Page 15

When I had the thought that this day could not get any worse, I didnotmean it as a challenge to the Universe,thankyouverymuch.
“None of that, sweetheart,” she scolds quietly, giving my hands what might be considered a reassuring squeeze under other circumstances. “We wouldn’t want you to hurt yourself.”
Who the fuck iswe? Because by all accounts, neither she nor my brother give a damn about hurting me.
A third explosion of fire lights up the very bottom part of my ass, almost to my thighs, and I scream around the gag. The fuckingpacifier.
I am dressed like a toddler, sucking on a pacifier, getting my ass paddled by my stepbrother while the third wealthiest woman in the world watches with glee. If it was possible to spontaneously combust from humiliation alone, I would be nothing more than a pile of smoldering ashes on the floor.
Add in the heat from my skin as Jasper mercilessly punishes my ass with the heavy wood in his hand, and it’s honestly surprising I haven’t gone up in flames.
I want to be strong. I want to prove to him he can’t break me. But with every stroke, my resolve weakens. It’s agony, more than I ever thought possible, and I want nothing more than to bring it to an end.
I’ve completely lost count of how many times the wood connects with my skin when I finally break. Sobbing around my pacifier, I slump against the desk, my forehead resting against the cool wood as I weep.
Jasper’s voice is a low rumble in my ears, but I can’t hear his words over the roar of my own heartbeat and my crying. Hopefully it wasn’t anything important.
“Shh, sweetheart.” Releasing one of my hands, Catharina brushes hair from my soaked face and something in me calms, just a bit, at her tender touch. “It’s all over now. You took your punishment so well and your Daddy issoproud of you.”
I don’t want to feel the sense of peace that washes over me at her words. I sure as fuck don’t want to feel my heart swell in my chest, knowing my brother is proud of me. It’s not anything I ever wanted from him before now, and I certainly don’t want his praise because I let him break me like this.
Something slides between my legs and I let out a deep sob as the strange underwear covers my abused ass. The material didn’t bother me before, but now it feels too rough, too scratchy.
And, I realize quickly, it does a phenomenal job of trapping the heat from my punishment against my skin, giving me no relief from the burning pain.
By the time Jasper scoops me up in his arms and carries me to a couch where he settles with me on his lap, cradling me and rocking me like a baby, I’m beyond exhausted. The desire to fight him, to escape has been stripped from me and all I want is to curl up in his arms and sleep.
If his goal was to break me, then he did a very thorough job.
“Poor little thing.” Sitting next to us on the couch, Catharina props a large bag on her lap and reaches inside. “From what you told us about her last night, I had a feeling you two might be in for a rough road. So I brought her a little treat, fresh from the source this morning.”
The promise of a treat is enough to have me prying my eyes open to see what she’s brought me. But it takes me a moment to truly process what I’m seeing as she pulls the plastic top off and hands it to Jasper.
Humiliation, fresh and hot, wells inside me. It’s a bottle. Full of milk. At least, I really fucking hope it’s milk and not some weird concoction they’ve made up to keep me drugged and pliant.
“Thank you, Cat. Would you mind taking her pacifier out? My hands are a bit full at the moment.”
“Of course.” Leaning over, Catharina reaches behind me to unbuckle the gag. The straps loosen and I instinctively stretch my mouth open wide to work the kinks out of my sore jaw.
To my surprise, there’s no hint of judgment or scorn in Catharina’s eyes. She looks almost… kind. Sweet, in an indulgent Aunt kind of way. It’s so at odds with the whispers I’ve heard about her over the years that for a moment I can only stare in wonder as my brain tries to put the pieces of this odd, fucked up puzzle into place.
Cupping my cheek, her lips curve up in a smile as she brushes at a tear with her thumb. “There’s our pretty girl,” she murmurs softly. “Hello, Juliet. I’m your Auntie Cat.”
“I kn-know who you are,” I manage to say in a hoarse whisper.
Her smile widens and I get yet another surprise when she actuallywinksat me. “You know Catharina Montgomery. Trust me when I say, you are one of a small handful of people in this world who will ever get to know Auntie Cat. It’s quite a privilege, actually, though I’m sure it doesn’t feel like one right now.”
“I don’t know what I feel right now.” And it’s the truth. Humiliated and sore, yes, but there’s also an undercurrent of something I can’t quite pinpoint. A quietness that almost seems to burrow into my soul.
“That’s perfectly all right, sweetheart. You just let your Daddy take care of you. That’s all anyone expects of you at this moment. Right, Jasper?”
“Absolutely.” Cupping the bottle in his hand, Jasper brings the nipple to my lips. A smile I’ve never seen before has spread across his face, turning him from charmingly handsome to absolutely devastating in a heartbeat. “Drink, princess, and then we’ll all sit and have some breakfast together. I imagine we’ve both worked up quite an appetite.”
Another of those long-buried instincts rises to the surface and I immediately suck on the rubber in my mouth. Sweet, cold milk rushes over my tongue, more delicious than anything I’ve ever tasted before, washing away the residual yuckiness from the soap. I suckle greedily at the bottle, beyond caring that I’m embarrassing myself in front of Catharina.
No. Not Catharina. Auntie Cat. Maybe thinking of her that way in my mind will help with the humiliation. Because here, she isn’t Catharina Montgomery, heiress to the Montgomery Oil fortune and a ruthless businesswoman in her own right. Here,she is simply Auntie Cat, a woman who wants nothing more than to spoil and dote on me.
Pulling in another mouthful of milk, I look up at Jasper. He’s still watching me, with something like awe in his eyes. And I realize then why his smile looked so odd to me before.