Cats In the Cradle

29. Daniel

Tonight with Emma was so much better. I was beyond relieved when she told me I wasn't the worst fake husband ever.

But I mean, judging by the men I'd met from around here, I could only assume that her standards weren't exactly sky high.

She climaxed a few times, and there was no more blood. She seemed a little emotional, but that was understandable. We were being forced into this bond...and it was a lot. I had no idea she even existed like 24 hours ago, and now we were living together, doing what married couples do, trying to pacify a crazy, sex-addicted pedophile so we could find freedom.

She told me a little more about her oldest sister, and said her name was "Lara"; a combination of their parents' first names. She said she was much older than her, and they'd never even met. I hoped again that her sister was alive, and that she'd be willing to take Emma in. But if not, my Aunt Melody would definitely know what to do. She'd be safe either way.

As for me, I wasn't sure if my apartment would still be waiting for me if it took a while for us to escape, but I was already pretty sure I just needed to move back in with my mom. This past year was heavy.

This past day was like a crushing, painful boulder on my chest.

I really liked Emma. And I was genuinely happy that she somehow liked me, too.

We'd talked for a while after having sex, and I felt that same twinge of protectiveness towards her as I got to know her better. She was a genuinely kind, smart, caring person. And despite her wide-eyed, young appearance and her innocence, she was jarringly wise at times.

She loved her family deeply and expressed concerns over how some of her family members treated their wives and children. She mentioned the mysterious injuries many married women often received behind closed doors, and she said she'd always feared learning the reason behind what caused them.

So then I asked her about the whip marks I'd seen on her ass yesterday, and she confessed that they were from Orion. Just another perfectly reasonable part of training, because it was another perfectly reasonable part of married life.

For the women.

She commented on how I said "fuck" a lot, and at first I just laughed. But then I told her that my mom once told me that Alessandro had been the one to teach me that word when I was around 3. The words "fuck" and "pussy", which was both hilarious and kind of uncomfortable.

She asked me about him, saying she noticed how excited the community seemed when they learned that he was my father. I chuckled darkly, wishing I'd realized how much they seemed to adore him here, because it would have been a massive red flag. And I told her that, no, he wasn't a good man. He was in prison for doing the things to my mom that the men around here did to their wives.

That seemed to make her think.

I hoped it made her think about the "kind" and "good" men around here. I wasn't going to pretend I was perfect or some saint, but I hoped I could give her a somewhat better picture of how she should be treated. So someday, when she was free to choose and love whomever she wanted, she'd choose wisely. Someone who was nothing like the men around here. Nothing like Orion. Nothing like Alessandro.

Nothing like me.

And I hoped we'd build a friendship, and I could watch proudly as she blossomed in "The Outer World." We could be best friends with a bond strengthened by trauma and support, like my mom and Uncle Rurik.

And I could use my trust fund money to help pay for the therapy we were both definitely going to need. My mom was waiting til I was 25 to give it to me, and based on all the idiotic decisions I'd made over the last year, it was making more and more sense why she was waiting.

Emma and I talked and talked, holding hands as we eventually drifted off to sleep. It was still pretty early when we fell asleep, and when I was woken up around midnight with a growling stomach, I realized I'd only eaten breakfast that day.

So I carefully got out of bed and helped myself to a bowl of stew that had been left on the table. I didn't see a microwave anywhere, so I just ate it at room temperature, standing next to the kitchen counter. When I was full, I washed my bowl, put the leftovers away, and headed back towards the master bedroom.

But then I was afraid it would be weird if we started to sleep together at night when we were just pretending to be married. Would that make her uncomfortable when she was just beginning to trust me? Towards the end of our postcoital conversation, she was regularly calling me "Daniel" instead of "Sir".

We were essentially friends with benefits, forced to play house. Doing what we needed to do so I could get to my car or go back to work and try to access the computers. Or until my family broke me out.

Maintaining some distance was probably for the best, since we'd hopefully be parting ways soon.

I brushed my teeth and got into my bed, hoping our one time of "proper fucking" would be enough to allow us some freedom. I wanted to find out more about this place, get closer to that shithead Orion, and maybe even confront Mr. Augustus. I needed to cover all my bases and be sure Emma and I would be able to make a clean break.

With no baby.

Totally emotionally and physically spent, I snuggled into my sheets, blinking heavily.

I was on the verge of falling back asleep when my eyes suddenly flew open.

My heart pounded.

Something clicked.

Luke + Kara.

Lara.

It was probably way too much of a coincidence, right? But maybe? The age—early 40s—would be about right. How common was that name? Where was she even from? Had she ever mentioned anything about her family or her past?

Was my Aunt Lara—my mom's close friend who used to work for Alessandro but eventually helped my mom escape—Emma's sister?

And if so, how did she escape? How was she the only one who ever managed to?

And if Emma's Lara was my Aunt Lara, and if I could somehow reach her...could she help us get out of here?