He didn’t speak until he came up alongside me. “You must think me a fool, dear child,” he said, his tone menacingly low as he leaned across me to toss his cell to the desk, his body brushing mine, his unmistakable cologne filling my flared nostrils as I struggled for air.
I tried to speak but as soon as my jaw slackened, my teeth vibrated. I had seen him this mad before, of course I had, and on the occasions it had been directed at me, the result had left me unable to sit for a week.
I knew now was going to be no different.
“Nothing to say?” he asked, eying me over his hands as he worked to unbutton the cuff on one shirtsleeve, then the other.
My body swayed with my oxygen-starved brain and I reached for the stability of the desk, my nails biting painfully into the wooden surface.
“Nothing at all?” He gave a short derisive laugh. “Really, the least you could bloody well do is look at me when I address you!”
His words forced my eyes to his, and I had to swallow the squirming sound that worked its way up my throat. To whimper would only incite further malice from him, of that I had no doubt.
“Better,” he said with genuine satisfaction, his eyes holding mine momentarily before breaking off to tend to the meticulous folding back of his shirtsleeves. I watched his hands as they overlapped the cloth in neat, uniform sections, not stoppinguntil both sleeves fell the exact same distance down his arms, resting a cuff’s breadth below the elbow. It was a step I had come to recognize well.
“Now let me explain something to you, child,” he said, starting to pace to the left of me, his eyes flicking between me and the back of his study where I could hear the crackle of a fire alight in the grate and feel its unsavory heat burning into my back. “Youare in this house, becauseIlet you be here, I provide you with every luxury a girl of your age could aspire to and in exchange for that I expect — no, I demand — your undivided loyalty and total obedience. This is fair, is it not?”
I nodded, the movement both jarring and unnatural.
“So you wholeheartedly agree?”
Again, I nodded.
“Then tell me, Abigail, do you think you have held up your end of the deal?”
I didn’t nod, I shook, fear sending my body trembling from head to foot.
“Well, answer me!” he demanded, his body rounding on me, his glare penetrating my guilt-ridden mind and forcing my eyes downward. My cheeks flamed with the memory of everything Emma and I had done, and the knowledge that he knew it all. That there was no way back now.
Not for me.
Not for Emma.
“At least you have the decency to actually look ashamed of what you have done,” he continued, his hands flexing notably at his sides. “You will understand, therefore, that I cannot let this go unpunished, that you need to pay for what you have done?”
Again, I nodded, the tears stinging at my eyes nothing compared to what there would be seconds from now.
“Good, your compliance makes this easier all round,” he stated smoothly, his anger ebbing now that he had me where he wanted me. “Take down your underwear.”
Even though I knew it was coming, my eyes still flicked pleadingly to his, my immobility giving way to desperation as I prayed on the softening of his mood. “Please, Daddy, I didn’t mean for anything to happen—”
“Too late for that, Abi,” he said, cutting me off. “Perhaps you should have thought about the repercussions before testing out your newdykedomwith my fiancée, of all people.”
The harsh truth of his words sliced through my racing thoughts, stripping me of any possible reply. Nothing I could say or do was going to make this any better.
“Do it, Abi!” he ordered, his temper flaring with his impatience as he leaned toward me, his hands fisting into the tabletop. “If you don’t do it, I will simply do it for you—”
I tensed as he pushed himself away from the desk and made a move for me just as an unidentifiable noise reared up from the direction of the fireplace.
I couldn’t make out what it was but it was enough to make him stop and draw away, for that I was grateful.
“For Christ’s sake!” he muttered as he stalked off in its direction, leaving me frozen to the spot and unable to turn to look. I heard him rustling with something and then all was quiet again, the only sound the strike of his shoes as he neared me once more.
Before he could even touch me, I worked my panties down to my ankles and righted myself, thankful for the momentary protection of the full-length skirt.
“Glad to see you’ve seen sense,” he said, pausing directly behind me, his voice reverberating through me with its proximity and my heightened state. “Now bend over.”
I placed my hands upon the polished wood of the desk and slid them forward, bending my body dutifully at the hip as I went. I didn’t rush the move, a ridiculous attempt at prolonging the inevitable I realized.
