DUNJA HOUGAARD’S GENITALS STILL HURT, and Kim’s thumb had left a big bruise just above her pubic bone. That was the extent of the physical injury; the real pain came from the degradation, which drilled deeper and deeper into her, even though it had been no more than a vulgar demonstration of pseudo-power by a fettered alpha male.
She had gone through her options. Reporting the sexual assault would mean his word against her own, not to mention she had voluntarily allowed him into her apartment. Forging his signature in a separate incident didn’t exactly help her credibility. The alternative was revenge. She could contact his wife or Ekstra Bladet and tell them what had happened, or she could lure him into a trap.
She discarded each idea and decided that it would be best to bide her time and hold her head high. His goal had been to quash her and put her in her place, so the most effective strategy would be for her to show him that he hadn’t succeeded. She needed to show him that she was stronger than that — stronger than him.
The problem was, he had succeeded. She felt broken, weak, and exhausted at the very thought of holding her head high.
The kettle whistled. She poured the water into the teapot, went to the living room, crawled onto the sofa with her tablet, and turned it on. His face was the first thing she saw: he was more or less staring straight at her; it felt as if he were still in her apartment.
KIM SLEIZNER SPEAKS OUT
So Kim had decided to eat humble pie, that smarmy bastard. She clicked through to the article, where he said in contrite terms that he wanted to apologize first and foremost to his family, but also to the Danish people. He blamed his misstep on being far too overloaded with work, which had led him to neglect his family and seek solace elsewhere. Asked whether he planned to resign, he’d responded:
If they still want me, I’m willing to stay, but in the meantime I need to take a timeout. I’m not the only one having a difficult time with this; it is worse for my family. I’m hoping that you will respect our need to be left alone as we take care of each other. Everyone wants to be a superhero, someone who can handle anything and then some, but at the end of the day, we’re all just humans who have faults and shortcomings. All leaders should remember this, but far too many forget.
Dunja turned off her tablet. She felt like throwing up.