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“Ballyhock, Ireland.”

She frowns. “So you are a McCarthy.”

“Never denied that I was a McCarthy,” I tell her, facing her now. “I denied my family took you.”

She frowns. “Was that phone call a problem?”

“Aye.”

“For you or for me?”

“Both of us, lass.” I pull out the chair across from her and sit down. There's no version of this conversation she’ll swallow easily, so I cut right to it. “I told you the people who kept you in that cell weren't McCarthys. It’s important you accept that. We suspect they wanted you to believe that so we'd be on your hit list.”

“Who was it then, if it wasn't the McCarthys?” she says. “They were obviously Irish.”

I give her a small smile. “McCarthys don’t operate out of America.”

Her brow knits together.

“As I said, we’re in Ballyhock.”

Something moves across her face, then it's gone before I can read it. “I don't think I believe you,” she says, but it comes out uncertain, not stated as fact. “You would say that, wouldn't you? Regardless of whether it was true.”

“I would,” I say. “So would any man in my position. You have no reason to take my word for it, and I'm not going to ask you to. But someone out there knows I have you and doesn’t like it, so the only thing standing between you and going back to that room is me.”

I wonder if she's put it together yet. This is also why she needs to obey me.

She shivers again and pulls the blanket tighter. I reach over and tuck the corner more firmly around her arm without thinking about it.

“I won’t say I believe you,” she says. “But I'm listening.”

It's the most I'm going to get from her this morning. I’ll take it.

“So why me?”

“I need your help,” I tell her. “I bought you at that auction because you were a bargaining chip, Valentina. Once I confirm that your family had nothing to do with that auction⁠—”

“My father would never.” Her voice sharpens immediately. “He's not a good man, but he would never put me up for auction. Are you kidding me?” She laughs mirthlessly. “There's a reason why I'm a virgin, you know.”

I lean back and give her a stern look. “Interrupt me again, and you’ll get a spanking that doesn’t end with you climaxing.” I pause. “Your father isn't the only person in your house, is he?”

She blinks in surprise. “My brothers would never do that either.”

“Are you confident about that?” I ask.

“I am. I'd bet my life on it.”

It might come down to that.

I nod. “Once I'm absolutely positive they have nothing to do with this, I'll tell them. Or you will.”

She nods slowly, thinking it through. “So what do you mean I'm a bargaining chip?”

“What I mean is, if your family is innocent, like you say, when the time comes for me to tell them the truth, the fact that I protected you will be a point in my favor.”

“So you're using me.”

I shrug. “In a manner of speaking, yes.”