“I understand enough,” I said, my hand finding the doorknob behind me. “Those girls—”
“Are cared for,” he finished. He was close enough now that I could smell his cologne, feel the heat radiating from his body. “Just as you have been.”
The implication wasn't lost on me. My throat tightened. “Is that what this was? You... taking care of me?”
Something shifted in his expression — a hint of genuine emotion breaking through the careful mask. “No,” he said, his voice lower. His gaze drifted to the side and he sighed — turned around and retreated. “Itwasn’tsupposed to be like that,” he murmured, turning against the window. “But you took that fucking cherry.”
My blood ran cold. “What did you say?”
He turned back to me, his expression unreadable. “The gold cherry. The one Hargrove gave you. Youtookit.Youstarted the bidding.”
“I…” I stepped back. “I didn’t know.” I said it so quietly I doubt he even heard me.
“You think Iwantedthis for you? You think I don’t know what I preach are lies that console nobody butme?” He took a deep breath. “Iboughtyou because if I hadn’t, you would’ve beentaken care of.”
The air in the room seemed to solidify around me. “Bought me? You...boughtme?” My voice was a whisper, barely audible over the pounding in my ears.
“I outbid Hargrove and three others,” Judah said, his voice almost gentle now. “I made sure you ended up with me instead of...” His gaze drifted toward the window. “Instead of where the others go.”
“Where do they go?” The question slipped out before I could stop it, though part of me already knew the answer.
Judah's silence was answer enough.
I pressed a hand against my stomach, suddenly aware of what was growing inside me — a child conceived in a transaction I hadn't known I was part of. My legs threatened to give out beneath me.
“You are apastor,” I emphasized, in shock. I couldn’t make sense of it.
“I'm a Beaumont first,” he said, his voice hardening. “You have no idea what that means. What responsibilities come with it.”
The doorknob pressed painfully into my spine — I kept stepping back and there was nobackto step anymore. “So what happens now? I'm your property? This baby isyour property?”
A muscle worked in his jaw. “You're the mother of my child. That’s it.”
“And if I don't want to be?” I asked, my voice steadier than I expected. “If I want to leave?”
“Then leave,” he said.
The simplicity of his answer staggered me. I hadn't expected that — had braced myself for threats, for violence, for the mask to slip completely.
“You'd let me walk away?” I asked, unable to keep the disbelief from my voice.
Judah moved to the armchair by the window and sat down. Moonlight caught the angles of his face, turning him into something carved and monolith. “If that’s what you want.”
“I… I am confused,” I said. “I… You must leave — I need to think.”
He turned his head toward me with a cocked eyebrow. “Leave?”
I realized how that may have sounded, but I really wanted him gone right now. “Please.”
Judah stared at me for a long moment, then rose from the chair. “You want me to leave my own bedroom?”
“Yes.” The word came out stronger than I felt.
He gave a small, humorless laugh. “Very well,” he agreed, much to my surprise. “For how long, may I ask?”
“For tonight,” I said, the words tasting like ash in my mouth. “I need to think.”
Judah nodded once, the gesture almost formal. He crossed to the dresser and removed a few hangers of clothes — for tomorrow, I assumed. The domesticity of it felt obscene after what he'd just revealed.
