by Kitty Thomas
There was a hesitance in her reply, though Leo guessed the hesitance wasn’t about the title he’d insisted on. From the look in her eyes, she was afraid of what she might have to do to earn the food. He brushed a stray tear off her cheek and put a plate on her lap. Max repositioned himself on the floor beside her feet, looking up at Leo with accusation in his gaze. Or maybe Leo imagined it, needing someone to disapprove of his actions. No one else in the house would.
If a dog was to be his moral compass, so be it.
He sat across from her with a plate of his own, watching as she hesitantly brought the sandwich to her lips. God knew what kind of fears the poor girl harbored. And he couldn’t promise that at least a few of them wouldn’t come to pass. Though there existed sadists far worse than him, if she was a complete vanilla, any of it was going to terrify her. And on some level that excited him more.
“You’ll share this room with me.” Leo pointed to the far end of the room. “That closet is empty, so you can use it for your things when they get here. It shouldn’t be long now.”
Faith’s hand shook as she raised the sandwich to her lips.
“Are you listening to me?”
She looked up, her face alert like a rabbit about to be pounced upon. “Y-yes, Master.”
He smiled at the remembered title. She was so sweet. Given her attempt at fighting both him and his brother, he’d been surprised when so little pain and threat had resulted in obedience. He’d expected attitude and mouthiness at least, but she was surprising him. Even if she didn’t classify it as a kink, there was a submissive current that ran through her like electricity, a deep need to appease a stronger party.
“You just want to stay safe, don’t you? That’s why you’re being so agreeable.”
“Yes, Master. P-please don’t hurt me.” She chanced a look into his eyes. “Please.”
He tried not to let her pleading affect him. “Ignoring for a moment the circumstances of your presence here, do you find me attractive?”
“Please don’t make me answer that.”
“Because you’re afraid to make me angry?”
She looked down at her hands. “No, Master.”
“I see.” So she was attracted. “I’m not going to fuck you for a while. Be a good girl and you have nothing to fear from me. And… you’re allowed to speak.”
“I don’t have anything to say.”
When Angelo had been assessing his type, he should have remembered Leo liked conversation. Before he could have much time to brood over this, there was a short knock on the door.
“Come in.”
As the door pressed open, a gray cat with a face that looked like it had been flattened trotted into the room, meowing angrily at the sight of another animal lying at her owner’s feet. Despite the flattened face typical of its breed, it was cute.
Faith looked up, relieved to see her pet. Instead of coming up to her, the cat bypassed her to sniff and rub up against Leo’s legs. He picked her up and placed her in his lap, whereupon she began to purr as he stroked her.
“What’s her name?” Leo asked.
“Squish.”
He looked up, raising an eyebrow. “Squish?”
Faith shrugged. “Well, look at her face.”
Leo glanced at his watch. “I imagine you’re exhausted. Go ahead and do whatever you usually do before bed.”
***
Faith let out a slow breath. She was safe for a moment behind the locked door of the bathroom, holding a pile of things from her apartment in her arms. Could she wash her face and brush her teeth and floss like nothing scary was going on? Could she slip into her pajamas and get into bed with this man?
She went back to the question he’d asked about if she was attracted. Hell, yes she was. But she shouldn’t be. She was ashamed that she found him appealing on any level.
She should be kicking and screaming and fighting. She should be running. But she didn’t want to die. It was easier to be his slave in a mansion than run and wait to be gunned down in the streets. It was hard to hold the idea in her head that he was her captor when he was also her rescuer. The roles were too different. If she let herself, she’d forget the captor part and latch onto the rescuer part.
When she’d brushed and flossed and scrubbed her face and changed, she sat on the edge of the tub. She should go back out there. He might get angry and take this fantasy away if she stayed too long. But she couldn’t help it. She couldn’t make herself leave the room. It was easy to pretend he could forget about her in here and she could stay, unmolested forever.
But the knock on the door burst that irrational bubble. “Faith. Are you all right in there?”
She held back the hysterical laugh as it danced in her throat. Was she all right? She was so not all right. But she could never explain the reason she wasn’t all right was because none of this was playing out as she’d imagined it would. If he kept playing his hand like this, he might actually succeed in seducing her. The thought made her recoil.
When she opened the door, Leo blocked her path, wearing nothing but a sinister smile. She tried to avert her eyes from his impressive erection, tried not to hyperventilate. Not going to fuck her? Like hell he wasn’t going to fuck her. The next thing he’d be saying was “Don’t worry, I’ll just put the tip in.”
She was beginning to wish she’d gotten a lot more drunk tonight.
He gave her a once over then shook his head. “No.”
She forced herself to look at his face and nothing else. “No?”
“I don’t recall saying you could wear pajamas to bed. I want you naked.”
She took several steps backward. “E-excuse me?” What happened to his promise to leave her unmolested for a while? Did “a while” translate into fifteen minutes in his world? “I-I thought you said…”
“I said nothing about sleeping attire. Take it off.”
His words were clipped and hungry… nearly a growl. If she did what he said and took it off, what would protect her from him? Nothing. But what was protecting her from him now? Did she think her pajamas had magical powers?
“Leo, please…”
His eyes glinted dangerously as he gripped her wrist and pulled her closer, causing his hard-on to brush against her thigh.
“What did we say about that? Address me properly.”
“Master. I-I meant Master, please… I can’t…” How could she disrobe in front of him? She couldn’t make herself do it. It wasn’t that she wanted to enrage him or bring retribution on herself, she just couldn’t do it. Spinning through her head were thoughts of her foster father with whiskey on his breath, cornering her in a back bedroom at a party, trying to pull her top over her head moments before they were thankfully interrupted.
Her foster father had only wanted to look, too. And yet she’d known that his horrible hands would be on her the moment her breasts sprang free of the shirt.
No one was going to rescue her tonight with Leo. And there was no scholarship with her name on it, paving a path to freedom in a distant city. This was the end of the line.
She let herself be led into the bedroom and didn’t protest when he sat on the edge of the bed beside her. It didn’t occur to her to try to struggle again until he’d put her over his lap and ripped her pajama pants down. Faith gasped as his hand landed solidly on her bottom. She reached back to protect herself, but he gripped her wrist and squeezed hard.
“Never shield yourself. Do you understand?”
She couldn’t reply because he kept spanking her. It was painful, of course, but the pain was hard to process in light of the shock and humiliation of the event. She couldn’t believe she’d thought he’d continue to be kind. Did every man in the world just want to hit and take advantage of her? “Please …”
“Do you understand?”
She wanted to claw or bite or kick him, but such acting out would get her hurt more so she whispered, “Yes, Master.”
She shuddered in revulsion when a finger slipped inside her,
but then he released her. She scrambled back to the head of the bed, huddling against the headboard, holding herself in a ball as if it would protect her from him. A few minutes passed before he spoke again.
“Why are you still dressed? I don’t want to hurt you. I want you to obey me.”
She couldn’t contain it anymore. All of her resolutions to be agreeable and obedient and hope for mercy evaporated in the face of her recent humiliation. “You’re already hurting me. You brought me here against my will with no hope of freedom and now you’re stripping me and hitting me. It’s too late to pretend like you’re good. You intend to rape me, and you expect me to happily go along with it!”
He reeled back like she’d slapped him but quickly recovered. “You have exactly thirty seconds to be naked. If you fail to comply, I will show you what true pain is.”
The only difference between this man and her foster father was his looks. If Leo would only be kind to her and give her some time, she could see herself willingly going into his arms, but that fantasy was gone.
Before he could unleash the wrath he’d promised, she peeled off the T-shirt and sweatpants and covered her bare breasts with her arms.
“Panties,” he said, ignoring her attempt at modesty.
She wanted to beg again, but the look in his eyes told her it was pointless. She took off the last scrap of clothing and squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the inevitable.
“Get in the bed.”
Although she was afraid of what was coming next, it was at least an opportunity, however momentary, to cover her nudity with blankets, so she took it.
Leo shut off the lights and got under the covers.
She waited, her breath barely going in and out of her lungs. She waited for his hands to be on her, trying not to be horrified by the idea. She was too scared of him right now to be attracted. If he fucked her, he’d rip her, she was so dry.
“Are you going to cry all night?” His voice was gentle, in contrast to the content of his words. The words themselves were callous and unfeeling, but he delivered them with a kind of compassion that confused her terribly.
Faith had tried to be quiet, hoping he was already asleep and couldn’t hear her. As each minute had passed, she’d become more hopeful that he’d stay on his side of the bed, but she couldn’t help the tears.
“I’m sorry, Master.”
He got up, and she tensed. But a few minutes later, a warm bundle of purring fur was in her arms. Then he got back in bed.
“Thank you,” she said, not sure what to do with the odd gesture. It occurred to her that she hadn’t thanked him for sending someone out after her things and her cat. She’d been too surprised by the action, too happy to see Squish. And it had been hard for her to think it was appropriate to show gratitude to this criminal.
“Go to sleep,” he said.
Squish curled under her chin, and Faith allowed the rumbling purr to lull her to sleep.
***
Leo stared at the moon shining in through the large windows, gritting his teeth as Faith’s breath evened out in sleep, the cat still purring in her arms. It was so simple. She was attracted to him. She was desperate to stay safe. That equation should have added up right.
But the amount of terror she’d experienced at a mild spanking told him all he needed to know. If there had been any doubt, when he’d slipped his finger inside her, he’d known. She’d been dry. No arousal. No reaction. She wasn’t kinky. Not even a little bit.
In a perfect world, Faith would have had secret fantasies about being dominated her whole life. She would have tried to resist, but her body would betray her.
No matter how scared and upset she was, her cunt would have been at least a little wet. Her clit would be swollen. She’d be flushed and flustered. If she already found him physically attractive, which she’d admitted to, a mild spanking would have her body reacting to him in a favorable way. Instead it had upset her so much he’d thought she might hyperventilate.
Bringing the cat to her had been the one thing he could think of that might calm and settle her so she could sleep. And so he could.
Chapter Four
Leo woke late in the afternoon to find Faith sitting up in bed, her knees drawn to her chest and the blankets wrapped tightly around her. She cowered when he looked at her.
“Did you sleep okay?”
“Y-yes, Master.”
An obvious lie. She was too afraid for truth. If anything, in the light of day her anxiety was heightened. Her eyes were red-rimmed.
“Go take a shower and get dressed. We’ll go down to the kitchen for something to eat.”
She remained frozen against the headboard, and Leo frowned.
“Do you want to start your day off with punishment?”
“P-please, Master, no. I-I… please don’t look at me.”
This was not going well. She felt violated just being naked in his presence. Even if he didn’t touch her. It had been one night, nudity, and one spanking, and she already acted like some tormented refugee. If he pushed her farther, she might retreat inside herself and never come back out. The idea that he was damaging her with such small actions was another nail in the not-kinky coffin.
His fantasies meant nothing in light of the very real human being he was ruining with them. The slight weight of her body lifted off the bed, and she scurried into the bathroom and shut the door. The click of the lock snicked into place.
Leo opened his eyes. A moment later she shot out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her, into the closet to retrieve clothes, and then back to the bathroom like a frightened mouse.
While she was in there, he grabbed some clothes of his own and went down the hall to another bathroom to shower and get ready. During the night he’d dreamed of her. In the dreams she was sweetly submissive, obeying his every command, becoming aroused when he delivered pain, desperate to please him and getting off on it.
The gap between the dream and the reality was so disappointing he could kill his brother for doing this to him. Nevertheless, he closed his eyes and stroked himself in the shower, thinking of Dream-Faith, the girl he wished his captive could have been but so clearly wasn’t. Even if he planned to torture himself today with an attempt to slowly draw her into his world, he already knew it would be fruitless. And the cost to her would be higher than he could stomach.
He found himself angry, not just with his brother, but with Faith. As if it were her fault she wasn’t kinky. As if she could be blamed for being afraid of him. His feelings were unreasonable, but still, the anger built as he jerked himself off.
After showering, he came back to the bedroom to find her on the edge of the bed like an animal caught in a trap with nowhere to go. His anger faded, replaced by a pain in the center of his chest. I did this to her. And in only one night.
She wore jeans and a T-shirt. Her feet remained bare except for the gauze which had gotten wet in the shower. Leo went to the bathroom and took a first aid kit from the closet.
“I need to look at your feet and change your bandages.”
Reluctantly, she uncurled her body. But before he looked at her feet, Leo pulled her into his arms and stroked her hair. She resisted at first, her body tense and uncertain, then she let go of everything and sobbed against him. So young. With her whole life ahead of her. Or that was how it should have been. That was what his brother had stolen, what Leo had stolen. He held her until she settled. Then he took one of her feet in his hands and began to unwrap the bandages.
None of the cuts had been particularly deep, even though he’d had to dig some glass out of her flesh the previous night. She was walking on it okay, but her fears may have been drowning out any pain she was feeling. He carefully cleaned the wounds, applied more ointment, and rewrapped her feet in fresh gauze.
When he was finished, he stood and offered his hand. It took every ounce of courage she had on reserve to put her hand into his.
“We’re going down for food, nothing scary,” he said.
Leo led her down to the kitchen and found some leftovers in the fridge. He reheated them in the microwave and indicated a seat for her at the table. Usually the servants waited on him, but they’d honed amazing instincts over the years and had made themselves scarce. Whether they did it for Leo or for Faith, he wasn’t sure.
“I hope you like lasagna,” he said, growing more uncomfortable with her silence.
“Y-yes, Master.”
He wondered if she’d ever be able to say it without the stutter or the tremble in her hands that accompanied speaking to him.
“What would you like to drink?” If he wanted to have any shot at all with this, he had to make small gestures, occasionally give her the illusion of choices.
With any other sub, he would have had her on her knees by now. He wouldn’t have given her any food or drink options. But Faith wasn’t any other sub. She wasn’t a sub at all. She was his prisoner. His slave. And now the word felt dirty.
“C-can I have orange juice?”
“With lasagna?”
“I’m s-sorry. W-whatever you want to give me is fine.”
He put a plate and fork in front of her, and put his food in to nuke it. Then he went to the fridge and, with some trepidation, poured the juice. “No, if you want orange juice, you may have it. It just doesn’t sound very appealing.” A horrifying thought struck him then. “Are you pregnant?”
Her eyes shot up to his. “N-no, Master. I just like the taste.”
Strange, but if it would add to her comfort, he’d let her have it. Even if he had to fight not to be sick over the odd combination. At least it was simply a quirk and not a pregnancy symptom. The idea of having her here against her will would be worse with a baby growing inside her and then a small child running around.
The meal was silent. Faith looked lost inside her own fear and anticipation over what he might do to her, and Leo couldn’t bring himself to make small talk. Finally he said, “Perhaps I should go over my expectations.”
Her eyes darted up to his, and the fear was back louder. Leo tried to ignore it.
