“Marriage?”
Now his laugh just sounded hideous. “You see, Ms. St. John, I’m a man of many talents, and one of my best talents is mergers. Mergers of businesses, mergers of people…” He gave me a pointed look, a single eyebrow raising with pride. “In Clause 42, it clearly states that by signing the lease to my building, you were also signing yourself over to me in a pre-marital merger between yourself and me, or one of my chosen clients. What I didn’t expect was such a difference in age between you and me. So, I specifically chose you as a potential merger with one of my biggest clients, Mr. Nostra. I believe you know him as Rico and met him when you first moved in. He’s also the gentleman who stayed back with your little monstrous biker friend back at the shop. The finest of hired guns.”
Gasping, I took a step back, my legs hitting a table so hard it knocked over a vase.
“Now, what I wasn’t planning on was Mr. Nostra’s aversion to merging with a woman your age. It seems we have similar tastes when it comes to the women we sleep with. We like our ladies young and submissive, with a hymen so fresh and pure it’s just waiting to be popped and soiled by a thick cock.”
Was this really happening?
“Thankfully, Mr. Nostra has other friends who aren’t as… shall we say… choosy when it comes to their women. Men who would pay top dollar to be with a woman with talents such as yours. So instead of sampling you himself, he’s going to sell his merger to someone else.”
“Are you crazy? I’m not agreeing to any of that!”
He laughed. “You don’t really have a choice. Not if you want your little friend over there to live. One text and his life can end right now.” He started to type something on his phone, and I panicked.
“This isn’t legal!” My heart practically stopped in my chest; just the thought of them hurting Krampus broke me in two.
“And yet you signed on the dotted line.” His smirk was a vile combination of conceit and malicious intent. Just looking at it made me want to shed my skin just to shuck off the ick.
“What if I leave town?”
He took a daring step forward. “I’ll find you.”
“What if I leave the country?”
He toyed with his mustache evilly. “I have friends in places you’d never expect, Ms. St. John. Wherever you go, I’ll find you.”
“I’m not agreeing to this! I won’t!”
Moseley moved closer to me. Too close. So close I could smell his foul breath like it was swimming in my nose, the stench of stale cigar smoke and festering wine lingering.
“You don’t have a fucking choice.”
“Everyone has a choice!” I shouted, though I could barely hear my voice over my heart, which was thundering inside my chest.
“Maybe next time you should read the fine print. I own you now, Ms. St. John. Cross me and you’ll lose everything you just started building.”
His threat was clear and concrete, creating a fear I didn’t realize was possible. I’d somehow become a pawn in a sex-trafficking ring, and I believed him when he said there was no way for me to get out.
When his hand touched the small of my back, I jumped about ten feet.
“Don’t you dare touch me!” I screamed.
“Oh, Ms. St. John, how you flatter me. To think a man like me would even be remotely interested in touching a woman of your age.”
It was a dig I accepted whole-heartedly. Sometimes I got the feeling that he liked me more than just a tenant, and just the thought of it made my stomach roll with unease.
“Good. Because the feeling is most-definitely mutual.”
He looked over at me and sneered. “This is where we lay out our ground rules, Ms. St. John. First, I don’t want to see that filthy biker hanging around your shop anymore. Mr. Nostra doesn’t like his toys played with by others, and he doesn’t like the way that man looks at you. If he’s going to successfully seal this merger, he needs you in pristine condition. Untouched. Your purity intact.”
“My purity is far from intact, Mr. Moseley. I lost that years ago.”
He frowned. “Pity. A thirty-year-old virgin would’ve fetched a hefty price from the right people. Nevertheless, a woman is a woman, and a pussy is a pussy. Even the most desperatemen will pay for a good fuck. And I bet my last dollar that underneath that bubblegum exterior is a harlot ready to spread her legs and moan.”
“You’re disgusting!” I yelled, stepping away from him.
He opened his mouth to speak, only to be silenced by a single gunshot exploding next door. Followed quickly by another.
