Page 39 of Lily

Stefano pulled her in tight against him and held her. He said nothing. What could he say?

She sobbed for a few minutes, her arms fisted at his chest, fury consuming her. When her sobs softened into sniffles, she drew in deep breaths. “He doesn’t have me now,” she said with vehemence. “He trained me to serve a Master, sold me to that asshole Vanderbilt, and now I’ve escaped.”

“That’s right, sweetheart. It’s over.” Stefano rocked her against him, smoothing her hair back over and over.

It felt good to be held with kind arms. When she leaned back, she forced a wan smile.

His brow was furrowed. “Why did they want to capture virgins? What difference did that make?”

Her eyes went wide. He didn’t understand. “That’s what Master J sold. Well-trained virgins.”

His furrowed brows lifted on his head. “He sold your virginity to Vanderbilt?”

“Yes.” She nodded.

“That piece of shit Leo Vanderbilt took your virginity?” His voice rose with each word. He looked like he might climb out of this bed, march to the man’s house, and kill him with his bare hands.

Roselia grabbed his face. “No. Vanderbilt never touched me.”

Stefano scared her when he sat upright. He turned on the lamp next to the bed. “Who touched you then?”

She frowned. She wasn’t sure what he was asking, but she finally said, “I don’t know how many men have touched me, Stefano. Dozens. A hundred. Too many to count.”

His eyes went wide. “Vanderbilt set that up?”

She shook her head. She felt restless and frustrated. She tugged the covers back and climbed to the end of the bed. She needed to move. She needed to pace.

Stefano spun so he was sitting on the edge of the bed, spine rigid. “I’m sorry, Rose. I said I wouldn’t pressure you, and I’m doing exactly that.”

She rubbed her temples. “It’s okay. Give me a second.” She needed him to understand.

Stefano sat very still, bless him.

She spoke calmly when she found her voice. “Let me paint a picture of my daily life under Master J’s roof.”

Stefano was breathing heavily, but he didn’t move.

It was easier not to look him in the eye while she spoke, so she paced, hands fisted at her sides. “We spent hours every day going through slave positions. He wanted our muscles to be strong enough to maintain those positions for long periods of time. We learned to tend bar so we could serve our Master after we were sold. We learned to cook. We cleaned. All of this under intense supervision. And always while naked.

“We were not permitted to talk to each other. I don’t know any of the other girls’ real names. I don’t know their ages, where they came from, or how they got there. And all of that might have been sustainable, but Master J is a sadistic bastard. His trainers tormented us while we were holding those positions. They touched our nipples and…and…between our legs. They would force us to become aroused against our will and keep us on edge for hours.”

Stefano’s breath hitched, but he didn’t interrupt.

“Sometimes, Master J had parties. I think they were intended to show us off to attract buyers. We weren’t permitted to look anyone in the eyes. We kept our heads down. Sometimes, we were blindfolded. There were dozens of men in suits. Rich bastards, who drank too much, laughed at us, and touched us.

“Often, we were restrained with soft cuffs to make us more malleable so the men could stroke our skin. The trainers watched those men closely. They were forbidden from penetrating us. Master J spoke of females needing to learn restraint and control. He pounded that into us every day. ‘Control your slutty urges,’ he would say. It was dehumanizing and degrading. His intention was to break us. Turn us into robots.”

She stopped pacing, faced Stefano, and looked at him. Instead of the fury she expected to see in his eyes, she saw sadness. This was killing him.

“You ask how many men have touched me? I have no idea. It was vile and disgusting, and I lost count. But I was lucky. No one entered me. Not even with their fingers. I don’t know why Vanderbilt bought me. It took me a few days before I decided he was impotent. He liked to watch me. He forced me to wear the most degrading maid’s uniform every day. It was nothing more than a black-and-white lace corset that pushed up my breasts but left them bare and exposed. It reached down toward my private parts like an arrow but didn’t cover my butt or my sex. He watched me for hours every day with great pleasure, but I never saw his cock hard.”

Stefano’s mouth opened. She’d shocked him.

She continued, “One of the few times he touched me happened within the first few hours of meeting him. As part of the slave demonstration, each of us was expected to kneel before our new Master and suck his cock to demonstrate our incredibly practiced skills with our mouths.”

Stefano’s chest expanded.

Roselia found herself smiling. “I was scared out of my mind. I’d never even seen a penis. I was also blindfolded at the time. But when I reached for Vanderbilt’s belt, he stopped me. He set his hand on the back of my head, pressed my face into his groin, and held it there so firmly I thought I might suffocate. He was not hard. I didn’t dare move. I heard the trainers questioning him, and he barked at them under his breath, saying that he was not going to be part of their demonstration.”

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