Chapter 19 #2
“We have eight salads, miss,” our waitress sniffs.
“Their Caesar is good.” Leith drapes an arm over the back of my chair.
I nod. “I’ll have that.”
“I’ll take the steak and mash, medium rare,” Leith tells her.
She smiles brightly at him, bobs her head, and turns on her heel, strutting away.
I sigh. Yet another female member of the I Heart Leith Club, which seems to be several million strong.
Leith leans in and whispers, “I expect you to help me with my steak.”
A delicious shiver jets through me. “Okay.”
As Diran and Leith launch into discussing the Stennis article, I’m struck by how Leith not only trusts me but must’ve told Diran to trust me. If it weren’t for my fear of going to prison for life, I wouldn’t go through with what I have planned.
Leith’s steak is cooked to perfection, and I end up having half of it, along with a hefty bit of mash. He shares my salad, so we’re even.
After our meal, Leith excuses himself to use the men’s, and I’m alone with Diran.
“Are you happy with Leith?” Diran holds my eye while taking a sip of his drink.
“Very. Only these days he’s so preoccupied with the Lowing list, most of our conversations focus on that.” I segue inelegantly into the new topic.
“Aye? What does he say about it?” Diran screws his shrewd gaze into me, keen to hear my report.
I try to sound offhand. “Last night he mentioned that one of the names on the list is Arthur Vox, the shipping magnate.” I turn my water glass around.
“Leith said he considers Vox’s name safer in the COPFS’ possession than with the Syndicate because the Syndicate would insist Vox not invest in animals, as they’re a losing proposition.
For that reason Leith wants to withhold Vox’s name from the list being assembled by the Syndicate. ”
“Does he now?” Diran narrows his eyes. “Leith always was a champion of animals.”
“Aye.” I brighten, as if he’s hit the nail on the head and I’m a ditzy wife. “Hopefully things will sort themselves out, and the animals will be all right while the Syndicate still gets their due.”
Diran drains his drink. “Aye, hopefully. Iona, I’d like to meet here again on Friday with Leith and you. Will you come and keep your ears peeled in the meantime for any further developments on the Lowing list front?”
At once gratified and disgusted that my bait got taken, I keep a bland expression. “Aye. I’ll come again.”
“Don’t say anything to Leith about our little exchange, eh?”
I swallow. “I won’t.”
He raps his knuckles on the table as Leith approaches. “Good.”
Leith takes his seat, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. “What’s good?”
“Your wife was just recommending some books to me. She might just get me reading again.” Diran’s intent gaze makes me complicit in our lie.
“Aye,” I falter. “Notably your memoir.”
Leith leans in and gives me a kiss. “You’re working off the clock, Flame. Relax and take a few breaths.”
I can already tell I won’t be relaxing or taking a full breath for a while.
I hate deceiving my husband, especially when he seems to trust me. Sure, he didn’t trust me yesterday and nearly killed me. But today he’s brought me into his world and shown me what it’s like to be taken into his trust.
I revel in the glimpse I’ve gotten of Leith trusting me. And I’m loath to forfeit that, even to save my life.
* * *
Leith deposits me at home, where Amanda greets me at the door. He brushes his lips to my ear. “Wait for me, wife. I’ll treat you to something fun when I get home.”
I don’t have a chance to ask what before he slides into the back seat of the car and Draven drives him away.
Naturally I wonder how tight my confines are, so I decide to test them. I march to the front door, where one of Leith’s men stands guard, pistol in his waist holster.
As I near the door, he bristles. “You’re not allowed out, miss.”
“Not even to take the air?” I feign surprise.
He shakes his head, training his gaze straight ahead. “Leith’s orders.”
“Alright.” I turn and trot toward one of the back entrances. Another of Leith’s men stands beside it, wearing a shoulder holster. I rush the door, deciding to test the guards to their full capacity.
The guard pulls me back by my waist and holds me in a cross-body grip. “No exit, miss.”
I could push his limits and get him in trouble for touching me too much, but I don’t have the heart to execute such a cruel plan. I recall what Leith did to Darian at our wedding merely for dancing with me.
Instead, I meander into the kitchen, where Amanda kneads bread dough while listening to Breaking Rust’s Livin’ on Borrowed Time.
I take a seat at the breakfast bar, plucking an apple from the fruit bowl. “Amanda, do you ken your boss is holding me captive?”
I can only see her back, not her face, but her tone is full of reproach. “Consult your heart, Iona. I’m quite certain it says you’re meant to be here.”
She could scarcely have shocked me more if she’d backhanded me. “So it’s okay for him to keep guards at the doors and trap me in all day?”
She turns around, impatience coloring her expression. “Whatever Leith deems right is right, Iona. Forby, you just went out to lunch with him.”
True, my position is weak at the moment. “I just think the guards should go.”
She jerks a shoulder. “Take it up with him.”
Damn. Tough crowd.
I spend the rest of the afternoon in Leith’s massive library finishing the speculative fiction book for my Instagram Live session, which is supposed to happen in an hour.
I bite my nails, uncertain as to whether Leith will let me still hold it.
I was so absorbed with Galiene’s stealth assignment that I didn’t remember to ask him.
When Leith comes home at 4, I’m waiting at the bottom of the stairs, book in hand. He shucks his jacket and prowls toward me. His smooth, effortless advance reminds me of a leopard on the hunt.
I shoot to my feet. “Can I hold my Iona’s Bookish Rambles installment?”
He uses his middle finger to tilt my chin up. “Can I trust you not to use social media as a platform to complain?”
“Aye, sir.” The honorific slips out involuntarily. “I won’t mention anything about being under house arrest, I promise.”
His gaze pours into me like molten lead. “Know that if you do, you’ll be bound in chains to our bed for the foreseeable. I will show you no mercy.”
“I understand.”
“Conduct your live session. I’ll be sitting nearby listening.” He gestures toward the library, and I hurry there, grateful for his trust.
For the next hour I give my review of the book on Insta, field questions, and invite further engagement via the chat and comments.
Strangely, this is one of the more successful of my Ibr installments.
It might be because I have so many new followers—largely thanks to Leith—or because the book was controversial.
Either way, by the end of the session I feel elated.
Leith sits in an armchair working on his laptop. Looking up, he arches a brow. “I hear you tried to escape this afternoon.”
“I tried to leave through the doors, like a normal wife,” I correct.
“Come here.”
Heating from my waist down, I step closer.
“Kneel.”
I sink to my knees, sitting back on my haunches.
Leaning forward, he closes his fingers about my throat. “You’re going to run for freedom, and I’m going to chase you, Scheherazade. If you escape me, you break free. If I catch you, I’ll fuck you. Understood?”
My heart ratchets up, and I nod. “Aye, sir.”
This is my chance for freedom.
“Take off your shoes.”
I slip off my high heels.
“I’ll give you the time it takes to put on your trainers plus two minutes’ head start. My men will let you out the doors. Ready?”
I roll to my feet and ready myself to run. “Aye.”
A feral smirk curves his lips. “Go.”
I dash out the door and sprint to the front entrance, taking a minute to put on my trainers. The guard opens the door for me, and I charge out into the summer evening, almost tripping over myself in my eagerness to put distance between myself and Leith.
I pause at the head of the drive. Ahead of me, a meadow slopes downward as far as the eye can see, and horses graze right up to a fence in the distance.
To my right, a fence stretches, separating the front from the back pasture.
Cows low in that pasture, reminding me it too is relatively wide open.
And behind me a dense forest extends back several acres.
If I ran to the end of this pasture or the one behind the house, Leith would see me and catch up with me by the time I cleared either fence.
Turning, I sprint into the forest, hoping it’ll give me enough cover to stay hidden.
It’s already twilight in the thick woodland area canopied by tall trees, and owls hoot deep in the woods.
Red squirrels dance along the logs, and ravens caw their warning from low-lying branches.
I weave my way amongst scraggly bracken, fallen trees, and towering sequoias, ashes, and beeches.
The whole time my mind races. Should I find a secure hiding place or keep forging through the forest?
I run and run, till I begin to tire and worry Leith will hear me breathing heavily and treading on fallen branches. Whipping my head left and right, I look for cover, trying to steady my breaths.
“I’m coming for you, Iona.” Leith’s mocking voice carries on the breeze. “And when I catch you, I’ll show you no mercy.”
My heart ricochets in my chest as I plunge deep into the nearest bushes and bury myself under dense undergrowth. Ferns, young trees, and shrubs cover me as I lie on my belly, panting shallowly to avoid detection.
Straining my ears, I hear nothing, so I take a moment to strew leaves over my white trousers for camouflage. Hearing the snap of a twig, I dive low again.
“Come out, come out, Iona,” Leith taunts, nearing me. “I can smell your fear, your desire. You like being chased, but you secretly want to be caught.”