“Don’t thank me,” she said with a shake of her head, her eyes sparkling as she added, “This was all Volkan’s idea. I’ve never seen a man so in love as him. He gave you this office so he could spend time with you during the workday. You’ll have to thank him if you like what you see.”

As lovely as the office was, Yasmin had no desire to thank Volkan for anything, yet he kept doing things for her that she felt grateful for. It was a confusing feeling, being grateful to her captor. How did she hate someone who was determined to make her life better?

Yet, he refused to give her the one thing she needed to be happy with him; the freedom to choose her own path in life.

“Can I help you with anything else?” Janie asked.

Yasmin shook her head and turned to look out the window, crossing her arms over her chest. “No, thank you. That’ll be all, Janie.”

Chapter Thirty-One

Yasmin surprised herself by enjoying her time in her new office. First, she rearranged the furniture so her desk was facing both the door and the big picture windows that overlooked the dockyards. She was fascinated by the massive ships and the shipping containers that were being constantly loaded and unloaded. Throughout the day, different ships came and went with smooth precision.

When she’d had enough of watching the ships and dockworkers, she settled at her desk and opened the shiny new laptop she assumed was hers. She went through the setup process while doing her best to ignore the excited voice in the back of her head telling her that this was it, her chance to get away from Volkan. As soon as she was online, she could contact the authorities and explain her situation.

Only when she thought about turning Volkan into the authorities, things became murky. She couldn’t picture him going to jail, but she also couldn’t picture a life spent in subjugation to a man who displayed violent tendencies.

Instead of deciding what to do about her captivity, Yasmin made lists. List-making was one of her all-time favourite activities, and it always worked to calm her mind when she was feeling stressed. First, she made a list of things she could use her new office for, then she made a list of the supplies she would need. Then she decided to take one of Janie’s suggestions and use the office to plan the redecoration of Volkan’s suite.

Did that mean she was ready to accept that she would have a life with Volkan? No, she told herself; it didn’t. It meant that she wanted to disrupt his carefully ordered life as much as possible before finding a way to leave.