TRUTH by Sherri Hayes

happened weighed me down. I knew I shouldn’t have opened the door without checking to see who it was first, but I had anyway. It was stupid and reckless.  
    Cal’s call only delayed the inevitable. Stephan had given me last night. He wouldn’t put off our conversation any longer. He wasn’t like that.  
    By the time Stephan returned to the table, I was near tears. I’d done the wrong thing, and I knew there would be consequences. Although I had no idea what those consequences would be, I wasn’t as worried about that as much as I was about having to confess to him what I’d done.  
    We rinsed and loaded our dishes into the machine before walking over to his chair. I trailed behind, dragging my feet. He noticed and snapped his fingers, pointing to the spot beside him. Picking up my pace, I met him beside his chair. He let me stand there for several minutes, looking me up and down as if trying to see something. I started to get nervous.
    “Don’t fidget.”
    I stopped moving. Why was I moving? I’d learned how to stand stock-still with Ian. I’d learned the hard way, like I had everything else. Why was it difficult now?  
    He made me stand beside the chair for several more minutes before he invited me to sit on his lap. I wasn’t sure what to do with myself. Usually I would cuddle up to him and lay my head on his shoulder, but that didn’t seem right. I was in trouble, and I knew it.
    “Tell me what happened yesterday, Brianna, and don’t leave anything out.”
    “I was cleaning your bathroom when I thought I heard the phone ring,” I said, looking down at my lap. He wasn’t having it and lifted my chin up with his hand, forcing me to look at him. He wasn’t going to let me hide.
    “That’s better. Start again. And this time look at me.”
    “I . . . I was cleaning your bathroom. I thought I heard the phone. But I had your radio on. I wasn’t sure.”  
    “Then what did you do?” he asked when I didn’t say anything else.
    “I heard a knock . . . on the door.”
    “You were still in the bathroom?”
    “No.” I shook my head. “In your bedroom.”
    He nodded but didn’t say anything else. I knew he was waiting for me.
    “The knocking got louder, and then I thought about the phone . . . how I’d thought I’d heard it . . . I thought maybe . . . Tom . . . had tried to call me, and when I didn’t . . . when I didn’t answer, he came up to check on me.”
    “So you thought it was Tom?”
    “Yes,” I whispered.
    “When did you realize it wasn’t?”
    I pressed my lips together, not wanting to say that part.
    “Brianna.”  
    “When I opened the door.”
    He placed his hands on either side of my face. I could feel the tension in them. It wasn’t the same loving gesture from the night before. He was angry with me, and he had every right to be.
    “You opened the door without checking to see who it was first?”  
    I closed my eyes. I couldn’t look at him.
    “Open your eyes. Now,” Stephan ordered.
    I quickly reopened my eyes and met his angry stare.  
    “Answer the question.”
    “Yes.”
    “Yes, what?”
    I swallowed.
    “Yes, Sir. I answered the door without . . . without checking.”
    He dropped his hands into his lap and looked at me. For the longest time, he didn’t say anything, and I could feel the uncertainty take hold. He’d said many times that he didn’t own me, that I wasn’t his slave. I believed that now, but what would happen if he didn’t want me to be here anymore? Stephan wouldn’t sell me, but he could make me leave. Where would I go? What would I do? How would I—
    “Calm down, Brianna.”
    I took several deep breaths, trying to do as he said.
    “You know you did wrong, correct?”
    “Yes, Sir.” I nodded.
    “Good. That’s a start.” He paused. “You do realize I can’t just let this go, don’t you?”
    “Yes, Sir.”
    “You deliberately put yourself in danger.”
    I nodded and looked down. This time, he didn’t