The relief for Brook as the buckle for the ball gag strapped around her neck was finally removed was indescribable. Her jaw ached from the infernal rubber orb being wedged in her mouth repeatedly, but that was nothing compared to the constant threat of being silenced on a whim. Asking for even a modicum of leniency, checking if her friends were okay, even wincing too loudly, had all been reason enough for Sean to muzzle her. Brook was even afraid that thanking her kidnapper for finally taking the horrid thing off would prompt him to change his mind, or worse, reveal that he had something worse in store for her mouth.

“Thank you,” she said softly, risking it.

“You’re welcome,” he said, rubbing her shoulders. Damn, it felt good, his skilled fingers squeezing all that built up tension behind her shoulder blades. “I just want to take care of you.”

She didn’t believe that, even as his hands made her melt. She didn’t even believe that SEAN believed he just wanted to take care of her, not after what she’d seen him do to Sara and Kelsey. Especially Kelsey. Brook gulped, thinking about that awful shock collar on her friend.

“The dog has been walked,” he whispered, as if reading her mind. “The baby has been put down in her crib. Let’s go upstairs.”

Still massaging her shoulders, he gave her a subtle but forceful push in the direction of the stairs. As hard as it had been, walking Kelsey on that leash with him, while he pushed Sara in an oversized stroller, as much as it killed her to see her friends like that, at least she hadn’t been alone with him. Listening to Sara’s soft sobbing while she tried not to choke on the massive pacifier strapped in her mouth was preferable to his breath in her ear. She’d gladly take cleaning piss off Kelsey’s legs after her friend had finally submitted and squatted outside in the grass like a dog to relieve herself, over using the railing to keep herself steady while he guided her up the stairs at the back of his house. She’d not been upstairs yet, but she’d seen pretty much the entire first floor already. Sara’s nursery was downstairs. The room he kept Kelsey’s crate in was downstairs. But there was no bedroom downstairs. No room meant for Sean, and notably no place for her. As she neared the top of the stairs, she suspected that those were one in the same.

Brook would have preferred a crib or a crate.

“I’m so glad you’re finally home.”

Finally.

How long had he been planning this? Since they started dating? Since even before then?

“Sean.” She stopped at the top of the stairs, the unmistakable flickering light of candles coming from the ajar door just ahead.

He spun her around, pulling her in close, his lips meeting hers. His hands that had been so focused while they massaged her back and steered her inexorably up the stairs to the waiting bedroom got frantic, grabbing her ass, making her keenly aware of both her lack of underwear and the brutal spanking he had administered to her during dinner.

“Sean!” she tried to say again when his mouth briefly wasn’t intertwined with hers. She didn’t know what she’d say if she got his attention, what she even could say, but she’d try anything to keep from going through that door.

“What is it, my dear?” he asked, his voice husky and breathy.

“What am I?”

The question actually seemed to take him aback. Her kidnapper let go of her ass, his hands running along her arms as he slowly took a step back and held her by the shoulders. His features were marred with what looked to be actual concern. “What are you?” he repeated.

She nodded, her mouth suddenly very dry. Kelsey was very obviously his new dog, and Sara his baby. Their roles were clearly defined and obvious. That left her. “What, do you want me to be?”

His brow furrowed. “Brook, I want you to be happy.”

His words from earlier, when she’d asked what his late wife, what Melody, if she ever even existed, would have thought about what he was doing, echoed in her mind. He’d said she’d have wanted him to be happy. A chill ran down her spine.

“I—” she fumbled for words, the right combination of syllables that would convey to this man that she would never be happy like this. “I can’t…”

“I can make you happy. We can be together. All of us,” he gestured back down the stairs.

Brook fought back tears. He was insane. She’d unknowingly dated a madman, and now he’d kidnapped her and her friends.

Suddenly he was kneeling, down on one knee before her. “I had a whole thing planned, but not everything works out quite the way you planned.” He was reaching for something in his pocket. “But I don’t want you to ever doubt who you are to me. Even for a second. Brook Elizabeth Carrigan, I love you. From the moment I laid eyes on you, I have loved you.” He held out the small black box in both hands, slowly opening it. The diamond caught the twinkling candlelight immediately, sparkling atop the silver ring. He took the engagement ring out of the box, holding it out to her. “Brook. Will you marry me?”

It was so incongruous to everything else that had happened that day; Brook couldn’t focus on the question being asked of her. All she could think about was when and where he’d gotten the ring. It was very nice, for sure, but she couldn’t imagine him going into a jewelry store, telling the staff that he was going to propose to a girl he’d kidnapped, and trying to find the perfect ring for such an unconventional proposal. How big does the diamond have to be for her to forget the abduction? Is a princess cut or another cut better for helping her overlook that he took her friends too? How many carats did he need to make her say yes to marrying a psychopath?

“Brook?”

She hadn’t realized she’d spaced out, just staring at the ring. He was still looking up, waiting for her response.

“Do I have a choice?” she asked, her mouth still bone dry.

“Of course you have a choice.” He took her hands in his, making her hold the ring. “Obviously, I can’t let you go, but you don’t have to say yes, yet.”

There it was. Yet.

“When you say yes, I want you to want to marry me. I figured since you’d moved in, you’d want that commitment, but I can wait.”

So she had a choice, but it was only a choice on whether or not to delay the inevitable. Say yes now, when she knew better, or wait until he’d broken her will.

Brook stared at the ring. It was such a small thing, innocent enough, certainly not as cruel as the collar and mask and restraints he’d forced on Kelsey, or as humiliating as the diapers and pacifier Sara now wore, but it was the same. A symbol of his ownership and control over her. There was no way he could arrange a legally binding marriage to her, and even if he could, what judge wouldn’t grant a divorce if she could ever make her way to a courthouse. But still she’d have to wear it. His ring. Her promise to be his bride.

“I’ll say yes.” Brook pushed the ring back into his hands. “Under one condition.”

Sean closed his fingers around the ring but remained on one knee, his head slightly cocked, curious about her bold counter proposal. “What is that?”

“I’ll marry you, if…” She took a deep breath, steeling her nerves. “You let Sara and Kelsey go.”

Slowly, Sean got to his feet. “Hmmm.” He flipped open the box and put the ring back inside, sliding it back into his pocket. “That’s not how this works.”

Brook took a couple of steps backwards until she bumped into the door. It swung open, the flickering candlelight causing the shadows to dance across Sean’s face as that new, unfamiliar smile spread across his face.

“They don’t get a choice,” he said, closing the distance between them. Brook kept backing away, into the bedroom, his bedroom.

Their bedroom.

Hundreds of tea light candles lined the furniture, carefully placed on the dresser, the nightstands on either side of the king sized bed, the windowsills. The room was entirely cast in flickering firelight, illuminating the pristine, white sheets and the blood red rose petals leading to the bed and covering it.

“But it’s good to know how much you want to take care of them.” He grabbed her, pushing her backwards onto the bed, sending up a flutter of flower petals. “That’s good.” He was on top of her, grabbing her arms and dragging them above her head. “You take care of them.” He forced first one wrist and then the other into the waiting cuffs attached to the corners of the bed frame. “And I take care of you!”

“No!” Brook screamed, struggling against him, but it was too late.

“If you don’t want to get married yet, that’s okay.” Two more cuffs waited for her ankles at the foot of the bed. Kick and flail as she might, it was a losing battle. “If you want to live in sin…” Click. The leather cuff encircled her right leg. “Then let’s sin!” Click. Her left leg followed. She was trapped, helpless, bound spread-eagle on his bed.

Their bed.

“Please!!!” Brook wailed.

He covered her mouth with his palm, silencing her.

“I’m very good at sin,” he whispered.

“Nnnnnmmmphhhh!!!”

He let go of her to grab one of the pillows knocked aside in her struggles. He yanked the silk pillowcase off, stretching it out and swiftly tying a fat knot in the center.

“Please!!! Don’t!!!” she cried.

“Shut up.” Sean jammed the silken knot into her open mouth, whipping the ends around her head and tying it off. "You had your chance to say yes.”

Silenced again. Muzzled, muffled and muted, his voiceless plaything. Brook struggled against her bonds, sobbing into her new gag as she watched him disrobe above her. He was already hard, his dick standing at attention, looming aggressively over her.

She’d been so excited the first time she’d seen him naked. He was attractive, she was a little tipsy and more than a little horny. She’d liked how strong he was, and he’d been just the right amount of rough the first time they’d made love.

That felt like a lifetime ago. He didn’t even seem like the same person, this predator climbing on top of her helpless body, candlelight flickering in his hungry eyes as he stared at her naked, bound body, spread out before him. As hard as she tried to clench her thighs together, her act of resistance slowed him down only a few seconds. He forcefully spread her legs, opening her up to the inevitable penetration, his cock driving into her pussy.

“NNNNNGGGNNFFF!!!”

“What’s the matter?” he asked, pulling back out, only to thrust into her again, deeper and harder. “Did you think you could call the shots? That I’d just let them go because you’d asked and we’d live happily ever after? No. You knew exactly how ridiculous your little demand was. You knew precisely what you were doing.”

Brook shook her head, crying into her gag. It had been a long shot, but she’d really hoped he might set her friends free. She’d really believed that there was some level of humanity in this man, something of the kind, mourning husband she’d been attracted to when he courted her. She knew now that that version of him was entirely a fabrication, a lie meant to lure her in, and the man raping her was a total stranger, someone she had no idea how to deal with.

“You wanted this!” he hissed, spit flying through his clenched teeth as he thrust faster. “I’ll play your game, Brook, but you… Oh, you, you’ll play mine!”

Brook closed her eyes, clenching her fists. She dug her fingers into her palms, focusing all of her desire to fight and struggle in those ten points, where her nails dug into her own flesh. She focused on that pain, pushing out what was happening to her, to the rest of her body. There was no reasoning with him. There was no fighting him. There was no resisting him. Not like this. The next time he offered her his ring, she’d take it. He was right. It was a game to him. She’d have to lose a few rounds just to keep playing if she and her friends hoped to survive.

She just hoped she could handle it.