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“You will,” I tell her simply, since that’s not an option.
“Hollis can’t come to my work meetings. That would certainly raise alarms, and since you are technically holding me prisoner here…” She peeks up at me innocently. “I might be inclined to tell someone.”
“You won’t,” I assure her.
“You sound so confident.”
“I am.” Rather than waste time letting her think my confidence comes from the wrong place, I step into my office and grab a folder off the desk.
She’s still sitting on the ground, but she frowns when she sees what I’m carrying. “What is that?”
“My insurance policy.” I drop the folder on the table, then turn and offer her my hand so she can stand up for this part.
She eyes my hand warily, then decides to get up on her own rather than accept my help.
Such a brat. I’m going to enjoy punishing her tonight.
Anticipation and pleasure mingle together at the knowledge that she’s mine now, she’s here, and I can have her anytime I want starting tonight. Everything will be better now. I should have just done this from the start.
I open the folder which is labeled, “Charity.”
“Remember the night we met at Purgatory?”
Frowning as her gaze rakes over the contents, she says sourly, “How could I forget?”
“Your friend Charity had quite a bit to drink that night.” I lift the top page filled with printed out text messages she doesn’t have time to read so she can see a timestamped photo showing that while Hallie was at home in bed recovering from the pussy pounding I gave her, Charity was back at the club leaving with the bartender. I pull back another page of them outside his apartment, liplocked with their hands all over each other. The last one is a much lighter black and white photo that shows her leaving his apartment early the next morning—her wedding day, to be more precise.
“Now, I don’t have pictures of them in the act, but I believe these provide a pretty adequate sketch of what happened that night, and the text messages on the first page fill in the gaps.”
Hallie sinks back a step, stunned.
“I’m guessing your friend’s new husband wouldn’t be thrilled to find out she fucked someone else the night before they got married.”
She brings a hand to her forehead, reeling. “That can’t possibly be… There’s no way…”
“She did.” I flip to the very back of the folder where a thumb drive is taped down. “For a nominal fee, the bartender was even kind enough to describe their night together inexplicitdetail. That’s all right here.” I close the folder. “Now, should it ever cross your mind to tell on me or appeal to someone for help in one of the rare moments I allow you out into the world on your own, Arson has a duplicate of this file and orders to deliver it to Tyler should things here go awry.”
Hallie shakes her head, looking a little lost. I don’t get the impression it’s from the words I’ve just said, though. She’s reeling from the information I’ve dropped on her regarding her friend’s fidelity. “But she loves him.”
“She was drunk. It was probably a mistake. One that would likely end her marriage, though, so…”
She swallows and crosses her arms over her chest in an unconscious gesture of self-comfort. “How long?”
“How long?” I repeat, unsure of her question.
Her resentful gaze flickers to mine. “How long do I have to stay here? How long do I have to… be yours?”
“As long as I want you to be.”
She closes her eyes, inhaling and exhaling very slowly.
Arson told me about the panic attack she nearly had in the alley, but this doesn’t seem like that. She’s just soaking up the impossibility of her position, feeling the narrowness of the space I’m giving her within my walls.
I’m sure it doesn’t feel good when she’s used to absolute freedom, but she knows she has no choice.
I know it, too, but I’m not unkind enough to point it out.
She swallows, eyes still closed, then says, “You want to hear something funny?”
