Page 215 of Merciless Daddy

“Do you believe you are currently under pressure from Salvatore Scordato? Coercion?”

“Everyone in my life is under pressure. That is not the same as coercion.”

“Do you live in a residence controlled by him?”

“I currently reside in a secured Caruso property due to credible threats from my father and Gianni Scordato.”

“Does Mr. Scordato control your movement?”

“No.”

“Your money?”

“No.”

“Your communications?”

“No.”

“Your sexual relationship?”

The question sat in the white room like dirt on a clean plate.

Angela shifted in her chair.

I kept my face still.

“My sexual relationship is consensual.”

“Mr. Scordato is significantly older than you.”

“By several years. Not several centuries.”

The examiner did not smile.

“I understand there is a dominance-based component to the relationship.”

I looked at her.

“Excuse me?”

“I said that I understand there is a dominance-based component to the relationship.”

“You understand that from whom?”

“From materials submitted by opposing counsel.”

How did he know? I felt dirty, scared, exposed.

Gianni had found the one private softness I had offered freely and dragged it into court so strangers could decide whether it made me broken.

“Answer the question, please,” the examiner said.

“I engage in a private consensual dynamic with Salvatore.”

“Does he call himself your Daddy?”

My cheeks heated. Not shame. Rage.