Page 22 of Prelude To You

God, I was so utterly fucked.

And I had to deal with Steven this morning. He was what you might call, in gentle terms, my bodyguard and handler. The guy who got rid of potential threats and cleaned up after any ‘incidents,’ should that be required. Which it hadn’t, for over a decade now.

Until last night. Kissing a strange woman, all no doubt caught on camera.

Steven’s main concern was to do whatever it took to keep the empire’s heir on-track. He had no life that I knew of, aside from me. He’d gotten to know me well over the past fourteen years, and there were no secrets between us.

I was now at the age where he didn’t have to worry about me stepping out of line or tarnishing the family name.

Last night’s escapade did not sit well with him. But he also knew I’d been inundated with work. And being the good man he was, he’d find a less demanding time to rake me over the coals for my uncharacteristic indiscretion. Let it not be said that he neglected his duties at any time. Ever.

I knew that any footage of my little incident in the bookshop was already taken care of. Not that I was in the media spotlight. But with control of the empire currently in question, Steven knew that the less problematic my public profile was, the better.

He sent a message asking if I’d like to have a copy of the footage before he destroyed it. For the first time in my life, I wavered between the correct decision and a self-indulgent choice. But I was in no mood to challenge myself, and simply gave in. “Fine, it can’t hurt to have a copy.”

I had to grimace at myself for that.“Can’t hurt to have a copy.”What was I, eighteen?

Steven had a no-nonsense, professional work ethic. But otherwise, he was a man of mystery.

Fourteen years ago, when celebrating graduation from the Swiss Academy, and also my eighteenth birthday, nine of my classmates and I ended up drinking and getting rowdy in a ritzy Swiss bar. Under controlled supervision and tight security, of course.

Between the ten of us, we stood to inherit enough money to maintain a small country. And yet our most basic needs that night were to get drunk and get laid for the first time in our lives. The young women discreetly brought in for our entertainment were pretty, classy, and most of them stunningly boring. A splendor of a woman landed in my lap.

Being a curious virgin, my eighteen-year-old self had no qualms about exploring the wonders of women and sex. The two of us confined ourselves to my family’s luxurious chalet in Interlaken, overlooking the Bernese Alps.

Over the course of the next three days, she patiently taught me the intricacies of the female body; where to touch, where to massage, where to apply pressure and where, with gentle and not-so-gentle flicks of the tongue, I could give a woman waves of orgasms, one after another.

The delightful effect was that indulging a woman’s pleasure only enhanced my own. She was an amazing teacher, and what endeared me to her most was her lovely French-Swiss accent when she pronounced the female anatomy.

It would be a lie to say I didn’t want to take her home and make her my chatelaine.

On the fourth morning in the chalet, I was awakened by a man who radiated danger. He was dressed in all black, and quietly instructed me to get dressed. Since the chalet was one of the most secure places in Switzerland, I was shocked he’d even managed to get into the place.

“Who the fuck are you,” I yelled at him. “This is a private place—”

“Here are some clothes,” he said, his tone lethal. “Get dressed.”

Naturally I was cocky and very aware of my status in the world. “I’m not doing anything. Who the hell are you?

“I’m Steven and I work for your father,” he said without a trace of emotion. “I’ve worked for him for twenty-five years. And you will do as I say.”

That was how he got inside this place. And that was all the motivation I needed to do exactly what he said. The clothes he tossed me were a perfect fit. I concluded that Steven was well aware of my sexual rendezvous before I even knew about it myself.

There was no question some heavy weather lay ahead when I returned home, unless I could persuade Steven not to say anything. Not that I communicated often with my father, or ever really. But he wouldn’t take kindly to the family name being dragged through the mud. Of that I was certain.

The Swiss Splendor had slipped out of bed and into her clothes, without questioning the peculiar situation. Steven nodded at her, then handed her a rather bulky envelope. She cast me a sweet smile and simply walked out the door. No kiss goodbye.

I was torn and really confused. I’d been so cocksure that she was completely under my spell. “Eva, come back here!” I yelled.

Eva, however, continued on her way without a single backward glance, stomping all over my grown boy’s heart.

My turmoil turned to anger, which I directed at Steven. “What’s going on? What’s in that envelope?”

“Fifteen thousand Swiss Francs. She was hired to teach you how to have sex with a woman without embarrassing yourself.”

“Did I just have sex for three days with a prostitute?” I asked, not as outraged as I should have been.

“Here’s to hoping her teachings were successful,” he said.

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