How Two Single Moms Escaped an Alleged Sex-Trafficking Ring and Ultimately Saved Each Other
Editor’s note: This story contains graphic descriptions of sexual violence, battery, exploitation, suicidal thoughts, and child endangerment.
编者注：这个故事包含对性暴力、殴打、剥削、自杀念头和儿童危害的生动描述。
It draws from extensive interviews with both women, conducted between August 2023 and January 2024, and reflects their experiences and voices.
它取材于 2023 年 8 月至 2024 年 1 月对这两位女性进行的广泛采访，反映了她们的经历和声音。
Other details are taken from allegations in an ongoing lawsuit filed in U.S. district court—allegations that most of the defendants deny; other defendants had not responded to the lawsuit’s allegations or to Cosmopolitan ’s request for comment at press time.
其他细节取自美国地方法院正在进行的一项诉讼中的指控——大多数被告否认了这些指控；截至发稿时，其他被告尚未回应诉讼的指控或大都会的置评请求。
In early January, a number of defendants—including one of the physicians alleged to have prescribed Julia Hubbard drugs—were voluntarily dismissed with the women’s consent.
一月初，一些被告——包括一名被指控给朱莉娅·哈伯德开药的医生——在征得女性同意的情况下被自愿解雇。
Julia Hubbard was one of the best bottle girls at Plush.
朱莉娅·哈伯德 (Julia Hubbard) 是 Plush 最好的瓶子女孩之一。
Her role at the trendy Dallas nightclub was to support the VIP area.
她在时尚的达拉斯夜总会的职责是为 VIP 区提供支持。
Keep the drinks flowing.
保持饮料流动。
Turn customers into regulars.
将顾客变成常客。
As a 27-year-old extrovert, she made good money.
作为一个27岁的外向者，她赚了很多钱。
As a newly single mom of two kids under 10, she needed to.
作为两个 10 岁以下孩子的新单亲妈妈，她需要这么做。
One summer 2009 night, Julia’s manager pulled her aside.
2009 年夏天的一个晚上，朱莉娅的经理把她拉到一边。
A silver-haired gentleman’s date was being kind of loud and messy—Julia should intervene, be extra nice to him.
一位银发绅士的约会有点喧闹和混乱——朱莉娅应该介入，对他格外友善。
She got the okay to take the man up to the roof for a quiet smoke.
她得到允许带那个男人到屋顶上安静地抽烟。
This guy must be a big deal , she thought.
这家伙一定是个大人物，她想。
Customers were never allowed on the roof.
顾客从来不被允许登上屋顶。
He told her his name was Trammell.
他告诉她他的名字叫特拉梅尔。
Trammell Crow Jr.—some kind of philanthropist.
小特拉梅尔·克劳——某种慈善家。
He was a great tipper and seemed friendly, so much so that she took his number and agreed to stay in touch.
他很乐意给小费，而且看起来很友好，以至于她拿了他的电话号码并同意保持联系。
In the months that followed, he invited her to charity events and she invited him to her modeling gigs.
在接下来的几个月里，他邀请她参加慈善活动，她也邀请他参加她的模特演出。
All in good fun—and strictly platonic.
一切都很有趣——而且完全是柏拉图式的。
Around the same time, Julia began dating again.
大约在同一时间，朱莉娅再次开始约会。
One of her friends introduced her to a former frat buddy of his named Rick Hubbard.
她的一位朋友向她介绍了一位名叫里克·哈伯德（Rick Hubbard）的前兄弟会好友。
Rick, then 35, was handsome, a charmer.
里克当时 35 岁，很英俊，很有魅力。
Ambitious too, bursting with big salesman energy.
也雄心勃勃，充满了推销员的能量。
As the founder of multiple small businesses, he liked to think of himself as a mogul.
作为多家小企业的创始人，他喜欢将自己视为大亨。
Still, he always found time for Julia.
尽管如此，他还是总是抽出时间陪伴朱莉娅。
He vowed to be a stabilizing force in her life and could even help with her kids, he said.
他说，他发誓要成为她生活中的稳定力量，甚至可以帮助她照顾孩子。
She had never known such support.
她从来不知道有这样的支持。
Growing up, Julia had been sexually abused.
朱莉娅在成长过程中曾遭受过性虐待。
She had come to believe she was broken.
她开始相信自己已经崩溃了。
But now, Rick saw her as whole.
但现在，瑞克看到了完整的她。
“You’re the most lovable person I’ve ever met,” he said.
“你是我见过的最可爱的人，”他说。
When Julia mentioned her connection to Trammell one day, Rick couldn’t believe it.
有一天，当朱莉娅提到她与特拉梅尔的联系时，里克简直不敢相信。
“ You know Trammell Crow Jr.?” To Julia, Trammell was a casual pal.
“你认识小特拉梅尔·克劳吗？”对于朱莉娅来说，特拉梅尔只是一个普通的朋友。
To Rick, he was a giant, an heir to Trammell Crow, the late billionaire real estate tycoon hailed during his life as America’s biggest private landlord.
对里克来说，他是一个巨人，是已故亿万富翁房地产大亨特拉梅尔·克劳的继承人，他一生被誉为美国最大的私人房东。
Trammell Jr. was also president of the philanthropic Crow Family Foundation and the founder of Earth Day Dallas, a global environmental education and leadership summit now known as EarthX.
Trammell Jr. 还曾担任慈善机构 Crow Family Foundation 的主席，以及达拉斯地球日 (Earth Day Dallas) 的创始人，这是一个全球环境教育和领导力峰会，现称为 EarthX。
Rick, seemingly dazzled, asked Julia to introduce him.
里克看上去有些眼花缭乱，请朱莉娅介绍他。
She did, at one of her modeling events in late 2009.
她在 2009 年底的一场模特活动中做到了。
Afterward, she remembers, the three of them went out for an impromptu celebration.
她记得，后来他们三人出去举行了一场即兴庆祝活动。
The night was a blast.
晚上真是太棒了。
Soon, her lawsuit states, she and Rick were invited into Trammell’s hard-partying orbit, to the wild gatherings Trammell allegedly hosted at his properties.
她的诉讼称，很快，她和里克就被邀请进入特拉梅尔的狂欢派对，参加特拉梅尔据称在他的房产举办的疯狂聚会。
For Rick, this access to a coterie of powerful men in real estate, film, and other aspirational industries was networking at its finest.
对于里克来说，与房地产、电影和其他有抱负的行业中的有权势人物的接触是最好的人际网络。
He wasn’t in the same social class as Trammell’s crowd, but with Julia as his passport, he could pretend.
他与特拉梅尔的人群不在同一社会阶层，但有了朱莉娅作为他的护照，他可以假装。
Julia and Rick married in February 2010 , but that did little to curtail her new husband’s freewheeling lifestyle.
朱莉娅和里克于 2010 年 2 月结婚，但这并没有影响她的新丈夫随心所欲的生活方式。
On nights Julia’s kids were with her ex, she and Rick hit the Dallas swinger circuit .
在朱莉娅的孩子们和她的前夫在一起的那些晚上，她和里克去达拉斯的浪荡公子巡回演出。
He told Julia he loved how hot she was, how so many people wanted to hook up with her.
他告诉朱莉娅，他喜欢她的性感，喜欢那么多人想和她交往。
Julia wasn’t always into it, but Rick would insist that she join, that she break free from the “religious indoctrination” of her Mormon upbringing.
朱莉娅并不总是热衷于此，但里克坚持让她加入，让她摆脱摩门教成长过程中的“宗教灌输”。
She remembers an early party at which Rick tried to slide his fingers inside her as strangers watched.
她记得早期的一次聚会上，瑞克在陌生人的注视下试图将手指滑入她体内。
Julia resisted, then relented.
朱莉娅反抗，然后态度软化。
It was the first time she felt coerced.
这是她第一次感受到被胁迫的感觉。
By then, Julia was working as a nude dancer, making six figures a year at The Lodge, a high-end club themed like an opulent hunting cabin.
那时，朱莉娅在 The Lodge 做一名裸体舞者，年收入六位数，这是一家以豪华狩猎小屋为主题的高端俱乐部。
Rick asked that she leave her cash wages and tips on the kitchen microwave each night, ostensibly for the household pot.
里克要求她每天晚上把现金工资和小费放在厨房微波炉上，表面上是为了家里的锅。
He managed all their finances, including her personal debit card, and praised her earning power effusively.
他管理着他们的所有财务，包括她的个人借记卡，并热情地赞扬了她的赚钱能力。
She could be a billionaire with that body of hers, he marveled.
他惊叹道，凭她这样的身材，她可以成为亿万富翁。
Maybe she should try to get pregnant by Trammell Crow Jr. Ha ha.
也许她应该尝试让小特拉梅尔·克劳怀孕。哈哈。
Julia ended up having Rick’s baby instead.
朱莉娅最终生下了瑞克的孩子。
A beautiful daughter, born in late 2010.
2010年底出生的漂亮女儿。
A few weeks later, Rick urged Julia to get back to work—and to the party scene, where he made it increasingly clear he expected her to please their wealthy friend Trammell.
几周后，里克敦促朱莉娅回去工作，并回到聚会现场，他在那里越来越明确地表示，他希望她能取悦他们富有的朋友特拉梅尔。
Rick pressured her to perform sex acts with Trammell’s then-girlfriend as Trammell and Rick captured everything on video.
里克向她施压，要求她与特拉梅尔当时的女友发生性行为，而特拉梅尔和里克则将一切记录在视频中。
He ordered her to find more and more women for the gatherings, bringing her to gas stations to cruise for prospects on some nights.
他命令她为聚会寻找越来越多的女性，有时晚上还带她去加油站巡游寻找潜在客户。
Trammell had plenty of drugs and dedicated lingerie rooms at his homes with skimpy apparel and stilettos in a range of sizes for lady guests, according to the legal complaint.
根据法律诉状，特拉梅尔的家里有大量毒品和专门的内衣室，里面有适合女客人的暴露服装和各种尺码的细高跟鞋。
(In a statement to Cosmopolitan through his attorney, Trammell Crow Jr. denied all allegations of wrongdoing against him, as he has in court filings.)
（小特拉梅尔·克劳通过律师向《大都会》发表声明，否认了所有针对他的不当行为指控，正如他在法庭文件中所做的那样。）
To be clear, says Julia, these “jobs” were always unpaid, yet she got the sense that money was moving all around her.
朱莉娅说，需要明确的是，这些“工作”总是没有报酬的，但她感觉到金钱在她周围流动。
One time, at home, she glimpsed a letter Rick wrote asking Trammell for $25,000.
有一次，她在家里看到了一封里克写的信，向特拉梅尔索要 25,000 美元。
To Julia, this entire world felt reckless and wrong.
对朱莉娅来说，整个世界都让人感到鲁莽和错误。
Never mind that she had three kids to raise.
别介意她要抚养三个孩子。
She said no. Repeatedly.
她说不。反复。
Rick responded with threats, then increasing violence.
里克以威胁回应，然后增加了暴力。
Sometimes he wiped the $100 he allowed Julia per week off her debit card so she couldn’t even buy food, she says.
朱莉娅说，有时他会从她的借记卡上划掉每周允许她支付的 100 美元，这样她就连食物都买不起了。
Beatings became routine.
殴打成了家常便饭。
She alleges that he broke her arm and once delivered a blow so strong, it tore her intestinal lining.
她声称他打断了她的手臂，并且有一次用力过猛，甚至撕裂了她的肠壁。
Rick was close pals with an elite Texas Ranger—a guy Julia found scary.
里克和一名精英德克萨斯游骑兵是亲密的朋友——朱莉娅觉得这个人很可怕。
If she called the cops or tried to press charges, Rick told her, his friend could bury her claims with one phone call.
里克告诉她，如果她报警或试图提出指控，他的朋友只需一个电话就可以掩盖她的指控。
When Julia still resisted, Rick decided she should be medicated.
当朱莉娅仍然抗拒时，瑞克决定给她服用药物。
He arranged for her to have remote “therapy” sessions with his personal business coach, a California-based guru named Benjamin Todd Eller, who Julia would later discover had neither a psychology degree nor a license to practice therapy .
他安排她与他的私人商业教练进行远程“治疗”课程，他是一位加利福尼亚州的大师，名叫本杰明·托德·埃勒，朱莉娅后来发现他既没有心理学学位，也没有执业治疗执照。
(Eller has denied the allegations in court filings, including that he ever treated Julia or wrote the letters described in the complaint.
（埃勒否认了法庭文件中的指控，包括他曾经治疗过朱莉娅或写过投诉中描述的信件。
Eller’s renewed request to dismiss the case against him was pending as this story went to press.
截至本文付印时，埃勒再次提出的驳回针对他的案件的请求仍在等待中。
When reached by Cosmopolitan, Eller’s attorney declined to provide further comment.) Court filings allege that Rick then handpicked a series of prescribing physicians who were willing to consider Eller’s recommendations and prescribe Julia stimulants, antidepressants, benzodiazepines, and opioids.
当《大都市》联系到埃勒的律师时，他拒绝提供进一步的评论。）法庭文件称，里克随后精心挑选了一系列愿意考虑埃勒的建议并开出朱莉娅兴奋剂、抗抑郁药、苯二氮卓类药物和阿片类药物的处方医生。
Julia’s life became a substance-altered blur, while Rick assumed total control.
朱莉娅的生活变得一片模糊，而瑞克却完全掌控了一切。
As described in the complaint, she tried telling Trammell, the most powerful man she knew, that Rick was forcing her to perform sex acts and forcing her to take drugs to induce those acts.
正如起诉书中所述，她试图告诉她所认识的最有权势的男人特拉梅尔，里克强迫她进行性行为，并强迫她服用药物来诱导这些行为。
But Trammell took no action to help Julia nor did he cut ties with Rick.
但特拉梅尔没有采取任何行动帮助朱莉娅，也没有切断与里克的关系。
Kayla Goedinghaus was having a shitty 2018.
凯拉·戈丁豪斯 (Kayla Goedinghaus) 的 2018 年过得很糟糕。
Her marriage was over.
她的婚姻结束了。
Her mom had passed away.
她的妈妈去世了。
She was 30, new in Austin, and knew practically no one outside a few work acquaintances.
她今年 30 岁，刚来奥斯汀，除了几个工作熟人之外，几乎不认识任何人。
Then boom , something good happened.
然后繁荣，好事发生了。
That November, she met a cute older guy at a house party: Rick Hubbard, an entrepreneur and sweet single dad.
那年 11 月，她在一次家庭聚会上遇到了一位可爱的老人：里克·哈伯德 (Rick Hubbard)，他是一位企业家，也是一位可爱的单亲爸爸。
Rick opened up to Kayla with a story that made her soul ache.
瑞克向凯拉讲述了一个令她灵魂痛苦的故事。
His ex—his daughter’s mom—was a heroin addict, a crazy mess who had abandoned the family nearly two years prior.
他的前任——他女儿的妈妈——是一名海洛因成瘾者，一个疯狂的家伙，大约两年前就抛弃了这个家庭。
How awful , Kayla thought.
太可怕了，凯拉想。
She was a mother herself.
她自己也是一位母亲。
Her daughter was 6, about the same age Rick’s had been when his ex had disappeared.
她的女儿 6 岁，和里克的前男友失踪时的年龄差不多。
Rick and his 8-year-old had moved down from the Dallas area for a fresh start, into a modern house on a cul-de-sac.
瑞克和他 8 岁的孩子为了新的开始从达拉斯地区搬进了死胡同里的一栋现代化的房子。
Their block included several investment properties Rick was developing through his new company, EcoLoft Homes.
他们的街区包括瑞克通过他的新公司 EcoLoft Homes 开发的几处投资房产。
Kayla fell hard for Rick, and she felt her free spirit flare back to life.
凯拉深深地爱上了瑞克，她感觉自己的自由精神又重新焕发了生机。
Even their girls bonded quickly, like real sisters.
甚至他们的女儿们也很快就建立了联系，就像真正的姐妹一样。
Kayla decided to move in after only about a month of dating.
约会大约一个月后，凯拉决定搬进去。
It felt right.
感觉不错。
Plus, she was trying to hold down two jobs—stocking shelves at Target and butchering meat for a supermarket chain.
另外，她还想保住两份工作——为塔吉特百货的货架上货和为一家连锁超市屠宰肉类。
“Come work for me part-time instead,” Rick offered.
“来为我兼职吧，”里克提议道。
Kayla could provide admin support for his business right from home and be there for both girls during the day.
凯拉可以在家中为他的企业提供行政支持，并在白天照顾两个女孩。
With a new lens into his professional dealings, Kayla soon noticed that Rick seemed to play harder than he worked, partying into the wee hours while his real estate projects faltered.
凯拉对自己的职业交易有了新的认识，很快就注意到瑞克似乎比工作更努力地玩耍，在他的房地产项目陷入困境时，他一直狂欢到凌晨。
And sure, she liked to have fun too.
当然，她也喜欢玩乐。
Hanging out with him and his dealer friend one night, she took a hit of DMT, a short-acting hallucinogen known as “the God molecule.” Kayla closed her eyes and felt time stretch backward and forward, as though she were dying while taking her first breath.
一天晚上，她和他以及他的经销商朋友出去玩时，服用了 DMT，这是一种被称为“上帝分子”的短效致幻剂。凯拉闭上眼睛，感觉时间前后拉长，仿佛她在第一次呼吸时就快要死了。
Trippy colors gave way to total blackness.
迷幻的色彩被完全的黑色所取代。
A female figure swam into view.
一道女性身影映入眼帘。
“There are three phases of life, and you still have one more to go,” the figure revealed.
“人生分为三个阶段，你还有一个阶段要走，”该人物透露。
“In the third, you will help save other women.” Kayla opened her eyes and sobbed, not quite understanding what it meant.
“在第三部中，你将帮助拯救其他女性。”凯拉睁开眼睛抽泣着，不太明白这意味着什么。
Not yet.
还没有。
For now, phase two of Kayla’s life had started going off the rails.
目前，凯拉生活的第二阶段已经开始脱轨。
In a December 2018 incident, Rick and one of her brothers had an ugly altercation at their house.
在 2018 年 12 月的一次事件中，里克和她的一个兄弟在家里发生了一场丑陋的争吵。
Rick was convinced Kayla’s brother was stealing from them, something Kayla says her brother would never do.
瑞克确信凯拉的兄弟正在偷他们的东西，凯拉说她的兄弟永远不会这样做。
Rick pulled a gun.
瑞克拔出了枪。
The cops got involved.
警察介入了。
Kayla consented to a drug screening, which came back positive for ecstasy and amphetamines.
凯拉同意接受药物筛查，结果显示摇头丸和安非他明呈阳性。
The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services removed her daughter from the home, placing her with Kayla’s ex pending an official investigation.
德克萨斯州家庭和保护服务部将她的女儿从家中带走，将她安置在凯拉的前夫身边，等待官方调查。
Rick’s growing paranoia made everything worse.
瑞克日益增长的偏执使一切变得更糟。
The government was after them, he told Kayla.
他告诉凯拉，政府正在追捕他们。
They needed to fight this with the best lawyer they could find, and for that, they needed capital.
他们需要与他们能找到的最好的律师一起对抗这个问题，为此，他们需要资金。
He had an idea: Maybe his drug dealer friend, the God molecule guy, would be willing to make a sizable business investment…provided Kayla slept with him to sweeten the deal.
他有一个想法：也许他的毒贩朋友，上帝分子家伙，愿意进行一笔可观的商业投资……只要凯拉和他上床，让这笔交易变得更甜蜜。
She protested, and Rick threatened to strangle her.
她抗议，瑞克威胁要勒死她。
( Cosmopolitan was unable to reach Rick Hubbard for comment despite multiple attempts via phone and email.
（尽管通过电话和电子邮件多次尝试，《大都会》仍无法联系到里克·哈伯德发表评论。
As of press time, he had neither responded to the lawsuit nor appointed an attorney.)
截至发稿，他既没有对诉讼做出回应，也没有指定律师。）
As recounted in court filings, Kayla submitted to the forced sex act.
正如法庭文件中所述，凯拉屈服于强迫性行为。
Afterward, she watched the man hand Rick $27,000 in cash.
随后，她看到该男子递给里克27,000美元现金。
She’s still not sure where the money went.
她仍然不确定这些钱去了哪里。
Everything was happening too quickly for anything to make sense.
一切都发生得太快，一切都变得毫无意义。
All Kayla wanted was her daughter back.
凯拉想要的只是她的女儿回来。
This synthesis of dysfunction and desperation was unbearable.
这种功能障碍和绝望的结合令人难以忍受。
Rick arranged for Kayla to begin weekly phone sessions with Benjamin Todd Eller, whom Rick billed as the best psychologist in the biz.
里克安排凯拉开始每周与本杰明·托德·埃勒进行电话会议，里克将本杰明·托德·埃勒称为业内最好的心理学家。
Rick also forced her to start seeing a new physician, who prescribed at least five medications for depression, anxiety, panic attacks, PTSD, ADHD, and nightmares.
里克还强迫她开始看一位新医生，这位医生开了至少五种治疗抑郁、焦虑、惊恐发作、创伤后应激障碍、多动症和噩梦的药物。
From then on, if Kayla disobeyed Rick, he withheld the drugs to mess with her head.
从那时起，如果凯拉不服从瑞克，他就会扣留药物来扰乱她的头脑。
Kayla claims she told both providers Rick was abusing her and neither intervened.
凯拉声称，她告诉两家提供者瑞克虐待她，但两人都没有干预。
(Both providers deny this.)
（两家提供商均否认这一点。）
The way Kayla recalls it, in the spring of 2019, Rick’s company was defaulting on its loans.
据凯拉回忆，2019 年春天，里克的公司出现了贷款违约。
They lost the houses on the cul-de-sac, including their own, and moved to a trailer home in a remote area an hour northwest of Austin.
他们失去了死胡同里的房子，包括自己的房子，搬到了位于奥斯汀西北一小时车程的偏远地区的拖车屋。
The small dwelling was a pressure cooker for Rick’s fury.
这座小房子就像一个高压锅，让瑞克的怒火不断蔓延。
Their money problems were Kayla’s fault, he ranted, so it was her job to help fix them.
他咆哮道，他们的金钱问题是凯拉的错，所以她的工作就是帮助解决这些问题。
Investors.
投资者。
Investors.
投资者。
They needed investors.
他们需要投资者。
That’s when Rick started throwing adult parties right in their living room.
从那时起，里克开始在他们的客厅里举办成人派对。
He forced Kayla into naked “hosting” duties and sex acts in front of his guests—including their landlord, who would grope Kayla, masturbate, and then let the rent slide.
他强迫凯拉在他的客人面前赤裸裸地“接待”职责和发生性行为——包括他们的房东，他们会抚摸凯拉，自慰，然后让租金滑落。
When Kayla and Rick were alone together, he choked her on at least 25 occasions for resisting, often to the point of unconsciousness.
当凯拉和瑞克单独在一起时，他至少有 25 次因为她的反抗而掐住她的脖子，常常导致她失去知觉。
He rigged the home with surveillance cameras and obsessively tracked her phone.
他在家里安装了监控摄像头，并痴迷地追踪她的手机。
She had known this man for less than six months, yet he was now dictating every aspect of her life.
她认识这个男人还不到六个月，但现在他却主宰着她生活的方方面面。
And still, to much of the outside world, Rick came across as a stand-up guy, a champion dad.
尽管如此，对于外界的大部分人来说，里克还是一个正直的人，一个冠军爸爸。
On the day of his daughter’s third grade graduation, Rick and Kayla rolled up to the elementary school like any other family, normal as could be.
女儿三年级毕业那天，瑞克和凯拉像其他家庭一样来到了小学，一切都很正常。
Only there waiting for them was someone who knew better.
只有在那里等待他们的是一个更了解的人。
A smiling blonde woman.
一个微笑的金发女郎。
Setting eyes on each other for the first time, Julia and Kayla were zapped with an eerie sense of mutual recognition, as though they were standing on opposite sides of a looking glass: Kayla as the new Julia and Julia as the former Kayla.
朱莉娅和凯拉第一次对视时，就有一种怪异的相互认同感，就好像她们站在镜子的两侧：凯拉是新的朱莉娅，朱莉娅是前凯拉。
They even looked alike.
他们甚至长得很像。
Kayla was almost startled by how normal Julia seemed.
凯拉几乎被朱莉娅看起来如此正常的样子吓了一跳。
This was the demonic, drug-addled train wreck who tried to ruin Rick’s life?
这就是那个邪恶的、吸毒成瘾的火车失事者，他试图毁掉瑞克的生活？
Julia seemed warm and friendly.
朱莉娅看起来热情友好。
Her daughter ran right over and gave her a giant hug.
她的女儿跑过来给了她一个大大的拥抱。
“Mommy!” the girl exclaimed.
“妈妈！”女孩惊呼道。
Julia, for her part, clocked that Kayla—beautiful as she was—appeared worn out, as though she hadn’t slept in some time.
朱莉娅则发现凯拉——尽管她很漂亮——看上去很疲惫，就好像她有一段时间没有睡觉一样。
Rick’s breath smelled of stale alcohol, and Kayla’s smile belied an unhappiness in her eyes, a look of detachment Julia knew from experience.
瑞克的呼吸里充满了陈旧的酒精味，凯拉的微笑掩盖了她眼中的不快，朱莉娅从经验中知道这是一种超然的表情。
An alarm went off in her head: My god, he’s doing it to her too.
她脑子里响起了警报：天啊，他也在对她做这种事。
It had taken Julia more than two years to recoup the strength she needed to show up that day, to face him again.
朱莉娅花了两年多的时间才恢复了那天出现的力量，再次面对他。
She’d escaped in March 2017, when a bitter argument about money had escalated into Rick pointing a .40 caliber pistol at her head and calling her a whore.
她于 2017 年 3 月越狱，当时一场关于金钱的激烈争论升级为瑞克用 0.40 口径手枪指着她的头，并称她为妓女。
After a terrifying moment, Rick had lowered the gun and stalked out of the house, telling Julia she was already dead to him.
在经历了可怕的时刻之后，瑞克放下了枪，大步走出了房子，告诉朱莉娅，她对他来说已经死了。
She ran.
她跑了。
She dropped her two older kids with her ex and asked that they finish the school year with him, not realizing this would mark the end of her custody.
她把两个大孩子交给了前夫，并要求他们和他一起完成学年，但没有意识到这将标志着她监护权的结束。
She took her younger daughter and sheltered at her mother’s home 30 minutes away.
她带着小女儿来到了 30 分钟路程外的母亲家避难。
Julia then had Rick arrested but soon walked back her allegations (ones he would later deny in divorce proceedings), fearful he would retaliate.
朱莉娅随后逮捕了里克，但很快就收回了她的指控（他后来在离婚诉讼中否认了这些指控），担心他会报复。
Breaking out of the black hole she’d been sucked into—one swirling with complex trauma, violent men, forced substance misuse, and lack of economic autonomy—required an escape velocity Julia hadn’t yet summoned.
要摆脱她陷入的黑洞——一个充满复杂创伤、暴力男人、强迫滥用药物和缺乏经济自主权的黑洞——需要朱莉娅尚未召唤的逃逸速度。
Months of profound struggle ensued.
接下来是数月的深刻斗争。
Rick announced he and their daughter were moving three hours away, to Austin.
里克宣布他和他们的女儿要搬到三个小时外的奥斯汀。
Julia felt powerless to stop him.
朱莉娅感到无力阻止他。
In late 2018, in an act of sheer desperation, Julia got on a plane to her estranged father’s house in Virginia.
2018 年底，朱莉娅在绝望中登上了飞机，前往她疏远的父亲位于弗吉尼亚州的家。
She holed up in his basement and forced herself to go off everything—meds, drugs, booze—contorting in agony as seizures racked her body.
她躲在他的地下室里，强迫自己戒掉所有东西——药物、毒品、酒——癫痫发作折磨着她的身体，她痛苦地扭曲着。
Some forms of detox can lead to life-threatening withdrawal effects that require medical care , but at the time, Julia could think of no other way.
某些形式的排毒可能会导致危及生命的戒断反应，需要医疗护理，但当时，朱莉娅别无选择。
A month went by before she felt human again.
一个月过去了，她才再次感受到人性。
She decided to stay in Virginia.
她决定留在弗吉尼亚。
Texas didn’t feel safe anymore.
德克萨斯州不再感到安全了。
She found a restaurant job and a roommate.
她找到了一份餐馆工作和一个室友。
Soon, she and her younger daughter reconnected over the phone (with Rick’s grudging approval).
很快，她和小女儿通过电话重新取得了联系（里克勉强同意）。
Julia still had much healing ahead of her, but the black hole was getting smaller.
朱莉娅还有很长的路要走，但黑洞正在变得越来越小。
With her trip to Austin for her younger daughter’s third grade graduation, Julia had hoped to begin laying the groundwork toward gaining full custody.
朱莉娅前往奥斯汀参加小女儿三年级毕业典礼，她原本希望为获得完全监护权奠定基础。
She went home to Virginia a few days later with a second mission: Get Kayla out too.
几天后，她回到弗吉尼亚州的家中，执行第二项任务：把凯拉也救出来。
Julia and Kayla secretly stayed in touch over Snapchat , using the app’s disappearing messages feature.
朱莉娅和凯拉利用 Snapchat 的消息消失功能秘密地保持联系。
Kayla wrote to Julia in furtive blasts when she ran errands, pretty much the only time Rick wasn’t spying on her.
当朱莉娅出去办事时，凯拉偷偷地给她写信，这几乎是瑞克没有监视她的唯一一次。
The summer was long and cruel.
那年夏天漫长而残酷。
Court filings describe a bachelor party for Rick’s associate at which Rick forced Kayla into performing sex acts with strippers by choking her.
法庭文件描述了瑞克同事的一次单身派对，瑞克在派对上勒死凯拉，强迫凯拉与脱衣舞女进行性行为。
There was her horrific birthday weekend at Trammell’s house, when she recalls Rick coercing her into donning skimpy lingerie and submitting to various humiliations, like giving a near-naked ukulele performance.
她在特拉梅尔家度过了一个可怕的生日周末，当时她记得里克强迫她穿上暴露的内衣，并遭受各种羞辱，比如近乎裸体地弹尤克里里琴。
Privately, he pressured her to seduce Trammell, and when that didn’t happen, Rick choked her and threatened her with Trammell’s influence.
私下里，他向她施压，要求她引诱特拉梅尔，当这没有发生时，里克掐死了她，并用特拉梅尔的影响力威胁她。
Rick then led her into the backyard for sex, where anyone could watch.
瑞克随后领她到后院做爱，任何人都可以观看。
Kayla seriously considered killing herself .
凯拉认真考虑过自杀。
She didn’t want to die, exactly.
确切地说，她不想死。
She just wanted to stop living as a hostage.
她只是想停止作为人质的生活。
On her end, Julia raced to devise an escape.
朱莉娅则赶紧想办法逃跑。
She flew to Austin the first week of October bearing plane tickets for herself, her daughter, and Kayla.
十月的第一周，她带着自己、女儿和凯拉的机票飞往奥斯汀。
The plan was to run together to Utah—Julia’s home state—and report Rick to the authorities as a united front from a safe distance.
他们的计划是一起跑到犹他州——朱莉娅的家乡——并在安全距离外向当局报告瑞克的统一战线。
But Rick intercepted Kayla’s phone at the worst possible moment.
但瑞克在最糟糕的时刻截获了凯拉的电话。
The night before her flight, he saw some of Julia’s messages pop up.
在她起飞的前一天晚上，他看到朱莉娅的一些消息弹出。
Fuck .
他妈的 。
Kayla stayed behind while Julia and her daughter took off.
当朱莉娅和她的女儿起飞时，凯拉留在后面。
Rick followed them to Utah and spent two weeks chasing them down, ultimately wrangling an emergency court order that required Julia to give up their daughter until an official hearing.
瑞克跟随他们来到犹他州，花了两周时间追捕他们，最终争取到了一项紧急法院命令，要求朱莉娅在正式听证会之前交出他们的女儿。
A devastating blow.
毁灭性的打击。
Meanwhile, in Austin, Kayla scrambled to pull off a solo escape.
与此同时，在奥斯汀，凯拉忙着独自逃跑。
She made her way to a shelter for domestic violence victims run by an organization called the SAFE Alliance .
她前往一家名为“安全联盟”的组织运营的家庭暴力受害者庇护所。
She filed for an order of protection, her first time taking any kind of legal action against Rick.
她申请了保护令，这是她第一次对瑞克采取任何形式的法律行动。
A victim advocate from the county, a kind-sounding woman, got in touch and invited Kayla to have a casual talk, wherever Kayla felt most comfortable.
来自该县的一位受害者权益倡导者是一位听起来很友善的女士，她联系了凯拉，并邀请凯拉在凯拉感觉最舒服的地方进行随意的交谈。
With her daughter in tow, Kayla met the woman at an indoor kids’ park.
凯拉带着女儿在一个室内儿童公园遇见了这名女子。
“Listen, I grew up with an abused mother,” the advocate said as Kayla’s daughter ran off toward the bouncy slides.
“听着，我是在一个受虐待的母亲的陪伴下长大的，”当凯拉的女儿跑向弹性滑梯时，这位倡导者说道。
“I know what this looks like.
“我知道这是什么样子。
What is he doing to you?”
他对你做什么？”
Kayla was moved by the woman’s compassionate recognition.
凯拉被这位女士富有同情心的认可所感动。
She didn’t share everything that day, but the advocate sensed well enough.
那天她没有分享所有内容，但倡导者感觉很好。
Kayla’s experiences of domestic abuse—the extreme control, the forced sexual acts for Rick’s apparent financial benefit—might actually point to trafficking, the advocate said.
这位倡导者说，凯拉的家庭虐待经历——极端的控制，为了里克表面上的经济利益而强迫发生性行为——实际上可能指向人口贩卖。
Kayla’s brain squashed the idea.
凯拉的大脑粉碎了这个想法。
What?
什么？
That’s crazy.
这太疯狂了。
I am not a sex-trafficking victim.
我不是性交易的受害者。
It was too much—Kayla wasn’t ready.
这太过分了——凯拉还没准备好。
She wasn’t even sure she could trust the system to help her.
她甚至不确定自己是否可以相信系统会帮助她。
Becoming Rick’s enemy suddenly seemed scarier than staying with him.
突然间，成为瑞克的敌人似乎比和他在一起更可怕。
She left the shelter and went home.
她离开避难所回家了。
On a January 2020 day when Rick and his daughter were an hour’s drive away, Kayla finally thought, Now .
2020 年 1 月的一天，瑞克和他的女儿距离一小时车程，凯拉终于想到，现在……。
She swept through their home, yanking out all the security cameras’ power cords.
她扫遍了他们的家，拔掉了所有安全摄像头的电源线。
She hastily grabbed clothes, her ukulele, her mother’s ashes.
她急忙抓起衣服、尤克里里琴和母亲的骨灰。
She and her daughter jumped in the car.
她和女儿跳上了车。
As they pulled away, Kayla chucked her phone into the neighbor’s yard.
当他们离开时，凯拉把手机扔进了邻居的院子里。
They drove to a Chinese restaurant for dinner—one last meal before her daughter went to stay with Kayla’s ex for a while.
他们开车去一家中餐馆吃晚饭——这是她女儿去凯拉前夫家住一段时间之前的最后一顿饭。
Kayla swallowed her fear and kept the mood light.
凯拉克服了恐惧，保持了轻松的心情。
This was not the time to crumble.
现在还不是崩溃的时候。
She needed stamina for the months ahead.
她需要有耐力来应对接下来的几个月。
She crashed with friends in the area, although not for long—what if Rick came after her?
她和该地区的朋友发生了冲突，尽管时间不长——如果里克追上她怎么办？
So she made her way to Julia’s place in Virginia, but the timing felt wrong; their shared trauma was too raw.
于是她前往弗吉尼亚州朱莉娅的家，但感觉时机不对。他们共同的创伤太原始了。
In 2021, Kayla entered a California rehab program, a positive experience that almost inspired her to remain on the West Coast...until loneliness kicked in.
2021 年，凯拉参加了加州的康复计划，这次积极的经历几乎激励她留在西海岸……直到孤独感袭来。
She took off for Tennessee but didn’t feel like she belonged there either.
她飞往田纳西州，但也不觉得自己属于那里。
After all she’d been through, home was proving hard to find.
经历了这一切之后，事实证明她很难找到家。
By July 2022, both Kayla and Julia were in better places.
到 2022 年 7 月，凯拉和朱莉娅的情况都变得更好了。
Kayla was sober.
凯拉很清醒。
Julia was in therapy, officially divorced from Rick, with full custody of their daughter based on Rick’s history of domestic violence.
朱莉娅正在接受治疗，并与里克正式离婚，根据里克的家庭暴力史，朱莉娅拥有女儿的完全监护权。
The energy had shifted, and the women felt stronger in each other’s presence.
能量发生了变化，女性们在彼此面前感觉更加强大。
They became roommates and started mapping their next move.
他们成了室友，并开始规划下一步行动。
In the Hollywood version of sex-trafficking stories, victims are abducted off the street by masked men.
在好莱坞版的性交易故事中，受害者在街上被蒙面男子绑架。
Thrown into windowless vans.
被扔进没有窗户的货车里。
Locked in storage containers.
锁在储存容器中。
Sold into a violent underworld.
被卖到一个暴力的黑社会。
And while such horrors can and do occur in real life, they are not the only sex-trafficking stories.
尽管此类恐怖事件可能而且确实发生在现实生活中，但它们并不是唯一的性交易故事。
A more insidious scenario often goes unrecognized: the one where the “unmarked van” presents as a legitimate romantic relationship and the victim climbs in willingly, unknowingly.
一种更阴险的情况往往未被识别：“无标记货车”呈现出合法的浪漫关系，而受害者心甘情愿地、不知不觉地爬了进去。
As of 2020, an estimated 39 percent of sex-trafficking victims in this country were brought into it by intimate partners—men, in most cases, boyfriends and husbands who exploit the trust and vulnerability of their mostly female victims, constructing sexual economies around them.
截至 2020 年，该国估计有 39% 的性贩运受害者是由亲密伴侣（大多数情况下是男性，男朋友和丈夫）带入的，他们利用受害者（大多数是女性）的信任和脆弱性，在她们周围构建性经济。
Through physical force, manipulation, or fraud, those victims are compelled to engage in sex acts for the trafficker’s benefit.
通过武力、操纵或欺诈，这些受害者被迫为了贩运者的利益而进行性行为。
That could mean posing for nudes he secretly sells to cover his gambling debts or sleeping with random men off the street so he can score drugs or letting the landlord watch sex acts through the bedroom window as a form of rent payment.
这可能意味着他秘密出售裸照以偿还赌债，或者在街上与随机的男人睡觉，这样他就可以获得毒品，或者让房东通过卧室的窗户观看性行为作为支付租金的一种形式。
Experts estimate that thousands of U.S. women are currently stuck in such cycles.
专家估计，目前有数千名美国女性陷入这样的循环之中。
And like Julia and Kayla, many may not recognize what they’re living through as sex trafficking.
和朱莉娅和凯拉一样，许多人可能没有意识到自己正在经历性交易。
They’re just trying to survive.
他们只是想生存。
It took Julia and Kayla time, distance, and external support to truly reckon with what had happened to them.
朱莉娅和凯拉花了时间、距离和外部支持，才真正意识到发生在她们身上的事情。
By 2022, they’d connected with an attorney through the Human Trafficking Legal Center , an organization focused on strategic litigation for survivors.
到 2022 年，他们通过人口贩运法律中心联系了律师，该组织专注于幸存者的战略诉讼。
That November, they filed a major civil suit accusing more than two dozen defendants of enabling and benefiting from an interstate sex-trafficking venture in which they both were repeatedly victimized.
那年 11 月，他们提起了一项重大民事诉讼，指控二十多名被告促成一项州际性贩运活动并从中受益，而他们两人都多次成为受害者。
The case is complex.
案情复杂。
It may not go to trial for another year, says attorney Matthew Schmidt of Balestriere Fariello in San Francisco, who is representing the plaintiffs.
原告的代理律师、旧金山 Balestriere Fariello 律师马修·施密特 (Matthew Schmidt) 表示，该案可能还要再过一年才能接受审判。
Julia and Kayla both know that they’ll be subject to scrutiny—about their past lifestyle choices, their histories of substance misuse, all of it.
朱莉娅和凯拉都知道，他们将受到审查——关于他们过去的生活方式选择、他们滥用药物的历史等等。
That their stories challenge the myth of the “perfect victim,” a pervasive bias that people who are harmed must pass a moral purity test for their humanity to be recognized.
他们的故事挑战了“完美受害者”的神话，这是一种普遍存在的偏见，即受伤害的人必须通过道德纯洁性测试，他们的人性才能得到认可。
They’re prepared for that and not at all interested in settling out of court.
他们已经做好了准备，并且对庭外和解完全不感兴趣。
They want their full experiences in the public record so that others may spot the signs sooner.
他们希望将自己的完整经历记录在案，以便其他人可以更快地发现这些迹象。
They want women to check in with themselves: Are you a girlfriend or a hostage?
他们希望女性扪心自问：你是女朋友还是人质？
A wife or a prisoner?
妻子还是囚犯？
In the meantime, Kayla and Julia are prioritizing their healing and health.
与此同时，凯拉和朱莉娅正在优先考虑他们的康复和健康。
They see the same therapist, whom they nicknamed Mom.
他们去看同一位治疗师，他们给他起了个绰号“妈妈”。
Kayla is reconnecting with her yoga practice .
凯拉正在重新开始她的瑜伽练习。
She likes her job waiting tables and is considering going to cosmetology school.
她喜欢服务员的工作，并正在考虑去美容学校。
Julia has discovered a gift for gardening, along with a passion for advocacy.
朱莉娅发现了园艺天赋，以及对宣传的热情。
She’s planning a career pivot toward consulting on trafficking issues.
她计划将职业转向人口贩卖问题咨询。
Who knows?
谁知道？
Maybe she’ll get a law degree.
也许她会获得法律学位。
Their girls, now 13 and 11, have reunited thanks to the shared custody agreement Kayla worked out with her ex.
由于凯拉与她的前夫达成了共同监护权协议，他们的女儿现在分别是 13 岁和 11 岁，已经团聚。
The home feels full, the family complete.
家感觉很充实，家庭完整。
Kayla and Julia joke that they should just marry each other already.
凯拉和朱莉娅开玩笑说他们应该早点结婚了。
Their emotions often run high—a fire hose of rage and sorrow and gratitude and determination built up from years of survival-mode numbness.
他们的情绪常常很高涨——多年来的生存模式麻木所积聚起来的愤怒、悲伤、感激和决心。
Sometimes they find themselves crying together for no specific reason—part catharsis, part incantation.
有时他们发现自己无缘无故地一起哭泣——部分是宣泄，部分是咒语。
Christopher Johnston is the author of Shattering Silences: Strategies to Prevent Sexual Assault, Heal Survivors, and Bring Assailants to Justice .
克里斯托弗·约翰斯顿是《打破沉默：预防性侵犯的策略、治愈幸存者和将袭击者绳之以法》一书的作者。
His work has also appeared in the Daily Beast , Scientific American , and other outlets.
他的作品还出现在《每日野兽》、《科学美国人》和其他媒体上。
Erin Quinlan is a journalist in New York City and the features director at Cosmopolitan .
艾琳·昆兰 (Erin Quinlan) 是纽约市的一名记者，也是《Cosmopolitan》的专题总监。