Page 64 of Mistress A-0002

“A little more. Pearl, what do you hear her saying?”

“Roles,”she sobbed.“She’s talking to my father. We have roles. Obligations. She wants him to do something. To….To…kill…kill. Her voice is…changing. Kill Claudia. Kill my mom.”

Melissa. Red hair. I knew it was Mistress Two. Even as I went back to Ethan’s, I was determined to make Pearl’s father spill the rest of what happened. Thing was, he couldn’t. He truly couldn’t remember anything. Both he and Pearl showed signs of mental manipulation to the point that neither knew what was real or not. And both had completely different stories. Implanted? LikeBraddock? Possibly. The only thing I knew was Melissa had Claudia Mallory killed, and Vivia’s death fit my teachers M.O..

Braddock, Pearl’s father…Adrian Bulvere. I may have not had video of the auction night, but I heard his response the day they had sex. He redecorated because of all the blood, and I’d read the pick-up report when the guards collected the slaves. Beaten-bludgeoned to death. The slaves were unrecognizable. Just like Ally should have been had she not stopped Braddock. Just like Vivia was.

“You look like shit, Elec.”

“I feel like shit. Everything okay?”

My stare lifted from the glass of water. Shane slid into my booth, concern filling his stare as he tried to read me. His hesitation had me sitting straighter.

“I submitted more video to Keith Moore. He’s funneling everything we find right to the Council. Not that we need to anymore. Had I waited— Fuck. What I’ve seen. Elec?—”

“Don’t.” The word was short. Clipped. “My restraint is hanging on by a thread. Nothing you tell me you found on those videos is going to help right now.”

“It’s bad. So much worse than I think either of us expected.”

My mouth opened, closing as I swallowed hard.

“Is it about me? Melissa and me?”

Shane waved his hand at the slave who was headed up the stairs to my booth, signaling with two fingers.

“I’m not drinking. You know that.”

“The second is not for you. It’s for me.”

My eyes widened the smallest amount. “It is bad.”

Shane nodded, letting out a mix of a groan and growl as he sunk back into the rounded booth.

“You know as protocol nothing is ever deleted. It can be erased from our system, but it never truly goes away.”

I leaned forward, aghast. “You got it from the secret servers? I was told it was impossible.”

“I thought it would be too. They told me as much. The Council doesn’t allow us access, but…I got a call.Elec,” his voice lowered through the desperation, nearly drowned out by the humming bass filling Dark God Status. “This is eating me alive.”

“I said no. Who called you?”

“I don’t know who it was.”

“Someone from the Collective High Council?”

He nodded. “It had to be. There was no number when they called. I almost thought my phone was glitching out, but I answered and,” he paused, “they told me to check my email. It was there. All the dates I wrote down in my request plus more.”

I shifted in my seat, adjusting my tie.

“Nothing on us?” Shane shook his head, staying quiet. “Good. Fuck. I knew this was going to start a shitstorm but…dammit.I never wanted this.”

“That bitch didn’t give us a choice. Now, I have to walk around with—this—" Shane crossed his arms over his chest. He wanted to continue to speak but he didn’t. The pleading in his gaze had me shaking my head, hard.

“I don’t ask to vent to you as my friend, Elec. I need to share this with the Main Master.You need to know.”

“Do I?” I ground out. “I’ll kill her. I’ll—” I bit down hard, gnashing my teeth together through the urge to completely melt down and go crazy at the violation I knew Melissa was responsible for. “If you tell me, what the Council is doing is for nothing. I could lose my position as Main Master. I, over everyone, must show restraint. Emotions should mean nothing to me. We have laws that can’t be broken.Do you hear me?”

Silence. It played out for so long that all I could do was search Shane’s conflicted face.

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