Anna buried her head in Wilhelm’s chest. “You’re here...”

“Of course, Liebling,” he murmured, stroking her hair. “I wanted to be here when you arrived.”

Anna looked up and saw his eyes were wet. She reached up and stroked his cheek. “Why are you sad, Wilhelm?”

He shook his head. “I should have done this years ago. I should have kept you in Deutschland and never let you return to him.”

“You know you couldn’t have done this alone,” Aaron said in a soft voice. “How many Elders did it take to get her out?”

Wilhelm chuckled. “Several.” He smiled and looked at Justin. “Thank you, Justin, for bringing her.”

“You’re welcome, sir.”

Wilhelm led them into the living room and sat down with Anna on the couch. She curled up next to him and rested her head on his chest. Aaron and Justin took seats on opposite sides of the couch.

“Are you hungry?” Wilhelm asked, looking at Justin and Anna.

Anna nodded and glanced at Justin, who nodded as well. “There wasn’t dinner on the train,” she said.

Wilhelm reached beside him on the table and handed Anna a binder with a picture of the hotel on the front. “Let me know what you want and we will order it.”

After the dinner orders were placed, Justin told Wilhelm and Aaron about the trip.

“There weren’t any issues, except for Anna showing up on the news in Chicago as a missing person.” He shook his head. “I don’t get it.”

“Tom is most likely preventing the story from airing here,” Wilhelm said. “Anna’s face plastered all over the city’s televisions would not be good.”

Justin’s brows shot up. “He can do that?”

Wilhelm nodded and smiled, almost sheepishly. “Part of being an Elder and running a city.” He kissed the top of Anna’s head. “Would any of you like something to drink?” He motioned to a wet bar in the corner. “Please, help yourselves. I would get it for you, but...” He beamed down at Anna. “I do not think she will let me up.”

Anna shook her head. She tightened her arms around his waist and snuggled closer. “Nein,” she whispered.

Wilhelm’s eyes widened. “I like it when you speak German. It is very sexy.”

“That’s about all I remember.”

He looked down at her intently and stroked her cheek with his thumb. “I have missed you so much, Liebling,” he whispered. He slid his hand around the back of her head and captured her lips with his as Aaron and Justin stood and made their way to the wet bar.

Justin stared at Wilhelm kissing Anna from the other side of the room by the wet bar. Aaron followed. He pulled a beer out of the fridge and held it up to Aaron. “Want one?”

Aaron took it, and Justin grabbed another one for himself. He glanced over at the couch where Wilhelm had his fists in Anna’s hair and his tongue in her mouth. “How old is he?”

“In his fifties, I think.”

Wilhelm was a handsome man, with short, white-blond hair neatly parted to the side and sporting a well-groomed mustache. He wore an expensive-looking dress shirt and slacks. Justin wondered if his mustache tickled Anna as she kissed him. “She really likes older guys, doesn’t she?”

Aaron frowned. “I hope you’re not including Devin in ‘guys she likes.’” Aaron shrugged. “But yes, she’s primarily been with older men. That’s who the Elders are.”

Wilhelm pulled away from Anna and twirled a lock of her dark hair around his finger, speaking intimately with her. She gazed at him with so much adoration, Justin didn’t know whether to be jealous or nauseous.

Aaron patted Justin’s shoulder. “He’s her Master. If she had to choose between any of us here, she’d choose him. It’s her duty.”

Justin grimaced. “I thought she was supposed to be free now.”

“Freedom’s relative for her. Devin’s still her Master, even though she’s run away. Wilhelm’s still her Master, too. Just because she ran away doesn’t mean she’s not a slave anymore.” Aaron gave Justin a sympathetic look. “Believe me, man, I know how you’re feeling. But Wilhelm’s only gonna be here for a few days to get her settled. Then he’ll go back to Germany. To his wife.”

“He’s married too?”