Obey

Chapter Two- Mrs Arnault

This wasn't real. This was the mantra I spoke in my head in repetition to explain the last twenty-four hours. My rationality explained to my flabbergasted mind that I would part my eyes and awaken beneath that butterfly comforter as I had the morning prior. That my father would have fought for me tooth and nail and even lay down his own life to spare my own. Or even that those dark cars that followed us were concealing agents of the law that were just waiting for the perfect moment to spring into action when the car would come to a stop. But when I attempted to pinch myself from this cruelly vivid nightmare, recall the abandonment of my father ignoring my pleas, and noticed we were no longer followed by any vehicles, I lost all hope of outside help as the car would come to a stop before a single level home accented with black doors and the frames enclosing them.

"Welcome home, Aubrey." He spoke with his voice coming to an echo within the home as I came to marvel at the modern beauty of this house. Even if I was a novice to the details of architecture, there was something beautiful in the lines of the house and the vague accents that consisted of houseplants, a few throw blankets set pristine folded over the couches, and some paintings that made this appear like a work of art in cleanliness and overall perfection. But like an ink stain to a clean page came his presence as he sauntered down the set of steps leading from a small platform and down into the living room.

"I do not have all day to babysit you, so listen well because I will only speak these rules to you once." I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms to show my objection as he would c**k his jaw, as if accepting my challenge, before then continuing.

"You can make yourself at home with anything in the fridge as well as anything on the grounds. There will be staff-dedicated and loyal, that will keep an eye on you to make sure you are...safe…" he smirked to himself as we were both well aware this was so I could not escape.

"There are cameras set in nearly every room aside from the bathrooms and the bedroom...You can use the pool, shower, television, gym, even the staff as you wish...But let me make myself clear-" He approached me close enough to where I could feel his breath puff onto my skin as he spoke.

"The doors and windows are impenetrable and will alert me immediately if you make any attempts to leave and if i learn you've tried after my explicit warning against it...you will NOT like the man I become to you then-"

"If you're so afraid of me getting out, why not just lock me in a room or better yet-a cage?" I questioned this rhetorical inquiry with a scoff as he mirrored my arms left in a crossed hold.

"Even if you would manage to talk to anyone, they wouldn't believe you...and if anyone was stupid enough to, they wouldn't for long. I am not "afraid" of you getting out...I am annoyed if you tried...and annoyance is not a place you want to be with me-"

"I don't want to be anywhere with you!"

He would clench his jaw but then allow his lips to form a smile as he would speak again.

"We will eat dinner together and we will get to learn one each other. You have my word I will be as open as I can as long as you do the same."

"I don't want this. Any of this! I want to go home! I want to be with my dad! I want my own things!"

"I will buy you new things-"

"I don't want anything from you! Not clothes, perfume, even your attention. I just want to go home."

"We can talk about that at dinner. Until then...welcome home, Mrs. Arnault." He finally pulled away from me, leaving the aroma of his cologne in his wake, as I would groan in immaturity. With the sight of his armed forces stationed as knights in a castle; motionless and stoic, I would turn and try for the door to find it locked just as she spoke. No sooner had I returned my hand, had there been a cold grip forcing me into the direction of a thin corridor.

A line of doors holding unknown rooms would pass on either side of me until I was brought to a final door at the end of the hall marked by its single standing. Once inside, the door was locked at my back as I was thrown onto my knees and attempted to rival this guard, but found the door to close before I was given the chance. Hitting against it in annoyance and using a large chunk of energy, I would eventually give up and decide to look for an alternative route.

Trying the windows, I found not even a single latch was in sight and the glass itself almost bent to my touch but not in frailty but strength. Frustrated at this fishbowl I was trapped within, I would now have no choice but to remain in wait for this apparent dinner across from my "husband"-a title that nauseated me to think, let alone exist alongside.

My eyes would find a distraction within the details of this room as I was quick to judge that this had been a master bedroom. Crimson sheets draped over a California king mattress with pillows accented in golden tassels matching the luminescent pattern catching the light of the duvet as well. On the foot of the bed came a bedroom bench holding a pair of folded clothes on its edge that I recognized to be his style as my fingers would trace over the satin fabric in curiosity alone. Rather quickly, I retreated my touch and continued my observation of the room.

Two bedside tables of identical color and design hugged the bed while a large carpet kept the wooden floor from meeting with a slumberer's first steps in chill. Diagonal from the corners of this mud brown carpet would be the pointless window and a dresser as the opposite side of the room held a large mirror overlooking the entire room as well as a door at its side that led into a bathroom and another that entered into a closet.

My curious feet would set forward into the carpeted walk-in closet, where I would find at least three hundred pairs of identical shoes all polished and placed at a slight angle to fill out the bottom border row of the wall. Above them hung suits of every luxury brand I only knew from television and magazines as well as pants dividing these ensembles from luxurious to lounge wear. The final detail of the closet had been a small bench used for rest and at the far end having stood a podium holding a line of expensive watches in every shade of metal making up the bands. However, even if I was blown away by the amount of money I was surrounded by, I saw this as an opportunity to make a statement.

I began with the shoes, scuffing them together on purpose and tossing them into reckless abandonment, followed by the shirts that I forced from the hangers in thick handfuls before using my own dirty shoes to leave marks upon their flawless fabric. Finally, using the aggression stored in my frame, petite compared to him, I tore the sleeves, buttons, and cuffs from as many as I could muster before throwing them about in chaos until everything around me fell in equivalence to the madness of my mind.

But with one of the items having somehow remained untouched, I became curious to its feel and would therefore carry my arms through the excess fabric making up this tailored suit before carrying the cloth to my face. For a moment, I found it cold and stiff, much like its owner, but I then came to envision his hand slipping through that cuff and resting on my cheek with care. To the flutter in my heart, I forced it from my face before being returned to reality.

"Come here!" A deep voice spoke at my back as I was forced off of the floor and onto my feet before being dragged across the living room and into the rival side of the house that held an office. When the doors came open, the room was rather small but overlooked the ocean via a window, as my lead captor would turn and glare at his staff member for this interruption. But once he saw the shirt still cascading loosely on my body, he seemed more interested in my appearance than that of the issues on the phone as he offered a grin.

"She destroyed your closet, sir...the only thing untouched is what she's wearing and considering we don't know where she has been in terms of-" I turned to face this "guard" before offering a glare.

"You will not EVER insult her again, am I to be understood?!" He rivaled against his employee, who would sink in a lack of confidence before nodding.

"Forgive my staff, it has been quite a long time since they've had another woman here…" I would remain silent as his eyes fell to my attire, left crooked by the unkind hand of my guard, before he left one hand to his mouth to hide his grin.

"Were you cold?" I glared.

"I…" I rolled my eyes and let out a grunt.

"Is it true that you destroyed my closet?" To this, I would answer, only because I was proud.

"Yes. Every dress shirt...every belt...even your Rolexes got a taste of my heel-" He slowly began to bob his head before taking the parted edges of his dress shirt and using them to pull me into him until I would be left breathless as he kept me on the balls of my feet.

"If you were anybody else…" he paused, his eyes falling to my parted lips.

“What? You’d kill me?” I rivaled, my teeth moving to a clench as I would allow my eyes to fall to his lips, but only to view if he was appeased by me or annoyed; to which, I would find a mix of both.

“Yes. But since you are my wife-” He would now release me as I would interrupt him before taking possession of a small statue on the corner of his desk and using it to throw at him. Unfortunate to my ambition but fortunate for my target, he would dodge this in the quick reaction allowed by his reflexes, but would now be livid with me in expression alone as I would race and be victorious in rivalin him in verbage first.

“I don’t want to be anything to you! I am sure you could find any other girl on this side of the keys that would LOVE your kind of attention...But I JUST WANT TO GO HOME!”

“There isn’t a home for you to go back to!” I stiffened to his words as I feared the next words to leave his lips would be ones of my father’s fate that would have been left destroyed along with my plans for the remainder of the summer before college.

“What did you do?”

“It’s not what I did...But maybe you should try and look at things from another perspective before I get too fed up with you and you WILL learn them when it’s too late. I am showing you what I thought was mercy, but what I realize now to be pity. Wage your next words carefully because I can return you to the life that was about to suffocate you to a father who didn’t even want to keep you-” Taking yet another item from his desk hostage within my grasp, he would now collect my wrist before I had a chance to cast it in his direction. He would not pull me into him as he had the last interaction, but he would drop those eyes of intimidation to me as if it was a lingering threat remaining on the table between us.

“After dinner, we are going shopping to replace what you destroyed...if you want to keep any semblance of your life to return to, I suggest you abstain from ruining anything else or I might have to find a boring way to use the handcuffs beneath our bed-” When he would finally release me, I became frightened at a portion of his words.

“OUR...bed?” He nodded.

“You ARE my wife, Aubrey…” This suddenly carried a horrifying thought throughout my mind of what he had truly procured me for; something I had possessed since birth that would now be taken by force in an unfair advantage of power. Because of this, I knew without a doubt that I needed to escape by any means necessary before he would take the one thing I could use as power over him.

“Dinner will be ready in an hour...I expect you to make an attempt…” He would move beyond me with these words as I held my hand to my chest before forcing his garment from my skin as it felt more suffocating than that of any of his previous holds. But as I turned into the direction of the door, my mind began to conjure at least a thousand ideas on how to make my leave under the guise of tonight’s events...I had to...Or I would be forced to relinquish a sacred part of myself to him.