ADELINE'S POV
I get into Dante's car with a huge smile on my face. I've been wanting to see Silver and Della and everyone else for the longest time and now I finally get to see them. I finally get to hug them and look into their eyes as we all enjoy a free world. I feel the wind in my hair as Dante drives. I forgot how beautiful this feels and I make a mental note to ask Dante for a car ride date soon.
I just want to ride in his car with him in the night as the wind blows through my hair, eating snacks as I listen to my favorite songs.
"I love that look on your face." Dante says as he focuses on the road. "I want to keep that smile on there forever."
God, I missed him so much. I miss how loved and beautiful I felt every time I was around him. He never missed an opportunity to make me feel special. I love how patient he is being with me. I am not going to lie, I have been very difficult to deal with. I have screamed at night because of my nightmares and I continue to give him sleepless nights, yet he is still here.
I am grateful for him and I am grateful to the universe for sending him my way. I am grateful for the strong woman I have become and to be honest, a lot of that has to do with Dante.
We ride in the car in silence for a few more minutes before he finally pulls up in a place so big that my mouth hangs open from what I am seeing. The place is secluded but it is not too far from town. The place is protected and I look over to Dante with a raise of my brows and a frown on my face, confusion etched onto my features as I look to him for an explanation.
"Surprise." He says as he pulls over and gets out of the driver's seat. He walks over to my side and opens the passenger's door for me.
"Dante, what's going on?" I ask him as he pushes a lock of hair away from my face.
"This place belongs to you. To you and all the other girls we saved from erotica. Some of them had nowhere to go. It is another thing I had taken into consideration when we were trying to find you. I figured some of the girls would have nowhere to go to so I built this home for them."
He says and as I look to the huge property, I gasp at how beautiful and ecological everything looks.
"Oh my God Dante…" I say, covering my mouth with my hands as I shake my head in disbelief.
"You can go head and explore. All the girls are inside. They've been waiting for you." He says with humility in his eyes. Building this entire place must have cost a fortune but I know money has never been a problem for Dante. Sometimes I forget how rich Dante is until he makes a gesture such as this one. Probably because of how humble he is. He spends his money wisely too and it is one of the reasons I love him.
He isn't like so many other money hungry fools out there. He places another kiss on my forehead and then he starts leading me into the building.
"There's a sitting area on the other side of the building. The girls are in there waiting for you. I could have driven us there but I figured this is an opportunity for you to take a better look at the place." He explains and all I can do is nod as he shows me the different parts of the building on our way to where the girls are.
There are so many women here and as he walks me through the entire place, I realize that majority of this place is run by women. There is a huge farm with animals to provide food, and a garden that has vegetables that look like they will never run out. There is a gym, a cinema and everything that the girls would need for them to be comfortable.
I have no idea how he pulled this off but I am so impressed that I lack the words to express vocally what I feel.
After showing me through almost the entire thing, we finally reach a huge door.
"Ready to meet them?" He asks with a smile and I nod my head smiling cheerfully and once he opens the door….
"SURPRISE!" The girls inside scream at the top of their lungs catching me off guard, startling me and I almost cry as I stare at all of them, as I see all the smiles on their faces. All the girls I remember are here, even Della and once she notices me, she rushes towards me and hugs me like her life depends on it.
"Oh Adeline! I'm so happy to see you!" She says as she wraps her arms around me and I hug her back tightly as she buries her head into my neck.
"Yeah, so. I'm going to make myself scarce for a while and let you guys catch up." Dante says and walks out of the room, leaving the girls and I together to bond.
Before I know it, all the other girls are circling around me as we gather around in a group hug. There are so many emotions in the room right now and I am filled with a sense of pride as I see the happiness on the girls' faces. All of them have been so strong and I am so happy that we are all safe now.
"Your boyfriend really outdid himself Adeline." Silver says as she smiles at me. I give her another hug as I laugh back at her.
"I'm so happy we're all safe." I say as I look around the room and see all the decorations and food that the girls prepared. In this room right now, all of us are survivors. We are no longer victims to the circumstances that literally almost killed us. We lived through everything that happened to us and we're fine now.
I see all the minors standing around me with smiles on their faces and I see all the gurls who were going to be auctioned off have a new found hope in their eyes and it is everything that I have ever wanted. I want them to be safe forever and I want to rescue more girls and make this place a safe haven for girls who have nowhere else to go.
I want to help so many other girls because I know there are a lot of them out there who need me, who need Dante and we're going to save as many of them as possible until my last breath is drawn.
"This place is truly amazing. I would stay here forever if I could." Della starts talking. "I didn't tell my mom what happened to me by the way."
There seems to be a dark edge to her voice as she speaks. "I didn't want her to find out because she already has a lot on her plate. Dante anonymously send a lot of money to her bank account so she has been using it to pay off her debts and try to create a better life for us. She was so angry when I got back home and I made sure to go back home only after I was treated and looked healthy again. I managed to give her an excuse and I have been trying to get on her good side since I got back home so I can't really stay here long."
Della explains and my heart breaks for her. It is probably for the best that she doesn't tell her mom the truth though. It will do nothing to help her mom and will only make her worry more. Her mom seems to have a lot of financial issues and I'm so proud of Della for being this strong. She is letting her mother be falsely angry with her as long as she doesn't have to find out the horrors that her daughter went through. I respect her so much for it. She's still so young yet so strong.
"I also want to apologize to you for how I acted. I was so scared to get attached to you because I knew you were going to leave me anyways. I didn't want t get to know you and become close to you when you were just going to leave in the end. That was a mistake. We were already so alone in that place and you showed me kindness and I took advantage of it. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me."
Della says and I hold her close to me again in a choking hug. "Oh Della please. You have absolutely nothing to apologize for. I don't hold a grudge against you." I let her go and loop across the room to find the other girls who used to bully me bow their heads in embarrassment.
"I don't have a crush on any of you." I say in a louder voice, forcing all of them to look at me as Silver and Della stand by my side.
"We were in hell and we all wanted to do whatever we could to survive and Veronica wanted to pin us against each other so we wouldn't become friends but that wasn't any of our faults. She was torturing us mentally, feeding us drugs daily and making us hate ourselves. Veronica is the real enemy and she is dead now so we have no need to fight each other anymore. We have no need to compete with each other anymore because each and every girl in this room is enough. We are all enough and we will never be used for our bodies ever again. We will never be used against our will ever again to please disgusting deranged men. We will come out of this better and greater. We're sisters now and from now on we take care of each other. We help each other start living again. It is only together that we will be able to accomplish this."
As I finish talking, all the girls break down into tears and start clapping their hands as they look up at me. We survived and that is all that matters. We survived and that is all that we will remember.
As the girls eat and make small talk with each other, Silver pulls me to the side to talk to me.
"Colton told me you were going to start an organization. I want in." She says going straight to the point. Silver has always been that way. She never beats around the bush or sugar coat her words. She knows what she wants and she knows how to ask for it.
"Are you sure? It will not be a jolly ride. This is danger Clara." Isay calling her by her real name. She said she doesn't have any problem with us calling her Silver. It is what I have called her since I knew her but I want to practice calling her by her real name and not the name Veronica used to degrade her.
"I know what I'm getting myself into and I want in." She repeats and I smile at he r, nodding my head at her in a sweet sense of comradery.
I can't wait to start working with her. I know we will make a great team.
"I'm glad I met you." She suddenly says.
"Feeling's mutual." I say to her as we watch the girls together and I am filled with a joy I have never known.