The BMW chirped as Jessica pushed a button on the key fob and locked it. Her high heels echoed through the garage as she walked past her father's other two cars, an Audi and a Mercedes, and entered the spacious house.
She crossed the marble floors and wondered where everyone was; the house was unusually quiet. "Hello?" she called, as she made her way up the main staircase toward the bedrooms.
Jessica looked down the carpeted hallway toward her father's bedroom and noticed a flickering light, like candlelight, coming from within.
"Dad?" she called, as she cautiously walked toward the room.
She looked through the doorway and was startled to see his Asian maid, Anna May, and a beautiful blonde-haired woman facedown on the bed. Both of them were naked, gagged and bound, with their ankles and wrists tied together behind their backs.
Jessica dropped her bags and ran over to untie them. "Oh my god," she whispered, "who did this to you?"
Their eyes were both wide open in fear as they struggled and tried to warn her through their ball gags.
As a chill crept down her spine, Jessica realized what they were trying to tell her -- the intruder was still in the house! She spun around and her blood ran cold as she saw a silhouette, standing in the shadows on the far side of the room.
"Dad?" she whispered.
The stranger, a tall, muscular man, completely naked except for a leather mask, stepped toward the candlelight. Jessica first noticed the whip in his hand, and then saw the huge, throbbing weapon between his legs.
"Dad!" she screamed.
Leaving the two women bound on the bed, she kicked off her high heels, ran from the bedroom and raced down the stairs. She was fumbling in her purse for her cell phone to call 911 when she stumbled and fell at the bottom of the stairs, her phone skidding across the marble floor.
Jessica's father, dressed in an expensive suit and tie, bent down and picked up her phone.
"Dad, call 911!" she said. "There's a rapist upstairs, and he's got Anna May -- "
"Jess...calm down. No one's being raped."
"Calm down? We need to -- " She froze when she saw it in his hand -- a leather mask, identical to the one she'd seen on the man upstairs. Her father was part of this!
Jessica scrambled to her feet to get away, but the man in the mask had followed her and he grabbed her from behind.
"Let me go!" she screamed. He clamped his hand over her mouth, and held her tight as she fought to get free.
Her father stood in front of her and pleaded with her to calm down, but Jessica kept struggling to scream as she tried to twist loose from the man's iron grip.
Sighing, he told the man in the mask: "Take her to the room of confinement."
Jessica's eyes went wide with fear as she was carried, kicking and screaming, downstairs.
Her father had told her these rooms were off limits, but she saw that both doors were now open. She was dragged into one -- a carpeted octagonal chamber -- and when she looked up she saw a menacing metal hook in the ceiling.
"No, please!" she said, as the man in the mask closed the door and locked it from the outside. She pounded on the door and screamed for her father, but she knew it was no use -- she was a prisoner.
As Jessica slumped against the door, she could still hear her mother's warning:
"Jess, I know things haven't been going well at school, or with Jason, but you need to be strong and face your problems, not run away...don't go to your father's house. You were so young when he left us, you barely know him. You've always had this idealized image of him, but he isn't the man you think he is. That's why I've never allowed you to visit him; he's got secrets, dark secrets. I know you think, now that you're twenty, that you can do what you want. But you need to listen to me: stay here, finish school...forget about your father."
But Jessica didn't have a choice -- she had to leave. She didn't think her boyfriend loved her anymore, she wanted to quit school and she couldn't handle the pressure her mother put on her. She had to run away. She had to escape.
But now she was a prisoner again, and she closed her eyes and cried herself to sleep in the dungeon.
* * *
A few hours later, Jessica woke when she heard the door unlock. She crawled backwards and pressed herself against the far wall as the door opened, but was relieved to see it was Anna May, untied and dressed in her maid uniform.
Jessica jumped to her feet. "Anna May," she whispered, "we have to escape!"
"Jessica," Anna May said, as she took her hands and squeezed them. "Relax, he will explain everything."
Jessica looked over Anna May's shoulder as her father entered the room.
"Anna May, you can let her go," he said. "I'm sorry I had to lock you in here, Jessica, but you were panicking; I couldn't take the chance that you'd call the police and, misinterpreting what you saw upstairs, put anyone at risk."
"I know what I saw," she said, as she angled toward the open door. "You had them tied up so you and that...that freak could take turns raping them!"
"No one was being raped," said her father.
"Yeah, right. Then why were they tied up naked? Why did you have masks?"
"It was bondage play, honey -- they're slaves."
"Oh my god...slaves? You're keeping them prisoner here?"
"Not that type of slave, they're free to come and go as they please. Let me show you what I mean." He turned to Anna May and, when he signaled with his hand, she gracefully knelt beside him.
"Do you see how she submits to me? When I say slave I don't mean she's my property, I mean that she's willingly given herself completely to my control."
"Why would anyone do that? Why would anyone let you hurt them?"
"Jessica," Anna May interrupted, "your father is my Master. He would never hurt me; he loves me and takes care of me."
She lifted her chin so Jessica could see her silver choker. The character engraved on it matched the symbol on her father's cufflinks. "This necklace symbolizes my devotion to your father."
"But...why were you and the other woman naked? Are you some kind of sex slaves?"
"Jessica," said her father. "It's a little awkward to explain, but I want to be completely honest with you. We do have sex -- all of us -- but Anna May isn't a sex slave. If I ever tried to force her do something she didn't want to, she could stop me with a single word."
"I would never say the word, Master. Never," Anna May interrupted.
He looked down at her. "Slave Anna May, twice now you have spoken without my permission."
Anna May's shoulders slumped as she dropped her head and looked down at the floor.
"You will be disciplined later, return to your duties."
"You don't even let her talk?" Jessica said, as Anna May left and went upstairs.
"Our relationship has rules; she expects me to follow them and I demand the same from her. I'm not trying to punish her, I'm trying to make her better, stronger."
"Stronger? If she was strong she wouldn't be a slave."
"Jessica, relying on others doesn't mean we're weak, it means we're human," he said.
"You know what, it's really late and I know you're confused and probably angry with me. And you're right to feel that way, what happened tonight was one hundred percent my fault. Once I knew you were coming to stay with me, I should have made other arrangements so what happened tonight could have been avoided.
"But I just want to let you know how happy it's made me to finally be able to spend some time with you. When you phoned me out of the blue, I assumed you needed more money. I never expected you to ask if you could come stay with me.
"I know we don't know each other as well as I'd like. When you were younger, I'd fly up to visit you every time you called, assuming your mother would allow it, but you haven't asked to see me in years. Please believe me when I tell you that I love you, and would never do anything to harm you. As long as you're under my roof, I'll always keep you safe.
"But if I've blown it," he said, as he handed her back her cell phone, "I completely understand why. And if you want to leave, I'll buy you a ticket on the first plane home."
After she returned to her room, Jessica felt like she was trapped in a nightmare. She'd fled to her father's because her life was spinning out of control, and she didn't know where else to turn. But now she wanted to escape again, and there was nowhere left to run to. Whether she liked it or not, she was stuck here.