The Harem on the Hill (Part XXXIX) (Patreon)

"What do you have to tell me...Anastasia?"  

You stand face-to-face with the fleshy femme fatale after whisking her back to her chamber.  She stands on her tip-toes and gives you a quick peck on the cheek.  Her lips are warm and soft.  "You are one sick fuck, you know that?"

"You're just now figuring that out?"

"I had my suspicions."

"Not enough to scare you off though."

"A job is a job.  Besides, I've done worse for less."  Anastasia dons a terry cloth robe draped across the back of the sofa.  "You know that better than anyone."

You smile.  "Perhaps we should renegotiate your salary then?"

Anastasia closes the flaps with a knot that immediately slips under pressure from her lassoed gut.  "After all I've seen, my salary is only going one direction.  Up."

"Just like your weight," you say, eying the failing knot.  "I thought you were going to pace yourself."

Anastasia sucks in and converts the slip knot to an overhand.  "You wanted me to earn their trust.  Isn't that why you brought me here?"  There were, in fact, several reasons you brought Anastasia here, but that was the only one she needed to know about at present.
"Besides," Anastasia continues.  "I can't have that sociopath Tina threatening to zap me every five seconds."

"She can't, remember?"  You tap your wrist at the same location a silver bangle adorns Anastasia's.  "Yours is aesthetic, not functional.  Just keep eating and pretending you can't understand her.  She'll leave you alone."

"She'd better.  I'd hate to have to slaughter your prized hog."

You ignore Anastasia's comment and instead check the feed from the atrium's camera on your phone.  The natives are getting restless.  Tina is berating Tabitha about something and Debbie appears to be crying.  You'll have to hurry this clandestine meeting along.  

"What did you find out?"

Anastasia plops her plush posterior on the arm of the sofa.  "First, tell me about Veronica Tate."

You have a good poker face--you don't become one of the richest men in America without one--but the mention of that name, the same name Tina uttered her first night in captivity, drains the color from your face so quickly it bellies your placid stoicism.

"That bad, huh?" Anastasia says, reacting to your pallor.  "Run out of closet space for that particular skeleton?"

"Why do you ask about Veronica Tate?"

"Because if my hunch is correct, your game is nothing compared to the one Tina is playing.  And I'm curious what would inspire that kind of...dedication."

Suddenly, your phone blares.  Tabitha's vitals are spiking.  The warning beeps are interrupted by Tina's voice, "There's a situation in the garden!"

"Don't trust her," Anastasia says as you head for the door.  "Give me a few days on the outside, and I'll tell you exactly who she is and what she's up to."

What do you say?