Page 59 of Dolly

“Tell me who he worked for,” I demand, taking my knife back. There’s a bag full of toys for me to use, but I like my knife. It’s simple, easy for me to handle.

“I don’t know for sure,” she cries out.

“Then guess,” I snap.

Ken is quiet behind me, watching. Just having him here fuels my strength.

“I never worked with them directly off the web. I only interacted through the webpage.” Her words rush out as the tip of my blade touches her nose. Her eyes converge, focusing on my actions.

“How did you work out handing me over?” Ken asks from behind me.

“Online chat. I never saw them before that night.” She hurries with her explanation. “I paid—” Her eyes close, and she swallows hard. “They paid me—”

“You handed me over for cash?” Ken’s voice barrels down a dark tunnel. I’ve never felt such rage from him before.

“No! I—fuck,” she cries. The blade pricks her skin again, and she pulls back. “I just wanted a night of fun. It wasn’t meant forever. They weren’t supposed to keep you.” She opens her eyes, releasing streams of tears. “You were going to be left, high as fuck in an alley. You were supposed to wake up with little memory. You shouldn’t have remembered it.”

“The bag of blood?” I ask, remembering what she told him upstairs.

“He was supposed to think he was fucking a dead body,” she wails. “I was supposed to lay limp. I—fuck!” she screams as I twist the blade into her cheek again. This isn’t so bad, putting little pin holes in her face.

“Go on!” Ken demands.

“They fucked me over too!” she screams.

“And all your little requests?” I take a small step back, inspecting her cheek to see if I’ve left any open spaces.

“They already had him. Getting him back wasn’t going to happen without exposing myself too.”

Ken grunts.

“So, since they had me, you figured why not get your rocks off?” He steps forward and jams the prod into her side, sending jolts through her body. She cries out, and her body shakes before he releases her.

“I’m…I didn’t think…fuck.”

“Why me? What the fuck did I do to you that you wanted that shit to happen to me?” Ken asks, the prod only an inch away from her tit. He wraps his other hand around her throat and squeezes until her cheeks ripen to a deep red. “Answer me.” He yanks his hand away. A bright imprint of his fingers lingers on her skin.

“George Romero.” She gasps for air.

He releases her and steps back, his gaze searching hers.

“Because of his fucking daughter?” He barks.

“I didn’t know why. He just gave me the order.”

“You work with him,” I cut in, walking around the basement. “You two play down here?”

I turn to glare at Todd. There’s tape over his mouth, his arms and legs are bound to the chair. Blood covers his pants from the knees down. He’s awake, but there’s been a lot of blood loss even with Ken’s patch job.

“The three of you?” I point my knife at him. “Who’s Dragonmate? You or the other guy?”

Todd shakes his head in a lame attempt to answer.

“Dolly,” Ken says my name softly, calling me back to him to stay on task. Todd has a purpose. I can’t end him yet.

“If there’s a third…” I try to explain my thinking, but he shakes his head at me. I sigh. There’s no dealing with him when he gets bossy.

“Is Todd or Romero Dragonmate?” Ken asks Cathy.

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