AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I’d agreed to hurt her while we had sex, but I didn’t want to ever raise a hand to her without it.
For a second, rebellion twitched her lips, but then she nodded like a perfect jewel. “Yes, Sir V.”
He swooned dramatically, pressing his knuckles to his forehead. “Be still my heart, it’s a miracle. Polite and demure. Wonders will never cease.” He waggled his finger in my face with a chuckle. “Seems you might be onto something. Right…I’ll just go collect Rachel from her appointment with Dr Belford, and we’ll go have some fun.”
Striding off, he gave me a wave.
I waved back.
The minute he was gone, my legs gave out, and I fell back onto the chair.
Ily shifted closer. Her hand touched my ankle beneath my jeans.
I looked down and caught her stare and prayed to every fucking entity that still listened to help us.
I won’t break. Her eyes shouted.
I might. I shrugged.
Together, we waited silently for Victor’s return.
* * * * *
The snuffbox was pretty much everything I expected.
Tucked down in the eastern most corner of the gardens, past the vegetable patch, behind the glass-fronted orangery, and hidden in the shadow of the battlement wall, the brick and ivy-covered tower looked like a small observatory.
Or a jail…depending on the viewer.
“Here we are.” Giving me a beaming smile, Victor withdrew an old-fashioned key from his pocket and opened the heavy, creaking metal door. It swung inward, sensor lights sprang on, and he led us inside like a sadistic prince.
Unclipping his leash from Rachel, he pointed at a spot on the floor in the centre of the room. “Wait there for me, my pet. I’ll just show Henri the ropes.”
Her blue eyes skated to me, then to Ily.
Something passed between them.
Ily tipped her chin.
Rachel nodded and braced her shoulders.
What had they communicated?
The fact that I’d slept with both women last night repeated over and over again, amplifying my shame and regret. Rachel carried Victor’s baby. He’d so flippantly ordered me to kill her. She’d lived a life of horrors, and now I was going to save her.
Save both of them.
Somehow.
“Run along,” Victor repeated, annoyance on his face for her delay.
“Yes, Sir V.” Rachel dropped her eyes then stepped down the four stone steps and into the pit below. With a barely-there shiver, she kneeled on the hard damp rock and bowed her head. Her teal silk dressing gown splayed around her bare legs like turquoise puddles.
I didn’t dare look at Ily.
I didn’t know if my monster would take charge or my damn humanness would make this impossible for me. The darkness I couldn’t shed slithered on the outskirts of my mind. The bag holding my new whip grew extra heavy.
What if I can’t do this?
