Love Beyond All Bounds Ch. 10

"I was wonder if she'll be back?" Domino questioned.

"After what she's been put through," Raven stated, "... I have no doubt we'll see her again."

(Some weeks later)

Lorna's housekeeper brought Damien Cullen to her sitting room. She was both terrified and excited at the same time. Her excitement was only heightened by the young man's good looks. What kind of message was he bringing? Was it from that untrustworthy bastard of a father, or his poor desperate mother?

"Hello Mrs. Dane," Damien said. "I won't take up much of your time. All I have for you is this simple gift." With that he handed her a shopping bag from one of the elite boutiques in town which was topped with pink wrapping paper. put it in her lap then looked over to Damien for an explanation.

"Look inside please," the young man said. With hesitant hand she pulled the paper aside and then she gasped. Inside bag was her feathered black and white mask, her symbol of bondage to her captors.

"I don't understand," she finally managed to whisper.

"It is yours now," he said. Seeing her confusion, he explained. "From now on if you choose to use it you can. If you never choose to use it, nothing further will be asked or required of you."

"I ... you? It was you, not your Father?" Lorna sputtered. Damien nodded. She stood up and yelled, "You bastard!" Her housekeeper came running into the room. Only then did Lorna recover herself. "Everything is okay, Alicia," she told her housekeeper. When the woman retired Lauran sat back down.

"I still don't understand. Why go through all of this if you always planned to let me go?"

"I apologize for the elaborate trickery, but when I saw the tapes that my Father and Dr. Carter made of you and the other women I didn't see victims," Damien told her, "I saw untapped passion. All I felt I had to do was give you the avenue to express it. Did I ever force you to do anything you regretted?"

"I ... I'm still angry as hell. How could you do that to us? How could you do this to your own Mother?" Lorna asked.

"I dealt with Mother some time ago. She was a willing instigator of my plot by the time you came along. She acted on my orders in a manner we both thought would unlock the desirable woman you could be."

"You used me."

"Yes, I won't deny it. I made money off of your sexuality. I took a percentage and I've made you perform sexual acts with men you didn't know. I full confess to that. If you chose to hate me for the rest of our lives, I will fully understand," Damien confessed.

"What if I go to the police?"

"I imagine I could end up going to jail for a long time," Damien informed her.

"Won't you stop me? Don't you have some insurance?"

"Not really. You are the one in charge here. If you call the police, you call the police. If you choose to burn your mask in the backyard, you will never see me again. If you choose to wear that mask again, you decide who you see and when you see them. I work for you now. I provide the place and security, and the possible clients for you to choose from."

Lorna was totally stunned by that realization. She'd always lived to other people's sexual expectations. Her own experiments had been failures or catastrophes, until now. If a man didn't do what she wanted, she could toss him out and choose another to satisfy her. She looked down at the mask and plucked it up with a quivering hand.

"I can quit at any time?" she asked.

"I'll escort you out the door myself if I have to," Damien nodded.

"I ... won't this make me a prostitute? Some cheap whore," she worried.

"Will you get paid for your services; Yes. You are neither cheap nor a whore. Instead of being paid in earrings or a pearl necklace for meaningless sex every Saturday night, you get to choose your reward for the sex you want to have."

"You are still a bastard," Lorna replied without heat.

"I'll have to agree with that assessment," Damien said. Lorna studied him for several seconds before,

"How come you never came on to me?"

"I'm with a two ladies," Damien informed her, "and I don't think they would understand a third. I have to admit I was tempted though. You are a gorgeous woman, especially when you are in control. You have something special when you let go of your restraints and I can see why it would be easy for any man to be drawn in."

"You have a very gracious way of asking to be my pimp," she teased, feeling more powerful and in control by the minute. Lorna stroked her mask. She had felt powerful wearing it, hiding behind it, and letting herself go with it; now all that was in her hands and her hands alone.

"How do I get in touch with you?" Lorna asked.

"My cell number is on the card at the bottom of the bag, and I'm also in the book. Sorry; no cloak and dagger," he answered.

"Why are you doing this? Clearly you aren't doing it for the power or the money. I want to know why?"

"You know what it is like when you see a woman totally given over to passion and fulfillment, right? I'm not a jealous man. I want to share that. I have a day job, two beautiful women, and enough money to make my life comfortable. I'm a lucky guy. If I can make other people happy too, why shouldn't I?" he explained.

"You make it sound so noble," Lorna mocked him. Damien didn't look offended.

"Call it karma if you like. Life has been good to me, so I'm paying that forward. One day maybe you will feel like doing the same to someone else who needs it. You never know."

"So, do you think you will hear from me again?" she asked.

"Yes," he stated with absolute confidence. That annoyed Lorna to no end.

"What makes you so sure?" she said angrily.

"You are finally sleeping with your husband again," Damien stated as if it was obvious.

"How did you ... how did you know that I knew?" she gasped.

"You picked him once before, and he picked you. When we gave you both the chance make those choices again, you did."

"Does he know?" she wondered.

"I think so. I think he accepts that it is better to have you as his masked whore who will give of herself freely and have to accept that he will share you with other men than to lose you completely to resentment and anger. Those are my thoughts on the matter anyway. I could be wrong. My advice is that you not break the illusion. It is working well for both of you."

"You are a bastard," she sighed with a chuckle.

"I seem to get that a lot from you," he grinned. He stood up. "I have to go now. Yours was the first of many stops I have to make today. I hope you call."

"I hope I do to," she whispered once he'd left the room. She found herself holding her mask in her hands. She wasn't trembling anymore. In fact, the main thing on Lady Domino's mind was what pattern she would be wearing tonight.