Don’t tell him the truth. Keep all of your secrets.
I can’t lie, but I refuse to answer.
His eyes light up when he realizes this.
“You can’t lie, can you?”
“No…I can’t.”
He shakes his head as he brushes more of my hair off my neck, fascinated by me.
I’m silent. I can’t lie. Every time I try, my body or words betray me. Even if it could have saved me now. If I had just pretended to be the maid like he guessed, I would be safe.
“What’s your deal, pet?”
“Pet?”
He grins as he puts his hands in his pockets as if trying to make me more comfortable by preventing himself from touching me. I’m not falling for it. I know this man will hurt me before the night is over. He’ll rape me. Torture me. Kill me. Him putting his hands in his pockets doesn’t make him any less of a threat to me. I turn to face him.
“Yes, you are now my pet. Unless you tell me your name, and I like it better than ‘pet.’ Then I might call you by your name instead.”
My lips beg me to lie. To tell him any name. I don’t want him to know who I am, but I don’t want him to call me pet.
He cracks his neck back and forth casually, waiting for me to answer.
“You’re an intriguing creature, pet.”
My eyes burn red.
He laughs, and then one of his hands reaches out automatically.
“I’m going to enjoy you so much, pet.”
“No,” I whisper, trying to step back as his hand strokes my face, but there is nowhere for me to go. I’m trapped between him and the counter at my back.
I turn my head, trying to be as defiant as I can.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have broken into your house and tried to steal from you. Let me go. I’ll owe you. I’ll work for you for free.”
He tilts his head, studying me. “Will you now?”
I nod, hoping to god he needs free labor more than he wants to do bad things to me.
“I don’t think you really have a say in the matter, pet. You broke into my house. You stole from me. Now you have to pay the consequences.”
“Are you going to call the police?”
He laughs. “No, pet. I’m not going to call the police.”
“What do you want from me then?”
“I want your fiery spirit.”
His eyes heat over my body.
“I want your perfect lips that can’t spill a lie.”
I gasp as his thumb traces over my bottom lip.
“I want to own your desperation.”
He spins me around, and then I’m facing the mirror again. His hand is on my throat and hip. And I’m pulled tight to his rough body.
I can’t breathe, but not because of how he is holding me. Because I’m waiting for the rest of his words to fall. I’m waiting to hear what my fate is.
“I want to harness you. I want to teach you how to use your assets to my advantage. I want to own your body. I want to control your mind.”
I’m never breathing again. Maybe if I stop breathing, I won’t live long enough for any of his words to come true.
“And what if I don’t do what you want?” I ask, with words bolder than I’m feeling.
“Oh, pet. I always get what I want.”
4
Zeke
There has to be a different way I can repay Julian.
That sentence has played in my head over and over and over. Every day of the last week, I’ve tried to come up with a different plan—a different way to pay him back.
He saved my life. I could save his.
But he never puts himself in any danger. I’ve never seen a leader of a criminal organization keep his hands as clean as he does. Instead of doing the dirty work himself, he always has his employees do anything remotely risky. And the few times he has to take meetings in person, he does it in his mansion, where I know he has plenty of security features.
My old boss was in the security business. I know security when I see it, even though his is well hidden. I can spot the cameras, the infrared, the panic buttons. I can spot the bulletproof walls.
Julian knows he has enemies. He knows he is exposed if he puts himself out there. So he hides. People know who he is, but he rarely shows himself in public. Somehow, that makes him even more powerful.
But it makes it very difficult for me to be able to save his life to pay him back.
I’m stuck in the horrible position of getting him a partnership with a man who traffics humans. And I don’t see a way out.
I could run away. Not repay my debt.
But Julian’s not the kind of man who lets a debt go. He would come for me. And in turn, he’d come for my boss. He’d come for the Black empire I’m desperate to protect.
No way will I let that happen.
But I really don’t want a permanent mark on my soul.
I step out of my beat-up truck and look up at the enormous warehouse sitting on the edge of the island. It doesn’t look like anything special. Just four walls with a tin roof. It looks like any other storage facility. But this one has one main difference. Instead of storing merchandise or supplies, this building stores people like animals.
“Ah, you must be Mr. Zeke,” a man says as soon as I step out of the car.
He’s dressed in a sharp-looking suit just like Julian. But unlike Julian, this man has a gut that sticks out, defeating the purpose of the suit. He looks weak, not powerful.
“It’s just Zeke. You must be Oscar,” I say as I walk to him and force myself to extend my hand.
He takes my hand and shakes it. And I can’t resist squeezing his hand a little too harshly.
He just grins at my forceful handshake.
“Mr. Reed has said many good things about you. He said you were his best up and coming man. That you could easily be his number two.”
I nod. “I’m the best at my job.” My stomach churns bile into my throat. I’m good enough to actually do this job; to convince this man that he should work with Julian and me. I have the skills to ensure shipments happen swiftly and accurately.
“Come, come. Let me show you around, and then we can talk business,” Oscar says, extending his hand to lead me toward the building I want to empty and burn to the ground.
I don’t smile, as opposed to the petite man as he leads me into the building, showing me around the building like he’s giving me a tour of the Louvre instead of where humanity comes to die. Good thing I almost never smile. Frowning feeds into my scary appearance. It makes me look more menacing.
Fuck, how did my life lead me here?
I’ve seen a lot of sinful shit in my life. I’ve seen more men killed in front of me, by me, than I ever thought I would. I’ve tortured people. Watched the life leave their eyes. I’ve known women who were raped. But nothing in my life could prepare me for what I saw when I entered this building.
I could feel the fear, pain, and anger the second I entered the building. I have an uncanny ability to feel emotions emanating from nearby people. I don’t understand it. I can sense things others are feeling. I haven’t even seen another person so far on our tour, but I’ve never felt so much pain in one place before.
“This way,” Oscar says excitedly.