Hesitating for a moment, she grabbed the sides of her panties, took a deep breath and slid them down her legs, stepping out of them and dropping them onto her skirt. Her jacket and shirt soon followed, leaving her clad in a bra, garter belt and stockings. With another deep breath, she pushed her bra down under her breasts, releasing them and exposing stiff, swollen nipples. The cold breeze caressed her buttocks and gave her goose bumps over her entire body. Slowly she turned to face the concrete pillar and linked her hands, placing them behind her head.
Tears rolled down her face as she contemplated all the ways that this could go wrong. It had occurred to her that this could be an elaborate, sick office joke and any moment her colleagues would come out to confront her, roaring with laughter over her gullibility.
Her stranger could also turn out to be a gang of rapists or a serial killer who could easily make her last hours violent and agonising. It was strange how that scenario couldn’t summon the fear it should. The thought of strange men holding her down, taking turns using her body, sent unbridled adrenaline racing through her shivering form, igniting the thumping pulse of her clit.
The worst she imagined was that no one would come. The fact that she had said anything to those journalists could have ruined her chances. Her stranger seemed to know everything she said or did. He had become more than a chat box full of words. He was like an omnipresent being that was always there, always watching and knowing.
Mary stiffened as she heard noises in the distance and recognized the approach of a vehicle. The desire to look around wrestled with her need to obey him and keep her eyes on the pillar. It made her nauseous, enhancing the probability that she was about to humiliate herself. Any moment she expected to hear raucous laughter and jeering, with the flash of a camera to capture a permanent record of her humiliation.
Suddenly there were lights shining on her, the headlights of an unseen vehicle. Mary’s body shook with tears and fear, but she remained as she was. A door opened and she heard the slow, solid fall of steps on the concrete.
“Why are you crying, Mary?” The voice was deeply masculine, raspy and gentle, and very close to her ear.
“I’m afraid,” she sobbed.
She sensed him coming nearer, then gasped and shuddered as a large hand ran over her bottom. “Oh, good lord…”
The hand travelled slowly up her side until it was cupping her breast and his thumb was caressing her nipple. Mary squealed and seized it, the sensation too foreign and startling. A powerful arm embraced her waist and Mary was suddenly pulled back against a hard body.
“Take your hand away.”
Mary winced as she reluctantly complied. Her nipple was gently grasped and rolled as she panted. Lips brushed lightly against her neck and she felt the warm breath near her ear.
“There’s no need for fear when you obey me.”
“But I’ve never been touched,” she whimpered. “I’m not used to it. It feels strange.”
“Get used to it. In a moment, my hand is going to go down between your legs, and I’m going to touch what belongs to me. Shall I stop or continue, Mary?”
Mary closed her eyes, acutely aware of his strength and how small she was against him. It seemed to help that she couldn’t see him. The warmth of his embrace was becoming pleasant and arousing. Swallowing nervously, she whispered, “Continue.”
“Spread your legs wider.”
As she stepped her feet out, his hand came down to her belly and slowly came to rest on her naked pubic mound.
“I shaved as you commanded,” she offered.
“Good girl.”
Very lightly his fingertip touched her clit and Mary groaned loudly and flinched.
“Keep still.”
It took all her effort to obey him as his finger circled the highly sensitive bud. His touch was far gentler than her own crude attempts of masturbation, causing sensations she had never experienced.
“Oh, good lord, I can’t take it… oh, my goodness...”
He kept her anchored against his body as his fingers delved deeper and ventured into unexplored places. Mary panted through her resistance until she was relaxing against him and enjoying everything he was doing to her.
“Oh, yes. It feels incredible.”
Mary groaned loudly as the inner muscles of her vagina clenched powerfully and of their own accord, beyond anything she had ever experienced.
“Oh, good lord, what’s happening?”
His warm hand cupped her and a finger ran between her labia, dipping into her. Mary felt overwhelmed by the urge to thrust herself onto them. Instead his hand came away and went to her mouth.
“Taste your excitement, Mary.”
She licked and sucked his fingers hungrily, abandoned to a carnal desire that was rapidly possessing her. The sweetness of her come excited her as did his thick fingers in her mouth. She took a breath long enough to whisper aloud a word that had played havoc with her sensibilities and emotions.
“Master.” It was her acceptance of all that it implied. “Please, Master, may I see you?
He stayed behind her and moved her around so the headlights were shining in her face. She squinted and held her hand up against the light as she felt him step away from her.
“Turn around.”
She shuffled about slowly and her mouth fell open as she got her first look at him. He was nothing like she had imagined. Despite what he had told her, her common sense had not allowed an unrealistic version of this stranger. In her mind he would be attractive enough, possibly a little overweight, probably not as tall as he had stated. He might even be a bit balding on top. It didn’t matter. There would be something of the truth and that was enough.
But everything he had told her was true. The man who stood before her was startlingly attractive, rugged with the lightest blue or possibly grey eyes that she had ever seen. His hair was thick and a little unkempt, falling about his face and neck. A black t-shirt clung to a powerfully broad chest and she could see that his arms were tattooed and bulging with muscle. He was terrifying and magnificent.
Mary shook her head. “No, this isn’t right.”
“What’s not right?”
“Someone like you taking an interest in me. That just doesn’t happen. It’s not plausible that a female of my appearance would appeal to you. It doesn’t make sense.”
He stepped forward and pulled her against him, lifting her chin so that she had to stare into his face.
“And how do you know what I consider appealing?”
“It’s just an evolutionary occurring phenomenon,” Mary replied nervously. “That the alpha male is attracted to a certain type of woman, be it an unconscious instinct of suitability for procreation, or more commonly, an aesthetic sexual appeal, none of which applies to me.”
“I think you’re beautiful,” he stated casually. “Would you like to challenge me on that too?”
Mary stared at him. “One’s perception of beauty is not easily challenged, unless it is a condescending attempt to bolster another’s ego for various purposes.”
“And you think I would do that?”
“No.” She slowly shook her head. “Because you’re not a condescending man. You’ve never tried to flatter me. You’ve been most upfront with what you want from me. You’ve made me no promises beyond the next few weeks, and… and, so far, you haven’t lied to me.”
“And I never will. What I see before me is the woman I want for the next three weeks.”
“But there will be others there, like me?”
“There will be others,” he nodded, a smile working across his face. “But you will have my full attention. Your body will be mine and I intend to use it often, and for my pleasure alone. Beyond that, it will be up to you. Is that understood?”
She continued to stare at him in awe. “Yes, Master.”
“Now is the time to change your mind, Mary.”
“No,” she stated. “I’ve made my decision. If you feel, at this stage, that I am suitable fo
r your purposes, then I believe we have an agreement. I just hope that I will be pleasing to you.”
His smile was almost sinister. “You already please and excite me, far more than you know.”
She was still trembling but her breathing had calmed. More tears spilled down her face as she realised that this was the first time in her lonely life that she no longer felt afraid.
Part One
CHAPTER ONE
Wellington, New Zealand, September 2013
After a long silence, staring out from the car, Adele Easton was seized by fury and frustration. She thumped the steering wheel repeatedly. “I can’t believe this is happening.”
Vivian Easton gripped her daughter’s arm. “Let’s just go, Adele. This is madness. Don’t put yourself through this.”
Adele sat up and pursed her lips, shaking her head. “No, I have to see her.”
“But only from the car,” Vivian put forward tentatively. “You’re not going to get out or…”
“Mum.” Adele glared at her. “I’m not stupid. I know that I shouldn’t be here, but if I’m hoping to construct any semblance of a defence, then I need to be here, even if it’s just to try to make sense of all this.”
“I don’t understand any of it.”
Adele sighed, hearing the misery in her mother’s high pitched voice, warning of the oncoming tears. She gripped her hand and smiled. “It’s all under control, Mum. I was just letting off some steam.”
Vivian nodded and Adele breathed her relief, enjoying a moment’s silence to gather her thoughts. Taking another look around, she reassured herself that they were reasonably shielded. She had parked the rented car across the street, well back from the club, where she could still watch the proceedings clearly with the help of her camera’s zoom lens.
They both wore sunglasses, and Adele had taken the extra precaution of a baseball cap pulled low over her face. If it hadn’t been such a serious undertaking, she would have laughed at their covert behaviour.
She moved the rear view mirror about to get another view of everything behind her and was satisfied nobody was paying them any interest. It was a Sunday, but the traffic was constant, with Wellington having plenty of weekend entertainment. Adele was only interested in one event.
On impulse, she moved the mirror to focus on her face. Removing her glasses, she studied her reflection cynically. The last few months had taken their toll. There were shadows under her eyes and her cheekbones seemed to be more prominent. Her usually flawless dark skin looked blotchy and ashen. Absently, she ran her fingers through the ponytail of her long black hair, thinking it felt dry and lifeless. Bitterly, she donned her glasses and pushed the mirror back.
“Surely the public can see how immoral this girl is,” Vivian said. “That she would conduct her wedding in a striptease club is the very evidence of that.”
“And yet I’m the one who is treated as a criminal,” Adele reminded her blandly.
When her mother didn’t respond, Adele looked at her and saw her face crumpling again. She had seen the same despair in her father’s face. They were frightened by what the future held for her, but even more, they were wounded and confused by the accusations. If they believed them for a single moment, it would be worse than any prison sentence.
“Mum,” she stated angrily. “I’m am not guilty of any of it. They haven’t even charged me with attempted murder, because it’s all lies.”
“Of course it’s a lie. To even think that you would be capable of such a thing is ludicrous. It’s just that you have court next month with this other business…”
“Tax evasion, Mum.” Adele reminded her. “And yes, it’s serious. I could go to prison, which is why I have to make a bloody case and that’s why I’m here, because somewhere in all this madness, I’ve missed something. Here today, there has to be someone who has helped this bitch ruin my life, because I’m damn sure she hasn’t done it on her own.”
Adele stopped as her mother burst into tears. She felt her energy deflate and for a moment sat there, ashamed and sickened by her use of profanity. Reaching across, she grabbed her mother’s hand, but couldn’t look at her.
“I’m so sorry, Mum.”
The pressure of maintaining a false innocence was taking its toll. It had crossed her mind to confess to everything and take her punishment, but the reality was far too harsh. On tax evasion alone she faced a few years in prison, but attempted murder would keep her behind bars for at least ten years.
There were no guarantees that Barry Underhill would keep his mouth shut. For the time being, he believed her promises that she could get his sentence reduced substantially, but the longer he remained in jail, the more fragile his silence became. Despite the lack of evidence, the Crown Prosecutor was not letting go of this case. If a deal was made with Barry, then it would be another battle to face.
She stood to lose everything, her reputation, her wealth, her career and the respect of everyone who had ever known her. The allegations had already isolated her and raised suspicion among friends and colleagues.
All this, over an obsession with a man. If she could turn back time, she would have never allowed her emotions to initiate something so vile, but it was too late. The crime had been committed and the outcome had been disastrous. Mairead was still alive and about to marry the man that Adele still loved.
Her chest heaved and she crushed her eyes against escaping tears. For a moment she just breathed and gently squeezed her mother’s hand. She owed it to her parents to do everything she could to turn this around.
Vivian was sniffing her tears away and took out a handkerchief from her handbag. She dabbed at her nose. “I’m sorry too, Adele. I’m supposed to be keeping you strong and I’m just upsetting you. Tell me again, what you would like us to do here.”
Adele smiled stiffly. “It’s alright, Mum. I just want to see who comes to this wedding. I want to take photos of anyone I don’t know, someone who is capable of hacking one of the most secure computer networks in the world.”
“The one at that bank,” Vivian said tentatively. “With your account.”
“A Cayman Island account which most certainly isn’t mine. It’s just been created in my name by some unknown criminal.”
Vivian nodded firmly. “And someone is able to do this?”
“Crimes of identity theft are recognized worldwide, and I need to prove someone has used my identity to set up this account. It’s a reasonable argument and they have to allow me time to prepare a defence.”
“And this person will be here at the wedding?”
“I don’t know,” Adele replied weakly. “Somehow, I doubt it, but it’s all I have. It has to be someone who knows Mairead well, otherwise why would they bother to help her? They would have been better off trying to extort money out of me. That would make more sense.”
“But you don’t have that money…”
“No, I don’t,” Adele replied quickly. “But hypothetically, if I did have several million in an account, you would think someone would want their share of it. It’s strange.”
Adele stared at the growing crowd gathering outside of Silver Dreams night club, the ordinary public who had come to see an illusion. Mairead was popular with them. Even the media had come over to her side, when once they had reported her for who she was, an obnoxious, ill-mannered girl, who had exchanged the chance of Olympic glory to be a pole dancer. It was madness that anyone could like her. Adele wanted to scream at them all to wake up, to see who they were idolizing.
As the crowd swelled, police arrived and began to set up stanchions and rope to allow a clear aisle for invited guests and, of course, the bride.
“It’s getting warm in here.” Vivian wound her window down a fraction and grabbed two bottles of water from the back seat. “How long have we got now?”
“Guests should be arriving any time.”
Adele lifted her camera and zoomed in on the crowd. She was able to see individual faces clearly but had no expectations that thi
s person would be among them. Whoever had helped Mairead, had to be someone prominent in her life, and most likely to be on the guest list. Adele had already dismissed many of her friends and family, having checked their backgrounds thoroughly, with particular interest in their exposure to computers.
This was someone capable of hacking into the financial institutions of the Cayman Islands, for no other reason than to expose her. Once her account had been found, no attempt had been made to extract the funds, proving the crime was not financially motivated. Nobody turned their nose up at over ten million in US dollars.
Instead, these records had been sent to Inland Revenue and Mairead’s lawyer. A warrant had been issued and her laptop seized by the police. Having never used her laptop for her transactions, they should have found nothing, but somehow all the records had made their way onto it, and buried themselves deep in hidden folders.
Another year and she would have terminated the account and bought her investment into a prestigious hotel chain in Dubai. Only two years prior, New Zealand had signed a tax information exchange agreement with the previously reclusive Cayman Island bank. They were in no hurry to fulfil their obligations, and she should have had all the time in the world to hide her finances from the tax man’s scrutiny.
Adele sat up as a limousine pulled up out the front of the club.
“Mum, they’re arriving. Write down the names I give you.” Adele lifted a camera from her lap and studied the occupants as they got out.”
“It’s alright.” She lowered the camera. “It’s just James’ parents and Joanne Kavanagh.”
More guests arrived and Adele miserably discounted each one of them. There was several minutes of inactivity, until voices became audible near the car. Glancing back, her heart thumped as she recognised a familiar face and quickly slid down in her seat.
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