“You have to learn to trust me, Lisbeth,” he said. “I’m going to teach you how this
grown-up game is played. If you don’t treat me well, you have to be punished.
When you’re nice to me, we’ll be friends.”
He sat astride her again.
“So you don’t like anal sex,” he said.
Salander opened her mouth to scream. He grabbed her hair and stuffed the
knickers in her mouth. She felt him putting something around her ankles, spread
her legs apart and tie them so that she was lying there completely vulnerable. She
heard him moving around the room but she could not see through the T-shirt
around her face. It took him several minutes. She could hardly breathe. Then she
felt an excruciating pain as he forced something up her anus.
Cecilia Vanger still had a rule that Blomkvist was not to stay all night. Some time
after 2:00 in the morning he began to dress while she lay naked on the bed, smiling
at him.
“I like you, Mikael. I like your company.”
“I like you too.”
She pulled him back to the bed and took off the shirt he had just put on. He stayed
for one more hour.
When later he passed by Vanger’s house, he was sure he saw one of the curtains
shift upstairs.
Salander was allowed to put on her clothes. It was 4:00 on Saturday morning. She
picked up her leather jacket and rucksack and hobbled to the front door, where he
was waiting for her, showered and neatly dressed. He gave her a cheque for 2,500
kronor.
“I’ll drive you home,” he said, and opened the door.