Free Luna Grey by Emily Fox Page B

she’d be impregnated by one of his relatives and
carry a child, who would then be taken from her and she’d be thrown
back out on the street. She’d be reimbursed with some cash for her
time and ‘labour’, but it couldn’t be enough.
    He growled at
his family, at the tradition that had been passed down.
    His eyes slowly
rose back to the woman, and he chewed his cheek.
    He hurried
upstairs, hearing his father and brothers laughing as they watched
TV and returned with a cloth in hand.
    “It’s not much,
but at least you can clean yourself up a bit,” he smiled softly as
he held it through the bars for her.
    She stopped
chewing and stared uncertainly at him as she slowly stood.
    “I hope the
pizza is good enough, let me know if you’re still hungry,” he
murmured, keeping his voice low so as not to anger his father.
    She cocked her
head at him with a gentle frown as she hesitated before gingerly
taking the cloth and retreating quickly.
    Her fear and
unease unsettled him.
    He hated taking
part in this.
    “Thank you,”
she whispered, and Eric’s eyes softened at her quiet voice.
    “I’m Eric,” he
mumbled, unsure why he’d bothered to tell her.
    “Luna. Luna
Grey.”
    He barely heard
the whispered name, but he smiled as his heart sank. Luna, such a
pretty name. He let out an uneasy breath and turned away.
    “I’ll bring you
breakfast in the morning, have a good sleep if you can,” he trudged
up the stairs unhappily, feeling her curious gaze follow him.
    He wouldn’t be
able to sleep easy tonight. Not now.

Chapter 2

    Luna watched as
Eric left and she was plunged back into darkness. She gently slid
her plate onto the floor; thankful for the cheesy pizza he’d given
her. It was more than the older man had given her.
    This young man
and the storm swirling within his eyes intrigued her. She was still
struggling to come to terms with her fate, but ever since her
father had sold her to the trafficker, she’d given up any hope of
freedom. After her mother died, her father had become lost and
merely a shell of the man he once was, and he’d lost all sight of
his daughter. He’d fallen into the trap laid out for him by the
drug world, and before she knew it she’d been sold. The betrayal
and pain had been crippling, and she’d cried and screamed, not
understanding.
    But crying
wouldn’t solve anything, and she’d absolved to try to make it out
alive, that was all that mattered now.
    She had a
younger brother who had gone to live with their Aunt after their
mother’s death, and his image and love was what she clung to
desperately. She had to get back to him. He was all she had left.
Their Aunt was a nasty woman who was making her brother work hard
on her farm, only seeing him as a means to an end.
    She had to get
out of here and find her way back, but she’d tested the cell in the
darkness the night before, and there was no way out.
    She sighed and
played sadly with the cloth in her hands. She’d done everything to
help her father, and this was her payment.
    Luna gritted
her teeth angrily as the tears flowed, and she sobbed quietly into
the darkness.
    Movement
eventually ceased upstairs, the wooden floorboards overhead no
longer creaking and moaning under the weight of her captors.
    She leant
against the freezing wall behind her bed and stared at the lone
window at the top of the far wall. A sliver of moonlight lit the
musty basement, and she took the opportunity to drag herself to the
sink and clean herself up. She wiped at her cheeks, feeling her
pores free up from the grime and dirt. God what she wouldn’t give
for a shower. She’d been in the hands of a trafficker for over a
week and then sold to these men, and in all that time she’d not
seen a bucket of water and a sponge let alone the luxurious insides
of a shower.
    She ran her
fingers through her tangled blonde hair and sighed as she glanced
down at her dishevelled and disgusting clothing. At least she had a
toilet.

    Eric tossed and
turned,