His lips tip up, but the smile looks different than I remember. Still thin, slow, and vain, but ... something is off. My nails scratch at the mattress’s seams. A ray of sunlight highlights his form, and I don’t understand what I’m looking at. Crow’s feet and receded hairline. Soft belly and sun-spotted hands. Where are the snake eyes? Where are the fangs, the claws, where’s the crimson blood staining his neck? He’s not supposed to look so ...human.
“This place suits you, you know? Something about its ... essence.” He runs a palm down the front of his tie, as if he could smooth the ridiculousness out of it. My eyes slide behind him, to the open door teasing me with freedom. “So rich with history. I swear I sometimes hear ghosts in the walls.”
Anger and fear pulse through me, adrenaline kicks to life beneath my skin.Don’t think. Don’t think.
“The only thing that would suit me right now is to claw your eyes out.” The last word is still on my tongue when I spring from the mattress and run.
He catches me in the doorway. A screech climbs up my throat, my fingernails sink into his cheek, and his curse fades as a punch to my ribs knocks the breath out of me. Black spots blink in and out of sight. He grips my hair, spins me around. A burn rips through my scalp when he shoves me face-first to the floor. I catch myself with my palms, elbows shaking. His knees straddle my calves, hot breath on my neck. The unwavering adrenaline spurs me into action, and I slam my head back as hard as I can. I hear a distinctcrunch. Pain shoots through my skull, ears ringing like a siren.
“Fucking cunt,” he spits, breathing hard. He locks my arms behind my back with one hand and presses my cheek into the carpet with the other. “Could’ve learned a thing or two from your mother.”
Rope burns my skin as he ties my wrists behind my back, but I barely register the pain. His words are trapped in my head. I know they’re bullshit, yet my voice shakes with uncertainty. “Don’t talk about my mother. You don’t know anything about her.”
He laughs, grips my tied wrists, and yanks me to my feet. “Where do you think she went the day she left you? On holiday?”
“Shut up,” I whisper, but my knees are weak while he pushes me toward the mattress. “You’re a fucking liar.”
He shoves me onto the bed, and I wince as I twist around so I’m facing him. Ignoring the throbbing in my ribs, I use my legs to scoot up and sit with my back against the wall. Red scratches mar his cheek, and his nose is crooked. Blood spills over his lips and teeth, spatters his immaculate clown suit. I want to feel triumphant, but all I see is blood, blood, so muchblood.
He disappears into the bathroom and returns with a wad of toilet paper held over his nose. “I’m many things, but a liar isn’t one of them.”
“Stay the hell away from me.”
He takes a step in my direction, and I tense. “Tell me, little girl. What kind of business do you think I run? How do you think your parents met?”
My stomach rolls, and I shake my head in denial.
“Your father bought Valentina from one of my men. When he couldn’t make good on what he owed, I came to retrieve her only to discover he’d knocked her up. Valentina wouldn’t abort, which left them with two choices: pay the fucking debt, or give me a replacement. Your father privately chose to replace her with you, once you became old enough to groom. Children are risky—the law is relentless with them, and you never know how they’ll turn out. But they often sell for more, and since your own parents would be part of the transaction, no one would search for you. So I accepted. I returned six and a half years later to collect you.”
Six and a half years ...
“Why can’t I come, mommy? I want to come.”
I can’t breathe.
“Come to find out Valentina hadn’t known about the revised arrangement. She offered herself in your place.”
“I know you do, sweetie. But where I’m going isn’t safe for a child.”
Her hands shake as she throws another shirt inside. She won’t look at me. Why won’t she look at me?
I swallow, but the painful burn in my throat only grows. My voice is hardly a whisper when I beg, “St-stop. Please, stop talking.”
“She promised to be good, and if she hadn’t already proven her obedience in the past, I wouldn’t have agreed. As it was, she was beautiful, docile, and I knew my men would want her back. She was a solid bid. So I sold her, and for a while, she held fast to her word.”
Tears threaten to spill, and I shake my head harder.
Stop. I don’t want to know.
“See, I think of myself as a fair businessman in terms of finding creative solutions when a problem arises. There was history between the three of us,trust, and too many amended deals, so when Valentina fucking hung herself, it pissed me off.”
No.
My weight sinks against the wall, and I look away. My lips tremble, but I force the tears to stay at bay. I can’t let this monster see how much he’s hurting me.
“Your father was back in debt. When I came for him, I saw you, sound asleep on your mattress by the couch. Of course, he offered you as a replacement, but no. For all of the damage he had generated, I decided he would give me everything he owned, and I’d keep you for myself. You, presumably obedient and docile like your mother, were to be my gift for the trouble your parents had caused me.”
His gaze crawls over the side of my face, but I stare sightlessly ahead.
