Page 24 of Beneath Submission
The young man stopped what he was doing and walked over to where the keys were. Heading over to a white SUV parked in the middle stall, he turned for a moment and his eyes landed on me. He didn’t share the smile that he had done a few days ago. It could have been because of the company we had, or he may not have wanted to give away that we had seen each other before.
Walking out of the large garage door, we got in the SUV; me sitting in the back with Mr. Sakai’s man taking a seat behind the steering wheel. The other two men stayed behind and resumed their place on the other side of the door.
Driving to the front of the house, I hoped that Mr. Sakai’s man would get out of the car and check on Mr. Sakai to see what was keeping him. It would have been an opportune time to escape if he had. Leaning back in my seat, I sat quietly as we waited for Mr. Sakai to come out of the house.
When he finally showed, the expression on his face was one of a man who wasn’t having a very good day. By the way he got into the SUV and ordered his man to drive, something more than not having a good day was eating at him and he was taking it out on everyone, including me. I received his asperity when he cursed, “Tessa, remove the lipstick. You look like a two-bit whore.”
When he handed me his handkerchief, I wiped the cloth across my lips until there was no more of the red lipstick on them. I didn’t know what his problem was since the lipstick was among the things that were in my room. I certainly didn’t bring it along with me. I was ready to make that fact known until he took it from my hand and began removing the blush from my cheeks as well.
Slapping his hand away from my face, I was soon greeted with a slap across my face, which was enough to allow him to remove all my makeup if he wanted to. Never had I been treated like this. It was not only embarrassing, I felt like a child being reprimanded for doing something inappropriate.
Saying nothing, I humbly sat on the leather seat with my hands folded in my lap. I was afraid to move, fearing that he would criticize that as well. Heading down the long driveway, Mr. Sakai received a call. He spoke in Japanese and I had no idea what he was saying. My eyes veered over to him the minute I heard my name, which told me that the conversation that he was having had to do with me.
When he hung up the phone, several minutes had passed and I knew that he wasn’t about to share with me who he was talking to and why my name was included in the conversation. Dying of curiosity, I had no other choice but to ask, “Why did you mention my name?”
Placing his hand over mine, I was surprised by his act of compassion. I was almost ready to pull it out of his reach when he answered, “I have something special planned for you and my assistant has chosen some things for you that she thought I would be very pleased with.”
“Your assistant?” I questioned.
“Yes, she is the personal shopper for all of my girls, at least the special ones,” he confessed, squeezing my hand a little tighter.
I knew exactly what this special thing was that he had planned, and I didn’t want to have any part of it. Pulling my hand away from him, I placed it on my lap and said with a lowered head, “I know about the auction. Aiko told me about it before you took her away. I know what you are, Mr. Sakai, and I don’t want any part of your so called ‘special plan.’”
“It would be in your best interest to not undermine my authority, Tessa. I have been more than patient with you and unless you do as I say, you will end up just like Aiko.”
I would have loved to have opened the car door and jumped out. If it hadn’t been for the fact that his man was driving much too fast and it could really do some damage, I would have done just that. Saying nothing more, I faced forward and concentrated on one thing, and that was to find a way out of this hell.
