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I tense up, closing my eyes even more tightly. I gag, almost throwing up right then and there at the thought of what else they could do to me. If they decide to get rid of me… I whimper. I almost speak, almost try tobeg, but I can’t force any words past my lips.
“I…” Damien pauses. “It’s up to you, of course. But we don’t know if she’s already pregnant. If she already has your child…”
Slayer snorts but doesn’t say anything.
“We can just lock her up for nine months, then sell her off,” Giulio says, as he moves his foot so the toes are against my lips. “You have anything to say in your defense, girl?”
My hurt makes no sense to me. Being spoken of so dispassionately, with my body nothing more than a commodity yet again, brings tears to my eyes. Giulio doesn’t even have to think about it. He’d get rid of me in a heartbeat. My fate is entirely in Damien’s hands, and I don’t know that he’ll stand up for me against Giulio. Damien always falls in line with him.
I take a deep, shaky breath, tears running down my face, and I force myself to do something that utterly disgusts me: I kiss the toe pressed against my lips. “Please,” I whisper. “Please don’t sell me. I won’t… I won’t mess up again. I won’t try to run again. I won’t—” My words are cut off by a sob, and my shoulders shake with the force of them as I start to cry.
“That’s hot,” Slayer comments, off-hand, but his voice is hazy, distant.
Giulio pulls both of his feet off the table and sets them on the ground. “Look at me, Vanessa,” he orders.
I blink against the tears and look up.
“I don’t operate on a three-strike system. People who piss me off, they end up regretting it.” There’s no humor in Giulio’s voice, and his expression is completely blank. This isn’t the joker I usually see. This isn’t the man who’d made me waffles.
I’m not sure he’s human at all.
“You have two things going for you. Do you know what they are?” Giulio asks.
I shake my head, still not daring to move from my bent-over position. Damien’s hand has settled on my ass as he stands beside me, but there’s nothing soft or comforting about it.
Giulio sighs in disappointment. “Really, really not as smart as Damien said you are. Your two redeeming qualities: you didn’t cower from Elena. We had some fun together.” Giulio grabs my hair and jerks my head up.
I yelp at the pain, but I don’t struggle. I don’t want to make things worse.
“But you know what fucking bores me? Having to chase people down. Having to repeat my orders. Having to wrangle a bunch of fucking mobsters so they don’t fucking touch you, because you’re too fucking stupid to follow directions,” Giulio snarls.
It doesn’t sound like itboreshim at all, but I’m not stupid enough to say that. “I’m sorry,” I choke out. “I messed up. I won’t do it again. I promise. I’ll play your games, and I’ll do what you want me to do. Just please don’t sell me.” I wince, then whisper, “Or Stef. Please.”
“We won’t have to chase you, that’s true.” Giulio lets go of me and sits back on the couch. “Okay, Damien, go ahead. Microchip our pet.”
I startle, trying to figure out what he means by that. Microchip me? I start to protest, but I bite my lip hard to keep from saying anything.
“Stand up,” Slayer says, grabbing my arm and pulling me up. I wobble a little, but he holds me up as Damien disappears from the room again. He turns me so my back is to Giulio, then jabs at a spot right beneath my right shoulder blade. “Right here, I think. She won’t be able to get it out on her own, and no one else would fucking help her.”
I feel another touch, and the harsh scent of rubbing alcohol fills the air. There’s a brief wet swipe, then Damien pulls at the skin, although there isn’t even that much to pull at. A second later, I feel a sharp pain, right where Slayer had touched. I whimper and instinctively try to flinch away, but Slayer is holding me tight.
Damien lets go of me and steps away. I see now that he’s holding a syringe—and it’s really, really large.
I blink through the throbbing pain, wishing I could reach back and itch at it, to scratch it and hope I can get it out. They’re right, though. It’s in a spot I wouldn’t be able to reach.
Slayer takes the needle from Damien and offers him a bandaid. Damien puts that over the spot he’d just inserted the tracker into, and I wince as his fingers brush the tender flesh.
“You know, that’s actually pretty hot too,” Slayer remarks. “Microchipping her like she really is your pet.” He grins at me. “Maybe Giulio will want to do some puppy or kitty play with you.”
I don’t want that. I don’t want any of this. But if they went through the trouble of doing this… That means they’re keeping me. I’m impossibly relieved, even though this is going to lead to something just as terrible. I won’t have a chance in hell of getting away, not anymore, but… They aren’t selling me.
“What are you talking about? I don’t do dogs or cats. If anything, she’d be my cute little pet snake. Iguana? Oooh, a tegu. I can put a harness on her and take her for walks.” Giulio laughs. “Do you know how many kids want to pet Carlito when I’ve got him out?”
That kills my relief.
I was so grateful because they weren’t going to sell me that I hadn’t stopped to think of what that really means.
More sex.
