Page 47 of Crimson Love

This is the weirdest get-to-know-you conversation in history. It’s definitely not the first date she deserves. I basically dragged her up to my hotel room and told her she’s not leaving.

Am I proud of this?

Sort of.

There was no way I was going to leave her to change with Andrei roaming around town. And I really wasn’t going to let her sleep on her office floor again. But not letting her leave? That’s iffy.

I refuse to believe it’s creepy because I’m doing it to keep her safe. Maybe that’s what all the creeps say, but I’m sticking with it.

“Okay, let’s start when you were nineteen. Why did you take a job on a boat with an asshole like Andrei?”

She spears me with a look that makes me wonder if she’s going to hurdle our dinner, Euro step me, and sprint out of my room.

Instead, she shifts on the bed where she’s sitting crisscross. “This being open ... it’s all new territory for me.”

“If I know what’s going on, I can better help you. Give me the facts to work with.”

“You asked for it,” she mutters before she clears her voice. “I got on that boat with my father when I was nineteen. He said we were going on a weekend vacation with a friend of his on a yacht. I didn’t want to go. My mom left us when I was little with no explanation, so it was always just me and Dad. I just finished my freshman year of college and finally had some freedom. The last thing I wanted to do was spend the weekend with my dad and his friends, but he begged me. He said I’d have my own room, that there would be a chef, and that I could have the weekend off. I was working two jobs to put myself through school, because he sure wasn’t helping.”

“So you went.”

“I’m a people pleaser by nature. He guilted me to a point I couldn’t take, so I went.” She shrugs like it’s no big deal, but the expression that overtakes every beautiful feature of her face says something completely different. She pauses, and it hangs in the air between us so thick, I could slice through it with my steak knife. “I woke up after the first night, and my dad was gone.”

Every muscle in my body tenses. It’s all I can do to sit here calmly. “Gone?

“Gone.” She confirms my dumb ass question, and there’s nothing hesitant in her tone now. “Once I realized what happened, I lost it. I was left on a boat with a group of strange men my father’s age or older. I freaked out so much, they restrained me. That’s when Andrei sat down in front of me and calmly explained that my father owed him money from a gambling debt and couldn’t pay up. He negotiated me instead.”

If I take another bite, I’ll be sick. I barely recognize my own voice. “You’re fucking father trafficked you to pay off his gambling debt?”

“That’s what Andrei said. He explained that I was to live with him on that damn yacht and work off my father’s debt. He didn’t say how long it would take, but he did tell me if I cooperated, I wouldn’t be beaten, raped, or drugged—those were his exact words.”

I drag my hand down my face. “Fuck.”

It’s like she busted through the dam, and the words finally start flowing. “You know, for months I believed that my father really did leave me. He was a gambler, and not a lucky one. He always owed someone something. But the longer I was on that boat, and the more I witnessed, I’m pretty sure they killed him after I went to sleep that night.”

Something bubbles up inside me I don’t recognize. I thought I knew what rage was, but it’s nothing compared to this. I don’t open my mouth to speak for fear of what I’ll say.

She keeps talking. “I saw it happen many times. I saw everything that happened on that boat. It was huge, but it was still just a boat. There’s not much you can hide from someone whose feet never touch land for six years. And the more I saw, the more I cooperated. Their threats weren’t empty. They were very, very real.”

“You cooperated...” The words are razor sharp on my tongue. “Tell me more about that.”

Lennon pulls in an exhausted breath. “It’s exactly what I said. They threatened me. I saw firsthand how they were very willing to carry through with their threats. They wanted someone to look at. Someone to flaunt in front of clients. I was an accessory who was expected to serve food and drinks, look pretty, and be arm candy.”

After everything she’s been through, I shouldn’t demand anything from her. But I have to know. “That’s it?”

“They couldn’t exactly parade me around if I was sporting a black eye or looked like a battered prisoner. Andrei knew that and didn’t let anyone touch me. And since he used that boat as a hideaway from society and law enforcement in the Caribbean, he was rarely far from me. I think I can count on one hand the times he stepped off that vessel in the six years I lived on it. The second was when I escaped.”

“You escaped all by yourself?”

A small smile touches her lips. It doesn’t shine with happiness or joy though. It’s pure pride. “All by myself. We were docked at a small private port in Florida, which was rare. Andrei didn’t come back to the States often. He preferred the Caribbean islands where there was little oversight, and no one cared who he was or what he was doing. But he had a meeting—a big one with a client he couldn’t say no to. He talked about it for weeks. I pretended I was happy living as a prisoner, and they became comfortable talking when I was around. And I was always around. It was my job. I knew he was leaving the boat for a meeting, and I’d be alone with the captain. I also knew if I failed and Andrei found out, I’d pay the price. My life on that boat would have been much different.”

I reach out to grab her hand across the half-eaten plates. “But you didn’t fail.”

She hesitates before looking down at the connection between us.

“Lennon.” I wait for her to look up until I say anymore. “What are you holding back?”

“Does it matter? I escaped, ran across the country, and Andrei still found me. Sitting here tonight, I realize I can’t keep running. He’ll always find me.”