Page 90 of Perilous

“No,” she says.

I lean down toward her and stuff her mouth with her panties again. My lips touch her right ear. And I destroy her reality even more.

“You’re father planned on selling you.”

* * *

Annika grabsat my shirt and starts to whimper. I see her fighting the urge to shake her head. She wants to refuse what I’ve said to her. She doesn’t want to believe. Who the fuck would believe it, right?

“How does it even work, right, doll?” I ask her.

I step away and peel her hands off my shirt. Her eyes fill with tears and she shakes her head. My hands ball up into fists.

“That’s why he wanted you returned to him alive and safe,” I say. “You were going to be kidnapped the night you went out. And not by me. There was a gentleman at the end of the bar, wasn’t there?”

Her eyes widen.

“That’s right. How the fuck would I know that? Am I part of this? Am I the big, bad kidnapper, Annika?”

She shakes her head.

I curl my lip. “Are you connecting the dots yet?”

She shrugs her shoulders. I grab her jaw and pluck the panties out of her mouth once again. My hand slides down to her throat.

“Take a drink, doll,” I whisper. “You’ll need it.”

I hand her the bottle of vodka and she drinks.

“For the record, whatever price your father put on your cunt, it wasn’t nearly high enough. Your sweet, seductive slit is worth trillions in my book.”

She blushes again. She’s digesting my words.

“That night you were going to be taken by that man,” I tell her. “Once confirmed through another channel of communication, money would have been given to your father. That money would have been enough to make some of the scariest lenders back off a little. See where this is going? Non-traditional lending, meaning non-traditional collateral. He used your body as collateral.”

She gasps for a breath and swallows hard. Her chin quivers. I can see it buried deep within her eyes that she not only believes me, but it some sick way this doesn’t completely surprise her. It hurts her, yes, but it doesn’t surprise her to the point of complete denial.

That means in some way she’s known her father is complete and total scum.

“There’s another piece to this, Annika,” I tell her. “You haven’t figured it out yet. Do you understand yet why I had to protect you? Why I did what I did when I arrived here?”

She licks her lips. “I don’t… I’m sorry…”

I cup her face with my right hand.

Am I feeling things for her? Am I feeling a sense of sorrow for her?

Am I… connecting my pain to her pain…?

That can’t be true. Not for a second. That would imply things between us are real. That’s not possible. I only claimed her for my own redemption. For the awful sins I’ve committed, hoping to maybe not completely wash them away but at least rinse them off for a little bit.

“He didn’t act alone,” I say. “It was a setup. Do you understand?”

“I…”

I growl deep in my throat.

“This may seem like an odd question to you, but was your best friend wearing panties when she was here?”

---