"You mean your wife," Willow interjected.
"As for you," Angelo drawled, returning his gaze to the Lady Willow. "You have cost me a rather nice home and aided and abetted the aforementioned. You will suffer even more than your brother."
Willow failed to stifle a yawn.
Angelo smiled, very unpleasantly, and gave Gemma's neck a squeeze. She made a very obliging painful yelp. Willow's eyes narrowed, a dance of harsh looks taking place between Angelo and the most dangerous woman in the room.
"And you," Angelo said, dropping his gaze to the still flushed Gemma. "You conspirator, you will be the perfect training toy for my boy."
"What does that mean?"
Angelo kept hold of her as he released Bobby from the cage, then gently but firmly pushed Gemma into his arms.
"It means you belong to him now."
"What!?"
Two voices asked the indignant and frightened question at once. Bobby at least had the sense to hold on to Gemma in case she attempted another escape, but he did not hold onto her in a way that suggested he wanted to be holding on.
"I…"
"She…"
Bobby and Gemma stared at one another, neither one pleased by the announcement.
"Think of her as a pet," Angelo smiled, his visage filled with dark glee. "Take her inside. She can sleep in your room. Best to keep these two separate, I think," he said, gesturing to Willow and Gemma.
"What if she runs away?"
"She won't."
"Why not?"
"Because," Angelo said, looking Gemma dead in her wide, pretty, frightened eyes. "If she does, we will hunt her down and make certain she can never run again."
"What. The. fuck," Gemma hissed the words under her breath. "What does that even mean? Are you going to break my legs? Are you going to tie me up forever? Are you going to kill me? Are you going to weigh me down? Are you going to…"
"Consider the possibilities indoors with your new master," Angelo said. "Get her out of here, Bobby."
The Prisoner
Bobby dragged a chair around in front of his captive. He'd never been allowed his very own prisoner before. This was exciting. Angelo was far too busy to intervene in anything he might do to this seemingly innocent girl with the smiling eyes and the cute ringlets.
She was sitting on the bed in a room he'd decided would suit. It was right at the top of the house, a converted attic, and it not only had amazing views but a great deal of privacy.
He drew in a breath and tried not to become overly excited. He could do anything to her. Anything at all. He could take her apart. He could break her down. He could fuck her. Any part of her. He could use her. He could break her.
But first, he had to find out what her deal was. Angelo wanted intel, and so did he.
"What do you do?"
Gemma pointed to herself. "Me? As in…"
"What's your role in this little scheme that got our house raided?"
"Oh!" She said it as if she were surprised as if she'd forgotten about that whole matter. "I'm basically tech support. I set up the wires. I change the settings. I can probably help you get region-locked content."
"We have every VPN in existence. We're good."
"Okay, cool. That's good." She looked into his pitch-black eyes and smiled. "I think we're going to be really good friends."
"I think Angelo and I are going to torture you both to within an inch of your lives and then probably kill you."
"Oh." The smile wavered for a moment. "I've never been tortured before."
"You won't like it."
"I suppose not." She leaned forward. "Why the torture, though? I'll tell you what you want to know about anything. I'm an open book."
"Wouldn't Willow object to you telling me all her secrets?"
"She told me to sing like a bird if we ever got caught. And we got pretty caught. So… what do you want to know?"
"What are you trying to do?" Bobby tried a test question to see just how forthcoming Gemma was actually planning on being.
"Oh. That's easy. Destroy you."
Bobby let out a surprised laugh. "The two of you are just girls."
"Yes." Gemma smiled happily. "We are."
"Are you together?"
"Like, romantically?"
"Yes."
"No."
"Cool."
"Is it? Why?"
"It's not. I don't care. I'm gay. Except for when I'm not."
"Very progressive," Gemma said approvingly.
Bobby very much wanted to frighten her, but she was too cheerful to terrify - except if you put her in a cage. That freaked her the hell out, and she wasn't afraid to show it.
Unlike almost everybody else he had ever encountered, Gemma didn't seem to notice that he was a dangerous, sadistic psychopath, even when he pointed it out.
She needed a demonstration.
He got up and moved closer to her, prowling around her.
"I'm not Angelo," he said, starting with a statement of the extremely obvious.
"No. You're not. You're the one he captured years ago and who decided to stay with him."