I waited a few moments to make sure Anthony was away from the dungeon. It also gave me a few minutes to gather myself because I was livid.

Will and the Dungeon Monitor had released their grip on Paul’s arms. I glanced at Will and the Dungeon Monitor and asked that they leave us alone.

“What did you do?” I asked Paul.

His smirk pissed me off. It was as if I were staring at a deranged lunatic.

“Nothing he didn’t need,” came his response.

“I swear to God, Paul. You tell me what you did.”

“Me? I tried to help him! Colin’s not here. He wanted to fuck Sydney, but you know how he is. The guy needs a third. I was offering to be the third so he could bang that little doe.”

“Somehow, I don’t think this was just a verbal negotiation. I get down here, and four people are keeping the two of you separated.”

“Yeah, look,” Paul turned his head sideways, exposing a mark on his face. “Your little fucking prince hit me.”

“You didn’t touch him?” I shrugged. “He looked pretty tousled.”

Paul stared at me before looking downward. He was siding with silence. I motioned for him to follow me and we went to the security booth behind the check-in station in the lobby.

“Sit down,” I demanded as I cued up the security footage for the dungeon hallway and the cell they were in.

For nearly six minutes I watched in shock and disgust at what transpired between Paul and Anthony.

“You hit him with a whip?” I asked, even though the security footage clearly showed that’s what happened. “God, Paul, that was in an open area. You could have hit anyone in the hall.”

“No one was down there by us. He told me that he didn’t want to scene with me. I was devastated. And then he started to run that fucking mouth of his.”

“You used an implement as a weapon with the intent to harm.” I paused hoping it would sink in but his vacant expression told me otherwise.

“He rejected me.”

I stared dumbfounded at Paul. His justification didn’t even make sense. There was no logic behind it, and that was greatly concerning to me. I heard what Anthony had said. Nothing warranted Paul’s behavior. Certainly, nothing justified Paul hitting him with a whip.

After I saw what happened in the dungeon, I knew what needed to be done.

“Your membership with Irons is permanently severed. You are a liability and a danger to my members. And I will not stand for what you did.”

“You can’t do this, Blake. We’ve been friends for years. Long before that little prince joined. You’re kicking me out in preference for him.”

“I am removing you from this club because of what you did! It wouldn’t have mattered who you did it to. People come here to enjoy their kinks in a safe environment. You whipping someone out of anger for not accepting your offer to scene with, is not safe and it’s not going to be tolerated.”

I motioned for him to get up, but of course he didn’t budge. I folded my arms across my chest.

“You’re going to make this difficult.”

“You’re fucking right. Throw me out then,” Paul said.

“Fine.”

I called the front desk to send me security, and within moments, three security guards appeared.

“Gentlemen, please show Mr. Fielding off the property,” I said to the security team.

“Fuck, seriously, Blake?” Paul said in an annoyed tone. “And it’s Master Paul!”

“The title, Master, is reserved for those who have earned the respect of other like-minded individuals. You lost that title today and your membership to Irons.” I motioned for security to remove Paul.

As I trailed behind security and Paul, I stopped at the check-in desk and got into the computer and made sure his account was flagged as terminated.

With that task done, I headed upstairs to my office to see how Anthony and Sydney were doing. While I made my way down the hall to my office, I tucked the anger away. Anthony and Sydney needed people around them to be calm. If we were panicked, they would be too.

I entered my office and looked right at Anthony. Right away, I could tell he was probably in shock and Matt confirmed it. Anthony’s eyes were focused, but I could tell that it was just a zoned-out look. I’ve seen this expression on his face before. It was during the mentorship weekend when he was applying for a spot in the mentoring program. Paul used him as an example lesson for a group of applicants. He ended up hitting him with a belt in their mock scene. He gave Anthony no indication as to what he was doing and made no attempt to check for triggers. It was reckless back then, though I had no idea an obsession had already started in his head. That scene knocked the wind out of him, just as tonight had.

“I’m fine, Blake,” Anthony said to me.

He was always “fine.” He was never one to admit that he wasn’t fine.

“Clearly, you’re fine,” I teased him as I put my hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently to remind him that I was here for him.

He always seemed to calm down when I put my hand on his shoulder. Perhaps his biological father did that for him a lot.

“I stopped and watched the security footage. I saw and heard everything. I terminated his membership and had him escorted off the premises. I’m sorry, Anthony.”

“Important thing is that Sydney is okay,” he replied.

I glanced at Matt again. Anthony always shifted concern for him to someone else. Anthony was riled up now and stood saying they needed to go. He wasn’t going anywhere for a while. Not like this. Matt ended up taking him outside to the hallway. I watched Sydney as her eyes followed Anthony.

“Sydney, sweetheart,” I said gently to get her attention.

She looked at me and gave me a small smile. She reminded me of my little Kelsie in a way. Wary and cautious, just as Kelsie had been at first.

“Are you okay?”

She nodded quickly and turned her head to look at the door. She’s a very sweet girl with a terrible past, but she clung to Anthony. He obviously made her feel safe.

“Sydney, did you get hit by anything down in the dungeon?”

Sydney turned her head away from the door to look at me again. “No, sir. Just Anthony,” she said and looked at the door. “He’s coming back, right?”

I nodded and reached for the sleeve of her sweater that had fallen off her tiny shoulders.

“Relax, Sydney. He’s just talking to Matt. They’ll be back in a moment.”

She nodded at me but her lips were in a tight line. I turned to look at Seth and let him know I’d be right back. Sydney needed Anthony right now, and my guess was that he’d do a little better having her to focus on and to help get his mind off the shit with Paul.

I grabbed a clean shirt from my wardrobe in the office and headed to the hallway with it. Anthony changed into the clean shirt while Matt showed me the text he got from Colin earlier. I was piecing it together, time-wise.

Paul sends Colin a text to get him worried on purpose and then proposes a scene to Anthony that he gets shut down for. Was his goal really to scene with Anthony and Sydney? He had to have known that Anthony would never go for it or was he that delusional? Either way, Paul ended up in a physical altercation with Anthony anyhow.