“I already said I wouldn't.”
“Well, now I know you won't.”
“What makes you think I won't just kill you right now and then take this little conversation out on Shannon until I get bored playing with her?”
Lindsay just stood there, lost for words for a moment.
“I see the light has finally dawned,” Brian said. “But nice speech. Real scary.”
Lindsay started to reply but Brian interrupted him before he could speak.
“I always knew I was right about you. You're a dangerous dog that needs to be put down. But I won't. For her,” Brian said.
“Mina?”
“No, Shannon,” he ground out. “After tonight I realize that I actually like that girl. She's on my list now.”
“Your list?”
“The protect list. The no touching list. The very very short list of people that I'm not going to snap and go rabid on. The list. Besides, she's Mina's friend.” He sighed. “It would hurt Mina, and I promised her years ago I would try to avoid hurting her even indirectly. If I killed Shannon, it would probably hurt my relationship with Mina.”
Lindsay laughed at that. A cold laugh. “He finally learns cause and effect and consequences.”
“Look, I'm not a fucking idiot, Doc. I can do long term planning and thinking just as well as you.”
“So it would seem we're at a stalemate,” Lindsay said, not liking the direction this conversation had turned or that Brian would consider him in a class that was more dangerous than himself. And not as a compliment.
“You don't touch Mina. I don't touch Shannon, and everybody gets to live another day. Seems pretty clear to me,” Brian said.
He spit on the ground barely missing the Italian leather of Lindsay's shoes. Then he turned on his heel and disappeared down the hallway.
Lindsay sighed again and went down to his office to call Damian. He'd be wanting his car back and an explanation.
When Damian woke, she was gone. The space on the bed was cold beside him so she'd been gone for a long time. Probably hours. He hadn't felt her get out of bed or heard her leave. He let out a long sigh. At least there weren't any cops busting down his door, and no blue lights.
The thing about his house was: nothing could happen outside that he couldn't see—if he was awake, anyway. But the police didn't tend to leave and come back later if they wanted to arrest you. So that was that? This was over, then?
He had no idea how the alarm hadn't woken him. Had she actually figured out the code? Had she seen the numbers he punched in? He thought he'd been too quick for that, and she'd been too disoriented from the sedative still wearing off to see the code.
But he'd left the keys very visibly on the counter. She probably thought he'd been too cocky or too tired, but he'd left those keys for her. The truth was he did want to own her. Absolutely and truly. But he didn't think he had it in him to break her down piece-by-piece.
So he'd let her go. Actually, he'd be lying to himself if he said he hadn't wanted to wake and find her still in bed with him. He had wanted that. He'd hoped she'd come to see this was the best thing. Damian could take care of her. He could give her everything she wanted and needed. She could be his, and she could be happy. If she'd just let herself forget the doctor.
But he didn't want to keep her if all she wanted was to be with someone else.
She wouldn't go back to the house. Not after what had happened. Lindsay's decision had been very final, and Brian was too dangerous. She might want to, but she wouldn't. Damian was sure she wouldn't have gone to the police, either. But if she had, she'd decided not to implicate him.
He swallowed hard. Would she have implicated Lindsay and the house? Damian knew if she told anyone about the house, he was a dead man.
Fuck. What had he been thinking? He'd just wanted to give her one out. Because he wasn't a monster. He was sure she'd get halfway down the road and turn around and come back, realizing the futility, that there was nowhere for her to go and he was her best option. He wanted her to choose him. Then he would close off her options and never let her go.
He turned on the news. There was no story.
His phone rang. “Yes,” he said.
“You couldn't manage to keep one girl locked up?” Lindsay's tone was harsh.
Before Damian could figure out how to play this, Lindsay said, “She's here. Get your ass over here so we can figure out what to do with her.” The call disconnected.
Fuck.
Damian went downstairs and made some breakfast and some very strong coffee and ate and thought. The truth was, he thought she'd stay. He wanted her to feel it was the safe choice because of how loosely she was kept. Lindsay had warned him though. He'd said she needed to feel secure, and that much freedom wouldn't make her feel secure.
On the drive home with her, Damian had run through every possible scenario in his head. She couldn't and wouldn't go back to the house. That was madness. She may have once made an attempt on her own life but that was out of hopelessness, not some embedded death wish.
He'd also thought she wouldn't go to the police because what would she do after that? Where would she go? How would she take care of herself after having just disappeared from the face of the planet for eight years? The idea was absurd.
Damian was sure he was the only choice. She might be upset and sad for a while but they'd find that easy way between them again just like they had a couple of days before. Within a few weeks everything would be fine and she'd be firmly his. And it wouldn't involve breaking her or making her hate or fear him.
And that plan had gone off splendidly. Lindsay was going to fucking kill him. In fact, maybe he shouldn't go to the house at all. Damian hesitated in the garage next to one of his cars.
Fuck it. Lindsay knew where he lived, and Damian was not going to live his life on the run from a man he'd considered a friend. He got into the car, plugged the address into the GPS, and drove.
76
Shannon waited in the private dungeon Lindsay had set up on the far end of the house. She was naked, on her knees, legs spread, waiting for him. For them. Damian was on his way. Actually Damian had been at the house for a while now, Mina had come down to the dungeon and given her the heads up that they were discussing things, but she wouldn't give details. Maybe she didn't have them to give.
Shannon didn't know the specifics, but when Lindsay had come back to their room earlier he'd been absolutely sure she was safe with Brian now. She hadn't questioned that because she'd felt something shift in him when they'd had that encounter in Lindsay's office and he'd given her the key to the desk drawer.
The cell door opened. She heard two pairs of footsteps. She didn't look up. She was too afraid to look up. It had been a long time since Mina had come down here. She'd said there had been yelling and a long standoff of some sort as Damian and Lindsay worked out whatever issues they had between them. And now here the two men were, with whatever decree they'd decided upon. Whatever punishment. Whatever final outcome.
She held her breath, willing herself not to cry.
“Kitten, look at me.”