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Could they get any worse?
I lift my chin. “My name is Daniela D’Sousa. My father was Manuel D’Sousa. My mother was Maria Rosa.”
“My name is Vasco da Gama,” he sneers, then laughs, his hand on the doorknob.
“I’m engaged to be married to Antonio Huntsman,” I blurt out, because I can’t let him leave. Once this ship is out on the ocean, the danger increases.
He pauses and turns to face me. “Is that so?”
“Yes, and Antonio will pay to get me back.”I hope. Unless I pushed too far. He might be done with me. The captain doesn’t need to know this, Daniela.“You don’t want to make an enemy of him.”
He grins. “Antonio Huntsman’s bride-to-be. Well, well. If it’s true, you’ll earn more money for me than I thought.” He starts to leave again.
“Please don’t go. Let’s discuss this. Please.”
The captain comes back and crouches next to me. “Don’t worry, I’ll be back. And when I do, I’m going to fuck you real good. Break you in for your new life. You don’t have a hole I’m not going to stick my dick into.” He smiles, and I notice his teeth have a yellow cast. “And if you really are the D’Sousa girl”—he takes a lock of my hair, and I flinch—“I’m going to enjoy it all the more. I’ve never fucked aprincesa. Is your cunt velvet lined? Does it taste like honey?”
A sour taste tickles my throat. What a vile human being. But I don’t say anything that might make him carry out his threats now.
He lets go of my hair. “I have to leave before my crew figures out where I hid you. Because they’ll want to fuck aprincesatoo. But you’re mine first.”
Without another glance in my direction, he grabs my knapsack and turns out the light, leaving me in the pitch dark. I hear the lock turn and his heavy footsteps retreating.
What have I done? What have I done? There’s no way I can escape.
Marrying Antonio doesn’t seem so bad now—maybe it never did. Maybe the part I couldn’t live with was being separated from Isabel and Valentina.And the risks if the secret ever came out.That was part of it too.
What will come of them if I don’t survive?I abandoned them.I could have married him and sent money. They would have been fine. But I wanted to be with them.You were selfish.
I was. I wanted a life I was never going to have—not after Antonio lured me back to Porto.
Does he know I’m gone?He must.Are they looking for me?Probably. But they’ll never find me. Especially once the freighter leaves Porto.
I slump onto the floor and cry, and cry, until there’s nothing left.
Maybe some people are put on this earth for no other reason than to suffer.
I want my mother.I need her.The need is childlike and primitive, but my whole body aches for the comfort of her embrace.
My shoulders shake, and sobs of despair fill the tiny room, but there’s not a single tear left to shed.
I did this to myself. I had no choice. I didn’t.
The engine hums, and the ship sways. With every shift of the vessel, even the slimmest hope for rescue evaporates.
It’s not long before my mind and body begin to slip away. Drifting farther and farther into a dark abyss.
I’m not afraid anymore. I’m awake, but calm. A hollow shell.
Alone in the dark, I don’t think about Isabel or Valentina anymore, or about anything, really. I simply exist—like a discarded trinket, or an empty bottle of vintage Port. Once loved and cherished but having outlived its usefulness.
I’m not sure how much time passes before I hear footsteps.
There’s nowhere to hide. No weapons.Nothing. My heart rate doesn’t even tick up. I’m too exhausted.
I wet myself. I didn’t feel the urge, but I feel the gush. It’s an involuntary act. My body giving up.
The footsteps get closer and closer. When they stop, the lock turns, and my eyelids flutter closed.
