“That’s more like it. Are you ready to be Mommy’s good girl now, Alexis?”
I have no idea what that means or what she’ll ask of me. All I know is that I don’t want another swat from that damn hairbrush. So I nod, my curls flying with the movement as tears stream down my cheeks. “Yes, yes, I’ll be good.”
The hard back of the brush taps against my aching ass. “Say it. Say ‘I’m ready to be Mommy’s good girl now’.”
If that's what it takes to get me off this damn plane and away from her crazy ass, I’ll tell her whatever the hell she wants to hear. “I-I’m ready to be Mommy’s good girl now.”
“My sweet, sweet girl. Come here. Let Mommy hold you.”
As soon as her grip on me loosens, I scramble up, wrenching myself out of her grasp and backing away. “Stay away from me, you crazy bitch!”
Everything about her hardens, and I swear a muscle in her jaw jumps as she pushes to her feet. “Kerry, let the pilot know we’re going to be delayed a little while longer.”
Chapter Two
Alexis
My heart feels like it might pound out of my chest as Catharina rises slowly to her feet, her dark eyes burning with righteous fury and… Is that excitement?
Is sheenjoyingthis?
Why that should piss me off more than my aching ass, I don’t know, but it does. So I stand my ground, jerking my chin up, refusing to be cowed by her as she approaches.
“Apparently my brush didn’t make the impression I’d hoped.” A small, cruel smile curves her ruby lips. “More’s the pity for you, naughty girl.”
Before I can blink, her hand snakes out, gripping my ear. With a sharp, painful twist, she nearly sends me to my knees. Fresh tears fill my eyes as I stare up at her, my stomach sinking as the realization of how badly I’ve miscalculated sets in.
Still holding my ear tight, Catharina leads me to a surprisingly spacious bathroom, locking the door behind us before she releases me. I spin around, twisting and yanking atthe knob, but whatever mechanism she used to lock it stays firmly in place no matter how I twist or how hard I pull.
“Let’s see… Ah, yes.” While I fight with the door, she calmly opens a cabinet, pulling down a small wrapped bar of soap and a toothbrush. “Leave it to your Uncle Max to keep the plane stocked with everything one might need to teach a naughty girl a lesson.”
“I don’thavean Uncle Max. What the fuck are you even talking about?”
“Of course you do, silly girl. Just because you haven’t met him yet doesn’t mean he isn’t real.” Shaking her head as if I’m somehow the ridiculous one in all this, she flips the faucet on and unwraps the soap, running the white bar beneath the water until it turns slick in her hands.
All the while, I continue my frantic escape attempts, searching the doorknob for the mystery lock, banging and screaming for help. There are other people on this plane, surelysomeonehas enough of a conscience to help a woman in clear distress.
“Alexis.” My name is a whipcrack of sound, and the shock of it is enough to have me spinning around, a whimper on my lips at the sight of her glaring down at me. “Put your hands behind your back and stay still so Mommy can wash all those naughty words out of your mouth.”
Absolutely the fuck not. Slapping my hands over my mouth, I back all the way up to the door, shaking my head wildly.No, no, and just so we’re clear—Fuck no.
“You are only making this harder on yourself than it needs to be, little girl. I’m going to count to three, and if you don’t do as you’re told by the time I get there, you will be getting your bottom spanked all over again with a mouth full of soap. One.”
There has to be some way out of this. Therehasto be.
“Two.”
A million ideas tumble around in my brain, but I reject every one. They all rely, in some way, on my being able to overpower Catharina and she’s already proven I have no hope of doing so, even with the adrenaline currently pumping through my veins and the several hefty pounds I have on her.
“Three.” She sighs, and though it sounds disappointed at first, beneath it there’s that hint of the excitement I saw in her eyes earlier.
Setting the soapy toothbrush aside, she grips my wrists in both her hands and hauls them up over my head, pinning me to the door behind me. Her knee presses between my legs, and when she shifts her hold on my wrists to one hand, I realize with growing horror that I am completely, utterly trapped.
“Please.” I don’t have to work for the tears that fill my eyes as I stare up at her. “Please let me go. I swear I’ll never do anything evenremotelyillegal again.”
Catharina smiles again, and my blood turns to ice in my veins. “My sweet, naïve Little girl. Why on earth would I let you go when I have you exactly where I want you?”
“I don’t understand.”
