Free Agent with a History by Guy Stanton III

wine, as he
relaxed back into his chair. “You have something I want.”
    “That simple huh?”
    “That simple.”
    “And what if I don’t give you what you seek?”
Responded Iya.
    “I’ll find a way. You know I always complete
what I start.” Responded Flint, evenly as he took another sip of
the wine.
    Iya sat back laughing and slapped his thigh,
“Oh to the gods I wish I had sons like you!” On a quieter note he
added, “As it is, I wasn’t entirely unlucky. I did get one good
daughter.”
    Flint leaned forward and sat the wine glass
back onto the table. “Yes, about her, I want her too.”
    Consumed by another fit of laughter, Iya
managed to hack out, “You don’t ask for much do you my friend! You
want my treasure and my prized daughter! You tried to kill me and
you think I’m just going to hand her over to you?”
    “Oh I didn’t ask you to hand her over to me,
but as her father I was simply letting you know of my intentions
towards her. It will be her choice whether she’ll have me or
not.”
    Iya grunted, frankly amused at the turn the
game had taken. He admired and respected Flint that is what little
that even he knew about him, which said a lot to the man’s
proficiency in keeping a low profile.
    It could be very useful having such a man as
a son in-law, if things worked out that way, and if he got in the
way later on he could always be rubbed out.
    “I have no doubt that you are often
successful given your prior track record in nearly killing me, but
she is beyond you my friend.”
    Flint remained silent so Iya interjected.
“She was here today, which I’m sure you already know. She even
asked about you and I would even go as far as to say that she may
even like you. But, unfortunately for you, she will never be
willingly available in an intimate way with anyone.”
    “Yeah, I noticed that, but I think she has
come along farther than you think she has.”
    Iya shook his head, “No, I don’t think so.
She hides it well, but she’s still a scared little girl
inside.”
    Flint picked up his wine glass again. “Since
you’re being so helpful, perhaps you can fill me in a little more
on what happened to her.”
    Iya shrugged, “Why not? It started with her
mother. She was a very beautiful woman. I bought her at a black
market auction in Spain. She came from a very noble family in the
south of Italy. Her father had squandered the family fortune and he
got the great idea that he could make some money with his oldest
daughter. He made her disappearance appear as a kidnapping, while
he actually sold her instead. He did the same in the following
years to her younger sisters. He was eventually caught and sent to
jail, where he had a rough time of it from his fellow inmates. He
didn’t last long. I brought Lisa’s mother back here to the island.
She fought me tooth and nail. I still have the scars! She had
almost as much pride as I did, but she tamed down some once she had
Lisa. She poured herself into protecting that girl. She was special
and I kept her exclusively to myself and I didn’t share her with my
twin brother, which was a mistake. My twin brother grew jealous and
when I was gone he raped her for days and then killed her. He raped
Lisa as an afterthought and would have killed her too, but my men
stopped him, because she was of my blood. I was angry with my
brother, but he was of my very own blood and she was but a good
lay, so I let it pass and just gave him a good beating. I waited to
see what would become of Lisa. Alone and without a mother she was
picked on by the other children and their mothers, but she
surprised me by how hard she fought to survive. She really
surprised me one night when she was twelve. She snuck into my
brothers’ room and killed him and his favorite woman, who had
picked on her the most. The others gave her a wider berth after
that. She is tough, but in some ways very fragile. Now that you see
what you’re up against what do you think?”
    Flint didn’t say