"Double or nothing?" asked the woman.
"What do you mean?" he asked in a pitiful voice.
"Just what I said," explained the woman. If my hand wins, I get two. If your hand wins, I get none and you get all of your losings back."
As the meaning of her words sank in, he started to shake his head. "No," he said as he slowly turned his cards over.
Patience was both confused and irritated at this point. She thought she knew her boyfriend well and this shriveling behavior was not only unbecoming of someone who would be worthy of her, it was also unlike Luke. She was irritated for four reasons. First, Luke was behaving unlike Luke. Second, every minute that she spent here delayed the termination of her relationship with Luke. And she very much wanted to end that relationship. Third, the two goons at the door would not let her leave. And fourth, the woman across the table from Luke seemed to believe she could decide when she could leave. "It must be the mob atmosphere that gets to everyone around here," she thought.
Patience looked at Luke's cards and thought that the hand must be good. She did not gamble but she knew enough about poker to know that high cards were good. Luke had a lot of face cards in his hand.
She turned to see what the woman had but her hand was still face down. What she saw instead was the woman's eyes roaming up and down her body as if appraising her. The eyes stopped at Pat's chest and the woman tilted her head as if she would be able to discern what lay beneath the jacket and blouse if she got a better angle.
The eyes moved slowly lower and Patience instinctively drew her jacket closed with her hands to protect herself from the prying eyes of the woman.
Finally, the woman turned back to Luke. "Foolish boy," she said as she flipped her cards over. "Full house," she declared. Luke started sobbing again. Once, he glanced up at Patience and then buried his face in his hands again, never to look up at her again during this encounter.
"What's going on?" asked Patience impatiently. God, how she hated her name!
"Your boyfriend has been foolish," replied the woman as she stood up from the table. She crossed the room to stand before Patience. "He thought he could win forever."
"Well I could have told you he was a loser," scoffed Patience. "I didn't need a silly game to prove that."
"But apparently, he did," replied the woman as she reached up to stroke Patience's cheek. Patience swung her arm to swat the hand away from her face but it was caught by one of the goons.
"Let go of me this instant!" she commanded. But the hand held her wrist tightly. The woman picked up a remote control device on the table and pressed a button. Patience heard a whirring sound and turned her head to see a blind being lowered over the windows, sealing off the room from prying eyes.
"Your boyfriend was on a roll," the woman continued. "He thought this was his lucky day." Patience heard Luke whimpering in the background. "Get him out of here!" barked the woman. "He disgusts me!"
"Yes Ma'am," replied the previous mute as he manhandled the former boyfriend out a back door. There was no resistance. There was no scuffle. There was no attempt on her boyfriend's part to rescue her from the grip of the goon. Luke simply let the other man grab his jacket and lift him out of his seat to toss him through the door. The man followed him and the door slammed shut behind him. Patience was left with the menacing woman and one very large man.
"He was doing very well," the woman went on. "But then he got in over his head. He lost all of his money but continued to gamble. He threw a picture of his girlfriend into the pot, hoping it would work. I looked at the picture and covered his bet. But he lost again. The last hand was for you." She paused and Patience felt a chill snake down her spine. "I win."
"What the hell does that mean?"
"It means I own you," smiled the woman.
Chapter 2: Prize Winnings
Patience had had enough of this nonsense. "Own me?" she thought disgustedly. "We'll see about that!" Again, she reached for the door but, again, her exit was thwarted by the large man.
"Get out of my way, you ape!" shouted Patience.
Just then, the other large man came back into the room. "He has had a change of heart. He wants to renegotiate." The man chuckled. "He must be a new player. When I told him that the negotiations were over, he threatened to go to the police."
The woman smiled. "And what did you tell him?"
"That pretty much ended the conversation," the man responded. "He passed out after that. Must be blood pressure problems or something."
The woman laughed. "Foolish boy. Find him a good home in a diamond mine or something else appropriate."
"Yes Ma'am," he replied and left the room again.
"Your boyfriend has been very stupid," the woman said as she turned back to Patience. "Now he'll spend the rest of his life in slavery like you. But his will not be as pleasant."
Then the woman turned to the man blocking Patience's way. "Package her and deliver her to the plane."
"Yes Ma'am," was the last thing Patience heard. She felt a pin-prick on her neck and then her world went black.
Patience kept hearing a buzzing sound as she slowly awakened. Her vision was blurred as she opened her eyes and she shook her head to clear it. She reached for her face to rub the sleep out of her eyes but found that she could not move her arm. In fact, she could not move either arm or either leg.
"Welcome back," a female voice said. Patience kept blinking her eyes until she saw the smiling face of the woman from the casino. "I hope you had a pleasant nap."
"Where am I?" croaked Patience. Her throat was dry and her voice sounded brittle.
"Let me get you some water," offered the woman generously. "And then I'll answer all of your questions." The woman tilted Patience's head up and held a glass of water to her lips. Patience was horrified to see that her body was naked as she stared wide-eyed across her own nudity. She was very thankful for the cool liquid, however, and gulped the water down quickly.
"Now isn't that better?" asked the woman as she laid Patience's head back down. "Of course it is. Now let me tell you a little bit about your situation and then you can ask any questions you want if I leave anything out."
"My name is Katherine Cartwright. But everyone calls me KC. Currently, you are my guest on my private jet and we are heading toward my island home in the Caribbean. I suspect that we are somewhere over Texas at the moment."
"Your status in life has changed recently," she continued. "I don't know if you remember or not, but I won you in a poker game. Your foolish boyfriend had a losing streak and did not know when to fold. But that was my good fortune. Now I own you."
"You can't own me!" spat Patience indignantly.
"Oh, but I can and do," replied KC resting her hand on Patience's left breast and squeezing it. Patience may have been paralyzed, but she still had all sensations and the uninvited intimacy infuriated her. She tried to swat the hand away but still could not lift her arm.
"Why can't I move?"
"Oh don't worry about that. You were given a drug that has temporarily paralyzed you from the neck down. It will wear off by tomorrow. I have found it so much easier to transport new assets this way. Less struggling and less of a chance for you to hurt yourself."
"You can't do this!" shouted Patience. "This is illegal! It's kidnapping!"
"Well, I would agree with you that it's illegal," replied KC. "Slavery is not tolerated in most places. But it certainly wasn't kidnapping. I won you fair and square. But your boyfriend was a fool. If he had wanted to get rid of you, he could have sold you." KC's fingers moved lightly around each nipple teasing them to stiffness. "Your picture was interesting enough for me to front him the money he needed. When you walked in the door of the high roller room, I knew my bet was covered well. Now that I have an unobstructed view, your boyfriend looks more and more stupid by the minute."