His Slave

17. Resolve

"Erin," someone calls gently, pulling me from sleep.

"Hmmm," I murmur, snuggling deeper into the chair.

"Erin," they call again, shaking me a little.

I force my eyes open to find James standing over me. "Anna said you've been asleep for a while," he says as he takes the seat next to me.

"What time is it?" I ask sleepily, sitting up as I rub the sleep from my eyes.

"Almost six," James replies, his words laced with concern.

"I slept for three hours?" I ask in disbelief, stretching my arms above my head. My back protests, reminding me of the punishment I received earlier.

"You probably needed it after the night you had," he says with a laugh.

Or after you beat the hell out of me earlier, I think. But I don't dare say those words out loud. It was probably a mix of both.

"Are you hungry?" James asks me and I think about his question for a minute before nodding.

"Maybe a little," I reply.

James nods, standing up and holding his hand out to me. "Come on. Let's go get dinner," he says.

I take his hand, letting him pull me up. "Okay," I agree, still trying to wake up.

We head down to the small dining room off the kitchen on the first floor. James takes the seat at the head of the table and I take the seat to his right, yawning. "How were the business matters you had to tend to?" I ask, making conversation to keep me awake.

James gets visibly frustrated. "Absolute bullshit. Some president from a foreign country breached the Persona terms and conditions and used the DNA recognition scanner database to spy on other world leaders. Everyone is freaking out about it," he says, his words drenched with irritation.

"That sounds like a pretty big problem, Master," I reply.

"It is. They shouldn't even have access to those databases - each country has access to their own Persona database, and even then it can only be used for particular things. It is highly illegal for anyone to try and gain access to another country's information. And there are thousands of firewalls and protocols in place to make sure things like this don't happen. So, it's very likely that this president has spies operating within Persona headquarters in different countries to obtain this information," he explains.

"That's terrible," I reply because I don't know what else to say.

James nods. "My mother isn't gone two weeks before something like this happens," he remarks, sounding exasperated. "And only certain people are given access to the databases, so they're likely working with individuals of very high standing," he adds, running his fingers through his hair.

"Why do you think they're spying on other countries?" I ask as the cook brings two salads, setting them on the table before hurrying out of the dining room. I can tell that my presence here has made her uncomfortable.

"We're not sure, but we need to get this issue under control quickly. The perpetrator has been put under house arrest and is awaiting trial, but that doesn't mean their operatives aren't still hacking the system and spying on these people," he explains.

"I was talking with Anna earlier. She said Persona can't be hacked or else it notifies the police," I reply.

James laughs. "She told you about her little escapade, did she?" He asks, slightly amused.

"She did," I say, laughing a little.

James shakes his head. "Right. That's why we have reason to believe that whoever is doing this already has access to the database," he says.