Page 16 of His Master

I groaned and jerked my hips into his rough touch as my body spasmed with orgasm. My thin cum shot from me, spilling over Victor’s hand and onto the glass between my spread knees. I pushed myself to keep coming for as long as I could to please my master.

Artemis hissed a curse under his breath, and all the pleasure and pride I felt in obeying my master’s command withered into deep, crushing shame. As soon as Victor took his hand off me, I let out a heavy breath and sagged into my kneeling pose, lowering my head.

Oh, God. I’d just let a man I barely knew jerk me off until I came hard with an alpha I didn’t know at all watching me. While already messy with slick and cum. Artemis was still breathing hard as he took in the sight of me, and Victor was beaming with wicked pride.

And I loved it. It had felt incredible to be so good, to let myself be humiliated in that way, just so that the alpha who owned me could show off. Part of me wallowed in pride and satisfaction, eager to go farther and to do more to please him.

The rest of me was sick at how deranged I was to love something like that. How could I ever look Hayden or my parents or my friends and the people I worked with in the eyes again, knowing that I wanted something so degrading so much?

Artemis cleared his throat, bringing some of my focus back to the room, though I kept my head bowed. I shouldn’t have, but Victor didn’t correct my posture of shame.

“Please tell me you really did find him through the Dark Fantasies Club,” Artemis said, deeply serious.

“I did,” Victor admitted as he walked over to the small sink to wash his hands again. “I’m still processing my luck at finding him.”

My heart caught in my chest, and I immediately overanalyzed those words. What was he processing? Was I too much for him? Did I disgust him as much as I disgusted myself? Was he going to call the whole fantasy off because I was too much for him?

No! I didn’t want that. I didn’t want it at all. Victor was my master. If this was a trafficking situation and he decided to keep me and own me for real, I wouldn’t fight it. I would be his slave in actuality. I’d willingly do whatever depraved thing he wanted from me. I would?—

“I know this isn’t why you invited me here and technically you’re on vacation, but have you seen the email that went out to the board of directors earlier?” Artemis asked.

The question snapped my thoughts back into the present, and that little part of me that understood business and the way companies worked pricked its ears.

Victor walked back to the desk. “I did,” he said, his tone of voice completely changed to something cold and stern. “On top of that, our family’s discretionary account has suddenly been drained, and Vivien doesn’t know anything about it.”

Artemis grunted. “Your uncle is about to make a move.”

“Uncle Vincent has been making moves and twisting this company into something it shouldn’t be for more than a year now,” Victor answered.

“It’s his company,” Artemis said, moving around to the other side of the desk and out of my view.

“It’s our family’s company,” Victor corrected him behind me. I wondered if he had gestured for Artemis to take the discussion away from me as a way to give me a second to recover. “He and my father started it forty years ago. He, Vivien, and I own it jointly now.”

“He’s been operating as if it’s his company and his alone for a while, though,” Artemis said. “The board is more than a little concerned after some of the things that have happened in the last year. That omega kidnapping, for one.”

I drew in a sharp breath and lifted my head slightly. Was he talking about Hayden?

“Colin Gregory and everything that happened with him was the last straw for me,” Victor said, suddenly sounding tired. “I can’t let whatever shady deal Uncle Vincent is trying to pull off now go through. He and Vivien are only interested in money and power, but I can’t be like that anymore. Victory Holdings has to start creating good in the world.”

My heart beat faster. It sounded like Victor wanted to atone for the things his uncle, and Vivien, whoever she was, had done. I remembered the apology he’d made to Hayden and Mace at the pool party.

“Don’t beat yourself up if you can’t turn everything around in an instant,” Artemis said. I heard what sounded like a hand being clapped on a shoulder. “You’re trying. That in itself is a new chapter in the story of Victory Holdings.”

“Seeing that bank account drained worries me, though,” Victor said.

“You have your own accounts, right?” Artemis asked. I would have asked the same thing. “If he cuts you off from the company, you’ll stay afloat, won’t you?”

“Of course,” Victor said. “I’ve always kept my personal money separate. He can’t touch that.”

I smiled a little. My master was intelligent and clever.

My smile dropped. I shouldn’t be thinking of Victor as my master outside of the parameters of our fantasy.

“What about Vivien?” Artemis asked. “Is she trying to push you out, too?”

Half a dozen thoughts and questions zipped through my head before Victor could answer. What was Victory Holding’s corporate structure? Was there a contract in place for its ownership? What provisions were made in Victor’s father’s will regarding his percentage of ownership of the company? Were there legal ramifications if he was ousted? If his uncle and Vivien attempted to oust him and failed? What did the board of directors think, and what sort of power did they have to act against the interests of the owners? Was the board more favorable to Victor or to his uncle?

“I don’t know what Vivien wants, other than to bask on her yacht, flirting with the beta attendants she hires to wait on her and accompany her on shopping trips,” Victor said. “She’s hasn’tbeen particularly interested in Victory Holdings for years, only the bit of it that shows up in her bank account.”

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