“What do you mean? How?” she asks with panic in her voice.

“I can no longer trust you to make the right decisions for your own safety or our child’s. You should have come to me after they took you and told me what happened so that I could do what I needed to do to keep you safe, but you thought you could handle it alone. So now, I have to be even more strict with you, keep you even closer to me, and make sure that nothing like this can happen again.”

“My friend, Lauren—“

“I promise you that your friend will be kept safe under one condition. And, little rabbit, if you break this condition then your friend is on her own, do you hear me?”

She nods, looking down at her feet.

“Lauren will be placed under discrete guard. She won’t even know that they are there. In exchange, you will obey every single word I utter. You will not fight me—on anything. If I tell you to do something, you do it without hesitation.”

I glare at her. The idea of the amount of control I will have over her is turning me on.

“I understand,” she says.

“I am going to be planning your schedule, your routine, your days. When you eat, when you sleep, how much water you drink. Everything will be arranged around the health and safety of my baby, and you.”

I can see how tight her jaw is and how she is fighting back more tears, but this is not something I am willing to negotiate. My sister’s words run through my mind though. Give her space, give her the freedom to choose.

I shut my eyes tightly. That goes against everything I know, and everything I feel.

“Come here,” I say, holding my arm out towards her from where I am sitting on her bed.

She walks towards me and I wrap my arm around her waist, pulling her onto my lap. She does not even hesitate.

I hold her close to me, and she rests her head on my shoulder.

“I need to keep you safe, little rabbit. That is all I want.”

She nods but does not respond in any other way. I want to feel her arms around me as well. I want her to love me, to show me she cares.

I stand, letting her feet fall to the ground, and step away from her.

“Get some rest. I’ll call you when dinner is ready. You can eat it in here or in the dining room with me. Whichever you prefer.”

As much as I want to enforce the rule I have made, I can’t stop thinking about what my sister said.

Over the next week, I try and give her as much space as I can handle, while still making sure she has everything she needs and is eating well. I let her eat alone when she wants to. I don’t bother her as much as I usually do.

I have been spending so much time away from her, forcing myself to do so, that when she walks into my office one afternoon and sits on the chair in the corner, quietly reading, I practically choke on my own breath.

“Are you alright, little rabbit?” I dare to ask.

“Yes, thank you.”

She continues to read, pulling her legs up under herself and getting comfortable. I try to return my focus back to my work, but my eyes keep darting up to see if she is still there. She is.

After an hour of hardly getting anything done because I feel so happy that she is choosing to sit near me, I finally stand up. “I’m starving. Have you eaten yet?”

She puts the book down on the table next to her. “I haven’t.”

“Let me ask the chef what he has planned for dinner.”

“Maybe, if you like, we can make something together?”

“You want to cook with me?” I am shocked to my core.

“Yes.”