Don’t worry about Janette. Janette thinks what she’s told to think.
The woman shook her head. “No, sweetie. I’m her twin, Annette.” Her mouth drew up in an annoyed fashion as if waiting for judgment to fall for having a rhyming name with her sister. Such a small identity difference when they already looked so much alike.
“Oh.” Vivian wasn’t sure what else to say. She was at least mildly comforted by the presence of another female. The woman appeared relatively healthy and not in any way traumatized.
Annette sat on the bed beside her. “I’m here to explain things and to answer any questions you may have.” She stroked her fingers through Vivian’s hair. Vivian flinched, then, realizing there was nothing sexual in the touch, she relaxed and let the other woman continue her ministrations.
The blonde took a deep breath and started a speech she’d probably given a hundred times at least. “You are here to be trained and sold as a piece of sexual property.”
Blunt. Jaded. No bedside manner.
“No!” was the only thing Vivian could think to say. It was the correct thing to say. But she wasn’t acting merely from what seemed proper. The sold part of the equation started a new sense of dread and unease, one more intense than she’d felt since her world had gone sideways.
“Shhhh.” Annette brushed a strand of hair out of Vivian’s eyes. “The man who brought you here is my master. I’m the only one he owns, the rest he trains and prepares for sale. You don’t need to be afraid. He does an intensive background check on prospective buyers before they’re allowed to take a girl home.”
Vivian couldn’t hold back the reflexive shudder. She looked at the collared woman with disgust. “How can you act as if this is okay? Anton is a monster. You don’t mind that he’s raping and then selling all these women into slavery? What kind of person are you?”
Annette’s eyes narrowed. “Look, sweetheart, he gave you plenty of chances to escape. You kept coming back.”
Vivian was quiet for a moment as she tried to picture Anton discussing her plight with the other woman. “He blackmailed me.”
The blonde made a phhpt sound. “Oh, please. If your husband truly loved you, he would have believed you. If he didn’t love you enough to even listen to your side, then why would you be with him in the first place? Easier to live a pampered existence than to forge your own path in life and take care of yourself? Face it, you want to be controlled. You want the choices taken from you so you don’t have to think about whether or not you made the wrong ones.”
Vivian could feel herself shattering. With everything that had happened and everything that was probably yet to come, the sting of this woman’s words were what made her come apart. To either have stayed away from Anton or embrace with self-possession the way he’d awakened her body, would have been honorable. But this? This horrible limbo where she could neither accept who she was, nor deny it. That was the worst.
The tears started to fall until her shoulders were shaking with it. Annette pulled the trembling woman into her arms. “He would have let you go if there had been any indication you didn’t ultimately need or want this.”
Vivian pulled back and searched the other woman’s eyes. “How can you know that?”
“Because he let my sister go. She’s one of very few women he’s been wrong about. When he touched her, she wasn’t excited or turned on. She was just scared. She wasn’t holding something tightly coiled inside of her like you were. He stopped, said he was sorry, and released her.”
Vivian’s mouth fell open. “Said he was sorry? Oh hey, I just molested you, and you didn’t secretly like it? Sorry I didn’t pick a more mentally fucked-up target?”
“It didn’t go that far. He stopped immediately. Janette came to me and told me what happened. Even though he hadn’t taken it far, she needed to talk, but she didn’t want to go to the police. I began dreaming about him. He starred in every sexual fantasy from that point until I sought him out. In the end I became his because I’m the only one who came to him without coercion.”
“What he’s doing is still wrong.” Vivian wasn’t about to accept a sugar-coated retelling of this freak show.
Annette shrugged. “From this point on you’ll have several trainers. My master doesn’t want girls to get too emotionally attached to him, or to bond with him or anyone else like they will with the man who buys them. You’ll address all men here as Sir. When you’re sold, you will address that man as Master unless he wants a different title or for you to address others that way.”
Even as the other woman’s words repulsed Vivian, they still tripped her wires, still made her wet and aroused. No matter how many times she tried to tell herself how wrong it was, she couldn’t make her body respond like a normal person.
“I want to go home,” Vivian said.
Annette laughed. “No you don’t.”
“You said Anton would let me go.”
“He gave you every chance to go. You chose not to. The choice is now out of your hands.”
Vivian wiped her face with the back of her hand, angry at herself for all the tears. “I miss Michael.” Michael was safe. Predictable.
“That feeling won’t last. What would your husband say if he knew you’d slept with Anton? You know you’ve been too complicit for too long. Mourn the relationship like a death if you must, but accept that it’s over.”
“Why can’t I just stay here? Why do I have to be sold?” The truth that she wouldn’t be released was finally sinking in, but she was still bargaining, hoping for a lighter sentence.
“You need a master who can properly care for you and bond with you, perhaps even love you if you please him.”
“Does your master love you?”
“Yes. I think he does.”
“And do you love him?”
The smile on the blonde’s face spoke of her honesty. “I do.”
“What right do you, or Anton or anyone else have to dictate what I need? Surely there are plenty of women out there who might sign up for something like this voluntarily.” Vivian had seen her fair share of websites where people did more than just play at being kinky.
“And those women will find what they need without our help.”
“Help. Right. You’re all a bunch of sick fucks. Especially Anton. Your master is a psycho.” It was like she’d fallen into a cult where the order of the day was bizarre rationalizations.
Annette got off the bed then, clearly fed up. Anger and hurt warred behind her eyes as she crossed to the door and pushed a red button.
A few minutes later, the door opened to reveal Anton. Annette dropped to her knees.
“Leave us, pet,” he said as his cold gaze met Vivian’s.
“Yes, Master.”
Annette left and Anton came in, the door shutting behind him with a heavy thud.
“I understand you haven’t had the same amount of time as others to acclimate before being brought here. However, it’s hurtful for her to hear you talk about me like that. If I ever hear you speak to my slave in that manner again, you might have permanent scars by the time I’m finished with you. Do you understand?”