Chapter 1

They say that whoever controls the news, controls the world.

Maybe that’s true, or maybe it’s not. But no one could ever deny the power of the media. Whether it was political spin, celebrity gossip, or bug business setting the agenda for all the little people to follow - the media has always been important in more ways than one.

The heartbeat of the media has always been the daily newspaper. Things might be different now in the age of the internet, but even now nothing quite touches the lives of people like the big, daily newspapers.

In a city torn apart by crime, corruption, and murder, it often falls to the journalists to report the truth as they see it. Real journalists with integrity have become more important than ever - and in the shape of Lyle O’Leary, the city has a young journalist on a mission to do his profession proud.

But even with all the smarts, heart, and ethics in the world there is no guarantee that even the most well intentioned journalist can’t be lured off the right path - or worse, fall foul to the many twisted and corrupt figures who move in the shadows…

‘Yo! Lyle! I need your story written up and sent over in fifteen!’ Jay said, a broad smile on his face as he peeked his head above the desk barrier and shouted over toward Lyle.

‘No problemo, Jay!’ Lyle hollered back, his fingers bashing away at the keyboard keys as fast as he could manage. ‘I’ll have it with you in… ten!’

The large open plan office at the New York Tribune was bustling with the sound of stressed, over-worked journalists talking and cracking wise about the day’s daily news. Despite the intense and ever-changing nature of the news, the journalists all maintained a great sense of humor and camaraderie.

That day, there was a huge box of brightly colored donuts in the kitchen – and as a fun game it had been decreed that no one was allowed to touch them until at least one major scoop had been achieved.

With a team of hungry journalists of all levels of experience on the job, it surely wouldn’t be long before this target was met and everyone could tuck in and enjoy a sugary snack.

Of course, Lyle was determined that it would be his scoop that enabled everyone to taste the delicious donuts…

Lyle absolutely adored his job at the New York Tribune. As a junior journalist with his whole career ahead of him, Lyle was about as enthusiastic as it was possible to be. No deadline was too short notice. No story was too small. And if there was an opportunity to dig deeper to find an extra angle, Lyle was always more than up for the challenge.

Lyle may only have been twenty-two years old, but he was already getting a reputation in the city’s media circles as someone to keep an eye on for the future. The fact that Lyle was also as cute-as-cute-can-be was purely coincidental…

With his side-parted chestnut-brown hair and hazel-colored eyes, Lyle was a smart, sweet, and super-cute young man. He was a sub too, and despite keeping this side of his life private at work, Lyle loved who he was.

Lyle was sassy, hard-working, and never walked away from a story. If there was a new angle to be found, Lyle would stay late at the office and read old documents or online articles for hours on end. Lyle had even once gone through over a thousand of a city council politician’s tweets to find what he was looking for.

There might not have been a thousand tweets to look through this time, but Lyle was no less determined to get a deeper understanding of his latest story. However, before he opened up another line of research, Lyle felt his tummy rumble. Lyle was hungry, and that meant only one thing… it was time to dip inside his lunchbox.

Lyle’s lunchbox just had to be an old-style red metal lunchbox with rainbow pattern stenciled across the front. It was an exact replica of Lyle’s lunchbox from childhood, and he loved it so much that he actually sometimes enjoyed the lunchbox itself more than the food inside!

Hmmm. What is it today?

Banana bread? Apple slices? Or…

Cookies!

Lyle smiled with glee as he took a bite out of the big, choc-chip cookie that was about as sugary and crunchy as even the most dedicated cookie connoisseur would dream of.

Cookie before fruit?

I think if I had a Dom, he might be pretty angry at me.

He might even want to spank my butt!

Lyle giggled to himself as he imagined the kind of stern, super-gruff Dom who would most certainly not expect his boy to tuck into the sweet snack before the savory goodness in his lunch.

Being a sub was sometimes quite complicated. Not everyone understood what it meant, and some people could even be super-judgmental or make nasty comments. But the truth was that subs and their Masters were just like anyone else, nothing more than people looking for safe, consensual love together.

Lyle would have liked to have found a true Dom, but so far it just hadn’t happened for him. Lyle would go to clubs and bars with his other kink loving friends, but he just hadn’t found a man who he could really spark with – there was always something missing.

This wasn’t so bad though, and with the hours he put in at the Tribune, Lyle was in some ways grateful that he didn’t have any other commitments in his life. But speaking of commitments, just as Lyle was about to take another big bite from his cookie, as message from his friend Tommy came through…

Lyle! We’re going to the Velvet Iron soon. Please say you can come! I think I’m going to try and get my nipples clamped. Hehe. That sounds like something you might like too… Tommy

Lyle smiled. Tommy was so enthusiastic, it was hard to say no to him. But, as much as Lyle would have loved to have gone straight to the Velvet Iron, he knew that he had his work responsibilities. And for Lyle, work wasn’t just a chore he had to do to pay the rent. Being a journalist was something that Lyle had strived for, put in the hours studying toward at college, and now was trying to make a big career out of.

With a tinge of regret, Lyle knew that there was only one answer he could give his friend Tommy…

Crap. I’m sorry, I can’t. I’m working on something BIG and just have to put the hours in. This story could change my career, I’m not even kidding. I have to get it as good as I can. But we’ll do the Velvet Iron together soon, nipple clamps and butt plugs too. Ha! Lyle XXXooo.

Lyle put his phone down and finished munching on his cookie before getting back to work. Figuring he would eat the rest of his lunch as the day progressed, Lyle wanted to finish off the story for his editor Jay, and then get back to work on his big new story.

But before Lyle could even put a single finger on his keyboard, he heard the booming voice of the Tribune’s chief editor Reed Silver…

‘Lyle! My office! Now!’ Reed called out, his voice brisk and not too welcoming either. ‘Move it! Let’s go!’

Lyle felt his heart skip a beat. Reed was a very powerful man. A veteran journalist who had climbed up from the mailroom to the highest position at the Tribune, Reed was known to be grumpy, ruthless, and not afraid of pushing the boundaries of what was acceptable in the workplace.

‘Yes, sir?’ Lyle said, trying to keep his voice as calm as he could. ‘How can I help?’

‘Sit down, kid,’ Reed replied. ‘We need to talk.’

Lyle duly took a seat in Reed’s office. The space itself was quite nondescript. Reed didn’t have any family photos on his desk, only piles of paperwork and a small laptop next to his desktop Jake. There was a small refrigerator in the corner that housed bottles of Coca-Cola, Reed’s favorite drink. And whisky too. Plenty of whisky.

But other than this, it was almost like a ghost-office. Had it not been for Reed’s presence, it might have been possible to think it was a spare, unoccupied office.

‘Have I done something wrong?’ Lyle said, his nerves betraying him as he fiddled with his fingers.

Reed simply stared back at Lyle. With his short, grey hair and large rimmed black glasses, Reed could cut an intense figure. He was in his early fifties but as a large man who clearly knew his way around the free weights section of the gym, he was an intimidating figure.

‘Boss? I… I… is this because I ate a cookie at my desk?’

‘Ha! No!’ Reed replied, exploding into laughter. ‘No. No. No. This is something else. The mafia wars story you’ve been investigating?’

‘Yes?’

‘Leave it alone.’

‘But-’

‘I said, leave it alone,’ Reed said, his voice clear and with a hint of menace. ‘You’re young, you’ve got potential. You could climb to the top. But poking your nose in stories like this won’t end well for you. Trust me. I want you to back off and stay backed off. Understood?’

‘I, um, well, it’s just,’ Lyle stammered, desperately trying to fight his corner. ‘I’ve put so much time in already. And I think it could really be something-’

‘Which part didn’t you understand, kid?’ Reed barked, banging his fist down on the desk. ‘Stay away. Keep clear of that shit or you’ll be down in the mailroom opening letters for the next five years. Or, worse, with redundancies on the way you might just find that it’s your head on the chopping block.’

‘Yes, sir,’ Lyle said, nodding sadly and taking Reed’s ensuing silent stare as a cue to leave.

‘It’s for the best, Lyle,’ Reed said, just as Lyle was at the door. ‘Now shut the door behind you please.’

Lyle walked back over toward his desk. He didn’t quite know what to make of what Reed had just said.

‘You okay, Lyle?’ Jay said, noticing that Lyle was looking glum. ‘The big boss knows what’s best. And even if he doesn’t… what choice do we have, right?’

‘Yeah. Something like that,’ Lyle replied, happy to have a friend looking out for him, but also feeling upset that he wouldn’t be able to keep his investigation into the mafia wars going.

Lyle felt extra-frustrated because his investigation wasn’t just into the gang situation in the city, it was linked to corruption higher up in official police and political channels too.

As Lyle sat staring at his computer screen, he felt a familiar feeling coming over him. He wasn’t going to walk away from the story, no matter what Reed said and no matter the threat of redundancy.

I’ll show Reed.

I’ll get the scoop and then I’ll be a star.

They’ll have to pay me to stay!

Even if Reed Silver was on his butt for the rest of the week or more, there was no way Lyle was going to let this thing drop.

With a mischievous glint in his eye, Lyle got back to work and started typing. He may have been a submissive, but there was absolutely no quit in Lyle when not came to his career, and he was determined to show the world that too.

Having worked his butt off for the remainder of the morning, Lyle decided that he needed some fresh air. With the shadow of Reed Silver’s words hanging over him, Lyle took the rest of his lunch over to the park opposite the Tribune’s office building.

It was one of the nicest parks in the whole city in Lyle’s opinion, and there was something about the perfectly maintained grass and colorful Fall leaves that ticked all of the right boxes.

With a variety of diverse people walking and talking, Lyle was able to get a real snapshot of New York life and it always made him feel good to see smiling, happy people taking time out of their day to enjoy the greenery, not to mention the perfect little lake at the park’s center.

Sigh. I wish I had a special someone to walk with.

Urgh. Why does Reed have to be such a pain in the ass?

Why doesn’t he want me to do my job right?

Lyle couldn’t shake the feeling that something was amiss. As a journalist, it was his duty to investigate the truth. No matter how awkward or difficult it was, the truth was something that should always be freely available to the public.

The more Lyle thought about it, the more determined he became to make sure that he carried on researching and digging deeper and deeper into the story. If there was high level corruption involved in the so-called mafia wars, then Lyle felt strongly that the public needed to know.

Lyle thought back to the life and times of his late father. Lyle’s dad was a war photographer who put himself in many dangerous situations in order to document the tragedy of war and global conflict. In fact, Lyle’s dad had won many awards over his career for shining a light on some incredibly difficult and upsetting images.

Sadly though, Lyle barely knew his father.

When he was only six years old, Lyle was woken up by his mother to the news that his father had been killed in a warzone. Yes, he was doing what he loved to do, but that was of scant consolation to Lyle at the time. It was only now as an adult that Lyle could see that his father had died doing what he believed in, and what he thought was worth fighting for.

‘I won’t let your memory down, pops,’ Lyle said, fighting back the tears as he remembered the last time he saw his father alive. ‘I’m going to do whatever it takes to get to the truth. No matter what Reed says. No matter how dangerous it might be for me. And I think I might just have the perfect plan too…’

With his mind suddenly alive with a hundred ideas and a new found determination, Lyle stood up from the park bench and got his butt back to work.

It was time to expose some corruption, and Lyle was ready to push things further than ever to do it.