Is this destiny?

JoAnna asked Sarah to talk in private…

"You want to do what?", Sarah was surprised by JoAnna's request.

"I wanted to do the surgeries today, but we can do them tomorrow. Ernesto did a great job in setting up the medical room here, but the one at the Beach house is much better. We can do them first thing in the morning. The girls will have their stomach empty, which is recommended for the total anesthesia, and after the surgery, each of them can recuperate in her own room."

Sarah agreed. This sounds much better. "Then we can go to the Beach house right away. Or after lunch."

"There is one more thing.", JoAnna stopped Sarah. "Some girls are more traumatized than others. They live in a nightmare, unable to fight off their demons. I want to give them a chance to fight back."

Sarah paused for a second before realizing: "You want them to punish Akmal."

JoAnna confirmed. "And his two security guys who are still imprisoned here. You told me that you are done with them, and that all three of them molested the girls. It will help them regain some of the security and control. It will be therapeutic."

Sarah had no objections, she didn't plan to let them live anyway, it was just the matter of deciding how they will die. "You are the expert, so I will leave it to you."

Imani took eight girls outside, to continue their talks about the Beach house and how things work, leaving seventeen girls to talk to JoAnna.

Sarah and Aiden went to make necessary arrangements, per JoAnna's instructions. They summoned Ernesto and got busy.

JoAnna sat on the sofa, facing seventeen girls.

"I am aware that in the last few months, you went through horrible things…", JoAnna started. "I will not pretend that I know what you went through and lie that I know how you feel. No one knows that other than you. But I want to ask you, if you can face the people who did that do you, what would you do?"

All seventeen girls jolted at JoAnna's question and stared at her.

"If the culprits are in front of you, and you can do anything, anything at all, what would you do?", JoAnna urged them.

Some of the girls fidgeted, obviously struggling if they should speak out or not, when Jeff entered the room.

Jeff observed seventeen girls who now all looked at him fearfully and he walked slowly toward JoAnna.

He stood behind JoAnna and didn't say anything. He is aware that he walked in on something, but he was not sure what that something is.

JoAnna didn't miss that girls are uncomfortable because Jeff showed up.

"Don't worry about him, he will not hurt you. He is my husband.", JoAnna told the girls with a comforting smile.

The girls scrutinized Jeff.

"Your husband? Why does he look like a bodyguard? Or an army member?", a girl named Francisca asked.

"It's because of his clothes.", JoAnna responded.

"No. He is not acting like a husband.", Femi said while her eyes didn't leave Jeff.

JoAnna realized that Jeff's stiff posture is the problem. She patted a spot on the sofa next to her, indicating to Jeff that he should sit there.

Jeff obeyed and sat awkwardly next to her.

"He still does not look like a husband.", Chione voiced her observation. "He is acting like he is afraid to touch you."

"That… We had an argument.", JoAnna said stiffly.

"Did he hit you?", Francisca asked with a frown.

JoAnna glanced at Jeff and met his timid gaze.

"No. He is scared. If there was hitting, Anna was the one who hit him.", one girl responded.

JoAnna cleared her throat. "There was no hitting."

"Did he find a second wife?", another girl asked from the back.

"No.", JoAnna responded.

"Why did you argue then?", Chione was not willing to give up easily.

JoAnna sighed. How did this end up talking about her marriage problems with a bunch of teenagers?

"I spent too much time at work and didn't consider her feelings.", Jeff responded.

"It is man's duty to work, and to earn money for his family.", Chione spoke to JoAnna. "With a baby on the way, he needs to work extra hard and earn extra money."

JoAnna shook her head. "We are equal in everything, even earning money."

Francisca disapproved. "How can you be equal? Can he carry the baby? I am the third of nine children, and I've watched my mother go through many pregnancies. It is about discomfort and sleepless nights and pain of delivery, and that is something a man can't do. If you say that you as a woman should take on half of the responsibility of earning money, that means that you are doing more work than he is because he can't take half of the pregnancy from you."

Chione nodded in agreement. "Marriage is not about dividing every task in half. It's about dividing the whole thing in half. So, he can take care more of some other things like earning money while you take care of the baby which is growing in your belly. And because he is spending more time at work, you take care of the house."

JoAnna sighed. When they speak about it, it sounds so simple.

JoAnna looked at Jeff with sadness in her eyes. Providing a good answer to the girls would be so much easier if she has a solution on how to fix their current situation.

"How about we focus on what I asked you?", JoAnna gave a knowing look to the girls. "If you can do anything to people who hurt you, what would you do?"

…

About half an hour later…

JoAnna entered the largest room in the basement, it's the one where seventeen girls were held captive. The room is clean and well lit. There are three tables, each with a man tied up to it.

"Come…", JoAnna encouraged seventeen girls to follow her. "These are three men, responsible for what happened to you. The one in the middle is Akmal, the boss, and this place used to belong to him. On his left and right are people who managed his men."

The girls slowly trickled in and stood with their backs stuck to the wall, unsure if they should look at the men or at the floor. Or maybe at the ceiling.

JoAnna saw that all the girls are extremely uncomfortable, some on the verge of panicking and she was grateful that they followed her to this room and that they are not rushing out.

Ernesto entered, carrying a small table. He swiftly arranged a number of knives and hooks on the table.

Jeff was there as well. He wheeled in JoAnna's medicinal suitcase and stood in the corner silently.

"Come closer…", JoAnna called to the girls. "They are tied up, helpless, at your mercy… just how you were."

JoAnna held a knife, offering it to Chione. Chione was the only one who returned JoAnna's gaze.

"Will you be merciful, or will you treat them how they treated you?", JoAnna asked.

Chione took the knife and in small steps inched closer to the man on Akmal's right who stared at her with horror in his eyes.

"Avoid his heart or throat. We don't want him to die too soon. Other than that, you can do whatever you want. Remember? Just how we spoke upstairs...", JoAnna approached Chione and placed her hand over Chione's which is holding onto the knife, tilting it slightly. "If you cut under this angle, it will hurt more. Don't worry about going too deep or cutting off a part; if he bleeds a lot, I will cauterize the wound to stop the bleeding. After all, we want this to last as long as possible…"

A few minutes later, two more girls were next to Chione, holding knives and carefully carving some unknown shapes on man's skin, ignoring his screams. Or maybe enjoying them.

The pool of blood under the table was slowly expanding, reaching their flip-flops, but the girls didn't pay attention to that.

The girls' movements stopped when his wails died out. He fainted.

All the girls observed JoAnna as she got from her bag a bottle and placed it under man's nose. The smell made him wake up. Two seconds later, he cried again, and the girls continued.

Little by little, other girls joined in this horrid ritual-like scene as the screams of three men filled up the basement.

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