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That sounded to me like she'd made the decision to live and another to leave, and was contemplating a future. Not something I thought she'd ever do and the indications of it made me both overjoyed and worried for her. They were big steps she was contemplating but she was probably right to tackle them all at once. Baby steps would make it too easy to fall back into captivity if something went wrong.
Prisons easily become safe places. The rates of recidivism show that. If Ariel could get herself out, I wanted her to stay out. In many ways I'd miss her. Even when she was nearly catatonic she was special. She just didn't know it.
Kie had attacked a guard right before I got back, putting the man in the hospital before going into a decline herself, refusing to eat or drink or get up at all apparently. So Norcross had been contacted. He was in Europe attending to his businesses. My agents requested he cut his trip short or at least video conference with Kie. She needed something.
For once I was glad Annie wasn't with me. She thought what Kie needed was a white walled cell 24/7. I understood her hatred and pain but Kie wasn't dead and despite some of the things I'd done, I wasn't in the habit of making people dead.
If I could help it.
We flew home, the locals around that stretch of forest both threatened and paid to stop trespassing and clearcutting. Norcross contacted me to say that he'd be back days after I was. Kie would be gone before I even contemplated bringing Annie back to the compound. That was good. Lots of things could be taken care of in her absence.
She was in a good place learning good things she needed to know.
And I didn't miss her and wasn't thinking of her constantly.
At all.
30
Cole
The trip successfully accomplished and behind us, I ran into something far more fearsome when I got back. Even before Norcross could come get Kie and before I even considered taking Claude up on his invitation to dinner and sport, I got a call from someone I absolutely didn't want to hear from.
Annie's fiancé.
31
Cole
"This is Mark Tomlin."
I'd been back in my office about two hours. On the flight back to southern Nevada I'd compiled an impressive action list. It covered properties and permissions I needed to get lawyers working on for real estate in other countries.
It covered how I wanted to change my workouts and meals and how Annie's were going to change once she was back with me.
It listed people I wanted to talk to about changing Annie's routine so she had either more or less down time with nothing to do. I wanted to see what that would do to her attitude.
It listed the idea of putting Annie on a regular maintenance spanking schedule like Chloe was on and seeing what that would do to her attitude.
I wanted to review surveillance footage Claude had provided. There were plenty of times he wasn't covering her but Annie had been in his care a couple weeks. There would be a … "greatest hits" video. Also, possibly, bloopers.
Work and play. I'd had a successful trip, walked off with more land and hopefully resolution for the problems we'd been having. I was ready to let off steam, workout, eat my own Cole-prepared clean foods for a while. Make plans.
Not deal with a man who didn't yet realize he was part of Annie's past. Partly my fault. I needed to insist she decide what she was going to do about him.
I rethought that. She needed to deal with her own personal life, the one on hold, on her own. Mark was a part of that. I thought he was an ass. I thought she'd already made up her mind what she was going to do.
But it was all up to her.
"Do you know who I am?" was the second thing he demanded over the phone.
"Of course I do," I said mildly. I can control a room full of commercial real estate speculators and face down the federal government when it comes sniffing around my company.
I can deal with a nobody like Mark Tomlin without it becoming a situation I had to contain.
"Look, you son of a bitch, whatever it is you think you're doing... "
Then again, I didn't have to put up with abuse.
