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“Of course, I can have her sent over immediately.”
“That would be wise.”
“Yes, master. Of course, master.”
“I’ll have the money wired within the next few minutes.”
When he hung up he alerted his security staff of the woman’s impending arrival. Closing his laptop, he made a second phone call to his bank, talked with the manager to exchange codes, and got the sum transferred.
A few minutes later, with Angelica by his side, he descended the stairs and opened the door to the woman who had serviced him so recently. Her eyes were wide with fear until she saw him; then she fell at his feet, sobbing. A stream of gratitude poured from her mouth.
Mathilde, his housekeeper, arrived with a robe in her hand and draped it over the woman. She had several bruises on her back. Some of the customers liked to get rough with the women.
A profound euphoria curled through Reyes that he’d finally been free enough to do what he’d felt an impulse to do a thousand times during the past several decades. From the moment he’d entered the sex-slave clubs he’d wanted to liberate every slave he’d encountered.
In some ways it felt insignificant, this sole woman when hundreds of thousands had died. Yet at the same time nothing was more important than the individual.
“What’s your name? Your real name?”
She lifted her face, wiping it on the robe. “Fei Yen.”
“Welcome, Fei Yen, to my home. This is my housekeeper, Mathilde, and she will take care of you. For the present, you will serve here.”
She glanced at Angelica, saw the chain around her neck, then lowered her eyes. “I understand.”
Reyes figured out her mistake immediately, that she believed she would be expected to service them both from now on. He remembered feeling that way for a long time after he’d escaped from Sweet Dove, that every look, request, gesture by a normal person he interpreted through his sex-slave experience.
He understood, so he took Fei Yen’s chin in his hand and lifted her gaze to meet his. “The only obligation you will have in my household from this time forth is to recover from your wounds and to do any small chores that my housekeeper will ask of you. And the only reason I have to insist on the latter is to make sure that I sustain my appearance in this world. Do you understand?”
“Yes.” But tears once more filled her eyes. “No.”
He could see she was in a state of shock and probably wouldn’t believe the reality of her situation for a long time. He nodded for Mathilde to lead her away.
He led Angelica slowly back up the stairs, knowing that he had just changed the woman’s life forever. Angelica took his arm and squeezed hard. Thank you for this.
He glanced at her and saw that her dark-brown eyes glistened with unshed tears. The chain at his neck vibrated softly, a pure reflection of her appreciation.
But he felt the same way, almost overcome. “I don’t think it would have occurred to me, so thank you. I know the sensation won’t last, but I swear my heart feels as though a terrible weight has been lifted.”
“You did good.”
“You don’t know how many times I’ve wanted to do exactly that.”
“What will happen to her?”
“I have a connection who helps rehabilitate sex slaves and return them to their former lives. When the time is right, I’ll send her to him.”
Once back in his sitting room, he scrubbed a hand through his hair. “I guess we’d better get going.”
Angelica settled a hand on his shoulder. “Not yet. Take a moment.”
He held her gaze, that same shining light still in her eyes. “What are you thinking?”
“That you’re an amazing man.” Then, just as she had done at the Ocean Club, she leaned up and kissed him.
He closed his eyes, savoring the sensation, aware that what translated through the chains had to do with her admiration for him, the respect she’d talked about earlier. He hadn’t bought the slave to gain Angelica’s approval, nothing like that. Yet he drank in her approbation like a cool drink on a hot summer day.
His desire for her rose, a tremendous wave of need that threatened to swamp him. But for just a moment he let it flow, letting her feel just how much he wanted her.
He surrounded her with his arms and drew her tight against his chest. She moaned softly, so that he deepened the kiss, sliding his tongue into her mouth.
She responded, moving her tongue against his, stroking in a sensual way that made him think so many things at once that he had to draw back.
All he’d done was kiss her and he was hard as a rock yet again.
He leaned his forehead against hers.
“Reyes,” she murmured.
He loved the sound of her voice. He couldn’t recall the last time he’d ever allowed himself to stop long enough to have that thought, that a woman’s voice could please him.
He’d been a lone wolf for a very long time, loping through the forest on a solitary track, hunting his prey.
Yet somewhere along the way Angelica had come into his life, an unexpected miracle who eased him.
But it was time to get to the boat parade. “I think I should warn you about something.”
He felt a quick spurt of her anxiety through the chains. “What’s that?”
“About the parade. There will probably be couples on the boats performing all sorts of sex acts. Just want you to be warned.”
She shook her head and turned in the direction of the hall. “Well, come on then. Let’s get me strapped into this heinous costume, then go celebrate with a bunch of pervs.”
###
Angelica could never have imagined an immense two-mile-long cavern, or a river sixty feet across flowing down the center, or a soft wind that blew constantly so that the air smelled fresh and clean.
She siphoned Reyes’s power in a steady stream now so that her vision kept improving. She stood beside him on a long wood deck at the river’s edge, and though the cavern was dark, she saw everything as though it were lit by a soft glow of light. Given the height of her stilettos, she nearly stood shoulder-to-shoulder with him.
Wait staff brought drinks around, and she was careful not to ask for anything or to look anyone in the eye. Reyes held a whiskey in his right hand but held her tethered to him with a leash that ran from his right wrist to the front of her choke collar.
For the occasion he wore a short black leather jacket, though this one had silver boa skin across the top of the shoulders and down the arms. It wouldn’t have been a first choice, but he looked amazing anyway. Besides, he fit in. This crowd didn’t hold back when it came to clothes, and some of the men wore strange snakeskin shoes that showed the heads of the snakes on the pointed tips.
