Page 74 of Becoming His Pet

Chapter Twenty-Three

Nora had fallen asleepsometime before the sunrise. She’d tried to stay awake, to remain alert and figure a way out of the condo. Except all she could think about was her mother. How much she’d missed her growing up, how much she had needed her and wanted her, and the entire time her mother was living in a hell of her own.

A hell she would come to know well if she didn’t figure a way out.

Shortly, after the sun brightened up the room, the lock slid open again. She scrambled to her feet, moving to the far corner of the room. She would not go willingly, she would fight and claw and scratch.

A woman entered the room. Her hair was wound into a bun at the base of her neck and she smelled slightly like lilac. Although she had an older woman’s air about her, she appeared to be in her early thirties.

“You must be Elenora.” She smiled brilliantly at her. Didn’t this woman understand what was going on? And what was in the brown leather bag she carried with her?

“Y-yes.” Nora nodded. “Who are you?”

“I’m Dr. Smith.” Such a generic name; Nora doubted it was any more real than the stark red coloring of her hair.

“Doctor?” Bernie had told her she’d needed to have an exam, for a medical certificate of health. The creep buying her wanted to be sure she was in good health before he chained her up in his house and kept her locked away for the rest of her life.

“Yes. A very brief exam. I know you’re scared. I was too when Bernie brought me here. But he’s been very good to me.” She put the bag on the bed and sat on the edge.

“Brought you here? You’re being kept captive?” Nora took a step closer to the bed, drawn in to the woman’s kind voice.

“I suppose you can call it that. I might be free to leave, I haven’t asked in so long I don’t know. Bernie doesn’t keep me locked up. I have my own apartment. I come and go as I please. I simply work for him now, I think. But when he first brought me here I was terrified. I had no idea what would happen to me. I was lucky. Bernie is a good man.”

“A good man?” Nora wanted to scream, but she kept her tone level. “He’s not a good man. He’s not even a man, he’s a monster.”

The doctor’s expression shifted, a sadness touched her eyes. “He can be that, yes.”

Was this woman completely brainwashed or just crazy? How could she say Bernie was good?

“I’m not going to let him do this. I won’t go.” Nora clenched her fists. She may seem like a sweet woman, but she was in the room to help Bernie, and that was a punchable offense, at the very least.

“Well, I’m not going to try to stop you. Like I said, I remember being here for the first time. I’m only here to do the exam. I should warn you though, if you don’t cooperate with me, Bernie will come in and he’ll do it himself.”

“He’s not a doctor.” Nora wrinkled her brow.

“For most of the exam being a physician isn’t necessary.” Dr. Smith’s smile faded. “It will be so much easier for you to allow me to do it. I won’t hurt you, and if there’s anything that makes you too uncomfortable we’ll find a new way to do it.” Her sugar-laced tone reminded Nora of a nurse coaxing a toddler into an exam.

“And Bernie won’t come in?”

“No.” She shook her head. “I promise. He won’t interfere unless you’re uncooperative.”

Uncooperative. Nora had been just that with Greg. But she never had the shivering chill of fear at the thought of him touching her like she did with the idea of Bernie even being in the same room. If she was going to have any hope of getting out of the room—hell, the condo—she needed to play along. Make him drop his guard enough to allow her a chance to escape.

Besides, a little medical exam wasn’t the end of the world.

“What do you need me to do?” Nora asked.

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