Page 12 of Vengeance of Childhood Proportions

I cursed when I found myself wondering if the little owl had anyone in her life that supported her lifestyle. Fuck, what was wrong with me?

Here I was standing over a dead woman’s body, who had been handcuffed and obviously tortured prior to being dumped in the back of a police cruiser, and all I could think of was the sexy owl with raven hair. Why couldn’t I get her out of my head?

After Mira and I finished up in Atelihai Valley, I ended up going toSnow Chainsinstead of heading to my house. The place wasn’t incredibly busy yet since it was only four in the afternoon. Joey was behind the bar and I saw his two helpers, Donna and Noah, stepping through the swing door that led to the kitchen.

Another employee, Liam, was setting up chairs before a stage with a steel bondage frame. While nothing specific about the frame told me about the upcoming display, the white bucket of roses gave away that it was a deflowering. Traditionally atSnow Chains, if someone lost their virginity on stage, each of the audience members gave them a rose afterwards.

I wasn’t here to question Liam about the performance, though, so I turned towards the bar where Joey was chopping up lemon and lime wedges for garnishes.

“Master Mal,” Joey nodded once. “A little early for your usual. What can I get for you?”

I leaned up against the bar. Maybe if I could justseethe little owl again, I could get her out of my head. But fuck, my cock was not in agreement with that line of thought. My cock wantedinsideher again.

“Joey. Is Dani expected in tonight?” It felt wrong calling her ‘Dani’. The name didn’t fit her, like calling an actor by the character they portrayed instead of their real name. I’d never been worried or got caught up on thenameof a submissive before. Sometimes, the first time I learned their name was when I saw it on the temporary contract we were both about to sign.

Joey shrugged. “Not sure, sir. She comes and goes without a schedule. Sometimes I don’t see her for weeks and other times she’s here nightly.”

Fuck. That was not what I wanted to hear. “Was she here recently?”

Joey paused to think and then nodded. “About a week ago, I think. She came in with Master Kade. She danced for about an hour and then left.”

I frowned. I did not like hearing that she had a Master. But she hadn’t been collared when I’d been with her and I hadn’t seen a Master hanging around the stage to indicate that his submissive was dancing for him.

Joey must have seen my scowl and rightfully interpreted it. “They’re not together. At least, I don’t think they are. They show up and leave together sometimes, but they’re nevertogether. Master Kade is friends with Valentino so they’re in here a lot and Dani really likes to dance. I don’t know anything beyond that, though.”

So she had afriendwho was a Master. That was interesting. It didn’t explain why my stomach tightened at the idea, though. I should be happy to hear that the little owl had someone looking out for her, even if he wasn’therMaster.

And yet… It still pissed me off.

Fuck. That owl was going to be the death of me if I didn’t find her again quickly.

I reached into my back pocket for some cash and slid it across the bar. “Thanks, Joey.”

“You know we can’t take tips, Master Mal. I shouldn’t have even told you as much as I did with how much Valentino cares for discretion.”

I was used to tipping people for information and the act had been habit. I pocketed the twenty. “Sorry. Why did you tell me, though?”

Joey raised an eyebrow. “Sir, I’ve known you for years. Watched you run through most of the submissives in this place and even watched you participate when a collared submissiveis offered up to be shared. I haveneverseen you ask about a woman you’ve been with, let alone twice now.” The man shrugged. “Figured that might be worth a little rule breaking.”

As much as I appreciated his observation, it also pissed me off. I wasnotobsessed with this woman. I just needed to find her again so I could fuck her out of my system and call it a day. That was all.

Chapter Four

Holly

I lookedinto Amber’s cell. After she’d died the night before, Jason had taken her body out of the bunker. I don’t know what he did with it because he hadn’t been back yet. I wasn’t worried, though. Jason was more capable than I was at evasion. He’d taught me, after all. The fact that he wasn’t back just told me he was either busy still staging Amber’s body or that he’d found something more interesting than our guests to entertain himself.

The tanning bed in Amber’s cell was going to need to be moved before my next guest arrived. Christopher’s cell had long been cleaned out of the tarantulas and now housed Wyatt. The enormous pile of bananas in the corner of the cell might not seem dangerous or torturous to the average person, but Wyatt had a severe allergy to the fruit. He either ate a banana once a day willingly and had to trust that I would administer the epinephrine before he died—or he had to join me in my cell.

After one day in my cell, he’d chosen the daily banana consumption since.

I had a plan for what to do with Amber’s cell. Jesse was next on my list. He was severely claustrophobic, so it wouldn’t be hard to change the size of the cell to get gradually smaller eachday. No, the issue was that I couldn’t move the tanning bed out of the bunker without Jason’s help. The thing was fucking heavy.

Amber’s fear of getting old had caused her to spend an exorbitant amount of money over the years on cosmetic products and surgeries. It was due to her ‘Botox retreats’, as her assistant had called them, that we’d been able to take Amber without anyone being the wiser that she was missing for nearly two weeks.

“Oh God! Make it stop! Please, make it stop!”

I turned. John’s strained voice echoed around the bunker. Sam, Andy, and Wyatt were silent, perhaps figuring if I didn’t hear them, I couldn’t see them either. After Christopher’s death, they’d talked of escaping. After Amber’s, there was no more talk. I didn’t mind the silence, though a part of me did get a twisted satisfaction from watching their futile resistance.

---