by Kitty Thomas
Mina grabbed her by the front of her T-shirt and jerked her out of the chair. “Fiona, you’re still pretty new. I’m going to give you a chance to apologize before I have to make an example of you in front of everyone.”
“Whatever, bitch,” Fiona said.
Mina let go of her shirt and slapped Fiona hard across the face. When she pulled her hand away, a bright red handprint was left behind.
“I can do whatever I want to you right now and nobody here will stop me,” Mina said. She stared her down hard, and finally Fiona shrank under the power of that stare.
“I-I’m sorry,” she mumbled.
“I’m sorry, what?” Mina snapped.
“I-I’m sorry, Ma’am.”
“Good. That was your only warning. You’re on my radar, dear. And that’s a bad place to be.”
Fiona sank into the chair and Mina took another hard look around the room, probably searching for more mutiny in the ranks. Brian relaxed and went back to talking to one of the guards.
“God, what a bitch,” Julie whispered, certain Annette would agree with her.
“She’s not a bitch. She was protecting that girl.”
“Protecting her? Are you insane? She hit and threatened her.”
“Only to make her back down so Brian wouldn’t take her to the dungeon and punish her. Brian is bad enough without it being in retaliation to someone disrespecting Mina. And Mina knows that. Since she’s belonged to Brian, she watches out for most of the girls when she can. Everything isn’t always what it looks like on the surface around here.”
Gabe walked in then and whispered something to Brian as Mina crossed the room to Annette and Julie’s table.
“Hey, I’m Mina.”
Before Julie could reply, Annette said, “This is Gabe’s girl, Julie.”
“Huh. Well, good for him. So, we’ve got another lifer. Excellent!”
This must be some in-joke between the two of them, since Annette had said practically the exact same thing.
“Oh… fancy!” Mina said, admiring the black shiny collar around Annette’s throat. Up closer, Julie could see that it was onyx and had intricate swirled carvings in it.
Annette blushed a little. “He gave it to me a couple of nights ago for our anniversary.”
“I can’t believe Anton actually sprang for a real piece of jewelry. It annoyed me forever the way he kept you in a leather collar like a dog or something.”
Annette shrugged. “It didn’t bother me. And before you, I was the only permanent slave here. I think once he saw the collar Brian got you, though, it started to get inside his head. You know how he is.”
Mina laughed. “I know how they all are. Well, it worked in your favor because you look fabulous in it.”
Annette smiled. “Thanks. You going to have some lunch? We can sit with you.”
“Nah, we ate on the road, and I want to throw a few rounds down the range before we have to clean the guns. Brian is about to lose his mind because I’m becoming as good a shooter as him. Between you and me I think I’m a little better, but if he finds out I said that I’m in so much trouble.”
“Mina!” Brian shouted across the cafeteria.
She turned innocently. “Yes, Master?”
Hearing Mina utter that phrase was even more crazy than hearing it from Annette.
He motioned for her to join him.
“Duty calls. Later.” Mina winked. Then she, Brian, and Gabe disappeared out the side doors.
As Julie explored the house, she had to keep reminding herself this was just fancy prison. Though after Dmitri’s house, it was hard to take that idea too seriously. Somewhere in the back of her mind she was aware this was what she was supposed to be thinking and feeling, not what she actually did feel. After all, already she was being treated far differently and better than Dmitri and his men had treated her.
Every so often she would catch herself thinking about freedom. Actual freedom. Going back to her old life. But even if such a thing were possible, she didn’t know how she could bring herself to be out in the world again all alone. After Aleksei had taken her, there was no longer any nice safe world in which everything stayed normal. Even if she could somehow get her life back she would always be looking over her shoulder. Gabe was the devil she knew. And compared to where she’d been, angel seemed much more true a descriptor.
So far Julie had seen the spa, the impressive fitness room, the pool, the library, and most of the outside grounds—just being out in the fresh air with an open sky and no visible barriers had been a welcome relief from the claustrophobia of being cooped up in Dmitri’s house all the time.
Julie was crossing through the cafeteria when she saw Brian moving through the room with intense, scary purpose. Gabe and Mina were nowhere to be found. As if he were a wild predator who’d caught the scent of something delicious, the dark-clad menace spun suddenly, his eyes locking with Julie’s.
She glanced around, hoping and praying he was looking at someone else. Anybody else. Her fingertips trailed absently over the security bracelet, reminding herself over and over that he didn’t have access to the punishment features. She wasn’t sure how a bracelet could have punishment features, but she didn’t want to find out. At the same time, she couldn’t see how someone like this guy would need a piece of technology to harm her. No one had needed it to hurt her at Dmitri’s. Unless this bracelet emitted some force field that anyone but Gabe would bounce off, she couldn’t see how she could be safe from any man who really wanted to hurt her in here.
She took several steps back, but Brian’s approach didn’t slow or falter, and now there could be no question his interest was in her. Her back hit the wall when she ran out of space, knocking a sharp, shocked breath out of her. She flinched when he reached her and smirked.
“Julie, is it?” Brian asked. He stopped mere inches from her, barely giving her the breathing room she needed.
“Y-yes?”
“You’re Gabe’s slave?”
She cringed when he said that word.
“N-no,” she stammered.
He glanced at the silver security bracelet locked around her wrist then quickly pinned her again with his hard gaze. “So you’ll be for sale then?”
Tears begin to gather in her eyes. “N-no! He said he wouldn’t do that!”
Brian continued on mildly, as if he hadn’t caused her distress. “Maybe you’d like to come to my dungeon and play with me then?”
She felt frozen to the spot. A small crowd of curious onlookers was beginning to form around them, but nobody looked interested in getting involved or trying to help her.
“I asked you a question,” he said. “Do you want to come to the dungeon to play with me?”
“I-I don’t know what you mean.” She thought she knew what he meant, but she didn’t have the specific activities list nor did she want to know it. It might be safest to play as dumb as possible.
Brian seemed to be enjoying this. He leaned in closer, his body hovering over hers. He lowered his voice. “I was wondering if you wanted to come down to the dungeon and let me chain you and whip you and fuck you. I promise you’ll never be the same.”
She shook her head quickly. “N-no… I… I mean Gabe wouldn’t like...”
“If you aren’t his slave, Gabe doesn’t care. Trust me.”
A throat cleared behind them. “Brian, what the fuck?” Gabe said. He sounded resigned and annoyed. Not quite the angry, gallant rescue she might have hoped for.
Brian chuckled and backed off. “You know I’m gonna try.”
“Well don’t. How would you feel if I’d done that to Mina when she got here?”
“Mina’s different.”
“Not as different as you think. Look again.”
Brian slowly turned back to Julie. He looked at her for a long time, his eyes locked unnervingly with hers, as if he were trying to uncover the deep dark layers of the things that haunted the inside of her brain. After a moment he seemed to see something he hadn’t
seen before. And then he flinched.
“Oh,” was all he said, and then he turned and walked away more quickly than he’d approached.
Julie looked at her shoes. She was beginning to hate this pattern of Gabe rescuing her, because the more he did it the less she knew how she was supposed to act toward him and the more she felt she owed him. Surely he was keeping score as well.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded, still unable to meet his eyes. “I’m fine.”
“I think you should go to your room and lie down for a bit. Take a nice nap. Maybe a hot bath. You’ll feel better. I’ll have Phyllis send up some tea.”
“O-okay.” She slipped past him as quickly as possible and went up to her room wondering about the things Gabe had said about Mina. Like she and Mina could be similar? How? Mina was strong and intimidating. Julie jumped at her own shadow these days. She didn’t see the resemblance between them at all.
35
Gabe ordered the tea then followed behind Julie, careful to stay far enough back to avoid spooking her. He didn’t want her to think he was stalking her all over the house. With the things she’d been through, such behavior wouldn’t court her trust.
She wouldn’t have to be spooked at all if he’d kept a better eye on Brian. When he’d spoken with Brian and Mina about the cleanup job at Dmitri’s, they seemed more than happy to accept. But then, Gabe hadn’t expected anything less. Brian was a sadist with a bit of a killing streak. Dangerous, but able to be trained and pointed in the direction they needed when certain unpleasant things had to be done.
Gabe had tried to argue for the right to go on the job with them, but was shot down. They didn’t want to have to train him or worry about an extra inexperienced person. They were right, of course. Gabe might have had the fantasy of going in, guns blazing, and having the personal satisfaction of killing Dmitri for what had been done to Julie, but his fantasy was unlikely to match the reality. If he wanted it done and done right, he needed to stay out of it and let Brian and Mina take care of it. This was about Julie after all, not his own ego gratification.
Brian had wandered off while Gabe was talking to Mina. Gabe wanted to make sure they would get the girls out safely. Though Brian generally didn’t hurt innocent people unless it was a girl who had misbehaved at the house, but Gabe still wanted to make sure things were very clear with Mina. Afterward, he’d excused himself. He suspected Brian might go after Julie to test the waters and the limits of Gabe’s attachment to her. And he was right.
Gabe couldn’t even be that mad. It was Brian. He couldn’t help himself. Mina had softened some of his edges but he was still the borderline sociopath they all loved to hate.
But Brian had looked haunted when he’d really taken a good look into Julie’s eyes. Gabe knew Brian would see it… would see Mina in there. Despite his many flaws, Brian was observant. Very little got past him.
Gabe could only guess at the things Mina had been through, and likewise Brian would only guess at Julie’s history, but at least now he might tolerate her in the house and stay away. Gabe didn’t want to admit it, but he’d developed a grudging respect, maybe even something friendship adjacent when it came to Brian. Watching how he’d cared for Mina changed a lot about what Gabe had thought he’d known about the man.
Gabe slipped into the room next to Julie’s and turned on the flat screen panel on the wall. Her image came into focus, crisp and clean. That girl slept like a rock, which was crazy given her recent captivity. He had wired her room up the previous night when he’d woken from a nightmare involving her. The surveillance was the same as the set up in the rest of the house, but he’d redirected the feed back to his current room. This was creepy as fuck. He knew it was creepy as fuck, but he wanted to watch over her and make sure she was okay. Keep telling yourself that. Keep telling yourself you aren’t trying to get a glimpse of her naked because you think stealth or force is the only way you’ll see it.
Since the previous night, he’d tried without much success not to think too hard about the things that must have happened to her at Dmitri’s house. And for all those months. Gabe couldn’t stop thinking about their date where he’d learned just how innocent she was. Not for the first time he found himself fantasizing that he’d taken her that first night and to hell with morals. As wrong as it was, it still would have spared her what actually happened. Even if she couldn’t have known that without comparison, Gabe would have been the far kinder option.
Or... if he hadn’t left her. He should have kept going to the bar. He could have gotten rid of whatever jackass had lured her away. Or he would have known the second she’d gone missing. Had nobody cared to search for her? Had no one noticed her missing? What about those assholes at her work? But where would they have looked? Where would Gabe have looked? It wasn’t as if he could have foreseen the Dmitri situation. It was dumb luck that he’d stumbled upon her again.
He’d been angry with Anton for setting the meeting up, but if he hadn’t, Gabe never would have found her or known she was missing. Julie on the screen disappeared into the bathroom, probably to turn on the water.
Good girl.
She returned a few moments later, kicked off her shoes, and sprawled across the bed, sobbing. Of course she was. What had happened with Brian… well nothing had happened with Brian, but from her perspective it wouldn’t be nothing. There was a knock on the door and Julie wiped her eyes and went over to it.
“W-who is it?”
“It’s Phyllis, dear. I brought you some peppermint tea.”
Julie opened the door and Phyllis rolled in a little tray with a pot of tea, a teacup, and sugar. “Push that button on the wall, number 3, and I’ll come up and take it when you’re done.”
“Thank you.”
From her expression, Phyllis noticed Julie had been crying but she didn’t say anything. She knew better than to butt into the house affairs. When she’d gone, Julie went back into the bathroom to shut off the water.
She went to the tray. Her hand shook as she poured the tea and dropped a couple of sugar cubes in. Gabe winced as the metal spoon scraped around the cup. He’d put the microphone too close to where she now stood. Julie sat on the edge of the bed with the cup and saucer in her hands. The porcelain shook as tears moved down her cheeks.
That was it. He wasn’t going to sit here and watch her fall apart. To hell with giving her space. He’d tried desperately not to touch her at all the previous night. Except for the brief hand on her knee and the hand at her back as they’d walked into the house—an old unconscious habit he barely noticed anymore—he’d kept a polite distance because she didn’t need another man pawing at her. Not now.
Gabe turned off the flat screen and went to her room. She jumped when he walked in without knocking. It made him irrationally angry. It was his goddamn room. He wasn’t going to knock every fucking time!
“Gabe? What…?”
He took the teacup and saucer from her hands and set it on the cart. Then he pulled her up and into his arms. She sobbed against him while he petted her hair.
“Shhhh you’re okay. Everything’s going to be fine now.”
“W-what if he comes back?”
Who? Dmitri? No… Brian.
“He won’t. Everyone in the house knows you’re off limits, and now Brian does, too.”
He guided her back to sit on the edge of the bed and passed the cup and saucer back to her. “Drink your tea.”
Gabe sat in a nearby chair while she sipped at the hot brew.
“Did you run a bath?” he asked. He was certain she had, but it wasn’t as if he could announce he knew that.
“Yes. It might get cold.”
“I’ll drain it and start it over. Finish your tea.”
She didn’t protest when he went to the bathroom and drained the water out. Gabe’s bathroom had a large claw foot tub. It was deep enough for the water to nearly cover a grown man if you sunk down a little.
When he refilled it, he added bubbles. He
should have wired up this room too—as if that wouldn’t have betrayed bad intentions. If he was watching her to keep her safe, then wiring up the bathroom would be inappropriate. He’d known that the previous night, and he knew it now. Still, he wasn’t sure if he had the strength to leave her naked in the tub without at least having a high definition view of the event.
She was his. He’d paid half a fucking million for her. No. You paid to rescue her… his better angels whispered. Fuck that. She’s mine!
He could look at her whenever he wanted. He could touch her whenever he wanted. However he wanted. He could make her wear humiliating outfits that barely covered an inch of her skin. He could share her. He could parade her around. He could fill those delicate little orifices with anything he wanted. Fingers, tongue, cock, toys, those twisted little fucking machines they kept buying. He wanted to put her in one of the house’s special chastity belts with the attached dildo set on the lowest vibration until she crawled and begged for him to let her come. He wanted to watch her whimper and writhe at his feet, begging for each new delicious game he would introduce her to.
She was all his. There wasn’t a thing in the world she could do to stop him or protest or escape him. He could have her every night and every day however and whenever he wanted for as long as he wanted and the only weapons she had were that pouty lip and her tears.
That was enough.
He couldn’t bring himself to betray her or hurt her, and he didn’t get off on unwelcome pain like Brian did. Now, in the light of day, it seemed impossible to think she would ever willingly come to him. How would that bridge be crossed? How could it be? If he tried anything, he would never know if she wanted it or if she was just scared and didn’t want to anger him. If he didn’t, he couldn’t imagine she’d ever approach him on her own. How could anyone who’d been treated like she had willingly enter even into a vanilla relationship with a man again? This whole thing was fucked.
And the worst part was, no matter what he’d told her, he could see reaching a point where he had no more patience, where he might just take and damn the consequences to her soul or to his. If he couldn’t manage to find a way to woo her into his bed and then further into his darker tastes, at what point would he snap and do it anyway? At what point would he resent her too much to give a damn about her feelings?