Faithless (Mistress & Master of Restraint) (122 page)

“Dayum!” Torian drawls out. “If you can’t trust your own dad, who the hell can you
trust?”

Zane just stares him down in example- example: Zane’s dad is Ezra and Torian is living with us because we trust Boyd
about as much as we trust Ezra. 

“Oh, before I forget,” I say to my sister. “I need you to go see Whitt this evening.”

“Our brother hates my fucking guts- he always has. But now he really does.” Bianca scrunches up her pretty face in pain.

“Yeah, screwing his boyfriend will do that,” Torian taunts.

“Dalton was mine first,” Bianca defends, and all I can hear is her tiny voice when she was seven, running around talking about her French boyfriend- it was too cute.

“Well, Dalton is
definitely Whitt’s now,” I say with a pleased smile. “So go see the happy couple. The faux-players need a hint. They are running in circles. I need them occupied until tomorrow night. As long as Whitt is confused, Ez won’t think anything about it. I’m starting to think he forgot the date. Just give them Wil. Tell them he’s a badass enforcer. Just say Wil. Whitt knows how that connects to me.”

“How?” Zane asks.

“Whitt has put a lot of ink on my skin, and dozens of my tattoos have Wil’s name on them. He’ll put it together. Bianca, just leak out a bit and look frightened.”

“That won’t be too difficult,” Bianca murmurs.
“Speaking of the date… since you won’t tell me what’s going down… what do you want for your birthday?” Bianca asks Zane.

“Dude, Christmas birthdays suck ass,” Torian taunts. “You would’
ve gotten a present anyway.”

“I can’t believe my baby is going to be fifteen,” I mutter, trying to hide my sniffle.

“Gawd! You better hurry up and pop that thing out,” Torian sarcastically says, rubbing my budding baby bump.

“Jackass,” I snicker.

“Zane is being a humanitarian this year. He’s asking for World peace and goodwill towards all men.”

“You’re such a snarky asshole,” Zane growls, and he never loses his cool- ever. “Honestly, I just want to be me. I want to be able to go to school with Torian and to meet those girls. I want to
hang out with Niel. I want to walk up to my sister and introduce myself. That’s what I want for my birthday- my dignity, my identity, and my birthright.” 

~Chapter One-Hundred-Nine~

“Is this a really good idea,” Wil whispers in my ear, leaning his taller body into me.

W
e ghost inside the portico doors into the stately ballroom. I quietly click the latch, and breathe a sigh of relief that no alarms blare. It helps that I have the codes. But Wil never has Misery Castle duty, and I moved out of here a few months ago. I shouldn’t be here, either, especially since Fate isn’t home.

“It’s Christmas
Eve and almost midnight. You know how the Catholics are- they’re all at Mass.” I soundlessly sprint across the spans of the ballroom and hide in the shadows near the archway to the foyer. “Meaning their body guards are with them.”

“Yeah, because
Protestants believe in sleep,” Wil sarcastically says.

I snort and it echoes around the cavernous ballroom. “Don’t I know it. I’m glad my tenure at Hillbrook was a short one.
I felt like I was cheating on God and Jesus with all that talk of the Saints and Mary… but what do I know, I’m a murderer.”

“Pixy,” Wil sighs, reaching out to intertwine our fingers.

“Ah…” I toss off my husband’s concern. “God and I are copacetic. Tonight’s break-in isn’t about feuding sects of Christianity. It was just the best time to snoop with everyone out of the house with festivities and services. The Jews are holding a movie marathon in the Theater, so we’ll avoid that section of the house. I have to thank Dalton for occupying Ez. I need in Ez’s private rooms.”

“What do you expect to find?” Wil frantically whispers as I search the wall for the hidden panel to the servant passageways. Egotistical bastards. Whittenhower Estates was built with hidden passages connecting the kitchen with sections of the house. Servants weren’t to be seen or heard- the house miraculously cleaned itself. Ridiculous, but helpful when playing Ninja spy.

“Hopefully nothing,” I answer as my mind automatically takes me the route I used when I lived here. I never stalked the halls. I liked to ghost around the passageways and appear as if out of thin air. It freaked a lot of people out. Too bad Ez employed the same nightly routine.

“
It’s best to be cautious,” I whisper over my shoulder to Wil as I pry open the hidden panel to the south wing, third floor hallway. “We have to be very careful until December Twenty-sixth at one past midnight.”

“Why then?” Wil grunts.

“I don’t know. The original Elders were sick sonsofbitches- doesn’t that explain it all? Every year, without fail, they would go to Mass at midnight, return to Meyers Manor and have an epic meeting, and then go home to open Christmas presents with the kiddies. Leave it to them to do this shit on a religious holiday- they thought they were God. All plays made didn’t go into effect until that night at twelve-oh-one. That means that we have to occupy Ez before he remembers this little well-known fact. I don’t want him messing it up.”

“Would he really hurt them?” Wil’s voice cracks, because he knows Ez would.

“That’s not what I’m worried about. I think he’s going to out the game before then, and then I’d have to take him down. We have to keep his trap shut, because I’m not killing him. He seems too peaceful lately, with no scheming to be found. Either he is enlightened or suicidal- my money is on suicidal. And I ain’t falling for suicide-by-Game-Master!”

“Selfish bastard,” Wil snarls.

“My thoughts, exactly,” I return the nasty sentiment.

We slip into the bedroom Ez shares with Katya and Cortez, but I happen to know he never sleeps in that bed. He spends his nights patrolling the grounds, the Castle, and then he goes across town, and checks on everyone that moved to the Edge Building. Lastly, he checks on Zane.

They had
fled to Misery Castle when the paparazzi were hounding everyone. Slowly everyone has gone about their daily lives again. Dexter had refused to leave his home in the first place. I never needed to since my identity was never revealed. Aaron and Kayla moved back to Edge, across the hall from Devlin and Sebastian living in Ezra’s old apartment.

Olivia moved into a spacious apartment above French Kissed Kink. Bianca moved home, and is sharing an apartment
on our floor with Caleb. Not that Caleb is ever home. He is Gunner the Security Specialist and tied to the residents of Misery Castle- he goes wherever they go.

The biggest surprise was Whitt. He bought the building adjacent to Restraint and created a life for himself away from being a Whittenhower. Daniel, as he demands to be called, has started a peaceful life with Dalton. They are opening an alternative lifestyle establishment. Not a club, just a soothing environment to relax without judgment. To say I am proud would be an understatement.

The only refugees left in Misery Castle are those evicted from Zane’s ShadowHaven. Diane is pleased to be residing with her lifelong friend and her lover, and I’m sure she is here for life. But the rest of them are miserable. They’ve tried to buy several houses, yet the sales always fall through- I wonder why that is? Hmm… have to ask Boyd about that. One sale did go through, so Stanton leaked the address to the press. It was on the six o’clock news that evening. They gave up on buying a new home.

I want them all under one roof, so that Ezra has to watch the devastation he has created. This is my version of making Ez live in Hell. One minute after Christmas ends, Marc and Regina can go wherever they please. I will release them from this torment- Marc and Regina can take their children and go. But I doubt the Whittenhowers will leave the Castle- those kids have ruthlessly staked their claim and they are never letting it go.

It isn’t Niel and his harem because of anything naughty- mostly- it’s because he and the girls have created their own government within these walls and they dictate to the adults like teenaged tyrants. Well, when you have to parent your parents, that’s what happens.

As for Ezra, Cortez, Katya, and their children, they are staying here until they get their shit together, and then they can have their house back. I’m keeping them where I can have an ever-watchful eye on their every move.

“I’m finding nothing,” Wil whispers, “except for a lot of sex toys…” he says in awe, fingering not one but two sex swings hiding in the closet. He picks up a cane and whips it through the air, making a lashing sound. “I thought the Ezes didn’t like this stuff.”

“They don’t- yet another reason they aren’t compatibl
e as a ménage. Ez’s needs only run towards Cort- he likes to bottom as a gay but top as a dominant. Cort likes to top as a gay and bottom as a submissive. It works if they’d get their heads out of their asses. Katya likes some hardcore shit, and the boys don’t. She makes me look like merry freaking sunshine.”

“
You don’t really mix the two… that’s what I love about you. I like how we…” Wil trails off, and I can hear a blush in his voice.

Katya is scary- uncontrolled with the sadism, and all sex must be BDSM oriented.
She’s a danger to whoever submits to her. I’m not like that. Sadism is a gift I give a masochist- it’s about release, not sexual release. Sex for me is about connection. Wil and I complement one another. We take turns being in charge when we play around or we make love, sexual intercourse or tantric sex. I don’t bring pain-dealing into our bedroom. That is where Wil and I connect as partners. I also don’t bring anyone else into our bedroom. It’s
our
bedroom and ours alone. We tease Grant, but if we ever went there, it wouldn’t be in our marital bed.

I finger the bedspread, sneering at the material. I know for a fact that Katya has fucked Dexter in this bed, and it sickens me. Her ass was probably in one of those swings and Monica in the other. I don’t fault them for playing. Dexter and Monica are solid, and no one enters their home, let alone their marital bed. Dexter and I are in agreement on that. It’s Katya. She shouldn’t be playing while one husband is struggling with several life-changing
questions, and the other has lost his ever loving mind and seems suicidal. I’m so glad she’s getting off, though. Hate for her to be sexually frustrated.

“He wouldn’t hide anything here, would he,” I ask myself. “We already searched his offices at Edge. He doesn’t have one here… what to do… what to do…”

“I really think Ez doesn’t remember the date- it was over a decade ago that you guys voted on it. He’s been dealing with a lot of emotional shit. I think we’re good,” Wil says, exiting the closet. He walks over to the door and peeks out. “Coast is clear. I want out of this room. Even I can feel the agony hanging in the air. How can they sleep in here?” Wil shudders. 

“Let’s check out Marc and Regina’s room. Marc has been crazed over the game, hating that he isn’t in charge of everyone. Add that to not having
a real home of their own or a profession- he’s about to blow.”

“Poor guy,” Wil sympathetically says.

“I know. It makes me sick that it’s Ezra that has reduced his father into shit. When I first met Marcus, I thought he was an amazing man. Ezra and Cortez worshipped the ground he walked on. See what jealousy gets you? Let’s go read Marc’s notes and see where he’s at in his investigation. If he’s too close, we’ll have to throw him off the trail. Anything could happen in the next twenty-four hours.”

I head off towards the opposite side of the house and down a floor. Whitney’s diabolical mind separated Ezra’s family from everyone else. She didn’t want Ava near Niel. I thought it was best because Cort was nowhere near Marcus. Ez isn’t giving Cort the firm hand he needs and that has put him in Marc’s dominating embrace- dumbasses.
It’s like gleefully watching a train wreck.

“Way off,” Wil says while reading Marc’s notes. Wil snorts loudly. “Marc has no clue. He isn’t even looking into the security team. Holy Hell, I was supposed to be an enemy turned ally and I’ve been completely overlooked. They have it narrowed down to Bianca.”

“Yeah, that’s why I had Bianca go tell Whitt your enforcer name. I needed them looking for your ghostly ass for the next twenty-four hours.” I grin up at Wil.

“No way,” Wil slowly mutters around the penlight resting between his clenched front teeth.

“Yes way,” I say with a laugh. “Subterfuge at its best. I gave them you so Whitt will come to me…”

A throat clearing has
my heart in my throat. “Oh, it’s just you,” I say in relief until I get a look at his emotional state.