Page 104 of Morally Gray Daddies

I closed my eyes briefly then slipped past her, striding down the hallway. “Ms. Delgado?”

I came up to the door of the room I’d seen Sonja dart into earlier.

“Ms. Delgado.” I spoke into the door. “I hope you’re not doing anything foolish…”

The only answer was silence.

When I reached for the doorknob, I expected to find it locked. To my surprise, it wasn’t, but when I opened the door and stepped into an empty bedroom, I felt only resignation.

Of course she’d run.

I glanced back as Aubrey came up, peering into the room. She took in the same things I had; the second open doorway that led into a bathroom where I was certain I’d find either another open door or a window ajar.

“Well,” I said with grudging admission, “I’ll give your friend credit—she’s brave. Stupid, but still brave. Ah, well. At any rate, it’s time we were leaving.”

“I… I don’t have my things,” Aubrey responded softly.

I moved to her and gripped her arm lightly. “The things you’re leaving behind you no longer require. For what’s in store for your future, everything will either be provided for you or will come at your request.”

“At my request.” She shook her head tightly. “God, none of this makes any sense…”

“If I told you that was a common refrain, would you understand?”

“I… no. I wouldn’t. I don’t understand any of this.”

“Thank you for your honesty. For the moment, you’ll have to trust me when I tell you there is far more in store for your future than you can possibly grasp right now.” I let go of her arm and leaned in close. “Do you trust me, Aubrey?”

“Do I have any choice?” she countered soberly.

“You will always have a choice,” I replied. “The much bigger and more important question you need to consider is this: Are you going to be a good girl and make the right decision?”

I leaned back slowly.

“Or are you going to disappoint me and make the wrong one?”

Chapter Eight

Aubrey

I don’t know why I followed.

As God was my witness, there was not a single cohesive, rational, logical reason for why I was following him silently through the house. Sonja had run. I should run. And yet I didn’t. I simply moved behind him as he crossed through the living room then out the front door. Sonja’s purple BMW was still parked in the circular driveway, a silver-gray SUV nestled close behind it. She’d taken off, but she was still on foot at this point.

“Ms. Delgado seems to have forgotten her keys in her rush,” he murmured as he stared at the car. “Fortunately,” he turned back to face me, “that buys us a little more time to get away.”

Get away. He’d made it clear he was taking me from here whether I liked it or not, but ‘get away’ made it sound like we were Joker and Harley going on the run. I didn’t believe that was what he intended. The truth was, I had no idea what he planned, and that scared me.

“Aubrey.” He stepped over and lightly gripped my elbow. “I asked you earlier if you trusted me. What I need to know from you right now is if I can trust you.”

“I… I did what you asked.” I glanced back toward the house. “In there.”

“Yes, you did, and I told you how proud of you I am for that. But you also told me how you don’t understand what’s going on right now, and that you’re scared. Both of those are perfectly understandable, given the situation, but being scared and unsure could impact your ability to make sound decisions, and I can’t afford the risk of you making a poor one.”

I stared at him, unsure what to say because I was doing everything he’d asked me to, and there was a part of me that screamed to know why. Given what he’d done to me, I should be fighting him with everything I had, clawing bloody divots into his flesh wherever I could even while knowing I would pay for each track, and yet all I was doing was obeying.

‘Good girl.’

Was I so weak all it took was those two simple words?

---