Maid For Daddies.

Chapter 11

Billie.

I stood in front of the full-length mirror in my room, the burgundy dress already on.

The fabric was heavier than my usual navy uniform, the color deep and warm like aged wine. It was only an inch shorter at the hem.

The bodice hugged my chest exactly right, cradling the swell of my busty breasts like it had been measured for me alone.

I turned slightly, watching the way the dress clung to my waist. The sheer black stockings Silas had given me climbed my legs like dark smoke.

I tilted my head, studying my reflection.

I looked… pretty.

The burgundy brought out the warmth in my skin, made my eyes look bigger. I ran my hands down the sides, smoothing nonexistent wrinkles, and a small, surprised breath escaped me.

I gathered my hair, twisted it high into a ponytail, securing it with a black ribbon from the dresser drawer. The length swung against my back as I moved.

The trolley wheels rolled to a soft stop in front of Molly.

The knob was glassy, flecked with tiny glints of glitter that made it shimmer like. The handle beneath was solid gold.

The door itself sat precisely between the three bedrooms. Leon’s to the left, Silas’s directly opposite, Law’s to the right.

It had to mean something.

I turned the knob and swang the door open.

I pushed the trolley inside and let the door close behind me with a gentle latch.

The room exhaled cool air, scented faintly with sweet aged vanilla. Recessed lights glowed lowly along the baseboards, painting everything in soft amber. My eyes adjusted slowly, and the first thing they found was the strange bed.

A massive steel and black frame rose from the center of the floor veined with thin threads of gold that caught the light like liquid metal. Thick posts curved upward from each corner, arching until they met in a domed lattice overhead forming a perfect bird-like cage around the bed.

I stood there with the duster still in my hand, trying to make sense of it. I’d never seen anything like this.

The velvet sheets were midnight black, stretched taut and smooth across the mattress. At the head and foot, leather cuffs waited. They were padded inside, buckled with polished metal chains short enough to allow only the smallest movement.

I swallowed and set the duster on the trolley and stepped closer.

The barred cage door swung open at my touch. I hesitated, then stepped inside. I knelt to wipe the lower bars, rag moving automatically while my mind raced.

On the outside of the cage door was a small brass keyhole. But inside nothing.

Whoever was placed here couldn’t leave. Not until someone else decided.

My fingers stilled on the bar.

What kind of room was this?

I stood again, switched on the vacuum. My gaze lifted above. I turned off the vacuum.

Crystal chandelier droplets cascaded from the dome’s center, refracting light into tiny prisms that danced across the black velvet below. Too beautiful for the room it hung in.

I saw my reflection looking back down from the polished underside of the dome.

Looking down, floor-to-ceiling panels on every wall outside the cage. Angled just so anyone lying on this bed would see what's being done to them.

Last night's dream replayed in my head. I could imagine myself on this bed, watching in the mirrors as they—

I slapped my cheek lightly. “Focus.”

I reached for one of the cuffs at the headboard, my fingertips tracing the leather.

They felt soft where it would touch skin. The chain rattled faintly when I tugged.

The layout was unmistakable now.

Head cuffs and foot cuffs, positioned to hold someone

eagle-spread.

The bed was made of thick steel. Built to withstand pressure, thrashing and force.

Whoever had designed this room hadn’t done it on a whim. Every detail had been measured. I vacuumed a bit and stepped back out of the cage.

The lock engaged automatically. I exhaled, trying to shake the strange feeling in my chest, and turned toward the rest of the room.

Two couches waited on the thick burgundy carpet, facing the caged bed.

One was a single black leather armchair almost throne-like. Straps dangled from the arms and legs, leather cuffs matching the ones on the bed, buckled open. But why a couch? Who would sit there… and be held there? My fingers brushed one strap as I wiped the armrest. It made my skin prickle.

The other seat was even stranger.

It was burgundy, like my dress, shaped in a way that didn’t make sense for a normal sofa. Curved, almost like two wide seats facing each other but connected at the middle, with a low back and no arms. Just smooth, sloping lines that invited leaning, reclining and sprawling. It looked like a sofa bed that had forgotten how to fold, or maybe never intended to.

I ran the duster over it slowly, trying to puzzle it out. Comfortable-looking, but… purposeful. Like it had been designed for two people.

I straightened, taking in their colognes.

Had they been here with someone? Had she worn this uniform, knelt on this carpet and felt these straps against her wrists? The thought made me feel slightly bitter.

I resume vacuuming.

When I switched it off and looked up, the ceiling stole my breath. It was a constellation of tiny pinpricks of light embedded in deep black, swirling like a galaxy caught mid-spin. Stars, nebulae and faint spirals of color that shifted when I tilted my head. It was so beautiful and almost alive.

I noticed the window was blacked out. No daylight leaked through. It was night in here, even though the sun was high outside.

I moved to the cabinet section along the far wall.

Chains hung from the ceiling, thick links with silver enclosed hooks glinting at the ends. Ready to catch something and hold it in place. I didn't want you imagine what.

I opened the cabinet slowly.

Inside were rows of objects that made no sense.

Shaped glass things some curved, ridged and others with flared bases. Smaller rubber like objects, and a microphone of different sizes.

Connected balls on a string also of different sizes. Thick tubes filled with gel like liquid of pink, cream and clear stoppered neatly.

More cuffs, one shaped almost like a necklace, wide and padded, with a ring at the front. Another looking like a pole but with four cuffs. And… A black gun.

I snapped the cabinet shut so fast.

No… No way. I backed up a step.

I pulled out my phone. Opened the camera. Snapped quick photos of the funny-shaped glass and rubber objects, the connected balls, the tubes but not the gun. I couldn’t even look at it again.

I'll Google it later to better satisfy my curiosity.

The big X waited on the opposite wall.

It was tall and padded in black leather. Straps at the top for wrists, lower ones for ankles. Metal rings bolted into th

e frame. Built to hold someone upright.

I was buffled.

What did they do here?

I picked up the duster again.