AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Saskia looked up. “W-what about Marcus and those other guys?”
“They were hired to help load the plane. They aren’t with us. Marcus is taking a commercial flight. I wanted some time alone with you.”
Was he trying to help her acclimate? Was that the smallest hint of kindness?
The plane began coasting down the runway.
“I’m really very sorry I stole from you,” Saskia said.
“I’m not swayed by tearful apologies. And we already established you weren’t sorry.”
“I-I wasn’t sorry until I knew who...”
“I see.”
At least he didn’t make her say the whole pathetic sentence. She hadn’t given a shit about stealing from Lachlan, but the idea of stealing from Quill was almost too mortifying to ever get past.
“It’s just... you have no idea what your work has meant to me. I’m so ashamed that I...” Even with the extreme dichotomy of their financial means, the idea of taking something from Quill made a hard knot form in her stomach.
He sat beside her, and this time she didn’t try to put distance between them. He put a hand over hers. “Shhh, Saskia. You’re paying me back. Everything is all right between us. Believe me when I say I’ll extract every penny from you.”
She looked out the window as the plane began its climb into the sky. More tears, this time for a different reason. “I’ll miss Venice.” She’d only been really settled there for a few weeks and had started to believe somehow that this could really be her life.
“We’ll be back to visit someday. I’ve got that great Villa,” he said.
She was surprised by his answer—as well as the gentle teasing in his tone. Maybe there was something inside this man that she could relate to after all. Something besides just art.
“You’re keeping it?”
“Of course I’m keeping it. It’s a great property. The paperwork will obviously be transferred into my name. And you will wire all the money you didn’t spend back to me.”
She nodded quickly. A second later, Quill grasped her chin and forced her to meet his eyes. “Answer.”
“O-okay. Yes. O-of course.” As if it were a question he’d get the rest of his money back. Or at least what could be retrieved.
“Don’t play dumb, Saskia. It doesn’t suit you. If you’re wondering, no, I was not kidding about what you are to call me. And if you’re shy about it now, you’ll have much more trouble when we get home, and you have to say it in front of the servants.”
She should have run. She should have found an opening and slipped off into a crowd and used the rest of his money to find a way outside his reach. But even the idea of running from Quill seemed insane to her. What aspiring artist would ever run from the painter who most inspired them? However foolish this may be, it was a way to be inside his orbit. Maybe she’d absorb some genius by osmosis.
“Y-yes, Master.”
“Good. In a fully public setting, you may call mesir. People will think you’re an assistant.”
“Since you’re keeping the villa, will you take that off my debt?” Saskia shifted as if she could slip outside his scrutiny.
“Just because I like the property and have chosen to keep it does not mean you didn’t essentially steal that money from me. Why should I knock anything off what you owe?”
She shrugged. So keeping her as a slave was justice? But she didn’t dare voice the thought.
“How much did you pay for it?” he asked.
“Four million.”
“I’ll knock two off the debt. Now you’re down to owing me four total. Does that make you feel better?”
What did it matter? Short of full forgiveness, he could hold her captive forever. It wasn’t as if even four million was something she could ever pay back. If she could make that kind of money on her own, she wouldn’t have conned him in the first place.
And by what method would he keep track of everything? Did he have a special ledger? Did he plan to put a price on each sexual service she completed to his satisfaction? Because it seemed clear that was primarily what he wanted her for. Would there be interest, making it impossible for her to ever climb out of servitude? He’d invented his own system of accounting for his own questionable purposes. It wasn’t as if he’d be held to any lending laws.
