Hector spoke briefly to the driver, who nodded his head in understanding at whatever the old man had told him. He began his drive straight through to wherever we were going.
There was not much outside, this town seemed so poor, I knew Hector had mentioned Mexico, so I knew what country I was in, just not what city. There were no other cars, just us. Just us and the dirty roads and the condemned houses with boarded windows while we passed.
About 10 minutes later we stopped before a large gate. The driver rolled his window down and typed some numbers into a keypad before a gruff voice came over an intercom.
When the men were done speaking, the gates opened. We drove for 2 more minutes down a paved road before coming to another set of gates. This time the driver only needed to enter numbers to gain entry. When we pulled through those, I noticed a large house, really a mansion ahead.
Hector looked at me and smiled
“Welcome home slave.”
He laughed at the fear I was sure he could see all over my face.
The car pulled up to the front door. Where I noticed a man around my father’s age walk through the front door. He’s wearing an expensive suit, he’s slightly handsome, clearly wealthy and obviously based on Hector’s body language… The boss.
Hector and the man talk briefly, before the new man turns his attention to me. An immediate smile crosses his face. Like he is trying to be friendly, like all of this is the most normal thing in the world.
Well… I mean it is for him at least.
“Olivia, it is so lovely to meet you. I have hear so much about you.”
He looks deep into my eyes and notices the bruising.
“Hector, did you rough the lady up?” the man asks
Hector nods. But he says nothing more.
The man makes a tsking noise in disapproval “Max will not like that.” He says
Max. I have heard that name before… Where?
The new man turns his attention to me once more “let’s get you inside and all settled, we have much to discuss.”
Still smiling, still happy, still acting like this is okay.
When we enter, I notice that this house seems even bigger inside, than it does on the outside.
The entry way is fully open to the entire bottom floor. The floors are an expensive marble that is cold to the bottoms of my bear feet. Outside it was piping hot, Mexico is hot, and I had always heard that. But it is nice and cool in here, it makes it easier for me to breathe. I am wearing what seems to be a sheet that was sewn together to look like a dress. It feels like a potato sack. Hector forced it on me before left the truck earlier.
Expensive chandeliers hang from the ceiling, a grand piano rests in the corner of what I assume is a living room. Several extremely large TVs line the walls. Along with expensive pieces of art, and stands with sculptures.
I notice several women in maid uniforms dusting and mopping floors. They don’t look up at me. In fact they don’t even seem to notice that we are here at all.
The house is quiet for the most part. I hear the sound of classical music playing somewhere, it gently fills my ears, as if it is supposed to be calming.
Suddenly a woman appears through a door on the left hand side of the entry way, she is carrying a garment bag. She walks up to me, pulls open the dress bag and hands me the dress, and I almost notice when she is done that she bows to me. Which makes no sense at all.
The man looks to me, nodding for me to put the dress on. Turning his back to give me privacy.
I pull the zipper of the bag down, and remove the light yellow sundress from the bag I step into it, but when I move to pull it up, the pain from my ribs radiates through me causing me to cry out with the motion.
“What the fuck is wrong with her.” He snaps at Hector
Hector says nothing
The man turns to face me, and when he does his gaze drops down from my face to my abdomen where my stomach is not sporting black welts.
He looks from Hector, to me and back to Hector again, before he yells to someone named Andrea
“Fetch Max now!” he shouts.
He pulls a cell phone out of his pocket. “Get me Alfonso now… tell him I think she has broken ribs.”
He looks at me, like he feels sorry for me. I know he doesn’t however, because he I think is the reason I am here in the first place.
I look to Hector, he’s shifting in place, like he is afraid of something.
“I am Michael Travers by the way. I am sorry I didn’t introduce myself.” His hand is outstretched to me
I gently reach out and take it, shaking it. He’s no friend, but I cannot afford to make him angry.
“I’m Olivia, but you know that. It is nice to meet you.” I know my voice is anything but confident, but the man still manages to smile to my response
“It’s lovely to meet you. Ah here comes the man of the hour now.”
He is looking past me, to where the large stair case. I turn to see who he is talking about.
A man dressed in an Armani suit, shined up dress shoes and perfectly gelled hair is slowly making his way down the stairs. He does not look at me.
“Max, this is Olivia, your present.” Michael says
His fucking present?
Max looks at me. He is a very handsome man. In fact other than Dean, he is probably the best looking man I have ever laid eyes on. And his body language tells me that he already knows this. He doesn’t seem happy by his father’s declaration, but when his eyes meet mine, a brief shocked look crosses his face. And then a light smile plays on his lips.
He reaches out for my hand. Despite the intense paing that I am feeling, just from standing I give it to him. He lightly kisses my knuckles, leaving his lips there for several moments too long.
I gasp at the action, which is the wrong move to make because the quick movement of breath causes me so much pain that I nearly fall down. Max grabs me and holds me upright.
“What is wrong with her?” He asks his father.
Michael does not answer, instead he reaches forward and pulls the dress, that I had pulled up to cover my breasts, but was still unable to fully place on, down.
Max sees the black marks and looks at his father once more “what happened?”
Michael still says nothing, but shifts his gaze to Hector
“I am sorry sir, she was crying, and I hate the sniveling of these bitches, she is a slave she needed to learn her place, I didn’t want her to disrespect you sir that is all. I just wanted to teacher who is in charge.”
He’s talking very quickly and his English is very broken
“So my father has you pick up something which belongs to me, and you feel that it is your right as a fucking glorified chauffer to beat her up and treat her the way that you see fit? Do you think it is okay to beat women Hector?” Max asks him
“No sir, but she is just a slave, she is nothing I have seen them come and go, I know your father kills them all but Miss Stella. I did not think it would matter.”
Michael makes a noise at the sound of Stella’s name. As do I... I know that Dean said he traded Stella to Michael in exchange for his mother and Adam’s mother, but hearing her name is not easy.
“She does not belong to my father, she belongs to me. Do you think you had permission to beat up something that belongs to me?” His voice is alarmingly calm.
“No señor.” Hector replies
“What am I going to do about this?” he looks at me watching me for several moments too long
I think he is waiting for me to answer. I open my mouth to say something, but he gently shakes his head no.
Max walks up to me and removes my hands from my stomach. He runs his hands gently over the bruises, he turns me around and checks for damage on my back. Then he turns me facing him again and really looks at my face. I know that is bruised as well, but he’s looking more into my eyes than he is at the contusions.
“I’m sorry this is how we must meet Olivia.” He sounds embarrassed but
he says nothing else, he simply turns around and I notice him reaching into the back of his waistband and removing a gun.
He aims the gun at Hector’s head, he pulls the trigger. He doesn’t give the man a moment to feel fear. He just kills him right then and there.
I scream. And everything goes black.
Chapter 31
When I wake up, I am in a cushy king sized bed. I look up and notice the room is about the entire size of half of my apartment.
The sheets are expensive, I have never felt anything like them before. Not even the soft sheets from the hotel with Dean when I first got away from Red.
No this bedding costs more than my house and car combined I think.
When I sit up, I notice Max is sitting in a chair, with a mac book air in his lap typing away.
He notices that I am awake “good morning angel.” He says, setting the lap top down and standing up. He walks up to the side of the bed and sits beside where I am laying. “How are you feeling?” he asks
“Okay, I don’t feel so much pain.” I admit
He smiles “Yes, Alfonso is very good at what he does, he is our private doctor. You have one cracked rib, but the rest were just bruised, you were very lucky. He gave you a shot of morphine and also brought you this.”
He motions to the side of the bed, where I notice a large breast pump
“I didn’t realize you were a new mother.” His voice is nearly a whisper full of emotion
“Yes, my son is almost 3 months old.” I reply the tears start to fall at the mention of my little boy
Max shifts slightly “you can pump your milk, we are only a few hours from your family, I have men who can make drop offs if you feel that it is important to you.”
I shake my head “what so someone can poison my baby?”
Max’s face reddens “I would never harm a baby! That is something my father would do, but I would not.”
“No, I suppose not, you just own women and then kill them. How long do I have?”
He looks at me carefully before replying “you have forever, you are mine to keep.”
“What the hell are you talking about yours to keep, I am married. I am a mother what the hell could you want with Me.?”
He frowns “Stella did not mention that you were married.”
“What does Stella have to do with any of this?”
“Stella is the one who told my father of you, he told him that you would be perfect for me and what I was looking for. She is the one who provided the photos that helped me make my choice. You are my father’s gift to me, but you are my choice.”
This is crazy
“What do you mean I am your choice? Why would your father give you a woman, why couldn’t you just go and find one?”
“Because I am a very rich, but a very dangerous man. Women either love me for my money, or love me for the bad boy inside, but never for just me. I need to have a child and I need to have a woman by my side. None of the women father has chosen have interested me. But you... You have interested me. So you will stay here with me. You will be my wife and we will have children.”
“You have to be fucking kidding me?”
“I am not. It’s not your ideal situation, but it is a means to an end for me. I get my father’s business when I marry and produce a child or he dies and since my father is nowhere near death, I must marry and it must be someone that I can stand to be in the same room with. You will get use to the idea.”
I am speechless “I will get use to the idea of being married to another man while my true husband sits at home and has no idea where I am mourning over me?”
“He’s not mourning, he has Stella.”
“He hates Stella.”
“This was all her master plan. My father wanted to kill her for cheating on him with one of his men, this was her way to get back in his good graces and also get the man that she wanted. I assume she is with him at this very moment.” He stops talking and pulls a cell phone from his pocket scrolling through. He pulls up a photo and shows it to me. It’s Stella and Dean outside at the park. I see Dean’s mother beside him, holding Landon.
Dean is smiling.
The only thing that stops me from falling apart is the look of fear that is on Dean’s mother’s face. She looks disgusted and worried. This cannot be a happy occasion. I can only hope that Dean is playing her once more. I notice that he is still wearing his wedding ring, which gives me a small amount of relief.
If he doesn’t fall for her games, he will still try to find me.
Max takes the phone away and says nothing. “I will be your friend Olivia, I am here for you. If you make this pleasant I will make this pleasant I am not my father, I will not kill you for nothing. I will kill you if you try to escape, I will kill you if you hurt me. And only then.”
“So you just want me to stay here, you want me to open my legs to you and give you a child when there is already a boy out there that belongs to me, you want me to forget him and my husband so that you can turn into the boss. Why not choose a woman with no family?”
“Because angel, I have heard all about you and it is you that I want. So yes, you will forget your husband, you will do what you want with helping your son from here, but he will be fine. His father makes a great deal of money, he has more family to keep him safe. You will stay here with me.”
“Do I have any other options?” I ask
“You do not Angel. We are in a highly secure building. Dean will never get in here, unlike the last time when we were in another building. This one is manned by 100 men around the clock. He would be dead by the time he got to you, and then my father would force you to be killed as well. Don’t cross him. Stick with me. I know this isn’t what you wanted, but I will try and make your life as good as possible. You will want for nothing other than the people you cannot have. All your material needs will be met, and I have a feeling, in time you and I can become friends.”
“Why didn’t you use Stella, can you find someone else to have a child with if I do not want one with you?”
“I could have a child with someone else, and just use you for my other needs. But I have a feeling, I would prefer you to carry my children, than some crack head that my father can steal away or that whore Stella. You are good, you are beautiful and you are pure. I knew it the moment I looked into your face. Stop asking questions about ways out. There is no way out. You will learn to be okay with this. Just try and make the best of it, because doing otherwise will only make you unhappy, it will change nothing. I will take care of you, you just have to let me.
Red was an asshole. He was a man who got hurt because he lost some money. He lost connections. But I really believe that he didn’t want me to die, he just wanted his money.
Michael had raised his son to believe all he needed was the perfect wife and family in order to take over the business. Max might be good looking, but he was not someone I wanted to be with…
But I had no choice. I needed to stay alive and see how this would all play out. I had to have faith that this would work out one way or another. If I know Dean, Ryan and Adam they will not give up on me. They will not let Landon grow up without his mother.
But how long would it take for them to find me. And just what is going to happen between now and then?
Chapter 32
121 days.
Four months.
16 weeks.
I have not seen my son.
Does he cry for me? Does he remember who I am? I know that he doesn’t. He’s too little. Babies are adopted to other families every single day as infants and adjust just fine to their new parents. I know that my baby has no idea that I am his mother and I am not there.
He is 7 months old today. He is probably crawling, and tearing up anything he can get his hands on. He is probably starting to eat solid foods and making big messes. Does he laugh? I bet it would be my most favorite sound on earth. His 3 month old baby laugh made my heart explode each time, but at 7 months I know he would really know
when to laugh.
How big is he? I wonder what size clothing he is wearing. Does Dean give him a bath in the morning like he likes, or does he bath him at night before bed? Are his eyes still as clear as the ocean like his daddy’s? He would have lost that new baby smell by now. My favorite thing to do was to hold him, and stick my nose in his little neck and inhale. Dean would laugh at me. But the feeling of pure love when I could smell his baby soap and the newborn life on his skin always made me so happy. So full of hope.
I forgot what that was like. To feel hope.
Chapter 33
Despite the psychotic way I met Max, he’s actually really good to me.
He brings me breakfast in bed every morning. He always asks me the night before what I would like to eat when I wake. He always seems to know when I am waking and has it ready. A smile on his face as he serves me.
In fact Max is very odd about being the only one who directly does most things for me.
When someone takes my laundry, he brings it back in to me. When meals are served, he sits right with me and makes sure that he is the one to ask me if I need anything else.
He paints my toes every night. A new color.
He lays on the couch and watches romance movies with me.
When I go running early after breakfast he runs beside me.
His smile is contagious after I learn to stop resenting him. Which happens fairly quickly. Max makes me feel safe, and I see the other men and women walking around here. I know that I cannot trust them.
He asks me how I am feeling. He asks me if I need anything. He rubs my feet, he runs me baths.
He doesn’t push me to have sex.
But we eventually do.
6 months after I was taken. On one very drunken night….
Stella returned one day randomly. Max explained that it wasn’t uncommon for her to do so when she needed more money, or had bitten off more than she could chew with someone and needed Michael to clean up her mess.
Sweetest Torture (Sweetest Kill Book 2) Page 9