Chapter One

Rhea

I am kneeling on the kitchen floor and rice is digging into my knees. I still have thirty minutes left, but I’ve been here for two and a half hours. I messed up again, and I am punished when I mess up. I failed to put Marvin’s clothes away properly, even though I know how to do it. I was incredibly sick, but that’s no excuse. I should have planned better so I could get my chores done.

I am twenty-seven years old, and I have no control over my life. Marvin tells me what to wear, when to talk, what to say, where to go, and everything else in between. I have gone months without leaving the house before. He works early and gets home late, so I’m alone most of the time. That is both a blessing and a curse.

When we first got together, I thought he was the protector I needed. He saved me from my family, only to find out that I was basically just a transaction. My dad wanted to publish a book, and Marvin wanted a wife. Marvin works for Genesis Press as a publishing agent. Marvin promised me that he would help me get published as well. As the months went by, I realized that was never going to happen. The one time I tried to leave him, he beat me so badly that I was in the hospital for four days.

He tells me that I should be lucky to have a dominant like him and that every submissive needs a firm hand to lead them through life. I don’t know what to believe anymore. When I have internet privileges, I research BDSM. The things that I find are not the things that he practices with me. Marvin says that brats are just submissives who need a good beating. The Internet tells me that brats have a unique way of submitting to a dominant, and they are not being disobedient, only challenging their dominant to prove themselves to the submissive.

All I know is that Marvin does not accept the word “no,” because submissives are not supposed to have limits. They are supposed to happily accept anything that their dominant gives them. A submissive with limits is not truly submissive because the dominant has all the power.

When the timer goes off, I stand up and brush the rice off of my knees. My back, hips, and legs hurt. I need to clean up my mess or else I will just get in trouble again. I quickly sweep up the rice and put it back in the container that he uses for punishments. I realize that I have to pee. I am supposed to ask for permission to pee, no matter if he is here or not. I have a cell phone that is blocked from doing everything except contacting Marvin, so I pull it out and send him a text.