I instinctively turned to Dante and looked at him quizzically.
However, he did not say anything and kept walking forward. The further we went, the darker it got.
I initially thought that operating rooms were for people who needed treatment, but never had I expected these were for every female who entered this secret place.
There were doctors who were doing operations inside these rooms. They would perform abdominal incisions just like what they would do for cesarean section, put the prepacked kyanine into the women’s wombs, and sutured the incisions.
The surgery seemed simple but looking at it made me break out in a cold sweat.
Suddenly, sounds of footsteps came from behind us, and I was rudely pulled aside by Danny.
Then, a few doctors pushed a woman lying on the stretcher down the corridor. When they passed by us, I glanced at them out of curiosity. The moment I saw the woman’s face, I was dumbstruck. It’s her!
The woman lying on the stretcher was the lady who took care of me for the past few days. Why?
After watching her being pushed by, Dante turned to me and said in a cold tone, “Mr. Abe is a very punctual person. She was late for thirty minutes when she sent you down to the living room just now. That was the reason why Mr. Abe asked her to be a mule as a punishment.”
A wave of guilt washed over me. I could not understand him for a moment. So, she was punished because she was late. Is that why she kept urging me to hurry up in the bedroom? Is that why her eyes were filled with resentment before she left?
I was the one who broke their rules, but she was the one who got the punishment.
I opened my mouth, but no words out of me.
“Will she die?” I asked after a moment of hesitation.
Dante shrugged. “It’s hard to say if she’s going to survive. Normally, they can survive if the kyanine is removed in time at the destination. But there are also women who passed away during the transportation due to toxicity or bodily reactions to the foreign materials inside the womb.”
My ears started to ring, and I suddenly thought of Nora and the other girls.
“Will my friends go through the same thing, too?” My voice quivered.
He raised his eyebrow and said nothing.
I did not have the courage to continue asking.
I could not imagine that wombs that were originally used to conceive life, would be used by them as tools to transport kyanine. Giving birth itself is already a dangerous process that women have to go through. Besides, this is not childbirth at all. No one on earth is strong enough to go through two surgeries in such a short time.
I finally understood why Abe wanted me to witness this. No sane person could stomach the scene unfolding in front of my eyes.
Moreover, there were my friends among these women here. I knew what they would encounter, but I could not do anything to help them.
“My friends…” I wanted to ask something, but I choked up. Taking a deep breath, I willed myself to calm down. “Are my friends alright?”
I did not dare to ask directly if they had been put on the operating table, so I only asked if they were fine.
Dante disregarded my emotions. With his brow raised, he said, “You can check on them yourself.”
This was definitely not special treatment. No one liked to see their friends suffering.
I shook my head and wanted to verbally refuse his offer, but he spoke first, “You don’t need to shake your head in a hurry. Maybe this might be the last time you get to meet them. Needless to say, if the operation goes well, you can chat with them while you’re on your way back home. Well, that would be the case if their operations go smoothly.”
Looking at him, I asked uncertainly, “Do you mean that they are not operated yet?”
He arched an eyebrow. “Women from your country need to undergo a series of examinations and wait for the results before they are sent to the operating rooms. But I reckon it’s about time for your friends to undergo the surgery.”
“I want to see them,” I exclaimed.
Dante shot a look at Danny, signaling him to bring me to them.
Passing through the operating rooms, I felt as if I was looking at the blood and the horror of this world.
The feeling of powerlessness overwhelmed me; it made me almost breathless.
After what seemed like an eternity, the agonizing moment finally came to end. Danny glanced at me impassively and led me to the right.
As we went inside, I saw a hot spring pool. Beside the pool, there were many transparent glass-made cubicles with nude women being locked inside.
“What are they doing?” I felt uneasy at the sight.
“Getting cleaned,” Danny replied two words and spoke no more.
The women were fully conscious, so when they saw people coming, most of them would crouch in the corner.
Nonetheless, there were also some women who were bold enough to show their curvy figures to us and winked at Danny.
Their action was understandable. If they could get into his favor, at least they might have a chance to escape from here.
However, Danny was completely uninterested in them. He did not even give them a look and headed straight to the next hot spring pool at the other side.
“Sienna!” Before I found any of my friends, I heard someone calling my name.
Turning towards the voice, it was them. I was shocked to see that their long hair had been cut off and they were now locked inside one of the cubicles.
The clothes were gone as well. They turned towards me in unison with their eyes brimming with tears. “Sienna, please help us to get out of here.”
Looking at them, I wanted to go near them to check if they were alright, but I was stopped by Danny.
So, I could only talk to them across the hot spring. “I’ll find a way. Don’t worry.”
Nora stood behind the glass wall and looked at me with her red-rimmed eyes. “Sienna, if I die, can you go to my hometown and find my mom there? Please don’t tell her that I’m dead. If she asks, just tell her that I’ve gone somewhere far away, so I won’t be back in a while.”
Tears pricked my eyes and streamed down my cheeks.
Later, Tabitha and Laurel conveyed similar messages as well. On the other hand, Tessa seemed to be reciting philosophical quotes under her breath again.
I wanted to reassure them that they would be alright, but I could not bring myself to make false promises.
Hence, I said, “ Take care of yourselves. I-I’ll figure out a way to save all of you.”
“Ms. Stanhope, I’m afraid you’re overconfident.” All of a sudden, Dante’s voice came from behind.
He was gone a while ago and now he reappeared with a few brawny men. Looking at me, he said, “You should take care of yourself first, Ms. Stanhope. Even though Mr. Abe is wary of the Murphys, it doesn’t mean that he is afraid of them. Therefore, if you don’t behave yourself, Mr. Abe might send you into the cubicle as well.”
Then, he turned to the men behind him and said something to them, pointing at Nora and the others. My eyes widened in shock and I shouted at him, “What are you doing?”
He glanced at me and scoffed. “Did you think Mr. Abe send you here for sightseeing?”
“What do you mean?” I asked, scowling at him.
He snickered. “Although I can’t hurt you now, I guess I can still make you suffer by letting you watch your friends get hurt. After all, you care a lot about your friends here. Am I right?”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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