Page 93 of Morally Gray Daddies

Oh…

Now I turned to face her directly. “I beg your pardon?”

“What you’re going to do… Do it to me rather than her.”

“Aubrey,” Sonja whispered.

I held up a finger to stop her. “And why would I want to do that?” I addressed Aubrey. “Ms. Delgado is his daughter, not you.”

She gazed back at me earnestly. “But it’ll send the same message, won’t it? Show him what could’ve happened to her if you’d chosen to do so. Not only that, it’ll make them look better, give the impression they could’ve really hurt him, but they didn’t because all they wanted was to give him a warning.”

Well, this is interesting...

“What an intriguing idea,” I murmured as I finished removing my belt and tossed it onto the couch.

“Aubrey, don’t do?—”

Again, I held up my hand to cut Sonja off.

“I want to make sure you understand exactly what I plan to do to you, Ms. Taryn.”

“I do.”

I narrowed my eyes. “I need you to say it.”

She swallowed visibly, tilting her chin up. “You’re going to fuck me.”

“Ehm… it’s a little more than that, I’m afraid.”

“Aubrey—”

Aubrey jerked her gaze to her friend. “Sonja, please… shut up!” The two girls stared at each other for a tense moment before Aubrey turned back to face me. “I don’t understand… You aren’t going to fuck me?”

“Oh, no, I am, but I’m going to do more than just that, I’m afraid.” I gazed into her face intently, my voice grave. “I’m going to hurt you, Ms. Taryn. I’m going to hurt you very, very much.”

Her jaw trembled. “Why?”

“Because, as you so helpfully pointed out, I need to get this message across to Mr. Delgado in an effective way. Not only that, my superiors are expecting what I do to be… as unpleasant as possible. Honestly—and it pains me to say this—I’ll need to hurt you even more than I would have Ms. Delgado. Doing this to his daughter would have been horrific enough on its own, but with you I’ll need to make sure your suffering is sufficient to elicit the same empathy that would’ve been a given with her. Do you understand?”

She nodded as her eyes filled to glistening.

“If I take you up on your offer, I’m going to have to make doubly sure the message comes across loud and clear, and that’ll only be accomplished if I underscore the intensity of how much you’re suffering. Does that make sense?”

“Yes.”

“And you’re still sure you want to do this?”

“Yes.”

I couldn’t help but smile. “I’m impressed. That’s a very noble thing for you to do.” I glanced at Sonja. “She’s an incredible friend, wouldn’t you agree, Ms. Delgado?”

“Aubrey…” she whispered.

“It’s okay, Sonja. I’ll be fine.”

I turned back to Aubrey, shaking my head slowly. “You won’t, but I’m proud of you for being strong and believing you will.” I reached down to cradle her cheek. I’d anticipated she might flinch at my touch, but instead she simply remained still.

“You’re a good girl, Aubrey,” I said as the first of her tears began to flow.

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