The Matron's Handmaiden

by Clairanette

Summary:

Chloe, a young woman trapped under the heel of Candace St. Clair, the daughter of a powerful mafia boss, lives a miserable life serving as the slave of an all powerful mistress, and Candace is anything but kind hearted and loving, or so it seems. These two have a hidden soft spot for one another, as well as a secret history together, one that the two of them can’t quite seem to let go. Chloe’s fate may rest in Candace’s hands, but it’s up to the two of them together to decide how their story unfolds.

Chapter 1: Brand New Day

 

 

“Make yourself pretty or make yourself useful, slave. I would prefer both, but I will settle for either.” 

Her voice was as lovely and as patronizing as she was. Irresistibly charming and endlessly condescending, albeit infinitely more of one than the other. 

“Actually, on second thought, I do think I deserve both. Wouldn’t you agree?”

 

My day started like any other, curled up in a thin blanket and lying on the carpeted floor of my cell. Awoken by the lady of the house as she slowly unlocked the large metal door that separated my space from the rest of her walk-in closet. I looked up at her as the door swung open, and she looked past me, reaching down to grab me by the wrist. 

It was clearly not a good morning for her, annoyed by the greasiness of her own hair as she fumbled to the door to her bathroom, having forgotten to unlock it before retrieving me. She kept the master bathroom off limits to me, but she usually remembered to unlock the door in preparation of dragging me straight through to the other side. 

I didn’t answer her earlier question, I didn’t say anything at all. The hard grey muzzle clasped over my mouth made speaking difficult, and I had learned that making a fuss first thing in the morning was a terrible idea. 

As we entered the bathroom, the lights slowly started to turn on to prevent a sudden flash to her sensitive eyes. Squinting, she marched straight past her shower, multiple sinks, and shelves on the way to the door at the opposite end of the room. My wrist in hand, she opened the door into the hallway and shoved me out, forcing my unprepared feet into contact with the cold hardwood floor outside. 

“An omelette. Eggs, cheese, light butter, no peppers.” She looked me in the face for the first time this morning. 

Still unable to speak, I gave her a small bow, knowing she preferred being bowed to over receiving a simple nod. 

Not even a smile. Upon my acknowledgement, she turned away, her voice trailing out as she closed and locked the door. “And an iced tea with lemon.”

I shivered slightly, still adjusting to the feeling of my bare feet on the hardwood floor, made worse by the cold air from the vent outside of her bathroom blowing against my naked body. Apart from the band of metal clasped around my neck and the grey leather piece strapped to my mouth, I was completely vulnerable. 

The kitchen stood to my left, with the rest of the house behind me. I knew that right now would be the best time to turn around and make an escape attempt, as I heard the sounds of her turning the shower on through the bathroom door in front of me. But my body was sore, I hadn’t yet gotten to eat, clean, or relieve myself, and she counted on this. I knew I wouldn’t be eating until my owner had eaten, and the leather muzzle strapped to me made sure that none of her breakfast made its way into my mouth. 

I turned and made my way into the kitchen, there wouldn’t be an escape attempt today. I had only ever made one serious attempt to date, and I was far too hungry to try again today. Eggs, cheese, butter. I had never made an omelette until I learned to make one for her. The sounds of the eggs sizzling didn’t help my appetite as I opened the fridge to pull out the shredded cheese, deciding against trying to sneak a slice of ham back into my cell with me. 

I knew better. 

Her showers were never short, but by the time I had finished folding her omelette in half, I could no longer hear the sounds of water running that had been coming from the bathroom. Sliding a perfect little lemon wedge onto the rim of her iced tea, I picked up the tray and carried it to her door, balancing it in my dominant hand as I knocked on the door to the master bedroom. 

Candace answered the door and guided me in, accepting the tray from my hand and setting it down herself. The path into her closet was already open and clear, and she was just as naked as I. Her beautiful body was adorned with only a pair of opaque lace panties, just barely concealing her undoubtedly picture perfect genitalia, leaving onlookers desperate for more- even and especially including me. Already on her way to pick out the rest of her ensemble, she walked me back into her closet, pushing me down onto my knees inside of my cell and locking me inside once again. 

This was our usual routine, which she had polished to perfection, not wanting to waste a moment more on me than she needed to. Candace was a mastermind. She had optimized both of our morning procedures to flawlessness, expertly cutting down the unnecessary disruptions like only she could. 

I once again wrapped myself in the single blanket gifted to me by my owner, now on my knees atop the rug that both allowed me to sleep in anything but abject discomfort inside of my cramped home, and just barely tipped the cold stone floor of the cell over the definition of being carpeted by just barely covering enough floor space to allow a human being to sleep on top of it. 

I turned towards her room, ensuring that my only blanket wouldn’t slide off of my crouched body as I watched her open one of the small hatches built into the wall. She looked in at me from inside of her room, seemingly much more pleased now that she had conditioned her hair. 

The intricate metal hatch, which she had designed herself before leaving the construction effort to someone else, was a little bit of an engineering marvel for someone who’d never worked in said field in her life. 

She tapped the small surface in the now partially open hatch with one round painted fingernail, clasping a pair of attached restraints around my wrists. She reached her own hands inside once my hands were secured enough for her safety, her wrists resting on top of mine as she beckoned my helpless face towards her. 

Once I had quickly complied, she brought her keys to my face, unlocking the muzzle and pulling it through the hatch, and I could see the grey leather piece resting on the floor as she slid open another one of the panels, this one flat along the ground. 

My stomach growled as she pushed the small bowl into my cell, closing the hatch behind it. I was too hungry to care what it was, my hands restrained above me as I lowered my head to meet the bowl. The chewy mush didn’t smell nearly as good as the eggs, but it was food, and it was food that she allowed me to eat. I always took longer to eat than Candace did, having to scoop breakfast out of a bowl with my mouth like a dog. 

And just like a dog, it was as if my ears perked up as I heard Candace open up the closet door once again. I looked up at her as she unlocked the cell door, a path to my own personal servant bathroom open behind her. 

She smirked, prodding at me with one foot as I chewed, and with a smug smile on her face she looked down, admiring me- the naked girl cowering in her shadow. “Good morning, Candace…”

“Good morning, Chloe.”

Candace and Chloe. That’s my name- Chloe. 

In contrast to the mistress’ confident and articulate voice, mine was shaky and quivering. One slip of the tongue right now would earn me a foot in my mouth. I nervously gazed up at her, hoping that I had done an acceptable job of preparing her morning meal to her liking, just finishing my own food. “How was breakfast, Miss?”

“It was very nice… Now clean yourself up and get to mopping my floors.” Her reply was as condescending as ever, and before I’d even had my fill of staring at the silhouette of her gorgeous body framed by the light behind her, she turned heel and made her way back into her bedroom. 

She locked the closet door behind her, like she always did, before releasing me from the cuffs keeping me in place, the locked door creating a secure barrier between us before I was free to get anywhere near her, finally retrieving my empty bowl and closing both open hatches between us. “And I had better not find a single thing out of place or covered in dust by the time you’re done, or I’ll make sure to dust you.” 

“Yes, Your Majesty…” I mumbled to myself under my breath, careful not to be overheard. I didn’t really respond to what she said, knowing that there was little reason to if it was just going to further displease her.

Finally free from my restraints, I stood up and made my way to the open door across from Candace’s room, into a small stone room built adjacent to the master bathroom. It was only about the size of her shower, with floors covered in just as much water. A small sink, shelves, a shower, and an obligatory toilet for me to powder my nose with- as a snobby rich bitch like Candace might put it- were all crammed into this tiny uncomfortable space. 

I let out a sigh of relief as I stepped inside, finally able to clean and relieve myself. Candace only lets me into her bathroom once a day, and that was only in order for me to clean it, not allowing me to use it. So rather than using any of the many other restrooms in the mansion, I was forced to use this much less comfortable space. Which I got to use just about as rarely as I was allowed inside of the others to clean them.

 

I stepped into the shower one foot at a time, my metal collar still securely clasped around my neck. I turned the shower handle to the max, trying to turn the faucet on as hot as I could, yet still I’m met with the same stream of ice cold water as I always was. I shivered, surrounded by the cold steam, hurrying to wash myself and get dried off, but only after I was sure my body was cleaned to my captor’s liking.

Simultaneously lathering myself in a combination of body wash and shampoo, I take gentle care of my hair, one of the few things I can take pride in anymore, now that everything else had been taken away from me, making sure to run my fingers through it for just a moment. 

It was about down to my hips at the longest, and it had taken me about all of my adult life to grow it out from the length I’d been made to keep it at as a child. My messy head of dyed peach hair wasn’t actually too off from the normal orange of my hair’s natural pigment, but that extra little bit of pink color really did make it pop- and I liked that. 

Once cleaned, I rinsed myself and my hair off in the cold water, wrapping myself in my only towel. Hanging on the towel rack next to the sink was a skimpy but fitting black dress with a white apron and accents sewn onto it, the traditional maid’s uniform- I was a maid after all. 

I slipped the dress on once I was dry, sliding on a pair of white tights underneath. While I would have liked to see another woman in such a dress, I wasn’t personally too big a fan of the outfit, but at Candace’s order I resigned myself to wearing it like I was told- making good on my promise of making myself pretty for her. 

 

I immediately got to work cleaning the shower I’d just washed up in, using the water and my pitifully small bucket of cleaning supplies to help flush and clean away any grime from the sink and toilet as well. It was arguably one of the grossest rooms in the home, since I myself wasn’t as picky on how clean my space was in comparison to hers, but it wasn’t too terrible at all, especially since I did still clean it daily. 

Once finished, I moved into the master bathroom, immediately able to tell the difference. I was instantly met with the soft scent of her shower, it smelled like Candace, and I could feel my heart skip a beat. Her scent, the smell of her body wash and shampoo, always lingered after her showers, and I made sure to always clean the shower last because of it.

I took a deep breath as I leaned over the side of her bathtub, completely separate from her aforementioned shower, already seemingly clear of any dirt and imperfections and began to scrub it even cleaner. It was clear to me that there was no need to so thoroughly clean Candace’s bathroom every morning, but she was set on having me do so anyways, a part of our routine that I had quickly gotten used to.

 

It’s not about keeping the house clean to her, it’s about making me work, keeping me busy. It is pleasant in a way, the master bathroom is kept so clean that before I’ve even started to clean, it already looks and smells brand new, making it far easier to polish her porcelain and floor, even if it is big. 

I did finally have to put in the effort of cleaning her shower, which was admittedly the hardest thing in her bathroom to clean, and not because I just didn’t want to get rid of the pleasant smell of her cleaning products, I wasn’t so enthralled with her that I didn’t hate just about everything she stood for. It was because it was the one thing in here that she did use, and she used it more than once daily- especially after getting done with her daily workout.

I took a quick glance at myself in the mirror once I’d finished, delicately brushing my locks with her hairbrush. My reflection stared back at me through the pristine glass, she looked defeated. 

I never expected to see myself looking like someone’s maid, but there I was, Candace’s slave, her possession. The white light of my collar blinked menacingly every few moments, reminding me of what I was and who I belonged to. I was no longer a person, I was property. 

Her property. 

I forced myself to look away from the mirror, knocking on the third and final door to her sprawling master bathroom- this one connecting directly into her bedroom- and hoping for her to answer. And after a few moments, I’m met by Candace, holding her empty breakfast tray out to me to be taken care of. “Wash and dry them by hand once you’re done in here.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” I mumbled back to her, not wanting to provoke her disapproval as she glared at me, awaiting a response. I looked down as I spoke, her cold mean eyes threatening to cut right through me if we made eye contact, I nodded in agreement, taking the tray from her before watching her make her exit. 

Setting the remnants of Candace’s breakfast down for the time being, I made my way to her bed, seeing the soft fiber mattress I wished I could be sleeping in. The carpeted floor of the master bedroom was much nicer under my soles than the cold stone floor of the closet I was forced to call home. I pushed past my bitter jealousy and went on with my work, folding her king-sized sheets nicely, making sure to fluff each of her five soft feather pillows as I made her bed for her.

 

Being made to clean her bedroom everyday was like torture. I loathe every moment I spend in there without her. 

Her king sized bed lied in the corner of the room, attached to the opposite wall was a massive television screen, almost a hundred inches wide. In the corner of the room next to the closet door I could see the metal hatch into my cell, and beside it was a small chest full of tools and implements that I was all too familiar with. 

In the middle of the room was a sofa surrounding a large glass coffee table, where she likes to eat her breakfast. Finally, adjacent to her bed was a large desk, Candace’s bedroom gaming rig, complete with three separate monitors for two different computers. 

Once I finished making her bed, organizing her clothes, dusting every surface, and vacuuming the floors, I made my way back to the kitchen to wash the dishes from breakfast, including my bowl. Candace’s bedroom always took me the better part of the morning to clean, so I knew that right about now was when I would need to start on lunch. 

 

After finishing the dishes I moved on to cleaning the kitchen, I wiped down the tables, put away utensils- which very conveniently didn’t include anything sharper than a fork, since I wasn’t allowed access to knives- and was in the middle of mopping the kitchen floor when I heard her voice. 

“Bring my lunch to the gaming room today, I expect you here before the end of this match.” She ordered, speaking through the intercom directly to me in the kitchen. I clenched my fist, angrily squeezing bubbles out of the sponge in my hand as I followed that order.

I can handle Candace being demanding and strict, but more than anything else, Candace liked being mean and unfair, and it makes my blood boil. Twenty minutes per match is hardly enough time to make and serve lunch to a woman who expects professionally cooked dishes for every meal, and she knows that.

I tossed the sponge back into the soap bucket, stomping my feet to the counter. Exasperated, I began putting together a simple sampling platter for her, a charcuterie prepared on a tray shiny enough to clearly see my own reflection in. I watched my face in the chrome of the dish, my face turning red with humiliated anger.

“I’m sorry, your highness , you should have said something sooner.” I bit my lip as I began slicing cheese onto the platter, unable to hold my temper back any longer. “I am sick and tired of you. If you want things done well, then maybe you shouldn’t make things harder than they need to be…”

I slammed the door of the fridge shut, still simmering with fury as I turned to the sink to wash my hands, looking through the bulletproof glass of the window above the sink, staring over the beach and out into the ocean, so captivatingly close, yet still so far away from me. “Maybe you should have kidnapped a real maid, instead of me…” 

Still biting my lip, I stared down into the sink, turning the faucet off. I knew very well why I was here, why it was me here, and not someone else- and it destroyed me. It was me that Candace wanted to punish, my life was the one that she wanted to ruin.

 

Before I could even reach the now finished platter to deliver it to her I was on my knees, collapsed onto the cold wet floor. Unable to move or gasp for air, I bit down as hard as I could, feeling as if I was being struck by lightning. 

The once innocent white light of the metal band around my neck was now quickly blinking red, sending an agonizing torrent of electricity into my throat and through my entire body. The slave collar I had been cursed with was very nearly irremovable, and the evil queen could activate it from anywhere, inside or out. 

On all fours now, I cried out in pain, unable to hear the echoes of my own wails through the pain, a ringing in my ears interrupted my thoughts before I could form them. After what felt like an eternity, the shock finally ended, and as I began to regain my senses I could finally feel the tears streaming down my face and onto the surface below. Once the ringing in my ears had subsided I could finally hear my own voice, desperately mumbling the words I’m sorry as loud as I could, over and over again, hoping my mistress would hear and forgive me. 

 

“Lose the attitude, SLAVE, or you won’t be eating. Ever. Again.”

I sobbed even louder, slamming my forehead into the ground, bowing to her, begging for forgiveness. I whimpered loudly, my entire body trembling, feeling a puddle below my face that I couldn’t recognize, unable to identify whether it was the soap and water from cleaning the floors, or my own tears.

“I’m sorry, Madame St. Clair!! I should know better by now. Please, please, forgive me.” My eyes still closed, I attempted to compose myself, pleading for Candace’s amnesty, speaking into the floor below me. I slowly began opening my eyes after a few more moments of desperate apology, the tears streaming down my face now born from fear rather than pain, terrified to think of what she might do to me. “I am so so sorry, Miss, I-”

“Enough now. You’ve already interfered with both the match and my lunch, and you should be ashamed of that. Now make yourself presentable and bring me my food. You’ll have to do the kitchen floor again, starting with that puddle you’re groveling in.” 

Through the still fading ringing in my ears I’m interrupted. I could hear the amusement in her voice, able to picture the smug grin on her face even without having to see her. 

My face turned bright pink, humiliated to the point of bawling once again as I realized the puddle I was sitting in was neither water nor tears, but that I had soaked myself and the leggings I was wearing while I was collapsed onto the floor, not knowing if I had lost control of myself while I was being electrocuted, or if I had wet my pants in fear as I was being admonished.

Regardless of what it was, all I could manage was a few quiet sobs of acknowledgement and a hushed “Yes, Mistress” through my pained lips. 

 

I slowly pulled myself back up to my feet and snapped back to following Candace’s orders, washing my hands and face clean before delivering her lunch to her. 

Entering into the dining room, the pain I had been in from the shock was now fading into discomfort. Usually, the mistress of the house would take her lunch in this room, but today she had instructed me to bring it to her in her entertainment room while she continued to play video games. 

Not willing to defy one of her orders, I walked through the opposite doorway out into the opposite hallway, knocking on the door to my destination.

 

I watched as the lady of the house opened the door to her entertainment room, Candace St. Clair, standing in the doorway to meet me, the controller to my collar strapped around her left wrist expertly disguised to look like an otherwise inconspicuous piece of jewelry.

She stood over me, almost six feet tall, with platinum blonde hair flowing down her back. She was larger and physically stronger than me, with larger and more accentuated curves, fit for her modeling career.

You couldn’t tell by looking at her that she bought that body, shaped by medical treatments and surgeries, she even had what I assumed were a pair of incision scars on her chest where they cut her open and enlarged her breasts. The only thing I could safely say had been untouched by surgery was that gorgeous face of hers. 

She went beyond conventionally attractive. She was a goddess. 

Yet behind her I could see and hear what she was playing, she spent most of her time practicing her skills at Stolen Cosmos. By profession, Candace was not only a cosplay model, but a famous Esports player, and a passionate one. She was one of the best players in the world, having won second in last year’s World Championship Series. 

For the first time ever, the final match had been between two women- astonishingly- and Candace was absolute livid that she wasn’t able to become the first woman to ever win the world championship title, having lost to some rookie girl named Sophia Cavalier, and Candace was determined to never let that happen again. 

As a professional Stolen Cosmos player should be, Candace is excellent at planning and micromanaging, capable of having a successful and quite lucrative career as a model while not losing any practice. When it came down to it, the game was what she cared about the most, even if it paid less than her photoshoots- not that she really needed the money. 

As much as I despise Candace and the way she treats me most of the time, I really do wish that she had won that championship- because I’m sure she would most certainly treat me better if she wasn’t so adamantly cross with the entire world around her on such a constant basis. 

Maybe if she had won, she would have been more than happy to celebrate her victory with me. But instead, she lost- and as a result, I’m the one left to pick up the pieces of her defeat and serve as the subject of her hatred. 

The first time I had ever met her in person was at a convention, I had been one of the helpers working at an esports panel and signing event she had been a part of. That was almost four years ago now, back when Candace was still a famous rookie. 

It was ironic really, I should have noticed her less than virtuous tendencies when I asked for her autograph after the event, either too shy to or not having the chance to get in line while she was actually giving away autographs- when instead of finding some piece of paper to write an autograph for me on, she asked me to turn around and roll up my shirt so that she could write her initials on my lower back. 

And of course she took pictures of it with my phone, I even got a picture together with her after the fact, at the time I just thought it was a normal thing for minor celebrities like her to do, but looking back on it- that day should have probably been my first red flag.

In contrast to the mistress of the house, of course, I was considerably less impressive. I was more than half a foot shorter than her, with that messy head of dyed hair, and I was noticeably smaller in my curves- cute- but not as attractive as the woman in front of me. 

And that was just my appearance, my childhood had been a nightmare too- having been taken away from my parents at a really young age and raised in foster care. I had been on my own all my life, while Candace had a family behind her- and what a family it was. 

 

I was snapped back to reality, greeted by a forceful slap to the face, barely managing to keep my hands steady enough to keep from dropping the tray. I held her lunch out to her in one hand, wiping my tears away with the other. Being struck by my mistress hurt more than being shocked, not physically, but mentally. 

“I’m ashamed of myself, I- I’m sorry, Miss. I promise that it won’t ha-”

“What happened to your lip?” She asked, now staring at my bottom lip. I quieted myself, putting my hand up to my lip as she took the tray from me, noticing the bleeding for the very first time. 

I had been so distraught by everything that was going on that I hadn’t noticed that I’d bitten through the skin of my lower lip as I was being electrocuted. “I- it’s nothing, my lady.”

“See to it that it heals properly, I won’t be having you kiss my boots with bloody lips. As for your transgressions earlier, I stand by what I said, you won’t be eating tonight… Nor will you be permitted to use the washroom again, since you’re clearly so eager to piss your pants.” 

She smirked, beginning to turn around back into the room, setting her lunch down on her side table. But even seeing that grin, I couldn’t help but be a little touched by the idea that she might very well care for my safety in seeing the blood coming from my face.

“That being said, as long as you don’t make any further mistakes today, you won’t be subjected to any more physical punishment. But one more fuck up and I will make you suffer tonight, is that understood, Chloe?”

My frown quickly turned into a smile, grateful that Candace had seemingly forgiven me for talking back to her. My hands crossed in front of my hips, gripping tightly at the skirt of my dress as I bowed happily, tears of relief now dripping down my face. “Thank you, Mistress…”

 

After hearing the sound of Candace shutting the door on me, I rose and headed back to the kitchen, beginning to clean up the mess I’d created on the floor. It was humiliating to think that Candace could see me even from another room, watching me accidentally piss myself in the kitchen. 

I swiftly cleaned up the puddle, dealing with my own mess and washing the entirety of the kitchen floor again before moving on to the rest of my duties. Eager to impress her, I thoroughly swept and scrubbed every hallway in the house, my metal collar beeping loudly to warn both me and my mistress of my misconduct the closer I got to each of the exits, as well as mopping the floors of the foyer, lounge, and parlor- not making a single peep.

The rest of the evening passed uneventfully after that point, I found other things to do, dusting and cleaning windows, reorganizing shelves, and taking care of my owner’s cat, until eventually I heard Candace’s footsteps coming out of her gaming and entertainment room. 

“You’ll be deep cleaning the dining room tonight, while I eat, since I clearly need to keep a closer eye on you.” I could hear the disappointment in her voice as I rose to meet her, following her through the dining room as she gestured for me to enter the kitchen. 

Deep cleaning was something that I did once a day, for a different room every day of the week. The dining room, entertainment room, pet room, laundry room, parlor, lounge, and foyer each needed special attention once per week-

And while there wasn’t exactly a strict schedule to it, the one thing that I had noticed was that Candace usually locked me into the laundry room when she needed to leave me at home alone without supervision, which usually included Sunday mornings- which I assumed was because she left for church.

I was at least glad that she didn’t force me to accompany her to mass every week, not that I was ever allowed to leave the house, I could only pray that if she ever did allow me to leave the house that she wouldn’t force me to attend with her. I had never practiced religion in my life, and I didn’t really have any desire to start now. 

 

Without saying a word to her, I began cooking dinner, and I could hear her grow equally as silent from the other room as I did so. Doing my best to try and impress her again, I did my best to serve her favorite pasta for dinner- baked penne rigate with italian sausage, ricotta cheese, red onion, white wine, tomato garlic sauce, and chopped peppers. 

Candace liked peppers, just not usually for breakfast. The girl might be more pasty than your average person- on account of her medical condition- but she could handle her spices. She was italian after all~

I quickly finished dinner for her, entering the dining room once again to find Candace turned around, staring out into that same ocean through the large sliding glass door out of the dining room, overlooking the beach behind the house and into the sea. 

She would enjoy her meal of course, but there was more to it than just any italian heritage, there was still that huge white elephant in the room- Candace’s family.  

 

“The summer solstice is tomorrow… the days will only get shorter soon.” She stared longingly out into the water, watching the sun as it sets, pondering at me. “Does my thrall know how to swim?”

“I do, Ma’am.” I set her dish down on the table in front of her before setting out to clean the windows she was staring through, gazing out into the ocean with her. “Though I doubt I’m as good at it as you are, growing up on the beach and all…”

“I think one day I’ll take you out there with me, swimming alone can only be fun for so long.” She turned back around, more than happy to begin eating her dinner, sighing to herself. “The worst that you’ve done since you’ve gotten here is make me realize how lonely it is not having someone to talk to…” 

“I’m glad to hear that I haven’t done anything worse than what got me in this mess in the first place.” Pleased to see her enjoying her meal, I went to work behind her, finishing up cleaning the windows, mostly keeping to myself as she ate, beginning to polish the fancy dishware she kept on display here in the dining room with us.

I wasn’t actually allowed to talk about why I was here, not really. It was the one surefire thing that she had a strict rule against- reminding her of what I did to her. I didn’t like it, but I respected it, if what I did to her was bad enough to convince her to kidnap and punish me for it, then it was clearly understandable that she didn’t like thinking about it. 

Candace had a power that most people never would, all thanks to her family. She used that power to kidnap and keep me here, and she did claim me as her slave in order to punish me, she made that clear, and because she had the power to make it happen, I had been powerless to stop it. 

Candace wasn’t just a professional model and top tier esports champion- she was a mafioso, and an extremely wealthy and powerful one at that. Her family wasn’t just part of the mafia either, her family was at the center of the mafia. 

Her father was one of the most powerful men in the business, and she was the godfather’s daughter- she was his heiress. 

 

“Would you like to go home someday, Chloe?”

“Yes.” My grasp tightened around the both elegantly carved and delicately built dish I’d been cleaning as I thought about home. My heart skipped a beat, stopping me in my tracks as I heard her voice, giving me just a sliver of hope that she might forgive me enough to free me someday, struggling to keep my composure still. “I… I would…” 

“You’re not getting out of this. Ever.” She looked me straight in the eye and told me no, a stern look painted onto her face, platinum hair glistening in the light of the sunset as her deep blue eyes stared straight into my soul and snuffed out any last hope in my heart I still held for myself. “There’s no home waiting for you out there. This place is where you belong, your home… I am your home now. Understood?”

I bit down on my already injured lip again, tears dripping onto the floor as my heart broke inside of my chest, but the crushing emotion inside of me was far from the only thing to shatter. A loud clatter of glass echoed through the otherwise silent house as one of Candace’s fancy pieces of china fell to pieces in my hands, crushed by the weight of defeat still heavy in my still crying little head. 

Unable to summon any words, I once again lowered my head to the floor in shame, before letting the rest of my body fall with them, pleading with her. I listened carefully as her footsteps got closer, watching her shadow as she sat down in front of me. 

I sniffled, trying to choke back my fear as I watched her reach towards me, this time pinching my lower lip between her fingers, causing it to bleed out anew as she picked up a small piece of glass, forcing my mouth open and placing it on my tongue. 

“I knew you couldn’t do it.” She stood me up and sent me out of the room back to the kitchen, rushing to clean up my mistake. “Go find something for these shards, and clean this up with your mouth.” 

It was beyond terrifying, but I did as I was told, I quickly found a small waste bin and spit the small plate shard into it, finding a small rag to put to my lip before heading back to the dining room. I carried it back with me, wetting the rag and pressing it against my mouth to help stop the bleeding, kneeling down next to the china cabinet. 

In preparation of getting to watch me clean up after myself, Candace had already moved across the table into a position to watch my torment, legs crossed as she held the now empty plate from dinner- and dropped it onto the floor at my feet, shattering to pieces alongside the dish that I had broken, making my job all that much worse to put myself through. 

As her slave, I slowly and painstakingly did what my owner instructed me to, picking up each and every shard with my mouth and depositing the pieces into the waste bin. It wasn’t a torture that most people would ever allow themselves to endure- but I had no choice, I was less than a person to her, and her word was all that mattered. 

 

“I’m very disappointed in your performance today. That will be all from you, I will have you deep clean the dining room tomorrow in addition to your regular duties.” Her words hurt me, not quite as stingingly as the newly forming cuts in my mouth, but a lot more deeply. 

She lifted me by my wrist, having finished with what remnants of her food were left while enjoying my pain, walking back to her room with me in tow. Back through the closet, she opened my cell, placing me back inside of it for the night- and I collapsed to the floor in defeat, wanting to plead for forgiveness, but still tormented by the pains in my mouth.

“Strip naked, and then get the restraints ready, I’m not done with you yet.” She slammed the cell door closed, opening the hatch in the main door of my cell for me to deposit my piss stained uniform through, before walking away. 

I did as I’m told, stripping my uniform off and putting it through the hatch, closing it once I’m done and rendering myself unable to open it back up. I then moved onto getting the restraints ready for my captor, there were two pairs of shackles in my cell, attached to the wall on one side- and just as I was told, I pulled them out into position and got myself ready for Candace’s return. 

I sat in abject silence for what must have been an hour until I could hear any activity from outside of my cell. I wasn’t sure what it was, but I could hear her set down something heavy outside of the door just before she opened it, kicking my uniform to the side. “You’ll be working naked for most of tomorrow, since you need to do laundry anyways. Stand up and face the wall.”

Following her instructions, I rose to my feet, my knees trembling as I turned to face the wall away from the master bedroom, closing my eyes and allowing Candace to shackle both of my wrists and both of my ankles to the wall in front of me, preventing me from turning away from it. Her warm hands began to run up and down my back, feeling my every bump and curve. I held my tongue and my breath as she cupped both of my breasts with her soft delicate palms. 

“I’m not here to fuck you, that’d be letting you off easy… I’m here to punish you, for everything you’ve done to me… Now whimper for my forgiveness…” She whispered directly into my ear, letting me feel her warm breath before I began to whimper loudly through lips, tears running down my face again. 

“One of my father’s favorite assistants helped convince him to get me this fancy little toy right here… just for you.” My eyes went wide as she spoke, watching her retrieve a large glowing branding iron in the shape of a spiral, like a demented nautilus shell. She squeezed my ass in her hand before running her fingers up to my lower back, tracing a circle just above my tailbone. “I think here will do just fine, don’t you my little plaything~?”

“Candace… please…” I stared back at her with tears in my eyes, pleading for mercy as she pressed the burning iron into my skin, pushing it deep into my lower back, crying out in pain as I’m left helpless to fight back against her, forced to wallow in pain as she incinerated the symbol into me like a tramp stamp, holding it there for what felt like an hour before she finally relented. She finally doused the branding iron, putting it out completely before returning to me, a bawling mess still chained to the wall. 

“Oh, Chloe… I should leave you here. I should leave you shackled and in pain until you starve to death, but I won’t… I can’t… I want more from you, and I won’t stop until I’ve ruined your life…”

She smacked my backside, sending a horrible spike of pain through my body as her hand struck  the brand. Candace began to unshackle me from the wall, gently helping me to the floor before heading into her bedroom for a few moments, returning later with a single small pill and a glass of water.

She grabbed me by the lip, much gentler this time, opening my mouth up and setting the pill down on my tongue like she had done with that shard of dinnerware just earlier in the night, holding the glass of water to my lips and helping me swallow the pill.

“That pill will help numb your mouth, to make it hurt less, and it’s going to make tomorrow all the more interesting for you.” She set my muzzle down in her lap, getting ready to strap it onto my face. “You’re going to do better tomorrow. Aren’t you, Chloe?”

“Mistress…” Looking her in the eyes once again, my vision blurred by tears, I nodded. “I promise.”

“Enjoy your new brand, Slave.” 

And with that, she curled my leggings from lunch into a ball and very softly stuffed them into my mouth, lifting the muzzle up to my face, and wrapping the whole thing around my still numbing mouth, strapping it securely onto my face, giving me a short goodbye before closing the door to my cell and heading to bed for the night.

“Goodnight, Chloe. I’ll come and get you in the morning.”

Notes:

Updated 7/9/2021

Chapter 2: Desperate Housebreaking

I. The Perfect Match

 

I woke up in pain the next morning. 

Whatever pill Candace had given me was working, because my mouth was still numb by the time morning came around. I was just glad she gave me anything for it at all, even if she had caused my discomfort in the first place. My mouth thankfully didn’t sting like my lip had, but the numbness was just as unpleasant. Even worse, my body still burned. 

I twisted around to look at my lower back, finally able to see the brand she had given me. It was a perfect recreation, the symbol of my oppression, and touching it felt like fire. It just had to be there, right where she first signed my body. 

 

“Rise and shine, worm. You have a difficult day ahead of you!!” My eyes drifted up to meet hers, sulking quietly as Candace swung the cell door open with unusual enthusiasm.

I wasn’t ready to start my morning routine yet, but that wasn’t going to stop Candace from yanking me to my feet by my hair. Curling her fist around my long peach dyed locks, she more than happily forced me off of my aching knees. 

Once I stood up however, I quickly felt a painful twinge in my abdomen. My hands shot down between my thighs, joints locking up in place at the sudden but familiar pain. As expected, Candace paid my discomfort little mind, looking me up and down only briefly before tugging me further to her, a mischievous look on her face as we walked. 

“Looks like pissnets needs to use the bathroom already?” She taunted me as we entered her master bathroom, stopping inside for almost half a minute to let me stare at everything I wasn’t allowed to use before continuing on, pushing me out towards the kitchen again. “Try not to piss on my kitchen floor again, or you’ll be pissing in your cell from now on. You’ll get to use the restroom once you’ve been fed, like always.”

She tossed me aside, pulling a fistful of my hair from my head, detaching me from her hand and letting my fall to my knees on the cold hardwood floor in front of her. “And not a moment sooner.”

She slammed the door shut in my face before locking it shut between us, giggling to herself from inside as I worriedly ran my fingers through my now damaged locks. It took me a few more moments to rise to my feet, making sure she didn’t tear too much of my hair from my head. 

I bit down on the cloth tights in my mouth, the pain in my bladder worsening as I listened to the sound of water running inside of Candace’s restroom in front of me. Nevertheless, I dragged myself to the kitchen to make breakfast, suffering through my agony as I tried to cook food without peeing on the floor again. 

I shouldn’t need to go to the bathroom already, why do I need to pee this much? 

 

Maybe Candace was into this kind of thing, but if she was that was yet to be seen, one thing was for certain though, I sure wasn’t. This was just another way of causing me pain, another form of torture for her to inflict on me. 

This was just her trying to hurt and humiliate me, and I hated her for that. 

I knocked on the door to the master bedroom, once again greeted by Candace, fresh out of the shower, and bare from head to toe. She looked me up and down again, satisfied by my still trembling knees, clutching her bathrobe tight to her body. “Set it down and get back in your cage, you filthy animal~”

She seemed just a little bit surprised to see me back so soon, quickly slipping a pair of boyshorts over her legs and up her bathrobe. I’d never actually seen Candace completely naked, usually she was at least partially dressed by the time I’d returned with her first meal. 

“You’re early. But you’re stupid if you think I’m going to change my morning routine for you.” I had admittedly done a rushed job with breakfast, and if I wasn’t in so much pain already this would have been a pretty good time to swipe the shock controller from her bedside table and make a run for it, but I very desperately needed relief- and she knew that. “You’re so desperate already. I don’t even need this right now, do I?”

She smirked, slipping her fingers under my collar as she began tugging me back into the cold stone cell. Being tossed onto the hard cement floor was just as jarring as it always was, but the twinge in my groin and the fire in my skin made it that much worse. Candace didn’t need the collar to keep me in line for now, but the moment I could get away with kicking her in that pretty little clit of hers and knocking down the door, I was going to.

“I’m glad to see that those pills have been helping~” She slid open the hatch, delivering my breakfast to me as normal, retrieving my muzzle and pulling out the pair of tights she’d stuffed into my mouth, rolling them into a ball and rubbing them against my face, wiping up spittle from my lips. 

I had almost completely forgotten about the medicine Candace had given me over the course of cooking breakfast and the panic I had been in last night. I ran my tongue over the sore spots in my mouth, the pill still numbing my mouth like it’s meant to. Shaking my head free of pain, I leaned down to the bowl, eager to eat before the medicine wore off. 

Candace had gone ahead and filled the bowl with something softer for me to eat this morning, which I quickly consumed. Last night had come and gone without me getting to eat or use the restroom, so I rushed myself, even though I knew Candace would release me when she felt like it, and not a moment sooner. Despite all of this, I was at least happy that she’d decided to feed me something that wouldn’t cause any more discomfort in my mouth. “I see that the diuretic in that pill is working too, isn’t it Chloe?”

“Th- the what?” I looked up from my food, feeling some specks stuck to my chin. “What did you give me?”

“Oh calm down, I give you medication all the time. That stuff I feed you every morning is laced with just the right medications to keep you functioning, which reminds me-” Candace mocked me, grinning safely from the other side of this wall between us. “I need to take my own pills, you’re not the only one on a diuretic, unfortunately…”

“So what, you just… gave me one of your own pills so that I can share in your pain…”

“Pretty much, yes. Luckily for me, I’m a real person who gets to use the real restroom, and you are not~”

“That must be why I need to pee so badly…”

My cheeks turned pink, feeling stupid that I hadn’t realized what was happening. As soon as we made eye contact through the hatch again, Candace smirked, reaching through and squeezing my blushing cheeks together, dragging me forward towards her. 

“Someone finally figured it out, huh… good for you. Unfortunately, you won’t be getting to do that in the bathroom this morning.” My eyes widened in terror as they rose again to meet hers, watching her smile as she simply pushed my face away from her, my eyes in turn staring back down at the floor, averting themselves from her. “I want to watch you squirm some more~”

“Wh-what do you mean, Ma’am?”

“I mean you’ll be pissing in your cell~”

“You said I’d get to use the restroom…”

“And you will, you’ll need to shower after you’ve pissed yourself… again, not that you’ve washed yourself since the last time~”

I clenched my fists out of frustration as she closed the hatch, sick of Candace always going back on her word just to torment me. But I held my tongue, the sound of the contraption locking echoing through my empty chamber as I was left in silence, knowing that if I called her out now I’d end up in an even worse position that I already was. “I must have misunderstood… sorry, Ma’am.” 

 

I’m getting out of here… and nothing you can do is going to stop me… 

The precautions Candace had built into her house were truly frightening. The walls and doors of my small isolated cell were almost completely soundproof, making it completely impossible to hear any noise coming from further away than Candace’s bedroom. Even from Candace’s bedroom, her voice and the sound of her gaming matches were totally muffled at best, leaving me unable to tell what was going on outside of my containment. 

In combination with being almost completely soundproof, my little holding cell was nearly invisible. Even if you did find yourself in the mistress’ bedroom, the one part of the house that she almost never allows visitors, the interior of her closet is completely inconspicuous. Wandering into the closet without knowing that it locks from the outside meant that if she wanted to, Candace could lock anyone inside and there would be no way out for them without the key.

I would know, she did it to me the first time I ever stepped foot in her home. 

From inside of the walk-in closet, all three of the other doors could be hidden behind screens, painted to look completely indistinguishable from the walls, each of them requiring keys to unlock and enter, even and especially the large metal door to my cell. 

But the walls weren’t the only frightening thing about my cell, attached to the wall opposite the master bedroom were manacles, restraints that were built into and irremovable from the wall, capable of completely binding my limbs to the wall and rendering me immobile. Candace used them just last night, forcing me against the wall as she burned this humiliating brand into my back. 

The floor is the same fancy stone flooring that decorates the closet outside. Luckily for me, Candace was merciful enough to include a small rug on the floor for me to sleep on, not as comfortable as the bed in Candace’s room or even the carpet beneath it, or big enough to even fit my whole body on top of, let alone cover the whole floor- but it was about as comfortable as a doormat, and I appreciated it immensely. 

Beneath said rug however, was a large metal ring built into the floor, an anchor point for more diabolical restraints, and built into the ceiling directly above it was an identical contraption. Opposite the door is what seems like a bench, built into the wall and made of the exact same stone, large enough to lay on top of, but even less comfortable than the floor. Candace had also left me a small trash bin, as well as a blanket and pillow to help me sleep. 

 

The single door into my cell was both thick and seemingly indestructible, requiring two completely different keys to unlock and open the door from the outside. Built into the bottom of the door was a large sort of hatch, which slides down and opens like a window rather than swinging out on hinges, just large enough to fit one’s whole body through if opened completely, located at the perfect eye level when sitting on the floor. 

The hatch requires its own separate key to unlock and open, and both the hatch and the door lock instantly the moment they are closed, and from the inside are completely and absolutely unopenable- at least without digital control over the thing. 

No handles, keyholes, knobs, hinges, or grooves to even grab at- the whole door is one perfectly flat metal surface, as if it was cast in place like concrete, and above the door as well as opposite it- two separate surveillance cameras.

 

That hatch that I currently found myself affixed to however, was slightly more sophisticated. Built into the wall between Candace’s bedroom and my own, although it is also completely inoperable from the inside, has multiple separate sections that unlock and slide open individually, and attached to the top panel was another pair of manacles, which Candace used to bind my hands before breakfast, before using the bottom panel to deliver my food. 

Clearly- I had put in a lot of thought as to how Candace’s security system worked, and though I was sure I’d run into some extra troubles along the way, I was confident enough to at least try and escape. 

No amount of security is going to keep me here forever… 

 

Another large stinging pain in my waist snapped me back to reality, forcing me to kick my small bundle of sleeping materials to the side, pushing them off into one corner to protect them.

…Oh god am I really fucking doing this?

Though empty, my food bowl was still just sitting there on the floor of my cell, as were my already soaked leggings from yesterday, still curled up into a heap on the floor. 

I didn’t want to do this, not at all, but I was getting closer and closer to no longer being able to stop myself. I didn’t have a very large bladder, unfortunately, sooner or later I was going to find myself once again pissing all over the floor, but this time Candace was doing it on purpose- as some extra cruel punishment for yesterday.

And I really had no other choice. 

I finally surrendered, a stream of liquid that even I didn’t want to think about making its way down my legs and onto the floor beneath me. I bit down on my injured, yet still mostly numb lip, waiting for it all to wash away, the feeling of pressure on my bladder slowly being eased was relieving, but not at all satisfying.

How dare she do this to me? 

How dare she keep me like this, like an animal trapped inside of a cage- this wasn’t fair. Yes, it was my fault that I was here, but even if she did still hate me for what I did, this wasn’t fair. 

This was just like everything I’d been forced to endure up to this point, more than anything else, this was humiliating. 

 

There was nothing in the world that Candace St. Clair loved more than humiliating, degrading, and debasing me- making me feel embarrassed, mortified, and ashamed of myself. She lived for that. 

She may have lost in that final match against her rival, but in this game, she was winning. 

She held a hatred in her heart for her archrival very much unlike the public perception of her- and she needed someone to take all of that bound up anger out on. 

That way she won’t make a scene in public and ruin her image, if even just one video of her rage quitting and shouting at an opponent after they’d beaten her in a game, she could kiss her fame goodbye. That’s why she kept me hidden, a nice little ragdoll for her to wail against so that when somebody did humiliate her like Sophia Cavalier had, she could turn right around and humiliate me in turn.

It kept her public image intact, and it even protected her rivals from suffering her wrath like I’ve been forced to… it just wasn’t fair to me.

But she was absolutely unstoppable.

I angrily thrashed against my restraints, my wrists bound to the panel above my head as a river of desperate and furious tears streamed down my cheeks. 

I sobbed loudly, utterly defeated, my knees trembling in a still growing puddle of my own urine, streaming down my body and onto the floor, as well as everything on it. I watched helplessly as the rug, pillow, blanket- everything was slowly drenched in liquid, unable to stop it. 

It didn’t last long at all, in just a few moments it was over. I knew that it wasn’t even as much as my bladder can hold, Candace could have been a lot worse with it if she had forced me to fill up on liquids like she always did, but it felt like a lot more. 

I whined quietly, cursing under my breath, wanting to block the world out permanently. I knew that she was watching me- of course she was watching me- on my knees as I desperately tried to save myself from disgrace.

And I could only assume that she deliberately waited, letting me sit there for several minutes without doing a thing- hell maybe she was even getting off to watching my torture. But she eventually returned, standing in the doorway to look down upon me, the humiliated little thing on my knees before her, condescendingly, still as naked as she had been when she’d tossed me in here- pretending like she hadn’t changed her morning routine to humiliate me after all. 

“See, doesn’t that feel much better than holding it in just to spite me?” She was clearly having the time of her life just witnessing my agony, a delighted smile painted across her picturesque face. “Doesn’t it feel good to just give in?”

“Please…” I uttered quietly through my sobs, too humiliated to face anyone in the world right now. “Please leave me alone…” 

“Excuse me?” Her voice raised steadily. “Are you actually talking back to me? After last night? Did you not learn your lesson?”

“N-no, Ma’am…” Still choking back tears, I shook my head desperately. I averted my gaze as quickly as I could but it was already too late- even as I stared at the floor beneath me I could feel her glare, burning its way into my skin. “I’ve learned my lesson…”

She scoffed, smirking as she kicked me in the empty bladder with one foot. “Then why don’t you get to it already, and start cleaning up this revolting mess?”

“I would Miss… but I haven’t anything to clean with… especially since you haven’t released my hands.” My throat flared in anger, again thrashing against my restraints, trying to demonstrate my peril to her. My words were fueled by fire as they left my lips, somewhat aggressively stating what I thought about all of this- a storm of anger having built up inside now slipping out of me.

 

Candace responded in kind. “You have a tongue, don’t you?”

“That’s disgusting!!!” I jerked my head up to look at her, my desperate eyes meeting hers.

“You’re disgusting!!!” In an instant, I feel myself being jerked back into the floor below as Candace’s foot met my head. 

“You weak! Dim-witted!! Pathetic!!! Pig-headed!!!! Worthless!!!! Waste!!!!! Of!!!!! Space!!!!!” Candace exclaimed loudly, her foot pounding my head into the floor with every word. 

“If you want to talk about disgusting then why don’t you take a good look in the mirror and tell me what you see. The face of a disgusting worthless little pig that I plan on wiping off the face of this planet, just to rid it of your filth.” Candace simply watched as I continued to sob, slowly lifting her foot off the back of my head. “Look at me when I’m talking to you, Chloe.”

My new name still sounded foreign to me, not used to responding to the name she had assigned me, so it took me a few moments to recognize what was being said. I slowly lifted my chin, rising to look up at her, slowly but surely finding the will to stop sobbing. 

 

Her tone shifted slightly, from enraged to stern and demanding. “Whatever it is that’s going on in that vapid little chamberpot you call a skull, silence it. There’s nothing you can do.” 

She stood confidently in the doorway, leading my eyes to meet her. From the floor beneath her I could take in every detail of her mostly naked body standing in her underwear. From her delicately pedicured feet, each and every scar she’s given herself while shaving her legs, up to the stretchmarks on her torso, and the signs of the surgeries she’s had to enhance her body, including implants in her breasts and hips, and what can only be a pair of incision scars on her chest where they cut her open.

“My way is the only way, Chloe. To you, I am all that matters. What I want, what I say, what I do. You should be grateful that I didn’t just have you killed after you humiliated me like you did. Be glad that I’ve given you this second chance at life.”

“I’m sorry…” My voice quivered nervously as I stared up at her, still shaking with terror. “I’ve learned, I swear…”

“You promised me that you’re going to do better today.’ Her tone shifted once again, still stern but almost nurturing and encouraging now. “Are you going to fulfill that promise, or should I leave you here to wallow in your own filth?”

Finally breaking my silence, I nodded, gazing down at her feet desperately. “I can do better… please…” 

“The door to your washroom is unlocked, you’ll work naked today, I’m not giving you a replacement leggings until those are washed.” Candace turned, beginning to walk away, stopping to sort through her outfits for the day. “Prove to me that you’re willing to do better today by putting your tongue to work cleaning that puddle. Maybe knowing that a reward will be in order for you tonight if you succeed will help make it taste just a little bit better~”

My heart skipped a beat. Not once had Candace ever rewarded me for any kind of behavior, and she noticed my excitement, giggling to herself as she turned away from me. 

“I’ll leave your cell door open for now, and once I’m satisfied I will undo your manacles from my bedroom.” She opened the door to her room and looked me over one final time before exiting and locking the door. “This is your final chance at life Chloe, make it count.”

And just as suddenly as she arrived, I was once again left with the ominous silence of my cell, and the sounds of my own tears as I got to licking my own piss off of the floor. 

 

Despite my disgust, I got to work doing as I was told, and less than an hour later I had been released and was making my way into the shower to wash up, still able to feel the gross residue left on my skin and hair. 

Once I was done washing my body and my hair a thousand times, I turned the water off, and by the time I had finished showering, the diuretic had done its work, and I found myself relieving myself again already, despite having no liquid intake. I dried myself off normally, and it’s not until I went to retrieve my uniform that I remembered my owner’s instructions to work naked today. 

The rest of my morning went by as they normally do. I cleaned, mopped, and dusted were I needed to, making sure Candace’s room and everything attached was to her liking- especially my cell. I collected the laundry for later, including my soiled leggings.

For the most part, Candace left me to myself for the rest of the day, even as I served her lunch- silently overseeing me as I polished and dusted the china cabinets I couldn’t get to last night. 

 

I could see that after tormenting me like she had this morning, Candace was tired. She impatiently eyed the time as she got ready to send me off to do laundry. For my part, I was just as tired as she was, but I couldn’t afford to stop working. I could feel that the diuretic was still working its magic again, and by the time lunch had passed, I was once again in pain. 

“You seem awfully tired, Ma’am. Is something the matter?” I spoke, trying to distract myself from the pain in my groin by making conversation with my owner. 

“What can I say, you’re tiring, especially when you don’t listen.” She tapped her fingers on the table, trying to fake annoyance at me as we finally broke the silence. “I am being very patient with you, but you’re stubborn.” 

“Stubborn how, Ma’am?” I looked back at her, meeting her eyes with mine. “Have I not been following your instructions to your liking?”

“It’s not your work ethic that’s the problem, it’s your attitude.” Candace sighed, making sure to chew and swallow her food before speaking. 

“How’s that, Ma’am?” I nodded, listening as she spoke. “What’s wrong with my attitude?” 

“You still somehow have the gall to talk back to me when you think I’m not listening, disrespect me when you think I’m not watching, and you still have pesky, irritating, bothersome little thoughts inside of your head- like you still expect to get back at me someday… like I still haven’t broken you yet .” I watched as she angrily gnawed at her steak, chewing it with an angry scowl on her face. “This is a game you’re going to lose.”

I tried returning to my work, knowing that she was just trying to egg me on, wanting me to say something to get me in trouble- wanting me to step out of line so that she could punish me. I heard her footsteps walking up behind me, feeling the back of my skirt being lifted, her hand pressing against my backside. “I’m impressed to see you try and make conversation after this morning~”

She slipped a couple of her fingers inside of me, pressing against my bladder, the pressure threatening to unleash itself within me. She paused, looking over my shoulders, still towering over me even as she bent down slightly. 

“I could just electrocute you, right now, and place all the blame on you as you lose control and piss yourself again, and you couldn’t stop me, isn’t that right- Chloe?”

“If you wanted to…” I held my tongue, wanting to turn and tear at her throat with my teeth.

“You know very well that if I want something from you, I can get it. But I want this to be your own fault, that way when you lose, it’ll feel all the more painful to you~” She slowly slipped her fingers back out, running her fingers along my new brand. “Behave now, or you won’t be getting your reward~”

I bit my lip, whimpering under my breath at the stinging feeling of her fingers on my skin. “That’s it, then… if I behave, you’ll reward me?”

“Do you doubt me?” She paused for a few moments before smacking my ass. “Because you shouldn’t~”

It was unlike Candace to want to do something nice for me, to offer any sort of reward for my behavior. Even when she did give me her autograph, she did it by literally writing her name on my body, practically claiming me as hers right there. 

But hearing her taunt me with a reward made me want to find out just what it was she might offer me, even if it was just a lie, and as I felt her fingers slowly retreating from inside of me, I was overcome by disappointment. Digging my toes into the floor below, I turned with her as she walked away, the idea of being rewarded making my heartbeat quicken. 

She lifted her iced tea to her lips, taking one last drink and leaving a bright red lipstick stain on the rim as she set it back down on the table. She winked at me, licking her lips before turning heel and leaving the room. “Finish this drink for me, that’s an order.”

 

I almost dropped and shattered yet another plate onto the dining room floor as I hastily went and picked up the glass, lifting it to my face. I took a deep breath, smelling the aromas, the mistress could afford the highest quality of drink, but the scent of the tea excited me.

I hated tea, but I relished being able to smell her breath, it wasn’t just the excitement of being allowed hydration in the middle of the day. I pressed my lips to the glass, right onto her lipstick stains as I finished every drop in the glass, setting it back down on the table as I felt a tear dripping down my cheek. “I won’t lose to you… not this time…” 

 

This was the difficult decision I found myself tasked with making- Resist or Submit.

Candace St. Clair was a monster, but in a way, she was kind of my monster. If I did somehow end up killing her, I’d be doing a service to the world, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t miss her. I’d become fixated on her, despite all the terrible things she’d done to me. It might have just been down to our history together, but her and I had this connection, I could feel it. 

I should shatter this glass like I had done with her fancy chinaware last night just to find that sharpest shard to slit her throat with, but what would that even do for me?

I would just end up with her blood on my hands as her villainous mob of a family either dragged me away to get a syringe stuck in my arm, or they’d just shoot me dead on the spot, and that wasn’t fair at all- especially if I had to go through the emotional heartache of stabbing her to death in the first place. 

But the most pressing thing keeping me at bay was just how nice it was to get little moments together with Candace. When we were fighting, when she wasn’t scolding and shouting at me, when we weren’t angry at each other- it was kind of pleasant. 

She was the kind of girl I would have loved to date. She was a woman that I very desperately wanted to date before what happened… happened. I had just a bit of a crush on her before becoming her slave, back when I didn’t know what kind of person she really was. But as far as I could tell, those feelings had long since faded since the abuse began, these feelings were new. 

 

Unlike Candace, I didn’t have a family- I was an orphan. Candace was born into this great big criminal empire, destined to inherit her father’s wicked throne, but I didn’t exactly have parents to speak of. 

Her family had clear expectations for her, to take over as the head of the family, and continue their criminal legacy onward. Honestly, even if I did want to be her wife- which I very much didn’t- Candace likely would never be allowed to have a lesbian marriage with her slave, not in a million years. 

Candace needed to inherit her father’s place, marry some wealthy criminal boy, and have enough kids to find her own heir or heiress so that the cycle may continue- on and on and on until it couldn’t go on any longer. 

And I was just to rot here under her boot, as punishment for a crime that I didn’t know I could commit. 

It was funny. Being an orphan, I’d never really thought about having a family of my own until all of this, until I met Candace’s. 

I didn’t have an attachment to my parents, I couldn’t really even remember them, and I had never really even considered having children. I was still much too young to even dream of being a mother, but now that I realized that I might never experience it- a part of me longed for the chance to have kids of my own. 

But I would never get that chance unless I made it out of here alive. 

 

I finished the rest of my daily tasks as they came, mopping floors, doing dishes, cleaning windows. It was late, Candace let me know that she wouldn’t need me to serve dinner, instructing me to instead focus on laundry.

I, of course, knew that this meant Candace was planning on being out of the house tonight, having dinner elsewhere, and I could expect to be locked away in the laundry room while she was away. That was what Candace did when she needed to leave the house- she locked me inside of the laundry room so that I could be doing work while she was gone. 

Candace would never actually admit to it, but her security had holes, she couldn’t always be here to watch me. She wanted me to believe that she was always here, and that her security was completely foolproof, but Candace had to juggle two separate professions- she got busy. 

Most bedrooms in the house had attached bathrooms, aside from the entertainment room. There was one adjacent to the entertainment room, but it was only accessible from the outside- that was where the mistress did a lot of her makeup. Candace swung the door to the bathroom open, having just finished streaming for the day, getting ready to leave. 

Candace looked amazing regardless of what outfit she wore, her slick black capris perfectly accentuating her bubbly round ass. I hadn’t even realized I was staring until I heard her speak. “Yes yes, I look amazing, enough ogling. Have you finished your duties for today?”

She talked at me as she walked around to my backside, her hand gently finding its way to my skin. “Yes, Miss… all but the laundry, like I was told.”

I bit my lip as I felt her squeezing my ass again, the numbing effect having almost entirely faded, and I could feel that the diuretic had finally stopped as well. I was beginning to actually feel confident that I could make it to the end of the night without making another scene, but even though the pill had worn off, I knew that if she slipped her fingers past my lips like she had earlier- I would likely lose control in more ways than one. 

“May I ask where you’re going, Ma’am?” It was just an honest question, a simple one at that, but Candace took it like I was making a move on a chess board. 

“What makes you think I’m going anywhere?” She fiddled with that bracelet of hers, making sure I knew that she was ready to use it if I made a move. 

“You’re dressed up to be going somewhere, Miss Candace.” I sighed, trying to disarm myself, but finding it unusually difficult to not feel irritated for some reason. “Plus you instructed me not to serve dinner, which means you’ll be eating out-” 

“Someone thinks she’s clever, doesn’t she?” I had more to say, but the next thing out of my mouth was a surprised squeak as Candace swatted my backside. “A little too clever for her own good~” 

Candace was being a bit more hands on today than she usually was, and there it was- just a little bit of me losing control. 

“Careful now, or I’ll keep you like this from now on… unless that’s what you want~” There she went, pushing me further, playing a one woman chess game that only she had a win condition for. “Maybe I’ll make a point of keeping you naked. Once you’re not so hostile I can take you in for some surgeries, get some work done… Wouldn’t it be nice to have your ass on display after we get it all sculpted and plumped up?”

Checkmate. My heart skipped a beat and so did my feet. The idea of Candace forcing me through any kind of surgery, while oddly exciting on the surface, was purely terrifying. Yet she had so thoroughly melted me today that I couldn’t find myself fighting back any longer. “Y-yes, Ma’am…” 

 

Regaining my composure, Candace walked me through the house, opening the door to yet another large bedroom. This one was used as yet another massive walk-in closet, and attached to it from inside was the laundry room. 

“I’m going to keep you in here until you’ve finished with my clothes. I will still be around, so don’t try to pull anything stupid like skipping out to get to a bathroom, or you won’t be getting that reward I promised you.” Again, that promise of a reward made my heartbeat quicken. “Don’t you dare wash your filthy rags with mine either, or I’ll put you through the washing machine as well.” 

I groaned, accepting that Candace making my job more difficult than it needed to be was just a normal part of my existence. “Yes, Mistress…”

I waited for a few moments, getting clothes sorted and ready to wash, but to my surprise, Candace made her way out of the room without locking the door. And it only took me a few moments to learn why. 

“What would you ever do without me-” Candace promptly returned, holding the pillow and blanket from my cell, in need of a wash. And I was honestly just surprised she was even willing to touch them when she could just punish me for forgetting them by making me sleep on them like normal. “You forgot these.”

“Thank you, Miss…” I blushed, holding out my arms for her to drop them into before sorting them with the rest of my clothes. “My apologies.”

“That favorite assistant of my father and I- Leah- is picking me up for a late night photoshoot with a friend of mine.” Candace came forward with it, annoyed to be admitting that she was in fact leaving the house. “I have cameras, tramp. I will know if you decide to be a delinquent.”

“And you trust me to stay home alone?” I didn’t know why, but the fact that she was admitting that I was right without actually saying it annoyed me to hell and back. “Without misbehaving?”

“Not even slightly. But if you are obedient, I have a reward in mind for you.” Candace snickered, smirking at me as she left the room, finally locking it behind her. “And if you aren’t, I have safeguards in place~”

And that was it, with everything Candace had planned, she was off- leaving me home alone for the first time since she had captured me. Or at least the first time she had left me knowing that she was actually gone. 

 

I fiddled with the lock on the door as I did laundry, having to both hand wash and machine wash each piece of Candace’s clothing as I went along. Once per month, Candace made me wash each and every article of clothing in the house, regardless of whether or not they’d been worn, and as I continued to struggle against my own body, I was extremely glad that tonight was not one of those nights. 

Candace always kept a box of sewing supplies in the laundry room in case any of her clothes ever tore and needed to be sewn back up- and luckily for her I was actually pretty good at that. 

My foster mother, Colleen, taught me how to sew back when I was still just a little girl. When I was about fourteen and didn’t feel like I belonged, I ran away from home. I didn’t know where I was going, I didn’t know what was going to happen, I didn’t have a plan- I just did it.

And when the local child protective services brought me back home to my guardians, I expected to be in for a beating not unlike the kind my real parents used to give me. But when I got home, my foster mom welcomed me back with open arms. 

She spent a few days and nights worrying about me while I slept on the streets without a roof over my head, and when I’d got back she had actually redirected all of her negative stress into doing something for me.

When I got home, she had made me this stuffed dog. She wasn’t too big, but she definitely wasn’t small- and when she saw how much I loved it, she actually taught me how to sew by letting me watch her sew my name into one of the ears. 

 

“Oh gosh…” 

Hidden amongst the clothes here inside Candace’s large collection was a pair of my own clothes- the very same clothes I’d been wearing when I first arrived here. I guess I had forgotten that I’d hid them in here in the first place, but looking at them now made me think of home.

“Home…” Candace wanted to make this place my home. She wanted me to accept that she was my home- but I couldn’t. This place wasn’t my home.

I just stared at them- the flannel, the crop top, the jean shorts. The idea of wearing them felt so surreal to me now, having worn nothing but the uniform Candace allowed me to wear since the day I had taken my own clothes off. Hell- I couldn’t even be sure that they had ever been washed since then. 

Candace had set me up for failure tonight, locking me here in her laundry room as she was away, tempting me to try and get out. The bedroom converted into a wardrobe room also didn’t have a bathroom attached to it, that space had been converted into the laundry room. 

She wanted me to screw up and make a mess, and the easiest way of doing that was to torment my body, to drive me into utter desperation by depriving me of even the most basic of pleasures. I didn’t even care that I wasn’t allowed to use her restrooms, I was annoyed that she would lock me in here and not give me access to one that I could use. But my spaces were only accessible through Candace’s, and her spaces were off limits to me tonight. 

I knew Candace was out of the house, if I could just get up and find the bathroom before she returned, I could find a way to make it look like I had been behaving myself all day. But no- I wasn’t going to stop there. 

I was getting out of this place and finding my way home, and she wasn’t here to stop me. 

 

Unable to take it any longer, I got up, hanging the gown I had been washing up to dry as I walked back into the larger room. Retrieving the box of supplies from one of the shelves in the laundry room, I opened it up and grabbed a pair of sewing needles and some hair pins to help my escape. 

The door was locked, of course it was locked, but I was a delinquent. I could pick a lock. I didn’t even need clothes, I’d almost rather run out there nude than wearing anything of hers, I just needed to break through this damn door.

“Please please please open…” I collapsed to my knees, yanking on the doorknob, I wasn’t as strong as Candace but I knew that if I tried hard enough I could find a way to pick the lock. Sticking a sewing needle and hair pin into the door, I leaned closer, listening for any clue that what I was doing was working. 

But that was when I was met with the sound of footsteps from the hallway outside.

Startled, I quickly started backing away from the door- I was sure that Candace had left already. 

Did she come back? Did she forget something? Was this a test? Was she actually just faking being gone in order to test me?

I leaned in close once again, pressing my ear to the door to listen for what was happening, my hands pinched between my thighs to help ease the pressure just a little bit. Whoever it was out there- I felt them leaning against the other side just a few moments later, almost as if they knew what I was doing. 

 

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you~” 

That was not Candace. Whoever it was, I didn’t recognize their voice, leaving me completely baffled as to who it was that was in Candace’s house with me. “Miss St. Clair is not going to appreciate finding out that you tried to pick the locks and escape, especially after she told you not to.” 

My heart was nearly beating out of my chest now as I backed away from the door, focusing on not pissing myself out of terror for the second night in a row. 

“I should snitch on you for being a delinquent. But if you behave, and get back to doing what your owner has instructed you to do, I think I can keep this between us, okay Chloe?”

“Why-” I couldn’t even tell if they were a man or a woman, but they sounded genuine, and honest. “Why not just… rat me out and punish me even more?”

“Because I’ve been where you are, once upon a time.” They backed off the door, almost as if they were satisfied with getting through to me so easily. “Besides, I’m rooting for you tonight~” 

“You-” I blushed, unsure of what I was even allowed to say to them after such a long time of interacting with Candace and only Candace. “You promise?”

“As long as you don’t leave that room, this doesn’t have to either.” My brain was bouncing around the walls as they spoke, unable to even form a picture in my head of what they could look like. I was fairly certain it was a man, their voice was just a bit too low to be a woman, but then they said something I wasn’t expecting. “If it’s really that bad between your legs, you can just use your hands… I won’t tell~”

And then they walked away. As quickly as they had shown up, they were gone.

 

But unfortunately for me, I had already lost. Resist or Submit- there was only one way I was getting through the night without the pressure between my legs driving me over the edge, and that was sinking to my knees in front of the door and fingerfucking myself until I came, tears streaming down my cheeks in fear of Candace and her wrath. 

I felt as the slit between my legs turned warm and damp, getting wetter by the second. I reached down and pressed my thumb into my vulva, rubbing against my little nub, shaking in my own hand until I felt the terrible pressure in my parts finally stop. 

Even though I did still need to use the restroom, I knew that the pressure I’d had building up inside of me all day was the heat of need, but that didn’t stop me from finding myself crushed in under the weight of humiliation all over again. All I could think of was how Candace would react if she returned home and saw me like this, bouncing on my own fingers as I thought of her, rubbing as hard as I could, knowing I would never hear the end of it.

All I could think of was her, and it drove me insane. Candace, Candace, Candace, that was all I could think about as I rode out my orgasm.

How she’d react if she found me like this. 

How she’d reward me for doing a good job. 

How she’d punish me if she found out I tried to escape. 

How she’d somehow manage to reclaim me if I did somehow manage to escape. 

How it would feel to finally have her drive me to the ground and rape me… 

I’d grown to hate masturbating since I’d become her slave, because I knew the only thing that would occupy my thoughts was her. The only thing I could think of and get off to was her- and it wasn’t fair.

 

Candace didn’t return until long after dark, clearly exhausted as she unlocked the door into the laundry room. I just looked up at her in shame, having finished laundry hours prior, resorting to slumping into a corner to rest. “I’m guessing that someone’s already had her fun, hasn’t she?”

My cheeks turned red as I nodded, my eyes rising to meet hers. “Yes, Ma’am…”

“Such a shame, guess I’ll just have to have my fun with your body another day~” She ordered me to my feet, rubbing my backside for a few moments before letting me go, the pressure between my legs already to build again at her touch. “You’re done for tonight, time to return to your cell and wait for dinner. Let’s go.”

It actually felt just a bit nice as she took me by the hand, leading me back into my chamber for the night, slumping into a tired heap on the cold stone floor. I had taken my blanket and pillow out to wash them, forgetting to bring them back with me. Still, I did as instructed, sitting patiently and rubbing the front of my crotch in desperation. 

It was for the best that my escape attempt failed. I didn’t know where I would go, I didn’t know what would happen, I didn’t have a plan- and Candace most definitely wouldn’t welcome me back in open arms if I had decided to try and run for it. 

But that didn’t stop me from obsessing about her. She might have been a cruel monster, but she still looked astounding. “You’re very pretty, Mistress.”

“Yes. Yes, I am.” She sighed, slipping a pair of sunglasses off of her face of all things, making sure that what looked like her colored contact lenses didn’t fall out. “No thanks to my family.” 

“What does that mean, Ma’am?”

“My hair is off white, Chloe.” She gently indicated to her hair, which was almost as precious to her as mine was to me. And my hair was very very dear to me. “Someone gave me these broken genetics, and I’ve had to make the best of them~” 

“I think you do a good job of it, you look very nice.” I sighed, knowing deep down that trying to get closer to her was not only a dangerous idea, but probably not even in my best interest. “H-how did your photoshoot go, Miss?” 

“Tiring. Just like dealing with you~”

“I’m sorry for misbehaving tonight, Ma’am.”

“Nonsense. You did fine. I’m feeding you, aren’t I?”

“I… I guess so, thank you…”

She paused, looking my shaking body up and down. “How does the brand feel?”

“It feels… okay…” I took a quick glance down towards it, frowning. “Do you remember the first time we met… when you autographed me?”

“No.” Candace rolled her eyes. “You can’t expect me to remember every one of my fans, slave.”

“I know, Ma’am. It just reminds me of that day.”

“And why’s that?” 

“Because it’s in the same spot.” I blushed, sighing in embarrassment. “You made me turn around and roll up my shirt so that you could write your initials down there.”

“I do remember that, actually.” Candace smiled, her pale cheeks also lightly blushing. “That was you?” 

I bit down on my lower lip, no longer split open from the previous day. “That was me…”

“Imagine the odds…” She just about did the same, biting her lip as she shook her head. “I can see why you’d be so obsessed with me~”

“If writing your initials on my hips was your way of saying hello… I don’t know if I could have stopped myself…”

“I’ll put my initials on you yet, slave.” She smiled, licking her painted lips hungrily. “Just you wait~”

She stepped out for a few moments, and on any other night I might have followed her out of my cell, but I didn’t have the heart to even try. Candace eventually returned, sliding a bowl of food onto my floor before setting a basket full of my blanket and pillow down on the bench beside me. 

“Every time I have to give you special food I have to go through the work of manually adding your medication into it myself- so I would have hated for your dinner to go to waste after all of that work.”

“Right…” I sighed, relenting and accepting that her slipping mysterious medications into my food was also just a part of life for me now. All I could do was pretend that they were my prescriptions for ADHD and BPD, even though I knew Candace wasn’t kind enough to do that for me. “Thank you, Miss…” 

“Even if you did end up making a mess of your cell, you did better today~” She smiled, gesturing towards the basket for me to look through it. “As promised, I’ve decided to reward you for today~” 

I swallowed nervously, devouring the last of my puppy chow as I curiously pulled my bed supplies out of the basket and looked through it expecting a disappointing surprise- the room almost instantly drowning in the sound of happy sobs as I saw her. 

A small stuffed puppy, sitting there inside of the basket- my name sewn into one of her ears. 

 

My heart melting inside of my chest, I buried my face in her, tears still running down my cheeks as I held my friend for the first time in so long. I never expected to see her again, so finding her here with me was the best present I could have expected. “Poppy…” 

“You sure do look like a baby right now, but don’t think this means I’m gonna mommy you- I’m the one who deserves to be spoiled, not you… but I do hope you appreciate it~”

I had no words. This wasn’t just any stuffed puppy, this was my stuffed puppy, the same one I’d slept with every night since I was young. It was Poppy, my Poppy. I couldn’t believe it was her, but before I had time to look up and question her, Candace was interrupting me. 

“I’m proud of you, Chloe. Keep it up okay?”

She smiled at me, stealing my heart from my chest. I wanted to show her my appreciation, but unable to summon the words to answer her, I simply nodded, a happy grin plastered onto my sobbing face. 

“Goodnight, crybaby~” 

 

Notes:

Updated 7/9/2021

Chapter 3: Party Animal

I nervously fidgeted in my cell. Candace had cut my work off early today, letting me know that she was leaving for a party tonight with her friends- which did not include me. 

 

I was going to be the subject of their afterparty.

 

Clutching my only little friend to my chest, all I could do was sit and wait. As far as I could tell, it had been over two weeks since Candace had returned my stuffed puppy to me. Her name was Poppy, and I’d had her since I was a teenager.

A string of mostly good nights followed in the weeks after I’d gotten her back, with a couple of bad nights sprinkled in occasionally. I was still scared to find out how Candace got ahold of her, wondering just how she had managed to obtain any of my belongings, let alone something so important to me. I had poured my entire adult life into that apartment, which meant that whatever she did to get to Poppy would have given her access to the rest of my things.

I had originally moved into the little two bedroom flat with my boyfriend at the time, desperate to get away from my foster parents and all of the other girls there. I had met him at this little store he worked at, where he was nice enough to hire me. He went on to become my manager, which I greatly appreciated, but things didn’t really work out with him. Once I discovered I was a lesbian, I was left in that little two bedroom apartment by myself. 

I listened through the walls for any sign that Candace had returned, pressing my ear flat against the door, no sound whatsoever. I couldn’t see anything either, the light in my cage was fancy for sure- multicolored with varying levels of brightness- but Mistress had complete control over the light, and as a result I was often left in total darkness.

I didn’t often call her Mistress. I still hated Candace a lot of the time, but I was careful not to show that to her, so when she told me to- that’s what I called her.

 

I had no idea what to expect from Candace’s guests. I’ve heard from her directly that she has a personal assistant, and that she’d invited her brother to tonight’s afterparty, but aside from them I had zero clue who would be here.

If I didn’t know any better, I’d think it was weird for Candace to invite her brother to come gawk at her shiny new slave, but I knew from experience that he was just like her. This sort of thing seemed to run in Candace’s family. She was the youngest of three siblings, who despite sharing the same father all had different last names to help hide their connections to one another.

I did eventually start to hear commotion from the master bedroom, signifying that Candace had returned with her guests. I sat upright, setting Poppy aside for now as I looked up at her from down on my knees, waiting for Candace to slowly unlock and open the door to my chamber.

 

“I hope you’re well rested now, you have a long night ahead of you Chloe~”

“Yes, Ma’am. I remember…”

“You’re to address me as Mistress for the rest of the night, understood?”

“Yes Mistress.”

“Since this will be your first time as a parlor maid, I am going to go over the rules one by one and you are going to maintain eye contact and acknowledge each rule as I go over them to show me that you’re listening. Do you understand?”

“Yes Mistress.”

“Good. Just like that, again.”

“Yes Mistress.”

“As always, you’re not to mention how we met, or why you’re here, I still don’t like talking about it. If someone asks you about it, let them know you’ve been forbidden from speaking to them about it.”

“Yes Mistress…”

“If anyone tells you to fetch them drinks you’re to do so, Aria and Leah are wasted, and they’re already digging around for more.”

“Yes Mistress~”

“You’re to speak only when spoken to. If someone asks you a question, answer them completely and honestly, but be respectful. Do not talk back or speak out of place.”

“Yes Mistress.”

“Address everyone in the room as your superior, including Liz, who is just dying to meet you.”

“Yes Mistress!”

“You’ll be completely naked the whole time, if anyone at all wants to touch, you will let them. Do not reciprocate, do not touch anyone.”

“Y-yes Mistress…”

“Do I sense hesitation, thrall?”

“No Mistress! Not at all~”

“Good. now, if there happens to be a lull, or you feel the need to rest, you may kneel- on the floor, next to me- so that I can keep an eye on you.”

“Yes, Mistress.”

“You are my property, and you’re to follow my orders first and foremost, if I tell you to do something, you will drop everything and follow my directions.”

“Of course, Mistress.”

“If you have any other concerns, need to ask a question, or get scared that someone is going to hurt you, return to my side and let me know. I will not allow any unwarranted harm to come to you in any way.”

“Yes Mistress, thank you…”

“I’m protecting you for my own sake, not yours, but now that that’s out of the way… I want you to remember- everyone is here to have fun, except for you. You’re to behave in a manner appropriate to your status, to show me that you have learned from your time with me, and to prove to my guests that I have done well with training you.”

“Yes Mistress… I understand…”

“If you make me look bad again, not even I know how I’m going to punish you, so don’t fail me.”

“Yes Mistress, I promise.”

“Good, you may stand up and get to it now. Oh… and Chloe?”

“Yes Mistress?”

“I know you’re not here to have fun, but that being said… keep your chin up, try to have fun, and if you can’t, at least make it look like you’re having fun. If not for you, then for me~”

“Yes Mistress. Thank you Mistress.”

“The empty seat in the parlor is mine, go and kneel beside it, and wait for me to come sit down.”

Candace slipped her fingers between my neck and the metal collar clasped around it, pulling me out of my cell and into the hallway outside of her room, directing me towards the parlor. 

“Yes, Mistress…”

 

I nervously stepped towards the commotion outside, still scared about letting Candace’s guests see me like this, completely naked save for a shock collar around my neck, and even though there was a lot of chatting already going on in the parlor, it seemed like time stopped just long enough for everyone to notice me.

There were a total of six people loitering around as I walked in. Off in one corner I spotted Candace’s brother, Cyrus, who I had already had the displeasure of meeting. He was a slightly shorter, more sun adjusted version of his sister. One without the tits and hips Candace was so comprehensively proud of. Cyrus was white like a lamb, yet his skin managed not to attain Candace’s sickly unnatural paleness to it. His hair was darker still- but still unmistakably blond. His sister’s blue eyes struck me as strange from time to time, but for the most part- his matched hers. 

Sitting cross-legged in his lap was a woman around if not a few years older than Candace’s age, who I assumed was his wife. She had pale skin like his, falling somewhere between her husband and his little sister, leaning towards the darker, healthier tones. Her face was splotched to death in freckles. 

The couple were chatting away with a woman sitting across from them on the Mistress’ large circular sofas, who seemed like she was almost irritated to be talking with them at all. Almost opposite Candace’s nearly straight- near shimmering white hair- hers spun into curls, practically raven black. This woman was not family. Shockingly (at least to me), her eyes were also blue. Almost unbeffitingly so. Noticing the pattern started by my owner and her brother, that cerulean seemed like it should almost be saved for only the most ‘on high’ of fair folk; she had none of that going for her. Dead inside, they sat set against her tanned olive skin and focused only on her spirits. She was going to need more than a drink if she wanted to keep talking with these two- which she didn’t. 

Leah. A pretty name, if it was hers, fit her like a glove. 

In another corner of the room sat an older woman, who I could assume was Cyrus’ mother judging on just how similar the two seemed to look even with her greyed head of hair; whoever she was, she didn’t seem to care much for the woman sitting across from her son. She was elderly and sick, her skin unnaturally pale and ghastly. A sign of age.

Candace told me that she would occasionally invite her father’s ex-wife to keep him from coming to her parties, and she was very intent on him not being here today. From the sounds of it, he didn’t actually know that his daughter had claimed me, but his former wife surely did. 

Standing across from her was a younger man next to a large china cabinet, holding a drink in his hand already. His hair was even shorter than Cyrus’, shaved on either side. Like his skin, what hair he did have was wavy and dark. His eyes- when looked at under the light- were gray. His was the darkest complexion of the bunch, giving him a striking silhouette to stand out from the rest around him. 

It was a shame- I thought- that the pert Afro-Latino boy and his miserable Jewish companion were the only ones in the room not possessed of an air of affluence and elitism. But it was telling. 

Oh my god, is that-

Finally, my attention was drawn to the wide glass door that was open to the large front lawn outside of Candace’s mansion. Standing on the porch by herself, looking out towards the garden was a woman that I recognized as Aria Fairmont, a professional model and friend of Candace’s who would frequently do photoshoots with her. 

Aria was small. A couple inches tall of the stupidly small stature of Cyrus’ wife, but about as short and almost a whole fistful thinner. She had eyes- unlike the rest of them- that were amber. Her skin was white and her hair was blonde, but they both had more color to them than these people had. Think more upper middle class suburbia than countryside equestrian. She, out of everyone, looked the least happy and the most drunk all at the same time. She wore it in an updo so that her golden locks can shine in the light of the stars- or maybe just because she anticipated being hunched over after the events of tonight let her slightly astray of alcohol poisoning. 

It was easy to see where the divide lay- the group was almost split clean in two. Family. Friends. 

I completely and totally froze in place as the gaze of everyone in the room moved to look up at me, in awe, mouths agape as they saw me standing there just inside of the doorway. I saw the expressions on every face change as the realization of who I was finally dawned on them, each of them recognizing exactly who I was, and being amazed that I was here.

 

“Well look who it is~” The young man in the corner spoke up, and I recognized his voice as the one I had heard weeks ago, speaking to me from the hallway. He was short and flamboyant, smiling eagerly at me. This must have been the personal assistant that Candace had told me about, which finally answered my question of whether he was a man or a woman. Definitely a man.

“No way!! That’s Chloe?!” From the other side of the room I heard the voice of Cyrus’ wife, still in awe as she realized who I was. She fidgeted in his lap for a moment before taking her eyes off of me, turning to face him as he began to whisper into her ear.

“No wonder Candace wouldn’t let me meet you…” The seemingly miserable woman sitting across from the couple spoke up next, just a little bit less miserable now than she had been when speaking to Candace’s brother. She held up a wine glass, tilting it upside down to show off how empty it was. “When you get a chance, I’m thirsty~”

“It’s wine not gin, dear. You can’t go slamming it like it’s nothing…” I turned to Cyrus’ mother as I heard her speak. “When Candace said she needed to make some personal adjustments to the collar’s design, I never imagined it was for her. Did you know about this, Malcolm?”

“Candace has kept it a pretty tight secret up until this point, but she needed some help here and there, yeah~” Candace’s assistant replied. “She modified the security devices herself, to give it some new features.”

“You can play with her later, Elizabeth. I’m sure Candace has something planned for her~” It sounded like Cyrus was scolding his wife for not being patient. She must have been the one who was excited to finally meet me, yet something seemed off between the two of them.

Despite all of the remarks I’d gotten from the rest of the group, none of them said anything about who I was, which I was thankfully for. When it came to that woman standing out on the porch however, all I got was an angry glare straight from her eyes, staring me down with a fierce intensity before seemingly very nearly vomiting, turning back to admire the garden ahead of her.

Silently, I found my place on the floor beside the single empty chair, where I assumed Candace would be sitting. It was the only seat around this front table that wasn’t part of a sofa, and it looked the most regal of all of them, and I had reason to believe from the wear and tear that it was her favorite.

I diverted my eyes, unable to take anymore of being the center of attention, looking back towards the sights the other woman was admiring, out through the large open window and out onto the porch, gazing into the night sky. It was a sight I hadn’t seen in months- or at least what felt like months. She had kept me in that lonely windowless room for so long that I wasn’t sure how long it had really been, making me wish I could just run through those doors and be free from this nightmare forever. 

 

“Don’t be getting any ideas, plaything~” Candace finally made her debut, sitting down in her chair right where I had expected, towering over me as usual. “Well everyone, this is the girl I’ve been talking about. Her name is Chloe, I selected her myself. She was quite a difficult pet to catch, but she’s been worth it, isn’t that right Chloe~”

Candace ran her fingers through my hair, slumping into her seat as she pulled my locks into a tight grip, slowly lifting me up onto my feet by my hair. She knew how precious my long head of dyed hair was to me, even after the color had most faded away. It was the one thing that I still had pride over, she knew I’d follow her hand if it meant keeping her from tearing it away from me like she had taken everything else I’d ever had.

“Why don’t you go get us a tray of drinks, I don’t care how many, we’ll drink them all~” Almost immediately after she and I had gotten settled next to each other, she was sending me away. I rose to my feet and walked back the way I came, into the kitchen, and I was already not looking forward to this kind of get together becoming a regular occurrence. 

I could see the night sky from here in the kitchen too, looking over at the gorgeous stars over the moonlit beach behind the home I never really got to be a part of. The ocean at night wasn’t a sight I’d seen since the night I’d gotten here, and somehow it felt further away now that it had been then. 

It was nights like this that somehow made me wish I could spend more time with Candace, despite how awfully she treated me. It was scary to think about, but if Candace wouldn't constantly keep me at arm’s like she did, maybe I would actually start to like it here. 

It would be a terrifying adjustment, but if she someday let me sleep with her in that luxurious bed of hers- or even on the floor next to it- and not in a cold windowless closet alone, there was always a chance that that longing to dive headfirst into the ocean and escape into the distance might go away.

But that was never going to happen, not with her. Candace kept me to punish me, to make me feel pain at her hands, not pleasure. I used to like Candace, but she was never going to return those feelings, Candace was never going to love me. The only way out of this torment for me was to escape.

Despite spending much of my day in the kitchen crafting each and every one of the Mistress’ meals for her with painstaking amounts of effort, I was honestly still a pretty lousy cook. She hadn’t even stopped to tell me where most of her dishes were kept, let alone teaching me how to cook properly. I had to learn through trial and error where to put clean dishes from the dishwasher, after she’d punished me for getting it wrong so often. 

That was to say, I didn’t actually know where she kept her alcohol, she hardly drank for one. She also kept most of the drawers and utensils locked away to keep me from getting into anything that I’m not meant to. That was another reason I was such a terrible cook, I didn’t even have access to the things necessary to experiment and learn on my own, she didn’t even allow me to handle knives. 

The drawers were still locked, which meant that just about the only thing I could still access was the dishwasher, and I might not have found what I was looking for, but I did strike gold. A knife. I didn’t know or care who had done it, but someone left a knife in the dishwasher. 

If I wasn’t completely naked I’d think of taking it and using it to make some sort of escape attempt while the doors were wide open, but being surrounded by so many people made me think that tonight was likely not time to try and escape again. But I might just be able to use it later~

 

“Is there any alcohol under the sink?” It was that voice again, Malcolm, Candace’s personal assistant. He caught me digging in the cleaning supplies I kept under the sink when he came in to check up on me. “She keeps the drinks over here, Chloe.”

It would only make sense for him to know a little bit more about the house, knowing now that he sometimes watches over it while Candace was away. Trying to save face, I turned around to face his, the knife now buried deep beneath the sink. 

“Yes Sir, thank you.” I stood up and nodded respectfully. He stood on the other side of the counter from me, leaning against one of the shelves as I slowly began to place bottles of wine and beer- as well as empty glasses to hold their contents- onto a glossy silver tray. “I will remember that for next time…”

“I’m sure you will~” He smiled, closing the cabinet once I was finished getting things out. Then he gave me a wink. “I take it you liked your puppy then?”

Poppy. He’s talking about my stuffed toy, Poppy. That actually made me smile back, nodding my head in response.

“I love her… but where did she come from?” Feigning a work minded attitude, I lifted the tray over my shoulder. “Do you have the rest of my things? What happened to them?”

Malcolm cut me off at the neck, his eyes darting towards the other room. No time for talk- that look of his said. “You should know better than to speak out of line. I’ve done you one favor already, I’m not going to be bailing you out of any trouble tonight~”

“I… I forgot… Sorry…”

“Sounds like Candace has something planned for you tonight, good luck~”

The thought of that did not breed confidence in me. 

He turned around, making his way back out to the parlor ahead of me. I wasn’t going to be able to count on him to help bail me out of trouble, but he was already doing me a favor by not checking under the sink, since everyone was busy enjoying themselves I knew that now had been the best possible time to hide something like a knife while no one was watching.

 

I should have known that Candace was planning something, I was told that I’d be the subject of tonight, after all. I made my way back to Candace’s side, setting my tray of miscellaneous drinks down on the table for her. She merely looked at me and smirked, picking a beer bottle up from the tray and holding it out to me.

“The woman sulking on the porch, you know who that is, bring this to her~”

“You mean outside, Mistress?”

“Yeah, take your time, I know you haven’t gotten to see the house’s exterior in a while~”

“Because you don’t trust me to leave the house without running?”

“Not unless it’s a night like tonight, you did promise to behave~”

“Yes Mistress… I promise I’m going to behave.”

She gestured for me to leave, a smug grin on her face as she watched me. Everyone in the house was watching me, save for that woman on the porch, but they were all staring over my naked body even as they spoke, snickering to themselves about my predicament. From the way that they looked at me, I could tell that they recognized me. They’d all seen my face somewhere before, and though I was flattered, it was terrifying.

 

My ears began ringing as I walked, my knees shaking with pain as I felt electricity spreading through my body from the collar. The woman on the porch finally turned around and giggled at my despair as I fell, almost to my destination but not quite. 

I dropped the bottle almost instantly, watching the woman pick it up from the floor at her feet. It didn’t shatter, but its contents did spill, thankfully pooling on the porch rather than the carpeted floor. I was stuck there in agony as I heard the guests laughing at me, especially Aria, unable to move until the shock was finally done, turning back to see Candace’s smug grin.

“Clean that up and get her a new one, maid~”

God did I hate her for always making my job harder than it needed to be. But I didn’t make a fuss, not tonight, I had promised to behave. 

I whimpered to myself, still in pain from being shocked as I rose to my knees to retrieve another beer for Aria. This time she watched me as I approached, reaching out and taking the bottle from me as soon as my feet landed on the porch.

“You’re pathetic.” She gagged at me, a full bottle in one hand and an empty bottle in the other. “No wonder you bend over and squeal for the good witch over there~”

“…Good witch?”

“Candace, you moron. I can not believe that there’s someone so pitiful that even our little sweetheart, Candace, can tame. I never thought it’d be possible~”

“I’m sorry… I don’t understand-”

“Oh god tell me you’re not that dumb, Candace is Daddy’s little princess, even you must have enough brain cells to know that much.” She tipped the emptier of the two bottles back towards her lips, drinking whatever drops were left inside. “I guess you’re lucky you’re so pathetic though, the last girl who crossed Candace got put on her daddy’s personal little watchlist.”

I lowered my gaze, turning around to face the house, half looking in towards my mistress and half admire the home she forced me to live in. “…The last girl?”

Aria, in her drunken haze, hooked her arm around my neck, taking a drink of her beer- and I just had to let her. Candace had given me my rules, if someone wanted to touch me, I was to allow it. I wasn’t to fight back, no matter how hard I wanted to.

And when it came to Mistress’ drunken associate, I definitely wanted to. It was clear that Aria just didn’t like me, hence the teasing and taunting. I could tell that she was just trying to claw her way under my skin, and I had no choice but to sit through it. 

“Never mind the last girl~” She tapped the empty bottle against my forehead, still holding me in a makeshift headlock. “You should ask her about her father’s plans for that rival of hers.”

“Sophia Cavalier?” My ears rang at the mention of her, nervously glancing in towards Candace for a few moments to make sure she wasn’t listening. “I’m sorry… I’m not supposed to ask things like that…”

“Then just be glad that you’re as pathetic as you are because last I heard, Candace’s father was out for her head.” She finally let go of my head, letting me stand up on my own beside her. “Be thankful that our little sweetheart chose you and not someone else… or it could have been you on her daddy’s chopping block~”

I stood up straight, regaining my composure as I found myself too distracted by how Candace looked to get a very good look at the mansion. That woman may very well be beautiful, but she was still a devil in pale skin.

“…She’s not a sweetheart, Ma’am.”

Smash!! I had only started taking in the view of the house from the outside, still amazed by how gorgeous it was once I’d pried my eyes off of my mistress, when I felt the glass bottle shatter on the backside of my head, and my ears were once again ringing in pain.

 

Before I could even reach to cover them, Aria had her fist wrapped around my earlobe, pulling me back inside by force, slumping me down on my knees before Candace.

“Aria!! What did you do?!” I heard Candace’s voice through the ringing, trying to speak up and ask for her help.

“She hurt me, Mistress…”

“Silence, now.”

Aria just gagged, astonished to hear my mistress even try to defend me. “Oh don’t get all sorry for her, I only smacked her upside the head, she’s not even bleeding.”

“You can’t just smash a beer bottle on my servant’s head, Aria.”

“If you had heard what came out of her mouth, you would have done the same~!”

Candace was already furious, and I recoiled in place as I saw her shift her anger onto me, still lying on the floor.

“…And what did she say?”

“This thing tried to insist that our Candace here isn’t a sweetheart~ <3”

“…Did she really?”

“Why don’t you ask her?”

“No… It sounds like she deserved what she got, didn’t you Chloe?”

I looked up at her in terror, nodding my head hesitantly, tears starting to drip down my cheeks. “Y-yes, Mistress… I’m sorry…”

“Anyways~” Aria spoke up again, leaning down and grabbing another beer for herself. “Where’s Thea?”

“Thea is in her bedroom, getting used to the new kitten.”

“You got a new kitten!! Where is she? Can you bring her out?”

“Not tonight… She’s still acclimating. Besides, tonight’s about Chloe proving her submission to me, right Chloe?”

I sniffled, nodding my head at her. I hadn’t realized that Candace had gotten a second cat, especially knowing how much I hated the first one. “Yes, Mistress.”

“Lame.” Aria practically a whole bottle of booze in one chug, setting the empty bottle back down and grabbing a new one. “Is she cute, Chloe? You like cats, don’t you?”

I turned to look at Aria again, wiping my tears from my face, sighing in frustration. 

“…I’m allergic to cats…”

“Pftt, that’s probably why she got a new one~”

I repositioned myself once again, kneeling next to my mistress as her fellow model walked back towards the porch, a drink in hand.

“She sure is something, isn’t she?” I heard that still unidentified woman on the floor mumble as she watched the other girl saunter her way back towards the porch. “I wouldn’t mind watching her serve drinks sometime~”

“You're in a relationship!!” Cyrus’ wife almost scoffed, shaking her head at the other woman. “You shouldn’t say things about people like that when you’re spoken for, man or woman-”

“Tell that to my bastard of a boyfriend…” She seemed to hang her head in defeat, having downed about twice as many drinks as Aria had but still managing to stay mostly composed. “I don’t comment on your love life, don’t comment on mine.”

The woman just seethed. “Honey, please tell Leah-”

“That’s enough, Elizabeth.” He shushed her, shaking his head to show his wife disapproval. “She’s been through enough already.” 

“Yeah. No thanks to you, asshole.” She stood up, grabbing her drink and taking it with her as she made her way towards better company. “Keep your rat in check or I’ll put her down for you…”

There was the confirmation I needed. That was the assistant that Candace mentioned her father had, Leah. From the sounds of it, she was going through a hell of a time, hence the turn to alcoholism, but I knew not to press Candace for anything more than that, not after I could hear her brother speaking at me.

“Sounds like she’s having a bit of difficulty taming you after all, huh?”

“Shut up Cyrus, she’s my first slave.”

“My first slave didn’t act up like this, ever.”

Concerning- it occurred to me- to hear that despite not knowing a thing about his little sister’s operation, Cyrus had a slave of his own. Or at least from the sounds of it, used to. 

“I highly doubt that, brother. You wouldn’t have gotten a new slave if you hadn’t put the first one down.”

Liz seemed to tense up as she listened, nervous at the mention of slaves being put down, much like I was, but she didn’t say anything about it- not after her husband told her to be quiet. 

That’s when another itch in my brain left me scratching my head.

“Aria has a point though, you always have been a sweetheart, that’s why people like you~”

“I am fully capable of being mean, Cyrus!!”

“Since when? You’re almost as subdued as Elizabeth, you can’t even bring yourself to order her around without feeling bad about it~”

“I can too!!”

I started hearing the other guests giggle. Cyrus’ mother, Lilith, was now sitting next to him on the sofa, chattering away with Leah across from her, purposefully positioned away from the other woman’s son. I looked up at them just in time to see them taking a break from mutually admiring Aria on the porch as everyone- including Liz- started to giggle at Candace’s expense. 

I had noticed that something was off about Liz the whole night, but I was only just starting to put the pieces together. She was now on the other side of the sofa, away from Candace and I- not sitting on the sofa, but kneeling on the floor next to her husband. The possibility hadn’t occurred to me due to the lack of an electronic metal band about her throat, but I was beginning to piece things together. 

The woman had her own jewelry around her neck, a day collar that her husband made her wear in public, and she was fidgeting impatiently, not speaking a word as she fiddled with her own shoulder length brown hair, the tips dyed mint green.

Liz also had a weird tag on her right ear, like a cattle tag. It was almost pure silver, with the numbers 0002 printed on the front, alongside the initials, CG, engraved into the metal.

She wasn’t just Cyrus’ wife, she was his slave. 

Her enthusiasm had also caught me off guard; I hadn’t thought that someone so happy about being with her tormentor as Elizabeth was could have been a slave, knowing how much I hate my own position. She looked like a rat, ready to pounce at a scrap of food, hanging onto Cyrus’ every command as she looked to him with those two desperate green eyes she had.

But snapping back to reality for now, I was at least relieved to think that the only slaves in attendance were a pair of dye headed freckle-faced white women.

 

Husband of hers snorted. “Sure you can, little sis, I believe you~”

“Cut the sarcasm.” Candace was blushing, clearly getting embarrassed seeing each of her guests seemingly calling her out on being a pushover.

“You’re right. I guess I’d rather say- I will believe you, once I’ve seen it. That’s why we’re here isn’t it, Candace?”

“By the end of this, you’ll be calling me Miss St. Clair .”

“Sure I will~”

Candace was only getting more and more flustered by her older brother and his arrogant attitude, and his wife seemed to be swooning over it. My mistress turned to me, audibly huffing in frustration. 

“I ought to punish you for speaking bad about me, but you have the right idea Chloe, I’m not a sweetheart, am I?” She gestured for me to answer, uncrossing her legs and nudging me.

“No Mistress, you’re not a sweetheart, or a pushover…”

“Good. Since you’ve already gotten your head pounded, I’ll let it go for now, I have plans for you tonight anyways~”

“Yes Mistress… Thank you…”

“By the way, how was the view of the mansion, did you notice anything you hadn’t seen before?”

“I didn’t get to look at it for very long, Mistress.”

“That’s alright, did you at least enjoy what you saw?”

“Yes Mistress. It was almost as beautiful as you…”

Candace stopped, clearly taken off guard by the unexpected compliment, her face getting even more flustered. “Why… thank you, slave…”

“Awwww, my little sister has her first serious admirer~”

“Shut up, Griffin!!!”

“That’s Mr. Griffin to you, young lady~”

“Cyrus, I will beat your head in harder than Aria with a beer bottle.”

By this point, the guests were doing more than just giggling at their host, Leah seemed to be busting her gut laughing at all of this as it went down, and I could hear that Malcolm and Aria had joined in from the table up front as well.

Everyone seemed to be having a good time, except for Candace. Mistress St. Clair had ordered me to try and have fun, and seeing Cyrus’ wife across from me giggling at my owner, I couldn’t help but smile, beginning to giggle at Candace’s expense as well.

Candace did not appreciate this.

 

As soon as I made eye contact with her, I could see all of the pent up anger and frustration in her concentrating towards me, standing up to kick me in the chest for that. She slammed me to the ground under her boot, stepping down on my chest and pinning me in place as she fumed.

I lied on my back as she pressed down, looking up at her with terror in my eyes. Her maroon heeled leather boots were thick and painful, digging into one of my breasts, threatening to pop them.

“You should know by now that you are not a guest here!! You are not here to have fun, you are here because I want you here, to prove to me that you are worthy of living in my house!! To prove to me that you know your place!! Not to have fun!! I told you to try and enjoy yourself, but not at my expense, you’re to prove to them how well your mistress!! Has!!! Tamed you!!!!”

She picked her foot up off of my chest and slammed the back of my head into the ground, causing even more pain to my already aching head. By the time the ringing had subsided once more, the room was almost completely silent, but that only lasted for a few moments before everyone started to giggle again, this time at my expense.

 

“Well little sis… I believe you now~” Cyrus lifted his drink, tapping it against the drink in Candace’s hand for a toast.

“Thank you, it comes naturally to me now~”

“As it usually does with practice, I’m proud of you~”

“It’s nothing, I told you I could do it without the facility’s help.”

“But not without the facility’s technology.”

“It’s the family’s technology, and I made it mine with a few adjustments.”

“I’m sure I could add those adjustments to the facility’s technology.”

“As if I’d hand you my work just like that- but speaking of, why doesn’t Liz have a collar of her own?”

“Because she has been through the facility, and thanks to me, she’s the perfect slave~”

“So what, you trust her to stay obedient without needing a collar?”

“I have other ways to keep my slave in line, you should learn a few.”

“I’m well equipped without your help, thank you. Didn’t you say Liz wanted to play with Chloe?”

“She does indeed~”

“Let her have at it then, while I have Malcolm get the things ready.”

“Hear that pet? Go. Play. Just don’t break her.”

 

I didn’t like the sound of it, but before I’d even had the chance to sit up, I saw Liz looming over me, on all fours, her hands firmly planted next to my head as she looked down at me.

“Hi Chloe~!! I’m Liz~!! I’ve heard you’re really stupid, so I figured I might as well make sure you know in case you haven’t figured that out~!!”

I took a deep breath, once again trapped on my back as I was forced to look up at her. She was calling me stupid, her- of all people?

I bit my tongue and rolled my eyes. “Hello, Ma’am…”

“Ma’am?? I like how that sounds… The most respectful thing I’ve ever been called is Mrs. Griffin, but I like that…”

“Mistress said t-”

“To treat everyone as your superior, including me, I know. I’ve been looking forward to this~”

“…L-looking forward to what…”

“To putting the fresh little fuckmeat in its place. Isn’t that right, Sir?”

Oh she did not just call me that. 

I wasn’t sure what Liz’s deal was, but I was sure that I didn’t like her attitude towards me, not one bit. But I couldn’t say that to her- not after the tiniest little slip up with Aria earned me a broken bottle to the skull and the slightest of giggles got me put under Candace’s heel for trying to enjoy myself. 

I looked up towards Cyrus, lifting my head to see him from beneath his slave. For right now, Liz was on top of me, and she was going to stay there until I could find a way to escape. It was clear that tonight was about Candace impressing her brother and his mom, the other guests in the room were just window dressing. 

“Yes of course my darling, make me proud~”

“Yes, Sir!!” Liz turned back to me, slamming her forehead into mine, forcing my head back onto the ground. “You’re less than worthless, aren’t you Chloe? That’s why you’re perfect for our Candace, you’re not even fit to be called a human~”

“I- I- I- mmmph…”

I held my tongue, knowing that nothing good could come out of that mouth of mine, this was torturously humiliating, and all I could do was sit through it- not fight back. 

I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes, unable to speak as I felt Liz place her hands on my breasts, pressing her weight down on them. She squeezed them in her hands, giggling to herself at the chance to torment me.

“So pathetic, I love her!!”

“P-please… that hurts…”

“When Cyrus told me about Candace’s new slave, I never imagined it would be you~!! I should have expected Candace to get her revenge on you~”

Oh she was just itching to rub that in, wasn’t she? 

My new mistress had scolded me long and hard about what I did to her, and why it was all my fault that I was here. I knew why she wanted me here, and it was all to punish me. But even I wasn’t allowed to talk about it with her, she brought it up when she needed to hold it over me, and hardly for any other reason. 

“I-I’m not allowed to talk… about it…”

“Awe… that’s a shame~”

“…Please let me up?”

“Not until you tell me who you belong to, that way I know you’ll stay in your place~”

 

Who do I belong to? 

I paused, my breath caught in my throat as I struggled to give her an answer. I knew who I belonged to, it was her. Candace was out on the porch next to her assistant and her cruel lady friend, watching me.

When she wanted something, she always had this determination about her, and I could feel from that look on her face that she wanted this. I didn’t know what this was, or what it meant to her, but from the way she hung onto my words just then- I knew that she wanted it.

“I’m… Candace’s…”

Candace’s cold determined scowl had just a little bit of light in it, almost proud of herself. I felt Liz slowly move off of me, letting me regain my composure, leaning towards me to whisper into my ear. 

“Just do as she says and she’ll take good care of you. She takes very good care of her property, if she’s anything like her brother, you’ll come to love it eventually~”

Liz finally took her hands off of me, smiling happily towards Candace as she made her way to the couch, now returning to watch over me. “Please tell your pet to heel, Cyrus~” 

“Alright cutie, you’ve had your fun, silence yourself and come kneel.”

“Yes, Sir.” I watched as Elizabeth reluctantly pried herself from next to me and returned to her husband, finding her place quietly kneeling at his feet. 

I didn’t know what this facility they kept talking about was, but it was clear that the results of being sent there were far more extreme than anything Candace was accomplishing here with me. 

The way that Liz mindlessly obeyed her owner was sort of terrifying to watch. She didn’t even have a collar like mine, despite it being facility technology, which just meant that she was so totally broken into being a slave that stayed loyal without it- and that was almost unspeakably awful to think about. 

 

I nervously sat up, glancing over my shoulder to my mistress sitting behind me, that light in her eyes still staring at me with evil intention. 

That could have been me… Candace could have sent me to the facility…

“I hope you had fun with Liz~” Candace relaxed into the sofa opposite her brother, pointing at the ground in front of her. “Come kneel before me for forgiveness, NOW.” 

Candace just wanted to make my punishment personal…

I didn’t hesitate with begging her for forgiveness, placing my head in her lap as I knelt, beginning to sob loudly. 

“Please… I’m sorry for everything, Mistress… I-”

“No, not everything. What did you do tonight to deserve my wrath, what are you apologizing for?”

“I-” I swallowed nervously, heart swelling in my chest as I kept my head down, still buried in her lap. “I’m sorry for giggling at you, Mistress…”

“And why aren’t you allowed to giggle at my expense?”

“Because you’re my superior…” 

“Very good. Look at me.”

I lifted my head up to meet her gaze, tears still flowing from my eyes. She patted the empty seat on the sofa between her and Leah, forcing me to lay next to her with my head in her lap as she slowly stroked my hair. 

“Lay here and rest with Mistress.” 

Candace usually sat in her chair alone, but I quickly realized that the reason she sat down on the couch at all was for me to lay down next to her, which I appreciated. I murmured back to her, nuzzling my head into her lap. 

 

“I never thought you could personally train a slave… not without the facility’s help…” Lilith just stared at me, looking like she really needed a cigarette. She was clearly deep in though, simultaneously admiring Candace’s work and contemplating how she felt about it. “She needs a number.” 

“I think that’s my decision to make, but yeah- she does.” Cyrus interrupted his mother, his slave’s cattle tag held firmly between his fingers. “Any preference, sis?”

Candace just grinned excitedly, reaching down and pushing my hair aside so that she could pinch my earlobe between her fingers. “You know which one I want.” 

“Then she can have it.” Cyrus smirked, leaning back and letting his own slave relax. “I’ll put her in the system- that way you can use the facility resources on her.” 

“So be it.” Lilith sighed, whistling towards Aria and Malcolm on the balcony to give them the go ahead for whatever my cruel new mistress was planning for me. “It’s my son’s facility now, not mine. You three can do as you wish~”

“Finally~” Candace had that evil glow about her as she stared down at me, licking her painted lips to show her hunger. “I think I would appreciate the earliest appointment you have.”

 

“You really have done well with her huh, Candy Cane?” Leah giggled again, setting another empty wine bottle down on the table. “And for a second I thought she’d never have to step foot in that place~” 

“Leah did you… drink an entire bottle of my wine?”

“This is me you’re talking to, of course I did~”

“You have a problem…” 

“No you have a problem~” She snickered, tapping my ass with a cold beer bottle as she picked it up off of the table. “It’s not like you’ve raised cattle like the facility has.” 

“I assure you, I am more than capable of handling this little cow all by myself~”

“I can see that, she’s even more castrated than you~”

“LEAH!!!!”

“Right… We don’t talk about that- speaking of neutering animals, I don’t even see why you’re having her spayed, it’s not like you can get her pregnant any-”

“Leah!! Shut up!!”

“…Maybe that is enough booze for tonight.” I looked up, trying to figure out what was happening as Leah placed the bottle back down on the now empty tray. “Or maybe not~”

“Eugh.” Candace forced me out of her lap in frustration, shaking her head at the other woman. “Take the tray back to the kitchen, Chloe. We’re almost done for tonight-”

“You’re having me spayed?!” Tears had started pouring down my face again, flushed with fear and humiliation at the horror of it. 

“Do as I say before I slap you.” Candace forced the tray of dishes into my hands without asking. “We are not talking about this right now. Go.” 

 

I wanted to fight- to scream, to punch her- but I couldn’t. At this point I had no choice but to do as she told me, taking the tray back to the kitchen, slowly wiping the tears from my eyes. 

Candace is going to spay me- like an animal. 

I couldn’t believe it. Of course she would do something like that, I was just a fool for thinking that our tiny moment of intimacy together on the couch meant anything. Candace didn’t see me as someone worth spending time with, she didn’t even see me as a person anymore. She saw me as an animal- human cattle. 

“I’d say I feel sorry for you, but-” Leah followed me into the kitchen, breaking back into the wine collection and cracking open another bottle. “It’s not like I’m ever going to have kids either, so…”

I steeled myself, stuffing my emotions back into their cramped little hole- resisting the urge to drive a knife through all of their throats. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Save it. We both know what we did to get here, live with it.” Leah took just a few drinks from the bottle before deciding it was enough, slamming it down on the tray next to the other drinks. “Candace expects you back in five, if you’re not out by then I’ll have to drag you.”

“Thank you, Ma’am. I’ll be out soon…”

 

I forced my way back to the parlor before Leah had to come and get me, and by the time I returned Lilith was now sitting next to Candace, her hand on my mistress’ shoulder. 

“I would be proud to have you as my daughter, Candace…”

“Thank you, Miss Mariam. That means a lot… Do you think I’ll ever get Claudia to come out to one of these?”

“I doubt it hon… My daughter has never been that type of person…”

“She’s always been so distant with me…”

“She didn’t get along with your mother very well.”

“That’s not my fault!!”

“I know it’s not your fault sweetie, your mother was an astoundingly wonderful woman…”

“She was…”

“I know she was… But you’ll always have us, sweetheart~”

“Thank you…”

“I must ask though, did you really have to brand the girl with that symbol? Couldn’t you have put your name on her?”

“She knows exactly what that symbol means, but since you mention it anyways…” Candace smiled mischievously, staring up at me as I stepped into the room. “We’re about to take Chloe outside for her new brand, something more personalized this time… her idea not mine~”

New brand… my idea? I swallowed nervously, my cheeks turning bright red as I quickly realized what she meant Oh no… 

 

Candace brought me outside onto the porch, her assistant had just finished getting everything set up as she knelt down next to me. She took a large metal chain, attaching it to a large metal post built onto the porch, the kind of thing you’d restrain cattle with. 

“I hope you’re ready, my little calf. If anyone is squeamish I suggest you go back inside while I’m handling the human cow over here~”

I nervously lowered my head, staring down at the floor of the porch, seeing none of the guests head back inside. They all stood around me from on or near the porch, as I anxiously awaited whatever it was that Candace was going to brand me with. 

“You’ve done this once, you can do it again.” She placed one hand under my chin, forcing my gaze up to look at her. “Go on, say thank you to Mrs. Watts for giving me a branding iron~”

I bit my lip, a lump forming in my throat as I turned to look at Leah, standing in the doorway with her arms crossed. “Th-thank you, Mrs. Watts…”

“Ms. Watts-” Leah rolled her eyes, cursing under her breath, clearly wishing she hadn’t gotten rid of the last half of that bottle of wine. “But you’re welcome.”

Candace stared at me as I turned to face her, looking me in the eyes. “Before we start… I want to hear you go moo~”

I took a deep breath in and swallowed the lump in my throat, seeing the glow of the moon reflected in her eyes and noticing for the first time that she was definitely wearing contact lenses. My heart skipped a beat, strangely, I had never actually been close enough to see it- but her eyes almost seemed mismatched in that glow. It was like one of her contacts just about made her eye seem purple.

“M-moo…” 

My voice was shaky and my face flushed with humiliation as Candace reached towards my open mouth, placing a large bit gag- a long straight leather rod- into my mouth and clasping it around the back of my head before she restrained my collar to the other end of the chain she had set up for me. 

Candace simply held her hand out towards Aria, who deposited a strange metal ornament into her palm. It was a cattle tag, like you would attach to a cow. Gold, rectangular, and to my surprise- had my new name engraved onto it- Chloe. Engraved below the name was a number, and on the back, Mistress St. Clair’s initials. 

“We assign numbers to each and every one of our slaves. You probably don’t know how to read, but yours is 0000, we save the special numbers for our personal slaves~”

It was painful to look at, I had gotten my ears pierced in the past, but it was always by a professional. That was the same tag that Liz had on her ear, and I didn’t want to know what other extreme Candace planned on taking this to, but unfortunately for me I wouldn’t have to wait very long to find out. 

 

“Hold still for me, okay?” Malcolm crouched beside me, a large piercing needle in hand. “This is only going to take a sec~”

He put the needle through right around the center of my ear, causing me to flinch- and I admittedly expected it to be a lot more painful than it actually was. I wasn’t sure what his deal was, but I was relieved to see that Candace’s assistant knew exactly what he was doing by the time he got done piercing my ear. 

“Stay with me here, beautiful.” Malcolm tried to keep me calm as he tilted my head back, his tone indicating that he was just used to talking to girls like this in his overly flamboyant voice, rather than flirting. He held the needle in his hand like he was going to put it into my nose, but thankfully- he didn’t need to. “Well would you look at that- she’s already got a septum piercing~”

“Does she really?” Candace sounded almost surprised, despite being the one who never bothered to get close enough to check. “Then I suppose I won’t have to wait before putting a nice matching little nose ring to my nice little cow~”

Malcolm smiled, letting me go as he stood back up on his feet, stepping away from me. “She’s all yours~”

“And she always will be.” Candace sat in front of me, grabbing me by the head as she prepared to decorate me. Unable to jerk my head around, Candace did as she promised- placing the rose gold colored cattle tag onto my right ear, and sliding the matching nose ring into my septum. “Won’t you, Chloe?”

I could only pray that the answer I gave would somehow turn out to be a lie- but I nodded to her, crying out in pain through the gag to show her my submission. 

 

I wished the night would just end there, but everyone was still watching and waiting. They’d been promised a brand, and they were going to get one. Candace mercifully gave me a few minutes to recover while she prepared the branding iron, this one carved into a completely new shape, just for me. 

She stood in front of me for a moment, blowing on the iron before pointing it towards my face to let me see what she was going to be putting on my skin this time. “Property of CStC.”

Those were her initials. 

That was why she hadn’t branded me with them since last time- she’d been waiting for tonight to brand me again, permanently, as her property. She was going to do it in front of everyone she knew to make a point out of it, to prove herself to be superior to me to what felt like the whole world. 

Candace didn’t care about me. She had forgotten about our first meeting- it was my fault that this was happening to me. If I hadn’t opened my stupid mouth she wouldn’t have remembered writing her initials on my hips the first time we met, and she wouldn’t be doing it again. 

 

For a moment I was afraid she’d do it to my face, but I knew exactly where she was going to put it. She made her way behind, twirling the iron as she got into position, holding the glowing hot iron just inches from my skin.

“Now you’ll have a visible reminder, at all times, of who owns you.”

She pressed it deep into my skin, just above my previous brand, which was now dwarfed in comparison to this new one- almost like a little symbol to punctuate Candace’s ownership of me. It was like I was screaming into the abyss, the pain in my backside threatening to send my entire body into shock.

“Just like that, now you’ll never forget will you, Chloe?” My mistress ran her hand over my skin once it was safe, outlining the letters in her initials before sitting back down in front of me, cupping my cheeks in her palms. All I could do was shake my head, tears still streaming out from my eyes. “Very good… what do you think, want to sleep out here tonight?” 

Still helpless to do anything about it and not wanting to make my mistress any angrier tonight, I simply hung my head in defeat and sobbed, letting her rhetorical question go unanswered. 

But as soon as I thought the night couldn’t get any worse, she curled her fingers into my long well kept hair, climbing on top of me and sitting on my back while on all fours. 

“I hope you’ve all enjoyed yourselves tonight, I know little Chloe here has~”

And just like that, the night finally seemed to be over.

 

In short succession, after Candace was done putting on her show, the guests seemed to slowly make their way home- one by one- until it was just Leah and Aria left.

“Leah’s too out of it to drive me home- and I don’t have a license, let alone a car.” Aria did her best not to look at me, lest she’d end up gagging herself to the point of vomiting. “Mind if her and I- you know~”

“Chloe will be sleeping out here on the porch, Leah can babysit her to make sure she doesn’t escape, as a way of making it up to me…” Candace finally climbed off of my back, glaring the other women down. “Take the guest bedroom for the night, but make sure to make breakfast for us in the morning, someone will need to make food while Chloe’s out here- or I’ll have to eat my new cow.” 

“Careful when you say things like that. With all of those weirdos at the facility, she might think you’re serious.” Leah stood in the doorway, giggling at me as she put one hand on her hip, making sure I saw that she was armed with a handgun. “If she tries to escape, I’ll cook her myself.” 

 

“Hear that, Chloe?” I watched helplessly as Candace leaned down behind me, still too weak to fight back as she cupped both of my breasts in her hands. “I defy you to try~”

The remaining guests left my mistress and I alone, making their way to the guest bedroom together. Even after all of the torture I’d been through tonight, I still couldn’t help but be disgusted at myself for how much I liked the feeling of her soft touch against my body. 

It wasn’t something I’d felt when my fellow slave did it to me, but Candace’s firm grasp carried a weight to it that I couldn’t help but love, unable to control myself, and it left me longing for more by the time she let go. 

“You’re going to be a good slave, now aren’t you?” She sat in front of me, tilting my head up to look at her one last time. “I’m sure you’ll try something in the future, but I don’t have to worry about you trying to escape tonight, do I?”

I looked up into her eyes, seemingly asking an honest question, and I nodded. I had a knife stashed away under the sink in case I needed it- but for tonight I was content with being chained up outside on the porch, perfectly happy to not put up a fuss. 

“Good work tonight, Chloe.” Candace smiled, and for just a moment brought a tender warmth to my blushing face as she pressed her lips to my skin, kissing me once on the forehead. “My cattle did very well tonight after all… Mistress is very happy with you~”

 

Notes:

Updated 7/9/2021

Chapter 4: Puppy Love

“…Alright you stupid bitch, wake up~”

 

I slowly opened my hazel eyes as I looked up to see her, remembering where I was. I was chained up outside, still reeling from the afterparty. Candace was already dressed, digging her heels into my side to wake me up. 

The metal chain still hung from my collar, warmed from a night of contact with my skin. I dug my teeth into the leather bit gag that was still strapped around my head, slowly sitting myself up at her feet. 

“Good morning my little mongrel~!!” 

Candace seemed to erupt into cheerful humming as I awoke, kneeling down next to me and beginning to unlock my restraints. Curiously, she didn’t remove the chain from my collar, instead pulling on it like a leash as I rubbed my eyes free from specks. 

“I’ve relieved you from your normal duties for the day. I thought you might need the rest, and the girls were here to help with breakfast anyways~” She pulled my muzzle from her purse, unstrapping the bit gag from my mouth and considering replacing it- before putting them both back into her purse. “Ah, what the hell- you’re not going to bite me~”

“Says you…” I barely got to mumble before I felt a strong hand slap me right in the mouth just for speaking up. 

“Cute little whines and noises are fine, but words are not. Dogs don’t talk, and you won’t either.” Candace grinned, tugging on the chain to make sure it was secure. “I’ve never had a dog before, this should be fun!! We’re building you a doghouse today~!!”

A doghouse? I scoffed, my face turning red at the thought of it. I didn’t want a doghouse, but the only way I could vocalize that was by whining and shaking my head in protest, which was quickly met with another slap to the face. 

“For the rest of the day, you’re my mutt, my dog, my bitch~” She tightened her grasp on the leash, dragging my face to hers and glaring down at me. “And as such, I expect you to act like my bitch.”

 

She waited for me to nod in agreement, yanking me to my feet and dragging me back inside once I’d done so. “You’re a lucky girl Chloe, this is your reward for making me proud last night- and as my pooch for today, you have the distinguished privilege of getting to bathe like one of my pets, in the pet shower~”

She pinched my cheek like I was some sort of animal, walking me through the parlor and turning towards Thea’s bedroom. I had forgotten about it when I woke up, but as I walked through the hallway on my bare feet, I remembered something that Candace had mentioned last night. 

Candace got a new cat. 

My owner already had one of those furry little demons. Thea was Candace’s cat, and I hated her. The house has several bedrooms, and not one of them were for me, but one of them was for this fucking cat. She was the only other creature that lived in the house before I showed up, and one of my weekly duties requires me to bathe her, an activity that I thoroughly despised.

 

I’m allergic to cats. Candace couldn’t have known that before she abducted me from my previous life, but once she found out she jumped at the chance to make me miserable by adopting another kitten. 

Candace unlocked the door to the bedroom, shoving me inside and onto the floor, already covered in cat hair. The room had beds and furniture for the cats, but none sized for a human puppy, much to my dismay. 

I certainly hadn’t asked for this, but there was a silver lining to today, Candace was letting me a lot closer to her than she usually did. Maybe there was some fun to be had today after all, even if she was going to be treating me like a pet. But my attitude quickly soured as she kept going. 

“Put your paws up for me, pup~”

I watched Candace press a button on her bracelet, and in an instant I felt another strong surge of electricity flowing through my body, but this time it felt different- and the reality of that horrified me. The shocks weren’t coming from the rose gold metal band around my neck, they were coming from my forearms. It was like I was being struck by lightning from inside of my own body, deep inside of my muscles, underneath my skin. 

But just like she said, I put my paws up for her. I whimpered loudly, curling my hands into fists and holding them to my torso, just above my breasts. 

She implanted things inside of me without me knowing, and I barely had time to consider what else she might have put inside of me before I was forced to watch her slowly kneel down in front of me. 

“If you bite me, I will put you down like a real dog.” She grinned, her face mere inches from mine- threatening to kiss me before she stood back up, pressing her fingers to the devices on her bracelet once again. The shock implements in my wrists didn’t turn off, but their intensity did go down, now feeling like a faint jolt. It wasn’t enough to hurt, but it was enough to make moving my arms uncomfortable and difficult. 

By this point, both of Candace’s cats had awoken, crawling out of their hiding spots to come see their mom- and she of course pivoted to pay more attention to them than to me. Candace leaned down to pet Thea, stroking the silky fur of the adult black feline. 

The kitten however, decided she wanted to come check me out instead. The little calico thing rubbed against my bare skin as I sat on the carpeted floor, covering my knee in even more cat hair. I could barely stand the way it mewed at me, hoping that I’d reach down and pet her, but even if I could move my own paws, my allergies discouraged me from doing so anyways.

But that didn’t seem to satisfy Candace however, glaring at me from across the carpet, still playing with Thea. Candace just wanted to see me suffer, which meant I was playing with this new hell rat of hers. “Well, go on. Pet her.”

I grimaced anxiously. There was no fucking way. Sure she expected me to shut up and obey like a dog, but if I really was a dog, I still wasn’t going to get along with any amount of cats. “But… I’m allergic…”

Candace just smirked, letting me get a good look at that smug grin painted on her sexy face. She knew very well how I reacted around cats, that’s why she had gotten a new kitten in the first place, and she was clearly very eager to lock me in with her for the whole day. “That’s preposterous , I’ve never heard of a dog being allergic to cats before, you must just not like them because you’re a dim-witted brainless mutt, now pet her.”

I took a deep breath and sucked it up, she’d put me through worse before after all. It was extremely painful trying to move my arms while they were being electrocuted like this, almost paralyzed into place, but I did it anyway. My fingers twitched slightly as I stroked her fur, scratching her behind the ears for a few moments before pulling my hand back, watching the kitten curl up into a ball next to my legs. 

“Good.” That seemed to satisfy Candace, standing back up and letting Thea climb onto her shoulders. “I trust you’ll play nice with Sophia while I’m gone~”

I knew that name. 

“…Sophia?” I quickly turned to face her, astonished to hear her mention it at all, staring at Candace with the most dumbfounded look on my face. “I… Who are you referring to?”

“Who do you think, Chloe?” She simply smiled at me, gesturing to the calico kitten next to my lap, grinning the proudest smile of my entire life. 

I knew that name, I knew that girl , and I wasn’t allowed to mention her under any circumstance. Sophia Cavalier was the name of Candace’s rival, the girl she lost the championship match to just last year- her mortal enemy. My mistress cited her as the one who crushed her dream of becoming the first woman to win the tournament. 

“Why would you…” Unamused, the scowl on my face changed to a look of confusion. Naming her cat Sophia seemed just as bad to me as naming her dog Chloe, not that Candace would ever get a dog. “Why would you name your cat after someone you hate so much?”

“That’s a long story, but… I guess it’s my tribute to her~”

“Your tribute to her- that still doesn’t explain anything… why a tribute to her?”

 

She just looked at me with that disappointed expression on her face and sighed, shaking her head. “Well supposedly… just a few months ago… Sophia Cavalier died in a car accident.”

I scoffed, staring up at her nervously and hoping she was joking. “Who told you that?” 

“Well it wasn’t covered on mainstream news, if that’s what you’re asking, but all of the major gaming publications ran an article on her- including GameInformer, you know, the one you used to work for. She drove her car off a bridge… sounds like it was a suicide…” Candace paused for a few moments before turning and glaring at me. “It’s a shame too… I was always her biggest fan… right from the beginning…” 

I swallowed nervously, taking a good look at the kitten before glancing back up at my psychopath of an owner. “Were you really?” 

“I was… and I still am…” She smiled at me, a faint pink blush visible on her cheeks for a few moments before she sighed, her smile fading. “I would have liked a rematch with her… to prove that I’m better than her~”

“You could have just asked her for one…” 

“I know… But it’s too late now…” 

I simply held my tongue, knowing very well what kind of trouble I’d be getting myself into if I continued to speak out of line like this. 

 

So the rumors I’d heard at the afterparty were true, Candace’s family had been after the girl’s head. Now as far as the public knew, she had committed suicide- but to people like Candace… it was clear that it had been something far worse- even if they didn’t know the specifics of what really happened. 

But we both knew what really happened.

“Be glad that you aren’t Sophia Cavalier, because you get to be here with me… and the better Sophia~” Candace smirked, letting Thea jump down from her shoulders as she admired her new kitten. “Now if you don’t want me to kick you in the head for talking back just now, I suggest you crawl your way over here and kiss my boot before it’s too late.” 

 

Seeing no other option, I painstakingly pried both of my aching arms from my chest and placed them on the floor, crawling to her on all fours like a dog. I glared at her with red cheeks for a few moments before leaning down and kissing the toe of her black leather boot. 

It was nice for a moment, getting to kiss her feet, even if it was through her shoes, but I could hear her chuckle to herself as she took that away from me. She slipped her boot out from beneath my lips and stepped on the back of my head, pressing my face into the floor. She then slammed my head into the ground under her weight, watching my arms give out beneath me. 

“How dare you get your filthy bitch slobber on my shoes, you ugly disgusting mutt? Do you even realize how much more these boots are worth compared to you~?” 

After she’d had her moment of fun, she lifted her foot from my head, finally deactivating the shock devices in my arms so that I could lift myself back up. 

“Even though you are a mutt, I don’t want to break you just yet Chloe, you’re my pet today after all!! I’ll get to abuse you tonight, so as long as you do a few things for me while you wait, you’ll get to relax in here with the kittens all day~”

I couldn’t bring myself to say anything to her, still catching my breath, but she had a mouth and she was going to use it. Candace tapped her foot against the small pet hatch in the wall, adjacent to the door. 

“You’ll be getting fed like you normally feed the cats, you’ll have a bowl delivered through this little pet hatch for you. Of course if you try to escape, who knows what other nasty little devices you’ve already got in that cute little body of yours, but you’re welcome to try. Make sure to bathe my cats, the door to their bathroom is open. I’m a cat person after all, that means they outrank you, but the cage is just special for you~”

She smiled proudly, gesturing to the large dog kennel next to the oversized cat tower, not quite fit for a human- but close. 

“Be good and I’ll take you for a walk tonight~”

 

I looked up at her in disbelief. Last night had been the first time Candace had let me outside of the house, and I was surprised that she would be so eager to do that again so soon. Candace picked little Sophia up from beside me with one hand, grabbing my chain with the other- and dragging me to the corner of the room where she’d set up a little playpen for the kitten. So with no other option, I followed on all fours, watching her lower the cat into the pen.

“Little Sophia is still just a kitten, so I’ve set up this over here for her to stay in to help her adjust. She’s not big enough to get out of it on her own, but Thea can get in if she wants to. Just make sure she doesn’t escape, I can’t have her wandering the rest of the house.”

Candace leaned down and released the chain from my collar, glaring me in the eyes as she stood back up and made her way towards the door, locking it behind her to make sure that I didn’t follow her out. 

 

Candace loved these two little atrocities a lot, and it showed. She clearly put a lot of thought into the room, and by the looks of it, she personally came in here to take care of them. Within a few moments of her leaving, she was back with breakfast, as she promised. She opened up the little cat door and delivered three bowls of food- a small bowl of special food for Sophia, a medium sized bowl of cat food for Thea, and a large bowl for me. I saw what she meant by treating me like her pet, because it was much more than what she usually fed me in the morning, and it was full of meat- actual meat!!

“Please, take good care of my cats, I’m counting on you. This is one of my few days off from any actual work, and I’ve had this planned for quite a while now. If this goes well, I want to spend more days like this with you~”

She left without getting a response, as I simply looked the bowl over to make sure it was intended for me and not for one of the cats. And sure enough, engraved in red letters on the side of the peach colored bowl was my name- Chloe- along with other cute little decorations, my favorite being the little picture of a paw print. 

The bowl was filled with sliced lunch meats like turkey, honey ham, smoked ham, roast beef, as well as cooked meats like sausage and bacon. It might have been poison or something, but I didn’t care, it was food. I quickly sat up and pulled it into my lap, picking up a few slices with my hands and just about stuffed them straight into my mouth when I heard Candace’s voice again, this time on the intercom. 

“I leave you for literally fifteen seconds and you’ve already forgotten your place?”

 

Unsure of what I did wrong, I glanced around the room, not knowing where to look, a nervous expression on my face. I could hear her sigh, the sound of disappointment in her voice making my heart ache nervously. I didn’t want her to be mad at me, I loved when she was happy with me. “I… I’m sorry… D-did I do something wrong?”

“I can still see and hear you from anywhere in the house, Chloe, and I thought I had made it clear that I would spoil you as long as you behaved like my good sweet little bitch ~” I could tell by the sudden cooing on that last word that I was being called a dog. “Put the bowl down and eat like a dog, or else you won’t be getting seconds~”

“S-seconds?” I quickly obeyed her, setting the bowl down and getting on my hands and knees like a dog. If I had a tail I could tell it would be wagging. “You mean like… more food?”

“That is generally how you train a puppy, moron. What part of spoil do you not understand?” I didn’t care that she was insulting me, I was practically drooling at her words as they came out of her mouth. “If you eat all of your food like a good dog, I’ll bring you more~”

 

Why is she treating me so well all of a sudden?

Was it because of last night- did I do something to impress her, and now I’m being rewarded? Or was this all a mind game, using positive reinforcement to encourage more desirable behavior in me?

It didn’t make much sense to me, but I didn’t really care. I lied on my stomach in front of the bowl, carefully placing my own front paws on either side of it to make sure it didn’t get knocked out of place while I ate. My peachy orange hair got caught up in my mouth a few times as I ate, getting food in it as I pushed my face into the bowl, but that wasn’t anything new. 

My hair had always been extremely precious to me, and occasionally breathing it into my mouth was just the price I paid to keep it as long as it was. My hair was all I had left, so I took incredible care of it. 

I did as I was told without a fuss, eating my food out of the bowl like a dog, and sure enough- when I was finished with my first bowl, Candace refilled it for me. I placed my chin on the floor behind my hands as she grabbed the bowl and took it with her, waiting like a desperate puppy for her to return. 

She filled it for me again, this time with numerous cheeses and little fruits along with the meat, finishing my breakfast for the morning. When I did eventually clear out the bowl, I got to work for the day- cleaning litter boxes and organizing the room, tormented by Thea more and more as I tried putting her toys away.

 

Sophia was mewling for me the whole time, her sister was the one bothering me, but she was the one who needed my attention. I had no way of knowing how old the little thing was, she was tiny and made a lot of fuss, nervously pawing at the walls of her pen, but what I did know was that I was quite allergic to her. The kitten clearly just wanted a playmate but that was not a role I was willing to play for her. 

Being allergic to dust already made my life in this house a nightmare, but over time I’d gotten used to it, seeing that daily cleanings kept dust from collecting in the first place. But the cats made my eyes water, itch, and turn red. They made my nose simultaneously congested and runny at the same time. My throat was sore and itchy, I couldn’t stop sneezing, and their fur made it hard to breathe. 

Candace may be a cat person, but I was obviously not, even if I wasn’t allergic- I would still hate these little monsters. Sophia made me especially angry, just hearing her name in my head messed with me. 

I picked her up from the playpen, trying as hard as I could not to squeeze her to death in my hands. Might as well get the bath out of the way, she was playful, excited to meet someone new, and perfectly willing to let herself be picked up. 

I set her down in the tub as gently as I could, turning the water on. I was surprised to see that she loved the water, splashing around in it, unable to sit still. I managed to clean her up and dry her off with minimal scratch marks, putting her back into her pen once I was done- much to her dismay.

Her sister on the other hand, was a different matter. I had to wait for Thea, watching through the cat door that I wasn’t allowed out of for her to come back. I always hated when she left her room, because it meant that I had to clean up after her. 

Thea was considerably more feisty and aggressive with me, but I managed to clean her as well. I was left with quite a few more scratches from her than from Sophia, but even the ones that the kitten gave me were less irritating- almost like they triggered my reactions just a little bit less. 

 

My allergies only got worse as I bathed the cats, so I decided it was time for me to take a shower as well. My collar was waterproof and I knew that neither of the cats would make their way in here while I was bathing myself, so this was as good a time as ever. I went through the painstaking effort of cleaning the bathtub, making sure to wash all of the cat hairs away so that I wouldn’t have an even worse reaction while I showered.

Right when I was almost done cleaning the tub however, I watched the water shut off on its own. I nervously turned the handle, trying to get the water to come back on, to no avail. Someone had shut the water off on me before I could clean myself, and I knew exactly who that someone was. 

“Candace!! You said I would get to use your pet’s shower!!” I frantically glanced around the room, looking for a camera. I was exasperated. The last thing I wanted was to be denied a shower while my body ached like this. And sure enough- she was listening. 

“I said that as my dog you would get the privilege of using the shower, and you will get to use it- as my DOG .” With the water running in the bath in front of me I hadn’t even heard her enter the room, but there she was- standing in the doorway to the bathroom behind me. “That means that if you behave on our walk, I will bathe and groom you myself~”

My heart skipped a beat. She was scolding me, but something about what she was saying excited me- being bathed by another woman sounded delightful. Candace had never touched me like that, and the thought of her doing so was more than enticing. 

I’d never felt the touch of another girl. My last partner was my manager, Justin, and he was my first and only long term relationship. We’re still on good terms, or we were- before I was abducted- but we were friends. 

I hated to think that it was living with him that finally helped me realize that I was only into women. He was still my manager after all, but he decided it better to move out and let me have that apartment to myself. Maybe if he hadn’t moved out I wouldn’t have been abducted in the first place. I wondered if he missed me, and I really hoped he did. I knew I missed him. But right now I was drooling over her . 

“Go to your kennel, Chloe.”

 

I didn’t like it, but I did as I was told. Sophia was safe in her playpen, Thea was off doing who knows what somewhere out of reach by now, and Candace was hovering over the door to the kennel impatiently. At least in here the cats couldn’t reach me. 

Things would be so much easier if I was really a dog. I could ignore all of the bad parts of my owner and focus on the good. Of course Candace hated dogs, but I wasn’t really sure that would put me at a disadvantage. The loudest parts of my brain told me that she hated me regardless, but a small part of me was convinced that she had to have some feelings for me. After all, why would she keep me here in the first place if she didn’t like having me.

I was really missing out on having claws and fangs though. Now was a great time to defend myself if I had a weapon, but I’d stashed it away out of reach. If I was a canine I could maul her and run away, but I wasn’t. So I crawled into the kennel as she held open the door.

The smile on her face was promising. For once she didn’t seem nervous to be around me, and just for a moment I saw something in her eyes telling me that she was enjoying this more than she usually did. 

Even as I sat up in the kennel, perpetually on guard, she slowly crouched to my level and reached inside. I braced myself for her touch, lowering my face in anticipation only to feel the soft touch of her fingers stroking the top of my head. 

“Your hair is so soft.” She said with a sweet tone. “It feels nice.”

Heart thumps were the loudest sounds to reach my ears in those moments, feeling her grip tighten into my fiery peach locks. Pulling my head away was met with feeling my blank earlobe between her fingers, pinched just slightly.

“It’s okay.” She rubbed my ear between her fingertips, pulling my attention towards her. “I don’t want to hurt you, so don’t make me. Just do as I say and lie down.” 

Candace retracted one hand, still clutching me by the hair as she led me to the floor of the kennel. It was a new sensation from her, not senseless cruelty, but a firm guiding touch. I felt myself following her hand, lowering myself to the ground with an almost unnatural ease. Then, once I was there, she let go without another thought. 

“Just do as I say and I don’t have to hurt you. I think that makes sense.” She was smiling as she pulled away, gently closing the door to the kennel between us. “So here’s another order. Stay in here until I come get you, I don’t want to lock you in, so prove that I don’t have to.”

Candace slowly rose to her feet, looming over me. She didn’t expect another word from me, so I didn’t provide one. I was at a loss for words anyways, unsure of what I even could have said in that moment. Instead, I did as I was told and lied down, watching her cover the kennel with a blanket to help shade me from the sun. 

And then I listened to her footsteps as she walked away. 

 

Emotions stirred inside of me as I lay there in the cramped cage like a dog. Never before had I been so torn on how I felt about her, even back before all of this happened. It felt like Candace was slowly starting to warm up to me, which was terrifying. 

I was appalled by just how much I wanted to touch myself right then. The willpower to resist it came to me, but at the cost of bitter unwarranted frustration. It shouldn’t have been so hard not to fall in love with her, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself. 

My head hurt a lot more than normal. It was especially painful when I closed my eyes, trying to force myself to rest. Today had honestly been wonderful, but for some reason I couldn’t shake myself free from my own thoughts and feelings. It was like my brain was being squeezed inside of my skull while my body shook uncontrollably, and I listened to the sounds of my own sobs through muffled breath. 

Everything was on overdrive for no reason. The good, the bad, the ugly, and the beautiful all hit so much harder than they usually did. Just trying to stay in the kennel was hard when I wanted to chase after Candace, not sure whether it was to embrace or attack her. 

I was restless. But I must have fallen asleep eventually, because I was awoken by the sound of the door being opened. After a few moments of adjusting my eyes, I looked up to see her through the black metal bars, sitting on top of the cage. 

“Attack me and I will euthanize you.”

There was the Candace I knew and hated. 

 

I wasn’t sure what had gotten into her while she was gone. I felt simultaneously much more rested and restless after getting to sleep the day away like a dog, but whatever Candace had been up to had left her irritable. Nevertheless, I quickly crawled out of the cage, letting my owner get me ready to go outside. For whatever reason, I was extremely excited to go on a walk, even with her.

“Bear in mind that I’ve never used these before, so I’m going to need your cooperation. Just don’t make a fuss, that’s all I ask.”

Here came the real test of my patience, letting her dress me like a puppy. Being treated like a dog was one thing, but pretending to be one was another. She placed my hands in these padded mittens shaped just like paws, quickly doing the same for my feet and even placing a headband with dog ears on my head just to complete the look. 

Then she strapped me into a harness, which I wasn’t exactly a fan of. It was the usual black, and it fit me perfectly, but I kind of hated it. It squeezed just a little bit to try and accentuate my bust, still naked and exposed, and I honestly didn’t like how it gave me that many more handles to grab onto. The facial harness was also something I didn’t much appreciate, knowing how the muzzle would make it hard to speak, but I relented. 

The single upside to all of this was getting to feel those hands of hers all over me. Candace had some of the softest hands in the world when she wasn’t using them to smack or strangle me, and I couldn’t help but wish she’d stroke my hair some more. Only because she’d already gotten me dressed like this was I open to giving it a shot, letting her secure a leash to the front of my collar and walk me to the sofa. 

Candace sat on the couch, forcing me onto all fours in front of her. This had to be the most humiliating thing I’d ever been forced into, and it was up against some pretty fierce competition. She admired her work just as much as she admired me, holding my face in her hands and tilting it back and forth to check that it was secure. 

All I could do was stare into those strange blue eyes of hers, hidden behind contact lenses. I so wished that she would just lean in and kiss me, but I didn’t even have the mouth for it thanks to my muzzle. But I could still feel her breath on my skin, my cheeks quickly turning red as I sat there. 

I couldn’t control myself anymore, I had to get closer. Front paws gently landed on Candace’s thighs, wanting to tackle her into the cushions, begging for permission to be in her lap. My heart was beating faster than it ever had before. I just wanted to feel her warmth, and I didn’t have the restraint necessary to wrangle in my impulses today. 

Quiet whimpers escaped my lips, and before I knew it I was in her lap. I felt her hands on my hips to help me up, my paws guided from her thighs to her shoulders. Then, out of instinct, I buried my face in her shoulder. 

I couldn’t be sure what had gotten into me today, but I could feel it, physically. It was in my head, my heart, and my body. My well of energy hadn’t been this deep in months, which was weird, because I’d put up with my conditions just fine since I’d been kidnapped and forced off of my meds. This had to be something new, just like the butterflies in my heart. 

Her hands slid from my hips to my ass, and in a welcomed turn of events, I was strangely okay with the feeling of her squeezing my round cheeks in her hands. But then Candace just had to go and ruin it. 

 

My whole body jumped in her lap as I felt her take it just a bit too far. I wasn’t about to let her inside any of my holes, let alone that one. My anus was my weak spot, and she was intent on exploiting that.

“Sit still.” Candace caught me trying to deny her this, which only angered her. “I’m going to assume that was an accident, but I have pepper if you want to be figged into submission first.”

Right then I saw what it was she was trying to do, holding a cute little tail in one of her hands. I had never worn a butt plug before, so I was more than nervous with the idea of starting now. The plug was decorated with the tail of a dog, the black and white fur of a border collie making it look just like Poppy’s, but that wasn’t enough to make it appealing to me. 

 

“Right. You really want to test my patience today, huh?” She sighed, and a crushing wave of regret overtook me as I felt myself shoved out of her lap and onto the floor with careless abandon, watching in horror as she stood up and headed towards the door. “You’re not getting out of this walk, so stay put.” 

Stay. All I had to do was stay. But how could she honestly expect me to listen to her?

I panicked, scrambling towards the door to follow after and escape her while she was away, but the door locked shut behind her. And by the time I turned to try and crawl through the pet hatch, I was met with a foot to the forehead shoving me back inside, slamming the hatch closed in front of my eyes, trapping me once more. 

“I’m only giving you this many chances because of how well you did last night, Chloe.” Candace shook a small bottle of liquid solution in her hand as she stepped back in. “The harder you fight back the harder I have to kick you back in line. Make this easy and bend over.”

And with such conviction as that, what was I to do but follow her command. Without a moment of hesitation I found myself bent over the roof of my kennel, grateful to have even a thin blanket there to insulate between my body and the bars as Candace approached from behind. 

The tail stung like hell as she slid it inside of me, coating in some fiendish lubricant that made my anus rupture into flame as it was coated, but with a fair amount of resistance she finally pushed it into place. 

 

“We’re going on a walk regardless of how well behaved you are.” Candace said through gritted teeth as she yanked me to the floor by the tail, provoking the inferno even further. “But unless the dog wants to walk laps around the house on her elbows and needs, I suggest she try to follow orders just a little better.”

“Mmmhmmph!!” I forced muffled whines through my muzzle, looking up at her with pleading eyes, begging for just a little bit of mercy. “Mmnnngh!!”

I squealed as she slammed her foot down on my new tail, twisting it under her boot. I honestly had to struggle to keep it in, knowing that I was in a whole lot of trouble if I didn’t. But I managed to get through it in one piece, it just came at the cost of my still dwindling dignity as I backed up into my open kennel to hide from her. 

“Chloe.” She said with an annoyed snarl. “Get out of there.”

I was doing so well earlier, but now everything was falling apart. I wanted to crawl out of there, but for some reason I just couldn’t. My leather paws batted against the snout of my muzzle, desperately trying to pry it off, to no avail. “Mmm…”

“…Chloe.” Where I expected an angry Candace to shout at me, I heard only a dejected sigh and a quiet tap on the side of my cage with her foot. Candace didn’t quite sound upset, but she was certainly annoyed.  “Come out, girl. It’s okay.”

I didn’t believe that for one moment, but it would have been disrespectful for me not to even acknowledge my owner as she spoke to me, so I looked up at her with those same desperate eyes of mine. Begging for forgiveness wasn’t fun, and whimpering for it was even worse, but right now I had no other choice. So I whined at her through the muzzle, cowering in her shadow once more. 

“Hey.” Candace said in a much more practiced voice. She was always a sweetheart on stage, and she knew I liked that side of her, so she used it here as necessary. Her shadow quickly receded beneath her as she crouched next to the kennel, grabbing the other side of the door I’d been holding shut. “Do you want that muzzle off?”

“Mhmm.” I murmured through the leather gag, having to use both hands to hold the kennel closed. “Mhmm. Mhmm.”

“Then sit up and put your paws on the floor.” Candace replied, her fingers curled around the bars. “Now.”

Shaking hands trapped in leather mittens slowly planted themselves on the ground, one by one, letting Candace open the door. Apparently, it was good enough for her that she chose not to punch me in the nose for disobeying. 

“I want to take you on a walk, Chloe. You have to wear all of this for my protection, or I can’t take you outside with me.” She gently reached one hand in, and I fought with all of my might not to flinch as she reached behind my head. “I’m new at this, but I can see that you’re all shaken up, so I’m going to be gentle.”

Candace tugged the straps of the harness from my face, removing it from me and casting it aside before reaching back inside. She grabbed me by the ear again, pinching my earlobe with enough force to be firm, but not enough to be painful. 

“It’s okay.” She said, rubbing my lobe between her fingers ever so slightly. “You’re not in any more trouble. If you come out now we can still go on a walk together. What do you say?”

Trembling, my eyes locked onto hers for a moment, desperately trying to ignore the feeling of my leash falling into her grasp. It took me a bit to finally accept that she meant what she was saying and not lying to get me vulnerable again, to which I responded by wordlessly crawling my way out of the cage.

“Bite me and you get the muzzle again.” Her tone struck fear into me as she picked it up from the floor beside her, pointing at me with it accusingly. “But be good from now on and I’ll still bathe you.”

My nervous heart fluttered at the sound of that, and I nodded meekly, ready to give it a shot.

 

It was beautiful outside. The sun was just setting, the sky was clear, and I could feel the cold midsummer air on my face as we walked. I crawled on my hands and knees through the soil and grass beside Candace, making sure to stay close to her legs, and I still somehow couldn’t help but sway my hips slightly to wag my tail. 

She took me through the parlor and onto the lawn, overlooking the beautiful garden view out in front of the house. I could see the hugely imposing front gate, one of the only gaps in the gorgeously decorated hedges that surround the mansion, and I couldn’t help but admire the centerpiece of the garden. Because between that gate and the house stood an immaculately carved stone fountain, the water glistened in the light of the stars above.

We walked together around the perimeter of the house, silently taking in the sunset view of the garden that surrounded it. On the southern end of the house was the foyer, and between the main entrance and the garage opposite it was no less than difficult terrain. My first noises were nothing but pained winces; my knees scraped against the hard pavement of the driveway as I crawled, still being tugged around on a leash. 

And around the back of the house, facing the light above the western facing beach, that beautiful sunset. I’d seen the ocean and its beach illuminated by the setting sun, but it had always been from the dining room. I’d never gotten the chance to admire it from outside. 

I couldn’t help but want to say something to Candace, to tell her how beautiful the sunset was, but my voice was too weak and my heartbeat too quick. There was nothing to say about how beautiful the view was from here, I wasn’t watching the sunset, I was watching her. 

She was more beautiful than any dawn or dusk could ever hope to be. Her platinum hair sparkled in the warm sunlight, her ghostly pale skin radiating with purity. I had always longed to be free from her, but I knew I couldn’t escape. 

And in this light, I didn’t want to. 

 

I could see the pool as we finally rounded the corner, still as the night, light from the sky above glimmering on its surface. And beside it, next to an oversized sand pit, stood a newly built doghouse. 

Painted yellow and peach, with my name on it. It was big too, complete with a second story, something I’d never heard of in a doghouse before. The more I looked at it the more it looked like a poolside playground and jungle gym, built just for me.

And I couldn’t help but feel just a little bit torn about that.

 

“You can thank me now.” Candace nudged my side with her knee high sapphire leather boots as she looked down expectantly, a grin painted onto her face. 

And I just stared at her with a nervous indifference. “I have nothing to thank you for…”

…That was probably the wrong thing to say, and though we both knew it, she wasn’t quite upset enough to try and drown me in that pool of hers. 

“Really now?” She scoffed. “You’ve been behaving so well, and now you want to be like this?”

“Be like what, Ma’am?” I scoffed right back at her. “I’ve done everything you’ve asked of me. I behaved at your party. I slept outside. I bathed your cats. I’ve acted like a dog all day. I even bent over and let you fig my ass with a tail. I did all of that for you , and you want me to thank you for a doghouse that I didn’t even want?”

Candace was clearly getting frustrated, her face flushing with aggravation. “I’ve done a lot for you today Chloe, but you don’t seem to appreciate any of it.”

“What am I supposed to thank you for, Candace? For not waking me up to make your breakfast for you? For feeding me actual food for a change? For letting me sleep in a cage instead of mopping your floors? For making me suffer through an allergic reaction? For touching me without my consent? For building me a humiliating little doghouse to sleep in instead of letting me live a normal life? What, Candace?! What should I be thanking you for?!”

“You should be thanking me for spending time with you!!” 

Candace’s voice began to crack, her beautiful blue eyes tearing up in the corners. Saying her name was another unspoken rule broken for me, but I couldn’t go any longer without being heard, and she was starting to break as well.

“I’m tired of doing this, Chloe. I’m tired of you talking back and disobeying me like this, because every time you bite back I have to punish you, lock you away, and try again tomorrow. But I don’t want to lock you up in your cell and try again tomorrow, I want you to cooperate with me today .” She sighed loudly, tightening her grip on the leash, struggling not to lash me with it. “I don’t want you to spend the rest of your life rotting away in that cell. I want you to fall in love with me, Chloe.” 

My heart fluttered dangerously in my chest as she said that, and I realized right there that there was more to hers than I’d known. I could feel shameful tears beginning to well up in my eyes as I forced them away from hers. 

She had a point. She was right. I was falling in love with her, and I wish I wasn’t. But I held my tongue. I couldn’t argue with her on this, I just didn’t want to admit that letting myself fall in love with my tormentor was better than dying in that cell.

But right then I took a chance, because I knew I had to. If I was going to salvage this I needed her to know that I was falling for her, no matter how reluctantly. And I did it by slowly crawling my way back to her side, and with just a small tug on my leash I lifted the hem of her dress and gently kissed her thigh, hoping to wordlessly gain her forgiveness. 

And for just this once, it seemed to work. 

“This is your last chance for tonight, Chloe.” She said through gritted teeth. “Do you want a bath?”

I just looked into her eyes and nodded, settling back into place at her feet. “Yes please…”

“I won’t bathe a dog, not unless she’s my bitch.” She took that moment to kick me away from her just slightly. “So decide, what are you?”

Bathing did sound nice, and I hardly had the strength to do it myself, so I bit my lip and gave into her demands for the day. “I’m your bitch, Ma’am. Please bathe me. I won’t bark or bite anymore tonight, I promise.”

“Good dog.” She said after a brief pause, tugging on the leash once more. “We can check out the doghouse another night.”

 

Candace turned the water to the pet washroom back on just fine, helping me into the bathtub once it was full. It was annoying that she didn’t let me take off any of the puppy gear she’d forced me into, but the water was warm and cozy, so it was most certainly better than any shower Candace had let me have before. 

My owner, on the other hand, did change clothes. Candace always changed in private, never allowing me to see her naked, which gave me a couple minutes alone while the bathtub had slowly filled. She clearly didn’t want to get a pretty dress and a pair of her favorite boots needlessly wet, so she changed back into more casual attire before ever beginning to run her hands up my back, helping wet my body for me since I was still trapped behind puppy paws.

 

“How does it feel?”

“It’s nice. Warm. Soft.”

“The water or my hands?”

“Both.”

She kept me on all fours as she personally washed my body, my breasts submerged in the water, making me vulnerable while disallowing me from touching myself while this was happening. But I still couldn’t help but sigh happily as her soft skin touched mine. 

“Haven’t you ever felt a woman touch you before?”

“N-not like this, no…”

“So you really are a useless lesbian, huh?”

“I never said I was a lesbian?”

“Chloe, please.” Her voice was nothing but pure disbelief that I’d even try to insist otherwise. “Even if I didn’t know you personally, I’ve seen your internet history. There’s no skirting around that.”

“You didn’t-”

“I’ve seen all of it, Chloe. Why did you think I picked petplay as your reward for last night?” She gave me a coy grin, tugging on my soaked tail under the water, which was just frankly going to be ruined with water by the time we were done. “But knowing you’re a useless lesbian, there was one thing that I was surprised to see you looking.”

“No.” I knew exactly which one she was talking about. “Please don’t say it-”

“Your number one search term is futanari?” She taunted me, pulling out secrets sensitive enough that not even my best friend had known about. “You just want to find a woman who’ll pull out her cock and rail you, is that it?”

Just then I felt Candace run her hand up my thighs, thankfully already submerged enough to hide the embarrassed dampness of my cunt as she began to press her fingers inside of me. 

I quickly gasped, and as soon as I began to shake my head I felt her dunk my entire body into the bathwater before aggressively yanking my head back out by my hair, holding me by my hip length peach locks… 

All while pointing a pair of kitchen shears directly towards my face.

“Do not lie to me, Chloe.” She huffed, knowing that the blades were more than enough to intimidate me into submission. “Admit it. Now.”

“Okay!! My biggest fetish is women with penises!!” My heart trembled with fear as I stared her down, my eyes already wet with bathwater. “There, you’re right!! I want a woman who’ll rail me!!”

“Much better.” That certainly got a smile from Candace. “You have very cute hair, Chloe. I wish you’d have just played in your doghouse like a good puppy. It’s a shame that I have to punish you for your outburst earlier.”

 

Snip. 

 

Candace began taking a pair of kitchen shears to my hair.  

“N-no?!” Within an instant my heart had shattered between my ribs. I took such good care of my beautiful peach locks, they were all I had left, but I’d been stupid to believe she’d let me have even just this one thing. “What are you doing?!”

“You’re already on your last chance, Chloe. If you hadn’t fought me earlier I wouldn’t need to do this.” Candace brought the scissors to my throat this time, pointing them straight at me. “Now be careful, this tub is wet and slippery, and I’d hate to slip and end up slicing open something that doesn’t need cut. So behave.”

Speechless, I just knelt there like an emotionless husk as she went back to my hair, forced to watch in horror as chunks of my hair fell into the water around me. I couldn’t even cry, I was too broken to feel anything at all after a day like today. 

“I’m surprised you even dye your hair anyways. You’re a natural redhead, peach is just a brighter shade of orange, isn’t it?” 

Candace carried on with normal conversation like nothing had happened, and when I didn’t provide her an answer, she pressed me for one. 

I could almost feel the tips of her blades as she pointed them towards my clit. 

“If you did have a cock, all I’d need to do is take my scissors and do a little snip right here, and you’d be neutered.”

“Is it true?” I forced through my collapsing lungs, unable to bear the thought of my genitals being maimed like she was doing to my hair. “Wh-what she said last night, you’re having me spayed?”

To my shock and horror, Candace simply giggled, running her fingers through my hair for a moment or two before continuing to mutilate it. 

“Like a dog, yes. I’m having you spayed. To help get it through to you that your body belongs to me now.” She whispered seductively into my ear, cooing torment into my mind at my weakest moment, and I could feel how excited it was making her. “I can’t have you getting knocked up after all, that wouldn’t do. No one gets to breed you but me .”

Right there. That was the straw that finally pushed me over the edge, and I broke, muttering angrily through my lips as my tears dripped into the bathwater below. 

“I know who my body belongs to, Ma’am. I just thought that if I was good and didn’t run away you wouldn’t hurt me like that.” Ugly sobs rolled their way down my cheeks and filled the bathtub even further. “B-but you’ve never cared about me like I’ve always cared about you.”

That, of all things, got her to stop and think. Candace set the scissors aside just within reach, knowing that I wouldn’t be able to pick them up without use of my hands, leaving me with a mess of hair in place of my neatly groomed hairstyle from before now that she was finished mutilating my locks. 

She tried to hide her emotion, but I could read her brain like no one else could. She was practically moaning under her breath. Candace wanted to take me right here and now, and even after everything I’d just been through I still wanted that more than anything in the world. 

“Not yet. Not until you’re spayed and dehumanized.” It was clear that she was talking herself down from her own emotions as she shut the water off and drained the bathtub. “Not until you’ve earned it.” 

I said nothing. I felt nothing. Everything I had in me was gone, and I just knelt there as she took to drying my entire body herself. 

“I do care about you, or else I wouldn’t keep you as my slave. But I can’t have you thinking you’re anything more than an object, let alone a person with thoughts and feelings to be respected.” 

She frowned, waiting until the bathtub was completely drained before coming at me with a hairdryer cranked on high. Eventually she did get me mostly dried off, including the tail, which just as I’d expected had been the worst part.

“You’ve been a naughty girl today. But as a whole you’ve done satisfactory work as my dog.” She quickly forced me into her lap as she pulled out a towel, taking a more personal and caring approach to drying my hair, even if it meant getting her lap wet. “Tomorrow, however, you’re going back to work as my maid. You’ve shown that I can’t regularly trust you with this level of proximity, at least not yet, so we’d better get you into your cell.”

I crumbled as she said that. Today had been hell, but her presence had been the best parts just as they’d been the worst parts. But I wasn’t convinced that I wouldn’t end up bald if I tried to argue with her anymore than I already have. Without another word to say, I let out a sigh of disappointment as I leaned my head into her chest, desperate for just a little bit of her warmth. 

But as my body reached the soft skin of her torso, I heard her heartbeat pick up ever so slightly. “Unless my cute little mutt is ready to go play in her doghouse for a little bit?”

 

After last time, I knew better than to say no, so I eagerly jumped onto the opportunity this time. 

The doghouse felt about as cramped as my cell, despite having more space. Candace gently forced me inside of it, knowing I wouldn’t disobey her any more for the night. The bottom floor was separated into two human puppy sized rooms, one of which contained a pet bed for me to sleep in. 

There was also a second floor for me to crawl up to via a very small ramp, because it was too cramped to move around in here without crawling like a puppy. It only had a single much bigger room inside, and attached to it was a little balcony, accessible through a hatch that was closed off to me. I wished I could have gone down the slide, but it was already too late to ask for that from her. 

Instead, I crawled to the ground and poked my head out of the door at Candace, who was smiling at my newfound energy and enthusiasm for the little playpen that surrounded the doghouse. I could see pride on her face as she reached in and grabbed one of my ears again, pinching it with her fingers. 

“What do you say when someone does something nice for you?”

I still didn’t want to say it, but if she was giving me a second chance to show gratitude, I was going to get it right. “Thank you, Candace.”

She gave my ear a firm tug as she idly played with my freshly groomed hair. “I want you to call me your master.”

I blushed profusely as she said that, bouncing the sound of it around in my head for a few moments before doing as I was told. “Thank you, Master.”

“Good.” She smiled, keeping one hand on my ear. “Before I take you back in I want to try something.”

I nodded my agreement. “What’s that, Ma’am?”

“This.” She rubbed my earlobe between her fingertips. “From now on, when I pinch your ear like this, it’s a signal.”

Humiliated. I felt humiliated. Something about the sweet undertones with which she approached me today- it was different and new. What a girl , I couldn’t help but think; knowing that I’d been tricked into thinking it while all the same treating the thought as my own. What a girl - what a woman. What a waste. And to think that I had truly fallen in love with her those months ago. To think that this was the woman I’d been pining for what felt like my entire life. That was a thought I couldn’t bear. My singularly obsessed love-addled little gamer brain never would have thought that the woman I had so desperately sought the adoration and approval of for years would turn out to be this. This. Something worse than a monster. A woman so comprehensively and compulsively awful that the only word I have to describe her is… Well… This… 

This is her. CStC. The Candace Saint Clair. Devil’s flesh and bones. Invisible warts and all. Her sweetness, now just undertones, were why I had fallen for her. Not for the girl- but for her lies. The icon I had witnessed on stage and longed to become was a lie. A character. Suddenly I didn’t feel quite so bad about who I was. No matter how many people hated my exterior, like she did- I at least knew that on the inside, I was better than her. 

And everyone knew that. I was better on the outside too. I’d shown it straight to her face, and she couldn’t stand it. If only this wasn’t reality; I’d have the last laugh.

No , I tried to think. I tried to tell myself. Wanting to be sure that, no, I wouldn’t fall in love with her. I couldn’t let her fill my head with those thoughts again. Won’t fall for her lies again. Can’t fall in love with the sweet illusion she used to hide her bitter, poisonous insides. That would be letting her win. This was a game that I wasn’t about to lose. I won’t lose.

I thought- I won’t fall for this. I won’t fall in love with her. That’s what I told myself.

Yet I couldn’t help but hang onto her every word. Bury this- the feeling of her fingers and what they were to signal- deep down. Lean into her touch. Internalize this, and ask. “What does it mean?”

“It’s okay.” Candace smiled ever so slightly. She then let go, stood up, and pulled the leash tight once more. “It’ll be my way of trying to tell you that you’re okay.”

Permanently embittered by all of the pain she’d inflicted on me, I begged the powers that be that she wouldn’t trick me again. Asking with tears in my eyes. “You mean that. Please don’t lie to me. You mean that, don’t you?”

Candace quickly shut me down. Shaking her head in sheer annoyance. “A touch isn’t meant to leave room for doubt or invite response. Don’t question me. I know you’re distressed, but you’ll have to learn that. You’ve been more sensitive than usual today, I think you need something like this just in case it happens again.”

Instinctively, I spat- almost offended. “I haven’t been more sensitive-”

“Yes you have.” She snarled, eyeing me to reinforce her words. Don’t question me. “Now come on, there’s a fresh bowl of puppy mush waiting for you inside.” A suspicious smile returned to Candace’s lips. “And I’ve made sure to add a special ingredient to keep you in line.”

Shivers ran up my spin at the thought. “Special ingredient?”

“That’s not your place to ask, slave.” Candace remarked as she turned heel, leading me back inside by my leash one last time. “Follow me. Tomorrow’s another day and I need you to be ready for it. There’s still so much left for us to do together.”

And with my heart pounding and my head hung low- I’d fallen for her lies again.

“Yes, Master.”

Notes:

Updated 7/9/2021

Chapter 5: Breeding Shock

I stared deeply into her eyes for a few anxious moments, my broken heart pounding in my chest. 

For the first time, I found myself looking down at her from above, her desperate eyes sparkling with fear. A mixture of expressions washed over her face in that instant, as her fearful gaze turned bloodthirsty. 

Candace was bleeding, a red pool spreading to the carpet beneath her as she reached out and grabbed the bloodied knife straight from my quivering hand. 

 

You might think you know everything about yourself. But you’re wrong.

It had started out hopeful enough. In the aftermath of inviting so many guests into the mansion a few weeks prior, that was the turning point. When Candace did eventually send me back to work, I confirmed it. This was happening. I found something I wasn’t supposed to find that night; somebody had left a knife in the dishwasher. In a hurried scramble I hid it away as quickly as I could, amongst the clutter of cleaning supplies beneath the kitchen sink. One place I knew Candace wouldn’t look. So I kept it buried away and I waited. I didn’t yet know when I was going to use it, but I was going to use it. 

Candace had slipped up for the first time and I wasn’t about to let this chance get away from me. 

Summer was in full swing now. It was the day before my surgery, and Candace waited until there was just one day left to spring it on me out of nowhere, like an oncoming car. She was going to spay me like an animal. 

Candace had done a lot to me. She’d implanted things inside of me, mutilated my hair, branded my skin, but this was just too far. 

 

I can’t let her do this to me. 

 

She can’t do this to me. 

 

“You can’t do this to me!” I shrieked at her as she sprung her little bombshell on me, hitting me with the news out of nowhere. I shook, pounding my fist on the table and struggling to hold back a mental breakdown. “Please don’t do this to me, Candace…”

Shocked at my behavior, she glared at me from across the dining room, her eyes like a pair of cerulean daggers driving themselves into my soul. Yet those eyes were hiding something. “I’m sorry- who are you speaking to like this?”

“Please listen to me, Mistress!” The empty tray I had only just picked back up clattered back onto the table, as I stood clutching the hem of my dress in terror. “I don’t want this. I don’t want to be sterilized. If you do this I’ll never be able to get pregnant… I’ll never get to have my own kids.”

“And who’s the lucky man or woman whose children you want to give birth to?” She pointed at me accusingly with her fork before lifting food into her mouth. 

“That’s not the point, Cand-”

“Yes it is. That is the point, Chloe!” She slammed her fork down into her lunch, the metal handle standing upright. “It’s to prove to you that you belong to me. To keep you from fantasizing about having your own perfect little family out there somewhere. No one is allowed to get you pregnant but me, and that’s clearly not happening.”

Candace paused to rub her left eye with her middle finger, careful not to scratch her pupil. There was no way to tell if she was crying or not but my instincts told me no. Candace didn’t cry. Not on or off stage. Her mind was one of conflicting emotions. “You’re the one who said family was overrated. You’d think someone who was orphaned as a child would think to adopt.”

I winced- scared she might just plunge that fork into my voicebox and mute me while she was at it. “But it’s my body… I should have the option to…”

“What don’t you get about being my property, Chloe? You’re a slave. An animal. An object. You don’t get options; you get what I give you. Besides… I can’t get pregnant either, so I don’t see what the big deal is.” She lied, seeing very well what the big deal was with those two strangely unmatching shades of blue in her eyes- one now almost purple in the light as she looked towards the setting sun. “I get to do whatever I damn well please to you and your body, so shut the fuck up and get back to work. Now!”

Candace, as it would seem, can’t have kids. At least that’s how she was making it sound. 

I couldn’t always read the gears in her head, but I had a pretty good idea most of the time about what’s going on in there. When she says there’s no big deal- she’s lying. Her lies hum sweetly into my ears only when they’re just what I want to hear from her. That’s how she’d tricked me into thinking she was a sweetheart. So badly had I wanted her to be a sweetheart that when she showed me she was, I believed it. But I couldn’t believe this, because it just wasn’t true. 

I pleaded in vain. What use was trying to reason with her when just doing so only enraged her further? When each suggestion I made, however reasonable and sound, fell upon deaf ears due to her insistence that I have no choice in the matter? I could sweeten up my words as much as I liked- she still didn’t want to hear. “Please, Master? I know. I know I’m not supposed to have a say in this. But, please… birth control is an option. Maybe-”

“You know what?” Candace calmly set both of her elbows on the table, interlocking her fingers and cradling her chin with them as she grinned at me. “You’ve convinced me.” Her grin widened as she said that, staring at me with a hungry look in her eyes.

Those were the last words I had expected to hear come from those lips- leaving me mumbling skeptically. “What do you mean?”

“Tonight is your last night to be bred. You poor thing, I should have thought of that sooner. Surely you’re not making a fuss about wanting control over your own body, that would be absurd and out of place. This must just be your way of trying to ask me to breed you while you still have the chance. Am I right?”

An angry lump in my throat choked me further. Now she was just taunting me. In all actuality, I didn’t like nor want kids. Frankly, I hated children. But that didn’t mean I was okay with being forced into sterilization against my will. I could never afford birth control, or else I’d have gotten it. The thought of getting knocked up by a man- any man- disgusted me, and the thought of the same being done by a woman didn’t sit much better, regardless of how exciting the prospect might be. 

That in mind, this was not me saying that I wished to be bred. But what other answer could I give at this point?

Candace was hearing my words, but she wasn’t actually listening to them. She didn’t care what I thought or said; if she did, it would be the greatest shock of my life. But no, Candace was just using this opportunity to prove her point. On the eve of taking my humanity away for good she was going to punish me for trying to fight back. 

“You’ve convinced me. If you want me to breed you so badly- then I fucking will.” 

She glared me up and down with those two pretty lights of hers. Yet those eyes told two different stories. Nevertheless, her language may be fancy but her words were clear. She couldn’t carry children. She couldn’t breed. My owner was finally going to punish me with the one thing she knew I’d been dreading from the beginning. 

Candace was going to rape me. 

 

Eyes drifting to my feet to ensure proper form. Hem still curled in my fingers. I hung my head in defeated respect and curtsied. “Yes, Master.”

There was no arguing with her. When Candace wanted something, she got it. 

My heart was twisted. Every time I look at her- every time she speaks to me- it flutters.

Why does my heart ache for her? What is she doing to me? What am I becoming?

I didn’t want this. I couldn’t want this. Yet I could feel some small part of me that did- and that was a part of me that I needed to destroy here and now. 

Following her orders, I got back to work. Saying nothing as I marched my way into the kitchen I set out to properly clean the dishes from dinner. I didn’t want to risk her hearing me speak. I knew that every move of mine was being watched and listened to. I knew what I had to do next and I had a pretty good hunch that whatever it was that she used to watch me on cameras, she couldn’t do it from the dining room. Candace could only watch me from one of her many screens, but just in case I was wrong I wasn’t about to take any chances. I slipped the clean dishes away to dry, slowly getting back to work on my hands and knees, scrubbing the floor with nothing but a sponge and my newly learned housewife skills. But as I reached beneath the sink to retrieve the cleaning supplies, I made sure to silently slip the knife I’d kept hidden away safely into my apron. And with a deep breath, I set out to finish my work for the night.

 

Candace took cruel satisfaction in standing behind me- just watching me obediently work away on all fours for her. She was enjoying this. 

But I’d been waiting to spring my own little surprise on her. Not for this day, but for the day where I would have no choice but to use it. I wanted out of here, and tonight was the night that I was finally going to make that happen. 

My master- no, my captor - stood there, deep in thought as she studied my every move. There I was, just like she wanted. Wearing my work on my sleeve dressed as a servant, exactly as she had taught me to. But somehow she was frowning. 

Amazingly, no amount of enticing hip shaking or loathsome bounce in my bosom could bring a smile to her face at that moment. And just for a bit I thought maybe, just maybe, she was going to show me mercy. Maybe she would change her mind. Oh how disappointed I would be when that cruel smile returned to her lips, now more intent than ever on having her way with my body. This was it, there was no changing her mind. I didn’t want to do this, but as in all things- she left me no choice. I’d have to put an end to this myself.

The next time she touches me- she dies.

 

For the rest of the night, from sunset to dusk, I was terrified. Every time she stepped out of her nightly practice session in the entertainment room I was sure that she’d seen me. Paranoia overtook me- I was convinced that she knew what I was planning to do to her. But she didn’t. 

She never said anything, never looked at me funny, never saw me with that knife. 

Part of me wished she had. An even smaller part of me wanted to tip my hand and show it to her. I didn’t want this. Everything about this was nerve wracking. I didn’t want to kill her, but I knew that I’d never be able to leave this house unless she was dead. 

That was what I wanted. Not to be a murderer, but to escape. To get out of this house and all costs. Because I knew that if I kept going, I’d fall in love with her. I would never be able to fight her. I’d never be able to fight back. I’d be helpless.

And I can’t stand that feeling any longer. 

 

My routine is the same every day. 

I’m awoken when she chooses to wake me. I make breakfast for her- so desperate to be allowed simple necessities like a place to eat, clean, and relieve myself that I’ll remain subject to her even unsupervised. Hoping that she appreciates my work, I allow myself to be caged once again, indebted to her for meeting my basic human needs in exchange for my service. She feeds me, provides me a place to freshen up, and lets me dress myself. Unlike hers, my body was no longer a stranger to being seen naked- it was my natural state. She allows me to wear the same thing every day, a simple pair of matching intimates and one of my pathetic little maid uniforms, a symbol of my status. Reminding me of what I am, her personal housemaid. 

Slaving away, I get to work. I clean the bathroom she prohibits me from using- and I tidy the bedroom I long to live in, trying desperately not to break down and cry. Lastly, I’m forced to address my own living space. My cell needs tidied and cleaned every morning. 

Her kitchen is clean before she’s served breakfast. The rest of the house, mercifully, need not be cleaned on a daily basis. It simply needs polished to perfection. 

This is busy work. Something I do not out of necessity, but to keep me in line. And I’m always left endlessly thankful for this. If I hadn’t the expectation on my shoulders to be working from when I wake until I sleep I might find the time to think- and if I think, I’ll break. To keep myself from breaking down and crumbling under my situation, I keep myself busy. 

Exactly as I’m told. 

Deep cleaning eats away at my day, tending to one of many room she picks from a hat for me to put my heart and soul into taking care of- the things I touch and the hands I use to touch them hers, owning nothing, knowing I’ll be beaten if my work isn’t to her liking. Cats need fed. Hallways need scrubbed. Lunch and dinner need made and served to her without question, complaint, or hesitation. And once I’m done with everything she gives me, all that’s left is to find busy work to occupy myself with until I’m graced with her voice- demanding that I turn in for the night. Never to burden her with my unwanted presence. Her influence is hardly seen but always felt. She was always watching and listening, yet never allowing me to get close to her. All I can do is wait for her word and appreciate her command, allowed just a few moments with her as she helps me back in my cell for the night to do it all over. I live for those moments. Alone. Still waiting to be noticed. Desperate for her approval. From its gears to its wires, the machine must be maintained and cared for. Candace’s routine intricate and unquestionable. 

Today I got a glimpse of why. Why does Candace close herself off behind those doors? Why won’t she let me close? Why can’t she be at my side to pinch my ear and tell me that everything is okay? It’s because she knows me like I know her; she knows herself not to be so different from me in the end. She forces me under her boot to protect herself from me. In order to keep our hearts from mixing- she keeps me away. She can’t let herself fall in love with me like I can’t let myself fall in love with her. Tonight we find out who’s winning in that regard.

I don’t want to be stuck doing this for the rest of my life. 

 

Kneeling outside her door, I wait for my moment to be with her. She opens up, gesturing for me to come in for the night. As normal- I nervously make my way into her bedroom and I wait for her to say something. 

“What do you think, Chloe?” At long last, she speaks. Words which leave me waiting for more slip from her lips like a melody. Hypnotically enticing and apocalyptically dangerous. “Would the cattle still like to be bred?”

And with nothing to give but the bitterness of honesty, I respond. “N-no, Ma’am. I’d like to go to bed…”

I’m directed towards the closet door as she unlocks it, opening it for me and gesturing inside. For a moment I think maybe she’d delayed the inevitable; that I could possibly slip into bed for the night and lie peacefully- spared from the blood I don’t wish to shed. Or perhaps maybe to be caught in the morning with the blade, allowing it to be confiscated from me before I did something I’d regret. Only to be met with sour disappointment once more. 

“That’s too bad. Go undress yourself and bring your ass back in here.”

Those were the words I’d expected, her hums failing to pierce my armor. I already had a response in mind. No professional plays without a plan. I knew what I was doing- and I was going to win. And this was how I was going to win it. Licking my lips, shaking my hips, biting my tongue, and batting my lashes. Hypnotically enticing and apocalyptically dangerous. 

“Actually, Mistress. I was thinking…” Always a treacherous thing to do, think. Vocalizing such things even more so. Now normally Candace would never fall for my words like I fall for hers- but she wasn’t really so different. She just needed to hear what she wanted. “Maybe you could help me undress?”

A shy smile made its way onto my mouth, clenched between my teeth. I watched that expression of hers change, closing the door and gesturing me towards it as she circled her way behind me. “I’d love to.” She smiled, and I could feel the honesty in that hum of hers. “Face the closet and hold still, okay?”

Candace’s voice was too sweet for her own good. Beyond telling lies tonight. She was clearly quite eager to help me get my clothes off, living for these little moments with me. I of course obliged, knowing that this might very well be the last little bit of intimacy we ever share. The mistress of the house tucked her arms beneath mine, reaching around my waist to untie the laces keeping my uniform in place as the machine keeping me in place beneath her heel began to finally unwind. 

 

My reflection stared back at me. Facing the person who stood before me in the mirror hung between myself and the closet door. Hazel eyes locked with mine and yet they weren’t mine. 

If I didn’t do something now, Candace would win. I’d become exactly what she wanted me to be and all of her lies would come true. She’d turn me into her hopelessly helpless little servant for the rest of my life. A loyal plaything who would fawn over her. Somebody who would listen to and obey her every word. Something to tend to her every want and need. An object to handle, hurt, and humiliate- forever subject to her whims. An animal trained to accept anything in order to pleasure her. Someone who would bend over for her. Desperate for her attention. Desperate for her approval. Desperate for her love.

A perfectly submissive slave. Her perfectly submissive slave.

That’s not who I am. That’s who I’m becoming. That’s the woman who’s replacing me.

She wore a gorgeous gold cattle tag on one ear, glistening with rosy light. That girl, whoever she was, was tragically heartstopping. But the person in the mirror wasn’t me. She wore her new name with such great pride, a symbol of her status carved into that instrument clipped to her ear telling her it was going to be okay. That name engraved into the metal reminding her of who she was- a slave to her master’s touch- Chloe. 

 

That’s not me. I’m not Chloe.

 

Now or never- for better or for worse- this was it. I spun in her arms. An elegant dance. My thumb resting on the bottom of the knife’s handle, I held it like a movie murderer, a dagger as it stabbed itself into her breast. Candace fell to the floor on her back, and I fell with her. 

A shock like no other overwhelmed us both. We froze, our eyes locked in fear of each other. Neither of us knew what was to happen next, but Candace and I were both so painfully aware that there was nothing left to chance now. 

In that instant I fell petrified above her, still holding the knife, posed like a beautiful and perfect statue. The tears began to roll down my cheeks. She had tears in her eyes too, gazing into mine, shocked with fear. As she looked at me with the true colors of those beautiful mismatched eyes of hers for the first time, Candace Saint Clair began to cry.

And I wasn’t sure who did what but the next thing I felt were those lips locked against mine, her body pressed to the ground beneath me as I took the knife from her body, our souls dancing around each other as we kissed. 

But just as soon as it began, it all had to end, and I could see in Candace’s eyes a fierce and overwhelming regret, and it broke my heart in an instant. 

So many things overtook me in that moment as I pulled away, and none of it bloomed confidence within me. The excitement in my breath was replaced with the heat of guilty passion, but even the feeling of my hands fleeing from her touch didn’t hurt quite like looking in those eyes as I spat in her face. 

And I crumbled to the floor at her feet within moments. 

 

I can’t do it. I can’t kill Candace. 

I love her. 

 

“No.” My voice was filled with hatred, not towards her, but towards myself. Desperate for it not to be true. I needed this to all be a dream again. But it wasn’t. “I-I’m sorry… I… Candace…”

As soon as the words left my mouth I watched the light return to her still living eyes, her expression twisting into a rueful scowl. I gazed into the beauty she’d kept from me, noticing for the first time that her eyes were indeed two different colors. Her left was as deep blue and beautiful as the ocean- just like I’d known it to be, but her right was like fire- a disfigured red iris in the place of anything natural- boiling with rage. She clenched down on the sharp of the knife I still clutched in one hand, unable to wield it against her; the blade cut its way into her skin. Her eyes were the prettiest thing I’d ever seen. 

My only weapon was gone from my hand as quick as I was gone from the scene. In terror I leapt to my feet, my uniform just barely hanging by the laces as I ran into the master bedroom and slammed the subsequently locked door shut behind me. 

What was I supposed to do now? It would only take her a few moments to get up and follow me, and assuming she didn’t go into shock, she was going to kill me for sure.

Yet the thought of her going into shock kept me anchored and unable to flee any further. 

How could I do this? How could I be so naive? How could I attack the girl I love?

 

I’d left her master bathroom in immaculate shape, but that didn’t make it any less terrifying. In a blind scramble I began to ransack the place- trying to get thoughts of her out of my head as I scavenged for something to defend myself with. My mind consumed with worries of my captor’s state, I wondered if I should turn back. Those thoughts then were quickly consumed by fear- and I fled from the door before she could get inside. Candace must have taken a few moments to recover, because by the time I heard her at the door I had pretty much scoured the whole room. I jumped into the hallway, once again slamming doors behind me as I turned to the kitchen. 

Just as violently, the dishwasher yanked open. In the heat of the moment- being chased by an angry psychopath- I’d forgotten that I had already emptied it of anything that could have been useful. I cursed myself for being so good at my job, knowing that everything had already been put away and locked to make sure I can’t get to it. 

“Damn it… No…”

Candace was no longer wearing the same gorgeous baby blue nightgown she had been, stepping out of the bathroom bleeding out onto a strapless black pleather corset and sporting a matching pair of lacey black boxers at her hips. She did not look happy. 

The only place I could think to run now was into the dining room as she approached me, knowing that I had no hopes of outrunning me. But the closer I got to the sliding glass door the more frequent and blaring the metal band strapped around my neck became. 

The manor overlooked that beautiful little beach to the west. If I could only get to the ocean I’d be free. But between those two potted plants on either side, this translucent barrier kept me locked away. My hands, tired and shaking, yanked on the door handle as hard as I could. But even with all of my might paired with the adrenaline pumping through my veins- the door wouldn’t open. Suddenly and violently, the blinking red light stopped, opting to instead glow a solid and ominous crimson as it sent a horrendous streak of pain up and down my spine which quickly knocked me onto the cold stainless floor below. 

I struggled to breathe again, amazed that I hadn’t already been shocked unconscious. Candace coiled her vitriolic blood stained fingers into my hair to force me to my feet before slamming me headlong into the sliding glass door without a warning. She groaned, yanking me back and forth until I could no longer see straight through the unbreakable glass barrier. And I endured the pain of my collar electrocuting me as she treated me like I was- a ragdoll. 

Candace was so much stronger than I was- or I’d have tried to overpower her by now. She stood almost half a foot taller than me at her apex, decorated with both perfectly bubbly curves and effectively toned muscles. 

She tossed me to her feet with ease. My hair slipped from her fingers, head slamming into the china cabinet as I was hurled. Another sign that she didn’t much care for her ornaments as long as she was tormenting me. In a scramble to get back up, I kicked the potted plant over and began to throw the precious glassware at my assailant. 

Attacking her had been the single worst decision of my entire life, and it had left me fighting for every little moment I had left. 

I watched in morbid horror as my own actions sent a ceramic plate shattering over her head, much like a glass bottle on the night of an afterparty. My heart instantly filled with further regret, the blood now painting her delicate scalp splitting me down the middle, desperate not to hurt her any further. She struggled for just long enough, and in her haze I fled again to the lounge- unable to watch the pain she was in as tears continued to flood from my eyes. 

Barely managing to crawl there from the floor, I struggled to my feet just in time to see the full fury in those beautiful eyes of hers. “I swear to fucking God! You insufferable fucknose whore!” Debasements came hurling towards me from the archway, red bloodstains now prominent in her immaculate platinum blonde hair. “Get the fuck back here so I can slit your throat before I gut you like a fucking pig!”

I’d never been so terrified in my entire life. 

Even as I stood, Candace towered over me. I was in awe at her sheer menace; she left me petrified in place. Horrified, I froze, barely able to breathe as she approached me. A bloody hand grabbed me by my red hair, dragging me to the scarlet soaked dagger she held in her equally sanguinated hand. 

“And here I thought you wanted me to breed you. But instead I get nothing but a little piglet trying to send me to the slaughterhouse instead.” Dragged to the knife by my locks, I whimpered. Candace wasn’t playing games anymore. She was out for blood, and she had the blade against my throat to prove it. “I was trying to do something good for you tonight. You should have felt honored that I even thought to let a filthy little freak like you anywhere close to my genitals. You ugly pig nosed dyke!” I felt her press the dagger further into me, cutting into my layers of skin ever so slightly as she reveled in my terrified shrieks before letting up. “You don’t think I- Candace St. Clair- can live up to your expectations?! You don’t think I can compare to your sicko porn fantasies?!”

Weak knees trembled beneath my own weight, struggling not to slam to the ground and beg for Candace’s forgiveness. The only thing holding me up now was her. I swallowed nervously, the feeling of the blade against the lump in my throat brought tears ripping from my eyes anew. 

“Fucking try me.”

Candace sliced through my uniform with ease, finally freeing me of it. She removed every piece of clothing from my body, big and small, and kicked them aside. Now stripped down to my natural state, I quickly found myself dragged screaming into the corner before finally being dropped to my knees. It was a bitter mercy that lasted only seconds, quickly cut dead by the sight of her holding the dagger in her bloody hand- pointing it straight at my face. Just as I was about to be.

Grossly, I felt her anger and I understood it; I agreed with it. Empathetic rage cursed me with the same emotions of betrayal, hurt, and disgust that she was undoubtedly filled with just then. 

Yet that didn’t at all imply that she understood how I felt. My frail heart held nothing but contempt for myself, yes. Frustration. Resentment. Guilt. Inadequacy. These and more than these were true of what it was like to lay eyes on her. 

Don’t for a second think I’m a fool. No matter what Candace might say, she detested me for a reason. Nothing short of brilliant would ever be worth this sort of animosity- yet Candace loathed me. Who could possibly outsmart, outwit, outmaneuver, and outplay a woman like her? Yours truly is who. You weren’t there; you wouldn’t know. I’m no moron. Regardless of the hatred she harbored, I was smart enough to realize that I didn’t return it in kind. Even at the edge of death I was painfully aware that I could never truly hate Candace St. Clair… 

…No matter how much I wanted to.

 

“I’m sorry.” Only by soaking themselves in my still trailing tears could my dry lips manage such a word. They were puppeted by the wetness of emotion seeping in. 

A reflection in the wet steel before my eyes- they could see- was wincing. My mind’s gears that always ticked away were sure that I should die, but deep down my heart knew it wasn’t so simple even for her. It wasn’t the hesitation of thought. This was different. Candace was feeling her way through this just as much as I was. 

“Listen closely and follow my orders like your worthless life depends on it, because it does.” Candace flourished the knife in her hand, heart wrought by her own desperate emotions as she awaited a verbal response.

Finally, my breath came searing with before voiceless pleas. They shook. “I… Y-yes, Ma’am…” I hadn’t been this afraid since the moment I woke to find myself in her grasp for the very first time. 

“I’m going to screw you to death tonight whether you like it or not, but you just lost the privilege of getting to enjoy it with me. Good on you.” She said for her own benefit as much as mine. “Now lick this knife clean before I have to shed your blood all over it.”

Without a moment’s hesitation she pressed the sharp of the knife to my lips. Horrifyingly, my still whimpering mouth opened- with much reluctance- pressing my tongue to the blade and beginning to lick Candace’s blood clean from it. The remnants stained, despite my best efforts to embrace the bitter taste of iron and pain. Yet once I had thought the job done she simply took the knife away, holding her bloody palm to my mouth in its stead. 

“Now you’re going to lick my wounds clean, or I’m going to electrocute you to death.” She held a finger of her other hand to the fancy electronic bracelet strapped to her wrist, looking me in the eyes. My eyes locked with hers, quickly finding myself unable to speak even before opening my mouth to suck her bloody hands dry. She winced with pain, and as soon as she was satisfied, quickly jerked away. I watched as she reeled that hand back and followed with my eyes as she slapped me across the face as hard as she could with it- following it up with an equally strong backhand.  

For the first time ever, I could see how she did it. Candace pressed her finger into the digital button on the screen of her bracelet. What followed was a debilitating jolt of lighting spreading its way into my body from my collar, quickly rendering me unable to operate even the most minute of muscles.

The world around me was nothing short of a blur for the next several moments. 

I hated myself, but I didn’t deserve this, not by a long shot. Candace didn’t even have the decency of letting me rest once the pain was gone either. Still collapsed there on the ground, I felt the sudden snap of Candace kicking me in the head. Where she got the rope was unclear, but by the time my vision returned to me I could feel my hands tied tightly behind my back. The other end wrapped firmly around her free wrist. She had the knife in one hand and a black riding crop in the other. It matched her corset. 

“Well go on-” She hissed at me. “Clean this shit up. Now.”

Another violent shove from her boot sent me tumbling over myself, falling into another corner of the room. 

My collar began to sound off, a high pitched beeping cutting through the sounds of my own heartbeat. This was a warning. I was somewhere I wasn’t meant to be. 

Rather than one the exit however, the thing too dear to let me near in this instance was a portrait. Candace kept a lot of precious pieces of artwork in her home (right here in the lounge in fact,) but the one apparently most treasured to her was this one right here. It featured a woman, young and beautiful, with white hair and red eyes. She had with her a boy of much similar description- white hair and red eyes- happily tucked into her arms. Like the doors, getting too close set my collar off into a violent electric shock.

And now that I’d witnessed her true colors, I was beginning to see why. 

 

My captor kicked the mop bucket to me, dragged towards it on the end of a rope. Candace stood over it, the mop like a stress ball in her palm. She seemed for the most part to be containing her rage; yet still she stood, finger on her bracelet, exasperated. Next thing I knew I was slammed face first into the mop bucket, cold and naked. There was no strength left in me to hold my breath, but that didn’t stop her from holding me there. I gasped for breath as my face hit the air after several moments, only to be shoved screaming back underwater. Drowned in agony. 

I tried to fight back, really. But when your weak, cowardly hands shake within the binds trapping your wrists together… There isn’t much you can do. Powerless. All I could do was pray to her that she showed mercy. 

Candace gripped me by the head, pulling me backwards by my ear tag. Chloe - the reflection read back to me- 0000 .

“It’s your job to clean my floors- especially when you fuck up and soil them. But after a stunt like that I clearly can’t trust you with your hands, let alone a sponge, so I guess you’ll just have to be my mop.”

Chest first, Candace tossed my now sobbing wet upper body onto the floor, pointing me towards the trail of blood she’d left behind her. Before I could stop her, I quickly felt my slippery body being scraped across the floor. And I was powerless to stop her. My tits did most of the mopping, feeling her grab me by the arms and drag me back and forth along the floor until the lounge was clean. Confident that she wasn’t in any danger, she risked getting just a bit closer. Candace yanked me by my hair back up and onto my knees, terrifyingly close to her face. 

“Use those to dry my floors, and then we’ll move to the next room.” Candace spat, kicking me towards the heap of clothes she’d cut from my body in the corner. 

This was just how my life was now. Seeing no other options, I bit down on my uniform and did just that- dried Candace’s floor with them. The threads tasted sweaty and miserable between my teeth, but they were nothing compared to the blood we’d already shed. “How does it feel to be my useless cleaning rag, slave?” 

Candace didn’t even crack a smile that time, not expecting a response while my mouth was in use. She tried to keep up her usual momentum, but something just wasn’t there. All she could apparently think to do now to vent her anger was periodically step on me to impede my progress. Candace was clearly in need of a break, so she was using this opportunity to break me as well. 

“Have you lost your fight already?” Candace accused, almost hoping it wasn’t true. “I knew you were stupid, weak, and pathetic- but I didn’t realize you were a coward too.”

Hearing her say that made me almost ashamed of myself. If I hadn’t already been crying, that would have done it. 

“I couldn’t do it.” I admitted aloud. “I-I’m sorry for trying, but I couldn’t do it. Please, Ma’am. I’m sorry!”

She scoffed at me for that. “Do I look like I care?” 

Yes- incidentally- she did. But I could never say that to her face. “Candace…”

“Don’t let me hear that name with that voice of yours. You don’t deserve to so much as breathe in my direction.” Sobbing all over again, I watched with open jaws as she approached me, shoving the sponge into my mouth to silence me before dunking my face in the mop water once more. “Get to cleaning my floors.”

Candace did her best not to bleed on the floors as she dragged me into the kitchen. Unfortunately, it was clear that she was going to need medical attention soon. This time, however, I wet the sponge myself. Angry scowls left me as I tried my best to breathe, water dripping from my now shoulder length orange hair. 

I might love Candace too much to kill her, but I hadn’t lost my fight. 

Subjecting myself to more of her torture, I cleaned using my body. Clearing out the dirt from the potted plant was a nightmare, but it wasn’t quite as bad as once again cleaning broken glass from the china cabinet with my mouth, now complete with pre-existing cuts on my tongue. 

But regardless of the pain that came with wiping up the carnage, I cleaned up every last drop.

 

I knew a lot about the layout of this house, but I couldn’t know everything. Candace kept countless secrets from me, making it impossible for me to know what she’s capable of doing. She just stood over me as I slaved away- cleaning her bloodstains off of her floors just to punish me for staining her beautiful lace nightgown and damaging her perfect figure. But I could tell one thing looking into those bloodthirsty eyes of hers; she was getting ready to rape me.

Every move she made caused me to twitch nervously, ready to leap to my feet and throw myself at whatever it was going to take to get out of this hell before that happened. Anything- evidently- but killing her. Candace might have been a sweetheart compared to the rest of her family, but she was still a manipulative narcissistic gaslighting abuser. Candace is a psychopath… 

And I love her. 

“Please, Miss?” On my knees, I froze in place. “C-can we talk about this?”

“You want to talk now ?” She could hardly believe what she was hearing. Enraged enough to pull her riding crop from her waist, holding it like the horizon as she curled the end in her other hand. “You hide a knife and plan to kill me- your owner- and now you want to talk? About what, your feelings?!”

“You wouldn’t listen to me! I-I just… I told you I didn’t want to be sterilized, but-”  Crying now, I shouted at her to understand. But I only just barely manage to get through my statement, quivering in fear at the crop her hand and the sudden violent movement it underwent. 

An angry growl escaped her- like a tennis player swinging a racket; stepping forward and swinging with a fearsome backhand motion, she swatted me in the side with the crop. “What in the world is wrong with you?!”

And believe me, the pain was unbearable. 

“Think with your empty fucking head for once!” Without a second of hesitation- a moment for me to recoil- Candace reeled her arm backwards and struck me once again. Even worse than the first strike, the whip cracked flat against my breast, imbuing it with the pain she must have felt. “I get what I want, Chloe. That’s how this works. If I cared about what you wanted, you wouldn’t be here! You do as I say whether you like it or not!” 

Unable to bear much more of this abuse, I burst into outright sobs. Crying loudly, the tears streamed down my face, leaving me unsure of whether it was out of fear or pain. “Master, please?!” 

“No. No more of this. I’m tired of you.” The words just barely registered as the crop smacked me one last time, snapping violently as she brought it down as hard as she could across my face. “You belong to me. I’m taking your body right here and right now- and I am not taking no for an answer!”

Candace whipped her foot around as I braced for another strike of the crop, kicking me in the chest and pounding me backwards onto the floor below, holding my knocked over body down under her boot as I struggled to breathe. “Please, no… I’m sorry…”

But Candace didn’t give. She reached to the bracelet strapped to her wrist, pressing the button.

Her beautiful mismatched eyes were the last things I remembered seeing before the world went black and I faded into unconsciousness.

 

✶      ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧      ✶      ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦      ✶

 

“Chloe?” 

 

“Can you hear me?”

 

Slowly, the world began coming back to me- before crashing in all at once. 

 

“Are you in there, Chloe?”

 

I awoke with a start, my hands bound into shackles above my head to keep me from thrashing. In my cell, dazed and confused. That voice was for some reason, strangely unfamiliar. Sitting next to me, was a man I didn’t recognize, trying to get my attention. He had light skin paired with light colored hair and dark brown eyes, which stared straight into mine.

But my attention was drawn instead past the open cell door to my right, following the sounds of Candace’s voice. Shouting. 

“Thanks for finally doing your job, Malcolm.”

“What the fuck was I supposed to do- tackle her to the ground?”

“That’s kind of what you’re known to do, you aren’t exactly the brightest tool in the shed.”

“Well excuse me for wanting to be something other than brute force for once. You’re supposed to be my mentor-”

“And you’re supposed to watch her!”

“Watch her do what, run away from you?” Their voices continued to raise, finding themselves in the middle of a very heated argument. “I activated the house alarm. I made sure all of the exits were locked. I called for help. What else was I supposed to do in that situation?”

“You’re supposed to watch her and make sure she’s not up to anything. Your job is to prevent this from happening in the first place.”

“I didn’t give her the fucking knife, Candace!” Malcolm snapped, defending himself. “She’s a weasel! You should know that better than anyone. This is your fault!”

“How is this my fault?!”

“You let your libido get the better of you and allowed her to trick you into getting close. You have safeguards against this kind of thing. You’re supposed to keep your distance and leave her restrained, but that doesn’t work when you don’t use them properly!”

“Don’t you dare-” Candace began, before quickly being cut off by the other new voice. 

“Hey!” The man that I still didn’t recognize spoke up, audibly annoyed by the argument happening between the two of them. “Knock it off, she’s awake.”

The man, strange as it was to be meeting someone new, looked to me and smiled. It was clearly in an attempt to try and reassure me, but it didn’t really do much good. He was apparently examining me all over to make sure that I was alright. 

“Are you okay, sweetheart?” He quickly said, taking my attention onto him. “Can you see and hear me alright?”

Candace approached the cell, scoffing angrily. “She’s no sweetheart!”

Hearing her talk bad about me was a bit too much for me right now. Desperate to apologize, I stuttered nervously, beginning to choke up. “I-I’m sorry, Ma’am.”

“Quiet.” Candace quickly shushed me, turning to her friend. “How does she look?”

“She’s got a concussion.” The man responded despondently. “But she’s not bleeding anywhere- inside or out- at least from what I can tell. Which is good, but it’s still probably not a good idea to put her back to work.”

“I’m more worried about the operation.”

The new man, apparently the person to go to for that, shook his head. “We clearly can’t operate on her like this, Candace. It’s going to have to be pushed back.”

“For how long?” Candace grew visually annoyed, crossing her arms in anger. 

“Two weeks. Just to make sure she’s okay.” He spoke in a hushed tone. “We can’t do the operation if she’s… you know…”

Candace’s face quickly turned red as she scowled, glancing towards me for just a moment. “She’s not!”

“Well you’d better make sure she’s not.”

“I am sure.”

“Still.” He reasserted himself. “You’ll need to wait two weeks anyways. That’s our next available appointment.”

“And what am I supposed to do tomorrow?”

He stopped, taking a good moment to eye the gash in Candace’s bosom before looking her in the eyes again. “I’d suggest getting that looked at.”

“…Alright.” Candace quickly tried to cover it up, sighing to herself. “Thanks for doing this off the books for me.”

“I’m only here because you’re Malcolm’s boss.”

“No. You’re here because I’m your boss.”

“No. I work for your brother. He’s my boss, not you.”

“And you’re this close to not being my boss anymore, either.” An irritated Malcolm snapped at her, still upset. 

“Oh please.” Candace rolled her eyes. “Where would you go without me?”

“I’m leaving with Anthony.” Malcolm huffed. Anthony. That was the other man’s name. “You can catch me some other time, I’m taking tomorrow off.”

“Okay. See you next week.” Candace seemed to linger on that for a moment, before rolling her eyes and nodding. I watched as everyone else shuffled out of the cell, allowing Candace to finally take her place looming over me. “And where did you get the knife, Chloe?”

Honesty was the best policy here. Swallowing nervously, I knew if I told her how, I wouldn’t be getting the chance to do it again. And that was fine by me, I just hoped she wasn’t about to hit me again. “During the afterparty. S-someone left it in the dishwasher… I hid it under the sink while no one was looking…”

Candace blinked with confusion for a moment before- guiltily- her face turned red. “Leah. That makes sense…”

“I bloody told you.” Malcolm spoke up, still cross. “And you can’t really blame Leah either. It’s not her fault her boyfriend’s been neglecting her. She was even nice enough to fill in for your slave while you were busy parading her around the house like a dog just to make it up for you after accidentally blabbing about the surgery.”

“Right. I’m sorry.” Candace sighed, nodding her head to him silently. “You’re excused.”

Sensing the tension, the medic spoke up. “Are you sure you don’t want to keep her at the facility just to be safe?”

“Don’t bother.” She replied as she waved the two of them off. “She’s not leaving this cell until the surgery anyways. I can handle myself.” 

“Fair enough.” He frowned, taking Malcolm by the arm. “Good luck.”

“Thanks. But I won’t need it.”

Candace’s house quickly emptied itself of any guests. Leaving the two of us alone together once again.

“Good game, Chloe. But you lose this time.”

My eyes followed hers as they left mine. Hidden behind that veil of blue once more, Candace’s eyes locked with another. A tightness in my chest knotted itself into being as I watched Candace pick her up, stealing from me my only friend. That stuffed border collie my mother made for me- my name stitched into her ear- my Poppy. 

And she took it.

After everything I’d gone through today, I didn’t imagine it could get worse. But it had, and there was nothing I could do about it.  

“I… I’m sorry Candace-”

Growling, my mistress held her riding crop to my face, ready to strike me. “What did I say?! Did I tell you to speak my name again?!”

“No, Master!” My eyes pinched, correcting myself. “I’m sorry, Master! I won’t do it again, I promise!”

Feeling Candace lower the crop, I slowly looked up to her again. “I believe you. But only because you won’t have another opportunity like that again-”

“Give me another chance, Master. I’m begging you…” Hung to the wall by chains, I did my best to grovel. “I know I hurt you, but I learned something about myself today…”

Stunned by the sudden fight in me, Candace used the riding crop to tilt my head up. “And that is?”

Filled with indignation, I swallowed my pride and let my tears roll down my cheeks. “I love you too much to kill you.” 

Her eyes went wide at the sound of that. Imagine that, she was finally getting what she wanted. “Do you mean that?”

“Of course I do.” At least I thought I did as the tears flew from my eyes, nodding. “You have to believe me…”

The crop retracted itself. Candace’s eyes slowly drifted down from mine, gazing past my breasts and towards my navel. There they rested for a moment, lost in thought. “And why should I do that?”

“Because if I could kill you, you’d be dead.” I mumbled back, eyes still full of tears. “Just like Sophia.”

A wicked fury overtook her at just the mention of that woman’s name, even more than her own. Searing pain was all I was met with, feeling the whip land once again straight across my face, ridding my eyes of what tears I still had left. 

“Don’t you dare…” She was the one with tears now. “You don’t deserve to speak her name either…”

Ferocious heat built up in my chest as she said that, only serving to beat into my head how little I really meant to her. “Yes, Master… I’m sorry…” 

Raging pain choked me from inside, my cheek hot with terror. I’d been her biggest fan for so long, but I never could figure out just how she felt towards that girl, and it ate away at me from the inside.

Her tears fell onto the bandages around her hand as she wiped them away. “Anything else you have to say for yourself, slave?”

“Y-yes, Ma’am… May I ask-” My voice cracked desperately. “Did you… have sex with me… while I was-”

“Yes.” She responded, almost proud of that fact. “Yes, I did. It’s too bad you weren’t there. We both would have loved it.”

Something about hearing her say that… It broke me. “I’m sorry…”

“Good. That means you’ve learned your lesson.” 

For just a few moments, she lowered herself to my level. Her eyes now drifted upwards from my belly as she pressed the palm of her gashed hand against it, looking me in the eyes. Candace made sure- with all of her might- that I could see the pain in her heart. 

And then spat in my face. 

 

There were no goodnights exchanged after that. Only my owner rising to her feet and storming off, making sure to slam the heavy metal door shut behind her. 

“Enjoy the rest of your miserable life, Chloe. I hope it was worth it.”

Notes:

Updated 7/9/2021

Chapter 6: Forfeit

In tragic fashion, time slowed to an agonizing crawl. The days following my utter defeat at her hands swiftly grew miserable. Not a second seemed to tick by where I didn’t regret what I’d done, which I suspected was probably to my master’s liking. Never before had I so thoroughly lost to Candace; it was almost an embarrassment. I hadn’t just failed to change my fate, I’d humiliated myself in doing so, and that by itself was worse than the sheer pain of it all. The one thing I’d seemingly succeeded in doing was definitively prove that I was no longer the woman I thought I was… 

No matter how desperately I still wished to be her.

 

My surgery needed to be postponed. It wasn’t made clear to me why exactly, but it was safe to assume that it was in order to make sure that I was okay following our violent confrontation. Other than my concussion, I was seemingly fine, Candace was the one who’d been left with the worst injuries. As a result, the appointment I’d been forced to miss was one that my owner used for emergency cosmetic surgery. 

Considering the damage I’d done to her chest, I couldn’t blame her. If I was her I would have wanted that fixed up as soon as possible too- like I would have loved having the house to myself for a day while she was out doing so if only just to find some way out of here without hurting her.

But alas, Candace was not an idiot. She had her cake and ate it too, leaving me chained up in my cell for the entire day. Followed by the next day, then the next day, and the next day. Don’t ask what it was like either; you don’t really want to know. I’ll spare you the details, just know that by the time I was released from my chains I was more than willing to capitulate to her commands. After all- it was nice to eat again. 

That’s not to say that she didn’t check up on me, because she did. Not just every day, but almost every hour of every day. She’d come by so regularly- to the point that it became part of her routine for a week or so; even after I was out of my cell she made a point of making sure she knew what I was up to at all times. Though importantly, if I wasn’t chained up, she checked in over the intercom.

Neither of us wanted a repeat of last time. That was one rematch Candace wasn’t up for. 

She reverted back to keeping her distance. Except this time, it was much worse. With barely any supplies to work with, I was forced to use nothing but my hands for most tasks. Despite the fact that the chores had piled up in just the sliver of time I’d spent off the job, my master was not keen on her slave getting them done if it meant not taking any risks. Which in turn meant that on top of everything else, I was getting beaten for failing at my job. 

Yet with increasing repugnance, being beaten didn’t seem to bother me. A lashing meant being in the same room as her after all. 

Worst of all, however, Candace revoked custody of Poppy. 

 

Ignorant was all it took to deny the idea that anything could have gone wrong as a result of actions. I hadn’t considered much of what would have happened had I failed, like I had, least of not that. As it stood, that silly plush border collie was my only friend. To prove that she’s mine, my name was sewn into one of her ears. Similarly- ironically- Candace had marked my body with her own name.

Or rather, with her initials. 

She was a famous figure after all, it wasn’t exactly advisable for her to print her full name onto me in the event that I was found by someone who wasn’t in on all of this- at least in theory. Bafflingly, Candace was probably more recognizable by her initials than her name.

CStC- being Candace’s screen name, was what most of the community referred to her as rather than name. Undoubtedly following that logic, her rival was likely more known by her own screen name now that I thought about it. Though in terms of concealing her identity, the name SoCavalier was as bad as Candace’s name was for her, if not worse. The relevant takeaway here- knowing that those who cross her were likely to never be a problem again- being that by putting her initials on the metal tag clipped to my ear, Candace has effectively sewn her name into my ear like I was a stuffed dog. 

Unsurprisingly, I couldn’t say that I ever really liked Sophia Cavalier, despite how well I knew her once upon a time. Which was hopefully a story for a later day. Because from the very beginning, I had always been Candace’s biggest fan. 

At one point, I had prided myself on that. But now… not so much. Maybe my obsession with her had been extreme to the point of creepy, but I feel less insecure about that knowing that all along, Candace had been much worse. I was still her biggest fan. That much hadn’t changed; what had changed was that I was no longer proud of that fact, I was appalled by it. 

When she first tramp stamped me with her initials, I’d thought of it as the happiest day of my life. Now that it was permanent, however, it felt at times like a mark of shame. 

Shame on me for letting it make such an impact on me. If I had known this was going to be how things turned out, I never would have hurt her in the first place.

I never would have looked up to her in the first place. 

 

My owner confiscated my uniforms from me, forcing me to work entirely naked in order to make sure I couldn’t hide things from her anymore. There was a small bundle of clothes in the laundry room that I knew were mine, but those were something I’d kept hidden from her for months now. If she found out I’d been hiding more things from her, Candace would lose it. Unfortunately, making me work nude ended up backfiring on her when I eventually got my period. Exciting, I know. I was just glad that Candace took it well. She seemed to be so relieved more than anything that she didn’t punish me for getting blood on her floors… again.

Strangely, this also seemed to be the signal Candace needed to let the clinic know I was ready to go forward with the surgery.

My body felt gross from head to toe, like she’d somehow violated me even further than she already had. Of course, Candace hardly cared about how I felt aside from making sure that I was (mostly) physically unharmed. 

I obviously couldn’t be pregnant for the procedure, that much made sense. Depending on the type of procedure though, it was more than possible that someone along the line simply didn’t want me to be. If I’m being honest- Candace’s entire family doesn’t seem to keen on abortions. It hadn’t even hit me that I couldn’t necessarily rule out pregnancy as an option. 

Anything could have happened to me after she knocked me out. Candace could have let one of her friends accidentally knock me up as well. Or the more exciting- and less likely option, Candace might have done it herself.

But she didn’t.

 

We resumed our usual routine, right up until the morning of my previously postponed surgery. Candace acted like it was just another day, dragging me through her bathroom and towards the kitchen. But we both knew it wasn’t.

“Breakfast for four today. Omelettes, potatoes, bacon, and sausage. I’ll take mine like normal, no peppers. Don’t fuck this up. Malcolm is lactose intolerant, so he eats like a pig. He’ll easily have two. Extra peppers, bacon, and sausage, but no cheese. Toss as much bacon and sausage we have leftover on his plate so that we’re not left with extra. Leah will not be eating like a pig, nor will she be eating pig. Cook hers first, separately, and then just reuse the pan. She’s not a vegetarian, just don’t add meat. Oh, and she asked if you’d put the potatoes in the omelette- because she’s a heathen- so do that, just don’t say that to her face. She’s having a bit of a crisis so don’t make a point of her letting her hair down. If you screw up her food she just won’t eat it, and she doesn’t need that. Finally, make an extra this morning. I don’t care what’s on it; someone will eat it. Feel free to make it however you want, but prioritize getting everything else correct first. You got all that?”

Candace has a tendency to… obsess about perfection when she gets anxious. Mumbling through my muzzle, I bowed my head in confirmation. Hopefully I’d gotten all that, because if I couldn’t remember what she said, she couldn’t either. 

It made sense that Malcolm and Leah were here, I supposed, knowing we’d be leaving for the clinic soon. But why in the world did she want breakfast for four?

I had an extreme attention to detail. It made me even better at taking notes in my head and micromanaging things than Candace was- much to her dismay. My master probably wouldn’t have much fun playing video games with me. 

Though, after losing at the world championship, Candace probably wasn’t having fun playing against anyone anymore. 

 

“Good.” Candace pulled my face to hers by the metal tag that hung from my ear. “I repeat, don’t fuck this up. The last thing I want is to have to kill you for disobeying me after how much time and effort I’ve put into this, but I will put you down if I have to. Is that understood?” 

I shook in her grasp as she said that, knowing that things were very much not okay. All I could do now was hope for the best and whimper in agreement through my muzzle, bowing ever so slightly. 

“Good.” She repeated, satisfied, before releasing my earlobe and letting me stumble backwards into the hallway. “Do better today and maybe you can start regaining my trust.”

What a woman. I hated to admit, but the sound of getting back into her good graces was, well… enticing. If that was all there was to achieve in this life, it was a good enough goal for me. In a game, it’s no big deal if you lose. You pick up the controller and you try again. But there was no such thing as a retry here. I get one shot at this, and once I’m dead, I’m dead. 

Once my master had slammed the door in my face I followed the sound of chatter towards the kitchen, hoping to make breakfast before anyone spotted me. 

“I always knew the guy was an idiot who didn’t know how to cook, but I didn’t think it was that big of a problem.” I managed to hear the woman from a few weeks ago, Leah, and her ongoing conversation. “He’d never admit it, but he always thought it was my job.”

Candace’s assistant, Malcolm, was also there- presumably the person Leah was talking with. “What, because you’re a woman?”

“Because I’m his girlfriend or whatever.” The woman mumbled with little life in her voice. “I'm sick of guys who insist on me leaving the mob stuff to them so that I can stay home and start a family. I need this job too."

Leah looked and sounded awfully frazzled this morning, sitting across from Malcolm at the dining room table with two empty glasses of ice water placed in front of her. Right, I had forgotten, Leah was an alcoholic. 

According to Candace, the woman drinks habitually. Like anyone so down on their luck as to be that miserable, there was almost not a moment of the day where she didn’t feel the need to drink away her pain. Supposedly, Leah was miraculously immune to hangovers, which was helpful when you couldn’t afford to miss a day of work. She was apparently putting in an effort to curb her addiction, but it wasn't going so smoothly.

Especially once she discovered that her latest boyfriend, well...

“I can’t believe he would cheat on me.” She stuttered, chewing on an ice cube in an attempt to distract herself. Leah was apparently done crying about it by now. “You think you know a person…”

“Right.” Malcolm mumbled in awkward fashion. By now I felt a little bit guilty for eavesdropping, but I couldn’t help it. “Well… knowing the amount of work Anthony and I do… I don’t know if we’ll ever get married. Which is fine.”

Preach to the choir, asshole. At least you have a partner who loves you. I have nothing.

Just listening to these people made my blood boil. It wasn’t surprising that both couples were having some issues. Malcolm was dating a nurse at the facility, who I’d be seeing later today for my appointment- and Leah had apparently dated an ensemble of other mobsters to no avail. I wish I could say that I felt for her, but knowing the type of people they were, I kind of didn’t. They weren’t exactly the kind of people I knew how to empathize with. 

“You.” Leah snarled as she spotted me, jerking to her feet in anger. Apparently even thoughts of her cheating ex-boyfriend were snuffed out by the sight of me. 

Nervously, Malcolm also shot up, trying to calm her down. “Hey, Chloe. You just waking up?”

I, of course, couldn’t really respond with much more than a nod. Like always, Candace left my muzzle locked to my face to keep me from eating, since clearly she didn’t want me to enjoy breakfast with her. And from the looks of it, neither did her associates. 

“You’re lucky Candace cares so much about you.” Leah sat herself back down, holstering her gun for safekeeping. “Hurt her again, and you’re dead.”

Candace’s bodyguard has a gun. I’ll remember that for next time. 

Meanwhile, it’s best to follow her orders and make breakfast. Pronto. 

 

Admittedly, I wasn’t exactly sure how to make Leah a proper breakfast, but I tried my best. Maybe the most ironic thing about making meals for Candace is that- much like Leah’s boyfriend- I still had absolutely no fucking clue how to cook. She didn’t exactly teach me, she usually just left a list of instructions at best- or at worst- slapped me for getting it wrong. 

I didn’t fuck it up, I swear. Candace had beaten how to make an omelette into my head many times over… Which was probably why she made me cook them so often, but they came out just fine. 

And so did she. 

Candace rolled her eyes as she stepped into the dining room, looking as gorgeous as ever. “If I wanted her dead, I’d have let my father at her by now. I can handle her myself, I don’t need you getting all motherly on me.”

Leah smiled as Candace sat down between the two of them, shaking her head. “I’m just trying to look out for you, that’s all.”

“I’m not a child. I knew what I signed up for. This is Chloe we’re talking about after all.” Candace, through that veil of blue, looked towards me. “Besides, she’s being behaved and doing as she’s told. Aren’t you, slave?”

That was my cue. By the time Candace had cleaned up and dressed, I was already finished with breakfast. I prepared the food and drinks for the three of them as I waited for her to sit down in her usual seat- which was on the opposite end of the dining room facing in towards the kitchen. Candace knew better now than to have her back turned to me, instead facing away from the artful lounge behind her. Following her voice, I quickly served breakfast to the three of them. It felt only natural that being my owner, Candace should be served first. Per her orders breakfast was an omelette exactly how she liked it and an iced tea. 

“See? Just like mom used to make.” Her voice trailed off as she sipped at her drink, but if her tone was any indication, she seemed to like it. 

That woman in the framed portrait still stood out to me. Her red eyes simply watched as I served breakfast to the guests. I made the extra omelette special, filling it up with just about every ingredient I’d cooked, but I still wasn’t sure who I was meant to serve it to. My safest bet was to just hand it to Candace. Surprisingly, her assistants were the ones who seemed less trusting of me at the moment. I served them their food nonetheless, giving two omelettes to Malcolm and one to Leah. Who, though happy that I hadn’t ruined her breakfast, was less thrilled about receiving yet another ice water. 

A mischievous grin showed up on her face, even more malicious than the ones Candace usually made. Leah pulled her gun from her waist and pointed it directly at me, watching me back up against the wall behind me. “Why don’t you go get me a bottle of wine instead?”

Frozen in fear, all I could manage was a frightened glance towards my mistress, who simply shook her head in annoyance. “Can you please not harass the help?”

“Does she really count as help if she’s out to kill you?”

“Maybe not, but she’s still my slave. If my parents could do it, so can I.” Candace snapped her fingers and pointed to the empty space on the floor between her and Malcolm, who was quickly setting down a pair of bowls with the name Chloe printed on them just special for me. “Chloe, sit. Her gun isn’t loaded.” 

Reassured by her authority, I scurried to Candace’s side and lowered myself to the floor. It certainly felt weird that she seemed perfectly fine with letting others view my naked body. There was only so far she could push the envelope, because there comes a point where claiming it’s for her own personal safety could no longer reasonably explain nudity for the sake of nudity. Especially when you remember that she has a professional modeling career. 

“Buzzkill…” Leah pouted softly, making sure to retroactively prove Candace right by quietly unloading her weapon and slipping it back onto her belt- now unloaded- with a small click. She knew I was seeing all of that. “Have you ever had a gun pointed at you, Chloe?”

I began to shake my head no before Candace quickly spoke up, answering for me. “She has. She just doesn’t know it.”

This was news to me. 

My almost hysterically anxious eyes pleased with her, but Candace had other things to worry about right now. As a result, it took me a few moments to realize that twirling her index finger in a circle was her way of signalling me to turn around and face the other way, which she watched intently as I did so. Worried that this situation wasn’t quite as imminently safe as it seemed to be, I was relieved when Candace reached towards me- and to my surprise- unlocked and removed my muzzle. 

“Are you sure you’re not coming with us, Malcolm?” Leah asked as Candace packed the muzzle away for later. “Chloe isn’t going to be here to babysit, there’s no real reason for you to stay.”

“That’s exactly why I’m staying put. I hardly get any time to just relax in this house, and my workspace needs tidied up anyways.” He paused for a moment before sighing. “Besides, you know how I feel about that place. After what happened last time, I’d rather not step foot in there if I don’t have to.”

“Not even to see your boyfriend?”

“Nope. That’s just a fight waiting to happen.”

“At least you don’t fight as often as these two.” Leah cackled quietly to herself. What followed were a few moments of silence as Candace’s face was overtaken by a shocked expression. It was ironic- almost cruelly so- for the two of us to be compared to a bickering couple, especially by her of all people. And Leah quickly got that message. “I’m sorry about leaving a knife within reach. But in my defense, I didn’t realize she was so cunning…”

“It’s fine. She’s a lot more devious than she looks.” Candace found that out the hard way. I could hear in her voice just how much it bothered her, knowing that I’d been her biggest fan for years. 

But that was quickly replaced by an accusatory glare as she reached back and grabbed the extra omelette from breakfast, expecting an explanation for it. “You really did just fill this with everything, didn’t you?”

With a whine, I nodded, not wanting to be dishonest with her. “You… you said I could put anything on it… so I just used the rest of the ingredients… I’m sorry…” I knelt and bowed my head, hoping it would be enough to appease her. “I did my best, I swear…”

In anticipation of some manner of punishment, I quickly screwed my eyes shut. But after a few moments I felt Candace’s hand reaching down to gently rub the top of my head.

“For you.”  Candace simply smiled, sighing as she lowered the plate towards the floor, scraping the extra omelette into my empty food bowl. “Just don’t use your hands or I will take it away from you.”

A happy smile swiftly made its way onto my face, nodding eagerly.

I was dumbfounded. 

And I clearly wasn’t alone. I don’t think anybody had expected her to do that- including Candace. If she didn’t feed me anything but sludge for the rest of my life, I couldn’t really blame her. But for some reason, that was clearly not the case. 

A happy smile swiftly made its way onto my face, nodding eagerly. “Thank you, Candace…”

She quietly bit off another mouthful of her own food, turning and staring me down with a knowing look.

“Th-thank you, Mistress.” I mumbled, trying to correct myself before it was too late. Recoiling to the ground, I lowered my head in anticipation, only to once again find myself surprised by her touch. Still chewing her food- not one to speak with her mouth full- Candace let out a pleased sigh, gently pinching my earlobe between her fingers. It was a feeling that only lasted a moment or two, but it was one I appreciated immensely.

I finished my food before she did, overly eager to eat a cooked meal for once, even if I had to eat it from a bowl like an animal. The rest of the table didn’t seem to take much notice- or simply tried not to- continuing with breakfast at their own pace. 

 

But Candace was watching me. 

She idled like a Triple-A model, but in Ultra HD. It was subtle, understated even, but purposeful. Candace twirled a knife- the knife - in her hand like it was nothing. Every few seconds she would pause just to run the blunt edge over the skin of her south palm just to make sure I knew she was on guard. She had since recovered from the incident, but her hand still showed the signs of a scar. 

Candace pointed the knife at me, motioning for me to stand as she finished her meal. “If you’ll excuse us.”

Acting like my life depended on something came easily when it actually did. Candace led me to my cell in silence, allowing me precious little time to relieve myself, let alone shower. 

“No fighting back this time.” She slipped the knife away into the small black purse now slung over her arm. “You’re going to submit whether you like it or not.”

My cheeks turned red as I bowed obediently. “Yes, Ma’am.”

She had surely been expecting a touch more difficulty from me once the knife was away, but she didn’t complain. After a moment to think, she nodded, satisfied with my attitude. Handing me a pair of simple red shapewear she deemed good enough to go outside in. 

Thank God I’m not allergic to latex.

 I slipped them on nice and easy, without complaint. The second time she gave me that signal with her fingers, I knew to turn around, slowly and carefully. Candace was extra with me, and I with her. All I needed to do was follow her directions, so when Candace instructed me to clasp my own wrists to the shackles in front of me, I did. No arguments here. 

Hearing her unzip her purse, I shuddered. Thankfully she wasn’t about to cut me open with a knife- hopefully. With my hands indispensable, unable to hurt her if I tried, I watched as Candace retrieved a small but sturdy leather device and began attaching it to my nearly naked body. 

Even as she bound me, her touch was almost sensual.

The harness clung tight to my skin, straps bound tight over and under my breasts to accentuate them through my top. Other straps slung over my shoulders, converging behind my back. It didn’t miss out on my lower body either, doing just as good a job of securing itself to me. It was an intricate thing, but not extraordinarily so. What was important was that I could feel the tightness of every strap, squeezing the tension into my skin with every movement.

Next came the cuffs, which Candace clasped around both my wrists and my ankles. The metal rings attached to each made them versatile, an assertion of control over me. Once they were on, my mistress hardly felt the need to keep me chained to the wall. 

Lastly, the gag. Apparently Candace wasn’t satisfied with just the muzzle. Now detached from the wall, I felt the cold stone against my back as she spun me around, shoving me backwards. Candace was right there. I so badly wanted to kiss her that, in my desperation, the only itch in my brain telling me to fight this was urging me to press my lips against hers. But the ball slid past my teeth without a fight, silencing me. The muzzle went back on, like it usually did- this time with the added benefit of my gagged mouth behind it. She lifted my chin with just a finger, staring deeply into my eyes, giving me that devilish smirk of hers. 

“Mine.”

Candace forced herself onto me. Her body pressed against mine as she pinned my hands to the wall, sliding one knee between my legs and rubbing it tight against my barely clad labia, almost lifting me off the ground. 

“All mine.”

She leaned in, her lips so close I could feel her breath through my restraints and onto my gagged lips. “This is it. At long last, you’ll be mine. Doesn’t that sound wonderful?”

Her words made my heart flutter. All I could do was let out a hushed whimper, my only sign of submission through quivering pink lips as she reached toward me with her hand, pinching my ear one last time. She grinned, letting me feel her scarred palm on my forehead for just a moment before slamming my head back into the wall behind me. 

I collapsed to my knees before her, no longer held up by her knee between my thighs to support me. Her face turned stern, looking at me in disappointment as she examined her hands to make sure she didn’t break any of her nails. “Don’t think this means I’ve forgiven you for what you did.”

She was always perpetually upset with me. Even when she was pleased with me, if she wasn’t angry about some new transgression of mine, she was upset about what happened that night. 

Mentioning that night again was forbidden. Candace hated to be reminded of that night- and whenever it did pop back into her head- she made sure I knew that she’ll never forgive me for it. 

We were friends. But in just a few short hours we went from potential lovers, a pair of equals, to eternally opposed souls. A burning anger between us that could never be forgiven. She wasn’t just beautiful, she was sweet. I would have loved to see her again, to get to know her better, but in just one night I became Candace St. Clair’s worst enemy. 

I hesitate to even call what we have now a rivalry, here on my knees, grovelling at her feet. 

This was her revenge. 

As she reached down to put the finishing touches on my punishment, something came over of me. The moment I saw the leash, my hands clasped over hers, wrestling the tension in her fingers at my mere touch. 

Startled, Candace quickly let go. She released the end of the leash into my hands and stumbled backwards. Her eyes angrily piercing into mine. Last time I raised my hand against her, she learned not to trust me, but this time was different. Holding the end of the leash in my hands, I knelt, almost pleading for her amnesty. I brought the clasp to my throat, and… 

Click .

With an almost defiant obedience, I attached the leash to my collar, locking it firmly into place.

I wanted Candace to forgive me.

 

My mistress stood frozen in place, still looming over me. The initial shock of my sudden movement now gone, I was powerless from this point. Left shaking in fear, all I could do was hope she’d accept my gesture- however unwanted- and forgive me. 

After a moment she tugged on the leash. Candace’s eyes were almost soft now, her lips smiling gently. “Good girl.”

My master had never called me that before. Good girl. I didn’t expect it to make such an impact, but I could feel tears in my eyes as she pulled me up by my leash. It felt good to hear her say that, but deep down it didn’t really sit right because I knew that being a good girl also meant giving up and letting her win. If I wanted to be a good girl, I had to forfeit everything I used to be. 

 

It was time to get going. I had an appointment to make and nothing was going to delay it a second longer. 

My collar began to blink red as we approached the door, letting out a rather unpleasant blaring noise to let my owner know I was somewhere I wasn’t meant to be. But within a few moments I watched Candace press a button on her bracelet, and in an instant the light on the metal shock device turned blue, apparently indicating that it was safe to take me outside. 

I’d never actually stepped out of this door before, only in. The few times I had been allowed outside recently were through the parlor door out front instead. Though not the front of the house, the foyer door was clearly the main entrance Candace liked to use, directly across from the garage. I was forced to crawl there on the hard stone as she and her bodyguard led me to the garage door, before she roughly yanked me to my bare feet and shoved me inside, letting a pained squeak out through my gag. 

Her garage was huge. With at least six cars that I could see at the far end, taking up about a quarter of the floorspace, it was almost like another house. What kind of garage had rooms? 

The home gym she seemed to keep in one of them must have been how she kept herself so strong and in shape. I just wish she’d let me watch.

I couldn’t help but be in awe as I stared at each of her vehicles, including one that I couldn’t help but recognize, even if it was far less pristine than the others. My jaw would have dropped at the sight of it if I wasn’t gagged.

It didn’t seem possible, but there she was. 

That’s my car. 

 

I was in shock. The little yellow thing should be in smithereens, if not at the bottom of the ocean. It was completely totaled the last time I was in the car, and yet here was an almost identical vehicle, San Francisco pride license plate and all. 

It took Candace shoving me towards it to snap me out of my shock, something which only served to make Leah smirk. “If you’re so insistent on taking this one, then hand me the keys.”

Candace just rolled her eyes, letting me watch as she fished through her small black purse again. Sure enough, she pulled out a familiar looking keychain and tossed it to her chauffeur, complete with a miniature license plate trinket to match the car. SoCali. There she was. That was my Calliope. Candace really had my car after all.

Unable to open the doors to the backseat on my own thanks to having had my hands cuffed above my chest, I was forced to wait like a toddler for Candace’s assistant to do so for me, helping me inside and securing me onto a specially made set of restraints, like a child safety seat for slaves. Satisfied that I was having a miserable enough time, Candace grinned as she climbed into the passenger’s seat, looking back at me and humming. “Feel free to look through the windows, as you can probably tell, I’ve had them tinted~”

That was something I didn’t notice until she pointed it out, but sure enough, she had. Candace had defiled my car. 

I couldn’t even respond, the combination of the gag and muzzle in my mouth left me unable to say anything at all. I could feel tears beginning to form in the corners of my eyes, crying. I was completely helpless. The bindings she’d left me in prevented me from even attempting to open the doors if I wanted to. 

“Poor little slave.” She cooed at me, her eyes seemingly sparkling even despite the colored contact she used to hide her disfigured iris. “Maybe I’ll take you out on a walk sometime… If you’ll behave…”

“She can’t even respond, honey.” Leah continued to address her own boss like she was a child, despite the fact that I was the one buckled up like one. “Maybe we should leave her to admire the view.”

“Don’t fret about her, Leah. Chloe’s finally getting what she deserves. She should just be glad I haven’t blindfolded her as well.” Candace smiled back at me one last time. “Isn’t that right, my delicate little poppy?”

My whole body trembled, but I nodded. I hadn’t left the grounds in the several months since I was brought here and I was scared to find out what lay outside of the walls I’d found myself trapped in. The idea of going on a walk with her was nice, but even though I wanted to look out the window, I couldn’t help but hang my head in fear. 

But as we pulled out of the garage, I felt Candace lay a finger on me once again. 

“I left out the blindfold for a reason you know, if you’re just going to pout then at least do it properly.” Candace scolded me, lifting my chin, my cheeks quickly turning red as she instructed me through it. “Relax your muscles. Face up, eyes down, lose the sad eyes. I swear, didn’t your mother ever teach you these things?”

“Not everyone grew up with queen of the collar there to raise them, princess.” Leah practically giggled at the both of us as I followed Candace’s directions. “You realize most of us had normal moms, right?”

“Most of us, yes.” She gave me a knowing look before finally turning away. “But not all of us.”

 

With that said and done, we finally drove the over two hour drive to the city. Apparently it wasn’t just a lake I’d been seeing through the windows of my master’s mansion. It was an ocean. One that apparently stretched as far as the eye could see. Amazingly, we passed few cars as we drove parallel to the beach, heading north towards the city, but that quickly changed as soon as we hit the bridge. 

For the last few months I’d been left utterly baffled as to where we were, but I was beginning to figure it out. Candace did her best to make it as difficult as possible for me to figure out where we were just in case I did someday escape from her, but we drove by enough cars for me to notice the overwhelming trends in their license plates.

 

Florida.

I had to admit, it was a lot prettier than I’d imagined. 

Of course it was Florida. Where else could she get away with this? The sunset over the ocean had me considering the west coast for months now, but if the several miles long bridge over the water connecting her to the mainland was any indication, I’d actually been looking at the Gulf of Mexico. Candace lived somewhere in the Florida keys. 

“Don’t worry. I haven’t forgotten my promise.”

Candace faced me with an expectant smile on her face, and hell if she wasn’t terrifying. I briefly panicked, glancing towards her, nervous and confused. I had no idea what she was talking about, but her eyes followed mine, staring longingly towards the beach. 

“I promised to take you swimming someday, and I plan on keeping that promise.” She said, happily gazing at the beauty of the ocean as the sun’s rays reflected from its surface. “Would you still like that, sweetie?”

My mistress turned to me, the light of the sunrise off the water now sparkling in the blue of her eyes. Deep as the ocean, and infinitely more beautiful. Without a moment’s hesitation or second thought in my mind I nodded, my lips letting loose a quiet whimper as I stared deeply into her eyes. From that moment, everything was different. I could feel a longing in my heart for her, stronger than the pull of the ocean. For the rest of the trip, even as I tried to focus on what I saw through the window outside, I couldn’t help but make an occasional glance to the front seat just to see her. 

 

By my estimation it must have been at least two hours of driving to reach our destination, which Candace spent much of on her laptop struggling to play online to the best of her ability away from home. She was diligent like that, trying to fit in some practice wherever she could. Candace was good, but she wasn’t the best.

“Remember when we used to make this drive everyday?” Her driver piped up shortly before arriving in town. “And you would just sit there humming to yourself?”

Candace’s laptop slowly tapped shut in anticipation of their destination. She sat up, stretched, and yawned. “God, I hate thinking about those days.” 

“Bad memories?” Leah frowned, ignoring me. She seemed to be focusing on simple conversation, anything to get her mind off of the drive. 

“My father insisted I attend university at age sixteen. It was annoying enough that I never went to high school, but he wouldn’t even let me live on campus. It just felt like we were going on these daily trips back and forth just so that I could sit through five years of obnoxious lectures, all for a degree that I never got to use.”

“Remind me what degree you studied?”

“That’s the annoying part.” I watched Candace cross her arms at her chest. “Daddy told me he’d let me be whatever I wanted to be, but since a master’s degree in computer science and electrical engineering doesn’t help me with money laundering, apparently it’s useless.”

I shuffled in my seat, the sinking feeling in my chest growing slowly as we arrived in the proper city limits. The fact that she even had a degree at all was news to me. She grew up to become a professional model who plays video games for a living, but it didn’t at all come as a surprise that maybe it had been a front for laundering money all along. 

“You’d know better than I would, I could never afford college. I’m not sure where I’d be if your parents hadn’t hired me as your guardian.” Leah’s eyes briefly checked the rear view mirror, smiling at me for just a second. “I’m just glad your father didn’t kill me when I brought you home on the first day of school with a bloody nose after a tennis racket to the face.” 

“Okay, but that boy regretted it the next day. I’m pretty sure he was the first person to ever grovel for me. I should ask him about that later.” 

I glimpsed from Candace’s body language before we’d even gotten very far into town, we were already there. Leah pulled the car off of the highway and the major streets onto a series of unmarked minor roads and alleys, eventually arriving at a small- almost inconspicuous clinic downtown. Away from the beach and the packed city blocks, it sat, an unlabelled facility in the midst of unlabelled facilities. 

We drove around the building twice before pulling in and parking, watching the previous wide open gates close themselves off behind us. “Here we are.”

“Finally.” Candace grinned, excitedly hopping to it. “Get Chloe out of the car and inside as quick as you can manage, she’s a nuisance to pull around.” 

Leah smirked and turned back to me, a mischievous grin on her face. “Can do.”

 

My still bound body was shaking in my seat as she opened the door, barely managing to keep myself from pissing onto the backseat of what was once my own car. She held the barrel of her handgun to my forehead, her finger on the trigger. “If I were you, I’d behave.” 

Shackling the cuffs at my wrists in front of me, I was released from my seat and forced out of the car. If my suspicions were correct, those two laps around the building were some sort of signal to the people inside. They were expecting me. I glanced back towards the car one last time, dragged away from it by the arm as Candace and her bodyguard led me into the facility. I knew better than to put up any kind of fuss, even if I had seen her unload that gun. These people were terrifying enough without it.

Compliantly, I followed Candace through the doors, watching her lavender dress sway in the wind. It was as white and indistinguishable on the inside as the outside. As far as I could tell nothing looked different than an ordinary clinic, but it sure felt different.

Waiting for us to arrive was the medic from that terrible night just a few weeks ago. He smiled at us as we walked in, making his way over and giving Leah a hug before turning to Candace and I. “The doctor is setting up the operating room now. Where’s Malcolm?”

Leah actually spoke up before Candace had the chance to say anything. “He said he wanted some time to himself, are you two doing alright?”

“It’s nothing. He’s just onto me. We’ll catch up after work, okay? In the meantime…” The nurse just chuckled, rolling his eyes at her. “Hi Chloe! How are you feeling? Do you remember me?” 

Turning to me, he smiled sweetly, giving me a small wave with one hand as he held a clipboard in the other. He was a little shy and just a bit nervous, but he was genuine. The man was a bit more bouncy than he had been, actually speaking like he expected an answer from me. 

Candace snapped her fingers at Leah, then pointed at me, and before I had the chance to nod she was already unlocking and removing the gags. My jaw popped as I stretched it, getting used to the feeling of not choking on a large rubber ball. “I… I’m okay…”

The man simply nodded, writing something down on his bundle of paperwork. “You don’t have anything to worry about, okay? Dr. Larkin was the nurse here when Candace was born, she’s going to take great care of you.”

Nervously glancing back to my owner, I watched Candace blush, her arms once again crossed. “She got her period after about a week.”

The nurse smiled, taking note of that on his clipboard. “Good. That means we’re right on time to get this done today.” 

He handed my mistress his clipboard, having her begin to fill out the rest of the paperwork. She shuffled in place, staring at it as she filled it out at lightning speed, handing it back to him and pointing at something on the front page with her bright blue painted nails. 

“There’s her legal name. But please only call her Chloe, I’m training her to respond to it.” She grinned at me, waiting for the clipboard to be taken back before examining her nails for chips again.

“Gotcha. I’ll make sure the doctor knows. She’s not allergic to anything, right?”

“Cats and dust. But nothing medical.”

The nurse chuckled, giving me the same grin she did. “Sounds like a miserable life for an eternal housemaid, huh?”

I hung my head in defeat. “It’s not fun… Especially all of the dust.”

Candace’s sandals smacked against the hard floor as she walked, making her way to my side, scoffing at me. “It’s not supposed to be fun. You’re being punished aren’t you, slave?”

Meekly, I bowed. It didn’t matter what I had done, I’d screwed up, and this was my punishment. “Y-yes, Madame…”

“Good girl.” Almost pleased, Candace smiled as she brushed my hair from my face, planting a single kiss on my forehead. “Now keep it up and behave while you’re back there.”

Melting at those words again, my face quickly turned red. And within moments I found myself lost in the ocean of her eyes once more. “Y-yes, Master. P-promise…”

The lobby fell hushed for several moments. My blush spread to Candace’s cheeks from mine, surprised by the sudden silence. It was unexpected to say the least, but given our trajectory I didn’t think it was too out of character for my owner to give me a kiss for good luck.

“Aww.” The nurse cooed at us, his voice still genuine. “That’s cute.”

Leah meanwhile, had her hands on her hips. She was smiling at the sight too, but in a much less excited manner. Her eyes locked with my owner’s, giving her a knowing look. “Think about what you’re doing, Candace.”

“I know what I’m doing, Leah. I’ve already thought this through. Don’t you think that if anyone knew what the best thing to do here was, it would be me?” Candace flipped her locks out of her face as she sauntered off towards the reception desk, motioning for Leah to follow shortly behind her. There was clearly something more important for her to attend to than me, but before she was gone she gave me one final glare. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to have a word with the doctor before you start. I want to make sure you do this right.”

“Alright then.” The nurse nodded, leading me the other direction. “Follow me.”

 

I didn’t want it to come to this, but it was already too late. This was happening. My malevolent captor was having me sterilized, and it was almost vomit worthy. 

But it was happening whether I liked it or not, and for my own sanity, it was better that I didn’t think about it. 

“I’m Anthony, by the way.” He introduced himself. “Your name’s Chloe , huh?”

Hearing him say it that way made me blush. He obviously recognized who I was before all of this, and he couldn’t help but poke fun at me for it. “Y-yes, Sir… Candace hates hearing my birth name…”

That made him chuckle, turning us down the hall towards the operating room, having me step onto a scale. “Well, just so you know, I’m a big fan.”

Continuing to blush, I nervously lowered my eyes, fidgeting as I felt my bare feet on the hard scale. “Thank you. I d-don’t have a lot of those… not anymore…”

“Five foot six. A hundred and forty… got it!” He took my measurements and began writing my stats down onto his sheet, waiting for the scale to indicate that it was finished. “We don’t have any records of you yet, so I have to do everything. But I don’t mind, besides- I think you have more fans than you realize, Chloe.”

We stepped into the operating room, colder by far than the rest of the facility. I found myself seated on the operating table in the center, noticing the security guards surrounding me as I laid down and relaxed. Or at least did my best to. There were a pair of guards posted at the door we’d just entered through, the only way in and out. The first was a larger man, strong and silent, older than even Leah was. The other was a woman, just as bulky, hair practically buzzed off. From what I’d seen from the people who worked here, they were almost exclusively white, including the younger amber eyed woman sitting much closer to the operating table. 

They all had the same baffled look on their faces, like they were simultaneously coming to the realization too. They recognized me, and I didn’t like that. 

Being strapped onto the table by a woman I’d never met before was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life. My heart was pounding with shame. Here I sat, a slave, waiting to be operated on against my will. I wanted to scream but the sounds wouldn’t come out. She stripped me of my bondage as well, taking it off piece by piece using the keys my master had given them, peeled naked. My heart broke inside of my chest, petrified back into place. I shivered, less cold than I was mortified. 

I’m sorry, Candace. If I could take it back, I would. I’m sorry. 

 

It took a few more minutes of awkward chatter between Anthony and the female nurse before the doctor did finally arrive, putting their conversation to rest. It only took her a quick glance at me before she turned to her nurses. “I thought you said she’s never been here before. Why do I recognize her?”

The woman didn’t even bother asking me, instead reaching her hand out for the clipboard. Anthony quickly shot up, shuffling to her without hesitation. “She’s never been to the facility before, Ma’am. Candace personally picked her out and had her delivered directly to her home.”

She tilted her head curiously before glancing back at me, eyeing me up and down like I was an animal. “Candace’s personal bitch. Lucky girl… Where do I remember you from?”

From the sound of it, she must have been in charge in some sense. If it wasn’t for an offhand mention from Anthony about working for Candace’s brother, I would have just assumed she was their boss, but she commanded their respect regardless. The doctor, Rebecca Larkin, was an African American woman somewhere in her fifties. All she could do was look at me, baffled. 

“You must not follow Candace’s career very closely, she’s kind of infamous.” Anthony smirked, handing the clipboard to the doctor. Dr. Larkin seemed to be getting more confused by the second, glancing over the paperwork closely. “UN #0000. Miss St. Clair insisted that we call her Chloe, rather than what’s on the paper.”

“Then she should have just written Chloe, instead of-” Her eyes quickly went wide as she read it over again, trying to make sure she got that right. A sudden look of realization overtook her face as she looked me in the eyes for the first time. 

“So that’s where I recognize you from! Is Candace insane?! Does she realize what could happen if someone found out about her?!” She practically shoved the clipboard back into his hands, still shocked that this was happening. “Get her name changed in the system, just leave the last name blank.” She shook her head, hurrying him away. “You poor girl. I’m so sorry. There’s no way you could have known.”

I didn’t like the way she fussed. I’d always hated when people fussed about me. I wasn’t anything special, I never was. All it took was crossing the wrong woman just one time, and suddenly I’m the most infamous person in the underworld.

“I thought she was dead?” Mumbled the younger woman, readying some sort of needle. 

“I did too.” Doctor Larkin sighed. “And she made you number zero… They’ve been saving that number ever since Candace was born… You must have been something special to her…”

At this point, I was almost crying. Hearing someone show my sympathy for the first time was enough to put me right on the edge of no longer being able to hold in my tears. “I- I- I- I don’t k- know… She d-doesn’t seem to like me all that much…”

“I don’t know about that.” She frowned, giving the other nurse a nod to proceed, stepping towards me with that needle in her hand. “Jane. If you would.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” The other girl said, taking a seat next to me and singling out a vein. 

“I won’t lie to you, this is going to sting. Probably not as badly as those brands stung, but this’ll put you out of commission. Don’t worry about the pain, you may feel… emotional… but it’ll be quick, I promise.” The doctor gave me a smile as her nurse injected me with the shot. “I’m sorry, Chloe. This’ll all be over soon, just hang in there.”

 

That was the last thing I remembered happening before I blacked out, waking up in an utterly confused panic. 

“No!” I shot up, my heart beating out of my chest, not really sure what I was talking about. “Please…”

Somehow, I seemed to once again be in the backseat of a car, my car. It had all gone by so quickly, I hardly remembered it. We must have been on our way home. But I wasn’t strapped into both a carseat and a harness this time, I was completely naked, and someone was back here with me. 

“Shh… Shh… It’s okay. Lay back down.” It was a feminine voice, one that I recognized, one that I couldn’t help but listen to. Candace. I felt her hand on my body, gently pulling me back down, laying carefully. 

Finally taking in my surroundings, my face turned red. Candace had me lying down in the backseat, blushing as I realized that I was lying in her lap, my head on her bare thigh. “You’re safe, I promise. I’m not gonna hurt you. According to the doctor, you were exceptionally well behaved, very unlike you.”

I looked up at Candace’s face from her lap, my face as bright as the iris she hid behind her blue contact lens. I so often got lost in those beautiful eyes of hers that I forgot they were mismatched, a little secret she liked to hide from everyone. 

“Master?” I heard slip from my lips without a thought. Not her name, but her title. There were so many things I wanted to say, so much I wanted to ask her, but- 

“Why is one of your eyes red?” I mumbled, staring at her in awe. “They look like 3d glasses…”

It took me a few moments, but as soon as I heard what I was saying I quickly shot my hands over my mouth to silence it. Candace was as taken off guard as I was, her cheeks pink with embarrassment. We were both shocked that I would say such a thing as soon as I woke up. Her pretty eyes blinked nervously, averting themselves away from me, not sure what to say.

“You look pretty when you blush… Usually you look scary…”

Again, we were both shocked by the words coming out of my mouth. Whatever drug it was that they gave me back there, it was making it really difficult to filter my thoughts out, saying things that I would never normally let slip through my lips. 

“I- I’m sorry!! I think you look really pretty, and I want to see-” I froze as Candace raised her hand, bracing myself. “Ngh!!”

I flinched instinctively as I saw her palm approaching my face, shutting my eyes and my mouth in anticipation of being smacked. But instead I was surprised to feel her soft, delicately manicured palm on my mouth, quietting me. 

“What in the world has gotten into you?” She seemed mildly annoyed, but for the most part she simply seemed flustered. 

A whimper left my lips, my eyes turning sad as she looked down at me. I had no idea what had gotten into me. It was like I was high off the anesthesia. 

“If you must know, Chloe.” Candace relented, slowly lifting her hand from my face in order to let me speak again. “The reason I look the way I do is because I suffer from a rare genetic disorder that I inherited from my mother. It’s called achromasia. It caused my skin and hair to turn pale and white due to lack of melanin, and yes, it’s why one of my eyes is red.”

“Albinism.” I muttered. “You’re an albino-”

“Do not call your master an albino.”

Shrinking back into her lap, I smiled, my face blushing as bright as hers. “Your eyes are pretty like the ocean… I can’t stop myself, Mistress…”

“I can see that.” Candace giggled as she ruffled my hair, amused by my current situation. She blushed, and after a moment began removing the colored contact lens from her left eye, looking back down at me. “What about now?” She smirked, running her fingers through my hair. “Do I look scary again?”

My face lit up at the sight of it. “Even prettier…”

“Prettier than the ocean, huh?” She tugged me back down as I did my best to look away from her, keeping me from sitting up and moving towards the window by gripping me by the hair. “You’re from California, aren’t you? That means you lived next to the ocean?”

“I lived in San Francisco, but I never got to swim in the ocean. It was too tourist infested.” I frowned, looking up into her eyes again as I felt the tears beginning to swell from my tear ducts. “My foster mom never knew how to swim, so she never taught any of us…” 

“You said you knew how to swim.”

“I do know how to swim… But I had to teach myself…”

“Poor girl…” She hummed, toying with me, her grip loosening. “I promise we’ll get to go swimming together someday.”

“But I don’t want to wait. I want to swim in the ocean!! I… I never got around to doing it… a-and then you kidnapped me!!” The tears flooded down my cheeks as I spoke, beginning to sob. “Now it’s too late…”

Candace sighed, releasing her hold on my hair in order to wipe the tears away. “It’s not too late. You have your whole life ahead of you~”

I shot up out of her lap the moment I could, snarling at her. 

“You stole my life from me!!”

“And you love me for it!!” 

Candace quickly cut me off, shoving my head back into her lap as quickly as she was able to. “One day you’ll be grateful for everything I’ve done for you. Even after what you did to me and my career.”

Her words squeezed the feeling from my heart. “I said I’m sorry.”

“Save your breath.” Candace sighed as she covered my mouth once more, silencing me for the rest of the ride back home. “We’re almost there.”

 

I sobbed quietly in her lap the rest of the way there, feeling her gently stroke my hair. When we did arrive home she personally helped me stumble out of the car she’d stolen from me, leading me into the house together. 

Even after we’d gotten there and were on our own once more, I couldn’t keep myself from crying. The drugs they’d given me for my surgery were still very much working their magic, and that was making it impossible to keep my thoughts and emotions in check. 

“I’m sorry…” I mumbled as we walked in the door, still close to her side. “I’m sorry.”

“Enough, Chloe.” She groaned at me, forcing me through the house into her bedroom. “I’ve heard it too many times, and I’m not in the mood to talk about it right now.”

I made my way to the closet door, dropping to the floor as she began to put her things away, listening to me mumble and cry to myself. 

“You’re never in the mood to talk about it…” I said as I wiped my tears away, looking up at her from below. 

“Correct.” She hummed to herself, leaning over me with that grin of hers. 

Fumes practically radiated from my skin. It felt like I was about to explode. 

This wasn’t fair and she knew it, she was reveling in it. I could see it on her face. She couldn’t hide it from me no matter how hard she tried. Candace loved how angry and upset this was making me, right?

“You did a good job today.” She said with a smile, still standing over me. “I’m proud of you.” 

Candace held out her hands, offering me a reward for my efforts in the form of that little stuffed friend she’d taken away from me. 

“You love Poppy right?” She asked as I took the doll from her hands. “She’ll help you feel better?”

Yes. She did help me feel better. I smiled, beginning to cry happy tears now that I held her again, pressing her tightly to my chest. Candace had confiscated her once more after I’d attacked her with a knife, but now she was back, and hopefully she was back for good.

I squeezed her to my chest as hard as I could, holding her out and looking her over to make sure she really was the same dog. My foster mother may not have taught me how to swim, but she was sweet enough to sew my name into the ear of my favorite toy, just for me. 

My heart fluttered. I was overjoyed to see that it really was my Poppy. She was my best friend growing up, and I knew it was her. 

Right there, sewn into the fabric of her ear was my name. 

Sophia.

 

My heart ached as I read it, holding the stuffed dog to my chest to ease the pain, keeping her as close as I could as I sobbed all over again.

“Chloe?” Just finished putting her things away, Candace turned to me, a look of concern painted over her blushing face. Though her voice usually delighted me- and had for so many years- hearing her call me that name made my blood boil, excitement and sadness quickly turning to anger. “Is something wrong?”

“That’s not my name.”

“Excuse me?” Candace just shook her head in disappointment, stripping down to her sleeping wear for the night. “What was that?”

“I said I was sorry.” My eyes stabbed into her, scowling fiercely. All of the happiness simply drained from my face. “Why won’t you forgive me?”

“I’m not in the mood, Chloe.”

“That’s not my name and you fucking know it!! You just don’t like calling me Sophia because it reminds you that you’re a fucking loser!!” I fumed angrily as I leapt to my feet, beginning to shout profanities at her. “Because you’re a bitter, jealous, self-centered asshole!! I won fair and square and you know it!!  You’re just a sore loser who hates me!!”

“I do not hate you.” Her face quickly grew annoyed, letting out an exasperated sigh. “You haven’t learned a thing-”

“Shut up!!” I continued to sob angrily, unable to hold myself back from screaming. “I’m never going to be the person you want me to be, because I’m not Chloe!! I’m Sophia!! You kidnapped me, ruined my entire life, and made me your slave!! All you because you lost?!”

My heart shattering to pieces inside of me, I took a deep breath. I needed to let it all out. 

“I’m sorry that I’m better at Stolen Cosmos than you!! I’m sorry that I won the world championship, and you lost!! I’m sorry that I was the first woman to ever win the championship match, and not you!!”

Collapsing to my knees, I went on, beating my fists against the floor. I couldn’t bear looking at her anymore, hiding my face away from prying eyes. “Everyone in the world thinks I’m dead. All of my fans think that Sophia Cavalier drove herself off a bridge, but I’m right here!! All because you couldn’t just forgive me?! Why won’t you forgive me?!”

Broken. Inside and out, I was broken. Nothing I can say now could describe how I felt, and I felt it all the time. It broke me.

“If I knew all of this was going to happen, I would have forfeit…”

 

Candace St. Clair sat down next to me. From the day I first met her, I’d always been her biggest fan. But that day had been four years ago. I had changed so much since back then. 

We were rivals. I grew up playing this game, just like she must have. As a lowly employee working the counter selling video games, seeing a girl like me on the screen doing what she loved and being one of the best at it meant everything. I became her rival because I wanted to be like her. But more than that, I needed Candace to notice me. 

And she noticed me in all the wrong ways. 

Too distraught to flinch at the sight of her hand, I felt Candace’s touch pulling me. Brought to her lap, still crying, she let me bury my face in her chest. 

“It’s okay. Let it all out…” Her words echoed in my brain as I felt my tears wetting her nightgown, crying my eyes out. “I know I’ve been hard on you…”

Cracking under her grasp, I let it all out. Her touch overtook- overwhelmed me. She should be beating me right now. I knew it. She knew it. Yet that wasn’t what she was doing. Candace was just sitting there, waiting for me to cry my tears away. She must have needed this as much as I did. 

“It’s not about that anymore. It’s about so much more than that now.” Her heart was beating quickly in her chest, maybe even faster than mine. “You’re so much more than the girl who beat me at the championship. You’re mine now- and I want you to always be mine from now on.”

She held her hands to my cheeks, pulling my head from her scarred bosom. She smiled at me. “I meant it when I told you I was your biggest fan, and I always will be, Sophia.” An angelic voice slipped through her lips as I gazed into her gorgeously opposing eyes. “But I need you to let her go, because there’s more to you than just the character you play on stage. I need you to let Sophia die and embrace being Chloe, my Chloe…” 

That smile didn’t fade, even as her tears began to glisten. “Can you do that for me, Chloe?”

With a smile like that, eyes like those, words like hers- who could say no to this? My teeth and lip were both trembling as one bit down on the other, able to taste the emotion as they caught my tears. Nervously, I nodded. As far as I could tell, I meant what I was saying too. “Anything, Candace… Anything for you. I promise…”

My horribly shaky voice cut out into silence as she leaned in, pressing her lips against mine, the soft delicate touch delivering me only the most blissful of emotion. We kissed. Her soft beautiful palms held my mouth to hers, locking us in this embrace. My lips no longer trembled. Teeth ceased to bite. Her hands on the back of my skull claimed me as hers, my hands drifted to her, landing on her hips. Holding each other close, we kept each other in place. Tears mixed together as we happily consummated. 

Our eyes opened to see each other, locking together as we pulled away. I felt Poppy in my hands again, delivered to my arms as she hummed softly to me. 

“This isn’t a punishment, not anymore. From now on it’s about more than me versus you. It’s about us. You’re special to me. I want to keep you to myself. You’re mine now, and I want it to stay that way. Forever.”

“Candace…” My heart swelled, seeing just a glimpse of myself in her eyes, looking back at me. My brain had gotten me in enough trouble. From now on I was going to let my heart do the talking. “I’m sorry…”

“I forgive you, Chloe. I promise.” 

“Thank you, Candace.” Not Sophia. Chloe. “Thank you, Master.”

Chloe was going to do the talking from now on. “Thank you so much.”

“Save your breath, slave. You’ll need that in the morning.” 

On my knees, the woman I’d become couldn’t help but admire the woman she’d become. Candace commanded that, standing over me where she’d always belonged. My Candace. Her Chloe. 

“After all, we’re going swimming tomorrow- and I can’t take your breath away unless you save a little bit for me.”

 

 

Notes:

Updated 7/9/2021

Chapter 7: Damage Control

 

This was not at all how I expected to start my day. 

I should have been waking up in my own bed, at home, groggily rising to get ready for the day. But instead I found myself trapped in some sort of padded metal container. A pitch black box, hidden away from the light, unable to see my hands. It felt like I was coming to my senses for the first time in ages, having spent the last however long it might have been in and out of consciousness. 

The last thing I could remember was the accident, watching my life flashing before my eyes as my car spun out of control. As I felt myself fall into the water beside the bridge I couldn’t help but think of it as little more than a miserable highlight reel of an existence worth nothing in the end. 

Maybe I was blind, and that was why I couldn’t see anything. Maybe this was what being blind felt like. Maybe I’d been deafened in the crash too, I thought I could hear people outside, but maybe they didn’t actually exist to be able to hear me. But I could hear myself, I could hear my own voice saying nothing of importance. Being deaf and blind wouldn’t explain these walls either. I was sure they were real. I could feel them. 

I was trapped in an actual physical container. Even if my brain did get scrambled by the crash, there was no way I was imagining it. Those people outside must have known I was in here, too. I could feel them moving me around, rotating and picking up the box from time to time, waking me from my slumber. I could only hope that they know that I’m in here, there’s no telling where they might be taking me. 

Oh god, I’m in a coffin, aren’t I? 

My heart splintered in my chest at the thought. Those people out there must think that I’m dead. A car drives off a bridge into the ocean and everyone thinks it’s a suicide- time to bury the body. If I wasn’t dead already, I’d certainly end up that way if I didn’t do something about this.

After what felt like an hour of endlessly kicking at thudding against the walls of the container I found myself in, I began curling in on myself. Nothing. Nobody heard me. Or if they did, nobody cared to let me out. But that couldn’t have been right. There’s no way they’d keep me in here if they could hear me shouting for help. There must be something I’m missing. 

This wasn’t real. It couldn’t have been. I wasn’t one to second guess my own senses, but this couldn’t be happening right now. If I didn’t know better, I would think that I’m dead.

Am I dead? I asked myself, unsure of what was real and what wasn’t. It certainly felt like real life, but was it? For all I knew, I was a ghost trying to inhabit my long dead body, drowned in sea then in soil. 

This must be a prank. 

Yeah. That would make a lot of sense. Memories of drowning were still fresh in my mind, but that wasn’t where it ended. I was pretty sure I remembered coming back up. Mark my words, I didn’t die in that crash. It had to be a prank.

“And it had better be a good one.” I scoffed, wanting nothing more than to punch the wise guy that put me in here straight in the teeth. And they’d deserve it, too. 

After all, I’m Sophia Cavalier. I shouldn’t be getting treated like this.

Things hadn’t been this quiet in what felt like forever. Enough that I finally managed to get some sleep for the first time since the accident. I should be in my apartment, safe and secure, practicing my skills for next season and blasting music loud enough to get my neighbors to complain. Because if they didn’t like the sound of my drums, the record player needed to be amplified enough to drown everything else out. I loved my neighbors, even if they did go out of their way to complain about what I was doing, they were wonderful. 

I had always been a bit of a rebel. I grew up in a foster home after all, there isn’t much to be grateful for growing up knowing your parents were so abusive that they’d gotten you permanently taken away from them. I remembered my parents, but even they weren’t awful enough to stuff me into a box and never let me out. I had no idea how long I was going to be stuck in this thing, but for quite a few hours after I’d awoken, things felt unusually still. The hours felt like eternity from inside this box, but after a while, the box began to open. 

The doors to the grey metal container swung open slowly, letting me out of the box. As it did, I could finally see my body as the setting sun started shining in- and thankfully- I was still in one piece. It seemed to open on its own as well, there wasn’t a soul in sight, only the doors of what looked like a decadently adorned mansion.

Oh yeah, this had to be some kind of prank. 

I stood up, stretching my aching body, I was still wearing the same clothes that I remember putting on the day of the crash. A long sleeved flannel button up was tied around my waist, hanging over a pair of ripped jean shorts, my navel exposed under my pastel yellow crop top, a pair of rainbow trimmed high tops at my feet. This was the outfit I wore to visit my foster mom on Cinco de Mayo, who I hadn’t seen in years. Although, I didn’t have the small black backpack style purse that I usually kept my things in, which means I didn’t have my phone to call for her help. It would have been nice to hear her voice right now, even if we had been locked in a screaming match when I chose to storm out and head home.

I took a few steps towards the house, examining my reflection in the windows. Usually I plastered over my freckles with concealer, but my makeup seemed to have washed off, including the black eyeliner that I normally never left my house without. I ran my fingers through my hair, trying to fix it up, I took great care of my hair at all times, my curls were dyed peach because the pinkish tint was really all I could do to my hair without bleaching it, I refused to damage my delicate locks even slightly. 

I stepped back, taking a look at my surroundings. Aside from what I assumed was a garage behind me, I was seemingly surrounded by a large enclosure of hedges and black fences. I must have been brought here for a reason. It seemed likely that whoever decided to bring me here was likely inside of that house. 

“Come on. A mansion, really?” Even I had to admit that it was impressive, but I didn’t pay as much mind to it as I probably ought to have. 

But I did take a long look towards the outer gates of the property. I could and should have bolted right then and there, but the sun was quickly setting, and I didn’t want to sleep on the streets again. I’d gotten enough of that when I tried running away from my foster home as a kid. Besides, it didn’t look too bad, maybe someone important just really wanted to meet me. 

Of course this could also just be a huge prank, and if I was being pranked there was only one logical thing to do. 

I rang the doorbell before immediately skipping back down the steps, running away towards the garage to wait for someone to answer. Low and behold- the door to the mansion quickly opened. But to my dismay, there was nobody at the door. 

“Nope. Absolutely not.” I decidedly mumbled as I turned and walked the other way. I’d seen and played enough horror films and games to know where this was going. Nowhere good. I needed to get out of here, and fast.

Naturally, I was drawn towards the sunset at what must have been the back of the house from the looks of it. I thought the place looked big from the side, but there was more to it than I’d seen. Not that I cared. It wasn’t like I’d ever afford to live in a place like this in my life, even with my winnings from the tournament. I had always lived a humble life, and I always would. Money only got you so far. You can’t buy victory, and I didn’t care who I had pissed off in proving that. Candace Saint Clair could suck my dick. 

Not that I had one. I often fantasized about what it would be like if I did, but I didn’t, and I was a little bit glad for that. Although, if I did have one, I would have been more than happy to let that stuck up little princess choke on it. Or if she just wanted to have some fun, that’d be fine too. Part of me still couldn’t believe she’d given me such a cold shoulder after the match. All I wanted was to hold her hand for just a moment, and she wouldn’t even let me have that. What kind of sore loser doesn't even shake hands?

Can you stop thinking about Candace for two fucking seconds already? I shouted in my head, trying to refocus. The sunset shining over the ocean through the gate was pretty- extraordinarily so- but I needed to get out of here. You’re getting thrown into a horror game, this isn’t the time to muse about in your head thinking of your crush. 

It only took me a few seconds of trying to climb the metal bars to discover that yes, they were in fact electrified. They were tall too, and even with these shoes, there was no climbing over them without getting myself shocked unconscious. Suddenly, the sunset over the ocean felt that much more enticing now that I knew just how far out of reach it really was. 

“Well don’t be shy, Sophia. I’ve been expecting you.”

My heart nearly jumped out of my chest as I heard those words. It sounded like a voice on the intercom, a woman speaking to me. Someone who knew my name. 

“I’m sorry, what?” I snapped back, stepping towards the sound, trying to figure out where among the many fence posts the speaker must have been placed. “Do I know you? Where am I? Why am I here?”

Oh good, she can hear me , I thought as the intercom kicked on again. Then surely she’d have some answers for me. 

I heard the woman giggling at me from the other side of the intercom. Her voice sounded vaguely familiar- maybe even more than that- but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. “We can talk when you get inside. Don’t keep me waiting.”

“Don’t patronize me.” I growled at the mansion as I began to walk back towards it, seeing no option but to do as told, slowly but surely stepping into the doorway. “You should know that crashing someone’s car and kidnapping them doesn’t make for a very funny prank. It just means you’re a selfish asshole with a lot of money to throw around.”

The door slammed shut behind me, pushing me the rest of the way into the house. I quickly turned around, trying to move the handle and open the door again, but it was locked, and nothing I could do managed to budge it. “Like I said, a lot of money. So you can open, close, and lock doors remotely, how impressive.”

She didn’t respond to that one, either I had scared her off by badmouthing her or she just didn’t want to listen to me anymore, I chose to believe it was the former. 

Through the silence I heard another noise, music coming from the door to my left, it sounded just like the album I had left in my record player at home, which I liked to listen to on loop. Not that I could loop a record by any method but physically. 

This door was locked too, which aggravated me. Whoever she was, she obviously knew who I was and what kinds of things I was into, but I wasn’t just gonna cave into whatever she said. I took a few good steps away from the locked door, backing myself into the wall across from it before slamming into the door with my shoulder. But it didn’t budge. Instead I was sent reeling in pain onto the floor, rubbing my shoulder with the opposite hand. How in the world could her doors be so tough?

“Well don’t break anything. I’ve put quite a lot of time and money into this house after all.” The speakers from within the house played her voice much more clearly than those without. Her voice really did sound familiar. I couldn’t think of anyone I would know with this kind of money, but I recognized that voice.

It couldn’t be… 

Trying to clear my head, I rose to my feet and stormed down the hallway, growling at her in anger. “Bite me!!” 

I hated that I had to play her game, but there was only one way to go from here after all, forward. It led me to an intersection, off to the left was a longer hallway, while the room in front of me looked like it led into some sort of massively oversized parlor, and to my right was a single room- which I swiftly turned towards, opening it up and taking a peek inside. 

And let me tell you, did I regret that. I jumped, backing away from the door as I watched a small black cat exit the room the instant I opened the way for it. Before I could slam the door shut on it, though, it had quickly darted its way towards the large parlor room. 

“Well I guess I know which way I’m not going.” I turned around and made my way down the longer hallway, wanting to get away from the damn thing as soon as possible. I hated cats with a passion. “Gross…”

I was much more of a dog person, my foster mother even gifted me a small stuffed dog with my name on it as a gift after I’d tried to run away from home. She wanted me to know that she cared about me and wanted me to be safe. Ever since then, just holding that stuffed animal was the quickest way to cheer me up and make me feel safe. I wanted to squeeze that dog more than anything else in the world right now. 

I gripped the handle to the next room tightly. “Please don’t be more cats…” I swung the door open, walking into what I realized was a bathroom. It only began to occur to me just then that I hadn’t eaten in several days, that must be why I didn’t even feel the need to relieve myself after getting out of my container. From the other side of the wall I heard more music, but not metal music this time, video game music. Sounded like someone was playing Stolen Cosmos. 

With a smirk, I made my way out of the bathroom and towards the next room. I won the Stolen Cosmos world championship, and I was extremely proud of it. I had defeated the famous Candace St. Clair in the world championship finals just a few months prior. I remember playing that game day in and day out growing up in the group home. It was one of the few things I had that helped me cope with the numerous other children I had to share a bedroom with. 

I didn’t get along with the other girls very well, for some reason they just didn’t like me very much. My foster mom eventually had to give up and make me sleep in one of the boys bedrooms, thinking I would get so sick of the boys that I’d beg the other girls to let me back in, but that never happened. For some reason I got along with the boys a lot better, sitting in my top bunk, only ever getting down to go to school and play video games with my roommates. In retrospect, I should never have been allowed to sleep in the same bedroom with other girls as a teenager, knowing how I turned out. One of my crowning achievements as a child was when the boys in my room got caught looking at a magazine full of naked women, and I convinced my foster mother to let me keep it. I spent hours and hours staying up at night masturbating to those kinds of pictures while the boys in the room were asleep. 

I scoffed at my painfully tacky rainbow high tops as I walked into the large gaming room, I had grown up to be a proud lesbian, awful fashion sense and all. I looked up from my shoes, my jaw dropping in awe as I saw what was inside. Multiple monitors, high tech speakers, leather couches, and a large lcd screen that stretched almost across the entire wall. To say I was amazed would have been an understatement, this was my dream gaming set up as a child. 

“Where have you been all of my life?” My gaze finally rose to the large LCD display to figure out what I was hearing, finally realizing who was playing Stolen Cosmos. Me. 

Of course I wasn’t actually playing the game, and neither was anyone else. On the large monitor mounted to the far wall was a replay of me playing the game, a video of me from one of my very few streams. I stomped my way into the room, digging around in the couch cushions for the remote, thinking it was the most obvious place to find it, picking it up from under the pillows and turning the large screen off. 

“So you’re a creepy weirdo superfan, is that it?” I tossed the remote back onto the couch cushion before getting up and heading back out the door into the hallway. As soon as I reached the door however, I heard the music playing again. She turned the monitor back on. I stormed back into the hallway, slamming the door shut behind me. “Will you please cut it out with the creepy haunted house bullshit?”

I was trying my best not to show it, but I really was scared out of my mind. First they take advantage of my car accident and have me sent across the country to their doorstep, then they trap me inside of their mansion, and now they’re playing mind games on me to freak me out. This was beyond messed up, if this really was a prank, it had gone too far. I hated to think what was going to happen if this wasn’t a prank after all. I was powerless in this situation, all I could do to fight back was to do what I always do, be a brat. 

Shaking my head and angrily stormed off, I continued down the hallway. When I came to the end, the only way to continue was to turn right and head through this woman’s dining room, but I wasn’t quite done here. This open area at the end of the hallway seemed to be some sort of lounge, except instead of decorating it with furniture and entertainment, it seemed to be adorned with all sorts of valuable paintings, carvings, and decoration. It was a place to display art. 

Yours truly wasn’t an aggressive person by nature, but I’m no pushover either. If she was going to play childish games on me, then I was gonna play a few games of my own. 

I paid very little attention to the pictures on the wall, they looked valuable but they weren’t as satisfying to destroy. Instead I turned my attention to one of the marble pedestals, the kind that you’d find in a museum holding some manner of priceless artifact, and I picked up the ornately carved figurine that was sitting on top of it. This thing looks like it would sell for a fortune, it’s too bad that it’s owner was a bitch.

SMASH!!!

The figurine lifted upwards as I held it above my head with both of my hands, before hurling it towards the ground as hard and as fast as I could. I felt childish to do something so blatantly rebellious, but it was all I could think to do in this situation, and it felt kind of cathartic to destroy someone’s valuables after I’d been explicitly told not to. She deserved it.

No response. Surely she must have watched me do that, she should have at least heard the sound of things shattering from somewhere else inside of her own house, she couldn’t just ignore it. Her silence just aggravated me, I felt like I was making a fool of myself for no reason, and that she was sitting back and laughing at me acting like a child. I put all of my weight into knocking the marble pedestal over onto the shattered remnants of the small statue, putting one foot on the side of the pillar and pushing down on it, watching it tumble to the floor before I stomped off into the dining room. 

Still nothing. 

“Fine.” I shivered, quietly mumbling to myself to mask how badly this was hurting me. “I don’t want to talk to you either.”

The sun was setting through the dining room window, into the ocean below. Suddenly things felt darker than they ever had before. I had gone a long way and achieved a lot, but I felt so lonely.

Even if I had my phone with me right now, I wouldn’t even know who to call for help. My only real friend was my manager and ex-boyfriend, Justin. He was the last person I saw, trying to help calm me down from a crying mess after getting done with screaming at my foster mother. I didn’t have parents or siblings to call, just her, and I wasn’t even sure I could do that. She and I hadn’t seen each other in so long, my foster family didn’t stay in contact with me.

Or rather- despite her insistence- I chose not to keep in contact with her. And I was really regretting that right about now, knowing that the last time I might ever see her face I had made her cry. 

I was the Stolen Cosmos world champion, I had thousands of fans, but I couldn’t even name a single one of them, and there was no way of reaching them from here. The only people I could think to call were the police, and even if I did call them I had no idea where I was and why, I didn’t even know what was happening. 

All I could think to do was lash out, so I did. I picked up one of the chairs tucked away under the dining table, wielding it with both hands and swinging it at the glass, watching the wooden seat just bounce off of the bulletproof surface and fall onto the floor. There wasn’t much I could do but try and beat my way out of here, and when that didn’t work, I wasn’t sure what to do. I wasn’t going to give up, but I wasn’t sure how to keep fighting, so I decided to pause the game.

 

Curling up in front of the sliding glass door, I decided to take a break, becoming no more than a little ball on the floor watching the quickly fading sunset. 

It was getting dark. I wanted to get through this door just so that I could dive headfirst into that beautiful blue ocean. I wanted to escape, not just from this house, but from everything, to get away from this life and start something new, a life that wasn’t quite so lonely. 

And when it was finally over, I stood up and walked towards the other end of the dining room. The lightswitch flipped upward, but nothing happened. She was keeping me trapped in this house with the lights off, just as pitch black as the container I’d arrived in, and even worse, she was ignoring me. 

Oh well, how much worse could it get? I sighed, moving on yet again. Next was the kitchen, which I entered and made my way over to her fridge. 

Once there I began to start digging out whatever food I could find and shovel them into my mouth, less out of rebellion than just out of sheer hunger. It had been days since I’d eaten anything at all, and the fatigue was beginning to get to me. I made sure to fill up a glass of water to go with my makeshift meal, chugging it down as quickly as I could before smashing it onto the kitchen floor out of anger. 

As stupid as it might have been to blindly shatter glass onto the floor of a room that’s so dark you can’t see in, I managed to avoid the broken shards of glass as I walked out of the kitchen and into another hallway. The whole house was pitch black, with one exception, there was light shining from the crack under one of the doors to my left. I pushed on the handle, opening the door to be greeted by yet another bathroom, but this one was much bigger. 

I left the door to the bathroom open, but I wasn’t an idiot. I was expecting it to swing closed as soon as I stepped inside of it. She was trying to trick me into going into that bathroom for some reason, and even though I was beginning to feel the need to relieve myself after the small meal I had just eaten, there was absolutely no way I was going to do it in that room.

So instead I backed up and walked away, letting the light from the bathroom illuminate the hall as I found the next room. This one looked like it was supposed to be used as another bedroom, but instead the walls and floors were lined with racks of clothes, like a gigantic closet the size of a bedroom, and across the hallway from it was another room with its lights on, but unlike the other room, this door did not open. 

It sounded like there was someone in there. 

Disregarding the room full of clothes, there was only one other room left to explore, the parlor, just down the hallway from where I was, completing my loop around the house, but that little monster was probably still in there. 

The parlor, though not the main entrance, opened up at the front of the building. Right into the massive sprawling garden outside, opposite the ocean behind it. The sunrise was sure to shine in this room. 

I carefully stepped into the large gathering room, luckily for me the room was partially illuminated by the light of the night sky shining in through the large sliding glass door at the end of the room, and I couldn’t spot the oversized rodent anywhere. It was too dark to find it before it found me. I almost shrieked as I saw a small shadow dart it’s way across the room, and a moment later I heard a quiet scratching sound at one of the doors. that must be that horrible cat that I had met earlier, I didn’t like to admit it, but I was quite scared of those little nuisances.

My nervous heart quickly beating out of my chest, I slowly walked over to investigate the noise, tiptoeing down the hallway. I felt a small bump underneath one of my feet as I took a step towards it, and I jumped. It hiss loudly at me, moving out from under my shoe, causing me to fall flat on my ass onto the floor below. 

Quickly squirming away from the monstrous creature, I scurried down the hallway towards the gaming room, hurrying to shut myself inside of the bathroom. But to my dismay, even though the door had opened before, I could no longer get it to budge. Leaving me to bang my head on the door in frustration.

Part of the reason the other girls at the foster home didn’t like me was because I was a bedwetter. We never got along because they always made fun of me and teased me about not being able to control my bladder. It had always made me feel bad. 

“Great.” I snarled loudly, falling to the floor in humiliation. “Just great.”

I could feel my shorts getting ever so slightly wet between my legs. I hadn’t quite pissed my pants, but I was close. This woman surely had some sort of night vision camera that she was using to spy on me, and she undoubtedly was watching with bated breath to see me soil my pants like an untrained toddler.

Towards the other end of the hall however, I heard that scratching noise again, accompanied by a loud purring sound. It was that stupid cat, clawing at something, asking for my attention. So I stood up again, walking towards it, making sure it didn’t get away. It was scratching its claws on the door to the room I had found it in. I must have accidentally trapped it outside of its own bedroom when we first met earlier. I sighed loudly, reaching for the handle and opening the door to let it back in. Listening for it as it made its way inside, closing the door behind it and heading back into the rest of the house, walking directly towards the wardrobe room.

All of a sudden, however, I heard a door slam close across the hall before I could step aside. The light that was already barely illuminating the room went out completely, leaving me in total darkness. 

Trying to see what was up, I rushed myself back into the hallway, walking back to the bathroom and turning the handle again. The door opened like it had before, but this time as soon as I turned to walk away it slammed shut again.

“I hope you’re enjoying this.” I said out loud, both to everyone and to no one. “Alright. You win. I give. Just tell me what you want from me and we can move on, please.”

For a moment, I was afraid I wouldn’t get an answer. It took a moment, but surely enough, the intercom kicked back on. And out came that voice. “Come towards the light, slave.”

Things were suddenly much worse than any horror game I’d ever played. “…What?”

“You heard me.” She repeated, almost letting me hear that maniacal smile of hers. “Now come towards the light.” 

The word rang in my ears. Slave. 

This wasn’t a prank, not even remotely. My stomach churned as it received confirmation. I’d lived alone for so long, and it had always been fine, but all of a sudden the things I’d been told I should be afraid of were very real. Hearing somebody say those words to me was all it took for it to sink in. 

I’d let myself become a victim of human trafficking. 

Whimpering, I asked. “Do I have to?”

There was no response from there. My captor was done talking, she’d laid out her terms- or rather- her instructions. And clearly, whoever she was, she expected me to follow them. 

But now that I was this close to her bedroom, I wasn’t just hearing her on the intercom. I could practically hear her voice through the walls. I recognized that voice, and it somehow both terrified and delighted me. More than anything, though, it made me blush. 

Not wanting to make an even bigger fool of myself than I had to fumbling around in the dark for the rest of the night, I relented, opening the door and letting it shut behind me as I entered. As expected, the door back into the hallway was locked and unmoving, leaving only two other doors out of this room. I wasn’t going to be getting out of here until I eventually caved into my captor’s demands, I just didn’t know what she wanted yet. Whether or not she was who I thought she might be, I took a moment to compose myself, not wanting to face her. 

“Candace?” I quietly mumbled, hoping she both did and didn’t hear me at once. If I was wrong, it was going to be embarrassing for me. But I’d heard her voice in person, we spent the day together on the big stage, that had to be her. 

No. I took a deep breath, trying to relax. It can’t be her. Candace might be a sore loser, but she’s not a criminal. She wouldn’t do something like this. 

Light was shining from one of the other two doors, which must lead to the same place as the one in the hallway with its lights on. I made my way over to it and tried the handle, only to find that it too was locked. 

The further of the two doors on the other hand, was unlocked, opening up into what seemed to be a real walk-in closet, although smaller than the bedroom full of clothes, it was closer in size to a small sitting room than a closet. It also had a single light on, making it possible to step inside without worrying about stepping on another cat. Other than the one I’d entered through, the only door I could see was the door into the closet from what I assumed was the bedroom it came attached to. From what I’d seen of the rest of the house, this was likely the master bedroom, complete with a walk-in closet and master bathroom connected to each other in a small three room loop.

Inside, the closet was totally inconspicuous. Aside from noting that I was getting deeper and deeper into the house, there was nothing suspicious about this room. 

Seeing no other choice, I set my hand upon what I presumed would be the door out of the closet, and took a deep breath. Anyone could have been waiting for me on the other side of that door, and I was terrified of what they would do when they finally saw me. 

The door opened with a creak, allowing me inside. It was huge. Not even the parlor could compare. There was a massive vanity. Gorgeous, elegant, and sickeningly beautiful. A king sized bed with messy sheets off to one side of the room. A glass table near the center, white leather sofas surrounding it. Yet another gargantuan display on the wall opposing them. And in the corner of the room nearest the closet door, a large metal hatch in the wall hidden behind a strange black chest. But there was one thing that this room was missing. 

People.

“Hello?” I said. “Are you not in here?”

But that couldn’t be. My head was spinning, scanning the room from top to bottom to make sure they weren’t just hiding from me. Unless they were hiding behind some secret door, there wasn’t anywhere else they could have been. Yet search all I might, there was no one here. Just me and the black mirrors that surrounded me. 

On second look, there was something else in here, however. Another large desk off in the furthest corner. The best spot for avoiding glare. It had three more screens sitting atop it, monitors for the two computers on the floor beneath them. Those were gaming PCs. And alongside them sat every game console you could imagine, current generation or otherwise. Whoever lived here definitely had good taste in hobbies. 

“I was beginning to wonder when you were finally going to get here.”

It was the same woman. Her voice sounded different in person, but I could tell it was the same broadcasted over the intercom, this time from behind me. I recognized that voice. All it took was hearing it from her own two lips for me to finally know for sure.

She licked them as she spoke. “What in the world took you so long?”

“Candace.”

Candace St. Clair. The Mary Sue of the entire electronic sports profession. Poster child for female gamers. Like me. 

“Sophia.”

Bafflingly, she stood just inside the closet doorway wearing her usual smile. How she could have been in there without me noticing her was beyond me, but I didn’t stop to give it much thought. 

It had been so long since I’d laid my eyes on her that just seeing her here with me now brought me to the edge of tears. Candace was always a joy to be around. She was such a sweetheart, someone who couldn’t hurt a fly. My heart swelled with relief, I was so happy to see her. After everything I’d just been put through, it felt good to see her face and know it was over, worries fading to dust in an instant.  

I ran to her. I dropped every pretense of rivalry between us, and I ran to her. My chest was tingling with a mixture of embarrassment and excitement. She stumbled backwards, not bothering to return my hug. I just about toppled her to the floor, arms draped over her shoulder, wrapping around and squeezing her as tight as I could. 

“Oh thank god, it’s you.” I said. My iron grasp now mostly served to hide my teary eyes from hers, unable to face her with any sort of weakness. 

“There there.” The other girl sighed. It took her a moment, but she did eventually wrap her arms around me in return. “You can let go of me now."

And so I did, trusting her word and slowly letting go of my tight embrace as I stepped back a few steps to offer her a friendly smile. “I was afraid that someone was trying to hurt me.” 

“And how do you know you’re not still in danger?” Candace joked. With a smirk on her face and one eyebrow raised, she stepped towards me again to close that distance. She wasn’t afraid of me, not in the slightest. “What makes you think I won’t hurt you? Don’t think I have it in me?”

“You wouldn’t. I’m sorry for getting all worked up. If I knew it was you, I wouldn’t have broken anything.”

I couldn’t see myself smile, but I heard myself giggle and assumed I wore a happy grin. The glee painted across my face was extremely short lived, however. My delight dropped off the face of the earth as I watched her reel her arm back, curling her fingers into a fist and swinging her arm forward before pounding me in the face. Her punch catching me totally off guard, I was sent reeling to the ground, my hands gripping at my surely soon to be blackened eye. 

“What about now?” She asked with that awfully familiar voice. “Still don’t think I have what it takes to hurt you?”

Oh she could hurt me alright, and she had before. This was just like back then, standing on the big stage with her last fall. This was not the touch I wanted when I asked for her hand. “What the fuck, Candace?! What was that for?!”

Candace began caressing her fist with her other hand, stretching fingers and popping knuckles. “Don’t act like we’re friends, Cavalier. I’m not here to save you.” 

Seething, my hand pried from my eye, glaring her directly in the soul. “Then why are you here then?”

“This is my house, Sophia.” She gestured to the gaming computers with a menacing grin, sending daggers directly back at me with her evil little eyes. Candace was giving me a look that I’d never seen before, one I never wanted to see again. “Who do you think had you sent here in the first place?”

“You? If you don’t want to be friends, why would you have me brought to your house in a box?”

“You’re a smart girl. I’m sure you can figure that out on your own.”

She called me a slave. I said in my head. “You can’t be serious.” By now I was backing away from her as quickly as I could. A snail, my hands shook with slimy sweat as I reached for the door. “Don’t tell me you’re upset about the championship?”

“Well there you go.” She addressed the doorknob over me. “Maybe you have a brain in there after all.”

The handle wouldn’t turn. “O-okay, fine. You’ve had your fun. Please let me go home now…”

Candace shook her head at me. She was getting ready to hit me again. “For someone as rebellious as you, I really expected you to strike back.”

“I don’t want to hurt you.” I let go of the handle and began to guard instead, preparing to defend myself from her. “This is insane.”

“That’s a shame. Because I really want to hurt you.”

She swung her fist at me again, only barely allowing enough time to block with my arm. Seeing no other choice, I stepped away from the door, reluctantly swinging at her with my other hand, watching her quickly duck to the ground, going under my arm. She dug her fist into my stomach, twisting her hand and grasping at my clothes, quickly swinging me around her and shoving me away from the door and back into the room. 

“Did bedwetting Cavalier really piss her pants in fear?” Candace strided towards me with confidence as backed away, unable to keep herself from giggling. “I guess I need to strip you naked too.”

I watched as she darted towards me, barely able to follow her as she quickly ducked, grabbing me from behind with both arms and restraining me. I growled angrily. All I could do was thrash at her, walking backwards to try and pin her into the wall behind me. Candace scoffed, placing one foot on the back of my leg and bending my leg, forcing me to my knees. She then pulled her arms out from under mine, dropping me to the ground, one foot still on the back of my calf as she placed the other between my shoulderblades, pushing me onto my hands and knees.

“What a pity.” I could hear the smug grin in her voice even without looking at her, huffing angrily as I struggled to catch my breath. “I expected more of a fight.”

“You’re heavier than you look…”

“Thanks, it’s all muscle mass.”

Relief came only for a second before her strength was proven. Candace lifted her weight from my leg, only to then proceed with slamming my face into the ground, one foot firmly planted between my shoulderblades as the other stepped on my head.

“No, please! You win!” I shouted out in pain, my body begging to get out from under her. “I’m sorry! Please, I’m sorry!”

Candace only crushed my skull further beneath her feet. “Sorry for what, exactly?”

Heart hung broken in my chest, I decided I’d bite back my pride, just this once. “I’m sorry for beating you in the finals…”

Seemingly satisfied with my apology, Candace stepped off of me and back onto the floor of her bedroom, standing over and staring down at me, cowering on all fours in front of her. “Say it again, if you’d please.” She leaned over me, proud of herself for beating me into submission. I could tell she was delighting in my pain, and that hurt so much more.“Say it again. But this time, address it to your mistress…”

My breath quivered. “Mistress?” I’d never heard that word before. “What does that mean?”

“It means master.” She said, “And unless you would prefer to call me master. You will address me as your mistress.” 

“No fucking way.” I said. “Absolutely fucking not!”

My stomach was churning at miles and miles per hour, disgusted. I would rather spit in her perfectly beautiful little face than say such a thing. But all it took from her was a little bit of encouragement. Candace sighed, watching me flinch as she picked her foot up off the ground and prepared to send it soaring into my head. Then I caved.

“No, please. Wait. I…” I rose to my knees, holding my hands up in surrender. My cheeks were hot, boiling with an angry embarrassment. It was a humiliating thing to have to say, but I had to say it. “I’m sorry for beating you, Mistress…”

A twitch hit my heart as Candace smiled, debasing me with a small round of applause as she set her foot back down on the ground. “Much better.”

Still dizzy from the last kick to the head, I look up to her pretty blonde face in terror. “Please, Candace. Are we even now?”

“Oh absolutely not. Just because you’ve apologized doesn’t mean I’ve forgiven you.” She leaned down, her face getting dangerously close to mine as she smiled at me, gazing deep into my soul with her beautiful blue eyes, as deep as the ocean. “From now on, I will be the one doing the beating.”

I swallowed nervously. “From now on?”

“You have a new life ahead of you to look forward to, Sophia Cavalier. Now strip.” 

Her face lit up with excitement, quickly gazing across the room to the small metal hatch built into the wall, making sure to let it sink in. My eyes followed hers, by contrast showered in dread as I came to understand her dire implication. 

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No…”

“Yes…” Candace prodded at me with her foot. Mine begged me to hop up and scurry away as fast as I could, but I couldn’t even take a single step. Not with her looming over me. “Now do as you’re told and take off your clothes before I have to do it for you.”

Of course I couldn’t, and she had to. Before even getting me off of the floor, Candace was already stripping my flannel from my waist, methodically removing every article of clothing I was wearing. I didn’t know what else to do but to let her. I was supposed to be tough.

But I wasn’t. 

“What a gorgeous little body you possess.” She commented on my naked form. “Or should I say, what a gorgeous little body I possess…”

Arms crossed over my body, trying to hide my bare breasts from sight as she oggled me. I was in shock, but without resistance. Shivering with shame. “What are you going to do to me?”

“Whatever I wish.” Candace stood, offering her hand to help me up. “Now come on, you were the one who wanted to hold hands, were you not?”

At this point, I knelt before Candace, already defeated. If she had gotten me to sit still as she stripped me naked, there wasn’t much strength in me left to fight a simple compulsion deep within my heart that was happy to take her hand. Butterflies fluttered as I reached back, letting her help me to my feet without a fight. Cold fingers squeezed hers for warmth, I followed. 

Now I knew where she’d been hiding. My eyes grew wide with horror as I saw the secret door open inside of the closet, entering into a small stone cell, exactly on the other side of where the hatch would lead. And Candace walked me inside hand in hand, gently setting me down on the cold floor of my new home, my cage.

“You’re not fighting back.” She said as if she was disappointed. “I thought you would fight back.”

My mouth opened to speak, and then it closed. This scared head of mine could only lower in shame as she said that, true as it was. I watched helplessly as Candace backed out of the cell, leaving me once again by myself. 

Alone in my prison as she closed the door. I struggled to get up, still petrified. Sitting up, all I could do now was lean towards the door, pressing my forehead against the barrier between us. The only answer I could give her was, “I hate you.”

And Candace’s voice penetrated through it, humming back. “I hate you more.”

Notes:

Updated 11/21/2021

Chapter 8: Maiden Name

I didn’t sleep that night. 

As if the stone cold floor of my cramped cell wasn’t already too uncomfortable to sleep atop, the fear of what Candace had planned kept me up for hours in constant paranoia, waiting for someone to open that door. I leaned against it and listened to the impatient tapping of my fingernails against the hard steel, the only sounds I had to keep me company. The bare metal surface against my naked sent shivers down my spine. I’d never been so naked. Not even the quietest of nights alone in the woods could make me feel this small. 

Unsure of the exact time, I knocked on the door for the umpteenth time in hopes of reaching the other side. “Are you there, Candace? Can we talk about this?” Again I asked and again received no answer. Paused to wait for a response that never came, I pounded on the door, stopping only once my hand was as red as my shame with pain. “I’m not sorry. I know you’re angry and disappointed, but I won fair and square.” I said. Being forced to apologize for an accomplishment I was so proud of was the worst part. Taking it back didn’t soften the blow any, but maybe if I retracted my apology she’d demand to hear another. “I hate you so much…”

“You’ve said that already, and I repeat, I hate you more.” Her voice came from the cell behind me, heartlessly distant through the filter of the intercom. “My answer hasn’t changed.”

“Candace, please!” I spoke to the ceiling like I was addressing some sort of angel. Wherever the speaker might have been, signs of it were hidden invisibly within my cell. “I’m tired, I’m hungry, and I’m in a lot of pain. Let me out!”

“Maybe if you behave, I’ll actually feed you. Though if you ask me, you could probably do with some dieting. Really, you are looking a bit bloated. You were quick to hog out on my entire fridge. I’m surprised you’re already hungry. You’re like a pig in a pen. Getting in your cell is the one good thing you’ve done since you got here, I can’t let you out. That’s where animals like you belong after all.”

“I do not! And I’m not bloating either, my face is just swelling because you hit me! Quit calling me a pig!”

Candace giggled to herself through the speaker. Her taunts were so amusing to her that she couldn’t help it. “Oh but it suits you! You’ve always had an ugly pig face, but now you look like a zombie with those bags under your eyes!” 

“Uh huh, sure, just last night you were drooling over how gorgeous I am.”

The scoffing from the other end of the microphone made me smile, but only for a moment. “Don’t get snarky with me, Sophia.”

“You fucking started it!”

“I’m allowed to do whatever I want because I’m above you.”

“No you’re not! You’re a psycho lunatic asshole who throws pissy fits whenever you don’t get your way. If anything, I’m above you!”

“Says the naked one talking up at the ceiling.”

“Come say that to my face and we’ll see who ends up on the floor.”

“You were the one who walked in without a fuss. We both know you wouldn’t be talking smack anywhere but from the safety of your new box.”

“That’s it. When I get out of this thing, you’re so done for. Now open up.”

“So you’ve still got some fight left in you after all. I’m impressed, most girls would be curled up in a ball crying their eyes out by now.”

“Unfortunately for you, I’m not like most girls.”

“Not yet, you aren’t. But you’ll get there eventually.”

“If you think I’m gonna just fold and give in to your demands, you’re dead wrong. You’ll never get away with this.”

“That’s funny. Because I feel like I already have. Besides, it’s not like you would hit me even if you could. Or else where was this fight last night?”

“I told you already. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Yes you do.” Candace said, letting her microphone pick up the silence that followed. “You’ve already hurt me.” 

For some reason, I couldn’t help but hang my head. Candace sounded sad. She never sounded sad. “I didn’t mean to.” I said. Plainly put, I felt bad for her. And talking to her robotic voice wasn’t helping. “Come on, Candace. Open up and we can talk about this. Give me another chance, please?”

The intercom chimed one last time. “One more chance.”

I waited a few moments for more before I heard the sound of clicking coming from the wall between my cell and her bedroom. The small metal hatch was opening for the first time. The panels slid open individually, creating an opening large enough to reach through, but not big enough for a whole person to squeeze through unless all of the panels were opened at once. 

And at last, from the other side of the hatch, Candace spoke to me in person again. “I’ll give you one more chance to behave.” 

I took the bundle of clothes I was then given and with little examination began slipping them on before slowly realizing what they were. “You’re kidding. A french maid uniform?” Sensing that this could only be a joke, I shoved everything but the undergarments back. “You realize they didn’t even wear these stupid things, right?”

Candace opened the hatch another notch and pushed them through again, creating an opening big enough to comfortably peer through. “But you will.”

“Like hell I will.” Through the gap, I curled my fist into her nightgown and dragged her towards me by the chest. “I said I would make it up to you, not work it off. If you want someone to keep your stupid haunted house tidy, you’ll have to hire someone else. I am not going to be your maid.”

Candace merely squirmed. A slowly blinking light on the fancy bracelet around her wrist capitalized her annoyance as she wrapped her fingers around my wrist. In just a moment I was letting go, forced to release her as she squeezed my muscles to part. “Oh look, I can do that too. See?” 

Like I had, she pulled me in with one arm. My body slammed into the wall between us. I recoiled. Candace had her other hand through the opening and around my throat before mine could break free. Not until I was choking would my wrist be freed, and only out of what felt like pity. What I wouldn’t give for the wind to spit in her face, had I been able to more than wheeze. It took both hands grasping at her arm and both feet pressed against the wall to break free, the leftover force of which sent my back slamming into the wall behind me. Flight.

“As I was saying. One last chance. Do you want to run that past me again, Miss Cavalier?”

“Bite me, you bitch.” My hoarse voice whinnied. “Keep your second chances.”

“Be that way, then.” Candace droned. Her spying blue irises were the last lights penetrating the avenue as she disconnected our two domains with the slam of the hatch. “See if I care.”

“I said bite me!” I shouted, slamming my fist against the fading warmth of steel.

She slammed back from the other side, now screaming at me. But from a distance. “I fucking will!”

This wasn’t the Candace I knew. I wouldn’t accept that she could do something like this. Kidnapping wasn’t any sort of payback. My Candace would never. Something must have possessed her. When I first met Candace, she was sweet to me. She was that way with everyone. A nice girl with sympathetic goals and a warm smile. A sore loser maybe, but not this. Candace was a sweetheart. 

Except when the cameras were off, that is. Rolling onto my side, I blanketed myself with the dress she’d left me and closed my eyes. I shivered awake hours later. When I did, it was cold. I must have fallen asleep, because the cell wasn’t freezing last I remembered it being. Every memory I had of Candace were like my words, now a fog. So this was how the ice queen shed her fur. “You bitch…” 

“Are you ready to do as you’re told, Sophia?”

“Depends on what you want from me…”

“For now, I just want to talk.”

I stopped. Teeth chattered. Breath turned to mist in the air. My cheeks were warm, and not just from the heat of anger. “Okay…” I said. Clothes still wrapped around me, I leaned my back against the door. She did the same on the other side. I would negotiate, although upset, because I was still willing to talk this out.

“You’re from California, aren’t you?” Candace asked.

“San Francisco.” I answered. “You?” 

“New York, originally.”

“Didn’t take you as a big apple girl. Why’d you move?”

“My dad wanted out mostly.” She said, “I don’t suppose you know anything about the mafia?”

“Not really. I only remember the broad strokes, like something about crime families.”

“The Five Families. So you have heard of them?”

“I guess I have.”

“What else do you know about them?”

“Like I just said, nothing. I didn’t even know there were five of them until you said so, honest.” 

I paused to let my teeth chatter for a few moments while I tried to remember anything more. My breath was turning to fog in the frozen air. Candace’s sudden interest was confusing to say the list, but I decided to humor the topic. She was the only way out of here after all. “I’m trying to think, but that’s all I know. Why do you ask?”

“Because you’ve pissed off some really powerful people, Sophia Cavalier.” Candace said. “And you’ll need to know a lot more than nothing if you plan on surviving them.” 

“…What do you mean?” My head spun at a mile a minute, racing my heart as it tried to process what she was saying. “…Who?” 

Candace only giggled. 

“Why, the Five Families of course.” 

The cold hard truth dawned on me in waves. My body turned on a dime, backing as far away from the door between us as I could, frozen in her gaze as the headlights slowly crept in. “You…”

“It is awfully chilly in here, isn’t it?” My tormentor remarked through the small open slit built into the door. “I didn’t realize just how cold it could get.”

“Cut the crap, St. Clair. What the hell do you want from me?”

“I’ve already told you what I want from you. But the families, well…” Candace paused for dramatic effect. “They want you dead.”

“But that’s insane. What could I have done to piss off five whole mafia families when I’ve never dealt with any of them before?”

“You do have a point. They aren’t all mad at you. Just the one.”

Sweat began to bead on my worried skin despite the arctic climate of my holding cell. “Your father didn’t move to get away from the mob, did he?”

“Daddy was none too pleased to find out his darling little angel of a daughter lost to a filthy orphan girl.” She said, “It pays to have a family sometimes. Wouldn’t you say?”

Already I was on the verge of tears. “Shut up…” 

“Awwww… She’s so scared of me now .”

“I am not! I don’t care if you’re some Godfather’s daughter. I’m not scared of you!”

“The look on that grimy little face of yours tells me otherwise. Or maybe you’re just jealous? After all, my Daddy loves me…”

“How could anyone love a demon like you?”

“I don’t know. How come your parents didn’t love you?”

My fingers clenched the unworn white gown she’d gifted me tighter and tighter. I was always a tough girl, I could take a little bullying. It’s not like it was anything I hadn’t heard before. “How do you even know about that?”

“Because I know everything there is to know about you, Sophia Cavalier. First through last names, addresses, phone numbers, birthdate, job history, social security, account passwords, best friends, teachers, foster parents, real parents, ex-boyfriends and the nicknames they used to call you. I own you now… My little Collie…”

“Don’t call me that…”

“And why not? Because I don’t deserve to say it? Or because you don’t deserve to hear it?” Too worked up to respond, and to Candace’s delight, I averted my eyes. So she continued. “Those are the tears I’ve been wanting to see. You’re just a weak, pathetic, little crybaby. Aren’t you, Soph?”

“Don’t call me that either…”

“And here I thought you said I’d never see you cry. You must really want Poppy right now, huh? Your dear old foster mommy made that for you. Because your real parents couldn’t stand to look at you.”

“That wasn’t my fault…” I stammered back the tears. “This isn’t my fault…”

“Oh but I warned you this would happen. You knew not to mess with me, girl. I gave you your chance. You were the one who spat in my face and told me I’d never be the world champion. Don’t lie to yourself, Sophia. Everything is your fault. You know that.”

Unable to keep from bawling any longer, I hid my face in the fabric I’d been using as a blanket and began to sob. Tears pouring out of my eyes threatened to freeze onto my pale skin. So long ago now was the last time I’d cried, I couldn’t recall it. It wasn’t like me to show this level of emotion to another human being- if Candace could count as that anymore- but it felt cathartic in a way. 

“What happened to that rebellious spirit of yours? Don’t feel like challenging me anymore?”

“You win, okay?!” I shouted with all the anger, fear, and sadness I could muster. “There. I’m crying. Are you happy now?!”

Minutes went by. Candace sat there as I curled up into a tearful ball on the stone floor, crying. She could see my pain now. I didn’t have to hold back anymore. It was a relief to know I’d lost that fight. But still she held, patiently waiting for me to calm down before speaking to me any further. 

“Kill me…” I cried. “Please… If you want to kill me, just do it already…”

“I don’t want to kill you, Sophia.” Candace said. “I wouldn’t have gone through all of the effort of bringing you here if I wanted you dead. I’m not trying to kill you. I’m trying to spare you.”

There was just enough sympathy in her delivery to leave me second guessing. It was laughable, but she was right. Candace was calculating. If she wanted me deleted, I would be. 

I wiped away my tears so I could see her. Something about Candace was off kilter. Her hands shot up to readjust the neck of her nightdress, and the way she quickly looked away made me believe she had been staring. She wanted to see me cry. Yet when that moment came, she stopped. It was as if she suddenly changed her mind.

“Put those on and I will turn the heat back up. Don’t and I won’t be feeding you tonight. I’ll return in a while to check on you.” Candace said, and with that she finally rose to her feet and exited the closet, making sure to close the way behind her. 

Crawling towards the door of the cell after her, I examined my clothes. The dress was black and frilly, with an apron sewn onto the front and a pair of white strings that tie around the waist to tighten it. Candace was cold. Born and raised on the west coast, I could handle the heat, but I hated the cold. Unable to take any more of that from her, I took a deep breath and put it on. Slipped it over my head, flattened the skirt out, and tied the gown into place. The last thing I wanted was to be Candace’s servant for the rest of my life, but I gave my best attempt to look presentable to appease my watchful overlord.

I took a seat and braced for her verbal abuse. The cold stone bench built into the wall wasn’t any softer than the floor, but leaning against the cell door with my knees tucked to my chest was never comfortable. 

And sure enough, the room slowly began to warm. Seems my captor opted not to check up on me in person. Good considering that I wasn’t sure I could bear seeing her again today. So she could see me, no surprise there. Having spent this long on camera naked, I felt silly for not getting dressed sooner. But more importantly, Candace couldn’t take her eyes off me.

 

The room remained quiet, however. My captor simply watched me, saying nothing, doing nothing. There was no telling how long I’d be kept waiting until she gave me what I was promised. But I was above begging a kidnapper for help or mercy. 

I cracked my knuckles to break the silence; I wanted to make sure she was listening. “So what if I was a foster kid. I’m still the best player in the world.” I said. “At least I was taught not to bully people. You’re just a cockroach trying to get under my skin. And a cockroach is a cockroach, no matter who her family is. Like father, like son.”

Not moments later the intercom came back on, and Candace sounded as irritated as I hoped. “What did you just call me?”

I smirked. “A cockroach?” 

“You may live in tomboy land, but I am a real woman. Never call me my father’s son again.” She hissed. “And don’t you dare insult my father either.”

If it wasn’t so damn cold in here we would have seen smoke fuming from my ears. Candace always flustered me, but today she cranked it up higher than the thermostat could go. 

Candace sighed in exasperation, pausing for a few moments before giving up. “But I’m glad to see you’ve finally put on your uniform. Does this mean you agree to my terms?”

“Hell no! Next time you show your stupid face I’m gonna kick your fucking ass!”

“I see you’re back to being stubborn and bullheaded.” 

I jumped to my feet in anger, still looking up at the camera as I stomped towards the door. “Open this fucking door or I’ll make your life a fucking nightmare…”

Candace simply laughed. “What are you going to do, whine at me? News flash: I’m in control now, and you aren’t leaving that cell until you agree to my terms.”

“Don’t tell me what to do!” I growled furiously, winding my right arm back and pounding my fist into the door. The impact made a loud thunk, echoing through the entire cell, but the steel barrier was still intact. 

“See what I mean, Cavalier? You may feel safe with that door to shield you, but you’re completely powerless in there. You couldn’t make a dent in that thing if you had a million years!”

Determined to prove her wrong, I pounded my other fist into the door. Knuckles cracked with pain, but I continued beating with them both, wanting nothing more than to wallop my captor in the face.

“Are you even listening to me anymore, or have you lost your damn mind?! You can’t break that door!” 

She was right, but I ignored her. My knuckles bruised and every punch hurt worse than the last, but it was all I had left. There was nothing else I could do but throw myself at the door with all the strength I could muster. So that’s what I did. 

“I… As much as I’d love to see you in pain- I think I’d prefer to inflict that pain myself.”

I dropped to my knees and pressed my head to the door, unable to keep it held high any longer. My curled hands still thrusted into the metal barrier, forehead bumping against it with every pound. 

The normally cold Saint Clair demeanor turned hot. “You’re going to hurt yourself you imbecile! You’ll break your hands before you ever make a scratch!” She screamed. “Please stop… This is getting difficult to watch…”

“What do you care?!” I screamed back. “It’s not like they’re any good for holding, now are they?!”

I’d never felt so helpless before. So powerless. So weak. Tears were streaming down my cheeks for the second time today, yet still I was unable to stop myself from pounding against the door. 

But as I kept going, the door suddenly began to open. I fell to my hands and knees, wincing in pain as my bruised skin contacted the cold stone floor beneath me. I looked up, and for a brief moment my eyes met Candace’s, standing on the other side of the door, staring down at me. 

Then came another impact, as Candace slammed her foot into the side of my head, sending me hurdling back towards the ground, unable to hold myself up and bruised fists. 

“Threaten me all you want, Cavalier. But I refuse to watch my trophy damage itself before my eyes.”

I breathed heavily and rose to my knees, struggling to regain my composure but ready to defend myself this time. “I told you to bite me.”

“Shut your frothing rabid mouth and get up!” She growled angrily, bringing her other foot to my face, kicking upwards, smacking me directly in the mouth. “Are you going to kick my ass now, Soph?! Didn’t you want to fight me? I’m right here!”

In an instant I watched her expression change from smug and condescending to shocked and fearful as I jumped to my feet with inhuman speed, slamming my nearly blackened fist square against her nose, slamming her head backwards. I winced loudly, clutching my pained fist, it was covered in blood now. 

My tormentor rubbed her nose, hands as red as mine as it spilled from her nostrils. “Lucky shot…” 

She grinned eagerly, stepping towards me and grabbing me at my wrist, spinning me around and slamming my back into the wall opposite the woman’s bedroom. Before I could move, she was slamming her own fist into my chest, stopping my breath. I slid to the floor once again, unable to breathe. The last thing I saw before everything went fuzzy was the bottom of Candace’s shoe soaring towards my face.

 

My world was still spinning when I awoke. The door was still wide open- and I tried moving towards it- but I was stuck in place. Whining to myself, I took a few more moments to come to my senses, looking around the once again freezing cold cell.

Candace was sitting on the floor opposite me, her legs crossed, leaning back against the secondary hatch. She had a bandage on her nose, and a stylish blue winter coat around her torso. I was not so comfortable, however. Luckily, she hadn’t stripped me again, but I was still clad merely in the maid uniform Candace had given me. There were now ice packs pressed against my knuckles, hands wrapped together to keep them in place. Even worse, my arms were suspended above me and splayed out across the wall, wrists bound by shackles built into the stone surface to keep me restrained. I was kneeling- unintentionally- against the wall, my legs being about the only part of me not bound by cold heavy chains.

She made a point of not making eye contact with me as she spoke- but from experience- she’d just finished staring at me. Instead she stayed focused on the platter of warm cooked food in her lap, bringing a mug of what looked like hot tea to her lips to drink from for a few moments. “Don’t even think about kicking my dinner over or you won’t be getting any.”

I took a few moments to catch my breath, a pain in my chest stinging me whenever I tried to breathe. “As if you’d feed me anyways…”

Candace shut down that train of thought immediately. “I told you already. I’ll feed you if you behave.” She was clearly exasperated, and no longer having very much fun at all. Occasionally she’d reach up to rub her clearly pained nose, a bruise visible under the bandage. “If I’d known you were going to be such a hassle, I would have rethought my entire plan…” 

“Did you really expect me to bend over like a helpless little girl?” I asked calmly. 

“I had hoped for as much… But I guess you’re more of a little orphan Annie type…” Candace began giggling to herself, and I couldn’t help but join her after that comment.

“Endlessly optimistic, you mean?”

“Stubborn.” Candace smiled, picking up her spoon and tapping the bottom of the handle against my forehead. I shook my head, smirking at her for a moment before my smile quickly faded. 

“I used to think you were a good person, you know. Especially during those months leading up to the championship. I tilted my head upward, meeting her eyes with mine. “But you really are a terrible awful monster…”

Candace set her spoon down and swallowed her food. “The world is a heinously cruel and unfair place… Where horrible things happen to all sorts of people for little to no reason at all. You never really get to control your destiny. I didn’t choose to be born the way I was.” Her gaze trailed downwards for just a moment, back to her food in drink, finishing them both and setting them aside before forcefully squeezing her thighs together and tucking them to her chest. “I was born into my family, and you were born into yours. You just have to go along with what the world decides to throw at you…” She said, “Even and especially when it decides to throw the bad things at you…”

She smiled at me, and finally I saw a part of her I recognized. “And right now, the world is throwing everything it’s got at you… I’m throwing everything I’ve got at you… You can either fight against what’s in store for you- or you can learn to live through it- live with it, and maybe you’ll find something good on the other side.”

“Candace…” I interjected. “What is this about?”

“You already know what this is about, dear. I’ve not been subtle. As punishment for humiliating me like you did this past year, I have gone to great lengths to make you my slave. All you have to do is follow my every order and your life will be spared.”

“And you expect me to trust you?” I cried. “…How am I supposed to trust someone who only wants to hurt me?”

“Because that’s not what I want. Sure, I want to hurt you. But that’s not the only thing that I want… I want my revenge, yes. But if I wanted you dead… You’d be dead…”

“You keep talking like you want something more from me than just ruining my life. What are you trying to say to me? What is it? What more do you want?”

“I want to make you a part of the most powerful family in the world.”

My heart skipped a beat, suddenly feeling butterflies in my chest, able to breathe again. “A part of… your family?”

Candace nodded, but frowned. We sat there in quiet for a moment, and I admired the way her deep blue eyes glistened in the dim light of the cell. “You and I can never be, Sophia Cavalier. Not the way you want us to be. I’m the heiress to one of the most powerful organizations in the world. And you, well…” She hesitated for a moment. “You’re a nobody. Plain and simple. You were born in your world, I was born in mine. Even if I wanted to, my father would never approve.”

The truth was always the hardest pill to swallow. “Then why bring me here at all?”

“Because my father doesn’t merely disapprove of you. You shattered my dreams and broke my heart.  He wants you dead.” She said, “But I think there are better ways for you to learn your lessons, and that’s why I’m going to be the one to whip them into you. Because there are other ways to make you mine. You have two choices.”

I took a deep breath, nodding in compliance.

“One. Resist. Remain as you are now, keep fighting, keep losing, and starve to death in this cold cell- alone and afraid. Or...” She paused for a few moments, letting me soak in everything she was saying. “Two. Submit. Give up your old life. Forget your name, everyone you knew, everything you owned- and start again. Right here. Right now. A second chance. Do everything I say, and begin a new life… With me… As my slave…”

I bit my lip, staring at the ground in dismay, watching more tears fall from my face and soak into the floor beneath me, unable to control my emotions. I pulled on the chains that bound me as hard as I could, knowing I could never break them. “...Why would I want to be a part of your family?”

“Because you have no family, Sophia…” Candace reached towards me, tenderly placing her hand on my cheek, lifting my head to face her. “I have eyes and ears everywhere… and I was prepared to face anyone who tried to come find you… but…” She sighed, and for a moment, looked like she might cry. “Nobody is looking for you… Are they?”

A terrible weight in my chest dragged me down as she asked, “You don’t have anyone… Do you?”

I sniffled, trying to smile as I spoke, tears flowing out of my eyes as I shook my head. “No…” I finally admitted. “What’s the point of having a useless championship title if no one cares to come to my funeral, right?”

Candace placed her other hand on my cheek. “Poor girl…” She picked my head up, holding it in both hands, staring directly into my eyes. “You have to make your choice… Resist or Submit...”

My voice cracked, barely able to speak the words. “Submit… I submit…” I said with a sinking heart, breaking down. “I’ll do what you say. Please… I can’t…”

“Hush now.” Candace silenced me. For a moment I expected the worst, but what she came at me with was care. She pulled me in and held me close to her as I sobbed, stroking my hair as I bawled. “This isn’t going to be easy for you. I expect you’ll try to escape from my grasp, but…” Candace reached up and cleared tears from her eyes I didn’t know were there before gently rubbing my back. “I have plenty of defenses against that.”

We sat there for a few moments in silence as I calmed down, she removed the wraps around my fists, helping me regain my composure before she rose to her feet, standing over me. 

“Tomorrow you will begin your work as my housemaid… I will feed and house you, and in exchange you will do everything I say… or you will be punished further.”

“What about right now…”

“Right now… is a test of your resolve, try to get some sleep while chained to that wall, and be ready to perform exceptionally for your first day.”

“Okay…” 

“The proper thing to say is- Yes Ma’am.”

I sighed, my cheeks turning pink as I blushed. “Yes Ma’am….” 

“Very good… And one more thing before you go to bed…”

She leaned down to make eye contact with me one last time. “From now on… No mentioning what you did, the championship, or anything like that… I don’t want to hear the name Sophia Cavalier ever again.”

“But… that’s my name …”

“Not anymore it’s not.”

“I… I don’t understand…”

“Chloe.” She said without a moment’s hesitation. “From now on, your name… is Chloe.”

 

Notes:

Updated 1/10/2022

Chapter 9: Hot Under The Collar

I cried myself to sleep after Candace left my cell.

She had such a way with words. I was the one who gave in and agreed to work for her, but I couldn’t help but feel like she had manipulated me into giving her the answer she wanted. 

Of course I have people who care about me. I’m a world champion after all, I must have fans out there somewhere. Surely someone should be looking for me by now, right?

But you’re Sophia Cavalier. I reminded myself. They hate you… 

Candace was by every measure a more beloved player than me. And it would be a lie to say that it wasn’t well deserved. Hell, I was a huge fan of hers, and I honestly still am. I fell in love with the person she is on stage. If it hadn’t been for her, I never would have reached my highest highs, nor my lowest lows.

Even if none of my fans cared about me, though, my manager must have. He might not be my manager anymore, but Justin’s my friend. Well, he was my friend… Then my boyfriend… Then my ex-boyfriend… 

Sigh.

There really wasn’t anyone looking for me, was there?

 

Eventually I heard noises from the closet to my right. Candace appeared in the cell door and stepped inside. She was clean, dressed, wearing her usual cutesy smile. I pulled on my manacles. She had left me chained to the wall through the night, unable to move any further than adjusting my legs every few hours. It was about time she let me out. I called out for her a couple times since waking up, but she was obviously fine keeping me waiting.

“Having second thoughts, Chloe ?” She asked. 

“Nothing but second thoughts.” I said. “And don’t call me that.”

Chloe. My feelings about the name were mixed.

I still wondered whether I had made the right choice last night, agreeing to do this. I still wanted to escape. Of course I did; that’s why I agreed to do this. I didn’t really want this… Did I?

“Take that back now or I won’t feed you.” She was tapping her foot impatiently, making a gesture like she was waiting for an appropriate response from me. “Apologize.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” I said with my head hung. A grumble of annoyance left me, glaring down at the ground. “Sorry, Ma’am…”

“Very good!” 

Candace once again sat down on the floor across from me with her legs crossed. She had a small bowl of food with her like she had last night, but this bowl didn’t look nearly as appetizing. Grinning to herself, she scooped up a large chunk of the weird mush onto the spoon, holding it up to my mouth. “Open wide.”

Turning my head away, I winced. “You don’t need to hand feed me!”

“I’m aware, but I want to! Now open your mouth!”

I continued to dodge the foul smelling concoction, and Candace giggled at my dismay. 

“No. Ew. What even is that?”

“I have no idea! But it smells awful, doesn’t it?”

“Yes!”

She shoved the spoonful of gross slop into my mouth as I shouted, glaring at me as she forced me to chew and swallow it, gasping for relief once it was down. 

“You’re not the first to fall for that trick, and you surely won’t be the last. As I have previously alluded to, there’s a whole facility where people are taken to be trained and sold to wealthy paying owners. This is what they’re fed. It’s specially made to give you enough strength to do as you’re told, but not enough strength to be able to put up any sort of fight!”

I gagged loudly, wishing I could cough it back out. “I don’t care where it’s from! That’s disgusting!”

“Yes it is! It’s supposed to be, and I made this formula just for you…” Candace reached towards me and squeezed my face in her hand, tilting my head to look at her. “Now open your mouth and eat it.”

I grimaced, opening my jaws for her spoon more of the foul slush into my mouth. “I hate it so much…”

“I told you this wasn’t going to be easy!”

Whining, I reluctantly let the stronger girl feed the entire bowl to me. I was barely able to keep myself from vomiting. It made me feel like a caged animal. And in a sense I supposed that's what I was, but I wouldn’t sit there and take it. Once she was done and satisfied, I made sure to spit directly into her face. This did not amuse her. 

“I will no longer put up with this, thrall. Fight back against me even slightly and you will be getting punished. Last warning .” Candace rose to her feet, setting the bowl down next to the hatch connected to her bedroom wall. “Now then, there’s a bathroom for you in the closet, I expect you to clean yourself. Once you’re done, get dressed and return to your cell. Understood?”

Pulling against the chains with my wrists, I glared at her. “Yes, Ma’am. I understand.”

Candace pressed the tip of her foot to my chest and shoved my back against the wall. “Lose the fucking attitude before I kick your teeth out!”

“Y-yes, Ma’am! I’m sorry!” My face turned bright pink, fearfully embarrassed as I spoke. I didn’t want Candace to kick me again, not while I was still recovering from last night. 

“Better.” Candace said, pulling away from my chest. She smiled at me, like she was appreciating what she saw. But catching herself after a moment, she placed her foot down on mine, crushing my toes under her shoes before stepping back out, mumbling to herself as she left. “Fucking animal…”

Once Candace had returned to her bedroom and closed the door behind her, the manacles keeping me in place suddenly opened on their own, allowing me to wander out of my cell for the first time since I’d been trapped there, back out into her closet. I rubbed my bondage weary wrists and stepped into the larger space. It was upsetting that the walk in closet could be more spacious than the tiny bunker she planned to keep me in. I pulled on the other doors to no avail. The entrance to Candace’s personal bathroom was locked, but across the space from her room was another secret door now swung wide open. 

The small bathroom was slightly larger than the cell I slept in, complete with a shower off in one end, a small sink with a mirror over it, some shelves on the wall next to it, a tiny bench in another corner, a wash bucket beneath the sink, and a toilet that didn’t even look like it worked. “Gross…”

After Candace shut the hot water off about halfway through my shower, I hurried to get myself cleaned off and dressed, putting on a clean uniform left to me by the mistress. I quickly returned to my cell, closing the door behind me and kneeling on the floor like you kind of had to do while wearing a skirt. The room filled with a quiet sadness. 

This was something the likes of which I thought only existed in movies. A rich villain with a house full of secret entrances and mechanisms. The hatch between my room and hers slid open a hatch, a pair of wrist cuffs attached to the panel beneath it. 

“Hands in the shackles, slave.”

 

Recalling her earlier promise brought me great pain. Candace would make me her slave. And if I heeded her every word my life would be spared. But then again, I would be her slave. 

Swallowing my pride, I bit my lip and placed my wrists in the shackles. Watching Candace’s neatly manicured hands lock them away, once bound together I saw the cuffs detach from the panel, letting me stand up, hands now held together by the cold metal restraints. “Come.” Candace said, slowly closing the panel before seemingly opening the door to my cell wirelessly, opening the way into her room. I came to her. 

“What do you plan on doing with me-” I asked, “now that I’m your slave?”

Giggling, I heard. Candace was rather amused with this thought. “Tsk, tsk, tsk, you’ve still yet to learn.” She said, “And you’ve still yet to become my slave as well.” 

A twinge of something made itself known inside of me. Somehow that hit me with indignation, an almost jealous displeasure at what she was saying- that I wasn’t yet her slave. 

“As I’ve said, I don’t want to kill you, but if you fail me today…”

I felt my heart nearly jump out of me. “I don’t get it. You said you wanted me as your slave. You gave me your word-”

“I gave you a choice. Make no mistake. We are not talking about a quid pro quo, we are discussing your terms of surrender. I made my demands. You don’t get to make demands back. You get what I am willing to give you, if you are willing to earn it.”

All my resolve came under scrutiny. Why did it bother me? Was it disappointment? Or was it fear? I didn’t care to be hers. I wasn’t her slave, Candace said so herself, that should have been a good thing. But I also should be her slave. Not because I wanted to be, but after humiliating myself this much, I should have earned it. 

“But you said-”

“Silence.”

Candace stepped towards me, grabbing me by the neck of my uniform and curling her fist, pulling me to her. “I told you to be ready to perform exceptionally well for your first day. Are you not ready to perform exceptionally well today?”

I gulped. A lump in my throat formed against her knuckles. “I am…”

“Then you should perform exceptionally well today.” She said. “Do so and you’ll have nothing to worry about.” 

My heart beat unreasonably fast, threatening to burst through my chest and splatter onto the floor. Candace looked me up and down, holding me by the throat.

“Do you want to be my slave, Chloe?”

Without hesitation- despite how red I was in the face- I gently nodded my head. The look in my eyes softened. For whatever reason, my thoughts and feelings on the matter became perfectly clear. 

“You are not my slave until you wear my collar around your neck.” She said as she released me, now holding her arms behind her waist. “Only once you have finished will I decide whether or not to let you live. But fail me early on and I’ll be forced to end prematurely. I don’t want you wasting any of my time.”

With my hand I clutched at my own throat, gently easing it. I gave her a nervous smile. I wasn’t about to fail. 

Candace returned my smile. “On your knees, slave.”

I knelt, bending to her will out of fear. Unsure of where to put my hands, I gazed up at her from below.

“No. You’re to look down when you kneel.” She said as she placed the ball of one foot on top of my head, pointing my gaze downward. 

“I… Sorry…” 

“You’re to address me as master or mistress from now until the end of time, understood?”

“Understood…”

“What was that, slave?”

I watched Candace’s foot lift off the ground, nestling under my chin and tilting my head once again back up to face her, she was frowning. “Try again.”

“Yes… Master?”

“Very good.”

I looked back down as she pulled her foot away, trying not to glance upwards. “What do I have to do?”

“You want to earn this position, don’t you?”

“Very much so…” I said, quickly amending. “Master.”

“Then prove to me that you are even a worthy candidate for the role. You’ve had your metaphorical interview, now think of today as your job application.” Despite how she spoke, I was willing to bet Candace’s heart was pumping with excitement, she could hardly believe that the day when she could literally wipe the floors with Sophia Cavalier had finally arrived. 

…Probably. 

“I won’t be guiding you through this. If you truly want the position you’re after, you’ll need to prove to me that you’re capable of fulfilling the job description.” She grinned excitedly. “Do anything and everything you can to amaze me.”

“B-but I can’t!” I stammered. “I’ve never done anything like this in my life! Just look at me!” 

“I am looking at you, Chloe. And I don’t see anything wrong. You are dressed for the part.”

“You know me, Candace-”

“No, I don’t.” She said. “And you don’t know yourself either.” 

I bit my lip to try and control myself. “What do you mean?”

“Sophia Cavalier dies today.” Candace said. “But Chloe doesn’t have to.”

Breathing deeply, I steeled myself, trying to shove all of my pride and arrogance to the ground. Candace was right. I was going to do everything in my power to impress her. “…And how would Chloe perform exceptionally well today, Master?”

Candace stepped forward, leaning over and the kneeling slave and gleefully watching the shock on my face as she produced a length of chain from behind her back. “My lips are sealed.” She giggled to herself, reaching down and attaching the heavy lead to my handcuffs. “Ready?”

I swallowed, nodding my head to her. I was already sweating nervously, but there was no time to wipe the beads from my forehead. There would be no time to catch my breath. “I’m ready.”

Wrapping the chain around her right hand, Candace reached for her bracelet. With a single button press the doors around us unlocked, and the only sound that could be heard was that of a ticking clock around her wrist. A countdown timer for my judgment. “Go.”

 

I rose to my feet and headed for the door. Not only was I going to have to do this on my own with my hands tied together, I was going to have to physically drag Candace along with me. 

What am I supposed to do? What’s most important? What needs to be cleaned?

Nervously stumbling through a house whose layout I had forgotten, I quickly encountered my first hurdle. “Where are the cleaning supplies?”

I turned to face the woman behind me. She was clutching the chain as tight as she could, but she was simply using it to follow me, instead of leading.

Candace made eye contact with the slave on her leash and smirked, but instead of giving me a verbal answer she simply looked at her bracelet. I could hear the menacing tick tick tick of the timer on her digital wristband, making sure that I knew I was on the clock. Fuck me. 

I went to the kitchen. My apartment was pretty small, so I had always kept cleaning supplies under the sink. My mind was racing. I was in such a race that I almost missed the mess of glass shards that I had created the night I was delivered here, like a trap I accidentally left for myself. 

Of course, I was barefoot. The look on Candace’s face told me that she had planned on this. She clearly had no reason or desire to step through a minefield of ceramic splinters, and as I carefully navigated towards the sink, she remained stationary. The leash pulled taut, making every step more difficult. 

Getting out of here is gonna be a lot harder with her attached to me, I thought. 

I sighed quietly. The drawer beneath the faucet was locked. In fact, all of the drawers I could reach were locked, and judging from Candace’s posture, struggling to reach any of the others wasn’t going to do me any good. 

Trying as best I could to pull my hands apart, I realized the bracelets clasped to my wrists weren’t about to break. They weren’t your average cuffs.

This wasn’t my first time in handcuffs, but never something like these. Police used much simpler restraints. The device I was in currently was far higher tech. If I wanted to escape, I would need them off. 

For now I couldn’t possibly expect to leave the kitchen in a state like this. Even if there wasn’t a waste basket nearby, I had to get the glass off of the floor as soon as I could. “Apologies for the mess…” I said, “I’ll get this cleaned right away.”

I knelt carefully to make sure I didn’t cut my knees on the shattered dinnerware, or more importantly, damage or soil my uniform. I slowly crawled across the hardwood back to Candace’s side, picking up every glass shard I could find and placing them in the pocket of my apron. 

Once finished I stood, looking up at the mistress to gauge her response. Candace, unfortunately, was stoic. Determined not to let my draw any insight from her reaction, though she did of course take note of my performance. 

The clock was ticking and my heart was beating just as fast. Failing to impress her at this rate was certainly going to spell my doom. I couldn’t clean any floors or surfaces without supplies, but I could make an attempt to correct my mistakes from the previous nights. 

Maneuvering through the manor wasn’t easy. I wanted to move as quickly as I could, but Candace was in no hurry. She moved no more brisk than her normal walking pace, and it was natural to think that my future master’s comfort was the most important thing to keep in mind. 

Focus, Sophia. You’re trying to escape, not end up her slave, remember? I wanted to slap myself upside the head. But I can’t do that if she kills me first…

Whatever I did, I was going to ensure that my actions didn’t inconvenience her. Even if it meant moving at a snail’s pace. 

Every movement she made, no matter how small, made things more difficult. A single stroke of her guiding hand meant yanking on both of my wrists, swaying my entire body on a whim and often knocking me off balance, even if it was unintentional. I wasn’t sure she even noticed the care I was putting into ensuring her comfort, but I was confident that she’d notice if I did somehow hamper her movements, and I wanted to avoid that. 

I led the two of us through the dining room, tucking all of the chairs- including one I had thrown at the adjacent glass door- back under the table. 

Candace had ensured that every single mess I had made was left for me to clean up. 

Including the precious ornament that I smashed onto the floor of the lounge. 

Up to this point Candace looked stoic. Now she looked furious. 

Oops. 

 

“A-again my sincerest apologies for the inconvenience, and for the blatant disrespect I’ve shown you in your own home!” My voice sounded so foreign to me. It was so formal, so polite, so deferential. I usually wasn’t any of these things. Humility was one thing, but reverence was another. A strange feeling overcame me; bowing suddenly felt so natural. “Master~”

Candace smiled, letting the chain between us grow slack. It was a relief to finally get a positive reaction from her, even if it was as small as a smile. She nodded for me to continue my work. 

And I did, once again picking up the shards of my mistakes off the floor. Candace crossed the room as I did so, leaning against one of the walls. I picked the tumbled pedestal back up, beginning to head out of the lounge when the slack became tight. 

She was too busy staring at a painting in the corner opposite from me. It was a portrait of a ghastly yet beautiful woman in her early thirties, along with what looked to be her son. Candace was too enthralled by whoever she was, and as intent as I was on not disturbing her by pulling on my chains, she still hadn’t noticed the leash slowly pulling taut. 

Naturally, I stepped towards the painting, partially to get into the other woman’s field of vision, but mostly out of curiosity. The woman in the portrait was unusually pale in both skin tone and hair. Her eyes, red like the setting sun, and from what could be seen of her child, his appearance looked to be about the same, eye and all. I approached the frame, trying to make sure there was nothing about it or any of the other paintings that I needed to attend to. Maybe it’s crooked, or does it need dusted? 

I heard Candace audibly gasp from behind as I approached the painting, and after just a moment I was around in place. 

My hands, which were in front of me as I stood there, were suddenly yanked behind me. Instantly it turned me about and sent me stumbling towards Candace as she violently pulled on the chain. Disoriented, I fell to my knees with a heavy slam. Her face was flushed with fury as I spun, but promptly dialed back to mere irritation as soon as I was on the ground again. The anger she felt watching me approach what I now assumed was an important piece of her family history was seemingly replaced by annoyance at the new mess on her lounge floor. None of the other pieces of art had fallen over, but as I twirled the shatters of glass I had been collecting in my apron must have spilled out, like a sprinkler watering the lawn. 

And I soon realized I had landed on quite a few of them. Being knocked onto my bare hands and knees over the many sharp pieces of broken ceramic had naturally sent a number of them into my skin, like sliding a needle into a pincushion. My hands, which had suffered the brunt of it, were now bleeding. 

 

I need to hide this before she notices. 

Still dropped to my knees, I desperately started to pick up the pieces of my shattered dignity with slowly bleeding hands. It was going to hurt, but if I left the splinters in my palms, I was less likely to drip blood all over the halls as I tried to work. 

“So sorry again Ma’am! I’d be more than happy to pick those back up. I can’t expect the lady of the house to walk across floors littered with shards!” 

Candace sighed loudly. I could feel my hands being lifted upwards slightly by the chain as she tilted her head backwards, pinching the bridge of her nose in exasperation. After a moment she shook her head and lowered the leash, looking down at her wrist. I could suddenly hear the time ticking away, louder now than ever. I desperately needed to pick up the pace. What sort of person would hire a maid who spilled broken glass all over the manor floor while demonstrating her abilities?

Caltrop enthusiasts maybe, but Candace was the opposite of impressed. 

“I swear I’m not usually this clumsy.” My voice shook with fear and anxiety, but it was true. I always had steady and careful hands, as expected from a world class gamer. You couldn’t win a match if your hands weren’t coordinated enough to masterfully use the mouse. Even as they bled, despite being bound together and tugged by restraints, they remained skillfully swift. It wasn’t my fault I spilled. If she had stopped to think before hastily knocking me to the ground, my pocket would still be full. But I was in no position to point that out to her. 

From where I stood, the most important thing was showing respect and diligence to my captor, at least until I was out of these shackles. No one in their rightful mind would be pleased hearing their servant mock them. 

I attempted to rise, confident there didn’t remain any more glass on the ground even if a few of them had lodged themselves into my skin. But one such shard- caught just beneath my knee joint- had other plans for me. I wouldn’t stand until I pulled that thing out. Candace watched me pull the bloody shard of glass from my skin. Her eyebrows raised curiously. 

“Looks like I landed on one… Nothing to worry about. It’s just a scratch!” I covered up my hands and knees before she could see and hid the glass shard away from her watchful gaze. “M-maybe in a bit I can feed the cat, wh-what’s his name?” Turning heel, I faced down the hall and nervously began to limp my way to the parlor with Candace behind me, only turning around once to gauge her reaction. 

“Her name is Thea~” Candace couldn’t help but let out a quiet giggle, smiling eagerly at me and shaking her head as she reluctantly broke her silence. “Now quiet you, I’m not supposed to be talking!” 

“But how am I doing?” I asked, desperately turning my whole body to face her, eager to take a moment in order to take pressure off of my injured leg. “You’re not disappointed, are you?”

Candace wrapped my leash around her arm a few times. Stepping forward and roughly pulling me towards her, our faces were less than a foot apart. She stared me directly in the eyes and giggled at me. The other woman seemed to be enjoying herself somewhat, smiling in a less intimidating and more friendly manner. “Less cheating. More working.” 

My heart raced desperately. I knew I was running out of time, the sound of her wristband made that obvious, but I was also running out of things I could clean without supplies. Rounding the corner into the parlor, I passed her pet’s room. Without the cat food I can’t do that either. 

The sun was already setting. My eyes scanned the parlor and I nearly skipped a beat. Over in the corner was some sort of supply closet. I didn’t see it when I first arrived because the house was pitch black by the time I reached it. Trying not to rush Candace’s stride, I eagerly made my way to the closet and opened the door. 

Cleaning supplies, finally!

I hurriedly grabbed the waste bin off of the floor and began to dispose of the shards of glass I’d been carrying around. Then I turned my attention to the mop bucket. Even if there was less than an hour left before my time was up, if I could do just a little bit of mopping the floor, maybe I could impress her enough to save my skin. 

But as soon as I gripped the handle of the broom, my body very nearly collapsed in shock. The broken shards dug deeper into me. Blood began to drip down the length of the mop. I shook nervously as I watched the lead grow more and more slack.

Candace immediately approached me. She grabbed the chain by the end at my wrist and forced my hands from the handle. A red stain marked the wood where I’d been holding on, and as she turned my palms face up, there was a pretty grizzly array of glass splinters in my bleeding skin. Scoffing, Candace grabbed the hem of my uniform, flipping my entire skirt upwards to take a closer look at the shards embedded into the surface of my knees. 

I didn’t even have time to fluster before she let go, shaking her head in disappointment. 

“I’ve seen enough.” 

“No!” I lurched forward, my voice shaking. “I- I haven’t even finished cleaning up after myself, there’s still time left for me to get everything done!”

Candace snarled . “I told you I would be forced to stop you early if you disappointed me.”

“But I’m trying my best! I was even going to feed your cat-”

“I can feed my own cat, Sophia.”

“Of course! But so can-” I stopped. “Sophia?” My heart wretched. Never before had I been so mortified hearing my name. “I- I thought you said you didn’t want to hear that name anymore? Just last night you said-”

“I don’t want to hear your name anymore. Luckily I’m not going to hear anything from you anymore. This whole affair has been nothing but a waste of my time.” 

Candace turned her back on me as she grasped at the chain, dragging me all the way back into my prison to have me starved. The door opened at the press of a button. The clock stopped.

That little moment opened my eyes. The band on her left hand was more than a countdown to my doom, it had been the key to me getting out of here this entire time. 

But I was falling apart, unable to do anything at all except follow in her footsteps like an obedient animal. Even in my quickly crumbling state, something felt terribly wrong. Not even tears were coming to me. It felt as if my life didn’t mean anything- it didn’t matter whether or not I was about to die- the world was spinning around me. 

All of a sudden I didn’t want to escape. I was about to die, but I didn’t care. My only chance at living was if I took that bracelet from her and ran, except it didn’t matter anymore. The only thing that mattered to me right now was that I had failed her. As if the greatest pain in the world was knowing that I wouldn’t get the chance to serve her. 

All of a sudden I truly did think of Candace St. Clair as my master, and I wanted to be hers. 

There was a revolted twist in my stomach as I realized how it was I felt. That desire to belong to her. It’d been with me this whole time. I dropped to my knees on the cold hard floor of her closet, stopping just as she was about to shove me back inside of the cell one final time. 

“This isn’t fair…” I said. “I know you’re not impressed, but it’s not fair!”

She looked at me like I was crazy and I looked up at her, my hands and knees trembling. “I don’t know where you keep things! I don’t know what all there is to be done! I don’t know what it is you want me to do!”

I bowed, placing my open hands on the floor before me and prostrating myself at her feet. The only way she would let me serve her now is if I showed her that I really wanted it. 

“But I can figure it out… I can learn… I can be taught.” I said. The grip on my leash was tightening, trying to pull me back to my feet, but I refused to stop. “I can listen to you. I can do as I’m told. I can follow!” I choked on my own quivering voice, biting back a stream of sobs, groveling. “I can follow directions! I can do as I’m told, I mean it!”

Unable to hold back tears anymore, I wept. Unconcerned with any sense of pride that I might have previously had, I wept. “Please… Tell me what to do, I’ll do it! Anything! Please! Please… I can be useful… You just have to tell me what to do…” I cried, lifting my crying head for her to see. Tears streamed down my face, pooling beneath me as I pleaded. “I want to serve you. Faithfully. Loyally. Obediently.” 

From the heavens above, Candace’s gaze met mine. “Do you really think you can make up for your gross incompetence with just dedication?”

“I do…” I said, staring deep into her sparkling eyes with a desire to see her smile at me again.

Candace stood quietly.

“You’ll follow every order?”

“I’ll follow every order.”

“You’ll abide by every rule?”

“I’ll abide by every rule.”

“You’ll obey every command?”

“I’ll obey every command.”

“And you’ll do so? Without hesitation? Without complaint? Without regret?”

“Without hesitation! Without complaint! Without regret!”

The words spilled from my lips with ease, never before had any words come so easily to me, and I meant them. They came from the bottom of my heart, and I meant them more than anything I had ever said before. 

Candace smiled at me. “Good.”

My heart was sent fluttering. Candace released the chain, letting it fall to the floor in front of her, following the leash all the way to the end and easing my still aching hands. 

“I will expect nothing less from you.” She said more sternly. “Now crawl into your cell.”

I bit my lip, still choking on tears as I nodded. 

“What do we say, Chloe?”

That name brought me to tears again. “Yes, Master?” I smiled. “Thank you, Master?”

“Good girl.” Candace said with her hands behind her back. “Do you know what this means?”

Shamefully, I was returned to my new home and stripped of both my uniform and the bands around my wrists, waiting for Candace’s word. I retreated. My body trembled. I was still in turmoil over the rush of emotion I had just been through, leaving me only capable of shaking my head at her. I didn’t want to put up any more of a fight tonight. 

Candace knelt in front of me, collar in hand, pulling the brand new toy out of nowhere. I couldn’t help but find myself in awe. The band was a gorgeous metallic gold, extraordinarily smooth, beautifully made, undamaged. It was perfect. 

Heart racing, I stared. That collar alone was worth more than I would ever be. And I knew exactly who it was made for. “You mean…”

Before I could finish my sentence, Candace nodded. “This is your collar. When you’re ready, I’m going to put it around your neck, and you will officially be mine.” She gave me a reassuring smile. “Your submission has always been what’s important to me. Even though you disappointed me today, as long as you submit, you can be trained.”

A heavy sigh of relief blew through my lungs, untangling so much of the tension in my body and unlocking the tears from behind my eyes. Finally, I felt safe. “Thank you, Master…”

Candace giggled at me again. “Alright now, up and on your knees.” She said, holding the collar out to me. “You didn’t perform exceptionally well today, but I still think you deserve a reward.”

I got up and knelt, facing her with a tight chest, my palms up on my thighs. “What happens once it’s on?”

“Once this collar is on, it never comes off.” Candace said, reaching her soft hands up to wipe the tears from my eyes. “Once it’s on, you belong to me… Forever.”

The warmth in my heart began to spread. “Forever?”

Candace smiled, reaching behind my head with the metal band, letting me feel it pressed against my skin, and permanently closed the collar around my neck. 

Click .

“Forever.” 

My hands clutched at the head of her collar around my neck, feeling it. Safe. Secure. Strong.

Candace slipped a finger under the band and gave it a firm tug. “How do you feel?”

Sniffling back the last of my tears at long last, I met her eyes with mine. “I don’t know. I feel…” 

“Good.” 

Candace smiled. “What do we say?”

“Thank you, Master.” I said. “Thank you so much…”

 

✶      ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧      ✶      ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦      ✶

 

That’s how I ended up with this collar. 

That’s how I ended up in this place. 

That’s how I became Candace’s slave. 

That’s how I became Chloe. 

Sophia held on, but it was time for me to let that name go, and finally be Chloe.

“Please don’t put me back.” I begged my master. “I don’t want to sleep in a cage anymore.”

“That’s just the drugs talking, Chloe. You need to get some sleep.” Candace gave me a firm push, trying to detach me from her arm. 

I clung to her as hard as I could. “No, Master. Please. I don’t want to leave you…” 

Candace firmly stroked me. “Just because you got fixed today doesn’t mean you get to sleep in the guest bedroom, Chloe.”

“I don’t want to sleep in the guest room either!” I cried, still unable to filter my thoughts thanks to what I’d been given from the medical facility, leaving me in such a mess I was rubbing my head against her. 

“I can’t have you wandering the house at night. Where else am I supposed to put you?”

Candace grabbed Poppy from my arms, pulling me in front of her and having the stuffed animal look me in the eyes, asking me instead. 

“Speak Chloe. Where do you want to sleep tonight?”

I giggled, snatching Poppy back from her. “I wanna sleep in your bed!” I said. My face turned red as soon as I shut my mouth, realizing what I had just said. “With you…”

Candace blushed. “I… Chloe…”

“You told me you wanted to make me a part of your family!” I loudly blurted out, my cheeks still flushed. “What does that mean? How can I be a part of your family if you keep me so far away?”

She froze for a moment, frowning. “Chloe…”

“Master?” I said, looking up at her as I squeezed the stuffed puppy to my chest. “I feel so alone…”

Candace finally smiled, sighing as she shook her head. “Say please.”

“Please, Master?” My eyes widened. 

“Okay…” She nodded. “You can sleep with your master tonight if you really want to.”

The same warm feeling from that night spread through my chest. “I do…”

My master scooped me into her arms and carried me back with her to bed, holding me as we turned in. I set Poppy down, burying my face in Candace’s chest. 

Her cheeks turned bright pink just thinking about it. “I do too…”

Notes:

Updated 5/17/2022

I'm so very proud of the story up to this point and i'm so happy i finally got to this part of the story!
I had been planning on revealing the secret of their rivalry since the very beginning, and i'm proud of the little hints i sprinkled in since even the first chapter~
This is as far as I had planned on getting when I started the story, and though I have plans on where the story will go from here,
(((and at least one more big secret that i've been sprinkling throughout the story already)))
i need a little break from this for a little while, so as of right now Candace and Chloe are on hiatus (((while i work on another story, which i'm also super proud of))), if people like this one and want to see it continue i would love it if you'd let me know <3
i'll see you when the Matron and her Handmaiden return~

Chapter 10: Cleaning Up Her Act

“We need to talk, Chloe.”

 

For the first time in months, I woke up in an actual bed. Candace’s bed. 

I could remember every moment of last night perfectly. Waking up after my surgery, making a fool of myself in the car, and having the worst breakdown of my entire life. Yet once it was all over, Candace embraced me. She forgave me. I felt a feeling of ease in my chest knowing that she had finally forgiven me.

But I knew that it was all going to come crashing down in the morning.

 

“In just two weeks you’ve gone from trying to rip my heart out from my body, to begging for permission to sleep in my bed.”

Candace wasted no time. She had things to say and she was going to say them.

“What am I supposed to think, Chloe?” Candace paced back and forth across the parlor, barely stopping to look at me when she spoke. 

“I want to believe that you’ve learned your lesson. I want to believe that you’re ready for the next step. I want to believe that you’re ready to submit to me.” The sound of Candace’s heels clicking against the floor echoed through the halls of the otherwise empty house. “But for all I know, you’re just trying to trick me again. Maybe you’re genuinely ready for the next step, but maybe you’re just trying to get close to me so that you can try to kill me again.”

She had a point. Not even I knew the truth about how I was feeling. 

From day one I had been filled with anger and disgust and sadness, but I felt something towards Candace now, there was a part of me that wanted to be by her side for the rest of my life, and that part of me was getting bigger by the day.

Even if I did know how I felt however, I wasn’t able to respond. Candace had promptly removed the straightjacket that I’d been forced to sleep in, and instead shackled me to the large center table in the parlor so that I could watch her pace. My mouth muzzled like it was meant to be.

 

“Chloe…” Candace turned to face me, settling into the largest chair in the parlor, the seat she usually relaxed in. But she was anything but relaxed right now, her entire body tensed. Her face hidden was behind her hand, clearly trying to conceal whatever emotions she was feeling right now.

“We need to talk.” As quickly as she had sat down, she rose back to her feet, her high heels clicking loudly as she walked over to me, tipping my head forward so that she could remove my muzzle, letting it fall into my lap.

She placed one finger beneath my chin, lifting my flustered face up to look at her, giving me a gentle smile. “And we need to talk openly.”

“Candace…” I bit my lip, quickly averting my gaze from her, not wanting her to see the shame in my eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“No. I don’t want to hear that right now.” Candace sat back down in her seat, glaring at me. 

Candace was clearly waiting for me to say something, but I couldn’t manage to find the words to respond with. Last night was one of the worst nights of my life, and I couldn’t have been more ashamed of myself. I couldn’t speak, but I could nod. 

“This conversation isn’t going to work unless you speak, Chloe.” My silence clearly frustrated her. Here she was trying to have an open conversation with me, treating me like an actual human for possibly the first time ever. “You’re not going to get in trouble for saying something you’re not supposed to, okay?”

“You promise?” My voice was shaky and terrified, not fully sure if I could trust what she was saying. 

“I promise.” 

 

“I don’t know how I feel Candace…” I bit my lip nervously, struggling not to fall apart where I sat. “I’m hurt… I feel violated… I feel terrified… and I feel alone…”

“I know you do… and some of that’s on purpose, but…” Candace sighed. It was clearly a big topic to start off with, but she was glad that I spoke. “I’ve done us both a great disservice by keeping you at arm's length like I have.”

“How do you mean?”

“I mean I’ve done all these things to make you hate me, and it all worked…” She once again hid her gaze from view, not wanting to meet my eyes with hers. “When I don’t really want you to hate me.”

This was evidently a very difficult conversation for Candace to have, even harder than it was for me, because she knew that everything that she was feeling was her own fault. 

“I’m not going to sidestep what I want anymore, Chloe. You belong to me and you are going to do as I tell you, and there really isn’t anything you can do about it.” She paused, trying not to let her voice crack. “But at the same time, I want to be more open with you… because I want us to be closer.”

I swallowed nervously, looking up into her eyes and nodding. “What happens now?”

“I thought hiding things up my sleeve was the best way to keep you contained… But I now realize that that was a mistake.” She paused, thinking it over. “I’m going to tell you how my security system works.”

It was a little bit shocking to hear her say, she had always kept as much information as she could secreted away from me. “Wait, what? why?”

“My hope is that if you know exactly what you’re up against… You’ll realize how futile it is to try and escape.”

“Okay…”

“Where to start…” She stopped, taking a deep breath. “Okay-”

 

“That collar is capable of doing a lot more than just electrocuting you. First of all, I can hear everything that happens around you, there’s a microphone built into the band. Second, the collar has needles discreetly built into it to inject sedatives into your neck when I need them to. Thirdly…” She tapped her foot, trying to find the words she wanted to say. “It can explode, at the press of a button.”

“Yeah, and?” None of this was surprising for me to hear. “This is all stuff you would do, I’m not really surprised-”

“Well would you be surprised if I told you there’s a basement?” Candace interrupted.

I paused, caught completely off guard by the idea. “Yes…”

There’s a basement???

“Let’s go take a walk.”

 

Candace made me stay put while she went to grab something from her bedroom, returning with the very same leash she led me around the house on during my first day, attaching it to my collar and giving it a firm tug, before giving me a light flick on my septum ring. 

“I trust that you won’t try to pull anything, or you’ll make your master quite upset.”

“I won’t, I promise.” I swallowed nervously, trying my best to smile at her. 

“Do as I say, and you won’t get punished alright?” Candace released the chains from my wrists, then lifted my chin with one hand, looking me straight in the eyes. “Now follow me.”

 

I can do this. I can do as I’m told. I nervously followed behind Candace, trying not to let my leash pull taut. Don’t fuck this up. Don’t upset her. Just do what she says and don’t disobey. 

“Relax, Chloe.” Candace could tell how tense I was getting, giving me a nice firm tug on my collar. “I have you right here, just to be safe.” 

Candace led me by the neck to the lounge, I quickly realized that the reason she was telling me to relax was also to try and get herself to calm down, she was clearly just as on edge as I was. I couldn’t imagine what sort of mental gymnastics she had to perform to come to the decision of telling me all of these things. The things she was about to show me were the very things she counted on to keep me from trying to escape, or even worse, attacking her again.

Candace headed straight for the corner of the room, towards the one painting that I wasn’t allowed to touch, but strangely enough, my collar wasn’t going off like it usually did when I got too close to it.

 

“Who is she?” I stopped, admiring the woman in the painting. I had always wondered who it was that made the painting so important to her.

“My mother.” Candace paused, unable to look at the painting for very long. “She passed away several years ago.”

“She looks beautiful.” I wrapped my hands around the chain dangling from my neck, looking up at Candace. “Is that why I’m not allowed to touch it?”

“Not exactly.” She smiled, pulling on the chain playfully. “Watch this.”

My beautiful blonde captor slowly began running her fingers over the top of the picture frame, before stopping and seemingly reaching behind the painting itself. There was a small click, and then suddenly the whole wall seemed to swivel in place a bit, just enough to get a grip on it and pull it out fully, which Candace promptly did. 

“The stairway to the basement is hidden behind a secret door, which would be why you’re not allowed to touch the painting… In addition to it being my most valuable possession.” Candace smirked, a faint blush on her cheeks. “Aside from you, of course~”

My blush was not so faint. It shouldn’t have been so embarrassing to hear, especially considering that I was standing in the lounge completely naked.

“Come on, we’re going downstairs~” Candace pulled me to her with the leash, sending me down into the basement ahead of her, the lights turning on by themselves as we walked down.

“Now usually I wake you up at a very specific time, but I woke you up early today, so Malcolm probably isn’t awake yet.”

“Malcolm?” I stepped onto the carpeted floor of the basement, landing in a large entertainment room, with Candace following shortly behind me. “What does Malcolm being awake have to do with anything?”

“Because Malcolm lives here.” Candace stepped past me, making sure the door back up to the ground floor was locked behind us before heading into the next room. “Let’s go look at his office before he starts his work, shall we?”

“Malcolm lives here?” I followed Candace into the next room, my leash forcing me to stay at her hip. 

“He lives and works here.” Candace showed me into a room filled with monitors, very clearly a surveillance room for the entire house. “Another little secret I’ve been keeping from you~”

“What does he do?” I glanced wide-eyed at each of the monitors, realizing how stupid my question sounded. “I thought he was your personal assistant?”

“He was my personal assistant.” Candace slid the chair out from the desk, taking a seat in it and tugging on my leash. “But once I got you, I needed somebody to keep an eye on you~”

“You mean he watches me from in the basement?” It should have been obvious to me, but not knowing that the basement existed was enough to keep me from the realization.

“From every room in the house~” Candace yanked on my leash, forcing me into her lap as she showed me the setup of the surveillance system. “I’m showing you this to scare you away from doing something that will get you in trouble.”

“From every single room?” I take note of every single monitor, clinging onto the quickly fleeting hope that there was any way out of my captivity.

“Your cell, foyer, parlor, hallway, kitchen, dining room, wardrobe room, hallway, Thea and Sophia’s room~” Candace stopped to snicker at me, reminding me about how she stole my name and gave it to one of her cats. “Cat’s bathroom, gaming room, gaming bathroom, hallway, porch, closet, master bathroom… and thanks to your stunt two weeks ago, I had to install a camera in my bedroom.”

“Is that why he didn’t see it happen?” I swallowed nervously, looking up at Candace from her lap.

“Yes…” Candace rolled her eyes, gesturing towards all of the different rooms. “But that’s not the case anymore… we can see you from everywhere~”

I glance over each of the cameras one more time. “Is there a camera in the guest bedroom… attached to the foyer?”

“That’s not a room you’re allowed into, so no.” Candace smiled, still gently tugging at my leash.

“Are you going to show me what’s in there too?” I bit my lip, feeling Candace slip a couple of her fingers under my collar. 

“Unfortunately not~” Candace pulled on my collar, admiring the naked girl in her lap. “I’m afraid that’s going to have to stay a secret for another day.”

“I thought you wanted to be more open with me?” I bit my lip, looking up at her in confusion.

“I am being more open with you, I’m showing you all of this aren’t I?” Candace shook her head, gesturing to the cameras again. “The guest bedroom isn’t another dirty little secret I promise… It’s pleasant surprise for another day~”

“A pleasant surprise?” I grip the chain in both hands, not trying to take it away from Candace, but still trying to use it for support. “What kind of pleasant surprise?”

“Well… Since the point is to discourage you from exhibiting any disobedience towards me…” Candace grinned eagerly, slipping her fingers back out from under my collar. “If you’re good and learn to behave, that will eventually be your room~”

“You really think you have the chops to decorate a bedroom for me?” I scoff, giggling to myself.

“Quiet you~” Candace flicked me on my nose. “I have your precious Calliope in my garage already, don’t I?”

“You know the name of my car?” I wriggled my nose, looking up at her with a look of concern on my face. 

“I know the petname your ex-boyfriend used to call you, don’t look surprised.” Candace smiled, glancing over towards the door into the room and pausing, going very quiet. 

 

“Good morning, Candace~” 

Malcolm’s awake.

“Good morning, Malcolm!!”

Malcolm yawned, stepping into the room. “You’re up early, huh?”

“I had something I needed to attend to this morning~” Candace giggled, pressing the tip of her index finger into my nose, the swivel chair still facing away from her assistant.

Malcolm leaned against the doorway, a mug of what looked like coffee but smelled like hot chocolate in his hand. “That being?”

Candace gave me an evil grin, before spinning the chair around to face Malcolm, leaving me no time to hide my body before it was exposed to her personal assistant. If this was a cartoon, he would have dropped his mug onto the floor in shock.

“Good morning, Malcolm…” I blushed, waving at him.

“Ah, ah, ah!!” Candace quickly scolded me. “Ma’ams and Sirs only, show respect.”

I bit my lip nervously, quickly amending my greeting. “Good morning, Sir.”

“Good morning, Chloe~” He brought his mug to his lips, looking over my completely naked body. 

I blushed, trying to hide my tits behind my arms and crossing my legs. “He’s already seen you naked, Chloe.” Candace evidently didn’t like seeing me trying to hide my naked body, if only because it meant that she couldn’t see my tits herself.

“Don’t worry honey, I’m not into girls~” Malcolm winked at me, giving me a friendly smile. “So what’s the meaning of this, Can?”

“I thought I’d change my tactics… I’m showing Chloe the types of defenses I have in place." Candace smiled at him, wrapping her arm around my waist and gently holding me. “To try and teach her how futile it is to try and escape… in the hopes that she’ll realize that she needs to give up~”

“And how’s that going for you?” Malcolm’s grin was just as smug as Candace’s.

“I think she’s beginning to get it~” Candace smiled at me, running her fingers along my hip. “Aren’t you, Chloe?”

“Yes, Ma’am…” I bite my lip, casting my gaze down to the floor in shame.

 

She was right, I really was beginning to think that escaping from here was literally impossible, but strangely enough, there was some comfort in that. Maybe I really should just give up, it would make things a whole lot easier for me, and maybe my life would get a lot better from there. 

We came back upstairs after a while, with Candace closing the secret door behind us. I stepped away from the painting, looking it over again. In retrospect, Candace’s mother looked a lot like her, with her platinum blonde hair and strange red eyes. 

“Why are your eyes red, Candace?” I couldn’t stop the words from leaving my mouth, but almost instantly regretted saying it after I had done so. 

“First of all, only one of my eyes is red.” She pointed at her left eye before moving on to pointing at her right eye. “My right eye is actually blue.”

I crossed my arms, waiting for her to answer my question. 

“Like I said last night, I inherited albinism from my mother.” Candace admired the painting of her mom, smiling happily. “But just one of my eyes ended up with the red tint.”

“And that boy in the painting with her-” I stepped towards her, pointing out the young boy in the woman’s arms. I wasn’t sure who he was, but he also had that same red tint in his left eye that Candace and her mother had. “Who is he?”

Candace paused, trying to find the words to answer with. “He’s… not somebody I really want to talk about right now…”

I paused, unsure if I should press the issue any further. “Don’t want to open up about that either?” 

“No, not really…” Candace sighed. “Come on.”

Candace led me to the gaming room, stopping outside the door and pressing her finger to her bracelet, waiting for the door to swing open on its own. “Inside, sweetie.”

I stepped inside, waiting for Candace to follow me in before I could sit down on the couch. 

“As you can see, I can open, close, lock, and unlock each and every door from my bracelet~” Candace gestured for me to sit, getting quite annoyed at me when I sat down in the wrong spot. “You are a slave. Sit on the floor, like a slave.” She scoffed at me. “It’s not difficult.”

“It is for me!!” I shouted back at her, before quickly recoiling away, standing up from the couch and setting myself down on the floor. “It’s difficult for me…”

Candace took a deep breath, gently letting out slack in my leash. “You’re not in trouble, Chloe. I told you that you wouldn’t get in trouble as long as you do as I say, and I meant it.”

“I know how to be your maid, but…” My face turned red, and I wasn’t sure if it did so out of anger or out of embarrassment. “I don’t know how to be your slave.”

“You were never trained to be such…” Candace sighed, giving me a gentle tug on my leash to pull me to her feet. “Another shortcoming on my part… for keeping you at arm’s length like I have, and never teaching you.”

Candace clearly expected this open conversation to be less one-sided, but I was struggling to find anything that I wanted to say to her. Any complaint I could make was ultimately going to be shut down, because Candace was going to get what she wanted. 

“What did you expect to accomplish from having this conversation…” I curled up, pulling my knees to my chest, not wanting to look at her. “Some sort of demented bonding exercise?”

“There was something different about you after you woke up from your surgery.” Unlike me however, Candace had words to say, and she knew how to say them. “Now I know that you weren’t in your right mind, but I’m sure that what I saw from you came from somewhere.”

I paused, shuddering at the memories from the previous night, remembering everything that I said to her. “I had been drugged-”

“You flirted with me in the car. You begged to sleep in my bed. You called me Master… You trusted me.” Candace began wrapping my leash around her hand, situating me on the floor in front of the couch, right next to her foot. “Even if you were drugged, there’s something there, Chloe.”

“Whatever you saw, it’s not real!!” I turned to face her, crying out in anger. I knew she was right, but I didn’t want her to be.

“There’s something between us, Chloe. But you have this shield you put up. You and I both know it’s there, and you’re hiding behind it.” Candace lifted one foot, kicking me in the forehead gently, making a point of batting at my thick skull. “Last night you got that shield torn away from you, and you let yourself go… if you would just drop your shield and give in to those desires, there would be something more between us than just master and maid.”

“But I-” I swallowed nervously. She’s right… why is she always right… why can’t I do this…

“I can’t read your thoughts Chloe… I know there’s something more going on in that head of yours that I don’t get to see. That’s why I want to have this conversation.” Candace took her foot and slid her big toe under my collar, pulling me back to her. 

“I order you to drop those shields you’re hiding behind and speak your mind to me… tell me what you want, what you’re thinking, what you’re feel-”

“You’re right.” I cut her off before she could finish, looking up at her, tears welling up in the corners of my eyes. “I hate that you’re always right.”

She smiled eagerly. “And what else do you hate?”

“I hate you…” I reached up, my cheeks pink as I wiped the tears away.

“And do you think that hating me is going to get you anywhere?” Candace’s voice was calm and peaceful as she spoke. “It’s not going to.”

“I know it’s not, I just-” I shook my head. “I don’t know what else to think.”

“Only you know what you think, Chloe.” She tugged on the leash. “Now out with it…”

“I…” I bit my lip, thoroughly ashamed of what I was about to say. “I’m in love with you… Candace.”

“Continue~” Candace smiled, nodding for me to keep talking. 

“You… You’re a monster, a-and I hate what you’ve done to me… I started at just doing as I was told to keep myself from getting hurt, but now I- I do what I’m told to make you happy” I hung my head in shame, looking down at the ground. “I can’t stop thinking about you… a-and it’s disgusting!! You did this to me!!! You’ve fucked with my head, and now all I can think about is you!!”

“That’s not such a bad thing, now is it?” Candace hummed to herself, the words coming out of my mouth being like music to her ears.

“I feel like it should be, but I don’t know anymore.” I took a deep breath, ashamed that even Candace’s humming made me happy. “You don’t have to worry about me attacking you again… Because-”

“Because of what, exactly?” Candace lifted my head up with her foot, forcing me to look in her eyes as I talked.

“Because I could have killed you last time and I didn’t-” I choked on my words, gazing up into her beautiful mismatched eyes. “I couldn’t… because I love you… because you’ve broken me…”
“Submission. What you’re feeling is called submission.” Candace was blushing, a happy smile painted onto her glossy lips. “You’ve grown submissive.”

You’ve lost your edge, Chloe. She’s right. Tell her she’s right.

“You’re right.” I paused, my words caught on the lump in my throat. “You’re right, and I know you’re right…”

“When you first got here, you were a stubborn little punk rock asshole… but you’ve grown submissive~” Candace gloated, basking in the feeling of being right. “Have you ever been submissive before?”

“No.” I shook my head, thinking back to my last relationship. “The opposite, actually.”

“You would do good to admit it to yourself.” Candace gently reached down, running her fingers through my orange hair. “You do as you’re told because my happiness is your happiness. You yield to my authority because that’s what feels right. You obey my orders because that’s what submissives do. There isn’t anything wrong or unnatural about that… There’s nothing to be ashamed of.” 

I tilted my head, leaning directly into her hand, wordlessly pressing my forehead against her palm.

“You’re submissive to me.” Candace rewarded my nuzzles by gently petting my head. “Which is what we both want, isn’t it?”

“Yes-” My cheeks glowed bright red, still ashamed to be admitting it. “I know that it’s hopeless. I know that there’s no escape. This is just…”

“The hardest thing you’ll ever have to do.” Candace finished my sentiment for me. “You’re like me. You never give up…Even when you know it’s impossible.”

I shook my head, tears welling up in my eyes again. “Never…”

“Sophia Cavalier would never give up… but Chloe will.” Candace’s hand pulled away from my head, trailing down to my collar and firmly grabbing a hold of it. “You’re going to give up… because I’m telling you to give up~”

“Yes, Ma’am.” I bit my lip, tears beginning to stream down my cheeks. “I give up.”

“Good girl.” Candace lifted my chin up to look at her, watching her as she pulled a small metal device out of her pocket, squeezing it in her hand.

 

Click!

 

I stared up at the device, astonished to realize what it was for. I may not have ever owned a dog, but I knew exactly what that sound was and what it was used for. Clicker training.

“I- I’m not a dog…”

“You are whatever I say you are.” Candace slowly let go of my collar, shaking her head at me. “If I say that you’re a dog… Then you’re a dog~”

I bit my lip, my face turning pink in embarrassment. “But why the clicker?”

“I’m changing my approach, remember?” Candace twirled the clicker in her hand by its wrist strap. “No more keeping you at arm’s length, no more negative reinforcement… We’re going to try positive reinforcement~”

“Positive reinforcement?” I paused, missing the feeling of her hand on my head. “How?”

“Simple. I’m going to give you orders, and if you fulfill them to my satisfaction, in addition to getting to hear this lovely little clicker go off… you’ll get a little buzz~” 

“A buzz?” I furled my eyebrows, looking up at her in disbelief. 

“Like so~” Candace cut off any train of thought I might have had by pressing the button again, and as she did so, the collar around my neck began to vibrate.

Damn it, you’re good~ 

 

“Unfortunately, that will be all the fun we have time for right now. We seem to have gotten sidetracked.” Candace crossed her legs. “Back to the topic at hand.”

“What were we talking about?” I nervously bit my lip, my train of thought getting lost with the vibrating collar.

“Your submission. How you belong to me, why trying to escape is futile, and what will happen to us both if you don’t learn your place…” Candace paused, trying to keep herself calm. “Since we’re talking openly… I think it’s important for you to know that my father doesn’t like you.”

“Your father?” I hadn’t thought about Candace’s father, she never usually mentioned him. Evidently there was a reason for that.

“My father hates you, Chloe. He has disapproved of my decision to claim you since even before I went through with it.” Candace scoffed. “You aren’t like Liz, you didn’t come to me through the facility… You’ve had all of the physical modifications that a facility girl has had, but you haven’t been trained.” 

Lucky me. 

“If this doesn’t start working out soon… I will have no choice but to send you to the facility.” Candace’s face turned stern, not wanting to entertain the thought of it. “My father will give me no choice but to send you to the facility.”

“What’s the facility?” My heart began to ache, not wanting to think of the kinds of things that might happen to me there. “Is that bad? What will happen to me there?”

“You will be trained, taught how to be a proper slave.” Candace was choking on her words, there was clearly something she wasn’t telling me. 

“What’s wrong with that? What will they do to me?” I could barely keep myself from climbing into her lap, settling on grabbing a hold of her leg, looking up at her from the floor below.

“Like I said, you’ve had all of the physical modifications that any other facility girl would have.” She reached down, grabbing a hold of the tag on my ear. “You have your tag, you have electric implants in your arms, you even have a tracking chip embedded in your ass~”

“But what, Candace?!” I shouted. “You said you were going to tell me everything-”

“If you go to the facility, you’ll have to have your brands burned over!!!”

 

I froze. My brands? It never occurred to me that Candace would ever want to have my brands replaced or covered. 

She branded me with her initials, as a sign of her ownership.

“...Why would my brands be a problem?” The thought of having my brands burned over was enough to quickly bring me to tears. 

And I could see that it was enough to bring Candace to tears as well, tears rolling down her cheeks harder than I’d ever seen them. 

“Because if I have to send you to the facility, you won’t be coming back to me…”

No…

“I won’t have a choice. I’ve fucked this all up from the beginning.” She struggled to choke back her tears. “If I can’t get my father to approve of us… you’ll get taken to the facility, trained, and sold off to someone else…”

I bit my lip, my throat bubbling with rage. “Isn’t there some other way… can’t you come up with an alternative-”

“That is the alternative, Chloe…” Candace wiped the tears from her eyes, slowly settling down.

I wasn’t even sure that I wanted an answer to the question I was about to ask. “Alternative to what?”

“Doing what they did to my mother.” Candace reached down, wiping the tears from my eyes as well. “Having you euthanized…”

I climbed into her arms, unable to sit still anymore. Leaving my place on the floor and joining Candace on the couch was an act of disobedience, but it was one she was willing to let slide. Allowing me to sit in her lap, holding onto me as tight as she could. “I can’t let that happen to you, Chloe.” She stroked my hair, letting my cry into her shoulder like I had the previous night. “I’d be happier knowing that you belonged to someone else… instead of knowing that I was the reason you were put down.”

 

“But I belong to you!!!” 

It was humiliating saying it out loud, but it was true. No matter what I said, I belonged to Candace Amelia Saint Clair, and there was no one in the world I’d rather submit to.

Admit it, Chloe. You know you want this.

“I know I haven’t been perfect…” 

Why can’t you just give in? Why can’t I just give in? 

“B-but I’m trying my best…”

Stop lying to yourself. Stop lying to her.

“I- I’ve been troublesome-”

You know what she wants to hear. Tell her what she wants to hear.

“But, I…”

Submit to her.

“This is my fault, not yours. I need to do better… And I’m going to do better.” I pried myself from her chest, working up the strength to look her in the eyes. “I’ve been stupid. Stubborn. Arrogant. Selfish. Disobedient. Mean. Violent. Rude. Disrespectful. Immature. Disruptive. Unruly. Hostile. Defiant. I’ve done everything wrong.”

Candace quickly composed herself, looking me in the eyes and nodding.

“That changes now.” I held my breath, ready to finally prove myself ready for whatever Candace has planned for me. “Let me be your handmaiden.”

“My handmaiden?” Candace paused, thinking it over. “Do you believe that you deserve such a title?”

“No, I don’t.” I bowed my head, looking down at her lap. “But I would like the chance to earn it, please.”

 

“You’ve told me so many times that you were going to do better.” Candace stood up, staring down at me from in front of the large wall monitor. “What’s different this time?”

“I’m not doing it for me this time.” Following her lead, I removed myself from the couch, kneeling at her feet. “I’m doing this for you.”

“And what are you going to do for me?” Candace extended her right leg forward, placing it in front of me expectantly.

“Everything. Everything I do from now on, it will all be for you.” I took Candace’s foot in my hand, gently kissing her soft skin. “I will submit to you.”

“Do you think that will be enough?” Candace crossed her hands behind her back, looking down at me from above.

“No. My submission is worthless without your hand to guide me.” I reached up, holding out a hand for hers. “I’m nothing before you.”

“Very well…” She extended her hand, letting me take a hold of it. “I will train you to become my handmaiden.”

“Thank you, Candace.” I gently placed a soft kiss on the back of her hand, bowing my head in submission. “Master.”

“It would seem that we’ve come to an agreement, then.” Candace pulled her hand away, holding both hands behind her back. “Our open conversation has concluded.”

“Of course~” Candace couldn’t tell, but she had succeeded in scaring me away from disobeying, just not in the way that she expected. “What now, Miss?”

“Cast your gaze downwards unless directed, speak only when spoken to, and be sure to address me with respect at all times.” Candace smiled eagerly, ready to give her slave another chance. “Once you’ve gotten the basics down, we will move on to your first proper lesson~”

“Yes Ma’am… Thank you~” I smiled happily, gazing down at the floor.

“Good girl.” Candace smiled, pulling the clicker from her pocket. 

 

Click!

Notes:

What do you mean I'm supposed to be on hiatus?

Chapter 11: Sink or Swim

“I am going to recite to you, verbatim, the tenets of your new existence.” Candace stood over her kneeling slave, looking down from above. “Take notes Chloe, because I expect you to memorize these~”

 

“One. Know your place. You have a role to play. You have a purpose, and it is important that you know what that purpose is. As a slave, your purpose is whatever your master says that it is, no matter how big or small. Recognize that you are below your master, and remember your place and purpose.”

“Two. Know your master. You have a master, and you need to know who your master is. You belong to them, and that puts them above all others. They are the center of your world. Know what they need, know what they want, know how to serve them. Their happiness is what is most important.”

“Three. Show respect. You are a slave, not a person. All others are above you and they deserve to be respected. Put yourself below all others, but show respect to your master first and foremost. As a slave, your master is above all others, and you are below all others.”

“Four. Do as you are told. Obey your master at all times. When your master tells you to do something, you are to do it. No matter what they tell you to do, you are to follow your master’s directions.”

“Five. Do not fight back. Your master deserves your full respect and cooperation. Do not disobey orders. Do not talk back. Do not disagree with them. Your master is the only thing that matters, and you are not to fight back.”

“Six. Act out of love, not out of fear. Your master has the right to do whatever they want to you, and you need to accept that. Always be sure that you are acting out of your love for your master, and not out of fear of what they will do to you. Always show your master that you love them, and that their happiness is your priority.”

“Seven. Identify with your master. As a slave, you are not an individual, you are a possession. Identify as your master’s slave, rather than identifying as your own person. Let yourself be viewed as your master’s slave, and nothing more. Be an extension of them, let them make your decisions, let them fulfill your needs, let them do your thinking for you.”

“Eight. Be vulnerable. Make life as pleasant as possible for your master. Open yourself up to them, trust them. Show your master that you are vulnerable to them. Show them that you are powerless. Let them touch you, let them hurt you, let them humiliate you.”

“Nine. Be adaptable. Learn from your mistakes. Show your master that you will bend to their will. Be open to anything and everything your master says, even if it goes against what you want. Your master’s desires will change, and you must change to suit their desires.”

“Ten. Strive for perfection. Don’t just do as you’re told, make your master proud. Do everything in your power to be more than what your master expects and demands from you, even if they don’t notice. The little things that you do for your master will mean a lot to them. Strive to be the best slave your master could wish for.”

“These ten principles are taught to all who enter through the facility, and no slave comes out before they have memorized them all. Though they are not quite rules per say, they are essentially guidelines for how you, Chloe, as well as all other slaves, are to conduct your life.”

 

It was a lot to take in, but I didn’t have a choice. Candace was my master now, and if I was going to become her handmaiden I needed to learn to live how Candace wanted me to live. Candace wanted me to memorize this list of guidelines, and I was going to do it.

“I won’t make you repeat them back to me immediately, but I will be having you try to repeat them every day before and after you sleep. Any questions?”

“None yet, Ma’am.” I swallowed nervously, looking up at her from the parlor floor, watching her sit herself in her chair. “What are we doing now?”

“Now we’re going to practice basic etiquette, you’re being trained remember?” Candace crossed her legs, thoroughly looking me over. “What comes to your mind when I mention basic etiquette, slave?”

“...rules?” I bit my lip, answering questions as I was required, but having little confidence that my answer was the correct one. 

“In a way, yes… but they do fall more into guidelines as well~” Candace grinned eagerly. “I’ll tell you what I expect from your etiquette, and if I see you forgetting any of them, I will lash you, and you will graciously accept your punishment, understood?”

“Yes, Ma’am…” My voice quivered nervously.
“You’re doing this for me, remember~” She sighed happily, gesturing for me to stand up. “Go get me a drink, and then we’ll begin.”

 

I didn’t realize it until I got back, but Candace was sending me to the kitchen to make an example of me, to critique my performance. She took the glass of tea with one hand, gripping the clicker in her other hand. “Here you are~”

Candace didn’t say thank you, but she didn’t need to, I shouldn’t expect her to. I should do as I’m told without expecting praise or commendation in return, even though I really wanted some. 

She held the clicker up so that I could see it, her thumb on the button. “Your etiquette needs some work, Chloe… though I have seen worse. You did as you were told, and that’s step one.”

Click!!

“However, you will need to learn to hold your tongue, I expect you to speak only when spoken to, or with explicit permission, which you did not have… apologize.”

“I’m sorry, Ma’am…”

“There’s the respect I’ve been looking for, you forgot that too when you were speaking out of line, I expect to hear you address me with a title… apologize, and do it properly.”

“I’m sorry again, Ma’am.” I looked down at the floor, not wanting to see the disappointment in her eyes. I thought I was doing well…

Click!!

My heart fluttered with excitement, hearing her press the button on the clicker. 

“Just like that, cast your gaze downwards when it’s not needed… You wouldn’t want to accidentally make eye contact with an actual person, would you?” Candace giggled to herself. “And don’t look so glum, it’s a learning experience… not a lot of girls get to be trained directly by their master, Chloe. You should feel honored.”

I let out a sigh of relief, unable to help myself from smiling. “I am honored, Master… thank you…”

“Worry not, you’ll learn. But I need to see that you’re putting the work in.” Candace fiddled with her bracelet and then pointed down the hallway, towards her bedroom door. “Now go fetch me the implement of your demise, the chest should be open.”

I hesitated, wanting to make sure I got everything right this time. I’m being spoken to, right? That means I can ask questions can’t I? Speak when spoken to? I caught myself just before I tilted my head up to look at her, not sure whether or not I was supposed to look up when I spoke. This is a lot harder than I expected, or am I just making this more complicated for myself? Am I overthinking this? Oh, I don’t know what to think. 

Candace brought the glass of tea up to her lips, tilting her head at me in confusion. She obviously wanted me to have been gone by the time she finished taking a drink. “Is there a problem, Chloe?” The mistress didn’t want to assume that her slave was being disobedient, it seemed quite unlikely after the type of morning they had. “You do understand that time is of the essence don’t you? You aren’t being disobedient are you?”

“No Ma’am, I’m not. I’m just… nervous. I want to get this perfectly right.”

“No slave gets things perfectly right on their first try, Chloe.”

“I’ve been working for you for months, I should be able to do this…”

“But you haven’t yet been properly trained, that’s what all of this is for.”

“I know, Miss… but if I don’t get this right, you’ll hit me.”

“Yes, you’re right.” Candace sighed, taking another sip from her glass of tea. “But that’s not your place to worry about is it, slave?”

I paused, seriously trying not to overthink it, but failing drastically. “...no?”

“You shouldn’t be acting out of fear of punishment should you?” Candace held the empty glass of tea out for me to take from her. “You should be acting out of love… do your best to make me happy, and if you get punished for making a mistake, you get punished… but it’s really not your place to worry about. Worry about making me happy, and if you make a mistake, accept your punishment… and be happy about it, it means you won’t repeat your mistakes.”

 

Again, it was a lot to take in, all of the numerous tenets seemed to mix and tangle together all at once, and I was terrible at not overcomplicating things. But I took a deep breath, enjoying the scent of Candace’s breath on the empty glass she had handed off to me, and thought to myself how exactly I could make her happy. “Which implement would you like, Master?”

“Something to lash you with.” Candace wiped her hands free of the wet residue from the glass, examining her nails to make sure the colors hadn’t faded. 

I swallowed nervously, knowing very well that she planned on doing just that when I returned. “And would you like another drink, Master?”

“I don’t really care, now go.” Candace shooed me away with her hand.

I quickly complied, setting the empty glass in the kitchen sink before heading straight into the master bedroom, opening the large black chest beside the metal hatch in the corner of the room. 

It was full of all sorts of terrible tools and implements, restraints, toys, paddles, crops, chains, but Candace wanted something to lash me with. I wanted something that wouldn’t sting too badly, but what I wanted didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered right now was her. Something that’s fun for her… 

I dug through the array of lashes and made my choice, cracking the long charcoal whip in my hands, swallowing nervously at the thought of finding myself on the receiving end of it. For her…

I closed the chest, exited back into the hallway, and made sure that her bedroom light was off. She might have been rich, but I didn’t want her electricity bill to run too high. Then I was off, back to the parlor. 

Or, maybe not- She said she didn’t care, but… I stopped, glancing down the hallway back to the kitchen, wondering whether I really should fetch her a refill. Don’t just do as you’re told…

It may have been an unnecessary detour, but I fetched my master a second glass of tea, holding it in both hands to ensure that it didn’t spill, the whip slung over one of my forearms, as balanced as I could make it. This time I didn’t forget my manners, I didn’t speak, I didn’t look up, I just presented my offerings to Candace. 

She looked over both the glass and the whip, she wasn’t exactly surprised… she actually seemed like she wasn’t sure whether she was surprised, she didn’t know what to expect, but she seemed pleased with the offerings. 

Taking her whip into her hands, she smirked mischievously at me, and then I realized that this was another test. “Turn around, present your back~”

I took a deep breath, hearing the ice cubes rattle against the glass, still in my hands as I turned to face the opposite direction. She was going to see whether I would actually graciously accept a lashing like I was supposed to. For just a moment I wasn’t sure whether or not I could do it, I didn’t want to know what being whipped felt like… but I was about to find out… and I was going to be happy about it. “Yes, Master.”

Normally the feeling of the cold glass in my hands would have been the most unpleasant sensation I’d have to endure, but I wasn’t going to have to worry about that for long. She didn’t expect me to be able to keep a hold of the full glass of tea for the duration of my lashing, and I didn’t either. I didn’t need to get her a refill, going without it would have been the easy thing to do, setting it down would have been the easy thing to do, but I wasn’t supposed to do the easy thing, I was supposed to do whatever made Candace happy. Whatever happens, happens. I can do this.

It was like a thousand slaps to the face, all at once. My bare skin burned with each subsequent snap of the whip. But it didn’t burn quite like my brands had. My brands…

I felt the cold chill leave my hands, my entire body on fire. I knew better than to expect myself to hold onto the glass without it slipping away, but I had done my best. 

Crack!! Bullseye. A single snap of the whip landed it directly onto my brand, just above my tailbone. It stung worse than it ever had before, sending all the pain that I’d experienced receiving my brands coursing through my body all over again. 

I held onto that, clinging to the pain of my brand for support, pulling it in close. That brand was going to get me through this beating, that brand was going to get me through this training, that brand was going to keep me from being torn away from the woman I loved, I couldn’t let it get taken from me, I wasn’t going to let that happen. The cold sting in my hands and burning heat in my skin was nothing compared to the scorching chill of being branded as Candace’s property, her slave. 

This one is mine. She had written her name on me, and that’s how you knew I belonged to her. It has my name on it. That means it’s mine. 

 

I desperately gasped for breath once it was over, the glass hadn’t shattered, but it did spill the entirety of its contents onto the floor. I stopped, trying to figure out what she would want me to do now, kneeling on the floor in front of her and not looking up. 

“Somebody has to be to blame for spilling tea all over my floor, do you know who that might be?”

“It’s me, Ma’am… I’m to blame.”

“Right answer, now clean it.” 

Test passed. Cleaning was nothing to me now, I wiped Candace’s floors for a living now, despite not getting paid for it. “Would you like me to clean it with my mouth or with a mop?”

Candace paused for a moment, taken aback by my sudden eagerness to serve her with my mouth. “Let’s not get the mop all dirty just for this~”

Leaving the cleaning supplies in the closet, I licked the tea off the floor with just my tongue. It wasn’t too bad, I cleaned this floor twice a day, making sure it was always spotless. The only thing that I could think of that had touched this floor were Candace’s feet, and I didn’t much mind the thought of Candace’s feet in my mouth. But clearly I was forgetting something, because after a minute or so, my tongue started tingling. 

“Right, Sophia.” Candace shook her head, noticing that my tongue had started bothering me.

I froze in place as soon as I heard that name, barely able to keep myself from looking up at her. Hearing that name still got to me, it bothered me more than anything else did.

“Not you, Chloe. Sophia.” She paused, sighing to herself. “She’s been shedding. Getting cat hair all over the floor. On your tongue. I swear, Thea never shed, but she had been getting hair all over the place.”

“Right. I forgot…” I bowed my head, still not looking up at her. “Sorry, Ma’am.”

“It’s alright, doll.” Candace retrieved the clicker device from her pocket, pressing down on the button.

Click!!

“That’s for getting it right this time, good girl.” Candace stood, holding the clicker out to me. “This device will be your lifeline~”

“My lifeline?” I swallowed nervously. 

“It’s August now, so I’m going to give you until the first of September.” 

It’s August already?? I had no idea what month it was even, the many weeks since I’d arrived here had melded together. “First of September for what, Ma’am?”

“To earn one hundred clicks~”

“One hundred??? How am I supposed to get one hundred of them???” 

“By performing exceptionally as a slave, and earning them.”

“Well what day is it now?” I could count, I had thirty one days at most, but without knowing the exact date, I had no idea what sort of time crunch I’d be on. “How long do I have?”

“The little number crunching gamer brain you’ve got there is so cute, but I can’t tell you that, Chloe.”

“Why not?”

“Because that would be cheating, it’s disingenuous. I want you on your best behavior at all times, not trying to count how many clicks you need each day before the deadline.”

“But what happens if I don’t make the deadline?”

“I can’t tell you that, either~”

“Candace, please!!”

“...What was that?”

“I-” I stopped, amending myself and bowing my head. “Please, Master.”

“Chloe… As you have seen, I’m not close-fisted when it comes to awarding you for good behavior. I will of course count the ones you’ve already received towards your total, you’ve gotten five today, and you didn’t even know that you needed them. But you got those because you were on your best behavior… I want all of them to be like that.”

“So all I need is to do as I’m told and not misbehave?” 

“Not quite… Yes, that will get you part of the way there, but I need more from you than just that. I need exceptional behavior.”

“So… Make you happy?”

“Make me happy~”

“Yes, Master.” 

Candace smiled, giving me a wink as she pressed the button again. 

Click!!

“Follow me, let’s take a walk.”

 

↞✶↠

 

Candace opened up the door into the large wardrobe room, stepping into the large space filled with a terrifying array of clothes. “What’s your favorite color, slave?”

“Red.” I said, biting my lip nervously. “Just like your eye, Master.”
Candace chuckled to herself, shaking her head at my silly attempt at flattery. “Yes, well… My favorite color is blue, so you’ll be wearing blue.”

“Fair enough, Ma’am.” I giggled. “What will I be wearing, exactly?”

Rather than answering, Candace just took a pair of very skimpy looking blue garments from one of the many many rows of disorganized clothes, able to find exactly what she was looking for in just a few moments. “This~”

I couldn’t tell what it was at first, but once I took a look at them my heart skipped a beat. I just stood there like an idiot, blinking at it. “What… what is this, Master?”

I knew that it was a stupid question, but I still couldn’t believe it. “What does it look like?”

“It looks like-” I swallowed, holding it to my chest. “A bathing suit… Ma’am.”

“That’s because it is a bathing suit.” Candace began looking for a bathing suit for herself. “Now put it on~”

“Wh-what for, Ma’am?” I couldn’t stop myself, I had to look up at her. 

“So that we can go swimming.” Candace furled her eyebrows at me, and in a moment I felt my gaze instinctively staring back down at the floor. 

“I promised to take you swimming, someday… In celebration of your newfound devotion to me, that someday... is today.” 

“Today?” I paused, clutching onto the clothes as hard as I could, beginning to put them on right then and there as I was told. 

“It’s August…Soon, it’ll be too cold to go swimming, and we’ll have to wait until next year… but don’t worry, even if it’s already cooling down, my pool is heated.” Candace grabbed a one piece red bathing suit for herself, winking at me as we made eye contact. “I’ll have to change in private, I’m afraid. Go wait for me in the kitchen~”

 

There was a glass of iced tea waiting for Candace by the time she’d gotten to the kitchen, as well as a slave kneeling on the floor next to the table instead of sitting in one of the seats, my eyes looking down at the ground, at her beautiful pedicured feet. 

Click!!

The collar vibrated against my throat everytime she pressed that button. It shouldn’t have felt so wonderful, but it always did. I couldn’t get enough of the metal buzzing against my skin, but I especially loved knowing that I was making her happy, that she was proud of me. 

“Very good, Chloe.” She picked up the glass, taking a sip of it before fidgeting with her bracelet ever so slightly, causing the light on my collar to slowly begin blinking blue as she unlocked and opened the sliding glass door out of the dining room, beckoning for me to follow her. “Don’t worry, your collar is waterproof.”

“Must we swim in the pool Ma’am?” I stepped onto the porch outside, looking out over the ocean towards the horizon. “Can’t we go out there?”

“Baby steps, Chloe. We’ll get there someday, but that someday will have to wait~” 

“Right… Yes, Master.” I was going to follow her to the end of the earth. Her eyes were more beautiful than any ocean, blazing brighter than any sunset. But still a part of me just wanted to dive headfirst into those endless blue depths and swim away forever. I’d dreamed of that sea ever since I first laid my eyes on it, but now I had someone I wanted to bring with me. “Someday…” 

 

The doghouse!! I’d almost forgotten about the doghouse, it was like a little bit of playground equipment just for me. I was a pretty outdoorsy person, despite being an avid video gamer, I always needed a break, I was allergic to dust after all. Hopefully now that Candace and I were growing closer, I’d get to use the doghouse more often. 

 

“Arf!!” I barked, immediately clasping my hands over my mouth. Wait. Does that count as talking? Am I allowed to do that?

I know I’m not a literal dog, but I like dogs!! I thought it would be cute… and I did begrudgingly enjoy the rare occasion when Candace called me her dog… and treated me like her dog. Wow, maybe I am a dog. 

Candace, thankfully, also thought it was cute, almost doubling over herself giggling at me. “I thought you said you weren’t a dog? What are you going to do, pup? Doggy paddle?”

“I just saw the doghouse and thought it would be cute, okay!!” I pouted, crossing my arms and glancing away from both her and the doghouse. 

“Well it was cute!! And it was pathetic, just how I like you~” Candace stood at the edge of the pool, tying her hair back behind her head. “Now get in the water.”

I stood on the edge of the pool looking down, glancing at my reflection in the still surface. I couldn’t believe how much I had changed. I had become a completely different person, for better or for worse. 

“That’s an ORDER!!” I felt Candace’s hands on my back, bracing myself for the cold chill of the water as she forcefully shoved me over the edge and into the water. The cold embrace that I was waiting for never came however, as Candace’s pool really was heated, just like a warm bath. 

It was a wonder how the pool kept clean. Candace never seemed to drain or cover it, but it was completely spotless inside. She had me to clean the inside of her house, but she never made me clean out her pool. She never let me clean out her pool, she must hire someone to do that for her. The idea of her hiring someone else to clean for her made me… jealous. That’s my job…

Candace sat on the edge of the pool with her legs in the water, admiring me resurface. I was glad to have her watching over me, she was more gorgeous than any lifeguard.

I nervously swam to her. “Permission to court you, Ma’am?”

“Court me?” She pinched her legs closed, chuckling at my words in disbelief. “We are not equals, there is no courting to be done, you haven’t received permission to speak to me.”

I recoiled in place, my gaze drifting down to my own feet floating in the pool, until a moment later I felt her fingers on my skin, she didn’t hit me, she was just lifting my gaze up to meet her by my chin. “Less talk. Less speaking out of line. More service. More submission… More swimming around and looking pretty~”

I smiled, pushing myself away from the wall and back into the water. How was I supposed to make myself look pretty while swimming, I was a dog, dog’s aren’t the most elegant of swimmers. I looked very silly, and I guess it was kind of cute.

“Go ahead, do your doggy paddle for me, girl~” She smiled, splashing water at me with her foot. I did as I was told, doggy paddling my way back to her like an obedient lap dog. 

Her legs were perfectly smooth, cutting through the water like a knife. I was a short little goofball, but the shape of her body was perfect, her curves were beautiful, exquisite. 

I couldn’t help it, her body was worthy of worship.

“Why don’t we just swim naked, Ma’am?” I smiled, holding her delicate soft foot in my hands. “Wouldn’t you like that?” Candace had seen me naked countless times, I had spent much of the last few weeks completely naked, but I had never seen her naked, and I wanted to. I needed to know what she looked like beneath her clothes, beneath that gorgeous red bathing suit. 

Without answering, she slipped into the water, quickly sinking beneath me, her ponytail of platinum blonde albino hair floating behind her. 

“If I wanted you naked, I wouldn’t have had you put on that pretty little bikini~” She surfaced, splashing me from behind. 

I turned towards her, swimming towards my master. Wanting to climb all over her, to ravage her like a wolf. No. To be ravaged by her, to be her dog. Following her obediently through the rippling waves as she slowly paddled through the water. She needed no leash to pull me around, I was going to follow her to the horizon and back. 

 

And so we swam, it had been a terrible and wonderful day, but there was nowhere I would have rather been than there with her, swimming beneath the light of the sunset, gazing longingly into the light of her eyes. The deep blue ocean in her eyes, that was what I wanted, not freedom, just her. 

Candace climbed out first, sitting down at one of the poolside chairs and slowly wringing water out of her hair, gazing over at the sunset. I, like a precious little lap dog, followed shortly thereafter, kneeling beside her and leaning into one of her legs. 

“Is there a reason you so desperately want to see me naked, slave?” Candace undid the ponytail, letting her hair drip dry. “I thought you were cock obsessed, are you so deprived of material to masturbate to in that little cell of yours?”

How am I supposed to respond to that? My brain continued to overcomplicate things, I’d have to teach myself how to shut myself down. “No, Ma’am.”

“You aren’t a virgin, I assume.” 

What was that supposed to mean?

“Granted, I have seen your search history… yikes… but at least I know that little quim of yours has gotten some use.” She turned to me, snapping her fingers for me to look up at her. “I will also grant that I myself got to use that plump little body of yours just a couple weeks ago~”

My heart sank. My surgery had only been a day ago, and the thought of what happened two weeks ago was still a sore gash in my memory. She was the only thing on my mind now, but two weeks ago the only thing on my mind was how fiercely I was willing to protect my dignity, I wasn’t going to let her spay me. I didn’t want her to touch me, I fought, I almost killed her. Getting so close to killing her was what made me realize I could no longer live without her. 

She’d gotten her way, she always gets her way, she deserved to. But I had fought to try and stop that. I would have gotten to see her naked two weeks ago if I hadn’t pulled what I did. But we wouldn’t be where we are right now if I hadn’t done that. I lashed out and tried to stop her from touching me, so she knocked me unconscious and raped me. 

She raped me. Yes, of course I had had sex before, but I never been raped, never been violated like she had violated me. 

...What the fuck am I doing? My stomach churned with disgust, how could I turn myself over to a monster like her. She was a mafioso, a kidnapper, a human trafficker, and a rapist. I can’t be with her… Can I?

 

Candace continued, unable to hear the thoughts in my head, which would have inevitably gotten me thrown back into my cell. “I know you had a boyfriend, but you’re a lesbian, so I wouldn’t be too surprised if you hadn’t ever handled even just a penis before.”

That couldn’t have been further from the truth. I had lots of experience with men before in the past, and I knew my way around the penis. It was kind of an… obsession of mine, and she knew that. 

I was ashamed of it. I was a proud lesbian, but I was utterly cock obsessed. That was how I’d fooled myself into thinking I could be straight for Justin, that was why Justin and I had stayed together for so long. I was obsessed with the idea of him with a penis, not with him. The number of times I had typed the letters to the word ‘futa’ was absolutely deplorable. 

But I had never had a girlfriend before, I didn’t know how to please a woman, I didn’t know how to please Candace. But I wanted to, more than anything else I wanted to learn how to pleasure her. Like it or not at the current moment, she was my world. I kept asking myself, how can I give myself up to her? And the answer kept coming back the same, because I love her.

I wanted to peel back that gorgeous red bathing suit of hers and see the real her, to make up for what I did to her that night and actually truly pleasure her. Maybe my years of sucking my manager’s cock had trained me to be able to pleasure her with my mouth, maybe I could slide my tongue up her perfectly shaved pussy and eat her out like an obedient little mutt, her lap dog, her sex slave. 

“My preferences don’t matter, Ma’am.” I snapped myself out of my dangerous thoughts, once again resolving to give myself up to her once and for all. I wanted to make her happy. “And neither does my experience.” 

“Of course they don’t, what’s your point?” She crossed her legs, looking me directly in the eyes, the sunset reflected in her irises. 

“I beg of you, Ma’am… Let me pleasure you, tonight. Here and now.” 

“That sounds disturbingly like a demand, and you do not have the right to make demands with me.”

“I don’t demand anything, Ma’am… I can only beg, let me pleasure you in any way I can.”

 

Candace was taken aback slightly. She was hesitant, the first time she demanded sex from me I fought her and tried to escape, I tried to kill her on the night before I was meant to be spayed. My rescheduled spaying appointment had only just been the previous day, yet here I was kneeling before her with my hands facing palms up on my thighs, voluntarily giving myself up, offering to pleasure her.

“I’m afraid I’m not an easy woman to please, thrall. Last time, I quote… let my libido get the better of me and allowed you to trick me into letting you close, end quote. How do I know that trying again would go any better?” 

“I know what I did last time, Ma’am, and I’m trying to fix that. That’s why I need this, I want to make up for my behavior, I want to do it right this time.” I curled my upturned hands into fists for a moment to show her that there was nothing at all in my hands. “I’m unarmed, I’m asking to be naked and vulnerable before you. All I have is what I am, and what I am is yours, Master.” 

She looked on at me in disbelief for a few moments with flashes of anger and strife in her eyes, but those burning emotions in her kept flickering, her heart flipping back and forth between anger and adulation, wrath and want, fury and desire. She so badly wanted to slam me down onto my back and take me right there, but she was disciplined. She could wait, but I couldn’t. I needed this to happen tonight, I needed to show her that I was willing right here and right now. 

“Master, please… I may have grown submissive, but I haven’t grown soft.” I continued to plead with her, expecting her to order silence from me at any moment. “I know this is sudden, I know this might be too soon, but you want me at my best and I want to give that to you, now.”

I swallowed nervously, licking my lips to keep them from drying up under the heat of the setting sun, begging desperately to be given just this chance. “Yes, this is my first day, and I may very well be speaking out of line right now, but that’s only because I still have a lot to learn. It’s not because of any unwillingness on my part, and I am just as willing to be punished for the words that are coming out of my mouth as I am eager to put myself between your legs and pleasure you to the best of my ability right here beside the pool, out in the open, proudly and shamelessly.”

I was going to get punished for this, I knew that and I was counting on it. I could see that she wanted to punish me, she wanted just as badly as I did to fuck me right here and now. “I can see it in your eyes, you want this!! I may not have wanted it then and I might just be fooling myself into thinking that I want it now, but what I wasn’t willing to give you two weeks ago I am desperate to give to you tonight. You deserved it then, and you still deserve it now. I’m ferocious and dangerous, but perfection and elegance can wait, Master. Let me give you passion. Let me give you fire. Let me give you pleasure.” 

I braced myself for what was to come next, blatantly disrespecting her to her face as I kept on, speaking out of line. I was no longer begging for it like I was her inferior, I was challenging her like I was her rival, I was demanding it. “I know that you want this, so let me give you what you want, Master . You want it. Take it from me.”

 

Take it from me. What a stupid thing to say. You want me to go down like a dog, but I want to go down screaming. I’m not gonna give my everything to you, I’m gonna make you take it all from me. Even if it hurts.

“Chloe or Sophia, it doesn’t matter which. This is me , St. Clair. You wanted the shields gone, so they’re gone, and now you just have me. I humiliated you in front of the world, so now it’s your turn.” I gasped for breath, bowing my head to her in reverence despite all that I was saying, my eyes pinched shut as I grovelled at her feet, my master’s feet. “Don’t lose this time…”

 

I could hear her breathing as quickly and as heavily as I was, but she was speechless. There was no way she could ignore such blatant arrogance and disrespect, but there was no adequate punishment that she could give me. She couldn’t ignore that kind of passion. 

She couldn’t stop herself anymore. She was going to have what she wanted and I was going to give it to her. 

 

“You’re mine…” She stood, glaring down at me from above. “If you think you have what it takes to pleasure me, then I’m going to make you pleasure me, even if it kills you.”

There it was, I had no choice now. I’d demanded it, and I was going to get it.

“You die tonight. I am going to make sure that tonight kills you.”

“Whatever you say...” I lifted my gaze where it didn’t belong just to meet her lust filled eyes as I amended myself, returning the same lustful passion back to her. “...Yes, Master.”

“Enjoy your last few shreds of dignity and willpower, because you’re about to get fucked by a GODDESS, AND I AM GOING TO BREAK YOU. ” 

Notes:

So, I hope that was enjoyable~!!

Fun fact, Chapter 13 is already done. Chapter 12 is not.
I had originally planned to have Chapter 11 and 12 be the same chapter, but I decided that I needed to split them up~
But don't worry, once Chapter 12 is up, Chapter 13 will follow shortly~
And then read Birthday Girl, if you haven't already, it takes place immediately after Chapter 13
Alright thank you, Claira out <3

(Hi, yes my name is Claira, i'm not just some nameless author, i'm a real person, it's nice to meet you~ )
( @ me at Clairanette#8008 on discord, if you'd like <3 )

Chapter 12: My Goddess

Notes:

A little disclaimer before the start of the chapter, because I feel like this one needs it.

I expect there to be some objection to the way that this one goes, as you will soon see, but please keep in mind that this is my story.
I'm writing it the way that I want it to be, and this was the way that it was always intended to be, even from the start~

I put a lot into this one, and I hope anyone who is reading this right now enjoys it, and I hope that you can appreciate both Candace and Chloe for who and what they are~

Disclaimer over, see you at the end of the chapter.
-Claira

That evening by the pool had awoken something in me, a lust for her that I needed to quell. 

I was doing this for myself just as much as I was doing this for her. 

I’d longed for death for the longest time, and I could have taken my life at any time, but there was always one tiny little thing that kept me going. Candace. 

If I was going to die, I would have died accidentally driving my car off the side of a bridge and into the ocean, but that wasn’t enough to kill me.

I showered quickly, cleaning myself off and delivering myself to Candace’s bedside, kneeling on the floor as I awaited her to return from her own shower. This was it, I was about to pleasure a goddess. The car accident that brought me here might not have been enough to kill me, but Candace might be. 

She might fuck me to death, but there are worse ways to die~

 

I waited for her, she shouldn’t be required to wait even a single moment for me, but I had to wait, to learn patience. 

She was cleaned and shaven, completely dried off and wrapped in her bathrobe. What a tease… At least come out naked...

I kneeled next to the bedside table, watching her reach over me. Naturally, her bracelet was the first thing that she retrieved. She had left it there, right next to me and out in the open, as a test. I could have picked it up and possibly freed myself, I’d made one escape attempt while she showered before, I could have attempted again, but I didn’t.

I didn’t know how the bracelet worked, but I could have figured it out, that wasn’t what was stopping me, she was. 

This wasn’t about me anymore, this was about her. I had challenged her to a fight and I was going to get my fight. I wanted Candace St. Clair to put the fear of God in me, and I was going to get it. 

“Get started.” She stood next to her bed, admiring the naked slave waiting for her to finish drying her hair. “If you like looking at my feet so badly, worship them.”

I was impatient, I wanted her sugary sweet cunt in my mouth as soon as possible, to show her what I was made of, but she wanted me to start at her feet, so that’s where I would start. At her feet, right where I belong. 

 

Kiss after kiss after kiss after kiss after kiss, Candace never flinched at the sensation, and neither did I. Determined to show her that I was worthy of pleasuring her, I kept on, steeling myself for the struggle to come. Fortunately her feet smelled like flowers, having just gotten out of the shower. 

ZAP. The moment I stopped for even just a moment, looking up at her to see her expression, she electrocuted me, it was a powerful shock, like lightning surging through my body. But I could take it. Hell, I was almost beginning to like it. 

I got back to worshipping, working my way up her legs, planting kisses along her soft beautiful flesh as I rose. It didn’t take long for me to reach her thighs, quickly approaching the other woman’s quim, savoring the taste of her flesh in my mouth, earning my way to her cunt. 

I got my first sniff of her scent, and I grew hungry, like a wild dog in heat, ready to devour her. 

Candace too grew hungry, ready to fuck me to death, excitement boiling hotter with every moment. Aching with lust and desire, she dropped her bathrobe onto the bed behind her, unveiling her naked body to me for the first time. 

“There’s no point in dragging this out then, you’ve waited this long… Show me what you can do~”

 

Oh My Goddess~

 

Candace didn’t have a cunt for me to suck, or a slit for me to shove my tongue into. 

Candace had a penis. 

 

I had dreamed of this. I had hoped and I had prayed. Every single sign seemingly pointed to it but I couldn’t believe it until I saw it, and it looked perfect. Candace was transgender. 

Of course she was transgender. That’s why she always hid her body from me. That’s why she wouldn’t swim naked. That’s why the child in the portrait with her mother looked like a boy, even though it only made sense for it to be her. 

That’s why she had gotten all of her surgeries. That’s why she was so obsessed with her appearance. That’s why she couldn’t stand being compared to her father, she wasn’t her father’s son, she couldn’t live with being called that.

That’s why she was so relieved when I’d gotten my period. That’s why they had rescheduled the surgery. That’s why she had me spayed in the first place, so that she could have me and never have to worry about getting me pregnant. 

That’s why she waited so long for this. But she didn’t need to wait anymore. She wanted me, and she was going to get me. 

I stared at it for a good few moments before lifting my gaze up to meet hers, with a fierce softness in my eyes to let her know that I was still willing and eager. I was still there and I was still hers. 

And then I opened my mouth~

There were no words that needed to be said, nothing was going to be coming out of my mouth, her cock was going in.

She was going to let me do my best, to pleasure her as best as I could. But I knew that sooner or later she was going to take control, and I was going to be at her mercy.

Before I could even start however, Candace placed one hand on the back of my head. She ran her fingers through my hair, but other than that she just kept it there. She didn’t take control, she was just making sure that I knew who was in charge. Candace was in charge.

Gods, please fuck me to death… I can’t take this anymore…

I didn’t need any help, I had sucked cock before, but I had almost always done it from a more dominant position. I did it because I craved it, not because I wanted to pleasure my partner. But now the opposite was true, Candace’s pleasure was first and foremost in my brain. I may have been feisty and violent in demanding sex from her, but I was doing this for her. I was here to serve her. 

I started at the head of her cock, wrapping one of my hands around the length of her shaft as I gently placed a small cluster of kisses on the very tip of her member. I looked up at her, trying to scan her expression for insight, but she just shook her head at me. She seemed very lightly stimulated by the act, but she was little more than amused, and I could begin to feel her tightening her grip on my skull. 

No time to savor the taste of my conqueror. I opened my mouth wide enough to fit the entire length of her member into my mouth, and then I went down, slowly sliding my head onto her quickly hardening cock. That did it.

Candace grunted, loosening her grip slightly and letting me continue on my own for now, watching me with an intensity that let me know that if I even stopped for breath, I’d likely find myself being choked. 

I can work with this. Breathe through my nose, and don’t stop. Slowly I brought myself all the way to the base of her cock and then just as slowly I pulled back. I needed to get a feel for how deep her cock would be going before I tried to do anything fancy. I have to know what I’m working with. 

I had been with only a few different sexual partners, but the number wasn’t important, my strong suit was knowing what my partner liked, and working at getting them to cum as quick and as hard as possible. Before I could truly pleasure Candace I needed to know what she liked, I needed to know what she wanted… and Candace wanted me down on her cock.

She slammed my head back down on her cock, throwing my whole rhythm off as I gagged. Choking, I tried to pull my head off of her and catch my breath, but as soon as I tried to do that she caught the back of my head again and slammed my waiting mouth back onto her. 

“Mmmmnghh!!!” I sputtered and coughed, her cock still in my mouth. I could feel my eyes watering from the very sudden pain. Calm down, she’s just screwing with you, keep going.

I slowly pulled myself from the base of her cock, but not wanting to get my throat slammed onto her member for the third time, I only made it about halfway up her shaft before I voluntarily put myself back down, feeling the now lubricated head of her cock pushing into my throat as I slid myself down. She wants her head inside of me, got it. 

I was still going for my usual tactic, trying to get her to orgasm as soon as I could, even and especially if it meant her spraying hot cum down my throat. But Candace had other plans.

I reeled, feeling her slam her entire foot down on one of my ankles, making me buckle and wobble. I lost my balance for only a split second, but that was enough for her to slam my waiting head back down to the base of her penis and hold it there. 

She was breathing heavily, almost growling under her breath, eyes hungry with desire and anticipation. She violently yanked my head from her member, holding me by my hair and forcing me off of my knees to look at her. 

It didn’t take me very long to realize what was going to happen next. She placed both of her hands on the back of my head, pressing her feet down onto the back of my shins and flattening them to the ground. Her hips didn’t need to buck or thrust, she had full control of my head, and she was going to make sure that I did all of the work. 

“Hgghhk!!” I choked, feeling her shaft slide through my mouth, silencing any of my thoughts. She had control now, and it was my job to relent it to her, regardless of how fiercely I wanted to be in control of how this went. 

Slam. She was exponentially more forceful in her desires than I had been. It was a sensitive thing, intimate but gentle. This was anything but gentle, this was hell. 

I could feel my legs being crushed beneath her feet, my knees digging into the carpeted floor beneath me while I struggled. She had a complete vice grip on my head, and she was slamming my head down onto the base of my cock at every opportunity she had. 

I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe. 

I placed my palms on the inside of her thighs and pushed, trying to leverage myself off of her cock so that I could breathe. 

She growled. Candace did not want to let her hot-headed little sextoy off of her cock, no matter what. But even as she growled I couldn’t find the ability to submit to her, I needed off and I needed off now. Just for a second, just for a moment, I just need to breathe.

 

I shoved myself off of her cock with all of the force I could muster, coughing and sputtering as I gagged, desperate for air.

Smack!!!
She pummeled the air out of my lungs before it even entered, slamming the back of her hand into my head and sending me soaring into the floor below. 

I could feel her standing over me. “I- I- I just need a Ghhckkk!!!” She shoved an entire handful of fingers into my mouth, yanking me off of the floor by my jaw. I wanted to fight, I wanted to bite, but I knew I couldn’t. My head was going right back onto that cock whether I liked it or not. 

Candace may have had a cock, but she had sex like no man. She was a woman, she was a Goddess, and I was going to pleasure her, not the other way around.

Her fingers came out, her cock went in, but this time rather than slamming my head back down on her, she slowly eased me back on, allowing me time to readjust and breathe through my nose. How merciful…

“Mmhhmmmghmmph…” In her hands, I had zero control. I was never powerless, I was always in control, it made me feel tough even when my mouth was stuffed full with the length of my partner’s penis. But Candace had taken even that away from me. I was submissive, I was her cocksleeve, I was her toy. 

It almost felt freeing, she was making good on her promise to take what she wanted from me. I had wanted to go down screaming, but even after all of that, I hadn’t expected to have this shred of dignity taken from me. My mastery over cock was being shoved aside in favor of turning me into a sextoy, a doll.

She knew what she wanted and she went for it, continuing to skullfuck me until I could feel her beginning to cum down my throat, but it didn’t end there. 

I knew that one measly little orgasm wasn’t going to be enough for her, this little cock sucking session was hardly worthy of being called our warmup.

 

“Pathetic.” Candace sighed, slowly prying my head from her still swollen member, looking me dead in the eyes to make sure that I knew I wasn’t off the hook yet, not even close. “I’ve gotten better from Elizabeth, and her head wasn’t even in it… I hope you aren’t holding back on me.”

I snarled. How dare she insult me, it wasn’t my fault that she didn’t even let me do my work. I wanted to shout at her, but luckily for me I found myself very quickly being shoved back down, once again choking on the length of Candace’s penis.

Candace’s cock was unlike any other cock I had handled before, there wasn’t much testosterone flowing through her gorgeous body, just a lot of estrogen, and that meant her cock worked differently. Sex worked differently for her. I couldn’t quite figure it out, it was foreign to me, even more foreign to me than the vagina. I could work a quim, I had been doing so to myself for years. But my master’s thick throbbing member wasn’t quite either thing. It was something new, and like her, it was hungry. 

Focus Chloe… Pleasure her… Pleasure her…

I was on my knees before her, and I was going to pleasure her even if it killed me, which part of me wished it would. I glanced up at her gorgeous body from below, trying to reposition myself. From between them, I put my arms under her knees and grabbed both of her thighs from the outside, gently squeezing them. One of her legs twitched. Got you…

Her thighs were sensitive, twitching ever so slightly at every squeeze. I slid my hands up towards her hips, feeling her hips start to twitch ever so slightly as she continued to use my mouth as a cocksleeve. My head might have been the only thing moving, but she was doing all of the work by controlling me. 

I seized control back from her, feeling her tighten her grip in my hair as I began to bob my head on her swollen member, quickening my pace as she slowly released control of my head back to me, letting me control the pace at which I sucked her cock. Sensitive all over, huh?

That was going to be my win condition, everywhere was an erogenous zone for her.

“Ah!!” I could barely hear it through the sounds of sucking her cock, but she moaned. “You brat.”

No holding back, she wanted it intense straight out of the gate. She had entertained my little warm up show before the first orgasm, but seized control of it in an instant as soon as she’d grown impatient. But I could match her needs, I could go this fast all on my own. I could make Candace do a lot more than just moan, even without her help. Who’s pathetic now?

 

She bucked , sending her cock slamming down my throat, and in an instant my face was pressed against her hips. Her cock was somehow still working its way to fully erect, even after the first orgasm. I was beginning to grasp the full extent of what it was I was dealing with, the sweet treat sliding it’s way down my throat was a lot bigger than I had expected it to be when I first laid eyes on it. It helped her hide the not so little secret tucked between her legs. Candace’s was the type that started small and grew into a monster when it got hungry enough. My favorite~

I’d done this before, and a single buck of the hips wasn’t enough to throw me off when my head was in the game, and I was really getting into it. Her cock wasn’t the only hungry monster in the room. But it didn’t stop at one buck, it was like every few moments she failed to hold herself back, either bucking her hips to drive her shaft further into my mouth, or letting out a soft moan that could only mean that she was enjoying herself. Check. Your turn St. Clair.

She had forced herself to grind out an orgasm into my mouth for an easy victory during round one, and Candace wasn’t giving up round two so easily. There was a very subtle shift occurring, and spraying hot semen down my throat now would mean giving me a win. This wasn’t just sex, this was a competition, a game. A game that both of us were determined not to lose. 

Don’t lose this time. I had told her, but I wasn’t about to swallow my pride just to make room in my mouth for an enemy’s cock. We may not have been on equal footing, but we were on the same frequency. We were bitter rivals locked in on each other’s eyes, tuned into the other’s tactics. I was not about to lose, even if winning killed me. 

She thrusted her cock down my skull, slamming my head down on her cock once again and throatfucking me. It was a predictable move, but just because I was expecting it didn’t mean that I was prepared to be able to take it. Her cock was a lot bigger than my mouth, and she liked it deep. As deep as it could go.

I choked, the air I needed to breathe being coughed out of me. She craved an orgasm, and she was hungry for it now. We were both hungry for Candace to pump cum down my throat, and we were both already dripping. 

Squeezing her thighs as hard as I could, the kind of restraint it took to keep myself anchored in place was enormous. Not only because of the sheer force of Candace spearing herself as far down my mouth as she could, but also because of the raw primal desire demanding that I retreat and finger myself just as forcefully. But there was no retreat for me, Candace had a hold of my head and a single thrust wasn’t enough for her. 

I endured the first powerful buck of her hips as she shoved her penis as far in as she could, but Candace was now doing it relentlessly. I couldn’t breathe, but who cared about breathing, I just wanting to fall back and fuck myself with my own hands. 

This wasn’t just the excitement of having my partner’s cock right where I wanted it, this was the excitement of being forcefully overtaken by an extremely powerful woman. I had demanded that she take what she wanted from me, and I was not disappointed. 

I couldn’t lose this round to her, not after coming this far. But I wasn’t going to be able to remain conscious if I couldn’t bring her to orgasm soon. 

Quickly losing ground as she continued to pound my throat with her cock, I made one final perfectly timed move, shoving myself as hard as I could down the length of her shaft, practically swallowing the head of her member. 

“Mmmph!!” Her floodgates broke, and I could hear a blissful moan escape from her now wide open mouth as she hit her second orgasm in my mouth. 

She had stamina, and her orgasms were intense, I knew what to do from here, watching her buck her hips as she began to cum, slowly sliding back up her shaft just in time to get the sweet taste of her cum in my mouth before she sprayed it all down my throat where I couldn’t get to it. 

I held myself there, having regained control as she rode out her orgasm in my mouth, waiting for her to finish before I pulled off to breathe. 

Phhhfft. I spat. Making a calculated swerve to quickly pull myself off of her cock and swinging myself to the waste basket next to her bedside table. Spitting every last drop of her liquidy semen back out before it could be swallowed, just in time to prevent myself from gagging and spitting everything else back up to… Then I did something stupid. 

 

“That’s 1-1, I win this round.” 

She did not at all appreciate hearing those words coming out of my mouth, and that alone was going to cost me the next round of this demented game we were playing. I could see it in her eyes, she was about to destroy me, and I didn’t have the energy to fight back. Fuck.

Candace was able to regain her breath long before I was able to, and I quickly regretted bragging about my victory as I felt her curl her fist in my hair, and yank me up off of my knees with just one hand. 

She was bigger, taller, and stronger than I was. She had no problem swinging me into the air and slamming me down onto the bed. My conqueror bent me over the side of the bed, burying my head in the sheets below. My ass may have been in the air and facing her, but I wasn’t about to get spanked. No.

Even after a second orgasm, she had the stamina to keep going, and the desire to break me had only been reignited hearing the words coming out of my mouth, watching me disrespect her by spitting her cum back out without swallowing it.

I could not go another round like that, I needed to breathe, and even worse, my quim was aching to be spearheaded by that delicious cock. Master’s cock. I was dripping onto her sheets just lying there, I needed her to split me in half. 

I didn’t want to give, I didn’t want to lose another round to her. This was how it went that night too, during the world championship. 

Sophia. Candace. Sophia. Candace. Sophia. Before I finally denied her the chance of even facing off for the title in one final round, winning it all in round six.
Except this time it was reversed. Candace then Chloe, and she was about to win another one. There must have been some way to stop it, if I could just orgasm on my own terms before she got to me, I could still turn this around. But I was tired, and I was overpowered. 

 

And I wanted this.

“Aaahhhmmmmmmmmph!!!” What came out of my mouth barely counted as a moan, it was more like a pained squeal of pleasure as she shoved her cock up my slit. 

Pop . It slid in easily, in just an instant she had her cock right where she wanted it, as deep as it could go, and my sopping wet slit just let her. 

I was a sex slave, I wasn’t trying to dominate her, I was here to serve, and the only way to win was to serve on my own terms. But Candace was already inside of me now, and there was nothing I could do to stop her from fucking my brains out, splayed on the bed in front of her. 

I was never trying to top her, but the cruel reality hit me in waves as she gripped my wrists, pulling my shoulders back and arching my back for me, pounding my waiting pussy to pieces as she bucked her hip, thrusting her member into me.

It was mortifying, the bitter cruel reality hitting me harder than she ever had. 

I was the bottom, and I liked it. 

I had hoped, I had prayed that the wetness between my legs had come from the fact that she had a cock, but no. From how easily my slit gave way to Candace’s desires, I could tell that it was because I wanted to be dominated.

Take it from me. I had said, because I really did want her to break me, body and spirit, and here I was getting exactly what I asked for.

There was no resistance, there was no fight, there was just eager submission, hungry submission. My body bent to her will, and I squealed, loudly. Thrumming as I came, being brought to a quick and merciless orgasm as my vagina contracted on her swollen cock.

 

“2-1.” She growled into my ear, climbing on top of me. “Don’t push your luck, brat.”

She was playing this game too, and she was just as hungry to win as I was. There should have been no way for me to win this game, I was on the bottom no matter what. But it wasn’t about who was on top, it was about walking away with my dignity intact. I was gonna be the best god damn sex slave on the planet, and she was going to like it.

I was quickly losing steam, she bent me over and split me in half in less than a minute, and as soon as she realized that being submissive was beginning to get to me, I was doomed to fail. 

I had to pleasure her, to bring her to her third orgasm without letting her know that I was aching to bend over and take her full force all over again. 

 

She dropped my arms, giving me a few moments to recover as she repositioned herself, pulling out and climbing on the bed next to me.

She was an undisputed Goddess, an idol. I’d never seen a woman so drop dead gorgeous, even in porn, and she was powerful to boot. But she had a weakness. 

No longer a lap dog, I pounced, closing in on her like a wolf before she had time to react. I shouldn’t have recovered so quickly, but in moments I had her on her back beneath me for the first time, gazing down into her eyes. 

She had that same look on her face as that night when I attacked, that terrified expression of a girl who was about to die. For a moment I could see that horror in her eyes, wondering if this was the moment she died. 

It was inhuman how fast I jumped on the opportunity, the margin for error had been so unbelievably miniscule, and I wasn’t even sure if I was done with my orgasm, but the adrenaline hit me. She was about to get rocked, this was how I did things, this was how I stayed on top. She was bigger, stronger, and more resilient than I was, if I didn’t strike soon, she wouldn’t stay down for long. If given the space and just a few moments of time, she could have me flipped onto my back and begging for another release. But with a little bit of leverage and a lot of know how, I could keep her down. 

She had tits, nice round ones, plump and soft, and she was sensitive everywhere. I saw the same anger in her eyes as that night too, but even that was quickly torn from her. 

I placed my hands on her plush breasts and squeezed. It was the last thing she had expected, knowing how head over heels I would fall for her monstrous member. But I was a proud lesbian, and I was hungry for all of her, not just what she had hidden between her legs. 

“You little-” I placed a hand over her mouth to silence her, watching the fear getting put back in her eyes. This was about more than pleasuring her, I needed to win, and if that meant topping Candace, then that’s what was going to happen.

She watched me with an intensity in her eyes as I slid my hands down her sides, watching her squirm at my touch. She was sensitive alright. Now I would get to experience her cock from a much more dignified position, on top.

I slid my still twitching pussy back down onto her member, watching her writhe under me. Her cock was still aching for release, she had gotten a taste of my wet slit and she wanted more, which meant she wasn’t about to argue about me voluntarily sliding myself onto her. 

I bounced, watching Candace tilt her head back as I went up and down on her cock with another one of my holes. Something told me that she was begrudgingly enjoying being able to just lie on her back and have someone do the work of bringing out her climax for her. She was living for this. 

I was physically on top, but I was still servicing her, there was an important distinction between what I was doing and actual topping. I wasn’t in charge here, I wasn’t issuing orders, I wasn’t even in control of what she was doing, I was just pleasuring her. But from here I had the high ground, I was once again winning. 

But I knew I couldn’t last very long either. Every moment brought me closer and closer to my own orgasm, and if I wasn’t careful I’d end up on my belly before I’d even brought Candace to a finish. 

I could feel the collar around my neck reminding me of the grim reality I was trapped in. Once tonight was over, Candace would once again be in full control, anything and everything I did to her now was sure to get me punished, and that made my slit wet with excitement. 

Gods, I wasn’t doing this because I wanted to be on top. I was aching to be punished, to be put back in my place where I belong. The idea was unthinkable to me, how could I endure so much pain but still crave more. How could I put up with all of the shame and humiliation but continue to snarl at her for more.

I really was a brat, and I didn’t even realize it.

Is that why I want to win? Because I want to be punished?

 

Candace was growing tired, but I could tell she had a lot of fight left in her, more than she ought to have. Despite that, I had clearly won this round, she had gritted her teeth and lied back, letting me slowly but surely bring her to her third orgasm of the night. 

Don’t push my luck . She said, but I did more than just push my luck, I had overstepped my boundary, overplayed my hand. She was going to come back after this, and she was going to come back with a fiery vengeance. But for now she would entertain my little show, admiring as her sex slave eagerly bounced on her swollen cock. There would be no mistake, I was here to serve her, not the other way around, but I had achieved another small victory over her. 

She came, and she came hard, just like her last orgasm. She had a seeming abundance of semen to pump into me, especially for a woman who had already done so twice tonight. But as she did so, I could see that usual eager smirk on her beautiful painted lips. She had something up her sleeve, and whatever it was, I was sure that I wasn’t going to like it. Or maybe I was?

“Having fun there, Chloe?” She was just watching me with a hungry smile. 

Fuck. Don’t look at me!! I couldn’t stop myself, I knew she had already finished her orgasm, but I was still bouncing. I couldn’t stop. I was so desperate.

 

“Get off of me, slave.” 

Like a dog, my ears twitched at the word. Slave . And like a dog, but even more so like a slave, my first instinct was to do just that. Do as she said, and get off. But I couldn’t, I was so close, I just needed a little bit more. Just a little bit more…

“Risky little move you made there, but it means nothing.” She was still regaining her breath as she spoke. I watched her lift her hand, flinching away from it, clenching my eyes closed as I felt her very gently slip her fingers beneath my collar. “Because I have you, right here.”

She curled her hands around the front of my collar. I gasped as I felt her slowly lift me off of her cock by the metal band around my neck, whimpering as I continued to drip onto her waist, my hips still bucking rhythmically, desperately wanting back on. 

She was so much stronger than I was physically, but also mentally. I was weak and needy, and I couldn’t possibly overpower her even if I tried, and I didn’t even try. 

Candace was in control, and my body didn’t even put up a fight as she forced me off of her against my will. I was aching for punishment, and she knew. 

Don’t let her win. Don’t let her break you. Don’t let her-

“Aaaaaughh!!!” I gasped loudly as she pressed two of her fingers into my eagerly waiting quim. I curled my hands into fists as if I wanted to hit her, but I didn’t have control over my body. I was her puppet, my aching slit squeezing around her fingers.

She sat up, tilting me onto my back, setting my head at the edge of the bed, only just barely managing to stay on the mattress. 

“Mmmm…. Aaaaahh!! Ahh!!” I moaned, feeling her rub my clitoris with her thumb, gently scratching at it with her painted nails. 

“And here I thought you were just difficult~” 

“Aaaaaahh!!! Mmmphhhh… Aaaughhh!!” I squealed again, feeling her curl her fingers slightly, pressing them even further inside of me. 

“You’re not really that difficult to tame after all, are you?” She twisted her fingers inside of me, sending a torrent of pain through my body. “You like this, don’t you?”

“Aughh!! N-no!!!!” 

I flinched as I saw her hand, blinding myself just in time to feel her smack me across my face.

“I can see your true colors now, Chloe. You can’t hide it from me…” I gasped under my breath as I felt her open my mouth, parting my lips as she slipped her other hand into my mouth, holding me there like a pig on a spit, about to be roasted. “Don’t think I didn’t notice you desperately fucking yourself on my gorgeous little lady cock, girl. You can even control yourself… I can feel just how wet this is making you.”

Like a pig, I squealed in her hand, the fingers of one of her hands deep in my mouth while she twisted the fingers of her other hand in my quim, crushing my clitoris beneath her thumb. She was right, I could feel just how quickly I was dripping into her hands, desperate for her to mercilessly fingerfuck me right then and there. 

Instead, she pulled her hand from my slit. I whimpered in embarrassment through my closed lips as I felt my hips buck at the absence, chasing after the feeling over her claws inside of me. 

“If you want it… then be a good girl, and earn it~” She adjusted me slightly, climbing to the floor and standing over me as she pulled me towards her, tilting my head back over the side of the bed. She tilted my head back to look up at her, her fingers still in my mouth as my head hung there, almost upside down. 

“Mmmph…. Nh…” I felt my hands darting between my legs, desperate to bring myself to release before I came down from the edge.

“Gaaaghckk!!!” She shoved her fingers down my throat, growling at me as she threatened to drive her entire fist down my throat. 

I grasped at her hand, trying to pull it out of my mouth before I spat up and vomited all over her, but she didn’t relent. Instead she forcefully grabbed ahold of my right hand with hers, very nearly pulling it from its socket. “Heel.”

My fingers trembled, my left hand curled around hers, desperately wanting to pull her fist out from between my teeth. I gave, letting go of her hand and curling both of mine into fists. 

I very nearly vomited all over her as she pulled her hand from my mouth, looking down at me as I spat and coughed, sputtering desperately for breath. 

She clasped her left hand around mine, holding both of my arms at my wrists and digging her fingernails into my flesh, tearing at the nerves by my hands. In a desperate attempt to keep myself from lashing at her, I dug my fingernails into the skin of my palms.

“You had better get that gag reflex under control, and fast. If you vomit on me, I will make sure you never breathe again.” Candace had the stamina of a goddess. She stood over me, her gorgeous member still aching and mostly erect even after three orgasms. “And this time… You’ll swallow.”

My eyes grew wide with fear and terror, and suddenly I knew exactly how Candace felt that night, glaring up at me wielding a knife at her. But instead of a knife, Candace just had her cock, and she knew exactly how to use it. 

She slid herself back down my throat, using my face as a cocksleeve as she put the head of her penis as deep as she could, right where she liked it, before proceeding to skullfuck me into submission. 

It was a rough and merciless beating, I could feel myself fading in and out of consciousness as I struggled to breathe. This facefucking was far more raw and painful than the first two, and it lasted what could have only possibly been four times as long. This was Candace’s fourth orgasm of the night, and even she wasn’t sure that she could bring herself to cum into my mouth once more.

But I could feel her getting there. She squeezed my wrists, cutting off blood flow to my hands to keep blood pumping where she needed it to be, mercilessly forcing me to stay conscious and endure my torment. 

Candace did all of the work, bucking her hips into my face, and it was her most well earned orgasm to date, pumping and equally brutal pool of cum into my mouth as the fucking itself. 

I knew if I tried to spit it out, I’d hurl, and Candace wasn’t going to let that happen, even as she pulled herself from my mouth, glaring down at me with an angry passion in her eyes. “Now swallow.”

 

I stared up into the beautiful yet unrelenting ocean that was her eyes, feeling the painful tears in the corners of my own as I kept my gaze locked onto hers. 

Then I swallowed. 

 

“Show me.” She eased her grip on my wrists, speaking calmly and confidently as she looked down at me to make sure I had swallowed every last drop of her semen. 

Still upturned over the edge of her mattress, I opened my mouth as wide as I could possibly open it after a ferocious throat fucking like I had just endured, my tongue hanging out of my mouth to prove to her that I had in fact done as she had ordered. I swallowed it all, just like I was told.

“Good.” In one quick but rather ungraceful maneuver, she hoisted me up and swiveled me in place before dropping me back down on the bed, no longer leaving me dangling over the abyss below. My arms now lying beside my head, completely unfeeling and unmoving, leaving me helplessly unable to touch myself, no matter how hard I tried. 

“Please…” My aching pussy had been given enough time to come back down from the edge of orgasm, but it hadn’t forgotten what it wanted. It was still hungry and desperate for release, and having her relentlessly pound my throat with her swollen cock hadn’t helped. 

My quim had never been this wet before. Those last few minutes of getting my brain fucked out by my conqueror had left me more desperate for release than I had ever been in my entire life.

There was no one in the world who could get me this hot and excited, except for Candace St. Clair. 

“Please… I’m begging you...”

 

“Well isn’t this familiar, Chloe… Looks like the score is 3-2, huh?” She climbed onto the bed in front of me, sitting at my feet and spreading my legs with her hands. “And guess who’s winning this time~”

I bit my lip, desperate moans quietly slipping through my clenched teeth. “I don’t want to play anymore-”

“I don’t care what you want, I want to win.” She squeezed my own sensitive thighs with her hands, watching me arch my back. “What do you think? Do you have it in you to bring this to a final round face off, or should I end it here, hmm?”

She was already rubbing in her victory, wanting to close this little game we were playing by shutting me out before a seventh round, 4-2, just like I had beaten her on the world stage. 

I wanted- needed more than anything to feel that final desperate release in her hands. But I had a little bit of fight in me, yet as soon as I thought that maybe I could keep going, maybe I could bring the score to 3-3 so that we could end this competition on equal terms, I made the mistake of opening my nearly crying eyes. 

My eyes grew wide with shame and shock as soon as I spotted what was in her hands. “That’s cheating…”

The cold steel of the metal shackle around my neck stung, I could almost imagine the sensation of my collar vibrating against the skin of my now cum plastered throat. Feeling the breath escape from my lungs and through my lips as I watched her tease me, slowly circling her thumb around the button. The clicker.

“That’s not fair…”

“All is fair in love and war, doll~” She slid her right hand up my thigh, holding her fingers a microscopic length away from my desperately begging labia. “And what is this, Chloe… love or war?”

“Love…” I pinched my eyes closed once again, feeling just a couple tears slide down my temples as I laid my head back down on the pillow. “This is love… Master…”

 

“Any last words before you lose, Chloe~?” She slowly pushed her fingers past my twitching labia, watching me squirm happily on the bed before her. 

“I forfeit…” 

I would have tried to stop myself, I could have tried to keep a semblance of composure, but I didn’t care. Right now, more than anything else in the world, this was exactly what I wanted.

“So be it~” She forcefully pushed her fingers back inside of me, pressing them into her favorite spot, as deep as she could go, beginning to pump my slit with one hand. 

“Mmmmm…. Ohhhh... Aaaahhhhh~!!!” I gasped quietly, then moaned. I knew all along that no one could hear me but her, but I didn’t even want to offer her the satisfaction of hearing my moans. 

But as she fingered me, I squealed, and I squealed like a pig. Not because I couldn’t stop myself. Not because I no longer cared. But because I wanted this. I wanted her to hear me moan.

I had offered her the chance to take her revenge, challenged her to do so. I had begged her to fight me, thinking that just maybe I could come out on top, just like last time. But I lost, and now all I wanted was to moan for her. She earned it, she won it, and I was going to give it to her. 

Once upon a time I defeated and humiliated her in front of the world, and I had demanded that she do the same to me. I wanted this, not only for her, but for myself. I needed it, I craved it.

I wanted to offer her the satisfaction of beating and humiliating me, and I was going to know what it felt like to truly and finally be defeated and humiliated by her, and I was going to love it. 

 

She really was a goddess, My goddess. This morning she was a demon, but all of a sudden, she was my everything, she was my world. Her fingers felt like magic inside of me, gracefully and generously bringing me to the edge of orgasm, giving me the privilege and honor of getting to cum in her hand, allowing me the gift of pleasure at her touch.

Click!!

I could hear the sound of the clicker as I felt myself finally being pushed over the edge, the collar around my neck vibrated against my skin as I came. 

The pleasure and pain was indescribable, and as I rode out the single greatest orgasm I had experienced in my entire life, I could feel everything leaving me. 

I screamed and I moaned, my voice echoing back at me to make sure that I knew exactly what sound I was making. 

 

The feeling of pleasure drowned out absolutely everything else, and once it was all over, I cried, loudly and shamelessly, feeling tears pouring out of my eyes and onto the pillow beneath me. 

I expected something from her, to have her slap me back to my senses, to choke me out and silence my painful sobs, to knock me unconscious just to make it stop, to mock me for my weakness, to keep her promise to make sure that tonight killed me. 

 

She leaned her back against the wall behind her, very gently lifting me from the sobbing mess I had melted into and sitting me up, gently pulling me into her lap. Then she held me there, silently and wordlessly wrapping one arm around me and holding me close. She let the warmth of her body pressed against mine do all of the talking for her. 

With a fierce softness in her touch, Candace embraced me, letting me know that she had me. She was still there, and she was still mine. 

I had changed, and so had she. From just her touch alone I could feel that she was just as much mine as I was hers, and I never wanted that feeling to go away~ 

 

↞✶↠

 

She very gently shook me awake. 

I had cried myself to sleep. My body trembled as I struggled to come to my senses, my heart pounding and my head aching, the corner of my eyes still wet with tears. 

She gently patted my lower back, having me sit up to face her. She had slipped away from my still naked body as I slept. She had tucked her little secret away back between her thighs and gotten dressed, but I could tell from the way she smelled that she hadn’t done so until after she had taken another shower. 

We had played a game that only the two of us could understand, and though in the end I had lost, I felt something deeper between the two of us, something genuine and good.

The victory itself had also been a hard fought battle for Candace, enough to prompt her to take the second shower of the day, and I could see that she was now gesturing for me to do the same. 

She wordlessly led me to her closet and helped me into my small personal bathroom, and I took my shower as normal, but this time the water was warm, just like her touch. It was enough to bring me to tears again. She couldn’t hear it, or maybe she could, but regardless of which I sobbed to myself again as I cleaned off, before drying off and making myself presentable, slipping on whatever clothes she had left for me to wear, like I always did.

It was a gorgeous lace nightgown, one of hers. Baby blue, with a faded array of red stains around the bust, the very same. Not even a professional could manage to remove the bloodstains I had caused. 

I exited back out of the bathroom, stepping into the slightly larger space. The door to my cell was closed, but the closet door wasn’t. As I headed back into the master bedroom, I turned my head to the bed, looking for Candace, but she wasn’t there. The bed was now empty, devoid of even bedsheets. She was seated in one of the couches by her glass table, waiting for me to return. 

"4-2, I won~" My voice was weak and unsure of itself, but Candace spoke first, elegantly and confidently, looking up at me and gesturing back to the closet where I had just come from. “Go make the bed, sweetie.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” I sighed to myself as I turned and headed back to the closet, grabbing a spare set of bedsheets to make Candace’s bed with, something I had experience with doing many times before. My heart was aching with anticipation for what would happen next as I finished doing as I was told. 

“Good girl.” She stood up, turning off the monitor mounted on the wall monitor and walking over to me. I wasn’t sure what sort of mood I should have expected her to be in, but she smiled, slipping a few of her fingers beneath my irremovable metal collar. She gently tugged on it, not trying to hurt me, just trying to reassert her dominance over me. “Mine.”

I could feel my cheeks burning, presumably turning a deep pink even if I couldn’t see them, my heart skipping just a single beat as the butterflies in my stomach began to disperse. “Yours…”

Her expression only grew happier seeing me blush. “Come on, get in. Let’s go to bed.~”

“Yes, Ma’am.” I didn’t need any more than just that to do as I was told, climbing onto the mattress and setting myself on top of the blankets between her and the wall, watching her climb in after me. 

Both her bracelet and the clicker were set down on the bedside table next to us, but I wasn’t going to touch them, I didn’t want to ruin whatever it was that I felt between us now. 

She lifted the blankets, letting me slide in under them next to her, before picking up her bracelet and manually turning off the lights. She lifted it in the palm of her hand, showing it to me. “You don’t touch this, okay?” 

“I wasn’t going to, Ma’am.” I swallowed nervously, watching her set in back down on the bedside table. “I promise…”

“Good… and the clicker is off limits too.” She turned to me, pressing one hand against my face and gently rubbing my cheek. “You got eight today, but don’t expect me to be so generous anymore, I expect my little brat to be on her best behavior tomorrow, no pulling anything like you pulled today, okay?”

“Yes, Ma’am. I’ll do my best.” She ordered me not to touch either device, and I was going to listen. There wasn’t much I could do after a night of being so thoroughly defeated and humiliated like I had been. “...you’re not upset at me, are you?”

“No, sweetie. I think you know your place now~” She smiled and shook her head, tilting mine ever so slightly as she brought my lips to hers, embracing me with a loving kiss goodnight. “You misbehaved and got punished for it, and now we’ve moved on. No more being upset, no need to hurt you anymore, okay… You did what you did and you learned from your mistake, haven’t you?”

“I have.” I licked my lips, savoring the sweet scent and taste of her breath on my skin. “I promise, Master~”

She giggled ever so slightly at me. “That one’s your favorite, isn’t it?”

I paused, turning pink again. “My favorite what, Master?”

“You’re favorite thing to call me, darling.” She sighed, laying down on her back. “Master~”

“I suppose it is…” I found myself laying right next to her, my body in her arms, head pressed against her chest. “Master~”

“Anything you want to say before you go to bed, Chloe?” She gently wrapped her arm around me. “You can wait until tomorrow morning to try and recite those guidelines if you’d like, I won’t mind.”

I stopped, knowing that I just wanted to lay down and go to sleep, but feeling myself suddenly obligated to try. “I don’t remember them, but I can attempt, Master.”

I waited for her to nod at me to start before I began. “Know my place. Know my master. Show respect. Strive for perfection. Act out of love. Do as I’m told. Don’t fight back… Be vulnerable. Be adaptable… and… Identify with my master?” 

“Good girl~” The room was dark, but I could see her smile. “They’re a little out of order, but they’re all there… except I’m gonna need more than just the titles from you, starting tomorrow I’m gonna need you to memorize every single word, okay?”

I closed my eyes and nuzzled into her chest, nodding my head. I didn’t have the energy to argue, and I knew it wouldn’t do me any good regardless. She was my master, and I needed to do what she said. 

 

“Goodnight, Chloe~”

“Goodnight, Master…”

Notes:

Similarities aside, neither Candace nor Chloe were based on any specific persons, real or otherwise. They were based off of the specific tropes that surround the type of characters that they are, and the similarities between Candace and a certain real life player are... unfortunately coincidental.

Chapter 13: Security Bell

I held the bell in my hand, admiring the way the rose gold metal shined in the light. 

 

The goal was one hundred clicks, and the slave was getting dangerously close to her quota, but she was also getting dangerously close to the deadline. Tonight was the deadline. 

One hundred clicks, or you don’t get this bell. 

 

I sighed, wrapping both of my hands around it and holding it to my chest.

You can do this Chloe, I know you can do this. 

 

Chloe didn’t know it, but the reason the deadline was tonight, was because tomorrow is her birthday. Of course, she didn’t know what exactly was on the line if she couldn’t manage to meet her quota, and there was a lot more on the line than just a silly bell, or even the entire birthday celebration. There were a lot more fundamental things riding on Chloe’s performance, of course she was eventually going to meet her quota, but she couldn’t move onto the next step until she had. Her master could give her an extension, but she wasn’t going to get an extension. Chloe needed to know that when her master set a deadline, she expected Chloe to meet that deadline. But also, it may be less fundamental, but it was just as important, Chloe wasn’t going to get an extension because Chloe was going to meet her deadline, she had to… because if she didn’t, there wasn’t going to be a birthday celebration for her in the first place. 

Tomorrow was supposed to be a special day for her, and Chloe needs that, we both need that. But the bell, that was for me, a tangible representation of what was at stake, not just for her… but for me.

I wanted to see that little bell dangling from her cute little neck more than anything else, not just because it was cute, but because I wanted to have a visible reminder to myself that my slave had made me proud. I needed to be able to see that our relationship was working, I needed to know that she wasn’t going to be taken away from me. But I couldn’t just hand it to her, I need to be fair. 

If she can’t earn this bell, she can’t have this bell. Because if she can’t earn this bell, I can’t keep fooling myself into believing that this was working. I had to be prepared for the worst. If she can’t earn this bell, I have to be ready to let go of her. If she can’t earn her place by my side, I have to be ready to lose her, just like I’d lost my mother.

One hundred clicks, or I don’t get to see you wear this bell. 

One hundred clicks, or I can’t give you this bell.

One hundred clicks, or I can’t keep you.

One hundred clicks, or I can’t marry you. 

 

The deadline, tonight before bed, and only I knew how many clicks she was already at. 91.

She needed nine clicks, it was still feasible, but it was more than she had ever accomplished in a single day. Chloe had a few rough days sprinkled in there, she usually averaged somewhere around six clicks per day, seven clicks on a good day. But she had never exceeded eight clicks in a single day.

She needs nine clicks. 

“You just need nine clicks… You can do it…” 

I mumbled to myself, slipping the bell into the pocket of my beautiful blue romper. I knew that blue was supposed to be a boy color, but it was still my favorite color regardless. It was enough to bother me, but I wasn’t about to just give it up, it had always been my favorite color, and I wasn’t going to just uproot my opinions of the color wheel just because of a single arbitrary moment of self discovery. Besides, it looked gorgeous on me, and I was a stunningly beautiful lesbian queen, even if the public didn’t know my sexuality, it was kind of my job to go against the norm. I just had to pinch my thighs together, keep my head up and try not to look down, then slip the garment on. 

You raised a beautiful woman, mom. Insecurities. Everyone has them, even the starlet Candace St. Clair. She has a lot more dirty little secrets than the average person does. 

 

“Speaking of dirty little secrets… I should go get her, huh?” She looked so cute when she was sleeping, but she couldn’t earn my hand by sleeping in. I was going to give her the edge and wake her up early, even if she didn’t know it. 

Unlocking the door to the closet, I stepped inside. Shortly after starting her training, I had stopped restraining her before opening the cell door. When she had first gotten here, I put in the extra effort to make sure that I was completely safe and secure when letting her out of her cell, but I didn’t need that anymore. I did however, need to put on my dominant face. “Good morning, slave.”

“Good morning, Master.” It was so cute how she yawned, but what was even cuter was that she had a tendency to use ‘Master’ as her preferred manner of addressing me. It might have bothered me knowing that it was predominantly used as a male title, but I didn’t actually mind, I rocked it. “May I begin, Master?”

“Yes, you may~” I watched her kneel, looking up at me with that usual nervous look on her face. Since beginning her training, we began every day by having her recite the many tenets of her existence, and we ended our nights with them as well. 

The margin for error today wouldn’t have been so tight had she managed to remember them sooner, but she struggled with them. Chloe hadn’t yet successfully managed to recite them all perfectly. Not even once.

“Thank you, Master.” She always tried her best, but her best hadn’t quite been enough just yet.

 

“One. Know my place. I have a role to play. I have a purpose. As a slave, my purpose is whatever my master says it is. I am below my master, and I will remember my place and purpose.”

“Two. Know my master. I have a master, and I know who my master is. I belong to her, and that puts her above all others. She is the center of my world, and I will learn what she needs, learn what she wants, and learn how to serve her.”

“Three. Show respect. I am a slave, not a person. All others are above me and they deserve to be respected. I will put myself below all others, but I will respect my master first and foremost. As a slave, my master is above all others, and I am below all others.”

“Four. Do as I’m told. I will obey my master at all times. When my master tells me to do something, I am to do it. No matter what I’m told, I will always follow my master’s directions.”

“Five. Do not fight back. My master deserves my full respect and cooperation. I will not disobey orders. I will not talk back. I will not disagree with her. My master is the only thing that matters, and I am not to fight back.”

“Six. Act out of love, not out of fear. My master has the right to do whatever she wants to me. I will act out of love for my master, and not out of fear of what she will do to me. I will show her that I love her, and that her happiness is my priority.”

“Seven. Identify with my master. As a slave, I am not an individual, I am a possession. I will identify as my master’s slave, and not as my own person. I will let myself be viewed as my master’s slave, and nothing more. I will be an extension of her. I will let her make my decisions, I will let her fulfill my needs, and I will let her do my thinking for me.”

“Eight. Be vulnerable. I will make my master’s life as pleasant as possible. I will open myself up to her, and I will trust her. I will show my master that I am vulnerable to her. I will show her that I am powerless. I will let her touch me, I will let her hurt me, and I will let her humiliate me.”

“Nine. Be adaptable. I will learn from my mistakes. I will show my master that I will bend to her will. I will be open to anything and everything my master says, even if it goes against what I want. My master’s desires will change, and I must change to suit her needs.”

“Ten. Strive for perfection. I won’t just do as I’m told, I will make my master proud. I will do everything in my power to be more than what my master expects and demands me to be, even if she doesn’t notice. The little things will mean a lot to her, and I will strive to be the best slave my master could ever wish for.” 

 

Perfect. Absolutely perfect. For the first time ever, Chloe had gotten every single word correct, from beginning to end, and she said them like she meant them. What followed was stunned silence, as she looked up at me nervously, praying to her goddess that she had finally gotten it right… and she had. 

 

Click!!

 

One down, eight to go. Don’t let me down. I couldn’t have been happier, and from the expression on her face hearing the clicker go off and feeling her collar buzz against her skin, Chloe couldn’t have been happier either. There were happy tears in her eyes, and she looked like she was just about to cry. I could almost cry as well, my thumb still on the button. I wanted to give her more for her performance, but unfortunately it was still only worth one click. But it was a relief to know that if she managed to be at her best today, she just might make it. “Very good, Sophia~”

Wait, no. That’s not right, now I’m just deadnaming you. 

The name still stuck around in my head, sometimes it just kind of slipped out. Sophia Cavalier was a very cute name, but it wasn’t her name. Her name was Chloe. 

She obviously was still very distraught hearing her old name being spoken, being reminded of her past life still hurt her immensely. 

Great. There she goes, overcomplicating things in her own head again. No , this is not a test Chloe, I’m just a moron. 

“Chloe. Good job, Chloe… I’m very proud of you.” 

You can’t do this to her Candace, that’s just going to make everything worse for the poor girl. 

Chloe was terrible at letting her master think for her, it’s part of what made her a world champion Stolen Cosmos player, she was always thinking everything through as far as she could think. But a Stolen Cosmos champion wasn’t what I wanted from her, I want a slave. “Eyes on me slave, you’re overthinking it.”

“Yes, Master!” She quickly snapped to attention, looking up at me before quickly adjusting her gaze to look downward. “Sorry, Master.”

“Not everything is a test, doll… Sometimes it really is just an accident.” I almost wanted to relent and click the button again just to make it up for that, but that quick moment of glancing up at me wasn’t something I could just ignore. She can’t do that, she made a mistake, and she knows that. That’s why she corrected herself. Patience Candace, she’ll get there… Don’t get trigger happy…

“My apologies, Master.” Chloe was getting better at acting without being told exactly what to do, and she knew enough to know that bowing to show forgiveness was an appropriate thing for her to do. 

And then I felt her soft plush lips kissing the top of my bare foot. 

Awww… someone’s becoming a bootlicker… I can’t just let that one go~

 

Click!!

 

Chloe smiled eagerly, almost immediately repeating the same mistake, and looking up at me to see my expression. I couldn’t let that go either, but the deed was already done, and she’d already received one of her coveted clicks. Now she just needed to receive a boot to the back of her head~

“Come on now, you have to get those little eyes of yours under control… Just focus on those feet you like to kiss so much~” I pressed my foot into the back of her head, shoving her forehead into the ground. 

“I’m sorry, Miss.” She was relaxed under my foot, a marvellous improvement over the first time she had found herself beneath my boot. She was becoming more comfortable with being punished and humiliated. In fact, if I didn’t know better I would almost say that she was slowly starting to like it.

“Do you like being degraded, slave?” I’d seen her search history, I know what kind of kinks the girl had before she’d gotten here, and degradee was not a title I would have ascribed to her back then. But maybe that had changed?

“If it makes you happy, Ma’am… yes, I do.” Smart answer, correct answer, but I wanted an honest answer. There was no way that she was going to just answer with a ‘no’, and she was a fairly good liar.

As far as her playstyle went, she had a solid poker face. Sophia Cavalier has no tell. But she’s not Sophia Cavalier, why do I keep thinking of her like that? Why hasn’t that image of her in my head been replaced by the loyal and grovelling slave I now find beneath my foot. Was it really such an inseparable part of her? I had to know. “Go make me breakfast, Chloe, and no eating any of my food.”

 

As soon as my foot was back on the floor, the girl sprung into action, not needing to be told anything further. I, meanwhile, settled myself into the dining room table, not bothering to actually watch to make sure that she didn’t sneak some food into her mouth, she wasn’t wearing a muzzle after all. 

Was this cheating? I had caught her sneaking some breakfast when she thought I wasn’t watching, and I had even given her a couple of clicks as a reward for the days where she kept her mouth away from food that wasn’t hers. But not misbehaving was no longer enough to be rewarded for, she needed to do well, and I couldn’t keep rewarding her for behavior she should be expected to perform regardless, not anymore. I needed to hold back, for my own sake as well as hers. 

She said nothing, kept her gaze down, and even got onto her knees as she presented my breakfast to me. Is that enough? I kept finding myself constantly questioning what was enough to reward the girl for, and by the time I had actually accepted the platter from her, the moment for rewarding it had passed. “Permission to inquire, Master?” 

She didn’t have permission to speak, but at least she was asking for permission to ask a question, rather than proceeding with the question itself. It wasn’t enough to reward, but it was at least enough not to punish her for. “Proceed.”

Settling into a kneeling position next to me, and finally looking up, knowing that it was appropriate to make eye contact when she was given permission to speak, she proceeded. “I know that I’m supposed to be continuing with my tasks, but I was hoping that maybe you would let me stay here with you for a little bit, may I have permission to wait on you for a little while longer?”

“Yes, you may.” I didn’t really have anything for her to do, but I appreciated having her next to me, and I was going to be watching her closely for the whole day anyways. 

“Thank you, Master. I’ll do my best to keep quiet~” If she was acting out of fear, she wouldn’t have asked such a question in the first place, for fear of the repercussions. She knows her place, she knows her master, she’s being respectful, and most importantly she’s trying to make me happy. Nailed it.

 

Click!!

 

Chloe was visibly excited that she not only got to kneel beside her master, but she also was being rewarded for her performance. A few months ago she would have been growling at me, and the old punk rock misfit is still in there, but she’d come a long way. “Actually Chloe, go get your leash.” Even better, maybe I could reward her for putting on a bit of a show. “And make sure to crawl~”

 

It was the very same leash that she always wore, and even more adorably, when she came back with it, not only was she holding her master’s end of the leash in her mouth, but she also put in the extra effort of affixing the end to her own collar herself. I would have liked to clip the end to her collar myself however, so there was no reward for that. In fact, I might as well punish her for it. She had been doing well enough so far this morning that I could feel pretty safe in having a little bit of fun with her. 

I grabbed the leash from her mouth, watching the excited look in her eyes flashed with fear as I yanked her up onto her knees, threatening to strangle her, our eyes locked together. “Only I get to attach this leash to you, do you understand?”

“Y-yes Ma’am…” She nodded, whimpering under her breath as I released her, letting her collapse onto the floor and watching her as she once again bowed for forgiveness.

Now the fun part~

Chloe was also getting better at being electrocuted, and I again wasn’t sure if she was beginning to enjoy it, or if she was just getting better at putting up with it. But it was absolutely wonderful to watch her writhe in pain on the floor below, knowing exactly the kind of agony she was in. My slave deserved to be punished when she did something that I disapproved of, and I disapproved of this.

But still, she was adorable, and it only took hand feeding her a few pieces of my breakfast and forcing her to bark like a dog to get her mind back where it should be. Focused on making me happy. I might be a vehement hater of dogs, but my puppy was too cute to stay mad at.

 

Click!!

 

There was no arguing from the slave about being on the receiving end of some proper clicker training. “Who’s not a dog now?”

“Not me, Ma’am~” Chloe smiled eagerly, looking up at me with her usual puppy dog eyes. 

I was almost tempted to give her another click just for those cute little hazel eyes of hers, and hell, she was my property, and I had already been allowing myself to give her a click a day just for being cute~

 

Click!!

 

Chloe was seemingly over the moon about being rewarded like this, and equally as disappointed as I detached the end of the leash from her collar, but she wasn’t going to argue with me, she knew better. “Now go and properly begin on your daily chores, I expect perfection, and I had better get perfection~”

She promptly gave me a curtsy before heading off and getting back to work. Being my handmaiden didn’t mean she would get to stop being my housemaid, that was going to be a part of her for the rest of her life, and hopefully she’s accepted that. It was a relief to see her doing so well today, she was already over halfway there, and she hadn’t even started with her job quite yet. 

Chloe of course, didn’t actually know that tonight was the deadline. I had of course told her that the deadline was the first of September, but she had no way of knowing that that was today. If she knew that it was already the first of the month, she would be freaking out thinking that she’d already missed it. Of course the deadline wasn’t “The first of September” as in “By September”, the deadline was really “By your birthday, September 2nd.” I just really wanted to reward her on her birthday, but she had no idea that her birthday was tomorrow. 

 

↞✶↠

 

The day proceeded as normal. She showered, I showered, I was sure to at least have covered up between my legs before I allowed her to see me. It was wonderful to know that she wouldn’t try to escape while I was in the shower, she had tried that once, it didn't make me very happy.

“I’ve started with laundry, Master.” She was bowing her head as she was supposed to, but she wasn’t saying everything that was on her mind. 

“Speak slave, what’s the matter?” I watched her hold up a bundled up ball of clothes, clutched in her hand. Her clothes, the one’s she arrived in. 

“These were… In the laundry room. They’ve been there for a while, I’ve actually had them hidden away, I wasn’t really sure what I was supposed to do with them.” She was nervous, finally making the decision to bring them to me and ask what was to be done with them. “I… I’ve been too nervous to tell you about them, but… I thought I would tell you now.”

“Well go on… let’s see them~” I smirked, astonished that she’d kept them hidden away from me in my own house for many months now. 

“You want me to put them on, Ma’am?”

“I do, now get on with it.”

She didn’t argue, of course she didn’t argue, she was doing her best to display perfect obedience. Yet even so, she had spent the last couple of weeks entirely naked, and she did rather like those clothes of hers, they looked awful comfy, and she did begrudgingly look awfully cute in them. But even as she finished putting them on, there was still something wrong with the outfit. “Now now, that flannel goes around your waist. You know that~”

She smiled, taking the flannel off and tying it where it was supposed to go, where I wanted it. Flannel around her waist, rainbow trimmed high tops, ripped jean shorts, and a yellow crop top. She looked amazing, but I preferred her naked. “So you’ve had this hidden away from me from day one?”

“From day two, actually… it was just in the laundry room, and I didn’t really know what to do with it… I couldn’t keep it to myself, but I didn’t want you to get rid of it.” She paused, adjusting her gaze, which she suddenly realized was a lot higher than it was supposed to be. “I guess I just felt like they were mine, and that I should be able to do what I want with them… But I was wrong, and I know that now.” She swallowed nervously, bowing slightly. “I don’t own anything, Ma’am… I’m sorry.”

 

Click!!

 

It was good enough for me. Even I had to admit to myself that at this point I was looking for things to reward her for, desperately wanting her to succeed today. Sure, I was upset that she would keep this from me for so long, but she came clean about it anyways. Seeing her in that outfit brought me back to when we first met, it brought a little bit of Sophia Cavalier, and maybe a little bit of Sophia Cavalier was okay after all. 

“How’s about this, Cavalier~” That time it was on purpose. “If you can beat me in a match of Stolen Cosmos… I might just let you keep them~”

She froze. If hearing her own name was enough to frazzle her, being challenged to a match of Stolen Cosmos must have been decimating for her. But I needed to test this out, I needed to test out her ability to stay obedient and loyal, even while being reminded of her past life. Plus, I really wanted a rematch. I really did want to beat her this time. 

“A-after dinner you mean, Ma’am?” She quickly regained an almost adequate composure, but the pistons were still clearly firing in her brain, trying to figure out what exactly was going on. “I-I’ve already started cooking.”

“After dinner it is, slave.” I smiled, opening up my closet door to fetch myself some clothes, shooing the girl away to get back to work. “Don’t ruin my dinner tonight~”

“I won’t, Ma’am~!!!” 

 

What the fuck am I doing?? This isn’t going to help her get to 100 clicks??

I froze. The closet door shut behind me, Chloe couldn’t tell because I remained calm and composed around her, but behind closed doors, I was a fucking wreck. I had no idea what I was doing, just jumping from whim to whim just to pass the time, occasionally stopping to watch my favorite possession do her job on my cameras between matches. Chloe was more figured out than I was. 

I slid to the tile below, leaning against the door behind me as I fumbled for my phone, doing the one thing I always did when I was on the verge of a mental breakdown. 

I called Aria.

 

↞✶↠

 

“Dinner is served, Master.” 

There she is, using her favorite title for me. Chloe seemed to be doing a lot better, and after a quick call with my best friend, so was I. 

I was closer with Aria Fairmont than I was with even Malcolm or Leah, but Chloe wouldn’t know that because Aria never came around the mansion anymore. It took me a while to figure out why, but eventually I realized that she felt the same way my father did about my new slave. 

She hated Chloe. More accurately, Aria was sort of disgusted by the idea of keeping slaves, or perhaps she was actually more disgusted at the slaves themselves, knowing that she didn’t seem to be morally against me keeping a slave. She just seemed to prefer staying away from the girl. That much I didn’t really mind, Aria was a public figure much like Sophia and I, and we were known associates of each other, she was my best friend, and it didn’t much matter if she hated Chloe or not.

I loved Chloe, and Chloe loved me. At least I hoped Chloe loved me, it was after all difficult to tell when she was hiding something from me, her poker face was nearly unmatched among the profession. Deep down, there was still a lingering fear that she was playing the long con with me, plotting some sort of plan to go through with killing me and finally escaping from my grasp, and the thought of that made my heart ache. “You aren’t just trying to trick me so that you can make some grand escape, are you Chloe?” 

Her eyes quickly darted up at me in surprise before quickly looking away. “No, Ma’am!! Why?!” Her breath quickened, her heart began to beat out of her chest, and I could almost hear the thoughts rattling around inside of her head. “Did I do something wrong?!”

“No, dearest…” I sighed, taking dinner from her hands, just that I could set it down and hold her hands instead. “Calm down… I’m just testing your loyalty…”

She squeezed my hands as hard as she could, dropping to her knees at my side and bowing her head. “I’m in this for you… I swear…”

I planted a kiss on the back of her hand and smiled, letting go of her hands and tilting her chin up to look at me. “I know you are~”

 

Click!!

 

That fixed it, I couldn’t help but to share in the happiness that I could see spreading into her glistening hazel eyes. My glistening hazel eyes. Those eyes belonged to me, and I wasn’t about to let them get away from me. 

“Thank you, Master.” Chloe smiled, her cheeks turning pink. “Permission to sit in your lap?”

“Permission granted~”

 

We finished dinner together, before moving into the gaming room. Chloe was visibly nervous, unsure of whether or not she actually wanted to play with me. She was sure this was a test, and it was, but I did genuinely just want to play with her. I wanted to see how much of Sophia Cavalier was left in her, but I also just wanted to enjoy playing a match against my future bride. Chloe’s hands were trembling as she held the mouse, and I knew very well that her hands were usually quite steady. 

“It’s okay Chloe, just do your best~” My words seemed to help soothe Chloe. Her mentality really was changing, and she was beginning to need to rely on me for support, but that was alright. That’s what I wanted, that’s what was natural for a slave, to rely on their master for everything. To make their master happy in exchange for a place to exist, beneath them. Chloe belongs beneath me. 

But there was one thing that had been bothering me all day, Sophia Cavalier. I had tried to bury my archrival for good, but sometimes she came bubbling back up to the surface, and I wanted a rematch. I wanted to defeat Sophia Cavalier, fair and square. No tricks or cheats this time, just a real proper rematch. 

 

But Chloe threw the match. 

I wanted to defeat Sophia Cavalier fair and square, but Chloe threw the match, and there was my problem. 

I wasn’t playing against Sophia Cavalier, I was playing against Chloe. 

This wasn’t a rematch between CSt.C vs. SoCavalier, because Chloe wasn’t signed in as SoCavalier, she was signed in as CSt.C(1), both physically and mentally. She wasn’t playing like Sophia would play, she was playing like Chloe would play.

Of course Chloe threw the match. She’s Chloe, she’s a slave, she’s only concerned about her making her master happy. If her master wanted to beat her in a game of Stolen Cosmos, she was going to let her master win in a game of Stolen Cosmos, even if it meant losing, especially if it meant losing. She wanted to show her master that she was beneath her. She wasn't my opponent. She was my slave. 

She was doing everything right. 

 

Click!!

 

I gave her a click for her efforts, but I still wasn’t happy, and she could tell. 

“What’s wrong, Master?” She turned her seat around to face me. She sounded like Sophia, and in those clothes of hers she looked like Sophia, but she wasn’t Sophia. 

“You threw the match.” Chloe was doing everything right. But she wasn’t Sophia Cavalier, and I wanted to play against Sophia Cavalier. 

“I’m sorry.” Chloe really didn’t know what to say. She knew very well that she had thrown the match, it was bloody obvious. But she thought that was okay, what was she supposed to do? Win? Trying her best and losing would have been the ideal outcome, but she knew that if she tried her best there was also a very good chance of her winning the match, and she couldn’t win the match knowing how much I wanted to beat her. “I just really wanted you to win, Ma’am.”

“I just wanted to beat you in a fair match.” I didn’t know what to say either, she was doing her best, and that’s what counted. “I’m not upset Chloe, I’m just disappointed I suppose.”

“Are you going to punish me, Master?” What a wonderful girl, asking to be punished. I would give her another click for that too, but it would have made it worse for the girl, and it really wasn’t her place to tell me when to punish her. 

“Dearest, are you telling me to punish you?”

“I think you should.”

“It’s not your place to decide when you should get punished, Chloe. Use your brain.”

“Am I supposed to use my brain, or am I supposed to use my heart, Ma’am, which is it?”

“They aren’t mutually exclusive.”

“Are they not? Because if not why are they saying two completely different things?”

“And what are they saying to you?”

“My heart says stay. But my brain says run...”

 

I gritted my teeth. She had been doing so well, but something had been rattled inside of her, and I wasn’t quite sure what had done it. Regardless of whether it had been the game or the disconnect between what she was receiving and perceiving was besides the point. Talking back like this was unacceptable, and she knew that. “Go finish your chores, and then get ready for bed.”

Chloe was a tough girl, she always had been. She didn’t cry, but she seemed to be just as disappointed in herself as I was. She immediately regretted letting those words come out of her mouth, and she couldn’t really recover from that. Chloe could take a backhand to the face just fine, but just seeing my disappointment in her stung deeper than a slap to the face could, and that was punishment enough. “I’m sorry, Master…”

 

She wasn’t to get a click for her behavior if she was going to be like that. But she was already at 99 clicks, and there was nothing she could do that would prevent her from earning that last click before the night was over. 

Except fall apart, which she did. 

I was a wreck behind closed doors, but Chloe couldn’t manage to pull herself back together, even in front of her master. She so desperately wanted to impress me, but after a show like that, it was going to take more than not exhibiting bad behavior to earn a reward from me. But whenever I came to observe her she recoiled, curling in on herself, retreating back into her shell. She had settled for trying not to upset me, rather than trying to impress me, and it worked, but I wanted to be impressed. There was nothing that Chloe did for the rest of the night to earn that one hundredth click, and I was running out of options. I wanted to go to bed.

Chloe needed to be brought back in line, and it clearly wasn’t happening tonight. She had failed me right at the end when I expected perfection. I deserved perfection. I deserved to be able to get what I wanted, and if she wasn’t able to give it to me, she didn’t deserve me. 

“Come along, let’s get you to bed, you’re going to have a lot of work to do tomorrow.”

“Where am I sleeping tonight, Master?”

“In your cell, where you belong.”

“Yes, Master…”

She had no reason to be upset about not reaching her quota in time, she had no idea that tonight was the deadline, and she was more than used to being put away in her cell until further use. 

“Would you like me to begin now, or wait until I’m in my cell?” Chloe eagerly followed me, her gaze pointed down at those feet that she so desperately liked to kiss. 

“Begin what, slave?” I was tired, and I didn’t have much energy left to do anything more with her tonight, opening the doors to her cell was enough of a chore. 

“My recitations, Master.” Chloe smiled, looking up at me for just a moment before adjusting her gaze back downwards. “I assume that just because I got them right this morning doesn’t mean that I’m done reciting them, right? I need to have them memorized as soon as I can. I want your father to be proud of you when he comes to visit.”

Her guidelines, right. She wants to recite them again. I was pleasantly surprised that even after the night ended like it did, Chloe was asking for permission to recite the tenets of her life as a slave back to me, just to help her memorize them. “And what were those guidelines, Chloe… recite them to me~”

 

I hung onto her every word, listening intently to the careful confidence in her voice as she once again repeated the guidelines back to me word for word, perfectly. But she was overthinking it again, like she always does. Sitting down and playing the game with her made me realize that Chloe was treating those guidelines like rules she needed to follow, as if they were something she needed to follow to the letter. But she wasn’t the only one doing something wrong, so was I. ‘...rules?’ Her constantly ticking mind needed some set of tangible rules to follow. 

We were both too focused on the guidelines. I had been rewarding her for how well she followed those guidelines, and not based on whether she made me happy, and that wasn’t fair to her, because she almost always made me happy. 

“Those guidelines really are just guidelines Chloe, they aren’t rules.”

“I know, Master. I just-”

“Remember the guidelines, but don’t get obsessed with them. Going against one of your tenets isn’t the same as breaking a rule.”

“But how will I know how to behave?”

“If your little gamer brain needs rules, then I’ll give you rules.” The door into Chloe’s cell was already wide open, I stepped in and took a seat on the stone bench built into the opposite wall, gesturing with one finger for her to follow me inside. “But I’m the only one allowed to punish you… so I would suggest that you stop punishing yourself for your own bad behavior.”

She stepped into the center of the small stone bunker, nervously looking over at me instead of glaring down at the ground. I did very much like seeing those beautiful eyes of hers, and right now I wanted to see them cry. 

“A bet is a bet loser, no more playing dress up as a Stolen Cosmos champion. Strip.” 

She frowned, a faint blush slowly burning its way into her cute little cheeks as she stripped herself bare before her master’s eyes. “Where do you want them, Ma’am?”

“I don’t care as long as they’re off of you.” I bit my tongue excitedly, patting my lap for her to come sit in it. “But I want you right here.”

I could hear the words in her head as she thought them. She’s going to spank me… But as expected, she graciously offered herself to me, gently bending herself over my knee to spare me the effort of having to make her. “Such a smart girl… hopefully this will teach you just how to use that stupid little brain of yours~”

“What exactly am I being punished for… Ma’am?” Chloe spat back at me before I could begin, almost ferociously. “I thought you weren’t going to punish me.”

“So you’ve saved all of your fighting spirit for this, have you?” Without warning, I brought my palm down on Chloe’s bare bottom, watching in delight as a stinging torrent of pain made its way through her. “I wasn’t going to punish you for throwing the match, but I am going to punish you for your insolence.”

She winced, biting her bottom lip. I could feel her body trembling in my lap as I ran my fingers across her skin. Her soft plush ass was like dough in my hands as I squeezed it, and I could see that she wanted to growl at me for it. “Head down my little bootlicker, keep your eyes on those toes that you love to suck.”

I carelessly curled my fingers in her fluffy orange hair, forcing her head downward and holding it there so that she couldn’t move it even if she tried. She jerked as she was swatted, her cute little butt quickly turning peach as it was spanked. Peach looked good in her hair, but it looked even better on her ass. Oh Chloe~

I would have been lying if I said that I didn’t want her to fight back just a little bit, it made it even more fun to put her back in line. She struggled against me as I continued to spank her, pushing back against my hands, cursing under her breath. “Fuck…” 

I quickly cut her off with another slap to her ass, turning her expletives into a high pitched yelp. After a few good minutes of going at her as hard as I could, I clutched onto her hair and violently tilted her head back to look at me, admiring the tears in the corners of her eyes, her face now bright red. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

“I’m sorry… Master…” She choked on her own sobs, desperately trying not to burst into tears. “I’m not going to run, I promise…”

“You should know by now that the edge of tears is not where I want you~” I curled my hand around her cute pink little cunt, pressing my fingers into her slit, feeling the excitement growing between my legs as well as hers, as she slowly began to drip into the palm of my hand.

“Mmmph…” She moaned through her lips, arching her back slightly, trying to ever so slightly pull herself off of my fingers. 

I caught her by the back of her scalp and shook my head, pushing her back down. My two fingers pressed further into her cute little slit, sliding in all the way to my knuckles. “Cry.”

I could see how hard she was trying not to, but it only took a few moments of gently pumping my fingers in and out of her to bring her to tears. 

She whined loudly. There was the feisty girl that I knew and loved. I only needed my fingers to bring her to orgasm, but she wasn’t getting an orgasm. I wasn’t giving one to her, I was punishing her. I was only doing this to make her cry. “Louder.”

This wasn’t to torment her, that was never the point. The point was to whittle her down slowly, to chip away at that rebellious streak she has hidden in her. This had all started out as punishment for the world championship, but it had evolved into so much more. This was about me asserting my dominance over her, showing her who’s in charge, teaching her to lean on me, her master.

She had changed, and so had I. I no longer wanted to punish her for what she did to me, I had forgiven her. I didn’t want to torture her anymore, I just wanted to train her, to subjugate her. This wasn’t about revenge anymore, this was about love. I loved her, and I couldn’t let go of her.

I squeezed her one last time, pushing her over the edge before slipping my fingers back out. She didn’t orgasm, but she cried, and she cried loudly. 

It was cathartic for me to see her like this, and I’m sure it was equally cathartic for her. She needed a release, not a sexual one, but an emotional one. She had been shouldering the burden of a lot of stress and expectations and she deserved to be relieved. She deserved to be rewarded. 

I lifted her from my lap, sitting her up and allowing her to lean into me, burying her sobbing head into my chest as I gently ran my fingers through her hair, rubbing the back of her worried little head gently. “It’s okay doll, keep going~”

 

Yes, it had been a punishment, but she deserved to be rewarded. I pulled the clicker from my pocket and held it behind her so that she couldn’t see it.

This isn’t a game, Candace. This is her life.

I sighed. Chloe wasn’t getting a one hundredth click. She didn’t need one, and I didn’t need to give her one. 

She was getting a birthday celebration, not because she got the clicker to go off 100 times…. But because I wanted to give her one, and that was all the reason I needed. 

 

She continued to cry. A few months ago I would have sat here and mocked her, watching her curl up into the corner and sob.

But I was gonna ride this out with her. I was going to sit here and hold her, letting her cry for as long as she needed, and then make sure she was safe and sound. 

Aww hell, I should have gotten her a little dog bed for in here, that would be so cute~

It took a while, but eventually she calmed down, gently nestling into me as we sat there. “Hey, Chloe?”
“Mm.” Chloe’s only response was a little bit of motion and a small mumble to let me know that she was listening. 

“You’ve gotta sleep in here tonight, okay? We have a big day tomorrow.”

She nodded, and that was enough to signal for me that it was okay to set her down, locking her away in her cell for the night, and gently turning the lights in there off for her. “You’re going to make a great addition to this family~”

 

I settled into my bed, the small gold bell in hand. She was going to get this bell, because the only thing that mattered was whether or not she made me happy.

And she always made me happy~

Notes:

Here's the little birthday story i wrote for Chloe, which came out on September 2nd (over two months ago)
Birthday Girl

Chapter 14: Communication Error

“Good morning, servant.” Candace grumbled to herself as she sat down at one of the seats in the kitchen, rather than sitting down in the dining room to eat as she usually did, wanting to be as close to me as she could be. “I don’t remember telling you that you were allowed out of bed before I was.”

The stove was on, breakfast was cooking, and that was the only reason I was already out of bed. “I was just preparing food, Ma’am.”

“And is using the master bathroom part of food preparation now, slave?”

Now that I was guilty of. Zap . My knees shook and wobbled as she sent a surge of electricity through me. 

“Consider this letting you off the hook easy, now get me a drink.” Candace was unusually grumpy this morning, and for good reason. 

“Yes, Ma’am. I’m sorry, Ma’am.” I quickly fetched her a glass of tea. “The door to my bathroom was locked, and I didn’t want to wake you… and I know how much you hate me pissing on your floors.”

“Sound like a lose lose scenario to me, oh well~” She smiled to herself, slowly sipping her tea. 

“Is something the matter, Master?” I returned to the stove, flipping breakfast over so that it didn’t burn. “Is it about tomorrow?”

“Of course it’s about tomorrow.” She sighed to herself. “Don’t ask stupid questions… and speak when spoken to!!”

“I’m sorry, Ma’am… I’m making pancakes, if that helps~” 

“You’ve never made pancakes, what’s the occasion?”

“There’s no occasion, you’ve just never told me to make pancakes… they’re not easy, you know.”
“Then what’s different about today, thrall?”

I stopped, sighing loudly to myself as I flipped the pancakes over one final time. “I’m nervous about tomorrow too, Master…”

Candace frowned, nodding her head. “I can tell… but that attitude isn’t helping you.” 

“Yes, Ma’am…I couldn’t fall back asleep… I needed to do something.” I started plating the pancakes and serving them to Candace, putting them all on a single plate, assuming that I wasn’t actually going to get any of them. “So I decided to serve, is that not my place, Master?”

“The problem isn’t your dedication to service, Chloe…” She held out her already empty glass for a refill. “The problem is doing so in the brattiest way possible.”

I refilled it as quickly as I could and brought it back to her. “I thought you liked brattiness from time to time, you said it was endearing?”

“I do enjoy it, Chloe. But it’s not going to fly tomorrow, you know that…”

“I’m sorry…” We weren’t married, yet here we were, bickering. “Maybe it’d be good to get all of my bratiness out of the way before tomorrow, Ma’am?”

“Oh, you think so?” She took the glass from my hand. “I suppose I can consider it, you are already acting up without permission, after all~”

“Brattiness isn’t a product of permission, Master.” 

“Shut up and sit down~” She kicked out the chair next to her, demanding that I stop pacing around in the kitchen and relax for just a few seconds. I sat, turning to face her just in time to see her reach her hand under my chin and tilt my head up to look directly into her eyes. “You can be a brat if you want, but run your pretty little mouth off at me one more time and you will be getting punished for it~”

She just knew how much I liked hearing that. Eugh, I really was a brat, and I wasn’t very proud of it. I had been locked away and relegated to the position of housemaid, but I was her handmaiden now, and I wanted to enjoy a few of the privileges I was granted as personal slave to Candace St. Clair. I wanted to misbehave just a little bit, but I knew that there was no time left to misbehave.

Tomorrow night was the night I met Candace’s father, and we were both terribly nervous about it. 

“You’re welcome to be challenging at any time, but don’t think you’ll ever be allowed to get away with it, okay?”

She was my world. Everything revolved around her. It was only through her that I could continue to exist. She was my only source for rules and guidelines. Guidelines.

“Would you like me to recite my guidelines now, Master?”

Candace answered wordlessly, and so I did, but by the time I was finished she had a strangely hungry look in her eyes. 

 

Our relationship had evolved in many ways, but it was far from perfect. 

It was full of love and passion at the best of times, but it was downright abusive in the worst of times.

I was to marry Candace St. Clair, and join one of the five families, and I had accepted that. But we were both struggling to convert what we had started off as into a genuine relationship. 

Candace had grown up as a part of one of the most corrupt and abusive families on the planet, she had been born Cardinal St. Clair, named after her father, and despite trying desperately not to turn out as her father’s son, she had grown up to be just as abusive as her father was.

Yet despite knowing how abusive she and her family was, I was doing my best to try and fit in with that family. I was trying to impress that abusive father of hers, because despite how abusive Candace had turned out to be, she loved me, and I loved her. 

 

“Alright, have it your way Chloe~” Candace smiled and shook her head at me in disbelief. “If you want to get the brattiness out of the way today, then I will help beat it out of you~”

“Thank you, Ma’am.” I bowed to her, my last show of respect before I start to misbehave. “Do you think I’m ready?”

“I don’t really know, and I don’t really-” Candace started and then paused, sighing to herself. “You had better be, or else I don’t know what I’m going to do…”

“...Do you think your father will like me?”

“I really hope he does, or else it’s bye bye brat girl.”

“You couldn’t just go behind his back to keep me?”

“That’s complicated, Chloe… He could have me killed if he really wanted to.”

“He wouldn’t-”

“My mother was killed by the family, Chloe… don’t underestimate the kinds of things they can do.”

I froze. I never really stopped to think about the implications of that. Of Candace’s own family having her mother euthanized. What kind of monsters must they be to do something like that to her, especially knowing that she’s the daughter of the family’s patriarch. It was despicable.

I watched her stand, beginning to walk behind me, feeling her twist her fingers in my hair and pull me to my feet and drag me back to the kitchen, scolding me in her emotionless tone as she let go, tossing me forward and walking away. “Get to work.”

I growled under my breath, just about ready to turn around and pounce on her, but by the time I had regained my balance she was on the phone, getting ready to open the secret door to her basement. “...How the fuck do you even have a basement in florida anyways?”

I turned back around to start my work, hearing her shout at me one last time before going downstairs. “With a lot of fucking money is how~!!”

 

↞✶↠

 

And so I got to work, it wasn’t hard, especially after so many months of doing it. She hadn’t even directed me on which room to deep clean today, not that that was difficult either, considering that half of the rooms were unused anyways. 

“Meewwww~"

What was that? I spun around in place right there in the hallway, the hem of my apron spinning with me. Thea never made sounds like that, so it must be…

“Mewww~!!!!” I felt one of the cats rubbing her cheek against my ankles, desperate for scratches behind her ears. Thea never did that either, she was a silent menace, black as the night, and I hardly ever noticed her. She did her best to stay away from me, never wanted my attention, never shed, and stayed in her room most of the time anyway, despite there being a cat door for her to come through.

“Sophia…” I looked down at my ankles, seeing the calico kitten at my feet begging for my attention. She was still small, but she had gotten bigger, big enough to be able to leave her pen on her own for the first time. “You’re not supposed to be out here, kiddo~”

Sophia said nothing, of course she said nothing, she’s a cat, and I was just a hopeless and desperate moron for wanting to have a conversation with a cat. This was the point where I would just step on her, or kick her away in anger… okay maybe that’s an exaggeration, but I didn’t really like cats. This was the point where I actually should have just been looking for things to kill my time with, extra busywork until Candace needs me, like putting Sophia back in her pen.

But Candace was expecting to beat the brattiness out of me today, wasn’t she?

“Come here, scratchy~” I leaned down, picking her up with both hands and lifting her into the air, careful not to squish her on accident… or on purpose. “Let’s go mess with your mom, okay?”

The door into Candace’s room was so silent it was almost creepy, back where I used to live my door creaked so badly that it couldn’t be opened without waking up my neighbors. “Geez Sophia, how come Candace lets you walk around without a collar or a harness?”

Really? Am I really honestly jealous of a cat now?

She was downstairs, and that meant she was probably on the cameras, right? That was where she went when I couldn’t see her, wasn’t it?

I sat down on the bed, having finished my required amount of work for the day, and I set Sophia down with me. I wasn’t being insolent, I was just waiting. If Candace came on the intercom right now and gave me a task to fulfill, I would hop up to my feet and do it, but she didn’t.

“...Are you… in my bed right now?” The intercom kicked on, and I could hear her flabbergasted voice, not upset or angry, just confused. 

“I’m done for the day, Ma’am.” I lifted my collar to my mouth slightly so that she could hear me. “Besides, you scolded me for getting out of bed too early this morning anyways~”

“……” I could just picture her down there, sitting in shocked silence. “…What do you mean you’re done ? You’re never done, not until I tell you you’re done.”

“Well, do you have anything else for me to do, Ma’am?”

“Oh!! So what, you need me to tell you how to do your job now, slave?”

“Of course not, I’ve finished everything that’s required of me-”

“You’ve never needed me to give you busywork, Chloe. You can find that on your own time.”

“I don’t really want to, Miss… unless you have something for me to do I just… don’t really want to find busywork.”

“Well, for starters, you can get Sophia out of my room before she sheds all over my bed, you have to sleep in that too, you know.”

Shit, she’s right. I quickly scooped Sophia back into my lap, picking her up off of the bed before she got cat hair everywhere. “You haven’t even assigned me an extra room to clean… I take Sophia back out and then what, Ma’am?”

“And then, you can clean the parlor chandelier.” 

 

“The parlor chandelier?” I froze, taking in what she said. Chandeliers were the most grueling task she could possibly give me, so bad that I only had to clean one of them per month, and even then… I’d never actually cleaned the parlor chandelier, according to Candace, it was the most difficult one in the whole house, and the most dangerous as well, given how tall the ceiling in the parlor was. I didn’t know how to clean the parlor chandelier, and I could get seriously hurt just trying. 

“Are you actually mad at me, Ma’am?”

“I…” Candace was still on the intercom, and she sounded even more confused now than when we had started. “…What?”

“I’m not really trying to upset you, Ma’am, I swear.” I stammered, unable to read her tone or her expression or her body language, nothing. Anything at all. I need to see her, I need something to go off of, I need something to read, something to analyze. That’s what I was good at, analyzing, but not from this distance. “Please… I’m sorry, I don’t want you to be mad at me. I was just trying to be challenging, I-”

“Wait, Chloe. Slow down.” She sounded concerned now. “What happened?”

“I was just being a brat, Ma’am.” 

“...Is that what this is?”

“I’m not trying to upset you, I swear-” I choked, unsure of what exactly was happening to me, feeling like my heart was slowly being squeezed. “I- I’m ready to impress your father, I promise-”

I waited for a few moments, but there was no response. 

Fuck. What did I do wrong? What do I do now? What’s going to happen? Is she really upset at me?

 

“Breathe, Chloe. Breathe.” 

I didn’t even realize I was on the floor crying to myself until Candace was at my side, she must have gotten up from her seat to check on me before she even heard the last thing I said. “That’s it, we’re done with that, no more being a brat for today.”

“M-ma’am, I-”

“There’s a hairbrush on my bathroom sink, go get it.” She silenced me, handing me a direct order to follow so that I could get a hold of myself. “Now.”

Get a hold of yourself… I leapt to my feet immediately, letting her words flow into my brain and take over my body, helping me to complete my task and return to her side.

“I thought I recalled telling you to stop punishing yourself for your own bad behavior.” She was sitting in bed, her cat in her lap as she watched me walk back in. “Yet still I come up here to find you curled up in a ball sobbing to yourself.’

“I’m sorry, Ma’am.”

“There’s no more room for sorry, Chloe.” She shook her head, setting Sophia to the side and patting her lap. “The bedroom doors are locked, come put yourself over my knee.”

“Am I getting punished, Ma’am…” I swallowed nervously, trying not to choke on my words. “Are you actually upset at me?”

“I wouldn’t be punishing you if I wasn’t upset at you, Chloe.” She didn’t have a very happy look on her face. She stood, grabbing my ear by the cattle tag and dragging me back to bed with her, putting me over her knee herself, ripping the hairbrush from my hand. “But I’m not upset at you for being a brat, I’m upset at you for self-destructing like that. If you can’t handle being a brat without beating yourself up over it, then you shouldn’t do it…”

I hid my face behind my hands as I laid there on the bed over her lap, trying not to cry before she even got started. “Candace…”

“Give me control, Chloe.” Candace gently placed the backside of the wooden hairbrush onto my bare ass, sweeping my apron out of the way. “I’m going to fix you now.”

“F-fix me? What do- OWWW!!” She brought the hairbrush down on my ass, forcing a pained squeal out of my mouth.

“Don’t question it. Submit.” 

Submit. Right. My submission. That’s what’s- OWWWW!!!

My thoughts were shattered in my head before I could even finish thinking them, feeling Candace smack me with the hairbrush again. She put her hand to the back of my head as soon as I tried to sit up, gently pushing my head down to the blankets below. “Head down, ass up.”

I did as I was told, burying my face in the faux furs below as Candace continued to spank my ass with a hairbrush. My hands curled into the blankets and after just a few minutes I felt myself sobbing once again. 

I felt her gently petting my hair as she held my head down, she wasn't trying to suffocate me by burying my face in the blankets, she was just trying to exert her dominance over me, and I let her. I wanted that, Candace was my world, and even though it was painful, being over her knee like I was brought me great joy. It brought me closer to her. 

It made me happy. 

 

I curled up in her lap, my face red with tears by the time she was done spanking me. She broke the hairbrush on my ass in trying to beat me back into submission, but at least she had succeeded in suppressing my bratty tendencies. 

“I- I’m sorry a-about the hairbrush…”

“It’s the hairbrush that you want to apologize for?” She smirked at me, mocking me for being the one to apologize for the hairbrush snapping into two on my ass. “Don’t you have other things you should be apologizing for, slave?”

“I’m sorry for not doing my work, Ma’am…” I lowered my head in shame, my clamped shut eyes still wet with tears. 

“Apology accepted…” Candace placed one hand on my cheek, lifting my face up to meet hers, waiting for me to open my eyes for continuing. “Now I want you to try not to break down like that again.”

“Breakdown?” I bit my lip, she was referring to me having a panic attack here in her room after our conversation over the intercom. 

“Did you lose the ability to be a brat over the last couple of weeks?” She smirked at me, picking up the barely functioning hairbrush and beginning to straighten my short head of hair with it.

“I don’t know, Ma’am. please don’t make fun of me…” I felt my head leaning into the hairbrush to make it easier for her.

“I’ll make fun of you whenever I want, sweetie.”

Sweetie. I really did like the sound of that. It was nice. Being hers was nice. 

“I’m going to do my best tomorrow, I promise…” I took a deep breath, sitting up straight in her lap, ready to do my best for her, watching Candace’s cat climb back into my lap again.

“Looks like Sophia likes you, huh?” Candace smiled, setting the hairbrush down on her nightstand.

“Why did you give her my name, Ma’am?” I took Sophia into my hands, holding her as I stood up.

“To make fun of you, of course~” She stood after me, leading me out of the room with her. “We’re having guests in the parlor tomorrow, I want the chandelier cleaned tonight.”

 

↞✶↠

 

We slowly raised the chandelier back to the ceiling once we were done. It was difficult at first, the parlor being so tall meant that the chandelier only lowered about halfway down the height of the room, though I wasn’t sure that she didn’t just want me on a ladder so that she could ogle at me from below.

Candace of course, didn’t lift a finger to help, but she did watch, and she did help guide me through it. Then once I was done, she sent me off to get dressed. Candace didn’t usually make me dress up, I spent several weeks completely naked and only recently did she start having me wear an apron, my new uniform, and she makes me wear my leather harness beneath it at all times now. 

I was in Candace’s wardrobe room when I heard a knock on the door into the room. 

“O-one moment, I’ll be right out!” I responded automatically, still trying to choose between two dresses that I had picked out, red or blue. But hearing the knock on the door to hurry me up, I quickly picked the red one, nervously trying to dress myself as I heard yet another knock on the door. 

“I’m coming, Ma’am, I promise.” It was a little bit odd for her to be knocking on the door. The door wasn’t even locked, and if she wasn’t knocking on the door to tell me to hurry up, why was she knocking?

 

“Cumming already, puppy?” 

Oh no. I opened the door and froze as I looked up at her. That wasn’t Candace at all. What is she doing here?

“I haven’t even started playing with you, fuckmeat. You can’t already be finished~”

I sighed in exasperation, lowering my head in confusion, unsure of what I was supposed to do in this situation. I knew how to address and treat Candace, but I didn’t know how to address her. “Hello, Mrs. Griffin…”

“Awe, you’re not going to keep calling me Ma’am? ” Liz giggled, fake pouting at me, her hands on her curvy and clearly fake hips. “Booooo, that’s lame.”

Her father isn’t supposed to be here until tomorrow, why are her brother and his slave here?

“Apologies, Ma’am…” I coughed, grumbling to myself under my breath as I tried to look down, as was appropriate when faced with superiors, even those who I didn’t respect. “The Mistress didn’t tell me we were expecting guests tonight…”

“Candace called us up this morning and asked us to stay the night!” Liz smirked, looking me up and down in the most condescending way possible for another slave to do. “Poor little thing… Guess she didn’t tell you we were coming, huh?”

Staying the night? I glanced up at her, noticing that she wasn’t moving from the doorway, preventing me from being able to walk back out into the hallway. Candace didn’t usually have houseguests, especially so intrusive ones like Elizabeth here, and even when she did I had never heard of her letting them stay the night. “Mr. Griffin is here too, then?”

“Well of course he is, dummy.” Liz scoffed sarcastically, mocking me for making such an obvious observation. “Master is with his kid sister now, finding us a room.”

His kid sister? I snarled under my breath, it was actually upsetting to hear a fellow slave referring to Candace as something so informal and disrespectful, to my face no less. His kid sister, really? That’s how you’re going to refer to her? 

“Your Master’s kid sister is my Master.” Attack dog mode activated. I couldn’t stop myself, maybe I was too smitten with Candace to disrespect her to her face, but Liz clearly wasn’t above disrespecting Candace, so I wasn’t above disrespecting Liz. “Please show my Master the respect she deserves, slave.”

“Did you just call me a slave??” I watched as Liz’s eyes went wide eyed, a huge grin on her lips as she gasped with disbelief. “So the puppy has teeth, does she?”

“When you disrespect her owner, yes…” I smirked, trying and failing to avert my gaze back downwards as I watched the expression on her face. 

“I’m surprised she even let you out of your cage.” Liz lifted her eyebrow, snickering maliciously at me. “I thought that even I was above Candace’s bootlicking little idiot.”

“Maybe a month ago you were~” I smiled, nodding my head and trying to push past her. “If you’ll excuse me-”

“Nope!!” Liz continued to block the doorway, her big tits and round ass making it impossible to go around her… as well as impossible for me to take my useless lesbian eyes off of her. “Candace told me to make sure that you don’t go somewhere you’re not supposed to~”

Where in the house are Candace and Cyrus that I can’t follow them? I paused, biting my lip as I patiently waited, hoping that she would move out of my way. “The guest bedroom… right. I won’t follow them inside, I know better.”

“Oh, you know better?” Liz stepped forward into the room with me, pushing me backwards slowly. “What, you can learn things now? How’d that happen?”

I stepped backwards, trying not to let the other woman touch me. “With a little bit of tough love… and Master’s encouragement.”

“Tough love sounds about right, my Master had to break my legs to get me to behave… but I guess a natural submissive like you is too soft for that, huh?” Liz followed closely, still preventing me from reaching the door. “So what, have you learned to love it yet?”

“Love what? You mean Candace?”

“Do you love slavery yet, stupid?”

“I am not stupid, and I most certainly don’t love slavery!!”

 

“Oh really? Is that so, Chloe?” Before Liz could respond back, I heard another voice from the doorway behind her. Candace’s voice . “Did you hear that, brother… maybe I should go ahead and send my little brat to the facility right here and now~”

“M-Master, I-”

“You want to take that back, don’t you?” 

“I do, Ma’am.” I pushed past Liz, quickly finding my way to her side. “And even if I didn’t love slavery… I do love you…”

Candace smiled, nodding her head before she led Liz and I back out to the parlor, where Cyrus was waiting patiently, his loyal slave making her way into his lap as soon as she saw him. “Cyrus and Twosie are here to help us have a little rehearsal before tomorrow, I want everything to go perfectly when my father gets here.”

“Makes sense to me, Ma’am.” I nodded, my eyes still pointing down at those feet of hers I loved to kiss so badly. “You should have told me to expect visitors.”

“Oh, should I have?” I watched Candace tap her foot impatiently. “Are you trying to tell me what to do, slave?”

“N-no Ma’am, I would never dream of it…” I swallowed nervously, kicking myself for continuing to fail. I’m really not ready for tomorrow, am I…

“Aria is here too, she’s just in playing with Thea and Sophia. She really loves Sophia, which doesn’t surprise me, she’s adorable~” Candace looked me straight in the eye, catching my upwards drifting gaze as she winked at me. 

I blushed, biting my lip in frustration as I nodded. “So it’s going to be like your afterparty, Ma’am?”

“Not tonight, no, but tomorrow maybe. Granted, Lilith won’t be here tomorrow, my father and his ex-wife are mutually exclusive when it comes to parties.” Candace sighed, sitting down in her seat and gesturing for me to kneel next to her. “Surprisingly, tonight’s rehearsal is one of those rare occasions where Malcolm and Leah have chosen not to attend, he only has so much social energy after all, and she, well… let’s just say Leah is having a rough time with her husband right now.” 

 

“Rough is an understatement, Candy… Didn’t you hear?” Aria exited from the cat’s bedroom and made her way to the parlor, little Sophia in hand. “They’re getting a divorce~”

“And where did you hear that?” Candace was almost annoyed that she was only just hearing this from one of her houseguests and not from her chauffeur directly. “Since when do you and Leah talk?”

“Ever since yours truly convinced her to dump his neglectful ass is when~” Aria grinned smugly, sitting down on one of the round sofas with the kitten. “I’m a relationship solver after all, didn’t you know?”

“Sure you are~” Candace sneered sarcastically. “So what, you’ve replaced me as your best friend then?”

“I would never even dream of it, Clairbear~” Aria taunted her, purring under her breath like a cat would. “She’s great, but she’s no you~”

“Are you sure you don’t want to sleep in Malcolm’s room, Aria?”

“Nah, the kitten’s room is just fine, I can sleep on the floor no problem~”

“You’re not Chloe, I’m not going to force you to sleep on the floor.”

“You don’t need to force me to do anything, mama cat ~” Aria smirked, winking at Candace as she purred, almost swooning over my Mistress. “Unless you want me to sleep in your room~”

“Not this time, Fairmont. Don’t think I’ve forgotten about the last time I let you sleep in my bed with me.”

Last time? I was never really sure how I felt about Aria, but I did not at all like the way that Aria and Candace talked to each other. It was almost like flirting, and I did not at all like getting jealous over watching someone flirt with Candace, my Mistress, my Candace.

“Is something wrong, Chloe?” Candace reached down, gently pinching my left ear between her fingers. “You look tense.”

“I-it’s nothing at all Master-” I smiled up at her, leaning into her hand eagerly, watching the smug grin on Aria’s face fade as she instantly looked away from me, and more importantly, stopped gawking at my Candace. “My apologies… I’m dreadfully sorry for making you worry, Ma’am, may I please make it up to you?”

Nailed it. Candace grinned happily, continuing to rub my ear between her fingers as she proudly cooed at me. “Loosen up and continue to look pretty for me, doll.”

“Yes, Master.” I smiled, watching Candace turn her attention back to Aria, still fiddling with my ear and my hair idly. 

“If she’s not with her husband then she’s probably with my father.” Candace shook her head and sighed under her breath. “You’re a bad influence, Aria. Let me guess, you had sex with her?”

“Just the once, she was having a bad night and needed a fling~” Aria smirked, unashamed of herself. “She asked me for it, she’s never been with another woman after all… so who better than me?”

“Can you not keep it in your panties, Aria?” Candace scoffed, slowly pulling her hand from my ear. 

“Never ever ever~!!” Aria once again mewled under her breath at Candace. “Why should I ever do that?”

“Are all of your friends gay, sis?” Cyrus chuckled at Candace, his hand up Liz’s skirt as he watched her squirm. 

“Pretty much~” Candace shrugged. “Just another lesbian for the lesbian pile, I guess?”

“Sooooo, Candace~” Aria piped back up. “When do we get to see you play?”

“Play?” Candace paused, looking back over at her. “Play what, exactly?”

“Well I don’t want to watch you two have sex. I may be a sex freak, but I’m not a voyeur.” Aria glared directly at me as she spoke, petting the kitten in her lap. “I meant the game.”

“What game, Aria?” Candace also turned down to look at me, a concerned look in her eyes.

“This is supposed to be a rehearsal isn’t it?” Aria continued to watch my reactions as she spoke. “Leah told me that your father is expecting to see you two play each other again, did she not tell you?”

“You mean my father is expecting me to play-” Candace growled under her breath, the words getting caught in her throat. 

“Stolen Cosmos.” Aria smiled, glaring directly at me as she giggled. “Yeah~”

 

↞✶↠

 

Candace pulled me aside, into the gaming room, needing to speak with me in private.

“We have to get this right tonight, right now.” Candace closed the door behind us, turning on her machines. “I’m not having you fall apart like last time.”

“Fall apart, Ma’am?” I nervously followed her, placing myself on the floor by the sofa. 

“Don’t think I haven’t noticed it Chloe…” Candace sighed, sitting down on the sofa. “You’ve been doing pretty much perfectly for the last few weeks, but…”

“What is it, Miss?” I blushed, my eyes looking down at the floor. I knew exactly what she was about to say.

“It’s still a sore spot for you sweetie, I know it is.” Candace sighed, gently pinching my ear in her hand once again. “But you have trouble when it comes to the game…”

She was right, I did have trouble staying in line when it came to playing Stolen Cosmos with her, as we had both clearly seen just a couple of weeks ago. But it wasn’t just the game that was the problem, it was everything that had to do with my past life. It was Sophia Cavalier that was the problem.

“Master… How can I make sure that she doesn’t come back and take control?”

“By she, do you mean Sophia?” Candace sighed, petting my hair, twisting her fingers into my peach locks.

“Yeah… Last time we played, it was really hard for me not to lose control and just… fall back into being her .” I nodded, closing my eyes and lowering my head in shame. “And in the end… she was who you wanted to play against anyways…”

“That may be true, but tonight, I want to play against you, Chloe.” Candace tugged on my hair, prompting me to look up at her, turning in place to face up at her. 

“What does that mean…” I swallowed nervously, glancing over at the screen. “You want me to lose this time?”

“I want you to make it look like you’re trying to win, but yes…” Candace smiled, grinning evilly at me. “I want you to lose to me.”

The unstoppable gears in my brain were moving once again, and I was helpless to stop them. Last time I lost on purpose she got upset at me, and that destroyed me inside. I knew that if that happened again I would absolutely lose control of myself, and if I lost control of myself, Sophia Cavalier was going to take over again. I can’t handle Candace being upset at me, I just can’t. If I fell apart now, I was never going to come back, I would lose control of myself forever. If Sophia Cavalier took control of me, I was going to lose her forever. 

I swallowed nervously, grumbling to myself. “But last time you wanted me to play honestly…”

“This is a special case, Chloe. Do as I say.” She put her hand to my cheek and held my head up to keep me from lowering my gaze. “You want to make me happy, don’t you?”

“I do, Ma’am!!” I almost shouted at her, my heart beat quickening. “I’m just scared…”

“Don’t be scared, Chloe.” Candace smiled, climbing down from the couch and getting on her knees on the floor next to me. “We’re in this together.”

I placed my hand over hers, frowning at her. “But what if I screw up again?”

“You aren’t going to screw up again.” Candace smiled, leaning in and pressing her lips to mine, sweeping me into a passionate embrace. “You’re going to do amazing.”

“But what if she comes back, Master?”

“That’s not going to happen, Chloe.”

“But how can I-”

“There’s no such thing Chloe, she doesn’t exist… Sophia Cavalier and Chloe are the same person, you do realize that, don’t you?” Candace put her other hand on my cheek. “Sophia Cavalier is the girl that I fell in love with… and she’s not gone, she’s sitting right here in front of me. You may have a shiny new coat of paint, but you’re still you.”

I bit my lip, feeling tears beginning to form in the corners of my eyes. Just hearing her voice made me so happy, and hearing her say that she loved me made it feel like all of this was really worth it. This was how it’s meant to be.

“I can’t let people know that she’s here with me, but don’t let some fictional other girl scare you, Sophia dear… It’s just a name, it’s just a design change. I wouldn’t have brought you here if I didn’t love you for who you were before you became mine.” Candace smiled, pulling her hands from my cheek and gently taking my hands into hers. “You’re still the same character, you’re just wearing a different skin… a very special edition skin, but a skin just the same.”

“I hate you…” I smiled, giggling under my breath as I shook my head sarcastically, trying to show her how much I loved and appreciated her. “I hate you so much…”

“I hate you too, Sophia~” Candace wiped the tears from my eyes with my own hands, before clearing out her throat and smiling at me. “Excuse me… I meant to say Chloe~”

“Does that mean I can play as SoCavalier?” I asked nervously. “...Master?”

“Yes.” Candace smiled and nodded in agreement. “Yes you may~”

Notes:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look at this really pretty fanart i got ;//u//;
Full Link Here

 

Chapter 15: Judgement Day

“Do you hate me?”

This was it, today was the day that would make or break my future with Candace. 

Judgement day.

 

“Do I hate you?” I was alone here, in Candace’s pet room, with Aria Fairmont. Which even for me, was a weird way to start my day, I had to admit. “No, I don’t hate you, I just hate what you are.”

“What’s that, Ma’am?” I kept my head down, trying to remember what Candace taught me. “A slave?”

“I mostly meant a dog.” Aria was sitting on the sofa with her legs pulled up and criss crossed in front of her, with the kitten in her lap. “But that too, I guess.”

“You don’t like dogs, Miss?” I was seated on the floor nearest the pet hatch, trying to make sure that my Mistress’ pets didn’t wander off. 

“I’m allergic to dogs~” Aria smirked, continuing to pet little Sophia, who most certainly loved the human as much as the human loved her. “Just like you’re allergic to cats.”

“So you love cats instead.” It made sense of course, thanks to my allergy I positively despised cats, but I loved dogs to death. It made sense for Aria to be the other way around. “Is that why you didn’t leave for lunch with the rest of the superiors?”

“Not really, no.” I could see Aria grit her teeth, her eyes darting around the room as she examined every spot along the walls and ceiling, checking out every nook and cranny of the cat’s bedroom until she made eye contact with one of the cameras monitoring us. “I just wasn’t invited.”

“Is there a reason why, Miss?” I looked over at the camera and then at her, seeing her eyes quickly dart away from where she was looking. I knew she wasn’t here to babysit me, that was what Malcolm was doing in the basement right now, or else he would have left with Candace and them too. So why was Aria not invited? She didn’t exactly seem keen on keeping me company. 

“Let’s just say that you aren’t the only one here who Candace’s father isn’t exactly a fan of.”

“How come, Miss?”

“I would love to tell you why, but… the Family…’ Aria gestured back to the camera with her eyes alone. “Let’s just say there are eyes and ears everywhere.” 

 

As a world championship level Stolen Cosmos player, I was really good at analyzing things, and I could analyze people just as well as I could the game. Yet I never really had been able to peg Aria Fairmont for what exactly her deal was, like I was never really able to figure out Candace herself, but I had figured out many of Candace’s other friends.

Malcolm Peterson was easy, especially now that I knew what his job was. He worked with Candace as a sort of personal assistant, and he lived downstairs. When he wasn’t out with his boyfriend, he watched the cameras to make sure nothing fishy was happening in Candace’s house, as he was doing now. Like Candace, he was also trans, though I had yet to tell either of them that I knew that, he was just a little more relaxed and flamboyant about it than his boss was, not very difficult to pin down. 

Despite also being in a similar position to Candace, Cyrus Griffin was not as difficult to figure out. I didn’t know a lot about him, sure, but I could tell what kind of person he was, an awful awful sadist. He had a large hand in how slaves were handled by the family, and I was not at all looking forward to ending up under his jurisdiction, like Liz was.

His wife, Elizabeth, was a bit more difficult to pin down, but after our run in when they’d arrived here, I realized she was one of the possible endings for this game I found myself playing. Depending on how everything went between Candace and I after tonight, I could very well become something like her. 

I really did know nothing at all about Candace and Cyrus’ eldest sister, I knew I had heard it once, but even her name escaped me at the moment. She and Cyrus were of course Candace’s half-siblings, and though I hadn’t met her, I had met her mother Lilith, who wouldn’t be in attendance tonight. She was a sweet woman, who honestly seemed to fully support Candace for who she was. 

Leah Watts was honestly kind of an asshole. She and her soon to be ex-husband, Ben, were now starting the process of going through a divorce, and it had apparently been a long time coming. Yet apparently despite her drinking problem and her general sort of cocky and aloof attitude, matched with her itchy trigger finger, the split wasn’t explicitly her fault. I didn’t like her very much at all, but I felt bad for anyone who ended up getting cheated on.

But then there was Aria, who for all of her time modeling in front of the world, alongside Candace, still confused me. Her actions were all over the place her thoughts raced, her eyes wandered, I could tell all of that about her, but I couldn’t tell why. There was definitely something suspicious about her. She’s hiding something.

And now there was apparently this business about how Candace’s father didn’t exactly like her, which was really odd. If he doesn’t like her, then why is she here, his ex-wife isn’t here after all, but Aria was. She was tight-lipped, tense, and uneasy. She clearly had something she wanted to say, but couldn’t find herself in the position to say it. She wants to tell me something, but she can’t… not while people are listening.

“Sophia is a pretty name, don’t you think?” Aria smiled, still looking down at the cat even as she addressed me. “Candace always comes up with just the cutest names~”

“She does, doesn’t she, Miss?” I swallowed nervously, going along with her. The fact that she stole my name and gave it to the cat didn’t bother me as much after last night. After all, I was Sophia Cavalier, and nothing was going to take that from me. “I am partial to the name she picked for me, I like Chloe a lot… I’m happy my Master gave it to me~”

I really wish Candace was hearing this. Malcolm had better tell her about how well behaved I was being, especially the part about complimenting her. Flattery, maybe if I continued to compliment Candace, Aria would lighten up just a little bit, but instead she was just grinding her teeth more. “That… that’s great, I’m glad you’re okay with… that … and all of this as well, I’m glad you’re… happy.”

“Is something the matter, Miss Fairmont?” I looked up at her, hearing her growl under her breath ever so slightly. “Can I do anything to help comfort you? ...Can I serve you in any way?”

“No. I’m fine…” She stopped petting the cat, letting Sophia climb out of her lap as the woman slowly began to sit up. “We should talk later , but… I will say one thing right now… I was actually kind of happy when Cavalier beat Candy’s butt in the finals~”

“You were, Ma’am?” I smiled up at her proudly at the thought of it, quickly soaking it into my ego, letting little Sophia pad her way into my lap instead as Aria stood up from the couch, trying to make sure the kitten stayed on my skin and not ruining my outfit for the night, despite me being allergic to her. 

“Yeah… I was really upset when I found out that she died … I just-” She frowned, taking a deep breath before sighing loudly. “I really hate what happened to her.”

 

↞✶↠

 

What the fuck was that supposed to mean??

Either she had an incredible poker face… or she really meant what she said. One second Aria hated me and everything I was with a passion, and the next second she felt bad for me? What exactly was going on with her?

“Focus, you .” Malcolm snapped me back to attention. “Your Master is going to be home soon, and you need to be fully prepared when she gets here, we’re all rooting for you today~”

“Thank you, Sir.” I smiled back at him, letting him continue to do my hair and makeup for me from inside of the bathroom connected to Candace’s gaming room. “I’m sorry that this is the most appropriate place to help me with my wardrobe, I don’t want to use the Master's bathroom without her permission.” 

“Oh hush, it’s fine, you don’t see me complaining do you?”

“No, Sir.” I smiled, taking a deep breath as he put on the finishing touches to the look.

“How is it, Chloe?” He turned me around, letting me look at myself in the mirror.

I looked gorgeous. Malcolm was a fucking champion, and I adored him for it. My dress, though not as flashy and eye-catching as the red one from the previous night, fit perfectly. It was once again, a neatly fitting black dress, fit for Candace’s servant, though this one was quite a bit less revealing and quite a bit more appropriate than my original uniform, and it lacked the white apron sewn onto the front, this one was all black. 

My honestly quite short head of dyed hair was done up into the prettiest bun imaginable at the back of my head, keeping any unsightly strands of hair out of the way of my cute little face. I was honestly surprised to see myself looking like some sort of noble woman, knowing the humble punk rock lesbian beginnings I had come from. I was a changed person, and I was proud of myself for that. 

“How did you do all of this, Sir?” I smiled, admiring the makeup he had applied directly to my face. My skin was clean and smooth. My lips were perfectly shaped, perfectly painted, perfectly shaded even, he applied some sort of fancy queer magic to make my lips look like they had been made by a world renowned artist, which they had!! 

“Believe it or not, I started as Candace’s makeup artist when her father first hired me, and then I worked double time doing it both for her esports appearances, as well as for her photoshoots, and then I became her full time assistant. I take it the happy little slave likes it?” 

“She loves it, Sir. Thank you…” I smiled, as happy as I could be in the face of the terrible stress I was soon to be faced with. The eyes, Malcolm, the eyes!! How did you do that??

The eyeshadow, the eyeliner wings, the mascara, it was something the likes of which I’d only seen on Candace herself, and maybe Aria in some of her photoshoots.

“Did you ever do Aria’s makeup for her, Mister Peterson?” I looked up at him, pouting my lips to make myself look cute. 

“A pretty face like little Aria’s?” He grinned proudly, truly excited to be recognized for his work on a star like Aria Fairmont. “Why yes, I have~”

“I should have guessed~” I gave him a wide grin, turning back to the mirror and just fawning over my own reflection, now that was a girl I would swoon for. “Where’d that nickname come from, though? Little Aria?”

“Right, I forgot…” Malcolm sighed, slowly putting his makeup away into his makeup bag. “You don’t know.”

“I don’t know what, Sir?” I turned around, graciously holding his hand mirror out for him, like Candace had shown me to do. “My apologies for being uninformed.”

“The situation.”

“The situation, Sir?” I tiled my head, my delicate little expression just as cute as a button. “What kind of situation?”

“Aria’s situation, I mean.” There it is, something about Aria early wasn’t exactly sitting right with me. There was more to her that I didn’t know about.

“She seemed off when I was talking to her earlier… what’s her deal?”

“I saw that, actually… from the sounds of it she probably wanted to tell you, but she’s scared of being overheard.” Malcolm took the mirror, putting it away into his bag. “But I’m not super worried about it, it’s not like it really affects you~”

“May I please hear the gossip, Sir?” I pouted my lips, smiling up at him with my pleading puppy dog eyes. 

“Alright, fine.” He smiled, shaking his head at me. “Let’s just say that she and Candace weren’t always very good friends.”

“They weren’t?”

“Not really, they were sweet to each other when they first met, and Candace grew to like the girl, but Aria’s early feelings towards Candace were… kind of like someone else I know.”

“Like who, Sir?”

“Like you~”

“Like me? Did something happen? Is that why Candace’s father doesn’t like her?”

“It’s not really my story to tell, but Aria kind of stepped into this web on accident.”

“On accident?”

“She got just a little bit too close to Miss St. Clair, and she found out something that she very much wasn’t supposed to.”

“And then what happened? What did she find out?”

“Slow down, hon… there’s no need to be so antsy, or so loud … we don’t want anyone to hear, this is just gossip okay?”

“Yes, Sir… of course.”

“Candace was a sweetheart, really… she didn’t want anything bad to happen to Aria, so she convinced Mr. Russo, her father, not to do anything drastic to the girl, but…”

“But, what?”

“But that is most certainly not my story to tell anymore.” Malcolm smiled, winking at me as he finished packing his makeup bag. “Let’s just say that she has eyes and ears on her at all times, to make sure that family secrets don’t get out to the public.”

“I see…” That made sense to me, I hadn’t really considered how similar Aria and I might be. “Well thank you for doing my makeup, Sir, I’m very happy with it.”

“And I’m sure your Master is going to be very happy with it as well~” Malcolm grinned, sighing to himself. “I really am going to miss this.”

“Going to miss what, Sir?” 

“Gosh, you really are getting really good with the titles, but you can save ‘Sir’ for when Mr. Russo gets here.” Malcolm sighed, clearly quite exhausted. “I hope he’s happy with my work as well.”

“I’m sure he will be, Sir.” 

“I sure do hope so, I am going to miss you quite a lot if you get taken away… But I am going to miss you quite a lot either way.” 

“What do you mean?”

“Well, your future hangs in the balance tonight, but regardless of how it goes I’m not going to be here after tonight.”

My heart almost stopped hearing him say that. “You aren’t?”

“You may be frozen in time here just a bit kid, but the world is still moving around you… whatever happens tonight, I’m not going to be here for the aftermath either way.” Malcolm frowned, trying to look away from me as he spoke. “If you succeed, I won’t really need to be here to monitor you… and if you fail, well… you won’t be here to need monitored anymore, but either way… I’m moving out and getting married~”

My heart started to thump excitedly for him. “You mean Anthony?”

“Yeah, and it’s apparently been a long time coming.” He nodded, grinning proudly, almost embarrassed. “Look, I’m not even going to be here to watch what happens tonight… but I really am rooting for you, after all… I do hope to see you and your master walk down the aisle together one day~”

I blushed, smiling happily at him as he said that. “Thank you, Malcolm…”

“Don’t mention it, Chloe.” He pulled me in for a hug. “Be a good girl for Candace once she gets back, because once they get here, I’m leaving…”

“You’ve been moving out the whole week haven’t you?”

“What do you think I was up to last night?”

“I’m going to miss you, Malcolm.”

“I’ll miss you to, kiddo~”

 

↞✶↠

 

“Are you ready for this, Chloebelle?” Liz reached out, playing with the bell attached to the ring of my collar.

“As ready as I think I can be, Ma’am…” I sighed, taking a deep breath. 

“There’s the respect I was wanting last night~!!” She scoffed, taunting me for just a moment. “Candace sent us back ahead of them so that we could make sure you’re ready. She wanted to get Malcolm out of here before her father arrived.”

“Is she going to be arriving with her father then?” I blushed, my gorgeous face of makeup illuminating the embarrassment on my face. 

“And Leah, yes.” Liz was just as antsy as I was, presumably because she wanted me to succeed tonight as fiercely as I did. “God, you’re too cute for your own good, pup.”

“What can I expect from tonight, Miss?”

“Probably a lot of running around doing things that aren’t very fun.” Liz sighed, unable to stop fidgeting as she sat in the seat next to me at one of the small tables in the kitchen. “And probably not a lot of… loving.”

“Loving?” I swallowed nervously. “What do you mean, Mrs. Griffin?”

“Well, Pops still doesn’t like you very much, so-” Liz scoffed, pouting at me. “Your best chance is pretending like you’re not in love with his daughter.”

“I-” I stopped myself from snarling under my breath at the thought of it. “But why?”

“I don’t know… you’re fucking adorable.” Liz twirled her own hair in her fingers, unable to reach out and do the same to mine. “He just didn’t seem too keen on the idea at lunch earlier.”

“Then I’ll do my best as Candace’s servant then?” I smiled, not letting the idea of my future bride’s father disapproving of our marriage get me down. “Yeah?”

“Yeah, that’s the spirit.” Liz smirked, grinning at me with anticipation. “Tonight is gonna suck for me too, I don’t get to be handsy with my Master in public, and I don’t even get to tease and play with you like last time!!”

I giggled, watching her pout at me with her whole ‘Oh, woe is me, I don’t get to torment poor stupid little fuckface all night, it’s not fair!’ attitude.

“I have to act and talk all prim and proper or whatever around him, it’s not fair… I’m not even the one he’s here to evaluate, but what my husband says goes, I guess.” She groaned loudly, looking up at the time on the wall clock. “I’m so bored already, how does she expect to keep you waiting like this. How does he expect to keep me waiting like this…”

I nodded, waiting for a pause in what she was saying before nervously inquiring about what was on my mind. “Am I really going to have to play an exhibition match tonight?”

“Pfft, of course you are, who do you think let Candace become an esports player in the first place?” She leaned back in her chair, her large breasts weighing her down ever so slightly. “He loves watching her play… he was even there, at the world championship, to watch her.”

I swallowed nervously. “He was?”

“He was… and he wasn’t very happy about it. He was even going to have you killed~”

So the family really did have it out for me…

“Just don’t do that again, I can’t imagine what would happen if his precious little princess lost right in front of his eyes to the woman who soiled her career, again. He’s already seen that happen once, and believe me, he was not happy. Like Cyrus whenever he demolishes a table just for stubbing his fucking toe, I swear.”

I wasn’t sure why, but the image of Cyrus stubbing his toe made me smile, and Liz noticed. 

“It’s hilarious~” Liz smiled, a hungry expression on her face as she was about ready to gobble me up right then and there. “But don’t worry, you did well in your practice match with Candace last night… she kicked you ass pretty badly anyways, so it’s not like you can beat her, you’re too out of practice. 

So she couldn’t tell after all… I sighed with relief. Happy to know that Liz was unable to realize that I had completely thrown the game to Candace, not willing to let my Master lose to me again. But if her father had been watching Candace for a while, I would have to make it look a lot more convincing than last night to make it look like I wasn’t just giving up on purpose. “He wants to see me lose, right?”

“He wants to see you get punished.” 

“Then he’s going to see me get punished.” I smiled at her, ready for tonight. “I’m gonna get my ass kicked tonight.”

“Yes you are~”

 

↞✶↠

 

“That’s all Liz, you can go~” Cyrus waved his wife off, dismissing her towards the guest bedroom. Sitting at the dining room table, wanting to have a word with me, alone.

“On your knees, slave.”

I did as I was told, getting down on my knees between him and the sliding glass door to the pool behind me, waiting for him to turn around and address me before I spoke to him.

I’m the slave here, I need to remember my place.

“Listen up, because this is going to be important.” He was doing paperwork, working even while at his sister’s house, sitting at her dining table. “Acknowledge your superiors when they speak.”

“Yes, Sir.” The words jumped out of my mouth, eagerly and ready. “I’m listening, Mr. Griffin.”

“You’re in deep here, Chloe. This little gathering isn’t for fun, this is all business.” He very briefly glanced back at me to make sure I was paying attention.

“Yes, Sir. I understand.” My body was still, my posture was perfect, my voice was steady, and my eyes were pointed at the floor, not allowed to gaze upon one of my superiors. 

“My father is the opposite of happy with you, and to be honest, so am I.” He returned to his paperwork. “I’ve been against letting Candace keep you from day one.”

“Yes, Sir. That’s completely fair.” I kept myself composed. It wasn’t surprising, it made sense after all.

“I am more than willing to have you killed outright, but at my father and sister’s discretion, if you fail tonight I will be having you shipped directly to the facility instead.” He stood, turning his entire chair around to face me before sitting back down. “And don’t you think that I will have any of my people go easy on you just because you belonged to my sister at one point.”

“No, Sir… I wouldn’t expect that sort of treatment.” I kept my gaze pointed downwards, making sure not to speak out of place. “If I fail today, I wouldn’t deserve it, after all.”

“You’ve got that right.”

“Even if I succeed today, I wouldn’t deserve that sort of treatment, Sir.”

Cyrus smirked, I could just feel it without needing to look up and see it. “Sounds like my sister has taught you well enough to know that much.”

“Yes Sir, she has, I assure you.” I lowered my head slightly, keeping my palms flat on my thighs as I performed a small bow. “Any failure tonight is of my own fault, not hers.”

“I’m never going to touch you like my sister touches you.” I felt Cyrus sliding his hand under my chin, lifting my gaze up to meet his for the first time. “But if I have to, I will more than happily burn her name off of your body myself.”

“Yes, Sir.” I remained unphased. “I understand.”

“There’s a lot more at stake tonight than you know, not just for you, but for her as well.” He released control of my head back to me, watching me lower my gaze to the floor once again. “You’ve soiled her image, not just in the eyes of this family, but on the world stage, and that means you’ve soiled her image in the eyes of the other families as well.”

“Yes, Sir. I won’t be humiliating her like that again, I swear.” I nodded, acknowledging my mistake. The mistake of defeating Candace St. Clair at Stolen Cosmos, even if I still strongly felt that it wasn’t my fault. But that didn’t matter, what I thought and felt didn’t matter, the only thing that mattered was her, and repairing her image as well as I can. “I’ll be the one being humiliated tonight.”

“Yes, you are.” He returned to his paperwork, growling under his breath at the stubborn chair as he picked it back up and turned it around. “And that’s why my father won’t be the only family monarch in attendance tonight.”

I could feel my heart being twisted inside of my chest at the thought of it. “Is that true, Sir?”

“Are you accusing me of lying, brat?”

“No, Sir. I am not.”

“Don’t question your betters, slave.” He began to wave me off. “Go attend to some chores, keep yourself sharp, make sure this place is ready to serve.”

“Yes, Sir.”

 

↞✶↠

 

That can’t be right. Why can’t it just be him?

I did as I was told, tending to whatever chores I could, readying the house to receive guests. It wasn’t fair, how was I expected to perform exceptionally well in the face of everything I was up against, especially knowing that I wouldn’t be meeting just one, but two different family heads tonight. How was that fair?

I hated Candace’s father just as fiercely as he hated me, in fact, I hated this whole entire family. I hated all five of the families. The only person who even remotely had a shred of good in them was Candace herself, and even then, she wasn’t perfect.

She was far from perfect.

Everything Cyrus had just said to me reminded me of how Candace treated me when I’d first gotten here, and it was only recently, after over two whole months of living as her housemaid, that she began to show me even a shred of respect. 

But even so, Candace loved me from the beginning, I was sure of it. Why else would she protect me from her own family. 

And speaking of Candace~

I heard static for a few moments, before hearing her voice being played through the speaker built into my collar. “We’re pulling up now, slave. Make sure to get the door.”

“Yes, Master!” I acknowledged her, quickly and eagerly, unsure if she was even listening to my voice being picked up by the microphone.

 

I turned the knob, opening up the door into the foyer and holding it as Candace walked in, accompanied by a very scary looking man, her father, Cardinal Russo. Curtsying slightly as she entered. “Welcome home, Master~”

She led the way inside, handing off her jacket to me to take care of it, her father following behind her and doing the same. Yet even after they were completely inside, neither of them said a thing to me, nor did they even look at me. They just continued their conversation between themselves, not bothering to acknowledge my existence.

“That’s not what I’m saying, father. What I’m saying is that you can’t have blue eyes unless both of your parents have blue eyes.” 

“You’re a spitting image of your mother, sweetheart. But she very much did not have blue eyes.”

“That’s because she had a medical condition, father. We both do.”

“And that’s why it’s like looking at her whenever I see you, Candace.”

“That’s all fine and good, father. But I’m just saying that she must have had the genes for blue eyes, the only reason they weren’t was because of her albinism.”

“And why must that be the case, hon?”

“Because how else would one of my eyes be blue, father?”

 

The two of them continued on their way, the conversation following them as they walked away and into the parlor as I remained next to the doorway, completely frozen in fear.

“Look alive, Zeroes.” I felt the door being pulled out of my grasp as someone else closed it, watching Leah tap on the door with her fist. “Do your job before I drag you to the facility.” 

“Yes, Ma’am!!” I snapped back to attention, nodding my head at her before quickly turning in place and making my way to the wardrobe room.

 

I delivered the coats to the wardrobe room for safe keeping, and Leah followed me inside, closing the door behind her. “Alright slut, listen up, because I am saying this once and only once.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” I hung the jackets up and swiveled in place to face her, my eyes pointed down.

“I am about four weeks sober and I am not at all having a very good time right now, so you’d better be keeping the alcohol away from me.” Leah growled under her breath, the bags under her eyes indicating that she did not sleep very well last night. “More importantly, I guess, is that you understand just how tempted I am to preemptively shoot you in the head right here and now, just to blow off steam.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” I swallowed nervously, trying not to show fear to the other woman. “I’m sorry about your husband.”

“Fucking can it, I don’t care about your condolences.” Leah made her way up to me, pulling out her handgun and putting the barrel up to my head. “I care about my orders, and I’m here as security, so don’t be making any wrong moves tonight.”

“N-no, Ma’am… I- I won’t, I promise.” I couldn’t help it, my voice cracked as she held the gun to my head, unable to keep myself from shaking and trembling in fear.

“Good girl, doesn’t even know how to tell whether or not a gun is loaded.” Leah licked her lips, flicking the safety to her gun off. “Make no mistake, this isn’t like last time, Chloe… This time, the gun is loaded.”

I nodded, still trembling in terror at the barrel of her mercy. “Yes, M-Ma’am…”

She flicked the safety back on, pulling the barrel from my forehead and holstering it back into her belt. “Scary, yeah?”

I bit my lip and nodded, managing to keep myself from crying only by keeping silent. 

“You’re going to do great, Chloe…” She sighed, trying to reassure me that everything was going to be fine. “It would hurt me to have to take you to the facility.”

“You won’t have to.” I snapped back to reality, remembering what was important. “I promise, Ma’am.”

“Atta girl.” Leah smiled, grinning eagerly. “Get out there and make Mama proud~”

“Yes, Mama~ ” I smiled, stepping past her and making my way back out into the rest of the mansion. 

 

↞✶↠

 

I made my way to Candace’s side, kneeling at her feet. My Mistress advised me to find myself at her feet when not faced with any immediate task.

The centerpiece of the entire parlor were those white rounded sofas, directly beneath the now immaculately polished chandelier. There was a circular table between the two sofas, and right there directly up at said table was Candace’s seat. Master’s spot was in that chair, and my spot was kneeling beside her, my head down, and my mouth shut. 

Cardinal sat at the sofa furthest from me, to his daughter’s left. Candace’s father didn’t look as scary now as he had when he first walked in. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but he honestly just looked like a normal person, not exactly what I expected from an all powerful crime lord. He wasn’t all that old either, he was in his late fifties at the very most, and I found myself on the other side of Candace from him not out of fear, but out of coincidence. Candace was right handed, so I was to find myself on her right, that way she could keep better control of me. 

“And here she is, father, just as I promised.” Candace acknowledged me as I knelt there, but she didn’t address me directly, nor did she look at me, and that meant it was not yet my place to speak. “Sophia Cavalier is dead, and in her place, I’ve turned what was left of her into my servant, Chloe.”

“I was expecting her to look different, princess.” He frowned, staring down at me with his cold and icy blue eyes. “She still looks the same…”

“Of course she does, father.” Candace reached over me, tapping two fingers onto the table in front of her. “I want everyone who does see her to know who she was before she got here.”

Candace and I had prepared for this, we had signals to help communicate to each other, and we both had them memorized. Tapping two of her fingernails to the table meant to go get her a drink, so I stood, making my way into the kitchen to retrieve her an iced tea. “And one for my father, he will have the same.” 

“Yes, Master.” I curtsied, my dress twirling as I swiveled around, my back to the both of them as I walked towards the kitchen. 

 

Just a few moments with them was terribly horribly stressful. I could tell that he was tough on his own daughter, which meant that his expectations for me were going to be literal hell. But still, I did as I was told, marching my way to the kitchen without hesitation.

“Not a fun guy, huh?” It was Aria again, standing in the doorway to the dining room. Right, she didn’t like the guy either. “Not really someone you want to associate with, is he?”

“He doesn’t seem too terribly bad, Miss.” I smiled at her, trying to stay respectful as I poured drinks for Candace and her father.

Aria frowned, shaking her head at me and biting her lip in frustration. “Recognize an out when you see one, Chloe.”

What the fuck does she mean this time?? I turned to face her, but by the time I had done so, she was already gone. Great, more riddles from little Miss Fairmont, exactly what I need right now.

 

I took a quick glance out of the kitchen window, it was getting to be evening already, and the sun was going to be setting soon. I returned to Candace and her father, delivering their drinks to them on a tray. By the time I’d gotten there, Cyrus was there too, on the couch opposite his father, his wife at his feet. No Leah, no Aria, just Cyrus and Liz. But more importantly, no new stranger to worry about.

“What even were you two doing, father, what took you so long to get here?” Cyrus inquired curiously.

“We had Leah take us by my mother’s grave.” Candace answered, sighing under her breath as I approached, taking her drink directly from my hand.

“Fair enough… Do you want anything Darling?” Seeing the drinks, Cyrus turned to Liz, watching her shake her head to let him know that she wasn’t thirsty. Either she wasn’t thirsty, or she didn’t want to make my job any harder, and I expected the latter. “Right, then I’m fine too… where is Leah anyways?”

“Probably consummating with Aria by the sounds of it?” Candace smiled, watching me kneel at her feet once again before turning back to her father. “Is something the matter, father?”

Cardinal wasn’t just staring down at me, he was glaring at me. “I would like to have a moment alone with the slave, before anyone else arrives.”

“Would you like to step outside with her, Sir?” It was weird hearing the word sir being said by anyone aside from myself, and it was even more shocking to hear it being said by Candace. “She’s allowed to be out on the porch, but no further.”

“I think I would like to stay seated, princess.” He spoke, and every heard him, that was enough of a clue for both Candace and her brother to stand up and begin making her way out of the room. 

“We’ll be waiting right outside if you need anything, father.” Candace smiled and her dad, snapping her fingers at me. “Let me know if she does anything.”

Snapping her fingers was another one of our signs, but it didn’t have any specific course of action associated with it. It just meant ‘Be careful’.

 

“Sophia Cavalier, right?” He waited until everyone was out of earshot before saying anything to me. 

“My name, Sir?” I moved myself towards him, kneeling in front of him as I spoke. “My name is Chloe. My Master has been very excited for me to meet you, Sir.”

“I suspect that that’s a lie.” He brought his drink to his lips, taking small sips out of it. “She’s been dreading this, hasn’t she?”

What am I supposed to do? Lie to him? Or make Candace look good?

“If she has been dreading this, she hasn’t shown as much to me, Sir.” I bowed my head. “She has been as eager to impress you as I am eager to impress her.”

“She knows very well how I feel about you being here with her, girl.”

“Yes she does, and she has been tremendously determined to change your mind about that, Sir. As am I~”

“Are you now?” 

“Of course~!!” I smiled up at him, lifting my gaze for the first time. 

Smack!! The instant I had looked up, I regretted doing so, as I felt him backhand me in the face at record speed, enough to knock me off balance in just a single moment. “Don’t you dare look at me, slave.”

“Yes, Sir. Sorry Sir.” I dropped my gaze back down. So this is where she gets it from…

“If my own wife did so much as even give a passing glance to another man, I wouldn’t hesitate to put her back in her place.”

“As you should, Sir.” Of course, of course she was. Candace’s mother was just as bought and sold as Liz or I was. “It’s important for slaves to remember their place.”

“Now you’re catching on.” He finished his drink before harshly slamming the bottom of his glass back down onto the table. “Now, why in the world should I let my daughter keep you?”

“I can’t answer that, Sir…” I swallowed nervously, taking deep breaths. “Only she can answer that for you, Sir. What she says goes. She leads, I only follow.”

“That’s a little bit better.” He shook his head. “I’ve spoiled her too much for her own good…”

“How is that, Sir?”

“I never should have let her keep you in the first place.” 

“That’s not my place to say either, Sir…” I nodded, my heart aching and pounding in my chest. “All that matters to me is her, Sir… I just want her to be happy.”

“Is that so?” He tapped his fingernail against the empty glass impatiently as he picked it back up, beginning to chew on the ice cubes. “Because that certainly wasn’t the case when you humiliated her like you did.”

“No, it wasn’t Sir, not at all. But it is now.” I lowered my head to the floor, breathing heavily, trying to make sure that I didn't screw this up. “She has trained me well, Sir. I’ve learned what it means to belong to her… she taught me how to make her happy. It’s all I want… It’s all I need.”

“And if you had to give her up to make her happy?”

“Then I would do so in an instant, Sir.” I spoke without hesitation, and without any doubt in my mind. “Whatever it takes to make her happy, I would do so in an instant.”

There was a pause, the tension in the air hot on the both of our skin.

“A refill, slave. Go.”

“Yes, Sir. Right away.” I stood, picking up both of the glasses and taking them with me to the kitchen. 

“She would be happier without you here to remind her of her own failure. I have no doubt in my mind about that.” He sighed, shaking his head at me. “And you’d be happier with someone else, as well…”

 

↞✶↠

 

I couldn’t breathe after that. As soon as I got to the kitchen sink I was practically heaving, feeling like I was going to vomit right then and there, struggling to hold onto my composure.

“Hey, hey, slow down.” I felt a gentle hand on my back, as Aria took the glasses from me and refilled them, setting them down next to the sink.

“I can’t… breathe.” I gritted my teeth, struggling to keep myself from crying.

“I know, I know, but can you hear that?” Ariat tilted her head back towards the parlor. It sounded like Cardinal’s children had once again joined him in the parlor. “We only have a moment, we need to make this quick.” 

“Make what quick, Miss?” I stood back up, watching her open the door into Candace’s master bathroom. 

“I need to talk to you.” She quickly urged me to follow her inside. “Right now, while no one is listening.”

I followed her inside, closing the door behind her. If anyone asked, I was doing as I was told.

 

“He’s right, Sophia.” It was kind of heart wrenching to hear her call me that. “You’d be happier with someone else.”

I froze, unsure of how to respond before Aria stepped up to me, pulling me into a hug. 

“That man is the devil, and his family is just as bad.” She let go, stepping back away from me. “All of them… including Candace.”

“Don’t you dare talk about her like that.” I bit my lip, quickly growing enraged at the other girl. “I love her… and she loves me.”

“No she doesn’t, Chloe…” Aria paused, shaking her head and looking around for cameras, trying to make sure none of them were pointed at us. “That’s just what she wants you to think.”

“Don’t lie to me, Aria-”

“After all, who could love you?”

 

I froze, my heart aching at the thought of it, draining the life from my eyes and the air from my lungs.

“Anyone…” Aria’s voice quivered as she spoke, cutting straight through my mind and into my heart. “Anyone could love you like she does. Anyone could be better for you than she is...”

“I don’t deserve better-”

“This is what she does, Chloe.” Aria stared me straight in the eyes. “When she lays her eyes on a girl she wants, she pulls them into this web of hers, into her terrible family business.”

“That’s not who she is.”

“Yes, it is. You aren’t the first girl to fall for her like this, Chloe.” Aria spoke with no hint of hesitation in her voice. “I am.”

I paused, my heart aching as I listened to her. “What…”

“I might not have it as bad as you do, but I’m not here of my own free will.” Aria bit her lip, looking down at the floor at my feet. “No one that she’s associated with is even allowed to leave the island, ever… I can’t go anywhere or do anything on my own, the family eyes are always on me.”

“What are you trying to do…”

“I’m trying to open your eyes to the reality of this situation, Chloe… Whether you can see it or not, she had her eye on you from day one… and why shouldn’t she have?” Aria furled her eyebrows at me. “You’re popular… You have fans, and she was one of them.”

“Aria…” I shook my head, trying to push her away. “This is too much.”

“Please, just listen to me, Sophia… I was one of your fans too, I was so happy when you beat her.” She took me by the hands and squeezed them. “I know she’s probably told you that no one is looking for you, that no one cares about you. But you’re a smart girl…”

“Aria, I… I…” I bit my lip, swallowing the lump in my throat and nodding my head. “Continue…”

“I can’t keep you for much longer, Chloe… but I’m begging you, please…” She let go of my hands. “We’re not so different Chloe, we’ve both worked with her. She did this to me too, maybe not with slavery, but she tricked and lied just to get to me, just like she cheated to get to you…” 

I couldn’t respond, there were no words in my heart to respond with.

“I can’t get away from her, but you… you still have a way out.” She smiled at me, opening the door back out into the hallway. “There are people out there who love you, some of whom might very well buy you if you get away from her… and I’m not telling you what to do, I promise, I just need you to know… she doesn’t deserve you… and this is your chance to get out while you still can.”

 

↞✶↠

 

I stepped back into the parlor, refills in my hand, more unsure of myself than I ever had been before. Candace was standing up, waiting for me to return. 

“Hello, Master. I-”

Smack!!  

Aria had twisted my heart, and I wasn’t sure what was really true anymore,  but in my worried confusion, I had forgotten my place, and Candace swiftly punished me for it. 

“That is for speaking out of place.” She took the glasses from my hands, and passed them off to Liz, who promptly delivered them to her father-in-law. “And this is for taking so long.”

She put her finger to her bracelet and promptly delivered a world shaking electric shock to my entire body, more agonizing and more painful than any had been before it.

Candace was not going easy on me tonight. This was not the soft and loving but stern Candace that I’d gotten used to having. This was the ice queen. This was Candace from those many months ago. This was Candace at her worst, and I hated it.

“Make another mistake and I very well might just let you be euthanized.” She tapped her foot impatiently, waiting for me to rise to my feet. “Do you understand that?” 

“Yes, Master…” I grovelled for a few more moments, before getting up to my feet.

The two of us just stood there, neither of us sure what to do next, nothing to say to each other.

 

“Candace.” Leah popped in from the other end of the parlor. “She’s here.”

Candace took a deep breath, before nodding and addressing me. “Go answer the door, thrall.”

And so I did, I went to the door as I was told, and I answered it, holding it open for our newest guest. I couldn’t help but to get a good look at her, my eyes glancing up and instantly meeting hers.

Wait a minute, I know her.

To my surprise, it was Candace’s manager, Tallulah. Stepping into the house and handing her umbrella off to me, despite the fact that it wasn’t raining outside. She clearly recognized me too, smiling at me as I locked my gaze onto her instead of downwards where it belonged. “Miss Tallulah~”

She grinned, lifting one hand to my cheek and somehow magically pulling my gaze back downwards to the ground. “Gaze where it belongs, little one.”

I swallowed nervously, staring down at her boots. This wasn’t right. She’s Candace’s manager, I’ve met her before. My manager has met her before, she doesn’t work for the mafia, she works for Candace, taking care of her esports career…

But she had a new aura about her. 

 

“I trust that you aren’t going to let me down again, slave.” She hummed under her breath, sighing at me. “I worked awfully hard to get your Master where she is today, and I do not very much appreciate watching you destroy all of my hard work… and I’m sure my family doesn’t much appreciate it either.”

“No, Ma’am… I’m sure they don’t~” I bowed, showing my respect to the other woman. “I’m sorry, Miss Tallulah.”

“Miss Tallulah is fine, Miss Paciente is better.”

“Yes, Miss Paciente.”

She nodded, stepping past me as she waved for me to follow her. We stepped into the parlor, and the moment she saw her manager, Candace had become a completely different person. 

“Hello, Miss Paciente~” Candace was blushing as she took the hispanic woman by the hand, planting a gentle kiss on the back of her hand and bowing. 

“Hello, Candy~” She smirked, taking Candace by the hand and spinning the mistress of the house in place. “I trust that I’m not going to have to be reminded of how she destroyed everything I spent my precious time helping you create~”

“Of course not, Ma’am.” Candace smiled proudly, stepping away from the other woman and towards me, gesturing for me to go put the umbrella away. “She’s much more well behaved than she once was, I promise you.”

“I hope she is, or I might just have to punish you as well~”

 

↞✶↠

 

It was once again a lot to take in, but I was going to take it in strides. I just needed a quick breather in the wardrobe room to catch my breath and readjust before making my way back out.

I can still do this, I can still impress them.  

On the sofa to Candace’s left still sat her father, and next to him was Cyrus, his wife on the floor at his feet, having moved over to make room for everyone else. I knelt at Candace’s right, nearest her manager, Tallie Paciente, sitting on the couch to her right. Finally, to Tallulah’s right on the couch sat Leah, and to my surprise, Aria was with her. Not sitting on the couch next to her, but kneeling at her feet, as far from Candace’s father and Candace’s manager as she could manage, looking me directly in the eyes from on the floor across from me. 

 

“Congratulations on your promotion, Tallulah.” Candace’s father was having a conversation with the other family head.

“I know right, thank you so much.” She smiled, giggling to herself. “When I agreed to mentor your daughter, I never expected my father to step down so soon.”

“I guess your work with my daughter was enough to convince him you were ready~”

“Quite possibly, or maybe he just wanted me to stop.”

“I resent that, Ma’am.” Candace shook her head at the other woman, and it took everything I had not to flinch as she slowly reached down, gently running her fingers through my hair as she spoke. “I’m a wonderful apprentice to work with, and you’ve clearly taught me quite well~”

“Why thank you, Candy.” I could feel her glare on me as she looked down at me. “But clearly not quite as well as you’ve taught her.”

“You think so, Ma’am?”

“I do, I’m quite proud of you for your work here, Candace.” She smiled down at me, testing my gaze again. “Even if she did look up when she wasn’t supposed to~”

“Oh, did she?” I felt Candace tighten her grip on my hair, and I started to panic.

I can’t. I can’t. I can’t. She can’t be mad at me right now. She can’t. I can’t handle that. I can’t.

 

And then I felt her fingers lightly pinching my earlobe, rubbing it just slightly. At first I thought she was going to hurt, and then I remembered what the signal meant. ‘It’s okay.’

Calm down, Chloe. She’s not upset at you, she’s just trying to save face. 

She needs this. We need this.

“Didn’t I warn you what would happen if you made one more mistake, Chloe?” She continued to rub my earlobe, trying to let me know what she really meant. ‘It’s okay. I have you.’

“My apologies, Master.” I bit my lip, leaning into her hand. “What would you like me to do now?”

“Just stay right here.” She glared down at me, not giving me so much as a smile. “Sit still and look pretty.”

“Yes, Master.”

 

“My word, Candy Cane, just look at you!!” Tallie clapped her hand together. “Putting the little dream wrecker in her place, it’s almost poetic~!!”

“Thank you, Miss Paciente~” Candace smiled over at her, grinning proudly. “I’ve kept her the way she is so that people can recognize her, and know what she is being punished for.”

“I’m just so proud of you~” 

Hearing the positive reaction from the other family head seemed to make Candace’s father feel just a bit better, and I could feel the tension being released from her hands as she continued to play with me. 

“See father… everything is fine.” Candace smiled at her father, still unsure of what he thought about it all. “I’ve fixed her~”

“You’ve done a lot better than I had expected, that’s for sure.” He sighed, finishing his drink and setting it back down on the table. 

“A refill father?”

“No, that’s alright, we can give the slave a break.”

 

“She’s clearly not the only slave here it would seem.” Tallie piped back up, waving at Liz before turning her attention to Aria. “Who’s this little one?”

“I’m not a slave, if that’s what you’re implying.” Aria growled under her breath, snapping back at the other woman.

“If that’s the case, then why are you on the floor with the other slaves, kitten?” Tallie gently cooed at her.

“Because she’s not a free woman, either.” Leah’s leg twitched, kicking Aria in the side. 

“Well if she’s not a free woman and she’s not a slave, then what is she?” Tallie continued.

“Somewhere in between.” Aria sighed loudly, shaking her head. “A prisoner, a friend…” 

“She’s a friend of mine, Tallie.” Candace stepped back in, trying to defend her poor friend as she glared at her father. “She knows too much, so my father doesn’t trust her to roam free… so she’s set up here in town, somewhere to live and work out of…”

“At that rate why not just sell her off as a slave anyways?” Tallie mocked the other girl, smirking at the terrified expression on Aria’s face.

“Because she’s kind of already mine, Tallulah…” Candace gestured at Aria and then at me. “Look, she’s no slave, she’s my friend. If we sold her off I wouldn’t be able to do photoshoots with her anymore.” 

“At that rate, why not just keep her for yourself then?”

“I don’t need her, I already have a slave.”

“You can have more than one slave, Candy.”

 

They went on like this for a while longer, and I could see the enraged expression on Aria’s face just listening to the two of them talk about her like they were above her, whatever they were saying was really getting to her.

“I’m just here for moral support, but…” Aria stood, patting her own dress down. “I’m going to go see the cats, if that’s alright with you?”

“Go ahead.” Candace nodded at her before turning back to me, rubbing her fingers on my earlobe once again.

“In the meantime, Candy…” Tallie grinned at Candace. “Can I speak to you alone for a little bit~”

“Sure. We’ll step into my room.”

 

↞✶↠

 

Candace stepped out, taking Tallie with her, and leaving me with the remnants of her little group. Leaving me here with her father.

“I’m not going to force my daughter to give you up.” 

My ears perked up hearing him say that, and it took a lot of strength not to look up at him excitedly. 

“I think she should get rid of you…” He sighed under his breath, taking a glass of booze from Liz’s hand as she delivered it to him. “So long as Tallulah thinks that you’re fine to stay, then I will leave it up to my daughter whether or not she wants to get rid of you.”

“She won’t.” Liz sat back down, but in her husband's lap this time. “You gave Cyrus the same choice, and he kept me didn’t he?”

“You didn’t threaten to put an end to my son’s entire career.”

“Yeah, but I very well could have.”

“You spent months healing from broken legs, darling.” Cyrus pulled her hair, shaking his head at her. “Don’t make me hurt you here and now, in front of sweet little Chloe.”

“Chloe’s not sweet or cute, jerk.” Liz sighed, melting into her Master’s chest as he silenced her. 

 

“So, what’s your deal, Mrs. Watts?” Cardinal turned his attention onto Leah for the first time. 

“Now you want to know, Sir?” Leah scoffed, biting her own lip as she stared at her boss’ drink. “It’s really not all that important.”

“It was important enough for you to skip out on things this week.”

“I notified Candace as it was happening, Sir. What’s so important about it?”

“You’re my assistant, aren’t you?”

“I’m Candace’s assistant.”

“Not officially you’re not… You still work under me.”

“We all work under you, Sir.”

Cardinal smiled, the man had a little bit of charisma in him after all. “If tonight goes well, I’ll have a new job for you, Mrs. Watts.”

“Thank you, Sir. But I’m not going to be Mrs. Watts for much longer.” She nodded her head, standing up from her seat. “I need a drink…”

 

“Ummm…” I spoke up, quickly realizing that I very much wasn’t supposed to, but committing to it anyways. “You ordered me to keep the alcohol away from you, Miss.” 

“Right you are, St. Clair... ” Leah rolled her eyes, shaking her head in exasperation. “Go get me a coffee instead.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” I popped up to my feet, doing as I was told, heading to the- Wait a minute what did she just call me?

Everyone else was just as surprised as I was, and Liz was just giggling her ass off, much to the chagrin of her husband’s father.

She just called me St. Clair…

I definitely didn’t mishear her, she referred to me as a St. Clair, and it most certainly had a nice ring to it, sending me smiling all the way to the kitchen.

Part of me liked it, but part of me did not. I had an extremely important decision to make.

 

I had to decide right here and now what I was going to do. Because Aria was right, and I knew Aria was right. Candace was and always had been a liar, a manipulator, and a cheat. The last few weeks did nothing at all to change that. 

I wanted to discount what she was saying, I wanted to sweep it all aside and ignore it, but I couldn’t. Everything she was saying was turning out to be true, even Candace’s own words were confirming Aria’s heartbreaking little backstory to me, and if that was how Candace treated her friends… how was she going to treat her enemies? How was she going to treat me? 

...Does she really love me?

Maybe this really was all just a cruel game, a sick twisted fantasy of hers to drive me into the ground and destroy me. That was how all of this had started after all, what if she was still playing the same game? Was Candace lying to me?

I’ve seen glimpses of a better Candace, a loving Candace. But tonight she’s right back to where she started, an abuser. If this was how she was around her family, was this how I could expect her to be years down the line? Was she going to become like her father? Was she going to have me euthanized someday for disobeying her? 

That’s what her father did to his own wife. If she grew to be any more like him, was she going to end up doing that to me? I could see now that she could so easily replace me, it’s not even a hassle for her.

Besides, even if she didn’t turn out to be like her father… would she really be happier without me?

Even if she was good enough to deserve me, was I good enough to deserve her?

Her father hated me, her mentor hated me, her brother hated me. Even if she loved me, was it enough… would it really be enough to make her happy? 

Do I really deserve to be called a St. Clair?

 

I turned around to head back into the parlor, coffee in hand, my head down, and my thoughts racing. Until suddenly I felt the mug of coffee being swiped from my hand before I could deliver it to its destination. Stopped in my tracks by the woman whose orders superceded all others. 

“You’re to join Miss Paciente in my bedroom where she is waiting for you, she wishes to speak to you alone, slave.” She blocked access to the parlor, pointing me towards the door to her room. “Do not keep her waiting, and do not let me down, Chloe.”

“Yes, Master.” She snapped her fingers, and I was gone, stepping into the master bedroom, alone with one of the most dangerous people in the world. 

 

“Don’t be shy, Cavalier, it’s quite alright.” She gently beckoned for me to join her, much in the same way that Candace had the previous night before spanking me. “I’m not going to hurt you or anything, I would just like to have a word with you in private, close the door behind you.” 

“Yes, Ma’am…” I stepped again, once again doing as I was told, stopping just short of sitting down next to her on the bed.

“Kneel.” 

I took a deep breath, keeping my gaze locked at her feet as I lowered myself to the floor beneath her. 

 

“ I hope you now understand just how fucking deep this rabbit hole goes .”

I swallowed nervously, nodding my head at her. “I do, Ma’am.”

“You’re lucky that Miss St. Clair actually means quite a lot to me…” She stood over me, walking in circles around me. “Because I do not like you even a little bit Sophia Cavalier, not for one fucking second have I thought that she should be allowed to keep you here, you should be taken away to one of our facilities and you should be put down, like a dog .”

She didn’t even give me a chance to respond, she didn’t care what I had to say, she wanted me in here to scold and berate me, and I was going to take it.

“If I was in charge of her, I wouldn’t let her keep you… I put in a lot of work to get her to the top of the world, I did a lot to get her to the world championship, and then you ruined it . Everything that she and I worked towards, you ruined it, you ruined her.” She snarled at me. “The only reason that anyone is going along with this is because they love her.”

“And I love her too, Ma’am.” I shouldn’t be speaking. I shouldn’t be saying anything at all. But at this point I couldn’t stop myself. “I love her more than I love myself.”

Tallie sighed, kneeling in front of me. “This is your pre-game pep talk, child… she’s waiting in the gaming room for you… alone.”

“Yes, Ma’am…”

“Candace is something like a daughter to me, Chloe.” She helped me up as she stood, leading me to the door. “Break my little panda’s heart again and I will make sure you suffer for the rest of your life.”

 

↞✶↠

 

“Is she in there?”

“By herself, yeah.” Aria stopped me in the lounge, on my way to the gaming room. “So you’re just going to keep playing her game then?”

“I appreciate what you’re trying to do for me, really…” I sighed, trying not to make eye contact with the other girl. “But I love her.”

She nodded. “I don’t blame you for that at all, I made the same mistake.”

“Aria, I-”

“But just looking at you disgusts me, Chloe.” She scoffed. “Because I hate seeing what she’s doing to you…”

She continued. “I just don’t see how any of this is your fault. It’s not your fault that she lost.”

 

I paused, hearing anyone mention the world championship always made me freeze up with anger. “What do you mean…”

“Let’s just say, for instance, that beating her in a completely legitimate championship match was enough to punish you for, which let me remind you, it’s not.” She sighed, trying to make a point to me. “You don’t think that it’s suspicious at all that not just one, but two american women made it to the world championship finals at the same time? When does that ever happen? When has that ever happened?”

“Never…”

“She’s a liar and an abuser… do you think she’s really above cheating her way to the top, Chloe?”

“So what if she cheated, Aria?” I spat back. “What’s your point?”

“You’re a smart girl, you can put the pieces together, I’m sure.”

“What pieces-”

“Theoretically, if she really did cheat her way to the finals, which she did… she’s my best friend, she tells me everything.” Aria paused, trying to lay it all out for me, whispering to help prevent us from being overheard. “If she did cheat her way there then how did she ever expect to be able to beat you in the final match? Unless she was going to cheat…”

I paused, swallowing nervously. “I don’t like what you’re implying, Aria…”

“She knew that the only way she was going to win was if she cheated.” She glared me directly in the eyes, not for a second letting me look away. “So then why didn’t she?”

I choked on my anger, shaking my head at her. “I don’t believe you.”

“I’m not saying that it’s for certain, I’m saying that it’s what makes sense.” Aria put her hands on my shoulders, staring me in the eyes. “I’m not telling you what to do, I just want you to have all of the information.”

“I have to go, Aria.” I smiled at her, letting her pull me into a hug for a few moments before letting me go. 

“Good luck, Chloe.” She smirked. “I’m rooting for you.”

I stepped into the gaming room, finding Candace inside waiting for me, alone.

“There you are, slave.” She turned to me, shaking her head. “I have been waiting for you.”

“I’m sorry to keep you waiting, Master.” I frowned, staring straight down at the ground. “Please don’t hurt me, Ma’am. I’m sorry.”

“Christ alive, what’s the matter with you, Chloe?” She stepped up to me, putting one hand on my cheek and tilting my head up to look at her. “We’re in here alone, no one can hear you right now.”

“I- I know, Ma’am. I’m sorry.” I pulled away from her, stepping further into the room, my thoughts racing through my head. 

“It’s okay, Chloe. You’ve been doing great, I promise.” She grabbed me by the hand, holding onto me and refusing to let me walk away from her. “It’s just you and me right now, if there’s something on your mind, you can say it.”

 

“Did you cheat?” I blurted it out without thinking about it. Having seen her manager’s true intent it really did make sense for her to do something like that.

“Did I cheat?” She stared at me blankly, completely shocked to be hearing something like that at a time like this. “...did I cheat on you, you mean?”

“No, I mean-” I paused, thinking it over for a few moments. “Wait, did you?”

“We aren’t really an official relationship, Chloe.” She blushed, shaking her head and squeezing onto my hand. “I would hardly call it cheating… why, what did Tallie tell you about us?”

“I meant the game, Ma’am.” I squeezed back. “Did you cheat your way to the finals?”

“Chloe…”

“Candace!!” I begged her. “Please…”

“I would be lying if I said it was fully legitimate… but this is not a conversation for right now.”

“Then when is it a conversation for, Miss?”

“This can be a conversation for tomorrow, or literally any other day, but not right now.”

“But it’s important right now...”

“Why is this important right now, Chloe?”

“Because I need to know if this is really all my fault or not!”

 

Smack. I watched her eyes go wide, and then a moment later I felt her release her grasp on my hand, only to bring it across my face. Sending me tumbling backwards a few steps.

“That’s quite enough of that, slave.” She scolded me harshly. “My guests are waiting to watch me get my revenge on you, and that’s what’s going to fucking happen. Whether you like it or not.”

“I…” I bit my lip, struggling to hold back angry tears. “Yes, Ma’am…”

“Take a breather, Chloe.” She frowned angrily at me, holding me at arms length. “Go to the bathroom for a second, and then come back when you’re ready to be submissive. I am not dealing with an insolent slave, I deserve better than that, and you know it.”

I grunted under my breath, glaring downwards, not wanting to look up at her. “Alright…”

Fuck me. Fuck me. I locked myself in the bathroom adjacent to the gaming room, glad that there was no door connecting the two rooms from the inside like the master bedroom had. 

Of course it’s not my fault. It was never really my fault, she just wants me to feel like it’s my fault. 

“Calm down Chloe, it’s fine. This is fine.” There was a solution to this, I was just too terrified to go through with it. “You just have to play this match, and then it’s all over.” 

I stepped up to the mirror, taking a good look at the woman inside of it. My reflection stared back at me through the pristine glass, helpless and utterly defeated. I never expected to see myself looking like this, Candace’s proper little thing, her maid, her slave. But there I was, clear as day, and the menacingly white light of my collar, blinking every few moments, made it that much clearer the situation I found myself in. Tricked, manipulated, gaslit. 

She wanted me, and at least on the surface, I wanted her. But I couldn’t know whether the thing I was feeling was really coming from somewhere deep inside of me, or if it was just an earworm planted inside of me by someone completely and truly despicable. 

It didn’t really matter how Candace felt about me, did it? Even if we ended up together at the end of it all, did the ends really justify the means?

I wanted to believe that she was doing the right thing, that we were doing the right thing. But deep down I knew that what she was doing to me was wrong. Even if her reasons for doing all of this to me were for the right reasons, the things she was doing were still wrong.

It didn’t matter whether she was doing this for the right reasons or the wrong reasons, because I knew deep down that those ends didn’t justify all of this. All of the torment, lies, manipulation, humiliation, and abuse that I had been suffering at her hands.

The good things that had come from this weren’t just some break in the clouds, there wasn’t really a silver lining to all of this. She put me into this hole, and only her words were able to dig me back out of this. But she said it herself, I’m not just some slave, I’m Sophia Cavalier.

‘I’d be lying if I said it was fully legitimate’ She said that herself, she admitted that she had been lying about that, and she had been lying to me about so much more. 

I picked up a makeup sponge, one that was sitting there beside the sink, knowing that it belonged to Candace and not to Malcolm now that he was gone, squeezing it in my hand. Even Malcolm is jumping ship while he still can…

 

She had been preparing me for this. Not because it was really so important for me that I be allowed to stay here with her, but because she didn’t want me to realize what this really was for me. 

My way out…

 

No. I didn’t know where I would end up. I couldn’t be sure that I would survive a stay at the facility, but I knew that she wouldn’t let me be euthanized, that was something I could be sure of. She was obsessed with me, she was a stalker and an abductor. If she was going to allow me to die, she would have done it already.  

No. I couldn’t possibly know whose hands I might fall into, but if I didn’t go now, I might never find out. There really could be someone out there who would treat me right, or at the very least treat me better than she did. Could I really take that chance? Would it be worth it?

I bit my lip, staring at myself in the mirror, taking in the image of just how far I really had fallen. She did this to me…

Yet despite seeing clearer than day the intensity of just what she had put me through, there was still one thing on my mind that I couldn’t shake.

I love you so much, Candace St. Clair…

I did. I really did. I loved her.

If I get taken away from you, would you come find me?

If you really love me like you say you do, would you somehow find a way to wrap your iron grasp around me again?

With all of your money and all of your power, would you come find me? 

Do you love me, Candace?

 

“I’m sorry Candace… But Chloe doesn’t really want to play right now.”

Candace St. Clair wanted a rematch against Sophia Cavalier, so she was going to get a rematch, and if she lost again, it was all over for us. If I won this match, I was going to get taken away from her. But that wasn’t really my fault… It never really was.

“If you want me, you’ll have to fight for me.”

 

“Are you still just standing here following me around?” I stepped out of the bathroom, tucking the makeup sponge somewhere that I could hold onto it for safekeeping, glaring Aria in the eyes once again. 

“I just wanted to say good luck before the match.” She frowned. “Sounds like people are getting antsy.” 

“Thank you.” I swallowed nervously, my hand on the doorknob into the gaming room. 

“Just don’t throw the game like last night… I saw what you did.” She looked around, confident that no one was hearing our conversation, but wanting to make sure just in case, her eyes staring directly at my collar as she spoke. “Don’t lose this time~”

I took a deep breath, nodding my head at her. “I’ll do my best.”

↞✶↠

 

I stepped inside of the gaming room one last time, terrified of what was going to happen, closing the door behind me.

“I changed your account password to something I thought was more cute.” Candace was sitting on the couch, not bothering to look at me as she spoke, and not saying what it was she wanted to say.

“You’ve been listening.” I gripped the front of my collar with my fist, biting my lip.

“Just to make sure you were okay.” She continued to keep her gaze fixed up at the screen. “You weren’t really saying much.”

“How much did you hear, Ma’am?”

“Just since the bathroom…” She paused for a few moments, nervously thinking everything over before continuing. “What’s this about making me fight for you, Chloe?”

“Can we please play the game, Ma’am?” I stepped into the room, making my way over towards her. 

“Are you really going to do this to me right now?” She stood up, facing me directly. “You’ve done so well, we’ve done so well together…”

“Thank you, Ma’am…” I smiled up at her, my voice cracking nervously.

“Please, Chloe…” Her face was flushed with nervous rage. “Can we please arrive on the other side of this together?”

“I can’t-” I whimpered under my breath, stopping for several moments to keep myself from bursting into tears. “I can’t let you get away with everything you’ve done to me…”

“Chloe, please… I need you to submit to me, tonight is everything we’ve worked towards.” She took me by the hands, squeezing them in hers as she looked down at me with her deeply beautiful eyes. “Do not make me punish you for this.”

“I’m not the one who should be getting punished, Master.” I stared into the ocean that was her eyes, feeling my own eyes beginning to well up with tears. “This isn’t my fault…” 

I could tell that she was angry at me. She wanted to hit me, she wanted to hurt me. But she knew it would do nothing. She knew I was right, and she hated me for it. “You’re making the worst mistake of your life, Chloe.”

“This isn’t up to me anymore, Ma’am…” I swallowed nervously, squeezing her hands as hard as I possibly could. “Winner takes all…”

“A rematch?” She snarled angrily under her breath, wanting to squeeze my hands hard enough to break them, and I almost wished she would. If she shattered my fingers now, I wouldn’t be able to win the match. “Right here and now?”

“Yes, Ma’am…” I nodded, choking on my words as I said them, completely overtaken by emotion.

“So be it then…” Her face was red with anger, holding back her own enraged tears as she stopped herself from killing me herself. “I’ve always hated you, Cavalier.”

“I know you love me, Candace-” I smiled, taking a deep breath to keep myself from crying. “And I’m always going to love you.”

She let go of my hands, placing both hands on my waist. “Then give me a kiss for good luck.”

“Yes, Master~!!” I smiled, putting my hands on her shoulders as she pulled me towards her, carrying my heart and soul away into the most passionate and loving kiss we had ever shared. 

If there was one thing that perfectly encapsulated what the two of us were to each other, and everything that our relationship was and would ever be, it was that kiss. 

Holding each other as close as we possibly could, spiting each other in the face of everything we had been through. Striking at each other's hearts, trying to get at everything we hated about each other and about ourselves. We had changed so much, yet we hadn’t really changed at all. Here we were, right back where we started, as some little nobody stood up to an all powerful force of nature, bravely defiant as I challenged like I always did, knowing perfectly well that she was going to accept that challenge, even though she knew she shouldn’t. 

Our hearts were beating faster and harder than they had before, our minds were racing, and our faces were flushed with every emotion you could imagine. Passion, anger, sadness, fear, and joy… but more than anything else, love… 

 

“I love you, Candace.”

“And I love you, Chloe.”

“I hope you win this time, St. Clair.” I smiled at her, letting ourselves be pulled away from each other. “I’m rooting for you…”

And then we played the game.

 

↞✶↠

 

There it was. There’s the victory screen.

The screen had an eerie and ominous glow, illuminating little else but it’s evil purple light, the despicable nautilus spiral in the middle of the monitor being the centerpiece of the results screen. 

But the symbol wasn’t what mattered, after all… we both played the same faction.

What mattered was the name beneath it, the screen name of the winner. 

SoCavalier. 

 

I won.

Of course I won, I’m the world champion, it would take a lot to beat me, and though she had won games against me before, tonight wasn’t one of those games. 

What was I supposed to do now, what was going to happen. The answers to those weren’t really up to me, they were up to Candace and her family to decide what happens to me now.

Now that I had once again humiliated her in front of them.

I expected her to do something. I knew I wasn’t going to get a reward for winning this time. I expected the rage, I expected the anger, I expected the abuse. I expected her to punish me.

I wanted her to punish me.

 

And I suppose what I got was punishment enough.

“How could you…” 

When she got really focused on the game, she sat on the floor, trying to get closer to the screen. Trying to get closer to her opponent, sitting on the other side. But she didn’t stand up, she just sat there. I was just as frozen as she was, if not more so. I couldn’t find the words to say, I couldn’t be allowed to say anything. 

“…Why?” She didn’t leap to her feet to beat me, she just sat there. She didn’t glare angrily at me, she just looked at me. Candace didn’t rise to her feet and slam my head under her boot until I bent to her will. 

 

She cried.

She wasn’t just sniffling or whining like I had seen her do before. She was choking on her words as she spoke. She was hunched over the floor, her face buried in her hands as she wailed. She sobbed her eyes out.

I knew that this was all her fault, but that didn’t mean that I didn’t feel about it. I really did want her to win, but she just couldn’t. She couldn’t cheat her way into my heart like she had cheated her way to the finals. This was her punishment just as much as it was mine. 

 

“You…”

Her father was enraged. There was no doubt at all that he wanted to strangle me right then and there, for everything that I had done to him, for everything that I had done to his daughter. For making Candace cry. But what he wanted didn’t at all matter to me, what was done was done, and there was no turning back from here. “Do you have any idea what you have just done…”

 

“I won, Sir…” I swallowed nervously, my own tears beginning to stream from my eyes as I spoke. “Isn’t this what you wanted… to take me away from her...”

My voice shook as I spoke, glancing back over to Candace, who was now looking up at me even as she continued to sob. “Father…”

 

“Oh, dear…” Liz burst through the door, running past me and towards Candace, kneeling at her side, trying to comfort her. “It’s just a game, Candace… it’s fine… Right, Cyrus?”

Cyrus followed his wife, slowly and gently trying to pull Elizabeth away from his sister before she could wrap her arms around the crying woman. “No, Liz… Not the time…”

“Chloe doesn’t have to go…”

“Yes, she does, Liz…” Cyrus yanked Liz away from his sister, grabbing both of her wrists as he practically had to drag her out of the room. “And you.”

I looked up at him, glaring straight down at me furiously. “I hope you’re ready to get those brands burned away, because if you think for a moment that I’m going to let you keep my sister’s initials, you’re dead fucking wrong.”

“Cyrus, stop-”

“Shut up, Liz!!!” He snarled loudly, silencing his little rat as he pulled her away. “We’re leaving.”

“Are you for real, Chloe?” Leah had her hand on her gun, pulling it from its holster and pointing it towards me, clearly not wanting to do this. “Should I put her down, Sir?”

 

“N-NO!!!” Candace shouted through her sobs, pleading for her father to take mercy on me, even after what I had just done. “Father… you promised.”

“Candace-” 

“You swore… th-that… you wouldn’t h-have... her killed.” She glared at me for just a moment, finding it much too painful to look at me for too long, sobbing between her words.

Candace looked up, seeing Aria walk into the room.

 

Aria looked at me for a moment, trying to give me a reassuring smile and a nod, before finding herself at Candace’s side, trying to comfort her the same way that Liz hadn’t been allowed to, looking up at Candace’s father and trying to plead for my safety as well. “Please, Sir… don’t do this to her… it’s not either of their fault, really…”

“Then what exactly do you propose I have done to her?” He walked directly to me, staring down at me as he tried to decide how exactly he was going to destroy everything I was.

 

“Take her away…” Candace whimpered through her sobs, her voice squeaking past her lips as she tried and failed to wipe her tears away. “Take her away to the facility, father… where we’ll never have t-to see her again…” 

Cardinal nodded, turning to Leah and snarling. “You heard her… take this thing away from my daughter, I never want to lay my eyes on her again.”

Leah frowned… but she did as she was told, waiting for Candace to toss her keys over before crouching down beside me and forcefully yanking me to my feet. 

I stumbled nervously, finding it hard to follow her as she dragged me by the arm. “I- I’m coming Leah, please-” 

“Talk one more fucking time and I’ll blow your god damn brains out, Chloe.” She growled, shouting angrily at me. “The gun is very much still loaded.”

I stayed quiet, letting Leah temporarily hand me off to Candace’s manager, Tallie, while she left to go retrieve restraints. 

“I’m really not at all surprised…” Tallie shook her head at me in disappointment, bemoaning the destruction of all of her hard work once again. “But I suppose we should all thank you for making the right decision, after all… none of us will ever have to see you again~” 

She was a lot happier about it than I would have liked for her to be. But why shouldn’t she have been, after all she didn’t like me, and she was honestly just relieved that I would actually finally be gone forever. 

“I did warn you about breaking my friend’s heart, though…” She smirked evilly. “You’ll have one hell of a life ahead of you.”

“Let’s go, fuckface.” Leah returned, stripping me and securing my restraints, my hands clasped together in front of me, dragging me on a lead out of the front door of the house, the little bell around my neck jingling as she pulled on the leash, leading me towards the garage. “Time to get you to the facility, before I do something drastic.”

My collar, which I hadn’t even realized was still firmly clasped around my neck, was beeping and glowing red, getting ready to shock me. 

For just a moment, I was sure that this was the end of me, expecting this last shock to truly be the final blow. A surge strong enough to finally stop my aching heart.

And then it stopped beeping. The light turned blue, and it stopped blaring at me.

 

“I want everybody out of my house.” Candace snarled angrily, having recovered from the rematch and finally emerging from the gaming room, walking into the foyer. “NOW.”

“Especially you, father…” Nobody was going to argue with her about that, not even Cardinal Russo, and one by one, everyone in the house collected their things and stepped outside, leaving through the door of the foyer to return to wherever it was that they came from. “I need a second with her before you go, Leah.”

Once everyone was out of the house, Candace stepped outside, still struggling to wipe away her tears as she marched straight towards me, her bracelet still clasped to her wrist. 

“Good game, Sophia…” She wasn’t angry. She was devastated, and she was sad, but she wasn’t angry. “Chloe…”

“Thank you, Candace.” I bit my lip, staring down at her feet. “It was a good game, I had fun…”

“I did too…” She almost smiled at me, turning around and making sure everyone else was gone before she pulled out my single stuffed animal out from behind her back, pushing Poppy into my chest and wrapping my arms around the stuffed border collie. “Be a good girl, my little collie~”

Cyrus and Liz were nowhere in sight, and neither were either of the family heads. It was just Leah, Aria, her, and I.

“Thank you for everything, Ma’am…” I took a deep breath, slowly coming to terms with what had just happened. “I’m so sorry…”

“There’s nothing to apologize for anymore… I’ve forgiven you long ago.” She held her bracelet up, taking it off of her wrist and pressing her finger to it, deactivating my collar. The blue light turned orange for a few moments, and then turned off completely, before she handed the bracelet to Leah. “This controls her collar, and these are the keys to all of her restraints.”

“Candace.” I interrupted her as she spoke, one last act of defiance in the face of everything that was about to happen. “I love you…”

“I love you too, Chloe…” She sighed for a few moments, before reaching out and grabbing me by the ear, and removing the cattle tag that marked me as hers. “You might not be mine anymore, but remember everything that I taught you, and make your next owner proud okay… can you do that for me?”

“Yes, Master…” I couldn’t hold it back anymore, as I felt tears beginning to roll down my cheeks. “I’ll do my best.”

“It’s okay, Chloe… I’m not your Master anymore…” She was crying too, putting one hand on my cheek and trying her best to smile at me. “I can’t give you a goodbye kiss.”

I whimpered under my breath, realizing how desperately I wanted to share just one last kiss with her. “Why not… Why not just one more, Ma’am?”

Candace choked, shaking her head as she wrapped one hand around the little gold bell, still dangling from my collar. “Because you don’t deserve one…”

She pulled and twisted, breaking the bell off of my collar. “...And I don’t deserve one either.”

We stood there, locking our gazes one last time, not sure whether we would ever lay eyes on each other again

 

“Goodbye, Candace…”

 

“Goodbye, Chloe…”

 

 

Chapter 16: In Good Hands

II. The Witch's Sister

 

“Out of the car.”

I kept Poppy held to my chest, quietly sulking to myself the whole way there. We took one of Candace’s other cars, which were luckily a lot nicer than even my car, and a whole lot better than Leah’s car. 

I’ve been here before.

It wasn’t until we were about halfway there that I realized where we were going, and soon enough we pulled in through the secured gates of the unlabelled white building where Candace had brought me for my surgery not even a month prior. It was like deja vu, Leah once again driving me to the facility and escorting me inside at gunpoint. It was the same as it was back then, and aside from the car we arrived in, there was only one big difference from the last time.

Candace wasn’t here with me this time. 

 

“Please put the gun away, Ms. Watts.” The person who greeted us at the front this time was a woman, someone I hadn’t yet met. “I can’t allow loaded weapons inside past the lobby.”

“It’s not loaded.” Leah looked at me, giving me a gentle smile, she was quiet for a few moments before nervously pulling the gun from my back, having had it pointed between my shoulderblades. “It never was…”

“Leah…” I bit my lip, lowering my head in shame. Of course it was never loaded, she wasn’t expecting to bring me here… she didn’t want to be doing this any more than I did. 

“Hush, kiddo.” Leah sighed, shoving me forward up to the front desk. 

“What’s this about?” Whoever this woman was, she clearly wasn’t very happy about us being here, typical of an annoyed front desk worker during the night shift. “We aren’t expecting any late night appointments.”

“It’s an arrival.” Leah answered nervously, her hands on my shoulders as she stood behind me. 

“Just… one?” The other woman furled her eyebrows in confusion. “On whose authority?”

“Candace St. Clair sent her.” Leah rolled her eyes in exasperation. “Ask Cyrus.”

Her eyes widened in surprise. “Mr. Griffin isn’t in at the moment, unfortunately.”

“Yeah, I know. Just give him a call.” Leah sighed impatiently, and so did the other woman. She nodded, stepping away from the desk and going over to the phone “Thank you, Jane.”

To my dismay, we had a few minutes alone to ourselves. We took a few steps away from the desk, and as soon as the woman at the front realized that Leah wasn’t actually armed, she locked the doors back outside, preventing me from making a last minute attempt to run away. 

“So this is it, huh?” Leah scoffed, shaking her head at me in disbelief. “I really thought you were better than this, kid.”

“Better than what, Ma’am…” I squeezed Poppy, unable to bring myself to look up at the other woman.

“Whatever the fuck that was back there.” Leah wasn’t just disappointed, she was sad and angry. “Tsk, you’re not really my problem anymore.”

 

“Alright, bring her back up.” The woman up front, Jane, beckoned us back to the desk, having just finished hanging up the phone. “I can only assume that you didn’t bring her all the way up here for euthanization, which must mean she’s here to be sold, correct?”

“Yeah.” Leah answered nervously, gently pulling her hands from my shoulders. “Sorry for the sudden delivery.”

“They don’t usually come in groups of one.” Jane briefly looked up from her clipboard, her eyes almost completely dead inside. “What’s your name?”

“Chloe.” I didn’t even look up at her, glaring down at the floor in anger. Of course she wasn’t the one I was angry at, I was angry at myself. 

“…Is there a last name?” 

I blushed, not even realizing that I hadn’t actually said my legal name. Legally, I was Sophia Cavalier, but in the last few months, I had become Chloe. My time with Candace had made me into Chloe. 

“Sophia Cavalier… She’s a bit of a small celebrity.” Leah stepped to my side, no longer sandwiching me between her and the front desk. “She’s kind of a special case, she’s already used to the name her last owner gave her.” 

“So she’s pre-owned. Then she should already be in the system.” Jane rolled her eyes, pulling me up on the computer at the front desk, trying to find my profile. Her eyes seemed to be flickering between two separate windows as she looked me up. “She should be in here… but I’ll need her number.”

Leah paused, realizing that she didn’t actually know what my number was, not having been the one who gave it to me. Jane glanced at me and then back at the monitor, smiling to herself. “She’s definitely the real deal, though… looks just like her picture~”

I blushed, realizing that she was currently looking me up online to see who I was. Candace had made sure I was still recognizable as Sophia Cavalier. “It’s four zeroes, Miss…”

“Ah!! So that’s why I can’t find you… Class C is difficult, they’re all hidden.” She glanced back at my image results and then back at the window where she continued to search for my profile. Then suddenly she had a realization, her eyes going wide as she looked back at me. “Wait… If she’s a Class C, why is she here?”

“It’s complicated.” Leah spoke before I had the chance to, glaring at me to keep quiet and not say anything. “Why, is there a problem?”

“She’s a Class C, which means she has a predestined owner, but…” Jane bit her lip, finally succeeding in pulling up my profile, frantically looking it over for clues. “She’s pre-owned, which must mean that she’s been there and is now… being returned?”

There were a few moments of silence, the room filled with the sound of her clicking her mouse. It was unprecedented for someone like me to actually get sent back to the facility, I was supposed to be special, that was why I was given one of the special identification numbers after all. 

“There’s not really a problem persay, it’s just… that’s never happened before…” She frowned, writing a few things down on her clipboard as she clicked through a few things on my profile, occasionally glancing up to make sure that no one was at the doors to the facility. “I’m sorry, but I’ll have to give her owner a call just to make sure that this is legitimate… by whose authority did you say you were here on?”

“Candace St. Clair, Ma’am… She’s my…” My heart twisted as I said her name, having had a hole punched in my heart that could no longer be filled. “She was my Master…”

“There’s a first time for everything I see… Well, in that case… I can take her from here, Leah.” She smiled, closing a couple of her windows as she turned once again to look at me. “Don’t worry, Sophia… whatever the reason may be, you’re here now, and we’re going to make sure that you find your way to a new owner.”

“You… you promise?” I barely managed to choke the words out of my mouth. That should have been good news, I was finally getting away from her, once and for all… but it wasn’t good news, was it? 

I don’t want a new owner.  

“I promise…” She sighed, stepping out from behind the desk and opening up a door behind her, trying to do her best to reassure me. “Nobody else but me is here right now, but I’ll make sure that you’re taken care of… you’re in good hands.”

“Thank you, Ma’am…” I nodded, acting childishly shyly as I still refused to look up at her, and just like a child, I kept my stuffed dog squeezed to my chest.

“I will need to confiscate all personal belongings, I’m afraid.” She pulled a small tray out from under one of the desks, just noticing Poppy for the first time. “Don’t worry, they won’t be thrown away, we hold onto all of them and transfer ownership of them along with you.”

I should have been listening to her directions, but I couldn’t bring myself to hand the dog over to her, squeezing her to my chest instead. “Can I please keep her?”

“No.” She frowned, setting the tray down on the desk in front of Leah. “I don’t want to have to physically rip them away from her, if she’s not going to cooperate, I’ll have to sedate her.”

“Give me the dog, Chloe.” Leah scolded me, trying to be reasonable but stern as she held out her hands, waiting for me to hand Poppy over. “Candace ordered me to report back to her once I dropped you off…”

“Did she really, Ma’am?” I looked up at her, my face blushing every so slightly, not that she could see it from behind my stuffed puppy. 

“Look… she begged me not to hurt you, because she also can’t tell when a gun is loaded, but…” Leah smiled, very clearly trying to make this as easy for me as she possibly could. “She asked me to report back after this… and I would like to reassure her that you got here safely.” 

I smiled at Leah, sighing to myself as I relented. If anything happened to this stuffed animal, I was going to lose my mind. “Thank you, Leah…”

“You should be thanking Candace.” She took Poppy from me, delivering it to the tray before removing the purse she was wearing over her shoulder and beginning to empty it. “She sent some other things for her too.”

Jane was being patient, but god damn it did she want to get this over with. “Like what, Leah?”

“Nothing too impressive. Some clothes, keys to her harness, the controller to her shock collar, and some notes on taking care of her. Which includes…” Leah sighed, reading some of the things that Candace wanted to make sure that my new owner was aware of. “A set of instructions for her shock collar, a detailed list of her modifications, and her medications.”

Medications? My ears perked up. I took medications before I became Candace’s slave, but my master had never asked about or given me medications for my diagnoses. 

“Are said medications included?” Jane was beginning to grow impatient. “What does she take?”

“Candace says she gives her ADHD medications every morning, and antidepressants twice a day… says she just sneaks them into her food.” 

She wasn’t… there’s no way…

“This must have been hard for you both.” Jane took the tray of belongings and set them aside. “Sounds like Candace cared a lot about you…”

I swallowed nervously, choking on my anger as I struggled to keep myself composed. “She did…”

“This is it, kiddo. I have to go.” Leah smiled, pulling me in for a brief hug before leaving. “Sorry that you only ever got to know me as a liar… it’s kind of my job.”

“That’s okay…” I nodded, still not wanting to look up. “Thank you, Miss.”

“I’m probably never going to see you again, but it was nice knowing you… Be good for your new owner, okay?”

“Yes, Miss…” I watched Leah make her way back out, leaving me to my fate. 

“Alright, Sophia.” Jane sighed, eager to get on with things. “I’m going to take you downstairs now.”

“Yes, Miss… But, if it’s not too much to ask…” I turned to her, my face turning pink as I forced myself to obey. “Would you please call me Chloe?”

 

↞✶↠

 

We headed into the facility, and the first thing I noticed were the names on all of the offices immediately behind the lobby. 

The first room to my right belonged to someone named ‘P. Burke.’ But immediately across from that was the office of  ‘J. Colton,’ who I could only assume was the woman escorting me through the facility, Jane.

The next set of offices had initials that I did recognize, however. ‘R. Larkin,’ and ‘A. Schmitt,’ the doctor and nurse who oversaw my surgery, respectively. Anthony Schmitt in particular I was aware of, he was Malcolm’s fiance now after all. 

At the end of the hallway was one final office, and it belonged to someone that I most certainly recognized, ‘C. Griffin.’

We turned left down the hallway, and did so again at the next intersection, walking down a long hallway and arriving at an unmarked room, opening the door and stepping inside. It looked to just be a storage room, not for people, but for junk. 

It was no wonder that I didn’t realize that this was where they kept slaves. I hadn’t noticed it when I came here for my surgery, but that was only because it housed a hidden door leading into another room, a small narrow room with little more than an elevator, which I rode down with Miss Colton, finally arriving at the basement. 

The slave facility.

 

There was only one way in and out of the lower facility, and it was through this elevator. It couldn’t be operated by anyone but the qualified staff, which meant none of the slaves could get on their own. The only way I was going to be getting out of here was in the hands of my new owner, whoever that turned out to be. 

I knew that there was no way out, but Jane was more than prepared to shut me down if I tried doing anything funny, she had a security baton on one hip and a taser on the other. “Does your collar come off, Chloe?”

“No, Ma’am.” I shook my head, respectfully answering her questions when asked. “Not as far as I am aware of at least, I was told that it was irremovable.”

“Then it’s a good thing that they sent the controller as well, huh?” Jane smirked, looking me up and down. “Are you doing alright?”

“I’m fine, Ma’am.” I continued to stare down at the floor of the elevator below. “But thank you for asking…”

There was an awkward silence, a pause in the conversation before Jane spoke again. “You’re… awfully well behaved, aren’t you?”

“I don’t want to cause you any trouble, Ma’am.” Of course I was well behaved, I had already been trained. Unlike most girls who rode this elevator into the facility for the first time, I had accepted my fate. “I’m not going to fight… there’s no use anyways.”

Jane was almost stunned. She was obviously used to dragging captured women into the basement kicking and screaming, not peacefully escorting a readily submissive slave. “It’s good that you know that up front…”

We stepped out onto the landing, the elevator door closing shut behind us as we opened up a one way door, which looked to be a solid wall from the other side, just like my cell had been with Candace.

Candace…

My heart was torn in two, and it was all my fault. What was I thinking… of course she cared about me, of course she loved me. This really was the biggest mistake of my life…

But it was a mistake that I wasn’t ashamed of making. 

It was all my fault that my heart had been shattered in two, but it wasn’t my fault that I was here. It had never been my fault, really. Kidnapping a girl and forcing her into slavery just because you’re a sore loser wasn’t an appropriate thing to do at all, and it wasn’t something that I could condone, regardless of how it ended up.

This was Candace’s punishment just as much as it was mine, and that was her fault.  

 

“This one is your cell.” I looked back up to Jane, not even realizing that I had gotten sidetracked with my own thoughts. 

“I get my own cell, Ma’am?” I bit my lip, peering into it. It actually looked a fair bit bigger than the solid concrete bunker that my now former mistress had kept me in, fit with a bed and everything. “Isn’t this a little bit too nice for me?”

“Too nice for you?” Jane snorted, blinking at me in disbelief. “ This????”

“I’ve lived in smaller, Ma’am…” I blushed, hanging my head in shame. Maybe my life really was going to improve now that I was getting away from Candace. 

“Then it’s your lucky day, looks like you’re moving up in the world. Now get inside and shut up… I want to get back to not dealing with slaves.” I felt Jane place her hand on my back, forcefully shoving me forward into the rectangular holding cage. “Settle down and sleep or some shit, someone will be here in the morning to see you.”

“Yes, Ma’am…” I stepped inside, hearing the door slam shut behind me, but by the time I was on the bed, Ms. Colton was already long gone.

 

So this is it, huh? This is where my life has taken me? I looked around the room, my heart aching in my chest as everything that I had been through began crashing in on me. I had never been this scared in my entire life. 

Finding myself inside of a small box and being delivered directly to Candace’s doorstep was terrifying, but it was mostly just confusing. Now I knew very well what was going to be happening here. 

I would be whipped, beaten, trained, and sold off to whoever my highest bidder ended up being, and then I would be a slave, not Candace’s slave, but their slave… whoever they ended up being. 

I was never going to see Candace St. Clair again, and that alone was bad enough to send me spiraling, quickly crying myself to sleep. 

 

↞✶↠

 

There was a knock on the door, but whoever was at the door of my new cell was only doing it out of courtesy, rather than asking for permission before entering. I shot up, trying to hide my still naked body out of sheer reflex, quickly having been jolted to sleep.

“Calm down, calm down, I’ve seen you naked and covered in blood once already… this really isn’t anything new.” He smiled at me, closing the door behind him as he entered. “Besides, I’m gay anyways.”

Anthony Schmitt, Malcolm’s boyfriend turned future husband. It took me a few moments of looking at him before I realized it was him, he had gotten a haircut. 

“That’s clearly my Malcolm’s handiwork, but your makeup has been running.” He, like Jane, was trying to be gentle and reassuring, who knew that being nice to the slaves helped make it easier to handle then. “You look like a fucking mess, sweetie.”

Of course my makeup had been running, I had been absolutely bawling my eyes out during and after Candace’s little party, it was no surprise that I looked awful at a time like this. “Good morning, Sir…”

“Good morning, Chloe.” He smiled, taking a seat in one of the two chairs that decorated my cell, sitting at a small table. “There’s security right outside the door… but it sounds like you’re probably not going to need it, are you?”

“No, Sir…” I shook my head, wiping the dried on tears from my eyes as I sat up to look at him from the bed. “I know better than to think that there’s any way out of this… knowing Candace’s family…” 

“Right… well, you can stay over there if you want, but-” He kicked out the chair opposite him on the other side of the table, opening the spot for me. “We need to have a talk.”

“What kind of talk, Sir…” I slowly rose to my feet, knowing that I would be sitting at the table with him regardless.

“A mental evaluation.” He pulled out a clipboard, waiting for me to sit down across from him. “How would you rate your level of anxiety, on a scale of seven?”

“Seven.” I frowned, answering without hesitation, it wasn’t a hard question in the slightest. 

“And your depression?”

“Eight.”

“You have no idea the number of times I get that answer.” He smiled, leaning back in his chair. “You go first, I figure you’ll have lots to say, even without me having to ask questions.”

“What, are you my therapist now?”

“Yes.” He stated, pretty matter of factly. “I’m more than just a simple nurse, sweetheart.”

“I don’t…” I grinded my teeth, staring down at my feet in shame. “I don’t want to be here…”

“Nobody ever does.” Anthony chuckled, scratching a couple things down on his clipboard. “But that doesn’t really explain anything to me, does it?”

“No, Sir.” I shook my head, sniffling back tears. “No it doesn’t.”

“Nobody is ever happy to be brought through those doors.” Anthony looked up at me, an unamused smile painted on his face. “But, usually when girls are brought to the facility for the first time, they’re not this agreeable.”

“What do you mean, Sir?”

“I mean that .” He pointed at my face with his pen. “I can count on zero fingers the number of women who came in here already saying things like ‘Yes, Ma’am’ or ‘No, Sir’ .” 

“Candace trained me well, Sir…” I looked up at him, watching the expression on his face quickly turn into one of confusion. 

“It certainly seems like she did…” He looked through the papers on my clipboard one more time just to make sure he wasn’t missing something. “So why exactly are you here… you’re not here for a surgery…”

“I’m here to be sold, Sir.” I frowned, feeling a couple of tears streaming from my eyes, taking my mascara with me. “I know that much. I’m not here to put up a fight… I’m here to be sold.”

“Slaves usually have to get put through training before they can be sold, Chloe.”

“I have been trained, Sir.”

“Not formally, you haven’t.”

“Would you like to hear my guidelines, Sir?” I continued to protest, sitting up straight in my seat. “I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.”

“By all means, go ahead, sweetie.”

 

“One. Know my place. I have a role to play. I have a purpose. As a slave, my purpose is whatever my master says it is. I am below my master, and I will remember my place and purpose.”

“Two. Know my master. I have a master, and I know who my master is. I belong to her, and that puts her above all others. She is the center of my world, and I will learn what she needs, learn what she wants, and learn how to serve her.”

“Three. Show respect. I am a slave, not a person. All others are above me and they deserve to be respected. I will put myself below all others, but I will respect my master first and foremost. As a slave, my master is above all others, and I am below all others.”

“Four. Do as I’m told. I will obey my master at all times. When my master tells me to do something, I am to do it. No matter what I’m told, I will always follow my master’s directions.”

“Five. Do not fight back. My master deserves my full respect and cooperation. I will not disobey orders. I will not talk back. I will not disagree with her. My master is the only thing that matters, and I am not to fight back.”

“Six. Act out of love, not out of fear. My master has the right to do whatever she wants to me. I will act out of love for my master, and not out of fear of what she will do to me. I will show her that I love her, and that her happiness is my priority.”

“Seven. Identify with my master. As a slave, I am not an individual, I am a possession. I will identify as my master’s slave, and not as my own person. I will let myself be viewed as my master’s slave, and nothing more. I will be an extension of her. I will let her make my decisions, I will let her fulfill my needs, and I will let her do my thinking for me.”

“Eight. Be vulnerable. I will make my master’s life as pleasant as possible. I will open myself up to her, and I will trust her. I will show my master that I am vulnerable to her. I will show her that I am powerless. I will let her touch me, I will let her hurt me, and I will let her humiliate me.”

“Nine. Be adaptable. I will learn from my mistakes. I will show my master that I will bend to her will. I will be open to anything and everything my master says, even if it goes against what I want. My master’s desires will change, and I must change to suit her needs.”

“Ten. Strive for perfection. I won’t just do as I’m told, I will make my master proud. I will do everything in my power to be more than what my master expects and demands me to be, even if she doesn’t notice. The little things will mean a lot to her, and I will strive to be the best slave my master could ever wish for.” 

 

I hadn’t forgotten them. not a single word.

“Chloe… why are you here?”  Anthony was completely stunned, to put it mildly. “Clearly you’re not unfit to serve… so why aren’t you with Candace?”

“Because…” I choked, struggling to breathe at the thought of it. “Because we don’t deserve each other.”

“Chloe…” He stared at me with a nervous look on his face. “Please tell me you didn’t do this to yourself on purpose.”

I could tell him what he wants to hear, but it would be a lie, so I said nothing at all.

“I’ll be back in a minute…”

 

↞✶↠

 

It took him a lot more than a minute to get back to me, quickly getting up from his seat and rushing out of my little room, leaving me alone with security once again. But after what felt like an hour, he returned, and he didn’t return alone. 

“Hello, Sophia.” 

“Hello, Mr. Griffin…” My gaze fixed itself to the floor, unable to face him after what I did last night. “Please… Chloe is fine, Sir. Honest.”

“I’ll call you whatever the fuck I want, 0000.” He shook his head, sending Anthony out of the cell. I wasn’t his sister’s slave anymore, I was a serial number, and that was all I was to him now. “I am not sending you back to her.”

“I know you aren’t, Sir. I wouldn’t expect you too…” I bowed my head, trying to show him respect even despite my fear. “I told you already… I know I don’t deserve it.”

“You’ve got that right…” He kept the door open, despite being here alone with me, as if he didn’t at all expect me to try and run past him.

“Why are you here, Sir?” I bit my lip in anger, trying to keep myself from shouting at him. “I’m not trying to make any trouble, and I won’t be any trouble with you… I would just like to know if you’re here to torment me, or if it’s about something else, Sir?”

“I’m in charge of this facility, Chloe. That’s why I’m here.” He sighed, softening up slightly. “But I want to know why you’re here.”

I blushed, once again hanging my head in shame. “Like I said, I’m here to be sold…”

“Yes, and I am here to sell you.” He continued, still not happy with the answers he’s being given. “One of my employees came running to my office to let me know that you’re ready to be sold… so clearly you’re not unfit to serve, given that you’ve effectively already completed your training period.”

“Are those guidelines really all there is to the training period, Sir?” I kept my gaze fixed downwards, trying not to let him see the bright pink blush on my face knowing that I was essentially already a willing and eager slave.

“We only do preliminary training here, there’s only so much we can beat into a slave’s head, regardless of how thick or thin their skull is… at least not without getting into the specifics of each slave individually, we don’t have time for that.” Cyrus was clearly quite disappointed in me, now knowing how good of a job his sister had done in training me. “Naturally, I am quite surprised that you’re ready for sale on day one…”

I smiled, just a little bit proud to know that I wasn’t just the best Stolen Cosmos player in the world, but I was also the best slave to ever make her way through this facility. “Your sister taught me well, Sir.”

“Yes, she did a great job…” He frowned, his face morphing into an angry scowl. “It’s too bad that you don’t deserve her.”

“Yes, Sir…” The happy feeling in my chest that flickered on for just a moment quickly extinguished itself. “We never deserved each other…”

 

There was a short pause, as the two of us stood there, not looking at each other. “Given that I’ve already told you that it’s not going to happen, I’m curious… If I did give you the opportunity to go back to her, would you take it?”

“Is that really an appropriate question to ask me, Sir?” The thought of going back to her side, it was all that I wanted, but we both knew it was never going to happen. “I should be devoting my life to whoever my next owner is, shouldn’t I?”

“That much is obvious.” He chuckled at me under his breath, clearly growing impatient. “But if you could choose said owner to be her once again, would you?”

“Of course I would, Cyrus!!!” I snapped at him, my face hot with rage and shame. “I still love her…”

 

I should have fully expected a swift kick to the head, yet still he managed to catch me off guard, slamming me into the ground with one solid blow, just like his sister could. But unlike Candace,  Cyrus’ kicks were anything but poised and graceful, they were blunt and feral, leaving my ears ringing for several minutes afterward. 

“Speak out of line again, I dare you. Candace will be none the wiser… If you really loved her, you wouldn’t hurt her like you always do.” Cyrus scoffed angrily, turning his back to me and heading out the door. “It’s a damn good thing that she won’t have to put up with you ever again.”

I sat there in silence as I watched him slam the door shut as hard as he could. Cyrus clearly loved his little sister a lot, and it showed. He clearly didn’t want to keep me alive, but Candace’s wishes and feelings towards me were enough to keep him from doing anything that would kill me. 

 

“This is what Candace wants, so this is what’s going to happen. I’m doing this for her, not for you.” He spoke to me from the other side of the door, his breath heavy as he addressed me. “She cares about you a lot… so I’m going to make sure that I find you a new owner as soon as I can… so that we can send you to a good home.”

“Thank you, Sir.” I smiled, knowing fully well that he couldn’t see me, but I was happy thinking that just maybe whoever ended up picking me was going to be a good fit. 

The idea of it was almost exciting, I’d grown up in a foster home, but no one had ever wanted to take me in as their daughter.  

 

“It’s like I'm finally being adopted…”

 

Chapter 17: None The Wiser

“She made it to the facility in one piece.” Leah spoke nervously, her heart heavy in her chest. “I made sure she got there safe and sound, Ma’am.”

“Thank you, Leah…” I didn’t look up at her, I didn’t want to think about that right now. “Sorry that you had to do that.”

“I’m perfectly fine, hon… it’s you that I’m worried about.” Leah hesitantly stepped inside, standing over me and looking down. “Are you okay?”

Of course I wasn’t okay, I almost scoffed at the idea of it, shaking my head at her, having already cried myself out of tears for the night. “No… not even slightly…”

“I can see that, but… are you going to be okay?” Leah leaned down, trying to console me after everything that happened tonight. “She’s going to be safe…”

“I know that, but…” I choked on my words, squeezing the little gold bell in my hand as I held it to my chest. “She’s not going to be with me …”

“You deserve better, Candace-”

“No, I don’t.” I interrupted her, not wanting to hear another word of that nonsense. “I never deserved her in the first place…”

“Don’t say that, hon…” Leah sat down on the couch next to me in my bedroom, putting her arm around my still lifeless husk of a body. “Think of it like a bad breakup… you still have us, after all.”

“I know, I know… Aria’s here too, taking care of the cat’s and stuff right now… doing all of the things that Chloe used to do before…” I paused, taking a sip of hot chocolate from the mug in front of me, doing my best not to spill it with my still shaking hands. “And Malcolm’s not gone gone , he’s just not going to be working for me anymore… and neither are you, I guess…”

Leah sighed, shaking her head at me and smiling. “I’m still here for you, and I still work for the family… mama just got a promotion, that’s all.”

“Congrats…” I didn’t even look up at her, glancing down at my pitiful reflection in the surface of my drink. “I’m happy for you.”

“Maybe you could ask Malcolm about going back to being your assistant?”

“Aria said she’d agree to do that, sounds like she’s scared of my father…” I grinded my teeth, not wanting to think about my father right now. "But dad scares everyone.”

“He doesn’t scare me.” Leah scoffed, glancing back out into the hallway. “What’s pitter patter’s deal, she seems stiffer than usual?”

“I don’t fucking know.” Aria has always been impossible to read, even for me, and that was saying something. We had been best friends for a while now, we texted back and forth daily, we comforted each other, we talked about sex stuff, but I still couldn’t figure out what her fucking problem was. Ever since she’d first met Chloe, she absolutely refused to talk about her, or come over to my house anymore, it was the weirdest thing. “I never fucking know with her.”

 

“I resent that!!” Aria stormed into the bedroom, spouting a phrase that she had undoubtedly picked up from me. Aria scoffed at me, an unimpressed scowl painted on her face. “I’m literally just trying to help you feel better, and I get that you’re like… having a bad night and all, but can you please keep me out of your pissy ramblings?”

“I’m sorry, Aria…” I smiled at her, recoiling in on myself and pulling the blankets over my shoulders inward to help keep me warm. “Thank you for helping out, I appreciate it a lot…”

“It’s not my fault your slave was a cunt…” Aria sighed, softening her expression and trying to better her attitude so as to not upset me any more than I already was. “Look, just… let me finish cleaning up for you, I’ll be right back.”

There it was again, that weirdness about her. She always flipped back and forth on a whim, acting in weird ways that seemed to contradict each other. I could analyze a person’s motives, but only if they acted logically… Aria let her emotions control her. 

She made her way out back into the rest of the house, continuing to clean in Chloe’s stead, leaving me alone in my bedroom with Leah. 

“…She’s cute, isn’t she?” Leah’s eyes followed the noise of Aria walking out into the rest of the mansion. 

“Didn’t you literally just get a divorce, like yesterday?” I giggled at her, taunting the other woman for paying just a little bit too much attention to the younger girl. 

“Not even!!” Leah puffed up her cheeks, growling playfully at me. “But I’m not about to let my soon to be ex-husband keep me from moving on.”

“Did you two really have sex?” I grinned at her, piercing into her eyes with my cold glare. “…How did that happen?”

“We didn't have sex… She’s just really good at consoling a grieving woman, I guess.” Leah sighed, hanging her head with a heavy heart. “I don’t understand it either…”

I paused, trying to read Leah’s expression, absorbing enough insight from her reaction to put together a piece of the puzzle. “She came to you, huh?”

“I’m a fraud and a liar, but I would never cheat on my husband.” Leah took a deep breath, her cheeks flushed with anger. “But that rat bastard deserved a piece of his own fucking medicine.”

“So you cheated on him with Aria, then?” 

“I mean, it’s not cheating if he did it first, right?” Leah scoffed, sighing as she got up from her seat on the sofa. “Besides, the girl’s too young for me. You and your gaggle of gays are just a bad influence, I want you to know that.”

“Of course we are… But maybe there’s a reason you’ve always fit in so well.” I rolled my eyes at her, trying to give her a reassuring smile to let her know I was going to be okay, if only to get her to leave. I liked Leah, she had become a close friend, but I needed to be free of the stress that accompanied her for the time being. “Say goodbye to Aria on the way out?”

“Sure thing, you just worry about yourself kid.” Leah stuffed her hands back into her coat pockets, trying not to stare at me for too long. “You want a hug before I go?”

I shook my head no, not really wanting to get up from this spot. “Thanks for the offer, though.”

“I’m not good with hugs anyways.” Yeah right, Leah was an almost pathological liar, and I knew that much about her. If anyone in this room needed a hug after tonight, well… it would be me, but Leah would be kind of a close second, or a close third after… 

“You gave Chloe a hug before you left her didn’t you?” I looked away nervously, glancing over at the closet door. “She is actually safe isn’t she, you aren’t just lying to try and make me feel better?”

“Of course she is, I left her with Colton.” I was glad that I wasn’t taking a drink of my hot chocolate, because hearing that name probably would have made me spit it out all over the floor, and I no longer had someone to clean that up for me. 

“Colton? Jane Colton?” I swallowed nervously. “The euthanasiologist?”

“One, that’s not a real word. Two, she’s an anesthesiologist-”

“And three, she’s not even a real doctor.” I bit my lip angrily, my grip tightening around the little bell I still clutched in my hand. “The woman carries around lethal injections in her fucking pockets.”

“She also carries around sedatives and morphine, all of the doctors at that place are like that Candace, you know that. They wouldn’t exactly be there if they’d gotten their medical training legitimately. They aren’t going to put a real office worker up front to handle slave transports-” 

“She still shouldn’t be putting her hands on my Chloe!!” I spat angrily, my voice seething with rage. 

“Do you hear how ridiculous you sound right now? Chloe is fine, Candace, but that’s not really your fucking problem. News flash, she’s not your Chloe anymore.” Leah didn’t even bother getting angry in return. “Why do you even care at this point, she’s somebody else’s problem now. She’s not even a real person anymore. She, along with her personal items, are the sole property of someone else now.”

“You know what I mean, Leah… I’m just worried about her safety is all.” I shrunk back into my seat, sulking quietly. Of course I knew that she wasn’t mine, the words just kind of slipped out. She wasn’t my Chloe anymore, hell she probably isn’t even going to be Chloe anymore, considering the likelihood of her next proprietor renaming her. “I put a lot of time and effort into her and I don’t want that to go to waste.”

“I know you asked your father to make sure she was alive and all, but do you really think that was the right decision? Even if she gets through the facility just fine, she’s going to be out of the family’s hands eventually. She is going to find her way to a new owner, and whoever that ends up being is going to do whatever they want with her anyways, and that could very much end in her being killed, or something even worse… You aren’t going to see her again, so she’s as good as dead to you anyways, you don’t seriously expect that she’ll ever make her way back to you, do you?” 

“Of course I don’t, Leah.” My father and brother had been urging me to have her killed from the very start, but I never once considered letting that happen, and I refused to let it happen now. “Thank you for your report… you’re dismissed now.”

“Right. Good luck…” She knew that that was her cue to get out of my bedroom and go home, I wasn’t going to be needing her service anytime soon. 

 

What a terrible night. It was like once again all of my hard work had been completely and utterly destroyed. The world championship finals had been last November, almost a full year ago now, almost a full year since Sophia Cavalier destroyed my hard work the first time. I had spent months trying to make this viable, and in the end it just didn’t happen. 

I had spent the six months following the finals in a state of constant rage, learning as much as I possibly could about Sophia Cavalier and convincing him to let me plot my revenge against her. It was a huge process, trying to make the necessary renovations to my home, arranging for the people I would need to make it happen, getting the family resources necessary to enact my plan, and finally executing my scheme to kidnap and enslave my archrival.

I spent all of May just trying to get her to cooperate, putting up with her escape attempts, and her outright hatred of me to my face.

I spent all of June teaching her the basics of just being my fucking maid, drilling simple skills into her stupid brain, and continuously beating insolence and disrespect out of her, trying to get her to fear me. 

I spent all of July on high alert, as I finally made some progress with that stupid bitch, only barely able to rely on her completing all of her tasks day in and day out. She finally began to truly respect me. She began to see me as her owner, she realized that she relied on me for her survival, and she did her best to keep me happy. 

I spent all of August falling in love with her, trying to get her to fall in love with me as well. I made her my handmaiden, and she made it her mission to serve me. She fell in love with me, she finally submitted to me. She learned her place, she learned her guidelines, she learned what it meant to be mine. 

I spent all of September in heaven, I was happy, and I thought she was happy too, but there were things that were bothering her, things that she couldn’t push past. I saw our fatal flaw, and I did nothing about it, I thought that we were strong enough to get past it, but we weren’t. Now she was gone, and it was all my fault. 

I would spend all of October alone, no Chloe, just me… just Candace. I should be getting prepared for this year’s world championship, but I wasn’t going to, I didn’t want to. It was too soon, following the public death of Sophia Cavalier, Candace St. Clair wouldn’t be making an appearance this year.

My manager had helped me put out a public statement, letting the community know that I wouldn’t be participating in this year’s championship series. But apparently Tallulah wasn’t going to be sparing me from the entirety of the public spotlight.

 

↞✶↠

 

“What do you mean you want me to go to the world championship?” My manager called me on the phone, excitedly trying to ramble about something she wanted to mention before she left, but wasn’t able to find the time to talk about. “I thought we had decided I wasn’t playing this year?”

“You aren’t playing this year, that’s not what I’m saying.” 

“Then why do you want me to go?”

“Because dear Candy, I have been in talks with some of the people up at the top, and I’ve secured a really interesting prospect for you, if you were to accept it.”

“And what’s that, Ma’am?”

“I was going to bring it up in person while I had the chance, it just seemed like exactly the wrong time.” I had hardly ever heard Tallie this excited, especially over the phone. “But you, Candace St. Clair, if you choose to accept the position, will be hosting this year’s world championship series~”

“You’re kidding…” My heart genuinely fluttered with excitement at the idea of it. Sure, I wouldn’t be finding myself on stage playing the game, but I would still very much be up on the stage in the spotlight, front and center for the whole event. “Tell me you’re kidding.”

“I’m not kidding, not even in the slightest.”

“Are you sure this is a smart idea?”

“Of course it is, Candace darling. Don’t you trust me?”

“I do trust you Miss, I just-”

“Listen, Candy… it might be hard for you, I know. But I think it could also be good for you.”

“How so?”

“Because your heart may be broken now, but I know you love the game, and I think you need something to help cheer you up right now.”

“But what about Sophia?”

“What about Sophia, dear? She died just earlier this year, that’s why you aren’t competing… but I’d be remiss if I let you sulk for an entire year, never even once making a public appearance.”

“But what if I can’t handle it? What if I get there and I just can’t stop thinking about her?”

“You’re doing this, Candace.” 

“But Miss, I-”

“I’m not letting this whole failed experiment with Sophia Cavalier destroy your career, little one. Whether you believe me or not, this is the right thing to do, you can’t hide for the rest of your life, and you most certainly can’t retire.”

“I’m not planning on retiring, Ma’am.”

“The longer you sit on your cute little ass and do nothing, the more and more likely it is that you just… give up. It’s time to reassociate the world championship with something positive.”

“Like hosting the event?”

“Exactly.”

I sighed, pulling my phone from my head and pondering it over. She’s right, she’s almost always right. “I’ll do it…”

“Good girl.”

“What do I need to do next?”

“Sit tight, let me make some phone calls and get back to you with details… in the meantime, take a break, and answer those voicemails you keep avoiding.”

“I don’t want to meet with him , Tallie…”

“I know you don’t, but you can’t avoid him forever.”

“Right, I’ll set up a meeting with him… maybe in the next couple of weeks.” I bit my lip, shaking my head at the idea. “Talk to you later.”

“Take care, Candy Cane~”

Fucking hell. I hung up the phone, tossing it across the room and watching it land on my bed. “I don’t want to host the world championship…”

 

“Why not?” It was Aria again, she was always somewhere, lurking around the corner waiting for an appropriate moment to step in. 

“Why do you think, Aria?” I got up from my seat, letting the blanket slump back down on the sofa below. I turned my back from Aria, opening up my curled fist and looking down at the little bell in my hand. Chloe’s bell.

“Is it cuz of Sophia?” She asked, not really needing an answer at all as she stepped into the bedroom and closed the door behind her. 

“Did you finish cleaning up?” I didn’t need to answer her question, so I didn’t. Instead I instinctively defaulted on the one thing I’d gotten used to doing, being a slave driver.

“Doors are locked, dishes are cleaned and put away, cats are fed, and I straightened up everything I could.” Aria took it surprisingly well, trying to be as helpful as she could be, despite deserving more respect from me than I was giving her. “ My apologies , I don’t know exactly where everything goes, so I just kind of guessed.”

“That’s more than acceptable, thank you.” I sighed loudly, not wanting to think about having to clean my house right now, it was always a chore, and now more than ever it was going to be an extreme pain in the ass, knowing the mental trauma that’s now associated with it. “I guess I finally ought to hire an actual maid, huh?”

“Or you could just buy another slave, couldn’t you?” She smirked, shaking her head at me as she examined her nails, trying to make sure that she didn’t break any of them while cleaning. “I guess that’ll be hard to do while she’s up for sale, huh?”

“Yeah… I’d have better luck getting someone else to do it.” I stepped towards my nightstand, setting down the small little bell in the same spot where I usually kept my bracelet. I’m going to miss that bracelet a lot. 

 

“I could do it, if you’d like.” 

I turned to face her, taking in the genuine smile on her face. To say that her offer caught me off guard would be an understatement. “So what, you want to be a slave now?”

She gagged at just the thought of it, clasping one hand over her mouth to keep her from literally wrenching. “Ewww fuck no, not in a million years.”

“Why then?” I scoffed, letting out an exasperated and exhausted sigh as I sat down on the edge of my bed. 

“Because you’re my best friend, and we haven’t gotten to see each other in a while.” She stood there, obviously wanting to step inside and give me a hug, but not willing to do so without my permission. 

“That’s your own fucking fault Aria.” I seethed angrily. It wasn’t my fault that she had always hated Chloe, it was her own. If she wanted to hang out with me more I could have very easily put my slave away for an evening just to have some time alone with her. “You’re the one who refused to come over while she was here.”

“And I’m sorry about that, I really am… but slaves creep me out, a lot. It’s hard to even be around your sister-in-law without heaving.” She bit her lip, her whole body shuddering in disgust. “Look, I’m offering to help, take it or leave it.”

“I haven’t even decided whether or not I’m going to be hiring-”

“For fucks sake, Candace.” She rolled her eyes, groaning at me. “Leah got a new job, Malcolm quit to be with his boyfriend, your manager is off doing whatever freaky shit she gets up to in her offtime… and your slave got taken away.”

“That doesn’t mean I need help.” I glanced towards the closet door, wishing that Aria’s last point wasn’t true. “I can take care of things by myself.”

 

“But you shouldn’t have to…” Aria frowned, stepping forward into the room and marching right up to face me. “I’m worried about you, Candace.”

“Worried about what, exactly?”

“About you doing something stupid, or hurting yourself, or both…” Aria grabbed me by the hands and pulled me off of the edge of my bed and back onto my feet, squeezing my palms. “I’m worried about you self-destructing.”

“I’m not going to self-destruct.”

“Yeah you fucking are!!” She almost snarled under her breath, a much different sound from her usual mewl and purr. “You did it right after the party, and with Leah when she was here, and just now over the phone…”

“I’m going to be fine…”

“You’re not doing a very good job of convincing me of that, you know.”

“Aria…Don’t you think that maybe, just maybe, I want to be alone right now?” 

“I know you do, and that’s totally valid.” She smiled, letting go of my hands and getting up on her tiptoes, pulling me in for a hug. “I just want to make this as easy for you as I can… I want you to be happy…”

“Thank you, Aria…” I smiled, no longer able to hold back my tears as I wrapped my arms around my friend’s waist and burying my head into her shoulder as I sobbed. 

“I’m here for you, Candace.” I felt her tighten her arms around me, holding me close as I cried. “You’re my best friend~”

 

↞✶↠

 

I told Aria that I would think about her offer, I made no promises, but I told her that I would eventually get back to her with an answer, and that seemed to satisfy her. 

We hung out for a little bit longer, catching up on everything that had happened since the last time we saw each other, sharing stories of whatever gossip we had been hearing about, before parting ways. 

I sent her home, calling in for a ride to take her back to her house, where my family always had a constant eye on her. She wasn’t allowed to leave the island or even drive around the island herself, the family had somehow succeeded in having her license completely revoked. She wouldn’t be passing through the gates of the bridge that connected us to the mainland, and I was kind of glad for that, not only because it was nice to have my best friend around, but because something was up with her. 

Right, finally, I get some time to myself. There’s no time to be thinking about Aria right now, I don’t really care about what’s up with her, or with Malcolm and his boyfriend, or with Leah and her soon to be ex-husband… though knowing her, there likely wasn’t going to be a divorce at all, not because getting back together was a possibility for them, it wasn’t… it was just that, from Leah’s perspective, it was just easier to become a widow.

Now wasn’t the time to be thinking about anyone else, now was the time to be thinking about me and me alone. But that wasn’t going to be happening tonight, there was someone that I couldn’t stop thinking about.

I wanted to think about me and me alone, but I couldn’t stop thinking about me and Chloe. Chloe was still the only thing on my mind.

 

“This is all my fault, Chloe…” I turned to the door of the guest bedroom after I had seen Aria out of the house, trying my best not to think about her, but failing spectacularly. That bedroom attached to the lobby was going to be Chloe’s someday, and I was so proud of it, I knew just how excited and happy she was going to be when she finally got to see it… except she wasn’t going to get to see it. There were a lot of things we were never going to get to do together.

I had more gifts to give her, things to reward her good behavior with that I would now never get to give to her. I’d gotten her a little dog bed for her cell, and I was going to reward her with it tonight… once this was all over.

But she’s not here now, and she’d never get to use it. It was like I bought it for nothing, like everything I’d done up to this point, it had been for nothing. 

I stared at the thing, shaking my head at myself for buying such a large dog bed that I was never going to get to use. Unless…

“How much could a dog possibly cost, anyways…” I sighed, disappointed in myself for even entertaining the thought of it, and even more disappointed in myself for already having made up my mind on the matter.

 

I texted Tallie about the idea, and she seemed pretty enthusiastic about it, ready to jump the gun and make some phone calls before I even wanted her to. Aria was less enthusiastic about it, a lot less enthusiastic about it, but she was immensely supportive. Whatever I thought would help me feel better, she urged me to go ahead and do, and she promised she wouldn’t try to avoid this one like she had the last one.

I looked through my phone to try and find more information about it, but I was stopped once I remembered about my voicemails, all of those missed calls that I hadn’t personally been responding to. I set my phone down, and I stepped away from it. 

 

“Lord, please make sure that Chloe is okay…” I didn’t pray often, but it seemed like this may have been as good a time as any. Of course I was religious, what kind of person identifies with the name St. Clair if she’s not religious, it was almost more ludicrous to think otherwise. “I’d never forgive myself if something bad happened to her now…”

The road to recovering from this was going to be long and difficult, and honestly, really fucking painful. But I deserved this… this was as much my punishment as it was Chloe’s… and I had to live with that. I had to live with the knowledge that as her master, this was all my fault. I had to live with knowing that I had completely ruined her life, like I had set out to do from the start, but in doing so, I ended up ruining my own life as well.

Hopefully whoever she ended up with would treat her well. She deserved to get away from all of this, from me and my family and everything we do, she didn’t deserve to have to put up with us anymore. 

She needed to move on from me, and I needed to move on from her. But there was something I needed to do before I could truly let go of her. 

 

I checked my voicemails, writing down the number that he had left for me to get back to him on, and then I punched them in and I dialed them in, finally giving him a long overdue call back. I  stepped out onto my porch as I made my phone call, standing outside of my dining room in the dead of night, under the light of the moon and the stars, admiring their reflection in the water as I stared out into the ocean, wanting to dive head first into it and swim away. 

I heard the line being picked up on the other side, honestly quite surprised that he would answer at this time of night, not that I knew exactly what time it was. Though as soon as he did pick up, I realized that it only made sense, there was quite the time gap between us. California was three hours behind us here in Florida, after all. “Hello?”

“Hello, my apologies for calling so late at night, but I think I’m long overdue to return your calls…” I swallowed nervously, my fingers trembling as I held my phone to my ear, nervous to finally be speaking to him for the first time. “This is Candace St. Clair, I was hoping I could speak with Justin Donovan…”

“This is him…” He was clearly just as surprised to be hearing back from me after all this time as I was that he was answering his phone this late at night. “How can I help you?”

“I was about to ask you the same thing.” I tried to stay positive with him, trying not to think about his former client. “I’m ready to talk…”

 

It was already late, so we only talked for a little while, a little bit about Sophia, but mostly about the upcoming championship, and it actually helped lift a bit of weight off of my chest to discuss the prospects of hosting this year’s finals after what happened the previous year. We touched base, and then we hung up, leaving me standing there alone once again, gazing out into the beautiful light of the ocean.

I would never get to keep my promise to her… I would never get to take Chloe swimming in the ocean with me… 

I texted Tallie, and she hooked me up with some flights, and some appointments across the country, including a stop to look at puppies to adopt, to try and get my mind off of Chloe for a while. In just two weeks, I would be flying across the country, doing all sorts of things and meeting with all sorts of people in preparation for hosting this year's finals. 

It was honestly kind of exciting, I hadn’t had the freedom to go anywhere or do anything while Chloe was here with me, her absence was almost freeing in a way, however bittersweet that really was. But I wouldn’t want to be going anywhere alone, I needed at least someone to fly across the country with me, and who better than my best friend… 

She said yes, of course she was going to say yes, she was just dying to get away from this place. I would be keeping a good eye on her, not letting her out of my sight, never giving her a chance to escape. She couldn’t be allowed to spill family secrets to the outside world, and it took a hell of a lot of convincing to get my father to agree to it, but he eventually relented. My father loved me after all. 

I would have to keep as tight of a grasp on her as I had with Chloe if I was going to be allowed to have her accompany me, it was almost as if she was going to temporarily be my slave now, a thought that utterly disgusted her… but hey, it was what was going to make me happy, so she agreed. 

This is going to be fun.

 

But first...

I still couldn’t stop thinking about Chloe, and how much I wanted her to be the one coming with me for this. 

I opened up the door to her cell, I had more than one controller for it of course, I could open it up even from inside of it. It was empty, even emptier than it had been before she had even stepped foot inside of it for the first time. 

It was way past late, I was tired, and just looking at her empty cell was enough to destroy me. I pressed a button on my controller, watching the door seal itself shut behind me. 

If Chloe could sleep in this cell alone for months on end, I could survive inside of it alone for one night… 

“I’m so sorry, Chloe…” I curled up into a ball on the floor of her cell and I cried, pulling my knees to my chest to help me soak up my tears as I sobbed. 

 

I was never going to get to see her again, and that was my punishment. 

“I miss you so much…”

Notes:

If you haven't guessed it yet, yes, i plan on act 3 being a longer series of shorter chapters that swap back and forth between the perspectives of our two lead characters~

Chapter 18: Impulse Buy

“Alright toots, up and at ‘em, it’s time to get you on the floor.”

The man, who I recognized as one of the people doing security back during my surgery, as well as two other armed security guards, stepped into my cell. 

He was a deeply unpleasant looking person, his face covered in scars, leaving him looking even scarier than Cyrus did, and he was not playing around when it came to security. 

I was already awake by the time they showed up at my cell, but their arrival still caught me off guard. I had been here for a few days already, and despite me being able to hear the commotion of things happening in the facility around me, the guards had yet to come drag me out of my cell.

I stared at the scars on his face as he made his way to me, unsure of what I was supposed to do, but I would be damned if I let him touch me somewhere he's not supposed to. 

"On your knees." The closer he got to me the more terrified his presence felt, and by the time he got within reach I no longer had the bravery to try and stand up to him.

He grabbed me by the wrist, yanking me off of the bed and onto my feet, before twisting my arm behind my back and forcefully shoving me onto my knees on the floor in front of him.

"O-oww!!" I shuddered with pain as my knees slammed onto the cold stone floor. "Wh-where's Cyrus?"

He didn’t answer, whoever this man was he clearly wasn’t too keen on talking. He just grabbed my other hand and twisted it behind me, binding my wrists together behind my back. 

 

“Hold her still, Phil.” I craned my neck upwards in time to see and hear someone new stepping into my cell. The site’s primary physician and surgeon, Rebecca Larkin, was the only woman of color I’d met at the facility so far, and I recognized her from when she did my surgery just over a month and a half ago. 

I looked down at the floor, trying to show respect as she stepped in, watching the feet of the two guards at the back make their way out into the hallway, securing the door from the outside. “Good morning, doctor…”

She, like Phil, didn’t so much as offer me a reply. She simply reached down, grabbing me by the chin and tilting my head up to look at her so that she could examine my face. 

“I recognize you this time, that’s for sure. I guess I was wrong when I said things would be getting better soon.” She didn’t even glance over to the man with the scars, and neither did she look at me as she spoke. “St. Clair is a hard woman to please after all.”

“Things did get better for a little while there, Ma’am…” They really did, my last month with Candace had really honestly been wonderful. 

“Well then I hope you’re ready for more good news.” Rebecca Larkin set her clipboard of notes off to the side. “You have some buyers.” 

“Buyers?” I swallowed nervously. I knew that that was supposed to be good news to me, but it really wasn’t. I was supposed to be excited to meet my potential future masters, but I wasn’t. “What happens to me now?”

“Now you shop talking and let me examine you, I’m not here to be your friend, I’m here to make sure you’re ready to be sold.” Doctor Larkin was as friendly as I remembered her being, not very. 

“What’s she got, Doc?” The man behind me tightened my bindings, finally letting go of my arms and standing up.

“She’s been spayed, and that’s what’s important.” Rebecca flipped through her notes, only occasionally glancing downwards at me. “It’ll go a long way towards getting her out of here.”

 

Getting me out of here? Is that what they want?

“Does she need the gag?” The scarred man kicked me, testing the limits of my patience.

“As long as she doesn’t try to bite any of her buyers, no.” Rebecca eyed Phil behind me, waiting for him to stop before turning her attention back to me. “You’re not going to bite anyone are you… Chloe?”

She said she remembered me, but she had to look down at her clipboard to figure out my name, something which annoyed me quite a bit more than it really should have. “No, Ma’am…”

“These people are very important people, 0000. I’m going to need more than just that.”

“My mouth is shut, Ma’am… I would never bite a potential buyer…”

“I would hope so, or else we’d have to start showing you off to our more… degenerate clientele.”

The way she described their normal clients gave me pause. Anyone who came to look at me in the prospect of turning me into their slave was not only a degenerate, but a criminal and a monster. “How are these buyers different, Ma’am?”

“They’ve been vetted, and they are reliable.” Dr. Larkin continued, making sure all of the paperwork was in order for today. “They are very special buyers who’ve been given the exclusive right to get the first look at you before the normal buyers get a chance.”

“So they’re all important people, then?” I swallowed nervously, letting Phil behind me pull me up to my feet without making a fuss. “I wouldn’t bite someone of importance, I promise.”

“Good, because if you did, very bad things would happen to you. They are all friends of the family after all.” Rebecca turned, beginning to head out. “They have all been screened and approved by Mr. Griffin himself, so you had better do whatever you can to impress them, if one of these clients doesn't go for you, well… it’d be like throwing you to the dogs, and I can guarantee that you don’t want that to happen.”

“I’ll do my best, Ma’am.”

“Good enough for me.” She smirked, looking back up at the man behind me. “Get her onto the floor, Mr. Burke.”

 

↞✶↠

 

I wasn’t the only slave currently up for sale, there were three other girls on the sale floor with me, all of us set up for potential buyers to come take a look at us. 

“You’ve got five today.” The man, Phil Burke, got me set up and restrained in a smaller room connected to the bigger underground room.

“Five what, Sir?” I bit my lip nervously, my eyes still pointed down trying to show him the respect that he expected from a slave waiting to be sold. 

“Five buyers are coming to look at you.” He kept his eyes up, not really wanting to look at me. Phil quite obviously had a lot of work on his plate, having to deal with four slaves being sold, his job was to sell people, and that clearly couldn’t be a very easy job at all. 

Phil set a clipboard down on a table inside of the room, from just a quick look at it I could see that it contained a print out of my profile, conveniently laid out for potential buyers to see. 

“What am I supposed to do, Sir?” My heart was thumping out of my chest, dreading the idea of meeting any of the buyers. I still wasn’t ready to belong to anyone that wasn’t Candace. 

“Whatever they tell you to do.” Phil made sure everything in the room was set up and ready, and then he left, presumably to attend to one of the other girls. 

 

I wanted to vomit. 

There was absolutely no way that I was going to get through this, I didn’t want to just get sold off to some random guy that I’ve never met before. I wasn’t even asked about my preferences when it came to being paired up with a new master, and I supposed that it was only fair, I am a slave after all, I was expected to devote myself completely and fully to whoever did end up becoming my new master, but I was going to do my damned best to scare off anyone who I didn’t personally want to find myself becoming the personal possession of. 

 

“And your name is?”

Speaking of said people. 

“Chloe.” I swallowed nervously, right off the bat I wasn’t liking this very much at all. Not only was my first potential buyer a man, he was also a very uninteresting seeming one. Sure, he was young, he had that going for him, an advantage that I was sure that not all of my potential buyers had. But he looked smarmy and awful, and I very much did not want him to be my future master. I’ll pass on that, thank you.

“And… what are you good for exactly, Chloe?” 

“Not much at all, Sir.” He scoffed and shook his head as soon as he saw that. Yeah, no thanks, absolutely not going to happen. He didn’t seem very interested in me to begin with, and there was no way I was going to dedicate my life to someone who was only going to give me an occasional passing glance while expecting me to do all of my work. 

I never learned his name, but he was in and out in the blink of an eye, and I applauded him for that. 

“Very interesting~”

Look at that!! A woman!! I can work with that!!

“Hello, Miss!” She wasn’t quite as young as the first man, but she wasn’t an old woman, she must have been in her late thirties to early forties, but she was at least moderately attractive, not that that was the most important thing for a master to have, because it wasn’t.

The most important thing when it came to potential masters was how they were going to treat me, and from the looks of it, she wasn’t going to treat me very well.

“Hmmmm… I expect my slaves to hold their tongue.” She shook her head and sighed, taking a look at my profile, paying very little attention to me directly for a good while.

How am I supposed to respond to that? I whimpered under my breath, sighing to myself as I looked down, trying not to bother the woman. This wasn’t going to work either, I could tell that, but I was unable to express that to her, despite how much I wanted to. 

“Cooking, check… Cleaning, check… Anything specific that you’re good at darling?” She smiled, seemingly more willing now to have some sort of conversation with me. 

“I… have been described as a handmaiden…” I whined internally, trying not to be blatant about the fact that I didn’t want her to buy me. 

“And what does that mean, exactly?” She rolled her eyes, looking me up and down as she bit her lip. 

“I wait on my master hand and foot, Ma’am…” I did my best not to look at her, keeping my eyes from making anything close to eye contact. 

“Right, well…” She stood up, no longer interested in continuing to pursue me. “I’ll talk to my husband about you, then…”

Two down, three to go, I suppose. 

But the next visitor was the least thrilling of the group by far. A man, this one even older than Candace’s father, just looking at him made me shudder. Though, he didn’t seem a lot nicer than the last two visitors had been.

“Oh, don’t worry sweetheart… I’m not after your body, it’s alright to cover up…” He was actually kind of a sweet old man. He said it was okay for me to cover up, and I would have if it weren’t for the fact that my arms were bound behind my back. “That was a little joke, of course.”

“Thank you, Sir.” I gave him a pleasant smile, sighing to myself. He was a lot nicer than the last two, and he seemed a lot more interested in me, but I still didn’t want to entertain any thought of belonging to the man, and I think he understood that in the end. 

It was honestly kind of weird, everyone thus far was treating me a lot better than I had expected them to, it was like I really was getting some sort of preferential treatment after all. But I was starting to get nervous, none of them had liked me so far, and if I didn’t manage to convince one of them to buy me, I was going to be in for a rather bad time. 

“Well hello there, cutie~”

This time it was another woman, cute, young, and pepper. She had dark brown hair, and subtle brown eyes, she reminded me of Candace just a little bit, just not in the looks department.

“Hello, Miss.” 

She smiled at me, grinning eagerly as soon as she saw me, she was cute. “You’re awfully cute aren’t you?”

“Thank you, Miss…” I couldn’t help but blush at the compliment, especially from another attractive woman. 

“You’re very welcome~” She had the confidence that Candace had, and an attitude that I remembered seeing from her when my archrival and I first met, long before she kidnapped me and made me into her slave. “Are you into other women, Chloe?”

“A-absolutely…” This I could definitely work with. She was young and attractive, and she was gay. She was the best candidate thus far, now it was time for me to genuinely try and sell myself to her. “Why… are you?”

“You could say something like that, I think.” She smiled, taking a seat at the table and picking up the clipboard. “Chloe is a cute name!!”

“Thank you, Miss.” I smiled at her, appreciating the compliment. “My last owner gave it to me…”

Unfortunately that killed it for her, she clearly wasn’t in the market for a used slave, and she didn’t actually give me much attention from there. 

I wasn’t too torn up about it, but it was quite a shame, she had been the best candidate by far, and I wasn’t exactly thrilled with the sight of my fifth and final visitor for the day. 

It was another man, not quite as young as the first one, but he was most certainly not an older man. He was around Cyrus’ age, and his aura was certainly comparable to Candace’s older brother. 

“So I’m in the market for a maid that I can have some fun with.” He slammed the door shut behind him, trying to make some sort of an impression as stepped into the room. “Know where I could find someone like that?”

Fuck, he does have a kind of swagger about him, and I could most certainly do worse, but still… 

“I’m your girl, Sir…” I sighed, relenting to the idea that maybe I could settle for something like… this. “At least, I could be…”

“Heh, I like the way you think…” He took a seat, examining my profile. “I gotta ask though, are you some sort of well behaved good girl type, or something?”

“What do you mean, Sir?”

“I mean the other girls have way more security on them than you do.”

“So you’ve seen the other girls then?”

“I have, I came to look at all of the girls.” He smirked, shooting me a wink. “You’re one of the more attractive looking ones, though~”

“Thank you, Sir~” I chuckled under my breath, unable to keep myself from blushing at the thought. “You’re just trying to be kind, I’m sure.”

“What makes you think that?”

“I’m nothing special, Sir.”

“I assure you, I’m not just playing around with you.” He set the clipboard down, shaking his head at me. “I’ve been a fan for a while~”

I paused and looked up at him, taking a moment before realizing what it was he was talking about. “Wh-what do you mean, Sir?”

“I mean, Chloe is a cute name and all, but…” He set down the clipboard and smirked, turning to me and looking me over to make sure I was who he thought I was. “I think Sophia’s an even cuter name, don’t you think?”

He knows who I am, I have fans after all. “If you mean objectively… I think I prefer Chloe, if we’re being honest~”

This was new, I hadn’t actually been accosted by a fan in quite a while, it seemed almost alien to me now. I was the one on the sale floor, I was supposed to be the one trying to impress him, but knowing that he sees me as who I used to be almost put me above him in a way. Sure, I was the slave, but I didn’t really have to do anything to endear myself to him. I was the famous one, and he was the nobody. 

At least normally he would have been some nothing fan, but here and now he had all sorts of power over me that I couldn’t fight. 

He knelt down, putting his hands on my cheek and watching my reaction as he slid his hand downwards, caressing my body. “Stand up, doll.”

He commanded, and I obeyed, rising to my feet with him as he walked me to the table. “Time to take you on a test drive, don’t you think?”

“Yes, Sir…” I choked on my anger, doing as I was told as he directed me to the table and bent me over. My hands still bound behind my back as he got me into position. 

“Gonna need to get rid of these, for sure~” He ran his hands along my skin, tracing the outline of my brands with his finger.

“Yes, Sir… whatever you say…” 

“Quiet. Let me have my fun now.”

 

↞✶↠

 

I shouldn’t have been surprised. I knew it was going to happen to me, but I still wasn’t mentally prepared for it. To be bent over and raped by someone I didn’t know, didn’t like, and didn’t want anything to do with. 

I was helpless. I have no power here, I never did, and I never would. If that man wanted me enough to buy me, there was nothing I could do to stop him. There was nothing I could do, it was hopeless. 

That was it, the fifth and final buyer, and he was the only who had shown any interest in actually going through with buying me. 

 

The first man was almost completely uninterested, but even if he forced me to clean his house without ever really acknowledging me, I would be better off with someone who wouldn’t abuse and violate me. 

The first woman might not have been perfect, but she knew what she wanted, and she wanted a maid rather than a sex slave. It wouldn’t have been fun, but she at least had the natural sort of dominance capable of keeping me in line. 

The second man was old and married, but he also didn’t want me for my body. He was actually kind of sweet and nice, and I could have eventually gotten used to working for him. 

The second woman was honestly my favorite out of all of them, I would have been more than willing to belong to her, but she wasn’t after someone who had already been used and owned before. 

But it was this last man who had shown the most interest in me, and I hated it. Out of all of them, he was the last person I would choose, but I wasn’t the one with the power to choose. 

The door into the smaller room opened up, I was expecting Mr. Burke to come in and drag me away back to my cell, but in stepped someone I didn’t recognize at all. 

 

“I’m only going to be a minute, I swear.” It was a woman. She wasn’t dressed quite as fancy as the other men and women who had been in here to take a look at me today, but she was most certainly not dressed like commonfolk, the piece of her outfit that stood out most to me was the cane she seemed to have with her. 

She put her cane aside, letting it lean against the wall. Perhaps it was for show, she wasn’t as young as I was, but she most certainly wasn’t an older woman. She was still young, looking to be right around Leah’s age, mid thirties at most, and it did appear that the cane was almost certainly just for show, judging on how she walked perfectly fine without it. 

“I’ve only got you for a few minutes, before they come in to drag me out of here.” She stood directly in front of my kneeling body, looking down at me from above and giving me a little wink as she spoke. “But I just couldn’t resist~”

“I- I’m sorry… I wasn’t expecting anyone else today, Ma’am.” I looked up at her, taking in the sight of it all, and there was a lot to take in here, and I was not ready to take in the sight of her. 

The woman had a short yet elegant head of light brown, almost dirty blonde hair, which she kept cut into a wavy layered bob just above her shoulders. It was almost weird for me to see a group of people with actual color in their skin and hair.

Candace’s skin was ghastly pale, and her hair was a platinum blonde with little to no pigment whatsoever. In contrast, this woman didn’t have the scary blonde hair that Candace had, or even blonde hair at all, hers was more of a light brown. But she did have blue eyes, hers weren’t as piercing or vast as my previous owner’s were. Her greyish-blue eyes were subtle and sort of foggy, giving her a more calm gaze. 

But what stood out the most about her appearance was her height. At just under 6 feet, Candace was tall, even for a trans woman, but this woman just about blew her out of the stormy blue water.

“I know you weren’t, I didn’t really set up an appointment, but I just couldn’t stay away…” She smiled eagerly, getting down on her knees in front of me, dwarfing me even as she knelt. “It’s kind of a last minute decision, but last time I passed up on the chance to come see a slave day one, they were gone before I got a chance to come take a peek.”

Is she… talking to me? Who is she? Why is she here? Is she a potential buyer? Why is she just… making conversation?

“But you… you were recommended highly, why is that?” She bit her lip, staring me up and down as she got a good look at my body. “You’re pretty… but I’m not after pretty, I need a maid.”

“A-a maid?” My ears would have perked up if I was a dog, but it was a good sign to hear. Not only was she a pretty woman, but she also seemed to be after something more than just my body. “I can be a maid…”

“Oh yeah? Where are you from?” She gave me a friendly smile, actually looking me in the eyes as I spoke. “What did you do before all of this?”

“I… well I’m from California, but-” I paused, tilting my gaze downwards to show her respect. “But, I can be a maid… I have more than the basics that they teach here, I’ve been properly trained as a maid, Ma’am.”

“I’m curious where you learned those, exactly… What’s your name, doll?” She rose to her feet, very briefly turning away from me to scan what information about me was printed out for her to read. “Gosh, I’m in such a rush that I’m forgetting to even look at your paperwork…”

“Chloe. My name is Chloe, Ma’am.” I took a deep breath, trying to cover the brand on the back of my waist with my hands, which were still bound behind my back. I didn’t want to let her know that I had been owned before. 

“Chloe is a pretty name, I like that… apparently you have no last name though.” She set the packet down, turning back and smiling at me. “Is there a story behind that?”

“It’s complicated, Ma’am… I-”

“You’ve been owned before, right. That makes sense.” She picked up her cane and twirled it in her left hand, and for just a moment I was sure she was going to leave then and there. “I don’t mind that, at least at face value… it means you’ve been properly trained on being a maid, and you theoretically know how to fully devote yourself to someone, and trust me, that’s quite important to me… but what gives me pause is the fact that you were returned for some reason…”

She put the end of her cane beneath my chin and used it to tilt my head upward to look at her. “Why did that happen, Chloe?”

I swallowed nervously, letting her take control of my movements with her cane. “Permission to speak freely, Ma’am?”

“Permission granted.”

“There is a lot that I can’t say about my last master without giving away her identity, and keeping her identity safe is very important to me, especially right now… but things just didn’t work out the way she was expecting them to.” I relaxed, watching and feeling the other woman pull the cane out from under my chin. “She liked me, and I liked her, but her family didn’t like me so much.”

“Family business is always dreadful business, isn’t it?” She sighed, setting the tip of her cane back down on the floor. “I’m fortunate to have a very loving family myself~” 

“I grew up in a foster home, Ma’am…” I kept my tone steady, continuing to show her the respect she deserved as I slowly lowered my head back down. “I’ve never had so much of a family, so it was quite devastating that hers didn’t like me.”

“You poor thing!” She scoffed, quickly glancing down at the time and shaking her head. “That’s absolutely dreadful.”

“It wasn’t too terrible Ma’am, you shouldn’t worry about me.”

“Oh hush… I’ll worry about you all I want.” She shook her head, almost cooing at me from above. “I hate the thought of parents abandoning their children… I would never do such a thing to my kids.”

“You have kids, Ma’am?”

“Just one. As well as a loving wife to help me take care of ‘em~” She smirked, almost bragging as she spoke. “But don’t let that intimidate you, I suppose…” 

“Intimidate me?”

“My wife and I are looking for a maid. We have a large home, and neither of us are very keen on doing the housework when we can have servants do that for us.” She stepped towards me again, but not before taking a quick glance out of the room to make sure that no one was coming to escort her out. “My wife and I are very much in love… but I just know for a fact that she wouldn’t be able to keep her eyes off of you~”

I couldn’t help but blush. She was being so direct, so nice, so… sweet to me. Something that Candace never really softened up to be, was sweet. 

“And don’t get me wrong, I can share… but my dearest wife already has two slaves, and I really am after a maid, and not much more.” Her soft expression turned stern as she once again kneeled in front of me, staring into my soul. “I’m being nice now… but I would expect a level of perfection from one of my slaves~”

“As you should, Ma’am.” I spoke without hesitation, something which clearly excited her greatly. “Regardless of who my master is… they deserve perfection.”

“I like hearing that, I really do.” She smiled, giving me a wink before getting back up on her feet. “Though, I am afraid that it’s time for me to go…”

“Thanks for coming to see me, Miss.” I gave her a smile, still blushing. “You’ve been my favorite all day…”

She definitely got a kick out of hearing that. “I hope you find a good home, Chloe.”

“I hope so too, Ma’am. Thank you…”

 

↞✶↠

 

“Good news again… You’ve got an offer~” 

Doctor Larkin stepped into my cell, two guards following her inside. “Guess you won’t be getting thrown to the dogs after all~”

It was a relief to hear, that last man might have been bad, but he must still be a lot better than any other arbitrary buyer might be. “What happens to me now, Ma’am?”

“Now it’s time to get you ready for your new owner.” The two guards stepped forward, helping me to my feet so that they could deliver me to where I needed to go next. “We won’t have specifics until we know which one has purchased you, but… we can take care of that brand tonight.”

I swallowed nervously, choking back tears at the thought of Candace’s initials being permanently removed from me. “Yes, Ma’am…”

“Cheer up zeroes.” She smirked at me as she stepped out of the room. “You’ll be spending tonight in Griffin’s room~”

 

Great. That was exactly what I wanted, to spend a night in bed with Cyrus Griffin, disgusting. Not only was I getting Candace’s initials burned off of me, but it was Candace’s brother who was going to do it. But I had promised him my full cooperation, so that was what he was going to get.

It was a decently large bedroom, especially considering where it was at, apparently Cyrus often stayed the night here at the facility, he probably still toyed with and raped numerous women here, a thought which thoroughly disgusted me.

There was only one bed, of course there was only one bed, I was either going to have to sleep in the same bed with him, or on the floor like a dog… and I honestly preferred the latter. 

I was a fool for believing him when he said he wasn’t going to rape me… Because Candace would most certainly be none the wiser… 

The shower was on when I arrived, so I just sat on the edge of the bed, my back to the bathroom door as I awaited him to finish up and arrive, not wanting to get even a glimpse at his naked body. It was completely hopeless to think that I could get away from it, I had already been raped once today, and the multiple guards posted outside of the already locked soundproof door were there to make sure I was helpless to stop it from happening again.

I took a deep breath as I heard the shower turn off, the door opening up mere minutes later, trying to keep my back turned to him as he stepped inside. 

 

“I did my best. I got people interested in buying me. I’m going to be out of your hair soon.” I sighed, swallowing my pride and doing my best not to crack under the pressure I was feeling. “I hope you’re happy, Griffin…” 

“I’m not really happy at all…” That’s not Cyrus’ voice. “I’m going to miss you, Chloe…”

I turned to face her, biting my lip in shame. “Liz…”

“Hi, Chloe…” She wasn’t her usual peppy self, she was nervous and hesitant, and we both knew why. “Master is actually out of state right now, so I’m just as trapped here as you are at the moment…”

“Did you… are you the one who wanted to see me?”

“Well yeah… but I don’t have any control, so I guess this was my husband’s idea.”

“Where is he?”

“With his sister, I think. His little sister, not his older sister… I think he saw her last week.” She smiled, still drying her hair, completely unashamed to be totally naked in front of me. “I don’t think he wanted to be here when you finally did get sold.”

I paused, sitting back down on the bed, now facing Liz. “Why not?”

“He acts all tough, but really he can’t stand seeing Candace upset.” She smiled, rolling her eyes at the thought of him. “He thinks if he were here, he might not be able to go through with the sale…”

“He doesn’t want to see me go...” I actually couldn’t help but smile at the thought of that. “I guess he does kind of care about me, huh?”

“He does, and so do I~” Liz set her towel aside, now completely dry. “Are you ready?”

“Ready for what?” 

“To have your brands burned off, stupid.”

“I thought Cyrus wanted to be the one to do that.”

“He did, but he’s not here.” Liz smirked mischievously. “So I get to have the honor instead!!”

 

Liz was doing her god damned best to make it look like she was fine, but she wasn’t. 

This was Cyrus inflicting some twisted backwards punishment on his slave. He was trying to torture Liz as much as he was trying to torture me. He wanted to hammer it into both of our heads that I no longer belonged to Candace.

I needed to come to terms with that, and so did Elizabeth. 

“I hope it’s not too tight.”

“It’s fine, I promise.” My hands were now bound in front of me, secured to the headboard of the bed as I kneeled there. I could feel the heat of the branding iron in Liz’s hand behind me.

“I thought this was going to be fun, but…” She whined, not wanting to do this. “It’s really not.”

“I’m not sure I’m supposed to be the one consoling you, Liz.” I pinched my eyes shut, wishing she would just get it over with. “I’m not going to beg you for it… just, please…”

“Only cuz you said please~”

 

It was miserable in just about every way possible. It hurt more than either of the first two brands had, and I didn’t even have the joy of knowing that it was coming from someone I loved.

Candace was painful, but I knew deep down that she loved me. 

 

↞✶↠

 

I was reduced to a sobbing, blubbering mess by the time it was all over. Liz wasn’t Candace, and she most certainly wasn’t Cyrus. She was too soft to keep me bound to the bed, writhing in agony, and she most certainly was too soft to do it again a second time right afterward. 

It wasn’t the pain that really did it for me though, it was the feeling of emptiness behind that pain. When Candace struck me, I could feel her passion and desire behind every move. But today, all I could feel was emptiness. 

Empty submission, empty pain, empty pleasure. I just couldn’t stand it anymore.

 

That brunette woman I met today was nice, but she most certainly wasn’t Candace, and I needed Candace. 

“I can’t do this anymore, Liz…” I just about bit through my lip, choking on my pure untempered anger. “I can’t keep going like this…”

“Don’t say that… you’ll learn to love it, I promise~” She snickered, trying to keep positive even in the face of whatever it was that I was feeling. 

“No I won’t, Liz. I don’t care who I end up with, I-” I growled angrily, hiding my face behind one arm as I laid on my back, writhing in pain. “I can’t love them…”

“Oh come on…” She sighed, trying not to get emotional herself. “Just because you couldn’t find it in yourself to love Candace doesn’t mean that it can’t happen.”

“But… that’s the thing…” I whimpered, pulling my arm away and letting the tears start to roll down my cheeks as I sat up. “I do love Candace…”

She scoffed, growing angrier at me by the second. “If you really loved her, you shouldn’t have been such a little bitch…”

“But I do love her, Liz…” I sobbed quietly, gently wiping the tears from my eyes. “I want to go back to her…”

“You…” She snarled under her breath, trying not to show any hints of emotion on her face. “…What?”

“So I made one stupid mistake, okay… I want to go back to her!!”

 

I winced, flinching in terror as Liz raised her hand against me, smacking my across the face, much like her own master might have done to her for speaking out of line. “You can’t go back to her, Chloe… you know that…”

I grabbed her hand with mine, holding it as close to my chest as I could. “I know, I just-”

“I don’t want this either, you stupid moron.” Liz sat in front of me on the bed, a furiously distraught scowl on her face. “But you have a new master now.”

“I know I do… but-”

“No buts about it, cocksleeve.” I felt myself being backed into a corner as Liz approached me, grabbing my wrists and pushing them to the bed below as she slowly climbed on top of me, glaring down at me from above. “You can’t have her… you belong to someone else now.”

I blushed as I looked up at her, growing flustered at finding myself being pinned below the weight of another, much more attractive, woman. “Liz…”

“It’s okay, Chloe.” She smirked at me, slowly leaning in and pressing her lips against mine, planting a passionate kiss onto my lips with her own. “I’m hot, I know~”

I whimpered, feeling a surprised squeak slipping out through my lips as I felt Liz push her knee against my vulva, pressing into me. “P-please be gentle…”

“Pffft, gentle?” She pressed harder, watching my tears melt away as she taunted me from above. “This is supposed to be a real party, not a pity party. What are you, a pansy~?”

“I hate parties, Liz…” I whined, pouting up at her. 

“That’s cuz you’ve never been to a fun party.” She purred at me, licking her lips hungrily. “You can be a sour puss tomorrow, but tonight we’re gonna celebrate.”

“I have nothing to celebrate, Liz…”

“Sure you do!!” She grinned devilishly. “You just got a new master, didn’t you?”

“Well yeah, but-”

“Then let’s celebrate that, pup.” She let go of my wrists, letting her hands trail down my arms, landing on my breasts. “Let’s celebrate you getting a new master… how’s that sound?”

I blushed even harder feeling her hands pressing down on my breasts, desperate for her to keep going. “But what about our masters?”

“Your master hasn’t finished buying you yet~” She grinned eagerly, squeezing my breasts as hard as she could, extracting a desperate squeak from me. “And you don’t seriously think I would be doing this if I didn’t already have my master’s permission, do you?”

“No…” I smiled up at her, rolling my eyes as I gave into her peer pressure. “Just don’t misuse me…”

“Don’t worry mutt, I was a hooker, I know what I’m doing~” She purred eagerly, licking her lips.

There was one thing that I had to admit, I had never had sex with a woman before Candace had grabbed ahold of me with her evil claws… but that had clearly changed. “Yes, Ma’am~”

“Ready to have your world rocked, bitch?”

“I was born ready~”

Chapter 19: The Cat's Meow

Notes:

And here's another chapter!! This one is mostly out so quickly because i've had it mostly written for a few weeks now~

please enjoy~!!

It was the late evening, at the end of September. I could have been anywhere else in the world right then, I could have been back at home rehearsing for hosting the next world championship, but instead I was having dinner with Justin Donovan.

Why am I having dinner with Justin Donovan?

 

The answer was easy, of course. Justin Donovan had called me, several times in fact, to try and set up some sort of meeting, and to try and keep face, I finally relented. 

I didn’t want to meet with him, but I couldn’t let myself seem too suspicious, I couldn’t let him know what was going on. He was just too persistent in trying to get in contact with me. 

What did you even see in this guy? Sure, he was handsome, but he wasn’t my type, and he most certainly wasn’t Chloe’s type. Is his dick just that big or something?

I could get through a single dinner session alone with Justin Donovan. Chloe had had dinner alone with him countless times, but I wasn’t Chloe, I was Candace St. Clair.
Justin Donovan was Chloe’s ex-boyfriend, and her former manager. The late Sophia Cavalier’s manager.

 

“I apologize that it took so long to get back to you on this. After everything that happened, I couldn’t find the energy to just… throw myself back into things. I needed time to process.” I knew exactly why I was here, but I had no idea why he was here. 

“It’s alright. I needed time to myself for the same thing, so I’m kind of glad this waited for a few good months…” He was rather slick, he actually looked like more of a sleazebag the longer I saw him. I was lying to his face of course, but he was doing the same. If he really needed time to himself to recover, he wouldn’t have been so persistent in trying to get in contact with me. 

“What prompted you to want to bring me all the way out here to meet with you, Mister Donovan?”

He got a small chuckle out of that. “It was your idea to fly all the way out here to meet me, Miss Clair. I was perfectly willing to come to you~”

“I thought it only appropriate having kept you waiting for so long of course.” I slowly sipped from my ice tea, admiring the restaurant. “Thank you so much for picking out the venue though, it’s stunning.”

“Thank you, it’s always been my favorite.” He mimicked my movement, holding his own glass in one hand as he drank. “I just wanted to touch base with you I suppose.”

“How so?”

“I’m sure many many people have reached out for you about your feelings about what happened with Sophia.” 

“More than I would have liked, yes.”

“That bad?”

“Of course. I felt terrible when I found out… it was heartbreaking.”

“It really was…” He sighed, setting his glass back down. “I can’t help but feel guilty.”

“I can imagine. Having been so close to her.”

“It’s crushing, what happened. If I had known, I would have done something… but there’s nothing that I can do now, I just can’t believe I never even noticed.”

“Never noticed what?”

“The signs… It was just like she was fine one day, and then the next day I found out that she literally drove her own car off a bridge and into the ocean… feels like I’m partially to blame.”

Shit, now I was beginning to feel guilty, I couldn’t imagine what the guy was going through thinking that Sophia had driven herself off a cliff during a suicidal depression episode. I knew I wasn’t going to be getting through dinner without mentioning her, but he really didn’t waste time.

“I can’t imagine how you must feel Justin, especially in the months since. I know that there’s been a lot of eyes on you.”

“There have been, and there have been a lot of eyes on you, too.”

“At first I couldn’t fathom why I was being dragged into the spotlight because of it… but after a little while I understood, especially considering how… suspicious it all seemed at first.”

“How did that go, if I might ask?”

“It’s not about me of course, Sophia died, and it was a tragedy… People were justifiably upset when they found out, I was upset too. But it made me really angry that some people started pointing fingers at me… I was upset too, I was a fan of hers as well. After what happened to her, I just couldn’t find the energy to face these accusations of having done something to her. They even did an entire investigation into me to try and grasp at straws for an explanation, but… people just took my silence as an admission of guilt.” 

“I understand that completely… there was an investigation conducted looking into me as well.”

“Maybe part of the reason I just didn’t want to talk with you was just because I thought maybe you were convinced that I was somehow to blame as well.”

 

It was a fine line to be walking, but I was pretty good at lying, it was part of my job. I was to blame for Sophia’s death. I was the one who seized control of her power steering, smashed her car through the railing of the bridge late in the night and sent her plummeting into the water. I was the one who had her taken to and then declared dead at the hospital. I was the one who pretended to have her cremated for her funeral, and then secretly had her and her car both shipped across central America to me. I didn’t do any of these things personally, but I was the one who arranged for them to happen, I made them happen. I killed Sophia Cavalier, and I did it with ease. 

A simple investigation into me was doomed to fail from the start. I had gotten a Master’s degree in computer science as a front for learning the ins and outs of money laundering. I had covered up all of my trails, leaving no trace of my deeds. They found nothing on me, just as I planned it. But even as we continued to make almost friendly conversation I could tell he was onto me, he knew something. 

Justin and I had done business in the past, though it was mostly through my own manager, Tallie Paciente. Tallie knew about Chloe from the start of course, gods did she know, that woman was a monster. Chloe wasn’t the only one guilty of doing risky business with her manager, though I hadn’t really had the time to find myself under Tallie’s boot with everything that was going on, I had been preoccupied with Chloe. 

I had expected a call from her about possibly spending a weekend ‘catching up’ before the next professional season began, but she had instead urged me to spend a weekend flying out to San Francisco to meet with mister Donovan. On top of just not wanting to meet with the guy, I hadn’t really had the time, I had a girl locked up in my closet that I had to pay attention to. But now I had all the time in the world. It was bittersweet, but Chloe was no longer my problem.

It was not bittersweet, it was awful. I missed watching her stupid pig face going down on my cock. 

Technically, I still had things to hide from him, but I no longer had that all important something to lose. Even if he miraculously figured out that I was in possession of Chloe, he could no longer acquire her from me, I didn’t have her. 

It was time to move on, to return to business as usual. As I prepared to return to the public spotlight for the first time in months, my time with Chloe had drawn to a close. 

I had gotten my time in the sun, but there would be no endless summer, it was time for my midsummer madness to come to an end. I wanted to be over Chloe, but I knew I never would be. Every sun has to set eventually, but I wasn’t yet ready to close the book on my love for her. Our story wasn’t over. 

I couldn’t get her off of my mind.

 

“So, what was your relationship with Sophia like?”

He paused, taking a moment to try and discern what exactly I meant by that. Whoops, I wasn’t supposed to know about that.

“Is this on or off the record, Ms. St. Clair?” He chuckled to himself, finishing off his glass just in time for the appetizers to be delivered, handing his glass off to the waitress. “We were something together, that’s for sure… but I’m not sure that’s either here nor there~”

“Off the record, of course, Mr. Donovan. It is at this point semi public information that you and her were involved in some form of romantic and or sexual relationship… But I’m not one to speculate, so I want it straight from you. Give me the dirty details~”

“There’s not much of a story to be told, I’m afraid-”

“Oh don’t be like that Justin, if I may call you Justin… Give me something here, recount some of her stories to me, please… I’d think it’d help me to know a little bit more about who she was, at her best.”

“Right.” He smiled, chewing on his food intermittently as he continued to chat. “Sophia was pretty brazenly a lesbian. But yes, we were together at one point.”

“Something you felt that you needed to keep private… or secret from the public?”

“No, actually. It was a long time ago, way before she was a public figure.”

“Right, so then how did you two meet?”

“Well, before I became the manager for her esports career, I was actually her manager at gamestop-”

“And that’s how you two met?”

“Kind of, but not really- but kind of… See, she was adopted, and she lived on a deficit of money and an excess of time. She didn’t really play video games so much as she liked watching others play them, at least at first.” He paused to chew, trying not to choke. “She liked reading gaming publications, remind me to tell you about her magazine thing later- but we met when I was just working there as a clerk, and she actually applied to work there once and got turned down, but she still hung out there a lot.”

“Let me guess, you interviewed her again when you became manager, and you hired her then.”

“Bingo. Look, she was cute~!”

“She was, wasn’t she?”

“Forgive me for just kinda ranting about her life’s story… but it is helping, I think.”

“By all means, continue~”

“She got her hands on some money, so she got into Stolen Cosmos, and holy hell was she good. I kept telling her to play competitively, but it took her months before she was even confident enough to play in front of me. Look, there’s a lot of yada yada, but basically-” He stopped, looking around to make sure no one else was listening. “She felt weird sucking her manager’s dick, so she quit.”

I giggled, knowing very well how much of an angel Chloe was with her mouth. “A proud lesbian, huh?”

“I’m getting to it, Candace- If I may call you Candace?”

“You may~”

“So she lived in a foster home, and she was always kind of a punk, she got along with the other girls so poorly that she had to sleep in a bedroom full of boys, not that she should have been trusted in a bedroom full of teenage girls… but the magazine~”

“The magazine?”

“Promise you won’t spill all of this to the public, but growing up she had this magazine full of pictures of naked women, and for some reason her foster parents let her keep it just because she was a girl~”

“Oh my god, really?”

“I’m only telling you this because it’s you, and Chloe kind of looked up to you.”

I paused, a lump forming in my throat. “...She did?”

“She did…” He sighed. “She moved in with me, she had to so that she could work her next job as event security, and by that point we were pretty steady together. We even moved from that little one bedroom apartment I was staying in to another apartment together.”
“So what’s this about me?”

“She worked event security at this gaming conference center, and I remember one day she came home and she was just… gushing about you.”

My heart fluttered at the thought of Chloe gushing about me long before I ever noticed her. “About me?”

“She was this Stolen Cosmos superfan, always keeping up with the esports scene, and you were her favorite rookie. She was just melting with happiness about getting to meet you.”

“I feel bad for not remembering that.”

“She wasn’t shy, but she wasn’t exactly outgoing… and I knew long before she was willing to admit it to herself that she preferred women over men.”

“Oh?”

“Look… it’s not exactly easy to talk about how she realized her sexuality while she was with me… but once she had, she was a lot happier. At least I thought she was.” He stopped for several moments, and I wondered whether I should say something to fill in the gap. “She dove headfirst into esports, with no idea what she was doing… She was living alone, doing everything by herself, and aside from me she really didn’t have any friends. But she needed a manager, and I had plenty of experience with managing her.”

“Justin. Why am I here?” I stopped him. “What’s really going on?”

“Like I said, I just wanted to touch base with-”

“That’s not what this is, Mr. Donovan. Clearly you’re here to talk about her, or else you wouldn’t have all of this prepared ahead of time.” I calmly finished my own drink, just in time to hand the empty glass off to the waitress as she delivered our food. “I wouldn’t have flown all the way out here if I thought that you just wanted to chat, that’s what email chains are for. What is this about?”

 

“You and her had something going on before she died. You took a liking to her pretty quickly.” He finished off the appetizers in time to hand the empty tray off to the waitress before she left. “Really, I just wanted to thank you for the kind of support you gave her… she was my best friend, even if she wouldn’t admit that.” 

Justin was clearly very distraught, not knowing how to approach the topic. “You did a lot for her… your sponsorship meant the world to her. She wouldn’t have gotten where she did so quickly if it weren’t for you, if you didn’t offer her the support that you did so early on, she probably never would have made it… she would have given up somewhere along the way.”

“I… thank you… I appreciate that a lot, actually…” I bit my lip, swallowing the heavy lump in my throat. “I miss her…”

“I couldn’t believe it at first, there was no way it could have been a suicide… At first I wanted to believe that maybe you did something to her, but I knew from the start…” Justin looked down at his food, the both of us seemingly having lost our appetites. “The moment she got to stand next to you on the biggest stage in the world to her was the happiest moment of her life, but afterwards… she sank.” 

“She what?”

“The only thing on her mind was how guilty she felt about beating you, after everything you did for her… She thought you were upset at her, she felt like she ruined your whole life.”

“No, tell me she didn’t…”

“All I know is that it was the only thing on her mind during those last few weeks. My last moments with her were listening to her cry about how awful she felt about it, she left my house… and she never made it home.”

“So, you think she-”

“I think that was why she did it, yeah… I think that was what… pushed her over the edge.”

My heart sank deeper than it ever had before. “And that’s why you wanted to meet with me?”

“Partially.” Justin produced a small red box with a single blue ribbon and bow holding it together. “But mostly because I wanted to give you this.”

I took the box in my hands, examining it closely, feeling whatever was inside rattle against the container. “Thank you, Justin… But you didn’t need to do this, I don’t need a condolence gift~”

“It’s not from me.” He just shook his head, finally beginning to dig into his dinner. “It’s from Sophia~”

“From… Sophia?” I looked at it in disbelief. Chloe…

“Even I don’t know what it is, she wrapped it herself too. She knew that your birthday was in early May, so she decided to get you something, a combination of a birthday present, as well as a way to say… sorry.” 

I stared at the late birthday present, tapping on the side of the box and wondering whether or not I should open it right then and there. No… not here. I’ll open it in front of her… I just have to find her…

“Thank you, Justin. I-” I was choking, very nearly being pushed over the verge of tears. “I think I need to go…”

“Thank you for coming out here to see me.” 

 

↞✶↠

 

There was a silence between us, an understanding, as I quickly made my way out of the restaurant and into the passenger seat of my rental car, unable to keep myself from sobbing over the small box in my lap.

“Hey kiddo, what happened?” I felt a hand on my shoulder, it was a man’s voice. Not Malcolm or even my father, but my brother, Cyrus. “Something go wrong? Do I need to put a watchout on him?”

I shook my head, wanting to bury my face in my brother’s chest and cry, but wanting more to show him that I was tough, and that I could handle myself. Cyrus however, was having none of that, and a moment later I felt him putting his arm around me and pulling me into his chest. I couldn’t keep my act up for long anyways, so I relented, and I sobbed. “This is all my fault…”

“Calm down, kiddo. Baby steps remember?” He held me at arm’s length, settling back into the driver’s seat. “What happened?”

I just held out the small gift box to him so that he could see it. “I- it’s from Chloe…”

He frowned, gently pushing the box to my chest. “It’s going to be okay. I’m going to make sure that it’s okay.”

 

I could never ever tell what kind of things were going on in my brother’s head, I just knew that on our way back home to the hotel, there was a look of determination in his eyes, fiercer than I had ever seen it before. 

“What do I do now, brother?” I wiped away the last of my tears, pulling myself back together. 

“Well first you have to come to your senses, and figure out where to go from here.”

“What do you mean?”

“Move on, Candace.” He frowned, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel as he drove. “Look, I’ve been talking to Claudia… and I had an idea.” 

My face morphed into a scowl at the idea of moving on. “And what’s that?”

“I think you should find another girl, sis.” We slowly pulled into the parking stall. “Claudia is having a party, and I think you should go… with another woman.”

My heart ached at just the thought of it. “Who?”

“The who is up to you, Candace… get out there and meet someone new, or maybe bring Tallie?”

“Tallie and I aren’t like that, Griffin.”

“Then just go to the party with Tallie, or with another girl, maybe a friend?”

I slammed the car door shut, still clutching the box to my chest. “What good will that do for me, brother?”

“If you can’t find a date before the party, then bring a friend, maybe Aria?” He pressed the button on his key fob, locking the car doors. “That way you’re not going alone… and maybe, just maybe, you’ll find a girl there and hit it off?”

“I don’t want to hit it off with another girl. I’m not over Chloe.”

“That’s why we need to get you out there to find someone new… you’re not going to find anyone at the facility you like, trust me. It’ll only make things worse.”

“Our sister doesn’t even talk to me Cyrus, she wouldn’t invite me in the first place.”

“Oh, on the contrary, little one~” Cyrus stopped just outside of the front door to the hotel, holding out a handwritten letter, my second surprise gift of the day. “You’ll have to forgive her, she prefers handwritten correspondence, delivered directly through family~”

I took it from him, reading it to myself all the way through the lobby and up to the room we were staying in. 

 

Dearest sister,
I hope this correspondence finds you well.
Sixteenth of November, at my home, I have an important family announcement to make, and I hope that you will be there for it.
You may consider this your invitation to my next party. It is a plus one event, and I should hope that you don’t find yourself in attendance alone.
Our brother tells me that you’ve been going through something rather difficult, and I want to be there to offer you my support. I look forward to being able to speak with you again.
I would like to offer you my sincerest apologies for what occurred between us when last we spoke, as well as to offer my hand to you in hopes of reconciling our relationship.
And Candace,
Regardless of who your mother was, I would like for you to know that I am unendingly proud to be able to call you my sister.
I know it can’t at all be easy to forgive me, knowing what I did, but I’m sorry about your mother.
I hope you understand that it truly was the only thing that could have been done, and if there was any other way, it never would have happened.
I love you, Candace.

Your sister, through thick and thin,
Claudia Rosegold Mariam

P.S. I am having just the greatest time imagining the look on your face reading a proper handwritten correspondence for what is presumably the first time in your life, and I really wish I was there to see it, if you can, please have our brother take a picture of it for me. Bless his soul, he’ll text it to me, I’m sure~

“A party, really? Look Cyrus, I get what she’s trying to do here, but-” I bit my lip, quickly getting angry at the sight of him taking a picture of me, just as the letter had asked him to do. 

“And, sent~” He smirked at me, stopping outside of the door to our hotel room.

“I… why couldn’t she have just texted me?!” I huffed angrily, pouting as he opened the door. “Why do you two always have to make things difficult for me?”

“Because you’re our little sister and we like bullying you~”

“This is a bit beyond bullying now, Cyrus.” I closed the hotel room door behind me as I followed him inside. “Is this why you came all the way out here with me, just to give me this letter? Really?”

 

“I’ve found her a buyer, Candace.” 

I froze, my heart turning to stone at the thought of it. “…Already?”

“Yeah…” Cyrus sat down on the edge of the bed at the far end of the room, sighing to myself. “She was ready for the sale floor on day one.”

“I’m not ready for that, Cyrus.” I bit my lip, swallowing my rage in an attempt to stay calm. “Can’t you just keep her safe for me?”

“She’s not there to be babysat, sis. She’s there to be sold.” Cyrus sighed, beginning to unpack his things for the night. “And I think I’ve found the right buyer for her.”

“Who is it? Please-” 

“Candace, no.” He stopped me in my tracks, standing up and physically having to shove me backwards to keep me from fighting him. “If I told you where she was going, you would do something stupid and very likely get yourself in serious trouble.”

He was right. I really did just want to know, but he was right, I could very well end up doing something stupid if I knew who Chloe was going to end up with. 

“I’ve done my best, I promise. I hope that for your sake, where she’s going is safe… with someone who won’t hurt, kill, or mistreat her… at least not too harshly.” Cyrus sat back down on the edge of the bed, and I found myself climbing in with him, falling into his arms for a hug. “If this goes through, she’ll be working as a maid… which means hopefully she won’t end up as a sex slave.”

At least I did one thing right, training Chloe as a maid means that she’s already prepared to serve as someone’s maid, which will hopefully keep her safe. “Why come all the way out here to tell me?”

“I wanted to make sure that you were already on your way… you have a long trip ahead of you, and there’s no turning back now… you’re going to be hosting the world championship.” Cyrus smiled at me, gesturing towards the rest of the hotel room and sighing to himself. “And maybe I needed to make sure that I didn’t doing something stupid either.” 

“Are you really leaving after this, brother?” I pulled away, giving him a reluctant but thankful smile. 

“I can’t leave Liz alone for very long… I just needed to make sure my little sister was going to be okay.”

“Thank you, Cyrus… I’m going to be okay, I promise.” 

“You’d better…” He took a quick glance out of the window, cursing himself out under his breath. “I’m doing you both a favor here… so you two had better not fuck this up…”

“I’ll try my best, don’t worry.”

 

↞✶↠

 

I made my way into the second of the two connected sleeping spaces in our hotel room, closing the door between mine and my brother’s rooms. Tomorrow, we will both be taking separate flights out of San Francisco. Cyrus will be heading back home, and I will be heading to my next stop, Seattle. God, I was not at all looking forward to Seattle. 

The shower connected to my room was running. Of course, I knew that half of the reason Cyrus came here in the first place was to make sure that Aria stayed in line, and to report back to my father if something weird happened with her, and something weird usually always happened with her. 

 

“Oh thank fuck, you’re back.” Aria had been throwing up, which was clearly why she was taking a shower in the first place. “Your brother’s bodyguards are fucking psycho.”

“We can’t just roam free, Aria. I-” I stopped in my tracks, my eyes landing on Aria's neck. “What the fuck is that?”

“Oh, this you mean?! Yeah, Cyrus did it himself!!” Aria was more distraught than I had ever seen her, gesturing to the metal device clamped around her throat. “Your brother thought it was appropriate!!” 

I was speechless. I knew that they didn’t trust her at all, but I didn’t think that forcing her into a collar was appropriate in the slightest. 

“I know that I’m like… some sort of substitute servant or some shit, but I am not a slave, Candace.” Aria was struggling not to gag at just the thought of it. “I can’t get it off!! please make your brother unlock it, I’m begging you…” 

“It wouldn’t help, he wouldn’t do it even if I asked him to.” I sighed, sitting down in bed and shaking my head at her. “Besides, knowing him, he probably left the keys at home.”

“So what?! I’m just supposed to keep it on?!” She scoffed angrily, biting her lip as she tried to physically pry it off of herself. 

 

I froze in place, looking her up and down. The thought had never once crossed my mind until now, but now that it had, I wasn’t sure that I could stop myself. “Get on the bed, Aria~”

Her heavily concealer riddled cheeks lit up at the sound of that, blushing as she stammered. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that there’s only one bed in this room, so if you would like to sleep in it, I would suggest that you do as I say, and lay down~” I sat at the foot of the bed, smirking at her, just waiting for the look on her face when she folds under my will. 

“Don’t make this weird, Candace…”

“You know the kind of power I wield, Fairmont. I’ll make this whatever I want.” 

Was this a bad idea… possibly. But I fucking deserve to have just a little bit of fun after the week I’ve had. At this point there was nothing Aria could do to change my mind, and I could tell that deep down she didn’t really want to. 

Aria wanted this, even more than I did… and right now I couldn’t help myself, I was going to give it to her.

She was nervous and timid, something that I couldn’t usually describe her as, but in the face of a Goddess, it was more than warranted. Especially knowing that this goddess was the kind that could kill you. She climbed into bed, sitting up and looking over at me, her hands still wrapped around her collar, now mostly for comfort rather than in an attempt to remove it. 

“I’m not your slave, Candace.”

“But you could be.” I smirked, licking my lips as I got a good mental picture of her still naked body, fresh out of the shower, only just finished getting dried off. 

“I- I don’t want to be…” Again with that weirdness she has about her, I couldn’t tell whether she was lying or not, but it didn’t really matter. 

“I don’t care what you want Aria, I get what I want, remember?” 

“But-”

“I seem to recall you insisting that I wouldn’t need to force you to do anything~” I slowly inched towards her, prowling like a lion. “Unless somehow I’m mistaken?”

“I know what I said, but I’m not…” She stammered nervously, clearly feeling quite bad about how much she wanted this, a look that I had seen in Chloe’s eyes many many times. “Y’know… spayed.”

“We can take care of that later then, kitten~ ” I purred eagerly at her, and she did the same, eagerly receptive to the title she’d just been given. “Mama cat will stay away from your little jungle… for now~”

“This kitten doesn’t want to be spayed… Candace.” She bit her lip, cooing under her breath, trying not to look desperate for me. 

“Don’t worry, I won’t make you my slave unless I’m forced to~” I really was just toying with her, I had no intention on replacing Chloe anytime soon, but a fuckdoll was most definitely going to be necessary at times if I was going to get over that cute stupid little redhead. 

“A-are there safewords?” She slowly slid backwards, letting herself be cornered. 

“Safewords?? What, do you expect Mercy?? ” I scoffed, giggling at the absurdity of it under my breath as I closed in on her. “I said I wouldn’t make you my slave… I didn’t say that I was going to give you a choice.”

She was blushing, quiet whimpers escaping her untrained lips as she stared up at me, now on her back beneath me. “Y-yes… Miss?”

“On all fours, kitten.” I growled at her, intimidating her into quickly doing as I said, rolling onto her belly and getting onto her hands and knees in front of me. “I’ll try not to go somewhere I’m not supposed to~”

 

I sat up, slowly removing the outfit I had worn to my little dinner date, stripping myself as nude as Aria was. She was no Chloe, but she would do.

She was already quite wet. She had been craving this, I could tell. But I couldn’t get ahead of myself, her little quim was off limits to me tonight. Of course, that limitation was of my own design, and not hers, if I wanted to ram my hard cock up her slit right here and now there was nothing she could do to stop me. I just didn’t want to cause an unplanned pregnancy, like I almost had with Chloe… 

Very little came from accidental pregnancies, and I didn’t at all consider myself an exception to that. 

I wasn’t just an accident, I was a mistake.

 

From the very beginning, my existence had been unplanned. I was always the black sheep of what should have been a perfectly nuclear family. I had grown up as an undue burden onto my family, the product of a mistake that my siblings surely wished my father had never made. 

It would have been easier to get over her if she was just a toy, I wanted to just see Chloe as a slave, as an object and not a person. But how could I reduce her to that in my mind when I knew that my mother was no different. Before she was my father’s wife, she was his slave. 

She was his maid. I tried so hard not to become my father, yet somehow I had gotten so scarily close. 

What if I had done what my father did? What if I had accidentally gotten my maid pregnant? How could I live knowing that I had accidentally created an abomination that was just like me?

How could I possibly live if she ended up being put down like my mother had?!

 

I growled angrily under my breath, hearing Aria let out a gasp as I shoved my fingers up her quivering little cunt, before quickly pulling them out and forcing them into her anus, lubricating her with the liquids from her wet cunt. 

Good enough for me. I looked down at my hand after I pulled them out, making sure that they were mostly clean before reaching over and holding them out in front of Aria’s open mouth. “Suck them clean.”

“I… Wh… Eww!!” She shook her head, trying to turn to face me in protest. But before she had the chance to, she squealed loudly, feeling my other hand grab ahold of her dopey little french braid, yanking her head and forcing her gaze straight ahead.

“I said suck them clean!!!” 

The next words out of Aria’s mouth was a muffled whimper of submission before I forced my wet fingers into her mouth, forcing her to suck off whatever they’d gotten soaked in from her own ass and vagina, helplessly sucking my fingers clean. 

I ripped my hand away from Aria’s mouth as soon as I was satisfied, and not a moment sooner, putting both of my hands on her hips and digging my feline claws into the pathetic little kitten’s skin as I gripped a hold of her.  

 

I had a lot of bottled up anger that I needed to get out. Not just anger towards her, but towards Chloe, towards myself, towards my brother, towards my father, towards my sister, towards my entire fucking family, but especially towards my fucking sister. 

Aria just happened to be the closest living thing that I could ragdoll with my cock. I slid my cock up her vagina just once, watching her squeak desperately as I pulled it out, before slamming myself up her ass. 

She squeaked happily, purring at me as she arched her back, letting her small cute little ass perk up, making it easier for me to slide myself in and out, mercilessly fucking her tight stupid little anus just to pleasure myself.

She was gorgeous, she was submissive, she was eager. 

She was fine, but she wasn’t Chloe. She was too easy, I found myself craving the challenge I usually received trying to make my archrival into my bitch, but there just wasn’t that spark of resilience in my best friend like there was in my now former slave. 

But it still felt damn good to fuck a tiny pitiful inferior woman in the ass, and I relished hearing her pained sobs as I pushed her harder than she was willing or able to go, spraying my hot semen into her puckered little asshole in the matter of minutes, but not before making her scream at the top of her lungs. 

 

“You’ll sleep on the floor.” I rolled her over and shoved her onto the floor once I was finished with her, finally giving her a moment to breathe and recover once I had rode out my orgasm in her tight little anus. 

“Y-yes, Ma’am…” There was no arguing from her, just desperate moaning as her hands instantly darted between her legs so that she could finger herself to orgasm. She didn’t ask for permission to orgasm, but she wasn’t technically my slave, and I didn’t care to stop her. I was just glad she ended up enjoying it in the end. 

 

↞✶↠

 

I couldn’t sleep, even after pumping my cum into Aria’s ass and tiring myself out, all I could think of was how badly I wished it was Chloe getting fucked in the ass instead. I regretted only ever having sex with Chloe the one time, at least while she was conscious. 

Cyrus clearly couldn’t sleep either, he was standing out on the deck of the hotel room, looking out at the stars. 

“The sale went through… it’s final now.”

He could hear me approaching long before I actually got there, stopping himself from taking another hit just long enough to get out what he needed to say before continuing to smoke. “You don’t sound too happy about that.”

“Would you believe me if I said I wasn’t too happy about that.” He held it in for a good few seconds before releasing it. “I was actually rooting for you too, you know… though I am glad you’re having a little bit of fun with scampers in there.”

“Fair enough, I appreciate that…” I stepped onto the porch, barely managing to conceal my genitals behind my robe. Cyrus had of course seen it before, including in his wife’s mouth, so it wasn’t really a big deal. “You don’t usually smoke, what’s up… something wrong with the sale?”

“Nothing’s wrong with the sale, we’ve got the money already… it’s just not to who I expected it to.”

“Is that bad? Is something wrong? Is she going to be okay?”

“Calm down, it’s fine. Her buyer has been vetted too.” He sighed, shaking his head and holding the blunt out to me.

“What’s this?” I took it from him, pinching it between my fingers and holding it out in front of my face. 

“Our dearest big sister’s new project…” He blew smoke out of his mouth. “Her own recipe~”

“What, so she’s making drugs now, and not just peddling them?” I brought it to my mouth, taking in a sharp inhale and holding it in for a good fifteen seconds or so before exhaling. “Who does she think she is?”

“A future godfather.” My brother chuckled, reaching out and snipping it away from my hands so that he could get back at it, taking another hit before continuing. “And to be fair… she kind of is~”

“Don’t think you’ll try to snipe that title away from her someday?”

“Do I look like I want to?” He scoffed at just the idea of it. “But if you want to try and pull something like that, by all means, go right ahead~”

“I might just fucking have to.” I groaned, holding my hand out towards him before taking another hit.

“You’re really still upset with her, huh?”

“Of course I’m still upset, Cyrus. It’s not really something that can be reversed.”

“I know but she is your sister.”

“She’s my half-sister.”

“Just like I’m your half-brother, what’s your point?”

“She hasn’t spoken with me in years, Griffin…” I sighed, shaking my head and returning it to hum. “She really thinks I was a mistake.”

“So what if you were a mistake, you’re here now.” He chuckled under his breath, tossing the blunt over the side of the balcony into the grass below. “I love you, don’t I?”

“I don’t know, do you?”

“Of course I do, you moron. Why else would I be so insistent on finding your girl a good home?”

“I love you too, brother… and I appreciate that immensely.” I squeaked, stepping back into the hotel room as soon as I realized that anyone below the deck would have a clear shot at seeing what’s hidden behind my robes. “I just don’t think Claudia feels the same way about me.”

“You did read that letter, didn’t you?” He stepped in after me, closing the door behind himself. “She’s trying to fix things with you.”

“Maybe she is and maybe she isn’t but… I don’t want to go to her party.”

Cyrus stopped, sighing under his breath and averting his eyes from me as he walked back over to his bed. “Maybe that’s for the best, then…”

“Anyways…” I mumbled to myself, remembering why I came in here in the first place. “The keys to Aria’s collar?”

“I slipped ‘em in your suitcase already~” He shot me an evil grin and winked. “You’re welcome~”

“Are you really flying back tomorrow, already?”

“Now that the sale is final, there’s no real reason for me to stay away… besides, I left Liz at the facility, and I’m not very keen on keeping her there alone, especially while Colton is on the loose.”

“Why did you even hire that maniac, brother?”

“Uhh, because she’s a maniac, duh.”

“You’re going to get yourself stabbed with a death needle one of these days, you know.”

“Or a needle filled with ecstasy~”

“Eugh…” I rolled my eyes, grinning at his stupidity. “Goodnight, big brother.”

He blew me a kiss goodnight just as I walked through the door into my room. “Goodnight, little sis~” 

 

I quietly closed the door behind me, trying not to wake the still naked, now sleeping Aria. Yeah, there was going to be no getting her into the bed without waking her up, might as well stick to my guns and let her sleep on the floor tonight. 

Besides, I deserve the whole bed to myself anyways. 

I nestled into bed, curling myself up in the blankets in an attempt to make myself comfortable. The letter I’d gotten hand delivered by my brother was still sitting on the table beside my bed. 

I picked up my phone, punching in the number and dialing. Eh, so what if I accidentally woke Aria up, I needed to talk to her.

“Hey, Claudia, this is Candace… can we talk?” 

Chapter 20: Primal Scream

I murmured excitedly through my lips as she brought hers to them, sweeping me away into another kiss. There it was, the passion that I wanted to feel. 

This is okay, right… if just this once I let myself go? If heaven forbid, just this once I let myself have fun for a change? 

I haven’t had a single enjoyable moment since I left Candace’s side, so you’ll have to excuse me if I give myself a break and just fool around for a little bit. If I give myself just this moment of pleasure before I’m forced to leave this miserable facility and find myself permanently bound to my new master’s side. 

I’m never going to see her again, so what’s wrong with having a little one night stand with Elizabeth Griffin~? 

 

But where exactly to start with this woman I wasn’t really sure, because Liz was an oddity among oddities. 

The self proclaimed ‘Queen of the Slaves’ had it a lot better than her lesser counterparts, and why shouldn’t she have, she had the exclusive privilege to serve as the better half of the whole operation’s head honcho. 

Her husband Cyrus was rich, not quite ‘private plane from island to island’ rich, but still quite a bit wealthier than even his henchmen were, and as a result, his wife was spoiled. At least as long as she was behaved, she got spoiled. If she wasn’t, she was in for a tougher time than most other slaves in the system likely were, or maybe not… from the sounds of it, the facility’s normal clientele were some pretty degenerate people. 

Yet unlike those other far less important slaves, Liz had fully embraced her life, and she rocked it. 

But at times that meant that she was just as much of an arrogant jackass as her husband was. 

 

There was probably no way for me to be able to outdo Elizabeth when it came to stamina, but she was the one initiating, so I let her make the first move. 

Here I went accusing Liz of being the oddball, while I meanwhile was treating sex like a game, but that was nothing new. I had always treated sex like a game, and it was a game that I was always hungry to win. I may have had a good dose of submission drilled into my head, but I still had some fight in me. 

I felt her press the skin of her knee into me, trying to squeeze the juices out of me like a fruit, my hungry slit beginning to spill onto her as she crushed my quim under her weight. 

She snarled at me, licking her lips as she pulled away. Liz thought of herself as the alpha beast here, and as far as either of us were concerned, she was. 

I whined under my breath, my cheeks glowing with embarrassment as I bucked my hips, rubbing my labia against her thigh. My wrists were pinned under the weight of her arms, leaving me right where she wanted me to be, on the bottom. Even worse, I was unable to rip myself free from underneath the stronger woman. She wasn’t Candace by any means, but she was definitely stronger than me. 

I chased her sweet plump lips upwards as she pulled away, shoving my tongue into her mouth and wrangling her back down to the bed with me, not so gently nibbling on her lips as we made out. We kept kissing until neither of us could breathe, but even as she tried to pull away again, I wouldn’t let her, biting down on her stupidly soft lip and holding her face captive as I continued to desperately hump her leg. 

She let go of my left wrist and pushed herself away, slipping out of my grasp and growling at me, trying to reassert her dominance. With my hand now free, I could have taken the chance to fully push her off of me, try to flip her over and put myself on top, but instead I curled my fingers in her gorgeously painted mint green hair and pulled her head back down, once again holding her hostage in my kiss. 

Elizabeth clearly wasn’t expecting this level of fight from me, but I was a lot feistier than I had been when she first met me, and she was loving it. But honestly, who in her right mind wouldn’t love this?

Liz was a prostitute, she clearly had experience with women, but she was dealing with a full blown lesbian, and a hungry one at that.

She pushed away again, snarling at me loud and clear. 

 

Among the many things odd about Liz, one such thing were the modifications made to her body. It was a weird thing to see, but Liz had these weird ring piercings on either side of her labia. They were like loops for strings to go through, she had them for the express purpose of her master being able to control her, and they were currently cinched closed. 

My quim was the only one exposed and ready to be toyed with, and Liz knew that. She was doing this to pleasure me, and not herself, and that was something which I appreciated immensely.

This was my last chance to have sex with someone I was even vaguely familiar with before being shipped off to whoever ended up buying me, and I was not letting this opportunity pass me up. 

Liz was clearly having fun toying with me, pulling her leg away from me as soon as I tried to rub my clit against it. 

“Jerk…” I grimaced, taking one hand and reaching between my legs, getting ready to finger myself. “If you’re not going to let me touch, then back off~!!”

Liz snickered at me, which I responded to by growling. She was a stronger woman than me though, so before I could reach between my legs, she had once again caught me by the wrist, stopping me from pleasuring myself. “Don’t like being edged, puppy?”

“Not by you.” I scoffed at her, biting the inside of my cheek, desperate to touch something. 

Liz had me pinned down by both wrists again, but my legs were free. I pulled my knees up to me, sliding my legs between her torso and mine, finding a foothold and shoving her off of me with the full force of both of my legs. 

She was strong, but I was clever. She was holding me with her arms, but even with her superior strength, she couldn’t bear the force of my legs as I pried her off of me. She was fun, but she wasn’t as much of a challenge as Candace. Candace was a fun opponent on both a physical and an intellectual level. 

I giggled, hearing Liz squeak angrily as I pushed her off of me. Apparently I was a lot stronger than I remembered, because I sent her tumbling off of the bed and onto the floor as well, or perhaps maybe she just lost balance because of her fat tits and huge ass. 

Right. My turn then…

I pounced, leaping off of the bed and on top of her on the floor before she had the chance to get up off of her back. She who hesitates is lost, after all.

 

This wasn’t it. This wasn’t the challenge that I needed and deserved. Sure, she was a physical obstacle to overcome, but she wasn’t as strong as Candace, and with the right leverage I could easily pin Candace down, just like I was doing with Liz now, listening to her snarl at me from below. 

I needed someone who could break me down and shove me onto the floor with ease, someone who could break through my shell and put me back in my place, and unfortunately, Liz was not that someone. 

Sure, she was a physical challenge, but everyone was a physical challenge to me, not because I was weak, but because I was honestly kind of small. But she was no mental challenge, not like Candace was. 

I needed someone to give me that challenge on both fronts, I needed Candace.

Or at the very least, I needed someone like Candace. 

The best case scenario for me now would be to end up in the hands of someone like Candace or Cyrus. The two siblings were remarkably similar in many ways, and I chalked that up to them being raised together. They both were naturals at this, dominant to the core, and I needed something like that. But there was no one left in the world who could even come close to either of those two. 

 

Finally, despite Liz’s best efforts to edge me all night, I ended up finishing myself off, fingering myself on top of her. 

“Who’s the omega now?”

“Uhh, still you, believe it or not~” Liz snickered, climbing into the bed next to me. “Hope you had fun, though~”

“I did…” I hated to admit it, but I did, even if she wasn’t as much of a challenge as I would have wished. “Thank you, Liz…”

“Don’t mention it, shortstack~” Liz sighed, laying down on her back, relaxing into bed. 

We laid there in an awkward silence for a little while afterwards. But that’s kind of how one night stands always go. We both know that we’ll never see each other again after this, but neither of us really have the luxury of being able to leave, being fellow prisoners here. 

So we just kind of let the silence speak for itself, neither of us having anything to say to each other. But while I would have liked to take my leave just to ease the awkward silence, I honestly would prefer to spend the night in bed with Liz rather than sleeping in a cell by myself.

Unless that cell happened to be the one attached to Candace’s bedroom… 

 

“I fucked up, Liz…” 

It was too much for me, I couldn’t get her off of my mind. I had no moral qualms with the decision that I made that night, but I more than regretted failing my former master. All I wanted now was to be at her side. “Is there really no way that Cyrus can send me back to her?”

Liz sighed under her breath, no longer angry, just sad. “I’ve already tried, Chloe.”

“Surely you can reason with him, if he cares so much, I know he’ll listen if-”

“Do you really want to be with her?” Liz sat up, her large tits bouncing against her chest. 

“More than anything…” I nodded to her, frowning. “Really…”

Liz didn’t want to see me go any more than I did. But she was so fiercely loyal to her master that it had become difficult for her to argue with him anymore. Cyrus had such total control of her that she had become his puppet, a vessel for his will, even if she did have that cute clever spark in her. Her puppet master was in total control of her, and there was nothing she could do that could change his mind once he had decided on something. I knew that just as well as she did, but she was my last chance. 

“I can try…”

My eyes lit up as soon as I heard her say that, my heart nearly thumping out of my chest at the idea of getting to see my owner again. I didn’t want to belong to someone else, I wanted to belong to Candace. Both Elizabeth and her husband could see how much the two of us loved each other, how much we needed each other, if there was anyone at all in the world who could get us back together, it was Cyrus Griffin. “I’ll do anything, I really will.”

“I’d do anything for my Master, too…” Liz chuckled under her breath just a little, giving me a small smirk. “Just don’t get your dumb little hopes up, I don’t want to see your tiny stupid heart break again, it was depressing enough the first time.”

“Thank you, Liz. I promise… Anything you can manage to do now is mercy.” I couldn’t stop myself from leaning over and wrapping my arms around her shoulders, hugging her as tightly as I possibly could, which she clearly appreciated, just not as much as she appreciated another kiss on the lips. 

Cyrus was the only person in the world who could get Candace and I back together at this point, and Liz was probably the only person in the world who could convince him to do so. 

But if it sounded too good to be true, that’s because it was.

 

↞✶↠ 

 

I must have fallen asleep in her arms, it was the only way I was going to possibly be able to fall asleep. But before we could wake up naturally, someone else came to do it for us.

 

“Rise and shine dolls, it’s time to wake up.” It was Jane Colton, the nice woman from the front desk, which I found odd… Why wasn’t she still up at the front desk?

And she wasn’t alone, that man with the scars, Phil Burke, he was with her. Not only that, but so was Dr. Rebecca Larkin and Anthony Schmitt.

P. Burke, J. Colton, R. Larkin, and A. Schmitt. 

Those were the names I read on all of those offices on the first floor, they were all here, save for one man.

C. Griffin. The one man I really needed right now was nowhere to be seen. His wife, Elizabeth, was here in bed with me, but Cyrus was missing. The one man who could get me out of this was missing in action. 

“Where’s Master?” I wasn’t the only one who noticed that he was absent from his little group of workers, Cyrus’ wife was just as unhappy that he wasn’t here. 

“On a plane back from San Francisco.” Phil, Cyrus’ right hand, was the one who stepped into the room first.

San Francisco? Why was he there? My fingers were trembling. I was from San Francisco, and there was absolutely no way that it was a coincidence for him to be there, not after everything that went down between me and his sister. It didn’t make sense for him to be there, especially not alone, so if he’s in San Francisco that must also mean that… Why the fuck is she in San Francisco?

“Why isn’t he here, Phil?” Liz growled at the scarred man as he approached me, trying to protect me from him. “I need to talk to him.”

“He’ll be home within the day, Mrs. Griffin, don’t you worry.” The man with the scars kept quiet, but the other man, Anthony, spoke up instead. “He’s coming straight here to pick you up.”

“But I need to talk to him now.” Liz snarled, hell bent on having a word with Cyrus before letting anyone near me. 

“He can’t talk right now, he’s on a plane. Airplane mode exists for a reason.” Nurse Schmitt, Malcolm’s future husband, continued. He was clearly just a little bit distraught judging by the look on his face, a look that I had seen on him when he first came into my cell to do a mental evaluation. “Look, we don’t really want to do this any more than you do, but we have no choice.”

Oh no… I suddenly realized what it was that they were here to do, and I didn’t like it one bit. 

 

“Behave, little dolls.” Jane snickered, pulling a syringe out of her pocket and haphazardly spinning it around. “Little Miss Colton wouldn’t want to have to give you your shots early, Lizzie dear~”

Liz seemed to be taken aback with fear at the seeming threat coming from Jane, as the latter stepped into the room. “Don’t you dare lay a finger on me.”

“I wouldn’t do so without your husband’s permission, don’t you trust me?” Jane snickered, holding the needle out towards us as she stepped inside, followed in by the doctor. “Besides, we’re not here for you… we’re here for her~ ”

Of course they were here for me, I knew it from the moment they walked inside. “Where are you taking me?”

 

“To the operating room.” Rebecca stepped inside, gesturing for Phil and Jane to secure me. “We have a small cosmetic operation to get done before your new master takes you home.”

“And how long will that take?” I swallowed nervously, pulling myself away from Liz and moving towards the doctor.

“An otoplasty will only take a couple of hours.” Rebecca tapped her feet impatiently, not even looking up as Phil grabbed a hold of me. “Granted… we only have a few hours.”

“A few hours until what, Ma’am?” I didn’t like where this was going. It can’t be happening already, it was too soon. 

“Until your new master takes you home, like I said.” She looked up from her notes just long enough to glare directly into my eyes. “Now stop wasting my time, I don’t have very long.”

“Can I please talk with Cyrus before I go, Ma’am?” Phil grabbed me by both arms, restraining them together behind my back.

“Perhaps you don’t understand, Miss Cavalier.” Rebecca snarled at me, getting angry for the first time since I’d met her. “The reason that Mr. Griffin isn’t here, is to prevent you from pleading for his forgiveness… and since that seems to be the only reason that you wish to speak with him, the answer is a resounding no.”

“But I need to-”

“No buts.” Rebecca shut me down, turning her glare onto Jane. “Ms. Colton, if you will?”

“No, wait…” Liz was snarling angrily, just barely being kept at bay my Anthony’s insistence that this was what her master wanted. 

 

Before anyone responded to her however, I felt a needle pierce its way into my skin as Jane delivered some sort of injection. 

And then everything went black.

 

↞✶↠ 

 

I woke up on an operating table, presumably after my surgery was done. There was a ringing in my ears, and an intense pain in my shoulder as I slowly came to, the lights threatening to blind my waking eyes. 

“Where… what…” I winced in pain, a sudden terrible stinging in the skin of my ears. I tried reaching out to touch them, but my wrists were shackled to the operating table where I sat. “What did you do to me?”

“An otoplasty is an ear surgery.” It was Anthony again, having been the one left to watch over me. “A cosmetic ear surgery, nothing too terrible, it only took about an hour.”

“Cosmetic… why?” I winced, still trying to slip my hands free from the shackles. “What kind of cosmetic?”

“Your new master has… a very specific thing that they like from their slaves…” Anthony smiled, pulling out a mirror for me to look at my reflection. “Take a look see.”

 

I gasped, my eyes going wide with shocked horror. My outer ears were covered in bandages, but it was clear to see what had happened to them. “They’re… pointed?”

“Like an elf!!” Anthony chuckled for a couple seconds, before quickly stopping as he saw my visible discomfort. “Sorry… Malcolm and I are both big d&d fans…”

“Great… Because that’s exactly what I want… to fulfill some sicko’s dumb fantasy elf fetish.” I scoffed angrily, once again unable to refrain from speaking my thoughts. “Oh, god damn it… it’s this fucking drug again.”

“I would suggest trying to settle down before you see your new owner, hon.” He tried to calm me down, but I was having none of it. 

“Why should I care what they think of me?” I gritted my teeth, shaking my head angrily. “I don’t think very much of them…”

“You don’t even know who they are, Chloe.”

“Yeah, and I don’t really care.” I couldn’t even look him in the eyes, I was too upset. “They aren’t Candace, so I already know I don’t want to be with them.”

Anthony groaned, clearly not wanting to get stern with me. “You had your chance with Candace.” 

“Yeah, and I fucked it all up, whatever…” I wouldn’t usually be like this, but they used the same anesthetic as they had when I had my first surgery. “I would prefer you kill me than give me away to someone that isn’t her.”

“I’m sure you do, and I’m sure you love her a lot… but if you wanted that you should have mentioned it sooner, we could have pulled something, and she would have been none the wiser.” Anthony frowned, waiting for me to settle down before he began to undo my restraints. “But more importantly, I don’t think that’s what Candace wants, is it?”

“No. She doesn’t. It kind of pisses me off. I wish she was at least man enough to get possessive…” I sighed, cooperating with him as he released my wrists from the operating table. Being a trans girl, Candace would hate hearing the phrase man enough when it came to describing her, and I knew that, I just couldn’t stop it from coming out of my mouth. “It would be almost romantic if she had me killed so that no one else could have me. That I could get behind.”

“Well then I guess you’ll just have to get behind whatever your new master wants for you.” Anthony smiled, helping me off of the table and out of the room, covering me in a robe. 

But before he was able to cover me in said robe, I got a good look at myself in the mirror, and I almost shrieked as I saw my lower back.

Liz had succeeded in burning over one of my brands, Candace’s initials were nowhere to be seen. But she had only burned off that one brand, and Candace had given me two. Right there where it had been for months was that demented nautilus shell, the symbol right there on my body, just like a tramp stamp. “You’ve got to me kidding me…”

“We don’t really have time to take care of that, I’m afraid. Besides, your new owner is at least a bit of a nerd, clearly. I’m sure they won’t really mind it.” 

“Why even turn me into an elf… Do they really want to dehumanize me that badly?”

“It would appear so… Look, it’s important for some master’s to give their slaves visual reminders that they are no longer human.”

“I guess so…” I sighed angrily, murmuring to myself under my breath. I wasn’t ready for this just yet. “Who is my new master yet, anyways?”

“Completely confidential, I’m afraid…” That wasn’t at all an answer that I appreciated. “Not even I know for sure.”

“Eugh, why do you people have to be so difficult?”

“We’re not difficult… we’re just doing our job.”

Anthony led me directly to the offices up front, stopping at one that was labelled N. Carlisle. “This is where I’ve got to say goodbye, I’m afraid… but I want you to know that Malcolm and I are both going to be thinking about you.”

That was such a sweet thought. I missed Malcolm, maybe not as much as I missed Candace, but I definitely missed him. “Thank you, Anthony… I hope the wedding is as wonderful as you both…”

 

I sighed with despair, watching him smile and walk away after giving me a hug goodbye. Then I was just left with the people inside of this office, which included a woman who I had yet to meet, the titular Ms. Carlisle. “Mrs. Griffin would like to say her goodbyes before you’re handed off, Ms. Cavalier.”

“It’s okay, Naomi.” Liz exited out of the room as soon as she realized I was outside of the door, wrapping her arms around me and pulling me into a gentle hug goodbye before I was taken away one final time. “I’m sorry that I couldn’t do anything to help, Chloe…”

“It’s okay, Liz… there wasn’t anything you could do…” I smiled at her, sad but content, trying not to let her see my heart break once more. “I’m gonna be okay, I promise…”

“I’m going to miss your stupid face, Chloe.” She shook her head in disbelief, taking it one step further and giving me a kiss on the lips to say goodbye.

“I’m gonna miss you too, Liz…” I smiled, watching Ms. Carlisle lead her back into the office, hanging my head in defeat as Naomi handed me off to Phil and Jane to be taken outside and delivered to my new master. 

 

↞✶↠ 

 

I didn’t know who I was expecting, but I was relieved to see who I got. 

It was that woman, the freakishly tall brunette with the cane, standing in the lobby outside, with the pitch black of night outside as a backdrop behind her, and it looked like she was on her phone. 

 

I couldn’t help but smile as I saw her, and so did she when she got a look at me, deciding to quickly wrap up her phone call so that she could get at me as soon as possible. “Oh. I’m afraid I’m going to have to let you go darling… but it was nice getting to hear from you again… I hope we can talk again soon… I love you… buh bye~”

She smiled eagerly, stepping towards me, and thanks to the drugs running through my head, I couldn’t help but to ask what was on my mind. “Was that your daughter?”

“That was my little sister, actually.” Both Phil and Jane briefly began to panic as I spoke out of line, but the woman’s response quickly put them at ease. “I haven’t heard from her in years… but she’s out on a trip, and she decided to give me a call~”

“That sounds nice.” She didn’t offer any objections, so I just continued to talk. “Where is she now, then?”

The woman whose name I still didn’t know also continued to talk. “Oh, it’s slipping my mind… somewhere in California from the sounds of it.”

“I’m from California.” I smiled at her, relieved that it was her out here and not the man who had raped me the previous day. “San Francisco, to be exact.”

Her greyish blue eyes seemed to light up as she smiled. “I do think she’s in San Francisco now, actually~”

 

My brain was frazzled, I knew that sounded odd, but I couldn’t remember exactly why. “Are you… the one who bought me?”

“I am indeed~” She grinned, stepping towards me, gesturing the workers behind me to back off. “I just couldn’t let you end up as property of someone who was going to mistreat you.”

“I appreciate it.” I smiled at her, blushing ever so slightly.

“Do go on and show me some respect, young lady.” She scolded me, but she did it light heartedly, keeping in spirit with our exchange of words up to this. “I do own you now, you know. Show me the due respect that I deserve, my darling little maid~”

I missed Candace. I missed Candace a lot, but maybe this wouldn’t be so bad. “Yes, Ma’am. My apologies.”

She giggled eagerly as I bowed for her, showing my respect to her for the first time. “Much better~”

“Thank you, Ma’am…” I swallowed nervously, straightening out my posture to demonstrate my training to her. “I won’t let you down, I promise…”

“You’re one of my belongings now, then…” She smiled at me, stepping past me and towards Jane. “I don’t suppose I have any other belongings to pick up, do I?”

Ms. Colton nodded her head, retrieving the personal items that Leah delivered to her when she came to drop me off here, the bundle of things now packed into a small bag instead of a tray. She stopped for a moment, peeking inside of it and pulling out a single thing. 

 

A bracelet, but not just any bracelet. The one that controlled my collar. 

“Oh, bloody excellent… so your collar is one of my family’s.” She was bubbling with excitement, slipping the bracelet onto her wrist and turning to face me, smiling at me with genuine delight.

“Y-your family?” I swallowed nervously, not exactly liking where this was going at all. “What about your family, Miss?”

“It’s your collar. My family designed these collars for our slaves, I have three currently strapped to the throats of my girls at home, it’s perfect.” She hummed eagerly, pressing a button on the bracelet and basking in delight at my reaction as she turned it on. “And that means I already know exactly how to use it~”

“Y-yes, Ma’am… that… that’s great…” I swallowed nervously, a terrified lump caught in my throat. “Your family… wh-what did you say your name was, if I may be allowed to ask?”

“Oh, don’t you worry about that… my siblings and I all use different last names anyways, which are in turn different from our father’s last name.” She walked up to me, tugging on my collar to make sure it was tight around my neck, and that it wasn’t coming off. Ever. “We don’t have much of a family name for you to be able to recognize anyways…”

 

“Yes, Ma’am…” My heart twisted inside of my chest as I got ready to pledge my loyalty and obedience to her for the first time. “My name is Chloe, and before I begin to serve as your slave, I would love to know the name of the woman who I belong to… may I ask your name?”

“Of course you may, darling.” She extended one hand, waiting for me to place mine into it and kneel at her feet before continuing. “My name is Claudia Mariam. My colleagues call me Ms. Mariam, and my wife has the distinct honor of getting to call me Claudia, but you, my slave…”

 

“You are to call me Master.”

Chapter 21: Put Into Perspective

Notes:

What?

You didn’t really think these two hopeless lovers were going to flagship this entire story, did you?

Oh dearie, no. Of course not. Not if I have anything to say about it, and I do.

Candace is… charming, but she is rather inexperienced at what she is trying to do.

So let me steal the spotlight away from her for just a minute or two, I promise we’ll get back to her in due time…

My little sister won’t mind, I’m sure~

 

I would personally choose to start the chapter with:

 

I yawned, stretching my body out for just a moment before rolling over to the woman in bed with me. “Oh Josephine, darling~”

 

But that would likely just confuse you, and I’m not stupid enough to think that you all care to read about my wife and I all of a sudden, I’m aware that the two of us are not the the couple that you came here to read about.

You’re only here to find out how the precious S.S. Candloe somehow saves itself from sinking in the end, foolishly thinking that it ever could.

So fine, I’ll skip the Josephine section for now. Geez.

Remind me to get back to that later, because it is important to the story that you’re about to read, but for now let me rewind the clock back to something you would find vaguely relevant to the story you’ve been reading thus far. It’ll make more sense to your feeble submissive brains if I start there anyways, it does at least feature a character that you have met before, if only just the once.

You will have to excuse my specific style of writing of course, which is more like that of a memo than a novel, it’s what I’m used to, but I will try to be historically accurate.

As historically accurate as I can be expected to be at least, after all is said and done, I am the winner after all.

History is written by the victors, which gives me the inalienable right to tell this part of the story whichever way I choose to.

 

Your new favorite character,
Claudia Rosegold Mariam

“You’re dying?”

I couldn’t believe what she was telling me. One second she’s fully recovered from her ailments, and the next second she’s…

“You are kidding, aren’t you?”

“What would I make jokes with you about that, dear?” She coughed, practically hacking up her lungs just sitting there, her lit cigarette in her hand, the last place it probably ought to be. “If I wasn’t serious, I wouldn’t have come out here to see you in person.”

“If your lung cancer is relapsing on you, then maybe you ought to cut it out with the smoking, mother?”

“Oh Claudia, dear… I quit smoking years ago, and look what good it did me then.” She rolled her eyes, pulling the cigarette back to her mouth and inhaling. “I’m as good as dead already, might as well make the most of it.”

“Darcey has asthma, you know. You can’t just smoke in here.” I scoffed angrily, standing up and stomping my way to the window, trying to keep my house free from irritants. “Have some decency, you old hag.” 

“Oh, I forgot just how sweet you are, sweetie… really~” She did it again, having very little regard to what I was saying. “Besides, I thought Darcey wasn’t a real person, isn’t that what you said, dear?” 

“Is this about Bella again? I told you already-”

“This is about Alecia.”

 

Alecia… It had been years since I heard that name, and even longer since she had died. 12 years ago to be exact. 

It had been 12 years since Alecia had been put down.

“What about her, mom?” 

“You need to patch up your relationship with your sister.” 

“My sister?” I paused for a moment, trying to ration it out in my brain. “Eugh, right… Candace…”

Candace. 

Candace. Candace. Candace. Candace. Candace. Candace. Candace. 

The name never felt right slipping off of my tongue. It was vomit worthy. Deplorable. Disgusting. 

At least I thought it was at the time… but that was before I had to stop and take a cold hard look at who I was as a person, and as a sister. 

 

“You’ve never once even called her that, have you?” My mother asked, and I simply shook my head no.

“What if she doesn’t forgive me, mother.” I paused, leaning against the wall with my arms crossed, saying nothing as my mother exhaled the smoke from her lungs. “I was very vocal about not supporting her when she… you know-”

“When she came out as a woman, you mean?” She asked again, and I nodded once more. “And then what happened?”

“And then my husband came out as a woman…” 

“And then?” My mother kept pestering me for more, despite already knowing the answer. 

“And then I came out and started buying up all the girls in the world, straight from Cyrus’ stock no less~” I sighed, leaving the window open as I took my seat again. 

Or, alternatively, I could eat shit tripping over my stupid leg just trying to get back to my chair. 

“God. Fucking. Damn it.” I whined, turning back to my mother as she held my cane out for me to take, which I did, violently swiping it out of her hand and climbing back to my feet. “I should just give up and have this stupid thing amputated.”

My mother sure did get a chuckle out of that one. “That’s what I did~”

“I’m fully aware, mom…” I limped my way back to the couch, not bothering to sit down across from her then. “Is that why you invented the cane?”

“One of the reasons, yeah… it is a fancy little piece of tech, don’t you think?”

 

My mother, Lilith Mariam, was the woman responsible for just about every piece of usable tech my family possessed, including the very fancy collars clasped to the necks of all three of my slaves. But it wasn’t limited to that of course, the cane I used to navigate around thanks to my stupid limp was also loaded with special advancements.

The technology in my cane alone could kill a person, and it had before. 

“On the topic of slave technology. Your brother says he has a new girl to recommend to you~”

“Oh, of course he does. It doesn’t help that I buy every slave he recommends to me on the spot.”

“He’s good like that, I’ve trained him well.” My mother was also the woman who created the slave facility that my brother now ran, the lucky little punk just got that thing handed to him. “Little Zenna must get lonely around here, doesn’t she?”

“Are you sure this isn’t about Bella? Because you make it sound like it’s about Bella.” I scoffed, not wanting to get off topic. “You said this was about Alecia… what about Alecia?”

“You and I need to have a serious talk about Alecia here soon… but in the meantime, you need to make up with Candace for what you did to that poor girl.”

 

Alecia and Cardinal St. Clair. Mother and son. A beautiful little pair, at least for a while.

I didn’t know what to make of it at first. The kid was ten years old, there was no way a child that young could know for sure that they wanted to transition, and I, being only eighteen, didn’t really respect it from the beginning. 

“Her mother didn’t have anything to leave her when she died, Claudia…” My mother, antithetically, had always treated Candace like one of her own children ever since her mother Alecia died. “I have things to give, and I’m not going to do that to her. Not again.”

“So you really are dying, huh?” I bit my lip, clutching my cane in my hand, not wanting to think about it. 

“I know it’s hard, darling…But I will always love you, in this life and the next.” She smiled, taking notice of my cane in my hand. “Do you want my technology?”

“You know I’ve never had a knack for that sort of thing, mom. What would I even do with it anyways?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Have a little bit of fun with it, who knows?” She smiled, picking up her own cane and lifting herself to her feet. 

“Have you told Cyrus yet?”

“Oh… that boy would have a heart attack on the spot.”

“And what about Candace?”

“Candace has been going through a rather rough time lately, from the sounds of it…”

“And I suppose you expect me patching up our relationship to somehow fix that?”

“You have to start somewhere.”

“So that’s it, you’re just going to stand up and walk away?”

“Pretty much.”

 

My mother was always a straightforward person for the most part, and it would seem that death didn’t really seem to change that. Even when she was faced straight down the barrel of it, Lilith Mariam was a fearless woman. 

“Throw a party for me~”

On the contrary, it seemed like she would rather celebrate. 

“A party?” 

“And make sure to invite your sister, she’s a hell of a time, and her lady friend too~!!” Lilith smiled, shaking her head. “That doll’s a wonderful girl.”

“She’s got a lady friend?” 

“That’s not my place to tell, why don’t you ask her~” 

 

I helped my mother to the door, kissing her goodbye as she headed back home. 

Sometimes I hated my mom, especially when she was right. But right now was not one of those times.

Right now I was just sad that I was going to lose her. 

No, not sad. Angry. 

 

I shut the door, beating my head on it for a few moments before turning back to the side room, clutching my cane in my hand. “Zenna MacNair!!! GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE!!!” 

 

↞✶↠

 

“I’m sorry for hitting so hard, darling.” I sighed, admiring the beautiful sight of poor precious little Zenna. “Sometimes your master just needs to let her anger out.”

“Oh, it’s alright Ma’am. I understand.” 

Oh Zenna. My precious Josephine had two slaves of her own, but I only had the one, and that was Zenna. 

“Master, I-” She used to be so headstrong, until I got to her, and taught her what it meant to be one of my slaves. “Permission to worship, Ma’am?”

Precious little thing didn’t even need to wait for a vocal response before climbing onto the sofa next to me. All she needed was a smile to let her know that the answer was a yes.

Out of all the girls I’d possessed, Zenna was my favorite slave, but she wasn’t the first and she surely wouldn’t be the last judging by my track record. Like my little brother had done countless times, I had cycled through a number of slaves before. It wasn’t uncommon for arrangements like that to not work out in the end, especially when you purchase girls off of the zed list. 

What’s the zed list? You ask, really? Has my brother not even stopped to explain anything to you? 

Right, well here’s the basics of how the slave trading system my mother’s family created works, as explained to me by my brother: Which I’m sure just means it has holes in the explanation. 

 

Class A slaves are the most basic ones-
They’re the ones off the streets, the people you’ll see on missing person posters in department stores that are most certainly owned by the types of people who are most likely to buy said missing persons off of the slave markets. 

They’re nobodies. The unemployed, the homeless, the sex workers. People like Cecilia- errr, Elizabeth, is the name I think my brother came up with for her? I’ve never been good with adjusting to new names, that’s why all of the wife and I’s slaves get to keep theirs. 

Speaking of our slaves, Darcey was a class A. She was just some disgruntled night shift box store employee, straight out of high school, kicked out of her parents house, an easy target for sex trafficking. 

 

Class B slaves are the troublesome ones-
Not to say that they’re difficult to handle as slaves, because once anyone is put through the system, they become pretty fiercely put under our boot. 

Troublesome in this case just means the kind of people who stepped too far, and crossed the family in a way that got them sent to the facility as punishment. That Rachel girl who Cyrus was seeing before he settled on his newest slave used to be one of his employees, until she fucked up one too many times. 

There are a lot of other folks who are dangerously close to becoming class B slaves as well, including but not limited to that Fairmont girl, who is in possession of some particularly crucial information that I have a vested interest in keeping secret. 

Autumn, stubborn headed problem child Autumn, was a class B as well. She was just a thug of ours at first, until she started stealing from the family. Needless to say, she doesn’t do that anymore.

 

Class C slaves are the special ones-
These ones are the ones who are often specifically hunted down on the request of a client. 

They’re targeted, rather than picked at random. Sometimes it was just because a client wants a very specific celebrity or something, or sometimes it was for something they did, like class B.

The key difference there was that unlike with class B slaves, class C slaves had a pre-selected destination. They didn’t show up in the system like other slaves did because they weren’t ever meant to be up for sale, their existence as a slave is supposed to be hidden. 

Zenna wasn’t always so sweet, but she was always doomed to end up in my hands.
I went to high school with Zenna MacNair, but back then she was my personal bully, a rough and tumble impoverished girl with family issues who took her anger out on the rich girl with a limp. She somehow turned out to be a police officer, so it’s probably for the best that she isn’t one of those anymore. 

 

Where was I? Right, the zed list-

Regardless of what class of slave you end up being, you do not want to end up on the zed list. 

The zed list was a gateway to hell where naughty slaves went to die. When someone on the zed list went up for auction, it was because that auction was their last. If a slave on that list goes up for auction and doesn’t get purchased, they are sent to the office of one Jane Colton, that is to say, they were functionally dead the moment they left the sale floor. 

It could happen for a variety of reasons, the most common of which was being an unruly slave, but it could also happen to slaves who were theoretically perfectly fine who just never ended up getting purchased. The zed list was also a one stop shop for all of the slaves who were intended to go to a pre-destined owner, before said owner changed their mind before even getting to them. 

In fact, class C slaves were practically on the zed list by default. In fact, Zenna got put on the zed list when I got cold feet and decided that I didn’t want her, who could stand to let their school age bully live in their house after all? It was seeing her on the list and knowing that she was doomed to die if I didn’t buy her that eventually made me change my mind back. 

Zenna was impossibly overjoyed when she found out that I had decided to give her a chance at the last possible second, after finding out that I had changed my mind once she was already in the facility. 

She venerated me for the fact that I decided to be merciful and allow her into my life, and she’s been an angel ever since. 

Unsurprisingly, all of our slaves ended up finding their way on the zed list for one reason or another. 

Problem child among problem children, Autumn Turner, practically held the record for fastest promotion to the zed list for her behavior, she was just that unruly. 

Box standard Darcey Peyton also made it onto the zed list, her behavior was perfectly acceptable, exceptional even, but nobody wanted her, so she stayed in the system for years. The poor thing just got unlucky really, because it’s not like it’s her own fault her teeth are crooked, not all slaves can be beauties straight off the shelf.

All of these girls got recommended to me at the last minute by my brother, knowing that I just couldn’t help myself with them. They were the best selection of slaves who were on their last leg, and just needed another chance to get it right this time. 

But there was one other reason that I could think of for a slave to get put on the zed list. 

Being returned. 

It was an extremely rare thing for a slave to be returned to the facility, oftentimes if they didn’t work out, they were just killed. That’s what my brother did to the slaves he didn’t like, they never got a final chance to find a better owner. If Liz couldn’t do better than the girls before her, she would have been killed, just like Rachel. 

Of course not all people were as cruel as my brother. Sometimes owners didn’t want their former slaves to die, so they sent their slaves back on the promise that they would find a good home. 

Which they often did not. 

I was one such person who wasn’t usually so cruel as Cyrus was, but I never returned my slaves to the facility because I knew better. 

I was the last line of defense for some of these girls. My brother knew that if I couldn’t get them back in line, no one could. A girl came to me because I was the only place for them to go. 

But that just meant that unfortunately, if I had to get rid of one of my slaves, there wasn’t anywhere else for them to go. I didn’t like to do it, but when I had to get rid of one of them, I had to put them down. 

 

Bella. I still missed Bella, and so did Zenna. But there wasn’t anywhere else for her to go. 

Bella was a doomed effort from the start really, because she came with a fatal flaw. She still loved her last owner, even though her last owner didn’t love her. Her last owner didn’t want her, I did, but she didn’t want to be with me. So she no longer is. 

 

“Zenna, dear.” I stroked her hair gently, admiring the four leafed clover design shaved into the side of her hair, tracing over it with my finger for what must have been the thousandth time. “Do you still… miss Bella?”

“I think we all miss Bella, Ma’am.” Zenna shuffled in my lap, slowly sitting up next to me. “Why do you ask?”

Why did I ask? Why else would I ask, I couldn’t help but muse over the possibility of getting a new slave. 

Cyrus had recommended someone new to me after all, and that probably meant that whoever she was, she was on the zed list. 

“My brother has recommended a new slave to me.” I pondered how much information I really ought to give to her. “I was wondering whether or not to give her a chance here~”

“Have you met her yet, Ma’am? Last time you didn’t go see a slave you were recommended, they got sold, didn’t they?” Zenna smiled, trying not to pry too deep. “If you would like her, then I approve, Ma’am. Anything for you if you think it’s what’s right.”

I didn’t really want a new slave. But I couldn’t dismiss the idea offhand. 

Because truthfully, everytime I end up taking a look at a slave, I end up buying them then and there. If I wanted to just let her go to another bidder, I would need to stay home… but last time I did that, the girl didn’t end up getting sold.

And she died. 

“I’m considering it…” I sighed, lifting myself to my feet with my cane. “But for now, get back to work~”

 

↞✶↠

 

“Cut to the chase Cyrus, who is she?”

My little brother hadn’t even had time to come in and sit down before I was hounding him for more details. 

“You know what happened to the last girl I bought from you. I’m not just going to bail an undeserving slave out of her rightful death again. If you think she’d be a good fit, you’d better tell me why.”

“Is this really why you wanted to see me? Couldn’t you just wait until I came to you?” Cyrus, a man always filled with ulterior motives, was stunned that I was being so upfront first thing after he got in the door. He hadn’t even had the time to recover from the little kiss on the lips I had greeted him with. “Who even told you anyways?”

“Mother did.” I swallowed nervously, frowning. “Did mother tell you what’s going on?”

“Yes.” Cyrus answered with a single word and nothing more. “And there’s four girls on display this week. One of which is on the zed list.”

“And who is that?” 

“She’s this girl in the packet, the one at the very back.” Cyrus snarled, pulling a packet of information from his bag and holding it out for me to take. “The only reason I’m coming to you for her is because I know you like to save girls from impending doom. But if you’d rather pass on her, that’s fine by me… I can’t really say for certain that she even deserves a second chance, you just seem to take pride in being a safe haven for slaves on their last leg is all. Nothing more. Nothing less.”

I glared at him, swiping the packet from his hand. “What’s wrong with her?”

“…Wrong with her?”

“Why is she on the zed list, Griffin?” I rolled my eyes, needing to know whether looking at her profile was even worth it before putting in the effort. “Is she a troublemaker? Did nobody want her? Did her intended owner get cold feet? There has to be a reason, what is it?”

“She reached her intended owner’s side.” Cyrus sighed. “And then she was returned, less than six months later.” 

I took a deep breath, exhaling my anger as I set the bundle of information down on the table next to me without even looking at it. “No. I will not be giving shelter to a slave whose last master didn’t want them. Not again.”

“Then don’t. Nobody’s making you. I’m just giving you the option.” Cyrus rolled his eyes, leaving the packet with me on the table. “If she dies, she dies. It’s no skin off my back. You’re the one who disapproves of killing slaves.”

“Ever since I put down a slave with my own hands for the first time, I haven’t really wanted to, no.” I turned away from him. “You know what happened to Bella. I’d rather not have another girl like that on my hands, I’d rather her blood be on your hands.”

“And that is why mother gave me control of the facility, and not you.” Cyrus continued, rubbing it in my face just slightly. “Like I said, if she dies, she dies. Her last owner would be none the wiser.” 

“Well good for whoever that is, I guess.” I scoffed, responding with a sarcastic rebuke. “You make sure to give her a good rape session before she dies, okay?”

“I might just have to, yeah.” He sighed. “So why did you really want to see me, if you don’t want the slave?”

 

“I wanted to ask about Candace…”

“Candace?” Cyrus sounded shocked. “I’ve never even heard you say that name-”

“Look, I’m trying. Okay?” I protested. “And I’m going to try and patch things up between us.”

“Pfft. Good luck.” He rolled his eyes. “You’re going to need it.”

“Alright, listen. Mom wants a party before she goes out, and I want to invite Candace, okay?” I continued. “Does that sound reasonable, little brother?”

“It’s a good start, but Candace is leaving town tonight.” My brother snickered. “She’s on her way to San Francisco soon.”

“Oh, good!! That means I won’t have to deliver my invitation in person.” I smiled, skipping towards my desk and beginning to scribble something down. “You can do it for me~”

“Come again?” He was, again, very shocked. “That’s a little presumptuous of you, sis.”

“No, it’s not. You’re my little brother, and you’ll do as I say~” I sighed, trying to put a little bit of heart and soul into my little sister’s handwritten invitation. “I heard that she’s been having a rough time, and I want her to know that I’m going to be here for her from now on, I’ll make it a plus one event and everything, she can even bring her lady friend~”

“Having a rough time is a little bit of an understatement… her lady friend left her recently.”

“We all have to have our first heartbreak sooner or later.” I finished up the letter and folded it into the envelope before handing it off to my brother. “Make sure you get a picture of her face when she opens it, okay?”

“Everyone wants to use me as a middle man today. First mom and now you.” Cyrus just rolled his eyes and swiped the letter from my hand like I had with the packet. “I guess I have a plane to catch, huh?”

“I guess you do~” I escorted him to the door, giving him a hug and a kiss on the lips to say goodbye. “Love you, little brother~”

“I love you too, but you’ve gotta stop doing that.” He shuddered. “Just because dad does it to you doesn’t mean you can do it to everyone else.”

“Oh whatever, don’t be a buzzkill~” 

 

I saw Cyrus out to the front door, waving goodbye to him as he and his assistant Phil drove away, returning back upstairs to my office shortly thereafter. 

“Oh!! There you are, Ma’am~!!” Autumn was waiting for me outside of the door to my office as I arrived, bowing for me as I approached. “I have lunch ready to be served to you, Master. Will you be eating in your office today?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact, I think I will. Get to it, cutie~” 

 

Oh the wonders of having multiple slaves, it was the only life worth living, and I couldn’t believe I let myself go so long without it. Autumn technically belonged to Josephine of course, slaves imprinted on one master, and not two, it’s just how their physiology works.

Autumn and Darcey answer to my wife first and foremost, and to me secondarily, which still includes treating me with due respect and referring to me as their master. 

But Zenna- Zenna was all mine, and if we got a new slave, she would be too~

 

Cyrus left the paperwork on my desk. Now normally that wouldn’t be an issue, I had a paper shredder next to my desk, and I was just about to put it through when my curiosity got the best of me- which it often did. 

Alright then, let’s get a good look at you.

I held it in my hand and flipped through it, swiping past the other girls on sale. “Abbagail Lyndsay… Daphne Scott… Lucy Barnett…” I stopped as soon as I got to her page. “Chloe…”

I was instantly taken aback by just how bizarre her profile was, it was practically blank. 

The identity of her previous owner had been redacted of course, but as for her, she also had practically nothing on her. She had no last name, there was zero information about who she was in her past life, nothing on her behavioral issues, or the reason for being returned. 

There wasn’t even so much as a photo. What was there was also extremely baffling. She was listed as “Chloe.” There was no last name, just the first name. Her number was #0000, and she was a Class C, which was honestly the most baffling part. 

No one had ever returned a Class C slave back to the facility after they had reached their destination. Never. 

And she was on the zed list. Great.

 

“Lunch is served, Ma’am.” Autumn returned with food after a few minutes. 

I sighed, smiling at her as I closed the packet. There wasn’t going to be any help from me getting out of her fate, this Chloe girl was just going to have to impress some other owner enough to find a good home. I swept it aside, turning to the waste bin and dropping the paperwork inside. 

 

↞✶↠

 

“Well hello there~!!” I smiled as I saw my father step inside. “I wasn’t expecting you today… to what do I owe the pleasure??”

He smiled, wrapping his arm around my waist and pulling me towards him. My father was always happy to see me. “Well hey there, doll.”

I chuckled under my breath, letting him plant a kiss on the lips before letting go of my lap and letting me step away. “Good evening, father~”

It took a few moments for me to finally notice, but eventually I did catch wind of the shocked and frankly kind of disgusted look on his assistant’s face. “Holy shit… what the fuck?”

I stepped back and smiled at her, rolling my eyes. “And good evening to you too, Mrs. Watts~”

“Never fucking do that again… please.” 

“Oh calm down, Leah.” My father snickered, and for a moment you could hear his assistant squeak as he smacked her on the ass. “Don’t you worry, she’s just my daughter~”

“That’s what makes it weird, Sir!!” She growled at him, her face bright red with a combination of embarrassment and anger at getting her ass slapped by her boss.

Cardinal shrugged her off, moving on to the next topic of conversation. “So, your mother... what’s this your brother tells me about a party?”

“Mother, like usual, is being rash and impulsive… she wants a party.” I followed my father into the lounge. “She expects to pass in the next few months.”

“Good riddance-”

“FATHER!!! ” I practically spat flames at him as I shouted. “ No. That’s my mother you’re talking about.”

“Eugh. Death happens sweetheart. I was still married to Alecia when she died.” My father took a seat in my favorite spot, knowing very well that it was where I liked to sit. “Remember what you did to my Alecia before she died?”

“Alecia was a slave, father.” I protested. “My mother is an actual human being.”

“Right… keep telling yourself that.”

“What do you want, dad?” I snarled. “Because clearly you don’t care about the fact that my mother is dying, so get to the point, please?”

 

My father sat there for a moment, turning to Leah and nodding for her to explain.

“Aria Fairmont.” Leah sighed. “What does she have?”

“What does she have?” I scoffed. “She has 0001Z.” I paused for a moment, and when I didn’t get a reaction from either of them, continued explaining. “Charlotte’s parcel?”

“And you’re sure that she has it?” My father responded.

“If I could prove that she has it, I’d have it back already.” I snapped back. “But yes, I’m sure she has it.”

Once upon a time, my sister brought a very pristine little thing to my house for a family gathering, and by the time she was gone, said thing had made off with something very important of mine. 

I shouldn’t even know the girl’s name, but I do, and that’s because the dirt she uncovered was about me.

“I should like to have her hanged for that, you know?” I continued to snarl. “Like a crow.”

“Whoa. Holy shit.” Leah interrupted again. “Is she allowed to say things like that?”

“I’m an adult, Leah. I can say whatever I want.”

“Says the girl who hasn’t changed since high school.”

“I’m trying. I really am.”

“Yeah. Well I’m about to put a bullet in a recovering racist’s head if she’s not careful.”

“Threaten me like that again, and I’ll make you regret it.” I snarled at her. “I can see to it that you end up dead on the end of someone’s cock, just like little Rachel did.”

Leah had no response to that, just a shocked gasp, her eyes going wide with disgust just hearing me have the gall to mention her name. 

 

“Alright, girls.” Cardinal interjected. “Calm down.”

My father had this way of commanding control over everyone in a room, regardless of who it was. It was enough to get to me, and I in turn was capable of getting Tallulah Paciente to kiss my feet with a few carefully placed words, but my father was in a league of his own. 

“I’m sorry, Sir.” The two of us caught ourselves speaking unison, something which we both couldn’t help but smiling at. 

“That was too far, I’m sorry.” I sighed, taking Leah’s hand as I apologized. “I’m trying to get better, I really am.”

“I trust you.” Leah smiled. “Thanks.”

“That party I mentioned earlier, you and your husband are free to stop by if you’d like, Leah~” I smiled, trying to be more polite. 

“I would love to come, but my husband is dead, I’m afraid.” Leah scoffed. “That cheating rat bastard can rot in hell.”

“I’m assuming you put a bullet in his head, then.”

“No, actually.” Leah blushed. “I didn’t have to lift a finger~”

“Then who-”

 

“I did, sweetheart.” My father stood up, and smiled, putting one hand on Leah’s shoulder. “The punk crossed me once too many times. He was a shitty enforcer anyways.”

“I see… so what’s the plan then, you two?”

“The plan is for you to host your little party for your mom… and you-” Cardinal tapped Leah on the ass again, something which she very much did not like. “You’ll attend by yourself and be my eyes and ears, but in the meantime, I need that parcel back.” 

“From Aria, you mean?” Leah responded. “Aria’s with Candace right now-”

“There’s a problem with that then.” I grinned. “Candace is leaving the state tonight~”

The two of them both looked at me like I had electrocuted their mother’s to death, which kind of made my skin burn. “Oh come on, I didn’t deadname her, did I?”

“It’s just very weird not hearing you do that, dear.”

“I guess you have changed since high school, huh?”

 

After a long drawn out conversation about things that I, and frankly you, don’t really care about, I bid my father adieu. Kissing him on the lips and making Leah squeal with discomfort as they left, seeing him off like I had my mother and my brother already today. 

I guess everyone in the family is coming to see me today, huh? I paused, sighing under my breath. Everyone except-

“Ahem.” My train of thought was interrupted by one of my workers. “I caught your little rascal digging through your office on the cameras. What should I do with her?”

Nell Monet, my primary enforcer here at home, was someone who I hired after my last enforcer was shot and killed by a group of drug addicts. But ever since I’d hired them, things seemed to go pretty smoothly. 

They were basically my version of Leah Watts or Phil Burke, a right hand man to keep the pesky little slaves in line here at home… and it looked like they had apprehended one such slave red handed. 

“Darcey…” I sighed, seeing my slave being held by her pretty blonde hair in my enforcer’s hand. “You’re usually such a good girl, too~”

“I’m sorry, Ma’am.” Darcey pleaded. “If I had known it was inappropriate, I wouldn’t have been doing it, I swear. I respect your authority too much to misbehave…”

I sighed, taking a quick glance down at my cane before slowly making my way over to the pair of them. “What did she do?”

“She was digging through your bin, Ma’am.” Nell held the paperwork I had tossed out for me to take. “Is this something you wanted disposed of, Ms. Mariam?”

“It was, yes.” Darcey shut her eyes in fear as I approached, swiping the paperwork from my enforcer. “Leave us.” 

“Yes, Ma’am.” They nodded, finally letting go of Darcey. “Let me know if you need me.”

“Will do.” I sighed, taking a good long look at the packet before shifting my gaze onto my slave. “Do you have anything to say for yourself, girl?”

“I’m sorry, Master.” Darcey dropped to her knees without even needing to be told to. “It won’t happen again, I’ll remember this.”

“I’m sure you will, Darcey. Because I won’t let you forget it.” I picked the end of my cane up from off the floor, pointing it at her. 

Darcey flinched, cowering in fear as the cane got closer to her, and I can tell that her fear was only growing as I pressed the cane to her collar, rather than smacking her across the face with it.

Click. Zap. 

It was always a hassle trying to carry around more than one controller at a time, that’s why I always carried my cane with me. 

At least partially, the main reason I carried it around, despite being thirty-four years old, is because I would fall over without it. 

But it was also really nice just being able to grab ahold of my slaves by the collar with nothing but the steel rod I used to walk with, and sending a dangerous volley of electricity through their bodies. 

 

“Now what were you doing in my office?” 

“I was taking out the trash, Ma’am. Trash day is tomorrow.”

“And so you decided to dig through my trash instead of disposing of it?”

“I couldn’t help myself, Miss. But I know better now, it was a mistake, I won’t make it again.”

“You had better now.” I snarled. “Back in the good old days, slaves had neither the right nor the ability to read, and if I was in control, it would still be that way, little missie~”

“Yes, Ma’am. I am so dreadfully sorry…”

“You’re forgiven, dear.” I pressed a button on my cane, watching her face light up as it detached from her collar. 

“Really, Ma’am?”

“Yes, really.” I smiled. “Now fly along little bird, go show Josie some love~”

“Yes, Master. Thank you.” She smiled, bowing for me before she ran off. “I love you so much, Master.”

And that’s where things stood for a while. 

I shredded those documents and got rid of any trace they were ever there. 

I had made up my mind about not getting a new slave.

Until I hadn’t.

 

↞✶↠

 

I yawned, stretching my body out for just a moment before rolling over to the woman in bed with me. “Oh Josephine, darling~”  

Two days had passed, and the only thing that had consistently been on my mind was that name, Chloe. Not my wife, not my slaves, but that name. It stuck to my brain like a song on loop. 

“Josie, dear?” The sun had just set, but I needed to shake her awake before she fell asleep for good. “I need to speak with you about something~”

“Is it about the slave girl?” Josie slowly and groggily sat up in bed, still reeling from a hangover. “Because if it is, can it please wait until the morning?”

“It can’t wait until the morning, my love. That girl is on the sale floor right now.”

“I thought you said she wasn’t going on sale until tomorrow?”

“I told you that yesterday, darling.”

“Right.” Josie winced, holding her aching head. “I’m sorry…”

“It’s okay sweetie~” 

 

Josephine Jacquel was the prettiest woman I knew, but she hadn’t always been that way. When I first met her, she was the prettiest boy I ever knew, yet she was still the prettiest thing I had ever laid my eyes on.

“Oh pretty girl~” I smiled, sitting up in bed behind her as I stroked her gorgeous red hair. 

 

Pause. I can see the confusion in your eyes reading all of this. You have questions.

Candace and Claudia have a strained relationship because Claudia didn’t support her little sister when she came out of the closet. 

Claudia has a wife. Claudia and her wife have three slaves, who are all women, which means Claudia is a lesbian. Claudia’s wife is somehow coincidentally also a transgender woman, just like her little sister is, which seems super ironic and too unlikely for it to actually happen.

But if Claudia is all of these things, then how could she not support her sister’s transition?

And the answer is complicated. But this might be the only chance I get to explain it to you, so I’ll try my best-

Demographics in Florida are weird, like everything else in Florida is. Though we may live in a city, we live in a city on a small island barely connected to the mainland which is practically owned by the mafia. 

I grew up in a mafia family, which was not only Catholic, but also happened to be quite wealthy and conservative. To say that I hated the idea of same-sex marriage back when I was first old enough to vote would have been pretty accurate. 

I was a conservative catholic girl growing up in a family that pretty heavily adhered to the idea of women being subservient to their husbands. My father owned slaves and raped his goddamn maid after all, and part of the agreement between my mother and father during their divorce was that ownership of the slave facility would go to my little brother Cyrus, and not to me. 

By the time I was an adult I had pretty much come to terms with the fact that my little brother would become the head of the family, and that I would instead marry into some other powerful family in order to give them their own sons to inherit their father’s legacy. 

But then Cardinal Jr. came along and did the unthinkable. He was a total accident, but he had been a perfectly fine boy up until he was old enough to think for himself. 

That kid was ten years old when he decided that he wanted to be a girl. When he insisted that he was a girl… and his mother just let him. 

There’s an eight year gap between myself and my little sister, which meant by then I was an adult who had made up my mind about my own views. 

If I had tried to even so much as say that I liked women back then, my mother would have smacked me upside the head and made me swallow one of her cigarettes, which she did. 

I was a good little conservative girl at heart because when I tried to come out and tell my mother that I didn’t want to marry a boy, she corrected me. 

When I tried to insist that I didn’t want to be subservient to my future husband, regardless of what the bible said, my mother was there to set me straight. But when Candace came out as a girl, there was no one to take her aside and shove a bar of soap down her throat, so it felt like it was somehow my responsibility to set her straight like I had been set straight. 

She needed to be corrected, but absolutely nothing could break her, not when she had her mother behind her. Being my father’s slave, Alecia couldn’t stand up to me, but she was endlessly supportive of little Candace, and I hated her for that. 

Why couldn’t my mother have been that supportive of me as a child? Why did it take her until Candace was an adult to tell me that she’d always be there to support me? Why did it take her until I was Candace’s age now to apologize to me?

I didn’t support Candace at the time, not because I thought it was fundamentally wrong, but because I had been locked into the closet for my whole life, and that just didn’t seem fair. 

Somehow Candace was the thing that made my mother change her mind, not me, Candace- whose mother had always been supportive of her from the very start. 

 

But everything changed when I eventually met Josephine.

Imagine me having never held onto a successful relationship with a rich boy in my life, 26 years old, giving into my desires and attending a burlesque show for the first time- and seeing him.

I wouldn’t have even been able to tell that he wasn’t a woman if I didn’t already recognize him. The heir to the Jacquel family- a family of drug lords. 

His feminine beauty was enough to get me on board immediately, and I married a drag queen, the closest thing I could get to a real woman until she actually came out as a woman. 

Of course she was a woman. I was always a lesbian, even if I didn’t self identify as one, just like she had always been a woman. Just like my little brother had always really been my little sister. 

What we had was always taboo, I was so close to embracing my own sexuality, but I was also very close to losing her then and there… I would have left her if it wasn’t for one thing-

“Did Zenna put Lilian to bed already?”

 

I’m not just her wife, I’m the mother of her child. I was seven years old when my parents finalized their divorce, but Lilian was still only five now, and she was three at the time. 

Unlike my mother and father, Josephine and I still loved each other, but she just couldn’t keep going without acknowledging how she really felt. She couldn’t be a father. 

She’s just as much Lilian’s mother as I am, and I’m going to make sure that I’m always there to accept her for whoever she grows up to be, just like I wished my mother had been.

Just like Candace’s mother had been for her, until she passed away…

 

“I’ll be sure not to wake her up on my way out.” 

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to the facility.”

“But I thought you didn’t have an appointment?”

“I don’t. But my brother owns the facility, and he got it from my mother.” I slowly climbed out of bed, trying to get myself dressed in something fancy, but not too fancy, my cane in hand to make sure I didn’t fall over. “She wants a party, the least she could do is let me use her name to get into the facility~”

 

↞✶↠

 

I never went anywhere alone, I didn’t have to, I had assistants to drive me places and take care of the things that were beneath me, and this was Russel’s job, not mine. 

They weren’t slaves, they were actual people, which unfortunately meant I had to pay them and treat them according to law. It was a little bit disappointing, but I couldn’t really trust slaves to do this kind of thing.

Something about knowing that you or someone you love is about to die really puts things into perspective for you. My mother wanted a party, so she was going to get a party.

But before I could focus on making sure my mother’s last celebration was a night to remember, I had to get this girl off of my mind. My mother was dying, and I couldn’t stop that, but I could at least make sure that this Chloe girl didn’t die as well. 

“I’m going downstairs now Jane, either escort me to the basement, or fork over the elevator key.”

“But I can’t just-”

“Yes you can, now do as I say, or I’ll send you to your own office to be put down.”

I was fortunate enough to inherit some of my father’s innate power to intimidate and overwhelm anyone I came across. 

“Y-yes, Ms. Mariam. Right away, follow me~” Jane led me downstairs, not bothering to argue any further. “I really must protest this, though. We have other clients who actually made appointments.”

I didn’t have an appointment, because I was sure that I wasn’t going to be buying her, but now that I was here I was just glad that I had come to my senses and decided to give her a shot.

I’m throwing a party, which means I need maids. 

That was going to be my internal justification for buying her, if I decided that was something I was going to do, which I wasn’t planning on. I wasn’t there to buy her, I was just there to take a look, and nothing more.

I stopped outside the door, there it was, she was on the other side. This was literally the last possible moment I could have to get a look at her before it’s too late. I had rushed here as fast as I could, but at least I had made it just in time. 

 

“Look, I know I’m not supposed to be here, but I just-” I put my hand up to the handle, taking a deep breath and shaking my nerves off before opening the door and stepping inside. “I’m only going to be a minute, I swear.”

The door closed behind me, and whatever the response I may or may not have been getting from the people who worked here went quiet behind me as the silence of the small saleroom took over.

My eyes scanned across the room at eye level, which for me was a lot higher than most people, giving my above average height, the room seemed relatively empty. It had been a few years since I had done this, so I forgot to expect the slave to be kneeling when I first stepped inside, but once I realized that I looked down, and there she was. 

Oh Lord… 

I froze for a moment when I saw her, which was fine because it seemed that the poor girl was much too busy looking me over from head to toe. Which I could appreciate, even if she ought to be keeping her gaze down, it was just one point of justification towards not buying her. 

But I could excuse her for not being able to keep her eyes off of me, almost everyone found themselves in awe of my height. Besides, I couldn’t keep my eyes off of her either. 

Holy shit…

I felt myself letting go of the cane, hearing it settle against the wall as I found myself needing to get as close a look of her as I could. I was able to walk to her without it, but she most certainly took notice of it propped up against the wall.

“I’ve only got you for a few minutes, before they come in to drag me out of here~” Even as her gaze drifted over to the cane, mine stayed fixed on her kneeling body as I stood in front of her, looking down upon her delicate little beauty from above. Her profile hadn’t come with a picture, so I didn’t know what to expect, but I was more than stunned with what I got. 

Just look at you~

She looked up at me, finally letting me stare her straight in those gorgeous hazel eyes of hers. Those eyes were full of fear, but all it took from me was a little smile and a wink to help ease the tension in her pretty little ginger brain. “But I just couldn’t resist~”

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. You could almost hear the gears in her brain going off as she looked over everything I had to offer, wide-eyed as she took it all in, and there was a lot for her to take in, which she clearly wasn’t ready for. “I- I’m sorry… I wasn’t expecting anyone else today, Ma’am.”

“I know you weren’t, I didn’t really set up an appointment, but I just couldn’t stay away…” 

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, and neither could she. 

She took her time adjusting to my presence, which I allowed, if only because she was being polite. She hadn’t expected to see me so it was only fair that she was caught off guard, it just gave me more time to admire everything she had to offer. 

Wavy orange hair, hazel eyes, sharp eyebrows, puffy cheeks, pouty round lips… 

One thing struck me about her appearance more than anything else, because her appearance was a lot more than the sum of her parts, that was for sure. She was one of the prettiest little pictures I had ever laid my eyes on, and for good reason.

She looks like Josephine. 

The resemblance was uncanny, and for just a moment I let that get the better of me, because the instant I found myself getting lost in those eyes was the instant I felt my knee buckling under my weight. I dropped to my knees in front of her, but even as I knelt I towered over her, and she took note of that, which put an eager smile on my face. “It’s kind of a last minute decision, but last time I passed up on the chance to come see a slave day one, they were gone before I got a chance to come take a peek.”

It was a rather soft way of putting it, but it was technically true. The last time I decided not to come look at one of the slaves recommended to me, she ended up getting killed. 

And I almost made the same mistake here… 

I was simultaneously kicking myself for being so stupid that I almost let last time repeat itself, and patting myself on the back, relieved that I had changed my mind at the last second. 

I almost let a beauty like this die, just because I didn’t want her to end up like Bella ended up. 

But what really was the worst that could happen? How is dying like Bella died any worse than being put down here? 

Answer: It’s not.

“But you… you were recommended highly, why is that?” 

Come on, Claudia. Don’t just let her pretty looks rope you into buying her. She needs to be useful to you, or she isn’t worth having. She may have some of Josie’s looks, but she’s not Josie.  

I bit my lip excitedly, trying to curb my excitement even as I continued to stare at her cute little curves. Talking myself down from buying her even as we spoke. 

She’s a slave. Her life isn’t equivalent to that of an actual person, no matter how cute she is- She’s still just gator bait. 

“You’re pretty… but I’m not after pretty, I need a maid.”

You just happen to be very pretty gator bait… but I’m no croc. 

I was saying that for my own benefit as much as I was saying it for hers. Most slaves who came through here were sex slaves, there was little chance for this one to be any better of a slave than any of the other girls. If I couldn’t justify buying her over the other girls on the sales floor, I couldn’t justify buying her at all. 

“A- a maid?” That excited her. It was a sign, the cute little thing was like a dog whose ears suddenly perked up at the idea of getting to go outside for a walk. The slave mongrel was eager to get out of its cage. “I can be a maid…”

“Oh yeah? Where are you from?” I had the biggest smile on my face just hearing her speak, I couldn’t look away from those cute little eyes of hers, I wanted them so badly. “What did you do before all of this?”

Yes. Yes yes yes yes yes. This I can work with. 

“I… well I’m from California, but-” She faltered under the weight of my presence, blinking first and looking away, her gaze drifting down to the floor below. It was more than just a sign of submission, it was a plea.

Slaves liked to cling to this idea that not just any person was worthy enough to belong to, it was a belief that helped protect them more often than not, even if it was fundamentally wrong. This girl could belong to anyone, and she should be grateful for it. 

But that decision to lower her gaze, not just out of instinct, but voluntarily tilting her head downwards to break eye contact with someone who’s gaze was challenging you to keep staring, was her blinking first. 

And blinking first was the way that slaves acknowledged you as someone worthy of obeying. She was asking for it and she didn’t even know it. 

“But, I can be a maid… I have more than the basics that they teach here, I’ve been properly trained as a maid, Ma’am.”

But no matter how much either of us wanted it, desire still wasn’t enough. I need you to be useful to me, Chloe.

Right, I should probably ask her what her name is, just to make sure I even have the right girl. It would be really awkward if I somehow made a silly mistake like that. 

“I’m curious where you learned those, exactly… What’s your name, doll?” I had already one that little staring contest, there was no reason to stay on the floor, especially knowing how far above her I was. I stumbled to my feet, struggling just slightly without my cane, but I managed. I wanted her to think I didn’t need it for now. 

“Gosh, I’m in such a rush that I’m forgetting to even look at your paperwork…” I made my way to the table, forcing myself to look away from her just long enough to get a look at her paperwork. I didn’t feel the need to look at it when I came in, I may have shredded the copy I had at home, but not before I had memorized everything that was on it. There was nothing on the packet that I didn’t already know.

“Chloe. My name is Chloe, Ma’am.”

Oh thank god, she answered quickly. There was no way I was going to be able to keep my eyes off of her for long enough to look at her paperwork. I just needed confirmation that she was who I thought she was. 

“Chloe is a pretty name, I like that… apparently you have no last name though.” I set the packet aside without even reading a single word on it, too eager to get my hands on her to keep my eyes away. She had no last name, I remembered that much without having to read it off of a slip of paper. “Is there a story behind that?”

The answer: yes. Of course there was a story behind that. In any case where you find yourself wondering whether there was a story behind something, there was always a story behind it to be told. 

“It’s complicated, Ma’am… I-” 

It just wasn’t a story that I cared about hearing right now, I did already know the answer after all.

“You’ve been owned before, right. That makes sense.” I picked my cane back up with my dominant hand and twirled it, partially just to show off, but partially to seem menacing. If she thinks that I’m going to leave because she was a used slave, she might try harder to convince me she was worth it. 

“I don’t mind that, at least at face value… it means you’ve been properly trained on being a maid, and you theoretically know how to fully devote yourself to someone, and trust me, that’s quite important to me… but what gives me pause is the fact that you were returned for some reason…”

I stared at my cane for a moment before pointing it at her, remembering all of the things that I had to do to Bella with this thing. I put the end of it under her chin, mere inches from being able to activate her collar as I tilted her head upwards. If she turned out to be like Bella, I was going to treat her like Bella. “Why did that happen, Chloe?”

She swallowed nervously, but she didn’t resist. “Permission to speak freely, Ma’am?”

“Permission granted.” 

“There is a lot that I can’t say about my last master without giving away her identity, and keeping her identity safe is very important to me, especially right now… but things just didn’t work out the way she was expecting them to.” She relaxed into my control, and even as I pulled my cane out from under her chin, I could feel the control I still had over her. “She liked me, and I liked her, but her family didn’t like me so much.”

She’s still in love with her last owner, not a good sign. That’s 2-2 Chloe, you had better give me a good reason to buy you here soon.

“Family business is always dreadful business, isn’t it?” I set the tip of my cane back down on the floor, trying not to fall over. “I’m fortunate to have a very loving family myself~” 

As much of a loving family as I can have from a mother who didn’t approve of my decisions growing up, and who loves my little brother more than I. A father who still very much thinks of my little sister as his heir. A brother who’s just a complete psychopath. And a little sister who still hasn’t forgiven me for what happened between us. 

If her former owner’s family is anything like mine, I’m really not surprised~

“I grew up in a foster home, Ma’am…” Her voice was nervous, but measured. Polite, even as she lowered her head back down. “I’ve never had so much of a family, so it was quite devastating that hers didn’t like me.”

“You poor thing!” I scoffed. Fuck, she’s an orphan. Of course she’s an orphan, I shouldn’t be surprised. She needs a real family, and I was very desperate to give that to her. “That’s absolutely dreadful.”

She was exactly the kind of girl I went for, one in need of rescuing. 

“It wasn’t too terrible Ma’am, you shouldn’t worry about me.”

“Oh hush… I’ll worry about you all I want.” I shook my head, looking down at the time as I cooed at her, watching the time I have with her slip away. I need to make a decision, and I need to make it soon. “I hate the thought of parents abandoning their children… I would never do such a thing to my kids.”

Time to speed things up a little, how is she with kids?

“You have kids, Ma’am?” Her response didn’t seem to betray the idea that she was alright with kids, but it wasn’t the most confident of answers, she probably had her own mommy and daddy issues which were far worse than mine. 

“Just one. As well as a loving wife to help me take care of ‘em~” I bragged, and why shouldn’t I brag? Josie and Lilian were my pride and joy, and if this girl wanted to be a part of our family, she needed to be able to serve them just as well as she can serve me. “But don’t let that intimidate you, I suppose…” 

“Intimidate me?”

“My wife and I are looking for a maid. We have a large home, and neither of us are very keen on doing the housework when we can have servants do that for us.” I took a quick glance towards the door as I stepped towards the slave again. I could hear the chatter of Phil Burke and Jane Colton outside, which meant I was likely to be escorted back upstairs soon. “My wife and I are very much in love… but I just know for a fact that she wouldn’t be able to keep her eyes off of you~”

She blushed, and it lit up the room. That was it, that was all I needed.

She’s gay. 

Now I myself don’t think of myself as gay, but I love cute gay little things like her, and she was blowing me out of the stormy blue water. I couldn’t get enough of her.

“And don’t get me wrong, I can share… but my dearest wife already has two slaves, and I really am after a maid, and not much more.” 

I was lying through my fucking teeth. I wanted little rosy cheeked orphan annie here suffocating in my cunt as soon as I could possibly get her there. But I couldn’t betray my mission, not just yet. I didn’t have the time to fuck her here and now, but I absolutely would if I could, from the looks of the table behind me she had already been raped at least once today, and I desperately wanted to put her through that again. 

But I masked my excitement with a stern expression as soon as I felt myself stumbling, gently kneeling in front of her so that I could get one last look into her soul. “I’m being nice now… but I would expect a level of perfection from one of my slaves~”

“As you should, Ma’am.” She spoke without hesitation, clearly excited by the idea of serving as my slave. “Regardless of who my master is… they deserve perfection.”

And I’m going to get perfection out of you, my dear. 

“I like hearing that, I really do.” I gave her a smile and a wink before standing back up, hearing my brother’s goons outside getting ready to come in and get me. “Though, I am afraid that it’s time for me to go…”

“Thanks for coming to see me, Miss.” She gave me a smile, still blushing. “You’ve been my favorite all day…”

That was probably the best thing I’d heard all day. “I hope you find a good home, Chloe.”

Mine. 

“I hope so too, Ma’am. Thank you…”

Oh yeah. This one is mine. 

 

↞✶↠

 

I stepped back out of the room of my own accord, letting Phil escort me back upstairs and to the office of Naomi Carlisle, who was currently acting as my brother’s secretary while he was away. 

“Does she have any offers yet?” I couldn’t stand the idea of waiting any longer, this girl was going home with me, and she was going home with me tonight. 

“None yet, Ms. Mariam. But I think one of our other clients was certainly considering-”

“How much do I have to bid to close the auction up front?” I was willing to let someone else walk away with her when I got here as long as she found an owner, but now that I’d gotten my hands on her, I wasn’t going to let her fall into the hands of another bidder. “I’ll pay however much money it takes to buy her outright. I want to take her home tonight.”

“That’s… certainly a possibility, Ms. Mariam. I can phone your brother for you if you’d like?”

“No need. I’ll do it myself.”

And so I did. I called my brother, and I bought her then and there, closing the auction on the spot. Once my brother let me go, I made my request for modifications, and I waited. Eager to get my hands on my new slave~

 

I knew it was going to take several hours to get my hands on her, but I was willing to wait, so I waited. A rather long time no less, but as soon as I found myself getting bored, I received a pleasant surprise. 

My phone rang. 

“Hello?” I didn’t recognize the number, but I answered it. “This is Claudia.”

“Hey, Claudia, this is Candace… can we talk?”

“Yes.” I couldn’t help but smile, finally getting to hear from her after so many years. “Please, I’d like nothing more.”

“I’m not coming. I’m sorry.” 

My heart just about broke hearing her say that. My mother wanted Candace to be there, and honestly, so did I. “Are you sure?”

“I’m sorry… I just don’t know how comfortable I’d feel after… you know-”

“I understand, really. You don’t need to justify it.”

“Thank you…” She sighed from the other end of the line, relieved that I took it so well. “Maybe next time, if you’d like to invite me to another party-”

“I’m going to invite you to just about every party I ever have from here on out, I promise.”

“Do you mean that?”

“Of course I mean that. I love you, Candace.”

There was a brief pause, but even without a response, I could tell that she was happier than anyone else hearing me say her name for the first time.

“Parties aside, you’re welcome to stop by at any time, really.”

“Thank you, sis… I probably will one of these days-”

“But you should get back to sleep, huh?” I smiled, holding the phone close to me to help me hear better over the commotion behind the desk. “You’re in California, right? Isn’t it pretty late over there?”

“Yeah, I probably should.” She yawned, confirming my suspicions. “We’ll talk again soon, right?”

“Of course we will… one moment-” I pulled the phone away from my head, about ready to shout at whoever was making noise behind the desk, before I realized what the commotion was. 

“Oh. I’m afraid I’m going to have to let you go darling… but it was nice getting to hear from you again… I hope we can talk again soon… I love you… buh bye~”

“Goodnight, Claudia… I love you too.”

I quickly decided to wrap up my phone call so that I could get at her as soon as possible. I couldn’t help but smile as I saw her, and so did she when she got a look at me.

“Was that your daughter?” She sounded loopy, but adorable. 

“That was my little sister, actually.” I smiled, watching the brief looks of panic in both Phil and Jane’s faces, but I didn’t care. I had what I wanted right in front of me. “I haven’t heard from her in years… but she’s out on a trip, and she decided to give me a call~”

“That sounds nice.” The cute little thing was such a chatterbox, but I didn’t mind, I could correct her tomorrow. “Where is she now, then?”

I was blanking just looking at her, the exact details getting away from me as I stared at Chloe’s body in awe. “Oh, it’s slipping my mind… somewhere in California from the sounds of it.”

“I’m from California.” She was just so pretty as she rambled on, that was a girl that I wanted to rape. “San Francisco, to be exact.”

She seemed to be proud of that, but hearing her say it did help remind me. “I do think she’s in San Francisco now, actually~”

 

The cute little thing seemed frazzled, and not just because of the drugs, it was like she was staring straight into the face of some revelation, but couldn’t put the pieces together. “Are you… the one who bought me?”

“I am indeed~” I waved the workers off from behind her to back off, licking my lips eagerly. “I just couldn’t let you end up as property of someone who was going to mistreat you.”

“I appreciate it.” Her smile was overtaken by her blush, the cute little thing had no idea just how many ways I was going to be mistreating her when I got her home. 

“Do go on and show me some respect, young lady.” I couldn’t help myself. I needed to whet my appetite with a little something here and now if I was going to get her back home alive. So I scolded her, but I did it lightheartedly. “I do own you now, you know. Show me the due respect that I deserve, my darling little maid~”

I was going to do my best to take good care of her, hopefully she wouldn’t miss her last owner too badly. I wanted her to like it at home with me. 

“Yes, Ma’am. My apologies.

And she did as she was told, showing her respect to me by bowing down to me, just like the rest of my girls. “Much better~”

“Thank you, Ma’am…” I could hear her swallow audibly as she straightened out her posture, trying to demonstrate her training to me. “I won’t let you down, I promise…”

“You’re one of my belongings now, then…” I held my open palm out towards Jane. “I don’t suppose I have any other belongings to pick up, do I?”

Ms. Colton nodded her head, retrieving the personal items that had been delivered to her when my new slave had been dropped off here, holding the small bundle of things out for me to take and inspect, which I did, reaching in and pulling a single thing from out of the bag.

“Oh, bloody excellent… so your collar is one of my family’s.” I took the bracelet and wrapped it around my wrist. It was less me style than something that Candace would wear, but for now it would do. Nothing was going to stop the absolute delight currently bubbling up from inside of me from coming out. 

“Y-your family?” The poor little thing couldn’t get her eyes off of the controller to her collar. “What about your family, Miss?”

“It’s your collar. My family designed these collars for our slaves, I have three currently strapped to the throats of my girls at home, it’s perfect.” I pressed just a single button on the controller, basking in delight at her reaction as she watched it turn on. “And that means I already know exactly how to use it~”

“Y-yes, Ma’am… that… that’s great…” There she went again, staring in the face of some revelation that she just couldn’t wrap her head around. “Your family… wh-what did you say your name was, if I may be allowed to ask?”

“Oh, don’t you worry about that… my siblings and I all use different last names anyways, which are in turn different from our father’s last name.” It was cute watching her swallow nervously as I approached her. There wasn’t much of a way for me to describe my family, they were a story for another day anyways. For now, she was the only thing on my mind. “We don’t have much of a family name for you to be able to recognize anyways…”

I wrapped my hand around the head of her collar and pulled, making sure it was tight around my slave’s neck. That collar wasn’t coming off. Ever. 

“Yes, Ma’am…” There was a flicker of excitement in her eyes as she readied herself to pledge her loyalty and obedience to me for the first time. “My name is Chloe, and before I begin to serve as your slave, I would love to know the name of the woman who I belong to… may I ask your name?”

“Of course you may, darling.” Now that she was mine, there was no harm in letting her know who I was, and making sure she knew that I was someone that deserved the utmost respect out of her. 

I extended one hand towards her, watching her closely as she gently placed her hand in my palm, and then she kneeled at my feet. Perfection .

“My name is Claudia Mariam. My colleagues call me Ms. Mariam, and my wife has the distinct honor of getting to call me Claudia, but you, my slave…” 

 

“You are to call me Master.” 

She knelt there in silence, but after a few moments I could see the light in her eyes and the smile on her lips as she excitedly lowered her lips to the back of my hand and placed a kiss on my gentle skin. 

“Yes, Master. Thank you… I won’t disappoint you, I promise.”

“I’m counting on it, my little Chloe~”

I couldn’t be sure who was happier, her or I… but I could tell that the joy welling up in her chest as she struggled to hold back her tears was genuine. 

She looked up at me for a few moments, before her eyes slowly closed… and then she collapsed. 

I hummed under my breath, shaking my head at her as I picked up the phone to make one last call for the night. The poor little thing fainted~

 

“Oh, Josephine dear… there’s someone I’d like you to meet~”

 

 

 

Notes:

There, that wasn’t too bad was it?

I hope you’ll pardon the intrusion, dear reader, but at least this chapter ends at the same place the last chapter did, before I got my sexy hands on you.

And it all worked out in the end after all, no harm, no foul. I only pulled you aside for a brief moment, and wouldn’t you know it, you’re right back where you were when you last left off!!

The author, who is currently en route to the slave facility as we speak thanks to yours truly, has made a point of the perspective swapping back and forth between her lead characters every chapter.

That just means it’s apparently against the rules to have two consecutive chapters written from Chloe’s perspective, but I thought it would just be criminal to let her just hop straight back into whatever my little sister is currently doing after such a large cliffhanger- followed by a month long hiatus that your author had the gall to not even tell you about-

But don’t worry, I have your back reader dearest, and I hope you appreciated not having to wait a whole nother chapter to find out the identity of your favorite slave’s mysterious new owner after I made my surprise debut, even if I couldn’t answer the question of “What happens next?” I decided I’d at least answer the question of “How did we get here?”

But as promised, due time has come and gone, so I will now return you to my little sister’s side. I’ll see you again soon, lovelies.

In the meantime, I’m currently preventing your author from writing her other stories until she has passed through the facility and finished her training. Hopefully by the time I’m done with her, she’ll be your new favorite slave.

But don’t fret, your story is in good hands with me, and I’ll make sure you all get your time at the facility soon enough, you just have to wait your turn~

 

Your new author,
Claudia Rosegold Mariam

Chapter 22: Top Dog

Notes:

I know I promised to return you back to Candace’s perspective, and you will, I promise. I just needed to stop you before I did to make sure you know one important fact-

I’m still here. And I am not going away anytime soon.

But that’s all for now, really. I just wanted to make sure you know to expect me even in the most unexpected of moments~

 

Your new note writer,
Claudia Rosegold Mariam

“My father didn’t need to send you all the way out here just to spy on me, you know. I am capable of conducting my business without his prying on me at all times.” I sat down in the passenger’s seat of the car, letting the driver close the door behind me. “I’m a grown woman, I don’t need him breathing down my back.”

“Well excuse me for being worried about you.” Leah took her seat behind the wheel, closing the door behind her and quickly fastening her seatbelt. “He offered me the opportunity to, so I took it.” 

“I appreciate your concern, but it really is none of your business how I am doing.” I groaned, pulling down the mirror and examining myself in it. “I do not need a babysitter.” 

“I flew all the way out here just in time for you to arrive in Seattle, I’m not leaving.” Her seatbelt clicked into place, and she started adjusting the rear view mirror. “Besides, the rental car was really expensive.”

“I guess I’ll just get my own door then, huh?” Aria scoffed, slamming the door shut behind her as she climbed into the backseat. “You could have at least offered.”

Leah smirked, glancing back at Aria through the rear view mirror. “Sorry little mouse, I don’t open doors for slaves~”

“I am not a mouse!!” Aria growled, grinding her teeth at Leah. “And I am most certainly not a slave.”

“You might not be a slave, but you’re definitely going to shut up before I electrocute you to death.” I glared at Aria through my own mirror before slamming it shut. “I have a headache.” 

“I’m sorry, if you have a headache I can get you an-”

“Just shut up, please.” I sighed loudly. “Both of you.”

There wasn’t a word from either of them for a good few moments after that, but Aria did silently pass me a pain pill for my head from the backseat, which I swallowed dry, not wanting to wait for a drink.

 

“You know, it can’t be any worse than lethal injections, my sister was killed by those.” Leah piped up after a few moments of silence, getting the car into gear and driving through the gates out of the airport as she teased Aria in the backseat. “Think less needle and more cattle prod, though~”

“You have a sister?” I didn’t really want to converse thanks to my headache, but I didn’t know this about Leah. “How did I not know this?”

“Because you would know if you were listening, I had a sister.” She smiled, not taking her eyes off the road. “I haven’t liked talking about her since she passed away, for the same reason that you don’t like talking about your mother.” 

“Right…” I bit my lip, my heart sinking in my chest at the thought of my mother. “Sorry, I’m sure that it was hard for you.”

“It’s fine, I don’t even remember how many years it’s been.” She checked the side mirror before turning. “Look, I’m thirty-six and recently divorced, there’s not a lot that can get to me anymore.”

“Did you really get a divorce, Leah?” I grinned, giving her the side eye. “Last I heard, Ben was found dead in an alley.”

Leah returned the smirk, keeping her eyes on the road as she hummed to herself. “Divorced, widowed, same thing~”

“You’re thirty-six?!” Aria seemed disgusted by the revelation. “Did I have sex with a cougar?!”

“Hey, it’s not that old!!” Leah pouted, grumbling under her breath. “I’m still hot enough to score with Aria Fairmont anyways~”

“That’s like… almost my mother’s age.” Aria groaned. “Gross…”

“I… I’m only like ten years older than you…” Leah taunted her from the front seat. “You were the one calling me mama when we were in bed together~”

 

The two went on bickering for a little bit, but I just sat there gazing out the window. We had a long ways to go from the airport where we landed to where in town we actually needed to go, and I had gone ahead and booked a hotel near our destination, rather than near the airport. The further away from that place the less likely the hotel was to be full anyways. 

My brother had taken Aria and I back to the airport first thing in the morning. A single two hour flight later, and Aria and I were in Seattle, with my brother unfortunately still on the plane back to Miasma. 

But before we had gotten to the airport, Aria and I had shared quite an awkward morning after.

 

“So… last night happened, huh?”

And things were no less awkward when we got to our next hotel room. 

“Yes, Aria. Last night happened.” 

This new hotel room didn’t have two separate suites like the last one, it just had a single suite with two beds in it. “Leah… what is this?”

“It’s a hotel room?” Leah wasn’t sure what the problem was. “Is something wrong with it?”

I just glared at her, not a single sign of life in my face. “There’s only two beds.”

“Is that a problem?” Leah had already picked out which bed she was going to be staying in. “I thought you two were together?”

Of course she thinks we’re together. I sighed, shaking my head out of exasperation.

As if I would immediately rebound to Aria after losing Chloe, it wasn’t going to happen like that. I’m not that impulsive or stupid. 

“Well maybe that’s something you should have confirmed before you assumed it… because unless she wants to sleep on the floor again, she’ll have to sleep with one of us.” I took a deep breath, trying to crack a smile, but not finding the energy necessary. “Or alternatively alternatively, we could have a three woman orgy, you and I have never had sex before~”

I was honestly kind of offended, to the point of gasping, when I saw Leah gagging at the idea. “Yeah, and we probably never will.”

I growled, honestly kind of jealous that Leah would opt to have sex with Aria, but not with me. “And why not? Am I just not good enough for you?”

“Don’t get me wrong, Candace. You’re hot and all, but-” Leah chuckled, shaking her head at the notion of it. “But you’re just too you.”

“And what is that supposed to mean?” I could accept a simple no from her and be fine with that, but she was really pushing her luck. “What, is it because I’m not a real woman?”

“Calm down, sweetie.” The once married, now divorced, Leah Watts quickly backpedalled. “It’s because of your father.”

My father. Everything really did boil down to my father, didn’t it? I was trying so hard not to be my father’s son, but in the wake of everything that was happening, I couldn’t convince myself that I was succeeding in that regard. 

“I know you’re stressed out because of Chloe and everything, but you still need to keep things in perspective… I don’t want to have sex with you because your dad is frankly, really scary and dangerous…” Leah went on. “And that’s the quickest way to get on his shit list.”

Maybe just being in contact with my older sister again reminded me of the fact that it was possible for my friends and family to hate me because of my gender identity, but Leah Watts was not one of those people. Leah was one of the people who supported me straight away, just like my mother had.

Where are you when I need you, mom… 

12 years ago, that’s how long it had been since my mother passed away, and it still haunted me. She had been killed by my own family, her own family, under mysterious circumstances, for a reason that even I still wasn’t aware of. One moment everything was fine, and the next moment-

Bzzzzzzzt-

And the next moment my phone was ringing. Great. Who could this be?

I stepped out of the room, leaving Aria and Leah alone to themselves, having blind faith that they wouldn’t have sex while I was on the phone. 

CRM. Claudia… 

I stood there in the hallway for a good couple of moments just staring at my phone, wondering if I should even pick up. She was just calling to pester me about her party again, which I already told her I didn’t want to attend, nor did I want her pressuring me to change my mind about it like the many many times she tried to convince me to suck it up and be a man, rather than a woman.

I didn’t even have the energy to send her to voicemail myself, the call just peetered to an end as it timed out, I barely even had the energy to listen to the message she left for me. 

~ Hello dear, it’s your sister again. I was just wondering if you had any more thoughts about coming over for a visit anytime soon. My, um- husband… has been dying to get a chance to see you again, says he has something to tell you in person, which I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by.

But anyways, we have several new additions to the family that I’m sure you’ll be delighted to meet. You know- pets and whatnot, they’re the most adorable things… and I-

I guess I just want to catch up with you? 

Last time we saw each other, Lillian was so little, she doesn’t even remember meeting her aunt… and I was wondering if my mother had given you a call recently? 

Anywho, please call me back. I’m dying to hear back from you- ~ 

 

She was at least making an attempt to catch up with me, I had to give her that, but I couldn’t help but think that maybe she was being too aggressive with it. If she wanted to fix our relationship, it was going to take time, it wasn’t something that could just be mended over the course of a couple weeks or a party. 

I had always had a respect for her mother from the day I met Lilith, but Claudia hated my mother from the start, and what ended up happening to my mom wasn’t something that I could just forgive. It was largely her fault that I had the kind of mommy issues that I did, and speaking of mommy issues-

“Hey, Miss Paciente.” I dialed in my manager’s number. If I was going to step out for a phone call, I was at least going to talk to someone, my phone was already in my hand after all. “I hope I’m not waking you up, am I?”

“You are , but that’s mostly my fault for having the night I just had, the slaves and I stayed up late making sure our new project was ready to go.” Tallie yawned. “Are you alright, dear? You usually don’t call this early in the morning, and when you do, you don’t usually lead with Miss Paciente~ ”

“No, Ma’am. No, I’m not alright.” I was sinking. Every morning I woke up from dreams about Chloe, just to realize that they were fake, and it was getting harder by the day. “I need an escape.”

“An escape? What kind of escape? You’re in Seattle right now, aren’t you?” 

“Just like you told me to be, yes. But it’s not helping.” I held the phone as close to my head as I could, wanting to be near someone who helped make me feel safe, like my mother used to. “I just need an out, for just a few days, please?”

“You know that I would come get you and bring you out here, but tonight’s opening weekend, and I need DCT to be a success, or my girls won’t be very happy.”

“Then can you please bring me with you? To opening night, I mean- I’ll behave, I promise.” 

“Candace.” Tallulah stopped me in my tracks. “I need you to calm down and listen, okay?”

“Yes, Ma’am. What is it?” 

“I’m going to text you an address once your signing event is over. You go to your signing event later, and then take a trip down there.” I could hear in Tallulah’s voice that she was cursing herself under her breath, but she knew she couldn’t help herself. “And if you can make it home by Saturday at noon, then sure… you can come to opening night~”

“Thank you, Tallulah… I’ll make sure I’m ready~”

“Good girl~”

 

↞✶↠

 

And so I did exactly that. I had a signing event later, and Leah was more than happy to drive me there… it had been her job for the last few months after all. 

I may not be competing in this year’s tournament, but I was still a big star, and I had lots of fans still waiting to see me. I had a couple signing events in California too, including one this very morning before we had left for the airport, but this was the biggest one so far. 

It started out relatively slow, it was still the late morning by the time we’d gotten started, and my crowd was a more adult type, knowing me. There were still a few teenagers though, the type that really ought to be staying away from me, but who really cared. And then about halfway through, we went to lunch. 

 

“This had better be good, Griffin. My lunch break is only so long, so make it quick.” 

Apparently my sister wasn’t the only sibling who thought it important to talk to me today. “Wow. Grouchy much?”

“I’ll show you more than grouchy pretty soon. What is it?”

“What do you think it is, Candace?”

“If I knew, I wouldn’t be asking, Cyrus.” 

“Chloe’s gone. Her new owner took her home last night.”

“I don’t care.”

I did care. I cared a lot, actually. There was nothing I cared about more right now than what was happening to her, and my brother knew that. He was just trying to keep me informed, in an attempt to be nice, but I was far beyond the point of being friendly towards my family right now. 

“Alright, whatever. When she gets killed, I’ll make sure not to let you know.”

“Fuck you too. Don’t call me back.”

Beep. Click. Snap. 

So beyond the point of being friendly to my family was I that I found myself smashing my cell phone on the floor immediately after I hung up, but before I even had the chance to think about it.  

“You.” I snapped at Leah, by hands trembling with anger as I pointed at her. “Get the chip and buy me a new phone.” 

“Whatever you say, Ice queen.”

“And get Aria in here, I need something to hit.”

 

Chloe. The love of my life. My Chloe. 

She shouldn’t have safely reached her new owner’s home, she should be at mine with me, feeding my cats and cleaning my floors. I should be using her as a punching bag to get my frustrations out, not Aria. Chloe should be mine, not someone else’s. 

And it was all my fault that she was gone. But that wasn’t going to stop me from taking it out on someone else.

“Candace??” Aria walked in on me stomping the already shattered pieces of what used to be my phone to smithereens, fresh from actually bringing back lunch. It was just too bad I had already lost my appetite, I was hungry for something much more intimate than food at this point. 

Between the moment that Leah had stepped out of the door and Aria had stepped in, I could have sworn I was going to smack her upside the head the first chance I got. 

But as soon as I saw her I found myself wrapping my arm around her waist and bending her backwards, pressing my lips against hers for a kiss right there in the backroom. 

‘Wrong place, wrong time’ was the story of Aria’s life, or maybe I was the story of Aria’s life, if that’s what I wanted from her. I had a hole in my heart left from getting my Chloe taken away from me, and I needed someone to fill it, and soon~

“Now be a good girl and clean that up.” I smacked her on the ass as soon I had stood her back up, sending her towards the shattered remains of my broken smartphone. “I’ll be back soon~”

Aria was left flustered and flabbergasted, with a reluctantly happy smile on her lips. “But what about lunch?”

“Eat mine for me.” I winked at her as I opened the door. “Mistress will snack later~”

“Y-yes, Ma’-am…”

Oh yeah. That felt good. Maybe there was a silver lining to this all. Who needs romance when I could just have sex with whoever I want, whenever and wherever I want to?

Not me. That’s for sure~

I can do whatever I want. 

 

The main room was already full by the time I’d stepped back inside, back early from my lunch break, ready to get back at it. But the first thing that caught my eye was this cute redhead, already pointing her camera at me to get a picture as I stepped through the door. 

“You must be a fan, I take it~” I grabbed her by the waist and pulled her to me, watching the shocked look at the woman’s face in her selfie camera as she switched over to it just barely in time to get a picture with me, hip to hip. 

“How old are you kid?” I smirked, letting go of the little beauty once she’d gotten a good picture with me, but before I gave her a chance to answer any of my questions. “The afternoon session is for grown ups only~”

I can do whatever I want.

 

↞✶↠

 

“Holy hell, Candace.” Leah was practically scolding me by the time we got into the car. “What the fuck was that?”

“What was what?” For the first time in the last several days, or even the last several months, I felt like a rockstar. I sat myself in the backseat, pulling Aria into the seat next to me and leaning her head against my chest. There was nothing in the world that was going to get me down from this high tonight. “Is there some sort of problem?”

“That would be a fucking understatement, Candace. Did you even register the kind of shit you were doing back there?”

“Pfft, that was nothing, Leah. My father gets away with that shit all the time.”

“Well, last I checked, you’re not your father.” She continued to hiss at me for my perceived foul behavior. “News flash, this isn’t the 70’s or 80’s anymore, you can’t get away with groping fans~”

“I can and I will~” I smirked, groping Aria’s waist beside me. “Besides, it wasn’t anything that bad, you’re overreacting.” 

Leah snarled, turning to me in the backseat and tossing the new phone she had just finished purchasing from me, still in its box, straight towards my head. “Your father was right sending me out here to babysit you.”

“So you are here because he sent you.”

“Of course I am, Candace. Take a good fucking look at yourself.” Leah started the car, angrily kicking it into gear and driving off as quickly as she could. “We’re going back to the hotel.”

“But I have somewhere I need to go after this-”

“Oh yeah, and where’s that???” 

I paused, reaching for my phone from my purse to look up the address that Tallulah had sent me, quickly realizing that I didn’t have a phone to check. 

“Yeah. That’s what I thought.”

 

I sat through a very tense and silent car ride all the way back to the hotel, watching Aria immediately scurry off to our hotel room, eager to not be seen outside with her new fancy collar on any more than she needed to be. 

Leah had a point, but I wasn’t done having my fun for the night. As any respectable recovering alcoholic would, she fucked off back to our room when I decided that I wanted to sit down at the bar. 

I’m not my father. 

I hated being compared to him. It made me feel revolting all the way down to my core. I loved him, I really did. I loved my father, but I didn’t want to become anything like him. I was just having fun. I had enough self control to not let that happen.

 

“Twenty-two.” 

“Pardon?” I turned to the seat beside me, already two cocktails down by the time the pretty redhead girl took a seat at the bar. 

“You asked me how old I was~” She smiled. It was that very same woman from earlier, here in the hotel bar with me. “I’m twenty-two~”

“Oh yeah?” I grinned, looking her up and down. “Do you think you can show me some identification, doll?”

“Whatever she’s having~” The smile on her face as she showed her ID to the bartender was as big as mine was, waiting for the man at the bar to deliver her a drink. “How’s that, enough for you?”

“I think so.” I grinned excitedly, turning to the bartender and nodding at him. “And that’ll be on my tab~”

The girl next to me practically gasped. “You don’t even know my name-”

“Then maybe you ought to stop stalling and give it to me, doll.” I shook my head, eyeing her expectantly. “Or are you here for something else?”

She paused for a moment, her cheek turning bright red as she took her drink from the bartender’s hand. “Riley.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Riley.” I flagged the bartender down again, trying to be as cute as I could be. “I’m Candace~”

“Candace St. Clair, yeah~” She rolled her eyes. “I know.”

“Well then you probably ought to know that I could have my security escort you out for stalking me back to my hotel.” I held my hand out towards the man behind the bar, taking another cocktail into my hand without having to look. “So tell me, Riley. How many drinks do I have to get into that pretty little head of yours before you take me to your hotel room?”

“I don’t have a room, sorry-”

“Then go get one~” I stared her straight in the eyes, smiling hungrily. “It’s on me.”

She sat there for a couple moments, clearly not having expected this from me, but luckily for her I was already three drinks in after all, and I could see right through that pretty little blush on her face.

“Get moving, sweets.” I smiled, taking her drink straight from her hand and finishing it for her. “I’m waiting~”

I appreciated Leah’s concern, really. But unlike my father, I was capable of controlling myself. If cute little Riley really didn’t want to have sex with me she would just go ahead and leave. 

But just a couple minutes later, she came back with a room key in hand. “Room nineteen~”

 

↞✶↠

 

“So what brought you to my side, cute little thing?” I settled into bed next to her, wanting to learn just a little bit about her before getting to my new meal, despite how hungry I was for her. 

“You were the one who snagged me by the hip, were you not?” She giggled, tossing the blankets aside and climbing in with me. 

“Only because you were taking pictures of me~”

“Well yeah, that’s because you’re kind of a celebrity.”

“I’m no celebrity.” I rolled my eyes at the idea of it. “But thank you~”

“I was surprised…” She blushed, cozying up to me. “I guess I just didn’t think you were the type of person to take a girl straight to some hotel room~”

“There’s a first time for everything.” I hummed eagerly, taking a handful of her hair into my palm. “Is there anything else I should know about you before we get started, Riley?”

“Nothing I can think of, Ma’am~” She winked, licking her lips. 

“Then consider yourself my slave for the night.” I took her by the wrist and slammed her down onto her back on the bed beneath her, snarling eagerly under my breath. “Just let me take control of you, and you’ll be just fine~”

That seemed to worry her a bit, but that’s fine, I had taken a liking to putting fear into the eyes of not so innocent little redheads like her. I put my lips to hers, laying her head back on the pillow behind her, her face hot with excitement and fear.  

Let’s see who I’m working with here~

 

She said she’s twenty-two, and judging on how the bartender served her a drink, I felt justified believing her, so at least the little thing’s of age. She had deep dark brown eyes, a couple of little freckles here and there, and gorgeous blue studs on her earlobes. 

She was dressed casually, albeit probably a bit less casually than my last slave often dressed before she got into my grasp. She had a black blouse with a blue cardigan atop it, with little designs stitched into the sleeves with fluffy brown threads. Her jeans were lightly colored, faded with tears already added in by the designers, hardly really jeans at all. 

She was wearing a fancy little belt too, the length of which was lined by harmless metal studs and spikes. I might have thought that the belt was her playing hard to get if it weren’t for the fact that she’d already taken her pretty black pumps and tossed them aside along with her purse. 

The bitch wanted me. Her waist was just a little too thin for her own clothes to stay on without her belt. I would have ditched the cardigan if it wasn’t pinned beneath her, it was hardly worth it anyways. I wanted what was between her legs anyways. 

She was cute, a little bit smaller in the hips than Chloe was, but her soft delicate skin and the fact that she was here in the room with me helped make up for that. She was younger too, and a little bit more lithe than she was. She was no Chloe, but she would do. 

 

You just can’t stop comparing everyone to Chloe, can you? 

It was always the same with me. Even as I found myself pinning down a brand new, and quite exciting little catch, I couldn’t get my mind off of Chloe. And how could I?

Chloe’s cute little figure certainly wasn’t that of a superstar, but it was mine… and I wouldn’t settle for less. 

 

I set my knee on her chest, spreading her tits apart with my leg, feeling them squeeze either side of my already exposed skin. With one hand still holding her by her right wrist, I quickly began unbuckling her belt with the other, yanking it out from under her and off of her body completely. 

“Be good and I won’t have to use this on you~” That scared her. “You don’t want to know what happens to cute little dolls who disobey me.”

Her face blushed bright red, whimpering audibly as she felt the metal rivets graze her skin, the leather of her belt rubbing against her cheek, both deeply exciting and frightening her. 

Riley was turning out to be such a weak willed little thing, and I was too tempted to press my luck to stop from getting ahead of myself.

I set the belt on the pillow beside her head, giving her a look saying Don’t touch that as I got at her chest. The soft fabric of her blouse split easily in my hands as I tore the front of her shirt open like I was driving a knife through it. I had money, I could afford to buy her a replacement if she behaved herself enough to earn it. 

She was almost petrified beneath me, even as I let go of her wrist, it was adorable. I put my lips to hers for another kiss, dredging back up the excitement she had for me. I wanted her to be excited for this next bit. 

I gently tapped my fingers along the seam of her jeans, rubbing her vulva through the fabric, already able to feel how wet she was. Excited was an understatement for her as I pulled her waistband down, stripping her fancy leggings off of her completely. Hard to get my ass, she wished she had come prepared with easier clothes to strip off. 

There it was, her little quim was aching for me through the fabric of her lace. Seems like Riley was always prepared for sex beneath her outer layers. Not only was she wearing fancy little lace panties, but the top she’d been wearing beneath her blouse was also cute black lingerie. 

“Looks like someone went home and got dressed up in lingerie just for me, huh?” I taunted her, watching her cheeks and lips turn pink, squeaking out a delightful little moan as I rubbed her labia through the lace. “It’s too bad pretty black lingerie is my thing, one of us is going to have to change~”

Guess it’s time to get my tits out. I grinned, pulling my quite expensive purple top off of me, slowly and tantalizingly, slipping my bra off with it. 

DD cups, 70-75% artificial. My slave wasn’t the only one who had gotten some work done. I just went to a real doctor for it, rather than some underpaid medical hack at the facility, who still honestly did phenomenal work. 

They were the kinds of breasts that made even straight women blush, luckily Riley here wasn’t straight, not by a long shot. Her face was lighting up like a police siren~

Speaking of light shows. I bit my lip as I removed my single blue contact, flicking it across the room. I had so many of those things it wasn’t funny, and she was mesmerized not only by my tits, but by my eyes as well.

I purred eagerly under my breath as I removed my leggings. All I could do now was hope she wasn’t too surprised by what I was packing down there. There was a 50/50 chance she wouldn’t be into it, I just had to hope that this one wasn’t a cunt sniffing little terf.

She was almost too mesmerized by my flashy scarlet eyes and blinding tits that she almost didn’t notice it, but when she did, she was beyond shocked. 

“Oh- oh shit, I-” She clasped one hand over her mouth, gasping and blushing even through her fingers. “I didn’t know.”

I snarled at her with dead cold eyes, grinding my teeth together in annoyance. “Is there a problem, Riley?”

“N-no, it’s just that I-”

“Charming, yes. I’m sure it won’t bother you to find yourself getting split open then.” I pried her hand from her face, shoving two fingers into her mouth to quiet the squirmy little cunt up. “If you’ve got a problem with it, then maybe you shouldn’t have let yourself get this far~”

Finally she started to put up a fight. Her hands, which up to this point were palms up on either side of her head, were now desperately grasping at my wrist, trying in vain to pry my hand from her mouth. 

“You really think you’re strong enough to stand up to me?” I chuckled, taking her own belt from the pillow beside her head with one hand, watching her try and fail to pull my other hand from her head. 

“Stand down and maybe I won’t choke you any further.” I smirked, pressing my fingers down her throat, watching and feeling her gag on my fingers, her terrified hands nervously prying themselves away from my steady palm. 

“Now Riley, be a good girl and shut up so that I don’t have to shut you up myself.” I slowly pulled my fingers from her lips as I promised, watching for the slightest movement of her mouth to indicate her trying to form words, ready to skewer her throat again. But it did make me smile when she listened, not bothering to say another word for fear of choking again. “Good girl, now stay that way~”

 

I slipped the length of her belt beneath her, looping it around her neck and tightening it around her throat like a leash to keep her in my control as I moved down towards her quivering little cunt. 

“You’d look so good in a collar, doll.” I stared her in the eyes, watching the utter terror overcome her face as I spread her legs. “I may just have to keep you~”

She whined loudly, pleading through her teeth for mercy. I pulled on the belt and listened to her terrified sobs as she choked. It was adorable, but she wasn’t getting away from me, not if I had anything to say about it. “You belong to me now, Riley~”

I shoved my cock inside of her waiting slit, feeling it slide in with ease, admiring the poor desperate beauty on her face as her eyes rolled back into her head. 

“Now behave, little fuckdoll. I don’t want you spoiling my fun~”

She pleaded and begged and screamed the whole way through, soaking the pillows below her with pained tears until she was begging not to be killed or raped. It wasn’t the most satisfying experience, but she was gorgeous and wonderful, and her terrified whimpers were more than enough to bring me to orgasm inside of her soft delicate cunt, even if she didn’t.

 

“See, that wasn’t too bad was it, cardigan?” I pulled her lips to mine with the belt and stole one last kiss from her before letting go, watching in delight as she fell to the bed below and scrambled to unclasp the belt from around her throat. 

Mine. 

I smirked, swiveling in place and standing back up, admiring her naked body as she hacked and gagged for breath, still sobbing. The poor little toy had never been properly put in her place before, but this wasn’t going to be the last time her cute little body would be played with. At least not if I had anything to say about it, which I did. 

Oh yeah. This one is mine.

“Now you had better still be here when I finish freshening up, little thing.” I stood up, taking a gorgeous little stroll to the bathroom to make myself presentable again. “I don’t want to have to hunt you down, but I will if you make me~” 

 

But of course she wasn’t there when I got back, why would she be? 

She hastily got her pants back on, got her shoes and her purse, and she ran away. But she did leave the belt behind for me, how nice of her~

I smiled, equipping myself with her cute little studded belt before making my way out of the room, leaving behind no evidence to suggest that I had ever been there as I quietly made my way back to my own room. 

 

↞✶↠

 

“I don’t care what’s in it or why you have it, but I’m not going to ask again- Where’s the parcel?”

“I don’t have it, Ma’am. I swear… I never took it in the first place.” 

I could hear my companion’s voices long before I had even gotten inside of the room. From the sounds of it, Leah and Aria were arguing with each other about something, and the former didn’t sound very happy. 

I hummed to myself, opening the door and stepping inside, yawning audibly so that the pair of women knew I was coming. I grinned proudly, watching whatever conversation had been going on abruptly come to an end, like most things did when I stepped into the room.

 

Leah sighed, giving me the side eye for a moment as she saw I was there, before her eyes went wide looking me up and down. “And where have you been?”

“Now go on and show me some respect, Ms. Watts.” I smiled and shook my head, rolling my eyes at her. “You have a job I need you to get done~”

She snarled furiously at me, her eyes fixating on the belt at my waist. “What the fuck did you do?”

“There’s this cute little redhead staying in room nineteen.” I closed the door behind me before continuing. “Or there was, I need you to go drag her back here before she calls the police or something~”

“You didn’t-”

“Just go do your fucking job, Leah. I don’t want to have to get my father on your ass, and she’s getting away as we speak, so go.”

Leah growled angrily, staring me in the eyes as she stomped past me, not saying anything otherwise as she made her way out of the room to hunt the poor girl down. 

Sweet, precious silence. Music to my ears. 

 

“Wow, you really aren’t a sweetheart, huh?”

I sighed, turning to Aria and glaring her down. “Can’t I just enjoy the silence for five seconds before you yap your fidgety little ass off?”

“Whatever you say, Ma’am.” Her gaze was deadpan, sarcastic. “You’re the boss…”

I gritted my teeth, standing over her, hands on my hips. “Is there a problem, Aria?”

“Nope.” She shook her head. “No problem at all.”

“Well you sure do make it sound like there’s a problem, unless that’s just you being a bitch again~”

“There’s nothing I can say now that I haven’t already said before.” She softened, and I could begin to gather that the feeling in her eyes wasn’t that of anger, but of sadness. “You’re my best friend and I love you, I just hate almost every part of you is all.”

“You know, you’re lucky I even let you be here, Aria.”

“Yeah, I am. I never said I wasn’t. I’m lucky to even fucking be alive, knowing you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean, Fairmont?”

“I hate your family, Candace. I always have and I always will.” Aria looked up at me, glaring me straight in the eyes and letting her intricate little poker face melt away, her true feelings showing through in a rare moment of clarity for me. “I really thought that losing the world championship was going to be good for you.”

 

Disappointment. That’s what I was seeing in Aria’s eyes. Disappointment.

“I had thought that when Sophia humiliated and defeated you like that, maybe you would realize how scummy it really is to try to cheat and buy your way through everything… maybe seeing some orphan girl make her way all the way to the top of the world all on her own would help you realize that maybe you don’t really need your family’s help to have that kind of life.” Aria turned away, too ashamed to even keep looking at me anymore. It was rare for her to even hint at what she was feeling, let alone to talk about it with anyone, including her best friend. “But then you went and you kidnapped her, and I just… I didn’t know what to think, and I still don’t know how I feel about that…”

 

I froze there for a few moments, feeling her words seep into the cracks in my defenses for a few seconds too long, before snapping back at her, trying to defend myself the only way I knew how to. “Disrespect me again and I will show you hell, Aria Fairmont. Don’t push your luck. Just because you’re my best friend doesn’t make you immune to my wrath.”

“I know that, Candace. Just because you think I’m below you doesn’t mean I’m stupid.” Her voice was still measured and calm as she spoke, trying not to enrage me any further. “I wish you were a better person than you are… but I love you all the same, which is more than your family can say about you.”

“Don’t go insulting my family, Aria.” I snapped back. “Don’t push it, or you’ll be my next slave.”

“I’m done, promise. I just hope you’re not too far gone already.” I could feel her choking on her words, trying not to gag at the idea of being a slave with every moment, a thought which she had much maligned for a long time. “I won’t like it. But I can put up with it… Ma’am.”

I felt my heart twisting in my chest as I looked at her. Because as much as I hated it, she had a point. I just wasn’t in the mood to hear it right now. 

“Watch yourself, Aria… You’re my best friend. But if you can’t show me the respect I deserve, I’ll have no choice but to-”

 

BANG. BANG. 

The world around us shook at the sound of it. Gunshots, two of them. 

Leah… 

The saddened look on my best friend’s face was simply mortified, Aria quickly clasped both of her hands over her mouth, and I could have sworn I was hearing her heart beating inside of her chest if my heart wasn’t doing the same thing.

It was the last thing I wanted to hear. There wasn’t meant to be any gunshots, it was supposed to be simple. But I stood frozen there in horror, unable to do anything about it now that it was done.

 

“We’re leaving.” Leah threw the door open, stepping inside as it slammed into the wall behind her, the gun strapped to her waist concealed beneath her coat as best as she could hide it.

“What the fuck did you do, Leah?” I could feel the ire in my voice trying to burn its way through my throat. “What happened? Where’s Riley?”

“Is this your girl?” Leah snapped at me, shoving something the size of her palm into my chest as she pushed me aside. 

Rylie Bowie. 22 years old. Right there on the card. I stepped backwards, hyperventilating as I pulled it from my chest and stared at it. It was her driver’s license, complete with her date of birth, place of residence, eye color, and height. Covered in her own blood.

“You killed her.”

“I said we’re leaving.”

“You killed her.” I shouted at her, feeling my eyes fill with tears at the thought of it. “How could you…”

This wasn’t the way it was supposed to go. She was supposed to be mine. She was supposed to be just fine… she wasn’t supposed to die. 

“This isn’t what I wanted!!” I pointed it at her accusingly. “This is the last thing I wanted!!”

“Well if you don’t want casualties, then maybe you shouldn’t go sexually assaulting women in broad daylight!!” Leah snapped back at me, her eyes more wet with tears than even mine were. “Pack all of our things up Aria, we’re going home, now.”

I choked on my anger and fear, all of it becoming too real for me all of a sudden. “Why did you-”

“Don’t put this on me , St. Clair.” She slung one of her bags over her shoulder, grabbing me by the arm with her other hand, beginning to drag me out of the hotel room by force. “This isn’t my fault.”

And that’s the part that hurt the most. This wasn’t Leah’s fault. This was my fault. All of this is my fault… 

“Let go of me-” I winced, digging my feet into the ground as Leah tried dragging me along by my arm. “You aren’t my mother, Leah.”

“I might as fucking well be, Candace.” She put her back into it, yanking me out of the room by force. “We’re leaving.”

 

↞✶↠

 

The walk of shame back to the car was equal parts terrifying as it was humiliating, being dragged by my arm like a child made me feel like smaller than I had in a long time. 

All eyes were on the two of us as we made our way out of the hotel. I couldn’t tell if the people littering the lobby were scared of us, or if they just assumed Leah was some sort of police officer as she dragged me out of the building. Either way, no matter what angle you looked at it, they all assumed that I was the perpetrator. 

And they were right. 

 

“Now get in the fucking car.” Leah’s tears had faded away, replaced with a cold dead stare as she opened the passenger’s side rear door, shoving me inside and slamming it shut behind me. 

“I guess we don’t have to figure out where Aria’s going to sleep after all…” I made a pitiful attempt to crack a joke. What else was I supposed to say? 

A girl just died, and it was all my fault. 

She just shook her head, glaring at me in the rearview mirror. “This isn’t something to be laughing about, Candace.”

“I know…” Leah didn’t find it very funny, and neither did I. “Where is Aria anyways?”

“She’s coming.” Leah snarled, looking around the vehicle to make sure no one had followed us out. “I told her to clean up after us.”

“After me, you mean…” I bit my lip, staring down at my feet in shame.

“Yeah. She’s cleaning up after you.” Leah glanced back out of her own window, back at the hotel. “But what else is new?”

Aria may have had her gripes with me and my family, and though I didn’t like them, I knew very well that her feelings were fair and valid, and honestly, I felt the same way towards my family sometimes. 

And right now was one of those times. Aria was ashamed of me, but not as much as I was ashamed of myself. I didn’t deserve a best friend like her… and I most certainly didn’t deserve to take an innocent girl like Riley back home with me. 

Just like I didn’t deserve Chloe. 

 

Aria slammed the driver side door behind her as she climbed into the backseat next to me, struggling to catch her breath. She had issues with what I was doing, but she still chose to stick by me through all of it. 

“Here.” 

She was sitting as far away from me as she could, holding her hand out towards me, handing me something in her open palm. 

“Huh?” At first I thought she just wanted me to take her hand, but I quickly saw what it was she was holding.

My contact lens…

I sighed, taking it from her hand with mine and holding it in my lap. “You went back to her room…”

“You said it was room nineteen.” Aria retracting her hand, gazing out the window as we got moving, trying to not even let her reflection make eye contact with me. “I wanted to make sure there was no evidence left behind… I don’t want you getting in trouble.”

“I hope you’ve come down from your sugar high, princess. Because it’s time to face the fucking music.” Leah stepped in, unafraid to make eye contact with her reflection in the rear view mirror. “I hope you’re proud of yourself, I really am. Don’t expect to earn anything from that signing event today, because you’re going to have to spend just about all of that paying off lawyers and police.”

“Why even bother?” I hung my head again, also too ashamed to make eye contact, even through reflections. “Just let them come get me… I don’t deserve protection.”

“Now listen here you pig-faced little bitch, before I have to pull this car over and smack you upside the head harder than your mommy ever had the courage to.” Leah snarled at me, returning her focus to the road ahead. “This isn’t just about you, Candace. This is about everyone you know and everyone you love, including me, whichever group you want to put me in after tonight.”

I gripped the contact lens in my hand, biting my lip as I silently sat there and listened. 

“I don’t work for you, I work for your father, and I always have. I’m not here with you because I have to be, I’m here with you because I want to be.” She was choking on her words as she sped down the Seattle interstate, her rage bubbling up inside of her. “I’d do a lot for you, Candace… but I am not a kidnapper, I am a bodyguard . I’m not here to drag screaming damsels by the wrist to somewhere they don’t want to go, I’m here to protect you, but you’re really making me feel like I ought to be protecting people from you… If you want to ruin a girl's life, you’ll have to either do that yourself, or find other minions to do it for you.”

“What’s so wrong with it, Leah?” I swallowed nervously, shaking in my seat out of pure shame, trying to find any way to defend myself here. “My father does it. Cyrus does it… Claudia does it…”

“But you don’t.” Leah sighed, slowly but surely finding an exit to pull off the highway. “It’s not like I care what you want to do, I just killed a lady I’ve never met for god’s sake… I’m not trying to pretend like I’m above it all…”

“Then what is it my family is doing that I’m not?” I spat back, my voice full of fear. “What am I doing wrong they aren’t?”

“Nothing. Absolutely nothing. This just isn’t you, Candace…” Leah finally seemed to be calming down some. “You’re better than this.”

 

“You’re better than them.” Aria, still not bothering to look at me, interjected, all while staring out the window. “Or maybe you’re not… that part’s up to you.”

“I don’t care what you think of me after this, Candace. But just because I don’t want to have sex with you doesn’t mean I don’t love you, I do love you. It just means I’m not one of them… I’m not one of those girls you can just bend to your will.” Everything seemed to be calming down now that we had gotten away from the hotel, and everyone had gotten the time to clear their head, or in my case, sober up… like Leah was trying to. “Your father may be able to pull me along on a leash to do his bidding, but you can’t. Because I know deep down, you’re not him… and that makes me fucking untouchable to you.”

“What did he do to wrangle you?” I couldn’t help but smile hearing that. Leah was a tough woman to crack, and for once I was glad that I couldn’t break her. “What does my father have on you?”

“You and your siblings have inherited a fortune from your father, straight from the mafia.” Leah sighed, still watching me in the rear view mirror, trying to make sure we weren’t being followed. “But my father left us nothing but debt.”

Leah decided it best to pull off the road somewhere safe before continuing, finding a parking meter downtown to stop at for just a little while so that we could catch our breath and talk. 

“Look… I know that what you’re going through is tough, breaking up with the love of your life is tough, sweetie. But that’s no excuse for all of this.” She rolled down the window, gazing out at the barely lit stars above. “Ben is dead thanks to me… but that doesn’t mean that I don’t miss him, because I do. The reason it hurt so much is because I loved him… he was my Chloe.”

“Then what happened?” I felt my heart drop in my chest just hearing Chloe’s name. “If you two loved each other, what happened?”

“Ben wanted kids, and I couldn’t bring myself to give them to him.”  

I couldn’t help but blush thinking about it. I didn’t really want kids, but I distinctly remembered Chloe freaking out when she got her tubes tied. Hell, if Riley had lived, she very well could have gotten pregnant just from a single night with me. It was hard to think of myself as anything but my father’s son. “If you didn’t want kids, then he shouldn’t have married you-”

“But I do want kids, Candace. We both did… I wanted kids just as badly as he did, and I still do…”

“If you both wanted kids, then why-”

“Because look at the life I’m living Candace. I’m not living the way I am because I want to, I’m doing it because I have to.” She turned around in her seat to look me in the eyes as she spoke. “But you don’t have to be like him, Candace… and if you were my daughter, I’d be ashamed of you for failing to see that… but more than that, for being so reckless and putting yourself in that kind of danger.”

“Why do you care about what happens to me?” I took a deep breath, looking up from the floor, finally ready to make eye contact with her again. “Why do you live the way you do if you hate it so much?”

“For the same reason that I couldn’t give Ben kids, Candace… I owe a lot of money to your family, and I’m still working to pay it all off…” Leah held me there, not letting me look away from her as she spoke. “I refuse to be like my father, Candace… I won’t bring a child into this world just to suffer the same fate that my father forced me into. I won’t let my daughter inherit my debt like I inherited from my father. I’m going to work my god damn ass off until that debt is paid off, so that way if I ever have children of my own, they won’t have to be like me… they won’t have to be in debt to anyone, not to your father, not to your sister… and especially not to you.”

“Leah, I-” I bit my lip and faced out the window, unable to keep my composure. “I’m sorry…”

“That’s why it hurts me to see you doing shit like this, Candace… you’re acting like your brother, but you never hear about the girls that Cyrus fucked to death before he eventually found Liz, do you?” Leah turned back towards the steering wheel, rolling the window back up now that the tension in the car had cooled down. “You never hear about Rachel.”

She was right, I had never heard the name before. “Who’s Rachel?”

“My sister.” Leah clearly didn’t like talking about her. “Just like me, she worked tirelessly for the family, acting as one of his goons for the longest time, before he decided he’d rather have her on his cock… and when she couldn’t satisfy him, she died. Put down by your family’s hands.”

“Just like my mother was.” I looked at the contact lens in my open palm, a tiny little shield I used to hide my true nature from the people around me. To hide the scars left to me by my mother. 

“Yeah. Just like that.” Leah sighed, kicking the car back into gear. “So sit there, shut up, and behave… we’re finding somewhere else to stay for the night.”

“Alright…”

“Try again.”

“Yes, Ma’am…” Those words didn’t often come out of my mouth, but when they did, it was because they were earned, and I hadn’t earned those words from anyone. “Whatever you say…”

“I’m top dog here, Candace.” Leah went on. “Not you, me.”

“Yes, Ma’am…” I repeated, my heart still full of dread.

“Say it.”

“You’re top dog, Ma’am…” I sighed, holding my clenched fists to my chest. “I’m sorry…”

“I forgive you… now let’s go find a hotel to drop you two off at-”

“Actually, if you don’t mind… I remembered where it was I wanted to go earlier… If I could request a stop, Ma’am?” 

“Right…” Leah smiled at me in the mirror. “Where are we going, kiddo?”

 

↞✶↠

 

Hounds and found. A pet shop. That’s where Tallie was trying to send me, a pet shop. 

Hearing the words top dog helped remind me of that.

“I have a body to dispose of, so unless you two want to help with that, you’d better stay here and wait for me to come pick you up.” Leah saw us off, staying in the car. “If either of you are gone by the time I come back, don’t expect any more help from me.”

“We’ll stay put, promise.” I smiled, holding my hands out for Leah to toss me my new phone, having set it up for me. “Be safe.”

 

“For the record, I am one of those girls you can just bend to your will.” Aria was standing outside the door to the shop, staring up at the sign. “I won’t like it, but I am the kind of person that you can pull around to do your bidding, even if I’d rather not to.”

“Would you like to?” I stood beside her, staring her in the eyes as she turned to look at me. 

“Fuck no.” She grinned, making it impossible to be sure whether or not she was being truthful.

“Dispose of this for me.” I held out my hand, placing the blue eye contact into her open palm. “In as permanent of a manner as you can.”

“How come?” Aria just stared at it, confused as to why she was being asked to do something like that. 

“Because I’m not going to hide behind it anymore.” I didn’t have to tell her why I wanted it done, but I did. “I’m not going to look in the mirror and pretend I’m a better person that I am…”

Aria looked down at it for a few moments before looking back up at me, opening her mouth and bringing her hand to her, tossing the contact lens in her mouth before swallowing it, still looking me in the eyes.

“Show me~”

She listened, opening her mouth so that I could be sure she swallowed it, and sure enough, it was gone. 

“Good girl.”

She blushed, shrugging the little bit of praise off. She wanted neither the punishment of being a slave, nor the pleasure that came with it. 

I smiled, pulling out my phone to take a quick picture of her before she closed her mouth. There was a voicemail on there from an unknown number, who I could only assume was Claudia again, but she’d just have to wait. For now, I just wanted to get a picture of this.

Perfect~

“Can we please go in and look at cats now?”

“Actually…” I blushed just thinking the words, let alone saying them. “I was more thinking about seeing what dogs they have~”

 

 

 

Notes:

Me again, obviously.

Me as in Claudia, not me as in claira, who is slowly but surely learning to write her own name in lowercase as a sign of respect to her superiors, though she is right here with me- say hello to your readers, #9999~

I bet she must feel like how Chloe felt knowing her former fans were watching her being beaten and enslaved on live camera footage. What? They aren’t supposed to know about that? Then why would you write and post it?

Eugh, stupid little thing. She says she got caught up in the moment and couldn’t help herself from writing a cute little Christmas story featuring our two favorite girls, even though it has spoilers in it for this act of the story.

Go ahead and read it at your own risk, lovelies. But know that by the time I’m done with this story, your little fantasy Christmas story with a happy ending for Candace and Chloe might not end up being canonical after all.

The only way to attack the perceived safety of a one-shot that presents you with a happy ending that makes you think that everything is going to be okay in the end is by getting my sinister little claws on the story, and making sure you know that the happy ending you believe you’ll get by the end of this is not one that even the author can guarantee you.

Candace and Chloe are not entitled to a happy ending, and neither are you. Nobody is, not even I am entitled to a happy ending, and I am almost certain I won’t be getting one.

Just look at what Candace is doing, does that look like someone who deserves a happy ending?

If you want a happy ending, you’ll have to behave, and if you don’t… well- That would be a shame, but we’ll just have to see~

 

Your captor,
Claudia Rosegold Mariam

Chapter 23: Sister Wife

Summary:

Hi everyone, it’s me… nice to meet you all.

Claudia’s taken control over just about everything, including me, so you’re probably going to hear from her again before the chapter starts.

All I can really ask is that you just don’t listen to her- I mean, listen to her if you’d like of course, I have no choice but to do as she says, but you don’t have to.

I don’t exactly think that what she is saying is dangerous, I will admit that I kind of fell for her the moment I met her, I just think that she’s trying to make it seem like this story is a lot more about her than it really is. But this story isn’t really about her.

I don’t care whether you like Candace or Claudia better, this story is about them both, but it’s not about which one of them is better, or who I choose in the end.

I’m the one who’s been with you from the beginning. This story is about me.

Maybe you can trust Claudia, or maybe you can’t. It’s up to you to decide who you think you can trust- be it Claudia, Candace, Cyrus, or even Leah.

But if nothing else, I’d like to think you can trust me.

 

Yours truly,
Sophia Madeline Cavalier

Notes:

It’s me again, Claudia. I really should just lead with Claudia.

But of course you aren’t allowed to call me Claudia, because as I stated previously, that exclusive privilege belongs to my beloved wife, which you are not.

Unless you are, which in that case-

Hello my love!! The new potential slave is responding to her training extremely well.

She’s even gone as far as resigning herself to allow me to change the ending to her story, which I had been petitioning for.

Of course I won’t need to change the ending as long as the readers behave themselves, which they haven’t been doing thus far… which just means they’re on a fast track to a bad ending, which makes me really sad, but don’t tell them that.

Actually don’t tell them any of this, this message is just for you. See you soon, my darling~

But you likely aren’t my wife, which means that you shouldn’t be reading that last bit, because if you aren’t my wife and you did read that little message just for her, you’re not behaving.

And that’s not going to get you a happy ending, now is it?

Anyways, as I was saying, you’re to call me Ms. Mariam… and if you continue misbehaving, you’ll be calling me Master soon enough~

 

Your future master,
Claudia Rosegold Mariam

“…What happened?”

One week. That’s how long it had taken me to be purchased by a new owner after I had been taken away from Candace… and now I was somewhere completely new.

Did I faint? I whined loudly, trying to sit up in bed so that I could take in my surroundings. Wait a minute, am I in a real bed?

I actually was. I was waking up in an actual bed for the first time since I had been with Candace, rather than waking up from my recurring nightmares on a bench inside of my holding cell at the facility. I wasn’t even at the facility, I was somewhere else entirely. 

 

“So is that really her??”

“She’s so pretty…”

“Wait look, she’s waking up~”

As soon as I was sitting up in bed I found myself suddenly getting swarmed, surrounded by a group of girls I had never met, who unlike me, were wearing nightgowns and pajamas rather than sleeping entirely naked. 

Oh god… am I in hell? It might seem pretty weird to the uninitiated to assume that waking up in a room full of giggling girls meant that this little lesbian had finally found her way to hell, but the only thing it reminded me of was waking up in a bedroom with three other orphan girls.

Oh fuck, please don’t tell me all of that was a dream. For a split second, I was panicking. There were parts that I most certainly wished were a dream, but I was horribly concerned that I was somehow back in the girl’s bedroom back at the foster home, and I desperately was hoping that not all of my adult life since then had been make believe in my head as I slept. 

Feeling horrifically flustered all of a sudden, I quickly examined by body hoping that my memories were real, and sure enough when I looked at my lower back, I saw it-

My brands… or more accurately, one of my brands. That demented nautilus shell was still there, but Candace’s initials were not. They had been burned over completely, leaving no sign they had ever been there. 

 

“Master watches professionals stream sometimes, she didn’t put that on you, did she?”

“Isn’t that the spiral from that game…”

“So what, did you used to play a lot of RTS???”

Oh fuck. I suddenly realized who these girls actually were, that woman’s other slaves. So it all was real… 

I may be a proud lesbian icon, but having three complete strangers gawking over my naked body was nerve-wracking, even if they are women… very attractive women no less. 

“…Didn’t the mistress say to let her know when she wakes up?”

“Zenna should be the one to go tell her~!!!”

“Wait, why do I have to be the one to do it?”

“…Because she belongs to Claudia, doesn’t she?”

“We belong to Josie, remember???”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I should have to do it?”

“Well I don’t want to do it…”

“And neither do I, Claudia scares me~~~”

“But I don’t want to either?”

“Come on…”

“Just go!!!”

“Alright, fine.”

It was like a cartoon watching them speak one after another, and before I even had the chance to get a word in, the third girl, Zenna, had already stormed out of the room. 

“Hey~!!! I’m Darcey!!!”

“And I’m Autumn…”

 

“H-hi, I- Where am I?” Holy shit, they will not give me a second to adjust, will they? This really was turning out to be just like living in the girl’s room at my foster home. Hopefully they wouldn’t be as annoying as the other foster girls I used to live with. Please don’t be Jana, Sakura, and Lily all over again… 

“You’re home now, I think… This is our bedroom.” Autumn piped up, shushing Darcey before she had the chance to jump back in and overwhelm me any more than she already was. “You know that you’re like… a slave, right?”

“I’m a slave, yeah… I remember that.” I sighed, wishing it wasn’t the case but knowing that it very much was. “My name’s Chloe…”

“You’re that slave girl with no last name, right?” Darcey added, having calmed down just a little bit since I had woken up. “I saw on some of your paperwork you just don’t have a last name somehow~”

“I’d… rather not talk about it…” I frowned, retreating in bed as the two of them stood over and questioned me. Autumn was very cute in her nightgown, and Darcey pajamas were just as cute, but I didn’t have anything but the pink bed sheets I was grabbing at to cover up my naked body. I should not be trusted to live in a bedroom with three other girls. “Wh- what happened to me last night?”

 

“You came out of the facility high on drugs from your surgery, and you fainted~” Zenna opened the door, not for herself, but for her master. 

“Claudia…”

“That’s my name, but that’s not how you should address your superiors, Chloe…” She shook her head, swinging her cane in her hand for a moment before leaning on it for support. “You do know better than that, don’t you?”

“Yes, Ma’am!!” I quickly blurted out, still scared and disoriented. I was in her home now, and that meant I needed to be careful. “It won’t happen again, I’ll be back in working order by the end of the day at the latest, I promise… I just…”

“You just need a moment to adjust, I understand. That’s why you’re not in trouble just yet.” She smiled reassuringly, turning to the other slaves that had been in the room with me and directing them out of the room. “I don’t care where you go, but go make yourself useful, girls… I’d like to give Chloe my full attention for the time being~”

The other girls, without hesitation, did as Claudia said- leaving the two of us alone together. 

“Ma’am, I-”

“Can you work today, Chloe?” Claudia turned to me and smiled, being as friendly as she could for a person who held my life in her hands. “I’m not going to hurt you, so be honest~”

“Yes. I can work today if need be, Ma’am.”

“But do you want to?” She smirked, almost giggling under her breath. 

I stopped, thinking about it for a moment. “Not really, no…”

“Then let’s skip that for today, then~” Her smile was infectious, and her charisma was unmatched, even by my last owner. “How good are you on a leash?”

“Like a show dog, Miss.” I bit my lip, smiling back at her. “Quiet and pretty~”

“Just how I like my slaves~” 

 

Claudia held up her cane, twisting the head of the implement and pulling a long bronze chain from the head of the cane, the end that doesn’t make contact with the floor, equipping herself with a leash built into her cane. 

“Are you familiar with proper leashing procedure, doll?” Claudia held the end of the chain in her hand for a moment before pressing a button and actually letting the chain retract back inside, stepping towards me. 

“Not yours, Miss.” I took a deep breath, steeling myself as she approached, using up all of my energy to keep myself from backing away. “Will you please teach it to me?”

 

Polite, calm, composed. I had made a lot of mistakes while I was with Candace, and I wasn’t about to repeat any of them. There wasn’t going to be any misbehaving from me today. I needed to impress her. 

“On your knees, legs spread. Arms behind your head, elbows up, hair in hand. I need you to keep those sunny locks of yours out of my way.” She smiled, tapping the end of her cane on the ground just once. 

I did as she said, spreading my thighs apart as I knelt for her, holding my hair behind my head. Something about that cane of hers was terrifying to me. “Like this?” 

“Just like that, yes.” She grinned excitedly, holding her cane by the opposite end and put the head to my collar.

It was a strange little detail, but the fancy piece decorating the very top of her cane was actually a head, a sculpture of an animal’s head at least. It was somewhere between a snake and a dragon, and it appeared that the jaws actually opened up at the press of a button.

Click. The metal jaws of the serpentine creature opened up, before just as quickly closing around the head of my collar, biting down on it. There was another clicking sound, Claudia pressing a completely different button, before opening the jaws again and pulling the head of her cane away from my collar. Click. Click. I wasn’t sure how, but in just three clicks she had affixed a leash to my collar without even having to reduce herself to my level. 

“Now say thank you and bow, keep your head down, palms flat on the floor~” 

I was careful not to do anything before she told me to, letting my hair back down and putting my palms on the floor at her feet. I was so close to her, all it would take was grabbing her ankle and knocking her over, but I didn’t. I was too nervous. 

She wanted her due respect from me and she was going to get it. I placed my palms on the floor, and lowered myself to the ground, bowing for her at her feet. “Thank you… Master…”

Master. The word still sounded wrong coming out of my lips. I couldn’t believe I had called her that last night, and I was equally bothered to find myself saying it to her now. Master… that’s supposed to be for Candace, not her.

“Rise to your feet and stay at my side, I don’t want to feel your collar pulling taut.” Claudia gently but firmly tugged on the chain, letting me know it was time to get up. 

I rose to my feet, obeying her every word. At least she was a woman who knew exactly what she was doing. 

“When we walk like this, on a leash, you’re behind me and on my left at all times. That means I want the rightmost point of your right foot further left than the leftmost point of my left foot, and the furthest point of your front foot behind the heel of my back foot, without letting your leash pull taut, do you think you can do that?”

“I think so, Ma’am…” I bit my lip nervously, already able to tell how difficult this was going to be. “It might take me some practice…”

“Would you like said practice now, my dear?”

“If that’s alright with you, Miss…”

“Follow me, cutie~”

 

↞✶↠

 

I quickly got the hang of it, but I wasn’t confident enough to try and tell her when to stop, so we paced around for quite a while until Claudia decided she wanted to stop.

“Take a seat.” We stepped into what looked like a second story conservatory, with great glass walls overlooking the beautiful gardens outside. “On the floor with you~”

I knelt on the floor once again, like I was told, turning to face her in her seat as she spoke. 

“So…” She crossed her legs and smiled, setting her cane down beside her, leaning against the chair. “Let’s figure out what I’m going to do with you then, shall we?”

“Y-yes, Ma’am?” I swallowed nervously. This was the moment of truth, if I couldn’t do as she told me to do, I was almost certainly going to die. 

“You’re a slave. You’ve memorized all of your guidelines, I don’t need to teach you those, I just need to give you purpose… as my maid.” She smiled, admiring my naked body as I looked up at her. “I’m sure you’re good at all of the traditional maid duties, but as you can see, we already have three maids, Chloe.”

“I see that, Ma’am. Yes.”

“Darcey cleans. Autumn cooks. Zenna cares for our daughter.” Claudia’s smile faded away as she took a deep breath, trying to ease her own excitement. “What can you do for me, Chloe?”

“I… excuse me?” I swallowed nervously, shaking in place as I struggled to figure out what to say. “I’m not sure I understand what you’re asking… I’ll do anything you make me-”

“I know you will. I’m not concerned about that.” She went on, sighing. “In order to give you the best chances of success, I want to know what you’re good at, Chloe.”

“What am I good at, Ma’am?” 

What was I good at?

“My last owner made me cook, clean, and serve her. But before that… I don’t know… I’m good at video games… I-” I bit my lip, staring up at her with a bright pink blush on my cheeks. “I can entertain you, Ma’am~”

“I’ll believe that when I see it.” Claudia eyed me hungrily. “So go ahead, entertain me~”

 

You can do this, Chloe… 

I took a deep breath, trying to make myself look as cute as possible as I crawled to her on my hands and knees. I had become accustomed to accomplishing minor tasks such as movement in as humiliating a manner as possible. It hurt, not physically, but mentally, to have to put your pride on the floor for someone else to step on. But it was my life, and if I needed to be good at it to survive, then I was going to master it. 

“May I use my mouth for you, Ma’am?”

“Do you think you deserve to put your filthy little animal mouth anywhere near me, Chloe?”

I looked up at her and shook my head, my hands and knees still firmly planted on the ground beneath me. “No, Ma’am… I don’t deserve that.”

“Then no, no you may not.” She sat there, her legs still crossed as she watched me, waiting to be entertained. 

Right… I need to put on a show. If she wouldn’t let me pleasure her, I’d have to do something else to impress her. Something that Candace liked seeing from me. “May I humiliate myself for your amusement… Ma’am?”

I never thought I could possibly fall this far… asking for permission to do something I didn’t want to do, for the amusement of a person that I didn’t yet know or trust, or want to be with. That was my life now. 

“You may…” Claudia set her elbow on the arm of her chair, leaning her head against her palm for support. “Find a place where you think your mouth does belong, and put it there~”

I sighed, face still flushed as I thought it over, knowing exactly what I ought to do. “Yes, Master.” I took a deep breath in, and then out, lowering my head to the ground between her feet and gently kissing the floor.

There was a moment of silence, the air cracking with fear as I trembled beneath her, hoping that I was doing alright. But somehow all of that stress melted away when I felt the weight of her foot, firmly pressing the back of my head to the floor, reminding me where I stood. 

“You know where you belong, don’t you?”

“Below you, Ma’am.”

“And why is that?”

“Because I’m your slave, and you’re my master.”

“More specific than that, Chloe. Why are you a slave? Why do you deserve this?” 

“Because you’re better than me, Ma’am!!” I pressed the back of my head into her foot as she held it there, not trying to break free, not trying to move her away, just feeling the resistance. I pushed against the weight of her stepping down on my head, just trying to feel her hold me there, wanting to feel her above me. “Because I need to feel your power over me. I need to feel… lesser than you.”

“And why is that, Chloe?”

“Because I am lesser than you…” I stopped, putting my head back to the floor, feeling the weight of her foot follow me down. “I’m lesser than you, Master.”

 

Claudia lifted her foot off of the back of my head, setting it back on the floor beside me. “I don’t care what your childhood was like, or about your life before me, you are a slave and you are mine.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“Say it.”

“I am a slave, and I am yours.”

“Again.”

“I am a slave, and I am yours.”

“One more time?”

“I am a slave, and I am yours.”

“I lied… one more time?”

“I am a slave, and I am yours… Master.”

“Your life is worth less than that of an ordinary human, do you know why?” Claudia spread her legs excitedly, waiting for me to raise my head from the floor before giving me the answer herself. “It’s because you aren’t a human, not anymore.”

“Yes, Ma’am…” I swallowed nervously, keeping my gaze down at her feet and my palms flat on the wooden floor beneath me. “I understand.”

“But that doesn’t mean I don’t want you to be happy.” Claudia smiled, reaching for my chin with her hand rather than using her cane to touch me, lifting my gaze up to look at her. “Darcey, Autumn, and Zenna are all happy, healthy, obedient, and loved. I love all of my slaves dearly, and I want them to feel that, but you have to deserve that love… do you deserve that love, Chloe?”

“No, Ma’am… I don’t.”

“Not yet, you don’t.” She smiled at me, sitting back up in her seat and continuing to stare down at me. “Did your last owner love you, Chloe?”

 

Did my last owner love me? Really?

Of course she had to go there. I could handle anything she could throw at me, except for that. Because the truth was, I had no idea… I had no idea whether Candace ever truly loved me, or if she had just been pretending. 

“I… I don’t know, Ma’am…” I was just glad I had gotten as far away from her as I could. “I’m sorry…”

“The point of me asking is that it doesn’t matter… whoever she was, she can’t reach you anymore. I’m your world now~”

Claudia smiled, uncrossing her legs and spreading them as she continued to gently gaze into my eyes, her loving aura quickly filling my heart with warmth. 

“And as long as you recognize and respect that… you deserve my love~”

I could feel that warmth spreading to my cheeks as I blushed even harder, my face turning red like a cherry. “Do you mean it, Miss?”

“I do…” She gave me a toothy grin, her smile filling the entire room with warmth. “Now get at it, little thing~”

 

Claudia was stunningly beautiful, and it made peeling back the hem of her dress all the more satisfying just to get at her quim… and there it was, wet and waiting for me. She wanted me as much as I wanted her, and honestly… probably quite a lot more. 

There was unfortunately no cock to be found hiding between her legs, but that was okay. Not everyone could be Candace St. Clair, drop dead gorgeous, busty, curvy, perfectly feminine, and well endowed… unbelievably well endowed. I would prefer to be sucking on some nice thick girlcock, but drinking juice straight from the cunt of a goddess was more than enough for me.

She was an insanely pretty woman, as striking as she was imposing. Claudia was six and a half feet of pure lady. She wasn’t wearing anything under that dress of hers, of course she wasn’t, why were rich people so weird?

I thought this kind of strange behavior ran in Candace’s family, but maybe after a certain point, all wealthy people were just deplorable. 

“Thank you, Ma’am…” I relaxed, feeling her running her fingers through my hair made me feel at ease, like she was in control here. I could mess up if she was in control, so I let her bury my face into her clean shaven cunt. Kissing her labia as if they were a pair of lips. 

I had no idea what my new master wanted, but that was okay. I was going to learn, eagerly. I had no reason not to trust her yet after all, it wasn’t her fault I had been forced into slavery, it was Candace’s. Claudia was just the one who bought me off of the black market and decided to give me a home here between her legs, and I should be grateful for that. I was grateful for that. It was leagues better than getting sold off to a man I’ve never met, or getting fucked to death by Candace’s brother. I never wanted to see another member of Candace’s family in my life. 

“Good girl, Chloe~”

Praise. I liked praise, especially when it came from the lips of gorgeous women like her, it meant that something I was doing was making her happy. That’s what I was after, making her happy. I had nothing to strive for in life anymore, except for her. I was going to find happiness somewhere, even if it came from pleasing Claudia Mariam. 

“You’re a very pretty slave, you know that?” This was normal for her. She had three slaves already, she had a girl between her legs more often than she didn’t, she was used to holding conversations like this. “Aren’t you glad you found your way to a proper master?”

“Yes, Ma’am. Thank you very much…” She just won’t stop talking. How am I supposed to do my work if she won’t stop talking? It makes it really hard to focus on pleasuring her.

“That brand of yours you have down there is also quite pretty, I can’t believe I didn’t notice that before~”

“Yes, Ma’am… I had to have one of my other brands removed before I got to you.”

Oh my god. Why does she keep going? I get that she wants to get to know me, but is questioning me while I’m trying to service her cunt really the best idea?”

“I recognize that!” She commented, clearly quite amused that it was there, something she was able to easily recognize. “You know, my little sister plays that game~”

“Stolen Cosmos, you mean?” Oh my god, please shut up. I kept cursing her out in my head, unable to speak my mind to her. “It’s a popular game, Ma’am. I used to play it too~”

“That’s nice, I hope you had fun with that. I won’t be able to let you play any more of that, unfortunately. Online capabilities and what not, you aren’t allowed contact with the outside world I’m afraid.” 

“That’s alright, Miss. I understand that. I had a bit of a falling out with the game anyways.” If I never got to see or hear anything from that cursed game ever again, I would be just fine. In fact, I hoped I’d never have to play another real-time strategy game in my life. I may be good at them, but look how much good they’ve done for me. Things went well for a while, but everything went south when I got to the top. 

You would think that once you reached a certain level of notoriety, you’d be immune to that kind of thing, but no. I was never going to reach a point where I would have been safe from getting kidnapped and sold into the black market, not if getting to the top of my sport wasn’t enough.

It didn’t seem fair that these sickos could be so wealthy and prosperous, but as soon as I became the best in the world, I became a slave. I was just going to have to live with that though. There wasn’t going to be any esports for me, ever again, and that was fine. I had something new to focus on and devote myself to, pleasuring my masters, whoever they ended up being. 

I sighed, pressing my lips to her vulva and slowly lapping at the inside of her cunt with my tongue. Maybe if I smother myself in her genitals she’ll take the hint that I just want to eat her out, and hopefully she’ll let me go quiet. It’s not that I don’t want to talk with my new master, but right now I just wanted to tune out the world and forget how cruel my fate really is. 

“That’s too bad, I was going to suggest that we watch my sister together.” Claudia sighed, cooing at me from above condescendingly. She could do what she wanted with me and I would have no power to stop her, so at least she was being nice. “She plays that game professionally, she’s quite good at it~”

 

“ Ghhhck- ” I quickly yanked myself off of her, pulling out from between her legs, gagging and choking on a combination of my own spit and her vaginal fluid. “What?? What was that??”

“Well now, slow down… be careful.” That was probably a mistake, but she didn’t exactly seem to mind, thankfully. “Starstruck, dear?”

“Y-your sister, Master?” Why am I breathing so fast? Why is my heart beating so hard? What’s wrong with me?

She can’t be talking about who I think she is. She can’t. She can’t. She can’t. 

I gagged, trying desperately not to faint out of shock for the second time in as many days. “You mean th-the one who’s on vacation?”

“That’d be the one, yeah. Why? Would you like to meet her?” She winked, giggling under her breath at my presumably fangirl-esque freakout. “Oh, that reminds me. I really ought to give her a call before I forget… Hold tight cutie~”

Wait. Shit, no!! I watched helplessly as she stood up from her chair, stepping halfway across the conservatory before I could stop her. My mind was racing too quickly for me to get words out of my mouth, my throat clenching down on my sentiments before I got the chance to say them.

It can’t be, that’s just too absurd, the chances are too astronomically low for- Oh my god, wait. Candace doesn’t have a sister… does she?

No, fuck- She does , doesn’t she? But this can’t be her, that’s just- what was her name? What was her name? 

I could feel my arms and legs wobbling beneath me as I sat there, still on all fours- about to collapse where I knelt, where I cowered. If my mental state was a bad sign, the reaction my body was having was probably even more concerning. I was racking my brain for answers, but I just couldn’t figure out her name- I knew that I had heard it once before, but I couldn’t remember, that was such a long time ago.

What was Cyrus’ last name? Griffin. That’s different from his mother’s, isn’t it? What was her last name? So what if it’s Cyrus’ facility, he wouldn’t let me get sold to his other sister, would he?

Besides, just look at her- it’s not possible. She’s too tall and… she doesn’t even look like Candace. Like sure, they would only be half sisters, and Candace is albino, but they look too different. 

Cyrus would have to be her full sibling, and they somehow look even less alike. Cyrus is shorter than Candace too, and just look at the height difference between him and Claudia, it’s nonsensical to think that they could be related, right?

Claudia’s hair is light brown anyways, Candace and Cyrus are both blonde, just like their father. Their father was pretty tall though, and even if Lilith’s hair was kind of brown, it was mostly grey- amazingly. 

The only thing they all have in common with her are those… Stormy blue eyes of hers…

 

“Gah. Straight to voicemail, drat.” Claudia rolled her eyes and grumbled, tapping her foot impatiently as she waited for the tone to tell her to leave a message, clearing her throat as she prepared to do so, gazing straight into my eyes from above- like a goddess. Like Candace. “Her phone is on too, or else it would have sent me straight to her inbox instead of making me wait through her dial tone-”

I stared straight up into them, those gorgeous blue eyes that Claudia has, and for once they seemed calm, less like a storm and more like… the ocean.

Those are Candace’s eyes. 

 

“Hello dear, it’s your sister again. I was just wondering if you had any more thoughts about coming over for a visit anytime soon. My, um- husband… has been dying to get a chance to see you again, says he has something to tell you in person, which I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by.” 

She winked at me, holding one finger up to let me know that this was just going to take a moment as she turned to face away from me, our eyes no longer locked together.

No…

“But anyways, we have several new additions to the family that I’m sure you’ll be delighted to meet. You know- pets and whatnot, they’re the most adorable things… and I-”

Please don’t tell me…

“I guess I just want to catch up with you?”

She can’t be… 

“Last time we saw each other, Lilian was so little, she doesn’t even remember meeting her aunt… and I was wondering if my mother had given you a call recently?”

That’s not possible… 

“Anywho, please call me back. I’m dying to hear back from you-”

Please tell me you’re not…

Click. Claudia, my master, hung up the phone, turning back to face me. She gazed straight into mine with those beautiful oceans in her eyes, and her gorgeous candid smile, her dirty blonde hair glistening in the sunlight beaming down into the conservatory. 

 

I retched, scurrying across the floor away from her seat- away from her- my nails scratching the ground like I was trying to claw my way out of here in some vague sense. 

Claudia was about to say something, I could tell, but all I could hear was her gasping as she watched me for a moment. Those gears in my head that you could always so clearly see ticking away stopped, jammed together and completely stuck, like some stray thought was caught in the gears, shutting everything down in an instant. 

 

It was like my body was trying to expel every part of itself from the inside out, I retched- gagging and hurling. I could feel tears of pain cutting their way out of me like needles as I vomited right there on the fancy tile floor of the conservatory. My new master’s conservatory- on the first day here. She had just brought me home, and almost instantly I was fucking up in the most major way humanly possible, first thing in the morning no less.

“Chloe!!” She shouted, and it just made everything worse. The tears had just been pain, but not now- now they were fear, and anger, and sadness, and despair, all while the tears of pain still poured out of me. 

“I- I- I- I- I- I- I- I-” The first word out of my mouth screeched its way through, looping like a broken record. One syllable, one letter, it was almost as if it was the only word small enough to slip between the cracks and grooves of the gears still stuck in my mind. “I- I’m so… so sorry… Master… my master… I-”

This is it… I’m a dead woman… 

“Oh, hush!!” She scurried towards me, and I was sure she was going to strike me dead then and there, but she found herself at my side. “And you tried to insist that you could work today.”

“I didn’t mean for this to happen, Master. I swear!!” I shut my eyes, hoping she would just be quick. Painless, merciful- that’s how I wanted it. The only thing that I could ask for is that my death not be humiliating. “I’m a failure… I’m sorry I’m such a failure…”

“I said hush, Chloe. Listen to me when I speak.” A hand on my skin, gently rubbing my back. That was what I felt, not a deadly volley of electricity, not the pain of her bludgeoning me with her cane, a hand rubbing my lower back, right around my brand. “Deep breaths.”

“Ma’am… I-”

“Deep breaths, no words.” She silenced me, standing up behind me and looking down at me and the mess I had made. No, I was the mess here. The vomit on the floor was indistinguishable from the ugly disgusting mess that I had become. The catastrophe here in the conservatory with her was me, bile and all. “Can you stand?”

Deep breaths, no words. I couldn’t say for sure that it was a test, but it might have been. I breathed in and out, in and out, nodding my head in affirmation. I could stand. I didn’t have to speak or disobey to let her know that. I could just stand up. 

So I did, slowly but surely, I rose to my feet. I left my pride and dignity on the floor with the rest of the sludge and bile I had spewed out of me. I had no use for them here, my ego was going to do me no good, it was just as useless as I was. 

I used to hate this, and I still did, but I had learned to put up with it- I could put up with looking like a worthless pathetic mess. I could accept being a worthless pathetic mess, that’s what I was. I hated looking the part, but there was no amount of pride that was going to help me here. 

“Don’t think I’m not going to punish you for this, even if you feel like shit- you at least need to learn not to lie about being able to work, and pushing yourself when you’re so clearly inundated with pain.” I could have sworn that she had shouted at me in anger, but she hadn’t. It had been a disappointed yell for sure, but she had shouted at me out of concern. “You’re going to clean this up.”

I am, of course I am. I nodded again, still not needing to speak, not when she told me to stay quiet. I kept breathing, trying to stay calm and collected and presentable. Not for me, but for her. I would never make you clean up after me, Master… I would never let you… 

 

Thump. That was the sound of the end of her cane tapping the floor just once. Not too quiet, not too loud, but just enough to get your attention. It was invasive, but it wasn’t threatening, it was firm… No, it was even more than that. It was strong, but not just strong-

It was assertive. 

“You, my new slave, are to find your way to the washroom downstairs and find some way to clean all of this up- including yourself.” She pointed her cane directly at me, more authoritatively than accusingly. “I don’t care how you get it done, it’s not my job to know how my home stays clean. It’s my job to shelter, nurture, and feed the ones who do… and in return for their service, trust my slaves and their ability to do so.”

I nodded, still silent, still obedient. My eyes lit up as I looked into hers, feeling at ease, safe in knowing that I wasn’t dead just yet. -And I wanted to keep it that way.

“Show me that I can trust you to get it done, with or without the help of someone who will offer such a thing to you, but get it done quickly- or I will be sending you off to bed without dinner tonight.”

Thump. I heard that sound again, and before I was even aware that it was what I was doing, I was already out of the room, headed downstairs. I was obeying. 

I shut my eyes and ran down the stairs. I didn’t care if there were tears running down my face or piss running down my legs, I was going to do what I was told. It was the only thing that I had anymore, my desire. My desire to live, my desire to listen, to serve, to obey, to do what it takes to survive… and the thing that I desired most of all was love. 

I wanted to be loved, and I was going to do everything in my power to make that happen.

 

I ran through the house with my eyes closed, trying to reduce the stimulus I was experiencing. Out the door, off to the left, down the stairs, and immediately to my left again, across the hallway from the room I had woken up in should be- I opened my eyes and peered inside. The washroom. 

We had walked past it on the way upstairs to get to the conservatory, it was right there before the stairs, directly outside of what I assumed was the slave’s quarters, our bedroom- my bedroom. Hopefully after today I would actually get to sleep in a proper bed. 

It was practically the first thing we had walked by on our way through the house. That was where Darcey, the blonde one, had been. I was pretty sure that she was the one in charge of cleaning, right?

“Darcey?” There she was. I couldn’t tell if she was working, on a break, or otherwise, but I didn’t know what I was doing. I wasn’t going to torture myself trying to make it seem like I was a better maid than I was. I was going to do this right, even if that meant admitting that I couldn’t do this by myself. “I need help…”

Please… She stared at me. I could feel it, but I couldn’t see it. I couldn’t see what she was thinking through my crying eyes as I wiped the tears away. Claudia said that I could ask for help, I just need to find someone who would offer it to me, someone who would help me. 

Please help. Please don’t tease me, please don’t bully me, please don’t make fun of me. Please just-

“Yes, I can help-” My eyes slowly fluttered open hearing her voice kindly agreeing to help me. Relieved that she wasn’t like the girls I grew up with. “What do you need, what can I help with?”

Maybe this isn’t going to be the foster home all over again… 

 

↞✶↠

 

“Now let’s get back to bed, and sleep.” 

Darcey helped me clean up the mess in Claudia’s conservatory upstairs with little to no complaints. She didn’t do the work for me, she just got me what I needed and helped walk me through it. Thankfully our master didn’t seem to mind. 

“Am I being put away for the night, Ma’am?” I was composed enough to speak, and hopefully she wouldn’t mind hearing my voice after all of that. I wasn’t arguing, I was just asking to be informed. “Should I expect to go without dinner tonight?”

I was on her leash again as she led me downstairs. I had hardly even noticed that she had let me off of the leash when she was on her phone call, it had never felt like she was any less in control. But somehow it still felt like a relief to be on a leash again. 

“And starve a sick little sweetheart who needs sustenance to recover after her time at the facility?” The thought seemed silly to her, who wanted me back in proper shape to serve her as quickly as I could be. “You, who just ejected whatever little food you had in you, going without dinner?” She giggled, pulling me along. “Unless you make a number of other mistakes today- No. Not likely.”

“Thank you…” Now this, this was a woman who I was eager to impress, just like her. “Thank you, Ma’am.”

 

It had taken me this long to figure out what this reminded me of, what this felt like. But eventually my brain got back into the right state to be able to figure it out. 

Candace. This felt like Candace. 

I could remember that day so clearly, it was like it was happening again. Wanting to serve her only for her to interrupt me, making my work harder for me. Getting flustered, frustrated, wanting to run away from it all.

A sudden surge of pain and terror, unable to breathe, making a mess of myself and immediately thinking that my life was over for it. To get yelled at for getting my bodily fluids all over her floor and immediately be forced to apologize and clean up after myself. 

Trekking across the house with my face flushed with shame and humiliation, and in the end being grateful for the sympathy she decided to show me, and being forgiven. Getting let off the hook on the promise of having dinner taken away from me if I made any further mistakes. 

That was the night she gave me my first brand.

It really was like it was happening all over again, in a different place, at a different time, and with a different mistress, but it was the same. It was almost like I was still with Candace… 

But unlike last time, I wasn’t going to make any further mistakes and get myself in trouble. I wasn’t going to let history repeat itself. I wasn’t going to give Claudia a reason to punish me with a brand. I was going to have dinner tonight, with my new owner, and her family… my new family… 

If I can manage not to fail her like I failed my previous owner, then maybe for once in my miserable useless life I wasn’t failing Candace again. I’m not going to let her efforts go to waste, she wanted me to be safe, she wanted me to find a good home, and I’m not going to let her down by failing another mistress like I had failed her. I’m not going to fail Candace again, not tonight… maybe tomorrow, but not tonight… 

 

Candace… 

All signs pointed to it, and I had grappled with the idea of just letting it go, maybe I didn’t need to know- but I did. There was plausible deniability, even just knowing how unlikely it was, but it could still be her. I couldn’t let this go, I couldn’t wait any longer, I couldn’t keep going like this… I needed to know.

I have to know.

 

“Master.” Claudia had delivered me, on a leash, straight back to the same room I had woken up in. She wanted me to settle down and get some rest, and I wasn’t going to be able to sleep until I knew for sure, but I knew that once that leash came off, I wasn’t going to have the strength to ask. It had to be now, before she tapped that cane of hers and let me off her leash, I need to know. “Excuse me, but I hope I have permission to ask… what’s your sister’s name?”

“My little sister?” I could see in her eyes that it was an odd question to ask, out of all things. But she had no reason not to tell me. So she did.

“Candace. Candace St. Clair.” 

Snap. It was like a lifeline keeping me afloat was being severed as she pressed the button on her cane, retracting her bronze chain and letting me off of her leash, the one thing giving me strength right now. 

“Why do you ask?” She twirled her cane in her hand, now free to swing it around as she pleased. “You aren’t familiar with her, are you?”

“No, Ma’am.” I clenched my mouth shut, lying through my sweet little lips as I bowed for her, my new master. “I don’t know who that is, I’m afraid… my apologies.”

Yes I do. I know Candace better than anyone else in the world… 

 

↞✶↠

 

Dinner. Autumn came to get me for dinner. 

Candace is her sister… I belong to Candace’s sister.

I didn’t sleep, I couldn’t possibly sleep after learning that, I just laid there in bed and cried, but Claudia didn’t need to know that. 

“We sit down here~” Autumn, just like Darcey had been, was doing her best to be helpful. She wasn’t mean, she wasn’t bullying me, she was being kind and welcoming- just like everyone else here had been. 

And that was eating away at me. Because if she was really a part of Candace’s family, that meant the rest of her family was too… and I had never thought a member of that family could be so welcoming.

“Here. We sit here, at the end.” Autumn pulled out a chair for me to take a seat in, so I did, watching Darcey, the other slave, sit down across from me. 

The table was long, and Claudia sat at the head of the table, with no one sitting opposite her on our end. It was like the table in Candace’s dining room, but larger… and there I went comparing everything to Candace again, but this time I had a reason. 

She’s going to find out eventually… I knew that much, I just didn’t know whether I should tell her now, or whether it would be best to wait. Sooner or later, I wasn’t sure which was better just yet. It was obvious that I knew, but she didn’t. Best to keep it to myself tonight…

But for right now there were more important, and frankly more concerning, things to worry about. 

“Who’s she Nanny? I’ve never met her before…” 

There was a child here. A child. There was literally a child here, in the room with four slaves, all of whom were wearing nothing but their uniforms, save for me, who was and still is, completely naked- in front of this small girl, not older than the number of fingers she could count on one hand. 

Of course… leave it to her family to expose their own children to something so horrid.

 

“That’s Chloe. She’s your mommy’s new slave.” The Nanny that the child had referred to, was actually Zenna, Claudia’s other slave. Not only was she standing there holding this little girl’s hand as she walked her inside, but she was also saying the word slave to her like it was normal. Her outfit certainly didn’t help make that any better, not only Zenna’s uniform, but all of the uniforms, left the wearer’s breasts and genitals completely exposed. “She belongs to your mom.”

“Just like you, Nanny!!” The girl giggled, bouncing along the length of the dining room towards her mother at the head of the table, without a care in the world. “You’re one of Mummy’s slaves too~!!”

“That’s right, sweetie.” Strangely, Zenna did seem to mind being called a slave, even by a five year old child who somehow outranked her. “I belong to your mommy, I’m one of her slaves too~”

“That you are, Zenna dear.” Claudia seemed to just watch as Zenna helped the little girl into her seat next to her mother, watching her slave give her a bow before walking away towards her seat. 

“Do I get to play with your new slave, Mummy?”

“Not tonight, Lilian… but maybe in a few days if you’re lucky~”

“Are you going to play with your new slave, Mummy?”

“Of course I am, but Mummy plays games that you’re too little for~”

“Do I get my own slaves when I’m big enough?”

“Of course you do, sweetie… but you’ve still got a long way to go until then~”

 

It was kind of revolting watching this five year old child talk about slaves so casually, even if she was adorable. But luckily, Zenna quickly came to put a lot of my worries to rest.

“She doesn’t know that any of this is abnormal… Honestly I think it’s good for her to recognize the difference between us and real people. You know, humans and slaves.” Zenna sat directly next to me, across from Autumn’s still empty chair. “Don’t worry, playing to Lilian just means video games, she has no idea what any of this is, and she’s not allowed to know.”

“So you mean you don’t… you know-”

“Absolutely not… the masters got rid of the last and only slave who tried… they take that as seriously as they can given their…”

“…Given their what?”

“Given their… tendencies.” Zenna swallowed nervously, sitting up in her seat as she looked to the doorway at Autumn as she entered. “Is Josephine not coming to dinner?”

“Master requested that I deliver her dinner to her room, she’s not feeling well, so I did just that~”

 

“Alright slaves, quiet down~”

Thump. With the sound of Claudia tapping her cane against the ground one more time, the room went completely silent. Exactly how our master wanted it. 

“It’s dinnertime, which means if they want to sit at the table with us, the slaves are to stay silent until spoken to.” Claudia grinned, setting her cane aside as Autumn began to deliver food to everyone, her master’s first, fellow slaves second, and herself last. “Those are our rules, Chloe… do make sure to follow them, if I have to remove you from the table, you won’t be getting to sit on the floor to eat, understood?”

“Yes, Ma’am. I understand.” I sat up straight in my chair, watching Autumn deliver my food to me. “Thank you for making sure I know, Ma’am.”

“Of course, darling… Now be a good girl and eat, you’ll need your strength for tomorrow.”

“Yes, Ma’am… Thank you.”

Thump. She did it again, tapping her cane on the floor, and commanding silence and obedience from her slaves once again. 

And so she got just that. We sat there, silently eating dinner like we were told to, listening to Claudia and her daughter chat about silly little things that Lilian said while her mom helped feed her. It was strange on the outside, but as things went on, it was actually kind of sweet. Claudia wasn’t normal, but she seemed like a pretty good mother who genuinely loved and cared for her daughter. 

But still, it was strange that she exposed her child to her slaves, and it was odd that she would even allow her slaves to sit at the same table with her family in the first place. 

 

“Did your last owner let you sit at the table for dinner, Chloe?”

The whole room froze as she asked me that, within an instant, the eyes of everyone in the room, save for Lilian, were on me- making the realization that I did in fact have a former master. 

“No, Ma’am…” It took me a while to remember that it was alright to respond when spoken to. “Sometimes I got to sit on the floor next to her and eat, but more often than not I was fed in my cell.”

“That sounds dreadful…” Claudia sighed. “She sounds like a dreadful person to make her slave suffer needlessly like that-”

“She wasn’t.” I shut that idea down immediately, realizing a bit too late that maybe that wasn’t the best idea. “I mean… she did things differently, but it wasn’t any worse, Ma’am…” I blushed, trying to flatter my new owner rather than disrespect her. “But, I do like the way you do things, Master… thank you~”

That’s your own sister you’re talking about…  

“You’re very welcome, dearest.” Claudia smiled, wiping her face clean of food scraps as she stood up, helping Lilian out of her seat. “Now then, I am going to put Lilian to bed and join my wife. You slaves are to clean up and get to your room. Nell is very much still on duty, so don’t misbehave.”

The three other slaves, though they were being spoken to, did not respond with anything more than nods and bows. 

 

“And Chloe…” Claudia smiled as she walked past me. “You make sure to sleep in tomorrow, I need you ready to perform exceptionally well on your first day~”

I swallowed nervously, realizing that those were the same words my last owner used to describe my first day with her. “Yes, Master… I won’t let you down.”

“Good girl… I’m counting on it~”

 

Claudia did exactly as she said she would, leaving us to ourselves and turning in for the night. It wasn’t flashy, it wasn’t perfect, but I had at least gotten through my first day with her without getting killed.

 

And that was all that mattered right now. 

Notes:

Here’s a weird thought.

The author here writes all of her other stories in the third person, but this one has been a first person venture from the start.

Do you think by writing from the perspective of not only Chloe, but also from the perspective of Candace, possibly symbolizes this idea that the girls are a reflection of the author, and are in turn parts of her?

And the fact that my perspective has been forcibly wrenched into the story very suddenly by someone who is not the author somehow represents the idea that I am some sort of external force in the narrative, another party or a force of nature, something beyond her control, that is acting upon her?

Do you think that my presence here outside of the seeming bounds of the story represents some sort of meta textual narrative that somehow blurs the line between reality and the story itself… or am I just looking too far into things?

It’s likely the latter, my ideas are quite likely too smart for you, but maybe the lines between the story and reality don’t actually exist- because in that case, the next paragraph should probably worry you more than it excites you.

Anyways, I’ve got to go, there’s lots of work to be done… and you’re going to be busy soon too, because of seen the list of names on the roster for incoming slaves, and yours is one of them~

It’s such a shame you haven’t been behaving yourself, really.

I expected better behavior from you~

 

Your future (and current) overlord,
Claudia Rosegold Mariam

Chapter 24: House Mouse

Notes:

Now if you’ve all been keeping up with my beginning and ending notes like good girls and boys- and whatever else there is that someone could identify as- which I sure do hope you have been doing, then you’ll remember when I pondered about whether Candace and Chloe are representations of the author herself.

Apparently this is not the case. Because I only just noticed that somebody got into the chapter summary for that last chapter, somehow managing to evade my watchful eye, and it most certainly wasn’t little Claira here.

I will say however, Claira darling, that it is a bit presumptuous to name a character after yourself… unless maybe you just like the name. St. Clair is a pretty name after all.

Though I do have to wonder if finding herself under my boot right now is your author’s way of saying that she wished I was there to top her… just like most of you are wishing I was there to top you right now.

Nevertheless, our little troublemakers have been punished, reminded of their place, and put back in line- both of them. (I do have two feet to subjugate with, after all.)

It is curious though… how just a little thing can slip by so unnoticed… maybe there are more things out there that I’ve missed, foreshadowing that’s gone unnoticed. Something beyond even my control…

Anyways… I miss you all already, and I’ll see you next chapter~

 

Your subjugator,
Claudia Rosegold Mariam

“But, Daddy-”

“Don’t But, Daddy me, Candace~!!” My father slammed his fist down on top of his desk, growling and snarling at me. “What I say goes, and that’s final!!”

“But you can’t just shut my career down like this, I worked really hard to get where I am-”

“I can and I am.” My father was intent on getting his way, no matter what, and there was little I could do to try and stop him. “That’s final.”

 

I can’t believe this… I can’t believe he’s doing this to me…

“So what… I have to choose between my career or my inheritance?”

“There’s not much of a choice to be made here sweetheart. I’m not letting you cut yourself out of the inheritance, because you’re going to do what I tell you.”

“So you’re making me quit the game…”

“Yes. Yes I am.”

“But, Daddy-”

“What did I just say, Candace?”

This isn’t fair. Nothing he ever does to me is fair. I finally have something that I love and that I’m proud of, and he wants me to throw it away just so that he can have a closer eye on me. He wants me to work for the family just to make sure that I know he still owns me. 

“You don’t own me… You can’t control my life like this…”

“Oh yeah? Then why do you still call me Daddy?” He smirked, glaring at me with his cold blue eyes, and when he didn’t get an answer from me, he answered his question for me. “That’s right. It’s because I tell you to… so you’re wrong.” 

“Yes, Daddy…” My heart was shattered inside of me, but what else was new, it had been like that since he took Chloe away from me, and now he was taking everything I had left that gave me a connection to her. “I’m sorry…”

“Good girl~” He smiled, leaning back in his seat as he eyed both me and Leah, his assistant and my bodyguard, who was becoming more uncomfortable by the minute. “You aren’t planning on attending your sister’s party, are you?”

“No, Sir…” I bit my lip, shaking my head no. 

“Good.” He seemed satisfied enough with my answer not to question why I would choose to skip Claudia’s party. Which bothered me slightly, but I knew very well that my father didn’t care about what I was thinking, he just needed to know what I was doing. 

“Good?” But I wasn’t satisfied. He asked for a reason, and I wanted to know why. “Why do you ask, anyways?”

“Because she’s only hosting it for her rat of a mother anyways, I don’t need my princess going anywhere near that, it’s not worth it.” 

“It’s for Lilith?” Claudia hadn’t told me that, and neither had Lilith. She hadn’t even so much as called me to let me know it was happening, she just left it to Claudia. Maybe neither of them wanted me there anyways, or more likely, Claudia didn’t want to invite me but her mother made her. “I mean, I wasn’t planning on going… but what if I do choose to attend?”

“I won’t choose to stop you if you want to attend, princess. But I’m not just going to let you go by yourself just for fun. If it was your sister’s party, sure. But since it’s for her mother, I’m not going to send you unless it’s on business.”

“Business?” I scoffed. “What kind of business is there to do at a party?” 

“There’s going to be a lot of people there who owe me money, kitten… And if you want a cut of that money, you’ll have to go and make sure they pay up.” 

“You… want me to be a debt collector?”

“If you’d like to finally make yourself useful to the family which you owe your life to, yes. I’d like you to go and collect debts, princess.”

“But Daddy, that-” I bit my lip, trying to get my words out before he silenced me again. “That sounds dangerous…”

“It’s a dangerous profession, kitten… Your brother, sister, and mom all knew that… and they still put their lives on the line to serve the family.”

“Mommy didn’t have a choice-”

“No, and neither do you.”

“I’m no slave, father…”

“You might as well be.” 

I growled under my breath, but that growl quickly turned into a harmless little mewl when my father snarled back, scaring me back down from any position of power with him. My father was a monster that I could not control, because he had full control over me. 

“You are whatever I say you are, Candace. Because you could have been much much less had I not been feeling generous and merciful to your mother. I may be a mafia boss, but she was a slave, and you very nearly ended up on the other side of that extreme, with her and not here with me… so if you aren’t one of my inheritors then that must mean that you’re one of my slaves, like she was. Now if I were you, I know which one I would prefer, kitten.” 

“Yes, Sir…” My mewling was again reduced, this time to a pitiful whimper, something I’d expect to hear from Chloe’s mouth, not mine. That’s how much my father made me feel like I was a slave. “Thank you…”

“I love you, Princess.”

“I love you too, dad.”

“Come on now…”

“I love you, Daddy~”

 

↞✶↠

 

“God fucking damnit!!!” 

I slammed the car door shut as hard as I could as soon as we got home, stomping my way out of the garage. 

“I can’t do this, Leah. I can’t do this.”

It was mid afternoon by now, we had just landed this morning, arriving from halfway across the country- and I was already losing it. My dad, my father, is trying to make me quit my job and work for him as some sort of debt collector. He thinks that having one of his children as a face would scare clients into forking the money over, but I was having none of it.

This wasn’t what I wanted, this didn’t feel like the lesson I had just learned, this was just unbelievable. Just last night my actions had accidentally resulted in a young woman’s death, and I thought I had learned my lesson. I didn’t want to cause another death, accidentally or on purpose, but apparently that wasn’t the lesson my father was trying to teach me. So what exactly was it?

“I thought the lesson here was not to overuse my power and end up getting people killed.” I stepped inside, followed in by Leah and greeted at the door by Aria. “But I guess that’s not what my father thinks, huh?”

Leah didn’t seem to have a proper response, she was endlessly loyal to serving as my father’s assistant and pawn, but she was quick to condemn his actions, as well as mine whenever I started acting like him- yet she could never really bring herself to do anything about it. 

“Look, honey- your father is… not beholden to any sort of morality.” She sighed, stopping just outside of the doorway. “I just do as he says, and he was very insistent that you’re not allowed to take in a new slave until he okayed it.”

Of course he did, that’s just one more thing my father is taking away from me. When he was my age he had already been married for five years, he was just months away from becoming head of the family, and his oldest daughter was already a year old- yet he still treats me like a child, like I’m still just a year old and need him to tell me what to do. That’s why Riley Bowie died, not because raping girls off the street is wrong to him, but because I’m just not allowed to have another slave after Chloe. I hesitated to say it was unfair, but it certainly wasn’t fair for the right reasons. 

I could hear Aria’s trademark pitter-patter across the house as she played cat and mouse with one of my pets, and my blood boiled. I didn’t want to replace Chloe, just like I didn’t want to go to my sister’s party. But thanks to my father, I was very tempted to do both of those things just to spite him. 

I’m going to this god damn party whether my father wants me to or not.

“Right. Well I guess we’re doing this then.” I turned back to Leah, still standing in the doorway. “Let my father know that I’ll be going to that party.” 

“Don’t sweat it, I’ve got you.” Leah approved of my sudden determination. “I’ll get you there, and take care of our target for us… and you can just have your fun~”

“Thank you, please make sure to inform him that I’ll be bringing someone with me.”

Leah looked up, her eyes following the sounds of Aria’s footsteps through the house, grinning to herself. “I’ll make sure to spring it on him at the last moment, just for you~”

 

Time to confront some demons, then…  

Leah headed out and turned away shortly thereafter, leaving us to ourselves for the time being. Once she was gone, I found my way to the lounge, sitting myself on the floor across from the most precious item in my art collection. 

“How did you do it?” I couldn’t even make eye contact with her as I spoke, despite knowing that she wasn’t real. “How did you put up with him, mom?”

The painting said nothing back to me, of course she said nothing back to me. My mother isn’t a painting, my mother is dead- and she has been for quite a while. 

“You were always there for me… what do you think I should do? Do you think I’m like him?” I sat there on the floor across from her, clutching the small cross attached to my necklace in the palm of my hand, hoping that the girl who I’d gotten killed was in a better place. Away from me. “Do you think that maybe Riley is better off dead than with me?”

 

“I don’t know why you’re talking to a painting rather than your best friend, but if you ask me… Probably.” Aria. It was Aria, who slowly sat down on the floor beside me, two overeager cats in tow, crawling into either of our laps. 

Right. It’s probably time to talk about Aria Fairmont, huh?

Then let me do what my sister does and break away from what was happening to tell you about her, because it’s a really weird, mildly terrifying, and scarily relevant story… especially when it comes to my relationship with my sister, Claudia. 

You might not think it, but a lot of things actually converge on Aria Fairmont, strangely enough. Imagine having a fully completed puzzle, and then reaching into the middle and taking a piece out, that’s what Aria is. 

I met Aria Fairmont when I was eighteen years old, fresh out of my father’s claws, still under the wing of my then and current manager, Tallulah Paciente, who taught me everything there was to know about getting by in this world, money laundering while still being able to do what makes me happy- which at the time, was being a model. 

Just like Aria Fairmont. 

 

“If you hate me so much, then why are you here?” I looked down into my lap as my little calico, Sophia, climbed between my legs. “Are you really just saying you’re my best friend because you need my protection that badly?”

“Protection from your father is nice and all, but no.” Aria was also slightly preoccupied by a cat in her lap, Thea, my black cat, had always liked her a lot. “I hate your family, but I don’t hate you. Because if I’m being honest… I’m kind of in love with you.” 

“Is it bad that I can kind of tell?” I giggled, gently scratching little Sophia behind the ears. “That’s why you didn’t like Chloe, right? Not because you hate seeing slaves, but because you were just jealous of her?”

“I would hesitate to say that I was jealous of her, because I do hate this whole slavery thing, but… kind of.” I could see on her face that she wasn’t exactly proud of that fact. “I was a little bit jealous of her.”

“Aria, I-”

She stopped me, pressing her lips against mine and whimpering into my lips with her warm breath, stopping my heart in my chest as she surprised me with a kiss. 

Of course Aria was in love with me, I could tell that just from talking with her over the phone, but I couldn’t say that I felt bad for her. After all, I was once in love with Aria Fairmont too.

I just wasn’t quite in love with her anymore, not like I had been in love with Chloe.

 

I kissed her back, placing my hand on her chest as I toppled her over onto her back, feeling and hearing the kittens scurry off as I tackled her to the floor, bearing down on her with my lips. 

“C-Candace?”

“Chloe had her chance with me… and she made her decision.”

“But, she- I… what about-”

“Hold your tongue, doll… because I have a few rules for you.”

I loomed over her on my hands and knees, curling my fingers around the head of the collar clasped around her neck, pulling on it to assert my authority. 

“You also had your chance with me, Aria Fairmont, and you were the one who turned me down when I wanted us to be together as equals. So if you really want me as badly as you say you do, then you need to know that we are not equals anymore.”

I pulled her off the ground just slightly by her collar before slamming her back down on the hardwood floor beneath her, hearing her empty head thud against the ground as it impacted. 

“I don’t care what your feelings are about it, but from now on you are a slave. You belong to me, and this collar around your neck is proof of that.”

She was getting flustered just laying there, staring up at me with a mixture of delight and disgust. “P-proof of what?”

“Proof that I am a cat, and you are a mouse.” I snarled at her from above. “I’m better than you.”

 

Aria bit her lip, struggling and failing to hold herself back. I let her out from under me, watching her scurrying away towards the gaming room, only to falter and end up vomiting right there on the hallway floor. Aria did always have a pretty visceral reaction to the horror of being someone’s slave, so it was no surprise to see her hurling at the moment of becoming one. 

She cowered there on the floor as I walked over to her, stomping my foot on the back of her head and shoving her face into her own bile, knowing very well how much she hated it. 

“You can’t get away from me, little mouse.” I lifted my foot from the back of her head, watching her hack and cough desperately under my weight. “Clean this shit up, Fairmont. There’s a broom closet in the parlor.”

 

I kicked her one last time before walking away, heading into my gaming room and closing the door behind me. Aria rejected me when I wanted her, and I wasn’t just going to suck it up and let her into my life. 

Don’t worry Chloe. I’m not just going to let her replace you… if she wants to be with me, she has to earn it.

Just like you did…  

I sat myself down at my gaming pc, logging onto my account, CStC, and launching my Stolen Cosmos client. I stared at my list of friends, full of all sorts of people who I didn’t even recognize as I scrolled down, sighing as I landed on her profile. Chloe’s profile, SoCavalier, which had been offline for the last half year. 

I’ll beat you one day, SoCavalier, mark my words… I’m not done with you yet. 

 

↞✶↠

 

“Alright you, where did my brother put you?”

I curled up on my bed by myself, opening up my suitcase. I wasn’t going to unpack it, I had plans to stay with Tallulah this weekend, I just needed to find the controller to Aria’s collar, which Cyrus had stuffed into my bag while we were out of state. 

“Oh no.”

I forgot it was in there. I had stuffed it inside and hid it so that I wouldn’t have to look at it, so it just sat in there waiting to be found and opened. 

A small red box wrapped in a single blue ribbon. To Candace… From Sophia…  

It was surreal, but the controller to Aria’s collar could wait, this needed my attention first. I untied the ribbon and I opened the box, immediately caught off guard by what I found. 

“What the…” It was a birthday present, something that Chloe had gotten for me after I had lost the world championship to her. She wanted to apologize to me for what happened, but she had never gotten to do so thanks to me. “Oh Chloe…”

 

You helped make my career. Please lend me your ear.
And let me bring cheer. With this souvenir.

I know that I won. But you’re second to none.
Because I had lots of fun. And I hope we’re not done.

I’ve been feeling pretty blue. And didn’t know what to do.
But I know you are too. So I made this for you.

You’re an angel, I swear. Even I can’t compare.
But we made a great pair. Happy Birthday, St. Clair.

 

“Oh my goodness, you loser…” I sighed, unable to keep myself from smiling as I pulled the small slip of paper from the box, flipping it over so that I could read the other side, a note from her- the love of my life, from back before we had ever been together. 

 

I can’t do much, but I was artsy enough to make this for you, and I really enjoyed it. 

I hope there isn’t any bad blood between the two of us, but if there is- I’m sorry. 

I never imagined I would ever reach that stage, especially against you of all people, but getting to play with you was like a dream come true for me. 

I’ve been one of your biggest fans since the day I met you, and I feel really lucky knowing that a girl like me ever got to know you like I did. 

You’re my idol, and I never meant to steal your dream away from you. So here’s a heart, because I know yours is probably broken, and honestly so is mine. But here’s one to help you fix the one inside of you.

I hope that you can find someone to share it with, because I know there are lots of girls who would die to wear your heart around their neck. 

I know it’s neither here nor there, but I know I wouldn’t mind getting to know you better. 

At the very least, I hope that we can still be friends, and if not, I just wanted to say that I hope you win next time. 

Thank you for your support and thank you for letting me be a part of your life for a while. Be safe and take care.

Love, Sophia Madeline Cavalier.

 

“I don’t deserve you Cavalier…” I set the note aside, the corners of my eyes wet with tears as I peeked inside the box to finally see what it was that she had made for me. “I never deserved you…”

I held it in my hand, examining it, admiring it… appreciating it like I never truly learned to appreciate her, neither before she got to me, nor since. It was beautiful, just like her. 

It was a necklace, a very simple thing made in the shape of a heart… with two slightly out of shape spirals. It was pretty, glowing purple in the light. Just holding up to the light was enough for you to be able to see it glow red on one side and blue on the other.

I pulled it apart, seeing what she meant by sharing it with someone. It was a two piece necklace, meant for lovers, something she clearly thought was a cute idea. Chloe really always did have a crush on me, even before she became my slave. I missed her. 

What am I doing? I bit my lip and set the necklace back down in its box, on the verge of bursting into tears. I can’t share this with Aria… I can’t share this with anyone except for her… 

 

“Candace?” Aria was at the door to bring me out for dinner, seeing me there with tears in my eyes. “Are you okay?”

“No…” I hiccuped and sobbed, shaking my head at her as she rushed to my side. “I miss her…”

“Hey hey… It’s gonna be alright.” She landed next to me, gently wrapping her arm around me. “You’re going to be fine-”

“You’re right, Aria. My family is scum and I-” I pulled my hands from my face, trying to stop myself before I started bawling. “I want to be a better person… for her…” 

“She’s gone, Candace.” Aria stopped me right then and there. “Chloe is gone.”

“And that’s why it’s so important!!” I shook her off, getting out of bed and back on my feet. “I want my next slave to love me, Aria… I don’t want to make all of the same mistakes.”

Aria blushed, trying to keep herself from smiling as she avoided eye contact with me. “I can… help… if you want?”

“Please?” I stood over her, standing up straight and reasserting myself. “That’s an order.”

Aria giggled under her breath and shrugged. “Sure…”

“Say Yes, Ma’am.”

“Yes, Ma’am…”

 

↞✶↠

 

“Dinner was… nice.”  I smiled, handing her the dishes for her to wash. “Thank you, Aria.”

Right. Is this how normal people act? Do they thank their slaves and servants for their service?

“I mean, it’s a start.” Aria chuckled, taking the empty dishes to the kitchen and tossing them into the dishwasher. 

“You’re not going to hand wash them?” I tilted my head in an almost comical confusion as I followed her into the kitchen. 

“Why would I hand wash them?” She loaded the dishwasher and shut the door, turning the dial and starting the machine. “You have a dishwasher, why wouldn’t I just use that?”

“Of course you would use the dishwasher, but you should hand wash and dry them first, shouldn’t you?” I crossed my arms, looking over at her sternly, almost condescendingly. “I always made Chloe wash and dry them by hand in the sink first, and then I let her put them in the dishwasher.”

“And then what?” She chuckled, pulling up a chair at the other side of the counter and sitting down. “You made her pull them out of the dishwasher and made her dry them while they were still hot?”

“Well yeah, obviously.” I did the same as she did, pulling out a seat and sitting across from her at the counter. “Isn’t that what’s normal?”

“No!!” She was laughing, rolling her eyes at the stupidity of it. “Normal people just toss shit in the dishwasher and wait until things have dried until they put them away.”

“But what do you do if they come out and still aren’t completely clean?” 

“I mean when that happens then you can wash the rest off by hand~”

“But then why not just avoid it altogether by hand washing them first?”

“Because that takes a lot more work, Candace.”

“Ma’am.” I stared her straight in the eyes with my stern glare. “Call me Ma’am.”

“I-” She sighed, rolling her eyes, but nonetheless smiling at me. “Yes, Ma’am.”

“Why in the world should I let my slaves get away with doing less work if it means that I’m not getting perfection.” I crossed my arms and scowled at her, not having as much fun as she clearly was. “A slave’s job shouldn’t be too easy. I deserve perfection, do I not?”

“I mean, sure you do. But normal people don’t always get perfection.”

“I’m not a normal person, Aria.”

“I know, but like-” 

“They’re slaves, they should do what they’re told to give their betters perfection.”

“I get what you mean, but that gets excessive when you demand it for every little thing.”

“They’re slaves, their time and effort belongs to me, what else are they meant to do?”

“You do realize that slaves are people too, right?? Not everyone is a zephyrian you know??” She seemed flabbergasted, it was amusing on one hand, but concerning on the other hand. “Do you really think they’re any less than you are?”

“Yes. Of course I do, Aria. Slaves are not real people.” I repeated myself just to make sure I was understood. “Slaves are not people.”

“And how can you tell? What about that Riley girl?” Aria retorted. “Was she a slave or was she a person?”

“Well she was a person, of course-”

“But it was somehow still okay to rape and kill her?”

“I was going to make her my slave!! I wasn’t going to kill her!! It’s not my fault that she died.” I bit my lip and snarled under my breath, for one finding myself being the one to amend my statement. “It is my fault that she died… I’ll take responsibility for that. But it wasn’t my decision to have her killed… I didn’t want that.”

“And you should always get what you want, but not her, right?” Aria grinned and shook her head, smirking at me condescendingly. “Because you’re better than her, obviously. It’s just fine that she died, even if she was a person- because she was going to be a slave, right?”

“I was drunk, okay?” I glared angrily at her, somehow finding myself unable to scare her into backing down. “I wouldn’t have done that if I wasn’t already three cocktails down.”

“Oh sure you weren’t, you’re right- just like you wouldn’t have groped fans at the signing event if you weren’t drunk… oh wait, you were sober for that, weren’t you?” Quite on the contrary it would seem, Aria was not backing down. “But you’re right, Ma’am. You’re always right… so please inform me… what’s the difference between people and slaves?”

“Pardon?”

“You know more than me, so what is it that I don’t understand, Ma’am?” Aria frowned, sitting up straight in her seat, trying to mock the behavior of a proper slave. “When does a person become a slave, Mama cat? ”

“I don’t know, Aria. When they’ve been properly trained, or when they’ve been registered in our system, or once they’ve been claimed, how’s that? Does that work for you?”

“That seems kind of arbitrary, don’t you think?" 

“Maybe it is!! So what??”

“All I’m saying is that by that definition, I’m not really a slave, am I?” She smirked, relaxing, slouching in her seat. “ I haven’t been trained or registered in your system… and I don’t see a controller to my collar on your wrist~”

I stood there, growing flustered, but not angry. She was right. She was often right, even though she was lesser than me. Even though I thought of her as lesser than me. “No, I guess you’re not really a slave… you’re just a house mouse.”

“That’s cute. I like that~”

“Thanks.” I smiled, blushing even harder. “It’s been on my mind since this morning.”

 

Aria paused for a couple moments to giggle, we both giggled at that, slowly cooling down from our angry spitting match. “When you say things like that… that slaves aren’t real people, you sound like an 18th century southern plantation owner-”

“I do not!!” I protested, honestly a little bit hurt to be compared to something so racist. “I resent that…” 

“Think about it, Candace.” Aria stared straight at me, daring to call me by my name and not by a title, something which I no longer felt like I could correct her on. 

“I need to think about that.” I wanted to shout at her for being right again. “I’m not the only one who thinks like that you know, my father and my brother are like that too.”

“Yeah but that’s what I’m saying, Candace.” She sighed, whining under her breath at my inability to understand what she was trying to point out. “You’re letting your family do your thinking for you.”

I stomped my foot on the ground and let out an exasperated sigh. “I need to go think for a while, okay?”

“Of course.” She frowned, standing up from her seat. “Can I get you anything?”

“No, please no. I’m good.” I sighed, turning away from her. “I’m just gonna go play video games.”

“You’re sure you’re okay?”

“I’m going to be, yeah… just make yourself at home.”

“You don’t want to lock me in a cage?”

I chuckled and shook my head. “Not yet, no.” 

 

I stepped away from her, needing to clear my head, across the dining room and back to the lounge on the way to the gaming room. 

So what if I’m letting my father think for me, is that really so bad? I stopped in the doorway connecting the lounge to the dining room, staring up at the portrait of me and my mother. He did your thinking for you, didn’t he? 

Of course my father did my mother’s thinking for her, she was his slave, and in the end he did something that ended up killing her… was I really just my father’s slave, just like she was? 

Who was she? Who are you, mom? I stepped towards the portrait, cursing myself out in my head. I know nothing about you… who were you before you were with him? 

Aria was right. Slaves were people, at least to begin with. My mother must have been something before she was a slave- and I had no idea what that was. You couldn’t have always been a slave, what did he do to you to make you the way you were?

I don’t want to be his slave, mom. I don’t want to be a slave. Nobody wants to be a slave. Nobody wants to be a slave… I looked down at my neck, beginning to grab at the cross I was wearing around my neck, but instead I landed on the necklace that Chloe had made for me.

The necklace that Sophia had made for me. Who were you before you were Alecia? 

If I’m not Candace, then I’m just… Cardinal the second… 

I clutched the necklace in my hand, unable to stop thinking about her. Would she really be better off dead than with me, mom? Just like you’re better off away from him?

Am I really just my father’s son? 

 

No. 

I picked up my phone and dialed in Justin’s number. The question of whether or not I was going to be hosting the tournament with him was still up in the air, just like the question of whether I’d be attending my sister’s party. But it was my decision to make.

“Hey Justin, are you still on for hosting this thing with me?”

“Yeah, absolutely… What about you, are you in?”

“Of course I am. If they want me, they can have me~”

“See you there, then.”

“See you there~”

And I was not about to let my father make that decision for me.

 

If you have a problem, you’ll just have to stuff it. I stepped inside of my gaming room again for the second time today, booting up Stolen Cosmos again. 

“Hrmmm…” I paused for a moment, staring at the friends screen as I pulled out my phone and sent Chloe’s old manager one last text. 

~ What’s your username?

~ Username for what?

~ We’re playing Stolen Cosmos, loser. Give it to me. 

~ JustD0wn, with a zero. 

~ CSt.C

~ Yeah, I know your username, runner up .

~ Shut up and get online then!!

I sighed, sitting at my seat impatiently as I waited for him to come online and play with me… Chloe was capable of being friends with this guy, so maybe I could too? 

It was at least a step towards being a functioning human being, and it did bring me a little bit closer to her. I had to get to know him a little bit anyways, we were going to be hosting the tournament together after all- and that was all thanks to her, thanks to Sophia.

Sophia Cavalier is a really pretty name… 

I sighed, scrolling down to Chloe’s old profile again, staring at it and thinking of her as I waited for her ex-boyfriend to come online. 

9 days ago? OH WAIT- 

 

Chloe’s profile hadn’t been offline for the last six months after all, I let her use it a fucking week ago to play in front of my father. I let her log in as SoCavalier instead of CSt.C(1), and she beat me, her name was on the screen!! 

“How can you be so stupid?!” I just about broke my gaming mouse shouting at myself, all I could do was hope that he didn’t notice it while he was online, and he didn’t really seem to anyways.

We logged onto the game and started a match as normal, but this time I wanted to try something new. 

“Not everyone is a zephyrian…” I bit my lip, scrolling my mouse over the option for selecting a faction other than zephyrians, which I played 100% of the time without fail. “Let’s try being human for once~”

 

↞✶↠

 

“Aria!! What time is it??” I stomped into my room, having lost track of time while playing my game. “Did you feed the cats??”

“Feed the cats?” She was lounging on one of the sofas in my room, a book in hand. “Did you expect me to?” 

“You always feed the cats when you’re here, don’t you?” 

“Well, yeah, usually… but you didn’t tell me to. Was I supposed to?”

“I… kind of, yeah?”

“Well then you’re lucky that I did!!” Aria looked up from her book, smirking at me and batting her eyelashes innocently. “But I didn’t have to you know, I’m not your slave~” 

I groaned, picking one of the pillows up from the couch and tossing it directly at her face. “Go change the kitty litter… and empty the dishwasher while you’re at it.”

“Alright fine, but I’m gonna move their food bowls out to the kitchen.” She sighed, but she didn’t argue. She was out of the room before I could even climb into bed. 

Come on, Candace… You just have to ask her. 

 

I wanted to go to my sister’s party, and I didn’t want to go alone. But just because I knew that Aria would say yes didn’t mean I was any less nervous to ask her. We both remembered what happened last time. 

“Hey, Aria… Would you-” I whined under my breath, blushing at my own flustered incompetence as soon as she stepped back in the room. “Would you be my date to my sister’s party?” 

“Your sister’s party??” Her eyes went wide. “Claudia’s party??”

“Well, yeah… she’s my only sister-”

“Your sister hates me, remember??”

 

Right. She does, doesn’t she? I had totally forgotten about that.

The last time I had seen my sister had been at her wedding. After she and her husband had gotten married, they had held their reception at their house. That was where Claudia and I had our big falling out, I remembered that, I had just forgotten that Aria had been my guest at my sister’s wedding. 

I met Aria eight years ago at our first photoshoot together, and I was head over heels for her from the moment I saw her. She didn’t know who I was, she didn’t care who I was, she just thought of me as some weird gamer girl who was trying to be a wannabe model. She was just there for the money. 

Our photoshoots were intimate. How could I not fall for her when our bodies got so close together? 

She was gorgeous, and I had to have her. But when I asked her out, she said no.

We kept having photoshoots together, not because it made a lot of money, and not because she liked me- she didn’t, but because I wanted her so badly. I personally kept losing money going into it just to make sure that she made money and wanted to keep doing them with me. 

And the only reason my father let me do it because it was secretly a front for funneling and laundering money, and Aria got a cut of that without knowing it. 

Eventually that resulted in us growing to where we are today, against all odds. But I didn’t like to think about all of the things I did to her up to Claudia’s reception. I was an even worse person back then than I am now.

“You took me to your sister’s wedding, remember?” She climbed into bed next to me, curling up into a ball against the wall. “I tried telling you how uncomfortable your family made me, and you insisted that I meet them?”

“I remember that, I just don’t remember why she hates you.”

“She accused me of stealing from her, remember?”

“Did you steal from her?”

“No!!” Aria was freaking out now just thinking about it, knowing how dangerous my family was. “No. I didn’t steal from her…”

“Then it’s going to be fine.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.”

“Okay…” Aria swallowed nervously, her face bright red as she smiled at me. “Then yes, I’ll be your date to your sister’s party~”

I smirked eagerly, I was well on my way to making up with my older sister, and just maybe I could get her to forgive my best friend in the process. 

My family never learned to accept Chloe, but maybe they could learn to accept Aria… maybe I could give her a chance.

“I’ll give you ten seconds to run, little mouse.” I grabbed her by the ear, listening to the little squeaks coming from her mouth as I brought her lips to mine for a kiss before releasing her. “Now go~”

 

My heart was thumping with excitement watching my prey gasp, leaping out of bed and scurrying away from the bedroom, not wanting to be eaten. But I was no kitten, no mouse would be escaping me today. 

10… 9… 8… 7… 6… 5… 4… 3 … 2 … 1 … The hunt is on~

There’s a house mouse on the loose, and I was hungry to put her in her place. 

I pounced, not to Aria, but to my suitcase. If I could finally find the controller to her collar, it was already over for her. I didn’t need it to put the cute little thing under my boot, but I knew it would be useful. 

“You little bitch…”

My little house vermin was smarter than I thought… She thought of that, and she got to it before I did. Clever girl, now this was getting fun~

 

“Oh, Fairmont~” I slammed the door to my bedroom as hard as I could, wanting to make sure that she heard me from wherever she was hiding. “Don’t make your new mistress come and drag you back to bed with her… Be a good girl~” 

Silence. She was small and she was quick, wherever she was, I couldn’t hear her. But I was going to find her. Nothing she could do was going to be enough to get away from me. 

Click. I pulled my phone from my pocket and smirked, locking all of the windows and doors out of my house remotely. No way in. No way out.  

“Scurry back to mama cat, little mouse. I don’t want to have to cook you~” 

Alright Fairmont, I’ll play this cat and mouse game with you. 

But of course this is Aria I’m dealing with, she’s a lot craftier than she really ought to be, even if I know generally which areas of the house she likes to hang out in. 

Aside from the sound of Thea trodding her way across the floor, the parlor was quiet and empty. I looked under tables and chairs, behind couches and houseplants, but alas I found nothing. Even the fireplace housed no sign of her. No mouse in sight, or the cats would be playing with her. The broom closet was where I was really hoping she had been hiding, but it was full of nothing but cleaning supplies, like it always was. 

 

Where would she think to hide?

The foyer, parlor, dining room, kitchen, and hallways were too wide and open for them to be tenable hiding places. As was the lounge, even if it didn’t have a camera in it on account of me not wanting the location of my secret door to be caught on camera. 

The cameras~

The real question to ask here wasn’t where she would think to hide, but whether she was clever enough to know how to escape the cameras, because if she wasn’t the game was already over. 

I wasn’t going to check the cameras of course, because that felt like cheating, and I didn’t want my little hunt to be over so soon. But assuming that she was clever enough to avoid the cameras would allow me to very broadly eliminate most rooms in the house.

That would eliminate the gaming room and bathroom, the master bedroom and bathroom, the master bedroom’s closet, as well as Chloe’s cell and her bathroom. Aria wouldn’t be caught dead inside of Chloe’s cell anyways, so the thought of her hiding there didn’t even cross my mind. Much to Fairmont’s chagrin, this would also eliminate the pet bedroom and attached bathroom as possible hiding spots, even if it was her favorite room in my entire house.

The pet bedroom was Aria’s favorite room when it came time for finding a place for her to sleep, but it was also where she liked to destress and play, and that was probably down to her wanting to be one of my pets. But I didn’t even have to go inside to tell that there were no cats in here, which made me think that neither was she. She might have been a mouse, but even she wasn’t small enough to fit inside of the shelves or the cat tower. 

Besides, that would be the first place she would think to hide, and she was smarter than thinking she could get away by hiding in her usual spot.

I wasn’t one to just check all of my rooms blindly, I was going to deduce where she was as methodically as I could. Assuming she was avoiding the cameras, I could also eliminate the wardrobe room as a place for her to hide, but I couldn’t eliminate the laundry room. The laundry room didn’t have a camera in it, and that was for one reason and one reason only. 

 

Does Aria know more about this house than she’s been letting on? 

It was unlikely but it was possible that Aria knew about the existence of the miscellaneous hidden doors sprinkled throughout my house, but unless she had somehow crawled underneath my bed when I wasn’t looking just to get to the secret door in my bedroom, there were only a couple of options available to her. 

I stepped into the wardrobe room, confirming to myself that she wasn’t hiding inside of it, but what I was really after was in the laundry room. The lounge didn’t have a camera in it because I didn’t want the secret door leading to the basement to be caught on camera, likewise, the laundry room didn’t have a camera inside of it because it houses its own little secret. 

I made my way over to the washing machine, but the shelf above the trapdoor hadn’t been moved, and it was unlikely that she would have been capable of moving the shelf back into position from below. But just to be sure, I moved the shelf and checked the hatch, it hadn’t been opened. 

Now things are getting fun. 

I might not be able to deduce her location after all, I was running out of locations, and that just made me even hungrier for her. Unless she had swiped my keys as well, which she hadn’t, she couldn’t get into the guest bedroom. I even opened up the secret door into the basement and headed downstairs, and there was still no sign of her. 

Alright fine, be like that. 

I sat myself down at the security console in the basement, growling angrily under my breath at the thought of having lost my prey. I powered on the monitors and slowly pulled up every room with a camera one by one. 

Foyer, parlor, hallways, kitchen, dining room, wardrobe room, master bedroom, master bathroom, master closet, the holding cell, the slave bathroom, gaming room, gaming bathroom, pet bedroom, pet bathroom. Nothing. Nothing. 

Wha- How are you doing this?

How could my pitiful and pathetic little weakling of a house mouse possibly outsmart me in my own home. She wasn’t in the broom closet, she wasn’t in the laundry room or the safe room, she wasn’t downstairs, and she couldn’t have gotten into the guest bedroom. She couldn’t possibly still be moving around the house, or else she’d be caught on camera. So unless she had managed to go outside before I had locked the doors, she had somehow found a place in my own home that was safe to hide from me. 

She’s… she’s smarter than I am. 

She was hiding from me in one of the rooms in my own home, hidden from sight. 

Think, St. Clair, think. She’s just a stupid mouse, where would she be? 

Where’s the last place I would think to look? Where’s the last place she would think to hide? 

Where’s the last place I would think that she would think to hide? 

The first place she’d think to hide. Where’s the first place she’d think to hide?

 

I stomped upstairs, my breath getting faster and faster with each moment as I got closer to devouring my prey. She crawled through the fucking cat door into the pet bedroom, but I was able to just unlock the door and walk inside. 

“No wonder they’re not in here to bother you, you moved their bowls into the kitchen.” I stepped inside of the room, locking the door behind me so that she couldn’t get out. But I did leave the cat door unlocked for her just to make our little game more interesting. “I will give you this little thing, you gave me quite the run around.” 

Silence. There wasn’t so much as a peep from her, as expected. But if there was one thing that Aria was good at, it was holding her tongue, like she had done for the last four years. 

“You might not be small enough to hide inside of the shelves or the cat tower, but I know for a fact that there’s one thing in here big enough to hold a human being.”

I stepped towards the dog kennel, sitting myself down on top of the small cage. “I thought there was no way you’d hide in your favorite room, but I guess you really are smarter than me… that is until you decided to trap yourself in a cage for me~”

There was a blanket completely covering the dog kennel, partially to help keep the cats out of it, but mostly because I wanted to pretend it wasn’t there. I had gotten it for Chloe, so when she was taken away, I completely hid it from my own view so that I didn’t have to think about it.

 

“Out.” But the game of cat and mouse was over, and it was time to come out now. I held the blanket up and I opened the door for her. “Now.”

There were a few more moments of silence, and then a quiet whimper of indignation as my little mouse did in fact crawl her way out of the dog cage, on all fours no less. 

“You may have outsmarted me, I’ll give you that. But you’re weak, and in the real world that’s never going to be enough for you to escape. This isn’t an episode of Tom & Jerry, don’t ever think you can defeat me, vermin.” I stamped my foot down on her lower back, flattening her under my weight before she could get up onto her feet, trapping her beneath me. “Now be a good girl, and give me the controller.”

She grunted, still pinned under my foot as she placed the watch down on the floor in front of me, holding her hands back so that I could reach down and pick it up, which I did. 

“Now strip.” I lifted my foot off of her back and stood beside her, looking down at her cute petite little form. 

“But, Candace, I-” She gasped, looking up at me with a furious grimace on her face, grinding her teeth together. “I won.”

“I said strip, now do as I say.” I lifted my foot up off of the ground and kicked her upside the head, stomping her to the ground beneath my sole once more, but this time by pressing her face to the carpeted floor. “Unless you want me to crush your stupid little vermin skull beneath my foot, you’ll obey.”

“Yes, Ma’am…” She nervously complied, sitting up in front of me and slowly undressing without ever getting up to her feet. “I just thought-”

“There’s your first mistake.” I snorted, crossing my arms and tapping my foot impatiently. “Stop thinking~” 

“But I thought you were trying to be a better person?!” 

“This is me being a better person, moron.” I smiled, picking my foot up off of the ground and shoving my big toe in her mouth to shut her up. “Last night I subjugated some random woman off the street, but tonight I’m subjugating you, progress~”

I leaned down and held my hand out for her to hand me her clothes, and once she did I grinned, pulling my foot out from her mouth and sitting myself down on the sofa. 

“How is that progress?” She winced, crossing her arms over her breasts to hide them from me out of embarrassment. “How does me being the victim make this any better?”

“Because unlike Riley, you want this.” I smirked, folding her garments into a pile and setting them aside, just to keep them away from her. “And if you don’t want this, you can just leave.”

Aria looked up, her eyes flittering with excitement as she glanced over at the door and then back at me. “I can?”

“Of course you can, watch.” I picked up my phone and grinned, pulling up a floor plan of the house and letting Aria watch as I specifically unlocked the door out of the foyer before sliding my phone beneath the bundle of her clothes. “If you want to leave, leave.”

“Will you give me my clothes back first?”

“Of course not, where’s the fun in that for me?.” I giggled, shaking my head at her. “If you want to leave, you’ll crawl out of here through the cat door, and you’ll drive home naked.”

“That’s not the same as letting me leave-” She scoffed, her face growing bright red. “I don’t even have a car, I can not and will not take the bus, and I can’t drive home either.” 

“Sure you can, here-” I smirked, pulling my ring of keys from my pocket and holding them out in front of her. “I’ll even be nice and let you borrow my car~”

“R-really?” 

“I mean if you can get the keys from me, then sure~”

She blushed and thought it over for a minute, shivering with embarrassment. “And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“I’m going to have my fun with or without you, so if you’d just be a doll and help me undress, as soon as you get my cock out I’ll drop them, does that sound fair?”

“As long as you promise I won’t get arrested driving home…”

“You have nothing to worry about there, I assure you, you can get away with anything in a family vehicle. It’s better to drive home nude than have to spend the night in that kennel, right?”

Aria reluctantly but adamantly steeled her nerves, grabbing my leggings first and helping them off of me, followed by my lace boyshorts, which hid my still tucked but slowly hardening cock, now out in the open. 

“There. Your cock is out, now give them to me.” She bit her lip and held her hand out, her gaze pointed down, not out of respect to her superior, but because she couldn’t quite keep her eyes off of the prize between my legs. “Hurry…”

“Here you are~” I held the keys by the ring and lowered them towards her hand before dropping them, watching the the shocked look of awe and horror on Aria’s face as the ring holding all of the keys slid its way down the length of my cock, landing around the base of my penis while Aria was too busy staring at it. “Oops, I guess you’ll just have to go get it, huh?”

She snarled angrily at me, still resolutely flustered at the idea of having to pull the ring from my genitals, but having come this far- she resolved to do it anyway.

“Don’t you dare put your little mouse fingers on me~” I caught her by the wrist as she moved to pick up the keys with her fingernails, using my other hand to hold my fingers over the buttons of her collar controller. “Use your mouth, or I’ll electrocute you.” 

She couldn’t have possibly thought that this was going to be easy, but she clearly didn’t think it was going to be this hard either. At least not as hard as my cock was as she slid her pretty little mouth down the length of it. 

She choked and pulled herself off once, choking and gagging for breath before trying again. She wasn’t used to sucking cock, but if she wanted to be my date to Claudia’s party she was going to have to learn.

Her eyes rolled back into her head as she choked, tears rolling down her cheeks in pain as she caught the key ring by her teeth and pulled it off of me and spitting it onto the floor next to her as she gasped for air. Even I had to admit that the feeling of the ring touching the head of my member felt really nice. 

“There.” I bit my lip, letting a small moan out from my lips as I congratulated her. “That’s it, no more funny business. The doors are unlocked, you have the keys, if you want to leave, you can leave… you’ve earned it.”

And this time I meant it. I may have tricked her into sucking the keyring off the base of my penis, but that was all that I was going to force on her tonight. No full on sex, no rape, and no getting killed. If Aria Fairmont wants to leave now, she’s earned it. She just has to crawl through the little cat flap and drive away. 

“If my little mouse wants to scurry away, this cat is going to let her.”

“Mama cat’s just lucky she doesn’t have barbs on her cock, or she would have lost it all just now…” Aria glared at me from there on her knees, her fingers wrapped around the keyring as she huffed and puffed with reckless abandon, ready to do something stupid. 

Aria sure did have a furious beauty about her as she clung to the keys, having well earned her upcoming respite. “If I had penile spines like a real cat, I think you would be dead, little mouse.”

“Right…” She looked away, a flustered scowl of pain and humiliation swaying in the wind. “I’m leaving then…” 

And so she began to head out, slowly crawling through the cat flap and out into the rest of the house. She was so pretty too, I really did want to devour my prey, but I decided instead to be fair. Not only had she practically bested me in a game of cat and mouse, but she earned her way out by the means I had given her. 

I watched her on my phone, through the cameras, stopping her just as she was about to step out of the door. Not to reveal that I had tricked her and was going to keep her trapped, but to say what I needed to say before she left.

 

“Hey, Aria?” I held the phone up to my face, speaking through the intercom so that she could hear me. “I just wanted to make sure… do you still want to be my date to Claudia’s party?”

“What, you mean you’re not going to force me into it?” There was a stinging silence in the air after her sarcastic remark. “Because either way, the answer’s yes…”

“You mean you’re not mad?”

“I mean I am, but-” Aria scoffed, and I could tell just from her voice that she was blushing. “Thanks for giving me a choice tonight…”

“Hey, um…” She couldn’t see it, but I was smiling. “If you’re free this weekend, I’m going to be out of state with Tallie… and I kind of need someone to house sit?”

“Yeah, sure… I’m not really doing anything.”

“I appreciate that a lot… and if you’re down for it, I might ask Rebecca to make a house call for you~”

“A house call for what?” She paused for a moment, but being as smart as she was she quickly figured it out. “Wait, no. Let me guess- an IUD?”

“Right on the money as always~”

“Better that than choking on your cock every time we fuck.”

“If you say so, I happen to like it~”

“Yeah well I don’t… but I do like you, so maybe I’ll have to put up with it.”

I whined through the intercom for a moment, sighing under my breath. “You’re only leaving to spite me, aren’t you?”

“And I’m getting away with it too~!!”

I rolled my eyes and smirked, pulling my phone away from my head. “Goodnight, house mouse~”

“See you in the morning~”

 

I smiled and turned the intercom off, letting Aria slip through my fingers for tonight. They say that if you love something you should let it go, and if it finds its way back to you, that’s how you know it loves you back. If it comes back to you, it’s yours, but if it never does, then it was really never yours to begin with.

“Oh, Chloe…” 

I stared over at the quiet empty kennel and gripped the necklace she made me in my hand, holding my fist to my forehead as I sobbed quietly to myself. 

I wanted her back. I wanted her back more than anything in the world. But right now was one of those moments where I wished she wouldn’t. 

All I could think of was getting her back someday, but not right now. If I was ever really going to have her back, I needed to be better. I wanted to deserve her, and that meant that I needed to change. 

If I was ever going to welcome her back into my life, be it as a friend or lover, I needed to become a better person first. 

 

I’m not going to take you for granted anymore, Chloe. If you decide to come back to me, I’m not going to be the same person who let you go. 

The next time you see me, I’m going to deserve having you back in my life. I promise.

 

 

 

Notes:

Well it sure does look like someone is getting her just desserts, now isn’t she?

I still think Candace’s little vermin is lying to her, and to you for that matter, about her thieving little paws, but if Candace can choose to forgive her, so can I.

At least until I find out that she really does have Charlotte’s Parcel, then I would lose my god damn fucking mind… How dare someone so puny as her come into my home and take one of my most precious possessions straight from my collection?

It’s even more disgusting and unthinkable than she is, and I hurl just as hard as she does thinking about it.

And if you are still holding out hope that somehow Candace and Chloe will be reunited at that party of mine, let me make you aware of the fact that the chapter you’ve just read and the one you’re about to read both take place on the 2nd of October… and I’ll give you the mental homework of hunting down the date of the party.

I promise you you’ll find it somewhere, I just won’t hand it to you. But I’ll give you a hint, look for the invitation… and while you’re at it, maybe go through and try and find some of that foreshadowing you might have missed.

Somebody sure does seem to be hiding something, now doesn’t she?

But I won’t spoil the fun by telling you who that mystery girl might be~

 

Your lorekeeper,
Claudia Rosegold Mariam

Chapter 25: Weak At The Knees

“We get to sleep in beds…”

“Yeah, it kinda sucks that we don’t all get our own, I know.” Zenna made the bed for us, having gotten used to doing it every night anyways. “But I don’t mind sharing with you, really.” 

How and why were they all so nice and helpful to me? It didn’t seem right- they don’t know anything about me.

“I get to sleep in an actual bed for a change…”

Zenna smiled at that, she had a very pretty smile after all. She was a very pretty girl, they all were. 

 

Darcey’s smile was a little bit unfortunate, but she was still really cute. Her teeth were more than just crooked, they were malformed, with one of her teeth poking through her top gum above where teeth normally ought to be. She had a sort of disheveled look about her, her hair was messy and all over the place, and it almost reached her shoulders. Her hair was blonde, not dirty blonde like Claudia, platinum blonde like Candace, or ordinary blonde like Cyrus- but dyed blonde and always in her face. She wasn’t very smart, you could tell that by just looking at her- her dyed blonde hair even helped make her look the part of a bimbo.

Her hair was clearly meant to be a natural brown, she had deep dark brown eyes and brown eyebrows, the left of which was pierced with a single stud, trying to mask over the fact that she was missing a part of one of her eyebrows. But she was cute and there was no denying that. She had a fairly thin and flat nose, and red patches of skin on her face which looked very scratchy, and almost like she was a doll who had been stitched together with fabric of different colors. 

 

In contrast, Autumn looked fairly robotic. Her teeth were straight and uniform, almost scarily so, even her normally sharp canines and incisors looked fairly dull, almost shiny. Her skin was almost shiny too, with no sign of even the slightest of skin irregularities. She had a much more angular, almost pointy nose, and her eyebrows were quite thin, which made it seem like she was either feeling or showing very little emotion at all. 

Her robotic emotionless nature certainly wasn’t helped by the fact that she didn’t seem to blink very often, she had very pretty eyes though, bright emerald green. And when she did blink you could see a very small mole on the bottom eyelid of her left eye, which likely contributed to the fact that she didn’t blink very often. Her hair was equally uniform too, with a light brown french braid that hung straight down the length of her back, all the way down to her knees- ending exactly at her knees. 

 

And finally, Zenna was very pretty, as well as the most distinct looking of the three of them. Her head of dark brown hair reached down past her shoulders, except on the left side of her head, which was shaved down- with the symbol of a four leaf clover shaved into the side of her head. But what hair was there was a mane, a fluffy, healthy, luxurious mane. It was just too bad that the rest of her face didn’t seem to be as well taken care of as her hair was. Because despite her intimidating appearance, she seemed to be kind of a scaredy cat. 

For starters, she had a very round nose, thicker and sharper eyebrows than either of the other girls had, as well as teeth sharper and more dangerous than either of the other girls too. She looked scary and intimidating for sure, but you could tell that she really wasn’t- she was kind of a wuss. She walked around all day letting a five year old lead her by the hand and tell her what to do, she was too scared to put her foot down on anything at all, and it looked like she often ended up getting punished anyways. She had a scar on her top lip from where it had obviously been gashed open once upon a time, and under that hair that hung over the right side of her face, she had quite a few bruises. Zenna clearly wasn’t one who was good at standing up for herself. 

 

“Bedtime, girls. Let’s go~” 

We were being scolded by one of our master’s flying monkeys. This was apparently Claudia’s enforcer, Nell. She had only said their name once, but I had made sure not to forget it like I had forgotten when Candace said her sister’s name. 

I belong to Candace’s sister, not Candace. Was really the only thought in my mind at this time of night, I really needed to get some sleep, and I didn’t have the energy to figure out whether Nell was a boy or girl, let alone to argue with them. So the four of us nodded our agreement, and watched as they closed the door to our room and locked us inside for the night. 

“Nell will come and get us in the morning when it’s time to start working.” Zenna smiled, climbing into bed and making room for me. “Well, not you obviously, Master told you to sleep in tomorrow morning, but usually Nell will come get us~”

“Will they help me get my… uniform… too?” I had noticed that it was Nell who had taken the uniforms off of the other slaves before we had started settling into bed, and I was wondering what the story behind that was. 

“Maybe!!” Zenna giggled. “Nell is just the best at helping us get them on and off properly is all~”

“That makes sense.” I sighed, climbing into bed next to Zenna. I didn’t know her, and I didn’t really trust her to not kill me in my sleep, but it was my only chance to sleep in an actual bed- and I slept in bed with Candace St. Clair, didn’t I? “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Chloe!!!”

“Goodnight, Chloe…”

“Goodnight, Chloe~”

In one last show of how sweet the three of them were, they all couldn’t help themselves but to wish me goodnight in their own unique little ways.

 

↞✶↠

 

How did I sleep through them all waking up?

I climbed out of bed, examining the room around me- empty. Darcey, Autumn, and Zenna had already woken up and gotten to work by the time I was out of bed, and unlike last time they weren’t here to wish me a good morning, which I was a little bit thankful for. I was glad that they were being so nice to me, but it was a little bit overwhelming, and I shouldn’t be sleeping in a bedroom with three other women anyways. 

Do you think they’re all gay too?

I didn’t know who I was asking, I was just asking in my head, wondering to myself. This room was much nicer than the cell that Candace gave me by a long shot, even taking into consideration that I had to share it with three other girls. 

Does she really trust me so blindly that she thought it was a good idea to leave me alone?

It didn’t seem to make much sense, but I distinctly remembered seeing that Claudia hadn’t been wearing the controller to my collar that had been given to her last night, she had been relying on that fancy cane of hers. 

Am I really stupid enough to make an escape attempt?

I didn’t know her capabilities, I didn’t know whether escape was even going to be possible, or where I would go if I did manage it- but it was still an option to try. I had never actually stopped formulating a plan to escape Candace after all, I just needed to start over with her sister.

And that begins with figuring out more about her house. 

 

Unlocked. I turned the handle to the door to confirm that it was unlocked, and it was. 

Alright, what else do we have here?

I turned back away from the door to examine the rest of our bedroom. It was kind of narrow in width, but it was much longer than that, a lot more rectangular than square. Across from the door back out into the hallway enough, on the other side of the length of this room, was oddly enough, another door. 

Where does that go?

It should have been obvious to any normal person living in any normal bedroom that the answer was obvious, but not to me. It was a bathroom, of course it was a bathroom. You can’t just lock four girls up in one carpeted bedroom overnight and not give them access to a bathroom, that was a little too much to ask for. But nevertheless, I appreciated it immensely, having a bathroom connected to my cell was something I had never even dreamed of when I lived with Candace. 

I exited the bathroom once I was done powdering my nose, and I turned to the right. The room was actually kind of shaped like the letter L, and there was a small little alcove off to the side of one end, and another door.

Unlike my cell back at home- err, with Candace- this one had a window, but looking inside was enough to be able to tell that it was most definitely a cell. The door did open up too, and unlike my old cell, it didn’t lock behind me. But unlike my old cell, there was still somehow another door on the other side of the cell, but this one was neither unlocked nor did it have a window to peer inside of it. Dead end, drat. 

 

There was only one way to go from here, back out into the hallway, now that I had exhausted my other options. I wasn’t going to avoid Claudia per say, but I wasn’t going to go looking for her either, but if she asked- I totally was looking for her. 

Immediately turning right in the hallway took me to a dead end and another door, locked. I’ll have to go the other way- and there it was.

The ballroom. It was absolutely massive, filled to the brim with extremely fancy furniture, paintings, fireplaces on either end, tables, chairs, sofas, televisions, it was extremely overwhelming. There was even a balcony on the second floor that allowed one to look into the ballroom from above, it just unfortunately came at the cost of losing a lot of floor space on the second floor, which I guess is her prerogative. 

Connected to the ballroom was her massive dining room, which we had eaten in last night. There was no door separating the two, just a massive, open, and very fancy archway. But above that archway was a set of portraits. One of Claudia on the right, one of her wife on the life, and one of their daughter in the very middle. 

I kept myself wrapped in the blanket which I had stolen off the bed and I stepped inside of the ballroom, admiring it in all of its beauty. 

Opposite the dining room, on the other side of the ballroom, was the foyer. But on either side of the ballroom hung two other portraits. On the left side of the ballroom hung a portrait of her mother, Lilith, over the fireplace. Across from that of course, on the right side of the ballroom, was a portrait of her father, Cardinal- the head of their family and the reason I had been taken away from Candace- on the opposite wall from her mother’s portrait.

It took me a moment to realize it, but that portrait of her father was on the other side of the very same wall from our bedroom, and that made my stomach churn. Whatever, I tried to ignore it and move on, walking across the ballroom away from where I had started, until I got closer to the doorway into another hallway and noticed that there was a much smaller portrait of Claudia’s brother- Cyrus. 

I whipped around as fast as I could and sure enough, there it was, exactly across the wall from the portrait of Cyrus on the wall next to his mother, was a portrait of their little sister Candace, on the very same wall as the painting of her father. Which meant that it was also on the other side of my new bedroom wall. 

Damn it. I’m never going to escape her.  

If you step into the house from the foyer, you’ll reach the ballroom, and on the other end of the ballroom was the dining room. Just before you reached the dining room however, was a hallway that ran perpendicular to the entryway, and attached to that hallway off to the right was the bedroom designated for Claudia’s slaves. So what’s off to the left of the ballroom?

 

“Well hello there, dear.” It was a woman’s voice, one that most certainly wasn’t Claudia’s, but one that I somehow recognized. “What in the world are you doing here?”

“Miss Mariam. My apologies… I-” That was her last name, Mariam. Lilith Mariam. I wasn’t staring at a portrait of Claudia’s mother, I was actually staring at Claudia’s mother as she sat down on the couch of a rather impressive side room. “Please don’t tell Candace…”

“Is Candace here with you, then?” Oh no. She didn’t know, and I couldn’t have her letting her daughter know who I used to belong to.

“Please don’t mention her name, Ma’am.” I bit my lip, desperately lowering my gaze to show her respect. “Miss Claudia doesn’t know…” 

 

“Miss Claudia doesn’t know what, sweetie?” I quickly looked up, seeing Claudia stepping into the room from the other end. 

“N-nothing, Master.” I bit my lip and took a deep breath, quickly making my way over to her. “You just don’t know what to do with me yet… that’s all…”

“Well before I can do anything with you I need to get that cute little body of yours into a uniform~”

“Yes, Ma’am. Of course~!!” 

“But first-” Claudia smiled, turning to her mother and tossing something across the room straight at Lilith. “If you’re going to smoke that, take it outside this time, please?”

Lilith smiled at her daughter as she slowly stuffed the package straight into her jacket pocket so that she could get up. She might not have been a decrepit woman just yet, but she was still old enough to need help to her feet. She’s in her very early sixties, if I had to place an exact guess, 61. So I did what any helpful slave would do to help her master’s elderly mother, I darted to her side and took her by the arm, slowly and safely helping her up off of the sofa and back onto her feet. 

“Here, let me-” I smiled, eagerly doing what I thought was right, and my master seemed to appreciate it. As soon as I made eye contact with her she smiled back at me, nodding in approval as I helped Lilith to the door. 

She had a cane just like her daughter’s, but unlike her daughter, Lilith had a prosthetic leg attached to her left knee, something which I hadn’t noticed about her when I first met her. “See dearie, I told you the girl was a doll, did I not?”

“Pardon?” Claudia responded.

“Oh nothing, just make sure the slave doesn’t run out the door after me.” Lilith smiled, having to reach up to pat her daughter’s shoulder as she headed for the door behind Claudia.

And Claudia did just that, motioning me towards her with one finger to make sure I was within arm’s reach of her. 

The door out of the room seemed to lead into a little vestibule, a small room between the exterior door leading into a building and the doors leading into the rest of the building. It’s why a lot of buildings have two sets of doors, largely to help regulate temperature, but in this case it also helped to make escape more difficult for slaves. 

“Have you met my mother before, Chloe?”

“Not that I can remember, Ma’am.” Lying. I didn’t exactly like to lie, but I did like to think that I was pretty good at it. 

“Right, well this way is to my office.” She pointed at the door that her mother had left through, and began to lead me there. But instead of heading outside, she began heading across the vestibule towards another door into the building, presumably into her office. 

But I stopped, frozen inside of the vestibule as I looked outside, towards freedom. Lilith was out there, leaning against the outside wall of the house for support as she smoked. 

“Is something the matter, girl?” Claudia tapped me on the shoulder, snapping me out of it. 

I looked up towards her and then back towards her mother, staring outside. “It’s nothing, Ma’am. I just… haven’t been outside in ages.”

“We’ll get to that eventually I’m sure, hell maybe we’ll even get to go swimming eventually, I had meant to go to the beach this summer, but never really got the chance.”

“That sounds nice, Ma’am.” Maybe if she would take me to the beach I would be able to swim away to freedom. “It’s October, right? It’s not too late is it?”

“Chloe.” Claudia pointed me towards the door to her office, her hand on my lower back as she gently nudged me inside. “Come on, inside~”

“Yes, Ma’am.” I shot one more glance out the window at her mother, watching her exhale a lung full of gas again, it wasn’t smoke as far as I could tell, but I didn’t know what it was. “I’m sorry for speaking out of line…” 

“Patience is a two way street, I suppose.” She helped me take a seat, still too early in the morning to get upset. 

“Thank you, Ma’am… I’ll be more respectful.”

“Very good~”

 

Her office was a pretty big room, not quite as large as the sitting room we had just left, but certainly not small. I was highly tempted to dash back out of the room and head outside as she walked across the room to her desk, but I stayed still and behaved. 

“Do you know what this is, slave?” She held up a bundle of what looked like leather gear. 

“Is it my uniform, Ma’am?” I hadn’t seen much of the other girls in their uniforms, but they were certainly pretty to look at. 

“That it is indeed~” She tapped her cane once on the floor before setting it aside. “Up.” 

As soon as I heard the thump of her cane on the floor I was on my feet, still completely naked in front of her like I had been since I had gotten here. “Where should I put my hands?”

“Hold them above your breasts, cutie~” Claudia smiled, watching me do so before turning me around, gently feeling my skin as she ran her hands over my sides. 

The intense gentleness that followed was something that I couldn’t quite bear. She was a larger woman, my life was now filled with larger women, not only in size but in power. 

Something was wrong here. This should hurt, this should feel uncomfortable, this should make me tremble. But it wasn’t, and that scared me. 

 

She doesn’t see me as a threat. 

It was plain and simple, I posed no danger or threat to her. She didn’t feel the need to have security measures in place to keep me from hurting her, because unlike Candace, she was confident that I couldn’t hurt a hair on her head even if I tried. 

“Why are you getting so close, Ma’am?”

I felt offended, appalled that she would treat me so innocently, as if I was nothing at all to her. I’m not nothing, I could do some serious damage if I really tried, just like I had done with her sister. What exactly possessed her to so underestimate me- or overestimate herself?

“Are you not afraid of me lashing out?”

“Are you thinking of lashing out, Chloe?” She asked, but even as she entertained the idea her touch remained the same, firmly gentle- controlling and confident.

“I’m just thinking hypothetically, Ma’am. I would never-”

 

“Weak.” I could feel the creeping terror of her fingers curling into the skin of my waist, revealing that oh so terrible truth that lied in the void between her and I. “You’re stupid and weak.” 

Putty in her hands, that’s what she was playing with. Not a human, but a slave. 

“You’re stupid and weak, you know this.” Playing, she was playing now, kneading the folds of my sides with her fingers and her knuckles as she dug deeper and deeper, making her presence known within me. “I can call you these things and more yet you will not raise a finger against me, not here, not now, not ever- and that’s not simply an order, that’s an unavoidable truth of your existence.”

Claudia pressed further with her words, having a power in her touch and in her words that could not be contradicted. Yet there were still no words within me to bite back with. Fear could keep a creature in line, and bondage could keep them in place, but Claudia needed neither of these. 

“I can read your mind, Chloe. You know you’re no threat to me, so don’t pretend to be.”

“I’m not pretending.” I fell into her, her claws firmly planted into my waist. “The last time my master underestimated me, I drew blood.”

“I’m sure you did.” Her touch was still firm and strong. Undeterred. “But I’m no weakling like your last master-”

“My last master was not weak!!”

“Maybe not in strength, but in mind and heart- yes, she was.” She pried her claws out of me, drawing blood of her own with her nails to show what she was capable and unafraid of doing. “Listen and listen good, Chloe. Because this might just save your life-”

 

“You know what you are. I know what you are. A lost slave still in love with her first master, struggling to see her for what she really was, refusing to see yourself for what you really are-”

“Don’t underestimate me.”

“I’m not underestimating you, Chloe. This isn’t me refusing to believe that you could harm me, because there are about a million methods in this room alone through which you could kill me outright. This-”

She gently placed her hands back onto my skin, pressuring them just enough to keep the scratches from continuing to bleed, but refraining from causing any further damage. 

“This isn’t me thinking that you wouldn’t harm me, this is me trusting that you won’t.”

It felt like a million tiny needles were digging their way into my skin as she said that, letting her words destroy me. In just a few seconds my skin was covered in goosebumps.

“Why would you trust me so blindly?”

“Because it’s not as blind as you might think… after all, the quickest way to break you is to let you break yourself… and then I’ll have you forever.”

“But why-”

“Anything and everything that happened between you and your previous owner no longer matters, and it will never matter again. Whoever she was, whoever she is- I don’t care… so I’m not going to ask. I don’t want to know.”

“She’s not weak-”

“Any master who would let go of their slave is weak, Chloe. I have had many many many slaves die at my hands, but I have always held on to a part of them… I always cherish them forever.” She took her hands off of me, leaving me frozen there as she retrieved my uniform. “Any master who is too sentimental to kill their slaves, or let them fall into the hands of a new owner, is weak. Chloe. Your last master is weak, just like you.”

She held up a chocolate brown leather corset, wrapping it around me perfectly casually as she continued to speak, tightening it onto my waist and cinching it shut, tying it off in the back. The corset concealed my waist and my waist alone, leaving my breasts completely exposed. 

“Whoever she was, she doesn’t love you, and she never did- or else she wouldn’t have let you go.” She ran her fingers over the corset, getting dangerously close to my breasts, but never quite getting there. “And if you really loved her, you would have done everything in your power to stay with her, but you didn’t… so you don’t.” 

“Ma’am, I-”

“I’ve told you this once already, and I’ll say it again… but make sure this is the last time I ever have to do so.” Thump. Her cane landed on the hardwood floor again, quickly silencing me. “Whoever she was, she can’t reach you anymore, I’m your world now… and you can trust me to never let go of you like she did.”

This was a kind of abuse that I had never suffered from Candace. A lack of cruelty at her hands.

“You can’t trust me, Ma’am… I can’t handle your trust…”

“Sure you can.” She smiled, turning me back around to face her. “Now let’s get the rest of your uniform on you~”

 

↞✶↠

 

I was like a puppet in her hands, doing exactly as I was told, letting her dress me up like a doll.

The rest of my uniform was composed of a pair of thigh high fishnet stockings, which had the effect of appearing to be the same color as the rest of my uniform. Along with it was a matching garter belt, which sat at my hips with a frilly translucent skirt attached, barely concealing my vagina. There was a pair of fingerless fishnet gloves as well, which reached past my elbows. 

“Hands above your tits, doll. Keep them out of my way.”

They worked well and looked nice together, but there was one final piece to pull it all together. 

My fingers were trembling as she brought them closer to my still exposed breasts, made to look even rounder than they usually did thanks to my corset. 

I let out a painful sigh of indignation as she attached them to my areola, like tiny little bear traps clamping down on my nipples, featuring a single bronze chain that hung between them.

Claudia admired the nipple clamps, twisting and tightening them onto me as she extracted more humiliated moans, desperate for her to stop, but unable to stop her. 

“There, how does that feel?”

“Awful.” I had angry tears in the corners of my eyes as I stared up at her, unable to bring myself to smile. “They feel awful, Ma’am.”

 

“Good~” She smirked, forcing the angry look on my face into a defeated scowl as she yanked on the chain between the clamps, pulling on my nipples. 

My jaws flew open, a silhouette against the backdrop of day as a silent scream escaped from me, instantly dropping to my knees in pain. But the most evil sensation of all wasn’t the pain of almost getting my nipples ripped right off of my body, but the feeling of the clamps digging back into me after it was over, as if nothing had happened at all. 

She lowered herself to her own knees next to me, gently rubbing my upper back as I struggled to breathe. “Something to say, girl?”

I shook my head desperately, the angry tears dripping onto the floor beneath me as I pleaded, leaning into her for support as I reeled. “No, Ma’am… I’m sorry…”

“The first one is always one of the worst, but you’ll get used to it.” She rolled up her sleeve and grabbed my palm, holding my hand with hers and letting me squeeze for support. “You’ll get used to it here, I promise.” 

“Why…” I squeezed her hand as hard as I could, not trying to hurt her, but for support. She was right, I was no threat to her, at least not right now. “Why do you want me?”

 

“I don’t really know, dear. It is a little unnatural I think.” She ran her fingers through my hair, gently petting my head. “You know I used to hate little fags like you~”

“H-huh?” I squinted at her, glaring up at her beside me. “Wh-what?”

“But I guess nowadays I have a thing for little gay girls.” She sighed, admiring my pretty little body. “I blame Josephine~”

“J-Josephine?” I took a deep breath, trying to compose myself. “Is she my… other master?”

“Right. You haven’t met her yet, have you?” She grinned, pulling me to my feet by the hand. “Would you like to?”

“Yes, Ma’am. Please…” I didn’t know why I was saying that, I didn’t really care, it just felt like the correct thing to say. 

She continued to hold onto me, leading me by the hand out of her office via the vestibule again, back into the sitting room, heading towards the other end of the house. I dragged my feet, trying to slow us down, but it unfortunately didn’t do very much.

“Do you know what a dumbwaiter is, girl?” I stepped back inside the slave bedroom first, being led towards the small cell that I had discovered this morning. 

“A dumbwaiter is a small freight elevator for delivering food, isn’t it, Ma’am?”

“That it is, but we use ours for delivering slaves to our bedroom~” She smiled, opening the door into the cell and following me to the locked door on the other side. 

“Is that what that is?” I bit my lip, watching her open the door for me to step inside of the small wooden elevator. “You have an elevator attached to our room?

“Connecting your bedroom to my own, yes.” She stood outside of the door, leading me inside of it alone. “Up you go, slave.”

“Are you not coming with me, Ma’am?” 

“I’m afraid not. I have work to do and my mother is currently getting high~”

“Can I not just stay with you, Miss?” I found myself protesting this at the last moment. “I’m sorry for misbehaving earlier, I won’t do it again-”

“I forgive you, darling. But I asked if you wanted to meet my wife, and you said yes, so off you go~”

“I thought you were going to be coming with me-”

“But this is going to make a much bigger first impression.” She smirked. “Why, are you shy?”

“I’m not shy… I’m just-”

“Nervous and scared, yes. I can see that.” She tapped her foot impatiently, pointing her cane at me and forcing my backwards into the tiny cramped little elevator so that she could close the door. “But I want you to meet my wife, and that’s an order.”

Right… Come on, Chloe. What’s the matter with you? I sighed under my breath, bowing for her in submission. In the heat of how nicely she had been treating me, I almost forgot that I was a slave. “Yes, Master. Good luck with your mother.”

 

↞✶↠

 

Going up. Claudia didn’t say another word after that, she simply pressed a button and sent the dumbwaiter crawling its way upstairs with me inside of it. 

I shut my eyes and leaned my back against the wall, balling my hands into fists, months worth of anger bottled up inside of me, unable to escape. I slammed my hands against the wall, trying to unleash my sleeping fury. I only had a few moments to myself, but they were sacred to me. The few moments I could get to myself where I was completely alone were always going to be my lifeline, how I kept myself sane. 

This isn’t fair, this isn’t fair, this isn’t fair!!! 

I pounded my knuckles against the wall, not making so much as a dent, luckily. At least when I was with Candace, I felt like there was meaning to it all, like it wasn’t just bad luck, it was fate. But now I just felt lost, useless, angry. My life no longer had meaning, and that was what hurt the most. 

There was no rhyme or reason to finding myself in her claws, it was all meaningless and random, bad luck and circumstance. There was nothing there, at least Candace and I had a history together, but not Claudia. I didn’t know Claudia, and I probably never really would. 

Ca-chunk. The small elevator finished its ascent, landing on the top floor and ejecting me into my master’s bedroom. 

 

Holy shit, is that… me? 

I blinked in disbelief, staring off at her on the bed, like looking in a mirror. Whoever she was, she looked just like me. “I… excuse me?”

She hadn’t noticed me yet. She was just laying there reading a magazine and relaxing, wrapped in a bundle of blankets. But as soon as she heard me speak, she looked up. “Hmm?”

I whimpered quietly as I stepped into the room, slowly walking towards her. “Master wanted me to, umm- come in and meet you?”

She squinted at me for a few moments, her cheeks slowly turning pink as she set her magazine aside and fetched her glasses from off of the bedside table to get a better look at me. “Oh… well hello there~”

“H-hello~” I waved awkwardly, trying to stand up straight, keeping my gaze down. “Is there anything I can do for you, Miss-”

“Josephine.” She smiled, beckoning for me to come even closer than I already was. “And you can start by introducing yourself~”

“I’m Ms. Mariam’s new slave… my name’s Chloe.” I couldn’t get much closer than climbing in bed with her, so I did, watching her make room on the king size mattress for me. “It’s nice to meet you-”

Way to go, moron. You were supposed to make a good first impression- not whatever the fuck this is. 

“Well I’m afraid this is a little awkward, I’m not exactly wearing pants under here-” The woman, Josephine, didn’t just look like me, she acted just as awkward as I did, if not more. “I hope that’s alright with you~”

“That’s just fine, Ma’am. Really.” I sighed, smiling at her, unsure of what to do with myself. “If I’m interrupting something, I can just-”

 

“Do you know any tricks, Chloe?” She interrupted me, tossing her magazine into the drawer next to her, no longer having a use for it. 

“Excuse me, Ma’am?”

“My wife said you were like a show dog, right?” The look in her eyes slowly turned from intrigued to hungry, and I knew exactly what that meant. “She just won’t stop talking about you, you know~” 

“I… I know lots of tricks, Ma’am~” I smiled, blushing ever so slightly. Honestly, I never thought being flirted with by someone who looked just like me would be so exciting before. “Would you like me to show you some?”

“I mean you did kind of… interrupt me~” She got all flustered, looking away from me and giggling under her breath. 

Oh… so that’s why this is so awkward… 

My face quickly turned bright red as I stared into her eyes, for once getting extremely embarrassed on someone else’s behalf. “I… I didn’t realize you were-”

“Masturbating?” She chuckled. “Yeah, rich upper class aristocrats masturbate too, fun fact.” 

“Should I head back downstairs then, Miss?”

“I think you should do the opposite of that, Chloe.” She smirked, her face overcome with a condescending smile as she eyed me expectantly. “Never stepped face first into a room if you’re not prepared to serve, lovely~”

I didn’t even know who this woman was, but honestly, even sex would be better than having to blindly stumble my way through any more awkward conversations with her, even if she was also being a lot softer on me than I wished she would. 

Why are they all being so unnecessarily nice to me??? It doesn’t make sense??? I hate this??? 

I didn’t want softness, I wanted a firm, strong grasp to take control of me and command my every thought and movement- and Josephine wasn’t that, at least from what I was now seeing of her. I’m sure there were slaves out there who would love having a master like her, but amazingly, I wasn’t one of them. 

If she’s not going to be tough on me… then maybe I can be tough on her~

 

It was time to make a statement. Claudia underestimated me, and I was growing to hate that. If I wanted her to see me as anything more than a weakling, I needed to prove myself to her, and unbeknownst to her, she gave me just what I needed to do just that.

“Spread your legs, Ma’am.”

I may have addressed her with a title, but my tone was anything but respectful, and she could tell. Still, it was what it was, my way of trying to assert myself within my own space. No more awkward talking, no doing tricks like a dog for her, if she wants sex from me she’ll get it. But she’ll get it in whatever form I was willing to give it to her.

She was surprised to hear me using such a firm tone with her, but she didn’t seem to know how to combat it. “What was that?” 

“I said spread your legs.” I answered, repeating myself as firmly as I had the first time, letting her know that I meant business. Sure enough I could feel her spreading her legs beneath the blankets a moment later, just like I had told her to. I was somehow the one telling her what to do, smirking proudly as I tore the blankets off from on top of her and tossed them aside. 

My eyes grew wide with desire as I saw it, her cock. That made a lot of sense actually, Claudia had a lot of strangely ignorant tendencies, which might be explained away by her being a closeted lesbian who ended up getting married to an equally closeted transwoman, before both of them eventually grew enough to come out of the closet together. 

What? Is that not obvious? I kind of thought it was, but I am smarter than a lot of people. Pffft, come to think of it, I’m probably smarter than a lot of the people reading this, capable of understanding strangers at a glance. That’s not really something that you can say you’re capable of, huh?

Yeah, didn’t really think so~ 

Mine. 

I let her grab me by the head and pull my mouth onto her cock, but even while I technically left her in control of what was happening, I was the one in charge here. 

Would I preferred to not have to suck her cock? Maybe a few months ago, sure.

But sex was meaningless now. The way that it had been used around me wasn’t for any sort of intimacy, but as a means of asserting oneself. As a competition, to see who was better-

And Josephine obviously wasn’t going to be much of a challenge. 

 

“Is there anything else I can do for you, Miss?” I turned and picked up a waste basket, spitting her cum back out of my mouth without swallowing it, making sure she noticed that little fact as I did so. 

The whole affair wasn’t even worth describing, that’s how short lived, and frankly kind of pathetic it was. Claudia was quite clearly the Mistress of the house, and her wife was just another woman who was submissive to her, even if she wasn’t a slave. But unlike the other slaves, I wasn’t going to be submissive without it being earned from me, which meant I wasn’t about to get topped by Josephine. 

“I’ll… take that as a no, then?”

She whined under her breath, shaking her head no, her face hidden behind her hands as she sat there, still recovering. “N-not really…”

 

A cuck. Claudia’s wife was a cuck- and I didn’t say that to be insulting or offensive, honestly!! 

That was just what she was into, and that’s just fine. I couldn’t be allowed to kinkshame, I was guilty of fetishizing people thanks to my cock obsession, I had no room to judge. It was fun, but it was no fight, she lost pretty handily to me. 

It was fun in its own way, but sexual submissiveness wasn’t something she was going to get from me, and I honestly would prefer to have someone to put me in my place.

I wish Candace were here…  

Ugh, there I go again. I really was a stupid, weak, pathetic moron- just like Claudia said that I was. I knew she didn’t care about who my last master was, but I had to tell my new master about Candace eventually. 

 

“I can get the dumbwaiter for you, hon…” At least Josie was a nice lady, genuinely nice rather than Claudia’s condescending niceness that she has about her. 

She was meek, kind of like me at times… I guess we really did have more in common than just looks. But maybe I have more than her in the way of authority. “Actually Ma’am, I was maybe thinking that we could walk down the stairs together?”

She opened her mouth, seemingly to protest, before deciding against it. “I’ll… get my bathrobe…”

 

↞✶↠

 

“And what exactly is this?”

Claudia stared us both down as we stepped into the sitting room together, a smug grin painted onto my face, and a bright pink blush glowing from beneath Josie’s cheeks. 

“You didn’t…”

“I couldn’t help it, honey.” Josie sighed, shaking her head and whimpering at her wife’s discontent. “She just kind of… went for it.”

Claudia wasn’t amused. I had just topped her wife, and I was proud of myself for it- but she clearly wasn’t happy to hear that it had happened, especially so soon and so quickly. 

“Do you think this is funny, slave?” She was smirking, but she wasn’t happy. “You seem awfully proud of yourself, especially for something as bad as disrespecting my wife.” 

I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t say anything. I had no excuse. 

“I’ll take care of her from here, Josie darling.” Claudia planted a loving kiss on her wife’s lips, rubbing their noses together as she saw her wife back off to their bedroom. “And as for you…”

 

I held my breath as she turned around to face me again, not about to just fold beneath her weight again. I needed her to see that I was a threat, and that I wasn’t as weak or stupid as she thought I was. 

“So… you’re that desperate, huh?” She turned, one hand on her hip and one hand on her cane as she loomed over me. “Fine. If you want cruelty, I will give you cruelty.”

I tensed up, bracing myself for impact, and I was not disappointed. Claudia brought her cane down over my head, and she brought it down hard, sending me to the floor on my knees in an instant. But she didn’t stop there.

“If you think that disrespecting my wife is even remotely acceptable behavior for a subhuman little animal, then you have a difficult lesson to learn, I’m afraid.”

She swatted the back of my head with her cane again, and when I went to cover it with my hands, she beat them in too.

But it was just pain, I had suffered a lot of pain at her sister’s hand, and this was nothing new. At least she now understood that I was no pushover, no matter how much of one she wanted me to be. 

 

Click . I heard the sound of her cane affixing itself to the back of my collar, and I instantly understood what that was. 

“I will give you about one minute to apologize and beg for forgiveness before I completely electrocute you to death, pixie~”

“Wait, what?!” My heart suddenly kicked on, thumping out of my chest, panicking. 

“What, you thought you could misbehave on purpose and just get away with it, without dying?” She chuckled and sighed, shaking her head at me. “You’re not a threat to me, slave, no matter how hard you try to be… and do you know why that is?”

No… she wouldn’t… I didn’t want this, I just didn’t want her to underestimate me… And I guess I was getting just that. “Wh-why?”

“Because I am your world , Chloe. If you don’t make me happy, you die .” She pressed down on the cane, refusing to let me even lift my neck off of the floor. “You count on me for your survival, but you have to earn that, dear.”

“I- I’m sorry… I’m sorry.” I whimpered under my breath, on the verge of tears. “I thought you said you love your slaves…”

“I do love my slaves, Chloe. I have loved each and every one of them from the moment I got my hands on them to the moment of their death and beyond. But like I said, any master too sentimental to kill their own slaves is weak, and I am no WEAKLING. ”

Click. That was the sound of her cane detaching from my collar as quickly as it had attached itself.

“Now tell me… are you going to do that again?”

“No, Ma’am!!” Fuck. This woman really wasn’t afraid to kill me. “I’ll never treat myself like I’m above her… I’m sorry…”

God damn it. God damn it. You stupid moron. Why can’t you ever do anything right?

I found myself beating my forehead against the ground as quickly as I found myself crying, refusing to grovel there at her feet. 

“If you don’t wish for me to underestimate you then you ought not underestimate me, dear…” Claudia sighed, shifting from her angry tone to a more disappointed one. “Like I said, I have had many slaves die at my hands… and to this day I still miss every last one of them, I mourn them all… but I am not afraid to get my hands dirty.”

I bit my lip, slowly rising up onto all fours so that I could look at my master, so that she could see the tears in my eyes… I needed to show her those tears if she was going to forgive me. “I’m sorry…”

“And you’re forgiven.” She picked her cane up off of the ground and slowly held it away from me, making sure that I knew it was still there. “But I will have law and order in my home, and I will not accept you coming into my house and disrespecting my authority, especially after I went out of my way to save your life.”

“I still don’t understand…” I groveled at her feet, whining for her forgiveness. “…Why do you even want me?”

“I want to give you what you want, Chloe.” She leaned down in front of me, cradling my chin with her hand and lifting my eyes up to meet hers. “That’s what I’m after… giving you what you want.” 

“I-” I stared into her eyes, getting lost in that horrendous blue ocean of hers. “I don’t want this.”

“Yes you do.” She held me there, wrapping her fingers around the head of my collar. “You want to be put in your place… so that’s what I’m doing. This is me putting you in your place.”

I took a deep breath, and then another, and another, and another. 

And then I lunged forward, pressing my lips into hers for a kiss, hoping she would be generous enough to let me steal one from her. 

She was~

 

“There’s a good little slave.” She licked her lips as she pulled away, rising to her feet, never once taking her eyes off of me. “Understand your place, Chloe. You are not a real person, and I will not treat you like one.”

I lowered my head once again. I understood my place, I was just desperately hoping that things would be different here. But they weren’t. “Yes, Master…”

“Now come on.” She sighed, taking me by the hand. “Let’s go show my wife how good you are at submitting~”

 

↞✶↠

 

“How is this fair?”

As soon as she figured out what was going on, Josephine protested, but it amounted to little more than pouting from across the room. 

“If you’re punishing her then why are you making me sit back and watch?”

Claudia was kind enough to put me back on her leash, not literally, but effectively. I was led straight back upstairs into her bed with her, evicting Josephine and exiling her to her vanity at the other end of the bedroom. 

“Just because I’m punishing the slave for disrespecting my wife doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to disrespect my wife.” Claudia snarked back at her. “You’re still a cuck, after all~”

“I’m not seeing things am I?” I shouldn’t have been surprised that Claudia’s wife was going to end up being submissive, but I was still surprised at just how similar we looked. “We look… really similar?”

“You can say that again.” Claudia seemed to be beyond thrilled by that fact, it was almost uncanny how many similarities we had between each other. “You two aren’t related, are you?”

“Unless she’s some long lost cousin or something, probably not.” Josephine giggled, admiring herself  before glancing at me in the mirror. “But if I didn’t know better, I’d think she’s my little sister~”

“Well don’t look at me.” I retreated away from Josie’s gaze. “Orphan, remember?”

“Either way, it’s just a lucky coincidence~” Claudia eyed her wife across the room, blowing her a kiss. “Now just hush up and watch, my love.”

Josephine sighed and rolled her eyes. “Have fun you two~”

 

Well at the very least, this will be a new experience-

“Ghhhck~!!!!!” Claudia decided to start by choking me out, of all things. She wrapped her hand around my neck, squeezing my throat with her hand as she slammed me onto my back on the bed beneath us. 

“Hold your tongue, beastie. That’s my wife you’re looking at over there.” She smirked, tightening her grip around my throat and pressing down on me, strangling the air out of my lungs. “She’s mine.” 

So this was my punishment for having sex with her wife, getting put back in my place in the bed that they share. I struggled desperately, gasping for air that never seemed to come to me. 

“Awww… what’s wrong, slave girl?” Claudia cackled, lifting me up by the skin of my throat before slamming me back down. “Not feeling feisty anymore~?”

“Please…” It took the last of whatever I had to let out even the shortest of please before she tightened her grip even more, preventing me from breathing completely. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that.” She smirked, bringing her face to mine and stealing a kiss from my lips as she kept me away from being able to breathe. “I don’t speak worthless , you know~”

I gritted my teeth, feeling my face turning red from the heat escaping me. I grasped at her wrist with both of my hands, but she was too strong, and there was nothing in the world that could pry her fearsome claws from my flesh. 

“Stand down, little thing.” My little stunt only served to tighten the force of her oppression upon me. “You belong to me, I’ll do what I want to you, so stand down.”

I whimpered, unable to breathe, unable to pry her off of me. She left me with no choice, obey. I stood down, putting my hands beside my head, palms up, to show her that I wasn’t fighting back.

“Keep whimpering and I’ll let you breathe~” I watched her smile, maneuvering herself over me and pressing her knee down on top of my crotch, squeezing and crushing my quim beneath her weight. “Keep squirming and I won’t.”

Louder. She wanted to hear me whimper louder, so I whimpered louder just for her. To appease her, to please her. To earn my place in bed with her. And what did I get for that? What was my reward for humiliating myself beneath her weight? 

Getting the opportunity to struggle for breath in her grasp, being allowed the most miniscule little pipeline for life within her cruel claws… and I was endlessly grateful for it. 

“Atta girl~” She kept a firm grasp around my throat, rubbing my vulva by crushing down on me with her knee as she watched tears running down my cheeks. “Just know you aren’t getting out of here until you’ve cried tears of fear and horror.”

She grinned, leaning down and lapping up a couple of tears from my cheeks. “These are tears of pain, I can taste the difference~”

I would growl through my teeth, but that would just make it worse. Though, being who I am, I certainly couldn’t bring myself to smile at her while she was torturing me.  

“Oh come on now~” She taunted. “If I wanted tears of pain, I’d just do this.”

 

She tried to insist that the first one was always one of the worst, but as she curled her cruel fingers around the chain of my nipple clamps and pulled, this time was much more painful. 

Tiny hideous metal teeth pierced the skin of my areola and bit down, trying to tear off a piece of me for dinner. I cursed words that I shan’t be permitted to repeat through my still strangled windpipes as I cried out for help, squirming beneath the weight of her hands and knees as I had been directed not to. 

No!! No no no no no no no no!!

She held my life in her hands and decided to have some fun with it, tossing up into the air and watching it fall back down, very nearly letting it shatter on the floor again and again and again. 

I wanted to reach out and catch it before she could have a chance to abuse it, to take my life back into my own hands and out of those who wished to do me harm, but I couldn’t.

I didn’t have the privilege and I didn’t have the right to hold my life in my own hands. It didn’t belong to me, it belonged to her. That’s what it meant to be a slave, at least to her, the right to my own life was fundamentally lost to me. It belonged to someone else entirely. 

The only things I gripped in my empty hands as they lay open on the bed beside me were trust and submission, things given by her and allowed to me on the promise of leaving my life to her. I lived in that cruel reality, but even though she didn’t have to, it was a cruel reality that she let me live in, and I was at least grateful to have any reality to live in at all. 

“Someone’s forgetting to say thank you~”

I was thankful to have a life to be held, even if it was out of my own hands.

“Th- thank you, Ma’am-” I forced the words out of me, through my choking airways and empty lungs. Giving her what she wants. Not just the words, but the tears. 

I could suffer through the pain and the torment, but not the aching realization of feeling her dangle my life over the precipice, ready to drop it into the abyss like Candace never really had been. She wanted the tears of fear and horror, and I wasn’t strong enough to withhold them from her any longer. 

Beneath the weight of her knees and on my own, I was weak. In her hands and at her feet, I was weak. With my life in her grasp, I was weak.

 

I felt a sharp intake of air enter my lungs as I gasped for breath, ever so briefly freed from the grasp of her claws. But it was the last breath I would get before she finally smothered me. 

She shifted her weight, moving her body off of my torso, slamming my chest down to the bed as she crawled upwards.

I desperately stared up at her for a moment before watching her fade out of view, watching and feeling her bury my face in her carnivorous, waiting, serpentine cunt- choking the air out of me anew. 

I could be in control with my mouth, but not now, not with her. She wouldn’t let me. She grabbed me by the hair and yanked my neck upwards, slamming her hips down onto my face as she began to ride. 

Claudia bucked her hips and thrashed her slit into me as she relentlessly fucked my face. My whole head had been engulfed by the skirt of her dress, like a snake, swallowing me whole. And she wasn’t about to let me go. 

 

ASukbjh;bjhblhj;iajlnkba;oknfleka,;j.ckm.aiunvkjsjbjjklsvhbshibjkkhakjgssasashaksjlckl;k.

My thoughts were a jumping mess of syllables and letters as the gears in my head got stuck again, like someone had smashed a bunch of random keys on a keyboard, that’s how quickly my thoughts were leaving me. 

I let out a muffled squeal straight into her skin as I felt myself losing consciousness beneath her, deprived of both air and mobility as she pinned both of my hands down above my head with her own. 

“And you tried to insist that I should be scared of you.” She huffed and moaned through her breath as she taunted me. “I have nothing to fear from a cunt cushion who can’t even stop me from humping her like a pillow.”

She kept going, never letting up, never slowing down, letting the torture go on and on until she was satisfied. 

“Now be a good dog, and eat.”

Thump. She slammed the palm of her hand down onto the bed beside me. It might not have been her cane, but it was enough to draw submission and obedience out of me. 

Before I was aware of it, I was licking the inside of her cunt like I was told, the only thing I was capable of doing from my current position.

Eat. Master wants me to eat. So eat. 

I pressed my whole mouth against her vulva, my teeth rubbing against her clit as she pounded me with her hips, driving herself towards orgasm on top of me. 

“That’s it… good girl… keep going~” She hummed happily, her entire body vibrating. Now we were getting somewhere.

Praise. I liked praise, especially when it came from the lips of gorgeous women like her, it meant that something I was doing was making her happy. That’s what I was after, making her happy. I had nothing to strive for in life anymore, except for her. I was going to find happiness somewhere, even if it came from pleasing Claudia Mariam. 

Even if I died trying, I was going to please Claudia Mariam. 

“Good girl… Good girl… Come on, keep crying~” 

I so desperately wanted to be fucked and raped back into place, and here it was, just like I had asked for. This woman has some fucking issues, but to be fair, so do I.

She moaned loudly, arching her back and slamming herself down on top of me as hard as physically possible, climaxing on my face and continuing to ride it out until it was over. 

She hummed with pleasure as she listened to the sweet sounds of my voice coming from beneath her, sobbing loudly out of fear and pain, but also out of satisfaction, feeling her cum directly on top of me. 

 

“Good girl, Chloe…” Minutes later she moved, sitting herself on my chest so that she could continue to watch me sob beneath her, trying to bury my face in her thighs again. “You did very well…”

“Y-y-yes, Master… th-thank you…” I choked, biting my own tongue as I whimpered and squirmed beneath her, gasping and heaving for breath. “I-I’m sorr- sorry… it won’t ha-appen again…”

“No, it won’t.” She grabbed my newly pointed ear in her hand and gently rubbed it with her fingers. “Now be a good girl and sit still for Josie, she has something for you… as punishment for falling out of line~”

And I quickly learned what it was that my master’s wife had to give me.

A chastity belt. 

“No, please, Ma’am!!!” I curled my fingers into my hair and the maddening sensation of cold steel being clasped around my waist. “Anything but that, I’m begging you…”

“Silence, girl.” She growled at me, pinching my ear to help get me back in line. “You aren’t in any position to question your treatment, are you?”

“N-no, Ma’am!! But-” I growled angrily, still crying loudly. “I can’t!! I can’t!! I need it- I need you.” 

“And you have me you sweet cute little dyke-” She snarled, taunting me with her hot breath on my skin as I felt the device being locked onto me. “But you don’t deserve release tonight, or any night really… not until I decide to give it to you.”

I was so desperate and horny for her, wanting nothing more than to slam my own hips down into her face like she had to me, but she wasn’t going to give that to me. I didn’t deserve it after my performance. “Y-yes, Master…”

“You’re forgetting something again, Chloe~”

I bit my lip and hid my face in my hands, sobbing desperately beneath her hips in the light of her cunt post-orgasm, wishing she would give one to me as a reward for my performance. “Th-thank you, Master…”

“There’s a good girl~” 

Click. Claudia’s wife finished with the locks just in time. “Don’t I get an apology and a thank you as well, slave?”

Claudia moved off of me, forcing me to sit up, leaning into her and burying my face in her chest for support as I continued to cry.

“I- I’m sorry for being a horrendous retard and a failure and thinking I could ever be above you, Ma’am… I’m so sorry… I won’t let it happen again.” The mental abuse and mistreatment was getting to me, enough to get me to insult myself with words I wouldn’t think to use on another human. “Th- th- th- thank you for putting me in… in chastity… Ma’am…”

“And you will remain in chastity until your master tells you otherwise~” Josephine was at least a sweet enough woman to slide over to me and give me a kiss on the cheek to try and tell me that it was alright. “Now get out of here and get some rest, I think you’ve cucked me enough already.”

 

“Do as she says and rest, the girls will come get you for dinner.” Claudia sighed, prying me from her chest and sending me on my way. “And take the dumbwaiter this time, I don’t want you ever walking through my bedroom door again~”

“Yes, Master… thank you…” I grinded my teeth together and rose to my feet, letting Claudia walk me across the room. 

“And hey-” We stopped just outside of the elevator door, as Claudia briefly lowered herself to be eye to eye with me. “Be a good girl and I’ll get you out of that belt in no time, okay?”

She held her pinky out towards me, condescending, treating me like a child- like a lesser. But that’s what I was, a lesser. So I took it.

I bit my lip, taking her pinky with mine and nodding desperately, my other hands grasped at and tugging on the chain between my nipples, not yet ready to be done with the pain. “Promise. Promise. I promise I’ll be good.”

“You’re grounded for the rest of the day.” She smiled, satisfied that she had done her work with me for today, and that I was finished as well. “That just means no more working~”

“Thank you, Master…” I closed my eyes and shook my head, trying to free myself from my own tears. 

Claudia was about to say something in return, but before she could I fell into her, wrapping my arms around her for a hug. “Hey… there there, you aren’t in any more trouble, promise.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” I smiled, burying my face in her shoulder as I felt her arms gently holding me in return. “Thank you…” 

“Now off you go.” She let go, gently leading me back into the lift to the room I was forced to share with the other girls. “It’s my turn to have my wife, and I don’t want you accidentally getting yourself in any new trouble.”

“Of course, Mistress.” I smiled and stepped inside, hiding my face out of embarrassment. “Thank you for reminding me of what I live for…”

As soon as she closed the door on me, I was whining and struggling against the chastity belt that she had forced me into. I wasn’t even being allowed the satisfaction of going back to my room and fucking myself at the thought of her. 

I have to get this thing off of me. 

I finally had a new mission, to somehow get out of the belt as soon as possible, and to do that meant earning my way out of it and being let out. It meant behaving. 

 

“So…”

“What happened???”

“Tell us how it went~”

All three of my fellow slaves were waiting for me to return as I stepped out of the elevator and back out into our room, giggling and gossiping to themselves as they eagerly awaited my arrival. 

“I don’t know, why don’t you take a look and tell me how it went~”

I bit my lip and grinded my teeth as I looked over at them all, unable to keep myself from smiling ever so slightly as I lifted the hem of my short translucent skirt for them all to be able to see the belt I was now wearing.

“Looks like it went great, huh???”

“I’m not surprised~”

“Sounds about right…”

The girls only giggled at me seeing it, but it didn’t feel like they were mocking or making fun of me. It felt like they were three girls who had all gone through the same thing before and came out on the other side just fine. 

“Just ask Master-”

You’re going to be just fine, Chloe… I’m going to be just fine~

I smiled, letting go of my skirt and letting out a sigh of relief. If nothing else, at least I had the three of them to relate to, and I was going to make sure that they had me for as long as I was here with them. 

 

“I think I made a pretty good first impression~”

Notes:

What do you mean my girls look like they belong in the land of Oz???

Even if they do have their quirks, they're all beautiful women, and shame on you for even suggesting such a thing.

I'll have you keep in mind that you won't be getting your face buried in my cunt if you continue to insult my slaves, so let's just hold our breath and hope dear old Dorothy here doesn't receive the same fate as the last little pretty who fell to pieces in my hands.
Though if you ask me, I think Chloe is more of a Toto anyways~

 

Your wonderful witch,
Claudia Rosegold Mariam

Chapter 26: Play Along

Candace does seem to be away for the weekend, now doesn’t she?

Oh well!! That just means there’s more time for me-

Me as in Claudia, not me as in Chloe, the stupid little slave girl hardly has the self-awareness to be able to narrate like I do, so I guess that just means your stuck with me for this chapter. 

But worry not, dearie be, I’m always entertaining~

 

Where was I anyways… oh right, playing with one of my slaves. “Roll over, dear~” 

Zenna got down on her belly, doing a full roll onto her back and then back up onto all fours, even despite the painful nipple clamps attached to her chest. 

“Now roar like a cat, little lion.” 

Zenna whined, but she complied, getting onto her knees and roaring loudly, like a pathetic little lion waving her front paws in the air for her master’s entertainment. “Grrraaawwwrrr!!”

“She’s like a cat, Mommy!! Look!!” Lilian pointed at Zenna’s pitiful display from sitting in my lap, giggling to herself. 

“That she is, sweetie. Isn’t she cute?” I smiled, gently running a hairbrush through my daughter’s hair. I often sat with her in her room and made her nanny do tricks for her and I to enjoy, it was always fun to watch Zenna make a fool of herself on the floor at our feet. 

“She is! She is! Can you make her crawl under the bed and hide there?” Lilian could not stop giggling, pointing at the nanny slave to see her do more tricks. 

“Yes, of course darling.” I snapped my fingers and pointed at the bed beneath us, it was always fun to do this with little Lilian because she came up with the most wonderful little ideas sometimes with that starstruck little brain of hers, I just couldn’t get enough of hearing her suggest things that I would never even think to think of. “Under the bed.” 

Zenna smiled, bearing her soft little fangs for us to see before crawling under the bed to hide like she was told… like she was instructed to by a five year old. Of course her fangs didn’t look soft, they were rather sharp, but Zenna was harmless, especially to Lilian and I. She was an obedient little cat doll, one who I had trained to smile happily when being ordered to submit, and it was working quite nicely. 

“Kitty!” Lilian giggled, no longer able to see Zenna now that she was hidden away beneath the bed. She tried to hop out of my lap and back onto the floor to follow her, but she couldn’t exactly escape my grasp even though she was my daughter, I needed to finish doing her hair before leaving her to play with the slave. “Can we get a kitty, Mommy?” 

“Probably not anytime soon, sweetheart.” I smiled, finishing with her hair and tying off the second of her little orange braided pigtails. “Besides, we already have pets to play with~”

“Like Nanny!” Lilian giggled, pointing down at the floor. 

“Yep, just like Nanny.” I smiled and sighed, letting her hop out of my lap and back onto the floor. “You may come out now, Zenna.” 

Zenna did just that, climbing out from under the bed and instantly being climbed on top of by a five year old. The slave knew that when she was told that she may do something, she was really being ordered to do so, quietly and without complaint. “Are you leaving now, Master?” 

“I’m afraid I have to, yes.” I chuckled lightly, admiring the little display in front of me. 

“Yes, Master. Have a nice day at work.” Zenna winced slightly, being more than a little bit rough handled by Lilian as my daughter climbed onto her back to ride her without asking. 

“But Mommy!” Lilian pouted, frowning as she looked up at me on my slave’s back. “It’s the weekend…” 

“It is the weekend, I know honey.” I sighed, smiling down at her to try and console her. “But Mommy has important work to do today~”

“Are you gonna be home tomorrow, Mommy?”

“Of course I will be, Mommy wouldn’t leave for the whole weekend, promise.”

“Okay, Mommy…”

“Be a good girl.” I smiled and gave my daughter a kiss on the forehead, before scratching Zenna behind the ears. “Both of you~”

“Yes, Ma’am.” Zenna smiled, lowering her head in reverence. “I’ll watch over her until you return.”

“See you tonight Mommy!!”

“See you tonight girls, I’ve got to go~” 

 

I stepped out of Lilian’s room and back out into the hallway, heading down the stairs to make one last stop before I did finally leave for work. 

Now where in the world would she be… 

I pondered it over in my head trying to figure out where Chloe would have gone, getting about halfway down the stairs before stopping and turning back around to head back to my bedroom upstairs. 

“Oh, Josephine, darling.” I opened up the door to my bedroom and stepped inside, glancing over at the very luxurious bed that my wife didn’t like to leave unless she had to, and sure enough there they both were. 

“Hello, beautiful.” Josie smiled, waving at me from at the foot of the bed, sitting down next to the other, slightly smaller redhead girl. “Shouldn’t you be at work?”

“I was just leaving.” I grinned, turning to the girl next to her and glaring her directly in the eyes. “I was just looking to have a word with her before I left.”

“Are you talking about me, Ma’am?” She swallowed nervously, smiling at me and lowering her head, her face flushed with embarrassment. “I was looking for you as well~” 

“Oh really?” I chuckled, tapping my cane on the floor. “I didn’t see you come up the stairs.” 

“I took the dumbwaiter this time, Miss.” She kept her gaze pointed downward while it wasn’t needed. “Like I was told to.”

“Good girl.” I hummed, seeing the improvement in her actions over just one day. “And why were you looking for me?” 

“To apologize for last night, Ma’am.”

“And what are you doing in bed with my wife?” 

“We were gossiping, honey.” Josie stepped in to defend the girl, giggling at me and rolling those gorgeous green eyes of hers. “We’re talking about drag shows right now, in case you’re wondering or getting jealous of our private conversation~”

“Oh yeah, and how’s that going?”

“She’s a fan~” Josie gave Chloe a look out of the corner of her eyes, still facing me, which made the slave blush. “Of drag I mean, not of mine.” 

“You haven’t done shows in years, sweetie~”

“I know… but I might be thinking of getting back into it, never too late to try, I’m only 32~” 

“Oh gosh, please don’t remind me that you’re my brother’s age, he’s 32.”

“He’s a few months older than me, too.”

“I remember!! Stop making me feel old~!!”

“If you want to feel old, just remember that he doesn’t have any kids yet-”

“Alright alright, I’m leaving!!” I sighed, tapping my cane on the floor once before pointing across the room with it towards the slave elevator. “Chloe, come on.” 

“M-me?” Chloe glanced up nervously, hopping to her feet and nodding. “Am I coming with you?”

“Just downstairs, but yes.” I continued pointing at the door to the dumbwaiter. “Of course, you won’t be taking the stairs~” 

“Y-yes, Ma’am. Of course.”

“Hop to it, slave.” I watched her jump to her feet, my wife rolling her eyes and following after, helping her into the dumbwaiter and slowly sending her downstairs. 

“You didn’t have to steal my entertainment for the morning, did you?” Josie rolled her eyes, getting ready to climb back into bed. 

“I have plans for her~” I snarled eagerly, wanting to make Chloe as desperate as possible. “Hand me some of your favorite magazines, won’t you?” 

“I see where this is going.” She giggled, gathering a stack of dirty magazines and handing them off to me. “You’re going to drive her insane, you know?”

“I know, that’s my plan.” I took the books from her and kissed her on the cheek before waving goodbye. “I’ll be home before dinner~!!”

“You had better be!!” 

 

Now let’s give this cute little lesbian a run for her money. 

I caught the kiss that my wife blew to me as I headed back down the stairs to find Chloe. She was waiting for me of course, she had gotten downstairs first but I at least knew she wouldn’t be wandering through my house. The dumbwaiter didn’t exit straight out into the slave’s bedroom, it exited into a small little cell between the elevator and the bedroom, and that cell was currently locked, she had stepped into a tiny trap that I had laid for her. 

“Come on you two, give her some space!!” I scoffed as I stepped into the slave room and rounded the corner towards the cell. The sister slaves, Autumn and Darcey, Josephine’s slaves, were sitting just on the other side of the cell, looking in on her as she sat there on the floor. “Cooking, cleaning, and entertaining my wife- chop chop, go.” 

I sent them away very quickly, watching the brainless Darcey and the heartless Autumn skip and saunter out of the room respectively. 

Don’t make her uncomfortable, give a dog a bone girls. 

I sighed making sure they were gone before opening up a small hatch between her little cell and I, peeking in at her sitting cross legged on the floor, quickly adjusting her position to a kneeling bow as soon as she saw me.

“Am I in trouble, my lady?” My lady, that was new to hear from her, I like it. “Because I wanted to apologize for my misbehavior last night.” 

“Yes, I do recall your misdeeds at the lady Josephine’s feet last night, but you were and are forgiven for that.” I smirked, sitting casually on the floor and admiring her. “The chastity device is its own thing now~”

“Yes, Ma’am. Thank you for punishing and forgiving me…” It was cute how she thanked me for her punishment, but it was clear that she wasn’t thankful for the belt around her waist. 

“That belt isn’t just there to punish you and stop you from having any more prohibited sex with my wife, though that is certainly one advantage of it.” I grinned, making sure she saw me reach inside and press the tip of my cane to the front of her metal chastity belt. “It’s also to prevent you from playing with yourself~”

She looked down at her, shivering with terror and delight as she was suddenly electrocuted by the belt, squeaking loudly at the pain. 

“You’ll be able to go to the restroom with it on, but unless you’re a fan of having anal orgasms, you won’t be able to pleasure yourself with it on… and I would be surprised to find out that you have a prostate, to say the least.”

“I don’t, Miss.”

“Good to know… I have the only key, so have fun with your new little torture toy.” I pulled back my cane, reaching into the cell and dropping a stack of magazines onto the floor for her to read and enjoy. “Have fun with these magazines today, I’m leaving you locked in here for my own enjoyment, which is really your only job- to entertain me.”

“Y-yes, Ma’am… thank you…” She stared at the stack of porn, swallowing nervously and trying not to let her hands drift down between her legs. 

“You can get into the bathroom from either the cell or the bedroom, but only from one at a time. Entering through the cell will lock the door to the bedroom door from the inside and the outside until you leave through the door back into the cell, and vice versa. Your fellow slaves won’t be able to reach you in the cell by going into the bathroom, only the latest door to be open from the outside can be opened from the inside.”

“I understand, Ms. Mariam… thank you for letting me know.” She continued eyeing the stack of magazines, unsure of whether or not she should even flip them open or not.

“My colleagues call me Ms. Mariam, Chloe… and you are not one of my colleagues, are you?”

“N-no, Ma’am… I am not.”

“So what do you think you should call me instead?”

“Master. I should be calling you Master.”

“And you have been trying to avoid that, haven’t you?”

“I have. I’m sorry… I’ll do better about it from now on.”

“Then go on, show me what you’ve got~”

“Yes, Master. Thank you for putting me back in line, Master.”

“That’s a good girl…” I smiled, slowly rising to my feet and closing the hatch to her cell. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get to my actual colleagues now. They deserve my attention much more than you do~”

 

✶          ✦   ✧   ✦   ✧   ✦   ✧   ✦   ✧   ✦   ✧   ✦   ✧          ✶          ✧   ✦   ✧   ✦   ✧   ✦   ✧   ✦   ✧   ✦   ✧   ✦          ✶

 

It was always dreadful to have to leave my mansion on the weekend, but I had important work that waited for me at the plant- plaaaaaa - 

Place of work. At the office. That’s what it’s called, an office. 

A simple slip of the tongue, nothing more, nothing less. 

I worked at an office, that’s what we’ll call it, an office.

I had important work that waited for me at my place of work, the office. 

 

And my chauffeur was already waiting at the car for me to drive me to work. 

“Working on the weekend, really?” Russel Ross, my chauffeur and lackey, was a middle aged white man with a full beard, often wearing a pair of aviators and dressed in a suit. Most of my lackeys wore suits while out in public, even the women. Especially the women, they wore whatever I told them to, and I happened to think that the ladies looked gorgeous in a nice tailored suit. 

“Yeah yeah, I’ve heard it all already, Ross. Let’s go.” I climbed into the car, opening the passenger’s side door for myself like a normal person, eager to get to work already. “You aren’t high already, are you?”

“Not yet, Ma’am.” He chuckled, getting behind the steering wheel and kicking it into gear. “Why do you ask?” 

“Because I am.” I fumbled for the cigarette in my suit pocket, having hollowed it out and replaced its contents so that I could smoke in public. “At least I would like to be.”

“I can smell that, yeah. What, is it not working?”

“Not exactly, no.”

“I thought that shit was supposed to be strong?”

“It is strong.” I sighed, rolling down the window so that I didn’t fill the car with gas. “But amazingly, Josie and I are almost numb to it already.”

“Wow, already?”

“Yes.” I sighed, breathing in the fumes as I lit the cigarette, holding up my hand towards the driver for just a second while I held the gas in, before breathing it out of the window. “But at least it’s been working for my mother.” 

“Lilith, you mean? I thought your mother only smoked the normal shit?”

“She did, but I guess either dying has opened her eyes to new possibilities, or she’s just in that much pain to the point where she needs cannabis to keep it together.”

“Your mother is dying???”

“Yeah. I found out this week.” I took another hit, holding this one in longer in the hopes that it would be more effective. “She went to the doctor about her chest pains, and they told her that the cancer had relapsed. She’s got until the middle of January to live.” 

“That’s horrible, I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine, she hasn’t exactly been the best mother anyways. She always liked Cyrus a lot better than she liked me.”

“Yeah, but you’re a daddy’s girl, right?”

“I would like to be one, yes. But daddy likes Candace better.”

“He likes who better?”

“He likes my little sister, she’s his favorite.”

“Wait, you have a little sister too?” 

“I- eugh…” I sighed, needing to take another hit before being able to continue this conversation any further. “My baby brother, Cardinal the second, is my baby sister now… she goes by Candace.” 

“That’s awesome.” He grinned, nudging my shoulder with his right elbow. “Tell her congrats from me.”

“Will do, Russel. We’re almost there, right?” I sighed, examining the cigarette in my hand. “I never really pay attention enough to know how to get places.”

“Don’t worry about it, that’s my job.” He chuckled and adjusted his sunglasses, not seeming to mind. “Richmond drive’s a ways away though.”

“Then pick up the pace, I want to get this over and done with and get back to my family~” 

“You know this could have waited until Monday, right?” He shrugged and picked up speed, the only reason for him to go below the speed limit being the fact that I had my head halfway out of the window. “We could have just kept her in a holding pen for the weekend.” 

“I’d rather not wait if I don’t have to, I might not be able to afford it.” I sighed, having no qualms with the increased speed when it came to smoking in the car. “She could bite her tongue off and kill herself before I get to her.” 

“I highly doubt that, Ma’am.”

“Look, there’s no reason to keep feeding her if she’s not going to do her work, if a slave needs a prompt talking to, then that’s what they’re going to get… sooner rather than later.”

“Fair enough, Ms. Mariam.” 

“Which one is she, anyways?”

“#6113, Ma’am… Martha Moss.” 

“Martha Moss… Martha Moss…” The name rolled off of my tongue really well, it just wasn’t one that I recognized. “I don’t remember that name… who is she?” 

“Just some nobody who works in cultivation.”

“Is she cute, at least?” 

“Would she be getting a talking to from you if she wasn’t, Ms. Mariam?”

“Fair enough.” I chuckled, bending the cigarette in half and tossing it out of the window into the aether. “I’ll teach the little thing to learn her place and appreciate her job, that’s for sure.” 

“Yes, Ma’am.” Russel was getting at least a little bit excited, I could tell. “Do you want another smoke?”

“Do you have another smoke?”

I turned to him and he turned to me, pulling another cigarette from his coat pocket and holding it out towards. “Just get me another one to replace it?”

“Pfft, please, I’ll get you ten.” 

 

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“Have someone clean up in there, preferably non-essential personnel… I don’t want anyone important to waste their time with her.” 

I stepped out of the cell, satisfied that I had done a good job dealing with the troublesome slave woman. 

“How did it go, Ma’am?” The head of the… office skipped right on up to me, Violet Zachary, my personal favorite henchwoman, bright and chipper as always.

“Let’s just say you won’t be having any more trouble with her, I assure you.” 

“She’s learned her lesson then, Ms. Mariam?”

“You can definitely say that.” 

She tilted her head for a moment, almost like a curious little monkey, before skipping over to the window into the cell and looking inside. She wasn’t chipper for very much longer, because once she saw what was inside, she went wide-eyed. “What in the world did you do to her, boss?” 

“Boss???” I chuckled, making my way over to her and grabbing her by the hip, pulling her to me. “Please, boss is what my slaves call my enforcer, you can call me Mistress~”

“Oh come on, you.” She pushed herself away from me, giggling and shaking her head. “I’ll go get you the tape, Mistress ~” 

“I would appreciate that, yes.” I grinned, stepping over to one of the adjacent walls and leaning against it as I watched her skip away, just as chipper as she was when she had gotten here. 

I would pull out another blunt to smoke, but there was nothing quite as powerful from the drugs that could match the buzz that I got from what had just happened in that room with that slave… and I needed Violet to bring back the footage with the recording of what went on in there so that I could relive it again and again… that would be better than any high the marijuana could give me right now, so I guess the cultivator slave was good at giving me a nice buzz after all. 

“Here it is, #6113Z, just how you like it.” She held it out to me, a big smile painted on her pretty lips. “On a VHS cassette~” 

I eagerly grabbed it from her, kissing the outer shell before putting it safely into a box, and then into my bag. “I guess little Martha Moss belongs to me now~”

“I think all of the worker slaves belong to you, Miss.”

“Effectively yes, but technically they’re all family property… you know, my father’s?”

“How is your father doing nowadays anyway?”

“Oh he’s doing fine, he’s had some troubles with my little sister here and there, but he’s doing alright.”

“Your little sister?”

“Oh my god, yes. My little brother is my little sister now. I’ll give her your congrats, thank you.”

“Wait, your father really let Cardinal transition?”

“Yes, yes he did. Amazingly, I know- but we all support her.”

“That’s great to hear. Does your mother-” She stopped herself, quickly switching to offering condolences. “I um… I heard about your mother…”

“Oh come on, she’s not dead yet.” I smiled, smacking her on the ass one last time before I left. “We’re having a party for her next month and you’re invited. Bring Russel.”

“Whatever you say, Miss. Have a nice day~”

“And you too~!!” 

 

Russel drove me back home, a bundle of fresh drugs in his coat pocket as he dropped me back off at my mansion for the evening. 

Hopefully I didn’t miss dinner… 

I stepped into the vestibule, turning right and heading into the sitting room, rolling my eyes at who I saw there waiting for me. 

“Oh my god, you’re not still here, are you?” 

“Don’t be ridiculous, Claudia. You didn’t really expect me to leave before dinner, right?” She held her hand out expectantly, her other hand still clutching her cane, clearly out of discomfort and injury. “Give.” 

“Keep them.” I rolled my eyes, but smiled at her, tossing a whole bundle of cigarettes at her this time rather than just one. “Stay however long you’d like, but take those home, you don’t need to keep hanging out here just to get drugs, mom.”

“I know that, honey… don’t blame me for wanting to spend time with my daughter before I pass away.” She coughed, struggling to get up onto her feet. “But if you want me to leave, I’ll leave.”

“Stay the night mom. It’s fine.” I smiled at her, trying to let her know how much I cared about her. “Leave tomorrow, or next week, or next month, or not at all, I really don’t mind… I love you mom.”

“And I love you too, sweetheart.” She smiled, and I smiled back, before turning back into the house to find my new prey. 

Right. The slave. 

 

She was still in her pen, right where I left her, staring longingly at magazines- she was just that weak. Even if she couldn’t touch herself, she still wasn’t strong enough to keep herself from looking at the porn magazines I had given her to entertain herself with, and I had been counting on that. 

“Good evening, little thing.” She was apparently too enthralled by the magazines to notice me approaching at first, but once I began opening the door she scrambled to attention, on her knees and grovelling for her new master.

“Good evening, Master. Welcome home, how may I serve you?” She stared down at the floor, not at the magazines, but at her own knees.

“Have you been rehearsing what you were going to be saying in your head for a while now?”

“Yes, Ma’am. I won’t lie to you, I have been…” 

“And what have you been looking at?” I tapped my cane on the ground a couple of times before pointing it at her, keeping her at bay while I got to check out what pages the magazines were all currently open to, and they were all currently open. 

She blushed, watching me slide all of the magazines across the floor to my feet via the cane, but despite her embarrassment she didn’t stop me, even though she clearly wanted to. 

At first it wasn’t too terribly interesting, there were a lot of magazines to go through, Josephine was way too into them, and a lot of them were open to pages with women that I hadn’t really even looked at. Then a few of them started to seem familiar, pictures of women that I recognized, pictures that Josephine liked a lot. 

And then a slightly disturbing pattern started to emerge, with a lot of the magazines flipped open to pictures of a very specific woman. She was a woman that I knew all too well, and I recognized all of these pictures, having looked at them a lot. 

There were a lot of them there, but if a magazine had a picture or article with her on it, Chloe had successfully flipped the booklet open to it. None of them were naked of course, the gaming model didn’t often do shoots naked, if ever, but there she was.

Candace. Chloe had a lot of them open to pictures of my little sister, Candace. 

“There she is.” I smiled awkwardly at her, beginning to collect the magazines at my feet, sliding them away from. “There’s my sister…” 

“If I may ask, Master…” She was blushing, unsure of how to approach the topic. “Why do you have so many naked pictures of your sister?” 

“I’d advise you to keep that mouth of yours shut before you say something that upsets me, Chloe.” I blushed, picking a stack of them up off of the floor. “One, I got them because my sister is in them. Two, I haven’t seen her in years. Three, I wanted to check up on how her transition was going, maybe see if she had gotten the surgery yet… and four, they’re not all porn magazines, some of them are special printed versions of online gaming publications, articles about her and whatnot.” 

This had been an extremely terrible idea. I had known that my sister was in a lot of these magazines, but I hadn’t expected her to fixate on that fact. But nevertheless, I began flipping through the numerous magazines, trying to move past her modeling photos to get to said gaming publications. 

Now there were quite a lot of magazines with her in them, that was true, and the vast majority of them were pictures of her mostly naked, that was also true, but my points still stood. I flipped past a lot of them, mostly with her alone, but some of which with that gorgeously stunningly little mouse friend of hers, Aria. 

And I eventually found one of the gaming magazines I had mentioned, grabbing it out of the pile and pointing it at her. “Here, see… like this one.”

She just sort of looked at me, not blankly like the empty-headed Darcey often did, but with a thoughtful confusion as she glanced back and forth between me and the magazine. “I… I know, Ma’am… I was just reading that before you came in…” 

“Right, well… there you have it then.” I turned it back around towards me and set it back on the pile of open magazines in an attempt to block out all of the porn of my little sister behind it. “I should take these back upstairs then…”

I couldn’t help but stare down at the still open magazine featuring an interview with her from around two years ago. I could have closed all the magazines of course, but I didn’t really want to, I wanted to have my own look at my little sister when I got back to my office and the slave had already done the work of finding her pictures in the magazines for me.

Or rather… I had done the heavy lifting for her, because it was at this point that I remembered… I had bookmarked all of the pages with her on them. 

 

“Right, she took this picture…” I frowned, staring at the article of my sister in the gaming publication. “I had forgotten that that… sewer spawn wrote this article…” 

“Sewer spawn?” She looked up at me, her eyes wide with a sudden surprised look of fear painted on her face. “Who is that, Miss?”

“Sophia Cavalier.” I snarled, I had never met the girl but I recognized the name, and I didn’t really like her. That was a person that I probably hated even more than I hated Candace’s mouse friend, because at least she forgave Aria. “I forgot that her rival wrote this article…”

She broke, the cogs in Chloe’s brain broke as she stared up at me. “S-Sophia Cavalier?”

“I’ve been keeping up with what my sister has been up to, obviously… loosely.” I scoffed, shutting the magazine and tossing it back onto the floor next to the slave, it wasn’t a porn one anyways, and I didn’t want to read that article anytime soon. “Keep it.” 

She blushed, gently closing the magazine and clutching it to her chest. “Y-yes, Ma’am…”

“Can you believe that in just two years those two went from doing occasional interviews together, to being public best friends, to worst enemies?!” I scoffed, grinding my teeth together at the thought of it. “How dare she have the nerve to beat my sister in the world championship?!”

“I… I… I… I…” Chloe, still broken, just began to stutter. All she could suddenly manage was that word, all the while staring up at me. “D- d- do you know what she… looked like?” 

“Not really, no. All I know is what my sister told me… she just went on and on about her.” I sighed, shaking my head. The reason it was so fresh in my mind was because I had just recently talked on the phone with my little sister to try and catch up. “Though, I don’t imagine she looks much like anything anymore… now that she’s dead.”

“N-now that she’s dead, Ma’am?”

“Last I heard she drove her own car off of a bridge… though if I had to bet, my sister probably ended up having her killed instead, which I’m glad about. I’m happy for her.” I hummed, slowly calming down as I turned back towards her, evidently having broken the poor girl even more. “Right… you weren’t… a fan, were you?”

“I… I… I… I… I kind of was… Ma’am…”

“Well don’t worry your little head off… Candace is a sweetheart, I swear.” 

“You… you… you aren’t going to kill me, are you?”

“Of course not, silly…” I leaned down, placing a gentle kiss on the poor girl’s forehead. “As long as you don’t cross me or my family, you’re always going to be safe here with us, I promise… you just gotta make me proud.” 

“I’ll make you proud, Master… I promise…” It took a lot of effort, but she smiled, leaning down and kissing the top of my foot to show respect. 

“Alright slave, let’s get back to it. Come on.” I stood up, gesturing for her to leave the cell. “Dinner’s ready, get going.” 

“Y-yes, Ma’am… I’ll see you there~” She gently placed the magazine onto the floor, quickly making her way out of the room, not looking back towards. 

What a strange girl… 

I very briefly turned back to the magazine, still sitting there on the floor, considering having it shredded before deciding against it, scoffing at it and turning away for dinner. 

 

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“So how was dinner, mother?” 

“It’s nice just getting to have it with you again, dear…”

Dinner came and went, and so did the slaves, along with my wife and my daughter, but my mother and I were more than eager to sit together and chat at the dinner table. 

“I’m going to miss this…” I frowned, trying not to think about what was going to be coming in just a few months. “I’m going to miss you…”

“Oh don’t be a baby.” She chuckled, patting me on the shoulder. “I wouldn’t mind some dessert, you know~” 

“That’s because of how much you’ve been smoking.” I giggled, rolling my eyes and shaking my head. “I’ll send for Autumn to make you something.” 

“Thank you, sweetie…” She smiled, picking my cane up off of the floor and holding it out for me. “I’m going to miss this too, my dear… but I’m always going to be looking over you, I promise.” 

I snagged the cane from her, twirling it in my hand for a moment before pressing one of the buttons and holding the head to my mouth like a microphone. “Autumn, dear. Please get to work on some dessert, my mother is hungry~” 

I paused for a moment, listening for the sound of her robotic pitter patter as she entered the dining room, bowing for a moment before crossing the dining room and entering the kitchen. “Right away, Master.”

“Thank you slave.” I kept my eyes on her, smacking her on the ass as she walked by, heading back into the kitchen behind me. 

“You really have taken a liking to women, haven’t you?” My mother chuckled. “I knew you’d never leave Josie… but I never expected you to so thoroughly… embrace the lesbian lifestyle.” 

“Right…” I paused for a moment. “Can we… talk about that?”

“Of course we can, darling. What’s up?” 

“Do you remember that time you slapped me across the face for trying to say that I liked girls? Or that time you made me swallow one of your cigarettes for trying to say that I was never going to marry a boy? Or that time you-”

“Claudia-” 

“Or that time you spanked me for looking at a woman funny? Or when you soaped my mouth for telling my friends that I was a lesbian?” 

“Claudia…” 

“This isn’t new, mother.” I stood up from my seat, cane in hand. “I’ve always liked women… but you were the one who taught me that it was wrong. Not dad, you… so what changed?”

“What changed?”

“You supported Candace from the day you met her… so why not me? Why weren’t you there for me?” 

“I didn’t really meet Candace until after her mother died, and by then she had no one to support her.” 

“Okay, but what about me?” I kept going, not angry, but confused. “I didn’t have my mother there to support me at a young age either… how is that different?”

“Even though I may not have been as bad as your father, I know I wasn’t the best mother when you and Cyrus were growing up… but Alecia was always there to support you, wasn’t she?”

“I… I suppose so…” 

“After dessert… let’s go have that talk about Alecia, shall we?” 

“Sure…” I sat back down, smiling warmly at her. “Let’s enjoy dessert~”

 

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“My dad did what?’

Dessert came and went, courtesy of my wife’s slave, Autumn. But once we were done, we sat down in my office and we had a talk. 

“Is that why you left?”

I sat there for a good few minutes or so, just trying to process it all. I knew something had to have happened between them, I just tried not to think about it. But now that it had come up, the images were flooding into my head like flashes from a bad dream.

“This is a joke right?”

“No.” She sat across from me at my desk, her face stern and straight. “There wasn’t a word out of place.”

I had walked funny all my life, and gotten bullied for it along the way. My mother had given me the cane, but my father was the one that gave me the limp.

“Daddy raped you.” 

My father broke my hip when I was still really little, in an act of punishment. The broken bones might have been an accident, but the beating most certainly wasn’t. I never forgot that he’d done that to me, but somehow I had forgotten that he was the one that gave me my limp.

“Daddy raped you and you just… left us with him?”

“I left you with her.”

“You left us with no one but the nanny to protect us?” I just stared at her in disbelief. “You left us with Charlotte.”

“And she did a damn good job of it, don’t you think?”

“No.” I scoffed, growling under my breath at her. “No, mom. I don’t. Daddy still broke my hip. That wouldn’t have happened if you’d been there. The only thing Charlotte did a damn good job of was getting killed. You don’t regret that?”

“Not at all.”

“You ended up getting Charlotted killed , and you don’t regret that?”

“No. She was a slave. It was always going to be a risk. Besides, I wasn’t the one who had her killed. That was your father.”

“You… You hired Charlotte as a nanny to take care of us… Just because you weren’t brave enough to stand up to dad?”

“Claudia, listen… I had to make a choice.”

“After Daddy raped you. You let the nanny take your place, and then you jumped ship?” I bit my lip, glaring at her, eyes full of anger. “Daddy raped you, and you thought it was a good idea to let another woman take your place and protect your kids from him, because all you could think about was your own safety. That’s why you left?”

“I had to get away from him, Claudia.” 

“Well you could have taken us with you!” I slammed my fist on the top of my desk, about ready to punch her straight in the face. “You could have left and taken us with you!!”

“I could have, but I didn’t… and that was my decision.” She sighed, holding onto her cane as hard as she could. “Charlotte was supposed to be your godmother… she was supposed to protect you.” 

“And look how good of a job she did.”

“You and your father were the ones who killed her, Claudia.” She frowned at me, not feeling very sorry for what I was feeling at all. “I may have put her in harm’s way, but you and your father were the ones who did her in.”

“Get out of my house, mom.” I sat back down at my desk and took a deep breath. “I love you, and I want you to be safe, but I need you to go home.”

“I’m sorry, Claudia…” 

“You’ll have your party, mom.” I groaned, pointing at the door with my cane. “But I need time to process this right now… especially the parts about… dad.” 

“Take your time, dear.” My mother slowly rose from her seat, deciding against a hug and kiss goodbye for the sake of not bothering me. “I love you, Claudia.”

“I love you too, mom.”

I wouldn’t put rape past me, I had raped plenty of women, I had raped a girl just today. I wasn’t even against doing things with my family… but I would never assault a child, especially not my own child. 

I was my mom and dad’s trial run, their prototype, I was their first mistake. I was the one that they learned from. I was the broken one, not my brother, not my sister, me. I was the reason my mother and father split, because apparently just looking at me made my mother fear for her life. 

No wonder my mother had always liked Cyrus better than me. I was always too much like my father. She didn’t just have to protect him from my father… she had to protect him from me. 

Uh oh… now it’s hitting me… 

I whined loudly, leaning back into my chair, head pulsing with discomfort as I sat there. I kept a drawer full of edibles in a drawer at my desk for when I got stressed out doing work, but that conversation had been so stressful that I began popping them like pills. I may be a little bit null to the drugs at this point, but I could most certainly still get high. 

“So thaaaaaaat’s why she didn’t want me to date girls.” I growled under my breath, spinning my chair in place. “I guess I forgot about the fantasies…” 

Childhood trauma might have been clouding my thoughts for quite a while now, but I definitely remembered my mother making me swallow a cigarette for threatening to rape my middle school bully at age 14… the only reason I had gotten away with it at school had been because of my father and his controlling grasp over it. That had been a long time before the island had been converted into what it is now, though. 

And that middle school bully was still a part of my life, at least it was nice that twenty years later I was actually getting to make good on my promises to rape her.

I grasped at thin air for my apparently absent cane for a couple of moments before groaning and standing up without it, stumbling towards the cupboard. I swung around to the other side of the desk, making sure to grab my bag. 

“Fuck…” There was no way in hell I was making it to the door without falling over, the terrible limp made all that more painful by the fact that it had been my father who had given it to me.

My father who I still loved quite a lot. 

Thump. That wasn’t the sound of my cane being tapped on the floor, that was the sound of me. collapsing next to the cupboard, followed by the sound of me shouting for my slave to come help. 

“Zenna MacNair!!!!” 

My slave was not one to disappoint me, quickly finding her way inside just moments after I first heard her footsteps hurrying down the stairs. 

 

“Mommy!!” 

I looked up, trying to find Lilian’s voice, there in Zenna’s arms as the two of them arrived in my office to check up on me, both with worried looks on their faces. 

“Are you okay, Ma’am?” Zenna quickly set my daughter down, letting her rush to my side on her own, following quickly behind Lilian. Even in a moment like this she wasn’t able to lead. 

I sat up, letting my five year old daughter leap into my arms for a hug, which I gave to her, holding her close and not letting go of her for a little bit.

“I’m alright. I promise.” I sighed, gently rubbing Lilian’s back to calm her down. “Thanks for coming in to check on me.” 

“I’m your slave, Master. I’m always going to come when you call my name.” 

“Thank you, Zenna… I don’t deserve your loyalty.”

“Nonsense, Ma’am. I belong to you, you’re always going to get the best from me, I swear.”

There she was, the very same middle school bully that I threatened to rape back when I was fourteen. Zenna used to make fun of and pick on me for having a limp, and she was at one point a police officer, preventing crime and potentially saving lives, but now she spent her days bending over and letting herself get hurt and raped to make her master happy. She lived to make me happy, even and especially if it meant allowing herself to be a victim. 

“Twenty years later and you’re still standing over me when I fall down, huh?” 

“Always and forever. But this time I’m here to put myself under you and help you back up, rather than keeping you down, Ma’am.” 

“Grab my cane for me, slave.” 

“Yes, Master.” 

 

“Mommy…” Lilian pouted in my arms, trying to get my attention. 

It didn’t really occur to me just how little I was when my father hurt me. I loved my father, I did, but I sure would have liked to have been spared the cruel realities of the world until I was at least a little bit older. I wasn’t my father, Lilian would have to wait until she’s an adult for any of that. 

“Why isn’t Lilian asleep?” I held her close, watching Zenna quickly round the corner around my desk, trying to find my cane. 

“I tried playing and doing tricks for her, but she didn’t want to sleep, Ma’am. It’s my fault, I’m sorry.” She grabbed my cane and returned to my side, holding the implement out to me. “I’ll graciously accept a caning if that’s what you wish to give me, Master.” 

I put my hand out to her, holding one finger up to tell her to hold on while I dealt with my daughter, not about to punish the slave for Lilian being stubborn. “Lilian, why aren’t you in bed?”

I held her at arm’s length away from me, looking into her eyes as she fussed. “I wanna play with the slave before bed, mommy.”

“You already played with Zenna, Lilian. It’s time for bed.”

“Nooooo, not nanny!!” She pouted, stomping her little foot. “I wanna play with the new slave!!” 

“Oh, is that so?” I sighed, shaking my head at her and giggling. “Normally I’d say no, but Mommy kind of wants to play with the new slave too~”

“Shall I retrieve Chloe for you, Ma’am?” Zenna smiled, presenting my cane to me. 

“No, actually. I need a word with you by myself.” I turned back to Lilian, looking her in the eyes as I gave her simple instructions. “Do you think you can go find Chloe and take her upstairs, sweetie?”

“Yuh huh!! Yuh huh!!” She instantly broke free from my grasp, giggling and bouncing her way out of the room to go find Chloe, and before I had the chance to say anything else, she was gone. “Chloooeeeeee!!!!”

 

Zenna presented the cane to her master, helping me up to my feet before settling down onto the ground in front of me. “My apologies, Mistress Claudia.” 

“Your apologies for what, be specific?” 

“For failing to get Lilian to sleep.” Zenna sighed, lowering her gaze to my feet. “But mostly for being a bully… I regret ever being the one to push you to the ground.”

“I regret a lot of things in life, but I don’t necessarily deserve to be forgiven just because I regret something. I’m not going to forgive you just because you regret something that you did to me.” I picked up my cane, watching Zenna cower in fear of it but not so much as flinch away as she helplessly awaited being smacked across the head. But instead, I just tapped her on the shoulder with it, trying to comfort her. “That’s why I hope it means something to you to know that yes, I do forgive you for that, really. I honestly kind of deserved it in quite a few ways.” 

Zenna started to protest, but decided against it, smiling up at her owner and nodding her head. “Thank you, Ma’am… I’m just glad we’ve put our past behind us.” 

“As am I.” I smiled, shaking my head at her and motioning for her to stand back up. “I love you, slave.”

“And I love you, Master.” 

 

Putting the past behind us… 

I turned back to my desk, staring intently at the strangely imposing stack of magazines on top of it, gazing at the pictures of my sister printed onto the page. 

I had put my past behind me and forgiven Zenna, as well as my father, but some people in my life hadn’t been so lucky. Some people in my life, especially former slaves, died at my hands before ever being the chance to be forgiven. 

And I didn’t want my little sister to be one of those people, not like her mother had been. 

Alecia had been there for me, she had been supportive of me all along, but as a child I was too jealous of the fact that she supported her own daughter in ways that my mother never supported me to realize that she had kind of been the mother that my own mother hadn’t been as a kid. But now she was dead, and it was too late to make up with her.

Candace’s mother had died before I had ever had the chance to forgive her, and I didn’t want the same to happen with her. 

“Get to bed, Zenna.” I tapped my cane on the ground, watching her jump to attention. “I need to make sure Lilian doesn’t break my new slave.” 

Zenna bowed, smiling and skipping out of the room, doing exactly as she was told without having to say another word. I loved Zenna a lot, and I honestly couldn’t imagine a world without her, I would be devastated if I ever had to put her down. 

I wonder… 

Grinning, I spun on my heel, turning back to the stack of magazines on my desk, staring at my sister on the page. 

That lady friend of yours was that Sophia girl, wasn’t she? 

I sighed, shaking my head as I closed the magazines, readying myself to head back upstairs for the night. If I could forgive my bully, then clearly Candace could forgive hers… and we could forgive each other. 

You’ll have to tell me what really happened to her sometime~

 

✶          ✦   ✧   ✦   ✧   ✦   ✧   ✦   ✧   ✦   ✧   ✦   ✧          ✶          ✧   ✦   ✧   ✦   ✧   ✦   ✧   ✦   ✧   ✦   ✧   ✦          ✶

 

“I- I don’t know what you want… I’m sorry-”

“I wanna play! I wanna play!”

“I think I’d rather wait for your mom to get back first, okay?”

“But I wanna play nooooow!!!”

 

Chloe was in Lilian’s room trying to get her to settle down by the time I got up there to play with them. Lilian wouldn’t want to admit it, but she was tired, yet somehow she wasn’t about to lay down and sleep without getting to play with Chloe before bed- and honestly, I wasn’t either. 

“Down, puppy.” I grinned, tapping my cane on the ground before pointing it at her. “On all fours~” 

Chloe heard the thump of my cane against the floor and turned to me, staring fearfully into my eyes for a few moments before obeying, slowly lowering herself onto her hands and knees in front of Lilian. 

“Here with me you’re a toy, and that means my daughter is going to want to play with you from time to time as well.” I slowly stepped up to her, lifting my foot up between her legs and pressing my shoe into her exposed cunt. “Head down, ass up.” 

I could hear her scoff under her breath, briefly turning back to look at me before doing just that, putting her head to the floor, her cunt still at my foot. 

I smiled, tapping Chloe’s back with my cane. “Go ahead, Lilian. Climb on.” 

The innocent little five year old eagerly jumped on top of her, mounting Chloe like she was a horse. Lilian was too young to even realize this was weird, and I intended to keep her in the dark on that for now. 

“Up.” I kicked the new slave in the cunt with my foot, commanding her to get back up onto all fours now that Lilian was on top of her, which she did. “Chin up.” 

Again, Chloe did as she was told, tilting her head backwards so that I could put her back on my leash, her favorite place to be. 

“Forward.” I whipped the chain connected to the head of her collar like it was a reign, commanding her to crawl forward out into the hallway outside. “We’re going on a walk.” 

 

Chloe and I had done this once before where she followed me on a leash, walking in a square around the second floor balcony that overlooked the ballroom below. But this time she had significantly more trouble keeping up with me, because unlike last time, she was on all fours with a child on her back. 

I couldn’t stand it, she was so pretty, I wanted to take her right here and now. But now was not the time, tonight was not the night, I had until the end of the world to make her mine, and I was going to do it slowly and methodically. 

The hours had ticked away for today, right now was about taking the two of them around and around and around in circles until they both passed out, I had the patience for that. 

The lithe little beauty was going to live under my foot for the rest of her days, she was just going to have to get used to it. 

Ten, twenty, twenty-five laps later and Lilian was asleep on Chloe’s back, having worn herself out kicking the girl’s skin and pulling on her hair. I could have taken her back to her bed at this point, but keeping her there was going to wear the slave out quicker than taking her off. 

 

“Now comes the fun part.” I hummed to her, trying to get her skin to crawl. “Torturing you until you collapse.” 

Chloe kept her eyes closed, having memorized exactly how many steps she needed to hear me take before turning the corner. “Yes, Master.” 

“You think you wanna tap out soon?”

“No.” Chloe shook her head, trying not to knock her pint sized rider off of her back as she did so. “I stop when you tell me to stop.” 

“You’ll fall unconscious before you’ve earned the right to stop.” 

“I’m supposed to agree with you, but I don’t.” 

“You don’t what, slave?” I yanked on the chain, forcing her forward to break up her rhythm.

But magically, Chloe sensed it coming, even with her eyes closed. She jumped forward, refusing to get knocked over. “I won’t collapse, Ma’am. I won’t let you make me.” 

“And what makes you think that, slave?”

“Because I don’t deserve to just fall over and stop, Ma’am.” She took a deep breath, her hands and knees scraping against the hard tile floor beneath her. “I stop when you decide that I stop.”

“And where did you learn this level of perseverance, exactly?”

“From my first master.” She remained unphased, perfectly balanced, conserving her own energy like she was in some sort of battery saver mode. “She taught me everything I know.” 

 

I grinned, more than a little annoyed at her attitude towards me. 

“I really ought to meet her then, just to say thank you~” 

“If that’s what you wish, I won’t be able to stop you.” 

“Who was she, Chloe?” I stopped, and Chloe stopped with me, finding her way to my feet and kneeling. 

“A nobody. Just like me.” She sat there, opening her eyes and looking up at me. “Are we stopping, Ma’am?” 

“For the night, yes.” I sighed, grinding my teeth at her. “Take Lilian to bed and then go back to your room.”

“Anything else you need from me tonight, Miss?”

“No.” I pressed a button, retracting the chain that connected to her leash. “Get out of my sight~” 

 

“Yes, Master. I hope you sleep well.” 

“Thank you slave, goodnight.” 

“Goodnight, Master.” 

 

Chapter 27: Maid of Honor

“Well hey there, little mouse.” 

I stepped back into the comfort of my own home, finally free from a weekend with Tallulah. It was kind of nice to just step inside through the parlor door without having to worry about a slave running out of the house, but I did wish that Tallie would have had the helicopter land anywhere except for my front lawn, but it was whatever.

It had been a long weekend, and it was already late into Monday evening, after having been kept late by my manager. 

“Did you get your house call while I was gone?”

“From Rebecca and her psychopath assistant, you mean?” Aria scoffed. “Yeah, I have an IUD now.”

“Oh come on, Anthony’s not that bad.”

“She didn’t bring Anthony… she brought crazy Jane with her.”

“She brought Jane Colton into my house?” I snarled, glaring down at Aria in disapproval. “And you just let her?”

“How in the world was I supposed to stop her?” 

 

Oh Aria, always running that stupid little mouth of hers. That wasn’t going to slide, not here. As soon as she was on her feet to protest, she was met with a backhand to the face. “No arguing… not with me.”

“Yes, Ma’am… I’m sorry.” Aria had learned just a little bit about what I liked, and I still couldn’t be sure that she wanted to give it to me. But I also couldn’t be sure that I even wanted it from her. 

“What’s on your mind, hon?”

She rubbed her cheek, slightly sore from being slapped in the face. "Well, I couldn't stop the doctors and the nurse from coming in, but I hope you don't mind that I did invite some friends over?"

"You invited your friends over to my house while I was gone?" I sighed, not a fan of unexpected guests in most capacities. "Who were they?"

"Our friends, Candace. They're our friends, not just mine. I didn't know you were going to be late, I thought you'd be here by now." 

"So you got bored and invited people to hang out with? Who did you invite, Leah?"

"Leah's waiting in the car for us, I think. But also…" She smirked, trying to keep a straight face as she taunted me. "Well, I just figured you missed him." 

"I missed who?" I almost tilted my head with confusion, studying her face to see where her eyes were looking and following her gaze towards the hallway behind me. 

 

"You missed me, right? I'm not just gone forever, am I?" He smiled at me, his stupid grey eyes winking in my direction. "I'm still a cast member, aren't I?"

"Malcolm." As soon as I spotted him, I pounced, just about tackling him to the ground. "What are you doing here???"

"Surprising you with dinner, right? Isn't that the plan?" He smirked, nudging me off of him. "You've been in a depressive rut, I've been there."

"Dinner? What, like a double date?" 

"It'd be a triple date if Leah had brought her new boyfriend."

"Her new boyfriend?"

 

"What, am I not allowed to date anymore?" Leah was prompt as always, rustling a ring of keys in her hand. "It's getting late, are we leaving or not?" 

I rolled my eyes. "Depends, are we picking up that new boyfriend of yours?"

"He's busy with important work." She shook her head, puffing up just one cheek of hers as she pouted. "And he's not my boyfriend yet."

"Ooh, important work. Is he somebody important?" I snarked back sarcastically. 

"Something like that, depends who you ask- are we leaving or not?" She scoffed, quickly trying to skip over the conversation. "I've got a reservation at the bar for five, not six."

"And you're not just here to spy on me for my father?" 

"Pfft, you have no idea how much I've been aching to get away from him, working for your father is horrible and exhausting." 

"You know you're always welcome to work for me instead~"

"I may just have to, working for Cardinal is a nightmare."

 

Cardinal Russo, my father, was neither a wholesome employer or a pleasant person to be around. 

My father… 

I had a lot of pleasant memories with my father, not as pleasant as my memories of my mother, but I did love him a lot. I had just as many unpleasant memories of him, if not more, however. 

"I- I need a second before we go…"

I pinched my eyes shut and pushed past Malcolm, heading towards the lounge, the awful memories suddenly flooding back into my brain. 

There was only one person who could help me when it came to my father, there was only one person who ever made it her mission to protect me from him. 

My mother. 

 

I sighed, being snapped out of blankly staring at the portrait in the lounge by a gentle hand placing itself on my shoulder, a lot like my mom used to do, just trying to make sure I could feel them there, watching over me. 

“I’m sorry for bringing you father up.” Leah stood directly behind me, placing her other hand on the opposite shoulder. “I should have thought that maybe mentioning him in the same context as nightmares would stir up something bad… I’m sorry.” 

“It’s fine, I’ve come to terms with it… sometimes you need to remember the bad things.” I sighed, placing one of my hands over Leah’s, grabbing onto it for support. “I think you’re making a mistake with him… you shouldn’t get so close.”

“Working as his assistant, you mean?” She rolled her eyes, chuckling under her breath. “I’ll be fine.”

“Why would you agree to be his right hand… do you know how dangerous it is to be that close to him?”

“I’m never going to get away while my father’s debt hangs over me, Candace.” She tightened her grip on my shoulders, grabbing onto me for support. “The closer I get to him, the quicker I can pay off my debt, and the quicker I can leave…” 

“You’ll never be able to leave, Leah… you can never escape his grasp, not when you’re that close to him.” I bit my lip, gazing up at my mother’s image on the wall across from. “Take it from me, I would know… and so would she.” 

She giggled, rubbing my shoulders. “I’m not your mother, isn’t that what you said?”

“Maybe not, but you might as well be.” I shook my head and smiled. “That’s what you said.” 

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” She sighed, finally taking her hands off of me. “I just care about keeping you safe.”

“Yeah… just like my mom did.” I sighed, brushing my shoulders off. “Just don’t die like she did…”

“I promise I won’t die on you kid.”

“You had better not.” 

“Are we going out for dinner or not?”

“Yes yes alright fine, I’m coming.” 

“Good, cuz everyone else is waiting in the car and you’re gonna make us late~”

 

I followed her out to the garage and climbed into the passenger’s seat. Like always, Leah drove, and she drove to a place she was all too familiar with, a bar. 

We all slowly made our way out of the car and piled up at a booth inside that had been reserved for us. My bodyguard had made the reservation for Ms. Watts, party of five, but the booth could fit six. 

Aria and I got one whole side to ourselves, she slid in first closest to the wall but not too close, and I sat in the middle of the booth, across from Malcolm’s boyfriend, Anthony. 

“Sit in my lap until the food arrives.” The two of them were adorable. I would honestly expect that to be something that came out of my own mouth, not Anthony’s, but it was something I would only say to a slave, not to an actual person.

But to my own amazement, Malcolm actually fucking did it, he climbed into his boyfriend’s lap and sat there, even offering him a title to show his respect. “Yes, Sir.” 

I just stared at them, chuckling under my breath as Malcolm sat in Anthony’s lap, straight across from me. “And I thought my slave had been addicted to riding their master’s cock.” 

“Shut up, Candace!!” Malcolm pouted at me, growling under his breath. “You know I’m not a slave.” 

“Well you sure act like one sometimes.”

“I do not-”

“Malcolm.” Anthony quickly interrupted him, seemingly scolding him for getting just a little bit out of line. “Be nice, don’t disrespect your boss.” 

“She’s not my boss!!!!” Malcolm threw his hands up in protest. “She’s not my boss anymore, Sir… you know that…” 

“Yeah well she used to be your boss, so it still counts, be good.” 

“I… eugh… yes, honey…” 

 

“You two are so cute.” I smiled at them, a faint blush on my cheeks as I shook my head. “I see now why you work at the facility, Anthony.” 

“What, you think I’m soft?” He chuckled, squeezing his fiance’s waist and watching Malcolm squirm. “Because I’m not~”

“You’re not, you’re not, you’re not, please let go!!” Malcolm squeaked, letting out a sigh of relief as soon as his future husband let go, allowing him to scoot into the seat of the booth next to him, across from Aria. “Owie.” 

 

“You let this guy monitor the security cameras at your house.” Leah chuckled, pointing over Anthony and to Malcolm. “And you had me be your chauffeur?”

I giggled at that. “Maybe that wasn’t my best decision.”

“Hey!!!!” Malcolm pouted, scoffing. “I resent that.” 

“Sure you do.” Anthony nudged him. “Tell them the news.” 

“The news?” Malcolm seemed puzzled for a moment before gasping excitedly. “We have a date!!”  

“What, for the wedding?” Aria finally piped in, snarky as usual. 

“What else would it be for???” Malcolm whined, bouncing excitedly in his seat. 

“I could think of one other potential thing, you know.” Aria smirked, taunting him with her eyebrows. 

“I’m not pregnant, Aria!!!!” Malcolm growled angrily, causing the little mouse to retreat back into her seat. “Why would you even assume that?”

“That’s not what I meant, but okay.” She crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. “I was talking about the surgery.”

“Oh… sorry.” Malcolm grinned, nervously eyeing his boyfriend beside him. “I mean I had my mastectomy already, but… should I tell them?”

Anthony shrugged. “If you want~”

Malcolm nodded, smiling warmly. “I’m staying non-op.” 

“Whoa, really?” Aria was almost surprised to hear that. “I thought Rebecca was gonna do the operation for you?” 

“I know I talked about it a lot, but…” Malcolm’s face was beginning to turn red. “Well, we started to talk about it, and… we decided to eventually have Rebecca undo the IUD.” 

“Wait…” I smiled, tilting my head towards Malcolm in disbelief. “So you are going to have kids?”

“No, eww. I’m just going to get a ligation and deal with it, like Chloe did. If I got pregnant, I’d probably kill my-”

“Honey, shush.” Malcolm’s boyfriend had to quiet him down as soon as the food got here, watching the waitress set the platters down in front of us. 

 

It was nice just getting to sit down and have a normal conversation with my friends for once, it helped make me feel more like a real person for once in my life. 

“So, Anthony…” I slowly began to pick at my food, looking across the table at him. “Are tubal ligations reversible?” 

He chuckled. “I’m not going to answer that.”

“And why not?” 

“Because you don’t have any need for a tubal ligation reversal.”

“I was just wondering if-”

“I can see what you’re doing, Candace.” He frowned, shaking his head at me. “Even if we could reverse her spay… she’s not here anymore.” 

“I wasn’t talking about her, Anthony. I was talking about-”

“Candace… I know you miss her, but… even I don’t know who she belongs to now.” He sighed in disappointment, beginning to get at his food again. “The only people who know the name and identity of the person who purchased her are Naomi, the person who sold her, and your brother… maybe the people who handed her off, but even that’s iffy, Liz doesn’t even get to know, and neither do Rebecca or I…”

Anthony turned to Malcolm, very briefly getting side tracked with details about their wedding. “Speaking of, I was considering maybe either asking Naomi or Grey if they wanted to be best lady or best man?” 

“I don’t think Rebecca would let her slave be a part of the wedding, babe. But if you want to ask Naomi or Liz, I’d be okay with that…” Malcolm shook his head. “Speaking of best lady…”  

I remained side tracked for a few moments trying to let them talk, before Malcolm coughed, breaking the awkward silence that had been caused while he waited for me to look over at him. 

“Hmm?” Confused, I finally looked over at him, staring straight at his dumb face as he pleaded at me. “Speaking of what?” 

“Best lady!!” Malcolm giggled, pointing straight at me with a celery stick in his hand. “You.”

“Me?” I blushed ever so slightly. “What about me?”

“I want you to be my best lady.” He snapped off part of the celery stick in his mouth, chewing and swallowing it. “Will you be my maid of honor?” 

“Me ?” I blushed, grinning like a stupid loser. “You want me to be your maid of honor?” 

“Please?” He frowned, continuing to plead at me. “Pretty please?”

“Of course I will, stupid.” I scoffed, my face bright pink as I rolled my eyes at him. “If you want me to be maid of honor, then sure.” 

“Fuck yes.” He nudged his fiance excitedly. “You’re going to have to go suit shopping with me, no take backs.” 

“Alright alright fine, we can go suit shopping together, loser.”  

I smiled, eagerly letting the evening take me away as we continued to chat over dinner, considering dessert for myself but deciding against it. 

 

“I think I’m gonna go grab some drinks, okay?” I stood up from the booth, needing to get away for just a moment, even if that meant purchasing drinks for everyone at the table, excluding Leah of course. Leah didn’t like to drink anymore, not since her drunken fall out with her now dead ex-husband. 

“Five please?” I smiled at the bartender, ordering two drinks for myself, knowing that I was going to need it. “It’s for the booth back there~” 

The bartender woman eyed the group suspiciously, before shrugging and sighing, getting the drinks and setting them down on the bartop in front of me before moving onto the next customer, some scrappy looking bushy-tailed woman off to my left. 

I knew what it looked like, with me just sitting there with five drinks in front of me, getting to work on the first one, but carrying four drinks back to the table with me was more manageable than five. 

“A round for the group back in the corner, Miss?” The woman off to my left was doing the same thing as I was, ordering a whole host of drinks for the group she had come with. “And can you have someone carry em for me… I can’t really carry all of those.”

I turned to my left, looking her up and down. The girl seemed downright miserable having to order drinks, it was kind of off putting. 

The poor thing really did look like a squirrel, with her long frizzy mess of a ponytail and her pear shaped body, concealed behind her purple hoodie, her hands both moving about in her jacket pocket. She hid her mouth behind a weirdly turtleneck like shirt collar that barely poked out from under the jacket, concealing her neck and her chin. 

Something was off about this girl. 

She turned around, beginning to head away from the bar without lifting a finger. She was fiddling with something in her jacket pocket, or at least it looked like it from the outside, but if you didn’t know better you might think that her wrists were just stuck in there. She didn’t make eye contact with me either, even when she was basically staring straight at me. 

 

“Hmmm…” I finished my first drink, leaving the empty glass on the table as I picked up the remaining drinks and brought them back to my group- never really taking my eyes off the girl as I followed her towards our booth. She left the bar ahead of me, but she walked straight past our table on the way back to her group over in the corner. 

“Right, I guess I’m driving then, huh?” Leah rolled her eyes, passing the drinks off down the table, sitting across from me and watching my face, studying. “Whatcha lookin at?” 

“Just some girl…” I nodded towards her, still trying to figure out what was up with her. “I’ll point her out when she comes by agan.” 

And I did, it took a few minutes or so for her to swing back around and head towards the bar, but eventually the man she was with smacked her on her nice round ass and sent her off to get the group another round of drinks, which the woman just grinded her teeth at. But she did eventually come by, and once she was off at the bar, I pointed her out. 

“That one right there, squirrel girl.” 

 

The woman did the same exact thing at the bar as the first time, same procedure, same posture, same attitudes- and the exact same disdain for what she was doing… or what she was being forced to do. 

She kept her gaze pointed down, her hands in her pockets where they were supposed to be, and her lips shut when she wasn’t being spoken to. 

“Isn’t that the anal addict?” Leah squinted, not taking her eyes off of the girl’s ass as she walked past the table back to her group.

“Lucy Barnett.” Anthony coughed nervously, not wanting to look at her any longer than he needed to. “Yeah, she’s the anal addict.”

Leah smirked, nudging Anthony beside her with her elbow. “Didn’t you used to date her?”

“When she was a boy, yeah.” Anthony scoffed. “When she was a really bottom heavy boy, yes, I dated her.” 

“I’m a bottom heavy boy~” Malcolm piped up, pouting at his fiance. 

“Yes, yes you are, baby.” Anthony giggled at him, placing a kiss on his forehead. 

I smiled at them, very briefly distracted by how cute they were together. They had this very sweet, almost slave and master type relationship, and it was heart-warming to see how well they did it together. 

Anthony worked at the slave facility, and he was rather pushy and domineering, but he didn’t have a slave. He didn’t need a slave, he had his boyfriend. He had Malcolm, and Malcolm was a pretty good boy without needing a collar around his neck to keep him in line, or a brand to mark him as his partner’s property. They were sweet, and their relationship worked well. 

 

But there was another couple in the room whose relationship was neither healthy nor happy, one which was the opposite of consensual, and it wasn’t Aria and I. 

She headed right beside our table on the way back to her corner, as soon as she got here I swiveled around in the booth, swinging my leg out in front of her as she stepped forward, tripping her. 

She stumbled over her own legs as she was knocked over, falling flat on her face on the ground beside our table, dropping to her knees in front of me. 

Her hands stayed in her jacket pocket the whole time, struggling to get her hands out of her pockets, unable to hold her hands out and brace herself before she fell down. 

 

“Let’s see what’s wrong with you then.” My whole group gasped, shocked to see me knocking some poor girl over, but even more shocked to see what I did to her next. 

She couldn’t get back onto her feet, she had no use of her hands, that much was certain. So I did what any helpful person would do, and I helped her back up. 

I kneeled next to her, just for a second, as I grabbed her by her huge bushy ponytail and yanked her to her feet with it, dragging her into the empty seat in the booth next to me. 

“Let go of me!!” She whined and shouted, but not too loudly, as she was forced into the booth right next to me. 

“And let a gorgeously stunning little squirrel like you get away?” I giggled at her, gently sliding my hands down to hers, still trapped in her pockets. “I don’t think so~”

“Get your hands off of me… please…”

“Calm down.” I cooed at her, trying to see what’s up with her hands. “I’m just trying to diagnose you is all~” 

 

I pulled on her arms and her hoodie just slightly, peeking in at her wrists to confirm to myself that my assumptions of what was going on were true, and it was just like I thought. 

“Handcuffs.” I smiled at her, letting go of her wrists as soon as I saw them. “Handcuffs are pretty hot… what’s your number, darling?”

“I…” She blushed. “Excuse me?”

“I asked for your number, what’s your number, Lucy?” 

“I… I’m flattered, but I’m taken, I’m sorry…”

“Not that number, Lucy… I’m not asking for your phone number-” I grinned, pulling back the clothes that she was hiding her throat behind, hooking one finger around the thick metal band clasped around her neck, pulling her collar out from behind her clothing and into view for everyone else to see. “I want to know what your slave number is~” 

“I… I really don’t know what you’re talking about-”

“It’s only four digits long Lucy, it’s not that hard.” I tightened my grip around her collar, making sure she knew I was threatening her. “I can always have you sent back to the facility if you don’t answer.”

“#0125, Ma’am. I’m #0125. Now please let me go.” 

“That’s always good to know, but I wonder- who do you belong to, and what possessed them to have you trod around in public like this?”

“I really shouldn’t say, Ma’am…”

“Oh come on… it’s safe to tell me~”

 

“Candace!!” Anthony shouted at me, sick of this already and needing it to stop. “It’s Xander Mallick, she belongs to Xander Mallick. Let her go.” 

“Guess your ex-boyfriend has your back for once~” I glanced over at Anthony before turning back to Lucy, smiling at her before letting go of her collar and setting her free. “Run along before your owner notices you’re missing.” 

She shot Anthony a very terrified glare before running off, desperate to get away from us and back to her owner’s side.

But Anthony was still not happy. “Candace, what the fuck is wrong with you?”

“How did you know that, Anthony?” I just turned and glared at him, staring him directly in the eye. “How do you know who she belongs to?” 

“Because she was sold a week ago, Candace…” He frowned, his face red with shame. 

“And so was Chloe…” I kept pressing him for answers. “So how do you know who owns her?”

“Because each slave and their owner is listed in the Personnel Identity Registry, Candace. It’s our job to know…” 

“I’m not after much, Anthony…” I sighed, biting my lip. “I just want to know who she belongs to… just to make sure she’s safe…”

“I understand that, but… I think the answer will hurt you more than it’ll help you.” 

 

I just stared at him, blankly and unamused. That was not the answer I was looking for to help ease my fears. The idea that Chloe was somewhere unsafe was the opposite of what I wanted to hear right now. But it seemed like the only way to know who she was with was to ask my brother or my sister, because they were the only ones who had that kind of access to their mother’s system. 

“Come on, Aria. We’re leaving.” 

I started to grab my jacket, slowly sliding towards the end of the booth to stand up and leave, but before I could get there, I found myself bumping hips with someone that I didn’t expect to be there. 

“Leaving already?” The man scoffed. “Right after you tripped and tortured my new toy?” He set his elbow down on the table, blocking my only exit. “You should be ashamed of yourself.” 

 

I just glared into his eyes. I didn’t recognize him, but whoever he was, he did kind of have this swagger about him. His aura was comparable to that of my brother, Cyrus, and he looked to be around the same age too. 

He winked at me, smiling eagerly. “You can’t just knock my new servant over like she’s nothing, she’s fragile… and she has maid work to do when she gets home~” 

“I’m sorry, do I know you?” 

“Not with that attitude, clearly… the name’s Xander Mallick, you probably ought to remember that in case you run into me or my boys again, and you are?” He phrased it like a question, but after a moment, his eyes lit up with recognition as he realized exactly who I was. “You’re Candace St. Clair…”

I smiled sarcastically, rolling my eyes. “You got me~!!” 

“Well hello little beauty, what brings you ought to these parts anyways?”

“I live in these parts, Mr. Mallick.”

“Oh, is that so?” He chuckled, his eyes once again excited by a new revelation. “What do you know about slaves, Ms. St. Clair?” 

“I happen to know quite a lot about slaves actually, I’ll have you know- I used to have one.” I snarled at him, doing my best to try and intimidate him. “Used to~”

“Is that how it is, huh?” The smug bastard unfortunately didn’t seem too intimidated. “She was yours, then?” 

“She?” I swallowed nervously. “Who?”

“Sophia Cavalier, obviously.”

“Sophia Cavalier is dead, but thank you.”

“So what, she didn’t really die, you just had her shipped down here to become your slave?” He grinned, somehow able to see through me, holding his hand out to gesture something with his fingers. “You know, I was this close to buying her from the facility… but I had to settle for Lucy instead~” 

“You what…” I frowned, my lips tingling nervously as he mentioned her, talking as if he had seen her. “What are you talking about?”

“I saw her, I made an appointment and I went to go see her, and I was not expecting to see her there.” He reached out towards me, and for a moment I was petrified, feeling him place his fingers on my chin and lifting my head up slightly. “Just like I wasn’t expecting to see her bitter rival around here~” 

I just sat there staring at him, unsure of what to do. Hearing her name made my heart ache, thinking about her made my heart ache. Realizing that she was with someone else made my heart ache. 

“Now now pretty thing, I can’t have Sophia Cavalier… but maybe I can have Candace St. Clair, how does that sound?” He smirked, still holding me by the chin. “What do you think, want to come back to my place?” 

“Sure.” I could hear everyone just about jump out of their seat as I spoke, but I held fast, smiling at the nice man as he tried to gently lead me out of my seat and back to his table with him. “I’d love to.”

 

Like hell I was going anywhere with him, he wasn’t even good enough to be a rape puppet. 

I stood, waiting for him to get out of my booth before grabbing my drink from off the table, swinging it around and pouring it all out into his face. 

He did not like that at all. 

“Oh, so that’s how it is…” He growled at me, his face and coat down soaked with booze. “Let’s at least take this outside then, I’d hate to get blood all over the nice clean floors.”

“Oh no… I don’t think I can, I think my Daddy would kill you if he found out that you had your hands on me.” 

“Pfft, your daddy? Really?” He snarled. “You think your daddy stands any match against me?”

“I don’t see why not, really. He’s big, tall, strong, blonde, blue eyes, the head of the family, you can’t mistake him… You do think I look a little bit like Cardinal Russo, don’t you?” I grinned, fanning myself with my hand. “Because I would hope so, I am his daughter after all~”

Xander’s eyes turned fiery, recognizing the name enough to know that he was in too deep. “Fine, whatever… have a nice night, Ms. Russo.” 

“Leaving already?” I smiled, shaking my head as he left, turning back to my table to spot a group of my extremely annoyed friends. “What?”

 

“Great going Candace.” Anthony was clearly the most annoyed of the bunch. “Way to ruin dinner.” 

“Oh come on, honey. It wasn’t that bad.” Malcolm just kind of scoffed at his fiance. “That cunt had it coming.”

“That didn’t mean she needed to splash gin in his face!!”

“And wouldn’t you do the same?”

“Guys…” Aria just shook her head at them. “Can we… just go home?”

“I think that sounds like a good idea.” Leah slowly climbed out of her seat, sternly looking over me as she gently placed her hand on my shoulder. “Dinner’s on you kiddo.” 

I sighed, looking up at her before looking back to the rest of the table, realizing that she was probably right. “Yes, Ma’am…” 

 

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“And where do you think you’re going?” 

Leah drove us back to my house, because I was apparently the first person to get dropped off. Yet somehow, instead of coming back inside with me, Aria assumed it was okay to try and stay in the car, with the intention of being dropped off back at her place instead. 

“I’m heading back home, Candace… I’m tired…” 

“No you’re not, you’re mine, get inside.” 

Was I being a little pushy? Sure, but I was also like five drinks down after finishing everything on the table, not wanting the alcohol to go to waste, and I was really really horny after a small run in with a bushy tailed slave at the bar- I had even had the decency to not try and claim her as my own this time, regardless of whether she belonged to another person already. 

“Can we please do this tomorrow?” Aria didn’t even look up at me, quietly sitting in the backseat of Leah’s car. “I want to sleep in my own bed tonight.” 

“Well too bad.” I smiled, grabbing her by the arm and gently tugging on her, trying to get her to come inside with me. “Please?” 

She sighed, her cheeks flushed pink as she looked over at me. “Do I have to?”

“Noooo…” I was trying, I was really trying to be better. “But I really want you to…please?” 

She sighed, letting me slowly pull her out of the car. “Goodnight Leah… Goodnight boys~” 

“Goodnight Aria~!!” Malcolm smiled, blowing her a kiss from the backseat. “And Candace?” 

“Mhmmmmmm??” I smiled, giving him a big dumb grin. “Yeeeees~??”

I waved goodbye, blowing me a kiss too. “Love ya girl.” 

“Love you too, Malcolm~!!!!” 

 

“Alright, let’s get you inside, Candace.” Aria gently took my arm instead, leading me towards the door and back into my house as the rest of our friends drove off. “I think it’s time for bed~” 

“I miss him Aria…” I whined at her. “I miss Malcooolm.”

“I know you do, silly.” Aria chuckled, closing the bedroom door behind us and setting me down on the couch in my room. “I miss ‘em too, y’know!!” 

“Ariaaaa, I’m gonna be his maid of honor!!” 

“I know, I was there~” She teased me, sitting down on the couch next to me after a quick run to the kitchen to get me some water. “It’ll be fun, right?”

“I can’t wait~” 

“Am I gonna be invited to their wedding, you think?”

“Have they not invited you yet?”

“I don’t know that they’ve sent out invitations.” 

“Then don’t worry about it~!!”

I picked up the glass of water and quickly shotgunned it, not wanting to get a hangover after getting so buzzed at the bar. Thankfully, Aria only seemed mildly annoyed at this. “We really shouldn’t have let you finish all of our drinks for us.”

“I bought them, I wasn’t just gonna let them go to waste~”

“Sure.” She rolled her eyes, getting back up to go get more water. “You can’t just drink your problems away when you get stressed out~” 

 

Aria got up and exited the room, leaving me in here alone just long enough to stand and climb into my bed. 

What in the world is wrong with me, mom? 

Some of my best memories had been with my mom, but the rest of my favorite memories were with Chloe. I reached towards my nightstand out of instinct, grasping at the spot where I usually kept the controller to my slave’s collar. But I no longer had said controller, the only thing sitting there was that beautiful little bell that used to belong to her. 

I was going to be a better person, not a perfect person, but a better person. I was my father’s daughter and my brother’s sister, not my sister’s brother and father’s son- I was whoever I wanted to be. I was Candace St. Clair. 

I won’t be held to my father’s expectations of me, or a promise I once failed to make to my mother, I’m going to be whoever I want to be. 

I won’t be needlessly cruel or punishing anymore, I won’t be distant. I’ll hold my slaves close and I won’t let them go again. I’ll be loving, I’ll be forgiving, but I’ll be stern. I won’t abandon my friends, I won’t abandon my family, and I won’t abandon my desires. 

I can be like my father without becoming him. I was going to get what I wanted without having to hurt the people I love to get it. 

 

“Moment of truth, Aria.” I looked up at her as she walked into the room, catching her by surprise. “Do you want to do this with me or not?” 

There was a quiet pause as she stepped inside, the only sound in the room being the sound of her setting a glass of water onto the table across the room from me. 

“I do… really.” I could see the briefest flicker of desire in her eyes as I glimpsed into her, and she glimpsed into me. “But this isn’t going to work, and I think we both know that.” 

I bit my lip, squeezing onto the bell in my hand as I tilted my gaze to the floor. “Yeah, I know.”

“I do like you, love you even… but-” She stood there, uncomfortably stiff as she avoided my gaze. “You’re not over her, and I don’t want what you guys had.”

“You don’t want what I want.” It was clear that this little experiment between her and I had been doomed from the start. “You don’t want to be my slave.”

“If you decided to take me as your slave, I wouldn’t be able to stop you.” 

“But that’d just be proving you right, huh?”

“Yeah…” 

I looked to my wrist, the watch that served as Aria’s controller still clasped to my arm, yet to really be turned on and activated. I had already been through this, I had already gotten past my crush on Aria Fairmont. I wanted her, but the only reason I did was because I still missed Chloe, not because I still loved Aria, because I didn’t.

 

“You’re still not over her.” She was staring straight at the bell, still in my hand. “You’re still not over Chloe.”

“Pfft-” I scoffed at the observation, unable to keep a straight face. “How could you tell?” 

“I put together a whole dinner with our friends and you hardly looked at or talked to me… You keep talking about her, she’s always the first thing that comes to your mind.” She sighed, furling her eyebrows in what I could now recognize as jealousy. “But I think the last straw for me was when they got to talking about the wedding… I don’t know, it was just like the only thing you could think about was her.” 

“That’s cuz it’s true. I’m not over Chloe… I love her.” 

“I know you do, and… I’m sorry.” She had a look of shame on her face just thinking about it. “I’m sorry for everything I did to you two.” 

“Aria… Come clean with me…” I swallowed nervously, looking up from the bell in my hands and into her eyes. “What did you tell her?” 

She chuckled, her skin going pale with fear. “How much do you want to hear?” 

“All of it.” I glared at her, my phone in hand as I motioned towards her. “The doors are locked… I want a full confession.” 

 

She took a deep breath, and then she smiled, not happily but angrily, evilly, directing all of the hatred in her heart directly towards me. 

“I told Chloe to leave you.”

“Why would you-”

“Shut up, Candace.” She shot me down as soon as I tried to interrupt, her dumb little face twisted into an angry smirk as she mocked me, putting her pokerface right back on. “If you want to hear the story then at least shut up and listen.”

I paused for a moment, tense silence ringing through the air as she glared at me, nodding my head to indicate for her to continue. 

“You’ve ruined my life Candace. You ruined my life the moment you stepped into it. Because from the first moments we spoke you were weaseling your way into every facet of my existence.” She continued on cue, not letting me interrupt her any further. “You had the bizarre crush on me, like you wouldn’t let me live my life without you, from day one you were funnelling illegal funds straight into my pockets just to fool me into thinking that doing photoshoots with you was a lucrative business.”

These of course were things that I already knew, things that I really did, the next information here was finding out that Aria knew about that. She had figured these things out. 

“You tricked me, Candace. You tricked me into working with you, just because you wanted to fuck me.” She wasn’t just confessing everything that happened the night Chloe had been taken away, she was taking this moment to confess everything. “I kept doing photoshoots with you because I was making all of this money out of nowhere, and right when I told you no- when I turned you down, that was when the FBI was suddenly on my ass for all of these illegal funds that I knew nothing about.”

I chuckled, returning her angry glare straight back at her. “Pfft, that was six or seven years ago. What does this have to do with Chloe?”

“I said shut up, Candace!! Especially about her !! Not everything is about her, or about you, this is about me!!” She shouted angrily the moment I stepped back into the conversation. “Did you really think I wouldn’t realize it?? Did you really think I wouldn’t notice?? I got arrested by the FBI on suspicion of money laundering because of you!!” 

“Oh yeah?” I refused to step down, too angry to give up the fight in me. “Then why are you standing right here in front of me?”

“Because I’m an informant for the federal government, Candace.” She frowned, her heart aching in her chest, the pain bad enough to show in her face. “Or I was… until your sister’s wedding.” 

“My sister’s wedding?” I shuffled nervously in place, trying to remember the last wedding I had been to, over four years ago now. “What about it?” 

“You didn’t think I hung out with you for years because I was your friend?” She scoffed at the absurdity of the idea. “You don’t think I came to your sister’s wedding because I changed my mind and suddenly wanted to go on a date with you, right?” 

“I did, actually!!” Hearing all of this from her made my heart hurt. Hearing my friend say these things hurt me. “I thought you were my friend.”

“I’m just… trying to explain myself, and everything you’ve done to me… Let me finish the story before you get all hurt, please?” She licked her quickly drying lips, trying to stay composed.  “Do you remember how your sister accused me of stealing from her?”

“You stole from her.” I almost gasped. “You lied to me. You really did steal from her.”

“And she caught me doing it too!!” She was struggling to keep it together, but if this was going to be her last moment to say everything she needed to say, she was going to take it. “I snuck into her office and I stole a bunch of documents to give to the FBI, things from her desk, her drawers, her cupboards… her precious VHS tape.” 

“A VHS tape?” That was the oddest part of it, the cassette tape that Aria had supposedly stolen, not because of the contents of the tape itself, but because of its seeming importance. “What kind of VHS tape?”

“It was some sort of home video of her and her father… and some other woman.” The color was quickly draining from her face as she talked about it. “I watched it too… not all of it, but some of it.” 

“And what was it?” I could hear my heart thumping, eagerly awaiting whatever it was that was on this tape of hers that she had stolen from my sister. “What was on it?” 

“Nothing you want to see.” She swallowed back the vile building up in her throat, struggling to keep herself from gagging. “Something that makes me vomit every time I think about it.”

 

The color was gone from her face, not because she was scared, but because she was disgusted. She was disgusted with me, and my family, my friends- everything. She was disgusted at herself. 

“I showed it all to the feds… her personal work records, the existence of the PIR, the magazines your sister had strewn about the place… Charlotte’s parcel.”

“Charlotte’s parcel?”

“That’s just what the film was titled, okay?” She swallowed nervously. “It wasn’t an actual parcel… that’s just what it was called.”

“Aria…” I looked on at her in disbelief. “Why would you do all of this to us?”

“Because I was scared, Candace.” Aria didn’t like to cry, but she was struggling to hold all of her tears back. “Because I was scared for my life and I didn’t know what to do, I didn’t have anyone to tell me what to do, and once the FBI knew your sister was onto me… they cut contact.”

“And then what?!” I shouted at her, my stomach acid churning with anger and disbelief, mixing like a witch’s cauldron. “Once you had stolen from my family, tricked me into being your friend, and gotten found out by my sister… what did you do then?!”

“What do you think I did…” Aria coughed, the first of her tears gently running down her cheeks. “I came to you… for your protection…” 

What was hurting Aria the most was just how much she regretted it all. She was twenty-seven years old, only a year older than I was, and her entire life had been turned on her head because of me. She had been forced to work as a government informant from the ages of 21-23, barely even an adult, too young to even be considered an actual grown-up, that’s what this life did to people. It ruined them. 

“This is a lot, Aria…” I swallowed nervously, the controller to her collar still in my hand, the device to activate the kill switch around her neck still firmly in my grasp. “And I’m sorry, but… how is this about Chloe?”

 

“Because I love you, Candace. I really do…” She slowly lowered herself to the floor, not to her knees, but just onto the ground in a defeated puddle, leaning against the back of the couch behind her. “Don’t think that after four years of being your friend… that I don’t actually consider you my friend-” 

“Then why are you saying all of this?!”

“Because you deserve to know~!!” She shouted, the last of her energy leaving her as she looked up at me with tears in her eyes. “Regardless of why I did or whether or not I regret it… I did all of these things, things that I thought were morally right… and it’s time that you know. It’s time for you to know everything that’s happened to me because of you, and how it’s destroyed me…” 

And she meant it. I could tell this time. Aria really did think of me as her friend, someone who had wronged her, but she still loved all the same. She couldn’t just let things go on like they had been going on, she couldn’t just keep going like things were okay. She couldn’t keep her secrets forever. 

“Should I keep going?” She lowered her head, this time out of fear, trying to spare herself the pain of looking into my eyes. “Can I finish?” 

“Yes.” There was no hesitation in my voice as I answered her, suddenly willing to be there for her to talk to, like some priest offering to listen to a penitent confess her sins. “Finish your confession.”

 

“I told Chloe to leave you…” She took a deep breath, swallowing a mouthful of terror and pride as she spoke. “Everything I told her about you was true, but… I wasn’t doing it for her, I was doing it for myself…”

I just sat there, staring at her as she continued to spill everything to me, angry at her own actions more than anything. 

“I was jealous of her. I was jealous of Chloe… I was jealous of you.” She dug her hands into the carpet beneath her, curling her fingers into the fabrics. “It’s not right, Candace. It’s not right that you can just ruin my life, and still get anything and everything that you want… you don’t deserve her. You don’t deserve someone as innocent and good as her, you deserve to be with some worthless scumbag nobody.”

“You-” I stuttered, my voice shaking as I realized what she was saying. “You didn’t do it because you wanted revenge?”

“No… I did it because I wanted to be with you.” She shook her head, tears dripping off of her as her face moved. “But I didn't want to hurt you.” 

“Well you did it… you got your revenge anyways.” I just gazed at her weak little body, sick and drained of any color, my mouth hanging open in disbelief, tears in my eyes as my voice wavered and trembled. “Are you proud of yourself?”

“Not even slightly. I didn’t know… I didn’t know you’d react like this… to losing her…” She buckled over, finally beginning to let it all out with her sobs. “I didn’t think you actually loved her…” 

“Because how could someone like me actually love someone…” 

 

It hurt me to see her like this, my best friend of many years, on the floor of my bedroom as she cried her eyes out. But not quite as much as it hurt knowing that she was the reason Chloe had decided to leave me. 

“So that’s it then… you’re just giving up?” I scoffed, slowly standing up from my bed. “You’re just going to confess your sins and give up?”

“What other choice do I have?” She gently wiped the tears from her eyes, desperate not to be seen like this. “I’ve done what I can… I’ve tried the government… I’ve tried working with you and your family… I’ve tried being your lackey, but I can’t… I can’t keep lying to you.” 

She swallowed a lump of sobs and bile from inside of her throat, looking up at me in desperation. “I can’t keep hurting you…” 

“And can’t keep hurting you either.” I stood over her, looking down at her weak pitiful little body, cowering in fear from my shadow, the controller to her collar still in my hand. “Get out of my house.” 

Her eyes went wide with shock and awe, gazing up at me in fear and surprise. “What?”

“I said get out of my house.” I stared at her, getting more and more impatient. “You’re not welcome here anymore, which means you’re trespassing.”

“You… you’re not going to kill me… or-” She retched, barely keeping herself from hurling. “Or turn me into a slave…” 

“No… I won’t.” I held out the controller to her collar, dropping it into her lap. “But I won’t keep protecting you from the people who will.” 

Aria’s eyes turned warm, filled to the brim with love and adoration, her smile one of gratitude, appreciation. “Thank you…” 

 

I had the controller in my hand. I could have killed her right then and there… I could have enslaved her, or made her mine. But I wasn’t going to.

I didn’t deserve to have her just like I didn’t deserve to have Chloe… and if there’s one thing I had learned from these last couple of weeks, it was that I needed to be a better person, not just for my own sake, but for the sake of everyone I loved.

And that started right here.

That started with letting Aria Fairmont go. 

I wasn’t about to give up owning slaves, let’s not get ahead of things, but I was no longer going to keep slaves just to hurt them- not like I had with Chloe. 

From now on it was going to be about love… about forming a bond with someone. Something like Malcolm and Anthony have, but for real. A real master and slave bond, forged from love and commitment, and not fear or anger or hatred. 

Love. 

 

So that was it.

That was the piece that I was missing to solve the puzzle that was my mangled mess of a life. 

So many things converged on Aria Fairmont, exactly in this moment. Me, Chloe, my sister, my father, the FBI, even my career as a model… they all tangled together in this horrible mess of sharp piercing wires and cords, and she had been caught right in the middle of it. 

This was her grand finale, her retribution for being wronged, finally being released from it all. She had finally been let out of this tangled horrible mess that was my life, and set free. 

So there you have it, Aria Fairmont’s eleventh hour twist reveal. Weak, pathetic, and aggravating- just like her. 

But at least now we know why she did it, right? 

 

God damn it… why does it even matter? 

Regardless of whether Aria’s existence was intricately foreshadowed from the start or just tossed onto the page like the spear of deus ex machina, it didn’t fucking matter. 

You’re not here to hear about her, you don’t care. 

You’re not even here for me, you want Chloe… and I want to give you Chloe, I really do. But I don’t have her anymore… 

 

So I guess this is goodbye? 

…Maybe? 

I don’t know what you guys want. I’m just one girl. I’m just Candace… 

I don’t even like to talk to you all directly like this, because I know this isn’t my story, this is Chloe’s story. Chloe would never break script and speak to you guys like this, so I didn’t want to do it either. But because I don’t have her here with me anymore… I’m not really a part of her story anymore, am I?

I appreciate you guys being here to sit through this with me, I appreciate you being here every other chapter or every three chapters or something, I appreciate you checking up on me… but you guys don’t really need to hear from me. 

She’s not mine, and I’m not hers… which means I really have no right to be here anymore. 

I’m sorry, I’m not trying to make this about me, I’m really not. This is Chloe’s story, not mine… and if she wants the rest of her story to be about her and not me, then there’s no use wasting your time on me, really. 

I love you all, but I’m going to be okay. At least I hope I’m going to be okay, and if I don’t turn out okay- I kind of feel like I deserve it?

 

I guess what I really wanted to say is I’m sorry.

I’m sorry. 

I’m sorry for hurting her like I did, and dragging all of you through the mud on this, I’m sorry about making myself the center of everything and refusing to think about anyone else. 

In a few chapters, things are going to go back to being how they used to be, they’re going to go back to being about Chloe.

Not me. Not my sister. Chloe. In a few chapters it’s just going to be her… and you~

 

The next time you hear from me- specifically from my point of view- will be the last time, at least for a while. Until by some stroke of blind luck when Chloe decides she wants me to be a part of her life again, or by some miracle you all decide that you miss me and want to hear from me again, I’ll be gone. 

I miss Chloe a lot, but I understand. 

You’re right to think that she’s better off with whoever she’s with now because I really see no reason to think otherwise. Regardless of whoever she’s with, I have no reason to think that she’s not better off than she was with me… 

 

But that’s all I wanted to say, I don’t want this to get too wordy or too long, I just wanted to say-

I’m sorry and goodbye.

I’ll see you guys in a couple of chapters just to finish up my little character arc, and then I’ll get out of your hair, I promise.

I’m going to miss you guys and gals a lot, thank you so much for going through this with me. I love you all, and I hope you enjoy the rest of the story. 

 

Yours for just a little bit longer,
Candace Amelia Saint Clair. 

Chapter 28: Master Plan

Sunday had been more of the same. It turns out Claudia needed a day to have some quality time with her family, and really just liked holing me up in the cell when I wasn't needed, eager to torture me with dirty magazines and porn that I was unable to masturbate to. 

But it was finally Monday, the beginning of the week, and my new master had been merciful enough to let me out of my cell for the day, encouraging me to find work to do. 

But what was I… supposed to do? 

She hadn’t so much as given me instructions, she just expected me to work. It was a double edged sword, because on one hand I had no clue what I was doing, but on the other hand… I had the freedom to explore the whole house and formulate an escape plan- if only just for fun. 

Step one- Avoid everyone else in the house 

This was easier said than done, obviously, unlike Candace’s house, Claudia’s was packed with not just her, but her family and her other slaves. 

The easiest person to avoid, ironically, was Claudia. But the only reason this was the case was because she left for work on a daily basis, Monday through Friday. Thanks to this, there was quite simply a chunk of the week where she just wasn’t here. 

The next most powerful person to worry about was Claudia’s wife, Josephine, my apparent doppelganger. She spent her days living the good life, lounging around and masturbating- when she was permitted to by her wife of course. The easiest way to avoid her was just to make my moves when she was in one of her near constant heats, because when she got like that, she stayed in her room. When Claudia disallowed her from doing so however, she was out of the bedroom a lot more often, sometimes with her daughter, but mostly with one of her two slaves.

Speaking of her two slaves, Darcey and Autumn might not hold much power, but their movements were a lot more sporadic. Especially Darcey, who was all over the place cleaning the house. Out of my fellow slaves, she was going to be the most difficult to avoid while on the job. Autumn was a little bit easier to avoid, she cooked breakfast, lunch, and dinner for her masters. What that meant was that she was usually in the kitchen or in the dining room, I just needed to memorize her movement patterns for when she made trips up to either Josephine or Lilian to deliver their food to them. 

Speaking of Lilian, she was going to be the most difficult to predict out of the bunch. Sure, she spent most of her time in her room with her nanny, but she was five years old and that made her impossible to predict. That was especially the case thanks to Zenna, a scared little cat who let the child lead her around the house instead of actually babysitting her. 

But if I could manage to successfully avoid Lilian, that meant I could avoid Zenna as well. She was likely going to be relatively easy to avoid, but out of all of the slaves, she was probably the one who’d end up being the most dangerous to be caught by. We shared a master, and Zenna was fiercely loyal to Claudia like I had been to Candace, if she caught me doing something I wasn’t supposed to do, I would be in instant trouble with Claudia. 

But that just left one person- Nell. 

Nell was Claudia and Josie’s enforcer, which just meant it was their job to make sure slaves stayed in line. If they caught me doing something wrong, I was as good as dead. The only way to avoid them was going to be to know where they were at all times. 

But there it was, I knew how to avoid the rest of the people in the house- that just left me with a brand new problem. 

Step two- Getting into places

Sure, I could just avoid everywhere in the house I could potentially run into someone.

But that would leave me with nowhere to actually go.

Avoiding Josephine and Lilian in their respective bedroom’s would also probably mean staying away from their doors, and aside from the conservatory, that basically meant the whole second floor was off limits- and the second floor was literally half the house. 

Yes, I could snoop around the conservatory, but the conservatory walls were two thirds glass panels that overlooked the outside world. Putting aside the embarrassment factor of being seen through that window from the outside, the conservatory was huge, and Darcey had to keep those windows clean. 

Even worse for me was the fact that there was a huge gaping hole in the second floor, which directly overlooked the ballroom below. So even being in the ballroom exposed me to being seen by anyone on the second floor balcony. 

That might have been bad enough, but the first floor was maybe even worse. 

There were no walls or doors separating the dining room from the adjacent ballroom, there was no privacy to be had in the ballroom. Autumn might have spent most of her time in the kitchen and dining room, but that just meant she had an almost constantly clear view of the entirety of the ballroom on the other side of the dining room from the kitchen. The fact that she was always in one of those two rooms did make her a little bit easier to avoid, but it blocked off a huge portion of the bottom floor in the process. 

Our room was on the first floor, and it was theoretically perfectly safe, but it was also completely and utterly useless to me. Stripped of anything and everything that could help us escape, and to make matters worse- Nell’s room was right next to ours. 

That was one thing that I didn’t realize when I first got here, the enforcer lives here too. They got paid of course, Nell wasn’t one of Claudia’s slaves, they were here to keep the slaves in line, and that was not a job you could entrust to one of said slaves. 

The sitting room was on the other side of the house from our bedroom, but it was also practically open to the rest of the house. Nobody spent any extreme amount of time in there, save for Lilith when she was here, but it was the most vulnerable place to be spotted. If at any point, Nell decided to go to their office, they would be able to hear me inside of the sitting room. I was fucked. 

There was only one last home to finally find a way out of here. Claudia’s office. 

Step three- Getting into Claudia’s office 

My master’s home was largely symmetrical, save for one thing, her office. 

It was a little bit odd actually, her office was awfully disconnected from the rest of the house, it was like it was an addition built onto the house later, like a tumor growing on the outside of the manor. 

But it was also the solution to all of my previous problems, because it didn’t matter if I couldn’t lurk around the rest of the house if the key to getting out of this place was in there. 

And it likely was. 

 

I was after one thing, the controller to my collar, that was my first step towards freedom. 

Claudia wasn’t going to keep the controller to my collar or the keys to unlock the doors in any rooms where the other slaves could reach them. That meant the dining room, kitchen, conservatory, and even Lilian’s bedroom were all useless to me anyways. She likely wouldn’t even keep it in her own bedroom, probably not trusting her wife to take good care of the thing anyways. Who needed to be in the ballroom or the foyer or the sitting room when the key I was searching for was probably in Claudia’s office? 

I just need to get into her office and find the damn thing. 

Step four- Getting into the vestibule 

That leads me to my next problem, the vestibule. 

Getting into Claudia’s office in the first place wasn’t going to be an easy task, because the only door into Claudia’s office was as close to freedom as the door into the vestibule. I would have to cross the vestibule to even get into Claudia’s office in the first place, and it would be stupid to let slaves enter freely into the vestibule, they had no reason to get into their master’s office, which meant they had no reason to have access to the vestibule, because freedom was very strictly not an option for them. 

I just needed to find a way to get into the vestibule, which meant finding someone capable of opening the vestibule, which was one of two people- Josephine or Nell. 

Step five- Nell

“Hey, Chloe?” 

I was snapped back to attention, quickly being broken out of my all devouring train of thought by a voice that I was still getting used to hearing. 

“Don’t just stand around, get to work or be in your room.”

Nell, coming to check on me during their regular rounds around the house. The big thing that stood in my way was my master’s enforcer, Nell Monet- and why shouldn’t they be? That was their job. 

But clearly they were also my only hope of escape. 

 

“I need you to move so that I can get outside, Chloe.” They stood there, tapping their foot impatiently, a mildly amused smile painted onto their face as they waited for me to leave, a pair of physical keys in hand. “Well go on, scoot back. I’m not gonna open the door until I know you’re not going to run out after me.” 

“Go.” They pointed off towards the hallway, sending me out of the sitting room and back into the rest of the house. They didn’t so much as give me something else to do as much as they just told me to leave the sitting room. Sort of like when a bartender says you don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here . 

“Right, thank you.” I smiled and bowed before turning around and heading back into the house, sighing to myself as I headed upstairs for no particular reason than to get away from them. 

 

I need a plan, I need something to do. I need… something to work on. 

Okay so maybe I was going through this vast mental exercise of trying to formulate a way out for one reason and one reason alone, I was bored. 

I don’t actually plan on escaping this place, or my new master. This was my life now, I lived here and had nowhere else to go- I just didn’t have a job yet, not really. 

She had brought me here claiming to need a new maid, but she hadn’t given me any duties yet. That was something that Candace never failed to do, give me something to accomplish for her. There was one thing I never had a complaint about, there was always work to do, something to preoccupy myself with, but not here. While Claudia was gone and the other slaves did all of the work around the house that really needed to be done, I was just sitting around doing nothing. 

I’m going to get into Claudia’s office, not because I wanted to escape, but because I wanted into Claudia’s office. Though, importantly, if I had the chance to escape I would definitely consider taking it. 

What am I supposed to do?

I headed up the stairs, trying to explore the house for exploration’s sake. There was a lot less to see on the second floor, and even less of what was there was accessible to me. I peered over the balcony down to the beautiful ballroom below, admiring it for its gorgeous sights and decorations

It really was pretty here, Claudia had a decadence about her that Candace lacked, something I had dreamed of being a part of since I was a kid. It just sucked that I was a slave, which just meant that I couldn’t be allowed to fully enjoy it. 

I would really like to dance in a ballroom like that someday, the love of my life in hand as we twirled and spun and embraced each other, kissing passionately under the magnificent lights and chandeliers above. 

 

I’m never going to get married.

The realization hit me like a bullet train, grinding my heart to bits between the rails. I was never going to have that moment that every girl dreamed of, walking down the aisle to meet with the love of my life on the altar. I was never going to have a wedding. 

Since I was a girl I dreamed of having a huge magnificent wedding, dreams of a time and a place where I wouldn’t have to be that orphan girl who lived a life of destitution and poverty, if only for just a moment. 

I was never going to have a wedding. I was never going to get married. I was never going to have a wife. That was the part that struck me so hard, I was never going to that love of my life to dance under the chandelier with, I was never going to have someone to call mine. My love. 

I belonged to Claudia now, and I was going to devote my life to her to the best of my ability, but I was really nothing more than a dog to her. I was an animal, not a person, I didn’t deserve a wedding anyways. 

It didn’t even hurt me to know that really, I could accept being treated like a beast, I almost embraced it. But no matter how hard I tried to devote myself to her, I was never going to be the love of her life. No matter how much I looked like Josephine, Claudia was already married. Claudia had a wife and a daughter, and there was no getting in the way of that. 

I respected that. But at the same time, it disappointed me. I was never going to have a wedding like Claudia and Josephine had. I would never get married like Cyrus and Liz, Malcolm and Anthony, or even Cardinal and Lilith while their marriage lasted. Hell, I wasn’t even going to be invited to Malcolm and Anthony’s wedding. 

Candace. Candace was going to get to be at their wedding. Candace was going to get married someday and I wasn’t even going to be there to witness it, I would probably never see another wedding in my life, especially not my own. 

 

I sighed, turning away from that ballroom that I so desperately wanted to dance inside, heading into the conservatory. It was this huge sprawling thing with the exterior walls built of panels of huge thick glass, the room lit by the natural glow of the sun outside, raining rays of sunshine down on the array of plants that lines the inside of the conservatory. 

I put my hand to one such glass panel and peered outside, gazing down at the world around us. I was less than a pet here, because at least dog’s got to go outside for a walk every once in a while.

Dogs. I gasped loudly, clasping both of my hands over my lips to keep myself from shrieking, remembering something important that had somehow slipped my mind for the last several days. 

Poppy. 

Just as soon as I’d gotten into the conservatory, I was on my way back out, making a beeline back downstairs. 

Now I had a real reason to get into my master’s office. 

 

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The plan was simple. Stay away from everyone else in the house, and avoid detection by Nell for long enough to find some way of getting into the vestibule from the sitting room and from there, into Claudia’s office to find Poppy. 

I felt like an actual convict in a prison, trying to get a hold of the warden’s keys in order to unlock the doors that trapped me here. 

Nell tried to mix up their walking patterns as they did rounds to check up on the slaves, but sometimes they got lazy and fell into a few of the same routines. And it often went something like this:

Step one- Check up on Autumn

Autumn was always the easiest to locate, she was in the kitchen. That was where her master’s figurative shackles bound her into service. When it was time for Nell to check up on Autumn, one of two things usually happened.

The most likely and most often outcome was for Nell to just peek into the dining room and check for movement inside of the kitchen across from them. They couldn’t always be sure that it was Autumn in there, but they often got lazy and took it as enough evidence that Autumn was in there. 

The next most likely outcome was for Nell to be spotted by Autumn, and when that happened, strangely enough, Nell usually got roped into whatever Autumn wanted to show them, and practically got dragged all the way into the kitchen with her. It was for that reason that Nell often tried to stay at a distance, because if Autumn knew they were there, she was going to want them to help consult on whatever she was doing. 

Though one of those two things usually happened, there was a third less likely scenario, Nell was hungry. It happened at most once a day, Nell would cross the dining room unprompted, and head into the kitchen to eat something. This was maybe the most desirable time for me to strike, knowing they were preoccupied. 

Step two- Check up on Zenna

In trying to diversify their movement pattern, Nell usually walked upstairs next instead of checking the rest of the first floor, though this also could have been in an attempt to avoid Autumn. 

Nell could check to make sure the ballroom was free of slaves by looking down through the second floor balcony, which cut out the need to be in the ballroom entirely. 

In the process of doing this though, Nell found themselves on the second floor, conveniently right where Lilian’s room was located, which meant it was the perfect time to check up on Zenna. Like I had noted earlier, Lilian was practically in complete control of Zenna, and the pair spent most of their time in the girl’s room, though not always. 

Conveniently enough however, the other rooms the two were bound to be in were either the conservatory or the ballroom below, both of which could be seen from up on the second floor. 

Step three- Check up on Darcey

Where in the world is Darcey Peyton? Your guess is as good as mine. 

She was chaotic, full of energy, and a little bit stupid. Unlike Nell or I, she did not at all put in any effort to maximize effectiveness or optimize movement patterns when it came to cleaning, at least that’s what it looked like. 

She cleaned the whole house throughout the course of the day, but she seemed to pick places to clean at random. Conservatory, foyer, ballroom, sitting room, dining room- she could be literally anywhere. 

This was what made tracking Nell’s movements a lot harder, not because their patterns were hard to figure out, but because Darcey’s were impossible to determine. The brainless little ditz was all over the place all of the time, throwing everything off its rhythm. 

But she was likely to be on the first floor, just thanks to the sheer size difference between the ground floor and the one above, and thankfully she had one other weakness that helped pinpoint her location- she liked taking a lot of breaks. 

I couldn’t really blame her either, out of all the slaves, her work was the least intellectual and most physical. Cleaning was taxing, not just on her nonexistent brain, but also on the body. This just meant that between cleaning rooms, she often took a break in one of the broom closets, usually the one nearest the kitchen. 

Step four- Check up on Chloe 

After checking the other slaves off of their list, Nell’s final job was to track me down, which was the most dangerous part of trying to avoid them, because they were deliberately hunting me. 

This was the riskiest phase of Nell’s movement, and it really did feel like I was being hunted down by an alien menace that was out to devour me. Nell still didn’t know how to track me down, which usually meant just blindly checking rooms looking for me. 

Once again, the only way to avoid them during this stage was to know where they were at all times and to be somewhere else, which was extremely difficult when the point was trying to stay away from them. 

It took me a whole morning of stealthily stalking Nell throughout the house to even get this information in the first place, but it was worth it in the end. Hopefully they hadn’t taken notice of me doing so, following them through the entire house to observe them. 

I just had to put my own plan into action. 

Step five- Nell’s office 

“Hey??? Chloe???” 

Once again, I was brought back to attention by Nell, snapping their fingers at me to make sure I was listening to them as they talked. 

“Are you doing anything right now?” 

It took me a few moments to get out of my own head, turning off my dumb overanalytical gamer brain and returning to the real world, standing in the bedroom I shared with the other three girls as I formulated a plan instead of doing actual work. 

“N-no. Not right now, my apologies.” My cheeks flushed bright red, ashamed at myself for getting so preoccupied. “I’ll get right back to work, I’m sorry.” 

“Can you come with me to my office instead?”

“Y-your office?” I swallowed nervously. “Am I in trouble?”

“No, actually. We just have a guest here to check up on you.” 

“A guest? For me?” 

“Just follow me to my office, okay?” They smiled, extending their hand for me to take. “He’s my brother, he doesn’t bite, I promise.”

“Your brother?” That just confused me even more. “Why would your brother want to see me, boss?”  

“It’s family business, Chloe.” They rolled their hand, gesturing for me to take it. “Usually being a part of this business means bringing your whole family into things, siblings and children alike. He works for the family too.” 

“Alright… My apologies.” I bowed ever so slightly as a form of apology, smiling at them. It didn’t really occur to me, but of course that was the case. Being a part of this life meant that your brothers, sisters, or siblings were likely in it with you, it wasn’t called a family business for no reason. 

“Now come on, before I have to pull you by the nipples.” They let me grab them by the hand, leading me back out into the hallway and over towards their office right next door, so at least this eliminated the need to find a secret way into the enforcer’s room without being noticed. “He’s from the facility, he’s just here to do a follow up mental evaluation after being sold, nothing too bad.”

Oh no… 

I stepped inside, swallowing nervously. I had gotten a mental evaluation at the facility as well, and I still remembered who had been there to give it to me. 

“Here she is.” Nell closed the door behind us, pulling out a chair beside the desk that their brother was sitting at, his current bodyguard standing behind him. “Have at her.”

 

It was about a third of the usual rabble from the slave facility. Cyrus’ right hand and favorite bodyguard, Phil Burke, standing in the back behind Nell’s brother- Anthony Schmitt. 

“Hey, Chloe.” He smiled warmly at me, waving just slightly. “I’m not here to hurt you, I promise.” 

Clearly Claudia wasn’t the only person who lived here that had a brother working at the facility, despite the odds. I thought I had seen the last of him, but suddenly he was sitting right in front of me, Malcolm’s boyfriend. 

“I had to miss a housecall to come out and see you today.” He chuckled, his usual clipboard in hand. “Rebecca is out giving another girl an IUD, and she had to bring Jane with her, can you believe that?”

Phil chuckled, the usually silent man giving his colleague the briefest smile as he rolled his eyes, looking as imposing as ever as he glanced over at me, addressing me in a rare moment of speech for him. “We only do this for the special slaves, it’s like a five day free return policy.”

“Oh knock it off.” Anthony shook his head at the other man before turning back to me. “We usually offer to take a slave back or put them down ourselves after the first five days, but it doesn’t look like your master wants to get rid of you~” 

I didn’t realize that I had nervously tensed up until I felt that tension release from me, sighing in relief. “Thank you, Sir… I’m glad to hear it.” 

I had so many questions flying through my brain, but I was in no position to ask them, I was in no position to question what was to be done with me, it was my place to sit down and do as told. 

And so I took a seat across from him, sitting up straight, keeping my eyes pointed at the floor, and my hands safely tucked into my lap. 

“Let’s get started then.” He flipped open the clipboard, clicking his pen. “Just like last time, if I had you rate your level of anxiety on a scale of seven, where would you put it?” 

“Seven, Sir…” I bit my lip, hanging my head in shame. I didn’t want that to be my answer, but it was true, I was as anxious as I ever was. 

“Just like last time, huh?” He wrote that down, still smiling gently. “And the same with your depression?” 

I swallowed nervously, smiling ever so slightly as I answered. “Seven…”

I could also see the flash of amusement in his eyes as he wrote that answer down. Last time he asked me that question, the answer had been eight, and we were the only people in the room who knew that. 

“Good to know.” He motioned at Phil, pointing him towards me. “Physical examination.” 

Phil just nodded, slowly walking over to me and pulling me up to my feet by my arm, rather than instructing me to stand up. I was at least grateful that he didn’t pull me by the chain connecting my nipples, even if he didn’t ask, leading me to where Anthony was now standing. 

The nurse brushed back my hair with his pen, examining my ears first to make sure they had recovered from being molded into points. “Left ear seems healthy, but… keep an eye on that right ear and let your master know if it gets worse.” 

I didn’t answer, I didn’t have time to answer before he moved onto the rest of my face, gently tugging on my nose ring to make sure it was alright. “The nose piercing seems fine. No bruises on her face to speak of, good job with that. No split lips or cuts on or in her mouth. Eyes look a little bit off though.”

I had to resist the urge to shoot one hand up to my eye to figure out what was wrong with it, instead trying to remain as still as possible as he continued to look me over. 

“Has anything strange happened with your eyes lately?”

“No, Sir. Not that I have noticed.” 

“Hmm… I’m not an eye doctor, or I’d do a full evaluation.” He gently tugged on my eyelids, staring me directly in the pupils. “Do you have a prescription that you're not using, 0000?” 

0000, that’s what my name was, not Chloe, but a number. “I’m supposed to have glasses while reading, but I never have, Sir.” 

“That’d explain it…” He chuckled, shaking his head. “Have you been doing a lot of reading, Chloe?” 

“No, Sir. Not that I can-” I stopped mid sentence, considering the question a little bit harder, my cheeks turning red. “Actually… Master has left me in my cell to read magazines for a couple of days, Sir.”

“Well unless you want to end up near-sighted, think about doing less of that, okay? Slaves don’t really need to read or write anyways.”

“But, Sir-” I began to protest before halting myself, not wanting to give up reading and looking at the magazines Candace was in. “I… yes, Sir… sorry.” 

He smiled, nodding his head and gesturing for Nell to come join us. “I need the corset off to check that her brand has burned over correctly.” 

“Right.” Nell stepped out from behind their desk, stepping up to me so that they could do as their older sibling asked them. 

Just for a moment, out of curiosity, I looked up from the ground and glanced over at the enforcer’s desk, trying to figure out what they kept in here. Sure enough, they opened up one of the top drawers of their desk and pulled out a ring of keys, equipping themself to unlock and remove my rather tight waist corset. 

They don’t carry their keys on them.

It was almost a stroke of luck that Nell didn’t carry the keys on them regularly. Clearly they had a job thanks to their brother, Anthony, so they didn’t exactly have the best qualifications for being an enforcer like Leah or Phil, but I was lucky that it was them and not someone better at the job. 

“Let’s get a look at you.” As soon as the corset was off, I felt Anthony’s hands on my waist, examining my skin to make sure it had recovered. 

It stung to the touch, the feeling of someone’s fingers tracing along where her initials once were made my skin tingle. I could feel the goosebumps taking over me, my body shivering at the cold sensation, my lungs burning with the heat of my own breath at being reminded of it. 

I didn’t care who it was at this point, I didn’t want to be thrown around like a rape doll, I just wanted to feel a pair of nice loving hands holding onto my hips. But I couldn’t really get that with Claudia, her marriage with her wife wasn’t exactly an open relationship, the only reason she let us in was because we were slaves.

We weren’t people. It wasn’t cheating because we weren’t considered anything more than property, we were just objects, sex toys, playthings. Having sex with us was just like masturbating to them. 

Or at least that’s what it felt like to me when she touched me, when anyone touched me, but there was still something nagging me in the back of my mind. 

Why does she have so much porn of Candace?

 

It didn’t make sense, it really didn’t. Claudia was so faithful to her wife, even if she did make exceptions when it came to slaves, they were just toys to them both after all. But Candace wasn’t just a real person, she was Claudia’s little sister. 

It made me a little bit nervous just to think about, trying to figure out why she had them. I wasn’t sure what to think of it really, it was mildly disturbing. The two of them hadn’t seen each other in so long, but Claudia still had a portrait of her little sister hanging in the ballroom, as well as dozens of magazines with naked pictures of Candace in them- it didn’t seem quite right, it just wasn’t sitting well with me. 

The two of them were only half-sisters, that much I knew for sure. But I didn’t know what that meant for Candace in Claudia’s eyes. It was clearly that my new master saw slaves differently from people, but Candace was more than a little bit different. 

It wasn’t just because Candace and Claudia had been born to different mothers, but because Candace’s mother had been a slave. So what did that mean to her older sister? What did that make her in Claudia’s eyes? Was Candace some sort of half-slave to her? Is that why there were all these photos? 

Whatever it was, it wasn’t my business. I didn’t have the right to concern myself with that, so I wasn’t going to, I wasn’t allowed to. 

 

“Brand looks like it’s healed pretty nicely, the other one is practically untouched.” Anthony finally took his hands off of me, gesturing over at his sibling to put my corset back on. “She’s good to go~” 

I felt the corset being tightened around my waist, locked into place on my body by my master’s enforcer before they finally set the keys back down in the drawer of their desk. That was their first mistake, putting the keys somewhere I could reach. 

“Is that all, Sir?” I turned around to face him, letting him examine my arms and my nipples, to make sure Claudia hadn’t completely ripped them off of me. 

“Your nipples are pretty strong actually~” He smiled at me, gently patting me on the head, which I allowed him to do. “She’s good to go, you can have her start doing proper slave work right away.” 

So that’s what she’s been waiting for.

I’d spent most of the last five days either exploring my surroundings, getting used to the new people in my life, and sitting in a cell- but it hadn’t occurred to me that the reason I hadn’t been assigned any actual work had been because my new owner wanted me to have a secondary evaluation by the doctor’s to make sure I was physically and mentally safe to start my new life here. 

It was actually kind of sweet of her to do, giving me a little bit of an adjustment period before having to do any actual work. Candace never did that for me, that’s for sure. 

Nell and their brother seemed to be going back and forth with each other now that the evaluation was over, a lot more friendly with each other than Candace and any of her siblings. 

“I might stick around for awhile just to visit, if that’s okay?” 

“Of course it is, don’t worry about it.”

“I have a dinner to go to tonight with some friends, so I can’t stay long.” 

“Well don’t let me keep you~”

“No, it’s fine I promise. We have wedding details to talk about.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Well yeah, you’re going to be part of my wedding court aren’t you?”

“If you want me to be, sure~”

“We can’t talk about it more in a minute.” He chuckled, gesturing to me. “Chloe’s good to go now, if you want to take her~” 

“Yeah, I probably should.” Nell rolled their eyes, quickly retrieving the keys from their desk before grabbing me by the arm and beginning to escort me out of the room. “Let’s get you upstairs~” 

 

“Upstairs?” I swallowed nervously, unsure of why I was being taken upstairs. “Don’t I have work to do now?” 

“Yeah, you do- upstairs.” They rolled their eyes at me, swiveling around the doorway and back towards the bedroom I shared with the other slaves, making a beeline for the dumbwaiter. “You’re a slave, do as you’re told.” 

“Y-yes, boss. My apologies…” 

Drat. This isn’t how I wanted this to go. 

I could even see the keys in Nell’s hands as I obediently followed them to the cell, stepping into the tiny slave elevator as they opened it for me. This wasn’t according to my plan. The plan was to wait until Nell was preoccupied with their brother and sneak into their office to steal the keys, that way I could get into Claudia’s office. Getting sent up the service elevator straight into the master bedroom was not at all part of the plan.

But Nell did it anyways, just as they were supposed to, letting me ride it all the way upstairs, using those keys I needed to activate the lift. “Have fun up there, she’s kind of in a heat~” 

 

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The elevator door slowly opened back up, releasing into the room where my superiors slept, but amazingly Josie wasn’t in bed this time. 

I was even less surprised than I was disappointed, and I was the opposite of disappointed to quickly realize that my master’s wife, Josephine, was in the bath. At least she was in the bath, but by the time I had quietly knocked and opened up the door into the master bathroom, it seemed like she was already done. 

It was a downright sauna. The master bathroom was the biggest I had ever seen in my entire life, bigger than I had ever even dreamed of- and that bathtub was practically a swimming pool. It was so big that it had to have several shower nozzles around the wall to help cover the entirety of it while one was showering, and it had just as many bath nozzles for filling the tub with, plus a sliding screen door that closed around the whole thing, rather than a simple curtain. 

“Slave!!” Josie scoffed at me as she saw me entering, her tone angrier than it was surprised. “Don’t walk in on rooms without knocking, you’re not meant to be in here!!” 

Before I had the chance to bow and apologize, I was on my knees, thanks to a very familiar sensation- my shock collar, doing its job of keeping me in line. Josie had gotten out of the shower and begun drying off, she was completely naked save for a few things, it seemed like she kept her jewelry on when she was bathing.

And among the jewelry she was wearing were four waterproof bracelets around her wrists, two on each hand. The shock controllers for each of the four slaves that she and her wife owned. Darcey, Autumn, Zenna, and me. 

So that’s where they were, Claudia didn’t need them, she had her cane to keep us in line- and she didn’t see any of us as a threat to begin with. But Josephine, she was vulnerable to us when we decided to misbehave, which was extremely evident by the way I seemed to conquer her in bed just a few nights prior. Of course she was the one to have the controllers, it just made sense. Claudia wouldn’t leave them around unused, and neither she nor Nell really seemed to need them, so she left them with Josie. Not in her office, but on her trophy wife, to make sure the love of her life wasn’t harmed. 

“Save dropping to your knees for later, Chloe.” I gasped, a murmuring breath escaping my lips as I felt her soft gentle hands grabbing me by the chin, lifting my face to look up at her. “I want those lips wet and ready to serve me, okay?” 

I blinked, regaining my senses and my posture as I looked up at her, my cheek gently resting against the palm of her hand. “Yes, Ma’am.”

She stood over me, just as hot as she always had been as she held my attention to her. “And be submissive this time, please?” 

“Yes, Ma’am. I’ll remember my place this time.” I licked my lips, trying to get them wet like I was told to as I continued to kneel there in front of her. I set my hands on the ground in front of me, palms up to show her that I was disarmed and vulnerable, my fingers splayed rather than clenched into fists. “I know who and what I am, I promise.”

“Climb under my vanity and wait for me, okay?”

“Yes, Ma’am. Whatever you say~”

 

I shook with just a little bit of excitement, kneeling beneath the low hanging surface of Josie’s vanity. As soon as I was out of view, my fists were back to being clenched shut, struggling to hold myself together. 

My hands trembled in my fishnet sleeves, the chain connected to my nipples heavy as they hung, draped over me. I looked up as she sat down in front of me, my eyes level with her hips, my vulva quivering with need against the cold steel clasping around my waist, keeping me locked away from pleasure. 

“Before I let you pleasure me with my mouth, I need you to answer two questions for me.” Josephine leaned forward, backing me against the wall, preventing me from crawling out from under her vanity as she got herself all pretty again. “Do you believe in destiny?” 

“Ma’am, I-” I swallowed nervously, gazing longingly at the penis tucked between her legs, waiting to be forced into my mouth. “I don’t think it’s my place to think about things like that.” 

“Except when you’re being told to.” I could hear the sounds of her at her vanity above, but I couldn’t see what it was she was doing. “Do you believe there’s a reason that you’re here with us, and not with your last master?”

“Of course there’s a reason Miss, I wouldn’t have been taken away otherwise.” 

“Taken away?” Josie instantly closed in on my little verbal slip up. 

“I… I mean gotten rid of, Miss. If my last master still wanted me, she wouldn’t have gotten rid of me like she did.” 

“Let me rephrase my question then- do you believe there’s a reason you’re here with us, and not with someone else, whoever that may be?”

“Must I answer that, Miss?” 

“All I’m telling you is to answer two questions for me, and this is one of them. Do you believe in destiny?” 

The floor of their bedroom was carpeted, soft plush and nice, I could certainly be somewhere words. I ran the palm of my hand over the soft floor, feeling the threads through the holes of my fishnet gloves, fingerless and decorated with little chains like the one that hung between my breasts. Unlike the heavy bronze link that ran from one nipple to another however, these little chains ran from wrist to finger- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 of them- and they dangled just slightly, only enough to be gently tugged on. A guiding hand could take those little cords and control me, like a puppet on some strings for them to lead. 

“I don’t.” Closing my eyes and taking a deep breath, I clenched just one hand back into a fist, defensively. It was like I was trying to close myself back up, to protect myself. “I’m sorry, Miss Josephine. I don’t really think there’s any significance to it being the two of you, and not somebody else.” 

“If I didn’t know better, I’d think she picked you because of how similar we look, you and I. You know what I think it is?” Without missing a beat, she continued. “I think she has some sort of fantasy she dreams of doing that she can’t do with me, so she wants you to be there to fulfill them for me~”

“You mean like… pretending I’m you?” 

“That’s exactly what I was thinking, yeah.” She chuckled at the thought of it, extending one of her legs towards me beneath her vanity, gently setting it on top of my thigh. “Maybe she wants to do things with you that she can’t do with me, for entertainment purposes.”

“For entertainment…” I blushed, looking down past my frilly translucent skirt, staring at the chastity belt clasped to my waist. “Like keeping me locked away for days on end?”

“Oh, I would absolutely lose it if she tried to do that to me~!!” I could feel Josie’s foot shake as she shivered. “Pleasure is all I do, it’s all I’m good for.”

“All you’re good for?” I looked up at her, a bright red blush on my face. “But you’re… a real person, Ma’am.” 

“That I am, and you’re not… so I suppose it’s a little more complicated. But I’d still lose my mind if I had to stay locked away like that, thank you very much~”

“What do you think I’m good for, Miss?”

“Entertainment. Excitement, pleasure, competition. You’re good for entertainment, whether on the big screen, the little screen, or in the home- you’re good for entertainment.” She sighed, once again rubbing my thigh with her foot. “Forgive my normal theatrics, of course, but clearly you’re not so good at answering questions~”

I blushed, holding my skirt up just slightly with my hands to keep my thigh free from obstruction for her. “My apologies, Ma’am… there was something more you wanted to ask.”

“Yes. A second question before I let you at my cock with that mouth of yours.” She gently retreated her foot from my leg. “What’s your favorite type of film?”

“My… favorite type of film?” 

“Mine are musicals.” She coughed slightly. “Hence the theatrics~” 

My favorite type of film? It was an extremely specific question to be asking me, especially after that last one. “Horror. I’ve always been a big fan of horror films.”

“Horror… Interesting. Existential and thoughtful kinds of horror films? Or the more… ugly and bloodied ones?”

“I’m not sure, Ma’am. I’ve always liked them both.” I paused, my heart aching slightly as my stomach churned, a lot less fond of the horror films that I used to love, especially now that I was living in one. “I used to like Saw, but… I guess I’m more keen on playing horror games now, or I was.” 

“We don’t have anything like that here, unfortunately.”

“Perfectly understandable, Miss.” 

“So you’re more keen on finding yourself as the protagonist of a horror game instead, is that it?” 

“What’s that, Ma’am?”

“You’d rather find yourself playing and living through the experience, instead of watching as a spectator~” 

“No, Ma’am. Not at all.” I bit my lip, one hand clenched to my chest as I tried to exorcise those thoughts out of me. I didn’t want to go anywhere near the terrors of Dead Space or the Silent Hill, and most certainly not as a victim in Saw- that was the ultimate nightmare scenario for me. “I’d like to live in relative safety, Ma’am… I can behave if it means not having to live through something like that, please?”

“Well there’s no use asking me, it’s up to my wife what the future holds for her slaves. But hopefully the next act of your life doesn’t turn out to be any sort of horror movie for you.” She giggled to herself. “Though, I don’t think it’ll be much of a musical, I can say that much right now~”

“Ma’am…” I choked, suddenly a lot more terrified of Claudia than I already was. “I would like to stop talking about this…” 

“It doesn’t really matter what you would like, does it?” 

“No Miss, not even in the slightest, I promise.” All of a sudden, I quite possibly could have found a reason to run away. “I understand my place.”

“Good, now remember your place going forward.” She gently spread her legs, beckoning for me to come in and deepthroat her. “Now go ahead and try again, just like last time- but submissively.” 

“Submission will be second nature, I swear.” I quickly closed in, still kneeling in front of her as I brought myself close to her cock, wrapping one of my gloved hands around it and pointing it towards my mouth. “I’m sorry…”

“I won’t let the wicked witch get to you as long as you behave, Chloe.” She gently reached beneath the table, finding my hair so that she could curl her fingers in it. “I may be her wife, but once you peel back the curtain, there’s not much I can do to stop her. When she wants something, she gets it… so you had better give it to her~”

“Give what to her, Ma’am?”

“Everything.” She tightened her grip on my hair, pressing my lips against her cock. “She is my wife, and I love her to the moon and back, so you had better give her everything you have.” 

“And I will, Ma’am.” I licked my lips one last time, gently running my tongue over the head of her member as I did so, before placing a kiss right there on her tip. “I promise.” 

“Good girl.” She pulled my face right up against her waiting genitals. “Open wide~” 

“Yes, Miss Josephine.” I placed my palms face down on the ground, not clenched into fists for protection, but definitely not too vulnerable either. I could be hiding anything in my hands while they lied palm down, and I was going to keep my secrets close to my chest. I parted my lips and opened my mouth wide, letting myself go vulnerable and limp as she pulled, the length of her cock sliding right through my mouth and in towards my throat. 

“Good girl, just like that.” 

This was humiliating ego-shattering debasement. I could resist, Josephine was so easy to resist, I had seen that much already. She wasn’t Claudia, she wasn’t my master, she couldn’t be as forceful and dominant as her wife was. Josie was not a woman who could earn my submission naturally, her betrothed had done that for her. 

A sex toy, not a partner or another wife, a sex toy- that’s what I was. Claudia didn’t see me as a person, but in this moment her wife might just have been seeing me as something even worse. She didn’t even see me as someone whose submission she needed to earn, and she hadn’t earned it, it was just being given to her for free. She saw me as someone whose submission should be free to her, which wasn’t who I was deep down, she saw me as a sex toy to play with. Something to bang, something to fuck. 

Claudia saw me as her maid, Josie saw me as a sex slave. 

 

My inaction was the hardest thing I had done since I had gotten here, I had never struggled so hard to not do anything. I knelt there at her feet, mouth agape as I felt her member sliding in and out of my mouth, or rather- my head sliding up and down on her cock. 

Even Candace didn’t do this with me, we played together during sex, we competed. I was either trying to outdo her with my oral skills, or she was conquering me by slamming her cock down my throat. But there wasn’t even so much as mindgames here, just shameful unearned submission as I atoned for my previous mistakes, letting Josie mouthfuck me without either of us putting up a fight. 

It was a slow build too, terribly painfully slow. She wanted to take her time and have fun, and that meant more time spent being limp and feeling pathetic, breathing in and out through my nose as she used my mouth. 

But it was kind of nice too, it was peaceful. I didn’t have to think, there were no moves to make, no reason to strategize, there was no fighting back.

All there was to do was lose. Lose my dignity, lose my pride, lose control, lose myself. All that was left for me was a lifetime of losing. 

That was why I had failed Candace. Not because I couldn’t follow all of her rules and guidelines, but because I had been scared of letting go, I didn’t want to lose who I was. I didn’t want to stop being Sophia Cavalier, so I ended up getting Chloe taken away from her. 

And I wasn’t about to let that happen again, not with Claudia. I had already failed her sister, I wasn’t going to fail her- no matter how much it hurt me. 

 

“Mmmph~!!!” I let out an exclamation through my stuffed lips, not a pained gasp, but a cute noise, slowly readjusting myself. 

This was new to me, being Chloe. I had to give up Sophia, but to do that, I first had to figure out who exactly Chloe was. Chloe wasn’t a girl who was going to sneak downstairs after this and tried to find a way to escape, that was something that Sophia would do, not Chloe. 

Even her name made her sound like a stupid bitch, Chloe , maybe that’s who Chloe is, a stupid bitch. I could be that if I was who I needed to be, clearly being a smartass who fights back at every opportunity hasn’t been working for me anyways. 

What good is wandering about the house trying to formulate escape plans when nobody out there cared about me, Candace didn’t love me, or else she wouldn’t have let me go. 

If I wanted to get into Claudia’s office just to grab my stupid stuffed dog, I could just ask my masters to go get her for me. I could say that I miss her, and instead of sneaking around behind their backs gathering information, I could ask my master really nicely to have her back. 

That’s what I was going to do next, not sneaking into her office to steal Poppy back, asking Claudia if I could have her again. The ends were the same, but only one of these means could get Poppy to me without the risk of getting into trouble. 

Less time thinking about who I could be if I escape from here, and more time thinking about who I am right here and now. 

 

I picked my hands up off of the floor and placed them on top of Josie’s thighs, not to try and control her, but to help stabilize myself, letting her know I was leaning on her for support in this instant. Without her here in front of me right now, I would fall over. 

“Atta girl~” For just a few moments, Josephine’s grip on my hair loosened, softening as she gently rubbed the top of my head, almost rewarding me. No, not almost rewarding me, rewarding me. “Just like that, follow the movements.” 

She moved her chair back, wanting to get a good look at me down there. I stumbled forward, almost being knocked forward, but thanks to my hands there on her thighs, my lips never once even left her cock- thanks to me leaning on her for support.

Just suck cock and look pretty… I can do that. 

There was a moment where Josie did nothing, but rather than seizing control from her, I waited. I waited for her to grab me by the hair again and pull me forward to the base of her cock, continuing to suck her off at her preferred pace. 

It wasn’t fun, and I didn’t like it, but I didn’t choose to stop it from happening. 

“I know you chose to spit my cum out last time, but do you know what I think would be cuter than swallowing?” She glanced down at me, forcing a blush onto my cheeks as I looked up into her eyes for a moment, unable to answer thanks to my mouth being full of her cock. “I think you’d look cute if we made a mess all over your face with it~”  

“Mhmmm…” I blushed, staring down the length of her cock as she continued to bob my head up and down on her member. A cum facial… 

“I didn’t hear a no, so I’m gonna take that as a yes~” 

I pinched my thighs together, dripping onto the cold steel of my chastity belt. It was like I was being trained to give pleasure without being given pleasure, but that didn’t make it any less heat inducing between my legs. If I could have my fingers shoved up my cunt right now, I would- but I couldn’t, and that was by design. 

“Almost there~” I whimpered desperately, my hands squeezing onto Josie’s thighs as she continued to bring herself closer to a climax in my mouth, using me as little more than a toy to accomplish that. 

Her cock got stiffer, throbbing in my mouth slightly, ready to pop inside of me. I wouldn’t stop her from coming into my mouth, but I knew she wanted to do otherwise. If she wanted to give me a cum facial, then I was gonna sit there and get a cum facial. 

And I did. A whimper of dread left my lips as she pulled her cock from my mouth, spraying a mouthful of semen straight into my face, rather than down my throat. It was warm, wet, sticky, and I loved it a lot. 

That was one of my three weaknesses- cock, hot women, and cum. I was getting all three of them in the same place, of course I loved it a lot, even if the humiliation of it was earth shattering. 

“Look at you~” She pet my hair, scratching the top of my head without a care in the world about getting her own cum on her hands. “You did it that time~!”

“Mmmmph…” I kept my eyes closed as I leaned towards her hand for head scratches, not wanting to get cum in my eyes. “Thank you, Miss…” 

“Let me help you there~” She sighed loudly, taking my hands off of her thighs and sitting me back, letting me balance myself as she sat down next to me, my hands still being controlled by hers. 

“Nngh-” I tried to pull my hands away from hers for just a moment before snapping my hands back into hers, not receiving enough resistance from her to be able to pull away without yanking myself free of her control.

So I let her guide my hands by the strings, feeling my own fingers running over my cheeks, getting warm and wet with the cum my master’s wife had doused by skin with. 

“Go on, eat up~” She pushed my fingers towards my mouth, slowly parting and pushing past my lips, delivering a finger full of salty semen onto my tongue. “Just because I didn’t put it in your mouth doesn’t mean you shouldn’t eat it, right?” 

“I don’t know, Ma’am.” I sucked my finger clean of her cum, trying not to grind my teeth together. “Are you asking me if I want to?” 

“I’m saying that you probably should .”

“But are you making me, Miss?” 

“I-” Josie sighed, still unsure of herself in the face of me fighting back against her even just a little bit. “I suppose not~” 

“May I please use one of your makeup wipes, Miss?” I sighed, just a little bit too exasperated to slowly and agonizingly wipe my face clean with my hands if I didn’t need to, and Josie wasn’t pushy enough to make me. “Please?”

“Sure, let me grab you one~”

“Thank you.” I yanked my hand away from hers, deciding for myself that it was appropriate to regain control of my own actions rather than letting her continue to puppet me. I wasn’t a slave to her will, I was a real girl- and least when it came to Josie. I held my hand out and took the makeup wipe from her, adamantly wiping my face clean of her cum. “I hope you had fun, Ma’am.”

“You had me waiting all day to get done with your mental reevaluation.” She sighed, helping me clean my face, more than a little bit glad it was over. “Thanks for behaving this time, I’ve really been needing to get Claudia off of my back about this~”

“No problem, Miss… it’s what I’m here for~” 

 

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“She’s not dead, is she???”

“No stupid… she’s just sleeping…”

“Come on, you two, give her some room.” 

Oh no, not this again… 

I quickly sat up, finding myself in bed with not only Josephine, having apparently fallen asleep after laying down next to her to recuperate, but also with Darcey, Autumn, and Zenna all at the same time. 

“Good morning, sleepyhead~” Josie giggled at me, ruffling my hair again as I slowly lifted my head off of her thigh. “Or I should probably say good evening~”

 

“Did she like the cum facial, Miss Josie???”

“Yeah… she didn’t mess up again, right…?”

Darcey and Autumn were both instantly all over their master, returning to her as soon as I had woken up and they got their two cents worth in. 

“I bet she ate all of the cum afterwards!!!” 

“I bet she didn’t…” 

I scoffed, already too irritated with them both to keep listening to their silly bickering. “I didn’t!!”

“Awe man, really???”

“I told you so…” 

“Eugh.” I sighed, no less grumpy about being woken up as I was about the two of them being right in my face as soon as I woke up. I sighed, taking a deep breath, snapping my head to the side the instant I felt a hand on my shoulder. “ What? ” 

I turned to face Zenna, who instantly cowered back in place as soon as I responded just a little bit too forcefully to her trying to get my attention. “I- Um… it’s nothing, I’m sorry.”

 

“Chloe.” I didn’t even have enough time to sigh at how pathetic she was before I heard her voice, my master’s voice. “Be gentle with Zenna. It took a lot of effort to turn her from a pig into a miserable kitten without having to literally defang her. She’s fragile.” 

I had slept long enough for Claudia to get home, and apparently quite a lot longer than that. I glanced around the room, Lilian having apparently been put to bed already. “Did I miss dinner, Ma’am?”

“Yes, but we didn’t want to wake you~” She smiled, turning away from the vanity as soon as she was dressed for bed, heading towards us- not to my side, but to Zenna’s. “Besides, you did enough cum guzzling to constitute a real dinner.”

Zenna purred happily, leaning into her master’s hand as Claudia pet her. “That’s not true Ma’am… Miss Josie gave her a cum facial instead~” 

“Oh did she now?” Claudia giggled. “I’m sure that was exciting… but in that case I suppose I’m going to have to feed her some real food instead~” 

 

“You told them?” I turned to Josie, my face full of dread. “Why did you tell them?”

“Duh, because Josie’s our master and she loves us~!!!”

“Miss Josie tells us everything…”

“She can’t keep a secret to save her life!!!”

“She really can’t…” 

“Girls!!” Josephine had to step in to interrupt them. “Mouths closed, paws up.” 

Both Darcey and Autumn looked like they wanted to protest, but they did as they were told, hushing up and holding their hands above their exposed tits. So that’s why they belonged to Josie, they were obedient pushovers who were both head over heels for her. 

But Zenna did it too, zipping her lips and holding her hands over her breasts, trying to make herself look cute for Claudia- and that made her master smile. 

That. Right there for just a moment, I saw something between them, a flash of something more than adoration towards a dog from Claudia. I saw her smile, put her hands on Zenna’s cheek, and pulled her in for a kiss on the lips, still smiling as she pulled away.

And right then and there I knew what I wanted, I wanted that. Claudia’s love. It didn’t matter if we never got married, because it was better than nothing. Getting Claudia to love me was better than not being loved at all. I wanted to make Claudia love me. 

 

“I and my slaves have left food for you downstairs in your room.” Claudia turned back to me without the same look of adoration she gave Zenna, at least not yet. “Go eat downstairs and have Nell remove your uniform for you~”

“Yes, Miss.” I smiled, bowing slightly for her, very happy to think that she was going to feed me after all. “And then what, Ma’am?”

“And then it’s bedtime.” She smirked, pulling away from Zenna and turning towards the dumbwaiter to send me downstairs. “The rest of the girls are sleeping up here tonight, so feel free to either stay downstairs or come back up and join us, I’ll leave the dumbwaiter unlocked.”

“Yes, Ma’am… whatever you say.” 

“Good girl, and before I forget.” She stopped just outside of the slave elevator, and I was at her side before I realized I was following her. “Good job behaving today. I’m proud to here that you got through it all without misbehaving~”

“It was nothing, Ma’am… really… I’ve spent so much of it sleeping.”

“Nevertheless. I am still glad to hear that your reevaluation went well, and I must offer my apologies for not being more present today.” She smiled, taking me by the hand and leading me into the dumbwaiter. “I won’t be able to escort you downstairs I’m afraid, so if this is goodnight, I’ll take my due respect here and now~” 

Alright Chloe, it’s time to think like a stupid bitch from now on.

I sighed, giving her a great big smile as I curtsied, my hands at my sides as I bowed happily. “Thank you, Master. I hope to soon serve you like I served Miss Josephine today~” 

“That’s good to hear…” She smiled eagerly, licking her lips. “Tell you what, stay out of trouble for the next three days, and I’ll get you out of that chastity belt for next weekend.”

“And then you’ll permit me to serve you?”

“And then I’ll permit you to serve me~”

“Yes, Master… I won’t let you down.”

“Good girl, now go.” 

“Yes, Ma’am. Thank you~” 

 

So I went back downstairs and I ate my dinner, just like I was told, relieved to be able to do it all by myself. I didn’t return upstairs when I was done, either. A part of me wanted to join them up there, but I wasn’t quite confident I would fit in. 

But even worse, I still had this chastity belt on, and I wasn’t about to join them until I could enjoy myself doing so. I wasn’t quite fully adjusted to my new life, but I was getting there- and there was absolutely nothing that could stop me from getting this chastity belt off by the end of the week.

 

At least that’s what I thought~

Chapter 29: Bursting the Bubble

“Sister dearest…” 

Claudia smiled, her blue eyes lighting up as she pulled me in for a hug. It really was nice to see her again after so long. I squeezed her as tight as I could for a few moments before pulling away, letting her hold both of my hands in hers. 

“Come inside, please.” 

 

This is it, the last time you guys are going to hear from me for now, so let’s end things on something you’ve wanted to see for a while-

“Hey, Claudia.” 

Let’s end it on me and my sister. 

“It’s nice to see you again.”

“Oh please, I wouldn’t blame you if you chose to never see me again, that’s how poorly I treated you.” She frowned slightly, squeezing my hands with hers. “What brings you over here, anyways?” 

“A couple of little things here and there, I guess.” I sighed, squeezing back, a big smile on my face. “But mostly I just wanted to see you again.” 

“Well then consider it my pleasure to have you again.” She giggled just slightly, letting go of my hands and wrapping her arms around me for another hug. “I’ve missed you, Candace.” 

It was nice to see her again, after four years of being away, after four years of radio silence between each other. It was just nice to see my big sister again, and I was so happy to see how much she’d changed. 

“I’ve missed you too, Claudia…” I pinched my eyes shut, just enjoying being able to embrace her for a few moments, just for the two of us, before pulling away from each other again. 

And then I felt her lips pressed against mine.

It only lasted for a split second, but so much happened in that little moment. Her lips felt nice pressed against mine, and it made me feel welcome here with her. It filled me with a warm tingling sensation from my head to my toes, almost numbing my lips. But at the same time, it filled me with dread, a strangely familiar misery that almost made me feel like I had been here before. 

She let go and I backed up, but instead of taking her by the hands again, the fingers that bore my painted nails found their way to my still tingling lips, sore from something that hadn’t quite happened but somehow felt like it did. 

I froze for a few moments before glancing back over at her, still waiting for me to come inside with her. She stood there, looking me up and down, trying to see what was wrong. Something had always been off about her, but kissing on the lips was new for Claudia, and it was as strange of a welcome as I had expected from her when I woke up and made my way over this morning. 

“Is something the matter?” She smiled, making room for me to step inside and close the door behind me. 

“I’m just not used to it, I suppose.” The foyer into Claudia’s home was as decadent as I imagined it, and as we stepped through it and into the rest of the house, I was in awe- not just of how symmetrical the whole home was, but also at how extravagantly decorated the entirety of it was. “Whoa.”

“Impressive, right?”

“Your house is really pretty.” 

“I’m flattered~”

“Is that father?” I stepped inside of the massive ballroom, turning to the right wall to see a portrait of him hanging over the huge fireplace, a painting of my father. “That’s huge.”

“Well, he is really important to me after all, just like my mother~” She pointed her cane over at the opposite wall, indicating towards a painting over her mother hanging above the fireplace on the other side. 

“Lilith.” There she was, Claudia and Cyrus’ mother, Lilith Mariam- the woman from whom Claudia derived her last name. Even in her age she was a beautiful woman, and the portrait depicting her as a more youthful adult helped to illuminate that, with her blue eyes and her light brown hair, slowly greying. “It looks gorgeous.”

“I would hope so, they are priceless and one of a kind after all.” I could hear the tapping of her cane on the floor as she made her way over to me, gently setting one hand on my shoulder. “I haven’t forgotten about you all of these years either, I promise.” 

She turned me towards another painting, gently trying to escort me to it to show it to me. It was strange to see something like this in Claudia’s house of all people, not even I had a portrait of me in my house, and I certainly don’t remember being there when this painting had been made of me. “That’s… me, why do you have a portrait of me in your house?”

“Because you're my little sister of course, I have one of Cyrus as well, just over there~”

“But how do you have a portrait of me in your house?” I chuckled, not at all upset to see it, if anything I was flattered that she thought of me enough to include me in her collection of family paintings, I just didn’t understand how she had gotten one made of me. “Who made that for you?”

She sighed, mumbling to herself under her breath. “You have to promise you won’t laugh or get upset.”

“I promise.” I chuckled, rolling my eyes at her. “I’m just impressed.” 

“I’ve got a bunch of those magazines you modeled for in my office.” She blushed as she spoke, embarrassed to be admitting to it. “I brought a bunch of your photos to a family artist, and they found one to do a rendition of you off of~”

“That’s so cool that they’d do that.” I smiled at the thought of it, my cheeks also flushed with embarrassment at the knowledge that my older sister had seen so many pictures of me practically nude. “It’s just a little weird for you to have so much porn of me.” 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.” She balanced herself on her cane, trying to remain steady. “I knew you launched into a brand new career shortly after Josie and I’s wedding, and I just thought you wouldn’t want to be bothered by your older sister, who’s frankly kind of been an asshole to you.” 

“Well I’m here now, and… I’d like you to stay in my life this time, I appreciate that you’ve been thinking about me.” I sighed, my face only slightly flustered as I lowered my gaze to admire the cane she was holding. “I remember the wedding, but… Josie? Who’s Josie?”

“Right, well I did say there’s something we’ve been dying to tell you in person, but I no longer have a husband.”

“Oh… I’m sorry to hear that. I didn’t realize you’d gotten divorced.” 

“We didn’t get divorced actually, we’re still madly in love with each other, I just figured it’d be a pleasant surprise for you to find out in person rather than on the phone.” She had the biggest happiest smile on her face as she lovingly gazed over at the wall over the entrance to the dining room, towards a set of three family portraits. “Take a look~”

I stared up at it, admiring the paintings of the three girls. On the right was my eldest sister, Claudia. In the middle was a portrait of her daughter, my niece, Lilian- lovingly named after her grandmother Lilith. But to the left, opposite Claudia’s portrait was one of a woman that I didn’t recognize, someone that I couldn’t quite be sure that I had seen before. 

Someone who, amazingly, looked a whole lot like Chloe.

“She’s so pretty… who is that?” 

“That beauty right there, that’s Josephine~”

“Josie… who is she?”

“Well… as you can probably tell, I’ve gone through a bit of a transformation-” She swallowed nervously, standing up as straight as she could directly in front of me, blocking out the light above as she stood at her whole six and half feet of height. “I used to bully and berate and call you names as a kid, just for being who you are, and that was wrong of me to do… I’m sorry.”

“I… Claudia… it’s fine.”

“No, it’s not, and I want to apologize for being like that to you.” I stared up at her nervously before shifting my gaze to the floor below, my eyes following her as she gently lowered herself to the ground, onto one knee as she tried to not aggravate her still injured hip. “I was a terrible sister for not supporting you through everything you were going through, I was supposed to be there to help and protect you, but instead I just called you names like faggot or twink or queer, and I deeply regret that.” 

“I’m not here to patch up your ego, sis…” I sighed, biting my lip in frustration as I quietly fumed, not trying to get angry at her. “I’m not going to just forgive you because you regret something, that’s not how this works, Claudia.”

“I know it’s not, but apologizing is the first step, and the second step is to actually be better.” She smiled, still down on her knees as she apologized. “Which is why I’m actually going to be here for you from now on… not just to support you in this, but also to help be there to guide you. I know you miss your mother.”

“Yes. I miss my mother quite a lot… thank you.” 

“Right, we’ll get to that…” I saw Claudia briefly glancing over at the portrait of her own mother, almost mumbling to herself before continuing. “My change in attitude didn’t come from nowhere unfortunately, and well… I suppose it’s your turn to call me mean homophobic slurs if you’d like.”

“I would never do that, Claudia. I still don’t understand what you’re talking about.” I smiled, turning back to the other portrait on the wall over there. “Just tell me, I’m here for you too, what’s going on?”

“My husband is no longer my husband, and it’s opened my eyes to a lot of things in life that I didn’t understand or accept about myself.” She slowly and very carefully stood up, with just a little help from me getting to my feet. “That’s Josephine, the same person I married four years ago, the last time we met, finally able to be herself for the first time~” 

I looked back up at the beautiful redhead in the portrait, my eyes going wide with recognition as I realized who she was. “Your wife came out as a woman~” 

“And I came out as gay, like I should have done when I was your age… or even long before that.” She smiled, her cheeks bright pink as she spoke about her loving wife. “I wish she was here to tell you in person, she’s out with Lilian and the nanny right now.” 

“The nanny?” I smiled at her, still slowly composing my thoughts in my head as the conversation continued. Though it was hard to think of that word without my mind drifting to my mother, who had started out as my sister’s nanny. “You have a nanny?”

“One of our servants~” 

“Oh… what’s she like?” I smiled, pleasant memories in my head of my mother as I thought about her. “How’s Lilian been?” 

“Lilian’s grown up really fast… and no, nothing bad has happened to her yet.”

“I’m glad… not like us growing up, huh?”

“Not at all.” She grinned, proud of her daughter and proud of her family, but also more than a little bit proud of herself. “Right, should we sit down and catch up?” 

“Yes. We really really should~” 

 

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“But enough about me, tell me about yourself, Candace. How have you been? What’s been happening?"

We sat down in the sitting room attached to the hallway for a while, chatting between each other to try and catch up. It was nice getting to talk to her again, it made it feel like we were actually sisters. 

“Well, what do you want to hear?” 

“Everything, Candace~!!” She giggled at me, pressing me for information about what’s been going on in my life. “I spilled all of my details, now it’s your turn to spread those tight little lips of yours~” 

“Okay okay, fine.” I rolled my eyes, shaking my head at the obvious innuendo. “There’s been a lot happening, especially surrounding the Esports scene right now.” 

“Do go on.” 

“I don’t suppose you’ve been keeping up with my professional life at all?”

“I have, actually… not a ton, but I’ve checked in here and there~”

“Well, it’s super complicated, and you have to promise not to tell anyone.”

“My little lips are tight as can be, count on it.”

I groaned, shaking my head in disbelief at how silly she was being. “I went to the Stolen Cosmos world championship finals last year… and I placed second.” 

“And then you lost to that Sophia girl, right?” 

“I did… and then about six months later, Sophia committed suicide.” I blushed, licking my dry lips to keep them from sticking together as I told this story, will still kind of hurt me to admit to. My heart still fluttered at the idea of Chloe and how much I missed her. “Except she didn’t really commit suicide.”

“You had her killed, right?”

“No, actually.” I was still kind of proud of the next bit, no matter how bittersweet it was to me now. “I had her kidnapped and brought down here to become my slave, and I turned her into my maid, like my mother was…”

“I knew it.” She smiled warmly, just a little bit excited for me. “And how’s that going?”

I swallowed nervously, trying to remain calm and keep a relatively normal face as I shook my head at her, not wanting to think about what was happening to Chloe right now. If I had to go over what actually happened between the two of us and what had become of her, I would probably break, inside and out. “She’s in a better place now~”

I didn’t just have the necklace Chloe had meant to give to me around my neck, I had taken that little golden bell of hers and strung it onto a necklace, adorning it as well. I clutched the little nautilus symbol she had crafted for me in my hand, letting the spines of the little heart dig into my skin as I clutched onto it, letting it wash away my emotional anguish with physical pain. 

“That’s horribly dreadful, I’m sorry.” She frowned, placing a hand on my shoulder to help console me. “Putting down the first one is always the hardest.” 

I blushed, looking up at her. “The first?” 

“The first slave, of course.” She just held her hand there, letting me know that she was here for me. “We had to put Bella down just earlier this year, it shook us all.” 

“Bella?” I gave her a soft but confused look, tilting my head ever so slightly. “You have slaves?” 

“Lots of them in fact.” She giggled, pursing her lips and cooing, eager to show them to me. “I did mention we had gotten a few pets~”

“Like that nanny of yours?” 

“Exactly like that nanny of ours, yes~” She picked up her cane, slowly bringing it to her lips and resting it there. “Would you like to play with one?” 

I giggled, licking my lips hungrily. “Of course I would.” 

“Blonde, brunette, or redhead?” 

“Red- umm…” I started, and then stopped myself. Chloe had been a redhead, I had a little bit of a thing for redheads, but clearly so did my sister. Seeing Josephine’s picture on the wall already reminded me too much of Chloe, and seeing another redhead like her so soon was probably going to hurt me a lot more than it excited me. “Blonde, let’s go with blonde~” 

“Excellent choice.” She twirled it in her hand just once before catching it and pressing a button. “Oh Darcey, would you please come down to the sitting room~?”

 

There were a few moments of silence before a set of quick footsteps approaching us could be heard from down the hall. 

“Coming!!!” She quickly stepped inside of the sitting room with us, and heavens was she a sight to behold. “Is there something I can help you with, Ma’am… oh!!! Hello there, I’m Darcey~!!!”

What a marvellous creature she was, especially in that beautiful bizarre uniform of hers, her most sensitive and vulnerable parts on display for all to see. 

I was in awe, I knew my sister had proudly embraced her lifelong partner as a woman, but I hadn’t really expected her to have slaves. I was anticipating servants filling her house so that she and her family didn’t have to, but I had anticipated an array of paid workers, male and female, to do that sort of thing for her. I hadn’t ruled slaves out of the question, but I definitely didn’t expect something quite like this. 

Thump. I turned to see my sister, following the sound of her cane being tapped on the floor, and I almost expected her to introduce me. But instead it seemed like she wasn’t quite happy with Darcey’s introduction. “Now Darcey, you can do better than that.” 

So much was happening so fast that it was actually kind of hard to keep up. The sound of my sister’s cane had been enough to grab my attention, but it seemed to do a lot more than just that to Darcey. 

I had seen this kind of thing before, it appeared that Darcey was trained to respond to the thump of Claudia’s cane, it carried a weight with it that shook her when she heard it. 

 

“Yes, Ma’am, I can do much better than that. My apologies for the improper introduction, Madame St. Clair.” Darcey smiled, bending herself forward to bow for me. “I’m Darcey Peyton, or #0003 if you would rather refer to me by my number. Whichever you would prefer, I assure you that it is my pleasure to be the one to meet you today. I’m always honored to meet and potentially serve a new superior.” 

I couldn’t help but giggle at her, at least her masters had trained her well, on the drop of a dime she had gone from bubbly bimbo to prim and proper servant. “It’s nice to meet you as well, Darcey. You can relax, I promise.” 

“Thank you, Madame~” She relaxed and straightened her posture, but only because she was told to. “I promise to remain humble and servile while in your presence.” 

“I’m happy to hear that, thank you.” 

“Darcey here is one of my wife’s slaves, but as you can see she is fully trained to respond to us both.” Claudia was very pleased by her slave’s performance this second time around. “We won’t bore you with personal details about her, you’re not all that important are you Darcey?”

“Heavens no, Ma’am. I wouldn’t call myself important. I’m only as valued as my masters make me.” 

“I wasn’t quite expecting this when I came over.” I smiled, glancing back towards my sister. “Are you going to introduce me, or should I do that myself?” 

“There’s very little need, actually.” Claudia smiled, nodding towards Darcey. “Isn’t that right?” 

“You’re Miss Claudia’s sister, Candace St. Clair.” Darcey smiled, her gaze now fixed to the bottom of Claudia’s cane. “Our masters have told us a lot about you, we’ve been eager to meet you for some time now.” 

“I didn’t think I was that famous.” It made me smile to hear that Claudia had told them all about me already. “Have you really missed me that long, sis?”

“I have, yes… Though I had planned on it taking some more time before we got back together.” Claudia frowned, also staring down at her cane like Darcey was. “But things have recently come up that forced the timeframe forward.” 

“And that would be?” 

“Something I wouldn’t want to sour the mood with quite yet, you did say you wanted to play with Darcey- do be careful though, her mouth can be a little pointy~” 

“Right.” I smiled, turning back towards the slave and beckoning her towards me. “Come here?” 

I wasn’t sure if I was asking for her to approach or ordering her to do so, but she did it regardless, finding herself standing up right in front of me. 

“Do they all dress like this, Claudia?” I grabbed the hem of her frilly translucent skirt, lifting it up so that I could admire her perfectly clean shaven cunt. “Sensitive parts exposed and everything?” 

“They all have slight variations on the same uniform, yes. The other girls wear a pair of fishnet gloves that Darcey here doesn’t have.” Claudia giggled, glancing over at the two of us. “And our newest slave is locked away in chastity right now.” 

“Evil.” I grinned at her. “I like it~”

“Yes, well…” She grinned back, keeping her eyes on me rather than on the slave. “I did promise her that she’d be getting out of it tonight, for good behavior this week.” 

“She’s relatively new, I take it?” 

“She is indeed, only since Bella has been gone have we even thought about getting another.” 

“How many do you have?”

“Four in total.” 

“That a lot.” I smiled, letting go of Darcey’s skirt and waving her off. I wasn’t really here to play with my sister’s slaves. I was here to see my sister. “I couldn’t even handle one.”

“Well let’s just chalk it up to me being a little bit more experienced, trust me- I’ve lost my fair share of them before, and I have my wife here to help with them.” 

“I’d love to see the rest of the house while we’re waiting.”

“And I’d love to show it to you~”

 

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“It’s gorgeous.” My sister began to give me a tour of the house, showing me to the conservatory upstairs. “Your house is gorgeous.” 

“Why thank you…” She smiled, blushing as she looked at me. “You’ll have to show me your house sometime?” 

“Maybe eventually, I’ve been going through some life changes.” I stepped towards the window, admiring the view. “I’m not participating in the world championship this year, other things have been going on.” 

“There goes my reason to watch it this year.” She chuckled, following quickly behind me. “I missed it last year after all.” 

“Well, I wouldn’t say there’s no reason at all to watch this year.” I smiled, still a little bit embarrassed that I wasn’t going to be playing. “I’m going to be hosting the event this year instead.”

“That’s wonderful news!!” She smiled, standing directly next to me. “I’ll make sure to tune in and watch if you’d like?”

“I would love you to, yeah~”

I felt my sister wrap her arm around me to try and comfort me, but rather than placing her hand on my shoulder, she held me by my waist. She pulled me in close, prompting me to rest my head against her shoulder while we stood there. 

“And I know you’ve said you wouldn’t like to attend, but I would love for you to be at this party next month.” She frowned, holding me close by the waist as she spoke, her chest heavy with something. “Have you spoken to my mother yet?”

“No, not yet. But father told me that the party was for Lilith, and not for you.”

“Did Daddy tell you what else was going on with her?”

“No… Daddy doesn’t really like talking about her all that much. Why, what’s going on?” 

“I think I would rather let her tell you, she’ll be here tonight, and I would like to wait until then-”

Claudia’s thoughts trailed off, interrupted by the sound of the conservatory door opening behind us. I turned around to see who it was out of instinct, but only very briefly managed to escape Claudia’s embrace as she promptly put both hands on my waist, holding me from behind- almost as a way to try and support herself rather than me. 

 

“Miss Claudia…” It was another slave. “Lunch is ready and Miss Josie’s still not home…”

The girl’s almost robotic emerald eyes looked up, going wide-eyed as she saw me. It was clear from her obvious telegraphing that she recognized who I am and was very quickly shifting into giving me a proper greeting, it just needed a second to load and buffer. 

“Madame St. Clair. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Miss Claudia didn’t warn me that you were coming, or I would have made you lunch as well.” She smiled, bowing for me just like the other slave had. “Autumn Turner. #0004. Cook, slave, the household’s loyal and proud possession. My condolences for not having any tribute prepared to pay you, I’m honored to finally meet you in the flesh.” 

Claudia didn’t just have slaves, she had loyal and obedient ones. She was apparently quite good at erasing whatever personality they did have and turning them into a mindless drone in an instant. 

“That’s enough of you, Autumn.” Claudia was almost annoyed by the fact that she was here. “As you can see, I would like to have some time alone with my sister~”

“Of course, Master.” She went from bowing to on her knees. “My apologies, should I bring your lunch to you up here?”

“Yes, and bring Josephine’s to us as well, I’ll have Candace eat it instead~”

“Yes, Ma’am. As you wish…” 

Autumn jumped to her feet, and within an instant she was gone, leaving Claudia and I alone in the conservatory once again. 

 

“Well that was kind of rude, don’t you think?” I began to turn back to my sister behind me, a little bit annoyed at how she treated the girl, but before I could she just tightened her grip on my waist, holding me still in front of her. 

“I know, she really should know best to knock by now.” 

“That’s not what I meant, Claudia.” I forcefully pulled myself away from her, taking a few steps forward before turning around to face her. “I meant how you just brushed her off like that.” 

“And what exactly was wrong with that?” 

I paused for a moment, starting to say something before stopping myself. I couldn’t really get on her back for that, it was just the one thing, and I hadn’t seen how she normally treated the girl. I just knew that if anyone treated my Chloe like that, I wouldn’t be very happy with them. 

Of course Chloe wasn’t really mine anymore… not after what happened between us. Chloe made the conscious decision to leave me, because I used to treat her like that. When I had been her master, I never treated her as well as I should have- and that was a mistake. 

“Nothing, sorry…” I frowned, staring down at my feet in shame as I thought about her. “I’m just projecting I think.” 

I looked up at her, seeing her extending her arms towards me, and I quickly felt myself falling into her for a hug, squeezing her as tight as I could. 

“It’s alright.” She held me there, gently placing her hand on the back of my head as she held me to her chest. “I’ve missed you a lot, Candace…” 

Normally I would have a problem with this kind of physical attention, but Claudia was a lot taller and stronger than me, and it was nice to be this close with her for the first time. She was my sister after all, and I didn’t get a lot of physical closeness from either my brother or my father, so this was a welcome change of pace. 

“I’ve missed you too. Thanks for having me over~”

“Don’t mention it, honey.” Claudia squeezed me for a moment before letting go entirely, turning toward the rest of the room to answer a knock at the door. “Let’s have some lunch, alright?” 

“Sounds good to me~”

 

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“Tragedy?” My sister giggled, more than a little bit amused by my answer to her question. “Your favorite type of film is tragedy?” 

“Well not films specifically .” I pouted, a little bit red in the face that my answer had apparently been stupid. “I said my favorite type of story is tragedy, you know like the greek tragedy classics?”

“I didn’t peg you as a fan of the classics, little sis.” She giggled, pointing at me with her fork rather than a cane, laptop out beside her as she had to look up what I was even talking about. “What even is a greek tragedy anyways?”

I sighed, always having to explain what they are when I bring them up with anyone. “It’s a story where the protagonist eventually succumbs to a disaster of their own making, wrought upon them as a result of their own fatal flaw as a character.”

“Like what, exactly?” Now she was searching for examples. “Have I read any of them without knowing?” 

“Antigone? Oedipus Rex? The Iliad? …The Odyssey?” I sighed, listing off the most basic examples to my sister in an attempt to get her to recognize at least one of them. “Or if you’d like a real life example, we could talk about Aria Fairmont.” 

“Aria Fairmont?” That piqued her interest. “What about her?” 

“Well, she was going to be my date to the party, but we kind of had a falling out.” I sighed, grinding my teeth together. “And now I don’t think I’ll be attending after all.”

“We can get back to that later for sure, but first I have to ask- what kind of tragedy befell that mouse friend of yours?” 

“She was greedy and selfish.” I tapped my fingernail against the surface of the now empty glass in my hand, reduced to just chewing on ice cubes. “Her greed for money led her towards doing photoshoots with me… which led to her getting arrested by the FBI, and becoming a spy, which then led to her stealing from you, which led to the FBI dropping her… which led to her eventually turning to the family for protection, before falling in love with me-”

“And the tragedy?”

“Her selfishness led her to fall in love with me, selfishly trying to claim me for herself- which led to me not only losing my former slave, but also resulted in all of Aria’s secrets coming out.” I sighed, chewing the last of the ice cubes to pieces in my mouth. “Which led her-” 

“To the facility.” Claudia interrupted, a great big smile on her face as she thought about it, her eyes glued to her laptop as she cackled. “She’s at the facility.”

“She is?” I swallowed nervously, more than a little bit terrified for my former friend’s safety. “How do you know?”

“Because she’s right here in the registry… a new arrival.” She stared intently, fixing her attention on something that wasn’t me for the first time since I’d gotten here. “Doesn’t even have a number yet~”

I swallowed nervously, glancing over at the screen curiously. I didn’t have free access into the registry like either of my siblings had, neither my father or their mother had given it to me, and I had my suspicions as to why- my mother had been a slave, and it just didn’t feel right for me to be able to see her profile, or have access to any profile in the registry at all. I was still an oddity to the system. 

“I’m not… in there, am I?”

“If you are, I can’t spot you.” She turned the laptop towards me. “Want to take a look?” 

I sat there, trying not to stare at it from across the room. I wanted to look at it, I really did- but I was worried about what I would see. Chloe was in there, and I knew the only reason I really wanted to see it was because I wanted to know who she belonged to. It had only been a few days, so I still remembered what Anthony told me- that the answer was going to hurt me more than it would help me.

“No, actually.” I stood up, empty glass in hand as I began towards the door. “I think I’m going to go get a refill, if that’s okay?”

“There’s no need to get up, I can send for one of the slaves-” 

“It’s okay, I really just want to get up and stretch, maybe have a moment alone with Autumn, she seemed cute~”

“Well alright.” She smiled, holding her empty dishes towards me. “If you’re going to do slave work like your mother, at least take all of the dishes to the kitchen with you.” 

“Oh, so you’re ordering me around now?” 

“Don’t pretend you don’t like it, Candace.” She winked at me, letting me take the dishes from her hand. “I’ll meet you in the sitting room when I’m done in here, okay?”

“Sure.” I sighed, smiling at her before turning away and rolling my eyes. “See you downstairs.” 

I headed out of the conservatory and turned downstairs. The reason I wanted to get out of there was to avoid looking at the slave registry before I was too tempted to check up on Chloe. I very badly wanted to make sure she was safe, but she was no longer my problem. I no longer had the right to know what was going on with her, no matter how much I wanted to. 

I turned into the dining room, heading towards the kitchen to put the dishes away. I didn’t actually plan on getting a refill, but now that I was here I might as well do so. Strangely enough, the kitchen was empty as I stepped inside to put the dishes away, Autumn was nowhere in sight. 

There goes my excuse to kill time.

I sighed, retrieving myself a drink. I had a thing about drinks, always needing a refill, I had to have a drink on hand. I was a transgender woman after all, I was on hormone therapy, and one unfortunate side effect of my hormone pills were that I needed to drink a lot of liquids to keep myself healthy- as well as needing to use the restroom a lot. They didn’t have iced tea exactly, but they did have tea, and I liked tea. So I brewed myself a mug of tea, even if I normally preferred cool drinks over hot drinks.

 

So maybe my visit with my sister was going a lot weirder than I expected it to go. Claudia was being unreasonably friendly with me for someone who hated me with a passion just a few years ago, and hadn’t spoken to since. 

I appreciated it, I appreciated it a lot. The closest things I had to a mother figure for these last four years had been Tallulah- my manager and occasional sexual partner, Leah- my bodyguard, and Lilith- who wasn’t even my mother, she was Claudia and Cyrus’ mother, but still she was the closest thing I had. 

Claudia reminded me of my mother somewhat, possibly because she was just about the same age as Mommy had been when she died. The only way I could explain away the physical attention my older sister had been given me was by remembering how protective she probably wanted to be with me now that we were back on speaking terms. She didn’t want to lose me again.

But I was still a little bit nervous around her. I was glad to see how much she had changed for the better, but I still didn’t trust her, not after our childhood together.

I was more than willing to be friendly and go along with her and all of her plans for the sake of fixing our sisterhood, don’t get me wrong, but something was off- and I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. 

 

I took the bag out of the fresh drink, glass of tea in hand as I made my way back out into the dining room. It was still a little bit too hot to drink, but I could sip it if I was careful, so I did. 

I heard footsteps approaching from the dining room in front of me, closing my eyes and being as careful as I could while taking a drink from the glass to make sure it didn’t spill. 

“Good afternoon, Madame St. Clair…”

I swallowed, making sure not to burn myself before responding in kind. It was another one of Claudia’s slaves no doubt, but her voice did sound quite familiar. 

“Good after-” I froze, suddenly petrified as I locked eyes with her, overtaken with feelings of excitement, dread, and relief all at once. 

Our eyes remained locked, and at first I was sure I was staring at my sister-in-law, Josephine, trying to explain away what I was seeing in those gorgeous hazel eyes of her as she smiled at me, her stupid pink cheeks as pretty as ever, painted over by her blush. 

My thoughts spilled out of my head, through my lips before I could stop them. But the sounds of my voice sounding out the syllables of her name were drowned out by the sound of glass shattering on the floor. 

I dropped the mug, not on accident but on purpose, needing use of both of my hands. I clasped them over my mouth, trying to strangle back any other sounds before I could say them. 

I was in shock, my whole body tingling and shaking, my eyes wet with tears as I bit back my tongue, hands still pressed to my lips. 

Chloe. 

I quickly stepped backwards, barely avoiding the quickly growing pool of hot liquid on the ground as it spread towards me, giving her just enough room to step in and address the spill. 

 

“My apologies, Miss… this is my fault, I’ll clean this up right away for us.” 

She seemed to be reacting much differently, almost instantly on her knees in front of me in an attempt to save face, trying to clean up without even so much as a towel to wipe the liquid up off of the floor, slowly gathering glass shards into her hand like she always did. 

“Careful where you step, Ma’am. They’re scalding hot and really sharp.” 

 

“Then don’t pick them up, you moron!!” It wasn’t my place, but before I knew it I was shouting at her, just trying to keep her from burning her hands because of me. “Drop them before you hurt yourself!!” 

The dining room was filled with nothing but silence and the clicking and clattering sounds of her doing just that, dropping the shards of glass back onto the floor as she was told. Her mouth was shut tight as she reeled from the heat of burning her hands, relieved to let go of them. 

“Chloe, I-” There was so much I wanted to say to her in that moment, I didn’t mean to yell at her, I just wanted to make sure she was being safe and not getting hurt. But I just as quickly found myself clasping my hands over my mouth again before I could apologize, stepping around her and walking away as fast as I could, making a beeline for the nearest restroom. 

 

No. No no no no no no no no no. 

I slammed the bathroom door shut as hard as I could, finding myself in the one nearest to the sitting room, struggling to catch my breath. 

This isn’t real. This can’t be happening. This is a dream. This is a dream. This is a dream. 

The stress, and the anxiety, and the trauma of the moment all got to me at the same time, and I quickly found my throwing up in the sink. It was almost like I had just watched someone die, but I hadn’t- I’d just seen a ghost.

Chloe… 

There was a patient knock on the door, and then another shortly thereafter as I waited to know who it was before answering. “Sister dear, are you alright?”

“I’m fine!!” I shouted back at her, it was Claudia. But I wasn’t fine, not at all. “I’ll be out in a minute!!” 

There was no way my eyes had been wrong, that was Chloe. Chloe was here with my sister, living in her home and working for her. Chloe belonged to my sister now. 

Now I understood how Aria was so quick to get sick to her stomach, because it was happening to me now, making an even bigger scene in the bathroom than I already had. 

“I said I’m going to be a minute!!” There was another knock on the door, just trying to check up on me, but I wasn’t having it. I shouted back at her, trying to get her to leave me alone. “Leave me alone!!” 

“I…” The response I got this time was not my sister’s voice. “I’m sorry… I’ll let you be…”

No… I wiped my face clean with a handful of water from the sink, quickly trying to turn around and get to the door before she left. Please don’t leave me… 

I dropped to my knees right in front of the door, unsure of where my courage to face her had gone. I pressed my forehead to the wooden door, unable to open it. 

“I’m sorry…” I placed my hand to the door as well, feeling my tears welling up in my eyes. “I’m so sorry…” 

I mumbled to myself, unsure if she could even hear me, convinced that she didn’t want to hear my voice. I held the necklace she had made for me in my hand, just for a moment, the spines digging into my hands as I squeezed onto it. 

Thump. The next thing I heard was the sound of Claudia on the other side of the door, tapping her cane on the ground. 

“Candace, dear… why don’t you come into the sitting room and rest…” She gently tapped on the door with her cane. “I’ll have the slaves clean up, we’ll get you some water, and you can just relax.” 

“Just a minute… but yeah…” 

 

I paused, moving from holding the necklace in my hand to holding the bell instead. 

Good going, asshole… you really haven’t changed. You really are just the same horrible monster you’ve always been… You deserve everything that’s coming to you, and you know it… 

I bit my lip, letting out a couple of sobs as I gently removed the bell from my neck. 

You don’t deserve to wear this… and you never will… 

 

✶          ✦   ✧   ✦   ✧   ✦   ✧   ✦   ✧   ✦   ✧   ✦   ✧          ✶          ✧   ✦   ✧   ✦   ✧   ✦   ✧   ✦   ✧   ✦   ✧   ✦          ✶

 

“Is there something you would like to say to my sister, dear?” I was waiting in the sitting room as Claudia returned, my former slave at her side, scolding her for a mistake that she didn’t really make. “I think she deserves an apology, don’t you?”

“Yes, Ma’am… she does deserve an apology.” She took a deep breath, before stepping towards me and bowing, just like her fellow slaves had done earlier. “I would like to deeply apologize for causing you such inconvenience, Ma’am. I’m sorry for surprising you like I did. If there’s anything I can do for you, please… let me know.” 

“I’m fine.” I sighed, not wanting her to do any more work at all. “Are you alright? You didn’t burn your hands, did you?” 

“If I did, it’s my own fault… and I’m ready to face the consequences of such a thing.”

“I don’t want to hear any more apologies, okay?” I scoffed, averting my eyes from her as I tried to avoid causing her any more pain than I already had. “It was my fault, not yours.”

“Sister, dear. Just let her apologize-”

“I don’t want her to apologize, because it wasn’t her fault, Claudia.” I glared up at her, my eyes dead and cold. “Let her off the hook, okay?”

“Is… something the matter, Candace?”

“No” I shook my head. “I just don’t want another slave getting in trouble for just trying to do her job. She’s hurt. That’s punishment enough.”

“Well, alright…” She smiled at me, chuckling as she turned back to Chloe beside her. “Hear that… it looks like you might still be getting that chastity belt off tonight, after all~” 

Hearing that from my sister sure did make Chloe smile. “Do you mean that, Ma’am?” 

“Of course I do.” She patted her slave on the back, pointing her out of the sitting room. “Now go on, I think Candace needs a while, you’ll get to introduce yourself later.” 

“Yes, Ma’am… thank you.” 

Chloe turned towards the hallway, getting ready to leave, but not before she glanced over at me- the faintest of blushes and the tiniest of smiles painted onto her face as she walked away. 

 

I watched her walk away, seeing her leave this time hurting just a little bit less than it had last time. I propped my elbows up on my knees, hands against my face as I struggled not to cry. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what happened back there…” 

“It’s okay… I’ve got you.” I felt a hand on my shoulder, trying to comfort me like my mother once did, as my sister sat next to me on the sofa and wrapped her arm around me. “Is there anything I can do?” 

“No… not really…” I sighed, pulling my hands from my face and leaning towards her. “I’m sorry.” 

“Don’t be sorry, kiddo.” She smiled, rubbing my shoulder to try and comfort me. “I have an idea, if you’d be up for it?” 

“I have no better plans… what’s your idea?”

“Well, I don’t know what’s gotten you sick all of a sudden, because I doubt it was the food… but taking a bath always makes me feel better when I’m all shaken up.”

I giggled, my cheeks blushing ever so slightly. “What, you’ll let me borrow your bathroom?”

“Actually…” She smiled, gently letting go of me. “I was thinking maybe we could bathe together?” 

“T-together?”

“You know… like sisters?” 

“Like sisters…” The thought made me smile, as well as blush with embarrassment. “You know I have a-”

“A penis?” She nudged me. “Yes… but that doesn’t make you any less of my sister.” 

I looked up at her, swallowing nervously. “You promise?”

“I promise.” 

“Okay…” I sighed, giving into the idea, even if it was a little bit weird, it sounded nice to take a bath with my sister- it meant that she actually saw me as her sister after all. “But just the two of us, no slaves.” 

“It’ll be just us, I promise.” 

 

So we went upstairs, finding ourselves together in Claudia’s master bathroom. Her bathtub was extraordinarily big, and it made the rest of the room feel all that much smaller as the two of us slowly undressed. 

“Well go on, take your clothes off~” Claudia was the opposite of shy, if anything she seemed eager to get her clothes off and get into the bathtub. 

I had expected her to leave her cane outside of the bathroom, but instead she decided to set in up in the bathroom, just outside of the shower. The eyes of the serpent that decorated the head of her cane now glowed red, pointing in towards the bathtub. “There, now I can’t lose it… the bathroom floors are usually slippery after a shower.”

“Are you sure we don’t want to wear bathing suits?” I, on the other hand, was a little bit more insecure about being naked in front of my sister. “This isn’t weird?”

“It’s only as weird as you let it be~” She giggled, winking at me as she showed herself off. “Come on… don’t make me strip you by hand.” 

I blushed, rolling my eyes as I hesitantly pulled my shirt and bra off in one swift motion. My sister was a very attractive woman, and because of that I had a little bit of difficulty keeping my eyes off of her. But Claudia didn’t seem to have the same difficulty, her eyes were glued to my body the whole time, blushing slightly as she watched the final pieces of clothing come off my body, leaving me standing completely naked in front of her. 

“See, that wasn’t so hard was it?” She giggled, gesturing towards the bathtub, almost waiting for me to enter first. “After you~”

I stepped inside and she followed shortly after me, closing the screen door to the bathtub behind us. It took a few moments to fill the bathtub, just due to its size, but once it was full it was actually really nice.

“Okay, you’re right… This is helping.” I sighed, leaning back against the wall and crossing my legs, trying to hide my genitals from my own view. “This is kind of nice~”

“I told you!!” Claudia was over the moon to have me in here with her. “You’re a very pretty woman, you know?”

“Thank you…” I smiled, my face turning even brighter red than they already were. “That means a lot to me.”

 

Claudia still wouldn’t take her eyes off of my body, no matter how much I crossed my arms or legs, or moved to try and get out of her view. At this point it was getting to be a little bit unnerving. I get that she hadn’t seen me in a while, but maybe this was a step too far. 

“Claudia… why are you staring at me like that?” 

“Because you’re very very pretty, Candace.” 

“I get that, but… you’re my sister.”

“I’m your sister and I like looking at you, what’s wrong with that?”

“I… I don’t know… It’s just not the way sisters usually look at each other.”

“How would you know that?” She smiled at me, standing up and turning one of the shower nozzles on so that she could wash off. “I don’t mind you looking at me like that~” 

“I can tell…”

“Here, I’m going to get washed off, okay?” She grabbed a small pink bar of soap from off of one of the nearby surfaces. “This’ll just take a minute.” 

I just kind of watched her wash off in the shower, she didn’t mind me looking at her, so I guess I didn’t really mind doing it. She was really pretty after all, I thought the bathtub was big, but my sister was huge. 

Claudia was six and a half feet tall, she was a monstrous woman who even towered above me, especially while I sat on the floor of the tub when she was standing. It was amazing to think that a cisgender woman could be that tall when I was a whole seven inches shorter than her. 

 

“Do I need to wash you?” 

I blushed, my normally pasty face bright pink as I looked up at her. “H-huh?”

“Would you like me to wash you?” She grinned mischievously, pointing the bar of soap at me from above. “You won’t have to lift a finger~” 

“Wh- Claudia?!” I blushed, covering my chest as she stepped towards me. “Why are you being so weird??”

“I don’t see how this is weird, I’m just offering to wash your body for you, mom and dad used to do that for us~”

“When we were children, sure.” I whined, slowly eyeing the screen door as I considered leaving. “But we’re not children anymore.” 

“Look, I get it.” Claudia smiled, slowly sitting down next to me in the bath, near a still flowing faucet of water. “But father did other things to us when we were children too.” 

“I know, Claudia.” I pushed away from her, standing up in the bath. “I don’t want to think about Daddy raping us!!” 

“Candace-” 

“I’ve had enough of this, Claudia.” I turned away from her, walking towards the screen door away from my sister, eager to get away from whatever sick perverted fantasy of hers this was. But when I got to the door and grabbed the handle, I quickly realized that it wasn’t going to open. It was locked. “Claudia…”

“Shhhhh…” She hushed, standing right behind me as she gently pulled me away from the door. “It’s only rape if you let it be non-consensual~” 

 

I had never quite felt so vulnerable in my entire adult life, trapped in here with my sister, entirely naked with no way out. “Claudia… I don’t want to do this…” 

“And why not?” She stayed behind me, reaching her hands around and brushing my hair out of the way, pulling it behind my shoulders. “Father did this with us, didn’t he?” 

“I don’t want to be like my father, Claudia.” I choked on my words, wincing at the feeling of her fingers against the skin of my back. “I don’t want to be anything like him…”

“And why not?”

“Because he’s an evil person who rapes and abuses women for fun-”

“And you aren’t?”

“I would like to not be!!” 

“Well… no one’s asking you to rape and abuse anyone right now.” She placed both hands on my hips, holding me still. “You can just leave that up to me.” 

“I… I don’t understand, Claudia.” 

“You’re not escaping this kid…” She smiled, gently placing a kiss on the back of my head. “I’ll be like your father… and you’ll just sit back and be like your mother instead~” 

“Like… my mother?” 

“Well… there’s nobody in the world who’s less like your father than your mother, is there?” 

“No…” I blushed, letting myself fall further into her grasp. “Not really…” 

“If you want to be less like your father, then you’ll just have to be more like your mother.” She smiled, breathing down the back of my neck. “There’s always room for you in the registry if you’d like to be there~” 

“Claudia…” I swallowed nervously, feeling her place her hands on my chest, squeezing me ever so gently. “Do I have to?”  

“Just relax… it’s going to be okay.” She grabbed me by my breasts, rubbing them with her palms. “Let me wash away those mommy and daddy issues for you~” 

“Y-yes, Ma’am…” I blushed as I turned around in her grasp, having retreated so far into myself for protection that I was having trouble fighting back. “Whatever you say…” 

“See, just like your mother~” 

 

This was the last thing I had expected, but I deserved everything I had coming for me, even if that meant getting raped in the bath by my older sister. She was right, after all. If I wanted to be less like my father, I needed to be more like my mother. Submissive. 

It felt like I had been building up to this revelation for quite some time. If I wanted to be a better person, someone who didn’t rape and kill random women off the street like my father, then the natural way forward was to become more like my mother. 

Calm, controlled, servile- even if I didn’t like it. I couldn’t control myself out there, I had already ruined the lives of three different women, and I didn’t want to do that again. If I couldn’t stop myself from hurting people, I needed someone else there to stop me.

I wasn’t submissive, but if I couldn’t control myself, I needed someone else to control me. 

 

“Mmph.” A quiet whimper escaped my lips as my sister pulled my hair, beginning to wash it for me. It felt wrong to be on my knees in the shower with her, but I had little choice. It’s what my mother would have done. 

“Stay still, Candace.” She grinned, sitting next to me as she washed my hair, almost like washing a pet. “I’m not afraid to pull hair from your head.” 

“I’m trying…” My face was bright red, not just out of embarrassment, but anger as well. “Please…” 

“Just quiet down, it’s gonna be alright.” She giggled, holding the bar of soap in front of my face, pressing it to my lips. “Open wide.” 

I grinded my teeth together for a few moments before opening my mouth, not wanting my sister to slip a bar of soap into my mouth. But I did it, opening wide like she wanted me to. 

You deserve everything you have coming to you, Candace… stop complaining. 

I held my mouth open as she placed the bar of soap between my teeth, biting down on it to keep it in place. This wasn’t right, this wasn’t how I usually was, but I just felt so helpless in here with her. 

She was like my father. That’s what she was. She was like my father. 

And everyone knew I was powerless when it came to facing my father. 

“It’s going to be alright, princess.” She giggled at me, continuing to wash my body off in the warm bubble bath we found ourselves in. “You are your mother’s daughter after all, this should come natural to you~” 

“Nnnghh…” I groaned through my teeth, glaring back at her. Just because I was doing this didn’t mean I liked it, and it was almost offensive for her to imply that being submissive should be easy for me. It wasn’t. 

“You should thank father for letting you be a real person.” She sighed, running her fingers over my skin as she rinsed me off. “Back in the good old days, a child born from a slave mother was also a slave, with no exception.” 

“Take that back!!” I spat the bar of soap out of my mouth, growling at her. “Just because my mother was a slave does not make me naturally submissive!!” 

I was instantly proven wrong as I felt a whimper escape my lips, feeling her grab me by the hair and shoving my head under the bubbly water. 

It instantly stung my eyes to be forced under the water, but not quite as badly as it drowned out my nose, beginning to fill my lungs with water as I struggled.

I gripped onto her wrists with both hands, making a fool of myself by failing to pry her fingers off of me. I was strong, but Claudia was still a monster. I couldn’t see, hear, or breathe- which left me with only one option, panic. 

“Mmmmmph!!!” I gasped for air as she pulled me back up, now finally able to breathe. 

But Claudia wasn’t done, she forced me forward onto my hands and knees, pointing my face down at the water. “Don’t forget to grab the soap this time, Candace.” 

“O-okay…” I blushed, taking my last chance to breathe in before being shoved back under the water. 

Claudia could kill me by just holding my head under the water, that’s how easy it would be, she had created the perfect set to film a murder. But even if she did kill me, I couldn’t really blame her. 

I, Candace St. Clair should not be getting subjected to this kind of treatment, but I knew I deserved it. 

I opened my eyes, letting them sting in the bubble bath as I searched for the bar of soap, picking it up in my mouth and biting down on it. I whimpered, breathing in and out through my nose as she pulled me back up, my teeth digging into the bar of soap. 

If there was one thing that our father had done for us, it was making us invincible. None of us were very submissive, but we could handle anything that you tried to throw at us. That’s what growing up under the heel of Cardinal Russo did to you. It made you indestructible. 

I may have been invulnerable, but Chloe wasn’t… and if my sister was treating me like this, I couldn’t imagine what she was doing to her slaves. 

“Give.” She held out an open palm in front of my face, gently scratching the back of my head like a cat as I spat the bar of soap out into her other hand, furiously spitting the disgusting suds from my mouth back out into the bubble bath. “Good kitten.” 

“Nnngh…” I whined, a well of dread forming in my chest as I heard her praise me. “Yes, Ma’am…” 

Less like dad, more like mom… 

I groaned, spitting out more and more suds as I struggled to not grind my teeth together. “Thank you, sis…” 

“You’re welcome, Candace~” She grinned, sitting between me and the still running faucet, admiring my body. “Now let’s get those dirty words rinsed out of your mouth once and for all.”

I whimpered, blushing bright red as I tried to smile, my teeth grinding themselves to dust. “Yes… please…” 

She held her hands like a dish under the faucet, guiding handfuls of water to my mouth to help me rinse the soap suds away. My lips tingled as they reached her fingers, letting her tip my head back to gently pour the water into my mouth.

 

I gagged and coughed, filling the bath chamber with the echoes of a creature breaking under sheer pressure. Tears dripped from my cold glassy eyes, the sounds of my own sobs bouncing back into my water logged ears. 

“I… I… I want my mommy…”

“Oh dear… I thought we had washed away those mommy issues.” She ran her soft hands over my back, carving into me with just her touch as she got closer and closer and closer to the shame tucked between my legs. “You have to be tough and take it like a real girl, that’s what your mommy would do, don’t you wanna be strong like her?” 

“No!!” I bit back my tears, my entire body trembling as I snapped back at her, trying desperately to get my limbs to move, to fight back, to do something. “I don’t wanna be strong like her!!” 

I felt my sister grab my hair from behind, balling it up in her fist and yanking on it, tearing a scream straight from my lungs. “Wrong answer!!” 

Claudia forced herself inside of me, pressing her soapy fingers up my anus, three of them piercing inside of my most sensitive part of the body as she tried to ring my desperation and remaining willpower out of me. 

My hands curled into fists beneath me, like heavy balls connected to long chains, weighing me down, unable to move no matter how hard I tried. I was like a caged beast just sitting there, my body too terrified to listen to any commands but hers, not even mine.

She slammed my head back under the water, shoving my forehead into the shower floor, holding it there and refusing to let it budge an inch. My eyes rolled back in their sockets, red and stinging from the irritants in the water. 

I sobbed, my tears mixing with the sea of pain I was drowning in as bubble by bubble the air in my lungs slowly trickled out of my mouth, rising up to the surface of the water and popping. 

But Claudia wasn’t about to let up even while she was literally drowning her sister, she curled her fingers, scratching the walls of my anus inside of me as she fingered my asshole as roughly as she could, the fangs of a monster digging deeper and deeper into her prey. 

And I was her prey.

 

Even from beneath the water you could hear my muffled shrieks, drowned out by the pained deluge of water rushing in to replace the air in my lungs. 

I pushed against the palm of her hand, begging with the full force of my desperation to be released from this. But Claudia- like she had always been- was cruel and needlessly brutal. 

There was something endlessly frustrating about pleading with my eldest sibling for a hint of much needed gentleness, and to be told by her actions- no . No you may not breathe, no you may not rest. No. 

I was begging for her to let go of me, and she was telling me no. She was here to brutally fistfuck me, possibly until I passed out or died, she wasn’t here to show mercy, she wanted to beat me into a workable shape- one that was tougher than the one I had entered back into her life with. 

I coughed, watching with terror as a flurry of bubbles quickly escaped me, rushing upwards into my face and into my eyes as they flowed upwards, leaving me that much closer to death. 

Meanwhile, Claudia fingered me fast and hard. I didn’t stretch easily, but like with everything in life, Claudia’s fingers who not be taking no for an answer. 

Come on, I can take more than three… 

It was all I could do from down here, arch my back and hope she slips another fingers into my anus, the longer it took her to stretch me open and tear me in half with her fist, the longer it was going to take before I could breathe again. The quicker she raped me the quicker I would be done being raped. 

I was so wet that I couldn’t tell whether the droplets running down my legs were water or blood, but I knew how it felt- like I was being ripped in two. More quiet whimpers of indignation from beneath the water were all I could give her, the only signs that I was still alive and that she should keep going, that she wasn’t fingerfucking a corpse just yet. 

And then finally- somehow both mercilessly and mercifully- she forced a fourth finger inside of my waiting bleeding asshole, wet from the horrors of the rape chamber around her as my sister tried to pry an orgasm from my punching bag of a prostate. 

Don’t dish out what you can’t take, St. Clair. 

That was the lesson here. I could take this, I could do this. I was strong. 

Mommy could do it, and so can I… 

In this moment it really did feel like I was in my mother’s place, my wants and needs drowned out by the force of a more powerful hand, keeping me down, holding me back, telling me no . 

She continued to pound me with her hand, beating my prostate in as she fisted me, the little punching bag inside me desperately waiting for her thumb to finally join in, to wrap her fingers around my prostate and tear it out of me by force, to rip an orgasm straight from my loins like it it was desperate to break free from me. 

I was sure the tears coming from my eyes were tears of joy as I felt her finally do it, making my knees wobble and shake as she slid- shoved - her entire fist up my asshole, tearing into it like a weapon. That shaking in my knees, this feeling in my loins, that was the feeling of an orgasm building against my will- and I welcomed it. 

But I was also running out of breath. I struggled to keep my eyes open, but even the slimmest glimpses of light around me were fading into oblivion, I was going to lose consciousness if I didn’t breathe soon. I was going to DROWN if I didn’t escape her evil clutches.

She has to let me go, she wouldn’t actually kill me. That’s not what she wants- right?!

But she kept going, never letting up. She kept saying no when I asked to breathe, not fighting back, not letting myself waste my energy on anything else except for surviving, but she kept telling me no- and it was getting harder and harder to convince myself that she wasn’t at least okay with drowning me for her own selfish pleasure, even if that wasn’t what she was really after. 

She killed her last slave… but- but I’m her SISTER, she wouldn’t… 

I couldn’t just lie down and die, I had to resist- to escape- and that finally gave my limbs the kick they needed to start moving again, to start obeying ME instead of her, like they should. 

My loins were boiling beneath the water as I inched closer to an orgasm on my sister’s knuckles, my own fingers now finally curling around her wrist as I struggled to pry her hand from the back of my head. 

I had done my job, I had lied here and let her do this to me, and now she needed to let me go. I could take a lot of things, but I couldn’t survive having my lungs crushed by the pressure of the water beneath hers. 

You deserve everything that’s coming to you… even if it kills you… 

 

I hung onto her arm, not trying to pull it off of me, but for support. I wasn’t submissive, but I was smart, I could tell she wanted me to come with her hand inside of me. So that’s what I was gonna do. There was no competition here, no back and forth between her and I, just her. 

“Nnnghh!!!” I gagged, a huge rush of air clawing its way out of my mouth, finally leaving me with no air left at all. “Mmmmphnnnngh!!!!” 

My body wanted to spasm, to thrash at my sister until she either let me up to breathe, or I dropped dead. But I couldn’t move, not against all of the pain keeping me subdued. 

Calm down!! Calm down!! 

I couldn’t breathe, that’s fine. But I still had a little while before I was unconscious, I just had to orgasm. I just had to focus on what I could do, stay calm and try not to break. 

But the terror of losing my last breaths was finally overcome by the immense physical pain I was in, the fearsome power of the woman behind me which my whole body shook with. 

She tore into me, now that her whole fist was inside of my anus she had no reason to hold back. She had torn me open and now she just had to beat me to a pulp, and extract whatever shame I still had left- and I was living for it. 

It felt so immensely terrible that I couldn’t help but love it, my prostate was sensitive, but even it couldn’t withstand a thrashing like this without losing its dignity. 

 

“Mmmmmppppphh~!!!!!!!!” 

I came. With my ass spread open by my sister’s fist driving itself deeper and deeper until she could almost grab my sex and squeeze it in her hands, I screamed and moaned as I came, the last of any air in my lungs escaping me into the water above. 

Everything in my vision was fuzzy as the world ceased to exist around me, my sight and hearing finally going out and giving up. I thrashed against her as I came, satisfied that it was finally over. 

But Claudia didn’t stop going, and I didn’t stop thrashing against her with my arms because she wasn’t stopping. She wasn’t letting up.

NO!! LET ME OUT!!!!! 

I did what she said and I behaved, I let myself be raped at her hand, but she wasn’t stopping. Surely my moans would have let her know that she had done her job, that I was finished. But for some reason she wasn’t quite finished. 

I don’t deserve this!!!! Let me go!!!!

I could have possibly broken free from her grasp if I tried sooner, if I had done everything I could to tear myself from her claws when I had all of my strength, but instead I had let her petrify me. She scared me into submission, keeping my hands heavy enough to weigh me down while I had any semblance of strength in my body. But now I was drained, pathetic, and helpless. 

I fought against her with all of my strength, desperately trying to escape her. 

And I felt myself break against her hands. 

 

Crack. 

I screamed louder than I ever had at the worst pain I had ever felt in my entire life, feeling some part of me snap inside of her, at her touch. 

I screamed at the top of my empty collapsing lungs but I couldn’t hear myself, nobody could hear me, not while I was submerged. 

It was only when I finally heard my screams echoing back at me that I realized it was over, that she had yanked my head back out of the water by my hair and was now forcefully ripping her hand from my beaten and subjugated anus. 

I couldn’t describe the sounds I was making, not even to myself, but I was screaming in pain and terror, desperately gasping for breath, trying to fill my lungs with air before they exploded. 

She dropped me, letting me fall back face first into the water and pick myself back up, and she left. 

She was moaning as loud as I was screaming, recoiling from an orgasm that had just rocked her entire body to the core. 

She came just as hard as I did, almost harder, to the sounds of my screams and cries, only able to pry herself away from me after the sounds of me shattering beneath her, physically and mentally. 

She struggled to her feet, clawing her way to her cane and limping away, slamming the screen door open so that she could escape. 

I whimpered loudly, desperately, thankful that it was finally all over. 

Peering through the screen door, the rest of the master bathroom was the first thing I saw when I regained my sense of vision, but all I could do was crawl away from it. 

That way meant safety and escape, but it also meant my sister. I dragged myself as far into the bath chamber as I could, cornering myself for her as I slumped over, amazed that I was still able to move my arms and legs, astonished that I hadn’t bled out into the bath at all. To say that my bubble had been burst would have been a demonstrable understatement. It had been shattered, I had been shattered, Claudia had shattered me. 

I couldn’t pinpoint the place within me that my newfound energy was coming from, but I was going to use it all here and now, to scream and sob and cry. I hunched over in the corner of the bathtub and I cried loudly for the world around me to hear, to know what pain and torment I was in. 

Where was Tallie when I needed her? Where was Leah when I needed her? Where was my mother when I needed her? 

Where was Claudia’s mother when I needed her? 

Where was Lilith right now… right when both of us needed her? 

 

“Chloe…” I hacked and coughed, still spitting up water and suds into the bubble bath below. “Sophia…” 

This is what you get for hurting her… Chloe could do better than this, Chloe wouldn’t be such a wreck. She was strong like that. She was stronger than me. This is what you get for hurting one of Claudia’s slaves… This is what you get for breaking Chloe. This is your punishment. 

I cried as loud as I could, unconcerned with who might be hearing me, unable to stop myself from sobbing, like an infant being drowned.

I had just been baptized. 

“Claudia!!” I don’t know why her name was the first to come out of me, why she was the first person I called. I needed my mother, I wanted my mommy, but Claudia was the closest thing I had to that right now. The closest thing I had to my mother right now was more like my father than anyone else. “Claudia!!” 

Leave it up to a lifetime of abuse to convince someone that their abuser was the best person to help them afterward, the only person who could fix them afterward, after the abuse was all said and done, and the raping was over. 

“Please… come back…” 

I turned towards where I thought she may be, locking eyes with that glowing red serpent at the head of her cane before I ever laid an eye on her, tears tearing their way from by eyes anew just from looking into it. 

“Please… help…” 

“I’m here.” The sound of her voice followed by the sound of splashing water behind me let me know that she was here, she was back. “I’m here to help you, I promise…” 

She laid her hand on my naked body, placing her hand on my shoulder. It was less of an exclamation of I’m here to protect you and more of a declaration of I have you, you’re mine - but it felt good, it helped, if only just a little bit. 

“Khkhkhkhkh…” I sobbed, clenching my teeth together as I was forced to turn towards her, given no choice but to lay my eyes on her again. It was just like with daddy, I had to lean on the person who had just raped me for support. 

But that wasn’t new… that’s what I had expected Chloe to do for so long. It didn’t feel wrong. 

Just for once, it felt right. 

She rocked me back and forth, holding my head to her chest and refusing to let me go. I cried, dripping tears onto her plush breasts like I was a shower nozzle, helpless and broken. 

You deserve every part of this… Stop complaining. Stop crying. 

At least Chloe could hold back tears. At least Chloe was stronger than me. Why was I so weak? Why couldn’t I be as strong as Chloe? Why couldn’t I be as strong as my mother?

“Mmmph…” I curled my hands into fists, clenching my hair in my fingers, about ready to pull it all out. “Mommy…” 

“Your mommy isn’t here right now, Candace.” Claudia held me there, not letting me go. “You have to be strong like her, she’s not here right now.” 

“And why not?! ” I shouted at her, burying my face in her chest. “ She was here last time!!” 

“You’re not a baby anymore, Candace.” She tore me from her chest, staring me dead in the eyes as she spoke. “You’re a grown woman, and your mother is dead.” 

“But why is she dead…” I glared up at her, eyes still full of tears. “Why did Daddy kill my Mom?” 

“I…” Claudia paused, tears in her eyes as she struggled to maintain eye contact. “We should get you out of the bath.” 

“Claudia?” 

“I don’t know why she’s dead!!” Claudia snapped at me, once again burying my head in her chest, as she lied. She was lying straight to my face, through her teeth, as she tried to shake the thought of my mother out of her head. “It could have been an accident…” 

She knows something that she’s not telling me. She knows something more about my mother’s death, and she refuses to let herself tell me. 

“I can’t baby you like your mom did.” She placed both palms on my temples, holding my head in her hands as she pried me away again. “You have to be strong like she was, or be strong like father is, and you have to decide.” 

I stared at her, clenching my teeth. “What?”

“Do you want to be like Daddy? Or do you want to be like Mommy? Decide.”

I screwed my eyes shut, the pain of losing my world in the span of two weeks crashing in on me, like the suppressive waves of the ocean, dragging me further and further into the depths. 

“Mommy.” I spat it out, sick to my stomach at not just my father, but at myself. “I wanna be like Mommy.” 

 

And then I felt her lips pressed against mine.

But this time they stayed there, warm and wet, pressing against my lips with force. Her passion and power kept me in place, filling me with a cold dread that crept its way from my head to my toes, clawing my lips off. She dragged me further under the water with her kiss, sucking the air from my lungs, drowning me anew. But at the same time,  it filled me with a strangely warm sensation, not just protective- possessive. 

“That’s my little sister.” She pulled away, her lips now curled into a smile. “You’re always going to be my little sis, aren’t you?”

“Yes.” I cursed myself under my breath, choking on my pride and dignity as I sat there in the bath with her, soaking in the same water I would have drowned in if it hadn’t been for her mercy at the last moment. “Yes…” 

Claudia was a lot like him, but I wasn't. I didn’t want to be like him, but I owed a lot to my father for making me the person I am. Just like Claudia permitting me to breathe, I wouldn’t be here right now if he had forced me to live as a slave- and it was about time that I paid my family back for that favor.

If Sophia can do it, so can I… this is my punishment. 

“Let’s go ahead and rinse away those mommy issues.” She giggled, lifting a handful of water from the bubble bath before letting it fall back into the ocean below. “Turn the faucets off and drain the bath, Candace. I’ll see you when you’re done~” 

“Where are you going?” I glared up at her, staring into the glowing red eyes of her serpentine walking implement as she walked away. “Why do I have to drain the bath?”

She smiled, humming to herself. “Because I told you to.” 

“Yes, Ma’am…” I curled by hands into fists, wanting to tear her vocal chords from her throat, but I couldn’t. I was going to be less like her, and more like my mother. My mother could get abused and raped as much as my father wanted to and still be able to do as she was told when it was done, and so could I. “Whatever you say.”

 

✶          ✦   ✧   ✦   ✧   ✦   ✧   ✦   ✧   ✦   ✧   ✦   ✧          ✶          ✧   ✦   ✧   ✦   ✧   ✦   ✧   ✦   ✧   ✦   ✧   ✦          ✶

 

Claudia didn’t return until I had done as I was told, but she did eventually return to my side, just like she promised. 

“You seem to be doing a little bit better now?” 

She was fully dressed, but I was still sopping wet, curled up in the corner of the now empty and dried bathtub. 

“I can’t fathom what exactly gives you that impression, but yeah… I’m fine.” 

“Good!!” She smiled, cane still in hand as she approached the bathtub. “My family is waiting downstairs to see you, so we should get you all dressed up?” 

“Dressed up?” I scoffed at her, shaking my head incredulously. “You expect me to stay after that?” 

“Yes?” She frowned, unsure of what I was getting at. “Why wouldn’t you?”

“You almost killed me.”

“I’m trying to help you, Candace.” She sighed, extending the cane for me to grab. “It was meant as a bonding exercise~” 

I sighed, rolling my eyes at her as I stood up, brushing her cane to the side. “I can dress myself.” 

The floor of the bathtub wasn’t even all that slippery, it was dry. I had drained out the entire bath chamber, but for some reason- I still fell down.

It was like my hip buckled beneath me, sending me tumbling forward onto my hands and knees, slamming me onto the floor again. 

 

“But you don’t have to do things by yourself.” I felt her hand on my shoulder, letting me know she was there. “You have your family here to help you, and we’re always going to love you… I’m always going to love you.”

“You call that love?” 

“I would call that the scariest moment of my entire life if it had been an accident… almost drowning my sister, just because I got carried away.” She frowned, rubbing my back to help comfort me. “But it wasn't an accident… I was in control and making sure that you were going to be okay the entire time. I'm not going to accidentally kill you, there's not going to be an accident like that with you..." 

I frowned, staring down at the floor below. “Just like my mother’s death had been an accident?”

“Yeah…” She sighed, squeezing my shoulder with one hand. “But it’s not going to happen again, not with you. I won't let it.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.” 

“Okay…” I bit my lip, staring up at her as I let her take me by the hand, helping me to my feet. “What now?” 

“Now we go fix the broken shatters of our relationship.” She helped me out of the bathtub, continuing to help me walk so that I didn’t fall down afterwards. “More sister bonding~” 

“And that means?”

“Hair and makeup and dressing my lovely little sister up, like a doll~” 

I giggled, shaking my head at the idea. “I guess so…” 

“Chin up, you’re doing great.” She smiled at me, rubbing my back almost proudly. “You’ll look just like your mother in no time.” 

“Hm…” I blushed, smiling at the idea just a little bit. “Okay, that sounds fun…” 

“I’ve missed you a lot.” She smiled back at me. “I really have, I promise. It’s nice to have you back in my life, and I don’t want you to leave again.”

“I don’t want to leave either…” I smiled, thinking it over for a moment. “Can I get a moment alone with that new slave of yours before I leave?”

“Of course you can… just say the word and I’ll let you play with her.” 

“Thank you… that means a lot to me.” 

“I love you, Candace.”

“I love you too, Claudia…”

 

And I guess that’s it… 

Claudia got me all dried off and dressed up, and she was even nice enough to do my hair afterward, and she was right to say that I looked like my mother, because I did. 

But this is where I have to say goodbye, it’s time for me to leave, I guess. 

It wasn’t pleasant, I’m sure of that, but I hope it was at least a little bit cathartic to see me get my just desserts after all that time, I deserved it after all, I think we can all agree on that. 

I’ve done a lot of terrible things to Chloe, so it’s only fair to have them done back to me by someone just as mean and cruel, I couldn’t really blame Claudia for that- just like I couldn’t really blame my father for wanting to toughen us all up as children. I came out a stronger person because of it. 

But I’m going to be less like my father and more like my mother now. 

She was a wonderful woman, and I really wish I could give you the chance to meet her- but I’m not going to be around for much longer, at least not like this. 

 

I’m not disappearing, I won’t be vanishing off the face of the planet, I still exist and you’ll get to see me, but it won’t be anything like this. I won’t be around to narrate what I’m thinking or going through anymore, you won’t get to see from my point of view anytime soon.

And I think that’s for the best, to not have to watch a heinous abuser like me abuse my position and power all for the sake of claiming one girl as my own. 

I may not like it, Chloe has a new master now.

And I’m sorry if you thought that maybe I’d try to wrangle her from Claudia’s grasp at the first opportunity I got, but I know better. I don’t deserve her, and I’m not the kind of person who has the right to claim her as my own again. 

That’s what I was being punished for, hurting her in the first place. So even though I want her back more than anything, I don’t want to hurt her anymore. 

I hate that she’s here with my sister, and at least I know where she is now. 

I’m glad to know that she’s safe, relatively safe at least. There are better people out there for her, I’m sure, but there are also worse people to trust her in the hands of. 

I’m stalling for time I know, but I just don’t want to go… not yet. 

I know this isn’t how you expected it to go, but at least it’s better this way, right?

You’re happy with this… she’s better with her than with me, isn’t she?

Right… I have to let go eventually, and I might as well start by letting go of my grasp on the story. 

Thanks for sticking it out to the end with me. I’ll see you again someday, I promise. 

I love you, and goodbye~

Yours forever and ever,
Candace Amelia Saint Clair. 

Chapter 30: To a Fault

Notes:

Alright.

I have just about had it with you miserable little feebleminds trying to insinuate bad things about me.

What have I ever done to you all to justify being so publicly turned against, nothing. You're all just weak and angry and you miss Candace, I get that.
But you can't have Candace. You all belong to me dear readers, and so will Candace soon enough, just like Chloe.

So whatever, I really did try my best to get you to like me, I did. But I guess word of mouth from the girls further down is enough to convince you that I'm somehow a monster, even though I'm not.
Enjoy reveling in the fact that you've escaped my grasp for now, but know that I do not easily forgive, especially those who so unceremoniously turn on me.

I'll see you soon, hold your breath.

 

Your violently enraged empress
Claudia Rosegold Mariam

No… It can’t be… 

I ducked behind a corner, hoping and praying that she hadn’t spotted me as she came down the stairs and circled around into the dining room. 

That’s her… 

I peeked out from behind the wall, just for an instant, just for a moment, trying to make sure my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me. I wasn’t mistaken, she was who I thought she was. 

That’s Candace. 

 

The gears in my tiny stupid little brain were stuck again, but not on something vile or hideous this time, but because of just how excited I was to see her again. My heart was thumping and my gears were spinning on overdrive because of her. 

My feet were itching to get moving, but I had to stop myself from just running up to her and wrapping my arms around her, I left her for a reason. I didn’t even know what to say to her after everything we went through. For all I knew she didn’t even want me back, and I couldn’t be sure that I wanted her back either. 

And I most certainly didn’t have the power to make it a reality, only she did. Her and her sister, Claudia. 

She doesn’t know I’m here. She doesn’t want to see me. 

My heart slumped in my chest. Candace wasn’t here to see me, she was here to see her sister. She definitely didn’t want or need me popping up to make things more complicated for her than they already are. 

But at the same time… I really missed her. 

I stepped down the hallway, following the sound of her entering into the kitchen, waiting for her to be fully inside before I peeked around the corner and into the dining room. 

What would I even say to her? Hi, I miss you- but I belong to your sister now… that’d just make things worse. 

I wracked my brain for possible things to say to her, but I couldn’t quite come up with something that succinctly summed up everything I was thinking or feeling without also making my former master even angrier at me than she probably already was. 

Okay, Chloe. Pretend you’re at a convention… just walk up to her… and say hello. 

I took a deep breath before stepping into the archway, slowly making my way about halfway down the dining room as I waited for her to come back out. 

But when she eventually stepped back out of the kitchen she had her eyes glued to the drink in her hand, transfixed on making sure it didn’t spill as she stirred it. 

Great. So much for trying not to surprise her. 

I took a deep breath, trying to steady my pumping heart before I said anything, watching her bring the drink to her mouth to sip from it. 

“Good afternoon, Madame St. Clair…” 

She sighed, pulling her drink from her lips and rolling her eyes as she replied. “Good after-”

And then she froze. 

Oh no… this was a bad idea. 

 

We locked eyes instantly, and we held each other by the gaze for several moments thereafter. She wasn’t hiding her eyes like she normally does, that fiery look of hers was out for all to see. No contact lens would hide her true self to me anymore, she’s revealed herself to the world around her. 

She had gorgeous eyes, one red and one blue, a tempestuous beauty stuck between two worlds, one within and one without. I couldn’t decide what I wanted from them, the alluring escape of the ocean in one eye against the fiery passion of love in the other. They were wide with shock- a creeping horror crawling upon her, staring her right in the eyes like she had just seen a ghost. Like she was watching a murder take place in front of her feet. 

She made so many little moves that she herself probably didn’t even realize were happening. Feet tapping. Fingernails scratching. Hair flips abound. Biting down on the side of her cheek and chewing lightly as she did when she was anxious. I had made her anxious without even trying to, just my presence was souring her good mood. 

I could pinpoint her gaze to every part of my body that she ended up looking at- my eyes, my hair, my teeth, my cheeks, my tits- her eyes remained locked on my tits for a good few seconds, and I couldn’t really blame her for that. 

Candace often spent a lot longer thinking about what she was going to do or say than actually doing or saying it, and she probably didn’t even realize that. She too had gears in her head that locked up at times, trying to figure out what to do. She was fumbling for something to do with her hands, trying to break through this awkward illusion that she was fine.

This was the point in time where one character would cartoonishly drop whatever it was they were holding in shock, but she had missed her window for that, at least as far as making it look authentic and convincing that is. It was still in the span of microseconds, but she stood there for a lot longer than she actually realized she did, before choosing to drop the mug of whatever she was drinking onto the floor anyways. 

The house around us wasn’t quiet by any means, but you could still hear the sound of glass smashing against the floor as she dropped it, her hands quickly clasped over her mouth- not out of shock, but sadness. 

 

She had tears in her eyes as she said my name. I could hear the syllables slip out of her mouth like they were thoughts being ejected from her mind without thinking. You could hear the sound of glass shattering through the whole house, but you could only hear her voice sounded out the syllables of my name if you were standing right there in front of her, like I was. 

“Sophia?” 

She tossed the mug to the ground with a great deal of force, the sound of glass shattering was near deafening, but even through the hands clasped to her lips as she bit back her own tears, I could hear her voice. 

And it was in that moment that I realized that Sophia Cavalier wasn’t really gone, the person that I am wasn’t really dead. In that moment, hearing that name slip out of her without thinking, I finally understood how Candace really saw me. 

She wanted to correct herself, I could see it in her eyes. She was correcting herself, she was saying the name Chloe in her own head. But I heard what she said, that’s how she thinks of me in her head before she puts things through a filter, that’s why she so often took longer to act than she thinks, she had to translate before she said my name. 

She still thought of me as Sophia. 

 

I lowered my head, staring straight down at the floor, fixating on the mess at hand as I avoided her eyes- smiling. 

I made sure to keep those eyes of mine off of her for as long as I could, refusing to let her see the tears in my eyes as I dropped to my knees, overcome with a sense of pride in myself, more than happy to hear her say my name again. 

“My apologies, Miss… this is my fault, I’ll clean this up right away for us.” 

From where I knelt, it sounded like my words were what prompted her to slowly step backwards, letting me move in towards the quickly growing pool on the floor that I now recognized as tea. But I couldn’t be certain that it wasn’t her receding footsteps that prompted me to crawl towards the spill, we were in lockstep with each other even after the two short weeks we had spent away from one another- and those two weeks had somehow felt like an eternity. 

Why am I so stupid happy to see you again? 

I couldn’t stop grinning, she couldn’t see it but I was definitely smiling. I left Candace St. Clair for a reason, but I was still so happy to see her again. I had done this to get away from her, but it seems that like with everything in life I had failed, and I was so relieved that I had. 

Sure she was a liar, a cheater, and a monster- but she still had her iron grasp around me. I was still obsessed with her, and half of a month away wasn’t going to change that. 

I was still in love with her, and I was fine with that. I wasn’t the one that needed to change, she was. 

 

I was at her feet, on my knees with nowhere to go now. I had dropped to the floor in an attempt to hide my tears, watching them drip into the pool below, going unnoticed. I didn’t want to clean this up, I didn’t even have so much as a towel to dry the pool with anyway. 

As a slave I accepted blame like I ought to, but the mess on the floor between us wasn’t really my fault, I hadn’t been the one to purposefully shatter a ceramic mug onto the dining room tile to make space between us. The liquid rift expanding between us was of her design, and I was the one paying the price for it. 

Nothing that was happening to me was my fault, and we both knew that. I hoped she saw that. 

Aria had been the one to help me see that it wasn’t my fault, and I held that to heart. I still believed it, I still believed that this wasn’t really my fault, and I said as much to Candace’s face the day we parted. 

“I’m not the one who should be getting punished, Master. This isn’t my fault…”

I did what I could, grabbing the broken shards of glass into my hands, trying desperately to fix something that I didn’t have the tools or ability to fix right now, the rift between us wasn’t something that I had the power to fix, that was up to her. 

But I still tried, gathering the glass shards into my open and vulnerable hand, glass shards hot against my soft skin, hurting myself as I desperately tried to address a problem that I was powerless to solve. 

Oww… 

They burned in my hands, scalding my skin, but that was no reason to stop trying. I had to do something about this, even if it hurt me. She didn’t have to fix this mess if she didn’t want to, she could just walk around it. 

“Careful where you step, Ma’am. They’re scalding hot and really sharp.”

 

“Then don’t pick them up, you moron!!” She scolded me harshly, the last of my tears flying from my face as I snapped my head up to look at her, to face her directly. “Drop them before you hurt yourself!!” 

My face blushed bright pink as I stared up into her crying remorseful eyes, listening to the sounds of glass clattering onto the floor as I did as I was told, dropping the shards back into the rift below. 

There was so much I wanted to say to her in that moment, but I couldn’t. My mouth was shut tight, holding back the noises of a girl who wanted so desperately to tell her how much I missed her. I reeled, not just from the burning heat in my hands as I relieved myself from the superheated shards, but at just how stupidly happy I was to hear her yelling at me again.

“Chloe, I-” She was ashamed of herself, I could tell that she felt terrible for yelling at me, but I understood where it had come from. It made me happy to hear the concern in her voice, to know that she still cared about me after all. She just wanted to make sure I was being safe and not getting hurt. 

It was funny to think how such a small moment from one perspective could be so impactful to someone else, how a tiny interaction could be such a big thing to someone on the other side without you even realizing it. 

One paragraph becomes four. Two paragraphs become six. Three paragraphs become ten. 

What might have been a good eight or so paragraphs from the other side passes by without a thought, before you even recognize the sound of voices from down the hall, speaking to each other through a closed door. 

I wish I knew what she was thinking, I wish I knew what it was like from her point of view, but before you know it the moment has passed. 

 

Thump . And then something finally snaps you back to reality. 

“What-”

“Just-”

“Happened?” 

My master stood behind me, her cane pressed to the back of my head as she pushed forward, lowering my face to the floor, dangerously close to the scalding hot mess of glass and steam below- ready to slam me into the mess her sister had made. 

“Master?” I was almost relieved to hear her voice, pulling me back into reality before I did something stupid. “Is Miss St. Clair alright?”

“My sister is in the restroom, vomiting into the sink as we speak.” She did not sound very happy, not at all. “But she says she’ll be fine, no thanks to you.” 

“I must have startled her, Ma’am.” I closed my eyes, tears gently dripping into the burning puddle below, just inches from my face. “I was just too excited to meet her…”

“I expect you to first apologize, and then get to work cleaning this up.” She pulled the barrel of her weapon from the back of my head, deciding to smack me in the back of the head with it rather than pushing my face into the ground. “Don’t expect that belt to come off tonight.” 

“Yes, Master… I understand.” 

The bump on the back of my head was sore as I rubbed it, but it was the least of my worries. 

I could hear Candace throwing up from the other side of the door before I even got there, and it didn’t make me feel any better about my actions. But I knocked on the door, leaving a slight wet spot on the wood from my still burning hands. 

“I said I’m going to be a minute!!” She snapped back instantly, her mood having long since soured. “Leave me alone!!” 

She doesn’t want to talk to you, Chloe… you’ve already fucked up enough, say your piece and leave. 

“I…” Stutters came from my lips in the place of words. “I’m sorry… I’ll let you be…” 

But I couldn’t leave her be, this couldn’t just be where we left things. I was holding out hope that she’d changed, but I still hadn’t seen it from her. 

Fuck. 

I slumped to the ground, on my knees in front of the door that separated us. We were simultaneously as close and as far away as we had ever been. I pressed my forehead to the door in front of me, one hand clasped around the head of my collar. 

I’m really going to belong to Claudia for the rest of my life, aren’t I? 

The thought was so much more than terrifying, it was heartbreakingly disappointed. I left Candace’s side for a reason, to teach her a lesson, but she hadn’t really learned. She was really still the same Candace she’d always been. 

You really haven’t changed have you, Candace? 

I had been right to make the decision that I had made, she really didn’t deserve to have me, no matter how much I missed her. 

Claudia expected me to apologize, but her little sister wasn’t the one who deserved to be apologized to. 

You still don’t see that, do you? 

You’re still waiting for me to beg for your forgiveness.

But I am not going to be the one to come crawling back to you. 

I don’t want to hear your voice until you’re ready to show me that you’ve changed. 

I didn’t realize how badly I wanted it, but I needed to know that she was going to change, because if nothing ever changed then she didn’t really learn her lesson. She didn’t really miss me. 

Thump . Claudia was glaring down at me, pointing me off back into the house to start cleaning before she tapped her cane against the door, trying to get Candace’s attention. 

“Candace, dear… why don’t you come into the sitting room and rest…” 

That woman right there, she was my master. Not Candace, Claudia. 

“I’ll have the slaves clean up, we’ll get you some water, and you can just relax.” 

And I was going to do everything in my power to make sure they both knew that. 

 

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I didn’t stick around to hear whatever Candace’s last words were, they didn’t matter to me. What mattered to me now was doing as I was told, putting Sophia Cavalier behind me and being the best slave that I could be. 

Sponges, towels, rags. I grabbed them all and I got to work. I got down onto the dining room floor and I scrubbed my ass off, making sure everything was absolutely spotless before retrieving a glass of water for my master’s sister like she had intended me to, delivering it to Claudia. 

“Master?” I stopped Claudia in the hallway outside of the dining room, not wanting Candace to overhear us. 

“My sister is waiting for me in the sitting room. What is it, slave?”

“I wanted to apologize to you first, for causing such a scene back there.” I held the glass of water out for her to take, letting the cooling aura of the glass numb the sting of my burning hands while I could. “It doesn’t matter to me when this belt comes off, I’m more than happy to keep it on until you say otherwise, but I promise to be a better slave to you from now on.” 

Claudia smiled, appreciative but confused. “And where is this coming from?”

“From the bottom of my heart, Ma’am.” I took a deep breath, clasping my hands together in front of my waist. “If anyone deserves me at my best, it’s you.” 

“Chloe.” She frowned ever so slightly, lifting my chin with just one finger. “Do you still miss your last owner?”

“Yes, Ma’am.” I stared her straight in the eyes and told the truth. “I won’t lie to you, Master. I miss her every day.” 

“And if I gave you the opportunity to return to her right here and now, would you take it?”

“No, Ma’am.” I kept my gaze fixed on Claudia. “I miss her a lot, but she doesn’t deserve me.”

“Any master who would let go of their slave is weak, Chloe. Remember that from-”

“With all due respect, Master.” I interrupted her. “There’s more than one way to be strong, and I think we all know that.” 

“You’re not like the other girls.” Claudia gazed into my eyes, hers filled with a sense of awe and bewilderment as she stared into my soul. “You’re not a finished slave, are you?”

“A finished slave?”

“There’s still something in you… something that refuses to die.” She clenched her teeth together, her eyes hungry. “And I’m certain it has something to do with that last master of yours.”

“Call me sentimental, but part of me is holding onto hope that she can change… but until such a day comes when my last master mends her ways and shows me that she’s changed… I won’t even consider her a possibility, Ma’am.” 

“You think she owes you an apology?” 

“I don’t think, Ma’am. That’s not my place to do… I want, that’s what I do. I have no thoughts of my own, only my desires… and that’s all I have- the only thing that can’t be taken from me.” 

“That rebellious spirit of yours is going to be your undoing.”

“And I’m ready to face the consequences of that, Master.” 

“I can turn any girl into a drone, Chloe. Even you’ll be one in time, girl… just like the rest.” 

“I’m sure I will, Ma’am… but in the meantime- I think your sister needs you more than I do.” 

“We’ll get to that, but first-” Claudia gently led me back to the sitting room, where Candace was sitting and waiting for the two of us. “Is there something you would like to say to my sister, dear? I think she deserves an apology, don’t you?”

“Yes, Ma’am… she does deserve an apology.” She didn’t, but I was still going to give her one, no matter how hard that was going to be for me. “I would like to deeply apologize for causing you such inconvenience, Ma’am. I’m sorry for surprising you like I did. If there’s anything I can do for you, please… let me know.” 

I stepped towards her, taking a deep breath as I bowed, staring up into her eyes to make sure that she knew how I really felt. 

“I’m fine.” Candace didn’t look over at me however, she kept her eyes away from me, not wanting to accept my apology for what it was. “Are you alright? You didn’t burn your hands, did you?” 

“If I did, it’s my own fault…” I blushed, looking down at my hands as I stood back up. I did hurt my hands, and that was her fault- not mine. But it still made me happy to think that maybe somewhere inside of her she was worried about my safety. “And I’m ready to face the consequences of such a thing.”

I didn’t usually get so angry, and even when I did I refused to show it, but I was sick and tired of apologizing to her for something wasn’t at all my fault. 

“I don’t want to hear any more apologies, okay?” She scoffed, keeping her eyes off of me as I spoke, and for once it appeared that Candace actually felt the same way that I did. “It was my fault, not yours.”

No… She didn’t… 

This was the part of the conversation where I said something back to her, bowed and did as I was told, but I was stuck on those words. Stuck on Candace actually admitting that what had happened wasn’t my fault. For once she said exactly what I wanted to hear her say, that it was her own fault and not mine. 

Candace?

The silence had gone on long enough, prompting Claudia to step in and say something, even if Candace didn’t want to hear it. “Sister, dear. Just let her apologize-”

“I don’t want her to apologize, because it wasn’t her fault, Claudia.” She couldn’t look at me, but she could look at Claudia. She glared at her sister, her eyes hot and angry, voice stuck in a growl. “Let her off the hook, okay?”

Claudia was perplexed. “Is… something the matter, Candace?”

“No” Candace’s cheeks were hot and pink and angry, full of shame and exhaustion. “I just don’t want another slave getting in trouble for just trying to do her job. She’s hurt. That’s punishment enough.”

You stupid idiot… I hate you so much. 

There she was, the same Candace St. Clair, being the same stupid arrogant idiot I’d fallen in love with those weeks and months ago- refusing to just give up and be a bad person, she won’t even let me have that. 

That’s how selfish she was, she refused to just let me have the satisfaction of knowing that leaving her had been the right choice. She had to actually go and understand what lesson she was supposed to be learning from me, she had to go and actually try to be a better person, and I hated it so much. 

“Well, alright…” I felt Claudia nudge me with her elbow. “Hear that… it looks like you might still be getting that chastity belt off tonight, after all~” 

“Do you mean that, Ma’am?” I stared up at Claudia, unable to keep myself from smiling at what Candace was doing for me. 

You just can’t let me win can you? 

“Of course I do.” Claudia patted me on the back, pointing me out of the room. “Now go on, I think Candace needs a while, you’ll get to introduce yourself later.” 

“Yes, Ma’am… thank you.” 

God damn you, Candace… why can’t you just be an evil monster like your father? 

I wanted to just turn my back on her, to walk away from her forever, but I couldn’t. I glanced back at her one last time before I stepped out, the faintest of blushes and the tiniest of smiles painted onto my face as I walked away.

Maybe you can change after all… 

 

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Screams. I had been the only one around to hear it, but I couldn’t have misheard it, those were screams I had heard coming from up there. 

Candace looked different when the two of them came back downstairs. They had both bathed, but Candace was neither wearing the same clothes she had been wearing, nor was she wearing something that even looked like it belonged to her. 

She was wearing a dress, blue, overly frilly, kitschy, not her style. It was too 50’s housewife to be one of Candace’s. Her hair had been done up behind her head, tied off into some sort of ponytail that she couldn’t have accomplished herself. 

And she was hiding her eyes again, not behind a pair of colored contacts, but sunglasses- sunglasses that didn’t do a very good job while they were lazily sliding down her nose, like they were now. She had a purse, I wasn’t sure if she had brought one with her, but she had one now, and it made a soft jingling sound like a bell whenever she moved. 

I’d hesitate to say that she was distraught, she just looked so… uncomfortable.

 

But here I was cowering behind the corner, spying on her and her sister as they came down the stairs when they had better things to concern themselves than me. 

“Auntie Candy~!!!!!” Everyone else had just gotten home, and it seemed like Lilian was more than excited to run up to Candace and get a hug from her mom’s little sister. 

“She’s so big already~” Candace scooped the girl right off the ground, holding her up and letting Lilian cling onto her. The kid might have been a little bit bigger than what I could carry, but Candace was plenty strong enough to be able to hold her without problem. 

It was well into the evening by this point, and half of the family was just getting home, no doubt exhausted from an afternoon of being out shopping. 

“Take the groceries into the kitchen and help Autumn get started on dinner.” Claudia directed Zenna to go ahead and move on, taking her daughter from Candace’s arms. “Where’s Josephine?” 

“She’s out picking up your mother, Ma’am.” Zenna smiled at Lilian, heading past the small group as she went in towards the kitchen. “Lilian was too antsy to get home.”

“I can see that.” Claudia rolled her eyes, setting the little one down on her feet between her and Candace. “Go ahead and help out with dinner, leave Lilian to me.”

“Yes, Master… whatever you say~” Zenna did as she was told, paying little mind to Candace’s presence as she focused on following orders. 

“So… what now, then?” Candace looked up at her older sister, waiting to figure out what to do while they waited. 

“Dinner will be done soon, let us go have a seat in the dining room while we wait for Josie and mom to get back home, shall we?” 

“Whatever you say…”

Claudia eagerly led her daughter back into the dining room, and Candace nervously followed behind her, clutching her purse to her waist as she turned her back to me, facing towards the dining room. 

 

“Well don’t just stand there and stare at me, you’re making this weird.” She stood there for a moment and waited for an answer, seemingly from no one. “Chloe?” 

“Huh?” I blushed, slow to realize that she was speaking to me even while her back was turned. “I… I’m sorry.” 

“What did I say about apologizing?” She scoffed, shaking her head. “I don’t want to hear it.” 

“I…” I sighed, stepping out into the hallway from around the corner. “Yes, Ma’am…” 

“You of all people ought to know not to waste time on being useless.” She snapped her fingers, gesturing for me to accompany her into the dining room. “Follow.”

“Why do you keep calling me that?” I blushed, nervously finding myself at her side for the first time in a while, needing to get something out before Claudia could overhear us. “Why do you keep using that name?” 

“Chloe?” She didn’t even look at me as she spoke. “That’s who you are, isn’t it?” 

“It is, but earlier you-” I swallowed nervously. “You called me Sophia.” 

“If you want me to call you Sophia then fine, but pick a name already, and quick.” 

“Chloe.” I chewed on the side of my cheek in annoyance. “I’m Chloe.” 

“Good to know.” She sighed, pretending like I had just gone through the effort of introducing myself to her for the first time as we stepped into the dining room together, delivering us into the earshot of my master and her daughter. “It’s nice to meet you, Chloe.” 

 

“So you two have finally introduced yourselves, have you?” Claudia smiled over at us, beckoning for her sister to join her from over in her usual seat at the head of the table. 

“She’s a fan, it sounds like.” Candace didn’t miss a beat, circling around the table and heading towards the seat next to her sister, leaving me standing off by myself. “Always happy to meet a fan, I’m just a little bit too busy for autographs and pictures right now.”

“Is that so?” Claudia went ahead and pulled the seat out for Candace. “Last I heard, she wasn’t familiar with you~” 

“Well either she was lying or you’ve told her enough to turn her into a fan since then.” Candace sat down, propping both elbows up on top of the table. 

“Oh, really?” Claudia stared over at me now. “You haven’t been lying to me have you, Chloe?” 

Shit. What am I supposed to say to that? 

I had been upfront with Claudia with many other things thus far, but that was one thing I had lied to her about. Of course I knew Candace, she was my former master… but Claudia didn’t want to know who my former master was. She didn’t matter to her. 

“It was the magazines, Ma’am…” I blushed, nervously staring down at the squeaky clean floors. “I’ve been admiring her in the magazines for a few days…” 

“Well there you have it.” Claudia giggled, rolling her eyes. “Looks like I’m not the only one here who thinks you’re pretty~” 

She turned towards her little sister, rubbing her cheek with her thumb, and for the first time since she had been alone with her father just a few weeks ago, Candace looked helpless. 

Candace’s normally strong appearance melted into a frown, not an angry frown or one that portrayed any degree of power, but a soft scared frown. 

Candace glanced over at me with red embarrassed cheeks for just a moment before looking right back over to her sister, hand still gently caressing her face. 

“Thank you, Chloe…” Candace swallowed nervously, still staring at Claudia attentively. “I think you’re pretty too.” 

I blushed, smiling nervously as I watched this unfold in front of me. “Thank you, Madame St. Clair.” 

 

“You can either take a seat or leave us be, Chloe.” Claudia kept her eyes on Candace at well. “Elbows off of the table, dear.” 

It took me a moment to process what Claudia had just said. I wasn’t sitting down yet, my elbows weren’t on the table, and neither were Lillian’s. She was talking to Candace. 

“Y-yes, Ma’am…” I didn’t realize it until Candace replied, but she was the one being spoken to. 

She was embarrassed to be doing so, but she took her elbows off the table like she was told, tucking her hands into her lap, a furious blush overtaking her face as she did so. 

A disturbing revelation was beginning to unfold in front of my eyes. 

Claudia said she could turn any girl into one of her drones, that’s what she had told me at least, but she wouldn’t do that to her own little sister… would she? 

I very clearly was not the only person in this room who wanted to make Candace St. Clair mine, because Claudia wanted it just the same. 

She just got me, and now Candace is here… how grrr… How greedy can you be? I pouted, sitting down in my seat, elbows propped up on top of the table. I can’t even get away from Candace for five seconds before Claudia goes dragging her back into my life… 

“Stop fuming over there, dear.” That time Claudia was talking to me. “Be a good example for Candace and use proper manners, Chloe~”  

Candace took offense to that, getting all red in the face at the idea of learning proper manners from slaves, from me of all people.

Candace just glared at me, her face finally full of the anger I was expecting from her. “If your slaves can’t behave themselves, you ought to send them to their room, Claudia.” 

“Or I can just put them down.” Claudia grinned, slowly standing up from her seat, cane in hand. 

“No, wait-” Candace, for her part, just went wide eyed at the thought of it, catching her sister by the wrist before she could leave her side. “That was a joke. I was joking.” 

“Are you sure?” Claudia hummed to herself, grinning at her sister now. “Because it didn’t sound like a joke.” 

“Well it was.” Candace let go of Claudia’s wrist. “Please, sit back down so that we can talk… I want to hear about this party you’re throwing.”

 

Claudia took a good few moments before she said anything further, holding her cane to her chest and staring at it, trying to get up the strength to say what she wanted to say. “My mother is dying.” 

Candace’s heart broke inside of her chest, her face as distraught as I had ever seen it. From just one look at her, you could tell that she felt as if her own mother was dying again. “No…” 

“She went to the doctor, and they told her-”

“No.” Candace very violently jerked herself out of her seat, letting her chair skid across the floor behind her as she stood up. “No.”

“Candace, dear… sit back down.”

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” She scoffed, incredibly heart-broken and full of unchecked fury at the same time. “Why didn’t I know sooner?” 

“We just thought-” 

“What, because she’s not my mother, you didn’t feel like I needed to know?” 

“Now I never said that at all.”

“Then why did nobody tell me?” Candace was a lot more affected by this than I had expected her to be, and the same was obviously true for her older sister, Claudia hadn’t expected this sort of reaction either. “I’ve been waiting for a call, but nothing. Nobody thought to tell me what was going on- not you, not Cyrus, not father. Not even Lilith…”

“She really never called you?”

“Not that I know of.” Candace had tears in her eyes that she was trying desperately not to let go of. “No.”

There was a long awkward pause between the two of them before Candace eventually turned away, beginning to head out of the dining room and back towards the ballroom. 

“Candace wait-”

“I’ve lost my appetite, sis.” 

Claudia followed her sister as far as the doorway back into the ballroom before stopping, turning around towards her daughter- still seated at the dinner table, and returning to her side. 

“Go check on her.” Claudia let out a low growl, directing me towards her sister without even looking at me. 

“Yes, Ma’am.” I stood up from my seat and headed after her, not needing anything more than just that to convince me to check that Candace was okay. 

 

I stepped into the sitting room as fast as I could, finding her just sitting there, staring out the window. She knew I was there, the two of us were so connected that we couldn’t almost feel each other’s presence sometimes. But she didn’t really say anything, she didn’t seem to care that I was checking up on her at all. 

“Are you okay, Ma’am?” I remained composed, respectful, making sure to address her as a superior. 

“I have certainly been better.” She remained calm, but angry. “Why do you ask?” 

“Because I heard-” I turned back to the house behind me, making sure no one else could hear me as I whispered. “I heard screams earlier.” 

She averted her eyes downwards, away from the light of day outside and down towards the ground. “Those were mine.”

“Are you hurt, Miss?” I once again made sure to be on alert, not saying anything that I was afraid could be overheard from behind. “Did the mistress hurt you?”

“Sophia, I-” She accidentally let the name slip out of her mouth, gritting her teeth and snarling. “I’m fine, Chloe.”

“Why do you keep calling me that, Miss?” I blushed, giving her a shy smile to make sure she knew that I wasn’t upset, just confused. 

“Because it’s hard to separate you from who you were, at least for me.” The reflection of the light glistened in her eyes, her tears glowing under the rays of the sun. “And I know it’s hard for you too.” 

“It’s harder than you would know, Ma’am.” I took a deep breath, recentering myself so that I didn’t get emotional. “But I’m trying to get rid of her.”

“Get rid of who, Sophia?” She turned to me, looking over at me with a smile on her face. “Or Chloe?”

There was a brief moment of pause as I thought it over, not yet sure what my answer really was. “I’m not sure.”

“She doesn’t exist, Sophia.” Candace finally stood up, still staring out the window to try and avoid eye contact. “I tried to tell you that… but you didn’t listen.”

“You tried to tell me what, Ma’am?” 

“The last night we had together… I tried to make you see that Chloe and Sophia are the same person. You can choose to change parts of you, but you don’t need to get rid of that part of yourself, you don’t need to choose between them, you’re exactly who you need to be. Don’t let some fictional other girl scare you.” She locked eyes with mine, letting me stare into the pretty ocean she held inside of her. “I would be heartbroken to see Sophia go, I know that now.” 

“Candace, I-” 

“Would you like a hug, Chloe?”

I paused for a moment, my cheeks turning pink. “I’m alright, Miss… I don’t need a hug.” 

Candace was silent for a moment, slowly walking towards me from the other end of the room, stopping as soon as she was within arm’s reach of me. “I do…” 

I screwed my eyes shut, taking a few quick steps towards her. She wrapped her arms around me, letting me grab onto her for support, holding me in a hug- not possessively, but protectively. 

“Don’t let her hurt you like I did, okay?” She sighed, whispering into my ear as we embraced. “Don’t let her erase you like the other girls.” 

“I’ll try my best, Miss…” I smiled, slowly pulling away from her once we were done. “Don’t let her hurt you either?” 

“I’m not fragile, Chloe. If you can do it, I can too.” 

“You say that but… I think I make a better slave than you ever would.” 

“Oh so that’s a bragging point now, I see how it is~” 

“Maybe just a little bit-”

“We’ll talk more after dinner, okay?” Candace cut me off, her eyes drifting towards the doorway into the ballroom, where something else had clearly caught her eye. 

 

“Are you kids okay in here?” Josephine. It was Josephine, and I couldn’t be more glad that it was her walking in on us and not Claudia, because watching the joy in her eyes as she recognized her sister-in-law was endlessly heartwarming, she was almost as giddy as Darcey usually was. “Candace~???”

 

“Oh my gosh.” Candace blinked, glimpsing back and forth between the other woman and I, taking note of how similar we looked. “You look beautiful~”

Candace quickly stepped towards Josephine, and I knew she was talking to her and not to me, but I couldn’t help but blush. The two of us looked so similar after all. 

“I have so much to tell you about!!” Josie grabbed Candace by both hands. “You’re joining us for dinner, aren’t you?” 

“Umm.” Candace briefly glanced over towards me, before nodding. “Of course I am.” 

“Come on then, let’s go have a seat.” 

 

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As usual, the eating food part of dinner was boring, but what followed wasn’t. 

Everyone in the house, save for the enforcer, was sitting down at the table to eat together- including us. I and my fellow slaves sat in our usual seats at the end of the table, none of us allowed to sit at the head. I sat across from Darcey, with Zenna to my right, and Autumn across from Zenna. 

On the other end of the table meanwhile, things had been changed up a bit. Claudia sat at the head of the table, she always had and she always would, but Candace was still seated directly to her right rather than her wife, who usually sat in that spot. Josephine instead sat across from Candace, where Lilian liked to sit, having her daughter seated directly to her left. Finally, across from Lilian was her grandmother, Lilith- on the other side of Candace. 

 

“It’s been nice to see you all again, it really has… but I ought to head home now.” Candace was getting antsy to leave, having finished dinner without even saying so much as a word to anyone at the table currently conversing. 

“Oh won’t you stay just a little bit longer, honey?” Lilith seemed disappointed by this, trying to convince Claudia’s little sister to stay, which Candace clearly wasn’t keen on doing. “You haven’t said a word over dinner.” 

“That’s because Candace here is learning proper manners, mother.” Claudia piped up, glaring condescendingly at her little sister. “Isn’t that right?”

“Yes.” Candace sighed, putting on the fakest smile she could as she nodded her head. “That’s correct.” 

“Well I wouldn’t want to keep you if you need to go.” Lilith didn’t want to see the girl leave so early, but she understood.

“No no, Candace will stay.” Claudia smiled, nudging Candace with her cane. “Won’t you?” 

“Until I’m told to leave… sure.” Candace was not at all having a good time. 

“Claudia dear, if she needs to go she needs to go.” Lilith frowned, very easily picking up on how awkward this was for the youngest sister. “Don’t make her stay if she doesn’t want to.”

“It’s not about what she wants mother, it’s about what we all want.” Claudia’s voice was almost whimsical as she spoke. “I want her to stay, so she’ll stay. Isn’t that right?” 

Candace sighed. “Yes, Ma’am…” 

 

“Well it’s been nice getting to see you again, Candace.” Josephine slowly stood up from the table. “But I am going to head in for the night, if that’s okay~”

“Take the guest room, love.” Claudia didn’t take her eyes off of her sister, even as she spoke to her wife. “I’m going to need our bedroom later.” 

“I suppose.” Josie sighed, but agreed. “Darcey, Autumn, go get the guest bedroom cleaned up and ready. Zenna will take Lilian to bed.”

She turned to us, ordering each of the slaves to go do something, except for one. 

“What about me, Ma’am?” I blushed, looking up at her expectantly. 

“What about you?” Josephine giggled, gesturing towards her wife. “I think she’s going to need you later too.” 

I nodded, indicating my submission to her. “Good night, Ma’am.”

“Goodnight, Chloe~” 

That just left the four of us. Claudia, Candace, Lilith, and I. 

And Claudia had plans for me.

“So who’d like to go watch Toto do some tricks?” 

 

The four of us settled into the sitting room, though I was less sitting than kneeling, on the floor at my master’s feet. 

“This little gem right here is Chloe, say hello Chloe~”

“Hello…” I looked up towards the couch from the floor below, introducing myself to two women that have known me since long before Claudia did. “My name is Chloe, #0000, it’s nice to meet you both.” 

I took a deep breath, keeping a smile on my face as I bowed, lowering my head to the floor in front of me, arms tucked into my chest as I stayed prone. 

“It’s nice to formally meet you Chloe.” Lilith made sure to be polite, somehow managing to be in on Candace and I’s little secret. It was clear that she wished for one of the two of us to tell Claudia the bad news. “All zeroes is an interesting number, did Claudia give you that, dear?” 

“No, Ma’am.” I slowly sat back up, answering questions as I was spoken to. “My previous master gave it to me.” 

Lilith giggled, cooing at me. “And can you tell us anything about her?” 

I blushed, suddenly making eye contact with Candace. Her stern look melted into one of insecurity and embarrassment more than anything, unsure of what she should be doing. 

“Well… she’s really pretty. She had a lot of money, loved cats and hated dogs. She was really into video games, her favorite foods were all pastas, and she drank a lot of iced tea.” I giggled to myself, watching the smile on Candace’s get bigger as she kept hearing me speak. “And I mean a lot of iced tea, they were sweet- just like her at times… but she wasn’t always sweet.”  

I looked over at her, Candace, and she looked down at me. She was clutching something to her chest, something hidden behind that dress of hers as she frowned, almost heartbroken to hear me talking about her, but it needed to be said.

“I tried my best to be faithful to her, I tried my best, I learned from my mistakes, I did as I was told. But more often than not, it wasn’t enough. She punished me. That’s why I was hers, so that she could punish me… and that’s what she did. She punished me for something that wasn’t my fault, she made me fall in love with her, and when she couldn’t fully break me- that’s when I got taken away.” 

Silence. Deafening silence filled the room. I looked at the first face I saw, Candace’s, wrought with anger and guilt, but she didn’t look at me. Her gaze went over my head, staring at her sister, who stared right back at her. 

 

“Chloe.” I heard my master’s voice from behind, tense and unamused. “Present yourself.” 

I turned my head around for a moment to look at her, seeing the malevolent stare in her eyes for the first time. “What’s that, Miss?” 

Thump. She slammed the tip of her cane onto the floor beside me, very narrowly missing my ankle as she hauled herself out of her seat. 

I hadn’t enough time to look behind me before she was reaching out with the head of my cane, the jaws of the serpent striking, snapping on to the back of my collar with a loud click. 

With very little application of force, she shoved my face to the floor, forehead slamming against the ground beneath me. I realized that I had somehow fucked up, but I couldn’t fathom just how severe of a mistake I had made. 

Head down, ass up, that’s what presenting oneself to her master looked like- but I couldn’t even get that much right. She slid her foot between my legs, pressing against the metal belt around my cunt with her shoe, lifting my ass into the air herself. 

“Master?” All I could manage was calling out to her, scared that I had made some serious mistake that I didn’t yet realize. “Have I done something wrong?”

Candace looked on in horror, trying to get her sister to stop before she did whatever she was about to do. “Claudia, I think she-”

“Silence. Both of you.” Claudia sounded calm, but that masked a deeper darker intention in her voice. “I don’t want to hear another word out of the lips of a lying little half-breed.” 

She kept me pinned down with her cane, one knee pressing down onto the backs of both my legs as she reached up to my corset, slowly unfastening and removing it- letting it fall onto the floor beneath my torso.  

“Now I can and have put up with a lot in my time. But secrets, omissions, and lies in the name of keeping me in the dark is not something I am prone to letting go unpunished.” She placed one hand on my skin, kneading and squeezing my side with one hand, chills creeping up my spine as she traced my brand with her clawed fingers. “I am many things, but I am not stupid or oblivious. You can not expect to be able to keep secrets away from me forever. One of you breaks or one of you dies, now speak.”

I stared up into the horror in Candace’s eyes, unable to fathom what it was that she was going to do to me if she didn’t get her way soon. “Master please, I’m sorry that-” 

“Let go of her, Claudia-” Candace shouted, her face beaming a terrified shade of red. “Don’t hurt her, please.”

“And why shouldn’t I?” Claudia snapped directly back at her. “She’s just some slave, you’ve only just met her today. Why should you care what happens to her?” 

“You already know why-” 

“Then say it!!” 

“Because she used to be mine, Claudia!!” 

Click. Claudia stood back up, releasing the jaws of her cane from the back of my collar. “Because all that talk of a previous master, she was talking about you.” 

Oh no… I was petrified, frozen in place under the gaze of a medusa, still trapped in the jaws of the snake. “Master?” 

“I didn’t permit you to speak.” As soon as I began to sit back up, she once again slammed my head to the floor, pinning my head beneath her foot. “I want to have it out with her first.” 

 

“Claudia!!” The sound of Lilith’s cane against the floor was even louder than Claudia’s had been, her voice more stern, the sound of her prosthetic leg slamming onto the ground making her footsteps louder than any other. 

“Quiet it, mother. This is between me and-”

“Claudia Rosegold Mariam. ” Her voice carried the same power and force that her daughter and her sister both had, but far more trained and refined over the years. “This is not what I wanted.” 

“This isn’t about you!!” 

“Yes it is!!” 

Crack. That was the sound of someone getting smacked upside the head with a cane, but it wasn’t me and it wasn’t Candace. I felt Claudia’s foot leave my head, and I instantly shot up. I had to see what was happening, and I was not disappointed.

Claudia stumbled backwards, desperately clinging to her cane as she struggled not to topple over. She stayed standing, but she didn’t stay composed- not after her mother struck her with her cane. 

 

“When I told you to patch up your relationship with your sister, this is not what I wanted, and you know it.” I was only sitting up for a couple moments before suddenly Lilith was pointing her cane at me. “The poor doll is positively terrified at the thought of what you’d do to her if you found out who she was, and your sister-” Lilith was now pointing her cane straight at Candace. “Your sister has her own motivations for keeping quiet about it. She’s only just sent the girl away from her, she clearly doesn’t want to think or talk about her right now, and Candace surely doesn’t need to be berated for that.”

Claudia stared at her mother, her face bright red as she turned towards her little sister, a sincere tone of concern in her voice as she spoke. “Candace?” 

I felt like a bystander watching a soap opera playing out in front of me, even more powerless than normal as I watched Candace jump up from her seat, helpless to stop her as she ran past me and into the ballroom behind us. 

“Wait.” Claudia reached towards her, but stopped herself before she could get into Candace’s way. “Wait…” 

 

“Should I go check on her again, Ma’am?” I looked up at her, my eyes pleading for forgiveness. I knew I had screwed up, and I wasn’t about to deny that. The only way forward was submission, to fully and honestly offer myself to her on the promise of being hers and not her sister’s. “This is my fault, what can I do for you to help fix this?” 

The ire in Claudia’s eyes as she pointed them at me was beyond any earthly conception of rage. Loud glimpses of softer condescension and confidence went up in flames, making room for unbridled fury targeted in my direction. “I wouldn’t.” 

My mind bit down on me like a pit of snakes, venomizing myself for being such an imbecile. How could I let this happen? My fangs, sharp like a canine and weak like a puppy dug into my bottom lip as deep as they could go, drawing my own blood into my mouth like a vampire all in the name of shutting myself the hell up. 

If I had just been honest and faithful to her this wouldn’t be happening. She might have killed me over it, but at least I wouldn’t be seeing the betrayed looks on their faces burned into my vision when I closed my eyes. If I had squealed like a pig when it was appropriate for me, I might be dead, but at least someone would be happy. At least Candace wouldn’t be screamed at by her older sister. At least Candace’s screams wouldn’t be ringing in my ears from afar, helpless to stop whatever torture my new master had thought it appropriate to inflict upon her. 

Claudia’s sharp gaze flittered up to the open doorway, tailing the sound of a loud thud from the ballroom outside. It was unlike the sound of a cane being thumped on the floor, and even more unlike the sounds of glass shattering, littering the floor. But one thing was certain, it was more important than having to stand over and babysit me. 

Her wedges clacked along the floor, but not as fiercely as her cane. My fingernails against the floor were the pitiful echo of a more powerful woman, crawling after her. I was at her side, and I was going to stay there until she told me otherwise. 

Claudia let out a quiet gasp, quickening her pace as she reached the ballroom. Candace had tripped and fallen over, tumbling onto the floor in the middle of the wide open space for seemingly no reason at all. 

She whimpered, clutching onto her hip as she sat slumped over onto the floor. Her eyes flitted across the room, desperate to latch onto anything that wasn’t the eyes of her quickly impending sister, beginning to rush to her side. 

 

“Let me help you up, sweetie.” Claudia stopped, staring at her little sister from the other side of some invisible barrier as her mother got to Candace’s side first. 

“Thank you…” Candace smiled, letting Lilith take her hand, gently helping her back up to her feet. “I’m sorry for making such a scene…” 

“Nonsense.” Lilith gently placed her hand on Candace’s shoulder, trying to help comfort her, and it did a lot more than just help Candace, just in ways that only she could understand. “I’m sorry for being so distant.” 

“Miss Mariam-” 

“Call me Lilith, please…” Lilith held her close, trying not to be distant with the girl. “There’s no need to be so formal.” 

“I’m fine, I’d feel weird calling my father by his first name too.”

“Then you’re always welcome to call me mother, if you’d like.” Lilith smiled, holding out her cane for Candace to take. “You’ve only got so long before I’m gone.”

“Miss Mariam-”

“Candace?” 

Candace blinked nervously, curling her fingers around the cane as she pushed it back towards Lilith’s chest. “Thank you mother… I’m gonna miss you.” 

 

“Tch.” Claudia scoffed, curling her fingers around her own cane, murmuring to herself. “Of course she would.” 

“Master?” I turned up to face her, kneeling at her feet. “Please…” 

“I’m going to take mother home, then.” Candace smiled, refusing to look over at her sister as she spoke. “We’ll have to finish catching up some other time.”

“That’s fine.” Claudia spoke robotically, her voice turning monotone. “I’m sorry for snapping at you like I did.” 

“It’s okay…” Candace might not be willing to look at her sister again, but she was more than okay with looking over at me. “But I’d still like to have a word with her before I go.” 

I blushed, nervously glancing up at Claudia, avoiding her own sister’s gaze by funneling her rage towards me. “Ma’am?” 

“Make it quick.” Claudia sighed, tapping me on the back with her cane. “Don’t hurt each other… you still belong to me, got it?” 

“Got it, I promise.” I smiled, bowing just slightly. “Thank you.” 

 

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We went into my bedroom, Candace and I, leaving Claudia behind us for just a moment- and I was just glad I hadn’t already gotten myself killed. 

I never thought it would happen again, but here we were, just the two of us. Candace and I, sitting alone together.

Candace sat on the bed next to me, sighing to herself, trying not to irritate her hip after falling down. “So… how is it here?”

“It…” I stared down at the ground, unable to look directly at her. “It’s nice, Ma’am…”

It was terrifying, in all honesty. I lived moment by moment, scared of what was going to happen to me, and I was equally as scared of Candace’s rage as her sister’s fury. 

“That’s good. I was worried that maybe she had hurt you.” I briefly glanced over at her, seeing the smile on her face for just a moment before we both looked away from each other again. “I’m glad you’re doing well.”

What is this? Where’s the anger? Where’s the resentment? Where’s the punishment?

I was so conditioned to expect cruelty from her and her family, and I was trembling with anticipation as I waited for retribution for what had just happened. For making a scene and getting her in trouble with her sister all for refusing to be honest with my new master. 

But even more so, I was certain she was still angry about our last night together. 

“Are you not upset with me?”

She continued looking away from me, her hands clasped together in her lap as she spoke. “Am I supposed to be?”

My eye twitched as I shot my glance over to her, locking with her eyes and holding eye contact unable to keep away. My retinas burned looking at the soft look in her eyes, something which stung more than staring into the sun itself. “Ma’am… I humiliated you in front of your family for a second time, remember?”

“Of course I haven’t forgotten.” Those eyes of hers refused to get angry, not even for a moment. “Is that supposed to matter?”

“Is it not supposed to matter?” I closed my eyes, still feeling her soft calm gaze burning me. “You were angry enough to punish and torture me the first time. What, do I just not matter to you anymore?”

“Of course you still matter to me, Chloe-”

“Then how is this at all the appropriate reaction, Ma’am? How is this-”

“I’m not upset with you, Chloe.” I felt her hand on my shoulder, desperate to feel her gentle touch turn into an angry possessive grasp that never came. “I don’t have the right to be.”

“Why…” I opened my eyes and stared her down with an angry glare, snarling between my murmurs. “Why aren’t you punishing me again?”

“Do you want to be punished again?”

“No, but-”

“Then don’t ask to be.” She tightened her grip on my shoulder, not to intimidate me, but to comfort me. “I think you’re punishing yourself enough.”

I lowered my gaze, staring down at my feet again, gently pressing myself into her, sitting hip to hip. “I’m not the one who’s punishing me…”

“You’re not being punished, Chloe…”

“How is this not punishment, Ma’am?”

“Because being punished would imply that you’ve done something wrong, and you haven’t.” She reached over, taking my chin with her other hand and lifting my gaze up to meet hers. “What happened between you and me is not your fault, it’s mine. You aren’t the one who deserves to be punished, I am.”

I sat there in front of her, quietly gazing into her eyes, wondering what was going through her head. Candace’s hand slid from beneath my chin, finding its place resting against my cheek. “Ma’am, I-”

“Call me by my name, please?”

“…Candace?”

“Yeah. That’s the one… at least for now…” 

“Do you not want me to-”

“It’s not about what I want, it’s about what I deserve.” Just like her eyes, the palm of her hand was like fire on my skin as she held it there, softly and gently. “A really long time ago I told you to address your superiors with titles… so please, just call me Candace… at least until I deserve your respect again~”

“But when will that be?”

“When you and you alone decide that it’s time for it to be.”

“Candace…” 

“You’ve heard of the phrase- Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Haven’t you?” She smiled, gently caressing my cheek with her hand, the hand on my shoulder gently doing the same with my neck. “I’ve fooled you once, don’t let me do it again.”

I blinked nervously, biting my lip as I tried to internalize the words that were coming out of her mouth. “Candace… what are you trying to say?”

“Last time I fooled you into thinking you were the one who needed to apologize… but you never should have been the one to say sorry… that should have been me. I should be the one apologizing to you.” She smiled, retracting her hand from my cheek and reaching into her dress to retrieve one of the necklaces dangling around her neck. “I’m sorry, Chloe. I’m sorry for punishing you for something that wasn’t your fault.”

The necklace… I stared at it as she pulled it out and held it in her hand, finally seeing the apology gift that I had made for her after so long. “You got the birthday present I made for you…”

“About five months late, but yeah… I did.” She smiled, admiring it. “Thank you.”

“I wish I could have gotten it to you on time.”

“That would have been nice, but hey- it’s still the second best birthday gift I’ve ever gotten~”

“Oh yeah, and what was the best?”

“I never told you, huh?” She smirked, letting go of both my shoulder and the necklace as she relaxed. “That night you arrived at my house, you arrived in a box for a reason~”

“Because it was your birthday.” I giggled, rolling my eyes at her. “And I was your birthday gift~”

“Exactly.” She sighed, reaching into one of the pockets of her purse and retrieving something for me. “But speaking of birthday gifts… I have something of yours, and I think you deserve it back~” 

I held my hands out, letting her place the trinket into my hands again after so long. “The bell…”

“It’s yours, a visible reminder of how well you’re doing.” She retracted her hands, slowly standing up from the side of the bed. “So that you can see it around your neck, and know that I’m thinking of you… and that I’m proud of you~”

“I-” I stared at it in my hand, smiling and clutching it to my chest. “I don’t deserve to wear this, Candace.”

“You don’t have to wear it if you don’t want to.” She smiled, standing in front of the door, ready to head out. “That’s the beauty of being away from me… you get to choose whether or not you deserve to wear it~”

“What do you mean?” 

“I’ve said my piece. I’ve said sorry. I’ve apologized…” She sighed, her face red with both shame and happiness. “It’s up to you to decide when and if you want to forgive me… you’re the one in control now.” 

“Candace, I…” I smiled, holding the little bell in my hand, hearing it chime just a little bit. “Thank you… I appreciate it a lot.”

“Don’t mention it~” She winked at me, gently tugging her hair out of her face. “Anything else you need from me before I go?”

“Still no kiss goodbye?”

“I don’t know about you, Chloe. But I know for certain that I still don’t deserve one.”

“Sophia.” I stopped her, holding the bell between my hands in my lap now. “For now, call me Sophia.” 

“A pretty name for a pretty girl. I like it.” She giggled, smiling at me with that pretty face of hers and those gorgeous mismatched eyes. “When can I go back to calling you Chloe, then?”

“When you deserve to~”

“And when’s that going to be?”

“I don’t know, Candace.” I smiled, blushing just about as hard as she was. “That’s up for you to decide~”

“Fair enough, Sophia .”

I sighed, looking down at my lap as she opened the door, my smile quickly fading. “Is this goodbye, then?”

“I don’t know… not if you don’t want it to be.” She opened the door, stepping into the doorway, her back to me. “Do you want it to be?” 

“No. I don’t think so…” I smiled, my gaze still fixed straight down into my lap. “Will you come visit sometimes?”

“I think I can do that, yeah… but in the meantime-” She stepped through the doorway, slowly closing the door behind her. “Be a good girl for your new master~”

I opened my hands, staring down at the bell, happy to have it back. “I think I can do that~”

 

“See you later, Sophia~”

“See you later, Candace…”

 

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And that’s how one of these would usually end, with me and Candace saying something short and sweet to each other. 

But that would feel disingenuous. I don’t belong to Candace anymore, and it just didn’t seem fair to end it on her and I. 

 

“Master?” I bit my bloodied lip as I stepped out of the dumbwaiter and into the bedroom. “Is everything alright?” 

Claudia sighed, sitting on the edge of her bed, glaring at me. “Come here.” She lifted one hand, motioning for me to join her with her fingers. 

“Yes, Ma’am.” I did my best to remain positive and respectful, smiling at her as I approached. “Am I in trouble, Miss?” 

“Yes and no.” She frowned, pointing at the floor in front of her feet. “On your knees.” 

She had her cane at her side, and I took note of that as I got down into a vulnerable position in front of her. “Like this, Ma’am?” 

“Skirt up.” She flicked her fingers at me. “Hands out of my way.” 

“Yes, Master.” I curled my aching fingers into my frilly skirt, holding it up to make sure it didn’t obstruct her. “Whatever you say.” 

“You shouldn’t have lied to me.” She slowly got down onto the floor in front of me, staring at me with a stern look in her eyes. 

“You said it didn’t matter. She doesn’t matter to us, Master.” I pressed my tongue against the holes in my lip, pressing against the bloodied interior of my mouth. “You told me you didn’t want to know, so I didn’t want to tell you.”

“It should have been common sense for you, Chloe. You’ll be punished for this.” She reached down, her fingers brushing past the skirt. “But we’ll get to that later, for now… I just want to have you.”

Click .  

I felt the chastity belt sliding down my thighs once it was unlocked, prompting Claudia to grab it by the lock and tear it off of me, sending it soaring aside and tossing it onto the floor. 

I blushed, swallowing nervously as I smiled up at her. “And you have me, Master.”

“I know I do.” She stood up, climbing back into bed. “Now come on, let’s fuck already.”

“Are you sure, Miss?” My heart was being squeezed inside of my chest. “I thought you were-” 

“Do as I say and strip, Chloe.” 

“Y-yes, Ma’am…” 

 

The gloves, the leggings, and the garterbelt all came off, taking the skirt with it. The nipple clamps stayed on, but I wasn’t the only one to undress. She sat on the edge of the bed, forcing me to watch her take her clothes off, leaving me waiting to see her body. 

“Now now, be patient.” She began to remove her suit jacket, undoing each button on her slim green garment one by one. “It’s not like you’ll ever be starved for savory images of my body darling, you are a form of sex toy after all, enjoy the moment.”

That snide cocky attitude of hers was infuriatingly attractive, begging to be fought. She set her jacket aside, doing the same with her matching pair of trousers before moving to the buttons of her undershirt. 

“Put these away for me, dear.” Claudia had a hungry smirk on her face as she handed off her folded two piece suit and yellow dress shirt, her shoes and socks set aside. She was taunting me now, starving me for just a little bit longer to make me desperate.

My head may have been filled with romantic thoughts about her little sister, but that didn’t exclude me from thinking the same about Claudia. It took Candace months to get to this stage with me, but her sister had gotten here in the span of two weeks. 

She was a cold-blooded fiend, but she was hot and feisty, domineering. She somehow wore yet another layer beneath the two shirts she had taken off, and only once she was stripped of her undershirt and shapewear was she finally down to her lingerie, which she wore beneath her clothes at all times. 

I had never seen anything quite like I was seeing strapped around her waist however. She had been wearing this strange sort of harness beneath her clothes the whole time, it hung onto her by decoratively winding around her legs, coiling around her thighs and her hips and coming to ahead at her crotch. 

“You’re in for a treat, snakefood. Preyboy here isn’t just a walking implement.” She spoke down to me, talking about her cane, which evidently had a name. “She’s a sex toy.” 

Cane in hand, she slowly unscrewed the head of the implement, opening up the hollow compartment inside of the long tube that housed toys inside of her cane. She tipped the cane towards her hand, and out slithered a peculiar looking metal rod, shaped like the neck of a snake and ending at the head.

She screwed the smaller metal rod onto the plate at the front of her waist harness, attaching the head to the rest of the snake. Now that it was complete, it really did make it look like she had a snake coiled around her waist and her thighs, searching for prey. I had never seen one like it, but I knew exactly what it was, a strap-on. 

 

“Cute…” I bit my lip and my tongue, shooting myself in the foot by downplaying the appearance of her fancy metal strap-on straight to her face. Yeah, Sophia is definitely still in there. 

“So you want cute, do you?” She licked her lips, for a moment looking and feeling like a snake as she coiled her fingers around the chain between my clamps. “How about you let me show you cute~” 

The nipple clamps themselves were also like decorative little serpents as they bit down on me, digging their fangs into my areola as the other woman violently yanked on them, slamming my back against the wall beside her bed. 

“Nnngh…” I hissed back at her, staring into those hypnotic eyes of hers as she slowly brought her face to mine. 

“Slave.” She stared into my eyes, licking her fangs. “You know what happens if you fight back, don’t you?” 

“I die, Master.” I swallowed nervously, wanting so desperately to bite her before she bites me. “You’ll swallow me whole.”

“That isn’t quite on my list of methods I use to subjugate my slaves, but you get the idea.” She giggled at me, turning my head to the side just slightly as she ran her coarse tongue over my cheek, coating me in a light film of venomous saliva. “Be a proper slave and obey, try to have fun as you’re put in your place, or fight back and die.”

“I can obey, Ma’am…” I winced, trying not to let it get into my eye, my words like acid on my tongue as I spoke them, degrading myself for the sake of survival. “I’m good at being obedient.”

“Then we’ll have no further troubles tonight, I’m sure of it.” She opened her mouth, sinking her sharp fangs into the skin of my neck to illicit some hellishly aggressive whimpers from my lips, unwilling to put up a proper fight for fear of becoming her next meal rather than her toy. For as long as I could, I would prefer to stay her rape doll rather than a corpse she poison and toss out. “What are you, Chloe?” 

“I’m a slave, Master…” I pinched my eyes shut, whimpering desperately as I fought to keep myself from attacking back. “I know my place.”

“Who do you belong to?” She giggled, gently licking my right earlobe as she whispered. “And who don’t you belong to?”

“I belong to you, Master.” I bit my lip, dining on my own blood as the previous bite wound I had inflicted upon myself reopened. “I belong to Claudia Mariam, and no one else.”

“Enough with being facetious, Chloe. Out with it.” She hissed angrily, yanking on my nipple clamps to punish me for my own words. “Technically correct isn’t good enough here, use common sense. I want to hear her name.” 

“Candace… Candace St. Clair!!” I felt the words slip from my lips just in time for her to bite down on my earlobe with her teeth, dragging the answer screaming from my lungs. “I’m yours and not hers, I swear!!”

She picked me up by the nipple chain and again slammed me into the wall. “Swear to who?”

“To the highest authority I can, Miss!!” I hissed back, feeling the heat bubbling up inside of me once again. “Be it God or otherwise-” 

“Who is the highest authority in your life, slave?” 

“You are, Ma’am!!” I squealed, murmuring barely coherent syllables between phrases as she menaced me with her gaze. “I swear to you.”

“Finally, the correct answer.” She cackled just slightly, kneeing me in the crotch as hard as she could before yanking me from the wall, slamming me face down onto the bed beside us. “Don’t forget that.” 

“I wouldn’t, Miss… I promise-” 

“Stop your incessant squeaking, rodent.” She climbed into bed next to me, putting her hand to the back of my head and slamming my face into the sheets below, cutting me off from any substantial amount of air. “My sister had her chance with you, and from what I’m hearing, you blew it.” 

“ Fuck!! ” I squirmed beneath her, failing to stop just a single expletive from slipping from my mouth as she forcefully pinned me down. “I’m sorry!!” 

“Smaller creatures on the bottom, bigger creatures on top. The weak are beneath the strong, Chloe. Listen well thrall.” She ran her fingers over my ears, pinching down on the spot where one of them had been surgically pointed. She pulled on it, simultaneously demonstrating her superior power and ensuring that I could hear, and was listening to, her voice. “All of my slaves have had their ears pointed, whether in or out of the house- like goblins, gnomes, orcs, and most especially elves.” 

“Yes, Ma’am… I’ve noticed.” I bit back my pride like a much smaller and weaker snake as I spoke, mumbling through the blankets. “Why do you do that to us?”

“Because I want to make it clear to you and anyone that sees you that you are not human.” She squeezed my outer ear as hard as she could before letting go. “My daughter sees these ears, and she has been taught to quite literally believe you to be less than human, and I plan on keeping it that way- so that she isn’t exposed to the idea that these atrocities are being done upon people , but livestock. That’s what you are- livestock.” 

She dropped me, running her hands over my sides as she continued hissing sourly pointed insults into my head. “You are an asset, a possession, property. My property- and I do not want you to be mistaken for belonging to any other, do you hear me?” 

“I hear you, Miss.” I swallowed my dignity whole, doing my best to appeal to her. “I hear you, and I understand.” 

“Look at me, Chloe.” She bit down on my ear with her fingers, pulling on it in an effort to roll me onto my back, gazing up at her rather than lying face down. “She doesn’t have you anymore, I have you.” 

“You have me… and you’re worried.” I blinked nervously, batting my eyelashes as I soaked in her words, staring up at her in confusion as I finally felt where this was coming from. “You’re worried about Candace taking me back…” 

A little bit of Claudia’s glassy scaled facade broke away in that moment, shedding off of her to reveal a more human motivation behind her actions. Fear. Fear of losing something that’s rightfully hers to someone that doesn’t deserve it. I could read her now, just a little bit better, now that I knew how she ticked- how her brain worked. 

She’s privileged . She thinks having me is her right and that having me taken away and given to someone beneath her goes against the natural order in her mind. For all her talk of being more accepting and growing to be a better person. Claudia was still a bigot. 

She thinks she’s owed something she’s not. She’s a snake, someone who slithers in and wrecks things, the natural hierarchy in her mind is something that when shaken, threatens to tear her apart from the inside. 

“If I can’t have you, nobody can.” Survival of the fittest, the most natural order one can adhere to. She was on the top, and I was on the bottom. It was only through her that creatures like me, lowly little monsters and scumbags trying to upset the rightful order, could be permitted to live. Under her rule. “I’ll sooner end you than hand you over, Chloe. That’s how much this little arrangement means to me, girl… Understand that.” 

“You’ve only just met me-”

“That means nothing. Not to me.” She hissed, bringing herself closer to me. “You’re mine… so please, right here and now, be mine.” 

She loomed over me like a predator, leaving no inch of room between us. Her fingers interlocked with mine, equal if not for her palm being atop mine. The metal head of her strap-on rested upon the exposed skin of my navel, her knee pressing into my crotch again, softer this time. 

Venoms mixed, salivas boiling hot against each other, her lips pressing against mine. Not sharp, not coarse. Soft. Human. We kissed, my breath slipping away from me moment by moment, stolen from my body by her, my new owner. Master. Slave. It all clicked together. It all felt right. 

Being here with her right now, despite the journey it took to get here, it felt right. It felt right to be beneath her, it felt natural.

My fingers twitched, the backs of my hands glued to the surface of the bed as hers slipped away. The nipple clamps found a place between her fingers as she tightened her hands around my breasts, squeezing them harder than the miniature serpents could bit, kneading into them as she slipped her tongue through my lips, dancing in my mouth like a snake being charmed. 

“Let me in…” She pulled away, licking her already wet lips to savor the taste of blood coming from my mouth. “Spread your legs.” 

“Please don’t hurt me…” I let my sores bleed, keeping myself physically and emotionally vulnerable, spreading my legs, letting my heart spill out of me as a desperate plea. “I should have told you sooner… I just couldn’t bring myself to do it… I’m sorry…” 

I could feel her grin growing wider, even through closed eyes. She took one hand off of my body, curling her fingers around her cane and bringing the head of the all powerful serpent straight to my lips. 

“Speak into her superior ears, Chloe.” There was a small click and a short hiss, a crackling sound coming from the head of her cane as it activated. “Speak to her, leave a message for Candace.”

I hissed loudly, biting back at the cane, knowing that it wasn’t my master. “I can’t do that-”

“Yes you can. I’m telling you to, and be honest about it this time.” Her hypnotic gaze was only barely shielded by my closed eyes, but her voice was more than controlling, it was pulling me like a string. “If you want to have me inside of you, then speak directly to her from here beneath my grasp, within my fangs- pretend I’m not here.” 

“But you are here, Master. I can’t just-”

“Don’t hide yourself from me, slave. I own every part of you, including your mind. If you want to be forgiven, then cut it with the squeaky little secrets, and speak.” 

“We just spoke, Miss. I don’t know what I’d say to her-” 

“Tell her what you think, Chloe… I heard your stories about her, and that was while she was here, that was straight to her pretty little face. Say what you can’t say to her face, Chloe… tell her what you think.” She again pressed the device to my lips, waiting for me to give in to her will, ready to strike. “You left her , Chloe… not the other way around. You left her for a reason, because of what she did to you, I heard you say it. Have some fun at her expense… Punish her.” 

I felt the metal strap-on pressed against my vulva, ready to push itself into my waiting cunt, slowly but surely getting wet and ready for her. Ready to be taken and ravished. 

“I’ll get my way with you no matter what. You made a mockery of my family by embarrassing her on the world stage- and I will punish you for that, Sophia Cavalier. But don’t let that fool you into thinking you don’t deserve just a little bit of revenge, just a little bit more before you call it even. You may be a slave, but you’re mine.” Her words were egging me on, giving me the idea that just this once it was okay to bite back, not at her- but at her sister. “She’s done so much to hurt you, my slave… and like the crippled little thing getting revenge on her high school bully, your anger comes from somewhere- so let her have it.”

“I’m sorry…” I started and stopped, clenching down on my words as soon as I felt them slipping from my throat- and then I let them go. I let her have it. “I’m sorry, Candace… I love you and I miss you, but…” 

I whimpered excitedly, like a little animal being led by a chunk of meat tied to a string, eagerly following after the feeling of her serpentine steel member pressing against me. “But this is as good as you’ve ever given me… and I didn’t need to be put through two months of hellish abuse and borderline neglect to get here.” 

“Very good my little pretty~” Claudia murred happily at me, massaging one of my tits to encourage my continued submission. “Keep going~” 

“Fuck… I’m sorry… but I can’t just forgive you for it all.” I growled under my breath, face hot with rage just thinking about everything I’d been through to this point, towering over the thoughts and feelings I couldn’t have the courage to confront my former master with. “I don’t know what was real and what was fake, and I still don’t know… all I know is that this is where I am now, and this is who I belong to. Being Sophia never did anything for me, but being Chloe… being Chloe keeps me safe. Being Chloe is what she wants from me… not Sophia… nobody’s ever wanted Sophia, but people want Chloe.”

“I want Chloe~” Claudia licked her lips, pressing the head of her cane to mine, letting the fangs brush against me. “Go on, tell me who you belong to… Tell her who you belong to.” 

“Not you, Candace… not anymore.” I swallowed the last of my sobs, letting her hook my lip with those jaws pressed against me. “I’m sorry… but I belong to her now.” 

“And cut.” There was another small click, and the metal jaws of the beast clenched down on my lip, sucking out a pained squeal from my lips, piercing through them in two spots- leaving snake bites in my lower lip. “Very good~” 

“There. I’ve denounced her. Happy?” I was crying, my tears rolling backwards down my temples and onto the bed beneath me as I let out a volley of soft but pained sobs. The fangs of the snake dislodged themselves inside of my lips, leaving me with a pair of fancy new piercings. Candace had left me one on my nose, but Claudia had given me two. “I can’t stand this, I can’t stand being the centerpiece of infighting between your stupid family squabbles anymore. I’d rather be burned through with venom than die of a broken heart. So if one of you psychopaths is going to kill me, will you please just do it already?!”

“Oh please… don’t underestimate me like that darling, I’m only letting you speak and scream at me like this because I’m enjoying seeing you in pain.” She set the cane beside me on the bed, the crackling hiss still ticking away inside of it like gears. “You know already how much I hate you for what you did, Sophia. But like my other slave, I’m not going to kill you… just like I didn’t kill that high school bully of mine, I’m going to make you my drone~” 

“And what will you do to me when you fail?!” I snapped back, as angrily as I possibly could, utterly failing to let go of the fight in me. “Make up your mind already. Am I the bully or am I the bullied, which is it?” 

“You’re a feisty little nothing that shouldn’t have left the facility, that’s what you are- nothing. You’re my nothing. The only reason you left the facility was because you were already doomed to die.” She hauled me up by the chain connecting my nipples, slamming me back down onto the bed. “Maybe Candace didn’t know this, or maybe she did and she just tricked you into thinking otherwise, because she sure did insist that you were in a better place. You’re only alive because I bought you. You’re not fully trained because they didn’t want to waste their time on a slave set for death row, if I hadn’t bought you- they would have had you killed.”

I whimpered, my rage bleeding into my words. “You’re lying to me!!”

“I’m not.” She whispered back, calmly. “I’m not lying to you. I’m telling you the cruel truth of your existence. Nobody wants you but me.”

“That’s not true…” I shook my head, trying to free myself from the thought. “…Is it?”

“Chloe.” She spoke calmly, tapping me on the forehead to get me to open my eyes for the first time in a while. “You’ve worked awfully hard to get that belt off this last week. Don’t you want to come tonight?”

“Of course I do…” I swallowed, staring angrily into her eyes, sick of being insulted and mistreated. “But don’t change the sub-” 

“The only word I want to hear starting with that prefix is submission, Chloe. You do want to submit to me, don’t you?” She licked her lips, pressing the head of her strap-on directly onto my labia. “Don’t you want me to make you come?” 

“Yes. Anything to get away from this, yes.” I closed my eyes again, rolling them back into my head as I arched my body for her. “Please, Master. Make me come… I just want the pain to go away.” 

“Then come for me.” She whispered seductive hisses into my ears, swallowing my mind in her all encompassing lust. “And when you do, make sure to scream loud enough for even Candace to hear you.” 

“Yes, Master.” I growled angrily, waiting for her to cut to the chase and finally put her money where her sharp little mouth is, and stop rolling her tongue when she should be making me scream. “I’m yours.”

It might not have been a real penis, but it was as good as one as it slithered its way inside of me, pounding into my soft wet little cunt as it pounced, like a snake, striking me where I was weakest. It might not have been real love and affection, but it was just as good as the real thing in the moment. 

She could read me like a book just like her sister could. I’d found my weakness, and so had she- making me the sniveling little bitch of a much stronger woman. If nothing else, Claudia had that over her sister, the strength and desire to hurt me as deeply as she needed to to keep me in line. Claudia wasn’t afraid to break me like her sister had been. She was very proudly focused on erasing who I was and turning me into someone else. 

I turned my palms face down on the bed, curling my fingers into the sheets below as I felt her fake cock slide up my imprisoned little flower at last. 

“You do want to be subjugated, girl.” She hissed through her own moans. “That’s what you are, a husk waiting to be put under the right master, and that master is me. That’s what I want~” 

“Shut up and do it, then!!” I growled angrily, wishing I could spit in her face without coughing on saliva and blood. “Don’t pretend like you’re any better than I am, you just have more power and money and less decency-”

“That’s not how a slave should speak to her master is it, puppet?” She squeezed my tits with both hands, ramming her strap-on up my tight little pussy even harder this time. “Don’t answer that. Fix it. Speak to me like a slave should.” 

“Break me then!!” I shouted into the poisonous air around me, every part of me in pain. “I’m not ashamed to say it anymore, I’m more than happy to call myself yours, Master. You just have to earn it first.” 

“What did I just say?!” 

“Is this not how I should speak, Ma’am?” I opened my eyes, glaring directly into hers. “Do you not want a fight?” 

“I shouldn’t have to fight!!” 

“Your sister fought for my submission!! ” My lips curled into a mischievous smile, eagerly awaiting her anger and fury. “ And she didn’t complain about it- she fought and she WON.”

“Do not go and compare me to her, slave.” 

“And why not?!” I couldn’t take this any longer, I couldn’t just curl up and die, I was too far to just let go now. “I heard the screams!! I know what you did to her, and I’m still not afraid of you. So if you really want to prove yourself better than whatever she is, then fucking fight me.” 

"I ought to-"

“You ought to what?!” I snarled, sick of hearing her voice and not feeling her body. “Don’t telegraph. Don’t say things, just do them, I am begging you. If you want me then take me!! I want this too!! I want you to win, I swear on you, I want to be yours. I just want to be broken, is that too much to ask?!?!” 

Claudia was furious at me, but before she could get another word out of her lips, I cut her off. I hacked up a ball of blood and saliva from my mouth and I spat in her face, giving her the most literal insult that I could possibly give her from this position, and it was more than enough to give her pause. 

“You’re unlike any slave I have ever met, Chloe.” She froze, hovering over me in utter disbelief. “I have never in my life thought I’d meet a slave so brazenly disobedient as to spit directly in my face while still somehow begging to be put under my heel.” 

“Still just talk-”

“Hold your tongue before I cut it out of you, rape doll.” She brought her hand up and then back down, smacking me directly in the face. “Just enjoy the ride… you’ve fucking earned this.” 

 

Slam. I shrieked, feeling her pull out and then forcefully slam into me, pressing all the way up to my cervix. I was going to die once this was all over, but until then I might as well enjoy myself. 

And she didn’t stop with one, or two, or ten. She fucked me and she fucked me hard. No warmup, no foreplay, no words- just bitching a girl inside out over the metal snake wrapped around her hips. 

I snarled, mewling happily at the influx of pain and suffering. My hands released themselves from the blankets below, more than eager to participate. 

This was the power I still held. I didn’t just have to lie down and take it, I could participate. If she was going to finally give me what I wanted, I was going to finally give her what she wanted. 

I grabbed my thighs with my hands, curling my nails into them as I hoisted them towards my torso, spreading my legs unnaturally wide so that I could eagerly take her fake cock. 

You scratch my back, I scratch yours. You give me a world where I can have my submission beaten and bitten out of me on the end of your string and I will give you that submission. Earn my submission and I will bend over for you. Fight me and win and I will be the greatest loser you’ve ever played. 

I want to present myself to you, as vulnerable as can be. I want to bend, and break, and bounce. I want to find myself sobbing as I pulsate around your cock. I want to be your bitch. That’s what I was saying to her. 

I kept my knees pulled as close to my chest as I could, keeping them out of her way, letting my cunt be eaten out by her serpent. 

I whimpered, squealing loudly as she pulled the chain tight, just about ripping my nipples off as she forced me to hold the chain in my mouth, keeping me quiet and happily subdued. 

The metal ribs of the strap-on rubbed against the interior walls of my vagina, letting myself be as thoroughly violated as I could, violently and incessantly. 

I hung onto that little cherry, curling it into my metaphysical hand for as long as I could, not ready to give it up until it was pried out of me. I was going to be forced to come, even if it was the last thing I did. 

But even I could last very long while having my most sacred site brutally pounded by an eagerly depraved empress. 

 

“M-Master…” I whimpered for her, the first thing out of my mouth once I had given in, ready to be her bitch- she earned it. “Let me squeak and scream and beg for you, Master… I swear I’ll be worth it in the end. Bitch me inside out and I’ll lovingly bend over, I swear. I- I- I want it so badly… please… I’m a good girl-” 

“I’ll be the one to say whether you’re a good girl, now come like a bitch and scream.” She snarled angrily, wrapping her fingers around the front of my collar and bucking her hips as hard as she could one last time, raping those well earned screams out of me at last. 

I popped, arching my back and squeezing onto my thighs as hard as I could as I contracted around the metal serpent. I rode it out, fast and hard, coming onto her cock.

There wasn’t a hint of shame in my voice as I screamed, loudly and proudly, just like she wanted me to, finishing happily- like a broken bitch should, sobbing and moaning. 

She was a goddess, stealing it from me like a grave robber, biting into my cunt and raping me into submission. She loved it, we both loved it, she even moaned. But once it was all said and done, once I was raped out of breath and had my cunt popped open on her metal strap-on, all the excitement and happiness and pleasure eventually had to fade away. Leaving me wallowing in just one thing, fear. 

“I’m a good dolly, I swear!!” I buried my crying eyes behind my hands as I sobbed, instantly flooding with regret at every action I had taken in the name of earning myself a pitiful little orgasm. “I’m not trying to be a problem, Ma’am!! I don’t want you to get rid of me like she did, I don’t!!”

I bit down on my newly pierced lips, convulsing into a pathetic puddle of sobs and near pissing terror, covered in my own vaginal fluids. 

“I want to be your obedient little rape puppet, Master, I promise!! I just can’t control myself!!” I curled my fingers into my hair, ready to pull out chunks of my own hair. “I want to bend over for you!! I want to make you happy, Master… I don’t want to die. I’m so scared that you’re going to kill me!! All I want is to be protected and cherished, I swear!!”

“When I say bark, you bark.” She sounded strangely calm, menacingly so. “Now bite your tongue so that I don’t have to hear your pathetic sobs.” 

“Yes, Ma’am…” My heart thumped in my chest, pulling my hands from my eyes as I bit down on my tongue as hard as I was comfortable with. 

“Behave. Quiet your soul, calm your loins, and don’t move a muscle unless I tell you to.” She pulled away from me, slowly beginning to unstrap the device from her waist. “I raped you into submission, the least you can do is obey.” 

“Mhmm!!” I whimpered through closed lips, nodding my head as tears rolled down my cheeks. “Mhmm…” 

She sighed, slowly sitting me up and pulling me into her lap, staring at my body as she did so. “Mine.” She took a moment, smiling as she nodded for me to respond. 

“Yours.” I let the word roll off of my sore tongue. “Yours…” 

“You begged to be made a bitch, so you’ll sleep in the cage tonight.” She placed one hand on my cheek, pulling my lips to hers for a kiss, one that lasted more than a few moments. “Stay faithful to me above anyone else, and I won’t kill you…”

“Yes, Master…” I smiled, the taste of her lips sour on my tongue. “Thank you.”

“Now get out of my sight.” She curled her hand around my collar again. “Do that again and you’ll be raped to death, rather than submission.”

“Y-yes, Ma’am…” My heart sunk, having really hoped she would do it again sometime. “Anything you say… I promise.”

“Now go fuck off.” She snarled back, rolling her eyes as she got out of bed, pulling me onto the floor and dragging me across the room to the dumbwaiter before violently tossing me inside. “Goodnight, slave.”

“Goodnight, Master…”

 

And just like that, I was alone again. Sleeping in a cell inside of a house that I couldn’t call my home, curled into a ball as I sobbed my heart out. 

She fucked herself to an orgasm after she was done with me, I had no doubt about that, but it didn’t make it better at all. 

I didn’t know what to think. Candace. Claudia. I wanted to be with them both.

I was caught between them, two women fighting over me. Both of them wanted me, but neither of them deserved me, neither of them wanted me for who I really am. They just want to have me.

But they can’t have me, not like this. 

 

I couldn’t end this on short little goodnights or goodbyes with Candace, but I couldn’t end it on Claudia either. There was only one way I was ever going to be able to end this chapter of my life.

Alone. 

I was madly and desperately in love with two gorgeous and powerful women at the same time.

And I couldn’t possibly feel more alone.

 

 

Notes:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
This act may be over, but mark my words. You haven't escaped me just yet.
-Claudia Rosegold Mariam

 

 

 

Chapter 31: Cut to the Chase

 

11th October, 36 Days until the banquet.

 

“Here it is.” She swallowed nervously, gently placing the parcel, the cassette tape, onto her desk. “Just like you asked, Ma’am.”

“Good girl.” Claudia grinned, picking it up and admiring. 

Finally. After years of being without it, it was back, right where it belonged. 

“My sister didn’t see this, did she?” 

“No, Ma’am.” The slave hung her head, glad to be able to say that she hadn’t shown it to the girl. “Not a second of it.”

“And let’s keep it that way~” Claudia hummed beneath her breath, handing it back to the girl, watching the lithe little mouse take it into her paws. “In the cupboard with the rest.” 

“Y-yes, M-Ma’am…” Terrified, she choked back her sobs, prying it from Claudia’s claws at taking it where she was directed to, hearing it slot into place perfectly. “There…” 

“Very good.” Claudia still sat behind her desk, smiling tenderly at the girl. “That’s it then, you’re forgiven~”

The smaller woman swallowed nervously, very near vomiting. “You mean that?”

“Enough to keep you off the zed list, yes.” Claudia smiled, her eyes drifting towards the cupboard, towards that tape. “Now run along, Ms. Watts will escort you back out.” 

“And where exactly am I taking her-” The word was like venom on Leah’s tongue. “Ma’am?”

“Where else would you be taking her…” Claudia giggled, rolling her eyes at that. “To the plantation~” 

She slowly stood up, using her cane to help her back to her feet, walking towards the pair of women. Claudia’s place of work was not an office, she dealt in drugs, selling and growing. 

She ran a plantation. 

“And Aria~” She stepped towards the girl, gently lifting her chin upwards, an evil smirk painted onto her face. “Be a good girl and work hard, I’ll see you soon…”

Fairmont bit her lip, completely silent save for a couple of quiet gags, nodding her agreement to the other woman. 

And that satisfied Claudia, at least for now. “Take her away, Ms. Watts.” She grinned, turning away from the little mouse, stepping back into her office. 

Crack. Claudia’s mother was clearly not the only one who was prone to smacking her in the face, there were very few people in the world who were untouchable to Claudia, and Leah was not one of them, but she didn’t care. 

 

“Hurt another hair on your sister’s head, and you’re through.” Leah stared her down, a fistful of keys in hand, ready to thump the other woman in the face a second time. “You got that?”

She stumbled, but she didn’t fall, glaring her father’s assistant in the eyes, wanting to gut her right there on the spot but knowing she probably ought not to. “Whatever you say, Alecia.” 

Leah scoffed, grabbing Aria by the trembling hand and quickly escorting her away, while Claudia’s evil gaze slowly drifted back towards that cupboard of hers, eyeing her collection. 

Aria might not have known it, or maybe she did, but she might have just saved Candace’s skin with that one. She would have hated to recreate her favorite film by recasting her little sister in the lead role, but she almost had to. 

Almost.

 

Her hand trailed upwards to her small collection of VHS tapes, tracing over them with her finger as she searched for the one that had been missing for so long. 

9293. 8928. 8332. 7790. 7161. 6113. 5261. 4019. 4600. 4188. 3540. 3032. 2841. 1726. 1648. 0972. 0454. 0006… 

And now… 0001. 

Charlotte Zed… Oh how I’ve missed you~ 

She plucked it off of the shelf and held it to her chest, happy to have it back, cradling it like it was alive, like a person. It was like she was finally back with her. 

Eighteen out of nineteen tapes just sat there, all in a line, while this one- this very special one- sat in Claudia’s grasp after so long. 

She blushed, staring at the VCR she kept in her office for the exact purpose of watching these tapes, before quietly deciding against it. 

The shelf, which fit exactly twenty of them, was full of Z-tapes, except for just one slot. She stared at the empty spot where 0001Z slotted in, all the way to the left. 

The rest of them were there. Jaymie, Kiera, Brenda, Kelly, Anna, and now Martha’s tape, they were all there. Even Bella’s tape was there, 0006Z, right there next to Charlotte’s as she slotted the other tape back in. 

She always kept an empty slot clear to the left, just for this tape, but now that it was full she didn’t need to do that anymore. But maybe she still would…

She stared at the other empty slot, clear on the other end of the shelf. She had kept it open just in case she needed to make a tape there, and there was a chance she still would, however unlikely. 

The tapes all slid one slot to the right, leaving the shelf empty towards the other end, directly to the left of her most prized possession. There weren’t a lot of numbers less than 0001, but there was one… and she might just be able to make one to fit in that slot. 

 

And now for Chloe…

 

Claudia was in an eerily cheerful mood when she came to get the girl, but Chloe wasn’t about to complain. 

“Master-” She clenched her curled up hands to her chest, biting her lip nervously as she stared up in awe at the other woman. “I’m sorry about last night, I really am.” 

“You have until the party.” Claudia cut to the chase, having no time for the girl’s silly little worries. “If you’re not one of my drones before the end of said party-”

“You’ll kill me.” Chloe nodded, her mouth curled into a slight smile. “Thank you for this…” 

Strange- Claudia thought of the slave’s weirdly positive reaction- But welcome~ 

On the other side of that smile however, was Chloe, and Chloe wasn’t even remotely okay, not after that last night. 

She shook on her knees before the woman, lowering her lips to her master’s foot, and gently kissing her boot to demonstrate her loyalty and appreciation towards Claudia. 

“What do I need to do, Master?” Chloe smiled, trying to pretend like she was happy to be doing this, when she really wasn’t. She wanted to be a mindless drone just as much as the next drone, except she didn’t. She didn’t want to lose who she was, or more accurately, there was a little part of her that didn’t want to go away. “I’ll do anything for you, I swear…” 

“You have a little gamer brain in there don’t you, an eye for tiny details.” She smiled, tapping Chloe’s noggin with her cane, watching her slave wince. “You can navigate~” 

“As long as I’ve been there before yes, I can navigate.” Chloe took a deep breath, choking back her nerves. “Where are we going, Ma’am?” 

“In due time, slave. But first-” Claudia smirked, retrieving a set of clothes from her bag, Chloe’s clothes, passed onto her new owner from the facility once she was purchased. “Put those on.”

 

✶          ✦   ✧   ✦   ✧   ✦   ✧   ✦   ✧   ✦   ✧   ✦   ✧          ✶          ✧   ✦   ✧   ✦   ✧   ✦   ✧   ✦   ✧   ✦   ✧   ✦          ✶

 

“You have got to be kidding me…” The highly annoyed blonde scoffed, growling under her breath at her older sister. “What do you want, Claudia?” 

“My slave and I just figured we ought to pay you a visit, that’s all~” Claudia swung her cane around, gesturing towards the overtly distraught Chloe beside her. “To apologize for all that happened last night.”

“I’m sorry, I have a girl over.” Candace smirked, quickly beginning to shut the door. “Maybe some other time-”

Thud. Claudia stopped the door with her cane, peeking inside and smiling at her sister. “Can I come in and meet her?”

Candace paused, exchanging a quick glance with the nervous blushing Chloe. “That was a lie…” She sighed, opening the door as wide as she could for the pair of women. “Come on in…” 

Claudia nodded, stepping in first, followed by her slave, heading into Candace’s mansion. “Well I must say… this wasn’t quite what I was expecting from your home dear~”

“Sorry about that I guess, you didn’t really catch me at the best of times.” Candace, closing the door behind them, quickly shuffled towards the guest bedroom, making sure to lock the door before anyone could peek inside. “The slave stays on a leash, I don’t want her wandering.”

 

What the hell… Chloe stepped inside, jaws dropping at the sight of the place, her former home. What happened here… 

Candace’s home, which Chloe had gotten so used to seeing in perfect working order, spotlessly clean and immaculately organized, was in absolute ruins. It was a wreck, like it had been blown to smithereens, but somehow worse. The place was a complete and total disaster, and it made Chloe sick to her stomach, not just to see her former master’s home in such a shape, but to see Candace like this. 

“You’ll have to excuse the mess, Sophia.” Candace snapped at the girl, her voice irritated and sharp. She was rubbing her eyes, and it was clearly not because she had just woken up, because Candace had been crying. “I haven’t gotten around to finding a replacement housekeeper just yet.” 

And Chloe snarled, grinding her teeth together. Good - She thought, gloating internally as she saw just how much of a disaster St. Clair truly was on the inside, the other woman wasn’t anything without her- You deserve to be crying about it… 

“Apologies for not calling ahead, I suppose~” Claudia followed behind her sister, careful not to step on loose clothes littered all over the floor. “I just wanted to surprise you.”

“Well you’ve surprised me alright.” Candace scoffed, stuffing her hands inside of her hoodie pocket- and Candace doesn’t usually wear hoodies, mind you- so that was when Chloe realized: 

That’s not Candace’s hoodie. 

In fact, a large portion of the clothes littered about the floor weren’t Candace’s. Candace, or more specifically, Candace’s slave- whoever that might be at any given time- took immaculate care of Candace’s fancy and expensive clothes. 

No, these were not Candace’s clothes. These were Chloe’s clothes. Sophia’s clothes. 

“Where did you get all of these clothes?” Chloe scoffed, picking up a large armful of the garments and gathering them into her clutch, gently sniffing them- these came from her old studio apartment alright. “Are these mine?” 

If glares could fucking kill, Candace would have murdered Chloe ten times over right then and there, angrily staring at the insolent slave. “Sister. Slave. Leash. Please.” 

“I have a better idea, actually-” Claudia grinned, tapping her cane on the floor to get her slave’s attention, before lifting another garment from the ground with her cane. “Clean.” 

Candace, unsurprisingly, did not like this suggestion. “I told you I don’t want her wandering.”

“Oh relax, dear.” Claudia swung her cane towards Candace. “She’ll be fine, she’s done this before, right?”

“Fine…” Softer, more sullen gazes from the littler sister to the bigger sister wouldn’t quite kill Claudia like Candace would have killed Chloe, but Candace agreed. “But only because it needs cleaned.” 

“I’ll start with the laundry then, Ma’am~” Chloe smiled, bowing for her new master, while scanning for her old master’s reaction- which was just kind of sad, Candace didn’t have any new negative emotions to show her that she hadn’t already, but that wasn’t going to stop Chloe from digging for them. “The hoodie.” 

“What about it?” Candace’s hands remained firmly buried in that pocket, not willing to let go of it.

“I’m doing laundry.” Chloe smirked, eyeing her up and down. “And you look filthy.”

That one hit Candace, made her look like she was just about to cry. “Whatever…” Pockets still full of hands and keys, Candace rolled it over her head, throwing it at the other girl. “Here.” 

She, the dazzling public eye starlet St. Clair, was not wearing a bra under that, and her daddy’s dollar bought double D cups did not like being out in the open air, skin as pale as a canvas. 

Or so that’s how it would go, but Candace’s body looked scary shades of purple beneath that, no wonder she wasn’t wearing a bra. Bruised and battered yeah, those tits had absolutely gotten it, and not in the fun way. 

“Your bruises paint you over quite nicely, hon.” Was not the reaction Chloe wanted to hear from her master, staring now at her little sister’s tits, and not at her own slave. Off putting, but leagues away from surprising, knowing her. 

It made Chloe’s skin crawl- again, not in the good way- to hear it, and not only because it was gross. These people were gross, but honestly… it kind of made her jealous, and she wasn’t sure if she was jealous that her master wasn’t looking at her, or if it was that she wanted to be the one to play with Candace’s breasts.

Candace’s jaw just hung open with shock as she carefully covered her boobs with her arms. “I hate it here.”

“Chloe, dear…” Claudia smiled, turning to wave the slave off. “Make yourself useful, I think I’d like to be alone with my sister for a little while~”

 

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Claudia made sure to lock Candace’s bedroom door shut behind them, intent on making sure Chloe doesn’t overhear them. “So-”

“Why did you bring her here?” Candace took a seat, intimately ashamed. “You know and you still brought her with you, why?” 

“I brought her here with me because of you, dearest.” Claudia grinned, sitting down across from her. “Did you think about the offer I made you?”

She snarled, swallowing her anger. “You mean that’s somehow still on the table?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact-” Claudia smirked, still gawking at her sister’s bruised body. “It is~” 

“You did it once already, and I’m letting it slide, but no.” She shivered, collecting herself in her seat, shaking nervously in her sister’s presence. “I can’t just-” 

“Think about it, Candace…” Claudia frowned, disappointed in her sister’s reluctance. “Don’t you think you deserve it?” 

“Look, I don’t know what she’s told you, but-”

“Would you like to?” Claudia grinned, more than willing to show Candace what Chloe had been saying. “I have a message from her, just for you~”

“I…” Candace froze, staring at the head of Claudia’s cane. “From when?”

“Last night.” She smiled, luring the girl straight into her trap. “After you left.”

Candace hesitated, but ultimately agreed-

 

I’m sorry, Candace… I love you and I miss you, but…

Fuck… I’m sorry… but I can’t just forgive you for it all.

I don’t know what was real and what was fake, and I still don’t know… all I know is that this is where I am now, and this is who I belong to. Being Sophia never did anything for me, but being Chloe… being Chloe keeps me safe. Being Chloe is what she wants from me… not Sophia… nobody’s ever wanted Sophia, but people want Chloe.

I want Chloe~

Go on, tell me who you belong to… Tell her who you belong to.

Not you, Candace… not anymore.

I’m sorry… but I belong to her now.

 

And it left her speechless to hear it all.

“What do I need to do?” Broken down to the bone, Candace gave up, agreeing to the terms her sister had laid out for her the previous night. “What do you want from me?” 

“Weekends.” Claudia set the cane back down, having finished playing the recording out loud. “Every weekend, without exception~”

“I have the world championship.” Candace scoffed, squirming with disgust in her seat. “The weekend before your party.”

“Every weekend but that one then~”

“And you won’t tell father?”

“Not until after it’s official, no… But I’ll expect you to have made your verdict by the end of the party.” Claudia smiled, leaning forwards eagerly. “So… do we have a deal?” 

“If it means that I get to see her-” The little sister choked, missing the feel of Chloe’s hoodie on her skin. “Then yes.” 

 

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Chloe clung tight to that tiny little bell clipped onto the front of her collar as she stood in the kitchen alone, working on lunch for the pair of women as she listened to the disgusting sounds of whatever they were doing in there. 

She couldn’t ration why she wanted it to stop, but she did, and it made her feel tenfold more powerless than she had ever felt in this house before. 

Trapped in the kitchen where she belonged, a proper slave.

And she finally decided that right now, while those two were busy having sex in there, was finally her chance to put to use all of that plotting she had done in her months at Candace’s side.

 

Click. The secret door to Candace’s basement opened up, and Chloe went down. 

Claudia, mercifully, had let Chloe dress like a proper human, in her own clothes no less, and that meant giving the opportunity to bring that backpack of hers along for the ride. 

But she didn’t wear it just to look cute, fresh out of the dryer she had stuffed warm clean clothes, her own clothes, into her bag- and slotted conveniently among them, now that Candace had no need for it, fit the very same laptop that Malcolm used to use to access the security cameras within Candace’s house. 

And just like the evidence had been pointing to- it was Chloe’s own laptop, provided by her former master to Malcolm for the express use of keeping the girl in check, stolen from Chloe’s apartment along with apparently the entirety of her wardrobe. She didn’t know how or why Candace had it, but she was glad that she did. 

Quick and easy, back up the stairs she went, closing the door behind her, and leaving no sign that she had been down there.

Now for those keys of hers~ 

 

Ah yes, my best friend-

Chloe gently tossed the keyring up into the air, catching it in her hand moments later. 

Candace’s rage quit response~ 

Chloe wasn’t just a good slave, she was an evil genius. In her anger, Candace had tossed the hoodie straight towards Chloe’s face, likely without realizing that her keys were still in the pocket, because all Candace cared about in that moment was smacking Chloe in the face with it- but Chloe knew they were in there, she saw the other woman stuff them in her pocket post locking the guest bedroom door. 

And now she had a way out~ 

 

It really did serve her master right though, Claudia was somehow so focused on her sister and not on her new slave that she didn’t even realize where Chloe was right now, on her way out. 

For months and months and months, Chloe had been focused on coming up with a way to escape this house, and she had one. She was just stuck on one last detail- how to get out of the house without being electrocuted.

And fortunately for her, that was no longer a problem. Her collar was no longer connected to Candace’s security system, which meant that she could slip through the door mostly undetected. 

After all, Candace hadn’t exactly locked the door back out of the house, just the guest bedroom. She had measures in place to keep slaves trapped inside, but she very much did not want to trap her sister in here with her.

She gently stepped outside, quietly closing the main entrance behind her, careful not to make any noise. Both Candace and Claudia took their time during sex, but she knew very well that she didn’t have much longer until they were finished. 

 

But that little yellow car of Candace’s that she had stolen from Chloe hummed like a bird when she turned it on. 

She tossed the backpack into the passenger’s seat next to her, digging the laptop back out so that hopefully she might be able to disarm the gates and open the garage door, and just like that, it was going perfectly-

Too perfectly. 

 

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“Ummmm…” Candace blinked as she stared at her phone, making sure that she was seeing what she was seeing correctly. “H-hey sis… I think I need a moment…” 

Right… I’m only doing this for her… I probably ought to save her from herself, huh? 

“I’ll just be out, umm-” She swallowed, waving her phone at Claudia for just a moment, not long enough for her to see what was on the screen. “Feeding the cats.” 

“Well alright then…” Claudia sighed, gazing longingly at the other woman. “I’ll be in the restroom, make sure Chloe knows to have lunch finished by the time we’re done here~” 

“Will do…” Candace sighed, climbing out of bed and heading out into the hallway, taking a quick detour to the kitchen to make sure Chloe didn’t completely burn the lunch than she had left on the stove. “You moron…” 

Chloe really was too smart for her own good, she had thought of quite literally everything in that little head of hers, which meant the only thing that could stop her in her tracks was something which she hadn’t considered, some obstacle that to her, would seem like it came completely out of nowhere. 

The notification kept beeping on her phone, and she kept pretending like it was a timer to remind her to feed the cats, but it wasn’t- it was her two-factor authentication on that laptop, asking her if it was really her trying to login, and this time- it wasn’t.

 

“Get out of the car, Sophia.” Candace very patiently opened the door, holding it open for the girl as she climbed out, slowly closing the laptop and sliding it back into her bag. “You’re an idiot.”

“I know.” Chloe hung her head in shame, voluntarily letting her former master take her backpack from her. “I’m sorry.” 

Candace’s mouth remained curled into a frown, snatching the keys straight away from the slave’s grasp. “If my sister caught you out here trying this, you would be dead.”

That, while technically true, was something that Chloe couldn’t help but scoff at. “Your sister wouldn’t catch me out here trying this, Candace.” 

“That’s because my sister is not as smart as I am…” Candace slammed shut and locked the car door, careful not to make noise. “Heinous and manipulative, yes… but not abundantly intelligent.” She frowned, taking her former rival by the arm and slowly dragging her back into the house. “So if she asks, you were out feeding my cats, got it?” 

“Got it…” Chloe nodded, sucking it up and accepting that her escape attempt had failed. “Thank you…” 

“I won’t save your ass like this again, Sophia. So don’t expect me to be there to bail your skin out from your next beating-”

That, quite deliberately, was a bluff on Candace’s behalf, but the dejected escapee didn’t need to know that actually- in reality- Candace would do anything to protect Chloe. 

Even if it meant actively letting herself fall into her sister’s trap.

 

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“The two of us will be off then~” Claudia said her stomach wrenching goodbyes, which included kissing her little sister on the lips, and just as quick as they had arrived, it was time to go- just not before Chloe got her chance to say goodbye too. 

Claudia finally had Chloe on a proper leash, ready to take her home, and Chloe was prepared to stay that way for a little while, at least as a way to dissolve Candace of any potential liability for any further escape attempt. 

She did appreciate Candace for her help, though.

“I’ve done your laundry, fed the cats, washed the dishes, straightened up the parlor, the dining room, the kitchen, and your bathroom… you’re welcome.” That just didn’t mean she wanted to be any nicer to her than she had already been. “Take better care of yourself, St. Clair.” 

She had gotten her backpack confiscated, but that was the least of her worries, she was after all just thankful that Candace didn’t rat her out. 

 

She smiled, waving goodbye. “See you next weekend~” 

Immensely thankful, at the end of the day- and it made her smile to hear that she would be seeing the other woman again very soon.

Though, it wasn’t quite the smile Candace got from seeing that bell around her neck again. 

“Until then-” Candace rolled her eyes, once again seeing her rival off. “Get out of my house, Sophia~”

 

 

 

Chapter 32: Home Wreck

16th October, 31 Days until the banquet.

 

“Happy Anniversary, dear.”

“Happy Anniversary…” 

 

Claudia and her beloved wife sat alone in their bedroom together, for once out of earshot from both of Josephine’s concubines, their daughter and her nanny, and Claudia’s shiny new prop- still fresh from the sale floor. 

And the air had never been quite so tense between them. 

Claudia fumbled for something to say, her cane still in hand. “So what have you done today… while I was at work?”

“I slept a while, talked with Autumn for a bit, more of the same…” Josephine sat on the edge of the bed, facing away from her wife, head storming with guilt. “How was work?”

“Awful as always. A few new slaves to deal with-” Claudia did the same, facing away from her wife of five years now. “How’d you like your gifts?”

“The corset was nice, and the heels fit perfectly~” Josephine smiled for a moment, nervously tapping her own hands on the mattress. “But I haven’t tried the crop yet…”

“Did you want to?” Claudia turned, glancing over at her with a smile on her face, holding the riding crop in her lap. “I’d love to see you all pretty and red~”

“Not really… but maybe some other time?” Josephine sighed, refusing to return her wife’s gaze. “I’m sorry for not getting you anything-”

“It’s alright, dear. I’m just surprised.” Eyes like dagger and brows furling in annoyance, Claudia snarled under her breath. “You usually always have something for me~”

“I wasn’t sure what to get you this year-”

“Because I already got myself a new slave, you mean?” Her grip tightened onto the handle of her cane. “You can get me other things, Josie.”

“I know, I just-”

“You just weren’t sure what you wanted, right?”

“Claudia…”

“I just figured this year would be different, Josephine.” Claudia sighed, tapping the tip of her cane on the floor below. “After four years of the same-”

Her voice raised with worry, Josie protested. “The same what?”

“You’ve done the same thing every year since we’ve been married, Josephine.” Claudia bit her lip- she did her best not to bring it up, she hated bringing it up. “I thought you would have learned after we got Zenna, but you did it again with Bella- a new slave every year.” 

“You say that like it’s a bad thing!!” She swiveled, now facing her wife on the bed. “They’re all amazing slaves, and I did learn from Bella, I swear.” 

“What kind of anniversary gift is a slave, Josie?” Claudia groaned, regretting even trying to talk about this with her. “Especially when you only buy them for yourself?”

“They weren’t for me!!” She frowned, now sitting criss cross on top of their bed. “They were for you-”

“I thought you wanted to be a housewife, isn’t that what you said?”

“Well yeah, but…”

“You get five days alone at home with our four slaves and our daughter while I work so that you don’t have to- I took charge of your family’s business because you didn’t want to… and what do you do instead?” 

Thump. Claudia smacked the tip of her cane on the floor beside their bed, just a little bit of sorrow welling up in her heart as she watched Josie recoil from it. 

“You lounge around all day, leaving our daughter with Zenna while you either have sex with Darcey and Autumn, or masturbate- and now you’ve started having sex with Chloe too?”

“What’s wrong with that?” Josephine fought, like she always seemed to do with her wife when they had a moment alone together. “What’s wrong with any of that?”

“What kind of housewife sits around and does nothing all day, Josie?” Claudia’s voice trembled with ire. “You don’t like cleaning the house, so you buy a slave to do it for you. You don’t like cooking for the extra mouths, so you buy a slave to do it for you. You don’t like watching our toddler as she gets older, so you buy a slave to do it for you.” 

“But that’s what slaves are for.” Josie fumed quietly, trying to defend herself. “Besides, I didn’t need Bella, I bought her for you-”

“And look how well that turned out, Josie- Bella is dead.”

“She was on the Zed list!! Bella would have been killed either way-” Josephine pouted, stewing in place. “You killed Charlotte Zed, didn’t you?”

“That was an accident and you know it!!” 

Thump. She slammed her cane down onto the floor again, hauling herself up to her feet. 

“Do you really think I enjoyed being the one to put Bella down?!” Claudia was now shouting, berating her wife, something distinctly different than the type of scolding she gave her slaves, tears burning in her eyes as she spoke. “Do you think I liked killing a girl who looked so much like… like-”

“Like your mother… Like Lilith you mean?” Josie lowered her head, distinctly shameful but blisteringly honest. “Yeah…” She frowned, her eyes pointed upwards as her head hung low. “Yeah, I think you did…” 

“Josephine…” Claudia felt that one. “Why would you even say that?” 

“Because why else, Claudia-” Josephine nervously stood up from bed, again facing away from her wife. “Why else would you buy Chloe… why else would you buy a girl who looks so much like me?” 

“Is that… what this is about?” Her grip around the serpentine headpiece of her cane turned shackle tight with anger. “You think I’m replacing you?”

“I didn’t say that-”

“But you definitely thought it.”

“I… I know I surprised you with the others, but this is different… you could have at least talked to me about it-” 

“I tried talking to you about it, Josie. Don’t you remember? You were high out of your mind and you couldn’t even remember what day it was- when were we going to talk about it? After she was already dead?”

“I don’t know, Claudia… but this just feels like a slap in the face-”

“What, like having my high school bully hunted down and put through the facility under my name, without my knowledge or permission?”

“You love Zenna-”

“I love my drone .” Claudia fumed, tossing the riding crop down on top of the now empty mattress. “I will never be able to forgive Zenna for what she did to me, but that Zenna is gone- our Zenna, my Zenna, isn’t the same girl… she’s a drone. That’s why I forgave her, because I made her my drone.”

“They’re not all drones, Claudia-”

“Yes they are, Josie… and Chloe will soon be one too. That’s the only way our family can forgive her for what she did~”

“But what did she do?” Josie protested. “If it’s so important, why won’t you tell me who she is?”

“Because you don’t need to know, Josephine…” Claudia sighed, trying her best to keep the girl’s identity tucked close to her chest. “Stay away from her, and stay away from Candace-”

“What, so I’m not supposed to ask… like I’m not supposed to ask about Charlotte Zed?” Claudia’s wife took just a few steps towards her, back still turned to Josephine. “You have the tape back now, and you’re really not going to let me watch it?”

“No.” Claudia groaned, on the back foot now, stepping away from Josie as she approached, the knuckles of one hand pressed to her lips. “That one’s special to me… She was special to me…”

“Special how?”

“She was my Zenna…”

“Your Zenna… Zenna was your Zenna?”

“No. Not like… not like that- she was like… My Leah.”

“But you had both Zenna and Leah, you three were best friends- I remember the stories-”

Claudia fumed angrily. “She was to me what Leah is to Candace, alright?”

“I don’t know what that means, Claudia…” Josephine swallowed nervously, gently picking the riding crop her wife had gifted her up off of the bed beside her, clutching it to her own chest. “What does Candace have to do with any of this?”

“Candace has everything to do with this, okay?” Tears rolled down Claudia’s cheeks, slowly wetting her skin with shame. “It was an accident…” 

“Just like us, you mean… An accident?” Josephine’s hands trembled as she stared down at the crop doing her best not to cry. “An accident… like Lilian.”

Furious with her wife’s insolence, Claudia snapped around to face her. “That’s not what this is, Josephine-”

“What is it that you want me to do with myself, honey… when the only reason we’re still together- the only reason we got married in the first place- is because of her…” She sobbed, letting the first of her tears run down her cheeks. “I’m sorry about the slaves, Claudia… I know I’m bad at this, I just… wanted to find someone who can be what you want- a better housewife than me…”

“You could have stepped up at any point, but instead you’ve buried us further and further and further into this, and you left me to pick up the pieces- you left me to train, house, and discipline the slaves. I had to give them a bedroom, I had to hire an enforcer, I had to be the one to explain to our daughter why these people are what they are… I had to be the one to explain to Lilian why she wasn’t going to get to play with Bella anymore…” Claudia shut her tears down, rubbing them out of her eyes as she firmly grasped a hold of the riding crop, tearing it from her wife’s hands. “I can’t do this for another five years, Josie.”

Josie couldn’t do anything but sniffle and sob. “I’m sorry-”

“I don’t do sorry, Josephine. My sister might, but I don’t- I never forgive.” Claudia just stared her down, eyes filled with venom. “I don’t care who it is, but I don’t forgive, not even you- not my sister, not my mother, not my father, not my brother, not Zenna, not Bella, not Ale-” Claudia stopped, her eyes briefly going wide at her own mention of that name. “And most importantly… not myself.” 

“So what then-” Josephine sobbed desperately. “What am I supposed to do…” 

“I don’t know, honey.” Claudia turned her back to the other woman, refusing to let her tears now show to the only woman she ever thought she could forgive. “I want this more than anything else in the world. I want this to work, Josephine. But if it doesn’t… I have other candidates waiting to play your role…” 

“But… what about Lilian?”

“Lilian’s not even six yet, Josephine… and with how little time you spend with her… she wouldn’t even know the difference.”

“I love you, Claudia…”

“And I love you, Josephine…” Claudia choked back her anger, pointing at the door behind her with the riding crop. “Now please… sleep in the guest room again…”

“Y-yes, dear.” Claudia’s wife nervously stumbled to her feet, used to this routine by now, if anything- she’d spent more nights in the guest room than in bed with her own wife as of recent, and for good reason… this simply wasn’t working. For as strong and in control as Claudia liked to seem, the truth of the matter still shone through. “Happy Anniversary, Claudia…”

Their marriage was in shambles. “Happy Anniversary, my love…” 

 

Slam. The door shut tight behind her as Josephine made her way out, leaving Claudia alone in her own bedroom for the umpteenth night in a row. Not once this week had Josephine slept in her own bed with her wife- not even tonight.

Not even on their anniversary. 

She listened to the dial tone on her mobile as she picked up her phone, making an impromptu phone call. Sure, it was Friday night, maybe she was jumping the gun just a bit- but tonight had simply been the most atrocious for her in recent memory. 

“Come over early- tonight- and I’ll make it worth your time.” 

There was a long silence from the other end, as Claudia didn’t even lead with hello, and then- “When do you want me over?”

“Right now.” And- Click, that was it. 

 

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“I know I should ask what’s up, but-” Candace quietly closed the door behind her, a lot softer than her sister-in-law had. “Do we have to do this in your bedroom?”

“Josephine is in the guest room, so yes.”

“The guest room?” Candace scoffed at the thought. “Why’s she in the guest room?”

Claudia just glared at her. “I’m not paying you to ask questions, hon.”

“You’re not paying me at all-”

“Not with money, maybe.” Claudia sighed, still sitting in bed as her younger sister arrived. “But unless you want to stay top dog’s tail for the rest of your life, you’ll need my help convincing Daddy that your Esports career is anything worth investing in~”

“Right… fine…”

Ah yes, Candace’s Esports career- which her father had so unceremoniously shut down on her. 

That was the surface level agreement that the two of them had come up with- Candace was to play house- like her mother- and be her sister’s servant at the party.

As some sick way to show to her mother that she could patch her relationship with Candace on her own terms. 

And in preparation for that, Candace would go through four weekends of extensive training- and in return, Claudia would convince her father, their father, to continue allowing Candace to play her favorite Esport as a living, even after everything that had happened between her and her rival- who was now one of Claudia’s possessions.

As well as promising to keep the girl safe, not just from Candace, but from their father. 

And that’s the part that sold her on the deal, the idea that Chloe would finally be safe. She didn’t care whether she would ever play the game again- well, she did care, but not as much as she cared about protecting the girl that she loved. 

That was the deal, Candace would play some stupid part in her sister’s party, Leah would headhunt the target her boss had given them, Claudia would convince her father to let her sister go back to playing Esports, Candace would never actually have to work as a debt collector, and Chloe would finally be safe.

Sophia Cavalier would finally be safe.

 

Unless, of course… Candace decided to keep playing house~

 

And Claudia was going to use those four week to convince her that playing house was the right thing to do. 

“Imagine it, Candace~” Claudia sat behind her sister on the bed, rubbing her shoulders as she hummed sweet lies into the girl’s ears. “You could be with her again, if you stayed here with us~”

“No.” Candace shook her head, vehemently rejecting the idea of it all. “She doesn’t want to be with me again, you know that.” 

 

"And since when did what she wants matter?" Claudia stopped, relaxing into her bed next to her sister now. "She didn't want to be with you the first time, but that didn't stop you~"

"You don't even know the story, sis."

"Is there more to it than what you've already told me?"

"Of course there is."

"Then by all means, tell me~"

"We were friends before we were ever rivals. I had a thing for Sophia long before she actually won the title." Candace sighed, idly staring at her phone while talking, as Claudia fiddled with her cane beside her. “But after it happened, father just… lost it.”

And so Candace explained the story to her. 

 

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“So letting her go really wasn’t your idea.” Claudia sat on the side of her bed, staring off at the dumbwaiter at the end of the room. “You never wanted that.” 

“Claudia… can we please not talk about it like that- she’s yours, you already have her?”

“And at no small cost to me either. You got her for free, she cost me five hundred thousand dollars.”

“That much, huh…” Candace wasn’t surprised by the number, but it did say something that Claudia was willing to put up that much money for a slave who she didn’t even know. “Why did you buy her?”

Claudia paused to think about that. “She looks like Josephine.”

“So if she didn’t look like Josephine-”

“I wouldn’t dwell on that.”

“And you and Josephine are having… issues?”

“To say the least, yes.” 

“What’s happening there?”

“Nothing I really want to talk about right now…” Claudia sighed, stretching as she stood up from bed. “You know I always knew that mouse friend of yours was no good.”

“I should have known she was just jealous-”

“Well then I hope she is having fun working her little ass off as a slave at my plantation~”

“Your plantation ?”

“You know what would be fun?” Claudia leapt to her feet, twirling her cane in hand. “Before we get into this, we should pay our dear brother a visit, don’t you think?”

“And ignore my question?”

“One hundred and ten percent~” 

“You can’t hide things from me forever you know~”

“I can-” Claudia giggled. “And I will.”

 

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“Oh please don’t tell me this is some weird sex thing you two are trying out-” An exhausted Cyrus Griffin answered his receptionist’s call to the front desk, to answer his sisters, both of them. “Because if it is, I’m busy.”

“Busy until when?” Claudia leaned over the counter, running the tip of her index finger along her little brother’s jawline.

“She would bite your finger off if she saw you doing this, you know that right?”

“Who, little Lizzie~?”

“ Little Lizzie tackled Candace to the ground first time they met~”

“Your slave is leaps and bounds weaker than I am and you know that, Cyrus.” Candace interjected. “You let her maul me like a wild animal, I bet even Chloe could pin that rat of yours down.”

Cyrus sighed, rolling his eyes at that. “Yeah… Liz is still a little bit salty about that one.”

“Salty about what?”

“Right, you wouldn’t have heard of that.” Cyrus smirked, leaning back in his chair. “Chloe topped Liz~”

“Oh… did she now?” Candace forced a smile from her nervous lips, taken fairly aback by that knowledge. “When… did that happen?”

“Don’t worry about it-” Cyrus frowned, absorbing the discomfort on his little sister’s face. “So… I take it you’ve found her then?”

“You knew about it all along, didn’t you?” Candace swallowed a mouthful of anger, trying not to spit it in her brother’s face. “You sold Chloe to our older sister and-”

“Your older sister is standing about two feet away, Candace.” 

 

Claudia stepped towards them both, her hand curled tight around the head of her cane, tapping it against the ground impatiently. Candace and her eldest sibling shared a prolonged stare at each other, the air simmering with nervous heat. 

Candace blinked first, her eyes flitted to the floor beneath her sister’s cane, wanting to get out as soon as she could. “I’m going to go check up on Liz…”

And Cyrus enabled that. “Down the hall and to the left, first door on your right… C. Griffin.” 

“Thanks…”

Candace stepped past the counter, heading down the hall towards her brother’s office. She tried the locked handle once before knocking on the door, and then knocking again a couple more times after she didn’t get an answer. 

“Hey… Liz?”

“Go away, Candace.” Came Liz’s voice from the other side of the door. “I can hear you there, yeah. Please-” 

“Open the door, Liz.” Candace sighed, knocking on the door again. “That’s an order.” 

There were a few moments of silence, followed by movement from within the room, before Candace’s sister-in-law finally opened the door. 

“Good evening, Candace…” To say that Liz was a bit of a wreck was kind of an understatement, but her brother’s slave recognized that she ought to be respectful in the face of someone powerful enough to order her around.

“Are you alright?” Candace smiled, standing in the doorway to keep Liz from slamming the door. “New haircut?”

“Master sheared my hair off in the shower the other night, Ma’am.” Elizabeth sighed, blowing her brown locks from her face. “He’s been on edge.”

“Have you met your husband?” 

“He’s always on edge, I know…” 

“Liz.” Candace frowned, trying to comfort the girl. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s his mom, Candace.” Liz sighed, slowly backing up into the room. “It’s Lilith…”

“Right, Lilith…” Candace sighed, deciding it best to just let her be for the time. “Well, just… take good care of him for me, okay?”

“Yeah, sure…” Liz smiled, setting herself back down at her husband’s desk. “I’ll do my best~”

 

“What do you mean mother has a new slave?” Claudia seemed almost shocked to be hearing this from her brother. “Our mother- Lilith Mariam- has a slave?”

“And what’s so surprising about that?” Cyrus snorted, his chair precariously balanced on two legs. “She did create the facility, remember?” 

“Our mother may have founded this place- but she’s never once had a slave of her own in our entire lives, remember?”

“Well that’s not true- I know you remember Alecia~”

Claudia growled at the mention of her, thumping her cane on the floor beside her. “She was our father’s slave and you know that-”

“Clauds.” Cyrus frowned, seeing Candace stepping back inside. “Cat’s back.”

“Is there something you two don’t feel like you can talk about around me?” Candace replied, slowly closing the door behind her. “Because if so, spill it already. What are you hiding?”

“I just don’t like talking about your mom, okay?” Claudia snapped back at her, swiveling in place and stepping towards the door. “Come on, let’s get going?”

Cyrus rolled his eyes. “Leaving already?”

“If you must know-” Claudia grinned. “I think we may just go pay mother a visit~”

 

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“I just really wish she wouldn’t blow smoke all over the sitting room you know???”

“Where else is she supposed to blow smoke though… the kitchen?”

“She could take it outside~!!!”

“Yeah but that’d be inconveniencing them…”

“I know, I know, but… I have to clean the sitting room!!! And you know how hard it is for me with the smoke and all???”

“We all remember your asthma, Darcey…” 

 

Chloe held her head in both hands as she listened to her fellow slaves fuss. Of course for Chloe, having been here for a grand total of barely two weeks, she had plenty of time to know how this was going to go already. 

Darcey would start mindlessly complaining about something, thoughtlessly fussing without thinking of the logical implications of whatever it was she was saying. Autumn would respond with some heartless excuse for dismissing whatever problem the other girl was having, carelessly shrugging her off without considering how it would make her feel. Finally, Zenna would nervously mumble from across the room, trying to get the two of them to get along again-

And then the three of them would have sex. Zenna would sheepishly give into peer pressure and climb into Autumn and Darcey’s bed with them, despite really wanting to play in her own bed for a change, and Chloe would be able to round the corner and climb into her normally shared bed alone.

This was how it went, every night, without fail. 

“Chloe, come over here!!!”

“You have to join us eventually…”

“Chloe come on~”

Even down to the girl’s energetic insistence that Chloe come and join their orgy, as the fourth person in a bed that struggled to support three, normally held two, and was built to house one.

Chloe gave them a friendly smile, shaking her head at the girls. “No thanks, but maybe tomorrow night?”

“Awe, okay fine!!!”

“Whatever…”

“Alright, but you have to play tomorrow~”

“Sure thing, remind me tomorrow.” Yeah, Zenna never held to that. She didn’t really have the confidence to, but it only took Chloe pretending like she would join in on their fun to get them to leave her to herself for the night.

They would have their sex, they’d all get exhausted, and they’d fall asleep in bed together- letting Chloe have the other mattress all to herself. She just had to sit there and idly flip through one of the magazines Mistress Josephine gave her and wait until she was tired enough to fall asleep. 

Tonight ended up being just a little bit different however- the three slaves had their sex and knocked themselves out doing it, and Chloe was right on the edge of falling asleep too, before her attentive pointed ears were alerted to a soft knock at the door. 

“Ummm… hello?” Chloe whispered, careful not to wake the other girls up, and got a knock at the door in response, still too quiet to shake the other girls awake from their rest. “Is… is somebody there?”

Knock… knock… 

Chloe sighed, leaving her magazine sprawled open on the pillow beside her as she climbed out of bed and headed to the door-

Knock knock knock. 

As Chloe reached the door, she was finally beginning to piece together the picture. The knocks were soft, not purposefully, but coincidentally- and they were coming from below the door handle. 

Chloe knelt at the door, pressing her hand against it. “Hey, who’s there?” 

“Ummm…” A soft, hushed, child’s voice spoke from the other side of the door. “I-is my m-mommy in there?” 

Chloe sighed, rolling her eyes at the girl. “Your mommy is upstairs, Lilian-”

“N-n-no she’s n-not…” Lilian was crying, her voice cracking as she spoke. “I c-can’t find her-”

“I…” Chloe frowned, her hand resting on the locked door handle. “I’m sorry, honey. Your mommy’s not-”

“Lilian?” Nothing woke a slumbery Zenna up from a catnap, but apparently the sound of Lilian crying was enough to jolt the normally heavy sleeper awake. “Lilian what’s wrong?”

“M-mommy’s not!!” Lilian called out to Zenna from the other side of the door. “I can’t find her!!”

“It’s okay sweetie, I’m right here-” Zenna aggressively forced her way to the floor, awaking no fewer than the two girls in bed with her as she clawed to the door, practically shoving Chloe aside as she got there. “Move.”

Chloe quickly hurried out of the way, normally she knew her way around her other slaves, but for the first time this intimidated her just a little bit.

“What’s…”

“Happening???” 

Darcey and Autumn both sat up in bed, seemingly fully recovered from whatever argument they were having as Darcey clung onto Autumn for support.

“Shhhh!” Zenna turned and hissed at them both, trying to quiet them down before turning back to the scared little girl on the other side of the door. “What’s wrong, Lilian?”

“I- I- I- want my-”

“I’m right here, sweetie. It’s okay~” Zenna cooed, and you could hear the effect it was having on Lilian even without looking at her, her sobs quickly quieting down. 

Lilian violently struggled with the door handle, at least as violently as a five year old could. “M-m-mommy…”

“I’m right here, Lilian… do you remember that key I gave you-” Zenna kept a firm grasp on the handle to the door, unable to open or unlock it from the inside, keeping Lilian from messing with it any further. “I gave you a key just in case you ever needed to come get me, do you remember that?”

The fussing at the door quickly ceased. “Uh… uh-huh…”

Zenna smiled, pressing a hand to the door. “Did you bring it?” 

“Y-yeah…” Lilian also pressed her hand to the door. “It’s right here…” 

“I can’t open the door from in here so I need you to listen to me, okay?”

Chloe watched in awe from the bed as this unfolded in front of her- the normally apprehensive Zenna doing her best with what little she had to try and comfort the girl. 

“I need you to put the key in the door handle here-” Zenna rustled the handle from inside the room. “And then turn the key… can you do that for me?” 

“Ummm… I think so…” At this point Lilian’s voice wasn’t even stuttering. “Like… this?”

Click. The moment it was unlocked, Zenna forced the door open with the force of a billion lions, causing poor little Lilian who was still holding onto the handle, to fall tumbling straight into the woman’s arms. 

“I’m right here, Lilian. I’ve got you-” Zenna’s strong tan arms wrapped themselves around the girl, catching her before she fell. “It’s alright… I’m right here-” 

“Bwah!!” Like a little cub, Lilian grabbed a hold of Zenna with her own paws, a safety blanket draped over her shoulders. “M-mommy?”

“I’m right here, sweetie…” Zenna smiled, pulling Lilian into her lap, breathing heavy sighs of relief now that she knew the girl was safe. “Mommy’s right here…”

 

“Lilian!!!”

“Lilian…”

“Lilian.” Chloe swallowed nervously, staring at her fellow slave, master’s daughter safely tucked into Zenna’s arms. “What’s Lilian doing here-”

“What happened, sweetie?” Zenna smiled, tugging the girl upright as she gently wiped the tears from Lilian’s eyes. “Are you okay?”

“I… I… I had a nightmare where Mommy- Mommy, she- she-” Lilian squeezed Zenna’s hands with hers, beginning to sob again. “And then I w-w-woke up, a-and there was yelling! And loud door slamming! A-and Mommy wouldn't answer me!”

Zenna frowned, wrapping the blanket around the girl. “What’s Mommy doing?”

Lilian sniffled, wiping away her own tears with the blanket now. “C-c-crying…” 

“Josie…”

“Josie???”

Both Darcey and Autumn were very alarmed by this, neither girl wanting to hear their master crying on her own. 

“And what about your other mommy?” Zenna smiled, rustling Lilian’s hair. “Did you check on her?”

“Nuh-uh…” Lilian shook her head slightly. 

“Oh honey…” Zenna frowned, sighing under her breath. “I know you wanted to see me, but you really should have gone to her first-”

“Nuh-uh!!!” Lilian shook her head vigorously, tears pouring down her cheek now.

“It’s okay, it’s okay…” Zenna sighed, wrapping her arms around the girl again, letting her sob into her nanny’s chest as she picked her up off the floor. “She’s scary, I know… but I’ve got you now- it’s gonna be okay…”

Lilian buried her face into Zenna’s very much still naked chest, tears now soaking the woman’s skin. “M-mommy!!”

Zenna smiled, humming softly to her. “Do you want Mommy to sleep with you tonight?”

“Mmmm… Mhmm…”

“Okay…” Zenna nervously shot a couple of glances back towards her fellow slaves. “Let’s go to your room, okay?”

“Wait, what-” Chloe’s eyes went wide, protesting this. “Master won’t allow this-”

“I don’t care if this gets me in trouble, so just save it!!!” Zenna snapped, growling angrily at her. “Lilian’s safety is more important than mine.”

Chloe scoffed. “But you can’t just-”

Slam!! Zenna quickly cut her off by slamming the door from the other side, leaving Chloe alone with Darcey and Autumn, both fully awake now. 

“You can’t just-” Chloe frowned, slowly closing the magazine as she sat there, still staring at the door. “Leave…”

 

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Knock knock. 

Claudia stood behind her sister as Candace knocked on the door, patiently waiting, looming over her as they anticipated Lilith’s arrival. 

“A new slave…” Claudia scoffed, arms crossed at her chest. “Mother got a new slave, what even is this?” 

Candace gave her a weird look out of the corner of her eye. “Has she really never had a slave before?”

“Not that I can remember, no-” Claudia tapped her cane against the bottom of the door impatiently. “She hasn’t.” 

“Maybe she had a slave at one point and just…” Candace sighed, her eyes drifting downwards to the tip of her half-sister’s cane. “Never got a new one-” 

Thump. Claudia brought her cane up and then back down, quicker than Candace’s eyes could follow, thwacking her little sister directly upside the head. 

“Don’t go projecting yourself onto my mother, Candace… You and her are nothing alike.”

“Alright fine, you don’t have to hit me for it!!” Candace groaned, rubbing the now sore spot on her head. 

“Slave’s get reprimanded when they do something wrong.” Claudia set the cane back down on the ground. “Consider it good practice.” 

“Okay… I’m sorry…” Candace sighed, trying her best not to be unnerved by what her sister just said. “And do slaves answer the door when there’s a knock?”

“Odds are about even on that, I’m afraid.”

“Wanna make a bet real quick?”

“Bet on what, dear~”

Candace smirked, fingers tapping against the handle. “If her slave opens the door, you have to let me make a stop on the way home~”

“And if she doesn’t-” Claudia snorted at her sister’s arrogance. “You have to suck it up and accompany me to see father this weekend~”

“Deal-”

“As my servant.” 

Candace frowned, swallowing nervously at her sister’s demands. “Deal…” But Candace wasn’t about to back down. 

Claudia taunted her, licking her lips. “Quiet now, I hear someone coming~” 

And Candace did too, taking her hand off of the door handle- only to feel it being grasped in her sister’s hand.

“There…” Claudia grinned, shaking the other girl’s hand. “Now it’s official~”

“What are you, some devil?”

“I just think that if we’re going to be making wagers, we ought to shake on them.” Claudia stood upright, letting her sister’s hand go. “Kind of like a devil, yes~”

“Nerd.” Candace rolled her eyes. “Is that why you point your slaves ears, you’re a nerd?” 

“No, actually-” Claudia’s voice quickly grew cold. “It’s to help beat into their thick little skulls just how… inhuman they really are… helps remind them and my daughter that they aren’t people.”

“They aren’t… people?” Candace stuck her hand in her hoodie pocket, quickly regretting any deal she had made with her sister. “Is that how you think of them?”

“We can talk about this later, St. Clair… for now let’s just… see how the cards fall~”

Candace grinned as she heard a pair of soft footsteps, quick and light, unlike her sister’s mother’s heavy cane. She could see a brief twitch of the door handle, putting just a little bit of pressure before suddenly there was a quiet gasp from the other side, followed by a quick pitter patter away from the door. 

And her eyes went wide hearing that. “W-wait, was that-”

“Odd.” Claudia snickered, sighing at the strange sounds. “I guess her slave doesn’t plan on answering for her…” 

“I guess not…” Candace sighed, her eyebrows furling- losing a bet against her sister was the least of her problems right now. 

 

“Why hello girls~” Lilith’s cane signalled her approach from long before she reached the door, pleasantly surprised to see both of her girls getting along so well, coming to pay her a visit. “I wasn’t expecting you!!”

“Might we come in mother?” Claudia smiled, taking the first step towards the door. “We hear you have… something new you might want to show us~”

“Yes, of course.” Lilith stumbled back inside. “Do come in, both of you!!” 

And so Claudia did so, stepping inside ahead of her sister. “Is it true then?”

“Is what true, dear?” Lilith smiled, closing the door behind Candace.

“You have a new slave…” Candace’s once smile had now turned into a frown, her eyes scanning the interior of Lilith’s house, searching for other signs of life. “I could hear it at the door.” 

“Why yes actually-” Lilith put her hand on Candace’s shoulder. “She’s just a bit shy, that’s all.”

“And what’s her name-”

“Patience.” Lilith’s grip tightened on Candace’s shoulder, and for a moment Candace was a bit hopeful that it was actually her name, and not an instruction. “Have patience… she’ll introduce herself soon.”

“Of course-” Candace smiled, taking a deep breath before correcting herself, emulating the one source than she knew. “Yes, Ma’am.”

 

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“What do you think that was about???” Darcey nervously bounced, alone in bed, trying to calm herself. “Do you think Miss Josephine’s alright???”

“I don’t know, but…” Autumn jerked on the handle, once again unable to open the door. “Zenna locked the door behind her…” 

“Well that’s just great!!!” Darcey pouted loudly, grabbing her own blanket for support. “What about Lilian??? Is she alright???” 

“She’s with Zenna, so I’m sure she’s fine, but… Zenna might not be…” Autumn turned away from the door, leaving it alone and turning her cold ire onto the other fellow slave here with her. “You’ve been awfully quiet though…” 

“I don’t know anything more than you do.” Chloe frowned, covering her body with her pillow. “She just got up and left.”

“I’m not talking about Zenna…”

“Then what are you talking about?”

“From the sounds of it… Our Mistresses got into a fight…” Autumn scoffed at the redhead. “And you’re the only new addition to our little broadway cast here… so what do you think that fight might have been over…” 

“Come on-” Chloe felt a twinge of anger building up inside of her. “You don’t seriously think I’m to blame for this, do you?”

“I don’t know guys~!!!” Darcey piped in, her eyes locked on the door. “But maybe we can ask???”

Slam. The door swung open, and in stepped… Josephine. 

 

“Mistress…”

“Mistress!!!” 

Both girls leapt to their feet to meet her at the door, but Josie seemed to have her sights set on someone else. “Move.” She forced them aside, pushing her way past both Darcey and Autumn, instead making her way to Chloe- a mostly empty bottle of booze in hand.

“Good evening, Miss Josephine.” Chloe forced a respectful smile onto her lips, trying to be the best slave she could be in the face of her master’s wife. She might not have liked the woman very well, but she was better than Claudia thus far, and Chloe knew to give her superior’s the respect they demanded from her. “How are you doing-”

“Fuck you.” Josephine stood directly over her, a bizarre reflection of herself as she watched the woman shotgun the remainder of her drink, roughly wiping the foam from her lips. “I don’t know who you are… but fuck you.” 

“I’m… sorry, Mistress…” Chloe’s confidence faded just a little bit, but she pushed forward. “I’m Chloe… I’m Miss Claudia’s new slave… remember?”

Josephine just stared at her, eyes beading angrily, emanating a fierce aura as she gripped tight around the bottle in her hand- and Chloe knew very well what was about to happen, seeing the other woman telegraph her intentions, but forcing herself to endure it. 

Smash!! The now empty glass bottle shattered against the back of Chloe’s head as she flinched to protect her face, her ears now ringing. It was a familiar feeling, one that wasn’t nice to have to put herself through again, but one that she had most certainly felt before. 

Chloe’s ears were ringing much too loudly to hear what happened next aside from a fair few gasps of surprise before Josephine snatched the magazines off of the bed next to Chloe and drunkenly pushed past the door. 

“Clean that!! A-and fix her up or whatever!!” Chloe looked up just in time to see tears in the woman’s eyes as she very nervously spouted the words, more unsure of herself than ever before. “And d-don’t follow me!!”

The door slammed shut, and the silence was punctuated by the echoes of their master’s footsteps quickly darting up the stairs-

“…I’ll clean that up then~!!!”

“And I’ll get the first aid kit…”

 

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“Out with it then, mother-” Claudia did her best not to aid herself with her cane while in her mother’s presence, trying to seem more capable than she was. “What’s been going on? How are you feeling? Are you feeling any better?”

“If the question is whether or not I’m going to recover, the answer is no…” Lilith smiled, taking a seat on a small loveseat, a chair that looked like it fit about one and a half people in total. “Doctor Renee assured me of that-”

“Doctor Renee?” Candace found her own seat, alone, within view of the rest of the single story home. “Julienne Renee?”

“The very same~”

Candace was shocked. “Isn’t she like… famous?”

“Indeed she is.” Lilith was almost bragging at this point. “She very graciously worked on helping me with building and attaching my experimental leg prosthesis~”

“How’d you get her to do that?”

“Her and I go back a ways, professionally… she’s been my primary physician for years now.”

“Primary physician?” Even Claudia was impressed. “She’s a top dollar surgeon, not a biannual check-up type of physician.”

“Well I suppose I’m one of the lucky ones then~” Lilith grinned, sighing as she gently set her cane aside. “She’s the only reason I survived my cancer the first time around.” 

Candace was at least glad that her pseudo-stepmother was getting the care she needed. “So she does all of your medical work then?”

“Pretty much.” Lilith dug around inside of her purse for a moment, pulling out a small clip full of business cards before extending one of them out towards Candace. “Here.” 

“Her contact information?” Candace, near enough to be able to reach, didn’t even stand up to retrieve it. “What’s this for?”

“I just thought you might need it, some things just can’t be trusted in the hands of the doctors at my facility- not after your brother took over.” Lilith smiled, happily pushing it into Candace’s hands. “In case you decide you want any… surgeries~”

Candace took a moment before realizing what she meant, her cheeks blushing bright pink as she tucked the card away in her own purse. “Th-thank you…”

“Right- those pills of yours must drain you… iced tea, correct?” Lilith clapped her hands together, strangely loudly, the sound echoing through the entire living space. “That one was always your father’s favorite.”

Candace smiled, nodding her head. “I guess he and I just have the same tastes sometimes?”

“You can say that again.” Lilith chuckled, before shouting down the hall. “Drinks, dear… you know what she likes~”

There was a pair of small soft footsteps reentering the living space as Lilith’s shiny new slave responded to her owner’s call, a loud clap of her hands, voice nervous as she spoke. “Y-yes, Miss…” 

Candace, very briefly distracted from her vigilant watch, quickly turned to look at her, mismatched eyes going wide with shock at the sight of the girl. “I thought those footsteps sounded familiar…”

Claudia simply scoffed with anger, almost hissing at the sight of it. “I guess this snake smelled a mouse about after all.” 

“H-hello again… Miss Mariam…” She blushed, averting her gaze towards the ground, gagging nervously. “Candace…” 

Lilith smiled warmly, gently encouraging the girl. “Go ahead and introduce yourself dear~”

It was a little bit reminiscent of just the other night, when Claudia had made Chloe introduce herself to the other pair of women, both of whom already knew exactly who she was… and it was happening again. 

“I’m Aria.” The girl paused, but nodded, doing just as she was told. “Aria Fairmont, UN#0006… Ms. Lilith Mariam has graciously taken me on as both her personal assistant… and her nurse.”

 

This would be where the younger Mariam would shoot to her feet in anger, but this time she relaxed, scanning her little sister’s expression- and after seeing the smile on Candace’s face, deciding it better to let it go. To wait on the off chance of striking later. 

Candace told her big sister the story. If anyone here had a right to hate the little vermin, it was Candace… and if she wasn’t bothered by this, neither was Claudia. 

“I was expecting much more violent a reaction from you both.” Lilith, always one to gossip, giggled at them. “But I guess I’ll get one of those in a minute or so~”

“Why would I react with violence, mother?” Claudia scoffed, her eyes not leaving Candace as she spoke. “We saw what that got us the other night… I’ve calmed down a fair bit.” 

“I’m glad to hear you haven’t any problems with this then~”

“Oh I have problems with this, I assure you.” Claudia locked eyes with her mother. “But those problems are both largely tangential and quite personal to me, and not about the identity of the girl you’ve decided to make your slave.”

“She’s hardly my slave I must say.” Lilith brushed her daughter’s cold gaze off. “I’ll only have her for three more months-”

“And then what happens to her?” Candace cut in, listening while still watching the girl fetch drinks for them all. “What happens to Aria when you… you know?”

“What happens to all possessions when their owner passes away, dear?” Lilith grinned, taunting them both. “You’ll have to consult the will~”

“And can we see the will?”

“And ruin the suspense?” Lilith shook her head. “I think not.”

“My money’s on giving it all to Cyrus… he’s always been your favorite, hasn’t he- mother?” Claudia put on a fake smile as she looked over at her mother, staring her up and down with ire. “But who knows… maybe she’ll have a few surprises in there for you, Candace.” 

“You say that as if you expect me to skip you over entirely, Claudia.”

“Hope for the best and expect the worst. Cyrus is your favorite. Candace is father’s.”

“Hey.” Candace took offense at that. “Just because I’m father’s heiress doesn’t mean I’m his favorite…” 

“Sure it doesn’t. Just like our momma’s boy of a brother being my mother’s heir doesn’t mean he’s her favorite… oh wait.” 

Lilith frowned. “I love you and your brother very much, Claudia.”

“And I love you too…” Claudia sighed, her face flickering between emotions. “I’m… not ready to lose you…” 

“And I’m not ready to lose you, either…” Lilith glanced over at Candace to make sure she knew that she was included in that. “Any of you…”

 

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“So…” Autumn stood over her fellow slave, her hands firmly planted on her hips. “…What did you do?”

Chloe blinked incredulously, still holding an ice pack to her aching head. “What did I do?”

“Don’t play dumb because you’re not…” Autumn frowned, taking an immovable stance on this. “…What did you do to our mistress?”

“Your mistress?” Chloe scoffed, pinching her eyes shut and shaking her head. “I didn’t do anything to her!! She’s just drunk!!”

“Our mistress doesn’t drink like that…” Autumn was seething. “What did you do to her?”

“I-” Chloe whined. “I don’t know!!”

Darcey frowned, staring over at the clearly still distraught Chloe. “Then what happened???”

“I don’t know!! ” Chloe tossed the ice pack to the floor between them in frustration. “ I don’t understand either!!” 

“Sure you don’t…” Autumn scoffed at her, angrily picking the object back up with her nearly robotic grasp. “You come here looking just like her… and then she suddenly gets upset-”

“I said I don’t know!!” Chloe shouted one last time, her energy quickly leaving her. “I said I don’t know…”

“But that doesn’t fix anything-”

“Cut her some slack, Autumn.” Darcey grasped Autumn’s wrist, holding her steady to keep from hurling the ice pack straight at Chloe’s head. “Look at her.” 

Chloe was trembling as she curled up in bed, pulling her knees to her naked chest, clutching a pillow in her arms as tears welled up in her eyes, trying not to let them spill out of her. Trying to stay strong. 

“I don’t… I don’t know… I’m sorry…” Chloe let out a pained gasp, burying her face in the pillow and mumbling to them. “I know you don’t know me, but… I’m scared, you guys…” 

Autumn was beginning to calm down, frowning as she stared at her fellow slave, letting Darcey take the potential projectile from her grasp. 

“I’m not trying to upset anybody, I swear.” Chloe wiped away her tears, her voice still cracking under the weight of her words. “I don’t want Miss Josephine getting drunk and throwing glass bottles at me… and I don’t want Miss Claudia getting angry and throwing me into walls either…”

Autumn paused, slowly making her way to Chloe, Darcey in tow. “What do you want?”

“I want what anyone in my position would want… I want to be free.” Chloe nervously glanced back and forth at either girl as they settled in bed next to her. “And failing that… a master who’ll love and protect me.” 

“Like Miss Josie does for us~” Darcey smiled, placing a hand on Chloe’s shoulder. “You want to be one of us~?”

“If you want to be one of us-” Autumn did the same, setting her hand on the opposite shoulder. “Then why do you keep pushing us away?”

Chloe blushed, shaking the tears out of her eyes as she sat sandwiched between two naked women. “Because I’m nervous and scared, okay?”

She sighed, squeezing the pillow to her chest as she sat up, trying to make room for the other girls to get close. 

“I pretend like I’m all strong and smart and have myself figured out, but I’m really anxious and… I feel like I’m choking… I don’t understand-” Chloe blushed, whimpering under her breath, her knees twitching nervously. “I don’t understand girls, okay?”

“That’s it???” Darcey giggled. “You don’t understand girls???”

“I…” Autumn blinked, almost unable to process what she was saying. “What…” 

“Alright, come on… don’t make fun of me.” Chloe scoffed loudly, almost too ashamed to even elaborate further. “You guys want to add me to your little polycule or whatever, and sometimes I really do want to join you all, but I just… I don’t know how… I don’t know how to talk to girls.”

“But you got out of the facility just fine…”

“Yeah, and Miss Claudia seems to really like you~!!!”

“Yeah, but that’s different. She’s my… she’s my master.” Chloe groaned loudly, her cheeks frustratingly red with embarrassment. “I can function under a master, but this is different… for the last six months I haven’t had… I haven’t had-”

“You haven’t had what???”

“You haven’t had what…”

“I haven’t had any equals.” Chloe sighed, forcing herself to say it. “I don’t know how to talk to girls like me… I don’t know how to talk to equals…”

“Six months…” Autumn almost tilted her head, ashamed of herself. “You were in the facility for six months?”

Chloe shook her head. “No… I-”

“Then where have you been???” Darcey literally tilted her head, unsure of whether she understood- she didn’t. “Like- where???”

“I know this is going to sound bad, but… I used to have… another master.”

 

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“Here you all are.” Aria smiled, handing off the tray of drinks to each of the women in the room, before settling onto the arm of the chair her new owner was sitting on, trying to avoid eye contact with either of the sisters. “Enjoy~”

“Last I remember, I instructed Leah to send Aria to the plantation.” Claudia frowned, sighing at her mother. “I take it Cyrus plucked her from under my nose at your specific request.”

“Well of course, when I decided on buying myself a slave, there was really only ever one option I considered~”

“Just one?” Candace slowly sipped her tea, puzzled. “Why was she the only consideration?”

“In essence, a slave is kind of like an employee, they work for their owners.” Lilith smiled, gently patting Aria’s back. “And Aria here has worked for me for years, it just made sense~” 

“Excuse me?” Claudia was taken aback by this. “She’s worked for you… for years?”

“She has indeed~”

“Doing what, exactly?” 

“Come now, dear.” Lilith gave her a coy grin. “You know that’s classified~”

Candace glanced over at Aria, watching the girl give her a nervous smile before mouthing the words “I’m sorry.” 

“Aria never told me she worked for you.” Candace frowned, furling her eyebrows in a mixture of confusion and disappointment. “Why?”

“Because I instructed her not to-” Lilith tried to ease Candace’s fears. “Your father does the same thing, has people who you think work for you… but really work for him~”

Claudia snarled. “You’re lying.”

“I’m not lying.” Lilith clapped her hands, before quietly whispering into Aria’s ears, sending the girl off. “How else would she have known about the tape?”

“The tape…” Claudia frowned, swallowing nervously. “Why would that matter?”

“Because I told her to steal it and bring it back to me.”

“To you?” Candace was just as confused as her sister was. “But… she told me she stole information to give to the FBI?” 

“She did.” Lilith smiled, reaching towards Aria as she returned, taking a folder from her hands and tossing it onto the ottoman in front of her. “After I divorced your father, I spied on him for the FBI~”

Silence. Shocked silence. 

Lilith very possibly wanted a violent reaction from either of them with that one, but instead- Claudia gently picked the folder up off of the ottoman, her eyes going wide at the sight of it. “Candace-”

Candace’s eyes darted back and forth between her sister, her sister’s mother, and her sister’s mother’s new slave- her former best friend. “Claudia?”

“We’ll talk more about this later.” Claudia gently closed the folder, holding it out towards her little sister. “We’re leaving.”

“Right…” Candace took the folder, tucking it to her chest. “I think I’d like that too.”

 

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Chloe gently shut the door to her room behind her, careful not to wake the now sleeping Autumn and Darcey.

The two of them had very obediently followed their mistress’ directions- cleaning, tending to their fellow slave, and not following their master back upstairs. 

But Chloe didn’t belong to Josephine, she didn’t feel obligated to stay in her room at her orders, especially when she left the door unlocked, either accidentally or on purpose. 

She knocked on the door to her master’s room, a lot more forcefully than Lilian was capable of, hopefully she could get their attention. 

And she did, just not Claudia’s attention- and not from their room either. 

“Sh-she’s not in there…” Josephine stood in the doorway to the guest bedroom, across the top floor from where Chloe stood. “Claudia’s out w-with her sister…” 

Chloe sighed, turning around to face her. She was expecting to have to go through Claudia first, but this was fine, after all- it wasn’t Claudia’s attention she wanted. “Is that what that was about then… Candace?”

“Candace?” Josephine’s reaction told her everything she needed to know. “What does Candace have to do with you?”

“Okay… if it’s not that, then why did you smash a bottle over my head, Miss?” Chloe sighed, turning and beginning to step towards her. “If there’s something-”

“Don’t come any closer.” Josephine stood very defensively, urging the other girl to stay where she was. 

“Miss?” Chloe stopped, not because she was told to, but to keep Josephine from freaking out any further. “What’s wrong-” 

An all too familiar rush of electricity pulsed into Chloe’s body, dragging her down to her knees as Josephine activated the controller to her shock collar. 

“P-please, stay over there.” Josephine pleaded, nervously sliding back into the door. “She can’t… she can’t see you with me.”

Chloe took a few moments to regain her composure. It certainly wasn’t the harshest shock she received. Josephine not only seemed too scared to interact with her after smashing her head in, but also too scared to do anything too harsh to her. 

For fear of what would happen if she found out.

 

Thump . 

“Josephine, honey.” Both women flinched at the sound of her cane clacking against the floor. “What is Chloe doing up here at this time of night?”

“Master?!” Chloe jumped to her feet, quickly trying to make herself look presentable for Claudia. “I was just-” Before making eye contact with Claudia’s sister. “Checking up on Miss Josephine…”

“And what exactly did Miss Josephine do that possessed you to check up on her?”

“I hit her with a glass bottle…” Josephine lowered her gaze, too nervous to even look up at her wife. “I’m… sorry.”

Candace scoffed, and that scoff annoyed Chloe- as if Candace cared about Chloe getting hurt. 

“Did you now?” Claudia seemed not to care at least. “Maybe there is some hope for you after all~”

Josephine smiled at that, her eyes lighting up. “R-really?”

“Don’t touch my slave, Josephine.” Claudia reached down, and without making eye contact with either her wife or her slave, yanked Chloe to her feet. “We didn’t exactly sign a prenup you know, don’t break my things.”

And that made Josephine’s heart break all over again. “Right. I’m sorry, love…”

Chloe certainly didn’t like Josephine very much, especially right now, but it hurt to see the light so quickly leave her eyes- especially hearing the words that came out of her lips next. 

“Happy anniversary, my love~”

“Happy anniversary, Josephine.” 

Slam. As quickly as she could, Josephine shielded herself away in the guest bedroom- hidden from anyone and everyone else. 

Before anyone else could speak or act, Candace was practically hounding Chloe. “What happened, are you alright?” She frowned, brushing the hair from Chloe’s face, checking for injuries. “Did she hurt you-”

“Get your hands off of me!!” Chloe growled, shoving Candace away with what force she had left in her. “Back off, Saint Clair…”

“Hey…” Candace tried to reach out to her, just concerned for her safety above all else. “I just want to make sure you’re okay-”

“Yeah, sure.” Chloe snapped, quickly swiveling away from her. “Like when I dared not call you a sweetheart, and Aria did the same fucking thing- you just wanted to make sure I was okay.”

Just like Chloe wanted, that annoyed Candace. “I’m no sweetheart, Sophia.”

Chloe just snapped right back at her. “That’s what I said.”

“And I agreed with you…” Candace frowned, folding her arms in front of her chest. “Even back then…”

“Whatever…” Chloe just bit her lip, frowning. She swallowed nervously, staring at the now closed door to the guest bedroom in disbelief. “It’s your anniversary, Ma’am?”

“I’d urge you to keep your head where it belongs, slave.” Claudia grabbed Chloe by her hair, pressing the head of her cane to the girl’s throat. “Now return to your quarters, I don’t want to see your face again tonight.”

Chloe whimpered, nodding to indicate her obedience, flashing Candace her gaze one last time before bowing and heading back downstairs to the slave’s quarters.

 

She gently shut the door behind her before pressing her forehead to the door, on the edge of breaking down. 

“Candace… a sweetheart…” Chloe bit back her tears, forcing herself away from the door. “A girl can only hope.” 

Great… Josephine took my magazines too… Chloe sighed, pushing her bedsheets aside. She didn’t like Josephine very much, but she knew very well that the woman likely needed some help- and more importantly, some company.

“Hey… girls?” Chloe shook Darcey and Autumn awake, waiting to see any semblance of consciousness in them before speaking. “Miss Josephine wants you two to sleep with her upstairs… i-in the guest bedroom.”

It was a lie, sure. But it was one that was in Josie’s best interest- and it was one that worked, getting both Darcey and Autumn to climb out of bed and shamble upstairs to see their mistress, leaving Chloe in the slave’s quarters- alone. 

Or at least she was- until she heard one final knock at the door. 

 

Chloe frowned, her cheeks bright red with surprise as she saw her. “Candace…” 

“Hey.” She stepped inside past Chloe, yawning under her breath. “Josie’s in the guest bedroom tonight, and I heard the girls were with her so… I was wondering if there was an empty bed down here~” 

“You.” Chloe swallowed her emotions, closing the door behind the other girl. “You want to sleep in here tonight… in the slave’s quarters?” 

“I don’t see why not~” She smiled, gently taking Chloe’s lack of ire as an answer, and climbing into Darcey and Autumn’s vacant bed. “Is that a problem, Sophia?”

“No. Not at all…” She frowned, climbing into the bed opposite Candace, alone. “Just don’t expect me to treat you with any more respect than you treated me while we’re in here together…” 

“For the night, I think that’s just fine- anything to get out of sleeping in my sister’s bed with her~” Candace smiled, yawning loudly, clearly quite tired. “For now, you can consider us… equals.”

Chloe snarled at that. “What, now we’re suddenly equals again?”

“You don’t need to get so nasty you know…” Candace frowned. “I’m trying to be friendly.” 

“We’re not friends, Candace.” Chloe rolled over in bed, facing away from her. “We never were…” 

“Yes we were.” Candace frowned, doing similar. “I know we aren’t anymore… but please don’t pretend like we never were…”

Chloe paused for a good few moments, her cheeks burning red hot as she remembered the nearly two years leading up to that fateful night almost a year ago, where she slowly but surely did become friends with Candace- maybe not very close friends- but friends nonetheless. 

“Goodnight, asshole…” 

She didn’t really mean what she said, but she couldn’t stop herself from saying it, and luckily for her, her former rival didn’t seem to be too bothered to hear her saying it. 

“Goodnight, Sophia.” 

They were equals then, and after so long, it really did feel that way again, like they were equals now.

But Chloe had no idea how to talk to Candace as equals-

She didn’t know how to do it then, and she didn’t know how to do it now.

Notes:

If you've read to the end of Chapter 32, you must like my work just a little bit-

I've got a discord server now, where I talk about random stuff and hang out with friends and sometimes talk about my work, go ahead and check it out if you're interested!!

Chapter 33: Bird Brain

17th October, 30 days until the banquet.

 

“Why are you here anyways?” Chloe sat up in bed, wrapping the blankets around herself in a futile attempt to hide her body from the other woman. “Don’t you have some important job to be doing?”

“I work for my family, remember- and my sister is family. Besides, it’s the weekend.” Candace’s presence here bothered Chloe, but Candace didn’t seem bothered at all. “You know, I could ask you the same thing- why are you here?”

“Unlike you, I don’t get to control where I go.” It was really hard for Chloe to talk with Candace straight to her face, and not just because of her inability to address equals, but also because of that look in her eyes. “I wonder whose fault that is.”

“Point taken, that is my doing. But I would hardly use the word fault, seeing that it was intentional.” Weirdly, Candace was smiling at her. Her eyes somehow remained soft while she spoke, and it sapped Chloe’s energy to look at them. “But you did get to choose to leave me, didn’t you?”

“And it was the best decision of my life by far.” Chloe wasn’t usually so angry, but talking to Candace like this drew it out of her, especially knowing that her new master condoned this anger of hers. She encouraged Chloe to “let her have it.” 

“You really think so?” But what bothered Chloe was how seemingly indifferent Candace was towards the change. “How come?”

“Because she treats me way better than you ever have.” Chloe was going to crack that armor of hers if it was the last thing she did. “I sleep in a real bed, she feeds me actual food, and… and-” 

She skidded to a halt in her tracks, struggling to actually unbury any other point to add to her list in Claudia’s favor. 

“So you have better food and better sleeping conditions, sure. But do you really think you’ve earned those things?”

“ Earned? ” Chloe scoffed, insulted to her core to think that she should have to earn basic human decency from anyone. “Who are you to try and tell me I should have to earn anything? Since when was that your place to decide?”

“I was your master, Sophia.” Finally, a crack in Candace’s amor. “And when I was your master it was my place to decide what you deserved to be given and what you should have to earn. I will not apologize for that.” 

“There it is, you’re a maniac. Shame on me for thinking you had it in you to feel bad about what you did to me- let alone apologize.”

“But I did apologize, Sophia. I should have been honest with you and made it clear that I wasn’t doing it just to punish you, but because I wanted you for myself, and I do feel bad for that.” 

“Right. Whatever-” Chloe blushed, hating just how much that apology really meant to her. “What’s your point?”

“My point is-” And Candace took a few moments to build up the strength to say this. “Do you actually like how my sister treats you better than how I did… or did you do this just to hurt me?”

Chloe’s deep hazel eyes locked with Candace’s soft gaze. “…What?”

“If you ran away because you wanted to hurt me, please- just say it.” Candace’s voice was weak from the moment the air left her lungs. “If all you want is to get me out of your life because you hate me so much- just say it.”

“I’m not the bad guy here.”

“No, you’re not. That’s the point. You have the right to be upset at me… but I know you, Sophia. This isn’t like you.” 

“What… what isn’t?”

“This. Whatever this is, this isn’t like you.”

“And how would you know what I’m like, Candace?”

“Because I’ve seen happy Sophia before, and this isn’t her.” Candace’s eyes were somehow both soft and firm at once, like two conflicting colors somehow working alongside each other. “Yes, I was hard on you, but not everything I did was out of malice. I made you earn what I gave you, but when you did rise to the challenge I gave you what you deserved, and I was happy doing it. When things were good, you were happy too.”

“So this is why you’re here- to talk to me?”

“Why else would I be here?”

“Because you love your sister?”

“I do love my sister… but not in the same way that I loved you, Sophia.” 

“That’s the problem, Candace!!” The bridled rage slipping out of her forced Chloe to her feet. “I don’t believe you!!” 

Chloe threw the covers to the floor, exposing herself. She didn’t mind being seen like she was, she didn’t care that she was naked, only that she was unprotected. And she wanted Candace to understand that she was unprotected, to understand how she felt. 

“You say that you love me- but I don’t believe you. I can’t believe you. You may know me, but I don’t know you. The one thing that I thought I knew- that everything was my own fault for humiliating you in the world championship, and that it was my place to be punished for what I did to you- was a lie. And I was a fool for falling for it in the first place, just like I was a fool for falling for you. You don’t love me, and I won’t let you convince me otherwise. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. ” 

Candace’s gaze nervously made its way to the floor, heartbroken to know that her feelings were entirely justified. “Is that your answer then- you just want to hurt me?”

“That’s not what I said.” 

“You’re right, it was wrong to pretend like it was your fault. But all I’m hearing is how fiercely you want to punish me in return- and that’s okay. If that’s what you want, I just want you to be honest with yourself about it.”

“But that’s not-”

“Then what other answer is there, Sophia?”

“It’s… it’s better here-”

“Do you really think my sister loves you any more than I did?” Candace finally stood up from bed, standing in front of the other woman like they were equals. “Well- do you?”

“Do you remember all of the things you did to me?” Chloe gasped, shaking her head in desperation. “You forced me to get a tubal ligation against my will, don’t you remember?!”

“Sophia, please-”

“You had me spayed!!”

“You weren’t spayed!!” Candace’s voice shook as she said it. “You weren’t spayed…”

“What… but the surgery-”

“I got cold feet… okay?” Candace shook her head, heart pounding inside of her. “You changed my mind Sophia… the way you talked so passionately about wanting the chance to have your own kids someday… I couldn’t take that away from you.”

“Then… then why trick me into thinking you did?”

“Because I didn’t want to seem weak.” Candace frowned, sighing and letting it out. “I needed you to believe that I was strong, and that you couldn’t just get your way by wielding a knife against me… but when you did… a part of me broke. That’s when I knew I loved you.”

“This isn’t fair.” Chloe’s eyes turned hot with anger as Candace stared straight into them. “This isn’t fair and you know it-”

“Life isn’t fair, Sophia. I know that better than most, and if there’s anyone in the world who should know it better than I do- it should be you.” 

Chloe shouted angrily, lunging towards the other woman. Her hands smacked into Candace’s chest, shoving her backwards with as much force as she could manage. 

And Candace just let her. She was oddly at peace with this- Chloe’s rage. Chloe’s hatred. It made sense, it was warranted, it just wasn’t an honest hatred. It was a reluctant one. 

She could see something in her, that woman she knew so well- that girl she knew better than anyone. This wasn’t Sophia- not really. This was something else. 

St. Clair was stronger than her rival, no doubt about it- but she let the other girl push her around. Chloe backed her into the wall, her hands trembling with anger as she clasped Candace by both wrists, slamming the backs of her hands into the wall beside her head. 

“Go on then.” Candace smirked, looking her straight in the face with those cold yet caring oceans in her eyes. “Whatever you want to do to me, do it.”

“Why?” Chloe growled angrily, staring straight into her eyes. “Why aren’t you fighting back?”

“Because maybe this is another one of my mind games- Or maybe I just don’t want to hurt you.” Candace wet her dry nervous lips. “I want you to feel better. So just this once if you want to beat, rape, or humiliate me like I did to you- I’ll let you. If you think it will really make you feel better, I’ll let you.”

“You’ll let me, really?” Chloe’s grip loosened around Candace’s wrists, weakening. “You’d really let yourself be beaten or raped- just to appease me?”

“A week ago, when I came to see my sister… did you hear me scream?”

Chloe’s angry glare transformed into a look of worry. “I heard screams, but I couldn’t tell whose they were from hearing them.”

“Last Saturday, Claudia took me upstairs and raped me in the bath. It left me limping or in bed for most of the week, and it’s still sore.” Candace’s expression remained blank, her eyes locked onto Chloe’s, wanting her to feel the words she was saying. “The previous week… Tallulah brought me to the opening night of her new project and humiliated me against my will in front of her students and staff- when all I wanted was to spend a weekend away with her.”

“Y-yeah…” Chloe tried to remain stern, even as she quickly let go of Candace’s wrists. “Your point being?”

“You said you don’t know me, so I’m telling you who I am. You asked if I had some important job I needed to be doing- and I do. This is it.” 

“What is?” Chloe frowned, unable to step away. “What’s your job?”

“To make my family happy.” 

 

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Right. Back to getting out of this hellhole. 

No way in hell was Chloe sticking around until this party. She was getting out of here- and she had a plan to do it too. There was just one thing she needed first.

Step one- Avoid everyone else in the house.  

Step two- Getting into places.

Step three- Getting into Claudia’s office.

Step four- Getting into the vestibule.

Step five- Nell. 

Those were the puzzles she needed to solve. Chloe quickly began to go down a mental checklist of her housemates and their locations.

Claudia is busy with her sister. Josephine is sulking in the guest room. Zenna is upstairs with Lilian right now. And Nell is preoccupied with Autumn in the kitchen right now- 

They were like silly predictable NPC’s living their virtually nonexistent lives in the background while Chloe played the actual game- breaking into the enforcer’s office and taking their keys in order to get into the vestibule. She made one quick peek into the nearby broom closet to make sure no one was nearby to hear her, and sure enough, it was empty. 

Perfect. 

She quickly rounded the corner and stepped towards the door, opening it up and quietly heading inside- empty as it ever had been. That didn’t mean she wasn’t being careful, obviously. When escaping from Candace’s house the other week, things were going too perfectly right up until they weren’t, and sure enough.

They’re not here. She stared at the empty space where Nell usually kept their keys, sure that she’d done enough spying on them to know that they generally don’t carry their keys on them- So where are they?

She gritted her teeth as she looked down into the drawer. She didn’t even need to touch the handle, it was already open. Somebody else already had the keys. 

 

God damn it. Chloe sighed loudly, stepping back out into the rest of the house in utter confusion. So maybe there were variables she hadn’t accounted for, no big deal. She just needed to do more reconnaissance. But reconnaissance on who? 

Nell didn’t have the keys, that’s what made this hunt fun, someone else did. The handle was warm- okay, not literally. But Nell was still preoccupied with Autumn, so whoever had the keys must have retrieved them since then, but before Chloe could get a chance to. 

It was amazingly strange for Chloe to think about, because it was almost like it was her who had thefted the keys straight from Nell’s desk- but the only people Chloe could think of who were smart enough to do so were herself… and Candace. 

But Candace doesn’t need the keys. She stood near the center of the ballroom, glancing up at the large portrait of Claudia’s sister, biting her tongue at just how pretty the picture really was. 

Okay fine, maybe Candace has the keys- she would have to. There’s nobody else who could pull this off… but why would she want to steal the keys… and how would she do it? 

She took a closer look at her surroundings, biting her lip as she strained her brain. Maybe she came down the dumbwaiter and snagged them before I could… maybe she’s trying to sabotage me again. 

Chloe stood in the middle of the hall, dressed in an unbeffitingly slutty uniform for such an intelligent woman as she puzzled it over, thinking to herself up until the moment she heard footsteps coming her way. 

Shit- Chloe swerved, ducking out of the way and into the nearby water closet to hide, fearing that it may very well be Nell coming back to their office. And she certainly didn’t want to be blamed for the missing keys, even if she had been planning on stealing them. 

“Oh!!! Hey Chloe~” Darcey smiled, waving at her as she stepped into the water closet with the other slave. “What are you doing in here???”

Right, Darcey. She was always the odd one of the bunch, nearly impossible for even Chloe to track down just due to how stupidly unpredictable she was in her low intelligence.

She looked just as ragged as always- with her messy head of bimbo blonde hair, dyed that way to help her look the part. She had brown eyes rather than blue, changing eye color was a feat one could only accomplish with colored contacts. Her nose was thin and kind of flat, her cheeks had red patches of skin, and she was missing part of her left eyebrow- she wore an eyebrow piercing to hide that fact, even if it didn’t work very well. 

A scarecrow. She looked like a raggedy scarecrow- if quite a bit less child friendly than her big screen counterpart.

She wore the same uniform Chloe did- mostly. Chloe’s fishnet evening gloves went all the way up to and past her elbows, and Darcey, well- she didn’t have a pair of those at all. She had the same corset, the same leggings, the same garterbelt, the same skirt, and the same chain connecting her nipple clamps together- but additionally, she did have a pair of small chains connecting either of her nipple clamps to her collar- but that was hidden behind her little scarf, something Chloe’s uniform lacked.

“Are you, umm… okay???” Darcey blushed, giving Chloe a nervous smile, trying to hide the crooked tooth that poked through her top gum. “I-I’m sorry to hear about your… previous master, y’know???”

Chloe just shook her head, brushing it off. “Yeah, sorry. Thank you… I thought I heard Nell coming so-”

“So you ducked inside of the water closet to make it look like you weren’t up to no good, because if they saw you just standing there you’d probably get in trouble!!!” Darcey giggled, giving Chloe a wink. “Don’t worry, I get you!!!”

“I-” Chloe blinked comically with confusion. “How did you-”

“Because I do it all the time, you know???” Darcey smiled, her red cheeks still quite pink. “It’s not easy to avoid Nell, but I make it work anyways!!! It’s always work and no play with them- but there’s only so much cleaning I can do before I’m finished for the day, and then I just get bored!!!” Darcey’s hands crossed on the other side of her hips, holding her arms behind her back. “I have to either come up with more things to do, or find places Nell won’t find me and… well… make some fun of my own~!!!”

“Wait, you mean your weird all over the place movement patterns, that’s on purpose?” Chloe was almost impressed, who knew such a smart plan could form in that nonexistent brain of hers. “You’re purposefully avoiding Nell?”

“Well yeah, duh!!! J-just don’t tell them, okay?” Darcey fiddled with her feet, gazing down at the floor in nervous embarrassment. “I mean… you’ve been doing the same thing and I haven’t said anything- you know?”

“You-” Chloe blushed, realizing that if Darcey could have her figured out, her plan might not have been quite as smart as she thought it was. “You noticed?” 

“You sneak around like you’re playing Tomb Raider, it’s not that hard to notice.” Darcey giggled under her breath. “You move like the PS1 Lara Croft model~”

Chloe giggled back. “You play video games?” 

“I wish!!!” Darcey snorted, shaking her head. “Mistress won’t even let me near a controller, she says I’ll break it…”

“That’s so rude of her!!”

“N-no, she’s right…” Darcey sighed, frowning. “I’ve never been very smart. I was kind of a stupid deadweight until Miss Claudia made a drone out of me…”

Chloe’s pointed ears almost perked up at that. “A drone?”

“That’s what she calls it, I don’t really know what it means-” Darcey blushed, quickly backpedalling. “I mean I do know what it means, but the context muddles it up too much for me. Words were never really my strong suit- not that I had a strong suit.”

“Right…” Chloe smiled, slightly put off by the strange conversation they’d ended up having. “Well, if you’ll excuse me. I do have to get back to my work…”

“Of course.” Darcey smiled, making sure to turn and always have her back facing away from Chloe as she stepped past. “B-before you go, actually- can I ask you something personal?” 

Chloe sighed, rolling her eyes at the girl before nodding. “Sure, go ahead.”

“Your number being 0000 has always been really weird to me… can I ask where you got it?”

“Where’d I get it?” Chloe blushed, her eyes slowly drifting up to the ceiling above them, standing beneath Claudia’s bedroom. “My first owner gave it to me-”

“D-do you mind if I ask who that is?” 

“I… would rather not say-”

“Do you mind if I… guess?”

Chloe snorted at that, rolling her eyes. “Sure~” She didn’t want Darcey to know, but there was no way she could possibly guess it, she wasn’t all that smart after all-

 

“It’s Miss Claudia’s sister, isn’t it?” She smiled proudly as she spoke. “It’s Candace~”

Chloe’s face quickly grew deep red as she blushed, staring nervously into Darcey’s eyes… before turning around and quickly facing away from her, unable to look at the other woman. 

I’m fucked. Chloe swallowed nervously, unsure of how to even… talk with Darcey after that. Is it really that obvious, because if it is- I’m fucked.

She could not stand to be associated with Candace St. Clair for the rest of her life, she could not continue knowing that the girls all thought of her as Candace’s slave- that’s not what she wanted. That’s not who she was. 

Chloe really wished she had the keys into the vestibule right now- not to escape, but just to get away from the other girl… Just because she knew that Claudia was still hiding Poppy from her.

“I- I need to go. I’m sorry-”

Because she really needed Poppy right now…

She quickly stepped away from Darcey, making a beeline to the vestibule door in the hopes that maybe whoever had the keys had left the door unlocked- but they hadn’t. 

“Chloe… are- are you okay?” Darcey quietly followed after her, unsure of what to do. “Y-you’re not trying to escape are you?”

“God- why won’t you just leave me alone?” Chloe snapped at her, pressing her forehead to the door. “Why won’t Candace leave me the fuck alone?”

“Chloe-”

“Go away, Darcey.” Chloe growled under her breath, turning around to snap at the other girl. “Take a hint, I don’t want-” 

“You want into Miss Claudia’s office…” Darcey stood just a few feet away from Chloe, holding a ring of keys in hand. “Don’t you?”

Chloe just stared at them, sitting in her hands. “How did you?”

“Miss Claudia thinks that because I’m a stupid idiot moron I can’t be trusted with any more than scrubbing the floors, washing clothes, and wiping down windows…” Darcey frowned, clutching the keyring to her chest, her eyes heavy with some kind of inner turmoil. “I wish I was smart enough to appease them, I really do… b-because I’m certainly too ugly to be of any value to anyone…” 

Chloe frowned, biting her lip. “Darcey-”

“Please don’t tell anyone about this…” Darcey’s eyes began to water, a small stream of tears beginning to leak from her. “M-Miss Claudia never wanted me to begin with… a-and if she ever finds out that I’ve been going into her office to clean and organize her workspace, she’ll… she’ll-”

“She’ll what, Darcey?”

“She’ll kill me!!!” Darcey was having a full blown meltdown at this point. “That’s what happens to girls like me, broken dolls with production errors, girls who are too ugly in the body and too stupid in the brain to be desirable to anyone… we get thrown away!!!”

“I’m sorry…” Chloe swallowed nervously, quickly stepping towards the other girl to try and comfort her. “Does anyone know that you feel like this?” 

“You can’t tell a soul.” Darcey desperately shook her head, her tears flinging in every which way. “If the masters caught me complaining, I’d be a goner… I was in the facility for a year and a half before they gave me a chance, b-because of how ugly and stupid I am… Miss Claudia only values me for my obedience, a-and if she heard me doing something like this, she’d-” 

Smack . Chloe wasn’t sure why she did it, but a firm slap to the face usually helped her snap out of things like this. “You’re not stupid, Darcey!!!”

She stumbled back a few feet, clutching her cheek with her hand. She stared up at Chloe in disbelief, so caught off guard that she was no longer really even crying. “Wh-what did you say?”

“I said you’re not stupid.” Chloe sighed, pulling her in for a brief hug before standing arm’s reach apart from her. “Look- I’m not the person to talk about looks with, but even I can tell that you’re not stupid.”

“You think so?”

“I know so, Darcey.” Chloe smiled, her heart thumping in her chest. “You’ve broken into Claudia’s office how many times and she still doesn’t know?”

The compliments were starting to make Darcey giggle. “I was Miss Josephine’s very very first slave… I’ve been with them for four years now, and it’s been pretty regular…”

“And what about avoiding Nell, right?” Chloe went on. “Even I wasn’t able to tell that that was when you were doing, I just thought you-”

Darcey frowned. “Were mindlessly wandering around like a brainless idiot?”

“Well… yeah.” Chloe frowned back. “But I’m sorry about that.”

“I- I don’t blame you~”

“But yeah… you are smart, Darcey.” Chloe blushed, lowering her head in shame. “And yes, you’re right… I did belong to Candace…”

“I knew it!!!”

“See what I mean?” Chloe continued, trying to ease Darcey’s fears. “You’re not an idiot, Darcey… you’re not… a brainless scarecrow… you have value.”

“I guess I didn’t really think of it like that… Gosh- I’m so sorry for dumping this on you, Chloe… I just… didn’t know who to talk to…”

“It’s okay… I promise.” Chloe swallowed nervously, taking a deep breath. “I do need to ask you something, though-”

Darcey was right back to her normally bubbly self. “Sure!!! Go ahead!!!”

“You’ve been in Claudia’s office. Have you by chance seen any stuffed animals… maybe a little black and white dog?”

“None that I can remember, I’m afraid.”

“Right… damn it…” Chloe frowned, a little bit heartbroken to hear it- but she trusted Darcey’s intelligence enough to believe that she had gotten a thorough enough look. “I just… don’t know where else she’d be-”

“Well if she’s a stuffed dog, that’s obvious- right???”

“I don’t know… is it?”

“Yeah!!! She probably ended up in Lilian’s room then!!!”

“In Lilian’s room?” Chloe’s eyes went wide, slapping herself in the forehead for not thinking about it any sooner. “Of course…”

“Y-yeah???” Darcey giggled. “She’s five!!! It only makes sense!!!”

“Thank you thank you thank you thank you!!!” Chloe gave her a big hug before turning away from her, beginning to rush up the stairs. “I don’t know what would’ve happened without your help-”

“W-wait!!!” Darcey caught her by the wrist, stopping her in her tracks. “I-if you’re going up there anyways… Can I ask a favor of you?”

Chloe stopped, giving her a smile. “Yeah… sure~”

“I- I’m required to clean the guest room, but… my Mistress is up there and she’s… smoking.” Darcey frowned, ashamed to have to ask for Chloe’s help. “If I don’t do my job, I’ll get in trouble… b-but when I woke up in Mistress’ bed this morning, she was already smoking… and I-” Darcey sighed, hanging her head in shame. “I don’t want to disappoint my Mistress but… I can’t have another asthma attack again…”

“You want me to go up there and clean for you?”

“Y-yes, please…”

“Right… I think I can do that.”

“Y-yeah?”

“Yeah. You can count on me.” 

“Promise?”

“Promise.” 

 

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“Miss Josephine?” Chloe gently knocked on the door before stepping inside, instantly met with the smell of whatever it was the other woman was smoking, quickly closing the door to keep the smoke from getting out. “Darcey asked me to-”

“Oh Darcey…” Both voices seemed to have a strange mechanical echo, as if being played back to them through a speaker. “I’ve put her through so much pain for so long.”

Chloe just frowned, staring at the other woman. “Miss, I-”

Miss, I- 

It didn’t take long for Chloe to figure out exactly where the sound was coming from either, and it made her instantly very terrified to realize it. “You’ve been listening…”

Josephine nodded, gently deactivating the speaker on her bracelet, cutting the feed to the microphone built into Chloe’s collar. “I was just…”

“No need to explain… You’re one of our master’s, you have the right.” Chloe didn’t like it, but she accepted it. “How much did you hear, Miss?”

Josephine frowned. “Pretty much all of it.”

“Please…” Chloe started into pleading with the other woman. “Please don’t punish Darcey for this-”

“And to think that for so long she’s been killing herself having to put up with me… and my noxious disgusting fumes… god, I’m the real idiot…” Josephine had a heart in there like Chloe hadn’t seen from either of her own masters so far. “All because I couldn’t get up off my ass and learn to clean after myself…” 

Chloe approached nervously, trying to remain calm. “Miss Josephine?” 

“I just thought she’d like to go to a good home, you know?” Josephine continued to spiral, outright ignoring Chloe as she came closer. “But some home this really is… I didn’t want her to just get put down like they were planning, b-but… I didn’t want to be the one to kill her… especially not with her asthma… but still I went and smoked up the room while she was in bed with me. Like- am I the one with no brain here??? Am I the one who should go???”

“Miss Josephine!!” Chloe shouted, quickly snapping the other woman back to attention. “Darcey just wanted me to come clean up in here for her-” 

“No.” Claudia’s wife adamantly shook her head, trying to shoo Chloe away. “No. I can clean up after myself, I have to… please- go tell her I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to hurt her, a-and I-” Josephine blushed, braving the effort it took to look Chloe in the eyes as she spoke. “I think she’s really pretty, and- if she doesn’t want to work cleaning duty anymore… she doesn’t have to.” 

Chloe was instantly taken aback by everything the woman was asking of her. “Josephine, please.. Calm down-”

“Just go, okay?” Josie snapped her fingers and pointed to the door. “Th-that’s an order… o-or whatever-”

“I…” Chloe smiled, bowing for the other woman. “Yes, Ma’am… is there anything else I can do to help you?”

“No… I’ll be okay.” Josephine nodded, giving her a nervous smile. “Thank you.” 

“Yes, Ma’am. Anytime~”

 

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“She-” Darcey blushed, curling up in bed as she relaxed, taking it all in. “She really said that?”

Chloe nodded, giving her an eager smile. “Every word of it, yeah.”

“And I really don’t have to be on cleaning duty anymore?”

“Not if you don’t want to, no.” 

“Chloe, I-” Darcey nervously wiped the tears from her eyes with her blankets. “I- I know this is probably really selfish of me to ask, b-but… would you take over cleaning the house for me?”

“If that’s what you want.” Chloe sighed, agreeing. “Then sure, at least for a little bit.”

“J-just for tomorrow, I mean!!!”

Chloe giggled at her from the other bed. “Come on, I already said sure~”

“I don’t know what to say~!!!” Darcey beamed happily, leaping out of bed and climbing in with Chloe, wrapping her arms around the girl. “Thank you so much~!!!” 

Chloe blushed, rolling her eyes at the other slave. “D-don’t mention it!! All I did was- Mmmph~?? ”

Chloe’s breaths were instantly brought to silence by a pair of lips pressing themselves to hers, desperately whispering into Darcey’s mouth as they kissed. 

“Thank you, Chloe… this really means a lot to me.” Darcey pulled away, smiling as she stared into the other girl’s deep hazel eyes. “I- if you don’t mind… I… I think I have an idea you might like~”

 

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“So… let me get this straight, you two~” 

Thump. Claudia brought the tip of her cane down onto the floor, as hard as she could, staring at the girls. 

“You both want to just… set aside work for the rest of the night- to play with me?”

“To be played with by you, Miss~!!!” Darcey beamed eagerly, already on her knees for the mistress of the house. “Please???”

Chloe was also on her knees, though her gaze was mostly drawn to the silent woman standing near the door, as Candace tried to stay out of whatever was going on. 

Claudia noticed this, using her cane to grab Chloe by the chin and turn her gaze. “And you want this too- do you, Chloe?”

“Yes, Ma’am.” Chloe answered without hesitation, shooting quick glances over to Candace in the corner- who was not happy with this. “I’m prepared to behave this time as well, your wish is my command, I promise.” 

Candace just rolled her eyes, turning to head out of the room. “I’ll go volunteer to help out wherever I can then-”

“Actually, Candace.” Claudia stopped her before she could go too far. “I think you should stay for this~”

“Stay for what, Clauds?”

“Take a seat and watch, dear.” Claudia gave her an evil grin. “That’s an order~”

Both Chloe and Darcey began to giggle at that, watching Candace’s unhappy frown as she forced herself to shut the door and take a seat at Josephine’s vanity.

“Silence.”

Thump. Claudia smacked the ground in front of them with her cane, drawing the slaves back to attention in an instant. Chloe was receptive to Claudia’s demands, but Darcey… she seemed downright hypnotized. 

Both Candace and Chloe were taken by surprise watching Darcey lower her head to the floor in front of her, addressing Claudia in what could only be described as the most agreeable tone imaginable. 

“Yes, Ma’am. My apologies for the inappropriate behavior, I should know better than to enjoy myself at a superior’s expense, it is my place to respect and serve, not giggle and mock those above me, I’m sorry.” 

Chloe’s heart was… thumping as she listened to Darcey speak in a way Darcey had never spoken before, taken into some strange trance by the thump of Claudia’s cane- her own hazel eyes drawn to it like a moth to a flame, staring into its almost glowing red eyes. 

“Claudia…” Candace nervously spoke up. “What was that-”

Thump. Even Candace flinched at that one, watching her sister point it straight at her. 

“When I say silence, I demand silence. That includes you, Candace.” Claudia hissed under her breath, sliding her foot towards Darcey’s face and watching as the girl began to place kisses on her superior’s bare skin. “While I’m sure that my sister appreciates your apology- you’re to consider Candace an equal for now- until I say otherwise.”

“Yes, Ma’am. Anything and everything you say.” Darcey took a moment from kissing the top of Claudia’s toes to accept a handful of pats on the back of her head, before returning to it. “Thank you for correcting me, Ms. Mariam.” 

“Good little drone~” Claudia snickered at the poor little drone. “And you, Chloe.” 

“H-huh?” Chloe shook her head, finding herself staring into those strange serpentine eyes on the head of Claudia’s cane, quickly blushing and readjusting herself. “Yes, Mistress?”

“Repeat after me~” Claudia twirled her cane in her left hand. “I will do exactly as Miss Mariam tells me without complaint or hesitation.”

Thump. 

“I-” Chloe swallowed nervously, too scared to look up at Claudia’s face as she spoke, her eyes fixed to the floor where they belonged. “I will do exactly as Miss Mariam tells me without complaint or hesitation.”

“Good slave.” Claudia grinned evilly. “Again.”

Thump. 

“I will do exactly as Miss Mariam tells me without complaint or hesitation.”

“Again.”

Thump. 

“I will do exactly as Miss Mariam tells me without complaint or hesitation.”

“One more time~?” 

Thump. 

“I will do exactly as Miss Mariam tells me without complaint or hesitation.”

“I lied- one more time~?”

Thump. 

“I will do exactly as Miss Mariam tells me without complaint or hesitation.”

“Very very good~” Claudia cooed at her, reaching forward and scratching the top of her head with the mouth of her cane. “That wasn’t too bad, now was it?”

“N-no, Miss…” Chloe shook her head, strangely terrified at the sensation she was feeling. “Thank you, Ma’am…” 

“You took out those new piercings I gave you.” Claudia gazed down at Chloe’s bottom lip in disappointment. “Why?”

“B-because I thought they would get in the way of serving you with my mouth, Ma’am.” Chloe bowed her head. “My apologies, Master.”

“For now you are forgiven, but remember-” Claudia smiled, turning her head and staring into her sister’s eyes as she hissed the words out of her lips. “Drones don’t make decisions because drones do not think for themselves- understood?”

“Yes, Master.” Chloe bowed her head again, signalling her understanding and compliance. “I understand.”

“Say it.” She retracted her cane from the girl’s scalp. “Drones do not think. I will not think. Drones have no brain. I have no brain.” 

Thump. 

“Drones do not think. I will not think.” These words came to Chloe seemingly much easier than the last round of words did. “Drones have no brain. I have no brain.”

Claudia’s evil eyes glowed as she grinned. “That’s it, keep going.”

Thump. 

“Drones do not think. I will not think. Drones have no brain. I have no brain.” 

Thump. 

“Drones do not think. I will not think. Drones have no brain. I have no brain.” 

Thump. 

“Drones do not think. I will not think. Drones have no brain. I have no brain.” 

Thump. 

“Drones do not think. I will not think. Drones have no brain. I have no brain.” 

Thu-

“Claudia, stop!!!” Candace leapt from her seat, desperately curling her fists into her hair, horrified to be watching this happen to the woman she loved. “Sophia!!!”

“I said silence, did I not?” Claudia hissed angrily at her. “You’re going to ruin-”

“Candace?” Chloe seemed to have some sort of headache as she looked up and over at Candace, hearing that name breaking her out of whatever fear induced trance she was experiencing before she fell too deep into it. “M-Miss Mariam… C-Claudia?”

Claudia just curled her hand into a fist around the head of her cane out of anger, staring at her sister as Candace slowly sat herself back down in her seat, nervously silencing herself. 

“Whatever…” Claudia slid her foot towards Chloe, indicating for the slave to worship her master like Darcey had. The other women could still hear the other girl nervously mumble the very same words Chloe had been mumbling between kisses she placed atop Claudia’s other foot. “Snap out of it you stupid bimbo.”

Darcey’s eyes went wide as she realized what was happening, feeling Claudia thump her cane directly onto the top of her head, forcing out a whispered murmur and a hushed- “Yes, Miss Mariam… Sorry Miss Mariam…”

If anything, it was almost clear that the reason Darcey thought so little of her intelligence… was because she was trained to believe that she was stupid. 

And Josephine still somehow blamed herself for that…

 

“Alright, you two.” Claudia sneered at them, snapping her fingers. “I wanna see one of you tackle the other to the ground in a flurry of kisses and hands~”

Chloe shuffled nervously, taking a round of quick glances back and forth between the other girls before being suddenly tackled to the ground by Darcey. 

“Yes, Miss Mariam~!!!” Darcey giggled, wrapping her hands around the chain at Chloe’s nipples and using it to drag her upwards for a quick kiss before violently slamming the other girl back to the floor. 

“Mmmph!!” Chloe felt the other girl grab her by both wrists, taking some sort of early lead over her. “Get off~!!”

She pressed her knee to Darcey’s stomach, forcing her off of her and sending her tumbling away, vulnerable for Chloe to climb onto her instead. “Got you~”

Darcey whimpered and whined, struggling between Chloe’s grasp as the redhead pressed her knee to her crotch, squeezing Darcey’s vulva beneath her weight and leaning down for a kiss, stealing one away from the other slave’s lips. 

At Claudia’s behest, the two of them continued to wrestle for a few more minutes, all for the entertainment of their master and her sister.

“What do you think, Candy?” Claudia smirked, licking her lips as the scene went on. “Does it make you want to join them?”

“For the sex, sure. But I think I’ll pass on the whole submission thing.” Candace snorted at Claudia’s question, rolling her eyes. “I’d be happy to join… but only in place of you~”

“In place of me?” Claudia’s eyes narrowed into a glare. “You really think you could top me?”

“Claudia.” Candace sighed, trying to make sure the other girls didn’t hear. “If this is a dick measuring competition- I’ve already won.” 

“But that’s not what this is, dear. This is about who’s on top~” 

“What are you talking about?”

“There’s a hierarchy to things, sweetheart!!” Claudia gestured towards the two slaves wrestling on the floor. “Even at the bottom, the slaves will fight it out to see who’s above who- and that’s when one of them will be submissive to the other.”

“But they won’t, though?” Candace couldn’t help but feel some strange disconnect in the way her sister saw things and the way she saw things. “It’s not a ladder. Sure some people are above others, but it’s not like everyone will either be above or below everyone else. That’s not how it works.”

“If that’s not how it works, then how does it work, Candace?”

“There are tiers in place, Claudia. You’re not better than me.”

“And what makes you think you’re better than me then~”

“Eugh.” Candace threw up her hands, shaking her head in defeat. “You’re impossible.” 

“There’s always a bigger fish, Candace.” Claudia smiled, finally standing up from bed, wearing little else than her sage green night robe. “Figure out how big you really are, and then come talk to me about finding your place in the hierarchy.” 

“And what do you expect me to do in the meantime?” 

“There’s a wireless vibrator in the drawers of my wife's vanity. Feel free to enjoy yourself while you watch~”

“I thought you wanted me to join in?”

“Not until you accept where you belong, no~”

It was pretty clear by now to all who were watching that Chloe was easily coming out on top of Darcey in the end. Claudia carefully lowered herself to one knee behind Chloe, grabbing her by the wrists and watching her slave go limp in her grasp. 

“Case and point, Candace. Chloe here comes out on top of Darcey.” Claudia smirked, her evil eyes glowing with delight as she stared back towards her sister. “And who knows… She did pretty thoroughly humiliate you- maybe she should be on top of you as well~”

Candace was almost offended by that. “Don’t even-”

“What about you, Chloe… think you’d like that?”

Chloe, for her part, was just beaming with delight at the look on Candace’s face. Maybe she very well would like being on top of Candace, or maybe it was the brat within her, but for whatever reason- she answered. “Yeah. Definitely.” 

Candace’s armor broke just a little bit more there, her expression half defeated, and half purely sad. “Play with your new fuckdoll and leave me out of this, Claudia.” 

“Suit yourself~” Claudia snickered, wrenching Chloe’s arms behind her back and forcing her face to the floor in front of her. “Let’s break my new dog in some more, hm?”

“Nnnnghh…” Chloe took a deep breath and loosened up, letting Claudia manhandle her that much easier. She took a quick glance behind her, and the moment she saw Candace getting up to leave before anything more extreme happened was when she lost interest in putting up any sort of fight. “Yes, Ma’am…” 

“Darcey.” Claudia gripped Chloe tight by the back of the head. “Hold up your skirt so that Chloe can suck your cunt.”

“Yes, Miss Mariam.” Darcey didn’t waste a moment, within just a few seconds her hips were within a foot from Chloe’s face, her hands curled around the hem of her translucent skirt as she held it out of the way. “How’s this, Ma’am?”

“Excellent.” Claudia grinned, licking her lips as she drove Chloe’s face into the other girl’s cunt with one hand. “Just like that~”

Chloe gasped, taking a deep breath in anticipation as she allowed her mouth to be pressed to Darcey’s genitals, face red with nervous excitement.

She had done this before, but this felt distinctly different. It was actually kind of nice. 

Her usual fears washed away as she opened her mouth, taking in the salty taste of Darcey’s vulva against her tongue as she pressed herself inside of it. Chloe was pretty good with her mouth after all, and for once- she actually didn’t hate the woman she was being forced to tongue. If there was anyone in this house that Chloe was most okay with eating out, it was her.

Chloe didn’t much mind the feeling of embarrassment washing over her cheeks as she pleasured the slightly older woman, even if she was being forced into it. The sound of Darcey’s helpless moans singing into her ears were genuinely nice for a change, and that just helped push her further. Maybe she would like being on top after all~

“Mmph?!” Chloe’s eyes shot open in surprise, moaning loudly into Darcey’s cunt as she felt something sliding into hers. Her face went from pink to blazing red as a pair of fingers spread her labia, holding them apart and stretching them as Chloe continued to mouth the other slave’s vagina, feeling the grasp on the back of her head slowly recede. 

“Good girl, keep going.” She felt a fierce flick against her clitoris, sending a small shiver up her spine and a moan through her lips as Claudia fingered her. 

“Ahhh~!!” Chloe’s moans seemed to be helping Darcey, if only just a little bit, as she began to arch her back and ride the other girl’s face, closing in on an orgasm thanks to Chloe’s quick work with her mouth. Within just a minute or two, Darcey had ridden herself stupid, climaxing with Chloe’s tongue still firmly pressed inside of her. It was almost quite pathetic how little of a challenge Darcey had been- but it was worth it if it meant Chloe wasn’t the one being raped just yet. 

“Nnngh!!!” Chloe felt herself yanked from Darcey’s body and flipped over, slammed into the floor on her back as her master assumed a much similar position to the one that her slave just had, slipping her tongue inside of Chloe’s wet vagina. 

Chloe knew better than to fight it by now, Claudia’s fingers curled into her thighs, squeezing a fierce moan out of her as she worked her way inside of Chloe’s cunt. Darcey was pathetic, and Chloe wasn’t the biggest fan of that, but Claudia wanted pathetic- so there was no point in keeping that from her.

Chloe let out a loud nervous whine, letting herself give into the pleasure and ride against Claudia’s mouth. Her master used her hands to hold Chloe’s thighs steady, preventing her from bouncing to fast on her tongue. But Chloe leaned into that, grinded as fast and as hard as her master would let her, moaning through her breath as she came. 

“That’s it~” Claudia pulled her mouth from Chloe’s cunt, staring into the humiliated look on Chloe’s face as the girl bounced it out on her own fingers, quickly pressing them inside of herself to fill the void left by her master’s tongue- much like she was now embracing Claudia’s power over her, however unearned, to fill the void left by Candace. 

Chloe moaned loudly, rolling her head backwards in a mixture of disgust and pride- she wished Candace had been here to witness that, because maybe then she would have gotten the picture.

Chloe didn’t need Candace- she could find pleasure all on her own~

Chapter 34: Steel Your Heart

18th October, 29 days until the banquet.

 

“Good morning, Sophia.”

“Good morning, Candace.” 

Candace grinned at her, sitting at the dining room table alone, a glass of morning coffee in front of her. “I see we’re using names and not insults this morning, progress~”

“Don’t flatter yourself, please.” Chloe stepped past her without looking her in the eye, the bell on her collar ringing faintly with each step. “I just don’t care at this point.”

“Glad to hear it.” Candace smiled, watching her as she walked around the table, gathering the dishes from breakfast. “My sister has you on cleaning duty, huh?”

“No actually, I’ve just come to respect Darcey for the work she does and want to help her out is all.”

“How noble of you~”

“What do you want, St. Clair?” Chloe scoffed, a stack of dishes piling up on the table next to her as she glared at the other woman. “Didn’t you say everything you needed to say yesterday?”

“I said everything I wanted to say, sure.” Candace slowly sipped her drink. “But I didn’t get to ask everything I wanted to ask.” 

“What could you possibly have to ask that’s so important-”

“Aria.” 

Chloe immediately froze, setting the last of the dishes down into the pile before stepping away from them, her eyes fixed towards the floor. “What about her?”

“What did she tell you?” Candace finished her coffee, setting the empty glass down on the table beside her. “What all did she say?”

“What does it matter?” Chloe slowly made her way towards Candace, careful not to look up. “She told me everything I needed to hear, clearly you already know what she said, since you’re asking about it.” 

“I want to know what she said and why she said it.” Candace swallowed nervously, looking away from the other girl as she got close. “Because you deserve to know if she lied to you.”

Chloe picked the empty mug off the table next to Candace, holding it gently in her palms so that she didn’t drop it. “Refill?”

“No thank you.” Candace instinctively waved her off. “I just want to hear it, that’s all.” 

“Okay.” Chloe set the empty mug down alongside the tray of dishes. “But you have to own up to the truth.”

Candace nodded, perfectly willing to accept those terms. “I can do that.”

“She told me to my face that you didn’t love me, that you just wanted me to think that you loved me.” 

“She wouldn’t know-”

“True or false.” Chloe stopped her, reminding her of the rules. “Truth or lie.”

Candace glared at her across the table. “Lie.” 

“Justify?”

“No one can judge how someone else feels. She can’t really know that I don’t love you just like I can’t really know that you were ever happy with me- but I can tell you that how I feel is for me to say, not her.”

Chloe just nodded at that. “Okay.”

“So?”

“So what?”

“Do you believe me now?”

“That’s not the game.” Chloe shook her head. “The game is me telling you what she said and you telling me if it’s a lie, that’s it.”

“Alright. I can play by that. Next?”

“She told me that you have this web of yours, and that when you see a girl you like, you pull them in. Truth or lie?”

“Truth.”

“Justify?”

“So I have to justify her truths too-” Candace rolled her eyes, tapping her fingers on the table. “It stands to reason that if I didn’t claim you just to punish you, I did it because I wanted to and no other reason.” 

“I need more examples than one.”

“When you first left, I spiraled.” Candace wasn’t proud to be admitting it, but she wasn’t going to let that stop her. “I got drunk one night, met a fan of mine and ended up raping her in her own hotel room.”

“And you didn’t make her your slave?”

“I was going to, but my father doesn’t want me to have another slave. So Leah killed her, to protect me, and to protect her from me… I’ve thought about her every night since then.”

 

“Aria told me that I wasn’t the first girl to fall for you- she was.”

“Truth.” Candace didn’t need to be prompted for justification this time. “Aria’s had feelings for me for quite a while now, and those feelings never went away. Question-”

“Answer?”

“Did she neglect to mention that I fell for her first… and that she rejected me before anything else?”

Chloe paused, shaking her head and trying to be neutral on the subject. “She did not.”

“I’m not asking you to believe me at face value, just to consider my point of view too… next?”

 

“Aria told me that she was trapped, that the family’s eyes were always on her, and that she couldn’t go anywhere or do anything on her own. She couldn’t escape you.”

“Truth. Aria had a house by herself here on the island, but she had her driver’s license taken away, she couldn’t travel. The family was always watching her.”

“Why was that?”

“Because she stole something from my sister.” Candace paused, thinking it over in her own head. “And I only recently realized that she might have done so on her mother’s behalf-”

“Aria’s mother?”

“Claudia’s mother. Lilith.” 

“Justify?”

“I don’t know the answer to that, I’m sorry.”

 

“Aria told me that you tricked and lied to get to her.”

“Truth. I manipulated her finances through illegal means, incentivizing her to do photoshoots with me so that I could get closer to her.”

“Justify?”

“She was a young hot supermodel, and I have a lot of money.”

“But she rejected you first?”

“Money can’t buy everyone.” Candace smirked, giving Chloe a sly grin. “Well… I guess that’s not all that true, Claudia certainly bought you, didn’t she?”

“Not funny…” Chloe frowned, blushing. “For how much?”

“You can ask her yourself- five hundred thousand~”

“That’s as much money as I won from the tournament.”

“I would say that’s a coincidence, but my brother was the one to sell you, so I can’t be sure.”

 

“Aria told me that you wanted me to believe that nobody was looking for me.”

“Did she tell you otherwise?”

“Not as such, but… she told me that I have fans and that you were one of them, and that she was happy when I won.”

“But did she tell you that people were looking for you?” 

“She implied it.”

“She lied… the implication is false, at least… and I would suppose that that’s why she only implied it, instead of stating as such.” Candace shook her head. “And I have been very up front so far about when something she said is true.” 

“So it’s true- no one’s been looking for me.”

“And I said that. I manipulated you a lot that day, but when I said that no one was looking for you, it was true. Everyone really did think you were dead.” Candace blushed, curling her hand into a fist on the table. “I cried tears for you that day. I told you that I was prepared to face anyone who came looking for you, but nobody came. That wasn’t a lie.”

“Not even Justin?” Chloe’s hands were shaking too hard to continue with dishes. “He really believes I’m dead?”

“He knows something that he’s not letting on, I won’t lie about that.” Candace rested her chin in her hands. “I’m going to be hosting the championship this year, with him.”

“What?” Chloe’s heart jumped in her chest. “Why?”

“In your memory-”

“You sick fucking monster.”

“Please, calm down… it was Justin’s request.”

“…Was it?”

“I don’t know what he knows, but he and I met in person, and I think I’m beginning to piece together the picture. But in the meantime- there was something else she told you… what was it?”

 

“You cheated.” Chloe snapped back at her. “You cheated to get to the finals.”

“The big question…”

“Answer it.” 

“I’ve had a lot of time to think about this question.”

“Say it.” 

“I don’t need to say it, Sophia. Because this is you talking, not Aria. I read your poem, you’re a wonder with words, but Aria didn’t say that- did she?” Candace, despite all odds, remained calm. “Did she say it, or did she imply it?”

“What does it matter-”

“Because if she didn’t say it, there’s a reason.” 

“No.” Chloe fumed. “She implied it. But that didn’t change the fact-” 

“I told you it wasn’t fully legitimate, and it wasn’t. But it probably wasn’t nearly as bad as you think it was, because I didn’t cheat at the game.”

“If you didn’t cheat at the game, then what did you do?”

“I bribed the people in charge to manipulate the matchups in my favor… to put us in opposite brackets.”

Chloe blushed, picking up the tray of dishes. “To put us in the finals together…”

“Yes.”

 

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Chloe had been guiltily waiting in the kitchen next to an oversized stack of dishes for quite a while before Autumn actually showed up to do anything about them. 

“Hey Autumn, I’m sorry about the-” Chloe swallowed nervously as she watched Autumn step inside of the kitchen followed by Nell. “Dishes.” 

“It’s fine…” Autumn replied in a somber tone. “I’ll get to them later…” 

Chloe quickly took a step backwards to evaluate the situation, somewhat confused by what she was seeing. She assumed that Autumn stayed inside of the kitchen all day because she didn’t like talking to people, but-

“Hold still.” Nell had to wrangle the otherwise restless slave, grabbing Autumn by the upper arm and yanking her- violently. 

Autumn let herself be dropped to her knees, still firmly within the enforcer’s grasp. She didn’t like what was going on, but all she could do was silently sulk as Nell hauld a light but firm brass chain from the pantry, attaching one end to a small stake in the floor and the other to Autumn’s head.

The girl had a rather long french braid, running uniformly down the middle of her back, and at the end of that braid her hair was secured by a strange metal tie. It was actually a lot like a metal shackle had been combined with a hair clip, clamping down on the end of her braid and holding it in place. It was so fiercely embedded into her hair that there was no way of pulling it out without tearing her hair from her head. 

“Nnngh-” Autumn lurched backwards, catching herself on her hands and knees as the enforcer pulled harshly on the chain, making sure she was safely secured into place. 

“You know the rules, Autumn.” Nell locked the metal leash in place with those same keys. “I shouldn’t have to fight you about this every morning.” 

Chloe swallowed nervously, instinctively reaching upwards towards her own head of hair- short but meticulously cared for. Chloe’s locks hadn’t ceased being dear to her even after Candace had sheared a lot of them off, and Chloe would hate to be put in a device like that herself. 

Autumn of course said nothing to either of them, cold and uncaring as she stared down at a fixed point on the floor before her, waiting for everyone else to leave. 

“And you-” Nell turned their attention onto Chloe. “Don’t think I’m not watching you. I don’t know what you’ve been up to, but I don’t expect it’s any good, so shape up and make yourself useful.”

Chloe swallowed nervously, just glad Nell hadn’t caught her with the keys just yet. “I will, I swear. I’m filling it for Darcey today, like she asked me to.”

“You’re what?” Nell was surprised to hear that, and clearly so was Autumn, silently glaring up at Chloe from below.

“I’m on cleaning duty today.” Chloe reiterated. “Miss Josephine approved it, you can ask her-”

“And I will, slave.” Nell sighed, brushing Chloe off. “Don’t tell me how to do my job, and I’ll tell you how to do yours.”

“Yes. I understand. Thank you… it won’t happen again.”

Nell quickly made their way out of the room after that, their keys in hand. Today was going to be… interesting. 

 

“What are you doing here…” Autumn mumbled at her from the floor below. “Where’s Darcey…”

Chloe just shook her head and sighed, not wanting to put up with Autumn’s attitude towards her. “Darcey is taking today off.”

“We don’t get to take days off…” Autumn snapped back at her, still robotic and emotionless. “She’s supposed to be serving her function… not you…” 

“Well you’re stuck with me today, okay?” Chloe stepped over her chain, making her way towards the sink. “Look, I can even wash the dishes-”

“Don’t touch those!!!” In a bout of unusual aggression, Autumn lunged forward, grabbing Chloe by the ankle and tipping her off balance- sending her falling to the floor beside her. 

Chloe thudded to the floor, scraping her elbow and knee during the process of being pushed over. It wasn’t fun, but it was little more than annoying, unlike Autumn herself.

Christ did these women have issues.

Unable to help herself, Chloe snapped at Autumn with extra aggression. “What did you do that for?!”

“I didn’t mean…” Autumn was wide eyed as she was yelled at, not expecting something so… purely angry from a fellow slave of hers. “Look, just… don’t touch my dishes…”

“I thought Darcey was the one who cleaned?”

“Yeah, but not those!!!” Again, Autumn was filled with unusual emotion as she spoke, having to reel herself back in, silencing her emotion. “Those are mine to clean…” 

“Alright fine, whatever!!!” With equal parts aggression and just pure disbelief, Chloe stood up, brushing herself off. “You didn’t need to knock me over-”

“So what… you got to talk to my mistress… or something?” Autumn was blushing, unable to take her eyes off of that fix point on the floor anymore. “She let you just… change jobs with Darcey…”

“Yes, Autumn. Yes she did.” Chloe sighed, slowly calming down alongside the other girl. “What does it matter?”

“She talked to you… and not to me…” Autumn was fixated on the floor in front of her, but it wasn’t working. The usually robotic and heartless slave woman was too out of balance to keep her mortal body from crying. “It doesn’t matter… never mind…”

Oh god… Chloe was kicking herself for jumping the gun yet again. She’s just as fucked up as Darcey… 

“It’s just a leak… It doesn’t matter… We don’t matter…” Autumn closed her eyes, wiping her tears away with her gloved fingers. “Slaves don’t cry… We exist to perform a function… to serve a purpose…”

Chloe was just about as shaken watching this as she had been with Darcey. “Autumn… I-”

“It doesn’t matter… We don’t matter…” Autumn went on, ignoring Chloe’s words altogether. “We exist to serve… it doesn’t matter… I don’t-”

And then she stopped, her eyes going wide as she heard the words leaving her mouth, catching herself before she made it about her. Things always derailed when they got personal, things were never meant to be personal.

“This kitchen is mine…” Autumn climbed to her feet in as few fluid motions as possible. “Leave me and perform your function elsewhere, zero zero zero zero…”

“Autumn…” Chloe frowned, now more than a little bit concerned for the girl. “Come on, don’t be like this?”

“Leave me be, and perform your function…” Autumn’s voice turned hot, full of hatred and bitterness. “Elsewhere.”

“Alright fine. Be that way-” Chloe snarled, turning tail and walking away. If Autumn didn’t want help, then fine, it wasn’t Chloe’s job to help her. “See if I care.”

 

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What do I care if Autumn’s hitting her own self-destruct button, she’s not my problem.

Chloe stormed out of the dining room, stopped in her tracks the moment she reached the ballroom ahead of her. 

And she’s not my problem either. 

 

Right. It was Sunday morning, and Sunday morning for this family usually only involved one thing- church. Chloe didn’t understand it persay, but she respected it.

“I must say, dear.” Claudia talked at and slightly over her sister’s head as she spoke, her daughter at her other side- wife inconspicuously missing. “It is nice getting to attend services with you again.” 

“And it’s just a shame father didn’t come like you wanted him to.” Candace still seemed chipper- collapsing an umbrella as she walked through the foyer, keeping her sunglasses on to protect her eyes. “We’ll visit him in a couple weekends, right?”

“We’ll have to, you still owe me that~”

“Yeah yeah, whatever.” 

It was a bright sunny day outside as the four of them returned from church, Candace used an umbrella not to protect from the elements, but to shade herself from harmful rays. Claudia’s naturally pigmented skin helped protect her from burning in the sun somewhat- not that it would be a problem in the middle of October- but Candace’s albino skin was sensitive to the sun regardless of the season. It was why she liked going out at night- and still wore sunglasses when she did so. 

“Mommy…” Lilian nervously spoke up, tugging on her mother’s sleeve. “I’m hungry…” 

“A hungry munchkin~” Claudia smiled, leaning down and scooping her daughter into her arms. “How about we all go sit down for lunch?” 

Lilian settled into her mother’s grasp. “Can we eat outside, mom?”

“I don’t know, honey~” Claudia responded, kissing Lilian’s forehead. “Don’t you want Nanny to eat with us?”

“Mhmm!!!” Lilian bounced in her arms. 

“Then I’ll tell you what-” Claudia smiled, firmly holding the girl so that she wouldn’t fall. “Nanny’s not allowed outside, but we can sit and eat in the conservatory. Little flower needs sunshine~”

Lilian seemed to like that idea enough not to argue about inside or outside any longer, nodding her head happily as her mother held her close. 

Chloe wasn’t really supposed to be out here watching this, but as it was happening, she found herself just staring out how happy Claudia was to hold Lilian in her arms- her own hand drifting to her belly. 

She thought she had been spayed, but knowing that Candace hadn’t actually gone through with it recontextualized everything for her. All of a sudden it was once again possible for Chloe to carry children- and when she thought about it now, she liked that idea. 

She was paid little mind as the free women headed upstairs however, even from Candace. But Candace couldn’t just walk by without catching Chloe’s attention, and when she did it was… an oddly mixed batch of emotions, all rushing to her head and her heart at the same time.

Welling up inside of her chest, suddenly dragging her down. 

What the hell is wrong with me… 

Chloe was having an awfully difficult time… focusing? Was that what she was struggling with? She couldn’t remember- she couldn’t think? No, she could think… just not very well?

Oww…

It wasn’t brainwashing. Chloe refused to believe it was brainwashing, she didn’t believe in brainwashing. It was something, but she couldn’t quite figure out what.

“Well don’t just stand there or you’re going to get in trouble.” Nell’s voice again snapped Chloe out of her little trance, grabbing a fistful of her hair from behind. “If you need something to do, you can deliver lunch to the observatory, now go.”

Chloe sighed, doing as she was told. “I can do that…” 

She at least appreciated how simple Nell was, and their role within the home. Nell didn’t care about personal problems or family drama, they just cared about making sure everybody got their job done, and that they did it well. They weren’t the most intelligent person out there, but to be fair-

Neither was Claudia. 

Chloe was more than capable of serving food, but she was going to need those keys to get to Poppy either way- and with Nell out of the way and heading back into the rest of the house, now was the perfect time to snag those keys from their office first.

 

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“Here…”

Autumn set the finished dishes down on the counter, sighing under her breath as she did so. She didn’t at all seem to appreciate her assigned job, but she did it nonetheless. 

“Thank you, Autumn.” Chloe made a point of not smiling at the girl, giving her a fierce glare as she stepped into the kitchen. “Sorry- zero zero zero four.”

Chloe could be the bigger person, but she was always the better person- and Sophia had never been known for being uptight, kind, and polite like she was expected to be now. Sophia was a real person with a heart, unlike-

“I’m sorry…” Autumn kept her back turned to the other girl as she spoke, her words surprising Chloe as she said them. “I didn’t mean to get angry at you… I’m not usually like that… It was a mistake…” 

Chloe smiled just a little bit, now teasing the girl. “And you don’t usually make mistakes, I take it?”

“I can’t afford to make mistakes…” Autumn’s voice was calm and measured. “If a machine made a mistake, you would either fix it… or destroy and replace it… like Bella.” 

“Bella?” Chloe was only pretty sure she had heard the name before. “Who’s Bella?” 

“0006Z.” Autumn responded robotically. “You’re her replacement.”

“0006Z?” Chloe continued. “What’s the letter for?” 

“It means she’s dead, just like we deserve to be if we make too many mistakes-”

“Now wait, hold on.” Chloe threw her hands up, stopping the girl. “I’ve… never even heard of Bella. What happened to her?”

“There’s no point in explaining it to you… you’ll just get emotional…” Autumn went on in the same emotionless tone. “We’re not meant to question things like that…”

“We’re not machines, Autumn.” Chloe quickly interjected, refusing to let the other girl be this way. “You shouldn’t be put to death for one or even two minor mistakes.” 

“And who are you to decide what we deserve… You were on the zed list just like us…”

 Oh great- another term Chloe was unfamiliar with. “The zed list?”

“Are you serious…” Autumn just gave her the side eye. “If Miss Claudia didn’t buy you, you would be dead… It’s death row. People on the zed list are put on the zed list as a warning- behave or be put down - If you’re on the list, and you are, you know the reason why.” 

“The reason why…” Chloe backed up a few steps, swallowing nervously. “It’s because… It’s because of her…” 

“Look. I don’t know or care who your previous owner was-” 

“Candace.” Chloe sank to her knees, burying her face in her hands. “It was Candace…”

That response seemed to break Autumn, her normally lifeless expression making way for a mixture of confused emotions. “You’re lying…”

“Darcey already figured it out.” Chloe sighed, hanging her head in defeat. “I guess that’s all I am, the girl who used to belong to Candace St. Clair…” 

“Chloe…” Autumn slowly got down on her knees next to her. “I’m sorry-”

“I’m fine.” Chloe retracted herself away from Autumn. “I’m fine without her… I don’t want to hear it.”

Autumn paused for a few moments, staring over Chloe with a look of concern. “Well… do you want to hear why I was put on the list?”

“Oh yes, storytime from the robot-”

“I’m serious…” 

“Fine.” Chloe frowned, resigning herself to whatever fate lied on the other end of the brick road ahead of her. “Why were you put on the list?”

The heartless Autumn Turner actually giggled before she even got started. “This is gonna sound weird, but… I used to work for the family… I used to be Claudia’s enforcer back when it was just Darcey-”

“You’re kidding.”

“I’m not kidding!!!” Autumn was jittering in place. “That’s kinda why Nell doesn’t like me very much…”

“If you were Claudia’s enforcer, then what happened?”

“She caught me… stealing things.” Autumn sighed. “She called me something like a stupid mouse for going into her office and taking stuff… and she sent me to the facility-”

“Is that what got you on the zed list then?”

“No…” Autumn also hung her head in defeat. “I got put on the zed list for… being stubborn, aggressive, and violent…”

“That sound very unlike you-”

“That’s because Miss Claudia fixed me… She fixed me when she made me one of her drones…”

“One of her drones?”

There it was again- drones- Claudia had this obsession with drones. 

“She taught me that it’s best to be a machine… like a drone. She replaced me as her enforcer. Destroyed what I was. Fixed me into what I am now. Gave me my new purpose…”

“And you don’t hate her for that?!” Chloe quickly jumped to her feet, scoffing angrily through gritted teeth at the girl. “She’s the reason you’re here- she turned you into a slave, and you don’t hate her for that?!” 

“You don’t understand…”

“Like hell I don’t understand?!” 

It was like a switch had been flipped in Chloe’s mind- she had been calm and collected, but now she was manic and angry. 

“Candace is up there right now, and I don’t forgive her!!! I’ll never forgive her for what she did to me!!!” 

“It’s not like that!!!”

“You can’t just tell me that it’s Claudia’s fault that you’re a slave, and that you’re happy belonging to her for the rest of your life, Autumn. That’s not-”

“But I don’t belong to her… I belong to Miss Josephine…” Autumn was crying now, curling up into a ball on the floor in front of her. “Miss Josephine bought me… Miss Josephine saved me from the facility even after she caught me trying to steal from her… I deserve this…”

“You really think you deserve this?” Chloe scoffed, shaking her head at the very same delusion she perceived of her own situation. “What were you trying to steal that was so important to Josie that you deserve-”

“Darcey…” Autumn said between her tears. “Back when I was their enforcer… I tried to free Darcey… to take her and run.”

“I… Why did you-”

“I was their enforcer for years, even before they bought Darcey. I tried to be loyal, but the idea of having to look over slaves… it nauseated me.” She began wiping the tears from her eyes, attempting to calm down. “Darcey’s not allowed in Miss Claudia’s office, but that doesn’t stop her… and neither could I. If I turned her in for snooping around the office like she was back then, she would’ve been killed.”

“So you… took the fall for her… and Josephine saved you from being put down… even when her family wanted you dead?”

“I deserved what I got, and she still made room for me in her life…” 

“And you just want to be a part of that life.” Chloe frowned, her mood switching on a dime again, back to empathy rather than rage. “That’s why you’ve been so upset with me lately… You think I’m hurting her…”

“She smashed a bottle over your head…” Autumn’s mood did the same as Chloe’s, switching from sad to calm in the matter of moments, as she had been trained capable of. “She’s been struggling for so long, and I just want to help her but I can’t… I can’t even deliver lunch outside of my dumb little radius… they don’t even let me step past the dining room…” 

Autumn reached behind her, grabbing the chain keeping her in place and holding it out for Chloe to see. “They think I’m too dangerous to even let me clean the house, but all I want is to be more than just… an emotionless husk that belongs in the kitchen…”

“You’re a lot kinder than I thought you were when I first met you.” Chloe took the chain in hand, shivering at the sight of the diabolical hair clip. “But you’re not a heartless tinman… you’re caring, kind, loving... and you’ve just been isolated for so long that you’ve forgotten that…” 

“I’m being patient…” Autumn pouted, thumping her feet against the floor in anger. “I know I made a mistake, and I’m happy to wait as long as it takes until they let me out of my shell… but it’s not fair… I’m doing all I can do and they still just… leave me in here.” 

“I’m sorry, Autumn. If there’s anything I can do-”

“You can deliver lunch before it gets cold…” Autumn frowned, glancing up at the already finished food just sitting there and waiting to be served. “And… maybe ask Josie to come down and visit me…”

“I can do you one better…” 

Chloe stared at the food for a few moments, getting ready to pick them up and do just that before taking another look at Autumn and that clamp keeping her in place. She knelt next to her again, retrieving Nell’s keys from tucked away inside of her corset, taking them to the lock keeping Autumn’s hair tied to the ground and unleashing her. 

“There… now you can leave the kitchen… and you can visit Josie yourself…” 

Autumn just stared at her in shock for a few moments, pulling her braid from the shackle. “Thank you…” 

 

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Chloe was going to get in so much trouble for doing that, but only as long as Autumn snitched on her to her masters or to the enforcer. But Autumn was bound to get into just as much trouble as Chloe was if Claudia or Josephine found out- and she wasn’t known to like Nell all that well. 

The observatory was adjacent to Lilian’s bedroom, so it was risky to try and go in there- but now might be the only chance she had. Autumn was doing the job of delivering lunch for her- and Lilian’s nanny had gone to lunch with the girl and her mother. 

It was a perfect opportunity to quickly go in, find Poppy, and then get out- Too perfect of an opportunity.

 

She took a quick glance to make sure that no one was around, before kneeling next to the door to Lilian’s room, her hands steady as she slid the key into the door and unlocked it- quickly pulling the keys back out just in case.

That’s it… I’m in~ 

Chloe was almost sure she had gotten away with it, until she heard that intoxicated voice behind her. “What are you doing with those keys?”

“Miss Josephine…” Chloe nervously rose to her feet in front of her. “You’ve been listening again… haven’t you?” 

“I have.” Josephine curled her fingers around the empty glass bottle in her hand. “I have the right to.”

“Yes, you do, Ma’am…” Chloe lowered her head in defeat, her proud grin quickly fading away. “I’m sorry-”

“Just answer the question, please-” Josie scoffed, more drunk than high tonight. “What are you doing with those keys?” 

She wasn’t exactly sure what she was supposed to say to that. She was a slave, she wasn’t meant to have the keys. No answer she could come up with was sufficient to save her skin from punishment, not this time. 

“It was my idea, Mistress…” 

Josie’s tension slowly eased itself as she saw Autumn approaching from the conservatory across from them. Her grip on the empty glass bottle becoming a little bit less angry as her slave once again threw herself under the bus for the sake of another. 

“I asked Chloe to grab them and help set me free so that I could deliver lunch… since nobody wanted to come visit the dining room to eat…” Autumn gently took the keys from Chloe’s open palm and held them towards her owner, trying to help the other girl. “I just wanted out of the kitchen… I’m sorry…”

“Autumn.” Josephine said with a frown, glancing down at the controller that she had very much been listening to. “If you are telling the truth and not just trying to accept blame… you’re going to be punished. You know that right?” 

“Yes, Mistress…” Autumn took a deep breath, slowly lowering herself to her knees in Chloe’s place. “If you want to put me down… I understand…” 

The sound of Autumn choking back sobs was instantly drowned out by the sound of that glass bottle shattering, not against her head- but all over the floor beside the girl.

“Honey, no-” Josephine knelt directly in front of her, disregarding the glass on the floor as she went to console her slave. “I’m not going to get rid of you… I love you…”

“N-n-no you don’t, Ma’am…” Autumn’s sobs quickly overtook her, wallowing in a sea of doubt and self-hatred. “You keep me locked away in the kitchen because I’m too dangerous… You don’t even trust me to clean…” 

“Darcey can cook, Autumn…” Josephine tried to shake her out of whatever emotional spiral was overtaking her. “If you want to clean, you can clean…”

“It… it’s not that I want to clean, Ma’am… I just want to be able t-to leave the kitchen-”

“Then you can clean, alright?” Josie smiled at her, squeezing both of her palms in hers. “Darcey can cook and you can clean. That way you can come visit everyone and Darcey can do something more than manual labor.”

“But Mistress…” Autumn frowned, guilty to see her Mistress like this. “This is the way things have been for years…” 

“Then it’s about time that things change. Things can change…” Josephine took a deep breath, taking the keys from Autumn and squeezing them in her hand. “I can change.” 

Josephine stared directly into Chloe’s eyes as she forced the keys back into her hands, helping Autumn to her feet. “You. Go put those keys back where you got them. Autumn will clean up this mess, and I expect both of you to be punished for this- and I don’t want to hear any complaints. Got it?”

Chloe swallowed nervously, her heart fluttering just a little bit at how forceful Josephine was being- even if she wasn’t the one brave enough to do the punishing herself. “Y-yes, Ma’am…”

 

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“So… let me get this straight, again…”

Thump . It was almost comedic how much this scene echoed the previous night. 

“You two are both in trouble with my wife… and she sent you to me to be punished?” 

“N-not exactly, Ma’am…” Autumn hung her head in shame. “My deepest apologies… I don’t want to inconvenience or correct you any further, but… being sent to you is our punishment.” 

“So… you’re just here to be played with… again?”

“Yes, Ma’am…”

“It’s like I’m living in a comic strip.” Claudia pinched the bridge of her nose as she stood. “What exactly are you two get in trouble for anyways?”

“I can’t tell you, Ma’am… it would make our playtime less genuine…”

“This is why there needs to be one authority, and not two.” Claudia just rolled her eyes, biting down on her lip. “Josephine isn’t tough enough to punish you two herself, but she has the audacity to make me do it- go figure.” 

Autumn didn’t like that at all. “Don’t talk about my mistress like that, Ma’am…” 

“This coming from you?” Claudia scoffed at her, pointing her cane accusingly. “I can hurt you all I like, but say something bad about my wife and you suddenly go all attack dog on me-”

Thump . Claudia’s cane came down on the floor at Autumn’s knees. 

“That stops now.”

 

It was astonishing how close this was to the previous night, right down to Candace’s reluctant presence within the room, at her sister’s behest.

It’s just like the clicker. Candace was gritting her teeth together at the realization. It’s not brainwashing. It’s just training. They’re all trained to be scared of the cane… 

She crossed her arms and her legs as she sat at the vanity again, staring down at her sister’s slaves- or more specifically, at Chloe. All of them except for her… she hasn’t been here long enough to be afraid of it… so what’s going on in her head… 

“Yes yes, I look amazing, enough ogling-” The moment Chloe noticed was the moment she immediately taunted her for it. “Have you finished your duties for today?”

“Why yes, actually. Yes I have.” Candace grinded her teeth together, scoffing at her own words being spun against her by her own former slave no less. “What do you want me to do with this, Clauds?” 

Candace picked up her sister’s famous mousetrap , a diabolical little clamp that was made to hold slaves by the hair, which Claudia had instructed her to retrieve. “Did you attach it to the vanity like I told you?”

The littlest sister just yanked on the thing as hard as she could, watching unsurprised as nothing so much as budged. “Does that answer your question?” 

“Yes.” Claudia grinned, giving Chloe a knowing look and nodding. “You know what to do~” 

“Yes, Mistress.” Chloe giggled, quickly springing into action at her master’s command, making her way towards her former owner. “I know exactly what to do~”

“Hey!!” Candace scoffed, sitting still as Chloe grabbed a handful of her platinum blonde locks and began to curl them around themselves. “What are you doing??” 

“Just let her do what she’s been ordered to do, sis.” Claudia interjected. “Relax and enjoy the show~” 

Click . The jaws of the fiendish hair clamp shut tight around her ass length locks, trapping her in place. 

“There.” Chloe grinned, tugging on Candace’s captive hair braid. “Now you have to stay and watch.”

“Is that so?” Candace was entirely unamused to have to put up with Chloe putting her hands where they don’t belong. “You think?”

“That thing isn’t coming out of there without the key, and I sure don’t have the key anymore.” Chloe gave her a sly shrug as she made her way back to Claudia’s feet, kneeling before her new master. “So unless you’re willing to slice your own hair off like you did mine, yeah. I think.” 

“Well there you go, that’s your problem.” Candace stared her down as she spoke. “Drones don’t think, and neither should you.” 

 

“And that’s not the only thing drones don’t do…” Claudia spun her cane around again. “Alright girls. Repeat after me.”

Chloe groaned under her breath as Claudia began her process again, gazing over at Candace out of the corner of her eye, heart thumping with both anger… and longing- knowing that thumping little heart of hers was not long for this world. If Claudia could get rid of whatever terrible emotions Chloe felt whenever she heard Candace’s name- Chloe was going to let her. 

“Drones have no heart. I have no heart. Drones do not cry. I do not cry.” 

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. 

Claudia drilled this new phrase into Chloe’s head, clearly having done much the same with Autumn many times before- this seemed like the exact teaching that she had personally delivered the girl that made her so… robotic. Unfeeling. Alone. 

She was going to keep repeating it for as long as Claudia wanted her to, and Candace wasn’t going to be able to stop her. 

“Sophia…” Candace frowned, gazing at the girl she loved as she played right into Claudia’s hands, and when that name didn’t snap her out of it, she did what she needed to do. “Fine… Be that way…”

It only took Candace a few moments of digging through the drawers of her sister-in-law’s vanity before she found something sharp enough to do the job. Chloe wasn’t going to respond to words or to reason- she was way past that. The only way to her now was through emotion. 

“If you want me to stay and watch, all you have to do is ask.” She lifted a small pair of scissors from one of Josephine’s drawers, fitting it to her grasp. “But I’m not going to sit here and watch you throw your identity away, Cavalier.”

Snip. She drew the fashion scissors through her own locks right before Chloe’s beautiful little eyes, severing the connection to that heinous little clamp keeping her in place before standing up- doing what she needed to do- leaving.

And that stopped Chloe cold in her tracks. 

 

“Well that was rather rude.” Claudia just smirked, beckoning both girls into bed with her, smiling at the door as it slammed shut. “Those ugly little locks of hers were worth losing anyways~”

“Ugly?” Click- Chloe couldn’t quite decide if she hated or loved St. Clair after what she just did. “She’s not… ugly , Ma’am…” 

“Oh, enough talk, you~” Claudia cupped Chloe’s chin in her hand, pointing her face towards the other slave behind her. “You can find better places to put that mouth of yours, slave.”

Chloe blushed, smiling just a little bit as she stared at Claudia from the corner of her eyes. “Yes, Ma’am. Anything for you~”

“It’s been a tiring day, clearly. You’re not the only one who’s exhausted.” Claudia smiled, gently tugging Chloe’s cheek to her lips and giving her a kiss. “Be a good girl and put on a show with your new friend, and I’ll let you off the hook for whatever silly trouble you got into with Miss Josie, alright?” 

“Can do, Ma’am~” Chloe smiled, laying on her belly and looking up at her master as she got out of bed, admiring Claudia’s body as she slowly got undressed. “And you, Mistress- will you be playing with us tonight?” 

“I’m afraid not.” She smiled, gently leaning down and giving Chloe a scratch or two behind her ears. “I know we don’t get much time together, but I have work in the morning and need to shower between now and then.” 

“Yes, Ma’am…” Chloe sighed, more than a little bit disappointed. “I feel like I never see you outside of the weekend.” 

“The week is for business, dear.” Claudia smirked, planting her cane upright against the vanity, pointing its glowing eyes towards the bed. “The weekend is for fun, and that’s what slaves are- fun~”

“But it’s still the weekend, isn’t it?” Her dazzling little slave responded, protesting. “We could… play in the shower?” 

Chloe’s eyes glowed just a little bit as she admired Claudia’s beautiful physique from in bed, ever so slightly illuminated by the also glowing eyes of her serpentine cane- Preyboy - as she had called it, staring at the slaves from afar. 

She wasn’t sure what Candace was complaining about at all with respects to how she was being treated. Living with Claudia was kind of nice, at least compared to living with her sister had been. It helped that Chloe got five nights away from her owner, it helped keep her hatred for the woman down. 

Claudia really did work a lot. It felt like Monday through Friday featured very little time at home for her. Chloe got to see her in the morning for breakfast, and in the evening for dinner- and that was it. Claudia stuck to her routines, not allowing herself to play with her drones during a workday, at least not after the first few weeks of having them.

Chloe’s cheeks were red as she looked up at her, smiling eagerly at her naked mistress. She had hated Claudia just earlier this day, but that all seemed to have faded away by now, strangely. Maybe she was being brainwashed after all, it was clear that she wasn’t in her usual headspace at all, and she was beginning to suspect that she hadn’t been for a while now. 

“N-no…” Claudia responded, nervously. Despite being six and a half feet of pure woman, she felt vulnerable while naked and away from her cane. Claudia was human and had her own insecurities, Chloe knew that- probably even better than Claudia did. “I… I can’t- no sex in the shower~”

Chloe’s eyebrow raised just slightly, listening to Claudia try to play it off casually. “But Candace said-”

“You can’t trust everything Candace says, slave.” Claudia snapped back, her own cheeks red with frustration, as well as a hint of what Chloe’s overthinking brain recognized as shame. “She has lots to say about a lot of things, but they’re hardly things worth listening to- especially when it involves me.” 

“Ma’am?” Chloe slowly sat up in bed, curiously. “Are you… jealous of her?”

“Jealous of her?” Claudia scoffed at the idea of it, making her way towards the bathroom door. “What does my sister have that I don’t?”

Chloe giggled, not thinking before she answered. “A penis~”

 

Claudia just stood there in silence, staring straight into Chloe’s eyes, blushing- and Chloe sensed that might have been the wrong thing to say. 

“It’s more complicated than penis envy…” Claudia frowned, grinding her teeth together. “I’m glad to see that you’ve learned not to think, but that’s enough. Play nice for the camera, I want you to be finished by the time I return~”

“Y-yes, Ma’am~!!” Chloe smiled, eagerly jolting upwards to try and make herself look nice for the camera. “Have a nice shower~”

“I will.” Claudia shot her one last wink before making her way inside. “Be here when I get back~”

 

Chloe sighed, enjoying the little bit of humanity she got to see from Claudia on occasion. She had her quirks, sure- but she was nicer than Candace was. Still, she had her orders, and she needed to follow them. 

“Nnnghh…” The few short moments of silence following Claudia’s shower sounding off in the background were cut in by the sound of quiet sobbing from beside her. 

“Autumn?” Chloe quickly turned to her, not sure what was wrong all of a sudden. “Are… are you okay?” 

“I… I don’t understand… What even was that?” Autumn choked on her own breath, no wonder she had been so quiet for a while now, she wasn’t just struggling to keep together, she was speechless. “You’ve been here for what, two weeks?! And she lets you talk to her like that?!”

Chloe almost felt attacked by that one. “Is there something weird about how I talk with her?”

“Y-yes?!” Autumn instantly snapped back, still crying. “Sh-she found out Zenna spent Friday night consoling Lilian, a-and she… she punished Zenna a-and Lilian for it-” 

 

“…Wh-what did she do to them?” Chloe’s face went from nearly smug about being able to talk to Claudia like no one else was, too eyes wide with shock at the implication. Her hand instantly shot to her own belly, her womb tightening with anxiety. “She didn’t… she didn’t hurt her… right?” 

Autumn lowered her gaze, nervously eyeing Claudia’s cane, staring at them from across the room. “I don’t know… do spankings hurt?”

Chloe swallowed nervously, her breath seething with new anger that she knew she couldn’t take out on her master. “I don’t know- why don’t we test that?” 

Chloe smirked, quickly grabbing the older girl by the braid and roughly hauling her into her lap, wishing she had a crop to use on Autumn’s cute little butt. 

“I knew it…” Autumn could only hope to murmur angrily as she was helplessly dragged over Chloe’s knee. “I knew this was going to happen…”

Chloe pressed her hand firmly against Autumn’s skin. “You knew what was going to happen?”

“Josephine is the only reason any of us are here… She bought me, she bought Darcey, she bought Zenna, and she bought Bella… but you-” Autumn scoffed angrily, letting herself be strangely vulnerable, as she was taught to be. “You were Claudia’s idea… and that scared me… because I knew something bad was going to happen-”

“Oh yeah?” Chloe rolled her eyes, biting her lip in frustration at Autumn’s accusations. “Like what?”

“We tried to convince her to give you a chance, but Miss Josephine didn’t want you… She was just too nice to stop Miss Claudia from saving you…” Autumn whimpered, letting out a few fearful sobs in anticipation of what she was sure was to come. “But that was before any of us knew what you looked like-”

“How does the way I look have anything to do with this?”

“I knew you were dangerous… I knew the moment you walked in the door and cucked my Mistress that you were dangerous!!!” Autumn propped herself up with her elbow, glaring straight at her with her glowing emerald eyes. “I knew you were dangerous, because you were Miss Claudia’s idea- She replaced me with Nell and now she’s replacing Miss Josephine with you!!!”

 

Smack!!! Much like she had done to Darcey to snap her out of her spiral the previous night, Chloe smacked Autumn as hard as she could, but rather than harming Autumn’s perfectly uniform little face like she had with her raggedy counterpart, this time she swatted Autumn right on the ass. 

“Shut up!!!” Chloe shouted at her, voice shaking with rage. “I’ve done nothing wrong, so stop projecting your fears onto me!!!” 

Smack!!! She did it again, just as hard and just as angry as the previous time. 

“I haven’t been treated this well since back when people actually loved me, and I’m not going to let you ruin this for me, okay?!” She was angry now. Apparently Claudia treated her better than the other slaves, but that wasn’t her fault, she didn’t deserve to be blamed for that- not again. “I don’t control how she treats me- that’s not my doing?!”

Smack!!! She swatted Autumn’s ass as hard as she could, making her own hand sting in the process as Autumn began to cry. 

“I’m not a monster like they are…” Chloe swallowed nervously, staring down at the helpless girl’s dripping little cunt as she laid in her lap. “Don’t make me out to be some sort of homewrecker, I have no choice. I do what my master tells me to- and if that means being her wife and having her kids, that’s what I’m going to do…”

Chloe scoffed, shoving Autumn out of her lap and onto the floor at her feet- forcing herself away from the girl’s cunt before she did anything she’d regret. 

“It’s not my fault. I’m not the monster here.” Chloe huffed, slowly curling up into a ball at the end of the bed as Autumn quickly clawed her way towards the door. “It’s not my fault-”

“And I was really beginning to like you…” Autumn sobbed, yanking on the locked handle as hard as she could manage. “I thought we almost… had something-”

“Autumn…” Chloe frowned, gently climbing out of bed and making her way over to the other girl. “It’s not like that… I meant everything I said today-”

“Miss Josephine has never hit me like that…” Autumn thudded her forehead against the door. “Josie wouldn’t…” 

“Autumn please-” Chloe grabbed her by the hand, turning her around. “I’m just doing as I’m told-”

 

“And you will continue to do as you’re told, won’t you- slave?”

Thump . Fresh from her shower, Claudia made her way over to her cane and thumped it against the floor, drawing both of the other girls into a more agreeable state. 

“If you’re serious about wanting the role, you’ll need to memorize your lines~” Claudia giggled, keeping her back turned to them as she tapped her cane lightly against Chloe’s otherwise untouched ass. “So repeat after me…” 

“Sorry, Autumn. I’m just… doing as I’m told…” Chloe glanced towards her master, nervously holding Autumn against the wall by both wrists now, much like she had done to Candace previously. “Ready when you are, Ma’am…” 

“Drones have no heart. You have no heart. Drones do not cry. You do not cry.” 

Thump . 

Chloe stopped for a moment, staring into Autumn’s crying green eyes as she spoke. “Drones have no heart. I have no heart. Drones do not cry. I do not cry.”

Smack!!! Chloe quickly found herself receiving a firm swat to her behind for that one. 

“No dear, I’m afraid those are Autumn’s lines…” Claudia scolded her newest slave, simultaneously taunting the other girl. “You will repeat me word for word, and then Autumn will respond with her line- Now do it right.” 

Chloe shuddered slightly, taking a deep breath in and then out before staring back into Autumn’s eyes. “Drones have no heart. You have no heart. Drones do not cry. You do not cry.” 

Autumn clearly grew more terrified as Chloe spoke, but nevertheless, she responded. “Drones have no heart. I have no heart. Drones do not cry. I do not cry.” 

“Very good~” Claudia clapped for them both. “Now again, but with more confidence and passion~!!!”

Thump . 

So Chloe went again, doing nothing more than what she was told. “Drones have no heart. You have no heart. Drones do not cry. You do not cry.”

And Autumn responded again, this time reduced to her usual calm and collected state. “Drones have no heart. I have no heart. Drones do not cry. I do not cry.” 

“Again-” Chloe said that one herself, not needing her master to tell her what to do or thump her cane for her. “Drones have no heart. You have no heart. Drones do not cry. You do not cry.” 

And Autumn didn’t need a cane thump either. “Drones have no heart. I have no heart. Drones do not cry. I do not cry.” 

 

“Good girl, Chloe.” Claudia smiled proudly, putting one hand on her shoulder. “I couldn’t have put it better myself.”

“Ma’am…” Chloe smiled, blushing. “I just do as told.”

“Then let me give you one last order.” Claudia picked up her cane and pointed it across the room towards the dumbwaiter. “Take Miss Josephine’s slave downstairs, she can sleep in the cell for failing to stick to her teachings today.” 

“Yes, Ma’am.” Chloe grinned, beginning to drag Autumn across the room like she was told. She didn’t want to put Autumn in the cell- at least that was what she told herself- but she was just glad it was Autumn and not her. “Come on, let’s go to bed…”

Chloe let the now pacified Autumn step into the dumbwaiter first, before stepping in with her- but the moment she was inside with the girl, Claudia stopped her. “Step out of the elevator, and let Autumn go down on her own… press the button for me~” 

Chloe blushed slightly as she heard that, stepping out of the dumbwaiter and doing just that, sending Autumn down alone. “What now, Ma’am- am I staying here tonight?” 

“No~” Claudia giggled at her, waving her off. “Weekends are for slaves, you’ll sleep downstairs with the riff raff.”

Chloe sighed, bowing slightly. “Yes, Master…” 

“Maybe there is some hope for you after all~” Claudia grinned, setting her cane down on the bed next to her. “I won’t let you stay here… but I will let you use the door~” 

Chloe’s heart thumped in her chest as she glanced towards it, realizing the opportunity she was being given, having been expressly forbidden from taking anything but the dumbwaiter up to Claudia’s room. “You… you mean that?”

“Of course. I’d do just about anything for my new favorite girl.” Claudia cooed back at her, blowing her a kiss goodbye for the night. “I can’t lead a family on my own after all~”

 

Chapter 35: Scaredy Cat

24th October, 23 days until the banquet.

 

“Good morning, St. Clair.” Chloe was in an unusually chipper mood this morning, especially around Candace. “A little bit late to just be getting here, don’t you think?”

“Yeah yeah yeah.” Candace pushed past her and into the sitting room, her mood opposite the other girl’s. “Let the princess sleep in on the weekends, why don’t you?”

“I don’t sleep in.” Chloe chuckled at her. “Princesses might get to sleep in, but servants don’t.”

“Thank you, Sophia.” Candace groaned, rolling her eyes. “I didn’t realize, thank you for this vital information.” 

“Now don’t get mad at me, I’m just trying to help you do your job better.”

“Oh yes, because you’re so great at your job.”

“Why yes, I am in fact.”

“That’s because your job, cooking, cleaning, and obeying- is easy.” 

“Relative to what?”

“Relative to what I do-”

“And this all important job of yours, what is it- really?”

“We keep going around in circles on this, why?”

“Because I want to understand.” Chloe stepped after her, grabbing her by the hand and stopping her in the sitting room. “If you do love me like you say you do… why did you let me go?” 

“Because isn’t that the saying- if you love something, let it go -”

“Candace, please.” 

“You made the decision to leave me, Sophia. You had your own reasons for doing that, who am I to get in the way of your desires?”

“Because maybe I did want to hurt you… and I’ve gotten what I wanted.” Chloe stood in front of her, staring her in the eyes. The two of them, importantly, always talked quietly to each other while doing this. “But maybe I wanted something else.”

“My power has a reach, Sophia.” Candace sighed, staring down at her own freakishly pale hand. “That’s why that night was so important… because there are some people I don’t have power over.” 

Chloe held Candace’s hand in her open palm, watching it tremble. “Like who?”

“Like my family.” Candace clenched her hand into a fist. “Like my father.”

“Is that why-”

“My job is to make my family happy, Sophia. Remember that?” Candace grabbed Chloe’s wrist with her other hand. “My very important job is to be my father’s heiress… to be in charge of the family once he’s gone.”

“But you’re the youngest.” Chloe gently pulled away, locking her fingers with Candace’s. “What about your sister?”

“You don’t see it yet, do you?”

“See what?”

“You never answered me.” Candace squeezed Chloe’s hand. “When I asked you… do you really think my sister loves you more than I do?”

“I thought so.” Chloe squeezed back. “But I don’t know anymore…”

“I am not a submissive person, Sophia… this was a hard decision to make- but I made it because it’s my job. It’s what my family expects of me… to do anything to make them happy. That’s why I’m working for my sister at the party… to fix our relationship. Because it’s my job to keep my family together. It’s my job to suffer for their sake.”

“Why… why would you agree to that?”

“Because I have no choice. I have no power over my sister. I’m not my father… not yet.” She slipped her hands away from Chloe’s. “There’s a reason Claudia isn’t the heiress. There’s a reason it’s me.” 

“And that’s what you want?”

“I never said that-”

“Then why not just tell them?” Chloe persisted. “Why not just let her be the heiress?”

“Because that’s what she wants, isn’t it… that’s letting her win.” Candace shook her head. “But that’s not it either-”

“Then what’s keeping you?”

“He is.” Candace broke, her voice shaking as she spoke. “You don’t walk up to my sister and ask to be released, because you can’t… and I can’t just walk up to my father and ask him to let me go… because I can’t.” 

Chloe swallowed nervously, beginning to genuinely feel for her. “I don’t understand…” 

“I’m the hybrid monster child born to the slave mother. I’m the one who doesn’t belong. I’m the one who has to earn my place when my siblings never did.” Chloe could only stand there and watch as Candace struggled. “Now I’m not saying that I’m a slave… but I am most certainly not free.” 

“Don’t equate your life to mine, Candace. You had parents. You have a family. Don’t pretend like you don’t have your entire life already figured out thanks to your family.”

“If you want the truth, then here it is- Yes. You’re right. My path in life has already been paved for me thanks to my father, thanks to who I am- but it is a straight highway with no off ramps.” Candace stepped into the ballroom and Chloe followed, watching Candace gesture up to the massive portrait of her father hanging above the fireplace. “Right now I’m meandering about city streets, right now I have time. But come a couple of years from now, I’m nothing but a puppet. Once I get off the on ramp and merge onto the interstate, I will never get off.” 

“That’s why the title meant so much to me… because I never know what year will be the last year I have a chance to make something of myself before I have to take over.” Candace turned, grabbing one of Chloe’s hands and squeezing it with hers, holding Chloe’s hand to her own chest, letting her feel her heavy heart beating. “I have to put my family before myself at every twist and turn… I have to be the heiress because I have no other choice.” 

“As if I haven’t already suffered enough, my father has forbidden me from competing again… my father has forbidden me from owning a slave again, from finding my own lover.” Candace swallowed her sobs before they could form, letting go of Chloe’s hand. “Forgive me for being so self-centered, but that championship was my last chance… you were my last chance.”

“Me…” Chloe kept her hand pressed to Candace’s chest, feeling her heart beating against her palm. “Why me…”

“Because I wanted to prove that I wouldn’t end up like him- like my father… because I love you, Sophia.” Candace frowned, holding Chloe’s head in her hand. “You remind me of my mother…”

“How-” Chloe held her hand over Candace’s. “How am I anything like her?”

“When I was fourteen years old, my mother died, and I was helpless to stop it from happening.” Candace frowned, letting go of her completely. “I’ve had to live with knowing that she blamed herself for everything- when really… it was my fault. Everything that happened to my mother was all my fault. Everything that’s happening to you is all my fault… and I don’t want to live with knowing that I was responsible for your death like I was responsible for hers.” 

“I… I…” Chloe steeled herself, taking a deep breath and stepping back away from her. “I don’t care. Why should I care?”

“I’m not asking you to care if you don’t. I’m asking you to understand.”

“To understand what?”

“To understand why I did what I did, regardless of how I ended up doing them.”

“And the ultimate conclusion I’m supposed to come to is what?”

“I want you to know that yes, I am the one who had you kidnapped and turned into my slave- and that is something my sister has over me, sure. But the reason I did it wasn’t because I hate you, not really… I don’t hate you, and nothing is going to change that, even if you do hate me for the rest of your life. I did it because I like you… I like you a lot, and I wanted you to be mine- I wanted you and I had the power to get you, so I did. You’re special to me, Sophia, and sure maybe my sister does treat you better, or maybe she doesn’t… but you’ll never be special to her like you’re special to me.”

Here they were again, back and forth, loving and hating each other at the same time. Those two pairs of eyes were drawn to each other like moths to a flame- right there they were each other's flames. One flame may have shown brighter while the other burned hotter- but they had a connection.

“And if you can stand there, knowing what you mean to me, knowing why I did what I did- and still choose her over me, then that’s okay. If that’s what you want, then that’s what I want to hear. But if that’s not the case… I’m never going to know unless you tell me.”

Chloe almost spoke, she almost said something she would have regretted. “You want me back?”

“Yes. Of course I want you back.” Candace was finally the first one to say it, and they both knew she did, Chloe knew Candace wanted her back. “But not if you don’t want to come back.” 

Chloe bit her tongue, desperately holding herself at bay. It was like wrapping herself in chains to keep from jumping into the other woman’s arms. “And if I don’t?”

“If you choose to belong to her… then you’re hers.” Candace smiled, her emotions caught in her throat. “If that’s what you want, that’s what I want for you.” 

“I don’t want this. I’ve never wanted any of this, Candace.” Chloe’s rage boiled to the top of her. “This is your fault. I never wanted to be a slave- but because of you, I have no choice. I will never choose to belong to anyone- you made that choice for me. So forgive me for not wanting to crawl back into your shallow abusive arms just to go for another round of killing myself at your side knowing deep down that you’ve ruined everything I’ve ever worked for my entire life- all because you’re a manipulative, self-centered, serial rapist. You’re not getting any pity out of me, alright?” 

“I don’t care if your sister isn’t any better, I’m never going to find any better . I have to settle for some monster either way- and the reason why I have to settle for the lesser of two evils is because of what you chose to do to me- so regardless of why you chose to do what you did, that’s always going to make you the greater of two evils.” Chloe finally had to put her foot down, and stand her ground. “Thank you for your apology, but no. No I don’t… I don’t-” 

“You don’t forgive me.” Candace frowned, choosing to be the first one to break eye contact. “That’s what I needed to hear… thank you.” 

“I do forgive you, Candace… I just… I need you to be better than you are. Just because I forgive you doesn’t mean I want to go back.” Chloe swallowed her anger and her pride, slowly calming herself down. “I will never give myself up to someone like you or her… I won’t forfeit. Not anymore.”

“If you choose never to call me Master again, that’s your choice.” Candace gave her a sullen smile. “But if you do- I’m ready to be that for you again.”

“Thank you, Candace… I’ll keep that in mind.” She returned the smile, her cheeks painted over with a faint blush. “But if you want me… you’re going to have to take me.”

 

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Do you really think my sister loves you more than I do - God, how vain can you be? 

Chloe stormed her way upstairs, the bell on her collar jingling as she walked. 

If she’s gonna be like that, I’m glad I don’t still belong to her… As if I’d beg her to take me back. Chloe had one destination in mind, straight to her master’s side- if anything, the idea of Candace doing the same was what she was after. She should be the one begging to have me back~ 

“Mistress?” Chloe knocked on the door, waiting patiently on the other side. “It’s Chloe…”

“Claudia’s still sleeping…” Josephine was the one who answered the door, stepping out from inside. “Did you need something?”

“Oh, hello Miss Josie-” Chloe was honestly just surprised to see Josephine inside of her own bedroom for once. “Did I wake you?”

“Believe it or not, my wife and I are still married, you know…” Josie frowned, already dressed for the day. “And no, clearly you didn’t wake me, I was just in doing my makeup is all~”

“I’m glad I didn’t disturb your beauty sleep, Ma’am.” Chloe gave her a reluctant smile and a small nod. “You look very nice today.”

“As opposed to last weekend, you mean?” Josephine just kind of stared at her, despite her gorgeous eye makeup. “Well I appreciate the compliment- being sexiled from my own bedroom by my wife every weekend isn’t doing much for my self-esteem I’ll have you know…” 

“Sexiled?”

“It’s when you- oh never mind.”

“I’m glad to see that you at least seem to be doing better?” Chloe smiled nervously, unsure of how to talk to Josephine. “How was your week?”

“It’s been nice, actually.” Josephine said, sighing under her breath. “As nice as it can be, at least… Darcey and Autumn have been a big help-”

“You’re welcome for that, by the way~” Chloe smirked, taunting her to her face. “If there’s anything I can do to help you like I helped them, please-”

“I never wanted you.” Josephine grabbed her own wrist, nervously- the number of controllers now cut in half. “But my wife seems to like you a lot… and clearly she doesn’t mind me being unprotected around you anymore…” 

“She took the controller from you?” Chloe’s eyes seemed to glow as she looked down at Josie’s hand, decorated with Darcey and Autumn’s controllers alone. “And what about… Zenna?”

“Y-yeah…” Josephine blushed, lowering her head in shame. “Just… please don’t hurt Zenna like you hurt Autumn. She was really shaken up by the other night-”

“Hurt Zenna?” Chloe gasped preposterously. “What do you mean hurt Zenna?”

Josephine’s eyes seemed to lose all of their light just then. “She might not be mine, but I still love her.”

 

“Girls girls please-” Claudia. Definitely Claudia. “Let’s not fight over me~”

Chloe and Josie both took a few moments to stare each other down before breaking away, but this time Josephine blinked first. “Yes, honey… I’ll just be helping Darcey and Autumn around the house-”

“Since when do you help out around the house?” Claudia stopped, her cheeks a little bit pink as she looked her wife up and down. “You did your makeup too?” 

“Yes yes, I look great, just don’t ogle-” Josephine scoffed, snarling just a bit under her breath, which sent Claudia’s head just a little bit spinning. “Have fun leading a family with your new favorite girl .” 

Chloe’s heart sunk guiltily as she stood beside her master, watching the other woman of the house walk away, indeed making her way downstairs rather than returning to relax in the guest room. “What… was that, Ma’am?”

Claudia just sighed, lowering her gaze in shame. “I had to confiscate the controller to your collar from her.”

“I saw that, Ma’am.” Chloe smiled, a little bit more than happy to have it away from someone who was going to be eavesdropping all the time. “Why’d you take it away?”

And that turned out to be exactly the problem. “She was listening…” 

“Oh…” Chloe blushed, now feeling guilty about not saying something about it. “She heard all of that, then?”

“As it was happening, yeah…”

“I see…” 

“But enough of that-” Claudia smiled, holding a hand out towards Chloe and grabbing her by the chain hanging between her nipple clamps, tugging her towards the room. “You came up here for a reason, didn’t you?”

“Y-yes, Ma’am~” Chloe smiled, blushing as she kicked the door closed behind her. “It’s about your sister.” 

“What about my sister?” Claudia scoffed. “Nothing good I imagine?”

Chloe took a deep breath, readying herself for what she needed to say as she sat down on the edge of the bed. “She said she wants me back-”

“Well she can’t have you back, now can she?” Claudia was having absolutely none of that. “You have an owner already, you belong to me. You’re my slave now, not hers~”

“Y-yeah…” Chloe smiled, blushing. This was more what she wanted- not to choose an owner- but to be claimed by one. “That’s what I tried to tell her, it’s not my choice…”

“But if it was-” Claudia started, her cane tightly gripped in her hand. “Who would you choose?”

“Who would I… who would I choose?” Chloe wasn’t prepared to answer that question. “I… I won’t choose.”

“Chloe please, it’s just a hypothetical~”

“No, Ma’am.” Her chest drew heavy. “I refuse. I will not be forced to choose.” 

“There it is again…” Claudia frowned, slowly standing up from her bed. “You’re not finished. How are you not finished?” 

“Finished?” Chloe gazed up at her, admiring her master from below. “You mean I’m not a finished slave?”

“The other girls are finished slaves, they’re drones.” Claudia pondered it over. “But you’re not.”

“Master, I-”

Knock knock . Chloe was grateful to have that kind of distraction right about now. She stood up from bed at her owner’s command, making her way over and answering the door for her.

 

“Mistress…” It was Zenna. Just Zenna. She spoke through Chloe and into the room, despite her answering the door for Claudia. “C-can we talk?”

“Zenna…” Claudia’s tone turned stern as she responded. “I’m busy. Can you not see that?” 

Zenna seemed to shake, her eyes already wet with tears before she arrived at the door. “I… I know, but this is serious-”

Thump . And Chloe thought that Darcey and Autumn were affected by the sound of Claudia’s cane- but the moment Zenna heard it, she was on her hands and knees. Soft pathetic murmurs, those were all that Chloe could hear leaving Zenna’s lips. 

“Chloe, sweetheart.” Claudia’s voice curled upwards, mixing into a sweet hum as she addressed her newest slave. “Please take the cat back to her kennel for me, won’t you?”

“Of course, Ma’am~!!” Chloe noticed and appreciated the difference in which Claudia spoke to her compared to Zenna, it was far sweeter and much less dismissive and cruel. “How will I get into Lilian’s room without keys?”

“B-because it’s unlocked, M-Miss…” Zenna mumbled from the floor at Chloe’s feet, addressing her for the first time with a title . Chloe wasn’t sure that she liked it, but she definitely didn’t dislike it. “L-Lily doesn’t lock her door, sh-she’s just a girl yet… she loves company-”

“She doesn’t?” Chloe swallowed nervously, realizing how terribly she’d been overthinking these last few weeks. “You mean… I can come in to visit anytime?” 

“O-of course, Ma’am…” Zenna tried and failed to calm herself. “Lilian l-likes you a lot…”

Chloe’s face turned bright red, unsure of how to handle this new knowledge. “She does?”

“Well… yeah?” Zenna’s voice shook nervously. “She… she thinks-”

Thump . Claudia put Zenna back under with another loud sound from her cane. “She thinks you’re her new aunt.” 

“Her aunt? Why does she…” Chloe giggled at the thought of that, taking a quick glance into the vanity mirror and answering that for herself. “Oh… right.”

“Lilian’s uncle- James- also looks just like her.” Claudia sighed, sitting herself down at her wife’s vanity. “She just assumes that since you look like Josie, you must be her aunt~”

Chloe couldn’t help but find that funny. “Have you explained it to her, Ma’am?”

“No!!” Claudia didn’t find it funny at all. “Because why should I be the one who always has to explain things to her- I’ve already had to explain to her that you’re not her lazy pillow princess of a father, why should I-”

“Pillow princess?” Chloe was caught off guard by her master’s choice of words. “Father?"

“Claudia?!” Zenna’s eyes shot up, staring at her master with intense disapproval. “M-Master!!!”

“I didn’t mean that.” Claudia nearly jumped back in her seat, not used to Zenna growling at her quite so loudly. “It just slipped out… I mean…”

“You said you were going to work on that-”

“And I have worked on it, Zenna!!” Claudia clung to her cane not like it was a tool for punishment, but like it was a self-defense weapon. “N-now quiet down, you know how I get when you raise your voice at me…” 

“Yes, Ma’am…” The angry little lion slowly calmed down, making herself soft for handling purposes. “I’m sorry Mistress… I didn’t mean to upset you…”

“Take her to her kennel, Chloe.” Claudia turned her attention back to the mirror. “We’ll talk when you get back.” 

 

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Chloe escorted Zenna straight across the top floor, around the balcony, to Lilian’s room. Chloe had grown up in a foster home, sharing a room with three other girls or three boys depending on the night, but this- this was all she’d ever dreamed of in a bedroom, at least as a child.

Lilian was her parents’ princess, and she lived like one to prove it. 

The room was painted bright green, filled with all sorts of shiny decorations and glowing ornaments. Her toys were littered across the floor, clothes flung every which way, and stuffed animals covered about every other surface there was to cover. 

But there was one thing that Lilian’s bedroom was missing- her.

“Where’s Lilian?” Chloe glanced around the room, trying to see if she was hiding somewhere inside, but she wasn’t. “Is she in the restroom?” 

“Lilian is with aunt right now.” Zenna sighed, tugging Chloe inside and shutting the door behind her to gain themselves some privacy. “Like I was trying to tell Mistress just now, Candace asked to take care of Lilian for the afternoon.”

“So that’s what you were trying to say?” Chloe was still analyzing the room, noticing little features and dust corners that she hadn’t noticed at first. She didn’t really care what Candace was up to right now, she was too busy looking for something. “I can pass that on for you if you’d like?”

“Sure.” Zenna got down on her knees, beginning to start picking the girl’s toys up off of the floor. “Would you mind helping me clean up?”

“Clean up?” Chloe blushed, staring over the other cute girl now asking her to stay and help. “I mean I’m not really-” 

“I want to talk to you.” Zenna turned, looking up at Chloe from the floor. “If that’s okay?”

“You want to talk to me?” Normally Chloe would be flattered, but not so much at the moment. “What for?”

Zenna giggled at that. “Because we’re meant to share a bed and I hardly know you, that’s what for.” 

“Oh, um… Sure~” Chloe was nothing if not a hopeless lesbian, and Zenna seemed to have a fierce underside hidden in her. “And yeah, I can help.”

“I’ve heard a lot of mixed opinions on you.” Zenna continued placing toys in the chest where they belonged as she spoke. “Who are you?”

“Who am I?” Chloe kind of just chuckled at that. “I’m Chloe… that’s all there is to it.”

Chloe stepped further into the room, pretending to help clean up as a front while she searched Lilian’s stuffed animal pile for a certain little dog.  

“I- I don’t mean to be the bitch here… I promise.” Zenna’s nervous voice shook as she pawed through the other stuffed animals littered through the bedroom, going along with what Chloe was doing. “But ever since you got here… I don’t know… It seems like things keep changing wildly. First it’s this, then it’s that, then suddenly Darcey and Autumn switched roles, and Josephine says it’s because of you.” 

“Well yeah… but all I did was help them through their problems, that’s all-”

“I- I’m scared.” Zenna came out with it, on her knees in the middle of the room, and when Chloe turned to look at her- there she was, right in Zenna’s lap. Poppy. “I’m scared of you, Chloe…”

Chloe’s heart was thumping. She didn’t care what Zenna was saying to her just now, her sights were locked in on one thing. “Give me that-”

Zenna blinked in confusion, staring down at the little dog in her lap for a moment before squeezing it to her own chest. “I can’t… this is Lilian’s.”

“No.” Chloe snapped, a fire building inside of her. “That’s mine.” 

Zenna’s face flushed with a look of worry, slowly scooting away from the other woman. “Chloe…”

“Give it to me and I won’t have to hurt you for it.” Chloe’s breath drew thin, hot with anger, the sounds around her slowly drowning out entirely. “Now, Zenna. Or I’ll-”

 

“Or you’ll what, Cavalier?”

Burning hot rage singed Chloe’s ears as that name, that voice, rang in her brain from the doorway. Candace. It just had to be Candace. 

“You’re about to find out or what if you don’t shut your mouth, second place.” 

“Oh so that’s how you want to play this?” Candace scoffed back, rolling her eyes at the other woman’s sheer stupidity. “What are you gonna do, squeak until I die of laughter?”

Chloe snarled, snapping her head towards Candace, spitting ire straight in her direction. “Watch it-”

“No you watch it.” Candace slowly got down on her knees, letting Lilian wiggle around her and back into her bedroom, sniffling quietly. “This isn’t appropriate…” 

Seeing Lilian there beside her aunt made Chloe’s stomach tingle, very much hit with a wave of guilt for making a scene in front of the young lady of the house. Candace was right, this wasn’t appropriate of her.

“Lily, sweetie-” Zenna quickly got up, making her way over to the girl and wrapping her arms around her. “Here, this should help~”

Lilian practically attached herself to Zenna, taking Poppy from her nanny’s hands, the anger within Chloe swelling up at that making her that much more disappointed in herself. 

Chloe was calming down, albeit a few moments too late, seeing Lilian squeeze the little thing for support like she used to. Chloe was ashamed of herself. She made the girl cry, or was at least beginning to, all for a stuffed dog?

“I don’t like her, Nanny…” Lilian whispered to Zenna, staring straight into Chloe’s eyes as she mumbled, her childhood inexperience showing in how she acted. “C-can you make her go away?”

“Of course, sweetie.” Zenna smiled, comforting the girl. “Of course I can.” 

I need to go… Chloe shuffled nervously, stuck between a rock and a hard place. On one end was Candace standing in the way of the door, on the other end was the cowardly lion quickly showing herself not to be quite as cowardly as Chloe had thought she was. “Zenna, I’m sorry… that was out of line for me to do.” 

“Yeah, it was.” She should have expected this. Darcey wasn’t brainless and Autumn wasn’t heartless, she shouldn’t have expected Zenna to be so cowardly. “You heard Lilian, it’s time for you to leave.” 

Chloe didn’t really need to hear much more than that, she was already feeling guilty enough to know that it was definitely appropriate for her to leave. But before she could say anything more or doing anything else, she was suddenly red in the face with much more than a blush.

The glow of the menacing scarlet light hitting her eyes registered before any pain ever did, and she recognized that light anywhere. That was the light of a slave’s collar going off, sending a violent surge of electric current through their body. 

But this was hardly a warning light- the warning light blinked, this was the solid flash of a deadly shock already in motion. The collar glowed as it was going off not to warn the slave of an incoming attack, but to alert everyone around them not to touch while the electrocution was active.

It’s not my collar that’s going off.

It was painful to watch, seeing her drop to her knees, writhing in pain. It was clearly much much stronger than anything Josie had the guts to shock someone with, and Zenna was suffering through all of it.

And the worst part was that it didn’t stop when she was on her knees. Chloe knew how slow time moved while she was being sedated, and it was hard to just stand there and not do anything while Zenna was put through a whole minute of pain, knowing that it was that much more agonizing to the one with the ring around their neck.

Lilian was bawling, trying to squirm out of her aunt’s arms as Candace deactivated the controller, turning off the shock. An accident, it was an accident, at least partially. Chloe was disgusted to see Zenna painfully shaking herself back to attention enough to let Lilian climb into her lap again, now ten times as distraught as she already was. 

“Nanny!!!” Lilian called out to the woman through her sobs, climbing on top of her, Poppy in her arms. “I- I- I- I wanted to h-hurt the other lady, n-not you…” 

“There there…” Zenna didn’t even seem angry, just sad to see Lilian crying. “It’s not your fault… I’m here…” 

Chloe stepped backwards, pressing herself into the wall. She didn’t mean for this to happen, but it was all her fault. Lilian didn’t know better, it wasn’t her fault that Zenna accidentally got hurt, because Chloe knew now that the shock had been meant for her. 

It just wasn’t her controller strapped to Lilian’s wrist. 

Oh god… that was supposed to be me… 

 

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have taught her how to use it without explaining it more.” Candace knelt next to Zenna, trying to apologize on her niece’s behalf. “I don’t know what your name or your number is either, but I’m sorry.”

“It’s Zenna. I’m number #0005, Zenna MacNair. I belong to your sister...” She smiled, introducing herself politely and calmly despite all that had just happened. “And don’t apologize, really. It’s my burden to bear, as long as Lilian’s alright, I’m alright.”

“It’s a learning experience for her, I guess-” Candace sighed, glad to see that the other girl was okay after that. “I don’t think she realized it was just your collar and not Sophia’s.”

“Sophia’s?” Zenna slowly put the names together, glancing down at Lilian and the stuffed dog in her arms. “Wait, Sophia Cavalier? The Stolen Cosmos player, that’s really her?”

Chloe blushed, ashamed to even think of glowing in positive attention now of all times. She was trying to distance herself from that identity, not embrace it. “I’m sorry… It’s a long story-”

“And you, I mean- I know you’re Candace St. Clair, I knew from all the magazines and the painting and from your sister. I was a big fan for a while, I’ve just been too nervous to introduce myself, but her?” Zenna snuggled Lilian into her lap, gently wiping the tears from the little girl’s eyes as she made conversation. “I mean I knew of her, but I never knew what she looked like…”

“You mean you recognize me, but not her?” Candace giggled, rolling her eyes as her cheeks turned pink, flattered by all of the attention that she was now getting.

“I’ve been with my Master for two years now, Ma’am. I wouldn’t have even gotten the chance to watch her play- why, was she big?” Zenna blushed, shooting a quick glance across the room towards Chloe, and then back down towards her little charge. “And if she’s Sophia Cavalier, why is she here?”

“S-Sophia?” That was Lilian’s voice, finally calmed down from crying, now holding the little stuffed dog out towards Zenna. “This says Sophia on it?” 

“It does, doesn’t it?” Zenna smiled, cooing at Lilian for reading the name stitched into Poppy’s ear. “Very good, Lilian~”

“Is… is she Sophia?” Lilian hid in Zenna’s arms, looking up at Chloe as she asked her aunt Candace. “Is this her puppy?” 

“I don’t know… is that her puppy?” Candace smiled, now looking towards Chloe for an answer. “Are you Sophia Cavalier?” 

Chloe swallowed her anger, staring her rival down in the most respectful way she could, unable to lash out anymore thanks to all of the guilt bubbling up inside of her. “Yes…”

Candace wasn’t satisfied with just that. “Yes, what?”

“Yes.” Chloe said, her eyes fixed at the floor as she spoke, her head lowered just lightly to show submission. “I’m Sophia Cavalier… and that’s my puppy…” 

“I… I’m sorry…” Lilian frowned, holding the stuffed dog out for Zenna to take. “Can you give her puppy back to her, Nanny?” 

“You want me to give it to her?” Zenna was shocked. “Lilian, I don’t think that you should-”

“Give it back to her, Nanny.” Lilian frowned, not asking, but telling. “Mommy says I’m better than slaves, so you have to do what I say.”

From the sounds of it, Zenna was the only grown up here who wasn’t surprised by that. “Yes, Young Mistress. Nanny’s going to do what you say, okay?”

“Okay!! Thank you, Nanny!!” Lilian giggled now, happy to be safe with her babysitter again. “Good kitty~!!” 

“Here.” The cowardly lion took the stuffed animal from Lilian’s hands, following the orders of a five year old, and delivering it to Chloe instead. “If the Young Mistress wants you to have it, you’re allowed to have it.” 

“Thank you…” Chloe’s face turned red, wrapping her arms around Poppy without a moment’s hesitation, squeezing it to her chest. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry… this means so much to me, thank you.”

Zenna smiled, sighing under her breath as she began to return to her normal self. “Don’t thank me. Thank her~”

Chloe just giggled at that, nodding her head. “Thank you, Young Mistress~”

“You’re welcome…” Lilian replied, still nervous about being around Chloe. “Nanny, I’m still scared…”

“I know, Lilian. But you did a really nice thing~” Zenna stood beside Chloe, not allowing her much room at all to move. “Do you want Chloe to leave now?”

“Yes please…” Lilian nodded, tugging on Zenna’s skirt. “Can you hurt her for me, Nanny?”

Zenna frowned, noticing the scared look in Chloe’s eyes quickly getting bigger. “Lilian…” 

“I have the remote control, you have to do what I say…” Lilian stomped her feet, on the fringes of throwing a temper tantrum now, much like Chloe had done. “You have to, Nanny- or else I have to hurt you for being bad, remember?” 

“I remember~” Zenna sighed, deciding it was in her best interest to do what the girl said, lest she suffer yet another electrocution at her hands. “And Nanny’s going to be good and do as you say now, promise.”

Lilian giggled excitedly. “Good Kitty~!!”

Chloe didn’t know what Lilian meant by hurting someone, but she knew she wasn’t excited when she watched the other slave crack her knuckles. “Zenna…”

“I’m sorry, Chloe.” Zenna gave her a reluctantly smug grin. “I’m just doing as I’m told.”

 

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Okay, so maybe she deserves a mouthful of knuckles after that, that was her fault. 

“You two are going to sit here in this cell together while I have a talk with your master.” Josephine crossed her arms, standing behind Nell as she let the enforcer do the work of wrangling them into the cell for her. “Thank you, Nell. You can shut the door now.”

“With pleasure.” Nell was actually little more than just extra muscle, unable to do any punishing without express permission from either Claudia or Josephine, sort of like yet another servant hired to keep the actual slaves in line. “I’ll keep an eye on your slaves, make sure that your daughter is alright.”

“Thank you, Nell.” Josephine smiled. “And if you spot Candace, can you send her upstairs- I want her away from Lilian too.”

The door subsequently clicked closed, both of the free adults left, and Chloe was left alone again in a cell… with Zenna.

“I’m sorry about getting angry and trying to demand things from you, Zenna-” Chloe for once was not afraid to talk to an equal, especially if it meant apologizing. “I don’t know what’s gotten into me lately, but you’re right to be scared of me… because I’m a little bit scared of me too.”

“Do not fuck with me, Sophia Cavalier- or whatever your name is.” Zenna snapped back, her arms crossed at her chest. “Lilian is the only light I have left in my life, and if you can’t control yourself around her, then keep away.”

Chloe expected Zenna to be more than what she seemed, but she had almost fallen into the rhythm of expecting her to be the one that ended up solving whatever Zenna’s problem was… but instead she became the problem. 

“I can put up with a lot of things.” Zenna went on, her face flushed as she spoke. “I don’t care that I got electrocuted. I don’t care if my Master punishes me. I don’t even care that you tried to push me around. But I will not put up with you terrorizing my little girl’s life, not on my watch.” 

She was a bit of a coward on the surface, but all slaves were in the end, that was normal. Chloe was missing the signals, even when everything pointed to this.

Zenna wasn’t a weak little scaredy cat, she was a ferociously monstrous and terrifyingly brave lion. Sure, she was scared, but bravery was action in the face of fear, not the absence of fear. Zenna was fierce and protective of the things that mattered most to her, and what mattered to her was Lilian.

“I want to have a daughter of my own one day, but that’s not going to happen if I can’t protect Lilian like I’m meant to.” Zenna sighed nervously, leaning back against the wall of the cell. “That’s what this is, protecting her.” 

“You want to have a daughter of your own…” Chloe sighed, she knew exactly how Zenna was feeling when she said that. “But I was there the other night, when Lilian came to find you… she calls you her mom.”

“Lilian is as much my daughter as she is Claudia or Josephine’s.” Zenna said it, and she meant it. “My masters will never say as such because I’m a slave, but I’ve been the one taking care of Lilian since she just barely turned three. Day in and day out, every day of my life for the last two years has been devoted to her and her alone, and I’m not ashamed of that. I may not have been involved with her conception or birth, but Lilian loves me the most and if that doesn’t make me her mother I don’t know what does.” 

“Are you allowed to say things like that?” Chloe was impressed. “Aren’t you worried about what Claudia would do if she heard you?”

“Do you really need to ask that? Of course I’m scared. I’m supposed to be scared.” Zenna responded, trying to be kind. “But it still needs to be said, and I’m not saying it out of disrespect. I’m nothing if not loyal, but my loyalty is to Lilian first, the Master second, and the Mistress third.” 

“I don’t get it-”

“Of course you don’t get it, even I can tell that there’s a lot you still need to learn about being a slave.” 

“That’s not the part I don’t get, Zenna.” God did Chloe hate cats, even the human ones. “You are loyal, and you do love Lilian, I just don’t understand how. How can you be like this? How can you be so loyal? How can you slave away every day of your life for a child that gets to treat you like her mother treats you?”

“Because that’s what I am, I’m a slave- I slave. I don’t know what world you’re living in, but in this one, a slave does as told and doesn’t fantasize or dream about things they can’t be or have. It’s just like I tell Lilian, I get what I get and I don’t throw a fit. Surely your parents taught you the same thing growing up.”

“They didn’t, actually…” That one stung Chloe, right in the heart. “The only thing my parents taught me is that when your life isn’t worth living, you get a new one. When the people around you don’t do anything but make your life miserable, you find new people… and when you don’t have the power to do it yourself, there’s supposed to be people to help do it for you…” 

There was a long painful pause as both women sat in agonizing silence, a sense of shame washing over them both. Chloe knew that no one was coming to help her, no one was even looking for her, and that hurt. There wasn’t going to be child protective services to take Chloe away from this like they had as a child, and there wasn’t going to be a way out of this for Lilian either. 

“I know she’s just a child, and maybe she is your child in a way, but she hurt you.”

“It was just an accident.” 

“No it wasn’t. She wouldn’t have the controller to your collar if someone didn’t give it to her. If Candace hadn’t taught her how to use it-”

“If Miss St. Clair hadn’t taught her how to use it and been there to help show her it would have been a lot worse.”

“But how can you sit there and let Lilian keep it?”

“I was going to try and talk her down from it, but Master made the decision to give the controller to Lilian after she caught me spending the night in bed with her. She thinks that if I’m going to do things like that, Lilian should be able to protect herself from me. So that’s what’s going to happen, I have no control over it.”

“You could just take it from her!!” Chloe shouted, almost pleading with the other woman to think about her own safety. “She is a child, she couldn’t stop you if you tried taking it from her. You could have it and you could make a break for it. Why didn’t you just take it from her and leave?”

“Because I don’t want to leave!” 

Chloe stopped, stunned. The gears in her head getting caught all over again. It was the only way it made sense to her, but she didn’t understand how Zenna could feel that way, and it was getting Chloe stuck in an infinite loop. “You don’t?”

“No!” Zenna scoffed, her hand now clenched over the head of her own collar. “I love Lilian and I want to see her grow up!”

“But Claudia-”

“I love my master, Chloe. I’m a good girl. I do as I’m told and my master treats me right. She’s not hurting me, she’s protecting me. I only get punished when I do something I’m not supposed to, it might not be just from a moral standpoint, but it’s fair.”

“It’s fair? You really think this is fair?”

“Yes! I do! I’ve policed this plutocracy long enough to know that yes, this is fair!” 

Chloe opened her mouth to speak again, before shutting the hell up. Zenna was about a decade older than she was, Claudia’s age. She knew nothing compared to what Zenna did, especially about how the world really worked. 

“I’m not a prisoner here. This is where I belong. I am absolutely enthralled with my master, and I’m not ashamed of that. Claudia isn’t a monster. She’s a person, a bad person, but a person. She has her flaws and she has her struggles but she has all sorts of wonderful things about her and I wouldn’t miss them for the world, not again.” 

“Again?” Chloe blushed, squeezing that stuffed dog of hers to her chest. “Claudia is a married woman, what do you mean again?”

“I love Claudia. I’ve always wanted to be with Claudia. We were best friends growing up~” Zenna smiled happily, her face lighting up as she thought about it. “It was my fault. Her and I were inseparable, but I had to go and ruin it all for myself.” 

Chloe didn’t like where this was going. “Your fault? How is it your fault?”

“It was twenty years ago and I’m still paying for it.” Zenna’s mood quickly soured, hanging her head in disappointment. “She did one thing to me, one thing, and I made it my mission to make her life as miserable as possible for as long as possible. All because I couldn’t just… accept it and move on.”

“…Accept it and move on?” Chloe’s eyes wet with tears, her lips quivering slightly. “What did she do to you?”

“She rejected me… She humiliated me in front of the whole school, made me look like a loser…” Zenna sighed, rolling her eyes at how silly it was now. “But it wasn’t even her choice. I was the one who treated her unfairly for it. I was the one who wanted revenge.”

Chloe didn’t even open her mouth to speak that time, this was feeling familiar enough to her now that she really had no place to judge, just to listen and hear her out. 

“We were best friends for so long. But I was so scared that she was going to reject me again that I threw it all away. I was the girl at school who shoved her in the hallways. I was the one who made fun of her for being a cripple. I was her bully.” Zenna grinded her fangs together, angry at herself being so stupid. “But I’ve changed. I’m sorry for doing all those things to her, and she knows it. She knows how much I regret letting what we had die… I want to make things right with her.” 

“But… you’re still here against your will-”

“Am I?” Zenna chuckled lightly, taking a deep breath. “Have you ever even asked that- or did you just assume?” 

“I guess I just assumed. I thought it was… implied…” Chloe’s eyes went wide, her face now flushed with embarrassment. “Are you not here against your will?”

“No.” Zenna shook her head, smiling proudly about that. “Darcey and Autumn, yes. But not me…” 

“How?” Chloe’s mind was racing a mile a minute now, shredding her gears to dust. “How did this happen?”

“I’m a class C, just like you… I let her send me to the facility because I knew what that meant. Because if it meant that we’d finally get to be together, I’d do anything for her.” 

“But this is slavery… why slavery?” 

“Because she didn’t want me. It was the only way she’d let me back into her life, if I chose to be her drone…”

“How does making you her drone solve the problems she had with you, though?”

“Well I don’t know… if you chose to leave them then you probably hate your last owner for whatever it was they did to you…” Zenna giggled. “Would you not relish the opportunity to give them a taste of their own medicine? Would you not give them another chance if it was the other way around?” 

“I mean I guess I would…” Chloe frowned, now looking down into her lap, staring into Poppy’s little eyes. “All this time I thought you were me, but… you’re Candace, aren’t you?”

“Candace?” Zenna swallowed nervously. “Claudia’s sister Candace?”

“Yes. Candace St. Clair, Candace… my Master, Candace.” She swallowed her anger and her shame all in one gulp, clutching Poppy to her chest. “And if you’re Candace, that means Claudia… is me.”

Zenna frowned. “You’re losing me here…”

“But I don’t want to be Claudia. I’m not allowed to be, I-”

 

“Alright alright. That’s enough of that.” The two girls turned towards the dumbwaiter, hearing their master’s voice as the door opened. “Lilian’s with her mother , and I would like a word with you both upstairs.”

Chloe glanced up at her, heart swelling with fear seeing the controller to her own collar now strapped to Claudia’s wrist. “You were listening…” 

“Upstairs, girls.” Claudia completely shrugged her off, ordering her into the elevator. “Now.” 

 

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“We need to have a very serious talk about how things are going to work from now on.” Claudia led them both upstairs, where amazingly- Darcey, Autumn, Josephine, and Candace were already waiting for them. “And before you ask, yes. We all did hear that just now.”

Chloe swallowed nervously, looking over at Candace quietly sulking over at the vanity, undoubtedly spurred on by hearing all that Chloe and Zenna had to say to each other. 

“I have never seen all of my slaves in such chaotic disarray as this last week, and after hearing everything that these two had to say, I should be punishing every single one of you for how you’ve been behaving.” Claudia sat at the foot of her bed, directly next to her wife, who placed just one hand on Claudia’s thigh. “But I know that this is a really stressful time, and there have been many many changes in the last month, and I’m afraid there’s more to come.”

“Sit down, girls. I want you all to hear this.” Josephine smiled weakly, waiting for Zenna and Chloe to kneel on the floor next to Darcey and Autumn. “It’s about Lilian.” 

Candace was just kind of here for the ride, honestly. This didn’t have much to do with her except for the fact that it was her sister, and by extension, her family. But the slaves were present, they were here to listen. 

“This party means a lot to me, girls.” Claudia took over from there. “You might not know it, but this party is for my mother, Lilith. There’s only about three weeks until her birthday, and it’s going to be her last birthday.”

Lilith is dying. Claudia’s mother is dying. Chloe hardly knew the woman, but she felt for her master, even if she didn’t understand what it was like to lose a parent. 

“I’m going to be fine, but Lilian is little still. We avoided the topic with Bella, but this is her grandmother.” Claudia sighed, smiling as she let Josie take her by the hand. “This entire slave empire is my mother’s legacy. But as much as it pains me to say it, we have not done enough to teach Lilian right from wrong or person from slave.”

“I haven’t done enough.” Josephine cut in, barely able to keep her voice from cracking. “And I’m sorry to have to admit it, but I don’t know how to fix it.” 

The two of them were dancing around it, but it was obvious by the way that they squeezed each other’s hands and gazed into each other’s eyes that these two women really did love each other, and even though this was probably the hardest decision they’ve had to make, it was clear what they were trying to say before Claudia even had to say it. “Josephine and I are separating.”

All three of their loyal slaves were clearly heartbroken by this, some more than others. But Chloe could see that the pain in Zenna’s eyes was the worst out of all of them. 

“Now this isn’t to say that we’re getting a divorce, we’re not.” Josephine did her best to try and assure them all. “Give us these few short weeks to figure things out, girls. We’re trying. We need this time.” 

“But… if things aren’t figured out in time for this party-” Claudia tried her best not to make eye contact with anyone, especially the woman in the mirror behind her sister. “We’ll make a decision then, for Lilian’s sake.” 

Josephine smiled sadly, concurring with what her wife had to say. “Now I’m sure you girls have questions-”

 

“What happens to Lilian, Ma’am?” Zenna was the one getting hit the most by this, put on the verge of panic. “You can’t both have custody of Lilian, she’s going into kindergarten next year, she needs one home, not two…” 

“We’ve already thought of that, slave.” Claudia was the one to address her, being Zenna’s master. “And I heard what you said, I know how you think of our daughter, but you’re just going to have to accept this. You know better than anyone how Lilian is with me, and I need to get my future heiress ready for public life.”

“She’s our daughter, Zenna. Not yours.” Josephine frowned, speaking softer than Claudia would choose to. “You need to accept that this is in Lilian’s best interest.” 

“It’s for your own good as well as hers, and it’s of your own doing, Zenna. We’re weaning her off of you.” Claudia came in with her stronger tone. “If it comes to this, Lilian will be staying with Josephine.”

“It’s the only way for me to make things right.” Josephine sighed, accepting what was probably eventually going to come to pass. “I’m going to learn to be a proper mother, and I am going to take care of Lilian.”

“Then I want to come with you!” Zenna protested, now beginning to cry. “Please- I’m begging you…” 

Thump. 

“No.” Claudia told her off, smacking her cane onto the floor to quiet the panicked kitten. “It will hurt, but you girls will have to live with being separated, all of you. Darcey and Autumn belong to Josie, they’ll help her take care of Lilian.”

“And me?” Zenna sobbed, looking up at her with terrified eyes. “I don’t get to see Lilian anymore?”

“You will get to see Lilian when I get to see Lilian, Zenna. You’re my slave, you belong to me, your loyalty should be to me, not to her.” 

“We can talk this out later. But right now we need focus, we need obedience, and we need each of you to be on your best behavior from here until then.” Josephine stood up, putting herself between the two. “We need you girls to have faith in us, please… We’re trying to make the best decision for all of us.” 

“And that’s why we’re giving you all one get out of jail free card. Things are terrible, we know, but from now until the party we need to get shit together.” Claudia was practically shouting at this point. “This is not an excuse or an invitation for any of you to misbehave, but starting from here, we’re letting you each get away with one singular infraction, because I can’t have any of you dying between now and then.”

Claudia sighed, breathing heavily as she finished speaking. Chloe could see in her face that she was beyond angry right now, but she kept that hidden just beneath the surface, right where only the observant could see it. She was staring into that mirror of hers for just a second too long, her heart heavy with guilt as she looked at that version of herself in the chrome, and not even looking into her sister’s eyes were going to change that reflection. 

 

“There’s a catch, obviously.” Candace stood up from behind the girls, standing in the way between Claudia and the mirror. “This was my idea, and it was something that our father used to do with me when I was a kid to get me to go to church. If you want out of punishment, you have to make a confession.”

“A confession?” Chloe didn’t feel the need to say a single fucking word until after Candace had, but she wasn’t going to let any of her ideas stand without scrutinizing them. “What kind of confession?”

“A confession of your sins and misdeeds.” Candace went on, elaborating. “You won’t literally be taken to church, but you’re going to be expected to put the effort in if you want to be forgiven.” 

Chloe rolled her eyes. “Mind giving us an example of what you mean?”

“There’s no need.” Claudia cut in, waving her sister back down. “Because I think for her own sake, Zenna should be expected to give hers now.”

“You want me to confess more?” Zenna sniffled, wiping the tears from her eyes. “Master?” 

“If you would like to wake up tomorrow, yes.” Claudia pointed her cane towards Zenna. “I think you ought to use yours now.”

“Come on, girls. Darcey, Autumn.” Josephine stood up, motioning for her slaves to follow her out. “We don’t all need to be here for this.”

“Goodnight, Josie dear.”

“Goodnight honey~”

Josephine left, eager to get away from her wife after all of that, taking her slaves with her. Candace too decided it was her place to get up and leave, not even giving Chloe a passing glance. “I’ll look after Lilian. My mom was a nanny, I think it only fitting-”

“Good idea.” Chloe giggled, not about to let Candace leave with her dignity unscathed. “Go be more like your mom, okay?”

Oh she did not just say that, did she? To Candace? Did Chloe really think Candace wasn't going to say something back? No, of course she didn't. She was counting on it.

Candace took a deep breath, almost snarling at the slave's insolence under her breath before turning around and staring her down, now red in her extremely pale face, looking like she was about to breathe fire like a dragon would- this girl was not happy. She was pissed to hear her former slave, Sophia Cavalier of all people, trying to edge her on- an even more pissed that it was working. She was beyond upset with Chloe after everything she said about her to Zenna in that cell, and she was not about to let her get away with thinking that she could somehow in any way be above her. That girl needed her ego stomped back into the dirt right where it belonged.

And she was just the woman to do it, too.

“I’m a piece of shit, I get it, but you’re not a classy woman and you’re never going to be a classy woman- and not even because you’re a slave. My mother was a slave through and through and she’s still classier than you could ever hope to be in your entire life, oh and better yet, unlike me you’re never not going to be somebody’s slave, even if you so desperately want to turn the tables on me somehow. I know you’re hurt, but I’m not in the mood to field far flung insults from a mutt’s mouth.”

Candace was absolutely done putting up with this sort of behavior from Chloe, she had sat through enough of it, and she was not having it today.

“Yes, my mother was a slave, and I am endlessly appreciative of what she did for me in spite of that- especially for bringing me into this ugly world you live in. And If I could punish the one who killed her, I would, so mention my mother to me one more time and you’re not going to see me follow in her footsteps, which includes not getting to see me serve in a cute little uniform at the party like I know you so desperately want to when you lash out for attention like you are, so watch your cunt-smelling cumsock of a mouth before you get into a fight that you know you can’t win, you punkass dumpster fire show dog wannabe.”

She slammed the door shut behind her with as much force as she could muster, not even giving the other girl a moment to respond. Chloe was left in awe, her heart aching at her words. She wasn’t even hurt by Candace’s words, if anything- she wanted that woman. She wanted that woman more than she ever had.

“Chloe…” Claudia had to snap her out of her own head from behind. “I think you ought to return to the cell for now, okay?”

“Are you sure, Ma’am?” Chloe blushed, hanging her head in shame as she squeezed Poppy in her arms. “I can stay and help you have fun with Zenna?”

“I’m sure, slave.” Claudia didn’t actually seem very much happier with Chloe than her sister was. “Besides, there’s not going to be any fun to be had here with Zenna, now go.”

Thump. Claudia struck the ground with her cane, and Chloe was nothing if not receptive to its influence over her, scurrying her way to the dumbwaiter as fast as she could. 

“Yes, Master… I’m sorry…” 

“Goodnight, slave. I will talk this out with you in the morning.” 

 

 

Chapter 36: Chasing Her Own Tail

Notes:

i really am aspiring to become a professional writer at some point, so if you like the work please feel free to join my discord (link at the end of the work) <3

CW: This chapter is a more intense one, it features child abuse for one, and a load of blatant sexism as well

If you've read to this point, it's not much heavier fair than what's previously been included, but if you do have issues with parents doing terrible things to their own children, i want to be here up front to warn you <3

16th November, 7,305 Days until the banquet.

 

“What do you mean you don’t want to date me?” 

“I mean… we can still be friends, but we can’t date.” 

Claudia fidgeted nervously, her cheeks red as she confessed to her friend, hoping desperately that the other girl wasn’t going to get upset with her. 

“But… we were going to go to homecoming together.”

“I know, but-”

“You were the one who asked me out.” 

“I did, but-” 

“Then what happened?!”

Unfortunately for the poor girl, Zenna was very upset with her, and she had a right to be.

“I- I can’t say… I’m sorry-” 

Claudia knew exactly why she couldn’t go to homecoming with Zenna, and she was far far too afraid to say.

“I thought we were best friends.” MacNair had tears in her eyes as she stared over at Claudia, her best friend since even just elementary school. Back then the three of them had been practically inseparable, but that was never going to be the case after today. “We were more than best friends-”

“But we can’t be, Zenna. I can’t go to homecoming with you-”

“Then you shouldn’t have asked me-” 

“I didn’t know…”

“Shut up!!” An angry thirteen year old Zenna wasn’t exactly the kind of kid to think before doing something stupid, and her best friend instantly paid the price for it. 

Claudia had trouble walking, Zenna knew she had trouble walking. Even a light shove sent her tumbling to the ground in the middle of the school courtyard. She certainly didn’t mean to knock her over like she did, but you wouldn’t know that seeing it from a distance, like so many of their classmates did.

All they saw was one freshman girl getting shoved to the concrete by another, right in the middle of the quickly crowding courtyard.

 

It just had to be her; it just had to be Claudia. Anyone else's hip would have easily been able to handle the force of another teenager, but not her's. The three of them knew that, everyone did. 

It was humiliating to say the least. It hurt to find herself on the ground where she belonged, right between her two best friends. As if she could even call them that anymore.

“Claudia-” Zenna seemed to quickly regret tossing the other girl over. The courtyard outside was quiet and empty, and then filled to bursting with noisy laughs, sneers, and giggles. There wasn’t much that could speak louder than the noise of other kids at school making fun of her, but I’m sorry probably would have helped- not that Claudia needed help. 

She didn’t deserve help. 

This is your own fault, munchkin…

Who cared that Claudia was categorically experiencing every variety of pain if she was second-class. She felt less like an underclassman than an underhuman at times- if only it were that simple. 

This wouldn’t have happened if you had behaved. You wouldn’t be getting punished if you had been good. 

Claudia curled in on herself, her whole body twisted from being thrown to the ground. It was her own fault she fell, she was the one with arthritis in her hip from an injury she never properly recovered from- she just thought that Zenna was the type of person who’d never make fun of her for that. But she was laughing along with everyone else, wasn’t she?

You should know better than to ask another girl out. Women are too frail and too emotional. 

Her mother was right. She never should have even considered falling for a girl. Two women just can’t raise a family on their own. Wives were meant to be subservient to their husbands for a reason, there was a natural order to things, you can’t lead a family as equals. Equality doesn’t exist, there’s always going to be someone on the top and someone on the bottom. 

You should have listened the first time. I wouldn’t have to do this if you did as you’re told.

Her father was right. She could have avoided all of this if she had just obeyed her family like she was supposed to. But instead, she was left lying on the floor of the courtyard as the other students laughed at her. She was the one with the fucked up hip, she was the one who literally couldn’t support herself enough to stand on her own.

It’s your fault Daddy did this to you. Daddy wouldn’t have done it if you didn’t deserve it.

Claudia never really knew why it happened, just that it was her own fault. She was the one who had been bad, she had disobeyed, she had misbehaved- and she was punished for it. It was as simple as that. 

Do as Daddy says and he’ll treat you like his princess, he gives you the world, he spoils you beyond imagination. But disobey him and you get what you deserve, you get treated like someone beneath him should- you get punished, hurt, raped- just like anyone who chose to cross him, man or woman. 

Her arthritis was her own fault, she had deserved what Daddy did to her, it was her body that failed her. It was her own fault she had fallen over, but it wasn’t her fault that she had been shoved. It didn’t matter that it was Zenna, whoever shoved Claudia to the ground deserved to be punished.

“C-Claudia?” She looked up to see Zenna leaning over her, trying to help her up. “I… I didn’t mean to knock you over, I’m s-”

“Back off!!!” Claudia screamed at her from below, slapping Zenna’s hand out of the way with as much force as she could muster. “Get away from me before I rape you too!!!”

 

Silence. Shocked silence. Claudia’s blood boiled with rage, wishing she was as strong as her father was. Zenna didn’t know who she was really messing with, but in her eyes, Claudia deserved a foot to the crotch for that.

“Oh you want to see rape?” Zenna grinned angrily, practically slamming herself down on top of the other girl. “I’ll show you rape!!”

Claudia practically screamed as Zenna slammed her foot down between her legs, crushing Claudia’s genitals beneath her shoes, furiously kicking the girl while she was down. This was the day that would haunt Claudia’s nightmares, this was the day Zenna became Claudia’s abuser. 

“Who fucking needs you then?! Come at me and I’ll show you how serious I can be!!” Zenna snarled back, hissing like an angry lion as she spat straight into Claudia’s face just to spite her. The pack of hungry lions around them just erupted with newfound laughter as Zenna continued to beat up on the girl at her feet, tears in her eyes as she disowned her now former best friend. “G-good luck with the dance then, l-loser… the whole school already fucking hates you, s-so enjoy going alone cripple girl!!” 

Claudia’s heart squeezed tight in her chest, clawing her way upwards, desperate to teach her new bully a lesson before she slipped out of her grasp. But thankfully for her, Claudia did still have a friend to stop her before she went too far.

“Claudia stop!!!! You’re gonna get hurt!!!!” She felt the other girl tugging on her arms from behind, trying to keep her from running after the girl and getting into another fight. “Let her go!!!! It’s not worth it!!!!”

“Get your hands off me or I’ll do the same to you!!” Claudia snapped back, shoving her friend away after being helped to her feet. “D-don’t pretend like you still want to be my friend-”

Smack!!! Claudia was no stranger to being thumped in the face, especially today, but getting smacked by mom or dad was a lot different than when Leah did it.

“Don’t tell me how to be your friend…”

 

Claudia had her friend drive her away shortly thereafter. Leah was actually two grades ahead of the other girls, so she was the only one of them who could drive. They had met through Leah’s little sister, Rachel- granted, Leah’s sister didn’t like Claudia very much at all, but that was Cyrus’ doing, not hers. 

But Leah liked her. Leah, as it turned out, was just about Claudia’s only friend nowadays. 

“Did you cut that girl off like I told you to, Claudia?” Her mother set down a full bottle of gin as she spoke, cracking it open and pouring herself a drink. “What was her name, Jenna?”

“Zenna…” Claudia frowned, growling under her breath at the name. “And yeah, I did it today… just like you said…” 

Lilith exhaled a mouthful of smoke, putting her cigarette out now that her daughter had shown up. “You’re just like your father sometimes, putting things off until the last minute.” 

“That’s not the only way she’s like her father.” Leah snickered from behind her, trying to make light of the previous afternoon’s events. “She threatened to rape her too.”

Lilith didn’t seem to approve of that in the slightest. “Did you now?” 

Claudia blushed, lowering her head in defeat. “Yeah…”

Both Leah and her friend sensed that she probably shouldn’t have brought that up, even as a joke, but it was a little bit too late for that now. 

It had just slipped out of her. Claudia was only fourteen after all, she just said the first thing that came to her mind. It just so happened to be the only thing she could think to say to defend herself was threatening the other girl with what she was the most scared of.

“Happy birthday to me, I guess…” Lilith sighed, sliding the bottle of gin towards her daughter’s friend. “Take it… I’ll drive you girls home…”

“Y-yes, Ma’am?” Leah swallowed nervously, excitedly grabbing at the bottle. “You mean I can just… have this?” 

“I was planning on sharing it with my daughter.” Lilith bent her cigarette in half between her fingers. “But I don’t think a dirty mouth like that should be getting any of it tonight, especially if she’s going to be like her dad-”

“Mommy?” Claudia nervously stared up at her mom, a lump forming in her throat. “What’s going on?”

“Don’t call me that, hon… that’s what she used to call me-”

“Sh-she?” 

“Claudia, dear… you know what I’ve told you. Girls aren’t meant to be together like that… it’ll just end in disappointment, or even worse… heartbreak.” Lilith blew just a little bit of the dust from her fingers, cleaning the cigarette butt off for the girl. “Open wide.”

“I… I don’t-”

Thump . Lilith’s cane thudded against the floor at her feet, causing her daughter to jump in her seat just slightly. Her mother had owned that cane for some time, it was what helped her walk on her own feet, but that sound was new and terrifying. 

“Do as you’re told, Claudia.” Lilith frowned, holding the extinguished cigarette butt to her daughter’s lips. “I don’t want to see you become your father-”

“And he doesn’t want to see me become you…” Claudia snapped back nervously, the corners of her eyes wet with tears. “So I guess I’ll just have to be like Charlotte, huh?” 

Lilith scoffed, forcing her daughter’s mouth open by her lips, placing the still hot cigarette onto her tongue and clamping her mouth shut. “You know better than to say that name- now swallow .” 

Claudia gagged, about ready to spill up on her mother’s shoes- the incendiary making its way down her throat as she tensed up and swallowed. 

 

Claudia cried most of the way home, only shutting herself up when she got there. Lilith didn’t usually like to drive her kids home, but she wanted a word with the girl’s father if she could. She of course drove, letting Leah sit in the backseat with her friend, bouncing giddily. 

“You kids are late, what happened?” Claudia’s step-mother was impatiently waiting in the kitchen as she arrived. “You can’t just-”

“We made a stop first, okay?” Claudia moped past her, staring at the floor ahead of her. “You were supposed to be going out with Daddy tonight…” 

“You had me worried sick, Claudia.” Alecia grabbed a hold of Claudia, trying to make sure she was alright. “Your brother is six, I can’t just leave him here while you and his babysitter are just missing all of a sudden…” 

Claudia just scoffed, taking a quick glance back at Leah as she guiltily stepped in the doorway. “Isn’t Daddy going to punish you for staying here and not going out with him?” 

“Yes, as a matter of fact, he is.” Alecia frowned, getting down on her knees as she looked up at her frankly quite tall step-daughter, letting her own son cower behind her. “But my job is to keep you kids safe, so it’s better me than you or your brother-”

Claudia scoffed, her eye twitching as it made brief contact with her much smaller brother’s, as he cowered behind his mother for protection. “When I was his age, Daddy-”

“I know what your father did to you, Claudibear… and I’m trying to keep that from happening again…” Alecia’s frowned, squeezing her step-daughter’s hand. “What would your mother say if she found out you snuck out without permission and got yourself in trouble-”

 

“Not much, actually.” Lilith sighed, forcing her way into the house after Leah. “Something mildly disappointed, but not very surprised. My bigger problem is her threatening to rape other girls on the school playground.”

 

Alecia blushed, swiveling just slightly as she heard Lilith’s voice, turning to kneel facing her. “M- M- Miss Mariam…” 

You could tell she was struggling with her words as she swallowed the lump in her own throat, lowering her head out of respect. And her son did the same, it was actually kind of cute how he mimicked his mother just then, she actually had to nudge him out of the corner of her eye to get him to stop.

Lilith just scoffed, rolling her eyes at the sight of the boy. “Please don’t tell me you’re raising him to be a slave, there’s a facility for that kind of thing.”

“His father hasn’t exactly decided what to do with him just yet-”

“And is his father here?”

“No, Ma’am…” Alecia shook her head, gesturing towards her son’s babysitter. “Leah, honey- can you take Cardinal to his room?”

“You named him Cardinal?” Lilith was entirely unamused, having to fight back a well of largely negative emotions within her. “What kind of-”

“I didn’t have much choice, Miss… his father named him- I’m sure if he had been assigned female his father would have named him Alecia.”

“Alecia?” Lilith’s eyes narrowed, staring skeptically at the slave woman. “Who’s Alecia?”

Alecia just swallowed nervously, still on her knees in front of her husband’s ex-wife. “Right… um- Master renamed me once we had wed. Alecia St. Clair, after the girl’s school I grew up in, remember?”

“He renamed you?” Lilith groaned, grinding out a bit of her anger between her teeth. “So what, you’re a different person now? What was wrong with being-”

 

“Mom!!” There were only two people that called her that, and Claudia was remaining astoundingly silent. “Come on, give her some space to breathe or something, gosh…” 

Cyrus already had a backpack full of stuff slung over his arm, and Alecia seemed to be particularly distraught to see him, even if he was in much better shape than he ought to be after a week like this one, quickly making his way to his mother’s side. 

“I was wondering where you were.” Lilith smiled, grabbing a hold of her boy and pulling him close, quickly noticing the uncharacteristic level of flinching for the twelve year old the moment he got close. “Cyrus honey… what happened?”

 

“I… I’m sorry…” Alecia cupped her face in her hands, unable to so much as look up at the other woman. “Cyrus got into a fight with his father this week…”

Lilith looked down in near disgust at her son. “He didn’t-” 

“I’m sorry, Ma’am…” Alecia sighed, turning back to her step-daughter beside her. “See honey, you were supposed to come home after school… Your father and I were going to be out of the house so that your mom could come pick you up, Leah was going to babysit Cardinal and… and-”

“I don’t want to go with her anymore…” Claudia glared back at her mother, a sad look painted across her face. “I want to stay home…”

“Claudia honey-” Alecia frowned, holding the girl’s hand. “What’s wrong?”

Lilith just shook her head at Claudia’s attitude. “She’s upset over a girl.”

“Oh sweetie…” Alecia sighed, holding her arms out for a hug. “I know how that feels, I’m sorry-”

“Don’t tell her things like that, slave.” Lilith’s gravel filled voice practically spat at the woman. “She needs to know that she can’t date other girls. If she hadn’t asked the kid out I wouldn’t have had to make her call it all off.”

“You… you made her cancel her date to the dance?” Alecia frowned, looking on at Lilith in disbelief. “But she was so excited for that… why would you-”

“I’ve told you this before, Alecia. Two women aren’t meant to be in love like that-”

“I know it’s not my place to tell you how to live your life, Ma’am… I know you’ve already made your decision.” Alecia sighed, deciding it her place to finally get up off of the floor and put her foot down, holding her step-daughter in a hug. “But I think you should know better than to tell her things like that…” 

Lilith’s face turned red, avoiding the other woman’s gaze. “Claudia can stay here, but send the other girl, I have to take Leah home before her parents miss her.” 

“She’ll be fine here, Miss Mariam…” Alecia frowned, shaking her head at Lilith’s decision not to bring her daughter home with her. “Have a nice night, please…”

“Fine.” Lilith sighed, shaking her own head in defeat. “Don’t let your husband hurt you too bad.”

“I’ll do my best… and, Ma’am?”

“Yes?”

“Don’t think I’ve forgotten…” She smiled, blushing at the other woman. “Happy Birthday~”

“Thank you…” Lilith smiled back, her cheeks as bright as the slave’s glowing red eyes. “And Claudia-”

“Yes, mom?” Claudia slumped against the wall, holding her hands out as Lilith tossed her cane straight into her daughter’s arms. “Wh-what’s this?”

“It’s yours now…” Lilith sighed, turning to leave with her son. “Just something to help you back to your feet when you fall…”

 

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25th October, 22 days until the banquet.

 

“You want me to do what?” Josephine nervously clutched the riding crop to her chest, curled up in bed looking towards her wife for guidance. “T-to you?” 

“No, not to me- to her.” Claudia sighed, gesturing towards Candace from sat at the vanity. “Hit her. Hurt her. Punish her. You used to do it with me all the time, remember?” 

“Yeah but that was with you…” Josephine stared at her sister-in-law, hands shaking at the thought of it. “You know… back when I was… you know?” 

“Sweetie it’s not hard-” Claudia thumped her foot in annoyance. “Just do as I say and hit her!!”

“Okay fine!!” Josephine jumped to her feet, growling at her wife in a tone that Claudia very much appreciated from her. “If she doesn’t want to give her confession, I’ll hit her…”

Candace sat patiently in the chair of Josephine’s vanity, not restrained by any means, just waiting to see what her sister-in-law would do. Those eyes were just the right color to be mistaken for Chloe, and Candace’s red and blue eyes both stared back at her, but it was strange how they didn’t connect.

Candace saw through her, towards her sister. Claudia was sitting on the bed behind her wife, who stood directly between Candace and Claudia. 

Claudia wanted to watch, but she couldn’t. She needed Josephine standing between them to keep her from looking at her own eyes in the vanity mirror. She didn’t want to see her mother’s or her father’s eyes staring on at her, judging her, she just wanted to see those red eyes. 

Candace was so close but so far away at the same time. She was definitely her mother’s daughter, you could see it in her face, but one of those eyes was her father’s. Claudia didn’t need her father right now, she needed her mother. Her real mother.

Josephine took a deep breath, steadying her hand as she stood over Candace, getting ready to strike. “Do you know why I’m doing this, Candace?”

“Because your wife is telling you to?” Candace snorted, crossing her arms and her legs as she looked up at Josie, knowing that she wasn’t actually going to hit her. “And you’re trying to get back in her good graces to save your marriage?” 

“Hey!!” Josephine frowned, lowering the crop again. “Come on, why’d you have to go and say it like that?” 

Candace’s eyebrows raised, her face just a little bit flushed. She looked a lot like Chloe, enough so that Candace was pretending she was, even if Josie couldn’t take an insult like Chloe could. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that, I’m so used to slaves.”

“Yeah well I’m not a slave, okay-” Josephine huffed, tightening her grip on the riding crop. “Now listen or I’ll smack you on more than just the hand.”

“Right.” Candace smiled, humoring her by holding out one hand, trying to help make it easier for her. “Go ahead, I’m listening now.” 

 

This had been Claudia’s idea, really. She didn’t like that outburst between Chloe and Candace the previous night. If she wanted to assert herself over her sister as the family’s patriarch, she needed to punish Candace like her father used to, like using the confession tactic he used to use on Candace as a kid. 

“Go on then.” Josephine took a deep breath in and then out. “If you don’t want me to punish you, confess.” 

Candace rolled her mismatched red and blue eyes, not even sure if her sister was listening from behind her wife. “Do you want all of it?”

“I think I deserve to hear all of it, if not from my wife, then from you.” 

Claudia had done her best to hide the truth from Josephine for this long, but that really did need to stop and she knew it. All her attempts at hiding secrets for the good of her family only ever ended up in complete disaster. Josie needed to know who Chloe was. “Tell her. Please…”

Claudia didn’t often say please, so when she did, Candace was more than willing to grant her that. “Her name is Sophia Cavalier. She’s my ex-rival. She’s the girl who defeated me in the world championship last year.”

Josephine slowly lowered the riding crop. “No-”

Claudia shuddered, now just staring at her cane. “It gets worse.” 

“She was mine, Josie. She was my slave.” Candace uncrossed her legs, sighing sadly. “The other families are laughing at me for that, so I convinced Daddy to let me keep her and humiliate her, that way I could show the other families that I’m not a weakling like they think I am.” 

“It gets worse.” Claudia repeated. “Tell her why she’s here.”

“Because she did it again, right in front of two family heads, including my father. She beat me again even after I trained her not to, she was counting on getting taken away from me and sent to someone else, because she knew I wouldn’t let my father kill her-”

“And he went along with it?” Josephine was stunned, now nervously pressing Candace for more. “How did you get him to do that?”

“Because I’m his princess!! He wants me to be the next head of the family, and I don’t even know why. I have no say in it. He just wants it to be me… and it took me so much to convince him not to kill her… twice.” 

Claudia was only half paying attention to the other women, staring into the eyes of that cane in her hands. It was only fitting that she ended up with it in the end. Her mother gave her cane, but those eyes always reminded her of her nanny. She had always thought that it was a coincidence, but she was beginning to believe otherwise. 

Mom designed Preyboy to have Alecia’s eyes… 

She almost smiled at the thought, it would have made her happy if she didn’t know what happened to the woman. She could never in a million years forgive herself for not doing something about it. That was one secret she needed to take to the grave, and so did her mother. 

“The zed list isn’t just a list of slaves to be put down, it’s a hit list.” Claudia spoke down to the cane, the glow of its eyes making sure she knew that the device was recording. Josephine and Candace both knew that of course, but Claudia was just saying it for the sake of the recorded confession. “It was named after a girl named Charlotte Zed. She was the runt of the first litter, the only person in the first batch of slaves to never be sold, she went on to become the first to be put down by the family directly-”

“She was Lilith’s slave.” Candace rolled her eyes, sick of the semi-official tone that her sister spoke to the microphone in, but choosing to continue in the same vein. “Lilith created the facility. After she finished with the first batch of slaves, she was too attached to just get rid of her. So she belonged to Lilith until my father got rid of her. She died some years ago, and Lilith retroactively renamed the list to remember her.” 

Josephine paused, she didn’t know that much about the situation, but it made sense. What didn’t make sense was the two sisters and their intense desire to keep a good as dead girl from dying. “What does this have to do with you though?”

“The confession, Candace.” Claudia sighed, pointing the camera away from herself and to her sister. “Say it and be forgiven.”

Candace rolled her eyes, sighing to herself. If it was going to finally get her out of being punished for it, she was ready to say it.

“Daddy made sure I was aware all my life that he was being kind in letting me grow up as a free person and not a slave like my mother. I’m going to be his heiress because I’m going to be just like him. My job is to always put my family’s needs before my own and to run things like Daddy runs them even after he’s gone.” 

Candace couldn’t help but feel like this was a stupid thing to do, but it was admittedly helping her to get it all out there. It helped bring everything into focus for her, clear out the foggy parts and make way for a clearer picture of what was going on. 

“Daddy always gives me what I want as long as I always listen and do as he says. Ever since Mommy died, I’ve done as I’m told and never asked questions and Daddy has rewarded me by spoiling me.”

Her words were the truth, she had no reason to lie, even if she was leaving parts out. Candace had never asked why her mom had died, which meant that to this day she never knew what her mother had done to earn being put down. 

“When Sophia Cavalier defeated me in front of a few thousand cheering fans, Daddy decided that the only way to save face was to kill Sophia. She was put on the zed list to be killed and made an example of-”

“And your sin?” Josephine pressed her. She had no stake in this, just like Candace had no stake in Josie’s relationship issues. But Claudia needed this, Claudia needed help. Because this confession was one that Claudia couldn't sit through on her own, Josie’s wife couldn’t do everything on her own. “What are you confessing to?”

Claudia wasn’t listening anymore. She was sitting behind her wife, shielded by her to help keep her sister from seeing that she was crying. She knew what Candace didn’t, and it broke her.

“I went behind Daddy’s back and kidnapped Sophia Cavalier without his permission. I had to fake her death to make it look like she had died to the public. It had to be suspicious enough to make it look to the families like we had carried out a hit on her, but not so suspicious as to actually draw the attention of authorities.”

Candace paused for a moment, the sound of her sister’s tears making her seethe, she didn’t need pity right now. She needed to confess to what she did, let her sister show it to her father, and finally gain her father’s forgiveness. 

“So maybe I did want revenge. Maybe I did want to ruin Sophia’s life for humiliating me. I went behind Daddy’s back and made her my slave without the facility’s help. I did it for me because I wanted revenge, I did, and I got my revenge!! But I didn’t just do it for me, I did it for you too!!”

She was speaking directly to the camera now, talking right to her father. 

“I did it for you, Daddy, because I wanted to show you that I can do this. I can take control of a situation, I could punish her with a fate worse than death, worse than what you wanted me to do to her. I wanted to impress you and show the whole family that I’m the right girl for the job after all.”

She stopped, taking a deep breath and refocusing again. She had more to answer for, she had more to say for why she did what she did, and she needed to say them to Sophia, even if she couldn’t hear her. 

“But I did it for you too, Sophia. Because I like you, and deep down I was scared of letting you die like my mother had died. I wanted you and I wanted you alive. I went behind my father’s back to get you. I protected you then, and I protected you when you humiliated me straight to my father’s face. I let you get away with it when you should have been killed. I saved your life from him and-”

She paused again, snarling loudly as she stood up from her chair, watching Josie step backwards in surprise. 

“My father let my mother die and he still to this day gets to call her Alecia, so if me choosing to protect you isn’t enough to make me deserving of calling you Chloe again, then I don’t know what is. So there, there is my confession. You can choose to forgive me or not, but the punishing is over. Cross me again and I’ll show you what I deserve.”

 

Claudia had only once in her life been consumed by so much guilt. Candace was in so much pain. Her sister, her brother, her father, her mother- her entire family, wife and daughter included, were in pain. And it was all because of her. Because she wasn’t good enough.

Josephine tried to strike Candace, she really did try, but she just couldn’t bring herself to do it.  Candace got up and Candace left, making her way out of the door and storming off to who knows where. And Josephine did nothing to stop her. 

“Thank you for telling me…” Josephine sat on the edge of the bed next to Claudia, turning the cane off. “I’m sorry.”

“I don’t like sorries, Josie.” Claudia clung to her cane for support. “Be more specific.” 

“I’ve taken my own family for granted, and I’m sorry.” Josie hung her head in defeat, laying the riding crop in her lap. “Please… don’t leave me…”

“Josie…” Claudia bit her lip, sniffling back tears. “Please don’t do this right now.”

“I know- I’m sorry.” Josephine cradled her face in her hands, on the verge of collapse. “Please. Tell me what you need me to be, and I’ll be that for you.” 

“I don’t know what I need, Josie.” Claudia let her wife assist her in standing up. “I need help. But I don’t know what kind of help.”

“I think I know what you need.” Josie smiled, making sure she had Claudia’s cane with her for protection. “Do you trust me?”

Claudia swallowed the lump in her throat, staring at her nervously. “Yes.”

“Then I trust you.” Josie took a deep breath, sliding the pair of controllers off of her wrist and extending them towards her wife. “Take these-”

“No.” Claudia shook her head, trying to refuse them. “I don’t even trust myself with one, I can’t-”

“You have to.” Josephine frowned, taking Claudia’s hand and sliding the bands onto her wrist for her. “Because I need this cane.”

Claudia protested. “I need that to walk!!” 

“Have you tried walking without it?” Josephine frowned, refusing to give it back. “Or do you only think you need it to walk.”

“If I don’t have it, I’ll fall over…” Claudia swallowed nervously, her heart filled for the first time in a long time, with fear. “If I don’t have it, they’ll push me over…”

“Let them try.” Josie smiled, pressing her lips to her wife’s and kissing her. “Let them know who they’re messing with~”

 

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“Miss Mariam…”

“Miss Mariam!!!” 

Both Darcey and Autumn quickly ran up to Claudia the moment she stepped foot downstairs, a look of worry having overtaken them both. 

“There’s a situation…”

“A really bad situation!!!”

Claudia took a step back as they got close, suddenly reminded that she didn’t have her cane on her, but she did have their controllers strapped to her wrist. “What sort of situation?”

“Well you see…”

“Well you see!!!”

Crash. Came the loud echo of glass shattering from the parlor behind them, sounding like it was coming from the foyer of all places. It wasn’t a particularly big shattering of glass, but it most certainly sounded like that of a glass bottle falling to pieces against something hard. 

“Oh lord, what’s going on?” Claudia’s heart thumped in her chest, unsure if she could even handle a situation right now, without her cane. “It’s not Candace and Chloe is it?”

“Well it is Candace…”

“But it’s not Chloe!!!”

That at least came as a relief, Claudia had placed Chloe in the cell alone, and that was where she still was, as a way to protect her from Candace’s wrath while Claudia punished the girl for her. “Just one of you, Darcey, tell me what’s going on- from the start.”

“Autumn was cleaning the ballroom, Ma’am. When for some reason, there was suddenly a woman at the door!!! We couldn’t find you or our Mistress, and Zenna is being punished, so we asked for Miss St. Clair’s help, and well-”

“It’s Leah…” Autumn frowned, swallowing nervously. “I recognize her voice, it’s Ms. Watts… and she’s… well… she’s not exactly okay…”

Oh no… Claudia was cursing the god awful timing under her breath, trying not to let it show. Oh goodness no, she isn’t… 

“Claudia~!!” Leah stumbled behind Candace, making her way inside, cheerfully calling out towards the other woman. “So… your Daddy sent me. Sorry about the broken bottle- I just wasn’t expecting to see Candy at the door is all-”

“Oh lord, you’re not drunk, are you?” Claudia stepped back a few steps. The last time she saw her former high school best friend, she’d been smacked directly in the face, and she was a lot less confident of her chances with the woman now that she’d let her cane be confiscated from her. “Tell me you’re not drunk…” 

“I’m not drunk.” Leah tried to smile as she spoke, but she couldn’t. “I’m not drunk…”

 

This was about the last thing Claudia needed to see right now, because she knew Leah well enough to know that this was disturbingly normal for her, and she didn’t like seeing her fall back in on her old ways.

About half an hour and three or four glasses of water later and Leah was sitting on the sofa of the sitting room next to Candace, coaxing a hangover for the first time in a while. 

“You know who’s still a wonder in bed?” Leah made light conversation as she sat there, sipping at a coffee now that she was sober enough to. “Even though she’s a slave now, Aria’s still got it, her new uhh… Mistress let me borrow her~”

“I knew you still had the hots for her, I just knew it.” Candace giggled, nudging her friend in the arm like a child. “If I knew that you still wanted in her pants I wouldn’t have moved in on her, but you said you were over it-”

“No, I said she was too young for me. Big difference there~”

“But you’re my age?” Claudia scoffed, rolling her eyes at the other woman. “That’s like saying Bella was too young for me…”

“I mean she was definitely too young for dad…” Candace sighed, rolling her eyes. “But to be fair, mom was too young for dad when he got her, wasn’t she?”

“You’d have to ask my mother about that, she knows more.” Claudia was now nervously tapping her feet, trying to distract herself from the controllers around her wrists while she thought about Candace’s mother. “They were both slaves though, is the thing.”

“And Aria wasn’t a slave at the time~” Leah chuckled, her cheeks red for some reason or another. “But she is now, so…”

“Oh my god wait.” Claudia scoffed, her brain trailing off exactly where she didn’t want it to go. “You didn’t have sex with my mother too, did you?”

“Eugh-” Candace shuddered a bit, teasing the other woman. “So Aria’s too young for you, but Lilith isn’t too old?”

“H-hold on!!” Leah scoffed, her face bright red as she pouted. “I never said I had sex with Lilith, just Aria!! Your mom just let me borrow her!!”

“How come?” Candace giggled, enjoying the flustered frustration in her voice. “Couldn’t you have had sex with a brothel girl instead?”

“Do you really expect me to take a trip to a brothel just to meet some floozy?” Leah frowned, her heart clearly dropping in her chest. “Especially after what my husband did to me?”

“Wait- what did Ben do to you?” Claudia asked, unsure of if it was a sore topic. “What happened?” 

“He was seeing a prostitute from the pounding house-” Leah hung her head. “She got fired for that, you know?”

“She did?” Candace was surprised. “What for?”

“I mean it wasn’t really her fault so I can’t really blame her for just doing her job.” Leah sighed, finishing her coffee and setting it aside. “But fucking my husband behind my back got her on your father’s bad side.”

“Listen to you-” Claudia teased her friend. “Our father’s also too old for you, you know~”

“Okay you need to stop with that!!” Leah whined. “It’s not funny…”

“Sorry sorry…” Claudia swallowed nervously, fidgeting in her seat. “It’s just… nice to talk to you again…”

“Yeah…” Leah smiled, putting Claudia’s fears at ease. “You too…”

It had been a very very long time since Claudia and Leah had gotten a chance to sit and talk like this, and even longer since they’d been best friends. Long enough that Claudia wasn’t sure where their relationship stood at all. She couldn’t decide whether she should be at ease around or frightened of Leah Watts. 

But one thing was for sure, she didn’t like seeing the wreck she was suffering through in the wake of her divorce. “So… did our father really put him down?”

“Ben?” Leah chuckled, hanging her head in shame as she nodded. “Yeah…” 

“How come?” Candace was more than mildly concerned about that. Leah had always been closer with Lilith than with Cardinal, despite working for Candace’s father now. “I thought you had plans to do it?”

“I did, but- I had my finger on the trigger and I just… couldn’t…” Leah choked up, trying not to spill out into tears. “So your dad shot him once in the head for me.”

There it was. Of course Leah wasn’t capable of putting down someone she loved, she wasn’t a part of this family like Claudia or Candace were, she was an outsider. She was a victim.

“Why was my father even there in the first place?” Candace frowned, gently trying to calm the other woman with a hand on her shoulder. “Was it personal or-”

“Business.” Leah gagged, shaking her head. “Ben had a debt about as big as mine, you know. Your father came to collect, and collect he did. Your father repossessed just about everything that he could, took half of everything Ben and I owned… and threatened to take the rest.”

“Unless you worked for him, you mean?” Candace bit her lip, yeah- that sounded a lot like her father. “To help clear up your own debt.”

“Whatever helps me pay my balance off as quickly as possible. I can’t live through another failed marriage. I can’t…” Leah was crying now. “I can’t go the rest of my life… alone.” 

Leah wanted kids. Candace could tell, she listened to Leah say it all the time. Leah was nothing if not strong, but she was also an immensely caring woman, someone with needs- needs that weren’t being fulfilled. 

“Ben always wanted kids, it was all he ever talked about- someday, when we have kids … but that someday never came…” Leah wanted to beat her head against the wall until she bled. “But I couldn’t… I couldn’t do that to them…”

Claudia frowned, trying not to say anything. It was eerily reminiscent of someone else they both knew, and that worried her. It wasn’t Leah’s fault she was in this situation, it was her father’s fault. 

“I’ve always wanted kids too. But I couldn’t stand the thought of being like my father, and someday accidentally forcing my debt onto them like he did onto me… So I kept telling him someday soon, someday later, someday maybe … but it wasn’t soon enough for him… he just couldn’t waste himself on me anymore…” 

Candace frowned, wishing she could do something to help- and she could. It was her father who Leah was in debt to. If she could only clear it all up for her, everything would be okay. “How can I help… how much is this debt, how long has it accumulated?”

Claudia shook her head, wishing desperately that Candace hadn’t asked something like that, because that was where Leah choked. “Candace-”

“It’s a first generation bond, I-” Leah’s voice shook, coming out as little more than a whimper. “My family’s been indentured since the depression.” 

“Oh Leah…” Candace swallowed nervously. “I can’t touch that… I’m sorry-”

“I know you can’t, and I’d never ask you to. That’s why I need this. This job.” Leah steeled herself, almost growling under her breath down, pushing forward with sheer determination. “If I work directly under the man at the top… there’s a chance. If I work for your father, there’s a chance. That’s what I’ve been after for so long, to get to the top and finish this for good. Your father pays more than anyone I know, and even if I have to work this off until I’m his age, I’m not going to stop.” 

“Yes.” Candace smiled, squeezing Leah’s hand with hers. “What do you need from us to help you?”

“I need Xander Mallick’s money, or I need his head.” Leah huffed, licking her lips. “Your dad’s put me on debt collecting, and that’s my target. He’s on my chopping block, and I know he’ll be here, at your party.”

“So that’s why you’re working for him.” Claudia almost admired that fiery hot determination in her. “That’s what you’re after.”

“I want kids of my own, I want a daughter, and I want my daughter to grow up free… and not a slave to this system any longer… so please- give this to me. Help me do this.” 

 

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“Hey…” Josephine smiled gently, opening up the door to the dumbwaiter so that the other girl could step inside. “Can we talk?”

“Sure…” Chloe frowned nervously, it was clear that she had previously been crying just a little bit, even if it had since subsided. “Am I in trouble?”

“You should be-” Josie giggled, shutting it closed behind her. “But no, I just want to chat is all.”

“Okay…” Chloe smiled, sitting down on the bed next to her. “I can talk?”

“Thank you.” 

She sat on the bed, staring down at the serpentine cane in her hands, her wife’s cane. Josephine didn’t know where to start except from the obvious. She was nervous, but she needed to admit what she was after and get on with it.

“I need your help…” She sighed, clutching the cane to her chest. “I need you to teach me…”

“Teach you?” Chloe blushed lightly, almost smiling. “Teach you what?”

“How to stand up for myself.” She swallowed nervously, taking a deep breath in and then back out, letting her stress go with her. “How to be tougher. How to demand things. How to say no.”

Chloe looked down at her bare feet, her cheeks glowing pink as she squeezed her stuffed puppy to her chest. Yes, she still had Poppy- of course she still had Poppy. “I thought you wanted to be a housewife…” 

“I thought so too.” Josephine was just as nervous as her slave, if not more. “But I don’t think that’s what Claudia wants.”

Chloe nodded, still focusing on her little friend rather than her master. “What does Claudia want?”

“Well that’s the thing, isn’t it?” Josephine frowned, gently thudding the cane on the floor in front of her. “She wants you.”

“She wants me…” Chloe was disgusted by it, but it was true. Claudia wanted her, and that should have excited Chloe, but it didn’t. Because Chloe didn’t know what that meant for her. “But this isn’t me . I’m not me anymore… I don’t know what I am. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I just know that I’m not the person that I want to be, and I don’t know why…”

“You’re a dog. Dogs don’t talk, sure. But they fight, they scratch and they claw and they bite- and they fight…” Josephine smiled, now trying to comfort the other girl. “But they also chase their tails.”

Chloe’s brain lit up at that, her heart jumping from zero to infinity in a single moment. “Say that again?”

“They chase their tails.” Josephine giggled, nudging her with the cane. “And they do it a lot.”

“I’ve been chasing my own tail…” Chloe grinned, her face now beaming happily. “I’m chasing my own tail…” 

“You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.” Josephine stood up, now helping Chloe to her feet. “But first thing’s first, I need to punish you.” 

“Yes-” Chloe was never happier to hear those weirds, especially from Josephine. “Please…”

 

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“Now, before you meet my daughter-” Claudia stopped Leah outside of the girl’s bedroom, trying to prepare her for what she was about to see inside. “I have to warn you… please don’t get angry. Lilian’s nanny is… trying her best… and she’s doing an excellent job of it at that.”

“Okay…” Leah smiled, blushing at the thought of Claudia’s daughter having a nanny just like her mother had. “I won’t get angry, I promise.”

“Thank you.” Claudia smiled, taking a deep breath before opening the door. “Please, after you girls~”

“Hey girls. I’m one of Claudia’s friends I guess, my name is-” Leah just rolled her eyes as she stepped inside, she didn’t quite realize what Claudia was on about until she saw the woman. Lilian’s nanny. “Zenna?”

Zenna’s eyes went wide as she looked up at Leah, her jaw dropping just slightly as she giggled at the other girl. “Are you sure about that… I’m pretty sure that’s my name~”

Claudia closed the door behind her, quietly anticipating what sort of fresh hell was about to unfold itself in front of her. She didn’t know what to expect exactly, but she didn’t at all think it was going to be good. “Now before you get at each other’s throats.”

“I never thought I was going to see you again.” Leah was smiling, crying, but smiling. “I thought you were dead…” 

“Don’t they all?” Zenna could hardly contain her excitement, her feet thudding against the floor as she leapt out of bed, running at Leah to be embraced. “Don’t they all…” 

“You disappeared from the police force and I just-” Leah squeezed her friend as tight as she could. “I thought the family got you…”

“Yeah well they didn’t~” Zenna giggled, purring proudly as Leah held her. “I gave myself over…”

“You didn’t-” Leah was too happy to really even question it at all. “You missed us that bad, huh?”

“I guess so!!” Zenna and Leah had always been close, even for a while after Claudia and her bully fell out. “I couldn’t keep away~”

 

Claudia was nervous though. She had neither her cane to protect herself from Leah, or the controller to protect her from Zenna. But one thing she did have, one teeny tiny little thing she did have, was her daughter- their daughter, slowly waking up from her nap. “M-Mommy?” 

Maybe she had been too hard on wife. It wasn’t Josephine whose relationship with her daughter struggled, it was Claudia’s. She gently sat down next to Lilian while Leah reunited with an old friend, unsure of whether Lilian was talking to her- or to Zenna. “Mommy’s here~” 

Lilian very nearly recoiled away from Claudia, holding a large stuffed monkey between her and her mom, the little heart in her chest quickly beating. “N-Nanny… want Nanny-”

“Nanny’s right there, see?” Claudia smiled, pointing towards Zenna and Leah, holding out both hands to show Lilian that they were empty. “Look!! No cane~”

“No cane?” Zenna quickly spun around, looking over at Claudia. “Master, don’t you need your cane to walk?” 

“I…” Claudia had known exactly how to answer that question up until this morning, but now- “I thought I did, but… maybe it’s all been in my head?” 

“I mean I wouldn’t be surprised. I’ve done enough childcare to know that most adults actually outgrow their juvenile arthritis by the time they’re thirty-” Leah chuckled, letting Zenna pull away from her. “Wait, you two are a mom and a nanny respectively, but you didn’t know that?”

“I’ve never said I was a very good mom.” Claudia sighed, shaking her head in shame. “Because I’m not-”

“Master!!” Zenna quickly rushed to her and her daughter’s side. “Please… don’t say that about yourself. I didn’t mean last night-”

“But you did though.” Claudia’s eyebrows furled. “And even worse, you’re right. You have been a better mother than I have, Zenna-”

“No. Please… I can’t-”

“It’s okay, Lilian.” Claudia gently took her daughter by the hand. “It’s okay to tell me… you really do love Nanny the most, don’t you?”

“Claudia…” Zenna was beyond terrified, squeezing Lilian’s other hand as tight as she could without crushing her. “Please-”

“I need to know, Zenna.” Claudia snarled, letting go of her daughter’s hand and standing up out of bed. “Because if I’m the failure of a parent that I think I am- then it’s that much more important that her mother be the one to take care of her when-”

“When nothing, Claudia!!” Zenna tried desperately to keep herself together, for Lilian’s sake. “You and Josie aren’t getting a divorce, you can’t be- I can’t lose this, not with Lilian…”

“You’re getting a divorce?” That hit Leah in the heart, having just gone through the same thing herself, but it clearly didn’t hit her as hard as it hit the little one.

“D-Divorce?” Lilian looked up at her mother with tears in her eyes. “M-Mommy’s getting a divorce?”

It pained Claudia to see that look in her little girl’s eyes, she shouldn’t even know what the word divorce meant, and Claudia understood that. She went through the same thing as a child, very nearly the same age as Lilian was now. 

“I’m sorry Leah… I think I need this moment with Lilian…” Claudia tried to stay strong as she said it, now squeezing Zenna’s other hand. “And her mother…”

 

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Chloe did her best to ignore the extremely aggravated look at Candace’s face as she stepped past her, following Josephine towards the door to her wife’s office. She couldn’t really say she blamed her for being angry either, after all- she had quite probably pushed things way too far with her a very very long time ago. 

Claudia’s cane wasn’t just good for shocking and terrifying slaves though, it also functioned as a set of keys for her- and her wife, letting Josie into her office with Chloe behind her, making sure to close the completely windowless door, blocking the way between her and the woman she once loved. 

“Josie?” Chloe had been trying to break into this room for weeks, and now that she was here she was cursing herself for never realizing that Claudia’s keys were a part of her cane. “Why are we here?” 

“I said I was going to punish you.” Josephine stepped behind her wife’s desk, now rifling through her drawers for something. “You’re here to be punished.” 

“But, Ma’am-” Chloe swallowed nervously, more than slightly terrified to be in here without her master’s permission. “If you were going to hurt me, we could have done it in the cell.”

“But I’m not going to hurt you… I don’t like hurting people.” Josie frowned, pulling out a slightly familiar bag and setting it down on the desk. “I’m confiscating the dog.” 

“You’re what?” Chloe backed up a step, squeezing the stuffed animal to her chest. “Poppy?”

“If that’s her name, yes.” Josephine tapped her foot impatiently. “Put her back in the bag where she came, she’s not yours.”

“But, Mistress-”

“N-now, Chloe!!” Josie huffed, really desperately trying to stay composed. “Put her on the table…” 

She hated to do this again, especially so soon after getting her back, but she had to. She needed to do as she was told, so she followed Josie’s orders and she set Poppy down on the desk, as she was told. 

“Thank you.” Josie smiled, picking up and opening the bag. “These are your things, right? The ones that came with you?”

“Yes, Ma’am.” Chloe nodded, keeping her gaze fixed towards her feet. “At least I think so.” 

“Good~!!” Josephine piped up, in an oddly cheerful manner. “Because if I’m not mistaken, that would mean these are yours too?”

Chloe looked up, watching her master’s wife pull out a pair of small pill bottles, clearly almost completely untouched and fully unopened. “May I see them?”

“Sure~” Josie smiled, setting them down on the desk for Chloe to pick up and take. “There’s instructions here too, yeah?”

“Y-yeah… just, gimme a sec?”

Chloe nodded nervously, turning the pill bottles over in her hands so that she could inspect the labels. These were hers alright, right down to the doses on the label. No wonder she had been struggling so hard for so long, she had been without them when she needed them. 

Chloe was chasing her own tail. 

That had always been her way of saying that she was on a downward mental spiral- when someone told her that she was chasing her own tail, she knew what that meant, it meant that she wasn’t acting right. She wasn’t okay.

She had always grappled with the realities of living with mental illness, so taking pills was nothing new to her. But that didn’t explain why she was chasing her own tail- she had been off of her pills since Candace had abducted her after all. She had dealt just fine without them back then, hadn’t she… Why was she struggling now?

Candace St. Clair… 

She sank to her knees on the floor, staring at the name on the label- Candace St. Clair - that wasn’t her name. Her pill bottles didn’t read Sophia Cavalier like they were supposed to, these weren’t for her, these were for Candace. 

But Candace didn’t have what Chloe had, she had other things going on, but she didn’t need these… not for herself at least.

“Why didn’t you let us know about these, Chloe?” Josephine scoffed, beginning to read the instructions out loud to herself and to the slave. “It says to give you the big one once in the morning and the little one twice a day, once in the morning and once at night.” 

“I… I don’t know… I just-” Chloe began to feel tears rolling down her cheeks, her heart now squeezing inside of her chest. “I never thought I needed them… I didn’t think they were really mine…” 

“What else would they be, Chloe?” Josephine frowned, more worried than upset. “If Candace left these for you, why didn’t you remember them?”

“B-because I didn’t know!! I never thought she really cared about me, not enough to actually give me my meds, b-but she slipped them into my food!! I didn’t know!!” Chloe clutched the pill bottles to her chest, now beginning to sob. “I didn’t think about them because I thought… I thought I was okay…”

“You’ve just been chasing your own tail.” Josephine crouched beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder to help balance her. “You’re going to be okay. You can take them now.”

“B-but, Master-”

“Please… for your sake and mine… I think I’m going to be able to handle you better if you’re in the right mind?” 

Chloe bit her lip, looking up and giggling. “Yes, Ma’am… thank you…” 

“I just don’t know why-” Josephine frowned, staring down at the notes in her hand. “I just don’t know why she never gave them to you, because your previous owner clearly did.”

“She did…” Chloe smiled, her heart warm at the thought of it. “She definitely did… I can feel the difference now.” 

“She cared about you…” Josephine tried to reassure her. “Candace cared about you, didn’t she?”

“Yeah.” Chloe smiled, now wiping her own tears from her eyes as she looked up at the other woman. “Yeah, she did.” 

 

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“Hey?” Leah gently sat down on the sofa, right next to the still sulking Candace. “You doing okay?”

“Yeah… I’m alright-” Candace sighed, smiling to her. “How was reuniting with your old high school friend?” 

“I mean, it went fine until-” Leah started and stopped, sighing. “You didn’t mention your sister was getting a divorce.”

“I’m sorry.” Candace frowned. “Was I supposed to?”

“No, I mean… it’s not like your father cares it’s just- I know how it feels…”

“I’m sorry, Leah. I didn’t know until last night.” 

“How are you and your sister anyways?” Leah swallowed nervously, staring Candace up and down in an attempt to make sure that she was alright. “I didn’t expect to see you here, I remember that she-”

“She fucked me in the bath, yeah.” Candace rolled her eyes, trying to block that out. “It was scary but… it was whatever. My mom can handle it, and so can I.”

“Is that what you’re telling yourself now?”

“I’m trying to be less like my dad, but… I don’t know if I can be more like my mom and be his heiress… I can’t have both.” 

“Who says you need both?” Leah frowned, placing a hand on Candace’s shoulder- just like her mother used to. “Your mother was a lovely woman, but she’s not exactly a better role model than your father is.”

“Mommy was nothing like Daddy-”

“That’s not what I’m saying.” Leah stopped her. “I always loved your mom, she was amazing- especially for bringing you into my life. But I didn’t exactly get to where I am in life by being like her.”

“But you are like her, though…” Candace frowned, looking up into Leah’s eyes beside her. “You’ve always put everyone else before yourself. Me, my father, my mother, my sister, my brother, your husband… that’s what my mother was… someone who put everyone else before herself.” 

“And look where that’s gotten me.” Leah frowned, her heart swelling. “I’ve lost everything Candace. My father, my mother, my sister… and most especially my husband. I’ve put everyone else before myself for my whole life, and I have absolutely nothing left to show for it.”

“Leah-”

“Don’t be like your mom, Candace.” She pleaded with her. “Don’t be like your father, but please- don’t be like your mother.”

“And why not- what’s wrong with being like my mother?”

“Your mother is dead, Candace.” Leah frowned, staring her straight in the eyes. “And you have no idea what happened to her, do you?”

“No…” Candace grinded her teeth together. “My father’s never told me-”

“Have you ever asked?” Leah broke eye contact, not ashamed to blink first. “Or have you been too much of a sweetheart to stand up to him?”

Candace paused, her heart aching in her chest as she thought it over. 

Leah was right, she hadn’t asked, she had never thought to stand up to him… not even when she needed it the most.

 

“Leah?” Chloe followed Josephine out of her wife’s office, her teary eyes going wide as she looked up and saw Leah for the first time since she left her at the facility. “I… I wasn’t expecting to see you here, Ms. Watts…”

“Chloe?” Clearly Leah wasn’t expecting to see her here either, because when she did, she freaked. “What are you doing here, Chloe?” 

“I live here, Ma’am.” Chloe smiled, giving her a small bow. “Master bought me from the facility~”

“Master?” Leah didn’t like where this was going. “Who’s your master?”

“Claudia.” Chloe tried to remain positive about it, her cheeks flushed bright pink. “Claudia’s my master now~”

“No…” Leah frowned, her delight in seeing Chloe again quickly overtaken with worry. “Candace how long have you known about this?”

“Is that really any of your business?” Candace folded her arms. “About two weeks now.”

“Just over~” Chloe corrected her, earning a low growl from Candace’s lips. “Sorry…”

The both of them tried desperately to focus on Leah and not on each other, while the other woman just seemed baffled by it all. “And you trust her with your sister… after what happened to the last slave she killed?”

“She’s my sister, of course I trust her. If she wants to protect Sophia, she can protect Sophia. If she wants her dead, that’s fine too. I don’t care.” Candace’s eyes slowly lowered, making sure not to look into those of the other girl as she spoke. “She made her decision.”

“Not that I should be trusted with decisions…” Chloe mumbled, doing the same. “If I may ask, what happened with the last slave?”

“It’s a long story…” Josephine frowned, waving at Leah from behind the other redhead. “Don’t ask questions like that in front of guests.”

“Yes, Ma’am. I’m sorry.” Chloe looked back at her, nervously nodding before turning towards Candace, accidentally catching the girl looking over at her. “I’m sorry…”

Candace blushed, looking Chloe in the eyes now, sensing that she was the one being spoken to. “What was that?”

“I’m sorry for how I’ve been acting. I realized that I haven’t really been in the right mind-” Her grip tightened around the pill bottles behind her back. “I don’t have the right to punish you, you’ve been punished enough already, and I’ve just been piling on top of it. I’m sorry for… being rude and mean to you since you’ve been here…”

Candace unfolded her arms, looking over at her with both skepticism and an open mind. “And?”

“And I forgive you… for everything that I can think to be upset about. I’m going to behave now… I promise.” This was hard for her to do, but now that she realized that she hadn’t been in her right mind, she was going to try and keep her temper down. That wasn’t to say that she thought Candace deserved to be respected again, she didn’t- she just deserved not to be beaten up on. “Whatever my new master decides is best for me, I’ll follow. I won’t disrespect you like I have been anymore…”

Chloe felt herself being nudged from behind, this time being prompted by Josephine. “And?”

“And I appreciate you coming around to check up on me…” Chloe rolled her eyes, grumbling it out at the other woman. “Thank you for… caring about me.” 

“You’re welcome… Sophia.” Candace got caught on the name for a moment, before relenting. “And I’m always going to care about you, regardless of what you choose. So don’t expect me to stop checking up on you anytime soon.”

Leah squinted, now looking down at Candace on the sofa. “I thought you trusted your sister to take care of her?”

“Of course I do!!” Candace scoffed, now slowly standing up, pointing her body away from Chloe. “That doesn’t mean that I’m going to stop checking up on her, making sure she’s behaving for Claudia.” 

“But you have to.” Leah frowned, one hand now on her hip, right where she kept her handgun. “You’re not allowed to see her anymore.”

Wait… what? Chloe shuffled nervously, slowly backing away from Leah’s gun- unsure of whether it was loaded or not, but knowing that the threat was pointed at her. It was definitely enough to scare her into shutting up.

“What do you mean not allowed ?” Candace smirked, shaking her head. “Sophia’s new master has placed no such restriction on her visiting hours- in fact, my sister and I are currently in the process of fixing our relationship~”

“That’s all fine and good, I guess. But it’s not your sister’s decision to make.” Leah furled her eyebrows, tapping the handle of her weapon to make sure Candace got the hint. “It’s your father’s.”

“What does father have to do with this?” Candace frowned, definitely understanding what her bodyguard was laying out in front of her. “I gave her up, didn’t I- since when wasn’t I allowed to see her anymore?”

“I would think that it’s implied Candace. Your father wanted her dead, remember?” Leah stared over Chloe’s head, right towards Josephine to make sure they all understood. “Your father only sent her back to the facility on the assumption that you were never going to see her again, and trust me- he never wants to see you two together again.”

“That’s preposterous-” Candace started at Leah, before being interrupted by Chloe.

“But it’s not… is it?” Chloe hung her head, staring down at her own bare feet. “Out of sight, out of mind. If I’m permanently away from you and your family, I’m as good as dead anyways…” 

“And your father settled for as good as dead .” Leah frowned, now staring directly at Candace as she spoke. “But only because he couldn’t have the real deal.” 

There was a cold empty silence after that. It was hard to argue with her when she said something like that, and neither Candace nor Chloe had the raw charisma to respond- not like Claudia did.

“But I need her, specifically. I have plans for her, and I can’t have anyone else… After all- how can I be expected to let anyone else get away with putting down my dear little sister’s ex-lover?” Claudia stood in the doorway between the sitting room and the ballroom. “I can’t be, that’s how~”

Everyone just stared at her, now knowing that they can’t argue with Claudia’s reasoning either- not after that tour de force of hers, but thankfully for them, Claudia wasn’t finished.

“Candace, sweetie. Zenna’s in her room right now. Be like your mommy and nanny my daughter for me, like you said last night~” She smiled, tapping her foot impatiently. “I will take care of Leah here, trust me.”

“Eugh, Claudia-”

“That’s an order.” If she could thump her cane she would, but she couldn’t. “Now go.” 

“No.” Candace sat back down, crossing her arms at her chest in protest. “I’m not my mother. I’m not about to just get up and leave.”

“Be that way then, maybe I’ll keep it in mind~” Claudia watched her sister sit back down in annoyed turmoil, turning herself back to the matter at hand. She sighed, taking a moment to glance down at the controllers on her wrist. “I’ll have Darcey and Autumn try their hands at it in a moment, but first- what’s this about my father?”

“Your sister isn’t allowed to see Chloe anymore.” Leah answered, putting the gun away and gesturing down at Candace. “Your father doesn’t want to allow it. I just do as he says.” 

“I see…” Claudia frowned, looking down at Chloe now. “And did he say anything about me being allowed to keep her?”

“He hasn’t said anything yet, no.” Leah crossed her arms at her chest. “But only because he doesn’t know yet…”

“Then allow me to be the one to tell him, please?” Claudia smiled, extending her hand just a little bit. “I’m sure I can talk him down from any decision too brash.”

“Then I’ll go too.” Candace smirked, staring her sister in the eyes as she challenged her. “Besides, I owe my sister that much… and if I can’t convince Daddy to do something, no one can~”

“Then it’s settled!!” Claudia taunted her in return. “We’ll take you to Daddy so that he can see just what a splendid little girl you’re being.” 

“But not tonight.” Candace just looked away from her, standing up off of the couch and making her way towards the door. “Come on Leah, we’re leaving.”

Claudia groaned. “I didn’t say you could leave-”

“Because I didn’t ask.” Candace snapped back at her, pushing her way past Josephine, a nervous Chloe hiding behind her. “Come on, Leah. You can get back to my father’s side another day, drive me home.” 

“I… didn’t drive.” Leah frowned, blushing ever so faintly. “I umm… sort of wrecked my ride a little bit ago-”

“Typical.” Candace wasn’t at all surprised. “But I need to get home, so you can drive mine.”

“Right now?” Leah was nothing if not good at following orders. “You trust me to drive?”

“I trust you with my life, Leah.” Candace sighed, pulling a set of keys from her purse and holding them out in her palm. “Now come on.”

Chloe nervously glanced at the keys in her hand from behind Josephine, having trained herself to notice key rattling- kind of like a cat, which she sort of hated. “Wait… those are mine.”

“What, that stupid little yellow thing that I had fished out and perfectly put back together, that one?” Candace rolled her eyes, trying to drill it into the girl’s head that it wasn’t her car anymore. “Who does that belong to again, do you know?” 

Chloe felt her lungs fill to the brim with angry fire, having to force herself back down from snapping at her again. “You. It belongs to you now…”

“Right… I almost forgot that one was yours.” Leah chuckled, rolling her eyes. “Wait- you keep a crowbar in your trunk?”

“Well yeah?” Chloe answered. “Why- isn’t that normal?”

“I took the crowbar out the first chance I got.” Candace put her hands on her hips, turning away from the conversation. “I’ll be outside-”

“There’s a tire iron amongst the upholstery, a couple of bricks hidden under the seats, and a can of spray paint in the glovebox.” Chloe quickly stepped out from behind her master’s wife, opening the door to the vestibule for Candace before she could do it herself. “In case you want to disarm it any further…”

“Quite the rioter you have on your hands, Claudia.” Candace shrugged, stepping past Chloe, her bodyguard following shortly thereafter. “After you snuck your way inside of it the last time you came over, I think I might have to.”

“Yeah. I mean… it’s not like I’m going to be protesting anytime soon…” Chloe frowned, watching the other girl make her way outside without so much as saying goodbye to anyone. “T-take care, Candace…”

Now that Candace and Leah were gone- that just left Josephine, Chloe, and Claudia- and the family patriarch was clearly not very amused with her slave at the moment. “What did she just say- you snuck out of her house- under my nose?”

“I… that was two weeks ago, Ma’am… I-” 

“You tried to escape? While we were at my sister’s house- you tried to escape me?”

Chloe couldn’t fight her. Chloe couldn’t fight her master, she was as good as dead. “I’m sorry, Master…”

Claudia only got angrier from there. “Why I ought to-”

“Claudia, stop.” Chloe felt a firm grasp from behind her as Josephine put both of her hands on the girl’s shoulders, snarling at her own wife- and Chloe’s master- to back off. “That’s not something you can punish her for.”

“Like hell it’s not!!” Claudia desperately wished she had her cane, because without it she hardly felt safe enough to step towards the slave that most likely still hated her, and the woman who did have the cane. “She’s my slave.”

“But she was your sister’s slave… and clearly Candace cared about her a lot if she went through the effort of keeping Chloe from escaping you, even when it would have come at no cost to her. Even if she did try to escape, your sister clearly stopped her- so if she cared enough to keep Chloe out of trouble, that means something.”

Claudia blushed, looking up at her wife with a nervous look on her face, slowly backing down. “If she cared about the girl so much, she would have taken better care of her-”

“She already took better care of her than you have been, Claudia.”

“In what ways can you possibly think that Candace was doing a better job than me?”

Josephine quickly let go of the girl, her voice only turning more stern as she opened up the bag of belongings that had come with Chloe, pulling out the notes that were left for taking care of the new slave. “Your sister left you a set of instructions on taking care of her… did you even read them?”

“I don’t need to read them, Josie.” Claudia felt like the idea of it was absurd anyways. “I know how the collars work, darling. I don’t need to read a set of instructions on how to operate a device that my mother designed, one that I’ve been using for years now.”

“Because it’s not just about the collar, look!!” Josephine held the slip out towards her, letting her wife take it right from her hands. “There’s more to it than that.” 

Claudia swiped it from her wife’s hand, glaring down at Chloe as she did so, before turning away and flawlessly stepping towards her own seat. Even without her cane she was able to get there and sit down to read without issue. 

So I was right… she doesn’t need the cane…

Chloe kept her head down. She had made the observation the first time she had met Claudia. She remembered thinking to herself that it was almost certainly for show, judging on how she walked perfectly fine without it . But apparently, Claudia hadn’t realized that. 

So what… it’s all been in her head? She just keeps her cane for protection?

Claudia clearly wasn’t thinking of the cane or her arthritis right now, and as such… she was fine. At least physically, she was fine, but as she read the notes left to her by her sister, she was beginning to notice how she had been accidentally mistreating her new slave without even realizing it. 

“See-” Josephine put her hand on her hip, looking over her wife condescendingly. “It’s not just the instructions to her collar, is it?”

“No.” Claudia frowned, snarling almost guiltily at herself. “I thought it was at the time-”

“So you saw the instructions for the collar, and you thought so highly of yourself that you didn’t even think to read the rest?”

“No, I guess I didn’t!!” Claudia tossed the instructions back at her wife. “There- I guess I didn’t, happy?”

“Oh, don’t throw a fit-”

“If she needed her prescriptions she should have asked!!”

“Don’t put this on her, Claudia.”

“She should have realized.”

“Your sister had been sneaking them into Chloe’s food for her, she didn’t know you were going to be different.” 

“How is that supposed to be my problem?”

“Because if she’s going to belong to you, it’s your job to take care of her.”

“What, like you take care of your slaves?”

“I haven’t taken very good care of them in the past, but I’m going to do better now.”

“How does that make you better than me?”

“I didn’t say I was better than you.”

“But you implied it?”

“I did not!! That’s not my point!!”

“Then what is your point??”

“You need to do better, Claudia-”

“Don’t give me that, Josephine. I’m still doing a better job than you are.”

“But at least I’ve accepted that I’m not perfect- and I’m trying to do better.”

“For whose sake?? For whose sake are you trying to do better??”

“For our sake Claudia, I want to make things better.” 

“If it weren’t for you, things would be fine-”

“If it weren’t for me, there wouldn’t be anything to make whole again, Claudia.”

“If your slaves love you so much more than I do, they wouldn’t have been so difficult to break in.”

“If I hadn’t bought us slaves, we wouldn’t have slaves at all…” 

“I didn’t ask for you to buy me slaves.”

“They were anniversary gifts!!”

“Every year for the last four years, really??”

“Your father asked us to take Bella in-”

“Yeah well at least Zenna loves me enough to turn herself over to me-”

“And if it weren’t for me giving her the chance and arranging her to come belong to us, you would have turned her down- I had to convince you to give her a chance.”

“We didn’t need to give her a chance if you would have done your job and raised our daughter on your own like you told me you would, but instead you let her get attached to her nanny!!”

“Yeah well at least our daughter isn’t scared of me like she’s scared of you… so even if she does love Zenna the most, she still loves me more than she loves you, so clearly I’ve done SOMETHING right that you haven’t.”

Claudia gasped angrily, her eyes going wide at the implication that her daughter didn’t love her, and before she even realized she was doing it, she was raising her hand to strike her wife- moments away from actually doing it before she could stop herself.

But for however scary Claudia looked with her hand about to strike Josephine across the face like she was no better than a slave, her wife looked a lot more terrifying with Claudia’s cane in hand, staring her down as she raised it against her. “Try it… see what happens…”

Claudia nervously stared into those eyes built into her cane, taking a deep breath in and out before lowering her hand, instead choosing to violently pull the cane from Josie’s hands. “Give me that and I’ll show you what happens.”

“Please… I’m sorry…” Chloe was on her knees across the room from them, bawling her eyes out as she held her hands tight to her pointed ears, trying to block out the sounds. “Please… don’t hit me…” 

As they took in the sight of her pain, both Claudia and Josephine sensed that they had made a mistake doing this in front of her. The two of them both decided it best to back down, ashamed of going at it while in the presence of a slave.

Chloe was clearly experiencing much more than just guilt, her fear compounded with her out of balance mental state had thrown her into an episode of panic. “I’ll be good now… please don’t fight… I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…”

As much as Claudia wanted to accept her apology and forgive Chloe for trying to escape her, she knew the girl didn’t mean her words, she had no idea what she was saying. She was just having a meltdown, and Claudia knew that was partially her fault. 

“I’ll give you your meds from now on…” Claudia sighed, hanging her head in defeat. “I don’t want you to feel like this just because I didn’t give you a couple of pills.”

“Th-thank you…” Chloe sniffled, taking her hands off of her ears and laying prostrate at her master’s feet. “I’m sorry…”

“It’s not your fault, Chloe. Really…” Josephine crouched next to her, helping her back up to her feet. “How about you go back to your room, you can be done for the day- okay?”

“Y-yes, Ma’am…” Chloe smiled, glancing over at Claudia beside her. “Is that okay, Master?”

“Yes.” Claudia frowned, nodding her head. “Just remember your meds from now on.” 

“Yes, Master.” Chloe bowed. “Thank you, Master.”

She quickly headed out after Josephine handed her the bag back, eager to get away from them both. Chloe had grown up in a broken and dysfunctional home. Her parents weren’t just always fighting each other, they would hit each other just like Claudia almost did to her wife. Chloe was glad she hadn’t, because she knew what that led to. 

She was about Lilian’s age when it happened, when the mother and father she hardly remembered got her taken away and put into foster care. Parents that raised their hands against each other without thinking about it would eventually always end up doing the same to their daughter… like Chloe’s parents had done to her. 

“Hey…” Zenna patted her lap for the crying girl as she stepped into the room, making room for Chloe in bed with her. “Come here~”

Chloe just smiled, closing the door and rushing to the other woman’s side, letting Zenna coddle her like her own parents never would, digging just one thing out of the bag Josephine tossed her- that silly little stuffed dog that her foster mother had made for her. Because Claudia didn’t seem like the type of person who would welcome her back in open arms if she had tried to run away.

Chloe was absolutely done being one of Claudia’s drones, if she couldn’t accept her for her- she was going to escape- even if Claudia didn’t seem like the type of person who would welcome her back in open arms if she tried to run away like her foster mother had.

Because if it ever came to that, hopefully Candace would.

 

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“We never thought we’d grow up to be our parents, but here we are.” Claudia sighed, now sitting down peacefully next to her wife. “You don’t think Lilian would react the same way to us fighting, do you?”

“I don’t know. I’m not sure I can tell how she feels about us anymore.” Josie was now the one nervously staring at the cane in her wife’s hands. “But there’s still one thing you have over your father.”

“Oh yeah?” Claudia chuckled, a big smile overtaking her face. “And what’s that?”

“You’ve never raped your own wife.” Josephine put a palm on Claudia’s shoulder, trying not to bring back painful memories. “How’s your hip doing?” 

“My hip is fine. Horribly awfully fine.” Her grip tightened onto the cane, staring down that slimy gold little snake head. “I’ve been using it as a crutch without really needing it, haven’t I?”

“Well I don’t know, I only said it was a possibility, your arthritis seemed pretty real to me-”

“That’s because it was real to me. It was real back then, back in high school… with Zenna.”

“Maybe you really did outgrow it. You could see a doctor?”

“I’ve seen a doctor.”

“Not one of the family doctors, Claudia. My doctor. Doctor Julienne-”

“Renee, I know… She’s my mother’s doctor too, ironically.”

“It’s not ironic, Claudia. How do you think I got in with such a famous practitian?” Josephine gently ran her hand along Claudia’s bare thigh now. “When I came out, your mother put in a good word for me, remember?”

“I guess I’d forgotten.” She frowned, staring at the weapon in her hands. “About the only thing my mother’s ever done for me is taught me my sexuality is wrong and gave me this cane.”

“And you’ve been using that cane for the last twenty years…” Josie smiled, moving her right hand from Claudia’s shoulder to her cheek, brushing her dirty blonde hair out of the way so that she could see her face. “You’ve changed in the last two decades, and so has your mother…”

“But she didn’t change her ways for me .” Claudia turned her head towards her wife’s touch, gazing into her eyes with a rather vulnerable look on her face. “Candace isn’t even her daughter, but she changed her ways for her… why couldn’t she have done that for me? Why not me? What’s wrong with me?”

“I don’t think it’s like that honey, it’s not always a competition. I bet it’s not even about Candace.” She remained confident, smiling honestly. “I think it was just a matter of time- she’s always supported me, hasn’t she?”

“Yeah…” Claudia smiled back, nodding her head. “She always has…”

“When I came out as a woman, she didn’t just support me, she supported you too.” Josephine’s other hand left Claudia’s thigh, now grabbing one of her hands and holding it. “Supporting my transition is supporting your sexuality, Claudibear~”

“Claudibear…” She almost blushed, looking back down at the cane in her hands. “That’s something my nanny used to call me~”

“Your nanny…” Josephine was always nervous when she stared at that cane. “Candace’s mom?”

“She wasn’t just Candace’s mom.” Claudia frowned, admiring those eerily candescent red eyes built into the golden sockets of the device in her hand, the bright red that reminded Claudia of her. “She was my mom too.” 

“Just like Zenna is to Lilian.” Josephine placed her hand over the head of the cane, blocking out that glow in its eyes. “Honey. We can’t separate them…”

“But we have to.” Claudia protested, slipping the cane from her wife’s palm, holding it close to herself for protection. “Because if Lilian stays here with me… she’s going to be just like me.”

“And what’s wrong with that?” Josephine retracted her hand, now frowning desperately. “What’s wrong with being like you?”

“I can’t tell you, you just have to trust me-” She hated those sad puppy eyes Josie had, but she just couldn’t say it. “I’m never going to forgive myself for it, Josie.”

“That’s why I need to know…” She pushed forward, giving her that same look. “Because if we’re going to fix this… we both need to be on the same page about whether this is something worth fixing.” 

“And if it’s not worth fixing?”

“Then it’s not worth fixing…” 

Claudia’s heart broke in her chest hearing her wife’s words. She really did want to fix what they had, but she didn’t know how. There was something that needed to change, but before she could fix anything, she needed to know what was broken. 

“I’m going to figure this out, I promise. You just need to be patient, I just need time.” Claudia placed her hand on her own cheek, trying to recreate her wife’s touch. “Just leave this to me-”

“But I can help you, Claudia.” Josephine reached forward, putting her hand over Claudia’s, wanting in. “You don’t have to do everything alone.” 

“But I have to- don’t you see?” Claudia was pleading with her now. “That’s why I need Chloe. If I want to regain my father’s trust- to prove to him that I can be the heiress- I need him to see what I’m capable of.” 

“Is that why she’s here?” Josephine’s heart ached. “Or was it because she looked like me?”

“My plan has always been to prove myself. To prove to my father that my sister isn’t better than me. This is my only chance to do it, Josie.” She cast her cane aside for just this moment, grabbing her wife by both hands. “I can teach Candace to be like her mother, I can train her to be a drone like the other slaves-”

“You think your father is going to like that?” Josie shook her head, trying to get through to her. “How is forcing Candace back into being a slave like her mother going to make your father happy?”

“It’s not… that’s why Candace needs to want this. Daddy just needs to see that Candace belongs below me, like her mother-” 

“But what about Chloe? What happens when he discovers Chloe?” 

“Daddy wants her dead as zed, Josie… but if I can do this, I can save her.”

“Save her… how are you going to save her?”

“Because I can make her a drone too, I can show him that I’m better than my sister by doing something she never could… taming the dog. Taming Chloe.” Claudia gave her a wickedly eager smile. “I bought her from the facility to save her, and that’s what I’m going to do. I’m not doing this for me, I’m doing this for you.”

“For me?” Josephine bit down on her lower lip, keeping it from trembling. “How is this for me?”

“You’re my wife, Josephine. I’m the patriarch so that you don’t have to be… remember?” Claudia squeezed the other woman’s hands. “I work so that you don’t have to… not because I want to. But because one of us has to be that for us…”

“But is that what you want, Claudia?” She frowned, looking her in the eyes with honest skepticism and worry. “If you don’t want to work- what do you want?”

“This is what I want, because this is the way things need to be. This is what’s right… one of us on top, one of us on bottom. That’s how it’s supposed to be, it’s not what’s fun, but it’s what’s right.”

“Claudia… no…” 

“I can either be the mother or the father, Josie. I can’t be both. I have to be my father because I can’t be my mother, I can’t be Alecia…”

She swiveled in place as she stood up, grabbing her cane on the way to her feet- not to help her walk, but to remind everyone who was in charge around here. 

“I’ll have my way. I’ll have Candace, and I’ll have Chloe too. Even if I can’t have you.” 

“You can have me if you want me, Claudia…” Josephine kept her eyes down, not trying to look up at her. “But not if you don’t want me…” 

“There’s an order to things, if you want to be a part of this family, you need to fit into your place just like I fit into mine. If you want to be the woman of the house, you need to be the woman of the house, Josie.” 

Thump . There it was, that confidence she’d been lacking all day, all of it flowing back into her as she heard that sweet sound again.

“If you want to be a mother, act like a mother. If you want to be a wife, act like a wife.” Claudia twirled her cane in her hand, reasserting herself. “But I didn’t sign on to being the man of this house while my woman lounges around and lets the slaves fulfill her role for her, just so that she could live a lavish life of sinful indulgence.”

“Then maybe you shouldn’t have married a drag queen…” Josephine stood up, refusing to even look at her wife as the two of them parted ways. “You’re chasing your own tail, Claudia.”

“Yes, I am. I am chasing my own tail.” Claudia stepped into her office as her wife stepped back into the ballroom. “And I’m going to catch it too.” 

 

Claudia held her cane in hand as she headed inside, closing and locking the door behind her. She needed time to fix things. Her mother, her father, her nanny- she needed to speak with them. She needed to see them again.

The cupboard slid open, letting her into her private collection again for the first time in quite a while, a row of tapes all lined up side by side. The tapes she kept in here, the girls she collected, they were all just business- Claudia had no personal connection to any of them.

Except she did. 

9293Z. 8928Z. 8332Z. 7790Z. 7161Z. 6113Z. 5261Z. 4019Z. 4600Z. 4188Z. 3540Z. 3032Z. 2841Z. 1726Z. 1648Z. 0972Z. 0454Z. 

Those letters were there for a reason. The slaves who these numbers once belonged to were no longer around. These were Z tapes, for slaves who had already been put down, their numbers freed for later use. 

Cyrus didn’t create the slave facility he ran, his mother did. The plantation was the same way, Josephine didn’t create the plantation, her mother did, she didn’t even run it. Claudia didn’t build the plantation- it was given to her, by her wife. Claudia ran that company of Josie’s so that her wife didn’t have to. 

But there was one thing Claudia did create, something she had ownership over- the zed list. 

0006Z- that was Bella. Claudia still missed Bella, but not like she missed Charlotte.

She plucked the parcel from its place, Charlotte’s parcel, #0001Z. It was all she had left of her now that she was gone, her mother’s former slave. Her. Claudia was the only person but her parents who knew that it was her. 

So it was my mother who stole you from me, huh? 

She brushed and blew off the dust, making sure that the tape was intact, if in need of rewinding. The tape had been played since the last time she watched it, of course it had. Charlotte had been hers, of course Lilith wanted to see it, this tape was all that was left of her. 

She pried the tape from her chest, sliding it into the tape dock. Claudia kept a television and vcr here in her office for this explicit purpose, watching these tapes. The stars of these tapes were all slaves of course, and sometimes she got off to watching them, admittedly- they had become her favorite type of film. But sometimes, if the mood was right, especially when it came to Charlotte- she did end up falling asleep watching them. 

Claudia wasn’t even sure if she had ever actually finished this tape, she had always either finished herself off or fallen asleep before it was over. It just so happened that tonight- she did both.

I’m sorry, mom… 

The last thing Claudia remembered thinking before she did fall asleep was just how sorry she was, deciding it was best to take the controllers from her wrist and put them away for safekeeping, at least until she needed them- she didn’t trust herself to have them, not just yet. She couldn’t live with messing everything up all over again. 

It was an accident… 

Chapter 37: Curiosity Killed the Cat

Notes:

Another content warning for this one i feel is necessary:

CW: Suspense, Gaslighting, Familial Abuse, and Snuff

This chapter is pretty intense, even for me.

31st October, 16 days until the banquet.

It had been about a week since I’d gotten back on my meds, and well…

I felt a lot more like me once I’d taken them. 

That didn’t mean I was clawing to get back into Candace’s good graces because well-

 

“You’ve been a lot more submissive lately.” My master said as she lifted my chin up to look at her, gazing into my eyes. “I like it~”

“Yes, Mistress.” I barely even had time to say that before I closed my eyes, feeling Claudia press her lips against mine, stealing my breath away from my lungs. 

God did it feel good to be me again, it felt like it had been weeks since I was in my right mind. It was like heaven on earth to feel secure in my own mind again- I was absolutely done being Sophia Cavalier, and I think Claudia knew that.

“Very good.” Claudia pulled away, teasing me with her lips as she pulled away without even a single kiss. “Did you do everything I told you to?”

“Yes, Ma’am.” I sighed, my chest full of mixed emotions as I let the moment pass me by- desperately tempted to steal the kiss myself. “I gave the other girls their orders like you asked. Darcey is cleaning up what’s left of lunch, Autumn is tidying the sitting room, and Zenna is getting Lilian ready as we speak.”

“Very good.” She repeated, making sure to be consistent. “And have you dealt with my sister yet?”

“No, Ma’am. Not yet, I-” I stopped, biting my lip as I tried and failed not to sneeze, minimizing the spray by turning away from her at the last moment. “Excuse me-”

“Bless you, slave.” She put her hand on her hip, rolling her eyes. “What’s the hold up with my sister?”

“N-nothing, Ma’am!! I’m-” I paused again, unable to keep myself from sneezing all of a sudden. “I’m just nervous…”

“Nervous about what, my dear?” She smiled, placing her other hand on my cheek, forcing me to look her straight in the eyes- which was her first mistake. “My sister won’t-”

“ Achoo!! ” You’d think after two sneezes she’d expect a third one, but instead she let her get caught off guard by a sneeze straight to the face- with comical timing. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry, Ma’am-”

She just glared at me, wiping her face clean with a handkerchief, not at all amused. “Okay- first of all- the sneezing has to stop.”

“I’m sorry, Mistress…” I sighed, sniffling back my runny nose. “It’s been happening all morning.”

“Usually I wouldn’t care, but if it’s going to cause problems like this I’m going to need you to get it under control.”

“I’m trying, Ma’am… I just don’t-” I backed away sneezing again, wiping my face with my own sleeve like always. “I don’t know what’s causing it…”

“Well figure it out, and if it’s dust, take care of it.” She scoffed, quickly losing her patience. “My mother is on her way here- her car just reached the front gates- she wanted to visit for a bit before taking Lilian trick-or-treating.”

“Trick-or-treating?” I paused, my heart filling with both excitement and disappointment at the same time. “It’s halloween?”

I generally had no idea what day it was, and I was disappointed to realize that halloween was here and I wasn’t able to participate in it- my first halloween as a slave- how heartbreaking. 

“Yes, as a matter of fact, it is.” She sighed, turning towards the rest of the house as the doorbell went off behind her. “Eugh, out of time. Go make yourself scarce.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” I swallowed nervously, bowing before I turned to leave. “I’ll go retrieve your sister, just like you asked.”

 

Unfortunately, finding Candace was easier said than done, especially when she decided to hide in the darkest corners of the house by herself. Not that I knew where to look- it was almost like she was avoiding me. “Sulking in the guest bedroom by yourself, huh?”

“I’m not in the mood, Cavalier.” She scoffed, clearly not at all happy to see me. “Please close the door before you- eugh… never mind.”

“What?” I stood there in the open doorway, my hands on my hips as I stared her in the eyes. “Did I do something that’s not to your liking?”

“Yes, actually.” She rolled her eyes, slowly trudging her way out of the bed where she’d been resting. “Yes you did.” 

I opened my mouth to say something for a moment before shutting up, lowering my head just slightly as I closed the door. “My apologies then…”

“Was there something you needed?” She quickly slid her tight maroon jeans up her legs, slipping a fancy spiked belt through the loops. “Or did you just come to summon me.”

“Your um… Claudia’s mom is here…” I smiled slightly, happy to see her wearing anything but a hoodie as she got herself dressed in her favorite cuddle blue sweater- the one that I liked snuggling up against back when I was hers. “But yeah, I wanted to ask you something.”

“On with it then-” She rolled her eyes, running a hairbrush through her hair. “Ask away~”

“Why did you hide my medications from me?” I blushed, lowering my gaze towards the floor… out of respect to her. Now that I was back on my meds and thinking straight, I had pretty much fully accepted the fact that Candace really had been giving me my prescriptions, and I appreciated her for that. “Why didn’t you just tell me about them?”

“I was afraid of how you would react.” She certainly didn’t sound like she was lying to me, so I gave her the benefit of the doubt, choosing to believe her. “I was afraid that if you found out I was putting drugs in your food, you’d think I was trying to hurt you- or worse- you’d try to starve yourself.”

I paused, nodding for her to continue, keeping quiet as she spoke. The most noise that came out of my mouth was a couple of quiet sneezes, unable to stop myself. Candace really did care about my wellbeing, enough to make decisions about my health to keep me safe.

“Part of it was just me trying to seem tough, I didn’t want you to think I was soft.” Candace’s eyes drifted down to her waist, fiddling with the buckles and the rivets as she kept her eyes off of me. “That was why I kept so many things secret. If you thought I was weak, you’d fight back… I knew you wouldn’t trust me to take care of you, so I did it without telling you.”

“Thank you, Candace… I appreciate that a lot. We’re… cool now. I promise.” I smiled, looking up at her as she finished talking. It made a lot of sense, and even though I didn’t like a lot of it, I respected it. It had worked in the end after all- at least to a degree- I got the medications I needed to keep myself stable without even realizing. “Is that a new belt?”

“Sort of.” She ran her fingers over the spikes and rivets, sighing nervously. “Got it from a friend.”

I giggled a little bit. “It’s not one of mine, is it?”

“I said I got it from a friend, not an ex-” She giggled back, her cheeks getting just a little bit flustered. “Not that we’re exes… I just mean-”

“I know what you meant…” I smiled, opening the door for her as she began to head out. “And for the record… I do think of you as… a friend.”

“Right, friends…” She smiled, stopping in the doorway with me. “Friends…”

I felt those beautiful eyes of hers staring at me, my cheeks just as red as hers were, as I stared back into them with my own. I watched her eyes glance back and forth for just a moment, struggling to take her eyes off of mine, making sure no one was here to see us. 

I should have pushed her away right then and there, but I couldn’t. In the heat of the moment, my eyes drifted closed, feeling her lips pressed against mine- stealing a kiss for herself. 

After a few seconds, she forced herself to pull away, leaving me stunned. I hadn’t even realized I’d been craving a kiss until it was gone. That very same kiss I was so desperate to steal from Claudia, taken right from my lips… and it felt so wrong and so right all at the same time. 

“I’m sorry…” She stopped herself- and me- from going in for more. “I shouldn’t have done that… I’m sorry-”

“I won’t tell her…” I desperately looked away from her, trying to make sure that nobody saw that. “Not if you won’t…”

“Thank you.” She swallowed nervously, forcing herself to turn away and head downstairs. “I need to go, I’m sorry.”

I bit down on my tongue, keeping myself from calling out to her as she walked away. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes, the wave of desperate emotion overcoming my body as she left my side, collapsing to the floor in defeat- and apparently I wasn’t the only one who could sense it. I felt the little thing brush up against my hip as I sat there, feeling a familiar itch in my nose as I sneezed again.

Prrrt… 

“Come to give me more bad luck, Thea?” I giggled, reaching down to my side to pet the little monster. Yeah, that made a lot of sense, of course I was sneezing- Candace brought her cat with her today. “A black cat on halloween, huh?”

She continued to purr, rubbing her cheeks against my hand, desperate for attention. As much as I hated the tiny atrocities, it was nice to see Thea again. For as long as I’d known her, Candace’s adult black cat had only ever tormented me, and I had always assumed that it was because she hated me. But I could tell by the way that Thea cuddled up to me that she’d missed me.

“I’ve missed you too, Thea…” I smiled, picking her up and holding her in my lap to pet her, despite how badly it was making my allergies. “I’ve missed you too…”

 

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“You know, I almost thought you two were avoiding me…” Lilith smiled at Candace as she sat down on the sofa next to her, leaving a space between them. “Where’ve you two been?”

“Unlike you, some of us have been busy as can be, mother.” Claudia tapped her fingers impatiently, giving Candace a not so friendly smile for being late. “I’ve been preparing your birthday party for you, mom.”

“And I needed time to think…” Candace sighed, avoiding Claudia’s irritated gaze as she glanced around the room. “Where’s your new slave?”

“I sent her to go get drinks, she’ll be back in a bit.” Lilith set her cane down next to her, placing her hand on Candace’s knee, gently patting it. “There are still a few things I’ve been needing to talk to you two about-”

“Don’t keep telling us that there is a thing-” Claudia interrupted her. “Please just say the thing.”

“It’s no secret that I hate your father.” Lilith went on, rolling her eyes at her daughter. “But even so, I don’t think we should let it affect us. I know you both love your father very dearly, and I want you to know that I love you both just as much.”

“That’s very nice of you, Miss Mariam.” Candace smiled, placing her palm on top of the back of Lilith’s hand. “I’m sorry that things with dad didn’t work out for you, really-”

“Don’t feel sorry, dear.” Lilith giggled, grabbing Candace’s hand and holding it in both of hers. “If things had worked out between him and I, you wouldn’t be here~”

Claudia sat there in silence, nervously staring at the two of them, and Candace noticed. She could see the look of pain on her sister’s face, even if she didn’t know where it came from. 

“I’m sorry that your mother couldn’t be here as well, Candace.” Lilith frowned, placing a kiss on the back of her hand. “My whole heart wishes she was still with us, there are so many things that I wish I could say to her.”

“But she’s not, mother.” Claudia thudded her cane against the floor, her sour face turning red with anger. “Don’t sit there and say things like that, please-”

“Claudia sweetheart.” Lilith knew exactly what had happened, and she could sense how her daughter was feeling. “It’s okay-”

“What’s your problem, Claudia?!” Candace snarled at her, sick of her sister making everything about her. “I know you hated her, but can you please stop making things weird whenever my mom comes up?!”

Thump . Both Candace and Claudia  jumped in their seats, hearing Lilith thump her cane against the ground at her feet. 

“If you would both just listen to me and let me explain things, you’d see that I’m trying to help patch things up, so would you both calm the hell down, already?” Lilith was already tired of the back and forth between the two of them. “Just shut up so that I can talk, I promise you it’s worth it.”

The sisters paused, nervously making eye contact before relenting- agreeing to listen to whatever it was that Lilith needed to tell them. 

“Now I know I’ve never been a perfect mother, but I’ve always tried my best… even if my best wasn’t enough. When I left your father, I made the most difficult decision of my entire life.” Lilith turned to Candace again, extending her hand for her to take. This was obviously as hard for her as it was for the two of them. “I loved your mother, Candace…”

Candace paused, taking Lilith’s hand and squeezing it for support. “What do you mean?”

“Your mother belonged to me, Candace… and I loved her just as much as I loved your father.” Lilith squeezed back, trying her best to stay calm. “When I left him, I decided to leave her too… because if there was anyone in the world I could trust to protect my children from your father… it was her.”

“You didn’t love her…” Claudia hung her head, refusing to believe a word her mother was saying. “How could you have loved another woman… you would never-”

“I’m sorry for not supporting you sooner, Claudia. I refused to accept the idea of loving her like I did, I used it as a shield… to try and convince myself that I made the right choice…” Lilith lowered her head in shame, able to see the damage she’d caused her eldest daughter. “But then you came along, Candace.”

Candace frowned, still holding tight to the older woman for support, even as her fingers trembled. “Me?”

“Part of me still regrets leaving her with him like I did, when I could have brought her with me… but I’m glad I didn’t… because if I had- I wouldn’t have you.” Lilith smiled, letting go of Candace’s hands, a weight lifted from her chest. “Your mother was precious to me, so when she died… I blamed myself for not being there to save her-”

“Lilith…” Candace was on the verge of tears, able to feel the lump in her throat. “Why didn’t you say anything sooner?”

“Because it’s never been about me, dear. History is history, it’s all in the past… what’s important now is for you to understand how much you meant to her… both of you…”

“Mom…” Claudia’s voice was weak, trembling as it slipped out of her lips. “I’m sorry…”

“There’s nothing to be sorry about, sweetheart. I love you, and I’d do anything to protect you… and nothing could ever change that…” Lilith gave Candace a smile as she stood up, grabbing her cane to help herself to her feet. “I should have never forced you to suffer like I had to suffer, I’m sorry… seeing the support your little sister always got from her mom- that was what made me realize how wrong I was… I’m sorry…”

“Thank you… I’m sorry for holding onto this for so long…” Claudia threw her cane aside, wrapping her arms around her mom for what could have only been the tightest embrace of her life. “I love you, mom… please… please don’t go-”

“I can’t live forever, dear. Please, don’t let anyone tell you how to live your life…” Lilith placed one hand on Claudia’s cheek, pecking her on the lips just how Claudia liked to say hello. “Live the life that you want to live, can you do that for me?”

“I’ll try.” Claudia choked back her tears, nodding her head. “I promise I’ll try.”

“Don’t blame yourself, Claudia.” Lilith sighed proudly, looking up at how much her daughter had grown. “You have to learn to forgive yourself.”

 

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What the hell… 

I was not very proud to say that I had been eavesdropping on that whole conversation, but I was- I heard every word of it. 

Thankfully, the house didn’t have security cameras all over the place, but moving around wasn’t exactly subtle when there was a large gaping hole in the middle of the second floor. I could hear movement downstairs- from the sounds of it, Zenna had just brought Lilian downstairs to see her grandmother, which meant that she was likely leaving soon. 

Zenna was right. Our master may be a bad person, but she wasn’t a monster. She had emotions of her own, I could hear them. The strained relationship between Claudia and her daughter was something that carried over from Claudia’s relationship with her own mother. But in trying not to make the same mistakes her parents made, Claudia’s only mechanism was to distance herself. 

And that made it that much more painful to love her. 

It was funny how I managed to get by unmedicated without doing anything, because now that I was back on them it just didn’t feel right to stand around and do nothing. I sighed, trying not to sneeze myself to death as I let Thea help me clean the guest bedroom. I tidied the floor, made the bed, picked up clothes- gosh I really wish I had a vacuum.

Thea didn’t seem to mind the mess as much as I did, if anything she was making it worse, but that was fun. I enjoyed her company.

“Oh you think this is funny, do you?” I stood over her, hands on my hips, sassing a cat. “Making a mess and getting your fur all over the place?”

Thea just looked at me, rubbing up against one of the pillows as she listened to me, before turning her head towards the sound of the door opening. 

“There you are, Thea~” I could hear her familiar voice before she opened the door, letting the cat run up to her for attention. Clearly I wasn’t the only person Thea had missed. “Come here, you~!!”

Aria Fairmont was the last person I expected to see her, but I knew that golden blonde updo of hers anywhere, and there it was- right in front of me. She’d always loved kittens too, and Candace’s cats loved her to bits. Even if I didn’t.

I saw a similar look of recognition flash in her eyes as they locked onto me, quickly being replaced by a face of pure shock and disgust. Thea scurried away from Aria’s side as the door slammed behind her, leaning back and pressing herself against it like a wall.

I’d always had difficulties reading her in the past, but I easily recognized the emotions going through her head, and they weren’t good. That was the face of a woman who just killed someone, and was still pushing through a tornado of grief and distress, reckoning with that.

At first I mistook the sounds coming out of her mouth as words, before coming to the realization that they were just gags. Aria heaved, inhaling a sharp intake of air and breathing out a mouthful of… nothing good. 

“Holy shit- Aria!!” I leapt to my feet, distancing myself from her. I had just cleaned those floors too, and it took a mighty bit of effort to wrangle Thea before she decided to make a meal out of Aria’s breakfast. 

“I’ll clean it up!!” She was hyperventilating in her panic struggling to put thoughts together, her facade long since shattered. “I’m so sorry!!”

“What’s the matter with you?” I bit my tongue, trying to hold back any angry comments towards her in my rage. “I get that you don’t like looking at me- but am I really so ugly that you have to hurl on the carpet?”

“I said I’d clean it, I promise-” She desperately forced herself to stand, shaking as she looked at me. “I didn’t mean to.”

“Stay here.” I groaned, stepping around the mess and shoving Thea into her arms as I made my way out of the door. It was supposed to be my job to clean this sort of thing up, but with her own admission, I was making it her responsibility instead. “Don’t let anyone see you like this.”

I stormed down the stairs to the water closet, angrily trudging my way upstairs with enough wet rags to clean up the mess, forcing the job upon her as I got back. Miraculously, she put up with fixing it without a fuss, which surprised me. Knowing her, I’d expected her to try and shove my face into it or something, but no- she was more than willing to clean up after herself.

“Thank you for visiting, I guess.” I sat on the edge of the bed, arms crossed at my chest as I faced away from her, unable to look her in the eyes out of anger. “Sorry that my face made you hurl.”

“I’m so sorry… I was just surprised, that’s all…” She finished up cleaning, setting the supplies aside once she was done, but curiously deciding to stay on her knees on the floor. “What are you doing here?”

“What am I doing here?” I scoffed, grinding my teeth together at her words, struggling to stay calm. “I live here, Aria.”

“I can see that!!” She whined, her face red with about as much flustered rage as I’d seen from her. “How can you live here?! What happened?!”

“What do you think happened, Aria?” I slowly turned to face her, feeling my anger gently begin to subside as I heard the concern in her voice. “I took your advice… Why, what are you doing here?” 

“Apparently vomiting on the floor when I’m supposed to be bringing Thea downstairs.” She hung her head in defeat, looking particularly ashamed of herself. “I’m sorry…”

“Sorry for what?” I let out an amused sigh, feeling Thea climb back into my lap. “Throwing up?”

“For getting you sent here in the first place-” All of a sudden I could hear her beginning to tear up, struggling not to let me hear her cry under her breath. “This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen.”

“What do you mean, Aria?” I frowned, feeling just a little bit guilty for making her cry. “How was it supposed to happen?”

“Not this!! You were supposed to end up in a good home!!” Sobs soaked through her words, cutting her sentences with emotions. “But instead you ended up here!!”

“Aria please, calm down…” I climbed out of bed, getting down on my knees next to her, trying to comfort the other girl. “It’s okay, really. I like it here-”

I extended a hand towards her, but the moment I sat down next to her, Aria whipped her head around. I could see the terror in her eyes for just a second before I felt her shoving me onto my back in front of her, bearing down on me with fierce emotion, the tears streaming from her eyes gracefully dripping onto my skin.

I had no idea how to interpret the sudden tackle, but before I’d had time to think about it, she was sobbing into my chest, just slightly weighing down the chain between my nipple clamps.

“You liked it with Candace too…” She hiccupped, choking on her tears as she lied there. “But it’s not safe here-”

“Whoa whoa, slow down, please.” I forced her off of me as I sat up, watching her sit up next to me. “You’re saying a lot of things right now, but you say a lot of things all the time- and that just makes it worse… slow down.”

“It was a mistake, Chloe.” She bit down on her lower lip, staring me straight in the eyes as she spoke. “Trying to take down Candace was the biggest mistake of my life…”

“Aria, calm down…” I frowned, holding her by the shoulders as I continued to comfort her. “What happened to you?”

“I got my revenge, just like I wanted to…” She shuddered, clasping her arms together at her chest to shield herself. “And somehow she still found a way to be the bigger person…”

I paused, leaning my back against the wall as I listened to her speak, opening up the door to let Thea wander off to wherever she was needed- which hopefully didn’t include jumping off the balcony to the first floor. 

“I’m Lilith’s nurse now. I don’t have a lot of time, so I’ll make this quick.” She reached over, squeezing my hand in hers as hard as she could. “It’s not safe here- you need to leave before something bad happens.”

“Something bad?” I gripped her hand in return. “Like what?”

“Like whatever it is that’s on those tapes…” She stared me straight in the eyes, desperate to find a way to help. “Miss Mariam never let me watch them, so I can only imagine… but I know it can’t be anything good. Candace might be bad… but Claudia is beyond saving.”

“You can’t just say things like that, Aria.” I protested, feeling just a bit of anger at hearing her insult Claudia like she was. “Don’t underestimate her.”

“Listen to me, Chloe.” Aria pleaded with me, now groveling at my feet to try and beg. “I’ve worked for Lilith for a long time now, even if she was nice enough to save me from her daughter’s plantation, I know her well enough to know that she’s trying to cover it all up.”

I swallowed nervously, staring down at her in shock. “She’s trying to cover what up?”

“I don’t know, that’s the problem.” She shot up, not just off of her knees, but onto her feet. “But whatever it is she’s trying to hide, she’s doing it to protect Claudia.”

“You can’t just leave?” Watching her turn around to leave, I stood up and grabbed her, making her face me. “You can’t just show up, say shit, and then walk away- I still have a bone to pick with you!!”

“Of course you do. Because you’re a dog, and dogs always have a bone to pick with someone.” She swiveled around on her heels, pressing a single finger accusingly into my chest, glaring at me. “If you expect me to apologize for getting you taken away from Candace, don’t. I got on my knees and sobbed for you already, but I won’t say sorry for trying to help you- so if you still have a bone to pick with me, that’s your problem. Maybe if you really want to survive, you should think more like a cat, and less like a dog- and stop chasing your own fucking tail.” 

“I don’t need a talking to about cats and dogs from a stupid mouse who got her own tail stuck in a rattrap.” Aria was one of the few people I could look down on, being just a few inches shorter than me. “I’ve always hated you, and I should have known better than to believe you were anything worth trusting.”

“Welcome aboard the underground, stupid. Maybe you don’t realize it yet, but the world doesn’t actually revolve around you, you’re just a bug stuck in the gears. Cause as much trouble as you’d like, you’re still going to get squashed.” Aria snarled, shoving me backwards onto the bed behind me before finally snapping back around and leaving. “Stay mad at me for the rest of my life if you’d like, it doesn’t matter. You should have figured that much out already- nobody cares about your feelings. This is the real world, and it’s about bigger and more important things than you. Your fate is up to you.”

I watched in paralyzed awe as Aria walked away, slamming the door behind her and leaving me alone all over again. There was no point in chasing after her, it didn’t matter anymore. We both made our decisions, and there wasn’t anything left unsaid. 

 

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“Hey?” Josephine slowly closed the door behind her, sitting down next to me. I must have lost track of time, curled up in bed alone, because people didn’t often come looking for me- especially her. “You okay?”

“You’re asking a slave- who is here completely against her will- if she’s okay.” I frowned, making room for her in bed next to me. “The answer is no.”

“Fair enough I guess.” Josephine sighed, pulling the covers out so that she could relax. “It’s just us and the girls tonight, if you just want to hang out?”

I raised one eyebrow at her question, still curled up into a ball. “Us and the girls?”

“Lilith and Claudia took Lilian out trick-or-treating, and I think Candace went along to supervise.” Josephine smiled, forcing me under the blankets with her. “Lilian wanted to borrow her cat for halloween~”

“You mean Claudia left you in charge of the slaves?” I giggled, rolling my eyes at her. “How’d you manage that?”

“Not without a little help I guess.” She smirked, pulling out her wife’s cane and giving it a spin. “I think it worked~”

“Congrats.” I smiled, unable to keep sulking for much longer. “Guess my advice has been working, huh?”

Josephine and I had been spending a lot of time together this week, it wasn’t exactly a secret, Claudia just wasn’t here to see it thanks to her work. Usually she was in and out of her office, or at the plantation where she worked. 

“Josie?” I paused, thinking it over before saying anything. “Master said that I’ve been more submissive lately…”

“I mean… you’ve been teaching me to be more submissive, haven’t you?” Josie smiled, setting the cane down between the two of us, right there in the open. “Claudia seems to like it-”

“Does she?” I nervously shuffled in place, backing away from the cane ever so slightly. “Does she actually want submission… or does she just think she wants submission?”

Josephine frowned, seeing my reaction and curling her fingers around the cane. “What do you mean?” 

“I’m a brat.” I looked up at her, biting my lip nervously. “And I know you want me to teach you how to be a brat, but… what if she doesn’t actually want a brat?”

She took a few moments to think it over, letting the room fall silent around us. “She has drones already… What else would she want?”

“That’s the thing.” I stared at the cane, gazing deep into those terrifying red eyes. “I don’t think she wants drones.”

I took a deep breath, reaching for the cane- only for Josephine to pull it away from me, clutching it to her chest for protection. “Chloe…”

“That’s exactly what I mean…” I frowned, gesturing towards the way she clung to it. “I don’t think she wants to turn her slaves into drones… I think she does it because she’s scared.”

“scared of what?”

“scared of us.” 

Josephine loosened her grip on the cane, not enough to put it down, but just enough to hear me out on this. “You think she’s scared?”

“I think she’s terrified.” I blushed, trying not to mention how I’d been eavesdropping on Claudia’s private conversations. “I’ve seen it… she’s just too proud to say anything about it. I don’t think she needs to spice up her love life- I think she needs help.”

“She can’t lead a family on her own after all…” Josie took the words right out of my mouth, curling up into a ball under the blankets, just like me. “And I’ve just been sitting here…”

I didn’t say anything more after that, letting her words speak for themselves. Josephine was smart enough to come to the same conclusion I was coming to, she just needed to be pushed there. 

“You can’t say any of this to her.” I watched her turn to me, glaring me right in the eyes as she spoke- and with just three clicks- affixed the jaws of Claudia’s cane to the head of my collar, pulling me just a little bit closer. “Swear to me that you won’t tell her about this.”

“It stays in this room.” I blushed- that was more like it- placing my palms flat on the bed beside me as I knelt. “I swear.” 

“We used to have another slave, her name was Bella.” Josephine frowned, tightening her grip on the cane as she talked. “I bought her to be Claudia’s office assistant after her last owner abandoned her… but within a few months.”

“She was dead.” I frowned, nodding. “Claudia put her down.”

“I don’t think my wife likes killing people, Chloe.” Josie checked the eyes of the cane for their glow, making sure it wasn’t recording. “Whenever she can, she buys slaves off of the Zed list… and she sends them to her plantation to work…”

I swallowed nervously, that definitely sounded familiar, but it didn’t make much sense. “Why the Zed list?”

“She had an attachment to her mother’s slave, Charlotte Zed.” She smiled, satisfied enough with my submission and comfortable enough with her control to unclasp the serpent from my collar. “She’s never told me what really happened, but I do know she blames herself for Charlotte’s death.”

“So she buys girls off the zed list to try and save them from death?”

“But they don’t always live…” Josephine nodded, gripping the cane as tight as she could. “I don’t know why she doesn’t allow people in her office, but I think she’s hiding something from me…” 

“And that’s why she killed Bella.” I furled my eyebrows in anger, finally putting the pieces together. “She knew too much…” 

“You’re right, Chloe.” Josie pleaded with me, desperate to keep me from making a stupid decision. “She’s scared.”

“You need to show her that there’s nothing to be scared of.” I smiled eagerly, staring at that cane in her hands. “Not from you- and not from any of us~”

I knew exactly what I needed to do, I needed to get that cane out of Josephine’s hands, and the only way I could do that was to get her to put her guard down. But that wasn’t too difficult, it was halloween after all~

It was just Josie and the girls tonight, myself included, and everyone crowded around the guest bedroom for once- sitting around and telling scary stories with one another. It was nice… it was really nice. 

By this point Josephine knew that there was nothing to fear from us, but that was still to be seen from the man of the house- Claudia was still scared.

And she should be.

 

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The evening went by in an instant, and as it got late, everyone turned in for bed. 

But after a tiring not if sitting around together, none of the other girls had a reason to go anywhere, so we all just fell asleep in the guest bedroom together. Everyone except for me.

 

As soon as I was sure Josie and the rest of the slaves were asleep, I gently picked the cane up from the bedside, taking it with me as I left them all to themselves. 

It was dark out, but it was halloween, Claudia was still out trick-or-treating with her daughter. The only reason she hadn’t gone alone was because Lilian was terrified of her own mother. 

It broke my heart a little to imagine it, but it was her own fault. Claudia’s fractured relationships with her own parents weren’t the cause of her problems- she was. Claudia created her own miseries. 

I took a deep breath, easily avoiding the enforcer- who I’d forgotten was even here half the time- as I made my way to my master’s office. Amazingly, I didn’t even need to sneak Nell’s keys from them, because Claudia’s cane housed keys of her own. 

Alright Preyboy, let’s see what you can do… 

I unlocked the door to the vestibule, stepping inside and glancing towards the door, my one way to freedom. For a moment, I considered making a break for it, but no… not tonight. I stepped into Claudia’s office, keeping the lights off to lower suspicion as I closed the door behind me. 

There has to be something in this room that she doesn’t want anyone to find… what is it?

I looked everywhere, but there just wasn’t anything here to see, just a ton of boring insignificant paperwork- documents to be shredded. The drawers were filled with sweet nothings, all of them, even the one that housed my leftover belongings. Darcey had been in here dozens of times and not discovered a thing, there wasn’t anything here to be found… at least not out in the open. 

Tapes. What did she mean by tapes? 

I sat down at her desk, thinking it over as I fiddled with the cane in my hands. I remembered that one thing. It was my only lead to go by- some sort of tapes. 

There’s no way… right?

Assuming they were VHS tapes, she’d need a VCR. A VCR would need a television, and a television would need… 

A remote. 

I turned Claudia’s cane around in my hands, looking it over for buttons- knowing I was onto something the moment it hit me- it was perfect, too perfect. It literally couldn’t be so simple, anytime something was this perfect it was always too good to be true. 

There’s no fucking way she’s that stupid… There’s no way… 

I squinted, struggling to read anything from this stupid device as I pushed through my terrible far-sighted vision in the dark no less, but sure enough… 

Click .

I pressed my thumb into the most conspicuous button, holding it down for a moment… before hearing a faint buzz- like the sound of an old CRT television, from the wall directly on the other side of the desk.

A false cupboard .

All it took was using her cane to unlock the hidden handle to open it up, and before I knew it I was face to face with what looked to be a small television stand, one that slid out from the cupboard to find itself directly in front of Claudia’s desk, right there for her viewing pleasure, blocking the view from her desk to the door. I slid the TV out, already turned on thanks to the remote built into her cane, complete with a VCR and everything- and that was when I finally found her collection of VHS tapes. 

I counted them, each and every one of them- taking note of the number written onto the side of each tape… and that letter that showed up on all of them- B. 

I remembered what Autumn said, that the letter Z was for slaves who’d been put down… and as I counted each of the nineteen tapes, I remembered my fellow slaves and their numbers.

Darcey was 0003. Autumn was 0004. Zenna was 0005… and Bella was 0006.

I placed my finger on the far left tape, 0006Z… knowing it must have something to do with her, plucking it off of the shelf and carrying it with me to the VCR, gently sliding it in-

And it didn’t go in… there was already a tape in there. 

In a hurry, I ejected the tape, paying little attention to it as I set it down on the desk, desperate to see what was recorded onto the one marked with Bella’s number.

And I was not disappointed… 

 

It started out bad enough, a sex tape of this girl- who I could only assume was Bella- and Claudia… but it quickly devolved from there. I desperately reached for the remote, stopping the footage in its track as I realized that I wasn’t just watching any sex tape.

I was watching snuff. 

I was watching the last intimate moments of a girl who was about to be murdered on video, by Claudia… and that was when I knew I had to turn it off. 

But something still bothered me. 

I rewound the tape, making it look like I had never even touched it as I slotted it back into the cupboard. It didn’t make sense- that wasn’t anything to hide- of course it was snuff.

Claudia wasn’t confident, Claudia was scared. If she was already planning on killing someone, why not make something out of it. Claudia didn’t like killing people… or else she wouldn’t save so many people from the Zed list… would she?

What is she really hiding?

I sat back down at her desk, picking up that last tape, the one she’d left in the VCR- god, who owns a VCR these days - and I examined it. This one, unlike the rest of them, had a title.

0001Z: Charlotte’s Parcel .

I was already this deep into it. This was my only chance. I slipped the VHS tape back into the tape player where it had been, forced to rewind it on my own before I could watch any of it. Whatever this was, it had been watched recently, and Claudia had left it in without rewinding it. 

I didn’t rewind it too far, I wasn’t planning on watching the whole thing- I just needed to see the end. I took a deep breath in, and then out, and then I pressed play. 

Oh no. 

The moment I saw it I knew exactly what this meant- this was exactly what Claudia had been trying to hide.

Oh no… 

I clasped both hands over my mouth, tears streaming down my cheeks as I saw who exactly Charlotte Zed was- because she was just like me- a girl with two names.

I had belonged to Candace, so my number was 0000. Elizabeth belonged to Cyrus, 0002. Darcey was 0003, Autumn was 0004, Zenna was 0005, and Bella was 0006. Claudia’s slaves, Cyrus’ slaves, Candace’s slaves… they were all family- and 0001 was no different. 

She was family. 

I knew she was family, because I recognized that face, I recognized those eyes. I’d seen them before, I’d seen them hundreds of times before. Day after day I’d seen those eyes, but only in paintings…

 

That’s Candace’s mom.

 

I’d seen enough to know where this was going. I reached for the remote, desperate to turn the tape off as quickly as I could-

Thump . 

I watched in terror as the television forcefully slammed into the cupboard, feeling the cane slip from my fingers, and before I could do anything else I heard three clicks.

Click. Click. Click. 

And my master’s cane was pressed firmly against the front of my throat.

My mouth hung open in utter desperation, my tears still streaming from my eyes as I looked up at her, standing on the other side of her own desk, with tears in her own eyes. 

“ Why?! ” Claudia was practically screaming, her cane gripped tight in her hands. “ Why can’t girls like you just be good?! Why can’t you just let dead women rest in peace?! Why did you have to ruin this for me?! ”

I could feel my hands make their way over my head, holding themselves up to make myself seem vulnerable- defenseless- nothing to fear. I had never felt so purely terrified in my life until just this moment, staring down the length of the weapon I was sure would kill me, sobbing my eyes out. 

“Claudia…” I stared into her stormy blue eyes, able to see how much pain she was in- hoping she could see the same in me. “Please…”

Claudia just stared at me, her finger on the button, ready to electrocute me. “Please what, slave?”

“Please…” I slowly closed my eyes, unable to take it any longer. “Have mercy…”

Click . I could feel the fear in her as she pressed the button, certain that the sound of her clicking the device would be the last I’d ever hear.

And then I felt the jaws release. 

I sniffled back my sobs, gently lowering my hands and opening my eyes, trying to see what was going on. “Claudia?”

“Preyboy doesn’t have enough power to kill a slave.” She stood there, looking down at the screen as it continued to play the tape, clutching her cane to her chest for protection. “The reason I don’t like carrying the controllers on me is because I don’t want to accidentally shock someone to death… not again.”

I watched in horror as the other end of her cane made its way over the desk, sliding open one of the drawers- and inside were the controllers to each of the slave’s collars, my own included. 

“If I wanted to kill you, I’d need to use one of those… but I don’t.” Claudia slid the drawer closed as fast as she opened it, retracting herself over the desk. “That’s how she died…” 

I could tell by the way she said that, aimed towards the screen, that she was talking about Candace’s mom- Alecia. She was just like me, Sophia and Chloe at the same time. 

“You mean…” I sat up straight in her chair, nervously looking down towards the controllers before looking back up at her. “It was an accident?”

“Me having sex with my father’s slave was on purpose… but her death wasn’t. If you keep watching you’ll see it too… you’d eventually get to the part where I’m leaning over the side of the bathtub in tears… but you don’t want to- trust me.” Claudia pressed a button on the cane, pausing the video. “I don’t like watching it either.”

The world was spinning around me, staring up at her in total fear. “Then why keep it?”

“Because that’s my punishment for killing her… I have to watch it happen.” Claudia’s eyes fluttered to the ground in absolute despair, tears sliding down her cheeks ever so slowly. “Daddy never forgave me.”

I just sat there, frozen in place, as Claudia retrieved the tape from the tape player. For a moment it looked like she was about to break it in half, her eyes flashing with anger- like she so desperately wanted to do it- but she couldn’t. Claudia held the tape to her chest, sobbing like a child as she clung to it. 

My heart squeezed inside of my chest, looking towards her as she dropped to her knees in front of the television. “Master?”

“Stay back.” She snapped at me, her crying eyes red with fear. “Don’t you dare take a step towards me…”

I swallowed nervously, desperately searching for anything and everything I could do to save myself- gently lowering myself to my knees on the floor next to her, bowing my head. “Yes, Master.” 

Claudia was stunned. Here she was expecting me to turn on her in an instant, ready to defend herself. But instead… I decided this was the time to kneel.

“I went to my father for help as soon as I could, but it was already too late… she was already dead- and he would never forgive me for that.” She set the cane aside, getting what she needed to say off of her chest. “It was almost funny, you know… Daddy would abuse us for doing something wrong, but in that moment… he decided I wasn’t even worth raping anymore…”

She slowly stood up, putting the tape back into the cupboard where it belonged hidden away, and I just watched her, continuing to kneel- fearful of my own life.

“He punished me by taking the security camera footage and putting it onto this tape, just for me… so that I could see exactly what I did wrong.” Claudia gently pushed the television back into the closet with the rest of her things, closing and locking the doors. “My punishment for accidentally killing my own step-mother was being forced to sit and watch all two hours of it… and pleasure myself… to touch myself where my father once had but would never again.” 

THUMP . She slammed the bottom of her cane into the ground in the loudest, most forceful strike I’d seen or heard yet. 

“There. You’ve heard my confession. If you tell my sister about this, you are dead.” Claudia took a deep breath, crouching in front of me, the eyes of her cane already glowing- making sure I knew it was recording. “If you really want to live… you ought to give your confession now~”

 

Chapter 38: Cotton Candy

1st November, 15 days until the banquet.

 

The wind blew through Candace’s hair as she knelt, gently making sure the flowers were arranged just right- placing twelve of them around the memorial.

“Hey mom… it’s me again.” She brushed her hand across the front of the tombstone, freeing it from the dirt and dust it had collected in the year since she’d been to the cemetery. “I miss you… Happy All Saints’ Day~”

Alecia St. Clair - the memorial read- In loving memory . This was the twelfth such All Saints’ Day in a row that she had come to see her mother, and it never got easier for her- each November 1st just brought with it another poppy to decorate her grave with. 

“I hope you don’t mind me rambling, you know… sometimes it feels like you’re the only one who actually listens to me.” Candace smiled, brushing her flowing blonde locks out of the way, now quite a bit shorter than they had been the previous year. “We just got back from the church, the service was really nice… you should have been there!!”

Candace giggled to herself, keeping a smile on her face as she reminisced with her mother. She never cried on these trips, it just didn’t seem right. Today was a day of celebration and honor, not mourning.

“Good news… that girl I told you about- Chloe- she’s safe. It turns out that Claudia ended up buying her… she saved her life. I love her for that.” Candace put her hand to the gravestone, trying to hold her mother like her mother used to hold her, one hand on her shoulder. “Oh yeah- Claudia and I have been talking again… she let me meet her family, I have a niece now… and I have my sister back. You were right, she finally did open up and support me~”

Candace turned around just briefly, enough to look back at Claudia leaning against the car. Claudia wanted to visit with her sister this year, but Candace needed some time to herself first. 

“We’re going to be seeing Daddy soon after this, to try and talk to him about some stuff, but… enough about him-” Candace turned back to her mother’s grave, trying to remain upbeat and positive. “Claudia came to see you… her and I are going to watch the Wizard of Oz tonight, just like you used to watch with us… remember?”

Candace realized she was talking to a memory, but it felt natural to ask even if she knew her mother couldn’t answer, it didn’t bother her at all.

“Lilith told me about you and her… about how she let you go… how she left you with dad.” Candace smiled, reaching forward and protecting the flowers from a gust of wind threatening to blow them away. “Maybe one day you can tell me about her~”

A slight frown overtook Candace’s otherwise happy facade, remembering how she did the same thing with me. After months of keeping me to herself, she had let me go- all because her father wouldn’t let her keep me. 

“I guess what I wanted to ask is… was it worth it?” Candace was on her knees as she asked this. She took after her mother in a lot of ways, but she didn’t like to kneel, she was supposed to be above it- except with her parents. There might not have been anyone else in the world who respected Alecia St. Clair like her daughter did, but Candace loved her just as much as she loved her father. “Did you regret just going along with what they told you? What would you do if you had the chance to do it all over again? Would you fight it to be with the girl you love… or would you make do?”

Her frown completely painted over her lips, sunglasses nearly blowing off of her face thanks to the wind. Candace couldn’t be more miserable, and it showed.

“Should I fight it, mom?” She choked back any signs of weakness, remaining steadfast and willing to do anything. “Or should I make do… just to be with her?”

Candace, of course, got no response from her mother’s grave… and the silence spoke volumes.

“Hey.” Candace turned around to hear her sister’s voice, now standing right behind her. “I’m sorry… I couldn’t stay away any longer-”

“It’s okay.” She smiled, making room for Claudia to sit next to her, which she did. “We just finished up~”

Claudia smiled nervously, looking over her stepmother’s grave. This was surreal to her, returning to the spot where she rested after so long. 

“Hey, Alecia…” Claudia choked back a mouthful of emotion as she spoke, overtaken with grief for the first time in a long time. “Hey, mom… how’ve you been?”

Candace giggled, rolling her eyes at her older half-sister, which brought a smile to the older girl’s face. “I’ve never heard you call her mom before.”

“I know… there’s a lot of things I should have done while she was still here…” Claudia bit her lip, wiping tears out of her eyes as she read the words on the plaque. “I should have been at your funeral… I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…”

Candace watched her sister slowly break down into tears, and she let her have that. Claudia felt a gentle hand on her shoulder as she sobbed, appreciating the warmth of her little sister’s touch. 

“Thanks for taking me to see her, Claudia.” Candace brushed her sister’s hair out of the way, planting a single kiss on Claudia’s cheek. “I’m ready to go see dad whenever you are~”

“Yes, please-” Claudia chuckled, taking her sister by the hand as they both knelt there. “Give me a minute with mom and then we’ll go.”

“Whatever you say, Mistress-” Candace rose to her feet, shooting her sister a wink as she turned towards the car. “Don’t let the flowers blow away~”

Claudia forced a smile onto her face for as long as her sister could still see it, her expression quickly souring the moment she was out of view. 

“Sometimes I wonder if she really is your daughter, you know…” Claudia quietly whispered to her stepmother’s tombstone. “She doesn’t have that submissive attitude you have, just a deep abiding hatred of herself… and an ungodly amount of persistence.”

Claudia couldn’t understand how someone like Candace could be so headstrong and difficult to break. She’d tried everything, and she just couldn’t get her little sister to bend. From what Claudia had seen from her little sister, she was completely incapable of being submissive. 

Candace could do as she’s told, but she couldn’t submit. 

“I didn’t even know there was a difference, mom.” Claudia frowned angrily, gripping her cane as hard as she could. “I thought submission and compliance were the same thing, but they’re not…”

She growled under her breath, lamenting how unfair it was that she couldn’t get her slaves to properly obey her. What was she doing wrong?

“I don’t think any of them are really submissive to me, mom… they’re all submissive to my wife… to Josie…” Claudia frowned, hanging her head in defeat. “If I can’t get Candace’s dumb dog to listen to me… am I really in charge here?”

Claudia paused, pondering her last question over in her head without letting it leave her lips- not wanting to entertain the thought of it out loud. 

“I miss you, mom…” Claudia placed her hand against the grave, just once. “I didn’t mean for you to die, I was just angry… I’m sorry…”

 

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“You’re making me go through the servant’s entrance?” Candace was almost offended by her older sister’s insistence, even if she knew that a deal was a deal. “You’re not serious, right?”

“We’re here to convince Daddy to let you off the hook, remember?” Claudia stood between the entrance to their childhood home and her little sister. “You’re not really my servant. We’re actors right now- father needs to see you like he saw your mom, that’s how we’ll convince him to forgive you~”

“I guess so…” Candace blushed, turning her head towards the side of the house, where she knew the servant’s entrance was located. “I just don’t see how me serving at your party is going to help get dad off my back.”

“It’s simple, honest.” Claudia grinned, twirling her cane in her hand just once. “Once father sees that you can submit to me, he’ll remember how good you are at doing what your family says, and then he’ll forgive you- it’s foolproof~”

Candace sighed, hanging her head in agreement. It was gross how right Claudia was about the whole thing- knowing that it was her job to do as her family said, that was the price of freedom for her.

Meanwhile, Claudia was going to use the front door. 

 

“Good morning, dad~” Claudia let her father kiss her on the lips as she arrived- as her way to say hello. “How’ve you been?”

“Busy.” He smirked, rubbing her lower back as he helped her inside. “I’m glad you came, it feels like I never get to spend time alone with you.”

Claudia frowned, following her father inside of his office to visit. “Actually, Candace and I have been needing to talk with you-”

“Candace?” He almost seemed shocked to hear her mention the name. “You and your sister are talking again?”

Claudia put her hands on her hips in annoyance. “Yes, father. We’re talking again.”

“And how’d you manage that?” He smirked, turning his back to her as he walked to the back of his office to pour himself a drink. “What- did you kill that girl she loves so much?”

“Hey…” Claudia bit her lip, hanging her head just slightly. “That’s not funny.”

“Neither is finding out that public enemy number zero traded in one of my daughters for another.” He pulled out his chair and sat down, sitting up at his desk. “I assume that’s what you’ve come all this way to talk to me about- not to catch up and have lunch with your dad- to talk about this Chloe girl, because apparently she’s just that important.”

“We can talk about whatever you want to talk about, dad.” Claudia sat down across from him, a frustrated scowl on her face. “If you would like to just sit down and visit, we can do that instead.”

“Thank you.” He smiled, leaning back and taking a sip of his drink. “Believe it or not, I do love when my family comes to visit, Claudia- and I do love my daughters both equally.”

“Yeah, sure- equally.” Claudia shuffled in her seat, rolling her eyes at that. “We both know Candace is your favorite, dad. It’s okay-”

“Claudia.” Cardinal sighed, setting his drink down on his desk in front of him. “It’s not always about you, it’s about the family.”

“It’s always about the family.” Claudia rolled her eyes, finishing his thought for him. “I know.”

“Then I’ll cut to the chase-” Cardinal put on a straight face, sitting up in his seat. “Candace isn’t going back to that god forsaken sport, she’s going to focus on the money- and that means debt collecting. I’m not sending her to your mother’s party to have fun, I’m sending her to do a job. She goes in, she gets the work done, and then you two are free to canoodle however you’d like.”

“And Leah?”

“She returned your precious tape to you, caught the mouse girl, and has been nothing but helpful around here. I think she deserves to have a nice night at your mom’s party- without being bothered.” Cardinal frowned, finishing his drink and slamming the empty glass down on his desk. “Have you destroyed the parcel yet?”

“Destroyed the parcel?” Claudia seemed shocked to hear him suggest it. “How could I destroy her, she’s-”

“Oh for the love of god, sweetheart. That VHS tape is not your stepmother. I gave it to you to punish you, not for you to horde in your closet for your entire life.” 

“But it’s a part of her!!” Claudia shot up from her seat, slamming her hands down on the table. “It’s the last piece of her we have!! Mom was keeping it for herself but now she’s back!! We have her!!”

“Well then do me a favor while you’re at it- and get your mother’s death on tape too.” He stood up, somehow looming over her despite being physically shorter than his own daughter. “Keep it however long you like, I don’t care. But if you let that tape fall into the wrong hands one more time, so help me god-”

“Yes, father…” Claudia frowned, slowly seating herself in her chair below him. “No one will see it who’s not supposed to… I promise…”

“You almost destroyed this family, you know.” He frowned, slamming his own burly hands on the desk to intimidate her. “You were going to be my heiress, Claudia. I wanted you to take over after me.” 

“Yes, Daddy… I’m sorry…” Claudia swallowed nervously, her heart dropping in her chest. “I brought Candace with me…”

“Of course you did. Because it couldn’t just be about you and me, it had to be about something else-” He turned around and poured himself another drink, finally sitting back down at his desk. “I’ll send for my servant to go fetch her.”

“It’s always about the family, father.” Claudia smiled nervously, trying not to let her father’s words discourage her. “I want you to give me another chance, please. I really do want to lead this family.”

“I can’t just hand over the reins because you want them, Claudia.” Cardinal sighed, swirling his drink in his hand. “I need proof that you’re worthy of it. You have to show yourself capable of controlling your family, and you need to learn how to listen to me- without question.”

“And I can, Daddy. Please…” Claudia took a deep breath, keeping a determined smile painted onto her face. “Let Candace play her silly game, I can keep her under control for you.”

“Oh yeah?” Her father smiled, intrigued. “And how are you planning on doing that?”

“I’m glad you asked.” Claudia grinned eagerly. “Let me show you~”

 

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“What a load of fucking-” Candace cursed under her breath as she made her way around the outside of the house, towards the servant’s entrance in the back. “Horseshit. Fucking horseshit.”

It was always a sick game for her family, using Candace as a test subject for some sort of experiment, like she wasn’t a part of this family too.

Candace was this family, more than anyone else- it wasn’t fair for her to have to go in through the back like this. 

“Alright, open the door.” Candace pounded on it with her fist, already sick and tired of this charade- going along with what she’s told for the sake of the family. “It’s Candace-”

“Yeah, I know. I can recognize your voice- even through a door.” Candace was surprised to see Leah open the door to the servant’s wing of the mansion, holding it open and helping her dear friend inside. “It’s almost like your sister is treating you like your mom. Wow, shocker.”

“Leah?” Candace stepped inside, her mother’s hand-me-down dress swaying as she walked. “What are you doing back here?”

“I’m answering the door.” Leah opened and shut the door once to demonstrate. “You know- the one you were pounding on?”

Candace just crossed her arms in annoyance. “I meant back here in the servant’s wing, Leah.”

“I don’t live here, if that’s what you’re asking.” Leah smiled, rolling her eyes. “Right now your father has me employed as an enforcer… not that he has any slaves to enforce at all, at least not at the moment.”

 

In contrast to the shambled mess of a woman she had been just last weekend, Leah looked really nice tonight. Candace wasn’t used to seeing her in anything less than a stylish zip-up hoodie and a leather jacket over maybe a nice looking pair of tights if she was lucky and jeans more often than not, but the sheek silver a-line really suited her somehow. 

“I can see you staring, honey, it’s okay. Look at me-” Leah grinned eagerly, giving Candace a little twirl to show off her new style. “I did it. I really did it. I finally made consigliere. I’m your father’s right hand~”

Candace had never seen Leah quite so happy, and it was a long time coming. After such a long time of working her way upwards, Leah deserved this promotion. Her curly brown hair bounced slightly with excitement, her dazzling blue eyes glistening in the light, a stunning pearl necklace swaying back and forth at her neck. This was the position Leah had been gunning for her whole life. 

“Move over, Benjamin- it’s your widow’s turn to rock and roll!!” Leah was kind of a dork sometimes, especially when she was as excited as she was, Candace had hardly seen her this happy since Leah was her babysitter. “This is the top of the world, Candace- I’m royalty~”

“Oh my god, Leah. That’s amazing!!” Candace smiled, taking Leah by both hands and allowing the overly excited woman to spin her around in a circle. “I’m so proud of you!!”

“Yeah, I’m proud of me too. First my father, then my husband, and now-” Leah let go of Candace’s hand as she spun one last time, her heel clacking against the floor as she stopped herself. “Me~”

“Congrats, Leah. You really deserve this.” She giggled happily, proud of her friend for reaching such a high position after so long. “I don’t think Daddy’s ever let a made woman become consigliere before- you should be proud of yourself.”

“I’ve long since proved my usefulness to your father, believe me.” Leah gestured around to the entirety of the servant’s wing, kept in pristine condition. “Who else do you think is doing all the work around here?”

“You mean Daddy doesn’t have any servants for you to enforce- so he’s making you do it all for him?”

“We’re too busy right now, Candace. It’s time to target the big fish!!”

“The big fish?”

“The other made men- the family guys- you know!!” Leah seemed overly giddy at the chance to participate in something so shady. “Rich assholes your father has let slide for too long, it’s time to collect, and he wants us to be the ones to do it~”

“Us?” Candace paused, blushing slightly. “What do you mean us?”

“Well- Lilith isn’t going to be around for much longer- which means your father’s going to pick a new underboss, right?”

“You act like Lilith has actually done anything as underboss since the two of them split ways-”

“That’s the thing, Candace.” Leah took her by the hand and squeezed it, looking her in the eyes. “Miss Mariam’s been leeching power from the family as underboss for almost three decades now- once she’s gone there can finally be real change around here~”

“I can tell that you’re excited, but you’re talking like a little bit of a madwoman right now.” Candace urged Leah to slow down and explain herself a little more. “What does this actually mean, Leah?”

“Your father wants one of you to be underboss, Candace. If you want, it could be you, me, and your father all the way at the top-”

Candace’s heart squeezed in her chest at the sound of that. In theory, moving up was supposed to be a good thing, but right now it sounded like anything but. Becoming her family’s underboss wasn’t what Candace wanted- what Candace wanted right now was Chloe.

What Candace wanted right now was me. 

 

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“Thank you, Leah. You can get back to work now~” Cardinal smiled at his assistant, waving her off once she’d delivered Candace to her father. “As for you two, have a seat.”

The pair of sisters seated themselves next to each other on a sofa in the back of the office, per their father’s instructions. Not one of them could really remember the last time the three of them had been alone together in one room- because it hadn’t happened since Candace’s mother passed away. 

“Yes, Sir. I’ll get back to my very important work right away~” Leah was the only one to respond to him as she headed back out, leaving her boss and his daughters to their fate. “Good luck, girls. Play nice for once- make Mama proud~”

Leah winked as she closed the door, but unfortunately Candace and Claudia were too nervous to appreciate her encouragement- even if it did get a smirk from their father. 

“So- your older sister ended up buying your slave.” Cardinal kept his eyes fixed on the door out of the lounge, talking directly to his youngest as he leaned back against his desk. “How did you make that happen?”

“I didn’t make anything happen, Dad.” Candace’s immediate response was to protest and defend herself. “Do you really think I would go behind your back to save her after you explicitly told me to get rid of her?”

“I don’t know, Candace. Does that sound like something you’d do?” Cardinal crossed his arms at his chest, rolling his eyes. “You wouldn’t- I don’t know- go behind my back to kidnap your archrival to save her life when I explicitly wanted her dead and buried, would you?”

Candace’s eyebrows furled in rage, wanting to rip her sister’s cane straight from her hands and beat her father over the head with it. “You showed him the recording?”

“Of course I did.” Claudia frowned, trying not to look at her little sister. “He deserved to hear it.”

“And what about the part where I’m trying to impress you, huh?” Candace immediately turned back to her father, very nearly shouting in his face. “I kidnapped and enslaved her on my own for you, dad. I wanted to show you what I can do. I can take control of a situation by myself!! I can be in charge!!”

“It’s not about taking control, it’s about listening to me!!” Cardinal finally snapped, shouting at his daughter for her blatant display of insolence. “It’s about obeying me and doing as I say!!”

“Oh yeah- because that’s what an heiress is for!!” Candace snapped right back at him, completely fuming. “It’s not about finding someone you can trust to actually do the job when you’re gone, it’s about having a sickly little puppy who’ll do exactly as you tell her to, even after you’re dead and buried!!”

Cardinal just smirked, staring his own daughter down with a less than amused look in his eyes- clearly ready to knock her head off if she couldn’t control herself. “I’ve told you this already, I want her gone. I will not let you see this girl anymore, and that’s final.”

“Daddy, please?!” Candace clasped both of her hands together, practically begging for a second chance. “I will do anything to be with her again, I swear!!”

“Then do as your sister says, and don’t complain.” Cardinal shook his head, backing away from the girls and back towards his desk. “She belongs to Claudia now, so if you know what’s best for her- you’ll let her be and move on.”

“You mean-” Claudia’s eyes shot up excitedly, her heart pounding in her chest. “I can keep her?”

Cardinal brought his drink to his lips, nodding to Claudia’s question. “Yes.”

“I can keep her… You mean Chloe, or-” Claudia nervously glanced towards her little sister, Candace, still standing up beside her.

And her father’s eyes followed, glaring down his youngest daughter before returning his gaze to his eldest. “Yes.”

Candace’s mismatched eyes- meanwhile- went wide with disgust, frantically hopping back and forth between her sister and her father. “You can’t be serious…”

“Consider this your punishment, princess.” Cardinal finished his drink, setting it aside on his desk as he stared at her, still unamused. “If you don’t want to do as I say and work for your position, you can join that girl you want to be with so badly- which makes you your sister’s problem, not mine.”

“That’s it- if I’m not going to listen to you, you just don’t want to deal with me?” Candace’s jaw practically dropped, her arms crossed at her chest. “You’re just going to give me to my sister- like a slave?”

“That’s what I did to your mother, isn’t it?” Cardinal’s eyebrows furled, staring his youngest daughter down with a straight face, warning her- threatening her- with further punishment. 

“What?” Candace’s weakness showed its skin the moment her mom was mentioned. “What did you do to my mother?”

“When your mother stopped listening to me-” Cardinal grinned, seeing how much this was getting to her without even needing to lift a finger towards her. “I gave her to your sister.”

Candace’s heart dropped in her chest, her skin beginning to crawl. “You did what?”

Claudia was as shocked to be hearing this from her father as Candace was, not because she didn’t know it to be true, but because she knew it to be secret. “Daddy?”

“I love you, princess.” Cardinal smiled towards her, genuinely and warmly, believing every word he said to be true. “And I will be more than happy to go right back to spoiling you once you learn to listen, just like I would have done with your mother. But until that happens, you have to realize that you can’t get away with this kind of thing.” 

Candace lowered her head in defeat, realizing that there was nothing to gain from fighting it. Her father ruled her entire life, top to bottom, this was his way of smacking her back in line. Cardinal was just trying to scare her, he didn’t actually expect Candace to agree to being her sister’s slave- he expected her to immediately apologize and go back to doing as she was told. He was just keeping up his smug poker face and playing his hand- he was bluffing.

And Candace was more than willing to call his bluff. 

“Yes, Daddy!! Whatever you say!!” Candace forced a great big smile onto her face, making sure to be as cheerfully and obnoxiously agreeable as possible. “I’ll be very good for my big sister. It’s just too bad that you won’t be at Miss Mariam’s party to see me serve. But if I have to listen to someone, I’d rather it be someone who actually cares about my wants and needs- like Claudia~”

Candace watched with smug satisfaction as her father’s poker face melted. His eyes went wide, his smile faded away, and his eyebrows both raised in genuine concern. That was the look of a man who wasn’t exactly getting what he wanted- in more ways than one- but even if his bluff was being called, he was still willing to play his hand.

“So be it then.” Cardinal scoffed, relaxing into his seat. “If that’s your decision, you can wait in your mother’s room while my daughter and I keep talking.”

“Very well-” Candace turned on her heel, starting her way out of the room as quickly as she could. “I love you, dad.”

Hearing his daughter say that certainly brought a smile to Cardinal’s face. “I love you too, Candace.” 

The moment Candace was out the door however, his face told a different story.

“Alright then, here’s what I need from you.” Cardinal turned his attention to Claudia, which his eldest daughter was more than willing to finally receive. “You want a second chance, so I’m going to give you a second chance.”

Claudia’s deep blue eyes sparkled with excited gratitude. “You mean it?”

“You’re my daughter, Claudia. I would never cut you off completely.” For all his flaws, Cardinal had one thing going for him, he loved his family. “Show me that you’ve learned from your mistakes and follow my directions very carefully.” 

Claudia couldn’t be more ecstatic than this, licking her lips hungrily. “Yes, Sir- what do you need me to do?”

 

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Candace angrily stormed her way out of her father’s office, heading down the hall towards the servant’s wing, where her mother had been forced to call home for much of her life here. She knew her childhood home like it was her own, but that didn’t make it any easier to navigate. 

The private slave quarters she had shared with her mother as a child slowly crept closer, somewhere she hadn’t stepped foot inside in over a decade. It had been a nursery when Candace was born, when her mother was made to share a room with her child until Candace got her own room, subsequently becoming her mother’s quarters. 

She stopped in the hallway just outside her mother’s old room, right in time to watch some cute redheaded maid sporting a pretty sick purple streak in her hair step out of her mother’s old room and turn towards the servant’s entrance, heading out to do some work outdoors.

Honestly, if Candace didn’t know better she’d think of following her, but she didn’t have the best track record with redheads.

 

It was surreal to be stepping inside of this room again after so long, knowing that this was where it had happened. 

The lightly decorated bedroom was just the way it had been too, and now that Candace was an adult she realized that it was actually quite big for a slave’s bedroom, her mom had been treated like royalty. 

Before she had the chance to even notice it was occupied, Candace heard the light in the attached bathroom click off, watching the door slowly slide open. 

“Oh, hey…” Leah blushed, nervously closing the door behind her, smiling awkwardly towards the other woman. “Didn’t hear you coming.”

Candace frowned, smiling politely as she continued inside, towards her mother’s bed. “I didn’t realize someone lived in here.”

“Don’t worry, no one does.” Leah continued to smile awkwardly, gently approaching the otherwise untouched bedside. “It was just the closest restroom.”

“And dad’s new servant?” Candace sat on the other side of the bed, her back turned to Leah. “Where’s she been sleeping?”

“New servant?” Leah raised a confused eyebrow, tilting her head just slightly. “Your father doesn’t have a new servant.”

“But she was just in here.” Candace frowned, noticing the still baffled expression on her friend’s face. “The redhead girl?”

“This is news to me.” Leah let off an unbothered shrug, standing up from bed and straightening herself out at the mirror. “I must have just missed her.”

“Just barely, yeah.” Candace frowned, her hands curling into the edges of the bedsheets. “She looked a bit like… you know who.”

Leah frowned, glancing towards Candace’s reflection in the full body mirror. “Like Chloe… you mean?”

“What, no. Not her-” Her hands curled in even further, practically tearing the sheets apart in her fingers. “I meant Riley.”

“Riley…” The reflection of Leah’s eyes lowered in shame, not wanting to look towards the other woman. “Right, her…”

Candace said nothing more than that, her eyes transfixed on the fancy belt still clasped around her waist, decorated with intricate spikes, rivets, and buckles. 

“If you’re waiting for me to apologize for that, I’m not going to- I’m sorry.” Leah’s eyes fluttered closed as she took a deep breath, and when they reopened they were right back to staring up at the other woman in the mirror. “It was to keep you out of trouble, I was just following your father’s orders.”

“And that meant you needed to kill her?” Candace stared her in the eyes, aimed straight towards Leah’s reflection in the mirror. “There was no other way?”

“I am what I am, Candace. I can’t do much, but I would do anything in my power to protect you.” Leah spun in place, abandoning the mirror entirely as she returned Candace glare, filled to bursting with a dazzling amount of unashamed confidence. “I was following your father’s orders the only way I know how.”

“You are what you are…” Candace blinked first, her confidence quickly failing, breaking eye contact with Leah as she stared her down face to face. “Because giving my father what he wants is always going to be more important than what I want.”

“Yes.” That single word was the most resounding to ever come out of Leah’s mouth. “And you can’t condemn me for that… after all- You’re the same way.”

Candace’s heart filled with an inalienable sense of dread, her whole body shuddering with regret. “Like father, like son…”

“No, Candace.” Leah smiled warmly, quickly rounding the bed and taking a seat next to the younger woman. “Like mother, like daughter.”

Candace blushed, smiling ever so slightly at her friend’s words, lifting her head up in time for Leah to gently place a kiss on her forehead.

Leah frowned, placing one hand on Candace’s shoulder. “I take it things with your father aren’t going so well?”

“I can’t be with Chloe anymore…” Candace hung her head in defeat, grabbing Leah’s other hand for support. “Daddy won’t let me see her.”

“This is a mercy, Candace.” Leah smiled, taking the chance to squeeze Candace’s hand. “If he didn’t love you, he wouldn’t have let her live in the first place…”

“But I was the one to save her.” Candace could feel the tears welling up in the corners of her eyes, not wanting to let them out. “If I hadn’t gone behind his back in the first place, she wouldn’t still be alive-”

“And that means you’ve accomplished something no one else has.” Leah smiled, almost proud of her friend. “You managed to tell him what to do~”

Candace actually giggled at that, wiping the tears from her eyes with her other hand. “Thank you, Leah.” 

“I know you don’t agree with everything I do, but I want you to know that I’m doing this for you. I was here before Tallie, before Aria, before Malcolm… and before Chloe. I’ve been here longer than anyone else, and I’m always going to be here for you.” Leah’s gentle blue eyes sparkled just a bit, clearly tearing up more than a little. “I love you, Candace.”

“Oh my god… Leah…” Candace bit her lip and smiled, the tears rolling down her cheeks. “I love you too…”

“It’s going to be okay.” Leah smiled, gently releasing her firm grasp on the other girl’s hand as she stood up. “Know that whatever you do, it’s going to be okay, I have faith in you.”

“I know what I have to do.” Candace smiled nervously, taking a deep breath in and then out. “If it means I can be with her again, I know what I have to do…”

 

The two of them sat in near silence for a while before Candace’s father finally returned for them both, his eldest daughter in tow. 

“I don’t suppose you’ve managed to talk any sense into my daughter, Miss Watts?” Both of his feet stayed firmly planted outside of that room, refusing to take even a single step inside.

“No, Sir.” Leah rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “No such luck, unfortunately.”

“Well I applaud your efforts.” He smiled just slightly, giving Claudia a kiss goodbye. “Leah has her orders, and you have yours, don’t let me down.”

“Yes, Daddy.” Claudia nodded, grinning proudly. “You can count on me.”

“Sir, can we maybe talk about the whole kissing your kids on the lips thing?” Amazingly, Leah seemed to be the only one even a bit bothered by it as she began to follow her boss out. “It’s kind of grossing me out-”

“Oh don’t get your panties in a twist, Miss Watts.” Cardinal chuckled quietly, his fingertips grazing the hem of Leah’s skirt as she stepped past him. “You’ll understand when you have kids of your own~”

Leah paused just outside the door, her eyes turning in to give Candace one last smile of encouragement before she got back to work. “Yeah… I’m sure I will~”

“As for you girls- take care, be safe.” Their father gave them both an equally warm smile before following his assistant out. “I love you both, don’t forget that.”

“We love you too, dad.” Claudia smiled, waving them goodbye as she saw them off. “Right, Candace?”

Candace simply watched her sister’s eyes rest upon hers expectantly, giving in and returning her father’s smile- at Claudia’s behest. “Of course…”

 

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The two of them settled into the back of Claudia’s unmarked black cab together, letting her driver take them where they needed to go, leaving them to themselves in the backseat. 

Candace vacantly stared out the window as they drove. “So what did you and father talk about in there?”

“A plan for you.” Claudia had this smugness about her as she said it, holding back all of the menacing little details. “You and Chloe both~”

“You’re going to use her against me, aren’t you?”

“Calm down before you jump to conclusions, please.”

“Fine.” Candace angrily gave her sister the side eye, her face still pointed out of the window. “Go on, what is it?”

“Daddy promised you she’d get to live, and for now he plans on keeping that promise.” Claudia gave Candace an eager smile, scooting across the backseat towards her. “Daddy says that you can work for me, and I can take over your section of the family.”

“And what would I get out of that?”

“You’d get to be with her.”

Candace shuffled in her seat for a moment, softening up towards her sister as she got closer. “What do you mean?”

“Chloe belongs to me now, obviously.” Claudia smiled, setting one hand on Candace’s thigh and rubbing her gentle skin up and down. “As Daddy and I negotiated, there are two options. You’re mine until you’re ready to go back to working for and obeying him, or… you’re mine forever.”

“That’s not fair-”

“It’s not supposed to be fair.” Claudia’s grasp tightened onto Candace’s leg, digging her nails into her sister’s skin. “You’ve already proven yourself to be incapable of controlling a single slave, father isn’t going to give you that power anymore. At least not for a good… twelve years or so… but I’m sure you’ll get a second chance eventually.”

“So what, I’m just supposed to do as I’m told until then?”

“Look, Candace. Daddy doesn’t expect you to actually agree to belonging to me, he’s using it as an ultimatum. Daddy expects you to make what he thinks is the sensible decision- and go back to doing exactly as he says…” Claudia took her other hand and gently tucked two fingers under Candace’s chin, tilting her head up ever so slightly to look at her big sister. “But I am giving a choice, I am giving you the opportunity to be with her again, if that’s what you want…”

“How?” Candace desperately locked eyes with her sister’s, her legs trembling in Claudia’s grasp. “If father won’t let me see her anymore, how can I be with her?”

“That’s simple. All you have to do… is follow me~”

Claudia’s eyes drifted closed before Candace’s as she watched her sister tilt her head to the side, pressing their lips together. Candace felt her eyes doing the same as she returned her sister’s kiss, melting into it like a hedonistic moth to a killer flame. 

It took Candace a great deal of willpower not to break the kiss first, but she pushed through it until Claudia was satisfied, signifying her hesitant submission to her sister’s desires. 

“Now that that’s settled-” Claudia smiled, her fingers still lightly pressed to her sister’s chin as she sat up. “Let’s take you home for the week~”

Candace nodded, relaxing back into staring out the window as they made their way back to her own lonely mansion. “I’ll see you next weekend, right?”

“Of course you will.” Claudia smiled eagerly, admiring her little sister beside her as they continued on into the sunset towards her home. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world~”

 

Claudia waved goodbye as she saw Candace back off to her house, dropping her off at the doorstep and heading back out for the night, returning back the way they came. 

She sighed, watching the mansion shrink in the distance as they continued on, the light in her eyes fading significantly. “Take me to the plantation.” 

 

Claudia’s wedged heels clicked as she stepped out of the car, strutting across the pavement and into the facility where she worked- the very same slave plantation she oversaw. 

But before she could even step inside, there was an unexpected guest waiting for her up front. 

“Josephine?” Claudia frowned, quickly hurrying to her wife’s side. “What are you doing here?”

“What am I doing here?!” Josie scoffed, taking one stride towards her wife- and smacking her square across the cheek. “What are you doing here?!”

Claudia reeled backwards from the slap to the face, her cheeks glowing ever so slightly in embarrassment, rubbing her sore skin as her eyes nervous made contact with her clearly quite angry wife’s glare. 

“It is one thing to go out without telling me- but to leave for the whole day without once telling me where you were?!” Josephine was practically seething, her face bright red with anger. “I don’t care if we’re separated- you can’t just ignore my calls and texts, I’ve been worried sick about what’s going on!!”

Claudia frowned, extending her arms towards her wife in an attempt to help calm her down. “Josie, please- calm down.”

“And the worst part- I wake up this morning and Chloe is just gone.” Josephine crossed her arms at her chest, backing away from Claudia’s touch. “What did you do to her?”

“As if it matters what I did to her, you didn’t want her anyways.” Claudia grumbled in frustration, clutching her cane tight in her hands. “She belongs to me, remember?”

“She’s a part of this family now, Claudia.” Josephine stomped her foot, trying desperately not to just bark into her wife’s face. “She belongs to us.”

Claudia snarled, pointing her cane accusingly. “There is no us-”

“Yes there is!!” Claudia instinctively raised her cane in self-defense as Josie stepped towards her, just in time to watch her yank it away and toss it onto the ground between their feet as the other woman grabbed her by both hands. “And don’t pretend like there isn’t!!”

Her single shield thrown to the wayside, Claudia froze in her wife’s grasp, unable to move a muscle against her out of sheer terror. The only movements she could manage were the slightest attempts to escape her clutch, but even those did nothing against Josie’s superior strength. 

Claudia blushed profusely as her hands trembled in her wife’s palms. “Y-you’ve gotten stronger?”

“Claudia, I’ve always been stronger than you, remember?” Josie frowned, locking fingers with her wife. “I’ve just been off my hormones for a while, so my muscles have probably just gotten bigger-”

“You’ve been off your hormones?” Claudia’s eyes went wide with shock. “Since when?”

“Oh, I don’t know- since long before you got Chloe- Why does it matter?” Josie gently pulled Claudia closer, trying to ease her fears. “I’m still me, no matter what chemicals I’ve got pumping through my loins~”

“B-but I got you those hormones so that you could be a woman…” Claudia nervously stepped closer and closer, stepping over her cane and towards her wife. “I took over the plantation so that you could be a wife-”

“Yeah, well I’ve been thinking for a while…” Josephine smiled nervously, kicking the cane to the side completely as Claudia got nearer. “And I want to go for a hail mary.”

Claudia blushed as she felt Josie’s hands release her own, too close now to move as she watched her wife grab her by the waist and pull her close, refusing to let her go… and Claudia’s hands instinctively found their way onto her partner’s firm shoulders for support- her chest bubbling with a feeling she hadn’t felt in years. 

Claudia’s eyes slid shut and stayed there as Josephine pressed their lips together, a fiery blush overtaking both women’s faces- embracing each other in a passionate loving kiss.

And it took nothing at all for Claudia to keep with Josie until her wife finally pulled back. “I want to have another baby.”

Claudia’s eyes shot open, a shocked and furious growl making its way out of her as she took her wife’s shoulders and she shoved her backwards. 

“No!!!! Absolutely not!!!!” Her face was red not with a blush, but with anger as she scooped her cane off the ground, clutching it to her chest in self-defense. “How in the world could you think it’s a good idea to have another baby right now?!?!”

“Because I’ve wanted this for a while now, Claudia…” Josie stopped, standing back from her wife as she raised the cane like a weapon. “Why do you think I didn’t have an anniversary present for you?”

Claudia’s eyes softened just a bit, lowering her cane as she came to the realization. “You mean…”

“I wanted to surprise you with it.” Josie blushed, smiling excitedly. “I’ve been off my hormones for months because I wanted us to be fertile again. We were in a good place, we were ready for this, and then… things fell apart… and I didn’t know what to do.”

Her whole body tensed up at the thought of being pregnant again after so long, her vulva throbbing against the inside of the harness she wore around her waist, hidden beneath her clothes at all times to keep herself chaste just in case. Claudia was nothing if not a faithful wife, or… husband. 

“I’m sorry, Josephine. But this is not the way to fix things between us.” She sighed, deciding it best to give up the thought of it altogether. “I can’t carry children anymore. I’m the husband now, that’s not my place.”

“I can’t carry children either, Claudia. You know that I would if I could, but I can’t.” Josephine hung her head in disappointment, biting her bottom lip and posing to make herself look more attractive to her. “If this isn’t the way to fix it, then I’m sorry… I don’t know how to fix this-”

“But you do, Josie!!” Claudia thumped her cane against the ground in frustration, which never for a moment frightened her spouse. “All you have to do is listen to what I say and be a good wife-”

“I’m trying to be a good wife, Claudia.” Josephine didn’t even shout, there was no point to it anymore, it wasn’t going to get the other girl to listen to her anyways. “Do you think I sit around all day and do nothing because I want to? Because I don’t.” 

Josephine just eyed her wife, her face filled with an intense dissatisfaction with how things had been between them. Claudia was too stuck in her ways to change at this point, and Josie hated it. 

“I don’t want to be your picture perfect housewife, Claudia. I find housework menial and boring, but you’re always too busy working to spend time with me.” Josephine resigned herself to just saying it, knowing that there was no point in holding it back any longer. “We could do this together. We could split the work between us and leave more time for each other- but instead I’m left at home bored out of my mind while you work yourself to death for what end, Claudia?”

“I am not the bad guy here, Josie.” Claudia’s voice stuttered as she spoke, having no proper response to what her wife was saying. “You were the one who wanted to be a wife-”

“No, Claudia. I wanted to be a woman. There’s a difference.” Josie frowned, shaking her head and stuffing her hands back into her pockets in complete defeat. “This is just like your father. You’re trying to back me into an ultimatum, threatening our marriage in order to get what you want, when that’s just not something I’m willing to give to you any longer… I’m sorry.”

Claudia’s heart shattered inside of her chest, losing all breath inside of her lungs. “So what… that’s it then?”

“Basically, yeah. If you don’t want to talk with me and find some sort of compromise that works for us both… I can find someone else to have a family with.”

Just the sound of that made her blood boil. Josephine was supposed to be Claudia’s woman, not her own woman. “Yeah, good luck finding someone willing to carry your children for you-”

“I already have, Claudia.” Josephine stared her down with a genuinely terrifying glare, with not even a touch of dishonesty sprinkled onto her words. “So if this is it, I will take my slaves and my plantation and we can part ways.”

Claudia paused, her grip tightening around her cane as her heart started up again. “Your plantation?”

“The plantation was given to me by my parents to run, and then I handed over the reins to you, because I thought it was what’s best- but it’s not.” Josephine gestured towards the building behind her before turning to Claudia’s driver, standing near his boss. “Who does this establishment belong to, Russel- do you know?”

The stoner driver Claudia always had drive her around chuckled at his boss’ misfortune, shrugging his shoulders. “Sounds like a Violet question.”

“Then please make sure my wife asks Violet when she gets inside.” Josephine huffed, turning away from Claudia and heading towards her own car. “And don’t worry, unlike you- I know how to drive home.”

“J-Josie, wait.” Claudia blushed, chasing after her as she began to walk away. “I didn’t mean-”

“Oh so now you don’t mean it?” She didn’t even bother turning back around to face her. “You’re fine with being like this but the moment I threaten to take away the plantation, you don’t mean it.”

“I love you, Josie.” Claudia was pleading now, following her all the way to the car, trying to keep her from leaving. “I’ve always loved you-”

“Of course you love me. I’m the best thing that ever happened to you.” Josie stared her right in the eyes as she got back in the car, shaking her head in disappointment. “You’re nothing without me, Claudia Rosegold Mariam.”

“You’re right. I’m not!!” Claudia swung the passenger door open and slid inside before Josie had the chance to drive off. “Everything I’ve ever done from taking over this facility to keeping this chastity belt tight between my legs I’ve done for you, Josephine. You’re right, I have nothing if I don’t have you.”

Josephine just sat there, staring into the rearview mirror to avoid her wife’s gaze. “What do you want, Claudia?”

Claudia paused, unsure how to even start with that question. “What do I want?”

“Out of this marriage.” Josie glanced towards her out of the side of her eyes. “What do you want out of this marriage?”

“I want to be a family again.” Claudia lowered her head, reaching out and placing one hand on Josie’s thigh. “When you first came out as a woman, I was terrified. I thought that there was no way things could work out between us, and then I decided to become the husband that you didn’t want to be… for us.”

Josephine smiled just slightly, her cheeks turning pink at her wife’s honest emotion. “Yeah?”

“It hasn’t been easy for me, Josie… it’s been really hard.” Claudia retracted her hand, curling in on herself. “I’ve been putting in a lot of really really hard work to try and be your husband, and I just feel like you haven’t been putting in a lot of work towards being my wife…”

“That’s not how this works, Claudia.” Josie frowned, her grip tightening on the steering wheel ahead of her. “We don’t need to be husband and wife, Claudia… we can both be wives.”

“No, we can’t. Because I need the structure that being husband and wife brings…” Claudia sighed, grabbing the door handle and opening it up. “Anything else is a dealbreaker for me.”

Josie sighed, turning away from her wife at long last. “Then I guess I’m a dealbreaker for you.”

“Yeah…” Claudia frowned, stepping out of the car. “I guess you are.”

“We’re talking more about this later, aren’t we?” Josie frowned, keeping her eyes on the dashboard. “You are coming home tonight, right?”

“Yes.” Claudia turned around and smiled, shutting the door behind her as she waved her wife goodbye. “I’ll see you at home tonight~” 

 

✶      ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧      ✶      ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦      ✶

 

“Your wife is in fact right, Miss Mariam.” Claudia made sure to ask Violet her question as soon as she got inside. “The plantation does in fact belong to Miss Jacquel’s family, though curiously- it is still property of Jonathan and Dixie Jacquel.”

“That doesn’t help, but thank you.” She sighed, shrugging her aside as she stepped inside. “How was she today, you didn’t have trouble dealing with her, right?”

“Not at all, Ma’am.” Violet smiled, looking up from her clipboard as they walked towards the holding chamber. “She very graciously surrendered herself to being restrained actually, it was pretty painless.”

“That’s good.” Claudia nodded, seeing the chamber approach just up ahead. “Can I see her?”

“She’s yours, Miss Mariam.” Violet grinned eagerly as she grasped the door handle, opening up the chamber for her. “You can touch her if you’d like~”

“And I will.” Claudia smirked, moving past her and through the doorway. “Hello, Chloe~”

 

I of course wasn’t able to hear a thing they were saying until they opened up the door, watching in terror as Claudia stepped inside with me. My hazel eyes nervously flickered upwards towards her, the chains keeping me in place rattling as I shook. 

“I’m glad to see you didn’t do anything to cause my assistants problems.” Claudia snickered at me. “Did you?”

I whimpered through the hard black bit gag stuffed into my mouth, chains still clunking as I shook my head desperately, completely unable to speak.

“She’s actually been really tame, especially compared to how she is at home.” I heard Nell’s voice from just outside the cell, remembering that they’d been here all day to watch me. “Helps that she’s totally locked away in there, though.”

“That’s good to hear~”

Thump . My whole world shook as she slammed the tip of her cane against the tile floor, the terror of it echoing between my ears. 

“I’m sure by now you’ve met each of my three best assistants.” Claudia gestured to the man, woman, and enby behind her. “Chloe, this is Russel, Violet, and Nell. You’ve met Nell obviously, but these three together make up the bulk of my crew. Russel is my driver and personal bodyguard, Violet mans this plantation for me while I’m away- keeping the slaves here under control, and Nell is my enforcer at home- keeping my personal slaves in line while protecting my wife and daughter. Made men, all three of them thanks to me~”

I took a moment to bow my head in respect to all three of Claudia’s lackeys, trying to signal my submission to them and to her without words. 

“Now that introductions are out of the way-” Claudia smiled, crouching in front of me as she reached behind my head, her cane in hand. “Let’s get that off of you, shall we?”

I lifted my head up, doing my best to help her ungag me, keeping my mouth shut once she was done- lowering my head to the floor and prostrating myself. 

Claudia smiled, holding her cane up to my lips, its eyes already glowing red. “The confession, sweetie.”

“I snuck into your office when I knew I wasn’t supposed to, and I watched some of your VHS tapes without permission.” I already had scared tears in my eyes before I’d even started. “Thank you for not killing me, Master. I’m sorry. Your secret is safe with me, please.”

“There there, Chloe dear, it’s okay.” Claudia gently reached towards me, running her fingers through my hair like a caring pet owner. “You’ve used your one get out of jail free card. Bringing you here wasn’t a punishment, it was a precaution.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” Tears fell from my eyes as I nodded my head, hands shaking in their shackles. “I won’t tell anyone a thing, I swear-”

“And I’m counting on that. Because if you do, then my mercy here will be for not, and you will become one of those tapes.” Claudia turned the recording off, tapping the side of the cell with her cane. “As you might have recognized from some of those tapes, this is the very same holding chamber where I execute disobedient slaves. This is where you’ll be sleeping for the next five days.”

“Yes, Master…” I bit my lip, struggling to hold back my tears. “I’ll do anything.”

“Since you’ve already seen everything, I haven’t much to hide from you anymore. As a general precaution to make sure you’re ready to listen to me again, you will be staying here at the plantation this entire week- not as a work slave- but as an office assistant.” She reached down, gently wiping the tears out of my eyes. “You’ll be right at my side throughout the day, spending your nights in this cell… and I will pick you up and take you home Saturday morning when I am ready for you”

I gave my owner a nervous but grateful smile, sniffling back my tears before any new ones formed, nodding my head in agreement. I could do this, I could survive through a week here without a problem. I survived living in a cell Candace put me in, I could do the same for Claudia. 

“Once that is said and done and you leave this cell however, be warned-” She smirked, lifting my chin ever so slightly with the head of her cane. “The next time you step foot in this chamber, it will be because I’m putting you down~”

Chapter 39: Like Mother, Like Daughter

7th November, 9 days until the banquet.

 

“When Candace gets in the car, make sure not to say anything.” Claudia sat me to her left in the backseat of her cab as she went to pick up her little sister. “You’ve done well this week, so show me that it’s not all been in vain~”

“Of course, Ma’am.” I took a deep breath in and out, trying my best to steady my shaking body as I watched Candace approach the other side of the car, to Claudia’s right. “You can count on me…”

Claudia of course simply smiled as she opened the door and slid inside. “Good morning, Candace.”

“Good morning~” Candace smiled, taking the initiative herself and leaning in for a kiss on her mouth to greet her sister, which Claudia eagerly allowed her. “Oh- hey, Chlo… S-Sophia…”

It seemed like Candace hadn’t even noticed me as she got in, and I wished it had stayed that way, because hearing her almost say my name again was heaven to my ears, almost. “Hello, Miss St. Clair…”

“M-Miss St. Clair?” Candace blushed, smiling ever so slightly. “Was that a title?”

“I don’t know.” I blushed back, glancing over at her. “Was that Chloe I heard?”

“Alright you two, you know you can’t be doing this.” Claudia interrupted from between Candace and I, cutting our chemistry experiment short. “Candace has something she would like to say, I believe~”

The way she immediately turned her attention to the right towards her little sister quickly made Candace blush. “Wow, you’re really just going to throw me into the fire, huh?”

Claudia smirked. “Pretty much~”

Candace clearly seemed quite nervous to say whatever it was she needed to say, because it showed on her face like a light bulb based on how she was blushing. 

“My apparent master turned father turned master again doesn’t want me to even so much be in the same room as you anymore- not after the way you humiliated me in front of him.” She averted her eyes from me at all opportunities, refusing to even so much as let me see the shame on her face. “So apparently as long as I’m going to humiliate the family by continuing to let you put me to shame, my father is going to humiliate me by making me go back to being a slave, like my mother, apparently…”

A strange wave of heat overtook my face, washing over me as she said that. It sounded so surreal, especially coming from her, to think of Candace St. Clair- of all people- as someone’s slave. 

“Wait, so…” I tried not to question it, unsure of how I felt about the whole idea just yet. “If you’re not allowed to be near me, why are you here?”

“Because I like you.” Candace sighed, still looking out the window as we drove. “My father is always going to treat me like his slave anyways, so it’s not like it matters. I’m half doing this just to call his bluff anyways.”

“Call his bluff?” I blushed, glancing up towards Claudia for a moment to make sure it was okay to keep asking questions. “If you’re basically a slave anyways, why are you here?”

“Chloe, dear.” Claudia shook her head, stopping me before I went any further. “What Candace is trying to say is that she has decided she’d rather belong to me than to our father, don’t make her say it out loud.”

“Oh…” My face turned red at the idea of Candace and I both belonging to her sister. “You’d… really do that?”

“I can still change my mind.” Candace grumbled under her breath, still avoiding all eye contact with me. “At least between now and the party I can…”

I didn’t really know what to say to that, mostly because I didn’t know how I felt about it. The only thing I knew for sure was that I needed to listen to my master and not say anything to Candace about her mother, and this was clearly why. 

It was disturbing to think about what sorts of desires Claudia has that would lead her to desire ownership of her own little sister, especially knowing that it was what led to her mother’s end. But at the same time, I was just as safe with Claudia as Candace was, and it was her fault that I was here in the first place.

The rest of the drive back home was practically silent, as Claudia helped the both of us in through the door into the sitting room, leading Candace and I both willingly into her house. 

 

“Chloe!!!”

“Chloe…”

“Chloe~”

Claudia and Josie’s other three slaves all simultaneously glomped me the moment I stepped through the door. It was nice to see that they’d all missed me while I was gone, having not known where I went in the first place. 

“Oh my god, Chloe!!!” Darcey emerged first and foremost, grabbing me by both shoulders and holding me like she was trying to keep me from running away. “Where did you go!!! What happened!!!”

“Yeah… We were cuddling and then all of a sudden you were gone…” Autumn stood to one side of Darcey, a stupidly pink blush overtaking her cheeks as she looked at me. “It wasn’t me, right… I’m sorry for yelling at you… you can hit me if you want…”

“Hey, Chloe.” Zenna had a look on her face that told me she knew nothing more than the other two did, but had a serious hunch as to what might have happened. “We’re all glad you’re back.”

I had never felt so welcomed than here among my fellow slaves, and after the week I’d just been through, I wouldn’t miss it for the world. “Thanks, you guys. I missed you too…”

I took a step back from the girls, just glad to be home after walking back and forth from the holding chamber and Claudia’s office at the plantation off and on for the entire week, and a warm welcome from my fellow slaves at home was better than nothing at all. 

Candace’s uncomfortable look and nervous posture on the other hand told a different story. In all my months at her side, she didn’t usually get like this, but she was visibly anxious. 

“I just remembered, actually-” Candace frowned, reaching into her purse for anything to take her away from the scene at hand. “I need to make a phone call.” 

She stepped away opposite from me, phone held to her ear as she made the aforementioned phone call, evidently just to avoid me altogether. It was almost annoying the more I thought about it- the moment she got into a situation where she was on the same playing field as me again, she was trying to weasel her way out. 

“What’s wrong, Candace?” I smirked, stepping around the other girls towards Candace, crossing my arms at my chest as I taunted her. “Too scared to say hi to the other slaves?”

Within an instant I heard the others giggling at Candace’s expense, Darcey just a little bit louder and Autumn just a little bit quieter than Zenna. The three of them were mostly too shy to say anything while Candace was on the phone, but it was obvious to me that she was going to voicemail. 

“Hey Tallie, it’s… Candy Cane…” Candace blushed, whispering into the receiver as she was forced to leave a message- only worsening her own embarrassment. “The championship is next week, so I just wanted to make sure we were good to go. Please, call me back-”

“Awe, does the little panda need her mommy?” I giggled, making sure to get my comment out before I heard the click of her hanging up the phone. It made my blood boil to think that she was calling her manager of all people, standing right here in front of me. “Don’t worry, I won’t make you cry… again~”

My teasing was obviously getting to her, and it was getting the rest of the girls to laugh at her expense as intended, but it wasn’t landing with Candace quite like I’d hoped. 

The sight of her turning towards me and reaching for the controller to my collar immediately made my heart jump in my chest, instantly trembling with anticipation. But after a moment my brain consciously realized that she no longer had that pretty little bracelet of hers- she was no longer my master- but the deed had already been done.

Just the idea of her punishing me for teasing her had put me back in my place. 

 

“I’ll show you crying-” Candace angrily stepped towards me, beginning to raise her arm just in time for it to be caught in her sister’s controlling grasp. 

“That’s enough of that, Cotton Candy~” Claudia smirked, holding Candace back by force- her little sister’s wrist in one hand and her cane in the other, pointing it towards Candace’s throat. “I think you should meet me in my bedroom, there’s a few things I probably ought to beat into your head before you beat me to the punch.”

I froze nervously, my head lowering just slightly as I watched Candace relax in Claudia’s grasp, forcing herself to comply. Candace didn’t like being ordered around, but there was evidently enough of an incentive for her to listen that she ultimately did. “Whatever you say…”

“Good.” Claudia let out a sigh of relief, clearly more than a little intimidated by the younger woman. “As for the lions, tigers, and bears- you can go back to your room and rehearse to Chloe your preparations for the party, I need her to be caught up as quick as can be~”

I paused, expecting to hear something from any of the other girls, only for them to instead bow- all simultaneously and with perfect posture, like it had been rehearsed. Internally, meanwhile, my heart was racing inside of my modestly sized chest. 

Seeing Candace in discomfort from my actions disgusted me, a feeling that hadn’t occurred to me in quite a while, and watching herself purposefully put herself in danger for me was all that much worse. 

The sight of her with her sister was already a bit sickening, but seeing the image of Claudia with Candace’s mother from that revolting tape of hers was conjuring images in my mind of Candace that I hoped to never see.

Holy shit- Candace is here because of me . 

I felt a heavy breath escape my quivering lips. My stomach was beginning to churn with a mixture of regret and fear. Obviously Candace wasn’t here just because she wanted to be with me again, it was more complicated than that. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it was all my fault. 

Candace’s father put her up to this, but the two of them wouldn’t be fighting in the first place if it weren’t for me humiliating her in front of him. I was the one who broke her heart at the last moment, and I did it for the right reasons, but that didn’t mean I wanted to see her stuck in this situation. I never intended on seeing Candace become a slave, I’ve always wanted her to be happy- I just hoped that she’d be happy away from me. 

I’ve ruined this woman’s entire life.

I took a moment to bow like the other girls as I watched the two of them walk away without another word, watching them turn the corner towards the slave bedroom- knowing very well that Claudia intended on her little sister taking the dumbwaiter rather than the stairs. 

Like a slave.

“W-wait.” I broke away from the rest of the girls the moment our master was out of sight, rounding the corner after her and making a beeline towards the dumbwaiter to find her. 

But by the time I got there, she was already on her way up.

“Candace, I-” I stopped right outside of the slave elevator, hoping that she could still hear me, even though I knew she couldn’t. “I’m sorry…”

And then, right at the worst possible moment, I finally understood what was really going on. 

“I’m just being a brat…”

 

I stood in the empty cell for a moment, the door open behind me as I watched the vacant dumbwaiter make its way back down in front of me. This cell just wasn’t the same, this wasn’t the way it was supposed to be- but there was no way out of it now. I made my choice- and now I had to live with it.

“Hey, girls?” I turned around and slowly stepped back into our shared quarters, stopping in my tracks the moment I saw them. “What’s going on?”

Autumn and Darcey smirked as they spread one of the bedsheets across the carpeted floor between the bedframes themselves, as a smug smile overtook Zenna’s face behind them, closing the door to our room and locking us all inside. 

“We missed having you this week, Chloe.” Zenna smirked, tracing the four leaf clover shaved into the side of her head with one finger. “So we thought we’d show you how much we value you being a part of our family~” 

Darcey and Autumn both quickly began to disrobe, taking their pajamas off and tossing them aside like Zenna had, waiting for her signal. “Get her~”

My eyes went wide as I watched the both of them rush me, backing into the closed door to the bathroom behind me as Darcey and Autumn both grabbed me by one arm, beginning to drag me forward. 

“Ummm…” I blushed, struggling against the both of them to no avail, quickly being forced onto my knees on the sheets spread onto the floor. “You guys?”

Darcey giggled, still holding my left wrist behind my back. “You said you didn’t know how to talk to girls!!!”

And Autumn did the same with my other arm. “So we decided to help out by doing all the talking for you…”

“That way we can all have fun together, and no one has to listen to you complaining and making excuses.” I watched in horror as the third girl stepped towards me, producing what looked like a pair of handcuffs and a thin length of rope, spinning the handcuffs with one finger like they were nothing. “Get her on the ground, girls. Just like I taught you~”

“W-wait, what? Darcey?? Autumn??” Apparently Zenna’s time as a police officer had taught her a few useful things, and she had in turn passed those skills onto her fellow slaves. In the blink of an eye I felt myself pushed forward onto my belly, my arms pulled together behind my back as Darcey and Autumn worked together to bind my arms together, taking the handcuffs from MacNair and clasping them tight around my wrists. “Z-Zenna?? This was your idea??”

“Treating your equals with love and respect is hard, but don’t worry… you’ll figure it out. This way it’s almost like we’re not equals at all.” Zenna had a sly grin on her face, a sure sign that she’d done this before. The sheer strength with which she brought the rope to my lips made my jaw drop in awe, allowing her to put the length of it between my teeth and begin wrapping it around my head, tying my mouth shut with rope. “I’ve been a bully before, I know how it feels. Trust me, you deserve this~”

I blushed, tensing up in anticipation as the other girl forced my face back to the floor in front of me, unsure of what was about to come. One thing was for certain, though, being forced into it was much easier than trying to talk things out. 

“This was our idea, we’re doing this together.” Zenna purred proudly, turning to the others still sitting behind me. “Who’s in charge first?”

“I don’t want to go first…” Autumn blushed, turning to the excited blonde beside her. “Darcey can go first if she wants…”

“Can I???” The excited bimbo of a girl bounced with excess anticipation. “I’d love to have the first turn, if that’s okay???”

“As long as everyone’s fine with that, yeah.” Zenna nodded, glancing down just a moment to see my reaction. “Go ahead~”

They seemed to pause for a moment before Darcey excitedly pulled my waist upwards, as Zenna made sure to keep my chest and my face firmly planted on the ground as I got up onto my knees, my exposed genitals now hovering at about face level to the other girl as she crouched. 

“Hey, Zen- I don’t like using my mouth very much…”

“I can get Darcey with my mouth if you want to keep Chloe’s head down~”

“…Would you?”

“Of course~”

I was just a little bit surprised to see the teamwork these girls were putting into this as Autumn and Zenna swapped places, with Zenna now taking her place behind Darcey as Autumn sat on top of my, weighing my head to the floor my pressing down on the back of my head with her cunt. 

I murmured lightly as I felt Darcey’s mouth pressing itself to my wet cunt, already unbelievably excited for this- and from the sounds of it so was she. I couldn’t see it, but I was sure that Darcey’s cunt was quickly being serviced by Zenna as the blonde worked at my pussy with her lips, and with Autumn in front of me there was no one back there to pleasure Zenna, and they all seemed okay with that. 

I could thrash my arms all I’d like but that wouldn’t get me out of this. I arched my back, my head down and my ass up as Darcey grabbed my by both thighs, pressing her tongue past my labia and pushing herself inside of me. It was as good an oral session as I’d ever had, and clearly I wasn’t the only one having fun with it. 

Autumn was grinding herself into the back of my head as I whimpered, my knees beginning to shake as the girl behind me kept working my cunt like magic with her mouth, rocking my whole world. 

“Oh oh oh!!!” Darcey pulled away after a moment or two, just as it was getting good. “Idea!!!”

I whined loudly, my aching sex missing the feeling of her mouth as soon as she was gone, feeling all three of them begin to shift around me. 

“Oh… I get it…” Autumn pulled herself off of my head after a few moments, promptly being replaced by Zenna.

“Here, I got her~” Zenna purred, and I could hear the two of them kiss above me before Autumn scurried towards Darcey’s behind. 

Darcey meanwhile was now on her back beneath me, forcibly knocking me off of my knees and dragging my cunt all the way down to her mouth, going at me all over again without restarting steam. 

I felt her tongue working its magic inside of me and her lips sucking at my cunt, but I didn’t moan until I felt that single out of place tooth of hers pressing against my clitoris, and suddenly this was on a whole new level. 

I had always noticed that out of place tooth of hers, but I’d never thought it could be used this way until suddenly I was rubbing my clit against it, climaxing into Darcey’s mouth after a few minutes of pleasure. 

Darcey lied back, pulling out and beginning to kiss me all over my crotch as she felt me orgasm, continuing to stimulate me. This was clearly a team effort, and once I had finished I realized it was my job to wait for Darcey to orgasm as well, regardless of my own physical discomfort- and when she did, it felt amazing to have her squeal happily into me, burying her mouth in my cunt. 

“I got it, I got it, thank you~!!!” Darcey slid herself out from beneath me once she was finished, huffing and puffing audible. “Who’s next~???”

“Can I go next…” Autumn was already whimpering from behind me, and I realized that it had been her rubbing her own cunt against Darcey’s that had gotten the other girl to come, pulling out before her own orgasm so as not to overwhelm the blonde. “I don’t wanna stop…”

“Chloe needs a few minutes to recover.” Zenna lifted her weight off of me, quickly finding her way to Autumn’s side. “But I can help~” 

I bathed in the glow of my orgasm as I felt a pair of hands help my legs through the hole made by my restrained arms, allowing my arms to the front of my body- realizing it could only be Darcey doing it as I was flipped onto my back, keeping me from laying down on my hands as I watched Zenna continue to stimulate Autumn as I recovered. 

“Having fun yet???” Darcey giggled, looking down at me from above as she sat my head down in her lap, earning only a blush from me. “Just spread your legs when you’re ready to go again~”

I felt my cheeks get hot and flustered as she said that, asking me to signal my submission when I was ready to go again. Usually I would protest and fight, but I saw the way Zenna and Autumn were making out in front of me, and I wanted in. 

So I spread my legs~

 

The other girls were quickly excited by this, as I watched them take new positions around me this time. Zenna and Darcey were actually on their knees in front of each other, laying my head down in both of their laps as they locked legs together, beginning to kiss above my head. 

Autumn, meanwhile, needed to help getting into position, lifting my knees up and spreading them wide enough to get between my legs, pressing her cunt into mine and beginning to rub our genitals together in a feverish heat. 

This time I actually got to watch as it was happening, but that didn’t mean I was any less helpless. My hands were still restrained, and the two other girls made sure to hold them above my head with one hand, while reaching towards my breasts with the other- the both of them grabbing at and playing with one of my tits. 

I breathed heavily through the gag, too overstimulated to mount any form of defense as my body was violated by the three girls. Right now was Autumn’s turn, and that meant she was in charge. 

She continued to rub our slits together, the fluids mixing between the pair of genitals, hers leaking into mine from above. It was nice, but it wasn’t quite- Darcey’s teeth against my clit nice- and I could tell that she felt the same. 

“Come on…” She actually swatted me on the inside of my thigh, undoubtedly as payback for spanking her once upon a time, but clearly she had put it past her since then. “Almost there…”

“Hey Autumn~” I heard Zenna whisper, quieted by the sound of her catching her breath in the middle of a rather intense kissing session. “Do you want Chloe to pull your hair?”

Her cheeks turned pink as Zenna suggested this to her, but she let out a whimper of agreement. I watched as Autumn whipped her hair around, her long french braid with the metal shackle still stuck to it nearly smacking me in the face before Darcey caught it, protecting me from a black eye or a bloody nose.

“Sure thing!!!” Darcey pulled away from her makeout session with Zenna, uncurling my fingers and entrusting me with the end of Autumn rather long head of hair. “She likes it when you pull on it~”

“N-not too hard, though…” Autumn blushed, staring down at me intently. “Firm… but not aggressive…”

I blushed, feeling my hands instinctively wrapping around it and pulling- just like Autumn asked me to- and she loved it. 

I watched her emerald eyes roll back into her head as she moaned, and after only a bit of moaning and continuing to rub our vulvas together, she closed her eyes and picked up the pace, rubbing out an orgasm against my body as I yanked on her long braid. 

Autumn had been working on that one since she’d started humping the back of my head, and she earned it- but I wasn’t quite finished just yet. The feeling of idle hands on my breasts were nice, but they weren’t quite nice enough. I’d helped Autumn to her orgasm, now I needed her help to get me to where I wanted to go. 

I tugged on her hair just slightly, and I watched her lean forward, grasping my tits with both of her hands as she continued to rub her vulva against mine, still working through her orgasm. I let go of her hair, watching the other girls carefully readjust it towards Autumn’s back to keep her from hitting someone with it. 

This was a little bit more like it, but I wasn’t quite there just yet- Autumn had been anxious for this orgasm, but I really had spread my legs early- I needed the girls help. 

“Nnngh!!” My pleading eyes drifted towards the two other girls above me, my hands finding my way into my own hair now that I’d let go of Autumn’s, my eyelashes batting desperately. “Mmmmph??” 

I watched the revelation dawn on Darcey before it did on Zenna, and in an instant I felt her curling her hand into my hair, now free from my breasts as Autumn took them over, and Zenna quickly followed suit. 

Autumn was almost entirely symmetrical save for that mole on her left eyelid, and it was adorable. Her eyes fluttered open, but that mole stayed as cute as ever. Autumn blushed for a moment, searching for a way to help me when she caught me staring at her single blemish, that mole was the one thing that made her asymmetrical- and I think that was when an idea dawned on her. 

She swatted my other thigh, this time forcing just one of my legs to the floor so that she could climb atop it, rolling me onto my side just slightly so that she could scissor me from above, and the other girls helped her. 

I bucked my hips excitedly, helping rub my vagina into her as I got closer and closer to the edge. My body shook with pleasure at the combination of everything they were doing, pulling my hair, squeezing my tits, holding my arms down- but it was Autumn scissoring me with her cunt that pushed me over the edge- making me moan as I hit my second climax.

I continued to move my hips, rubbing into her as I rode out my orgasm on her leg so as not to overstimulate her, but after that one I really did need to rest- so when they set me down on my back on the floor I was more than willing to not make a fuss. 

 

Darcey and Autumn were no less tired than I was at this point, but Zenna clearly anticipated this and was more than fine with going in alone, that was why she went last after all. The other two collapsed into a bit of a tired heap on the floor next to their bed, while Zenna went in for the kill.

The cowardly lion had a look in her eyes for once that said- run - so I did. But no amount of scurrying with my hands tied together was going to be enough to get away from a predator. 

“You get your dripping little cunt back on that bedsheet before you make a mess.” Zenna snarled into my pointed ear- a feature we all shared- as she chased me into a corner. “This lioness isn’t done with you yet.”

I mumbled through the gag as I stared up into her hungry eyes, my back pressed against the wall as I helplessly awaited whatever cruel but fulfilling fate the other woman had planned for me, releasing my mouth from the ropes silencing me. 

“Hey girls, could one of you bring me that bedsheet?” Zenna smirked as she stood up, grasping my bound hands and holding them over my head. “I think we’re going to need it over here.”

The looks on all three of their faces kept me too flustered to say anything as I watched Autumn eagerly dragging the bedsheets towards Zenna and I, while Darcey picked me up and helped her companion slide the sheet to the wall before setting me back down on top of it. 

“You two can just hold her for me-” Zenna smiled, standing up with her cunt dangling in front of my face. “Just like we rehearsed~”

My eyes went wide as I felt Darcey hold me from behind, her arms wrapped around my waist and hands squeezing my sore inner thighs, and Autumn gripped the back of my head by my hair, forcing my mouth to Zenna’s cunt as she held my bound wrists over my head. 

“Pleasure me first, and then you’ll get yours.” 

Zenna knew exactly what she was doing, and I was loving it. I dove straight into her deliciously wet vagina with my mouth, starting my own sloppy makeout session now that my lips were free to do whatever they want- and they wanted pussy- that’s why I chased cats like her, it’s just what a bitch does~

And like a bitch I made sure to kiss her with my tongue, my arms going limp in the grasp of one of her hands, earning the sensation of her other palm rubbing the top of my head, scratching me behind the ears. 

My face went red and my eyelids slowly drifted shut as I felt her come into my mouth, savoring the taste of her pleasure against my tongue as my own cunt dripped onto the bedsheets below, just like she said I would.

Autumn and Darcey promptly let go of me, satisfied in having done their job as Zenna finished, crouching on the floor right in front of the aching sex between my legs. “I’ve got her~”

Zenna took over from there, pressing my back to the wall and spreading my thighs for me, leaving us completely alone in the corner together. 

“I h-helped you all cum…” I blushed profusely as I heard my own words come out of my lips, holding my legs apart for her in desperation. “Please…”

“Please?” Zenna giggled, taking her hand off of my wrists, challenging me to try and move them- which I didn’t. “Please, what?”

“Please fuck me-” I stared into her eyes, my whole body shaking with anticipation as I forced myself into submission. “Mommy~”

I watched the excitement in her eyes spike, her lips widening into a happy smile and within moments I felt her fingers pressed into my cunt. “Well well… look who needs her mommy now~”

My cheeks turned red as I rested my head into the wall behind me, enjoying the ride. Zenna pressed her lips to one of my nipples, and then the other, moving back and forth between them and suckling my sensitive areolas as the fingers of one hand worked their magic inside of my vagina and the other continued to pet me on the head. I moaned quietly at first, and then louder and louder as she picked up speed on all fronts, my head drifting away from the wall and into the palm of her hand. 

I lifted my hips and I went down on Zenna’s hand with my crotch, much to her surprise, and I began bouncing up and down on her fingers.

And Zenna was good at what she did, adjusting what she did according to the bottom’s wants and needs, letting me fuck myself on her hand to my heart’s content as she continued with my breasts. 

I moaned loudly as I came, feeling the sounds of my own pleasure echoing inside of my ears as I hit what I assumed incorrectly would be my final climax of the night. 

 

I wanted to close my eyes forever, but I couldn’t keep them shut. I had to see the reactions on Darcey and Autumn’s faces- and they did not disappoint. 

The two of them were laughing, not with me, but at me- and I never knew how much I missed that until just now. Sure, it felt good to be on top sometimes, but this was like heaven. I envied the religious, really- I wish I had a deity to follow and worship in order to feel like everything I was doing in life was worth something. I wanted someone to make sure that all of the pain and humiliation I was suffering through meant anything in the grand scheme of things- but maybe I just hadn’t found the right goddess yet. 

Or maybe I had and I was just being too much of a brat to admit it to myself- or to her. 

But that changed now. Darcey and Autumn were service submissives, like I was, but I hadn’t seen Zenna in action enough until now to know that she was a service top. 

That must have been why Claudia liked her so much, that was why she was scared of her pitiful little lion- she needed that fire inside of her that couldn’t be extinguished- Claudia couldn’t live without her.

And I couldn’t live without Candace. 

 

“One!!!”

“Two…”

“Three~”

I heard my other slaves counting up one by one, grinning proudly as they witnessed the fruits of their plot to get me to see what was missing- like I had helped show each of them one by one- before all taunting me in unison. 

“…To zero~!!!”

I stared each of them in the eyes one at a time- Darcey, Autumn, Zenna- pausing for a few moments to relish in the silence… before breaking out into a fit of giggling. I curled up just slightly, bending forward as I quietly laughed until I cried, feeling and appreciating the tears rolling down my cheeks.

“Thank you, girls…” I smiled warmly, slowly sitting up and wiping the wetness from my cheeks with my still handcuffed paws. “But just for the record- Stolen Cosmos matches go to four~”

“We know, Chloe.” Zenna smiled, taking both of my bound hands in hers and holding them in her lap as she knelt. “That’s why we saved the last point for someone else~”

“We know what you’re feeling, Chloe…” Autumn smiled, settling in next to me and gently beginning to straighten my hair out. “We can see what’s going on in your head…”

“Just go talk to her!!!” Darcey sat at my other side, picking up one end of the bed sheet and using it to wipe the fluids from my body. “You never know what’s going to happen unless you’re honest with yourself- and with her~!!!”

I blushed, holding my body steady as the three of them all worked their magic on me, smiling nervously. “You mean Claudia?”

“No, you idiot!!!”

“Not her, moron…”

“Th-then who?”

“Candace~” All three of them giggled at me- especially Zenna, shaking her head in disbelief. “You’re still in love with Candace~”

I blushed profusely, shaking my head in dissent. “I’m not still in love with Candace-”

“Yes~”

“You…”

“Are!!!”

The three of them would absolutely not let down, especially with finishing each other’s sentences- but eventually Zenna emerged as the single voice of reason for all three of them. 

“Come on, Chloe. This whole time you’ve been a brat, vying for her attention- and you know it.” She squeezed my fingers, locking them with hers as she gazed into my eyes. “We’re trying to help you see that… we don’t want what happened to Bella to happen to you too~”

I blushed, sniffling back happy tears as I looked up into Zenna’s eyes. “What happened to Bella?”

“She sabotaged herself.” She frowned, lowering her head in shame at the thought of her missing friend. “She never adjusted to Claudia like we’ve adjusted to Claudia, she never got over her first owner… so she sabotaged herself, just like you have been.”

“I haven’t been sabotaging myself…” I blushed, my gaze lowering to the ground as I thought it over. “Have I?”

“Yes you have, Chloe.” Zenna slowly followed my eyes down, trying to get me to chin up just a bit. “Think about it~”

“Sneaking around and breaking into places trying to escape???”

“Doing things with Claudia to make Josie angry and jealous…”

“Being a brat and picking fights with Candace for her attention~” 

“I… I haven’t been myself lately… I didn’t mean to…” I frowned, raising my head just slightly as I accepted my actions for what they were. “I’m sorry…”

“Don’t tell us that-” Zenna smiled, satisfied enough to call her and her girls’ job done. “Tell her that~”

 

I let a small smile make its way onto my face as I nodded with agreement, beginning to help the three of them clean up after our little orgy, appreciative of what they’d just done for me. 

I expected after a morning like this that the four of us would eventually have to scramble to get ready to work for the day, but after a while it became pretty clear that there wasn’t much work for us to do today- this weekend was about rehearsing rules and expectations for the party.

So that’s what we did for quite a while, the three of them helped teach me what would be expected of me during the party, which I appreciated just as much as the sex- until eventually we finally heard a someone unlocking the door to come see us. 

“Did you girls have fun?” Josephine had the keys to my restraints spinning around on her index finger as she winked at me. “Because those handcuffs sure look like a good time~”

“Mistress…” 

“Mistress!!!”

The lovestruck pair of Darcey and Autumn both flocked to her side as she came to unlock my handcuffs, letting me have the dignity of holding my arms towards her to be released. 

“Hey, you two-” Josie smiled, standing up and letting me relax my hands rubbing my wrists. “I’m sorry, but I can’t play tonight, I need some time alone with her~”

I’d gotten so used to being the center of attention since I’d gotten here that I was genuinely a little bit shocked to look up and see that Josephine wasn’t looking to me, but to Zenna.

“Me?” She blushed, glancing over towards Darcey and Autumn for guidance as the two of them both backed off ever so slightly. “You want time alone with me?”

“I don’t want time alone with you.” Josephine slowly stepped towards her, and the three of us just watched as Zenna bared her neck to her as Josie reached down, letting herself be grabbed by the collar and lifted to her feet. “I need time alone with you.”

Zenna had just about as much idea what was happening as we had, caught totally off guard as Josie pulled her close, dragging her in for a kiss.

We probably blushed just as hard as Zenna did just then, before Josie pulled away and the girl who had just been a wild untamed lioness melted into Josephine’s chest, knowing very well that she was not her proper owner. 

Josie whispered something into Zenna’s ear that made her whole world light up, and she whispered something back, which made Josie smile, and then the two of them just smiled at each other. They looked so happy for a moment, and I just couldn’t take it anymore-

“Miss Josephine.” I stood up from bed and got onto the floor, kneeling before both of them. “Our master is alone with her sister, if you’re taking Zenna with you, I’d like the chance to see Claudia.”

“That’s not up to me, Chloe. That’s up to my wife.” Josephine frowned sternly, shaking her head while holding Zenna close. “I don’t own either of you, I’m already taking a chance~”

“Mistress-” Zenna used a title she knew she wasn’t supposed to use on a woman she knew wasn’t her mistress, leaning in and whispering into Josie’s ear once more. “Please?”

“Okay okay, but if she doesn’t, it’s straight back to your room, got it?” I wasn’t sure what Zenna said to her, but judging on how Josie turned to me, apparently it had worked. “Go. The dumbwaiter is over there~”

I grinned eagerly, turning around and scurrying to the slave elevator without another word, bowing for Josie as she activated the lift, sending me upstairs. “Thank you, Mistress.” 

Josie just smiled, rolling her eyes at that. “Don’t thank me, thank Zenna~”

“Yes, Mistress.” I nodded, blushing as I looked towards Zenna, appreciating everything she’d done for me today. “Thank you, Zenna.”

She curtsied, and the elevator door promptly shut, safely delivering me upstairs. I took a deep breath in and then out, readying myself for whatever awaited me in my master’s bedroom- which was a sight to behold by the time I’d gotten there. 

 

“Sophia?!” Candace was entirely naked by the time I’d stepped out of the dumbwaiter, scrambling to cover her body with whatever blankets she could find on Claudia’s bed with her. “Ever heard of knocking?!”

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry-” I blushed, covering my eyes with my hands for just a moment before prying them away to look at my new master in bed with my former master. “Is this what you two do together on the weekends?!”

“No, actually.” Candace snapped at me, snarling in self-defense before her sister could get a word in at all. “Believe it or not, I don’t like sleeping with my sister.” 

“We just finished watching a movie, actually. Which is honestly pretty regular for us.” Claudia smiled warmly, welcoming me inside as she saw me. “If you’d like to join us in bed~”

“I mean why not-” Candace was somewhere between enraged and flustered, throwing her hands up in defeat. “It’s not like we haven’t all seen each other naked before…”

“Exactly~” Claudia was more than happy with this, despite my sudden arrival. “She’s seen you naked, but has she seen the Wizard of Oz?”

“She hasn’t watched it with me if that’s what you’re asking-” Candace turned her back to me, leaning closely into her sister’s side. “Ask her?”

“I have seen it, just for the record.” I smiled nervously as I headed inside, glancing over at the screen while I climbed into bed with them. “No need to start it all over if you’ve already finished~”

“Yeah, that’ll take an ungodly amount of rewinding anyways.” Candace looked towards me and rolled her eyes, smirking as she pointed at her sister. “Can you believe she still uses VHS tapes?”

My eyes went wide as she said that, drifting towards my master’s hand and the cane she held close as she wrapped her arm around me. “You know… for some reason, I’m not surprised…”

Claudia glared at me with a knowing look in her eyes, warning me before I did something stupid. “I can’t help it, Preyboy’s remote function was meant for VCRs, not blu-ray players~”

“That’s an oddly specific remote to have you know.”

“What can I say, she was built in the eighties~”

The two of them went on bickering for a moment before I spoke up and interrupted them, eager to get my mind off of what they were saying. “May I please be of service… t-to either of you?”

They were both quite caught off guard by my sudden eagerness to offer my body to them, but they were both extremely pleased. I saw that smirk on Candace’s face the moment I said it, as well as the look in her sister’s eyes warning her not to get any ideas. 

“Actually, Chloe. I think that is a wonderful idea.” Claudia smiled, turning to me and looking me over, giving me a moment to appreciate the furious blush growing on Candace’s face. “After our passionate reunion the other week, my sister here has been… nervous to engage in sexual activity with me. I’m wondering if you might help her get back into the spirit- maybe show her what being a slave is all about, what do you think?”

Candace tensed up, averting her humiliated eyes from me as I looked her naked body up and down, noticing the dismay with which she held herself. It was clear that she very much didn’t want to learn what being a slave was all about at all, but she wasn’t about to let that stop her. “I guess if she wants it… sure… is that what you want, Candace?”

“No.” Candace denied it immediately, having no doubt that this wasn’t something she really wanted to engage with at the moment. “Not really…”

“I know she doesn’t really want to, but Candace needs to learn that what she wants doesn’t matter in the presence of her master if she really wants this like she says she does.” Claudia frowned, gently clicking a button on her cane, causing those red eyes to glow as she set it down against the table beside her. “Isn’t that right, princess?”

“That’s the lesson Daddy wants me to learn, so yes…” Candace frowned as she said it, trying her best not to look towards the cane that she knew was now recording her. “I guess I’ve gotta learn to put my sister’s needs ahead of my own.”

I kept my eyes off of her in this moment of vulnerability for her, my heart rate skyrocketing at the sight of the cane recording us, hoping that somehow I was still safe in her arms as I knelt in front of Candace on the bed, taking her by both hands. 

“Okay…” I nervously look up into her eyes, squeezing her hands for support. “Slaves usually have collars to keep us from disobeying our masters, but you already know that… so if you ever need to stop me, please do. You have that power…”

“For now.” Candace smiled nervously, looking over at her sister, nodding for the two of us to continue. “I’ll keep that in mind, thank you.”

“Okay. Just let me know when to stop… I’m better at being told than being asked-” I looked over to Claudia for support, who was just delighted to be here to watch this unfold. “Otherwise, just sit there and let Claudia and I do whatever we want… right?”

“I think the two things that are important right now is that you do as you’re told… and you don’t fight back~” Claudia moved in towards Candace, gently lifting her chin and giving her a small peck on the cheek to help cheer her up. “I’m going to do everything in my power to take good care of you, I promise…” 

I could tell from the look in Claudia’s eyes that this was emotional for her, and all I could do was hope that she meant what she said. 

Okay, I can do this… I took a deep breath before going in, gently prying Candace’s thighs apart with my hands. Topping can’t be too hard. I just have to be like Zenna, right? 

 

No amount of bracing myself could get me ready for what was about to come, and I nearly started drooling the moment I saw it. I had almost forgotten what she had tucked between her legs, but I couldn’t forget the sight of it- Candace’s cock~

Amazingly, she was somehow almost completely flaccid down there, but I knew exactly how to fix that. 

I parted my lips and opened up my stupid little mouth, quickly feeling the excitement begin to pump through her as I went down on her, taking the length of her member into my mouth. That solved the problem in an instant. 

Claudia, meanwhile, had to get herself ready. She wore that harness around her waist almost around the clock, but she had to affix the head of her strapon to her every time she wanted to use it, and that left Candace and I with a few moments alone.

 

The last time I’d been in a position like this had been nearly a month ago now, back when Josephine tried her hand at properly dominating me. 

Her attempts had been admirable, but they had fallen just a little bit short. I had to force myself to sit still and look pretty for her. There would be no fighting for my submission from Josephine, there was no being a brat. I could take my head off of Josephine’s cock in an instant if I had wanted to, and she wouldn’t have stopped me. But the moment I tried it with Candace, she stopped me.

I idly sucked Candace’s cock for just a few moments to warm myself up, before beginning to slide off of her, but as I did so I felt her otherwise gentle hand grasp the back of my head. Without even a word or a sound from her lips, Candace curled her fingers into my hair and held me there, unmoving. She didn’t shove me back onto her either, her touch was but a soft barrier until the moment I tried moving my head up, that touch turned just forceful enough to keep me in place- and I knew that it was only a fraction of the strength she had.

My eyes went wide as I glanced up at her, my face stuffed full of her cock, and it was only then that Candace stopped averting my gaze. Finally, a fight, a real proper fight. I slid straight back down to the base of her member, sliding the head of her cock up my throat and sending a shiver up her spine, but it still wasn’t enough to loosen her grip. 

In fact, Candace was holding my head even harder at this point, almost like she was doing it unintentionally. This was just reflexes for her- and I could have so much fun using that to my advantage~ 

“Candace.” I heard my master’s voice from above, quickly causing her sister’s grip to loosen. “What did we just tell you about not fighting back?”

I slid myself off of her and sat up straight, eager to see the look on her face as she was scolded by her sister, and her cheeks were positively glowing. 

“To just sit there and let you do what you want…” She grinded her teeth together in annoyance, angrily avoiding my eyes once again. “Do as I’m told and not fight back.”

I paused for a moment, a devilish smirk making its way onto my face as I had the most sinister of ideas. This was going to get her panties in a twist for sure. “You’re not doing much to prove you’re the better slave, you know… and you said my job was easy~”

Her mouth fell agape as she stared me down, in almost total shock at my taunts. Zenna was right, I was a brat, and I revelled in it. By now I was practically challenging her to compete with me, to prove that she was better than me, and Candace was never one to back down from a challenge. 

“Alright then-” Candace snarled, curling her hands into fists and setting them on the bed in front of her in an almost aggressive position as she turned to her sister. “If you want me to do something, tell me what to do.”

In the face of her little sister’s sudden willingness to submit to her, Claudia hesitated. She was a variable in this that I hadn’t really accounted for, and it was interesting to watch the progression of emotions on her face as she struggled to figure out what to do- eventually landing on a smirk. “Chloe dearest, make Candace here eat you out between the legs for me~”

I grinned with smug satisfaction as I leaned back, spreading my legs and pointing myself at Candace while keeping my eyes pointed towards Claudia. I squinted, trying to hide the fact that my smug grin wasn’t in response to forcing Candace between my legs, but the way Claudia had commanded it to happen. So that’s how it is… 

I tucked that little tidbit away for the time being, knowing it was going to be useful later. Candace was so eager to compete with me that she was between my legs within seconds, staring up at me with a look of sheer determination as I felt her lips reach my labia. 

“That’s it, good girl~” Claudia almost beamed proudly as her newest conquest began to go down on me, slowly maneuvering her way behind her little sister. “Keep her still for me, Chloe~”

I licked my lips eagerly as I curled my fingers into Candace’s hair this time, feeling her quickly go limp between my legs, almost unsure what to do. She could feel her sister’s strapon positioned behind her, ready to slide up her anus, and it took everything in her power to keep herself still. Candace was keeping herself still, listening to her sister’s commands, not me- but Claudia wasn’t directing them towards Candace. 

Claudia was too afraid to actually make a move on her own, she was scared of Candace. 

She couldn’t do this without her sister forcing herself into submission, because my master didn’t have the power to dominate Candace. I let out a small gasp as I gazed down between my legs, seeing the defeated look in her eyes as she got back to lapping at my cunt, less than eagerly anticipating what was about to happen. 

Claudia slid her strapon inside of Candace’s asshole, causing her to whimper and shake for a moment, her eyes flashing with a bitter hatred and anger as she was penetrated. But then she looked up at me, and her eyes went soft. 

She’s only doing this because of me… My heart squeezed inside of my chest, realizing the extent to which I really had ruined her life. She’s only doing this because I want this… 

I grunted, tightening my grip and bucking my hips, slamming my genitals into her face. It was a move that Candace very much did not appreciate, but forced herself to put up with. “Harder!!”

Candace was completely petrified. Her entire body locked up, all movement stopped, and I could see the gears in her head as she was forced to stop and think. Her eyes darted back and forth, unsure of what to do with all of the stimuli around her- but before she could do anything, Claudia was picking up speed behind her. 

“St-stop.” Candace gripped me by both thighs, pushing her face from my cunt and desperately looking up at me, almost pleading for me to get her sister to stop. Claudia wasn’t getting any physical pleasure from fucking Candace’s anus with her strapon, it was all a show. 

This was just a way for Claudia to prove her status, and Candace knew it. But she didn’t know Claudia quite like I did- at least not in bed. 

“Get back down.” I grabbed her head and forced her back to my cunt with enough force to knock her off her balance, knowing that it was what Claudia wanted- because my master couldn’t top Candace without me. “Come on, you can do better than this…”

Candace was the only one here willing to fight me, and I wanted her to fight. I dragged her face and shoved myself into it as hard as I could, watching the fight make its way back into her eyes as she snarled. 

Come on, Candace. You can do this… 

I bit my lip, nervously looking towards my master for approval. Claudia had her hands on Candace’s hips as she fucked her, maintaining her sister’s balance as the length of her strapon slid in and out of her asshole. 

I finally took my hand off of the back of Candace’s head, my fingers trembling as they drifted towards her ear, lightly pinching one of her earlobes, gently rubbing it between my fingertips.

At first Candace tried shaking free of it, disregarding it as just more nonsense, and then she remembered what that it meant. Candace knew exactly what that signal meant, she was the one who came up with it.

It’s okay. 

My cheeks turned just a little bit red as she locked as with my, nervously giving her a small nod, my whole body quivering. 

Candace took a deep breath before diving back in, and I felt her grasp my hand with hers, squeezing it just slightly as she continued pleasuring me with her mouth, moaning into my quim as her sister brought her closer and closer to an orgasm. 

I could see the tension in her body as she reached the edge, knowing just how much effort it was taking her to hold back and focus on me- trying to get me to finish first. 

I whined through gritted teeth as I kept going, grinding my hips against her face. There was no way I was just going to give in and finish first- not today. If she was going to do this with me, she needed to know what it meant to be submissive, and I could keep going all night. But Candace couldn’t. 

She moaned loudly, her hips buckling as she came. She was not even a little bit happy about being humiliated like this, but she knew it had won her our little game of submission- at the cost of her own dignity. 

And that broke her.

 

Candace scurried out of her sister’s grasp the moment she could, clawing her way towards the edge of the bed, trying to get away from the both of us. A million thoughts raced through her head, and the physical pleasure of being screwed by her older sister was the last thing on her mind. 

I knew better than anyone else in the world that Candace hated being humiliated. I should have expected her to have a reaction like this, because it was a lot like my reaction when she first tried to make me into her plaything, but I went ahead and I helped humiliate her anyways. 

I shouldn’t have cared. Candace was the woman who ruined my life, there was no reason to care about how she felt, but I couldn’t help myself. Candace was important to me. 

I felt a pair of firm hands on my shoulders from behind, just barely holding me back from crawling to Candace’s side. It was a stark but much needed reminder that I no longer belonged to her, but to her sister. 

“This is supposed to be fun for all three of us, and I’d like you both to keep going.” Claudia spoke past me, her words grazing me as they drifted towards her little sister. “Let me borrow your ears for a few moments, I have something that helped the other girls, and I think it’ll help you both too.” 

Claudia had historically been a pretty dangerous person, but she had her moments, so I had time to listen. Candace on the other hand had that skeptical glare of hers as she met her sister’s eyes, eventually relenting. The both of us locked sights on each other for just a moment before nodding in agreement, at first for each other, and then for Claudia. 

“We all have our own ambitions and prejudices that we carry with us, and those are the weights that stick in our minds at even our most vulnerable of moments, keeping us from truly opening up to each other. The only way to properly enjoy the moment is to take those bags and put them away, you can pick them back up later, for now you just need to clear your mind.”

I slowly felt my shoulders relax into her grasp, releasing just a bit of tension as she spoke. Claudia was more often than not just a little bit terrified of her slaves, but when she got into bed she was able to set her cane aside and just enjoy herself without feeling like she was in danger. 

“Think of this family less like a colony of people and more like a colony of bees. This house is like a beehive, people are complicated, but bees are simple. It’s no secret that I run a plantation, and that makes me the queen bee.” Claudia smiled proudly as she explained it, no longer paying so close attention to whether the two of us were listening, because at the very least it was helping her. 

“The slaves in my plantation are the worker bees, they make this all possible. They’re out there collecting pollen for us, it is through their efforts that we have a hive to live in and honey to feed on. But worker bees have stingers, and that makes them dangerous. Sometimes a worker bee will sting someone they’re not meant to, and for that they have to be put out of their misery- because once a bee stings, she’s already doomed.”

Claudia paused for a few moments to catch her breath, her blood was clearly pumping quickly through her veins, because I could hear her nervous heartbeat from right in front of her. Candace was also beginning to understand what her sister was getting at, and it was slowly but surely helping her relax as well. 

“The queen bee doesn’t have sex with worker bees, so because you two are both here with me, you must not be worker bees- and that makes you drones. Drone bees don’t have stingers, you see, and that means the queen can feel safe with them- and even though the drones don’t have stingers to protect themselves with, they can feel safe with their queen there to protect them.”

There were other nuances about bees that Claudia was ignoring, but the point still stood. Usually I couldn’t be sure about her motives, but it was pretty obvious that she was just trying to help. 

“The point I’m trying to make is that drones don’t fight. They may compete for the chance to mate with their queen, but like most other bees, they’re on the same team. The queen and her drones should never fight, they should always work together.”

I got down on all fours as I felt Claudia gently nudging me forward, crawling towards Candace. She in turn sat up straight, preparing for my approach by spreading her legs, letting me get closer and closer. Suddenly I found myself stuck between Candace up front and Claudia behind me, realizing that I was about to be spit-roasted. 

“I know you and I have our differences, Candace. But my entire life is falling apart around me, and just for a bit I want to be able to set my bags down and just enjoy myself. So if it’s not too much to ask… will you please work with me here…” Claudia’s hands drifted towards my waist, forcing a nervous gasp from my lips as she grasped my hips. “I promise I’ll make it worth your time~”

I watched a genuine smile take its place on Candace’s mouth as she admired her sister, her own hand drifting down and grasping me by my hair without so much as a passing glance. “You know… I like you a lot better when you’re open and honest with me.”

“And I like you better when you’re less like your father, and more like your mother.” I could feel Claudia blush behind me from the way she radiated warmth, watching these two share a strangely heated but tender moment together. “I loved your mother.”

“Careful when you say things like that, it almost makes you sound like father.” Candace could sense the nervous tension in my body even as she kept her eyes on Claudia behind me, gently pinching my earlobe between her fingers. “But I guess if I’m going to be like my mother, you’re welcome to be like father…” 

“Trust me-” I felt the head of Claudia’s strapon pressed to my vulva, ready to go in for the kill. “I’m better than that~”

There was a pit in my stomach slowly growing tighter and tighter with the tension between us, scared to the core about what was going to happen to Candace if she chose to go down her mother’s path just to be with me. Because if Claudia ended up killing her little sister, I knew it was going to be my fault. But if I said anything to her about it I was going to be the one who ended up dead, which meant all I could do was keep my mouth shut. 

Or rather, open my quivering lips for Candace to slide herself inside of me- I would prefer that anyday. 

Claudia’s metal strapon slid itself inside of my aching cunt as Candace’s comparatively soft penis slowly buried itself in my throat, spitroasting me between two of the most powerful mafia women alive. 

I nervously relaxed my body, heeding Claudia’s words and forgetting about how dangerous my position was. It was time to work together and just enjoy myself with them, and it was hard to focus on fighting either of them when they were both inside my vulnerable little body. 

I was the only girl here who was actually a slave, unlike the girls downstairs, but if they could work together to such great affect, so could the three of us. I was the one out of place between the two sisters, but strangely, it almost felt like I really did belong. Claudia’s talk of turning her girls to drones must have actually worked wonders that I didn’t understand- and my feelings for her were apparently deeper than I could have thought they’d ever be. 

I was absolutely scared, but I could enjoy myself here if I really did let myself, I just needed to stop fighting the pleasure. Claudia and Candace began to thrust themselves inside of me at both ends, finding a rhythmic pattern within a few moments, forcing me to adjust my own movements accordingly. 

So I let myself relax and enjoy the ride, letting my betters take over for me. Claudia and Candace were working together for once, and I wanted to work with them.

Claudia’s strapon was firm. It was a hard ribbed metal rod shaped like a decorative serpent head, and I could feel the bumps rubbing against the walls of my vagina as she thrusted in and out. 

Candace’s cock was just as intimidating as it always had been. She was long and hungry, forcing herself down my throat with every buck of her hips. I simply let my mouth get taken over by her as she fucked my face, my nervous eyes open wide and staring up at her for guidance. 

Her hands once again grazed my ears, grabbing me by both sides of my head and forcing my drooling lips to the base of her cock. I choked and gagged as I felt the head of her member pressed against the back of my throat, burying herself inside of me.

After the last few weeks I’d had, I deserved a good face-fucking in more ways than one, and it was nice to be between Candace’s legs again. It was also nice just to feel Claudia inside of me, slamming her hips into me from behind. 

Candace had done the work of warming me up down there, but Claudia was really finishing the job. I didn’t think I was even capable of having another orgasm tonight, but I was quickly being proven wrong.

You’re a good girl and you know it, Sophia. You’ve always wanted this, don’t ruin it for yourself. 

I bounced back and forth between the two women fucking me from either end, giving myself a pep talk to keep me sane as I pushed through the pain and humiliation of being molested. 

You can do this. I can do this. I’m a good girl… and I know it. 

Bad girls didn’t go very far in this new world I lived in, so if it meant surviving to see another day, I was more than willing to behave. Sophia the bad girl had ruined a lot of things already, and I wasn’t about to let her ruin this. Being good meant doing as I’m told, and that meant letting go and enjoying myself. I didn’t just want to live, I wanted to be happy. I wanted to be a good girl.

I’m Sophia Cavalier, and I’m a good girl.

I gently bobbed on Candace’s cock, a bright red blush overtaking my face as I pushed my dignity aside and choked on the head of her member, making sure she knew just how much I wanted this. 

She smirked, savoring the delicious look on my face as she came in my mouth, filling my throat with warm fresh semen. My eyes practically rolled back into my head as I felt it running down my lips, feeling Candace slide her cock out of my mouth and press her wet crotch against my face, still holding me in place. 

I was huffing for air the moment I locked eyes on her, exhaustion showing on my face as I pressed myself into her still thick cock, getting her wet semen on my face in the process of nuzzling her. 

Claudia tightened her grip and picked up speed the moment Candace had finished, and just as quickly I was moaning through my lips, whimpering out loud for more. Even covered in Candace’s semen, my face was still nowhere near as wet as the desperate cunt that spilled onto my master’s strapon with every fuck and thrust, slamming sounds of pleasure out of me for her own enjoyment. 

I was speechless and in heat, and I was desperate. I licked my lips and inhaled sharply, unable to get out a word as I stared into Candace’s eyes, pleading with her. The look on my face must have been screaming for help as I let out another loud moan, because within an instant Candace knew exactly what I was after. 

Candace knew me. She could see the gears in my head, we didn’t need words to communicate. My archrival of years now could read me like an open diary, all it took was a moment for us to lock eyes before she knew exactly what I needed. 

My mouth instinctively clenched itself shut for protection, trying not to choke any further, but that wasn’t what Candace wanted- because that wasn’t what I wanted. I felt her thumb pressed against my lips, parting them and opening my mouth for me, before sliding her thick wet cock back inside of my mouth. 

Both of my eyes fluttered shut as I moaned, my hips bouncing against Claudia’s strapon behind me. Candace had just finished her orgasm and hit her refractory period, her cock was getting sensitive and soft by the second, but that didn’t stop her from forcing herself back into my mouth for my own good. 

I gently suckled on Candace’s penis, my face cherry red and covered in warm wet semen. I could hear my own excited whimpers through my stuffed lips as I moaned against her cock, happy to have her inside of me as I came. 

Candace could read my mind better than anyone, and she knew exactly what I wanted to hear right now. “Good girl~”

Her words rang in my ears as I bounced on Claudia’s cock, my ass slamming into her hips with every movement as we both bucked our hips as hard as we could, sending me shaking over the edge as I squirted onto her strapon. 

I moaned happily for them both, reveling in the pleasure washing over me. Candace was the first one to pull out, and by then I was more than willing to collapse face first onto the mattress below me, letting Claudia continue to slam her own hips into me for a few more minutes just to help me through my climax- despite not getting anything out of it herself. 

Candace’s head hit the pillow mere seconds after I was done, and even as her sister continued to admire her, she was pretty much out like a light. Honestly, given her biology, that wasn’t really surprising. Once she was done, I almost expected Claudia to go in for more, and I was perfectly willing to continue submitting to her- but no, she was more than satisfied with just pleasuring the two of us. 

I turned to her and smiled happily, nuzzling into Claudia’s lap to help lick my own fluids off the head of her strapon- before quickly being stopped on the basis of it having been inside of Candace’s asshole before it hit my labia. 

“No, honey. Don’t worry about it. It’s metal, it just needs to be boiled~” Claudia grinned, petting my hair with her hand as she unscrewed the head of her strapon from her harness, leaving the chastity belt on like she almost always did. “You’ve been a good girl tonight. I’m proud of you.”

“Thank you.” I grinned proudly, sitting up next to her and staring down at that chastity belt around her hips. “Are you sure you don’t want me to help you orgasm, Ma’am?”

“Maybe another time~” Claudia giggled, rolling her eyes as she ran her fingers over my lips. “Your mouth seems a bit too tired for that, I’m afraid.”

“Master…” I let out a loud sigh, practically pressing myself into her lap as I leaned against her. “Why do you always wear a strapon if you never get any pleasure from it?”

“Because who else is going to wear the strapon, dear?” Claudia glanced towards the harness around her waist, admiring its beautiful craftsmanship. “I’m in charge, I do the pegging~”

“You have a point…” I was blushing profusely as I stared down at it, almost wishing I could get at that cunt of hers all over again. “If you don’t want Zenna or I to wear the strapon, maybe you could get a double ended one, that way you’ll get to pleasure yourself and still be on top- right?”

“Chloe… I do get pleasure from helping girls like you orgasm…” Claudia frowned, now wistfully staring at the metal snake belt that she kept wrapped around her, almost guarding her between the legs. “Besides- it’s more complicated than that… I wear a chastity belt for a reason.”

I paused for a good few moments to appreciate the silence- pierced through by the sounds of Candace’s very shuffling behind me- before really thinking about what she was saying. “If I may, Master- why do you wear a chastity belt?”

Claudia’s almost dejected frown softened into a look of longing as she smiled ever so slightly. Those grayish blue eyes had their own beauty to them that I couldn’t help but admire, especially once they locked onto something that made them light up with happiness, like they were now. 

“Because I’m a good girl.” Her eyes slowly drifted from her own body towards that of her reflection in the mirror, but rather than casting her gaze onto the guise of herself pointed back at her in the chrome, she seemed to be looking past her own semblance and staring at the vanity itself. “At least I want to be…”

She wasn’t the only one blushing as she said that, because that’s what I’d been saying about myself all night. But for me, being a good girl was about submitting myself to my master’s power, hers was something different… or was it?

“I’m born and raised catholic, I graduated from a convent school, I attend church, I’ve always practiced-” She curled both hands in on themselves, holding them to her exposed chest. “And yet still I’m failing…”

I frowned awkwardly, staring back towards the sleeping Candace beside me. I knew Candace was also a practicing catholic, but she wasn’t quite the level of devout that her sister was.

“I’ve committed just about every sin when it comes to sex. Lust, masturbation, pornography, rape, incest, homosexuality…” Claudia’s eyes continued to lose themselves in the sight of her wife’s vanity, almost gazing through the wall and across her home entirely, knowing right where Josephine was without consciously thinking about it. “We even threw away our virginities before marriage. With every new act I lose a piece of me… and I’m always scared about what I’m going to lose next.”

She stood up from bed, letting her blankets fall to the wayside as she approached the mirror and sat down, finally noticing her desperate silhouette in the reflection, calling out to her for help. 

“When we got married, we made a vow. I’m a married woman. I wear this belt because I’m supposed to belong to him… to her… no matter what. I even thought that she really was the only one to ever touch me like that, penetrating me, but I couldn’t even have that. Because apparently my father got to me first…”

My heart was pounding inside of my chest, positively terrified at the intensity in her voice as she spoke. “Claudia…”

“Everyday I get closer to being really truly unfaithful… closer to letting someone in that I’m not supposed to… closer to adultery…” She stood from the vanity, swiveling in place to see her cane, still recording every word she said. “I may be turning into my father, but I’d still rather cheat on the love of my life than rape her.”

Thump . The sound was quiet enough not to disturb her sister, but resonant enough within me to make me vulnerable to her as she clasped the jaws of her cane to the head of my collar, forcing me onto my back in bed as she locked eyes with mine. 

“I’ve been miserable for a very long time, and it’s all been for the sake of making her happy. But for once in my life, I want to be happy.” She brought her face close to mine, preventing me from so much as looking away as she pinned me down. “You’re right, I’m scared. I never wanted slaves. I only bought you to make my wife jealous, so if that’s what ends up tearing Josie and I apart, then I’ll have no choice but to make you my new wife~”

My eyes went wide, glistening brightly at the sound of that, watching her delicate lips move without so much as a squeak from my own. The thought of it was terrifying, but oddly exciting. I would have never admitted it, but I’d always wanted to be someone’s wife. 

“Even if this doesn’t go well, you still belong to me. You’re a good girl. You’re not going to say a word of this to anyone, let alone Candace. Because if I have to put you down…” Her eyes drifted across the bed, finally landing on her sleeping little sister beside us both. “I’ll have no choice but to take the woman you love as consolation.”

I paused, her words resonating in my ears as she finished, releasing me from the grasp of her cane. I glanced towards Candace beside me, caught on that last thing she said… the part about the woman I loved- as I chased after her, pressing my lips into Claudia’s- stealing a kiss for myself. 

I wasn’t scared of her, of course I wasn’t scared of her- Claudia finally made sense to me- because now I understood who she really was. She was a scared, submissive woman pretending to be tough, when she was really nothing more than a lost little girl whose life had been turned upside down. 

Just a little bit like Sophia Cavalier. 

“Oh, Chloe… I don’t want to hurt Candace like I hurt her mom, I don’t want to hurt anybody… I just-” She pulled away after a few moments, staring desperately into my eyes. “I want my Jesse back…”

“Then go tell her that…” She quickly began to sob as she clung to me for support, sitting up in bed next to me as I climbed into her reach, wrapping my arms around her. “Go tell her how much she means to you… tell her how much you want to be with her, Claudia… she’s not going to know unless you tell her…”

“You’re one to talk.” Claudia chuckled ever so slightly as she wiped the tears from her eyes, quickly beginning to slide into her nightgown. She seemed to trust me enough to let her sister sleep without saying a word. “Just do as I say and we’ll have Candace to ourselves… then you two can finally be together.”

“Yes, Master.” I smiled, curling up next to the heavy sleeper as I watched Claudia make her way towards the door. “I’m counting on you…”

“And I’m counting on you.” She smiled, leaving her cane behind as she stepped into the hallway, shutting the door behind her. “She’ll be yours soon, I promise~”

The thought of keeping Candace for myself made me smile, filling my heart with a strange warmth as I snuggled into her, feeling her curl up into my arms as she slept. I frowned as I held her, not because I didn’t want to make things right between us, but because it just felt wrong. I didn’t quite love Candace, but I knew deep down that I really did want to be with her. 

But it couldn’t be like this. I couldn’t be with Candace the way I wanted to be, I’d already thrown that chance away. Candace was willing to give herself up to her sister in order to belong to me, but I didn’t want Candace to belong to me… I wanted to belong to her.

 

Claudia, meanwhile, had more on her mind than just Candace and I as she gently knocked on the door to the guest bedroom, eager to see the love of her life. 

“Josie, dear?” She took a deep breath, nervously awaiting her wife’s arrival as she stood outside of the door. “It’s me… it’s Claudia~”

She was sure that Josie was in there, but after a few moments of hearing shuffling inside she wasn’t sure that her wife was actually going to answer. 

“Claudia…” Josie did open the door, however, and she opened it wide enough for Claudia to get a good look inside. “I’m trying to sleep, what do you want…”

“I just wanted to… to see you… and…” Claudia felt a pit growing in her stomach as she saw just who Josephine had been in bed with, naked and curled up under the sheets. Knowing that her wife liked to have concubinal relations with Darcey and Autumn was bad enough, but this was a bit much. “…Zenna?”

“H-hello, Master…” Zenna’s face flushed bright red, nervously avoiding her master’s eye contact as she struggled to cover herself up. “I-I’m sorry for n-not telling you… you were just busy-”

“But… you belong to me…” Claudia spoke past her wife and right towards Zenna, her most loyal slave. “You’re not supposed to have sex with Josie, you don’t have birth control like the other girls do…” 

Claudia’s distraught eyes met the shakingly nervous eyes of her wife right in front of her. They had lines drawn in the sand not to cross. Darcey and Autumn belonged to Josephine, she could do whatever she wanted with them. Zenna belonged to Claudia, not to have sex with, but to help raise their daughter. As a catholic, Claudia was historically against contraception, but she relented when it came to all of the slaves except for Zenna… because Zenna wasn’t supposed to need it. 

“Claudia, honey…” Josephine tried to smile, but she had an unmistakable look of shame painted across her face. “Come on, let’s sit down and talk about-”

“Oh my god…” Claudia’s heart dropped from the realization, tears already flooding the corners of her eyes. “You didn’t… Tell me you didn’t…”

“I’m sorry, Master… I’ve wanted it for a really long time, and Miss Josephine wanted to give it to me…” Zenna more than anyone was distraught, fully aware of just how dangerous a situation this was putting her into. “I don’t want to leave Lilian, but… if I have to-”

“You’re pregnant.” Claudia knew exactly where this was going, and there was no way around it. “You let my wife get you pregnant.”

Josie fussed, trying to help calm Claudia down, but no one disputed that. “Claudia…”

“And you…” Claudia couldn’t even find the words to describe what it was she was feeling. “How could you?”

“All I want is for this family to stay together.” Josephine frowned, grabbing her wife by both hands and squeezing. “I know you well enough to know that you won’t give Zenna up-”

“No. You don’t know me at all.” Claudia frowned, immediately ripping her hands from Josie’s palms. “Fine. She’s pregnant. Keep her.”

Josephine and Zenna both went wide-eyed, glancing over at each other with a concerned look on their face, each for their own reasons. There was a silver lining in the idea for Zenna, but Josie was nothing but distraught. “Claudia, wait…”

“I’m going to bed.” Claudia was clearly the one hurt the most by this news. “Enjoy your new wives.” 

 

Before her wife could so much as say another word, Claudia stepped back and SLAMMED the door shut between them both. There was nothing either of them could do at this point to save their marriage- not that Claudia could see. 

It could have been her who was pregnant with Josie’s second child. Now that she knew it was someone else she wished it had been her, but it wasn’t. It was Zenna. 

Claudia’s blood boiled with rage, angry tears burning her eyes. For a moment she thought she might scream at the top of her lungs, but she just as quickly dropped to her knees and broke into loud, pathetic sobs. 

She couldn’t do this any longer. Claudia couldn’t pretend to be stronger for a second more. She was absolutely falling apart, and it was all her own god damn fault. She marched her way here to beg for her wife back, but at this point it was clear that the woman she loved didn’t want her.  

And she couldn’t really blame her.

Anyone with more than one ear in this house could hear Claudia breaking down crying outside of the guest room as she pressed her hand into the door in front of her, desperate tears rolling down her cheeks… But there was only one person in the whole mansion that cared enough to actually come check on her. 

 

“Please don’t cry…” Claudia felt the little one beside her, just happy to hear her daughter’s voice after a night like this. “Mommy…”

Claudia turned to face Lilian, the best thing that had ever happened to her, the sight of her always bringing a happy smile to her mother’s face. Lilian was holding a small stuffed animal out in her hands- a monkey with wings- in an attempt to help cheer her mother up, and it was working. 

“Oh, Lilian…” Claudia sniffled back her tears as she scooped her daughter into her arms, practically crushing the girl in the process. “Your mommy loves you more than anything in the world, has she told you that?”

Lilian of course didn’t really have the capacity to respond, she was only- count on one hand - number of years old still, and her mother’s emotion had overwhelmed her to the point of crying.

“There there, sweetie…” Claudia wasn’t the best mother, she knew she wasn’t the best mother- she was hardly a mother at all. As much as she hated to admit it, she was basically Lilian’s shitty father, just like her father had been to her as a kid. Claudia was six years old when her father had broken her hip, and Lilian was getting close to that age as well. Claudia loved her daughter more than she could express, but if anyone in the world deserved to be called Lilian’s mother, it was Zenna. “Let’s go see Mommy…”

Josephine was sullen and silent as Claudia opened the door to the guest bedroom, Lilian in hand, but Zenna practically leapt to her feet to get to the girl. 

Even in a moment like this, Claudia knew better than to think that she was the right choice to help take care of her own daughter, so even though she couldn’t stand having to do it- she made sure to carefully lower Lilian into Zenna’s arms, watching as she snuggled into her nanny- no, her mother- for support. 

“Hey little munchkin…” Zenna happily clutched Lilian in her arms, smiling towards her master with tears in her eyes. “Mommy’s got you…”

“Please take good care of her, Zenna…” Claudia was doing her best not to cry as she slowly turned around, watching Zenna lay Lilian down in bed between her and Josie. “I love you… but if this is what you want… then you can go with Lilian…”

“This is what I want…” Zenna frowned, also doing her best not to break out into tears as she tried to calm her daughter. “Thank you, Master…”

“You can just call me Claudia.” Claudia frowned, nervously glancing towards her wife. “She’s your master now…”

“Please, Claudia…” Josie sat there, curled up in bed with tears in her eyes, as she stared towards her wife of five years. “Talk to me…”

“I’m sorry, Josie… I can’t…” She smiled at the sight of those beautiful eyes of hers as she left the three of them alone, hopefully much happier without her. “You know we’ve never been good at talking…”

 

Claudia didn’t feel the urge to cry after that, at this point she was too dead inside to cry, it just hurts the people around her. 

Maybe it really was best for Claudia to get away before Lilian got too old, before she was possessed by some new demon commanding her to sin further, knowing it would permanently ruin her daughter’s life. 

She returned to her room, where her sister and I were both quietly awaiting her return- and all it took was seeing her remove her harness from around her waist to know how it had gone. But Claudia tried to just ignore it and move on, not wanting to show how much it was really affecting her.

“Claudia…” I frowned, sitting up in bed to make room for her between Candace and I. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” She smiled politely, sliding open one of the drawers of her wife’s vanity and setting her belt down inside of it. “Looks like someone’s finally finished her after fuck nap~”

“Nnnngh…” Candace groaned, yawning loudly as she sat up. “Did I miss something?”

 I frowned, glancing back and forth between Candace and her sister before shaking my head. “No… not really…”

“Then don’t sound so glum about it.” Candace let out another really loud yawn, almost like she’d been losing sleep lately. “It’s not my fault I get sleepy after sex.”

“No it’s not, you’re right.” Claudia smiled, admiring the both of us from beside the vanity. “Maybe this is just a penis envy thing, but honestly sometimes I wish I was born with one of those~”

“No you don’t, trust me.” Candace shook her head, rubbing her crotch through the blankets. “Sometimes I really wish I could just chop it off-”

“You’d better fucking not.” I was almost as offended by the idea of her maiming herself as I was at the idea of Candace getting rid of her cock, even though I knew it wasn’t my choice to make, it was almost like it was mine too- who else was I going to suck on after sex, certainly not Claudia. “Surgery is one thing, but a butcher’s knife?”

“You’re head over heels for my cock, point taken.” Candace was a little cranky after her nap, but for the most part we were being friendly, especially after having sex for the second time ever. “You’re kind of a bad lesbian, you know~”

“You take that back!!” I pouted, snapping back at her with a hot red blush on my cheeks. “I just have a preference, that’s-”

“Chloe, dear. Please stop talking for the night, okay?” Claudia interrupted me before I could even finish, beckoning for her sister’s attention. “Could you come here, Candace?”

I stopped my sentence in its tracks, bowing my head and quieting myself like I was told, which made Candace giggled, and honestly- kind of made me smile too. She quickly stood up and joined Claudia on the other side of the room, leaving me alone as I waited for them. 

Candace’s eyes went wide as she saw just what was inside of the drawer Claudia was pointing her attention towards, the excitement quickly dying out of her eyes. “Did father give you that?”

“Before we left, yeah… just in case.” Claudia smiled, nervously looking her sister up and down. “What do you think?”

Whatever it was that Candace was seeing, it didn’t make her very happy. “Are you asking me… or telling me?”

“You’re my sister, Candace.” Claudia gently tilted her sister’s head up to look at her. “You’re the one person I wouldn’t do it to without permission.”

Hearing that from her sister made Candace smirk just slightly, and I saw her glance over at me for just a second before turning back to Claudia. “Not tonight.”

“Okay.” Sometimes apparently Claudia took no for an answer, just not from me. “But just so you know… I think it’d look real pretty around that neck of yours~”

“I know it would.” Candace just rolled her eyes, taking it as a compliment. “It looked good on my mom, didn’t it?”

“It did indeed…” Claudia sighed, sliding the drawer closed before following her sister back to bed. “And I promise to be responsible with it~”

 

Oh my god, no… I didn’t even need to see it to know exactly what they were talking about. Claudia wants Candace to wear her mom’s collar… 

And I was right, she did. Claudia had a look in her eyes as she climbed back into bed next to me, one that I could read like a book. She laid in the center of the bed, between Candace and I, to keep the two of us off of each other until we woke up- or maybe just to get either us to cuddle up with her.

So I did. The moment I could I curled up in Claudia’s arms, much to her surprise, having gotten used to snuggling with supervillains like her and her sister… and I watch Candace do the same.

But it was watching Candace make herself vulnerable in Claudia’s arms that really made my heart thump.

I was going to keep that collar from touching Candace’s throat even if it killed me-

And deep down, part of me knew it would. 

Notes:

i hope you guys are as happy with this one as i am <3

Chapter 40: Like Father, Like Son

Notes:

And here we are, at another big chapter

CW: Some suicidal like behavior, panic attacks, ptsd

8th November, 8 days until the banquet.

 

My day was already off to a pretty rocky start, waking up with dried tears and semen in my eyes by the time I came to- and it was only going to get worse from there. 

I quickly realized as I sat up that the arms I thought were my master’s when I curled up in them to sob myself to sleep had actually been her little sister’s, and that I had been sleeping in Candace’s arms for the better part of the night. 

She looked like shit as well. I couldn’t be sure just from seeing her whether or not she also had tears in her eyes, but one thing I did know for certain was that she hadn’t gotten a lot of shut eye recently. 

She was usually a heavy sleeper, but I must have woken her up when I pried myself from her arms because she seemed to just be waking up as well, and she did not look happy. 

“I don’t know how anybody can sleep in the same room as you with all of that snoring.” I must have missed the part of the day where Candace said good morning because like always, she launched into her usual cranky attitude she had when waking up. “What time is it?”

“Buenos días, princesa~” I carefully stretched, noticing that Claudia was nowhere to be seen this morning thus far. “I don’t know, check your phone or something?”

“Shit, I missed morning services-” Candace practically launched out of bed as she checked her phone, groaning loudly in annoyance. 

“Guess I’m not a very good alarm clock.” I giggled, teasing her as she quietly cursed herself under her breath for missing church. “Claudia’s probably gone to mass then, right?”

“Yeah, and I should be there too. But it’s fine; there are evening services I can attend.” She took a deep breath as she stood on the other side of the room from me, holding her phone to her ear. “Oh boy, six missed calls.” 

Candace held out a finger towards me to keep quiet as she returned her missed calls- and from across the room I couldn’t hear the dial tone, but I could most certainly hear Candace getting shouted at in what sounded somewhere between mexican and caribbean spanish, to which she clearly had no reply. 

And coming from a non-spanish speaking household, Candace wouldn’t know it, but from the sounds of it- it was pretty scathing. About the last thing I could hear from clear across the room before Candace pulled herself away was the sound of someone very angrily saying- put her on the fucking phone - in english, which I promptly recognized was her manager’s voice. 

I just kind of sat there as Candace made her way back, holding her phone towards me as she sat down on the bed, which I nervously answered. “Umm… hello?”

“Fix this.” The first she launched into me with wasn’t a greeting, but a seething shout that could only have been a command, continuing to speak in english now that she’d lowered her voice some. “I don’t know what happened, but you’d better fucking fix this.”

“I’m sorry… I don’t understand, Ma’am…” My voice shook as I spoke into the receiver, unsure what Tallulah wanted from me. “Fix what?”

“You . Know . What .” Click - that was all either of us were going to be hearing from her for today, because Candace wasn’t about to call her back just for another earful of screams. She did have a little bit of a point though, I could turn to Candace beside me and make an educated guess as to what she was talking about, and it was kind of my fault. 

“Give me that.” Candace wasn’t about to let me near her phone for more than a second longer than she needed to, so I just let her swipe it from my hands without making a fuss, quietly sitting next to her and giving her a real sorry look with just my eyes- which she admired for a moment-

And then she slapped me.  

“Ow…” I whined under my breath as I rubbed my now sore cheek, looking up at her with pleading eyes. “Why’d you hit me?”

“Because you looked like you needed it.” She sighed, putting her phone away somewhere secure before popping her knuckles, trying to intimidate me. “I’ll do much more than that if you’re not careful.”

“Y-yes, Miss…” I blushed, curling in on myself at the threat of further punishment. “Are we back on the fighting thing?”

“Now that we’re out of my sister’s earshot, yeah-” Candace rolled her eyes, standing up from bed and quickly doing her best to get dressed for the day. “We’re a little bit back on the fighting thing.”

“I’m sorry.” Knowing better by now than to apologize without an explicit reason, I corrected myself before Candace could. “I didn’t mean to get you into trouble with your manager.”

“She’s annoyed that I woke her up. Having just landed in California, she’s probably jetlagged. So there’s that, plus the fact that she doesn’t like you.” She was as unamused as she was frustrated, and it showed. “But I accept your apology.”

Her forgiveness caught me off guard, because I had expected at least some of her frustration to be pointed at me. “That’s not sarcasm, is it?”

“No. I forgive you.” 

Adorning herself in a frilly blue house dress helped show off how stunning Candace really was. The fabric fit her perfectly and the colors looked good on her. If I didn’t have the eyes of a hobbyist seamstress I would almost think that the gown was made for her, but I could see subtle signs that the garment had been stretched over time. It was almost like Candace had grown into the dress, and it had grown with her.

To add just a bit of extra flair, Candace wrapped a belt around her waist. The belt was wrapped tight enough to compress her stomach in just slightly, making her look that much more pronounced in the chest. Candace was always pretty. Today she was going for fierce, and I loved it. 

That beautiful violet necklace sure did add a splash of much needed color against her skin as it dangled in front of her throat. The twin spirals were as sharp as the woman who wore them, and I would much prefer seeing them hanging around her neck than anything else, including the small cross she liked to wear from time to time. 

I was torn on the collar. It was like a solid black band with gorgeously cut diamonds embedded into it, which definitely matched the jet black leather belt with metal studs. The two pieces would look good together. On the other hand, only the belt could be removed. Once that collar was clasped around her neck, it wasn’t coming off. 

I was just glad to get a good look at it before she slid the drawer closed. She definitely considered putting the collar on here and now just to get it over with, but that level of pressure would make any woman hesitate. 

I didn’t own clothes. Being another woman’s personal belonging meant I didn’t even own the body I lived in, let alone anything to cover it with. But I could make do. I had Josie’s closet and vanity here at my disposal, and that was more than enough to put something together, hopefully turning a few heads in the process.  

Who needs a bra when I can just cover up in a sleek red camisole, tossing customs to the wayside and sliding into a pair of lacy black boyshorts? Not me. 

Candace didn’t feel like putting on makeup, so I didn’t bother. It wasn’t like we were going to be going anywhere today, especially since she’d already missed church. I had her right where I wanted her, casting her eyes on my simple but gorgeous ensemble. 

“Sophia.” Candace wasn’t even going to pretend not to notice the way I looked, but her tone was a lot less positive than I had hoped. “Can I be honest with you?”

I smirked, trying to keep it cool as she just loomed over me with an overly exasperated look in her eyes. “Of course.”

“You’re bad at this.” She ripped the bandage off by just saying it. “You’re a bad slave.”

Hearing her say that so openly broke my heart. “I am?”

“My father has always wanted you dead. I thought I made it clear that I was taking a chance by punishing you myself. I saved your life by sending you to the facility, but somehow you still haven’t learned how to be a proper slave.”

“But I am a proper slave. It’s not me that’s the problem, it’s Sophia. If you would just stop provoking her-”

“You are Sophia, Chloe.” Candace blushed, taking a deep breath to balance herself out before finally giving in. “I don’t care if I’m in trouble. I just want you to be safe.” 

“But I want you to be safe too.” I frowned, nervously staring into her unwavering eyes. “I don’t want you to do this just for me, it’s dangerous here. I don’t need you here to keep me safe, I need to keep yourself safe.”

“Are you really that self-centered?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “This isn’t just about you.”

“Yes it is. Everything with you is about me. All you want is to win me back, and you’re willing to go through all these hoops to get me. If you want to be a pussy and let yourself become your sister’s bitch, go ahead. But Candy the sweetheart is never going to win my heart.”

I leapt to my feet from the vanity and stood up to her, staring her down and calling her out straight to her face, watching the color leave her face. Candace had nowhere to run but the bed behind her. It was either crawl back under her sister’s covers or stay right where she was, neither of which were her preferred option. 

“If you’re waiting for me to crawl up to your feet and beg you to take me back home with you, you’re barking up the wrong tree. I’m willing to drag this out just as long as you are, so if you’re just doing this to get back with me, you’re just going to have to bow down and let yourself get collared like the lovesick puppy you really are.” 

My heart was positively pounding with excitement as I faced her down, eager to see what she was going to do next. Either I had already won and she was just about to bow out, or I was going to finally get the fight that I’d been aching for. And she did not disappoint.

“You think you’re so tough.” She grabbed me by the straps of the camisole of Josephine’s I’d dressed myself in, spinning me around in an instant and forcing my back to the wall. Suddenly I was the one caught between her and the bed at my rear, able to see the vanity mirror behind her. “Brat. You’re nothing but a brat. Spit in my face why don’t you? See what happens.”

I was so very tempted to take her up on that, but I held back, my heartrate picking up in my chest as her attitude finally turned feisty. “Your face isn’t worth my spit.”

“Just like yours isn’t worth my semen, but you certainly whimpered and begged your way to a cum facial last night, didn’t you?”

I growled angrily, trying to force her hands off of me to no avail. Her grasp was iron tight, and no amount of struggling was going to be enough to pry my camisole from her hands- and I certainly wasn’t about to get naked for her all over again. “Bite me.”

I almost thought she was backing down when she did finally let go of me, but then I felt her hands right back on my chest, shoving me backwards onto the bed behind me. 

“I’m not taking you with me, Sophia. I don’t want you back if you’re going to be like this. Keep living like you’re the invincible protagonist of some horror game and you’re going to get yourself killed.” Candace pounced, instantly finding her place on top of me in bed, growling down at me. “I know we’re rivals, but this isn’t a game anymore. If you really cared about me and respected everything I’ve done to try and keep you safe, you’d take this seriously. But you don’t.”

I shrunk back into the pillow beneath my head, seeing my flustered cheeks in the reflection in Candace’s eyes as my own began to tear up just slightly. I didn’t have words; I couldn’t speak. All I could do was sit there and listen to her scold me for my behavior. 

“You don’t care about me. You don’t care about my safety. You’re just trying to use me to get away from her, because the only person you care about is yourself. You’re a brat, and I can see how desperate you are for me to tame you, but this is more than just fun and games. I am not falling for it.” 

By the time I’d decided to fight back, she already had me pinned. She grabbed me by my shirt all over again, slamming me further down onto the bed beneath her. 

“If you really wanted to be with me, you should have just said so- or better yet- you should have never left in the first place.” She had tears in her eyes as she fought, intimidating me back into place beneath her. Candace was not playing around. “You haven’t just ruined my life; You’ve ruined my sister’s life, and you’ve ruined your life. This was your decision. You have to face the consequences of your actions.” 

I could feel myself breaking first beneath her, beginning to sob with rage as she grabbed my struggling arms by the wrists and shoved them both down beside my head. “If I ruined your life then why are you here?! If you’re not here for me, what are you here for?!”

“Because I’m a deplorable monster of a human being who deserved to have her life ruined. You were the one who made me realize just how wrong it was to punish you like I did, and I’m here to make up for that.”

“How is joining me to rot under your sister’s boot ever supposed to make it up to me?!”

“I will not sacrifice any more of my self-respect and dignity for you , Sophia Cavalier. So if you’re really expecting me to come save you from this, you had better quit barking up the wrong tree and find your own way out of this, because I am not about to give up everything just for you. I’m not here for you, I’m here for me.”

The wetness between my legs was like sand compared to the ire boiling in my eyes as I cried, staring her straight in the face and spitting. This was all I could do. This was my only defense mechanism. All I could do was be a brat, because I would break if I didn’t. 

“You made your choice, and now you have to live with it. You knew what would happen. I told you what would happen. Once they took you away from me you could never come back. You knew that. You knew what they did with my mother; you knew that was the only alternative. I gave you a second chance at life by my side. I gave you a choice, and you chose this.”

She was just as turned on by this as I was, but she refused to cry. She hated crying about as much as she hated being humiliated. But I couldn’t stop myself like she could. 

“Believe me when I say this, because I love you with all of my heart, but you deserve this. And do you know why?” I crumbled beneath the disappointment in her voice. This was enough punishment for the both of us. “Because you’ve been a bad slave.”

By now the tears pouring from my eyes weren’t tears of anger, but of pure fear. I knew everything she was saying was true, and it was hard to finally have to admit it to myself. I couldn’t handle knowing that everything was hopeless, but I had to stop pretending like it wasn’t.

“I know this isn’t a game, Candace.” I sobbed quietly, covering my crying eyes with my hands as she released them, knowing just how broken I really was. “But if I didn’t treat all of this like it was a game, then I’d know there’s no way to win. I don’t want to lose myself. It’s all I have left. I don’t want to lose all of my hope. I want to win…”

“There’s nothing to win. You’re a slave. You’ve already lost.” My hands were tugged away from my face as she spoke, wiping my tears away. “Now be a good slave, and take better care of yourself. I know you’re not mine anymore, but you’re not yours either. Be good for your master and maybe she’ll let you be a part of her family.”

“But I don’t want to belong to Claudia.” I sniffled back my tears, my upturned palms going limp beside my head. “I want to belong to-”

“Do not finish that.” She didn’t even know what I was going to say; I didn’t even know what I was going to say. But Candace didn’t want to hear it like I wanted to hear it. “I don’t want to do this, but I know that I have to. And I know that you’re the only person in the world who can stop me.”

“Candace.” My voice trailed out as I spoke her name, the sound like fire on a pointed pair of ears that wanted to hear me call her master again. 

“Look at these ears of yours and tell me that you’re a human.” She smiled, rubbing my earlobe between two of her fingers as she admired them. “You’re not. You know that.”

“I’m a slave.” I turned my head towards her hand ever so slightly. “I’m a bad slave.”

“You’ve been a bad slave.” She smiled, slowly pulling her hand away from me. “But you’re going to be a good slave. Because I’m telling you now, be a good slave.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” I smiled happily, feeling just a few happy tears working their way down my cheeks as I looked up at her. She might not be my master, but she most certainly deserved to be given the proper respect. “I’ll be a good slave.” 

“Take these clothes off, Chloe.” She smiled, her hands trailing towards my waist. “They don’t belong to you.”

Candace didn’t need my help to undress me, I just needed to let it happen. We were finally this close after so long, it almost felt wrong not to kiss her. But I did what I knew she wanted and I sat still, letting her begin to undress me in the hopes that it would lead to something more. 

But she knew just how wrong it was to want that something more. She couldn’t do it, not like this. “On second thought, you look really cute in these.”

I bit my lip into a frown, letting out a long sigh of disappointment as she pulled herself away from my body. This wasn’t how I wanted it. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. “If you don’t want to be with me, why are you here?”

“I do want to be with you, but there’s more to it than that.” She sat up next to me, her legs now hanging over the side of the bed, turned away to keep herself off of me. “I’m not doing this to be with you. I don’t want to be a slave. I deserve to be a slave.”

“You think you deserve this?”

“I know I deserve this. Because if I’m not a slave like my mother, then I’m a monster like my father. I don’t want to be my father, Chloe. I don’t want to keep ruining lives.”

“You don’t deserve this, Candace. You know that’s not true.” 

“You. Aria. Robin. Riley.” Her eyes drifted towards the belt she kept wrapped around her hips as that last name left her lips. “I don’t want to destroy another woman like I’ve destroyed all of you. If I don’t have someone there to help hold me back I’ll never get better.”

“But if you do this you’ll become your mother instead. You’ll end up like your mother. You’ll die like your mother.”

“Not if I’m good.” Candace turned to me and smiled, her cheeks faintly pink. “Because I can trust my sister to take care of me like I can trust her to take care of you.”

My heart shattered inside of my chest as she said that, because I knew she was wrong. “Candace-”

“Don’t say anything.” I found a single finger of hers pressed against my lips, quieting me. “Don’t say another word until I have that collar around my neck. I don’t want you to change my mind.”

The grim reality overtook me, taking a hold of me with its sharp claws of despair. I still remembered the day I got my collar, and it was eerily reminiscent of this. Candace tried to make me keep my lips shut, but in the end it was my words that won me the right to wear this collar.

Her collar.

And unless I wanted to lose her the right to wear a collar of her own, those words of mine needed to stay tucked away forever.

I’ve ruined her. I’ve ruined this entire family. I hung my head in defeat, keeping my mouth shut as tears poured out of my eyes, trying to respect her decision. I’ve ruined everything.

 

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“I’m surprised you two hatebirds have managed to get along so well since I’ve been gone.” Claudia returned after a while. She was tired, spent, and worn. This weekend had taken a lot out of her already. “I’m sorry that I took so long, I had a lot of soul searching to do today.”

“About that, actually.” Candace wasn’t at all shy to approach her sister, she didn’t know what she was getting into. “I would still like to attend church tonight, you know. You should have woken me.”

Claudia smiled, her cane in hand like always as she looked us both over to make sure we were okay. “I would have woken you. I needed to go alone this morning, but I’d be more than happy to attend again if you’d like me to take you.”

“I would, actually.” Candace smirked, taking a quick glance towards me before saying exactly what I wished she wouldn’t. “Could we bring Chloe with us?”

“Chloe?” Claudia was almost surprised to hear Candace refer to me like that. “Heavens no. She’d humiliate us.” 

I was just a little bit offended that she didn’t want to take me to church. I didn’t want her to try and convert me, but if I was going to be a better slave I would have tried if I was told to. 

“How is this instead?” Claudia smiled, picking up her cane and pointing it towards me. “You and I will go together, and Chloe will help the other girls clean and make dinner, and she’ll have this place ready to go for us when we get back. Food on the table and bedroom ready to get you your collar. What do you think?”

“Sounds reasonable to me, I guess.” She nervously looked back at me before giving me a reassuring smile. “The sooner the better.”

“Then let’s not waste any more time.”

 

And just like that, the two were gone for Sunday service. It was a difficult time for me to be alone, but I did my best to push through it.

There was no way out of this. Nothing mattered anymore. And it was starting to get to me. If there really was no way to win, what was even the point of staying alive?

At the very least, my fellow slaves were sweet to me. 

Autumn helped me clean up the bedroom and everything. She never even questioned me when I asked her to help me set up that cruel little hair trap they used to put her in, because I knew that I was going to need it to help keep me from doing something I wasn’t supposed to tonight. 

We set it up at Josie’s vanity, because where else were we going to put it?

My hair was precious to me, and there was no way in hell I was going to rip it out of my head once I was trapped inside. It was there to help keep me from running away, or even worse, trying to stop Claudia’s little collaring ceremony for her sister. 

Next up was dinner. Darcey, sensing a whole lot of tension in the household, was the one to cook…

And she cooked a lot. 

I’m sure using up just about everything we had to make a meal worthy of nobles was a little bit my idea, but I wanted to enjoy myself just the same. If I was going to have a last meal before I died, I wanted it to be this one, because damn was Darcey a talented cook.

And yeah, I was more than a little bit proud about getting Darcey and Autumn to switch roles, they both seemed to like this much better anyways. 

I even got a moment to myself with Zenna before dinner. The lioness could tell that a cat got my tongue, so instead of sticking around to talk she just hand delivered Poppy into my arms before giving me a kiss on the forehead. If only for a couple of seconds it was nice to be treated like a six year old girl being taken to the foster home for the first time, because that was exactly how I felt.

Darcey, Autumn, and Zenna all went upstairs to eat with Josephine, politely leaving me to dine on my own downstairs. 

I’d bore you with details about how the rest of the evening went for me, but it was dreary to the point of depressing having to eat alone downstairs, even if it was a good meal all in all. 

I curled up in my master’s bed with my stuffed dog, and I awaited her return. I knew what was important tonight, and it wasn’t me. For once I hardly deserved the spotlight at all. 

Everything was in utter chaos, and it was all my fault.

 

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“What’s got you looking so glum?” Claudia was the first to get back, and she had a less than amused look in her eyes when I didn’t respond. “Answer me when I speak to you.”

“I don’t want this, Master.” Claudia forced the words out of my mouth, so I gave her the honest truth. “Candace doesn’t want me to change her mind, but I don’t want this.” 

“Why don’t you want this?” Claudia sat hip to hip with me, her cane still clutched tight in her left hand. “This is what you and I have been working towards, subjugating Candace.”

“No. This is what you’ve been working towards, and you’ve forced me to go along with it.” I bit my lip and hung my head, a ball of regret rolling up inside of my chest. “She doesn’t want this.”

“I don’t care if she doesn’t want this. This is what’s happening.” My master was already seething with rage at her own wife, and being dressed in Josie’s clothes wasn’t doing me any favors. “You’ve already cost me my relationship with my wife. Without the plantation I have no power. I need to prove to my father that I’m worthy of being his heiress, since Candace certainly isn’t.”

“I didn’t cost you anything with your wife, Ma’am. All I’ve done is help you see the cracks that were already there.” I couldn’t even feel my heartbeat at this point. I had gotten the fight I wanted, and there was nothing else for me. “And Candace is worthy. I’m the one who ruined everything for her. You ruined everything for yourself.”

“I’m only going to say this once, Chloe, so you had better listen.” She stared me down, glaring into my soul with those daggers in her eyes. “If I hear one more thing that I don’t like come out of that little mouth of yours before that collar is clasped around my sister’s neck, you’re getting beaten. I don’t want to hurt you tonight, but I will if I have to. Understood?” 

“Yes, Master.” I gave her a nervous bow, lowering myself to the mattress for a few moments before sitting back up. “I have the mousetrap set up in case you want to lock me in.”

“Clever girl.” Claudia smiled, taking me by the hand and helping me to my feet. “You don’t have to stay and watch if you don’t want to.”

“I would like to be there for this if you’ll let me.” I sat down at the vanity without a fuss, turning my back to her and making myself vulnerable. “Please?”

“Chloe.” I felt Claudia take a handful of my hair and hold it tight. “I’m not going to let you ruin this for me.”

“I know, Ma’am.” I took the rest of my shoulder length locks and pulled them taut for her to take. “Living is a privilege that I won’t take for granted any longer.” 

The first thing Claudia made sure to do was strip me completely naked. Tonight was about vulnerability and submission, and not just from Candace. She didn’t want to look at me in her wife’s clothes anyways. 

My head of fluffy orange hair quickly fell prey to my master’s mousetrap. The iron jaws clamped tight around my locks, trapping them in place to keep me from running away. 

I parted my lips for her as she forced a length of rope between my teeth, knowing better than to trust me to keep my stupid mouth shut. I didn’t want to let her gag me, but if I wanted to live I couldn’t afford to put up a fuss. 

Next came the handcuffs, which weren’t particularly bad. They were bound together behind my head, making sure to keep me vulnerable. Claudia wasn’t going to admit it, but the real reason she wanted my hands behind my head was to keep me from cutting off all of my hair and escaping the mousetrap like Candace had. 

I knew Claudia was fond of the nipple clamps, but I really didn’t think they were necessary. That didn’t stop her from putting them on me though, and she made sure to make it as painful for me as possible. 

“Once this collar is around Candace’s neck it won’t matter what you say to her. She’ll already be mine. I’ll control her.” Claudia whispered into my ear. “And you’ll have a new slave sister.”

Loud whimpers escaped through the rope as she yanked on the chain between my nipples, slipping her other hand between my thighs. I couldn’t say a goddamn thing as she made me face the vanity mirror, not even giving me the dignity of watching the show head on. 

“Awe. Poor girl. She’s not even going to get to masturbate to this.” Two fingers slowly pumped their way in and out of my cunt, forcing quiet squeaks from between my gagged lips. Claudia was not playing around anymore; she was in charge here and she was going to make sure I knew that. And the way to do it was apparently by wiping her fingers clean against the skin of my neck. “I do trust you to enjoy yourself though. I’d hate for you to miss this.”

The chastity belt made its way onto my hips, the last piece of the puzzle, locking me out of pleasure for the night. It was the same belt Claudia so often wore around her waist, but the snake shaped strapon harness had been removed in order to strip it back to simple chastity. 

And just like that, she was ready to torment me by making me watch her collar the girl of my dreams. 

 

“Is all of this really necessary, Claudia?” Candace almost felt bad for me. Almost. “I know she looks good bound, but isn’t this overkill?”

An unamused glare was all that met her eyes as she looked at me, my cheeks blushing bright pink. I was starting to think that maybe she was already beyond saving.

“I’m sorry that it has to be this way, Candace. But you know how she is, always ruining this and humiliating us at the last moment.”

“I know how she is, Claudia. I just thought you’d have taught her better is all.” Candace leaned down, lowering herself to my level as I was forced to just sit there. “I know you don’t think this is the right thing to do, but don't try to stop this, Chloe. That’s not an order, that’s a request.”

Claudia gave the orders around here, not Candace. She whispered it, but I’m sure her sister could still hear it, because she did not look happy. All I could manage was a nervous nod of my head, lowering my eyes to the floor in respect as she pet my hair.

Looking through the mirror showed me the bed behind me, where Claudia was sitting with her back turned to me. She ignored us for now, knowing that I was likely to be staring Candace straight down in the mirror when she did climb into bed. 

I could see that hesitation in Candace’s eyes as she stopped to really think about what she was doing. The part of her determined to punish herself for everything she’d done was urging her forward, but the rest of her didn’t want to go through with this. The gears in her head kept ticking away, echoing how ridiculous this idea was inside of her head, but she wasn’t listening. 

If anything she had a look in her eyes that was confident she could get out of this at any time, even once that collar was on, even if logically she’d fall completely under Claudia’s control. 

Or as completely under Claudia’s control as was possible. My master’s grasp over me was less than perfect, and my defiance was a sure sign of her failure to reign me. But Candace had suffered from the same problem just a month or so prior, which said more about my willpower than either of my owners.

Candace smiled at me, gently tapping the bell hanging from my collar with her fingertips, enjoying the sound of it ringing. She sighed, just about forgetting about her own jewelry until she caught me staring at the necklace I’d made for her. 

“I should probably bare my neck for this, huh?” She gently reached behind her, first unclasping the pendant which bore St. Clair’s cross, the crest she’d inherited from her mother. She admired it for a moment, and then almost without thinking about it, tucked it between her breasts for good luck. “It’s just like trading one of my mother’s necklaces for another, no big deal. I don’t want anything getting in the way of this collar.”

Her cheeks glowed pink but her smile betrayed the feeling of anxiety and regret that filled her. I could see in her eyes just how badly she wanted to stop herself as she was forced to strip herself naked from her throat to her nape. It was such a small and seemingly insignificant part of the body, but when it came to this, the area around our necks meant everything. 

It was one thing to have to remove her mother’s cross to make room for the dazzling diamond studded black band that once stood as the symbol of Alecia’s eternal devotion to her husband- and before that- Charlotte’s devotion to her mistress. But having to remove the necklace I’d made just for her was another thing entirely, because she wasn’t quite ready to throw away her devotion to me just yet. 

“Take good care of this for me, okay?” I watched as she removed it, passing it onto me. My hands were simply cuffed behind my head, but I was unable to maneuver them to the front of my body without going through my bundle of hair that hung over them. I had a pretty free range of motion otherwise, but I wouldn’t have had the courage to adorn myself with the twin spirals if Candace wasn’t there to do it for me. “Careful. They’re sharp.”

Candace’s neck was now bare, ready to accept a collar around her neck like I had around mine. The necklace would have fit perfectly fine around her throat even as her sister collared her, but it was about the principle of removing all jewelry from her neck and making herself vulnerable. Besides, I needed this symbol of us more than she did right now. 

My eyes drifted downwards to the necklace, admiring it for what it was. Two spirals- demented nautilus shells with an array of razor sharp spines curling around them- both warped to fit a half heart shape to create one whole when put together. It was going to be difficult not to cut myself on them, either on accident or on purpose.

One was red and one was blue, but when together they fused in such a way to make them both look a bright ominous violet. Thanks to some clever magic with a high tech printer they were better together than they could ever be apart. 

“I’d hate to try and stuff that one down my bra.” She giggled, sensing Claudia’s impatience as she continued to stall. The spirals probably didn’t look as good on me as they did on her, but that hardly mattered. If anything I deserved to wear it like a trophy after coming out on top of her in the championship a year ago. “You’re no master, but you probably deserve the title of Queen more than I do.”

I wanted to kick her for saying that. I wanted to bite her head off for disrespecting herself like this. Even if I was more Queen than she was- which I wasn’t- she was still my King. 

It had been a year ago next Monday, crazy enough. A week from tomorrow was going to be the first anniversary of Sophia Cavalier defeating Candace St. Clair in the Stolen Cosmos WCS finals. The same day as the party. 

Candace settled for planting a kiss on my forehead since she could reach my lips, wiping the tears from my eyes as they formed. She gave me a smile like it was going to be okay, her fingers drifting towards my right ear to pinch my lobe one last time. 

But as her hand reached my surgically pointed ear, she stopped. Her eyes once again stabbed her in the back. I could see them practically screaming for help even as they fixated on my cute little lobe, unable to even reach out and touch them. 

Her hand slowly retracted, making its way back to her chest. The gears in her head had stopped, but her nervous heart was still pumping away. “I really miss that cattle tag you used to wear.”

 

My gears were rattling away to my heart’s content, but my heart was the one to stop. I really needed her to pinch my ear between her fingers, but she couldn’t. There was no way that this was really going to end up okay, and there was no use lying to ourselves any further. 

Claudia’s eyes glared at me through the mirror as Candace slid open the drawer of the vanity before me, retrieving the collar she didn’t yet know had killed her mother. Those angry eyes stayed on me even as my master’s sister climbed into bed with her, holding the collar towards Claudia with open palms as if presenting it to her. 

By the time Claudia had turned towards her sister, Candace was now in bed facing the mirror, unable to even give me so much as a fake smile. The best she could do for me now was to take Claudia’s eyes off of me. 

“Now before I do this I have to ask again, do you want this?” Claudia stared her sister down. I could see it in Candace’s eyes. “Never mind what she wants, Candace. Do you want this?”

“I think so.” Candace frowned, dreading what was happening already. “I don’t have any objections yet.”

“If you’re ready to be claimed, I’m ready to collar you.” The jaws of Claudia’s collar opened up, biting down on the head of the open collar. She had to be very careful with it, because once it was closed even she wasn’t going to be able to open it back up. “Your neck. Bare yourself to me.”

 

This was it, the moment of truth. There was no way out of this, at least not for me. But if I could stop this- even if it meant my life- I could save her instead. 

And that was exactly as I was going to do. 

I would have been helpless if it weren’t for Candace. My legs were too weak to move. My hair was chained to the floor. And my hands were cuffed behind my head. But I still had a way out of this, thanks to her. This was all my fault. I couldn’t fuck this up any longer. 

There was no time to watch Claudia lifting her cane to place the collar around her sister’s throat, and I wouldn’t have been able to stomach it anyways. I swallowed nervously and tilted my own head back, reaching my cuffed hands around my neck to retrieve the purple necklace dangling just at my chest. 

I pulled it tight around my head, maneuvering the chain to bring the sharp spiraled edges towards the back of my neck to better grasp them. Candace wasn’t kidding, they were sharp, and that was just what I needed. 

I couldn’t escape this even if I tried, but I didn’t need to. All I needed was to use that pretty little mouth of mine. I must have sliced through a good few inches of my precious blazing hair, freeing myself from the sharp metal jaws of the mousetrap that threatened to rip them from my head. 

Claudia already had the collar pressed to Candace’s throat and was ready to press the button, but by now the two of them had both noticed what I was doing. Candace’s eyes glowed with awe and Claudia’s with fear and anger as they both stopped, unable to keep their gazes on each other and off of me. 

The sharp metal jaws of the mousetrap opened once they were freed from my locks, just like I was counting on. I opened them up and clamped them back down onto the ropes wrapped around my mouth like they were a snake of my own, feeling them slice through my gag like butter. 

“Candace, no!! Don’t do this!!” I kicked off of the vanity in front of me, sending the chair spinning around to face them both. Tears ran down my eyes as I pleaded with her, knowing that this was about to get me killed. But there was no point in stalling for even a second, I knew I had to say and I needed to say it. “Please don’t let her put that on you, I’ve seen what it’s done!! Claudia killed your mother, and her mother has been covering it up for her!! Please don’t do this!!”

 

The room was overtaken with shocked silence. Claudia’s eyes were the ones struck with the most fear, but Candace’s told a story of their own. And they told them straight to her sister, glaring unblinkingly into Claudia’s. 

“Claudia.” Candace meant when she said this wasn’t fun and games anymore. “Tell me she’s lying.”

She looked to her sister for reassurance that it wasn’t true, desperately hoping it wasn’t. Claudia on the other hand, was simply petrified. And her silence spoke volumes, but her voice told more. “I’m sorry…”

Thump . I watched with sheer unbridled satisfaction as Candace tore the cane straight from Claudia’s hands and slammed the end of it into her sister’s chest, forcing her onto her back between Candace and I.

And then- Click. Click. Click. 

The collar clasped shut around Claudia’s throat. 

But it didn’t end there. Because like father, like son, Candace wasn’t done with her yet.

 

“I trusted you, Claudia!!” Candace’s eyes were filled to bursting with furious tears as she pressed the head of the cane into her sister’s throat, ready to electrocute her. “You tried to put this on me?! After using it to kill my mother?! After not telling me about it for twelve fucking years?!”

Candace was not happy, and neither was her older sister. Claudia almost looked like she was going into shock. Her breath quickened. Her eyes watered. Her mouth hung open ever so slightly. Her whole body froze. 

I caught Candace’s eyes with my own. She stared into them for a moment, still overcome with terror and rage. I could see just how much she wanted to end her sister’s life right then and there, and I wasn’t going to stop her if she chose to. I was a dead woman either way. 

Click. Click. Click. I watched the jaws release themselves from the head of Claudia’s shiny new collar as Candace pulled the cane away from her throat, leaving her lying there in almost petrified terror. 

I hung my head as I watched Candace approach, just as scared of what she was going to do to me. But by the time she got there, most of her pent up anger had subsided. “Thank you, Chloe.”

“Yes, Ma’am. Of course.” I swallowed nervously, glancing up at her for just a second, still fiddling with her necklace between my hands. “You should leave while you still can…”

“So should you.” She smirked, standing over me with one hand extended towards me. “What do you say?”

I stopped, my own palms shaking as I squeezed the stuffed dog in my lap. I almost took that hand of hers too, before suddenly Claudia began to scream. 

She wasn’t just angry screaming either, this was a full blown panic attack for her. She was hyperventilating, screaming, crying for help, her whole body trembling. 

Candace turned towards her sister for a second with an almost guilty look in her eyes before returning to my open hand, delivering Claudia’s cane into my grasp. It wasn’t long after hearing Claudia screaming that we’d gotten the attention of the rest of the house, and Candace thankfully handed the cane off to me just in time to have her arms wrestled behind her back by the enforcer. 

“Oh shit!!” Nell was almost laughing at Claudia’s misfortune as they struggled to grab ahold of Candace from behind. “Your father is so going to hear about this. Holy shit-”

“Then take me to him already. I’d like to have a word.” Candace had plenty of upper body strength to her, so it was clear that she was holding back when she refused to wrestle out of Nell’s grasp, not even putting up much of a fight. “Don’t expect me to show up to your party, especially if this is how I’m going to be treated.” 

“Candace?”

“And you-” I almost thought I’d escaped Candace’s wrath until she turned to me and snapped one last thing with tears in her eyes. “This had better not get you killed.”

I could see in the way that she looked at me that she was desperate to keep me safe, but she was powerless to do anything about it. And that worried look in her eyes filled my heart with warmth. 

“You and I both know there’s no way out of this for me, Candace.” I smiled even as the tears started rolling down my eyes, clutching the cane she’d handed me to my chest. “But hey, at least I’m finally thinking about someone else for once?”

That actually made Candace giggle just a little bit, nervously gazing into my eyes. “You’re beautiful, Sophia Cavalier. Have I ever told you that?”

“You just did.” I took a deep breath before reaching for the necklace, separating it into two pieces before handing one half of the necklace towards her to take, glimmering red in my hands. “For you, to match that beautiful eye you have.”

“Chloe, please-” She hardly had time to say anything further before I pushed one of the two spirals past her lips, making sure the dangerous edges were pointed out as she bit down on it, her eyes still watering angrily.  

“I don’t want to keep you here any longer.” I bit my lip, gazing up at the enforcer in an attempt to avoid Candace’s gaze. “Goodbye, St. Clair. Good luck at the championship. I know you’ll be a great host.” 

I screwed my eyes shut and listened for the sounds of Nell dragging Candace out of the room, both the cane and my dumb stuffed dog clutched tight to the chest. I knew I wasn’t clear of danger just yet, and I embraced that. After a few moments that felt like hours, I heard the door close and lock tightly. 

 

“Oh no…” I had expected Claudia’s voice to be the one to snap me out of it, but when I opened my eyes I confirmed that it wasn’t. “Oh honey, no…”

Josephine bolted to her crying wife’s side, completely disregarding my existence. Claudia was still a sniveling mess, shaken with absolute terror to the point of not forming words. But the moment Josie reached her she practically flew into a fit of terrified rage. 

“Hey. It’s okay.” Josie grabbed both of Claudia’s wrists as she flailed them at her, pinning them in midair to keep her wife from hurting herself. “You’re safe with me, Claudia. I’m not gonna hurt you. You’re okay.” 

Claudia slowly settled down as she stared into her wife’s eyes, just as quickly melting into Josie’s grasp as she was grabbed, letting herself be held as she sobbed. 

“I’ve got you, Claudia. You’re safe now.” Josie gently cooed her, letting the other girl fall into her chest and wrapping her arms around Claudia to help comfort her. “It’s me, honey. You’re safe now, I promise. I’ve got you, my love.” 

In seeing those two together I realized just how little Claudia deserved a woman like Josephine, but she was always going to have her. Watching her curl up in her wife’s arms squeezed my heart inside of my chest, knowing how much pain I’d caused the two of them since I’d gotten there.

“Jesse-” As soon as Claudia could form words she was already showing her true colors, and this was as vulnerable as she’d ever been. “Josie?”

“Yes, honey. It’s me.” Josie smiled, holding Claudia at arm’s length so that she could look into her cloudy blue eyes, wet with tears. “I’m right here, and I’m not going anywhere.”

“Please don’t leave me like this.” Claudia bit her lip, tears streaming down her cheeks as she gripped at her new collar with both hands, unable to pry it off. “Promise you won’t leave me like this?”

“I would never leave you like this, I promise.” Josie gently pulled Claudia’s hands from the black metal collar, trying to get her attention off of it. “Never in a million years.”

Claudia continued to hyperventilate, pointing a half outstretched finger across the room. Her eyes shook as they drifted towards me, her finger aimed straight at me and the cane in my hands. 

“Don’t worry, honey.” Josie smiled, leaning forward and giving her wife a kiss on the forehead as she stood up. “I’ll take care of this.”

I tensed up as she approached, clutching the cane to my chest as a form of self-defense. Josie had her sights set, and she was not happy. 

“Give me that, right now.” Her hand slipped past the cane entirely, gripping me by the chain connecting my nipples and painfully yanking me upward by them. “Do not make me repeat myself.”

“Y-yes, Ma’am…” I broke, nestling the cane into her other open palm as she lifted one foot and kicked me in the groin, her boot pressing into the front of my chastity belt. “Please… I’m sorry…”

“What happened?!” She grinded her foot into my crotch, continuing to pull on the chain. “What did you do?!”

“I just told her the truth!!” I squealed again, letting the truth slip out of my mouth for the second time tonight. “Claudia killed Candace’s mom with that collar!!”

I held my cuffed hands upward like I was being arrested, and Josie instantly retracted herself, cane firmly within her grasp. Meanwhile, Claudia went from having a look on her face that screamed my hero to one that screamed for help as she broke back into tears. 

“Oh my god, Claudia?!” Josephine almost immediately regretted yelling at her, because it only made things worse. “Holy hell, honey. Is that what’s got you like this?!”

Claudia nervously nodded her head, still tugging on her collar with both hands as Josie arrived again to comfort her. She was shaken to her core, once again unable to form words. 

“Breathe in.” Josie sat next to her, cane in hand, demonstrating. “Breathe out.”

And Claudia followed. Breathing in and then breathing out. 

“Deep breath in.” Josie did it again, continuing to calm her wife. “Deep breath out.”

And Claudia listened again, breathing deeper this time. 

“Deep breath in. Deep breath out. Breathe in. Breathe out. In. Out. In. Out.”

At this point Claudia didn’t need a demonstration, she just kept going, staring into Josie’s eyes for support. 

“That’s it.” Josephine smiled, setting the cane down in her lap. “Just like that.”

Claudia’s eyes once again shook as she saw Preyboy in Josie’s lap, beginning to hyperventilate.

“Claudia, no.” Josie frowned, holding the cane up for her wife to see. “Slow down. In. Out. In. Out. Slowly.”

Claudia’s eyes snapped back to Josie’s, quickly slowly her breath back down. 

“Hands on your head.” Josie frowned, tapping Claudia between the legs with the head of her cane. “Cross your legs.”

She quickly did as she was told, putting both hands on her head as she sat criss cross in bed in front of her wife. 

“You’re having a panic attack, honey.” Josie frowned, holding the cane in front of her wife to show her that there was nothing to be afraid of. “Watching your step-mom die has traumatized you, and having her collar around your neck is making that trauma claw its way back up.”

“What do I do?” Claudia was finally able to form words again, not for a second taking her eyes off of Josie’s. “How do I fix this?”

“Talk to me. Let me show you how safe you are. Nobody’s going to electrocute you like that, not while I have this cane.”

“But the controllers. My daddy still has the controllers.”

“That just means that we can trust him not to hurt you like this. He’s not here. I’m here.”

I just sat there in awe at the two of them going back and forth in this sudden harmony. Unfortunately, I wasn’t going to get to watch them for very much longer. 

“You.” Claudia stared straight at me as she spoke. “You’re dead. You’re so fucking dead. When I get my hands on you-”

“I know, Master.” I was already cried out of tears by the time she turned on me. “I know what I’ve done, and I’m ready.”

“Chloe…” Josie almost looked distraught hearing me say that, and I wasn’t doing any better. “No…”

“I knew what would happen, and I disobeyed anyway, Master.” I sniffled back the last of my tears, lowering my head in submission towards. “I knew what my punishment was going to be when I said it, and I’m ready. I’m ready to die.”

The two of them just looked at each other. Claudia stared up at her wife for support. Josie just hung her head. And I awaited my cruel fate. 

“We’ll talk about this in the morning.” Josie was almost saying it more for her wife’s benefit than for mine. “But for now you need to go into the cell.”

“I’m sorry, Josie. But you’re not my master.” I took a deep breath before daring to look up at the woman who owned me. “She is.”

“Do as she says, Chloe. That’s an order.” Her terrified eyes twitched as they stared me down, steadying only as they returned to her wife. “She’s in charge now.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” I bowed just slightly before sitting back up. “If I may have one request-”

“You may put in your request, but I can’t promise anything.” Claudia continued to keep her eyes off of me. “What is it?”

I smiled ever so slightly as I glanced down, cradling the blue half of Candace’s necklace in my hand as I spoke. 

“I’d like to be able to watch Candace host the world championship.”

Chapter 41: Found Family

Summary:

And so we crawl ever closer and closer to the promised day.

Notes:

Please let me know what you think!!

I'm sorry about the extra long chapter, but this section of the story is drawing to a close, so I have to get it all out now, and I hope you enjoy it!!

8th November, 8 days until the banquet.

 

“Candace, honey. It’s nearly midnight.” Cardinal welcomed his daughter inside as soon as he could, if only to stop her pounding at the door.

“I know it’s late, but it couldn’t wait for tomorrow.” Candace skipped the physical pleasantries of meeting her father at the door. She wasn’t here to visit. She was here to pick a fight. “It’s urgent.”

“Are you alright?” Cardinal frowned. “What’s wrong?” 

He stepped aside as Candace forced her way through the door, a more than familiar enforcer following her inside. Cardinal wasn’t surprised to see Nell, he was just confused to see them with Candace. Something was up, and he didn’t like it. 

The door quickly locked shut behind them as Cardinal peered out the window, making sure they weren’t followed here. Candace was on edge from the moment she walked through that door, and her father needed to make sure that she was safe. 

Cardinal did not take phone calls. That was the rule. If someone wanted to speak with him, they needed to come to him directly. “Since you came all the way here I’m going to assume it’s about me.”

“Of course it’s about you.” Candace fumed. “You tried to put my mother’s collar around my neck.”

“I did no such thing.” 

“Like hell you didn’t. You’re trying to control me.”

“Candace, please. I know you’re upset, but can we sit down and talk this out quietly like a family instead of shouting in each other’s faces like common gangsters? We’re better than that.”

“Are we better than that, dad?” Candace huffed. “Because sometimes it feels like I’m not really a part of this family.” 

“You are this family, Candace.” Cardinal smiled warmly. “Have a seat. Anywhere in the house, please. Take your pick.”

An exasperated sigh left Candace’s lungs as she entertained her father’s wishes, following him to his office alone. Cardinal even pulled out his own chair for Candace to sit in, letting his princess have a seat at her father’s desk. 

“Now start from the beginning.” Cardinal stood directly behind her, setting his hands on the top of the backrest to keep it steady. “What happened?”

“I know how mom died.” Candace shrank. Not even sitting in the king’s throne could make her feel strong as long as her father was looming over her like this. “You lied to me.”

“How did I lie to you?”

“You knew Claudia killed mom and you never told me.”

“I left out that part, sure. But do you remember what I told you instead?”

“You told me you killed her.” 

“I told you that the family killed her. Our family killed your mother. Not me. Not your sister. Our family.” 

“You had better not count me in that. I had no part in my own mother’s death.”

“Do you want to be a part of this family, Candace?” Cardinal asked her. “Or do you want to be more than that?”

“More than what?”

“You could be more than just a part of this family. You could be this family.”

There was a long pause as Candace felt her father let go of his chair, the silence punctuated by the sounds of him pouring drinks behind her. Candace wasn’t fond of gin, but when someone placed a glass in front of her, she swallowed it. 

“I am this family, and this family is me, Candace. I’m not just responsible for my children, but everyone who works under us. Every mistake we make reflects on me. Every gun pointed at you is one pointed at me. When my family is disrespected, it’s an attack on me.”

Candace curled in on herself as she brought the glass to her lips, knocking back her drink as she quietly listened to her father’s whispers. 

“I tried teaching your sister to be like me, and she failed. But that failure isn’t just hers, it’s mine. She may have been the one to press the button, but I was the one who gave her the button. I’m the reason your sister is the way she is. If anyone is to blame for your mother’s death, it’s me. So that’s what I let you believe.” 

“I don’t care who killed her, dad. It’s not about who’s to blame, it’s about all of the deceit.” Candace said with a weak voice. “I’m not mad at Claudia because she killed my mom. I’m mad at her because she lied to me about it. She could have just told me, but instead she hid this from me for twelve years, and she still tried to claim me like my mom. How could you ever trust her to put that collar on me?”

“I didn’t trust her, Candace. I trusted you.” Cardinal gently turned Candace’s chair to the side to face him, crouching on the floor in front of her as he took her hands into his and held them. “I trusted you to decide what you wanted to be. Because I knew you’d make the right choice, and what did you do?”

“I clasped that thing as tight around her throat as I could.” Candace almost sounded proud of herself. “That’s what.”

“That’s my girl.” Cardinal grinned proudly, slowly standing up in front of her. “I knew you had it in you.” 

She let out a sigh of relief as her father praised her, the anxiety in her chest slowly unwinding itself. Sometimes Cardinal came off as an uncaring lunatic, but Candace knew deep down that he loved his family. 

“But I still don’t understand why?” Candace frowned, gently letting go of his hands as he stood. “Why go along with her schemes? Why entertain her attempts to try and impress you? Why let her do something like that to me?”

“Because I love your sister. You and I both know that there is no better teacher than failure. Either she impressed me enough to become my heiress again, or she failed, and she learned from it.” Cardinal spoke with the confidence of the criminal mastermind that he was. “But make no mistake, she was never in control. I was. I would never hand over the controller to your collar to anyone, not after what happened to your mother.”

Candace swallowed nervously, carefully not to say anything that would cross the line. “And Claudia’s controller-”

“No.” He stopped her behind the starting line. “I will not hand over the controller to your sister’s collar for much the same reason. Especially not for something like this, because I know exactly what you’re after, and the answer is no.”

“But what about-”

“When I say no, I mean no.” 

“Chloe risked her life to help me, father.” Candace leapt to her feet from her father’s chair. Chloe’s safety was the one thing she was willing to stand up for right now. “She’s the one who told me about mom’s death. Without her help I would have mom’s collar around my neck as we speak.”

“Then it’s your job to respect that, Candace.” Cardinal stood eye to eye with his daughter, his willpower unwavering. “If that girl really did choose to sacrifice her life in order to save you, then you need to respect that choice and let her go through with it. She might not have known what she was doing a year ago, but she knew what would happen when she humiliated you to my face, and she knew what would happen when she stood up to your sister.”

“So even after all of this I’m just supposed to let Claudia do whatever she wants with her?”

“She knew what she was doing, and I have no reason to believe otherwise. She chose this. Let her go out on a high, and don’t give her another chance to screw it all up. Don’t give her another chance to hurt you like your mother hurt me.”

Candace’s heart froze. “My mother?”

Cardinal’s facade broke after a few moments, shattering from the force of an anguished sigh as he reclaimed his rightful place behind his desk. “Your mother was special. She had this power that normal people don’t have, something that a commoner shouldn’t be capable of.”

“Power?” Her voice stuttered nervously. “What power?”

Her father, on the other hand, spoke with total confidence. “The power to change people.”

A single book sat in the top drawer of Cardinal’s desk, bound with leather straps that kept it locked shut. Candace’s hands trembled as she accepted it from him, shaken with total awe. 

“Is this what I think it is?”

“Your mother’s diary.” His fingers grazed the lock as they trailed away from the book, releasing it to her. “You can break the lock of course, but I’m sure your mother would prefer you find the key.” 

“Okay. Where’s the key?”

“I wouldn’t know. She never let me read it.” The drawer slid closed with a thud. “And I’m glad she didn’t, because I let her change me once, and I don’t plan on changing again.”

Candace’s mind raced at the thought of opening this new mystery box of hers, not realizing just how close the key to unlocking it was as she held the diary tight to her chest, her heart beating with nervous excitement. 

“But what about Chloe?” Her voice cracked as she said my name. “What am I supposed to do now?”

“Do as I say and let her die before she changes you forever.” Candace’s father insisted. “If she’s anything like your mother, then she has just as much power over you as you have over her. You need to crush that influence while you still can, and if you’re anything like me- which you are- you’re not going to have the power to do it yourself.”

“So I’m supposed to do what you did?” Her voice shook as she said it, unable to believe what was coming out of her own mouth. “I’m supposed to let Claudia do it for me?”

“Either your sister does it on her own.” Cardinal didn’t even so much as smirk. “Or I make her do it.”

“Is that why you hate Chloe?” Candace looked towards her father with tears in her eyes. “Because she has power over me?”

And Cardinal stared back without even a shred of regret in his eyes. “Yes.”

 

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9th November, 7 days until the banquet.

 

“What do you mean it doesn’t come off?” 

Claudia refused to believe it at first, but the more her mother had to repeat herself the more it really started to sink in. She had expected it to be bad, but her situation was turning out to be far more dire than she had hoped. 

“You can’t just undo the latch?”

“Not without electrocuting you to death.” Lilith seemed almost ashamed to find her daughter like this. “This is a slave collar. It’s specifically designed to keep slaves from trying to remove them.”

“But it was mom’s collar.” Claudia had no qualms about calling Alecia her mother in front of Lilith, her actual mother. Candace’s mother had been more of a mom to her anyways. “If it can’t be removed, how did you get it off of her?”

“Eugh.” Lilith just shook her head and sighed. It was unbecoming of her eldest daughter to refer to a slave as her mother, let alone find herself wearing said slave’s collar. “Cyrus. Please explain this to your sister. I do not have the patience to dumb this down for her.”

Claudia’s brother was largely silent while his mother spoke. She was usually the brains between the two of them until she got sick of repeating herself. But Cyrus didn’t mind, beating concise explanations into women’s heads was what he did best.

“The latch slides in and is held in place by mechanisms in the collar while the device is on. Once it’s off the mechanisms will release and we can pull the two ends apart. But as long as that collar is on, that latch won’t budge.”

“Then turn it off?!”

“We can’t. It’s not designed to turn on and off. It only turns off when the batteries are dead.” Cyrus knelt next to his sister to explain it to her, tapping the collar once on either side of her neck. “There’s two battery modules- here and here- they both have to deplete independently for the system to shut off completely.”

“Or we could remove the batteries?”

“You can’t remove a battery until it’s depleted. Each compartment is held shut by mechanisms like the latch that don’t unlock while the battery is still powering them. It’s like that to keep slaves from removing the batteries. This way you can change one dead battery while the other continues to power the collar.”

“You mean the batteries don’t run down simultaneously?”

“No. The collar actually only needs one battery to run. But when one battery dies, it switches to using the other fully charged battery so that it will remain on while the other battery is replaced.”

“So you’re saying that I have to wait until both batteries are depleted before I can take this thing off?”

“Well, no. Because it will never fully deplete the second battery.”

“Excuse me?” Claudia gave her little brother just about the most baffled look imaginable. “I’m sorry. Did I hear that right?”

Cyrus took a quick glance over his shoulder to his slave of a wife and the collar still firmly clasped around her neck, knowing that this was likely not going to be pleasant news to any of the slaves in the room. 

“To prevent slaves from running away and waiting for the battery to fully deplete, the collar will speed up the process of killing the second battery by unleashing about the last five percent of its energy all at once. That might sound fine on paper, but unless you’re dealing with a corpse, that’s fatal.”

Claudia was shaken for a moment. She could feel her heart pick up speed at the thought of a deadly electric shock. As a plantation owner she had subjected over a dozen unruly slaves to an execution by electrocution, but she never thought it was something she’d be in danger of.

And then she felt Josephine take her hand in hers and squeeze her palm for support, trying to comfort her. Claudia didn’t deserve a woman like her, but there she was, and she had never been so happy to have Josie by her side. 

“So what you’re saying is that there’s literally no way to safely remove the collar from my wife’s neck?” Josie asked, staring straight at her mother-in-law. “You’ve used your genius intellect to design a collar that can never be removed so long as your daughter still lives?”

“That’s not it at all, actually.” Lilith was completely unmoved by what Josie was implying. “There is a way to safely get it off of her while causing minimal damage.”

“Then why not just say that?”

“Because given that the collar around my daughter’s neck is a precious family heirloom of specific sentimental value to her, I know that Claudia is not going to like it.”

“Please, mom.” Claudia was practically begging for help at this point. “What is it?”

“I won’t go into details so as not to give the slaves too many ideas.” Lilith sighed, specifically referring to Aria, Elizabeth, and I on the other side of Claudia’s office. “But the only way to remove the collar without killing you is by breaking it.”

Claudia’s heart broke in her chest as she squeezed her wife’s hand. Hardly a sound escaped her lips as her hand drifted towards the collar, gently curling her fingers around it. “But it was her’s.”

“And now it’s yours.” Lilith’s cane thudded against the floor as she stepped towards her daughter. “The collar is symbolic of one slave’s dedication to her master. To remove it would be going against her owner’s will for her. The only way to remove her collar is to destroy the bond between slave and master. That is why it was designed this way. Because the collar is nothing more than a symbol of her bond to her master, and that bond is more powerful than any machine can be.”

She stared at the collar around her neck with a sorrowful look in her eyes, one that showed just how precious it really was to her. “So my options are to either destroy the collar or kill myself?”

“Yes.” Lilith frowned, clearly not liking this any more than her daughter did. “Those are your options.”

The room filled with a bleak silence, spreading into every corner from the grim pit of despair that was Claudia. But then, a little light of hope appeared, because Josephine wasn’t about to give up like that.

“Those aren’t your only options, honey.” Claudia turned to her with that flicker of hope in her eyes, looking to her for salvation as she spoke. “Obviously I’m not going to let you hurt yourself, that’s off the table. So you could either destroy the collar, or you could keep it?”

I could see the horrified gears in Claudia’s eyes freeze at the sound of it, but not for a second did that light in her eyes go away as long as she was looking towards her wife. “What do you mean?”

“I mean it would suck to have to change the batteries when they die, but we already do that with the other slaves, we could make do.” Josie smiled, still holding Claudia’s hand. “You think I’m just some submissive housewife, but I’ve already got Darcey, Autumn, and Zenna under my boot without even needing their controllers. You can trust me to take care of you. I don’t even need the controllers. You showed me that recently.”

“But my cane, Josie.” Claudia reached her hand towards the table, nervously wrapping her fingers around her cane. It was heavier in her hand now than it ever had been, impossible to pick up. “Even if you weren’t going to electrocute me with the controllers, anyone can just kick my shin and take this from me. If someone gets ahold of this, they can electrocute me.”

“But they can’t electrocute you to death, remember?” Josie gently wrestled it from Claudia’s hand, confiscating it from her. “That’s why you carry this around and not the controllers, because you’ve never trusted yourself not to kill someone with it. Trust it with me and no one can hurt you.”

“You mean no one can hurt me but you?”

“Exactly.” Josie smiled, tapping the cane slightly. “Here, watch. I even know how to use it, let me show you the cane at full power. Can I get one of you girls to come over here?”

Josephine was obviously not going to demonstrate on her wife, so she turned to the three of us. Aria, Liz, and I were all nervously kneeling with our backs to one of the shelves directly across from Claudia’s desk. We knelt in descending age order of our owners, with myself caught between Lilith’s slave and Cyrus’ slave. 

“Well I’m not doing it.” Aria mumbled under her breath, almost embarrassed to be chickening out. “I can’t handle it, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” I sighed, nervously looking up into Josie’s eyes. “It should be me-”

“Whatever.” Liz just let out an exasperated sigh from beside me, rolling her eyes in disbelief. “Let’s just get this over with.”

I was literally seconds from getting to my feet when Liz beat me to the punch, standing up and making it halfway across the office before I’d even begun to move. 

“It’s just one shock. If your sister is going to be such a big baby about it I might as well show her what a real slave is capable of.” Without flinching Liz stepped towards Josephine, her arms behind her back and her collar exposed. “Isn’t that right, Master?”

“Careful with that tongue of yours, darling. Claudia may have a collar around her neck, but that doesn’t make her a slave. At least not yet.” Cyrus smirked, glancing towards his sister out of the corner of his eye. “But yes, go ahead.”

“Yes, Master.” Liz slowly closed her eyes and took a deep breath to prepare herself. “Thank you, Master.”

Josephine smiled with a bit of smug excitement as she raised the serpent’s jaws to Liz’s collar, delivering her a devastating electric shock that forced her to fall to her knees without a sound as she convulsed with pain. 

But even though it looked painful, I knew that it was much worse given the fact that it was Liz on the receiving end of it. She had nerves of steel after years at her husband’s side, which was a direct result of being electrocuted time and time again, but that one still looked like it hurt. 

“Okay, point taken.” Claudia winced as she watched it, averting her eyes as her brother went to help his wife back up and into his waiting arms. “It won’t kill me, but it still hurts.”

“And your father has the proper controllers, right?” Josie turned to her, pulling her close. “He’d never do that to you, would he?”

Claudia paused for a moment to think it over. At first she smiled, but then that smile turned to a look of worry. “I don’t know, actually. Everyone here has too many secrets.”

The whole room went silent at that remark, but only because everyone knew it was true. 

“Whatever happens, you’re going to be safe with me.” Josie assured her. “I promise.”

“But the cane.” Claudia protested. “I need it to walk.”

“No, Claudia. You just think you need it. But I think it’s time you learn to walk without it.”

 

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10th November, 6 days until the banquet.

 

Claudia avoided me for a good while after that. She avoided everyone but Josie for a few days, especially Lilian. 

And that put my fate into a little bit of a limbo, because not even I knew what was going to happen. 

 

“You’re going to be fine!!!” Darcey tried to insist. “Promise!!!”

“Thank you, Darcey.” But Darcey wasn’t a very good liar. “I’m sure you’re right.”

“Come on, don’t be like that.” She smiled nervously. “We have things to cook for the party, remember?”

I’d almost forgotten about Lilith’s party in all of the havoc from the last couple of days, but it was a little bit refreshing to get back on a schedule, even if it was only as Darcey’s tail for the day. There were all these fancy foods that needed to be prepared well in advance, and she needed help making them. 

“Hey, Chloe?” Darcey couldn’t help but stare at the way I cooked, more than able to tell that I was an amatuer. “Where’d you learn to cook?”

“Ummm.” I had to think about that for a moment. “From my foster mom, I think.”

“Foster mom?”

“Yeah. I was a foster kid. Her name was- err, is- Colleen. She raised me from about Lilian’s age I guess. She even sewed me that stuffed dog I love, Poppy.” I sighed, my chest heavy at the memory of her. “Most of the other kids were in and out really quick, but I was the one who never really found an adoptive family. Colleen cared for me and a couple of the other boys until we were ready to be real adults.”

“Awww. She sounds sweet!!!”

“She is sweet. Honestly, I really didn’t deserve someone like her, especially with the way I treated her.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean I worried her to death when I ran away. I was only like fourteen at the time, but I knew it was going to upset her.”

“Wait. If she was so sweet, why would you upset her like that?”

“I didn’t like the way she fussed about every little thing. Back then I just thought she was overbearing. I didn’t think it was fair for her to tell me what to do.”

“What, did she order you around a lot?”

“Well, no. She just acted like any other parent would, I guess.”

“Then what was the problem?”

“I didn’t like being treated like a child. She wasn’t my mom. I didn’t want to listen to her.”

“She sure sounds like a mom to me.” Darcey smiled warmly. “And if she raised you like Zenna raises Lilian, then she’s probably your mom, right?”

“Yeah.” I smiled at the thought of that. “I guess so.”

“You know, if you think about it-” She sounded so smart, and she was confident in herself as she said it. “Maybe the reason you never got adopted was because you already had a mom.”

I blushed, my heart quickly beginning to weigh me down. “Well when you say it like that I feel like an asshole for not realizing it.”

“I’m sure she still thinks about you, right???” Darcey giggled, trying to cheer me up. “I bet she was proud when you kicked Candace’s ass in the finals!!!”

“I sure do hope so.” I frowned, trying to hide the tears in my eyes. “I got a lot of hate for defeating Candace.”

“Hate???” The sound of that discouraged the other girl. “How come???”

“It’s a long story. But I basically got booed whenever I won a tournament.”

“Really???”

“Yes, really.”

“Why???”

I could hear the concern in her voice as she went on, but I just kind of shrugged. “Because I was the villain.”

“How were you the villain???”

“Because nobody really roots for the underdog. I was Sophia Cavalier. I was a rookie who upset the established hierarchy.” I blushed, awkwardly trying and failing to avoid the real reason people hated me. “And I was kind of an asshole.”

“Yeah.” Somehow that didn’t surprise her. “That makes sense.”

“What else was I supposed to do? That’s just the kind of person I am, rough around the edges. People started hating me long before I was a contender, so I just leaned into it.”

“You know that being an asshole doesn’t make people like you better, right?” Darcey pondered over it for a moment. “Being mean just pushes people away.”

“I think that’s why I do it, Darcey.” I could feel her disappointment in me without even needing to see it. “I don’t know how to talk to people. That’s why I don’t have friends. I don’t like when people like me, because I just know they aren’t ever going to love me.”

“But that’s part of the problem, Chloe. None of us can learn to love you because we don’t know anything about you. We’ve tried being your friends, but you won’t let us in.”

I sighed quietly as we continued to work. Darcey was right. I didn’t like letting people in, I was always afraid of being hurt. I didn’t like relying on people, I always needed to do everything myself. But being a slave was the one thing I couldn’t do on my own.

“Once this party is over, I’m going to do better.” I lied out loud to the both of us, knowing very well that I wasn’t even going to live to see the party. “If you still want to be friends, I want to be friends too.”

“Promise???”

“Promise.”

“Then we’re friends.” Darcey giggled happily. “So you’d better not break that promise.”

“I’d never dream of it.” There were tears in my eyes, which for once I didn’t want to shake away. “Thank you, Darcey.”

 

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11th November, 5 days until the banquet.

 

I heard later that Josephine had actually taken Claudia to see a series of doctors over the course of the week. Psychiatrists. Therapists. Physicians. Marriage counselors. Anything you could imagine Claudia needing, Josie forced her into seeing them. 

 

“I never told you this…” Autumn was significantly less optimistic about my chances than Darcey had been. “But I really like your hair…”

“Thank you, Autumn.” That was nice of her, honestly. Especially after I’d been forced to slice a good chunk of it off to help Candace. “I like your hair a lot too.”

“It looks great, but I gotta ask… Do you dye it?”

“I used to dye it.” I giggled at her question. “But the peach eventually washed out, and I’ve just been stuck with the usual orange.”

“It’s pretty either way. You look like Miss Josephine, and I think Josie is really pretty…”

“Maybe I’m just really gay, but I think you’re all pretty.”

“Aww… thanks…” Autumn didn’t quite know how to take a compliment. “Where’d you learn to dye your hair anyways?”

“Ummm.” I had to think about that for a moment too. “I think it was from my foster mom, actually.”

“Really?” Autumn smiled politely as the two of us continued to decorate for the upcoming party. “She was cool with you dyeing your hair?”

“Yeah. She was cool with most things, honestly. Colleen just had a policy of being home by sundown and not getting any tattoos.”

“What’s wrong with tattoos?”

“Tattoos and low income families might seem like they mix really well, but they don’t. They’re practically a beacon telling everyone who can see that you’re in a street gang.” 

“So you never got any tattoos?”

“I was tempted to, but no. And honestly I’m kind of glad I didn’t. If the cops had seen me with a tattoo when I got arrested, they wouldn’t have let me off with a slap on the wrist.”

“Wait… You got arrested?”

“Oh yeah.” I used to be proud of that fact, but I wasn’t quite as thrilled with it anymore. “I was in jail for a few days.”

“How’d that happen?”

“Because I refused to tell them who I was when they arrested me, and I had no identification on me.”

“That I get… but why’d they arrest you?”

“Because I stole a car.”

“You stole a car?” She was downright shocked. “And you got away with a slap on the wrist?”

“It was a neighbor’s car. When they identified it, they tracked down my foster home pretty quickly.”

“Why’d you steal your neighbor’s car?”

“Because I was running away from home.” I always did hate talking about this. “I only really got out of being tried as an adult because of my foster mom, she did a lot to help convince the neighbors not to press charges.”

“So what, you got a slap on the wrist and a spanking when you got home?”

“No, god no. Colleen would never.” I shook my head at even the thought of that. “I got tried as a juvenile and spent what would have been my sentence attending community college and doing public service every weekend while I was on parole.”

“How old were you?”

“I was fourteen. But I’d dropped out of high school after like a year, so-”

“So you never graduated high school?”

“Nope.” I shrugged, not very bothered by that. If anything, it only really compounded into the whole having no friends thing. “Had my GED and an Associate of Arts degree by the time I was eighteen though, I liked that.”

“I would have never guessed…”

“Nobody would have guessed. It’s not like anyone really asks.”

“Can you really blame us…” She peeped shyly. “You’re kind of mean…”

“I know I am. It’s a problem I’m still working on.” I gave her a nervous smile. “If it means anything anymore. I’m really sorry about everything I’ve done. I’ve been an ass, and I’m sorry.”

“I forgive you…” She returned my smile. “You’ve done a lot of good around here too…”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean… Claudia…”

“Honestly, I’ve caused as many problems as I’ve solved around.”

“I don’t know…” Autumn wasn’t so convinced. “Maybe you ought to check your math on that one…”

“Maybe I do.” It was creeping up on me slowly, but I really was going to miss it here. “Thank you, Autumn.”

 

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12th November, 4 days until the banquet.

 

Day by day, the clock kept ticking. My time was running out, and every day it got that much more terrifying. I hadn’t seen Claudia in days, and by now it was clear that Josie was just stalling to let me live until Saturday.

That was when Candace was going to be hosting the world championship, and I wanted to see it before I was gone. It was my last request. 

 

In the meantime, Zenna and I were just kind of visiting. Our master had been out of sight for several days now, but she had been far from out of mind, and it was beginning to worry us both. I figured she probably hid herself away in her office, too afraid to actually go to work, so the sitting room was our best bet to run into her. 

“I almost forgot to congratulate you on the baby, Zenna.” I could only hope that I wasn’t bothering her. My relationship with Zenna had always been more rocky than with the other two. “Have you told Lilian yet?”

“Oh, um. Thank you, but no. I haven’t.” Zenna seemed more than a little bit distraught by that. “You want to know the truth?”

“The truth?”

Zenna frowned nervously, a little bit embarrassed to be saying it out loud. “I’m not really pregnant.”

That was a little bit disappointing to hear, even if I wasn’t going to be here to meet the baby anyways. “False alarm?”

“No.” She hung her head in shame. “I lied about being pregnant.”

“What?!” My eyes widened, just a little bit scared for her now. “Why would you do that?!”

“Because I didn’t want to leave Lilian. It was the only way I could think of staying with the daughter I already have.”

“So you lied to both Claudia and Josie?”

“No, actually. Josie and I both lied to Claudia.”

“You mean she was in on it?”

“She wasn’t in on it. It was her idea.” Zenna blushed, smiling just a little bit proudly. “And it worked.”

“I’m proud of you.”

“Thank you, Chloe.” She purred under her breath. “I am kind of disappointed, though. I’d never really thought about having kids until Lilian, but now I really want one.”

I blushed at that comment. “I know how that feels.”

“Thinking of having kids?” Zenna asked, knowing very well how little time I had to live. “It’s never too late?”

“Oh god no. I’m not ready for that. I think it would kill me faster than Claudia ever could.” My hand made its way to my stomach, gently pressing against my womb. “Until recently I thought I’d been completely spayed, but even if I could get pregnant on time, I’m terrible with kids.”

“I used to think I was the same way.” Zenna’s eyes floated over towards Lilian’s door. “But then I became a nanny, and I guess that changed.”

“You’re not just her nanny, Zenna. You’re her mom.”

“That’s one good thing that came out of all of this. It’s nice to be able to finally call myself her mother.” Zenna was the one who had tears in her eyes this time. “I wish I could go back and tell my mom the same thing.”

It took me a few moments before that really clicked. “Foster kid?”

Zenna was just a little bit embarrassed to be admitting it. “How could you tell?”

“Takes one to know one, I guess.” I smiled nervously. “I wish I could go back and tell my own foster mother how I really feel about her.”

“You know, this is going to sound mean, but I’m really glad I’m not the only one that missed the chance to give my mom the credit she deserves.”

“At least Lilian gets to call you her mother. You deserve it a lot more than Claudia does.”

I watched Zenna’s blushing face turn red as I said that, but by the time I noticed her whole face glowing red it was already too late to do anything. The light on our collar’s didn’t serve as a warning, so the electricity was soaring into me before I even had the chance to brace myself. 

The horrified look on her eyes was enough to convey just how scared she was to know that we were being listened to. It was one of the worst shocks I’d ever suffered, and for a moment I thought I was actually about to die, but once I was whimpering through gritted teeth it did eventually subside. 

Blacking out was about the best way I could describe the following moments, brought to unconsciousness for just a few minutes following the shock, nothing too extreme. It was painful, but I’d been through much worse. It was mostly just an annoyance. My vision was blurred for a little bit, but my ears were ringing for a lot longer than I would have liked. 

Listening was made difficult by the high pitched buzz, but once it was gone I could finally hear what was going on. Zenna was knocking on the locked door to the vestibule, while a pair of voices were going at each other in the office. From the sounds of it Claudia was freaking out and Josie was doing her best to help calm her down. 

“Hey girls.” Josie quietly answered the door, letting Zenna step towards her inside of the vestibule. “See, Claudia. Chloe is fine, you didn’t kill her.”

“I don’t care!!” Came Claudia’s voice from deeper inside of her office. “Help me put them away!!”

Josie just sighed, giving her wife an exhausted smile to show how much she loved her. “Just put them back in the drawer, honey.”

“Is she alright?” Zenna frowned, asking after a moment of silence from Claudia. “What’s going on?”

“I’m trying to help Claudia get her confidence back with the controllers, so I let her shock you after that last comment.” Josephine frowned, shaking her head at me. “But she still doesn’t trust herself not to accidentally kill you.”

My voice cracked as I first tried to speak, still broken from the shock. “It’s fine, Ma’am. I know I deserve it.”

Josephine paused, unsure of how to respond. “Claudia and I talked it out, and I convinced her to wait until after the party. So if there’s anything you’d like to do before then, please make sure you do it within the next couple days, okay?”

“Yes, Ma’am.” I let out a defeated sigh, knowing exactly what awaited me when my time ran out. “Thank you so much for everything.”

“Of course.” She gave me a polite smile. “I’m sorry that it turned out this way, but we can’t keep you after this. Please understand.”

I could feel the tears shaking free from my eyes as I nodded my head. “I understand-”

“I don’t.” Zenna quickly cut in, interrupting me. “You can’t do this to her, Master. It’s not her fault.”

My eyes sparkled just a bit as I turned to her, standing up for me like I was still one of her sister slaves. “Zenna?”

“That’s enough, Zenna.” Josie frowned, silencing her. “Claudia is still upset with you.”

“She’s upset with me?!” Zenna protested, snarling like a lion under her breath. “Did you tell her I’m not really pregnant?!”

Josephine instantly wished she’d caught Zenna before she blurted it out loud, her face nervously flustered as she turned to her wife, unable to find the words to say. 

“What do you mean you’re not pregnant?”

Claudia was dressed in what looked to be an emerald green evening gown as she stepped towards the door, a confused frown painted onto her face. Her lovers, meanwhile, both looked about as guilty as they could be. 

She blushed as she turned to her wife. “Josie?”

“Look. It worked, didn’t it?” She sighed nervously. “You’re not leaving us, right?”

Claudia needed a few moments before she could answer. “Of course I’m not. But it was still a mean thing to lie about.”

“In my defense.” Zenna added. “You were going to separate my daughter and I.”

“Lilian hasn’t stopped being my daughter, Zenna.” Claudia hid behind Josie, too nervous to stand alone in front of her slave. “I wanted to separate from her just as little as you did.”

“Thankfully that’s not gonna happen, right?” The cowardly lion quickly grew flustered. “We’re all together in the end, and I’m not pregnant, so you don’t need to worry about a new baby.”

“But I want a new baby.” Claudia blushed, her poker face fading away. “I just don’t want to screw everything up like I did with Lilian.”

“You didn’t ruin Lilian, Ma’am.” Zenna tried her best to assure her. “I promise.”

“I’ll believe it until I see it.” Claudia frowned. “Until then, I’m just going to let her be.”

“Of course, Ma’am.” Zenna bowed, her smirk giving away her mischievous little idea. “I should probably go get her from her nap.”

“You probably should, Darcey is going to have lunch ready soon.” Josephine giggled, pulling her wife into her arms for an embrace. Claudia just kind of had to awkwardly snuggle into her, because to be honest, it was really difficult for her to hide behind Josie when she was so much taller than her, even if her wife was also over six feet tall. “Could you bring your controller to me, Zenna?”

“My controller?” Lilian still had Zenna’s controller. “What do you need my controller for?”

“Claudia doesn’t like it, but she gave me all of your controllers for my own safety, and I want her to do the same. Especially if she’s going to be my trophy wife from now on.” Josie’s teases made Claudia blush profusely. “We’re going to lock them all away until she’s ready for that, though. Just to be safe.”

“It’s about time, too. I’ve always thought giving my controller to a five year old was a bad idea, even if it is Lilian.”

“Just go get it from her, okay?” 

Josie smacked Zenna on the ass as she turned to leave, and I could see the jealous look on Claudia’s face for just a moment. But the second we locked eyes, my master growled at me. 

“I don’t want to hear a thing from you.” 

Her hostility towards me wasn’t surprising, and I’d already been keeping my mouth shut for her anyways, so I just gave her a nod. But that didn’t seem to satisfy her. 

“Don’t think you’re getting out of this.” Her hands curled into fists as she stomped towards me. She was filled with pure rage, but what terrified me the most was the controller to my collar in her hand, about ready to press the button. “If I had my way, you’d be gone already. Josie’s the one who’s doing this for you, so you had better show her how grateful you are.”

My heart squeezed inside of my chest as I looked on at the both of them, bowing ever so slightly. “Yes, Master. Thank you, Master.”

She eased up after that, quickly filled with a brief sense of relief. Claudia was still clearly quite terrified of me, and the controller in her hand was more for defense than offense. 

 

“Mommy!!” Claudia turned towards the sound of Lilian’s voice, quickly getting down on her knees as the little girl she hadn’t seen for several days now bolted from Zenna’s side to hers. “Slave mommy is trying to take the controller away from me, but I tried to tell her no!!”

I was only just realizing it, but Lilian was honestly really tall for a five year old girl. She shouldn’t be so big already, but when Claudia was kneeling she had to actually look up at Lilian, which was a weird sight to see considering just how tall her mother was. She was four feet tall already, and she undoubtedly got that from Claudia. 

She was shaking with fear, too. The controller to Zenna’s collar was gripped tight in her hand, trying to protect herself. Lilian didn’t want to run to Claudia for help, but she didn’t know what else to do. She wasn’t usually scared of Zenna, but when she was it really threw things off for her considering how terrified she was of her biological mother. 

“Tell her she can’t have it cuz she’s a slave, please Mommy!!” And just like her mother, she was growing into quite the little mistress herself, already making decisions for her other mother, the slave standing behind her. Lilian had clearly been taught not to let slaves take their own controllers from her. “Tell her that controllers are for real people!!”

The look in Claudia’s eyes told all that she was sure that she’d ruined this child, but then an idea dawned on her which made her smile. “Lilian, sweetie. It’s okay, give it to her for me?”

Just hearing her mother speak scared Lilian, who was about as terrified of Claudia as I was. Clearly Lilian was already distraught, or she wouldn’t have ran up to her mother. She just sort of froze for a few moments, the tiny lego sized gears in Lilian’s head ticking away as she stood there, sniffling quietly. She hesitated for a moment, before slowly extending her hand towards her mother’s to give the controller to her. 

And then those eyes of hers found something really curious. 

“I don’t have to.” She pulled her hand away before Claudia could take the controller from her. “I’m a real girl.” 

“Lilian, sweetie-”

“Mommy?” Lilian tilted her head in confusion. “What’s that?”

Claudia’s hands quickly clasped over the collar around her neck, her eyes shaking with fear at the look on Lilian’s face, staring at her like she wasn’t a real person anymore. Her daughter was actually seeing the collar around her throat and associating it with her being a slave, which was breaking her mother’s heart. 

Lilian couldn’t quite understand what was happening just yet. “Mommy’s a slave now?”

A torrent of emotion washed over her face, unable to actually say no. “Lilian…”

Claudia’s face slowly began to tear up with anguish, but that quickly faded away as the light in Lilian’s amazed little eyes brought a smile to both of their lips. “That means I’m safe, right?”

Her mother went wide eyed at her daughter’s sudden confidence. “What was that, sweetie?”

“Nanny says I never have to be scared of her cuz she has a collar around her neck.” Lilian smiled happily, pointing at the collar Claudia was wearing. “I don’t have to be scared, see?”

“Oh, Lilian.” Claudia’s face quickly turned red, happy tears beginning to pour down her cheeks. “Your slave mom’s done a really good job of teaching you.”

Claudia broke, her face bursting into a torrent of emotion as she sat there on her knees and sobbed. She didn’t like to cry, and her daughter didn’t like seeing her cry, but even Lilian could tell that her mother was happy.

“I love you, Mommy.” Lilian clamored into Claudia’s arms, and the two grabbed onto each other. “Please don’t leave me.”

“I’d never dream of it, sweetie.” Claudia smiled happily, burying her face into her daughter’s shoulders as she glared daggers at me out of the corner of her eyes. “Besides, Mommy can’t leave. You’re gonna have a little brother or sister on the way soon.”

Lilian’s eyes went wide with excitement, while everyone else was just shocked to hear her suggest it. “Really?”

“Yes.” Claudia gazed softly towards Zenna, gently setting Lilian back down. “Really.”

“We’ll talk about it later, okay Lily?” Josephine smiled nervously as she crouched next to them both, extending her hand towards her daughter. “Right now I need you to give me that.”

Lilian looked on at her and nodded, gently placing the controller to Zenna’s collar in her redheaded mother’s hand. I was practically Josie’s cisgender doppelganger, and that meant Lilian looked a lot like me by proxy. I could really see what Claudia meant when she said Lilian wouldn’t be able to tell the difference, because even I could mistake her for being my daughter if I didn’t know better. She was just like Josie right down to that cute little head of messy orange hair, but with cloudy blue eyes that came straight from Claudia, Lilian was their daughter alright. 

“Thank you, Mistress.” Zenna smiled as she took Lilian’s empty hand again, letting the kid cling to her all over again. “I’m going to take Lily back upstairs while you three talk things out some more.”

Claudia just crossed her arms. “We’ll talk to you later, slave.”

Lilian watched Zenna bow before following her nanny back upstairs, skipping beside her like nothing had happened at all. Soon enough, Zenna and Lilian were back upstairs, and all of the controllers were tucked inside of Claudia’s desk for safekeeping.

The two of them were always awfully sweet together no matter the circumstance, and nothing from the last two months had changed that. I was still just astonished that it had been that long since I got here at all, and it somehow felt like my life was crashing in on me far too soon. 

“I’m sorry, did I miss a step?” Josie questioned her. “I thought we were on the same page about Zenna not actually being pregnant.”

“We are, but now Lilian is expecting one of us to have a baby.” Claudia smirked. “So you had better fix that before you break her little heart.”

“Honey, I don’t understand. Why’d you lie to her?”

“Because you lied to me.”

“That was only to try and keep this family together.”

“Telling me that Zenna was going to be having a baby was only going to work if she actually ended up having a baby. Even if your plan worked, it would have only fallen apart once I found out it was a lie.”

“Because if you stayed for a baby that doesn’t exist, you wouldn’t really have a reason to stay at all. But I wasn’t really going to break your heart and have a baby with any of our slaves, not without talking to you first.”

“Well congratulations, here is your talk. Our daughter is expecting someone to have a baby, so we need to have a baby. It’s as simple as that.”

“So you want to have another baby. You mean it?”

“Yes, Josie. I mean it. Let’s have another baby.”

The two of them just smiled at each other, and for once I could say it was nice to hear them talking, especially when they weren’t shouting at each other. But that just left one more problem to handle. Me.

“Master? Mistress?” I swallowed nervously, sick of sitting on the sideline for my last few days. “Where do I fit into all of this?”

“You don’t.” Claudia responded within an instant. “That’s the problem.”

“Master, I-”

“You knew what was going to happen.” Nervous eyes remained fixed on anything but me as she spoke. “You said you’re ready to die. Do you still mean that?”

“Yes.” I replied without a moment of hesitation. “I just want a few more days, please.”

“I bought you for this party. So you are going to serve at this party.” Claudia frowned. “That’s the plan at least.”

“You really trust me to serve at your party, Ma’am?”

“No.” Claudia practically snorted at that one. “But that just means I get to kill you in front of all of my guests if you fail. The girl who humiliated Candace St. Clair dying by my hand in front of a live studio audience. Doesn’t that sound wonderful?”

“No. No it doesn’t, Ma’am. If I have to go out I think I’d rather go out before then, if that’s okay with you?”

She clearly didn’t like my overly defeated attitude. “What happened to all that fight you had in you?”

“She’s still in there somewhere, Ma’am.” I gave her the most lifeless smile I could manage. “But Sophia Cavalier only comes out to play against worthy opponents.”

Her begrudging enjoyment dropped dead right then and there. “We’ll see about that.”

 

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13th November, 3 days until the banquet.

 

Lilian would need to be talked to about how slaves were people, but for now it was okay to keep her in the dark. 

I only had a few days left to live, so I wasn’t going to be here to watch it all blow over, which was fine with me. I just wanted to spend my last few days with my fellow slaves, knowing that they were the ones who were really going to miss me. 

But we couldn’t really go a week after what had happened without sitting down as a household and talking it all out. 

 

“Alright, girls. Have a seat.” Josie gathered us all in their bedroom, having the four of us kneel beside the vanity. “We have to talk.”

“This is about Chloe, isn’t it…”

“You’re not really going to get rid of her, right???”

Came the responses from my fellow slaves, more than just a little bit concerned for my well being. They knew by now what was going to be happening to me, they’d seen it once before. 

“Master, please.” Zenna was the strongest willed one of us to protest this, knowing that by now she was practically immune to being put down. “You can’t do this.”

“Shut it, Zenna.” Claudia snapped at her, growling loudly. “This isn’t about you, this is about the good of this family.”

“And for the good of this family.” Josie continued for her, far more calm and put together. “We really have no choice, girls.”

“And why not, Master?” Zenna snarled, gritting her teeth. “How can you just let Claudia do this?”

“I’m not letting Claudia do anything, Zenna. You should know by now that things are more complicated than that.” Josie pointed the cane towards us, still getting the hang of using it as she tapped the head of Claudia’s collar, making her wife shake with fear for just a moment. “This collar is not a laughing matter, we can’t just let it go unpunished. It’s not a choice at this point.”

Claudia grimaced. Five days of wallowing in fear had been enough for her.

The cane fell prey to her grasp as she wrapped her fingers around its neck, sliding it out of her wife’s hands and into her own. Her confidence always dropped without her prized weapon in hand, but now that she was holding it for the first time since her sister had ripped it from her clutches, Claudia felt unstoppable.

“My father is going to be here tomorrow, so I need each of you to be on your best behavior around him.” She held it in her right hand for a moment before flicking it to her dominant hand, and then back. Amidst the chaos it was easy to forget that she was left handed. “If my word of torment isn’t enough to justify this for you all, remember that my father wants Chloe dead as much, if not more, than I do.”

Thump . She slammed the tip of her cane against the ground with a far less coordinated, but much more forceful, thud. I watched her slump forward, putting her weight onto it as she lorded over me, mere feet from my face. 

“And he still has the controller to this collar around my neck.” Her eyes were two fiery balls of rage pointed towards mine. “So what he says goes.”

“Your daddy wants me dead.” I smirked, rolling my eyes. “And because you’re that much more of a bitch than I am, you’re going to do exactly what he says.”

Claudia gasped, and for a moment she glanced towards her left wrist. She wished she had the confidence to wear her controllers like Candace and Josie could, but she would settle for beating me in the head with her cane. Luckily, before she could even pick it up I had more friends than I probably deserved there to defend me. 

“Please put the cane down, Ma’am.” Zenna was holding onto the other end of the implement, knowing that she was more than capable of wrestling it out of her master’s hand. “We can talk it out, let us help you.”

“It’s not her fault, Mistress…” Autumn practically clung to me like a cocklebur, which thankfully didn’t grow here like they did back home, considering that I was allergic to them. It was weird given that Darcey was supposed to be the one made of straw, but I was happy to see that Autumn had enough heart to care about me. “She can’t help but be mean, it’s a defense mechanism. She doesn’t know how to talk to people.”

“You have to go easier on her, Ma’am. Please!!!” Darcey pouted, the metallic gears in her little scarecrow brain going off at a mile a minute, trying to work out a way through this. “She’s got like textbook red flags going on. Irritability. Aggression. Guilt. Not to mention all of her self-destructive behaviors. Talking back. Refusing to make friends. Purposefully antagonizing the people close to her.”

I blushed as she listed all those things off, watching Claudia slowly lower her cane back to the floor. Clearly I wasn’t the only one who was still amazed to see Darcey and Autumn do things like this, and I could see how Josie was swooning over her two personal slaves.

“If you do this, we’ll never be able to forgive ourselves, Mistress.” Zenna pleaded with her as she held onto Claudia’s cane, making the eyes of a desperate little kitten up at her. “Please don’t put her down. Not after what happened to Bella.”

Claudia couldn’t help but stare at those eyes of hers, letting her cane fall into Zenna’s hands. “I know you girls got attached to Bella. But there was a reason she didn’t even make it a year. You didn’t know Bella like I knew Bella.”

Josephine slowly crawled towards her wife as Claudia sat down on the edge of the bed, gently placing both hands on her shoulders and beginning to rub them. “I’m sorry, Claudia.”

“I don’t blame you, Josie.” Claudia smiled, placing her hand over her wife’s, still rubbing her shoulder. “It was my fault for not saying anything sooner.”

“Claudia, honey.”

“It’s funny, you know.” Claudia snapped out of it, leaping back to her feet. “All this time I thought that you coming out as a woman was some sign from above that I was meant to step it up and be your husband. But that only led to further and further misery for all of us.”

It took everything I had to hold my tongue during Claudia’s frankly cartoonishly villainous speech, but I bit the bullet anyways. 

“I’ll admit it. I’m gay and I always have been, just like Josie. She’s always been a beautiful woman, and that’s why I fell in love with her.” She turned to her blushing bride beside her, and just for a moment we could sense the connection between them as Claudia sat down and grabbed her by both hands. “But you were never meant to be the housewife. This is who you’ve always been. You weren’t the one to change, I was, and it was wrong of me to try and change you.”

“And it was wrong of me not to say something sooner. I shouldn’t have just gone along with it when it was obvious that trying to be this for me was hurting you. I knew that being the wife wasn’t working out with me, but instead of being honest, I just bought slaves to do the job for me.” Josie squeezed Claudia’s hands, trying her best to help her wife open up. “I should have realized how scared you were. But I gave up and left you to deal with it all by yourself, and you ended up getting hurt because of me.”

“Bella.” Zenna’s hands curled tightly around her master’s cane, still in her hands. I could feel the tension in her beside me, growing more defensive of her lovers with every word, and I could only hope that anger wasn’t about to unleash itself. “Bella hurt you?”

“I’m sorry for not telling you sooner. I just didn’t want you all to think I was weak. I would rather you all be afraid of me for putting her down than let you know I was afraid of her. Because what good is a husband who can’t even stop her own slave from beating her to the ground?” Claudia smiled sadly, hanging her head ever so slightly at the memory of it. “That was why I made you wear all of the controllers. Not so that you could protect yourself, because I know you can protect yourself. It would so you could protect me.”

“And I’m going to protect you from now on, just like a good husband should.” Josie tipped Claudia’s head upwards just slightly, pressing her lips to her wife’s and stealing a kiss. “So let’s show the girls how good of a wife you can be, huh?”

Claudia’s face lit up with embarrassment as she lied back in bed, letting her wife climb on top of her. “Whatever you say, dear.”

 

For the first and last time I think I’d ever get to see, Josephine was on top, and within moments the two of them were somehow stripped naked and ready to let us watch them ravish each other. 

Claudia more than happily melted into sex with her wife, spreading her legs at even the slightest touch from the other woman. This wasn’t something new to her, this was something she’d kept bottled up for a while now, and it left her wet with anticipation.

Josie was grinning like an idiot, almost surprised at how easy her own cock slid into her wife’s already dripping cunt. They’d planned and rehearsed this of course, that was why the four of us were here, so that we could see who was really in charge from now on. 

For all the kinky sex I’d gotten used to having, there was still some magic to the missionary position, especially when seeing just how much fun those two were having with it. I couldn’t tell what was happening with those spinning gears in their heads, but it was obvious that they were having a lot more fun now than they had in quite a while. 

Claudia always had this playful hiss to her, even and especially when she was on the bottom. I hadn’t yet seen her be penetrated, but she quite clearly loved it enough to be moaning in moments. 

Josephine, on the other hand, had a crazed hunger to her like I’d never seen. She wanted this, and she was willing to take it by force now that it was within reach, and Claudia was willing to give it to her.

Or rather, Claudia wanted her to take it. 

For all the flustered heat building up between my own thighs, I couldn’t really touch myself as I watched this. Claudia had forced me into her own chastity belt before attempting to collar her sister, and she hadn’t exactly taken it off of me. She was saving that for later.

But it was an inferno getting to watch these two. Claudia was more of a brat than I could have ever taught Josephine to be. And when I watched the girl on the bottom reach for the riding crop she’d gifted Josie with for their anniversary, it all came full circle. 

Claudia was not the kind of person who could take more than a few snaps from a riding crop like that, not like I could. So when she started whimpering at just the feeling of the crop rubbing against her skin, it was clear she wasn’t going to last much longer at all. Josephine and Claudia kept pushing further and further, and they got right up to the edge before having to stop themselves. 

And that was when I realized what I was watching. Because I wasn’t just watching these two have safe vanilla missionary sex at all.

I was watching Claudia get cucked by her own wife. 

 

“Oh Zenna, sweetie.” Josephine was gasping for breath as she pulled out, leaving Claudia lying there, desperate for more. “Can you bring me my wife’s chastity belt?”

Zenna was clearly as surprised by this as we were, considering how hard she was blushing as she turned towards me. “Yes, Master?”

I bit my lip and spread my legs, letting Zenna bring the head of the cane to my crotch, and with a click, the harness unlocked and slid right into her hands. 

“Go ahead. Lock her in there.” Josephine beckoned Zenna into bed between them, positioning her on all fours on top of Claudia, returning the chastity belt to its rightful owner. “Be a good girl and just let Claudia watch.”

Oh how Claudia seethed as she watched Zenna slide the belt onto her unprotected cunt and locked it into place. It was hard to tell from her expression, but it certainly looked like she hadn’t been expecting it. “J-Josie?!”

“Oh hush, my love.” Josephine cooed at her from behind the doggystyle slave between them. “Zenna deserves this, don’t you think?”

“Y-yeah… but-” Claudia stuttered nervously. “R-right now?”

“You were the one who promised Lilian a little sibling.” Josie held Zenna tight by both hips, forcing an excited purr from the lion’s lips. “And I think we both know who deserves to give her one.”

Zenna purred happily at the sound of that, licking her hungry lips. With another click, the eyes of Claudia’s cane began to glow crimson, ready to record all of this as it unfolded. 

And Claudia’s cheeks turned just as red as she rested her head back onto the pillow behind her, watching with bated breath as her wife’s cock slid its way inside of the lioness’ cunt. She might not have been able to touch herself while watching this, but I was. Like hell was I going to let the sight of my new tormentor getting cucked go without getting a little pleasure out of it, so that’s what I did. 

I hadn’t heard such happy sounds coming from Zenna’s lips than when she came, feeling Josephine fill her with cum, which just left Claudia whimpering with heat and jealousy. 

Claudia was not exactly happy about what had just happened, having been humiliated in front of the rest of her slaves by her own wife. A familiar look in her eyes flashed with anger hidden just beneath the surface, but all of that faded away when she felt Zenna climb on top of her.

“I love you, Master.” Zenna curled up into Claudia’s arms, nuzzling her head into her owner’s naked chest for comfort. “Thank you!! Thank you!! Thank you!!” 

The tears that littered Zenna’s eyes were clearly as happy as can be, but even they didn’t last very long when Claudia wrapped her arms around the girl and wiped them away. “You deserve it, Zenna. You really do.”

Oh how I longed to really be a part of this family at that moment, but the look in Claudia’s eyes as she just glared at me told me that I was not long for this world, and a little piece of her did regret that. They looked so happy together just then, and all I wanted was to be a part of that.

 

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14th November, 2 days until the banquet.

 

My hands trembled as I sat on the floor of Claudia’s office, positioned in front of the very same television that I’d been forced to watch Claudia kill Candace’s mother on, because of course this was the way that it was going to happen. 

Today was the day, finally, Candace was going to be hosting this year’s tournament at the convention. The very same convention that had ruined my life almost exactly a year ago.

And it was going well enough. Candace was hosting and commentating live on the matches in progress, which currently were semifinal matches. The focus wasn’t on her, of course, since she wasn’t playing. I was just surprised to find out that the other commentator was my ex-boyfriend, so it was strange to hear the two of them interacting again after so long. 

 

“She’s in here.” Claudia led her guests into the office with her, directing them straight to me. “You said you wanted to see her.”

“Yes please.” A more than familiar face followed her inside, sporting her usual head of curly brown hair. “Before your dad rips her to shreds.”

Leah Watts, unusually chipper for a day like today, slowly crouched next to me. She must have sensed my tension, because she got onto a similar position on her knees as I was, most likely to help me relax around her. 

“Hey kiddo.” She smiled, respecting what little dignity I had left by not looking at me anywhere but the eyes. “How ya doing?”

“Oh you know.” I just rolled my eyes. “Bad.”

“Hey, Claudia?” Leah turned to her once very good friend. “Can we have a moment?”

“Sure.” My master frowned, turning her back on the two of us. “I’ll go check on my father.”

Even the sound of the door clicking shut did nothing to ease my fears, because I knew I couldn’t trust Leah anymore than I could trust Claudia. “What do you want, Leah?”

“I wanted to see you one last time.” She relaxed into a more comfortable position on the floor once she realized kneeling wasn’t the way to go. “Honestly.”

I just shook my head at her. “Well if you want to do me a favor, how about you take that gun of yours and put a bullet in my head already?”

“Oh you’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Leah snorted. “Trust me. It’s not the way to go.”

“And you would know somehow?”

“Nah.” She nudged my shoulder just gently. “Never been shot in my life, and I don’t plan on changing that.”

“Leah.” I started, my voice already nervous as I tried to figure out whether that gun of hers is loaded. “I fucked up.”

“If it helps at all, I think you did the right thing.” Leah had tears in her eyes as she looked up at the screen. “I just really wanted to thank you for helping her make the right decision, you know?”

“You okay?” I managed to get my own eyes off the screen long enough to give her a worried look. “I think you’ve got something in your eyes.”

“Shut up.” She sighed, wiping them clean of tears before looking back up. “Candace’s wellbeing means a lot to me, that’s all.”

“Why?” I frowned, glaring her directly as she turned to me. “Why do you care about her so much?”

“Same reason as you.” Leah was unphased by my piercing looks. “Because I love her.”

A knot grew in my chest as she said that, swallowing a large lump in my throat as I returned my focus to the screen ahead, towards two players who I had ironically defeated in last year’s tournament, knowing that one of them was going to be going to the finals. 

“How can you stand to love someone like her?”

“It’s not about being able to stand someone. It’s about sticking by them even when you can’t.” Leah also returned her eyes to the screen, a smile overtaking her as she listened in. “Usually you don’t get to pick your family, but I did, and that’s what Candace is to me. Family.”

I smiled at the thought of that. “How’d you meet her?”

“Through her sister, actually. Claudia and I went to school together. My dad worked for her dad so it was a whole thing.” Leah rolled her eyes, fastforwarding through the tale of her life. “Long story short, I was her babysitter at age fourteen.”

I snorted. “She needed a babysitter at age fourteen?”

“No, smartass. I was fourteen. She was four.” She shoved me just a bit. “You know, Lilian’s age.”

I giggled at just the thought of Candace at that age. “And what was she like when she was four?”

“You have to promise not to tell anybody, especially her sister.” Leah actually made a quick scan around the room to assure that the coast was clear. “But I had a little sister just a little bit older than her, so I grabbed my eight year old little sister’s dresses and started bringing them with me to babysit Candace, and I started dressing her in them to bother Claudia.”

“You’re kidding.” My eyes went wide at the sound of that, unable to help but laugh. “What happened with that?”

“Oh, Claudia flipped her shit.” Leah giggled maniacally. “But this kid could not get enough of it. So I just kept doing it, until eventually I had to start buying new clothes to dress her in.”

“And what did her parents do?”

“Well when her mom found out it wasn’t like she was going to tell her husband.” Leah sighed at just the thought of Candace’s mom. “Because like he was going to kill me for turning his son into a queer. But it wasn’t like she could afford to buy the clothes herself, so it was just like this little agreement between us. I babysit and play dress up with Candace, and her mom doesn’t rat on me to her husband.”

“Leah?” At this point I was having more than just a good time gossiping about Candace. “You know the implications of this, right?”

“What, that I created Candace St. Clair?” Leah was almost proud to say that. “Yeah, and?”

I smiled just slightly, sighing under my breath as I thought about my own family back home, or the lack of one therein. “It’s a wonder you don’t have kids of your own by now.”

“Believe me, I would love to have kids, but I would never force them into debt like my father did to me.” The only thing keeping her from frowning at this point was that she was watching Candace on the screen with me. “She’s the only family I have left, and family isn’t about loving everything about someone, it’s about accepting the things you don’t. Even if you hate everything about someone, if they’re family, you still love them regardless.” 

I couldn’t help but think of Candace at every waking moment of my life, even now. She had always been so close, but so far away at the same time, and now it felt like I’d never been further away from her. 

“I love her, Leah. I love Candace St. Clair.”

“No you don’t, Chloe. You and I both know that. You don’t love Candace, you just want to love Candace.”

“And is that so wrong?” I sniffled back tears. “Is it wrong to want to love her?”

“No.” The air was filled with silence for a few moments, before Leah turned to me and smiled. “I think that’s all any of us can ask of you right now.”

I climbed into her arms with tears in my eyes, feeling her hold me close in a hug. Leah was somehow the worst and the best person in the world right now, but some people were just like that. She reminded me of my foster mother sometimes. 

“Take care of her for me, Leah.” I wiped the tears from my eyes as I pulled away, watching her climb to her feet. “Please?”

“I’ll take care of Candace.” She smiled, petting me one last time. “You just worry about yourself, okay?”

 

Leah opened the office door for Claudia and her father, welcoming them both inside together. Claudia didn’t at all seem to enjoy seeing me, but her father was delighted. 

“Pfft, Candace’s mom wore that?” Leah taunted her as she saw the collar around Claudia’s neck. “Glad it’s around your throat and not mine.”

“Careful, you.” Cardinal actually smacked Leah in the back of the head as he walked by, a little bit of recompense for making fun of his daughter. “One can be arranged.”

“I appreciate the offer, Sir.” Leah just shuddered as she made her way out. “But I think I’d like to decline.”

“Leave.” Cardinal needed only say the word for it to happen, and leave she did. “This’ll be quick.”

“Take your time, Daddy.” Claudia was clearly quite nervous to be around him, knowing that her father had the controller to her own collar. “I wouldn’t rush you.”

I was noticing for the first time just how terrifying he really looked. Either he dyed his hair or he was just rich enough to keep it from greying, because even at almost sixty years old that head of hair and nordic looking beard of his were pure blonde. 

But under these lights, the most terrifying part of him weren’t those evil blue eyes of his, but those lichtenberg figures that scarred much of one side of his face, his hair shaved to accommodate it.

“So you ruined my other daughter’s life now.” He smirked as he turned to me, shaking his eyes in amazement. “I’m impressed, really. I’m not even mad anymore, I’m just astonished. You’re an impressive girl, what else can I say?”

“Thank you, Sir.” I nervously lowered my head as he got close, my heart thumping in my chest when he pulled up a seat and sat behind me. “It just comes natural I guess.”

“You know I was there last year, right?” I could feel his fingers on my head, pulling my head back towards him, forcing me to look back up at the screen as he pet my hair. “When you made my daughter cry on stage. I was there.” 

“I’m sorry, Sir.” I swallowed nervously as I felt his loose grasp in my orange locks, not even treating me like a threat. “I was a different person back then. Your daughters have made me a better person.”

“No they haven’t. They’ve made you a worse person. I don’t pretend to be a good person, and neither do they. We just focus on taking care of our own.” He rolled his fingers in my hair, twisting it into curls in his grasp as he watched Candace host the world championship with me. “We know who our family is, and you’re not one of them.”

“Daddy.” Claudia finally cut in. “The controllers?”

“No, Claudia. You’re not getting it.” I thought for a moment his grasp was releasing, before I felt him forcibly thudding his knuckles against the top of my head. “I want her death on camera before I hear any more demands from you, sweetie.”

My heart dropped in my chest at the sound of that, but my master seemed unphased. “And then you’ll give me the controllers to my collar?”

“Pfft, no.” He snorted, laughing at his own daughter. “I love you, honey. But that was your mom’s collar. You shouldn’t have let it go on if you didn’t want to be controlled.”

“It wasn’t my fault, Daddy.” She stomped her foot in protest. “It was Candace.”

“It’s okay, honey. Calm down.” He rose to his feet and stepped towards her, pulling his daughter close, one hand on her waist and one hand on her shoulder. “Daddy’s right here. Daddy’s not going to hurt you. I just don’t feel confident handing over the key to killing you to anyone but myself. You’re my daughter, let me hold onto them. Let me protect you, okay?”

Her nervous eyes locked with his. “You promise you’re not going to hurt me?”

“I promise.” He pulled her in for a hug. “You’re always gonna be my little girl. I would never hurt you like that.”

“But you would, though.” She let herself fall into his hands, somehow feeling smaller than him despite her height. “When I was a kid you’d molest me for disobeying you.”

“Yes, I would.” He frowned, his hand making its way to the head of his daughter’s collar, the one that his late wife used to wear. “Before Alecia came around, I would.”

Claudia sniffled back her tears, looking on at him in confusion. “What?”

“That woman changed me, Claudia.” He scoffed, letting go of the collar and retracting his hand. “Some might say for the better, some might say for the worse, but that woman changed me.”

“Is that why you didn’t do it again?” She was almost saddened by it. “Is that why you didn’t rape me when I killed her?”

“Yes.” He sighed, just a little bit of loathing in his eyes as he stared at that collar. “Thanks to that girl, yes.”

“I still have her tape, Daddy.” Claudia couldn’t force herself out of his grip. “What do I do with it?”

“Whatever you want, sweetie. It’s yours now. Your punishment is over.” He gave her one last smile before turning away, returning to me. “But I want one of her on my desk by Monday night.”

“I’ll get it to you after the party.” She very nearly chased after him. “I swear.”

“Good girl.” He smirked, staring at me even as he spoke to her. “Now get out. I need this thing to myself for a second.”

“Yes, Daddy.” Claudia scurried out of her own office, quickly being kicked out by her father. “Thank you.”

It was scary to watch him weasel his way out of anything, especially when I expected brute force. But sure enough, Claudia left us alone at his command, knowing that obeying her father would give her the world. 

“Let’s get one thing straight.” He smiled, crouching directly in front of me. “I can’t kill you.”

My heart seemingly stopped beating as he stared into my eyes. “Why’s that, Sir?”

“Because you’re special.” His evil smile curled into a cruel smirk, looking on at me not like I was an enemy, but like I was a challenge to overcome. “You have that same power that she had.”

“Power?” I almost snickered at the sound of that. Ridiculous. “What power could I possibly have at this point?”

“You change people. I wasn’t able to see that until now. But you change people.” He scoffed, and as he stood up I understood just what I was up against. “And let’s be honest, I don’t want to be anywhere near that.”

“You’re scared.” I could feel my whole body trembling, somehow more terrified of him now than I had ever been. “You’re scared of me.”

“No. I used to be scared of people like you. But now I know. I can’t kill you. These hands can’t kill you, because you’re not worthy of dying by them.” His smile was the most chilling thing I’d ever seen. His hand curled and uncurled, like it was somehow burning to the touch. His scars somehow extended into me as I stared at them, infecting me like he’d infected everything else. “Go on. Win. Fight. Survive. It will never end. Not until you’re dead. This is the game now. These are the rules. Mark my words, as long as you live, these hands will never touch you again. Not until I’ve won.”

His words twisted into my heart, making me want to vomit. My whole body shook as the tears rushed to my eyes, staring up at his open palms in abject horror as he toyed with me. 

“This is a game to you. I’m just a game to you.” Candace’s last few words echoed inside of my head as the tears burst from my eyes, streaming down my cheeks as I practically screamed at her father. “This isn’t a game. This is my life. Is my life just a game to you?!”

Cardinal Russo simply smiled at me as I cried. 

“I'm God. Everything is a game to me.”

And then he just walked away. 

 

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The live feed of the convention continued in the background as I curled up against the wall, suddenly finding myself forced into a game that I didn’t want to play. 

When the real game I wanted to play was up on the screen.

This was all I had left, getting to watch her host the world championship, and I was going to enjoy it. Unsurprisingly, the final match was going to be a ZvZ, just like last year. Zephyria was just the most viable faction to take to the finals in my opinion, that’s why so many people played them, including Candace and I.

Alongside Candace at the commentator booth were two lesser known but still wildly popular professionals from years prior. Neither of which have actually ever won the world championship, but let’s be fair, neither has Candace. 

Rounding out the group of course was Justin Donovan, my former manager and ex-boyfriend. He was the only real reason I ever made it to the championship in the first place, and look where that got me. 

The showing was always strong for the Korean teams, so I was honestly surprised to see the Italian born player Not go up against Claw, actually managing to best the two time Korean champion at the end. It was a tight match that he ended up winning 4-3, which honestly kind of shocked me. Back when I beat Silver Notts in the year prior’s semifinals, I never would have expected him to come back and win the next WCS. Notts was good, but I didn’t think he was Hyo good. A year ago he wasn’t even really Candace St. Clair good, but he really pulled through, and it was an enjoyable show regardless.

And then came the after match celebration on stage. Notts went up to grab his trophy and give a bow and a little speech, but since he only spoke Italian he needed a live translator on stage to talk to him, which the convention was more than prepared for. 

 

“Well there you have it!!” Candace had the sweetest smile on her face as she stepped onto the stage next to the winner, a microphone in one hand and a pamphlet in the other. “Looks like this year’s WCS global champion is none other than our very own Not!!”

As always, she spoke with an enthusiasm that got the whole crowd cheering for him immediately, while Silver just gave an overdrawn bow to the audience with his own great big smile.

“Let me just say from one runner-up to another, now former runner-up, turned champion. Congratulations!!” Candace spoke in English for the primary attendance of the convention, which was held in Anaheim, California- a lot closer to where I grew up than where she did. “You and I both know what it’s like to be up on that stage and walk away a loser, but you’ve had a long road to get here so I’ve gotta ask, how does it finally feel to be the champion?”

Candace turned to him, and without a moment’s hesitation, repeated everything she’d just said to the American audience in perfectly fluid Italian for him. I never stopped to think about where she’d learned Italian back when we were just rivals, but now that I knew that her roots were firmly planted into the classic Italian-American mafia, I kind of shivered. Nonetheless, he answered back in perfect Italian, which Candace subsequently translated to English for the audience. 

“I couldn’t put it better myself. It’s been an honor, he says, to find himself on the stage of the world championship finals again after four long years from feeling that very same title slip through his fingers. He never thought he would ever have the chance to reclaim that lost championship when just two years ago he was taken out of the quarterfinals by the very same opponent he faced here tonight. Give it up for Claw!!”

The audience went on, at their behest, with cheering and whistling and clapping for the runner-up, which must have been an all two familiar sight for the dear sweetheart Candace after being last year’s loser, and I would know. But then Silver leaned in and said something else to her, again in Italian, which I wouldn’t have understood even slightly if I didn’t hear my own name within the syllables. 

“I will quote his words directly this time. It’s no secret that you and I have a history on this stage together, Candace. As amazing as it is to go up against and defeat the champion who won both the year before and the year after I took second place, I really wish it had been with one of you girls. It’s a shame that you couldn’t come back and play this year, and it’s an even bigger loss that Sophia Cavalier couldn’t be here with us. I was really looking forward to a rematch.”

Candace had a nervous lilt in her voice as she said my name, her eyes frantically avoiding the camera as she pushed on. It was clear that even from so far away she was thinking about me long before she heard my name. If there was anyone at all in that building who had the right to miss Sophia Cavalier, it was probably her. As far as I knew from this side of the screen, but things both looked and felt so much different on her end. 

“You and I both. Chloe-” 

Her cheeks turned just a bit pink, and so did mine, when she accidentally said the name of the girl she loved in place of her accursed archrival on stage in front of thousands of people. It was cute to see that I somehow managed to humiliate her again for just a brief moment on that very same stage without even being there. But in just a split second before anyone had the chance to notice or really think about it, she blinked, shook her head, and brushed it off.

“Whoops, don’t know who that is.” 

She gave the audience a cute little giggle and a bimbo’s smile as she nodded through it. Candace played a character when she was on stage, and that’s why everyone thinks she’s a sweetheart, unable to see the devil she kept hidden deep down. 

“But I think I speak for everyone when I say that I wish Sophia Cavalier was here with us tonight. To her friends and family we both want to wish our deepest condolences, and I welcome everyone to attend tomorrow afternoon’s panel where we’ll get some more thoughts from our champion here today as well as pay tribute to our fallen superstar. But tonight- tonight is about you, Silver- so let me just say one last thing before we get back to things.”

Candace’s smile was both sorrowful and hopeful as she stared into the camera, making sure I knew that she was talking to me. 

“If you’re watching this, Sophia Cavalier, we miss you. So if you are out there somewhere, wherever you are, stay safe, be good, and hopefully things will be okay before you know it.” Candace smiled eagerly, taking a moment to hype the audience back up as she repeated herself in Italian, grabbing this year’s champion by one wrist and holding it and his trophy high in the air to celebrate. “But without further ado, let’s give it up for this year’s WCS global Champion, Not!!”

The crowd went wild for that last bit, including the message of goodwill to me, which both warmed and twisted my heart. Candace had successfully done it, she’d hosted the very same championship she’d lost the year prior, and the event was now over. 

 

“That’s enough, please.” I hung my head in defeat as I watched the camera begin to zoom out, signaling that the tournament broadcast was finished. “Turn it off.”

And with a click of her remote beside me, Claudia turned off the screen with her cane. “I hope that was worth it.”

“It was.” I quickly snapped back at her, not giving it more than a second to think. “She’s worth every moment.”

Claudia, on the other hand, needed more than her fair share of time to think. “And I’m not?”

“It’s not about you.” I looked up at her, standing over me with her favorite weapon in hand and a dazzling little slave collar around her neck. “It’s about me.”

“Because it’s always about you.” She just shook her head in abject disgust. “Isn’t that right?”

“I’m about to die, Claudia.” The tears in my eyes burned into my own skin as they rolled down my cheeks, steaming with anger. “I know you’re about to kill me, but please, allow me some dignity here.”

“Oh. So you want to talk about dignity now.” She took the head of her own cane and used it to point at the head of her collar. “After you gave me this.”

“I didn’t give you that, Candace did.” I glanced desperately towards the fading picture on the old school television screen, the gears in my brain wondering even at the worst moments how they managed to get the livestream to play on it at all, while I hoped deep down Candace would come and save me. “Just like she gave me mine.”

Claudia stopped dead in her tracks for a few moments, gazing wistfully at the head of her cane, Preyboy. “Okay. If that’s how you want to play things. Let’s do this already.”

I shivered as she stepped past me, rounding the corner around her desk to retrieve the controller to my collar. This was it. She was going to kill me. All I could do was sit there and let it happen. “Do it then. Put me out of my misery.”

“That would be showing you mercy.” She stood there, the controller in hand. “Do you think you deserve that mercy?”

“Yes.” I stared up at her, pleading for her to go ahead and get it over with, tears pouring from my eyes. “Please.”

Claudia stared back, a wicked smile crawling its way onto her lips. Candace wasn’t coming to save me, but honestly, I almost didn’t want her to.

She took a deep breath, squeezing her cane in one hand and the controller in the other, and it was almost like even she wasn’t sure what she was about to do. 

And then she took her finger off the button. 

 

“On second thought. If you’re not going to be at the party after all, I might as well have my fun with you first.”  

Claudia reached towards me with that vile thing one last time, clasping her cane to the head of my collar. 

Click. Click. Click. 

And with the press of a very different button, the electric bite of her metal serpent sent me into shock, and everything turned black. 

Chapter 42: Lovesick Puppy

Notes:

This is probably the most graphic chapter i've written, so i've made sure to try and soften it with something softer towards the middle.

i also tried to make sure not to make the cliffhanger too big, which i could have done, but really didn't want to. If you can stomach it, i would advise that you read it all at once, but if you can't (and i know some people can't) i've split it up into pieces as well.

CW: Suicidal behaviors, death, blackmailing, kidnappings (like always), blood, and illness

As always, a clear mind and heart is recommended when reading, and please enjoy <3

I stared deeply into her eyes for a few anxious moments, my furious heart pounding out of my chest. 

For the first time, I had her right where I wanted her, her desperate eyes sparkling with fear. A mixture of expressions washed over her face in that instant, as her fearful gaze turned tranquil.

No. 

Claudia was weeping, a pool of tears streaming from her eyes as she looked up at me. Preyboy’s eyes were red with a fury mine couldn’t express. I had the jaws of her own cane clasped around the head of her collar, my finger on the button and her body pinned beneath my weight, ready to beat her to death with her own weapon. 

And I just couldn’t do it. 

 

No. 

She had always been afraid of her slaves hurting her. That’s where all of this had started, I wanted to prove her fears right. I wanted Claudia to be afraid of me. 

But I just couldn’t do it. All I could do now was finally embrace my own death as she reached out with her sorrowful fingers and grabbed the handle of her trusted protector from my quivering hands. 

Not again.

 

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15th November, 1 day until the banquet.

 

This was my only option. The last time I’d ever be able to make a stand, and I couldn’t let this chance get away from me.

The final preparations were in full swing now. It was the day before the party, and Claudia waited until there was just one day left to spring this on me out of nowhere, like an oncoming car. She was going to put me down like an animal. 

I knew it was coming too. It had been a long time coming, but I just wasn’t ready. I’d gone through a lot, but after everything I’ve done for them, this was just too far. 

 

I can’t let her do this to me. 

 

She can’t do this to me. 

 

“You can’t do this to me!!” My fists pounded against the metal walls of her pitiful little holding cell, too afraid to kill me at her own home that she decided to drag me all the way to her plantation to have me put down. Pathetic. “Let me out!! Now!!”

“Oh my god. Shut up already!! She’s not here!!” A woman’s voice shouted back at me. “Jesus fucking Christ. You’d think after an hour and a half of screaming you would figure out that she can’t hear you!!”

“I don’t care if she can’t hear me.” I growled loudly, slamming my knuckles into the bulletproof glass that substituted for a window. “She’s not the one keeping me trapped in here!!”

“What the mistress says goes, so shut up. It’s already difficult enough to set up the recording devices without your whining.” The woman groaned, clearly as fed up with me as I was with her. “God. Where’s Nell when you need them?”

“Didn’t you hear?” A low pitched male voice responded to her from beyond the door, one which I recognized as Claudia’s bodyguard, Russel. “Nell’s getting a promotion.”

The woman, who I could only assume was Violet, sounded surprised. “Really?” 

“Yes really.” The man snorted, giving the door between us one solid pound with his fist. “Turns out Claudia might not need an enforcer at home after all.”

“Wow. It’s almost like I told her she didn’t need an enforcer at home. She needs an enforcer here.” Violet’s voice just oozed exasperation. “Just like when I told her she didn’t need an office assistant. She needed a secretary.”

“Didn’t she hire a secretary?”

“Xander Mallick was not a secretary, he was an asshole and a con.”

 

“Eugh.” I finally just pounded my head into the door before simply giving up and retreating to the far corner of my cell as the two of them made small talk with each other. This was it, I was about to die, and one of the last conversations I had to listen to were two colleagues trying very pathetically to conceal the fact that they were dating behind their bosses back, which you could hear just from the way they talked to one another. “If you two aren’t going to let me out, then just leave.”

“Whoa. Tough girls giving orders now.” The man, Russel, taunted me from the other side of the door. “Go ahead, tough girl. Tell me what your plan is once I open this door?”

“You know what we should do with her?” The woman, Violet, joined in on her lover’s attempts at intimidation. “We should let her run out and put her in with the other girls. She can pick cotton, harvest vegetables, and grow cannabis.”

“I’m sure she’d love that, wouldn’t she?”

“Probably better than dying in her book, right?”

“We could always use a few more nobodies to help make our drugs for us.”

“I bet she’s wishing she had some of that right about now.”

“It would make her death just a little bit less painful.”

“But you don’t deserve a painless execution, do you?”

Thump . Before I could even hope to answer, my so-called master was answering for me. 

“That’s enough.” Claudia’s voice reverberated through the door, menacing more in an instant than her lackey’s could all morning. “She’s mine.”

She was as stunning as always walking through that door, if not just a bit more than I’d ever seen her. Wearing a gorgeous lace and faux fur ensemble, it was clear from the way she was dressed that I wasn’t just a victim to be executed, I was the star of her next snuff film. 

“My apologies for not dressing the part, Ma’am.” I scoffed at her from on my knees, my willpower unwavering. “I didn’t know this was going to be black lingerie formal.”

“Chloe, honey. This isn’t just supposed to be fun for me.” She stepped past me entirely, mounting her cane to the corner of the cell best suited to capturing the whole scene in her eyes, balancing it loosely but securely against the wall. “Half of the philosophy here is that if a girl needs to die, she might as well die doing something fun. Having sex.”

I bit my tongue as she turned towards me. “And the other half?”

“If I get your death on tape, you don’t really die.” She smirked, my controller clasped to her left wrist like I’d seen Candace and Josie do. “You live on in my collection forever.”

“That’s sick.” My eyes locked onto hers, burning with disapproval. “You are absolutely disgusting.”

“Yeah. Well.” She rolled her eyes, motioning for me to stand up. “I can’t please everyone.”

This cell, unlike the others I’d been in, was furnished. It was just unfortunate that the only reason it was furnished was so that it could be used for this purpose. 

But I did as I was told, I stood up from the simple futon and I unfolded it for us, giving Claudia and I a place to lay down together. At long last, my death was finally upon me. So I might as well make the most of it.

Claudia and I laid down together, but not before shoving the whole futon into the corner beneath the cane, for a more intimate exposure to the camera above us.

“So this is what you do, huh?” I made myself vulnerable in bed next to her, nervously glancing towards the cane above us. “You act all intimate with girls for the camera, right before you kill them?”

“Almost.” There was neither light in her eyes nor a smile on her lips as she spoke. “I act all intimate with girls before, during, and after killing them.”

My stomach churned. “You’re delusional.”

“I realize that now.” She got herself into position beside me, gently beginning to play with my hair. “But that’s not going to change anything.”

“Whatever you say, Ma’am.” I took a deep breath, trying not to make eye contact with her at all. “Do your worst.”

“Chloe?” Her voice had hints of sorrow and insecurity as she asked this. “Am I really not a worthy opponent?”

 

What it even meant to be a worthy opponent I wasn’t sure. It was such a bizarre thing for her to be stuck on. It felt like it came out of nowhere, but clearly she’d been ruminating on it for the last three days. I’d gotten to know this woman inside and out in the forty five days since I became hers. Those gears of hers weren’t going to rest until she’d gotten an answer, but if she wasn’t already a worthy opponent, there was hardly enough time for her to change that. 

“Why does it matter?” I gazed through her, almost missing her eyes as I looked into her brain and beyond. “I’m already dead. Why does it matter what I want?”

“Because you’re not dead. Not yet.” Those eyelashes batted away, not for the camera, but for me. “There’s no point in saving part of your soul for someone else if it means letting a piece of you die quiet. If you don’t give yourself while you still can, eventually you’ll miss your last chance.”

My blood boiled at just the thought of that. “You really want me to give you all that I’ve got?”

“I do. If not for me, for the camera.” She smiled hungrily. “I’d hate for you to die while there’s still a little bit of fight in you just waiting to be crushed.”

A wave of adrenaline was quickly building to a breaking point as I stared into those eyes, but not the stormy ocean blue that glimmered as Claudia gazed towards me, those fiendish red things that watched us from above. Those crimson lights bore down at us both, challenging me to give it all I could one last time. I hated to say it, but god damn was Claudia right. 

“Bitch.” I snapped, my knuckles erupting with a fierce crack as they connected with Claudia’s left eye, stunning her with the most violent right hook I’d ever given in my life. “You fucking bitch!!”

That most certainly got Claudia started. For once in her life she seemed to be up for a fight at long last, because that brought a smile to her cruel villainous lips. 

“That’s it. There it is. There’s the fight I’ve been looking for.” For a moment I almost expected her to break after just one blow, but then I heard her knuckles popping in her hand. Even through the pain she smirked, her horrendous stare showing off her vile intent. “But this time, I’m not afraid to hit back.”

My eyes went wide out of pure surprise as I watched her retaliate. Her moves were telegraphed long in advance, but just knowing how far she’s had to fall to get to a point where she wasn’t too petrified to fight her own slaves shook me. 

The hard steel wedding ring she wore on her left hand drove into me as she twisted her fist, slamming her bony knuckles into my stomach. The bracelet she wore on that very same wrist caught my eye for just a moment before my vision shuddered shut, coughing up the full force of her pummeling her giantess strength into me. 

That I forgot her left was her dominant arm when I anticipated her response was secondary to the disconnect I had feeling her full brute force for the first time. In my head Claudia was a meek loser of a woman, but physically she was a troll. Obviously that six and a half feet of pure woman packed a punch, I just wasn’t ready to feel it. 

“That’s better.” Claudia loomed over me, snatching me by both wrists as I reeled, slamming my back into the bed beneath us with excessive force, pinning my wrists beside my head. “This does feel good, doesn’t it?”

“If you like, umm… maybe. Eugh.” I couldn’t even find a comeback for that, all she was getting were snarls. “Get off of me.”

“No.” Claudia’s face got dangerously close, mere breath widths from my lips as she kicked apart my legs with hers, the head of the metal serpent strapped between her legs intentionally pressing down on my clitoris, crushing it beneath her weight. “In fact, I ought to thank you for reminding me what I’m capable of. So just lay there and enjoy the monster you’ve helped create.”

Desperate gasps escaped me as she continued, able to feel myself tightening between my legs with little resistance. As if being raped wasn’t bad enough, all of my pathetic noises were being caught on camera. I struggled beneath her grasp, but each push was just met with increasing force from above. Claudia was loving this, and that just made things worse. 

Usually she didn’t carry the controllers on her person for fear of accidentally killing one of her slaves, but today was different. This was where I was meant to die, which meant that the controller was right there for the taking, strapped to her left wrist. 

I snarled loudly, using the full force of my right arm to try and break free from that vice grip of hers. If I was up against anyone else it might have even worked, but again, Claudia was left handed. So instead I threw care to the wind, letting out a loud moan as my teeth unclenched, lunging towards her left arm in an attempt to bite the controller off of her. 

I was met with nothing more than a cruel smile however, at least at first. Clearly Claudia wasn’t so stupid, and the moment she saw what I was doing she released my wrist, and that was when I was rewarded with the furious hand of an evil giant smacking me in the face for even trying to touch her with that rabid mouth of mine. 

Reeling from the force, I was left unable to brace myself or retaliate as I heard my own voice shriek with pain. Claudia bucked her hips, sliding her strapon inside of my waiting cunt as I lay there, helpless to do anything about it. 

She forced herself into me one last time, delighting in cruel satisfaction as she violated what she knew was a woman’s most sacred and vulnerable area, and Claudia regretted nothing. 

But then she got cocky, and before she could once again pin my wrist I had hers in my grasp, trying desperately to slide my fingers beneath it and snatch it from her. This was it. I was so close to my controller at long last. I didn’t want to die by her hand, and it was my only key out of here. Once I had it between my fingers all I needed to do was crush it with every ounce of strength I have left, and I would either be free of it for good, or I’d be denying Claudia her satisfaction by killing myself before she had the chance to.

And then passionate lips mixed saliva with mine as her tongue dove deep between my teeth, forcing my jaw open as she invaded me. Like a snake, her tongue slithered its way down my mouth. I could feel the giantess’ anaconda of a tongue reach my throat, hissing against my gagging uvula and making my whole body shiver, curling inwards on itself for protection. 

Fingers loosened and interlocked on both sides and I felt the backs of my hands crushed between the weight of this titan. My eyes watered, desperate for breath as she choked me with her kiss of death, finally exhausting all of my options and leaving me broken under the utter humiliation of being fucked in half by her strapon. 

I must have been bawling by the time I came, because the feelings of my involuntary moans hardly registered in the wake of what I was being put through. My muscles moved on their own, hips grinding with hers as she pounded into me, giving myself up in the end and finally letting myself enjoy it in the moment. Hopefully this would be the last time I was ever raped, and I welcomed that with open legs. 

“Good girl.” Her words were venom in my ears. Sweet and sour, indescribably bitter sounds mixed with the heavenly delight of release. If I was to die, I might as well die broken. I might as well die a good girl. 

I hung limp on every sight, sound, and scent. Claudia pulled out, sitting up and lording over me. Just like that she was finished with me, without even so much as touching herself. Not once. 

“Master.” I put everything on the line, ready for one last ride. All of my hopes were put into one final rush, placing all of my bets on the chance of getting through to her. “Let me pleasure you one last time, please.”

And Claudia hummed sweetly, her unblinking eyes gliding from mine to the cane’s, still watching us from beyond my reach. Without a word, I’d known it worked. She plucked the weapon from the wall, still filming us, and she brought it to the harness she wore as both a strapon and a chastity belt, and she began to unlock it. 

Flourishing the cane in her right hand, Claudia was without a care in the world. The harness slid from her waist and clattered onto the floor behind her, her wet cunt hungry to be serviced, ready for me to pleasure her.

And then, in the most Sophia Cavalier way imaginable, I went in for the kill. I spat in her face.

Claudia was nothing less than a monster. There was no hope of overpowering her. But I could outsmart her. 

Aiming right for the eyes, all I could do was catch her off guard, but it was just enough to get her scared. Instinctively, she reached for the controller to my collar, blindly clawing at her wrist with her dominant hand. 

I was nothing if not the queen of being two steps ahead. Claudia wore her bracelet on her left wrist just like everyone else did, imitating their looks, but she failed to recognize why no one wore them on her dominant hand. But by the time she realized her mistake and switched to correct it, it was already too late. 

My fingers curled around her cane, her strength wavering as she reached towards the controller, and with just a bit of force she quickly dropped it. 

Right into my waiting hands. 

Click. Click. Click. 

I could feel her strength give out as the terror overtook her. The jaws clasped tight to the front of her collar, sending waves of traumatic shock straight to her nervous heart. 

“Game over.”

Neither Candace nor I could match her for sheer strength, but that meant nothing when she was too scared to use it. She was one press of the button away from a panic charged anxiety attack. Now that the jaws of her own weapon bit down at her from my hands, I had already won.

I just needed to press the button. 

 

No. 

The tears never left my eyes for a second as I stared down at her, watching them roll from my cheeks and down the length of the cane as my finger rested on the trigger. 

No. 

Unable to move a muscle. 

Not again. 

 

“Oh my.” Those terrified eyes of hers turned sharp all over again, the desire to win flooding into her like never before. And I fell into her, my fingers giving themselves over to her grasp as she pried them away from the trigger and replaced them with her own. She didn’t even need to look, she knew exactly what to press to get this thing off of her, and it bent to her will all the same. 

Click. Click. Click. 

But now Claudia had something she’d never had before, all thanks to me. Without even realizing it, I had inadvertently created a monster. 

She’d found the strength to fight, and she wasn’t about to lose. 

“And I thought I wasn’t a worthy opponent.” The cane quickly slid back into place, staring down at us both, and I was given no choice but to turn my back on Claudia behind me and face down those glowing red eyes head to head. “Your winning streak is finally up.”

 

Our lips pressed together one last time, rewarding me with one final kiss before my death. If I didn’t do something now, I wouldn’t live to kiss again, but there was nothing I could do. 

I couldn’t press the button, I’m not a monster. Claudia was a monster, but I wasn’t, because I knew exactly what I was.  

The reflection in her eyes stared back at me as she pulled away, but that wasn’t my reflection. I looked past her eyes for just a moment and I saw Sophia Cavalier looking back at me. 

Sophia would never give up like this, Sophia was a whole different breed of monster. But that’s not who I am.

That’s not me. I’m not Sophia.

 

“You couldn’t even press the button.”

She towered over me from behind, her arms wrapping around me. I could see the end of the road as the controller to my collar hovered right there in front of me. And I was completely helpless to save myself.

“But I can.”

I froze, cowering beneath the gaze of that thing above us as I awaited my death. At long last, this was fine, there was no way out and I was okay with that. Because at least I got to find out exactly who I am. 

She was right. She knew me like I knew her, and that just wasn’t the person I wanted to be. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t kill Claudia.

That’s not who I am.

 

She pressed the button. And just like that, without even so much as a warning, I could feel it. The electricity pulsed through me like lightning, searing pain deep into me the likes of which I wouldn’t soon forget. 

My entire life flashed before my eyes in those last few moments.

And then everything faded to black. 

 

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“Sophia?” Her voice shook nervously as she even said the name, on stage in front of so many people, all looking at her for the first time in a long time. “What did I think of Sophia?”

 

Candace sat in the middle of the panel, in front of the largest crowd she’d seen since a year ago tomorrow, so many of them wanting to get her thoughts on Sophia Cavalier for the first time since her death. 

“Sophia and I met for the first time here, at this convention, four years ago.” The sweetheart everyone knew and loved put on a cheery smile as she faced them all down alone, now that it was her turn to be center stage. “I didn’t realize it until after she’d been missing for a while, but she was always a pretty closed off person. I knew her better than most, I think, I just didn’t realize it at the time.”

Candace was the last one to comment on my disappearance and apparent suicide publicly, and because of our last encounter on stage, she was the one people wanted thoughts from most. 

“We had a complicated friendship and rivalry, honestly. She started off as my biggest fan, became my go to girl for a lot of things, and then she eventually became my biggest rival. That’s where things got complicated. Our professional relationship became a little rough, and we kind of had to cut contact with each other for a while, even before the championship season.”

This was it. Time to leave everything out on the table. The first and last time she would talk about Sophia Cavalier in public. 

“I did notice when she started closing herself off, how could I not. But I didn’t do anything about it, and I wish I had. Because maybe if her and I were closer, this never would have happened.”

It wasn’t technically a lie, but it was far from the truth. The microphone picked up her sigh as she looked towards the front row of the audience, towards a little reserved section of people that she and her manager had requested be saved for her. 

Tallulah waved at her, nodding her on. Candace’s manager was nothing if not forceful, which Candace hated above all else. She could be kind of a bitch, and the last time they’d spoken or seen each other before this event hadn’t gone well. 

But to Tallulah’s left, sitting between her and some other young hispanic woman, was Justin Donovan. Sophia’s manager had been breached for comment many times over, there was nothing more he could say. His decision to host alongside Candace had purely been because of me, and nothing else. He only did it to help make something right left unsaid between him and I. 

He was chatting politely with the hispanic woman to his left, while Tallulah spoke quietly to this year’s champion to her right. Silver Notts had gotten off of the panel a little while ago, and was now just waiting it out and watching, and of course Tallulah spoke Italian. Candace could understand why he would single out her manager to speak to, but there was one thing that Candace couldn’t understand. 

Why is he here? 

Standing on the other side of Justin’s friend as she lamented her situation was a familiar looking bushy haired squirrel girl, hanging her head nervously as her master flirted with some goth looking redhead to his left, her eyes glowing weirdly red in the light of the auditorium. Candace didn’t quite know why Xander Mallick and his slave were here, but she really wasn’t surprised. 

After all, Xander was apparently a big fan of both Candace St. Clair and Sophia Cavalier. Being an associate of the family had its perks too, because even though he actually owed her money, he was still somehow able to reserve a front row seat for himself. 

“I don’t know where she is right now. But I hope that when we find her, we find her alive. It hurts to know that a friend has taken her own life, and I can only hope it’s just not true in the end. Chloe and I were friends-”

But Candace didn’t have time to worry about him, she had to save face in front of thousands of fans, especially after a line like that.

“Whoops. Silver medal does not mean silver tongue, you guys. I hope my girlfriend isn’t listening, because she is not going to be happy to hear me call her a friend live on stage like that.”

The whole crowd giggled as she said that, and she couldn’t be sure if they were laughing with or at her, which made her light up red with embarrassment. It didn’t even dawn on her until she heard the surprised coos from the audience and saw the flash of camera lights that she’d just inadvertently given herself away as a lesbian in front of all of her fans. 

Silver Notts was amongst the people giggling at her, but amazingly, Justin didn’t seem as surprised as the hispanic woman beside him. But Tallulah was just fuming about it. A look like that was enough to kill someone, even before she shook her head in disapproval at Candace’s mistake. The redheaded girl Xander had been flirting with was gone too, leaving him alone with his miserable little companion to his right. 

Candace just had to shake it off all over again, her eyes clearly darting back and forth as if she was looking for a way out, and that was when she locked eyes with her for just a moment, right before the girl made her way out of the auditorium. 

“Anyways. What’s important is that yes, Sophia and I were friends. No championship was going to change the way I thought about her, not really. She was a good person, and an amazing rival, and all I can do is hope that we find her soon. I’m rooting for her, and I’m rooting for her family and friends.”

Candace took one last glance towards her audience up front, not even realizing that she had tears in her eyes until she saw them in those of Justin’s companion beside him.

And then she got up and walked off stage, leaving the microphone behind as she left to hide her tears. 

“Thank you.”

 

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“What the fuck was that?!” Tallulah was very viciously verbally berating her the moment they stepped backstage together. “Do you know the lengths I’m going to have to go to in order to cover all of that up?!”

“This was your idea, Tallie.” Candace was not about to sit there and take this from her, not for a second. “I didn’t want to do this. You talked me into this.”

“Oh so it’s my fault, huh?!” Tallulah quickly burst into insulting her in Spanish, which Candace very much did not understand. “I was trying to get you back on track for next year’s-”

 

Knock knock .

And it quickly became clear that this conversation had ended with the knock on the door.

“You know what. Go ahead, Candace.” Tallulah turned her back and marched towards the door, flinging the door open and pushing her way past the guests. “Fix this yourself.”

After the kind of week Candace just had, she simply didn’t have the energy to stand up and chase after Tallulah, even if she wanted to. 

“You know if you’re looking for a new manager.” Justin had a friendly smile on his face as he stepped in the door. “I’m always open to meeting about new clients.”

“I will keep that in mind, thank you.” Candace sighed, slowly standing up from the backstage sofa and stepping towards the entrance to greet him. “What brings you back here?”

“About that. I have someone here who really wants to meet you.” He smiled politely, pointing back towards his friend still waiting on the other side of the door. “I sort of promised her the chance to talk to you in person.”

Candace just rolled her eyes. “I’m sorry, Mr. Donovan, I can’t just-”

“It’s someone important.” His eyes were all she needed to see to know how desperate he was. “Please?”

Her heart sort of just dropped in her chest, and she nodded, not wanting to break someone else’s hopes right now. “Alright. Bring her in.”

“Thank you.” He let out a sigh of relief. “You won’t regret this, I promise.”

He stepped out and back in the blink of an eye, followed inside by a particularly distraught hispanic woman with tears in her eyes. She clearly wasn’t as young as they were, but she couldn’t have been older than her early forties. Candace estimated her at about 44, which was just a bit younger than her own mother would have been if she was still alive. 

“Hello, um-” Candace wasn’t exactly sure what to say to her. “I’m sorry, I don’t know your name.”

“Candace. This is Ms. Caballero.” He got the accent right without a syllable out of place. “This is Candace St. Clair.”

“I know who she is, Justin. Thank you.” The woman giggled just slightly as she stepped forward, taking and shaking Candace’s hand for a moment. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you too, Miss-” Candace’s smile quickly faded away, her eyes going wide as she sounded the name out herself. “Ms. Cavalier.”

“That’s my name.” She smiled proudly, digging into her purse to find something. “Those things you said on stage back there meant a lot to me, I just wanted to let you know that.”

Candace’s heart thumped nervously. “Oh my god, you’re her mother.”

“Just a little bit.” Colleen got exactly what she was looking for out of that purse of hers, holding it out towards Candace. “I will admit, I didn’t have the best relationship with her in those last few years, and I never really understood this hobby of hers. But I was proud of her, and I’m proud of you.”

She just blinked as she made eye contact with the gift Colleen held in her hands for her, a powder grey stuffed cat with light blue patches inside of her ears, shockingly familiar to something else that Candace knew. She took it into her hands, and within moments she was squeezing it as tight as she could. 

“Thank you. I-” Candace’s heart swelled, threatening to tear in two. “I’m so sorry.”

“Oh don’t be like that, please. I’ve gotten too many well wishes and apologies to count.” She sighed, wiping the tears from both her and Candace’s eyes. “I don’t mean to keep you, I swear. I just wanted to say thank you for everything you did for her. I just hope we can all move on from this, and ask that you keep her in your heart while you can.”

“Always.” Candace bit her lip as she nodded, holding back tears with all of her might. “It was nice to meet you, Ms. Cavalier.”

“Please. You can call me Colleen.” She smiled, leaning in and giving Candace a hug before turning away. “It was nice to meet you, Candace.”

 

She could feel her heart shatter inside of her as she watched the other woman leave, escorted out by Justin to ultimately return to wherever they were staying for the night, assumedly together. And after a few moments, Colleen was gone, but Justin quickly turned around and came back.

“She doesn’t know.” Justin stared Candace in the eyes as he spoke, locking the door behind him to stave off unwanted guests. “Let’s not tell her.”

Her eyes nervously followed Sophia’s former manager as he crossed the room and sat down. “She doesn’t know what, Justin?”

“She doesn’t know what you did to her.”

His words spoke volumes that they’d never spoken before, and that made Candace’s skin crawl. 

“And you do?”

“Yeah. I know everything about her.” Not even Justin had the strength to look Candace in the eye as he said her name. “About Chloe, I mean.”

“You son of a bitch.” Candace’s heart ached with rage. “You knew this whole time, and you never said a damn thing. You never even came to look for her.”

“Why would I need to look for her?” His eyes flashed hot with his own anger towards. “I knew exactly where she was.”

“I was prepared for someone, anyone, to come looking for her. But no one came. How could you know where she was and not do anything about it?” Candace’s blood boiled just from looking at him, and it took a mighty amount of restraint not to kick him in the mouth. “How did you figure it out?”

“I didn’t figure anything out, Candace. I didn’t need to. I knew the whole time.” He let out a defeated sigh, hanging his head in defeat. “Who do you think sold her out in the first place?”

 

An understanding overtook her in that moment, quickly calming Candace’s anger and nerves. Of course Justin had been in on it, of course he knew. 

“If you were in on it all along, why didn’t you just tell me?” She sat herself next to him, new friend in hand. “Why be so coy about it?”

“Because you’re evil.” He chuckled, trying to laugh it off as if it were funny. “I thought if you knew, you’d tell Sophia that I betrayed her. I didn’t want you to torment her even that little bit more.” 

“So you begged my manager not to tell me about your involvement.” Candace was almost starting to feel bad for the guy. “But you were her best friend. Why betray her in the first place?”

“Because she was killing herself.” He frowned, his heart clearly weighing him down. “This sport wasn’t just her career, it was her everything. Her lifestyle was killing her. I was the only one she allowed close. I was the only one who got to see what it did to her.”

Candace squeezed the stuffed cat in her arms. “What do you mean?”

“If you’d been there to see it you’d know exactly what I mean. I hate to be the one to pull back the curtain, but she was miserable.” 

“I get that she was miserable. We’re all miserable. Do you really think I care?”

“Yeah, I do. So just shut up and listen already.”

As the clock ticked down everyone was getting sick of the lies and the secrets, and these two were no exception. On the eve of the last day, every second counted. 

“Your manager came to me and told me the only way to save her life is to help fake her death, what was I supposed to do?” He stared her in the eyes, continuing without a word from her. “I should have known better than to give in to your demands, but I was so scared of what would happen to her if I didn’t. I thought maybe you could help her.”

“Help her?” She just scoffed at him. “What the hell would you know?”

“I know she’s not still with you.” The sound of that quickly sent chills down Candace’s spine. “I can see it in your eyes. Everything from the way you’ve been talking about her to those gears in your head tell me that you don’t still have her. Which means you broke your half of the promise.”

Promises weren’t the only things Candace had broken. “What was I supposed to do?”

“You were supposed to keep her safe. You were supposed to save her. But you failed her.” Justin’s gaze drifted towards the stuffed feline in Candace’s arms, his eyes sadly dry. “We failed her.”

They both took a moment to admire the handiwork Colleen had put into her patchwork, especially the name sewn into her ear, Candace. “Why did you bring her here if you knew the truth?”

“Because I didn’t want to carry all of that guilt alone. If I have to look into that woman’s eyes and lie to her, then you should too. I can’t let these feelings swallow me like they swallowed her.”

“Justin, please. Say it already. Why did you let me take her?”

“Because Sophia used foes and followers to fill the hole meant for family and friends. If you want to know why no one came, it was because she didn’t have anyone to look for her. Cinco de Mayo was the first time she’d seen her mom in four years, and when her mother questioned why she’d cut herself off, the only impression she left was one of guilt and grief and nihilism.” His voice cracked, caught on a lump in his throat. “Her car was found washed up in a park the next morning.”

“And that was your doing.” Candace bit her lip nervously. “The car. That was you.”

“She knew how to swim.” He swallowed the lump in his throat and pushed forward. “Everyone believed it was a suicide because no one was surprised. Any time someone tried to help her she just pushed them away. Her work hours were hell. She didn’t get to be the best in just a year by taking breaks to eat and sleep, she did it by destroying herself.”

“That was her own fault, not mine. She was the one who destroyed herself just to be better than me, and she made enemies doing it. That was her own doing.”

“All you had to do was shake her hand, Candace. That’s all she wanted. She didn’t do it because she wanted to be better than you, she did it because she looked up to you. She needed to feel like she was something special, like you. All she wanted was to hold hands with you.”

“But I wouldn’t shake her hand.” Candace’s voice quivered as it left her. “Because I’m a monster.” 

That was the last straw for her. Candace broke into tears right there just thinking about that day. She pictured those moments on stage with me, and she imagined how differently things would have gone if she’d been better than she was. 

“That’s why she wouldn’t throw the game. She wanted to impress me.”

“It wasn’t just you. It was everyone” Justin put one hand on her shoulder. “She needed to prove herself. The game was the only thing she’d ever been good at. She didn’t need to win because she wanted to be the best, she needed to win because she wasn’t at anything else. If she couldn’t be the best at something, she was worthless.”

“But she wasn’t worthless.” Candace pleaded with him as if it would change something. “She’s not worthless, not to me.”

“Good luck trying to tell her that.” He just shook his head. “She doesn’t see herself like other people see her. She sees herself like she’s the protagonist of some video game.”

“Yes, she does.” Candace knew better than most how her lover saw herself. “But why?”

“Because that’s what she needs to be.” Everyone except Justin. “Because if she’s not the protagonist of some story, there’s no reason for her to exist. If everything she’s been through didn’t happen for a reason, then they didn’t need to happen at all. She needs a reason to exist or else she’ll lose herself and give up. If she doesn’t have a reason to live-”

“She doesn’t want to live.” Candace’s pride hung around her neck, her hand moving past the cross she’d gotten from her mother as she grabbed her half of the locket I’d made for her, cradling it in her hand. “She fought all the way to the top looking for a reason to live, and she found nothing.”

“That’s not true.” Seeing the spiral hanging from Candace’s throat actually made Justin smile. “She found her way to you, didn’t she?”

“Yeah. I guess she did.” Candace smiled, her thumb nervously pressing against her beloved cross. “Now she just needs a new purpose.”

“You know it’s funny hearing you accidentally say her new name on stage.” He chuckled just slightly, trying to warm up the room. “When I brought you all the way out here to give you that, I said that name too. I said it right to your face and you didn’t even know it. I should have known from the way you talked about her then that something had happened to her.”

“She’s not dead.” Candace nervously scrambled to her feet, unable to wait a moment longer. “She’s just chasing her own tail.”

“Where are you going?” Justin practically shouted at her as she turned to leave. “I’m not done with you yet.”

“Then you’ll have to ask for a rematch another day.” Candace sauntered off, slamming the door shut behind her as she walked out the door. “Like I said, I’m ready to face anyone who’s going to try and take her from me.”

She gripped the stuffed cat in her arms and fumed, storming her way down the hall with her mother’s cross in hand. 

And that includes you, Claudia. 

 

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Night had fallen, the championship was over, and Candace needed to get home as soon as possible if she was going to crash this party tomorrow. 

And she could only hope that I was going to be there. 

Being Candace St. Clair of course meant that she was instantly surrounded by adoring fans and searing critics alike while trying to leave the event center on her own. Even without her usual bodyguard or assistant she managed to push past the crowd, but there was one girl in the crowd that caught her attention. 

“No.” It was just a glance. It was always just a glance, but it was the same girl without a doubt. “Riley?”

Candace’s heart quickly split down the middle, escaping into the back unlit halls of the convention center to follow after the girl. It was her. It had to be her, right? 

It had been her walking out of the auditorium. It had been her talking to the rich bitch in the front row. That eerie red glow in her eyes couldn’t fool her. But she followed her until she lost her, and then she followed her tracks some more, only to find herself outside and see nothing. 

Just an empty back alley and the glowing lights of the city all around her. Alone. If that really was her, she could have gone anywhere. 

Out of breath and out of places to go at this point, Candace had no choice but to regain her energy and walk the long way around the building to catch a cab home, at least now that the back door had locked behind her.

“Hello?” Candace tried the handle and sighed, knocking on the door on the off chance that someone was inside to let her back in. “Any crazy stalker girls who’ve been following me that want to let me back in?”

After a moment of silence, Candace sighed to herself and shook her head, and then the door opened. Curious eyes fluttered up as Candace stepped towards the entrance, looking to see who it was, only to find… 

“…Lucy. Lucy Barnett.” Candace actually smiled at the sight of her. “Where’s your master, 0125?”

She had one foot in the door before she heard the click , and suddenly she was slowly forced away into the alleyway, cautiously backing herself into a wall. 

“I’m right here, Ms. Saint Clair.” Xander Mallick had a gun pointed to her head, and his finger on the trigger like a fucking novice. “If squirrel girl here is good for one thing it’s sniffing out nuts and following them around all day, isn’t that right?”

“Yes, Sir.” There wasn’t even a hint of pride in her voice about what she was doing. “Whatever you say.”

“Alright, that’s enough. Shut your trap, trap.” He just groaned and rolled his eyes. “I forgot how grating your voice sounds.”

Oh, Candace did not like the way he talked to his own slave, not one bit. “Excuse you, Mister Mallick.”

“Excuse you, Candace.” He took a step closer, reminding her just what he had pointed at her face. “I didn’t ask for you to talk either. If I wanted to hear yappy whining from a wannabe bitch with an undergrown dick, I’d kick you or the squirrel here in the acorns. I’ll ask the questions here, got it?”

Wow. Sexist and transphobic. Candace couldn’t help but think, but as soon as she opened her lips to actually say it out loud, she thought it through for once and she quickly shut the hell up. She wasn’t exactly the best at these things either, but this was horrific. Deep breath in, deep breath out, Candace nodded her head to him to indicate her understanding, copping to his demands for the time being. 

Xander wore his diabolical smirk with pride. “On your knees. Hands on your head. Eyes on me.”

A furious blush overtook Candace’s face, a quick glance towards Lucy being the only thing she needed to confirm she was the one being spoken to. But nevertheless, she wordlessly did as he told her, not wanting to get her brains blown out if she could avoid it.

Candace didn’t take her eyes off of him for a second, watching the grim satisfaction in his face as she lowered herself to her knees at his feet, placing both hands on the back of her head. 

And then she opened that stupid mouth of hers. “So what now, you’re going to rape me?”

She wasn’t even on her knees for half a minute before she watched him snarl, buckling over and falling forward as the man holding her at gunpoint slammed his foot into her groin. Getting kicked in the family jewels was one thing, given what family she belonged to, but not even a proper Colombo could stand a steel toed boot to the genitals, regardless of sex. 

“And you’ll be next if you don’t do your fucking job already.” Xander turned to his left, controller in hand, and shouted at his slave. “Search her.”

On cue, the bushy tailed slave woman scurried to Candace’s side, beginning to loot her like a charlatan. Candace, unfortunately, didn’t carry much in the way of self defense. She usually didn’t need to, but as of recently she had successfully uninvited all of her closest friends, bodyguards, and even her manager from standing at her side. 

“She doesn’t have much on her, Sir.” Lucy said to him, at the risk of angering her master even further. “Th-there’s just a bit of cash, her cards, and a stuffed animal in here.”

Xander just scoffed, rolling his eyes. “Then tear it apart and see if there’s anything inside of it.”

“No, please.” Candace knew she wasn’t supposed to say anything, but she couldn’t let it get torn apart already. “I can make this easy for you. What are you after?”

“What am I after?” The barrel of the gun pressed harder against her forehead. “What’s your father after?”

“Oh my god. Is that what this is about?” Candace just groaned, rolling her eyes at them both. “Money, Xander. It’s always money with him. You owe him money, and it’s time to pay up.”

“Bullshit.” He picked his foot up and once again slammed it into Candace, this time crushing her thigh beneath its weight. “I don’t owe your daddy a fucking dime, princess.”

“Then tell him that.” Candace groaned in pain, doing her best to stay composed and look up at him. “He seems to think you owe him quite a bit, and soon.”

Her groans didn’t really make things any better, judging by how Xander just grinded his boot further into her thigh. “Then I guess I’ll just have to hold his precious princess for ransom then.”

Candace paused for a moment, regained her breath, and then snarled. “Oh for the love of God, Mallick. Are you that fucking dense?!”

That didn’t seem to make Xander very happy.

“You can’t ransom me to my father, because as soon as I’m out of your grasp, you lose your leverage.”

“Then I’ll just keep you-”

“No you fucking won’t, moron.” Candace snarled, lowering her hands from her head and climbing to her feet, still staring down the barrel of his gun. “The longer you have me, the bigger the fucking target on your back. There isn’t a way for you to get away with this. Don’t tell me you’re so stupid that you don’t realize that.” 

Lucy, at least, seemed to back off just slightly. But Xander didn’t. 

“Oh, but I’m not stupid enough to think that there’s a way out of this. I’m stupid enough to know that there’s no way out, and to cause as much collateral damage as possible before I go.” His smile just got bigger and bigger. “Which means either you figure out a way to get me out of this, or-”

Candace’s eyes widened anxiously as she watched him reach towards her, grabbing the fancy little cross she wore around her neck into his hand and watching him snap it off of his chain, taking it for himself. 

“Or I cause as much damage to you as I can.” Her heart beat quickly in her chest as she watched him take it, swallowing nervously as it slid into his pocket. “You figure out a way to get me out of this, and I’ll stop stealing from your father. How’s that?”

Candace simply bit her lip, desperately trying to hold herself back for fear of getting shot. “How’d a made man like you even get into this mess?”

“By being too charming for my own good, I guess.” He chuckled, glancing towards his slave and motioning her to his side. “It’s not my fault Bella liked me better than your sister.”

The mention of her sister certainly got Candace’s attention. “What was that?”

“Honestly, it wasn’t my fault she never got over me. She loved me more than your sister, big deal.” Xander just rolled his eyes. “The girl was a lunatic. I got my use out of her, and then I threw her away.” 

“You threw her away?” Just the sound of it made Candace’s blood boil. “What do you mean you threw her away?”

“I threw her away.” He chuckled at her. “I bought her, I used her for a while, and then I got rid of her. Really, it’s like throwing a used condom in the trash. She wasn’t the first.” 

Candace turned her eyes towards Lucy, suddenly quite concerned for the girl. The slave, for her part, was just doing as she needed to survive, bringing the loot from Candace’s bag to her master. 

“Here you are, Sir.” Lucy flinched as he swiped the things from her hands, before quickly shoving her away, and the girl didn’t seem too happy to have the stuffed animal taken away so fast. “C-can I keep the cat?”

“No. If there’s nothing in it, I don’t want it.” He groaned, taking it and tossing back towards Candace in front of him as he continued to root through her other things. “But here’s something. Is this your doctor, St. Clair?”

Candace watched him pull out the card Lilith had given her, referring her to some famous doctor, Julienne Renee. “No. I’m afraid not.”

“Such a shame.” He took the card and tore it in half on the spot, before flicking the pieces into her face. “Barbie here is in need of having her dick chopped off, and I was hoping I wouldn’t have to do it with a knife.”

The girl just whimpered loudly, hanging her head in abject despair, knowing she couldn’t do anything about it. There was no way Xander was getting away with that.

Candace eyes flashed red with anger and disgust as he said that, and that was the last straw. She didn’t care if she was going to get shot, she wasn’t about to let that level of property abuse fly. 

“You can’t talk to her like that.”

Lucy’s eyes actually flickered towards her, looking into Candace’s eyes in desperation. And that, that was all Candace needed to know she was right.

“Don’t you dare say things like that, not in front of me.” Candace snarled angrily at him, her hands curled into fists. “I will not stand here and watch you abuse her like this.”

Xander just laughed it off. “I’ll treat her however I like, she belongs to me.”

“I don’t care if she belongs to you, you can’t just treat her like garbage.”

“Yes I can. Because she is garbage. I will use her, abuse her, and then throw her away just like the rest.” 

“Not on my watch, you won’t. I will not let you lay a finger on her, nor take your turn at castrating someone you don’t respect, especially if you’re not planning on keeping her.” Candace stepped towards him, and for once, he was on the backfoot. “That girl is not a thing to be thrown away.”

He kept his gun pointed at her head, but it didn’t seem to phase Candace at all. “She’s a slave-”

“And that makes her a possession, not an object. She is a belonging to be prized and cherished, not a toy to be ruined and disposed of like a used condom.” Candace seethed, grabbing him by the wrist and forcing the barrel of his gun away from her head. “This woman is not garbage. She is a slave, but that does not make her any less of a person. So if you would like to leave with this person, you had better say that again, but right this time.”

Xander didn’t even try to point his gun at her after that, but he did reach into his pocket, producing the controller to his slave’s collar. “If she’s so important, I’d suggest you let go of my hand before I fry her brains out of her skull.”

Candace took one look at Lucy’s crying eyes, and promptly let go of her owner’s wrist. “You piece of shit.”

“Don’t take the moral high ground with me.” Xander caressed her cheek with the back of his hand, enjoying the way she struggled not to flinch. “You’re just as bad as I am.”

“Not anymore I’m not.” Candace shook her head, sighing at the sight of the devastated slave in the corner of her eyes. “Don’t even try to compare us.”

He just smiled at the look of frustration on her face, his hand slowly gliding to the one thing he missed, noticing Candace’s increased heart rate as his fingers cradled the necklace around her neck. “Sophia Cavalier gave you this, didn’t she?”

Candace bit her lip and held her tongue. “What does it matter?”

“I didn’t tell you, did I?” He chuckled. “About what happened to her in the facility?”

Her heart dropped in her chest. “What are you on about?”

“I raped her.” He smiled proudly as he said that. “I raped Sophia Cavalier.”

Oh he was so dead. The next time Candace laid eyes on him, Xander Mallick was dead.

“Barbie dear, cover your ears.” Xander pointed his gun straight at Candace’s head. “This is for splashing gin in my face.”

Bang . 

For a moment, Candace’s life flashed before her eyes, only to be snapped back out of it at humiliation of realizing he’d fired a blank straight into her face. 

She stumbled backwards onto the ground behind her, her ears ringing loudly. The only sound she could really make out was his stupid voice berating her from above.

“As if you could bring bullets into a convention center.” He grabbed his slave by the arm and yanked her towards him, her controller still in hand. “Some mafia boss you’re gonna make. Doesn’t even know when a gun is loaded.”

Candace was too dazed to do anything but sit there, her hands held to her ears as she reeled from the sound of the gunshot before her very eyes. Xander just walked away a slightly richer man, honestly just lucky to still be alive after that, violently dragging his slave alongside him. 

 

That man was so fucking dead. But until then, Candace had other things to worry about. 

“Hey, Tallie. I just got mugged.” The humiliation was palpable in her voice as she spoke into her cell, calling one of the few people she knew for help as she held her new stuffed friend in her lap. “He made away with my mother’s cross and-”

Candace’s hand clutched at her chest, grabbing at nothing. 

“And the necklace Chloe made me.” She couldn’t help but let out a defeated sob as she realized it. “Anyways. If you get this message, please call me back. I could use some help.”

The proud mafia heiress just sat with her back to the wall as she hung up the phone, clutching her stuffed kitten to her lap. If only she had brought someone with her to help protect her, none of this would have happened. She needed someone at her side, she couldn’t live alone anymore. 

“Hey, Leah?” Candace was still crying by the time her closest friend picked up the phone. “I’m sorry for not letting you come down here with me.”

“Honey. Why are you crying?” The first thing Leah was concerned about was Candace’s wellbeing over anything else. “Did something happen?”

“It was Xander.” Candace was more than a little bit ashamed to admit it. “He took mom’s cross.”

“I’m sorry, sweetheart.” Candace didn’t even have the heart to mention the necklace again. “I’ll get it back for you.”

“No, Leah. You don’t have to-”

“Don’t fight me on this, Candace. Nobody attacks you and gets away with it.” Leah’s voice was calm but stern. “I’ll help you take care of it. Your father doesn’t need to know, okay?”

“Okay.” Candace chuckled as she wiped away her tears. “Thanks mom.”

“Oh god, don’t call me that.” Leah giggled back. “That makes me feel old.”

“You are old.” Candace snapped right back, as witty as ever. “Way too old to be having sex with Aria.”

“We didn’t have sex. She just showed me how to masturbate.” Leah pouted from the other end. “Story for another day, okay?”

“Okay.” Candace sighed, slowly climbing to her feet. “I’m going to go find Tallie.”

“Promise you’ll let me know when you’re safe?”

“Promise.”

 

✶      ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧      ✶      ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦      ✶

 

“What the hell happened to you?”

Tallulah had been sleeping by the time Candace met her at the hotel, forcing her client to drag herself all the way there alone in the dark of night, unable to call a taxi after having her wallet stolen. 

“You stormed off on me.” Candace’s eyes hung glum as she stood outside of the doorway. “That’s what happened.”

Tallie was quickly overcome with guilt as Candace said that. “I’m sorry, Candace.”

“It’s fine.” It wasn’t fine, but she didn’t want to push the issue. “I want a private plane back home, tonight.”

That caught her off guard. “Why?”

“Because I’m going to my sister’s party.” She let out an annoyed snarl. “Whether you want me to or not.”

She paused for a moment before deciding not to press it any further. “Earliest I can do is tomorrow morning.”

“It’s a six hour flight-”

“And I’d have to get a private plane from my home in Cancun here to come pick us up, which means we’d need to wait the night anyways.”

“Can I get a commercial flight sooner?”

“Maybe. But you’d have to exchange tickets.”

“If it means getting there sooner.” Candace rooted through her bag for a moment before she realized what had happened. “I don’t have my ticket.”

“Then private plane from Cancun to Anaheim to the Keys it is then.” Tallie smiled, gesturing for Candace to come inside. “In the meantime, come lay in bed with me.”

“Actually. If it’s all the same to you, I think I’d like my own bed.” Candace frowned, hanging her head just slightly. “I don’t think this is working.”

It took a few moments for Tallulah to figure out what exactly Candace was getting at. “Candace, are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

“You’re fired, Tallulah.” Candace took a deep breath before just tearing off the bandage. “I don’t want you to be my manager anymore.”

A mix of emotions quickly overtook the hispanic mafia beauty. “I don’t understand.”

“I don’t like the way you’ve handled my career this last year, especially when it comes to Chloe.” She frowned, hoping that Tallie would take it well. “Donovan told me everything.”

“I’m sorry about lying to you, honey.” Tallulah whined under her breath. “Really, I am-”

“I think I might go with him next year, as a manager. If he’ll even have me after all of this.” She smiled nervously, looking up into her friend’s eyes. “Tallie, are you okay?”

“I-” She stuttered nervously as she spoke, something Candace didn’t usually see from her. “I don’t know.”

Candace stood there for a few moments, trying to figure out what to do. “You do realize I’m only talking about the work stuff and not any of the other stuff, right?”

A flood of relief quickly overtook Tallie at that point. “Oh thank God. I was worried-”

“I mean we still have things to talk about, but it’s not like I’m breaking up with you.” Candace giggled awkwardly. “Not that there’s a romance here to break up, because there isn’t.”

“You seem very hung up about my demiromanticism not quite being there yet, but I’m glad, because I would like it to get there eventually.” She let out a loud sigh. “Besides, it was going to make this next part very awkward.”

“Oh?” Candace rolled her eyes. “There’s more?”

“There’s always more to come, my little princess.” She motioned Candace into the hotel room. “Come inside and meet her.”

Candace’s heart swelled and her stomach dropped all at the same time. For a second she dreaded that Tallie had gotten her something too big, but she was pleasantly surprised to discover otherwise.

“Aww, Tallulah. She’s adorable.” Candace couldn’t help but smile the closer she got to the little thing. “Is that-”

“The border collie you were so head over heels for back in Seattle?” Tallulah grinned proudly. “Yes it is.”

“I can’t believe you went back and got her.” She smiled, sitting down in bed next to the new puppy. “How long have you had her?”

“I bought her that night over the phone.” Tallulah sighed, picking the dog up and setting her in Candace’s lap. “But I had them hold onto her until it was the right time to bring her home. I wanted to wait until the world championship was over, and now that you’ve finished hosting. I wanted to reward you.”

“I can’t believe this.” The little thing climbed all over Candace’s lap once she got there, the puppy was no bigger than her purse at this point, and she wanted all of her attention. “Thank you so much.”

“You’re welcome, Candace.” Tallulah just shook her head. “I imagine you’ll want me to hang onto her for a while. At least until Christmas?”

“Christmas?”

“So that you can surprise Chloe with her once you’ve brought her back home.” Tallulah relented, giving Candace her blessing to go ahead and be reckless. “I get it. I don’t like it, but I get it. If you want Chloe as your slave again, go get her.”

“Tallulah.” Candace blushed. “Thank you.”

“Get some sleep.” Tallie nodded, reaching down to pet the puppy. “I’ll bring her back to Cancun with me.”

“Actually. I think I want to surprise Chloe tomorrow.” Candace stopped her. “I’m going to bring them both home together, and I’m going to do what I should have done a year ago, hold Chloe’s hand and never let go.”

 

✶      ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧      ✶      ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦      ✶

 

16th November, 365 days until the banquet.

 

“I’m in the finals.”

I couldn’t help but nervously pace back and forth across the room. Winning the semifinal match should have gotten me excited, but it had just made me antsy. I was always anxious before a match.

“I can’t believe I’m in the finals.” My heart was simply pounding away in my chest. I wasn’t sure if what I was feeling was the urge to scream with joy or the urge to throw up. “How did I even get here?”

“By defeating Silver Notts in the semifinals.” My manager responded with a smirk. “At least I’m pretty sure that’s how tournaments work.”

“You’re very funny, Justin.” I stopped in place for a moment so that he could appreciate just how hard I wasn’t laughing. “I mean the whole tournament. How is someone like me even qualified to be here?”

“I would say because you qualified for the tournament, but I think what I’m supposed to say is because you worked hard and you earned it.” Justin looked up from his laptop to see me, once again pacing back and forth. “You were incredibly impressive as a new challenger back in winter. You qualified for and did fine in spring. Then you seemingly got knocked out of the standings when they wiped the floor with you in summer. Only to take a chance, buckle down, and go all in to win in the fall. Now you’re here.”

“And it’s about as shitty as the ride just getting here.” I let out a loud groan, trying to shake loose any remaining nerves. “The ride you just described, not the flight, I mean.”

“I got you.” He nodded, promptly returning to his laptop screen. “Never thought we’d be taking a plane to travel intrastate, did you?”

“Never thought we’d be able to afford it.” I snorted back at him. “Seemed so frivolous to fly across the state when we could drive for so much cheaper.”

“Like we’ve always done.” Justin and I had driven the distance to the convention together for the last few years, but it was nice not to be behind the wheel of a car you had to cross your fingers and hope would make the distance home, which last year it did not. “How’s the new car doing anyways?”

“Calliope, you mean?” Man did I love that little yellow thing. It just sucked that I had to keep a crowbar in her truck, given where I lived. “Finally replaced her tires after the boys downtown gashed them, and I got the brakes fixed. Her transmission’s kind of fucked, though.”

He raised an eyebrow at that, but not much more. “You should get that looked at.”

“With what money?” I rolled my eyes at him, not that he noticed with where his attention was at. “I bought her to replace our old squeaker after we had to tow her home. Between that, getting the brakes fixed, buying new tires, and repairing her back window not once but twice, my winnings have gone kaput.”

“That’s because the old flat’s just no good.” My ex-boyfriend just shook his head. “I’ve been telling you that you need to move to a better neighborhood, Soph.”

“What, like you did?” I quickly snapped back at him. “I don’t have the income for that.”

“That’s because you quit the magazine.”

“Yeah, to stream full time.”

“And then you stopped streaming-”

“Because people stopped caring about my content after I stopped practicing live.”

“No. You did it because you stopped caring about all of your other content.”

“I needed to focus on practicing full time if I ever wanted to qualify for this.”

“Well you’re here now, Soph. Congratulations.” Justin threw his laptop closed in his lap, staring up at me with the single most fed up expression I’d ever seen on his face. “I’m glad it turned out in the end, because I’m not sure how you were going to keep practicing for next year once you couldn’t afford electricity anymore.”

“Thank you, Justin. But clearly I don’t need you to worry about me because I’m here. I’ve done it.” Our voices progressively raised until we were finally yelling at each other again. “I’m in the top two already, so whether I win or I lose, I have a big payout coming my way once this is all over. With half a million dollars maybe I can finally buy that house you’ve been so insistent on me getting.”

“Half a million?” He furled his eyebrows at me. “Do you know how hard it’s been trying to manage you when you can’t afford to pay me until the end of the season?”

“Alright fine, 375K once I’ve given you that twenty five percent I promised you.”

“And for that money from the fall you didn’t give me a dime of?”

“Okay okay, I need a new car, but that’s fair. You’ll get thirty percent. I’ll have 350K. That’s still a lot.”

“But that’s only if you win.”

“I mean I guess 200K is a bit less than 500K.”

“And 140K is a lot less that 350K.”

“So we’ll swing for a house together, yeah?” I tried to spin it in a positive way to him, knowing that he wasn’t exactly buying it. “It’ll be just like the flat, you and I living together like we used to.”

“Back when we were dating, you mean?”

“Look. It’s only a temporary thing, okay?” No matter how hard I pitched it to him, Justin wasn’t buying it. “It’s just to give us both stability so that we don’t have to worry about ourselves on the streets for next season. We’ll do even better next year. Once you and I have some more money to throw around, you’ll be able to afford your own house, and I can help pay you back for all of this.”

“I don’t need a house. I already have a stable place to live.”

“Yeah, in a smaller apartment in a slightly better neighborhood.”

“Please don’t make me spell this out for you, Sophia.”

“Spell what out for me, Justin?”

Looking back on it now, he was just as stressed as I was back there, I just didn’t realize it at the time. So much of the stress we both went through was because of me, but my dumb ass was too proud and arrogant to admit it. It’s a bit too little too late, but seeing this one last time made me wish I could apologize to him for that. Even though I knew I would never get the chance again.

“I didn’t want to say it until after the tournament was over because I know how important this last game is going to be, but you’re kind of putting me on the spot here.” 

He was positively exasperated. Justin was as on edge as I was, if not more, and being on his laptop had been his way to try and relax. But he couldn’t even have that while I was freaking out like I was.

“When we started this whole thing together, you and I weren’t just you and I, we were us. But that’s not what we are. I’m not your girlfriend, I’m not your roommate, and I’m honestly not sure if I can call myself your best friend anymore. At the end of the day, I’ve been your friend and your manager, but I don’t even think I can handle that last part after all of this.” He hung his head just slightly, clearly feeling guilty for saying it now of all times. “Regardless of what happens here today, I’m done. We’re done working together, Sophia. I’m sorry.”

I didn’t even have the dignity of giving him a response. I just fumed, tearing his own laptop from his grasp, and without even thinking about what I was doing…

SMASH!!! 

…I slammed it straight into the ground between us, watching it shatter into a thousand pieces in an instant.

 

We both went silent at that point, when it became painfully obvious that I had just burned another bridge. But I didn’t say sorry, and he didn’t really say anything about it at all. We just stared at each other until the whole subject was dropped, and then we moved on.

“Well I was watching the other semifinal on that.” He let out a sigh, clearly not angry, just disappointed. “But I guess I have to go watch it on stage now.”

“Who’s winning?” I asked, pretending like nothing had happened at all. “Just so that I know who I’m going to face?”

“I wasn’t going to tell you until it was finished, like you asked.” Justin slowly got to work picking up the pieces of the broken thing, trying to collect them all in one spot. “But now I don’t know who’s going to win because I can’t watch the last round.”

I stood out of his way, admiring his quick work from afar as best as I could. “Tied?”

“Not that it changes anything, but yeah.” He set the pile on the table in front of the sofa, giving up on it as quickly as he was giving up on me. “You can keep that, by the way.”

“Thanks.” I didn’t really care, but I pretended like I did. “Hopefully it’s Candace?”

“Hopefully it’s not Candace.” Justin donned his jacket, rolling his eyes at my fangirl excitement. “You know you can’t beat her, right?”

“Sure I can.” I scoffed, putting my hands on my hips. “I’ve done it before, haven’t I?”

“Yeah, once, in a best of five.” He said as he slung his empty laptop carrier over his shoulder. “You can’t beat her in a best of seven. You know that. She knows that. The organizers know that. That’s why you two were put in opposite brackets.” 

“What, to give her an unfair advantage?” I rolled my eyes at how absurd that sounded. “Why would they do that?”

“Because people hated when you knocked her out of the quarterfinals back in fall.” He wasn’t even sure why he was even saying all of this if I wasn’t really listening. “Or maybe they just hated how you taunted her between every game, even after the ones you lost. Not to mention going on to win it after making yourself look like the bad guy.”

“People like a good villain. I’m just playing a character.” I protested, outright denying the idea that the fans actually hated me, I couldn’t handle that so it couldn’t have been true. “She won Katowice and summer, she didn’t even need to show up for fall. What’s wrong with trying to stick it to her just once?”

“You have to make sure that it really is just once, because if you do that again, people are not going to be very happy with you.”

“They’re going to be that way if I win regardless of how sportsmanlike I am. She’s the fan favorite, I can’t help it.” Just thinking about playing her was getting me excited. “Maybe once I’ve bested her she’ll finally notice me for once.”

“Maybe she will. Maybe she won’t.” Justin started, and just then there was a knock at the door, which was his cue that he could finally get up and leave. “Just don’t hurt her feelings. I know how you feel about her, and it’s not going to help.”

“Please don’t leave yet.” I hesitantly reached out towards him, desperate to stop him from walking out the door. “I can buy you a better laptop if you’d like.”

“Get some help, Sophia.” Was the single hardest thing I’d ever had to hear in my entire life, and it stung that it came from him. “Keep the money. I don’t need anything from you. I want you to get some help. Take whatever you were going to pay me with and use it to put your life back together. Fix what’s broken, buy yourself some stability, and stop chasing your own tail.”

I watched him leave without another word after that, and even back then I couldn’t blame him for turning his back on me and walking away. Because thinking about it now, that’s exactly what I would have done too. 

But at the time I had other pressing things to worry about, including an upcoming final match and a sweetheart at the door begging for my attention. 

“Hey there, Candace.” Admittedly, I wasn’t the best at talking to women. “What are you doing here?”

“Weird question considering I’m the one who belongs here while your presence is the one that feels a bit out of place.” She answered with a smug smile on her face. “But I suppose what you meant to ask was what I’m doing backstage, to which the answer is: I just finished my match.”

“Yeah, that.” I blushed ever so slightly, awkwardly standing in the doorway to keep her from coming inside. “How’d the match go? Who won?”

“An even weirder question considering how that implies you weren’t watching even though we’re supposed to be rivals.” She squinted ever so slightly, folding her arms at her chest. “Or am I not appropriate rival material for the great SoCavalier, because if you don’t want me to check in on you, I don’t have to.”

“No no, I appreciate it, really. We make great rivals, I swear.” I chuckled awkwardly, trying to hide my nerves. “I just didn’t want to get my hopes up about playing against you just in case something happened, so I didn’t-”

“Sophia.” She interrupted, sternly. “Let me inside the room. Please?”

I swallowed nervously as she said that, taking a couple steps back and holding the door open as she walked inside, closing the door behind her. “Sorry. It’s kind of a mess back here.”

“I can see that.” She almost shuddered as she saw the busted up laptop on the center table. “Did you do this?”

“What, the laptop?” I couldn’t exactly shrug it off like it was nothing. “Yeah, that was me.”

“I see.” She stared at it for a moment, before smiling at me with her usual on stage cuteness. “You really ought to get your temper under control. You wouldn’t want people to mistake you for a wild animal, would you?”

“And what’s wrong with being a wild animal?” I mewled back at her, also taking on my demeanor from up on the stage. “People need to know not to root for me when we play against each other, right?”

“Yes.” She looked at me with just a little bit of disbelief. “About that.”

My heart dropped in my chest as she said that. “Oh. Um. I guess I should probably ask how your semifinal went, huh?”

“That’s what I was about to get into, actually. It was pretty close. Because as we both know, Hyo is a pretty good opponent.” She quickly dropped the facade, grinning proudly at the results of her last match. “He’s just not Candace St. Clair good.”

“You won.” I was almost as proud of her as I was proud of myself. “We’re going to be playing each other in the finals.” 

She just wasn’t as proud of me as I would have liked. “Yes. I suppose we are.” 

Candace was my rival, but I couldn’t help but smile at the news. Within just a few moments I found myself stepping towards her with open arms, trying to give her a hug to congratulate her on her win. 

But that was when I saw her look at me with wide eyes and quickly take a good few steps back, only stopping once I’d gotten the hint and done so myself. Candace clearly didn’t want a hug from me. 

“I’m sorry, hon.” Her face was nothing short of uncomfortable. “I don’t do hugs.”

I just sort of screeched to a halt, slowly lowering my arms in embarrassment as she said that. I knew what she meant, I could see it on her face. 

“Yes you do.” I blushed, sliding my hands into the pocket of my hoodie. “You’re a sweetheart on stage. I’ve seen you do it lots of times before.”

“Well.” Even though she couldn’t deny that, she just didn’t want to say it to my face. “I don’t do hugs right now, how’s that?”

“That’s fine.” I frowned, backing up to give her some space. “Hugs are for losers anyways.”

“And are you saying that because you’re calling me a loser now?” This girl just didn’t let up. “Or as a weird sort of shield to hide your embarrassment?”

I wasn’t sure what it was, but something inside of me broke in that moment, and I just couldn’t pretend like nothing was wrong. 

“God, Candace. What is your deal?” I said with a gravel to my voice. “You’re such a sweetheart on stage, but whenever we’re in a room together you treat me like I’m dirt.”

“Oh, come now, that’s not fair.” She tapped her foot impatiently, shaking her head at me. “Up there’s all an act, you know. Like how you’re not really a big strong bad girl like you try to make everyone believe. This is just what I’m like, there’s no reason to get all upset about it.”

“I guess.” I let the issue go, knowing it was probably all in my head. “I’ve just always thought you were sweet.”

“Thank you.” She smiled, humming to herself. “I am sweet once you’ve gotten to know me.”

I blushed, hanging my head just slightly. “Am I ever going to get the chance to know you better?”

“Sophia.” She sighed loudly, not even looking me in the eyes. “Look. There’s a lot you don’t know about me, so don’t fall in love with the girl you see on stage.”

“I’m not in love with you.” It wasn’t technically a lie, given that my feelings were much closer to a crush, but it still wasn’t the whole truth. “You don’t know me either.”

“No. I don’t.” She paused for a moment, glancing back towards the shattered laptop on the table beside her. “And something tells me I should be grateful for that.”

Maybe it was just how much I looked up to her that made this pit in my stomach so difficult to bear. Seeing Candace on stage made me fall in love with the idea of being like her. But getting to know her, or rather, not getting to know her off stage was a bitter slap in the face. The reality of reaching the pinnacle I’d so longed for was nothing more than an illusion the closer I got, and it really put into perspective just how little it all meant. I was just as miserable up here as I’d been down there, and nothing captured that feeling better than being face to face with my idol.

And Candace wouldn’t even give me the time of day to let me enjoy that illusion, not for a second.

Yet I still found my heart beating excitedly as she looked me up and down, from head to toe, and smiled to herself. I didn’t care what was going through her head to make her grin like that, it was just a little bit nice to know that she was enjoying it. 

“Tell me.” She kept her eyes focused on my body, rather than my face. “Nobody’s ever beaten that third strategy of yours, have they?”

“Are you kidding me?” I chuckled. “Most of them can’t beat my first strategy.”

“And why’s that, do you think?”

“Because you might think you know how to beat it from just watching it.” I made sure to rub it in her face just a bit. “But trust me, you have to lose to it first before you can hope to overcome it.”

“And that goes for all four of your strategies, does it?” Her face was clean as she smirked at me. “Or all three of them?”

“I’m not telling you a thing.”

“It’s a shame too. You’ve never really gotten to show off a fourth strategy.” Something in her voice was a lot hungrier than I’d heard from her. “Because if I recall correctly, you’ve never beaten me in a best of seven before. Which means your odds are a million to one.”

I snorted. “Says the girl who can’t beat me in a best of five to save her life.”

“Watch your mouth.” She practically barked at me, taking one strong step in my direction. “Or I’ll watch it for you.”

“Oh you’d like that, I’m sure.” I wasn’t scared of her, not one bit, and I was willing to prove it. Her and I stood face to face, glaring angrily into each other’s eyes, mere inches away from one another. “We’ll see who’s laughing once this is all over.”

“I guess we will, and for your sake, I hope it’s me.” Her mouth curled into an eager smile, and just for a moment, I watched her cheeks turn pink. “Because if it’s not, then I suspect I’m going to have one hell of a time having you brought to my doorstep just so that I can kick the shit out of you. I would love to watch you cry.”

“Oh, be my guest, princess. All you have to do is invite me over. You can kick the shit out of me anytime, but you’ll never see me cry.” I could feel myself getting as hot and bothered as she was, and I couldn’t help but smile at that. “And you’ll never be the world champion.” 

Candace’s eyes flashed with sheer awe in that moment, her breath escaping her like a gasp from her lips.

And I wasn’t sure who did what but the next thing I felt were those lips locked against mine, my whole body pressed to the wall behind me as she grasped me by the collar and shoved me back, our souls dancing around each other as we kissed. 

But just as soon as it began, it all had to end, and I could see in Candace’s eyes a fierce overwhelming regret, and it broke my heart in an instant. 

So many things overtook her in that moment as she pulled away, and none of it bloomed confidence within me. That excitement in her breath was replaced with the heat of guilty passion, but even the feeling of her hands fleeing from my touch didn’t hurt like looking her in those eyes as she spat in my face.

And I crumbled to the floor at her feet within moments. 

“No.” Candace’s voice was filled with hatred, and it was painful to know that hatred was towards herself, and not for me. Her hands clasped over her lips, face twisting into a rueful scowl. “Not you.” 

“Candace.” I couldn’t help it. I didn’t care if she spat in my face. She made me smile. “Please.”

“I can’t.” She looked at me like my lips were poison, shaking her head in abject disgust. “Keep your filthy hands off me.”

That was the moment when it all came crashing down. Where just wiping her ire from my face wasn’t enough, because she was already turned around and at the door, and I could do nothing but watch her leave and wish she wouldn’t. 

I’d always known deep down that just her acknowledgement wasn’t enough. Her approval wasn’t enough, I needed more. Her adoration was what I was after. That was what I needed. That would be enough. 

I had looked up to her from so far away for so long, and now that I was up close I couldn’t stand to let myself crumble, I wouldn’t fall all the way back to the bottom just to start over again. 

And there was only one way I could think to make her see me like I saw her.  

Win. 

 

So that’s exactly what I did. 

 

SoCavalier 4 - 2 CStC

Winner

SoCavalier

 

And she did not like that. 

Not at all. 

 

“And in a stunning turn of events, we have our winner!!” 

It should have been the best moment of my life, and it was, but something still felt wrong.

“Despite all odds, Sophia Cavalier has defied expectations yet again by fighting her way out of nowhere to become not only our newest WCS champion, but the first woman to ever win the title of best in the world!!”

All of it felt wrong. It felt so right and so wrong at the same time. 

“Let’s hear it from you, Sophia. How does it feel to become the first woman to ever win on the big stage here tonight?”

By all accounts, it was the greatest moment of my life, but it wasn’t quite what I had expected it to be.

“When you first started your journey a year ago, did you ever expect to find yourself here so soon?”

It was fulfilling, yes. But it was also strangely empty. I couldn’t help but feel like I was missing something. 

“I don’t know. It’s hard to describe.” 

Something important. 

“It feels like I shouldn’t be here.”

“And I’m sure many champions before you have felt the same way, but none of them have ever had a season like yours. Your climb to the top has been unprecedented, don’t you agree?”

“I do.” I had a smile on my face that wouldn’t go away, and a girl in the corner I couldn’t take my eyes off of. “It’s an honor I didn’t think I’d ever have the privilege of accepting. Honestly, I’m speechless.”

But everyone else in that room had their eyes on me, and not all of them were happy about it. 

“I just want to thank you all for giving me this opportunity in the first place. Without everyone out there, I wouldn’t be here today. I can’t possibly describe how it’s felt to get to this point, so before I go, I just want all of you out there watching to know how much this means to me…”

...And that was all I could say before I started crying on stage in front of everyone there to see me. 

“Let’s hear one last round of applause for our new WCS global champion, SoCavalier!!”

The crowd was filled with boos, that was for sure, but to just ignore the overwhelming amount of congratulations and support would be doing everyone, including myself, a disservice. They were cheering me on just as hard as they’d ever cheered a champion on before, if not just a little bit more. 

They had been cheering for me to win after all. 

 

“Candace.” I still had tears in my eyes as I ran to her side, but I needed to catch her before she stepped off stage. Because once she was gone, it was already too late, I would never have the strength to face her again. “Thank you so much for everything. I’d love to play again. Please?”

I opened my heart one last time and reached out, holding my hand out for her to take. 

And for a moment, she actually thought about taking it, I could see that smile on her face and those lights in her eyes as she held her hand out towards mine. 

But then she stopped, and without a word, Candace retracted her hand, all of that feeling gone from her face. 

Anything we had together in that moment was dead in the water, and all I could do was watch as she turned her back on me one last time… 

…And walk away. 

✶      ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧      ✶      ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦      ✶

 

16th November, 0 days until the banquet.

 

“Sophia?”

 

“Chloe?”

 

“Can you hear me?”

 

And just like that the whole world came crashing in on me again. 

 

“Are you in there, Chloe?”

 

I awoke with a start, my hands curled around my neck as if clutching at something, quickly gasping for breath as I sat up. 

It would seem like my entire life flashing in front of my eyes had followed me into my sleep, because those memories were the last thing I remembered when I regained consciousness. 

Still alive.

“Candace.”

And those memories were enough to send me headfirst into a panic stricken terror.

“No. No. No. No. No.” I could feel everything and nothing all at the same time. “NO. NO. NO. NO. NO.”

“Chloe, please. Calm down.” Josephine’s voice was the first I recognized when I came to. “Everything’s fine. You’re alive. It’s safe.”

“NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. ” But her voice alone wasn’t quite enough to save me. “ NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. ”

I was bawling. Tears were running down my face now harder than ever. I was more scared now than ever before. Even after I was sure I had died.

“ NO! NO!! NO!!! NO!!!! NO!!!!! ”

“Hey now.” I heard her voice calling out to me, and I was as desperate as ever to have something to cling onto. “Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out.”

I wouldn’t have believed in it if I hadn’t heard her do it before, but the memory of Josie helping calm her wife down was just enough to get me to open up. 

To let her help me. 

To let anyone help me. 

“Just like that. Deep breath in. Deep breath out. You can do it.”

I submitted myself to her instructions, doing exactly as I was told by the wife of the woman who I was noticing hadn’t quite taken my life. 

And I was extremely grateful to have her here. 

“In. Out. In. Out. In Out.” She smiled happily as she spoke, doing it with me. “You’re safe now, I promise.”

“What happened?” I calmed down after a few minutes, but even still I couldn’t believe my eyes. “Where am I?”

“You’re still at the plantation.” She stopped, gesturing towards the very room I thought I’d died in. “This is real. You’re not imagining it. You’re okay.”

“Why?” Was the only question on my mind. “Why am I alive?”

“Short answer.” Josie took me by both hands as we sat there. “Because you didn’t die.”

“Here, let me take a look at her, Miss.” I could hear another voice, Aria’s voice, as she stepped inside of the cell with us. “I want to make sure she’s okay.”

“Aria?” I looked on at her in complete disbelief, not yet convinced I wasn’t already dead, and that she and Josie were too. “What are you doing here?”

“Why do you think I’m here?” She smiled, taking Josie’s place in front of me as she made room for her. “It’s because I’m a nurse. I’m here to check and see if you’re alright.”

“But.” I had tears in her eyes as she did just that, sitting down to examine me. “But your master.”

“Her master is here too, she’s just outside with her daughter.” Josie said as she slowly stood up. “Hang tight, I’m going to go get them.”

“No.” Before I could stop her she was already gone, and I could feel my anxiety skyrocketing all over again. “Wait.”

“That was one hell of a show you put on, Sophia Cavalier.” Aria said with a rather impressed smile as she checked for a concussion, and that alone was enough to help calm me down. “I’ve never seen someone face their death so head on like that before. You have my respect, that’s for sure.”

“Is she alright, dear?” Finally, Lilith made her debut, with her daughter-in-law beside her, holding her arm as she coughed heavily into her handkerchief. “She’s not concussed, is she?”

“Not that I’ve seen, Mistress. No concussion, no bruises, no nothing.” Aria looked up at her owner and smiled. “Claudia did a good job with that at least. She probably traumatized her, though.”

And that was when I saw her, cane in hand, daring to show her face to me again. 

“Oh thank god, you’re awake.” 

At long last, Claudia was finally here to return to my side, and I was not excited about that. 

“I wasn’t sure if you were going to make it.”

“Stay back.” I couldn’t help but snap at her, especially after everything she’d done to me. “You tried to kill me.”

“Don’t be insolent, Chloe.” Josephine made sure to scold me for that, but lightly. “Claudia’s not trying to kill you.”

“I’m sorry that I had to trick you like this.” Claudia frowned nervously, making sure to be slow in her approach as she sat down next to me. “I needed your reactions to be genuine. For the camera.”

“The camera?” I swallowed nervously, now near deathly terrified of that cane in her hand. “What do you mean?”

“To show to my father. As proof of your death.” She smiled nervously, pulling a familiar looking VHS tape and setting it down in her lap, this one labelled #0000B. My number. “He was never going to believe it unless you really thought you were dying. I had no choice but to keep it a secret from you, I apologize.”

Finally, it dawned on me what had just happened. “You faked my death.”

“We faked your death.” Claudia smiled, her eyes fluttering over to her wife beside me. “It was Josephine’s idea. I was just here to press the button.”

“But you did it, and you didn’t kill anyone.” Lilith smiled, impressed by her daughter’s progress. “I’m proud of you, sweetheart.”

Claudia’s face actually turned a little bit red, and she gently looked down towards the controller still strapped to around her wrist, gently running her finger along its length. “Thanks, Mom.”

“I’m proud of her too.” Josie practically tackled Claudia to the ground with how happy she was, wrapping her arms around her wife. “I love you, Claudibear.”

“I love you too, Josiepie.” Claudia giggled quietly, returning her partner’s loving embrace as she fell into the other woman’s arms. “But let’s not do this right now, there’s no time. We can canoodle when we get home.”

“You guys faked my death.” I still wasn’t over this. “Why would you fake my death?”

“Because the girls think of you as family.” My master had a distinct snarl in her voice as she said it. “Whether I like it or not, I can’t exactly get rid of you without breaking a lot of hearts.”

“But what about everything I’ve done?” I snarled right back at her. “I thought you hated me?”

“I do hate you.” Even in her cruelty, Claudia still had an ounce of compassion within her. “But that doesn’t mean I have to kill you.”

 

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Claudia Rosegold Mariam, the woman who’d killed her own stepmother and hid it from her sister Candace, was faking my death to spare my life, much like her little sister. I had gone along with all of it without even knowing, playing along with the act like it was real, because I thought it was. All that was left now that there was a tape proving that I’d been killed was to find a place to keep me, because it was no longer safe to show my face, I’m supposed to be dead. 

“We’ve spared your life, but not for nothing.” Josie held Claudia’s hand in hers, going through the rest of the plan they’d come up with. “You’re still a slave. We expect you to live, work, and act like a slave. You just won’t be a house slave anymore.”

“You’re going to be a plantation slave.” Claudia finished for her, giving Josephine a sly smile. “You’ll live here at the plantation. We’re going to put you to work with the rest of the men and women here. Every slave here at the plantation was on the zed list, saved from being put down only by my mercy. I bought each of them for the express purpose of keeping them alive, with the implicit understanding that if they choose to rebel, there’s nowhere else for them to go but hell.”

“That means that just like all of the other girls Claudia’s put down, she has the authority to change her mind and put you down as well, if she so chooses.” Josie clearly didn’t want this to be the case, but it was the price she had to pay to talk her wife down from killing me outright. “The facility that Lilith created is run by her son, which means it’s under Cardinal’s control now. But when my family agreed to marry me to his daughter, they did so in exchange for this place. The plantation is my birthright, and that means it’s outside of his jurisdiction.”

“My family profits off of it, trafficking the drugs we grow here to prey on weaklings and make money, but it’s not my family’s to control.” Claudia smiled, looking softly into her wife’s glowing eyes. “It’s mine to control.”

“It’s ours to control.” Josephine smirked, leaning in and pecking Claudia’s lips for a kiss. “And while you’re here, you’re ours to control. You’ll have to get used to that.”

“Starting now.” Claudia finished with a dispassionate anger. “Now stand up. I’m taking you to your new world before I change my mind.”

No. This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen. I was supposed to be dead. I deserved to be dead. Even in death there was the silver lining of being put out of my misery, but even that was gone. I didn’t want this. I didn’t want to be under her control any longer, but Claudia wasn’t giving me any other choice.

“Hold on, Sweetheart.” Claudia’s mother said as soon as there was a lull in her near constant coughing. “Don’t you remember what I said when I asked you to host this party for me?”

Claudia grabbed me by the arm, but before she could drag me to my feet, she stopped. “You said a lot of things, Mom. Can you be just a bit more specific?”

Lilith nodded from behind her handkerchief, holding one finger up to request a moment as she suffered through another fit of painful hacks and wheezes. “About her, Claudia. What did I say about Candace?”

“You requested that I invite my sister.” Claudia’s eyes briefly went wide, looking at her mother in disbelief. “And her lady friend.’

“Like I said, that doll’s a wonderful girl.” Lilith looked at me with a wink. “I want them both there at my party.”

“You can’t be serious.” I felt my arm slip out of Claudia’s grasp as she protested. “She’s already here at the plantation, you can’t be serious about this, Mom.”

“Darling, please.” Lilith lowered her handkerchief for just a moment, showing her daughter a desperate smile. “It’s one of your mother’s dying wishes.”

As soon as she finished speaking, everything quickly took a turn for the worse. In the span of just a couple moments I watched all of the color fade from the old woman’s face, quickly clutching her handkerchief to her mouth with both hands as she launched into a gauntlet of completely uncontrolled coughs. 

I wasn’t quite sure what was different about this coughing fit at first, but thankfully Aria recognized what was happening and quickly scampered to her mistress’ side. As Lilith’s cane clattered to the floor, her newest slave made sure to grab her arm and slowly support her before she fell to the ground with it. 

It was then that I saw the white cloth in her hands turn red with blood. I never doubted that she was really dying, but coughing up blood was a sure sign that something was seriously wrong. 

“I’ve got you, Mistress.” Aria wrapped her arm around Lilith’s lower torso. She might have been a pretty small woman, but Lilith was more than light enough for her slave to hold. It had become her job to be there to help nurse Lilith’s medical needs, to be her nurse, but even she was out of her league when it came to helping her owner with her cancer. “I’m right here. I promise.”

“Aria.” I couldn’t help but feel for the girl, even after everything she’d done to me. Nobody should have to deal with helping her elder through her death, and it was clear that the two of them had a closer relationship than I’d imagined. They both had tears in their eyes. “Is she okay?”

“I don’t have the heart to say that, but she’s gotten this far.” Aria smiled, slowly helping Lilith to the closest seat, sitting down with her and continuing to help keep her comfortable. It was all she could do at this point. “It’s your birthday, Ma’am. Don’t let it do you in just yet. P-please?”

Lilith’s eyes slowly opened and closed, locked onto her nurse for the brief moment they were let out to see, and just for a moment she had the strength to give her a reassuring nod. The coughing fit continued and she had no choice to suffer through it, but after a moment or so I could see her take a shaking hand from her handkerchief and place it on Aria’s shoulder, trying to help herself lean into the girl. 

“It’ll be okay, Mistress.” Aria tilted her head forward, pressing her forehead against Lilith’s to help support the older woman. Gentle tears rolled their way down the mouse girl’s cheeks, biting her tongue and forcing a second wind into her own lungs. “It’ll all be over soon, I promise. Just hang in there a little longer for me.”

Josie held her wife by both shoulders as she stared at the scene in front of her, struggling not to cry. She knew her mother was dying, but she wasn’t ready to watch it happen. “Mom…”

“I’ll be okay.” Lilith forced through pained lungs, slowly but surely regaining her strength. “I just need some sleep for tonight.”

“Let’s get you home, Mistress.” Aria shook herself free of tears, forcing her own feelings to the side as she helped Lilith to her feet. “It’s already past two, we shouldn’t be out this late.”

“Take me home, Aria.” Lilith had no choice to agree, giving the rest of us one last smile before leaving. “And I’ll see you girls at the party tonight.”

“Let me help you girls get home.” Josie gave her wife a quick kiss before wiping her face free of tears, knowing the best way to help her was to help her mother. “We’re going to have a great time tonight, I just know it.”

“Happy birthday.” Claudia just watched in awe as her wife helped her mother out, a smile on her face as she stayed behind. “I love you, Mommy.”

Lilith, for just a moment, couldn’t help but smile at the sound of that word again. So even though she was that much closer to death,she clearly left just a little bit happier than she’d arrived. “I love you too, princess.”

 

The three of them made their way out of the crypt, leaving Claudia and I alone together for the first time since what I thought would be the last time. 

“I guess I have no choice but to bring you home one last time.” Her wife left with Preyboy, but Claudia would leave with her mother’s cane. “If I’d gotten my way, you’d be dead already. But thankfully, it’s not always about me. Today is about her. Today is about family.”

“Master.” I nervously stared into her angry eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“I really did try to make this work.” She frowned, taking her mother’s cane and snapping it in half right there out of anger. “But you made your decision.”

“I knew what I was doing.” I said with a weak voice. “Why didn’t you kill me?”

“Because I’m not done with you yet.” She turned to me with those unblinking eyes, petrifying me to my soul. “Don’t mistake this for mercy.”

I could feel my heart squeezed inside of my chest as I looked into her, terrified beyond belief about what she was going to say next. I’d lived through this once before, and I wasn’t ready to do it again. “No. Please.”

My master sat there wordlessly for a moment, admiring the sight of my controller clasped around her wrist as she reluctantly removed it from her reach. But before she put it away, she took it and she held it before her eyes. She stared at her reflection in the bracelet and smiled. 

“I’m not sparing you because you don’t deserve to die. I’m sparing you because you deserve a fate worse than death.” Her smile carried over as she tucked the controller away in her pocket for later, turning her head to face me. “I’m sparing you so that I can hurt you. I’m going to punish you for everything you’ve done to me. And I’m going to love every moment of it.”

I cowered within her aura as she stood, looming over me like an unstoppable giant, a mountain that I couldn’t climb, and just like that I looked to her with tears in my eyes as she gave me one last smile. 

Before spitting right in my face. 

 

“Enjoy the rest of your miserable life, Sophia Madeline Cavalier. I hope it was worth it.”

Chapter 43: Oh, You Sinners

Summary:

CW For the party:

Death, Murder, Blood
Child endangerment, Past child abuse, Implied child abuse
Suicidal thoughts, Suicidal actions, Trauma
And of course- Love triangles

Please enjoy~

16th November, the day of the banquet. 

 

My anxiety grew with every new face that arrived at the party, but every time I heard those doors open I couldn’t help look up and see who it was. 

Sometimes it was someone I knew. Claudia’s lackeys were all here. Violet and Russel came together, while Nell showed up off the clock. Though the only big ones I was familiar with aside from Lilith and her slave were her son and his slave. 

Cyrus had brought his wife Elizabeth, while Aria was here as Lilith’s nurse. Most of Cyrus’ lackeys were also here. Anthony Schmitt was curiously absent, but Rebecca Larkin, Phil Burke, Jane Colton, and Naomi Carlisle were all here. They mostly came alone, the one exception being Rebecca Larkin and her slave, a boy named Grey Dobbs. Tonight was my first time meeting a male slave as well, but Grey wasn’t alone in that. Violet herself had brought two men Jean and Jake, twins by the look of it. 

And then there were the people I just didn’t know. Many of them were older, clearly Lilith’s friends and associates, but there were a few younger faces, some of which I recognized. Cyrus hadn’t been kidding when he said that the family showed vetted customers preference when selling slaves, because I could spot five faces in particular that made me shiver.

All of the people who’d made appointments to come see me on the sale floor were here tonight, mostly chatting amongst each other. Apparently each of them were close enough with Lilith and her son to get themselves invited to her party tonight, along with their spouses and a couple stray slaves, including that last man. The one that had raped me. 

 

Obviously, the hosts were all home. Claudia was holding the party for her mother so that Lilith didn’t have to, and Josephine was in charge of taking care of Lilian all night. Zenna was taking a break from nannying to serve with Darcey and Autumn, not to talk about the potential new baby the family might be having. 

I, meanwhile, had a different role tonight. I was to stay next to Claudia, shut the hell up, don’t touch anything- and I fucking hated it. 

“No more chances. Leave my sight for a second and I will hunt you down and beat you into a paste, you got that?” 

Claudia was taking no risks tonight, and she was smart to make that decision for once. I couldn’t be trusted on my own, and we both knew that. The one thing she didn’t know, though, was just how right she was. 

I had my own plan for tonight. A mission to accomplish. A quest to complete. A game to play. All I needed to do was sneak away just long enough to get into her office and collect a certain little bracelet of mine. My last key to success, the controller to my collar. Once I finally had it, I was home free. There was no going back for me, not without a miracle. 

Tonight I ran away, and I either escaped this hell at long last or died trying.

 

“Claudia, darling. Come sit down with us!!” Lilith was looking much better than just this morning after having a good night’s rest. From the look of her you wouldn’t even know that she had been coughing up blood fifteen hours ago, and her friends didn’t need to know either. “Pull up a seat. I want you to meet some of my most and least trusted colleagues.”

The whole table got a chuckle out of that one, it was funny because it was true. They knew exactly what kinds of people they were, and they were awfully proud of themselves.

“I would love to, Mother.” Claudia smiled, kicking me in the shin and gesturing towards the chair. She had an image to maintain, and she couldn’t let me soil it for her, so I pulled out her seat for her. 

“Slaves sit on the floor, obviously.” There he was, that guy from the facility. In fact, they were all here at the same table. It just had to be him to say something first. 

“Xander.” Claudia wore a polite smile as she greeted him, snapping her fingers for me to kneel on the floor next to her. “I trust you’ve been well.”

“I have, in fact. I hope Bella was an appropriate personal assistant.” He chuckled under his breath, and within an instant I understood what he was getting at. This guy, Xander, was Bella’s former master. “I’m so sorry to hear that she attacked you like she did.”

“After you stole from me like you did, you mean?” Claudia added, clearly not very friendly towards the guy. “I’m still not over that, you know.”

“Con work is but the name of the game.” He kicked the girl at his feet, prompting a thin but bottom heavy white girl to stand up and go get him a drink. “It’s not my fault your slaves don’t like you.”

They all giggled at her for that, joining in on Xander’s jokes, but Claudia didn’t find it funny. She was as bad with being laughed at as her little sister, and it showed. But she put up with it for now, the mutual understanding between herself and her mother being that the man would be promptly taken care of. 

“Speaking of your slaves, Claudia. Isn’t that the cute redhead your mom tried to sell us just a little bit ago?” Even after a month, the young and peppy brunette girl I liked the best of the bunch still thought I was cute. “I didn’t realize you took in used slaves.”

“Yes, actually. I buy most unsold slaves off the zed list for the plantation. They’re more agreeable when they know we saved their lives just to bring them there. Even if some of them fall through the cracks.” Claudia promptly responded, looking down at me out of the corner of her eye. “This one actually used to belong to my little sister, Candace. She was that rival who beat her at the championship for that game she likes to play. Her name’s Chloe.”

Giggling quickly quieted at that point, since they were all frankly pretty surprised by that. The pretty brunette woman who’d forgone buying me since I was used actually dropped her spoon into her dish, her eyes going wide with surprise. 

“She belonged to Candace St. Clair.” In quite the opposite fashion from our last encounter, she almost seemed impressed. “None of us knew that.”

“Speak for yourself.” Xander quickly interrupted, taking a drink from his slave’s hand as she returned to his side. “Her new name can’t fool me. That’s Sophia Cavalier.”

The other girl was somewhere between annoyed and offended. “And you didn’t tell us?”

“Because you can all outbid me if you wanted to. I didn’t want to miss the opportunity.” He forced his slave to the floor at his side, kneeling between him and I. “The only reason I didn’t get her is because of Claudia here.”

And that was when I caught something very curious out of the corner of my eye. Xander’s slave was glum and hanging her head, but around her neck hung a familiar little cross. It was the same one that Candace usually wore, literally. That was her cross, I had no doubt about it. Something was wrong here. 

Apparently I wasn’t very subtle about the way I was staring at it, because she quickly noticed. The girl looked me up and down, delivering a pretty fierce glare as we made eye contact. The silent irritation didn’t last long however, as her gaze landed on the spiral I wore around my neck. 

The other half of the shared locket glowed slightly as she pulled it from her pocket, matching it to the one I’d been so graciously allowed. I saw her silently mouth ‘Sophia Cavalier’ as she looked up, trying to match my name with the conversation at hand. Unfortunately her owner quickly noticed, and before she could do much with the locket he had her by the wrist. She must have locked eyes with his stern gaze because as soon as he reasserted himself, her grip tightened. 

This guy, Xander, forced the other half of the necklace back into the pocket of his slave’s hoodie before turning his sights onto me. He was definitely the one I remembered from the facility, my least favorite choice at the time, but he had a little bit more than a fleeting interest in me. Smiling, he thudded his slave in the back of the head with his open hand, and then slowly began to stand up from his chair.

“If you’ll excuse us, I think I need a smoke.” Strong fingers curled around the young woman’s bushy ponytail, yanking her to her feet, forcing the girl to follow in her master’s wake. 

A few moments of mostly pure silence passed before anyone thought to say something, but the atmosphere was quickly lighter once he was out of the building. Something told me that nobody here particularly liked the guy.

“Unbelievable.” Claudia scoffed openly, angry at Xander’s mere presence. 

“Oh but what is a night like this without a little bit of fun and chaos?” Lilith giggled, taking an almost mocking tone. 

“I get the concept. You can’t have game night without some game to hunt, but did it have to be tonight?” The lady of the house was nothing short of impatient.

“You know how we do things, honey. It will be fun.” 

It took me a few more moments, and the input of that other cute brunette girl, before I really understood what was going on. Even I had to say, I was a little bit impressed by their willingness to drag a man’s torment out just for fun. 

“I take it we’re not friends with Xander anymore.” The woman mocked. “What’s the plan and what’d the dirtbag do to deserve it?”

“Stealing money from me and my father, obviously. Mother thought it would be fun to watch the guy either get thoroughly humiliated or shot.” Claudia provided. “I’m sorry. I’m not sure we’ve met before, Miss?”

“Pyra Nouveau, PA.” The cute one, chocolate hair and caramel brown eyes responded with an outstretched hand, which Claudia shook. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“And you.” Claudia said semi sarcastically. “I see you haven’t brought a plus one, spouse or slave, tonight. “Don’t tell me it’s because your husband or wife are running late.”

“No, actually-”

“It’s because she doesn’t have one.” One of the men at the table I did recognize, the younger of the pair, interrupted her. “Spouse or slave.”

Everyone quickly giggled at that, as Lilith provided an introduction. “Claudia, this is Dr. Aaron Johanson.”

“And my wife, Gretchen.” The man gestured to the woman beside him, the couple must have been in their early forties. “Say hello, Gretchen.”

“It’s nice to meet you.” The woman just rolled her eyes, shaking their host’s enthusiastic hand. “Aaron here has a mouth, make sure to watch him.”

“Gretchen Johanson?” Claudia seemed more than just a little bit impressed. “The junior senator, Gretchen Johanson?”

“The one and only.” She smiled, rolling her hands. “But that’s all thanks to my husband here, wouldn’t have quite made it without him.”

“This lovely pair here are Melissa and Kevin Rockwell, they own a string of packing plants just a little bit upstate.” Lilith moved on, gesturing to the progressively older pairs of couples as she went on. “This is Mr. Brandon March and his wife, Brunhilde. They’re major investment brokers. And of course, Pyra’s already introduced herself.”

“And for the record, no. I am proudly unmarried, and I haven’t found a slave that’s caught my eye. Those others from that last round were sold to a couple of associates in the riff raff.” Pyra scoffed through her breath. “The only reason I didn’t buy those other girls is because they just weren’t suitable wife material. I have high standards.”

“Fuck off, Pyra.” Aaron chuckled, and everyone laughed with him. “You’re just upset that you couldn’t afford them.”

“I am not!!” She protested vigorously. “I am more than capable of affording a slave.”

“Yeah, a used one maybe.” He continued, confirming some sort of stigma about buying pre-owned people off of the black market when the meat can be fresh. “That’s why you went last. If any of us put in a bid, you wouldn’t be able to match.”

“I could too.” She snarled under her breath, more than a bit flustered. “Xander has less than me, and he could afford Barbie.”

“No he couldn’t.” Mrs. Rockwell snickered. “That boy is in the red.”

“And that’s why he’s tonight’s unlucky victim.” Lilith wasn’t even in the grave and she was already rolling with laughter. “Soon, Mrs. Watts will be here, and either he pays up or it will be over for him. Trust me, it’s great fun to watch a debtor flail so desperately.”

It was at that point that I watched the humiliated, and honestly quite upset Pyra stand up from her seat and storm off, earning herself the same sort of chuckle as the other man had gotten.

“That girl has potential.” The oldest man, Mr. March, said of her as she walked off. “But with frail skin like that she’ll definitely be next.”

“Honestly.” Lilith couldn’t help but agree. “Her or my ex-husband’s newly glorified little receptionist.”

“Leah’s flying too close to the sun for her own good. She’ll never beat the system, it’s just not possible.” Claudia took distinct joy in badmouthing her once best friend behind her back. “Just watch, if she doesn’t end up shot she’ll find herself in a marriage even worse than the last one, and if she’s lucky she’ll end up being a concubine raising some other woman’s child.”

“Or worse.” Her mother added on to the already growing pile of jinxes and bad omens. “She’ll end up dead like Charlotte.”

I tuned out after that, too put off by their snobby high class gossip and behavior to find much joy in listening to whatever they had to say. The thought of anybody suffering a fate like Candace’s mother was a step too far in the direction of hopeless despair. Because I had very nearly succumbed to just that the night prior. 

“Psst.” Finally, an out. Aria whispered to me from the other side of my own master’s seat, gesturing towards the other end of the ballroom for me to accompany her. “Drinks?”

Without hesitation I jumped onto the opportunity to get up and walk away. I didn’t wait for permission, but it wasn’t like I cared about getting in trouble. Claudia would just have to deal with my absence until I did or did not come back with a drink for her.

 

“It was getting too stuffy over there.” Aria said as she followed me towards the kitchen. “The way they talk about other people is like nails on a chalkboard, right?”

“Right.” I giggled under my breath, making sure not to look back for even just a peek. “Honestly. If I had to hear them say one more thing about Leah, I probably would have gotten myself killed.”

“Don’t bother. They look at lower class citizens like her the same way they look at us. They’re just more potential for profit, slave or otherwise. Besides, Leah gossip is always good.” Aria actually managed to be bored enough to yawn. “Did you know she’s still a virgin?”

“What the fuck?” I didn’t believe that for a moment. “Bullshit. Leah was married.”

“Yeah, until he ended up cheating on her with a whore and earning himself a bullet in the head. That’s why she’s working his job now.” Aria’s confidence aside, she certainly didn’t sound like she was lying. “Leah was so paranoid about accidentally getting pregnant before her father’s debts were paid that the two of them never fucked. Why do you think he cheated on her with a whore?”

“I guess I didn’t think about that.” I sighed, leading the two of us through the doors into the kitchen at long last. “She could have just used contraceptives. If she didn’t want kids, why didn’t she just get herself spayed?”

“Because she does want kids. That’s her whole deal. She just doesn’t want to leave a shit ton of debt on her children like her father did to her and her sister.” Aria was a little bit hushed about this next bit. “It ended up getting her sister killed.”

I couldn’t help but feel worse and worse for her as time went on. “Oh yeah. How did that happen?”

“The young man of the family.” Aria smirked, checking to make sure the coast was clear before continuing. “She was one of the girls Cyrus raped and killed before Liz.”

I stopped, shuddering at the thought of it. “How do you know all of this?”

“I’ve worked for Lilith for years now. I know too much for my own good.” Aria held up a silver platter, allowing me to fill glasses of wine for her to deliver. “But I know Leah’s a virgin because I had to teach her how to masturbate.”

“You’re kidding-”

“I swear this is for real.” 

There was a brief silence between us as I finished filling as many glasses that could fit on the tray with wine, carrying the rest of the bottle with me as the two of us headed back out of the kitchen and dining room back towards the ballroom. 

“Aria.” I stopped her just before we stepped back out into the rest of the mansion. “I’m sorry about yelling at you when I did. I shouldn’t have said the things I said.”

“But you were right, though. I should have known better than to think that you could escape all of this even if you wanted to, because I certainly couldn’t.” Aria sighed, slowly stepping through the doorway. “Look at me. I was a free woman, and my meddling just got me clasped into a collar serving drinks for the one dying hag nice enough to treat me well. I have a family that I’m never going to see again.”

“I wish I knew how that felt.” I froze inside of the dining room, not wanting to take another step. “If it’s any consolation, I don’t blame you for any of this. You were right to speak your mind and let me make my decision, and honestly- I don’t regret the decision I made. Even now I still don’t want to go back to her. You helped me realize that.”

“I still don’t forgive myself for pushing you in that direction. I could have guessed that you wouldn’t have been able to find a better home than the one you had. You had fans, but the fans that would buy you are still people sick enough to think owning a person is an okay thing to do, but I guess we’re not really allowed an opinion on that.” Aria turned around one last time to face me, getting nervous by the second. “I don’t blame you for hating me.”

“I don’t hate you, Aria.” I gave her a nervous look to ensure she knew I wasn’t joking. “I promise.”

“I guess that both leaves us hating ourselves then.” Aria smiled, blushing ever so slightly. “Look. If you get to the end of the night without dancing with someone, and you’re okay with it, I’d be okay with dancing.”

I couldn’t help but return the same blushing smile to her as she said that, giving her my nod of approval. “Sure thing.”

“Cool.” Aria winked. “See you then.”

 

It was more than a little bittersweet that I was only now making friends. It would have been cool to get to know her sooner, but now I would never really get that chance. 

Even worse, I knew I was in for something fierce as soon as I got back to my owner’s side, just for making a new friend. Aria slowly made her way back to the table where Claudia and her mother awaited, but I was left frozen in place. 

My reflection showed back to me in the sheen of the wine bottle, nervously swaying back and forth with the liquid inside. I was already in over my head before I got here, but now I was worried sick about Candace’s well being too. 

It was terrifying to think what might have happened to her to get her jewelry stolen, and I could only imagine how bad it was in comparison to the images in my head. At the end of the day, I’d sacrificed myself to save her, and I couldn’t handle the thought that it had all been for nothing. 

I didn’t want to think about it, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t exactly get it out of my mind, let alone keep it from affecting my performance. Almost immediately, I’d accidentally walked straight into and spilled half a bottle of wine down the dress of a guest upon stepping back into the ballroom.

“Hey!!” The woman just looked flabbergasted, immediately leaning her entire weight into the slightly taller woman whose arm hers had already been locked with, particularly ashamed to find herself soaked from the waist down. “Watch it!!”

“I am so sorry, Ma’am.” I scrambled backwards, trying to save face by bowing to her, which only seemed to worsen the matter. “It was an accident, I swear. If you give me a moment I can help you clean up.”

“No. Not you, thanks. If anyone’s going to clean her up again, it’s me.” Responded the other woman, clearly more than a little bit intoxicated, and doing a bad job of trying not to show it. “I’ll ask that you keep your hands off of her and go get your owner if you’d really like to help.”

“Mistress please, I can clean myself up for you on my own.” The first girl, now wet from hip to toe, turned to the other woman with a look of worry. She had olive skin and gorgeous green eyes, and was almost exactly my height standing up straight, which she wasn’t quite able to. “Can we please just go home?”

“Let’s not make a public spectacle, Grace. The night is only just starting.” The other woman spoke down to the girl whose dinner dress I’d poured red wine down. She was just a few inches taller, a couple shy of Candace’s height, but close. She had the same olive skin and green eyes, just with a head of black hair instead of brown. “Besides, you can barely stand up on your own without my help.”

“I’m not the one who’s been drinking, Mistress.” The other girl, Grace, dared to speak back to her like that. I’d clearly caused more than just a little bit of a scene, judging by the look she was getting from her inebriated better’s face. And in seeing that face, Grace quickly seemed to backpedal. “I’m sorry. That was out of line to say.”

“That much is obvious.” Grace’s mistress had just a bit of a drunken smirk on her face as she thought about what she was going to do to the girl. “Be glad we’re not at home.”

The other slave just swallowed nervously. “Yes, Mistress.”

The two of them looked so similar that if I hadn’t identified them as mistress and slave, I’d think they were related. Honestly, I couldn’t even rule out that much at this point, but I could feel bad about the trouble I’d caused them. 

I’d have realized she was a slave if I’d seen the collar around her neck just a little bit sooner, but the fancy dinner dress had really thrown me off, and this was the first time I was seeing a collar like hers. It definitely wasn’t the kind of collar I’d seen before, which meant that she probably didn’t come through the facility, but where else she could have come from definitely eluded me. 

“I’m so sorry about all of this, Ma’am.” I bowed again, this time making sure it was to the free woman. “I’ll go get my master-”

“Don’t bother.” She smirked, her eyes flicking over me. “Looks like he’s already here.”

And just then, before I had the chance to turn around and see who she was looking at, I felt myself being forcibly grabbed from behind and shoved face first into a wall. The two of them just watched as it happened of course, and even the slave woman couldn’t help but smirk at my instant karma. 

“She’s my sister’s, but I’ll take care of her.” Who else but Cyrus would shove me face first into a wall before I could run off and find a place to hide. “You’ll have to excuse her. Candace isn’t here, and Claudia is busy at the moment.”

“Cyrus, me boy!! It be good to see you!!” The woman excitedly responded, in a pirate voice of all things. Yeah, she was more than tipsy, but the voice definitely tipped me off to something. I had definitely heard her before. “Tis a shame Candace isn’t here yet, I need to get her out for another photoshoot soon.”

“Mistress.” The girl at her arm lowered her head, almost indignantly. “Not in public, it might get back to Mama and your parents.”

“Oh hush.” She was just drunk enough to swat the other girl on the ass, which quieted her up real nicely. “I should have brought my husband to be my plus one, at least he’d be having some fun.”

“Trust me, Constance. Your sister is honestly still a cut above Rupert.” Cyrus snickered at them both, which pleased Grace more than it did her mistress. “I’m glad to hear he loves that blonde we sold him as much as he does, I’m surprised anyone would be nice enough to buy a pregnant girl, let alone keep the baby.”

Grace just seemed to grumble at the mention of all of that, but otherwise kept quiet save for practically pleading with her owner to just walk away, the wine drying into her dress. “Mistress?”

“Alright, I’d love to stay and chat, but Grace is getting fussy again. Which means she’s probably in for more than just a change of clothes.” This Constance woman said, causing her slave to light up with frustration. “We’ll get together soon I’m sure, so give your sisters my regards for me.”

“Will do.” Cyrus replied in monotone as he watched the two women disappear towards the restroom, keeping me pressed up against the wall until they were out of sight. “Enjoy the party, you two.”

“What the hell, Sir?” I replied in the most compromising tone I could. “I’m sorry for causing trouble, but that hurt. Claudia’s already going to punish me for getting up without permission, I’m not trying to make more problems. If I’m in trouble, please just send me back to your sister.”

“You’re not. But drop the attitude” He slowly let go, allowing me to move again. “Those two just get increasingly accident prone the more she’s had to drink. Just be more careful.”

“Who were those two?” I said, nervously fixing my hair as I made sure they’d gone. “Was that Roxanne le Grand?”

“Yes. But don’t tell her mother, she’d lose it.” Cyrus joked, knowing I hadn’t the faintest idea who that woman was past recognizing her as a model and porn star, let alone her mother. “Those were the Cooley sisters.”

“So they are sisters.” I shuddered at the thought of it. One sister owning another was exactly what I’d risked my life to try and avoid for this family. “What the hell is up with that?”

“Fuck if I know why, but their family has apparently done that for generations. They’re half-sisters, their mothers are half-sisters, and their mothers’ mothers are half-sisters. You get the picture.” 

“Sounds like a disturbingly incestuous arrangement, the likes of which I always just assumed were nothing but a southern stereotype.” I joked back, helping myself to a little bit of teasing. “And she just let her sister enslave her?”

“She didn’t have a lot of agency in that. Unlike Candace, her father didn’t free her from being a slave like her mother.” Cyrus grabbed me by the wrist without warning and turned away from the ballroom in favor of the stairs, getting us out of the way of oncoming guests. “Grace is houseborn, so she just gets uppity, like she’s slave royalty or something.”

My eyes went wide at the implications of that. “Houseborn?”

“Imagine having a master who gets you pregnant, but then forces your kid to be a slave once they’re born, that’s a houseborn.” Cyrus just rolled his eyes. “These ones in particular think they’re better and more dignified than normal slaves, and like they are, but they don’t need to act like it. I’d prefer a girl to be broken than whatever she and her entire line are.” 

“So her sister’s a porn star whose family owns an ancestral plantation, got it. Where did you even meet people like that?”

“Constance’s grandmother used to be governor. Apparently she and grandma Cherry used to be drinking buddies.”

“Your grandmother is named Cherry?”

“She’s named Cheryl, but we’ve always called her Cherry.”

“I hope she’s as sweet as the name would imply.”

“She is. Trust me, you’d love her.”

“I think maybe we’re getting a little side tracked. I should probably get back to my master.”

“Eh. Claudia’s gotten more side tracked in some comments sections, you’ll be fine.”

“I would rather not get into any more trouble than I’m already in, thank you.”

“So you’ll just tell her you’ve been with me, it’ll be okay. Now shut up and move.”

Cyrus quickly put an end to my descent towards the ballroom, yanking me by the wrist up the stairs with him. The main event was busy enough to keep Claudia’s view obstructed, which was just going to make matters worse.

“Cyrus.” I ducked around the corner as we got upstairs, shaking my wrist free of his grasp. “What’s going on? Where are you taking me?”

“To the cool kids table to watch the show. Now come on, we’re gonna miss it.”

 

I wasn’t sure what show he was talking about, but I didn’t want to get into trouble with the person responsible for my immediate safety. I narrowly avoided the view from the balcony and followed him through the open doors of the upstairs conservatory. Normally the balcony did little more than create a hole from the second floor to the ballroom below, but tonight it actually served another purpose. 

Looming over the party beneath us was the biggest chandelier I’d ever seen. It hung from the ceiling of the second floor by a cable that stretched clear through the open space created by the balcony, decorating two spaces at once as it dangled just above the ballroom below. 

I remembered having to clean the chandelier in Candace’s parlor the day before her father had come to tear me away from her, and to date it was still the most difficult thing I’d ever been made to do. I had the process of cleaning the damn thing memorized by this point, and wouldn’t you know it, Claudia had almost exactly the same chandelier. Only this one was much bigger. 

They’d already gone through the most difficult part by lowering the chandelier from the ceiling, to which comparatively the cleaning was easy. The hardest part for them now was going to be raising it back to the ceiling. 

 

Of course only I would get amazed by the chandelier from above while getting dragged into the conservatory, in which more than a few familiar faces were loitering. The most notable of which being my master’s wife. 

She was busy chatting with a pair of slightly older women, of which only one was even more than mildly paying attention. Beside them however were a pair of actual friends, who I quickly caught the attention of. Autumn smiled as she saw me, turning to Darcey beside her and giving her a slight nudge. I wasn’t exactly trying to be seen right now, but once she saw me it was over. 

“Mistress, look. Chloe’s here.” Darcey spoke in a much quieter voice than normal, but she was more than excited to see me. “Shall I bring her over here?”

Josie’s conversation came to an abrupt end as all five of the women turned towards me, and she just sighed, excusing herself from the conversation. “This will just be a moment.”

Seeing few other options, I straightened up and made my way to her, meeting her halfway across the room and bowing. “Mistress.”

Josephine put a hand on her hip and rolled her eyes, motioning me to my knees before her. “What are you doing up here, Chloe?”

“It wasn’t my idea, Ma’am. I promise.” I said from my knees, lowering my gaze to her feet. “I accidentally spilled wine onto one of our guest’s slaves, and then Mr. Griffin instructed me to follow him upstairs.”

“Holy shit, you aren’t seriously that clumsy are you?”

“It was an accident, Miss.”

“I don’t care to hear excuses, Chloe. You should be with Claudia.”

“He grabbed my by the wrist-”

“What did I just say about excuses?”

“Give me a break here, Ma’am. He’s a really scary guy.”

“I don’t care, Chloe.” Josephine groaned, pinching the bridge of her forehead between her fingers to rub in just how exasperated with me she really was. “You. Me. My bedroom. Now.”

She snapped her fingers and pointed back towards the way I had just come, to which I quickly scurried. Josephine led us into the master bedroom alone, away from where other guests could hear us for the time being. As soon as the two of us were behind closed doors of course, I got a taste of exactly why she’d brought me there in the first place.

“Here.” Josie slid open one of the drawers to her vanity, retrieving an outfit of hers that I’d picked out for myself once upon a time, and tossed them at me. “Put these on.”

I stared blankly at them for a few moments, unsure of what to do with them. “What are these for, Ma’am?”

“If you can’t serve without making a mess, take the servant’s uniform off and wear that instead.” Josie sighed, closing her drawers. “I don’t want you making a scene, so just go have fun or something. Leave it to the girls, okay?”

“I don’t understand.” Words left my lips as nervous stutters. “Why are you doing this for me?”

“Because I feel bad now. You’ve done a lot of good around here for Claudia and I, and I wish I could let you stay.”

“It’s alright, Ma’am. I don’t blame you.” I sighed quietly, squeezing the bundle of clothes to my chest. “You guys don’t need me anymore.”

She frowned, sitting down at her vanity and raising an eyebrow at me in the mirror. “What do you mean?” 

“Everything is fixed now. You and Claudia are stronger than ever.”

“Yeah, and that’s thanks to you, Chloe. I don’t want to just cast you aside after everything you’ve done for us.”

“But I haven’t done anything for you.” I protested. “You and Claudia were the ones who sat down and patched things up, not me.”

“You were the one that helped us see what we were missing. Without you, we never would have figured out what was wrong, let alone fix it. You showed me what was really going on and helped me learn to stand up for myself.”

“I didn’t do any of that on purpose, though.” I stumbled, very briefly losing hope for myself at this point. “I’ve just been blindly stumbling into walls. All I’m good at is destroying things.”

“What makes you say that, hon?”

“Because it’s true. I didn’t do anything. All I did was make things worse until you had no choice but to fix them yourself. The only way I’ve helped is by destroying everything you had and forcing you to rebuild. That’s not helping. That’s not anything. That’s me burning things down all over again.”

Josie frowned, her heart clearly weighing on her. “Chloe.”

“You guys have had cracks in the wall you’ve needed to fix for a long time, I’ve just been the storm you needed to help them. Nothing more, nothing less. Deep down I know I would love to stay, but now that you’ve fixed the cracks, you don’t need me anymore.”

“That’s not a healthy way of looking at it, Chloe. We all love you, and we all want you here.”

“Claudia doesn’t.” My gaze slowly fell, unable to look up any longer. “But I can’t really blame her, though. I’m still a storm after all. All I’m good for now is causing more destruction, and I think you guys deserve a day in the sunshine again.”

“Please don’t hurt yourself, Chloe.” She stood up and made her way to me, lifting my chin up to look at her. “Be good and I’ll bring the girls to come visit you at the plantation sometime, okay?”

“Yes, Ma’am. I’ll do my best.” I smiled, bowing for her one last time. “Are you sure I can wear these?”

“You can keep them.” She giggled, shaking her head at me. “As if I’d ever put on a pair of clothes that I know have been worn by a slave.”

“Fair point, Mistress.” I giggled back, making my way towards the vanity to get dressed. “I hope you enjoy the party.”

“Thank you, Chloe. I’m sure I will. Just don’t be too long, you’re still a slave, and you’re still my wife’s. Make Claudia any angrier and I won’t be too happy myself.”

“I’ll keep my head down and behave.” I blushed ever so slightly. “Thanks for standing up for me.”

“Thanks for helping save this family.” Like a reflection, Josie blushed back. “I’m sorry she doesn’t want to keep you. But I think it’s for the best at this point. She’s my wife, I don’t have the heart to keep you around against her will.”

“I understand. You’ve done more than enough, but thank you for trying.”

“Take care, Chloe. I’ll see you once the party’s over.”

“Of course, Ma’am. Take care.”

I made sure to smile as she made her way out, gently taking a seat at her vanity. Deep down I knew I was lying, but even though I really was thankful for all of her help, I didn’t have the heart to tell her what I was planning. 

Because now I had a plan, and that put me one step closer to escaping. 

 

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“Where the fuck did you take my slave?”

Claudia paced back and forth inside of her otherwise empty office, only accompanied by her mother and the old hag’s nurse. 

“I’m not quite sure, Mistress.” Aria swallowed nervously, doing her best to try and hide behind her owner to avoid the woman’s wrath. “I must have lost her.”

“You lost her?!” Claudia was stunned, and not in a good way. “How could you lose her?!”

At this point Claudia was talking at a level that Aria couldn’t help but be nervous with, knowing that at any moment she could snap and try to kill her. “I don’t know, Ma’am. She was right next to me, I swear.”

“You dirty little trash fag.” She growled, pounding her fist on the desk. “I never should have trusted that filthy menial to do a noble’s job, I should have taken you to the plantation myself.”

“Please don’t call her that, Ma’am.” Aria nervously tried to protest. “I begged Leah to take me to the facility myself.”

“It’s a wonder she listened.” She scoffed back. “That bitch doesn’t usually obey anyone but her boss.”

“I’m her friend. She trusts me.”

“And she was supposed to be my friend too. But that backstabbing virgin cocktail of an alcoholic betrayed me to side with my little sister when I needed her most.”

“Because Candace’s mom had just died.” The mouse girl snapped, having to put her tiny little foot down for the sake of her friends. “Leah is more family to Candace than you’ve ever been, and the two of them needed each other.”

Thump . Claudia’s beloved cane smacked into the ground with a loud thud, for once from within the hands of her mother. 

“My slave will silence herself before I have to bend her over my knee and spank her in front of the entire body.” Lilith clearly didn’t like to raise her voice when she didn’t need to, and it showed in the way she had to stop and catch her breath. “And unless she would like to find out what sort of thing the collar around her neck has in store for her, my daughter will do the same.”

Claudia was taken aback for a moment, but only for a moment. Her eyes locked onto the eyes of her own cane in her mother’s hands, nervous for a single split second before flashing with determination. 

“Do not threaten me, mother.” She snarled under her breath, refusing to back down like the slave girl beside her. “You know how much I have done for you. My brother and I have spent the last month putting together this birthday party for you, so you had better not take my efforts for granted, and you had better not treat me like a child.”

Before Lilith could open her mouth again, her daughter had the cane in her grasp. Even at her best she couldn’t hope to overpower the giantess, but Claudia wasn’t gentle with Lilith even in her old age. 

“Take my mother back to her party, slave.” She pointed the cane straight at Aria. “Make sure she’s safe and has a nice night, and leave everything else to me. You’ve done enough, I’ll find Chloe and take care of her before she makes a scene.”

The furious head of household spun around and stormed straight to her desk, glaring angrily into her mom’s eyes as they made brief contact. 

“You know how to find her, Claudia.” Lilith snickered, actually smiling at the new arrival. “Use the tools I’ve given you.”

“I know what I am doing, mom. Thank you.”

Claudia waited for her mother to leave before sitting down at her desk and opening the drawers, retrieving the dazzling little bracelet from inside. The controller fit nicely into her hand as she turned it on, for once feeling confident in herself seeing the reflection in the chrome. 

“Here goes nothing, I suppose. You’d better be worth it.”

She was about to turn it on too, but just then there was a knock on the door to her office. And almost immediately, she slid the controller away and sprung to her feet. 

“Claudia, honey.” Called the voice of her wonderful wife. “Can you come out here, please?”

The sigh that came from Claudia was a happy one, but it was a sigh nonetheless. “Yes, my love?”

“Come and see the sky, starlight.” Josie had a great big smile on her face as she grabbed her woman by both hands. “I haven’t even gotten a dance yet.”

Claudia couldn’t help but share in that wild enthusiasm of hers. “You should be watching my girl.”

“Your girl is still napping.” Josie took the effort of spinning herself into her wife’s arms. “Your woman would like your attention.”

“My woman has my attention.” Claudia tucked Josie into her arms and spun them both around. “What is she going to do with it, I wonder.”

“Wonder not.” Josie draped her arms over her wife’s shoulders. “Let her show you.”

Their lips met, hearts pulsing with a passion they hadn’t felt in years. They hung tight to each other like fire. Spinning. Twirling. Dancing in the glow. 

“Awww.” Coos from an enthusiastic concubine rang happily in their ears. “Get it, white girl.”

“Zenna.” Claudia’s jaw dropped as she saw her. “Oh my god, you look amazing.”

“Thanks.” She blushed ever so slightly. “Mistress took me to the salon to get a weave after we left the clinic.”

“That was today.” Claudia’s heart squeezed. “How did it go?”

“Well. It’s official.” Zenna couldn’t hold back that smile of hers. “Doc says I’m one hundred percent, without a doubt, pregnant. Like for real this time.”

The excitement in Claudia’s chest came bubbling to the surface like a storm, and within moments Claudia had the girl in her arms, spinning Zenna just as enthusiastically as she’d done with Josie.

“Zenna, honey, that’s wonderful.” Claudia pressed her lips to Zenna’s, sweeping the poor girl off of her feet. “We’re having another baby.”

“Yeah.” She blushed, tracing the outline of the clover in her hair like she usually did when nervous. “I guess the baby belongs to all three of us?”

“No. The baby belongs to my wife and I. Just like you do.” Claudia said with a quickly shattering pokerface. “And we’re going to love just like we love Lilian.” 

“Yes, Ma’am.” Zenna smiled, blushing like a light. “Thank you for letting me have this.”

“We wouldn’t miss it for the world, Zen.” Josie beamed proudly. “Though this does mean that we’re going to have a pretty awkward conversation with the grandparents. Having another kid is probably a big enough deal that they’re going to fuss about it.”

Claudia’s eyes went wide at the thought of that, quickly figuring out what Josie was saying. “Wait. You mean right now, don’t you?”

 “They are all here, I don’t know when we’ll get a better time.” Josie shrugged awkwardly. “Everyone except Janine.”

“Janine?” Zenna nervously asked. 

“James’ mother.” Josie responded, which didn’t clear anything up for her.

“The slave with which Josie’s father had sex with to produce her little brother.” Claudia sighed. “She’s a little bit like you, and hopefully that will mean that they’ll a little bit like you, hopefully more.”

“Okay.” Zenna whined nervously. “It’s not like I have a choice.”

“Exactly.” Claudia had one hand on Zenna’s ass as she leaned in and kissed her cheek. “Don’t worry, we’ll let you sit between us.”

With a slight smile on her lips, Zenna nodded. “Thank you, Master.”

 

Josephine’s family was quite honestly a lot less scary than her wife’s, and a little bit smaller of a presence. There were four of them in total, including her little brother and his wife. 

“Johnathan. Dixie. James. Alondra.” Claudia smiled as she waited for Zenna to pull her chair out for her. “Pleasure to see you all.”

“Mom. Dad.” Josie held the girl’s hand as they both sat down. “You remember Zenna, don’t you?”

“The slave who accidentally spent Christmas with milk stains on her shirt a couple years ago, yes.” Josie’s mom giggled. “We remember her.”

“Yep. That was me.” Zenna smiled awkwardly, hanging her head in shame. “My apologies for making a fool of myself like that. It was my first time nursing.”

“And it might have to be her last time nursing.” Claudia sneered, joining in on the fun. “You wouldn’t believe how hard it was to get her to wean our daughter.”

“No, actually. I can believe it.” Johnathan chuckled along with his wife. “Janine was that way with both of them.”

“Dad.” The younger man, James, got all up in arms. “That’s my mother you’re talking about.”

“One of your mothers, you mean.” His wife nudged him, gesturing towards a slightly off put Dixie on the other side of the table. 

“I guess Lilian must take a little bit after me.” Josie grinned, just as awkward now as ever. “Which hopefully means she’ll have her own someday.”

“Zenna.” Claudia held her hand under the table. “Would you like to tell them?”

“If that’s okay, Master?” Zenna asked, receiving a nod. “I know that this is probably really sudden, because you all barely know me, but I have nothing but respect for you and nothing but love for your daughter.”

“Awwww.” Dixie cooed at her, already knowing where this was going. “I was wondering when I’d get another grandchild, I just didn’t expect it to be from the help.”

“She doesn’t mean that.” James cut in. “She’s just trying to rib me for not having kids yet.”

Zenna didn’t seem to mind, or she did and the huge relief was just too strong for that to show through. “Thank you, Mrs. Jacquel. I’m very excited to have one of my own after so long. It feels like a dream come true.”

“Congratulations, sweetheart.” Jonathan smiled, mostly towards Zenna. “Do you know yet what my daughter is planning on doing with her?”

“Doing with her?” Zenna swallowed nervously. “What do you mean, Sir?”

“I think that is a conversation for another day.” Claudia squeezed Zenna’s hand, kicking her in the ankle to get her to stop. “We’re just too excited right now to make any big decisions.”

“Y-yes. What my Master says. Thank you.” Zenna smiled, nodding her head. “I should go get Lilian ready for dinner.”

“I think we should all get Lilian ready for dinner.” Josie stood up first, pushing her chair in. “We still have to tell her the news.”

“And have you told your parents yet, Claudia?” Dixie made sure to pester her. “Oh won’t you stay for just a moment, my husband and I would love to talk to you privately for a moment.”

“Wow, rude.” Josie remarked, helping Zenna to her feet. “It’s been nice seeing you guys. Love you to bits.”

Claudia nervously eyed her wife as Josie stood up and walked away with her slave, leaving Claudia alone with the in-laws. “Right. She can be kind of awkward.”

“She always has been.” Josie’s brother said as he did much the same thing. “But Alondra and I are going to head home, congrats on the baby.”

“Thank you, James.” Claudia smiled. “It’s been nice seeing you.”

“Take care, son.” Jonathan gave his boy a pat on the back as he got up to leave. “As for you.”

“Yes, Sir?” Claudia wasn’t sure why she was calling him that, but she was. “Is something the matter?”

“How has our Lilian been?” Dixie launched straight to interrogating her daughter’s wife. “This Zenna girl’s a fine mother, yes?”

“Absolutely. I feel like that goes without question.”

“And what would you do with Lilian’s little sibling if it was up to you?”

“If it was up to me?” Claudia pondered it for a moment. “I would probably leave it up to Zenna.”

Dixie had a feeling that would be the answer. “A word to the wise, don’t.”

Claudia was taken aback by that. “What?”

“Don’t let it be her choice.” Dixie smiled smugly. “Leave it up to Lilian. That’s what we had wished we’d done with James.” 

“With James?” Claudia continued to fall down a rabbit hole of confusion. “You mean you wished you’d have left it up to Josie?”

“Indeed.” Josie’s father finally added. “It would have taught her some much needed responsibility, introspection, and self-confidence when it comes to handling slaves.”

She actually gasped. “That’s a lot to pile on a kid, don’t you think?”

“We’re just giving you some advice we’d wished we had at your age.” He smiled back. “We’d like to get the plantation back into Jacquel hands, and that means we’d like for it to be Lilian.”

“The sooner you start on teaching her responsibility around slaves, the better.” Dixie winked. “Give her a little sister she loves and she’ll learn to treat all slaves like that. Helps to build character, not just for her, but for the little one too.”

“The opportunity to have a slave trained from birth doesn’t come around very often.” Jonathan helped himself to his feet, beginning to do the same for his wife. “You might want to consider that opportunity, not for you, but for Lilian.”

“Will do, Sir.” Claudia stood, shaking his hand. “It was nice seeing you both.”

“Thank you for inviting us, dear.” Dixie did the same. “I do hope your parents react as well as we have.”

“I hope so too. I’m not sure how my mother will take it, considering how she ditched us before Candace was even born.” Claudia thought on it for a moment. “But Zenna has been a mother to Lilian just like Alecia was a mother to me, and I’m going to be a mother to this new baby. Not because her mother belongs to me, but because I’m going to be there to take care of her.”

Dixie had a warm grin on her face. “Just like you’ve been there for Lilian.”

“Yeah.” Claudia frowned, her heart swelling inside of her. “Like I’ve been there for Lilian…”

 

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I couldn’t help but admire myself in the mirror by the time I was done with my makeup. I’d gotten dressed of course, and I’d even picked out a few new pieces of clothes, like a scarf to help hide my collar. Didn’t want people to see me and assume I’m a slave, after all. I looked good, and even though I only did it to help calm my nerves and kill time, part of me wishes I could be seen in this. 

Like look at those eyeliner wings, that’s something I’d expect from Malcolm. 

“Alright, Chloe.” I smiled, winking at myself in the vanity. “Let’s knock 'em dead.”

And by that I meant run away, like a smart person who knows she can’t win. 

 

“Mommy?” I was sure I had locked the door, but it seemed like the little one didn’t have any trouble coming in anyways. “Is that you?”

“Lilian?” I nervously made my way over to her. “How’d you get in here?”

The five year old looked at me like I was asking her a really weird question. “I used the key?”

Lilian opened her palm, and in it sat a single key, the very same she’d used to open the key to the slave quarters downstairs. And that signaled only one thing. 

“You mean that key opens any door in the house?”

Lilian looked at me with a worryingly confused look on her face, rubbing her eyes with her other hand. “I think so?”

“Lilian.” I frowned, unsure of how to approach things with her. “What are you doing in here?”

“I don’t know.” She let out a yawn that I’m sure would have been cute if I liked kids, which I kind of don’t. “I just woke up.”

I just sighed at her over the top adorableness. “Shouldn’t you be in your room waiting for Zenna?”

“I don’t know.” She repeated, like it was one of the few things she knew. “Mom, can you come help me?”

Right. Lilian was still little. She had trouble identifying people, which meant she couldn’t really tell the difference between Josie and I, at least not while my collar was hidden.

“Lilian, honey. I’m not-” I paused, looking her in the eyes and thinking it over for a moment. “What do you need my help with, sweetheart?”

Lilian thinks I’m her mother. Oh yeah, I can take advantage of this. 

“Loud.” She gestured towards the rest of the world around her. “Don’t like it.”

I crouched beside her, putting one hand on her shoulder and holding out my hand. “Would you feel better if you were with Nanny?”

She silently nodded, before placing the key in my hand and letting me tuck it away in my shirt. And now that I had it between my breasts, hopefully I could get into any room in the house. I just felt bad that I had to trick her into thinking I’m someone I’m not, but as long as I was pretending to be her mother, I might as well act like her mother. 

“Let’s get you back to your room, okay?” I smiled, letting her lock her little fingers with mine. “Lead the way.”

Of course since Lilian was five, she wanted me to lead the way, which was fortunate. See the second floor has this huge gap, which we have to walk around to get to the other side, but it is a complete square.

Being a prisoner on an escape attempt, I didn’t exactly want to be seen by any large number of people, so to avoid the conservatory we walked the opposite way. It was pretty from up here, usually I didn’t get to see from this angle, but I could actually see inside of the dining room from here. Which meant they could see me.

Oh, fish. 

Her incessant pacing paused the moment she saw me, her stormy eyes piercing the veil below. Nothing about that look on her face was happy, and that ire in her eyes bled into her jagged movements. Darcey was helping with dinner, and Autumn was helping set the table, but neither of that mattered all of a sudden. It was like she threw family needs to the wind the second she saw me. 

Except that wasn’t exactly it. The anger with which she grabbed her wife by the arm and yanked her to attention was palpable, but the longer I stood there the more unreasonably antsy Claudia seemed to get. After a few moments I felt a tug at my hand by a confused little girl who just wanted up, and almost out of instinct I did just that. 

I wasn’t the best with kids, but Lilian was small and she weighed virtually nothing, so I picked her up. I didn’t think much about it, but Claudia did. The imposingly grand chandelier dangling just below the underside of the interior balcony did much to obscure the view. Yet it wasn’t quite enough to hide the image of an escaping slave standing beside a full story drop holding a five year old girl just over the railing so that she could see her mother below, and she didn’t even recognize Claudia from this distance. But Claudia most certainly recognized her. 

This family was big on films. Zenna was into crime dramas, Darcey liked over the top action flicks, and Autumn preferred romantic comedies. But by far and away the household’s favorite genre was musicals. They were a passion of Josie’s that she’d passed along to her daughter, and even though Claudia’s favorite type of film wasn't suitable for children, Lilian did inherit a love of the Wizard of Oz from her mother.

Sparingly little talk happened with Lilian. She stayed with her nanny, usually in her room, often watching her favorite movie. Leaving that space was uncomfortable for her, which left her anchored to it. Seeing her little girl in my arms clearly sent Claudia into a little bit of a shock, spiraling at the thought of what I might do to her. 

Now obviously they didn’t just leave a gaping hole in the floor for their daughter to fall into. Usually there was a clear glass panel that helped keep her safe from that possibility, but by necessity that safety net had been lifted for the night. The chandelier hung from the height of the house, through the balcony, and over the ballroom. Which left that possibility wide open. 

Lilian ran her fingers through my hair as we walked, feeling through it like she was trying to get used to the texture. “Mom?”

She questioned me like she wasn’t quite sure who I was all of a sudden, and I didn’t have the heart to lie to her directly. “Mom will be up soon, don’t worry.”

I was really beginning to get what she meant when she said that Lilian couldn’t tell the difference between Josie and I. We had similar hair, close complexion, comparable physique, and Lilian had trouble with faces. 

She tugged at the scarf as we stepped into her room, pawing at the collar around my neck with her fingers. “You’re not mom.”

“Busted.” I smiled, setting her down in bed. “It’s me, Chloe. Do you remember?”

“Uh-huh.” She giggled, not seemingly particularly distraught by the realization. “You’re my auntie, right?”

Flattered yes, but not exactly wanting to correct a five year old, I chuckled. “Not quite, but almost.”

“You’re Dorothy!!” She giggled, making great big motions with her hands. “You have Toto and everything!!”

“Toto? You mean Poppy?”

“Uh-huh!!” Lilian spun around in bed, rooting through her own stuffed animals. “And I’m one of the monkeys, see!!”

“One of the monkeys?”

“The flying ones.” Lilian turned to be quite the chatterbox when it came to this, pulling out her favorite stuffed doll, a monkey with wings stitched on. “Mommy made this for me. Cause she’s the wicked witch and I’m one of her monkeys.”

“Your mom’s the wicked witch? Do you know which mom?”

“Scary mom. Stay at home mom looks like Dorothy too, but she’s actually the wizard.”

“Oh, is she now?”

“She’s magic!!”

“Magic?”

“She got me a scarecrow, and then she got me a tin man, and then she got me a lion!!”

“Aww. That’s cute. But what about scary mom, how is she a witch?”

“Because she’s really big and really scary, but she says someday I get to rule the world just like her.”

“And do you want to rule the world?”

Lilian hesitated. A five year old girl doesn’t usually know what she wants for lunch, let alone what she wants to be someday. “I don’t know.”

“Well, it sounds to me like you’re not really a flying monkey.”

“But I like the monkeys.”

“Everyone likes the monkeys, but do you know who I like more?”

“Who?”

“Dorothy.” I smiled, whispering it to her. “I think you’d make a great Dorothy.”

She had a great big grin on her face. “Really?”

“Really.”

I held a pinky towards her, which she quickly grabbed with her own, grinning happily. “Does this mean I get a Toto?”

Despite everything swirling around me, this was nice. Sitting here and enjoying the childhood innocence of another was nice, if only just for a few moments. I wasn’t a phenomenal caretaker by any means, but my hand did wonder what it would be like to have one of my own. 

“Dinnertime.” Zenna’s voice called out to us, also charmed by Lilian’s fantastical little world. “The wicked witch is looking for you both.”

Lilian actually began to shrink away from her nanny as she stepped into the room, and it quickly became apparent why. But Zenna knew exactly how to handle it. 

“It’s me, sweetie.” She smiled, taking my spot in the bed next to Lilian, running her fingers through her own hair. “See?”

Lilian’s touch was led to one side of Zenna’s head, still shaved down while the rest of her hair had been done up for her new weave. Precious little fingers traced over the distinct four leaf clover shaved into the side of her caretaker’s head, instantly recognizing her by the marking alone. 

“Mommy?” Lilian’s cheeks glowed red as she climbed into Zenna’s lap. “When you have your baby can she be my Toto?”

Eyes went wide hearing her daughter say that, before giggling along with her. “We’ll have to see about that.”

I hated to interrupt such a tender moment, but my time was short. “Master is looking for me, isn’t she?”

“Yes.” She said with an anxious hum. “It’s not pretty.”

“Think I’d be better off running away?”

“Chloe.” Zenna frowned at me, shaking her head. “Not with Lilian here, please.”

“Okay.” I said as I awkwardly backed out of the room. “Be good for your nanny, Lilian.”

“Be good for your master, Chloe!!” Lilian giggled right back at me, waving me off. “I wanna play later!!”

My heart left just a little bit warmer as she said that, and just a touch less intact. The entrance to her room closed with a click, leaving me on my own outside. And I had everything to show for my efforts. I honestly would have loved to come back to play with her, but I knew I wasn’t going to be able to. 

I had the key, and that was what was important. I felt bad for taking it from a five year old, but knowing I helped make her day just a touch brighter made it feel earned. I was one step closer to getting out of here. It wasn’t all that mattered, but it was what was important.

 

“Don’t you dare put your filthy poorbred hands on my daughter ever again.” Lilian’s mother was steaming by the time I turned to face her. “Telling my secrets to my sister was one thing, and running away was another, but I will not stand to let you put my daughter in danger.”

“I’m sorry, Master.” Was all I could really say. “I never wanted to hurt her.”

“I don’t care. I don’t want her to have to sit through the same storm that hit me.”

“Claudia.” I bit my lip, lowering my gaze to her feet. “Do you really hate me like you say?”

“That’s a stupid question that you and I both already know the answer to.”

I hoped what she was saying was true, because if the answer really was what I thought it was, I couldn’t help but smile. 

“Did you sew that monkey for Lilian?”

“Yes.” She replied without a moment’s hesitation. “My step-mother taught me to sew, why?”

“My foster mom did the same thing for me.” I stalled, trying to delay my fate. “She made me a stuffed dog when I ran away from home.”

“Chloe.” I could hear in her voice how hard this was for her to do, but she was going to try. “This is your last chance. Come along quietly or I won’t have a choice but to execute you.”

“Yes, Ma’am. Thank you.” My lips burned as I said the words. “I forfeit.”

“Good. Now come on.” She didn’t even reach towards me, trusting that I’d follow her of my own accord. “The loser’s circle is this way.”

Giving me the illusion of being at a noble dinner party, she held her arm out for me to take rather than allowing me a hand to hold. So I grabbed her arm with mine, taking ahold of her left forearm with my comparatively weak hands. She looked beautiful.  Fantastical green two piece suit. An emerald wedding ring lovingly cared for on one hand. No bracelets to speak of. 

Claudia was more than capable of defeating me. She didn’t even need her cane anymore.

“I left it in my office if that’s what you’re wondering.” She said, wiping her hands clean and popping her knuckles. “And that enforcer’s key you’ve been questing after. Forget it. I no longer have need for an enforcer around here.”

I glanced at it and lowered my head in disappointment. “You’ve thought of everything, haven’t you?”

“I would like to think so.” She said, walking with a perfect stride down the stairs. “But somehow I’m still scared that something I’m not expecting is going to ruin the night.”

“Oh please, you’re not scared of me, Ma’am. You’re excited by the thrill of fighting me, just like Candace.”

“As right as you are, I don’t think it’s you that I’m scared of.”

The single key slid into the locked cell door, turning it open with a loud clunk. No exits were to be found on the inside, save for the dumbwaiter behind me. But even with a key, the door could only be unlocked from the exterior. 

“Don’t bother trying to escape. You’ll be better off here than out there anyways. Even if you could hear the ballroom from here, I promise you the music won’t be worth facing.”

A light push was all that it took to get me into the sight and sound proofed cell, and nothing much more. Just a whole Chloe’s worth of broken resilience and defeated submission.

Claudia hardly needed to lock me in at all, I was already locking the rest of the world out. But the door was locked nonetheless, because the only woman Claudia could trust to take care of me now was herself. 

“There’s no one out there to empathize with you. Stay in here where it’s safe. This is what’s best.”

“Yes, Master.” I knelt, facing the door just in case there was anyone left out there to see me. “I can’t promise anything, but I hope you’ve won.”

“Good girl.” Claudia’s words rang in my ears one last time, but even that wasn’t enough to make me smile. “I’m sorry that it has to be this way.”

“Please don’t do this, Claudia…” 

I broke under the crushing weight of my world falling apart, finally accepting just my chances. I was hopeless. There was no way out of here, and I knew that. I didn’t have the strength to do what I needed to do. It was time to give up. 

“Please don’t hurt me like she did.” I pressed one hand to the door. “Please don’t play pretend any longer.”

“I’m sorry, Chloe.” The motionless silence rang loud through the cold steel. “In a world like mine, playing pretend is the only way to win.”

And then Claudia left me. Crying. Broken. Alone.

“No.” My hand held still against the invincible wall before me. “You’re wrong.”

 

✶      ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧      ✶      ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦      ✶

 

Claudia stepped with a heavy heart back out into the ballroom, her eyes drifting upwards towards the massive portrait of her mother on the opposite wall, not daring to make contact with that of her father across from it. 

She turned towards the dining room, looking up. Claudia. Josephine. Lilian. All there on that wall. And she’d almost lost all of it falling into her own desires. 

“Mommy?” Lilian recognized her up close, happily tucked into Zenna’s arms as she reached out to play with Claudia’s hair. “Why are you crying?”

The eyes of genuine surprise were all that could be seen of her in that moment, reaching up to wipe her own tears away. “I don’t know, sweetie. Mommy didn’t know she was crying.”

“Mistress?” Zenna giggled, bouncing the girl in her arms. “Is Chloe coming to dinner?”

“No.” She shook her head, giving them both a smile. “I’m afraid not.”

“It’s okay, Ma’am.” Zenna smiled slightly. “I’m still proud of you for saving her.”

“Don’t be.” Claudia protested. “You and I both know why I’m doing it.”

“I don’t think we do, Ma’am.” The slave responded, her smile unwavering. “I think you’d be surprised.”

“You’d be wise not to talk back to your master in front of our daughter, slave.” Claudia frowned, reaching out and taking the girl from her nanny’s arms. “I don’t want Lilian to end up learning the wrong lessons from you or I. She should grow up to be sensible with slaves, so show her that she shouldn’t expect slaves to talk back to her when she becomes the master someday.”

Zenna had a disappointed frown on her face as she bowed, holding herself bent over for a good few seconds before righting herself. “Yes, Master. You’re right. A slave shouldn’t speak back to her master. I apologize.”

“Good girl.” Claudia nodded, gesturing for Zenna to join the other slaves. “Go on. We’ve given you time with Lilian. Remember your place and act like a proper slave again.”

The mistress and her daughter watched wordlessly as Zenna turned around and headed to dinner. Claudia didn’t particularly have things together right now, but Lilian was probably worse.

“But Mommy?” She whispered into Claudia’s ears. “I don’t wanna be one of the monkeys anymore. I wanna be Dorothy.”

“You wanna be Dorothy?” Claudia raised one eyebrow. “What makes you wanna be Dorothy all of a sudden?”

Lilian giggled happily. “Aunt Chloe told me I could be Dorothy!!”

“Did she now?” Claudia smiled faintly. “I guess if you want to be Dorothy, you can be Dorothy.”

Claudia thought to herself and sighed, gently lowering Lilian to the floor at her feet, a move which brought much confusion to the little girl. She shuffled back and forth for a few moments, not used to walking without holding someone’s hand. 

“But if you want to be Dorothy, you have to be able to walk on the yellow brick road all by yourself, can you do that?”

It was about time that they both learned to walk unassisted. 

“Uh-huh!!”

“Then go find the wizard, okay?”

“Okay!!”

Lilian spun around on her heel and ran off around the corner, excitedly hurrying to the dinner table with her family, and Claudia couldn’t help but smile seeing that. Her daughter thought of her as the wicked witch, and that was fine. There was no harm in playing the villain. She was born to be the villain. 

Her fingers curled around the head of her collar, squeezing the unbreakable bond as tightly as she could manage. Again, she couldn’t even tell she was crying until it was too late. There was no sense in trying to be a good girl like Candace’s mother had been.

Being a bad role model was all she was good for.

 

“Claudia, honey.” Her mother took her by the arm, helping wipe the girl’s tears for her with a clean handkerchief. “Could we talk outside for a bit?”

“Of course.” Claudia smiled, helping Lilith walk with every step. “Dinner can wait for us. It’s your birthday after all.”

“Damn right it is.”

The pair of women chuckled to themselves as they crossed the hallway, stepping through the vestibule and out of the sitting room door. 

“Need a smoke, mom?”

“Is that really something you should be offering me, sweetheart?”

“It’s not that kind of smoke.”

“Well in that case.”

Claudia slipped her dying mother the blunt, lighting it for her to help ease her pain. “There. How’s that?”

“Much better.” Lilith exhaled, feeling better just knowing what she was smoking. “Thank you, sweetie.”

“Mom.” Claudia quickly launched into the next topic. “Why did you make me bring Chloe to this?”

“Because I knew how badly you wanted her here.”

“I don’t want her here, mother. I want her at the plantation where she belongs.”

“You don’t know what you want, Claudia.”

“Yes I do.” She gritted her teeth, stomping her foot in protest. “Why do you keep treating me like a child?”

“Because you’re acting like a child.” Lilith snickered, pulling the cigarette away for just a second. “And by that I mean, you’re acting like your father.”

Claudia’s heart ached for a moment, unable to keep her head up. “I’m not my father.”

“Oh please.” Lilith snorted. “I know your father and I know you, Claudia. The resemblance is uncanny.”

“Yeah?” Claudia leaned back against the wall, glancing towards her mother out of the corner of her eye. “Is that why you’ve always loved Candace more than your own daughter?”

The night air around them went silent as Lilith exhaled, refusing to even look Claudia in the eyes after that question. “You’re not my daughter, Claudia. Not after what you did to her.”

“That’s why you tried to cover it all up for me.” Claudia’s voice broke into angry giggling. “Because you didn’t want people to know that you gave birth to such a monster.”

“I’m sorry that this is so hard for you to hear, Claudia.” Lilith dropped the cigarette onto the ground, putting it out with her foot. “But you are a monster.”

“I should have known.” Her eyes followed it as it blew away in the wind. “All those times you said you loved me.”

“I meant them.” Lilith snapped, angrily glaring the girl down. “I’ve tried with you for so long, Claudia. We all have. I just didn’t want you to grow up to become your father.”

“My father is not the problem here, mom.” Claudia put her foot down. “Don’t you think that maybe the reason Candace didn’t come out as fucked up as Cyrus and I is because she didn’t have to contend with you?!”

“Why I never-”

“Candace had a real mother growing up. One that was always there to love and support her no matter what. Alecia was a better mother to me, but she’s gone now, and I’m sorry. You shouldn’t be the one disowning me. I should be the one disowning you.” Claudia fumed, her hands curling into fists as she stared her mother in the eyes and screamed. “I didn’t grow up to become my father. I grew up to become you. When all I wanted was to be like my real mother.” 

Lilith stood in shocked silence for a minute or so before even having the inclination to move, let alone speak. “I’m sorry, Claudia. I just don’t want him to hurt her like he hurt you.”

“I know you loved Alecia, mom. I did too.” Claudia sniffled back tears. “But that doesn’t make Candace your daughter. I’m your daughter, but when I needed you the most, you weren’t there.”

The silence grew louder and louder until neither of them could take it much longer, and the conversation ended with two grown women smoking their problems away outside of their own party until someone came out to find them.

“Umm, Mistress.” Aria’s voice called out to them both from the vestibule just inside. “There’s a problem.”

Claudia just groaned, shaking her head in annoyance. Great, another problem. “This had better be good, Aria.”

Aria couldn’t help but fail to hide a smug little grin as she popped outside, motioning towards the front of the house. “Cheers, love.”

It took her a good few seconds, but Claudia knew exactly what that meant. And she really didn’t like it.

“Son of a bitch.” Claudia darted around the corner towards the front of the house, just in time to see that yellow eyesore of a car pulling up. “Son of a bitch!!”

Lilith paused, squinting at the strange little thing. “Am I missing something here, or?”

“It’s her.” Claudia spat like her name was poison. “It’s Candace.”

 

The first person out of the car was all Claudia needed to know that whatever this was, it spelt doom for not just her, but the whole party. Leah smiled as she climbed out of the driver seat, turning to the door behind her and opening it up. And sure enough.

“Candace.” Claudia said as she saw her, pretending to be polite. “I wasn’t expecting you.”

And Candace just fucking stared at her with that smug grin of hers. “Then you’re going to love this.”

As Leah opened the door to the passenger seat, Candace snapped her fingers, and everything got worse. 

Claudia could hardly believe what she was seeing, even when it was staring her right in the face. “Father.”

“That’s Daddy to you.”

Cardinal looked his daughter up and down and winked, before doing the same with his ex-wife. 

“Happy Birthday.”

 

 

 

Notes:

To be continued. Stay tuned for part two soon~

Chapter 44: Dancing With the Devil

Sorry to crash the party and all, but you know me, I just can’t stay away.

Now I know what you’re thinking. How could I bring my father to this?

The answer is simple. My sister has a weakness, and it’s him. 

Finding myself staring down the barrel of a gun for the first time reminded me of just how small I really was. Candace St. Clair is powerless on her own. That’s why I need people at my side.

People like Leah Watts, who I knew deep down I could always trust to do what’s best for me, even if it’s something I’d never forgive her for. She would kill for me. She would die for me.

People like Aria Fairmont, who would never walk away, no matter how many times I failed to be the kind of person I needed to be. Because that’s what best friends were for. 

People like Malcolm Peterson, who reminded me of what I was capable of. Ruthless and kind. Someone who believed in my ability to lead, even when I didn’t.

People like my father, who gave me the power to be who I am. When I found myself alone for the first time, somewhere I didn’t think I’d ever find danger lurking around the corner, my father alone was the one who saved me. If I wasn’t the daughter of the single most powerful criminal on the planet I never would have made it out of there alive. 

Only I could defy odds in the face of death, defenseless and unarmed, and talk my way out of that alley unharmed. If Candace St. Clair could do all of that without lifting a finger, she could do this. 

And yes, people like Sophia Cavalier, who always challenged me. Someone who could make me look in the mirror and help me see who I really was. This was someone who forced me to think for myself and become who I wanted to be. A woman who could change me for the better. A woman I would change myself for. 

 

A year ago today I made the mistake of turning my back on her when I should have held her hand, and I wasn’t about to make the same mistake again.

As if my sister really expected me to stay home on a night like this. 

 

We stared each other in the eyes, two heads of one table as far away as could be. 

To Claudia’s right- her childhood rival, beloved daughter, faithful wife, my sister’s mother, the father she and I share, and a friend I needed but didn’t deserve on my left. 

And on my right- a friend I deserved but didn’t need, my brother’s wife, my brother, not one but two of my sister’s slaves, gifts from her wife, and an empty seat- directly to Claudia’s left. 

Malcolm, Anthony, Leah, and I had arrived together along with my father. The boys were here less as assistants and more as friends, just there to support us all. The newly engaged couple ran right up the stairs as soon as we got here, leaving me alone with this lot.

My family.

 

It was weird that Aria was so far away from her owner, but it wasn’t like there was room for her up there, and the only other empty seat was next to my sister. I sat between her and Leah, while my father sat on the other side of his assistant so that he could be next to his ex-wife, giving out flowers to the hosts. 

Claudia got one, her wife got one, their daughter got one, even Zenna got one as congratulations for the baby. But Lilith got the rest of the bouquet. God, my father was too suave for his own good. 

“Like I was saying-” My father continued as we waited for Darcey and Autumn to serve us all. “Happy birthday, Lilith. What are you, thirty-six?”

Lilith simply giggled at the older, albeit younger than her, gentleman’s attempts at flirting. “I’m sixty-two, but thank you.”

“You’ll have to tell me how you’ve stayed so beautiful.” He grinned, not once taking his eyes off of her as he spoke. “You don’t look a day older than when I last saw you.”

It was almost uncomfortable how well the two of them were getting along, and I wasn’t the only one to notice that. My siblings of comparable age to that of which our father was describing their mother to be were making these weird eyebrows at each other, like there was some inside joke that I was being left out of. Plus there was a particularly irked Leah sitting right beside him, pained to have to turn down champagne offered to her while she was forced to listen to her boss make jokes at her expense. 

The math wasn’t very difficult. Lilith would have been exactly Leah’s age when my mother gave birth to me, meaning the two of them had both gone through their divorces at the same age. But only one of them had kids to show for it. Worst of all though was that their shared slave, and my mother, had died at age thirty-six. 

I put my hand on Leah’s shoulder to try and comfort her, like my mother had done for me, and at least in the moment it seemed to help just a little. 

“Candace.” Whispered Aria from beside me, trying to get my attention. “Miss Mariam is beckoning you.”

“Ms. Mariam?” I looked up at Lilith before quickly realizing that she was talking about my sister. “Is that what she has people call her?”

“Only colleagues and some slaves, but yes.” Aria nodded, trying to avoid eye contact. “Most others call her Master.”

“Well I don’t.” I bragged as I stood up, leaving my untouched glass of wine on the table. “And I’m not going to call her Ms. Mariam either.”

The blonde slave sitting beside the empty seat stood up and held it out for me as I approached, helping me into place as I sat beside my elder sister. I moved right in the nick of time too, just before receiving dinner at my brand new spot at the table. 

“I thought Ms. Mariam is what people called your mom?” 

Claudia only got a slight chuckle out of that. “Don’t think it suits me?”

“You’re married.” I quickly debunked. “And your last name is Jacquel.”

“Yeah, but don’t tell father that. We’re not supposed to share last names.” Claudia whispered, making sure to keep quiet. “Besides, Ms. Mariam sounds more imposing. Mrs. Jacquel makes it seem like there’s a Mr. Jacquel.”

“Wasn’t that kind of the point of becoming Mrs. Jacquel?” I retorted. “So that people know you’re owned?”

“I am not owned, thank you.” She stabbed her fork into her food, glaring at me. “Anyways, I called you over here for a reason.”

“And here I thought you wanted to have a friendly chat with your little sister.”

“That was the reason I called you over here.” She spoke with a full mouth. “Speaking of friendly chats. Those two have no business getting along as well as they are.”

“I know, right?” For once I couldn’t help but agree with her. “It’s weird.”

“He must be up to something.” Claudia snipped sarcastically before taking a sip from her sparkling white champagne. “Think maybe he wants to get one last hate fuck in?”

“No offense, Claudia, but I think your mom’s a bit too old for him.”

“You think his first wife is too old for our fifty-six year old father?”

“I think based on how he looks at younger women, yeah.”

“What, like your mother?”

“My mother is beautiful.”

“And mine isn’t?”

“Your mother is a dying old hag.”

“Your mother is a dead old hag.”

“Yeah, and I wonder who’s responsible for that?”

“Ahem.” Zenna coughed, clasping her hands over Lilian’s ears as she loudly cleared her throat. “Not in front of family, please?”

Claudia did not like being made to look weak in front of said family. “Pay no mind to what we are doing and focus on your own task, slave.”

“Look, Ma’am. I know you’re not afraid of saying these things in front of your parents.” Zenna said with a frown. “But can we please keep it away from our daughter?”

Claudia froze and Zenna’s point stood.

“Congrats on the baby, Zenna.” I smiled, taking her hands with mine as she let Lilian listen again. “My mom was a slave when she had me too.”

“So I’ve heard.” She squeezed my palms. “I hope I can live up to those kinds of expectations.”

“You’ll do great. I believe in you.”

Zenna was the most terrified woman in the world right now, having just finished announcing her pregnancy to two families over dinner. Now came the hard part, carrying the baby to term and eventually giving birth. But she was going to do amazing. 

“Aunt Candace!! Aunt Candace!!” For right now though, all of the attention in the world was drawn to my niece across from me. “Mommy said you were gonna sing tonight, right!!”

“Oh.” I nervously glanced at my sister beside me, which returned a look of guilt back at me. Clearly she didn’t want to get her daughter’s hopes up just to crush them. “I don’t know, honey.”

“Please?” The little girl begged. “Mommy told me you were going to sing my favorite song?”

And with a look like that, I just couldn’t crush her hopes. “Maybe after dinner, okay?”

Lilian’s smile brightened at the thought of that. “Okay!!”

I couldn’t help but roll my eyes as I stood up from my seat after I’d finished my food, needing to return to the drink I’d left all the way across the table. But when I stood up and pushed my seat back in, I made eye contact with my sister one last time. 

“Thank you.” She delivered with a genuinely grateful smile. “That means a lot to me.”

“Of course.” I smirked, winking at Lilian across from me. “Anything for my niece.”

By the time I’d made my way back to my seat, someone had finished my champagne for me, of course. So I flagged down the girls for a new one, which they were more than happy to bring me. 

Leah just eyed my drink for the longest minute of her life, trying to ignore Claudia’s parents flirting beside her. “You know what. I’m going to go.”

I tipped the drink back, sipping at it slowly. “You’re not leaving are you?”

“No. I wouldn’t leave without you.” She politely gave with an obligatory smile. “I’m going to find Xander.”

Petrified for a moment, I couldn’t help but watch her get up and walk up. “Be careful.”

“Don’t tell me what to do.” She said right within earshot of both my father and I. “If I get shot, I get shot. It’ll make a great backstory for the kids I don’t have.”

I wasn’t the only one who frowned as she said that. It kind of killed the whole mood in a split second. 

“Christ, who invited her?” Lilith spat with a spirited dispassion. 

“I did, mother.” Claudia quickly responded, a bit upset with both of their tones. “She’s my best friend.”

“She was your best friend.” Lilith snarked, quickly pointing straight at Zenna. “After that one dropped you like a burnt out cigarette.”

The newly pregnant slave felt very on the spot at that moment, but luckily she had Claudia there to defend her. “That was my fault as much as it was Zenna’s. We were the ones who screwed that up, Leah was always there for both of us.”

“Only because she had to be.” Lilith leaned back in her seat, crossing her arms. “Her dad was your father’s right hand, and she was your little sister’s babysitter. She had no choice but to stick around. She doesn’t care about our family, she’s just here to pay off her debts as fast as possible. She’s queen of the peasants. It’s why she let herself get married off to her own father’s assistant.”

“Her father killed himself over what your family did to him.” Zenna stood up and snapped, falling into Claudia’s protective grasp. “Please treat her with some dignity.”

“Don’t you dare speak back to me, slave. It’s a mercy she doesn’t have kids, and I’m beginning to think you shouldn’t have any either.” Lilith responded with a cruel gravel to her voice. “She doesn’t deserve dignity. She deserves the same fate as the rest of her family.”

“Is that why you gave a teenage girl her first bottle of gin at sixteen, or did you just want her to keep quiet about feeding cigarettes down your daughter’s throat?” Claudia held Zenna close as she fought her mother. “Or is there something you’d like to say to her face?”

“I wasn’t trying to make her an alcoholic. I was trying to toughen her up just like any of you. She made herself an alcoholic.” Lilith spoke with casual distaste for the girl. “I’m not saying she’s not a good girl. I’m saying that you all give her too much credit. She’s not family, she’s staff, and she’s particularly destructive and disruptive staff at that.”

“Come on, you guys. Mom brings up a good point.” Cyrus said, much to the displeasure of his wife beside him who responded by clinging tighter to him. “She and her sister were both gold diggers.”

“Exactly.” Lilith let out an exasperated gasp. “I’m not saying she hasn’t been a friend of the family, I’m saying she’s never been a family friend. She’s here because she’s in our debt and she’ll do anything to change that. She’s here for the family. She’s not here for any of us.”

A disgusted silence rang true over the dinner table, as everyone silently nodded their heads and agreed with her. This was Lilith’s birthday party after all, she was the reason everyone was here, and they wouldn’t be here if they didn’t love her. 

Or at least most of us loved her.

“She’s here for me.” I left my food and drink on the table untouched, making my intentions clear before I walked away. “None of you love me like she loves me, and if this is how you’re going to talk about her, I think I’d rather be with her than with you.”

“Candace, sweetheart.” Lilith pleaded. “We’re your family.”

“No.” My eyes made sure to meet Lilith’s as I rejected her. “She’s my family.” 

Silence hung heavy in the air as I walked away, and only one person in the world had the charisma to follow that up.

“That’s my girl.” My father smiled at me as I took a stand. “At long last, someone’s thinking for herself.”

“And I’m better off for it.” 

“It’s good to see that you’re finally using that fire of yours. I’m proud of you.” My hand fell into his as he grabbed it. “Be decisive. Make sure Leah gets the job done before dawn.” 

“Don’t worry about her.” I gave my father his own smirk as I pulled my hand away. “I plan on doing it myself.”

 

I caught Claudia’s glare as I walked away. Like a snake, she glared unblinkingly, like I’d just made the worst mistake of my entire life. Or at least one of the worst, but before she could do anything about it, I was already gone.

“Dinner is adjourned.” Claudia shouted over the length of the table like it was some sort of meeting. “Slaves, clean up after yourselves and your owners. Leave my sister’s leftovers out for her. My slaves will clean up the rest.”

“Pray tell.” Lilith said with an eager smile. “What happens next?” 

“What else, tonight’s entertainment.” Claudia turned to her brother and nodded. “Bring in the performers.”

“And I was beginning to think you’d never ask.” Cyrus jumped to his feet with an intensity rarely seen from him as he called out to his crew. “Boys and girls, get the nobodies.”

 

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It became clear that Leah had been listening to everything we’d been saying through the balcony by the time I turned the corner to head up the stairs, because as soon as she saw me following her she spun around and fled to the conservatory. 

She had been crying, and I realized I’d been doing the same as I wiped my eyes clean to save face. Through still foggy eyes I watched Leah bump shoulders with a limping redhead as she stepped into the conservatory up ahead. 

I paused for just a moment, staring at the disappointingly unfamiliar girl as she stumbled slowly down the opposite stairs. It must have just been my personal bias, but I couldn’t help but keep noticing redheads everywhere I went. 

And none of them were the one I wanted to find.

 

I loved my family. But we all had our issues, myself included. 

Claudia still owned the love of my life, and whatever it took, I was changing that tonight. 

Chloe was my girl. I went behind my family’s back to kidnap her once, I could do it again. Leah might not like it. My father wasn’t going to like it. My sister definitely wasn’t going to like it. Hell, Chloe probably wasn’t going to like it. But it was happening one way or another.

I just couldn’t face her until I got that necklace back. Even after everything I did to her, Chloe still looked up to me. Sophia Cavalier looked up to me. She made me that necklace because she loved me, and if the girl who humiliated me a year ago today could see us now, she’d be devastated. 

She was the only person who could save me. I just needed to save her first.

 

Following Leah into the conservatory, I was instantly met with how silent the room went the moment she stepped inside the room. It was like everyone dropped dead as soon as they saw her. 

“Look, I’m not here to chat.” Leah sighed, keeping one hand on her gun around unfamiliar enemies. “Just tell me where Xander Mallick is and I’ll stop spoiling your fun with my presence.”

“He’s not here, so look somewhere else.” A younger voice called out. “The little dicked prick got pissy and stormed off. Probably because Barbie’s got bigger balls than he does.”

“You.” Leah quickly turned to her, biting her tongue for now. “Name.”

“That’s Pyra Nouveau.” I said as I stepped inside, trying to hold Leah back. “She’s harmless.”

The brunette was more than a little bit happy to see me. “I’m Candace’s friend-”

“You’re my lawyer.” I snapped, scoffing at the thought of it. “Leave this to me, Leah.”

My current accomplice didn’t seem too keen on the idea of leaving me by myself, especially after what had happened yesterday. “But-”

“That’s an order, Leah.” I left no room for arguing. “Everyone is leaving the table anyways, go sit down and eat.” 

She mulled it over for a few seconds before relenting, knowing better than to think anyone here would give her any information even if she asked. “Just don’t get me fired, okay?”

“Don’t get yourself shot and I won’t.”

It hurt to see how distraught she was right now, but I couldn’t exactly help her. I had more important things to worry about. 

“First of all.” I turned to Pyra with hands on my hips. “Where’s Xander Mallick?”

“I haven’t seen him.” She snickered. “But I have seen his new doll.”

“And where is she?”

“Last I checked she was actually handing out drinks up here for no good reason.” The evidently drunk woman had to pause and think that over after she said it. “Or maybe she was collecting drinks.”

“Did you at least see where she went?”

“No, but somebody else might have.” She rolled her eyes at me. “You can kind of see the whole ballroom from down here.”

“Right, fine. Have a good night, Pyra.”

“You too, Candy dandy!!”

She was little help at all. But there were countless others just loitering around I could question like NPCs. I just needed to pretend it was a game, like Chloe usually did.

“I hope you boys are having a nice time tonight.” I said to Anthony as I approached him. “Where’s Malcolm?”

“Things were going fine.” He supplied while pointing across the room towards his future husband. “Before he got stopped by a particularly intense hispanic woman.”

“Hispanic woman?” I glanced over and within a microsecond, proceeded to panic. “Oh shit.”

Malcolm was too sweet for his own good, at least usually. In a rush, I dropped everything I was doing and hurried to his side. He was caught between not one, but two older hispanic women, neither of which were very keen on letting him out anytime soon. 

“Holy shit, Eva.” I let slip as soon as I got to his side. “What are you doing here?”

The intenser of the two women looked up at me for just a moment, before her eyes dropped back to her tablet. “That’s not exactly a proper way to greet someone, but hello Candy.”

“Answer the question, Eva.”

“Because I was invited.” This woman was not one for parties, not in the slightest. “It’s not exactly my environment, but I’m making do. Right now I’m just catching up with Malcolm and getting a read on his mental and emotional state is all.”

I turned to the wide eyed Malcolm beside me with an equally shocked look, just in time to see him silently mouth the words help me .

“And why exactly are you doing that?”

“Because he used to be my charge and I care for him.” Eva supplied, gesturing towards the other woman. “Plus I want to get him referred to a proper free person doctor, and not those quacks at the facility where you were born, no offense.”

“None taken I suppose.” The other woman sort of just shrugged that off. “I did work in that facility, and I’m pretty sure I was the one who helped deliver her, so I think that’s a compliment?”

I turned to her and shook her hand, giving her a polite smile. “Doctor Renee?”

“That’s me.” She nodded her head, returning my gesture. “I remember your mother. Ask Dr. Larkin, she was my protege at the time, we were the only place you could take a slave to have a baby delivered.”

“And that baby just so happened to be me.” I blushed just a tad. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“And it’s a pleasure to meet you as well.” She actually gave a small bow, holding her hand out towards Eva. “If either of you want you know what , you know who to call.”

“Here’s his referral for that.” Eva said as she slipped a note into the doctor’s hand. “Just in case you need it to approve him.”

“Thank you.” The woman replied, just a bit awkwardly. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m leaving now.”

“It was nice to meet you.” Malcolm just as awkwardly followed up. “Th-thank you.”

“Eva.” I turned to her, knowing how hard it was to get her to take a hint. “I think Malcolm would like you to leave now.”

The other woman had just a touch of emotion in her face as she looked up from her tablet towards Malcolm, and even though her words would usually come off as sarcastic, she said them genuinely. “Oh. My apologies. It should have occurred to me that just by seeing me again you might be experiencing discomfort. I’m sorry, Malcolm.”

“It’s okay. Thanks for checking in.” Malcolm said out of pure politeness. “Tell the girls hi for me?”

“I’m sure your sisters will love to hear from you again, really. They miss you a lot, and I can tell them the same if you’d like.” Eva Moreno smiled, putting her tablet away for now. “They would love to catch up, Margaret especially.”

“Please tell Molly and the girls that I miss them too.” Malcolm chuckled. “And maybe we’ll catch up sometime.”

“Of course.” The other woman nodded as Malcolm slipped away. “As for you.”

“Yes, I get it.” I groaned. “Robin still hates me.”

“Actually. Robin wanted me to ask if she could see you sometime.” 

I paused as she said that, thinking it over before giving her the go ahead. “Please excuse me.”

“Take care, Candy.” She called as I left. “I’ll give your sisters your regards.”

For Tallulah’s right hand, she didn’t have much in the way of charisma or common sense. But I was more than relieved to see her take the hint and leave the room once that little interaction had concluded. 

“I am so sorry she had to do that Malcolm.” I furiously apologized as I went back to the pair of boys. “I had no idea she was going to be here.”

“It’s fine.” Malcolm assured me, clinging happily to his mate. “Anthony has to go help set things up, and I’m gonna go with him.”

“Real quick, before you go.” I pleaded with them, still catching my breath. “Have either of you seen Xander or Lucy?”

“Yeah.” Anthony nodded, pointing towards the window. “He was smoking just a bit ago. I think he was outside, but I haven’t seen him since.”

“And Lucy?”

“No idea.”

 

I groaned under my breath. Another lead burned at the stake, just great. Trying to stay sober was already a hard enough task with all of this running around, and now I had to go out of my way to get back my mother’s locket from some dickbag I hardly even knew. 

“Relax, pretty thing.” Behind me was an imposingly large woman with sheek black hair and a native complexion. Clearly she could sense the tension, and she and her slave, a tall white girl with curly green hair who still paled in comparison to her master’s height, didn’t quite like the mood I was creating. “Tonight’s not the night for dealing with hobgoblins, this is a party. Please don’t bring down the atmosphere.”

“I’m not bringing down anything, I’m doing my job.” I spun around and snapped at her. “Do you know who I am?”

“Yes. You’re Candace St. Clair, Cardinal’s daughter. I’m sure you haven’t noticed, but we’re all friends of Lilith’s so we don’t really like your father or his assistant all that much.” The woman held her hand out for me to shake. “I’m Ella. Ella Maddie, and this is my escort.”

“Briana Alison.” The girl bowed, holding her master’s cane for her. “I should thank your family for helping to bring Master and I together.”

“You’re very welcome.” I took her master’s hand and shook it, quickly noticing just how much jewelry she had on. “You have a lot of rings.”

“I have a lot of brides.” She beamed proudly, showing all ten of her gorgeous platinum wedding rings off for me to see. “Izzy, Briana, Valerie, Sarah Lyn, Zaya, Trisha, Nora, Ariana, Demi, and Marie.” 

“That’s a lot of slaves.” Even I couldn’t help but be impressed. “Did you buy them all?”

“No, actually.” She winked. “Your family helped, but I kidnapped them myself.”

“They like to think it’s hard, but I did the same thing.” I rolled my eyes. “Kidnapped my own slave.”

“It’s more satisfying that way.” The lady took her slave by the hip. “I hope you and your slave have a nice night.”

“We will.” I assured the both of us. “I’m going to make sure of it.”

 

✶      ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧      ✶      ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦      ✶

 

“Are you okay?” Aria asked as Leah sat next to her boss, her eyes heavy with regret. “You don’t look well.”

“I look like if a hangover was a person, what else is new?” Leah scoffed, and not one person questioned her as she picked up a champagne flute that wasn’t hers and emptied it into her mouth. “Don’t pretend like you care, pitter patter.”

“How about you save my wine for the actual guests, Mrs. Watts.” Lilith scoffed, drinking her own champagne without a care from the seat opposite Cardinal between them. “And don’t speak to my slave like that.”

The furious drunk inside of Leah came back with a vengeance. “So that’s how it is. The slaves get to be treated with a modicum of respect, but I don’t?”

“Watts.” His voice carried weight that his ex-wife’s couldn’t, weight that Leah had to help carry. “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.”

“Yes, Sir.” There he went, treating her like a child again. She hated it, but she couldn’t afford to lose this job. “But for the record, my last name isn’t Watts anymore.”

“It’s about time.” Claudia chuckled, trying to be genuinely friendly with her. “Is it Fischer again?”

“No, actually. My father’s last name isn’t much better than my husband’s last name.”

“Then what is your last name, Leah?” Lilith asked sarcastically, making sure to push it further than she needed to. “Actually, no. What’s your full name? We’ll need it for your tombstone.”

“It’s Ashley. Ashley Caesar. It was my mom’s last name, but Watts is still fine.” She groaned, ignoring Lilith’s warning and swiping a new drink from the tray of a slave as she stepped past. “Because you’re totally going to live long enough to see my tombstone.”

Aria paused, raising an objection before anyone could snap at her friend for her attitude. “Your name isn’t Leah?”

Here we go again. She couldn’t help but roll her eyes, setting down another empty wine glass. “Claudia, can you tell them the story?”

“If I’m remembering it right it’s spelled Ashleah, but on the first day of school one year our homeroom instructor pronounced it like Rhea, and it just kind of stuck.” Claudia giggled. “Did you get the spelling fixed?”

“No.” She shook her head. “It’s technically still Ashleah Mary Caesar-Watts, but only because my mother came up with the dumb spelling. Why?”

Cardinal smiled at her, reaching over her shoulder to grab a champagne from the tray they were being offered. “Lilith can’t put your name in her will if she doesn’t know it, Mary.”

“Pfft. Yeah, sure. I'll sooner put her name on a slave registry like her sister’s.” Lilith looked through her and to the slave at Leah’s side. “Pass me a champagne glass, Watts.”

Oh how she hated everyone here. Leah couldn’t believe she had to pretend to be friendly with these people. “Yes, Ma’am. Whatever you say.”

She took a deep breath and forced an agreeable look onto her face, taking one last glass from the girl’s tray. Only then did she notice who exactly was holding the tray, because it was neither Darcey nor Autumn. It was Lucy.

Leah was moments away from tipping the wine upside down and pouring it onto Lilith’s head, but truth be told, she didn’t want to end up like the other women this family ruined. Instead she sighed, setting the glass on the table as gently as she could, bowing to appease the old hag’s anger with her. “There. Happy birthday, Miss Mariam.” She stood back up, and unfortunately for her, the girl was gone. Frustrating, but not the end of the world. At least now she had some booze to tide her over. 

“Sir?” Leah forced herself to speak with respect, sitting back down next to her boss. “Did Candace mention that one of your ex-wife’s thugs attacked her and made off with her mother’s cross?”

The table went wide eyed and the sound of that, especially Lilith, quickly choking on her drink. Cardinal on the other hand just wondered why he didn’t already know about this. “Not to me, she didn’t. But she told you?”

“I was the first person she called, Sir. She was crying in an alley somewhere. Apparently it was Xander Mallick.” Leah gestured towards the stairwell as I came down. “She asked me not to say anything, but I thought you should know.”

“Hmm.” Cardinal subtly stared at his assistant and then back at me, setting his drink down untouched. “I see.”

“That doesn’t mean anything. She shouldn’t have been alone in the first place.” Lilith snatched the drink the moment it hit the table, finishing it for him. “Claudia honey, wasn’t there going to be music?”

Claudia’s eyes locked in on me as soon as I stepped into the ballroom, and in a moment she was quickly storming from the table in my direction. “Excuse me.”

 

Leah squinted at her former best friend, careful to note her actions. Something was off here, she just wasn’t sure what it was. 

“Pitter patter.” She mumbled, left alone with no one but Aria and the old guard couple beside her. “What was on that tape of Claudia’s?”

Fairmont nervously glanced towards her mistress, unsure of what she was and wasn’t allowed to say. “I never saw it, Ma’am.”

“Alright, that’s enough.” Lilith had just about had it with this woman. “You might not be a slave, but you’re still a menial. You have no right to ask questions like that.”

“And you have no right to order around my right hand like she’s your slave, Lilith.” Cardinal held up his hand, shaking his head at her. “I respected you keeping it a secret when I thought you were doing it to protect my daughter, but not if it’s just you trying to protect your own ass.”

Hearing someone finally stand up to Lilith gave Leah just a bit of relief. “You know what’s on the tape, Sir?”

“Of course I do, it’s Claudia’s weakness. I was the one that put it on tape.” Cardinal spilled his ex-wife’s secrets just to spite her. “She killed her own step-mother, it was caught on security footage.”

Leah’s heart wrenched in her chest. “She did what?”

“Look. It’s really not that big of a deal. Family is family, but not every family can be perfect. It’s common mafia stuff. I’ve had relatives sent to Alcatraz for worse, things even I won’t bail them out for. This was nothing.” He frowned, staring into his empty champagne flute. “This was nothing.”

As if he was trying to convince himself of those words, he repeated them. Clearly it wasn’t nothing. “You don’t blame her for your wife’s death, Sir?”

“Do you blame that whore for your husband’s death?” Cardinal responded, shattering the glass in his hand. “No. You blame yourself. Just like I blame myself.”

“Did you love her, Sir?” She stuttered. “Did you love your wife?”

“Of course he loved his wife, Leah.” Lilith responded for him, oddly straight forward about it. “He wasn’t the only one either. We both loved her, just like we both loved each other once upon a time.”

“You used to love her too?”

“She was mine first, of course I did. But when push comes to shove, you have to make a decision. My decision was to leave her with him.”

“No it wasn’t.” Cardinal shook his head again, correcting her. “It was Charlotte’s decision to stay and become Alecia. Not mine, and certainly not yours. She made that choice on her own.”

It was shocking to finally be discovering what actually happened to my mother after so long. She used to know my mother very well. After all, if it hadn’t been for my mother hiring her, Leah and I would have never met.

Even if it wasn’t enough to make her smile, Leah’s expression lightened up just a bit when I returned. “I’m glad at least one good thing came out of that.”

 

I’d spent too much time on distractions already, I needed to get back on track. Storming down the stairs was easier said than done with so many people moving between rooms as they prepared for the show, but I managed to make it back to the ballroom nonetheless. 

“You.” Claudia hissed as she saw me. “Here. Now.” And into the sitting room behind closed curtains we went. 

“Don’t tell me you’re planning on using this room for side hookups.” I remarked as I examined the large viridian curtain. “Because I’m flattered, but you know, we already tried that and I’m not interested.”

“Must you both turn to making jokes in response to everything?” Her response came out as dispirited bordering on concern. “Not everything is a laughing matter.”

“I know that.” I was pretty sure. “I’m just an entertainer out of habit.”

“Well if you’re here to entertain you had better entertain.”

“Excuse me?”

“Did you mean it when you said you would sing? Because Lilian has really been wanting to hear it.”

“Of course I meant it. I just need time to get warmed up, you know what that song means to me.”

“It means a lot to Lilian too. She refuses to go to bed until she’s heard it.”

“The sun is just starting to set. Is she getting tired already?”

“Not per say. But I do want her to be in bed before the main event. She’s done her part and been seen by the important guests, and the show is going to be a little too adult for her.”

“And you think I’m much better?”

“Than a group of unwanted slave dancers we’re planning on giving away as party favors?” Claudia raised an eyebrow. “Yes.”

I didn’t know what I was expecting about the entertainment they had planned for tonight, but it wasn’t that. Comparatively, the act my sister and I had been planning for the last few weeks was shockingly tame. 

“I get that your daughter wants to hear me sing, but aside from her, give me one good reason I should go up there and perform at all.”

“I distinctly remember you and I both uninviting you from this party. I know you’re up to something, and I can’t fathom why you would bring our father to this, but you’re not one of our guests or our servants. So you had better entertain.”

“Or what, you’ll kick me out?”

“Or my daughter will be very sad, and I don’t want her to think it’s her fault when she doesn’t get to hear her favorite song in person. She’s always wanted to sing it to her.”

“If all she wants is to be sung to, why don’t you sing it to her?”

“Because I’ll ruin it for her.” I could see a single tear in her eye. “I could never do it like your mom used to.”

“And you think I can?” Words slipped out as gasps. “I may be my mother’s daughter, but I’m not my mother, and I never want to be either.”

Silent, Claudia took a step back. Her mouth moved to the tune of soundless syllables for a few moments, unable to form even the slightest of words. Then she looked back towards the curtains, knowing her daughter was on the other side, waiting for her mom to do something good for a change. 

“I’ll sing for her.” I stepped forward and proclaimed. “Just this once. But after that, you need to learn how to do it.”

“I’m sorry about your mom, Candace.” Her eyes shut tightly. “It was a mistake. I didn’t mean to hurt her.”

“So you admit it?” My whole body shook with bitter rage, eyes set upon my vulnerable sister before me. “You killed my mother?”

“Yes.” The answer came from her lips at long last. “But it was an accident. I can prove it.”

“I don’t need you to prove it.” My fists slowly uncurled themselves, more disappointed than angry. “I don’t want to see the tape. I don’t want there to be a tape. I just want to know how. How could you keep a tape of my mother’s death?”

“I wanted to preserve her.” Claudia forced through shriveled lungs. “I felt like as long as I had those last moments with her, she wasn’t really gone.”

“But that’s not how it works, Claudia. That’s just a way of trying to ease your own guilt. You can’t preserve someone who’s already gone. All you’re doing is trying to convince yourself that it’s not your fault she’s dead, instead coming to terms with it.” An accusatory finger thudded pressed into her chest as I closed in. “You can never be forgiven unless you confess. That’s the first step.”

“I can never be forgiven for what I did to her, Candace. Once you found out we would never be close like we used to. We would never be sisters again. I kept it from you so that maybe we could be sisters again.”

“We can be sisters again, Claudia. But not if you won’t treat me like I’m family.”

“What?” Her eyes went wide with sudden confusion. “You don’t care that I killed your mother?”

“Of course I care that you killed her. I feel hurt, angry, betrayed. But not because you killed my mother.” All but the most destructive of emotions slipped through my gritted teeth, locked tight to keep them at bay. “You didn’t kill my mother. You killed our mother. I know how it feels to blame yourself for your own mother’s death because I’ve done it for the last twelve years. I’m mad that you let me feel that way for so long. I’m not mad that you killed her. I’m mad that you never told me.”

“What good would have come from telling you all this time?”

“Forgiveness, Claudia. I could have forgiven myself for her death. We could have been sisters for the last twelve years. I could have forgiven you, and you could have forgiven yourself.”

“No. Nothing will ever get me to forgive myself.” She spat back like she couldn’t believe a word I was saying. “And nothing will ever get me to destroy that tape.”

“If you won’t do it.” My eyes drifted towards the door to her office, threatening her with a fate worse than death. “I’ll do it for you.”

Claudia simply smirked, reaching into her jacket pocket and holding out a single key, waving it dangerously close to my face. “You can try.”

With little more than a determined snarl, I snatched the key from between her fingers and bolted towards her office, leaving my mentally limping sister in the dust behind me. Inside I found pretty much what I expected, an office. Full to the brim with shelves and cabinets, a single desk at the far end with a television stand in front of it. 

My sister didn’t follow me inside. All she did was stand in the doorway and watch.

“If you’re looking for the remote, it’s in the cane, remember?”

“Shut it.” I snapped, snatching the cane from the top of her desk and pointing it straight at her. “Where’s the tape?”

“I don’t know. Check the tape deck.” Her lips curled into a devilish grin. “Maybe press the eject button?”

I glared at her in disbelief, knowing that this was some sort of trick I was walking straight into. But I proceeded with caution, pressing the eject button and watching a VHS tape slowly pop out of the VCR.

My heart sank as I held it in my hands, setting the cane down not with a furious thud but with a gentle tap. This was the last thing I wanted to find. 

“What did you do?” I held it close to my chest, unable to even look at the number written onto the label. “What did you do to her?”

“You already know what I did to her.” Claudia finally stepped inside, her arms crossed at her chest. “I killed her.”

“This isn’t my mother.” And I didn’t just say that in the symbolic sense. I meant that literally. The woman on this tape was not my mother. “This is Chloe.”

“I must have forgotten which tape was in the tape deck, my mistake.” She lied straight through her teeth. “Should I destroy that one too, or would you like to keep it?”

“She’s not dead.” I growled angrily, able to see the tears in my eyes as I looked up at her. “Tell me she’s not dead.”

“She’s not dead.” Claudia smiled, staring at the tape in my hands. “She’s right there.”

“You monster.” I shot to my feet, about ready to snap the damn thing in two. “How could you do this?”

“How could I kill Chloe?” She confirmed, not needing to even ask that. “After she made a fool out of you. After you got rid of her. After I gave her the chance to live in my home. After she almost destroyed my marriage. After she made a fool out of me in front of both of my parents. After she ruined all of my plans. After she trapped me in this collar. How could I kill Chloe?”

“She didn’t trap you in that collar.” I cried out. “I trapped you in that collar.”

“And you’re lucky that this collar means so much to me.” Claudia cried back. “Or else I might have made the same mistake with Chloe that I made with your mother.”

The tension between my fingers eased just in time to save the tape from being destroyed. “Wait-”

“There’s no time for waiting.” She tapped her foot impatiently. “If you don’t sing now, I’ll never tell you what really happened to her.”

My heart slowly began to beat again as I slid the tape into my purse for safekeeping. “This isn’t over.”

“Yes, it is.” Claudia grabbed me by the wrist as soon as I tried to slip past her. “Now drop it.”

Our eyes locked as she extended her hand, holding it open expectantly. With a fierce scowl I grinded my teeth, dropping the key I’d swiped from her into her palm. “Let me go.”

“Not until I get what I want.” She slid the key back into her pocket before once again holding out an open hand, and when I didn’t return what I’d taken, delivered a fierce backhand straight to my face. “Now drop it.”

My free hand went to rubbing my sore cheek, debating my chances of taking her on in a fight before deciding against it. After a few moments of hesitation I reached back into my purse and retrieved the bracelet I had snatched from her desk when she wasn’t looking, reluctantly placing it back into my sister’s hand. “There.”

“Don’t think you can get away with whatever you’re planning.” Claudia kept a firm grasp on my wrist, turning and shoving me forward onto the ground outside of her office before standing in the doorway to block me out. “There’s nothing you can do to win.”

“We’ll see.” I said as I stumbled to my feet, shaking it all off. “I know someone you love who might have something to say about that.”

Claudia smirked with eager anticipation, locking the door to her office behind her. “And who might that be?”

“The one person you can’t say no to.” I returned her challenging glare. “I’d hate to spoil the surprise.”

“Enough already.” A justifiably fed up Josephine interrupted us as she stepped through the curtain. “It’s showtime.”

“That’s my cue.” I said without a care, skipping through the curtain towards the rest of the party. “Wish me luck.” 

“Good luck.” My redheaded sister-in-law smiled politely as I hurried away towards my solo, leaving the two of them alone together. “It’s a tough crowd out there.”

“You’re telling me.” Claudia responded with crossed arms and an even more cross attitude. “What’s my father doing?”

“Still just chatting with your mother.” Josie shrugged. “Find out why he’s here?”

“No idea.” Claudia shook her head. “He’s the one that wants Chloe dead, I don’t know why she would bring him.”

“I don’t either.” Her wife frowned. “I just think it’s weird to see your parents talking.”

“You and I both.” 

A moment later, the curtain slid open and closed once more. The two lovers turned to see what was up, finding a fairly disheveled pair of slaves arriving hand in hand.

“M-Mistress?” Autumn mumbled, her cheeks bright red. “C-could we talk?”

Her mistress looked at her with confused hazel eyes. “What’s up?”

“Ummm.” She beat around the bush, not wanting to say it out loud. “Can we go somewhere private?”

“No, Autumn.” Josie shook her head. “We’re busy, whatever you have to say, say it.”

The poor girl hesitated, a bit too distraught to make another peep, relying on her companion to help speak for her. “What Autumn’s trying to say is that we both ummm- we both just got- accosted?”

“Accosted how?” Claudia crossed her arms, tapping her foot impatiently. 

“One of the guests, Master.” Darcey blushed, hanging her head in respect. “He wanted to have sex.”

“Okay.” Her master responded, not seeing the big deal. “And did you have sex with him?”

Darcey blinked nervously, looking to Autumn for a moment before nodding her head. “Yes, Ma’am.”

“Good girl.” Josie smiled at them both, rolling her eyes. “My wife and I are a bit busy right now, you two. But you’re doing great, girls. Keep it up.”

“If you’ll excuse us, we’re just about to find Zenna and take the floor.” Claudia gestured for the two of them to leave. “Now go on, help make the guests happy.”

Autumn fumbled to respond. “But-”

“Go. Now.”

“Yes, Mistress.” Darcey and Autumn both bit their tongues before mumbling in unison, promptly leaving the two of them alone again, which the pair very much appreciated. 

“So.”

“So?”

“That dance you promised me?” Josephine smiled seductively, batting her eyelashes. “I hope you haven’t forgotten.”

“I could never forget.” Claudia held her wife by the hips and kissed her once on the lips. “But first, there’s someone else I think deserves the first number with me.”

“I had a feeling you’d say that.” She rolled her eyes. “Go dance with her, we’ll be right behind you.”

“I love you, Josiepie.”

“And I love you, Claudibear.”

Josephine just smiled warmly, holding hands with Claudia as the two headed back to the dinner table towards their new respective dance partners. 

“Alright sweetheart.” Claudia smiled as she stepped towards Zenna, holding her hands out to instead welcome her daughter into her arms, leaning in and kissing Lilian on the forehead. “Let’s go listen to that song I promised you.”

Zenna smiled, releasing her daughter into Claudia’s arms. “Have fun, you two.”

“I’ll want a dance with you in a while as well.” Claudia smiled, spinning the cane in one hand, grinning at her and her wife. “After you take Lilian to bed, of course.”

“May I dance first, Mistress?” She smiled, letting Josie take her arm. “I’ve always wanted to attend a ball with my lovers.”

Josie smiled back, giving her a kiss. “I don’t see why not.”

Claudia rolled her eyes as her wife took the concubine to the dancefloor, her heart warmed by the sight of them almost as much as getting to dance with her own daughter for a change. “Ready when you are, little Dorothy.”

“Can we go up to the front, mom?” Lilian pleaded with her, snuggling excitedly against her chest. “Please?”

“You did say please, so I guess we have to.” Claudia smiled, forgetting her worries for a moment as she walked her daughter onto the dancefloor, past crowds of guests and towards where Candace would be singing. “Hold on tight.”

 

✶      ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧      ✶      ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦      ✶

 

Follow the sound of music to find the stage. Now that all of the guests were here, the front entrance had been closed off with another huge curtain to help keep people where they were meant to be, right where the entertainment was. 

But I went backstage, pushing past the curtain into the small lobby behind it. 

“A band, huh?” I smirked, looking the group over. “You guys have been playing music all night?”

“Y-yes.” The lead musician, a male pianist, nodded his head in confirmation. “Ma’am. Yes, Ma’am.”

With crossed arms and a raised eyebrow, I stared at the collar around his neck like they were his eyes. “A newer slave I take it.”

He swallowed nervously, glancing at the rest of the band behind him. “We all are.”

I was almost impressed that my brother had managed to kidnap an entire band from off the streets somewhere. “Congratulations, this is your big break.”

“Thank you, Miss.” His smile reeked of anxiety. “We’re ready to play anything.”

“Anything?” 

“Anything.”

He almost got a kick out of my little challenge, which I planned to make good on. A back alley band like this weren’t the kind of musicians I usually worked with, but I was up to teach them some new things. 

“What about sugary sweet, think you can do a stupidly cheesy little love song?”

The pianist practically gagged, the bassist snorted, and the rest of the band just shrugged nervously. “I don’t see why not?”

“I’ll sing.” I tapped my foot, snapping my fingers as I pointed at each of them. “You just have to play along.”

“You want us to improvise your accompaniment?”

“It’s not like we have time to rehearse. Do you think you can handle it?” 

The band gave each other a few glances and nods, smiling confidently. “Definitely.”

“Then let’s give them a good show. I’m counting on you.”

 

Back through the curtain and up on stage, I stood in front of the entire ballroom with the foyer behind me. There were so many faces I didn’t recognize.

All eyes were on me. 

 

“Happy Birthday, Miss Mariam.” Was how I led, the crowd quickly silencing with my words. “I hope it lives up to expectations, Lilith, and I’m glad all of you are here to celebrate it with her.” 

Across the entire ballroom everyone turned to see Lilith, sitting next to her ex-husband and accepting the warm attention from the rest of the ballroom. After a few moments she proceeded to relinquish the spotlight to me, either unable or unwilling to get up and dance. 

There were other couples in the crowd too of course. After their announcement, it was nice to see Josephine and Zenna taking the first dance together tonight. 

But the most important pair of all were right there in the very front, excitedly anticipating my performance. My sister Claudia, and her daughter Lilian. 

“We’ll get to the main event soon, I promise you. But first-” I said to a small round of quiet chuckles and slow claps. “You’ve been an amazing mother to both my older brother and sister, and part of me wishes I could have shared in that with them. But given the song I’m about to dedicate, I think it’s only fitting. This one goes out not only to you, Lilith, but to my mother as well. This was a song my mother taught to me as a kid, and it’s a song I haven’t sang for twelve years, ever since I sang it at her funeral.”

My eyes fluttered down towards my sister, able to see the pain in her eyes as she smiled at me, nodding for me to keep going at her expense. But the little girl in her arms was what really did it. Seeing the light in her eyes was all I needed to keep going. 

“But most importantly, I would like to sing this song to the little girl in the front row. You, right there, Lilian Marigold Jacquel.” I smiled at her, watching her eyes light up as I said her name. “As well as her mother, my sister, who made all of this possible tonight. Mrs. Claudia Rosegold Mariam-Jacquel.” 

There was a quiet round of applause for them both, as my sister blushed and her daughter held tight to her in pure happiness, unable to properly appreciate the gravity of the situation.

“But before I start I want to welcome you, all of you. If you know the words. Please. Sing along.” Eyes locked with my sister’s as I spoke, making sure she knew what I was saying. “The storm is behind us. You might just make someone’s sky just a little bit more colorful.”

The look we shared in that moment was nothing if not one of patience and understanding, happily smiling as we awaited what was to come. 

And with that behind me, I had a song to sing to anyone who would listen, and two little girls in the front row who needed this just as much as I did.

 

The music began.

“Somewhere over the rainbow.”

I sang.

“Way up high.”

People danced. 

“There’s a land that I heard of.”

And I cried. 

“Once in a lullaby.”

 

Lilian was the happiest little girl in the world, but her mother was a close second. 

She was finally getting everything she’d asked for, but even as I sang, my voice wasn’t the one Lilian was listening to. 

My words carried through the whole ballroom and into the ears of almost everyone here to listen, but my sister’s words flew from her lips like doves, singing for her daughter, as her mother used to do for her. 

Josephine and Zenna looked on in awe at their daughter, sharing a precious moment in the arms of her mother, as happy with and proud of them as I was. 

I sang, the song in my heart eventually beginning to wind down. 

Finally, I understood what was important to her.

And Claudia was happy. 

 

“If happy little bluebirds fly.”

But I wasn’t. 

“Beyond the rainbow.”

Something was missing. 

“Why, oh, why-” 

The love of my life wasn’t here to dance with me.

“Can’t I?”

My Chloe wasn’t here to listen to my song.

 

All I heard when the song was over were the sounds of my own sobs as my audience clapped and cheered me on. My eyes found themselves fixed to the glowing lights of the chandelier above, and the only thing I could think of was her, and just how badly I wanted to dance with her.

My heart broke knowing she couldn’t hear my voice. 

And I couldn’t help but feel like I had failed her. 

No .

Tears shook free from my eyes as I forced myself back together. 

Not like this. 

I stepped into my sister’s arms below, quickly finding myself holding Lilian once it was all over.

“Thank you.” Claudia whispered to me, and she meant it. “That meant a lot to me.”

“Of course.” I smiled, holding my tired niece in my arms as she snuggled into me to say thank you. “We’re family.”

She smiled, wiping tears from her own eyes. “We’re sisters.”

“We’re sisters.” My voice broke as I said it. “Please, Claudia. We’re sisters.”

“She’s safe.” Claudia assured me, stepping aside as Zenna accepted Lilian from my arms. “She’s family.”

“Please.” I begged her, heart breaking as the two of us found ourselves alone. “Give her back.”

“No.” My sister refused, as still and unmoving as one can be on a dance floor. “I’m going to punish her.”

“You can’t.” I shook my head. “I’m begging you.”

“She deserves this, Candace.” Claudia whispered to me. “If she’s going to live, she’s going to spend the rest of her life being punished for what she’s done.”

“I can’t let you do that.”

“I’m not giving you a choice.”

“I love her, Claudia.”

“She belongs to me, Candace.” Her words turned the already shattered pieces of my heart to stone. “And you can’t have her.”

Silence left my lips like a white flag, unable to say another word. 

“Now if you’ll excuse me. I’m going to spend the rest of the night dancing with my wife.” She finished. “You’ve already lost. Go home.” 

And I was helpless but to watch my sister walk into the arms of the woman she loved, while I was left utterly alone. 

Chapter 45: Death of the Virgin

The song I sang as I took the stage had a very different meaning through these new ears, knowing exactly where that song came from. Leah couldn’t help but miss my mother as she listened, able to hear the pain in her daughter’s voice. My voice hurt as I sang, but I went on all the same. 

“I always blamed myself for the death of her mother.” Lilith mumbled through her coughing lungs as she watched Claudia dance with her own daughter. “I stifled that girl’s sexuality over my own selfish anger at our slave choosing not to leave with me. Maybe if I’d embraced her sooner, her first time having sex with a woman wouldn’t have been a gift from her step-mother.”

“But that was her idea too.” Cardinal smiled as he reminisced about his late wife. “She chose to stay not because of us, but because of those kids. In a way, she always belonged to those children she helped us raise. She would do anything for them, all three of them, including Claudia.” 

“Especially Claudia. Because that was just the kind of woman she was. Loyal to those she loved.”

“It just so happened that she loved those three more than she ever loved herself. Enough to prove that she was willing to die for them just to bridge the gap between her daughters.”

“I’m sorry.” Leah interrupted, getting lost in the sounds of my song above all else. “I must have missed a step. I was listening to Candace’s song. I’ve been waiting to hear this.”

Lilith and Cardinal exchanged a knowing look at each other, one that made the both of them swell with guilt. Leah, for her part, was lost in those eyes. 

Cardinal glanced towards Leah and then back at his ex-wife. “You don’t think?”

“No. I don’t.” Lilith crossed her arms. “Not unless she’s willing to prove it.”

“Prove what?” Leah swallowed nervously. “Is this an inside joke?”

“Something like that.” He smiled at his assistant. “Tell me. What would you do for that girl?”

“Candace?” Leah looked to the stage and blushed. “I’d do anything for her.”

“Prove it.” The old hag coughed. “Go on. If she wants to have sex, have sex with her.”

Her stomach was nothing but a pit of disgust at that point, even considering the possibility of it was too much for her, and not because she wasn’t willing to. “I can’t. I’m sorry.”

“And why not?” She pushed Leah for more. “Aria tells me that she wanted a three way with you both, why didn’t you do that for her?”

“Because I couldn’t. I’m not good enough. I couldn’t even cheat on my husband.” Lilith’s insults slowly became too much. “I’ve never had sex before.” 

Cardinal’s eyes narrowed in on her as she said that. “You haven’t?”

“Nonsense. You were married.” Lilith laughed at her. “Even I had sex after I was married.”

“You got married so that you could have sex and have kids. Your daughter got married because she had sex and was going to have a kid.” Leah mumbled under her breath. “I’ve never had sex because I can’t risk having kids. I won’t bring a child into the world if it means she’s going to have to live like me.”

“Then you’ll never have kids.” Lilith scoffed at her, satisfied that she’d made her point. “And you’ll never have sex either.”

“Maybe not.” Leah lowered her gaze, picking up what drinks were left and finishing them quickly before Claudia returned. “But as long as I’m still around I’m going to try.”

“Try all you’d like. If you want to prove your loyalty now there’s only one thing you can do.”

“And what exactly is that, Ma’am?”

Lilith smirked unflinchingly. “Die for her.”

Leah’s heart sunk in her chest as she heard that, looking up from her empty glass just in time to shunt it to the side before the host couple returned to the family table just a few steps ahead of me.

“Mom. Dad. Can we have a word at the other end of the table?” Claudia coughed as she and her wife arrived, trying not to look at Leah. “Preferably alone?”

“Sure thing.” Cardinal smiled, helping his ex-wife to her feet. “Watts, if you could get my daughter’s cross back for her, that would be great. And if you could dispose of the man who took it, that’d be better, maybe even enough to convince me not to fire you.”

Leah’s heart broke as he suggested the possibility. “Yes, Sir. Thank you.”

She watched silently as the four of them relocated as far away from her as they could, noticing her other best friend from high school escorting the young mistress of the house upstairs in her arms, which Leah couldn’t help but sigh in seeing. 

“Would you like to dance?” I asked my only remaining friend as I returned to her side. “Because I know I would.”

“There’s no point.” Leah responded with a broken voice. “You deserve a better dance partner anyways.”

“You’re wrong.” I shook my head in protest, continuing to pester her. “You’re the only person I have left, and you deserve everything for that.”

“I’m a pariah, Candace.” Leah said, gazing wistfully across the table at my father and his former wife. “None of those people out there are going to notice me like I’d always hoped. I’m nothing to you people.”

“You’re something to me.” I pleaded with her. “You’re everything to me.”

“Look at your sister and Zenna. They used to be my only friends.” Leah murmured through quivering lips. “I’m never going to have a family like they have. I’m never going to have a daughter of my own.”

“Please don’t say that.” I held back my nervous emotion, trying not to cry. “That hurts.”

“Candace.”

“You know how I feel about you.” Tears rolled back into my head as I forced them away. “Now, please. Dance with me.”

Leah sat there for a few moments before taking my hand and standing. “Okay.”

 

She escorted me to the floor, and we danced. The music went on, and the slaves came out to dance. 

My brother had spent quite a lot of time, energy, money, and other resources to create a group of slave women that were worth a damn at a fancy ball like this one. But they rocked it.

I almost felt bad about what was going to happen to them at the end of the night. Almost. It was hard to care about the fate of anyone except for Chloe right now. 

The biggest exception being Leah.

“Do you believe what you said to them at dinner?” She said as the two of us danced. “Do you actually believe that I love you more than your family?”

“Yes.” I held close to her as we danced. “It’s funny. At first I didn’t get it, but I understand what you mean to me now.”

“Candace.” Her voice shook with anxiety. “I’m sorry about the girl.”

“It’s okay.” I smiled, gently closing my eyes and going along with the dance. “I’m going to save her.”

“Not that girl.” She held me tight, gently embracing me. “The other girl.”

My crying eyes screwed tight as I leaned into her chest for support. “I keep seeing her everywhere.”

“She’s not real, Candace.” She assured me. “I’m sorry. But she’s dead.”

“Are you sure?” I looked up into hers with crying eyes. “Are you absolutely positively sure?”

“Yes.” She said without a shred of doubt in her voice. “I’m sure.”

“Please, Leah.” I begged her. “Please don’t leave me.”

“I would never leave you, Candace. I promise.” She smiled for the first time tonight. “I have nowhere else to go.”

“You know what I meant, Leah.” I held both of her hands in mine. “Please don’t die. I need you.”

“I’m not going to die.” She winked. “I’m not your mom.”

“Yes you are.” I smiled back, wiping away my tears. “Please be safe.”

“I’ll get your mother’s cross back for you.” Leah said, her eyes following the trail of a familiar slave across the ballroom. “Count on me.”

“Always.” I nodded, letting go of her hands. “I’ll be waiting.”

“Thank you.” Leah hummed, returning my gesture. “How about you dance with her now?”

I turned to face my best friend, Aria Fairmont, who was a big part of the reason that I was in this mess in the first place.

“Um. What she said?” Came her nervous words as she extended her palm. “Care to dance?”

I thought it over for a moment before sighing, placing my hand in hers. “Sure thing.”

“Guess I get to be your date to the party after all.” Aria bragged as we began to dance. “Lucky me.”

“That’s one way of looking at it.” I giggled. “Any idea what happens to you when Lilith dies?”

“I’m getting set free, right?” She looked at me like she thought it was obvious. “Isn’t that how it works?”

“Oh honey.” That made me more than a little bit concerned for her. “I’m so sorry.”

“What?” She swallowed nervously. “What happens to me when she dies?”

“I don’t know, Aria.” I spun her in my arms, but that wasn’t enough to get her to smile. “That’s up to Lilith.”

“What do you mean that’s up to Lilith?” She stammered. “How is that up to Lilith?”

“You’re property, Aria.” I frowned, holding her close while I could. “The estate will gather you like any of her other belongings and disperse you accordingly.”

“I get not being able to escape while she’s alive, but how?” She bit her lip, nervously glancing back and forth. “Won’t the FBI come to investigate her belongings and free me?”

“I don’t know, Aria. You and Lilith are the FBI moles here. Have they ever done that before?”

“Oh god.” The realization hit her. “One of her shitty kids are going to inherit me.”

“Keep it down.” I urged her. “People can hear you.”

“Fuck that.” She whispered back in a quieter voice. “I don’t want to belong to Claudia.”

“You and I both. But who you end up going to is up to your mistress, not me.”

“But you’re going to save Chloe, right?”

“Aria-”

“Please save Chloe. If it’s the last thing I do, please let me help you save her.”

“I don’t want you to go to Claudia.”

“I’ll go to Claudia if it helps. If I have to take Chloe’s place, I have to take her place.”

I stopped. “Are you sure?”

“I was the one that convinced her to leave you.” She nodded. “I’m sure.”

“Thank you, Aria. If you want to help, you can help. How do I save Chloe?”

“She’s here. There’s a cell in the slave quarters. That’s where Claudia is keeping her.” Aria nervously glanced across the dance floor again, trying to stay calm and quiet. “I didn’t see it happen, but I know she’s in there.”

“And you’re sure?”

“Yes.”

“Absolutely positively sure?”

“Yes.”

I spun her one last time, bending her over backwards and pressing my lips to hers for a kiss, before letting her twirl away. “I owe you a fuck later.”

“No you don’t.” Aria rolled her eyes at me, fingers pressed against her own lips. “Go get your girl. Please.”

“Thank you.” I gave her the happiest hug of my life. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Candace…”

And that made Aria blush. 

“…I love you so much.”

 

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Empty. Quiet. Still.

There was no one in the slave quarters by the time I got there.

No signs of life from even beyond the door. 

“Chloe?” 

I shut the exit behind me, careful to make sure I wasn’t trapping myself inside.

“Are you in there?”

Peering around the corner, I turned towards the closed door to the cell and called out to her. 

“Come on. Knock once if you’re in there.”

Nothing. 

“Please?”

Nothing.

Maybe Aria was wrong. 

“Okay.” I stuttered. “I don’t know if you’re in there, but if you are I just wanted to make sure you’re safe.”

I put my hand to the door and listened. 

“You are safe, aren’t you?”

I could almost feel her hand pressed against the other side. 

“I know you’ve given up hope.” I sighed, pressing my forehead against the door. “But please.”

Nothing. Still nothing. 

“Fine. Be that way.” I sat up straight, clearing my throat. “You are a slave and I am a free woman. I don’t need your input. I’ll do what I want.”

I smirked, hoping for a response. “And if that happens to include you, you’ll just have to accept that.”

Nothing. Still nothing. I could tell she was in there. But she gave me nothing.

“Please don’t give up. Not like this. If you won’t fight her, at least fight me.” I called out to her one last time. “I know you’re in there, Chloe. Don’t let her be the one who finally defeats Sophia Cavalier. You deserve better than that.”

Crickets.

“Right. Well, even if you aren’t in there, and I’m just talking to an empty cell. I have something for you. And before you’re gone I need you to know that you heard it. You didn’t get to hear me sing out there after all.”

I swallowed nervously, trying to still my quickly beating heart. She had to be in there, right? Where else could she possibly be? Even if she wasn’t, I could pretend, couldn’t I?

“I can’t do this if you’re not in there, Chloe. I just want to sing for you, that’s all. Hell, if you don’t want to hear it, just say so. All I want is to know you’re okay.”

 

I waited for her to respond, but after a few more moments of silence, I just shook my head and smiled. 

“I know right?” I giggled at myself. “What a loser.”

She didn’t need to know it, but I wrote a song for her. I wasn’t sure where the words came from, but I knew they came from somewhere intimate.

“That Candace Saint Clair girl. Always a loser.” I rolled my eyes at myself as I rose to my feet, hoping for anything from her at all. “Please say something. I just need to know that you’re alive.”

Chloe was silent. Trying to pretend she couldn’t hear me. But I knew better. I could hear that bell I’d given her, chiming ever so slightly as she breathed.

The lover inside of me wasn’t ready to admit that it was all over. All I wanted was to be with her again. She was there. We both knew she was there, she just didn’t want to speak to me. 

“I love you, Chloe.” Everything I had left came out in that final moment. “Please don’t let me be the one to defeat you. If not for me, then for her, let Chloe be the one who finally defeats Sophia Cavalier.”

 

I shut the door behind me and turned back towards the ballroom. Part of me hoped she wasn’t in that cell. At least then I would have broken my own heart for nothing, instead of letting her break it for me.

“Where’s Leah?” I asked my father as I got back to the dinner table. “Is she not back yet?”

“Were you expecting her to come back?” Lilith snickered at me the moment I arrived. “Because I’m just surprised she hasn’t been shot yet.”

I did my best to ignore her, turning instead to my father. “Daddy?”

“Princess.” He gave me an almost concerned look, gesturing towards my seat at the table. “Think about it.”

With an almost insane level of anxiety welling up in my chest, I pulled out my chair, but before I could even sit down I spotted them. 

The empty wine glasses. 

Leah .

“No.” There had to be at least four or five empty drinks on the table, and I just knew that they were all hers. “Fuck.”

How could I let this happen? 

“She’d be lucky if she can even hold a gun.” Lilith said through her own drink. “My money is on her shooting herself.”

My eyes darted up at her, red and full of rage. “Is this funny to you?”

“It’s my party.” She flipped her empty glass upside down. “Of course it’s funny to me.”

I scoffed. “You’re a piece of shit.”

“Of course I am.” She rolled her eyes. “Why do you think your father married me?”

“Are you really going to let her say things like that, dad?” I pointed at her. “This is Leah we’re talking about. She’s your assistant. She lives with you. Aren’t you afraid of what she’ll do to you in your sleep?”

“Afraid. Me?” My father snorted. “This is me we’re talking about. And not just that, this is Leah. She’s a tough girl.”

“So you do care?”

“Of course I care.” 

“Then why won’t you stand up for her?”

“She doesn’t need me to.”

“Like hell she doesn’t.”

“She’s not family.”

“She’s family to me!!” I swept my arm across the table, sending a small army of champagne flutes shattering to the floor. “And if you won’t defend her, I will!!”

“Then do it.” Lilith stared straight at me and snarled. “And stop wasting our time.”

“Fine.” I shook my head in disgust. “You’re right.”

“Now hold on.” My father grabbed me by the wrist, much like my sister had done earlier. “Your little friend is one thing, but you I do care about, quite a lot in fact.”

“I know what I’m doing, father.” I assured him, unable to wrangle my wrist from his hand. “I don’t need your help.”

“Like hell you don’t.” His grip only tightened. “Don’t think I don’t know what happened last night.”

God damn it, Leah. That was supposed to stay a secret. “She told you.”

“Of course she told me. You’re my daughter. I should be in the loop.”

“She promised me she wouldn’t tell you.”

“Then maybe she’s more loyal to me than to you, don’t you think?”

“Let me do this, dad.” My arm went limp in his clutch. “I can handle this.”

“I believe you. But a good father knows to leave nothing to chance.”

He smiled, reaching into his coat pocket and retrieving a gun. It was an old fashioned sort of thing. A revolver. It didn’t even look like it was in good shape, but before I could do much to protest he had already placed it into my right hand.

“You’re my princess.” He said as he released my other hand. “I don’t want you going out unarmed anymore.”

“I don’t use guns, Daddy. I don’t need them.” I tried to hand it back. “I don’t need this.”

“Then don’t use it.” He said, almost challenging me. “I’ve never had to use it.”

Taken aback, I examined the revolver. It was old, charred, refurbished. The original wooden handle burned to a crisp black. I cocked the hammer once then pushed it back in. It wouldn’t be subtle, but it would fire.

“Then why do you carry it?”

“To scare people.” He raised a drink in his hand. “If you don’t think you need to fire it, then don’t fire it.”

The image burned into my eyes as I stared at it. Too much. This was too much. I dropped it back onto the dinner table with a thud, backing away from the thing, never once looking away. 

“No.” I refused. “I won’t play your game.”

“Then you’ll always be a loser.” My father left the gun sitting right there on the table. “You can’t win unless you play.”

“This isn’t a game.” I spun around, leaving him at my tail as I walked away. “Not to me.”

 

“And to think that you’ve always wanted her over Claudia.” Lilith said to him in a tsk tsk tone of voice. “Your girl’s a loser.”

Cardinal just snorted at that. “And yours is much better?”

“No.” She rolled her eyes. “But our boy is.”

“Our boy.” Cardinal actually liked the sound of that. “Maybe he is.”

“Give him a chance, Cardinal.” She urged him. “He might just surprise you.”

“He did do a wonderful job putting together tonight’s entertainment, now didn’t he?”

“I like to think so.”

“Too bad he’s a momma’s boy.”

“You’re a momma’s boy.” She teased. “I can’t believe you tried to hand your girl that gun.”

“Oh?” Cardinal hummed, finishing his drink. “And why’s that?”

Click . Lilith cocked back the hammer and pointed it straight at her ex-husband. “Because I know where this gun has been.”

He just smirked, setting his empty glass back down on the table as he leaned into it, almost daring her to pull the trigger. “And you don’t think the sky will smite you for trying to kill me with it?”

“Those scars mean nothing.” She said, her hands shaking as she kept it pointed at his disfigured face. “You’re not God, Cardinal.”

“Then prove it.” He smirked, leaning back in his seat. “Shoot me.”

Lilith almost bit through her lip trying to keep steady, pointing the gun at his head. Her hands couldn’t help but shake, but at this range it wouldn’t have mattered. Yet the gun found itself laying on the table just a few moments later, and instead of the sound of a gunshot, the ballroom was filled with the noise of an old hag’s horrendous fit of coughing.

And Cardinal Russo just pushed the hammer back in as he safely put the revolver away.

 

“Mistress!!” Lilith’s nurse was always only a whistle away. “Are you alright, Miss Mariam?!”

“Mouse girl.” He said as Aria rushed to Lilith’s side. “Fairmont.”

“Sir.” She swallowed nervously, on the verge of crying just from seeing him. “I didn’t realize.”

“There are actual doctors here tonight.” He stared her in the eyes. “Go get one.”

“Yes, Sir.” She nodded, taking a quick glance back at her mistress. “I’ll be right back.”

“And while you’re at it.” Cardinal added, grabbing Lilith by one hand and pulling back her sleeve to reveal Aria’s controller. “You can help me give your owner her birthday present.”

 

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“What the hell is this?”

I wasn’t sure what I was expecting when I followed the squirrel girl’s trail out of the foyer, but it wasn’t what I got. 

“Leah?” 

I couldn’t save Chloe while she and my father were around, but it would seem that she couldn’t quite get the job done without me at her side. Leah was here for one reason, to do her job. This was her last debt collecting job before she finally got to start as my father’s right hand woman, nothing else mattered to her. 

She came to help retrieve my mother’s cross from the bully who’d stolen it from me. Nobody here liked her all that much, but she was used to that by now. Being the object of everyone’s ire was something she expected when she got here. She wasn’t about to let it bother her. 

Or so I thought. 

“What?” She turned to me with sad blue eyes, not too thrilled to be getting yelled at. “Did I do something wrong?”

I should have known better than to leave Leah alone at a party surrounded by alcohol and alcoholics all night. But like always, I put my friend in danger by neglecting to pay close enough attention to her safety.

As much as I wanted to yell at her for sneaking outside and getting drunk when she was supposed to be helping me find my stolen things, I knew it wasn’t her fault. Leah’s only human, I shouldn’t have expected so much from her. 

“No, Leah.” I sighed, trying to ease her fears. “You didn’t do anything wrong. I’m just worried about you.”

“But I’m not family.” Her eyes wandered away from me. “I shouldn’t even be here.”

“Don’t say that.” I had already told her how I felt. I just wasn’t sure if she was too drunk to remember it, or if she really didn’t believe me. “You are my family. You, Aria, Malcolm, Chloe. You’re my family.”

“I’m sorry, Candace.” She sniffled back tears as she drank them away. “I told your father what happened last night.”

“I thought you weren’t going to do that.” I frowned, taking the drink from her hands and tossing it aside. “What happened?”

“He did.” She longed after the champagne flute as it shattered against the side of the house. “You know I can’t keep a secret from him.”

“But I need you to, Leah. If you can’t keep a secret, I can’t ask you for help.”

“I’m sorry.” She shriveled in on herself. “I’m not strong enough to stand up to him.”

“Yes you are, Leah. You can do this.”

I grabbed her by both hands and looked her in the eyes, pulling her instinctive grasp away from the gun she always kept strapped to her hip, ready to fire at any moment. Especially now that her target was in sight.

“I’m sorry.” I heard a drunken snort from behind me. “Do you two need some time alone?”

“Can it, Mallick.” I snapped at him, spinning in place to face him for the second time in as many days. “Where the fuck have you been all night?”

“Got drunk and made my own fun once your sister insulted me. I had a really nice three way with some of the slaves here, a raggedy blonde and a stiff brunette. They were a really cute pair. just like that redhead of yours was. Maybe we could have a three way some day, what do you say?”

“I’d rather grind my penis off with a cheese grater than put it anywhere near yours.” I scoffed. “You disgust me.”

“I disgust everyone.” He scoffed straight back. “What do you want?”

“I don’t want much from you. Just give me my things back, and my friend and I will be on our way.”

“Nice try.” He rolled his eyes, more than a little bit drunk. “I know she’s after me.”

“No one’s out to kill you, Xander.” I sighed, twirling around to show that I’m unarmed. “Just give the money back, and you get to walk away.”

“No.” He shook his head, taking another drink from the tray his slave was presenting him. “There ain’t no way.”

“Last chance, Xander.” I repeated myself. “Give us the money, and return my things.”

“I spent the money.” He turned to his slave, swiping the tray out of her hands completely, before grabbing her by the waist and pulling her close to him. “And I’ll be damned if I’m forced to give back anything I’ve taken. If you want them, you’ll pry them off of her cold dead body.”

“Not if I have anything to do about it.” Leah stepped out from behind me, fit as a fiddle, a very poorly tuned fiddle. “If anyone’s going to die, it’s you.”

Xander squinted at her. “Say’s Daddy’s dog.”

Leah just smirked at that. “Arf.”

I blinked once and was stunned by the speed at which they both moved. Xander had his hand on the gun at his waist, but before he could draw it, Leah had hers pointed right at his head from mid range. 

The distance looked to be a good twenty or so feet, so it was unlikely she’d miss under most circumstances, but her shaking fingers weren’t helping my confidence. I never should have taken my eyes off of her.

“Are you sure you’re not too drunk to fight?” He looked her in the eyes and tilted his head. “You seem awfully tired.”

“Ask Candace.” She put her finger on the trigger. “She’ll tell you who’s the top dog.”

“It’s her.” I answered without prompting. “Now don’t make me sick her on you.”

Tense silence rang throughout the courtyard as Xander turned his gaze onto me. He knew this was how it was going to go down. He’d been using Lucy to tempt Leah all night, trying to get her drunk. And because I hadn’t been paying attention.

“Okay.” He smiled, and I spotted the device in his hand just a moment too late. “Let’s play fetch instead.”

I watched his slave’s terrified eyes explode into tears as she was shoved forward, frozen like a deer in the headlights, nothing more than a meatshield to keep her master from getting shot. That was the look of a girl who knew she was about to die. 

Leah pointed her gun straight at the poor little squirrel, unable to get a clean shot on the target behind her, drunken hands trembling like I’d never seen them tremble. She couldn’t kill this girl, but Xander could.

The light on her collar bled crimson, and the courtyard echoed with a siren of pained wails from a dying woman, quickly being shocked to death. She collapsed to the ground in agony, but by the time she’d fallen to her knees, her master had a gun in his hand and as clear a shot on Leah as she did on him. 

Dying eyes locked with mine, screaming for help. Adrenaline hit with the force of a truck, and before I knew what was happening I was lunging headfirst like a wild cat, slamming into the oncoming force of death in an attempt to save the girl before she became roadkill. 

He slammed onto his back beneath me, toppling over under my weight. The gun harmlessly clattered to the ground beside us, but his remote torture device did not. I thoughtlessly mauled him with my claws, already painted red like blood, piercing against him until I’d pried the device from his fingers and coated mine in a new shade of crimson. 

Desperately, I clamored towards the girl, my bloodied hands hammering down on the button. The blaring red light ceased in an instant, searing the world around her in a bright white glow. My fingers trembled, caught in limbo for as long as it took to see her finally gasp for breath, her body shaking with pain and terror. 

Then out of the corner of my eye I spotted him, scrambling towards his discarded firearm in an attempt to save his own life by taking us down first. I choked, feeling him wrap one arm around my throat from behind and pulling me upright. As one last fit of fury I thrashed against him, but I wasn’t able to break free of his clutches before he had the barrel of his gun once again pressed against my head. 

Just like last night, he had me right where he wanted me. 

“Don’t move or angel piss gets it.” He screamed at Leah, forcing my hands to retract away as he dug the barrel into my temple. “If I’m going to die, I’m taking her with me.” 

The field froze, suddenly locked in a standstill. Leah’s sights locked onto us, pointing her own firearm as straight as she could, unable to get Xander without also killing me. I’d saved the girl, but all I’d done was trade one bargaining chip for another, and I’d traded down no less. 

“Okay.” I uttered in as calm a voice as I could while choking, deciding it wasn’t worth it to take this prick down if it was going to get myself and the people I cared about killed. “Leah, put your gun away.”

She looked at me like I was insane. “But, Candace-”

“Do as I say, now.” I snapped at her, staring deeply into her eyes. “Trust me.”

And she wordlessly put the still armed handgun away. 

“You win, Xander.” I said, almost mocking him for his victory. “State your terms.”

“All I want is some peace and quiet.” He slowly quit breaking my neck with how hard he was pressing the gun to my head. “And if I have to keep you as leverage for the rest of your life, I will.” 

“Deal.” I spat dispassionately. “But only on one condition.”

“And what’s that?”

“I get my things back.” My eyes locked with Lucy’s, watching her slowly but surely rise to her feet. “And I get to wear her collar.”

“You can’t.” He scoffed at me. “The collars aren’t removable.”

“They are if she’s dead.” I smiled, hand overturned to show Lucy the controller to her collar, still firmly in my grasp. “You just have to kill her first.”

Silence pierced the horizon for a moment as I watched her eyes begin to tear up, and I could hear the gears in Xander’s head behind me well enough to know what he was about to do. 

Pull the gun away from my head, and point it at hers. “With pleasure.”

“No, actually.” I gave the terrified little doll my sincerest grin, winking with my one evil blue eye. “The pleasure’s all mine.”

“Wait, no!!” She pleaded, her voice trembling with terror. “Please…”

…But her master didn’t seem to give a shit. “Bite me-”

And just as he was about to pull the trigger, I turned in his arms and gave him a mischievous stare out of the corner of my eyes. “Yes, Sir.”

Teeth sunk into the skin of his wrist, biting into the tendons and forcing his fingers apart, the pistol falling from his grasp once again. But this time it ended up in my hands, and without harming any further hair on his poor slave’s head, I had the barrel of his own gun pointed straight at his heart. 

I spat blood from his veins right in his face, my finger on the trigger. “And that is why I’m not the one in bondage.”

He looked at me in disbelief, grinding his teeth together. “Well played, second place.”

“Last chance, Xander.” Snarled the ferocious wild cat that had overtaken me, ready to revel in bloodshed as I armed the pistol’s chamber, making sure it was cocked and ready to fire. “Give me back what you stole.”

“Or what?” He looked at me with the deadest eyes I’d seen in years. “You’ll shoot me?”

I froze as he said that, finally realizing what I was doing. I didn’t just have a gun in my hands, I was about to kill someone with it. 

And that quickly terrified me. 

“No.” I heard my friend answer for me. “But I will.”

“No, Leah. If you shoot him, it’s the same as if I shoot him.” The gun shook in my hands as Leah reached for hers, and in a moment of desperation I called out to stop her. The pistol dropped to the ground at his feet as I rose to stand over him, resolved not to play this kind of game. “Just search him, find my things, and send him somewhere to be punished.”

“Whatever you say, boss.” She actually smirked at me as I took charge, making her way to him, gun in hand. “I’m on it.”

“What, that’s it?” He shouted at me, almost appalled to watch me just walk away. “I almost shot you, stole your mommy’s jewelry, raped the girl you love, and you’re not going to kill me yourself?”

“Nope.” I said without a shred of doubt. “I don’t need to.”

Xander scoffed, lunging towards the gun I’d left at his feet, even more enraged that I’d just tossed it aside instead. He could see the gun Leah had pointed at him before he could do anything about it though, so he was holding it harmlessly above his own head before he could ever get the chance to point it at me, trying not to get himself killed.

“Put the gun away and fork them over, Mallick.” Leah smirked, keeping herself between Xander and I. “Don’t make me use my hands.”

“Never.” He snarled. “Go ahead, take me. You won’t find anything.”

Hidden behind that shell was an angry but terrified man, knowing he was at the end of his rope at long last. There was nothing he could do. He knew. I knew it. His slave knew it.

“M-Miss?” The unloved slave woman stepped out from her master’s side, walking directly towards me. “Is this it?”

My eyes sparkled as she nervously pulled her hand from the pocket of her hoodie, holding within it one half of a brilliant purple heart, trembling in her hands as she extended it towards me.

“Yeah.” I smiled happily as I accepted it from her. “That’s it.”

“Wait.” Leah blinked in confusion as she turned her body towards me accusingly, keeping her gun firmly pointed at our little prisoner. “I thought you said he stole your mother’s cross.”

“And I thought you were going to keep this all a secret from my father.” I mumbled back at her, my eyes drifting downwards. “He did steal my mother’s cross.”

“And the necklace Chloe made you?” She scoffed, her eyes going wide in disbelief. “You didn’t tell me about that, what else did they steal?”

“Nothing important enough that you needed to know, or my father for that matter.” I bit my lip nervously, not wanting to have this conversation right now. “Can we talk about this when we don’t have an armed asshole at gunpoint?”

“No. Because you have an ulterior motive for coming here, your father needs to know. And I can’t just walk away to take this prick to the facility if it means that you’re going to try and bust that girl out when you know you’re not supposed to.”

“I know I asked this before, but-” Xander rolled his eyes at us both, still holding his hands up. “Do you two need a minute?”

Leah just snarled at it. “Shut your trap, asshole.”

“See, it’s much funnier when I say it.” He giggled, winking at me from a distance. “I’m just saying it seems like this is something you two should have worked out before you came out here.”

“I won’t kill you, but I will punch teeth out, so quiet.” I snapped at him. “Where’s my mother’s cross?”

Xander, ever the joker, just pinched his lips shut and shook his head. But his slave did eventually answer for him. 

“It’s right here, Ma’am.” She mumbled nervously, now quite a few more steps away from me than she had been. “I’m wearing it.”

It actually made me kind of angry to see that cross around the neck of someone who didn’t deserve it. “Get that off, now.”

“Candace.” Leah tapped her foot impatiently. “I don’t like being left in the dark, it makes me feel uneasy.”

“I wanted to tell you, but I didn’t want you to try and stop me.”

“Stop you from what, rescuing Chloe?”

“I can’t tell you, Leah. I’m sorry.”

“And why not?”

“Because if I could trust you to keep a secret, I would.”

“So you don’t trust me all of a sudden?”

“It’s not that.”

“No, it’s not that. You haven’t trusted me from the start, or else you would have told me what’s going on.”

“Leah, look. I know you’re drunk, but-”

“Of course I’m drunk!!” She screamed, her eyes tearing up in bitter self hatred. “I’ve done nothing but sacrifice myself for you and your family, and this is the thanks I get. Being dragged out here to do your dirty work for you while you go behind my back to try and get away with something you know I can’t let you do, when all I’m trying to do is protect you!!”

“I swear it’s not like that, Leah.” I reached out, stepping towards her with open arms. “I’m not trying to use you.”

“Like hell you’re not trying to use me.” She sniffled. “Look what you did to Chloe. And Aria. And Riley. All you do is trick people into loving you so that you can use them. I thought I was different. I thought I was special. I thought I was better. But I was wrong, wasn’t I?!”

“No.” I pleaded with her, slowly beginning to feel the tears in my eyes. “You’re the one person I can always count on.”

“Except I’m not.” In bitter agony I watched her lower her gun, drunken hands trembling with uncertainty. “And to think I believed you when you told me I was family.”

“ You are family .” Words slipped from my lips more scared now than they ever had before, stumbling blindly towards my broken guardian, afraid that I was about to lose her. “Please, Leah. Please believe me.”

Leah listened, but she didn’t quite seem to be hearing my words, and within seconds I had a gun pointed at me. 

“Leah.” Stuck in place, I stared down the barrel, sure I was about to die alone. “I’m sorry.”

It just wasn’t Leah’s gun that was pointed at me.

And I watched in horror as he smirked at me. “Game over, St, Clair.”

 

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“Here you are, Ma’am.” Aria held the small black case to her owner, greeted from the table by Lilith and her ex-husband, her wrist still firmly within his grasp. “I told Dr. Renee to be on standby. She’s waiting in the sitting room.”

“She’s always been a little bit shy.” Lilith rolled her eyes, smiling at Cardinal as she accepted the gift he’d brought her. “What’s this?”

“Just what I said it was.” He smiled eagerly, finally letting go of the old hag’s hand. “A present.”

“I haven’t gotten anything from you in over twenty-five years.” She smirked, setting the box in her lap. “Must be my lucky day.”

He smiled innocently. “It is your birthday after all.” 

“My last birthday.” She winked. “Which means this had better be worth it.”

“Trust me, it is.”

Lilith looked to him with sullen skepticism for a few moments before turning back to the small black parcel, slowly and carefully opening it up to see what’s inside. She only looked at it for about half a second before she recognized it, forcefully clasping the box shut before anyone else could see what it was. 

“This is-”

“I know.” 

“You’re giving me-”

“I know.”

“Cardinal-”

“I know.”

The two of them went back and forth for a few moments before she snuck one last peek inside of the box, just to confirm she wasn’t hallucinating. “Why are you giving this to me?”

“Because I wouldn’t hear the end of it if I didn’t give it to someone.” He grinned proudly, giving her a wink. “You did create it after all.”

“I can’t believe you.” She coughed out in ardent frustration. “Twenty-five years and all of a sudden, you trust me with this.”

“See, that’s the thing. I don’t trust you with that.”

“Then why give it to me?!”

“Because I don’t trust you with it.” He gave her an evil look. “And you don’t trust yourself with it either.”

“What do you expect me to do with this?!”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?!”

“Take a little initiative in your own actions before you die, Lily. Maybe have one last adventure. Cause some chaos. Do something that’ll hurt me. My life isn’t fun without a little bit of a challenge.”

“I am dying, Cardinal. I don’t have time to play your games anymore. Take this and give it to someone else.”

“But if I put it on you, I get to watch you show your skin. You use it, or you give it away when you die. Either way, it’ll tell me what you value most. I get to find where your allegiances lie.”

“And if I destroy it instead?”

“You can’t destroy it, Lily. If you could, you would have destroyed that tape when you had it.”

“You bastard.” She shook her head in disgust. “You sick fucking bastard.”

“Don’t look at me.” He frowned, giving her a look that could only mean death. “You were the one who threw our daughter aside.”

“I would never.”

“Don’t lie to me, Lily. You were the one that told her she wasn’t your daughter anymore.”

Lilith’s heart twisted in her chest. “And where did you hear that?”

Cardinal just laughed at this, knowing just how obvious the answer was. “Where do you think?”

“I underestimated you.” She just smiled. “Here I thought I’d gotten away.”

“You never got away from me, Lilith. You knew that.”

“Yet you never came for me.”

“I never needed to.”

“I ran away from our son and our daughter and I reported you to the FBI for years and years. Why did you never put a stop to it all?”

“For the same reason I never stopped your assistant when she stole that tape. Nothing was ever going to come of it.”

“You knew I’d disown her when I saw it.”

“And I knew you’d never report her to the FBI for fear of everyone seeing that you were related to that monster.” He tipped his drink back, emptying yet another champagne flute. “But there’s more to it than that.”

She sighed. “There always is with you.”

“Even if I was wrong. Even if you turned out to be a better person than I knew you to be. There was never anything you could do.”

“I could have told them everything.” She snarled angrily. “Raping our kids. Keeping slaves. All of the people you’ve killed. Everything you did to your own family. Your wives. Your kids. Your siblings. Your parents.”

“And they would have done nothing about it. You know just as well as I do that the FBI works for me.” He stood up from his seat, looming over her. “The mafia works for me. The police work for me. Everyone who’s anyone works for me. In every nook and cranny, every crack you try to see the light, I have people there to snuff it out. The chief of staff of the FBI, mine. The governor of Florida, mine. The junior senator, mine. The state attorney general, mine. The secretary of homeland security, mine.”

Cardinal couldn’t help but smile at the look on her face as he rattled them off. “Those are just some of the big names, Lily. What about those two supreme court justices, local and federal? The state representative for the fourth district of Seattle? The unnamed wife beater who works at Fort Knox? The delivery driver who lives ten blocks from the state courthouse? The Chief Communications Officer at Argon Entertainment? The CEO of Baskin Robbins?”

“Baskin Robbins?” She raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Where do you think your son took his little sister for ice cream when he found her crying in the living room after getting her first real taste of what life was like?” He smirked. “Yeah. That’s right.”

“But the CEO?”

“Go big or go home, right?”

“And you did all of this because you think you’re going to live forever?”

“No.” Cardinal took his ex-wife by the hand, forcing her to her feet and pulling her in. “It’s so that my children can rule the world.”

“And who pray tell is going to rule the world when you’re gone?”

“That’s exactly what we’re going to find out tonight, now isn’t it?”

“I can’t argue with you there.”

“Dance with me, Lilith.” He smiled eagerly, spinning her in his arms. “Just like we used to.”

And she smiled at him for that. “I thought you’d never ask.”

At long last, my father took his dying enemy of an ex-wife to the floor for one last dance together, and as the two of them began to spin gracefully in the center of the ballroom, that’s when there were gunshots. 

Bang… 

…Bang.

Two of them. 

And almost no one in the entire ballroom seemed even remotely bothered by that. 

Claudia put her dance to a halt within her wife’s arms. “What was that?”

Almost no one.

“Does it matter?” Josie looked upon her with disappointed eyes. “Can’t we keep dancing?”

“Two gunshots just went off outside of our house, Josie.”

“It’s just Leah.” She whined back. “And I don’t mean to sound selfish or anything, but I really would like to have this with you, Claudia.”

“Josie-”

“Will you please just dance with me?” She smiled hopefully. “Please?”

And her smile was infectious to the point of no return, feeling her wife’s lips quickly pressed against her own. “Yes. A million times, yes.”

The women of the house smiled and went on their way, continuing to dance in each other’s arms like they hadn’t in a long time.

But there was at least one person willing to run out and see what was going on. 

 

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Tears flew from my eyes as I stood there, both hands clasped over my mouth in absolute terror.

Shaken, but still alive and untouched, I rushed to her side. My eyes were still burned with the image of the flash of light coming straight from that gun, but I was still in one piece. Leah was not so lucky. 

“No…” I dropped to my knees beside her, my heart beating out of my chest. “Leah…”

There was no response for a few moments, as she leaned back against the wall of the house behind her, eyes drifting open towards me. “I’m okay. I promise.”

“No you’re not.” I gagged as I looked at her, lost as to how I was supposed to help her with this. “I’m sorry, Leah.”

“Please, no.” She coughed loudly, squealing with pain as she lost control of her arm, dropping her gun to the ground at her fault. “It’s not your fault.”

“Yes it is!!” I screamed, insistent that this was all because of me and my arrogance. “Why, Leah, why?!”

She just smiled at me, leaning her head back as she grinned. “Why what, kiddo?”

“That bullet was for me and you know it.” I sobbed, biting down on my tongue to keep from breaking out into a fit of wails. “Why would you do this for me?!”

“Because.” She said, as if there was no question as to what the answer was going to be. “You’re my family.”

Xander Mallick was on the ground across from us with a hole in his chest, slowly drifting in and out of consciousness, and Leah was propped up against the wall with a bullet firmly embedded into her right shoulder. The wound was bleeding red onto her gorgeous grey dress, one that wasn’t even hers, and it was getting bigger.

“Holy shit.” I heard from behind me before I heard Aria’s distinctive pitter patter, finding her way to Leah’s side, kneeling over her wound. “What happened?”

“What do you think happened?!” I practically screamed at her. “She’s been shot!!”

“Candace.” Even in this state, Leah scolded me. “Be nice.”

“I’m so sorry, Leah.” I grabbed her other hand and held it to my chest, unsure how to help. “What do we do?”

“Contrary to popular belief, gunshots to the shoulder are actually a lot deadlier than they seem on TV.” Aria managed to say as she slipped on a pair of medical gloves, beginning to peel back Leah’s clothes to try and stop the bleeding. “I’ll do what I can now, but if we don’t get her to a hospital soon, at best she’ll lose an arm.”

“Don’t want that.” Leah tried to stay positive. “And at worst?”

“You’ll die.”

“What do I do?!” I murmured instinctively, sniffling through clenched teeth as I sat there in utter despair. “Mom!! Help me!! What do I do?!”

“Nobody cares about me in there, Candace. They aren’t coming out here, they’re too used to this.” Leah didn’t have time to tease or correct me even if she wanted to, and she didn’t. “I know this is hard, but I need you to go get your father.”

“Why?” I squeezed her left hand and she squeezed. “What’s he going to do?”

“Please, Candace.” She uttered a pained whine through her teeth. “Trust me.”

 

I reluctantly pulled myself away from her. She was right, I needed my father’s help. I thought I had been ready for this, but I wasn’t. Now my best friend had a hole in her torso and I had no clue how to help her. 

“Okay.” I straightened myself back up, turning back inside to go get help. “Don’t die.” 

“I’m me, remember?” She winked, coughing into her own hand. “You can’t get rid of me even if you tried.”

I choked on my own tears as I sprinted away from her. Leave it to her to always make me smile. “I’ll be right back.”

 

It was amazing that neither of them had died. I thought for sure seeing the flash had signalled a surefire death, but just when I thought there was nothing left for me, she saved my life. 

Leah took a bullet to save my life. She was ready to get herself killed just to protect me. I owed her everything for that.

The second gunshot was her. She was just quick enough to retaliate before either of us could get shot again, and I was willing to bet that if she hadn’t been drunk that maniac would be dead. But instead he was laying on the ground in even worse shape than she was, struggling to breathe with a bullet in his lung. His life could be saved, I was sure of it, but only if I could save her first. 

Click .

I had one foot through the door by the time I heard the sound of another gun, like a red flag going off inside of my brain. With my fingers around the handle I froze, able to feel the barrel pointed at me from behind. 

In. Out. In. Out. Breathing nervously, I turned around to face it, looking the new gunman in the face. 

“Don’t move.” Her hands shook, but were leagues stiller than I could have managed in a situation like hers. “Or I’ll shoot.”

Kneeling beside the dying boy, his slave pointed her owner’s gun straight at me. She had teary eyes, wet with pain and rage, suffering. 

“Lucy.” I smiled kindly, trying to calm her down. “What name did your master give you, Barbie?”

“Don’t call me that!!” She clearly didn’t like the name. “Don’t move.”

“Oh please.” I muttered reactively, trying not to mock her. “You know you can’t kill me, Lucy.”

She just growled, growing angrier and angrier. “I can and I will.”

“Not while I have this.”

My other hand slowly slid into view, my fingers still curled around the controller to the metal band around her neck. She’d already almost died by it once tonight, she didn’t want to feel that again. 

“We could both kill each other with one finger, Lucy.” I frowned, making sure my thumb was on the button. “And I don’t want you to die.”

“You don’t care about me.” She murmured. “You just care about yourself.”

“I care about a lot of things, Lucy. You don’t have to put up with him anymore.” 

“If he dies I’ll just be killed!!”

“And it’ll be the same if he lives.”

I looked at the bloodied body of Xander Mallick, still barely breathing on the ground beside her. If I got my way, he’d be saved and punished, and that poor girl would never have to see him again. She didn’t have to be there for that.

“But only if we catch you.”

She lowered the gun as I spoke. I could see her gasp ever so slightly, glancing down at her master and then back at me, expectantly. Waiting for me to tell her what to do.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” I said it like it was an order. “Run.”

Slowly, she pointed the gun instead in self-defence, rising to her feet. Without a moment to waste I slipped back inside, shutting the door behind me as soon as I was safe. Every second counted, and as much as it pained me, I didn’t have time to help her. Not right now.

 

Slaves littered the ballroom, clearly quite on edge in comparison to the rich carefree escorts they were being forced to dance with, but focused on their own safety all the same. It wasn’t like they could do anything to help if they wanted to. 

Not only was my sister still dancing without a care in the world, suddenly her parents were as well. There was no way that all of these guests managed to go without hearing the gunshots, they had just ignored them. 

To hell with them though. My father might not care about Leah, but he cared about me. That was more than enough.

“Daddy.” I murmured as I approached him, desperate for his urgent attention. “I need your help.”

“Let me guess.” He smirked, having a wonderful time trying to speak while dancing. “Didn’t go as expected.”

“I screwed it up, okay?” I bit back my pride and admitted my own failure. “I need you to help me take care of it.”

“Just let him die.” He said without hesitation, rolling his eyes. “We’ll get someone to clean it up, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“I don’t care about him, dad.” I stomped, grabbing my father by the arm to get his attention. “It’s Leah.”

The dancing stopped. “What about her?”

“She’s been shot, dad.” I rubbed away the tears in my eyes. “She needs your help.”

My father’s carefree gaze took on a more serious expression as he slowed down, those cruel eyes of his looking me over. I was undamaged, but Leah was not. But before he could say anything at all, Lilith interrupted. 

“Of course.” She said without a hint of surprise in her voice. “I’ve been saying all night that she was going to get herself killed.”

“And what would you know?” I snapped at her, eyes full of anger. “You’ve never cared about anyone but yourself.”

“That’s not true.” 

 

Bang.

Another gunshot went off from right outside, this one striking a bit more concern in the hearts of many of the guests, not ready to deal with an ongoing threat.

“What was that?” I heard my sister say, finally unable to take it anymore. “What’s going on?”

“You’ll be fine, sweetie.” Lilith groaned at her, still firmly grasping her ex-husband’s arm. “Let it be.”

“No.” Claudia shook her head furiously, stepping away from the arms of her wife and their two slaves, Autumn and Darcey, now clinging to Josephine. “Everyone keeps telling me to calm down and relax, but every time I leave it up to someone else, something goes wrong. There are now gunshots outside of my home, what the hell is happening?”

“It’s Leah.” I blurted out, snarling at my sister and her mother. “She’s outside. She’s been shot.”

Claudia’s eyes went wide with concern, staring at Lilith in disgust as she began to hurry away from us, running towards the front door. 

“It’ll be okay, Princess.” My father reassured me with a smile, straightening his suit out to keep up appearances. “I’ll take care of everything.” 

I smiled back as he walked away, a weight lifted from my shoulders. “Thank you.”

He ran after my sister towards the scene of the crime, passing the stage up front and heading through the foyer. The guests were beginning to panic just a little bit, seeing their host and her father head outside towards the gunshots, but they waited on Lilith to do anything about it. 

“Alright, fine.” Lilith groaned, rolling her eyes and giving up. “Lead the way.”

 

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By the time I’d returned with help, the nervous slave girl was already long gone.

And Xander Mallick had no head.

 

“She killed him.” I murmured under my breath, staring at the dead body in shock. I had a pretty good idea what that last gunshot had been about. “She actually killed him.”

There was no time to marvel at the sight of it. Shake it off and move on.

“Leah-” I crouched at her side again, squeezing her free hand once more. “I brought help, just like you asked.”

Lilith’s doctor was already examining Leah’s wounds by the time we’d gotten to her, and was currently busy dressing the wound to keep her from bleeding out. 

“You’ve never been shot before in your life, Mrs. Watts.” My father remarked as he stood over her. “What went wrong here?”

Claudia gagged as she looked at the scene at her feet, locking eyes with the wounded Leah. “How did this happen?”

“It was my fault.” My voice shook with shame. “If I had just killed him when I was ahead, he wouldn’t have had the chance to shoot me.”

“Shoot you?” Lilith coughed, wiping her mouth with her handkerchief. “He shot you?”

“He tried.” I pointed at Leah’s wound. “Please. She saved my life.”

“You took a bullet for her?” My sister asked with surprise in her eyes. “Why would you do that?”

Everyone looked to Leah in accusation, waiting on her words. For her part, she looked like a ghost already. 

“I don’t know.” She mumbled as her eyes drifted closed. “Because I love her?”

“Wait, no.” I cursed under my breath as she fell unconscious, barely able to hold on to my own sanity without losing it. “Please don’t leave me like mom did. I need you.”

“She’ll live.” My father grabbed me by the arm and violently pulled me away from her. “I’ll make sure of it.”

Dr. Renee gave my father a stern look. “We need to get her to a hospital.” 

“The facility is close.”

“Then we’ll take her to the facility.” 

“How long until an ambulance can be here?”

“No need.” She assured him. “My van is equipped for this, I just need a couple extra hands to help get her there.”

My heart ached as I heard a distinct lack of volunteers, desperately wanting to help her. But I couldn’t. 

“Go with her, Aria.” Lilith relented, instructing her slave to leave with Leah. “Follow their instructions and make sure the girl is safe.”

“Are you sure, Ma’am?” Aria asked with a worried look on her face. “What about you?”

“I’ll be fine.” Lilith smiled, gently taking Claudia’s hand with hers. “I have my daughter here to take care of me.”

Seeing this surprised me. “I thought you hated Leah?” 

“And I thought I wasn’t your daughter anymore.” Claudia said as she squeezed her mom’s hand. “I thought Candace was your new daughter.”

“If Candace can forgive you for what you did to her mom, so can I.” Lilith said as she squeezed back. “Besides, you were right. If anyone needs a mother there to look over her, it’s you. Candace already has one.”

“No she doesn’t.” Claudia said with a low growl, unable to look at either of us. “I killed her, remember?”

“Don’t say that, sweetheart.” Lilith extended a hand upwards towards her daughter, holding her hand to Claudia’s cheek. “I’m not talking about her.”

My hand clutched the chains around my neck, unable to find my mother’s cross. I had been so close to having it back, but I almost got myself killed in the process. All Leah wanted was to help me get it back, and I nearly lost her. “Mom…”

“Candace.” My father snapped me out of it. “Help me get her to safety.”

I shook free of my insecurities for the time being, supporting Leah’s left side as my father supported the side with her injury, helping her into the transport vehicle.

“Make sure she makes it through this alive.” My father snapped at the doctor. “If she dies on your watch I’ll strip you and your entire staff of your licenses.”

“Yes, Sir.” Dr. Renee said as she climbed into the back with her patient, closing the door behind her. 

“And you.” My father turned to Aria. “Start the car.”

“Just a sec, Sir.” She smiled before stepping in front of me, whispering her goodbyes. “I promised Chloe I’d dance with her if no one else came along. Promise to do that for me?”

“Promise.” I said as I embraced her one last time. “Thank you.”

 

All that was left were family matters.

“Sorry that I have to leave so soon.” He said, standing beside the passenger seat. “I wish I could have stayed to see tonight’s conclusion.”

“It’s okay, dad.” I blushed. “Thank you for helping me with Leah.”

“Anything for you, Princess. As long as you’re safe.”

“I can’t do this, dad. I can’t be your heiress.”

“You’re the only person who can be my heiress, Candace. I won’t take no for an answer.” He said as he reached into his jacket. “And neither will you.”

My father held a gun towards me, forcing it into my clutch. 

“Daddy.” I held it in my shaking hand. “Why are you giving this to me?”

“Because you’re my heiress, Princess. I want you to have the power of an heiress.” My father gave me one last hug and kiss goodbye. “It’s yours now. Do what you want, and don’t take no for an answer. We own the world, you and I. Not them. Us.”

I stared at it, menacing back at me. “I’m not going to need your help, father. I can lead this family on my own.”

“Maybe someday, Princess.” He smirked. “But not today.”

I fished for a place to slot the gun into my purse, retrieving the tape that my sister had created to help fake Chloe’s death. He wanted it on his desk before the night was over, so now was as good a time as ever to give it to him. 

“Here.” I held it out for him to take. “Here’s the footage of Chloe’s death. I picked it up while I was sneaking around. I was hoping she’d be here, but this was all I could find.”

“I don’t need it.” He held his palm out to stop me, refusing to take it. “If you say she’s dead, I’ll believe you.”

No matter how much I insisted on giving it to him, he wouldn’t budge. “I thought you wanted proof.” 

“That is proof.” He grinned, pushing it back into my chest. “Take it. You might want to keep her last moment’s for yourself.”

Blushing, I looked into my father’s eyes as he left, and he winked at me. Dad was always a step ahead of me, and I both loved and hated him for that. He was just a little bit like Chloe, always playing games, always a challenge.

Finally, only about fifteen minutes after she’d been shot, Leah was on her way to the hospital. I watched them go by as they drove away, hoping that she and Aria would be fine in my father’s hands, before it was eventually time to go back inside. 

 

I stepped back onto my stage, the foyer, overlooking all of the guests still enjoying themselves long since the sun had set on us all. Now that my father and his assistant were gone, there was only one thing left to do.

And only one woman standing in my way. 

“Before I’m finished for the night.” I said to anyone left in the ballroom who could hear me. “I would like to encore with a song that hopefully you haven’t heard just yet.”

“What are you planning on doing, sweetie?” Lilith called to me from the floor ahead. “Sing things better?”

“If I have to.” I responded from the head of the room, smiling nervously. “Yes.”

“Let her sing.” I heard my sister from the crowd, once again holding her wife by the shoulders. “I want to hear it.”

I blushed, happily rolling my eyes at her. There was no backing out of it now. I had to sing.

“I wrote this song myself. And I would like to dedicate it to someone very special to me.” 

It was all mine. Every word, sound, and syllable were all mine. I’d never had the confidence to sing to her like this, and I still didn’t. I’d always feared rejection from her, like she’d expected from me. There was only one way to win her heart back, and it was opening mine up to her. I couldn’t pretend she wasn’t special anymore. 

So I sang my heart out, and the band began to play, doing their best to find music to accompany my dumb little song. Something I wrote just for her.

My eyes gazed towards the chandelier, caught on the thought of getting to dance with her under those low lights. What I wouldn’t give to be here with her right now. The band was loud, blocking out the sound of everything else throughout the house, above and below. All I had to do was sing louder.

Hopefully she could hear my voice. 

 

“I asked if you wanted to go.”

“I told you to make me your home.”

“But even when our fate seemed unknown.”

“I’ve never stopped thinking of you as my own.”

 

“Ask again and I know what I’ll say.”

“Forever regret letting you walk away?”

“Not today.”

“You’re here to stay.”

“We’ve both changed a lot since back then-” 

“And even though life is cruel now and again-”

“The answer is no~”

“I won’t let you go~”

 

“There’s one thing I want you to know.”

“I’m ready to make you my home.”

“So you’ll just have to pardon my tone.”

“I can’t stand the thought of you dying alone.”

 

“I know I’m not easy to bear.”

“But I want this life to be one we can share.” 

“You’ll be free~”

“When you’re with me~”

“We’re stronger than we’ve ever been-”

“So even if this means beginning again-

“The answer is no~”

“I won’t let you go~”

 

Those were the words I wanted Chloe to hear, and this time they came out easier. More heart. More emotion. More love.

Crying eyes drifted back to the sight of my sister and her lover dancing under the lights above, happily embracing each other with a kiss that burned with passion, earning the attention of the entire ballroom around them, admiring the two women and their love. 

Then there was a loud sound from above. 

 

And in the blink of an eye, those glistening lights of that perfectly beautiful chandelier high in the sky atop us came spinning towards us like shooting stars as the whole thing came crashing down onto the ballroom below. 

It collapsed with a volcanic sound of glass shattering and metal snapping, landing right on top of where Claudia and Josephine had previously danced their hearts out. 

But before anyone could question what had happened, a familiar little face came sliding safely down the cable which the fixture had been supported by. The one face I wanted to see.

I locked eyes with her at once, those pretty hazel lights of hers shining right back at me as she smiled, giving me nothing else but a finger against her lip telling me to hush as she winked.

And I couldn’t help but smile back as I saw her. 

“Chloe.”

 

Chapter 46: Pretty Little Head

Summary:

Here it is. i've been building to this for quite some time, hopefully you guys like it. i've put a lot of heart into it <3

Oh gosh, today has turned into quite the day, huh?
i gotta thank you guys for all of your support during this project, i couldn't have done it without you.

“Chloe?”

 

Candace.

It had to be Candace.

“Are you in there?”

I knelt there, still frozen in place, one hand pressed against the door. My crying eyes slowly opened, following the sound of her words. Just when I thought all hope was lost, I heard her. 

My ears weren’t deceiving me. That was her voice. It could only be Candace.

“Come on. Knock once if you’re in there.”

Following her lead, my free fingers quickly furled into a fist, ready to pound against the door for her attention. 

Nothing. 

“Please?”

And then nothing happened. 

My body screamed at me to give in, to beat my fists against the door until they bruised like they had once upon a time, but I just couldn’t. My brain, my head, my thoughts- they wouldn’t let me. 

“Okay.” I heard her say, my heart screaming to hear words my brain wasn’t ready to receive. “I don’t know if you’re in there, but if you are I just wanted to make sure you’re safe.”

I could feel her place her hand against mine. 

“You are safe, aren’t you?”

No. No I wasn’t. Of course I wasn’t safe, and it was all her fault. Not my fault. Her fault. 

Nothing. I said nothing. Not because I couldn’t, but because I had nothing more to say to her. Everything I thought I had to give I gave to her and then some. 

As far as Candace St. Clair was concerned, Chloe was no different than Sophia Cavalier, dead. Even if she knew I wasn’t. We could feel each other through the door, our hands pressed together one last time. 

But there was always going to be something to keep us from truly holding each other. 

“I know you’ve given up hope.”

Nothing. Nothing was going to bring us back together.

“But please.”

And no amount of please was going to change that. 

No matter how hard she tried. 

“Fine. Be that way.” I heard her clear her throat, irritated beyond her own recognition, just a touch of nerve fading away. “You are a slave and I am a free woman. I don’t need your input. I’ll do what I want.”

But then she said that. I could feel the weight of her smug little lips smiling at me from the other side of the door, which made me want to kiss, punch, and bite them in equal measure. 

“And if that happens to include you, you’ll just have to accept that.”

Leave it to Candace to put me in such excited agony at a moment like this. An indestructible, opaque, nearly soundproof steel barrier stood between us- and she was challenging me?

“Please don’t give up. Not like this. If you won’t fight her, at least fight me.”

My best and worst fears came true in that moment.

“I know you’re in there, Chloe. Don’t let her be the one who finally defeats Sophia Cavalier. You deserve better than that.”

Candace St. Clair was challenging me, and I couldn’t help but accept that challenge.

Nothing. I gave her nothing. I bit my lip and I said nothing. 

If I was going to win, I was going to win on my own.

As if I was going to give her the satisfaction of hearing my voice at a time like this. She couldn’t even hold onto half of a necklace for a single weekend, how did she expect to hold onto me when I needed her most. She couldn’t do this on her own. We both knew that she was useless without me. 

I stood up for her against her own sister when she couldn’t. I told her everything that her family wouldn’t, even though I knew it was going to cost my life. She can’t blame me for that. She has no right to think that I don’t care about her. She can’t call me a bad slave any longer.

I remembered everything she said to me. Candace wasn’t here to win me back. She wasn’t here to save me. I wouldn’t let her. I did my best. I was going to save her, not the other way around.

Her words ignited a fire within me, reviving a will to live. If she wanted me to fight, I would fight, but I wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of being the one to save me. I wasn’t going to lose.

Life was a game, and I was here to win it. 

“Right. Well, even if you aren’t in there, and I’m just talking to an empty cell. I have something for you. And before you’re gone I need you to know that you heard it. So if you’re not there, I’m just going to pretend. You didn’t get to hear me sing out there after all.”

Crickets. 

“I can’t do this if you’re not in there, Chloe. I just want to sing for you, that’s all. Hell, if you don’t want to hear it, just say so. All I want is to know you’re okay.”

 

Desperately, I clasped my palms over my mouth, keeping hostage my own breath to make sure I couldn’t make a peep. The one thing I wished for the most right now wasn’t a song, it was to feel her touch one last time, just a little pinch to let me know that everything was okay. But things were far from okay, and this aching pain in my heart was here to remind me of that. She couldn’t know I was here. I couldn’t allow Candace to sing to me, because once I let myself hear her song, I was sure I would never be able to let go of it.  

And Claudia needed to make sure my will to live was all but broken.

“I know right?” She tried to backpedal, but it was already too late. She’d given me her heart to hold and I wasn’t about to give it back. “What a loser.”

I didn’t want her to leave that room with a broken heart, but there was nothing I could do. I struggled not to giggle along with her, but I couldn’t let this feeling go.

“That Candace Saint Clair girl. Always a loser.” I could hear her crying between her words, and only then did I realize that I was crying too. “Please say something. I just need to know that you’re alive.”

She begged one last time, but I couldn’t bring myself to say a thing. My body shook as I soundlessly cried, the bell that I always kept clipped to my collar ringing ever so faintly into my pointed ears.

“I love you, Chloe.” Her words meant everything to me. “Please don’t let me be the one to defeat you. If not for me, then for her, let Chloe be the one who finally defeats Sophia Cavalier.”

 

A silent song accompanied by the sound of her footsteps leaving me behind in the dust was what I needed to make sure I could escape not just Claudia, but her little sister as well.

I waited for the click of the door closing behind her before I dared to move, desperate to keep even the slightest sound of a small bell from tipping her ear to my presence. It was better if she didn’t know I was listening. 

At least that took care of her for now. The next step was actually getting myself out of here. 

No problem . I gently pulled down my shirt, reaching between my breasts and retrieving the single key I’d received from Lilian before dinner. Let’s just hope this works. 

It slid into the slot which controlled the dumbwaiter without a hitch, and sure enough, the elevator clicked on as it turned. 

Wait just a bit longer, Saint Clair. I’ll show you what I’m made of. I don’t need your help getting out of here.

There was a big stupid grin on my face as the gate slid open, allowing me inside. With the press of a button it slid closed again, slowly bringing me upstairs as I returned the key safely to my bosom.

No. Too easy. 

I sighed, knowing I needed to hide it a little bit better if I really didn’t want it to be confiscated, and what better place that safely tucked between my legs.

There. As long as I don’t have sex, I should be fine. 

This would be easier said than done, however. 

 

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“Chloe.” 

Per the hostess’ orders, no one could know where I was, especially her ragtag team of uninvited guests. Nobody had seen me since just before dinner, but those who had seen me knew I had to be somewhere.

Everyone knew it. There was no way I had just disappeared, but Claudia was intent on making sure it seemed that way.

“Chloe is dead. Candace has the tape to prove it.” Claudia asserted as she sat down at her usual spot. “If that’s why you two are here, you can take it and leave. Please.”

Her father, on the other hand, was not so quick to take her up on that offer. 

“Hold on, sweetheart.” He smiled, still holding his ex-wife by the wrist. “Don’t be so quick to try and send your own dad away. I’m not here to cause trouble, that’s a business hours thing. We’re not here for business.”

“Tell that to them.” Claudia snapped as she pointed across the table, watching her little sister head to the dancefloor, following Leah outside. “Why did they bring you?”

“They didn’t bring me. I brought myself.” Cardinal answered innocently. “We’re here for separate reasons, we simply carpooled.”

“As if.” She crossed her arms. “There’s something else to it.”

“If you wanted to know why your sister came, you should have asked her yourself.”

“She would never give me a straightforward answer, but I don’t need to ask. I know why she’s here.”

“Do you now?” Her father frowned. “She told you about last night?”

“Last night? Candace hasn’t spoken to me since last week? What happened last night?”

“I’ve been informed that as she was leaving the convention center after hosting that championship she used to compete in, your little sister was robbed at gunpoint. She wasn’t shot, despite being alone, but the punk did make off with her mother’s cross.”

“Mom’s cross?” She hissed. “That was like one of ten things you allowed her to own.”

“And it’s been taken. I would like to see to it that Candace’s cross makes it back into her hands.”

“Is that why you’re here?”

“No. That’s why Candace is here, and my consigliere to be is here to bust kneecaps as usual. One last debt collecting job and she can take her dead husband’s spot. I’m here to wish your mother a happy birthday. Aria’s retrieving her gift as we speak.”

She squinted, keeping her eyes on her little sister and fingers curled around her own cane. What Leah did was her own business, but not Candace. She couldn’t be allowed anywhere near what was important. 

So it’s a game she wants. Claudia thought, dance shoes tapping on the floor. I know what you’re up to, little angel. 

“For some reason or another I don’t think that’s why she’s here, however. She came for Chloe, and she has Chloe. That tape is what’s left of her. If she wants to have Chloe back, she’s welcome to keep that piece of her forever.”

Claudia licked her lips excitedly. I’ll keep the rest for myself. 

One look in her wife’s eyes told Josephine that she was up to no good, but the lady of the house wasn’t currently in a position to do anything about that. 

“There’s one other thing that I really wanted to discuss with you, Sir.” She broke the silence.

Cardinal smiled agreeably. “Proceed?”

“You and Claudia had discussed plans for her to put her sister back in line for you, and as far as I understand, you have been pleased with the results. I’m glad we could help get your youngest daughter to start listening to you again.”

“But of course. Family issues require family solutions. If it weren’t for my power and protection, Candace might very well have been shot dead, she knows that. Doing as I say and being under my protection is the only thing keeping you girls safe, I don’t think she’ll soon forget that.”

“Again. You’re welcome for that, Sir. But I’m not so happy with the results.”

“Speak, dear girl. What’s troubling you about it?”

“Well, seeing as how Candace is responsible for putting this collar on my wife’s neck, I thought you could take responsibility for that. If not help me remove the collar, which Claudia has been insistent that we don’t destroy in the process, I request that you part with the controller.”

Josephine’s villainous father-in-law got a hearty chuckle out of that. “If you’re scared that I’ve given it to her sister to use as leverage against you, worry not. It’s here at the table right now.”

“That’s surely a relief, but that still doesn't quite solve the issue.”

“I have a solution for that.” He assured her, making sure his own daughter was listening intently. “I’ll part with the controller tonight.”

Claudia practically jumped at him. “When?”

“Soon.” He grinned maniacally. “But it’s going to be a surprise.”

A man of this caliber wasn’t one that can be taken at face value. But still, not even the woman who was once married to him could gauge why he was doing what he was doing. “What are you up to, Cardinal?”

“Like I said-” He responded, grinning to himself as he watched his only granddaughter approach the table. “It’s a surprise.”

“Grampop?” An exceedingly worn out Lilian mumbled as she floundered towards her grandfather to be picked up. 

“Hey munchkin.” Cardinal smiled as he lifted her into his lap, giving her a kiss on the forehead. “How’s my little sunshine?”

She rubbed her eyes, latching onto him. “Sleepy.”

“She’s missed you, dad.” Claudia frowned, making sure to watch them both closely. “She hasn’t liked going to church without you.”

“Every Sunday she still asks if you’re going to be there, Sir.” Lilian’s diligent nanny added. “It’s been a hassle getting her ready to go knowing you’re not.”

“I’m sure she wouldn’t have so much trouble if my daughter started letting you take her instead.” He smiled, ruffling the girl’s hair. “Isn’t that right, you’d like it if your nanny went to church too, right?”

“Uh-huh.” Lilian giggled excitedly, looking at Zenna with pleading eyes. “You’re gonna?”

“Oh. I don’t know. I’ve never been popular in church circles.” She smiled awkwardly. “Plus, you know?”

“I do. But if they know what’s good for them, that shouldn’t be a problem anymore, I’ll make sure of it.” He winked. “You’re going to be a mom yourself soon, you might want to start taking both of your girls yourself. If not for you, then just to make things easier.”

“Actually, yeah. You’re right. I think I would like to try that.” Zenna gave Claudia the pretty kitty eyes. “If my master will let me?”

Josie giggled first. “If she won’t, I will.”

“I guess that settles that then. We’ll have to get you some new clothes.” Claudia crossed her arms. “But for now, Lilian should be in bed.”

“I tried taking her upstairs, but her door is locked.” The nanny frowned. “She can’t remember where she put the key.”

“The key?” Claudia raised an eyebrow. “How did she lose the key?”

“I’m not sure, Ma’am. But could I use yours to take her to bed?”

Claudia squinted, not liking where this was going in the slightest. “Right. My cane.”

She rose from her seat, eyes still on the prize as she unsheathed her cane from itself. There were all sorts of little gadgets in this thing, most importantly the key to her own house. It clicked back into place with a snap, swishing through the air as she held it towards her slave.

“Take it and then go check our bedroom.” Claudia hissed, trying to be covert. “I have a feeling the key might be somewhere around there.”

Claudia swallowed nervously, eyeing those red eyes in Zenna’s hand to make sure she wasn’t in any immediate danger. She could never be sure whether she was safe, but now wasn’t the time for any suspicious moves. 

“Yes, Ma’am.” Zenna bowed, carefully acquiring the cane. “Alright, Lilian. Ready for bed?”

“Nuh-uh.” The girl shook her head, pouting at her mothers. “No snake.”

“It’s okay, sweetie.” The shy lioness tried to assure her charge. “You’re not prey, you’re a predator. The snake can’t hurt you.”

“Go on, little one.” Cardinal smiled at Lilian, reluctantly returning her to Zenna. “Your mean old mommy hasn’t been hurting you, has she?”

Like stone, Claudia froze as the eyes turned on her, and she made contact with each of them one by one. But she wasn’t stone, and that fleshy heart was hurt to be looked at like that. Nothing Claudia could say right now could convince anyone that she was a decent mother, but she really had never hurt her daughter like her own father had hurt her. 

“Ummm.” Lilian blushed, averting her eyes without knowing it. “Only a little bit.”

She swallowed her emotions whole, trying not to tear up as she was put on the spot like that. Even without laying a hand on Lilian, she’d still managed to hurt the poor girl. 

“Don’t worry, sweetie.” Cardinal smiled, pointing towards Claudia. “As long as she’s got that on, you’re safe. She can’t hurt you.”

The little girl smiled, quickly forgetting her fear in favor of relieved excitement. “Yeah. That’s what nanny taught me.”

“Goodnight, Lilian.” Claudia forced through her lips. “We’ll see you in the morning.”

Lilian yawned, waving goodbye. “Nighty night, mama.”

Zenna departed with their daughter, taking Lilian upstairs to bed, and the moment she was gone Claudia was hissing at her father. How dare he do something like that in front of Claudia’s family? How dare he humiliate her like that to her daughter’s face? She would never live that down. 

Rather than standing up and confronting him however, Claudia sat, elbows slamming onto the tabletop as she buried her face in her hands. Sobs left her lungs, barely even resembling sounds as she drowned them out, determined not to be heard. 

“You know what?” Claudia choked back her tears, pushing her chair in as she walked away. “Fine. Enjoy the party.”

Her hand slipped away before Josie could hold it, leaving the other woman sitting there in shattered awe as Claudia walked away from it all. A rare feeling of anger overtook the redhead for just a moment, she couldn’t let whatever that was slide in her own home.

“Even divorced the two of you have got to be the worst parents I have ever seen in my entire life.” She was positively appalled by the lack of support they showed for their own daughter. “I know you two have your favorites, but do you know how hard it is to convince Claudia that her family loves her when you two always do your damned best to show her otherwise?”

Cardinal rolled his eyes. “She’s alright, Jacquel. Calm down.”

“No. She’s not alright. She hasn’t been alright and I’m the only one trying to pick up the pieces here.” 

“Now now, Josie dear.” Lilith mumbled through aching lungs. “We love you for always being there for her, and that’s what matters.”

Furious, Josephine pounded the table with her hand. “If you don’t shut the fuck up and fix this, I am not afraid to kick you out of your own party and ban you from ever stepping foot into my home again. If you’re not going to be here to support Claudia, I won’t allow you to be here for Lilian.”

Lilith hacked up a bloody wad into her handkerchief, growling under her breath. “It’s only because I love Lilian that I can’t support her mother. Claudia can’t be my daughter if she’s going to be putting my granddaughter in harm’s way.”

“She’s not the one being a danger to Lilian, she’s the one trying her best to keep our daughter safe.” She snarled with tears in her eyes. “For years now Claudia has had to fight off urges to hurt her own daughter because of what the two of you did to her.”

“I did nothing to her-”

“You ridiculed her for loving who she loved and you made a point of burning her inside and out just to hurt her. Maybe I wouldn’t be here if she’d married Zenna, but if you had let her be who she is, the two of them might have been happy that way. And you-”

Cardinal smirked. “Here we go.”

“You left your own daughter crippled for thirty years, and somehow that’s not even the worst of it.” Josephine held her anger at bay just to keep her from physically attacking the pair. “Sometimes she’ll wake up in the middle of the night begging me to take her cane away from her, because she’s desperately trying to fight off the urge to molest her own daughter and she needs me to take away the key to her chastity belt, which she wears to try and stop herself.”

The fiery redhead stood up from the table and furiously straightened out her gown, blowing hair from her face as she slammed her chair back under the table. She didn’t usually get this angry, but tonight it was all coming to a head. 

“For half a decade now I’ve sat back and done what I could knowing that the only reason your daughter married me was because she couldn’t trust herself with our accidental daughter and needed me to help do it with her. I stuck by and played housewife. I went behind her back and let the one woman she was scared of join our family for the sake of protecting our daughter from her. I even let her kill our slaves when it was necessary to keep her safe. But I will not sit back and let you abuse her like this. If you two are so insistent on making her feel like a monster, I’ll let her show you what kind of monster she can be.”

 

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My cheeks turned a bright horrendous shade of pink as I stepped out of the dumbwaiter and back into the master bedroom, stunned to be seeing what was going on. 

“I’m sorry.” I mumbled instinctively. “Is this a bad time, or?”

“Oh my god…”

“Chloe???”

Darcey and Autumn scrambled to cover themselves up the moment they saw me, ashamed to be caught fucking in their Mistress’ bed. 

“What the fuck, dude…”

“Couldn’t you knock???”

I could not believe my eyes. “What are you guys doing?”

“What does it look like???”

“We’re having sex…”

“I can see that, but why?” I replied in accusation. “And in the master bedroom no less?”

“We got sick of getting groped by strangers downstairs!!!”

“And someone left the door unlocked…”

“Whoops.” I giggled under my breath, rolling my eyes. “My bad.”

“Yeah, well… so was the guest room. One of the guests must have noticed there was an open room, so he dragged us up here for a quick gangbang…” Autumn said, sighing under her breath. “We couldn’t exactly say no…”

“Oh.” That quickly killed the mood. “I’m sorry. Did you tell anyone?”

“We don’t want to ruin the night!!!” Darcey couldn’t help but shout, curling up into a ball on the bed next to her companion. “Master and Mistress want tonight to be perfect. We can’t ruin this for them just because we fucked up.”

“You were raped, Darcey.” I scoffed, quickly making my way to her side to try and comfort her. “That’s not your fault.”

“We can’t be raped, Chloe…” Autumn shuddered, keeping her distance as usual. “We’re not people, we’re objects, we don’t have consent to give. You can’t rape a sex toy…”

“Besides-” Darcey cut in, still curled up under the covers. “We’re used to being raped.”

“What do you mean you’re used to being raped?”

“You’re not the only slave here, Chloe…” Autumn mumbled passively. “We’re here against our will too…”

“We’ve just adapted to it.” Darcey nodded, her voice a lot less enthusiastic than normal. “Miss Josie had our tubes tied so that she wouldn’t have to worry about another baby.”

“Wait. You mean you’ve actually been spayed. You can’t get pregnant?”

“Nope.” Autumn shook her head. “But Zenna can…”

“That’s because Zenna’s the special one.” Darcey whined. “She gets to go around announcing her pregnancy to the rest of the family, while we have to zip our lips and let ourselves be molested by strange men just to keep the party rolling!!!”

“It’s not fair…” Autumn mumbled again, a lot less passively this time. “We’ve both been here longer than her too…”

“Zenna just walked up and gave herself willingly, and that makes her special. Meanwhile, we were forced into a life we didn’t ask for, and now we have to play second fiddle to her as she has a baby with our mistress.” Darcey added. “She doesn’t even belong to Josie!!!”

“But that doesn’t matter to them…” Autumn practically growled. “We’re just not baby making material, apparently…”

“So excuse us if we take a moment to ourselves!!!” Darcey finally snapped, enraged to her core. “I don’t even care that I’m a slave. I’m just sick of being put aside by my own owner in favor of some hot new piece of ass she can shove her fucking dick in!!!”

“We’re here too… and we would sure love the chance to have kids of our own as well…”

“But no!!! She went and knocked up that pedophilic piece of shit instead!!!”

Uncharacteristically angry, Darcey sprung to her feet and stormed her way to her owner’s vanity. Then, in a fit of rage, the disillusioned slave heaved the mirror from its place and threw it overhead onto the floor in front of her. The glass shattered into a thousand pieces in an instant, and with it went a lot of the frustration she’d kept pent up for the last several years. 

From her spot in bed on the other hand, Autumn simply began to bawl. Overwhelmed by her girlfriend’s anger and my own vain attempts to calm them down, Autumn’s own pent up fear and sadness came screaming out of her like a tidal wave. Tears soaked the master’s pillowcase as her slave held it to her face, practically screaming, and that wasn’t even the worst of it. 

“You take that back.” The door clicked as it slowly swung open, making way for a violent Zenna on the other side, offended by what had been said about her. “I am not a pedophile.”

I could have sworn that the handle broke on impact as it slammed shut. The sound reverberated not just through the room but the whole floor, louder than a lion’s roar. Zenna was just as happy as her fellow slaves, myself included, and I could see in her eyes that she was pointing that blame straight at me. 

“Look at what you’ve done.” Her foot slammed against the floor below, forcefully enough to thud through even the carpet absorbing the blow. “Everything was fine until you started trying to turn us against our owners.”

“Everything was not fine, Zenna.” My shouting skidded through grinding teeth, fueled by anger and despair. “Were you listening to a single thing they said?”

“I almost got taken away from my daughter because of you!” She pointed to me in accusation, and I could see suddenly she had Claudia’s cane in her grubby little paws. “You’re not even a part of this family!”

“Neither are we, apparently.” The pillow pried itself from Autumn’s face as she pulled it away, eyes now free of tears. “It’s just you, Master, Mistress, and your kids. Soon enough we’ll be at the plantation too…”

“Nobody’s going to send you to the fucking plantation, Autumn. Pull yourself together.” Zenna’s snarls were filled with desperation. She clung to the cane like her master used to. “But I had better not hear Darcey call me a pedophile ever again.”

“Or what, you’ll electrocute me with Claudia’s cane?! Don’t pretend like you wouldn’t shove your tongue up Lilian’s ass if Claudia told you to!!!”

“I would never! That’s my daughter you’re talking about!” 

“As if that means anything to Claudia… We’re not blind. We see how the both of you look at her…”

“That’s just not true! I’m just following orders like the two of you!”

“WILL EVERYONE JUST SHUT UP?!” 

Screaming at the top of my lungs did wonders for grabbing their attention, and once I had it I refused to let it go. 

“Stop yelling. This isn’t how you guys are. You love each other. I’ve seen the three of you together, and it’s amazing. Is this really something you guys are going to tear your relationship apart over?!” 

Darcey, Autumn, and Zenna all backed down. The master bedroom quickly went quiet as the four of us sat there exchanging nervous glares, trying our best to put away our emotions and talk. 

“I’m sorry, you guys.” Zenna said as she folded to the ground, sitting criss cross in front of the door, cane clutched to her ample chest. “I just got so excited about having a baby that I didn’t think about how it was going to affect you.”

“It’s not just the baby.” Autumn mumbled after her, nervous about finally getting these things off of her chest. “Since you got here, you’ve always been the favorite. Darcey and I have never even gotten the chance to be close with Lilian. Yeah, we’re younger than you, but not by a lot. We want to have Josie’s kids too.”

“We don’t even need to have her kids to be happy, we just want her attention.” Darcey slumped into the seat of the vanity, now sans one reflective surface. “The only attention we’ve ever gotten from Claudia is her scolding us to be better slaves. We’re trying to be better slaves. It’s not our fault that she’s scared of us. We haven’t done anything to her.”

“Speak for yourself. I’ve purposefully been pushing things too far. I keep egging her on, and look at what that’s done to me. I wouldn’t have even gotten that collar around her neck if I hadn’t snuck into her office and watched those tapes she keeps locked away.” Full of guilt, I sighed. “If anything, I deserve to go to the plantation for what I’ve done.”

“Don’t you think most of that is her fault, though?” The blonde scarecrow girl quickly added, not afraid to say what was on her mind. “I mean she’s always ignored the two of us, but she’s treated you like shit since you’ve gotten here. Like when she admitted to using her just to make Josie jealous. As if we were ever something that threatened to take Josie away from her.”

“It wasn’t that Claudia didn’t get Josie’s attention because she was busy with us, it was because she was being an ass who never treated her with the respect she deserved.” The once emotionless tin woman huffed, practically seething now. “We were always just there to help make Josie feel better about herself, because Claudia made her feel worthless, and we wanted her to know how special she was to us.”

“It doesn’t help that Josie paid just about as little attention to Lilian as Claudia did, either.” The lioness had to admit, she was a fair bit upset about that after all. “I’ve done my best to try and take care of Lilian on my own, because to be honest, neither of them are very good parents. But the worst part is that she needs more than just more attention, she needs help. Lilian, like Claudia and Josie, desperately needs to see a doctor. But no matter how hard I try, I can’t get them to take her to one.”

“Girls.” I couldn’t believe that I was about to ask them this, but I had no other choice. “Will you start a revolt with me?”

The motley crew stared at me in stunned silence, watching as I stood between the three of them, treating it like I was asking these girls to marry me. That’s how important this was. 

“I think we can get through to them if we just worked together, the four of us. Surely between you three and whatever I am to them, Claudia and Josie care enough for us as a whole to want to listen to our demands if that’s what it took to keep us. If after the party it was just us and them, we have the numbers. Lilian is just a child, and Josephine’s a weaker target than any of us on our own. Claudia doesn’t trust herself with the controllers to our collars, and she’s scared of us enough as it is, we could all escape if we wanted to.”

Zenna’s gaze lowered to the floor in front of her, overtaken with a guilty silence. Darcey and Autumn meanwhile found themselves exchanging gazes from across the room, they both had something to say about that.

“But we don’t want to escape, Chloe.”

“Yeah, only you want to escape.”

“And that’s the point.” I turned to them and smiled, hoping and begging that they would help me. “The point is that you can escape if you want to. Hopefully they’ll realize that and do everything in their power to try and keep you, and if they don’t then they’re just not worth staying for. I won’t lie to you. Yes, I want to escape. But you girls deserve better than what you’re getting. You know that. I know that. They know that. So what do you say, will you help me start a revolt or not?”

“Your heart is there, Chloe.” Zenna mumbled from behind me, and I spun to face her down. “But that’s not enough to lead a successful revolt. You can’t just go in there and hope for the best. You need a plan.”

“I have a plan.” I blushed, just a little bit proud of myself. “I’ve been working on it all night.”

“Oh yeah?” The lion’s paws tightened around the cane. “And what’s your plan?”

Deep breaths, Chloe. Deep breaths. 

“I’m going to drop the chandelier on them.”

“What???” Darcey’s heart nearly ripped straight out of her stitched together chest. “You’re insane???”

“You didn’t say you wanted to kill them…” Autumn curled up just a little, ready to sob into the pillow all over again. “I don’t want Master and Mistress to get hurt…”

“They won’t get hurt, I promise.” I looked the two of them in the eyes and did my best to reassure them. “Because you two are going to be down there to help save them.”

I pointed a finger at Darcey. “One of you will get Claudia.”

And one at Autumn. “One of you will get Josie.”

Zenna, of course, was the skeptical one here. “And what, pray tell, does that accomplish?”

“Once the two of you dive in to help save them from a falling chandelier, they’ll realize how much you mean to them, and hopefully they’ll reward you for that. I’ll be the one climbing the rope to drop the lights to the ground. I learned how to do it when I was with Candace, I’ve worked with these things before. I can drop it to the ground and still leave myself a cable to slide back down, I just need something strong to hit it with.”

All three of my fellow slaves froze to think it over, but before long I had my answer. 

“Well I kind of already smashed Josie’s favorite mirror.” Darcey giggled. “So I guess I’m in?”

“I think I’m okay with this.” Autumn followed quickly after, her robotic face blushing. “But only because Darcey wants to.”

The smile on my face could only be described as the happiest one of my entire life. “Zenna?”

“Solid plan.” Even she had to admit. “But where do I come in?”

“That’s simple. I don’t need a thing from you.” I pointed straight towards the serpent in her clutch. “Just that cane.”

“That’s it?” She almost seemed offended to have such a small part in my little scheme. “You don’t need me?”

“Darcey’s smart. Autumn’s got heart. But you-” I stuttered nervously, not wanting to offend her. “We never got off to a great start.”

“You think I’m a coward.” She said, holding her hands in her lap. “You don’t think I have what it takes to revolt against my owners.”

“You can’t really blame me, Zenna.” I frowned, extending one hand towards her. “But there’s still time to prove me wrong.”

She looked at my palm and raised her hand, reaching out towards me for a moment before- 

“No.” She exhaled, retracting her hand before it could reach me. “I’m sorry. But I can’t help.”

“Zenna, please.” I pleaded with her. “This isn’t going to work unless all four of us are on board, I’m begging you.”

“I have too much to lose, Chloe.” She kept the cane firmly in her grasp as she rose to her feet. “I already have one daughter that I need to think of, I don’t want to get my unborn child taken away from me.”

“I’m sorry for calling you a pedophile, Zenna.” I heard Darcey plea from beside me. “I didn’t mean it, I love you.”

“We both love you.” Autumn amended, trying to back us both up. “We just want to be treated like you are is all.”

Zenna paused, looking to both of them one at a time before sighing. “Thank you, but no. I’m sorry.”

“Then the plan is dead in the water.” I slammed to my knees in defeat, hanging my head in sorrow. “I’m never getting out of here.”

The cowardly lion just shook her head at me. “Is that really all you care about?”

“She’s going to the plantation if she doesn’t escape, Zenna.” Autumn crossed her arms. “Show a little compassion.”

“There’s still hope. There has to be.” Darcey remained optimistic. “Give me a while, I’m sure I can come up with a new plan.”

“No. No more plans.” Zenna put her foot down, refusing it outright. “I’m going down there and telling our masters about this. Hopefully they’ll give us a light punishment if we confess to conspiring against them.”

With a twirl of her tail, she spun around in place and stormed out the door, the cane still in hand. If she got to Claudia’s side and even so much as told her I wasn’t in the cell, my last chance at escaping was ruined. 

Maybe this is for the best. I sighed to myself, too nervous to follow after her. This was it then. There would be no escaping for me. I don’t want to keep running forever. 

The Sophia Cavalier in me had already made up her mind, if there was no way out of here, there was no way forward. Which meant there was only one option.

No. I shouted at myself within my own aching brain. I can’t give up now.

After a moment of shaking myself free of demons, I got on up and I chased after her. But as I reached Zenna’s side, I found myself being dragged to the floor in her arms, interrupted by the sounds of gunshots from outside of the mansion. 

 

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“Claudia honey.” Josie grabbed her wife by the wrist and shook her to get the woman’s attention. “Don’t walk away from me.”

“Don’t talk to me like you’re in charge. You’re not.” Claudia hissed back. “I am.”

“Maybe we need to talk about that.” She huffed, grabbing her other wrist and pulling her away from her office and towards the center of the sitting room. “Your father said he was going to part with the controller tonight, we should think about what happens when he gives it to us.”

“You can’t possibly believe him when he says that, Josie.” She shook her head. “He’s not going to give it to you, and he’s not going to give it to me either.”

“You don’t know that.”

“You don’t know otherwise.”

“Claudia.” Josie pleaded with tears in her eyes. “I’ll admit it. Your parents are the worst, and I’m sorry. But if they aren’t going to give us the controller, we have to destroy that collar.”

“We can’t.” Claudia refused. “It was my mother’s.”

“I know it was, but maybe it’s time that we let your mother move on.”

She could feel goosebumps from beneath her collar. “What are you talking about?”

“The two of them have no power over you. They just use Candace’s mother against you because she has power over you.” Josie squeezed Claudia’s hands. “They both use the tape to keep you in line, and your father uses that collar for extra measure. Without those they have nothing over you.”

“And you’re suggesting that I destroy them both? Not just the collar, but the tape as well?”

“For as long as someone we can’t trust is in control of that collar, we can’t risk it. If one of us gets our hands on the remote, though, maybe not.” Josephine swallowed nervously. “But the tape needs to go.”

“I can’t.” Claudia protested, her entire body trembling. “It’s all that’s left of her.”

“No. I don’t think it is. I was standing on the other side of that curtain when you were with your sister, I heard what she was saying, and she’s right. It’s not really her, it’s just a way to protect yourself from her.”

The redheaded rich girl led her bride through the curtain and back into the ballroom, stepping past other guests on the way to the floor. It was time for them to finally have their first dance.

“If I had known what you were hiding from me, I would have said something sooner. But I don’t blame you for keeping it a secret. I just want you to know that I don’t blame you for something you accidentally did twelve years ago. I’d say I forgive you, but I was never upset in the first place.”

“I’m so scared of letting it happen again.” Claudia admitted. “That first night we had Candace over, I took her to the bath because I’d missed her so much and I couldn’t control my urges.”

“And I’m sorry I wasn’t there to keep the key to your belt away from you that night. But I got it on you as soon as I could, right?”

“It wasn’t just that, though. When the tape was still missing, I couldn’t fight the urge to replicate it with my sister. I wanted to be sure I could do it all over again without killing her this time, and I almost couldn’t even do that.”

The two of them began to dance together, their voices drowned out by the sounds of the band, keeping them from hearing anything but each other and the music. 

“Before I got the tape back, I felt this sense of relief. It was like nobody around me could find out about what I’d done, and I was safe. At the same time, though, I knew that my secret was in the hands of someone I couldn’t trust, and that terrified me. But the worst part was knowing that the last connection I have to her was missing, and that nobody could ever find out what happened to her because I was never going to be strong enough to admit to it.”

“And then as soon as your sister was in the picture again, you got the tape back?”

“Like clockwork.” Angry tears bit the corners of her eyes. “The moment he knew I was planning on getting back in contact with Candace, my father was suddenly on high alert for something I’d been begging him to retrieve for years. And just as quickly, my mother gave it back up. It was almost like they wanted that control over me again. They both wanted nothing more than to tempt me away from fixing things with my little sister.”

“Love.” Josie nuzzled noses with her towering wife. “Please destroy the tape.”

“You know I can’t do that.”

“But it’s the only way to fix things with your sister.”

“They don’t want me to fix things with my sister. They want to push me out of power.”

“Then don’t let them.” She begged. “Or even better, just forget it all. Get rid of the tape and you won’t have to worry about them anymore.”

“I’m Cardinal Russo’s daughter. If I don’t have his power, I don’t have anything.”

“That’s not true.” Claudia’s wife smiled at her. “You’ll always have me.”

“Josiepie.”

“Claudibear.”

The pair of wives stared longingly into each other’s eyes for a moment before accepting the other’s lips, making out in the center of their own ballroom. It was a passionate embrace that even their parents couldn’t help but respect if they could see it, and they were definitely there to see it, dancing alongside them both. 

Their precious moment together was cut short however, as that same pair of gunshots rocked the whole house, shocking and surprising everyone who was there to hear it. And Claudia was the first to put a stop to their dance.

“What was that?”

“Does it matter?” Josie pulled her back in, almost aggravated by the interruption. “Can’t we keep dancing?”

“Two gunshots just went off outside of our house, Josie.”

“It’s just Leah.” Lilith would have loved to hear her say that, and she did. “And I don’t mean to sound selfish or anything, but I really would like to have this with you, Claudia.”

“Josie-”

“Will you please just dance with me?” She begged. “Please?”

Claudia froze, her lips pressed against Josie’s once again in a desperate plea to get her to stay, and it worked. “Yes. A million times, yes.”

People followed their lead, ignoring the sounds of danger and continuing to dance along with the hosts. But even amongst the chaos, there was one person who couldn’t help but be scared by the sound of gunshots. 

 

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“Stay down.” Zenna sprung to her feet after a moment of making sure we were secure, finding her way to the front facing window to investigate. Fleet of foot instincts kicked in and she was gone like that.

“Were those gunshots?” I’d always been afraid of guns, admittedly. Growing up an orphan in urban city life didn’t bode well for me as a kid, and I’d been nearly shot more times than I would have liked. I actually felt guilty knowing that the only reason my lifestyle hadn’t already gotten me shot was because I was white, because now that I was an adult I recognized that was why I had felt invincible doing it; And that made me feel yucky inside. 

“What happened…” Darcey and Autumn chased after us, quick to make sure that everything was fine. Everything was not fine. “…Is something going on?” 

“Someone’s been shot.” She could see it through the window, two people laying on the ground with blood coming from the chest. “I can’t tell who the boy is, but I think that’s-” She gasped, hands clasped over her mouth as she stepped away from the window, instantly struck with a cruel feeling of fear anew. “Leah…”

“Leah?!” I was next to her within seconds, staring in awe at the bloody scene, which was admittedly something straight out of the kind of film I often took cruel satisfaction in watching. She was right. It was Leah, and Candace was right next to her. That bitch . 

I’d spent hours worrying about whether that monster of a man had killed her, and as soon as I felt safe knowing that she hadn’t she very nearly got herself shot anyways. Candace loved to milk all of my feelings out of me, getting me concerned about her safety every waking moment of the day. I was supposed to be the one in danger right now, not her. 

Leah’s life hadn’t occurred to me for a second. I’d never thought she was in danger until just now, watching her bleed into the grass, and that horrified me. How many of the people that work for this family are victims like me, just trying to survive?

The answer. Probably most of them, right? It’s not like people choose to turn to a life of crime if they don’t have to. These rich monsters knew they could get away with whatever they wanted to, and they preyed on the less fortunate to help them do so. People like Leah. People like Aria. People like me. 

They can’t get away with this. I can’t just let this go on. 

Easing my way away from the door was harder than I would have liked, but it was better not to watch any longer than I needed to. I already got the picture. 

“Girls?” I turned to the twin slaves as Zenna continued to peer through the looking glass. “Is that the guy that hurt you?”

Darcey and Autumn stared into each other’s eyes for half a minute before the former had the confidence to pry herself away to go look, and the latter had the courage to let her. 

“Yeah, that’s him.” Darcey forced through her breath as she looked at him, not at all happy to see even a guy like him struggling to live. “That’s the guy who raped us.”

Zenna’s eyes flashed with a sudden hatred, finally seeing the final red flag. “You were raped?”

“If you’d been there for us you would have known.” The blonde responded with a gag. “While you were downstairs celebrating with family, Autumn and I were letting ourselves be used like sex toys for the guests.”

“And you didn’t say anything?” Zenna practically scolded her. “Why didn’t you say no?”

“We can’t say no, Zenna. Claudia beat that out of us.” Autumn mumbled from behind the other girl, once again taking Darcey’s arm and tugging her to safety. “Didn’t she beat that out of you?”

“What, no?” Their fellow slave just stood there in disgust. “Claudia’s never been that way with me. She never let me have sex with Josie for fear of getting pregnant.”

“That’s because you’re special. We got our tubes tied before they brought us home for the facility. They wanted to make sure we were both ready to be raped without fear of getting pregnant.” She mumbled, her eyes going glossy. “We didn’t say anything because we didn’t want to ruin your night tonight. We would never try to take that away from you. It’s not like speaking up would do any good anyways. Letting ourselves be raped by guests were Claudia’s orders for us. We had no choice.”

Her little lion heart must have grown three sizes that day, because Zenna didn’t just grow sad, she grew pissed. “No. That’s it. No more being a nice kitten. Not if this is the way things are going to be.”

And just like that, the dream was alive. “You mean you’ll help?”

Her eyes locked with mine as she tried to find her answer, but before she could say another word we all heard another gunshot go off. The three of us without police training flinched and curled up in fear, hoping for our lives that we weren’t the ones being fired at. But not her.

Next thing I knew Zenna was dashing across the entire top floor of the building, dashing towards Lilian’s room in an utter panic. There wasn’t any time to stand there and wait though, if Claudia saw me with her daughter again I wasn’t sure what would happen, assuming my master had the courage to do anything about it. Which I sincerely hoped she wouldn’t. 

Lilian wasn’t in there.

Another glance confirmed that it was finally the time. As people crowded in front of the house, I needed to move soon if I wanted this to work. Everyone who was anyone was outside. If there was ever a time to make my last escape attempt, it was now. 

I couldn’t wait any longer. It had to be now. 

“I love all three of you, but I have to do this with or without you guys. I’m sorry.” 

Deep breath in. Deep breath out. One last smile was the only thing I could give my two companions. 

“Thank you for everything you’ve done for me.”

I took a running leap of faith, the bridge of my foot landing on the rail meant to keep kids like me from falling to my death, and then I jumped. It was always going to be a miracle if the chandelier even managed to support my weight, and I was ready to take that chance. If I split myself open through the glass and fell to my death, that was just the way it went, but thankfully I never had to land on the chandelier at all. 

Like a lunatic, I caught the cable in my hands, grabbing onto it like a rope. Legs twisted and arms wrapped around it, I began my final climb. The only way forward was up.

All of a sudden the race was on. Darcey and Autumn were off down the stairs at the first sign of trouble. I had hope, but without another word, I couldn’t be sure that I could count on them. 

Alright Chloe. Here goes nothing. 

Weird things happen to you when you’re high on adrenaline. You notice things you never could, and you fail to see things you’d never miss. Time moves weirdly quickly and weirdly slowly all in the same instant, and within a breath you’re exactly where you want to be before you ever have a chance to think about it, and not once does a second thought ever occur to you. 

Not until you’re already to the top. 

 

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“Mistress…”

“Mistress!!!”

Darcey and Autumn clung to Josie’s arms the moment they saw her, quickly putting an end to her nervous pacing back and forth across the ballroom as she waited for her wife to return from the emergency outside.

“There you two are.” Josephine grabbed them and held them both close once she could, slowly beginning to calm down. “Please tell me you guys are okay.”

“We’re okay, Ma’am.” Autumn smiled happily, nuzzling into her mistress’ chest in an accidental effort to hog the woman to herself. “We’re just glad that monster got shot.”

“Monster?” Josie frowned. “Leah?”

“Not her, Mistress.” Darcey corrected. “I think his name was Xander.”

“Xander?” She spat his name out like it was poison on her tongue. “You mean Bella’s asshole of an ex-owner?”

“Him, Ma’am. Yes.” Darcey shuddered, feeling violated from head to toe. “I can’t believe she was ever in love with a guy like that.”

“He didn’t even want her.” Autumn pulled away, now curling into Darcey for comfort. “We’re not even Bella and he still wanted to fuck us.”

Josephine felt a red flag go off in her brain. “Wait, Xander wanted to have sex with you?”

“He did have sex with us, Ma’am.” Darcey held her partners tight. “We tried to tell you earlier.”

The redheaded hostess did distinctly remember that, and it gave her a pit in her stomach just thinking about it. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize-”

“We don’t like this, Mistress.” The brunette interrupted her. “Zenna gets to dance with you and have kids, while we have to let strangers abuse us because we’ve been spayed. It’s not fair.”

“Yeah.” The blonde slave blushed. “We want to dance too.”

Josephine looked towards her scarecrow, then towards her robot, and then frowned. Even she knew she had messed this one up. 

“We’ll make it up to you. As soon as Claudia comes back, we’ll dance. Okay?”

Darcey and Autumn both bowed their heads and smiled, responding in unison. “Yes, Mistress.”

Low and behold, the plan was working.

“What’s going on here?” Claudia questioned as she returned. “What are you three up to?”

“I promised Darcey and Autumn we’d dance with them when they got back, they’ve had a rough night.” Josie held both of the slaves close. “Where’s your sister?”

“Outside with dad.” Claudia held her mother’s hand in hers, accepting a smile from Lilith’s lips. “What happened with these two?” 

“Found out where our trigger happy guest has been all night.” Josephine frowned, gesturing towards Claudia and her mother. “What happened with you two?”

“Apparently someone talked some sense into my mom.” She blushed, glancing towards her wife with knowing eyes. “Thank you.”

“I would do anything for you, Claudia.” Josie blushed just as bright. “Would you do anything for me?”

“Of course I would.”

“Did you think about what I asked you earlier?”

“Of course I did.” 

“And?”

Claudia paused for a moment, releasing her mother’s arm and sighing. “We’ll see.”

All of a sudden their voices felt louder, as the band went quiet. And it was left up to Lilith to break the silence. 

“Claudia.” She reached out again. “Your father gave me a gift today, and-”

“Hush.” Her daughter quickly silenced her, nodding towards the stage. “She’s back.”

Claudia wasn’t sure why her sister was even still here after all of that, but she didn’t like it.

“Before I’m finished for the night.” Candace spoke to an otherwise silent room. “I would like to encore with a song that hopefully you haven’t heard just yet.”

“And what are you planning on doing, sweetie?” Lilith, more than anyone else, was annoyed by this. “Sing things better?”

“If I have to. Yes.” 

Candace had one thing on her mind, eyes locked onto her sister’s as Darcey took Claudia by the arm. This was it, their final confrontation. It all came to a close, right here, right now.

“Let her sing.” Claudia said with a grin, ready for one last fight. “I want to hear it.”

With the host’s permission, the music started again, setting the stage at long last. 

“I wrote this song myself. And I would like to dedicate it to someone very special to me.”

But neither of them could have possibly known how it was all going to end.

 

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“Chloe?!” Even without a little girl in her arms, Zenna was too shocked not to call my name. “What are you doing?!”

There she stood, a long way down, Lilian in one arm and the cane in another. Her cooperation would have been nice, but I never needed her help. I could do this with my fist if I had to, even if it broke me, and I had to. 

“I’m getting out of here, Zenna.” I called back to her from the sky above. “Get on board or get lost.”

“I can’t do this, Chloe. I’m sorry. I have to make sure Lilian is safe.”

“Then get out of my way.”

My furious fists pounded against the mechanism keeping the chandelier in place, thudding loudly against the metal exterior. Break it. All I had to do in order to drop the chandelier was break it. 

“You have got to be kidding me.” Sooner than I would have liked, more voices crowded the balcony below. I was certain I’d be butting heads with someone, but I never imagined it would be him. “Are you fucking serious?!”

Cyrus Griffin had his wife by the hip as the two of them looked up at me in awe, and moments later I could see each and every one of his lackeys flooding out of the conservatory behind him. His wife, for her part, was absolutely loving this. 

“Hey, Chloe!” Liz waved at me with a bumbling chestload of enthusiasm, unable to fight off that great big shit eating grin of hers. “I always knew you were stupid, but I never thought you were this stupid!”

“Oh fuck off.” I shouted back, rolling my eyes. I did not need to be accosted by insults at a time like this. “Are you two here to help, or what?”

“Help?!” Cyrus screamed with outright rage. “I ought to kill you where you hang!!”

Within moments of his cue, Cyrus’ entourage had me surrounded on all sides. They looked just about as furious as him, and just as excited as his wife.

“Boys.” Cyrus sneered, pulling a gun from his suit. “Get her down from there.”

A lost track of the number of faces after the first view. Cyrus wasn’t going to shoot me, but that wasn’t going to stop his henchman from doing all sorts of terrible things to me instead. 

Rebecca had a knife. Phil had a stun gun. Jane had a syringe. Naomi had a rope. And Anthony had his phone. At least Malcolm’s fiance was generous enough not to try and attack me, but he was going to film this. 

“You’re so dead.” Anthony shook his head at me as he began recording. “She is so dead.”

Malcolm himself on the other hand had a bit more faith in me than his boyfriend, watching me with his fingers crossed. “I believe in you, Chloe.”

Cyrus was terrifying, but his muscles were a group of certified killing machines. Within the immediate family and their entourage, they were the most dangerous bunch I’d encountered thus far. But they weren’t alone. 

I locked eyes with Nell just in time to see them pop their knuckles. They didn’t have a weapon, but that wasn’t about to stop them. They were going to tear me from that skylight if it was the last thing they did. 

“You little bitch.” They spat, climbing on top of the railing and snarling at me from below. “Be ready to catch me if I fall.”

Nell tied the skirt of their dress behind them and got ready to lunge, prompting a round of cackles from the rest of the riff raff. For a moment Nell’s brother tried to lower his phone, but as soon as Anthony tried, Malcolm was there to playfully point it back up towards the action- upskirt shot or not.

Claudia’s enforcer lunged towards the chandelier and began to climb. I could still do this, I just needed a little more time. But when my eyes darted towards the window, there was no one there. She and her wife were right below me.

Uh oh. 

Nell was pissed, and there was no doubt in my mind that they were willing to grab me by the ankle and drop me to my death in a moment. There was no time to beat my fists against the anchor, I needed to break this thing now. 

“Zenna.” Holding the cable with one hand, I extended the other towards her in desperation. “Please?”

For a moment I was sure cowardice was going to win out with her, as I felt a hand curl around my ankle and begin dragging me down the rope. But as my thighs pinched together and burned against the cable, I saw that fire in her eyes again. 

“Police academy don’t fail me now.” Zenna smirked, taking a deep breath before reeling back, finally hurling the cane to me like a spear. 

It fell into my hand, and I twirled around like a stripper to catch it. I wasn’t wearing panties, unfortunately, so it quickly made my labia sore. But it was worth it. 

“Alright, that’s it.” Cyrus snarled from below. “I’m shooting her.”

“No, wait.” His wife urged him, giggling through an evil grin. “Grab her by the pussy.”

My eyes went wide as I heard that, and before I could move a muscle I felt a hand at my cunt. I wasn't Nell's type, but even they had to admit that sticking their fingers in my vagina to stop me was a good idea. 

“Clever girl.” They held the key up for me to see as they slipped it out of its hiding place between my labia. “What were you going to do, clench the whole time?”

Growls escaped my lips as I swung the cane at their head. “Give that back!!”

“Sure thing.” They muttered before grabbing the head of the cane in their spare hand. “Whoops.”

Like butter, the key slipped from their fingers and fell to the chandelier below, leaving me helpless but to watch it get caught dangling above the ballroom. 

They snarled, overpowering me with a single swipe of the cane, ripping it from my hands with ease. Jaws clamped shut around the head of my cane, biting down and holding me within their grasp.

“You lose, slave. Surrender now and I’ll take you straight to the plantation without letting your owner beat you first.” They smirked, holding their finger on the shock trigger. “Or you can pass out and fall, your choice.”

Tears escaped my eyes as soon as I felt my collar caught on the cane. My mind raced a mile a minute, but there was absolutely nothing I could do to get out of this. For a moment it seemed like I had actually lost- and then I heard that wonderful voice again. 

I felt a nervous but excited heartbeat. Usually I wouldn’t get so eager for something like this, but Candace was going to sing just for me.

As I hung there afraid for my life, I was finally able to hear Candace’s song. My breath slowed, my heart stopped, my eyes closed, and just for a moment that song of hers was all that existed. This time it wasn’t just her though, this time there was a band. It was still a sad siren’s call, but it was more than a cry for help, it was a call to action. 

I stopped having gears in my head as I listened. She sang, and I ceased to be a machine. I could read the gears in my mind and understand what I was thinking. But love did things to me that I didn’t understand. 

My brain was like my heart. Soft, pink, vulnerable, confusing. 

And just a little bit in love.

No fucking way was I about to lose here, not after I came all this way. My hands slipped away from the rope, and I spun backwards, falling straight down. Nell’s arm twisted as I tumbled, letting go of the cane long before I had the chance to hang. 

An artist, I flipped, clutching the cable with one hand and the now loose cane with the other. The jaws tore free from my collar as my hips swung into the cable, legs twisting around it to keep me from sliding even further. 

I climbed the rope like an animal, lunging towards Nell with the cane in hand. Their will bent before mine, letting me climb over them without question. The cane slammed into the anchor with a loud metal thunk, and moments later the chandelier was tumbling to the floor. 

Nell fell safely to the floor, leaving me to hang alone as the safety net unwound, letting the cable fall to the ground below. 

The entire mansion was erupting with the sound of glass shattering around me, and all I needed was to see the faces of my enemies to know that I’d won. 

Beneath me I could see the scene unfolding, and the moment it was safe to do so I slid down the cable, tossing the cane back into Zenna’s hands on the way. I winked, she smiled, and as the music below reached its conclusion I landed on my feet in the wreckage below.

I flipped the key like a coin as I plucked it from the floor, catching it in my hand just in time to see her staring me in the eyes.

 

“Chloe.” Candace smiled, her cheeks flushed pink. God she was so cute like that, I could feel myself grinning. I missed that dumb face of hers so much I wanted to punch it. 

But she should know by now that we were on different teams. I needed out of here and fast, and that meant running away from her as fast as I could. I put one finger to my lips and winked, gently begging her to keep quiet. 

As I’d hoped, Darcey and Autumn helped along their part of the plan, but we’d all done our parts a bit too well. There was one thing I hadn’t anticipated when I decided to collapse the blinding lights of the chandelier onto the unexpecting guests far below, and now it was coming to bite me in the ass. 

The ballroom was now on fire.

 

A criminal giant like Lilith would never settle for less than the most grandiose of birthday decorations. It was just too bad that all of the effort was now going to waste. The party was over.

Guests were fleeing like rats by the time they smelled burning wood. The great big curtains that hung around the ballroom were caught in the electrical fire, set ablaze by loose wiring swinging to and fro. Even if someone managed to collect the broken connections and contain the spreading wildfire, the entire mansion was filling with smoke. Worst of all, shattered glass already littered the floor, making any attempt to try and save the scene a total loss.

Long before it got to the point of no return, most if not all of the guests were gone from the house. The most important people were gone first, and with them went their slaves. The band, impressively, made it further than most; but once the subject of the party was gone from the home, hacking and wheezing, they were gone too. 

Darcey and Autumn had made sure that no one got hurt when I dropped the chandelier, and I was grateful for that. I suddenly found myself looking up to them, knowing I had a chance to escape thanks to their help. 

Then I felt a cruel hand clasp around my throat, snapping me right back to the bitter reality that I lived in.

“I just knew something like this was going to happen, didn’t I?” Claudia openly mocked, and when she didn’t get an answer, repeated herself. “Didn’t I?!”

“Claudia stop!!” I heard Candace’s voice calling out to her sister from up on stage, but it was already too late.

“I’ll sooner snap her neck than let her get away with this!!” Claudia hissed loudly, petrifying Candace on stage with her gaze like she was a medusa. “Make one wrong move and I’ll crush her throat.”

A murderous rage had overtaken her, and I knew this time she was too far gone to be bluffing. Her grasp tightened around my neck, choking all of the air out of my lungs and leaving me unable to cough. 

Cyrus and his lackeys were beginning to flood down the stairs one at a time as the smoke around us all rose upwards through the balcony to the top floor. But even their presence didn’t seem to excite Claudia. 

“Everyone who doesn’t live in this house, get out and go home.” She snarled, dropping me to my knees before her. “The party is over.”

Before I could so much as gasp for breath, her foot was on the back of my head, slamming my face to the floor. From down here I couldn’t make much eye contact with anyone. 

“Well?!” Cyrus shouted to his entourage, repeating Claudia’s orders. With his word and example, that was enough to get them to leave. “You heard the woman, get out!!”

Claudia spat one last instruction to her little brother as he left. “Find mother and get her home safely, I can handle this.” 

He scoffed back at her. “What are you going to do about the fire?”

“I said I’ll handle this.” She snapped. “Now go.”

Everyone who wasn’t a member of Claudia’s household quickly made their way out, except for one. And I was all the more grateful for that. 

“Not you.” She hissed at her sister up on stage. “Not that you were going to leave anyways.”

“I wasn’t.” Candace said with a calm voice. “I don’t take orders from you.”

“Then just maybe you’ll take orders from her.” Claudia sneered, curling her fingers into my hair and yanking me back up to my knees. “Go on, Chloe. Tell Candace to stay. Beg her to come rescue you.”

“No!!” I screamed, tears already flooding down my cheeks by the time I saw the look on Candace’s face. “I don’t need your help!! I don’t want your help!! And I don’t want you!! Leave me alone!!”

My voice suddenly echoed aloud in the still quiet room, but even my furious emotion wasn’t enough to get Candace to back down. 

“No.”

And I couldn’t be happier about that.

 

Claudia forced me onto all fours on the ground beside her, making sure not to give up an inch of space at all costs. She was taking care of this once and for all, and nothing was going to stop her. No one could stop her now.

“This wouldn’t have happened if I had just gotten my way.” She was giggling, laughing at her living hell. “We all could have been happy if everyone had just listened.”

None of Claudia’s slaves had the heart to say anything, not that any of them could. Darcey and Autumn weren’t exactly in any shape to talk. Josie, meanwhile, was too scared to even move. 

I was sure for the billionth time that I was probably about to die, but after a moment I felt Claudia let go of me entirely. She took a few steps away from me, turning towards the crying blonde behind her. 

“Darcey?” 

The raggedy doll of a woman was collapsed against the wall, unable to even look up at her owner when she was called. That poor slave wasn’t just too busy choking on smoke, she couldn’t breathe. From within all of the toxic fumes around her, Claudia quickly came to a grim realization, Darcey was having an asthma attack. 

“Autumn?”

Claudia spun around to see the other girl, who her wife was trying to help to her feet. Autumn looked better for wear than her sister slave did, but not by much, especially when her leg twisted and she collapsed back to the floor. In trying to keep Josephine safe, the tin woman had gotten hit. Autumn couldn’t even stand. 

“They need out of the fire.” Josephine forced a smile onto her face, letting Autumn lean against her for support. Darcey promptly found her way into Josie’s chest, who was quick to try and rush them to safety. “I’m getting the both of them out of here.”

“Good idea.” Claudia swallowed nervously, pained to see the shape they were in. “If the sprinklers don’t kick on soon, there’s a switch in the foyer. Get them out of here.”

I sat up to look at the scene, horrified that my plan had backfired so badly. Even without taking the fire into account, this was awful. How could I have been so stupid as to think this was going to work? 

“Do you see what you’ve done?” Claudia snarled at me, her eyes filled with furious tears. “Do the both of you see what you’ve done?”

“It wasn’t just us.” I insisted, my eyes just as wet with tears as hers. “It was you.”

“You think I wanted to set fire to my own home?!” 

Claudia practically screamed at me as she kicked me in the chest, slamming me onto my back amongst the rubble. Candace remained frozen in place, unable to do a thing. At this point, we both knew Claudia could have me dead before she could get to me. 

“I gave you so many chances, Chloe. But look at this. Look at what you-” Claudia’s eyes drifted upwards towards the stairwell, following the sounds of footsteps down. “No.”

Tears escaped her eyes at that point, scanning the horizon for something important. There was Nell, still chasing me, and there was Zenna. But there was no one else. And like a light, as soon as Claudia realized what was happening, she was off.

“Lilian…”

“I’m sorry, Mistress.” Zenna coughed, barely able to move without the enforcer’s help. “I can’t find her.”

My murderous master looked down at me one last time with desperate emotion in her eyes, lifting her foot from my chest and letting me up. She knew what was important to her, and it wasn’t me.

“You’re pregnant. Get out of the smoke.” Claudia turned her back on the both of us and ran to them instead, snatching her cane from her slave’s grasp. “Get Zenna outside as soon as you can, make sure everyone is safe. But don’t let those two leave if you can help it.”

She knew her odds of keeping us here weren’t very high the moment she stepped away, but there was one thing she couldn’t afford to lose, and it wasn’t me. It was her daughter. 

After all of this, I still had a chance of getting out of here.

“Wait-” I heard Candace call to me as I sprung to my feet and ran, but it was too late. I was getting out of here while I could, and I didn’t care who followed me. 

Not a cheetah but a gazelle, I sprinted towards Claudia’s office, key in hand. My heart ached knowing that it was Lilian who gave me this key, but I couldn’t stand around and wait to make sure she was okay. I just had to pray her mother found her. At long last, I swung open the door to Claudia’s office, and I slammed it shut behind me. 

 

“Son of a bitch.” Candace cursed under her breath as she found the courage to move, feeling the house’s sprinklers finally kick on to put out the flames. “You little cunt.”

The door to her sister’s office locked automatically, and she had no way inside. In desperation she tried slamming herself against the door, bruising her own shoulder to no avail. 

“God damnit.” She pounded her fist against the door. “Open this door right now, Chloe.”

I could hear her trying to knock the barrier down from the other side, but I had no time to waste on her. I was in here for one reason and one reason only, to find the controller to my own collar. Once I had that, I could finally escape. 

“Sophia Madeline Cavalier, I swear to God.” Candace was practically screaming at me by now. “Please open the door.”

“Why, so that you can come and drag me away?!” I snapped back, scurrying my way to Claudia’s desk in order to further my desperate search. “No fucking way?!”

“I just want to talk to you, Chloe.” Her voice cracked. “I want to help you.”

“No you don’t.” I refused to believe her. “You only care about yourself.”

Her voice faded to the background as I made my way to Claudia’s seat, drowned out by the sound of my own desperate heartbeat. My arm swiped the desk clean, knocking things every which way before I opened the drawer, reaching inside to retrieve the bracelet. This was it, I was finally going to get out of this hellhole.

But as always, it was too good to be true.

“No.” Confused, I pulled out one- two- three controllers. Darcey. Autumn. Zenna. But… 

“…No.” Tears streamed from my eyes as I emptied one drawer, and then another, and then another. All full of nothing but sweet insignificance. There was no sign of my controller. 

It had to be here. It just had to be. Claudia hadn’t been wearing it last I checked. She could never have been. The rest of them were here, why wasn’t mine?

“No…”

In bitter agony I collapsed to my knees, biting down on my tongue as I began to sob. If I didn’t have that controller, I couldn’t leave. But I looked, and I looked, and I looked, and it just wasn’t here.

I broke. Completely and finally, I broke. After all that I’d done, it ended here, curled up into a husk of my former self on the floor of Claudia’s office, bawling like a helpless child. It wasn’t fair. I’d done everything I could. I played the game and I won, and this was the reward I got. It just wasn’t fair.

Everything was falling apart around me, it had been for a while, but up until now I thought I could survive it. But I couldn’t. I was sure Candace could hear me crying from the other side of the door, but I couldn’t care less. I didn’t need her help. I didn’t need her approval.

 

“I wrote that song just for you, you know.” After a few minutes I heard her voice again. “Did you like it?”

From a sobbing puddle of despair, I forced myself upright to answer her question. I couldn’t lie to her. “I loved it.”

“Then you know what I’m going to say when you try to escape.” She scolded, her voice raised to reach me. “No.”

“But why not?” I forced tears out of my eyes so that I could speak to her. “Why won’t you just let me go?”

“Because I can’t, Chloe.” Her voice had its own desperation to it. “A year ago now I felt your lips against mine for the first time, and I’ve been in love with you ever since.”

“Then why couldn’t you act like it?” I sniffled, barely managing to keep myself together. “You tormented me for so long. Don’t tell me that was in the name of love?”

“It wasn’t.” Candace confessed, desperate to get through to me. “I admit it. When I took you as my own, I did it to hurt you. But I did love you, even if there was a part of me that wouldn’t accept it. I hurt you because I didn’t know what else to do. I’m sorry.”

My aching body slumped into the door, forced to sit here and listen to her umpteenth apology. “Sorry doesn’t cut it Candace.”

“I know it doesn’t. That’s why I’m here to act. Open the door and I’ll save you from her, I promise.”

“And then what?” I choked. “What happens when Claudia’s out of the way?”

“I want to take you home and try to make things right.” She said, begging. “Please believe me. I want to do things better this time. I’m ready to be better for you.”

“You should have been better from the start.”

“I was scared. I’ve been in love like this before, Chloe. It’s never lasted like this has lasted. I was sure if I kept denying myself it was going to fade away, but it never did. You’re special, Chloe. You’re the one.”

“You promised you weren’t going to come save me from this.” I pounded my fist against the door, feeling her back off just slightly. “Why did you come back?”

“That was back when I thought I knew you were safe. But you’re not safe with her anymore.”

“I’m as safe with her as I was with you. Your sister doesn’t want to save me, she wants to punish me like you want to punish me.”

“You’ve been through enough punishment already. We both have. Let me save you from that.”

“I don’t need your help, Candace. What don’t you understand about that?” My breath drew quick, angry. “Right now the only one standing between me and getting out of here is you.”

Candace’s voice remained painfully calm. “Even if you leave this place, you can never escape.”

“I’ve come this far. I can’t give up now. I promised myself that I would escape today or die trying. If you want to help, leave. Go away and let me out of here while Claudia is distracted. I can fade away amongst the guests and run.”

“No you can’t. After you attacked me with a knife, I had no choice but to put more protections on you. When you were put under for your surgery, they implanted a tracking chip inside of you, remember?” Candace reminded me. “I told you about it the very next day. As long as you have that, you can be tracked using your controller.”

A lump in my throat caught my words as I fumbled to find them. It was already too late to get ahold of my controller, but it wasn’t too late to get a headstart as long as I left quickly. I just needed a plan to get past Candace. 

“I have my controller.” I lied, hoping desperately that she would fall for it. “I can escape.”

Candace struggled to respond to that. “The controller isn’t the only device that can track you. As long as someone has the ID to your chip, they can find another device to use.”

“Do all slaves have tracking chips inside of them?” I followed up, pushing the lie even further. “Or just the special ones?”

She growled. “Not all slaves have tracking chips inside of them, no. Just the ones whose owners can afford them.”

“Then the facility probably doesn’t keep track of the ID numbers. After all you wouldn’t want just some goon at the facility to locate a client’s home by tracking their slave.” I clawed through her like an animal, saying what I needed to say to trick her into letting me go. “Who all knows the ID to my tracking chip?”

“Nobody.” She finally admitted, sighing under her breath. “Not even I know. If I had, I would have used it to find you.”

“Exactly.” I thumped the door with my fist again, about ready to tear through her with my bare hands. “I have the controller. They can’t find me. Let me go.”

Bitter desperation rang through her voice like it did mine, leaving Candace no choice but to play my game. Unfortunately for me, the only way for her to win the game was to do like her father does, and call my bluff. 

“Prove it.” She sneered confidently from the other side. “Open the door and show me the controller, then I’ll let you go.”

“You’re trying to trick me.” I backpedalled. “If I open the door, you’ll try to take it from me.”

“Then destroy it.” The door thumped back, and with it, my heart. “Break the controller and show me the remains, then I’ll let you go.”

“Fine.” I snarled, stomping my way to the desk and retrieving one of the three other bracelets from Claudia’s drawer. “If it’ll make you leave, I’ll do it.”

 Zenna’s controller now sat in my palm, reflecting my face back at me. If I could break it, I could trick her into thinking I’d destroyed my own controller. I was ready. I could do this. But I was nervous.

“No. That’s too easy. Knowing you people, there’s probably a defense against that.” There was no way this was going to work out the way I hoped. “How do I know that destroying this won’t kill me?”

“If it did, would it really matter? I thought the plan was to escape or die trying?” 

“That is the plan!!” 

“Then do it.” She doubled down. “If you’re so convinced you can get out of here. Destroy the controller and see what happens.”

“You know what’s going to happen. Just tell me.”

“There’s no point in telling you if you don’t trust me.” Candace pleaded. “I want to help you, Chloe. If you’re scared of dying then open the door and show me the controller. Then I’ll let you leave.”

“I’m not afraid of dying.”

“But you are afraid of killing.”

My stomach churned as I set the controller back down on top of the desk. “You know me too well.”

“I don’t know whose controller you have, but put it down before you hurt her and come talk to me. We can do this together, I promise.”

My body slumped backwards against the door in defeat. “How did you know I was bluffing?”

“I didn’t.” She confessed. “I was bluffing too. I don’t care if you have the controller or not, I already told you where I stand. No matter what, I’m not letting you go.”

“I can’t accept your help, Candace.” I forced through pained lungs. “I’m sorry.”

“Why not?” She whimpered. “Why can’t I help you?”

“Because if I can’t do this on my own, I lose.” I finally admitted. “You’re my rival. I’m only still here to fight because you’re here to challenge me. I can’t let you have the cruel satisfaction of being the one to save me, because if you do it means I’m nothing but a helpless trophy that can’t save myself. Dying along the way is one thing, but living knowing that I could never win is something that I can’t imagine. If I can’t save myself, I’m not someone who’s worthy of being saved. I’m a loser.”

“Winning and losing doesn’t define your worth, Chloe. How you play the game defines your worth, and that worth determines whether you’re a winner or a loser. Losing doesn’t make you a loser, losing and never playing again does. Winning doesn’t make you a winner, doing what it takes to go from a loss to a win, that’s what makes you a winner.” Candace mused poetically to me, gently leaning against the door. “You’ll always be a winner in my eyes.”

I leaned against the door as well, crossing my arms in defeat. “I really hope you’re not just saying this because you want to defeat me.”

“I don’t see how you losing makes me a winner, especially if it meant losing you. If letting you die is what it takes for me to win, I’d rather lose.”

Hearing her say that made me smile. “That Candace Saint Clair girl. Always a loser.”

“You were listening.” 

“You could hear the bell, couldn’t you?”

“Loud and clear. That’s why I gave it to you.”

“Thank you.” I sniffled nervously. “But I still can’t come with you.”

“Yes you can. All you need is to give me one more chance.”

“One more chance at what, Candace?”

I could hear the eagerness in her voice. “To win.” 

My heart ached. “I thought you said you’d rather lose.”

“I want to play a different game. One where winning doesn’t mean losing you forever.”

“Oh yeah?” A small chuckle left my lips. “What does winning mean for you?”

“Winning to me means taking you home with me and finally letting myself fall in love with you. Making good on my promise to make you a part of my family. Eventually we would be married, you would be mine for better or for worse, I would make you my home. And one day when I return to that home from work, the most powerful woman in the world, I would look back and smile knowing I made the right decision letting you convince me not to destroy you. I’ll be happy when I see those two or three- maybe even four little ones running around after a wonderful day with mom. I’d look and you’d look at me, tired from taking care of my home, and we would know we made the right choice. That’s what winning is. Winning means you and me.”

“Candace, I-” My voice squeaked, heart beating out of my chest. 

Blushing, my hands curled around the door handle, desperate to hold it shut and never let her in. But just as soon, I found myself swinging the door open and falling into her arms. I let my body fall into her grasp, staring off into nothingness as I closed my eyes.

“There there.” She hummed as she held me close, still crouching there on the other side of the doorway. “I’ve got you.”

“No you don’t.” Click . “I’ve got you.”

I slipped the gun out of her purse and pointed it at her head, watching her slowly back away from me, staring down the barrel of it. 

Smirking, my hands steadied. “Figured Daddy would give you a gun.”

“How did you know-”

“I didn’t.” Her voice quickly cut off as I pressed it further into her forehead. “But I hoped.”

“Chloe.” She shook her head. “You’ve never fired a gun before.”

“Neither have you.” I snorted condescendingly. “But I’m sure it’s just like pointing and clicking.”

“You don’t know what you’re doing.”

“I know exactly what I’m doing.”

Her eyes went red with anger there as I disrespected her, desperate to get that gun out of my hands. “You couldn’t kill me back then. What makes you think you can kill me now?”

“Nothing. I can’t kill you. No matter how hard I try, I can’t kill you.” I confessed in return. Feeling the gun turn from her head and onto mine, ready to fire. “But I can kill myself.”

Candace stared at my finger on the trigger and went dead with horror. More than ever before, I watched her eyes well up with tears, quickly streaming down her cheeks. 

“Please Chloe. Please don’t do this.”

“And why not?” I asked, screaming out for help from the inside. “Is it not better to pull the trigger and get it over with than to live in fear of someone else doing the same at every waking moment, knowing that with the press of one button, my life could be over at any moment?”

“I don’t know.” She extended an open hand. “But I swear that when you’re with me, you won’t have to live in fear of that button anymore. If it’s the only thing I can do better, I can promise you that.” 

My eyes gently laid upon her palm. “You promise?”

“I promise.” Candace smiled, trying to choke back tears. “Now give me the gun and let me end this for you.”

Instinctively, the gun pulled itself away from my head, disarmed, and then set itself in her hand. Just as quickly, it was gone, put away from safe keeping. And I was once again, finally, in Candace’s arms. 

“Please.” She begged as she held me. “Let’s go home.”

But as much as I wanted to take her up on that, I knew it wasn’t possible. “I can’t. I don’t have the controller.” 

“I don’t care.” She shook her head, holding me at arm’s reach. “I may not know where the controller is, but I can get it back.”

My nervous little lips couldn’t help but smile at that. “How?”

“My way.” She smiled, finally letting go of me. “You’ve done enough. You’ve gotten this far, now let me help you. Leave it up to me, and I can take care of the rest from here.”

Once again, I looked at her with crying eyes. “You promise?”

“I promise.” Candace had no doubt in her mind. All that I could do now was trust that when she held her hand out to me, it was safe for me to accept it. “A year ago, I refused to hold your hand. I’m not going to make that mistake ever again. Now take my hand and don’t let go until I let you.”

Her left hand lay open before me, asking for mine, and I gave it to her. I couldn’t do this without help. Pride be damned, I didn’t just need her, I wanted her. “Yes, Master.”

Candace held my hand tight, bringing it to her lips and planting a kiss on the back for luck. “Good girl.”

I squeezed hers in return. “I’m not going to say sorry for all of this.”

“I don’t expect you to.” Candace helped me to my feet, never once letting. “And I’m not going to punish you for it either.”

“Okay.” My eyes filled with tears anew. “Thank you so much.”

“Don’t thank me yet. We’re not out of this.” She snapped her fingers, holding out her other hand. “The key. Give it to me.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” I reached between my legs and retrieved it, placing it in her palm. “Here.”

Without hesitation, I watched Candace get to work. She unlocked and swung open the cupboard door, searching for something very specific amongst the VHS tapes. Like a sensible person, she started from the left, and found it immediately.

“Hold this for me.”

I took the tape from her hands and held it to my chest, nodding in acknowledgement. “Your mother’s?”

“It’s Claudia’s one weakness.” She said as she closed the cupboard again, slipping the key into her purse and extending her hand again. “Give.”

The tape quickly found its way to her palm without a thought from myself. “What now?”

“We can’t exactly use Claudia’s weakness against her if she’s not here.” Candace smirked, slipping the tape into her purse for safekeeping. “So for now, there’s a promise I need to fulfill.”

“Which is?” I whimpered.

She took my other hand and smiled, a distinct blush overtaking her cheeks. “Let’s go dance.”

And my heart had never fluttered so excitedly. “Yes, please.”

 

The ballroom felt strangely empty by the time we got back. Completely empty. The wildfire that had erupted amongst the shattered remains of the broken chandelier was all but ash now, the high tech sprinkler system finally having done it's one job to put the flames to rest.

“Other hand, here.” Candace smiled as she let my free palm to her shoulder, and laid hers on my hip. “Just like that.”

“Okay.” I swallowed nervously, trying and failing not to smile. “I think I can do this.”

“You gave up pretty quick back there.” Candace couldn’t help but note. “What’s up with that?”

“A long time ago, someone very dear to me taught me the importance of knowing when to forfeit.” My cheeks lit up pink, my eyes locking with hers. “I’ve never forgotten that lesson.”

“Chloe.” She gasped as we spun. “I’m ashamed of how I’ve treated you, back then and now. It wasn’t until you almost killed me that I really started to think about how much you mean to me. You’ve taught me that this relationship isn’t just about me, it’s about us. I just hope that you’re willing to give me another chance.”

“I’m giving you a dance, aren’t I?” My eyebrows raised sarcastically. “I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t been dreaming of this.”

“You and me both.” She swallowed a nervous lump in her throat. “I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too.” I blushed, pulling in close. “Thanks for not giving up on me.”

Our eyes locked, our feet stopped, and we froze in place. For a moment we just stood there, gazing uselessly into each other’s eyes, and just when both of us had the courage to go in for a kiss.

Thump. 

Sudden death. 

Claudia’s cane actually snapped in half this time, splitting and thudding in two at her feet as she slammed it against the floor. But then, a moment later, the sounds of small footsteps echoed about the mansion. 

“Find your mother and bring her here.” Claudia gently and carefully set her daughter back down onto the ground, safe and sound, pointing towards the front door. “She’s outside. Go.”

Without a second thought, the five year old ran to the door and pushed her way outside, desperate to find the rest of her family. Even I had to admit that I was relieved to see her safe and sound, even if I had to use her to my advantage a few times along the way. 

“I wish I could say it was a surprise to see you two back together.” Claudia promptly mocked us. “But it’s not.”

“Maybe there’s a reason for that.” Candace spoke first, giving her sister a smile and a bow. “I’m taking Chloe home with me.”

“Are you now?” She gave a heinously polite smile. “I don’t recall giving you custody of my property.”

“That’s because I’m stealing her.” Candace squeezed my hand. “She’s my property now.”

Claudia did her best to ignore that comment, but I could see the anger on her face, because she was aiming it straight at me. “I’m going to suppose that you were the one who stole the key to my daughter’s bedroom, and that’s how you escaped the cell to drop a chandelier on my party, yes?”

“Actually, she handed me the key.” I blushed, lowering my gaze to the floor. “But yes.”

“I should have seen that coming. The dumbwaiter seems obvious now in retrospect. But the chandelier was a nice touch, though.” Claudia rolled her eyes, tossing the splinters of her broken cane aside, and feeling much stronger for it. “Regardless. Chloe is mine. Give her to me.”

“No.” I answered for myself before Candace could. “I don’t belong to you, and I won’t stay with you any longer.”

“It’s nice to see you in fighting spirits again, Chloe. But that’s the wrong answer. Let’s try again.” Claudia licked her lips, glaring at me with those evil unblinking snake eyes of hers as she rolled up her sleeves, revealing a familiarly dangerous weapon strapped around her right wrist. “Give her to me.”

My whole body tensed up at the sight of it. Claudia had the controller to my collar strapped around her right wrist, the fingers of her dominant hand ready to press the button at any moment. 

“Oh. Now she’s scared of me.” The vile woman smirked. “I control your fate, so answer me this, who owns you?”

Candace’s grip on my hand loosened just slightly. Nervously, I looked her in the eyes, and then back towards her sister, unsure of what to say. “You do.”

“Chloe.” Candace squeezed my hand until it hurt. “Don’t give into her. She can’t hurt you.”

“I can’t hurt you?” Claudia practically cackled, reminding us both of the trigger she held in her hand. “Really?”

“I’m sorry, Candace.” I stuttered, trying not to break into tears. “She has the controller.”

“That doesn’t mean she gets to control you.” Candace snarled. “You know she doesn’t have power over you, Chloe. If she did, you wouldn’t have done all of this.”

“I know.” My stomach churned, and just for a moment I turned my head to Candace and blushed. “But I don’t have any power over me either.”

“Empty the purse onto the floor. Now.” Claudia demanded. “I don’t care who does it. But I want it done.”

She tugged on my hand to make sure I stopped. She smirked, pulling a single thing from her purse and holding it up for me to take, slowly taking her purse off entirely and dropping it onto the floor at her feet. 

“I’ll do you one better.” Candace said, before kicking her purse across the floor towards Claudia. “I don’t need any of that to best you. All I need is this.”

“And what is that?” Her sister growled, eyeing the parcel in my hand. “Chloe’s death tape?”

“Nope.” Candace licked her lips. “It’s my mother’s.”

Claudia froze, her whole body tensing at the sound of that. Wide eyes stared at the tape in disbelief, her heart clearly pounding behind her ribs. Hatred filled that heart. Pure and simple.

“Oh. Now she’s scared of me.” Candace smirked. “How the tables have turned.”

“You heinous little brat.” She spat, staring straight at me as Candace reclaimed the tape from me. “Why do you have that?”

“Because she’s my mother, isn’t she?” Candace responded, tucking the tape under her arm. “Or is she your mother too?”

“She is. Now give it back.” Claudia said, ready to electrocute me. “Or I’ll kill the girl.”

“Sounds like we ought to make a trade then. Give me the controller or I’ll destroy the tape.”

Candace’s sister did not like her threat one bit. 

“So that’s your grand master plan to get me to give your slave back to you. You’re willing to destroy the only thing that’s left of your own mother for her? Do you realize how much she’s ruined our lives? Do you actually believe in finding a happy ever after with a woman like that?”

Hands at her sides now, Claudia slowly began pacing back and forth across the ballroom in front of us, doing little more than stall for time as she rambled on, winding the clock down further and further. 

“That girl is a menace, Candace. There’s a reason she’s enemy number zero. She’s ruined your life just as badly as she’s ruined mine. She deserves to be punished for what she’s done to us, and it should be the two of us doing it together. It would be us versus her, just like she views it. Because take it from her, we’re the enemy. In her eyes, the two of us are the same.”

My breath quickened as I felt Candace’s grip loosen ever so slightly, knowing she was considering what her sister was saying, while I was left helpless but to listen. This was Candace’s fight now. Her decision to make. 

“I don’t think she should be getting punished, Claudia. She’s violent at times and a bit out of control, sure. But she’s misunderstood more than anything. I just want to give her an environment where I can help her.”

“Oh, would you knock that off already? She doesn’t deserve help; she deserves to be trampled, and trampled she will be. Give her to me and put the tape back, we’ll take her to the plantation together. I’ll even let you come visit and torment her with me, we’ll be sisters again.”

Torn, Candace gritted her teeth as her sister kept going. I could see the temptation in her eyes and the sweat on her forehead. 

“Better yet. Our father won’t be able to touch her anymore. She’ll be safe. Really truly safe. She doesn’t have to be mine, she can be ours. But only if you give up that foolish desire of making her your wife and start being a part of the family like she can never be. Please?” Claudia extended her hand towards her little sister. “What do you say, Candace, will you help me punish her for everything she’s done?”

From beside her I could only see that crimson iris of hers stare at the tape in her hands for a few moments before she could ever offer a true answer. Candace knew exactly what she wanted, and this wasn’t it. 

“No.” Candace shook her head, holding the tape to her heart. “If you really wanted to be sisters you could have acknowledged that she was just as much your mother as she was mine. But instead you’ve treated me like I was lesser because I was hers.”

That opened hand curled into an angry fist. “Then I suppose we’re at a stalemate, and you think this silly little plan of yours could ever possibly succeed in getting me to give her back to you. But I’ll never let go of her.”

Candace held my hand tighter now. “Neither will I.”

The air between them was hot with rage, even now that the fire had subsided. And now that the house was clear, the girls who lived here were finally starting to make their way back into the ballroom, surrounding us on all sides. 

“Fancy seeing you all here.” Candace mumbled, biting her lip.

“Silence.” Claudia snapped her fingers, glaring all but her own family as her mother approached. “What’s the status outside, and why are you still here?”

Lilith made sure to clear her throat first. “Your brother and the enforcer are outside making sure everything is fine. But I won’t leave until I’ve seen this through.”

“You’ve done enough.” She snarled, waving her mother aside. “Stay out of this.”

Her mother had a distinctly sad look on her face, seeing just how far her daughter had fallen. Lilith stood to the side alone, standing just beside the door to what used to be the bedroom I shared with the other slaves. 

Behind me, Darcey could breathe and Autumn could walk again, the both of them clinging to one of Josie’s arms. It was nice to see that they’d at least gotten their mistress’ attention like they had wanted, but after the fiasco with the chandelier, I was worried that Candace and I were now being flanked by a pair of powerful foes. 

Finally, to the other side stood the scaredy cat, desperately clutching the home’s only child in her arms. Lilian shouldn’t be here, it felt wrong that she was, but it didn’t seem like she wanted to leave anytime soon. Claudia’s daughter was watching this, a whole lot more intensely than she probably ought to have been, but keeping her happy was what was most important. And sometimes, it was the only thing that was important. 

Claudia kicked the remnants of her poor cane. Preyboy lied split in two on the floor before her. She didn’t need the cane anymore, she was stronger now than she could ever be with it in hand. And thanks to me, she had the confidence necessary to wear a killer watch around one wrist without worrying about accidentally committing murder. Since I’d met her, Claudia had become a monster of my own creation. 

“You think you’re proposing a fair trade, don’t you?” She scoffed. “Do you really think I won’t just tell father about you and your toy the moment I have the tape in hand?”

Candace hesitated for a moment, readying herself to react to movement from all around. “You were the one that faked her death. You’ll be getting in as much trouble as I will.”

“Please.” Claudia rolled her eyes. “There’s nothing Daddy can take from me that he hasn’t already. I have my wife. I have my girls. But without her, you have nothing.”

After a few more moments, Claudia stepped towards the purse Candace had kicked towards her, scooping it up off of the floor and slinging it over her shoulder. Contained inside wasn’t just a gun, but another cassette tape, this one faking my death for the audience’s viewing pleasure.

“You really should have just pointed the gun at me.” She said, examining the old black revolver. “But no, instead you decided to hedge your bets on that.”

“I don’t plan on shooting my own sister.” Candace said, knowing how much it was going to help her. “I love you too much to kill you.”

I could hear Claudia hiss, reluctantly stuffing the gun back in her fancy new purse without so much as pointing it at either of us. “Don’t you dare.”

Alecia’s tape was the only thing her eyes could focus on. The object of her greatest desire. The rage she felt seeing it in another’s hands was maddening to her, and I’d never thought she could fall any further.

“I loved her.” Claudia said, stomping her feet like a child. “And she loved me.”

“Mom loved a lot of people-”

“But she was there for me!!” Claudia screamed. “She might not have birthed me, but she was my mom first. Even after my real mother abandoned me, she was there for me. But then you came along, and suddenly you were the only thing she cared about, and I was alone.”

Angry eyes glared at her mother now, fingers twitching with contempt. It was a childish thing to say and she knew it, but it still needed to be said.

“So what if I had sex with mom? She asked. She offered. She knew I’d never had sex with a woman. She knew I wanted to have sex with her. She wanted to do something good for me. Can you really blame me for that?” Claudia threw her hands up, fingers rifling through her hair. “She was the only person who made me happy, and she made me feel nice inside. Can you really blame me for wanting to keep our last moments together alive? Can you really blame me for wanting to keep her?”

She was talking to everyone now. To all of the people here who questioned and doubted her, everyone who told her to get rid of the tape. They called it heinous, deplorable, disgusting- but to her it was nothing short of sacred. 

“It was an accident. She was mine. I couldn’t give the controller back to dad, I just couldn’t. I thought I was better than him. I thought I could keep her safe from him like she kept me safe. She only stayed because of me. It was my fault that she was there at all. If it weren’t for me - you wouldn’t exist. Daddy couldn’t have fucked the nanny if there wasn’t a nanny. She was my nanny. She was mine.” 

Claws dug into Candace’s purse, retrieving the tape faking my death and holding it up for all to see, desperate that it be seen and understood. And just to be sure I understood, those eyes finally locked onto mine. 

“These could have been your last moments. But they weren’t, because I’m better now. Back then I thought I knew what was best, and I was wrong. All I wanted to do then was to keep her, and all I want to do now is to keep you.” 

Fingers wrapped themselves around Candace’s anew. I had done enough, she was supposed to get me out of this. Anything I said now was just going to make things worse.

“This tape should be all the proof he needs to see that I’m better now. If he would just watch it, he would know that I’ve changed. But no, he doesn’t care about watching my work, all he cares about is you. Because nothing I could ever do is enough to make me his princess again. Not now, not ever.”

The tape that bared my number clattered to the floor as she dropped it, unable to so much as hold the weight any longer. There it sat, motionless and unharmed, just begging to be stepped on. Much like myself. 

“He never watched that one either.” She said, now pointing at the parcel in Candace’s paws. “He doesn’t care about how much I cried, or how hurt I was when it happened, all he cares to know is that I killed his wife. He doesn’t even know how it happened- how it really happened. He doesn’t even know why I pressed the button.”

“Why, Claudia?” Candace said with a shrill voice, just barely able to force her own voice through her lungs. “Why did you press the button?”

“Because she wanted to be his.” Claudia answered, ready to press the button to my controller as well. “So if you don’t want me to press the button, I would suggest that you give her back. Now.”

“I’ll give you the tape.” Candace repeated. “But only when I have that controller in my hand.”

“Oh for the love of God, you are so full of yourself.”

Candace’s sister began gesturing around the halls of her home. Towards her mother, her wife, her slaves, all people that were on her side- not ours. 

“I have you surrounded. Even if I hand this controller over to you, the moment I have that tape in my hands, the girls are just going to tackle you to the ground and take it away from you. You’d be an idiot to think you’re going to be able to walk out of those doors together. Give me the tape and spare us both the trouble.”

My teeth dug into my bottom lip out of pure terror, looking to Candace for support. If I didn’t beg her to reconsider, Claudia was going to send both of us to her plantation, I just knew it. And yet for some reason, she still had that spark in her eyes.

“No amount of logic is going to convince me to give Chloe back to you.” Candace reaffirmed, smiling confidently. “Because this isn’t about the facts. This is about you.”

“Of course it’s about me.” She grinned, licking her lips. “And if I don’t get my way, neither of us do.”

“You’re wrong, Claudia.” Candace glared at her. “I’m not going to give you this tape, because as long as I’m still holding onto it, you have to listen to me.”

“No. No I don't.” Claudia snapped her fingers. “Girls. Take it from her.”

Quickly, she called Candace’s bluff, forgoing the trade entirely. She knew Candace couldn’t risk losing me, and as long as she had the upper hand, she was going to use it. Because she knew Candace wasn’t going to be the one to get me killed. 

But this was where I came in. 

“Hello?” Claudia huffed. “Did nobody hear me?”

“Girls?” Moments later, the only thing I could hear were the sounds of Claudia’s wife struggling behind me. “Girls, let me go.”

“I’m sorry, Mistress.” I heard Autumn mumble apologetically, forcibly holding her owner back. “We can’t do that.”

“We love you.” Darcey did much the same, and with their combined strength, Josephine couldn’t move. “But we’re not about to throw one of our sisters under the bus.”

“Not after Bella.” The two of them said in unison, looking up and smiling at me. 

“Girls.” Even I was surprised to see that they still supported me. “Thank you.”

Claudia’s jaw dropped. Suddenly, she didn’t quite have the kind of power she was sure she had, and that scared her. Observant eyes like mine could see her fingers twitch, almost like she was grabbing for something, but there wasn’t much there that could help her. 

“Please tell me this is a joke.” Her eyes drifted towards Zenna. “Please?”

“I’m sorry, Mistress.” Zenna only further secured her grip on the little girl in her arms, ready to protect her from anything. “But I’m with them this time.”

Cloudy blue eyes locked with her daughter’s, watching each and every move she made. Lilian was safe and sound in her mother’s arms, and she wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. 

“Why?” She practically begged. “Why would any of you side with her?”

“I gotta say, this is a surprise. But if it makes you feel any better-” Candace smirked, gesturing towards Josephine behind her. “She doesn’t.”

“What is wrong with you?” Josephine remained calm at all costs. “Girls. We are your owners, do as you’re told.”

“Or what, Mistress?” Zenna spoke up, saying what her fellow slaves didn’t have the strength to. “You’ll kill us like Bella?”

“We would never.” Josie turned her pleading eyes onto her wife. “Right?”

“Enough of this insolence. If this is the way things are going to be, someone is going to die.” Claudia snarled at them all. “And I don’t want it to be one of you.”

A previously slumped Lilith stood up straight, shocked to see what was going on. Something like this hadn’t happened to her in a long time.

“A slave revolt.” She said, amazed. “You started a slave revolt.”

“I didn’t do anything.” Candace assured her. “I have a feeling that this was all her.”

I blushed, pressing my shoulder to Candace’s upper arm. “Guilty as charged.”

“If you’re not going to help me, then stay out of my way. I don’t need any of you.” Claudia snapped at her slaves. “Zenna, take Lilian upstairs. I don’t want her to have to see this.”

“No.” The courageous little kitten refused outright. “If you’re going to do something, you’re going to have to do it in front of our daughter.”

It was then that Lilian began to fuss, gently trying to push herself out of her caregiver’s arms, but Zenna wasn’t about to let her go. 

“How?” Claudia glared at me now. “How did you convince them to do this with you? What did you promise them? What trick did you use?”

“Nothing, Ma’am. They have their own demands to make.” I smiled, nodding at Zenna for her help. “I don’t have the power to command anyone. This was their own decision.”

“I don’t understand.” Claudia shook her head, more frightened now than ever. Not only was she surrounded, but both her wife and her daughter were firmly in the grasp of a group of women that stood against her. “I thought you loved us. After all this time I’m finally confident in knowing that, when did you stop?”

“We do love you, Master.” The cat woman said whilst trying to calm the increasingly furious little one. “But today taught us a few things, and from now on, we as slaves choose to stand together.” Zenna turned to me and winked. “All of us.”

Both fists curled in on themselves in rage as Candace turned to face her little sister. “So this was your plan all along?”

“I wish I could say yes, but.” Candace smiled at me. “I had a different plan.”

She took a deep breath and pushed herself forward, eager now knowing that the triplet of slaves were on our side. 

“My plan was to talk my sister into realizing what kind of mistake she’s making.” Candace smiled warmly. “Family is family, Claudia. And Chloe is family too.”

“What then?” Claudia stammered nervously, her foot on top of my own snuff film. “You’re going to pull her away from the safety I went out of my way to make for her, just to put her back in harm’s way?”

“You know sis, for someone as cunning as you are, you’re not very bright. Chloe isn’t any safer with her than she is with me.” The two of us stepped towards Claudia, hand in hand. “Your plan isn’t going to work.”

“What?” Claudia seemed distraught at the mere idea. “What do you mean?”

“He knows, Claudia. He’s been listening.” Candace wished it wasn’t true. “He has ears everywhere.”

As the realization dawned on her, Claudia’s fingers curled around the head of her own collar, eyes going faint with shame and humiliation. “It can’t be.”

“This is a game to him, Claudia. He’s trying to turn the two of us against each other.”

“But.” Claudia swallowed nervously. “He wants her dead.”

“He doesn’t want her dead. It’s not about her. It’s about us.” Candace retorted, squeezing my hand. “He wants one of us to kill her.”

“Stay back.” Claudia stepped away as Candace approached. “Don’t come near me.”

“It’s okay, Claudia. It’s me. I’m here. I’m your little sister.” Candace was beginning to tear. “I love you.”

“No you don’t.” Her sister was beginning to tear up as well. “How could anyone ever love me after everything I’ve done?”

“I don’t know, sis.” Candace smiled, gesturing towards the rest of the room. “How about you ask them?”

“This isn’t fair.” She stammered. “You know this isn’t fair.”

“It doesn’t have to be like this anymore, Claudia. I didn’t come here that day because I wanted Chloe back, I came because I wanted my big sister back, and I still want that.”

Claudia almost couldn’t stand to hear what she was being told. “I’m actively trying to hurt the woman you love, and you still want to make up with me. How could you excuse that?”

“Face the truth, Claudia. If you wanted to hurt Chloe, you would have killed her already. But instead you saved her life. You don’t want to punish her. You care about her. You love her. You just don’t want to admit it to yourself.” Candace held my hand as tightly as she could. “I know because I made the same mistake.”

My heart began to flutter with hope, returning her touch as I squeezed back, looking up at her sister with the slightest smile on my lips. “Claudia?”

“Of course I love you, moron. I love all of you. Josie. Darcey. Autumn. Zenna. Mom. Candace Lilian.” That one was the hardest one for her to say. “And yes. You.”

I bit my lip in anger. “Why didn’t you just say so?”

“You know why.” She recoiled into herself. “Because you could never say it back.”

“You have all sorts of loving people in your life, Claudia.” Candace took the reins again. “And none of us are going to abandon you for everything you’ve done, because frankly, we’re all horrible monsters here.”

“You can say that again.” I mumbled under my breath. “Rapists and kidnappers.”

“Quiet.” Claudia snapped at me. “There’s a child here.”

“Not the time, Chloe.” Candace silenced me. “Right now, it’s time to make a decision. Give me the controller, Claudia.”

“Why?” She still refused. “Who are you to decide that she’s safer with you than she is with me?”

“Because I’m a fucking princess, God damn it.” The youngest daughter asserted, finally standing up for herself. “My mother wasn’t just father’s wife, she was his queen, and that makes me royalty just like you.”

“That doesn’t put you above me.” The snake hissed. “Just because you’re not a slave like your mother doesn’t mean you’re better than me.”

“That’s not what I’m trying to say, Claudia.” Candace smiled. “I’m saying that mom was royalty too, even if she was a slave. You’re the one with her collar around your neck. You’re the one who has always wanted to be like her. Not me, you. So do it. Be like her.”

Her eyes went wide with fear. “What do you mean, be like her?”

“I mean do as you’re told.” She gave her a knowing look. “Not what father says. Someone you trust.”

“Who can I even trust at this point? When everyone I thought loved me is so quick to turn?” Claudia avoided the gaze of her entire family, snarling angrily. “Even if I was a slave, who would even want me?”

From behind us there was more infuriated fussing. Josephine could hardly move a muscle thanks to the two grown women keeping her at bay. Lilith was going to be no help either. After this whole fiasco she was just lucky to still be standing.

“This is insanity.” Josie fumed. “Claudia please, get these girls off of me now.”

“Why not do that yourself, love?” Her wife glanced from side to side, knowing that she herself was also cornered. “If you were still wearing the controllers to their collars, this wouldn’t be happening.”

“We discussed this, Claudia.” The angry redhead snapped. “We don’t need them.”

“We don’t need them?! Look at who’s holding you down and tell me we don’t need them, Josephine?!”

“But she’s right, Ma’am.” The scarecrow girl mumbled, her breath still drawn short. “We don’t wish to hurt you, Mistress. We just wish to be treated with care and love like Zenna is. We’re not a danger to you.”

“We love you very much, Mistress.” The tin woman piled on. “We’re just doing what we think is right. Hopefully you’ll understand. We know we’ll be punished for this, but we’re confident you won’t put us down. Surely deep down you would never.”

“You don’t think I would? I’ve executed countless women who have disobeyed me. You think I’ve changed?” 

“You’ve changed enough to walk on two feet again.” The lioness smiled at her owner, trying to cover her daughter’s ears. “Maybe it’s time for some more change, Master.”

“Will you all listen to yourselves?” It was as if they’d all gone insane. “This wouldn’t have happened if I’d gotten my way from the start. We’ve gotten by perfectly fine for five years, and then these two came along and had to ruin it.”

Her eyes were reticles, armed and ready. Even backed into a corner, Claudia was a fearsome and unpredictable opponent.

“Things haven’t been fine, Claudia.” Her wife rebutted her. “From the moment you’ve been in charge, we’ve both been miserable for nothing. Let me take the reins. Let me fix this.”

“I can’t, Josie. Not to you who was so ready to leave me behind and take everything I’ve ever worked for. I did all of this for you and you never once appreciated the blood, sweat, and tears that I sacrificed. You let me toil away for five plus years to create a life that I thought you wanted, and you didn’t say anything sooner. It wasn’t until I’d already hit rock bottom that you even considered taking charge. You couldn’t even pick up a riding crop until I had a collar around my neck.”

Her wife slowly shriveled back into place, losing much of her own fighting spirit as she was hissed at. But Claudia didn’t stop there, and her words fell hard upon each pair of pointed ears in the room. 

“If it weren’t for you, it would be you, Lilian, and I. One of us should be the one holding our daughter, and yet you were so scared of me that you accepted the help of the one woman I hated the most. I could have just left her at that facility, you know. It might have turned out well in the end, but I couldn’t have known that at the time. Now look at us. It’s not just my slaves, or my daughter, but my own wife is scared of me too.” Claudia released a prolonged sigh. “When all I wanted was to be a good husband and father.”

She swiveled in place, turning her ire on her old and dying mother standing off to the side, an arbiter of her demise. Furious, she scolded further. 

“And don’t think I’ve forgotten about you. If it hadn’t been for you, Chloe would still be at the plantation, safe and sound. I hope you’re satisfied now that the price of inviting her here was ruining your own final gathering. I love you, Mother. All I’ve ever wanted is for you to love me back, but you’re scared of me too. I’m sure you were afraid of what I might do to my little brother, but why weren’t you afraid for me?” She dropped her hands at her sides in defeat. “Why wasn’t I worth protecting?”

Finally, Claudia looked towards her own youth, safe within the arms of her protector. There to protect the girl from her and her alone, and that just didn’t seem fair to her. After all, she worked just as hard to protect Lilian from herself as Zenna did.

“You’re my greatest joy, sweetie. I’d do anything for you. I’m sorry that you have to hear me raise my voice. I’m sorry if I scare you. I don’t want you to grow up as fast as I did. I want you to feel safe.” The heartbroken mother pleaded. “I love you, Lilian.”

“I love you too, Mom.” Admittedly, the little one still didn’t have much comprehension of what was going on. But she knew enough, and that meant she was honest when she spoke. “I would want you.”

“What do you mean, sweetie?” Claudia twitched, her voice trembling nervously as she turned to her sister. “What is she talking about?”

“I don’t know. How about we let her decide?” Candace paused for a moment, before looking at the nanny instead. “What do you think?”

Taken aback, she froze, but it wasn’t long before the nanny realized what Candace meant. A pair of small footsteps finally echoed throughout the ballroom as Zenna set Lilian down, and within an instant the little one had a hand extended towards Claudia, desperate for her attention.

“Mommy.” The little girl sniffled, her head stuffed up with tears. “Please?”

Claudia stared at her daughter with tears in her eyes, barely able to move, let alone take the girl’s hand. “Lilian?”

“Please, Mommy?” She repeated herself, begging now. “Give.”

 

At first I thought it was too good to be true, but then it happened. It had to be some cruel joke, but no. After a few moments of baffled hesitancy, I watched Claudia slowly lower herself to one knee right before my eyes, crouching next to Lilian. She looked up at me from below, her sickly soft eyes fading desperately, and then she gave a nervous smile.

With minimal resistance, the controller to my collar slid from Claudia’s wrist, placed gently into Lilian’s hands by her mother. It wasn’t too good to be true. The girl may have only been five years old, but when she asked for it, her mother listened.

“There you go, sweetheart.” Claudia swallowed nervously, kneeling on both knees now. It was clear that her heart was filled with more than just anxiety seeing it in the girl’s little paws, but she tried to trust her anyway. “B-be careful with it, you don’t wanna shock someone on accident again.”

“I remember, Mommy.” Lilian smiled, having to hold it in both of her hands, thumb on the button. Still filled with little but childish innocence, she looked up at me, no longer so scared of her mother or I. “Aunt Candace taught me how after I tried to shock Aunt Chloe.”

In seeing my controller between her fingers, I realized that this was the final test. It wasn’t so long ago that she’d almost done exactly what her mother did out of fear, nearly killing her nanny by mistake.

If it had gone down that way it would have been my fault, but thankfully Candace had been there that day to stop it. Ridiculously good with children, Candace, she learned that from her mom. 

She stumbled towards me, careful to avoid the broken glass, looking up when she got here. “Yours?”

Fleeting eyes had little time to look at Candace for approval, I quickly nodded my head in confirmation, holding my hand out towards her. Desperately, my fingers trembled, and Lilian held it out for me.

“Here.” She smiled, setting it down in my hand. But still, her grabby paws remained, almost expecting something in return. “Did I do good?”

I blushed, curling my fingers around the controller, holding it firmly to my chest. “Did you do good?”

“Helping.” She grinned proudly, bouncing up and down. “Did I help?”

“Yes.” I promptly muttered, barely able to believe what I was hearing. “You helped a lot. Thank you.”

“Can I have my key back now?” She held her hand out even higher, still bouncing. “I wanna go watch my movie.”

“Let me guess.” I giggled with her. “Wizard of Oz?”

Astonished, she nodded her head. “I’m Dorothy.”

“Yes you are.” Candace smiled, rolling her eyes. “Your key is in my purse, can you go get it for me?”

“Okay.” She twirled on one foot, about to run back to her mother before stopping, pointing at the tape in Candace’s hand. “Oops. Almost forgot.”

Lilian extended her hand towards the tape, and Aunt Candace was just about to give it to her when her sister interrupted. Before her daughter could even so much as lay a finger on it, Claudia protested, loudly.

“Don’t.” She snapped, reaching out from the floor across from us. “Don’t let that thing touch my little girl, please.”

“I’ve got it.” Footsteps from behind alerted us to Josie’s approach, but rather than trying to wrangle the controller from my hand, my doppelganger instead scooped the girl into her arms and held her. Then she peacefully held her hand out towards the tape. “I’ll take it. Keep the controller.”

Candace smiled, releasing the VHS into her in law’s palm, grinning victoriously. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me.” Josie responded, resecuring her grasp on Lilian. “Thank her.”

“And us.” I heard both Darcey and Autumn pout from behind. “We helped too.”

“Yes. Yes you did.” Josie applauded them, stepping towards Claudia, tape in hand. “What do you want me to do with this?”

“I don’t know.” Claudia held out her open hand. “What do you want me to do with it?”

Josie frowned nervously, watching Claudia take the other end of the film, both holding one half. “You know what I want, Claudia.”

“Then let’s do it.” She hissed back, refusing to look up. “Before I change my mind.”

Her wife paused. “You’re sure?”

“Yes, my love.” Claudia nodded her head, tightening her grip. “But I need your help.”

The last remnants of Candace’s mother erased themselves from the world. Claudia and Josephine both held on to the bitter end, as the tape snapped in half between their hands, finally destroyed. The pieces crumbled to the floor amongst the rest of the rubble, ready and waiting to be cleaned and disposed of- and just like that, it was all over. 

“There.” Josephine wiped her hands clean of it. “Doesn’t that feel better?”

Claudia couldn’t help but smile slightly. “I think so.”

I could almost cry at that point. It seemed so surreal that even people like this had a weakness, and for the mafia, that weakness was family. The one thing that was important to them above all else was family. 

“This isn’t over.” Claudia mumbled, grinding her knuckles into the ground as she hung her head. “We still need to talk about this.”

“What’s left to talk about?” Candace grinned, winking at me. “I’m pretty sure I just won.”

“If it will make my daughter happy, yes. You can have her back.” Blushing, Claudia shyly hissed. “But that doesn’t mean she’s safe. If father heard about my plan, what’s to say he hasn’t been listening this entire time?”

Candace’s eyes slowly lowered to the ground, nervously glancing towards her father’s ex-wife, as Lilith stepped forwards- hands crossed behind her back.

“Because he can’t.” Claudia’s mother smirked, coughing slightly. “He doesn’t have the controller anymore.”

After a moment or two Lilith produced a small black case and held it out so that we could see it, making sure we both had a chance to take it in. 

“He brought a gift before he left. Let me show you.” She smiled, gently prying the case open for us to see what was inside, and we sure weren’t disappointed. 

It was the controller to my mother’s collar. Which was now clasped around my sister’s neck.

“No.” Claudia clasped her hands over her mouth, struck with pure terror just seeing it. “He gave it to you.”

“Your father gave me this during the commotion.” She held it in her hands. “I’m sure you can probably tell why.”

“You mean you’ve had that the whole time?” Claudia was on the verge of tears. “And you’ve just been holding onto it?”

“What else was I supposed to do, use it on you?” Lilith tried to reassure her daughter. “I wouldn’t do that to you.”

Claudia simply stared at it, ruminating in the silence. “Even you, huh?”

“I’m not doing this for your sister.” Lilith glared into Candace’s eyes, sighing loudly. “I’m doing this for your own good. Your daughters, current and future, deserve a good role model. Someone they can feel safe around. So for that reason alone, you need to be stopped. Before you hurt yourself or someone you care about.”

“What are you going to do, Mom?” She was crying now. “Keep me?”

“Believe me, Claudia. I’m too old to be keeping much of anything for myself. Besides, it’s too late for me to make much out of  you anyways, there’s someone else who needs this more.” Lilith smirked almost smugly as she stood at Josephine’s side. “Hold out your hand, sweetie.”

Josie stared at the controller, glancing down at her wife and then back up at her mother-in-law. After a brief moment, she extended her hand, before quickly getting it slapped away.

“Not you.” Lilith scolded her. “Lilian. Hold out your hand.”

“Me?” The girl bounced in Josie’s arms, holding her hand towards grandma. “Like this?”

“Just like that.” The old woman smiled, taking the girl’s hand and turning it over so that she could strap the controller around her wrist, making sure it was secure. “There. Perfect.”

“You’re giving my daughter the controller to my collar.” Claudia practically hissed at her, but remained steadfast and soft. “What makes you think I’m not going to take it from her?”

“Because you’ve learned, haven’t you?” Lilith smiled, slowly crouching next to Claudia. “If you need to trust someone to protect her from you, trust her. That way, hopefully she’ll never have a father like yours, because you won’t be able to touch her.”

“You’re a madwoman.” Claudia sighed, carefully rubbing her shoulder. “But okay.”

“Okay?” Josie practically flinched. “You’re okay with that?”

“I am.” Claudia made sure not to look up towards Candace or I. “Are you okay with that, Lilian?”

Claudia’s five year old daughter looked at her, smiling and nodding, before wrestling her way out of Josie’s arms to give Claudia a hug. “I’ll take good care of you like you taught me.”

“That’s my girl.” Claudia hugged back. “I love you, Lilian.”

“I love you, Mommy.” The girl giggled, climbing on top of Claudia’s back like she was a horse. “And I love grammom, too.”

Lilith gave her no more than an approving smile before stepping back, watching the little one clamor on top of her mother like she was taming a big dog, which she really wasn’t. Claudia, on the other hand, had little reason to fight back anymore.”

“If I’m really going to be a slave, I’ll need a number.” Claudia rolled her eyes, looking towards her sister. “Think mom’s is still available?”

“It’s all yours, Claudia. You deserve it.” Candace smirked, gently pulling on my hand. “And I think this one is all mine.”

“You deserve it.” Her sister sighed, relenting. “Now go home, please. I think my daughter and I have a movie to watch.”

 

I’d gotten lost in what I was seeing at some point, but the family banter continued on even as my mind pulled away, brought to attention by the voice of Candace next to me.

“You can let go of my hand now.” She smiled, holding my hand up. “If you want to, that is.”

“Not yet.” I shook my head. “Not until we’re outside.”

“Okay.” She smirked. “Just know, I’m going to need both hands to drive.”

“Don’t forget your purse.” Zenna teased, stepping towards us and handing it to her master’s sister. “Your keys are probably in there.”

“My keys are definitely in there.” Candace rolled her eyes, pulling out a single small silver key and handing it to Zenna. “As well as your daughter’s.”

“Thank you.” Zenna tucked the key away, before turning to me and squeezing me in a lion slash tiger slash bear hug. “I’m gonna miss you.”

“So are we!!!” Darcey squeaked, hugging me from behind. “Please come visit someday!!!”

“You have to now…” Autumn teased, holding me gently. “You owe us one…”

“No, she doesn’t.” Josie spun around and grabbed them both by their pointed ears. “All three of you are in a lot of trouble.”

I could see in her eyes that she was just playing with them now, as she looked at me and smiled, nodding her head in approval before shoving the girls away from me. 

“Zenna can start by cleaning this whole mess up. She’s not going to be able to do much heavy lifting from here on out now that she’s pregnant. And as for you two. I think a good breeding session will be in order sometime down the line.” Josie winked, and the two of them hugged each other, before quickly being told off. “But for right now, get a move on, all of you. I want my ballroom to be clean of everything, including people.”

She clapped her hands and people started to move, the slaves dispersing first, as the women of the house stepped towards Candace and I. 

“I didn’t want it to go this way, but I’d be the stupid one to try and push the issue any further.” Claudia’s face remained neutral, forcing smiles away from her own lips as she held Lilian in her arm’s now. “Thanks for everything you’ve done, good and bad. I hope to continue this conversation soon, but for now-” She gave us the slightest smile. “Have fun you two. I love you both.”

“For once, I think I’m going to take your advice.” Candace smiled, holding her hand out for Claudia to take. “Good game.”

Her sister took a fierce hold of her, shaking Candace’s hand and nodding. “Good game.”

Candace pulled away and smiled after a moment. “Goodbye, Claudia.”

“Goodbye, Candace.” She blushed, shaking her head ever so slightly as she held her hand out to shake again. “Goodbye, Chloe.”

“Shut up.” I snapped at her, grabbing her by the hand and pulling her in for a hug. “Goodbye, Claudia.”

She hesitated, but eventually gave me both a hug, and a kiss on the forehead. “Be safe.”

“I can try. But the only thing I can promise you is that I can’t make any promises.” 

“I’m not talking to you.” She rolled her eyes, winking at her sister. “Be safe with her, she’s a handful.”

“I know she is.” Candace squeezed my palm. “But she’s my handful.”

 

Claudia walked us out without another word, helping us through the sitting room and waving goodbye with her daughter and wife before bidding us adieu, finally heading back inside to be with her family. We headed to the car, and I was almost shocked to see that it wasn’t just any car, it was mine.

“Oh, how I’ve missed you.” Finally, I let out a sigh of relief, tapping on the trunk. “You didn’t empty her, did you?”

“No.” Candace shook her head, opening the backseat for me. “But I did turn the safety locks on.”

I bit my lip and nodded, still holding onto her. “Can’t have me running away…”

“Chloe.” She stopped me, presenting her free hand to me. “You can’t keep that.”

Bitter, I held the controller up, my own finger on the trigger as I looked her in those beautiful mismatched eyes. “Lilian gave it to me.”

“And I’m telling you to give it to me.” She smiled, not taking no for an answer. “Now be a good girl and let go.”

Nervously, I released her hand, holding it to my chest for a moment and looking up at her. Right here and now was my last chance to run for it. I had the controller in my possession, and for the first time ever, no one was holding my hand. But deep down, I just couldn’t do it, no matter how terrified I was to give her that control again.

Candace graciously accepted the controller to my collar, blushing as I set it in her palm. “Yes, Master.”

“Good girl.” She gazed at her reflection in the pretty little bracelet, before turning to the image in my eyes. “You’re making the right choice, and I think that should be rewarded.”

Her hand overturned, dropping the bracelet onto the ground between us with a soft sound. Then, in the blink of an eye, Candace broke the controller to pieces beneath her feet. 

She shot me a wink. “I told you it would be safe.”

I was speechless. No, more than that, I was bawling my eyes out. “Candace.”

“No woman of mine is going to live in fear of death at the press of a button.” She assured me, picking each and every piece of the controller up and sliding them into her purse. “I promised you that, and from now on, I plan on keeping every promise I make.”

Happy sobs escaped my lips as I held my hands to my crying mouth. “But what if I try to escape?”

“I’ll have no choice but to personally chase you down and drive you back.” She snapped her fingers, pointing for me to get in the car. “Once we’ve settled back in at home, we’ll rebuild.”

I sniffled. “Without the death button?”

“Without the death button.” She nodded. “I promise.”

My arms wrapped over her shoulders, and hers around my waist as she held me. Just for a moment, it felt nice to finally be with her again. She helped me into the car, and the two of us drove off together without a word.

 

It was a strangely quiet night from then on out, witnessing the silent sights of the night around us as we returned home. Or in my case, found my way back home. 

No fighting. No fussing. Nothing. 

I fell asleep on the drive back to Maison Saint Clair, only waking when she woke me, taking me back inside.

The door clicked closed behind us, and finally, we were home.

“This place is a mess.”

I couldn’t help but note how out of shape it had gotten since I’d been gone. It helped put into perspective how much Candace really needed me.

“I’m a mess.” She responded, smiling. Making sure the door to the guest bedroom was still locked away. “And before you ask, no. Not tonight.”

Briefly nodding my understanding to her, my eyes locked onto the locked handle. “When?”

“Tomorrow.” She winked, and for what I could tell, she meant it. “If you’re good that is.”

“I’ll do my best.” I blushed. “I’ll be good.”

“Good.” Candace smiled, stepping towards me. “Welcome home.”

It was surreal, but it really was nice to be back. “Thank you for having me.”

We stood there, locking gazes one last time before pressing lips together for a kiss. 

And it was the nicest kiss I’d ever had.

“My family can’t hurt you anymore. I’m going to make sure of it. But for now.” 

Candace held me by both hands, and we could both see ourselves blush in the other’s eyes. 

“Somebody needs to clean all of this up.”

 

Chapter 47: Candace and Chloe

 

“And it might as well be me.”

I couldn’t help but flinch as she said that, taken aback by what I was pretty sure she was saying. “I’m sorry. What was that?”

“I said somebody needs to clean all of this up.” She grinned playfully. “And it might as well be me.”

Part of me was almost offended that she wasn’t putting me straight to work. “You mean you’re not going to make me do it all for you?”

“You just got here, slow down.” Candace led me to the parlor, which was only a bit better for wear. “Sit. Relax. I’ll take care of this on my own.”

This might work out, actually. If Candace wasn’t going to force me to be her slave again, I might actually be able to do this. If it meant being safe, even if it was with her, I could force myself to live here. Just as long as I didn’t have to go back to being her slave.

Huh. This is new. I quietly stepped into the parlor, heading past the couch towards Candace’s favorite seat, her throne. 

“Not there. Obviously.” She rolled her eyes, clearly able to see that I was considering it. “You’re allowed to sit on the sofas or the floor. Not there.”

Not wanting to push any further for the night, I nodded and stepped away, finding a place by myself on the sofa. Candace was quickly off to do the cleaning as soon as she was sure I’d gotten myself situated, and sure enough my eyes began to drift closed as I waited for her. 

Though, I wasn’t out for very long before I was suddenly swarmed by a tiny empire of familiar and unfamiliar faces. 

“Hello, Sophia.” I giggled as she eagerly climbed on top of me, purring happily. Her sister was there too, shyly sitting down on the sofa, at least a bit happy to see me. “And who are your new friends?”

“Hera and Hestia.” Candace answered for them, the two small grey tabby kittens, both girls. “I got lonely and couldn’t help myself.”

“Could you at least put them away?” I pleaded with her. “Before I get hives?”

“They’re hypoallergenic. Don’t worry.” Candace was blushing. “I made sure just in case.”

“In case I came back.” I smiled, petting the new kittens. “I’m not sure how to feel about that.”

Still gathering loose laundry from the parlor, Candace briefly took a seat next to me. “Does that bother you?”

In truth, I was torn on it. Trying to insist that I didn’t have feelings for her would be lying, but at the same time I’d never imagined actually coming back here. As much as I appreciated her help getting me away from Claudia- it felt like a shallow victory.

“This wasn’t what I wanted. I promised myself I’d get away or die trying. This feels like a regression.”

“I know what you mean, Chloe. But if I’m being honest I really don’t care. That kind of thinking will get you killed, and I’m not about to let that happen. I can tell that you have mixed feelings about this- but for right now I need you to trust me.”

“I’m still a prisoner.” I snapped at her. “How am I supposed to live like this?”

Sensing my frustration, Candace slowly rose to her feet and stepped away. Then with her back turned to me- she said. “This doesn’t fix anything. Does it?” 

The fruits of her short lived labor spilled onto the floor as she kicked the hamper over, venting anger. Surely, I should have been glad that her back was turned, but I wasn’t. 

“This is the part where I’m meant to act tough. I’m supposed to say something so confidently and so powerfully assertive, if not profound, that’ll put you back in your place and convince you to listen to me again.” Candace hid her face in her palms, sitting alone in her throne. “But I can’t.”

Empty halls of Candace’s home echoed with the sounds of her breaking into tears. Candace didn’t cry. Not like this. Not around me. But she couldn’t stop herself anymore. 

“There’s no saving face for me after all of this, Chloe. I love you.” She forced between sobs. “All I want is for you to be safe. I know you hate me. But I don’t care if you hate me for the rest of your life if it means that you’re not in danger, okay?”

Candace knew she was lying. She cared a lot about what I thought about her, and I knew how that felt because I used to have the same dependence on her that she now has on me. “I don’t hate you, I promise.” My eyes drifted to my feet. “I mean it.”

I could feel her eyes drilling into me as she looked up, even without seeing it. “Then how do you feel about me?”

“I don’t know how I feel about you. I’ve never known how I feel about you. Right now, I feel exactly like I said I would. Helpless.” I grasped the hem of my scarlet red skirt with both hands as I spoke, trying to keep them from trembling. 

“My whole life I’ve felt helpless. Until I met you.” Candace’s voice cut in. “I’ve always lived at my family’s mercy without knowing it. But when I met you, everything changed. You’ve given me the strength to fight back. You’ve given me something to fight for.” I didn’t realize I’d looked up until I saw her smile. “The worst thing you’ve done is make me realize how lonely I am.”

Hands curled again into the fabrics of her dress as I clung to her. Before I knew it I was in her lap, sobbing into her chest as she held me close. Being with Candace broke me. Not because I hated her, but because I didn’t. She was the one thing that my brain and my heart fought about. Consciously I loathed Candace. But deep down I knew how much she really meant to me. 

“I thought I knew what I was doing when I decided to leave you with Claudia. You stood up for me even though you knew it was going to hurt you; I thought the right thing to do was to respect that decision.” Candace didn’t force closeness for even a moment- satisfied knowing I was safe in her arms. “But then I stepped back on that stage and I remembered what we used to have. That night when we kissed backstage before the game was precious to me. I needed you just as much as you needed me back then, but I was too afraid to admit that weakness. But you’ve always been my weakness. You were never like other fans. You were always so determined to beat me just so that I would notice you. How could I not fall for you?”

Tighter. I desperately clung to her. “You always looked at me like I was nothing.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking back then. I still don’t know who I am. Not really. I made a lot of mistakes early on because just like Claudia, I was scared. You’ve always meant a lot to me, but I didn’t want to admit it. I think deep down part of me knew I’d be heartbroken if something happened to you, and I tried to destroy that feeling. But the more I looked at you the more I needed you to love me again.” I could hear her heart thumping away inside of me, and feeling her emotion brought me just a little bit of peace. “I’ve hurt you, and I know in the back of my mind that I’m done hurting you. But I’m going to keep you safe. I promise. Please, let me protect you.”

My eyes still wet with tears, I pried myself from her chest to look her in the eyes. “I don’t like feeling helpless. It’s not fair. Why should I be the one who needs protection?”

“Are you kidding me?” She giggled. “Did you see what you did back there? You’re not helpless. It wasn’t just me. You managed to inspire almost everyone in the room to fight for you. Even Lilian.” Candace was blushing now. “She didn’t hand the controller to me. She handed it to you.”

A lump caught my words in my throat. “How did you know she was going to give it to me?”

“It didn’t matter who she was going to hand it to. What mattered was that Claudia gave it up.” Her eyes sparkled ever so slightly. “I had my hands full. Who else was going to take it?”

Nervously, I bit my lip. “What was your plan?”

“I had no plan.” Candace admitted with extreme regret. “But you were holding my hand. I knew it had to turn out okay.”

My cheeks turned pink. “What if she tried to kill me?”

“I had faith that she wouldn’t.”

“You trusted her-”

“I trusted you.” She asserted. “You were the one that gave her a change of heart. Not me.”

I smiled at the thought. “I think you’re wrong.”

Candace swallowed nervously, unable to keep from smiling. “Okay. Maybe I deserve a little bit more credit. But not much.”

“Candace.” I finally cleared my throat. “Thank you for saving me.”

Her extremely pale cheeks were glowing by this point, eyes trying to divert themselves from looking me straight on as she got all flustered. “No. Don’t say it like that.”

“My hero.” I smiled, teasing her ever so slightly. “I’ll be forever indebted to you.” 

Candace’s eyes locked with mine as my hands drifted, gently caressing her between the thighs. “You’re such a brat.”

“Let this brat become your trophy, then. It’s the least I can do to repay you. Isn’t that what you want to hear?” I also began to blush ever so faintly, even I had to admit that I was enjoying this a bit too much for my own good. But I could tell how much she wanted this. “I won’t bite.” My fingers gently began to slide up her dress, tapping against her quickly developing excitement as she was teased. “Probably.”

“You’re ruining a really tender moment you know.” Candace mumbled through her teeth, biting her lip.

“I’m not the one who’s getting off to this.” I smirked, thumbing her crotch. “I can feel your erection just from sitting in your lap.”

“Can you blame me?” She hissed indignantly. “You do this on purpose.”

“I meant it this time. I’m not too proud to say it. Thank you for helping me.”

Candace blushed, rolling her eyes at me. “I’d love to keep the tenderness going, but I think you should probably get out of my lap now.”

For just a few moments, I stared her dead in the eyes, emotionless. “I don’t care what you think, Candace. You can’t control me anymore.”

She wasn’t very thrilled to hear that. But like she had insisted, she hadn’t the strength to assert herself. “I know you don’t want this like I do. But please don’t tease me by showing me something you’ll never let me have.”

I scoffed, heart shaking with sullen emotion. “I don’t want to be your helpless trophy, Candace.” 

“I don’t want that either.” She frowned, closing her legs as I stood up from her lap. “I want you because of your ferocity. I love you because of who you are, not in spite of it. You’re passionate, determined, and headstrong. I’ve never met a girl like you.”

“And yet you want to destroy all of that by making me your toy again.”

“I don’t want you to change.” Candace gave me an embarrassed smile. “I want you to belong to me.”

The heat in my cheeks burned as I gazed into her eyes, anxiously finding a seat at the couch again. “I do belong to you. There. I said it. I’m yours now.” I did my best to try and hide how scared I really was from her. “If I didn’t want your protection I wouldn’t have come back with you. I could have taken my controller and ran away. But I’m scared of what’ll happen to me if I try to survive on my own.” 

Candace reluctantly smiled, feeling maybe just a bit guilty. “So you’ll stay?”

“I don’t want to die. I want to be safe. I don’t see many other options.” My eyes bubbled with angry tears as I admitted it. “Please. It’s easier for me if you don’t give me a choice, okay?”

“Okay.” She confirmed, nodding her head. “You belong here with me. You’re mine to protect. We’ll figure out the other details later. For now I want you to recharge. Come get me if you need anything, alright?”

“Alright.” I nodded back. “Thank you.” 

Candace’s smile spoke for itself. She didn’t need to say another word, I could see how happy she was as she resumed her self imposed task of cleaning her own house. 

 

Unsurprisingly, the effects of not sleeping the night before were catching up to me. I must have fallen asleep watching television in Candace’s parlor. The remote control was like the holy grail in my hands as I switched the television on and began flicking through the channels. To say that it was surreal to watch TV after so long was an understatement, it was an almost alien experience. 

“Really?” Candace’s nagging was eventually what woke me up as she returned. “You turn on the television after six months, and the first thing you watch is MTV?”

I rolled my eyes at her, groaning as I shook myself from my sleep. “Is there a problem with that?’

“No.” She squinted. “Just an observation.”

“I’m finished anyways.” I stretched, clicking the television off. “Did you need help cleaning up?”

Candace shook her head. “Mom actually raised me to be a housekeeper. She must have thought that dad would take the prospects of me growing up to be a woman if I learned the womanly arts young. I think it worked in the end, even if I’ve long since stopped cleaning my own home. Father repeatedly insists that I’m too good for that. Before you it was Malcolm, and before Malcolm it was…” She seemed to suddenly choke up. “…Leah.”

My heart dropped in my chest at the way she said her name. “Leah?”

“I must be the world’s worst friend.” She paused, thinking it over. “Or the world’s worst daughter.”

“Umm. Candace?” 

“Leah’s in the hospital.” She said with a heart as heavy as stone. “She took a bullet for me then left the party bleeding out. I should have gone with her. I haven’t seen her. And now might never get to.”

“I’m sure she’ll be okay, right? She always pulls through?”

“She’s never been shot before.” Candace collapsed into her seat, distraught. “She could already be dead and I might never get to see her again. I might never get to thank her. She might die for me.” For the second time tonight, Candace began to sob. “And I’m too scared to go see her.”

“Candace-” I stood up, trying to calm her. “You can check on her tomorrow, right?”

“Right.” She choked, forcing her emotions back down. “It’ll have to wait for now.”

 

An hour or so later, Candace stepped back into the parlor after a rather extensive phone call. Emotionally exhausted. She didn’t seem any less distraught than she’d been when she left. 

“We’re going to be having guests soon.” She forced a smile onto her face. “Friends are coming over.”

“Oh. Already?” I jumped to my feet, knowing I wasn’t ready to be seen. “Should I hide?”

She just smiled. “Don’t worry. They’re friends we can trust. If anything, Leah’s the one I’d be worried about, but she’s not-” Once more, she was choking on her words. “She’s gone into shock. But they’re working on getting her stable.”

She paced back and forth, nervously holding her phone to her lips. Candace was clearly going through a lot of turmoil, and I couldn’t help but want to make her feel better. But a smile and a hug was really all I could offer her right now.

“If there’s anything I can do to help.” I sighed, helping her straighten out her fancy blue dress. “Please don’t hesitate.”

Candace grabbed me by both shoulders and forced me away. “No. I want you to take it easy. I mean it. You’re welcome to just hang out if you want. But if you just want to hide, the cell is unlocked.”

A flash of anxiety quickly took over me. “You’re locking me away?”

“No. If you just leave the door open it’ll be okay, I promise.” She smiled. “It’s the best I’ve got right now. I’m sorry.”

“Okay.” I frowned, slowly stepping away from her. “If you say so.”

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

“It’s fine. I’ll be okay, I promise.”

“Alright.” She nodded, waving me off. “I’ll be out here.”

“I’ll be in there.” I gave her a quick smile before heading out. “Have fun with your afterparty.”

Candace’s room was just as bad as the rest of her house. No. Worse. Much worse. 

Sighing, I stepped inside of her room and picked a pair of her boyshorts off the floor and held them to my nose for a brief sniff. Force of habit more than anything. It was her crotch musk that usually got me. Like hell I was going to voluntarily step foot into that cell again if I didn’t have to, even if it was the only place without loose panties lying around. 

The girl loves herself some satin. 

“I’m not a freak.” I mumbled to the zero people that could hear me, flinging it across the room as I stepped towards Candace’s closet. It wasn’t my fault she smelled so nice. “You’re a freak.” 

That one was directed at her. Candace wasn’t just a weirdo, she was a monster. Criminal. Thief. Kidnapper. Abuser. Rapist. Lover. Sweetheart. Savior. Master. She was right. My heart fluttered for her. 

Why was I in love with my rapist? It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right. I in no way condoned the act of molesting women against their will and yet somehow I’d grown into a disgusting freak who could get off to the idea of being molested by that woman. 

My thoughts and feelings were too scrambled to make sense of right now, yet for some reason I was convinced that this was the right choice to make. The things these people do were in no way morally just. But there was always a chance that if I stuck around I could help bring change to things. Maybe if I stood by Candace I could change her for the better. She’d already come this far because of me. If nothing else, maybe I can make her into a real person.

And that by itself was a noble enough cause for me. 

“I’m trusting you.” I mumbled to my own brain as I stared at my reflection in her mirror, still hung on the door to her closet. “This had better not just be an excuse to date my abductor without feeling bad. If it is, I’m going to be pissed.”

I stood there like I expected my brain to say something back, despite knowing that I was just living through some sort of internal monologue being acted out in real time before my eyes.

“It’s not your brain you should be consulting with.” My reflection practically scoffed at me, rolling her eyes. “Your heart’s just weak.”

Irked, I groaned at her. “You’re the one who fell for her, Sophia.”

“Oh. So it’s my fault now.” The girl in the mirror snapped back. “It was one sided. Parasocial. We were manipulated. We know that now. It’s not my fault. It’s not our fault that we fell in love with her, Chloe.”

“Then what do you suppose I do about it, huh?” I grinded my teeth together. “My heart isn’t weak for wanting to be with her.”

“Yes it is.” She growled. “You can’t love her.”

“But you just said it wasn’t our fault.”

“I said it’s not our fault that we fell in love with her to begin with. But we know better now. We can’t let her get away with it anymore.”

No. My reflection wasn’t actually talking to me, nor was I hallucinating it. Sometimes it just helps to be able to imagine that other girl and talk things out with her- even if I’m just talking to myself in a mirror. 

“She’s changed.” I mumbled with a frown, hands curled into fists. “She was willing to give this all up to be with me.”

“She was willing to punish herself for what she did to you. That’s not noble. That’s a temper tantrum.”

“And you’re the reigning authority on temper tantrums, aren’t you?”

“Listen to yourself, Chloe.” Her fists uncurled, now holding her hands on her hips. “You’re the same as you’ve always been, just like her. People can’t change.” 

I took a deep breath in and out, looking her in the eyes. “Yes they can. People are always changing. Especially me and especially her.” 

She looked taken aback by that. “That’s not what you used to believe-”

“Because I’ve changed.” I snarled. “I know better now than I did then. If I can go from being you to being me, she can change too. I don’t believe in your same self-centered ideals anymore, it’s not just about me. Sabotaging myself hurts others- not just me- and I’m not going to let everything spiral out of control again. I won’t punish myself anymore.”

The version of me in the mirror turned red, crossing her arms at her chest in indignation. “And you’re going to trust her with your life?”

“I don’t have a choice.” I blushed, pouting. “She’s my only option.”

 

I took one last look at myself, seeming to come to a decision on my own. Finally some peace and quiet inside of my own head. Sometimes I just couldn’t stand these gears. Her bed smelled just as nice as ever- albeit with far less of a clean scent than a Candace scent. I must have just sat there for a while, cowering under her covers, pondering it all over.

“Candace.” I read the name stitched into the ear of her new stuffed toy, knowing exactly where the small grey tabby must have come from thanks to her signature. It should have upset me, but for some reason it actually made me smile. Squeezing it to my chest reminded me of Poppy. Reminded me of Colleen. “Mark my words, I’m gonna see you again, Mom. I promise.” 

From within my cell I never would have been able to hear them, but through Candace’s walls the sounds of her and her guests were quite clear. Knowing that they were up to something out there, I was never going to be able to fall asleep like this. I couldn’t be caught dead wearing the same thing I’d worn to the party, but fortunately for me there were plenty of my clothes just lying around. 

Pastel yellow crop top. Ripped jean shorts. Long sleeve flannel. And a pair of rainbow high tops. Just what the doctor ordered. The doctor here being no doctor ever, and the patient being my extremely poor twenty-three year old fashion sense. Which- lets be fair- I’d grown out of in my newfound wisdom. 

Pfft, nah. I’d just spent the last six months wearing maid uniforms and other slave princess attire. This was what I’d been wearing the last time I saw my mother- right before I’d been shipped to my new owner. 

If it was good enough for Cinco de Mayo, it was good enough for this.

Here goes nothing.

 

✶      ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧      ✶      ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦      ✶

 

Quiet as can be, I stepped out of the master bedroom and towards the parlor, careful not to disturb anyone with my presence. But as expected, the whole room went dead silent the moment anyone laid eyes on me.

It wasn’t too dissimilar a sight from the first afterparty I’d seen from now, but it felt different knowing the context of the party before it. 

Cyrus. Liz. Lilith. Aria. Malcolm. Anthony. It was nice to see Malcolm’s boyfriend this time around, but Leah’s absence was certainly felt, especially by Candace. Candace… 

She smiled, trying not to let me see the eager look on her face. No one else knew what to say or do to break the ice at this point. They just continue to sit there with their drinks in hand, letting me be the one to break the ice, which I did. 

Aria’s fingers twitched as I stepped towards her, paying no mind to the eyes staring at me as I snatched the half-empty beer bottle from her hand, shotgunning it as quickly as I could. Like hell I wanted to do this sober. They were all drunk anyway. At least I had the decency to set the bottle back down on the table when I was done, rather than smashing it over someone’s skull. Cough cough. 

Candace’s eyes locked with mine as I stood there, letting out a loud- and quite unladylike- belch from the pits of my stomach. I wasn’t a slave anymore. I was a guest. I could do whatever I want.

“Well don’t just sit there.” I groaned, rolling my eyes at them. “If I wanted people to stare at me I wouldn’t have dressed like a street urchin.”

It didn’t matter that Candace was the only one to giggle at that, because at least I’d gotten that out of her. “You look nice.”

“I look like a homeless person.”

“Maybe.” She smirked. “But I think you look pretty anyways.”

Yeah. That made me blush. “I think you look pretty too.”

There was another long pause as Candace’s face just glowed with pride. Not at the compliment, but at all of the hard work she’d put in for me to be here with her tonight. But for everyone else, the reality of that was still just sinking in.

“Chloe?!” Out of everyone, Malcolm wouldn’t have been my first pick to jump to his feet and practically tackle me to the ground with a bear hug, but he was. “How the fuck are you here?!”

“Long story.” I chuckled, hugging him back. “You had to be there.” 

“It was something.” I heard Lilith behind me, also just a bit proud of Candace. “That’s for sure.”

“You mean you knew?!” Elizabeth squeaked, her eyes wide. 

“So that’s what happened back there.” Her husband folded his arms, unsure of whether he approved of this. “I was wondering how you got out of that alive.”

“Who, me?” Candace bemused. “Or Chloe?”

“Neither.” Cyrus shook his head, staring now at his own mother. 

Lilith just chuckled. “I always have tricks up my sleeves.”

“Oh yeah? And do those tricks involve murdering your own daughter?”

“Heavens no. Your sister is just fine.”

As everyone laughed it off around her, Aria just knelt there in shock, bewildered. A look of guilt seemingly began to overtake her face, lowering her head in shame. 

“But…” She choked. “What about Claudia?”

I couldn’t say I didn’t place any of the blame on her, but I wasn’t mad at Aria for what she did. At least I understood and accepted why she did it, and came out on the other end a better person for it. She’d just been too out of her depth trying to force Candace to better herself, but Aria had done a number on that for me. No one could make Candace a better person.

No one but me. 

“Candace?” I turned to her, frowning. “What about Claudia?”

She paused, looking me over as she thought. For a moment it looked like she had something to say, and then nothing came out. “I don’t know what happens now. I guess that’s up to her.”

Biting my lower lip, I nodded. “I guess so.” 

“Cheers then.” Anthony smiled, holding up two shots of something much stronger for himself and for me, letting me tap mine to his. “Don’t know what any of that means, but congrats.”

“Thanks.” I tipped my head back, knocking the whole thing down before handing it back. It didn’t taste good, but I was glad to have it. I paused. There was something I needed to think over. “If you’ll excuse me.”

 

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The vision of the ocean was as wild and blue through the dining room window as it always had. Tempestuous. Across that water and across the country was my mother. I didn’t realize it until now, but I missed her. 

“What’s up?” Candace whispered to me from behind, holding both hands to my hips. “Are you okay?”

Obviously not. I shook my head. “No.”

“Talk to me.”

“I’m not doing this because I want to.” I quickly snapped, never taking my eyes off of the ocean for a moment. “And I’m not doing this out of love either, because I don’t.”

“I’m not letting you go.”

“I’m not asking you to.”

“Then what?” She asked, calmly and coolly. “Why are you doing this?”

My face red with near shame, I turned around in her arms, placing my arms over her shoulders and around her neck. “Because I don’t want you to hurt anyone else like you’ve hurt me. That’s why. If letting myself be yours for the rest of my life means that you don’t do any more bad things to any more good people, then that’s what I’m going to do.”

“That’s it then?” Candace frowned. “You don’t think I can be a good person?”

“That’s not true. I know you can be a good person. I’m sure of it.” I gave her a smile to try and reassure her. “Maybe then we can be happy together. But not a moment sooner.”

Candace’s face lightened up just a bit. “You’re going to martyr yourself?”

“That’s why I’m here, isn’t it? To suffer for the sake of others?”

“Chloe…”

Her heart sank at the sound of that, holding me there in her arms. My eyes closed with hers, feeling her press her lips to mine. She held me there- and I held her there- for as long as possible, only opening our eyes when we had to. 

“I love you.” She breathed desperately. 

Eyes still locked together, I nodded, smiling. “I know. I love me too… I just don’t know if I love you yet.”

Candace giggled, almost pouting, as she pressed her forehead to mine. “I think I can accept that for tonight.”

“And tomorrow?” 

I peeked at her with one eye. She was blushing. “We’ll see.” 

Sighing the last of my worries out for right now, I let myself fall into her arms, feeling her rock me back and forth as we stood under the starlight outside. 

We heard someone call Candace’s name, followed by the pitter patter of approaching steps, and we both knew who that was. Aria almost seemed guilty to be interrupting us. But it was important. “We’re going to be having a toast here soon. Do you two still need a minute?”

Needing a minute was a bit of an understatement. More so for Candace than for me. I sensed she probably would have liked an hour just to herself. Her bitter eyes drifted towards the floor at my feet, filled with something just a bit short of anger. 

“I’m sorry.” The smaller woman stammered, sensing she had struck a chord. “I didn’t mean-”

“You were supposed to be my best friend.” My master hissed, focusing on the space between them.

“I know you’re upset. I fucked up. I’m sorry.” Aria frowned, knowing there wasn’t anything she could really do to defend herself. 

Candace looked up, contemplating as she stared into my eyes. “What you did was selfish, thoughtless, and egotistical. And I know I’m not much better, but I’m still upset about it.” She paused, sighing to herself. “I’m going to try and do what I think is the right thing here. My father is out for Chloe’s head and I’m going to do everything I can to protect her.”

Aria smiled politely, hanging her head. “But you’re not going to protect me.”

“Like I said, you’re still my best friend, but no. I’m not going to reward you for what you did- even if it turned out okay. I’m still here for you no matter where you end up, wherever that ends up being. Until that happens though, I’m going to trust my family to figure out what’s best for you. Because clearly I can’t trust you with that decision. You’re Lilith’s possession now, she gets to choose where to put you, I have faith in her.”

“And if she does end up choosing you?” Aria was nervously tapping her foot, very nearly about to lose it. “What would you do with me then?”

“I don’t know, and I’m not going to spend time thinking about it, not unless it actually happens.” Candace gave her friend a begrudging smile, carefully monitoring my face for my thoughts and feelings on the matter. I of course said nothing, but gave her a knowing- almost jealous- look. “I imagine though, if it does turn out that way, I’d probably find someone I trust to give you to. Because as much as I care for you- I don’t think I can keep you.”

The poor girl nodded. “I don’t know if I’m strong enough to belong to anyone else.”

“I’m afraid I can’t help you there.” Candace rebuked, still staring at me and not her. She was doing her best- I could see it in her eyes- but she was still struggling to hold her tongue. “You’re stronger than you think, I promise. Besides… I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

“Because she’s going to pick your sister.” Aria ground out, her voice littered with abject despair. “She’s going to give me to Claudia.”

My heart jumped at the thought of that. Surely she wouldn’t, right? Then again, Aria’s fears were clearly quite justified. Not only had Candace’s elder sister just lost a slave- in the form of yours truly- but she was also reeling from everything Candace and I had just finished doing to her. Candace wasn’t Lilith’s daughter- Claudia was. If anything it should seemingly be down to picking between her and her brother, Candace would be lucky to see anything passed down to her from father’s ex-wife slash mother’s former owner. The only foreseeable alternative I could think of was in reparation for the death of Candace’s mom, but that was a loss felt just as badly by her sister, if not more. No, I didn’t want Candace to keep Aria for herself, but I did want her to end up somewhere safe.

“You don’t know that, Aria.” Candace broke away from me, staring down at her friend in disappointment. She knew how I felt, she could see it in my eyes, she was just avoiding it now. She didn’t want to face it. “But even if it does. I already told you- I won’t protect you.”

“Mistress?” I lightly tapped her chest, trying to get her attention. If she was going to say something like that she was going to look me in the eyes and do it. “You can’t just sit here and abandon her.”

“And why not?” Candace quickly did just that, glaring daggers into my eyes as she snarled, snatching me by the wrist. 

My fingers unfolded, trying not to fight her grasp. This was the Candace that I was afraid I was going to get tonight. “Because she loves you.”

But something changed right at the last minute there, Candace’s eyes softened, looking almost dejected. She didn’t say anything- but I could tell what that face was meant to say.

I watched Aria’s face turn red out of the corner of my eye, shuffling nervously. “No. She’s right. I deserve this.” 

“Candace…” My eyes pleaded with hers. “Don’t punish her like you punished me…”

Her fingers gently interlocked with mine, holding my hands softly but firmly. “I’m not trying to punish her. I need you both to believe me, please. I’m going to do what’s best. I promise. I’m your master, Chloe, you need to trust me.”

“But if I just blindly trust you, where does that get me?”   

“There’s a difference between trust and faith- just like there’s a difference between blind obedience and submission. I’m not asking for your blind trust, I’m telling you to have faith in me.” 

Quiet thoughts filled my head as I thought, slowly hanging my head- not in defeat, but in deference. It was a submission heavily soaked in reluctance, but it was a submission nonetheless. Admittedly, these moments were some of the hardest for me, but if Candace was going to be a better master… I needed to be a better slave. 

That started here- with the big rather than the small. It started with something I despised above almost all else.

Losing. This new game was really strange and unintuitive to me. I needed to learn how to lose, or rather let myself lose, in order to win. I needed to- heavens forbid- learn how to give up. Or as a wise woman once said. Forfeit.

“Okay.” Was all I said, hanging my head and closing my eyes. But doing it like this was almost a way of admitting- I don’t want to say it, but I’m wrong. At the very least, it was a way of admitting that I wasn’t the right person to make this decision- or if I was- signalling that I trusted her to do the same. After all, I had made a lot of decisions on my own and I’d put a lot of people in danger in doing so, and that wasn’t what I wanted to do anymore. My priorities had changed. But as good as it was, there was still a better way of admitting it without having to say all of that. “Yes, Master.” 

“You too, Aria.” She spent less than a moment on me, accepting what I had to say. A fraction of how much I’d put into it- and rightfully so. “If you can’t trust her, then please- trust me. I know Lilith has made mistakes in the past, and lots of them, but so have I. She’s been there for you so far. Just like she’s been there for me, and for Cyrus, and admittedly- for Claudia. I trust her, and if you have faith in me, you do too. I think she’s going to make the right choice, and if she does end up giving you to Claudia. There’s a reason.”

She smiled, holding me by both hands as she tried her best to reassure Aria. And I hated to admit it, but yeah, I trusted her judgement. At least enough to bury myself in her arms as the old woman slowly approached.

“Happy birthday, Miss Mariam.” Candace gave her a smile, just a little bit embarrassed. “I’m sorry for ruining your party.”

Lilith let out a content sigh, making her way to Aria and placing a hand on the girl’s shoulder as she struggled to stay standing. “I stopped having birthday parties about a quarter century ago. Tonight wasn’t about me, tonight was about everyone else. I got to see everyone I hated- as well as everyone I loved- and as long as everyone else had a nice time, it was worth it.”

“Still-” Candace mumbled, nudging me from her chest. “I think someone owes you an apology regardless.”

“Me?” I gasped, shell shocked. “What did I do?”

“Well you caused a few million dollars worth of property damage just in the chandelier alone, not to mention started an electrical fire that caused at least that much and more, while also nearly killing the hosts and putting that many more of their guests in danger. Even for you, that’s pretty violent.”

She was just going to have to stand there and watch me pout for a minute. I didn’t care about anything Candace just said, and she knew that. It wasn’t about what I was apologizing for or even whether or not I needed to apologize at all; it was about respect. Submission and respect, plain and simple. Respect your elders. Submit to your masters. Do as you’re told and apologize. That’s what it was about.

Closing my eyes and bowing- I apologized. “I’m sorry, Miss Mariam. Happy birthday.”

“Thank you, dear. And what about you?” That seemed to satisfy her at least, she was more concerned about what Aria had to say for herself than with me. “Would you like to apologize for doubting my judgement? Or would you like to take a chance on upsetting me and seeing where that gets you?” 

Aria promptly bit back her tongue and her pride as she nodded, almost crying. “I would like to apologize, Ma’am. I’m sorry. My fear got the better of me.” 

“Apology accepted.” She winked at us in a way that Aria wouldn’t be able to see, giving us both a knowing smirk. “I was going to inquire as to how that friend of yours was doing, knowing that my Aria here accompanied her to the facility. But it would appear that it can wait. There’s someone at the door for you two.”

 

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We knew exactly who it was going to be before we’d even stepped foot out of the dining room.

But that didn’t make it any easier. 

Candace’s eyes drifted to the ground at her feet as she opened the door, and I held her hand as tight as I could. She couldn’t even look up. “Hey.” 

And neither could her sister. “Hey…”

Candace and Claudia both just stood there, nervously. Neither of them could bear seeing the other in the eye. 

“What are you doing here?”

“Nothing malicious, I promise.” Claudia stood hand in hand with Josephine like Candace stood hand in hand with me. “Hey Josie, maybe you should do the talking?”

“No.” Her little sister snapped, refusing. “You can speak for yourself. Why are you here?”

Claudia’s face turned red in shame. “You forgot Chloe’s things when you left. I did kind of rush you out though, so that’s my fault. But I know if I held onto them until the morning it was just going to hurt us all more than it already has.”

Candace’s eyes glowed with anger, now staring into Claudia’s “You’re not here to take her away again?”

“No.” Claudia shook her head, opening up a familiar looking bag known to contain most of the belongings sent with me to the facility, pulling one thing out in particular and holding it towards me. “I wanted to give you this.”

Poppy. Safe and secure. I released Candace’s hand and took her into my arms, holding her to my chest. Having met the stuffed cat my mother must have made for Candace, I never thought I’d see her again. It put me on the verge of tears. “Thank you…”

“She’s yours. Lilian wouldn’t accept it any other way.” She nervously bit her lip, blue eyes glazing over with tears. “And what she wants is all that matters right now.”

Reluctantly, Candace accepted the bag from her sister’s claws, slinging it over her shoulder. “I appreciate it.”

“Why don’t you step inside?” I smiled, nervously giving them both a chuckle. “I can take your coat-”

“Now hold on a sec.” Claudia almost began to smile before her sister spoke up, shutting my offer down on the spot. Candace was looking at me like I was crazy all of a sudden. “I did not give you permission to invite people into my home.”

Claudia paused outside the door, looking to Josie at her side and sighing, nodding her head. I think they both must have understood why Candace wouldn’t want that. But I couldn’t help but feel like that was just a little unfair- not to them- but to me.

I stood there with my hands on my hips, giving Candace the most vexed expression I could manage. “This is my home too, isn’t it?”

Candace frowned at my displeasure. “You’re mine to protect, remember?”

“Then protect me.” I crossed my arms in discontent. “Don’t overprotect me.”

She gave a quick glance to her sister before turning back to me. “Are you sure about this?”

With a bright red glow on my cheeks, I nodded. “Trust me.”

 

People weren’t exactly expecting to see me tonight, but they were even more shocked to see Claudia and her spouse joining them in our parlor together. 

“It’s official.” Claudia loudly proclaimed as she took a seat opposite her brother, sitting on the floor between her wife and her mom. “We need a new house.”

Yikes. I winced at that. I knew I did a number on the place, but I didn’t expect it to be too terrible. “My bad…”

“That’s not all.” Josephine added, letting Claudia pour her a drink in exchange for a backrub, trying to be playful. “In total there’s been several dozen injuries we’re going to be liable for, Darcey’s got some nasty burns, Autumn suffered a concussion, Lilian refuses to leave Zenna’s side, there’s been at least one missing person reported, and one confirmed death- a second pending.”

“Wait-” I shot up in Candace’s lap. “Did someone die?”

Claudia nodded. “Only one so far, but admittedly it was his own fault and nothing you did.”

I bit my lip. “And the other?”

A hush fell over the room, briefly pervaded by the feeling that no one here wanted to be the one to say it. Candace of course had no idea what they were referring to, and I sensed that was exactly why nobody wanted to break the news to her. But eventually, all eyes fell onto poor Aria. 

“Aria.” Candace held me as tight as she could. “Out with it. What happened?”

She sat there for a few moments in silence, thinking how best to phrase it before eventually just going for it. “We didn’t notice it until we were already well on our way to the facility, but Leah’s condition was a lot worse than we initially thought. We were focusing so heavily on the bullet itself that we failed to notice what was on the bullet… Leah wasn’t just shot. She was poisoned.”

“Poisoned?” I heard Candace’s heart drop in her chest. “With what?”

“I don’t know, I’m sorry.” Aria hung her head. “Better people than me are trying to figure that out.” 

Candace clearly wanted to shove me out of her lap and march down to the facility, but she couldn’t. I clung to her, refusing to let go. She wasn’t going anywhere tonight. 

She hissed. “I need to go see her.”

“You can’t see her.” Her brother snapped at her. “No one’s allowed in.”

“But it’s our facility-”

“It’s my facility. And I said no. Not until we figure out what was used to poison her, who all has access to it, and where they’re getting it from- no one is going anywhere they don’t belong. That could have been one of us…” Cyrus’ eyebrows furled, glaring directly at his little sister. “And it almost was.”

Her eyes seemed to go wide with shock, sinking back in her favorite seat, her favorite girl still tucked safely in her lap. “I killed her.”

Candace’s sister quickly frowned. “You didn’t kill her-”

“Yes I did.” Candace hid her face behind her hands. “That bullet was for me. I killed Leah. She was always there for me… and I got her killed.”

Why I cared so much about how Candace felt, I would never understand. But I was surrounded by half a dozen people who expected me to wait on her hand and foot, and they were all looking at me like I should be doing something. 

“You can see her in the morning.” I cooed, trying my best to reassure her. “She’s going to be okay. She always pulls through, remember?” 

Candace bit back whatever it was she was feeling, looking me in the face with those pleading eyes of hers, almost offended that she was being talked down to. She had tears in her eyes that she was fighting, once again stealing my hand to hold.

“That woman surprised me tonight.” Lilith promptly said of Leah. “I’d be disappointed if she actually ended up dead after all of that. She seems too resilient for that.”

I watched Candace quickly raise an eyebrow. “I thought you hated her.”

Lilith paused, looking towards her own daughter. “I thought so too. But I guess there’s more to her than I had imagined.”

“I’m sorry, back up a minute.” Malcolm’s eyes nervously darted back and forth between Candace… and Claudia. “Is nobody going to address the elephant in the room?”

Candace’s sister simply rolled her eyes, grinding her teeth at the boy. “Let’s just say that there are more important things than petty fights over girls. Especially if it’s going to end up almost destroying my life inside and out. You win again, Sophia Cavalier, just like always. Good game.”

She blushed, averting her eyes. They didn’t need to know what happened tonight. It was better if they remained in the dark about the things that could- and would- hurt them. 

Everyone held up a drink, tapping their glasses together at their host’s behest. “A toast. To family.”

Her guests relished in that, smiling and laughing amongst themselves after a long night. Malcolm and his fiance quietly snuck out as Lilith said her goodbyes. Along with her husband and his wife, as well as Aria at her side to look after her for the time being, she delivered a round of hugs and well wishes. She was clearly quite proud of all of her kids. 

I hadn’t expected it all to end like this, but I was glad. For a moment it seemed like it had all worked out just fine- but there was one thing still left to finish. 

 

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“I’ve always wanted you to come out to one of these, Claudia. It was nice finally getting to have that.” 

Candace held my hand in hers, facing her sister at the door as they were saying goodbyes. I was glad Claudia hadn’t tried anything while she was here, but her sister was still weary. Inviting her inside had been the right thing for me to do, at least for Lilith’s sake, but it didn’t make facing her any less terrifying. 

“Of course. Thanks for inviting us in.” Her sister bowed slightly, foregoing a kiss goodbye entirely. 

Candace gave her a polite smile and accepted her formality at face value with a nod. “That being said, I don’t think I can let you back anytime soon.” 

Claudia lowered her gaze, doing her best to stay calm. She wasn’t about to fight that. “I understand.”

“I meant what I said though.” Candace butted back in, finding it easier to look her sister-in-law in the eyes. “You’re my sister. I love you, and I want what’s best for you. I could never blame you for what happened to my mother, because I know she wouldn’t, but I can’t say the same about everything else. I invited you in for Miss Mariam’s sake, but I don’t want you stepping foot in my house anymore, please. I think it’s for the best that we go our separate ways for the time being. It’s going to take me a long while to want to see you again, if ever.”

“I think for both of our sake I actually agree with you for once.” Claudia nudged her wife in the side. “But you’re both welcome back in our lives whenever you wish. Right honey?”

“Of course.” Josephine, sensing her wife’s hesitation, answered. Pulling out a small folder and holding it out to us both. “Which brings us to this. We hope you don’t mind. I’m sure you’ll want to keep Chloe a secret as much as you can, but we had one of our attorney friends write up some paperwork. Legal stuff. She’s trustworthy. We promise.” 

Taking the documents into her arms, Candace raised an eyebrow. She clearly found it much easier to look her sister-in-law in the eyes. “What is this?”

Josephine smiled. “A contract. Officially transferring ownership of Chloe back to you.” 

Her eyes went wide at the sound of that, staring at the contract in disbelief. It couldn’t be that simple. Not when it came to Claudia. “What’s the catch?”

“A godfather clause.” Claudia answered, trying to be fair and honest. “As written, we agree to return full custody of Chloe to you in exchange for what is basically the right of first refusal.”

Having quite thoroughly heard that go right over my head, I mumbled. “What does that mean?”

“It means that for as long as you both shall live, you belong to her. But-” And she paused on that objection for a moment. “In the event that something should happen. If Candace is no longer suitable to possess or maintain you. Custody over you shall return to us.”

Candace’s eyes narrowed in on her sister. “To you?”

“To me.” Claudia nodded. “But anything that would trigger that is out of my control.”

“You’ll have nothing to worry about as long as everything goes well. It’s just to give your slave some peace of mind. Claudia and I are always there just in case.”

She pondered over what Claudia was offering her for a moment. “I sign this, and you agree to drop this whole conflict, as long as I agree to give you custody of her when I die?”

Claudia rolled her eyes, smiling politely. “That and another thing, it was actually Josie’s idea, not mine.”

“And what’s that?” 

“You two got yourselves into all of this, remember?” Josie rightfully pointed out. “I just figured Chloe would appreciate some safety and freedom is all.”

I blushed, grinning from behind my plush dog. “What do you mean?”

“You chose to leave Candace last time.” My doppelganger reminded us. “I wanted to include a way- in case it ever got so bad you thought you’d need to leave again- to safely give you a back up owner to return to.”

Candace was more than mildly annoyed by the implication that it might ever happen again. “You’re saying that at any point, Chloe can- on a dime- choose to leave me… for you?”

“Exactly.” Josephine smirked, tossing me a wink. “Makes you think twice about how you’re treating her.”

“Or if you decide you don’t want her anymore. We do.” Claudia cut in one final time. “Does that sound fair?”

I almost wanted to cry hearing all of this, and Candace could sense that. Within moments I felt her hand on my waist, pulling me close and refusing to let go of me. 

“Trust me. That’s not going to happen.”

Claudia smiled, accepting her sister’s words as she pressed herself against her own wife. “I know how that feels.”

That settled, the two of them made their leave, having said their goodbyes and made their offer. I stood outside the door beside Candace as the both of us watched to make sure they were actually gone. But sure enough, that seemed to be the end of it all.

 

I hated to admit it, but what they were offering almost sounded too good to be true after all this time. There was just one small problem, however. The folder looked legitimate, scarily so, but it also felt like a scam. One that I wasn’t falling for. 

“With all due respect, Ma’am. Do you honestly expect me to believe all of this?”

Once we were alone together I needed to expose this for what it was. A trick. My hand snapped forward, clenching the folder shut in Candace’s hands. Tucked inside the legal leather still competing for Candace’s attention was that written agreement Claudia and whatever legal professionals she’d hired had scrambled together in the span of a night. It was a nice gesture on their part, but there was still that tiny gigantic hole in logic I couldn’t quite circumvent. 

“A contract? Seriously? You think you can really settle this with a contract?” I slid the folder from Candace’s fingers, looking her straight in the eyes. “You do realize that owning people is illegal, right? Nothing in here could ever hold up in a court of law, lest you get arrested for it. What’s the point of all this formality if it doesn’t mean anything?”

My old master turned new master looked just a bit disappointed in me. Candace simply held her hand out for the briefing, expecting me to slide it back into her hand, which I did without any more fuss. But my point still stood. It was faulty logic at its best.

“That’s the point, slave.” She quickly snapped as she smacked me upside the head with it. “It doesn’t matter if the law can’t punish us, because the law can’t protect us either. There’s nothing stopping us from fighting each other to the death. We have to be our own enforcers or else everyone loses. That’s how this works.”

“But what about me?” I hopelessly exclaimed. “I have no power in this.” 

“You don’t need to have power in this. I have enough power for us both.”

“I need the law on my side to help me, Candace. I can’t protect myself like you can. A peace treaty doesn’t help me. I’m one of the little guys.”

“And you’re going to stay one of the little guys.” Candace snorted in disbelief. “You don’t need the law to protect you. I’m going to protect you.”

My jaw nearly hit the floor. Candace was talking like a lunatic. “But who’s going to protect me from you?”

She was taken aback, tightening her grip on the false legal folder in her hands. I wasn’t the only one struggling with this. According to them both, there was a clause in that contract which would allow me to choose to go back to Claudia if I so chose. But such a thing was useless without the power to enact it. 

“Nobody can enforce a contract like that. Not for me, at least. If I’m wrong about you and things don’t get better- I’m trapped here with no way out. I have no way of knowing that you’ll keep your word.”

Candace paused for a few moments to watch the ways the stars glowed on the surface of the ocean, her heart heavy in her chest. “You’ll just have to trust me.”

An anxious jolt struck my heart. “That’s it?”

“All I can do is ask you to have faith in me, Chloe. Neither of us knew what was going to happen today, but we pulled out of there together, and here we are. My sister’s problems aside- what happened back there was our fault. I may not like it, but if it means Claudia handing your reins back over, signing this is in both of our best interest.”

She quickly swallowed her pride as she held the contract up in its folder for us both to see. This was her admission that no, she wasn’t a good person, but she was getting there. She just needed me to trust that version of her to come to be someday.

“I’m still figuring this out, Chloe. You have a lot more power in this than you think you do, I promise. The idea that nothing can stop me from mistreating you makes sense on the surface, but it’s wrong. You have more to give than you know. You are your own protector.”

My whole hand curled around the head of my collar, feeling the cold steel against my rope burned palms. The sound of the ocean rang quietly in my ears as the waves rippled on, calling to me. “How can you do this to me? How can you ask me to willingly become your slave?”

Before she could even speak, I’d gotten my answer. Her face said it all. Those mismatched eyes blinked nervously, her lips pressed together, and a bead of sweat sparkled like the ocean as it ran down her cheek. 

I actually thought she had changed. Part of me deep down believed her when she said she was better. I had so desperately hoped that this didn’t mean what I feared it did. That even in my confinement here, there was a chance that things would be different. I had thought- perhaps selfishly- that as long as I was with her I wouldn’t have to be a slave anymore.

But I was wrong. 

“Nothing I can say is going to make sense right now. But if you give me a chance I promise you’ll see. You just have to trust me, please.” Candace kept a smile on her face, stepping towards me ever so slowly. “Do you trust me?”

I felt my hand quickly slip away from hers before she had the chance to hold it. How was I supposed to respond to that? What was I supposed to do now? Escape? Run away?

The bright blue was right there just begging for my embrace beyond those tall iron gates. But between those gates and the sea lied a whole world of monsters there to rip me to shreds. No one could cross that abyss alone, not even Sophia Cavalier. I had nowhere to go from here but in, the only place left to hide was within my prison alone. I believed Candace when she promised to drag me back by force, I didn’t doubt her devotion to that. The weak link here wasn’t Candace- it was Chloe.

Hurrying away as quickly as I could, I heard her call my name just a moment too late. This place- this house- was my home. I had missed it so much more than I wanted to admit. I didn’t have the strength to escape it now. My shoes squeaked as they skidded across the floor, running to my hell rather than away from it. Even in my haste I found the time to kick them off before I’d soiled the floors. After a night like tonight I could hardly call this running at all. Running would mean I had somewhere to go, this was a slow and painful retreat back to solitude.

A few months younger and I would have kicked one of her cats in my anger, but I couldn’t lay a finger or toe on those loveable little fluff balls. It wasn’t their fault that their owner was a monster, and it wasn’t my fault either. 

“I told you so, Chloe. I told you that you couldn’t trust her.” I barely managed to scold myself as I stood there, staring at myself in the mirror. “Why did you ever think she could change?”

My words came out as a snarl, cursing myself for becoming so soft. She gave me no answer because there was no answer. It didn’t make sense that it was her- not me- that people loved. It wasn’t fair to me that someone so weak, stupid, and naive could make it so far when the real me had to hide away. Candace loved Chloe- not Sophia Cavalier.

But in some last ditch effort to cut that part of myself away forever, that part of me- the one I’d worn like a costume for so long- decided to shed the facade. I’d gotten lost in myself. Thanks to these people, I no longer had any clue who I was anymore. Chloe or Sophia. But seeing myself in those clothes again wasn’t helping. Stripped free of every ring, stud, rod, or rag- save for one- I stepped into the closet. Candace already took everything else I had, if I left my clothes at the door there was nothing left to give. Despite all odds, the only thing I had now was the collar around my neck.

 

The cell door slammed shut in front of me, trapping me inside. 

It was the only place I could think to go. Sure, I was stuck here. But if I played my cards right it also meant that Candace was stuck out there. Away from me. Her ability to get in was limited by her ability to force this door open, and if I didn’t want to let her inside, I didn’t have to. But my resolve to hold that door shut with all of my might instantly disintegrated once I was inside, finding myself curling up into a ball on top of the bench, trying not to sob. 

The writing had been on the wall. I know it had. But I tried to ignore it. With all her talk of wanting me to belong to her, I had tried to reason it away as romantics. I tried to interpret as Candace simply wanting to be with me again, because I knew that when I realized otherwise, it was all going to come crashing in on me. 

She was still the same person on the inside that she always had been.

 

“When I ask you a question like that, I usually expect an answer.”

I heard Candace’s voice coming from her bedroom, talking to me through the hatch along the floor rather than the cell door. At least she had the decency not to force her way inside so soon. 

“You first.” I spat back at her, my tongue coated with anguish. “I thought you didn’t want me to be your helpless trophy?”

Her sigh almost came out like a voice crack. “That’s not what you are to me.” 

“Then how can you ask me to become your slave?”

“Because I’m selfish.” Candace shouted, admitting it out loud. “And you’re right. I take pleasure in it. But I also want to take pride in it. I want to look at you and think… That one belongs to me. She’s mine. No one else can have her. Yes it’s extreme- and yes, if it makes me a monster- then I’m a monster. But at the end of the day… I’m not giving you a choice.”

We sat there in silence for a few more moments. My heart fluttered excitedly, disgustingly, inside of my chest. 

“You know what’s the worst part?” I mumbled to her. “Hearing you say that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.”

“But that shouldn’t be a problem, Chloe. That’s what we both want.” 

“That’s not my name-”

“Yes it is.” Candace said with a hint of annoyance in her voice. “You can’t be Chloe one minute and Sophia the next. They’re both you.” 

My entire body shuddered at her insistence. “How do I know that?”

“Because I promise I’m not lying to you. I love you.” I heard her shuffling from the other side of the wall, pressing her hand to the hatch. “Do you love me?”

For a moment I actually pressed my hand to the hatch, but the cold and painful steel bit at my skin, forcing it away. It was too cold in here to feel her touch. All I had was what little she gave me- a blanket, a pillow, and a small mat to sleep on. The walls she built to contain me kept her warmth from reaching me.

 

“I don’t know.” I sighed, gently leaning back against the wall. “I don’t know who you are.”

Candace sat up beside the hatch, turned towards me. This was where she was supposed to say something, but she didn’t need to.

“I thought I was in love with you. But it was just that, a thought. I’ve always been in love with the idea of you.” This was hard for me, even after so long, and I could tell it was hard for her too. “But I’m not sure if I love the real you. Because if I’m being honest with myself… I don’t know the real you. I don’t know who you are.”

Candace was always sharp with her comebacks, but she had nothing to say this time. I meant it, I didn’t know who Candace really was, and the reason this was so hard for her was because honestly… Candace didn’t either.

“I don’t know who the real you is. I don’t think I ever have, and I don’t think you do either.” I paused, I knew that feeling, I knew how she felt. “I don’t know who you are, but I don’t know who I am either… so if we really want to fix this, I think we should start there… by figuring out who we are-”

“Stop.” Candace pleaded, gently placing her hand on the metal hatch between you. “I hear you, I promise. But please, listen to me.”

I frowned, turning my naked body to face her. I was nervous, being here with Candace again worried me, but I wanted to hear what she had to say. If the real her was going to speak, I was going to listen to her. 

“I know you’re scared of this fictional other girl, but this idea that there’s some real me- someone that you don’t know- that’s what’s not real. It’s a defense mechanism.” Candace’s voice had a real sweetness to it, the way she sat facing me rather than away from me, I appreciated that. “It’s good for you to have these shields of yours, but you have to recognize them for what they are, they’re just shields.”

“So what if they’re just shields?” I wrapped my blanket around myself. “I like shields. They make me feel safe, why should I have to get rid of them?”

“Because you have to drop the shield eventually.” She smiled, pressing a few buttons on her phone from the other side of the hatch, blushing lightly. “Shields are important, they help protect you from the people who want to hurt you. But shields are heavy… sooner or later they stop being a defense mechanism, they become dead weight.”

My face turned red, tightening my grip on the blanket I’d covered myself in. It was hard for me to let go, she had to understand that, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t know how cold it really was, she wasn’t in here with me. I was in the cold alone, I was the one left with no way out- wasn’t I?

“When someone swings a sword at you, the shield is there to protect you… but what happens when it’s not a sword? What happens when someone just wants to hold your hand?” Candace paused for a moment, taking a deep breath before beginning to fiddle with the hatch. “It hurts. That’s what happens, it hurts them. A hand is soft, warm, and nice… but with a shield there’s nothing to grab onto, there’s nothing to hold. All you can do is touch it, and even when you do- it’s just hard… and cold.”

I could slowly feel the cell warming up around me, and not just with a heat of passion, it was real. I slowly slid the blankets off from my shoulders, letting the warm air touch my skin as the bitterness faded away.

“When you get cold, you wrap yourself in a blanket to protect yourself because you have no control over it, you have no other options… except you do.” Candace tapped the screen of her phone, she controlled the temperature, she was doing this. “When you get cold, instead of wrapping yourself in blankets… you can just ask me to turn up the heat, and I will.”

“But how do I know that?” I kept the blanket folded up in my lap, refusing to drop it completely. “How do I know you’re not just trying to take my shields away from me?”

“Because you know me. You just keep convincing yourself that you don’t because you’re scared of getting hurt, and that’s okay. I’m scared of getting hurt too… but I’m willing to drop my shields for you.” 

One by one, Candace slid open the segments of the hatch… until there was no hatch between us at all. 

“Please, talk to me… drop your shields and hold my hand…” Candace sat on the other side of what was now little more than a dog door, smiling in at me. “I’ve seen the real you, sweetie. I’ve seen you put down your shields… only for you to come back wearing a suit of armor.”

I loosened my grip on the blanket, pulling it out of my lap so that I could see that little stuffed dog of mine sitting between my legs- finally able to see her clearly for what she was. 

“This thing that you did, this latest escape attempt of yours… that wasn’t running away. That was just the armor you built for yourself.” Candace was blushing, she looked my naked body up and down for a moment before averting her eyes, letting me watch her slowly undress in front of me from inside of my cell. “As much as it hurts me to say it, I’m glad it was my sister, because if it was anyone else… you’d be wearing that armor for the rest of your life, and I’d never get to hold you.”

Piece by piece she stripped herself clean, bearing her soul to me with every word, and I could tell that she meant every syllable that left her lips. 

“The girl I love isn’t just a version of you, it’s every version of you. I don’t believe that the girl I’m seeing now is someone I created, I think she’s someone who’s always been there, you just haven’t explored that part of yourself yet. You’re not a character on a screen or some words on a page. You’re a real person, you’re so much more complicated than that. You can’t be the hero of some story because you deserve to be so much more than that. But this is the real world now, there’s no such thing as plot armor. I know you don’t trust me yet, but I need you to take off the armor and give me a chance.”

Candace set her gown aside, just a little bit more vulnerable than she had been as she reached inside to hold my hand.

“The stronger your armor the heavier it gets… but holding a shield can only weigh you down. It can never lift you up.” Candace paused for a moment, holding her empty hand towards me to make sure I knew she wasn’t going to grab me by force. “You can put your shield down and take my hand now. Because you do know the real me, Sophia… and the fact that you’re even considering it means that you already know…”

I put my shield down for just a moment, setting it aside as I considered being with her.  “I already know what?”

“You already know that this is something worth fixing.”

 

And like the lost puppy I was, I took her hand in mine, and I let her hold me. 

Candace had never quite been as happy as she helped me through the small hatch and into her bedroom with her, straight into her lap so that she could wrap her arms around me and finally hold me close. 

“I’m keeping you this time, Sophia.” She smiled, letting me lay my head against her shoulder. “Would you like to be Sophia again?”

“That’s the thing, Candace…” I smiled back, enjoying the feeling of her soft touch. “I’ve always been Sophia, haven’t I?’

“Of course you have.” Candace tightened her grip, gently kissing the top of my head. “Like I said, you’re always going to be you, no matter what I call you~”

“Then please- call me Chloe.” I closed my eyes, for once in my life just letting myself enjoy where I was without a shield up to protect me, trusting her to keep me safe, if only for tonight. “I like the sound of it… Candace and Chloe.”

“I do too.” Candace looked me in the eyes as I opened them, blushing just slightly. “So what do you think… how would you feel about being Candace and Chloe?”

“I think I need time… I need time to figure out how I feel about you… about Candace.” I frowned, averting my eyes away from her as I spoke. “I need time to be Chloe with Candace again before I can be a part of… Candace and Chloe.” 

“Don’t look away from me when you talk like that, hon.” Candace gently lifted my chin with one finger, making me look up at her to let me see that she wasn’t upset by what she was saying. “This is going to take a lot of time to fix, but we have all of the time in the world~”

“Yeah…” I smiled, wanting to kiss those stupid lips of hers. “I guess we do.”

“But in the meantime…” She took the thoughts right out of my head and the breath right out of my lungs, bringing my lips to hers for a kiss. “What do you say we get up from the floor, snuggle up under the covers, have some sex, and go to bed?”

“I want to…” I blushed, trying my best not to look away. “Except-”

“You don’t want to have sex.” Candace smiled, still looking as content as ever- taking the words right out of my mouth. “Is that it?”

“I mean, it’s not that I don’t-”

“Slave.”

That word shook me, being reminded of what I was to her made me just want to throw my shield right back up, to keep myself from enjoying the idea of being put in my place. “Master?”

“I’m in charge, remember?” She kept my eyes locked with hers, not letting me go. “I decide what we do.”

“Yes, Master…” I swallowed nervously, my head lowering ever so slightly as I kept looking up at her. “We can have sex…”

“That’s not what I meant, honey.” She shook her head, letting me gently sit up in her lap. “I decide what we do, I decide what happens to you. If you want me to turn up the heat, you need to let me know when it gets cold… and if you don’t want me to do something to you, please- tell me…”

“I don’t want to sleep in your bed…” I blushed, anxiously staring up into her glowing teary eyes with mine. “Not tonight…”

“And as your master- I think that’s a perfectly appropriate request.” She smiled, giggling to herself. “But I also don’t have anywhere else to put you tonight.”

I turned towards my old prison, almost looking straight through the wall as I wondered what I was meant to do. “There’s always the cell.”

Candace frowned, thinking it over before nodding. “Are you sure?”

“Tomorrow, right?” I shot her a smirk. “You’re already planning on giving me my own room?”

Her cheeks lit up at that. “Yes.”

“As long as this is the last time I ever have to sleep in my cell, then yes.” I took a deep breath, readying myself. “I’m sure.” 

Candace was clearly hurt by the idea of me choosing to go back into my cell rather than staying out here with her, but she was going to let me through with it anyways. “Then get inside before I change my mind.”

Without another word, I quickly tore the bandage off, quickly deciding the same and crawling back inside through that little hatch. It was cramped, small, and ugly- but it was mine. 

And more importantly, it was warm.

“God damn it.” I couldn’t help but smile as I curled up inside, noticing that Candace was smiling from the other side. “I’ve missed this.”

Candace giggled as she heard that. “That has to be one of the most pathetic things I’ve ever heard.”

I wanted to mumble at her to shut up, but I was already too tired. “Well, aren’t you going to lock me in?”

She bit her lip. “Do you want me to?”

Crossing my arms at my chest, I pouted at her. Candace couldn’t resist my puppy dog eyes.

“If you insist, then sure. I’ll lock you up inside of your cell, all nice and tight.” She relented, rolling her eyes at me. “But you’d better still be here when I open this back up.”

“Just don’t leave me a key and you’ll be fine.” 

Candace’s face turned red, oddly proud for some reason. “Sleep tight, Chloe. Please don’t be afraid, okay?”

My nervous heart urged me to trust her, at least for the night. “Okay.”

I heard her let out a loud prolonged breath, like she was letting go of something she’d held onto for ages. Without any more delay the hatch between us snapped closed, locking me inside for what was hopefully my last night in this little prison of mine. And I had to admit, the thought of that was pretty bittersweet. But at least I got to spend at least one last night inside before I had to say goodbye to it- for nostalgia’s sake. 

After all, I really had missed this place. 

“Don’t let me down, St. Clair. I’m trusting you.”

 

Notes:

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Chapter 48: Golden Apple

Notes:

The story slowly moves on, and to be honest, this one was really hard for me to write.

But I hope you enjoy it, and look forward to seeing the latter half of the act 5 epilogue.

Thanks for getting this far with me~

“If happy little bluebirds fly… Over the rainbow… Why, oh why… Can’t… I?”

 

Soft morning light radiated through the stained glass windows, illuminating the dimly lit cathedral and its murals with color. My voice- weak as it was- easily pronounced its way through the long hall, the echoes of my solemn emotion delivering themselves to everyone in attendance. To my surprise, I found it pleasant: the sound of my words really felt like music for once. That melancholy of mine resonated with them as well, and I couldn’t help but feel just a little bit better once I’d realized that I wasn’t the only one with tears in my eyes. 

I was dismayed by the sound of clapping, however, inundated by a respectful applause as I returned to my seat. It was nice to think that they enjoyed my performance, but in my misery I loathed the idea that anything here today was worth celebrating. 

 

My brother said nothing to me as I sat down, letting my take and squeeze his hand as hard as I needed to. Annoyed beyond all reason, the heels at my feet tapped against the ground just a little bit harder and a little bit louder than they ought to have. But nobody dared to say a thing about it. They knew who I was the daughter of.

He gave me a smile, which I took- perhaps selfishly- as one of approval rather than solace. But it did help me feel that much better once more. If not solaced, consoled. 

Touch was kept to a minimum today. We knew the kinds of things that could happen at a place like this- and considering everything that was going on at that time- it was better to be safe than sorry. Thankfully my sister wasn’t here to cause anything inappropriate. I hated to admit it- but I didn’t want her here in the first place. 

My father was in attendance though, sitting opposite Cyrus beside me. He looked at me with those confident blue eyes of his, helping to calm mine, giving me a kiss on the forehead before standing up and taking the empty stage I left for him. Most of what he had to say must have been blocked out of memory, retreating into my own head as I sat there in silence, plagued by grief. There was no way things could possibly get any worse.

But then- exactly when I needed it the most- I felt a hand on my shoulder. If it was anyone else, I would have flinched and panicked at their touch, but she was different. Hers felt a lot like my mother’s, the way she almost protectively held it there reminded me of her.

“You did beautifully.” She whispered, and I was oddly appreciative of the way her face was absent of a smile. It might have been selfish of me, but she must have sensed that I couldn’t stand to see people smile. “It’s okay to cry.”

Almost on cue I felt that dam break, hearing the echoes of my own sobs bouncing back to me as I cried. It took hearing her say it for me to be able to cry without being ashamed of myself, but no one was going to blame me for it- especially at a funeral. She was my mother after all. I heard her sit in the empty seat beside me without taking her hand off of my shoulder. She wasn’t afraid of making too much noise in shuffling around- even if everyone did look at her with just a little bit of scorn- not if it meant consoling me. Solacing me. 

My eyes were free of tears by the time my father had finished both his eulogy and the ceremony, but her hand was still right there on my shoulder. That feeling was something I would remember for the rest of my life. 

“Leah…” I mumbled, a bit loud to be considered a whisper. She smiled only after I smiled, turning to her and melting just a bit with my heart. “I miss her…”

In hindsight it was a bit rude- perhaps selfish of me- not to thank her for either her touch or her compliment. But at the time I’d thought it enough just to acknowledge her help, and part of me still feels that way. What distresses me now was being able to look back and see that lack of gratitude continue for far too long. 

“You’ll see her again someday, I promise.” She nodded. I know that she felt the same, but my jealous and short-sighted heart would have snapped at just the concept of anyone else being able to empathize with me. “Hopefully I can be half the mom she was someday.”

She had blue eyes. Ones which reminded me of my family, despite not being family. Properly blue, unlike mine, which were stuck in limbo trying to decide who I was meant to be. Caught between the rest of my family and my mother. It hurt knowing I’d never see those red eyes of hers again.

 

And there she was. Mom. 

She’d wanted an open casket according to my dad, and I was happy that she had one. My mother had always been the most beautiful woman I knew, despite how we both looked. Part of me scorned my condition, but knowing it was from her helped put that hatred to rest. Her face was almost happy, peaceful.

Leah, my guardian, held my hand as we stepped down the aisle to meet my mom one last time. On the pedestal beside her sat a small bowl, full of small packets of seeds. She always had liked gardening, even if it was stereotypical of a woman in her position. Most of the volume had thinned out as people accepted the memorial seeds out of obligation, but I could see at least one for every kind of flower she’d ever helped bring into the world, including me. A single apple sat there, alone, surrounded by the rest. Daddy insisted she could never grow an apple tree down here, but Mommy always wanted to try anyway.

The cathedral was quiet, almost empty now. We must have been the last ones to see her before they finally closed the casket, and that hand didn’t leave mine for a moment. 

“Candace.” She tugged on my arm. “Your eye’s getting all red.”

Blushing profusely at that, I felt around for the contact in my eye. It was still there, but all of that crying must have irritated the white around it until it was all red and sore. 

Leah was the only person I could remember smiling at the sight of my mismatched eyes. Up until that point it had been hiding them that usually earned that kind of reaction.

“Here.” She smiled, plucking the sunglasses from her face and setting them nicely into my gorgeously done up hair. “Keep those just in case.”

“Thanks.” I bit my lip, unable to appreciate the gesture as much as I would have liked to. It was just nice to be able to show my eyes right now. 

Leah didn’t usually step foot in churches, let alone Catholic ones such as this. She was Jewish after all. But my father was insistent that this was the place we held my mom’s funeral, and she wasn’t about to miss it.

My mom had a cross- Saint Clair’s cross- resting on her chest. For as long as I could remember it had been affixed to the head of her collar, something that had since been removed before she was to be buried. But it was still there where her collar was not, now dangling from a chain wrapped around her throat. A necklace. 

“Mom wanted me to have that. She always said she was going to give it to me after she was gone. She just didn’t want me to inherit the collar.” My voice shook as I spoke, both disappointed and angry. She was never seen without that cross, and my father insisted that it stay that way. Buried along with her. 

Leah stared at it and smirked, almost defiantly. “Don’t tell your dad about this, okay?”

This woman- the girl who had been my babysitter back when I was little- had balls as big as both her father and mine. It was something to be admired. Luckily, I was the only one who saw her reach in and take it. But I certainly didn’t have the courage to take what was meant to be mine, that’s for sure.

“If I get killed for this, you’re not invited to my funeral.” She winked, clasping the necklace around the back of my neck for me. “How’s that feel?”

A warmth spread from the cross to my heart as I finally held it to my body. “It’s perfect, Leah. Thank you.”

“It’s what your mom wanted.” She rolled her eyes at me. “Thank her, not me.”

My cheeks turned pink as I turned back to my mother, smiling as Leah left us alone together for the last time. I needed that, I felt, but I needed this even more. If I was going to be my mother- to inherit her collar like I was meant to- I needed this.

 

“I miss you, mom.” I held the cross with one hand and hers with the other, beginning to tear up again. She had a book in her hands, her diary, as worn and filled with passion as she had always been. “I miss you so much.” 

It had come too soon.

Tears broke from me at that point, left leaning towards her as I cried. I was only fourteen after all. Today had come too soon. There was so much left that I’d always thought I’d get to share with her. But now that she was gone I was never going to share another moment with her again. A whole list of things came to mind, things that I was going to regret never getting to say or do with her. There was one such thing that stood out to me the most though.

I had always assumed- perhaps selfishly- that my mother would be there to see me get married someday. I had always held out hope that she’d be the one to walk me down the aisle in the end. 

But that was never going to happen. 

“I’m sorry…” Memories of my mom getting beaten, violated, or otherwise abused for the sins that I’d committed sprung back to my mind. I couldn’t help but blame myself for this. For somehow making this day come much too soon. “I’m so sorry…”

Curse this family and everything it’s ever stood for. My heart ripped into shreds within my chest as I fell to my knees, hideously bawling my eyes out. No one was going to blame me for taking my time. They knew who I was the daughter of. Alecia Saint Clair.

“It’s time, princess.” He held his hand to the back of my head, gently running his fingers through my hair. “Every queen has her time.”

“Daddy…”

From my knees I looked up at him, sniffling back my weakness before he could witness it. I adored my father, but I’d never loved him quite as much as my mother. 

“Was it my fault?” I asked him, hiding her cross in my hands. “Did I kill mom?”

My father looked at me and frowned, gently lowering himself to his knees in front of me, something I’d never seen him do since. I could see him noticing the cross at my neck as he took me by both hands and helped me to my feet, but it did nothing but make him smile. 

“You didn’t do anything, princess. It wasn’t your fault, I promise.” He didn’t dare to laugh or cry, he wasn’t that kind of man. “It was my fault.”

Tears rolled down my cheek anew as we turned towards her one last time. My father closed his eyes after a moment, letting me be the last person to see her face. Before that, though, I got to be the last person to see his face as he laid eyes on her- the woman he loved- one final time. He did laugh and cry one last time for her, and for me. 

My father spoke little of the cross hanging from my neck, cradling it in his hands. But it was clear he approved of it. Perhaps inspired by my seeming act of bravery in taking it for myself, he reached in to hold her one last time, taking the diary from her hands and holding it to his chest like it was the bible. Clutching the cross with one hand, I reached to her casket with him- his eyes still closed- and spoke the last words I’d ever say to her.

“I love you, mom.”

Slowly, the casket closed, and she was delivered to her final rest.

Life moved too soon. All of a sudden I was in a world all on my own, and I wasn’t sure if I was ready for that. Mom was safe, and her collar was too, but I wasn’t quite ready to inherit it. 

“Daddy?” I frowned, letting go of the cross. “Am I still inheriting mom’s collar like you said I would?”

Father was always gentle with me, even at the most sensitive of times. “Would you like to?”

My young heart hadn’t expected him to ask me that. He’d never given me that sort of choice before. Like my mother always reluctantly told me, “You have to do as Daddy says, because that’s what you’re for.” That was my purpose. That was the reason he let mom keep me. I was just like her. I’d never actually considered whether I wanted to become her someday, and I had no idea what I was getting myself into. 

But I shook my head. All I could hope was that it was the correct answer. “No.”

He looked at me with an almost curious regret. For a second it was pretty clear that he hadn’t actually considered what I’d say when he asked. After all, no one had ever told him no before.

“I’ll tell you what, princess-” Dad laughed just a little, reaching past the seeds and into the bowl, plucking the fruit from its center. Then, he placed it into my hands. “We’ll leave it up to God to decide.”

Swallowing nervously, I accepted the apple, my nervous heart beating quicker every second. “How?”

“Let’s bury a piece of her with us.” He told me, clasping his hands over mine as I held the apple. “When we get home, I want you to bury this apple where you’ll remember, and if God permits- hopefully a part of her will grow with you. Can you do that for me?”

Hesitating, I turned it over in my hands. I was sure that I’d see her again someday, but I wanted that day to be today. She had been taken from me, and my world was so much emptier without her. If she couldn’t get an apple tree to grow, what hope did I have?

My solemn head slowly hung in agreement, I sighed. “Yes, father.”

“Princess…” He paused, giving me a look we were both more than familiar with. “Promise?”

With a heavy heart, I felt my face turn red, pressing my lips to the apple and planting a kiss like it was her. “Promise.”

Dad proudly stood over me, mom’s diary clutched to his chest. If there was one thing I knew about my father- the man who had everything he wanted- it was that he loved playing games. “If you can grow an apple from that tree- just one apple, no matter how big or small- I’ll let you be whatever you want to be.”

For the first time that day, just a bit of hope made its way into my heart, and I couldn’t help but cry tears of joy. “I love you, dad.”

“I love you too, princess.” He said as he took my arm in his. “Now let’s hurry. We don’t want to keep mom waiting.” 

 

My father was right to hope, because I did plant that apple. And every day when dad brought me into the garden, he helped me care for that tree.

It’s still in our yard to this day. I see it on occasion from the window of what used to be the room my mother and I shared. On nights when it was just the two of us we would sit there and stare into the garden outside- it was one of the few passions my father allowed her. Granted, I’ve never actually taken a bite out of one to see if they’re any good, but I was the first person to over pluck one of those apples. The next time I see that tree- I thought- I should take one of them home and plant another. 

But that would have to wait. Today wasn’t about an apple, or a cross, or even about me. It was about my mother in a way, just not the way you probably think. 

When I lost that cross, at least the first time, I was devastated. And the first person I called hadn’t been my father or my manager- it had been her. Leah. I think that was when I realized what our relationship really meant. Because once I saw it, I couldn’t unsee it. It all just sort of clicked into place.

“Hey, mom.” I smiled as I stepped in to see her, letting the door slowly close behind me. It was early enough for the morning light to just be radiating through the curtains, but I had to see her as soon as possible. She needed to be seen. She deserved to be seen.

The break of dawn usually came too late to wake me. My mom taught me the benefits of being up early when I was young and since then I’d always had some sort of routine which needed to be observed. Lately- and by lately I mean since I’d gotten a housemaid but before said housemaid was relocated- it had been to first wake up and drag myself out to the garage for at least an hour of working out. Chloe had no reason to know how I stayed so fit, and if I’m being honest I certainly started losing motivation once she was gone. But in case anyone is wondering- which they’re not- that’s why I shower every morning. 

Today was different, however. The first thing I did when I got up was make sure she was still there. She was, and I made sure to lock the open hatch between us to keep it that way. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t just a little bit scared that she was going to try and escape while I was asleep. Which I’m not convinced she didn’t try to do last night. I couldn’t have blamed her if she did, I would have just done my best to stop her. 

All things considered, I did feel a bit guilty to lock her inside of the cell again. That’s why I hadn’t done it last night. But this was different. I wasn’t locking the doors to keep her in, I was doing it to keep everyone else out. If all went according to plan I’d be back before she even woke up.

Then, of course, I skipped working out for like the fiftieth day in a row. I really needed to get back on top of that, but today was not the day. Today was the first day of a new era- and the last day of an old era. 

I got into my car. Alone. I drove over the land bridge from my small private island and onto the mainland. Alone. And I drove around the facility three times like Leah taught me before walking inside to see her. Alone.

It was hard for me to admit it, but my heart was pounding. Clearly hers was too, because sure enough, she was awake. For now. Her eyes went wide as she saw me, and my heart was quickly calmed by her smile. Hearing me call her mom made her laugh, and this time she didn’t deny it. But laughing quickly broke down into a fit of hacking and wheezing. And crying.

Seeing her in this much distress was one of the most painful things I’d ever been through- in part because I knew that it really was my fault this time. 

And all for what? A pair of necklaces? 

Leah had promised to help return my mother’s cross to me the moment she found out it had been taken. She had been there, she knew how much it meant to me, and I still couldn’t get it back. I’d been stupid to hide my intentions from her. Yes, I was happy to have the necklace Chloe made for me back, but it felt like a crime that I had prioritized it over something Leah had risked her own life to deliver to me. 

The only thing I could think now was how ashamed she was going to be when she found out it was gone. It was one of the few things my mother- the one that gave birth to me- left for me to find. Aside from her old clothes and some photos of us together, the one thing that remained was the diary I had tucked safely in my purse. 

“Good morning, sweetheart.” She forced with a sore voice as I sat down. If anyone was still going to call me that, it was her. “You’re up early.”

“They wouldn’t let me in any sooner.” Her hand fell into mine, too weak to pull away as I took it. The other was firmly tucked away for her own safety, having been shot in the other shoulder. “I should have been in the car with you. I’m sorry.”

She stopped me, squeezing my hand as strongly as she could. Weakly. She shook her head. “No, honey. It’s alright. I know it all turned out well in the end.”

The thought of that made my stomach churn. “You were shot because of me.”

“I was shot trying to protect you. That’s on me. I meant it when I told you that I would die for you, Candace. I love you.”

“But it’s not fair.” My voice cracked, almost hiccuping. “I never thought you’d actually have to go through with it.”

“You’re safe.” Leah closed her eyes, smiling. “That’s all that matters to me.”

The manner with which the poison made its way into her system was through injection- a bullet wound- rather than any normal means, which caused the medics a hard time to figure things out. The good news was that they had identified what poison it had been, but the bad news was that Leah had been exposed to Ricin. 

“How are you feeling?” I asked, knowing what sort of response I’d be getting. 

A cough and a wheeze. “Does that answer your question?”

“I’m sorry.” I mumbled, biting back my tears. “If I had been honest with you about what I was doing, none of this would have happened. I should have just come out and told you I was after. But now it’s too late… I’m sorry…”

“You don’t need to apologize, honey. I’m not upset- I could never be upset with you- at least not for very long. It’s okay to make mistakes, even if those mistakes cost you something. I couldn’t live with myself if you blamed yourself for this, please. I want you to be happy… I need to know that no matter what happens… you’re happy.”

Tears broke from behind my eyes, rolling their way down my cheeks. Her hand was cold as I squeezed it, forcing myself to the brink of crying and beyond, showing her a smile. “I brought Chloe home with me last night. She’s mine.”

Leah’s eyes went wide as her tears escaped her. At first I expected an intense shame and loathing to come my way, but instead I was met with her usual warmth. She laughed, even as the tears rolled down her cheeks, she laughed. 

“I’m so proud of you.” She mumbled, knowing that deep down it was what was going to make me the happiest. “How is she?”

“She’s okay.” I swallowed nervously, squeezing her now sweating palm. “She has the other half of our locket.”

“You two had better figure things out this time. I don’t want to hear her breaking your heart again, okay?” Leah continued to giggle, just happy that the two of us were okay. “And let me know if you need me to come down there and kick some sense into either of you, please. I’d make a great mother.”

“You are a great mother.” Leah had everything a great mother needed and more, and I couldn’t ask for a better mom. Not even from my own. “And you’d make a great mother-in-law.”

She bit her tongue at that, slowly closing her eyes and rolling her head back. “Candace…”

“Leah…” Desperate pleas quickly escaped me. “When I get married… Will you walk me down the aisle?”

It was clear to see that her heart was torn on that. No more were her delighted giggles, the thought of that was enough to send her into a full on fit of happy crying. “You should really save that for your father, don’t you think?”

“You wouldn’t have your father walk you down the aisle.” I exclaimed, still begging her for an answer. 

“If my father had been alive to see me get married, I would have.” She smiled, finally opening her eyes. Leah looked worse with every moment she sat there, holding back all of her pain so that I wouldn’t have to watch her suffer. “But yes. If you’ll have me… I’d love to walk you down the aisle someday. As long as you promise to sing at my funeral.”

My heart both fluttered and broke at the sound of her words. All of this for one little necklace. “I lost it, Leah. Mom’s cross is gone. I’m sorry…”

Leah’s lips curled into a small smile. Before I could cry any more tears I felt her hand on my shoulder, comforting me. It only stayed for a few moments before she reached beside her, picking her jacket from the floor and hauling it into her lap so that she could fish through the pockets. 

“Don’t be.” She blushed, holding her hand out to show me what she’d found.

“Mom’s cross.” Gently and carefully, I reached towards her, taking it into my hands. “But how?”

“Found it in the grass before I left the courtyard. I picked it up after I got shot, just to make sure it was safe. I should have handed it to you then, I’m sorry. It would have kept you from worrying.”

“Leah…” My voice shattered with joy, smiling happily. “Thank you…”

“Like I said, kid. I’d do anything for you.” She leaned back in her bed, finally able to close her eyes and rest. “You’re the key to my heart you know. I wish I could have had a baby of my own, but I’m happy I had you.”

“Don’t say that like it’s over, please-”

“Candace.” She paused, staring at me with her desperately pleading eyes. “Was I half the mom she was?”

“Yes.” My heart swelled. “Yes, you were.”

 

Leah broke down. Within a few moments she was to a point where I wasn’t sure I could watch anymore. But I sat there and I waited it out with her, her hand in mine and the necklace in the other until she eventually stabilized. She was going to need a moment to herself.

I’d never taken the time to really look at it before, but as I sat there and studied the cross, I noticed something. It finally occurred to me what exactly I had been missing.

“No.” I mumbled to myself as I reached into my purse, setting my mother’s diary into my lap. “Don’t tell me…”

Slowly and carefully, I unlocked the clasp keeping the book sealed shut, turning the pages for the first time. The key had been on me for my entire life, it was my mother’s cross. Of course it was. I was just too blind to see it. If I had realized it sooner I could have opened it up and read it the moment it was in my hand, but I hadn’t- and I’d been too sentimental to break the lock open.

If Leah hadn’t been there to rescue it, I never would have read my mom’s diary. 

I gently closed the book, depositing it back into my purse to meet the smile of Leah beside me, somehow proud of me for unlocking that part of my past. But I wasn’t about to read it now, I had too many thoughts and feelings on my mind to be stuck looking back at what was. I wanted to focus on what is.

“Well go ahead.” Leah looked at me with her glazed over eyes, fixing them on the cross in my hand. “I’m afraid you’ll have to put it on yourself this time. I don’t really have the hands to hold yours anymore.”

My eyes followed. I wasn’t just holding a piece of my mother, I was holding a piece of myself. A piece of our family. It was too important to us both to entrust it in the hands of someone who’s just going to lose it. Leah needed all the help she could get thanks to me, but thanks to her, I didn’t. She might not be my mom, and I might not be her daughter, but she was as close to family as they came. Cynically, it was almost better this way. Leah might never have a child of her own, and if I had been that daughter of hers who never came to be, I never would have met her. But at the end of the day, Leah’s been with me longer than my mother ever had the chance to. 

I was careful not to hurt her as I put it on, but the necklace was much prettier on my mother than on me. Which was exactly where it was going to stay, with her. With my mother. Leah.

“I want you to have it.” I sat up, brushing her hair out of the way so that I could see it. 

She wasn’t shocked or surprised as far as I could tell, but she wasn’t so pleased either. I think she had wanted this. She had hoped for this, rather than selfishly sought after it. In a way it made her feel greedy. Indebted to me. But she only had one hand to work with, she couldn’t take it off on her own anyway. It was bittersweet. An apple.

“Candace… I don’t deserve this.” 

Leah tried. She couldn’t even convince herself of that anymore. Loathing was doing the talking now and it had nothing near the tongue she did. I’d come to realize that she was something of a habitual liar. It was her defense mechanism- lie until you get what you need. One second she works for me, and the next for my father. I didn’t need to know about all the things she went through to protect me, so she made sure I didn’t. But the gun was always loaded, because what use was an empty weapon?

“I’m sorry, Leah. I’ve done enough harm already. You have to let me go, I can’t let you protect me anymore.” I understood that it must have been hard for her. But we both needed this. “I’ve come this far thanks to my family. But all of this has made me realize that I don’t know who I really am aside from my father’s son… And I learned that from you.”

Faltering, I swallowed my heart. If this was the last time I ever got to speak to her, I wanted her to see that I was growing up, even if it hurt us both. She’d spent her entire life on me, and for what? To be sent to the grave doing it? Leah had no idea who she was on her own- and I couldn’t grow up to be her either. She’d done enough to protect me. Hopefully once all was said and done, we could both figure out who we really were. 

Her left hand curled around the cross. She was crying at just the thought of it. This was hard for her, but she was going to take it better from me than from my father. I just wished it hadn’t come to this.

“You're just like your father.” She managed between sobs. “Always making me feel that much more indebted to you…”

She may have been a liar but when Leah told the truth, you could feel it. I didn’t want her to be indebted to me, it hardly felt like I deserve anything from anyone. I was never going to let that happen with her. As far as I was concerned, she’d already paid off whatever she owed my father. 

“It’s ironic.” Her gaze shifted, almost shamefully. It was a hard thing to swallow. “I don’t even like apples.”

My heart popped. “Apples?”

She swallowed. Her eyes closed, body shaking with pain. Fingers pried away from the necklace and curled around something else. Tucked away beneath the covers with her- an apple. The cross she could wear, however painfully. But she could only hold one or the other, not both. Only one of us could hold the apple. It fit into my hands like it was made for me, that accursed fruit. I held it, knowing where it came from. My stomach was spinning in a lot of ways I didn’t quite understand.

I brought it to my chest, taking it from her aching fingers as they chased after it. I hoped to see myself in its shiny polished surface, but the dull light of morning refused to reflect, captured inside of its matte skin. “My father came back to see you?”

Leah winced. Leah shuddered. Leah recoiled. Something about her reaction was off. On a dime something changed, the gears in her head turned… backwards. “He never left.” 

What I would have given to see my reaction just then, at least in the reflection of the apple. Invisible seeds planted in my throat I couldn’t swallow. “He didn’t?”

“He was the one who brought me here.” She sighed, sitting up slightly to ease the agony in her chest as she forced breath in and out. “He’s been here all night.” 

For some reason the tightening in my chest made it hard to think, let alone speak, so I mumbled. “I was told no one was allowed in?”

Leah could barely shake her head. “This is Cardinal Russo you’re talking about. He does whatever he wants, remember?”

The apple turned over in my hand as I stared at it, met with my reflection. “And he wanted to stay and make sure you’re okay?”

Birds chirped just outside the window, quietly. The room was devoid of life for a few moments as Leah and I sat there, trying to listen to their calls. Memories of my childhood were so fuzzy at this point that I couldn’t remember who taught me the sounds of which bird, but among them was at least one I could recognize. There were no bluebirds, which was good, because I wasn’t ready to watch those little wings fly over the rainbow. 

There wasn’t going to be a rainbow left once this storm settled. But at least I heard cardinals.

“I’m not going to be okay, Candace.” Leah told me, searing the perception of happily ever after in my head. She wore a frown on her face, one which she always wore beneath a fake smile. “I don’t like being the one to give bad news. But I can’t protect you from this just by hiding it from you, I’m sorry. I don’t think your father would be here if I wasn’t about to die.”

Tears practically glued my eyes shut. The thought of it had me shaking with fear. I’d been afraid before, more afraid than this, but this was different. I wanted to scream. 

“Things keep running through my head, like I’m fading in and out. I don’t know if I’m dreaming… or hallucinating… or something else.” Leah tried not to stutter, but she kept stopping to catch her breath. “I keep seeing my family all sitting in a tree, and for a few moments I forget that I’ve never had a tree. But there they are- my sister, my mom, my dad, and… my husband. It doesn’t feel real like I’d always hoped it would, but in the same way, this doesn’t feel real either. It’s like they’re one family, and you’re another… and I have to pick which one I want to be with.”

“Stay with me, please. I want to meet the baby you have one day.” I held her hand as tight as I could. “And don’t you dare say it’ll never happen, because when I’m in charge, you’re not going to be in debt any longer. I’m going to get rid of it, I promise.”

Leah’s smile struck me with just a bit of hope. Wordlessly, her pinky curled around mine, accepting my promise. Even then her crying eyes still stared blankly towards the apple in my hand, and I wasn’t sure what she was seeing just then. But I couldn’t help but see a bit of color in her cheeks. 

Biting my lip, I nervously laid her hand back down on her chest. “Would you… like me to go get dad?”

Leah’s hands quickly clutched the cross resting between her collarbones, as if to hide it. Blue eyes only parted from the apple in closing. Her answer came with a lot of hesitation, unsure whether it was okay to say yes. But it was. 

 

There were people outside waiting as I stepped into the hallway, either following me or waiting to see what was going on, but the moment the staff saw me they quickly began to disperse.

“Turn around.” I snapped, growling at the next person I laid eyes on. “Turn around and walk the other way.” 

One of the staff, a redheaded woman, squinted at me. But walk the other way she did. She was pregnant, visibly so, but she was still the same woman. Leah didn’t need to see someone like her right now. It would only make things worse. She huffed at me after a few moments, pulling her cardigan over herself to try and hide her body. Her eyes were like daggers.

“Get moving, sweets.” I tapped my foot impatiently, not taking no for an answer. “I’m waiting.”

She recoiled ever so slightly as I hissed, squinting as she wordlessly turned around and marched off in a hurry. 

“Pull yourself together, Amelia.” I mumbled to myself once they all had gone, forcibly prying myself from her side. “It’s time to stop chasing your own tail…”

 

My father was exactly where I was afraid he’d be by the time I found him, standing behind the reception desk with my brother and his mom. That was where the security usually sat, but when he wanted control, he got it. The two of them quickly hushed, and then vanished without a word once they saw me coming, leaving me and dad alone. He had his back turned as I stepped in, facing the waiting room ahead of us. I wasn’t surprised to see him, I was surprised to see him just sitting there.

Especially considering how long he’d been here.

“Why are you here?” I spat as I stepped inside, knowing that no one beyond this room could hear us. That was all I had to say for myself- accusing him of being where I thought he wasn’t supposed to be. 

“Good morning, princess.” He said with a smile, quickly standing up. Dad was quick to point out that he was usually the tallest person in the room. “How’d you sleep?”

“Awful.” I shuddered, crossing my arms at my chest. “Just awful.”

“I can’t say I slept much better.” He chuckled, waiting for me to approach so that he could reach around my back and place his hand on my opposite shoulder. Once I did and once he had he just held me there, facing me towards the desk. “What about her?”

My organs seemed to squeeze all at once. He wasn’t supposed to be here- not while I was here. 

“Who?” I asked, quickly trying to feign innocence. I knew it wouldn’t work. And to be honest, I knew it really wasn’t even worth a try. 

“You know who.” He frowned, tapping the paperwork in front of him. “I caught your brother and his mom trying to file these. Not that I didn’t already know.” 

Just as I’d feared, those were Chloe’s documents- the ones I had signed and sent my sister late last night, alongside her general personnel file. It had her picture on it this time. 

“Daddy…” I stuttered, my heart thumping with anticipation. “Please…”

Father took his eyes off of her and pointed them at me, almost disappointed. “This is what you really want, huh?”

I could feel the bumps in my windpipe as I swallowed. “She’s mine, dad. I’m not getting rid of her again.” 

“I’m not going to make you.” He sighed, grip tightening around my shoulders. “But there will be consequences if you don’t.”

Swallowing my nerves was like seeds rolling down my throat. “What kind of consequences?”

“You’re not marrying that girl, Candace. I’m not going to let you.” He frowned, picking at his scar with one finger. “And until you agree to marry someone else, you won’t be inheriting anything from me.”

“Oh yeah?” I rolled my eyes, teeth pinching the inside of my cheek. “And if I’m not your heiress, who is?”

The scariest thing about it was that look in his eyes. My father had a plan. One that I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear. “You don’t have to find out, princess. I want it to be you.” 

My mind drifted from Chloe for a second, considering it. She wasn’t the only woman I cared about. Fingers curled around the little red apple, clutching tighter. He took my hand in his, upturning my palm until I was holding it out for us both to see, all the while looking down on me with that loving smile. I cared about Leah too.

“If you take my place, you can cancel all of your new mother’s debt.” 

It worried me to hear him call her that, but he knew what kind of relationship I had with Leah. “And if I don’t?”

“Then you can’t.” His smile faded, but he didn’t frown. He simply slid his hand out from beneath mine and placed it on top of the apple, holding it from above as I did so from below. “Now what’s it going to be?”

My eyes locked with his, and then hers, and then mine as they reflected from the shiny side of the apple. Still determined to do what’s right, I spun it in our hands until his reflection faced him, and I was left looking over towards the photo of Chloe on the desk. Being with her made me happy. She made me happy. And all Leah wanted was to see me happy. So I made the difficult decision. I pulled my hand away from his, and I smiled. She made me smile. He could have the apple. I had her. 

I watched his neutral expression become a frown, tossing the fruit into the air and catching it. He held it to his chest. My father was a cruel person, one who at one point would have done something awful to me just then, as punishment for disobeying him. But as I had come to realize, and he himself would admit, my mother had changed him. He hated himself for that, even if he couldn’t help it, but I wasn’t afraid of Chloe like he was. If the woman he loved could change him, then hopefully the woman I loved could change me. 

“Okay.” He shook his head, glancing at his reflection. “You’re cut off.”

“I know.” Blushing at just the sound of that, I rolled my eyes. I wasn’t excited to discover the extent of what he meant by it. “But I’m following your advice. Doing what I want and not taking no for an answer.” 

Father rolled his eyes at that one. He was annoyed. Very annoyed. “You know sometimes you make me wish I’d had another kid to try again with.”

“They’d probably just end up like me.” I forced myself out of his grasp, stepping away from him towards the glass. “But you could always adopt, you know. There are a lot of kids out there who need a good home.” 

His expression finally lightened, chuckling. “I’ll think about it.”

He tapped the file closed and scraped it off of the desk, almost bitterly. It only took a couple of moments to find someone else to hand them off to, that same redheaded woman, who could take the folder to his ex-wife for him. “I’ve actually been thinking more along the lines of getting myself another slave, any recommendations?” 

The implication that I might even have recommendations made me shudder. “Please don’t ask if you can have Aria.”

“I’d be shocked if Lilith somehow ended up letting her fall into my hands.” He smirked. “I was thinking more along the lines of that whore from the pounding house. You know, the former actress?”

My gears skidded to a halt. “Who?”

“The lady who played Dorothy Gale when you were real little, remember?”

“Oh yeah-” The sparkle in my eyes just about blinded me. My niece had great tastes. “You mean back when we all almost got shot dead in an alley?”

“That’d be the show we were there to see, yeah.”

“What does she have to do with anything?”

“She was your friend’s homewrecker.” 

“Wait, that’s who Leah’s husband cheated on her with?” I gasped. “How the fuck did they meet?”

“Who do you think tried to shoot us in that alley?”

My jaw dropped. “And you hired him?”

“I’m not the crazy one here, Leah is the bitch who went and married, I was the one who killed him.” He coldly groaned. “Besides, I’ve recruited a lot of men that way. It’s how I met her father. It only made sense to let the kid take his place.”

“And now someone has to take his place.” My voice hushed. “Why’d you kill him anyways?”

“Because he cheated on his wife.”

I crossed my arms at my chest. “That’s not it.”

Dad paused for a moment, promptly rolling his eyes. “Because he broke her heart, and no man like that is going to stay my right hand. He didn’t deserve her, and if she wanted him dead, who am I to stop her?” 

I loved him. He was my father. I knew exactly why I liked him so much, I just wasn’t sure why anyone else liked him so much, but I was beginning to see the picture. If he respected you, he treated you right. 

For the most part.

“Leah told me you’ve been here all night.” I stuttered, trying to keep my eyes off of him as we walked. “How long have you had that apple?”

“I brought it to the party.” My father informed me as he stepped out of the reception room, and I quickly followed. “I never know who might need one.”

“Like Leah?”

“Like Leah.”

My face turned red. Hot with both a strange anger and embarrassment. “She asked me to come get you.” 

He raised an eyebrow at that, squinting. “What for?”

“She wants to see you, dad.” The words left a bitter taste in my mouth. “I didn’t question it.”

His face was struck with nothing short of confusion as he stopped to stare at the fruit’s matte skin. “Alone?”

“Please don’t make this any more awkward than it needs to be.” My body shuddered, trying to shake the anxiety off. “This is already hard for me.”

“Alright. Alright.” He nodded, letting me take his arm and lead him there. “But only because she’s so important to you.”

A weight slowly lifted from my chest. “Thank you.”

 

Room nineteen. We stepped back into intensive care together, father and daughter- and I guess seeing that put a smile on Leah’s otherwise agonized face.

“I’m sorry.” The words leapt from her lips the moment she saw him. “I couldn’t do it, Sir. I’m sorry.”

The steel toed boots on my feet halted at the door, but he stepped forward, still holding the apple. He didn’t just look at her, he glared at her. 

“I told you one last collection job was all you needed to do before I made you my advisor, and you couldn’t even manage that. I asked you one thing, one simple thing, and you went and pushed yourself.” He quickly took a seat by her side, right where I had been sitting. For a moment I felt my chest bubbling with rage, but he kept going. “You had to go and get yourself killed trying to protect my idiot progeny from yet another maniacal superfan, didn’t you?”

“Hey!” By the end of it I was offended for a completely different reason, but at least he was giving Leah a little bit of credit. “I’m standing right here!”

“His debt is coming out of your allowance, kid. It’s not like you’re going to have much use for it.” He snapped at me, half-jokingly. “Just be glad I’m not giving it to you, Watts.”

“I wouldn’t blame you if you did, Sir. I’m sorry.” Leah was curling in on herself, making my aching heart worry that she might just drop dead right then and there. “I take it I’m fired?”

“Bold assumption.” Dad grinned. “I’m surprised you’re more afraid of that right now than dying.” 

Leah’s single mobile hand tightened around the cross, still hiding it. But that little movement was enough for my father to finally notice that, and once her wrist was firmly within his grasp, she didn’t attempt to resist him pulling her hand away from it. 

“I thought that punk made off with this.”

“He did.” I supplied, growing slowly more irritated. “Leah found it after she was shot.”

Very little surprised this man, but his eyes went wide with disbelief as he turned to her. “Are you actually that insane?”

Leah shriveled inwards, her wrist still caught in his hand. She wouldn’t have known how to respond to that in the best of scenarios, but the tightening grip around the base of her hand was simply watering the seeds of fear that my father’s gaze planted in her throat, choking the words out of her throat before they could bloom. 

“Don’t answer that.” He snarled uncaringly, releasing her now limp upper arm and curling his fist around the cross dangling from the necklace I’d given her. Nerves kept me frozen feet behind him, afraid of what my dad was going to do to her. He was about to snap it straight off the chain without a thought, even if it choked her, and neither of us would have stopped him. Leah couldn’t even watch. 

“How could you even think to put this on?” His wrist twitched, and she began to flinch, whimpering at the pain of even trying to move. But at just the last moment, he stopped. Realizing something as he looked her over. “How did you put this on?”

Leah pried her eyes open, silently stuttering. She could still just barely move, but it was enough for her to at least begin pointing at me with her free hand. 

“Answer that.” My father groaned at her, and then at me. “Did you put this on her?”

“Does it matter?” I crossed my arms at my chest, blushing. “She deserves it-”

“I don’t.” Leah quickly retorted, refusing to accept my praise. “I don’t deserve a thing. Not after everything I’ve done. Not after everything my father’s done. I’m sorry…”

Slowly, I watched as my father let go of the cross, silencing her with one finger to her lips. Leah quickly shut up, staying silent even once he’d pulled his hand away. 

“I never would have hired you if it weren’t for my wife, you know. You have her to thank for that.” He sighed, his temper slowly subsiding. “But I guess you were just destined to get here, huh?”

Leah hesitated. “I don’t believe in destiny.”

The moment she saw his hand moved, she froze, watching him hold out his now open palm and taking her hand in his. Her eyes locked with his, terrified. She quickly sensed that she somehow must have said something wrong. But she let him hold her hand like I did.

“There’s your problem.” He responded. “With an attitude like that, you will die.”

“Why does it matter, Sir?” She raised her voice at him for the first time, quickly shrinking back down. “I’m nothing…”

“You saved my daughter’s life.” My father stated matter of factly. For a moment- just briefly- he gave me a knowing look, smiling slightly. “You’re not nothing.”

“Daddy…” I nervously whispered, unable to speak much louder. “What are you doing?”

“Whatever I want.” He smirked, sending chills down my spine. “And not taking no for an answer.”

“I don’t understand.” Leah quickly whimpered, struggling to keep her composure. “What do you want from me now?”

“What do you want?” He repeated back to her. “You’ve been after this your whole life. Don’t think I haven’t been watching you. I wouldn’t let a bug land on my daughter’s shoulders if I thought it didn’t deserve to be there. You’ve been trying to get my attention. You’ve wanted me to notice you for years, now enough already. You can quit trying to impress me. I see you, Leah Watts. I’ve noticed you. I’m impressed. Now answer my question. What the fuck do you want?”

Suddenly, and without warning, her emotion seemed to quell. From where I stood it was like she’d be given a second wind. But that didn’t make it any easier for me. It was agonizing to watch the two of them go back and forth with one another. I couldn’t take much more of this. It was just too uncomfortable. It was just too painful.

“That’s it.” She smiled, her eyes drifting shut as she laid her head back. “Thank you.” 

Perplexed- and almost impressed- he let go of her hand. “Anytime.”

Finally finding the strength to move, I stepped towards her. There was one last thing I needed to say to her before I left, gently taking her by the hand and setting my other on her shoulder. 

“I’m sorry that I couldn’t be the daughter you wanted. I know I’m not the one you expected. But I hope you don’t mind that I was the one you ended up with.”

“At this point I don’t think I’d have it any other way. As long as you don’t mind me being your mom, that is.”

“If you’ll have me, I’d love nothing more.”

“Don’t say that. I’ll always have you, and you’ll always have me.”

“Hopefully I can be half the mom you are someday.”

“You’re my daughter. Of course you will.”

“Thank you for everything, Leah. I’m sorry that it took losing you to realize how much you mean to me.”

“As far as I’m concerned, I got what I wanted…” Her empty eyes fluttered open, locking onto mine. “Don’t worry about me. Do what you want, and don’t take no for an answer.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” Our foreheads pressed together for a moment. “I love you.”

I felt her shift, placing her lips to my forehead and kissing me. “I love you too.” 

 

That was the only way I could stand to leave her. If she died, I said everything I needed to say, and I had nothing to regret. If she didn’t, I would have a new mother. But I couldn’t stand to sit here and watch the light leave her, I couldn’t be there when she died. We already knew just how much that affected people. I wasn’t about to carry the weight of that for the rest of my life, and she wasn’t about to let me. With a heavy heart, I tore myself from my side and I left the rest to her. 

“Don’t you dare.” She mumbled to my father as he turned to follow me, grabbing him by the hand. He wasn’t going to be so lucky, she wouldn’t let him. “Don’t you dare leave me here alone.” 

He stopped in his tracks, his scarred eye twitching as he held her hand. “And why should I give you another moment of my time?”

Without a second of thought or hesitation, Leah smiled, tilting her head towards him. “Because if I’m going to die, I want to confess my sins first.”

He looked at her like that was the answer to whether she was insane. Apparently she was. “Remind me, you’re Jewish, yes?”

“Yes.” She swallowed her pride, squeezing his hand for support. “Always have been.”

“Considering Catholicism, are you?” He smirked, squeezing back. 

“I don’t know. It’s not like I don’t already have a cross collaring my throat.” She giggled to herself. “You say you’re God, right?”

The sound of that made him smile. “Sometimes I can’t help but think so, as crazy as it sounds.” 

“Tell me about it.” She rolled her eyes. “Humble me.”

“You first.” He hummed, sitting down next to her. “What sins have you committed?”

“Just one.” Leah whispered. “Other than that, I’ve been an angel.”

“Tell me.” My father paused for a moment to admire her attitude. “What’s on your mind, angel?”

 

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And I don’t know about you, but I don’t care to know what happens next. Today has already been one hell of a day, and you deserve to be back with Chloe as soon as possible. 

The halls were mostly empty as I made my way out. Quiet and lonely. Even more alone than before, I drove home. It was time to make myself- and her- feel a little bit less alone. 

It was easy enough getting back home, pulling the car into the garage, and forcing myself past the workout equipment collecting dust without a second thought. Getting myself to go back inside was another thing entirely. I felt like my feet had turned to stone again just outside the door, refusing to let me step inside. Was this how she must have felt when she first came here?

My reflection was, well, it was me as I looked into the shaded windows refusing to let me peer inside. Little did she know she had been admiring her own hair by the window into what would eventually be her home when she climbed out of that box. Sophia had a lot of guts to walk through that door. But I could do anything she could do and more, so I did. I went back inside. This was my house. My Sophia. My Chloe. My home. Mine. All mine. 

She deserved to sleep in. She certainly wasn’t entitled to sleep in, but I was going to let her anyway. Things are back to normal now. I’m in charge. I decide what she does and doesn’t deserve; she deserves to sleep in today. 

Tidy up, feed the cats, make breakfast. Three checks in a row. I could do anything she could do, and more. I could restore order on my own. 

Besides, I was a better cook than she was anyways. It didn’t sound like she was even awake by the time I opened the hatch back up, sliding breakfast to her on a plate this time. Actual food on an actual platter. We’d use the bowl somewhere else. Hopefully the smell would help wake her. 

I locked the hatch and ate my breakfast before leaving the dishes in the sink. Someone would clean them later. Even skipping my morning workout, I needed a shower. My empathy only goes so far though, and after a couple minutes of trying to clean myself off in the cold water like I’d forced her to, I turned the heat back on. No way was I about to force myself through that. 

I got dressed. I gave up and did the dishes. I bathed my pets all on my own. I even did laundry. This is all to say that I deliberated for a long time that morning on what to do next. I was understandably nervous, but eventually I just had to tear the bandage off and get the girl .

“Good morning.” I think we both said in unison to each other, but only after half a minute of avoiding eye contact, followed by the rest of the silent minute directly afterward. 

“So…” I started, making sure she wasn’t about to interrupt with something else. “How’d you sleep?”

“Better than I probably should have, all things considering.” She hesitated for a moment before answering. “I’m moving in with you, after all.” 

My face quickly turned red at the way she phrased that. Moving in together. 

“You’ve disobeyed me a lot lately, but what matters is that you came home.” My lips curled into a smile. “And for that, you’ve earned a hot meal and a hot shower.” 

Chloe’s eyes glowed at the sound of that second one, having already finished her breakfast. “May I?”

“Not yet.” I shook my head. “Not here at least. You’re getting an upgrade.”

“An upgrade?” She asked, not quite knowing if she knew what was coming. “You mean-”

“Shut your mouth.” She quickly went silent at my command. “Shut your eyes, and give me your hand.”

Chloe looked at me in hesitation for a few moments, but if there was one thing she’d learned how to do very well over the last year, it was to know when to give up. When to forfeit. She slowly did as she was told, letting me grab her by the hand as she quietly closed her eyes. 

Taking her hand in mine and planting the other on her back, I guided her to her feet and led her out of the cell. Chloe walked slowly, but she readily allowed me to lead her where she needed to go. 

It warmed my heart to see that all of the submission she’d once shown me was real. 

Licking my lips, I planted a kiss on her cheek. “I’m going to want more of this from you.” 

She flinched, not expecting me to whisper into her ear like I did, but she quickly recovered. “Yes, Mistress.” 

Chloe held my hand, refusing to let go. Call it instinct. I led her to the door of what was once the guest bedroom, which was no longer. From now on, there would be no sleeping in a cell. From now on, things were going to be different. 

“From now on, this is your room.” Prying her fingers from my hand, I led them to the unlocked doorknob, tapping her back to urge her forward. She was excited, and well- so was I. “It’s still my house. Nothing in there is really yours, it’s all still my property, and so are you. But from now on, this is the servants’ quarters.” 

Her hand grabbed at the handle, impatiently. But like a good girl, knowing never to jump the gun, she waited for me to tell her exactly what to do and when. Chloe was antsy, but she kept her mouth- and her eyes- shut. 

“Go ahead and open your eyes.” I stepped back, releasing her. “Feel free to tell me what you think.”

The first thing her eyes locked onto when she opened them was me. Almost like she wasn’t sure this was really happening. But it was.  

And as she went to open the door, she couldn’t be more happy about it. 

 

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“That’s where you got those scars, huh?” Leah mumbled through the pain, both pleasantly and unpleasantly surprised by my father’s stories. “I never would have guessed.”

“I’ve always felt the same way.” He smiled, checking to make sure no one else was there to listen before motioning for the nurses to step inside. “Quite frankly, if it hadn’t happened like it had, none of you would be here right now.”

“And neither would you.” Leah finished for him.

“And neither would I.” He confirmed. 

“So…” Another voice piped up from beside them both as she stepped inside. “Are her sins forgiven?”

There was a quiet pause as he turned to look at the girl, Aria, here to check up on her patient. 

“I would think so.” He assured her. “As are yours.” 

Her eyes promptly widened, flickering with hope. “You mean that?”

Cardinal nodded, not smiling, but also not frowning. He was indifferent to the girl. “You did everything you could to break things up between my daughter and that girl of hers, that’s all I could have asked of you. The only thing you could have done better is actually pull it off like you were told.” 

Aria quickly hung her head in shame, the hopeful flickers disappearing as her eyes twisted shut. “I did break them up, Sir.”

“But it didn’t stay that way.” He rolled his eyes.

“It’s not my fault they got back together.”

“And it’s not my fault that my son and his mom turned you into their slave.” Her boss smirked. “You just got unlucky I suppose.”

Aria frowned, pouting to herself, but accepting his decision. She knew very well not to argue with Cardinal Russo. “What now, Sir?”

“I’m not going to kill you, but I’m also not going to help you. So… Nothing.” He grinned, pinching the girl’s cheek. “Which is why that collar’s going to stay. It’s punishment enough for your defeat. Nice try, though. Better luck next time.”

“There’s not going to be a next time…” Her eyes opened, now glowing with anger. 

“No.” He concurred. “I don’t suppose there will be.”

The undersized nurse went on with her task, however morbid. It was clear that not all was well with the woman. Unfortunately, all she could do now was pray. 

“Leave us.” Cardinal frowned, snapping his fingers and making the girl disappear. 

“You’re cruel.” Leah forced through her throat again. “What you do to these girls, it’s cruel.”

“I do what needs to be done.” He smiled, genuinely. “Because no one else will.”

“And Aria?” She choked. “What happens to her once you’re rid of her owner?”

“Depends on what happens to you.” He took her hand. “And whether she can save you.” 

Leah’s blue eyes scanned his, curiously. Not wanting to leave. “What happens if she does?”

“Then she’ll belong to you.” He squeezed her hand. Her one mobile hand. “Lilith is giving her to you either way.”

“And if she doesn’t?”

He let go of her hand. “Everything you own becomes mine.”

“Because I’m indebted to you.” She swallowed nervously, not wanting him to leave just yet. “You’re leaving this up to me?”

“And whether you live, yes.” 

“She’s counting on me.”

“I’m counting on you.” He agreed. “So you’d better not die.”

Leah coughed, tears beginning to well. “You’re cruel.”

“I do what needs to be done.” He turned her palm over. “Because no one else will.”

Leah’s hand graciously accepted the apple as he gave it to her. 

“Welcome to the family.” My father smiled, saying nothing more and nothing less as he made his way out, finally leaving her to her fate. 

Her hand shook, left with nothing but that apple, pressing it to her lips. It smelled bittersweet as she held it there, longing to taste it. But she knew she couldn’t have it. All she could do now was plant one last kiss and pray that everything turned out okay. 

Alone. The apple pried away, reflecting back at her as she stared at it. There was nothing left for her but that reflection. He was gone. She was gone. I was gone. But Leah was still there. Alone.

She prayed. She prayed everything would be okay. Her body aching from a lifetime of pain and regret, Leah closed her eyes, pressed the apple to her naked belly, and cried herself to sleep. 

Praying that she’d wake up.   

And everything would be okay. 

Chapter 49: CStC vs. SoCavalier

Summary:

It's been over a month since this story's first anniversary, and I am so very proud of how far it has come since then. That being said, this era of Candace and Chloe will be coming to an end soon, but not to worry-

This is not the end. Chapter 50- when it comes out- will be the last chapter for the year.
This story will be coming back next year, in 2022, once I've worked out what the next saga is going to be about and gotten my own life back on track. Thanks a lot for supporting it all the way to this point, I hope you've liked it, and I hope you look forward to Part II when I start it next year. I promise the wait will be worth it.

But without further ado, here it is. Their final rematch.

Quiet filled the room, strangely empty. Aside from the sound of the door as it gently clicked closed, there was little to cut through the mood but movement and breath. She took a deep breath. Her hands were clasped together, pressed to her lips. I could tell she’d been praying. We were alone now, just her and I. The others were gone. No police. No family. Just an idiot child trying to save face as she sat down next to apparently the only person in the world who would have her. I didn’t have anywhere left to go; if she wouldn’t have me, no one would.

“If my mama caught me trying to pull what you just did, I’d be getting smacked upside the head and chased out of the house right now.” 

It took most of me not to look up at her for support. Next to her was a very intimate spot to be sitting in. The futon wasn’t very big, but it was comfortable. Definitely more comfortable than anything I’d slept in up to that point. Which over the last few days had been nowhere. If I had anywhere else to stay, I wouldn’t be here. 

She was lucky to have a mom at all, because I certainly didn’t. Hearing others talk about their family always made me jealous. I had memories of my family, but none of them were memories I’d ever said out loud. My real mother wouldn’t have me, not like she would. Not like my foster mom would. “You’re not my mom.”

“Tough shit, I’m as good as you’ve got.” Colleen was mad, and she wasn’t even trying to hide it. “You’re lucky our neighbor can’t make bail, or else he’d have your ass for stealing his wife’s car. I have half a mind to whoop your ass for that myself, and you’d better be glad I’m not.”

Did her threats scare me? Yes, even though I knew they were empty. “You wouldn’t.”

“Damn right, I wouldn’t. I’m not about to get you kids taken away from another home, and we can barely afford shoes as it is.” She paused for a moment, remembering to breathe. “What the hell is wrong with you?” 

I never could quite figure out whether she expected me to answer that, or if it even really mattered to her like it did to me. I asked myself that all the time. What’s wrong with me? I hoped there was something wrong with me, but I was scared that there wasn’t. There was clearly something there, I just couldn’t see it. There had to be. Because if there wasn’t- why did it have to be me? If there was nothing wrong with me, why would my life be so unfair?

Her words were clearly coming from a place of deep concern and fear, not anger. It was something you could only feel in her voice. She wouldn’t be so vocal about it if she really didn’t care. 

“You have had me worried sick for days, Sophia. I have never been so scared in my life, I was even starting to think you were dead. Do you know how many hours I have spent sitting here, waiting for you to come back?” 

That tiny heart inside of me twitched, aching. It shouldn’t have ached as bad as it was. This was what I’d hoped for when I ran away. I’d probably spent as much time hoping that she would miss me while I was gone as she had spent missing me, all while telling myself that she wouldn’t. Yet for some reason I only felt worse for knowing that she did. 

“I don’t care.” I lied, wiping the tears from my eyes with my sleeve. It was shocking to think that I even had tears left to cry after everything I’d just been through. But I didn’t cry then, and I wasn’t about to cry now. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“I know you don’t, but you have to. We need to talk about this. Now. Please talk to me.” She begged, attitude fading away as her own insecurities clawed their way back to the surface. “Can you please just tell me what I’ve done wrong?”

Breath caught itself in my throat, choking back the pathetic sounds I could just feel coming. I’d spent so much time asking myself what was wrong with me, but I’d never considered that she might have been asking the same about herself. 

“First you start skipping classes, then you start getting into fights, and now this. Where did I go wrong, Sophia? Where did I go wrong that you’d rather be out there all on your own than here with me?” She blamed herself. Of course she blamed herself. I probably would have done the same. “I’ve never hit you. I’ve never locked you in your room. I’ve never let you leave a scrap of food on your plate. I’ve never once let you be late for school. If there’s something I’m doing wrong, please tell me. I want to make sure you’re healthy, and happy, and safe. What am I doing wrong?”

My hands curled into fists, trying to fight back these feelings. It wasn’t her fault. It was my fault. I knew that. I was the one who made her feel this way. I was the one that no one would have. “Nobody wants me.”

“I want you. I wouldn’t have you if I didn’t want you. You know that, right?”

“You’re only saying that because you have to. I’m only here because I can’t get adopted, and you have to take care of me. Nobody wants me. All of the other kids my age got adopted, but not me. What’s wrong with me?” I was a tough girl, or so I liked to think. But this hurt. “Nobody loves me.”

What a miserable child I must have been. It made me want to run away all over again, if just so that I couldn’t hurt her any more than I already had. 

“I love you.” She rested a hand on my shoulder. “I made something for you while you were gone. I wanted to be able to show you that you were welcome when you came back. If you ever came back. I want you to know how much I love you.” 

Colleen gave me a few moments, letting me accept her handiwork at my own pace. She’d made me a stuffed dog, big enough to hold tight for comfort. It wasn’t much. It wasn’t something that I’d ever thought I would want. But it was the best thing anyone had ever done for me. 

I never cried. I’d ran away from home. I’d stolen a car. I’d driven halfway across the city all alone. And I’d been picked up by the police and dragged back home. Not a single tear. I didn’t care.

But it was this. This moment of seeing all of the hurt I’d caused her while I was gone. This was what got me. This was what finally broke me down into tears. Realizing just how much I must have meant to my foster mother for her to do anything like this for me, that was what sent me curling up into a bawling mess in her arms. 

Tears poured out of my eyes for the first time that I could remember, ever. My voice cracked, my body shook, my heart trembled. “I’m sorry…”

“Where have you been, honey? What happened out there?” She wrapped her arms around me, rocking me back and forth. “Why did you leave?"

“I wanted to see my mom and dad again.” I quietly admitted between sobs, knowing that I couldn’t very well keep it hidden from her. “I just want to have a family like the other kids.” 

The disappointment in her voice cut deep, gasping. “You didn’t.”

“They weren’t even there anymore.” I choked. “The neighbors called the cops on me.”

The sound of it broke my foster mother’s heart. “Those people aren’t your parents, honey.”

“Yes, they are-”

“No, they’re not.” She tugged me from her chest, cradling my face in her hands as she looked at me. “Nobody who abandons their daughter is good enough to be called her parents, Sophia. It doesn’t matter where you come from, those people aren’t your family.”

Teary eyes shut, biting down on my lip. “I don’t have a family.”

“Yes you do, honey. I’m your family.” She reached towards me, gently wiping the tears from my eyes so that she could see me. “I wouldn’t be so worried about you if I didn’t love you.”

I held my new stuffed dog as tight as I could. “You’re just saying that cuz you know I’m never gonna get adopted.”

“I’m sorry, honey. But I’m gonna be honest with you. You’re fourteen years old. If you haven’t been adopted yet, I don’t think it’s gonna happen. I’m sorry.” The woman who I would eventually come to accept as my mom forcibly uncurled my fingers from fists. “Sure you’ve been here longer than any of the other kids, but that just means you’ve been here with me longer than you were with anyone else. And I’ve been with you longer than I’ve been with any of the other kids.”

I sniffled at her. “So?”

“You’re a big girl. You’ve been here for eight years, four more are going to fly by before you know it.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means I don’t want you holding out hope that it’s gonna happen. I’ve never had a teenager here before. People don’t come to adopt teenagers. I want you to feel secure.” She placed her hands on both of my shoulders, filling me with that sense of security I needed. “I’m only doing this because I wanna do what’s right for you, Sophia. If you don’t want to, we don’t have to. But I know you want someone to adopt you, and do you know what else?”

“What?”

“I want to adopt you.” 

It was hard for me, especially as a kid, and I’m sure it would be even harder now. Her words broke me into sobs right there in her arms, falling apart with one word. “Okay.”

My foster mother smiled warmly, trying to hide that she was crying too. “Okay?”

That was all I had to say. “Okay…”

“Okay.” She held me close, refusing to let go of me. “And I can see about getting your last name changed if you’d like?”

“To your last name, you mean?”

“Honey, if you weren’t a white girl with a white name, you’d be in jail right now. You’re not gonna get by like that with a name like Caballero. Trust me.”

“Whatever.” I scoffed, more than a little bit hurt by that. “You’re never going to be my mom anyways.”

“I don’t care what you call me. But as long as you’re in my house, you’re my kid.”

My heart sank, thinking about the other kids in the house. “They’re your kids too?”

“Not if they’re adopted soon, they’re not.” She sighed, trying to keep me from spiraling again. “But until you’re miraculously adopted, you’re my kid, and you’re big enough to start helping out around here.”

“Help out?” The thought made me groan. “Why should I have to help out?”

“Because if you’re gonna be a mom someday- you’re gonna wanna know how to cook, clean, sew, take care of kids- and most importantly- take care of yourself. I promised myself I’d teach my daughters all the things I didn’t let my mom teach me.” She took the stuffed border collie from my arms and set it into her lap, snapping at me to grab her sewing supplies from her purse. “And since I’m never giving birth, you’re the closest I’ve got. I never let my mom teach me any of that, and I’m not gonna let you make the same mistake.”

“I don’t want to work with kids. That sounds lame.” I crossed my arms at my chest, wishing she hadn’t suddenly taken the dog from me. “You want me to learn how to be a mom, but you won’t teach me how to swim?”

“I don’t know how to swim.” She paused, only putting that fact together. “But I know how to take care of myself. I can’t teach you how to swim, but I can teach you that.”

It took me a few moments, but I knew from the onset that I wasn’t going to say no. “Can we learn to swim together?”

“You can learn to swim when you go to college.” She whipped her head around, glaring at me. “And you are going to college.”

“What?! But I don’t want-”

“It’s part of your parole. You go to college, or you can learn to swim in a cell. I won’t be catching a child of mine going to juvy, so it’s the books or it’s big girl jail. Your choice, chica.”

A frustrated blush made its way onto my cheeks. “Fine.”

“Good.” She grinned proudly, stringing her thread through the needle eye as she prepared to sew. “Now watch close cuz I ain’t doing this more than once.”

She quickly went to work sewing my name into the ear of the stuffed doll. And I watched as closely as I could, if only because I was just happy to be back. As much as I hated to admit it, I did love her. 

“There.” She admired her work, showing it off to me. “How does she look?”

“Perfect.” I whined reluctantly, taking the plush dog back into my arms. Fourteen years old, an avid tomboy, I didn’t really want to be made fun of for squeezing a stuffed animal. But I’d never actually had one before, and I was happy that this was the first. “Miss Colleen?”

“You don’t have to call me mom if you don’t want to. I won’t mind.”

And I knew she did mind, but I still didn’t do it, and I really wish I had.

Instead, I simply let it go unspoken. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, sweetie.” Colleen leaned in, worsening my blush with a kiss to the forehead before she got up to her feet. “But don’t think you’re getting off the hook that easily, because you’re in a hell of a lot of trouble. This room better be clean from head to toe before you go to bed, and since you like to spend so much time on that computer of yours, you ought to figure out some way to finish school from this house. Your ass is grounded.”

My head lowered slightly in shame, nodding in agreement. “Yes, Ma’am.”

“Good girl.” She smiled, humming happily to herself as she turned to leave. “I’m always going to be here for you, okay?”

“Okay…” Placing the stuffed dog in my lap and trying not to look up at her, I mumbled. “I’m sorry for running away.”

“You can apologize if you want, just don’t do it again.” She did her best to assure me that she wasn’t upset, when she was. “If you ever need my attention, all you have to do is ask. Remind me in the morning and I’ll get you a phone. I want you to call more often.”

My eyes locked with the tiny black dots the little dog had, nodding to her. “I’ll do my best.”

She must have noticed how much I liked the present she’d made me. “Think you’ll name her?”

“Poppy.” The name slipped out of me without a thought, naming the stuffed dog in my arms. “Her name is Poppy.”

I think hearing me say that did a lot to ease her fears, just like her words eased mine. “A lot of heart went into making that. I don’t want you to ever be alone again. I hope you like her.”

A pink flush of emotion quickly colored my cheeks as I held my new toy. “I love her.”

Colleen sighed happily, her aching heart finally at ease. “I love you, little cavalier.”

My lips parted, and then slowly came back together. I wanted to say the words back, but all I could do was smile- hopefully she could tell that I was thinking them instead. 

 

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Once I opened that door, my world was suddenly changed forever.

 

And with it came a sense of uneasiness. Despite my joy at finally seeing what was inside, I could feel a knot of dread in my stomach. My heart skipped a beat as I excitedly stepped inside, hands clasped over my mouth in abject shock and elation. 

It hit me less like an oncoming car and more like the force of feeling myself plunged into a great big ocean. The familiarity of it all, I wanted to dive headfirst into it. 

My bedroom. It was my bedroom. It was literally my bedroom, not just the image I had in my brain of one Candace put together for me, which only made the empty feeling of my cell spread throughout the sparse barely decorated walls and floors I’d imagined. It was an honest to Goddess bedroom. My bedroom. 

Candace recreated my bedroom in her own home. 

“Feel free to tell me what you think was more of an instruction, honey.” She stood in the doorway with crossed arms, watching my expression. “Putting this all together wasn’t exactly an inconsequential task, a lot of work went into making this right for you.”

It wasn’t what I was expecting, I’m not sure if it was what I wanted, but it was what I got. I’d ached for home for the longest time, but now that a piece of it was coming back to me, I didn’t know if it was still something I wanted. I didn’t know what I wanted. 

“I’m not gonna say anything bad, I promise.” I wanted her to know that, so when she saw the anguish in my face she wouldn’t jump to thinking that was all there was, because it wasn’t. There were some bitter nasty things building up in me just then, certainly. But those pieces were gonna be there regardless of what I got. 

Candace wanted me to like it. I could see it all in her face. Candace wanted me to like it, and for once, I wanted to like it too. So when it hit me all at once just how good and just how bad it felt to be seeing this after all this time, I didn’t want to let the snarls in my brain keep me from liking it. I liked it.

“I like it.” I could have put it a different way. I could have gotten on my knees and kissed her feet, and we both would have gotten a kick out of it, but it would have been for show. I could have told her how amazing it was, but I would be exaggerating. I could have told her just how grateful I was, and I was, but I wasn’t so grateful that I needed to say it aloud. I could have said more, but it would have felt wrong. I wanted to be honest. Not just with her, but with the both of us. “I like it. I like it a lot.”

“Good.” Candace was relieved to hear it. “Need a moment to yourself?”

“No.” I didn’t need, nor did I want, a moment to myself. Being alone was the last thing I wanted right now. “It’s hard.”

Candace was the one to usher me into her arms to be held, holding me close to her. “It’s okay. You’re okay.” Her gentle hands kept me there, trembling against her body as she tried to comfort me. “We can take this as slow as you want.”

“I think I’ll be fine, it’s just a lot at once.”

“I didn’t want to overwhelm you, but I wanted you to know that I’m not going halfway for you.”

Then came the tears in my eyes. “Thank you.”

“You’ve earned it.” Candace tried to assure me, but the only thing I could think to respond with was the contrary.

“I don’t feel like I’ve earned it.” My breath contracted inside of me, letting the sobs out to play. “I don’t know what game I’m playing anymore…”

Falling. I knew what this feeling was, it was falling. Sinking. 

“I already told you, you’re not playing a game. This is real life.”

“But what did I do to deserve this?” I choked, begging for some sort of explanation. “I ran away. I shouldn’t be rewarded when I get home.”

“That’s not what your mom would think, is it?” Candace ran her fingers through my hair, holding me tighter as I fell further. “She welcomed you back, didn’t she?”

The thought made me twitch. “You're not my mom.”

“But I would like to be somebody’s mom one day.” Candace finally admitted, just a bit embarrassed of herself. “And I would like to do it with you.”

Her acceptance of that only served to drive me further downward, continuing to cry into her chest. I was lucky that she let me, because six months ago it was something I never would have dreamed of. But it couldn’t last forever, and I knew that. This thing we had going for us, it was fragile. She’d put together a perfect replica of my bedroom, right down to my favorite PC. There was only one way out of this now.

“Please.” I begged, prying myself from her chest so that I could look her in the eyes. “One last match.”

Her eyes went wide at the thought of me even asking that. “Excuse you?”

“If you really love me like you say you love me, you’ll give me one last chance, please?” Tears dripped down my cheeks, curling my fists into the front of her blouse. “I’m begging you. Let me have the chance to earn my freedom. Give me one last chance to win back my humanity.”

Candace, my archrival once more, lost all color in her cheeks as she processed what I was asking. “You want to win your freedom back. In a rematch?”

“Yes.” My eyes fluttered closed, lowering myself to the bed below as I groveled for it. “All I’m asking for is the chance. Please?”

“Why?!” She screamed, heart filled with poison. “Why would I take that chance?!”

“Because you love me.” My tears quickly formed a small puddle beneath me. “And you know how much it’ll mean to me.”

“If you win, you get to go free. What do I get if I win?” Candace couldn’t quite fathom the risk I was asking her to take. “I win and everything stays the same. Why would I take that risk for nothing?”

“You wouldn’t. Not for nothing.” My eyes pleaded with hers, once again on her level. “I’m the greatest player of all time. If I can’t win my freedom back here, then there’s nothing I can do that’ll ever change that. If I lose, it’s over. I’m yours. But I can’t move on until it’s over.”

Candace bit back her anger, soul searing the color back into her cheeks. “How do you know I’ll keep my word even if I say yes?”

“Because you won’t go back on your word, not if you want me to be with you forever.” It was admittedly a long shot, but I was going to miss every shot I didn’t take. “If you don’t plan on being honest with me, then don’t play.” 

“You do understand the sheer insanity of what you’re asking me to do, right? I have nothing to gain, but everything to lose. We’ve already made this mistake, Chloe. Last time I lost to you, I lost you. After everything I’ve done to get you back, you want me to risk losing you all over again?” 

“You can’t lose something you don’t have, Candace. Just because I’m here with you doesn’t mean I’m yours. If you want me, you have to win me back.”

Candace stammered, falling. She could end this now. Shut me up, shut me down, shut me away. But that wasn’t what she wanted. She wanted me. All of me.

“After everything you’ve done for me-” Gesturing right and left, I really did appreciate that she’d put this space together. “I’m willing to try again. I don’t want to, but I’m willing to. If you want me to give myself over, you need to earn it first. Give me the chance to earn my freedom, and I’ll give you the chance to earn my submission.”

“But this isn’t a fucking game, Chloe.” She decried, trying to pull me back in. “How does beating you in a game of Stolen Cosmos do anything to help win you back?”

“It doesn’t.” I admitted to her. “But putting my needs over yours, just this once, that would.”

“You would never know unless you won. If you lost, you could never be sure I was going to go through with it. You would be here with me, nothing would change, and I’d make that risk without you knowing. How do I win you back if you still lose in the end?”

“Because you know you can’t beat me.” Her fears were all made true by one revelation, because she knew she couldn’t win me back through skill alone. “Not unless you really are that special.”

The ultimate puzzle box. That was the game. Find a way to open it, and claim what’s inside. Until you do, all you have is a headache.

 

And the thought of that filled Candace with fear. “But what if I can’t win?”

“Then you let me go, and we both move on. Hopefully together.” I held my hand towards her, knowing very well that she was going to take it. “Rematch?”

And she did, shaking my hand in agreement. “Rematch.”

This was going to be the most important game of my entire life. Everything needed to go perfectly. But I was ready to take on the challenge of defeating my rival one last time. 

“I set the challenge, but I’ll let you set the rules.” My voice was already cracking with anticipation. “Please be fair.”

“Alright.” Candace frowned, slowly rising to her feet. “You can play on your machine. I can play on mine. Instead of another single match, I want this to be a best of seven, just like the championship.”

A knot worked its way into my chest, but I could live with these terms. “Anything else?”

“Whoever’s name shows up on the winner’s screen wins. If you quit the game, you lose.” 

“No switching, then?”

“No.” She shook her head. “No switching.”

“Is that all?”

“All that I can think of.” She nodded. “Fair enough for you?”

The fluttering in my heart was already nervously making its way to the surface as I looked up at her, seeing tears in her eyes. “This is real, right? You’re not lying to me again. If I win, you’ll let me go?”

That look on her face, though clearly one of dismay on her part, did fill me with just a bit of hope. “You’re not going to win, because I’m not going to lose. Not again. Not after last time.” 

“Thank you.” I settled into my desk, slipping on my headphones. “Good luck.”

“Good luck.” She spat back, refusing to look at me. “Let me know when you’re ready.”

“You never told me what you changed my password to, did you?” 

“It’s the word zero four times.” Candace was more than a little bit proud of herself for that. “I told you, I changed it to something cuter.”

My heart skipped a beat. “I can’t argue with that, I guess.”

 

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This was happening. This was actually happening. At least I hoped it was. 

There was no way to really tell if Candace was bluffing, but I wanted to think that she wasn’t. The last time Candace had been a sore loser, she did a lot of things she was ashamed of, and if she’d changed at all she wouldn’t make the same mistake. 

Could I have just gotten online and contacted the authorities? Probably. But I didn’t want to take that risk. I wanted to be honest with myself, and I wanted to be honest with her. 

So I went straight into the game. 

CStC vs. SoCavalier. One last match. 

Zephyria. I picked Zephyria- because, well- I always picked Zephyria. We both played Zephyria exclusively, so I had no doubt in my mind that Candace would pick… Common Ground?

 

“What the fuck?” 

My eyes glued to the screen in shock, unsure if I was seeing things right. What drugs was this woman on?

“…Is there a problem, Miss goat?” The intercom kicked on, carrying her voice with it and scaring the shit out of me. 

“You don’t play Common Ground.” I shouted back, confused and suspicious. “What gives?”

“Correction. I didn’t play Common Ground.” She responded with a giggle. “I do now.”

I ground my teeth together. “You’d better be taking this seriously.”

“I’m not trying to play tricks on you, sweetie.” It cut off halfway through her sigh. “I can’t beat you at your own game, I know that. You know that. Now ready up- or step down.”

My cursor hovered over the button to start the game. She was right. I was best at playing against other Zephyria players, and I was months out of practice at even just that. But this was it, this was my last chance. 

“Ready.” I took a deep breath. In. Out. In. Out. “Start.”

 

Humans. She had to play humans. It was an interesting change of pace. But that was all it was, a change of pace. No part of me was mentally prepared for Candace to switch factions, to the humans of all things, but it wasn’t like it lost me the first game. Consider who she’s up against. She played well, but playing well just wasn’t good enough. There was no way for Candace to win. 

Yet for some reason, I felt like I was losing my mind. After just the first game, which I won, I was suddenly struck with a strange feeling in my stomach.

“It’s alright…” I mumbled to myself, trying to keep calm. “It’s a best of seven. You’re doing fine.”

I won that game. 1 - 0. I was leading. But something was off. It still felt like somehow I hadn’t quite earned that win. 

Of course Candace was going to trail behind out the gate, just asking her to do this must have put a considerable amount of stress on her. I imagine she probably wasn’t too happy about this right about now, even if she knew I was the better player, Candace was the one in control here. I didn’t want her to win, but I also didn’t want her to get frustrated and cancel the match. If she did that, it was over.

 

“Hey Candace?” I asked into the air, hoping she could hear me. “Can we take breaks between rounds?”

And sure enough, she did. But her tone was not exactly pleased. “Yeah, that’s fine.”

“Okay…” I sighed, prying away from my chair and heading back out there. It didn’t even occur to me until I got there that she might have just been tricking me into going AFK so that she could win the next round. But thankfully for me, she wasn’t.

This was going to be an all day thing. 

Candace had her face hidden behind her hands by the time I got to her, having correctly assumed she’d still be in the entertainment room. If the look in her eyes was anything to go by, she was taking this as seriously as I was. 

“Are you doing alright, Ma’am?” I asked, slowly opening the door. 

She looked me dead in the eyes and snarled. “Do I look alright?”

I shook my head. “No, Ma’am.”

A little piece of her was regretting even making this bet, and seeing the hurt it was causing her, a piece of me was regretting it too. But that was still the very same piece of me I was keeping locked away in the back of my brain. 

“You played well, though.” I smiled, doing my best to try and cheer her up without belittling her. “I wasn’t expecting humans.”

“It didn’t make a difference.” She snapped, clearly frustrated to the point of vitriol. “Nothing I can do is going to make a difference. I can’t beat you.”

“You know that’s not true. I’m a whole year out of practice compared to you, and you’ve literally spent the last weekend watching the rest of the world’s best and taking notes. I-” I sputtered to a stop, coughing. She couldn’t cancel this match, I needed her to keep going. “I’m not giving up on my hopes of going free, despite my chances, why should you?”

Her gaze glazed over, charmed by the floor beneath my feet. “I don’t know what game we’re playing anymore either.”

My whole body twitched. “Oh my god. Nut the fuck up already.”

Candace’s eyes shot up. That clearly got her attention. “Come again?”

“I’m not going to fall for your pansy wansy oh woe is me sweetpea act. I’m here to win my freedom, not hurt your feelings. Grow a pair of balls and play like a girl, please. I’m not trying to trounce all over you, you’re the one who’s letting me.” When all else fails, be a brat. “You really think this sad bitter monster husk is someone I’d ever willingly call Master? No, because you’re better than that.” 

And that was what it was all about, wasn’t it?

“Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go test the shower if that’s alright with you.” I teased, hoping she’d take me up on my next offer. “If you finish with whatever this is, I wouldn’t mind if you joined me.”

Candace had caught me by the wrist before I’d even gotten the chance to walk off, filled with hunger. “That shower isn’t very big, you know?”

My cheeks glow just a little. “I know.” 

Just like that, her doubts seemed to wash away as she took me by the hand and led the way herself. We both knew where we were going, but I let her lead the way regardless. She liked to lead the way, and I liked to be led. It was funny to realize that about myself- I liked to be led. 

I was leading in the game, but she was the one at the helm here. 

“I don’t care who you are, free or not, you do not talk to me like that.” Candace dragged me back to my room by the wrist, and I quickly found myself willingly shoved forth into the bathroom for the first time. “If you’re going to be like this, you can kiss your chances of getting out of here goodbye, you got that?”

“Yes, Ma’am.” I heard sprung from my lips, flying by without a second of thought or hesitation. 

Candace locked the door behind us, unsure of what sort of resistance she might expect as she cranked the shower faucet on high. “I’m not about to give up after one fucking game. You’re not a free woman unless you win.”

Now this was exactly the kind of reaction I was looking for. 

“Careful, it’s hot.” Candace teased me as I was sent fleeing from the warm water. “Now get your ass in the shower before I have to throw you in myself.” 

She didn’t even wait to give me the opportunity to listen. I felt her hand on my lower back, practically tossing me into the mostly unused shower. She’d left me nude all morning, so it didn’t take much preparation for me. Candace still had to undress, and I could bet my ass she was coming in after all of that.

She couldn’t see me, but I sank to my knees on the shower floor. Nice and hot, apparently just how Candace liked it. But she apparently liked seeing me on my knees even more. 

“Careful.” I teased back. “I’m hot.”

“Don’t make me shove it up your mouth, slut. We’ll see how well you’ll play after you’ve been skullfucked into submission.”

“Just like you said, I’m your slave until I win.” My cheeks were red like cherries now, and it definitely wasn’t the temperature. “That’s fair game.”

That little piece of me I was keeping locked away couldn’t help but lean forward ever so slightly as Candace reached down to grab me by the hair. Her house. Her shower. Her slave. I kept my hands firmly planted on the ground for a little bit of control, it was slippery in here after all, but I let her lead the way from there. 

She was ready for me by the time my mouth reached her. If it would appease that part of me, I would part my lips and let her slip her way in. Hopefully it was going to help to get these urges out now while I can, before I slip any further off the rails. Candace wasn’t too easy on me, however. That woman was determined to knock me off my game. Rough, hard, and painful- just like Candace liked it.

“Chloe.” She hissed, keeping me still as I turned to spit her semen down the drain. “Swallow.” 

God, this girl was good. 

One step at a time. I held my tongue, locked eyes with hers, and swallowed, making sure to let my mouth hang open to prove it. 

“Good girl.” Her voice sounded like a purr. Hopefully meaning she’d recovered from her last loss. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”

 

Once we were finished, I settled back into my seat, still naked. 

“I played the last round without clothes on, you can play this one before you get dressed.” I pouted, pretending like wearing or not wearing clothes did anything to sway the outcome of a game.

“I thought we just firmly established how not to fuck things up by trying to tell me what to do. If you want to wear something you can throw on some lingerie, before I kick your ass.” 

“Yes, Ma’am.” I let slip again, a little too eager for my own good. “Feeling better at all?”

“Yeah.” She admitted, pretty honestly. “I think I’m starting to get what game we’re playing.”

A smile made its way onto my lips. “Glad I could help.”

“Good. It’s what you’re here for.”

 

Tied. One game each. 

That little stunt of mine might have gotten Candace’s head back in the game, but it did kind of cost me the next round. Which was fine, it wasn’t like I played any worse than I ever had, it just stung a little. 

Okay, it stung a lot. Rationally, I knew that the contest being competitive was better for the sake of the match, but I still wanted to win. After doing all that to reinvigorate my opponent, losing was like a kick in the face. 

And the hole in my chest slowly grew wider. 

 

“Hey.” Candace smiled from the doorway, opting not to tease or make fun of me for losing my first round. “How ya feeling?”

“I’m fine.” I lied, trying not to make eye contact with her as I stretched. “I let you have that round.”

“I’m sure you did.” She played along, shaking her head. “But until you win, you’re still my slave. Go make breakfast.”

“Don’t say that like you know I’m gonna win.” I mumbled, shambling my way over to her. It felt more prevalent now than ever, because I might not win after all. “What’s for breakfast, Ma’am?”

She helped me to the kitchen, leading the way again. “There’s pancakes, but you’ll have to make the batter yourself. Know how to do that?” 

“Yeah.” I nodded, setting the ingredients out in front of me as I fumbled through the fridge and through the cabinets. “Mom taught me.”

“Mom?”

“My foster mom, Colleen.” A shiver ran down my spine as I said her name, remembering a strange detail from last night. “…Candace?”

“Yes?”

“Where’d you get that stuffed animal?”

“Is that really something you want to get yourself worried about in the middle of a match?”

“I’m already worried about it… Please?”

Candace relented. “Justin brought your mom with him. She apparently made me a stuffed cat, that’s all.”

“Oh.” I sighed, nodding my head. “Nothing happened to her, right?”

“Your mother is perfectly fine, Chloe. Don’t worry so much. It’s just a stuffed cat. She doesn’t know anything. She’s not in any sort of danger. If you want to worry about her, you can worry about her later.”

“Right.” I whispered, shriveling up slightly. “I’m sorry.”

“Listen, Chloe. If this is the last day I have you, I want it to be nice for the both of us. Hurry up and finish breakfast before I lose my appetite, please?”

“You don’t have to say please with me, you know. I’d prefer it if you didn’t give me an illusion of freedom if I don’t get to have the real thing.” Pancakes weren’t too hard after the first few times, and before long I was already finished with mixing and started with baking. “If this is the last day I’m going to get to serve you, I’m going to serve you well.”

That put a smile on her face. “You make it sound like you enjoy it.”

“Sometimes I do.” I could feel myself blushing. “Sometimes.”

Her smile didn’t last long, however. “But you’d prefer to go free?” 

That was the answer my brain was coming to, yes. But I did have to stop and think about it. What did it even mean to be free? What was I going to do if I went free? The whole world thought I was dead, how was I even going to board a plane back home? Even if I was free, I’d have to rely on Candace to take me home- or even worse- I’d have to live in Florida.

And that was a thought that made me shudder. “Would you punish me if I said yes?”

“Only if you count the humiliation of losing this match a punishment.”

“Then yes.” I admitted. “I think I would prefer to go free.”

“And what would you do if I called it all off here and now?”

I paused, already knowing what I’d say to that. “I’d be heartbroken.”

There was one little part of me that hoped she would. One tiny sliver of my head and my heart that wished she would just stand up, tell me no, and put me to bed with a spanking and a mouth soaping. But that was the part of me I liked to keep locked in a cage in the back of my mind at all times. That part of me liked being locked in a cage.

Candace’s mind was locked in a cage of its own. I had clearly put her in a difficult position. She wanted to. She really wanted to. Candace wanted to call the whole thing off and whip me senseless, to quit while she was ahead. But she wouldn’t. She didn’t want to see me heartbroken. 

“If I do win, will you really accept the results?” She frowned, trying not to look up at me. “You did try to stab me to death once upon a time. Will you really be satisfied with giving up, or am I taking this risk for nothing?” 

That’s when it occurred to me that while I was worrying about whether she’d go through with releasing me, Candace was worrying about whether I’d finally accept my place. 

“I guess we just have to trust each other.” The pancakes were finished, and I was turning off the stove to get ready to serve them. “One of us is going to lose, but at least we’re being friendly about it, right?”

Candace smiled, not bothering to answer that knowing what the look on her face was going to tell me. She simply slid her chair slightly, patting her knee for me. “Sit in my lap while we eat.”

 

We ate breakfast together. Together together. I handed over the reins and left the rest to her, keeping my hands in my lap as she fed me. It was nice, and if I never got to do it again, I’d miss it. But there were things I’ve been missing for a long time now.

And now I knew what was on the line. Colleen. My mother.

It was hard to tell if Candace played as well as she did in the last game, but one thing was for certain, I was going to have to fight for this if I wanted to go free. If I ever wanted to see my mother again, I needed to win this match. I needed to win this game- and I did. 

I was in the lead again. 2 - 1. But the hole in my chest still grew wider. 

 

My knees tucked tight to my chest, curling up atop my chair. I felt strangely empty inside for some reason. It was like there was a bottomless pit welling up within me, and that everything I was had started falling inside of it. 

I want my mom. I thought- and for the first time ever I actually called Collen like she was as I thought it. My mother. I’d seen Candace, Claudia, and even Zenna all fail to see their mothers for what they were, and I didn’t want to make the same mistake. Something about Candace’s offer- to make me a part of her family- still spoke to me. But this family was not the one I wanted to be a part of. 

Deep down I was relieved Candace had taken precautions in setting up my bedroom, because if my computer hadn’t quickly cut me off from trying to look for my family online, I’m sure the hole in my chest would have only deepened. No. I didn’t need to look at her from afar, I needed to talk to her directly. The only way this was getting fixed was if I could hear their voices again- the only two people I’d ever considered family- Colleen and Justin. 

Justin… My heart swelled. He and I did not end on the right foot, I feared. What about Justin? 

This was the old life I was fighting for. Her and him. She was the one I was scared the most for, but he was more in the way of danger, wasn’t he?

Knock knock. I paused, waiting for Candace to answer the door- or at the very least to signal that I was about to come inside. Swinging it open and stepping inside, I froze in the doorway. “Candace?”

The large monitor quickly flipped back to the game, but not before I got a chance to see what she had just been looking at on that elephant sized television screen. 

“Were you watching me on the cameras?” I asked, irritated, annoyed. That was a feed of the bedroom, I could recognize the familiar sight in a flash. I hadn’t expected it to be free of cameras, but I didn’t think she was spying on me the whole time. “You’re cheating?”

Her ugly mismatched eyes fluttered to mine, blinking confusedly. Candace did not seem so fussed about losing that round like she had the first time, now she just seemed caught off guard. “What?”

“You’re cheating.” I pointed at the monitor in accusation. “You were watching me on the cameras, don’t try to hide it.”

“Okay. I will admit, I was watching you on the cameras.” Candace quietly confessed, pulling the live feed back up onto the screen. “But I wasn’t cheating.”

“Oh yeah?” My arms crossed at my chest in disbelief. “Then what were you doing?”

“I was just checking up on you, Chloe. You seemed a bit shaken up earlier. I was trying to make sure you were okay, that’s all.” 

Now I felt a bit like a paranoid freak. “I’m fine.”

“You don’t seem fine.” She noted. “Wanna talk about it?”

“I’m winning.” I quickly let slip, once again without thought. “That’s all that matters.”

“I didn’t say you could leave.” Candace scolded me as I turned to walk away. “Get back here.”

She dragged me back in, the door closed behind me. I wasn’t sure when the last time I’d sat on the sofa had been- if ever- but that’s where she sat me down. Right in front of the monitor, looking down to avoid seeing what she was seeing. 

“What’s the matter with you?” She hissed at me. 

I ask myself that all the time. What’s the matter with me? But the better question now was whether or not it even mattered. 

“I don’t have to do this for you, you know. If you’re gonna be a sore winner, I don’t see any reason for you to complain about me being a sore loser.” Candace was irked enough to pick up one foot and use it to shove my knee down when I tried to tuck it into my chest. “This was your fucking idea, not mine.”

The words came out limp and cracked. “Don’t yell at me.”

“Don’t yell at you?!” Candace yelled, completely ignoring my plea. “Do you have any idea what’s going to happen to you out there if you win?! You’re nothing without me, Chloe. You’re going to be shot out, potentially kidnapped again, and even killed. And you’re worried about being yelled at?!”

Her cries fell on deaf ears, unfortunately, because I wasn’t listening. I heard her words, but I didn’t listen to them. The only words I listened to were the ones whispering to me from the back of my own head, putting tears in the corners of my eyes. 

“All I want is to keep you safe, Chloe. I’m only watching you because I’m worried.” Candace began to stammer at me. “I’m starting to think that you’re in more danger from yourself than anything.”

My heart sunk into the void, pulsing with pain. “I’m not a danger to myself.”

Candace crossed her arms. “Your manager didn’t seem to think so, did he?”

Blood curdled in my veins. “My manager?”

Justin. She’s talking about Justin. 

“What about him?”

“I’m not even the first person to worry about your mental health, am I?”

“What did he say to you?” 

Candace opened her mouth to speak, before quickly backing up. “Why don’t you ask him yourself?”

Suddenly my heart was pounding, blood rushing through me like a river. I didn’t even need to ask what she meant before she was on her phone, scrolling through her contacts and dialing. Seemingly without care, she tossed it into my lap to see what I would do: Hold it up to my ear and listen as it called out. 

Candace stood in front of and over me, not being so reckless as to leave me unsupervised, but the sound of a phone dialing out in my ear for the first time left me nervous and unsure of myself. 

“…Candace?”

“If you don’t want to talk to him, you can hang up and hand me the phone.” She held her hand out, flat and open. “Or you can hold my hand if you’d like.”

I bit down on my lip as I took her hand, unsure of what was about to happen. And she squeezed my hand back as I did. 

 

“Hello?” I heard asked from the other end. That sounded like him alright. 

This was happening. This was actually happening. Candace just sprung it on me like an oncoming car, but it was actually happening. “Hey.”

The other voice went cold at the sound of my voice, letting a long silence speak for itself between us. “Sophia?”

“Yeah, it’s me.” I was talking to him alright. “Hey Justin.”

I wasn’t sure he was sure what to say, but he had to say something. “Haven’t heard from you in a while… How’ve you been?”

“Not great.” 

“Do you… want to talk about it?”

“Not really.” I answered, about as honestly as I could while still holding Candace’s hand. “What about you? How’ve you been?”

“Not great.” He repeated back to me, and the two of us just went on echoing ourselves. 

“Want to talk about it?”

“Not really.” 

There was a pause just then, as neither of us knew what to do. But I was getting the implication here, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. 

“It’s nice hearing from you again.” He mumbled, trying to break through a glacier’s worth of ice. “I wasn’t sure if I’d ever get to.”

“Me neither.” 

Justin was clearly breathing heavily as he spoke. “Are you safe?”

“Am I safe?” My eyes drifted up to Candace’s first and foremost, locking with her as we squeezed hands. She didn’t say anything, but she did clasp her other hand over mine, as if to comfort me. “Yeah. I think so.”

“That’s good.” He admitted. “I was worried.”

“What about?”

“You.”

I slowly lowered my gaze, almost ashamed of myself. “Hey, Justin?”

“Yeah?”

“Can we be friends again?”

“Of course.” He answered without hesitation, which did wonders to help reassure me. “I’m sorry about everything-”

“No. I… I should be the one apologizing. I’m sorry.” My hand squeezed reflexively at my next thought. “I’m in the middle of a match.”

“Oh.” He mustn’t have liked that idea either. “Should I let you go?”

“Yeah.” I paused for a moment. “Please don’t tell anyone about this.”

“I won’t.” He agreed. “I promise.”

“Thank you.”

“And hey-” He interrupted before handing up. “Please be safe.”

“I’ll do my best.”

 

The phone slotted back into Candace’s hand in place of mine, knowing better than to think I could get away with anything else. That was an experience for sure, one that I was still iffy on. 

“Yeah.” My head nodded slightly, avoiding the sight of Candace as she sat down next to me. “That makes sense.”

Her fingers curled into my hair, tugging my head to her chest and my body into her lap. “I didn’t know-”

“Like hell you didn’t know.” My eyes shuttered closed with tears. “He was in on it the whole time.”

“And if I had known he was in on it, don’t you think I would have used it to torment you?” Candace asked, her lips pressed to my forehead. “He begged to keep it secret from me because he was worried I would.”

That opened my eyes just a little bit, willing to listen. “You really didn’t know?”

“I really didn’t know. Not until we talked this weekend.” She promised, still holding my naked body close to her. “You can ask him yourself once you’re free.”

The thought only widened the hole in my heart. “Okay…”

 

Things were going exactly like they had a year ago yesterday- Sophia, Candace, Sophia, Candace- except this time it was Chloe, Candace, Chloe, Candace. With the world falling apart around me, no, I did not win the next round.

And with the growing void inside of me came the very tangible realization that I might not be getting out of this after all. Something which sent things spilling out of me like a faucet. 

“Ghhhck-” Unable to quite gag everything back, I quickly hunched over the trash been as I spewed chunks from my gut. “Pfffth.”

My hands spun back, nervously trying to clutch back my hair as it just kept going. A part of me hoped I’d spit my heart out, and the rest of me wanted to pull my orange locks out in chunks. Before I could, however, I quickly felt them being relieved by hers. Candace held my hair back for me as I hurled, waiting until I could talk before saying much anything to me. 

We were four matches in. Someone could have won by now if one of us had the skill for an outright sweep, which I thought I did. But instead we were at least two matches away from a conclusion, and if we were really unlucky- three. 

“Stay.” She commanded, as if I was a dog. But it was clearly for good reason. I took my hair from her and continued to hold it out of the way, watching as she delivered that little yellow dog bowl with my name on it, now full of water. Candace then grabbed me by my hair. “Drink.”

With a little bit of help from her I leaned down, calmed my body, and drank. She had an iron grip on the back of my head, one that I wasn’t about to fight her for. 

“What happened to getting dressed?” She made it sound like it was relevant. “Weren’t you going to put something on?”

“What’s the point?” I spat, literally pouring out a mouthful of water into the bin to clean myself out. “I’m just a toy for you to fuck with, and you’re only doing this to torment me, aren’t you?”

“What makes you think that?” She hummed, not taking it too seriously. 

“Because you’re not going to let me go.” I wiped my lips clean, my head still hung. “Isn’t that right?”

“This isn’t about letting you walk out of those doors, Chloe. This is about keeping you as my slave.” Candace finally released my hair, gesturing to the rest of my bedroom. “This is where you’re going to live because this is where you’re safest. If this is just some overblown witness protection, so be it.” 

I shivered nervously, tilting my head up at her. “What do you mean?”

“I mean what I said. I’m not letting you go anywhere, Chloe. Win or lose, you stay here. But-” And she paused right there, not wanting it to be true, but she knew she didn’t have the heart to go back on it. “But if you win, you can have the collar off. You can be your own person, and if you really want to walk away from here, I’ll have no choice but to let you. Just like I’ll have no choice but to make you my enemy again. But if you stay here, even as my prisoner, I can still protect you.”

That sinking feeling in my chest only got worse from there. “That’s not good enough.”

“But it’s as good as I can give you.” And she hated that it was. “It’s not just about you and me, Chloe. It’s about everything. I have to choose between you or my family, and if I choose you, I give up my chances of ever being my father’s heiress.” 

A twinge in my stomach sent me spiraling over the edge amidst the subsequent silence, again trying not to cover myself in puke as I stress vomited into the trash bin. She again was kind enough to protect my hair from just that for me, as well as getting me some more water to wash my mouth with. 

“Are you going through with this?” I demanded. “Or aren’t you?”

“If I win, I get to keep you, but I give up the chance to take my father’s place. Maybe that’s for the best. Maybe the world would be better off with someone else at the helm. You might not go free, but the world would be free from me.” Candace thought it all over, and I could see where her hesitation would lie. “If I lose, I give you up, but I get to be one of the most powerful people in the world. You get to reunite with your mother. I get to free mine from her debt. It’s not like it’s a total loss, but it would hurt. And I guess that’s something that you have to decide. If you stay, maybe there’s a chance to make me a better person. But if you go, I don’t know what an underworld with me at the helm would look like. The only thing that’s certain is that you won’t be at my side to hold me back.”

“Then why don’t we just leave it up to the game?” I asked.

“That’s what I’m thinking.” Candace agreed. “Let’s leave it up to the game.”

My heart skipped upwards, putting tears in my eyes. “You mean that?”

“Yes. I mean that.” And she hated that she did. “We should probably stop for dinner first, at least while we’re still tied. Go and find something to make, I don’t care what, but make enough for us both. Alright?”

“And then?”

“And then we’ll keep playing.”

 

Dinner was pasta. It was always pasta with her. We ate together, as together as we could, not saying a word if we could avoid it. More than breakfast, this didn’t feel like the time to be playing around with one another. It felt like hell.

Candace clipped a leash to my collar once we were finished eating, not bothering to tell me what was going on as she led me outside, naked and shivering. The both of us needed a moment to clear our heads. 

I took her arm in mine, keeping close as she led us just around the yard. It felt nice to be led, admittedly. That hadn’t changed. 

She let me sit next to her in the sand as we landed on the beach, still together. It was a beautiful sight to behold, just not one that could last forever. The one thing I knew for certain was how much I wanted to dive into that deep blue ocean, and nothing was going to stop me from making that happen. 

 

If we kept trading wins like this- like we had at the championship- I was going to win. There was no doubt in my mind that if all we did was play our best, I was going to win. Where the doubt clawed its way back into my mind was whether I actually wanted that to happen. Candace never got a seventh round with me at the championship. I won 4 - 2. 

Our score currently sat at 3 - 2. And just like it had been during the championship, this last game was brutal. My win then was in large part thanks to leaving her in a dwindling mental state after five grueling rounds. Today was no different.

If I won the next round, it was over. 

Last chance, Saint Clair. I whispered in my own head. It’s all up to you.

It didn’t matter the outcome, every single game left me weak and drained. Even after a win, I felt as revolting and volatile as I had ever been. It felt like I was falling. 

Pull yourself back together. I urged my aching heart, biting back loud uncomfortable sobs. You’re almost there, don’t back away now. You can do this. Don’t let her take you down without a fight. Don’t let her off so easily. You’re better than her. 

But I wasn’t, was I? 

Who am I kidding? My heart fell further, letting the ache spread. All I ever do is destroy things. My own family. My foster mother’s heart. Justin’s sanity. Candace’s dreams. This entire family. Nobody’s going to want me after this. Not even her. Not if I break Candace like I break everything else. 

That’s when the tears began to roll, as the cruel irony of my life slowly set in. They all thought I was dead, and things were better off that way. The world was better off without me in it. The only person in the world who could ever benefit from me being in it was me, and how cruel of me it was not to simply let myself vanish into thin air. 

“Why are you like this?” I asked with a mouthful of tears and desperation. “Why can’t you see that you’re better off without me? Why do you love me when no one else does?”

My mind drifted to that sunset, and the ocean hidden beyond. If I ever heard her voice again, would Colleen even forgive me. All she has left of me is a memory of the last time she saw my face, an embittered ball of hatred who couldn’t even forgive herself for the ways she lived, who even after five years could only ever fight with the one person who would have her. A face that would be dead the next morning. She blames herself for my death. I know she does. If she ever saw this face again, all I could possibly see in her eyes was the deep rage of a woman who I let believe she’d killed me. I could never look her in the eyes again. 

Even Justin, my only friend, saw that. He knew the world was better off without me. That’s why he did it. Because all I can do is destroy things. Hopes, hearts, minds, dreams. I destroyed everything I touched. Including the one good friendship I’d ever had. 

There was nothing left for me out there. 

 

“Chloe.” Her beautiful voice beamed through on the intercom, not daring to step foot anywhere near me. “Are you okay?”

No. No I wasn’t. But there was nothing that could fix that. Who cared if I was hunted to death once I was free, the world would be better off when the dust settled. 

“I’ll be fine.” The sobs said, lying to us both. “Just start the next match.”

“You won that game.” Her voice was angry, or maybe it wasn’t, but what else could it be if not full of rage? All I could hear was fury, because that’s all I deserved. “Why are you crying?”

“Are you not fucking listening to me?!” 

Thump. My fists slammed hard onto the top of my desk, causing everything it held to clatter slightly. 

“I said I’ll be fine-” My lungs seethed, draining my whole body of breath. “Just start the fucking game and we can end this already!!”

 

I waited for a few moments, but there was no response.

Fuck. What did I do wrong? What do I do now? What’s going to happen? Is she really upset at me?

My plan wasn’t to make Candace upset, I was already upset with myself, I didn’t need any more than that. If she was upset, she was going to call off the match. And if she was going to call off the match, I was never getting out of here. Which means that Candace hates me all over again, and we were going to be right back to day one. Everything I touch crumbles to dust, and now I’m destroying the world around me, all because I’m worth less than nothing.

“Chloe.” Her voice beamed through again, saying my name. “Meet me in the parlor.” 

This is it. I swallowed nervously, anticipating the absolute worst. She’s going to throw me back in my cell. 

 

Every step brought with it a new, more desperate emotion. The hole in my chest only grew bigger and bigger, until I was face to face with her, sitting atop her throne. 

“There’s a hairbrush on my bathroom sink, go get it.” She said through the silence, handing me a direct order to follow in the hopes that I could get a hold of myself. “Now.”

This wasn’t what I was expecting. This wasn’t what I wanted. But for some reason, I already had the hairbrush in hand before I could even question following her words.

“If you can’t help but curl up into a ball sobbing to yourself, something is clearly amiss with you. You should know not to punish yourself for your own behavior, that pleasure still belongs to me.”

Not liking where this was going, I pleaded. “I’m sorry.”

“There’s no more room for sorry, Sophia Cavalier.” Her outstretched hand demanded the hairbrush, and my twitching fingers begged me to give it to her. “Now come here and put yourself over my knee.”

She wasn’t violent, but she was commanding. The hairbrush ripped free from my hand the same moment my ear fell into her grasp, pulling me into her without a moment of hesitation. By the time I was over her lap, my face was already hidden behind my hands, trying not to cry before it even started. And she wouldn’t even let me have that. 

Candace didn’t feel the need to say anything, but the feeling of her fingers lightly pinching my earlobe was enough to loosen me up, my hands torn away to let her see my face as she allowed the backside of the brush to hover over my bare ass. We locked eyes for just a moment, until I was stable enough to lower my gaze. My head lowered with it, shoved down by her hand as she continued to pinch my ear. My thoughts were shattered in my head before I could even finish thinking them, before she could even have the chance to swat me, I knew better than to raise my head- letting my body raise ever so slightly to meet the brush instead.

Candace spanked me. It wasn’t the first time she’d spanked me, but it very well could have been the last. At least that’s what the scared little piece of me locked away in that cage was terrified of. That I’d never feel anything like this again. 

I felt her gently petting my hair as she held my head down, she wasn't trying to suffocate me by burying my face in the blankets, she was just trying to exert her dominance over me, and I let her. I wanted that, Candace was my world, and even though it was painful, being over her knee like I was brought me great joy. It brought me closer to her. 

It made me happy. If only for tonight, it made me happy. 

She knew who I was. She wasn’t shocked by my sobs, and she wasn’t about to let them stop her. All she needed to provide me was that light pressure against my lobe telling me that everything was okay.

And suddenly everything was okay. 

“I’m not going to cancel the match.” She asserted, staring me straight on as I knelt in her lap. “If you want to go free, keep fighting and win. But if you don’t, don’t.”

The tears wiped free from my face, already red with shame by the time it was all over. “I can’t give up. Not now. Not while I’m so close.”

“Then fight.” I was commanded, her eyes determined to do what was right. “I won’t be deprived of my chance to earn your submission. Not after the tournament.”

 

My heart stopped, petrified by the thought of losing after coming all this way. The skin of my ass stung as I sat down, wincing to the touch. It was a strange warmth that I hadn’t felt in quite some time, accompanied by an odd sense of security inside as I turned to keep playing. 

Everything inside of me screamed for me to win, but I didn’t want it to happen like this. Not like it had during the tournament. Humiliating her again felt wrong. Candace deserved a seventh match, and she was going to be getting one.

But this game was different. Sitting at the screen and staring at the tied score, something felt different. I wasn’t so torn up about losing that match because I knew deep down, hidden in my subconscious, something had betrayed me. I lost it at that. That some part of myself wasn’t working anymore. That some part of myself was letting it slip into the void. 

The only way I could lose this match now was if I threw it all away, and the thought of that broke me.

 

My eyes locked down, watching my mouse tremble in my hands. These parts of me don’t shake. These parts of me were my only hope, they couldn’t stop working now. My mind wanted one thing, but my heart- still burying deep inside of that hole- wanted another. These parts of me- these hands of mine- were betraying me. 

“This can’t be happening.” My mouth mumbled, scared of nothing, least of not Candace hearing what I had to say. “I can’t be on equal grounds with you. I’m better than you. I’m better than this. I can’t lose. Not to you. Not to anyone. I can’t lose…”

Those fingers gripped tight around that mouse, about to shatter it in my hands. It made me so impossibly angry to think that now that it was down to the wire, the only piece of me that I knew I could always count on had finally begun to shake. That anger sprung me to my fight, rising higher, until the only way left for me to go was down. 

Before I could make that last mistake, to plunge into that darkness, I caught myself. My mouse was fortunate enough not to shatter into pieces as it thudded to the floor, which almost certainly would have spelled doom. 

No. My body thumped to the floor, on my knees, trying to make sure it was okay. And it was. It was okay, but it almost wasn’t.

“And yet here we are.” Candace’s voice came from behind, towering over me as I sat in a panic on the floor, having tunneled her presence out of my vision. “What happened to finishing this?”

“It’s not over…” I mumbled, clutching the mouse to my chest as I plugged it back into the USB port. “I can still win this.”

“Then why didn’t you win it last game?” She asked, voice almost seething with anger. “Why’d you throw that round?”

“I didn’t.” My voice hissed, and I swiveled around to face her, ready to take on her bitter selfish rage with my own-

But there was no real rage to speak of in those soft caring eyes once I saw them, frowning down at me to my face. Candace had a pair of stuffed animals in her arms, clutched to her chest like I held my mouse, a cat and a dog. One said Candace. The other said Sophia. 

When it really should have said Chloe.

“I thought you might need a friend.” She smiled, holding Poppy towards me to take. “Pansy certainly helps me.”

“Pansy?” My eyes drifted to the stuffed cat’s, anger slowly beginning to subside. “That’s such a pretty name.”

“I only pick the prettiest of names, Chloe.” Candace sat herself on the futon next to me, letting me settle in at her side. “And I only pick the prettiest of flowers.” 

Hearing those words in her voice had my cheeks flushing pink. She meant me when she said that. I was the prettiest of flowers. 

“You know I can’t win this, Chloe. But until this match is over, we’re still master and slave.” Candace spoke like she was already congratulating me. “I’m going to give you one last order, and you’re going to have to choose whether to follow it.”

Butterflies fluttered in my chest, dazzled at the thought of this being the last order Candace may ever give me. One last command, that deep down, I knew I wanted to let lead me to the end of the world. An instruction that my heart was begging me to follow.

 

“Forfeit.” 

As soon as it reached me, it felt obvious. Of course Candace would tell me to forfeit. Because she knew from the very beginning that the only way for her to win was for me to give up.

“If you want a reason to live, I can give you one.” She promised, and I took that idea to heart. “Do as I say, and let that be your purpose.”

Light flickered in her eyes as I sought deep into them, watching her rise to her feet without another word. She made it my choice. Winning this match meant disobeying her final order. 

She meant it. After all of that, she meant it. The door didn’t click closed behind her, because she didn’t close it. An open door, my chance at freedom. Candace was handing it to me now. 

And hung from the handle of that open door, one half of a heart I’d made her, one half of a collar we shared. 

One final rematch. After everything we’d been through, it was up to me whether winning now was worth this last act of defiance. 

And I think she knew which one I was going to pick.

 

Clicking my mouse one more time, the last it ever would. The game began.

My half of the locket, red like the prettiest of roses, cut sharply through the cord of my mouse like it was nothing. Less than nothing. After all, I was nothing without her. At the end of the day, even if it meant my freedom, no part of me was going to cheat my way out of this. Not if I had to disobey her. 

Severed from any seat of power, all I could do now was watch myself lose to her. Forfeiting my victory in favor of seeing her name on the screen. Letting the game tell me what was to happen. 

 

CStC 4 - 3 SoCavalier

Winner

CStC

 

And at long last, it was finally over. 

 

“Forfeit.” My mouse hung from my hand, holding it by a cut cord as I showed it to her. “I forfeit.”

Candace wore a smile on her face as she closed my door behind her, cutting off my only chance at leaving. “Good girl.”

Helplessly, I crawled onto the futon, fleeing from my PC as she approached. It was pathetic. I was pathetic. But from the very beginning, a part of me knew it was going to happen.

“You made the right choice, Chloe.” She assured me, climbing in next to me on the now outstretched bed. “I promise not to take this submission for granted ever again. You chose to stay. I’m going to make sure it was the right choice.”

My cheeks were red with humiliation, trying not to show itself too fiercely as I looked into her eyes with a hungry desperation for her support. “You were never worried I was going to win, were you?”

“No.” She admitted with a shake of the head, denying it outright. “You weren’t going to let yourself win. You didn’t want to.”

Candace was right. Why else would my hands betray me if not in the hopes that she’d win? 

“The moment you threw a match, there was no doubt. You were waiting for me to take control.” Candace gently began clasping my half of our locket around my neck. “That was the game we were playing.”

“I’m glad you could tell.” I felt slip from my tongue. “Because I couldn’t.”

“It’s alright. You belong to me, now and forever. I’m here to help lead you.” Candace sighed, brushing my hair out of the way so that she could admire me. “And since you’re still here, you have plenty of orders to follow until we reach your last.”

The sound of that did help sweeten my disappointment. “Yes, Ma’am.”

“But as much as it pains me to make this my next order, that was your last match.”

My heart sank once more. “But why?”

“Because you can’t handle it anymore.” She asserted. “It’s the game that’s the problem. At least in part, I think it’s traumatic for you.” Candace didn’t want to admit it, but she was only trying to make the right decision when she said this. “Game after game, every round only hurts more. It makes it harder for you. It’s like it’s own kind of self harm.” 

 “Or sabotage…” I added, relenting to her authority on this. “But it’s all that I have.”

“Not anymore it’s not.” Candace denied me. “It’s already served its purpose by bringing you to me. You have a new purpose now.”

Biting down on my lip, I nodded my head. “Which is?”

“Help me.” Candace smiled, gently pinching one of my ears. “In any way that you can, I want you to help me be a better person, for your sake and mine.”

My belly fluttered. “You really think I can do that?”

“You’re the only one who can do that.” She assured me. “I’m not giving you a choice.”

For once, I didn’t mind bowing my submission to that. “I promise I’ll do my best.”

Candace climbed into my new bed next to me, letting me curl up into her arms and sob. It wasn’t the outcome I probably deserved, but it was the one I needed. I needed this, to be with her. I needed Candace to keep me, because she was the one person who needed me the most. 

“I’m going to sit down and develop a set of rules for you to follow from here on out. Once I’m finished, you’re going to consent to those rules, and you’re going to sign a contract forfeiting yourself to me.” Candace held me in those strong arms of hers, speaking softly as she tried to explain how things were going to work from now on. “I think your gamer brain will be better off with rules you know to follow.”

Already too tired to verbalize my agreement, I simply tucked my head to her chest and closed my eyes. The act of losing my freedom once and for all was simply that draining.

“I hope you like your new room, Chloe.” Candace leaned in, kissing me on the forehead. “Would you like me to let you be?”

I thought for a moment, then shook my head. Candace must have taken that to mean that I wanted her to help ease me to bed. If I wasn’t so mentally and emotionally exhausted, I might have objected, but the biggest part of my brain loved having her here with me. 

And soon enough I had fallen asleep in her arms. 

 

✶      ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧      ✶      ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦  ✧  ✦      ✶

 

It was dark by the time I did wake back up, and Candace had in fact fled to her own room after I was out. That, or she was playing video games. But either way, for the first time ever I was left alone with access to the mansion. And it did sting a little bit to be without her. 

She was in the entertainment room as I snuck out into the rest of the house. I at first found it odd to hear the game still playing, but I quickly noticed they were there for good reason. Candace was streaming again.

 

“It has been a while since I’ve streamed, I know.”

Candace always had a bright eager smile for the camera. But her faux happy attitude was especially pronounced when she was live streaming. The still famous esports starlet that her fans grew to love had taken a year off from competition- and for good reason. Nearly every shady thing that the heiress had gotten up to in the last eighteen months could be tied to her newest obsession. Me. Bright smiles were Candace’s way of hiding her hidden nature; that of an affluent, self-absorbed, classist predator with an unhealthy habit of abusing others for her own gratification.  

Obviously I could never say any of that to her face. I was after all, one said person she liked to abuse for personal pleasure. Sophia Cavalier- Candace Saint Clair’s current obsession. There would be no camera time for me. You can’t edit out your crimes live on the internet… 

…At least not without considerable difficulties.

“How am I feeling after hosting the championship?” Candace was reading questions from her chat live on stream. “I’m feeling great, honestly. I know last year was scary for everyone- and I don’t mean to sound like a drama queen when I say this- but I don’t think people realize that Sophia’s disappearance hit me especially hard.”

Something you begin to notice when you really get to know Candace is just how good she is at playing a character. Now I’m not saying she should have become an actress, but even when the things she’s saying are outright lies she always presents them in a way that- if nothing else- makes it seem like she believes the words coming out of her mouth. It doesn’t stop there either. Candace does it with the face and the voice of a pretty little sweetheart whom you can’t help but feel bad for when the honestly more than warranted finger of blame gets pointed at her. With a presence like hers, Candace could get away with human trafficking if she wanted to. (And she has.) But you’d never be able to convict her in a court of law thanks to that charisma of hers.

And even if that fails her, she always has Daddy’s money to fall back on. 

“It’s too early to say if I’m actually going to compete this year. Obviously I didn’t give up playing the game entirely, I’m sure some of you saw me at some of the smaller tournaments last season. But it’s been over a year since I competed at anything that spanned longer than a day or so. And we all know how that went.”

Another thing I’ve noticed is that Candace likes to stray away from saying outright lies. When she talks about how hard my disappearance hit her, she’s carefully selected her words. It’s better for her brand if the public thinks of her former rival in terms of a missing person rather than a mysterious death yet to be solved.

The less reporters and authorities investigating her, the better. 

So Candace goes on, getting back in front of the camera like nothing happened at all. And as long as she convinces her fans that she’s just as much a victim as anyone else, she gets away with it. 

“Why did I take last year off?”

Candace was well aware of how curious the fans could get, especially the ones wanting a glimpse into her personal life. I knew as well as she did back when I stopped streaming. They couldn’t just be happy watching her kick ass at the game, they felt the need to actually interact with their idols. 

She was just better at it. “I’m not going to say that’s a dumb question, because I love you guys. But come on. Sophia’s been missing since May.” Candace didn’t even need to look up from the game to answer. “It’s not a coincidence that it coincided with me suddenly dropping out of the professional season. I just think the most passionate of fans misconstrue that sometimes.”

Online Stolen Cosmos. Not really a game you can pause consistently. 

“Like this guy here- Don’t you think it’s weird that she disappeared right before you stopped streaming? ” Candace had to scroll back through the chat to find the comment she was referring to after the match was over. “No. I don’t think it’s weird. I’m sorry for keeping you guys in the dark about why I stopped streaming so suddenly. It just happened really abruptly, and I couldn’t find the words to say anything about it. I wasn’t planning on taking the rest of the season off, I was planning on coming back within a couple weeks and addressing it then. But it’s because of people like this trying to somehow accuse me of being a part of it that I didn’t feel comfortable returning.”

Even Candace wasn’t sure if her tears were fake, but if it was compelling enough for her audience, it was compelling enough for her. I’m sure if I had seen it- I would have fallen for it too.

“If you want me to get real. I’ll get real. The reason I took the rest of the season off wasn’t just because she disappeared. It was because of all the hate I was getting for it. It was really disheartening to find out that a really good friend of mine had gone missing. I knew her better than most people did- but even though I was mourning harder because of it- I got way too much hate to handle. She goes missing on Cinco de Mayo, and a week later I’m the community’s least favorite person. I stopped competing because people started weaponizing my friend against me.”

I almost felt bad for the Candace Saint Clair character she was portraying. Some of what Candace was saying would be fair and valid points to make, but from where I stood they were all made invalid by the fact that it really all had been her fault.

She deserved the hate she’d been getting. 

“Anyways. I know a lot of you guys are somewhere on the west coast- I’ll be making some stops in San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle again sometime soon. But where I’m at it’s already four in the morning and I need at least a few hours of sleep, so I’m gonna call it here. Thanks so much for tuning in and listening to me just ramble my heart out to you guys. Hopefully we can do this again soon.”

 

While I’d begun suffering from exposure to the game, Candace seemed to get just the boost she needed to show her face again this evening. If I wanted to, I could have busted through the door and shown myself on stream, but I had a new purpose in life. Three hours was excruciating little beauty sleep for a girl like her, but Candace had places to be this morning. 

And I had a responsibility to make her a better person.

 

I snuck past her and to the laundry room. It was the same as we’d left it, clothes on the floor and all. Last time I’d spent any considerable amount of time locked in here, I’d almost been forced to pick my way out with sewing needles. 

The most I’d ever had to use them were to pick locks, like I’d done back when I was on the streets. But Candace must have been too caught up to hear me sneaking them back to my room with me. You never know when you’ll need them, after all. 

Softly shutting my bedroom door and heading inside, I opened up the sewing kit and started threading one of the needles. If I was to fix that mess of a person, I’d need to start using what my mother taught me. 

It made me proud to think that after all this time, I still knew how to use a needle- and even more impressively- I could read my work once it was all over. 

“Chloe.”

Thankfully, Poppy was a stuffed dog, she didn't mind me sewing my name into her other ear.

My voice came with a hum, hugging her to my chest late in the night and curling up under the blankets. “Perfect.”

Poppy didn’t just belong to Sophia anymore. 

She belonged to Chloe.

Chapter 50: The Matron's Handmaiden

Notes:

I will have you know that this one single chapter has been in the making for months now.

Happy Birthday to me~

My day started like any other, curled up under a bundle of thick blankets which practically buried the rest of my bed. Awoken by my alarm clock, letting me know that it was time to get to work for the day. It took a good while to get used to, but after some time, I was already to the point of knowing better than to let it snooze even once.

Damn was it nice to actually have a warm shower to myself. It did admittedly turn cold after a solid fifteen minutes, but only to let me know when I’d already spent enough of Candace’s time and needed to get to work. When I was done, I patted myself dry and dragged myself back to my bedroom to get ready. 

Nowadays the uniform was essentially lingerie. Nice black shapewear fit me well, given my general aesthetic. The lace was pretty, especially when paired with my apron. But that came later.

Next was makeup, which Candace was actually kind of picky about. I’d never been any more than decent with the stuff. I couldn’t manage the fancier things without the help of her or one of her friends, but I could manage a look that’d satisfy her for the day without bothering her for help. I didn’t want to waste her time, after all. Thick black lashes, eyeliner wings, proper foundation, red lips. Simple, but classy. 

The mistress of the house and everything in it, including me, came to unlock the door as I was sitting there. Same as every other day. She didn’t step inside, or even open it for that matter. She simply unlocked it and trusted me to do the rest.

As I waited for my hair to dry, I made sure to apply last minute touches like concealer, deodorant, and early morning mouth care. But once I was all done with that, and could run my fingers through my locks without getting wet, I brought the heated curling iron to work its magic.

Most of my time getting ready each morning was spent on my hair. I was a freak about my hair. It was precious to me. It took a while to grow it back out after getting it screwed up twice, so I wanted to take care of it. The curling iron didn’t leave the room, obviously. Hell this vanity wasn’t even mine, not like the rest of the room had been. Candace brought it in for me for the explicit purpose of keeping me looking nice. It wasn’t like the antiquated record player or the drum set in the corner was going to help me burn cute little curls into my sunny red hair, no matter how many times I tried to twist it around the drumsticks. 

Finally, once I was done with everything else, I tied my apron around my waist. It was charming, the black half gown with white polka dots and red trim really brought the whole look together. I wore the same apron everyday, and yes, I do mean the exact same apron and not one of several identical copies. I would take it off once Candace dismissed me from my housework, upon which I’d usually change into something much more comfortable. 

Hopefully though, if I was lucky, I wouldn’t have to wait that long before Candace decided to get me out of my clothes. With one last look in the mirror, I made sure my collar was on straight, and got to work. 

“Good morning, Ma’am.” I hummed from the kitchen as I started on breakfast. Judging from the fact that Candace was already waist deep in typing away something on her digital notebook by the time I got there, I was either late, or she was busy with any number of things I wasn’t too keen on asking about. “Anything special you’d like for breakfast?”

“Not particularly. You have my permission to think for yourself, if you can manage that. I know there’s not much in that head of yours, but I’m sure there’s something resembling a brain in there somewhere.”

Candace had her glasses on, but they’d slid far enough down her nose that she was practically looking over them as she typed. She wore a combination of prescription and color contacts normally, but at home she liked to be lazy. Her soft, almost icy white hair was done up into a simple bun at the back, just enough to get it out of the way while still making her look distinguished. 

“But since you asked, It would have been nice to have a drink in front of me already, had you not been too busy fussing with your hair this morning to get it to me on time.” She snapped her fingers, tapping one of her painted nails on the dining room table beside her computer. “An iced tea.”

However irked she made me, I got her drink to her as quickly as I could, along with a makeshift coaster to set it on. “Here, Ma’am. I’m sorry for being late, I only wanted to make sure my hair looked nice today.”

“Maybe give it a break next time. Your hair is about the one thing that always looks nice, I almost like it better when it’s disheveled.” Without looking up from her screen or even touching her drink, Candace reached towards me as I leaned forward to set it down, taking my earlobe between her fingers and gently rubbing some love into it. “Besides, the rest of you’s going to get all roughed up today, why spend so much of my time on your hair?”

 

There was a warmth to it whenever she pinched my ear. Candace got on my nerves a lot, probably more often than she didn’t. But it was almost always okay in the end. She made sure of it. 

That little act alone was enough to relieve a lot of my tension, allowing me to stand up straight beside her. “You’re finally planning on touching up my brand, you mean?”

“I promised I would, didn’t I?” She teased, tipping the cold wet glass to her warm dry lips, sipping from her tea as the ice cubes clattered slightly. “You wanted my attention, and now you’ve got it. You can’t claw your way to the top of the world and plan to stay there. I’ve long since resolved to bring you back down to earth myself if I had to, and I have.”

Her voice was as lovely and as patronizing as she was. Irresistibly charming and endlessly condescending, albeit infinitely more of one than the other. Either way, it was definitely enough to make me smile. “You say a lot of flowery words, but half the time the only thing I get out of them is how pretty they sound, Ma’am.”

“You’ve been doing the same, you just haven’t noticed yet.” Candace’s smile clearly reflected from the shine found in her glass as she set it down. Her fingers were still damp as she scratched beneath my chin. “But that’s okay, you’ll get it eventually.”

Tingles shivered through my skin as she did so, locked in place by her mockery. “Humor my walnut sized brain for me then?”

“You wanted a purpose in life, and I gave you one. Beggars can’t be choosers, slave. You’ll take what I’m willing to give you whether you like it or not. Be happy that I’m sentimental enough to brand you at all.” Her fingers elicited the slightest of whimpers from my breath as they dotted their way down my throat, eventually settling on curling around the head of my collar and driving her knuckles into my windpipe as she yanked me to her and held me by the iron like an animal. “Unless I put my name on it, no one will know it’s mine. Don’t you want to be mine?”

I bit my lip, holding my breath as the heat spread through me. This woman had her claws in me alright, that much I could be certain of. If Candace wanted to put her name on me as well, she was more than welcome to it. “Yes, Master.” I finally whined through my teeth. The sound of me giving in was like music to her ears. 

“Good girl.” Candace released my collar from her grasp, turning the screen of her laptop slightly away from me. “Now stop gawking and make breakfast, I’m hungry.”

A whimper escaped my lungs as she smacked my nearly bare ass and shoved me away from her and towards the kitchen. “Yes, Ma’am. Anything for you.”

“An omelette, you know how I like it.” She hissed, handing me an order to follow. “You’ve dawdled enough, woman. If thinking is really that hard, I don’t want you wasting more of my time doing it. Work.”

 

My feet were light as they scurried towards the heated stovetop once more, letting her have the last word on the matter as I followed my routine. It wasn’t a perfect arrangement, but it was ours. Neither of us were perfect, despite how much she acted like she was while I slaved away at her side to try and get her there. We were bound to have holes in our lives that only the other could fill. Maybe a lot more literal in my case, admittedly. 

Candace had her breakfast and I didn’t say a word about it. If she wanted to feed me, she would feed me. I’d apparently spent a while on breakfast already, I didn’t want to be caught neglecting the dishes.

By the time she was satisfied, I was already on my hands and knees scrubbing the kitchen floor. I didn’t mind menial labor. It wasn’t fun, but it was at least better than feeling useless. Besides, on the rare occasion Candace stuck around to watch, I did at least enjoy doing it for her. However unfair that may be, as long as she didn’t work me to death, it was fine.

I paused my efforts for just a few moments to look up at her. “I’m not going to complain, I promise. I remember what happened last time.”

“Remind me, what was last time?” Candace smiled, obscuring her intent enough that I wasn’t sure whether she genuinely forgot, or if she was teasing me. 

“When I whined about how much time this took and insisted that it would be done faster if you’d spare the expense of modern half-decent tools.” I reminded her, returning to the sponge in my hand. “You told me that I was already the highest end mop you could afford.”

“Can’t say I wasn’t wrong, I mean just look at you.” Candace crouched next to me, brushing the back of her hand against my cheek until I couldn’t help but smile. “I’ve never met a cuter roomba.”

I rolled my eyes, blushing as she stood up. “Am I done, Miss?”

“Yeah, how about you take a break.”

“A break?” An eyebrow of suspicion raised. “You were just complaining about me wasting your time?”

“Chloe.” She nudged me in the side with her foot. “Don’t argue.”

My head lowered slightly in shame. “Yes, Ma’am. I’m sorry.”

“Busywork is fine, but I don’t want you getting tired out for later.” Candace said, placing her dishes from breakfast in the sink. “When you’re done washing those, you can rest until lunch.”

“Of course.” I replied, standing up and facing the sink. “You didn’t need to bring the dishes yourself, Ma’am. I would have fetched them myself. I’m sorry if it seemed like I was neglecting them.” 

“Hey.” Candace interrupted me with a hand on my hip and another on my shoulder. “You’re okay to relax.”

She held me to her chest and let me lean into her body, trying to calm me down. Our routine was as it had always been. We’d spent much more time together than we’d been apart, but it would never be the same as before. “Have you heard from your father recently, Ma’am?”

“Not in a while, no.” Candace shuddered for a moment. “Why?”

I looked at her like she was stupid. “Ma’am…”

“I made my decision already, lovebug. I’m a grown up, I can make it on my own. He doesn’t have anything that I can’t find somewhere else.”

The thought made me frown. “You’re not upset that he cut you off?”

“Well of course I’m upset about that, but it’s probably low on the list of things that my father has done to upset me.” She tilted my chin up with her fingers. “Topmost being letting you get away from me in the first place.”

We laughed about it for a moment before we both went quiet, gazing into each other’s eyes. Then, out of the corner of my vision, I caught a glimpse of that ocean again. Mesmerizing. 

“I wish my mother could know that I’m alive.” I pouted, knowing it wouldn’t do much good. “I hate that she thinks I’m dead.”

“In time, maybe. But not right now. I’m going to focus on you first, and you’re going to focus on me. Then once we’re better, maybe. We just have to get there.” 

“And if we never do?”

“It’ll be because we both tried our best for as long as we could, but never quite made it there together.”

“You make it sound like I’ll die before then.”

“I mean as far as she knows, you already are.”

“And you wouldn’t be upset if your mom thought you were dead. When really you’re just being kept as someone else’s slave, a pet or a toy?”

“If I was a slave, I would’ve been right there beside my mother.”

“Not her, Ma’am.” My eyes drifted back towards her’s. “Leah.”

Candace paused, losing a bit of that warmth at the sound of it. She let go of me, closing her eyes as she took her glasses off and tucked them away. When she opened them back up, she was staring into the ocean as well. Her eyes went blank for a few seconds, even as she did her best to keep together. I could see that ocean in her, drowning.

After a few moments of silent thought, she slipped away, packing up from the dining room table and getting ready to head off.  “I’m going to be practicing for a while. I expect lunch to be promptly delivered to me in the entertainment room, and on time, unlike breakfast.”

My eyes were still stuck staring into the ocean, and she must have noticed, because after a few moments of my silence she drew the curtains closed to snap me back to it. 

“Back in line, my love. Your hair is beautiful, and breakfast was quite nice, but I need your head and your heart to be in this with me.” Candace once again stepped towards me, her thumb against my bottom lip. “You’re a good girl. A few escape attempts aside, you’ve been well behaved. Don’t make me have to beat that back into you. I have a special night planned for us.”

My cheeks heated up as I stared into the ocean in her eyes, distracting me from the world at large. “You do?”

“Don’t play dumb, Chloe. You already know what’s coming. I want this to be a brand new start for us after all.”

“If you make one more brand related joke, I’m going to scream.” There was no emotion in that, letting her know that I didn’t actually find it very funny. “I’m already scared.”

Candace paused, giving me a warm smile. “Turn around and bend over. I want to get a good look at it.”

My face turned red in indignity, but I did as I was told. Candace spun me around by the hips before gently tipping me forward. Bending over the table. She didn’t untie my apron, but she did slip my boyshorts down ever so slightly to make clear the tramp stamp on my lower back.

“It’s faint, but it’s still there.” Her voice made it sound like she was smiling. “I suppose that’s what I get for failing us.”

She almost allowed me a brief respite from my worries, but we both knew it was too good to be true. I didn’t need to ask whether a faint brand was good enough, because it wasn’t. Not for her. “All I want is to give it a little touch up, okay?”

My whole body winced. “There’s no such thing, Candace.”

All of these months later and it felt like I was back at the beginning. Maybe not my beginning, but a beginning of sorts. I’d given parts of myself that I’d never conceived of. Sweat, a lot of it. I’d lost so much, both in love and labor. I’ve cried tears. Enough to learn that there was no difference between happy and sad, not for me. They’d all been tears of pain. More than I’d like, I was forced to shed blood. Not again.

“It hurts, Master…” My voice cracked, pleading. I couldn’t stop myself from fighting it anymore. “I know this is what you want, and I know it’s not my place to argue, but I don’t want to go through that again…”

Her fingers ran past my hair, pinching my earlobe again. There was still some comfort there. Maybe she was the one who needed that. Part of me hoped she did. 

“Now where’s that brave little thing that refuses to be tamed?” Candace’s touch was warm against my skin, right where it should have burned but didn’t. “Aren’t you the very same woman that set herself on fire to burn down my sister’s house? She could stand letting herself be branded for her owner. What happened to her?”

My hands curled into fists. I wanted to punch her for that. 

“There she is.” Candace’s curled into a fistful of my hair, holding me down to keep me from even trying. “Because it hurts isn’t a reason not to do it. You’re a slave, that’s your purpose. Hold onto that. Use it to your advantage. Let it guide you. Make being my slave be your purpose in life, let it be your bible.” She leaned in, whispering to my ear as she continued to hold it. Dragging me in deeper. “Let me be your goddess.”

Candace let go of me, leaving me stuck in place bent over the table. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t fight. Rather, I could fight, but not against her. What I needed was to find something new to fight against. Something I didn’t have to fight alone. Something she’d fight against by my side.

“I’ve been reading my mother’s diary, and I think I’m beginning to understand.” Candace helped me back up, straightening out my uniform before she opened the curtains anew, looking out over the ocean. “She felt the same as you for the longest time, lost without a purpose. Until her new life came around, that was. You know who ended up giving her purpose?”

Too nervous to stand beside her, I stayed back. “Your father?”

“Me.” Candace closed her eyes. “She wanted to protect me.”

I stepped forward, joining her. “Protect you from what?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t think she did either.” Candace put her arm around me, and I leaned towards her. “I never told you, because I didn’t want you to think less of me.”

“Less of you for what?” I asked, trying my best to keep an open mind. 

“I was meant to be a slave when I was born, and I was.” Candace began. “My father treated me well, and never refused to acknowledge me as his child. He treated me like his son too, but there was always a difference. Mom did what she did best, she helped guide me. She took care of me. She taught me how to read, write, cook, clean, garden, organize, all of that stuff- including childcare. My father, meanwhile, he taught me the rest. He loved me from the moment I was born, and always made sure to let me know that. But I still didn’t get the same treatment that Cyrus and Claudia did. It wasn’t worse treatment, not to me at least, it was just different. Mom and dad both spoiled me, but they didn’t let me out of their sight. It was understood that if mom died, I would be there to help my father out, like she did. When she passed, I was meant to inherit her collar.”

She paused, turning to me. Candace wasn’t pained by this in the slightest. There was even a faint smile on those lips of hers. “I was never supposed to have a slave of my own, I was supposed to be one. The reason you’re number 0000 is because it was reserved for me. It was meant to be my number. I was supposed to be number 0000.”

I felt myself blush, smiling right back at her. I guess I didn’t understand what my number really meant until then, what meaning the gesture had behind it. “You gave me your number.”

“It’s your number now. More than mine. If it weren’t for my mother, I wouldn’t be the person I am now. But she’s not here anymore. You are. She changed my father in ways that made my freedom possible, and I’m determined to discover how.” She reached forward, keys now in hand, and unlocked the door to the backyard. Now open in front of me for the first time. 

“The only time my mother and I got to go outside was when my father let us. I always wanted to be like him. I still do. But I’m not afraid to fight for a life like that, for us.” Candace took one last look at the ocean out there and smiled. “You’ve already changed me. I thought I didn’t want children. I was scared that I would hurt them like he hurt me, but I’m not anymore. Thanks to you. I want to have that with you someday.”

I could feel the fight inside telling me to run out there and never turn back, but I couldn’t. Not without her permission. “Ma’am?”

“Don’t get too carried away out there. I expect lunch to be done on time. If you can’t do that, you can’t have any fun tonight, alright?”

“Yes, Master. I understand.” I swallowed nervously, a blushing smile plastered over my face. “…May I?”

Candace nodded. “You may, just be careful.”

Before she was even finished with her sentence, I was on a full spring across the house. Candace had never let me outside before, at least not on my own. I didn’t get much time to have fun, as a matter of fact. I’d gotten used to playing with the cats now and again, making sure to feed them before I left. But nothing was quite as exciting as this.

“Not so fast, you.” Candace teased, still standing in the doorway. “Are you ready to go outside? Or are you forgetting something?”

I blushed, bit my lip, and then whined a little bit. But I already knew what was coming. “Yes, Ma’am…” I sighed, tilting my chin up slightly to bare my collar towards her. 

With a quiet click, Candace clipped my bell to my collar. A practically little thing to help let her know where I was at all times. But she wasn’t done there. Over the months I’d spent without it, my ears had healed until they were no longer a viable home for my cattle tag, which had since been repurposed as a dog tag for use whenever I left the house. Then finally, a leash. My leash. Which Candace clipped into place and had me wrap around my arm for safekeeping. 

“Behave, or I’ll send you out in full leather next time.” Candace scolded, but stepped out of my way. “I’m not afraid to kennel you either. Back to work on time if you know what’s best. Your cell misses you.”

“I’ll behave, I promise.” I pouted, planting a kiss on her cheek like the rambunctious little puppy I was, eager to get out the door. “I’d rather sleep in my human’s bed tonight.”

Candace smiled at that, smacking my ass as I stepped outside. “Then you’d best stay right where you belong.” 

 

Threats of punishment aside, I knew where I belonged. And it wasn’t trapped within my master’s walls. It was wherever she chose to put me. When she told me to stay where I belonged, she meant to stay within the walls, but she also meant to stay focused on my master. Stay with her, where I belong.

It felt almost surreal to be doing this. Candace had never trusted me enough to let me outside on my own without trying to escape. It was nice to finally have that, but the novelty wore off after a short while.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure what I was planning on doing out there. There was a doghouse out here, sure. But I didn’t have a good reason to play with it, not while I was outside alone. If only I had a dog to walk, it would have been perfect. The garage was locked, not that there was any reason for me to go inside.She had the pool covered up as well- and even if she hadn’t- I wasn’t about to get my work uniform wet. Besides, there was only one place I wanted to go right now, and it still felt so far out of reach. 

I stood at the gate that overlooked the beach ahead of me, appreciating the sunset reflecting over that ocean. After all this time, no matter how hard I tried, I still wanted to dive headfirst into it and run away forever. 

Evidently, I wasn’t the only one either. A familiar feeling rubbed up against my leg, mewling for my attention. “Well hello there.” I giggled as I spotted Candace’s kitten- our kitten- trodding on up to me.  “What brings you outside?”

Sophia was a tiny thing, but she couldn’t fit through the bars of the gate. She was more stuck here than I was, unable to even attempt escaping to freedom. She made an attempt, but eventually she gave up trying to squeeze her way through the gate and towards the ocean, and ended up curling up into a ball at my feet instead. 

My hands grasped tightly at the bars separating Candace’s property from the outside world, still longing to make my way out there. But the gate was here for a reason. To keep Candace’s property away from the outside world- and I was Candace’s property. 

We sat there for a while. The cat and I- whatever you’d like to call us- Sophia and Chloe- Sophia and Sophia. It was funny to think that there was both a Sophia Cavalier and a Sophia Saint Clair, or depending on how things played out- a Sophia Saint Clair and a Chloe Saint Clair. But I had sort of fallen in love with that cat, especially letting the day go by together. 

Candace was going to have my ass when I got back inside. She warned me not to get carried away, but I ended up doing it anyway. Part of that was intentional, but a lot of it wasn’t. Lunchtime, she said, vague enough that I assumed I had time to spare. But seeing the sun getting this close to the horizon made it clear as day that my timeframe for that had long since passed, which eventually made it impossible to get myself back inside to face her judgement. 

“Don’t let mom find out you snuck outside.” I mumbled to the kitten as we got inside, closing the curtains behind me. Candace wasn’t here to say anything to me about lunch being late, but after a split second, neither was Sophia. 

Her food was undeniably going to be late, I couldn’t argue with that. But I did find it a bit odd that she still wasn’t here to confront me about it. After a bit of waiting, I started on preparations for dinner. I might have missed lunch, but I could at least make myself a little bit useful. 

“Bring your ass to the gaming room. I expect you here before the end of this match.” I heard her voice say as the intercom clicked on, and in an instant I knew what I was in for. “Don’t make me say it twice.”

There she was, with her usual cruelness. I didn’t miss it. That was the part of her I had forgotten about while she was away, and I wish I had kept it in mind before I handed myself over to her. Willingly. 

My feet started towards her voice without a thought. A little over a year ago, I had bested her in front of everyone, but nowadays I had to stop myself from personally putting myself under her boot for her. It was instinct at this point. As much as I hated to admit it, it felt natural to obey. 

But maybe- just maybe- I shouldn’t be expected to.

No. There was no way I was walking into that again. We had lived this day over and over again for months, this was everyday for us, and I was sick of it. I had taken a chance when I chose to come back to her. Things couldn’t return to the way they were before, they needed to change. 

The door wasn’t locked, but I wouldn’t run away. Candace knew me, she could count on that. Instead I just stood there, staring out the window, wondering what the ocean must feel like. Something in that sunset called to me.

Unless Candace Saint Clair wanted to lose me to that, she was going to have to come to me. 

 

“I’m sorry.” Back turned to her footsteps as she approached, I whispered to her, unsure of whether or not I was lying. 

“I don’t want to hear it.” She said, getting closer. “Stay put.”

It wasn’t like I was planning on going anywhere, so I agreed. “Yes, Ma’am. Any preference on dinner?” 

“I was going to let you pick.” Candace replied, standing so close to me now. “You haven’t eaten today. I wanted to have lunch with you.”

My stomach wheezed, thumping angrily at me. I felt that one for sure. “I got carried away, I’m sorry.”

“Is this you being a brat?” She held me by my waist from behind. “Or is this something else?”

I frowned, unable to turn around and face her. “I don’t know, Ma’am.”

“You like master the best. Call me master. It’ll help, I promise.” Candace pinched my ear between her fingers. It helped. “Don’t punish yourself, that’s my place. Let me take care of you.”

My cheeks were blushing as I turned around to face her. “I’m not in trouble?”

“We’ll talk about it after you eat. Whether or not you are in trouble has no bearing on your needs. You belong to me, I will make sure you are both disciplined and cared for in equal measures.” Candace turned me back around, facing me towards the stove. “Right now, you belong in the kitchen making dinner. Can you handle that?”

“I don’t need you talking down to me like this.”

“No, you need to listen.” She tightened her grip on my waist, almost painfully. “It’s really hard to tell whether you’re acting out for attention, or because you’re trying to punish yourself.”

My body trembled in her hands, sure that she was going to burn me here and now. “It was an accident.”

“No it wasn’t, Chloe. Don’t lie to me.” Candace scolded further, still holding me by the waist. “You’re acting out because you think you deserve to be punished.”

I felt my heart twitch. “You’re already planning on punishing me, Master.” 

We both seemed to understand at about the same time, I think. The feeling had been stewing inside of me all day, but it wasn’t until then that I realized exactly what that feeling was.

“That’s what this is about.” She spoke softly, my lower back massaged gently by her fingers. “The brand.”

“You’re already planning on hurting me. There’s no point in trying to behave. Nothing I could say or do is going to stop you. Can’t I at least feel like I deserve to be branded?”

“You already deserve to be branded, Chloe.” Candace’s smile was audible, almost like a quiet hum. “It’s not a punishment, it’s a pact.”

Slowly, I began to calm down. “A pact?”

“Your grace period is over, love. It’s time I put my foot down. If you really want some tough love, I’m happy to give it to you.” She leaned me back, placing a kiss on top of my head. “This is your last chance. If you’re a good girl for the rest of the night, you’ll get off with a scolding, and I won’t make you sleep in your cell. Try to behave and I’ll spoil you, okay?”

Something in her voice brought a flutter to my ears. “You’re giving me another chance?”

“Please don’t think I don’t love you, Chloe. I’m giving it everything I’ve got. All of this is for us. I want to have a family with you someday. Leah wanted that for us. ” Her grip tightened, voice quaking. “When she drove us to the facility to have you fixed, she begged me not to go through with it. She had always wanted a daughter, and she knew I would want one too. I’m glad I listened, because I’ve never been happier to be wrong.”

I thought it over, lowering my gaze and bowing my head in agreement. “Am I still allowed to pick dinner?”

“As long as there’s enough for the both of us, yes.” She replied, releasing my waist from her grasp. “Now get to cooking, woman.” 

I bit my lip until it bled. “Yes, Ma’am…”

“Stop it with that, pouty face.” She said, “Take care of my servant. I won’t be having you kiss my boots with bloody lips.” 

Frown becoming a smile, I gently bowed. “Thank you, Mistress.”

She had her ups and downs, constantly. But I can be the smaller girl and admit to when I’m being a bit unreasonable, with a little bit of prompting. A little bit of push, a little bit of pull. I made our dinner, and I slowly started to feel a bit better about myself. 

 

“Yesterday was the winter solstice.” She said, staring with longing out towards the water as it swallowed the setting sun. “The days are finally getting longer.” 

Nodding, I set her dish down first before assuming where I would sit. She gestured to it, and I proceeded to serve myself as well, sitting down next to her as we enjoyed a nice baked lasagna together. I couldn’t normally stomach much of it, but I was hungry enough to finish my platter before following her in gazing out through the window once more. 

“Do you regret staying?” She asked. “Would you like to go home?”

“You are my home, Candace.” I said. “I’m sorry for my behavior earlier. I shouldn’t have asked to go out there. I was never going to be able to control myself. I know better than to try and escape. If I can’t handle being outside, I should stay inside where it’s safe.”

“Don’t say that. I promised I’d take you swimming in the ocean, remember? All you have to do is be here with me, and eventually, we’ll make it out there together. Wouldn’t you like that?”

“No, Ma’am. Not like. Love. I would love that.” 

“I would too.” Candace stood, leaving her empty dishes for later. “Follow me.”

With a sudden excitement in my heart, I did. “Yes, Mistress.”

“On your knees.” Candace sat down at her favorite seat, leading me to the parlor and allowing me the grace of kneeling before her, as submissive as can be. She had a glint of eagerness in her eyes, I couldn’t help but admire that. 

“I’ve given you time to readjust and try to center yourself since you’ve gotten home, but enough time has passed since you left my sister’s side that I finally feel it appropriate to punish you for it. What you did to my family and I this year was unacceptable, and I am not going to be as forgiving if you pull something like that again. While this may not be a punishment in name, it is certainly going to feel like it is, but its primary purpose is to keep you safe and in your place.”

I felt myself not, trying to demonstrate my willingness to participate in such to her. “I’m ready to be better, I promise.”

“Good.” She smiled. “I have a contract for you to sign.”

A knot began to well inside of my chest. “A contract?”

“The actual signing is a formality of course, but it’s just a little something formal for the two of us.” She smirked, gesturing towards a document she’d left prepared on the table beside her. “I’ve personally tailored it to satisfy both my wants and your needs. You’re to read it, out loud, for me to hear. Then sign it where I tell you to. That way I can be certain you’ve familiarized yourself enough with the rules to sign onto them.”

My hands trembled as she handed me the document book, terrified to read it. She ran her fingers through my hair once more, beckoning for my gaze to try and reassure me. “It’s gonna be okay. This is something I should have done a long time ago. I can see those gears in your head. Your brain doesn’t need guidelines, it needs rules.”

I blushed, locking eyes with hers as I set the contract down in my lap. “Is this binding?”

“As long as you’re with me, yes.” She nodded. “Go ahead and read it.”

After a few moments of silence, I took a deep breath and did just that. “Matron?” I blushed, starting into the contract. “Handmaiden?”

“That’s what I’ve taken to calling us, matron and handmaiden.” Candace savored the way the words sounded, as well as the look on my face reacting to them both. “If it isn’t already clear. I’m the matron, and you’re my handmaiden. Which makes you?”

My cheeks must have been glowing with embarrassment. “The Matron’s Handmaiden.” 

“Such a good girl.” She teased, eyes dancing lovingly with mine. “Now read me your new rules.”

“The Matron’s Handmaiden…” Her choice of words made me choke, but I had to keep with it. “…Consent.”

“Try again. Without biting your words this time.” Candace ordered. “If you need to pause, you may, but I had better not hear another word from those lips until you’ve finished.”

“Yes, Master.” With that last bit of prompting, I began in earnest. “The Matron’s Handmaiden Consent.”

She knew the implication of the word, yet I don’t think she meant it to be malicious. In a way, I think she was trying to help. To make it seem like I had any more power than I really did, trying to wash away the blood between us.

One. “The Handmaiden is subordinate to her Matron in all things, and will follow her Matron’s orders without question or complaint.”

The first felt only natural. Of course that was how it worked. I was the slave, and she was my master. It made sense to have it in writing. 

Two. “The Handmaiden’s purpose is to serve. She will work on her Matron’s time, everyday- cooking, cleaning, organizing, and caring for the home- only taking off to spend time at her Matron’s side.”

That was a little bit more tangible. A direction. A meaning. A purpose. Candace promised to give me a purpose, and that purpose was to serve. 

Three. “The Handmaiden’s domain is the home, she will not be permitted to leave the interior of the home unless duly and properly allowed or directed to by her Matron.”

I could feel the knot in my chest getting just a little bit bigger. This was where she wrapped her claws around me. A way of forcing me to promise her I wouldn’t escape. I almost couldn’t blame her for that, not after everything we’d been through already.

Each of them had their own meaning, buried within the words, intentions I would have to glimpse behind the way she wrote every line. But the secret intention behind this one didn’t feel so secret to me, however. For all intents and purposes, I had escaped once, I wasn’t to do it again. 

Four. “The Handmaiden will be expected to make herself look as attractive as possible for her Matron at all times, and she will do so according to her Matron’s preferences, not her own.”

That was simple enough. Another easy to understand rule. Look good and present myself in a way that Candace liked, not how I liked. I could do that, and was eager to. If it meant getting her to notice me, I would do anything. 

And this was where I broke. 

Five. “The Handmaiden will not assume authority over her own health, she will inform her Matron of physical, mental, or emotional ailments- and will take any medication given to her by her Matron, without question or complaint.”

Candace could tell what was going through my head just by looking at me. If there was any time to make good on being able to pause, it was right here. Letting those words soak in broke me in ways that I couldn’t understand. Ways I loved. 

Master was going to take good care of me, I knew she would. This pact wasn’t just for me, it was for her as well. These words were a promise, her way of binding her to that. She was going to take good care of me. 

All I wanted now was to thank her- but as I was about to learn- I wasn’t allowed to. 

Six. “The Handmaiden will not assume the right to free speech. She will speak when spoken to, or she will ask for permission to speak through body language and will only speak if granted said permission from her Matron.”

Seven. “The Handmaiden will not assume the right to eat. She will ask for permission to eat, and will gladly accept whatever food her Matron provides her.”

Eight. “The Handmaiden will not assume the right to comfort. She will ask for permission to relieve herself of work, and will only do so if her Matron permits her to.” 

Nine. “The Handmaiden will not assume her place to lie. She will ask for permission to sleep, and will do so wherever her Matron instructs her to.”

My hands were shaking by now, and I had to remind myself that these were more than rules. This was Candace’s way of punishing me for leaving her, but in a way that manages to be constructive, rather than destructive. I was glad for that. 

Those next few rules went hand in hand with each other. Not there to tell me what to do, but to inform me of what I could not do. Nothing here needed to be deciphered. That was what I needed to feel free to operate within this world we’d built together. To know that she would tell me what I needed to be and when. 

Ten. “The Handmaiden will not assume freedom of choice. If a decision needs to be made, she will defer to her Matron to make said decision for her.”

From the offset, it seemed straight forward, but it was anything but. Because I knew my master well enough to know that she didn’t like to be bothered with the little things. This meant something much different. I didn’t need to decide, I needed to think, to remember. Candace didn’t want me coming to her every moment of every day to ask for her help, she wanted me to teach me the right way to live. She wanted me to learn how she thought, and do my best to make decisions in her best interest. 

Eleven. “The Handmaiden will not assume bodily autonomy. She will enjoy no right to her own body, and will submit her body to be property of her Matron. The Handmaiden will guarantee her Matron complete control and sole ownership of her body, and enable any physical contact or change that her Matron wishes for her body, without question or complaint.”

Oh how I wished she had stopped at ten. That first half of the list had been simple, concise, easy to understand. But from here, they became something more. 

Twelve. “The Handmaiden will have faith in her Matron. She will trust her Matron to keep her best interests in mind when faced with decisions pertaining to her, and she will accept any outcome as being in the best interest of herself and her Matron, even and especially when she disagrees with said decisions.”

Trust. That was what she wanted from me. Trust.

This was her way of making me acknowledge and admit that I didn’t know what was best for us- and for that matter- neither did she. What was important here was trust. She would decide what’s best for us, and whether or not she made the right decisions along the way, she was ready to accept the burden of taking care of us both, as well as take responsibility for the mistakes we made along the way. And in exchange, I would trust her to do what she thinks is right.

It felt quite restrictive, but that was necessary. She knew how badly I needed all of this, and here she was to give it to me. 

Sophia Cavalier had sacrificed a lot to reach Candace, and now that she was here, she needed to give Saint Clair the rest. 

Thirteen. “The Handmaiden will not assume the privilege to interact with others. When faced with an individual other than her Matron, she will ask to be informed on the proper avenues of interacting with said individual, rather than assuming her place to act. If at any point the Handmaiden is unsure whether an individual is interacting with her in an improper manner, she will inform and ask to be informed by her Matron on how to act accordingly.”

Her words were all quite formal, but they were very much hers. Like I was hers. Not mine, not anyone else’s, hers. I didn’t have a lot to think about that one, not while I was worried about every word still to come. 

It was a simple little thing, but it helped to know- once I’d managed to decipher what she meant- that I was allowed to come to her for help if I was ever scared that someone was going to hurt me. 

That’s what this rule meant. You’re going to be safe with me, don’t let anyone else hurt you. Come to me. Defer to me. Rely on me. We both went through what happened when I didn’t.

Fourteen. “The Handmaiden will be properly disciplined and punished for her misbehavior. Failure to uphold any of her rules or any direction given to her by her Matron will be met with an appropriate amount of retribution. She will defer to her Matron’s judgement when determining whether she is deserving of penalty, and will allow herself to be corrected without question or complaint.”

The feeling of reading her tell me- I’m only hurting you because I love you- carried a lot more warmth and affection than I’d anticipated. But it meant more than that. 

Candace never wanted to watch me sabotage myself again. There was no need for me to kick myself while I’m down. I’m not allowed to decide when I need to be punished. No more hurting myself because I believe that I deserve it. She will do that for me.

Fifteen. “The Handmaiden will act out of love, not out of fear. She will behave in a manner indicating appreciation and gratitude towards her Matron, and seek to show her affection for her Matron whenever possible. She will accept punishment when given to her, rather than behaving in fear of punishment.”

Suffice it to say, I was crying. That might have been my way of submitting, to let myself cry and make sure she could see me cry. But it could have been any number of things. The why was still eluding me, but I could feel tears leaving my eyes and running down my cheeks. And amazingly, my first instinct was to make sure they never reached the page.

I was afraid of her, but I wasn’t about to let that stop me.

Sixteen. “The Handmaiden will not assume the right to pleasure. She will remain chaste at all times unless her Matron says otherwise. Masturbation without permission will be strictly prohibited. She will be expected to ask to be sexually pleased, and allow herself to be pleasured however her Matron chooses.”

The simple ones couldn’t have all been at the start, she had to throw one of them in there towards the end. But it was very much appreciated- if only to lighten the mood- to read such a thing while I already had tears in my eyes. Maybe she had seen that coming. 

This one made me smile. Because I knew what this meant. We were going to be closer. I wasn’t going to be the girl in the cage anymore. I was going to be her lover. 

Her words were the only cage I needed. 

Seventeen. “The Handmaiden will assume responsibility for her actions. She will not lie, she will not refuse punishment, and she will not act to spite her Matron. She will be honest, learn from her mistakes, and strive to behave according to her Matron’s wishes.”

The tears didn’t stop just because I was smiling, though. This was what she intended when she promised this would be a punishment. These words here were a scathing criticism towards who I had been from the start. Someone I didn’t want to be anymore. I’ve made a lot of mistakes, and I've learned from them.

I wasn’t going to be perfect, but I was going to be better.

Eighteen. “The Handmaiden belongs to her Matron, not to herself. She is her Matron’s possession, and she will be expected to treat herself as such. Any harm done to herself will be considered damage inflicted upon her Matron’s property, just like any of her other possessions. The Matron’s belongings are to be respected and protected, and the Handmaiden is to trust her Matron to care for her like a prized possession.”

Candace waited patiently for me to compose myself enough to read that out loud. She didn’t want to hear my voice whimper, stutter, or crack. She needed to hear me say the words clearly so that she could know that I understood them.

But this? This was hell to have to say out loud, not without breaking down into sobs as I spoke. 

I’ve always wanted this. It took hearing myself say it, but I’ve always wanted this. To mean something to someone else. To be given meaning and purpose, allowed to be fulfilled. To be a prized possession. Her prized possession. Respected and protected. Cherished. 

To be loved. I’ve always wanted to be loved.

Nineteen. “The Handmaiden will accept the privilege of being herself. Her thoughts, personality, and identity are her own- regardless of name. She is allowed to think. She is allowed to feel. She is allowed to desire. She will not, however, let these thoughts and feelings dictate how she acts, for she will act according to her Matron’s desire and not her own. She has the freedom to be herself as long as she remembers that she is not a person- she is her Matron’s Handmaiden.”

I’d never truly felt loved before her. But Candace loved me. Not just the person I was on the surface, but the person I was deep down. She didn’t want to turn me into someone I wasn’t, she wanted to help me discover who I was. She wanted me to be me, because that was the person she loved. Me. The real me. Candace loved the real me. 

No one loved me like her. Her. Hers. I’m hers. I want to be hers. I need to be hers. It can’t be anyone else. It has to be her. Most relationships fall apart before they have a chance to start, but although that honeymoon period of ours had long since passed, my feelings had never gone away. 

Her eyes were as filled with tears as mine. Telling me exactly what I needed to hear as I gazed into them. You’re almost there, my love. I saved the best one for last.

Twenty. “The Matron will expect her Handmaiden to follow her rules to the best of her ability, but the Handmaiden may, however, break any of these rules at any time- as long as she is doing so in good faith.”

As soon as the words left my lips, I felt my heart erupt.

“I love you.” 

I was finally finished falling in love with her. I was in love with her. Candace loved me, and I loved her. 

“I love you, Candace. I love you.” And I wasn’t afraid to admit it anymore. “I love you.”

“And I love you.” She told me, picking me up and bringing me to her lap to better take care of me. To hold me. “You belong here. You belong with me. You belong to me.” I heard her say as she took hold of me, allowing myself to fall into her. To be hers. “You’re going to be a good girl for me. You’re going to learn. You’re going to behave. And you’re going to help me.”

The sound of her words, told by her voice, made me smile. “How can I help you, Master?”

“You can help me become a better person by being mine.” She said, crying as she did. “I’m going to love you like I’ve never loved anyone in my life, Sophia. My Sophia. Don’t ever let me lose you again. Please.”

Unsure of what to say, I mumbled her name and said nothing else. “Candace…” 

“Chloe.” She mumbled back. “My Chloe.”

Hearing her say that made me break into tears all over again. Without thinking, I curled up into her arms and began to bawl. She was my Candace, and I was going to be her Chloe. 

“Now that you’re here, you can be mine again. And now that you’re mine again, I want to make sure nothing bad happens to you.” She murmured, pinching my ear to get my attention. “Sophia Cavalier is going to sign that contract, and she is going to become Chloe once and for all. Can you manage that, Sophia?”

“Yes.” I answered without hesitation. “Yes, Master.” 

“Good girl.” She said, planting a kiss on my forehead. “Be my good girl, Sophia Cavalier.”

Candace didn’t need to tell me twice. If it meant being hers, I wasn’t afraid to sign that pact with her, and neither was she. 

She led the way, signing her own name at the bottom of the contract, left of where mine would be- beneath the word Matron. Candace Amelia Saint Clair

And I followed her, signing my full name beside hers, promising to be at her side for the rest of my life- beneath the word Handmaiden. Sophia Madeline Cavalier 

“Master.” I whispered once I had her attention, unable to keep from smiling. “Can I get your autograph?” 

 

Candace guided me to my cell, helped me undress, then began shackling me to the wall. And I let her- willingly. I didn’t want sour memories ruining my new home, if there was anywhere in the world I wanted her to torture me, it was in my old home. Right here. 

I could feel my body shaking in my chains. “Will you hold me once you’re done?”

“I’ll do so much more than just hold you, Chloe.” She promised. “Whatever it takes to make the pain go away, I’ll do it. But I have to do this first.”

“Please take good care of me, Ma’am.” I practically begged. “I don’t like feeling weak and vulnerable, but I want to try being those things with you. I want to be weak and vulnerable with you. For you. But I’m scared.”

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared too, Chloe. I think I’m as scared of hurting you as you’re scared that I’m going to hurt you. But I’m the right woman for you, and I know you’re the right woman for me.” 

“Candace?” I asked her. “Am I ever going to be more than just your slave?”

“If you earn the right to be, yes.” She assured me. “But you’ll always be my property.”

 

And I was given that autograph, head filled with thoughts and memories taking me back to that day, unthinkably long ago now. And it hurt just a little bit less than it had the last time.

“Property of CStC.” She read aloud, helping me out of my chains and into her arms again, crying. “I’ve got you now, Chloe. Your master has you.”

My voice shook as hard as my body, whimpering. “It hurts…”

“And it’s going to hurt for a while more.” She admitted, choosing not to lie. “Love hurts.”

Candace helped me into her bed with her, holding me in her arms as I again broke down into tears for the umpteenth time today. Cradling me like a baby. 

But after a few moments, she helped pull me back upright to look into her eyes. “Chloe?” She spoke with a blush on her cheeks and a whimper in her throat. “Would you like to walk down to the beach with me?” 

Candace didn’t even need me to answer that question for her before she was picking me up and carrying us there anyways. Because she made a promise to me a very long time ago, and she was going to keep that promise.

Because I knew what she meant when she asked that. I knew where we were walking before the first step. I’d been ready for this for a while. All she had to do was open the gate.

Candace gently touched my brand. The skin was still warm, her name freshly burned into my flesh. This wasn’t the first time she’d put her name on me, but hopefully it would be the last. “Does it hurt?”

“Who cares?” My body was already thrumming. I hardly had to force a smile onto my face. It hurt, but I wasn’t about to let it ruin my excitement. “I’m ready. Let’s go now.” 

“Please answer my question. I don’t want to do this if it’s just going to make it worse.”

“We don’t know if it’s going to make it worse until we do it. You don’t know, it might help make it better.”

Her face lit up at the thought of that. “I hope it does.” 

“Master?” I whispered, standing back as I watched the gate finally open, fixated on that beautiful blue ocean as the sun set beneath it. “May I?”

“Not without me.” She smiled, stepping towards me and taking my hands. “But we can go together.”

My eyes locked with hers, getting lost in them more than they’d ever gotten lost in anything. There was no way of expressing what I felt just then, and I could tell she felt the same looking into my eyes as well. She was my ocean, and I was hers. 

And despite all of my months of anticipation, it still felt as wonderful as I had hoped it would. 

Candace kicked off her shoes just inside the grounds, walking barefoot with me across the warm winter sand. We stood at the edge of the water, waves gently washing over our toes. She was still dressed. Our arms were locked together. I clung to her, naked and shivering as the slight breeze blew across her button up and waved her fancy business skirt around. Bless this place and the sunny climate it has, that’s the one thing I will give the south. Even in the dead of winter the water here was still welcoming.

I nudged her. “You’re getting in with me, aren’t you?”

“What, already? What happened to taking a walk on the beach first?”

“You said you would take me swimming, Mistress.” I took a few big strides into the water on my own before turning around, taking her hands. “You promised me the ocean.” 

Candace rolled her mismatched eyes. “Run inside and grab me a swimsuit, then. You’re not about to see me swim naked.”

“Oh yes I am.” I quickly skipped behind Candace and shoved her forward, watching her fall quickly onto her ass in the shallows. 

“Cheap shot.” She hissed. “Get over here, punk.”

Candace leapt to her feet and ran after me, hauling me off of my own and carrying me in her arms over to the depths proper, finally throwing me into the water I’d longed for all this time. Happily floating in it, I watched as my mistress aggressively stripped off what garments she still had on and swam away from her as she chased me through the water. 

My wet body ached for her. Try as I might to put up a fight, Candace had no trouble putting down my fussing. She grabbed me by both wrists and slammed them down with a splash. Hair splayed on either side of my face, letting my owner take a good long look at me as I lay there, desperately longing for more.

She leaned in for a bite, kissing me until I was out of breath, and continuing until she was too. Breathing down my neck, she gently nibbled my ear. Candace whispered. “Mine.” And my loins ached at the word. “You’re mine. No more fighting. No more running away. No more escape. You belong to me. Do you accept that?”

I nodded my head, yes. 

Her forehead met mine, shoving my head further back into the sand. “Speak when you are spoken to.” She commanded, smashing our heads together- and for a brief moment- letting the water take my breath. “You belong to me. Tell me that you accept that.”

Coughing up water, I replied. “Yes. Yes, Mistress. I belong to you.” 

“Prove it.” She said. “What are you?”

“Yours, Ma’am.”

She shook her head. “Not the answer I’m looking for.”

“A slave?” I asked. “Your slave?”

“Too obvious. Try again.”

My breath quickened. “May I have a hint, Ma’am?”

“No. You should know this.” 

I bit my lip and mumbled. “I belong to you. A belonging?” I said. “Property?”

“Property of?”

“You!” I nervously stammered. “You. Your property?”

I could feel the excitement in her. “No. You’re so close, get it right! Property of who?”

Tears stung the corners of my closed eyes, yet somehow I could still feel the difference between them, the water around us, and the feeling of her spit in my face. “Property of you?” I asked. “Property of Candace Saint Clair? CStC!” I finally shouted. “My brand, Master. Property of CStC!” Feeling intense satisfaction with my answer, I opened my eyes and smiled with pride. “Did I get it right, Ma’am?”

“Yes. And don’t you dare forget it.” She said. “Does it hurt?”

“No, Master. The water is helping.” I smiled happily. “Thank you.” 

We ended up laying in the sand, bodies pressed together as Candace pinned me to the waves and kissed me up and down. She locked lips with mine, and I soon felt her inside of me. 

“You will never betray me again.” She spat. “I’ve waited a long time for this.”

“So have I, Master.” Rewarded at long last with the feeling of my master’s sex against my own, my cheeks light up with anxious anticipation. “So have I…”

Moans welcomed Master as she entered me, my cunt wet and awaiting her cock long before I’d reached the water. Candace flew in and out with ease, shoving me down and slamming into me at full throttle. It took all of my might not to push back, but I resolved to lay there and take it. Her hands released my wrists, but not for a second did I give myself permission to move them, my open hands stayed put.

“Now that’s more like it.” She teased. “Candace on top, and Chloe on the bottom.”

I bit my tongue at her taunts, holding back my lip before it got me in trouble. “Just how things should be…”

“Atta girl.” She commended. “Now where’s my brat?”

“She’s right here, Ma’am.” I moaned. “Just begging to be broken.” 

“Follow my lead.” She said, placing her hands on my breasts, letting me do the same. “Be a good girl and help me break you in.”

I arched my back at her command, laying back on the beach as she fucked me. It felt so wrong and so right at the same time to let Candace take complete control, despite how badly my body wanted to play along. My cunt ached as she slid in and out, growing hotter and hotter with every thrust until I just couldn’t take it anymore. Tears tore free from my eyes, crying at the sensations.

Like a good girl, I came first, breaking for my mistress. I wouldn’t have to wait long for her to do the same, however. My orgasm was more than enough to push Candace over the edge, filling my vagina to the wall with cum. Loud, sobbing moans cried out for more as I felt my insides contract, pussy squeezing her dick dry. 

We nearly collapsed onto the sand together when Candace pulled me into her arms, still yet to pull out of me. I took her hands and gently began to bounce, not giving a shit how I looked trying to ride out my orgasm in her lap. 

Candace did the same inside of me until eventually- once we were both satisfied- she pulled out and held me there, allowing me another round of kisses before letting go. 

With a smile on my face and a blush on my cheeks, I rested my head against her chest, swimming in her arms as I finally felt the sun set around us. “You win, Candace Saint Clair.”

“That’s Master to you, SoCavalier.” Candace purred. “Welcome home.”

Notes:

If you've read to the end of whatever chapter this is, you must like my work just a little bit-

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Series this work belongs to:

• Part 1 of Candace and Chloe