Anton helped her off the floor and took her to the back of the spa to one of the rooms with a massage table. This was his element. He knew how to exist in this space. This was like Dome. But he’d never touched a woman on a massage table in the way he intended to touch this girl. He’d always kept those two worlds separate.
A surge of power flowed through him at the possibilities. He’d played his share of kinky games. He’d had full time subs. But never before had he had someone who was truly his in the most final and permanent way, someone who could go nowhere, someone who was truly his slave.
“I’m not giving you a safe word because this isn’t a game we’re playing. We’re in too deep to play.”
“W-what’s a safe word?”
She really had been pulling things out of her ass if she didn’t even know what a safe word was.
“It’s a word you say to get me to stop whatever I’m doing that is going too far or distressing you. It’s what actual kinky people tend to do… use a safe word. But this is not a game, and you are entirely at my mercy.” There would be no misunderstandings here. If he kept her, she would be his toy to play with when he felt like it. And she needed to understand those terms now. Not that he could really let her leave the house at this point anyway. She’d sealed her fate when she’d come here.
Or maybe he’d sealed all of their fates when he’d brought her sister here.
Tears slipped down her cheeks. “Are you going to hurt me?”
I don’t want to. But he wouldn’t show her a weakness she could manipulate to turn this one real thing into a mere shadow, a game. Instead he smiled. “Are you backing out?”
“What difference does that make? I knew when I drove through that gate I wasn’t coming back out. The only question was if Janette would. I knew you would do whatever you wanted with me if I came here.”
“Does that excite you?”
Her breath seemed to catch in her throat before she said, “No.”
But something in the way the electricity seemed to arc off her skin at the suggestion made him doubt.
“Liar. Take the lingerie off, shoes too, and lie down on your stomach on the table.”
“I-if I do this, you’ll let her go?”
“If I’m pleased with you, I will keep you instead. Unlike you, I’m not a liar.”
She flinched at that.
He crossed to the far end of the room and put on some calming spa music. He dimmed the lights and lit vanilla-scented candles. They smelled like her. She smelled so good. He just wanted to fuck the sweet vanilla scent right out of her. But what he needed in this moment was compliance and some sign that this arrangement wouldn’t be utter torment for her because he was still trying to hold onto the belief that he wasn’t a monster.
Anton wanted what she offered—probably too much—but he’d never seen himself as the type of person who would take it from an unwilling captive, no matter how many times he’d had that fantasy.
He laid out massage oils as well as a few things he’d bought special that he didn’t have at Dome. Lubricants, arousal creams. A few toys.
He didn’t watch her undress. He couldn’t bring himself to; he could hardly believe this was happening. Even as the guys had made plans and bought the house and made all sorts of rules to convince themselves what they were doing wasn’t evil, he hadn’t been sure it was really going to happen. Even with the purchase of the estate, it had still all been just talk.
And now, with Phyllis locked in one room, Janette in another, and Annette offering herself as his slave… things had gotten real very quickly. It didn’t matter what lies he told himself, he’d crossed the line. He was a felon now.
Anton had always thought of Brian as the felon. Brian was the one who liked to hurt people. And yet, Anton was the one with two hostages and a third about to become his slave.
He’d promised himself he wouldn’t take anyone who didn’t ultimately want this. There were so many kinky people out there who wanted something that felt more real. Plenty of men with a lot of money to burn, and women who longed for someone to serve and to have all their worldly needs met in exchange. Why not make some money out of that situation and get his own urges fed training them?
And yet, it didn’t matter if all involved parties agreed to it, selling people was a crime, and no judge in the country would see it otherwise. Besides, none of his prisoners thus far were very happy about the arrangement. What made him think he could do this better when the business was up and running?
“Anton?”
She was lying on her stomach on the table like he’d asked.
“Master,” he heard himself say.
“M-master. What if you aren’t pleased? What are you going to do with me? I know you can’t let me go. Are you going to kill me?”
He didn’t want to kill any of them. He wasn’t a killer. All he wanted was to somehow time travel and not kidnap her sister. Of all the idiotic...
“I don’t know.” With three hostages it looked more and more like he’d have to become a killer or go to prison. This was too many loose ends, and they hadn’t even gotten started yet. Maybe Brian could do the killing. He’d like that.
Annette had started crying. She was quiet, but not so quiet he couldn’t hear—or see the tremors move through her.
Anton carefully wiped the tears off her face. “Shhh, kiska. Don’t cry. You liked me last night.” At the club he’d wanted to take her to his apartment. He’d planned to get into the taxi with her, but she’d drunkenly slammed the door before he could get inside. And then she’d been gone.
“I wasn’t afraid then. What if you don’t like me enough to let her go?”
He stroked the side of her face, and she leaned into him, probably unconsciously. It was so twisted that that was her fear, that he wouldn’t enjoy degrading her enough to release her sister.
“So you aren’t upset about what’s about to happen here? Between the two of us?” He would take any small window to make him feel less evil for claiming this thing he so desperately wanted.
“If you don’t hurt me, no. I’m just afraid for Janette.”
The tough thing with liars was that you couldn’t ever be sure when they were telling the truth.
“You might be a liar, but you can’t fake the bravery it took to come here. I admire that.” He turned the music up a couple of notches. “Close your eyes, and just relax.”
She closed her eyes and took a deep, shuddering breath. When she let it out, he put his hands gently but firmly on her back. He started just as he did any normal massage. The only difference was that she wasn’t covered. Every inch of her was exposed to his hungry gaze, and still, all she cared about was her sister.
He didn’t speak as he slowly kneaded the muscles in her shoulders. It was easy to fall into the rhythm of things. If he didn’t do this for a living, he might be tempted to talk, but Anton had worked to cultivate a quiet calm energy that generally put his clients at ease.
As he touched her—innocently at first—it seemed his little cat was falling under the spell as so many had before her. Her skin was so perfect—so soft he would never grow tired of touching it. She had tan lines from an impressive golden tan, but underneath he could see that outside the reach of the sun’s kiss she was much fairer.