Chapter 58
CHAPTER 58
NORTH CAROLINA
A dria always had a theme for presentation nights, and tonight’s was black-tie masquerade. Her vision had been executed flawlessly. Erotic black-and-white photos adorned the foyer. Velvet table cloths sat under black calla lilies, dark red roses and ivy. Antique mirrors and gothic-inspired furniture had been brought in for the occasion.
Adria checked herself in the gold-encrusted mirror. Everything was in order. She concentrated on breathing.
Bryson’s words from this morning haunted her.
Whatever the future holds, I want it to include you.
She fought to push it out of her mind. Maybe they would come back after their year as submissives. She couldn’t control that. What she needed to do was focus on what she could control.
Today.
“Diana, so glad you could make it,” Adria said, taking the sharp blonde’s hand.
“Adam, how nice to see you,” she waved, passing by.
The room was full of people. Normally she invited twenty to thirty potential buyers, but tonight there would be well over a hundred .
Adria said her hellos and introduced herself to the new players. The first hour of the evening was for socialization, hors d’oeuvres and drinks. This was followed by the unveiling, where the boys would be officially introduced as auction items. Dinner and a demonstration would round out the evening’s festivities.
A hand rested on her shoulder, and the scent of sandalwood caused her body to freeze.
The removal of Jonathan’s hand was immediate, but it didn’t stop the chill that ran along her back. Eric had hired a private security detail, assigning two plainclothes to tail her the entire party.
No words were exchanged, but the security guards disappeared into the crowd when Jonathan took a step back.
“What an event you have put on, Adria,” Jonathan said.
“Thank you,” she replied tersely.
Alessandro and the rest of the Triune had sent their regrets. Of course they wouldn’t want to attend, too many new faces, too many unknowns. Jonathan was here as the families’ liaison. But tonight, security was under strict instructions to ensure his exit at the end of the event. Adria hated having him here, but, unfortunately, he was necessary.
“I wanted to apologize for my behavior last time,” he said smoothly. “I believe my temper got the better of me.”
Adria didn’t move. Didn’t blink.
But when Jonathan adjusted his tie, she caught sight of the purple scar inside his palm, the one Seth had carved into him.
A flicker of smug satisfaction warmed her chest.
“You beguile me, Adria,” he went on, mistaking her stillness. “I can’t get you out of my head. I wonder if we might share a drink? Bury the proverbial hatchet. ”
There wasn’t a word vile enough to capture her loathing.
Truthfully, she thought so little of him now, he barely qualified as a person in her mind.
He wasn’t worth a heartbeat.
Not a breath.
Looking him straight in the eye, she said, voice calm and resolute, “I would rather die.”
She turned.
His hand reached out. “I love you, prin?—”
She flinched at the nickname, but he didn’t finish it.
Because someone had stepped between them.
A dark figure now stood in the space where she had been. And when she glanced past them, she realized her bodyguards were still at their posts, a few paces away.
Adria stepped forward, her stomach twisting as she recognized the way the figure was angled, subtly shielding them from view. And that wasn’t a hand in Jonathan’s chest.
It was a gun.
The barrel pressing just beneath the edge of Jonathan’s jacket. Perfectly aimed. Deadly close.
“What the hell is going on here?” she hissed, stepping forward to block the line of sight from nearby guests.
The man didn’t look at her. His voice cold and terrifying, but it was unmistakably Bryson’s.
“I was just telling our friend here,” Bryson said, “that he is no longer welcome to address you by that name.”
Jonathan blinked, his voice pure velvet. “I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure.”
Adria felt her pulse spike. Jonathan hadn’t recognized him. The clothes, the mask, Bryson was unrecognizable. Except to her.
Bryson leaned closer, gun still firmly pressed to Jonathan’s chest.
“But I know you, J.” His tone dropped lower, almost a whisper. “I know about your evening walks along 14th. About the back room. About the special favors you receive.”
Jonathan paled.
Adria watched the blood drain from his face.
Bryson stepped in even closer, then, after a tense beat, slowly tucked the gun away.
“How about we take this conversation somewhere private?” he said, his voice deadly soft. “We can have a little talk. Just you and me.”
Jonathan swallowed hard, and his throat bobbed as he nodded.
The two turning to leave, and Adria followed. She wasn’t about to let Bryson loose at another function.
Faces blurred by her as they weaved through the crowd.
“Tell your bodyguards to wait here,” Bryson said to Jonathan.
Jonathan gave the two men behind them the signal to wait, and Adria did the same for hers before following the pair through a side door.
As Adria turned to close it behind them, she locked eyes with a brown-eyed girl with vibrant red hair. Eyes boring into her, Adria blinked in confusion, before closing the mysterious face out.
Bryson led them to the boardroom. The same room where she had coerced him into wearing his tracking bracelet all those months ago.
Placing a large white envelope on the wooden table, Bryson took a careful step back, mask on, his eyes never leaving Jonathan.
The dimly lit room was filled with a heavy silence, broken only by the distant hum of voices outside. Jonathan’s figure cast a long shadow, and he hovered at the far end of the room, closest to the door.
Adria crept to the table, hand trailing across the paper envelope. She tried her best to hide the shake in her hands as she gingerly untied the string and opened the parcel. Her intuition screaming.
Somehow she knew what she would find.
Her breath caught in her throat as she dumped a cascade of photographs onto the table. Each image was meticulously labeled with dates and times, the ink now slightly smudged. The weight of the moment pressed heavily upon her, causing her skin to prickle with a mix of anger and disgust.
Adria stared at the sea of faces captured in those haunting images. Innocent eyes staring back at her, frozen in time, their silent pleas for justice echoing in her ears.
So many photos.
So many innocent eyes.
“The Triune doesn’t take kindly to pedos, Jonathan,” she said, tossing one of the photos to his end of the table.
Adria watched intently as he extended his hand. His fingers hovered hesitantly before delicately picking up the image.
The silence grew, punctuated with the sound of his labored breathing.
When an animal is trapped, they choose between two emotions.
Fear and anger.
And Jonathan deserved to be afraid. If he wasn’t, Adria was going to make sure that was rectified.
“Not missing your face this time,” Adria said.
Jonathan tried to move towards her, and she saw Bryson move, too.
“Stop.”
Her voice echoed in the room, and everyone froze. Jonathan’s face was purple, his hands clenched at his sides.
“You have been a busy boy, Jonathan,” she said, moving towards him .
“A very bad, very busy boy.”
She closed the distance between them easily.
Jonathan preyed on the weak and vulnerable. He didn’t have a clue what genuine power was.
He didn’t understand what it meant to have someone trust you deeply, to feel the weight of their devotion and protection.
He’d never known the fear of standing alone with no one to shield you.
But Adria was going to show him.
“Who the hell do you think you are?” she said, invading his space.
His blue eyes riveted on her, sweat breaking out on his brow.
“What delusional island do you live on that makes you think you can do whatever you want without consequences?
She folded a photo in half. Placing the no more than six-year-old boy face down on the table and the image of Jonathan face up. “It’s not a secret you can hide any longer.”
She folded another and another. Lining the table with images of Jonathan. Forcing him to look upon his own disgusting face.
“Nowhere to hide anymore. Nowhere you can go where I won’t find you.”
She put another, and another, on the table.
“Stop, that’s enough,” Jonathan said.
He was pale, sweat dripping down his forehead.
“I didn’t mean to hurt anyone,” he sniveled. “What do you want? I’ll do anything.”
He wasn’t the boogeyman; he was a disease.
Seeing him now, practically groveling at her feet, Adria wondered how she had ever been afraid of him.
“When the Triune finds out about this, you’ll be all alone. And let’s be honest. Without the Triune, how long will you last?”
Adria let the threat settle into the space before giving him more.
“How many people out there want you dead?” she said, getting in his face.
She felt the tiniest bit of satisfaction when he took a step back.
Leaning in she said, “It doesn’t matter how many.”
Her eyes locked onto his.
“I’ll be the one to kill you.”
She reached out, grabbing his suit coat, pulling him towards her. “Every morning you wake up alive, it will be because I allowed it.”
His eyes were wild as she watched him wither under her gaze. “And you had better pray to God every night that I choose mercy because if I don’t…”
She let him go.
Jonathan straightened his coat.
She gathered the photos. “No more kids, no more sex. Trust me when I say, I’ll know if you do. You are going to leave now, and tell the Triune what an amazing job I have done with Bryson. You are going to do everything in your power to get them to leave me alone. Don’t come around here ever again. Do that, and you might just live out the rest of the year. Am I understood?”
Jonathan stood there, frozen, with a pained expression.
“Say you understand,” Bryson commanded, and a chill leaving behind goosebumps rose on Adria’s skin, hearing the hate and violence laced in Bryson’s voice.
Jonathan, who refused to look at them, finally spoke, his voice laced with resignation. Adria felt a mixture of satisfaction and relief when he muttered, “I understand.”
With a finality in her voice, Adria dismissed him. She watched his shriveled figure disappear, and the room fell into silence, the weight of the encounter heavy in the air.
Adria allowed herself a moment to revel in the relief she felt.
“Are you okay?” Bryson asked, his voice shifting back to its traditional tenor.
“What happened to your tattoos?” she asked.
He gave her a crooked smile. “Make-up.”
Her eyes widened in surprise.
“I thought we were going to kill him,” he said, sounding disappointed.
Adria could understand, but she couldn’t kill him, not yet. She needed him to talk to the Triune.
“Where did you get a gun?” she asked.
“Eric,” he said dismissively.
“WHAT?” Her voice echoed into the space, and she was thankful they were alone.
“Easy, you don’t want to cause a scene,” Bryson said.
“Me cause a scene?” she accused, in a harsh whisper.
His fingers brushed her hand, and tingles of electricity followed the touch. He was so gentle yet Adria felt weak at the contact.
“I promised no one would call you that nickname, didn’t I?” Bryson’s words hung in the air, filled with tenderness and affection. Her mouth fell open. The sight of his sincerity threatened to break into her darkness.
It was possibly the most romantic thing anyone had ever done for her, and at the same time she couldn’t help but be aware of how messed up the situation was.
Bryson took a step closer, and Adria held her breath as he leaned into her.
“How did you know?” she whispered, still not believing that they had gotten him. Jonathan wasn’t going to be hurting anyone anymore.
Bryson shrugged, bringing his lips inches from hers. “A hunch. ”
“And the photos?” she said.
She closed her eyes, lips parting, she let the warmth of his proximity envelop her.
“I had some help,” he said mysteriously.
He didn’t elaborate, and she felt him move impossibly closer. He still hadn’t touched her, and the anticipation of it burned on her skin.
Finally he leaned in, the soft brush of his lips caressed her cheek, feather soft. She burned for more. She opened her eyes and looked at him.
She could get lost in those eyes.
Seeing him looking at her like that. He didn’t take her power, he fueled it.
“See you soon, beautiful,” was all he said before disappearing from the room.
Adria touched the side of her cheek, which was still tingling from the brief contact. The three of them were going to be the death of her.
She scooped up each photo in silence, carefully putting each one of them back into the envelope. Right after the auction, she was going to find out where this place was and shut it down.