Brice leads her around the gardens showing her the different plants. He makes sure that he doesn't go too fast for her, if she wishes to look at some of the flowers closer, he gives her time. "My mother designed these gardens. My sister added her choices shortly before my mother died. Fortunately my father had no reason to mess with the gardens and I was able to keep it the way my mother wanted it." Brice tells her as they walk around.

"What happened to your mother? You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." Savana writes then blushes as she realizes how personal that question is.

"It's alright. I don't have any proof, but I believe my father killed her. He said that she killed herself, but if she did, he drove her to it. The bastard did everything he could to make her miserable. Blatantly cheated on her and brought the whores home with him, and they were whores that he hired or that he had bought. It was a miracle that me and my sister were even born with how much disdain he had for my mother.

"He wanted nothing to do with us while we were younger. It was only after I became a teenager that he showed any interest in me and only when he sold my sister that he showed any interest in her.

"My mother made me promise that I would never treat any one that I was with like he did her. She taught me to treat females with respect. Since I hated my father and adored my mother it was a lesson I was more than willing to embrace.

"I will never cheat on my significant other because of that. But I am far less likely to have a significant other as well." Brice tells Savana, but he doesn't realize how his words hurt her. At least unintentionally hurt her. He doesn't want her to get her hopes up about him. He wants her to put some space between them because he doesn't want to hurt her and he will if they cross the line more than they already have.

Savana seems to pull more into herself and keeps her distance like he wanted. He finds himself missing her being by his side.

After they eat they go inside and he shows her the secret panic room in his study, or just off his study. There is a semi secret room that is accessed from the study that he takes her into. "This room is off limits to everyone except myself and KK and now you. If I tell you to come in here it means I want you to get into the panic room. You come over to this wall and find the depression. You'll need to feel lightly with your fingers. Find it?" Brice asks as he has her feel along the wall for the secret pressure point.

Savana nods and Brice tells her to press it. She does, not even very hard and a door slides open. "The harder you push the faster the door opens. So if you are in a hurry press very hard. If you aren't just push lightly." Brice instructs her then ushers her in.

Her eyes widen as she takes in the luxuriously appointed room. It is far bigger than she had expected. There is a large bed, she's not sure what size, but likely king size. Rooms going off the main room there's even a hallway.

She turns to Brice and writes furiously. She doesn't know if she should glare at him or be in shock. "What the hell? This isn't a panic room, this is a freaking apartment."

"I know. I took these rooms from what my father used them for and made some changes. It is now one of the safest places on the estate. The kitchen has food, not fresh items but enough shelf stable things to keep you well fed for some time. It even has its own air supply so even if there is tear gas or other gas used it won't affect you or whoever is in here." Brice takes her on a tour around the apartment sized panic room.

Savana writes, "What was this used for before?" She can't imagine what the apartment could have been used for.

"My father used it for the girls he would buy until he was done with them. Once he was bored he would put them in one of the whorehouses or sell them again. Sometimes he would bring in some of the girls he was going to sell, the ones that he kidnapped or had kidnapped, and bring them here to try them out. My father was a nasty ass pig." The disgust is thick in Brice's voice as he talks about his father and what he did. "Only a handful of people knew about this apartment. They are all dead at this time. My father was actually the last one of them to die." There is a distinct smile on his face as he tells her this and an almost dreamy look.

"Did you kill those others?" Savana writes slowly. She doesn't know if Brice will tell her or not and she surely doesn't want him to get upset with her if he doesn't want to.

Brice reads what she wrote and gives a bitter bark of laughter. "No, but I would have if it had become necessary. Two of the ones that knew about it were killed when they tried to raid another mafia to steal their females. Another one was killed in a drug deal gone wrong. The last one died taking a shot that was meant for my father, he was his body guard. Then within the year, I killed my father. I should have done it sooner, but he was still my father no matter how much I despised him. If I had killed him sooner, then my sister wouldn't have been sold." Brice now talks with self loathing.

This makes Savana pull into herself even further. She's sure that he doesn't mean what he is inadvertently saying, but it hurts her. Brice doesn't notice just how much she's pulled away from him and just leads her back out.

When KK comes up to Brice with some sort of problem, Savana is more than ready to leave his side. She's decided to leave just as soon as it is safe for her to do so. She doesn't need to be around him when there is no chance of there being anything between them and she has no desire to see him with others. She wants him happy, but doesn't want to make herself miserable at the same time.

KK comes up to her, "Business came up and they refuse to deal with any one other than Brice. He has requested that I show you the other panic room. It actually connects to this one, but can only be accessed from the other location."

KK notices that Savana seems to be withdrawn more than she had been earlier that day. "Is everything alright, Savana? Have the men been bothering you?"

Savana gives him a weak smile. "I'm fine. I just realized how selfish I've been. If I wasn't so terrified of the sheriff I would leave now so that I wouldn't put you and the others in so much danger. I'll leave once the danger is over. I don't want to cause you or Brice or any of the men more problems than I already have and will do. Especially Brice, I'll be sleeping in my room so he won't have to worry about getting sleep tonight." Savana writes as fast as she can.

Her words don't reassure KK, if anything they alarm him even more. He knows that Savana doesn't feel safe, even though they all will die to protect her. She only feels safe when she's with Brice and to some extent himself. Something happened to make her not want to be with Brice.

"What happened, Savana?"

"Nothing. Brice just made it very clear that I will be nothing more than a problem. Well, he didn't say that of course, but as long as he's protecting me I'll be causing him problems. He won't be able to have his life if I am staying in his bed. At least this way he'll get some sleep."

KK is very confused but Savana isn't telling him anything further so he continues on with taking her to the other panic room. "You have permission already to be in here, so that won't be a problem." KK tells her opening Brice's bedroom door. "The other panic room is over here. You open it just like the one downstairs. Go ahead and see if you can locate the switch."

It doesn't take her long to find the opening mechanism. Once the door is open KK has her enter. Coming in behind her he shows her where the wall is that will allow her to go down to the panic room downstairs. They take the route and after they exit, KK has her wait to make sure that it's okay for her to go through the study.

KK takes her back to her room. "Your therapist will be here in about an hour. You have time to relax and read or take a nap whichever you wish. Your iPad is yours to download books or movies, what ever you want."

Savana gives him a smile and thanks him. She thinks that he's very nice, but she just wants to be alone right then.