Page 59 of Mistress A-0002

“No….No! No,no!Ally? Allison!”

I glanced at Nineteen as he walked off, cradling the slave Braddock now fought to go after. He had tears streaming down his face, and I wasn’t sure if they were from his lost slave or from the pain of the abuse she’d put him through. His knee was broken. I didn’t have to be a doctor to see the unnatural angle of the bottom part of his leg. And his face was bloody and swelling in spots. But he didn’t seem to notice as his fury turned to the woman wearing the biggest smile.

“Bitch! You fucking cunt! I’ll kill you. So help me, I’m going to tear your insides out. I’ll fucking?—”

“Do nothing,” Melissa said, almost challengingly. “Look at what you just did to your own slave. You’re dangerous. That could have been anyone. You’re not well.” She turned to me. “You saw everything, Elec. He must be committed. The man is clearly sick and beyond our help.”

A cry left Braddock as the guards tried to control him. He wasn’t giving up, and I was half tempted to let him hobble over and give it his best shot.

“Guards, take him to Medical. You all are to stay with him until I get there.” I turned my full attention to Melissa. Green eyes searched mine expectantly as she waited for me to mirror her command. When it didn’t come, her expression shifted. I knew she was trying to hook me through our eye contact. I could feel the rolling of my mind. My lids were getting heavier. Yet, I refused to look away.

I am the Main Master. I am in control of my own mind. No one controls me. I am the Main Master.

“Mistress, you are to go to your apartment and stay there for the rest of the night. You’re lucky I’m not arresting you for instigating this fight. After I take it up with the Council, I still may.”

“Excuse me?Instigating? What about what they did to me? I can’t laugh or say a few words to defend myself? What about what they did to themselves?”

“You are a Mistress and leader here at the Gardens,” I growled out. “You’re supposed to set an example of elegance and honor. You acted like a spoiled bitch, and I won’t have it. Go to your apartment,Mistress Two, anddo notleave it again for the rest of the night. If you do, I will lock you up in Hell Row. Don’t believe me?Try it.”

Mistress A-0002

Lock me up. Lockmeup? Had Elec lost his mind? He surely must have to have threatened me so boldly. Lock me up. The nerve. I had expected to cover my actions towards Braddock and his slave by some sort of persuasion at the end. Even if just a little to buffer my behavior. But I got nothing from Elec. No real reaction at all. Of course, I could have done more than use my eyes, and then maybe I would have had him. It was my mistake not to click my tongue or snap to bring him in deeper. I had been so shocked by the threat, I hadn’t been using my own brain. I’d…obeyed him.Obeyed my student.I’d just left, storming down the hall to my room and not coming out the rest of the night. And that was my mistake. I kept thinking due to our bond and my hold over him, we were okay. That because of our link, he’d let go of the emotions for things that I’d done. I was the biggest fool. He was playing me. Playing.Me.From threats to…this.

I stared around my empty office, still clutching to the announcement that had been taped to my door.

Dear Masters and Mistresses,

All appointments to Dr. Melissa LaRoe are cancelled until farther notice.

Respectfully,

Elec Wexler, Main Master

Cancelled. Cancelled!

I crumbled the paper, throwing it into the trash. Who the hell did he think he was messing with? Didn’t he know I could destroy him if I wanted? Had his position fed his ego more than I programmed it to? Had it altered the perfect identity I had created?

There were too many questions. Too many variables. It was all so experimental, and with drama hitting us from every which way, from Braddock to Sebastian to Ethan O’Brien, it was coming to bite me in the ass. Comfort was the crux to creation. I should have never allowed myself to care for Elec. I should have continued with his lessons instead of giving him space and letting him create his own for the blank slates. I should have been the one to take control and lead the program. But I wasn’t a leader. I never had been, and it was enough to twist the knife in my back a little more. I was in trouble. A lot of trouble.

I looked around my office, stopping on the clock that used to haunt me. No more ticking. Now that the slave bitch was gone, I had one less person to worry about. Braddock was unprotected. That was a plus. The guards weren’t immune from me. I could still end his life.I could end him.Especially now.

Ringing sounded from my cell, but I hit ignore as I headed for my office door. It was Adrian. I knew it was. He’d left this morning and already he was trying to find a few hours to come back to see me between his meetings for the week. He’d hinted enough when he left my apartment at five in the morning. Idiot. I wasn’t seeing him until my husband breathed no more. I’d made that clear and so much else. Didn’t he know my life was crumbling down around me? Didn’t he hear a single word I had said through my hours of venting?

No. He saw me, but he didn’t hear anything other than his own primal needs.Needs I manifested within him.

I threw open the door, heading for the elevator. Where I felt I should force a smile, I didn’t. I couldn’t. Elec. He’d gone too far this time. He was forcing my hand. Friend? Never again. We weren’t friends. He was work, and he was going rogue, thinking he was the one in control. He was about to find out just how wrong he was.

Ringing started as I pushed in the button for the elevator. I went to hit ignore again, pausing as I took in the number. I knew it, even if I couldn’t place my finger on whose it was. An outside number, for sure, which meant it had to be dispatched through. Was it an emergency? Something important?Was Ronald already dead?

Clearing my throat, I stood straighter, hitting accept.

“Dr. Melissa LaRoe speaking.”

“It’s been a while.”

My lips parted, and my eyebrows drew in at the male voice. The elevator doors opened but I stepped back, instead turning for the coffee cart. My steps were slow as I tried to recognize the voice. It did sound familiar, but I couldn’t place it.

“You’re going to have to forgive me. It’s been a long morning. Who is this?”

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