Chapter 5: Captured

VIVIAN’S POV

My apartment wasn’t anything to write home about. If anything, it was basic with furniture that could only be described as hand-me-downs, but it was home. Not that it stopped me from making it look better than it was.

The electric kettle was steaming and boiling, and I was busy on my phone trying to discover anything I could find on Julian, but nothing was coming up. I swear he had paid someone to erase his existence, which I could only imagine how much that frickin’ cost him.

I sighed and gave up on the search for him online. My superb stalking skills were no use with his name. He was too good at erasing his tracks and hiding, not that I should be surprised. I rolled my eyes and reached up to grab a jar of various tea bags that I had collected over the years, picking a bag of Chamomile. I could use its calming vibes today.

I don’t think my heart had stopped throwing itself into my ribcage since I came home. Not to mention the only thought in my brain since I saw him was Julian’s name. I groaned and fell against the counter, bringing the tea bag in and out of the hot water in my ceramic mug.

His ex-submissives had given me somewhat of an insight into who he was as a Dom, which was always a bonus. I had learned the hard way last time I didn’t vet someone, but I was new then.

He hadn’t listened to a word I had told him, and he had thought that he could just own me. The communication was sh*t and it was later that I found out he had been kicked from the kink community for being a fake Dominant.

Julian was different, a prime example of a good Dom. He might have been a bad man, but he wasn’t a ‘bad’ man. He had listened to them, adhered to their limits, and let them ask anything they were unsure about. He had tended to them and given them the aftercare they needed, tailoring the experience to each of them to fit their needs. He sounded like a great Master.

I shoved my phone into my sundress’s right pocket and walked over to my small desk that faced a window that looked out to the busy street. I needed to write my limits down and place numbers of interest next to them with explanations, which would take up most of my morning. I didn’t know how long I had until he showed up to steal me either.

I sat down on my beat-up office chair and set my tea down on a coaster before grabbing a ball-point pen. I tapped the nib on the paper, leaving ink splotches and swipes before running down the list. I chewed on the end of the plastic pen, as I thought hard about them. His red tic marks and elegant handwriting didn’t get past me. God, if his fingers could write like that what else could they do?

“Alright, focus, Viv.” I took a deep breath and began to say my h*ll yeahs out loud as I marked fives beside them. “Blindfolds, heavy/light bondage, bondage under clothing is fine...” I continued to go down the list, “Leather restraints, ropes, shibari, leather and rope harnesses...”

The more I went the more I realized we had more in common, within BDSM at least. Although, the more I had learned about him from his last submissives, the more enthusiastic I had become to play with him. He sounded like a h*ll of a good time.

“Okay,” I sighed, “Um....” I tapped the pen against my bottom lip.

“Cloth, rubber, ball, ring, and tape gags are fine. Um...” I grabbed my cup of tea and took a long sip, letting the steam billow up and warm my cheeks and nose. “Let’s see... mouth bits, all types of suspension, all types of impact play, hair pulling, f*llacio and c*nnilingus, swallowing, c*mming on me, hand jobs, an*l plugs, vibrators, DP...” At this point it was becoming second nature to answer them.

I set my cup down and rolled my wrist for a moment to stretch it out. “Orgasm control, scratching, biting, kissing, welts, bruises, temperature play is a huge yes,” I sighed. I had forgotten how many there were to choose from.

I cleared my throat and tapped the pen on the paper before writing again, “Teasing, edging, taking control over what I wear, n*pple clamps, kidnapping, interrogation, following orders, restrictive rules on behaviors, eye contact restrictions, speech restrictions, kneeling, begging, learned postures, sensory deprivation...” I continued until I was done with all of my f*ck yeahs.

“Now for my yellows and reds,” I sat back to stretch my arms over my head and took another sip of tea before going back to the list. “Immobilization, multiple day bondage, edge play such as: knives, guns, breath play, an*l s*x, clothespins.” I shoved a three and a four next to those, meaning that I was willing to try them one day and that I was heavily interested in them.

Reds were probably the easiest out of everything because I barely had to think about whether I liked them or not. I had either tried them in the past or wanted nothing to do with them. I quickly jotted them down.

“Humiliation is a massive nope.” I sighed and thought about the time that had gone wrong. It was fine, he was gone now. I stuck zeros and ones with explanations in the boxes of each hard no before moving on to the health portion.

It didn’t take me long to get through the rest, looking over his wine inked sentences and seeing one of his reds was touching him. I wondered why I wasn’t allowed to when all I wanted to do was run my hands along his body and worship him like the amazing man he was.

I finished my tea and picked up my phone to call my best friend. I was going to tell her I wouldn’t be around for at least a few days when a knock on my door distracted me.

I had barely finished the d*mn paper in time for them to show up. I jammed the list into my pocket with my phone and ripped my charger from the wall before answering the door.

Four men stood there in boring black and white suits, each one the same as the next. The only differentiating part were their tie colors. I wondered if Julian enjoyed standing out that much or if it was his soldier’s choice to dress alike.

The way they scowled at me made me realize that not only had I consented to being kidnapped, but I had agreed to a world where they thought I had ratted someone out.

“Come with us,” the tallest man in the middle that nearly filled my doorway spoke with a low tone.

“Look, I don’t know who shot his man,” I swallowed hard, trying to bargain with them. “I know nothing. I’m brand new to the club. I wasn’t even aware that anything like that could happen, or that you were even an organization of some sort.” I rolled my eyes, these a**holes weren’t going to listen to me. “I promise I won’t tell anyone about you or anything.”

A gasp left my lips as another one of the men spun me around with a quick motion. The sound of a cloth being thwacked through the air and snapped into a tight hold made a shiver run through my body and heat pool between my thighs. My n*pples hardened and pressed against my thin sundress. The dark red cloth slid over my head and pressed against my lips, Julian’s calling card.

I closed my eyes and thought about it being Julian whispering in my ear to part my lips for him. I slowly opened my mouth and the man behind me placed the cloth between my teeth, causing the fabric to press against the corners of my lips, and tied it behind my head. I could still move my mouth, as the thin silk barely impeded me from speaking. The chilled, familiar, feel of leather grazed my cheeks and brows, making me realize that I was being blindfolded.

The metallic clang of the hardware of the leather blindfold made my teeth sink into the cloth harder. I suddenly realized I should be fighting and struggling against them and not enjoying it.

I thrashed around and went to run when another man grabbed my hand and yanked me back, gathering my wrists behind my back.

My chest rose and fell as I made struggling sounds, putting on the best show that I could. I bit back a moan as soft nylon rope wrapped around my wrists and fastened in a lark head double column restraint.

One of the men shoved ballet flats onto my feet and shoved me forward, making me stumble. “You couldn’t have just waited for a girl to get ready?” My words came out slightly muffled, as I argued with anyone who would listen.

“Boss’s orders,” another voice spoke with a gruff tone. “We don’t f*ck with the Boss. What he says goes, principessa.”

I scowled through the silk gag and rolled my eyes behind the blindfold. Of course, they only listened to him. “You really think I know something? I was in his office the whole time! How was I supposed to know who shot who if I didn’t even see them?” My words came out muffled again as I went to fight again, but another soldier hoisted me up and threw me over his shoulder.

I was suddenly carried out of the door and down the emergency staircase from the familiar echo of their dress shoes on the cement steps. The sound of one punching the door handle to open an emergency exit pierced my ears before I heard the noise of the busy street beside the back alley.

I groaned as I was tossed into the back of a vehicle after hearing the thud of the door handle when they had opened the door. I swallowed hard and let a scream fall from my lips in irritation, continuing to feign being upset over the whole situation. I mean I was partially upset over the fact that I was having to plead my case.

“Why are you doing this? I already swore I wouldn’t tell anyone about you,” I argued more through the silk as the car began to move.

The men began to talk about some sporting event bracket and who their money was on. One was talking about how the money was only rising and that the one who was predicted to win was being paid to lose. That he had chosen to give up his reputation for more money, and they had a whole barrage of businessmen betting on the man predicted to lose.

“When am I going to be released?” I sighed and mumbled, giving up arguing at this point.

No one talked to me, and I became more irritated. They could at least answer my question and talk to me rather than be rude. I don’t know why I expected more from the dang Mafia. Of course, they would be a**holes to me when their job was to obey their Boss.

The car came to a stop, and I heard the door open. Another hand grabbed my arm and yanked me from the car.

“I can get out myself you know?” I mumbled through the gag, peering up at where I assumed their face was.

I scoffed as they dragged me up a set of stairs, causing me to stumble on each step and into some grand entryway. The echo of my flats on the tile flooring was defining, and I knew there had to be a vaulted ceiling. It probably had a fancy crystal chandelier too.

“You, literally, could have just asked me to come with you and I would have. You didn’t need to do all of this elaborate work,” I argued again, secretly enjoying the way the silk felt pressed against the corners of my mouth, the way the rope left kisses on my wrists, and the way the leather felt against my skin.

I continued to stumble through the house, hearing the men greet people along the way before we stopped. I felt the rope untie from my wrists before I was shoved forward to fall onto what felt like wood flooring. It bit into my knees and my palms stung, while my wrists buzzed from the release of the rope pressing against them.

Suddenly, the sharp sound of the hardware on my blindfold rang out as it was removed. I blinked my eyes to adjust to the light and peered up, parting my lips at the sight of him.

Julian.

He was towering over me in a silver-hued button-down and a pair of navy pants that contoured to his muscles. The glass of whiskey in his hand beside his thigh caught my attention.

My gaze followed his glass, as he raised it to gesture with his index finger towards his men with one command that made my heart flutter, “Leave.”