Safe Harbor

Most of the custom requests weren't bad. The clients mostly got off on her being tied up naked, looking helpless and vulnerable.

There were a few more sadistic clients, and she found herself being pushed closer to her boundaries on occasion. She soon found out there were all sorts of tools in the business, some more painful than others. Sometimes the client would send their own "hardware" to Rocco.

The first shoot she flat out refused was due to some client provided nipple clamps that looked too nasty. She worried about suffering permanent damage more than actual pain. Rocco had let her get away with her refusal, negotiating down to a pair of clamps Danni could tolerate.

The next time she refused, Rocco was not so agreeable. "Lacey, what the fuck's the problem with this video shoot. Ropes, nipple clamps, ball gag...there's nothing here you haven't done tons of times."

"They want me to masturbate on camera, that's just too personal."

Rocco flew into a rage. "All the fucking painful shit you do and you won't do the one thing that actually feels good? No fucking way are you refusing this paycheck for that!"

"You said I could refuse anything I didn't feel comfortable with."

"You refuse this shoot and I'm sending an anonymous box with your last shoot to your parents in Iowa."

Danni was shocked. She didn't recall ever telling him where her parents lived. She did the shoot. She felt ashamed afterwards.

Things got progressively worse. It seems she had accumulated a following of more sadistic clients, and with each request, they wanted to push the limits further.

One client had a thing for whipping, another client liked seeing her choked, while a third was fond of electric shock. All three requested an escalating series of videos, each one raising the level of pain and danger over the previous one.

Danni reached a point where the requests became too brutal and even the threat of telling her parents wasn't enough. She knew she had to get out at all costs. Rocco simply switched to threatening bodily harm, hinting that even killing her was not out of the question if she didn't cooperate. He also told her if she left, he would track her down, no matter where she fled to.

Danni vividly remembered the shoot that pushed her over the edge and prompted her to flee.

"The client wants what?!" Danni asked, incredulous.

"You heard me."

"Fuck, no!...No way!" Who the fuck was this sadistic bastard of a client?

"Lacey...Danni, this is a huge payday. You need to do this." Rocco mentioned her share. It was triple what he had paid her for any previous job. Danni knew there was a veiled threat in his shifting to her real name. She didn't know why he bothered, she knew it was an empty threat. Once they had reached the point where she no longer cared whether he showed her parents her "work" it became useless as a threat. Besides, he had already threatened her with much worse.

Danni knew she didn't have a choice. She was at his mercy, except the word had no meaning to him. No, her only hope was based on her market value. She was now in huge demand with Rocco's sick clients, so he had a vested interest in keeping her alive and looking young and innocent. Anything that didn't compromise those things was fair game, no matter how painful.

She made one last attempt, "I can't do it...are you trying to kill me?"

"Don't be so fucking melodramatic. It's not going to fucking kill you. I'll give you two weeks off to heal...and if you don't do it, yes, I might just fucking kill you." So much for veiled threats.

In the end, of course, she did it. Rocco's last instruction before the cameras rolled was, "Give me some tears, too. The client loves that." That would be the easy part, thought Danni. The hard part would be making them stop.

Danni had taken the money from this shoot and ran. She simply got in her car, picked a direction and drove. She figured the most likely place Rocco would look for her was back in Iowa, so she headed in the opposite direction. She stopped when she ran out of land. She had pulled over and stared out at the Atlantic Ocean, not sure what to do next. After a few minutes she turned around to see a motel. It seemed like as good a place as any. She barely left the room for the first two weeks as she healed internally.

"Lacey?"

A voice barely above a whisper from behind her snapped Danni out of her recollection. The girl stepped in front of her. Danni recognized her as "Lexi", one of the other models. Danni tried to say something to her but the gag in her mouth prevented it.

Lexi put a finger to her lips to indicate silence. She unlocked the cuffs and removed them, then untied the ropes. Danni removed the gag.

Then Lexi said, "Your car is by the back entrance, the keys are in it. Get the fuck out while you can."

Danni asked, "What about you?"

Lexi answered, "He doesn't know I'm here."

When Danni got to her car, she found that it was 1 am.

Danni went to the nearest police station. She waited for an hour before someone would finally listen to her. As her cell phone was back at the motel, she asked to use a phone in the station while she waited. She tried to call David but got no answer. She knew he had no voice mail set up for his cell. She had teased him about it just last week, laughing at how behind the times he was.

A police officer finally summoned her. As she told her story, she could see the officer was not taking her seriously. She had no proof of the abduction and had arrived at the station in her own car. She had to admit she had signed a written contract to do bondage photos and videos with Rocco. She had no proof that he had ever threatened her or that any of the photos or videos were anything but voluntary. The officer said they would "look into" her allegations.

Frustrated, Danni left the police station and headed for the only place left in the world she felt safe...in David's arms.

-------------------------

When he got back to Walter's, David immediately went to find Mildred.

"Mildred, you have to tell me what you know. Danni is in danger, I'm sure of it."

Mildred broke down and cried. She confessed to David that she had a fetish for bondage. She belonged to a website that catered to all types of BDSM fetishes. Her favorite model was a girl named "Lacey" and she had ordered several custom photo sets of her. "David, I never asked for anything that would actually hurt her."

When David had brought Danni to breakfast that first time, Mildred had recognized that Danni was "Lacey."

David pulled out the business card that Special Agent Wilkins had given him. He convinced Mildred she needed to tell the FBI what she knew.

David went home and paced the floor. He was terrified and frustrated. He knew Danni was in trouble but didn't have any information to go on to look for her. He could do nothing but wait.

Day turned to night. He finally dozed off at about 1:00 am. He awoke to the sound of his cell going off about an hour later. He picked it up but he was too late. He didn't recognize the number. He called it and got a recording that indicated he had reached a police precinct in New York and asked him to key in the extension he wanted. He decided it must have been a wrong number.

He woke up again at 5. He made some coffee and began pacing the floor again. His cell phone rang again at 7. It was Earl. "Someone is snooping around the Alice Marie," he said.

David wondered if it could be related to Danni's disappearance. He figured he should check it out. He and Sampson got in his truck and headed for the boatyard.

Nothing seemed amiss when they got there. He didn't see any cars in the yard. He walked down the dock and climbed aboard the Alice Marie. Sampson clambered over the gunwale after him. Sampson stopped and stared at the cabin door, growling.

The door swung open and a stocky Italian man emerged, pointing a handgun at David. "Tell your dog to back off, or he gets a bullet in the brain."

"Sampson, go lay down," David commanded, and pointed to the stern. Sampson did as he was told.

"What do you want, Rocco?" David asked.

Rocco looked disconcerted for a moment, then said, "David? What the fuck are you doing here?"

"This is my boat."

"Small world. Where is she?" asked the Rocco.

"Who?"

"Don't play dumb with me. I'm talking about Danni, where is she?"

"I wish I knew. She was abducted yesterday, but I'm thinking you know that."

Just then David heard tires on the driveway. He turned to see Danni's car pulling in.

The Rocco ducked back into the cabin doorway. "Let her come down to the boat. If you warn her I'm here, I'll blow your brains out."

Danni got out of her car and headed down to the dock. David didn't know what to do. He hesitated for a moment, then made a decision. He had to warn her before it was too late.

"Run Danni! Run away!"

A fraction of a second later, a shot rang out and David fell to the deck in pain. Danni screamed. Rocco came charging out of the cabin and leapt onto the dock. Danni knew it was too late to run away. She turned to face Rocco and saw a huge tan blur bearing down on him from behind.

As angry as he was, Rocco still savored the look of fear on Danni's face. God, he loved that look. Too late, he heard a scrambling noise behind him. He turned to look just as 200 lb. of angry canine hit him at full speed, and massive jaws closed on his throat. Rocco was already bleeding out when Danni reached the gun that had clattered onto the dock. She didn't care. She was blinded by raw fury. She ordered Sampson aside and pulled the trigger again and again. She pumped the entire clip into Rocco's chest. She kept pulling the trigger after all the bullets were gone and the gun just went "click, click, click."

David! She thought in horror as her fury subsided. She dropped the gun and ran to him. He had regained his feet and climbed onto the dock, holding his hand against a spreading stain of blood on his shirt. They heard sirens in the distance, heading in their direction.

David's wound was not serious. The bullet had passed all the way through him but missed his vital organs. The hospital bandaged him up and discharged him that afternoon.

When they arrived back at David's house, there was a cooler on the step. A note on it wished David a speedy recovery and was signed 'Mildred'. The cooler contained food and supplies from Walter's, including a tray of Mildred's famous meatloaf. Sharon showed up later with lasagna. Likewise, other neighbors showed up throughout the day with food, as the news of their ordeal spread. Danni's dark past was now public knowledge, and everyone accepted her without reservation. Danni realized she was among good people.

A group of fellow lobstermen got together and agreed to pull David's pots for him and put the catch on his tab at the market while he was recuperating.

The FBI raided Rocco's studio and found ample evidence that he had killed Jennifer Griffin, as well as two other models over the past 10 years.

The hospital had told David to move as little as possible during the first couple of days, to ensure that the bullet wound would heal quickly. Danni took this advice to heart and waited on David. He reflected on what a precious gift she was, especially after having lost her, if only for a day. He was frustrated, however, that she said sex was off limits, in the interest of his recovery. By the third day, he realized she was having a little too much fun with the "sexy nurse" role. She was teasing him on purpose, wearing sexy outfits and making double entendre comments. The last straw came on day 4 when David was eating breakfast in the kitchen and Danni decided to wash the dishes naked.

David scooped her up and placed her on the kitchen table. "I can't take it anymore, you little tease."

"Oh god, David, I want you so bad," whispered Danni. David stripped down and rammed his hard rod to the hilt with one stroke. Danni's pussy was already dripping with desire. She arched her back and cried out in pleasure.

"Fuck me, David, fuck me hard." David complied. Danni rubbed her own breasts and bit her lower lip. It didn't take either one of them very long to reach orgasm.

David went to take a shower. A few minutes later, Danni slipped in behind him. They explored each other's bodies with wet soapy hands. David knelt down and his tongue drove her to spiraling sexual heights. Then Danni returned the favor.

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One September day, when they were about 10 pots into their day, David looked over at his new deckhand. He wasn't sure if this new guy was going to work out. He was looking pretty green. He remembered almost two years ago when a much prettier deckhand had been in a similar predicament.

"I won't think any less of you if you puke. You will find that you feel much better if you do. Just as long as you get it all overboard and go back to work, you get no demerits from me," said David. The new deckhand rushed to the rail.

David missed having Danni on the boat. It had been nearly 3 months since Danni had told him she was through, that she couldn't go on. They both knew the time had come.

David had struggled on his own for a while, but he knew he needed help.

Some eight hours later, they returned to the boatyard...the boatyard he now owned. Earl had passed away about a year prior at 96. He had willed the boatyard and the house to David, much to his surprise. David had moved in about four months ago after completing some renovations.

As they pulled in to the dock, a lone figure stood waiting. It was Danni. David tied off the Alice Marie, then swept his very pregnant wife into his arms.

"Hello, my love."

"David, it's time..."

"Time?" David looked puzzled.

"Yes, darling, time...my water just broke. David Jr. is on the way."