“Should I call to a meeting da… boss?” Jacob asked. Carl Johnson sighed.
“No,” he told his son. Carl had been married four times, and had nine children within those marriages, all daughters. He had countless mistresses during the years, they had given him even more daughters. The only son he had was the idiot sitting across from him in the limo. He was the result of one of Carl’s first pets. He had allowed the woman to carry his child full term, and it had been a son. But she had been the reason he made sure none of his pets would ever bear a child again. He didn’t need that. Carl had ignored the boy for most of his life, thinking one of his wives or mistresses would give him the son he wanted. When it didn’t happen, he had gone in search of his long-lost son. Only to discover he was a moron who would probably never amount to anything. Johnson was planning what to do with the business he had built on his own once he got too old to run it. One of his closest men had been blessedAva was reading patterns. She had finished her latest project, a huge stuffed vampire penguin, the night before. She was going to visit Tom and his family later that afternoon, and it was a gift for his daughter. Tom had finally been cleared to come back, and Ava just wanted to make sure everything was okay. “Angel, could you get my charger over there?” Zane asked her, pointing towards the bookshelf. She shook her head as she got up. Ava knew exactly why he wanted her to get it. It was so he could get a view of her back. She had on a black pencil skirt and, what from the front, looked like a modest white shirt. But the back was open, the shirt only held together by a band of fabric over her shoulder blades. “Sure,” she said and got up and took his charger, making sure he got what he wanted from it. She then got back to her crocheting patterns. She was wondering if she was brave enough to try a sweater next, or maybe a bikini. Ava wondered if Zane would allow her to wear it
Zane looked at the man sitting on the other side of his desk. Ava’s uncle had nothing in common with his niece. Not his looks, not his personality nor his manners. Zane wondered briefly how Ava had turned out the way she had when she had been raised by these people. Had her parents left such a strong imprint that not even these people could ruin it? Zane was battling his urge to kill the both of them. If he did, they wouldn’t take his angel from him. But it was too late. They had already said the words which had shattered his world to pieces. Somehow, this slime of a human being had come up with enough money to pay off his debt. Zane had hoped the transfer wouldn’t go through, that the money was just a bluff. But as he looked on his computer screen, he could clearly see the money the man had deposited. It had killed Zane to ask Ava to pack her things. He needed her out of his office in case he did something. If he lost his cool, she didn’t need to see that. Not now when she would be
Ava watched the city move outside the window of the car. Her aunt and uncle were chatting in the front seat about what they would do with the rest of the money. Her uncle must have hit the jackpot. But Ava was lost in her thoughts. She tried to push the pain away. She didn’t want her relatives to see it. Ava could cry when they got home, safely locked in the bathroom. She would let herself have one evening of self-pity and then she would rebuild her life. First step would be to call Gabriel and see if he still wanted her to live with him. She would take him up on his offer if he did. Then she needed to get a lawyer to evict her relatives and get her own place. She wasn’t as prepared for her new job as she would have liked. But she was sure she and Gabriel could work something out. But first she needed to get her feet back under her and that work would start as soon as she got back home. At the thought, she realised she didn’t recognise the area they were headed to.“Uncle Jonas,
“Where the fuck is he? Move out of the way or I will fucking end you. I don’t care if I love you!” Zane looked up from his work as the shouts boomed in the house. The voice was familiar, and it peaked Zane’s curiosity. He needed something to take his mind off his angel, so he walked out of his office and looked over the rail to the floors below. What he saw had him stunned. Ryder was trying to restrain a struggling Gabriel that did his best to slip out of his boyfriend’s grip.“Calm down, he is not in a good mood,” Ryder tried to say.“I don’t fucking care. Do I look like I’m in a good mood? Take your hands off me now, Ryder. I am not telling you again. I am going to talk to Zane if I have to walk over your dead body to do it,” Gabriel told his boyfriend. Zane could see Ryder flinch.“What the fuck is going on?” Zane asked. Gabriel’s eyes shot to Zane and Zane had to use all his willpower not to take a step back from the pure anger that shot from them. Jax came walking t
Ava woke up with a throbbing head that was spinning. Her mouth was dry, and her body ached all over. She had vague memories of waking up before, of men coming into the room to beat and kick her. She had lost all sense of time as she drifted in and out of consciousness. Ava didn’t know if she had been in the room for hours, days, or weeks. She tried to sit up and felt the room spin even more. Ava had a hard time distinguishing between the pain from laying on the hard floor and the injuries she had sustained from the beatings. She gave up on trying to stand up, her body and head would not allow it. She crawled towards the blankets. They smelled terrible and were full of holes. But they offered some protection from the cold floor. Ava took one of the blankets and gently wrapped it around herself, and leaned against the wall. She tried to diagnose the aches she felt. She could move her hands and feet, even though the muscles were sore and her joints were stiff. Her left knee was swollen
The next few days were endless stretches of despair for Ava. She had no sense of time in the tiny room without windows. She based her conception of time on how often the door would open and a man came in to empty the bucket in the corner, give her half a glass of water and sometimes a piece of bread. The first time, Ava had tried to just drink a little of the water, hoping to spread it out to last longer. But when the man left the room, he took the glass and the remaining water with him. Ava learned quickly to drain the water and gulf down any food as soon as she could. Still, it wasn’t enough. Her body craved food and water. She had a constant headache and her stomach had stopped rumbling and instead set into a constant cramp. Another sign of the time passing outside the room was the changing of her bruises. They went from irritated red, to blue and yellow and then slowly fading. Ava tried to move around as soon as her legs were strong enough to carry her. The constant sitting or lyi
Ava’s hair was matted and looked lifeless; its usual golden blond was a dull dust beige. There were only faint bruises visible on her face. It didn’t look like any permanent damage had been done. But she looked like a walking dead. Her skin was dull, her eyes sunken in and she had a weary look in her eyes Ava didn’t recognise. She sighed and wondered if she should strip out of her dirty clothes and lie on top of the bed. The thought of getting naked made her skin crawl. She sighed and went back into the room and slid down to sit next to the bed, resting her back against it. Ava fell asleep like that and was awakened by the klick of the lock. She struggled to her feet as the door opened. In walked the woman Johnson had brought to Zane’s office. She looked as surprised to see Ava as Ava did to see her. “Hi,” Ava rasped. “The water has been turned on. It will be shut off in ten minutes,” the woman informed Ava, and held out a towel and small bottles with shampoo and condition
Ava sat, newly showered, in her robe on her bed and waited. The lock clicked, and the door opened. Jacob walked into her room carrying a mug and a box. “This is for you,” he told her and handed her the mug. “Thank you,” she said out of pure habit and started blowing on the hot beverage as she enjoyed the smell of coffee. “Do I need to drink it straight away?” she asked. Ava knew she would scold her tongue and probably her throat if she tried to force it down while hot. “No, you are allowed to drink it while you get ready, but don’t do anything stupid,” he told her. She nodded. “I’ll place this here. You have an hour to get ready,” he said. He placed the box on the bed next to her, took one look at her, and smiled. “You look really pretty like that.”“Eh, thank you,” Ava said. “See you later,” he told her before he left. Ava took her mug into the bathroom and placed it on the counter, taking a small sip of it. It tasted better than any other coffee she ever ha
After Ava’s surprise visit by the detectives, she found herself with stricter rules than usual on where she could go and with whom. Zane usually saw it as good enough if Ryder, Tom or Marco were with her alongside one or two of their other men. But now she was back to only be allowed out in the company of Tom and Ryder. It was a throwback to her first weeks in the mansion. But she accepted it as she wanted Zane to not work himself up. He was stressed out as it was, and the long hours of work didn’t help. Gabriel was complaining that Ryder had become grumpy and closed off and Linda reported the same were true for Jax. They all three knew their men was overworking themselves, but they also knew it was necessary and the only thing they could do was to help their men to de-stress.“Me and Gabriel will have to work a little late tonight,” Ava told Zane as they were getting ready for the day.“No, angel. Both Tom
"Are you okay, angel?” Zane asked Ava and gently took a hold of her chin and tilted it upwards to make her look at him. Ava smiled at him.“I am. You are here and that makes me okay,” she answered him. He chuckled and kissed her lightly.“Tom has cleared some time in your schedule. You and Gabriel are coming with us, we will have lunch and there are things we need to talk about,” Zane told her. She nodded and saw Ryder and Gabriel walking out of Gabriel’s office hand in hand. Zane took them to In Cavea Aurea where a private table had been set up for them. Jax was waiting for them at the table.“I heard you had an exciting morning. Are you okay?” Jax asked Ava. She smiled at him and gave him a light kiss on the cheek.“I’m fine, and so is the baby,” she told him before letting Zane guide her to a chair. Once everyone had sat down and the food was ordered, Zane asked Ava to tell them abou
Ava had been back to work for a few days, and it was starting to feel like she never had been away. She was pleased to see that whatever improvements had been made to their security system, it wasn’t visible. Zane and Ava had decided it was time to let people outside of the closest circle know she was pregnant. They had discussed the possibility it would make her even more of a target. But she was not worried. Ava had Tom and she knew Zane had other men stationed in the building and probably outside it as well. She was sitting in her office, looking at the latest budget for the LGBTQ+ safe space. Gabriel’s dream was slowly growing and becoming a reality. Her intercom buzzed.“Mrs. Velky, two police detectives are here. they want to speak to you,” Tom told her. Ava felt a moment of fear, had something happened to Zane? But she pushed that thought to the side. If something had happened, she wouldn’t be told by the police, someone in the organisation
Zane looked at his angel as she kneeled on the black satin sheets on the bed. The way the gold chains emphasised the growing baby bump had him drooling. He hadn’t thought it would be possible for Ava to become sexier and more alluring. But the fact that he could see their child growing inside of her, it stroked a primitive part of him. He caressed her belly with his hand. He had made sure to read up on suitable positions and punishments for his angel as they moved forward. He wanted their baby safe, but he knew neither him or Ava would do well without their playtime. “Ready, angel?” he asked as he let his hand move from her belly to grip the nipple vibrator and tug on it. Ava’s breath hitched and then a small moan escaped her.“Yes, Sir,” she said. The way she called him Sir made his cock twitch. He picked up the silk rope and started tying it to her ankles. He worked in silence, sometimes letting his hands travel up her legs, almost all the way to where he knew she wanted his touch.
Tom helped Ava out of the car at the club, she did her best not to reveal anything when she stepped out. It wasn’t easy with the way the trench coat was designed and with what little she had on underneath. She squared her shoulders and walked past the queue of people waiting to get inside. She could hear someone starting to cat call her and she heard the man’s huff as the air left his lungs. Tom would have landed a punch in the man’s gut; she knew it without looking. Just as she knew the man wouldn’t be let into to the club this evening, and if Zane got wind of the incident; probably never again. The man at the door smiled at her.“Good evening Mrs. A, it’s nice to see you back,” he told her.“Good evening, Luther. It looks packed tonight,” Ava said.“It is. Let any of the boys know if you have any issues,” he reminded her.“Thank you.” Ava walked into the club with th
Ava was nervous when she showered and got dressed, she was nervous when Zane took her downstairs, and she was nervous as they ate dinner with Miguel. She had a hard time focusing on the conversation and while she usually didn’t have a problem with small talk, she now found it hard to follow along. Zane hadn’t given her even a hint at what her punishment would be, and Ava was becoming obsessed with trying to find out.“I think we will retire early tonight, my wife seems tired,” Zane told Miguel as they had finished eating.“Of course. Have a nice evening, Mrs. A,” Miguel said.“Thank you,” Ava said. They all stood up and Miguel left the room first. Ava was about to do the same when Zane stopped her.“You will go up to our room, you will pick out some sexy lingerie that you think I will enjoy and you will sit down on the edge of the bed and wait for me. I will join you in twenty minutes. If I d
Miguel joined Ava and Zane for breakfast the following day. Both him and Zane made sure to keep the conversation casual and light. Ava didn’t mind, she knew Zane would talk to her in private if he felt she needed to know why Miguel had come. “We will probably be in meetings or out on business for most of the day. Will you be okay?” Zane asked as they were done with breakfast. “Linda and I figured so we have booked a girls day at the pool for some relaxation,” Ava told him. Zane bent down so he could whisper in her ear. “You better not be thinking about going skinny-dipping, angel. I will check in on you and I better see a bikini on that body of yours.”“I would never skinny-dip without you,” she whispered back. “Fucking right,” he agreed, kissed her and then he and Miguel left. Ava took a moment to collect herself before going upstairs to change. She and Linda met at the pool. Both were wearing big fluffy bathrobes that were tightly tied at the waist. “So,” Linda said.“Yes,” Ava
Ava and Linda had a nice and quiet dinner. As none of the boys made it down before they were finished, the two of them decided to have a game night on their own. They moved to the living room and started playing Canasta. Anna made sure they had snacks and they gossiped as they played.“Let’s make it interesting and play for something other than just bragging rights,” Linda suggested.“Like money?” Ava asked. She was uncomfortable at the idea of gambling; it had never worked out well for her.“No. With the two men we live with, playing for money just doesn’t seem fun,” Linda said, and Ava agreed.“How about we do a dare? Whoever has the lowest score by the end of the evening have to do the dare?” Linda proposed. Ava thought about it, it sounded fun. She had played quite a lot of Canasta with Anna and Linda; she was almost confident she could win. She just needed to keep a straight
Life returned to its normal state after Luka left. Ava spent her days being spoiled by Zane and the staff. Her two weeks staying home would soon be up and she prepared to go back to the office. To be on the safe side, she called Gabriel to check if something major had happened she needed to be aware of.“Nothing big. We have a new client that I was planning for the two of us to have lunch with when you get back and we are all leaving early on Friday for the renovation,” he told her.“Renovation?” she asked.“Hasn’t the boss told you? Jax called the other day to tell me Zane had ordered some extra security to be installed. I guess he is a little worried about you going back to work,” Gabriel explained.“He didn’t tell me.”“I, on the other side, am thrilled that you will be back. I miss you, and it’s so boooooring to eat lunch with the others,” he said. Ava laughed