Page 2 of Envy

“She’ll have to stay in a dorm when she starts her freshman year. She doesn’t have lineage,” Davids says like a warning. “John?” David voice cuts through the room, hesitant.

John’s gaze darts to his lawyer.

David’s gaze dips to my legs waiting for him to respond.

My fingers itch to pull the hem of my dress down my thighs like a rash needing to be scratched, but I know better.

I don’t move.

I don’t react.

I stare straight ahead, wishing I wasn’t in the room. To them, my voice, my thoughts, or feelings don’t matter. To John, it’s my body that holds value. It’s what I wear. How I move. How I obey.

“David, are you sure Rose can go through with what we discussed?” John asks, his voice oddly light.

David’s cold stare locks onto me. The massage clear. I don’t have a fucking choice. “She will.”

“Look, I know how you feel about Rose going to Kenyan Prep High School as a senior, but it’s the only way she can get into Kenyan University without raising questions and to comply with what the board wants,” Mary says. “She will be in good hands,”

My stomach twists. But I don’t know if I’m being sent somewhere worse. For the first time, I might be finally leaving this house.

“There is one subject we haven’t covered,” David says.

My ears perk up.

“And what is that, David?” Mary asks, sounding bored.

David’s gaze flicks to me. Then to John. Then, finally, to Mary. “Your son.”

John’s expression hardens, filled with warning—a warning I don’t understand because I’ve never met Mary’s son.

I’ve heard snippets here and there. I’ve only heard his name a couple of times. Apparently, he’s trouble. The bad kind. The kind that pisses people with money off.

Mary was a widow before she married John and has an older son, whom he is not quite fond of.

Garret.

Mary slowly crosses the room. She bends down until she is eye level with me. “That won’t be an issue, gentlemen,” she says, her tone full of hatred slicing through me.

I know not to speak. Not until John says I can. Mary knows this. Garret doesn’t know I exist, but obviously, when I arrive at Kenyan, he will.

She lets the silence stretch before she leans in, her perfume filling my lungs like poison. “My son Garret is off-limits to you,” she whispers. Her fingers tighten around my wrist. “If you so much as touch my son, I will have you raped and beaten.”

John steps forward once she pulls away. “If you so much as allow another man to touch you, I will bring you back here myself.” His breath is hot against my skin. I go still. My stomach turns. The sound of his zipper causes my lungs to seize.

I close my eyes. Then softly––loud enough for him to hear––I whisper the only words I’m allowed. “Yes, master.”

“Good girl.” He undoes his belt, the brass buckle clanking like a bell. “Mary, you can watch or you can leave. The choice is yours.”

Her heels thud on the wood floor. Her Chanel No. 5 perfume wafts away like a breeze, replaced by the scent of leather and sandalwood—two scents I hate, splitting my stomach in half.

The sound of the door swinging open makes my heart thud rapidly as she leaves. “Make sure she understands, John. It’s bad enough I’ve had to deal with her filth in my house.” The door slams shut with a thud.

“Open your eyes, Rose,” John demands. My eyes open, and they focus on his hand fisting his cock, the tip inches from my nose making me gag.

David watches every second, his arms crossed and his cock tenting his black slacks.Pig. All of them.

“Open for me,” John demands.

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