What’s the worst he can do to me? Take my virginity. Degrade me. Hurt me. But when it’s all over, I’ll still be alive, and that’s all that matters, right? I’ll be able to find my sister.
“I won’t be gentle with you, and I cannot even guarantee that I won’t put a bullet in your head when I’m done with you.” He says the words as if he is talking more to himself than me.
I swallow around the knot in my throat, knowing that bargaining with the devil before me will do me no good, and yet still, I say the words that sit against the tip of my tongue. “I… I’m giving myself to you. All I want is to live… to walk away from this all when it’s over. That’s it.”
“Why would I value you giving yourself to me if I could just take you by force and there is nothing you could do about it?” A wicked grin paints his face, and I swallow hard. Not really having a good answer to that, I just shrug, knowing that he is right. If he wanted to, he could overpower me easily.
“Why were you at my father’s house?” His eyes burnig right through me, holding me in place.
“I was looking for my sister. She’s been missing for weeks and some people told me that she was at this night club. So, I went there, showing everybody her picture. I didn’t find her. I was just about to give up, turn around and leave, but some men grabbed me before I could. I asked them about her, but they just ignored me. They drugged me, I think…”
I sigh, remembering bits and pieces that flickered through my mind. “I don’t really remember everything that happened. One minute, I was awake, and the next, I wasn’t. Then I woke up in the bedroom. I was on the floor with my hands and feet bound together. I don’t know how I got to the room or who put me in the lingerie. I wasn’t awake for any of that.”
“How did you get onto the bed?” Xander’s face is void of all emotion.
My body revolts just thinking about our little encounter. “Your father came into the room and put me on the bed.”
“Did he touch you?” His question twists a knife deep into my heart. Tears instantly fill my eyes. I don’t want to appear weak to Xander, but I’ll never forget the things his father said to me, or the way his hands felt on my skin.
“He told me what he was going to do to me and then he started… touching me.” The bile rises in my throat, burning up every inch of my esophagus. “But he got interrupted by a guard coming in… he said that the house was under attack. They left without saying another word to me.”
Through my tears, I look up at Xander and see some flicker of emotion in his eyes. It looks a lot like pity. I usually don’t like to have anyone pity me, but with a man like him, I’ll take any emotion I can get.
“I tried to get free, but the ropes were too tight. They cut into my skin, and that’s why these cuts are so deep.” I look down at my messed-up wrists, wishing the wounds would heal already. “Then you came in the room and found me.”
He nods, as if for the first time today, he actually believes everything I’m saying. A memory dislodges from my mind… right then.
“Wait… your father said something to me about an auction.” I lift my gaze to Xander’s. He looks indifferent. “I asked him where my sister was, and he said, ‘one of the most prestigious auctions,’ whatever that means. He didn’t give me a location or even tell me when it is. But if my sister is in danger, then I need to save her and maybe you can find your father in the process.”
“There’s no saving your sister, Mouse, and my father is not stupid enough to be anywhere near that auction.”
“Xander, I have to save her,” I plead, hoping that it’s okay to call him by his name now.
“No, Mouse, you don’t. If she is lucky, she’ll die before she’s sold to anyone.”
I don’t believe him. I cannot. I’ll find a way out. I’ll survive.
“As for our agreement, I can’t promise you anything.” He exhales a ragged breath.
I can see the conflict in his eyes. “The things I’m guessing my father told you he’d do to you, I’ll most likely end up doing. I’m not a good man, Mouse. I don’t treasure things, and I care for no one. And just because I fuck you, it doesn’t mean you’ll make it out of this alive.”
My chest heaves; panic grips me. I want to run so badly my legs beg me onward, but my brain… my brain tells me to stay in place. He thinks he is like his father, but I know better. I may be naive but I’m not stupid. He wouldn’t do the things his father threatened me with.