Page 43 of The Seller

We fall into silence again. “My father is going to kill us both,” I say by way of restarting the conversation.

“He can try,” Stavros says, cool as always. I wonder if he’s a sociopath. He might be. He doesn’t seem to have any real moral compass, and he doesn’t seem to fear pain or death, but then, would a sociopath have rescued me after I told him to go away and never come back?

“Why did you come for me?”

“You mean, after you specifically told me not to interfere in your life?” He glances over at me. “I felt like it was probably time I did, seeing as the other males in your life weren’t exactly respecting your wishes.”

“You must think I’m so fucking weak…”

“I do not,” he says, his tone a little sharp.

“You don’t understand. I went so far to get away from him! I had myself kidnapped by you. I was willing to let you sell me. I had this whole plan, and it worked! And then my father walked in last night, and I just crumbled. It was like I never had any strength at all.”

“He blindsided you, just like he meant to. He knew what he was doing, Siri. He even organized a little distraction for me to keep me from finding out what was going on. He knew I was watching out for you.”

“What did he do?”

“Burned my house down.”

“Fuck.”

“Real pity. I liked that place.”

Stavros

I don’t actually care about the house. I’m only telling her about it to make it abundantly clear to her, more than ever, that her father is a fucking monster and she shouldn’t feel bad about her inability to defy him, even when she can defy everyone else on the planet.

He has psychologically tormented her for years, made her think that she was nothing but an extension of him. It took serious strength and desperation for him to break away from his expectations and strike out, even in a dangerous way, getting herself taken and trafficked. But she did all of that away from him, out of sight of the big man. When he came to her in person, she was helpless to defend herself against the person who should have protected her the most. Parents have a short circuiting effect on the human psyche, and Siri is human. So perfectly, beautifully human.

I just wish I had gotten to her before the sick fuck her father sold her managed to touch her with his cock. I was on my way up when that was happening, my security guy reporting to me over the radio with a level of detail which left me in no doubt that Corelli needed to die.

If he’d left her alone, he would have lived. Penetration or not, the second his dick so much as touched her was the second he sealed his death sentence.

“Are you okay, Siri? I mean, I know you’re not okay, but are you okay?”

She looks at me and gives a little shrug. Of course she’s not okay. She was just forced into marriage against her will and very nearly… fuck. I should have shot him in the knee before I shot him in the face. Both knees. But that would have frightened Siri. He can thank her for his painless death.

I need to get her somewhere safe, somewhere she can recover and eventually no doubt tell me to go fuck myself again.

Chapter 11

Siri

I wake up wrapped in Stavros’ arms, and for a moment it is like the events of the past few days didn’t happen. I sink into his embrace. I take a deep, relaxed breath… and then the reality of the chaos sets in.

Don Corelli is dead. My father is going to be furious. He and his men will be coming for Stavros and I. After having failed at my forced marriage, I might not even be of use to my father anymore. He might want to wipe both Stavros and I off the face of the planet. I have known his rage before, and I know how destructive it can be. When my father does not get what he wants, worlds are destroyed until he is satisfied.

“Morning, beautiful,” Stavros greets me, his rough voice made soft by affection.

“Where are we?”

“Nice,” he says.

“Nice, France?”

“You know any other Nices?”

“You’re nices,” I smirk.

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