Inner Circle Read Online Free

her a binder that contained several typed pages. “A few days from this evening there’s to be a gala dance at the Country Club. You will accompany me to it. All of your friends will be there, those who supported you when you and your husband denied Sheila’s accusations. The folder contains your instructions. Read them carefully, memorize them. Know that if you deviate even by a fraction, your sister-in-law will be whipped until she’s unconscious and brought to her senses and whipped again. Know also that your bedmates will be a half-dozen hungry rats. These are not idle threats, Mrs. Ryan.” He waited while Kathy read. She groaned several times and bit her lip as the tears continued to stream down her face.
    When she closed the binder, she looked across at him, the hatred blazing in her eyes. “These lies will destroy my good husband’s reputation, absolutely destroy it.”
    “That’s precisely the point, Mrs. Ryan. Your splendid upright husband coldly rebuffed my niece, just as you publicly insulted me. Those are the facts. But facts can be altered. Lies can become the truth.” He chuckled. “Besides, Mrs. Ryan, your husband is dead. Your best interests would be served by thinking about his sister and also by imagining what might await you in the cage upstairs.”
    Kathy bowed her head. They sat in silence for several minutes. Finally, she looked up, defeated. “I’ll do what you say,” she said.
    “And you will be convincing.” His voice rose, “I insist that you be convincing. If you are not, it will be the same as refusing and the consequences will be the same. When we attend the Club Dance there must not be a doubt in the mind of anyone present. In the meantime, I intend to let it be known that you’ve recanted and are anxious to be forgiven for your slanders of the past.”
    “I will do what I can to make your lies seem like the truth,” she said.
    “See that you do.” He leaned back and folded his thick fingers over his belly. “While we are on the subject of the Country Club celebration, there is another important thing that will be required of you. Can you guess what that might be?”
    Kathy’s voice was flat, “You want me to appear to be attracted to you.”
    “More than attracted, Mrs. Ryan. I want you to demonstrate in every way possible that for some unexplainable reason you have become, not attracted, but absolutely devoted to me. In the things you say and do it should be apparent that you’ve fallen in love with me. Make your friends see that you wish only to please me, that you are quick to anticipate my desires and ready to fulfill them, that you are grateful for any small attention I pay to you.” He folded his hands over his belly and chuckled. “Let them see that you’ve chosen, freely chosen, to live with me. I want to see affection in word and deed, Mrs. Ryan, public affection that borders on lust. Everyone must be aware that you have given yourself to me, completely and gratefully. They are to know that I’ve had you and you liked it and want more. Do you understand?”
    “Yes, I understand.”
    “You must also be attentive to Sheila. Not only attentive but subservient, submissive, anxious now to rectify old wrongs not only by admitting to your husband’s seduction of a minor, but also by demonstrating your devotion to the young woman he seduced.”
    “You mean Sheila is to be there?”
    “Of course. It is her reputation that has been in question. You will admit that you and your husband lied. You will testify to the truth of Shelia’s account of their yearlong affair. In the Country Club among your friends, you will support everything Sheila says. You will debase your husband for abusing my young niece and for his unfaithfulness to you.” Kathy felt the tears well up in her eyes. “Finally,” Rosen continued, “before your friends and mine, you will beg Sheila to forgive you.”
    “You demand too much of me,” Kathy said. How could she pretend that Jeff