Annette lay beside the pool after a late lunch. This wasn’t bad as hostage situations went. She’d been surprised when Anton had given her the run of the house before he’d left instead of locking her up somewhere. She’d been even more surprised to find most of the rooms had been furnished with clothing and swim wear. Both items were made to fit more than one size—but still a pretty narrow range. The red and white striped bikini she picked fit perfectly.
She’d grabbed a pair of sunglasses, gotten some lunch from Phyllis, and headed for the pool. If this was her life now, she planned to take advantage of any bit of joy she could squeeze out of it. The older woman joined her a little while later in workout shorts and a T-shirt. Phyllis wasn’t fat, but she was definitely a little bigger than the clothes at the house were meant for, so they were tight.
“How can you just be out here lying in the sun like this?” Phyllis asked. She flung her arms in the air dramatically and then put her hands on her hips to put extra emphasis on her disapproval.
“What the hell else am I going to do?” She hadn’t found a phone in the house, just a couple of doors locked—probably where the phones were. As if they would make that mistake twice.
“Well, I don’t know. But you’re just so damn calm about all this. It gives me the creeps.”
Annette lowered her sunglasses and gave the older woman a pointed look. “Well, I’m sorry I give you the creeps.” She fixed her sunglasses back over her eyes.
“We should try to find a way out of here while we have the chance. They might do anything to us. They still might kill us. It’s not like they can keep us here forever. They have to know that. I knew there was something wrong with that Russian man when I sold him the house. Get up! We have to go,” she hissed, smacking Annette on the thigh.
“Nope,” Annette said. She leaned back against the lounger, letting the sun warm her face.
“Why? Afraid to walk a bit?”
“No. I’m afraid they’ll hurt my sister if I break my end of the bargain. I did this to protect her.” And there was also the chance the men of the house would catch them running and kill them. Or that night would fall, they’d be out in the middle of nowhere, and a bear would eat them.
She’d keep the pool, thanks.
Phyllis shook her head as if Annette were insane. And maybe she was. She knew she wasn’t having the normal reaction to any of this. But that was who she was—never the expected response to things. An aunt had died a couple of years before, and it had taken her a week and a half to process it enough to cry. She hadn’t even cried at the funeral. And she hadn’t worn black—instead opting for a calf-length teal dress and nude sling backs. She’d been the only person there without mascara running down her face. But she’d fallen apart later in private. Maybe that would happen here.
Maybe she’d be okay for a week and a half, just trudging through, and suddenly have some kind of breakdown over her captivity. But even so, the facts of why she’d made this choice hadn’t changed and wouldn’t change. Not only had she bought her sister’s freedom from the house, but from the crushing school debt she’d otherwise have. No matter what happened here, if Anton held his end of the bargain, Annette had no regrets for protecting her sister and her future.
“It’s hot out. I think I’ll get in the water.” She got off the lounger and jumped into the pool, splashing a bit of water on the older woman. “You should join me. I bet one of the bikinis would fit close enough.”
“I can’t believe you’re not more upset by all of this!”
Annette shrugged. “It is what it is.” Though what exactly it was, she still wasn’t one hundred percent sure. Given that she’d been pulling nonsense out of her ass at the club the other night and hadn’t even known what a safe word was, she had no real idea what could happen in the Russian’s care.
If she’d paused to think about it, she probably could have figured out the safe word thing. But she’d never thought that far into it. She’d watched a few pornos with some kink to get ideas for dirty things to whisper in men’s ears over the phone, but she hadn’t studied the lifestyle in any meaningful way. Though she was pretty sure even if she had that whatever bastardized version of it Anton was using wouldn’t have been very familiar anyway.
“Do you have family?” Annette asked.
“No.”
“Close friends who will miss you?”
“I have a cat.”
“She’ll starve,” Annette said, actually feeling concern about the issue.
“No, she’s a mostly outdoor cat. She’ll survive.”
Brian came outside then with dangerous purpose in his eyes. “You two planning your escape?” he asked, carefully assessing each of them as if he could read minds by staring hard enough.
Phyllis looked guilty, but Annette said, “Not me.”
He slapped a silver metal bracelet around Phyllis’s wrist and then moved closer to the pool to put one on Annette.
“What is that thing?” Annette asked. She backed up a few feet outside his immediate reach. He’d have to get wet to reach her.
“Security. It keeps you on the property, inside the perimeter. If you cross the line… well, you don’t want to cross the line. It’s like a shock collar.”
She was glad she’d moved to the center of the pool. “I’m in the water! And I have to shower.”
“I had them specially made. They’re completely water safe. They don’t react at all to water.”
“How do you know?”
“I buy only the best tech, and I trust my guy. But they’ve also been tested. Submerged for hours. No harm to the bracelet, no zap.”
She was still wary. She didn’t trust the psychopath not to murder her by electrocution just for fun.
“Does Anton know you’re doing this?”
“Does Anton know you’re doing what?” Anton said, walking out onto the patio in a pair of black swim trunks.
“You’re home early,” Brian said.
“I wasn’t in the mood to work at the spa today, so I shifted my appointments to the other employees. So what does Anton need to know about?” he asked.
Brian held up the bracelet.
“He said it won’t hurt me in the water,” Annette said. “Did you know about them?”
“Yes, I knew. It won’t hurt you, kiska, I promise.”
She wasn’t sure why a promise from one criminal was so much better and more reliable than a promise from another, but she got out of the pool and dried off. Then she held out her wrist for Brian to lock the metal into place.
Phyllis gave her a dirty look and sulked off back into the house, slamming the door behind her.
“What’s wrong with her?” Brian asked.
“She doesn’t want to be an indoor kitty,” Annette said. And really, it wasn’t as though Annette were jumping up and down for joy over it. But it was the easiest thing. Ever since Anton had let Janette go, and especially since he’d let her talk on the phone to her that morning, she’d started to believe that as long as she held her end of the bargain, he would hold his.
Brian wandered back into the house, leaving her alone with Anton. He got into the pool, and when he’d waded in deep enough, he said, “Come back in the water with me, pet.”