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CHAPTER 6
Hale
Everyone processes trauma differently. If I hadn’t already known that, I’d certainly heard Piper’s therapist repeat the mantra enough by now to have it down pat. It was probably a pipe dream to expect Piper’s first steps into the office, when I’d finally make my presence known, meant that she was ready for me.
My original plan hadn’t been anything so complex or nonsensical as all of this. I had intended to get her to the hospital, search out and destroy anyone involved in the trafficking ring that had abducted her, and then return to claim my little spitfire.
The process of getting to the top of the organization that had been kidnapping and selling young men and women was complicated. It took longer than I anticipated. Sure, I could have handed it off to my operatives and waited for them to do the heavy lifting. If it had been just a random victim, any of the hundreds my agents and I have recovered over the years, that’s exactly what I would have done. One look at Piper’s slight body huddled in a fetal ball on that filthy floor, and this became personal for me.
As the days passed and I wasn’t done dismantling the trafficking ring, Aullie agreed to keep tabs on Piper and get her moved into one of the condos in this building I own. My sweet spitfire has no idea that, not only is she being watched by me around the clock, but when she lays her head on her pillow every night, there’s nothing but few feet of air and some flooring separating the two of us.
Still, I’d meant to go to her immediately and make her understand she’s mine now. Only I’d heard her speaking to Aullie about her nightmares and fears of being locked away. It’s clear she needed therapy and space to recover from her ordeal. So instead of walking through the door and claiming my girl, I arranged for a therapist instead and came up with this notion of how to tell when she’s ready for all the things we’ll be together.
I’ve waited for her to enter the office and take the folder for weeks. In it are the details of her kidnapping, rescue, and the documents necessary to make her a financially secure woman. I’ve made provisions for her that include real estate, stock investments, and even majority shares in several businesses that will provide enough dividends that she’ll never have to worry about making ends meet. She could walk out of the condo tomorrow and know nothing but wealth for the rest of her days.
Not that she can actually walk away from me. Where she goes, I’ll follow. That’s how deep this obsession goes. Regardless, I want her to have the certainty she isn’t reliant on me or anyone else for her security. She’ll never need to know the lengths I’m willing to go to just to keep her.
To that end, while it’s adorable the way she’s got herself all hidden under the duvet in her bedroom, it’s time she pushes past her uncertainty and discovers the future I’m creating for us. I’ve been patient, so patient. The tether holding me back has snapped. She stepped through the door. Now, I get to claim her.
“Piper, there’s nothing to be afraid of. You’re safe. Now, read the documents in the folder, so you know what to expect and what’s expected of you.”
I know that will get a rise out of her. Countless times over the past months, I’ve heard her reminding both Aullie and the therapist that nothing comes free and how positive she is there will be a cost for the kindness she’s received. She’s not entirely wrong. I’ll collect a price. She’ll want to pay it. I’m committed to doing whatever it takes to show her that she’s mine. To make her crave belonging to me the way I crave her.
“I knew it! I knew this was all too good to be true. There’s always a catch.” Triumph rings in her voice, and I watch through the monitor as she thrusts her hand from under the blanket and waves the folder in the air.
“Of course, sweet girl. There’s always a price to be paid. Now, be good and read it all. Even the fine print.” After everything she’s been through, maybe I should be more gentle with her. Use kid gloves or some shit. If I were a better man, maybe, I could. Maybe, I’d have the patience for that.
Instead, she gets an arrogant bastard, who likes winding her up so he can see her spitting fire. Exactly as she is right now. To my defense, knowing she’s capable of such fire and vibrancy while watching her cower inside herself for all these weeks has been torture. Piper is the kind of woman meant to bring light and happiness to the world around her. More and more peeks of the girl she really is have been poking through the shell she became after her kidnapping. I’m only human. Pushing to see more of her fire is as essential to me as breathing.
Her tousled hair pokes out from the blanket first, the golden curls a wild mess around her head. Furious eyes scour the room, searching for the hidden cameras she seems to feel the presence of. She’s never managed to locate them. Not due to any lack of effort on her part. Once I made the decision to install her in my building, I used only the best technology to observe her.
Last week, in a fit of frustration at not being able to find them, my spitfire had lain in the center of the bed with nothing but a thin sheet covering her body and put on the show of a lifetime. Watching her hand slowly slip over her curves, obscured by the gauzy cotton of the summer sheet had been torment for my cock. When the motion had centered between her legs and sped up until she’d worked her pussy into a drawn out orgasm, my balls had succumbed to the anguish in her teasing demonstration. I’d shot such a heavy load of cum into my slacks, without even a single touch to my dick, my body had been sore for hours afterward.
“And if I don’t want to read it?” Her pout is adorable. Her thick lower lip pushes out so far that, if I were in the room, I’d be unable to resist pulling it between my teeth and biting until she writhes and mewls for mercy. She’s got a mouth made for sucking cock. Wide and lush, with lips that look swollen and ravished even when they haven’t been.
“I can always come and read it to you, if that’s what you want.” It’s no idle threat. For as much as Piper hasn’t left her floor of the penthouse condo since she arrived, I’ve barely lift mine, either. Whatever business can’t be conducted remotely has been delegated to someone else in my organization, though I’ll need to resume the day-to-day operations sooner rather than later. The wheels of justice are ever turning, too often denying true justice. Without my direction and behind the scenes involvement, too many bad men would be free to continue their evil deeds.
For now, though, Piper has been my priority. The rest of the world, innocents and all, can burn for all I care. As long as Piper is still finding her way to me, the universe can fall off its axis, and I wouldn’t blink. I only hope she understands that no matter how deep my obsession runs, it’s all for her. To make sure her life is as perfect as she deserves. My chest aches as I hold my breath, waiting for her response. My sweet little spitfire needs me, needs the loving care and devotion I’ve been desperate to shower on her.
“You gonna read me this contract like it’s a bedtime story?”
Fuck me, her smart mouth shreds my restraint. I promised Aullie, shit, promised myself, I’d wait to approach Piper until she gives the word. I can’t claim I haven’t slipped into the room to soothe her when she’s having a nightmare. Or that I haven’t stood outside the bathroom with my cock in my hand, hopelessly choking one off while the sound of her washing up drives me mad.
I haven’t let her catch sight of me, though, and I know enough about Piper to realize if she were angry about my stalking, she’d have said so by now. Through the high definition monitor, I can see her fat lower lip tremble. I know it isn’t fear she feels. It’s need.
“Is that what you want, baby girl? For daddy to come read the rules to you, so you know what he expects?” The filthy words pouring out of me are unexpected and driven solely by my half-crazed lust for Piper. I’ve never been a dirty talker, never called myself daddy. She brings out a manic madness in me that isn’t rational and can’t be restrained.
A mask falls over her face, caution blinking over her for an instant before being replaced with a calculating gleam. I have no illusions about her capabilities. This is a woman who did whatever it took to survive. She capitalized on the appeal of her sexuality to support herself in the safest manner she could. I respect everything she is and everything she’s done, but I won’t have artifice between us.
“Don’t do that, Piper. There will be no shields or armor between us. I’m not some client you can placate with gimmicks through the cam. If you’re not ready for me, say so, and I’ll continue to wait. Read the papers, sweet girl. The answers you need are there.”
My throat is so tight and aching at forcing the words, it feels as if I’ve swallowed a basketball,. Promising her more time is a physical pain in my body, but I’ll do whatever she needs me to do. Even if it hurts. Especially if it hurts.
