The Life of Anna, Part 4: Ensnared

The Life of Anna, Part 4:
Ensnared

By Marissa Honeycutt

Copyright 2015 Marissa Honeycutt

Smashwords Edition

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author.

Copyright © 2015 Marissa Honeycutt

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof
may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the
express written permission of the publisher except for the use of
brief quotations in a book review.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters,
businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of
the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any
resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is
purely coincidental.

This book is for grownups. This book is not
for people who are easily offended, get nightmares easily, or have
difficulty reading books about tough subjects. I do not glorify bad
things, but bad things do happen to my poor characters. This is not
your typical love story. My heroine does not fall in love and live
happily ever after... at least not like the typical heroine. There
is a happily ever after, but it is a long, painful journey to that
end.

This is not a stand-alone novel. The series
must be read in order.

Anna’s story is told in five, novel-length
books. There is a subculture within our own world that you’ve only
heard whispers of. The conspiracy theorists wish they knew Anna’s
story. What the conspiracy theorists think they know is only
disinformation, put out there to keep them from the real story.

This book will likely offend you. This book
might make you cry; it might make you throw up. It is a dark book.
As my friend, Heidi, said, “It’s dark. It gets darker. It gets even
darker, and then it gets even darker. And then, just when you think
it can’t get any darker, it does.”

But, don’t worry. I take you to the deep end
gradually. ;)

There are many sexual situations in this
series of books. People die. People get hurt. Things aren’t always
truly the way they appear. The antagonist isn’t just a bad guy;
he’s EVIL. My heroine’s worldview is skewed; things that may appall
you are perfectly normal to her.

Any violence in this book is non-gratuitous
and crucial to the plot and character development.

Do not read this if you are under the age of
consent in your country. Do not get angry if the subject or actual
book upsets you. If you're reading this, you've been warned.

~Despair~

(Two Years Later)

Anna felt herself rising to a stark and
brutal level of consciousness, only dimly aware that she lay flat
on her back in her own bed at the Manor.

With lucidity came a dull, aching pain that
grew with each breath she drew.

Devin had taken Anna’s baby. A child
conceived out of love with Alex. The last vestige of Alex she had
clung to. And Devin took it. Again.

Again?

No. It couldn’t be Alex’s baby. Alex was
dead. He’d been dead for so long...she didn’t know how long. He was
dead. But then why did Devin say it was Alex’s baby and get her so
upset?

Anna felt the fog of confusion smothering her
mind. She was always confused these days. Some days Devin said Alex
was alive. Other days, Devin said Alex was dead. Why did he confuse
her? It was hard enough keeping hold of reality as it was. But when
Devin bothered to speak to her, it got even more confusing.

Focus, Anna
. Her inner voice sounded
as weak as she felt, but she tried to comply, vaguely remembering
back to a time when she could focus, when she was much stronger
than she was now.

They’d just returned home from another Spring
Gathering—her third, she thought. She’d been pregnant before they
left. She was not pregnant now. Devin had told her before they left
that it was Alex’s baby, and she’d believed him. She’d fought tooth
and nail to keep him from taking it, but now it just seemed
foolish. Alex had been dead for a long, long time.

Alex!
The pain in her heart began
again. She ran to the bathroom and tore open her relief cabinet of
drugs.

It was empty.

“No!” she cried. “No!” She’d been a good
girl. She’d done everything Devin had asked her to do. Why was he
withholding her relief?

She ran to her bedroom door and pounded on
it, screaming Devin’s name. She didn’t care if he came to punish
her. She just needed him to come. Screaming his name always made
him come. And it made him mad.

But no one came. She pounded on the door
until her fists were bruised and bleeding, and still no one
came.

Devin always came when she screamed. Why not
this time?

She curled up in a ball on her bed and
sobbed. Where was everybody? She’d been a good girl. She’d tried
very hard to be obedient. Why was he punishing her? What had she
done wrong?

The only time Devin required her to be
coherent was during the Spring Gatherings, and even then she wasn’t
completely coherent. He didn’t take her to the Summer Gatherings
anymore. He said she didn’t need to be there, so she stayed home
and got high. He didn’t really need her at all, except for one
thing: a baby in the spring. Anna didn’t understand why.

She didn’t remember much of the last two
years, except avoiding thoughts of Alex. She hadn’t seen or spoken
to anyone since she’d come home from Germany. Except Wilhelm. He
came out every few months and visited with her. She didn’t like it
when he came. He reminded her too much of Alex.

But when he left, she felt so lonely.

The drugs were seeping out of her system now
and she couldn’t avoid thinking about Alex. She missed him. So much
it hurt to breathe.

She looked at her right hand. Devin had made
her take off her diamond rings, but made her wear her right hand
wedding band. Every time she looked at it, pain stabbed her heart.
She tried to take it off one time and Devin got so angry. It didn’t
make any sense. Why would Devin want her to remember her dead
husband?

Her hand was swollen from pounding on the
door and it made the ring tight. Normally it was too loose; she’d
lost a lot of weight over the last two years. She didn’t even like
to look in the mirror now.

Tommy had been astonished when he saw her
last week at the Gathering. She recalled the shock on his face and
his concerned exclamation:
“You’ve gotten so thin! I’m worried
about you.”

“
I’m fine,” Anna had protested. She
appreciated his concern, but she was fine.

Anna had been astounded to see Aaron at the
Gathering. She couldn’t make herself speak to him, but saw him and
Tommy talking a lot. Travis was there as well and the three of them
seemed inseparable.

Life had changed a lot in the last two years.
She rarely left her room, was rarely called upon to perform any
sexual duties. Men just didn’t seem interested in her body without
the curves; but Anna didn’t mind. Ian stayed with her several
nights a week and that was all she needed. Devin only spent the
night with her once in a while. If she’d been sober enough to care,
she would have been hurt.

The door opened and she flipped over to see
Maggie enter carrying a tray.

“Maggie!” she cried. “Where’s Devin?”

Maggie gave her a sympathetic look. “Master
said that he would come see you after you ate.”

“Why is my cabinet empty?” Anna demanded.

Maggie’s eyes widened and she flinched at
Anna’s sudden, mercurial demeanor. “Master said to take everything
out while you were gone. I don’t know, Mistress.”

“I’m not hungry,” Anna huffed. If she
couldn’t have her drugs, then she wouldn’t eat.

“Master said he wouldn’t come see you if you
didn’t eat,” Maggie said quietly.

Anna narrowed her eyes at the tray of food.
“Fine.”

She got up on shaky legs and walked to the
table and began eating. Maggie left the room after watching her for
a minute and Anna was left alone.

It was too quiet. She looked around for the
remote for the TV and saw it on the nightstand. Anna sighed. She
couldn’t reach it and didn’t have the energy to get up and get it.
Maybe after she ate.

She was finishing up her meal when Devin came
in. She was grumpy and angry by then.

“Why did you take my drugs away?” she
snapped.

Devin calmly walked in and sat in the chair
by the window. “I suggest you watch your tone, Anna,” he said in a
low voice.

Anna stood on her shaky legs and glared at
him. “You promised that if I was a good girl you would let me have
them when I got home. You lied.”

Devin raised his brow. “Anna, you’ve been
high for two years straight. It’s time to come down and get on with
life.”

She crossed her arms. “I don't want to. I
have nothing to do. You want me to sit here all day and stare at
the wall? That’s going on with life?”

“No. I was going to suggest you start dancing
again.”

Anna’s jaw dropped. “Why?” she asked after a
long pause.

“Because it’s good for you. Aside from your
yearly pregnancy, you’ve become useless to me. I don’t even enjoy
fucking you anymore. You’re too skinny and incoherent. Things need
to change. Now.”

“You did this to me,” she growled.

“I can take some of the responsibility, yes.
But now it’s time to move on. Deal with your pain and start living
again.”

His matter of fact attitude infuriated her.
“No.” She crossed her arms and glared at him again.

Devin was on his feet and in front of her so
fast she gasped. He pushed her against the wall. “I am your Master.
You will do as I say.”

“Or what?” she mocked. “You’ll punish
me?”

Devin’s eyes flashed. “Oh, Anna. You don't
want to push me.”

She put her hands on his chest and pushed him
away. Or tried to. She was too weak to actually move him.

He grabbed her hair and yanked open the door.
He dragged her, naked, out the door and through the hallways to the
dungeon.

She laughed. “Ooh, the dungeon?” she said
with as much derision as she could muster. “You can’t hurt me,
Devin. Been there, done that.”

Devin cuffed her arms and legs to the wall
and then left the room.

Her laughter bordered on hysterical. This was
supposed to make her behave? Ha!

A TV flickered to life in front of her. A
movie? This was different.

What appeared on screen sobered her faster
than anything ever had. It was video of Alex with three little
girls. The volume was maxed out and even though she squeezed her
eyes shut, their screams echoed through the room along with Alex’s
laughter.

Anna pulled against the chains. “No!” she
screamed. “No! Alex wouldn’t do that!”

But the evidence was right in front of her.
Tears streamed down her face as the man she loved, the man she
thought she knew, did unspeakable things to those little girls.

When the picture faded, she slumped against
the ropes and sobbed.

“You mean he never told you about his
affinity for little girls?” Devin asked from the shadows, a
sarcastic note of feigned surprise in his voice.

“Okay, Devin,” she said in surrender. “You
win. You hurt me.”

Devin laughed. “Oh, Baby. I’m not done yet.
You mocked me. You defied me. And now you will pay.” He walked up
in front of her and held up a syringe. “Do you remember that day
when you were with Aaron and you were in incredible pain? The pain
that came from nowhere?”

Anna looked up at him with frightened eyes
and nodded. Nothing had ever hurt as bad as that.

Devin wiggled the syringe in front of her
face. “This is what caused that.” He stepped forward and injected
her in the neck with the clear fluid.

She stared at him. “I don't feel
anything.”

“Of course not. It’s not the fluid that
hurts.” He trailed his fingers down her chest and she cried out.
His fingertips were made of razor blades. “
That’s
what
hurts. It even made Alex scream. I can hardly imagine what it feels
like to you.”

He stepped closer and took her nipples
between his knuckles. “I am going to make sure you never mock me
again.”

He twisted and she howled.

Hours later, Ian dumped Anna onto her bed.
The injection was still active in her body and her bed felt like
glass and razor blades. Devin had tortured her like he always did,
but each pain was new and heightened.