Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 74035 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74035 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
I catalog all this information in my mind. I'll process through it later and compare what she tells me to what I find out from Gloria and Mario.
I have a few more questions to soften her up, to get her used to talking to me. If I can ask her about her past and get her to open up to me about it, I'll go in for the more important questions and likely get better answers.
“How old were you when you went to boarding school?"
"Six."
Six. So young. Barely first grade. I remember how at that age the whole world started when I woke up and ended when I went to sleep. There was no past, no future. Everything in the six-year-old mind seems to be focused on the present. What they're going to eat for breakfast, how they're going to entertain themselves for the day. How to stay out of trouble, how to make friends, how to do well in school. Does a stray puppy on the street have a home, and how high can they swing without falling off and breaking a leg? How much does it hurt to break a leg anyway?
She has an odd expression on her face, her eyes level under drawn brows, her lips set in a frown. She doesn't like talking about her family or her past.
Time to make this a little more heated. Press a little further, even.
"Tell me, Vivia. Were you a good girl?"
Her brittle smile falters a little bit. "According to whom? The pastor at the local church? My mother? Or you?"
I don’t hesitate.
“Me.”
She doesn't answer this question at first but takes a deep breath and gives me an almost demure smile. "Up until recently, I was a good girl by everyone's standards.”
I can't deny the fact that I want to protect this woman. It’s a flaw I need to be aware of, one I can’t ignore. An instinct I’ll have to stifle and choke. Even as I tell myself that I have a job to do, even as I tell myself that it is crucial I find out information that could lead us to the threat against my family, I see a wounded person. I see someone in such desperate need of approval it's choking her. I see someone who knows there's no turning back from what she's done, and anything she's ever known is gone to her.
Vivia knows that her family won't take her back. She doesn't quite know the extent of the damage that’s happened yet, but Sergio says she's dead to them, a punishment worse than death for a woman like her.
She doesn't know that the Montavia family will no longer see her as one of theirs. She doesn't know that the protection, and every provision that was hers, is gone now. All she has is me, and this one last chance to save her life.
CHAPTER SIX
Vivia
He asks me more about my upbringing, my brothers, my schooling. He asks me if I've ever dated anyone, what I like to listen to for music, do I like to read? The questions seem almost pointless, but I make it a point to answer each one honestly. I don't know why I wouldn’t.
Why did he ask me if I was a good girl? It was the only question that hit a nerve for me.
I can't help the way my body reacts at the slightest hint of approval from him, and it unnerves me. It's an erotic touch, a sensual kiss, a come-hither smile, and a crooked finger. I don't understand why, and I feel as if a part of me is broken to even crave this from a man like him. Or from any man, for that matter.
My stomach growls, and he nods. “We need to eat and then get some rest. Do you need to use the bathroom?"
Of course I do. I've had to pee for like an hour.
Cringing, I ask hesitantly, “… I don't think I saw a bathroom around here?"
He gives me a smirk. "There's an outhouse, toilet paper, and soap. That's about it."
I cringe and think I’m grateful this hasn't happened when I'm on my period because gross.
I hold my chin up high. I can do this. I can do this. “Yeah, I could definitely use an outhouse."
"I'll go with you."
"Oh, no. I don't think so. That's just…"
His hand claps against my ass. “Yes, I will.” I flinch at the unyielding sound of his voice.
I feel my cheeks heat with mortification. It's not so much that it hurt, but I'm humiliated. I look sharply at him to see what his game plan is. What was that?
"From now on, we have rules, Vivia. No back talk. I’m the one in charge here, and the sooner you accept that the better. There’s no privacy. There’s no you and me, there’s the two of us joined at the hip indefinitely. There’s no way you're going anywhere alone, and you will not have a chance to escape until we've gotten to the very bottom of this. I’ll give you the tiniest bit of privacy to use the facilities, but that's all you're getting." He stares at me, so angry it makes my heart beat a little faster.