Page 5 of The Beast Between Us
“Stand up,” I say, voice low. “You’re making a fool of yourself.”
He scrambles upright, trembling. His coat hangs off one shoulder, his collar stained with sweat. I can smell the fear on him…thick, sharp, desperate.
“You came here to settle a debt,” I remind him. “You’ll doanything, you say. I wonder… do you even remember what honor tastes like?”
His mouth works open, then shuts again. “Please… there must be something I can offer.”
“There was. Your agreed-upon payments. You failed.”
He wrings his hands, darting a glance toward the window as if escape were still an option.
Then he says, “I-I have a daughter.”
The words are quiet. Meant to sound tragic, maybe. They aren’t.
I go still.
“Adaughter,”I repeat.
He nods, eyes wide with false sincerity. “She’s strong. Works hard. Knows how to cook, clean, tend to a garden. She’s… well-behaved. I could send her in place of the money. A servant. Until the debt’s paid.”
He says it so simply. So easily. Like offering a goat. Or a sack of flour.
The Beast inside me shifts…not with rage. Not yet.
But something stirs.
“And what does your daughter think of this arrangement?” I ask, though I already know the answer.
He hesitates. “She’s… obedient.”
Of course she is.
I take a slow step forward. “You would sell your own blood to settle a debt?”
He says nothing.
But his silence is answer enough.
I should rip the contract in two and kill him for not honoring his agreement.
But I don’t.
Because something about the offer…abouther…pulls at me.
What kind of woman must she be, to belong to a man so eager to be rid of her?
“Very well,” I say with a slow nod. “But your debt is vast, Mr. Holloway. It would take a lifetime…two, perhaps…for a servant to repay what you owe.”
I pause.
“Are you prepared to wash your hands of your daughter?”
He doesn’t answer right away. Just stares at the floor as though it might save him.
Finally, he nods. “If it clears the debt, then yes.”
Not a flicker of remorse. No hesitation. No fatherly concern.
