Page 33 of Mistress A-0002
I cleared my throat. “Nineteen, I’m okay.”
“I’m on my way. I see you’re in the lobby on the seventeenth floor. I’m on the fourth. I’ll be there soon. I had Jackson call in guards in the vicinity. He’s with me. We’ll be there as quickly as possible.
“I see the guards,” I said, lifting my hand to show them I was okay. They were running, scanning everyone they passed as they kept their focus on me and my surroundings. “I’ll see you shortly.”
I hung up, trying to mask the hatred oozing from my every pore.
“For your own safety, it’s best you get that tapping under control. I have business to take care of before dinner. I can’t promise I’ll make it. You and Jett can feel free to head up. Don’t wait on me.”
Melissa stood, straightening her shoulders.
“You can think what you want. You’re taking the tapping the wrong way. I wasn’t trying to put you under. It was an accident. One I know not to repeat again. I’m sorry this keeps happening between us. It’s one thing after the next and I can’t stand it. I see that friends may not be an option for us after all. Especially after your threat yesterday.” Her eyes lowered as her bottom lip trembled. “I really hope I’m wrong and this passes. I miss you, Elec.”
I didn’t say a word, and Melissa didn’t wait around. She headed for the main hall, but stopped as Jett appeared from there before she could reach it. The elevator door opening had me letting out a deep breath. Nineteen surged into the lobby, taking in the area and pausing on Melissa. He kept walking to me but kept his eyes on her as he did.
“Are you okay, Main Master? What the hell happened?”
“I don’t know. I went under but managed to pull myself out of the trance. I think she was saying something. We were talking about Pearl and Ethan.Fuck. I want that tape right this second. I want to see for myself.”
Nineteen jerked his head at Jackson, one of the guard leaders, but steered us in the opposite direction of the elevator as Mistress Two and Jett headed that way. I watched from over myshoulder as they stopped at the elevator doors, but with as deep as we were going in the opposite hall, I quickly lost sight of them.
“She got me good for a minute. At least, I hope it was only a minute. I’m not sure.”
I looked down at my watch, recalling she’d mentioned the time. My watch. The more seconds that dragged on as I tried to put thoughts together, the blurrier they were becoming.Tap. Tap-tap. Again, I looked at my watch.
“Holy shit.” My fingers fumbled as I unlatched the watch band, letting it fall to the floor.
“Are you okay? What the hell? Main Master?”
My hand lifted but I squeezed my eyes shut. The watch was a trigger. The time. The watch. Moments drug out as I went through my mental exercises to break the hook entirely. I am in control of me. Only I control myself.Longer. The phrases kept repeating in my head but paused as Nineteen whispered to Jackson. Clarity rushed through and I shook my head to try to clear it the rest of the way.
“Sir.” A pause. “Main Master, it’s Master Three-sixty-one. There’s an emergency.”
“With Sebastian Rivers?”
I didn’t need him to tell me yes. I jerked up my phone, doing what I should have been doing since I left Melissa.The cameras.Nineteen hesitated as he continued to listen but turned us to head back towards the lobby.
“His slave has been attacked in his home. He’s asking for you.It’s bad.We have to get there fast.”
Mistress A-0002
“It was an accident. I mean, maybe my mind wasn’t in the right place. She was a slave. Just…not mine to hurt like that, I guess.Fuck. It was going fine. We were messing around, making out but then…Sebastian. He’ll have reported it. Definitely.” He paused. “I have to go back.”
“Wait, what are you talking about?”
Jett and I had barely made it to The Six before he doubled back, leaving me standing at the entrance of the restaurant to race back to the elevator. He had been speaking a million miles a minute since I found him by the lobby, and all I could think about was Elec breaking my pull from the tapping. He shouldn’t have been able to do that after my trigger with the watch.
“Wait. What about Sebastian’s slave? Jett?—”
“If I don’t go, they’re going to think I’m guilty. I’m not because she consented. The Main Master will want to hear my side. It’s important.” The elevator doors were beginning to close, but I wasn’t close enough to stop them as Jett threw me a forced grin. Or was it so forced? Maybe not. Did I detect excitement? A slight thrill? He didn’t seem worried. Should I be?
The doors shut, and within seconds I was pressing into the button, angrily. What in the hell was going on? Maybe I should have listened more to what Jett was saying on the elevator. I wasn’t because I had my own problems. Now this? Something with Sebastian’s slave?
By the time I made it to his side at Sebastian’s apartment entrance, it was too late for me to get the upper hand on Jett or anyone else. Blood. Screaming. I tried wrapping my mind around what was happening. On what my son must have been thinking. I warned him about other Master’s slaves. And he knew the rules. He hadn’t cared. He never did pay much mind to anything but what he wanted. But this? A consensual relationship between my son and the slave? No…this wasn’t right. The truth was in their expressions, and both were clear. She held absolute terror. Jett…I knew that look from the years of being his mother. From living through his schemes.Deception. Privilege. Evil. Everything he had confessed were lies.
“I must apologize for Jett. He told me what happened on our way to dinner. It appears he got carried away during…relations with your slave.”
Even though I could hear myself lying and trying to make excuses for my son, it didn’t take a genius to put two-and-two together concerning the scene. The hate as Jett looked between the men he should have embraced and tried to become a part of was overflowing. He couldn’t stand them. Jett thought himself above them all. And me…with every word he spoke, I felt myself become even more distant. Sympathy died as I listened to him lie about his supposed consensual affair with the slave. My mind raced as Elec explained they had Jett on video forcing his way inside. And I believed him because I knew my son. Rage smothered my heart as it hit with a manipulation a mother should have never felt. Sebastian was murderous, goingcrazy…and…I suddenlywantedhim to teach my son a lesson. Maybe more. Betrayal. Fury. I tried to keep composure through Sebastian’s threats, but it was nearly impossible.