Page 37 of Master B-0361
“Got it.” My gaze went back to Melissa. Her eyes met mine, and I didn’t break eye contact as I glared. It was her who shifted on her seat and went back to looking at Jett. With as much as I wanted to believe she was behind it, I couldn’t understand why she’d set her own son up. It didn’t matter. I’d figure out the truth, eventually. That didn’t change my plans today.
“Send me video evidence of the crime scene and a small clip of Harleston saying Jett sent him. Then get your ass down here as fast as you can.”
“Roger that, Main Master.”
I hung up, leaning towards Master One. “Rivers and the slave are dead.”
“You’re fucking joking.”
Master One’s eyes were big as he swallowed hard and sat straighter.
“I wish I was. You thought this was going to be bad before. Just wait.” My phone vibrated and I motioned to my other members that I was ready.
Turning on my mic, I took one last look around the room before pressing my fingers into the papers before me.
“Today, we start the trial for Master B-Twenty-two. He is accused of forceful entry, breaking into and tampering with Garden’s devices and files, attempted murder…and the ultimate murders of Master B-Three-sixty-one and slave eight-forty-two. How do you plead?”
Gasps filled the room as Masters and Mistresses turned to each other in shock. Hale glanced around the room, scanning the rows before his head snapped to me. My brow creased, and I gave him a slow shake, as if to somehow say I’m sorry. His face was dropping color by the second, and the shock was morphing to disbelief. To…homicidal rage as his gaze tore from me to go to Jett LaRoe.
“Order,” I growled, turning back to Jett’s wide, terrified eyes. “How do you plead?”
“N-Not guilty. I didn’t fucking kill anyone. I?—”
“Enough,” I exploded. “Let everyone be witness, Master Twenty-two pleads not guilty. Should the board present sufficient evidence, the Master before you will be sentenced to death.”
Hale stood, his eyes searching the room wildly, still looking for his brother even though he knew deep down what I spoke was the truth. My hand lifted to him, but I didn’t have to speak as I eased my hand down, and I watched him follow. It was almost poetic how aligned we were. My mind spoke to him in gestures. It weaved a wonderful web of commands he knew to follow whether he wanted to or not.
“This trial won’t take long. It is to be known that the two Masters got into a bidding war for the slave this last auction night. The first evidence I’d like to submit is on the charges of breaking into and tampering with Garden’s files. The next will be the forced entry and attempted murder for the slave mentioned. The last evidence is of the murder.”
“If you all focus on the large screen, you can see firsthand the Master head back into the pickup lobby. As you can see from the date on the top, this happened the day following the auction.” Jett eased inside, heading to the desk as he glanced around. “Here, you can see him break into the desk the guard locked the tablet into.” I paused. “Would you like to share with the Board on how you got the password to unlock the tablet?”
“No. That’s not me.”
Jett’s face was hard as he glared.
“We’ll let the Board decide that. The second set of evidence I would like to present is on the forced entry and his attack on the slave.”
I hit the button to change the footage, and Jett surged to stand. Cuffed to the desk before us, he couldn’t move but a few feet.
“This is bullshit. That shit with the tablet is a hoax. It’s not me. Any of it. Everyone knows I’m going to be someone big someday, and I’ve made it abundantly clear to anyone I’ve talked to on who I want to be. I’m being set up.Probably by the Main Master, himself.I didn’t do anything wrong. So I pushed my way into the apartment. The bitch liked it rough. Shewantedme to come by. I was just doing what she wanted.”
“We’re a court, Master Twenty-two, and you have no evidence of that. Trust me, we’ve looked. As a matter of fact, the Board watched and followed you around the city as you stalked the slave in question. I have every angle. Every second up until her Master took her. After that, you had no access until youpushed your way in. Until you knocked on that door, you’d never even talked to her. She had no idea who you were.”
The guard at his side forced him to sit as the footage of him pushing his way inside played out. The attack was violent. Fast, explicit, and gruesome as he stabbed his way up her unresponsive half-nude body. When the scene ended at his speedy departure, whispers exploded in the court, and the shocked looks couldn’t be hidden as everyone’s attention was on Jett. Melissa continued to shift in her chair, growing antsier by the second. Why, I wasn’t sure. Maybe she did feel something for her son. Maybe she knew what was coming. Or maybe…this was playing out asshewanted. I didn’t know as I pulled up the last bit of footage.
“This last evidence comes from my High Leader who was at the crime scene just this hour. I have not seen the footage, nor has anyone in this room, so I do not know what to expect. What I will say is, it may be graphic and not suitable for anyone who knew Master B-Three-sixty-one, Sebastian Rivers. He was a very dear friend of mine, and to many of us here. May he rest in peace. I will give everyone a few seconds in case you wish to leave.”
I glanced at my Board members, letting everyone settle into their decision. No one stood. No one left. Hale was wiping tears from his face, but he didn’t break. He also didn’t move. His stare was on Jett, and it wasn’t leaving.
“Alright. There are two videos. One’s of the crime scene. The other is the last words from the guard who was sent to kill them.”
Jett was staring at the large screen, his chest rising and falling in a fast pace as he continually pulled at the chains.
I hit play, watching Sebastian’s apartment come into view.
“This is the High Leader. I’m at Master Three-sixty-one’s apartment. That would be Sebastian Rivers. It is five-twenty-six PM.” The camera panned to the door. “As you can see, there wasno forced entry, nor does what we saw on the video corroborate there being any. The door was opened for the guard who then pushed his way in, where he shot the slave between the eyes. Master Rivers then turned for the slave, where he was shot in the back three times, and then the back of the head.”
A few people gasped as footage of Sebastian, curled over the slave, came into view. Blood spray and brain matter were fanned on the floor around their heads, and where I couldn’t see the damage done to his face, his cheek was resting against her bloody face, giving view to dull eyes with a hole slightly in the middle, above them. My eyes closed for the briefest moment, knowing the pain he held for Maggie. Knowing how much she looked like Margaret. I knew. I somewhat related, and although I was a monster, I had been supportive of Sebastian finding relief from his pain through her. Hell, I even set up a future I knew Sebastian wouldn’t be completely in favor of. Not with Dr. Bailor involved. I wanted to sway him to choose her. I had purposely put the decision out there. But for what? Nothing. Love never won in the end. Love was what we found in the middle and clung to, but it never lasted. Not in my world.