Page 3 of Tarnished Reign

“No one takes any of the women, except for Alexis and me, and that’s for show only.” I trust Alexis not to touch any of the girls. The line in the sand for me is sexual assault. I’ll do almost anything for my stepfather, but I won’t do that. “The rest of you can take your mind out of the gutter and off the pussy, because you only have one job. Rescue Mila, and as for the other girls, make sure they are safe. The word is many of them are trafficked, so we let them go. There’s a local charity which works with trafficked women and they’re ready for them once we have them freed. Intel says there are around five trafficked women on board.”

“There are some working girls, too. Make sure they get back to land safely,” Alexis says. “No fucking asking for freebies. If I find out any of you have, I’ll cut your balls off.”

“There are supposedly three girlfriends who belong to the leaders. The intel is shaky, but we can see when we are there.” I tap my finger on the table. “Alexis and myself will be keeping them onboard for a while. Making that statement to let others know if you come for what is ours, we will take what is yours and end you in the process.”

“Making a statement with your dicks,” Young, Dumb, and Full of Cum shouts, with a thrust of his hips as he winks at Alexis.

I stroll over to him. His laughter drips from his face as I approach. My slap is hard enough to make his head snap back.

Grabbing his chin between my fingers, I bring his face close to mine, his cheeks squeezed into a hollow. “Did you not just hear me talk about what happened to Nataliya a couple of years back? When she was taken by a rival group?”

He nods, his eyes wide.

“Well, when those men took my sister, my fear was always dudes like you.”

I shake my head. “Stupid. Young. Full of false bravado.” I squeeze tighter and a whimper of pain escapes his lips. “Those women on that yacht are someone’s daughters. No one is going to be defiling them. We let them go, and the ones we do keep are only there for show. To do as Jacob asks. We make a point, and after a few weeks we let them go. If I find out anyone here has touched those women, I’ll personally cut their dicks off and Alexis has already said he’s having your balls, so unless you want to make like a Ken doll, shut the fuck up.” I squeeze again before pushing his head back and looking at the other men in the room. “Understood?”

I let my stare sweep slowly around the room. Heads dip and the men who do hold my gaze lick their lips or swallow hard.

“This is serious and if anyone in this room has the mental age of a fifteen-year-old, you need to leave the fuck now.”

The men nod, moving in tandem, a sea of bobbing faces.

Discipline is everything, as I learned in the military. This whole shitshow started because Virgil, Mila’s father, and our senior brigadier, had to hire in temporary security after his guards got food poisoning and the hires were useless and unfocused.

I can’t abide a lack of focus, which reminds me.

“Alexis, open the box.” I point to the floor where the heavy, dark container is resting.

Alexis brings it forward and hauls it onto the table. He glances at me as if to say, are you sure about this? I narrow my eyes and he sighs, but flicks open the two locks on either side.

The lid is pulled back and the men peer inside. Some of them look away, covering their mouths. Others stare, their eyes widening. One retches and swallows hard.

Two pairs of hands sit inside the box, resplendent upon their final velvet resting place.

“Holy fuck,” Seb mutters. He’s one of our best foot soldiers, and he’s used to seeing bad shit but his face has turned a sickly yellow.

“These are the hands of the two men who were guarding Mila.” I gesture at the container. “They fucked up. They let her be taken. They were watching porn in the guard room at the brigadier’s house instead of watching Mila and her mother. It meant they missed the men who took her before it was too late. They were unfocused. Uncaring. They lacked discipline and you can’t be part of this organization and act that way.”

“Still, boss. Fuck me.” Seb has turned paler than the linen tablecloth.

“I can’t abide incompetence,” I say. “You’re all highly trained. Jacob and myself have put fucking hours of our lives into training you, and we’ve paid good money to have you sent away to learn shooting, tracking, and other skills. We’ve invested in you. We pay you extremely well. We expect that investment to be repaid with the basic competence we demand. Let us down, and we won’t be sending you a 1099”

“Are they dead?” Young, Dumb, and Full of Cum asks.

Alexis lets out a soft, mirthless laugh. “Yes, but not until they had suffered for many hours before Dimitri put them out of their misery with a bullet to the head.”

“Jesus fuck.” Seb bends over and sucks in some air.

“None of you need worry if you do your jobs. We don’t do this to anyone who makes a genuine mistake. However, steal from us, disregard orders, jack off to fucking porn when you’re guarding a very important asset … and we will punish you in a manner we see fit.”

They all nod. Alexis was worried doing this to Mila’s guards would be going too far. That instead of instilling healthy fear and compliance in the men it might provoke a revolution of sorts in the ranks. I was willing to take the risk because discipline was getting a little too slack for my liking.

Judging from the looks on the faces around me, it seems my somewhat extreme form of on-the-job punishment may have worked.

Young, Dumb, and Full of Cum in particular seems to have simmered down with the attitude.

I point to him. “Remind me, what’s your name?”

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