6. Chapter 6 #2
Victor’s response is a mirthless laugh. “What the fuck kind of question is that? You’ve heard the stories. I’ve trusted her since high school.”
“It’s possible I’m reading this wrong, but I found something disturbing on her phone.”
My heart jumps into overdrive, and I want to bang on the door and demand he tell me what he found. He has to be misreading whatever it is.
But I stay where I’m at.
“Just spit it out, Owen.”
“She’s been emailing back and forth with someone about our business.”
What? I have fucking not. Please don’t believe it, Victor.
“It has to be a plant. A hack. Something. She isn’t familiar enough with our business to be talking to anyone.”
“Except that she did bookkeeping for us for the three months Bellamy was in London for the wedding that didn’t happen. She knows more than you think, mate. I know you’re sleeping with her, but you have to use your head.”
My hand flies to my mouth to stifle a cry.
“Grace? What’s wrong?”
I whirl around to find Lili and Zara standing there watching me.
“Owen thinks I’m betraying everyone. He’s in there telling Victor not to trust me.”
Zara’s brows draw together. “That makes no sense.”
Lili stomps forward and knocks on the office door before I can stop her.
“Go away,” Owen shouts.
“Open the goddamn door, Victor. I know you’re in there,” Lili replies.
The door flies open and Victor glares. “Eavesdropping again, Grace? Haven’t I already punished you for that?”
“I’m sorry, Master. But Owen was scaring me the way he was looking at me. And now I hear he thinks I’m betraying you. It’s not right that I’m not here to defend myself.”
His expression softens, and he pulls me into the office. Lili follows, despite Owen’s objections.
“Grace is right,” Victor snaps. “Now tell us what the fuck this is about. What did you find on her phone?”
Owen swears but pulls the device from his pocket. “I ran a scan for malware, tracking software, etcetera. But I didn’t find that. Instead, I found a series of emails dating back almost a year, in which Grace has been emailing a client we cut ties with. Sharing secrets about our books.”
“I swear those aren’t real. And if they are, I didn’t send them. May I see them?”
He hands me the phone, and I read through the email chain. Most of the emails are short, but the sentence structure is clunky and nothing like the way I write.
I tap the header of the email to look at who it was supposedly sent to. My shoulders instantly relax when I see that the email was sent from my UNLV student email address.
“These have to be fabricated, Owen. And I can prove it.”
“I bloody hope so, Gracie.”
Zara clears her throat. “Don’t be an ass, Owen.”
“Excuse me?”
“You just called her Gracie because you’ve decided you don’t trust her. She’s been with this establishment from the beginning. You owe her a little more respect than that.”
“My apologies, Grace. How can you prove they are fabricated?”
My head is spinning from the quick back and forth between people I’ve called family for years.
“This is my university email address. I didn’t have access to this until about six weeks ago.
Somehow, someone planted emails after the account was set up and made it look like I’ve been sending them for months. ”
Owen frowns as I pass the phone to him. Victor puts his arm around my shoulders and kisses my temple. “Good catch, butterfly.”
“Have you received any strange emails on this account lately?”
“Nothing leaps to mind. I got a call about a week and a half ago from someone pretending to work for UNLV. That’s when my security disappeared. Did you ever find that guy?”
Owen shook his head. “We’re still searching. So far there’s no trace.”
Victor squeezes my shoulder. “What about the scholarship?”
I frown. “The one I wasn’t expecting? It was strange, but I called UNLV and verified that it was real before I clicked on the link to fill out the confirmation.”
Owen scrolls on my phone. “When did you get that email?”
“Maybe two weeks ago? It was a few days after Lili came to be with us.”
Owen nods and keeps scrolling. “This one?” He turns the screen for me to look at the email he’s pulled up.
“That’s it.”
He taps and swipes at my phone for another minute, then lets out a wicked little laugh. “Got you, motherfucker.”
“I hope you never use that laugh with Bellamy,” I say nervously.
He looks up and grins. “Of course I do. It makes her wet.”
I laugh and step closer to Victor.
Owen puts my phone aside and holds both hands out to me.
“Forgive me for being an ass, as Zara so lovingly put it,” he says when I put my palms against his. “You deserved better from me, pet. Will you accept my apology?”
I smile. “Of course, Master Owen. Under the circumstances, especially with Bryce betraying us the way he did, I can understand why you were quick to be suspicious. You’re forgiven.”
Owen leans in and kisses my cheek. “Now I just need you to convince your Dom to forgive me as well.”
“Victor? Don’t you know he’s a big softy now? Of course he’ll forgive you.”
Victor smacks my ass. “Watch it. You still haven’t earned that orgasm, and I can keep up the denial game for weeks.”
“Right,” Owen drawls, “A softy. If you’ll excuse me, I need to do some hacking and catch a rotten bastard.”
When Owen leaves, I realize I didn’t see Zara and Lili leave before him. Victor picks up the jewelry box I’d placed on his desk before Owen interrupted, and hands it to me. “I’m sorry about Owen, butterfly. But I’m proud of you for remaining mostly calm through that. You were very observant, too.”
“Thank you, Sir. I was so scared at first. But then Lili and Zara stood up for me and gave me the courage to stand up for myself.”
He kisses my forehead and stepped back. I look down at my shoes, suddenly feeling sheepish. “I’m sorry for eavesdropping. Please don’t spank me for it this time.”
“Shhh, Grace, you’re forgiven. I’m not going to punish you. Now go find Lili and Zara and let me talk to Owen. I’ll find you if we learn anything new. You have my word.
I kiss his cheek and head for the dungeon with the jewelry box tucked in the pocket of my dress.
Zara and Lili are sitting at a table in the bar laughing when I come in.
Lili spots me and jumps from her chair. “Are you OK, lover?”
“I’m fine, Goddess,” I murmur as she pulls me close. “A misunderstanding that I was able to clear up. And it may have also led to some useful information.”
“Victor better have defended you, or I’m going to kick his ass,” Lili declares as she pulls another chair up to the table.
“He did,” I say with a smile. “Even before you knocked on the door, I could hear him sticking up for me.”
“You’re not going to be punished for eavesdropping, are you?” Zara asks.
“I appreciate the concern, but no. Victor said he’s proud of me. And before Owen interrupted us, we agreed to me wearing a training collar and working my way to earning a personalized one.”
Zara frowns. “Why not just take his collar now? It’s obvious the three of you belong together.”
Lili sits back and observes as I contemplate how to answer. “He would do that if I wanted him to,” I finally say. “But we talked about it, and I like the idea of him training me to serve him,” I pause and meet Lili’s gaze. “And to serve you.”
Lili laughs nervously. “I’m just winging things, sweetheart. If anything, you’re training me.”
I scoff. “If this is you winging it, Goddess, you’re a fucking natural sadist.”
“Sadist? Me?”
I raise an eyebrow at her. “How long have you been edging me today? Sadism doesn’t have to mean physical pain.”
Lili grins. “I guess you’re right.”
Zara claps and leans in as if she’s about to hear juicy gossip from one of her reality shows. “How long has Lili been edging you, Grace?”
“All damn day,” I mutter before relaying the story of the ride into town and the extended tour of the club.
“You poor thing. And then Owen has to go and be an asshole on top of all that.”
She looks at Lili with a mock stern expression. “You and Victor better give her one hell of an orgasm before the night is over.”
Lili shrugs. “That’s up to Grace and ultimately Victor if Grace meets the requirements.”
Zara looks at me with a raised eyebrow.
“Tell Zara what you have to do in order to get an orgasm,” Lili prods.
My face flames and I wish I had a drink to focus on.
But I don’t, so I swallow hard and take a deep breath.
“I have to give Goddess half a dozen orgasms with my tongue before I can have another orgasm. And even if I do that, Master could still decide that I don’t get to come because I’ve given him complete control of my pleasure. ”
Lili leans forward and picks up my hand then places it on her thigh, just below her hemline. “And how many times have you made me come on your face?”
“Three, Goddess. I still owe you three more.”
“Oh my,” Zara exclaims. “You two certainly have a fun night ahead of you. I should let you be alone and find my husband.”