Annette flinched at that. Would he really kill her? How could he when he wouldn’t let his friends hurt her before? She wanted to believe he was bluffing just to get Janette to keep her mouth shut. Though she wasn’t sure that was the best way to accomplish that goal.
Anton continued. “You will go back to school, and you will work part time at Dome so I can keep an eye on you. In exchange, I will pay for all of your schooling and any school debt you’ve accumulated up until now. I will also pay for your apartment and give you a monthly allowance to cover food and any other incidentals.”
Janette’s mouth gaped open. She appeared to consider it for a moment. On the surface, it seemed like such a good deal. The only problem was, she’d have to leave her sister, and Annette knew that wouldn’t be an easy sell. The loyalty between them didn’t just run one way.
“You have to go,” Annette said. “Really, I’ll be fine here.”
Janette shook her head. “No. I can’t leave you with them.”
This was when Brian stepped forward. He pulled out a gun and grabbed Annette off the bed, pressing the metal against her head. Annette looked to Anton, who seemed eerily calm. Would he really just let this mentally unbalanced thug shoot her? But what about what had just happened downstairs? She wasn’t sure how to process this sudden shift in things.
She fought back the tears. It was stupid to feel betrayed by a man who’d keep her hostage forever as a slave, even if he’d been kind and spared her the sexual attentions of his friends temporarily. What an idiotic thought process. None of this was normal. And she couldn’t cry. She had to keep it together. If she fell apart, Janette wouldn’t go, and this would all have been for nothing. They shouldn’t both die or be kept prisoner because she couldn’t keep her shit together.
“Go, or I’ll kill her right now,” Brian said.
When she hesitated, he racked the slide on the gun. “I’ve killed before. And this girl means nothing to me.”
Still, Anton showed no emotion.
Janette backed toward the door but couldn’t bring herself to leave. Annette could see the guilt in her sister’s eyes. She’d been a fool to think that somehow an exchange would make Janette’s life better. She would carry the guilt of surviving this night for the rest of her life, and there was nothing Annette could do to make that okay.
“Jan, go! I’ll be okay.” She was one hundred percent certain that if her sister didn’t leave the house right now, Brian would kill her. And apparently, Anton wasn’t going to stop him. The betrayal after his mercy and what she’d felt had been some sort of genuinely tender moment hit her in the gut so hard it might have knocked her over if Brian hadn’t had a firm grip on her.
Tears streamed down Janette’s cheeks. “I can’t leave you,” she whispered.
There was a loud bang. Annette nearly jumped out of her skin. The gun had been pressed against her head, so shouldn’t she be dead right now? Maybe she was dead. She touched the back of her head, expecting there to be blood but there was nothing.
“Goddammit! What did you do?” Brian shouted.
“I filled your gun with blanks. I didn’t trust you,” Anton said.
Janette still stood frozen in the doorway. Brian threw the gun down, and then his hands were around Annette’s neck. She struggled as he started to squeeze
“Leave!” Brian shouted. “I don’t need a gun to kill.”
Anton pulled a business card from his pocket and handed it to Janette. “Come to Dome tomorrow at ten-thirty, and we will discuss details. You will be given proof of your sister’s safety on a regular basis and all the money you need so long as you abide by my rules. I will take excellent care of your sister.”
Janette looked at her sister one more time, and clearly not knowing what else to do, she ran.
Anton shouted down the hall at her. “Remember, if you call the police or anyone else, Brian will kill her before they get to the front door.”
The downstairs door slammed, and Annette heard the tires screech out of the driveway.
Brian’s grip around Annette’s throat finally loosened, and she dropped to the floor and leaned against the side of the bed to catch her breath.
“She better not have left tire marks on that nice driveway,” Brian said.
“Or what? You’ll chase her down and murder her?” Anton said as he came back into the room. He hauled back and punched Brian hard in the jaw, causing him to stumble.
“You really think I would have just let you shoot her?” Anton said. “I told you. She is mine. You’d better start respecting that claim.”
Brian rubbed his jaw and shrugged. “You almost let me strangle her just now.”
“I knew you were bluffing that time to scare her sister. Be glad you didn’t kill her. We’d have one less partner now.”
So maybe he would still protect her. Maybe.
Brian didn’t say anything, but he aimed a dirty look at Annette. “You’d better be worth all this risk,” he said. Then he slunk out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
Annette flinched as Anton moved closer. He touched the side of her throat gently. “Does this hurt?”
“Yes, Master.” She wasn’t stupid enough to forget his rules.
His hand moved to a different spot and again pressed. “What about this?”
“Yes.”
“But you are speaking all right. You’ll probably have a bruise.” He stroked the side of her face. “You’re very brave. They say fortune favors the brave. I guess we’ll see.”
There was brave and there was stupid, and Annette was pretty sure she fell on the stupid end of that bell curve. Now that Janette had left, and she was alone with her fate, the reality of what she’d done was finally sinking in. Even mere minutes before, her focus had been on getting her sister to safety so then at least she wouldn’t have to live with the crushing guilt that somehow this was her fault. And now the only thing left to focus on was the bargain she’d made with the Russian.
“Will you be kind to me?” she asked. Such a stupid question. Like this was some fairy tale.
“Oh, yes, kiska. I will be very, very kind. And when this sacrifice you’ve made stops feeling like a sacrifice and starts feeling like pleasure… when you crave me and this enslavement, what then?”
She didn’t answer. She wanted to believe such an outcome wasn’t possible, but how could she when she felt so drawn to him already?
“Are you hungry?”
She nodded. Annette hadn’t been able to think about mundane things like food for the past few hours, but now that he brought it up, yes, she was starving.
“Come with me.”
She followed him down the stairs to the kitchen. The house had gotten so quiet. It was late. Maybe the others had gone to bed. He led her into the fancy industrial kitchen and indicated a place for her to sit.
“We have some leftover Chinese food?” He said it as a question, which was so weird considering the circumstances.
“That’s fine.”
He gave her a sharp, pointed look, but he didn’t say anything about her not addressing him. She just wanted him to understand she needed time to process all this. Despite hours on the road to get here and her resolve to free her sister, she hadn’t thought through all the implications. And after all the adrenaline that had pumped through her she felt like everything had just dropped inside her. She felt shaky and scared and a sense of unreality closing in around her.