a trick question?" I asked.

"Sorry," she chuckled.

"Why is she getting special treatment?" The girl who had left an hour ago was now back and glaring at me.

"She is not getting special treatment," Victoria said.

"Bullshit. She has her own bodyguard. He hides her away whenever someone comes in. So what's so special about her? Are you in love with her?" She spat at Garrett.

"Jane, that's enough. Go and clean yourself up," Victoria said, standing around to face her.

"That's it, isn't it," Jane laughed. "You're in love with her. But that doesn't answer the question, why does she have you here? None of us have any guards, so why does she?"

Garrett clenched his jaw. He stood up slowly. Each step he took made the floorboards creak. In this moment, Garrett looked absolutely terrifying, but Jane didn't seem fazed, neither did Victoria for that matter.

Garrett grabbed Jane's jaw and got right up in her face.

"The next time you open your mouth, it better be to apologize to her," Garrett said. "Say it," he demanded.

A flicker of fear flashed across Jane's face as she stepped out of Garrett's grasp and faced me. "I'm sorry," Jane said. That was the most nonsense apology I have ever heard. If looks could kill, I bet Jane would have buried me already.

"Leave Jane, and go clean yourself up," Victoria said.

Before she left, Garrett grabbed her by her upper arm and slammed her against his chest.

"If you ever speak out of line to me again, I will take great joy in breaking you," he said.

Jane didn't seem affected by Garrett's words, not in the way that I hoped anyway. She didn't seem like the other women or girls here, she appeared as if she was almost enjoying herself. But maybe that was it, maybe she wasn't forced to be here, maybe she wanted to here, although I would have no idea why. Or maybe she just accepted her fate.

"Don't ever put your hands on my girls, or threaten them again," Victoria said.

"Then teach them some fucking respect," Garrett said.

A week went by and I hadn't heard anything about Anthony or his brother, or James for that matter. Every day was the same thing, every night was the same thing. Men would come and go and Garrett would always keep me away. It didn't seem to bother Victoria and as stupid as it may have been, I asked her why.

"I don't think you would be able to handle it," she said. "And the last thing I need, is you having an attack like you did that night with a client."

"Thank you," I said, not knowing what else I could say to a person who was protecting me from getting raped.

"All these other...women, are they here because they want to be or are they like me?" I asked. It was a question that has been driving me mad all week, ever since the confrontation with Jane.

"Some are here because they want to be and some…" She trailed off but I understood.

"Why would someone want to be here willingly? This isn't exactly a glamorous job."

"Some people, like Jane, she's addicted. I don't know how she came in contact with them to get to here," she said, pouring herself a glass of wine. "Do you want a glass?"

I shook my head. "What's she addicted to?" I asked.

Both her and Garrett chuckled. "You really are an innocent little thing, aren't you. She's addicted to sex. The men that come here love her, she even has a few regulars."

"That's disgusting," I said. "And the rest of them?"

"How about you don't worry yourself too much about them," Garrett said, he pushed a plate over to me with a sandwich.

"How do you do it?" I asked Victoria. "How can you stand by and watch the ones that don't want to be here go through that?"

"It's my job," she shrugged.

"How did you get this job?" I wanted to understand how a nice woman like her ended up in a place like this.

"Look," she sighed, putting her half filled glass down. "I had a good life, unlike some of the girls here. I had a good family, loving parents, an amazing big brother."

"So what happened?"

"Life happened. My parents died and I was young. I didn't know how to deal with that pain. My brother tried his best to keep me in line but no matter what, the pain was always there, it hurt too much. So I ran away from home and I got involved with the wrong people. I started doing drugs, I had sex just because it would make me feel something else," she said.

"That's...I'm sorry," I said.

"Don't be, it was a long time ago and met someone who helped me. He took me in and cleaned me up, he gave me this job. I haven't touched anything in almost seven years and I also haven't slept with anyone for the same amount of time."

"Who helped you?" I asked, wondering if it was Anthony, although he didn't seem like the helpful type, maybe it was Edward.

"I can't tell you that," she laughed.

"You're not allowed?"

"I don't want to. It's our secret between the two of us. He is the only one that knows about my life, about everything. He reminded me of my father and he treated me like a daughter. He didn't judge me for my mistakes."

There was a loud crash coming from the hallway. Both Victoria and Garrett jumped up at the sound.

"Stay here, you understand. Don't move an inch, I'll be right back," Garrett said, as he pulled out a gun from the back of his jeans.

The smart thing to do would have been to stay seated in the kitchen like Garrett had instructed me to do, but my curiosity had gotten the better of me and I stood up and followed them out into the hall.

Garrett and one of the other guards had a man pinned down while Victoria was holding onto one of the girls. Her face was bleeding and her clothes were torn.

"Come on honey, let's get you cleaned up," Victoria spoke to her, soothing her hair. "Take care of that trash and then clean it up," she ordered.

Garrett was merciless as he beat the man. The other guard stood watch while Garrett destroyed the man on the floor. Each blow he delivered made my stomach jump. I felt sick watching, yet I couldn't look away. The man stopped moving and Garrett stood up wiping his bloodied hands on his shirt, before taking it off and wiping the blood off of his face.

"Get this fucker out of here," he ordered.

I carefully backed out of there and backed back into the kitchen, careful not to make a sound. I closed my eyes, trying to collect myself and rid myself of what I had just witnessed.

"You know," Garrett said. I opened my eyes to see him in front of me, shirtless. "When someone tells you to stay put, you really should listen."