respect issue.
“Okay, don’t freak out, but you made the appointment with
Jake Goldrum, not Jane Goldrum. They’re husband and wife and
work together in the practice. He said I could reschedule with her if I
wanted,” and before I could finish that sentence he jumped in.
“Why didn’t you?” he snapped.
“Are you mad about this?” I shook my head at him.
“I wanted you to be seen by a woman, for your comfort and
my,” I jumped this time.
“Caveman issues?” I put my hands across my chest. “You’re
jealous that a doctor was examining me?” I went back to chopping.
“Trust me there was nothing sexual about it, Liam. I was fine. Thank
you for being concerned. But when I go back next year, I will make
sure I make the appointment with her, if that makes you happy.” He
came up behind me and pulled me to him, resting his chin on my
shoulder.
“Yes, that would make me happy. I’m sorry I’m such
a…..caveman, as you put it.” He kissed my neck. “I really like what
you have done here. You seem to have made yourself at home quite
nicely.” He grabbed a grape from the table and started to walk out.
“And I do like the way you said, ‘next year’, little one.” I rolled my
eyes. “I know you’re rolling your eyes, Norah!”
Chapter thirteen
Will sat in Liam’s office tapping his foot nervously while Liam
finished the call. Will was given a tip that Jane had been spotted in
town and asked Liam to follow up on it. He didn’t think he would be
able to control himself long enough to get any important
information. Will sat impatiently and listened to Liam ask questions,
write down information and tap his pen on the desk. He jumped up
when Liam went to the computer and started typing.
“Is that where she is?” he asked in a quiet voice. Liam
gestured for him to shut up and sit down.
“Well thank you, sir. And please if you see her again, call me
right away. She is sick and needs her medication.” Liam hung up the
phone.
“Well? Where is the bitch?” Will asked. Liam got up and
rounded his desk to sit beside Will.
“The man only told me he had seen her several times in the
same café. She was talking with another woman, and looked fine,
according to him. He said, he saw a young man on the corner giving
out flyers with her picture and a reward?” Liam crossed his legs and
leaned back in the chair. “Will what are you doing? You can’t put out
flyers for a person you bought illegally, what are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking I want her back! You don’t know, Liam, you still
have Norah. I’ve never had a slave run from me before. I’m sure they
wanted to, but they never did!” He got up and walked to the
window. “I don’t know how I fucked this up so badly? How did I miss
read her? When we start the trust stage I only believe about 20% of
what they say, and as time goes on the percentage grows. I learn to
read them better, and can tell when they are trying to save their own
ass, or have real feelings.” Liam stood up and walked to Will.
“You have to stop with these stages, Will, it doesn’t work.
Well first of all, you should stop buying women, that doesn’t work
either!” Will looked at Liam.
“How did you do it? If you didn’t use my stages, then how did
you get Norah to want to stay with you?” Liam smiled and walked to
his desk.
“I don’t know, my friend. It was different with her. Not just
because I bought her and felt sorry for her either. But being with her
didn’t feel like being with my other submissive’s. I liked to punish
them, I wanted to hurt them. From the very beginning it was about
sex and a lot of it. I never forced them, of course, but the kinkier, the
better.” He ran his hands through his hair. “But it wasn’t like that
with Norah. From the moment I saw her, I wanted to make her
happy. Why else would I spend 1.5 million on a woman I had never
met? It wasn’t about the money, or the thought of fucking her
senseless, it was that she was sad, and I wanted to make her happy.”
He went to his bar and made himself a drink. “I tried to go through
your stages, and was successful in some areas. But when I wanted
her to fear me, she didn’t, and when she did, I just wanted to tell her
I wasn’t going to hurt her.”
“I freaked out when Jane ran from you, I did, I really did. I
locked her back up, I was so scared to lose her.” He turned Will to
look at him. “Me, scared of a woman leaving me. It was something I
had never felt before. Usually when my subs left me, I was ready,
and eager to move on. Even when Natasha said she was leaving me if
I didn’t give her more, I didn’t care. I realized I had just kept her
around because I was too lazy to find someone else.” He touched
Will’s shoulder. “But the thought of Norah leaving me, makes me
crazy.”
“Then you should understand why I have people passing out
flyers for Jane. I’m going crazy, Liam. I want her back. I want to make
that bitch pay for leaving me.” Liam shook his head.
“There’s the difference. I love Norah. You just want revenge
with Jane. If Norah wanted to leave me, and told me she was going, I
wouldn’t want her to, and I would try to make her stay, but I would
let her go, if that was what she really wanted.”
“Does she know you didn’t know it was an illegal auction?”
Will asked. Liam shook his head. “Do you think if she found out she
would be upset?” Liam shrugged his shoulders. He knew this was a
conversation he would have to have with her. “So if she doesn’t
know that you intended to purchase a voluntary slave, and she
herself didn’t volunteer for this life, how would she know that
leaving you was even an option?” Will took the drink out of Liam’s
hand and took a sip. Liam looked at the floor. “Think about it, Liam.
She doesn’t know leaving you, without running is an option for her.
Maybe she tells you she won’t run because she thinks her life would
be worse if she runs and is caught and then brought back to you.” He
crunched a piece of ice. Liam knew that part was true. Norah had
said that herself. “But if you told her she could leave you if she
wasn’t happy, and you would let her go, help her pack, even pay for
her flight back to the states, do you think she would still stay with
you?” He crunched another piece of ice.
“I don’t think your relationship is nearly as honest and loving
as you pretend it is, big guy. I think you haven’t told Norah, she isn’t
really your slave because deep down you know she would leave
you.” He put the glass on the table and started to walk out of Liam’s
office. “And I don’t want Jane back just for revenge. I did care about
her.” Liam stood at the window looking out. Was Will right? Would
Norah leave him if she was given the option? He had told her she
could go to the wedding alone, wasn’t that giving her a chance to
leave if she wanted to? But then again, she called him on his game.
She knew he would never let her go without him. Liam had let Norah
out of her room, out in public, gave her a driver, and a phone. He
told her she was free to go anywhere she wanted as long as she was
home when he got home and answered the phone when he called
her. But was he still holding her hostage? Was she really free? Did
she just fear that the consequences of running and being found
would be worse than living this life with him? Liam turned back to his
desk and grabbed his phone.
“Hello?” her voice was so sweet. Liam leaned back in his
chair.
“Where are you?” he asked. He knew he sounded a little
frantic.
“I’m in the kitchen, why?” she sounded a little confused.
“Where did you go today?”
“Umm, I went to get a manicure, but that’s it. Why? Do you
need me to do something for you?” she still sounded so sweet, was
it real or just an act for him? Liam clenched his eyes shut and leaned
his head back.
“No. I was just wondering where you had gone. You don’t
have to stay home all day, you know? I told you could use the car as
much as you want.”
“I know. I guess I’m still a little leery about being out for too
long. I get nervous around people, and reach for you to calm me, and
you’re not there,” she laughed.
“I love you, Norah, you know that right?” Liam hadn’t said he
loved her since the evening in the tub. He knew he did love her and
he had done things to show he loved her, but he hadn’t said the
words again.
“What’s wrong with you?” she asked. He smiled knowing she
could see right through him. It was like she had the key to his soul.
“Nothing. Will came to see me today. Someone saw Jane in
town and he wanted me to call around about it, that’s all. He was
going out of his mind, and it just made me think,” he trailed off.
“Don’t let him get in your head, Liam. We aren’t them,
remember that! I’m not Jane, I’m not.” She took a deep breath. “Are
you going to attack me tonight and lock me away again?” she was
joking but neither laughed. “Well I might attack you, but I’m certainly
not locking you away, Norah. I never want to do that again. I want
you to know that,” he paused and took a sip of the melting ice in his
drink. “You’re with me, and,” he paused again. “And you’re with me,
too. Now stop worrying so much, finish up your work and come
home. I want to feel those big arms around me.”
Liam wanted to tell her that he didn’t own her, not anymore
anyway. He wanted to tell her she was free to choose. But deep
down he thought Will could be right. He was scared that if Norah
knew she had a choice, she wouldn’t choose him. Why would any
woman choose to be with a man that had kept her locked up, and
forced sexual acts on her? He still wasn’t 100% sure she really loved
him. Maybe his charming ways were just that good. Maybe he had
made her think she loved him. But given the choice she would see
she didn’t. He wasn’t ready to find out the answers to any of those
questions.
He walked up behind her in the kitchen.
“Let’s eat out by the pond tonight.” She turned and kissed his
neck. “You’re being very romantic, what’s gotten into you?” He just
smiled. “I’m just thankful after everything that has happened before
you were with me, and even the things I have done to you, that you
can still be yourself.” He paused playing with her hair that she had
braided.
“I want you to talk to me about anything and feel safe here. I
know after what you have been through it is hard to trust anyone,
but you can trust me, Norah.” Liam knew after doing some research
that some women after being sold into sexual slavery never
recovered. Others had a long road to recovery. They didn’t trust
people, didn’t like to be out in public, didn’t like to touched, and
never spoke. Norah had only been in this life for a short time,
thankfully, and she seemed to recover pretty quickly. She was still
very submissive and he liked that, but she also talked to him, and
move around the house as if it was hers. She was becoming more
comfortable with leaving and going out on her own, and while he
worried about where she went, he was happy she felt comfortable
enough to go outside on her own.
They ate quietly by the trees. Norah brought a book she was
reading and started to read from it while Liam stroked her hair. He
watched her face and tried to read her body language. She looked so
relaxed, so comfortable with him. He wanted to believe she really
loved him, that he hadn’t manipulated her feelings.
He wanted to believe if she knew the truth about him that
she would still choose him. There was so much at stake in her
knowing the truth. He knew it wouldn’t just be about him and her.
She was from a different country, had a family, and a completely
different life. She had never been exposed to dom/sub relationships
and certainly not master/slave situations. She had become a good
little submissive, but she hadn’t really seen his depraved side, yet.
He didn’t know if she knew the truth about the things he liked to do
in the bedroom, if she would stay or run.
Norah leaned against the tree and continued to read out loud
