Total pages in book: 149
Estimated words: 141255 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 706(@200wpm)___ 565(@250wpm)___ 471(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 141255 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 706(@200wpm)___ 565(@250wpm)___ 471(@300wpm)
Cleo removed the blue leather collar with a dangling X of black obsidian gems on the front before escorting me to a guest suite. I immediately got to my knees to assume my standard waiting pose when Cleo snapped at me to sit on the edge of the bed instead. I avoided the urge to frown and internally shuddered that I had to avoid the urge. Being in street clothes must be messing with my brain because I didn’t normally show any emotion and at this stage didn’t have to tell myself to hide it because it came so naturally to me to keep it all locked away. I was on autopilot all the time. But this situation had me off my game.
Add to that having a naked throat and then being told to do something as simple as sit on a bed instead of waiting on the floor in the pose I’d been trained to wait in were both foreign. I sat and placed my hands in my lap.
Cleo leaned close to my ear and whispered a warning that was soft in volume, but the tone was laced with venom. “Fuck this up and that ass is mine, you. I won’t be lenient.”
Cleo, Cleopatra Jade, was a tall and elegant forty-seven-year-old Asian woman with flawless skin, not a wrinkle on her super skinny face, and zero per cent body fat. She had the temper of a Tasmanian devil. She’d stayed away from me the past six weeks but glared at me every time I was in her orbit. I knew that if I was lucky, I’d never see her again. It wouldn’t be lucky, exactly, because I didn’t know what was next for me and I didn’t dare to hope, but I’d be forever grateful to never be in her evil clutches again.
I remained frozen, waiting for my future husband. I hadn’t received another brief, which was strange. I expected to be told what persona to assume, what he wanted from my behavior, but that never came. I was on edge because without directions I didn’t know what to do with myself. I had found my way in this world because I always knew what was expected of me, but without any instructions to fortify my armor I was feeling uneasy. All I could do was try my best to hide it.
I opened the door to the room that had been assigned to me for my stay, which they suggested be two days or longer, as lengthy as I wanted.
I knew that I had to play this carefully.
It was a spacious room with a king-size bed and a large desk. There was an adjoining bathroom. I was told that under the bed were restraints, whips, and a chest of sex toys, if I wanted them, and that there was a hatch in the ceiling that contained a swing. It was a nice room despite being discreetly equipped for kink or sexual torture and looked like any typical five-star hotel room. On the edge of the bed sat Felicia Sapphire, my slave.
I couldn’t tell this girl what my plans were. She had to think she was being sold to me. I had to get in and get out and then I’d reveal to her that she was not to be my wife or my slave, but that she would instead gain her freedom back under some very specific conditions that would protect her and protect me and my family from blowback.
I had to play things carefully because I did not need to be alerting these scumbags to the fact that I was not likeminded. I didn’t know if anything here was being recorded or filmed so I would play this game carefully.
She was on the edge of the bed, staring at her hands in her lap. Her beauty took my breath away for a second. She had the face of an angel, almost porcelain doll-like, straight shiny copper-toned hair with auburn highlights. It fell to just past her breasts, arranged over one shoulder. She was tiny, but looked toned and fit.
The short, bald, Spanish guy who Chen had left me with when he got an urgent call had offered to escort me to the room, but I said I’d like to meet my bride-to-be for the first time alone. I added a smirk for good measure
He’d smirked back, saying, “By all means; I completely understand. She’s been waiting for you.”
He sent me ahead with a bellboy with plans to have another conversation either later that evening or the following morning. The bellboy took my suitcase to the closet and closed the door and then I nodded at him as he shut the door behind himself. I locked it.
I’d heard the door open and close and I knew it was the moment of truth. I had no expectations. I knew better than to try to anticipate what would be next. I only knew that I was to not only be owned by this man but was to become his wife, too.