Page 16 of Bought

Perhaps. But if I wanted to branch out, it wasn’t going to be with her, end of story.

Still, she was allowed a warning. Just one.

“Let me be very clear,” I said softly. “I’m a suspicious man. A man who has many enemies, which is why you won’t be getting anywhere near my home unless I know you. So, you will tell me about yourself. And if you continue to lie then I will take measures to ensure that you give me the truth. If you still choose to lie, then I will stop this car and put you out on the street, and you will not be going anywhere at all with me.”

She didn’t move, only watched me as I laid down the law, her expression giving nothing away.

“Do you understand?” I prompted.

“Oh, I understand.” She said it as if she wasn’t scared of me or of anything I’d said. “But again, like I told you, my name is Lizzie.”

I knew what she was doing, even though she might not have been aware of it herself. She was pushing me, testing me, wanting to see where my boundaries lay, wanting to see what I would do. All subs did it at some point.

How do you even know she’s a sub?

I didn’t and I shouldn’t keep thinking about her that way. Then again, that didn’t mean I couldn’t use my powers of observation on her. Reading people was a particular skill of mine.

I didn’t do anything immediately, letting the silence sit, because silence was uncomfortable. Letting it take on substance, become heavy, a weight pressing down.

Isabel could never stand that silence, yet this girl gave no sign of discomfort. She merely looked at me with those guileless gray eyes.

Slowly, I reached up and began to undo my tie. I took my time, and I didn’t say a word, letting her watch, letting her form all sorts of theories about why I was undoing it, whether I was just loosening it or taking it off completely. And what I might do with it afterward.

Psychology was a potent weapon in the right hands, and I knew how to use it to give the most pleasure, or the most pain, depending on the sub and what they wanted. The context was different here, but the principle was the same in that I would let her imagine all kinds of scenarios, building her own fear more effectively than any threats would.

With luck, she’d scare herself so much that she’d tell me everything I wanted to know before I’d even managed to get my tie off.

Except she didn’t.

It seemed this little one was made of stronger stuff because she remained silent as I pulled open the knot at my throat and then slid the fabric from under my collar. As I wound the blue silk around both fists and pulled it tight.

She glanced down at the tie and then back up at me. “Is that…a threat or something? I mean, you said you didn’t hurt women so presumably you’re not going to strangle me with it.” There was a flippant note in her voice, that I suspected was a defense mechanism, and indeed, when I looked into her eyes, beneath her calm expression, I saw that fear again.

Was it me? Or the situation? And if it was either or both, why did she not simply tell me to let her go? I’d given her the choice several times, yet she’d been committed to coming with me.

Why? Was she being forced into this? Was someone holding something over her?

Well, if so, it was even more important I find out what was going on.

“No,” I said levelly. “I am not going to strangle you with it.”

“Good to know. So what are you going to do with it?”

I held her gaze. “Hold out your hands.”

7

Zara

Neon from the night outside filled the interior of the car, lighting up the stark, beautiful lines of his face, and making those deep blue eyes of his glow.

I knew what he wanted to do with that tie and a cold thread of fear wound through me. The same fear I’d felt the moment he’d grabbed my wrists and put them behind my back in Arcadia.

My mouth dried.

The blue silk was stretched between his strong hands, and I was aware that this night had the potential to end very badly for me. Men were so fucking unpredictable and while I knew a lot about this particular man, he was still a stranger to me.

But I wasn’t going to give into that goddamn fear, not again. I’d spent my childhood being terrified, but that time was long gone. I’d spent eight years armoring myself, carving out a life from basically nothing. Getting myself stronger, harder, so I could get out of this shithole of a city and find myself something better.