"Are you ready to go?" Vanessa asked.
"Yeah, let me just say goodbye," Jack replied. He went downstairs to find Abby and Moon waiting for him. Mary was on her hands and knees next to Abby, a leash attacked to the collar around her neck. Abby had persuaded her to take another week off work and stay a little longer, which Mary had happily agreed to. She was currently wearing the latex dog costume Abby had worn previously.
"Have a safe flight," Abby smiled at Jack, leaning in and kissing him deeply.
"We'll miss you," Moon chimed in, taking her turn to kiss Jack.
"What about me?" Ava complained as she came down the stairs, carrying a small bag.
"Why would we miss you?" Abby teased as Ava stepped off the bottom step. She walked over to Abby and kissed her passionately, pulling Abby's body tightly into hers and causing her to moan slightly. Ava pulled away and Abby instinctively followed, trying to stay close and keep kissing her.
"Are you sure you won't miss me?" Ava grinned. Abby just scowled at her and blushed slightly.
"I'll miss you, even if you are really mean!" Moon pouted. Ava smiled at her and reached up on her tip toes to kiss the tall women.
"We'll be back soon, don't worry," Ava reassured her.
"Let's go then," Vanessa cut in, ushering them to the door. Jack and Ava followed her outside to the waiting limo. It whisked them to the airport, where they boarded Vanessa's private jet. They went over the plan one more time.
Vanessa had organised to go shopping with Gino's wife, Leah. While shopping, she'd put the collar on her, which would be attuned to Jack. Jack would then go and meet them and take control of Leah. They'd then return to the hotel, where Ava would use the collar to transform Jack into Leah and give him her memories. Jack would then go back to Gino's house and use the collar on him.
The plane landed after two hours in the air and they disembarked into another limo that took them to their hotel. Despite having control over some extremely wealthy people and living in a giant house already, Jack was still amazed by the size of the hotel room. Well, room was an understatement, it was basically an apartment. It had two floors, four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a private balcony pool, a kitchen and half a dozen other rooms.
They didn't stay long, Vanessa has organised to meet Leah soon so they dropped off their things and took care of one extra detail. Vanessa had three of her own security with her. It was a condition of Gino's. At no point would his wife be without at least four security guards. Vanessa had objected, but he had refused to let her meet with Vanessa with less. Vanessa had then suggested if that was a condition, then at least let her use her own security as she trusted them more. Gino had objected, of course, but eventually had relented to use Vanessa's as long as at least one of his own was there.
So, before they left, Vanessa invited each of her guards into the living room one at at a time and had them put on the collar. None objected, they were paid to do what they were told, not ask questions. Jack soon had control over all three of them, which would make life easier.
He took the collar back and handed it to Vanessa. She stowed it in her purse and they set off to meet Leah. Jack had expected them to head toward some fancy mall or high street, but strangely they found themselves pulling up at a swanky looking high rise building. They went inside and after being checked by security, Vanessa entered the elevator while Jack waited in the lobby. A few minutes later, he got a text from Vanessa saying to go upstairs.
He rode up a few floors and stepped out into a large clothing store. It was unlike any store Jack had seen. The clothes were all displayed individually, nothing was on racks, there were no customers, the only people he could see was the security guards, one he knew, one he didn't.
"Who are you?" The one he didn't know asked, stepping in his way.
"He's a friend of Vanessa's, let him through," the guard he controlled replied.
"Gino didn't give permission for any friends to join," the first guard replied.
"Do you want to be the one that tells Vanessa you stopped me from meeting her?" Jack asked, hoping to bluff his way past this guard. This had been the only part of the plan they had been unsure about.
"I don't care what you tell her, you're not getting through," the guard replied.
"I'll go and get her," the other guard said. He went off to find Vanessa while Gino's guard stood staring at Jack menacingly. A moment the other guard appeared following behind Vanessa.
"What's the problem?" She asked.
"Gino didn't authorise any guests," the guard replied.
"Really Greg? That's the issue?"
"Sorry Ma'am, but you know what he's like."
"I know. Hey, while you're here, do me a favour and try this on," Vanessa smiled, pulling out the collar.
"What? Why?" George asked.
"I just want to see how it looks!"
"Don't think this'll make me change my mind about letting your friend through," George replied as he put the collar on. His expression changed instantly as he snapped it into place. Jack instantly rolled out some commands, the same as he gave the other guards and George accepted them. He then took the collar off, handing it back to Vanessa.
"It's lucky I hadn't used it on Leah yet," Vanessa smiled as she walked through the shop with Jack.
"I thought you already had, why did you text me to come up? Wasn't that the plan?"
"It was, but then I realised it's probably best we took control of her guard too. What if he saw you controlling her and called Gino?"
"Good point. What is this place anyway? Is it a shop?"
"It is, but normal people can't get here. The cheapest item here is around ten thousand dollars and that's just socks," Vanessa explained.
"Ten thousand dollar socks?"
"Yes, some of the outfits are hundreds of thousands."
"Wow..."
They stopped talking as they found a young woman with an older woman at the back of the shop. They were looking at a dress and the younger woman smiled when she saw Vanessa approaching and a little confused when she saw Jack.
"Who is this?" Leah asked. She had an accent Jack couldn't place.
"This is my friend, Jack."
"Gino didn't say anything about a friend joining us," Leah replied, although she seemed happy.
"Well what Gino doesn't know won't hurt him," Vanessa grinned. Leah smiled and held up the dress.
"Jack, what do you think?" She asked.
"It looks lovely, I like the pattern on it," Jack replied, unsure what he was meant to say. Leah smiled at him.
"Me too, the flowers remind me of home."
"Where is home?" Jack asked.
"Italy. I'm from a small town in the south," she replied. Jack looked at her and thought that fit. She had long black hair, olive skin and dark brown eyes. She was incredibly beautiful. Tall and thin, she clearly worked out to keep herself in shape. She had moderate breasts, which Jack suspected were being enhanced by an expensive bra from how high they sat on her chest. The low v cut of her dress showed off her cleavage impressively.
"Oh, Julia, could we get some champagne?" Vanessa asked.
"Of course!" The older woman replied, turning to leave and fetch the drinks.
"Leah look at this I found while I went to meet Jack, I think it would look good on you," Vanessa smiled, holding up the collar. Leah looked at it and pulled a face.
"I don't think so."