HEEL!

So… you’re offering me the chance to turn Janice into an unwilling dog?

How could I ever say no?

I clicked option B.

Um yes, and should I turn this trait on immediately?

…Wait. What if… What if she was still wearing the collar from the morning?

Surely she was inside, at least. I left her house a good while ago now.

And the collar was completely self-unlockable. Unless she… just forgot to take it off?

If she was still wearing it… This effect would hit her automatically.

…

You know what?

I felt like taking the chance anyway.

If I don’t hear from her in a good while, there was a chance she was stuck crawling around her house naked and barking.

Which was great in its own way, of course.

Yes, activated.

…oh, wait…

She had a brand new 50-point lock as well. How did I completely miss that?

How many points did I get from her altogether? Let’s think… She started from -39, and ended up in +40. Fuck. That might be my all time one-day record.

79 points.

Wait… that crossed the 75-point mark?

Didn’t I get any extra for that? I mean I got a lock at 25 points and 50 points, but nothing at 75 points?

…Yeah… It think that was the case.

But to be honest, I don’t think I really needed one. Janice was currently very much in control.

Perhaps 100 points a day would get me something? Who knew...

But, anyway…. Her new 50-point lock was…

-SAFETY LOCK-

The subject will not be able to physically harm or have anybody else physically harm the user. The subject will find a rational reason why they aren’t able to do so.

Hmm… I think I’ve seen this one before…

Oh right, Rachel had it too. But hey, that’s awesome. This is probably my favorite one anyways. And completely fitting for her.

Time to completely cage the bitch’s violent tendencies. I’ve been choked way too much already.

I activated the lock immediately.

Now… To contact Anna-Marie.

She should get ready for the final part.

HAYLEY

The instant I walked into her office, I could tell the woman was furious.

I mean, she did make it clear on the phone too, but…

I had never seen her like this before.

She was usually the very picture of calm, icy decisiveness.

Now she could barely sit still. And her face was so… red. Like she was one second away from exploding out of her own skin.

She was gripping the handles of her chair so tightly, I was half expecting them to crumble into fine dust.

Then she looked at me.

Holy fuck. I don’t remember being this scared for a while.

Not even on Tuesday night.

“Um, hi… You wanted to meet?” I said as I nervously closed the door behind me.

…Oh God, did Jack play that recording to her?

Oh no oh no… Oh shit oh fuck…

“I just got a call,” she said, barely keeping her voice down. “And a few pictures in the… email.”

“okay…. And?”

There was a dreadful silence for ten seconds. All she did was look at me. Seemingly thinking about her next words.

My only comfort was that she said “pictures”, not “audio”. Perhaps this wasn’t about me?

That fucking Jack. We could’ve taken her down multiple different ways. But he refused to co-operate. Now who knows what the fuck was actually going on here?

I could feel involuntary sweat droplets forming on my forehead. …Just because of the woman’s stare.

“Now. Before I show you the pictures… Let me make my stand… and the situation… perfectly clear. Okay?”

“…aha?”

Was she in… legal trouble?

I finally allowed myself to sit down.

Then… for the next thirty seconds… She spoke nothing. Again.

She was still searching for the right words.

For the first time… I began to wonder…

Maybe that red wasn’t all… anger? I mean… Based on her unusually shy demeanor… She was all of a sudden avoiding my eye contact…

Could it be… embarrassment?

This went on so long, I had to take the lead.

“Remember, Maria. You can tell me anything in confidence. I am your lawyer. Attorney-client privilege and all that. Anything you say remains with us.”

She finally turned back to me, and carefully opened up her mouth to talk.

“…What I do in my private time should be my own business. Right?”

“Yes, obviously.”

“I believe in… consensual… fun.”

“…yes, I’ve no doubt about that.”

What the fuck was she talking about?

“Yesterday… Yesterday night… After I had a few drinks… I was ambushed by two of my employees.”

“Ambushed? As in attacked?”

“No. Well, not in that sense at least.”

She took a moment to organize her thoughts again.

“They… they both… They made it extremely clear to me… That they wanted to have fun.”

“okay…”

Did she mean… two of her female employees? I mean Jack was the only male here…

Was this… lesbian fun?

Based on her crimson face… It felt like this wasn’t something she normally did.

“Then… we… uh… proceeded to have fun. Which included… roleplay.”

Oh shit. Kinky.

“W-what type of roleplay?” I asked.

“In this play… the persons in question… wanted to pretend… that if they didn’t do exactly what I ordered them to do… I would fire them.”

“Oh dear.”

I could see the shitstorm finally take a clearer shape.

“And, without my knowledge… It was filmed. All of it. And… a few minutes ago… I just got off the phone with a… reporter. She sent me a few stills from the video… Asking for my comment to… accusations of sexual harassment.”

…

Phew… this was bad…

For Maria.

It was great for me, though!

Did she foolishly play herself out? Got a little powerdrunk, and-

No. What am I thinking? This whole think sounded exactly like a sting operation.

“I presume the video was shot in one room only?” I asked.

“Yes. Bedroom. The camera was hidden in the ceiling.”

“So… in this video…”

“Yes. I threatened to fire them multiple times. Unless they did what I asked.”

“At any point did you-“

“NO! We did not discuss the rules of the roleplay in the bedroom. That’s what… they wanted.”

She was seething. That “no” was already a small, contained explosion.

“How can we kill this story?”, she asked with her hands gripping the chair handles even tighter.

“Well, I-“

“Should I call those two whores to the office? And really make it clear who they’re messing with?”

“…Absolutely not! Under no circumstances are you allowed to speak to them, not one single word, until this case is over with. We’d just be giving them more material to work with!”

She sat there for a few seconds, grinding her teeth like some type of beast.

“…This was a set-up. As clear as can be. Can we counter-sue, then?”

…I had to admire her fighting spirit.

Unfortunately… I wouldn’t know how to paddle out of this shit creek. Even if I wanted to.

For all her misfortunes, her current lawyer also wanted her to fall. Hard.

“Based on what you described… And the fact that this is already going to the papers… Yes, we should counter-sue… But, you know, in the face of the public opinion, your magazines are going to suffer. Unless you take at least some small distanc-“

“You’re not on the board of stock-holders. It’s not your job to care how the magazine is doing.”

…Yeah, that was true.

Well, who cared how she fell. Let her go down with the ship.

All I needed was for her to be less powerful. That way there was less chance she could harm me with her connections. And I also needed to do this for… Jack. That way he’d have no reason to keep blackmailing me.

But it was obvious. She wanted to fight this. And fight this hard.

Now… I had to think of the obvious, real culprit here… But first, I needed to confirm something.

“Who are the two employees in question?”

“Lana Douglas and Anna-Marie Depardieu.”

…

Wow.

Just… the thought of those three gorgeous women together…

I mean, I’m not gay… But I’d have to be ultra-straight not to be at least somewhat… curious, what the scene looked like…

Apparently, there was a video…

No, stop it.

Why would those two redheads do this?

Only one who really gained in this situation… was Jack.

Definitely Jack.

Did he pay them an insane amount of money?

No, the fucker was poor as a rat. And still, is there any amount of money to humiliate yourself to that point?

Did he **** them somehow? He seemed like an unnaturally cunning person, I wouldn’t put it past him…

“Now, why do you believe these women… framed you like this?” I asked.

She took a contemplative pause, and stood up, turning her back to me.

“I know only one thing. There’s one person behind this all.”

I swallowed.

“…and who… who do you think it is?”

She turned slowly back to me.

She looked at me. All over.

Reading me. My every movement. My every twitch.

She was only standing, but it felt like she was towering over me.

How could one woman be so frightening?

“Why don’t you tell me… Hayley?”

…

Oh God.

I was about to stutter some scared, bad reply…

But thankfully my phone saved me.

DING!

A new text message.

To quickly change the topic, I signaled for a pause and quickly read the brand new text.

It was from… Anna-Marie?

“Hey Hayley. This is Anna-Marie Depardieu. I want to tell you something. This morning I got a phone call from Washington Post. They asked for my comments and consent on the story about me, Maria, and Lana last night.

I’m sending you this message to let you know, that I’ve yet to give my consent. But I will. In two hours. Unless Maria resigns from her position at the magazine and relinquishes the ownership. Let your client know.”

…

This was stupid. They just sent me literal proof that this whole thing was a **** operation.

But Maria didn’t need to understand that.

Right now… Only one thing should satisfy her.

“I believe we can still kill the story. Maria.”