by Sam Crescent
I was grabbed around the waist, and I screamed. I was shocked, and before I knew what was happening, he was pulling me into the car.
I was screaming, trying to get away, and the car was pulling away.
Lewis stopped reading. He knew what happened. He took a deep breath and moved from the table, and made his way into the bedroom.
Mandy wasn’t anywhere in sight, and he sat down on the bed, flicking past the couple of pages that described the chase.
When I woke up I was in a strange bed. There was a man there, smiling. It was the same man that had taken me. I tried to sit up, but he pushed me back down.
“You’re mine now.”
I shook my head. “No. I’ve got to go home.”
When I went to move again, he grabbed me around the throat and pushed me back on the bed. He squeezed my throat, cutting off my air. I panicked and tried to claw at his hands.
“You don’t need to cry,” Mandy said.
Lewis looked up at her. “How can I not?”
“I’m alive.” She cupped his cheek. “This is not to torture you.”
“I don’t care what things you’ve done. Everything you did was because of what you’d been told to do.”
“Does that make it right?” she asked. “I helped them get girls. I was a monster.”
They had been through this. He stared at the books. “I think your words should be made available for the world to see.”
“Please, for me, read it,” she said. She held his hand, and then kissed his lips. “That is my story. That is the woman you want to marry, and I need to know above everything else that you’ll be happy with me.”
Lewis agreed, even though he knew deep down that no matter what he read, or what he had to do, he would love her for the rest of his life. She was a fighter. The love of his life, and there was no way he was ever going to let her go.
****
Mandy knew her story well. She had lived through the years of abuse and torture. There had been manipulation from the beginning, and rape. Her life hadn’t been pretty. Since seeing Elijah and writing down her last words, she felt … at peace. She didn’t think it was possible to feel that way after everything, but she did.
For an entire week, she left Lewis in peace so that he could read her diaries, her memories. She had glossed over some points and detailed others. She recalled the parties where she was passed around and used. The way they made an example of her. The beatings that would leave her broken. There was one point she always made during the worst of it. The memory of Lewis. Thinking about him made her fight.
She hoped that as he read, he’d see a change within her. Knowing he’d been so close to her, seeing the evidence of his love, and his persistence had helped her to fight back. Her biggest regret, and her largest guilt, came when she’d been ordered to get the girls herself. To help lure them back into the nest. That had been one of the hardest things in the world she had ever had to do. She, of course, refused at first and got a beating for it, but in the end she’d done it, as she couldn’t keep taking the hits.
It was that very first outing that she’d seen Lewis’s name with a picture of herself. After that, she had known there was a way to save the women she had to lure. However, when she came home with nothing, Elijah held a gun to her head.
Looking back, she hadn’t realized it at the time, but it had been the first change in their relationship. She’d not begged him to save her. Mandy remembered looking into his eyes and begging him to pull the trigger, almost daring him with the look in her eye.
He’d not.
After a second week, she was sitting in the penthouse apartment, looking through wedding magazines for ideas of her upcoming wedding.
Jamie had informed her that it had to be this big, lavish event. The world was abuzz with the love of Lewis’s and her budding relationship.
She wished they could go back to the island and shut everything out, but that wasn’t an option. At least not for some time. She missed being there, but she also knew the club was onto another collection of women.
Several had been reported missing in the news, and even the club’s contact had asked for her help. Mandy had given them everything she knew, but had also warned them that they may do something different seeing as they now knew she was working for the club.
Lewis had told her what Robert had said. It didn’t surprise her.
Mandy had also warned him that just because the two men had been seen, there were a lot more who did the actual work, the luring, the capturing, the kidnapping. They wouldn’t catch Robert or Elijah in the actual act.
The police had nothing to work on.
They all had nothing but to wait until they slipped up.
She had expected Elijah to reach out again. He’d not.
Thinking about that moment in the ladies’ room made her smile. She had stood up to him, and no one, not even Elijah, could take that away from her.
The sound of the door opening filled her with happiness, especially as Lewis entered. Getting off the sofa, she rushed toward him, throwing her arms around him. Slamming her lips down on his, she kissed him deeply.
He had finished reading the last of her diaries, and before he made his final judgment of her, she had needed one kiss. Something to keep her sane.
Cupping his face, she kissed his lips again, knowing she would do anything for his love. “I love you, Lewis. I love you so much.”
Lewis chuckled. “You’ve never reacted like this when I’ve come home before.” His hands rested on her hips. “Why now?”
She closed her eyes, resting her head against his. I’m totally in love with you, and I’m scared you’re going to hate me.
Mandy didn’t say that. She placed her hand on his chest. The jacket was a little rumpled, and she went to step back.
He wouldn’t let her. His hands were still on her hips, and he wouldn’t budge. “That was some welcome. What’s going on, Mandy?”
Just talk to him.
Get it over with.
“I know you finished my diaries. The last one was on the pile, and I saw your bookmark at the end.”
“Ah, and you’re worried.”
“Everything I wrote was true. There’s nothing made up there. It’s all from the heart.”
He stroked her cheek with the backs of his knuckles. “I have no doubt at all. Did you expect me to fall out of love with you?”
Tears flooded her eyes. She had cried more in the past few months than throughout her entire life. Her emotions were riding high, and she couldn’t keep them in check.
“Erm, don’t you hate me?” The tears fell down her cheeks, and all she wanted to do was growl and dash them away. She didn’t do that. Instead, she stood, waiting for whatever he was going to say.
Lewis was her reason for living, the only reason she hadn’t taken her life, and then he’d given her a purpose in helping him. She needed redemption from her past, for the part she’d played.
“Mandy, I could never hate you. It’s not even possible for me to get angry with you.” He tucked some of her hair behind her ear. “You’re my angel. My reason for fighting all these years, and you will be my reason to keep on fighting. To help others. You think I don’t look back to that day and wish I hadn’t done things differently? I was mowing a lawn. You know, I’ve not mowed a lawn since that day.”
“What?”
He shook his head. “I guess the last time was enough of a punishment for me. There’s nothing worth it.”
“You weren’t to blame.”
“But that was what I was doing. I was mowing the lawn, thinking about football, and having a drink. I wasn’t even thinking about you, Mandy. I was taking care of you because I figured it would be easy. You were always trying to impress me, so you were an easy kid to look after.”
Now he was crying, and she felt like the worst woman in the world for making him. “You have nothing to be embarrassed about.”
“Your family blames me. I’ve not spoken to your bro
ther in years because of it. I was asked to take care of you. I didn’t do that.”
“I helped them. I went to the car that day! Not only that, but throughout the years, I helped to lure girls, Lewis.”
“I know. I read everything you wrote, Mandy. Your story, it breaks my heart to know all that you went through. There’s no way I could have ever fallen out of love with you. It’s not possible for me to feel that way.” He cupped her chin and smiled. “I love you, Mandy. I’ll love you for the rest of my life, and that is never going to change.”
He pulled her into his arms, and Mandy sobbed as she finally felt happy. She couldn’t believe that he still loved her. The diary had been part of her soul where she had admitted everything. Lewis loved her, her savior, her hero, the man who hadn’t given up on her.
They sat down on her sofa and she snuggled up against him, closing her eyes as peace settled over her.
Lewis reached out, taking the magazine she’d been looking at. “Is Jamie forcing you to do all the details?”
“He wants me to put my spin on everything, but I don’t know. I struggle to make these kinds of decisions. I’d dress in jeans if it meant I got to be with you for the rest of my life.”
“Then how about we cancel all this and head out right now? We go to Vegas, and I’ll marry you.”
Mandy smiled. “Are you being real right now?”
“As real as I can be. I don’t need all that fancy shit. It’ll piss Jamie off, but this is about what we want. I didn’t know if you wanted the big white wedding, with the guests, the cake, and everything else.”
She shook her head. “No. I don’t want that. I just want you, Lewis. I will only ever want you.”
She straddled his hips, sank her fingers into his hair, and kissed him deeply. No one could take this away from her, and what was more, she wouldn’t let them do it either.
Chapter Twelve
“I’m still pissed at you,” Jamie said.
Lewis smiled. “Why?”
“I was really looking forward to hosting this event, and what do I hear of being replaced, huh? I get told in a damn newspaper that one of the country’s most eligible bachelors tied the knot in some quick wedding place in Vegas.” Jamie lifted up the paper in question. The rest of the guys at the Billionaire Bikers MC were laughing.
“Seriously? You really think Mandy or I wanted this big wedding? You were bringing cake to my office. Have you ever thought about becoming a wedding planner? You seem to enjoy that kind of work a lot more than anything else.”
“Bite me.” Jamie tossed the newspaper down and glared.
“Look, it was nothing personal about you or the way you do things. Mandy and I, we just wanted it to be about us, and we got our wish. If you’d like, and I will double-check this with her, we’ll renew our vows just for you.”
“I had picked out the perfect lemon cake. Both of you had liked it, and the buttercream was just divine. I’m upset, and it’s all your fault.”
Lewis didn’t like that he’d upset his friend, but he also couldn’t stop smiling. He was happy. The wedding band on his finger showed to the world that Mandy was his wife. They were also receiving calls from her family, and her brother had also been in touch.
That had been one of the hardest phone calls he’d ever experienced. He hadn’t spoken to her brother in years.
There was no way they were ever going to be friends. Too much had been said, and a lot of time had passed. When Lewis had begged for his help, her brother had slammed him against the wall, sucker-punched him, and told him to let it go. There was no way that she was ever going to be found.
It was a memory that had stayed with him for a long time.
Just another realization to add to the long list that no one was looking.
“Shall we get back to business now?” Russ said. “Congratulations on your marriage. I know this happiness has been a long time coming for both of you.”
Lewis nodded. “Thank you.” It had been a long time coming.
“Right, we have a problem,” Russ said. He had a folder, and he slid it down to Lewis. “This came in while you were getting married, but we waited for you.”
Lewis took the folder, flicking it open. There was a picture of Robert Jones inside a warehouse. “This isn’t real,” he said.
The picture was clear. Several women were chained to walls with gags over their mouths.
“It’s not one of your warehouses, Lewis,” Blake said.
“It’s not possible for it to be mine. I have them all on my security detail.” He went over the pictures.
“This is a trap,” Russ said.
Looking up at his friend, he saw that Russ was speaking seriously.
He went back to staring at the pictures, and his stomach rolled. There was a young girl there. She looked similar to Mandy, and he knew this was a challenge.
“Your security only works if someone is monitoring it.”
Lewis didn’t like that judgment. “Do you really think I’d slack in that department? Every single one of my warehouses is guarded. I have security footage, and none of them have been compromised. I’m guessing this is from one of the warehouses I couldn’t get. Someone snapped it up before me. A private investor.”
Lewis didn’t like this. The warehouses were going to be safe havens, not places to store women as if they were property or cattle to be used. This was a deliberate taunt. He couldn’t acquire this particular warehouse, and now they were storing women and girls there.
Anger began to build once again inside him. It had been dormant for so long he’d forgotten the rage that would often flood him, making it next to impossible to think straight. All he wanted to do was kill. Every single one of these bastards had hurt Mandy, and now they were taking women and girls in his city and storing them on his turf. That shit was not going to happen.
“What else do we know?”
“That Elijah wants Mandy dead,” Blake said.
“This is not really news. We’ve been aware of it for some time,” Lewis said.
Jamie leaned forward. “I don’t like this one bit. Something stinks here, and I have a feeling this is a trap to lure us there.”
“Then we tell our informant. At least we get rid of Robert,” Lewis said. He stared at the photographs, knowing he’d love a few minutes alone with this fucker.
He wasn’t going to get it, but he could hope. “We can’t just do nothing.”
“We don’t want to do nothing,” Blake said. “This is a test. I don’t want us to fuck this up either.”
“Do you think that he’s trying to get us there so that he can take Mandy?” Lewis wasn’t going to let his woman close to that monster again.
“It’s possible.”
“Then give this information to the informant. As much as I’d love to wipe that smirk off Robert’s face, I want him locked up. You’ve heard the rumors of what they do to cops inside. Let’s see if he can work his way out of that.”
He was sentencing the man to guaranteed torture and possible death, but he didn’t care. This fucker had laughed at Mandy and thought it was funny for her to be trained.
Lewis despised any man who worked off of others’ fear. They may not get every single man in the trafficking line. They were all over the world, and it was impossible to wipe out an entire mindset. Every single person he came into contact with, he wanted them gone.
****
Mandy went back to school, and even though she thought it to be a waste of time, she did it. This was a freedom that had been taken from her, and instead of hating it, she was going to enjoy it. The professor was boring, but she had come to realize that he taught the subjects so often it was probably all mundane to him by now.
She’d never wanted to be a teacher. There was no way she wished to command a roomful of students. By the end of the day, she was still confused by algebra and hated history. She often wondered if she hated history because of her own.
Either way, there was no fighting it anymore.
At three she left the college grounds, and paused as she saw Lewis leaning against his car. Normally her guard for the day was waiting for her. He didn’t lurk in the hallways as Lewis originally wanted. She didn’t want a guy hanging around her every second of every day. That would only remind her of the life she’d been rescued from. She didn’t want to be a prisoner, and Lewis had listened to her. A guard was on the campus at all times, but he kept his distance.
Smiling, she rushed toward him and threw herself into his arms, not caring that the books she’d been holding were now on the ground.
“I’ve missed you,” she said.
“I can tell, baby.” He swung her around and pressed her against the car. This was the first time in weeks they didn’t have the press rushing at them. Another big scandal had hit the newspapers, and they were saved.
He slammed his lips down on hers, and Mandy sighed, melting against him as her body heated up once again.
“I love you,” he said.
Opening her eyes, she stared at the man of her dreams. “I love you, too.”
Lewis glanced around them and chuckled. “We’re causing a few curious stares.”
She hadn’t even noticed. “I only care about you.”
He opened the door for her, and as she went to grab her books he shook his head. “I’ll do it.”
Mandy didn’t argue as she figured he wanted to do this. Climbing into his car, she held out her hands for the books, waiting for him to join her.
Once he was behind the wheel, he pulled a folder out of the compartment in the driver’s side door.
“What is this?” she asked. The moment she flicked it open, Lewis didn’t need to tell her any more. It was pictures of captured women and girls being guarded by that monster. There was a girl, no more than ten, being locked up as well. Seeing the young girl made Mandy think of herself. The number of times she’d been beaten and left in chains was too much for her to bear. “This is a trap.”
“We figured as much. We’ve already informed our guy in the police force with the warning of Robert’s interference. We’ve got all the information we need about what is happening.”