Scared he might send me back, I rubbed a fingertip over the pink ribbon.
“Is this important?” He touched a finger to the ribbon. Still, I didn’t speak. “Look at me.” Although his words were soft, a firmness forced me to obey. I lifted my eyes to his. “You don’t have to fear anyone in this home.” He turned to the woman standing just outside the doorway and gestured for her to come closer. “This is Molly,” he said to me. “She’s one of the housekeeping staff. If you need anything, you can ask her. This is a phone.” He picked up the cream thing on the nightstand and showed me how to use it. “Just press the number one, and Molly will come to you. Okay?” After my nod, she smiled at me, bowed, and left the room. “My bedroom is directly opposite.” Xavier pointed to the door. “If you ever need me, I’m just across the passage from you. The doors will always stay open until you’re comfortable to lock it on your own.”
The doors would stay open. I had freedom.Was this the miracle Mama said would come for me one day? Was this man my savior? I didn’t dare hope.
“And this.” He waved his hand in the air. “This is your room.”
My room?
He must’ve read the surprise on my face because he smiled. “Yes. Yours. And if you don’t like the color, you can choose another.”
Choose another?
Was that even possible? I’d always lived in hell, boxed in a space where I could count the number of steps from one wall to the opposite on one hand. Slept on a lumpy mattress that caused severe aches, especially when I was healing from a new punishment. Now that I was in heaven, he gave me a choice if I didn’t like it. My heart skipped beats in my chest, my eyes roaming around the cream walls, thick dark brown carpet, and the big bed with its gold bedding.
Choice wasn’t a word I knew before. Why now? What did he want from me? I learned that everything came at a price. Nothing was freely given, not to me. Did he want to be my new master? Would he be like Master? Nice, then cruel?
“You don’t like it?” he asked, making me aware of my pinched brow.
I dropped my gaze to the ribbon once more. He cupped my chin and lifted until I was looking at him again. My body tensed, waiting for his fingernails to dig into my skin, for his palm to crush my jaw—the way Master did when he was angry or thought I was disobedient.
Instead, Xavier leaned closer, causing my eyes to widen. “Don’t fear me, girl, but don’t disobey me either. When I speak, you will look at me and answer with words. Understood?” His voice was firm yet nothing like the boom of Master’s orders, and unlike the ugly crease of his face, Xavier’s expression was stern, mixed with a softness that ordered my mind and body to respond to him. “Understood, love?” he repeated, this time the endearment asking me to hide my fear of him, that it was unnecessary.
“Yes,” I whispered.
“Good girl.” His praise kissed my ears with a warmth I didn’t recognize, almost like the need to please him began growing in the pit of my stomach. He palmed my cheek, and I leaned into his touch without knowing why I did it. “I brought you to my home to keep you safe, not to command you. If that’s what it takes to help you heal, then I will. Understood?”
“Yes.”
His hand fell away, and I followed its drop to his lap, wishing for his kind touch again. Could a man really be this nice with a woman? “Let’s start with your name,” he said, bringing me out of my thoughts.
“Sixty-six.”
He frowned. “What is that?”
“My name.”
“Your name is Sixty Six?” he asked like he didn’t believe me. When I remained quiet, his brow went up. “Is that what he called you?”
“Yes.”
His blue eyes roved over my face as though he were deciding what to do with me, as if deciding whether I was lying.
“Please don’t send me back,” I blurted without thinking. Even though I didn’t know this man, he was the first one to treat me with kindness, the first one that didn’t make me want to vomit after he touched any part of me, the first one I wanted to submit to willingly. Even with our short relationship, I didn’t want to say goodbye.
His lips pulled into a slow smile. “What makes you think I am?”
I fingered the blanket covering me. “You look like you don’t believe me.”
“You’ve already learned to read my expressions. I’m impressed.” I didn’t know whether he was teasing me and kept quiet. “Is there a name that you like?”
Immediately, I thought of Mama and her name for me. “Cinderella.”
His lips parted on a soft laugh, warming my insides. There was no cruelty in the sound. “That’s a fairytale name.”
I stiffened, not understanding the sudden feeling inside me. Was it anger? Hate? “Mama called me Cinder. Sometimes she called me Cinderella.”
Xavier’s expression softened. “How old are you?”
