I sat there stunned, gold on my wrist and a million dollars hovering before my eyes. I’m only human and I am female. When Uncle Andrew pushed the papers at me and rose to leave. I felt a feminine anxiety. “You can get Markham’s signature on these. And when you’re ready to yield yourself to me and wear those handcuffs properly, you can give me a call at the number you’ll find on the letterhead. When you hands are safely locked. I’ll hand you the trust company’s certificate for your million. But I’m damned if I know what you’ll do with it.”
Uncle Andrew raised my golden hand and kissed it and then was gone.
For long after my would-be owner closed the door I sat in dazed elation. Even though the price might be my freedom, I had obtained for Hugo his heart’s dearest wish. With my own bribe, I had won three million dollars for us both. And for the life of me, Andrew Everleigh’s outline of his Caribbean island and my place thereon simply was not real. Somehow the absurdity would iron itself out with Andrew Everleigh proving himself an English gentleman and keeping me as his guest, perhaps prettily retrained, in some ancient estate for a month or two or three ... What did it matter. I had a million dollars!”
In this state of euphoria I phoned Hugo. I expect I was incoherent for he arrived in record time and the first thing he said was, “What the devil’ s that thing on your wrist?”
I told Hugo about the whole thing and showed him the papers.
We read the papers carefully and found them in good order. There was nothing cheap about Uncle Andrew. No matter how I tried to keep them out of sight, the golden handcuffs constantly intruded until Hugo produced the universal key. He unlocked one cuff and swiftly fastened it again on my opposite wrist. “If that old bastard thinks he’s going to steal you away, he has another thing coming. If it means parting with you, I don’t sign a thing.”
“Two million for you. Hugo? One for me; It’s very handsome”
“Piss on Everleigh’s millions. He thinks he can buy anyone and do anything. He’s not getting you, and if we loose the millions, so what!”
Hugo was always surprising. His declaration now sent a wave of heat throughout my body. We had never spoken of love but had fallen into an easy friendship that was warmer than I had realized. But while this left me wildly exhilarated on one hand, it deflated my enthusiasm with Everleigh’s millions on the other. Breathlessly I suggested, “Let’s get the money, Hugo. And let him play out his fantasy with me. If I’m not back in three months; you can do something. I’ll leave you my million to look after expenses, if there are any. I won’t be having pockets or handbags.”
“You mean that old fool wants you naked!”
“Well, yes. Let’s go along with him for the three months. Or if you don’t like the three months, make it two. Anything you like.”
“You’re getting horny just thinking about it. You want to go.”
Hugo was hurt.
It’s difficult for a handcuffed girl to hug a man but I did my best. I was beginning to feel like the most wanted girl in the USA but I was torn between loyalty, love, and dollars and cents. When Hugo led me from my office, I did not resist. It was one of those times when a girl is thankful for a man knowing what to do. When he got me home, he stripped me bare and cuffed me by one wrist to a ring in the wall. Hugo decided to go and make coffee while I did what he described as ‘think it over’.
I didn’t want to think, what I wanted was a terribly expensive dinner in a plush restaurant to clear my mind of millions, Caribbean prisons, and the question of what to do next. I had stood there several minutes before realizing Hugo had relieved me of decision:
When I absent-mindedly started for the bar to mix a drink, I was abruptly reminded of my status as a slave girl It was a very gorgeous feeling of belonging to Hugo and hoping he’d keep me locked up and safe. After the restaurant, of course!
“Get any ideas,” Hugo asked when he returned with coffee.
“No, I’ll leave the whole thing to you. May I please sit down?” With an air of long suffering. Hugo took me from the wall but locked both my hands behind my back. All I had gained was the privilege of sitting beside him on the couch, but I was grateful for even that. He helped me with the coffee while thinking aloud. “I don’t see how that old devil dare kidnap you. He knows I’d raise a stink.”
“You wouldn’t do that if you thought he’d take it out on me. Hugo, dear, let’s be realistic. And, please, may I have my hands?”
“The idea of him holding you like that is preposterous. The whole thing is preposterous. And, no, you can’t have your hands.”
“Where’s Margo?”
“I’ve got her tied to the pole downstairs. A few hours of that won’t do her any harm. Look, sweetheart, if this old Scottish bastard wants a girl to be mean to, let’s give him Margo?”
“He doesn’t really need girls, Hugo. He’s got a prison loaded with them in Rockley. For some reason of his own. I’ve aroused his erotic instincts and he wants me and no one else. Hugo, I’m scared.”
“So you want to sell yourself for three million bucks? Is that it?”
“Not really. But I thinks it’s best if I go with him. If I don’t, he’ll take me by force and I’d hate to be strapped up tight in a crate or getting a needle jammed into my arm and waking up goodness knows where. Just two or three months...?”
“No. You belong to me. We’ll show this old goat there’s something he can’t buy. But can’t we show Margo to him, he might like her?”
“Go ahead, Hugo, introduce them but you’re running the risk he’ll take her, too. There’s nothing cheap about Uncle Andrew.”
“I’d phone the old fart if I didn’t think he was bluffing. But if he’s playing it straight it would tell him where you are. In your frame of mind, I can’t trust you, Diane. You’ll stay the way you are. I like it.”
“But, Hugo, you’ve got me naked and helpless. Don’t you understand it makes me a package ready for picking up if he or some of his boys broke in here.”
“That isn’t going to happen. But if it did, they’ll have to kill me first. And then take you anyway. The worst enemy is yourself and this erotic dream he’s planted in your mind. That’s what I have to protect both you and myself against. If I take you out to dinner, will you promise to come back here like a good little girl afterwards?”
“Of course, Hugo. I’d love that. But are you sure you don’t want all that lovely money. I mean, I will do all you tell me but it seems to me a shame to pass up three million dollars.”
“Damn it, girl! I’m no slave trader. I’m not selling you or any girl for cash. Can’t we take my claim to the courts and get the money that way?”
“That’s still uncertain, Hugo, dear. But I think it would be less uncertain indeed if I allowed Uncle Andrew to get possession of me.” I bestowed a sly glance of assessment. “I don’t think we have to call it ‘selling me’. Couldn’t we sort of think of it as renting me out? Or, better still, renting myself. I’d love you to have all of that money ... Master?”
Hugo was only slightly mollified. He kept my hands cuffed behind my back until it was time for me to dress. And even then I knew he hated to free me. I was not allowed to have a look at Margo, she was not included in the dinner plans. For a girl who wished to have her spirit broken, she was getting her money’s worth. Considering I was a girl contemplating indefinite enslavement, I enjoyed dinner very much. But Hugo was morose and was having a hard time sorting out three million dollars, his integrity and the possession of my person. The hell of it was I couldn’t help him but had to be touched by his evident concern for my welfare. He kept muttering about me being locked in dungeons or being beaten half to death and then being handed over to a bunch of blacks for their enjoyment. I told him he’d been reading too many novels. And there we stuck.