I found Lisa sitting outside on the terrace staring out at the city. It was raining pretty hard. She looked deep in thought.
“Hey.” I wanted a smoke but it’d have to wait since she was out there.
“They really did a number on her. And for me to think that… whoa.”
I nodded, “What happened? What caused that?”
“Well, the tables got a little turned. She didn’t wanna talk. But I guess I did so I did. I cried a little and didn’t say a whole lot about Kruna but I sort of talked about how hard it was to keep my secret and how everything I’d buried was now eating me alive and about how much I miss my husband. She was trying to comfort me. She’s really sweet, Dare. She really is a great person, I can tell. Anyway, I joked that if she was ever up for some trash talking of the people there I’d be game. She was actually game so it started off kinda funny, names she was speaking were ones I hadn’t uttered out loud in over 2 years but she was laughing, loving the shit I was saying, the impressions of them. It was inside jokes that only her and I would ge
t but it was awesome. It felt like a release for me and I could tell for her too but then I said a certain name and before anything else came out of my mouth, she had a flip out.”
“What was the name and what’s the story?”
“Donavan. Donavan Frost. He’s very high up at Kruna. One of the highest, if not the highest. He’s cruel. He’s relentless. He’s a severe sadist. He put everyone on rotation so you’d get him every few months and trust me when I say you needed the break in between. He must’ve been particularly awful to her, deeply traumatized her. Just the mention of his name…” she trailed off and got a faraway look.
I clenched my jaw, “What else do you know about him?”
It took her a second to reply. She was clearly digging through some not-so-nice memories.
“He’s probably late 30’s or early 40’s, handsome. Looks a bit like Rob Lowe, tall, like 6 foot 5, built. Twice that I know of he took it too far and really hurt girls. One died from asphyxiation. The other wound up with several broken bones and they had to bring in a surgeon for her. He is vicious. He sprained my wrist. You’d spend time with him and you’d be black, blue, and emotionally traumatized.”
“Okay. You okay? Seeing her flip out like that must’ve shaken you up good?”
“I’m okay now. I’m sorry to say this but you have to control those outbursts. You can stop them from happening or you can nip them in the bud quickly if you see one coming on. You need to. If she has those freak-outs in public it won’t be good. You say she was considered exemplary, she’s not being exemplary. She’s broken and her Master is probably the only one who can fix her. You’ll do that with a firmer hand.”
“What the fuck?”
“I know how that sounds but you have power over her. You’re her Master. She will do what you tell her to do. That’s why I waited for you to get here and just stayed near. She needed you. You. You getting her out of there and taking a fish out of water so fast like that… it fractured her armor and she’s cracking under the pressure. She needed prep. She will act how you tell her to act. You order her not to freak out and it’ll stop. I’m telling you this because it will. You have to be her Master, Dare. She needs that.”
“So you’re saying I need to control her, keep her broken? The fuck, Leese?”
“No, listen…you have the power to fix her. You just have to take your time doing it. They systematically broke her. She became a robot. You rescued her and got her out and she’s trying to adapt but you have no idea what it’s like for her to be out of there, trying to function after all that. You can systematically put her back together. I’ve done reading on this and I experienced it. I’m a switch, Dare, and back at Kruna for a while before I left they had me work with their trainers to help work on broken subs. I went through their slave to wife transition training too, and I had a slow transition back into society when your father brought me here. Tom knew what he was doing and I transitioned well. Be firm, be caring, give her what she needs from you and then wean her off it with more good, less discipline, more freedom. You have to look at this the way you’d train an animal because that’s what she was reduced to. Reacting and staying in line to avoid punishment plus getting positive reinforcement as well. She needs you right now. I know you don’t want to cause her any hurt but she’s hurting more this way. You can do this in a way that will rebuild her. Think about what I’ve said. If you need me or if she needs me, I’m there.”
“Thanks. Ditto.”
She gave me a kiss on the cheek. I saw her to the front door and then I went back out and had a cigarette, astonished. The authoritative tone Lisa had taken and telling me she was a switch, meaning she could be domme or sub was a mind fuck for me. But it was obviously my good fortune because Lisa’s insight could maybe help me get Angel better.
I went back into the bedroom. Angel was asleep. I glanced at the clock and saw we didn’t have to be to Luc & Ed’s for dinner for hours. That whole event was fucking exhausting. How did I even get hard in the middle of that? How the fuck could I be her Master, her actual Master? Was is possible to do that, be that to her and slowly wean her off that behavior? How long would it take? And at the end what would I be left with? I had to try. I’d get her better, wean her off that slave mindset, and maybe it’d mean I could also get some of the information I needed, too.
I shook her gently, “Baby?”
“Yes, Dare?” she answered sleepily.
“Tell me right now who Donavan Frost is. Do not freak out.”
“Dare, please, I…”
“Tell me. Right the fuck now. Don’t ‘Dare, please’ me. From now on when I ask you questions I need answers. I know you’re having trouble but that’s how it’s gotta be. I’ll be as gentle as I can, baby, but tell me. Now. Right now.”
She didn’t hesitate, “I was his full-time personal slave for my first seven months at Kruna.”
“Seven months?”
“Yes.”
“In seven months you were only with him?”
“It wasn’t always just him but he was always there, always making me---” she stopped.