On a Mission

Breakfast is waiting for us at the table and I'm a little unnerved that I didn't hear anyone come in during my bath. It leaves me feeling exposed.We go to the same places as yesterday and we both have the same dish of one poached egg and avocado in front of us. After sharing two meals with Valentina, I'm starting to wonder if she maybe has an eating disorder, because this definitely isn't enough food for one full meal.I'm already starving from only eating a salad yesterday, so I decide I need to invoke Cass's name in the hopes of getting more food."Could I possibly get some toast with breakfast?" I ask. Trying to ask nicely first."I don't eat carbs," she responds, like it's the most reasonable response."Cass and I eat carbs every morning, it's good for brain activity," I explain.She looks up at me suspiciously, then asks, "And you let him decide what you eat? That seems a little controlling. I'll have to talk to him about it."I hold back my laughter at the irony of the situatio

Focused on the Positives

Valentina came back early that day and watched a movie with me. She sat behind me with me between her legs and held me in her arms. It was an intimate position that felt extra vulnerable because I couldn't see her. She would periodically caress my hair or arm and it would give me shivers. Not the good kind.For the next week, the days pass slowly in a similar pattern. Valentina bathes me and stays with me for breakfast and joins me later in the day for a movie and then dinner. During meals, I try to keep the conversation fun so that she lets her guard down with me.Mostly, I keep learning of the horrors of her upbringing. She talked about each of her brothers and their particular tastes in the bedroom. I was absolutely horrified. If I made it out of this alive, I wouldn't even want her punished. I would want her to live comfortably in a good psychiatric facility where she could get help and some peace.I felt we had spent long enough establishing a routine that, during dinner one even

Digging for Leads

I swipe my hand across the table, knocking a crystal vase onto the ground. The sound of it shattering gives me a momentary feeling of relief before the agony rises to the surface again."That's not good enough!" I yell, and I can see that Constantine is trying to be patient with me. He normally doesn't tolerate being treated like this and my tantrums have been incrementally increasing over the past two weeks without Alexa.I'm in hell knowing that she's with Valentina. She was finally starting to get over what happened the first time and now she's right back there, only this time we can't find her."Calm down," Constantine says, waving off the guards in the room. I know he's struggling with the guilt of her being taken from his own house, he'd even let it go when I punched him a couple of times."It's been two weeks, and we don't have a clue where she is!" I rage."We know she's no longer in the city of New York, which means she's probably being hidden in the suburbs somewhere in New

Playing the Game

She smiles demurely and says, "Oh, you know I don't get involved in that kind of thing. Best to leave it to the men. I'm happy to support you all by making sure you're fed and rested.I smile back like we're close friends again and say, "Allegra, I know you're more capable than that, and you see everything that happens in the house. Is there anyone that's been looking suspicious to you?""Cass, you know women only survive in this world if they know how to stay quiet," she says, pretending to be nervous."The door is shut, this room is soundproof and you know I can keep a secret," I say, hinting at our affair.It does the trick. She says, "Look, ever since Christmas, Constantine has been different. Not just with me, with the business as well. He's been trying to clean up the illegal aspects and distancing himself from them. Kind of like how you did in Chicago. I don't know why the sudden shift, but there are a lot of people who don't want the illegal side of things to end. That's where

Tea Time

Today, I'm allowed outside the bedroom for the first time. The guards came to the room without Valentina, which, at first, had me worried. She usually hated letting them interact with me.They untied me from the bed and instructed me to wear a robe. I appreciated the little bit of modesty. A bath robe like this thin silk one, would have made me feel very bare before, but now it is like wearing a parka. Compared to the see-through, lacy lingerie, it was downright conservative.The house was richly decorated, but you could tell it hadn't been in use for years based on the dated furnishings and the dusty smell. I wondered if we were in an out-of-fashion neighbourhood. It was a shame that a house this large and beautiful was left empty when there were so many families in need of a home.I was taken down a flight of stairs to a sitting room where Valentina was enjoying a morning tea. She was dressed impeccably in a cream cashmere sweater, tucked into cream slacks. Her red hair in a perfect

All Chapters of Don't Love Me: Chapter 91 - Chapter 95

On a Mission

Focused on the Positives

Digging for Leads

Playing the Game

Tea Time