Page 34 of Alpha's Claim
She draws in a breath and nods, like she made up her mind. “Do you know that movie where the kid sees dead people?”
“Sixth Sense?Yeah.”
“I see dead companies.”
My eyebrows rise. “What do you mean?”
“When I was in eighth grade, our economics teacher gave us paper accounts to make stock trades. We discovered I have a knack for it. I have this intuition about companies that are going to go out of business, and I learned to make short sales on them.”
“Ineighth grade?”
Paloma laughs. “Yes. My mom was a trader, so I’d grown up with stock trading in my blood. She was so proud of my success that she showed my paper account to her boss.”
“Thompson.”
“Yes. He offered to mentor me. He wanted to find out my methodology. Of course, I didn’t have one–it was all intuitive.”
Paloma’s eyes cloud, and she folds her arms across her chest, protectively.
I squeeze her shoulders. No wonder Thom has the most successful hedge fund in the world. He found a talented psychic and enslaved her.
“Our parents died in a car accident not long after that. Thom told me this weekend that he had them killed.” She shivers, and I draw her into my arms, pulling her cheek against my chest.
“Fuck, Paloma. That’s horrible.”
“And then he locked me up. I’ve been trading for him ever since. He holds Wren’s liberty and nowher very lifeover my head to keep me from running away. I barely get to talk to her. My only pleasure is our Sunday video calls.” She shrugs. “And riding Starlight on the weekends.” She lifts her big brown eyes to my face. “And historical romance. You know–fantasizing about a giant Viking taking my virginity.”
I smile at her flirtation, but my smile quickly fades when I realize just how horrific her life has been. I don’t know how she can even keep things light.
“So the auction wasn’t just about your virginity.”
“No, it was supposed to be a lease of my stock trading services via a fake engagement to the winner. The engagement will be broken off in a year, when the winner returns me to Thom.
“I tried to escape Thursday night, but Thom caught me. That’s when he told me he would kill Wren if I ran away again. And last night is when he revealed that the auction was for my virginity as well. The intention is tobreed meto produce equally talented stock traders.”
“That is… sick. Utterly twisted.”
“I thought you were one of the men who wanted to bid on me.”
“I knew nothing about it. I hope you believe that.”
“No, I do. I have good instincts. I secretly hoped you’d be the winner because something about you made me feel safe.”
My heart gallops. How did this human suddenly become my whole world?
“Youaresafe. There’s no fucking way I’m letting you go back to Lockepoint. We will find your sister, and we will get your medication. Then we’ll figure out how totake Thom Thompson down once and for all.” My bear rumbles in agreement. I shush him and rub my belly, hoping to pass off the noise as my empty stomach.
The timer goes off, and Paloma picks up the pot from the stove and pours the water off the macaroni shells. She stirs in the cheese and some of the cream from the box she opened this morning for our coffee.
I find a can opener and open the can of tuna she pulled out. We stir it into the macaroni and cheese to make a poor man’s one pot dinner.
“I feel like I’m in college again,” I say as I try a bite, eating straight from the pot. Then I remember that Paloma didn’t get to go to college, and my bear nearly erupts to the surface. I grit my teeth and bend my head, fighting to push him back.
“Yeah? Where did you go?” Paloma serves herself a bowl of food and takes it to the breakfast table, nestled in a window nook that overlooks the ocean. She’s busy eating. She doesn’t seem to notice my struggle.
I follow her with the pot. “First, a small community college near where I grew up. Then to business school at Columbia.” My bear recedes enough for me to pick up the pot and shovel in some food.
“Where did you grow up?”