I chuckled again. “How’s Macy?”
“Completely happy beyond belief.” He nodded. “I’m never gonna be able to thank you enough.” His voice did that funny thing that happened every time he remembered what I did for them.
“Ah, come on, don’t get emotional on me.”
“I mean it.”
“I was happy to help the both of you, man. Don’t do that. It was no big deal. I swear.”
“I know that’s how you feel.”
“Okay. Well, get out of my office. If something comes up, let me know, but that was all.” He walked toward the door. “What was the problem this time?” I asked loudly for the cameras that way he could cut out the risky part of our conversation and use this as the reason I called him into my office. We always tried to cover all the bases.
“The breakers in the AC broke and someone was suspected, but it turned out it was just old wiring.”
“Got it. Remember the breakers.”
He winked at me while holding the knob, then left.
Out of all the people in this training center, Ben was the one I trusted most. He thought it was all an accident, but really, I’d set him up. I’d made it so he would “accidentally” see one of my girls that came in a cargo one time. That was enough for him to fall for her. Then I gifted her to him, pretending I’d gone out of my way to hide all of it. In reality, Macy was not that important of a slave. Sometimes, we’d get a bunch of random girls sold to us. I’d snatched her and trained her to do everything he searched for on porn websites before they could pull all her information and put a tracker in her. He thought it was a coincidence that some training sessions kept popping up on his computer. Once I saw the way he watched me fuck her on her live session, I knew he was obsessed. I made her do everything he liked, and he sweated through it.
Macy, like almost all the girls who ended up here, was easy to break. She’d already had a rough childhood, lost both parents at five, then went into the system where she was sexually abused by several guardians. The training center was often better than any foster home these girls ended up in.
I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t know the type of person Ben was. I knew he wouldn’t abuse her. He was an easy target and young, so he fell in love within seconds. Just like the slaves, we targeted desperate young men to work for us. That way, they were unaware of the severity of our crimes, what it took to keep a business like this going, how many people died for it, and how many families were left shattered. And the debt, as in the money he technically owed me for her, well, it was the only way to ensure his loyalty to me.
When he first started working with us, Ben had medical bills adding up to a million dollars from all the procedures performed on his sick mother. He’d also been laid off as the head of security at a science lab that lost funding. At the time, to take over this place, I needed to have access to all security behind Master’sback to gain the truly important secrets. I needed someone I could trust who wasn’t a sick asshole.
From watching Master, I learned if you blackmail people by pretending you are helping them, they grow grateful, but if you blackmail them in a way that induces fear, well, then you have to watch your back for the rest of your life.
Since I’d given him Macy, I had him eating from the palm of my hand. He’d do anything for me just out of gratitude, but worst-case scenario, he knew if he betrayed me, Macy would disappear. Like every employee, his life at home was monitored, so I knew Macy and Ben were happy together. I knew she was doing a good job.
Our friendship had grown because on several really severe occasions, he’d been the only one I confided in. I had never said it, but by my actions, he knew what I was really doing here at this training center.
ThefirstthingIdid after getting dropped off at the Monte Carlo was text Ben.
Me:How are the breakers?
Ben:Working on it, boss.
Like a tiger pumped up on cocaine, I paced my hotel room, waiting for him to detect all the security cameras along my hallway and in the lobby. The “party” was tomorrow. I was jetlagged as fuck too, so although it was two o’clock in the morning, I was wide awake. No matter what, I wanted to make it seem as if Mael had not wanted to pick me up or had picked me up late.
Ben:Get some rest, I have everything handled here.
I read the text when I got out of the shower, then turned the TV to CNN and fell asleep ’til the next afternoon.
The problem was, I didn’t trust Mael for a second. Even if he hadn’t been his father’s first victim, he would have turned out to be an evil, petty, reckless idiot. And he hated me because his father “loved me more than him.” It was insane, as if any of us had ever had a choice, as if I’d ever wanted his disgusting father.
I spent the day at the gym and the pool, then in my room, wanting to go back to my prison in upstate New York. The uncertainty and paranoia had me restless. Two hours before pickup time, I texted him.
Me:Who’s gonna pick me up?
Mael:Dude chill. Gabin is on that side of the city. He’ll get you. He will probably be there at midnight. I gotta take my girl to prom first then we party.
I left it alone for a while. Then eight o'clock came along.
Me:What’s your friend’s number? Gabin's?
It took forever for him to answer, and that was perfect. The more he showed he didn’t care, the better.
