Adam put his hands in his pants pockets to avoid reaching out and touching Anna's silky skin.
"You look the same as I always remembered you. It's like you never left here." He said with dark eyes.
"And is that good, or bad?"
"Very good. You're still beautiful. I always knew that you would preserve your beauty... And it will always be so. Even when you're old and using a cane, you'll still be the most beautiful woman I've ever seen."
"You look the same to me too. You're still beautiful. I remember the first time I saw you, you had a beard. Very sparse and well groomed, and it was as if I was seeing Maxwell in front of me, and not you with your naked face." She said smiling.
"I stopped growing my beard for a very important reason." He said with his eyes twinkling.
"What reason was that?"
"I didn't want to scratch your pussy when I put my lips on it."
Anna turned red and looked at Ian to see if he was listening.
"Don't be indiscreet in the presence of my son, Adam." She said angrily.
Adam glanced at Ian, who was totally distracted, and turned to Anna with a dangerous look on his face.
"Ian will enjoy fucking a woman, even more than I do. You have no idea of the sexual appetite of Lens men, Anna. Anyway... He wouldn't notice a thing. Not even if I threw you on that bed right now and did to you what I've been dreaming of for years."
"No, without my consent."
"You won't be able to keep me away from your body for long, Anna. You have the nature of fire. Very quickly, you'll be climbing the walls, begging me to penetrate you with my penis."
"You'll be waiting a long time, Adam. I don't intend to... We made a deal and I'm married."
"You've committed bigamy, Anna. Here, you're my wife." Adam said, and approached quickly, Anna had the impression that she just blinked, and he was in front of her, standing centimeters from her body, and Anna backed away until she was against the wall, and Adam took his hands out of his pockets, and placed them on her shoulders, against the wall, and bent down to smell her neck, but didn't touch her.
"I can feel your heart racing, and your body almost screaming for my touch, Anna." He said with warm breath caressing her neck. "But that's not how I'm going to get you. I'm still deciding between kindness and... An option that, perhaps, you won't like... Or maybe, you'll appreciate more than anything else..." Adam said and walked away, putting his hands back in his pockets.
Anna swallowed her saliva with difficulty. She didn't want to think about the truths she had heard.
"Speaking of Nature, when are you going to let me find out more about where I came from?"
"I won't choose the day for you. Just say the word, and it will be delivered into your hands."
"I don't want it to be here. Do you have a place reserved for these things?" She said, remembering the video she had watched. She didn't recognize that place. It probably wasn't there. "A basement?"
"Not here, Anna. I've done it here, but the cooks and housekeepers don't like it. I have a suitable place, yes."
"Before I take her to this place, I need to get to know it. I want to make sure it has everything I'll need... You know she won't make it out alive, don't you?"
Adam stared at her in silence and Anna remembered that he always kept his face closed, it was rare for him to relax, and that reminded her of Ian. Sometimes he'd wander off in between his brothers' banter and stand in a corner, with the same look that Adam was showing now.
"I didn't think so, Anna. And I have nothing against that. But will you have the cold blood to do what must be done? Because I'll let two of my men, of your choice, back you up, but her life belongs to you alone. If you want her dead, you'll have to do it yourself."
"Right. And can... I see her now?"
"Before... you take her, I need you to perform a little ritual. Ryan's a bit... Out of control and..."
"I'm not going to help Ryan."
"Why not?"
"He's your enemy. My son is here, and he'll want to hurt Ian."
"You don't know what you're talking about... But that's my price for giving Sarah to you. I don't care about your feelings towards Ryan."
Anna took a deep breath.
"What kind of ritual is this?"
"Something very simple. But it won't be done today. You can talk to Sarah. She doesn't know what's going to happen to her."
"Then let's go."
"Your wish is my command." Adam said, inviting her with his arm to leave the room in front of him, and left after her.
They went downstairs and heard Kate's moans. Anna looked at Adam, and he smiled seductively, as if to tell Anna that she could have the same pleasure with him. She ignored him and stopped short when they reached the dining room.
"I don't want to go to her. I want that cocktail she likes so much, and I want her to come to me."
"Do you want to talk to her alone?"
"Do you have a problem with that?"
"None, but you'll be responsible for her then. Here in this house, she only comes in with someone watching her every move."
Anna then remembered what Jenna had said to her at her party.
"I heard that you shaved her head. It's a light sentence for someone who tried to kill everyone in the house."
"I know that. But I also knew that her blood wasn't meant to be spilled by my hands, but by yours. That's why I held back. And even then, my men's wives made her suffer for having had her children poisoned. You know what women are like here in the United States. They're spiteful."
"Yes, I know. But it's not just the mothers in this country, Adam. Every mother turns into a lioness when her child is threatened. I know that, because... She tried to kill Ian too."