The blonde smiled wickedly, enjoying the torment she enacted against Maddy. “Come on, baby girl, you need to get wet for Momma, I’m going to show you that taking a woman for a lover is so much better than a man.” Her fingers slicked down between Maddy’s thighs pressed in and out as she attempted to elicit arousal. Her other hand found Madeleine’s breast, her fingers teasing the nipple into a tight point before again caressing the weight of her breast. “This isn’t doing it for you, baby? Let Momma take care of that for you.” When the blonde moved behind Maddy, she instantly moved her face closer to lick at the sensitive nub, her hands continuing to work over Maddy’s body. Aaron watched as a flush of color broke out along Maddy’s skin, he knew full well that an orgasm was building in her despite her disgust and shame. He watched as her jaw loosened, her hips beginning to writhe under the flick of the blonde woman’s tongue. Each man in the room moaned at the sight of the two women, some pulled themselves loose to jerk off as they watched the display. Aaron made sure to note which men took the most pleasure in the scene played out before them, promised himself that the dicks they stroked would be removed from their bodies when he killed them. The room only held a few of the men that were part of Aaron’s alliance and he noticed how they would turn their heads, ashamed to be witness to the rape of a young, innocent woman.
Soft moans began to sound from the table, the blonde successful in her mission to force pleasure through Maddy. When wound to the peak, when pushed to the point of eventual release, the blonde took her thumb and pressed it into Maddy’s ass just as she screamed out in the fits of her orgasm, her body quaking from tremors as hormones surged through her veins. Winding her down, the blonde finally pulled away, cackling at her achievement. She stood up, turned so that the audience could see the evidence of Maddy’s orgasm as it dripped down her face.
Walking back over the Vincent, the blonde leaned in for a kiss, her pride allowing her to believe that she was anything more than a tool. Vincent grabbed her by the hair again, pulled a rag from his pocket to wipe her face clean before dragging her back out the doors to lock her back in whatever hole she’d crawled out from.
Looking unimpressed, Aaron turned to his father, saw a glimmer in the eye of the man who just ordered Maddy’s rape. “Are we done here?”
His father’s keen eyes searched Aaron’s face for any hint of emotion. Not finding the reaction he wanted, he snapped his fingers, ordering that Maddy be released. “We’re done for now Aaron, take your whore and return her to your quarters. I will call again soon if I have need for another demonstration.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
When Aaron, Maddy and Xander returned to their quarters, Aaron ordered Maddy to sit on the couch while he indicated for Xander to join him in his office. Maddy sat down as instructed, not able to hold back her tears from the events of the presentation. Aaron did his best to ignore her sobs, slamming the door out of anger, but not closing it entirely. Moving to his desk, he sat down in the large leather chair as Xander took a seat on the opposite side.
“I have to release her, Xander, she can’t be forced to endure another presentation. He will only get worse, will come up with new ways to torment me by abusing her body.” Aaron’s voice was distant, controlled so that he didn’t go back to that ballroom to kill every man who occupied the room.
“You can’t let her go, Aaron.” A truth spoken softly, but the heavy weight of those words hung amid the momentary silence between the two men. “If she escapes, it will be your life. The alliance is not yet strong enough to overpower those who still hold allegiance to your father. A few more months and we’ll be ready to strike. We have to hold out until then.”
Pounding his fist against the wood of the desk, Aaron sat up in his chair, anger seething within his veins. “She will not live through another few months. At some point he will push my patience too far, will overstep bounds that will cause me to lose control. I’ll die either way. If I free her, at least she stands a chance. She’ll be able to get to someone who can help her, she’ll be able to escape the disease that The Estate has become.”
“And she’ll have to live in hiding for the rest of her life, a prisoner to The Estate even then. If you release her, he will not stop until he’s found her. Whether you are alive or dead, he will torture her just to spite you once she was found. There is no place on the face of this Earth that isn’t infected by his influence.”
Silence again, a blanket of hopelessness and futility settling over the two men as they argued over the fate of the young woman currently crying in the room on the other side of the office walls. Aaron finally spoke again, his voice rough and cracked through by the despondency he felt. “If I was to be her only abuser, if it was me she would learn to hate while I fought to keep her alive, it would be different. I could protect her from the worst; ensure that she remained whole. But that is not the option I’ve been given, at least not now that he has found ways around the agreement we’d entered. He’ll rape her at some point, Xander, he’ll pass her around to the slime that serves him before ending her life as he has every other woman he’s wanted to use.”
“We’ll find a way around it. We’ll … ”
“THERE IS NO WAY, XANDER!” Aaron stood up from his desk, knocking aside whatever objects cluttered the expanse of the wood. Walking away he punched the wall, knocking a large hole in the plaster before moving to the window to look outside. Thoughtful for a few moments, Xander didn’t dare disturb the beast that was slowly wrapping it’s claws around Aaron’s soul, didn’t dare disturb a man who could kill within seconds.
Finally breaching the silence, Aaron spoke again, “Retrieve what clothes she has left, I’ll walk her to the perimeter of the property, take the paths through the woods away from the cameras. I will not let Madeleine’s life slip away in order to save mine. She is light while I am darkness, she is raw beauty and so blessedly pure while I am nothing more than a poison to humanity. She deserves her life far more than I deserve mine.”
Maddy calmed herself while sitting on the couch as Xander and Aaron spoke. As she stopped the flow of tears from her eyes, tried to still her trembling body, she could hear the conversation between the two men, her skin prickling at the realization that Aaron would set her free. Enveloped in shame and disgrace, her mind flitted back to the events of the presentation; the inspection by Aaron’s father, the feel of the other slave’s hands and mouth on her body. But it was Aaron’s voice and words that had disturbed her the most. The lack of emotion and the reference to her as nothing more than garbage, she would have rather died than endured the mockery from the men in the room. As they’d walked back through the halls toward Aaron’s quarters, she felt more anger at herself for having believed he cared anything about her, she cursed him silently as she watched him through her tears as he walked in front of her and Xander.
His words just spoken to Xander were in stark contrast to the man he’d been at the presentation; her confusion now a deep and dark chasm tearing through her mind. During the presentation, she’d been so sure that he cared nothing for her that he’d fooled her into believing that even a spark of humanity could exist within him. After he’d stepped aside, allowed her to be chained to a table, gave permission to his father to use her as he saw fit, Maddy believed that she’d been deceived, that he’d used kindness to train her, that his kindness meant nothing more than ensuring she was ready for the presentation.
She listened intently as Xander argued against Aaron’s decision, heard Aaron when he described her as a thing of beauty, a light in comparison to the darkness of his soul. Her eyes widened at the realization that he’d never wanted to train her, that he’d rather lay down his life than witness her endure further abuse, that he would lay down his life to set her free. Tears again, but this time not from the pain and torment of abuse, but from the realization that she hadn’t been deceived, that the tiny spark of light she saw within him hadn’t been extinguished, it had just been disguised.
Aaron came storming th
rough the office doors, the dark green of his eyes swirling with rage and despair, the droop to his shoulders revealing that, at this moment, the decision he made was his acceptance of defeat. Xander walked behind him, but rather than stopping in the living room as Aaron had, Xander continued on until he disappeared down into the shadows of the long corridor.
While waiting for Xander to return, Aaron stared at Madeleine, his eyes taking in the vision of her in an effort to commit the image of the only good thing he’d known in his life to memory. The image wouldn’t need to last long; as soon as it was discovered that she’d been released, his father would order his death. Although Aaron was a skilled assassin, the executioner, as he was dubbed within The Estate, he could only survive for so long when fighting the army of men his father would undoubtedly send to ensure his death.
“We’re going to take a walk, Madeleine. I will have to get dressed for the cold weather, unfortunately I will not be able to provide you clothes to protect you. I want you to stay here while I change, don’t move from your seat until I return.” He didn’t wait for her response, knew that she’d been broken enough that he wouldn’t have to worry about her attempt at disobedience, hoped that when he set her free, she’d find her way back to the innocence The Estate had taken from her. Moving quickly to his bedroom, Aaron put on a large coat, took Maddy’s clothes from Xander, shoving them in his coat to hide them until he could get her to the perimeter of the property. Xander’s eyes were bleak and he remained quiet while Aaron armed himself with more blades and walked out toward Maddy so that he could set her free.
Approaching the front doors, Aaron turned to Maddy. “Stand slave and follow behind me. At no time should you walk beside me as if you were my equal. Until we get to our destination, all eyes will be on us as we pass. Be sure to stick to your role.”
Maddy nodded her understanding and took her place behind him. Letting out a heavy sigh, Aaron pulled open the large front door, stepped out into the halls and shut the door behind him once Maddy had followed him out of his quarters. They walked in silence through the halls, the men they passed wearing expressions of shock to see Aaron and his slave out in public so quickly after the events of the presentation. He hated parading her around in her undressed state, but he had no choice. Exiting the building, the bite of cold air stung his cheeks. Early evening had begun to settle over the land and a thick mist hung in the air obscuring the distant tree line. Although relieved to know that once they entered the woods they would be hidden from sight, he couldn’t imagine the discomfort Maddy would feel from the cold air hitting her skin. The only solace he could find was that soon she would be free to return to her life. Once they passed the exterior walls of the building, Aaron led Maddy into the woods, cringed every time a branch broke under his foot when he realized what the ground, littered with twigs and rocks, must be doing to Maddy’s bare feet. He wanted to slow down, to pick her up and carry her as far as he could, but he had to keep the appearance that she was only a slave, nothing worthy of his care.
Once veiled deep within the thickness of the mist and fog, Aaron stopped. Turning to Maddy, he pulled the clothes from inside his jacket. Her skin had taken on a blue tint from the cold air against her body, her lips and cheeks already chapped from the wind. Holding the clothes out to her he said, “Put these clothes on, you’ll freeze to death without them. They’re not much to protect against the cold, but they’re better than nothing. He attempted to hand her the clothes, but Maddy just kept her arms wrapped around her body, refused to reach out to accept them.
Aaron tempered back his annoyance with her disobedience, remembered that she was not the slave she represented. “Please, Maddy. Take the clothes.”
“May I speak, Master?” Her voice was shy as she trained her eyes to the ground.
Letting out a sigh, Aaron watched as the warmth of his breath steamed out before him. “I’m not your Master, Madeleine. You are not a slave, you are nothing as low as I’ve made you believe.”
“Will you die?” Her head shot up, her eyes the color of a summer sky burning into his as she shocked him silent with her question.
“Maddy … ”
“No!” Her voice firm, she stepped out of character to find out the truth to Aaron’s plan. “Tell me now. If I leave here, will you die?” Her voice shook as she found a hidden strength within her that she’d never known existed.
“How did you know, Maddy?” The soft tone to his voice was confession enough, his continued refusal to answer the question she asked. “How did you know I intend to set you free.”
“I overheard your conversation with Xander. You didn’t close the door all the way; I heard everything. Xander said it would cost you your life if I were released … you agreed. I can’t let that happen, Aaron, not after … not after everything you’ve tried to do for me.” Tears streaked down her face, their warmth quickly diminished by the cold wind, they felt like ice by the time they dripped from her cheeks.
Aaron stood dumbfounded, not knowing what to say to the woman who appeared to be crying for him when he’d done nothing but torture her. His voice was softened by disbelief when he said, “I’ve tormented you, Maddy, and I’ve treated you like nothing more than an object, allowed others to treat you that way.”
Holding her chin up, she continued to lock her eyes with his, not shying away from the dark soul of the man who stood in her presence. “Have you enjoyed it, the torment you’ve inflicted on me?”
Her question struck him. Now was the time for Aaron to answer her truthfully, but he didn’t know what it was. Had he enjoyed it? Yes; when her body was writhing beneath him, when she’d bitten him and fought against him; when she was kneeling before him making him feel things that no woman ever had. “Yes.”
Her body tightened at his answer, the realization of his honest character apparent in the way she held herself. “I’m not a good man, Maddy. I’ll never be a person worthy of you, of the beauty and light you provide to this world. I kill, I steal, I lie and I cheat. I take pleasure when I bathe in the blood of another man’s demise, when I watch the life drain from their eyes as they die. I enjoyed you as well, Maddy, not when I had to hurt you, but when I took things from your body that weren’t mine to take. I’ve done nothing for you, Mouse, nothing but what I wanted to do.”
She thought about those encounters, at first disgusted with the feel of his hands on her body, that disgust had been reduced to ash by the way he made her body feel. Not the first time, not when she hadn’t yet been exposed to his gentle side; but after that, yes, she’d wanted the fire he ignited within her, wanted the feel of his skin, his mouth, his tongue on her skin. Her heart had been lost to him during those quiet moments between them, when he tended to her wounds, when he watched her play in the music room. He had given her something; he’d attempted to give her the only modesty that he could. More importantly, he’d given her back her music, showed that he knew, on some level, how important it was to her. Pulling her hands in front of her, one hand moved to spin the circle of the string around her wrist. Staring down on the silver cord, she shook her head, refusing to believe there wasn’t a small glimmer of goodness within him. “Did you enjoy it when you allowed other people to touch me, to rape me while strapped to a table, to display me to a group of horrendous men who were turned on by my pain?”
“No.” A simple answer, one so true to its core, it struck Aaron to realize that he’d become possessive of this woman, couldn’t stand the thought of any man or woman laying another hand on her.
Nodding her head, Maddy knew he wasn’t as indecent as he believed himself to be. “If I stay, if I endure the acts of The Estate, continue to be your slave, will the alliance that Xander spoke of be able to destroy your father? To destroy those vile men who watched as I was raped by another woman?” She didn’t look up from the cord around her wrist, too afraid to see the green of Aaron’s eyes.
Reaching out to touch her, Aaron pulled back when he remember she wasn’t his. “It’s not for you to be
concerned, Maddy. Once you leave here, you never have to worry about this place again, you can live your life as you should, play your instrument, get married and make babies if that’s what you want. The affairs of The Estate are beneath you, you are so much more than any member of this godforsaken hell hole.”
“But I want him dead.” She finally looked up, saw the shock in his eyes at the vengeance in her tone. “Don’t I have a choice? Or are you as entitled as your father, feeling like you have the right to make decisions for me, the right to tell me what will happen to my life.”
Aaron shook his head, not comprehending what she was attempting to say. “I have taken no choice from you. I’m trying to let you live your life as you see fit, not under the command of men so corrupt they blanket the world in violence and death.”
“Then I choose to stay, to remain as your slave, to allow you the time that you need to ensure that your bastard father dies. If you are giving me back my choice, then I choose to stay.”
Shaking his head in refusal of what she was asking, he watched as Maddy fell to her knees on the ground. Her head held in her hands, she sobbed so violently, that her small body shook with the force of her sorrow. Aaron dropped to his knees beside her and took her small body into his arms. Her skin felt like ice from the frigid temperature outside, the small bits of light reflecting beautifully off her alabaster skin. He allowed her to cry, completely overtaken by the woman who dared care about him when he’d been her nightmare. Something flickered within him, a light breaking through the black recesses of his soul, a small glint of hope where before, there’d been none.
“They’ll torture you. If I let you stay, they’ll get to you eventually, Maddy. I can’t protect you when we’re in the ballroom, it will only be so much time before they push me too far … ”