Ethan, Thu Jun 25th 2015

I need a vacation, I decide as I end yet another call and take a look at my agenda for the afternoon which is not any better than this morning. Sadly, it is when I need a lot of time to care for my little angel at home that work is at its busiest. I am just finishing to make up for all the meetings I had to postpone on Monday afternoon to rush home and comfort him. Poor boy had crossed one of his ex-students in the street near our apartment, which caused him to panic for obvious reasons.

This is just a setback in a line of continuous progress, and we will work around it, but my Sub needs constant attention for the time being. In the past three weeks, I have worked from home as much as I could to be physically there for him, but you can only do so much out of the office. As soon as I was confident he could keep himself busy enough not to brood all day long on the couch I went back to work here. Of course, a lot of meetings had been pushed so that I could attend them, which explains why my days have just been completely full.

That means I almost have no time for 'regular' work and so when I finally arrive home, I have to catch up on emails or documents for the best part of the evening. When you add to these crazy hours the fact that I have to micromanage my boy's life, you get one really tired Dominant. Don't get me wrong, I love my work and I certainly don't complain to have to care for this gorgeous Submissive! He gave me the beautiful gift of his trust and surrender, so I would poorly repay him if I didn't take care of him when he most direly needs it.

I am just extremely tired by the whole situation, which has been very draining on me. I can't imagine how this crazy guy in Chicago manages two Subs at the same time!

For the umpteenth time, I look at the business card of the investors who contacted me earlier to buy my company. I had been wanting to expand it before giving its selling some serious thoughts, but I could certainly use some holiday. This could give me all the time I need to care for my Sub before starting a new business, and between the huge amount of money I would make from the sale and the cash my boy will bring home for his proof - I still can't believe he never told me that solving this problem would earn him a fat million of dollars before - we would be comfortable for quite some time.

Yes, I say to myself, this might be exactly what we both need right now. Before the next meeting that is going to bore me to death, I make a quick call and we agree to meet on next Monday. I will hear what they are offering, then if the terms they propose, not only the amount they are ready to pay, but also how the current employees would be treated - I certainly don't want to give its control to someone wanting to lay off the most of them to make some immediate profits - I will sell them this company.

I send a text to remind my boy of his instructions for this afternoon before heading in the first meeting of my long afternoon. It is as boring as I expected, so I soon log on the app to track the movements of my little angel to check that he obeyed the order I gave him: go for walk outside when Jack has arrived to clean the flat. It would be better of course if I were with him for this, but unfortunately, there are still only twenty-four hours in a day and I just don't have time. I'm confident he can do this on his own, besides, with eight million and a half people in Manhattan it would really be bad luck if he crossed another ex-student today! I'm sure they all moved to the Hamptons already.

I let my mind wander on the evening we enjoyed last night at the Blue Hedonism, barely listening to the financial reports my treasurer is delivering in a monotonous voice. My little minx of a Sub talked me into cock-caging him on a regular basis, so that I can even have control over his erections. He got the idea from one of the Submissives at the club in Chicago and of course my control-freak self absolutely adored the concept. I must admit I had thought about it sometimes in the past few months but never dared to ask that much of him.

Of course keeping the device is not too hard when there is no teasing involved, and in the first days, I removed it as soon as I decided to play with my boy. But yesterday night was different! I showed him how painful it could be to be edged with the cage in place while he was watching the show or later when I fucked him senseless. We will have to discuss if this kind of play was too hard for him and should be kept for punishment or if it is an option for future scenes.

Since yesterday was not a punishment, the edging was concluded with a beautiful blowjob for him, during which I kept the first ring of the cock cage in place for more than thirty minutes, before removing it and letting him come in my mouth. I had rarely heard him scream so loudly or seen him shake so strongly during a climax, so I think he enjoyed it quite a lot!

As the meeting goes on, I am pleased to receive a text from my boy informing me he is going on his walk before I see the small dot representing him on my app move from the flat toward Central Park then lose itself in the small trails of the Ramble. He stops in one of the meadows, probably thinking about his research and writing a few ideas in his notebook. I picture him in my mind, focused, his tongue slightly stuck out of his mouth, scribbling in his black little scratchpad.

He certainly seems to enjoy himself there, since he hasn't moved when I begin the second meeting of the afternoon. Or perhaps he fell into one of his trances.

Me - 3:03 "Are you enjoying the nice weather, Pet?"

I get a bit concerned at the end of this conference when my text is left unanswered. So I try to call and go straight to voicemail. Someone forgot to keep his device charged and will be in trouble tonight! The cock cage will definitely stay on for a few days without interruption this time, and he will certainly get a rough spanking. Depriving him of his friends privilege is out of the question in the state he is, but he won't get to watch the shows next time we go to the club I think angrily.

Before going into my next meeting, I tell Glenn to go check on my boy. He also has the serial number of the tracking device, so he can see its position on the app as well as I can. I'm sure my Sub got sidetracked by some idea he had, which is probably another genius one like last time. Still I can't help but worrying: what if something happened to him? He could have hurt himself or have been attacked. Pictures of his lifeless body lying on the ground come to my mind.

This is silly! I think to myself remembering that last time I was panicked like this, he was solving an impossible math problem. So I try to focus on the matters explained by the people attending the conference instead.

When my phone rings half an hour later though all my worries come back with full force. The ID shows it is Glenn calling, but he never calls. He would have sent a text to tell me he found my boy and he certainly knows I'm in the middle of an important meeting. This means trouble... deep fucking trouble!

"Excuse me I have to take this," I say hurriedly, going outside, as I accept the call.

"I'm afraid I have bad news, Sir", Glenn says. I lean against the wall as I prepare myself for the worst. Please don't let him be dead!

"I'm listening!" I'm amazed at how steady my voice is when I am completely freaking out inside.

"Mr. Dumont is no longer in possession of his tracking device," my driver replies.

"What do you mean he isn't? Anthony would never take it off!" The mere idea is ludicrous! That boy just asked me for more dominance over him. He wouldn't run away after this!

"I didn't suggest Mr. Dumont would take it off by himself. Based on the evidence I am seeing, I believe he was separated from it without giving his consent." It takes a while for Glenn's words to be processed by my tired mind. Couldn't he be any clearer?

"Are you telling me he was kidnapped?" I ask, afraid of the answer.

"That would be the most likely scenario, Sir."

I'm glad the wall is giving me some support because it suddenly feels my heart is ripped from my chest. Never in my life have I felt so horrible. Not when my father beat me with his belt. Not when Keith terminated his contract after one year and a half. Not when I found my baby brother beaten in our flat. The pain in my torso is excruciating and I can't breathe properly anymore.

My sweet angel. Who would want to harm him? Did they take him for some ransom? Fine, they can have all the money they want, I don't care about it! No amount of cash could compare to having my boy safely in my arms. Or it could be far worse! He could be taken by some psychopath to be tortured or raped! I try to shut down my imagination but pictures of my boy's body being abused in the worst ways possible pop in my mind and my eyes fill with tears. As I realize this is something I can't control, I begin to hyperventilate while my hands start to shake.

"Sir?" Glenn's voice takes me back to reality. I can't panic right now, I have to take back control. Anthony is somewhere, taken, probably scared to death, he needs my help. Or at least the best help I can provide him with. I am a fucking Dominant, I can't fall apart like this when my Sub is suffering. At least not before I have done everything in my power to find him!

"I will call you back. Stay where you are, do not disturb anything!" I command to Glenn before ending the call. My voice is shaking, though, and I'm still panting. Then I scroll frantically through my contacts until I hit Tanner's name and dial his number. "I've got a problem, I need your help!"

"What happened?" he simply replies.

"Anthony is missing. His collar was found by Glenn in the Ramble of Central Park." I keep it simple. My mind is incapable of building long sentences anyway. The mere description of the situation to someone else makes all the horrible ideas I had earlier resurface in my head.

"Is he still there?"

"Yes," I pant.

"Good. I have his number, I will liaise with him. I can't launch a proper investigation until Anthony has been missing for more than twenty-four hours, but I can go have a look and start inquiring on my own. Now do you trust me?" I knew somewhere in my rational brain that he wouldn't be able to begin something official right now but at least he can begin following leads by himself. I guess having a cop as a friend has its perks!

"What do you mean?" I ask, confused.

"Do you trust me to take the cold, detached and necessary steps that will give us the best chance at finding your boy?" Cold and detached are definitely adjectives that suit his personality very well. He is also supposed to be one hell of a detective, as he proved it in the past. I'm not sure Zach would still be alive if it weren't for him... So yes, I guess I trust him.

"Yes," I answer tiredly.

"Good. I'm going to give you a few simple orders that I want you to follow to the letter. You need to understand that if you don't, you might jeopardize my efforts to find your boy and hurt him indirectly." It feels like I am suddenly becoming a Sub, and the control I so desperately need is slipping even further from my grasp. But for Anthony, I would do anything.

"First, you will take a cab back to your place and stay there tonight," he commands in his deep authoritative voice. "Do not try to conduct any investigation on your own, you are in no emotional state for that! Do not make calls, do not follow any lead, do not interfere! Then, if you are contacted by the kidnappers by any means, call me immediately! Finally, don't even try to harass me with texts or calls. I promise I will visit you tonight to update you on my findings, just let me do my job in peace. Do we understand each other?"

"Yes," I reply in a small voice, letting myself drop against the wall. He is basically forbidding me to do anything to take back control over this huge mess, but somehow I understand his point. If this is the best for my boy, I can take it.

"I will end the call now, you know what you have to do," he concludes.

I stay like this, seated against the floor, stunned in a sort of stupor, unable to move, for the longest time. I have never felt so completely lost. I don't know how to deal with the loss of my boy. I love him too much, I can't even picture what my life could look like without him. It would be so numb and pointless! Since my brain seems incapable of telling me what to do, I decide to follow Tanner's advice. I am completely breaking apart, and it can't happen at work.

It takes me the longest time to get up and go back to the meeting I was supposed to lead. I tell them some personal events just happened and that we will have to reschedule in a dull and toneless voice I don't even recognize as my own. Then I ask Jenna, my personal assistant to clear my schedule for today and tomorrow. I don't see how I will be able to work in the near future anyway. Finally I order myself a cab back home. After waiting for its arrival seated in my office numbly, I drag myself to the entrance of the building. I am in an equally dazed state during the drive back to the apartment.

When I enter my place, I drop my bag on the floor and go in the living room. My boy should be there waiting for me, kneeling at the center in a pair of pretty boxer briefs. His lips would form a small smile when he hears my footsteps approaching. I would tell him how beautiful he looks, how I missed him today and how much I love him.

But his spot is empty and I just feel again this huge pain in my chest. Suddenly, I realize this is all my fault: I made him go outside and take a walk. If I had let him brood in the apartment, he would have been safe. This makes me drop to my knees, my eyes filling with tears. I hear a terrible scream, like a wounded beast howling, and it takes me a few minutes to realize that I am the one producing this heartbreaking sound. Once again, I lose track of time. I keep crying and crying, until I have shed so many tears I just feel empty.

I don't stay numb for long, though. In this void, a sudden fire starts building until I am blinded by a raging anger. How dare they touch my boy! I am going to find the persons responsible and destroy them. Whatever they did to my sweet angel, I will do to them tenfold. I don't care who they are, I will make sure to use every means necessary and the entirety of my resources to obliterate them.

The enraged lava flow going through my mind seems to reboot my brain, it suddenly hits me that there is one prime suspect in this kidnapping. My dear beloved father. This has his signature written all over it! He could not have hurt me more. Fuck! I should have had him killed, like Tanner suggested a few weeks ago. In any case, he won't get away with it this time! I will confront the bastard directly and make him tell me where he is keeping my boy. I don't care if I have to torture it out of him!

Do not interfere! Tanner's voice comes back into my mind... Well fuck you! I am not going to sit idle and do nothing while some random guys are doing God knows what to my Sub! You might jeopardize my efforts to find your boy and hurt him indirectly! his voice continues. Fuck! This sentence repeats itself over and over in my head until I do the hardest thing I have ever done: I surrender control to Tanner. I won't do a thing, even if I desperately need to, and trust him to conduct his investigation as he needs to. My angel's safety is the most important thing right now.

I need a distraction, anything to take my mind of it. I grab my phone in my pocket to call Aiden, and notice I have a few missed called. Fuck! I didn't even hear the device ringing! Shit! The device! I hadn't thought about it before but my poor angel had a cock cage on his member. He had such a hard time with it at nights, how is he going to cope with that on top of the abduction? Another thing that is entirely my fault...

At the same time, I am fiercely scrolling through my phone to see who contacted me before. Sadly all the missed calls are from Aiden or Zach, not Tanner or one of the kidnappers asking for a ransom. I deactivate the silent mode I had put for the meeting earlier and set the volume to its maximum. It was completely careless of me to miss what could have been a very important call! Then I dial my best friend's number.

"Distract me please!" I say in a hoarse voice.

"We are on our way to your place," Aiden answers. "Tanner called and explained. He said to keep you from doing anything stupid."

"Please tell me you're near!" I reply. I am feeling like I'm falling apart again.

"Almost there, Bro! Don't go out of your apartment!"

"He took him from me, Aiden", I begin to sob. I don't really register what I am saying next, and without really realizing time has passed, I am soon hugged between Aiden and Zach. It pains me to see the blonde submissive completely depressed and in tears like this. He is also taking Anthony's disappearance really hard. I alternate between phases of sorrow, numbness and anger, Aiden somehow managing to calm me from the last ones.

He also tries to make us eat something, but doesn't manage to make me swallow anything. I'm just too worried to be hungry. After what seems an eternity spent on the couch, the landline rings and I tell the receptionist to let Tanner go up. It is already 11pm but none of us mentioned the idea of sleeping.

"What do you have?" I ask as soon as he enters.

"Not much for now. Calm down and take a seat," he scolds me.

"How the fuck am I supposed to calm down! You told me you had this under control!" I reply angrily.

"Ethan!" Aiden growls. "Come here and don't argue! You know Tanner is a great detective that will follow every lead he has, legally as well as unlawfully. He has already started an investigation when nobody at a police station would even have listened to you! He will find your boy eventually but he can't do miracles, so give him time!"

I don't like being talked to like this by my best friend, but I must admit he is right. I mumble an apology to Tanner and go sit down between Zach and his Daddy.

"From what we gathered with Glenn about the movements of the tracking device inside Anthony's collar," the detective begins, "he was taken around 2:30pm. There were signs of fight in the area we found it, so he did not go willingly. There was no evidence of blood however, so he wasn't deeply hurt. Of course most of the people who could have seen anything were long gone when I got there, but an ice cream vendor south of the Ramble had an interesting tale. According to him, around 2:45 there was a bit of a commotion, with two men in black suits running, carrying a young unconscious man in their arms, saying he had just passed out and that they were rushing to the hospital."

"It is very likely that he was drugged and carried like this," he continues. "I didn't get a description of the car they used, let alone its plate, but I think I have gathered enough evidence to launch a real investigation tomorrow morning. That will allow me to put an alert with Anthony's face - I will need a recent photo by the way - and put a surveillance on his phone. It wasn't found where the collar was left, and your man searched very hard for it, so I'm hoping they were stupid enough to take it with them."

"Of course your dad is the prime suspect in this, and I will investigate every lead that could connect him to that. There is also a link to the club one way or another, since they knew to get rid of the collar. In the meantime, don't do anything on your own and call me if you get any contact from the people who took your Sub. Understood?"

"Yes, Tanner," I say resigned. I had hoped he would have some serious lead already, but it looks like my boy could be anywhere by now.

My friend bids us good night then gets out of the apartment. Aiden and Zach cuddle with me a bit more on the couch before they go to sleep in the guest room while I go in mine. I don't even try to sleep, I know it would be pointless. Where the fuck did they take him? Is he safe? I know these questions will haunt me for the rest of the night.

I am just feeling so helpless! For the umpteenth time tonight, this makes me hyperventilate and I begin to sweat profusely. The room starts to spin around me, I need to take back control! At least a tiny bit. That's why I spend the next hours rearranging the content of the closets, making sure every piece of clothes is neatly folded and sorting them by type and color. Then I tidy all the furniture so that they are in the precise spot I want them, going as far as aligning the pen on the nightstand in a parallel fashion.

It's only when I feel I have regained control over this room that I lay down on the bed, and exhaustion takes me for a couple of hours of sleep.

Published on August 7th 2017

So as expected, Ethan did not take the news very well... In the next chapter we will see what happened to Anthony in the meantime. Fair warning, it is probably one of the thoughest of the book. I'll put a brief summary of it at the end for those of you who don't want to read it.