They molded and trained her body so well she could barely remember a time when she couldn’t come or a time when she would have felt shame over it. Shame became an abstract concept, cloistered as she was in this place where the only shameful thing was being modest or disobedient.
She transformed into something she didn’t recognize, but liked, even if someone from her old life would have told her she shouldn’t. When she looked in the mirror on the rare occasions she had a free moment in her room, she saw a new confidence and peace had slipped over her features. The lines that had begun to form on her face softened as everything inside her relaxed.
At first she’d feared they would start sharing her with others, especially Brian. But the fear never came to fruition, despite his complaints that she’d been there long enough. She wasn’t sure why, but Anton was
possessive of her in a way he wasn’t with the others. After awhile, the excuse that she’d been brought to the house too soon, wore thin. That couldn’t be the real reason. Not anymore.
She’d come to think of herself as perhaps special to him because he seemed to go easier on her and protect her more than others. Vivian had convinced herself this favor she’d garnered was because of how deeply and completely she’d submitted to them.
Her training was split evenly among the three men, Anton deciding that she was becoming too attached to Gabe and Lindsay. As if adding himself back into the mix would solve anything. She was attached to all of them and hated waking every morning because she knew each day took her closer to the day she’d be sold.
She’d developed a fantasy that the three leaders of this house had become so charmed with her they’d never sell her. She’d remain in the house forever with them dominating and possessing her. One morning Anton stepped into the room and burst that fantasy bubble.
Vivian knew something important was about to happen because Gabe was nowhere in sight, and he always came in for their morning shower. She wiped the sleep from her eyes as the grogginess lifted. Everything felt surreal as she left the bed and crawled over to kiss his boots.
He stroked her hair. “Did you sleep well, flower?”
She kept her head down. “Yes, Sir.”
“I have excellent news. Tomorrow morning you’re going to have a master.”
Everything in her seized up, then she started to cry. “Please, don’t sell me. I don’t want to go. I thought . . . ” She shut her mouth to stop herself from spilling out her absurd fantasies.
“You thought we’d keep you? That you’d be the house pet?”
She shrugged, still not able to meet his eyes.
“You’ve been sold for half a million just as I said you would be. What could you possibly do to be worth that price if I let you stay?”
“Nothing, Sir.” Whatever they wanted of her, they could get, free of charge.
All at once the room began to grow smaller. Her throat tightened; her breath came out in short bursts. Anton was crouched beside her an instant later, raising her chin. “Stop it.”
“I can’t help it.”
“What is wrong with you? You’ve been lovely. Better than lovely. You’ve been a dream to train, much better than I ever expected. And now you’re having a breakdown?”#p#分页标题#e#
She felt as if she were regressing back to the night she’d been brought to the house, suddenly needing to latch onto anything that would rescue her from this world and put her back someplace safe. “I want Michael. Please, if you don’t want me, send me back to him. He’ll pay you. Please.”
Anton laughed. “He’d pay half a million dollars to get you back? After everything you’ve done in this house? After everything you’ve enjoyed? I have hours and hours of footage of you writhing around like a bitch in heat, taking cocks and toys in every available orifice. You want to go back to your husband after that? To your safe life where you play the little woman and get your nails done? Is that what you want?” His voice came out clipped, his accent causing words to blur together.
“Yes.”
“Liar. What did we say about lying, Vivian? Do you wish to be punished on your last day with us?”
She shook her head. “No, Sir.”
There were a thousand things she wanted to say, a thousand things she wanted to accuse him of. If the banshee were still with her, screaming and crying in indignation, she would have had a laundry list of grievances to assault him with.
She could have complained about how none of it was really her fault. There had been blackmail and coercion and later kidnapping. He’d led her into this spider’s web. She’d had no choice, no hope.
But she could no longer give credence to those lies. The first day with Anton in Dome, when she’d spread her legs for him, she’d done it without much fuss or fighting because she needed to know if anyone could make her feel.
Anything.
She’d needed to remember what it felt like to surrender under the hands of another and feel pleasure. And he’d done that for her, over and over, while giving her the comforting lie that he’d tell her husband, that he was somehow forcing her to these clandestine meetings.
Maybe he would have told Michael. But her choice had always been to come back, to allow herself to slip further under Anton’s control. She’d played with the fire and still wasn’t sure if she’d gotten burned, or if the fire had reshaped her into something new like a phoenix rising from the flame.
Michael was safety, but what Anton promised her was peace. She just didn’t want to leave.
When her tears had run their course and the room was silent again, he spoke. “Tomorrow, when you are sold, you will be placed in your collar. You will address him as Master when you meet him. Annette will walk you through the protocol. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Sir.”
He left, Gabe came in, and the day went along like any other. Even on her last day she wasn’t spared the gym where Brian let out all his sadism on her in the only way he was allowed. During their session he seemed pissed off.
He must have known she’d be leaving without him ever getting to dip his wick in her. She couldn’t say she was very upset about that. She tried not to look smug as he pushed her on the treadmill.
Later Annette talked her through the events for the following day and how she was to behave and what she was to say.
That night all three of them used her. They took her into the large bathroom on the first floor with the Jacuzzi tub large enough to hold them all. They bathed her and fucked her, repeatedly. By the end of the night she was so well-used, she was a languid heap of pleasured nerve endings.
Each of them pressed a kiss to her cheek before leaving her to sleep. But she didn’t sleep. She couldn’t. She’d tried so hard that night to float away, to not experience any of it too strongly. Even though she’d come so many times she lost count, she’d tried to remain detached because the thought of never seeing any of them again, of going off to become the property of another, was too difficult.
Vivian laid awake, staring at the ceiling, tossing and turning until she finally couldn’t stand it any longer and kicked the blankets off. They’d stopped chaining her to the wall at night because she never gave them reason to think they couldn’t trust her.
She’d never explored the mansion after dark. She’d never felt the compulsion, and she’d been afraid of the consequences. Now, punishment didn’t matter as much. Please them or displease them, they’d decided to sell her.
Some rich, entitled man had watched videos of her fucking and being trained, had chosen her to belong to him and agreed to pay their price. They’d done the proper background checks, no doubt.
Anton would have gone to extra trouble to check out the buyer, ensuring he was safe, kind, and fair. As much as those things were possible in this situation. He would have made sure the buyer could give her what she needed.#p#分页标题#e#
The floor was cold on her feet as she slipped through the house. She crossed through the cafeteria and out to the breezeway. When Vivian got outside, she looked up at the stars and breathed in the fresh air. The pretty illusion of freedom.
The edge of the property line seemed to call to her. Lindsay had walked her out there one day, showing her where the bracelet would be set off, the point where she’d be considered a runaway. After that day she’d never come near the line.
But tonight she stood here, less than a foot from the spot that would wake the whole house. She sat in the grass, staring at the boundary. She knew she couldn’t escape. That wasn’t the point.
If she did it, they’d punish her. They’d believe she wasn’t fit to be sold. How much time would that buy her?
The grass stirred and she jumped. Lindsay sat and pulled her against his chest. “Couldn’t sleep?”
“No, Sir.” She knew he heard the tears in her voice.
“Crossing that line wouldn’t allow you to stay. It would only make us disappointed in you. I know you don’t want to go. I don’t want you to go, but the sale has gone through. Money has exchanged hands. It can’t be undone, and even if it could, Anton wouldn’t undo it.”
They sat that way for a long time, until finally he stood and helped her to her feet. “Come. You can sleep in my room tonight.”