Page 54 of Wanted
“We haven’t been on since my rookie year,” Alex told me. Kamila and Alex stopped embracing, and I felt a wave of relief in my body. I stepped back, deflecting. “She has the code to the house. She comes here from time to time to find solace.”
“Get. This. Bitch. Out. Of. Here.” We turned around, and Jordan stood there, out of breath and ready to kill us all. Of course, we hadn’t heard him coming. Not even I had. He cursed in front of me, and he only did that when he couldn’t keep it together. “We’re updating the security system, and we’re installing new passwords. Is there any other charity that we should know of? For fuck’s sake, Alex. Are you trying to get Kamila killed?”
“She’s just a girl. She doesn’t mean any harm,” Alex commented, rubbing the back of his neck. Again.
“Just a girl?” Kamila stood up from the floor. “You underestimate the power of pussy. When I meet my owner, he’ll be mine. If any other, excuse me, Fylox, BITCH dares to touch him, she’ll be dealt with accordingly. This person… Holly? She seems smitten by you.”
“Stop talking. We have to remove the body. Is she dead?” Jordan asked, scanning Holly from afar. No, she wasn’t dead. She was breathing, barely. The shock of seeing the Princess of Katantia in Alex Winters’ home hadn’t worn off yet. Hell, I was hardly used to her presence. “She’s not dead. We’re calling an ambulance. Or better yet, the fucking police. She’s going to a mental institution…”
“That’s a little overdramatic,” Alex commented.
“Which part of ‘we’re a shadow organization’ don’t you understand, son?” Jordan asked. In his sunken eyes, I saw that the Kamila project was getting to my boss. Jordan had aged in the weeks we’d spent with the Princess of Katantia. She sucked the life out of us. “And I have to rehabilitate my men. They obviously didn’t see this coming. Now, I have to teach them how to handle stalker bitches…”
“She’s not a bitch.” Alex rose from the floor. My best friend was done smiling for the day. We’d soured his mood. “I forgot to tell you. I haven’t spoken to Holly in months, and it skipped my mind that she might come back for another visit. I barely spend any time at home, so she never bothers me personally. She goes through my clothes or memorabilia. That’s all.”
“She’s still going to a mental institution.”
“No.”
“She is. It’s over. Any other stalker won’t be so lucky.” Then he turned to Kamila. With a softer tone, he added, “You looked miserable out there. I’m getting you red hair dye. I know what the PR team said. They’re right, but you don’t have to change. You’re a decent woman, caught in a web of tragedy.”
I wondered whether Kamila was afraid of spiders. I wasn’t. Spiders had been my best friends when I was a child. They talked to me when nobody else would. Would my friends be so kind to Kamila? Or would they help me scare the shit out of her?
QUEEN PENELOPE WRAITH
THIRTY YEARS OLD
Speechless, my daughter stared at the red dot on her panties. She couldn’t stand still. She dropped them on the floor like they were a disease she didn’t want any part of. Her gaze lifted to me, asking me questions I had coached myself to answer.
My two boys didn’t need me like this.
Kamila was special. She understood things that weren’t meant to be understood by a pre-teen.
“Take a shower. I’ll get you pads and tampons. You can decide what you want to use, sweetie,” I told her, gulping down the sob that threatened to emerge. I’d been in Katantia for twelve years already.
“Can’t I make it stop? I don’t want to bleed. It hurts. Is it really normal to bleed? I feel dizzy. It surely can’t be normal. Mom, please, help me,” Kamila begged me, and I didn’t know how to deal with her outburst. She aced all the tests that I gave her. Some days, she was more in tune with her lessons than I was, and I was supposed to be her teacher.
“You’ll have to live with this now,” I said. It felt hard to breathe when you believed you were a failure. “Remember, we talked about this in biology.”
“Yes… But we were referring to other girls. I’m special. You always stress how special I am.” I couldn’t ignore the pout on her face. She looked like me when I was her age. Weston did, too. They were almost identical. Meanwhile, Aris had taken after his father… “I don’t go to school with the others. I have my own house. No man will ever be my owner. I get to choose what I eat. What about all of that? I’m special. You said so. You never menstruate. I’m your daughter, so I’m special.”
“I don’t menstruate any more because I had my children, and I…” How did I say it without breaking her little heart? “I removed an essential part of me, and, now, I don’t have to worry about that anymore. Not everyone can do that since it’s a dangerous operation, reserved only for emergencies.”
“I don’t believe it. I’m sure Daddy will allow me to remove my essential part, too. Is it your uterus? You don’t have to sugarcoat it. I know the terms,” she responded, lifting the corner of her mouth at me. Her father would never allow her to undergo a procedure like I had. I’d done it in secret, and I’d paid dearly for it.
“You might have all these privileges, but, deep down, you’re just a little girl. Now, you’re a young woman.” I didn’t want to be here. I wanted to leave this country, but I couldn’t. My children came first. I had to protect them. If I left, Aram would harm them. He would jeopardize everything I’d tried to build with them. “As a young woman, you have responsibilities. This is one of them. Clean up now, and pick what you want, pads or tampons. We’re going to Euphoria to celebrate.”
“What’s there to celebrate? I’m in a sour mood, and I hate my life! I feel like throwing up,” Kamila responded, exasperated. Her face was red, and I could see her sweating. Her arms hugged her belly. “It hurts.”
“We can go shopping after Euphoria?” I offered.
“Can’t we get a puppy? I promise to walk him,” she urged me. She’d been asking for one ever since she learned what a dog was. “And feed him. Clean him! Or her. Everything. It’ll distract me from this pain.”
“There are no pets on Katantia, sweetie.” None of the animal kind, at least. “Daddy has banned them. Perhaps when you’re older, you can convince him to lift the ban. For now, there isn’t a household of this land that has domesticated animals.”
She frowned, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “I hate this. Why don’t Weston or Aris get to bleed like this? Life’s unfair. This needs to change. It’s unacceptable!”
“You’re not even a real teenager yet, Kamila. What will I do then? You’re too opinionated for your own good, sweetie.” I stepped back, giving her more space. Reaching the doorframe of her room in the palace, I added, “But don’t you ever change. I’m proud of you. You’ll make the best princess one day.”
