hand by the time we land.”
I peer down into the screen again; Nora moves to sit next to me so she can read the text.
“You’ll need to be consistent. But we’ll keep it basic. Remember everything you see there and we’ll be believable. Fuck up once and we’ll either cast suspicion and have more eyes on us than we want, or they’ll kill us on the spot.”
I read through the few rules quickly, absorbing each one as if I’m about to take an exam. When I get to number six, I swallow hard.
Keep a straight, unemotional expression on your face at all times, unless you’re being pleasured, or hurt.
I look up from the screen.
“Pleasured or hurt?” I inquire nervously. “We’re not going to have to actually—”
Niklas shakes his head with disappointment.
“Is that what you thought?” he asks. “That you’d be sent on a mission like this and not have to play your role fully just because you’re the boss-man’s girl?”
I bite down on the inside of my mouth.
“No, I just thought that because Victor wanted you to go with us that…”
Niklas laughs under his breath.
“No Izzy,” he finally says, and I raise my eyes to his again, “no one’s going to touch you. And yes, that’s why Victor wanted me on this mission with you, because he knows that I won’t let anything happen to you”—he pauses, and a hint of a smirk appears on his mouth—“well, at least nothing that would be considered…unforgivable.”
I nod slowly, and with relief, despite the uncomfortable chill the last part left me with.
Niklas looks to Nora.
“Now you, on the other hand,” he says, “I can’t make any promises.” He smiles.
I get the feeling that he wouldn’t make promises where Nora is concerned, even if he could.
“It’s just sex,” Nora says with a shrug. “Not that I’m in the habit of giving it away freely, but I do what needs to be done for the sake of a job.”
Niklas nods.
“But you’re playing our master,” I point out. “No one’s going to touch either one of us if you own us. Right?” I hope so.
“Not without my permission, no,” he says. “But depending on the circumstances, it may be in our best interest that I give permission.”
He looks at Nora again briefly, and a sly smile passes over his features.
“Now about your names,” he says. “I’m adopting an old Italian tradition—a Moretti tradition, anyway: my girls can only bear names with three letters. More than three implies that a girl has earned a higher place beside her master than slave.” He points to Nora. “You’ll be Aya.” Then he looks at me and says, “And you’ll be Naomi.”
That’s my real middle name.
Only a little surprised, I think about the five-letter name for a second, knowing right away why he gave it to me: so he doesn’t have to treat me the same way Nora will likely be treated. As much as I appreciate the special treatment, I can’t help but feel bad about it, too. I want to be as good as Nora in all things; I want to live up to her skill and be taken as seriously in this line of work as everyone takes her.
“OK,” I say, “so what exactly will be the difference between Aya and Naomi?”
Niklas looks me straight in the face.
“Aya will be my slave,” he says, “but you, Naomi, will unfortunately have to suffer the role of being my girlfriend.”
My brows draw inward.
“But I thought I was going to play the slave role, too?” It dawns on me now that earlier he said Nora should familiarize herself with the terms and rules.
He leans forward, his elbows on the tops of his legs.
“You’ll play the role that I tell you to play, Izzy,” he says firmly, “or I don’t go. That’s the condition. Take it or leave it. I can take another plane right back to Boston when we land if I need to.”
Furious, I let my breath out long and hard, crossing my arms over my chest and pressing my back to the seat.
“This is bullshit.”
“Call it what you want,” he says, leaning back up, “but it’s the way it’s gonna be.”
“How am I ever going to learn if everybody keeps treating me like a child? I can play the role of a slave, Niklas—”
“No you can’t,” he says calmly, not looking at me.
“Dammit, Niklas, I was a slave for nine years!”
“And that’s exactly why you’re not going to do it!” he snaps, his eyes hard, full of authority