Page 26 of A Dove To Break

“Look… there is absolutely nothing wrong with being a switch. And it’s not even about being a switch, really. You are just appeasing that bratty dominance and letting her lead. She is not dominant overall, but it’s obvious that she enjoys making you feel good. Right?”

“Yeah. She said she loved it, but loved when I took over too,” I tell him.

“Your entire life doesn’t have to be ruled by that dynamic. Treat her like a wife, not your submissive. She is your equal,” he says. “If that means you let her edge you for three hours before you hold her down and fuck her unconscious, great. Don’t live from scene to scene. Just… live,” he says.

“Yeah. I wish I could just take her out of this shit and bring her home,” I say.

“Yeah. Maybe we…”

“Mr. Santos, you have a visitor,” Julio, my guard, says from the door. “He says that he is Alania Remington’s brother.”

“Brently? Interesting,” I say as Raul and I stand up. “Send him in.”

Julio walks away, and a few seconds later, a man enters. How these two are related is beyond me, because she doesn’t look like any of them. “Brent,” I say. “Come in and shut the door.”

“I’ll make this quick. I saw you were off campus, so I… followed you. That’s not important. You are a master at the school, right? You know my sister, Alania?”

“I do,” I say. “Why?”

“One of the other masters was hired by our father to kill her during the Hunt. He was instructed to be her master during the school and then…”

“Fredrico,” I say.

“Yes,” he sighs.

“How do you know this?” Raul asks.

“Because…” he says hesitantly. “I’m being groomed to take over leading The Society…”

“You fucking knew your father was going to kill her? You knew he was leading? What else do you fucking know?” I bark at him.

“I’m trying to keep myself alive. I can’t help her…”

“No. You can’t. You cared more about yourself than her!” I yell at him.

“I can’t help her if he fucking kills me!” Brent screams back at me. “You don’t think I’ve tried to talk him out of it? I’ve been protecting…”

“Protecting?” I say, calmly.

“Adrian…” Raul says.

“He raped her. Did you know that?” I ask. “Did you know he was raping her from the time she was little? Forcing her to suck him off? Did you know? Did you help?”

“God no. I didn’t know. Why wouldn’t she tell me that?” Brent asks as tears fill his eyes. “I’m gay. I’ve done everything I can to hide it. If he finds out…”

“He will have you killed slowly,” I say with a sigh.

“I will be fucking tortured,” he confirms.

“Why are you coming to me?” I ask.

“Because I know what they did to your dad,” he says. “Your dad and Charles ran everything, and it wasn’t like this. Women had freedom, and people could love who they wanted to. Your father was a great man… but Dad had other plans. He managed to break Mom, so he wanted to break all women. The ones who didn’t break died.”

“Alania is my submissive,” I say, and he sighs a breath of relief. “I will be the one marrying her, and I can promise you now… no one will hurt her. I already knew she was a target, but I got Charles to agree to let the girls stay in our rooms. She is currently locked in with my laptop, watching movies.”

“Charles isn’t a bad guy. He didn’t want any of this,” Brent says. “My dad was the one who killed your dad. Charles is just a weak man who is being forced to play a dominant role to keep his family alive.”

“Mark is… not dominant. He struggled yesterday when they were paired up with the girls,” I say.