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Chapter28
Sit on it and call me Daddy
Oriana
When we get to the room, our bags are already there. Jake goes to a set of double doors and pulls them open. When I follow, I realize it’s a connecting room.
“You can have your space,” he says.
I’m not really sure what to say, so I simply nod before I pass him and step into the room. He follows not long after, carrying my bag and placing it on the bed, and then he leaves me alone. I don’t bother shutting the doors as I unzip my bag and pull out my pajamas and toothbrush. I’m guessing the reason he got connecting rooms is because the last time he fell asleep in my vicinity, he woke up with his hands around my neck, choking the life right out of me.
He explained a little of it, but there is way more to the story. I’m sure I don’t even know the half of it, but the part I do know is troubling.
I strip out of my dress, go into the bathroom, and start the shower. Stepping under the spray, I let the hot water rain over me, then I scrub my shoulders and neck where that man touched me, thinking I could get the feel of him out of my mind. It partly works until I hear a knock at the door, and my body freezes. But as soon as Jake’s voice carries through into the bathroom, every muscle relaxes. I should be terrified after what I had just witnessed, but that isn’t my natural reaction to him.
“I’ve ordered room service. You need to eat.”
Come to think of it, I’ve hardly eaten all day. Though my stomach starts grumbling for food, I finish up in the shower, washing my face, and then quickly changing into my pajamas.
When I walk out of my room, Jake’s seated at a table covered with plates of food. He doesn’t notice me at first, as he’s on his phone typing away, but then all of a sudden, his dark eyes meet mine. He’s not a man who will simply offer you a smile. No, instead, he stares at you as if he can see straight into your soul.
“Eat,” he commands and places his phone down. I sit across from him and notice the phone lighting up with several messages all at once. He doesn’t even touch it, just watches me, waiting for me to eat. I open the first cloche, and the smell of pasta instantly hits me. My stomach gives a loud grumble, and Jake smirks before he opens another cloche that contains a Margherita pizza. He serves me a drink, and I waste no time as I start eating. He digs into his own dish, and we both groan at the taste of the best pasta in the world.
“Do you want to run?” I didn’t quite expect that question. And to be honest, a part of me did want to run, and I’m really unsure why the other part wants to stay.
“Not yet,” I reply, as it’s the only response I can think to give.
“I’d never let another man touch you without your consent. You get that, right?”
I do. I really do get it, and I feel the words he’s speaking are the truth.
“Tell me why we were there. I want to hear you say it. I have my own assumptions, and I want you to correct them if I’m wrong.”
“If you eat, I’ll tell you.”
I place a forkful of pasta into my mouth all the while watching him with eager eyes waiting for him to speak. .
He wastes no time with his response. “I’m in the business of sex. You’ve gathered that much, as I never hide the fact from you of what I do. But how these women come to work for me… it’s not something that I openly share with everyone because, to state the fact, it’s no one else’s fucking business but mine and theirs.” He pauses, and I wait to hear what he says next.
“There is a very large underground market here where high-profile people buy and sell women. Most of these women are abducted, and then they are broken down into small pieces of themselves that only they can fix.
“And these women will wake up having been used and abused. Some are beyond help, but for those who aren’t, I buy them. Which really makes me no better than the devils who took them in the first place. The difference is this devil gives them an opportunity for a better life, but it comes with a price tag, make no mistake. I give them a choice to sell their bodies. They pick who they sleep with if that’s something they are comfortable doing. If not, they go behind the bar, the front of the house, or whatever I have available, but they are still in this game of sex. Because I pay millions of dollars for these women, and I expect to get that money back.
“I am no hero, Oriana. I have reasons why I do this. Some of them are selfish, and some of them are not. And if you ask me to stop doing this tomorrow, I wouldn’t. I’ve been doing this for as long as I’ve owned my sex club. It’s costly to be me. So you see, the evil part of me still keeps these women bound by chains, even though the life I have given them is a hundred times better than the life they were living. At least with me, they will not be abused, no man will ever disrespect them in my presence, they get their own place, they choose their own hours, and once their debt is paid off, they can choose to stay or leave.”
He leans in close, my heart beating wildly at all this new information he is sharing. “Oriana, most of them choose to stay. Not out of any other reason than they actually enjoy it. They like having their control back, and that is exactly what I’m giving them… control of their own lives. Some might say it’s fucked-up control, but the women know they can leave at any given time once their debt is paid.
“I never claimed to be an angel, Oriana. I am anything but. And in a lot of people’s stories, I am the villain. Even in your story, I may very well be that when our time comes to an end. But I’ve given you—correction—I’ve shown you more of myself than I have ever let another human being see. Not even Maria or Captain, who are the closest people to me, know half the shit I have gone through. They simply think I never let a woman spend the night because I don’t want attachments. But what they don’t know is I do it out of simple self-defense. I could kill you quite easily before I even open my eyes. And I hope to never ever do that.”
I cover my mouth with my hand to hold back the sob that wants to escape and simply sit there, staring at him. I can tell he’s waiting for me to say something, but I just can’t think of a single response to what he’s shared.
He took me to this place, knowing that women are seen as nothing but objects. Granted, he did warn me not to leave his side, and I didn’t listen. I should’ve asked more questions. I should have dug deeper. I’m a little blind when it comes to Jake, but not in the same way I was with my husband. Jake shares things with me and tells me things, whereas Kyler hardly ever talked to me unless it had to do with his career. It was always me trying to pry information from him.
I know it’s not fair to compare the two—they are completely different—but Kyler was all I knew until Jake, so it’s hard not to. And at first with Jake, I thought it may have been just about sex, but I’ve come to realize it’s so much more than that. My feelings for him have grown over time, and I think if I don’t leave soon, those feelings will turn into something more. And I really don’t want to be a broken mess ever again.
“You can speak,” he says.
I suck air between my teeth, unsure of what to say. “I think I just need to sleep,” I tell him.
