The Life of Anna, Part 2: Entwined (13 page)

She smiled shyly. “Yes, Alex.”

“Good girl,” he said, pushing her to her feet gently. “Now, let’s go find your clothes so you can get dressed.” And he could go get some relief in private.

“Alex?”

“Yes,
Schatzi
?”

She looked nervous again. “Did Seth...approaching me this morning upset you?” She was watching his face carefully.

Alex kept his face impassive as he thought. God, he hated the idea of her being with someone else. Knowing she'd spent the night with his father nearly killed him. But, he'd rather see her with someone who would treat her well than someone that would hurt her. After spending years having sex multiple times daily, she certainly had a strong, active sex drive. Better Seth than some random man.

“Seth is a good man, Anna. I trust him with my life. I would entrust your life to him.” He hoped it would never come to that. He didn’t want to think of her in danger. “It wouldn’t be a good idea for you to publicly date him,” he said, looking up at her after a long moment of silence. “But if you have...needs, I don't mind you being with him.” He spoke slowly and carefully. He'd rather she be with him than his friend, but he'd already decided he wouldn’t make love to her until she knew it was more than just sex.

She looked at him questioningly, but accepted his answer. “Yes, Alex,” she said softly.

Alex located Anna’s clothes in Kurt’s room and then went into his own bathroom. He opened his jeans and lost himself in thoughts of Anna naked in his bed.

After an awkward breakfast, Wilhelm headed off to the airport and Alex said a terse goodbye to Kirsty so he could take Anna to her new apartment.

Anna hated that she seemed to be getting in between Alex and his girlfriend. She hated that Alex had needed to discipline her too. She never would have acted in such a way if Devin or Jack had been around. Why did she do it around Alex?

She craned her neck to look out at the tall buildings as Alex drove through the streets of downtown San Francisco. They’d hardly spoken during the drive. Alex seemed deep in thought, and Anna didn’t want to interrupt him.

He drove into a parking garage and circled around until he parked in a spot near a bank of elevators. “This is a spot for guests,” he said quietly and then motioned to his left. “That’s the car we picked out for you. If you don’t like it, we can go pick out something else.”

Anna glanced at Alex before getting out and walking around the car. She gasped at the cute little car sitting there. The white, two-door coupe looked like the top might be retractable. She felt a grin spreading across her face and she glanced up at Alex, who watched her with a nervous expression on her face.

“It’s beautiful,” she said, drawing her hand gently across the trunk lid. “You didn’t have to do this, Alex.”

Alex chewed his lip for a moment. “I wanted to,” he said quietly. His eyes bored into hers and she could feel his intense emotions, and then he looked away. He opened the car door and showed her how everything worked, and then handed Anna the key fob.

“The building has a valet service, so you just call the concierge desk and they’ll have it waiting for you out front when you need it.”

“Do I have to use the service?” The concept sounded weird.

“No, of course not. Just...know it’s an option.” He ran his hands through his hair. He shook his head slightly and then smiled. His mood seemed to have lightened. “Shall we go see your apartment?”

Anna nodded and her heart leapt slightly when he took her hand and led her to the elevator. He pushed the button with a 26 on it and the elevator sped upwards.

When they arrived at the door at the end of the hallway, Alex handed Anna the key. “Go ahead and unlock it.”

Anna did so and walked into the apartment that Alex had found for her.

“Two bedrooms, two baths,” Alex explained as she walked inside.

Anna walked into the master bedroom to see it decorated in soft purple and cream. The guest bedroom next to it had been decorated in a blue that matched Alex’s eyes. Alex was waiting in the furnished living room, which had two walls of windows, allowing her to see an amazing view of the bay. It too had been decorated in shades of purple and cream. The adjoining kitchen had a breakfast bar that Anna imagined using every morning.

“Oh, Alex, it’s beautiful.” She turned and hugged him around the waist. She didn’t deserve such a beautiful place to live.

*****

Alex hugged Anna back, savoring her soft form against him. Kirsty had said some rude things about Anna before she left and it had been bothering him the entire way here. He’d never thought Kirsty a petty person, but apparently he’d been wrong. He didn’t know how much more he’d be able to put up with.

Anna seemed thrilled with both the car and the apartment. He’d had the apartment decorated with her in mind. Her smile made his heart swell in his chest.

“Anna, I need your driver’s license number so I can register the car in your name.”

She stiffened. “My license?”

Alex wondered at her reaction. “I want the car in your name, not mine. But I need your number to do that.”

“I don’t have it.”

Was her face turning pale?

“You don’t carry it with you?”

“I rarely drive. It’s at Jack’s house.”

“Anna, are you all right?” Her face was definitely pale now.

She looked up at him with fear-filled eyes. “I need to go get it,” she whispered, and then looked down at his chest. She nodded. “Okay.”

“Anna, what’s wrong?”

She forced a smile onto her face, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “It’s all right. I’ll go get it and call you with the number?”

Her expression bothered him. He knew she’d been abused and couldn’t blame her for not wanting to go back to her guardian’s house. “I’ll take you, Anna. You don’t have to go alone.”

“I don’t want to be a bother.”

He cradled her cheek. “You’re never a bother,
Schatzi
.”

*****

Anna’s stomach started jumping around as they drew closer to the hell-house she spent the last eight years of her life in. By the time Alex pulled up in front of the light-gray two-story townhouse, she was ready to throw up her breakfast.

Maybe I can get my memories box while I’m here.

It would likely be her only chance to retrieve the box she’d kept hidden under her bed. It contained the things of her parents she’d managed to salvage before Jack destroyed everything else.

“Do you want me to come with you, Anna?” Alex asked.

Anna shook her head, not wanting her voice to betray her fear. She opened the car door with a shaky hand, and took a breath before slowly walking up the steps to the front door.

Please don’t let Jack be home
, she begged silently as she rang the doorbell. She trembled more as the seconds ticked by. No one answered, and Anna finally breathed a sigh of relief. She could go in the garage side door, which was always open.

She walked down the stairs. Alex opened his window. “Did you get it?”

Anna shook her head. “Jack isn’t home. I’ll go in the garage. My room was down there anyways.” She smiled, trying to look braver than she felt, and walked to the black-painted door.
A dark door to a dark place.
She took a deep breath and turned the knob, pausing in the doorway as it opened. The familiar scent flooded her mind with memories. Bad memories.

“Anna?”

Anna jumped at the sound of her name. But it wasn’t Jack’s voice. She turned and saw Alex behind her.

“W-what are you doing?” She frowned at him.

“You haven’t moved in a few minutes. Are you all right?”

“I haven’t...?” Anna realized she was still standing with her hand on the knob. She was petrified to go through the door, but she knew she needed to. She needed her license. “I’m sorry. I’ll only be a minute.”

“I’ll come with you,” he said, pushing open the door and walking in.

The front of the garage, where Jack parked his car, was empty as Anna expected. She walked quickly through to the back room where her bedroom and the “lessons room” were.

The room was well soundproofed. Anna opened the door and heard muffled groans and cries.
The twins. Jack’s new girls.
Anna hesitated and looked back at Alex.
His father’s an Elder. He knows how we’re trained.

“What’s that noise?” Alex asked, pushing past her and into the room. He stopped with one foot in the room, mouth open and shock in his wide blue eyes. Anna stepped in behind him and saw one of the twins on the “machine.”

*****

Alex stopped and stared at the sight before him. It was little better than a dungeon, with various apparatus of play or torture, depending on one’s tastes, but Alex knew better than to think this was Jack’s playroom.

There were two teenage girls in the room. One was bent over a long table, arms stretched over her head, ankles cuffed to the table legs. A machine of some sort was thrusting a large dildo in and out of her swollen pussy. The end of a butt plug was visible between her ass cheeks. A gag was in her mouth to muffle her cries.

The other girl was cuffed spread eagle in the archway. She had on weighted nipple and pussy clamps. Alex could see her cheeks, damp with tears. She also had a gag in her mouth. She looked up at them as they stood there, her long brown hair coming loose from her braid and her brown eyes red with pain.

“Anna, what the hell is this?” he asked in English.

Anna didn’t look at him as she pushed past him. “Training,” she said with a slight shrug. She walked to the nightstand and opened a drawer. Alex could see the tears in her eyes as she pulled out what he assumed was her driver’s license.

“What do you mean, training? It looks like torture,” he spat, afraid he would lose his lunch. Was this how Anna was trained? Hearing about it and seeing it firsthand were very different. Bile rose in his throat as he imagined Anna in either one of those girls’ places.

Anna knelt down next to the bed and began looking underneath. She pulled at something and then frowned.

“What are you doing?”

“Trying...,” Anna grunted again as she pulled. “...to get my box.”

“Box?” Alex knelt down beside her. “Move.”

Anna moved aside and he reached under the bed. After a moment, he pulled his arm out holding a flat square box. It was about eight inches high and two feet square.

“Thank you,” Anna said with a grateful smile.

He nodded and glanced at the tortured girls. “Who are they?”

Anna looked back. “Jack’s new trainees. Sex slaves that were born in the manor, I guess.” She pressed her lips together and took the box from Alex.

Alex turned around and stared at the girls. Trainees? What the hell kind of training was this? He stood and hurried to catch up to Anna.

He caught hold of Anna’s shoulder and spun her around. “Does your guardian train Red girls?”

Anna looked back at the closed doorway. “I don’t know.”

“You weren’t trained like that, were you?”

Anna looked up at him, tilting her head. “Of course I was.”

Alex looked back at the doorway. He clenched his jaw as the anger bubbled up inside him. His knuckles turned white as his hands clenched into fists.

Anna backed away, clearly frightened.

He glanced at her and pulled out his phone. Seth picked up the phone a moment later. “Seth,” he said in German. “There are two girls in Jack’s basement. I want them out of the house and out of the country by the end of the day. Take them to my father’s
Schloss
.” He hung up the phone without waiting for an answer. It would be done.

Alex turned and pulled the box from Anna’s hands.

“No, please...,” Anna begged, reaching for it.

“I’m just going to carry it for you.” He took a deep breath, knowing the girls would be safe in a few hours.

Anna closed the outside door carefully behind them and followed Alex to the car. He started the vehicle and drove away without speaking.

*****

“I’m not upset with you, Anna,” Alex said, reaching for her hand and squeezing it as they walked down the hallway towards Anna’s apartment. He hadn’t spoken since they’d left Jack’s house. “I hadn’t realized....” He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. “You’re such a strong woman to have survived all that.”

Anna wondered at the emotion in his voice. She didn’t know what to say and instead concentrated on unlocking the door to her apartment. She handed Alex her license and went to put the box under the bed in the spacious master bedroom.

“Here,” Alex said as she walked back out into the living room a few minutes later. He handed her an envelope.

She opened the envelope and saw three credit cards inside. “What are these?” she asked.

“So you have money," Alex explained. "The black one is a credit card. Use that one when you can. It’s American Express and sometimes not taken, so use the Visa if you can’t use the other. The silver one is a bank card. Your PIN is your birthday, 0512. Use it to get cash at an ATM.”