Snow Bound

3

By the time John gets to Michael's room he's very anxious about meeting Whitney again. Will she be upset with him for what he's doing? He hopes that she will choose the option he wants her too.

He walks into his brother's room and finds Michael fuming and Whitney frightened and backed into a corner. When she looks at him he's furious at the fear he sees when she looks at him.

"What's going on?" John says angrily.

"Show him, Whitney," Michael growls out.

Whitney looks at him terrified. Then she turns slowly to John and shakes her head as her body starts to shake in terror. Seeing this John rushes to her and she pushes into the corner even further and falls to the floor and pulls her legs up to her and holds them while shaking nearly uncontrollably.

Seeing this John takes a deep breath and slowly lets it out again. He wants to find the person responsible for doing that to her and kill him slowly.

John walks over to her calmly and makes sure that all he does is slow so that she can see that he's not going to hurt her. As he gets to her side he moves down so that he's on the ground as well. "What's wrong, Whitney?" John asks as coolly as he can. He's not used to being gentle and so it comes out a bit rough, but it doesn't seem to make her worse.

"Were you punished because of me?" John demands. He could kick himself he's so angry. He's never given a shit about others before, but he's never wanted to harm Whitney.

Slowly he comes closer to her and finally is able to pull her into his arms. "Shit, she's freezing. Get me a blanket or comforter, Michael." John orders and Michael unfreezes from his state of being. He's never seen his brother so angry. Not even when he killed their father just minutes ago.

Michael jumps over to his bed and pulls off the down comforter that is there and hands it over to John. All he can think to do is calm his brother down before more people die and he hopes that he's not one of them. If she was harmed because he didn't make the money transfer in time he's not sure that his brother will spare him.

John takes the comforter from his brother and wraps it around Whitney as he pulls her into his lap. He holds her to him, being very gentle since he could tell from his brother's angry words that she'd been hurt, he just wasn't sure where.

"Whitney, will you show me what they did to you?" John says softly after her shaking had eased up some.

Whitney looks up at him with tear filled eyes and shakes her head no. She starts shaking again and John just pulls her to him once more and rocks her like a baby. He vaguely remembers one of their nannies doing that when he was sick as a child. That was before his father started his molesting of them.

In time Whitney calms down once more. "Whitney, I'm not angry with you and I won't hurt you or let anyone else hurt you. Do you trust me?" John tells her softly and then waits for her answer before continuing.

"Will you let me see what happened to you?" John asks once more even more gently. "I won't get angry with you. They were told to not harm you, if they harmed you, I need to know. They are breaking my orders and their bosses orders. They need to be punished. I need to see what they did so that I can punish them. Okay?"

Whitney looks at him and hesitantly nods, she struggles a bit to get up being wrapped up like a burrito in the bulky cover. Michael comes over and helps her stand, then steps away so she won't look so terrified.

Once Whitney is sure that Michael isn't going to harm her she lets the comforter fall to the floor and turns around. She hisses in pain as she moves to lift the shirt. That's all John needs to stop her. "It's hurting you to do that. I'll buy you a new top," John tells her as he takes the top and rips it in half.

The blood is seeping out of the whip marks on her back. Three of them are bleeding slowly, three more aren't bleeding but are extremely red. "I'm going to fucking kill that bastard that did this. The money was paid, Whitney. Why did they punish you?" This time his voice is angry and hard and although she shrinks back from him she answers.

"I was told that I was to have the money before services are to be given. I gave you service before the money was paid. This was just the start of the punishment they had planned. One of the lesser guards came running into the room and spoke to the head guard, the one whipping me, he whispered something to him and that was when I was released from the manacles and told to get dressed, that I was ordered for the night here."

"You know who that bastard is, Michael?" John barely manages to get the words out he's so spitting angry. 

He's beyond furious and Michael is backing up from him cautiously. The kind of rage John is in now could result in a lot of deaths with in a short amount of time.

"Yes, I'll have him taken to the cells and put into the special room. He'll be there waiting for you to decide what you wish done to him." Michael does his best to hide his own fear and is very relieved to see those words calmed his brother down considerably.

"Good. I'll be in my room, they should have it cleaned up by now. Make sure that the guest room is fit to be used." John says even as he takes off his shirt, a button up, and places it lightly on Whitney's shoulders. She clutches the two sides together since she didn't put her arms through she couldn't do it up.

John takes her through the secret passage to his room. The maids had finished cleaning his room and there is no sign that his father had been killed there earlier.

"How are you able to do this?" Whitney finally finds her voice and whispers the question. He is after all the son of her owner, it could be taken as disrespect on her side.

"That piece of shit father of mine was killed earlier tonight. Michael is now the boss, since I killed that bastard for him you are my reward." John believes in telling the truth no matter how much it might hurt him. He doesn't care much how it affects others, but when he sees the effect his words have on Whitney he decides he needs to take more care in the words he speaks.

"Forgive me, master, for having spoken out of turn like that." Whitney whispers barely audible words and looks down.

"Look at me, Whitney." John orders and Whitney reluctantly looks up. She hides the confusion that she feels as he talks to her.

"You will not call me master or sir again. You will call me by my name, is that understood?" John tells her in a firm but calm voice.

Whitney, miserable, nods and doesn't say anything. John keeps looking at her until she says something vocal. "Yes, John."

"Very good. Now, let's get this back of yours taken care of. How badly does it hurt?" He takes out his first aid kit and takes out the cleaning pads and starts his cleaning of the blood from her back. She doesn't even hiss in pain as he cleans the raw skin. John frowns knowing that it comes from no longer feeling the pain from being so hurt that little pain like this isn't even felt any more.

He hides his growing anger as she doesn't even flinch as he puts the antibacterial cream on her open wounds and places bandages over them. He tapes them in place securely before once more handing her a clean shirt and helping her put it on properly.

"You aren't a whore any more. You will need to finish the mission you are currently on, but once that is finished what you do will depend on what you want."

"I don't understand, John?" Whitney says more than a little confused.

John sighs out. "Come, let's talk in my room where it's more comfortable."