I won’t be part of this filthy game.
“How many men have been inside that cunt? Answer me.”
“Why do you have to be so vulgar?”
He pauses for a heartbeat. “I’m plainspoken, and I don’t pull any punches. A woman willing to trade sexual favors for money is in no position to call anyone vulgar.”
Asshole.
I pull my shoulders back. “I’ve given myself to one man.”
“Josh.” He spits out the name like sour milk. “The man who owns your heart. Isn’t that why you really want to go back to the US?”
“We’re not even together. I don’t know why you’d say that.”
“And yet you don’t deny it.” He grabs my wrist and pulls me to him, scaring me now.
“What are you doing?”
“Giving you what you asked for.”
My insides are trembling.This was your stupid, stupid, stupid idea, Daniela.
“I told you. I changed my mind.”
“You don’t get to make an offer and then pull it back once the other party agrees. That’s not how it works. Maybe you can play games with boys likeJosh,but with me, a deal’s a deal.”
I was foolish to try to play him. But this is the kind of deal I should be able to walk away from at any time.
“Why are you doing this? There are other women who would be happy to have sex with you as often as you’d like, in whatever way you’d like.”
“For all intents and purposes, you’re my fiancée. Are you suggesting I take lovers?”
No.“I don’t care. Yes. That’s what I’m suggesting.”
He grabs my chin and positions it so I can’t escape his raging eyes. “Within a month, I’ll have a beautiful young bride, and I don’t intend to satisfy myself with whores while you sit around fantasizing about a boy named Josh who you willneversee again.”
He releases my chin, and I hobble back, out of his reach.
“Although, who knows? Maybe you’ll end up being the biggest whore I’ve ever fucked.”
I dig my heels into the rug so I don’t lunge at him and beat him with my fists.
“I want your pussy. Your smart mouth. Your tight little ass. And I’m going to have them.”
“No.” I shake my head. I thought I could go through with this, but he’s made it too ugly. I’m not sure I can do it—not even for Isabel and Valentina.
He pulls out his phone and places a call.
“Deposit five thousand American dollars into Daniela D’Sousa’s bank account in the US. Then text the maid, as Daniela, and tell her the money is for food and rent.” He smirks at me. It’s a gloating smirk, like he’s won everything—and he has. Or, at least, he’s minutes away from it. “Do it now.”
24
Daniela
Five thousand dollars for food and rent.
He hangs up and tosses his phone on the table, then rubs a palm over his unshaven jaw.