The game had been sold a lot of ways. Unfortunately, none of them were true, and Anton was only now coming to understand that.
45
When Annette reached the door to her sister’s room, she sat on the floor in the hallway for a minute and cried as quietly as she could. She had to get herself together before she saw Janette, but if she didn’t get these feelings out, she risked them coming out with her sister. Her twin could always sense when something was wrong, no matter how well she hid it.
Despite the powers of that cream Anton had rubbed on her, once they’d reached the game room, she’d been so scared. It was too much too fast. She couldn’t be passed around like that. She’d tried to be stoic for her sister, but she’d just shut down.
She’d been sure she couldn’t trust this man, and that the future for her would be very dark. She would still do it. She had to do it, whatever he wanted to get Jan free. But when he’d sent his friends away… that small mercy and kindness when he could do whatever he wanted… it was doing funny things to her. God help her, but it made her want him. And what had happened after with just the two of them… she felt so confused. That moment downstairs was the most pleasure she’d ever had at the hands of a man before, and yet, this man had taken her sister hostage and wanted to own her like a piece of property. It was so wrong to be attracted to him, to want his hands on her. And yet, the entire world seemed to only spin right when his hands were on her.
Any shrink in the world would lock her up.
Annette had been attracted to him at the club when she’d spun all those bullshit stories, but now, if possible, she was even more attracted because it seemed possible he might protect her and that he wasn’t willing to completely destroy her. Maybe this could somehow work.
The relief of that mercy still overwhelmed her.
Before tonight, she’d slept with a grand total of two men. One of them had been a year or two younger and a bit too thin. One had been about a decade older with the beginnings of a beer belly.
Neither of them had lit her world on fire. She’d decided then that if that was what the world of men had to offer, she wasn’t interested. The benefits she’d found in sex were what men would give her in exchange for it, not the act itself. Both Dennis and Jacob during their respective relationships had showered her with jewelry and flowers and treated her very well. She’d loved them each well enough, but it wasn’t the stuff of sexy romance novels.
It was nice being the object of such desire. It was good to be wanted and pampered and taken care of. But she never reached the heights they did in bed. It was all just about their needs.
And then later, when she wasn’t seeing anybody and had taken on the phone sex job, those men had—in a way—showered her with an apartment and clothes and food. They’d ultimately paid her way in life all because she could tell them dirty stories and pretty lies that got them hard and got them off.
For a long time now, she’d been serving the sexual desires of men in exchange for things, so how was this any different really? But it was… so different.
She took a deep breath, wiped her face, and got up off the floor. She was surprised when the doorknob to her sister’s room turned easily in her hand. Part of her had been sure she’d have to talk to Janette through a locked door. But there was no need for that. Her sister wasn’t going anywhere.
Janette paced back and forth across the room. It might appear normal, if not tense, except for the fact that there was a chain bolted into the wall beside the bed. The other end of the chain was locked around her ankle.
Her sister rounded on her, mid-stride. “I thought you’d call the police or something. Not come yourself. Why would you come here?”
The room looked nice, clean, and well appointed. At least it wasn’t some basement or dungeon. She was relieved to find her sister didn’t look dirty or hungry. In fact there was an empty plate and glass next to the bed where it appeared she’d had a sandwich and some fruit. And the chain looked like it stretched to the attached bathroom at least.
Stop trying to make this okay.
Annette crossed to her sister and hugged her. She tried not to cry, thinking this might be the last time she’d ever get to do this. “He said he’d kill you if I called them.”
“I know. I was there.”
“I thought he’d take a trade.”
Janette’s eyes widened. “What do you mean a trade?”
“Don’t play dumb. You’re way too smart for that. You know exactly what I mean. Me for you. It’s a smart deal. You’re the one with the future. You could be a doctor and save lives. What am I going to do? Talk dirty to lonely men on the phone until I’m seventy? It’s not like that comes with a good retirement plan. I wasn’t doing anything productive, and I was never going to do anything productive. We both know it.”
“Don’t say that. Without you, I wouldn’t be able to go to school and have a roof over my head. You kept us going.”
Annette sighed. As much as she’d worked and as hard as she’d tried, school was just so expensive. And there were still a lot of years of expenses to go. “You’re still going to have enormous school debt, despite how hard I’ve tried.”
“Well, not now, I won’t,” Janette said with a small laugh.
“How can you make jokes about this?” But she knew. Sometimes inappropriate jokes were the only way to cope with bad situations. There had been a lot of bad jokes when their parents had died. The therapist had said it was okay; they were processing their emotions, and jokes could be healthy in grief. The accident had been sudden. It had been a lot to process.
“Have they hurt you?”
Janette shook her head.
“Then what’s this?” Annette pointed at the bandages wrapped around her sister’s wrists.
“Oh. That’s from where he had me tied up, and I tried to get away. But that’s all. None of them have done anything else. Maybe we can convince them to just let us go and promise not to say anything.”
Of the two of them, Janette was definitely the optimist.
“They won’t go for it. I think they’re operating some sort of criminal enterprise from this house.”
The door opened, and Anton stepped inside, followed by Brian. “I’ve made a decision.”
Annette exchanged a glance with her sister and gripped her hand. Please, please let her go. Please.
He pointed at Janette. “You are going home.” Then he turned to Annette. “You are staying.”
Annette let out a relieved sigh as Brian unlocked the metal cuff around her sister’s ankle.
“No!” Janette shouted.
“Yes.” Anton tossed her the car keys. She caught them out of the air.
“But I can’t afford the apartment. I’ll have no home to go to! You have to let us both go.”
“No. One in, one out. That’s the rule,” Anton said.
A rule he’d obviously just made up.
“I won’t go!”
“Shut up!” Annette said. “You are going home, and you will figure something out.”
“Your sister tells me you’re in school. Pre-med. That must be very expensive,” Anton said. “You will go home. You will not speak a word of any of this to anyone. If you do, I will kill your sister.”