Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

The rest of the day was long, and Roselia was on pins and needles. She wanted that phone. Her Master, however, never left her alone. He had her move to his bedroom to clean after lunch and sat in the armchair by the window, reading a book while she did so.

In the afternoon, he accompanied her to the kitchen and set up his laptop on the table, working while she cooked dinner.

She was losing faith as the evening wore on. At eight o'clock he came into the kitchen and declared he needed a cup of warm milk before retiring. He plopped himself down at the table and waited while she heated it in a pan as he preferred and poured it into his favorite saucer at the exact temperature—just before scalding.

He would have to wait a few minutes before he could drink it. He was also engrossed in something on his phone.

Absently, he spoke to her without glancing in her direction. "You may go to bed, girl. Please turn off the lights in the study before you go up."

Her heart beat so hard she thought he could surely hear it. She hurried to the study, dug her hand into the cushions, found the phone, and turned off the lights. She would have to walk past her Master to get to the back stairs, but she did so, holding the phone at her opposite hip as silently as possible, and didn't breathe until she hit the stairs.

When she reached her room, she hurried to tuck the phone under her mattress, praying he was not yet watching her. By the time she showered and finished her evening routine without him showing up at her door, she knew she'd gotten away with her ruse.

She was so close. Several hurdles remained, of course. She would need to stay awake long enough to feel confident her Master was no longer watching her. The phone would need to still have battery life. And Marco would need to answer.

Hell, that wasn't all. Marco would need to remember her and care enough to find her. It was a lot. It was also her only hope.

She forced her breathing to slow and did her best to pretend she was sound asleep, not daring to move a muscle until midnight. Even then, she reached her arm very slowly under the mattress to pull the phone out.

After tugging it under the covers so the light wouldn't be too bright, she pushed a button on the side. It lit up. Thank God. And that's when she realized she had hit a road block. It needed facial recognition.

Shit . Why hadn't she thought of that? Fuck .

The keypad popped up when the device failed to recognize her face. She stared at it. Fuck . There were millions of possible codes he could use. She figured she would only get to try three times before she got locked out.

She'd never felt as defeated as she felt at that moment. All she could do was try anything. With a shaky finger, she hit one, two, three, four and then nearly fainted when the phone opened. "What an idiot," she muttered.

She grinned at the same time. After tapping the phone icon, she quickly dialed the only number that would give her any hope of surviving this hell she was living in. And then she held her breath.

It rang five times and went to voicemail. "You've reached Marco Gallo. Please leave a message at the beep."

She was disappointed but not surprised. Why would he pick up the phone for an unknown number after midnight? It was possible he had it on silent mode. She hung up, thought for a moment, and then dialed again. This time, she would leave a message.

On the second ring, he answered. "Hello? Who's calling?" His voice was sleep-rough and annoyed, but nothing had ever sounded so sweet in her life.

"Marco," she whispered, not risking being heard and praying her Master was asleep.

"Roselia?" The rise in his pitch was musical.

Tears came to her eyes. She didn't have time for tears, though. "Please help me," she whispered.

"Putting my pants on now, sweetheart. Where are you?"

More tears. "I don't know. Oh, God. I don't know. I'm in Denver. That's all I know. An estate. It's big, like Mr. Santo's. That's all I know." How would he ever find her? This was hopeless. It was her only chance.

Wait. She knew her owner's name. Wouldn't that help? "My Master's name is Leonardo Vanderbilt, I think."

"Leo Vanderbilt?" he nearly shouted. "That old fuck? I know him. I can find his address. Don't hang up."

She was shaking badly now. Was it possible Marco could really rescue her? She started crying harder than she'd cried in months. She tried to keep it silent, but her pulse was beating so hard she couldn't be sure she was succeeding.

"Talk to me, sweetheart. I'm in my SUV now. It's going to take me about thirty minutes to get to you. God, I'm so fucking glad to hear your voice." There was so much emotion in his words. "I've been worried sick. I haven't slept in months."

More tears fell. "Hurry, Marco," she whispered. "I'm so scared. If he finds out…"

"Tell me where you are in the house, sweetheart."

"Third floor, on the back side. There are six bedrooms up here. Mine is the second one on the left. The rest are empty."

"Who else is in the house, Rose?"

"Just Master."

"He doesn't have any guards, not inside or outside?"

"I don't think so. I've never seen anyone. People come and go, but no one who works for him. He told me he fired his staff and replaced them all with me." She'd certainly done three people's worth of work every day since she'd arrived.

"Where is his bedroom?"

"Second floor. Right at the top of the front staircase in the center of the house."

"Are those the stairs I will take to get to you?"

"No. They only lead to the second floor. The stairs to the third floor are at the back of the kitchen."

"Is there any reason you can't sneak down to the back door or even out of the house, sweetheart?" He asked this so gently, not accusing her at all, though she knew by his tone he was wondering why she hadn't done so before.

She shook her head as more tears fell. She would never get out of here. She hadn't thought of this problem. Even if he came for her, she couldn't get out without the key to her collar.

"Rose?" he asked softly. "Talk to me."

"I have a shock collar," she informed him, feeling the hope ebb. "It will injure me severely if I step out the door. I can't take it off. He has the key." A sob escaped before she could stop it.

His breath hitched. "Deep breaths, sweetheart. I'm going to get you out of there tonight. You hear me? I will get you."

She nodded, even though he couldn't see her, but she didn't believe him. It was too painful to hope he might be right. She held the phone close to her chest, trying to block the light. She held her breath and listened for any indication that her Master might have discovered her deceit.

The house was silent as far as she could tell.

"Is there an alarm on the house, Rose?"

"Yes. The panel is just inside the kitchen next to the fridge."

"Do you know the code, sweetheart?"

"Yes." She blew out a breath. Finally, she knew something useful. She'd watched him enter it at night for weeks until she'd been certain she knew it.

"Good girl. Tell me."

"Six four seven eight three two."

"Six four seven eight three two. Got it."

She was pretty sure he'd somehow written it down while driving. "But the door is also locked. It locks on the inside, too. I can't open it."

"Locks, I can pick. Alarms…I can't silence easily. Stay with me, Rose. I'm getting close. Where are you exactly?"

"In bed, under the covers. He has cameras on me. I'm praying he's asleep and hasn't noticed me moving or heard me talking." She'd kept her voice to a whisper, but her Master could hear everything she muttered when he wanted to. The fact that he hadn't heard her meant he'd turned off the monitor to silence it while he slept.

"Do you ever hear him getting up at night, Rose?"

"No," she whispered, but that didn't mean anything. She was always so tired that she couldn't possibly know if he used the bathroom on the second floor. She slept too hard.

"I'm so scared," she told him again. "What if he catches you?"

"You let me worry about Leo. He's old and frail and fat," he joked.

Not too old and frail and fat to hold me prisoner .

"I'm almost there, sweetheart. Stay brave for me."

She squeezed her eyes closed and focused on her breathing.

A few minutes passed before she heard the engine shut off. "I'm outside the gate. He has cameras everywhere. No one monitors them?"

"He does. Like a hawk all day, but I don't think so at night."

"Listen to me, Rose. I'm going to scale the gate and jump down. Then I'm going to pick the lock to the back door. Do you think you can come downstairs and meet me so I can get you out of there as fast as possible?"

"What about the collar?" She whimpered. Had he forgotten?

"I'll worry about the collar, sweetheart. Trust me?"

"Yes." She had no choice. She'd come this far. She had to take this chance. If she didn't, she might not be alive to see another day. She didn't have enough will left in her to continue obeying this Master. She feared she would soon fuck up so badly that he'd beat her until he killed her.

"I'm inside the gate, Rose. Can you come downstairs for me?"

"Yes." Be brave. She was trembling badly. Was he really going to be able to rescue her? It seemed monumental. There were still so many obstacles.

Roselia slid out of bed, landing on shaky legs. She was naked and winced with the movement. Her welts were very painful. She set the phone down, yanked the sheet off the bed, wrapped it around her, and grabbed the phone once more.

Taking a deep breath, she quietly opened the door, tiptoed into the hallway, and closed it behind her. Rushing faster than she would ever dare with her Master looking, she hurried down the stairs, carefully avoiding the ones she knew would squeak—small consolation from having lived here four months.

When she reached the kitchen, she saw him—Marco. He was outside the glass door at the back of the house, his gaze down. He was picking the lock. He had on a dark hoodie which was up over his head. He'd thought of everything, apparently, because there were probably cameras outside. There certainly were cameras inside.

She held her breath, scared out of her mind, panic welling up inside her. Come on. Come on. Please. Oh, God .

And then she heard the snick of the lock disengaging. She suddenly realized she could turn off the alarm faster than him, and she rushed across the room to do so. The moment he opened the door, the soft beeping started on the alarm pad.

Focus, Roselia . She lifted her finger and typed in the code, breathing a sigh of relief when it disarmed.

Before she could fully turn around, she was in Marco's arms. "I've got you."

She tried not to cry. They weren't done yet. She lifted her face to his, met his gaze, and stared into his fantastic green eyes. Memories flooded back to her, and her knees nearly gave out. "The collar," she whispered.

Marco smiled. He took the phone from her hand, disconnected the call, popped off the black plastic case, and tucked the phone in his pocket. Moving quickly, he reached under the front of the collar. "Looking for the prongs, sweetheart," he murmured.

She was nervous as he removed his fingers, and she watched as he broke all four edges off the case, leaving only a flat piece of jagged plastic.

He met her gaze. "I'm going to slide the phone case between your neck and the prongs so they can't shock you."

Her eyes went wide. "Will that work?"

"Yes. It's going to be very tight. Try not to panic. I'll carry you out of here and remove it as soon as we're a safe distance from the house."

"Okay." She was shaking violently. Her legs weren't going to hold her up much longer. She'd been stressed and plotting for almost twelve hours. How much longer could she go before she collapsed?

He cupped her face and looked into her eyes. "I've got you, Rose. We're getting out of here." Wasting no time, he pulled the edge of the collar from her throat, slid the case underneath it, lifted her carefully in his arms, and headed for the door.

At the threshold, he double-checked the collar and added two fingers to hold it away from her neck. "Hold on to me, Rose."

She wrapped her arm around his shoulders and held on tight, holding her breath and praying hard as he dashed out the back door. She didn't dare breathe until they were several yards from the house.

He kept jogging, but he smiled at her. "It worked." As he moved, he pulled the plastic out. "Whose phone is this?"

"Some man who came to the house today. He dropped it between the cushions."

"And you saw him lose it?"

"Yes."

"Good girl."

When they reached the gate, she panicked again and looked back at the house. It was still dark. There was no sign of her Master yet, but how were they going to get over this gate?

"Can you open it?" she asked.

"I could, but I don't want to risk it. I found a spot where we can get over the wall."

Her heart was beating out of her chest. There was no way she could climb a wall. Plus, it was cold out, and… "Marco…"

"Yes?"

"I'm naked."

He looked down at her and quickly kissed her forehead. "Can you overlook that fact for a few more minutes until we're safely in my car?"

She nodded. She had no choice. Plus, why would she care if Marco saw her naked? Half the damn planet had seen her naked in the past eight months.

Marco finally stopped at what looked like an electrical box and stood her next to it. "I need you to help me, Rose. Let me toss the sheet over the wall. I'll boost you onto the top of the wall, I'll jump over, and then you'll need to jump into my arms. Can you do that?"

"Yes." She had no confidence she could do this, but she would try her best. It was life or death. She'd been through hell. Surely, she could climb a wall naked.

Her adrenaline was pumping. She'd learned about adrenaline rushes in high school science and knew that's what she was experiencing. Hopefully, it would hold out until she was safe.

Marco gently tugged the sheet away and tossed it over the wall. He immediately lifted her onto the electrical box and joined her. Seconds later, he had hold of her hips, pushing her up as high as he could. He didn't seem the least bit strained. "Grab the top and pull yourself up, Rose," he instructed.

She did as he told her, using every ounce of her energy to heave herself up. Her arms shook from the strain on her muscles, but she didn't give up. She pulled herself up until she was able to sit on the top. She was breathing heavily and ignoring her nudity.

Marco was next to her and over the top in a flash. He held up his arms. "This is the last hurdle. Jump, Rose."

She didn't let herself ponder his demand for even a second, even though her ass burned badly where she was sitting on the welts, and she knew dragging to the edge to jump was going to be painful. She shoved off the edge and fell into his arms.

He kissed her forehead. "Good girl." After grabbing the sheet from the ground, he tucked it against her and started running toward an SUV she saw parked several yards away. When he suddenly stopped, she panicked.

He reached into his pocket, pulled out the broken phone case and the phone, leaned over a sewer grate, and dropped all the pieces in the drain. And then he was running again.

He opened the passenger door with lightning speed and nearly tossed her onto the seat. Taking only a moment to ensure she was all the way inside, he quietly shut the door and ran to the other side.

Roselia wrapped the sheet around her body, shivering from the cold and the fear. Her butt should have hurt, but it didn't. She was in too much shock.

Marco started the engine and took off immediately, adjusting dials and turning up the heat as the car moved.

He didn't say anything for a few minutes as he navigated away from the property. She didn't think he was breathing. She stayed very still, not sure what to think. Was this really happening?

When he entered the highway, he blew out a long breath and reached for her. "Come here, sweetheart. I need to hold you."

She scooted closer to the console and leaned into his side. His arm came around her, and he held her tightly. She wasn't even wearing a seatbelt, but at the moment, that was the least of her concerns.

"Where are you going to take me?" she asked.

"My place for now. I need to get that collar off you and see to those welts." He gave her shoulder a squeeze.

So, he'd seen the welts.

"And then what?" She couldn't picture her future. What the hell was she supposed to do? Go to the police?

"And then we'll get some sleep. When was the last time you slept, Rose?"

"Eight months ago."

He glanced at her, his eyes filled with frustration, concern, and sorrow. "Me, too, sweetheart. Me, too."