Page 5 of Their Domme

“Let me guess…” Oliver’s voice had me jolting, and I found him walking in with his laptop in hand. “Clean record. Wholesome image. Nothing about her would suggest that she’s a criminal?”

“Same for Tim?”

“Yup,” he replied, sounding resigned, as he sat down in the chair Alexei had sat in earlier. “I’ll need to go off grid to look deeper. I’ll have to do it tomorrow.”

“Not tonight?”

“Nah.” He shook his head, looking up at me with tired hazel eyes as he ran a hand through his tousled dirty blonde hair. “Better to do it early in the morning. For some reason, people expect hackers to hit at night. Plus, last time I went in was at night. I like to change it up to keep people on their toes. Want to join me?”

“Sure,” I answered slowly. “I need coffee though. I’m used to going to sleep at four in the morning.”

“If you’re good with cheap Dunkin, I got you. Otherwise, it’s on you.”

“As long as it has caffeine, I don’t care,” I told him honestly.

“I’ll even bring you a fresh pack.” He tipped his head toward my cigarettes. “I think you’re going to need it, or I will at least.”

“You don’t smoke.”

“Going back into my past like this… I might have to take it up.” He gave me a wane smile before getting up. “I’ll pick you up at five.”

“Great,” I drawled, making him laugh as he left the office. I wasn’t looking forward to such an early morning, but the sound of Nic’s laughter and her smile as she looked at me filled my mind…

For her, I could deal with an obnoxiously early morning. Fuck, if Alexei was right about me, about the things I could feel for her…

For her, I’d deal with a lot fucking more than that.

Nicholette

Friday

Screams filled the air as I wiped at the blood on my face, annoyance filling me, directed at the pathetic person crying out. She was an older woman who was part of the upper crust, one of the rich snobs from the suburbs of Boston. The reason she was graced with my company right now was that she was also a high-profile client of the Ashview Hills trafficking ring. Disgust soon took over when she began to whimper, begging me for mercy.

Apparently, the last two days hadn’t clued her in that I didn’t have any mercy left in me.None.I was void of mercy and morals. All the lines I thought I had were disappearing one by one the longer I was away from the life I had started to build for myself. I didn’t know if it was just me or the raging pregnancy hormones that raced through my veins, but I felt cold, calculating. Sadly, I never reached that numb state that would make my separation from the guys any easier.

I considered the woman tied on the chair in front of me. She was naked, though you wouldn’t be able to tell at first glance given the amount of blood all over her. Her nose was horribly broken, sitting at an unnatural angle after I had punched her. It had been a convenient handle to drag her over to the far corner of the room where I had her trussed up for a while. Torture session or not, sometimes a girl had to take a minute to get other shit done, ya know? The corner was where she had sat, whimpering and uselessly pulling at her constraints, until I tied her up on the chair she now occupied.

Her whimpering cut off into soft sobs and gasps when my steps brought me closer to her. Grabbing her chin roughly I yanked her head up to force her to meet my cool gaze. “Are you going to tell me what I want to know now?”

“I don’t know!” she wailed, her entire body trembling. I tsked tauntingly, not believing a word of her supposed ignorance. “Please,you have to believe me! They don’t share their identities. The anonymity is the entire point of the ring!”

“I thought the entirepointwas for you all to get children to take advantage of and abuse?” I asked, my other hand unconsciously resting on my still flat stomach. “Give me your point of contact. Give mesomething,and I’llconsidergiving you mercy in return.”

“I-I-“ she stuttered, and I dropped her chin, pulling back my hand to smack her hard enough to whip her head to the side.

“You should think very carefully about your answer, Karen. Because I know enough about you that I can make everything that happened so far seem like fucking child’s play. After all, you have a lot of children that I hunt down. What would be more fun than killing them right in front of you? After I tell them your dirty little secrets, of course. How long will it take you to break then, hmm? I don’t think you’d last long.”

“You’re insane,” she whispered raggedly.

“I’m pissed, pregnant, and in pain,” I hissed, walking away from her, my bare feet silent on the concrete floor. “Someone thought they could take my brother to get to me—averystupid mistake, so if you’re going to continue playing dumb, you’ll become my message. Your other colleagues took me up on the offer of mercy. So, bitch, it’s your decision. By all means, give me the fucking chance... I’ve had dreams about using this.”

Ending my taunts, I grabbed the cattle prod from the corner, zapping it so I could revel in the growing fear on her face. Those faded blue eyes of hers had widened in shock, which almost sent a little shiver up my spine. With all my guys safely away from me, I needed to get my kicks somehow. Walking back over to her, I raised it up, holding it on her exposed pussy, and waited. “What will it be?”

“Joe!” she screamed, her voice cracking as she tried and failed to wiggle away from the weapon. “Joe Graves! He’s my contact. I know he’s high ranking, higher than myself, but that’s it. Him and his wife. Miranda.”

Hitting the trigger, I basked in her wails and screams until they echoed in the space. It almost drowned out my whirling thoughts, but it didn’t quite do the trick. Her answer was too shocking for me to avoid thinking about it for long.

Joe Graves. Miranda Graves. My parents.

---