“Son of a…” Jagger whispers, but Master D cuts him off.
“Here’s the deal my Lolli-Doll,” he states, taking a step closer. Jagger raises his weapon, but Vinny catches his wrist. The betrayal flashing hot and fast. Jagger looks at him with malice in his eyes, but Master D smiles at all of us. “You come quietly to room seven…” He pauses, and the device crackles again. This time, the scream is mine.Recorded. Echoing. Wrong.His eyes glitter as my stomach twists and bile rises in my throat. “Or start playing the live version.”
My smile disappears, and for the first time in a long time—even Jethro goes silent.
The Door that Opens Both Ways
Lolli-Gag
Room seven doesn’t feel like a room—it feels like a decision already made. I jump when the door shuts behind us with a sound that doesn’t echo—it settles. Jagger is at my back—close enough that I can feel his heat through the thin fabric of my shirt. Vinny is to my left—too quiet, as always. Master D stands at the center of the room like this is his stage and we’re nothing but puppets of his show. There’s no pads on the walls. It’s not sterile or clean in here. Killian would hate this room.
A metal table sits right beside Master D. Cold and waiting. Restraints line one wall in different sizes and shapes. Different purposes, I assume. Another wall holds screens, all of them on… all of them watching. And on those screens. Killian, Lucifer, and Axel. Alive and breathing, but barely. My chest caves in as my eyes well with tears.
“Stop!” I command. The words leave my mouth harshly before I can twist it into something playful—something Lolli. Master D tilts his head, and I take a step forward.
“Welcome, my Lolli-Doll,” he says as Jagger catches my wrist roughly.
“Don’t,” he states, but I don’t pull away, and I don’t stop either.
“I said stop!” I repeat as Master D gestures lazily toward the screens.
“They are still breathing,” he says as Lucifer’s head lifts on one screen. Too slow. Killian twitches under a wave of noise I can’t hear but can feel. Axel—he doesn’t move, and my throat tightens.
“What do you want? You got me here. Now, spill it,” I growl, and he smiles.
“I want to see what you choose,” he says, so simple it makes my head hurt.
“No games. Just say it,” Jagger spits, stepping forward, but Master D doesn’t even look at him.
“That is the game,” he states, and I swallow.
“Then I choose them.”
“Of course you do.” Master D smiles, but the way he says it makes my skin crawl.
“Then let them go,” I order, and he laughs.
“No!”
Jagger moves, but Vinny grabs him again, this time harder.
“LET GO!” Jagger growls, but Vinny doesn’t listen.
“Not yet!” he says, and my head snaps toward him. Not yet? Not yet? What the fuck?
Master D watches us like we’re doing exactly what he expected.
“You misunderstood the nature of this exchange,” he says calmly. I hate that word. Exchange. “Nothing here is given,” he continues. “It’s earned.”
“Then tell me how,” I snap, and he looks at me.
“There are three phases,” he says, and my stomach twists.
“Phase one…” He trails off, stepping closer to me. “You return to the origin.”
The room tilts, and I swallow thickly.
“No. Absolutely not,” I say, but I already know. I already feel it crawling up my spine.My mother.My breath comes fast and my body tingles with dread. “I won’t go back there,” I whisper.
