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about anything just to talk to somebody. She was going nuts.
    Before dinner that night he was checking her cheek for healing and putting on more ice, she decided it was time.
    This is a good a time as any.
    “What did you mean the other men do things differently,” Elena asked staring right into his very close face.
    He knew what she was referring to. His eyes were wary as he debated whether he should tell her the whole story or not. She thought he’d say some line or ‘this is just the way it is’ lame bit but no. She received more than she ever dreamed he would have told her.
    He took a deep meaningful breath and began to tell her all the details of his childhood. This ‘community’ had been in existence for who knew how long. They had strict rules and practices. His father, grandfather and great grandfather had lived this way. Back then things were different.
    You were in charge of stealing your own wife and keeping the secret. They were very strict about the rules and above all, about secrecy. His father was terrible to his mother and that this was the only life Alex had ever known. The sons were treated ok but the daughters would be put on the wife list as soon as they were eighteen. Both of his parents were still alive and had been married now for 29 years.
    He was twenty six years old and just now got a wife after being on the list for three years. Most men were on it for at least that long. Wives were expensive and you had to save up the money for one and then wait for there to be ones who met certain requirements. Also, they were in competition with other people from the traffickers so they could only get so many girls at a time.
    He told her awful stories of how he had to watch for years the wives being beaten, bruised, raped, humiliated but there wasn’t anything that could be done, especially for his mom. He’d watched too much. He had renounced this life style. Planned to move and start over, though they would have never let him leave.
    He wasn’t excusing Roger’s behavior, he advised more than once, but he told her about Roger’s father, much like all their fathers; controlling, abusive, hard nosed and unforgiving.
    It was frowned upon to not have your wife under control, to not have your own business and work hard, to not have kids or a house. There was a big long list of things you needed to do and have done to be considered a man in the community and if you didn’t, they’d shun your business or worse. They’d be disowned, beaten up, even killed if the situation were bad enough.
    Most of the men enjoyed there life there though and it rarely ever came to those circumstances.
    Alex told her about when he went to visit his parents, mainly his mother, for the last time because he was going to leave and it hit him. That if he didn’t take in one of those women, someone else would. But if he stayed and played the part, then at least one girl would be safe and possibly able to lead some sense of a normal life without abuse. He had wished that someone would have done that for his mother.
    He explained that this was why he had hardly spoken to her when he first brought her home. He thought that trying to say something or comfort her would just make her even more scared. This was why he had been happy about marrying her, that now it was official and he knew she was safe with him. It was why he had slept on the couch and planned to keep doing so. It was why he had gotten so upset over Roger’s discipline because he didn’t believe in that. He saved me.
    This operation went deep. There was no way to stop it. Law enforcement was involved and there was just no way out. All those girls in the room with Elena hadn’t come here, they went all over. There was no way to see how deep this went. He hung his head as he leaned back into the couch letting her process what he had told her. Not sure of what her response would be. He told her he wondered if he’d made a mistake bringing her here, if it was the right