The Silk Trap. A Novel in 43 Chapters
Chapter 32: The capitulation of Lara
Lara woke up in a hot sweat from her nightmare.
In her dream, she saw Michel being chased by some men while Lara watched, handcuffed, from a distance, helpless and unable to do anything. She missed Michel so much right now. She felt full of regret and guilt for not making up him after the fight. She regretted going out clubbing with strangers and then swallowing an MDMA pill with a guy who she did not know at all. She had no real memory of how she got to this new city and where Michel was. She was sure that her mum would have called Michel and started searching for her with the Police.
As Lara started to wake up, she recounted her conversation with Pati before she left last night.
Pati had again warned Lara that she should cooperate with the Queen and agree to become her cyber toy. Lara had tried to ask what that meant, but Pati had said someone would get in touch soon to explain. As a goodwill gesture from the Queen, Pati left Lara some clothes to wear and some more food in the fridge. Pati’s final words to Lara were, “Darling; Like me, you are here for a long time. Better start getting used to it. It’s easier if you don’t fight.” Then Pati left, leaving Lara alone, locked in her bedroom prison.
Lara, overcome with fear and exhaustion, fell asleep, but she slept without any handcuffs or needles and with clothes on in a normal bed for the first time.
Now wide awake, Lara scanned the room for detail. The first thing that she noticed was that the room had no windows and was designed like a movie set with lights and cameras hidden behind the ceiling in the bedroom and the bathroom. The bed was a four-poster bed with blue velvet cladding and hooks on each bedpost for what Lara could only imagine for chains or handcuffs. Lara could see that this place was a sex video studio where porn videos were filmed. She could also feel constantly under surveillance. The cameras sometimes moved when she moved away from them and stop. She had no privacy in the room. Her every step and her every word was being recorded.
The Queen looked at Lara from her screen in the master edit room in the basement of her photo studio in the Jebel mall. The queen was impressed that Lara had found most of the camera locations in the room.
From the master edit room, The queen controlled her entire cybersex video empire. She could see all the 10 cybersex rooms from this place. She had personally designed the place a decade ago with Jakub, based on her previous experience as the head of news production for the national TV channel where she was still the Chairwoman.
The cyber studios were originally secret second world war bunkers that the Germans had built under the Jebel complex to protect their senior staff. The rooms had secret access to the Jebel tower and the hotel above and a hidden section of the hospital below. The queen owned the whole place, thanks to Jakub’s influence in the city.
Every time any girl was drugged and kidnapped, she was first brought in an ambulance to the secret section of the Jebel hospital and resuscitated by the doctor and nurses that worked for the Queen. The hospital was sometimes also used to take care of unwanted pregnancies or surgeries on the girls after inflicting violence and torture to get them ready.
The photo studio was the central node of the two secret chambers. It served the regular public and the tourists by day, but it was the hub for all recordings and viewing sessions in the studio's basement by night. It was also where the Queen sent the girls to create their portfolios for digital release.
By day Adéla was a respectable socialite of the city, and by night she was the Queen of this cybersex empire under the Jebel.
The queen stood outside Lara’s door. It was time to meet Lara again.
Lara heard the key turn in her door and heard that sinister sweet voice again, “Can I come in, darling?”
The door opened, and Lara was taken aback at who she saw. It was the same petite woman she had seen the first time, but the mask was gone this time. Instead, it was a face of a partially burn victim that had been heavily covered under mascara and lipstick. Lara was dumbstruck by the beastly charred face of a once beautiful woman staring down at Lara with her piercing black eyes.
Lara was face to face with the Queen.
“Ah, look at you!” started the Queen, “…” you look radiant…sleep suits you well, darling. And I can’t wait to show you how good you look on camera!” she continued sounding excited, “the camera loves your face. Come sit next to me; I have brought you some things today to cheer you up,” said the queen as she tapped on the chair for Lara to come and sit on.
Lara watched with trepidation as the Queen played the video. It showed Lara being brought into the bathroom unconscious and then placed into the bath and then slapped and woken up. The video then abruptly cut and shifted to Pati entering and flirting and kissing Lara, and then it ended on showing Lara sleeping in bed as her lips and eyebrows shuddered in her sleep.
Before Lara could look up from the laptop screen, The queen put three photographs on the table. It was Maria, her sister! It was a photograph of her sitting with their dog at home in Spain and another one with her boyfriend. What was frightening was a picture of a man taking a selfie standing outside Maria’s flat with a timestamp of yesterday on it.
Lara had tears streaming down her face. She was livid and scared. The Queen stood behind her and put her hands on Lara’s shoulder, and said, “Don't cry, my princess, no harm will come to Maria and Robert. We just wanted to know where they were to let you know that they are safe. ..For now”, she said after a small pause.”