My Milk Trap in Golden Triangle - Chapter 3: Chapter 3

No matter how desperately I fought, the inevitable still came. When it was over, I lay sprawled on the floor, my body slick with milky fluid, waves of self-loathing crashing over me.
The man grabbed my chin with rough fingers. "Count your blessings you're a woman who can still lactate," he sneered. "Or your situation would be far uglier." His palm slapped my cheek before he rose.
As he buckled his belt, he barked to the guards outside, "Day shifts at the training center. Nights on the milking line."
One of the dark-skinned guards muttered something in their dialect. The man answered in Mandarin with a derisive snort, "You think trash like you gets to touch the merchandise we supply to the bosses?"
The truth about being a "milker" hit me like a punch to the gut. My entire body convulsed with tremors.
Noticing my terror, he hauled me up by my hair. "Remember your family. Suicide isn't an option - they'll just take your place." His words dripped with venom.
White-hot rage surged through me. I wanted to scream that he was subhuman filth, but the crushing realization of my own naivety stole my voice.
My babies - my sweet girl waiting at school, my newborn son still smelling of baby powder. Who would dry my daughter's tears when she missed me? Who would comfort my infant when he cried for his mother?
That image of them became my lifeline. I couldn't die. Couldn't let their tiny feet touch this godforsaken hellhole.
I had to make it home. My children wouldn't grow up as orphans because of my mistakes.
Battered and broken, his men dressed me in clean clothes and dragged me to an office dripping with gaudy, nouveau-riche decor. The door opened to reveal Monica Lowell - my betrayer - hanging off the arm of a bloated, greasy man.
Seeing her made my blood turn to fire in my veins.
"Congratulations, Boss Leo," Monica cooed, her saccharine smile making me sick. "Our family just got bigger."
Family. The word nearly made me laugh hysterically.
Boss Leo's shadow fell over me as he leaned in, nostrils flaring. "Mothers have a different scent," he murmured, his cigarette-tainted breath hot on my neck. "Like fresh milk."
My skin crawled as he pinched my cheek. "Monica never disappoints," he boomed. "Always delivers prime stock."
Monica pressed her ample cleavage against his arm. "Don't forget who brought her to you, Leo."
He groped her with a throaty laugh. "You little devil. Train her quick and come see me after."
I stood paralyzed. This couldn't be the same Monica I'd shared childhood summers with - the girl who'd dreamed of a simple life with a kind husband.
Before I could process the betrayal, Leo announced, "You know Monica. And this is Sean Winston - your handler."
Sean - the same monster who'd issued my sentence of "study by day, milk by night."
I nodded mechanically, but Leo's face darkened. "Why so glum if we're family?"
Thinking of my children's faces, I forced my lips into the performance of a lifetime. "Thank you, Boss Leo, Monica, Sean. I'm grateful for this opportunity. I won't disappoint you." The words tasted like ash in my mouth.