Page 51 of His Property

“Mae Keller… Au-Audre Mavis Keller, I mean, but I go by Mae.”

He nods slowly. “And what are you doing in my soldier’s basement, Audre Mavis Keller?”

I shudder at my full name on his lips. Everything this guy says or does comes off as a threat, whether it’s intentional or not.

“Victor agreed to pay me for… for um…”

Several seconds pass, and my words stay jumbled in my head.

“It’s okay,” Lorenzo says. “You can be honest with me. No one is going to hurt you. We’re only here to make sure Victor is behaving, and If heisn’t, he won’t be a problem for you anymore. So please, don’t be afraid of what he’ll do to you if you tell the truth.”

I’m not afraid of Victor, I’m afraid ofyou.

I glance over at Victor, who’s standing like a statue watching us, and Lorenzo cups my cheek, bringing me back to him.

“Don’t look at him. Look at me.”

“Yes sir,” I say, following Victor’s lead.

Lorenzo smiles again, and the hairs on my arms raise.

“Did Victor force you down here?”

“No.” I shake my head profusely, and I can tell immediately that I’m overdoing it. This guy is looking into my freaking soul, and I get the sense that nothing gets past him.

I shouldn’t lie.

“Well, I mean kind of. But not um…” My mouth opens and closes, and Lorenzo raises a brow.

“Yes?” he asks.

I close my eyes and take a steadying breath. I’mcertainthis guy will be able to tell if I’m lying, and I’m terrified of what he’ll do if he doesn’t believe me. But at the same time, I don’t want to die. I don’t want Victor to die either, and I’m scared that if I tell Lorenzo how this arrangement came about, he’ll decide Victor crossed some line. Which, I’m pretty sure he did. It didn’t seem like he was supposed to make a deal with me when the mafia ordered my death.

I don’t know what to do.

A minute passes, and Lorenzo says nothing. I’m surprised when I don’t sense him growing impatient, and it settles my nerves some, which I’m not sure is a good thing.

I work up the courage to open my eyes and settle on the truth. The partial truth.

“Victor and I met outside Pandora’s Box,” I say, forcing my eyes to stay on Lorenzo. “It’s a BDSM club. I’d never been inside before, nor had I tried BDSM, and I was scared. Victor offered to guide me through it.”

Lorenzo narrows his eyes and gestures around the room. “This is not BDSM.” He tucks his finger underneath my collar and yanks me toward him. I gasp.

“Do I look stupid to you?”

“No, sir,” I say, shaking my head. “I wasn’t finished.”

He pulls his hand away but keeps his eyes narrowed. Whatever encouraging vibe he tried to put off is gone. “Finish.”

My breaths come out shallow and fast, and instead of trying to calm myself, I just blurt it out. “He paid me five thousand dollars to let him do whatever he wanted to me for two weeks. We agreed on it, then days later he showed up at my house in the middle of the night, and he took me. So, he physically forced me here, but it was an agreed upon thing. After I got here, I told him my limits, and we discussed how this would work, and we made a contract. Together.” I point toward the workbench. “It’s in a drawer over there.”

Lorenzo stares at me for several seconds, like he’s trying to figure out if I’m lying, then he turns his head and snaps at Victor. “Get it.”

Victor gets the paper and brings it to Lorenzo. Lorenzo swipes it then scans the page. He shakes his head and huffs. “Well, you weren’t lying about being new to this.” He lowers the paper. “You are aware that he bullshitted you, right? Victor wanted you here so he could rape and hurt you.”

My fear meshes with irritation, and I get the urge to defend Victor. “He didn’t do anything that I didn’t agree to.”

“So, at any point in your stay here, you didn’t request to leave?”

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