The place that they’ve allocated me is modest, with a bedroom, an office, a small living room, all the amenities. It’s fully furnished and stocked with food which is a relief as it means I won’t have to concern myself with that. I spend the rest of the day settling in and setting up my computer and laptop for work. Once I’m done, I have a quick bite to eat before deciding to explore and get to know the place a little better.
The grounds of the property are expansive, spreading out over several acres of land, even with the huge house encroaching on it, it doesn’t take away from the natural beauty. The grounds are well-tended, and I use the opportunity to perform a little surveillance of my own in case I need to make a hasty escape. Getting caught is a distinct possibility, but with a bit of luck I’ll be hundreds of miles away by then, back in my home in the next state.
Dusk is falling as I start making my way back to my new temporary home, and I see the lights in the house flickering on one by one. I realize how little I actually know about my situation. When I decided this was to be my course of action, I looked up everything I could on the Society and the Johnson family. There was very little to be found online without digging deeply enough to set off any of their security measures, no matter how skilled I am, and I didn’t want to leave any incriminating evidence of the depth of my research that could be traced back to me. Now that I’m here, on the inside, it’ll be my job to know everything there is to know about them, for security purposes of course.
I’ve acted recklessly, spurred on by my grief and fury over what happened to Katy and knowing that they were somehow responsible. Mom told me she had been dating the youngest son Sebastian, whom she’d met at school, and it was because of him that she attended the event where she lost her life. I’ve no proof that he or any of them had anything to do with it, nothing more than my gut and the complete lack of investigation into the circumstances surrounding her murder. They paid to cover it up, and once I’ve uncovered the proof that they paid for a cover, I’ll move onto the next step of my plan and find out which asshole laid their hands on my sister and make them sorry they ever touched her.
I toss and turn in bed all night, unable to quiet my mind enough to fall asleep. Everything that’s happened, memories of Katy and me growing up together, and finally her lifeless face in her casket all whirl around my mind in a dervish of torment. I miss my bubbly little sister, who I protected all my life like a big brother should. I hate that I was so far away, and that I failed her so gravely, because maybe I could have done something to save her. When I think about why I’m here, lying in this bed in comfort, under the roof of those responsible, it makes my blood boil, and the possibility of sleep slips farther away from me. I’m going to be exhausted tomorrow morning, but it’s not going to keep me from doing the job I came here to do.
Rolling onto my back, I stare up at the dark ceiling and let out a sigh. One night here and I’m already losing control of myself. I have to keep focused and shut off the pain and the memories which haunt me nightly if I’m to be able to do this. Payback is my goal, and I can’t do that if I’m wiped out from dwelling on what can’t be changed and allowing the loss to overwhelm me. This is all for Katy, and I need to man up and get shit done.
Chapter Five
Devin
I’ve had the security team run double time the last couple of nights, manning the grounds and property overnight. I didn’t want another mess like the other night, and with the compromised security system that was allowing intruders to get in undetected, I wasn’t about to take any chances. I’ll rest easier when I know we have someone capable of monitoring the systems and checking they’re working correctly. Ethan is starting tomorrow, and he better be on the ball and make sure everything is done correctly and efficiently. I don’t want to have to eradicate yet another incompetent idiot who can’t do his job.
Not to mention, the potential damage to our reputation if we’re seen repeatedly falling victim to cretins and potential thieves and assassins. The only people who should be killing members of the Society are those within it, and not without good reason. Our family has done nothing to bring us into disrepute, the death of that girl was an inconvenience, nothing more. Do I regret it going so far? Yes. But, I was acting under my father’s order to separate her from Sebastian to secure the union between our family and Quinn’s. He didn’t want Sebastian to continue to be distracted from his duty to our family. Sebastian is eighteen and already has his life mapped out, as do I to an extent. Father decided to focus his desire for one of his sons to marry into another of the families onto his youngest son, my brother Sebastian. He hasn’t said it in so many words, but I’ve always known Sebastian is his favorite.
I further cemented my Father’s preference for his youngest son when I was twenty and my father walked into my room one evening to discover me balls deep in the ass of my best friend, and learned his eldest son was bisexual. He won’t stop me from rising to a position of power within our family or withhold my portion of our family’s wealth when he dies. No matter how scandalized he was that night, he’s not foolish enough to damage my reputation in a way that’ll force him to relinquish the power he holds through my own position within The Society. He had other ideas about how to keep his son’s ‘shameful preferences’ a secret.
As long as I uphold the values, and I maintain our family’s standing he chooses to ignore my sexuality, although I’ve seen the way his face lights up when I bring women home. I’m fairly certain he hopes this is a phase, but it’s been nearly six years since he found out, and I’ve known since I was seventeen… and I’m twenty-six now. I shake my head to clear my thoughts, and head for my room. Between spending most of the time running my portion of the day to day business for the family, along with the interview this morning I’m beat. I need a shower and a full night’s sleep.
As I walk past Sebastian’s door, I hear telltale grunts, and feminine moans of pleasure and roll my eyes. With that girl out of the way, the pressure is on for him and Quinn to progress their relationship, and given that I saw her briefly in the house earlier with Sebastian, it sounds like they’ve not only kissed and made up, but are well on their way to becoming the perfect couple our families want them to be. They’ve always been close and felt that way about each other, it’s just that Sebastian was too busy exploring other options to pay attention to Quinn.
Moving through the house, I think longingly of the shower in my room and being able to wash off the stress of the day. When I get into my room, I lock the door and make straight for the large shower in my en suite. Stripping off my clothes, I switch on the water and step under the spray. As the hot water lashes at my bare skin, I slowly start to relax and unwind. Tomorrow, things will hopefully move forward, and the weight of the stress I’ve been carrying will start to lighten.
As thoughts of Ethan flash into my mind, I let out a heavy sigh. I’ve not been able to shake him from my mind all day, and the semi I’ve been sporting because of him has been taunting me endlessly. Giving into the memory of his dark blue eyes, messy brown hair, and the way his tattooed hand gripped mine, I lower my own to my waist and squeeze my cock. I let out a groan, and fist it firmly before slowly sliding my hand up and down the shaft. Placing my palm flat against the black tiles, I lean forward and let the hot water stream down my back.
The heat surrounding me and the rushing of my blood as I chase the sensations pulsing through my body intensifies the temperature of the space I’m standing in until my skin feels as though it’s burning. I don’t stop moving my hand, groaning as the rhythmic motions and pleasurable friction I’m building with each pass of my palm up and down my cock brings me closer and closer to my release.
I imagine how he’d feel underneath my hands, and what it would be like to taste him, to feel his lips on mine and around my cock. I want to know what he tastes like, and whether his hold on my cock would be as firm as his handshake. I picture it, replacing my hand with his, and imagine that the heat wrapping around me right now is
him. I fuck my hand harder, furiously chasing the cresting orgasm until it washes over me like a wave, and I come with a loud groan, spurting my release over my hand and the tiles in thick white jets. I stand underneath the water, with my eyes closed and use the wall to support myself as I shudder through the aftershocks and catch my breath.
I finish washing myself and use the water to clean away the evidence of my release. When I eventually step out of the shower into the warm room and wrap the towel around myself, I’m cursing myself for falling victim to my desire of someone who I shouldn’t be lusting after. Not just because he’s my employee, but because I know my father, and if he finds out another of his sons is disgracing the family name by lusting after or engaging in activities with someone below our station, let alone another man, he’ll probably order me to kill him, just like he ordered me to kill that girl.
Chapter Six
Ethan
Mr. Johnson runs me through the basics to get me acquainted with their security systems, but I haven’t been granted clearance yet to access them so what I’m able to do is limited. He seems tense, and while he isn’t exactly acting in a friendly manner toward me, he isn’t being rude or dismissive. I’ve no idea what I could have done between yesterday and today, so I put it down to something else. Trouble in The Society maybe? Good. I hope there’s trouble in their little Society, because I’m going to make it a whole lot worse once I get security clearance and access to their servers.
I won’t be able to do anything right away, not without drawing suspicion on myself. I’ll have to lay the groundwork, integrating a series of sleeper viruses which will trigger at a specific time. I plan to hack into the accounts, siphon off the bulk of, if not all their wealth, and then activate the sleepers when they try to access the accounts to find out what’s happened. If I do it right, I can take down their mainframe security and wipe clean the data trail which could lead back to me. It’s complicated, and it’s going to take a lot of time, but it’ll be worth it to watch them scramble in a panic over the loss of everything they value more than life.
Regardless of whether I ever find out the truth surrounding my sister’s murder and who her killer was, the endgame will remain the same. One of them wrapped their hands around my sister’s neck and smashed the back of her skull in, but as far as I’m concerned, their entire corrupt little Society needs to be brought to its knees.
“Mr. Johnson, how long do you expect it will take before I’m given access? There’s only so much I can do with entry level clearance. I won’t be able to check or maintain any of the high-level security at this point, Sir,” I explain to him, and he nods in understanding.
“I’m aware of that, however until it’s been approved you’ll have to do what you can” he responds, before tacking on. “Also, feel free to call me Devin.”
I’m surprised that he’d allow me to address him by his first name rather than by his title or Sir, but then I know nothing about him beyond his family name, reputation, and their link to the infamous and untouchable Society.
“Thank you, then please can you call me Ethan rather than Mr. Beckett,” I say, feeling like I should at least make an effort to integrate myself.
At my words, his lips twitch up into a faint grin, and I’m shocked at how much even such a minor fluctuation in his expression from the scowl transforms his face. Mentally, I scold myself for reacting to the sudden change. I’m determined to maintain my resolve to not become distracted by my grief, but it seems keeping focused on the job may end up being harder than I thought. I need to remember that Devin is one of them, and that his hands are probably just as bloody as the rest of theirs.
“Very well,” he replies, that damned ghost of a smile still in place as he turns and leads me down another hallway into an office with a series of screens and computers.
This must be the hub for the entire house. That’s good to know.
“So, what’s the problem currently?” I ask, moving closer to look at the screens.
Mostly it looks like surveillance for the house. The majority of the cameras around the property are focused on what would normally be the blind spots for the house, as well as scattered through the hallways. None in any of the bedrooms or offices. I see a couple of cameras situated in the small house I’ve been allocated, in the entrance and kitchen, as well as the upstairs landing, but I was already aware of those.
“At a glance it all looks to be in working order, but any deeper issues I won’t be able to access yet to check on and repair,” I assess, straightening up to look at Devin.
“I know,” he replies. “I believe the problem was a staffing one which has now been taken care of. Several break-ins led us to a discovery that there were some serious issues with our security networking systems and alarms. However, we’re unsure of any residual or lasting damage he may have caused when he shut them down for long periods of time. I believe he may have been doing so remotely rather than from here, so there’s still a possibility of a breach in our firewalls. We’ve taken precautions, but it’ll be your job to ensure it doesn’t happen again, as well as repair, upgrade, and monitor for any other potential breaches.”
I nod in understanding. Devin is clever, either that or someone else, maybe one of his subordinates explained it to him. I don’t know, but I suppose it’s not my job to find that out, although if he’s as clever as he seems, it may work against me later. But I can’t worry about that, because if I spend all my time worrying about the consequences of what will happen if it blows up in my face, I’ll lose my nerve, or more dangerously, make mistakes.
He goes on to explain what he believes was the cause of the system failure, more than just a corrupt employee fucking around with what he shouldn’t be. How will I be any better than the last guy? I won’t fuck up and get caught. As he speaks I notice the confidence with which he carries himself and the surety in what he’s saying. He’s not just reciting something he’s been told by someone else. My initial assessment of him was correct, he’s very clever.
This could be potentially bad for me, but it just means I’ll need to work harder to cover my tracks when I get in the system and start integrating the sleeper inside the software coding. Apart from myself, if anyone could figure it out and track me down, it’d probably be Devin. However, I’m confident in my abilities, and I clearly have a lot more working experience than him. As he said to me, ‘it’s your job.’ Yes it is, but you’ll be paying for trusting the wrong man to do it. Payback is a bitch, and I intend to be its master.
Chapter Seven
Devin
I walk Ethan through everything in order to give him an idea of what to expect. I’m pissed that his clearance hasn’t come through yet for us to get him started, but everything has been very unstable and uncertain since I got rid of John. If I hadn’t, then he would’ve gotten us all killed. We may be immune from the law, but it doesn’t mean we aren’t hated, and our wealth not coveted. Thieves would give anything to get into and have free reign of a property owned and inhabited by members of The Society, and every single one of them pays with their lives.
I’m furious that all of this is necessary. I’d never liked John, but Father refused to let me fire him from a priority position I felt he wasn’t to be trusted with. I should have intervened sooner, but I was unaware how deep the treachery ran and the extent of his disloyalty to our family. Father was angry when I killed John, but it was for our safety and benefit. He was privy to a lot of sensitive information which he abused by allowing intruders into our home with intent to take our lives. I’m not sorry I killed him, not even a little bit.
I don’t intend to make the same mistake Father did. I’ll be watching Ethan closely for any sign that he’s abusing the trust I’m placing on him to do his damn job and do it properly. If he turns on us, I won’t hesitate to put a stop to his activities. I’m knowledgeable enough with computers to be able to interfere if necessary. I have limits and gaps in my knowledge, which is why I pay a professional to handle the mor
e complicated side of these matters, but I’m not a fool, and I’m not as ignorant as most will believe, but I prefer it that way. They see the rich kid, a snob, and believe I’m unintelligent and spoiled. I’ve had it easier than most, but I’ve always worked for what I want. People always underestimate me, and that’ll always be their undoing.
Ethan doesn’t seem disillusioned by the grandeur of the house and the obvious wealth our family has, and I admire that. He seems to know exactly who he’s working for and I wonder what he really knows beyond what he divulged in his interview. I’ve noticed the thinly veiled contempt he’s carrying, carefully smothered beneath his interest over the details of the job. It gives him away, and I wonder what motivated him to apply for and accept this position. I don’t think he’ll betray us, but I can’t be certain he won’t. Besides, it gives me an excuse to pay closer attention to him than I would any of the other staff. I expect he’ll put it down to paranoia on my family’s behalf, given the urgent need for safety and security. I’ll let him think that. It’s better than the alternative and having him aware that my interest in him is already swiftly moving beyond professional.
I watch as Ethan strokes a few of the keys on the keyboard with slim tattooed fingers and turns to look at me. Once again I’m struck by his appearance. He’s a little more casually dressed today, in a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, exposing the length of his tattoo. His brown hair is styled messily, emphasizing his dark ocean-colored eyes. He raises an eyebrow at me, and I realize I’ve been staring. Clearing my throat, I break eye contact and turn away, but not before I catch sight of the faint twitch of his lips and the way his eyes lift with his mouth. Damn.
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