Main Master

B ad luck? More like bad intentions. But Melissa had no idea how bad this was really becoming. She had somehow manifested bubbles of the truth to surface with her threat, and with that came questions I couldn’t let go. Questions that offered clues to my own murky past. And none of it was looking good for Melissa’s innocence. Had I thought delivering Pearl’s evil family to Ethan as a wedding present was a good idea? For Melissa, it was starting to spell impending doom.

The ‘curse’ she mentioned was far from bad luck. Maybe if she’d known I had Pearl’s father, stepmother, and stepsister enroute to the Gardens, she would have kept her mouth shut, but she dug her own grave bringing up Pearl’s family, and she didn’t even know it. During Ethan’s torture, Pearl’s father, Quincy, admitted to killing her mother. Why? Because she was supposedly having an affair with my father. Truth, a lie? Only one thing mattered: murder. But his confession hadn’t ended there, and it only dug up more secrecy than answers. That led me right to Pearl’s hospital bed, days after her facial reconstruction. Clearing her mind of programming was the easy part. Hearing her relive her past wasn’t. It taunted me. Burned the cold edges from my numb heart.

“You had a cousin.”

The words were not a question but a demand. Tears slid down her bandaged face, but she didn’t speak.

“Your cousin, Pearl.”

“Vivia.”

“Yes. Tell me what you remember of her death.”

“I feel like we’ve talked about her before?”

We had. A couple of times, not that she remembered those parts.

“Never like this. Never with you so open. We had no reason to. Not until…” I paused . “Your father just confessed to your mother’s murder. I didn’t know that. No one did. If he killed her because of my father. Of their supposed affair. If he... Vivia. What do you remember?”

Hope. That’s what I was praying for. Another truth besides the one where I killed the woman I loved.

Pearl shook in fear . “I was young. My mother was still alive. Aunt Carmela was…screaming.”

“You’ve told me that. Can you remember what she was saying?”

Time passed as Ethan’s chosen blinked through memories.

“My baby,” Pearl whispered . “I could barely understand her. She was going between languages. I don’t even know which one it was.”

“Think. Harder. Close your eyes. See yourself standing where you were that day.”

Time. It stretched as she moved into her memories.

“I’m in my father’s study. He’s…standing from his desk. The screams. She’s…calling out to my mother. She’s screaming. My baby. Claudia, my baby. She’s not stopping.”

“What do you see now? Push your mind further. When does she stop?”

A long pause.

“My father. He’s rushing from the room. The door is open. I’m…walking to it. Standing in the doorway as he’s running through the hall.”

“Stop right there.”

I hadn’t been able to catch my breath. Living through the aftermath of what I might have caused in their eyes, seeing the pain I brought Vivia’s mother, it was oddly too much. I wasn’t used to feeling this strongly. Knowing the depth of how agonizing the grief was, it was hard to compose myself, but anger won over.

“Take a deep breath, Pearl. This next part is very important. You’re standing in the doorway listening to your aunt Carmela yell out. Your father has run from the room, and your mother is now in there with her sister. Carmela is screaming. What is she saying?”

Pearl sobbed.

“Vivia is dead. He killed her. I knew he would. I told you he was no good for her. Vivia is dead. She’s…gone. Dead. Dead.” Her head shook as I subconsciously stepped back. Once. Twice. “She’s…nothing. More language I don’t know but…they say she’s...unrecognizable? Beaten? They’re getting further away. I can’t hear anything but the screams. The screams. They don’t end.”

“She said that? Carmela said unrecognizable? Beaten?”

“Yes. I think so. That’s what I hear, .”

I knew those facts. I’d lived the aftermath. But the world had stopped for me in that moment, and not necessarily because I knew the truth. It was more than that. Conversations hit hard. Key points stabbed into my brain. Realization sunk in and facts filtered through that my mind never let me acknowledge before. Melissa and these mind tricks. I was sick at the thought of what I feared was the truth. Floored that I hadn’t seen it from the beginning. Memories were returning but only in the form of warping colors. The more I worked on myself to break from Melissa, the more I could feel myself changing.

“Why are you so concerned with Vivia? Did you know her?”

“Know her? I think…no… I was the one who killed her. I…must have. I did. It’s the pattern. Her pattern. I killed Vivia. I really did.”

And I did. Each hour that past, each day, I accepted Vivia’s murder even more. I always had to a degree, but there’d been doubt in my mind that I could actually kill her. That doubt was a grain of sand in a beach of bloody certainty now. Especially as Pearl recalled the most damning thing of all.

“Red.” Pearl was breathing heavier as her doctor tried to calm her. “Red hair. Red.”

“What’s that, Ms. Mallory?”

She ignored the doctor, meeting my eyes. The terror she held had me stepping closer.

“Long hair. Red. Lots of hair. A woman…I think. I’ve seen a woman. Long hair. A…woman. The screams. Screaming. A woman.”

“What woman, Pearl? Do you know her name? What about this woman?”

“I-I don’t know. There’s…something. I’m scared. But I’ve talked to her. A woman…”

I lowered the bed’s rail, sitting on the side of her bed. Harder, my pulse hit, and I lowered my tone, trying not to shake through the adrenaline.

“Look into my eyes, Pearl Mallory. This long-haired woman. Did she ever tell you her name?”

“I don’t think so. But she came to me. Or…used to come? I think…I was with her? Lived with her? Or…saw her? I don’t know.”

“It’s okay.” I snapped next to her ear to calm her and put her back under my spell . “We’re going to go slow. I’m going to lift my hand, and I want you to follow my finger, okay?”

“She scares me. She…scares me.”

“Watch my finger, Pearl.”

Back and forth I moved my digit.

“How old were you when you saw this woman?”

“Thirteen…maybe? Young. No. Before that. I don't know. I can't remember the first time she came to me. I think I was sleeping. But…something. I….”

“Do you remember the first thing you heard her say?”

“She didn’t come to me the first time I heard her. I just heard her voice. It was like yours. It…pulled. She was speaking to my father.”

“Your father? What did she tell Quincy?”

“I…don’t…” Pain had her wince and cry out as she held to her head. “I don’t know. She…” Her lids squeezed shut and her voice shook as she forced the words free . “You’re going to do it because I told you to. We all have our roles, Quincy. You made a promise. You have obligations.” More, the pain in her head had her crying out repeatedly, but she kept trying to speak.

“, her heartrate is at dangerous levels. As her doctor ? —”

“A little more. Pearl, what do you hear her saying?”

“Roles,” she sobbed. “She’s talking to my father. We have roles. Obligations. She wants him to do something. To….To…kill…kill. Her voice is…changing. Kill Claudia. Kill my mom.”

Melissa. Red hair. I knew it was Mistress Two. Even as I went back to Ethan’s, I was determined to make Pearl’s father spill the rest of what happened. Thing was, he couldn’t. He truly couldn’t remember anything. Both he and Pearl showed signs of mental manipulation to the point that neither knew what was real or not. And both had completely different stories. Implanted? Like Braddock? Possibly. The only thing I knew was Melissa had Claudia Mallory killed, and Vivia’s death fit my teachers M.O..

Braddock, Pearl’s father…Adrian Bulvere. I may have not had video of the auction night, but I heard his response the day they had sex. He redecorated because of all the blood, and I’d read the pick-up report when the guards collected the slaves. Beaten-bludgeoned to death. The slaves were unrecognizable. Just like Ally should have been had she not stopped Braddock. Just like Vivia was.

“You look like shit, Elec.”

“I feel like shit. Everything okay?”

My stare lifted from the glass of water. Shane slid into my booth, concern filling his stare as he tried to read me. His hesitation had me sitting straighter.

“I submitted more video to Keith Moore. He’s funneling everything we find right to the Council. Not that we need to anymore. Had I waited— Fuck. What I’ve seen. Elec?—”

“ Don’t .” The word was short. Clipped. “My restraint is hanging on by a thread. Nothing you tell me you found on those videos is going to help right now.”

“It’s bad. So much worse than I think either of us expected.”

My mouth opened, closing as I swallowed hard.

“Is it about me? Melissa and me?”

Shane waved his hand at the slave who was headed up the stairs to my booth, signaling with two fingers.

“I’m not drinking. You know that.”

“The second is not for you. It’s for me.”

My eyes widened the smallest amount. “It is bad.”

Shane nodded, letting out a mix of a groan and growl as he sunk back into the rounded booth.

“You know as protocol nothing is ever deleted. It can be erased from our system, but it never truly goes away.”

I leaned forward, aghast. “You got it from the secret servers? I was told it was impossible.”

“I thought it would be too. They told me as much. The Council doesn’t allow us access, but…I got a call. Elec ,” his voice lowered through the desperation, nearly drowned out by the humming bass filling Dark God Status. “This is eating me alive.”

“I said no. Who called you?”

“I don’t know who it was.”

“Someone from the Collective High Council?”

He nodded. “It had to be. There was no number when they called. I almost thought my phone was glitching out, but I answered and,” he paused, “they told me to check my email. It was there. All the dates I wrote down in my request plus more.”

I shifted in my seat, adjusting my tie.

“Nothing on us?” Shane shook his head, staying quiet. “Good. Fuck. I knew this was going to start a shitstorm but… dammit. I never wanted this.”

“That bitch didn’t give us a choice. Now, I have to walk around with—this—" Shane crossed his arms over his chest. He wanted to continue to speak but he didn’t. The pleading in his gaze had me shaking my head, hard.

“I don’t ask to vent to you as my friend, Elec. I need to share this with the . You need to know .”

“Do I?” I ground out. “I’ll kill her. I’ll—” I bit down hard, gnashing my teeth together through the urge to completely melt down and go crazy at the violation I knew Melissa was responsible for. “If you tell me, what the Council is doing is for nothing. I could lose my position as . I, over everyone, must show restraint. Emotions should mean nothing to me. We have laws that can’t be broken. Do you hear me? ”

Silence. It played out for so long that all I could do was search Shane’s conflicted face.

“I ask you,” I continued, calmer, “does the need to know this? Or does Elec Wexler?”

More silence.

“Fucking both. Son of a bitch.” Shane sat up, tightening his jaw repeatedly as the slave waitress appeared, handing him the two drinks. He finished the first in long gulps, and he instantly grabbed the second. “If the Council wanted you ‘as the ’ to see, they would have sent it to you. My priorities as your friend and lead board member are clouding my reasoning. I want to kill her, myself, but I won’t take that away from you.” His gaze cut up to me. “You have to be the executioner to set an example. Melissa has undermined the leadership of the Gardens. Board members and the titled here have to see that there’s consequences for overstepping their position.”

A smile tugged at my lips. Anger fled.

“I do love your friendship and loyalty, Shane, but you know I can’t do that. Especially if I’m amongst the victim pool. Being doesn’t give me the right. Nineteen must set the example. He’s the High Leader. He is the law of the Gardens.”

Shane shook his head, drinking deeply, only to wince as he pulled back.

“That’s not how this ends. A trial? A fucking clean-cut death? No way. I refuse to accept that. I refuse to let you accept that. Not after what she’s done. You’ll never forgive me once you find out.”

“Jesus, Shane.” I slammed the side of my fist into the table, sending my water spilling over the surface. The rage magnified through a truth I couldn’t stomach to acknowledge out loud. “She made me kill Vivia. Is that what you want to tell me? Is that what you need to vent about? I already know this .”

His features drew in and I felt the rage sway through the pained expression on his face.

“It’s so much worse than that. You didn’t see yourself. You don’t remember anything but the deed already committed. You don’t know the significance. You told me that. There are things you still don’t know. Things that could change everything.”

“I doubt that. Even if?—”

“Elec…. Stop . Let me ask you this. What do you know about your rights of passage?”

I blinked through the question. Memories should have come flooding back. After all, we all went through our rights. We all had to sacrifice something in order to get to where we were. There was a huge ceremony. The Council attended, albeit, not where you could really make out who was underneath the robe. It was a stressful ordeal. Planning. Prepping. A goddamn celebration by the end.

A good minute passed as I scanned the table, lost to the blankness I was tearing through. My pulse was hammering. My breaths were deepening.

“Son of a bitch,” Shane growled out. “I could be wrong. I mean…Fuck. Forgive me, but I can’t keep this to myself. You deserve to know.” His hand settled on my shoulder as his eyes flickered through emotions. “This goes beyond her having you kill Vivia. She recorded the murder, Elec. And she wasn’t alone when she did.”