AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I won’t hurt her. I’ll follow the contract.”
“If you believe him, you’re crazy,” Gabe said. “He was making threats toward her just this morning.”
Anton observed quietly. He ran the meetings and arranged the sales, but Mina was Lindsay’s pet project, and the doctor was determined to manage everything himself.
“I didn’t want her locked in the cage,” Brian said.
Lindsay raised a brow. “Why not?”
“I don’t know! But I want her. Matsumoto will hurt her. Something’s not right about his bid.”
“Something’s not right about your bid! In fact, your bid is far more shady than his. He’s had Elsa in his care for six years without a single blip on our radar, and she seems fine. Meanwhile, I’ve never seen a woman leave your dungeon without an ugly mark to show for it!” Lindsay was shouting now, all attempts at restraint abandoned. “You expect me to believe you’d pay five million for this girl you just met who as you pointed out is untrained and that she’d be perfectly safe with you when you’ve shown me nothing but signs of sociopathy the entire time I’ve known you?”
“Where is she safest? Think about it. Off with Matsumoto half a world away, or right here under your own nose where you can keep an eye on her and me? What if I’m right about him?”
“Then we can find another buyer.”
“It’ll be too late. If you’re wrong, she won’t recover from it. She might not even survive it. You’re not God, Lindsay. You can’t peer into the hearts and minds of men and know who is safe and who isn’t, no matter how much you’ve convinced yourself you have that power.”
“Why would you pay this kind of money?”
“It means nothing to me. I have everything I need. I want her more than I want the money. What the fuck am I going to do with money when I never get a goddamned day off?”
Gabe and Anton just stared at him.
“Please,” Brian said quietly.
“Did you justbegme to sell you Mina for five million dollars?”
“You might not trust my ability to keep my promises, but trust my ability to sense evil in someone else. I at least am good for that. Aren’t I in this house because I bring things to the table that others don’t? This is a part of what I bring.”
“What do you guys think?”
Gabe and Anton shrugged.
“Why are you asking them?” Brian said. “They don’t give a shit about her. You and I are the only ones invested.”
“Just tell me why you want her.”
Brian looked at the others then back to Lindsay. “Not in front of them.”
“We’ll go to my office.”
Brian followed the doctor to his office and slumped into the chair across from his desk. Lindsay shut the door and joined him.
“Okay. Convince me.”
In the privacy of the office everything felt too stark. Too honest. He looked up, unable to stop tears that were gathering. Fucking tears. He’d only cried in front of the shrink once during a particularly painful session. And he’d sworn he’d flat out murder the man if he ever breathed a word about seeing that weakness. Lindsay, to his credit, had believed the threat.
“I can’t convince you. Just please let me have her. I won’t hurt her. She’s different.” He couldn’t bring himself to lay out why she was different, how from the moment he’d seen the scars on her back, she’d been under the stairs with him, how he was afraid violence alone wouldn’t let him sleep anymore. The requirements for sleep had just escalated. Now he needed her, too. If Lindsay sent her to Japan, Brian might never sleep again.
“I’m going to need more than that,” the doctor said.
“If I can protect her… I can erase it.”
Lindsay’s eyes narrowed. “Why would you care to erase what’s been done to her?”
“No… me.”
