Enemies To Lovers 7: Humiliation

"You've been very generous, sir." The difference between her present life and the one which otherwise would have been hers was obvious.

"That isn't what I asked." He pushed his face closer to her own. "How do you like living here?"

"I - I suppose I like it fine, sir."

He nodded and leaned back in his chair. "Quite a difference from the life you knew before."

"Well, yes it is, sir, but I've grown accustomed to it and actually find it pleasant much of the time."

His eyes lit up. "Do you find all your duties tolerable, then?"

"Not quite all of them, sir, but most of them."

"Hm." His eyes held a faraway look. He dismissed her with a brush of his hand, and she went to bed.

One spring day, she'd washed all the clothes and hung them to dry when a soft rain began to fall. Alarmed, Joanna grabbed her basket and dashed outside, where she quickly snatched each article of clothing from the line and dropped them into the basket. The steadily increasing rain pelted her head as she raced back into the house, where she threw the basket onto the floor and began to remove the clothing from it as her breathing slowly returned to normal.

Schiller arrived home at the usual time. "It rained this afternoon," he said in an expressionless voice in response to her greeting.

"Yes," she replied. He just stared, waiting for her to continue.

"I brought all the clothes in."

"You missed one." He walked to the window, and she followed. When they reached it, he pointed, and sure enough, a speck of white was visible in the grass.

"I'll fetch it right away!" She turned to flee, but his hand grasped her shoulder in a vise-like grip.

"On your knees!" he barked, and she hastened to obey. "You'll go outside to retrieve it on all fours, like the dog you are, and when you return, you'll carry it in your mouth."

Rage surged through her. How dare he! Yet as her eyes met his, she saw how they twinkled in amusement and felt her fury dissipate. Obediently, she dropped to all fours and crawled outside. The ground contained many small pebbles, and they embedded themselves into her knees and made each subsequent step agony. When she reached the article of clothing she'd dropped, she was aghast to see it was a pair of Schiller's underwear. She didn't hesitate as she gripped its band in her teeth and crawled back to the house with it.

Schiller opened the door for her, then snatched the underwear without a word. He walked away with it, then returned a moment later. He pulled out a chair, sat in it, and motioned to her.

She laid across his lap, and the blows began to fall, but this time they didn't really hurt; it was as if he was taking care not to cause her injury. When the spanking was over, she stood and limped away, rubbing her sore knees which, in truth, hurt more than her behind.

"Joanna." She turned to face him again. She saw how he looked at her bruised and bleeding knees, saw the wave of concern that crossed his face. "Sit."

She did as he asked, and he walked away, returning with a small bottle. He removed a wand from it and began to dab her wounds with a pungent liquid that burned. When he was finished, he motioned for her to leave.

One day Jurgen was walking past the field when he saw one of his fellow officers beating a female prisoner. She looked familiar to him, so he walked closer and soon saw with a shock that she was Michal Finkelstein.

His blood boiled, and he began to shake. How had it happened that she'd been reassigned back to gardening after he'd relocated her to an office position? He should have checked on her more often, he realized.

He strode over to the man and grabbed his throat. The Nazi's eyes bugged out in horror as he dropped the club he'd been beating Michal with. His face began to turn purple, and within minutes, his lifeless body slumped to the ground.

Jurgen felt the adrenaline gradually ebbing out of his system as firm hands grasped both his arms and began to drag him toward the administration building.

Joanna was deeply concerned when Schiller didn't come home that evening. Had he fallen ill or been injured? Had he been taken prisoner or killed?

A chill went up her spine as she realized she may never see him again. Should I be relieved or sorrowful? she asked herself.

The food ran out after awhile and, afraid of venturing beyond the yard, Joanna simply went without. She'd suffered hunger before, when she hadn't been nearly as healthy as she was now.

As days passed and no one came, she began to ransack the house for anything that might remotely be edible. She'd heard the glue used to hold books together contained a minute amount of nutrition. She'd grabbed one of Schiller's books and was just about to rip it from its binding when she heard a noise and froze.

Within seconds Schiller bounded into the house, barely glancing at her in his urgency. "We must hurry," he told her. "I'm being transferred to a penal battalion on the Eastern Front." From a bag he carried, he grabbed a blonde wig and fixed it on her head, tucking all her own hair underneath it. "No matter what, don't you ever say a word to anyone!"

He fetched two suitcases from the closet and handed one to her, then dashed to his bedroom, where he began tossing clothing into his suitcase, unmindful of whether it was neatly folded. "You get the linen," he instructed Joanna. She did as she'd been told and had almost filled the suitcase when there was a knock on the door. Schiller opened it to reveal two SS officers in uniform.

"I assume you're ready to leave, as we've given you sufficient time to pack," said one of the men.

"Yes, sir," Schiller replied. It was the first time Joanna had ever seen him in a non authoritative position.

"Who's this?" asked the second man.

"My Austrian housekeeper, Johanna Fischer," Schiller replied.

The first man scowled. "That nose looks awfully big for an Austrian."

"It was broken when she was beaten by a previous employer, and it grew back together crooked," said Schiller.

"Very well, then," said the second man, although both officers continued to glower at Joanna. "Let us depart."

Schiller and Joanna picked up their suitcases and followed the two men across the front lawn and into the street.