Business Ch. 02

She didn't reply immediately. After a moment she sighed again, deeply, and resumed.

"There's a... substantial team of... erm... let's call them 'support staff' that get busy when a... uh... when an opportunity arises. They are backed up by an IT infrastructure and an amount of data that makes Google and Meta look like the Earth compared to the Sun.

For the most part, my... 'subjects' are people with power, or at least convinced that they have power... what they fear most is losing it. And that's the one thing that always comes true. All power... evaporates. And it inevitably comes down to their fear and need to know when. And I tell them when. And how. In a very convincing manner. And all of that... for free."

"For free?"

"It's much more convincing. It makes it look like I have nothing to gain. But it pays back."

"How?"

"Oh, don't be silly. How did you make your fortune?"

"I had some ideas that turned into businesses. And then I sold them for profit."

"Yes, I have no doubt that you did. And then? What did you do with the money?"

"Then I started inv-... Ah." It came to me. "You know when and how the balance of power changes. The stock market exchanges reactions are unavoidable. And certain. Wow..." I was trying to make sense of it. "But how-?... Does it always work?"

Again she waited a few moments before her reply, cued again by a deep sigh. This all felt like a confession.

"The... 'support staff' come up with a set of highly probable scenarios that require minimal intervention. The one with the most... desirable outcome becomes the... uh... 'prophecy'. So there's already a more than average chance that it will become reality. My... abilities..." she smiled and wiggled the nails I was caressing "...just add to those odds."

I was struggling to take it all in. "Has it ever happened that it didn't... work?"

"Well... the... 'support staff' also includes a very... reliable... operative team to help the events... unfold, if need be. We have a spotless track record."

I was starting to feel uneasy. This explained the secrecy and security around her. The amount of power controlled through seeding the minds of those comprising the economic, financial and political foundation of the world was impossible to formulate as a concept in my head.

"We?" it occurred to me.

"I can't tell you any more. I said enough as it is."

I had no idea what to say. If what she said was true, then I was, like she said, in a 'realm' beyond my 'mere mortal' condition. This was way beyond my grasp to fully comprehend.

"So" she resumed and stopped there. I felt like the 'twist' was bound to come. But it didn't. She just locked her gaze into my eyes looking for my reaction.

"I... don't hate you, Mistress" I started.

"...But?..."

I looked away. "I feel like... we're players in different leagues. You play for stakes that to me are impossible to comprehend. You set the direction the world turns. My love for you is... just a twinkle next to the blazing brightness of the power you wield. I feel... insignificant."

I kept caressing her hand and her enormous prophetic fingernails. She just smiled.

"Last time you said you'd take a shot at changing my mind. Are you giving up?"

This time, I sighed.

"It seems like a hell of a lot bigger challenge now. You rule the world. Literally. And I am just... a boy, rapidly discovering that I'm overgrown, that I am already at the peak of my life, and for quite some time at that, and that I've wasted a lot of time on what you ultimately cannot take with you in the end.

I have nothing more to prove to myself or to others. I'm not more complicated than that. Except maybe in my super long nail fetish. That's all there is to me. That, and the fact that I love you. But."

'Here goes nothing...'

"All power... evaporates, you said it yourself. What will you be left with when that happens... to you?"

She was still looking at me, waiting for me to look at her. When I did she spoke, looking into my eyes.

"Power, I cannot... like you said, take with me in the end. But your love... I would."

She leaned over to me and we kissed. She raised one hand and touched and caressed my cheek with the back of her palm. She did that while we kissed and for a minute after while I resumed caressing the nails on her other hand.

"Sometimes... it's... frustrating. Not being able to do things properly" she said referring to her super long fingernails. "In fact... it's no longer just 'sometimes'. I wonder if I will ever be able to use my hands normally ever again."

"Oh? You're planning... some radical changes?"

"I might" she replied vaguely after a pause. "Would you still love me if I did?"

'Uh-oh...'

"Are you serious... Mistress?"

"About making some... changes in my life? I already am doing that" she replied looking into my eyes, still clumsily caressing my cheek.

"No, I meant... the other question. You're practically asking me if I'm in love with... your nails rather than with you."

She stopped her caress and looked straight at me.

"And... are you? Would it change the way you feel about me?...If I gave them up?"

"Absolutely not! They are a big turn on to me, I'll give you that, but they're not... you. But... would you give them up? Would you give up... being the growing?"

She just smiled and fell silent for a few seconds.

"There's more kinds of growing that I am. That I can still be without my nails."

"Oh?" I voiced my curiosity. It didn't register to me what she was saying.

She took one of my hands and gently placed my flat palm under her navel. And then it clicked.

"You're... pregnant?..."

Surprise, panic, happiness, pride, humbleness, love and every other emotion imaginable splashed down on me.

"This... uh... means... that... uh..." I began stuttering. And then at the same time we both started talking.

"...That pretty soon..."

"...That I might actually..."

"...my nails will have to go..."

"...get to know you..."

"...if I am going to have the baby."

"...Mistress!"

She laughed at my reply but I was taken aback by her last words.

"What do you mean 'if you are going to have the baby'? Of course you're going to have the baby! We are going to have the baby!"

"Yes, but... I would no longer have these nails!"

"So what? I see it as a sign that you are outgrowing... your nails, not the other way around. Maybe it is time for a change."

"Do you really think so?"

"Yes, my love."

I leaned towards her and embraced her. She half-embraced me, because her nails were in the way, in return. We kissed and hugged.

"Wait... What about your business? How are you going to... deliver your predictions without your nails?"

"I won't. But provisions have been made. It was obvious that I can't be the only... 'fortune teller', no solid business places its bets on a single horse. What if something happened to me?" She paused. "And actually something kind of did... with this." She touched my hand on her belly.

"I'll have to talk to the... uh... the... other stakeholders. What is certain is that I won't be allowed to just... quit. I know too much."

"So... what's your plan? I mean... I want to take part, be involved, I can't let you do this alone. I want to be a... dad."

She smiled and embraced me.

"Wouldn't you rather... get married first?"

"Oh, I would if you would. First, or second, or third, or... last" I replied instinctively. "Whenever you'll have me."

She turned and looked at me dead serious.

"That's never gonna happen."

"Oh... okay..." My disappointment was obvious. "But-...".

"It's not because I don't want to."

I was speechless.

"You and the baby will be a liability to me and consequently to... others. A day will come when I'm going to have to choose between my life and yours. And I will sacrifice mine for you and the baby."

"How do you know?"

"I wouldn't be in my line of business if I didn't. Marriage would only bring it out in the open. Expose us. And make that day come sooner rather than later."

I was crushed.

"...But a mother - I will be."

"Are you sure?" I was clinging to her words like to a prophecy.

"As sure as I can be."

We looked at each other for a long time. She seemed very confident. I felt like I was grasping at straws.

"So," she resumed eventually. The unmistakable cue of her reclaiming the lead. "If I asked you... will you help me do it? I don't think I can do it myself."

"Of course, Mistress. Help you do... what?...exactly?"

"Help to... release me from..." she wiggled her fingers and her nails clicked against each other "...their hold on me. From their... 'bounds'. I can't... bring myself to do it. The part of me that aches at this thought will be torn away. I need to put something back in its place. To give it meaning. Purpose. Nobody can give me that, except you. You understand it. You love it. You love me because of it. I know they are precious to you, too. We'll share the pain and heal together. I wouldn't want anyone else to do it."

"You want... me... to... cut your nails off... for... you?"

She was looking at me without saying anything.

"Are you serious?"

That look could not mean anything else.

"Ok, but... are you sure?"

"I am."

"Are you absolutely sure?"

She straightened up.

"So."

'Something's coming...'

"Lesson number two."

'There!...'

"Never question my motivations. My reasons are ALWAYS for that which matters most to me. Is that clear?"

"Yes, my-... Mistress."

"Good. What matters most to me now is the future. Our future. And with nails this long, our... future... would only have to suffer. So. Will - you - do it?"

"I will... Mistress... but..."

She looked at me squinting.

"Yes, Mistress!"

She held my gaze a few moments longer before she softened again.

"Good. You'll know when the time comes, it is... unavoidable. I still have to relearn how to use my hands before... you know."

She moved to mount me and I helped her.

"And now... how about you teach me a lesson..." she whispered and then we started kissing.

This time she didn't race to climax. Just like when we made love she started rocking and kept doing it keeping eye contact. She would again build the energy into it in speed alternating cycles. When it was clear that we were getting close she slowed down and stopped. She brought her hands up to her sides, her nails hanging downwards.

"Hold... my nails" she said, still breathing deeply.

"What do you-...?" Adrenaline flooded my system. I felt like someone slapped me. "Oh my God... Now?"

"Yes. Now."

Hesitantly, I got hold of her nails somewhere around the middle of their length.

"Higher."

I moved my hands a little closer towards the tips of her fingers.

"Keep going... more... more... there."

I stopped about two strips away from the tips of her fingers. "Tighter. Make a fist around them." She winced. "Now..."

'No... No!...'

"No matter what happens, do - not - let - go of them, until they're all... off. Do you understand?"

She was looking straight into my eyes, unshakable determination in hers. She was facing me, still mounted, me inside of her, both already 'primed'.

"I love you" she whispered and started rocking, her eyes locked into mine.

She picked up speed. This couldn't last too long. Her rhythmic breath quickly turned to squeaks and the expression on her face changed to a mix of lust, love and despair. I was holding myself in and holding on to her nails, clenching on them harder and harder. I wanted her to come first, I wanted to be sure that her orgasm would come before her nails broke.

It all happened in a fraction of a second. She gasped, tensed and I felt one of her nails give way. An instant later her squeaks turned to groans and the speed of her rocking doubled. I couldn't hold it in any longer and let myself go.

I clenched my fists, felt more of her nails snap and then her hands pushed and ripped through the rest of them to freedom. She kept rocking at full speed until the climax passed and then... slower and slower, coming around, looking more and more scared into my eyes. When she stopped completely her face showed panic.

"Oh my God!" she said rapidly.

I let go of her broken nails and held from under the chin, her face towards me.

"Honey?..."

"I can't look!..." she whispered with dread.

"Ok, don't look now. I'm here, look at me. You knew this would happen. I'm here with you."

"What've I done?... What've I done?" her eyes lost focus of me, like her attention was somewhere else.

"Look at me... Honey!... Look at me!...It's okay. You're free now. We're free. Keep looking at me. You wanted this to happen. I'm here. I'm not leaving you."

All the while I was caressing her face and keeping her eyes on me. She slowly started to raise her hands. I stopped her.

"Are you ready for it?"

She shook her head in a rapid burst. "...But I have to."

"It's okay," I continued.

She looked at her hands. Tears started swelling in her eyes.

"Oh, my babies!..."

"Honey!... Honey?... Let the big babies fly away... It's their time. You have a new baby to grow now. We have a new baby to take care of." I touched and caressed her belly. "Our future, remember?"

She burst into crying, threw herself onto me and cried her heart out for a few minutes. I held her and kept whispering to her.

"I'm here with you, I'm not leaving you. Just... let them go. They've had their time with you. And you with them. You're just... changing. Growing. That's right, you like growing. Growing into something greater. Something better."

She was sobbing when she got back up, still silent and with tears in her eyes. She raised one hand and touched my face with her fingertips. She brought the other hand up and caressed my head. She still had about an inch left on the tips of her fingers, broken rather ruggedly exposing the acrylic buildup needed for support.

"How does it feel?" she asked in a choked voice.

"Oh, Honey," I said as I closed my eyes and gently rubbed my cheek on her hand, giving her palm more surface contact "...this feels... heavenly."

"Do you really mean that?"

"Of course I do! Doesn't it feel the same to you?"

"I haven't been able to touch you like this... before."

She leaned forward, hugged me and I embraced her. It was much easier to do it now with her nails out of the way. I kept caressing her.

"It's ok. You're fine now. You're free."

We just sat there, embraced for a while.

"It hurts..."

"Of course it does. No change of this... magnitude comes pain-free."

"...But I also feel... relief. And somehow... gratitude. It wasn't... inflicted on me, I chose when and how to do it. And I had you. Thank you," she squeezed me into her hug.

After a minute she dismounted and sat next to me. I gathered her broken nails in one bunch and rested them in our laps.

"I can't believe that you actually went through with it."

She didn't say anything looking at her enormous broken nails.

"What are you going to do with these?"

She picked one up and traced it with her fingertips.

"Awww... It hurts seeing them... like this. Not on the tips of my fingers. I... just... can't let go..." she let out a sob.

"I guess they served their purpose. Among other... things... they've brought us together. If it weren't for them... who knows where we would be now? Probably both of us, still looking for... something that felt... that it's missing," I tried to change her mood.

"True. Though I wasn't actually looking for... that... and still... I've found you. And you gave me... only... things... that I had no idea that I needed."

"It felt... good. Sharing it with you." She chuckled at the memory of our first date.

Then she looked at her hands. "I'm going to have to do something about these," she added. "It feels so strange now with all their weight gone... I'll have to clean up the acrylic... Cut the rest... And start exercising the joints in my hands."

She was still assessing the result. "What do you think?" she held them out for me to look at.

"I think... that you are not only your nails. We'll... miss them, together, and when you'll get the... 'growing' itch again... I'll stand by you."

She looked at me, gratitude in her expression.

"You can always put them back on..." I offered.

"Whaaat?!" she turned to me in shock. And then a few seconds later during which time her expression passed through a thoughtful phase she continued. "But... wouldn't it be... weird? I mean... maybe... if you also wanted to... some day, would you... how did you say it?... 'Indulge...' me?"

"Oh, Hon-... erm... Mist-..." I started to reply, but she cut me short, placing on my mouth an index finger with a protruding remnant of one of her gigantic fingernails.

"It's okay" she smiled in acknowledgment. "You're not going to keep calling me 'Mistress' with the kid around, hmm? I think 'Honey' is much more appropriate. For now."