They understand this is their new owner, and they can submit and have a chance of some sort of life, or fight and be sent back to the whorehouse they were trained at. It is standard for the woman to be on display for six hours, sometimes longer. A Global Leader is seen as more powerful the more he can carry on the acts of debauchery. All night, you hear them begging for orgasms and their cries of ecstasy. It mixes with the other acts taking place in the room from those watching."
I expect to see her horror at some point, but she takes it all in and puts more of the pieces together.
"And Gustave is in a better situation with the Global Leaders because of his wife? But you haven't proven yourself since you haven't taken a woman with you or bought one?"
"Yes. Our father prepared him for it. I was not supposed to ever see it."
"Then why did you?"
I trace her cheekbone then lips, wishing we could talk about anything, except this. "When my father died, we weren't prepared. The mission in Chad I went on didn't go as planned. Everything fell apart. Gustave couldn't do it all on his own. He needed me to make other alliances he couldn't and strengthen the ones he had to keep moving forward."
She is quiet for a moment then asks, "So, you go into this room and watch?"
I swallow the bile rising in my throat. "Yes. But I can't go in that room anymore. Men who go and don't buy a woman, participate. I've never asked to touch any of the women. It raises suspicion. My time is up."
"To take a woman?"
"Yes. I won't do it."
"Take me," she blurts out.
Every hair on my body stands up. The pounding of my blood in my ears makes me nauseous. "Do not ever say that again."
"Why? If you have to prove yourself, do it with me. Not another woman."
"I'm not touching another woman. I will not go."
"But Gustave told you that you had to, didn't he?"
I try to play dumb. "Why do you assume this?"
"On the phone. You told him you don't do well at auctions. He said you have to go, didn't he?"
I should have spoken in French. Ma belle is too smart.
"I said I wasn't going."
"But you don't have a choice, do you?"
It hangs in the air, grinding at my gut.
"There's always a choice, ma belle," I quietly say but wonder where it lies with this issue.
She speaks firmly but slowly, annunciating every sentence. "Your choice is to choose me. To take me. To let me stay with you and help you."
"You don't know what you are asking to get involved in, my sweet ma belle." It comes out harsher than I mean it to.
She leans forward and brushes her lips to mine. "I'm asking to be tied to you. To do whatever Gustave's wife does to help him. And to know you trust me completely, and no matter what we face, we're going to do it together." She kisses me deeper and rolls her hips on me. "Don't you want to keep having me?"
I groan. "Your little vixen moves aren't going to change my mind. And you are tied to me. My trust is in you, or I wouldn't tell you any of this. But I need you to be safe, and if I have to sacrifice the ability to be with you so we can have a future, I will."
She sucks on my earlobe. "But we don't have to sacrifice us. I can do it. I will submit to you. You already own me."
I move her so she's looking at me. "When we are together, and I state I claim you, it means you are mine and I am yours. You are not property. I will not do anything to harm you."
"I understand. But the Global Leaders aren't privy to our relationship. Anything you do to me, I won't break from. If anyone else did, I would. But I trust you."
"Emilia—" The phone rings. I grab it. "Hello." I glances at the clock on the dashboard. "Okay. We'll be ready." I hang up.
"What's going on?" Emilia asks.
"Change your clothes. Everything stays on the edge of the river."
She tilts her head. "Why?"
"To make it look like something happened to us."
"So Kalim is thrown off?"
"Yes."
She rolls off me and strips. I dig in the bag and hand her an outfit. I change, and we go to the edge of the river. I