“There’s something that I need to tell you,” Destiny says, looking at me with a faint smile, and I can already tell that, whatever’s coming, it isn’t good. There’s always fucking something, isn’t there?

We’ve spent two perfect months together and, even though that just happened because Lester Vicks closed down Dirty Destiny, we’re closer now than ever.

I mean, look at us right now: standing in the balcony overlooking the stage at Python, watching as the female crowd below us goes nuts with the show Maverick is putting on. We look like a King and a Queen, overlooking our empire and watching over our people.

But I’m not fucking dumb. I know that Lester’s shadow is still over us. Just because he’s been oddly quiet these past two months doesn’t mean shit. That’s just the calm before the storm. I know that, one way or another, there’s going to be a showdown. And I’ll do whatever it takes so that I’m on the winning side.

You heard me.

This war that’s coming?

Read my fucking lips: whatever it takes.

“What is it?” I ask Destiny, taking a sip of my whisky. It burns down my throat like fire, but that’s exactly what I need right now.

“Lester…”

“Yeah, I figured it was something that had to do with him. What does that bastard want this time?”

“He called with threats…” she trails off.

Threats? I ball my hands into fists at the sound of that word. Who does he think he is to go around threatening my woman? I’ll rip his fucking head off before he even has the chance to lift a finger.

“That motherf--”

“His threats were aimed at you, Austin,” she calms me down, placing her hand on top of mine. Looking into my eyes, she takes a deep breath. “He told me he wanted to talk with me or else he would… Well, he threatened he would do with Python what he did with Dirty Destiny.”

I breathe out, more relaxed now. He wasn’t threatening her, that’s a start, but I don’t like the fact that he wants to talk with her. What does that slimy bastard want with Destiny?

I thought he had realized she wasn’t going to help him any longer. I don’t really care that he wants to come after me and Python… These are probably empty threats. He’s been trying to get a warrant to get inside of here for ages, but he’s never managed to do it.

I make sure to get the right palms greased so that it doesn’t happen. It’s costing me a lot of money to keep Lester and his cronies outside of my club, but there’s no other choice. Besides, it’s worth it just to piss him off.

“Fuck him,” I say to Destiny, squeezing her hand in mine. “You don’t need to talk with him. And if he wants to come after Python… Well, I’ll fucking handle him, one way or the other.”

“Austin… I’m worried,” Destiny says to me. “I really am,” she starts, circling her glass with one fingertip and gazing down at the stage. Her eyes are empty, though, and I can notice that she’s thinking of everything that might go wrong. There’s something else there too, but I have no idea what.

“Lester is a corrupt asshole, but he’s not in the habit of making empty promises,” she says to me. “I still can’t forget how he shut down my club. Everything I ever worked for. I can’t see that happening to you. I just can’t… Not now.”

“Destiny, don’t worry… I’m handling this,” I tell her, trying to be calm in the face of this new bullshit.

It’s my turn now to calm her down.

I’m doing everything I can to reopen her club, but it isn’t easy. I put together a legal team so we could fight her club’s closure in the courts, but Lester pulled every trick in the book to keep that from happening.

Still, I’m not giving up. Of course, her words make me fucking worried, I won’t lie.

What if, somehow, Lester has managed to convince a judge that something’s going on in here? He never came after us like that before because it was a risky move for him. If he brought us down, Strokes and I would try and bring him down with us. He knows that, but he’s also growing desperate. He wants to stop us at all costs.

Fuck.

This isn’t looking good.

“Austin… I’ve tried to understand, and I do trust you,” she turns to me then, looking me straight in the eyes. I know that she has bottled these words inside of her for far too long, and now it’s time she comes asking questions once again. I’m just afraid I can’t give her any answers.

Finally, the questions come.

I bet you’re getting pretty curious now too, aren’t you?

“What is actually going in here?” Destiny asks me, looking at me directly. “Why is Lester so obsessed with that woman, Mistress Strokes?”

Fuck.

Well, there it is.

I’m wondering how to answer when Destiny continues. “Sometimes I worry,” she says to me. “You know I trust you, but...” she trails off.

Yeah, I knew that was coming.

“Let’s get inside.” I grab her hand and take her inside my office, closing the door behind us. I take her to the large couch at the end and I grab the bottle of whisky sitting on the coffee table. I fill both our glasses trying to gain some time as I ponder how much I should tell her.

It fucking hurts that I just can’t come clean with her, but it's Strokes’ story and I can’t dishonor my promise to her. Not even for the woman I think I’m fucking falling in love with.

I’m sorry, but that’s just not my story to tell, and I wouldn’t do it without Strokes’ permission.

And as paranoid as she is about our operation, I doubt she’d ever let anyone not involved in the nitty gritty of what we do to ever find out. There are just too many risks.

“I know you don’t want to tell me, and I just want to understand the why of it, Austin…”

“Look, Destiny, all I can promise you is that there’s no sex trafficking going on in here,” I look her straight in the eye, trying to make a believable face.

It’s so fucking hard to keep a straight face when you’re trying to have someone else believe you. “I swear to you, I’m not that kind of man. In fact, if you have ever thought Python is part of a sex trafficking operation, we’re just the opposite of it.”

Right.

You thought I was moving girls around because I was trafficking them, didn’t you?

Don’t fucking lie if you’re shaking your head.

Well, I’m not.

“I know what kind of man you are, Austin,” Destiny is saying to me. “And I don’t believe you’ve ever be involved in something like that, but this woman you call Mistress Strokes? Who is she?” Destiny asks me.

“I know nothing about what’s going on, Austin, and it’s making me fucking crazy!” She throws her hands up in the air in an exasperated motion, and then sinks in her seat, putting down her glass of whiskey after looking at it and almost giving a shocked look.

“Mistress Strokes,” I say and then trail off. “Fuck, Destiny, it’s complicated. I wish I could tell you all about Strokes, but her secrets and her story aren’t mine to tell.”

Destiny looks at me and raises her eyes. “But I fucking trust her, and that’s all I can tell you,” I finish.

“That’s alright, Austin,” I hear someone say from just outside my office, and both Destiny and I turn to look at the newcomer at the same time. Standing in the doorway, her hand still around the doorknob, is Mistress fucking Strokes.

She straightened her hair and cut it just below the shoulders, but she kept it dyed blue. Destiny is looking at her, and I can tell she’s appraising her.

She’s never seen the Mistress up this close. Judging by the look in her eyes, I realize that Destiny never thought Strokes was this beautiful.

“Destiny, right?” Mistress Strokes asks her with a smile, sitting down in the twin sofa facing us.

“That’s me…” Destiny says quietly, subdued. “And you’re Mistress Strokes,” Destiny says, more a statement of fact than anything else and I notice her voice fraught with caution.

She knows that she’s about to get her answers, and she wants to tread lightly now.

“That’s right, darlin,” Mistress Strokes says. “In the flesh,” Strokes adds as she turns to face me. “Do you trust her, Austin?”

“I do,” I reply without hesitation. “I trust her with my life. I love her.” I don’t need to say anything else; Strokes trusts me completely, and I know that she only needs to hear what I just said to trust Destiny. Its been a long process for her to accept that someone so entangled in Lester’s web can be trusted, but I guess that she’s finally ready for it.

“Very well then,” she whispers, lowering her voice, “I have a story for you, Destiny.”

And here we go; it’s time for our secrets to be let out in the open.