Chapter 49: Ranch Training

When we came back inside, sweaty from training, Rebecca was sitting at the computer. Aaron had broken a sweat too, though far less than I had. I asked Rebecca whether she wanted anything, but she just waved me off. So I went to shower.

Aaron had already gone upstairs and was probably showering in his own bathroom. The house had several, after all.

After I’d showered and changed, I slipped into comfortable sneakers, glad to finally have the boots off. Then I went back downstairs to Rebecca and, after a brief instruction from her, knelt beside her, waiting at her disposal. She ignored me completely at first, apparently absorbed in the files.

Only after nearly an hour did she speak to me again.

“You’re making a lot of work for me, Johanna. But I feel it’s doing me good, because I’m noticing more and more memory gaps I can fill in this way. What do you think, should everything go on the fake server?”

I’d already been thinking about that during the past hour.

“If Holger is probably working for Morosov, he’ll know pretty precisely what should be on the server. And the normal Rooms data won’t interest him much. He’s looking for your personal, hidden files. Especially anything you have on Morosov.”

Rebecca nodded.

“That’s what I think too. So we’ll simply mirror our normal server. With the exception of the client files. Those are too sensitive. He could do even more damage with those. Martin will have to come up with something, maybe a fake list with random data. As for my personal data, I don’t keep that on our company server anyway. Too many people could access it too easily.”

I noticed she didn’t tell me where she stored it instead. We didn’t trust each other.

“To what extent does Morosov have access to the company files? Couldn’t he have searched everything himself already?”

“No. None of the owners have direct access to the data. They’re investors, not operational managers. Even the supervisory board only has access to results, not all the data. Unless, of course, they needed something more specific.”

“What about Charly?”

Rebecca looked at me, surprised.

“What about him?”

“Doesn’t he have extensive permissions?”

“Of course. He’s the creative director.”

“And he’s at odds with you, right?”

She looked thoughtful.

“What are you getting at?”

“The recording of my interrogation.”

Rebecca leaned back in her wheelchair.

“If Charly were on Morosov’s side, Holger wouldn’t have needed you.”

“What do you have on Charly?”

Rebecca blinked. That gave her away.

“What would I have on him?”

“No idea, but if he isn’t your friend, you must be controlling him some other way, right?”

One raised eyebrow told me she felt a hint of admiration for my conclusion. Or for my research results.

“You think he’s running his own little game. That’s possible.”

“Don’t you ever fear your whole system of blackmail and manipulation in the house will collapse one day?” I blurted out.

“So far it’s worked well. I’m still the boss of the Rooms, aren’t I?”

It was pointless trying to debate that with Rebecca. She probably couldn’t do otherwise. So I just nodded and held back any further comment.

She waited a moment longer, then turned back to her laptop.

“But the idea about Charly is good. I’ll check him out.”

We didn’t say another word about it for the rest of the evening. I grew bored beside Rebecca while she worked. It was late when she closed the laptop and we went upstairs.

It was Aaron who guided her up the stairs. I helped her undress and shower before she got into bed. I was about to go to my room when she called me back.

“Where do you think you’re going, Fifteen. You’ll sleep here on the floor at the foot of my bed, understood?”

After a moment of surprise, I nodded.

“Yes, Mistress.”

It was an uncomfortable night for me. Not only because there was no bed, but because the events of the day wouldn’t let me settle.

“Aaron told me your running technique could use improvement,” Rebecca opened at breakfast.

I’d cooked and set everything out. Rebecca sat in her wheelchair at the head of the table, me to her right, Aaron at the other end, opposite Rebecca. Because Rebecca had a slight motor problem, I buttered the roll for her.

“Yes, Mistress. I’m pretty out of practice.”

“How are your labia?”

Aaron didn’t so much as flinch at the topic. He had himself under control.

“A bit sore, but manageable.”

“Then you should start training with the chastity belt today. The weather’s good again. Right after breakfast we’ll try the sulky again. You’ll wear the chastity belt, the harness, and the boots, nothing else. Aaron will help you put the harness on.”

“Yes, Mistress.”

Neither Rebecca nor I brought up what had happened lately again this morning. We apparently weren’t ready yet. Instead, we tried to return to a new normal, avoiding explosive topics for the time being. It was a rough restart, with each of us still unsure what to make of the other.

I was still unsure whether I truly wanted to let myself be locked back in the basement, Rebecca’s promise to bring me to my sister or not. I still had the confrontation with Isabell ahead of me too, and I already felt uncomfortable thinking about it.

Aaron had been silent, hardly more than a brief greeting in the morning and the occasional question whether he could help with something. I wondered whether he had a family, and what they knew about his job. He didn’t wear a ring. For such a short-notice 72-hour assignment, Rebecca must be paying him very well. But although she seemed to trust him, he wasn’t involved with the circle basement, or aware of the circle.