Page 75 of Mistress A-0002
He let out a deep breath. “Being a Main Master is the hardest position anyone in our circle can be tasked with. It carries a responsibility and weight like no one can imagine. You paid your price to become Main Master. You have a right to see how.”
I rounded the corner, slowing as I took in my guards, sprawled on the floor. Blood pooled behind their heads, and their guns were still within reach of their collapsed bodies. I spun in a circle, turning my attention to my door.
“…Thank you for this. I should go.”
“Main Master.”
His tone was thicker. More demanding as it pulled me from the sudden need to barge into my apartment. With the guards having the card for emergency purposes, no one would have needed my fingerprint to enter. And someone was definitely in there. Someone who could make my guards blow out their brains. That shouldn’t have happened after their new training, but it had.
“Yes?”
“You’d be smart to call in the guard right now and follow protocol…but injustice and grief can sometimes blind us to the rules we’re so inclined to follow. That doesn’t mean either will go without consequence.” His tone wavered between curious and cautious. “She’s waiting for you. We’ll be watching.”
We’ll? Had I thought he was alone? I should have known better.
“No one is going to stop this, are they?”
“That depends. Do we need to rescue you?”
I knew how this worked. The risks were my own. No one had swept in and saved Bram Whitlock. No one was coming to save me either. What happened in the Gardens,stayed in the Gardens.
“Absolutely not. I don’t need rescuing, and if I do, I don’t deserve to be the Main Master. I will die in this position.”
“I believe you will. Before that may happen, answer this question. What means more to you in this moment? Revenge or loyalty? Love…or duty?”
I took a step forward. Another. The door was drawing me in like a magnet. Melissa was inside. In my domain. Waiting. For me. The words that left me were not Elec Wexler’s. Maybe he truly didn’t exist anymore.
“I wasmadeto be the Main Master. This is my position.”
“So you’re choosing loyalty and duty?”
“No. To choose is to put a noose around my neck. I said I’m the Main Master. That comes with a price I haven’t paid yet. I have no recollection in choosing a sacrifice for my rights of passage, but I’m about to give you one. One that I’llneverforget.”
Mistress A-0002
Ishould have known not to put hope in hollow promises. After all, what did I expect? Did I really think Adrian would kill my husband because of his implanted infatuation with me? Did I think he’d risk everything to seal our future together? Not entirely. Hollow…yes. Away from my influence, he wasn’t so inclined to risk it all. Not that he’d called the murder off. Quite the opposite, but I could hear his uncertainty when he’d called me before the trial. It had been the last straw for my patience. The tipping point on any emotional stability I clung to left me in those moments, and they stayed, even now. I cried during the trial just like I cried to him and told him he had an hour…or else. I went crazy when Hale went for my son. And I lost it all completely when they drug me out.
Even kicking and screaming, clarity never left. It was almost as if I were watching myself go through some momentous milestone while I was outside of my body. The LaRoe heir was dead. Maybe even my husband was dead by now. But where that should have been a relief, it wasn’t. What I witnessed in that courtroom from Elec only told me my time was up. The perfect opportunity to save myself was now, and the clock was ticking.
“Don’t look so sad, Nineteen. Soon, you won’t even remember any of it at all.”
“Those were my guards you had kill themselves.I’ll remember.”
My upper lip peeled back through my anger as I took in the High Leader who I had handcuffed to the slave latch on the far side of Elec’s living room wall. “Like you remember me approaching you as you headed for the courtroom? How about opening the door and letting me inside Elec’s apartment?” His eyes widened. “You don’t remember any of that, do you? Selective memory is a bitch.I wanted you to see those guards die. I want you to remember what I’m capable of for when I’m the Main Mistress. Because I will be here soon, and you’ll work for me.”
Nineteen’s head went back and forth. “You’re not a Main Mistress. Soon, you’re not going to be a Mistress at all.”
I clicked my tongue and tapped against my temple watching his eyes grow heavier. “We’ll see about that. And I’m perfectly capable of being the Main Mistress. Do I want to?No!” I reeled in the rage, straightening my shoulders as I tried to compose myself. “No,I do not, but Elec gave me little choice. I don’t have the time to train someone new. They have to live this world. They…have to be so apart of this…” I got quiet, my thoughts once again consuming me.My father’s accusations. He wasn’t right. Delusional. I wasn’tdelusionalif I made it happen. “I need a baby. A child. That would be the best candidate. I need?—"
The pressure in the room shifted, and my eyes shot up wildly as the door swung open.
“Main Master, you have to leave.Get the guard?—”
I grabbed a large black vase from the end table, stepping in and smashing it against the side of Nineteen’s head to stop him from yelling. Thick glass shattered, sliding across the floor. Elec surged forward, jolting to a stop as I double-snapped andflattened my hand out to face him, hitting against it hard so his focus was nowhere but on my new trigger. The surprise on his face had me laughing as he jolted to a stop. “Oh, would you look at that.” Harder I laughed, walking in slow steps towards him. “Gestures. That’s your big secret for overpowering me? You speak to them in gestures? I saw you with Hale. I saw how you controlled him by using your hands. We’re tied to visual cues, now, are we?”
Approaching, I slowly lowered my hand to point to the ground, watching as Elec’s face drew in and he fell to his knees.
“Pathetic. Brilliant. You…bowing…before me. It’s only right.” I closed the distance, rearing back and slapping him hard across the face causing his head to tilt. “After all, I did fucking teach you everything you know. I made you. I gave you everything. And this is what you do?You betray me?You feed me to the wolves like bait?”