Chapter 5

“Firstly, you’re not a sex pet or slave. You need to stop saying that,” Leon began talking again, his voice flat but laced with that warning edge he always had. “You don’t understand how powerful my father is. It doesn’t matter what country my brother goes to or where he tries to run. My father will still be affected if people find out who and what his son truly is. It is not something we can hide or fix by running to another country.”

He looked straight ahead, jaw tight, and for the first time since I met him, I didn’t see anger or ego in his eyes. I saw something else, fear and it shook me for a second because someone like Leon didn’t seem like he was capable of fear.

“My father is a ruthless man,” he continued. “He doesn’t believe in weakness and he doesn’t tolerate shame. He has never been in support of people who are… different,” he said the word with disgust, and I couldn’t tell if he was disgusted at his father or disgusted by the truth of who his brother was. “He does his possible best to make sure anyone caught will end up being jailed or killed and that was how he built his reputation and gained power. Now imagine what would happen if people find out that his own child is just like one of the same people he has killed. Do you also think that my father would spare him just because they share the same blood?”

He turned and looked me dead in the eye. “He won’t hesitate to kill him and won’t even think twice before he does.”

A heavy silence fell over the car, it was thick and suffocating. For a moment, I didn’t know what to say. I dragged in a shaky breath and ran a hand through my hair, trying to process everything. I didn’t even know these people, yet somehow I was already neck-deep in their fucked-up family drama against my will.

I leaned back and stared out the tinted window. The city lights flashed by in streaks, but everything felt so far and distant, like I was watching someone else’s life move on while mine was trapped in this nightmare. Leon’s words replayed in my head over and over again.

His father would kill his own son?

His own blood?

Just because he was gay?

What kind of sick bastard did that to his own child?

Times had changed and people were starting to live freer. The world wasn’t perfect, but at least it was trying but men like his father still existed, monsters who controlled people with fear and violence. Men who would rather bury their children than accept them. The thought made my stomach twist in anger, and I suddenly wondered what kind of life Leon’s brother must be living. Always hiding, pretending and terrified.

“How old is your brother?” I finally asked, my voice lower and calmer now.

“He’s just twenty-two,” Leon replied.

I let out a slow breath. Twenty-two, my age. While I had been fighting just to survive another day, he had been fighting for the right to simply exist and he still lost.

“And what about you?” I asked before I could stop myself. “How old are you?”

Leon snapped his head toward me so fast I almost flinched, thinking he was coming for my throat again. His eyes hardened instantly.

“I thought I already told you that you don’t get to ask questions.”

He didn’t yell and didn’t even need to. The warning in his tone was enough. He looked away again, shutting me out physically and emotionally. That was my answer, I wasn’t allowed to know anything about him. He could invade my life, strip me of freedom, own me like property but God forbid I asked how old he was.

I looked at his hand resting on his knee. No ring. Why the hell was I even noticing that? Why did I care? I hated myself a little for even wondering. Still, with his money, power, and permanent scowl, women probably threw themselves at him. So why wasn’t he married? Or maybe he was. Maybe he had a secret wife somewhere locked in a mansion like some rich prisoner just like me.

“Ronan,” I muttered to myself, shaking my head. “What the hell are you even thinking about?”

I needed to stop getting distracted because none of that mattered. I didn’t have time to wonder about this asshole’s personal life when I needed to find a way out of this shit show. I straightened up and looked at him again.

“Look,” I said, my voice firm now. “Your brother’s situation is fucked up as hell. I’m not heartless and I’m not blind either to say that I don’t understand or get it when I do. What he’s dealing with is unfair and I’m not going to act like I can’t see that. But I want you to understand something too, his problems can’t be my problems. They just can’t.”

“I didn’t ask to be here or choose this. I didn’t wake up one day and say, hey, you know what would be fun? Being kidnapped, chained up, sold like an animal, and bought by some psycho family with daddy issues. No, that wasn’t my plan."

“So don’t sit there and act like I have to accept this, because I won’t. I can’t be his sex slave even if it’s just for the summer. I don’t care if it’s one month or three. I don’t care what deal you think you’re giving me. It’s not happening.”