massive estate. Faith silently berated herself.
Why couldn’t she give in to him? She’d dated a lot of guys and none of them were as attractive or rich as Leo. Though Italian men weren’t a rarity in the city, Leo made it look exotic and wild. Why couldn’t she do what he wanted? He didn’t repulse her. Wasn’t that something at least?
But she was too afraid. The things he’d hinted he was into… well, she didn’t know a lot about them. But she knew they scared her. She knew the spanking he’d given her the previous night had scared, humiliated, and hurt her. She knew if that was the first thing he did to her, that things would become horrible. Whatever else he had going for him… this was too much. And then there was the family of killers . These people weren’t like her. They’d kill anybody who saw too much, knew too much, or got in their way.
Still, if he followed through on his word to let her live in another wing of the house and not hurt her, she found herself extremely grateful—enough so that she wished that what he wanted was normal. If he wasn’t into scary or painful things, she could almost see herself letting him touch her without cringing. If he’d only let her get used to the idea. Give her time.
Leo stopped in front of large, white double doors and pushed them open.
Faith followed him and set her cat on the carpet to poke around and wander, she’d have to go back for the litter box.
The room was nearly as big and nice as Leo’s, with a bathroom and large closets and a fireplace. The difference in this room was the light. There was so much light, and more so with snow on the ground. Three-fourths of the wall space was taken up by windows.
A large Christmas tree with tiny white lights that dimmed and brightened in a slow pattern stood next to the windows. Green and silver ornaments decorated the tree, and a silver- and green-patched skirt was wrapped around the bottom. Squish was already burrowing underneath the tree skirt to take a nap.
“The rooms on the farthest ends of the house are like this, but this one is the best,” he said. “You’ll get a lovely sunrise each morning.”
She knew she should thank him, but she was still too afraid he’d go back on his word, or that he would use all that he was giving her as justification for taking what he wanted later. The way he looked at her, she knew how badly he wanted it. That morning, his erection had pressed up through the sheets, and she’d been terrified he was about to force himself on her. She’d drawn herself tightly into a ball against the headboard, trying to keep her tears quiet so she wouldn’t wake him, her breaths coming out ragged and panicked.
“I’ll have someone bring your things. You can go anywhere in the house, except my room, the cellar, and the back of the house that contains my office and operating theater.”
“Operating theater?” That sounded macabre.
“I’m a surgeon. At least that’s a part of my work. I run a private practice here with a separate entrance in the back. We probably won’t see each other a lot, but if you need anything, use the intercom system.” He indicated a white box on the wall beside her bed. “Someone will come and take care of you. You don’t need to be afraid of anybody who works for me. They’ve all got orders to leave you in peace.”
Faith remained quiet, unable to bring herself to look into his eyes. She was afraid if she did, she’d see the devil trying to drag her into hell.
She’d seen crucifixes in various places about the house and a few other religious iconographies, like a Virgin Mary statue in the entry hall, so she knew he must be Catholic. She was a lapsed Catholic herself, and wondered if being taken was some kind of punishment for her sins. She hadn’t been to church in longer than she could remember. She couldn’t call this place Heaven, but if Leo stayed true to his word, it wasn’t Hell, either. She silenced the voice in her mind that