Celso sat in the large truck as it pulled full force down the highway.  He was using his time off from driving to stare absentmindedly out the window.  The sky swelled with storm clouds as it rained to relieve the pressure.  A miserable day for a miserable time in his life.  The men that occupied the cabin with him were nothing but violent meatheads.  They knew nothing except their orders and they never questioned anything.  To be honest, they were bred for this position. Celso, on the other hand, was an educated man with discerning taste and enough experience to know that pure brutality and violence wore down on a man’s bones and eventually came back to haunt him. 

Rubbing his left shoulder, Celso suppressed a groan as thunder cracked in the sky.  Storms made his shoulders ache and his knees crack.  He never felt as old as he did during storms, though lately, he felt as if his normal state was catching up in age.   He missed the Southern Islands of Mᴔjin with their bright suns and warm beaches.  The sky was always blue as a diamond, except during hurricane season and even that was bearable.  It had been six years since he resided in his cozy bungalow. Six long years of service to a man whose sanity he questioned.  Dominic Dúcái was indeed a genius but the line seemed to become fuzzy as it approached insanity.  Of course, Celso understood something was missing in Dominic’s brain, but that didn’t necessarily mean insanity.  His wife had often told him something was missing in his own brain.   

The car hit a bump and Celso grunted at the disturbance.  They had been on the road for days.  It had taken a while but they had located Dominic’s last slave for Mistress Yìguó.  Dominic was in a rush to get her and it was no surprise why.  Celso knew that Dominic was biting at the bit to look for that slave girl, Alessandra, the poor thing.  Once this last of Mistress Yìguó’s slaves had been caught, Dominic would be free of his contractual obligations and could hunt down Aless.  The thought made Celso queasy. 

It had been so long ago that he met Alessandra Yᴔsin that Celso had to think for a moment to recall when he had first laid eyes on the girl.  It had been a year ago.  Dominic had called to say that a potential bid had been suggested and he wanted Celso to check her out to make sure she was up to snuff.  So, Celso had.  She had been out to dinner with her boyfriend, dolled up in a bright yellow sundress and strappy summer heels, her hair a fun mess that girls spent hours working on.  She was a prize to behold, but Celso knew better than to choose a girl by looks alone.  To make sure she was of the right stock, Celso ate dinner at the table next to them and listened as they talked. 

Alessandra had been bubbly, vivacious, and intelligent.  Celso had to admit he was impressed by her.  She was certainly mature for her age.  It was not a hard decision to call Dominic and inform him that Aless was a perfect choice.  After that, he didn’t see her for months.  Not until the night of gathering.  Celso had snuck into the house earlier in the evening to make sure that he could get the men in and disable any alarms, cameras, etc.  It had been a good thing he did for the house was the fortress of security.  Despite being inattentive, Master Yᴔsin appeared to be a security nut when it came to his daughter.  It had taken hours to clear the house of the security barriers.  In fact, it had taken so long, Celso thought Aless had caught him as she walked down the hall undressing to take a bath.  He had tripped over himself while hiding in her room when he realized what she was doing.  She had turned quickly and looked straight at him, but her room was so dark it hid him. 

To his benefit, Aless hadn’t gone to investigate. After seeing what she could do in self-defense, Celso wasn’t sure he could have handled her on his own. She had been a terror.  No one they had caught so far had fought as hard and long as Alessandra did.  He respected her for that.  In fact, he felt it was a shame she had been chosen to be a slave; yet he had merely approved her, not chosen her.  At least that is what he told himself.  There was something about her that pulled at his guilt strings.  They were always taunt and ripe when he saw her, especially when she was around Dominic.  That day she had first met Dominic, the way she had bitten Dominic and then been kissed by him had made Celso nauseous.

The image had distracted him so much that he hadn’t fastened the door of a slave’s quarters later that day.  He knew that she was in Dominic's room and that Dominic was doing who knew what to her.  It made him dizzy with guilt.  Because of his mistake, the slave had escaped briefly.  It wasn’t until later that Celso realized he was the one responsible, though he never admitted it to anyone.  He felt guilty, but he wasn’t stupid.  Yet the incident had given him an excuse to interrupt Dominic and spare Aless for at least a bit of time. 

Celso could still see her on the ground of Dominic’s room, her eyes wide in terror, the bruises on her body from the chains and other things even more noticeable in her fear.  Dominic had been livid and energized, his eyes a blazing gold as his excitement pulsed from his body.  Celso had to fight back the revolution in his throat.  Alessandra wouldn’t have stood a chance if he hadn’t appeared.  When Dominic stormed to help find the missing slave, Celso had taken Aless to her chambers.  Her body had been shaking, but he doubted that she had noticed.  It was then that Celso realized that Alessandra, despite her appearance, brave face, and maturity, was just a child.  She was just a child. 

Shivering in his seat, Celso tried to focus on the distant houses that lit up the stormy scenery.  It had been when he realized that Aless was a child that he had the epiphany that all the people they had taken were children.  He wasn’t a slave trader; he was a child trader.  It was not something that sat well with his conscious.  He could only imagine what his wife would have said…

Even though it didn’t make up for taking her, or any of the other children, Celso had stepped in to aid Alessandra, though he hoped she never found out.  He had convinced Dominic that taking Aless by force would not appease his desire.

“Sir, she a beautiful creature, and you are used to getting any woman you want,” he had sighed one night over dinner. “If you pursue her enough, eventually she will concede to you and it will feel and taste much better than taking her by force.”

“How do you know, Celso?  How do you know that she ever will concede to me?  She is as stubborn as a mule and has a vicious mouth.  It makes me want to just grab her and show her who’s the master…to make her feel what a real man is,” Dominic had snarled as he swirled his usual glass of wine. 

Controlling his racing heart, Celso had nodded as if he understood, but inside he felt ill.

“I understand, sir.  And you can do that, but won’t it feel better if she asks you for it or even begs you?  She is a rich girl.  She is not used to living in squalor.  She will wise up soon.  If not for herself then for her friend.  Kayla is her weak spot.”

“That is true.  And the idea of her on her knees is very appealing.”

Dominic had laughed heartily at his own joke and Celso smiled politely. 

“So just be patient, sir.  It will work out for you in the end.  It always does.”

“That is true, Celso.  This is why I have you around.  To remind me of such things.  You are right.  She will be mine.  Sooner than later too, I am sure.” 

The unfortunate side effect of convincing Dominic to wait was that Dominic had become obsessed with the girl.  Now Celso was not sure if he had truly helped her or made it worse.  Before Dominic would have ravaged her but afterward it would have been over.  Now…would it ever be over for the poor girl?  Celso knew the answer, but he didn’t want to admit it to himself. 

Suddenly, the car was slowing, and Celso could see why.  There was a huddled mass on the side of the road.  Looking at each other, the men nodded and stopped the car.  Getting out, they trudged in the thick rain to the mass.  The mass was something with a tarp over it. Celso, being the leader, lifted it.  No one made a sound.  They just stared.  Shrugging, two of the men went back to the car to get out of the rain.  The last two looked at Celso with inquiring looks.

“Look for her clothes,” Celso murmured,.

He was unable to take his eyes off what was under the tarp. 

“They can’t be far.”

Shaking their heads in acknowledgement, the two jogged off to look down the road and in the grass alongside it.  Squatting down, Celso peered closer.  Using one hand to hold the tarp, Celso brushed back the hair of the girl who lay beneath it.  Her skin was ice cold to the touch but free from the water that poured outside.  Celso could hardly breathe as he studied her face.  She couldn’t be more than thirteen with mousy brown hair, her body just starting to develop. 

Taking his coat off, Celso draped it over her body to give her some dignity, and so that he wouldn’t have to look at her bruised body.  A little flash of gold caught his eye and he saw she wore a bracelet around her right wrist with the name Tiffany. 

“I’m sorry, Tiffany,” Celso whispered.

His words almost choked in his throat. 

“I am very sorry.”

She was a baby, he told himself and he stared into her baby brown eyes that held his gaze but could no longer see.   She was just a baby.