Mistress A-0002
L ock me up. Lock me up? Had Elec lost his mind? He surely must have to have threatened me so boldly. Lock me up. The nerve. I had expected to cover my actions towards Braddock and his slave by some sort of persuasion at the end. Even if just a little to buffer my behavior. But I got nothing from Elec. No real reaction at all. Of course, I could have done more than use my eyes, and then maybe I would have had him. It was my mistake not to click my tongue or snap to bring him in deeper. I had been so shocked by the threat, I hadn’t been using my own brain. I’d…obeyed him. Obeyed my student. I’d just left, storming down the hall to my room and not coming out the rest of the night. And that was my mistake. I kept thinking due to our bond and my hold over him, we were okay. That because of our link, he’d let go of the emotions for things that I’d done. I was the biggest fool. He was playing me. Playing. Me. From threats to…this.
I stared around my empty office, still clutching to the announcement that had been taped to my door.
Dear Masters and Mistresses,
All appointments to Dr. Melissa LaRoe are cancelled until farther notice.
Respectfully,
Elec Wexler, Main Master
Cancelled. Cancelled!
I crumbled the paper, throwing it into the trash. Who the hell did he think he was messing with? Didn’t he know I could destroy him if I wanted? Had his position fed his ego more than I programmed it to? Had it altered the perfect identity I had created?
There were too many questions. Too many variables. It was all so experimental, and with drama hitting us from every which way, from Braddock to Sebastian to Ethan O’Brien, it was coming to bite me in the ass. Comfort was the crux to creation. I should have never allowed myself to care for Elec. I should have continued with his lessons instead of giving him space and letting him create his own for the blank slates. I should have been the one to take control and lead the program. But I wasn’t a leader. I never had been, and it was enough to twist the knife in my back a little more. I was in trouble. A lot of trouble.
I looked around my office, stopping on the clock that used to haunt me. No more ticking. Now that the slave bitch was gone, I had one less person to worry about. Braddock was unprotected. That was a plus. The guards weren’t immune from me. I could still end his life. I could end him. Especially now.
Ringing sounded from my cell, but I hit ignore as I headed for my office door. It was Adrian. I knew it was. He’d left this morning and already he was trying to find a few hours to come back to see me between his meetings for the week. He’d hinted enough when he left my apartment at five in the morning. Idiot. I wasn’t seeing him until my husband breathed no more. I’d made that clear and so much else. Didn’t he know my life was crumbling down around me? Didn’t he hear a single word I had said through my hours of venting?
No. He saw me, but he didn’t hear anything other than his own primal needs. Needs I manifested within him.
I threw open the door, heading for the elevator. Where I felt I should force a smile, I didn’t. I couldn’t. Elec. He’d gone too far this time. He was forcing my hand. Friend? Never again. We weren’t friends. He was work, and he was going rogue, thinking he was the one in control. He was about to find out just how wrong he was.
Ringing started as I pushed in the button for the elevator. I went to hit ignore again, pausing as I took in the number. I knew it, even if I couldn’t place my finger on whose it was. An outside number, for sure, which meant it had to be dispatched through. Was it an emergency? Something important? Was Ronald already dead?
Clearing my throat, I stood straighter, hitting accept.
“Dr. Melissa LaRoe speaking.”
“It’s been a while.”
My lips parted, and my eyebrows drew in at the male voice. The elevator doors opened but I stepped back, instead turning for the coffee cart. My steps were slow as I tried to recognize the voice. It did sound familiar, but I couldn’t place it.
“You’re going to have to forgive me. It’s been a long morning. Who is this?”
A low, deep chuckle. “How fast we forget. It’s okay; I forgive you. After all, it has been…about fourteen years, give or take.”
Seconds past. Remembrance hit me like a freight train.
“ Dear God .” My annoyance was thick. “Why are you calling me, Harrison? I believe the last time we spoke I told you never to call me again.”
“I’m you’re sponsor, Melissa. I call when you fuck up. You know this. And boy did you fuck up this time.”
I signaled to the slave, waiting as he made my coffee. I snatched a chocolate muffin, leveling the phone with my ear and shoulder as I ripped open the package.
“I can think of a few things I fucked up on, but nothing that warrants me to get a call from the likes of you. Did the Council have you call? Or let me guess… Elec snitched me out . He called you, didn’t he?”
“Actually, I haven’t spoken to him in months.”
The hardness melted from my face as I stood up straight. I tossed the wrapper in the trash, sinking my teeth into the muffin. Should I be speaking? Asking questions to the one man who did hold my life and reputation in his hands?
Again, I held the phone against my shoulder as I took my coffee and headed for the table. When I managed to sit and swallow, I could barely say the words.
“It was the Council then. Well, what is it? What do they say I did?”
“Did? How about what you didn’t do?”
My head shook. “I don’t understand?”
“I can tell. For a minute, let’s pretend you’ve behaved yourself. Things are going great. You’ve followed all the rules to the letter, and so has your son. Now?—”
“Is that what this is about? Jett? I didn’t accept Elec’s lawyer. So what . Jett is a big boy. He says he’s innocent, and I believe my son.”
“You’d bet his life on it?”
I swallowed hard. “He’s an adult. He says it was consensual and that Sebastian’s slave let him in. If he’s lying, he’ll face the consequences.”
“Oh, he’s lying. We’ve all seen the footage Elec submitted to play during his trial. The Council will not stop his execution if that’s what you’re hoping for.”
“The LaRoes do not rely on special treatment. Jett knew better. I warned him more than once. If he is guilty and the penalty is death, so be it. ”
Silence.
“You are aware how this will appear to the Council?”
“I’ll tell them myself,” I said between clenched teeth. “Jett is not a baby I need to coddle.”
“ He’s your heir ,” Harrison exploded. “He’s your family’s namesake, and I’ve fought like the devil to keep it that way. Just because you don’t see me doesn’t mean I’m not doing my job.”
I took another bite of my muffin, feeling nothing at his anger.
“Is that it?”
“No. It’s more than Jett. The Uppers are in arms by what you’ve done.”
I swallowed, glaring through his words.
“What do you mean, what I’ve done? I haven’t done anything.”
His laugh wasn’t out of amusement. More…incredulous shock.
“Maybe you have gone crazy. Or maybe you just think you’re that smart. I’ve seen the footage. You’re in so much trouble.”
Guilt. It had me reaching and sipping my coffee as my mind swam in evil deeds. Present. Past. Future? Did they know about Adrian’s plot to murder Ronald? I hadn’t called to make sure the footage was deleted, but I shouldn’t have needed to. My men knew to keep an eye on me. They knew anything incriminating needed to be erased. I programmed them. I all but burned it into their fucking brains.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’ve done nothing wrong.”
“I don’t think Keith Moore’s wife would agree. She’s absolutely livid about what you’ve done with her husband. In his office…On his desk? They’ve all seen it, Melissa. Everyone. Keith says you messed with his mind. He’s telling everyone that will listen. Now, they’re wondering if you messed with theirs too.”
Heat rolled over my skin as I tried to swallow back the spike of panic. My vision blurred, and the dreaded sweat began to appear.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“We all have copies of the video. We were told to pay special attention to certain signs of manipulation. Tapping. Clicking. There are signs. I can email it to you.”
“ Fuck your video .” I pushed to my feet, grabbing my coffee and leaving the half-eaten muffin there. “We had an affair, so what. The tapping and clicking are just nervous habits I do. I didn’t need to use mind tricks to have his dick. He gave that over willingly.”
“As well as his home in the Florida Keys? It appears he’s not the only one who’s discovered they’ve…given you elaborate things.”
I pushed the elevator button. Once. Twice. Harder. Faster.
“This is all absurd. You all act like I’m the only one who’s ever had a string of affairs. Men give me gifts. So what. Should I have declined their generosity? They sure weren’t declining mine .”
“Call it what you want. Gifts. Kindness. Charity. Keith Moore is filing charges against you, and others may be joining him soon. This doesn’t look good for you or Ronald, who by the way is quite pissed at discovering your news. Whether he knew about what you were doing or not is yet to be seen. Above ground, it’s turning into a fucking witch hunt on you both, and I can’t make this go away. I can’t even try. The Council is taking this seriously. They know what you’re capable of, and they don’t see this as just affairs. What the Council sees is mental extortion. They see a serial rapist who has made her rounds for material gain. You may have declined a lawyer for your son, but you’d be smart to obtain one for yourself. Do you have any questions?”
“A fucking million, but none I want to ask you . I’ll deal with this on my own. I don’t need your help or anyone elses. A serial rapist. You’ve got to be kidding me. I see the decision on my innocence has pretty much been made. A serial fucking rapist. Go to hell. Every single last one of you.”
“Noted. It is eight-fifteen am, record number four-thirteen-eleven?—”
“Wait! You recorded this?”
“Of course. Protocol. The Council asks you refrain from coming above ground. You are temporarily assigned to the Gardens until further notice. I will reach out to you again soon with an update. Goodbye, Melissa.”
First Jett. Now this? Dammit! And of course I was the bad guy. Not him. Not Jett who forced his way into another Master’s apartment. I was sick of people trying to come to that little shit’s rescue. No way I was letting that happen. If I was going down, so would he. So would everyone. Fuck the Gardens. Fuck the Council. Fuck Keith, and fuck Elec.
No…it wasn’t going down this way. I had the power, not them. I did. I just needed a plan. I needed to think.
Fuck! I wanted to scream. To hurt someone. Red. All I saw…was red. Not many understood the true meaning behind the saying, but it was real. My vision pulsed with my pounding heartrate. The red elevator doors opened, giving way to a small, red room. I barely could function enough to hang up and meet the set of hard eyes that stared at me. I was on autopilot. In shock and rage, when I should have been calculating my next move.
“ You. You did this!”
Ethan O’Brien stopped talking, glancing over to Elec, only to come back to me as I surged into the elevator.
“Mistress Two.” Elec stayed standing tall, his shoulders relaxed as he cocked his head to the side, reading my face. “I see you’re not having a very good morning.”
“How could you? I trusted you. I made you! ”
Elec’s brows drew in.
“My mother and father made me. You merely taught me.”
“And I did fucking good considering what you’ve done. Too good.” I stepped closer. “But you’re not good enough. How deep are you in? Did you create this narrative against me? Supply the video? Contact the Council? Keith wouldn’t have gone in search of an old video for no reason. And what about Braddock? Did you set that meeting between all of us up too?”
Ethan looked between us, but it was Elec’s expression I couldn’t break from. Confusion. It was there, wasn’t it? Or was it wishful thinking? He was mad at me because of Braddock but—no. I was done making excuses for him.
“Wipe that stupid perplexed look from your face.” I snapped my finger. “You know what I’m talking about. I’m almost convinced now that you planned this all. Maybe you even fucking set up Braddock because you knew I’d be coming back to my apartment and you wanted to instigate that fight. Is it so important for you to rule the Gardens alone?” Snap. “To sacrifice your own teacher for power and greed?” Snap, snap . “I took care of you. I gave you this place!”
We came to a stop and the doors started to open, but I quickly reached over, clicking my tongue and hitting the button to cause them to shut and hold.
“Answer me!”
Nothing. Just a glare. Mine narrowed even more, and he wasn’t turning away. Elec barely even blinked from his bored expression as I tried to hook him again with a double snap. My hand swiped down, and a smile slowly stretched across my face as the Main Master jolted into my spell. Confusion extinguished the boiling fury as Elec’s lids nearly closed. I took a step forward, clicking my tongue again twice and deepening my tone.
“I’ve warned you not to cross me, Main Master .” His lids lowered even more through the heaviness, and I lifted my finger, tracing the air in his peripheral. “You think you can outsmart me. Overpower me. You can keep trying, but you’re not going to win. One snap and a crush of my fist and you’d hit this floor, dead . Is that what you want, Elec Wexler ? Do you really want to force my hand?”
I snapped again, breaking my hold so that he could realize who was really in control. Crushing pressure gripped my wrist and deep pants left his mouth. The hateful daze as he began coming out of my spell had me smiling. But it didn’t last.
“Threats are for the weak.” He lunged forward, twisting my arm down and turning to slam me into the wall of the glass elevator so hard, the air got trapped in my lungs. Ethan shuffled to the side as I fought to catch my breath. “You try that on me again, you better be ready to die. Maybe you’ll be successful, and we’ll die together.”
“Promises,” I forced out, coughing. “Maybe we will.”
He let go, the rage evident as he stared me down.
“You may be mad at the world right now, but you brought this on yourself. You did this, Melissa. With me. With Jett. With Braddock and Ally. With Keith . You did this. Everything that is happening is your own fault.”
The elevator doors opened and a Mistress I’d never seen before was next to a guard and Nineteen, the High Leader. They were quiet, but the men were waiting and watching. They were there to protect their Main Master. That they were so quick to act only built the inferno inside even more.
“I’ll be watching you, Elec. You think you’ve won by exposing what a monster I am, but this game you’re playing won’t end well. Mark my words. The ending is the only thing that matters. It’s the only thing people will remember. None of this,” I said, gesturing and smiling. This is nothing but a page in a book that I’m the author to. That’s what you’re forgetting. This is my story. How many chapters you appear in is entirely up to me.” I jerked my wrist free, glancing over to Ethan. “Congratulations on your impending marriage, by the way. Pearl Mallory is…quite the catch. No water pun intended.” I slid my gaze to Elec. “You both could have been related in a sense. Pearl was Vivia’s cousin, right? Very interesting how that all played out. One could even speculate that their family is cursed. I mean, Vivia’s entire line fell after you killed her. Her parents just…died. So many unfortunate accidents . Best be careful the bad luck doesn’t rub off on either of you.”