sub herself had relaxed the more her top had restricted her movement, but it had bugged the hell out of Charlie.
“Any number of reasons,” she replied, her eyes steady on him.
He forced himself to move toward the opposite side of the room from her. He had to force his legs to work because every instinct he had screamed out to get her on that bed and make her his.
That wasn’t going to happen. He took a deep breath as he looked around the room. Rene kept things elegant, even in his sex spaces. The privacy room was decorated as beautifully as a suite at the Ritz, though he doubted the suite was stocked with condoms and lube and an array of torture instruments.
There were three ways out. The door to the room. The window in the bathroom. The air ducts. Rene had shown him that he’d had the air ducts specially made in case he or his friends required a quick exit. Still, the first night he’d stayed here, he’d tested it out. Trust but verify—even his closest allies.
“How about you tell me one of those reasons,” he said.
He opened the armoire, leaving the doors wide so Charlie could see the collection of canes and paddles and the different types of rope he could potentially use.
He expected her to tell him about a time when she was young and got trapped in a closet. Or that she wasn’t sure, simply hated small spaces.
“My father used to lock me in a coffin as punishment. Sometimes he would leave small animals in there with me. Once he placed a snake at my feet and locked me inside for twenty-four hours.”
It took him a moment to process her words. “What?”
“My father is the head of the Denisovitch syndicate, though I’m sure you already know that,” she replied, as simply as if she were telling him the sky was blue. “Rene told you, I suspect.”
“Yes.” He forced himself to answer calmly because his heart rate had ticked up at the thought of the woman in front of him being tormented by her own father. His had been a shitbag, but he certainly hadn’t been physically abusive.
A soft expression crossed her face. “It’s fine, Master Ian. The snake wasn’t poisonous. I figured out a way to kill it and I survived. It’s in the past.”
“Did you know it wasn’t poisonous?” He was still trying to wrap his brain around what she’d been through. It wasn’t that he didn’t understand torture—of all types. He simply couldn’t understand putting a child through it.
“I figured it out after a few hours,” she admitted. “It bit me many times, but I was still alive. It’s funny how logical a person can be even when they’re terrified. But seriously, Sir. It’s over. With the exception of hating tight spaces, I don’t think about it much anymore.”
“Do you still live with your father?” How could he kill her father? It would be a fun weekend project. How long did it take a man to die from having his balls squeezed in a vise?
“We’ve reached a standoff, my father and I. I do the occasional job for him and he leaves me alone for the most part. I would love to simply walk out of his life, but that didn’t work out for my mother.”
He could imagine. Now was the time when he should shrug and fuck her and move on. And yet the words that came out of his mouth didn’t even vaguely resemble what his ruthless brain was thinking. “I’ll get you out.”
He could kill the whole syndicate. It wasn’t like he wouldn’t enjoy it. His handler, Ten Smith, might have a problem with it, but he could deal with Ten.
Her eyes had warmed, her body relaxing. “Like I said before, I’m comfortable where I am now. I can’t change the past, but I can live for the now. Are you thinking about using one of the canes on me?”
He didn’t like the change of subject. It made him suspicious. Of course her boobs made him horny, and his mind and dick were contemplating war on each other. Still, suspicion was an old friend. “Why are you here, Charlie? Am I one of those jobs you do for your father?”
She shook her head. “I’m not working for my father.”
That wasn’t a complete denial. “But you are working.”
“Aren’t we always working, Master Ian?” She hadn’t moved from her position on the bed.
He suddenly wanted more control. It was odd since she