‘But Bruno has?’ she asked.

‘I don’t know. I am trusted in the family and I know a lot of their secrets. But there’s no way I know everything, that’s for damn sure.’

‘So why now?’ she asked. ‘Why did they get you doing this now? Why not just leave me out here with Bruno if he’s more trusted than you are? He’s obviously more sadistic.’

‘Your purpose is unique, so to the best of my knowledge no one has ever had to do this before. As for Bruno, I told you, he can’t get a hard-on.’

‘So your purpose was purely sexual? You were selected because your dick functions?’

He shrugged, still watching the road. ‘Best I can figure, yeah, and because they trust me. I’ve had Trystan’s women before, so it’s not like the punk will get queasy about it, you know?’

‘Trystan’s women?’ she repeated and his jaw ticked. ‘What has he got to do with this?’

‘Trystan’s the guy you met in Vegas.’

‘Yeah, I know who he is,’ she said, picking up his hand by the wrist and tossing it back to his own lap. Twisting in her seat, she pinned her glare on his profile because from the prickle encircling her spine, she didn’t like the trajectory of this conversation. ‘I figured out that he was the one who wanted me snatched, but I’m not his woman. I haven’t even seen him for the whole time we’ve been out here.’

‘He’s in Europe,’ Dax said. ‘He has been since the day we brought you here. He’ll be back in a week or so.’

‘The deadline,’ she said. ‘The deadline for going back to the city?’

‘What are you talking about?’ he asked, flashing her a frown.

‘I overheard you and Bruno talking, he said that we were going back to the city, that after we went back we’d be off the hook. I thought you were here against your will too, that they were forcing you to do this.’

‘Forcing me to fuck you? Yeah, it was a hardship.’

‘Dax, be serious, what is going on here? I thought you were teaching me a lesson. I thought that Trystan wanted us to go through all of this so that I would be taught a lesson, just like you said about him holding a grudge.’

‘He does,’ Dax said. ‘He picked you because he felt disrespected by your rejection in Vegas, he wouldn’t stop going on about it.’

‘And the deadline? I thought that by then I was supposed to have learned my lesson, that I’d be turned free.’

When he did a double take, she knew she’d misinterpreted. ‘Freedom is subjective,’ he said. ‘At some time we will get the call to take you back to the city.’

‘And then what?’

‘You move into the mansion.’

Her chest tightened and she shrank back against her side door. ‘No,’ she exhaled. ‘Am I supposed to service his men? Be another Rita who will follow the commands given by anyone in that place?’

‘No, Rita is sport, a Stark employee there for the guys’ pleasure, or whatever,’ he said. ‘Everything that you were told is true. You’re going to live a life of luxury and privilege.’

‘And you? What are you going to do?’ she asked. ‘We move into your room in the mansion and then what?’

But he was already shaking his head. Breathing grew more difficult for her as panic began to take hold. ‘I don’t live in the mansion.’

‘Wh… wha… why not?’ she stuttered.

‘Because I’m a grown man and Mauri isn’t the only guy I work for. I couldn’t live like Brad and Trystan do, in the mansion, always under supervision.’

‘So you’re going to take me to the mansion and just leave me there? What am I going to be? Some kind of homecoming gift for Trystan?’

‘I don’t know what I’m gonna do with you yet,’ he said, clearly he wasn’t ready for this discussion and it was getting away from him. She couldn’t believe that she’d been kept in the dark about this when they’d been sharing a bed for weeks.

‘You’re not considering leaving me there,’ she said. ‘What about all that crap about caring about me? Didn’t you mean it?’

‘I meant it,’ he snapped. ‘But this isn’t as easy as—‘

‘I already told you to make a choice,’ she said. ‘And I’d appreciate you telling me up front if that choice isn’t me.’

‘Don’t get your panties in a twist, I’m gonna figure this out.’

‘How exactly?’ she asked, crossing her legs away from him. ‘And how many times will I have to swallow his spunk before you do that?’

The car jolted forward when he sped up in what appeared to be an involuntary motion. ‘He’s not gonna lay a finger on you, and you’re not gonna let him if he tries.’

‘Forgive me, but isn’t that how we got into this mess?’ she asked. ‘I’ve been playing the role of brainwashed Manson girl in front of Bruno because I believed I was doing both you and me a favour, biding my time until I was getting out. I didn’t even mind being your fuck-bunny, it was fun, and you’re incredible in the sack. Screwing you sort of broke up the monotony of what I went through downstairs, but all this time you were playing with me?’

‘No,’ he said. ‘Why would I do that?’

‘Maybe because it would be fun to see what Trystan would do to me when he found out I wasn’t as obedient as you and Bruno made out to him I would be? Was that the point of this? To make me so pliable that you could just hand me over to him? What was your plan? Were you going to tell me to do whatever Trystan asked of me just to save your hide? Did you expect me to do with him all of the things I do with you just because, why? I’m such a slut?’

‘You’re no slut. I’ve been around sluts all my life and you’re sure not one of them.’

‘Don’t change the subject or try and flatter me now,’ she said. ‘I want to know, were you expecting me to go to him willingly just to do you a favour?’

‘This isn’t my ideal scenario either, Minx. Do you think I planned on falling for you?’

‘So what did you plan?’ she asked. ‘You’d just steal some woman, fuck her up as much as you could and then hand her over to that pervert?’

‘No,’ he said. ‘Maybe. I don’t know. Do you know how long it’s been since I cared about anyone? Or even really cared about myself? You go through the motions… you just… you…’

‘Survive?’ she sighed, remembering what he’d said to her about breathing in and out. He’d been following the orders of Maurice Stark for so long that he never wasted the time to stop and consider if those orders were moral or if he even agreed with them.

‘Look, the way I see it, you’re fine until Tryst gets back. We’ll get this worked out before he’s back on US turf, ok?’

‘Great,’ she said, not feeling very reassured. ‘You’re not the one with the prospect of a lifetime of rape hanging on the horizon. I’m telling you now that I won’t submit to him, no, I won’t. I don’t care if they get pissed at you because you didn’t do your job right. I will not have sex with him, not voluntarily.’

‘Good,’ Dax said. ‘I don’t want you to. If you ever find yourself in that situation with him, or with any other guy, then you fight your damndest, babygirl. This is mine.’ He grabbed her knee and digging his fingers into her he hauled her toward him. ‘From the tips of those toes to the roots of your hair, Minx, even that damn clever mouth.’

‘So that’s your strategy? I fight them off? Wow Dax, you’re really not a planner, are you?’

‘You’re giving me a hard time?’ he asked. ‘I’ve kept you safe and let you off the hook. I could’ve taken you down to that basement anytime and given up on you, but I didn’t.’

‘While you were getting your balls played with you had no reason to,’ she said. ‘Now that you’re being held to account it’s not so much fun, is it?’

The car was going faster now, but being stopped by the cops wasn’t going to do her any harm, only him. ‘I have time,’ he said. ‘We play it cool and keep it together for just a while longer. I’ll talk to Mauri and he’ll see—‘

‘What? That you want to play with the toy a little bit longer? Then he’ll tell you that it’s nice to share, Dax, and you’ll do what your surrogate daddy tells you to and I’ll be the one sailing down the river on my own.’