Chapter 29

Later that evening, back in their bedroom, Elias granted one small mercy.

Clara was allowed to visit.

Lena was already under the silk sheets when the older woman entered, per Elias’s strict orders. She sat up carefully, clutching the fabric to her chest.

Clara’s face softened the moment she saw her. “How are you, child?”

The simple warmth in her voice broke something inside Lena. She reached out, and Clara moved forward, pulling her into a gentle embrace. Lena clung to her tightly, burying her face in the familiar scent of lavender and home.

“I missed you,” Lena whispered, voice cracking. “So much.”

Clara held her for a long moment before pulling back, brushing a strand of hair from Lena’s face with maternal tenderness.

Lena’s eyes filled with desperate hope. “Clara ... please talk to him. About Samantha and Viktor. About what he’s planning. I’m scared of what he might do to them.”

Clara shook her head slowly, her expression heavy with sorrow.

“I’ve never seen him like this, Lena. Not even after Liz. He’s ... different with you. More intense. More dangerous. I’ve tried speaking with him, but his mind is made up. And honestly?” She sighed. “What you did was dangerous. Reckless. You put yourself in harm’s way when you could have simply called him.”

Lena’s throat tightened. “I know ... but Clara, I had to. That woman — Samantha — she intended real harm to Elias. I felt it. The hatred, the planning ... I thought if I didn’t follow her right then, I might lose the chance. Or Elias might not find her in time.”

Clara looked at her with deep, knowing sadness.

“You nearly got yourself killed. My dear ... you are playing with fire. Elias loves you in a way that consumes everything. Including himself. Be careful, Lena. Please.”

“Clara ... where are Viktor and Samantha? What is he doing to them?”

Clara let out a slow, heavy sigh. She reached out and gently took Lena’s hand, her touch warm and maternal.

“I don’t know, child. Truly. Elias doesn’t speak to me about those kinds of things. Only he and Roger know where they are being kept. He keeps that part of his world locked away from me.” Lena nodded, tears slipping down her cheeks as she held Clara’s hand tightly. The weight of her choices, the fear of what was coming, and the strange comfort of being back in Elias’s world pressed down on her all at once.

“Please ... talk to him. I’m scared of what he might do to them. He’s so angry, Clara. I can feel it. It’s darker than anything I’ve ever sensed from him before. I don’t want him to become a monster because of me.”

Clara studied her for a long moment, her expression heavy with concern. Then, in a quiet, worried voice, she asked, “Has he punished you for what you did?”

Lena shook her head, tears shimmering in her eyes.

“No ... he hasn’t. Not yet. And that worries me even more. He’s holding it back. I can feel it in him.”

Clara nodded slowly, her face shadowed with quiet understanding. She leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss to Lena’s forehead.

“I will talk to him soon, my dear. I promise. Just try to rest now.”

With that, Clara stood, giving Lena’s hand one final squeeze before quietly leaving the room. As the door closed behind her, her expression grew resolute.

She needed to speak with Elias — and soon.

Elias stood just outside the door, listening in silence, his expression unreadable as the two women spoke. His rage had not faded. It had only been buried beneath layers of icy control.

For now.

Lena remained alone in the bedroom, the weight of everything pressing down on her. The silence felt heavier than ever. She touched her throat, her collar was no longer there. What had happened to it? She wondered.

Roger Bennett stood in the shadows of the command center, arms crossed.

He had been the first through the door when they raided the abandoned estate. The sight that greeted him had stopped his heart cold.

Lena lay unconscious on the cold floor of the lab, blood pooling beneath her. For one horrifying second, Roger had thought she was dead. The fear that gripped him in that moment was unlike anything he had ever experienced — sharper than any battlefield, deeper than any mission gone wrong. In that split second, he understood exactly why Elias had become the man he was. Lena wasn’t just a girl to him. She was the axis around which his entire world turned.

That fear had quickly turned to fury.

Samantha and Viktor Lang had done this. They had tried to take her from Elias. They had nearly succeeded.

They deserved everything that was coming to them.

Elias had not yet decided the full extent of their punishment. In the hours after Lena was safely back in the hidden medical chamber, he had pulled Roger aside, voice rough with barely contained emotion.

“I need time,” he had said. “I need to come out of this shock first. Make sure they’re secure. Keep them alive and conscious. But do not begin until I say so.”

Roger had followed those orders to the letter.

He had overseen their transport to the secure underground facility, ensuring they were separated, sedated just enough to keep them compliant, and placed under constant surveillance. He had handled the legal side with ruthless efficiency — forging documents, paying off the right officials, and creating a paper trail that made their disappearance look like a simple flight from justice.

Fortunately, even the CIA had wanted Viktor Lang. When Roger’s team swept the abandoned estate, they discovered a treasure trove of other deadly viruses and bioweapons research. A quiet deal was struck. In exchange for enough evidence to bury Lang in federal charges, the agency agreed to look the other way on whatever Elias chose to do with him privately. The FBI followed suit. As far as the official record was concerned, Viktor Lang and Samantha Davis had simply vanished after a failed attempt on a high-profile target.

No one would come looking.

Samantha and Viktor had tried to kill Lena.

For that, they would suffer in ways the world would never know.

Roger would make sure of it. When Elias finally gave the word, he would carry out every order without hesitation or mercy.

Because in the end, his loyalty was absolute.

And Lena Voss was the only thing that truly mattered.

The hunt had only just begun. And Roger Bennett was ready to make it hurt. Elias entered the bedroom without a word, crossing the space in long, purposeful strides. He drew back the covers and lifted Lena’s naked body into his arms, carrying her as though she were something both precious and entirely his.

“Master ... I can walk,” she murmured, still hoarse from the days of isolation.

“Not yet,” he replied, his voice firm but edged with exhaustion. “You’ve done enough walking for now.”

He set her down gently in the bathroom and turned on the shower, warm steam filling the air. Elias undressed with deliberate calm, revealing the powerful lines of his body. Lena’s eyes widened at the sight of his thick, hard cock, already heavy with need.

“Come here,” he said quietly.

He guided her under the cascading water and pulled her close, pressing her bare body flush against his. For a long moment, he simply held her, arms wrapped tightly around her waist, face buried in the curve of her neck. A deep, weary sigh escaped him, carrying the weight of days of unrelenting worry.

Then his hands began to move.

He washed her with meticulous care at first — slow strokes across her shoulders, down her back, over the curve of her waist. But the touch gradually shifted. It became insistent. Possessive. There wasn’t a single inch of her he left untouched. His fingers lingered on her breasts, teasing her nipples until they stiffened under the warm water. He traced the line of her spine, cupped her bottom, and slid between her thighs to stroke her slick, sensitive folds with deliberate slowness.

Lena’s breathing grew ragged, turning into soft, desperate pants as the pleasure built rapidly inside her.

“Please...” she whimpered after long minutes of his unrelenting attention. “Please, Master...”

Elias’s lips brushed her ear, his voice a dark, velvet murmur.

“Mmm ... my love ... my naughty little girl. Do you really think you deserve to come?”

He pressed her back against the cool tile, one hand still between her thighs, circling her swollen clit with slow, torturous precision.

“I think I should keep you desperate for the rest of your life,” he whispered, biting gently at her earlobe. “So beautifully needy. So perfectly mine.”

Lena moaned softly, her body trembling under the water, caught between overwhelming pleasure and the knowledge that her Master was still very much in control — and far from finished with her.

The First Lesson

The warm water continued to fall around them like a gentle rain, but there was nothing gentle about the way Elias held her. He had turned her in his arms, bending her forward over the crook of his elbow, her upper body supported while her legs dangled helplessly. Lena’s heart hammered wildly in her chest as his large palm came down hard on her full soft bare bottom — the first sharp, resounding slap echoing off the tiled walls.

The water made every impact so much worse. The wetness amplified the sting, turning each slap into a deeper, more searing burn that spread across her skin like liquid fire. The moisture prevented the usual cushion of air, making the contact feel raw and unrelenting, as if his hand was branding her with every strike.

Lena sobbed immediately, her body jerking violently with the first blow. “Master—!”