A feeling of anguish threatened to engulf me but I determined not to let him see my pain. I was just a simple, gullible girl, barely out of high school- he was a wealthy, older man who was probably used to treating women like toys.

Huddling in the coat, raising my chin, I wrapped the expensive garment around me protectively. Squaring my shoulders, I bravely looked up to meet his eyes, surprising a tenderness that disappeared as I stared at him.

Go out with guns blazing, girl! said a little voice inside me.

I'll show him, I thought and remembering how the woman had addressed him, I stretched out my...