Ant nods again. “Nearly everyone I targeted was on one of the dating apps. I, um…for a few of them, I put on makeup and acted like a girl.”
Ah, damn.
“Ant,” Charlie asks, moving to stand in front of him. “Didn’t that…wouldn’t that be triggering for you? The first thing you did in that hotel when I told you to come with me was take off the makeup he made you wear and change out of the feminine clothes.”
My breath freezes in my throat. “They made you dress like a girl?” I whisper, barely able to form the words.
He’s been careful not to give me too many details, and now I see why. The things he…I can’t help but think of him as a little boy and wonder what that first night without his family must have been like.
Whatever it was like, it was worth fifty thousand dollars to some sick fuck who I plan on beating until he’s dead. It’s all so much worse than I’d imagined these last ten years. I lean into Levy, unable to stop the tears from falling.
“It’s okay, Tío,” Ant responds in Spanish. “Doing this meant I took back the power it had over me. Instead of them using it against me, I used it against them because fuck them.”
I pull away from Levy, wiping my face as I bring Ant in for a hug. Switching back to English, I say, “I understand. I’m sorry for losing my composure.”
“You can be sad that shitty things happened to me. That tells me somebody really cared.”
Erik growls, shaking his head as he rejoins us in the living room. “You already know people care, you asshole. That’s what me and Charlie showed you that night. We saved you so you wouldn’t have to put on the fucking makeup anymore.”
Ant squares up against Erik. “You do realize the forced prostitution was the problem, right? The makeup and girly clothes were just the frosting on the shit cake—you do get that, right?”
I can’t tell if I’m gutted by or proud of the way Ant is speaking so openly about his experience, so I decide to go with both. No one should ever have to go through that and, frankly, I’m glad he’s killed victimizers. It’s something he and I have in common.
In fact, I believe he has that in common with many of the people in this room.
Erik runs his hands through his hair, messing up his man bun. “We saved you so you could completely divorce yourself from that life.”
“I know that, you big dumb oaf,” Ant says, smacking Erik in the stomach with the back of his hand. “I don’t do a damn thing I don’t want to, I can assure you. I put on the makeup because I wanted to.”
“Okay, okay,” Anja says, holding up her hands. Turning to Ant, she carefully takes his arm. “Again, you are very smart with the makeup and the catfishing on the dating apps. Good job.”
Erik goes to say something, but Anja points at him, and he snaps his mouth shut.
Returning her generous, warm attention to Ant, she goes in for the kill. “The only problem with using apps is that, no matter how careful you are, it can be tracked. If somebody puts together that you’re using the dating apps to find the people you feel the need to kill, they can eventually trace it back to you.”
“Oh.”
Erik leans his hip against the couch, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Ant, do you trust me?” Anja asks, putting both of her hands on his shoulders.
He nods.
“Do you trust Georg and Anders and Erik?”
He nods again.
“Good. I’m glad you have good instincts and aren’t trying to harm innocent people. Still, there are so many things you don’t know. That’s not your fault, of course, but it seems to me that you need training. Which only works if you’re willing to be trained. Are you willing to be trained?”
He nods enthusiastically.
“Good.Good. You are lucky we have powerful allies because the first thing I’m going to do is call my son and have you tell him all about the murders—every single one—in detail.”
“Is Anders going to be mad at me?” Ant asks, worry flashing across his face.
“No, son,” Georg assures him. “Anders already knows who you are. He and his friends will probably have to do a little bit of clean-up, but they don’t mind. We’re like a big, extended family, and we don’t mind helping each other.”
“Okay.”
