"Ally. What the fuck is she doing here?" Tess screamed out.
Ingrid approached Tess and answered the question on his behalf. "Ow, don't be like that sweetie. You should be pleased to see me." She smiled patronisingly. "After all, it was my money who saved that cute little ass of yours."
"What the fuck is she doing here?" Tess repeated, momentarily glaring in Ally's direction, then back to Ingrid, who'd now arrived at Tess's side but continued to walk around the back of her.
"I really approve of the outfit." Ingrid said, "That belt gives you such a waistline, I'd almost forgotten about your enviable curves." Ingrid now stood behind Tess, continuing with her commentary, "I'm surprised that you're still wearing my shorts, I thought they would have given in to these two babies and ripped open by now."
Tess turned quickly to see Ingrid's resin cuffed hands, lunge two open palms towards her behind, only missing her by a whisker where Tess managed to twist out of her way.
"Oooh. Look at that sexy chain behind you." Ingrid said, referring to the three foot length hanging down from her waist belt. "It's like a Lion's tail."
"What the hell is going on here?" Tess shouted turning her head from Ally to Ingrid. "What is that shit around your wrists?" Tess continued to hold centre stage by shouting at Ally, "YOU'VE FUCKING SET ME UP!"
This alerted Ally to step in and calm things down, "Let's not jump to any conclusions here. No one has been set up."
Ingrid disagreed, with sarcasm, "No one has been set up, that is if you can pretend that we are looking at the crashing waves on a sandy beach in Algiers."
"Ingrid! Enough!" Ally snapped.
"Sorry Sir." Ingrid replied, standing up straight, introducing the rule of respect into her mind game of training Tess.
Ally initially frowned at the idea of being called Sir but let the comment pass for now, hoping to later correct her.
"Will someone tell me what the fuck is going on?" Tess called out again.
"Allow me to explain." Ingrid began, "You see, when we separated on the boat, Mr Ally, came looking for me and thankfully brought me here for, shall we say, safe keeping. We then came up with a plan together, where I get my husband to send me the money to buy you from the clutches of Gus."
Tess looked at Ally who held a poker face. With the knowledge of Ingrid's intentions about getting inside Tess's head, Ally listened and wondered what bullshit would be coming out of her mouth next.
Ingrid pointed her two index fingers towards Ally. "My husband Kristofer, back in Norway is paying Mr Ally here, money to keep me safe until I can get home."
"Baby?" Tess asked, turning to Ally for confirmation, clearly still frightened.
Not quite true, but for the purposes of Ingrid's game, her story does decriminalise me, he thought.
"It's true." He said, "That's where the money came from."
Ingrid held up her cuffed wrists to show Tess, "I'm only wearing these because Mr Ally has a vested interest in keeping me here, until he gets paid himself."
With wide eyes, Tess shook her head towards Ingrid in disbelief.
Ingrid summarised, "In short, I bought you from Gus." She said pointing to Tess, then turning back to Ally, "And my husband is buying my safe return from Mr Ally."
"Babes?" Tess frowned at Ally.
He could think of no other reasonable explanation, so without thought, he agreed by simply nodding his head.
"So until Mr Ally gets his money, he owns me." Ingrid told Tess, "Isn't that right Sir?"
Not keen on all this Mr Ally Sir bullshit, he replied. "That's right." Knowing that she must have a plan. He hesitated before continuing, in a non convincing voice, "Mistress Ingrid."
"FUCK OFF ALLY!" Tess shouted, drawing a stern look from Ingrid as she quickly approached once again.
Tess felt two hands side by side, grab her belt from behind, followed by Ingrid's chin landing painfully on her shoulder.
"You are going to have to learn some respect towards your superiors!" Ingrid told her.
Tess ignored her comment and called over to Ally, who stood by, doing nothing useful to help "Ally, come on. Get me out of this." She insisted, rattling the single link chains at her wrists.
Before Ally could speak, Ingrid continued. "Oh he has every intention of getting you out of those dear, but the rules are, that your freedom has to be jointly agreed by both of your superiors first."
Tess tried to twist herself away from Ingrid's perch over her shoulder, calling out to Ally once again for help.
Ingrid held the rigid steel belt tightly. "You see. I own you." She announced from behind Tess's head.
Tess could only fear the worse and responded with a kind of spitting sound from the back of her mouth. Why would Ally be doing this to her? She asked herself.
"It was my money that bought you from Gus, which means that you belong to me now!" Ingrid declared. "And the sooner you start respecting your new owner, the sooner I'll arrange for your release. Understand?"
Disgusted at the concept, Tess bent her knees slightly and spun sharply around to pull herself free of Ingrid's grip.
"GET THE FUCK OFF ME!" she said, standing face to face with her acclaimed new superior.
"Let me warn you." Ingrid told her, "Every breach of discipline earns you extra time in those shackles. I know Mr Ally would be glad to set you free right now but personally, I don't think you're ready."
"FUCK YOU!" Tess spat out into Ingrid's face. She turned to walk away but Ingrid caught hold of the three foot chain hanging down from behind her belt and held her back.
Tess firstly responded by kneeling to the ground, then rolling over onto her side and eventually laying on her back, dragging Ingrid closer to her as she did.
With her shackled ankles pressed together Tess kicked both feet in Ingrid's direction, aiming for her stomach, in order to inflict pain, out of spite, rather than revenge.
Her efforts failed. Ingrid managed to dodge out of the way of her attackers heals, dropping the chain to the ground in retreat.
"As I thought." Ingrid said. "For my own protection, my safety is going to have to be at the detriment of your freedom. Even if I was to consider any slight amount of sympathy towards you and your release, you've just confirmed that I need to be keeping you restrained. That little manoeuvre just assured you a few more days in those shackles."
"ALLY!" Tess screamed.
"An outburst like that will earn you a couple more days!" Ingrid responded. "DO YOU WANT ME TO MAKE IT A WHOLE WEEK. OR MAYBE TWO?"