Page 31 of Inez

FIRST TOUCH…AGAIN

INEZ

Ican't breathe.

My body is locked in place, frozen and tensed as raw panic shears through me, searing my lungs with icy, tightening bands.

My mind is a coruscating madhouse of swirling thoughts, exploding desires, and conflicting fears.

I need him.

I want him.

He touched me—touched my bare thigh, so close to a part of me no one has touched for so, so long.

He kissed me.

Twice.

He fantasizes about me.

He…pleasures himself while thinking about me.

Rusty metal bit into my wrists as I thrashed, screaming. Papa stood over me wearing a white linen suit, a black silk shirt unbuttoned to his diaphragm beneath the jacket. His hands were shoved casually into his pockets, as if he was here to discuss the weather or the terms of a business deal.

"Last chance, Sophia," he said. "This isn't what I want, but you're forcing my hand."

I snarled at him like a trapped wildcat. "Then let me go! I won't marry him. I won't. He's a vile pig!"

"Youwill, my daughter. It has been decided. He is the heir to my empire. We must make it official, which means you must marry him. He really isn't so bad. Perhaps some of his tastes are…questionable, but then, this isn't a love match. He'll have his…playthings, and if you're discreet, you can have your own." A pause, a tip of his head to one side. "Once you’ve produced an heir, of course."

I thrashed again, harder. "I knew you were a monster, but this? Papa, this is sick even for you."

"The moment you say two words, it all ends, Sophia. Say the words. 'I accept.'"

"Never!”

He looked genuinely displeased. "I really would rather you didn't make me do this to you."

"Then don't, Papa, please." I hated the tears in my eyes, the quiver in my voice, but I was terrified. "Please, Papa. Pick someone else. Anyone else. Please. Please. Don't. Please don't."

He lunges across the cell, bends over me, and grips my jaw with agonizing power. "Thenagree, Sophia. All you have to do is agree." He released me and stepped back. "You will marry him one way or another. After you've endured this, or...agree, and all will be well."

"All will be well?" I screeched. "He beats women to death and fucks theirCORPSES!” I screamed the last word so loud and so hard my throat felt shredded and bloody.

"That is an exaggeration."

"I heard him bragging!"

"Then you must have misunderstood."

I sobbed, knowing there was no way to win this sick game. "I didn't. He is a sick, depraved, evil monster. You are marrying me off to the devil himself, Papa."

He stepped away, sighing sadly. "You won't relent? You would rather this," he swept a hand at me, chained spread-eagle, naked, to a cot in the middle of a subterranean cell, "than simply marry a man you don't like?"

I couldn’t stop a sob. "Please, Papa."

"So be it." He strode out the door and didn’t look back. "You may begin."