Page 69 of The Puppetmaster

Raad

I decide it’s best to give her as little time as possible to think about it. The more time Alena has to ponder and scrunch the idea around in her head, the more chance there is of her becoming wary of my intentions.

She came here to stop thinking and that’s exactly what I need her to do right now, even without a clamp around her sweet little clit or a whip biting into her ass. That lust-induced vertigo is useful when I need her to be my pleasure slave, my little fuck toy and the object of desire she yearns to be.

But it’s not how I need her to be today. At best, I can hope that those experiences have left a mark on her and seeded a trust deep enough to follow through with my orders, even though they seem ambiguous to her.

Make her an ally, Nate told me, without her knowing what exactly I need from her. That’s easier said than done, because if I wanted to make her a true ally, I would have to share a lot more details with her than I’m comfortable with.

My business, the pharmaceutical industry, is not recognized as the most benevolent market. And while many companies have been cursed with an undeserved bad reputation—mine included—that assumption is still not completely off base.

It’s true that our industry sometimes plays dirty to be profitable. I’ve been guilty of that before myself, and I’m about to do it again. In fact, this one will be my biggest coup yet, and if everything goes the way I’ve been planning it out for years, it will make me rich beyond belief. Not that it’s really the profit I’m after; I have no actual need for more money, but it’s a nice bonus on top of the gratification that will come with my victory.

But it can’t come to fruition without Alena. It all depends on her and her willingness to follow along.

“We’re going out today,” I announce, as I get up from the bench we’ve been sitting on for the past hour.

Her questioning gaze follows me.

“Out?” she inquires. “Out where?”

My chest tightens at the thought of having to tell her, but there’s no other way around it. The sooner I do this, the sooner it’s all over and done with.

I look at her, jutting my chin forward with indignation.

“Come with me. I’ll explain on the way.”

She hesitates for a moment, pulling the blanket tighter around her body, silently inspecting me with a befuddled look.

“Now, Alena,” I urge, turning my back to her as I walk toward the house, knowing that she’ll follow me like an obedient puppy as she always does when summoned this way. And sure enough, a moment later I hear her hurried steps padding closely behind me.

Dan is already waiting for us outside the house, greeting me with a discreet nod before he opens the car door for us to get in. I stand next to the car holding my briefcase, waiting for Alena.

I notice that she has stopped at the top of the stairs in front of my house. She’s simply standing there, fully dressed with a light trench coat thrown over her shoulders and a black scarf that I gave her wrapped around her neck. I’ve gotten so used to seeing her in nothing but lingerie that she almost looks like a different person. A scared person hugging herself while she scans her surroundings like a caged animal who’s been set free for the first time in its life.

“Everything all right?” I ask, impatiently.

Alena hurries to nod. “Yes... it’s just been so long.”

Her shoulders appear tense when she walks down the stairs, pulling at the sleeves of her coat to hide the cuffs around her wrists. She follows my gesture to get in the car.

“It’s weird to be outside with you,” she comments after I’ve taken my seat next to her and Dan has closed the door. “Especially since I have no idea where we are going.”

She regards me with an inquiring gaze as Dan starts the car.

I push a button at my side to draw up the blackened privacy pane that separates us from the driver. I watch it move up agonizingly slowly, waiting for it to be fully closed before I’m ready to respond to Alena.

“I need you to do something for me,” I begin. “And it’s going to sound very strange, but I need you to trust me. I need you to know that I would never hurt you or cause you harm in any way.”

She reciprocates my look with an intense expression on her face, but her lips remain sealed.

“Do you trust me, Alena?”

She hesitates. She fucking hesitates. After a few more seconds, she gives a nod.

“I think so.”

“No, that’s not enough,” I insist. “I need you totrustme.”

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