Page 81 of Mistress A-0002

“This is the Main Master. There’s been an attack in my suite. The High Leader is down and injured. All available top guards report to my apartment immediately. Inform Master One of the situation. Have him ready me a torture room.”

I dropped the radio, turning to face the one woman I’d spent my adult life admiring. A woman I now hated more than myself.

“Melissa LaRoe, I hereby strip you of your title as Mistress Two. Actually…you’re not even a LaRoe anymore. You lost that title when you had your husband killed tonight. You’re just Melissa. Not a doctor. Not an elite. Just a cunt that no one wants without your persuasion. You’re stripped of everything. Harm to the Main Master is punishable by death.By me.”I leaned in inches from eyes that were almost completely red from broken blood vessels. “I’m going to fucking kill you just like you made me kill her.”

Melissa

Had I thought getting my fingers chopped off was excruciating? Had I thought being choked an inch from my life for minutes on end was too much? From the way Elec held to my neck, dragging me to my new cement grave, I knew we hadn’t broached the definition of pain. He was going to torture me.

All those times I’d glimpsed him making people suffer, I thought it’d been hot. I longed to see him release his rage. Glimpsing the power of his body through such primal emotions just did it for me. But now I was going to be at the receiving end of his rage, and that sparked a fear in me so great, I couldn’t begin to process it. I couldn’t even understand or make sense of why he’d want to go to that extreme.

Elec was going to hurt me. Like…really, really hurt me. Me. Melissa LaRoe. His teacher. His lover. His damn friend. So, I lied for a few years. It wasn’t constant. I fucked him pretending to be someone else. So what! It could have been worse. I could have made him suffer in pain. I didn’t. I made him feel good. I helped him forget his past and work through his grief. And yet I was the bad guy? It didn’t make sense. It was wrong. So was everythingabout the Gardens. No one here was innocent, including me. Yet, I was the one having to pay for the sins of my pleasure? That didn’t make sense.

If this would have been over Braddock, fine. Slap my wrist and tell me not to do it again. I get it. But he didn’t do that. I wasn’t in trouble over Braddock. This was about him. About that bitch, Vivia. I told him the truth. I told him everything. I hadn’t harmed him. Not yet. But here I was, being drug into a cell for a crime I didn’t get the chance to commit. That wasn’t fair. Ron…well…Elec knowing about that wasn’t very good. Maybe I would have ended up here anyway.But this was me.I didn’t deserve to die.

“Pl-se.”

“Don’t you fucking ask for mercy. You deserve this.You did this.”

His grip once again tightened. My mouth opened and air barely managed to force its way through in a hollowed pinching sound. Elec gave me a shake, using his free hand that still held the bloody knife to point across the room to the rack of tools. Master One didn’t hesitate to jog over. Tears were blinding me.

“Tongue ripper. I’m done listening to anything she has to say.”

I gave a kick, trying to scream and twist free. Lack of oxygen left me panicked and on the verge of passing out. I managed to meet with Shane’s eyes as he grabbed the tool and turned to head for us. The look was fleeting. Dismissive yet full of fear as he rushed back over to us.

“What the fuck happened when you left that courtroom? Elec, you have to talk to me. The Council?—”

“Knows! They’re fucking watching. They know everything. Hold her goddamn head.”

Elec let go of my throat, and I was suddenly swept from my feet and slammed to the ground. Any air I had was gone at theimpact, but I still managed to yell out in a raspy, barely existent voice.

“No! No! Elec, don?—”

“Don’t let go of her head.”

The pressure of Elec’s knee on my chest as he hovered above with the big pliers stole the pain from my missing fingers. I was going crazy. I was trying to shake them loose. I was hitting against Elec’s arms as they came down. It didn’t help. He quickly pinned one underneath his other knee causing me to scream from the pain that made me feel like my severed digits were going to explode. But that scream sealed my fate.

Metal pushed into my mouth, probing, clamping. My tongue got caught between metal, and more, I screamed. Pain merged with pressure, and I gagged as he stretched out my tongue further than I knew it could go. I could barely catch my breath through the gag before blinding fire sliced right through the muscle. Blood flooded the back of my throat. There was an unresponsiveness within me as fear skyrocketed. Almost a calming horror. He’d really just cut my tongue in half. He’d done it.To me.I knew he meant to hurt me, and he continued to, but he was actually going to go through with it. Why, even now, did I feel so shocked that this was happening? Terrified, yes, but mostly hurt and shocked.

“Nhhhh!” I retched, choking on the gurgling blood. Shane let go, lifting as Elec stood, jerking me to my feet.

“No words. No taps.” He moved in, only inches from my face. The blood was so hot as it poured from my chin, making a river down my exposed cleavage from my opened shirt. I was shaking as Elec glared deep into my eyes. “You truly killed her for me. Every part of her. I thought I loved Vivia, and I think I did once. Now all I see when I think of her is you. I see her right now, but not because of your power. You ruined her. I hate you for that. I hate you for making me…hate her. I hate you both. Today, you’reboth dead to me forever. You wanted a cold, detached Main Master. You got one. I’m going to show you just how fucking perfect for this job I am.”

The door opened, and Nineteen staggered inside. The side of his head was bandaged, but he was still covered in blood. It soaked his blond hair and drenched the entire side of his shirt. Elec took a long look at him, nodding at some unspoken message or bond between them. Seconds passed as I cried and fought to get out of Elec’s grasp.

“Have the guards hit the alarms. Wake everyone up. Broadcast this room live on every single television in this fucking place except Medical and the Nursery.”

Nineteen nodded, moving his face towards his clean shoulder. Warmth flooded down my legs, burning my ice-cold skin. Urine pooled at my feet and Elec’s lips tugged back on one side.

“You wouldn’t believe how many people do that when I’m about to kill them. You should be afraid, Melissa. There’s not going to be much left of you when I finish. Not together anyway. I’m going to hang your filleted skin on the main gates so everyone coming through those doors will know what to expect when they cross me. I’m going to give your meat to Pearl to feast on as an apology to what you did to her mother. You’re brain I’m saving for Braddock as a gift for taking his. You’re going to be dissected piece by fucking piece. And right there on my desk, I’m going to keep your heart. It’s all I have left of Vivia since you stole the real thing from me.”

Alarms blared through the room drowning out my monotoned, mumbled denials and pleas. I was pulled over to a pair of hanging cuffs where my wrists were clamped in. I could barely reach the floor with my toes, but it didn’t matter. They locked cuffs around my ankles as well, holding me in place with a short chain. I pulled hard against the metal hoping the bloodwould help me slip through, but it was impossible. The sharp edge tore into my skin, doing what it was meant to: hurt me.

Elec paced. And paced. The alarm cut off and he nodded, running his bloody hands down his chest. He still clung to the knife as if it were part of him now. And maybe it was. The distrusting, murderous glare came back to me but only for a moment as he began to speak.

“I’m a patient man. I’m understanding. I listen when spoken to. I help when needed. I’m a damn good Main Master. Perfect, really. But not everyone believes so. For those of you who attended the trial tonight of Jett LaRoe, you’re aware of this woman here getting removed. She is the former Mistress Two, stripped of her title after her attack on me in my private quarters. But it doesn’t end there. A few weeks back, the Gardens uncovered evidence of possible crimes against her patients. As we investigated, we waited until we were sure. At that point, we revoked her license and sent those of you who attended her services to a new doctor. Had she not come to hurt me tonight, Melissa LaRoe would still be exactly where she is right now. She has had her husband killed. Her son killed. And now, she tried to kill me. No one,” Elec growled, “will come after me and live to tell about it. Let this be a lesson to any of you who ever think to cross me. Your death will not be swift. It will not be easy. You will suffer, just as she will. Woman. Man. It matters not. An attack against the Main Master equals an unequivocal, horrific death.”

Elec lifted the knife, pausing as the door opened again. He couldn’t hide his confusion as three men entered in long black hoods. These were different than the Garden’s cult of killers. These were Council. The red underlining of the robes as they grew closer told me that. It was more than I could take. I was trembling to the point of almost convulsing. My head bobbed, and I nearly passed out.