Bittersweet Heroine (2 page)

But it intrigued me, nonetheless and lead me to find out where exactly this Luuk’s home was. Because I was so good at what I used to do, my last former client that I had run across gave me the information for a simple favor; to let him jerk off while looking at my bare breasts.

It was a small price to pay for what I was looking for and at least he wouldn’t have to touch me. Once I had what I needed, I covered myself up and left him to clean up his mess in the small room we had rented in the hotel above a takeout restaurant.

The day had quickly disappeared and I was now walking through a darkened night on the way to Luuk’s. I didn’t want to waste any time in freeing this girl. I wanted to get my own life back and didn’t feel that I could fully do so without her help.

With tired legs but a damn determined will, I reached Luuk’s sprawling home. I would dare say that it was impressive and larger than Kerstan’s. Hell, I’d have to let Kerstan know again some day that he had some serious competition, but for now I walked up to the door and knocked loudly.

When there was no response I knocked again. When there was still no response, I kicked the door as hard as I could. That’s when I heard the footsteps approaching quickly. The door swung open and a young, irritated man stood in the doorway giving me an angry look.

“This isn’t a round the clock business that I run. Come back when the sun is out,” he barked.

“I’m not here to make a purchase,” I replied with a small smile.

His demeanor changed almost immediately as he stepped out of the doorway and walked around me slowly. I knew what he was doing; he was looking for scars, marks, anything that would make me unattractive to potential buyers.

“What debt do you have?” he asked once he had made his full circle around me.

“Only the debt to myself.”

“Everyone that comes to my door has a debt,” he said with a smirk. “I can always use another strong girl, but I need to know your debt first.”

Not yet, Luuk. First I want to have some fun,
I thought my smile widening a little.

“I will owe you a debt when I leave your house,” I started carefully. “What I will ask of you is to speak to Lieve.”

A look of intrigue washed over his face as he went back to his doorway. He leaned in the frame, crossing his arms over his chest, and raised an eyebrow.

“Why?”

“My business is my own.”

“Not when the whore you seek is mine,” he shot back, his face becoming angry again.

I scoffed and crossed my arms over my chest. I knew that the only way I would able to get near her would be to make a bargain. And when you had been in the Red Light District as I had, you knew there was only one bargain to be made.

“I’ll work for you. For one month, in exchange that I be roomed with the American,” I said.

“Done.”

Amity

“M
y name is Amity Crane. I’m twenty three years old and I’m an American. My name is not Lieve. I’m not nineteen years old and I’m not Dutch.”

I repeated the words over and over to myself trying to emblazon it into my mind. I was starting to feel myself mentally breaking under Smith’s watchful eye and I knew that once he had me where he wanted me, he’d probably kill me.

He had already told me that he had no intention of letting me leave Amsterdam and he assured me that I would never see Theo again.

A tear trickled down my face as I looked bravely into the mirror and repeated the words quietly to myself.

“My name is Amity Crane. My name is Amity Crane...”

“Who are you talking to?” a curious, accented voice asked behind me.

I turned around and saw a beautiful blonde woman smiling at me. I wiped the tears away quickly and glared at her.

“What do you want?” I asked.

“Did you say your name is Amity?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“Then he held up his end of the bargain. My name is Valentina, but in the Red Light District, I am Danique,” she said coming forward and holding a hand out toward me.

I rolled my eyes and walked away from the mirror. I could already tell this wasn’t anything I wanted a part of. This would be the same song being sung every time I made a friend, only this time, it would be at Luuk’s mercy and not Kerstan’s.

“I don’t care who you are. I don’t want to be your friend. It doesn’t matter who
I
am, just stay away from me,” I replied miserably.

“I understand,” she said, sitting on one of the two empty beds in my room. I watched her cross one of her long legs over the other, as she leaned back on her hands and spoke. “I used to be just like you when I first started. Kerstan would do the same thing to me; if I made a friend he would immediately find a way to send them off or get rid of them. If I worked hard for him and kept my thoughts to myself, he would give me days where I wouldn’t have to go out. I’d get to stay with him and please him at his whim. This Luuk that I’ve heard of? I can tell this is something personal and I don’t think I like the way this will end, so I came to help you get out of here. I can get you back to Kerstan and then you’ll have to figure out the rest from there.”

I raised an eyebrow at Kerstan’s name. Actually it was more at the mention of how Kerstan had treated Valentina.
Almost exactly like me.

“So, is that something he does with all of his best girls?” I asked, trying to mask the disappointment in my voice.

Before she could answer, Ilse ran into my room and looked at me, her eyes wide with excitement.

“Lieve, you have to come with me! Now!” she said holding out a hand to me.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, moving forward and taking her hand.

“Kerstan has just arrived,” she whispered excitedly.

What? Why is he here?

I let my curiosity make my hand close around hers tightly as we left the room. Ilse told me that he was in the main room with Luuk and that they were talking angrily with one another.

“Over what?” I asked.

“You.”

Kerstan

I
sat facing Luuk with one hand on the table and the other draped over the back of the chair. Something about seeing Danique again reminded me how much I wanted Lieve back and I didn’t plan on leaving without her. I knew this would be difficult and I knew that Luuk wanted his pound of flesh, but I decided that he would have to take it from me and not her.

“I won’t give her back to you. You knew the deal from the very beginning. You train her to be the whore that I knew she’s been her entire life, then you give her to me for her final humiliations,” Luuk said simply.

I wondered what he truly had against Lieve. He never did tell me the whole story because I was so intrigued by the fucking plan he had that it never dawned on me to ask more questions than I already had. My eyes wandered toward the ceiling as Luuk kept giving me his reasons that Lieve was now “property” and I tuned him out. Besides the fact that I wasn’t listening to his nonsense anymore, I concentrated on the door behind me. I heard faint footsteps stop just behind it and whispers that went silent as soon as they approached.

I wondered if it was her. I wondered if Danique had made it here safely. I wondered what about Lieve had drawn her back into this and I wondered if Luuk could tell she had a motive. Then I chuckled as the whispers started again softly.

“Do you not have control over your own home?” I finally asked, cutting off his incessant rambling.

“What are you talking about?” he asked curiously.

I smirked at him and shook my head as I got to my feet and walked to the door. I put my hand on the doorknob once I reached it and slowly tilted my hand to look through the sliver of space between the door and the frame. Once I confirmed my suspicions, I pulled the door wide open and watched as three women fell on top of each other. Each had a black leather collar around her neck and had on white panties only.

Blonde, brunette, and a fading color. Let’s see if I can sort them out.

I gripped the blonde first by the arm and pulled her to her feet. She gave me a big half grin and I shook my head, laughing as I positioned her next to me.

“You were always too curious for your own good, Danique,” I said.

“And it’s always gotten me what I wanted, hasn’t it?” she asked her grin widening.

“Yes. It has.”

I leaned down and reached for the small brunette girl and pulled her too up by her arm. I looked up her up and down carefully as she kept her eyes to the floor.

“Very nice,” I said with an approving nod. “Your name?”

“Ilse,” she replied softly.

“Give her here; you have enough,” Danique said pulling her out of my grip. I rolled my eyes and let the girl go. She was beautiful and would probably make me a great sum of money, but it was true. I had more than enough whores and wealth than I knew what to do with these days.

“Up you go,” I said to the last girl, securing her arm in my hand. She hesitated for a moment, turning her face away from me, before she let me pull her up unsteadily to her feet. “Look at me, Lieve,” I whispered softly. I knew it was her by the profile of her face and the curves of her body, now that I could fully see it.

She shook her head and tried to pull out of my grip, but I held on, made my way around her, and stopped when I was facing her. She turned her face again so I couldn’t see her face. I put my hands on her arms letting her use hers to cover herself with, and felt a single tear drop land on me. Her body shook as she struggled to keep her eyes away from my face, but I knew Lieve well enough to know it wasn’t from fear. She shook as hard as she did and cried her quiet tears because she was furious with me.

“Take her and wait by the door,” I said to Danique. She nodded and took Lieve from my arms, as well as Ilse from my side and turned to leave the door when a glass flew passed my head and shattered on the wall. “Is he always this childish?” I asked Ilse, who darted her eyes nervously toward Luuk.

Danique pushed Ilse out of the room and closed the door behind her. I raised an eyebrow as she quickly began to pick up the shards of broken glass before taking them to the table and dropping them on an empty plate. She sat down in the chair I had been in when I was attempting to negotiate Lieve’s freedom with Luuk and spoke.

“I know I asked for one month with the American, but I’ve got a better deal for you. I’ll stay here as long as you want, work as many hours a day as you want, fuck as many men and women as you tell me to, if you let her go now. This will be the debt I told you I would owe you,” she said conversationally.

Luuk, the angry boy House Master, leaned forward to look Danique directly in the face. His eyes were so stern and evil, but she didn’t falter. Not when he told her no, not when he demanded she leave his house, and not even when he grabbed a shard of the glass and made a terrible gash along the side of her beautiful face for her defiance.

Amity

H
oly shit!

I moved away from Kerstan’s side and went over to Danique who was still sitting across from Smith. She had calmly taken a cloth napkin from the table and placed it against her cheek. Her heaving shoulders told me that she was in pain and when I reached her, she looked up at me with glossy eyes and a small smile.

“Have you lost your fucking mind?” Kerstan shouted.

Smith got to his feet, dropped the bloodied piece of glass on top of the table, and looked at Danique.

“You have a new face courtesy of your new friend,” he said with a smirk as he walked toward the door.

“I’m so sorry,” I said, my voice cracking. She held up her hand for a moment, then waved it quickly to let me know she had already forgiven me. Danique, a woman I had never met before today, had already forgiven me and I couldn’t even forgive myself.

“Help me,” I begged Kerstan desperately. He came over quickly and pulled the napkin away to see her face.
Oh God.
I had to turn away. Not because it was a deep cut, but because I knew it would leave a terrible scar and it didn’t have to happen.

“Can you walk?” Kerstan asked her. She closed her eyes tightly for a moment, before she nodded and pushed herself to her feet. At first she was a bit unsteady, but Kerstan gripped her tightly so she wouldn’t waiver any more.

“I can’t do this anymore,” I said more to myself. I sank to the floor and choked back my tears. I couldn’t live this life anymore. I couldn’t live the life that caused people around me to get hurt because of a young man’s boyish tantrums.
If I hadn’t fucked up my life with Theo none of this would have ever happened.

“I need you to help me get her out of here, Amity. We have to take her back home so the grandmothers can tend to her,” Kerstan said, leaning down to pull me up off of the floor.

I didn’t realize how strong he really was until that moment. And with the way he held her against him and did his best to make sure I was okay too, almost made him seem
human.
But I knew this would come with a price too. There would only be one way to end this entire charade once and for all and getting to where I needed to be to end it would be damn near impossible.

I took ahold of myself, calming my emotions. I wasn’t sad anymore and I wasn’t desperate either. I felt what I was feeling in Camogli after I had surfaced from seeing the Christ of the Abyss statue. I felt what I was feeling when I woke up in a strange house with a strange man and had to fight to stay alive. I felt like Amity Crane; not playful, somewhat bitchy Amity. No, I was the
real
Amity. Determined, strong, and a fighter.

I was going to show Smith why Theo had fallen in love with me. I was going to make him understand the parts of me he had never seen before and I was going to make him understand what it was like to survive; truly survive like the villa in Italy had taught me to do.

I pulled myself away from Kerstan, “Take Valentina outside. Get her in your car and take her back to your place. I’ll be behind you soon.”

“Not without you,” he said firmly, shaking his head.

“I promise, Kerstan. I’ll find my way back to you. There’s something I have to do.”