“Just fucking kill the bastard,” she said, surprising herself at the amount of venom in her voice. Mina might not be the only one with a switch. Brian clearly had this effect on people, as if his sociopathy were a contagion on the air.
“How would you feel if Mina killed me?” They both knew why he hadn't used Brian in that example.
“Mixed feelings right now,” she said.
Lindsay's laugh rumbled against her. “I love you so much, Shannon. And that's why you have to go. You know you have to go. Damian will be good to you. He will love you, and you will love him. I know it hurts now but...”
Shannon pulled away from him. “No. Fuck you. No. You don't need this fucking house. You don't need the job in the city. You're rolling in money. Let's just GO. Far from here. We can run away and be together.”
Lindsay shook his head sadly. He'd already made up his mind. It was clearly visible in the stress lines on his face.
“I treated Brian for a long time. I know him better than almost anyone in the world. Maybe as well or better than Mina does. And I know without any doubt that he would stalk us and find us. There is no place on this earth we could go where he wouldn't eventually find us. He will not allow us to be happy together.”
“Well then won't he just come after me if I'm with Damian?”
Lindsay shook his head. “It's not about hurting you, not really. He just doesn't want me to have you. If I give you to Damian, he'll let it go because either way I can't have you, and that's what he wants—to take something from me.”
“We could still see each other. You could come see me at Damian's house? Or I could see you at your office?” She knew she was grasping. She knew there was no part of him that could do that. It would be too painful for both of them to have such small stolen moments, always in hiding from Brian.
“If I was with you, even for a little while, I'd be happy. And Brian would know, and you wouldn't be safe. He won't stop unless he knows you're out of my life. This vendetta he's built up in his head toward me, it's not reasonable but it doesn't matter. He's not reasonable.”
She knew he was right but she didn't want him to be right. She didn't want to just be a piece on somebody else's chess board being molded and shaped and managed by the men around her. She laid her head against Lindsay's chest and sobbed.
73
It was after ten pm when Damian arrived at the house. He parked his BMW in the circular driveway and turned off the ignition. Lindsay's directions had been surprisingly easy to follow given the isolation of this place. Who the hell built a mansion like this out in the middle of nowhere? He took several deep breaths to calm himself.
He didn't know who he was more angry with, the vicious psychopath for hurting her again, or Lindsay for letting her live in the same house with that rabid animal. He took another deep breath. After what she'd just been through, being out of control would only scare her more. Even after the weekend they'd just shared, Damian was under no illusions about how this would go down.
Lindsay had no doubt decided not to even tell her about the plan for all three of them. Now that the plan was dead on arrival, what would be the point? So she just thought she was being thrown away again. Lindsay. That fucking asshole.
But it was hard to hold onto that anger knowing what he was about to possess. He got out of the car and locked the doors with a quick press of a button on his key ring, then he rang the doorbell of the large estate.
A blond man in his thirties answered the door. “You must be Damian,” he said. “They're in Lindsay's office. This way.”
The guy didn't bother introducing himself and quite frankly Damian didn't give a shit what his name was. Damian followed him through the house. Several young women in their early twenties stood in groups along the walls, checking him out and whispering. They all wore casual colorful sweatshorts and strappy t-shirts like they were having a sleepover.
The blond guy knocked on a door down one of the hallways on the main floor.
“Come in,” Lindsay called from the other side.
The blond guy went back toward the front of the house and Damian stepped inside, closing the door behind him.
This office was smaller than the one in the city. Lindsay sat in a large leather swivel chair behind the desk and looked up to acknowledge him. It was grim in here. Shannon sat in the chair opposite from Lindsay. She hadn't bothered to look up at Damian. She sat quietly crying—like her world had just broken apart.
And even though she could have died tonight, Damian didn't think she was crying about that. She was crying about this. What was about to happen.
“Come here,” Lindsay said to her.
She slowly got out of the chair, wiped the tears off her face, still avoiding looking at Damian, and went to where Lindsay sat. He didn't tell her to but she knelt in front of him and laid her head on his thigh, her small hand stroking him through his pants as if she could coax him with sex to keep her.
“Please, Master, don't do this. I don't want to go.”
Lindsay didn't say anything to that, he just reached around her throat and removed the collar. That action resulted in full-on sobbing.
“No!” She reached for it, but Lindsay held it out of her reach. He put the collar in a black velvet box and put it inside the desk drawer.
Then his hand was on her upper back, resting there. He stroked her hair. “You belong to Damian, now,” he said. “You have to accept this. Obey me this one last time and go with him.”
She finally looked up, her face red from crying, tear-streaked. Her gaze found Damian as if he were a complete stranger she hadn't spent the weekend with. As if they hadn't bonded. As if they hadn't laughed together.
He tried not to let it bother him. Of course she didn't want to leave Lindsay. She obviously loved him.
When she didn't make a move, Lindsay looked at Damian and nodded. Damian sighed and went over and pulled her up off the ground. She shrieked like a banshee and flailed. Lindsay made eye contact again and then looked pointedly at a paddle hanging on the wall beside the desk. This time it was Damian who nodded.
“Hold her,” Damian said.
Lindsay gripped her wrists and held her in place. Their eyes locked together. She didn't realize what was about to happen. She just knew that her master's attention was on her once again.
Damian swung the paddle. It landed with a hard crack against her ass, the sound filling the small room. She let out a howl and struggled against Lindsay's grip, no doubt wanting to rub the sting out.
“Are you going to calm your ass down, or do you want more?” Damian asked, his tone hard.
She turned to him, a hurt look of betrayal in her eyes, like he was breaking some kind of promise to her. But he'd told her he would punish her.
“Let's go,” Damian said. He was too angry about this entire situation to use the soothing voice with her, even though he knew he should use the soothing voice with her.
Lindsay released her wrists.
“I'm not leaving,” Shannon said. As if she had the power to decide that.
Lindsay rose from his chair and moved to a cabinet. Shannon's wary focus was on Damian. She looked ready to fight, scream, kick, do whatever it took to keep him from taking her. How the fuck was he going to get her home in this state?