Blind Loyalty by M J Marlow (ebook reader wifi .txt) 📕

Blind Loyalty

For as long as Joanna could remember her Father had flitted in and out of her life. He was generous; he always had a gift for her when he returned from his business trips, but he was also very demanding. Her mother had died when she was five, and Joanna quit speaking for several months afterwards. Her father left her in the care of the revolving door governesses and the household staff. James hired the best tutors to handle her education and training and she learned quite happily and easily, but she was lonely. As soon as she started to grow close to someone, they left her. Only Father and the man who was his representative when he was gone, Charles Dearborn, were a constant in her life. But when Father was off on his trips, she did not miss him. The other adults in the house were just people; they weren’t family. Since her father kept people around her, Joanna was twelve before she realized that it was not normal for a child to never leave the family property. She began asking questions then and learned quickly that her Father was to be obeyed. She quickly accepted the fact that her father lost his temper with her and tried not to make him angry, if she could help it.
Father was to be obeyed, and he was never questioned, was burned into her mind by the time she was fourteen. Then a wonderful thing happened. She got a new governess six months after she turned fifteen and the woman began to slowly counteract all the lies Joanna had been told. These ‘secret’ lessons, for only Rachel and Joanna knew of them, allowed Joanna to see that the world was not all evil as her Father had said. When Father was in residence, they were distant with each other, but when he was gone and they were alone the pair were fast friends. If she could get away and find people to help her, Rachel told her, she could begin the proceedings to become an ‘emancipated’ minor. She would be able to choose her own life. The thought filled Joanna with a hope she’d never known before and raised questions about how she was being treated. Instead of missing her father when he was gone; she relished the times he was gone because she could do things he had told her were forbidden. Except for the one big taboo, leaving the house, she learned as much about the world her father denied her as she could and planned her escape into it as soon as she was able.
“Joanna?” Her governess smiled and entered the gymnasium and dance studio in a smaller building on the estate grounds where Joanna was just finishing her gymnastics practice. Like every other building on the estate, it was constructed with an eye to detail. The long hall had wooden floors and one wall was mirrored. Windows took up another whole wall and one could look out over the valley below. Joanna could see the lake and the forest from here, but nothing else.
Rachel stepped in and saw Joanna standing at the windows, as usual, looking down into the valley with a longing in her eyes that made Rachel’s heart ache in sympathy. Rachel smiled at the man who had been hired to teach Joanna. “Hi Russell. How’s our girl doing?”
“Our girl,” Russell Walters beamed and ruffled Joanna’s hair, “should be trying out for the Olympics!” Like all of Joanna’s instructors, he was the best Leighton’s money could provide. Russell Walters had been to the Olympics four times and had several medals in gymnastics; so he knew what he was talking about. When the short powerfully built man with brown hair and brown eyes became available to teach, Leighton had snapped him up. He provided only the best for his little girl. Russell smiled at the girl fondly as he saw Joanna’s look of disbelief. “Show Rachel the run we just worked on, Joanna.”
Joanna nodded and went to the end of the mat. Then, as Rachel watched in stunned respect, and Russell beamed like a proud parent, Joanna executed a tumbling run with the skill and grace of someone who had trained from near infancy. She was a natural, Rachel realized. Joanna saw their smiles but all it meant was that they had liked it. As far as she was concerned, gymnastics, like dance, was just something she did for fun and exercise. Her father would never allow her to pursue a career, and that thought reminded her that Rachel was not here to visit.
“You came in here to tell me something, Rachel,” Joanna reminded the woman as she went to the shower. Her beacon of hope, Joanna had dubbed this woman, was dressed in the gray dress and lace collar; and her rich brunette hair was put up in a bun. Joanna’s smile died then, for this version of Rachel always signaled James Leighton’s presence. He expected everyone in his household to look and behave in a certain manner and they did, when he was around. “He’s home, isn’t he?”
“Your Father is here,” Rachel nodded and wished she could make that not be true. “He wants to see you in the Study.”
“Thank you, Rachel,” Joanna said, hoping the anxiety she was feeling was not as visible as she feared. Her father had been gone for seven days this time and she had been enjoying the freedom from his displeasure. But when Rachel gave her a ‘be strong’ look; Joanna knew she was as transparent as glass. Anyone with eyes could see how much she feared her father. She finished her shower and dressed quickly. She knew from painful experience that he did not like to be kept waiting, so she went to him directly.
He was standing with his back to the door and she could hear the anger in his voice as he finished a phone call. She was in no mood to be on the receiving end of that emotion, so she started to turn away. “Sit down, Joanna,” the man said quietly as he continued listening to the person on the phone. Joanna wondered if he didn’t have eyes in the back of his dark-haired head as she made herself enter the room and sat down in the chair in front of the desk. “Thank you,” he said finally. “That was a very concise report, as usual. I’ll expect a hard copy in my office. Start working on the next phase of that experiment.”
He turned and snapped his cell phone shut. His deep blue eyes were cold and she knew he was angry. Joanna began to shake as he went to close the door. He touched her cheek and smiled briefly as he went back to sit down, and she looked at him warily. He was quiet and that meant he was very, very angry; the kind of angry that meant she was going to be hurt. “Did I interrupt a lesson, child?” James asked as he saw her damp uncombed hair.
“I had just finished my gymnastics practice, Father,” Joanna replied. “I did not think you wanted to be kept waiting…”
“You are right,” James nodded, pleased that she understood that. He ran his eyes over his daughter’s pale face and saw the apprehension. She was always terrified around him and he was even more pleased to see that. Her fear kept her in line, exactly as it should be. She had her mother’s face, but it was framed in thick curly waves of the richest black he had ever seen and she had her real father’s blue-green eyes. She was an exquisitely beautiful child. When she was old enough, she would be a worthy wife for whoever he sold her to. He kept silent a moment longer and watched her begin to shake.
“What have I done wrong this time, Father?” Joanna finally asked, her voice soft and filled with dread.
“I hear you’ve been eating with the staff while I’ve been gone,” he said as he pulled something out from under the desk. “That is another matter. I brought you here to discuss this.” He slammed a small black purse onto the desk, her escape kit. She had been putting all her spare cash into it for the past six months. “You weren’t thinking of running away, were you, child?”
“Yes, Father,” Joanna answered him with complete honesty as she always did, lying only made the punishment worse; “I was.” She was stunned to realize that her father knew exactly what she had been doing while he was gone. But her shock wore off as she saw the look on his face as he rose to his feet and unbuckled his belt. “I don’t want to be here anymore,” she whimpered as he pulled the belt free. “There’s a whole world out there and I want to see…”
“There is nothing out there for you, Joanna,” Leighton said as he ran the doubled belt he held in his hands along her arm; “until I say there is.” He looked very hurt. “I give you everything you could ever need, child. Why would you want to leave me?” Joanna didn’t answer. He was not interested in hearing what she had to say. He never was. “I do not fault you for your curiosity,” he sighed. “If you wanted to learn about the world all you had to do was ask and I would have supplied you with the right materials.”
“But you said…”
“But to hear that you’ve been plotting behind my back,” James went on, ignoring her interruption as he always did, “to do something I have said you are not ready for is disturbing.” Again his touch was gentle as he raised her eyes to his, but Joanna knew this was just a pretense. He could see that she was terrified of what he was going to do now, and that was exactly what he wanted. “I’m very disappointed in you, child. You are going to have to be punished,” he told her firmly; “and I am going to have to fire Rachel. She is obviously putting ideas in your head.”
“Father, please…”
“Don’t talk back to me, Joanna,” James hissed as he let the belt fly. “You know better.” When he was done, she was lying on the floor in a fetal position, sobbing. He yanked her up and took her to his surgery where he made her lie down on the table. “You disobeyed me, child!” He said as he gave her the drug that would make her tell him everything. “You won’t ever try to run away, will you, darling?”
“No, Father,” Joanna sobbed as she saw her bid for freedom destroyed. She was never going to leave this place until he decided she could. “I won’t.”
“Because?” He prodded her to continue.
“The world is an evil place,” Joanna finished his statement. “You are my father and it is your duty to keep me safe from the dangers it holds.”
“That’s my good girl,” James smiled and stroked her cheek. “Now darling,”