She and I both know that's a lie.
"What's your name?" I ask her before she slips out the door.
She glances back at me. "Daddy doesn't like it when I befriend his pets. Not after what happened last time."
"What happened last time?" I whisper, a bit afraid of the answer.
She leans in close. "We tried to kill him."
My eyes widen. "You tried?"
She lifts up her shirt to show a thick, long scar on her torso that's healed but still a bit pink. "Daddy didn't take too kindly to it." She doesn't say another word as she disappears from the large bathroom and into the hall, leaving me here with the image of him hurting his own daughter.
If he would do that to her, there's no telling what he has in store for me. Every time I start to think I might be able to figure out a way to get out of this, I'm shot down with the realization that there is no escaping a man like Ricardo. The only way out is death, and even then, he would haunt me by killing my parents and probably anyone I cared for.
With shaking hands, I go over to the pile of clothes and hold the first piece of fabric up. It's red and sheer and leaves next to nothing to the imagination. I step out of the comfort of Alec's sweatpants and peel the T-shirt off, slipping into the piece of lingerie Ricardo has laid out for me. I wipe at the tear that rolls down my cheeks and turn to face the mirror, my eyes unsure of the person staring back at me.
Who am I and who have I become? And what's worse is the person I'm going to evolve into when Ricardo has finished torturing me.
If what he's making me do isn't bad enough, I quite literally killed a man and that alone weighs heavily in my mind.
Have I always been capable of such terrible things or did life push me over the edge and drown me in darkness?
I guess I'll never know because it's too late to figure it out and it won't matter either way.
My sights land on the heels stacked next to the pile of clothes. Ricardo put them there for a reason, and I’d be an idiot to think he won’t be expecting me to wear them when I walk back into that room.
Once I have them both on, I take one final glance in the mirror and shake my arms. “You’ve got this, Cora. You can do this.”
I force my mind to reach the depths, the place where I hide all my darkest secrets and worst memories. I shove this in there with it and know that soon enough it will be over. I will get through this. I’ve gotten through worse things, and I can only imagine things will get harder. I won’t let this sick, twisted man break me.
My cheek aches where he slapped me but I put that into my little box of forbidden thoughts and walk confidently down the hallway and into the room I left Ricardo in. I stroll right up to him, ignoring the way his lazy gaze trails up and down my nearly nude body, and do a full circle around the room, only stopping when I get to the side closest to the door I entered.
He licks his lips. “I figured red would be your color. I wasn’t wrong.” He circles his finger. “Do a spin for me, pet.”
I comply, rolling my eyes when my back is to him.
“Mmm.” Ricardo sloppily drinks his foul-tasting liquor.
There’s no telling how much he drank while he was waiting for me, and I suddenly realize how foolish of me it was to leave him unattended with his alcohol. He’s already shown me what kind of person he is sober; I can’t fathom the things he’d do while intoxicated.
Ricardo messes with his groin, tugging his suit pants down to reposition himself. “Making me hard for you, pet. Good job.”
Bile rises in my throat, and I force a tight-lipped smile.
Ricardo raises his brow. "Come over here and drain me, and I'll give you an extra week of freedom."
I consider his offer and ponder whether a week is worth touching his disgusting cock. I'm going to have to eventually, but I never imagined that day would be today. And after how my morning started, am I really going to taint the damn good sex I had with Alec with the image of Ricardo's saggy balls? At least with the deal we have now, I don't have to be scarred by the thought of him every single time I'm with another man. These last few weeks are meant to be enjoyed, not another form of torture.
"I'm good with our original arrangement," I say, unsure if this was a trick all along.
"Very well." He flips his hand toward the door. "Next outfit."
I don't let out the breath I’m holding until I get outside the room, my heart pounding so wildly it's like my forehead is pulsating. I hold onto the wall to steady and pull myself together. It's only a few more outfits, it can't be worse than the next to nothing I'm already wearing.
But once I change out of the red and into a scrappy black thing, I'm proven wrong when I return to Ricardo.
There he is, sitting on the chair I woke up in, his pants unbuttoned and his flaccid cock in his hand. He strokes it lazily and scoots down onto his seat, his eyes not daring to look away from me.
