KING (Mistress & Master of Restraint) (12 page)

Footsteps on the staircase have me drawing back from Ezra. My pants are saturated. Instead of feeling shame, I cock
ily smirk as I pull my shirt down to cover my crotch. Ezra’s mirroring me to cover himself too. I don’t know if the moisture was transfer from me or if our kiss affected him as much as it did me, but Ezra’s jeans are... wet.

We receive a narrowed stare from Adelaide as she walks by.
Niel and Marcus gaze at us in amusement for the doorway. Jamie and Regina are shocked. I pretend I can’t see Diane and Grandfather in my periphery.

I guess it was rather obvious in retr
ospect. Ezra and I are usually impeccably dressed. We stand next to the study doors with disheveled hair, ruddy lips from aggressive kissing, and our shirts untucked to hide our cum-soaked pants.

“Thanks for the orgasm,” Ezra announces to everyone attending the meeting, including his mother.
I guess that answers that question. He swaggers up the staircase. My head cocks to the side so I can watch Ezra’s ass flex as he takes the steps one at a time. All I can think of is those firm ass cheeks gripping my dick. Ezra looks over his shoulder and winks.

Crack
Niel claps in front of my face to gain my attention. “Show’s over. I think you gave Grandfather a heart attack. Next time you want to grind, maybe you shouldn’t use the open study door as your mattress. I didn’t like watching my dad hump my girlfriend’s dad. Gross!”

I murmur, “Sorry,” not sounding sorry at all.

~Chapter Nine~

Stunned, I walk on shaky legs. I finally notice that the study has been rearranged. Five chairs span the front of the massive baroque desk. Wilhelm commissioned the walnut masterpiece for his father. Diane, Adelaide, Jamie, Marcus, and Regina patiently sit in the leather chairs. My steps falter when I look for a seat. Behind the desk are three chairs, two of which are occupied. The middle seat, Grandfather’s impressive chair, is vacant. He and Niel flank the empty seat.

Overcome with emotion from the past few days, I dab at my eyes while I take my seat. “Took you long enough,” Niel teases, excited happy noises sputtering out as he shakes my shoulders. I know he doesn’t mean being late to the meeting. We share an intense look honed from seventeen years as each other’s closest
confidants. Niel and I finally have power over our destinies. We just have one obstacle left.

I clasp my hands in front of me on the desk.
I look at everyone in turn, finally settling on Diane. “I need to know who they are,” I calmly demand.

“Son,” Grandfather murmurs. I look to him, thinking it was directed at me, but Jamie’s striding towards the foyer. He peeks out, finds everything satisfactory, and then secures the doors. I guess Jamie has been regulated as the Whittenhower bitch.

When my father takes his seat, Diane answers, “I don’t know. The system is secure. You have two people you are in direct contact with, and if you’re a good pawn, you’ll never meet your enforcer.”

“Who are
yours? How does this work?”

“
I will be completely honest with you,” Diane begins, and I cut her off.

“As opposed to lying to me,” I snidely hiss.

Diane rolls her stormy eyes and scowls at me. “I don’t know,” she bites out like she hates admitting that she doesn’t know everything.

“Then tell us what you do know,” I growl. I’m trying, really trying to behave around her, but I don’t like Diane. I’m also embarrassed that she witnessed her son and me getting our grind on.

“This I know for sure. It’s a pyramid. As a Holden, we were near the top of the hierarchy. I don’t know what factors in when it comes to positioning. I believe the higher up, the more influential you are in society. Each family is a layer of the foundation. I just know that I have someone beneath me and no one above me. My mission was to secure the one who would eventually be above us. We’ve yet to accomplish this,” Diane says with great pride.

“I can only tell you of my family and Ezra’s birth family. The Hunter line would be Raymond, and he’s in prison. Ezra was his only child. The Hunters weren’t part of the hierarchy. They were enforcers, so it’s a moot point. I believe the Holden line is dormant
. My sister’s family is safe, unless they’re playing in California. I have no clue, but I hope not. I believe we’re dormant, waiting on Ava since she’s a Holden and a Hunter through Raymond and myself. As I said last night, I believe Ezra is exempt until the Zeitlers enter the game.”

“Ezra’s grandfather was your contact- your foundation as you put it?”
Marcus asks Diane. He has a pinched expression on his face as he tries to understand what she’s saying. Marcus is a man that doesn’t like to be left out of the fray.

“No, Nathanial Hunter
was our enforcer. I’ve been researching this my entire adult life, and I still don’t know how it truly works. I believe the Enforcer is our tormentor’s right-hand man. They have several rolls, kind of like a queen protecting their king in chess. They can move anywhere since they aren’t locked in by societal standards. It would look strange if we started courting friends outside of our station or committing crimes. We are for the long game, while the enforcers are for the short game. After my parents demise, Nathaniel was retired and Ray took his place.”

“Why the hell would he do that?”
I shout in outrage. What kind of man offers their child up for the slaughter? “Why would they protect someone who is coercing them?”

“They retired Nathaniel
when he was arrested, same as Ray. I’m sitting here today because I believe my family has no enforcer. Last time Ray struck was when they released him from prison. Ray went back to get out of the game- brilliant on his part, actually,” Diane says with grudging respect.

“My entire life I
’ve had one contact and one target. Most of my service was uneventful because the target was stubborn and my enforcer was in prison. When I was punished, it was brutal and life altering. Daniel was my contact, the one beneath me. All orders flow from the bottom up. I did what Daniel told me to do. Marcus was my target.”

“The system works,” my grandfather begins. “The contact b
eneath you is known as the foundation and the one above you is the ceiling. Olivia has always been beneath me in the hierarchy. I don’t know who is beneath Olivia. It’s unusual that Diane and I work together, and Olivia only works with us when I ignore her requests. It’s like this. I do what Olivia tells me to do to Diane, and if Diane doesn’t comply, I have enforcers at my door. This breeds hate. You hate your foundation and your ceiling because their actions or lack of action will fuck up your life. And in my case, Olivia was my foundation and enforcer. You’ve met Olivia; do you want her knocking on your door? I never met my real enforcer because Olivia got the job done the first time.” 

“What was our job?” I ask my grandfather. “If Diane only had one goal, what was ours?”

“The higher at the top you go, the more likely your mission is to help your ceiling succeed. I’ve had thousands of assignments. Some are quick and some take decades. It could be buy this stock, tell your kid to go to this school, who marries whom, or tell Diane to get her shit together. Most of the time Olivia was just passing me assignments since Diane only had one goal ever. Regina was my long game. Regina’s aptitude gained notice. Sometimes you have to involve your children. It’s a way of training the next generation. Grant,” Grandfather points to Jamie, “Had a few of his own, didn’t you, son?”

Jamie nods his head once and it infuriates me.

“Why didn’t you tell anyone?” I demand. A second later my father’s head snaps back on his neck. I look to my fist in confusion. But it wasn’t mine- Marcus.

“What the fuck is wrong with you people? I’ve spent my entire adult life protecting you self-destructive assholes.
How do you protect against a force you didn’t know existed? Did it ever cross your mind to tell me that someone was killing my family members and targeting me next?”

Marcus seethingly towers over my cowardly father, eyes spilling amber fire. Jamie just rubs his jaw,
dutifully staring up at his livid master.

“Marcus,
this is why” Diane says calmly, drawing her ex-husband’s attention. “I was raped while our fathers watched. I was locked inside my home, to the point that I broke a window with a chair just to get to out. I watched helplessly while they burned my parents alive. I was close enough that it burnt off all the hair on my body. I was pregnant with Ezra at the time. I’d learned my lessons. No one was off limits. Don’t you get that, Marcus? Nathanial, Raymond, anyone who is a Hunter, even my own son, is my living nightmare. The Hunters are my boogiemen. That is what an enforcer is- death at your doorstep.”

Marcus penetratingly stares at Diane. It’s the first time in my life that I’ve seen her get emotional. Diane silently wipes her tears dry, and it snaps Marcus out of his frozen state. When Marc retakes his seat, Diane begins again.

“I did the least amount I could to not attract notice while keeping you at arm’s length. I didn’t want this for your family. Daniel was ordered to tell me to create an heir with you. I couldn’t do it, but not because of my orientation. I didn’t want this for my child. I was already afraid for Ezra. I didn’t offer you up to Olivia.” Diane sadly shakes her head, and then fills her lungs with air. “I didn’t follow through, so Daniel couldn’t; which meant that Olivia couldn’t. Olivia was sick of punishing Daniel’s family so she took it upon herself to do the duty. It wasn’t good enough. I believe you remember the punishment. In my attempt to save my fictitious child, I sacrificed my son. Hunter showed up and enforced the rules.”

“I could have helped circumvent the events,” Marcus quietly speaks, which means he’s dead-pissed.

“Look at Daniel. Look around, Marcus. More than half of the people in this room have been touched by this shit. They are in play, Marc, and not one of us knew it. The only reason we’re sitting here being honest is because Niel had the balls to figure it out.”

“It pays to lurk around. I figured it out when I was approached,” Niel says with a shrug.
“I’m no one’s pawn. Sometimes it pays to be emotionally broken.”

“Who contacted you?” Regina demands, looking like she’s about to grab her son and run. He gives her a
Duh?
look. “Oh,” she whimpers under her breath and sits back in her seat.

“
Olivia is vicious,” Diane gives the understatement of the year. “Since I wasn’t getting the job done fast enough, more people were brought into play. Daniel and I had to force a marriage between our children so that they’d finally catch a Zeitler. Our longest assignments were the unions- Ade and Ezra and Grant and Regina. Daniel’s target was Regina, which meant she was Grant’s responsibility. Grant was brought into play. He played like me. Grant’s conscience wouldn’t allow him to ruin Regina and the kids. Meanwhile, Daniel wasn’t drawing Ezra fast enough. Adelaide was put into play with a punishment. That’s how it works. You have no knowledge until you’re punished for your father’s failures. Adelaide was given a punishment and a mission.”

“I… I’m sorry, brother,” Ade sobs,
and the keening sound draws tears from most of our eyes. “Daddy was failing, so I had to prove my worth or my worthlessness. She was in the way. I… I didn’t know about the divorce. If I had… if they had… hell, they probably knew and were testing my resolve. You had to get married to make your children legal Whittenhowers. Ezra was my objective after I took out my target. I… I killed Cora,” Adelaide emotionally utters.

We stare at Ade in deafening silence. My aunt
was a murderer before she was legal to drink. Ade brushes her hair from her face with a shaky hand. The movement reveals the scars that bisect her face.

It takes me a moment to notice Jamie’s hands- no doubt furiously signing
his hatred for his sister. Grant and Ade were as close as Niel and I, maybe closer.

I always knew
Jamie signs. The face so like my own, pales in agony.
They’d ruined my sister. My ex-wife was dying in my arms when the idea came to me. I killed myself to stop the cycle. If they couldn’t have me, then Regina and the kids were safe. It was too late for my family, but not for them.

My life shifts on its axis. My father isn’t a coward- he’s the bravest one of us.

“I’ve done horrible things in my quest to satisfy them,” Adelaide numbly admits. “And that is where they find their fun. They watch us scramble, stress, and freak out. Their game lies within our reactions to the stimuli they present. ‘Will Adelaide kill Katya so that Ezra is free, knowing that it won’t bring her closer to marriage? Or will she graciously take her punishment, watching her family get tortured for her failures?’ The game is our reactions to their demands. They sit back and watch. Those who have the largest stakes in the game push us with assignments until we reach their desired destination. You ask who they are… They tell us to call them God. We call them the Elders when speaking with our contacts. But in private…we call them Devil, because we pray to our God to free us from our evil deeds.”

Adelaide stands, looks us all in the eye, and then leaves the study. None of us move t
o follow her. Ade’s guilt is a small sacrifice to figuring out a way to escape this, because, clearly, our God isn’t listening.