She awoke to a pounding headache and unfamiliar surroundings. Her eyes felt heavy and she blinked several times to clear her vision of blurriness. A groan escaped her as she rolled over onto her side.
"Ah, you're awake, good."
She opened her eyes to find her stalker turned kidnapper smiling at her. "Where am I?" she asked, not expecting an honest answer.
"You're in my home," he replied.
"You can't go around kidnapping people," she said. "Please, just let me go. I won't say anything to the police."
"After all I've gone through to get you here, where you belong, my precious gem, I think not. And if you think that fool lion will rescue you, think again. He'll never find us. No one knows my name. He needs that to find me."
"You're wrong. He'll find me, and when he does, you're a dead man," she countered. She wasn't expecting the slap her defiance got her.
"You will learn, precious gem, that I don't take kindly to defiance. Now, I have had a late supper prepared for us. You will change into something more appropriate and join me. There are dresses in the closet. Do not keep me waiting."
She watched him go, then collapsed on the bed. She wanted to fall apart, but she needed to stay strong. Yaeger would come for her. She knew it; it was just going to take time. She got up and went to the closet. Every dress was something she'd never usually wear, so it took her a while to pick something. She finally settled on a dark green sheath dress in a style more to her liking that fit her like a glove. The bastard knew her size. She took a look at herself in the mirror and sighed. Was she really going to sit down and have a meal with her kidnapper like it was nothing?
"Let's get this over with," she muttered, and stepped out of the room to find a woman waiting for her. She blinked.
"I'm here to escort you, Miss," the woman said.
"Lead the way. You know he kidnapped me, right? You're helping in a crime," Frankie said to her. She saw the woman stiffen. Maybe she could get help through her. "You could help me get out of here."
"There is no getting out of here. He owns us," she said resignedly.
"He doesn't own me," Frankie replied. They reached their destination and Frankie let it drop. She would try again later. She refused to give up.
"Ah, there you are. You look lovely, my dear. Please, sit," he said, holding out a chair for her.
Frankie went to it and sat down. She would play nice with the crazy bastard for as long as she needed to.
"Now, isn't this nice? Just the two of us, as it should be. I've been waiting for this moment for some time."
"Honestly? No, it's not nice. It's creepy. You fucking kidnapped me. This isn't some mutually planned dinner date, you sick fuck." So much for playing nice.
He backhanded her hard enough he split her lip. "Watch your mouth. I will not have my precious gem spouting such foul language!" he seethed.
"Then you should have picked someone else to kidnap because this is who I am. I say fuck and I'm not going to stop you fucking nut job."
"I can see I need to teach you a lesson." He snapped his fingers and two burly men came in. "Take her downstairs and prepare her. My precious gem needs a lesson in manners."
Before she could react she was grabbed and dragged away. "Let me go, you fuckers! This is illegal as hell. You'll go to jail right along with him. No, you're dead men when my mate gets here," she said as she was dragged down a set of stairs. She was taken into a room that could only be described as a torture room. She was dragged over to a set of chains and shackled to them. Then the back of her dress was torn from the neck to her waist and she was left alone.
"I wanted a nice dinner with you precious gem, and you had to go and ruin it with your foul mouth. Youwilllearn manners even if I have to beat them into you. For tonight's transgressions, you've earned twenty lashes. This brings me no joy."
Fire lit up her back as he brought the whip down across her skin. She tried to be strong and stay silent, but by the fifth lash she was whimpering, and by the tenth she was crying out. She felt blood trickling and knew some of them had cut deep enough to break the skin. By the time it was done, she hung in the chains.
“There there now, precious gem, it’s over,” he said, unchaining her and catching her so she didn’t fall. He carried her back up through the mansion to her room. “I will send someone to tend to the wounds and we will discuss your behavior tomorrow over breakfast.”
She wanted to spit at him but she didn’t have the energy. If he thought he’d break her spirit with a lashing, he didn’t know her at all. She just laid there and ignored him.
“Be good and this won’t have to happen again,” he said as he left.
She laid there with her back on fire, blood trickling down, and determination to get away building inside. When the door opened, it was the same woman from earlier.
“I’ve come to clean your wounds and put salve on them to help with the pain,” she said.
“You know he’s crazy, right? What he did to me isn’t sane. You have to help me get out of here before he does something worse, please. If you can’t help me escape, then find my mate and tell him where I am. He’ll come and get me. Please.”
