When he saw her new found courage, he let out a disgusting, breathy chuckle. “We’ll see how brave you are when you find out what your punishment is, Ms. Cassidy,” he commented with a facile tongue. “We’ll also see just how invested in this game you really are.”
Her eyes nervously darted back and forth between his irises, trying to read his expression, but she could only see Mr. Black’s dark eyes flashing a firm warning in her direction.
Moving behind her, he kissed her neck tenderly and untied her robe, letting the soft fabric fall and pool around her feet. The cool air chilled her skin and goosebumps covered her entire torso. Victor ghosted his fingers over her upper arms and he ground his shaft into her lower back.
“Are you invested, Ms. Cassidy?”
Her body tensed and she woodenly nodded.
“Are you sure?” he asked in a sing-song tone.
God, would he just get on with it? How bad could it be? She immediately bit her bottom lip for thinking such a thing. The last time she let those words slip into her subconscious, she ended up having to watch Patrick have sex with another woman.
Again, she nodded.
Victor pushed her forward toward the window and stepped away to open the curtains widely, letting in the light.
“Do not move and do not speak, Ms. Cassidy. For any reason. Not even if someone comes to the door.”
What kind of wrinkle was this in the game? Elsa peered over her shoulder as Victor pulled the chair to the shadows and seated himself to watch the show.
Elsa stood like that for nearly twenty minutes wondering what kind of punishment this was to simply stand in front of a window until she saw the first group of people walk by on the sidewalk that was only a few hundred feet away. Her body stiffened and her natural response was to cover herself. She flinched and reached for her robe when she heard a tsk tsk behind her. She quickly straightened herself but lowered her head.
“Eyes forward,” he barked.
She slowly lifted her head to see several people pointing in her direction with appalled looks on their faces. Victor had stated he never repeated a punishment twice, but wasn’t this humiliation again?
Another person walked by, an older, well-put together woman who stood frozen as her eyes roamed over Elsa’s nude body. Both of their cheeks flushed simultaneously and Elsa felt the sudden urge to cry. She swallowed hard and held her ground. The woman promptly dug into her handbag and retrieved a cell phone.
This wasn’t good. Elsa’s legs suddenly felt weak. The woman talked feverishly to someone as two other people approached. Would this never end? She clenched her fists when her mortification turned to anger. God, she hated Mr. Black.
The group of three people finally dispersed and Elsa let out a sigh of relief. How much longer was she going to be put through this? Just as she was feeling better, she saw a police cruiser pull into the driveway.
Horrified at what was about to play out, she turned her head to see Victor gone. But she knew he wasn’t really gone. The cameras were rolling. The loud knock on the door made her jump but she stood steadfast. Victor’s words came back to her: this isn’t going to end well.
A louder bang on the door echoed through the entryway that was followed by a man’s voice.
“Open the door, Ma’am.”
When she didn’t respond, she heard the door knob jiggle and her mouth became unbearably dry. There were now several onlookers, some of whom were smiling stupidly at her. Fuck this. Just as she reached down for her robe, the door swung open and a tall, built Hispanic police offer came into the living room.
“Cover yourself and step away from that window, please,” he stated sternly.
Her body stilled. Do not speak. Do not move. Not even if someone comes to the door. She straightened herself and kept her eyes lowered. She truly had lost all common sense and the words ‘sanity’ and ‘dignity’ had been ripped from her vocabulary.
“Ma’am, did you hear me?” he said louder when she didn’t move.
Elsa’s bottom lip trembled and her body began to shake when the officer approached her and reached down to place the robe around her shoulders.
“Are you the owner of this residence?” he asked.
She shook her head.
“Where is he?”
She shrugged her shoulders.
“Listen to me, Ma’am. If you don’t step away from this window, I’m going to have to haul you in. Do you really want that?”
She shook her head and her eyes welled up with tears. But she remained exactly where Mr. Black had told her to stay and she pulled the robe off.
“This is ridiculous. If you don’t put that robe on right now and step away from the window, I’m taking you in. This is your last warning. I got a shit ton of paperwork to do and I don’t have time for this. Do you understand?” he said even louder than before.
She nodded. Yes, she understood what he was saying, but she also understood that Mr. Black’s punishment would be far worse. She pushed her chin out, ready to prove her investment when the man grabbed her robe once again, wrapped it around her shoulders and dragged her to the car. She no sooner got placed into the back seat when her body began to tremble. She hadn’t been to jail as an adult and she promised herself after the last time she was in juvie that she would change her ways. She had even promised her mother. Oh, God… her mom. Elsa hid her face in her hands, but held her tears.
Where the hell was Victor? Why hadn’t he come to her rescue? Because he was no knight in shining armor, she reminded herself. He was a soulless, lightless sadist… No. That’s what he wanted her to believe and this was all part of his game. He wanted this. He wanted her to doubt her judgment about him, but she would prove to him that she still believed in him…
When they arrived at the station all her memories of her time being booked when she was a teenager were brought back. It was all the same. The same paperwork, the same assholes asking the same questions. She tried twice to call Victor’s cell phone only to be sent to voice mail. This was insane.
Dressed in an awful, blue jumper that was at least two sizes too big, she was placed into a cell all by herself. Thankfully. She couldn’t bear the thought of having to be next to real criminals.
Where was Victor? Why the hell wasn’t he here to explain everything and get her out? Didn’t he realize she could lose her job over something like this? Is that what he wanted?
Three hours passed and she was losing hope that he would show up. Several times she was asked if she wanted to call anyone, but who would she call? She had no one near who could help. She considered calling Vivien, but she was too embarrassed and didn’t want to try and justify her actions of why she had been standing nude in front of a window for all of Richmond to see her. She didn’t want to explain that she had signed some stupid, fake contract that wasn’t even legal and that she was being held to ridiculous standards. And she sure as hell didn’t want to try and rationalize herself by saying it was all because she thought she could break through some sadistic asshole’s walls.
Finally after four hours, she was released and simply given an indecent exposure ticket and warned to keep her naked ass under wraps. They gave her some second-hand clothes to wear and she caught a bus with a voucher back to Grace Street. When she arrived, it was almost 10:00 p.m. She found the door unlocked and Victor waiting at the table eating as if nothing had happened and she hadn’t just spent the worst four hours of her adult life in a jail cell.
Too irate and hurt to speak because of his casualness, she went straight to the master suite to shower and wash the filth of the jail cell off her body. She felt miserable and alone and for the first time, she regretted having moved to Richmond. This wasn’t the life she had planned for herself. This wasn’t what she wanted. She just wanted to be cared for, cherished, and loved. All she wanted was a fresh start. But Mr. Black had stripped all that away. She crawled under her comforter and rolled onto her side and closed her eyes. She just wanted to sleep and forget about the fucking her investment.