The Complete Contract Series (31 page)

He bends down beside my face and smirks. “We have a couple of issues here that need to be dealt with. Do you know the answer to the riddle?”

A wave of relief washes over me. Maybe there is some hope on getting out of any discipline, namely the cane. “She is marking off the days of her captivity on the concrete wall at the back of her cage.”

“Very good. That means you have avoided the cane.”

I smile, relieved.

“But…” His face holds a sadistic expression as he continues, “there is still the matter of you dazing off and not listening to my instructions. Tell me, what exactly are you thinking of when your mind wanders?”

“That it’s getting harder and harder to walk away from her and leave her with that sociopath.” I begin to rise up as if we are going to have a civil conversation.

“Where do you think you’re going?” He gives me no time to answer which clearly reveals to me that the question is rhetorical. The sardonic raising of his brow isn’t putting my mind at ease either.

“So we can add lying to the list of fuck-ups you have managed to achieve in just one night’s work.” He gently rubs the pad of his thumb over my cheek as he intently watches my face for any change in expression. There is something very sinister about not only what he is doing, but the look on his face while he is doing it.

“I haven’t lied to you!”

“Very well, that means you’ll answer my next question honestly.”

Shit! This is going downhill rapidly.
My heart is racing in anticipation of his next question.

“Do you ever think about sneaking away and doing a job on your own?”

I’m not deceived by the innocent college boy look he holds on his visage. I know him all too well and I know there is a monster lurking behind that baby face of his. In Miller’s case, looks are very deceiving.

My answer is one of avoidance but he knows me too well to not see through my strategy. Nobody can read people like he can, at least not anyone I’ve ever met.

“It’s getting harder to walk away from her.” My voice has carries a hint of pleading even though I know instinctively that there will be no mercy shown to me tonight.

He shuts his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose, an act I know is a desperate attempt to ward off the anger he is feeling. He breathes in deeply and exhales as he rises and makes his way behind me. I brace myself for what I know is coming as he slowly and methodically raises the mini-skirt I’m wearing. The scrap of material offers me no protection from this man on a mission.

“You can always say no and all of this ends.” The fact that he is giving me a choice only makes this discipline harder. I wish he would just hurry up and get it over with. I bite my tongue to keep myself from voicing just that.

His thumbs hook into the sides of my G-string and he slowly slides it down my legs. “Kick the panties off, Stormy. Good girl. See, you can listen and obey… when you want to. I believe it’s just a matter of making you want to.”

I’m already crying and it has nothing to do with pain and everything to do with the intensity of the training he puts me through.

The sting of the first slap is fucking brutal and I scream out. Back and forth on each cheek until I’m no longer crying, I’m sobbing. My fingers have all but dug into the wood of my desk, just trying to maintain the position he mandated. His hand gently rubs over the heat radiating from my backside.

“I hate you. I hate you,” I repeat in a full blown, snotty sob.

I hear his pants unzip and I know what’s coming.

“You hate me? I find that very hard to believe. According to your pussy, I’d say you like me—a lot. Tell me you hate me while I fuck you on your desk that I now own, while I’m deep in your pussy that is now my property. Tell me how far your contempt for me goes while I plummet into your wet depths with my cock that you made so hard with your crying and screams for mercy.”

He grabs a fistful of hair and yanks my head back so that my mouth is right by his ear as he pushes into me. “Come on, baby, tell me.”

“I fucking hate you,” I groan, as my body betrays me, clenching around his hard cock as if it’s hanging on for dear life. I know, in that moment, I will never be the same sexually. I realize that the way he enjoys me fighting off his advances, is the same way I enjoy fighting him and ultimately being taken.

Oh yes, I love hating Miller…

Agent Turner

It’s abundantly clear my partner isn’t happy about hoofing our way through the neighborhood to once again question people about the missing woman, Melanie. I simply don’t care. Rene might be in control in the bedroom but at work, she is my subordinate. As pissed off as she can get at me sometimes, there is still a level of respect warranted by the results I get. I couldn’t give up on this case if I wanted to. It isn’t in my DNA to let anything go, at least not when it comes to a case I’m working.

We make our way up to the stoop to talk to a group of men seated there.

“Wha’s up, five-o?”

“The lady who lives upstairs, have any of you guys seen her?”

“Don’t live there no more,” one of the men casually answers. Before I have time to respond with another question, one of the others chimes in, “Yeah, she gotta sugah daddy. Must be nice to have the equipment to live the high life. Born with the right thang between yo legs, you can have it all.” He eyes Rene accusingly, insinuating she falls under the same category. The last thing on my mind is protecting her. If anything, this guy may need protection from her if he keeps running his mouth.

“Have you seen
said sugar daddy?
” I ask.

“Nope, just saw a black Cadillac pull up and whisk her away like she was royalty or sump’n. After that, rent man went up there and took what he could sell and the neighborhood got the rest that was thrown out back at the dumpster. One thang fo sure, she ain’t comin’ back.”

The group laughs as another sarcastically adds his two cents, “I can’t imagine anyone wantin’ to leave all this.” He waves his arm for emphasis, referring to the neighborhood.

Though no one is listening, we say thank you and make our way back down to the sidewalk to start heading towards the car. Rene waits until we get in before she speaks.

“As badly as I hate to admit it, you might be on to something. It’s too coincidental that she got rescued the same night that man got shot.”

“Well, let me play the devil’s advocate for a minute. If she had a boyfriend or a family member who heard about the murder, they could have decided to move her out of the neighborhood.”

“Why not step forward before now? It doesn’t take a murder to realize this isn’t the best neighborhood for a single mother.”

“There are plenty of single mothers here who do a great job of raising their kids.”

“Their parenting abilities are not in question; the quality of the neighborhood is. If I had a sister living here, I would be moving her in with me and I wouldn’t wait until there was a murder to do it.”

I chuckle when it hits me that we are now arguing opposite views. We have both changed our points of argument from what we initially believed. It’s important to keep personal opinions out of our work. We have to be able to argue both sides of any case. Much like a debate team in college will have to argue both sides of an issue, we have to be able to do the same.

One thing remains true in all of this and that is that there is a serial killer on the loose and we’re no closer to catching him. Somewhere out there, there is a man or a woman who has taken it upon themselves to exact judgment. In my world, that can’t happen because it isn’t their place to do so… that’s my job.

We’ve got to find this guy. The nagging in my gut is relentless. It’s like the more I find out, the less I know and the less I know, the more I need to find out. It is just the nature of the beast. There are so many things that don’t make sense about this case. The victim was found with drugs on him, all packaged and ready for sale, but nothing about him indicates that he was involved in the drug culture. I don’t believe for one second that this was a drug related kill which means I have to entertain the thought that he belongs to my serial killer, well, one of them. Black Rose is still out there as well and now we have Melanie’s disappearance that coincidentally happens right before this last murder. I don’t believe in coincidence so now I’m wondering if my serial killer has evolved and started to kidnap his victims as well. Perhaps Rene and I should check in with the local PD about that other missing woman, Lisa something or other. Two missing women already and the bodies are piling up. God, what a shit storm but I will prevail. I was born to do the work I do and I can’t let this case go. Not only is it not in me to do so,
I simply don’t want to…

Black Rose

I’m sitting at my desk, watching her sleep on the monitor. Her breathing is the steady, even respiration of a soul at peace. No longer will she pace in the early hours of the morning the way she did when she lived in a neighborhood that posed threats to her and Tommy.

No longer will she sit at a kitchen table and wring her hands as she eyes the bills she is unable to pay. No longer will she be subjected to men grabbing her ass as she makes her way through the narrow path beneath the booths in a restaurant—a shitty restaurant she is forced to work in just to try and make financial ends meet.

Even though back then I wasn’t able to have her on surveillance as extensively as I presently do, I still watched. I watched and I waited. She has no idea that I witnessed her attack and the death of her attacker. I hid in the shadows and right when I was going in for the kill, Miller’s woman beat me to the punch. Very little catches me off guard but, I have to admit, that certainly did.

Stormy is quite the little badass. Of course, I would never allow my woman to go to on killing sprees with me but I’m not surprised that Miller does. I’ll admit I don’t like him, but I damn sure respect him. As much as we don’t care for one another, either of us could call the other and they would be there. It is just the way of the blood brotherhood. You don’t fight a war together and not bond. Any of us would not only kill for the other, but die for them, because we truly are
Bound by Blood.