“I’m truly sorry you’ve been taken from your life and your friends. My brother has a bad sense for what is an appropriate gift to give someone. I’ll leave you alone, now.”

“Thank you,” forced itself out of her throat after the door had clicked shut.

Half an hour later servants came through with her things. They’d put her stuff back in the bags and boxes they’d brought them to the house in and left everything on the floor beside her bed. No comments were made, but she wondered how much any of them knew.

Did they know their boss was sexually twisted? Did they know she was meant to be his slave to serve those needs? What would they think about her being moved to the other end of the house? Would they think he found her lacking or that he’d had mercy on her? Why did she care what they thought?

She stayed out of their way until they left without uttering a word to her. She went to work unpacking and arranging everything in the closet. Squish came out from under the Christmas tree to poke her nose into all the empty boxes and bags. Faith put the luggage in the closet, stacked and folded the rest of the containers, and put them outside her door in the hallway. Surely someone would take them away. It wasn’t as if she’d need them ever again. She’d resigned herself to this large, ornate prison. He couldn’t let her go.

Faith sprawled across her bed, and the cat hopped up to snuggle with her. What if Leo got tired of keeping her as a house guest when she wasn’t giving him anything? What if he got tired of feeding her and taking care of any other needs that came up? Would he make her disappear? What if he couldn’t maintain the self-control not to try again to make her his slave? What was she supposed to call him? Did he still consider her his property? It wasn’t realistic to assume she’d never see him again. What would happen when she did?

She reached across the bed to find a remote on the night table. She didn’t see anything it could possibly go to, but when she pressed the button, a large flat screen television rose out of a white chest at the foot of the bed. She pressed the button again to let the screen go back into its hiding space.

Would there be a story on the news? Probably not. In the grand scheme, she was a nobody and people disappeared in the city all the time. Still, she wondered about the reactions of her friends. They might not have been best friends but they’d notice her missing.

She imagined her boss would be angry at first, with plans to fire her when she returned, and then the slow, dawning realization that she wasn’t coming back at all. Would they notice when her final paycheck wasn’t cashed? Would they worry or care? Would anybody file a missing person’s report?