“Sara was given to me to pay off her father’s debt. He was a substance abuser, and when he racked up quite a debt, he offered me his daughter as payment.”
“Why would you accept?” Ella asks, horrified.
“Because if he would offer her to me, he would offer her to anyone, and I knew I would treat her with a shred more compassion than anyone else would. In my world, it was a fair trade. However, I understand to most, it’s seen as barbaric.
“Ingrid belonged to my friend Oscar,” I explain, expelling the ghosts of my past. “I was enamored by her the first moment I saw her. I shouldn’t have, but I acted on those impulses. I suppose a part of me wanted what I couldn’t have.
“She was truly kind. Gentle, like a baby bird. But in the end, that baby bird emerged from the fire a phoenix. Her sacrific
