by P Nelson
By Sunday morning, Elizabeth had been tired and a little sore. Eric had made her breakfast in bed and taken her out on his boat. Elizabeth had been more than a little nervous as she stepped onto the sleek motorboat, but Eric handled the controls like a pro, and soon, she was enjoying the wind through her hair. Elizabeth smiled at the memory as she clicked on her email folder and grabbed her forgotten coffee.
There were a regular number of emails for a Monday morning, and she spent time going through anything her bosses might be interested in looking at and forwarding them on. One with a subject line in block letters caught her attention: DEGRADING MORAL CHARACTER OF YOUR EMPLOYEES. Frowning, she opened the email and was stunned by the pictures popping up on her screen. They were all of her. Elizabeth was vaguely aware of her coffee cup falling to the ground as her face began to flame with colour. There was a picture of her leaving The Cage with Eric on Friday night, one of her at her house speaking to the boys across the street and more taken of her and Eric over the weekend. Even one of her naked with her hands pressed against the glass of Eric’s windows as he spanked her. She was dimly aware that in each of the pictures, she was the main attraction. Eric’s face was turned away in most of the frames or was too blurry to make out unless you knew it was him.
Her head was spinning, and she thought she might be sick. She checked the addresses in the sent box. Maybe the sick bastard had only sent her this email. No such luck. The bottom of Elizabeth’s stomach plummeted as she scanned the email addresses in the forwarding email. Every employee had received it. Elizabeth promptly burst into tears.
“Miss Williams.” Elizabeth heard her name spoken. Looking up she saw one of the managing partners of the hedge fund staring down at her with a sympathetic frown on his face. “Please come down to the board room with me, Miss Williams.” Barely able to nod her head, Elizabeth stood up on wooden legs and followed Mr Bryce down the hall to the boardroom. It felt as if every single eye was watching her on the floor, and she could barely breathe. As she walked through the glass doors, Elizabeth noticed two security guards were already at her desk with a box. A sob sat at the top of her throat, and she knew if she opened her mouth, she would never stop crying.
She sat stiffly in a chair while Mr Bryce and the other senior partners explained that even though she had done wonderful work for them in the past, they couldn’t have their name entangled in any kind of scandals. Elizabeth nodded when it seemed appropriate, but all she could do was think of her life lying in shreds at her feet. On Friday, she had everything she had worked so hard for. Her own place, a membership at The Cage, and a great job for someone who only graduated from community college. Now, all she had was her membership at the club, and she wasn’t even sure if she could keep it with the scandal around her.
One of the biggest tenets of The Cage was anonymity. Those pictures had outed her and Eric as perverts. Eric. Would he ever speak to her again after this? Jerry must have taken those pictures and sent them out. He wanted to ruin her life, and now he had ruined Eric’s, too.
Mr Bryce was asking her a question, but she couldn’t focus on him. He wanted her to sign some papers in front of her. She looked at them with disinterest but picked up the pen anyway. Signing her name on the bottom, she stared at it and watched, as it became a watery mess.
The door of the boardroom opened, and one of the security guards was standing there with a box carrying all her belongings from her desk. Standing up Elizabeth walked out the door and took the box in shaking hands. The two huge security men marched her out of the office and rode the elevator to the ground floor with her. Elizabeth would have thought the situation amusing if she could think clearly. What did Mr Bryce and the others think she was going to do? Infect the rest of them with her kink cooties?
Standing on the sidewalk in front of the building where she had worked for the past five years, Elizabeth stared at the traffic. People were going on with their lives. They didn’t have a psycho ex-boyfriend who hated them enough to cost them their jobs, their houses. One of the security guards was speaking, but she blocked him out. What did she care about what he had to say? He reached into her box and took out her cell phone, which was ringing. A voice in the back of her brain wanted to protest, but the reality was she didn’t care anymore.
Elizabeth began to walk away from the security guard who was speaking into her phone in rapid bursts. She spotted a bus stop further ahead and decided that was a good enough goal for now. The bench was empty, and she sat down on one end, the box in her lap, her coat over the box and just stared at the world. Nothing could touch her if she just sat here.
Eric had torn out of his office, barely speaking to his personal assistant as he ran out of the building where his family’s import/export business was. His eldest sister shouted after him, but he ignored her as he took the stairs two at a time and rushed into the employee parking lot. His building was in East Vancouver, not far from the city centre, but it would still take him too long to get to Elizabeth.
Opening the door of his Audi, he placed his phone in the speaker cradle and shut the door. He went through the motions of starting the engine and getting the vehicle into motion. He would never forget the panic he felt when a man had answered her cell phone after speaking with Thea. The detective had said that Jerry was a no-show at work this morning, and they were upping the search for him. The man had informed him that Elizabeth had been let go. There were naked pictures of Elizabeth. She must feel embarrassed, and he needed to get to her.
He punched a couple of buttons on his cell phone at a stoplight and listened while it rang. Thea’s voice came over the line.
“What’s going on, Eric?” she asked as the light went to green.
“That little fucker took a bunch of pictures of Elizabeth. Some while we were playing at my house and sent them to the entire email list at the hedge fund where she works.” Eric swallowed, trying to control his anger. “She’s been fired, Thea. That little shit has gotten her fired. I want him found and strung up by the balls.”
Thea swore over the line, but it didn’t make Eric feel any better. “We’re going to nail this guy, Eric, but we have to find him first. I’ll get a couple of uniforms down to the hedge fund to get access to those photos. Unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do if one or more of those employees decides to post them online.”
“Fuck.” Eric was entering the downtown core.
“We can prosecute them for posting revenge porn maybe, but the law is really new in this area, and most of the time, the victims just want the problem to go away.” Thea spoke from her experience on the force, and Eric could see the logic in what she was saying. Unfortunately, he wanted to punish every person who had hurt Elizabeth in this fundamental way.
“Whatever you can do. I’m going to pick her up right now,” Eric said trying not to let his frustration grow at the crawl of traffic.
“I’ll keep you posted.” Thea was silent for a second before adding, “You know I’m an expert in ball torture, Eric. This guy is going to, at least, get a good old mind fuck.”
“Thanks.” Eric hung up the phone and concentrated on the road ahead of him. It felt as if it had taken hours rather than minutes to finally find the bus stop where Elizabeth was still sitting, box in her lap. The sight broke something in Eric, and his fists clenched against the steering wheel. Not giving a crap that he was parking in a bus-loading zone, he wrenched his car to a stop and got out quickly. The security guard stood behind her, her phone still in his hand.
“Elizabeth, are you ok?” Eric asked as he dropped down to his haunches to look her in the eyes. She didn’t seem to see him.
“She’s in shock,” the security guard pointed out the obvious from above him. Eric glanced up to see the man hand the phone over. “I’m glad she has somebody. Miss Williams is a really nice lady.” Eric took the phone and nodded to the other man before he walked back into the building behind him.
“Come on, Elizabeth, I’m going to get you out of here.” Eric pic
ked the box up from her lap and still she didn’t move. Opening the back door of his car, he threw the box inside and went back for Elizabeth. He held onto her freezing cold hands, rubbing lightly over the pulse on the inside of her wrist and pulled her off the bench. “In you go, beautiful.” Eric opened the door and shoved Elizabeth inside. She seemed catatonic, and Eric wondered what the hell he could do to get her to snap out of it.
Rushing to the driver’s side of his car, he got in quickly and fastened both their seat belts. His phone started ringing and he looked at the caller ID and swore.
“Flynn,” Eric barked out.
“Eric, Thea just called me. Come down to my office.” Flynn’s words were an order rather than an invitation, and the Dom in Eric bristled.
“I can’t. Elizabeth is in shock. I need to speak with Calla. Do something for her.” Eric felt as if he were rambling and rapidly losing control of the situation. This had never happened to him before. He looked over at Elizabeth. She was staring out the windshield of the car, uncaring of his conversation.
“Calla is coming to me, and Thea is going to stop by once she finishes up at Elizabeth’s former employers.” Flynn’s voice remained calm. “We need to make a plan and stick together.” His words flowed over Eric’s bruised sense of self, and he took a couple of deep breaths. He needed a chance to think clearly.
“You’re right. I’m bringing Elizabeth down there, but I warn you she’s not in a good place.” Eric swallowed hard. All he wanted was to see the same joy he had witnessed on her face yesterday on the boat together.
“She isn’t the only one,” Flynn commented before hanging up.
Flynn’s office on Vancouver’s waterfront wasn’t far from the building where Elizabeth had worked. Eric concentrated on manoeuvring his car through traffic until he finally found the Art Deco building Flynn’s family had built in the early days of Vancouver’s construction. It was a beautiful testament to wealth and status. Normally, Eric was much more appreciative, but today he couldn’t give a crap. Pulling into a car park across the street, he rolled down his window and snatched the ticket out of the machine.
“Where are you taking me?” Elizabeth’s voice sounded small from beside him, and he looked over at her. She was blinking rapidly.
“We’re going to Flynn’s office. Calla and Thea are on their way, Elizabeth. I’m not going to allow Jerry to terrorize you any further.” He put the car in drive and they entered the multi-story building. The car was silent while Eric found a spot and parked, he was just about to open his door when Elizabeth’s hand reached out and grasped his sleeve.
“Eric, there’s something I need to tell you.” Elizabeth’s face had turned red, and Eric watched as she struggled with her next words. “And you’re probably going to hate me.”
“I’m not going to hate you, Elizabeth.” Eric reached out and cupped Elizabeth’s face in his hand. “What do you want to tell me?” he asked gently.
“There are pictures, Eric, pictures of me naked. Us, you know, at your house.” She shook her head and let her face fall into her hands. “I understand if you never want to see me again.”
Eric rubbed a hand up and down Elizabeth’s back. “Sweetheart, look at me.” He coaxed as he continued to rub her back as she leaned forward and curled in on herself. Not being able to bear her pain any longer, Eric grabbed a fistful of her hair and tugged. Not hard enough to cause pain, just enough to light up her scalp. Elizabeth responded by looking up at him. “I’m not mad at you, and I’m not going anywhere. Do you understand me?” Eric knew the commitment he was making, but it felt right to him. A primal instinct inside him was forcing him to protect the woman sitting next to him at all costs.
“No, I don’t understand. You should be mad, Eric.” Elizabeth’s puzzled voice filled the car.
“I am mad, beautiful.” Finally letting his true feelings for what had been done to Elizabeth appear on his face. She flinched away from his anger. “I’m fucking livid your ex-boyfriend has turned you into a victim, but he’s not going to get away with it.”
“I feel small,” Elizabeth whispered.
Eric reached a hand out to brush his thumb over her cheek. “I might not be able to fix your old life, Elizabeth, but give me a chance to help you make something new.” Several heartbeats later, Elizabeth nodded her head. Eric let out a breath he hadn’t realised he was holding. “Come on, we’re not going to let this asshole take anything else from us.”
Flicking his car door open, he went around the car and made sure Elizabeth grabbed her purse as she exited their vehicle. They walked hand in hand over to the Art Deco building and were escorted up to where the offices of executives were located. Eric pulled Elizabeth out of the elevator as another receptionist greeted them. She indicated they should press on to the rear of the floor. They passed elegant meeting rooms and offices of Banroch Industries’ most senior level staff, their secretaries and personnel spread out in cubicles in the middle of the room. A large wall and an older lady with slate grey hair rose from her seat blocking off the end of the hall.
“Mr Banroch is waiting for you, Mr Danvers, Miss Williams.” The lady respectfully swept a large wooden double door open revealing a huge open plan office.
“Thank you.” Eric said to the older lady and tugged on Elizabeth’s hand. She was looking a bit awestruck at Flynn’s office, and if he hadn’t been there before, he might have, too. Huge floor to ceiling windows looked out onto Vancouver harbour, the North Shore Mountains beyond and Stanley Park on the left farthermost corner.
“Elizabeth, how are you?” Flynn stood up from behind his desk and came around. “Margie, can you bring in a tea and coffee tray, please?”
“Of course, Mr Banroch.” Margie slipped from the room as Flynn took Elizabeth’s hands into his own. Eric felt a stab of possessiveness go through him, but he knew Flynn was only acting like a caring Dom.
“I don’t know, Master Flynn,” Elizabeth replied as she looked up into the owner of The Cage’s face. A sympathetic expression spread over Flynn’s features, and he glanced at Eric before he indicated the small seating area to the right of his desk. They all sat down, Eric and Elizabeth sat across from Flynn on the opposite sofa.
“When I spoke to Jerry last night, I had no indication that he would become so vicious. If I had…” Flynn’s voice trailed away, and he looked up at the door when it opened. Eric craned his neck around to see Calla walk through dressed in a long black pencil skirt, her long black jacket open to reveal a rich burgundy silk blouse.
“Eric.” She nodded at him, but her focus was entirely on Elizabeth, and Eric felt some measure of relief go through him as he watched Elizabeth try to smile for the other sub.
It had been comforting when Eric’s car had pulled over in the morning traffic, and he had eased her into the passenger seat. Even though she had still been trying to process what happened, it had meant something to her for him to show up. Now, she looked at Calla’s concerned face and felt tears in her eyes again.
“They just sent me away with a cardboard box.” Her voice was bemused even though she had seen them do the same thing to other employees over the years. The whole situation had been jarring when it happened to her, making her nerves feel raw after the unexpected pictures.
“We can sue them into giving your job back to you, Elizabeth.” Flynn’s voice held a note of steel. “They can’t fire you because you like to have your ass spanked.” His voice was matter of fact, but the way the words came out in the middle of his very proper corporate office made hysterical laughter bubble up inside of her. All three of the other people in the room were looking at her with a mixture of concern and surprise.
Getting control of her emotions again, Elizabeth spoke up. “Thank you, Master Flynn, but I can’t afford to sue them, and I don’t think I ever want to see any of those people again.” Elizabeth admitted as her stomach woozily sank at the thought. The eyes on her had been unbearable; she would never forget the feeling of condemnation and humiliatio
n.
“Let’s leave her former employers alone for the moment,” Calla said as she sank into a chair beside the couch Elizabeth was sitting on, shooting Flynn a concentrated look. “Why don’t you tell us what happened?” she encouraged. Elizabeth began the short story only pausing when Margie came in with tea, coffee, and some pastries she normally would have devoured, but looked unappetising after the morning’s events.
“Mr Banroch, Detective Demopoulos is here to see you.” An intercom in the room announced. Flynn rose from his seat and went over to his desk to speak to Margie. Elizabeth felt like a deflated balloon as she leaned into Eric. He wrapped his arms around her and breathed in the scent of her hair. Closing her eyes for a second, she was back at his house, lying on the big couch in his living room watching a movie. Only twelve hours ago, her life had been almost perfect.
“You got a laptop, Flynn?” Detective Demopoulos’s voice was brisk as she entered the office, the sound making Elizabeth sit up straighter in her chair.
“Yes, give me a minute,” Flynn replied as he unplugged his laptop from the sophisticated setup on his desk.
“You poor thing, this just keeps getting shittier for you,” the detective commented as she looked at Elizabeth with her too-knowing eyes.
“I never thought Jerry was capable of something like this.” Elizabeth sat up thinking of her asshole of an ex.
Calla spoke up from her place near Elizabeth as she stirred a cup of tea. “I really have to say the same thing. When I met him on Friday, I got the impression he had been put out by being refused entry into the club, but his later actions suggest a hatred far deeper.”
“A complete fucking psycho, you mean?” Detective Demopoulos waited as Flynn came over with his laptop. Elizabeth was secretly jealous of the other woman’s ability to swear and not get any spankings. She winked at Elizabeth like she knew exactly what she was thinking.