Confrontation

Fifteen minutes after that, the elevator doors swung open and a bell chimed to announce that they had reached their destination. Michael stepped out forest and Jasmine followed in his wake. The bare floor under her feet had been replaced by a thick but low carpet which dug into her soles. Cold air played around her body, gusts of it brushed against her chest and hardened nipples. Her hands were bound behind her back now. Michael had tied them there with rope so she couldn't shield herself. Jasmine felt herself getting hotter and hotter as warm blood flowed to her face and cheeks. She didn't want to step out of the elevator, didn't want to face what was coming next. She had **** though. Michael had made that clear.

It was one of the hardest things she'd ever done to take that first step. It wasn't a new route she was walking now. It was an old one. This was the route she'd taken each and every day. The elevator ride, the stuffy carpet, the air conditioner that was always too cold. These things were known to her. They were familiar.

This was her department. The place she had managed up until a few days ago. The elevator opened to a large room which was divided by cubicle walls. The cubicles were all half open, and inside there were desks and people hard at work. Men and women in respectable clothes who were calculating numbers, running forms, doing paperwork and performing all of the other tasks that a big business needed to undertake in order to stay viable. No one looked around at first. People would come and go at will so the sound of the elevator was not new or unexpected for anyone here.

Jasmine wanted to turn back now. She wanted the game to be over. These weren't strangers, these were people she had worked with for years. She knew their names, the names of their husbands or wives if they had them. The names of their children sometimes. This was her domain, or at least what had once been it. The place where she had been powerful was now the place where she was most weak.

"Come on, ****," Michael laughed. "Pick up the pace, would you?"

Jasmine lowered her head, blinking back memories and tears. She felt as if she was crackling with electricity, horror and arousal mixed and flowed through her. She was shaking like a leaf and yet she was still obeying his commands. Did he have some sort of power over her? Did the Crown make it so she had to do what he wanted? No, nothing like that. The truth was that she simply was now caught up in a game of her own devising and couldn't turn on the breaks. Jasmine was pulled forward by her own lust, her own desire. Even as the shame hit her like a solid wave. Even as Michael marched her past the cubicles of people who had been her friends and companions. Some of them didn't look up. Their eyes were fixed to the screen as if they didn't want to see her like this. Others turned to watch. They were horrified. She could feel their eyes on her naked body. Many of them couldn't help but follow the swell of her breasts or the curve of her legs. Jasmine gulped and kept going. She was so wet at the moment. Mounting horror told her that this was even more arousing than she had ever imagined.

Jasmine walked the familiar path. Michael was ahead of her but she didn't have to see him to know where she was going now. It was in grained, the same path she had taken every day. The rope bit into her wrists as it held her arms behind her back. Each step plunged her further and further into this confusing nightmare that was sparking both horror and desire in equal measure.

Someone started to follow them, trailing behind. Jasmine didn't know who it was but soon there were more. People got up from their desks and crowded around her. Watching as she was paraded naked before them like a conquered queen being made to march along the streets of her capital. That was what Michael was doing. He was making her experience the full sense of helplessness that came with her new place. He was grinding in her new status both to herself and to the people she'd worked with. To friends and enemies alike he was making it known.

Jasmine's clit ached with desire. It was a tight little spot of heat and want between her legs. She closed her eyes but could feel the wetness of the liquid staining her thighs. Anyone watching had to see this. Had to see how wet she was. People she'd worked with for years, who she had respected and who had respected her in turn. There was no trying to pretend that this wasn't arousing to her. The cold air blew around her swollen nipples. She could feel the dampness between her legs. No one said anything but they all saw it.

Michael led the way. Jasmine followed. Her heart pounded. She wondered when he would finally tire of this stage of the game. When he would decide he had gathered enough witnesses. As fortune would have it, that moment was only a few minutes away. Once he judged enough people were interested he gestured for her to come to a stop. They were now almost at the centre of the room and the space around them was taken up with people. Jasmine didn't dare look at their faces for fear of seeing their judgement so she stared at the ground instead. Her pulse raced. Her heart beat.

Then Michael spoke.

"As you all know, our beloved former manager was recently charged with rather serious accusations. As part of her plea deal, she agreed to serve in a new capacity for the company. Today I hope we're all glad to welcome back Jasmine Adams."

Jasmine's face burned with shame and humiliation. She kept waiting for the floor to swallow her up but it never did. At the same time, arousal surged through her, spiking as Michael spoke. She desperately wanted it all to end and yet somehow managed to also want it to carry on. She was torn between two sides. Aching to see what happened next and knowing that it would be degrading and humiliating.

The crowd murmured. It was the sound of too many people trying to whisper at once. Jasmine couldn't catch any single thing that was said. There were cries of disgust and distaste, lustful overtures. Neutral tones and curious questions.

All of them were looking at her now. She shifted from one foot to the other, still not daring to look up.

"As part of her new duties, Jasmine is no longer a manager." Michael went on. "There's not yet an official title for what she is but let's be blunt about it. ****. Yes, she is a ****!"

The crowd reacted to the words. Some of the people started to shout at that, disbelieving. One person strode forwards. Jasmine realised it was one of her aids, a younger man called Calim.

"This is disgusting, Michael." Calim said. "You can't do this. You can't do all of this."

He gestured to her. To her naked body. To the ropes binding her wrists behind her back.

"This is blatantly wrong and I can't believe you're going through with this. Let her go this moment."

"Let her go? Let her go?" Michael laughed. "If I let her go she would go to jail! That was the condition of her release, after all. She has to make up for all the money she cost the company with her body and her service. That's legal. You can't do anything about it, Calim. Even she knows it, or else why would she be standing here like this?"

Jasmine flushed bright red. Hearing the two argue over her made her want to step in but she was acutely aware of her position now. Her heart beat faster and she wondered which one of them would win. Which one she wanted to win.

"This is inhuman," Calim growled, "Whether technically legal or not. Don't tell me you all agree with this?"

He turned on the ground, spreading his arms wide as if to gesture to each of them in turn.

"That's Jasmine there. You all know her. You've all worked with her. Are you really going to let him parade her around naked and do all sorts of things to her? It's not right and you all know it!"

The crowd murmured again. Jasmine saw that some of them - both men and women - were quite happy to have Michael do that with her. Her star had risen fast in the company. She had enemies. More than that though, she was also attractive and fit and there was a certain group of both males and females who simply would have liked to see more of her in this way in the future.

However, even together those two groups didn't equal half the crowd. Others were neutral, but more than that were on Calim's side. They were getting louder and louder now and Michael must have sensed that he was on the verge of losing control. The legal argument wasn't working so he switched tactics.

"Do you want Jasmine to go to jail? Because this is the only way she can avoid it. And it won't be for a short time either! We're talking years, maybe decades. If that's the sort of fate you want to inflict on a friend then go right ahead."

"That's not..." Calim's jaw clenched. Jasmine could see that he was struggling to come up with something else that they could do. Because of the power of the Crown, everything that had happened so far was legal. Legal, but not moral and Jasmine saw now that to some there was a clear difference. Even if all the laws of the land were telling Calim that she deserved this, Calim's own moral centre disagreed. He wasn't the only one either. Plenty of people in the crowd seemed to feel the same way.