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"What did he do, sweetheart?" I asked. "Tell me and I'll go scold him."

"He stole my fries," she said, very seriously.

"He what?"

"Stole them," she repeated, and pointed across the room to where JJ was sitting, watching me with visible apprehension because he clearly knew the conversation wasn't going well for him.

I took a deep breath and stood up. Elizabeth stood up too.

It was quite true that I wasn't the only one who had ever disciplined JJ at The Hearth. JJ was so badly behaved that most of the Dominants there — with my consent — had helped with some form of correction at one point or another. Elizabeth included. JJ had a particular respect for her, possibly even more than he had for me, which I found both funny and mildly insulting.

The two of us walked over.

"What's this about you stealing Lucy's fries?" I asked, putting my hands on my hips.

JJ was sitting at the table with Mikey, Sawyer, and Henry, all of whom went silent and looked at me. Elizabeth stood beside me with that serious, imposing posture of hers that made even the brattiest littles think twice.

"I think your Daddy just asked you a question, JJ," Elizabeth said.

"She started it," JJ said, sulking. "She wanted a bite of my burger and didn't ask — she just grabbed it out of my hand. I didn't like it."

"And instead of talking about it, you went and took her fries," I said. "And that's also very bad behavior, Lucy."

Elizabeth turned to her little girl, who was now smiling innocently.

"You forgot to mention that part, did you, princess?"

"I didn't think those details were important," Lucy said.

Lucy was a brat too. God help us all.

"Both of you, come here," Elizabeth said. "Sullivan, do you mind if I handle them?"

"Be my guest," I said. "You'd be doing me a favor."

JJ looked at me like I had personally betrayed him. He knew that if he genuinely didn't want this, he could use his safeword at any moment and we would stop immediately — but he didn't use it. He stood up alongside Lucy, who immediately began her defense.

"Sorry, Mommy, I only wanted a bite of his food, it was very mean of JJ not to share with me, and I know grabbing his burger was wrong but—" she spoke quickly, taking small steps backward without taking her eyes off Elizabeth.

"Both of you, on your knees," Elizabeth said.

She was very serious when she wanted to be. Serious and imposing in a way that would give even me pause. Imagine two little brats facing that.

"You'll have to catch me first," Lucy had the nerve to say.

I always found it impressive, honestly. The brats never feared the punishment and always seemed to want to make things worse for themselves. They only stopped when they were in much deeper than they needed to be.

"I'll just wait right here for you to come back and apologize on your knees," Elizabeth said clearly, without moving an inch. "You know I'm not going to chase you."

JJ looked at me like he was waiting for my opinion on the matter.

"You heard her," I said. "On your knees."

Lucy dropped down, huffing. JJ knelt beside her without being told twice — because, again, whatever else JJ was, he had a healthy and well-earned respect for Elizabeth that he did not entirely have for me, which remained mildly offensive.

"Daddy," JJ said, "can't you ask her to let it go just this once?"

"You were naughty and now you're being corrected," I told him.