Page 8 of Sweet Possession
From the outside, you’d never guess the derelict shoe factory was amakeshift fort, holding young women in their worst nightmares. After today though, I planned on making sure the place burned to the ground, and the Dukes were locked up for the rest of their miserable lives. A small price to pay for the hell they’d put the girls through.
As forthatcunt, Dwayne, I was going to make him pay for laying his grubby handson her.
I didn’t know if Cora came to the decisionthatshe was safer comingwith me, or if she knew she had no choice in the matter. Either way, she took a breath before sliding into the backseat of the car, refusing to look my way as a silent tear sailed down her rosy cheek.
The journey home was silent, and for the entire ride, Cora stared ather hands resting in her lap, her body tense. I kept peeking at her in the mirror, hoping for her to meet my eyesjustonce, but she didn’t look up. Notevento look out the window to see where we were going.
I debated trying to get her to talk. According to Marvin, she hadn’tuttered a word since Freddy took her to the brothers, and she discoveredthatshe would be sold to pay off her father’s debts. She hadn’tevenmade a sound when she was held downand forced to have her pussy waxed, and a birth control implant put into her arm, courtesy of the package the Dukes offered when buying one of theirproducts.
The Dukesreallywere sick fuckers, and I couldn’t wait to see themget their comeuppance.
My anger towards Freddy grew with every passing second, myknuckles whitening from where I gripped the wheel so damn hard.
I knew what it was like to be betrayed by the one person in the worldwho should have done whatever it took to keep their childsafe. But Cora would never need to worry about being let down again. I’d die before I letthathappen.
Freddy would get what was coming to him, I would make sure ofthat,but only with Cora’s permission. I wanted her to have a say on what her old man’s fate would be.
My house was a short drive from the heart of Vegas in an area wherewealthy people lived. A number of celebrities were my neighbors, andthatwas one of the reasons why both Nash and I had homes in the area. Not because we wanted to rub shoulders with the rich and famous,but because the security to get into the area was tighter than a nun’s cunt.
There’d been several occasions when crazy-ass women had tried toget access to either mine or Nash’s house. Thanks to the twenty-four-seven security, they didn’t get any further than the main gate, where they’d be promptly rounded up and taken away with the threat of a restraining order ringing in their ears.
I had given one woman permission to come and go freely though. LilyPorter was the front-of-house manager at Onyx. We’d been fucking for the last few months, but I put a stop to it a couple of weeks ago when it became obvious she wanted more thanjusta good time.
Lily and I had an arrangement, onethatsuited the both of us to adegree. I’d made it clear to Lilythatour arrangement would never be anything more, something which she claimed to be happy with. She was nine years younger than me, and told me she didn’t want a relationship. Like me, shejustwanted someone to fulfill her needs.
Over time though, she became jealous whenever I spoke to otherwomen, and several nights passed where she’d blow up my phone with messages wanting to know where I was or what I was doing, and that’s when I knew I needed to end it.
She hadn’t taken it well and eventually broke down sobbing, tellingme she’d fallen in love with me. A part of me felt bad for her, but the bigger part didn’t. While Lily fulfilled my sexual needs to a degree, she didn’t fulfill other needs I had.
No one had.
Until now.
As we made our way through the hills, I ran through in my head all thethings I needed to do to help Cora adjust to living with me. I wanted the place to be a home for her, not somewherethatshe felt shehadto live.
But I wanted it to be her choice to live with me.
The first thing I needed to do was hire a chef. I was a terrible cookand survived on takeaways or a quick snack while I was at work. But Cora needed to eat sensibly.
Evenwithout the three days she’d been held by the Dukes, it was easy to see she was malnourished, and I fully intended on making sure she was well-fed from now on.
The next thing I needed to do was sort out her wardrobe. I’d been sofocused on getting the meeting with the Dukes set up,thatI hadn’t given much thought to anything else.
When she walked into the office dressed up like a prostitute, not only did it make my blood boil, but I realizedthatI hadn’t thought about what she could wear when I got her home.
Hopefully, Sav could help me withthatpart. She was a fashion guruafter all, and thankfully, she and Nash had flown home from Paris the night before.
They’d been in France the past week after Savannah’s first fashionshow was held there. I’d gone with them but flew home early so they could have a few days on their own. I also needed to keep tabs on the business, andit was a fucking good job I had. Otherwise, who knew what would have happened to Cora.
It didn’t bear thinking about.
As I pulled the car up to the manned gates, the on-duty securityguard let me through, recognizing my car. In the rearview mirror, I watched Cora’s head whip up and her eyes widened, filling with fear. She glanced around, suddenly looking like she was going to bolt from the car.
“This is where I live, Cora,”I said, meeting her frightened gaze at longlast.“We have a team of security who monitor the houses around here day and night, as well as cameras around the place. No one will be able to get to you here.”
I thought my words would reassure her, but when she sucked in abreath and tore her watery eyes away from me, I realized I’d fucked up. Instead of reassuring her, I’d told herthatno one could get her out of the house, and if she dared run, my security team would know about it.
I cursed under my breath as I drove through the gates and up to myhouse. I should have said something else to reassure Cora, whose gaze had once again dropped to her hands, but I couldn’t find the words. What the fuck did I say to an eighteen-year-old girl, who’d not only been a victim of human trafficking, but had been sold by her own flesh and blood?
