Claudia is lying facedown on the bed, hands bound behind her back with handcuffs. Plump ass in the air. A half dozen red stripes enhancing the beauty of her round, alabaster cheeks, each growing redder by the second. Her pink puckered hole stretched wide by a large plug.

She lunges forward when the leather bites the skin of her left cheek. “Seven, Master.”

She is the strongest submissive that I’ve ever had. Hell, she’s the strongest submissive that I’ve seen. There’s never too much pain for her to tolerate. Never too much agony. Never too much torment. She endures everything inflicted upon her with grace and poise and finesse.

And it’s boring as fuck.

I’ve been Dom to Claudia for more than a year. She had previously been sub to one of the fiercest Doms in New Orleans—my best friend, Easton Lambert. She was trained by him especially for his tastes, but he tired of her when there was no more new kink they could experience together for the first time.

Easton… he’s always had a case of attention deficit. Nothing holds his interest for long, and a submissive is no exception. He rarely keeps one for more than a few months, although Claudia was an exception.

He offered Claudia to me… per her request. I had long suspected that she had a thing for me. The way her brow would lift when she looked at me said things that her mouth didn’t. Fuck, Easton would have beaten her to within an inch of her life if he’d ever suspected how much she wanted me instead of him.

I’d always enjoyed fucking her when Easton was in the mood to share her with me or when he just wanted to watch the two of us together. I was in between subs when he approached me about taking her, so I agreed. I haven’t regretted that decision once in the past year, but lately I’ve been craving something more. Something Claudia isn’t capable of giving me.

Unbrokenness.

I want a woman who I can break. A woman who has never cried for another Dom. A woman I can train for only my particular tastes. Not a woman who has already experienced every possible form of kink with another man. Especially when that other man is my best friend.

“Count. Louder.”

My phone vibrates on the table as I strike Claudia’s ass again.

“Eight, Master!”

Fuck, I never get a moment of peace. Sometimes I hate being Tristan Broussard. So much money. So much power. So much responsibility. People can never just leave me the hell alone.

I pick up my phone, vowing to end the life of whoever is on the other end of the line if this call is of little importance. “Whaaat?”

“She’s back, sir.”

There’s no need for Garrett to say her name. I know exactly who the pit boss managing the blackjack tables is talking about. And knowing that the brunette beauty is back under the roof of my casino makes my dick harder than steel.

“Is she scoring yet?” I’m not sure why I’m asking. She always wins big money.

“Yes. And already pressing, sir.” Betting large sums of money. She intends on winning big tonight.

And so do I.

She is Emma Lia Grant. Daughter of Conrad Grant, once regarded as one of the biggest cheats on the casino scene. His kid has been visiting my casino. A lot. And she’s up to her old man’s tricks: card counting, roulette past posting, dice slides. You name it, and she has done it in my house, right under my nose.

And I’ve let her.

My first interaction with Miss Grant happened by coincidence. One of my pit bosses suspected that a new dealer was false shuffling but couldn’t catch him in the act. No one could. Not even my best trained eyes.

I was called down to the floor to see for myself, but my eyes weren’t on the dealer or his shuffling. They were on the brunette beauty at his table who happened to be winning huge sums of money.

A fucking knockout. Long chestnut locks with caramel highlights, the ends kissed with loose curls. Forget-me-not blue eyes surrounded by lush dark lashes. A full rack with cleavage on display and an ass with plenty of meat. The kind of ass that I could dig my fingers into and use as a grip to push and pull her off and onto my cock when I fuck her from behind.

That image has played out in my head more than one time, and it always ends the same: her collapsing onto the bed with my cum dripping out of her pussy.

The second that I laid eyes on her, my entire world changed. I became restless, desiring something not in my possession, and I had to have her. Make her mine.

That’s when I knew that my relationship with Claudia was over. My mind and cock became obsessed with Emma Lia Grant. From that night on, she’s been the only one whom I’ve thought about. Fantasized about. Dreamed about.

Miss Grant’s winnings, or debts as I prefer to call them, are close to hitting the magic number. Only sixteen thousand dollars prevents me from carrying out my plan. Tonight’s the night. And that has my dick twitching.

I’ve been camping out in the private penthouse in my hotel for a week waiting for this moment. On call for the moment Emma Lia’s debt hits the hundred-thousand-dollar mark.

Ching… ching… ching. It’s like my own personal sexual jackpot clinking in my ears.

I release Claudia’s hands and pull the plug out of her ass. “Something has come up. I have business to tend.”

She looks over her shoulder and swishes her ass back and forth. “I’m sure that we have time to fuck before you go. I know that you want to.”

Claudia doesn’t understand yet, but she and I are done. A new submissive just walked into my life. Her replacement.

“No.” My voice is stern; I’m not in the mood for games. I need to get downstairs before Emma Lia leaves. If that happens, my plan goes to shit. And I’ve already held out for almost six months. I’ve waited long enough to have her.

“Master, you’re the boss. You tell your employees what to do. Not the other way around.”

I never have to be reminded of the power I hold over the people working the floor below us right now. It’s in the forefront of my mind every moment as well as the fucking pains that go along with it.

I flip her over and grasp her face, my fingers digging into her cheeks. “I’m your Dom, and you need to hear what I’m saying to you. I have business to tend. We’re done here.”

She doesn’t understand exactly how done we actually are.

Her face and eyes lower. “I’m sorry, Master. I didn’t mean to overstep my boundaries.”

Of course she didn’t mean to overstep. She never does, and it’s one of the reasons that I’m so fucking bored with her.

“I want you to return to the house tonight. Ray will drive you.”

She sits on her haunches, hands on top of her thighs with her head bowed.

“Yes, Master.” Her voice is flat. Her way of pouting, which pisses me off even more.

“I’m going to remain in the suite to finish what I’m working on. I’m not sure when I’ll come home.”

I have a new submissive to fetch and begin training.

“Yes, Master.” There’s a hitch in her breath as though she might say something. Maybe argue. In a way I almost wish she would, but instead she holds steady in the submissive position.

I leave Claudia in the bedroom that she’s been staying in during our time at the hotel and return to mine down the hall to shower. I forgo my usual routine of wrapping my hand around my cock and jerking off to fantasies of Emma Lia Grant. No need; I’ll soon have her pussy wrapped around my cock instead.

I dress in one of my power suits. Jet-black vest, jacket, and pants. White shirt, crisply starched. Turquoise print tie to accent my aquamarine eyes. My tailored suit fits like a glove, stretching across my broad shoulders and narrow waist. I work hard for this build, and I want my new submissive to notice the care and discipline I take with my body.

I’m ready to go downstairs to fetch the woman whom I plan to shatter into a million pieces. And then rebuild into exactly what I want and need and desire.