“Elise, come here, honey,” my dad said.
I stared at him for a moment, then I took a few steps closer. Mateo seemed vaguely irritated then, and I wondered if I should go back upstairs, but I was afraid the men would come get me if I tried.
My dad wasn’t perfect, but I knew he must be terrified to be bringing me into it.
Mateo looked me over one more time, his eyes landing on my face. “How old are you?”
I swallowed. I couldn’t look him in the eye. “Fifteen.”
My voice cracked in the middle of telling him my age, and I could feel my face heating with embarrassment.
Mateo nodded, looking back at my dad. “You think I’m attracted to your 15-year-old daughter, so you call her closer?”
My dad obviously didn’t know how to respond. He was desperate and scared, and he wasn’t thinking clearly. I’m sure he thought Mateo would have him killed, or he never would’ve done it.
Finally Mateo said, “I’ll take her.”
I didn’t understand at first. Take me? Take me where? Take me how? What did that mean?
My father seemed confused, too. “Take her?”
“If you’re willing to trade your daughter for what you owe me, I’ll take her,” Mateo specifies.
“Like… you’ll keep her?” my dad asked, looking a little floored.
The corner of Mateo’s mouth tugged up, but he did not look amused. Looking away from my father, he turned his attention to me. “What do you say, Elise?”
Just hearing him say my name made me shiver. You know that scene from Beauty and the Beast, where Belle offers to take her father’s place? In my mind, it was like that. In my mind, it was so brave.
“You won’t hurt my dad?” I asked him.
Mateo shook his head no.
I looked past him at my dad, and my stomach was aching so bad. Mateo wasn’t what I pictured, but it was still utterly terrifying to imagine actually leaving my home and going with this dangerous stranger. Especially because I still thought he was going to hurt me—I still believed he had some sick interest in me, and still I told him I’d go with him.
My father didn’t look comfortable with it, but he didn’t even try to stop it from happening. He didn’t panic at the last minute and try to change his mind, he didn’t tell Mateo he’d give him the money instead. I don’t even know why he owed him the money. My dad owned a small business, and while it wasn’t extremely profitable, I wasn’t aware of any money problems severe enough that he would take mob money, knowing what a stupid thing that is to do.
My mother was in tears, and she came forward to object. Before she kept back, even when my father was saying those things to Mateo, almost encouraging his interest in me. That was hard to swallow, but I told myself they had no other choice. She hugged me then, clutched me, saying “no, no, no,” over and over again. I couldn’t feel anything though. My mind seemed to have shut down and I couldn’t even be in the moment with her, my last moment with her. I couldn’t even wrap my head around what I’d just agreed to, what they’d just agreed to. All I could think about was what came next. What would happen to me? How long would I even amuse him, and what would happen to me if I stopped?
Everything was kind of a blur after that. Mateo accompanied me to his car, but two of his men stayed behind.
Mateo didn’t wait for them. His driver pulled away, and I looked back, confused. “Why did they stay?” I asked.
I didn’t even really expect him to answer me. I expected him to be mean to me, to treat me less than human, but he said simply, “To conclude the transaction.”
I wasn’t sure what that meant. It wasn’t a legal transaction in any regard, so what did they need to do, sign paperwork? But I didn’t ask again.
I waited the whole car ride for him to do something. To pounce on me? To say something about his intentions? To act on them?
But he never did. He didn’t even speak to me most of the trip, and then when we pulled up to his house, I was in shock. I’d never seen a house so big or so beautiful.
He got out of the car and headed inside, while his driver hung back and walked with me. (His house only further reinforced the Beauty and the Beast thing in my head. It was like a modern castle!) And then his man took me inside, took me to the servants’ quarters, and gave me a lovely bedroom, nicer than the one I had at home. (Again, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST.) I sat on the bed, waiting for him to come, but he didn’t. I couldn’t even sleep that night, still waiting. But he never came, and he was NEVER mean to me, not even a little bit. He was a perfect gentleman, and… well, you know the rest.