CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
ANTHONY
Walking out of the playroom felt like a betrayal against myself. Despite the pain of leaving, I'd still forced each step, still willed my shoulders not to wither, still held my tongue from making the demands I'd wanted of a woman who didn’t have the choice to say no.
Challenging my own tattered thoughts, I realized immediately that the last part was wrong. Seraphina could say no. She had the unique ability to refuse any man who stared her down. The true question being whether she'd choose punishment - or even death - to maintain that refusal.
Her courage was her detriment, the warrior she harbored inside, her Achilles heel.
That was how I knew she didn’t really need me as she’d claimed. Games existed inside her because she hadn’t yet learned that the only games Aiden and I would play were our own.
From what little Aiden told me, he hadn't yet pushed her so far as to worry for her life, but the time was coming and I knew better than to delay the inevitable.
The taste of watermelon salted by Sera's skin lingered on my tongue as I traversed the halls toward Aiden's office. Her voice echoed in my head. The vision of her bound and agreeable a boon to my esteem as a Master. Where insidious doubt had once reigned and poisoned me, cautious hope now lingered.
Turning a corner, Rebecca's striking face was the first I saw as I walked into the room. Arms wrapped tightly across Claire's shoulders, she peered out at me, her face beaming with a broad smile. Tearing my eyes from her, I found Aiden standing behind his desk, his arms crossed at the chest, and his focus locked on Holland.
Tracking his gaze, I saw that Holland had physically matured since I'd seen him last. The youngest person in the room, I wasn't sure he'd had enough time to mature emotionally. In fact, the smug look on his face while staring at Aiden, of all people, told me he hadn't.
"How is it you were able to arrive so soon? A surprise flight between countries must take time." Not bothering to acknowledge me, Aiden smiled as he asked the question.
"Private plane. How else?"
"You have enough money for that?"
Holland laughed softly. "Yes. I have what was left of my father's estate and I have my trust fund. I can afford a damn plane. You should know that." Shoving his hand through his black hair, he grinned in challenge.
Aiden grinned in return. "If you say so."
The two men turned in unison to look at me. It was Aiden who spoke first.
"Did Sera give you the names of the men who let her go?"
"They didn't let her go. She escaped."
"It's the same thing because it has the same results. She was with them at one point, and now she's not. Because of their mistake, she had every opportunity to run to the police about the Society and, quite frankly, I'm shocked she didn't tell somebody at the hospital."
Settling down in his seat, he grabbed a pen from his desk and turned it tip over end between his fingers. "They erred and risked us and every other member of our group. For that, they'll face whatever punishment we deem fit. What are their names, Anthony?"
"She didn't tell me."
He slammed the pen on the desk and cursed under his breath. "Then what good is she? We should cut her loose. I can get back to making money and you can head back home to hide from the world all because of a dead courtesan."
A hushed silence fell over the room as soon as he'd insulted me. Rebecca pulled away from her embrace with Claire, and Holland visibly winced. Although Aiden was the only person who had known Elise when she'd been alive, the others in the room were familiar with the story. Everybody in the Society knew.
Rather than allowing the insult to strike deep, I focused on why he'd said it. "You're angry and worried. That's understandable. However, cutting Sera loose won't solve any of our problems."
He glared at me for what felt like minutes, although seconds was more accurate a term. "If threatened with death-"
"She seeks death," I reminded him, not budging an inch when it came to the courtesan I was determined to heal.
We were both standing toe to toe on the figurative lines being drawn when Claire cleared her throat to speak.
"I don't mean to interrupt, but perhaps I can help with Sera. That is the reason Holland brought me here, isn't it?"
Aiden scoffed, his words dry. "Well, it certainly wasn't to suck my cock. You were never really good at it."
Breathing past the tension that filled me, I remembered Aiden telling me of the training to which he’d subjected Claire during her tenure in his home. Freshly stolen from her life as a psychologist and a teacher by Holland, a student much younger than her, she didn't fit the criteria of what the Masters considered practical for a courtesan.
Educated in areas that made it easy for her to understand and counter the manipulation used against her, Holland and Aiden had been left with no choice but to concoct an elaborate ruse in order to bring her under control. While Holland played the role of Aiden's victim right along beside her, he'd had no choice but to expose the woman he loved to the man who now taunted him with insults, a man with such finely honed cruelty that he easily made women crawl.
It was during Claire's training that Aiden and I both had decided Holland would never become a Master within the Society. He simply didn't have the emotional balance required for the role. We didn't punish him for his mistake in abducting Claire by killing both of them in order to ensure the Society remained secret, but we couldn't trust them either. It was agreed that both Holland and Claire were to live outside of the United States for the remainder of their lives, never to return without our explicit permission. That banishment was the reason Aiden was so concerned with how quickly Holland and Claire were able to arrive after I called them.
And like the barely controlled young man we knew he was, Holland took the bait easily. Eyes narrowed, he stepped towards Aiden, rage a shudder across his shoulders. I had to grab his arm to stop him.
Normally unfettered, and with the type of stern emotional control that any person would both envy and pity, Aiden was in rare form tonight, and only because his livelihood was being threatened by whichever owner had held Sera before I found her.
"Perhaps we can all put our differences aside for the moment and focus on the immediate issue,” I suggested in an effort to ease the tension in the room. “Without Sera's cooperation, the man who held her will continue in whatever mistakes he's making. He may have other women who know how Sera escaped, and those women will run to the first person they find to spill what they know about the Society."
Shooting a pointed glance at Holland, I reminded him, "One door leads to another. Within our group, we are all connected and we all go down together. It's the only way we can ensure the Society is kept secret. So, in an effort to protect everybody in this room, you should save your youthful, alpha male bullshit for another night. Do you understand me?"
He bristled at the question, but nodded his head regardless.
Satisfied, I turned to Claire and asked, "Do you believe you'll be able to give me advice based only on what Aiden and I can tell you?"
"I can't meet her or talk to her?" Surprise crooked her eyebrows.
"No," I answered, genuine regret in my voice. If not for fear of losing the progress I'd already achieved, it would have comforted me to know Sera had all the help she needed. "I'm afraid that will only work against her in her training. She needs to submit to Aiden as her Master. I fear if you talk to her, she'll give you the names of the men we seek, but she needs to give those names to him."
Her brows drew together, confusion filtering in to replace the surprise. "Aiden is training her? But I thought-"
Holding up a hand to silence her, I waited for the spark of jealousy I felt to settle and burn out. "She must be trained," I forced myself to respond, taking care to keep all emotion out of my voice. "And when considering her mental state -"
"Aiden is the worst person for her," Claire bravely interrupted.
Rather than becoming angry for the interruption, and rather than reminding her that her behavior was unfitting of a courtesan, I remembered that I'd requested her presence as a psychologist. Based on the way she glared at me now, it appeared that the psychologist was exactly who I was facing.
"You said she seeks death. Over the phone, you told me she was throwing herself off a damn cliff when you found her. You also told me that she has scars and injuries that show the amount of abuse she's already endured, and yet you hand her over to a man like him? You continue abusing her?"
Visibly upset by the way Claire was speaking of Aiden, Rebecca walked quickly to his side. Kneeling down before him, she rested her head on his knee, the turmoil inside her clearly easing away when his hand stroked down her long strawberry blond hair. For no other woman had Aiden shown such tender affection.
"My reasons for relinquishing her to Aiden have nothing to do with her current state. It is a rule of the Society that a courtesan is to be returned to her original master in situations such as this. I'm bound to those rules whether I like it or not. And as far as I know, Aiden hasn't yet decided he's done training her."
Casting a glance at the man in question, I asked, "Have you changed your mind?"
"No," he answered, not even needing a moment to give the question thought. I nodded my head and was returning my attention to Claire when Aiden spoke again. "I'm sorry, Anthony. But that display of behavior the other night does not entitle her to a man who would treat her with soft hands."
A grin tilted the corner of my lips. "I can assure you my hand is not soft-"
"How long has it been since you’ve actively trained a woman?"
He had me there, and what he failed to add in voice, but was clear in his eyes, was the question of how long it had been since I felt confident enough to train a woman again.
"Regardless of who holds power over Sera now," I said, focusing my attention back on Claire, "We need guidance as to where to draw the line. A hard limit, if you will. Aiden and I both have never experienced a woman as feral as her. Humiliation doesn't bother her and pain only makes her laugh. I suspect whatever her former owners did to her was beyond what any of the Masters in the Society would deem appropriate. In your professional opinion, how does one heal a woman who doesn't want to be healed?"
Taking a few steps across the room and locking her hand with Holland's, Claire stared at her lover for a few moments before retraining her gaze on me. "Has she told you the form of abuse she'd endured before you found her?"
I shook my head, my breath coming easier now that the initial conflict in the room had passed. "She guards her secrets well."
Claire nodded. "If this were a normal situation, I would recommend inpatient therapy. Especially given the suicidal ideations."
"This is not a normal situation," I said, putting voice to an obvious fact.
Her lips thinned into a straight line, her hand clasping Holland's tightly. "Without knowing more, without seeing it for myself, I don't feel comfortable giving you any definite direction in this. Is there any way I can meet her? Any way I can observe before stating a firm opinion?"
Glancing at Aiden, I raised my eyebrows in question. "Do you think it's time for Sera to be brought out of the dark room and the playroom? Perhaps if Claire can silently observe, she'll have a better idea of the psychological state of the woman you're training."
Aiden relaxed against his leather executive chair, the springs creaking softly beneath his weight. Pinning his eyes on both Holland and Claire, he steepled his fingers at his chin and studied them for several seconds.
"I can bring her out. But my concern isn't how she'll behave in front of a group. What concerns me is how that group will behave in front of her.” He shot Claire a pointed look. “If I allow this, I'll need the absolute certainty that what Sera witnesses is behavior appropriate for a courtesan. The last thing she needs is encouragement."
Claire scowled. "I'm not a courtesan any longer. Holland and I left that charade behind us the minute we moved out of the country."
Challenge arched Aiden's brow. "Regardless of whatever agreement the two of you have come to in your personal relationship, there is an expectation within my home of how a woman will act." He grinned, his eyes twinkling with the intent of frustrating Claire to the fullest. "I helped train you, Claire, and as such I know just how well you can behave when given the right incentives."
A red haze filtered behind her eyes to match the furious crimson color across her cheeks. "You won't touch me. Holland can, but not you."
Pure joy rumbled through Aiden's dark laughter. "I won't make any promises."
Before she could respond, he trained his gaze on me. "I'll bring her out later this afternoon. Perhaps we can have a lovely dinner out near the lake, beneath the willow tree." His hand brushed over Rebecca's head, a smile tilting his lips. "It's my Pet's favorite place." His eyes flicked to Holland, "And, for you, it will be like a family reunion."
Brows drawing together in confusion, Holland nodded his head but refrained from asking what Aiden meant. I was pleased to see him holding his tongue, but wondered how long he would remain silent when he discovered what secrets were buried beneath that particular tree.