Some punishment and some love.
Hope you enjoy!
♡ ♡ ♡
Icy wind howled past the store fronts.
Dante's searing gaze never leaving her as he pulled his phone from his pocket.
"I found her. Outside the café." He spoke calmly into the speaker.
Enid knew who was on the other end of the call.
Her heart fluttered up to her throat, lead heavy in her stomach.
She was in deep, deep yogurt.
"Emilia and I were working on our project for your class and got carried away, Dan- Dr. Romano." She stumbled, almost calling him by his first name.
Emilia's eyes widen as she watches the pair interact.
"Hello, Emilia. Having a nice weekend?" Dante asked, a fabricated smile stretching across his face politely.
His pleasant mask was well crafted, but Enid could see the baleful shine to his eyes.
"Yes, thanks." Emilia responded, glancing at her with a questioning look.
"I- um..." Enid scrambled to come up with a reason for their literature professor to be looking for her.
Dante was friendly with his students in class, but the obvious intimacy between them was another level.
"Enid is interning with me. We were meant to have a grading session earlier today and I got concerned when she didn't show." Dante covered smoothly.
"I didn't realize. I'm sorry for keeping her." Emilia apologizes, her tone laced with confusion.
Enid avoided her gaze, staring down at the cobblestones.
"Would you like a ride back to your dorm, Emilia? It's quite cold out." Dante offered politely.
"No, I'm okay, thanks. I'm actually meeting my friends at the pub down the street. Nice seeing you, professor." Emilia smiled before pulling Enid into a hug.
"Are you okay?" She whispers into Enid's ear.
"Yeah, don't worry." Enid gave her a comforting smile and a nod.
Emilia nodded back and glanced over at Dante one more time before she headed down the road.
As she disappeared, Enid studied her pink rainboots with artificial interest.
It wasn't until black dress shoes entered her vision that she looked up.
His eyes burning her as his fingers curled around her arms.
"Care to explain where you've been?" He bites out through grit teeth, his hand brushing across her collarbone and the stretch of her neck.
He ran his eyes over her.
Making sure she was in one piece.
"I'm so sorry, Dante. Time got away from me. How did you know we were at this café?" She tries to divert him.
"That's rather non sequitur, I think you're trying to avoid my question, little bird. But the answer to yours is that we tracked the phone we gave to you. However, a few hours ago the tracking function suddenly turned off. All we knew was this was the last place you were." Dante explains, his lips turning downward.
Wind whips around them and she shivers.
"You can wait until we're home, but you are going to provide an explanation for your disappearance. You scared us to death, Enid." He tugged her toward him.
Folded her so tightly against him that she could feel each sharp intake of breath into his lungs.
The sound of steps echoed toward them and she turned to find Theodore and Alexander striding forcefully down the road.
The ride to the estate is nearly silent.
She stares out the window of the car, dread and anticipation burning her throat.
Theodore opens her door when they arrive, helping her down from the tall car.
He holds her hand firmly in his, leading her into the estate and toward his office.
She can hear Alexander and Dante following behind her, their footsteps echoing on the granite floors.
They stop a few doors down from his office and Theodore pulls a key out of his pocket.
It is one of the doors they had skipped when giving her a tour all those weeks ago.
Enid holds her breath as he steps inside.
A soft push at her spine from Alexander gets her moving and she steps into the threshold.
It is not the large bed in the center of the room, nor the curtains hung from the ceiling that knock the air out of her.
"This is where you will receive your punishments, angel." Alexander pulls her over to the bed.
Whips, floggers, ropes, and chains hang tastefully on the walls.
More objects stretched out across the tables beneath.
Items made of leather and metal that she's never seen before.
Theodore steps in front of her.
He has shed his suit jacket like the other two and is rolling up the sleeves of his button down.
"Where were you, Enid?" His voice is low, stern.
"I was with Emilia; we were working on our project." Enid responds quickly, her eyes on the veins in his muscular arms.
"You just earned another five spankings for evading my question. Now, where were you?" Theodore demands.
He looks otherworldly, like a vengeful angel or a spiteful devil. All three of them do.
Alexander, her sweet Alexander, steps up beside him with something long and flat in his hands.
"Answer him now or I'll add another five." He says, his brown eyes dark as night.
"She-she wanted to go to a grocery shop. She had found a lead about the missing person case. I'm really sorry I didn't let you know where I was going, it all happened pretty quick." She rushes out, crawling backwards on the bed before bumping into a warm chest.
Dante smirks down at her.
"Mhm. And what was the lead, angel?" Alexander placed his hands on the dark ruby sheets and began to crawl toward her.
His smile positively predatory as he closed in.
She bites her lip, her mind at war with itself.
They should know, they need to know that there are dangerous people in the area.
They needed to know.
So why did she feel like she shouldn't tell them?
But, no, she can't lie to them.
"Video footage of him being kidnapped." She admits, goosebumps blossoming along her arms as Dante's lips press against her neck.
She watches as Alexander and Theodore share a brief look.
"We'll finish discussing that later, dove. Now get onto your hands and knees." Dante commands thickly and she obeys immediately.
Theodore pulls her hair up and out of her face, securing it with a hairband.
"Take off your sweater, darling girl." His words brush across her lips.
Pulling the fabric over her head, the cool air dances across her flushed skin.
Alexander looks at her for permission as he begins to unbutton her jeans and she nods.
Soon she is left in nothing but a thin tank top and her light pink underwear.
"What is your safe word?" Alexander asks as he pulls her hips up a little higher, slips her undies down.
"Pineapple." She recalls, nerves flittering along her ribs.
"Good girl. Use it if you get overwhelmed. You are going to receive 35 spanks. Do you understand why?" Theodore tugs on the strap of her tank.
"For disappearing without telling any of you where I was. And for evading your questions." Enid gulps.
"Precisely. All we want is your safety, little bird. And your actions tonight put that in jeopardy." Dante says, his hand trailing over her hip bone and across the sensitive skin of her bottom.
Her hips jerk forward as something smacks across her bottom.
A glance back tells her it is the board-like object Alexander had been holding before.
"I want you to count. And thank us for every single one." Alexander instructs and she swallows shakily.
Another comes, this time a little harder.
"One. Thank you." She gasps and Theodore tuts.
"Thank you who?" He brushes his knuckles across her cheek.
A soft groan slips from her lips as the board meets her skin again.
There's a sting that follows it.
And a warmth that seems to bloom in her lower stomach.
"T-two. Thank you, daddy." Enid gasps out.
Each one sends a wave of molten heat through her.
It races through her veins and travels to her core.
They praise her as she takes them.
Telling her how pretty she looks painted red.
By the time they are through, her panties are soaked, and her bottom is scarlet.
Alexander finishes his last one, choosing to use his hand instead.
"Have you learned your lesson, little one?" He asks her as Theodore pulls her into his arms.
She nods in confirmation vigorously.
Gentle with her sore bottom, they carry her upstairs and into her bathroom.
Dante draws a bath for her while Alexander picks out some comfortable pajamas and soon, she is immersed in bubbles.
Alexander hums a sweet toon to her as he gently drags a washcloth over her shoulders and Dante lathers shampoo into her wet curls.
Relaxation loosens the tension along her spine, the security video and worries washing down the drain with the bathwater.
She is nearly asleep by the time they are wrapping her in a plush towel.
"Stay awake for just a little longer, love bug." Theodore presses a kiss on the top of her head.
Before Alexander hands her the pajamas, Theodore applies a cool cream to her bottom that makes her sigh in relief.
Snug in the pale-yellow pajama set, she crawls into bed.
A soft yawn leaves her as Enid takes in her men, Dante sitting on the edge of the bed while the other two lean against the frame of her poster bed.
"Stay with me?" Her whispered request hangs between them all.
Alexander is the first to move, tugging the covers back and pulling her on top of him.
"Always." His promise falls from his lips like worship.
The other two move in the next second, taking up the spots on either side.
A blissful smile blossoms on her face as they each wrap an arm over her.
This is the safest she's ever felt.
Tucked into this embrace, she knows she's exactly where she's always been meant to be.
Gratitude hits her so violently that her eyes tear up.
Endless, endless gratitude that they had found her.
The impossibility of being alive at the same time as them, of being in the same place.
There were so many turns they had to have taken in their lives to end up here.
So many places and times and decisions where things could have gone wrong.
But they hadn't and here they were.
Locked together as the universe looked down upon them.
She burrows in tighter, emotions swirling in her chest.
She wants to thank them, to explain how grateful she was for it all.
For fate.
For them.
But no number of words, no order of letters, seem to express it well enough.
So, instead, she says:
"I love you."
♡ ♡ ♡
Got a little emotional writing the end of this chapter.
I love those four so much.
I hope I did them justice.
I'm nearly done with my first week of the semester and writing this was a wonderful reprieve from the homework they're already loading us with.
Hope you're all well!
Next chapter will likely be up after this weekend.
Comments fill my heart with joy.
All my love,
Sappho ♡