Nancy looked at Paul, smiled, and said, "Now that he is up here, I am not as concerned about bathing him as I was. I would rather torture him. What do you think?"


    "What do I think?" Crystalughed. "I think that I like the way that you think. Let''s do it!"


    Nancy gently touched Crystal''s arm. "Can you do me a favor?" she asked. "I would like to torcher Paul by myself. Would you mind torturing Eric or Nathan?"


    "It''s not a problem," Crystal replied. She winked at Paul and said, "Count your lucky stars. If it were me administering your punishment, it would be a thousand times worse than whatever Nancy has nned!".


    Nancy uttered a frustrated humph.


    "What''s the matter?" Crystal asked. "Do you know how you want to punish Paul?"


    "I have an idea," Nancy replied. "I want to shave a word into the side of his head and take a picture. Is it okay?"


    "It''s perfect!" Crystal replied. "Which word did you have in mind?"


    "Bastard." She knew that Paul cared about his appearance a lot, especially his hair.


    Eric nced at Paul sympathetically. "I n to mourn the loss of your hair."


    "If you dare to cut my hair, I will kill you!" Paul shouted angrily.


    Crystal gave Paul a nasty look and said, "Keep it up. I would love nothing more than to shove that sock back into your mouth."


    Paul''s mouth snapped shut.


    Nancy went into the bathroom and quickly returned with the electric razor. She plugged it in, put a # 2 guard on it, turned it on, and slid it across Paul''s head. Once his head waspletely shaved, she took off the guard so that she could write the letters. When she was done, she took a step back, smiled, and asked Crystal? what she thought.


    "I like it." Crystal? ran her fingers through his hair, and then she took a series of photos with her camera. "Do you have any harsher punishments in mind? I don''t think he has suffered enough..."


    "Can we just leave these guys here and go save rk?" Nancy asked. "By the time someone sets them free, we could be long gone!"


    "You wouldn''t dare to leave me!" growled Eric. "Mrs. Bush, please remember that you are my wife. Vows were made!"


    Paul lifted his head and shouted, "Nancy, you had better not abduct my son!"


    "You aren''t much of a father," Nancy argued. "You only acknowledge his existence when it suits your needs."


    As if on cue, rk appeared in the doorway. His hand was red and swollen, and he was crying. Nancy rushed over to rk and picked him up, and without another word to anyone, she carried him downstairs. Crystal followed her friend, but she stuffed a sock into each of the men''s mouths before she left.


    "I''m sorry," she said. "I can''t have you calling out for help. And just so you know, I will let the servants know that these rooms are empty and off-limits.


    Downstairs, Nancy was examining her son''s hand. She asked what had happened, and he said, "Mommy, my hand was burned."


    "What happened? Does it hurt?" It hurt Nancy''s heart to see her son in pain.


    rk hugged his mother. "Purr... Mommy. If you blow it...it won''t hurt anymore."


    Nancy blew on the wound. "What happened?" she asked again. "Mommy, I am fine. It''s not painful. If you blow it again..."


    As Nancy blew on his wound, she began to cry. When rk saw this, he stretched out his small hand to wipe her eyes. "Mommy, don''t cry!"


    A servant entered the living room. She had a First Aid Kit with her. "Here," she said. I will apply medicine to the burn. It will help with the pain and reduce the likelihood of any scarring."


    Nancy nodded and let the servant do her work. Once the ointment was applied to the wound, the servant wrapped his hand. "This is to keep it clean," she exined, "and prevent infection."


    Almost immediately, rk stopped crying, and Nancy thanked the servant. "Do you know what happened?" she wondered.


    "The young master identally poured boiling tea on himself," the servant replied.


    "That doesn''t make sense." Nancy frowned. "Are you sure that is what happened?"


    "I don''t understand your meaning," the servant replied.


    "You don''t need to," Crystal interjected. She turned to rk and said, "let me see your watch."


    rk nodded and obediently gave her his watch.


    "Have you been wearing this all day?" Crystal asked.


    "All day, every day," he replied. "Just like Aunty told me to. Am I a good boy?"


    "The best!" Crystal replied. "The watch was special. It had a hidden camera built into it. Beneath the cover, there was a tiny screen. If you wanted to see what happened, you just turned back the time and pressed y."


    Crystal set the clock back an hour and was not surprised to see that Michelle had been bullying the boy. "It is as I suspected," she muttered.


    Noah returned as she was strapping the watch back on rk''s wrist. He had his bodyguards with him, and she asked him, "What are they for?"


    "I don''t know..." he admitted. "But I have a bad feeling, and I would rather have them on hand and not need them than need them and not have them."


    And as it turned out, they would need them.


    ****


    Michelle had been sleeping peacefully when she was woken by noise in the living room. She wondered what was going on, and she got up so that she could find out. She assumed that it was Paul and Eric getting up to their usual shenanigans, so she was surprised to see Nancy and rk and Crystal, and she was taken aback by the angry expressions on their faces. She smirked and said, "What crawled up your asses and died?"


    Nancy gritted her teeth. "Piss off, you evil bitch!"


    "How dare you talk to me like that?" Michelle was furious. "Where is Paul?"


    "Paul asked us to take rk away."


    "What do you mean, "away?" asked Michelle suspiciously.


    "Away from you!" Nancy replied. "He has seen the video of you mistreating his son, and he is furious.. I wouldn''t want to be in your shoes when he gets home…."