Page 74 of His Turn

Chapter Twenty - Nadia

Later, when I’m alone, and after Bric dressed me up in the promised sweats and had a car drive me home—not him, mind you, but a service. Dick—I think about that note.

I want to be owned.

I actually laughed when I read it. “This,” I said, “is the best you can do?” There were moments when I actually felt sorry for Bric’s game. Or lack thereof.

But they were brief moments.

“It’s powerful enough for me,” he’d said. “And you can tell yourself that making this little fact public won’t bother you a bit. But you’d be lying.”

“I don’t want to be owned, Bric.”

“Elias,” he corrected me. “And you definitely do. This note proves it. Besides, it won’t matter. People will believe it. They’ll see you differently, Nadia.” He whispered that last part. “They’ll see you as pathetic, and stupid, and weak.” He leaned into my ear for the second half of that threat.

And then he drew back and smiled at me. “Of course it’s a lie. You’re none of those things.” He shrugged. “But will it matter?”

Dick.

Now, I’m sitting in my apartment holding a hot cup of tea in my hands, staring out the window, eyes blurring the city lights in front of me, thinking up ways to get even with him.

Because he’s right. People will believe that note even though it’s not true. And maybe they never say anything to me, or anyone else. It doesn’t matter. They have that note in their head and I will turn into this pathetic, stupid, weak person that Bric made me into.

He’s not going to get away with this. Never. I will die fighting before I will let him change people’s perception of me.

Plan something, Nadia. Now.

OK, calm. I’m calm.

He wants to believe he can control me. Dominate me. Bend me to his will. Make me submit. But he needs to believe he’s the reason it’s happening. Because I’m not naturally submissive, right? I’m like him. We’re two sides of the same coin. So if he can get me to bend that makes him… special.

Oh, Elias Bricman. I have you now, honey. You want to be special? I can make you feel special. I can fuck with your head just as much as you can fuck with mine.

I grab my phone and press his contact number.

He picks up on the first ring. “Hello, Nadia.”

“Hello… Elias.”

“Is everything all right?”

“Perfect,” I say. “But…” I pause. Count the seconds until he gives in and has to ask.

“But? What?”

“I’m sorry,” I say. “For those slaps. And being difficult earlier. I know I apologized already, but I don’t think it was sincere enough. So I’d like to try again.”

If he were here in front of me, I’d see that eyebrow shoot up his forehead in surprise. But he’s not. So I just imagine it instead.

“I’m not sure if I believe you more now, or then,” Bric says.

“And I just want to say goodnight. And thank you,” I add. It’s a nice touch. “For the great New Year’s Eve experience. I haven’t talked to Jordan yet but he’ll probably come for lunch tomorrow so I’ll tell him then.”

“He’s busy tomorrow,” Bric says.

“Oh,” I say, adding in a wistful sigh.

“He called me a little while ago and told me to tell you he won’t be around this week. But we’re gonna house-hunt without him.”