E-Written: Elle 03

Elle laughed at Gus and nudged him with her shoulder in the back of the restaurant. They were working side by side and he kept teasing her and making fun of her techniques.

"YOU taught me how to do this so if my technique is wrong it's your fault!"

"Nah, mami, I taught you right, you just ain't doin what I showed you," he grinned.

"You just want an excuse to show me again," she giggled as he slipped his arms around her from behind to show her.

He was kissing her neck and jaw when Graciella came in, "We are behind on orders, Gus! What is the holdup? Geez, Gus, really? Any night but a busy night!"

Elle giggled as Gus laughed and let her go, moving to hurry with the orders. He still teased her and kissed her neck every time he moved behind her, but she loved it.

She was loving every moment of her time with him, and her time in the restaurant and with his family. The last week had been pure bliss.

A scream and a bright flash behind her made her flinch as several more people yelled and cried out.

Immediately, Gus grabbed her from behind, even as she was turning to see what was happening.

All she could see was fire, huge already and spreading fast as people ran. Someone had a fire extinguisher, but it was beyond that already.

Elle cried out in dismay as Gus pulled her out the back door, others running out with them. "Stay here, mami, be right back!" Gus called, running right back in.

"Gus, no, WAIT!" Elle screamed as Jesus caught her arm and kept her from running back in.

"His office is right there, mija, he's in no danger, he's just grabbing his files. Stand back and wait."

There was chaos as more people came out, and smoke became thicker. There were screams from the front as patrons fled and then the sounds of sirens.

This was a chaotic mess!

Gus ran to the door and tossed Jesus a bag, then ducked back inside and Elle cried out in frustration. Nothing was that important! That fire was getting out of control quickly!

"Everyone back up!" the firemen yelled as they pulled up around behind the building and pushed everyone further back from the building.

Elle started to the door to yell for Gus, but a fireman caught her arm this time. "Stay back, ma'am!"

"He's in there!" she screamed at him.

"I have her," another man called, guiding Elle back to an ambulance. "Don't worry ma'am, your friend will be just fine. They're professionals, they'll get everyone out. Come sit down back here, let's get your breathing slowed down some before you hyperventilate and pass out. Lay down here. Perfect. That's a good girl, just breathe," the man called as darkness took over Elle's vision.

Blinking, she opened her eyes and tried to move, but she was strapped to the bed in the ambulance and it was moving. The siren wasn't on, but she wondered if she had passed out. She must have?

"Please, I have to go back!" she called weakly.

The man smiled down at her. "Hello again! You're awake, good, we're almost there."

"We're here," the driver called.

"We're here," he corrected, still smiling.

"I need to go back! I need to make sure he's alright! Please..."

"Calm down, ma'am, everything is fine," he smiled again, then opened the back door as soon as the vehicle stopped.

Immediately someone stepped in and Elle froze in terror.

Wynter.

Wynter looked down at her, his eyes moving over her appraisingly. Coldly. "Get her changed and transferred immediately," he spat, not even speaking to Elle. "I want the plane off the ground in twenty minutes!"

"No!" Elle pleaded, tears filling her eyes.

Wynter looked back down at her, his eyes furious. "Hurry the fuck up," he snarled, then got out of the ambulance.

When Chris climbed in, Elle's heart fell. "You? You did this?" she asked brokenly.

"Shut the fuck up, cunt," he spat, unlatching her from the bed, then yanking her clothes off roughly. His hands didn't linger or touch, they only jerked and snatched. Pulling a dress over her head, he didn't even try to put her arms in it, he just threw her over his shoulder and carried her out of the ambulance to the plane waiting nearby on the runway.

"Your deposit is waiting." Wynter told the driver who was standing near him expectantly. "For both of you. Remember, don't fucking mention it to anyone."

"No sir!" the man agreed.

Elle was numb as Chris put her in a chair on the airplane, then buckled her in as she was, her arms still trapped inside the dress. "Why? Why help him? You told me you knew he was evil and..."

"You shouldn't have fucking blew me off, bitch," he hissed, then shoved her own underwear in her mouth to keep her quiet.

Wynter got on the plane and Chris pulled up the steps and pulled the door shut, then climbed in the pilot seat. Sitting across from Elle, Wynter looked her over coldly again. His eyes glittered with malice as a smile almost touched his lips. "They got him out, but not in time," he told Elle. "Smoke inhalation before they got him to the ER. He was looking in his safe, but he couldn't find it. The ring he'd gotten for you."

Elle screamed in anguish, kicking her feet futilely at Wynter as she shook her head in denial.

"It was shit anyway, some stupid antique. Nothing like your actual wedding ring. Where is your ring, Elle? I'm guessing you pawned it? It doesn't matter. Ricky is meeting us in Iceland, he can do one you can never take off.

"I've been thinking long and hard about what I should do with you once I got my hands on you again. Outside of sterilizing you after letting that filth crawl all over you. That's the first order of business and the only reason we're touching down before we get where we're going. To get you scrubbed. Then... Elle. Then... I have so many plans for you. For how you're going to pay."

Elle screamed again, shaking her head before slumping and going limp.

Gus. Her Gus was gone. There was a chance Wynter was lying, but she didn't think he was. She knew Gus wanted to give her his mothers wedding ring. He would have looked for it...

Her heart was shattered.

Looking up at Wynter, she felt so completely broken, but then bile turned to fury in her gut. Pure, hate-filled anger. She would pay him back for this. She would do whatever it took to see him pay.

She even knew how.

Not yet.

Turning, she pushed the fabric out of her mouth, then worked her jaw before turning back to Wynter. He was watching, waiting for her pleas.

She said nothing, swallowing hard and moving in her seat to pull her arms out. Once she had her arms free, she crossed her arms and pulled her legs up in her seat, turning to look out the window.

"You didn't have to kill him," she finally spoke. "If you've been watching me, and I assume you have been since you knew where I was, you knew I was leaving tomorrow. I had a train ticket to Kansas City, then I was getting a flight to Canada."

Wynter cocked his head slightly, an eyebrow high. "I had eyes on you, but not everywhere. Not when you were at his house. Why were you leaving?"

"He asked me and I said no. I couldn't expect him to keep protecting me and I couldn't fake it with him anymore, he was too invested. He wanted commitment and I didn't know how many times I could say no to him before he... decided he didn't want to hear no."

Wynter snorted. "Bullshit."

"Believe what you want. The plane ticket is reserved under my name at KCI, look it up. I was leaving tomorrow when he went out in his truck, I wasn't even going to say goodbye. Give him the chance to be... worse than you. And he was, by the way. Worse than you. Not to me, he was nice to me, but I saw what he did to others. The things he did... the things they did... I couldn't let him think for a second that I wasn't on board completely and just playing hard to get. He didn't love me like you love me, I was a thing he wanted to protect, and then conquer. I knew he would get bored, they told me he always gets bored. He doesn't have ex's and there's a reason for that. I didn't want to be another shallow grave when my time was up. I used to think that you only wanted to own me, but I didn't understand what that meant. Not really," Elle said softly, fear touching her voice as she stared out the window as if remembering. "You didn't want to own me, not really. You wanted me to love you as much as you loved me. He... he wanted to own me. That's what they do. They own people, they... use and hurt and when they're done... the things I saw. And he wasn't even in charge, he was just one of the henchmen. I can't imagine what things were like there... things that happened outside of the restaurant. It was a front, but you knew that," she lied softly. "If you were in it, you saw the basement and the inner rooms down there. The... torture rooms," she whispered, shuddering. There was no basement to the restaurant and it was a legitimate business, but Wynter would never admit to not knowing about everything she had just claimed and she knew it.

"I saw some of it, but we couldn't get into all of it," he nodded. "There were too many people down there."

Elle nodded. "There were always people down there, always. That's where they made drugs too, over on the other side. I was always afraid when he took me down there, afraid I would never come back up. There were these pools of some sort of acid in the rooms. They took people in and no one came back out. I was more afraid of the acid than I was the shallow grave. At least with the grave they would kill me before shoving me in. Every time he saw me, Devin would ask when he was going to get rid of me, he didn't want me around anymore. He couldn't wait for Gus to get bored with me. I'd caused him problems. I wasn't worth it and I deserved to pay. I knew I had to get away... I just never imagined it might be you.

I thought you hated me now, why wouldn't you?" Elle asked the window, choking up, staring numbly.

No, it was too fast to try and play to his sympathies and make him believe she had feelings for him. She was going to ruin everything!

Wynter shifted, pink spots of color on his cheeks as he looked her over. "I'm angry, Elle. I don't hate you. You're still my wife and I'm going to punish you for what you did to me!"

"I know," she whispered sadly. "And it will still be less than I deserve. Letting them hide me away like that, toy with you. I should have screamed for you, or... anything but just let them drag me off and hide me just to fuck with you. When the one yanked my necklace off... I shouldn't have said anything about what it was. That's what gave them the idea to do it. Knowing that was how you kept track of me."

"You're saying you didn't run?" he asked darkly, as if knowing she was lying to him.

"I may as well have. I didn't say no, I didn't yell for you. Part of me was afraid, another part... I was sure they were going to kill me and I was ready for that. Then I wasn't... I wanted to live. I wanted away from him and I wanted to live."

"Chris told me you were working with them."

"Working with them? No... Gus set everything up, not me. I was just along for the ride. At first he seemed so nice, then I knew he wasn't. He was toying with me. Mostly just to mess with you. That's what they all wanted to do, mess with you. The rich white boy. Just to prove they could," she shrugged sadly, still staring vacantly out the window. "What... what if they get mad? Try and come after you?" she asked worriedly, clutching her stomach as if it was upsetting her.

"They have no idea it was us. You were taken away in an ambulance, they'll think you left the hospital on your own and left, especially if you had a train ticket. They'll assume you left and no one will look for me at all," he assured her, shifting in his seat as if he wanted to reassure her more.

"You promise they won't come for us? For you? I don't know if Devin was in the basement or not, or if he got out... what if he got out? Him and the others? And they try and..."

"No one will find us," Wynter assured her as she began to panic and break down.

"Can... I know you're angry just now... but could you just hold me for a while? Until we get there? And then you can punish me and everything you have planned? I just want to be held like you used to always hold me, like I actually mattered to you!"

Wynter hesitated, looking over his shoulder at Chris, then unbuckled his belt. Undoing Elle's belt carefully, as if waiting for the trick, he pulled her across to his lap and pulled her close, watching her warily. Elle didn't hesitate, throwing her arms around his neck as she hugged him, crying into his shoulder. Wynter went tense all over, holding her arms rigidly as if waiting for her to try and hurt him. Claw him or strike at him. When she didn't, when she only held onto him and sobbed brokenly, he finally eased his hands around and held her. Little by little, his posture relaxed and he just held her, stroking her back and pressing his mouth to her head.

"You have to stop," he whispered. "You know I hate this drama!"

"I know," she hiccoughed. "I just... I've just imagined this over and over and I never thought... I never knew how good I had it until I lost you, Wynter! I ruined everything! I was so set on getting away, I didn't even know I didn't want to be away until I was! It took being taken from you for me to understand that..." she broke down again, curling up on his lap and hugging him as tightly as she could. "Please..." she finally whispered. "Just hold me? Promise you'll never let me go again? I know now, Wynter. I know! You're all I want in this world and I know that now!"

"Those aren't just words you can say and make it all better!" he told her harshly, but there was no force behind it. He wanted to believe her.

"I know! I know my love, and I will prove it! I promise you! Once we are there and after you have punished me for behaving so abominably! I will show you! I know yu can never truly forgive me, but I will spend my life working for it and hoping. I don't deserve it, not for trying to use Chris to escape or for how I acted after... I just didn't understand! You've done everything for me and all I could think of was how to escape. Not how badly I had fallen for you, I refused to let myself see it! Do you know when it was?" she asked softly, sniffling. "I got out of the shower and went up to my room. I shared a room with this girl named Lucy. I saw myself in the mirror, all the tattoos. All of them, Wynter, each and every one of them is a masterpiece and all of them an homage to me. You did that. You love me that much and... I was so incredibly ungrateful. I could look at myself and see how much you adored me and I'd never seen that before. It was amazing! You're amazing! And you love me... Truly... that means everything to me, Wynter. I know it didn't before, but... I've learned so much over the last two weeks.

I had this fantasy of going to Canada, then emailing you. Testing the waters, seeing if you still hated me... if you answered at all. I even had a little fantasy of you coming and finding me, tracing my email back to me and coming for me. Us talking back and forth a bit, me telling you how I felt, what I discovered about myself... and you coming up to see me. Spending the weekend together and never leaving my bed. Then the week... then the month. Every fantasy ended the same, but sometimes I would be so upset with myself, I wouldn't let myself have the fantasy. I imagined you angry and never answering because that's what I deserved. One or the other... but I never imagined you coming for me this way. Still loving me so much that you went after such powerful people in this way. Rescuing me and taking me out of there...

"You're an exceptional man, Wynter," she told him softly, turning her face so that her lips were on his neck as she spoke. "A very... exceptional man."

He swallowed and shifted and she could feel his cock getting hard beneath her. "Of course I rescued you," he told her chidingly. "Not that you deserved it! And I will still punish you!"

"I know," she whispered, squirming slightly as her breath caught. "And I deserve it! My love... I very badly want you right now..." she told him, her lips trailing his jaw as she moved to straddle him, letting her dress ride up her hips.

"You don't deserve me," he told her petulantly, but put an arm around her waist and lifted her up, pulling his cock out of his pants with his other hand, he guided himself into her as he lowered her onto him.

Elle let out a blissful sigh as she let her head fall back, sliding her fingers into his hair before she began slowly riding his cock. Grinding on him and lifting slowly, she leaned in close enough to kiss him, but didn't yet. Opening her eyes, she locked eyes with him and tried to look at him adoringly, show him how much she loved him. She'd never imagined herself an actress, but the one thing he did have going for him was a perfect cock and it felt devine filling her. She let that take over and filled herself with need and want, looking up at him and filling herself with all of that, she tried to convince him she was his.

She knew when he pulled her close and kissed her that it was working. His mouth on hers, his arms around her, helping guide her pace and keeping it slow and loving and not fast and passionate.

"Ohhh! Wynter, my prince, yes!" she breathed, leaning back to let him kiss her shoulders. "I have missed you! Missed this! Oh god, you feel so perfect, my love!"

"Nnn, Elle, say it again! Call me your prince!"

"You are my prince and I will worship you like you deserve! I am yours, Wynter, all of me! Forever! You're all I want in this world and... ohhh! Ohh Wynter yes!" she cried as he rocked forward and went to his knees, laying her on the seat opposite him. Taking her hips in his hands, he started moving more quickly, fucking her as he let out a growl. "Oh god!" she groaned, shaking her head as bliss rose up hard and fast. "Yes, Wynter! There! That's perfect! Don't stop!"

"Fuck, Elle!" he panted, grabbing her hand and kissing her wrist before threading his fingers through hers. "Come for me! I want to feel you come again, it's been so long!"

"Don't stop baby, I'm so close! Harder!"

He growled, pounding harder and faster, gritting his teeth as he tried to hold back his own orgasm to wait for her.

Elle cried out suddenly and Wynter roared as her pussy squeezed his cock, holding it in place as he went still. Seconds later, he came as well, shooting deep into her pussy as she spasmed again and again around his throbbing cock.

Chris was there suddenly. "I thought you were waiting until she was sanitized," he demanded loudly. "You scared the shit out of me with all that yelling! I thought something happened! Fuck!" he grumbled, going back to the pilot seat.

Wynter snorted, then looked back down at Elle, who was trying to catch her breath. She was staring up at him with wide eyes like she was in complete amazement. "That... that was so perfect," she told him breathlessly. "You do still love me!" she managed, then broke down sobbing again. "I could feel it when you made love to me!"

"Stop," he chided, kissing her jaw as he eased his cock out of her. "No drama. Remember? Enough, stop crying."

"I c-can't!" she wailed, hugging him again. "I've wanted this! I've needed this and... you still love me!" she sobbed brokenly as he pulled her back up into his lap.

"Shhh," he whispered. "If you can't stop, I'll have to put you back in your own chair and buckle you down again!"

"Just a while longer?" she sniffled, clutching his neck. "Please? Just... tell me something. Anything. Tell me about your flash. Have you drawn anything new?"

"No, Elle, I've been making plans and buying property and paying off people," he scowled.

"I wish I'd known," she sniffled again, snuggling into his neck. I could have just arranged to go out the front door and get in your car with you. They didn't have cameras on the customer parking, all their business was done out back. I could have stepped out and just got in a car and ridden away if I'd known. But... your way might be better. They can't come after us if they are dead. And they don't know you're involved... they would have looked for you if I'd just disappeared. Now they won't. And I know it's selfish of me, but... knowing that you did this for me... that you love me! I don't have to wait and stress over an email that you might or might not answer. I know. I know now and you can't know what that means to me, Wynter! It means everything!" she sighed happily, then kissed his neck and his jaw. "My perfect prince!"