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Chapter 48
Gerda 's email continued:
I don't want to say much more. What I've told you is enough. Thank God she confessed to everything almost immediately.
It turned out that she wasn't going home but was planning to meet her boyfriend who turned out to be Bruno's collecting agent. They had planned to travel via different airports and then meet up in Spain.
Bruno had him intercepted just by making a few telephone calls and the money was found on him straightaway. The speed at which Bruno operated was impressive. If he'd wanted, I was sure that he could have mobilised an army in the same amount of time.
All this time I was waiting in the next-door office with my ear pressed against the wall just wishing for it all to stop soon. Bruno's voice was calm and the woman's was sobbing and retching.
When he was sure that the money was safe, Bruno seemed to lose interest in the woman. As we left in his car, I asked him what would happen to her.
"She will be taken to the airport and allowed to go on her way. I have no further need for her," he commented, dismissively.
Bruno was driving more slowly now and in the direction of Fulham. Soon the brick terraces gave way to high white Victorian buildings on either side of the road. They had huge round pillars at their entrances and dirty basements that seemed to collect all the rubbish from the busy Brompton Road.
I didn't know what to say. So much was going through my mind. I was feeling angry and indignant at the way he had humiliated and hurt the woman. But she'd admitted to taking the money. If she'd done that in a police station, perhaps it would have been much worse for her - or perhaps not. The power and confidence that Bruno exuded overwhelmed me and left me lost for words. So I said nothing. Bruno's seemed quite content with this.
Eventually, he parked the car down a side street next to a building that was converted into apartments. From what I could see, there were four floors and a basement. Bruno had keys with him for the one on the second floor. It was already finished with the sort of furniture that you might get as a job lot in an auction. Nothing fitted or matched. The curtains were pink and the sofa was blue. Yet it had a strange character and at this time of the day, the sun was pouring into the windows and lighting up the single bedroom and living room giving it a warm 'at home' feeling.
Bruno stood there watching my reactions as I looked around the little bedroom, opened cupboards and peered out the window.
"I had planned to bring you here in a few days but, since we were passing, I thought why wait?"
He had joined me in the small bedroom and now sat on the edge of the bed testing it for softness.
I looked at him suspiciously, afraid at what he might say. My greatest instinct was to escape but he had a hypnotic quality that made me want to defer to his wishes. I could only go when he wanted me to. To do otherwise would take a massive effort of will. And now I knew what he was capable of, it would take much more bravery than I had.
I asked him what he had in his mind. Obviously I couldn't afford to pay for an apartment like this.
"You can have it. If you want it, it's yours. Compared with what you've got at the moment, it's Paradise. You can do jobs for me. You have already seen that I pay well, even though the duties are not always pleasant."
I nodded my head, slowly. I could see where I would put all my study books and longingly imagined what it would be like to have my friends round in privacy without Ron walking in on me whenever he felt like it.
On the other hand, every instinct in my body said that this man was dangerous and that I should get away from him immediately. Also, if I said I didn't want the apartment, what would happen then?
I asked him what sort of jobs he had in mind for me. "Not by any chance collecting rents from the other apartments?"
His face was inscrutable. "That would be most helpful," he said.
I asked him whether I could end up being treated like the Italian woman.
"All I ask is 100% truth," he said. "That's not so difficult, is it? And I ask you to do as you're told, whatever the circumstances and whatever the consequences. I can make it very easy for you - or very hard. It's your choice."
I felt like a fish being reeled in. The option of trying to escape seemed more and more painful and yet I knew, like a fish being pulled towards the fishermen, that I was moving towards danger and away from freedom.
Somehow, he had known that I'd lied when I'd told him that the woman was telling the truth. If I agreed to take the apartment, I didn't think he was going to bring the matter up. It was an understanding, an implied threat and it was just easier not to find out. Even then, I thought I hadn't heard the last of the matter.
So you see, Barry, I now have a new place to live that is much more comfortable but probably far more dangerous. You must come round and see me sometime when my rather violent but mostly absent sugar daddy is not around.
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