Page 25 of Darkest Love
“What are you doing in there?” Adrien asks through the door. “You’re taking too long.”
“What, so you can tie me up again? I don’t think so. I’m taking a bath.” I turn the bathtub faucet on.
“I don’t trust you to not run away again. So come out of there.”
“You want a smelly wife? I don’t think so. Let me take my bath and then you can tie me back up.” An idea hits me and it’s one I want but I need to be careful about. “Or…”
“Or?”
“Or you can… join me and not tie me up after.”
The door immediately opens and Adrien stares at me with a dark, lustful expression that makes me shiver. “You really want me to join you in that bath?”
“Unless you have work you need to get to.”
“What game are you playing?” He approaches me and grabs my chin.
“Do you not trust me?”
“No.”
I huff. “I just don’t want to be tied up again. I’ll do whatever.”
“You’ll do something you don’t want to do just to not be tied up again?” He lets me go and steps back. “I don’t want you to feel like you have to give me your body just so you can avoid punishment.” He sighs with a shake of his head. “If you can promise me you won’t run away again, I won’t tie you up.”
“You’re really not going to get in the tub with me?”
“Are you asking because you really want me to get in with you or are you asking because you don’t want to be tied up again?”
A little bit of both but I don’t know how to tell him that.
Adrien nods like he understands what I’m thinking. “I only want you to give your body to me if you’re truly willing. Not under duress.”
“I’m shocked you don’t want to take a bath with me.”
“Oh trust me, Anastasia. I want nothing more than to take a bath with you. But I want you to ask me because you truly want it. Not because you’re trying to get out of a punishment. I have more work I need to attend to anyway. Don’t run away again. Or I’ll do worse than tie you to the bed.”
I shiver. I have no idea what that means but I know it can’t be good.
Once Adrien leaves and I slip into the bath, it dawns on me that I wasn’t bored once in all this time. Like it or not, this has been an adventure.
I know Adrien told me I couldn’t leave but that doesn’t mean I want to stay cooped up in this house forever. I want to see my family again. I was desperate to get away from them for some excitement but now that I am away from them, I miss them so much, I could cry.
Even in all the years my uncle Denis held me captive, I still had my mom with me, even if I was stuck in my room by myself most of the time.
I miss her but a phone call won’t be enough and there is no way Adrien will allow my family to come visit when we’re still technically on our honeymoon.
So, I’ll just have to go to them.
Adrien is busy inside his office so that gives me time to sneak out the backdoor and run around the side of the house to the woodsy area again. Once more, I sneak past the guard out front and run down the street and get an Uber. When the car arrives, I triple check to make sure it’s the right car and hop in.
“To the airport,” I tell the driver.
It won’t take long for Adrien to find out I’m gone but he can deal. He promised I wasn’t a prisoner so I’m going to take him up on it and go back home. I’ll return to Paris eventually. Maybe when Adrien starts treating me with more respect.
When I get to the airport, I hurry into the line to buy a ticket for New York. Thankfully I packed my passport with me before I left home. I’ve never needed to use it before in my life.
I quickly get the ticket and head for the security line when I see him. Adrien. He’s storming inside the airport with two of his guards behind him.
