Chapter 11 The butler

The next few days passed in a very regular manner. Breakfast with Reyes, piano practice, stroll in the garden, lunch with Reyes, reading and another piano practice, dinner with Reyes back to her room and waiting whether or not he will call for her. For the past two days he didn’t. Slowly Arya learned about life in the mansion. Her Master liked having everything under control, he knew every servant and their schedule. There was no place for slacking; everyone knew what they were supposed to do. What was worse, everyone kept quiet. She didn’t come across a single gossiping person.

Her Master was a mystery herself, she learned nothing about him. The only thing she knew was that he was obsessed with control. He was controlling her day schedule, what she was eating, reading and sometimes even what she was wearing. He spends a lot of time in his study. He left the mansion once or twice but he was always back for the meals. Today some people were visiting him so she was ordered to stay in her room. All three meals were delivered to her by Jason the butler. He was an older man, hard to say exactly how old he was. Arya’s guess is somewhere between fifty and sixty. His hair was thick and silver gray, his figure was slender and he had light brown eyes surrounded by a tiny net of wrinkles. He seemed nice and Arya decided to try her luck on him.

“Excuse me sir, could you keep me company, only for a short time. I know you must be very busy …” She gave him that pitiful look of an abandoned puppy that worked so well when she was begging on the streets.

“Of course madam as you wish.” He smiled gently and sat down. Arya smiled too and started the conversation.

“Mr Jason, how long have you been working here?”

“Well almost twelve years.”

“That’s long, you must know everyone here. I'm still learning the names.”

“Yes, I do know. Most of them were hired by me and Mr Reyes.”

Now was the time to ask more.

“Mr Jason I don’t want to be nosy but is there any Mrs Reyes?” She was fidgeting her fingers looking shy.

“No madam, there is no Mrs Reyes. Master is single.”

“He seems to be well off, he probably had a lot of offers.” Arya was fishing for information.

“Probably, I don’t know.”

Wrong question, that's a dead end.

“Master seems quite busy, what does he do?”

“He owns a chain of shops and some restaurants and clubs.” OK, that was something, now it comes…

“Mr Reyes isn’t a noble, is he?”

There was a long awkward silence.

“What are you implying?” His tone got a hundred degrees colder. Fuck she pissed him. He must be one of the loyal ones.

“I’m just trying to learn something about him. I was just wondering how did he manage to achieve all this, alone without any support? He must be an amazing businessman.” There, she made him a compliment about his beloved master.

“He is my lady, now please eat. Master always checks how much you have eaten.”

Arya was wondering whether he was also checking how much she pissed. No need to think about something you can’t change.

“Mr Jason, can I have a stroll in the garden? It’s such a nice evening and I have been sitting here all day long.”

“I’m in no position to make such a decision. I’ll ask Mr Reyes.”

“Why bother him, I will keep away from the mansion and no one will see me.” She gave him sweet eyes.

“I’m sorry madam, Master must give his permission. I’ll go and ask.”

Jason stood up and left. Arya knew, he was fucking loyal, loyal towards his master. Probably he has never been forced to walk on his fours with a plug in his ass. Servants usually aren’t very loyal, they envy their masters, or hate them. For money they would do anything. It wasn’t the case here. It was either because they were really well paid or they were scared of Mr Reyes. She will learn shit here. Her only chance was going out, not only to the garden but to the city and ask around about the mysterious Mr Reyes. Her thoughts were broken by steps outside her room. It was probably the butler with the information whether or not she was allowed to go out to the garden.

There was no knocking, the door went wide open. She saw the Master of this house in person. There was something about him that made her worried. He closed the door behind him.

“I know I have neglected you and that you weren’t properly trained yet, however my orders are final. Trying to persuade my stuff to sneak out of the room was a mistake.”

Fucking Jason, Arya was now sure that butler will never be her ally in anything.

“Come here, lay on my lap and raise your dress.”

Arya said nothing there was no point, he was angry all right, she has made a mistake but the truth was he wanted to punish her. From the very beginning, he was just waiting till she gave him an excuse. Now she did it. She was bent over his lap with her dress raised. He took off her pants for a moment, he was stroking her buttocks before giving her a slap. She hissed. The best she could do was counting slaps. Just like with Mr Xavier. It was ten. Arya didn’t produce a sound, the searing pain will make her remember that she was alone here. She will survive, she has to. Arya stood up.

“Thank you Master for the lesson.” Her face was expressionless.