Confinement

The cell smelled of damp and cheap tobacco, and when his eyes locked on mine I knew the case file was going to end up on the floor.

Nadia and Sofía were on their way home from the biggest event of the year when darkness claimed them. On waking, only chains and another’s will remained.

Marco had spent a year kissing her feet in silence. The night he left to capture a rival, he returned as the sole master of the mansion.

There had been something in her eyes when she turned away that should have worried me. It wasn’t an annoyed neighbor’s anger. It was a promise.

They had planned it for weeks. The dark room, the ropes, and Vera waiting for them with that smile promising nothing easy or safe.

I looked in the mirror and knew something had changed. He was still sleeping on the other side of the hallway, and I had spent ten minutes unable to look away from his door.

I had worn the cage for three weeks when Valeria announced to her friends that I would do anything she asked. I had no idea what was coming.

She trained two slaves for months until they broke. When the buyer arrived, she had no idea the collar fit her neck perfectly.

When the smuggler told us the price, we all looked at one another. It wasn’t jewelry or money. It was us, our bodies, twelve hours a day in front of his cameras.

As he described calmly how he wrapped his lovers in plastic wrap, I crossed my legs and pretended the wine was the reason I was hot.

I thought the fire drill would last minutes. Two hours later, in a basement classroom with no signal and no witnesses, I understood it was no drill.

Two broken, grateful bodies, two black leather collars. Nadia thought she was the hunter. Until the buyer opened the briefcase.

Living in a cage, obeying without question, belonging completely to someone. That’s what I wanted, and when I got it, reality surpassed any fantasy.

When she opened her eyes, it took her three seconds to understand where she was. She was tied up, naked, hanging from the ceiling. And she had asked for it herself.

Nadia had two perfect slaves, half a million dollars agreed upon, and a victorious smile. She never imagined Viktor would bring the collar for her.

The queen ordered him hydrated, but Sofia emptied the goblet over her own foot. He licked every drop from her instep, trembling with thirst and humiliation.

We needed the money. So we signed without reading the fine print of a contract that would keep us in Prague six weeks longer than planned.

Every Friday, Marcos crossed our threshold knowing he wouldn’t be himself again until Sunday. The collar, the cage, and the dress were waiting for him.

The key to my cage hung between her breasts all night, gleaming whenever she leaned over to laugh with her friends. All I could do was serve.

They meant to humiliate them in front of their children. They didn’t count on Beatriz’s black belt, or on Silvia always carrying rope in her bag.