Hers to Rule - ACX script

C. A. Krause

Mikhail

“Now let’s see about that blood play we were talking about,” Gianna interrupts my thoughts, and my mind snaps back to the woman in front of me. She’s gotten up from the ground, standing over me again, her expression almost gleeful now.

Blood play counts as part of RACK, risk-aware consensual kink, which, according to the boring introduction I had to suffer through, is permitted in Club Steel, though, as per club rules, requires a dungeon monitor to be present nearby. When I don’t remind Gianna of that fact, her smile grows wider.

“Brave boy.”

I snort. “I’m hardly a boy, and from what I saw earlier, boys don’t do it for you, anyway.”

My insolence has her tilt her head sideway in consideration, but instead of responding, she simply turns and walks to her bag. From it, she pulls a knife, following through on her threat.

My kind of woman.

Ronaldo Junior had gone on and on about the way she’d plunged a knife into his gut, and now I finally get to see her wield one in person. The idea that the kid got to see her true personality had me wanting to cut his eyes out. Now, my stomach muscles tighten in response, as if expecting her to gut me right here, which, of course, is ridiculous. There is no way Gianna would risk having to dispose of a body in such a public place, which leaves me safe to play with fire.

Or steel, in this case.

I’m kneeling, the ball stretcher dangling between my legs, when she approaches. I can’t move far with my hands bound and attached to the chain, but I tilt my head up to her, letting her see I’m all in for this. Not that she is likely to care. Her eyes have gotten that look I know all too well. It’s that expression I get when I want something and there is nothing that could stop me.

When she reaches me, she doesn’t pause before scraping the blade across my peck. She holds the knife perpendicular to the skin over my chest and it leaves a sensation similar to being at the barbershop when Petrov uses the straight razor on my neck. Unlike my barber, though, Gianna tilts the knife until the tip of it presses into my skin.

I don’t give her the satisfaction of looking down to see if she’s drawing blood. I’d be disappointed if she didn’t. Instead, I keep my eyes on her face.

She has her dark hair pulled up into a braid, keeping it out of her face. It leaves me free to admire her diamond face shape, with the slightly pointy chin and gorgeous olive skin that betrays her heritage. She’s fully focused on what she’s doing, drawing lines across my upper body that send sensations straight down to my crotch.

I have no idea how long she takes. My entire brain is focused on memorizing every single detail of her face. Like the little freckle near her right ear, and the cupid’s bow of her lips. Her lower lip is slightly fuller than her upper one, though not by much, and the red lipstick she wears is definitely meant to feature in my wet dreams.

Each scratch across my skin makes the corners of her mouth twitch upward, and I can’t help but find it endearing. The last thing this woman would tolerate is being compared to a little kitten with claws, but right now, that’s exactly what this feels like. The bit of blood play hardly warrants any true reaction from me, even if it’s enough sensation to keep my cock at attention.

Until a much sharper pain cuts through my skin.

Literally.

“I think you need to pay attention,” Gianna chastises me, her voice sharp. “I don’t appreciate it when you drift off and I feel like my toy is getting bored.”

“Perhaps you need to keep things more interesting then,” I challenge. Something that few men would dare, I’m sure.

Gianna’s mouth curves into a sardonic smile, and I realize I was wrong. She isn’t a kitten, she’s definitely a viper, allowing her prey to get near without them ever realizing they walked too close to danger. And then she gives them her poison.

The sharp slice runs from my belly button down between the V on my crotch to the top of my shaft. And it is definitely bleeding. Drops of blood running down over the top of my cock in red lines.

Perhaps she isn’t wrong. I do need to pay attention. Even more attention than I already paid to her. Because there is nothing hotter than this woman.

My eyes travel up from my blood stained cock to my chest. There, I see what Gianna has been up to, and the sight makes me want to laugh and groan in arousal at the same time.

Red pearly drops outline the letter G, reaching from the middle of my pecs all the way down to my belly button.

She carved a G into my skin. Tagged me in a way more permanent than any of the collars the subs wear out there in the club.

She hardly knows me. Well, actually, she doesn’t know me at all, except for that sick desire inside of me to get her to hurt me, and yet, she has made me hers.

I look up to see her watching me, her expression neutral, as if she doesn’t care that her initial will be visible on my skin for weeks. Like she’s used to owning people and I’m just one of many.

Gianna

“You did what?” Mia’s voice has a slight hysteric pitch to it that I can’t really blame her for.

“I kidnapped him, tortured him, realized who he is, fucked him, and now he’s tied up in the basement.” I summarize.

“Which is where you keep your sex dungeon?” Mia asks, trying to keep her expression neutral and failing royally.

“Precisely.”

“And now you need me to help you figure out a way to keep Mikhail from telling his father what you did to him so you can focus on weeding out who actually killed your father while simultaneously trying to avoid getting yourself offed in the process.”

I nod. “Yeah, that’s pretty much it.” The admission hurts slightly. I’ve been running a successful business for years and also navigated the many different soldati that operate our games and businesses in Toronto. Still, I need someone with a clear head to tell me if I’m overlooking anything.

It’s like I’m in free-fall without a safety net somehow. Like a little girl.

Like the useless woman my uncle thinks I am.

“Can’t you just blackmail him with the whole masochist thing?” Mia asks.

“That was my plan, but the problem is, there are no witnesses. At least none that the Russians would care about. He wore a mask at the club and it’s not like anyone knows what went down after I took him. So it’s a mine against his word situation.” I ponder the option. “Of course, the threat might work anyway. Male egos are fragile, but he’s not an idiot. Perhaps it’s enough that he won’t gain anything in a war between our families. It’ll just add a shit ton of problems to his plate.”

“And you fucked his brains out, so he might just be in the mood to do you a favor,” Mia adds helpfully, a sly grin on her lips.

“And that,” I agree, giving in to some of her amusement despite the weight on my chest.

“All right, I mean it’s that or killing him and making the body disappear.” Mia’s assessment of the situation matches mine completely, but I’m surprised to hear her say it so casually. So matter-of-fact.

“Killing him would be my other option, yes. It would take the risk of him talking out of the equation, but it would also mean hell would rain down on me if Adrik Tsepov ever finds out.”

“There are ways to ensure he wouldn’t link it to you.” Now my bestie’s face is hard, and I know she’s speaking from experience. There was a reason we felt compelled towards each other when we met, and this is probably it.

“I’ve considered getting rid of his body, but there is something else.”

Mia looks at me expectantly, but something is holding me back from saying out loud what I’m thinking. Eric knows Mikhail was here. He would know I’m responsible if the Bratva heir disappears, and if there is any chance that he may not be as loyal as I think he is, I’d be screwed because once word would reach Mikhail’s father, even if it’s just rumors, he’d start a never ending witch hunt and go after me with a ferocity I can’t afford right now.

I shrug. “There is another complication that I don’t want to risk.”

Mia gives me a sideways look, but she doesn’t press, which is a huge show of trust that I never expected her to show.

“Okay, so setting him free like a birdie it is. Do you want to do it right now, or do you want to go over the stuff with your family first?”

“He probably shouldn’t see your face.” No point in roping Mia into this whole mess even further than I already did, but Mia just shrugs.

“I doubt my family can get in any deeper shit with the Russians than we already are.” Her tone suggests she doesn’t care, but the tightening of the muscles in her cheeks tells me otherwise.

Perhaps there will be a way to repay her for sticking her neck out for me eventually, but first I need to get this all sorted.

“All right, I’ll go down and deal with him. Make yourself comfortable.”