Life Sentence Read online

He reached past her and closed the browser window. Operating on autopilot, Sam finished logging out, returning to the library’s main screen.

  That’s how he’d died. He’d spent the decades since then wondering if his sacrifice had been in vain, if his heroic efforts to save Jason and Pauline Middlemarch had been successful. She couldn’t imagine what it must be like to give your life for something and not know if it was worth it. No wonder he’d been scared of what he might find.

  “Come on. Let’s pick up the printout of Jason’s article. Then I can take you home.”

  Master Giacomo nodded silently. He followed her as she picked up and paid for her printout then out to the car.

  Once they were seated inside and belted in, rather than put the key in the ignition and start the engine, she twisted to face him. “I’m sorry about your brother.”

  “Nico was a good man. Many people came to his funeral.” He took another of his deep, sighing breaths then stiffened his shoulders and turned to look her in the eye. “Jeffrey knew his design was flawed and he let Nico drive his boat in the second heat with no warning. He bragged to me that it didn’t matter, because nobody would ever be able to prove it.”

  She felt the blood draining out of her face, leaving her cold and frozen. “What are you saying?”

  “The fault in his engine hose was a small puncture that let the gas vapors escape. I know because I put it there.”

  She just stared at him, unable to find words. Her lover, her Master, the man she was falling in love with, was a murderer.

  “I don’t know what I was thinking. I don’t think I intended to kill him, although I wouldn’t have been terribly upset if he’d died, betrayed by an unreliable boat the way my brother had been. He’d murdered my only remaining immediate family. And no one would believe me when I tried to tell them.”

  “Temporary insanity.”

  He nodded. “Yes. But Jeffrey was the only one I blamed, not his wife, not his son. They were innocent. I was on the dock that morning so that I could witness my vengeance for Nico. I tried to stop them from boarding the boat, getting away from it before the explosion. She thought I was mad. I probably was. I threw the boy into the water but she struggled.”

  “You saved their lives at the cost of your own.”

  “That is why I was given a second chance, not because I saved them, but because I’d willingly died in the attempt.” He closed his eyes and shuddered. “Do not ask me to describe my penance but be assured, I suffered fully for my crime.”

  She remembered his flat statement that he’d been tortured. At the time, she thought he’d meant it figuratively.

  “How long?” she whispered.

  “Time has no meaning there. There is no day, no night, only an endless sliver of eternity. But the first new man to arrive after my penance ended died on January 17th, 1989.”

  Twenty years. He’d been tortured nonstop for over twenty years. She couldn’t imagine how he had endured with any shred of sanity intact.

  “Why are you telling me all this?”

  He gazed directly into her eyes. “I need you to understand. I made a mistake back then. Taking vengeance into my own hands, yes, but also believing that because I knew best, I had the right to act on my knowledge.”

  He reached out and clasped her frigid hands in his. The warmth of his fingers slowly thawed her frozen skin.

  “I made the same mistake earlier today. Knowing of a solution and having the means to implement that solution does not give me the right to make it so. The decision rests with you and your mother. You offered me your submission, a gift that I treasure, but that is not the same as handing over control of your entire life. Perdonilo. Forgive me.”

  “You’re saying…you’re sorry?”

  “More than that.” Moisture shone in dark brown eyes. “I sincerely repent my actions and will do my best never to make the same mistake again. I can offer information and guidance but I can not make decisions about your life for you.”

  “Even if you’re certain I’m making a mistake?” she whispered. “Doing something stupid and foolish?”

  “If that is true, I will tell you so and try to convince you to take another course of action. But it is your mistake to make.” He smiled softly. “We are not discussing your mother’s care any longer, are we?”

  “No. Not really. She’s staying at home and I’m looking after her, like always. Maybe if you’ve got so much money to throw around, I could look at getting some help so I can take time off occasionally. But she’s finally starting to show an interest in getting a life again. It was only a little thing and she backed off immediately, but compared to what she’s been like these past few months, it’s a huge step. So she might not need as much help anyway.”

  “Then of what are we speaking?”

  Sam bit her lip. But after what he’d just confessed to, how could she feel nervous about her admission?

  “I was married. My ex-husband said he loved me and wanted only the best for me, but that meant the clothes I chose were never good enough, I didn’t work hard enough at my exercise program, I ate the wrong foods, et cetera. I started doubting that I could make any decisions at all. I realized what was happening, left him and started over again. That’s why I didn’t want to submit to you. I was afraid you’d swallow me up, the same way he had.”

  Master Giacomo snorted. “Such pathetic attempts at mastery are the mark of a weak man who must weaken a woman in order to best her. I do not wish you to be weak, mia tesora. It was your strength I relied upon when I faced the answer to what happened to Jeffrey’s family. And your compassion to listen to the entire tale before judging me.”

  Sam pressed the heel of her palm against her breastbone. Her chest felt on fire, as if an explosion had torn through her heart and lungs, engulfing her in a fireball no less deadly than the one that had killed Giacomo. She couldn’t breathe. She gasped for air but her throat was too tight to give any relief.

  “Sam? What is wrong, mia tesora? Do you need a doctor?”

  She heard the rising panic in his voice. If she’d had the breath for it, she would have laughed. Wrong? Nothing was wrong. Something was very, very right.

  “You value me,” she whispered.

  He stared at her, as if he could no longer understand English, so she repeated herself.

  “You value me.”

  “But of course! Why else would I call you mia tesora, my treasure, if I did not?”

  “No. I mean, you value me. The person I am.” The tightness in her chest eased and she took a deep breath, her first truly free breath since her divorce.

  “Yes, I—” Master Giacomo stopped, clutching his right hand as if it pained him. His eyes grew wide, staring at the unblemished skin. With a sharp crack, his silver bracelet broke in two, the halves falling into his lap. He blinked twice then laughed. “This? This is your ultimate pleasure?”

  “What are you—? You’re free!”

  “Sì, mia tesora. My life is my own again.”

  Sam nodded. She’d known she couldn’t keep him forever. And he’d given her a gift far greater than any she’d expected. The least she could do was let him go with a brave smile.

  “What are you going to do with yourself?”

  “I plan to devote myself to bringing you pleasure, in all the ways possible.” He smiled. “If that is all right with you?”

  Her answering grin split her face. “That’s more than all right with me, it’s the answer to all my dreams.”

  Unsnapping her seat belt, she knelt awkwardly on the floor space in front of the center console and laid her head in his lap, her wrists crossed behind her back.

  “You are my Master and I am your willing slave.”

  He rested his hand on her head, stroking her hair. “You are my treasure, bending to my will but never breaking, growing only stronger in my care.”

  Gently, he placed a finger beneath her chin and tipped her head up. He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead then to the tip of her
nose before finally claiming her lips.

  An eternity later, Sam swam up from the depths of delight in which she’d been drowning and blinked his beloved features back into focus. A sudden thought made her gasp in realization.

  “Mia tesora?”

  “We’ve decided where my mother is going to stay. But where are you going to live, Master?”

  He smiled wickedly. “I think perhaps you should introduce me to your mother.”

  About the Author

  Jennifer Dunne is the author of over a dozen novels and novellas spanning the genres of fantasy, science fiction and romance. (She’s either a unique individual who is difficult to categorize, or easily bored—you decide.) Beyond that, there’s no point describing her hobbies or activities, since they’ll have changed by the time you read this. (Score one for “easily bored”.) She lives in upstate New York, where she happily plays the lead role in her very own love story, thankfully with fewer explosions, occult happenings and dire situations than in her fiction. Although, there was that one time…

  Jennifer welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website and email address on her author bio page at www.ellorascave.com.

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  Also by Jennifer Dunne

  Hearts of Steel anthology

  Hot Spell anthology

  Luck of the Irish anthology

  Party Favors anthology

  R.S.V.P. anthology

  Santa’s Helpers

  Sex Magic

  Single White Submissive anthology

  Tied with a Bow anthology

  Discover for yourself why readers can’t get enough of the multiple award-winning publisher Ellora’s Cave. Whether you prefer ebooks or paperbacks, be sure to visit EC on the web at www.ellorascave.com for an erotic reading experience that will leave you breathless.

  www.ellorascave.com