We followed him down the hallway. Mr. Chen stayed behind.
“704 has cameras. The cameras are generally left on for punishments. Those punishments being recorded can be helpful for training as well as for patrons later on who enjoy watching. Do you have any objections to this?”
“No,” Dare replied, which surprised me.
He led us into the punishment room where Cleo was being kept. It looked like a medical exam room. In addition to a bench with stirrups and all sorts of straps, there was also a St. Andrew’s cross and a wall lined with whips, floggers, and paddles.
There was also a drawer filled with other punishment implements and there was a small bathroom with a bathtub, toilet, and sink off to the side. I’d been in this room, or another like it at least, both when being punished as well as when attending patrons with a taste for punishment.
She was sitting on the floor in the corner, wearing a beige bra and blue boy short panties, her feet bare, her long straight dark hair in her eyes. She was hunched over, looking a bit defeated, but still looking powerful. The woman was in incredible shape.
Abs of steel. Toned arms and legs. She had honed that body through exercise and some of that exercise occurred when she whipped Kruna assets. I’ve seen her do battle rope workouts in the slave workout room and she works those heavy ropes as easily as she does a whip that weighs nothing.
She looked up at us and her eyes narrowed on me ever so slightly. She wasn’t defeated. She was defiant. And this woman absolutely despised my guts.
“Directions, Mr. Ferrano?” Rafe asked.
“My wife can fasten her to the cross. We’ll take it from here. Have a medic on standby.”
Was this really happening?
“Cleopatra? Move.” Rafe ordered and Cleo got to her feet and slowly moved to the cross, her face held an expression that was something between boredom and disdain. Like she was disgusted that she had to suffer this, because it wasn’t interesting enough to warrant her attention and time.
“Get her fastened, babe,” Dare said.
This was not right. It wasn’t right. It wasn’t! What on earth was happening here? What on earth was going on?
This was really happening.
Despite my brain firing on multiple cylinders but doing a tailspin, my body moved, following his orders. It had to. I went into automatic slave mode when he gave me an order in that tone of voice he was using. I don’t know if I’d ever heard this specific tone before arriving at Kruna the day before, but it was extraordinarily commanding, dominant.
“Make sure she’s fastened tight,” he added.
He was often direct, dominant, but this? I didn’t know how to feel about it. But that said, my body knew what to do. It did what my Master told me to do. She didn’t fight me as I buckled her in at the wrists and ankles. Her eyes were downcast but her look was not submissive.
“Tight,” he demanded.
I was done.
“Come here.”
I moved to him at the wall of whips.
“Which one?” he asked softly.
I was stunned silent.
“Which one of these do you want to beat her with?” His hand cupped my jaw and his thumb stroked my cheekbone.
I stared at him blankly for a split second.
“She’s been a horrible bitch to you for two years. This stops now.” Dare was speaking to me but he was speaking to Cleo, really.
I was like a deer in the headlights. I clamped my mouth shut after realizing it’d been wide open.
“Angelbaby. Which one?”
I blinked.