Thousands (Dollar 4)

The man who smelled of lemon and sandalwood smiled sadly. “Je suis désolé. But it’s for your own good.”

Nothing was for my own good.

This was everything against what was good for me.

They’d taken Elder.

They’d taken me.

They’re taking…

My mind skated and slipped as if ice skates were now my foundations and a frozen puddle my brain.

I wobbled, my knees forgetting how to hold me up.

I felt sick.

I felt woozy.

I felt lost.

Cursing him, I collapsed into his arms, dangling in his embrace as my body vanished from my control and a bone-chilling lethargy crept over me.

I cried for Elder.

I cried for me.

I cried for everything we were so close to claiming.

I couldn’t let him do this.

I couldn’t let this stranger steal everything I ever wanted.

He had to have a name.

I had to know him.

So when I woke up, I could curse him and hex him and make him feel a tenth of the despair he’d caused me. “Who…are you?” My ability of speech was waning. “Why are y-you doing this?”

Just before the clouds crept over me, just before the moonlight blotted out on the worst evening of my life, the man cuddled me close, stroked back my hair, and gave me the answer to the question I’d carried for weeks. “My name is Q Mercer, and I’m saving you from the life you were sold into from the QMB. I’ve been hunting the men who bought women and giving them back their life. You’re the last one.” He scooped me into his arms, my ballgown whispering over his arms. “You were the last, but now you’re found. No one is going to hurt you again. Je promets.”

No one will hurt me again? But you are…

This dark avenger who thought he’d rescued me had totally destroyed me.

This was the man who’d accessed my file at the police station.

This was the man hunting me not the Chinmoku.

This was the man I would hate for eternity.

My mind blanked out.

My body disappeared.

I remembered no more.