Olivia is waiting for Liz again when she returns to her office. "Did you see her?" she asks, hardly even daring to hope, lest she be disappointed again.

"Yes," Liz says hesitantly, wondering exactly how much she should tell Olivia. She's made a promise to Alex, but she fears that Olivia will see right through her.

But there's no point in worrying Olivia more than she has to be. She should protect Olivia, just as Alex asked.

"How is she? Did you give her my note?"

"She's fine, and yes, I did. She told me to tell you she loves you."

"Is she hurt? What happened?"

"She slipped in the shower," Liz says quietly, hating having to lie but knowing it's the right thing to do. "Her lip was a bit swollen, but the doctors stitched it up. She's okay. They're taking care of her."

"How can you say that, Liz? She's in prison, for God's sake!"

"Olivia, we're going to file an appeal. I'll do whatever I can for her."

"I need to see her!"

"Next week. I talked to the warden and he says you can come on Monday."

Olivia groans. "How am I going to go seven days without her?"

"Olivia, don't worry. Alexandra is fine. She told me to tell you not to worry about her."

"How can she even ask that of me? I miss her. I need her, Liz."

"I know, and I'll do what I can to get you in to see her. It's going to be okay, Olivia."

Olivia gazes into her eyes for a long moment, as if trying to determine whether Liz is telling the truth. Liz forces herself not to blink.

"Okay," Olivia says after a minute, sounding more defeated than ever.

Mason groans as she's awoken in the middle of the night. She's getting tired of Alex's nightmares; they're making it impossible for her to get any sleep. She turns onto her side, and sure enough, she finds Alex curled up on the ground exactly where she left her, moaning in her sleep as she tosses and turns. Her naked body is covered with sweat, but still she's shivering in the cold.

"Olivia . . . Liv, please . . . I love you . . . please, help me," Alex murmurs in her sleep, tears falling down her cheeks as she thrashes on the floor.

Mason glares at her, realizing that Alex is dreaming about her former girlfriend. She still thinks Olivia loves her, that they'll be together again. This is going to have to change.

Mason kneels beside Alex and forces her legs apart, leaving her fully exposed. Licking her lips, Mason shoves two fingers into her pet.

Alex cries out in pain, her eyes flying open as wakes up to find herself being penetrated. It takes her a few seconds to get her bearings, and as soon as she does, she struggles to get away, but Mason takes the hand that isn't inside Alex and uses it to pin her arms together over her head.

"Don't you dare move, slut. You are mine now. You no longer belong to anyone but me. And if you don't figure that out soon, someone will get hurt, and not just you."

Alex continues to fight against Mason. Her nightmare has left her feeling especially vulnerable, and she can't just lie here and let Mason rape her. She kicks her legs, but Mason kneels on her calves so she can't move.

When Mason's threat registers, she tries to determine who Mason might be talking about. The moment her struggles cease, Alex feels herself being lifted and turned onto her front, her breasts pressed against cold concrete as a forearm pushes her neck down to keep her in place.

"If you don't take it like the whore you are, I will hurt you, and I'll hurt that cop girlfriend of yours as well. And don't think that I won't. I have friends on the outside, too." Mason pushes her fingers into Alex again, roughly stretching her entrance, and Alex can't help but whimper.

She tries to remember how Olivia used to make love to her, so gently, as if she was something precious. She remembers how Olivia would touch her so sweetly, covering her body with soft kisses, whispering words of love and devotion, telling Alex how beautiful she was and how much Olivia loved her.

Mason thrusts once more, and the pain is nearly unbearable. "Stop, please!" Alex begs, tears rushing to her eyes again at the burn between her legs and the shame engulfing her body.

Mason twists her fingers inside Alex, scratching her inner walls. "You do not give me orders, cunt! And I will not stop until you admit that you belong to me, and only me!"

"Fuck you!" Alex holds her breath, bracing herself for the blow. Mason doesn't disappoint. A moment later, a hard punch lands against the back of her head, slamming Alex's face into the concrete and causing stars to appear before her eyes.

"Say that again, bitch! Say that one more time and you won't live long enough to regret it."

Moaning and disoriented, Alex can't even fight as Mason rapes her. She feels blood trickling down one of her inner thighs, and everything hurts. The concrete scrapes her breasts and face raw with each thrust of Mason's fingers.

Finally, Mason lets go of Alex and sits back. As tears run down her cheeks, Alex whispers, "I'm sorry, Olivia." I'm so sorry I couldn't fight her off. I'm sorry I broke my promise. I'm sorry I let her hurt me.

"That's better," Mason says, seeming to believe the apology is for her and not Olivia. "Now you are going to listen carefully and obey every single thing I say. You are not going to be warned again. If you don't break it off with that cop and realize you are all mine, we are going to have a serious problem. I do not share. So you will not write to this Olivia ever again, except for one letter telling her that it's over, and if she sends you a note I will rip it up. The last contact you will have with her is to break up with her."

Alex gasps at her owner's demand as more tears continue to leak from her eyes. She can't do that. She won't hurt Olivia by breaking up with her through a letter and never speaking to her again. She knows it's what she should do, for her safety and for Olivia's own good, that it's the honorable thing to do, but she can't help but be selfish. She loves Olivia too much, and she needs her more than ever now.

"Second, if she comes to visit you will tell the guards that you don't want to see her and to send her away. If I ever hear her name from your lips again, I will fuck you until you scream my name." Mason glares down at Alex. "Got it?"

"No . . . I won't do it." Alex wishes she could say the words without sounding like she's begging, but she is begging, and she can't help it.

"Fine. Then I'll just have to show you how serious I am. I will take care of her and maybe your lawyer. You'll see that if you don't obey me, others will suffer, not just you." Mason lands a punch on Alex's bruised cheek, once again holding her down, but this time Alex feels something hard shoved into her.

Alex screams in utter pain and desperation, praying a guard will hear and help her, but knowing in her heart that no one will. She is alone.

Alex's brain is racing, trying to find a way out of this, not only for herself but for Olivia and Liz too. She has to get a warning to them, just in case Mason follows through with her threat. If Mason hurts either of them, Alex knows she will lose herself, and she will truly belong to Mason.

Alex eventually passes out from the pain, and when she comes to, Mason leaves her alone for awhile to nurse her wounds. She curls up under the bed and tries to make herself as small as she can be, to avoid Mason's penetrating gaze. "I hate you," she whispers, and juvenile as it may sound, the words help, a bit. It's easier to channel her overwhelming terror into anger.

She lies down on her side, being careful not to aggravate her injuries. She wipes away the blood caked on her thighs, wishing she could have a shower. Alex feels so dirty, almost as if she's cheated on Olivia by letting Mason take advantage of her.

"I didn't want to," she whispers, and the waterworks start all over again. "I didn't want to," she says through her tears, over and over again.

She stays like that for an indeterminate period of time, until Mason kneels down beside the bed and grabs her arm, pulling her out of her hiding place. "Get up. I want you to write to that cop of yours now."

"No." Alex covers her head with her hands, and Mason kicks her, hard, sending her sprawling. "I – I can't," she whimpers, biting her lip hard and tasting blood.

"Then you're going to have to be punished, pet."

By the end of the day, more bruises have been added to the rainbow littering Alex's skin, and so has another tattoo, this time of a three leaf clover bearing the letters KKK.

The rest of the week passes in this fashion. Each day, Mason asks Alex to write Olivia the letter breaking up with her, and every time Alex says no. She tries to endure her punishments with grace, but each time Mason rapes her, she feels a little bit of her soul die.

On Monday, Alex is close to giving in. Her body hurts more than she ever thought possible, and the new tattoo at the base of her neck burns. The needle hadn't been sterilized, and she fears the area is infected. She's barely eaten in two weeks, and she can feel her hipbones and collarbone jutting through her skin.

A correctional officer comes into her cell and yanks her to her feet before lunchtime. "Get up, bitch. Get dressed. You have a visitor."

Liz. Alex pulls on her clothes and stumbles after him, dizzy from hunger and fatigue. Liz is here. She has to warn Liz, tell her that Mason will hurt her, to take care of herself and Olivia before it's too late.

As the guard opens the door to the conference room, Alex's heart stops. She sees that it's not Liz sitting at the table, but Olivia.

She bursts into tears and pulls out of the correctional officer's grasp, running to Olivia and wrapping her arms around her. Olivia catches her in a warm embrace, and Alex feels a kiss land on the crown of her newly bald head. "Alex, baby –"

"Cabot, sit down," the correctional officer snaps. "No touching allowed."

Alex whimpers. She can't pull herself away, not now, not ever. She has to stay in the safe cocoon of Olivia's arms, always. Here, she knows she's safe.

A moment later, she feels the guard's hands on her shoulders, pulling her back and slamming her to the ground, cuffing her hands behind her back. "If you can't follow the rules, you'll be sent back to your cell."

Olivia gasps at the harsh treatment her girlfriend is receiving. "Stop it!" she yells, and the correctional officer yanks Alex to her feet and shoves her into a chair.

"Sit. You have twenty minutes."

"I'd like some time alone with her," Olivia says through a lump in her throat.

"You can't. You aren't her lawyer."

"I'm a detective –"

"No is the answer. You have nineteen minutes."

Olivia swallows hard and looks at Alex, taking in her new appearance – the tattoos adorning her shoulder and cheek, the bruises covering her face and arms, the way her prison uniform hangs on her skeletal frame, the emptiness in her eyes, the naked fear engulfing her entire body. "Alex," she finally says, "what happened to you?"

Alex bows her head and doesn't answer. She can't warn Olivia, not now, in front of the guard. Word will get back to Mason, and she doesn't think she can take any more pain.

"Princess, please, talk to me. Who hurt you? What happened? Liz said you were okay." Tears start to fall down Olivia's cheeks, but there's nothing Alex can say to her. "Baby, your hair – what happened? Liz didn't say –"

"I had lice,'' Alex says mechanically. "They needed to shave it. To disinfect it."

"Oh, baby . . ." Alex knows Olivia wants to hug her, and all she wants to do is curl up in Olivia's lap and let her hold her for ever and ever, and protect her from the world, but she can't.

The tears in Olivia's eyes pierce her heart like a knife. This is what she's done to the woman she loves.

"I'm sorry, Olivia."

"No, baby, don't be sorry. That's not your fault." She gestures at Alex's tattoos. "Who did that to you?"

Alex can't meet her eyes. "I did."

"Baby, why? Why would you do that?"

"I wanted to."

"Why, Alex? That's not who you are."

"Yes, it is."

And suddenly, there's nothing more to say. They sit in silence until the guard tells them their visit is over.

Alex starts to cry again at his words. "I love you, Olivia," she whispers as the guard pulls her to her feet.

"I love you, too, princess, always. I will always love you." Olivia's voice breaks. "I'll try to come again next week."

Alex nods through her tears as the correctional officer leads her back to her cell and shoves her in.

"Hope you had a good visit with that cop," he sneers.

Mason's head snaps up at his words. "You were with that cop?"

Alex bows her head, choosing to ignore the question in favor of undressing as she knows is expected of her.

Mason smacks her hard across the face. "I guess you're going to make me follow through with my word. That lawyer of yours is going to be in trouble pretty soon, so you better do what I say."

"No," Alex says quietly. "I won't."

Mason sighs. "Fine, pet. When your lawyer is six feet under, maybe you'll change your mind."