Jackson knew he had to make sure he had himself under the most strict of control. But the familiar sounds of submissives being punished as he entered the dungeon — crying out in agony as an instrument of the Master’s choice struck their willing flesh — made his palms literally itch to do that to Lexi’s naked body.

She’d been turned on the first night by seeing the submissive being plugged and punished on the spanking bench? Well, she was about to know exactly what it felt like. Ginger lube and a large butt plug would help the pain go much further. 

And she would stay there and be spanked until she’d admitted what she’d done. 

After the spanking a few days ago with Donovan, where she’d surrendered so sweetly and apologized, Jackson was frustrated that she couldn’t appreciate what having no secrets between them felt like. Of course, admittedly, he’d had his own secrets too. But his didn’t involve illegal activities.

Regardless, the time for secrets between them was at an end. 

He was over fifteen minutes late for meeting her and expected to find Lexi by the bar. When she wasn’t there he began walking around. Soon his frustration was growing. Things were bad enough for her without him having to search to find her. 

After two sweeps through the entire place, he knew she wasn’t there. God damn it.

Jackson’s phone rang. Donovan. “I hope you’re about to tell me that you have Lexi in your possession so that she’s not about to get twice the spanking I’ve already got in store for her.” Jackson moved over to a quieter area away from the music so he could hear better.

“Jackson, we were wrong.” Donovan’s voice was somber.

“About what?”

“Lexi wasn’t the one stealing from you. That was the weird data I was talking about before you left a few minutes ago.”

“But I thought she set up a program to skim?”

“She did. But what she was really doing was tricking another skimming program to expose itself. It was brilliant and it worked perfectly.”

Jackson rubbed a hand over his eyes trying to take all this in. “Why didn’t she just tell me what she was doing?”

Donovan snickered. “I would think it was because until a week ago you didn’t even know she was a part of SilverSystems, much less the brains behind it all. And since then her body and mind have otherwise engaged.”

“Shit.”

“Take it in, Jackson. She wasn’t stealing from you. She was protecting you.” 

Donovan was right. Jackson literally felt the weight shift off his shoulders. Lexi wasn’t guilty of anything but being too clever for her own good. “Well damn, there goes the reason for the spanking I was going to give her tonight.”

“I’m sure you can find another reason. Especially given how much she likes it.”

“Yeah, I’ve just got to find her. At least now I know she’s not hiding from me.”

“Let me keep going over this data her programmed pulled. It won’t take long, maybe ten minutes. It should pinpoint who the real thief is. Probably someone in either the New York or Los Angeles offices. You’ll need to get back there right away.”

Hopefully he’d be able to talk Lexi into going with him. ”Okay, keep me updated.”

“You were right about her, Jackson. I didn’t want to believe she could possible have anything but nefarious purposes behind what she was doing, but I was wrong.”

Jackson chuckled. “Let this be a lesson to you. I am always right.”

“Fuck you.” Donovan ended the call on a laugh.

After another ten minutes Jackson was becoming concerned. Where was Lexi? If she wasn’t hiding, why wasn’t she here? He realized he didn’t have her cell phone number, because he’d had her physically with him for the past few days.

Maybe she'd gotten ill or had fallen asleep in her own room – God knows she certainly hadn't had eight uninterrupted hours of sleep any night for a while.

Finally he went over to the bar to talk to Anthony, who have been one of his favorite bartenders at the BDSM club in New York City until Jackson had made sure he was offered a position here.

“Having a good night, Mr. Calder?” Anthony asked, handing him a chilled bottle of his favorite water.

“You would think so, but it seems like I've lost my new toy.”

“Oh, these toys, they can get away from you. Might I suggest putting a leash on her? I have a number of them behind the bar I could give you.”

“Believe me, when I find her I will be taking you up on that offer.”

Anthony smiled. “I've never seen you looking for one lady in particular. New development?”

“I finally got my mystery lady to take off her mask.” 

Anthony chuckled. “Sounds like she was worth the wait, then.”

“More than.” Jackson pulled out his phone to a picture he'd snapped of Lexi in Venice a few days ago. “Here she is. She should've been here tonight without a mask. Sort of her coming out ceremony.”

The color had drained from the big man's face. “That's your new girl?”

“Lexi Durham. Why? What's the matter?”

“Did you give her to someone to play with until you got here?” The bartender still looked worried.

“No.” Why the hell would Lexi be playing with someone else?

Jackson's phone buzzed in his hand. A text from Donovan.

I know you're not going to like this, but it looks like the thief is Mike Wentzel.

Dammit. All the pieces fell into place. Mike had access to Calder enterprises servers, and the computer know-how to do something like this.

Wentzel is on the ship, not in New York. Make sure Ian or Quentin pick him up.

Will do.

“I'm sorry, Anthony. What were you saying? You saw Lexi playing with someone else?” There had to be a mistake.

“No, sir. One of the regular masters asked for a ball gag and restraints. Said his little sub — your sub – wanted to do a non-con scene. He took her towards that area of the dungeon about fifteen or twenty minutes ago.”

“She went with him?”

Anthony shook his head. “He already had her gagged and bound before he left the bar. Threw her over his shoulder. Not uncommon for a non-con scene. I told him to make sure she had a squeaky toy. I'm sorry, boss, I should have double checked with her before she left the bar, but I could see the black bead on her bracelet. And I figured someone would double check with her before they did the scene.”

Although it was part of Anthony's duty to make sure people stayed safe, as it was part of everybody's duty here, what had happened was understandable. A black bead on the bracelet meant that non-consensual scenes were something the sub had agreed to. Tension coursed through Jackson. Lexi wouldn't do this. Wouldn't just jump into a scene without at least talking to him first.

“Do you know who the regular was, Anthony? And which scene room they were going to?”

“I don't know which room they were going to but I do know the name of the guy, only because his name is so ridiculous. Magic Mike.”

Fear closed around Jackson's throat. Lexi was missing and last seen with the man whom she discovered was stealing from Calder Enterprises? That was no coincidence.

“Anthony.” Jackson voice took on a deadly focus. “We have a code red. Get security and shut everything down. Make sure they know what Mike Wentzel looks like. They should be able to pull it up on the ship’s computer. I need the dungeon guards and the security team checking every private room here on in the dungeon. Tell them to report immediately to me if they find Wentzel or Lexi Durham.” 

But Jackson didn't think Mike had kept Lexi in the play area. He had very cleverly used BDSM practices to get her alone.

He walked out the door of the dungeon deck, just before the security team locked it down. If Mike was in there with Lexi they would find them.

Jackson called Donovan.

“I need the tracker activated on Lexi right away. Hurry, Donovan. Mike Wentzel has her. I don’t know how long, but it’s been a while.”

“Shit.” Jackson heard a flurry of clicks against the keyboard.

“Cabin 8270. Aft of the ship. Very back.”

Jackson was already running. Donovan said something else but Jackson didn't care. He put every ounce of strength and focus towards getting to the cabin where Lexi was being held by someone who had every reason to truly hurt her, if not worse.

As he reached the door he heard a scream from the inside.