Warning for this Chapter – It will contain explicit sexual content! Will also contain some abuse, both physical and verbal. Read at your own risk!

I do not own HOA nor do I condone anything Jerome does to Nina!

Nina's P.O.V

I wake up slowly, my eyes just barely fluttering open. My head slightly pounding, starting to get a feel for my surroundings. My room. I'm in my room. I attempt to move and am met with the sounds of chains rattling in response. I look down at my legs, my ankles are chained. I start to fully wake up before I realize my wrists are also tied behind my back. Unable to move freely. I was honestly used to it, though. Used to having no freedom. Used to being treated like somebody's property. I lied there for a few hours, wearing minimal clothing, chained to one of my walls with my hands bound. Unsure of the exact amount of time that had passed, I hear the all too familiar sound of the keypad lock to my bedroom followed by the door opening and footsteps. A few moments later, I look up and see my Master's face.

"Good morning, whore. Or should I say good evening? It's nice to see you finally came to" He chuckles with a sadistic smile on his face.

Wait, evening?

I'm pretty sure it was around evening time when he beat me unconscious… did I sleep for that long? How long was I out? Obviously for at least a whole day.

"I know you're probably still a little disoriented. I went a little crazy a few nights ago when I kicked you unconscious."
Nights? Plural? As I took in that information, my stomach let out a loud growl. Being unconscious for a few days also meant I hadn't eaten or drank anything in that time frame.

"Here. I brought you a snack in case you were awake when I came down…" He said while showing me the ham sandwich in one of his hands, crouching down to my level. My eyes widened.

"Open your mouth" He ordered, I did as he said, excited to have something in my stomach. Upon my mouth opening he fed me the turkey sandwich, allowing me to take bites out of it bit by bit. After I swallow the first bite, I go in for another one before he yanks the sandwich out of my reach.

"Ah-ah-ah… what do we say? Especially after Master does something kind for you?"
"Thank you Master"

He smiles again before I open my mouth again, having him put the sandwich in it while I take another bite.

The same thing repeats. I swallow the bite, he takes the sandwich away until I thank him, I thank him, he gives me food again.

I picked up on it and proceeded to thank him without hesitation after each bite. It was sickly funny almost. How easy I was for him to train.

I finish the last bite of the sandwich and swallow it completely, "Thank you Ma-" I begin to say before I'm cut off by his hand connecting harshly with my cheek.

I whimper softly from the pain. The bruise that was already there will probably look more prominent, now.

"Come on…" Master says tauntingly, "Can't take a little slap across the face, now? Did your few days' vacation turn you that soft that quick?"
Few days' vacation

Hilarious

"No, Master"

"Good" He chuckled sadistically, "Because trust me, Slave. There is plenty where that came from"

Slight fear striked my heart. He went over to his box of toys, and got out a few things. A butane torch, a vibrator, something metal that I couldn't see well, and a flogger. He walked towards me with the "toys" and ordered me to move forward, as far away from the wall as I could while still facing the same way. I did as I was told. He bent and sat down behind me, his back against the wall. After spreading his legs he ordered me to sit back down the way I was, my back against him this time.

He slid his hands up and down my torso, causing my breathing to become slightly more shallow. Eventually his hands stopped at my breasts, beginning to massage them through my shirt. I let out a soft moan.

"Thank you, Master" I said with another moan.

"Good girl"

He proceeded to move his hands down and slide them up my shirt, back to my breasts to massage and play with them some more. Ankles chained, wrists bound behind my back, I was at his complete disposal. While fondling my chest, his head leaned down and he start planting kisses along my neck and jawline. My head began to lean the opposite direction, allowing him to have as much room as he needed. He stayed at my neck and began sucking and biting on it. I could feel the hickeys begin to form. Once he was done, he moved one of that hands that was playing with my chest down my body. It slid down my shorts, grazing over my most sensitive area. Before I knew it, two of his fingers plunged into me, causing me to let out an even louder moan. His other hand moved out from under my shirt, slid up my body and grabbed my neck tightly while he began fingering me.

"God…" He grunted out, "I fucking love having you like this, you filthy whore" He whispered harshly in my ear while keeping a tight grasp on my neck, his fingers starting to speed up, thrusting in and out of me. My breathing decides to pick up pace, I begin moaning loudly every time I exhale. The rattle of my chains are heard while my hips lightly start to buck up, moving against his fingers every time he thrusts, causing him to chuckle again.

"Little slut like you can never help herself"

I softly whimper before lightly nodding my head against his chest in response.

I was his slut.

Suddenly, his fingers slide out of me. I let out another whimper. He stands up, getting out from behind me. Once he's in front of me he grabs my shorts, sliding them off and leaving my pussy on full display.

"Keep those legs open like that, Slave"

I do as he orders.

He grabs his flogger and whips my pussy once with it, causing my entire body to flinch.

"Repeat after me. I am just a toy for my Master's pleasure."
"I am just a toy for my Master's pleasure."

He whips it again.

"I should be grateful my Master bought me and saved me from my previous life"

I repeat those exact words, "I should be grateful my Master bought me and saved me from my previous life"

Another whip.

Followed by another.

And another, and another.

"Move forwards, again."

I do as he says, making it so he can sit behind me again, having me sit in between his legs.

I hear the sound of the vibrator turning on.

Catching me a little off guard, he immediately presses it to my clitoris.

I let out a loud, deep, raspy moan in response. My head leaning back against his shoulders/chest. I start writhing in my restraints, causing him to grab me by the throat again with his free hand. "Stay. Still. Slave." He growls into my ear while keeping a firm grip on my throat. I whimper and lightly nod my head while he continues pressing the vibrator onto my clit. I hear and feel the vibrator's setting change to a higher one, at this point Master starts to rub the vibrator slowly in circles around my clitoris while pressing on it.

My mouth is constantly letting out whimpers, moans, and grunts. My inner thighs begin to tremble, much to Master's pleasure.

"Remember the rules, whore. Ask politely."

"Please Master, please let me cum" I beg through a sea of constant moans.

He continues to press the vibrator onto me, moving it in faster circles.

"That wasn't very convincing, slave. I would almost believe you didn't want to orgasm at all. What are you?"

"I'm your whore. I'm your filthy little slut, please let your dirty whore cum Master, please" I beg again, tears brimming my eyes while my inner thighs begin to shake more.

"Master says you can cum, slave"

Those words sent out a wave of relief through my system as I orgasmed and reached my climax. Letting out constant moans and gasps, Master only continued to stimulate me with the vibrator until I was completely finished.

"Thank you, Master" I responded graciously, extremely out of breath.

"Good girl…" He said softly, running his fingers through my hair.

He got up from behind me.

"Stay."

I didn't dare to move an inch. I stayed in place, attempting to control my breathing back to where it originally was earlier. I saw him grab the torch, along with the metal rod that I couldn't exactly make out earlier.

Now that it was one of the only things he was holding, I saw it as clear as day.

It was a branding rod. With the initials "JC" on the very end of it.

My heart began pounding out of it's chest, I began occasionally whimpering like a cornered animal.

He pressed the gas on the torch, beginning to heat up the "JC" end of the rod.

"Calm down, slave. You should be grateful for something like this. Something that shows that you're mine, forever. Something that'll never go away."

"Master, it'll hurt a lot…" I whisper

"And that'll be the part I most enjoy" He said with a chuckle, "Come on now, don't act like you've gone soft on me, slave. You can take some beatings here and there, some harsher punishments as well, but the chance to be branded by your Master scares you? Do you want to be a bad girl, slave?"
I slowly shook my head no.

I loved him, but it was times like this where he showed just how sick and sadistic he actually was on the inside. I knew this when he bought me, but over the years it's only gotten worse. It's honestly been worse lately than it ever has been.

Not that it's ever been perfect 100% of the time.

He stopped torching the end of the rod. Even with the torch no longer blowing on it, it was a glowing red, almost tangerine. My heart sank.

"Face the wall, on your knees. I'm going to mark you in two places, slave."
Terrified, I did as he asked. I made sure I was in a kneeling position, and turned around to face the wall.

"Good. Now lean forward, sticking your ass out."
I did as I was told.

I squinted my eyes shut, expecting harsh pain at any moment.

Waiting.

The waiting was the worst part, I almost couldn't bare the waiting. I think he knew that, too. It was his way of torturing me before actually doing anything.

Suddenly I felt a hot, harsh burning sensation against the flesh on one the sides of my ass. I immediately let out a loud scream, followed by several gasps and whimpers.

He kept the rod against it, pressing it onto me, making sure it was burned good onto my skin.

After about 15-20 seconds, he took it off. The smell of my own flesh burning was like no other.

Without even giving me much time to recover, he gave another demand.

"Good little slut. Now…" He began untying my wrists, "I'm going to free up your arms. After, you are going to turn back around to face me and stick your arms out, the bottoms of your arms facing up. Is that understood?"

"Y-Yes Master" I stuttered out before my wrists were fully free. Shakily, I turned around to face him. I did as he asked, stretching my arms out and flipping them.

I don't know where he's going to brand me next.

Do I want to know?
Will it be better if I don't?
My thoughts were interrupted by the hot rot hitting my skin once again, this time just below my left hand on the inside of my wrist. My first instinct was to try and pull my wrist away. Not my choice, my body did it as sort of a reflex. The burn was there, his initials were there, but I bet it wasn't as prevalent as the one on my ass.

I could see the anger building up in his eyes as he grabbed the flogger again.

"Stupid, stupid little bitch!" He screamed at me, flogging any skin on my body he could get to as I curled up on the ground like an abused animal and cried.

Sometimes, that's what I felt like.

He grabbed the hand of the arm he burned, and stretched it out again, continuing to hold my hand. With his hand that held his flogger, he began whipping the burned area, harshly, over and over as I continued to cry.

Tears streaming down my face. It's almost like he got even angrier with every whip he lashed onto my burned wrist.

"I'll give you something to cry about, disobedient whore!" He screamed at me, before it began.

He threw his metal rod across the room, creating a loud crash.

I jumped at the noise.

He tossed his flogger aside, aswell.

Then, it started.

He started off by slapping me across the face, over and over. My bruising on my cheeks destined to be darker by the time this is over.

I continued to cry.
His flat palms turned into fists, he started punching me.

I tried to block him from my face at first, so he was punching any area he could.

My shoulders. My stomach. My sides.

When he punched my side, one of my hands instinctively went to grab my side.

Worst mistake.

With a free path to my face, he began punching my face and head.

My jaw, my bruised cheeks, my temples. Eventually he got one of my eyes, and I could feel a soft black eye starting to immediately form. I was a crying, red mess. The redness surely about to turn into bruises.

It's only then that he seemed to stop in his rage.

He got back up on his feet, and stared at me. I was balled up, vulnerable, shaking, with tears rushing down my face.

At first, I thought he was going to apologize. He's beaten me before. Hell, he kicked my head so many times I went unconscious. But… this felt, a little different.

He didn't say a word.

He stared at me, and then I heard his footsteps walk away. The sound of my room door opening and closing, followed by it locking.

Did he really just… leave?
I heard his footsteps walking up the basement stairs from outside of my bedroom.

He just left.

I couldn't move, I couldn't do anything. I just… lied there.

I ended up crying myself to sleep.

Fabian's P.O.V

Waking up in the morning I felt a bit groggy, like I hadn't slept well either. Although, I understood why. Joy and I had some… fun the previous night. We had sex and neither of us wanted to stop for obvious reasons. We didn't even think to go to sleep until we saw the sunrise from our bedroom window. It's nights like that where I fall in love with Joy all over again, almost as if we were teenagers once more. No pressure to commit with marraige when our friends are getting engaged and married… also not feeling like her and I are growing in different directions. I turn over and see Joy, still peacefully sleeping on her side of the bed. She looked absolutely beautiful. I gave her a kiss on the forehead, attempting to not wake her, and actually got up to make some breakfast.

As I was cooking I heard my phone vibrate. I picked it up to look at it, and saw a text from Jerome.

Hey. Need to get my mind off things. Would you or you and Joy want to get together for some coffee or lunch?

Hm? I wonder what he needed to get his mind off of…

I replied back,

Sure! Just let me know when and where, and I'll see if Joy wants to tag along when she wakes up : )

I cooked Joy and I a quick breakfast, especially if we were going to grab lunch with Jerome in the near future. I made a plate for her and surprised her in bed with it, woke her up and sat next to her to eat with her.

I mention Jerome's text to her, and read off his suggestions of places to go to her. She accepts my invite.

Once our breakfast is almost finished, I get up to grab some clothes for us while she puts on an episode of "Love Island" to watch, aka Joy's newest tele obsession. By the time the episode was over, I was dressed and ready and she almost was as well. I texted Jerome to let him know we would be leaving for the café shortly.

"Just a warning, I think Jerome might be upset about something. If he seems off to you, that might be why" I said to Joy as she was changing her earrings.

"Upset? What could he be upset about right now?"

"I don't know…" I trailed off, showing genuine concern for my best friend.

We got in the car and headed to the café. Once we got there, we already saw Jerome's car in the parking lot, meaning he was inside.

Upon going inside, Joy immediately spotted him.

"Jerome!" She exclaimed excitedly before fast walking to his table, he stood up to give her a friendly hug.

"Hey Joy! Fabian!" He said, trying to excude the same amount of happiness as we gave eachother half-hugs, but it didn't quite work that well.

We sat down and looked at the menu items.

The food and conversations are such a blur. If I'm being honest, I couldn't help but look at the state of Jerome. He looked… not himself. Looking at him some more, I noticed another thing. His hands. His knuckles were a tad bruised. Not a lot, just a little bit. My already anxious mind begins to wander, thinking about the worst case scenario.

I already knew he had been physically violent to Nina in the past, but had he… beaten her to death? Did he kill her? Is that why he seems off and needs to get his mind off things? Okay Fabian… okay… that's extreme even for you to say. God… how do I put this lightly without drawing suspicion…

"How's your slave doing Jerome?"

Smooth. Why am I like this

I see Jerome's mannerisms change ever so slightly.

"She's… she's doing quite alright as far as I know" he says, flashing both Joy and I a smile, "If you'd like, we can all take a ride back to my house and hang out there for a bit together. I'm sure she wouldn't mind catering to you both as well as myself. Even if she did, who cares, right?" He finished, saying that last part in a joking tone. Joy laughed, fakely but convincing enough to him.

Once we were all done in the café, we got in our cars and left. Joy and I followed Jerome's car to his home. We walked inside and I sat on the couch next to Joy.

Well if he's taking us here and told us that his slave would be able to take care of us he probably didn't beat her to death… I thought to myself.

I'm just overthinking things. Like always.

"Let me go fetch her and make sure she doesn't need anything herself, I'll be back" Jerome says to us before opening the basement door and walking down.

Minutes went by.

15 minutes later, Jerome came upstairs with Nina trailing quietly behind him. She looked… normal. Which put my anxieties to rest.

Everything looked normal. She was wearing tight black shorts, and a long sleeve grey shirt. The only things I noticed were a few hickeys on her neck.

I looked at her and smiles but she refused to make eye contact with me, now that I look at it her eyes look slightly swollen, almost as if she had been crying a lot.

Why won't she even look out way?

"Slave, ask Fabian and Joy what they would like, if anything" Jerome ordered her.

She walked over to Joy first, who smiled at her.

"Hi! I'd just like a glass of ice water if you could. I'm still pretty full from lunch" Joy said to Nina, Jerome chimed in and agreed.

"Understood, I'm quite full as well. I'll have the same as Joy, Slave. Just add lemon in mine"

"Yes, Sir" I heard Nina say, which made me cringe on the inside ever so slightly.

She looked my way for the first time since she was brought up here. She didn't say anything to me.

"Oh! Uh… I…" I stuttered, "I'm, um, I'm okay actually, no food or drink for me, thank you" I said, trying to sound as least awkward as possible.

Immediately after my response she avoided eye contact with me again, fast walking to the kitchen to get Joy and Jerome their drinks.

Joy, Jerome and I continue on with mindless conversation, and are actually able to make Jerome genuinely laugh and seem like he's having a good time despite whatever he has going on. We both have known Jerome since high school, we're all really close with one another. I care for Jerome, I really do, I've just occasionally questioned the way he treats his slave lately. I do hate calling her that, I disagree with him not letting anybody say her name, or know her name for that matter. The only reason I know it is because I made her "brake his rules".

Which I still feel a bit terrible about, if I'm being completely honest.

As I talk with Jerome, I feel like I'm talking to the man I met in high school all over again. Just like with Joy last night and this morning. Maybe I let my own feelings confuse me and get the better of me. Maybe I do love Joy as much as I say I do.

I'd do anything for her. The only thing is… I feel like I would do anything for Nina, too. I know, I barely know her. My interactions with her have felt… special though. As limited as they have been. I miss her smile, that's another thing. The whole time I've been here I haven't seen her smile not even once, not even at Jerome.

After another hour or so, Joy and I decide it's best to be getting back home. Jerome said he had a lot of things to work on today regarding his restaurant, and we didn't want to be the ones that kept him and made him fall behind.

I shook his hand like always, and flashed Nina a smile before I left.

She looked my way briefly as I smiled, but didn't smile back. Instead her eyes darted to the ground. Ultimately cracking my heart a bit.

Jerome's P.O.V

I heard Fabian's car leave the driveway. I walk up to my slave and place a hand on her cheek, causing her to flinch at first before she realizes I'm just caressing her face.

"Good girl, Slave. You were very well behaved when my friends came over, again"
"Thank you Master"

I laughed softly, "I believe we did a good job hiding your punishments too, hm? Colour correcting concealer underneath regular conceler, high coverage foundation and powder can do wonders for covering bruising… although if he saw any of them, I would argue with him that you deserved each and every one of them. Which you did."

"Yes Master" She responded to me obediently.

I loved how trained I've made her these past four years. I almost feel bad for losing my cool last night.

Almost.