NUMB

ADELINE'S POV

The men arrived right on time. It's surprising to me that people with moral capacities as low as theirs would bother to be punctual. But I guess everyone can be punctual if they want something bad enough. These perverts are only this early because they want to prey on innocent women. Both minors and grown-ups.

This organization feeds into their dark fantasies in every way possible and they would do everything to get what they want. Veronica leads them over to a huge dinning table she arranged and makes us wait in a room to be presented to them when they are all seated up. When everything is set, Veronica comes for us and reminds us one last time to be perfect and to put smiles on our faces. She scowls at me when she realizes I don't have a smile on my face but there's really nothing she can do right now, and I am not one to pretend.

She walks us out of our room in a single file with a perfect line and leads u to the room filled with the perverted men. As soon as I walk into the room, as soon as I see how many figured there are, I quickly bow my head, not wanting to meet their gazes and watch as they stare at me with predatory eyes. I don't want to see their eyes scan my entire body like I were an object. I don't want to feel that way about myself so I avoid their eyes and focus on my feet instead.

The impossibly high heels that I have on my feet would have bothered me a while back but Veronica has taught us how to walk in them, how to ignore the pain they bring us and how to have them on all day without complaining. She has taught us how to walk on them, how to run in them, and how to dance in them. They don't even hurt as I look at them and it bothers me how much my body has adapted to his place. How will I ever be the same if I finally get out. Will I be the same person or will I just be a shadow of the woman I used to be, completely transformed by the trauma of erotica.

"Wow." One of the men says followed by other similar remarks from the other men. I hear as they draw their seats away and stand, walking towards us and I flinch. All I an think about right now is Colton. His presence has become calming to me in this place so I focus my thoughts on him as the men draw closer to us.

"You have very fine young ladies here Veronica." One of the men says.

"Oh, thank you Sir." Veronica says with a proud voice. I want to scream and shout at them. This is nothing to be proud of. This is nothing to be applauded for. This is the worst possible thing that could happen to anyone and these sick men are here, congratulating this bitch for it. It makes me angry. It sends a shock of anger flowing through my veins so I snap my head up in anger.

As I raise my head, immediately regret it because the person I see standing directly in front of me is someone I recognize, but it can't be. It can't be him. I almost take a step back from the blow that hits me in the face at the sight of the man in front of me. He looks lost in thought as he looks to the other girls one by one until his eyes finally meet mine. His eyes widen once they fall on my face and I know, I know he recognizes me too.

"Director…?" Tears stain my cheeks at I stare at him and then all I feel is pure rage. "You bastard." I say with gritted teeth. The other girls gasp at my words and Veronica gets to my side as quickly as she can before I do anything stupid. I'm at a loss for words. How do you explain the fact that the director of the FBI branch in New York, how do you explain the fact that the same man responsible for all the lives of the many citizens in New York, how do you explain the fact that he is here right now, in erotica, a sinister look in his eyes as he stares at minors. He keeps his eyes widened at me, s if he just saw a ghost.

"You incompetent monster!" I scream at the top of my lungs. I have worked with the director before. I was appointed as the therapist to a criminal and the director wanted me to personally handle the case. I worked with him for the entirety of that case and I admired him. I admired this evil bastard standing in front of me and all he turned out to be is a useless pervert.

I feel a slap to my face as the words leave my mouth and I taste blood in my mouth but I don't care. I don't care what Veronica does to me.

"What is the meaning of this Veronica?" One of the other men asks, anger rising in his voice as he witnesses the scene in front of him. The director has wife and a family so I know he is not here for a wife and that can only mean one thing, he's here for the minors and he's a fucking mole.

I'm sure if the FBI ever has any problem with finding out about erotica, that is because he is linked to erotica and he is covering for them. our government is corrupted by erotica. It's even worse than I thought it was. Oh my God. As Veronica panics, she apologizes as she leads the other men to a different room with the other girls and then she runs back to the director and I in minutes.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Veronica slaps me as soon as she stands on front of me. She sends me falling to the floor but I get back on my feet in seconds, controlled solely by the anger that I feel inside of me. The adrenaline rush is driving me crazy and I know I will regret my actions sooner or later.

"You're supposed to be protecting us!" I scream at his face in frustration and I spit at him but I don't even see any remorse in his eyes, all I see is nonchalance. He's not even sorry. He's not even remorseful and it breaks me. It breaks me so much that I take a few steps back and fall to my knees in front of him.

I wrap my hands around my body and I cry. I cry until I can't anymore and for minutes Veronica just stands there and watches me. Colton rushes in the room.

"I'll take her away." He says and launches for me but a voice stops him.

"No." The director's voice resounds in the room. Colton stops in his tracks, eyes wide and scared from what might happen next. I can tell Veronica is not okay with any of this. I can tell she is angry but right now, all she is worrying about is putting the director at ease. I can see it in her eyes.

"Adeline Fitz…" The director says my name and I look up at him in shock. So he does remember me. He smirks at me and I wish I had the strength to punch that look away from his face. Still on the floor, I push myself backwards, as I fi could get so far away from his gaze that it wouldn't be able to touch me the way it is now.

"What did you do to end up in a place like this my dear special therapist?" He laughs. He actually laughs. "I always thought you were sexy. Maye if Veronica sews that mouth shut, you will be a true asset for erotica. Imagine how much you will bring to the organization on auction day."

There is wicked gleam in his eyes and I hate it, I hate that all I can do is sit helpless on the floor and cry.

"How do plan to apologize for what you have just done?" He asks me in a deep and dark voice. "You see, I do not care who you were out of here. You died the moment you stepped foot in here. Your old life ended and a new one started and in here, you are what Veronica says you are. Nothing."

The words echo out of his mouth like poison being injected straight to my bloodstream and I know that look in his eyes very well. That same look Adrian gave me the day my entire world cam crumbling down.

"Get us a room Veronica." The director orders and my heart falls to my stomach. I see Colton take a step forward before he stops himself. He can't do anything rash right now. If he interferes, he might ruin everything we have worked hard for and I don't want that to happen.

"I don't normally do women your age." The director says. "But someone must teach you a lesson, no?"

"No..." The words escape my lips in a whisper. A silent cry. A plea. I look over at Veronica and I don't even know why I expect her to help me. I don't know why I expect anyone here to help me. She stares at me for a few seconds before speaking.

"Guards." She orders. That one word breaks me more than I have ever been broken before. I start screaming and thrashing as two string guards walk towards me and lift me off the floor. I twist and turn my body and scream and they take out a syringe and inject the contents into my body. Tears stream down my face.

I instantly feel weak from the contents of the syringe that were just spilled into my body. I feel myself getting dragged away by the guards into a dark room.

I feel even more helpless than I did on the day Adrian ruined my life. The drag me into a dark room and toss me on the bed like I was nothing, just like the director said I was. They leave me alone on the dark room with him, powerless and drugged. Poisoned.

They leave me there in the room with him for him to do with me as he pleases. I can't even control my body. He does what he wants and then he leaves me in the room rot. I feel so dirty that I if I could rip my skin off to get rid of the remnants of him on my body, I would.

I cry. I cry and I mourn for the part of myself that I just lost. A part of myself that I will never get back. I cry until I can't anymore.

I cry until I'm numb.