Maria sat in the room, she had showered and changed and was now wearing one of the many dresses from the closet. It wasn't long before 'baldy' came for her. She followed him from the room, he took her to a large dining room, he told her to sit at the table. She sat with her hands folded in her lap and looked around her. Whoever owned this place sure liked white and very little furniture, the curtains were drawn across the windows, she felt frustrated she couldn't see anything. She looked at 'baldy' who stood a few feet from her. "Is there any chance...." "No." "How can you say 'no' when you didn't let me finish what I was saying?" "I know what you're going to say and the answer is no." "No you don't." "Yes I do, look I'm not going to argue with you." "Tell me what you THINK I'm going to say." "You were going to ask me to open the curtains." Maria cursed under her breath. "Wrong 'baldy', I just wanted to know what your name is so I could stop thinking of you as baldy." He gaped at her then shook his head. "Why not? I just wanted to...." She stopped in mid sentence when the door opened to reveal the guy she had seen earlier. He motioned for her to stand, she did. He came up to her and walked around looking at her, he liked the dress she had chosen. He reached his hand out to her, it was all she could do not to flinch from him. His hand ran over her exposed shoulder. "Nice, very nice. Do you like the clothes?" Maria didn't answer she looked him in the eyes, they were almost black. Instead she looked over at 'baldy' who was nodding his head at her, she copied him. "Good, time to eat I think." He turned to 'baldy'. "Craig, tell then we're ready to eat." "Yes boss." He took one more look at Maria before he left the room. "Maria, please sit, I suppose I should introduce myself, my name is Joe Caldwell." "I wish I could say it's a pleasure Mr Caldwell but....." "Not Mr Caldwell, YOU call me Joe." Maria ignored his words. "Mr Caldwell, I want to know what you meant earlier when you said that my father sold me to you." "When you call me Joe, I will tell you how I came to 'purchase' you." "But...." He put his hand up to stop her words, he looked up when the door opened and a girl walked in carrying their food. She put a platter down before them, Joe put some on his plate, when Maria didn't, he picked up her plate and put food on it. "Eat." "I'm not hungry." "Don't make this hard Maria, you may as well get used to it because you're going to be here a very long time." Maria heard the message loud and clear, he life was in his hands. She picked up her fork and picked at her food, it was really good. Joe watched her with satisfaction as she devoured the food then reached for more. He watched her as she ignored him and concentrated on the food. He had no intention of liking this girl but there was something about her, maybe it was her looks, she wasn't a beauty but then he was tired of the beauties that paraded before him. Maria had a spark about her, her eyes betrayed her emotions. The times he had seen her she had a look of vulnerability, but he could see the passion there, he could see the fire. This might turn out better than he thought, he turned his attention to his food, his thoughts though were still on Maria. TBC

Part 8