Faithless (Mistress & Master of Restraint) (77 page)

“That same meeting, after everyone was drunk off their asses, Gwendolyn was led back into the room, by Pierre again. She was thirteen. They voted. They put their names in a hat on what order they would abuse her. Thomas had the honors. After he was beaten, he complied. Thomas spent the rest of the night throwing up while they took their turns. I had to watch. I had to watch my father. It was Caleb who brutalized her. My daughter was reduced to nothingness. That night was the first time she tri
ed to kill herself, much to my father’s great amusement.”

“More ru
les evolved as things changed. The more rules there were, the safer it was, and the more boring- it’s what toppled them over the edge. They were drunk on power. The families they affected spread city-wide. When Fate was born, my daughter was incapable of caring for her. I sent Fate with her father to protect her from my father and his friends.”

“Inter-fighting erupted over my daughter- they said she belonged to the game.
They turned into wild animals fighting over the only female. Gwendolyn gravitated to Thomas because he was closest to her age, and was a gentle, reluctant lover. He also allowed her to visit Fate. As sick as it sounds, the man earned my respect when he protected her by actively trying to impregnate her. She was safe at nine month intervals. They were not gentle- brutal would be too kind of a word to use.”

“That is why
the enforcers were born- fighting over the female. We needed to protect ourselves from each other. Several times Thomas took Caleb to the edge of death. The enforcers removed this threat from the game. It was upsetting because I prayed that one of those bastards would kill my father and I could be set free. Andrew was insane, but a genius. I was never offered the opportunity to take his life- never without his men.”

“Pierre has a best friend in the sickest of ways possible. They like to share their vi
ctims. Jon became the Fontaine enforcer, and he kept his youngest son at his side. His eldest son was farmed out to my father- JJ became our enforcer. Byron’s friend Nathanial Hunter became his, and he sent us Nathanial’s young son, Raymond. And that is how the legacy of the enforcers came into being. It was more fun to pit father against son, so we broke their families apart and made them do our bidding.”

“
That is how the game spiraled out of control. Nightly, they would attack my daughter until she was pregnant. Boyd was born, and Henry declared him his, even though we knew that wasn’t possible. Henry is impotent, and he was almost seventy when Boyd was born. Thomas had a son- a vote was called, and Henry won the right to Boyd because he had no heir. The cycle continued. After every birth, Gwendolyn would try to take her own life, each time in a more inventive way. But then the game changed again.”

“The buffoon did to his child what was happening to mine.
Bryon had twin girls- one was married and pregnant with a child. He caught the other twin kissing a girl. In our culture, homosexuality is fine in the males as long as they maintained a family. It is not tolerated in the females, especially when you had no sons. The art of punishment was born. Nathanial had sided against his elder and went behind his back to help me and mine. Byron stole my enforcer, Raymond, tied him down, and forced his father to watch. Byron drugged his daughter, Diane. He then forced copulation between Raymond and Diane. This had far reaching consequences.”

“There is an unbreakable bond, especially between identical twins. Everyone knows you don’t fuck with them
- especially when one is a hormonal pregnant woman. Pearl, knowing nothing of the game, sought vengeance. She locked her parents in their sedan and lit it on fire. She stood off to the side and watched them burn to death. She killed her mother because she said it was her place to protect Diane, and she failed. Pearl then tracked down Nathaniel and took his life because he should have protected Raymond. Interestingly enough, she left Raymond alone.”

“If Pearl hadn’t already earned her right as The Holden, the elders would have offered h
er an invitation to join. She is brutal and ruthless and loyal to the death. The game changed when she joined us. No more assaulting Gwendolyn because Pearl is a women who will cut your dick off. New rules were created, much needed rules. Byron had breached ethics when he took what was mine, Raymond. Now only the elder may punish what is theirs. The elder, the heir, and the enforcer are safe from the game plays, unless their family orders it. Pearl was an incredible woman, and no one dared to touch baby Ezra.”

“Meanwhile, Thomas and Gwendolyn proved to be the most fertile people on the planet. Since Gwen kept repeatedly trying to kill herself, to the point that I wouldn’t even let her take a shit unattended, Thomas was helping her. He would get his son from Henry and bring him here. They both allowed Gwendolyn to mother the boy. It was harder with Fate because of Lara. And one sure way to keep Gwendolyn alive was to keep her pregnant. She behaved because she wouldn’t take a life. I believe she had strong affections for Thomas. It wasn’t love, but
appreciation. She knew he was saving her life, and she used sex as that thank you.” 

“It took me years to figure out why these people were so fucked in the head. It was because my father handpicked these bastards because crazy was
far more entertaining. I realized as I lived through the game, that I was changing with the game- desensitizing to humanity. I miss my humanity.”

“Speaking of a lack of humanity,
Caleb had been a very naughty man, indeed. He split from his wife after putting her into Intensive Care. Somehow he managed to escape imprisonment for beating her with a tire iron, but managed to win custody of his sons. Stanton endured like a survivor offering themselves to save the younger victim. He just turned eighteen when he found the eldest Caleb touching the six-year-old Caleb. The man didn’t get to draw another breath. Another younger Elder joined the game, and Pearl and Stanton had different views on right versus wrong.”

“Those views made playing tricky, but my father was a master of deception. Major plays requ
ired a vote while lesser plays were at our discretion. Jackson was ailing, and we knew that Grant would be joining us very soon, and most likely allying with Pearl and Stanton. My daughter was the sacrifice. Strangely, Gwendolyn and Grant really meshed, real feelings were felt. I still had no control over anything, and to this day I wish I could fix what happened next. A love child this time around and a proposal of marriage, and Gwendolyn happily accepted. I fought for her, but my father said no and yanked her away. When young Daniel was born, Andrew sent word to Grant’s father, Daniel. The baby was dropped off and Grant was told Gwendolyn was dead- which she was. After Daniel’s birth, she tried a combination of suicidal attempts until one finally worked. One of my father’s mistresses was a nurse, and my daughter lived.”

“I spent the next year actively stalking my father. It’s all I did- night and day- it was madness. The man was never alone- Raymond and JJ slept in shifts. My father knew his death was on the horizon, similar to how I know mine is now. While I hunted and stalked and allied with my father’s enemies, my daughter was sicced on Stanton. The young man was causing problems. He was ruthless like his father, but highly ethical. We had no way to punish him or make plays against him. Every man’s Achilles heel is a woman. And then Jackson died and Grant joined us. Gwendolyn wasn’t the same. She didn’t go after Stanton like she was told. Threats were made, failed attempt after failed attempt
at sex because of Stanton’s abusive background happened, and then the end result was finally met.”

“This time was different. Gwendolyn fought. She tried to keep Bianca, not because she disliked Stanton, but she was
older now- no longer a child, but a woman. Gwendolyn snapped when my father took the child, saying he would kill Grant if she didn’t hand Bianca over to Stanton. We expected another suicide attempt, and we had a nurse staying at the house- waiting.”

“Never underestimate the power of a
woman protecting what she loves. Gwendolyn managed to do what I couldn’t after almost fifteen years of relentlessly trying. She seduced her way into my father’s bed. Thinking he was safe with submissive, childlike Gwendolyn, he told his men to leave. Five minutes later he was stabbed over a hundred times… and my daughter was a stronger person when she reemerged from that bedroom.”

“
I became The Meyers… and those men I stalked… they now protect me to the death. My father’s allies that abused me and debased me and violated my Gwendolyn, they became my fake allies. I pitted friend and foe against each other to reach my end- protection of what is mine. I wasn’t able to protect my child, but I will protect my grandchildren. I want an unplayable game board. I want this madness to end because it has destroyed me, destroyed the child I raised and held and comforted and watched die countless times in unspeakable ways. I wasn’t cunning enough to end it earlier, but I am now. Those ignorant, arrogant psychopaths didn’t even realize that their repeated rapes gave me the key to winning the game. My grandchildren have been distributed throughout the game. Only two lines are left- the Fontaine and the Holden. Bianca will get the Fontaine, and you, Faith, will get us the Holden- tonight, in this house, a Holden will be made,” Mitchell speaks like a zealot, a madman- no sanity left in his mind, his soul tainted black with evil deeds.

~
Chapter Sixty-Six~

“I’m glad Mitchell doesn’t have a sick sense of humor,” I deadpan.

“Huh? I’m not so sure about that, Faith,” Ez grumbles- Ez, as in Master Ez. No spoiled brat, injured party Ezra in sight, so my friend isn’t here either. We need that diabolical youngster mixed with the emotionally controlled perfectionist to make the boy I know and love. I miss Ez. I haven’t seen him in almost a year- my father’s funeral was the last time, but even then, Master Ez was driving.

“
If my granddaddy pimp was really sick, he would’ve placed us in the mistress suite right off of his bedroom. The room where I killed my momma,” I unemotionally say, since I’m frozen numb.

“Why would he do that?” Wil’s speaks for the first time in an hour. We were escorted to the guest room by Ezra’s father, and locked in here with instructions to copulate. Raymond had that same look Ezra has, like
there are more than one or two or four people dwelling in his skull.

“It’s what I would have done,” I truthfully answer. “I would have put me in there,
and made me have sex on the bed where my grandfather raped and tortured my momma- the bed where I took her life. It’s what I would have done,” I shamelessly admit that I’m just that twisted to do it to someone I despise, and not feel bad about it afterwards.

“I’m sure he thought of it,” Ez adds, “but it would have taken away from the
I am just a victim of the game
speech he just gave. Mitchell was trying to look like his hands were tied. That bastard was raping and murdering and torturing everyone else’s daughters. It only counted when it was his own. He was playing our emotions. He was trying to make us feel sorry for Gwen, so we’d feel sorry for him.”

“Oh, I know that. There is nothing he could say to take away from the fact that he violated and tortured Momma. That he stood by and let them ruin my birth mom. So what if they beat and pissed on him. They would have had to kill me before I stopped protecting my child, and I would have taken a few of them with me before I faded. He needs dead,” I ruthlessly say.

“Faith,” Wil chastises me. He doesn’t call me pixy because he’s pissed that I can so casually talk about murder.

“After we get out of here, we’ll do it that very night.” Ezra’s voice is smooth and sharp at the same time. This side of my friend likes the exhilaration of the hunt and the capture and kill.

“We shouldn’t be talking about this,” Wil hisses, “and not just because he may overhear.”

“We have no secrets now,” I purr, but it’s not warm and sultry, it’s hot with unbridled vengeance. “The next meeting is one week from tonight- that bastard can’t announce that I’m his heir. It will ensure his continued existence. We have to kill him before he makes it permanent.”

“Is your need to police the game that important,” Wil snarls at me, judgment thick in his voice. “We are talking human life, here. You swore a vow to protect the sanctity of life. It was only two months ago, lest you forgot.”

I bite my tongue. I want to scream at Wil for judging me, for wordlessly calling me a murderer. I want to cry because he thinks so little of me. I want to hide because maybe I am that ruthless, that one life doesn’t mean a damned thing to me if it doesn’t suit my purpose. But I don’t scream or cry or hide, because I am in shock.

“Yes, we are talking human life, here, Leviticus,” Ezra snarls right back, leaning forward and getting into Wil’s face. “If Faith is named heir, and she kills him, she will be forced to rule. She will have to do all those things that will undoubtedly break her. But as the Game Master, she could fix all the corruption. There is no choice. If we don’t act now, she will have to sit back and watch Mitchell rape and torture and kill our loved ones or she will have to propagate more evil. So, yes, Wil, we are talking human life- saving countless lives by killing one evil, elderly man who locked us in this room because we both need to fuck your girlfriend tonight before that seventy-two hour timer starts- does one life mean so much to you that you’d forfeit the rest of ours for his?”