by DD Prince
“She was still suppsed to be but she was still in their infirmary so she was loaded on one of the slave buses. That was the only part of the plan that went awry. But the bus she was on? The driver tried to break up a fight and a couple girls held him down while a bunch of other girls took turns beating her to death. Fifty or more people to one, Cleo didn’t stand a chance.
“Um, yikes.”
“Karma.”
“Double yikes.”
“Karma’s a fickle bitch. Some of us, it gets in our face. Others, it passes us by. Thankfully,” he said.
I put my head on his shoulder and blew out a long breath, “No. You’re a good guy. Karma isn’t looking to hurt you.”
Dare snickered.
Cleo, gone. Jason, gone. Gan Chen, Joseph Lucas, Rafe Ruiz, Delgado, gone.
Felicia Sapphire? Gone.
Thank God.
Oh, and Truly Garnet? Her name is actually Julie. She’s in Thailand somewhere. She and cutie pie Irish hacker Jonas kind of hit it off. They started off talking computer security hacks and by the end of things, they were off in a corner looking very very cozy.
She has my number, if she needs anything. Dare is going to send her money and help her set herself up.
My tracker software still directs to my tracker, in case anything exists anywhere Jonas couldn’t remove. He accessed online cloud storage and did a bunch of tweaks but said we couldn’t be too careful. He redirected Julie/Truly’s tracker software to make it look like she died on the Kruna resort property.
I don’t know what happened to that security guard who brought her to us. I had a feeling he was no longer. But I didn’t need to know.
Dare carried me to bed.
God, I loved it when he did that.
He slowly undressed me. He kissed from my mouth to my navel, and then back up to my breasts, which he teased with his tongue.
I reached into his pants, for his beautiful hard cock.
“Hands over your head. Be my good girl,” he said, his mouth going down to my pelvic bone. My jeans were shimmied off and then he spread my legs wide and twirled his tongue over my clit.
“Can I touch you?”
“Not yet.”
“Please, Master?” I begged, “I want to touch you so much.”
“Mmm, okay Angelbaby, touch me.”
I sat up as he got onto his knees in front of me. I pulled his zipper down, took out his cock, and wrapped my lips around it. He threw his head back and moaned deep and huskily.
I loved to make him make that noise.
We had sex three times that night. It was beautiful. It felt as good as every other time but even better, because Kruna was no more.
Tia
When we left Thailand, we went to St. Louis for Kate Lewis’s funeral. It was a horrible, horrible day. So much sadness.
Tommy was glued to me throughout the trip. I figured he was thinking of us as John and Kate because it could’ve been me that was killed.
And I could see how sorrowful he was for his friend, John. John was a shell of a man, surrounded by six gorgeous children that all looked like perfect combinations of John and Kate. The kids were in shock. Their world had been turned upside down. It was a day I would never ever forget.
From St. Louis, we flew to our house in Costa Rica to get that closed up. And take a little break from reality. We figured we’d come again a few months after our baby was born and bring the whole family for a little holiday.
We had a nice few days there with lots of relaxing, a little bit of packing, and a lot of vanilla sex.
We had an argument on day three, though. I’d bought him a silver cross necklace in an open air market. It was a beautiful piece of jewelry and it looked an awful lot like the necklace he’d had when we met. That necklace was what his mother told him would help him remember he was a good boy and when it fell down a sewer when Tommy’s dad beat up my Dad and Tommy intervened, I had seen the pain on his face, felt it in my soul.
I presented it to him after I bought it, he’d been standing off to the side while I shopped, making a work phone call.
He rolled his eyes when I gave it to him.
“You think this’ll protect you from me? Really?” He threw it in a trash bin.
I was taken aback. I physically moved back at the aggression coming off him.
“Let’s go.”
I reached into the trash bin and pulled out the necklace box and put it in my pocket, showing him with my expression that he was hurting my feelings.
“Let’s go back to the house.” He grabbed my hand and impatiently walked, back to our car (we’d bought one when we were here a few months back) and opened my door for me.
I looked at him, a little stupefied.
He scowled and slammed the door after I was inside.
When we got back to the house, I gave him his space and busied myself. But then I heard a car outside.
I looked out the window and saw a red car pull in the long driveway. We were outside of the village, on the water, and it was rare for someone to show up.
A young and handsome guy in a suit got out of the passenger seat and his eyes went right to the window where I was standing. My hair stood on end. The driver was an older guy. They were both well-dressed, in suits. They approached the door casually.
Tommy, a moment later, came into the bedroom, where I was packing my clothes.
“Stay up here. Yeah?” He was tweaked.
“What’s wr---”
“Stay here.” He pulled a gun from under the bed and put it on the nightstand, “Anyone comes in here but me, shoot to kill.”
He put his cell phone on the table beside the phone.
“Shoot to kill and call Dare.”
“Tommy, you’re scaring me.”
“Just stay here. I’ll be back. But if I don’t come back…”
“What the fuck?” I started to shake.
“Love you. Sit tight.” He kissed me hard and quick and left the room closing the door behind him. He had another gun stuffed in the back of his pants.
About fifteen minutes later, that felt like fifteen hours, the two men left in the red car and he was back.
“Who was that?”
“That was the guy who’s got Angel’s sister.”
“Oh my god.”
“He’s dangerous. He caught me off guard.”
“I’d say!”
“It’s okay. It’s all okay. Come here.” He pulled me tight against him and caressed my back.
He seemed relieved.
“What did he want?”
“To make sure we know his position on Holly. And to make efforts to keep us from becoming enemies.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. I gotta talk to Dare about things. Don’t you worry about it.”
He pulled me toward the bed and we cuddled together.
“I’m sorry about the necklace,” he said.
I reached under his t-shirt and rubbed his chest.
I shrugged, “I’m sorry if that upset you. It was stupid. I know it’d never replace the one your Mom gave you. I just saw it and it was similar and---”
“I don’t need it. I don’t need it to remind me to try to be worthy. Every day is a battle, baby girl, but not a day goes by where I don’t tell myself how fuckin’ lucky I am that you love me back.”
I kissed him.
He tucked my hair behind my ear, “Never will I forget how much you mean to me. I’ll never hurt you on purpose again. I’ll won’t use my temper or demons as an excuse to hurt you. If you wanna play, we play. If you want me to spank this cute little ass, just say so, but I will never lay my hand on you in anger again. I don’t need the necklace. It’s just like you said baby girl; you’re the necklace.”
We were in Costa Rica for two more days before going home and they were blissful days. The day before we left, we took a long ands scenic carefree drive to a little village and Tommy took me to a very fancy spa.
He told me he’d be back in thr
ee or four hours, for me to enjoy a facial, massage, mud wrap, and so on. He made sure it was a female masseuse, who he tipped ridiculously well, and then he left.
I didn’t look the gift horse in the mouth, I just enjoyed myself.
He picked me up and we drove back to the beach house for our last night there,
“What’d you do all afternoon?” I asked, feeling loose and relaxed.
“Wouldn’t you like to know…” he teased.
“Secrets aren’t good for a marriage,” I told him.
He smiled and wiggled his eyebrows.
“Wanna take a swim?” he suggested, when we were back at the house. “No wait. Can’t really,” he said, with a strange look on his face.
“Why? You got your period or something? Out of Tampax?” I giggled.
He laughed, “Not exactly.”
He unbuttoned his shirt and it revealed a fresh tattoo. A crucifix in the center of his chest, to the right of my name and owl, and right where his old silver cross used to sit.
“I don’t need a necklace, like I said, but I want you to know how serious I am. This? I can’t ever take it off. Can’t forget what my Ma told me because it’s on me forever, and won’t forget to try harder to be the man you deserve, the man our child deserves. It’s inked for good, like your name on my heart.”
I burst into tears.
And then I gave him the best blowjob of his life.
Dare
“I have to tell you something,” Tommy said to me.
He’d popped by and was sitting at the island on a stool with me. We were having a beer. Angel was having a bubble bath.
“What?”
“I met with Alessandro Romero in Costa Rica.”
Tommy and Tia had spent five days there; they’d just gotten back that day.
“You what?”
“He showed up. Fuck, thought that was it for me. Guess if my wife’s high school friend could find us there, it’s not so far-fetched that Romero could do the same.”
My eyes widened.
Tommy shuddered in memory.
“He wanted to talk about your situation. He agreed to Angel being allowed to see Holly.”
“What?”
“He’s willing to take steps to make it all look good.”
He didn’t have to elaborate. I knew what that meant. Alessandro Romero was not giving her up. And he was willing to marry Holly to keep us from pushing our suit regarding her, meaning it’d connect our families so that no one would look sideways at us for allowing it. It was an old-school way of thinking; truces were done via marriage as far back as time went.
He’d gone to my brother knowing that my brother would be the likeliest to be able to reason with me and probably also did it knowing that my brother had a similar reputation to his. Maybe that was why he figured he could talk to Tommy.
I wasn’t happy. But, it did solve some problems. Or it would, if we could see that she was willing. Was she? Or was she a broken little doll? This guy was going to great lengths to try to not be our enemy for some reason.
***
I stopped by Tessa’s house. It was good she was home. She seemed better when I sat down to talk to her.
“You wanna talk?”
“About what happened to me? No. I’m glad it’s over.”
“Can you at least tell me about Holly?”
“She’s young. Sweet. You can’t not like her. She radiates with beauty.”
“You saw them interact”
“Her and Alessandro? Yeah, briefly.”
“What’s he like with her?” I took a sip of the coffee she’d made me.
“He watches her, tracks her every move. He didn’t touch her, barely spoke to her, but the way he looks at her? He looks at her the way Tommy looks at Tia.”
I winced. I was afraid of that.
The girls had talked at length, back when Tommy and Tia started out, about how his eyes tracked her every movement, how he was evidently completely obsessed with her.
“What did you think of him?”
“He’s very handsome. He was polite, reserved. He made sure I was comfortable. I didn’t see much of him or his huge place. He had me escorted to a private room. A doctor took are of me.” She shrugged, “Before Zack came, I had lunch with Holly and he came in and escorted me to Zack. Some guards escorted us to the airport. I didn’t see much. But Dare, I think he’s dangerous. I think he’s powerful. I don’t know what the story is down there but please be careful.”
Angel
I couldn’t believe what I was laying eyes on. My sister.
We were in Mexico. We were on a huge lavish estate. And I was staring at Holly.
She was more beautiful than ever. She had really blossomed. She didn’t look like a little girl. She was a woman.
Beautiful wavy blonde hair that was now nearly to her waist. Same sapphire eyes as me. And our Mother.
Her head belonged on a shampoo bottle. Her face on a vitamin bottle. She was the absolute picture of purity and beauty. She had a dancer’s body, a toothpaste commercial smile.
Her eyes were shining with tears. I felt tears burn in my own eyes, too.
She stood, wearing a pretty white chemise sundress and ballet flats.
She stood beside a tall, dark-haired, sort of scruffy but extremely handsome and well-dressed man in the foyer of his beautiful mansion. But that was as much as I could take in beyond Holly. Because I was standing here, looking at Holly. In. The. Flesh.
She was make-up free, jewelry free, collar free. Nothing on her throat. Nothing.
I felt for my collar.
I made an ugly cry sound.
She ran for me. I ran for her. We collided with laughter and tears and sobs.
“Hey Holly. Nice to meet you,” Dare said a moment later.
“Hi,” Holly’s hold on me loosened enough that she could look up at him with a big smile.
“Why don’t we leave these two time to chat?” the man with Holly suggested to Dare. Dare gave my shoulder a squeeze.
“Not comfortable leavin’ her alone, Romero. No offense.”
“None taken. As long as you do not ever refer to me as Romero again.”
Uh oh.
***
“He says he’s gonna marry you. But what do you want?”
We were in Alessandro Romero’s quarters. Us in his room, he and Dare in a sitting area outside the bedroom door. It was a separate section of the mansion and it was lavish. This was a few days after Holly’s birthday. We’d had a beautiful Christmas at home and this felt like a belated Christmas gift.
The way my little sister had looked around in awe when we’d gotten in here was a surprise. Had she never been here?
“To marry him.”
“Holl.”
“Ang.”
I made a Marge Simpson noise.
“What? I want to.”
“Has he threatened you? Told you to pretend that you’re okay with this? If he’s threatened you…”
“I want to marry him.”
“Holly, Dare and his brother can help get you out of here. This place, it’s---”
“I’m fine. I’m even better now that I know you’re okay.”
“Has he been abusing you, honey?” I touched her arm.
“No, Ang. I’m an eighteen year old virgin. I’ll be a virgin until my wedding night, I’m guessing. My virginity goes to Alessandro. He’s earned it.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“You love him?”
“Yes,” she got a faraway look and flashed me her dimples. God, I’d missed those dimples.
“Does he love you?”
“I … don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“It’s… complicated.”
“If he doesn’t love you madly, deeply, and he is who he is?”
How could I finish that? I’d love Dare whatever he did. Because he was Dare.
But this was my baby sister. This was Holly!
Okay, so Dare kept me, too, but he was thrust into the human trafficking world. I’m not a slave any longer.
But, it’s Holly who doesn’t wear a collar.
My mind was a bit boggled.
“He told me what happened to you. I’m sorry, Angie.”
I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know how much she knew.
“What were you told?”
“I was told that you did what you did for me. You didn’t have a choice, but you did it for me, anyway. That you endured unspeakable things. I’ll never forget. Never. I’m sorry you had to go through it. But it wasn’t for nothing. I’ve been safe. I’ve been okay. Because of Alessandro. He has kept me this way. And maybe you did have something to do with that. Whatever you had to do got me sent here so I’d be safe. You’ve been protecting me since I was little.”
“But you haven’t been free, Holly. He’s kept you here hidden away in a place that… you do know what he does, right?”
She shook her head, her golden locks bouncing, “I don’t want to talk about what he does. I’ve pieced some of it together. It doesn’t change anything for me.”
“Honey, he---”
She must have Stockholm syndrome.
“Angie, please. I don’t want to talk about it. Have you talked to Mom?”
“Have I…have I what?”
“Mom? Does she know about either of us?”
My brain did some sort of backflip just even considering our mother.
“Uh, no. Are you fucking kidding me? Dare send a PI up there to find out what happened to you and she didn’t give a shit about either of us. She’s a junkie and a drunk who doesn’t care about anyone but herself. The last words she said to me were ‘Good riddance to bad rubbish’ and she meant it. I feel the same about her.”