“It’s how our life works from now on. If you want to go somewhere, I go with you. You don’t leave the property without me.”
“That’s pretty much how things are already.”
He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. “Well, now I’ve said it out loud.”
“So I’m your captive?”
“Yes.”
“But...I have a safeword and can leave whenever I want?”
He glared into the fire. “You stay with me.”
Should she be afraid? He couldn’t mean it the way it sounded, right?
“Go to bed.”
She edged closer to him. “But...now?”
“Goodnight, Miss Korsgaard. Remember that you don’t have permission to touch yourself.” He turned his attention to the fire, dismissing her without another word or any sign of affection.
She crept away, thumbing the collar around her neck. It was only after she showered off the come and streaks of blood that she looked in the mirror and realized he must have made the thing. It was smooth steel with deliberate scorch marks – ugly and matching the look of his bikes. If anyone who knew his work saw the collar, they’d know whom she belonged to.
A shiver trembled through her lower belly.
The collar was bad enough, but the words stamped into them – even reading them backward in the mirror made her guts knot with fear and lust.
Property of Severin Leduc.
*
“Let me know if you need me to get you out.”
Even over the phone, she could tell Rodrigo wasn’t okay with her decision to stay. She leaned back in Severin’s comfy leather desk chair, twirling the old-fashioned phone’s cord around her finger and watching the rain come down outside. This whole room smelled clean and manly, and it made her want to stay there for hours and daydream about sex.
“Oh, like you’re going to fly back from Italy and stage a prison break?” She laughed lightly, trying to pretend she wasn’t nervous about staying. Severin making her nervous was part of the excitement of being with him, but she had to admit things with him were getting a bit scary. “Stop worrying about us and have fun. If we’ve gotten through things okay so far, we’ll be fine.”
He grumbled something in Spanish that she didn’t understand then sighed.
“I love that idiot to death – you know that even if he doesn’t get it – but if he wrecks things with you irreparably he’ll never forgive himself.” His voice lowered, as though Severin might overhear his half of the conversation. “And then there’s you, preciosa. Just because he dominates you doesn’t mean he gets to do anything he wants. Don’t let him bully you.” He mumbled something else she didn’t catch.
She laughed. “Ro, this isn’t my first rodeo. You don’t have to tell me how to handle a bull. If things get too crazy, I’ll just leave the ring.”
“See? That’s the problem. I’m afraid you’ll end up so brainwashed out there alone with him that you won’t realize things have gone too far. Hell, I don’t know many women who wouldn’t have left already.” He cleared his throat. “He’s not even the easiest person to be friends with – I can’t imagine being his submissive.”
“I’m fine. He’s suffering right now, and I get that. He just needs some time, and someone to be here to help him through it.”
“Right now you’re not just his employee and his girlfriend, you’re his slave, and his therapist, and his...everything. He’s obsessed with you, even though he’s trying to pretend he doesn’t care.”
“He’ll settle down again. He just doesn’t know how to process everything he’s feeling. He’s afraid I’ll leave but sometimes he also wants me to hurry up and go before he gets too emotionally invested.”
“You’re young, Minnow, and maybe too optimistic for your own good. I can’t make this decision for you, but just remember that you can’t save him. He’s a grown man and set in his ways.”
“He doesn’t need to change. He just needs someone to teach him how to trust.”
“I think that part of him is broken. His stupid birth family broke it. He’s hinted to me that something bad happened before they threw him out, but no matter what it was, I think the worst part for him has been feeling like he was disposable – like he wasn’t worth having and wasn’t worth entrusting to someone else.”
Minnow’s throat thickened. She pulled the baby picture of Severin she carried in her hoody pocket and looked at the trusting little face with the big silly grin. What the hell had happened? In the picture, he had pulled himself up to stand in a beautiful crib in a beautiful room. He was wearing an expensive-looking summer shorts and button-down shirt set. Like the royal baby pictures posted in Time magazine. There was nothing in the picture that suggested he’d been unwanted.