The Master Read online

“What sort of raffle?”

  With a cunning smile, he looked her up and down. “I’ll need paper and pen.”

  She quickly guided him to Price’s office and watched with growing concern as he carefully wrote out what he wanted.

  “I want you to give this to Maxime or Powell or to whoever you think will read it the best.”

  Serena took the sheet of paper and quickly scanned through it before looking back at Sebastian.

  “It’s the best way to incriminate everyone.”

  She nodded and followed him back into the ballroom. With precise instructions, she gave the notice to Powell who took the center of the room.

  “Hear ye, hear ye,” he bellowed with a booming voice. “Tonight is a night of magic, a night of making dreams come true. You’ve all embarked on this night of night’s and have given yourselves to the masquerade, and in return, three of you, three lucky men, will be greatly rewarded. But fear not, for no man will go home empty handed.

  “Every man here, will have the opportunity to have his way with the beautiful and fetching wench, Serena.”

  For emphasis, Serena came to stand beside him and offered a low bow to all the guests, giving them an ample view of her full bosom.

  “Is there a man here who would not like to participate?”

  Every man shook his head.

  “If pious thoughts and high moral standards stand in your way, speak up now. If your conscience riddles you with guilt, speak up now. If guilt gnaws at you, speak up now.”

  The room fell silent as each man awaited the directives for the game.

  “You are all to write down, in explicit details, your ideal encounter with the lovely maiden, Serena. Write what you would do to her, and what you would have her do to you. While you are invited to let your imagination run wild, do remain realistic, for what you write down will be expected of you.

  “Three names shall be called. Three men shall have the chance to make their ultimate dream come true. Three men will be the envy of those around them. The rest of you shall have the chance to watch not one show, but four.”

  The men cheered and readily took the slip of paper and pen Maxime and Powell handed out to everyone. For the next ten minutes the room buzzed with ideas, some tame and reasonable, other outlandish and impossible.

  Increasingly nervous, Serena pulled Sebastian aside. “You don’t have the intention of going through with this, do you?”

  “Just follow my lead, Serena.”

  “Sebastian, even Price never let…”

  “I told you not to mention Price anymore. Just trust me, okay.”

  Ten minutes later, Serena walked around the room with a large feathered cap in her hand to retrieve the horny men’s sex wish. With Sebastian, she retreated to Price’s office once more.

  “They just want to fuck you every which way,” Sebastian said as he quickly read through them. “From the back, from the side, up front, in your face… standing, sitting, kneeling.”

  “And now what do we do?”

  He held up a handful of the notes. “These men are so horny and so eager to get their hands on you, they did what no man in their positions should ever do.”

  She stared at him and waited.

  “They put it in writing.”

  “Oh, my God, Sebastian. You’re brilliant.”

  “Not only did they put it in writing, but they signed them.” Looking through more of the notes, he pulled one up in particular. “Signed by none other than Kaiser Sorensen.”

  “So he is here.”

  Sebastian nodded. “I thought I’d seen him. Dressed as a rector, of all things. He’s been discrete, clinging to the back walls of the room, but I spotted him all the same.”

  “Do you think he recognized you? I mean, you're his son. Surely, he’d notice.”

  “No. He’s too blinded by what he wants to do to you to see anything else.” He held up the note. “And this proves it. He goes into great detail… how he wants to kiss you, lick you, touch you, pinch you and ultimate…. ‘shove my thick cock so far down her throat, she’ll gag. I want to see her eyes go wide as I fuck her face. I want her hands on my balls and her finger up my ass. I want the whole package.”

  Serena almost gagged just hearing his wish. “I’m so sorry, Sebastian. It must be awful to find your father has such thoughts.”

  He blinked and pulled in a deep breath. “I can’t say it endears him to me.”

  Of the many notes in his hands, he set aside four of them.

  “These are the three most influential men in the music world. One wants to fuck you from the back, alternating between your ass and your cunt. This one wants you to sit and fuck him while he sits back and catches your bouncing tits. And this one wants an hour long interlude that starts with him licking your tits for five minutes, pinching your nipples for another ten then slowly fucking you until you run dry.”

  “How enticing.”

  “Let’s go.” With the notes folded and set in the palm of his hand, he led her back to the ballroom. “I’ll give them a taste of what’s to come… whet their appetite and ensure they don’t back down. Once I’m through with the foreplay, as it were, I’ll hand you the notes one by one and you’ll read them out. I want them to come stand beside you and confirm that what they’ve written is truly what they want.”

  She nodded. As they reached the center of the room, the men, most with flutes of champagne or snifters of cognac in hand, quieted down.

  With a flourish, Sebastian set the feathered cap down on the floor at his feet and turned to Serena. Through the mask, she could see his devilish eyes, hungry like she’d never seen him before.

  He stalked his way around her, and turned her this way and that, ensuring every man got a good look at her. Standing behind her, he set his hands to her shoulders and slowly pushed the green silk down her arms.

  The men whistled their encouragement.

  With one wild and forceful movement, Sebastian tore the front of the bodice open, exposing the white lace corset underneath.

  “Who shall have this wench?” he cried out.

  The men cheered, many of them pointing their thumbs to their chest.

  “Are these breasts big and plump enough for you?” With a Master’s hand, he pulled away the scant fabric of each cup, fully exposing her breasts.

  Serena had never seen him so in control, so capable of controlling others. The men in the room were virtually salivating at her feet, and when Sebastian brought his tongue to her nipple, giving the men a tease of what they had in store, she went weak with want of him.

  Just as quickly, he pulled his cloak off his back and covered her. “Or shall I save me fair wench and keep her for meself.” He landed her a hard and heavy kiss that plundered her mouth and heightened her arousal.

  When had he grown so powerful, so confident in his control?

  Right now, she didn’t care. She wanted more of him. She was prepared to go through with the show, to show everyone in the room how much she wanted this man.

  So aroused, she turned to him and tore his shirt open then kissed her way down his chest to his pants.

  Sebastian gripped her wrists and pulled her upright.

  “Ye have much to prove, gentlemen, for the wench seems only to want me.”

  With a wink and a bow, he pulled away and retrieved the feathered cap and proceeded with the game.

  Standing half exposed before the crowd of men, and way too horny to think straight, Serena dutifully took the slips of paper as Sebastian feigned pulling them from the hat. One by one, Serena read aloud the wish, then the owner of that wish.

  Reading each man’s desire heightened her own, and by the third, she was on fire and in need of being touched.

  Proud and pleased, the three men took center stage and eagerly confirmed their wish.

  “My sincerest apologies,” Sebastian called out. “But I must eliminate one of the winners.”

  Unhappy, the men waited for him to go on.

  “We haven’t t
he time, Mr. Hackensack, nor the inclination to watch you slowly make love with our lovely wench. An hour long wish is unreasonable and we shall have to call for another to partake in Serena’s lovely flesh.”

  The gentleman tried to bargain down to fifteen minutes, but Sebastian held his ground and pushed the man aside, and pulled out another name.

  Serena’s lips trembled as she prepared to read aloud the name. This was the confrontation she wasn’t ready for. “Mr. Kaiser Sorensen.”

  Sebastian’s father prowled to center stage like a tiger stalking its prey. His eyes never left hers, except for the occasional dip to her breasts.

  “Tell the men what you have in mind,” Sebastian said.

  For a moment, Kaiser hesitated and Serena was certain he’d recognized Sebastian’s voice, but he licked his lips and brought his thumb to Serena’s mouth, shoving it in and running it over her tongue.

  “You’ve such a beautiful and delightful face, such plump lips, such wanton eyes. I want to fuck that beautiful face. I want your plump lips around my cock. I want your wanton eyes wide with surprise as I fill you.”

  “Are you sure you’re well equipped to make the maiden gag?” Sebastian said.

  Kaiser let out a haughty laugh and pulled down the zipper of his elegant black slacks. Without hesitation, he pulled out his erection.

  “Looks promising. I guess you’ll go first.”

  Serena glared at Sebastian. What was he doing?

  Kaiser, suddenly forceful and looking nothing like the older and respectful man so many thought him to be, pushed Serena down to her knees and swung his erection in her face.

  My God, Sebastian, do something, she wanted to scream.

  But, from the corner of her eye, she saw Sebastian. As his father prepared to fuck her face, his cock in hand, his balls exposed, Sebastian pulled off his mask and wig and stared stone faced at him.

  The men who’d cheered and shouted, suddenly fell silent.

  For the longest time, Kaiser noticed nothing, his focus strictly on Serena, but when he caught her sidelong glance, he followed the direction of her gaze.

  “Sebastian,” he barked.

  “Father.”

  The two men stared at one another, while the crowd around them slowly realized what was happening.

  Without warning, Kaiser ripped the slip of paper from Serena’s hand and bolted for the door. Before Sebastian could warn Faulkner to stop him, Kaiser was off the ship and heading to Price’s private helicopter pad.

  Chapter 9

  Sebastian

  Adrenaline rushed through Bash’s veins as he rushed out of the room and off Price’s yacht. He raged with such anger, but hardly gave himself a moment to consider where that anger could lead him. All he knew was he had to reach Kaiser. He had to stop his father. There were too many questions he needed the answers to.

  The old man was surprisingly fast and had reached the helicopter pad just as Sebastian entered the gated enclosure. Clinging to the side of the helicopter, Kaiser stopped to catch his breath. He didn’t even have the strength to board the aircraft.

  Sebastian stopped to watch him, at once pitying the feeble man and hating him. There was no longer any need to run, any need to hurry. The propellers were still and the snoozing pilot barely had an eye open. The helicopter wasn’t going anywhere.

  “Kaiser,” Bash called out, unable to call him father. “Kaiser!”

  He carefully walked up to the helicopter, trying to calm himself all while knowing it was impossible. His blood boiled and his gut retched as the words, plainly laid out in the handwritten lust wish for Serena, played over and over in his head.

  That his father could even have such lewd thoughts was incomprehensible. That he could have them for Serena was reprehensible.

  “Get this thing started, you moron!” Kaiser shouted at the pilot.

  At the helicopter door, Sebastian stared at his father. Disheveled and panicked, he was nothing like the man he’d known growing up; the calm man who was always in control of everything around him. This man before him was all but broken.

  Kaiser returned the stare, his eyes filled with shock, guilt, anger and a touch of remorse.

  “All this time,” Sebastian said. “You’ve known Serena all this time and you never said anything. Nothing. I’m your son, for crying out loud, and you couldn’t tell me? You couldn’t say anything?”

  Kaiser just stared.

  “How could you?” Bash said. The question seemed so inadequate.

  “What would you have wanted me to say, Sebastian? I tried to tell you my way; the best way I knew how. I told you to stay away from her. I told you not to get involved with her.”

  Sebastian shook his head, remembering the vague warnings his father had given. “I just can’t believe a man like you… such a prominent figure, a man who commands respect… and you’re in there acting like an animal.”

  Kaiser chuckled. “Prominent. Commands respect.” He shrugged. “In the end, I’m just a man, Sebastian. A man with needs. Call them animal if you will, but they’re there.” He holds up his arm and pulls back a sleeve. “It’s there in my veins, Bash; the need to be thrilled, the need to fantasize the impossible, the lustful need for of a vile woman.”

  Sebastian swallowed the bile that clogged his throat.

  “The same needs as every other prominent man in there. They all have it, and it’s insatiable. We just can’t seem to get enough. Not many men in there have ever missed one of Price’s parties. Several of them have even foregone important family functions, and canceled lucrative business trips just to be there.” Kaiser pointed to the yacht and laughed. “As old as time, my boy. Sex. Women. A sexy goddess like Serena. Men need to find an outlet and they found it when Price sent out that very first invitation. This is an old boy’s club, Bash. A club where men get together to salivate over a beautiful and sexy woman we know we’ll never have; Serena. Yes, I knew Serena, Bash. I knew her long before you ever met her. We all knew her. Word gets around when something as wild and wanton as Serena comes around.

  “Of course, Price made sure we knew of her. His invitations were initially a vague intrigue, but they quickly became coveted treasures. Every man eagerly awaited the arrival of the next invitation, the next show. Oh yes. Price knew how to work Serena well. He knew how to turn the seemingly docile doe into a fiery hellcat who could do what every man wishes his woman would do. With the slightest touch she was pliant and so willing… and damn was she giving. It’s amazing the things Price was able to do with her; to her. And we all watched, eager to see just how far he’d push her. Such a master. He was the envy of every man there. To be able to put his hands on her, his lips, and when he fucked her…” His eyes glazed over at the thought.

  “That’s enough.”

  Kaiser looked intently at his son. “It’s not like I had planned for you to find out about this. I never could have known you’d run into Serena. Truth be told, I still don’t understand how you even came to meet her at all. She’s not from our circles. You saw that for yourself.”

  “You know very well how I met her. While you might see her simply as a sexual object, a thing you can fantasize about, to me she is a brilliant composer with a bright future, a future away from the hungry eyes of men like you.”

  Shaking his head, Kaiser chuckled softly. “Serena is what she is, son. No amount of sugar coating it is going to change that. She could have all the diplomas in the world and compose the most heartbreaking melodies, but she would still be Serena as we all have known her. She can’t break away from that. I can guarantee you those men in there will not let her break away from that. They’ll remind her every chance they get. And if you think success will erase her past, think again. The more successful she becomes, the more these men will try to break her.”

  “You’re wrong. She will break away and these men will be powerless to stop it. Tonight was the first step in really breaking the bond between men like you and her future as a classical composer. All those fantasi
es you all so naively wrote down, even put your names to; they’re her guarantee of silence. Your fantasies may continue to live on in your minds, but that will be the extent of it, because if anyone tries to tie her to this lurid past, they’ll also be exposing themselves in the process.”

  “How nice and tidy.”

  “Isn’t it? I guess you could only imagine what would happen if Mother were to find out.”

  Kaiser glared up at the sky. “Your mother…” He shook his head with nothing more to say.

  “Yes, my mother. How could you do this to her? How could you betray her like this?”

  The father met his son’s gaze with sad and tired eyes. “So far, you’ve been able to disentangle yourself from Willow’s claws. As much as she wants to marry you, you continually slip through her fingers. Seems she doesn’t quite have your mother’s tenacity. I wasn’t so fortunate. You see my marriage to your mother was very well planned, very expected of me. I’m sure you can imagine how a marriage that is forced upon a man turns out. Oh, your mother played the part of the virginal debutante well enough, but the moment the ‘I do’s’ were said, the real bitch came out.”

  Sebastian stared at his father in disbelief, all while having no trouble believing him at all. He knew how his mother could be, how manipulative and persistent, but to hear his father speak of her in such a way…

  “She was a manipulative bitch who was as cold as a dead fish in bed. Lord only knows how we even managed to have you. With your mother sex was under the sheets with the lights out. No funny business, as she used to say. Hell, within the first year of marriage I’d have to flip through girly magazines just to get a woody to then be able to jump your mother. Do you know what that does to a man?”

  “Please, I think I’ve heard enough.”

  “No, you haven’t heard nearly enough. I don’t just resent your mother for the sexual deprivation all these years. My dear, Bash, if you only knew the diabolical brain that is constantly at work in that sweet looking woman’s head. Your mother can smile at someone, say pleasantries and even offer a helping hand, then turn around and stab them in the back when they least expect it. Believe me. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. I swear, if your mother had been born in the sixteenth century and had had the power of a queen, she would have made Henri VIII look like a fair and forgiving king. She would have had no qualms about beheading anyone and everyone who crossed her; a virginal maiden, a tempting goddess, a beautiful nymph… she would have beheaded them all.”