A Bleak Hope

[Warning: sensitive content ahead.]

An hour ago, Ethan stood dumbfounded, staring at the small room full of pictures of many women and young girls. Just then Izora walked out of the bathroom and asked, "Baby, what was that noi—" she froze.

Ethan turned towards her, his gaze serious. He saw her eyes drifting to a certain place in the room, only for a few moments. He immediately used divine sense. He had made a mistake of not using it, lust had blinded him.

'Tch, I still have a long way to go.' He thought as he discovered a revolver and a hidden camera. He walked towards that drawer and pulled out the hidden threats. Izora stood there frozen, her face paled as she saw what Ethan did.

He took a deep breath and said in a low, threatening voice, "Izora, tell me what is happening… or do you want me to use force on you?"

"Baby, I–"

"Baby?" he sneered, "You are still calling me that?"

"Ethan, I-I mean let me explain to you. It's like this… I got fooled in… in coming here by them but then they kidnapped my daughter and then…" She stuttered.

Ethan frowned, "Speak clearly."

"How do I calm down?!" She exclaimed and fell to her knees, tears fell down her face. She muttered, "They will kill you… kill everyone."

Izora looked completely devastated, completely opposite to how she felt dominant just some time ago. Ethan sighed. There were many problems. He wasn't sure if she was a mystic or acting to make him drop his guard.

Ethan also felt that the picture she had taken of his and Rose was not by mistake. Of course, there was also this hidden camera that clearly recorded their sex. But she was the only one who could give him valuable information.

He groaned and asked Nyx, 'What should I do?'

Nyx took a moment and said, [What we lack is information. Now how should we get it out of her? We don't know if using force would be counterproductive. Not only because we don't know if she has some power or not but also because we don't know if she is a victim or not. So… go with your gut feelings. And later use special points and plan out things to counter such a situation.]

After thinking about it, he nodded, 'Makes sense… at worst I'll just die again.' Strangely he didn't feel that afraid of death. Of course, it didn't mean he would jump straight at death.

Ethan first removed the bullets from the gun, placed the knife with the other knives and held the bag close by. Then he softly comforted Izora. She looked at him wide eyed, as if not believing what happened.

"I may be making a mistake but I am going with my gut feeling. I'll trust you." Ethan smiled lightly, as they sat on the bed, still naked. "You are pretty lucky. I mean I could have also tortured you to get information out of you."

With red eyes, Izora nodded, looking completely submissive.

Ethan held the small camera and asked, "I have my guesses but the content of this camera is stored somewhere else or in it?"

Ethan wasn't too sure of the technological advancement of this world. So he could only take a gamble and trust this woman on this. 'Talk about not having any regrets but I have made so many mistakes after the rebirth. I should have gathered more information about such stuff.'

"It's in the camera."

"Do you know how to delete the video it recorded?"

Seeing Izora shaking her head, Ethan threw the camera with the knife. Then he asked her to talk clearly about what she said earlier.

Izora bit her lips and said in a begging tone, "Can you please leave after I tell you?"

"Because they will kill me? I'll decide what I will do after listening to you."

Izora's body looked tense, with her fox ears flattened. She spoke in a rush, as if she was afraid of 'them' coming. While she was telling him about her life, she burst into tears once again. Ethan was speechless. He hesitated before pulling her into an embrace.

Izora said that she came here with her daughter Sydney a year ago, from the poor part of Rogan city. She was dumb and got bewitched by life in Brislane. She just wanted to give her daughter a good life.

It was going all good in the first month. That man, Tim, who had coaxed her to come to this place acted good and helped her a lot. But that was just a false… or the only good part until she suffered hell.

Tim was actually a part of a criminal organization called 'Dark Moon' and his father, Sam, also a member of the group. Human trafficking and drug deals were their main source of income.

The Dark Moon kidnapped her daughter and Izora was abused for many days. And finally when she had the chance, she contacted the police. But to her despair, the police were also in cahoots with these people. Then the policeman who had come for the so called 'investigation' also had his fun with her.

Tim and Sam gave her one final warning that if that happened again even that man would not protect her. According to them, a rich man had taken a liking to her young daughter and wanted to groom her to become his plaything. Otherwise they would have sold her to some even more perverted man.

How could a mother accept this? But the only good thing in this hellhole was that the rich man was not some perverted pedophile, he was patiently waiting for her to 'ripe'. Until then Izora was forced to serve him.

That man was doing all this for his enjoyment. He had told Izora that if she earned the same amount he paid to get Sydney then he would let them both free. And as such, Izora became a prostitute.

Ethan's mood was heavy as Izora trembled in his arms. He recalled how half an hour ago she asked him to do it slowly and embraced him. She was just filling the hole in her heart when she felt that Ethan could do it. Of course it was just temporary. She knew earning so much money until her daughter grew up was close to impossible and that they might go back on their word.

Still she hoped that they would be able to break free from this life. A bleak hope that made her endure this for a whole year.