Chapter V
Caution: Sexual activity. Debauchery and bodily harm.
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"You will leave Ives alone or else!" This threat made the room silent. Zeke found himself at odds with his employer's new pet barely a few days after their first introduction, this was quite the dilemma.
"I won't ask what inspired this but do know it will benefit me nothing to act against, Mister Rothschild." Zeke bridged the distance between them and stood face to face with Isolde, his hands reaching to grab and in response Isolde held a knife up to his throat. The blade pressed against his neck, deep enough to be a considerable danger but thankfully the wielder hadn't gone all the way. Zeke didn't stop and reached out to brush Isolde's hair with his fingers. "You would be surprised how often this happens to me."
Isolde remained tranquil, not a single hint of malice or emotion. Her stare was silent and calm, like the resting beach in the dead of night.
"I swear on my life, I am not like them. Yes, I plan to use Ives but not to his detriment. We are partners nothing more, souls trying to stand upright in this nightmare of a world. If I wanted to harm Ives there had been many opportunities for me to do so. I could have hired those masked men to hold him hostage till he relinquished his fortune then finished him off to avoid detection. I could have conspired with the underground to poison Ives before stealing his identity and living off his wealth. I could have simply recorded our little excursion and held it as blackmail but I didn't. Did I?"
Zeke listed every possible way he could have circumvented Ives, this created an air of mutual understanding between him and Isolde.
Isolde inquired, "Why didn't you then?"
"Simple, it would have been too easy, that is all I can say."
Isolde lowered the blade and Zeke drew closer, soon their bodies were mere millimeters away from each other.
Zeke rubbed her head affectionately, "Thank you for watching over our investment today. Let us work together in the future to ensure Ives rises to the top for both our sakes."
Zeke planted a kiss on Isolde's forehead, a subtle gesture of their new alliance. His experienced hands travelled across her naked body, he inspected the leftover scars from her previous owners.
"Miss Isolde Carpenter." He recited his dossier on her, "..nineteen years of age at this time. You were about to have it all. Your father, a promising medical researcher, claimed to be on the cusp of a breakthrough in anti-aging research, a claim which attracted many deep pockets to invest, then suddenly he vanished; only a note confessing fraud and extortion was left behind. He was declared a fugitive and the ever hungry deep pockets looking for a means to recover their lost funds used you and your frail mother as the scapegoats. You lost everything but that wasn't enough for those monsters. They looked at you and decided that you will live as a slave to make up for his debt. You had no choice but to agree to this unofficial term as it doesn't take much to make a mother and her lovely daughter disappear off the face of the earth. You were bought, used, sold more times than you care to remember till you found Ives and now you want to protect him from becoming like those monsters you had to endure. Each one left their scars. How awful." Then Zeke made a shocking reveal, lowering his collar to show a grotesque burn scar, "I faced that when I was trafficked into this country, this my dear was one of the good ones. I had some organs sold off too before I managed to buy my way out of that hell. Now I live as a shadow helping prop up ambition, I only serve those that I can see a future in and Ives is one of those. He is ours to care for and through him we will rise beyond this awful pathetic life. All three of us."
Isolde responded by stretching out her hands and grazing the burn areas, her touch was soft and empathetic. This gesture was her way of fully acknowledging Zeke and welcoming him into her heart.
"Thank you, Miss Carpenter." Zeke too expressed his undying loyalty but didn't stop there. He slowly slid on his knees and came at face level with Isolde's pussy.
He made his move, he pressed his face against her and inhaled deeply, savouring her moist fragrance like a chef testing his ultimate dish.
Soon he brought out his tongue and went to work eating her out to his heart's content, Isolde rewarded him with her moans. Zeke poured out all his romantic passion onto Isolde, he kissed her lower lips passionately like it was his long lost lover. Isolde's thighs tightened around his head and soon a gentle stream of bodily fluids poured out into Zeke's mouth who received it greedily.
He returned to his feet and ended their activity.
"I know you didn't climax to Ives so I helped you reawaken that urge."
Zeke removed his jacket and wrapped it around Isolde before heading towards the elevator.
"It been a pleasure, see in the morning. Our work has only begun."
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Ives woke to the gentle sound of pages rubbing against each other. He stood and went to the living room, there Isolde was already up, seated on the long couch with a book in her hands.
She still in her iconic outfit of a long sleeved white shirt and Black pants. This took him back to memories of the previous night.
He tried to approach quietly but the motion sensing light flashed for a bit giving away his presence.
Isolde moved her face to Ives who stood awkwardly at the passage door, there were no words said. Isolde placed her book on the side and went to meet her master.
She met him with a hug, her arms wrapped comfortably around his neck, Ives not expecting this once again blundered.
"Good morning." He said to Isolde. "Morning" She replied with her head rested on his chest. Their day had started.
Ives went back to have a shower and returned to a pleasant sight.
Plates containing bacon, toast, creamed coffee and eggs was now waiting for him and behind the stove was Isolde putting the finishing touches on the cooking.
"Master Ives. It will get cold." Ives had his breakfast with Isolde who was basically his live maid/girlfriend. A few minutes in, the elevator door opened and Zeke walked in with a smile. Seeing Ives, he immediately bowed in greeting.
"Forgive my Intrusion but business waits for no one."
"Good morning, Mister Zeke." Ives invited Zeke over to sit and he did.
Zeke passed over some files to Ives.
"This contains promising ventures to invest in. Your wealth is outstanding, but money sitting around doing nothing is a liability not a privilege."
"I see." Ives agreed as he flipped through the files.
"Your move to buy up this building and the company behind it was a smart move but still we need to consider expanding further than this. Inside that file are promising shares that will triple in value in the next six months, stocks that will do the same and various ways we can minimise financial issues like unnecessary taxes, potential identity theft and currency value fluctuation with inflation. If we follow this plan we should be seeing consistent profits soon."
Ives inquired, "This sounds complicated and tiring." His words held genuine fatigue inside them but also the willingness to commit if he had to.
Zeke understood, a while ago Ives didn't a future worth fighting for and now he had to keep up with his new life as an elite. Anyone would be terrified.
"No worries that is why I am here but first we need to get some things clear."
"What?"
"This is all just a front. Power in this world isn't about how good you are, it is about who you know. Even if you come up with a groundbreaking product whose value is immeasurable, if you don't know the right person or one of the big shots consider you a threat it won't be long till everything you worked for is benefitting someone else and you are left with nothing or dead."
"Is there anyone I should be worried about?"
Zeke explained, "Everything you know about modern wealth is wrong. There is a difference between those who are surface wealthy with a lot of money and just that then there are those we call the old money. Their grip run through everything, they don't just have money, they are the ones who make money a thing. Every that keeps society running, they have their hands in it. They have money on scales you wouldn't believe, information on just about everything, they could even tell you when you are going to die. Connections that reach all the way up to the presidential level. They don't just exploit change, they control it. Before any good piece of tech, medical care or innovation reaches the masses they had already used it for a good decade and there are still so much that they keep elusive to their circle, things good enough to create miracles and causes fairytales to come to life."
Zeke pointed to the file and Ives opened the last page, there a few lines was written in blood red.
THERE IS A SECRET CABAL CONTROLLING VALKYREN AND THEY'VE GOT THEIR EYES ON YOU. THAT IS WHO WE HAVE TO PLEASE.