I have always hidden how much it terrifies me to want this kind of power over him. To be the one who decides what happens in the room where Alexander Oakley runs his empire. Now he is the one who stays behind after everyone else has gone.

I tell him to stay still, and he stays. My voice comes out steadier than the pulse in my throat. The strap has been in my bag for weeks, because I knew this was coming, and the table that holds all his secrets is where I bend him over.

He could stop this with one word, and he never says it. I wonder how long we can keep it from destroying the careers we have built.