by Alta Hensley
As much as I didn’t want to, I decided that there really was no reason to be rude, and I was at their mercy. Giving an attitude or demanding they come immediately would not work in my favor, and right now, my bladder screamed for me to behave.
There was silence and not a single sound or approaching footstep in the hallway.
Knocking again, I said, “Hello? I could use some assistance.”
Silence.
Feeling the tightness in my bladder increase, I crossed my legs attempting not to wet myself while waiting.
Just as I was about to knock again and throw some curse words their way, the door to my room opened. Taking a few steps back to allow Thomas enough room to enter, I quickly realized it wasn’t Thomas who came to my call for help.
It was his twin, and it surprised me that I could easily tell the difference so quickly. It wasn’t just Stefano’s scar on his face, but something more that made the twin brothers stand apart. They were so very different in so many undescribed ways.
Stefano took two large steps into the room and stood before me. Dark hair, dark eyes, and dominance. Stefano didn’t have to say a single word to make me understand that he was not a man to be messed with. Power, mystery, and alpha power pulsated from his body at the same rhythm as my heartbeat. His firm jaw that clenched while he examined me from head to toe pulled my attention away from his hypnotizing glare. He was Thomas’s twin, yet this man before me looked completely different in so many indescribable ways. Besides the scar, it was the way he carried himself. His energy.
“It’s late. Why aren’t you sleeping?” he asked.
“I... uh... may I please use the restroom, sir?”
He remained silent, stony, and cold.
Swallowing back the large lump in the back of my throat, I said, “I need to use the bathroom badly.”
He silently nodded and spun on his heels and walked out the door. Once past the threshold, he looked over his shoulder at where I still stood frozen. “Follow me.” His deep voice was firm, direct, and sounded so silky smooth.
I willed my body to follow the man, even though warning bells were going off that this man was not to be trusted no matter what. There could always be something up his sleeve, and I remembered what he did to me the last time I entered the bathroom. But again, my bladder didn’t give me much of a choice.
Leading me to the restroom, he opened the door and stepped inside. I followed him into the room and then turned expecting him to exit and wait outside the door. When he remained in place, I asked, “Can you leave?”
“No,” was his simple reply.
The idea of relieving myself in front of this man infuriated me. “I don’t need you to watch over me.” I glanced at the small room that had the toilet and thought about just going inside and shutting the door, but something also told me to not attempt doing anything without his direction.
“Please. I’ll be quick.”
“Go,” he snapped, which made my blood begin to boil. I was a fucking human being who deserved an ounce of decency and privacy to relieve myself. Grant me fucking bathroom privileges, for Christ’s sake!
“Are you enjoying this? It’s sick,” I declared. “I’m not going to go piss in front of you.”
His expression hadn’t changed since the moment he came for me, but I could see his eyes darken at my refusal.
“Go now.” This time his voice stabbed into my soul. I was not going to win this battle, but I still was not going to go pee in front of him.
“All I ask is that you leave the room. I would like a little privacy. Take away a comfort item if you have to in exchange for allowing me this brief time alone. Please.”
“Either go now, or I’ll take you back to your room. You can sit in your own filth for all I care. I don’t care where you go.”
He was lucky I didn’t have a knife in my hand. I would have killed him right then and there.
“Fine,” I said. “If you don’t care where I go,” I added as I squatted right in front of him. “I’ll piss right here, thank you very much.” I emptied my bladder in the middle of the room, staring directly into his eyes as I allowed every ounce of liquid to release from my body. It wasn’t like I had much of my dignity left to lose anyway.
Stefano remained emotionless. He didn’t say a single word or do a thing. His lack of anger was far worse than any wrath he could inflict. My knees wobbled as I remained in my squat, and I just hoped I wouldn’t fall. He scared me. There was no doubt about that, and yet here I was. The fool pissing on the floor mere inches from my captor’s shoes.
He didn’t move. He didn’t speak. If I didn’t know better, I would say he wasn’t even breathing. My actions had no effect on him, and I instantly regretted it. My childish act gave him the power. I was now the woman squatting in front of a man with piss dripping out of me. Humiliation for me, honor for him. Without doing a single thing, Stefano won this battle. Damn him.
As I stood and tried to control my anger, Stefano raised one eyebrow and asked nonchalantly, “Are you done?”
“I am a fucking human being. Not a fucking slave. Remember that.” Clenching my teeth, I straightened my shoulders and tried to muster as much pride as I could and glided past him, leading myself back to my room. I could hear his footsteps behind me and could almost feel his smugness burning against the back of my head.
When I approached the door, Stefano reached for my upper arm and took hold. It didn’t hurt, but his grasp was tight. He led me into the room and forced me to sit on the wool blanket by pushing me down. He knelt down and reached into his pants pocket, pulling out a pair of handcuffs.
“I don’t want you to put those on me,” I said as panic began to set in. I wasn’t sure what his plan was, but I could see how pissed off I had made him. Seeing the handcuffs threw me back into my twisted reality.
I was a captive. Not a guest. No rights, no options, nothing.
He didn’t reply but instead grabbed my wrists in front of my body, clasped the metal rings securely around them, and locked them with a small key he had in his hand. They were tight enough that when I moved even slightly, they pinched. I could feel my flesh connect with the cool restraint but with how tight they were, I wondered how long it would be until I lost all feeling.
Pulling out another item from his pocket, it didn’t take me long to recognize a metal butt plug. Placing it at my lips, Stefano said, “You’ll discover soon enough that I have little patience for naughty girl tactics. I don’t find bratting sexy at all, and I will put an end to it quickly. Open your mouth.”
A butt plug? Was this my punishment for pissing in front of him? Both brothers had warned me to behave... repeatedly.
Not being given the chance to comply, Stefano pushed the metal past my lips and moved it in and out of my mouth, rubbing it along my tongue with each pass. “I’d advise you to get it nice and wet, because that’s the only lube you’re getting.”
He didn’t allow it to be in my mouth long enough for me to do as he ordered, instead he pushed me onto my stomach. The movement was awkward due to the handcuffs, so lying there was far from comfortable as my body was contorted. He only made it worse when he spread my legs wide and pushed the butt plug inside of me without any warning. The biting pop had me crying out in surprise more than pain.
I tried to wiggle and push the invading implant out of me to no avail. “Please. It stings. It’s too big. It’s stretching me.”
“Yes, that’s the point.” He stood up, not caring in the slightest that I was growing more distressed by the second.
“Please, I’m sorry. I’m more sorry than you can know,” I took a deep breath as I turned around and kneeled before him. “The cuffs are too tight.” I extended my wrists to him so he could see for himself and hopefully have mercy.
“Enough with the pleading,” he interrupted. Without saying another word, he opened the door and exited, leaving me alone in my prison.
Hysteria set in. There was no way I would be able to endure what thes
e brothers had in store for me. I was a strong woman, but no one was this strong. I looked up at the camera in the corner hoping someone was watching.
“I’m scared! Terrified. Please. There has to be a way that you’ll let me go. Please.”
I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t breathe!
Every time I moved, the handcuffs seemed to tighten. The rough edges were rubbing my skin raw as I pushed and pulled in hopes that somehow I could move them up or down my arm like a loose bracelet.
Kneeling as I was, the butt plug seemed to be stretching me so wide, I worried I would tear. The weight of the metal sat heavy inside of me, and I wondered how long I would have to wear it. Would Stefano ever take it out? I couldn’t with my wrists in the handcuffs. There was nothing I could do.
I got up and walked to the full-length mirror to see if I could see the plug in my ass. When I saw my reflection in the mirror, the pink skin of my ass from the earlier discipline made my horrid plight even more of a reality. Staring back at me was nothing but a woman who was at the mercy of two of the most ruthless and feared men in the world.
Running over to the door, I pounded my cuffed fists against the wood and screamed into it. “Don’t leave me in here like this! Everything is too tight, too big. Too painful. I’m panicking. I thought I could do this. That I could be the compliant captive. But I can’t. I can’t. Do you hear me? Someone come back in here!” I banged my hands on the door as hard as I could over and over.
Complete silence.
I twisted my head to look back at the camera. I could see the red light on. There had to be someone watching. “Please! Thomas! Stefano! I swear to you that I’ll be good. I’ll be good and never give you an issue again. Just please allow me out of this room. Take the cuffs off and the plug out. Let me earn it! Let me earn it as a comfort item. Please.”
Complete silence.
“Spank me! Punish me any other way. Please.”
The silence was only amplified by my sobbing.
My mind teetered on a dangerous cliff of sanity. I would fucking have a nervous breakdown right in this damn room if someone didn’t come and help me. I couldn’t be alone.
“Don’t leave me alone!”
Collapsing to the floor, I sat on my outer thigh so the butt plug wouldn’t have any pressure on it and allowed the tears to fall. I glanced back at the camera and pleaded with my eyes.
Why did I bother?
They didn’t care. I deserved this in their eyes.
And maybe I did. I knew the day I decided to work for the Bennato Brothers that I was making a deadly decision. I wasn’t some naive girl who didn’t know what I was getting myself into. I knew.
And now I was paying the price for it.
Chapter Seven
Hailey
I was so lost in my misery that I didn’t hear the door to my room open. It was the dark clothing belonging to Thomas that caught the corner of my eye that notified me that he had heard my plea.
Thank God. He was here. I wouldn’t be alone any longer with my dark thoughts. The mental game the brothers were playing was just as bad as the plug rooted in my ass.
Looking up at him with tears streaming down my face, I begged, “Please, Thomas. I know I messed up. I know I did. But I can’t be tortured like this.”
“Torture?” he asked. He smirked. “You have no idea what torture really is.”
“Call it what you want,” I choked out. “I beg you to take out the plug. It’s too big. And the handcuffs. I don’t need these.” I pushed my confined wrists toward him to emphasize my appeal.
“I saw what you did. Are you insane? If you were a man, my brother would have killed you right then and there.”
“I wasn’t thinking,” I said as I tried to control the hysteria that made my voice sound so high-pitched that I didn’t even recognize it. “I was just so angry.”
“You don’t get the luxury of being angry while you’re here. You lost that right the minute you decided to try to screw us over,” he said with very little sympathy or care present on his face. So cold and stoic.
“I can’t do this. I can’t do this,” I sobbed. If I had any dignity left, it was gone. Vanished. Melted away in the tears falling down my face. “There is no way I can survive this. I can’t. I’m not strong enough.”
He knelt down beside me and looked me straight in the eyes. “You need to take a deep breath and calm down. You’ve gotten yourself so worked up that you’re going to have a panic attack.” He placed his fingertip on my cheek and stroked softly. “Calm down. You’re going to be just fine.”
I shook my head. “I don’t deserve this.”
“What do you deserve then?” Thomas asked. “Do you think Stefano and I should just ignore what you did?”
“No, but—”
“Would you rather we just had you knocked off so you were no longer a problem for us?”
“No,” I answered as I looked down toward the floor breathing in and out as calmly as I could.
He moved his fingertip and gently ran it along the handcuffs. He dipped his finger between the metal and flesh and said, “There’s plenty of room. It’s all in your head. And I saw that plug. It was small.”
“I know you and your brother have a good heart. I know that there is a part of you locked inside that is good,” I said, continuing to cry.
“You’re wrong on that.”
“I saw it. Every single month I saw the large donations to all the charities when I did the finances. You both gave away millions and never asked for the recognition. It was simply out of the kindness of your heart.”
Slowly he stroked his fingers through my hair, never taking his eyes away from mine. “The minute you believe that either Stefano or I are kind, you put yourself at risk. Why? Because look at what you just did. You didn’t fear Stefano, and you should have. Can we be merciful? Yes. Can we treat you decently? Eventually.”
“How long do I have to be cuffed? Plugged?”
He shook his head. “Stefano put them on, and in, which means Stefano is the only one who can decide that. My brother and I never contradict each other. One brother’s dictate is also the dictate of the other. If one of us make a rule or does anything, the other one always backs each other up. It’s how we run our empire. What one says goes.”
“Then bring him back here. I’ll beg him.”
He swiped at a loose hair that hung in my eye and tucked it behind my ear with the most loving of touches. His kindness caused a whiplash of emotions in my struggling psyche. He went from cruel to tender and affectionate in a matter of seconds.
“You don’t want that right now. Trust me. You tested him and pushed too far. Allow him to cool down.”
“I just want to go home,” I whined, although I did seem to be feeling better as the moments passed. His gentle touch and petting of my hair did seem to ease some of my distress.
“Your home is with us now,” he said as he leaned in and kissed my cheek with the most delicate of touches. “It won’t always be bad. Take your punishment like a good girl, and it will soon all be over.” He pulled away and looked me in the eye—so dark and piercing. “You’re a strong woman, Hailey.”
“I’m not.” Though I was upset, the tears had at least ceased.
“You are. Stefano and I do extensive research on all of our employees. We know all about you, and one of your qualities is strength. We don’t hire weak people. You’ve had to be a fighter your entire life. We know this. We know you were raised by a single mother who paid more attention to a bottle of booze than her baby. We know you put yourself through school and have had to count on yourself solely. So, did you fuck up? Are we going to make you suffer the consequences? Yes. But we both know that we won’t break down the woman you are. Not at your core. We just want to break your ability to ever cross or betray us in the future.”
He kissed my cheek again and then my forehead, continuing to stroke my sweaty hair. “You are going to be just fine.”
Would I be? How could
I be just fine ever again?
“I hate it,” I cried. “Why are you so cruel to another human being? I may be your prisoner, but I am still a woman. I’m a person. I deserve some level of decency.”
He nodded. “I know.”
“So why?”
“You’re fine.”
“I’m not,” I argued.
“You are, so stop. Stop the hysterics. I’m trying to be nice and to be patient, but my patience will only go so far.”
“Do I deserve to be treated like an animal?” I asked. It appeared that my words did make a difference, but I also got the sense that there was no use trying to convince Thomas to go against his brother.
Thomas placed both palms on each side of my face and forced me to stare directly into his eyes once again. “You need to behave. If you continue to try to push either of us, I promise you that what you have suffered so far will be minor in comparison. Behave. Do you understand me? You have nothing to prove. Let go of that pride. Feel humiliated. Feel ashamed. That’s the point. A lesson will be taught, Hailey. One way or the other.”
“I have already learned. Trust me,” I pointed out. “I’m here against my will, being degraded, and then being expected to have a baby. There is nothing more for me to be taught.”
“But there is. You know this. Don’t push us. Just don’t.”
“Is there nothing I can do? You both can’t truly be serious in this. I get it. I get that I need to be taught to never betray you both again. But please. I don’t think you are both monsters. Not truly. Please let me go. Please.”
He leaned in and kissed me gently on the forehead one last time before standing up. “Being monsters is our only option. The minute either of us show any weakness, our enemies would strike. We do what we do to survive. No one gets away with betraying us. Stop begging, Hailey. It’s a waste of time and energy.” He extended his hand to assist me up now that I was breathing and acting normally again.
Standing, I took a moment to allow the slight weakness in my legs to strengthen. Thomas placed his arm around my body to hold me steady while I regained control of my body. It hadn’t taken long to feel back to my old self.