When we arrived at the entrance Liliana asked her mother and sister to put down the luggage and leave. After some arguing they reluctantly agreed, leaving Liliana, Henry, and myself to face Trevor on our own.
Trevor opened the door before we could knock. He smiled widely when he saw who it was.
"Darling, you've finally returned home. I hope this means you've finally seen sense", he said.
"Henry and I are here, so do what you said and end Vivian's punishment", Liliana said, ignoring his words.
The pain from the collar instantly vanished. All this time I'd been struggling against it and now it was gone. My strength deserted me and I sagged to the ground. I wasn't completely better. I was still exhausted from lack of sleep, all the muscles in my body were still tense, and I still had a headache, but at least the cause of all of those was gone. I could finally start to recover back to my usual state.
"I have a few conditions for living in this house with you", Liliana stated. My ears and tail perked up in alarm. If Trevor didn't accept those conditions and Liliana left, my torment would resume. Now that the pain was finally gone the idea that it would return filled me with dread.
"First, you will not give Vivian any more pain through the collar", she said. Trevor scoffed.
"Second, you will not enter her room or the kitchen", she continued. Trevor shook his head dismissively.
"Third, you will not touch her in any way or otherwise physically harm her", she concluded.
"I have a counter-offer", Trevor said. "You and Henry live with me in this house as one happy family, and forget about interfering with how I treat my animals".
"That is impossible", Liliana answered. "I will not live in a house where someone I care about is being abused".
"You can either live with me while I punish her, or you leave and she will suffer even more. Those are your choices", Trevor said. He knew he had the upper hand. Liliana could hold herself and Henry as hostages against him, but all she could do was deny him access. Trevor on the other hand could hurt me as much as he wanted.
Liliana closed her eyes and took a deep breath. There were tears hanging from her eye lids.
"Trevor, please, at least don't hurt her when I'm around. Let her be safe when she's with me", she pleaded. Trevor frowned.
"Fine, I'll take her out of the house for her punishments. That way you won't have to see or hear things that make you uncomfortable", he said. "Now, will you please come inside?"
Even though I was still going to be raped and tortured, the requirement of taking me both out of sight and out of earshot first meant no more random pain during the day, and the inconvenience of taking me outside might reduce the frequency at which he would hurt me.
"One more thing. No more hitting her. If you want me to be able to stomach what you're doing to her enough to not run away again then it can't be anything that I will end up seeing", Liliana added.
"Fine, but I will still discipline her, even if it's right in front of you", he said. He seemed strangely pleased, and I realized it was because for the first time since discovering the truth one and half months ago, instead of trying to convince him to stop Liliana had actually accepted his right to abuse me. Even if she posed conditions, even if she limited it, she was still accepting it. That was his goal with her and all the other humans who cared about me: to get them to accept his right to hurt me, to get them to set it aside as an issue.
This arrangement, strangely enough, was a good business deal for all involved: Trevor got Liliana to accept part of his behavior, while Liliana and I got to limit how much he hurt me. We all gained something but no one was fully satisfied.
With the deal concluded, Liliana finally agreed to enter the house. Trevor carried the luggage up to the master bedroom while I dragged myself to bed. Thankfully he didn't bother me that night.
A few days had passed, and Trevor was once again out on the road, giving me a much needed break. When Trevor was home Liliana helped me with the work as much as she could, given that she had Henry to take care of, but now that he was gone we slacked off as much as possible. It was Trevor's home, not Liliana's, so neither of us cared what condition it was in so long as Trevor wasn't around to punish me for neglecting my duties.
Instead we spent all the time we could out of the house, either in the home of Liliana's parents or mine. Trevor didn't allow me to leave the house at all anymore, so the times when he was gone were the only times I got to go out, see other people, and refresh myself. Just staying in Trevor's house, the place where he hurt me so often and so terribly, made me feel awful even when he wasn't there. At least he kept his word to Liliana and didn't send me any pain while he was away. Or perhaps it was less amusing for him when he couldn't see or hear my reaction.
I played with Henry on the floor. He was already more than 7 months old and crawling around. He loved exploring his surroundings, and every new object he found went directly into his mouth. I had to make sure to stop him from taking anything dangerous. His eyes would light up in wander from the smallest things, and he loved grabbing my tail and ears. He was so innocent and happy that it broke my heart to think about how he will learn one day how horrible of a person his father is. Nevertheless, spending time with this cute little bundle of joy helped me keep my mind off of the things Trevor did to me and the things he will do to me when he returned. For the next week or two I could simply be an aunt playing with and helping take care of her adorable little nephew.
Liliana was sitting in bed and reading a book. Apparently we both had the same idea about treating Trevor's absence as a vacation, even if we chose to enjoy it differently. She sighed, then closed the book and put it down on the nightstand and stared blankly at the wall in front of her.
"Is something the matter?" I asked.
"It's just hard for me to enjoy reading that book when my mind keeps going back to that man", she answered. She would no longer even use her husband's name if it wasn't necessary.
"I hate how he made me 'accept' what he is doing to you. It makes me feel like an accomplice to his crimes", she continued. It still came as a surprise to me when I heard her refer to what he did to me in that way. I should have been used to it by now.
"Thank you, but it's only because you did that that he is hurting me less now". I wished she didn't bring up the topic. I was trying so hard to keep my mind away from it, but no matter how well she treated me she was still my mistress, and I could not bring myself to deny her need to vent her emotions.
"It doesn't make it feel right, and I hate the feeling that he's manipulating me. More than that, I'm tied to him. Of course I can leave, but as long as he doesn't grant me a divorce I will forever be his wife and prevented from truly having my own life, or finding a new love with a decent man. I feel...I feel trapped like a slave", she lamented.
The idea that someone who merely couldn't choose the man she wanted to be with was in a similar position to a slave was offensive. She saw first-hand how slaves were treated, yet compared her far preferable situation to being one. However, I understood what she meant and did not begrudge her the poor choice of words.
"He has both of us trapped, and it appears he'll not let either of us leave his clutches for as along as he is alive", she added with an air of despair.
"I have considered it, but if anyone kills him, that person will die as well", I said. It would have been daring of me to use the word 'person' without excluding myself, but I was speaking alone with Liliana, and didn't need to have any such fears with her. "It's for that reason that I have never mentioned it. Even with the speed and strength with which I can hunt, I still can't be confident that he will die before using the collar to kill me, and whether it's me or anyone else, even if the killer survived he would have to face the death penalty", I concluded.
"There has to be a way to gain our freedom. I won't let him win", she said grimly.
Thankfully that was the last we spoke of the subject until Trevor's return, so the rest of my 'vacation' was far more relaxing.