The Dirty Dozen: Damsel Edition

by Kay Maree

  “Miss Salvatore? Miss Mia Salvatore?” the officer on the right questioned.

  “Yes, that’s me,” Mia answered, looking between the officers and Colton for some clue about what was happening. “What do you want?”

  “Miss, could we come inside and speak with you for a few minutes, please?” the officer on the left asked.

  “Why? I’ve not done anything wrong.” Mia was becoming more confused and nervous by the second.

  “That’s not what we’re implying, Miss Salvatore,” he continued. “Please, Mr. …” He looked to Colton.

  “Colton… Colton Webb.”

  “Mr. Webb, perhaps you could help Miss Salvatore into the house and we can explain why we’re here in there.” The officer’s tone left no room for questioning as both men took another two steps towards Mia and Colton.

  “Very well,” Colton agreed. “Mia, it might be best for them to say whatever it is they have to say inside, away from where the neighbours can see.”

  “Oh, okay. Yes, that would be best,” she agreed, taking a step back then leading the way into the formal lounge room.

  What followed was like a scene from a movie… a very bad and tragic movie. As the officers relayed the reason for their call, Mia lost focus. Their words echoed around the room and she couldn’t make any sense of them. Except for Colton sitting beside her on the sofa, she would have believed she was dreaming. Actually, for quite some time she thought she was dreaming for that reason alone. There was no way that what these men were saying was the truth. There must have been some kind of misunderstanding. It was incomprehensible that some accident on the other side of the world had taken her parents away from her and left her here alone. How was that even a possibility? They were on the holiday of a lifetime, with plans to visit all the places their families had spoken of over the years, and meet all the aunts and uncles and cousins they’d never met before. The last memory Mia had of that conversation with the police was of Maria bustling into the room then letting loose a shrill cry as she realised what had transpired. Something deep inside Mia’s mind chose that moment to admit it could no longer cope and she passed out, slumping into the comfort of Colton’s arms, knowing he would keep her safe.

  Chapter Six

  Keeping Mia safe became Colton’s primary function that morning.

  With Maria’s help, he’d made contact with her driver, Duncan, who was a valuable source of information for all the people who needed to be contacted. Of course, he’d rung his father as soon as he was able to step away and asked his advice about what needed to be done. The shock in his father’s voice as they spoke was palpable, and as wrote down the list of things he suggested, Colton swore that he’d never leave anyone he cared for as vulnerable as Mia was now. She may be a healthy, twenty-one-year-old woman, but up until the last few days she’d had no idea how her father had made the living which supported her. Without the assistance of her father’s household employees she would not have known who to contact in these wretched circumstances. Antonio and Gina Salvatore had most certainly raised a beautiful princess and given her every conceivable luxury, but by protecting her from the harshness of the real world, they had failed her on the most fundamental of levels. Having not been given even the most basic information about their family affairs, and having them suddenly taken away from her, she was now vulnerable and helpless, not knowing who to call or what needed to be done. Looking at the situation from the outside, it was a disaster on a monumental scale which had been just waiting to happen. Even if it had been allowed to exist from the very best of intentions, it was still unacceptable to Colton’s mind.

  As the various members of the Salvatore Investments board arrived, Colton tried to make an exit, leaving them to have their discussions about what was to happen next. But each time he suggested that it was time for him to go, Mia insisted that he had to stay, saying that she needed him to help her understand what they were going to talk about. He tried to explain that it wasn’t his place to be there during these talks, but she was adamant and the board members gave in to her demands as a way of keeping her quiet, not thinking for a moment that she was actually going to listen to what they brought up.

  After a very short time, however, Colton was not only pleased that he had stayed, but pleased to notice that Mia was paying close attention to what they were saying. It appeared that Antonio Salvatore had always intended for Mia to follow him into power as the Salvatore at the helm of the company, having already had her named as such in the company records, he’d simply not acted on that yet, instead waiting for her to express an interest in the family business. His diary notes from the week before his departure to Italy clearly stated that upon his return, he would begin gradually giving Mia increasing duties within the company until he was ready to retire. When these notes were discussed, Colton noticed a few silent tears escape down Mia’s cheeks, and he remembered how excitedly she’d spoken about the talks she’d had with her father about learning the business from him. It saddened him to know that she wouldn’t get the chance to get her grounding firsthand from Antonio, but he was sure there would be enough of him in every facet of the company that she would feel his presence every step of the way.

  The men soon turned the conversation toward what they considered much more pressing matters, including life insurance policies, funerals, wages and household expenses, and a living allowance for Mia until her parents’ wills were enacted. When Mia voiced that she was confident that there would be sufficient funds available to maintain the household as it was currently being run, they’d tried to shut her down. At this point, she’d stood up and insisted that at least until her parents were laid to rest, and their wills read, things would continue as they were both at home and at the company. The board members appeared to be agreeing with her, but Colton noticed an edge to several of the men which set him on edge about their motives. He determined that he would speak to Mia when they were alone and warn her to tread very carefully until she fully understood what they were up to.

  Over the weeks that followed, this turned out to be a wise course of action. Mia’s continued insistence that Colton remain at her side during all her dealings with the board of her father’s company was only met with resistance from a couple of the men in question. These were the same men Colton had had misgivings about on that first day. Having Colton in the room with her during their meetings gave Mia the opportunity to appear helpless while still acquiring all the knowledge she needed to make informed decisions and ask the right questions about what the board were planning. Very quickly, Colt realised that Mia was most definitely not the helpless heiress some of these men were mistaking her for, but rather that she’d had a bright business mind on her shoulders right from the start and not been given the opportunity to exercise it. Each night they revisited what had been discussed during the day, pawing over files and spreadsheets until they were falling asleep at her father’s desk in his study, and each morning Mia would arrive at the office in the city refreshed and ready to tackle a new day and a new twist.

  At some point, both Mia and Colt became aware that there was a faction within the board who were angling toward dissolving the company from beneath Mia’s feet and behind her back. Mia invited Thurston Webb to join her and Colton for dinner one night shortly after making that discovery and they sat up very late discussing how best to go about counteracting that move. As an outsider, with no particular invested interest in the company, he’d been able to offer Mia some sound advice. Her first move, and one which needed to be executed as a matter of urgency, should be to have those particular members of the board removed. She knew which members she could trust implicitly and should go to them with her concerns and set the wheels in motion before the traitors in their midst could make their play. Of course, he advised her to be careful and not to mention his name when she pressed her case with the board. That would muddy the waters even more that having Colton by her side. He also advised his son to be very obvious about not speak
ing for Mia. Everything that happened in that boardroom had to be Mia’s work, not his.

  By the time Thurston and Colton left for the evening, Mia had a clear plan for how she was going to approach those men who had been pretending to have her best interests at heart, imposters who had tried to convince her they were carrying out her father’s wishes, while all the time undermining her and working to line their own pockets from her family’s business. She was ready to prove to them that she was Antonio Salvatore’s daughter and she would be carrying the empire he had created into the future. This was her legacy and birthright.

  Chapter Seven

  The boardroom showdown had turned into more of a tantrum by those few traitors than the fight she’d been expecting. Mia had gone to those whom she knew were trustworthy in advance, and had arrived fully prepared for an attack which hadn’t eventuated. She was relieved that they’d simply fallen on their swords and agreed to resign their positions, because she really hadn’t relished the idea of a full-on battle of wills.

  Once the pretenders and imposters were gone, and their influence over certain areas of the business evaporated, Mia had time to focus on learning her father’s business from the inside out. She found that the strength and guidance Colton had provided during those terrible dark months after her parents’ deaths had set her on the path to being confident enough to assume her rightful position at the helm of the Salvatore empire, even if she felt very much like she was still wearing training wheels almost a year later.

  Of course, she’d made her pilgrimage to the Angelina Salvatore Centre shortly after assuming control of the company. She learned firsthand, from the current residents, what it meant to the marginalised members of the community to have a safe haven like the centre to rely on during their hardest times. From the staff and volunteers, she’d taken away a list of the shortfalls in the system as it was, promising to find ways for them to do better in the future. And she’d made good on that promise last week when the Tony and Gina branch of the centre had opened its doors. They now had staff dedicated to helping new migrants and those who had found themselves on the streets find their feet in the city, keeping businesses from various industries and within their circle updated when people presented genuinely looking for work and a way to build their new lives. This was not a place to come for a hand out, but rather a hand up, and Mia was very proud of the range of services her project team had pulled together, and was determined to see this succeed in her parents’ honour.

  This year had seen many changes in her life. She was still coming to terms with the sudden loss of her parents and the way in which joining the family’s business had been thrust upon her. But the most important part of her changed life was Colton Webb. She thanked God, every morning and every night that he’d turned up at her twenty-first birthday party in place of his parents, because God only knew how she would have coped with this year without him. When he’d asked her to marry him just a few months ago, she’d initially been sad that neither of her parents were here to share her joy. This was soon replaced with the knowledge that she had followed her father’s advice from one of their last conversations and she hadn’t rushed into getting engaged. Of course, that didn’t necessarily mean they hadn’t rushed into other parts of their relationship, but she chose to believe her parents didn’t know about how they’d made love for the first time on the evening following their memorial service.

  At the time, she simply couldn’t bear the thought of spending the night alone and the build-up of emotions had been threatening to spill out of her for days. When he was preparing to leave her that night, she’d begged him to stay and he was powerless to refuse. She took him by the hand and led him up the stairs and into her bedroom. Without bothering to close the door, she wound herself into his arms, kissing his and allowing her body to say all the things her voice couldn’t in those moments. As her fingers worked on removing his shirt, he managed to slide the zipper of her dress down her back. While her hands tried valiantly to undo his belt and trousers, he pushed her dress off her shoulders. It seemed her inexperience was conspiring against her until Colton simply swept her up into his arms and carried her to her bed, laying her down and removing the rest of her clothes before doing the same for himself. There had been times when she’d chastised herself for not giving herself to other men in the past, but on that night, she was thankful that none of them had ever aroused her enough to do so. She was completely Colton’s. Everything they would do together, for the rest of their lives, would be things she’d never experienced before with anyone else. The weight of this revelation was not lost on him either, as he took great care not to hurt her in any way, taking the time to ensure she knew what was happening every step of the way. When her first real orgasm had torn its way through her body, she’d been so overcome by the magnitude of the sensations that she’d burst into tears and scared both of them, but when she’d calmed down and recovered her equilibrium she finally understood what all the fuss over sex and orgasms was all about.

  They’d spent very few nights apart after that first night, and whether they made love or not, they always slept close together. They had quickly formed a tightly-knit relationship and all their friends wondered how they’d functioned before knowing each other.

  But today their waiting would be over. In just a few short hours, she would descend the stairs of the house that would always be her parents’ and make her way across the back terraced gardens. At the end of a long temporary pathway of painted wooden sheets, Colton would be waiting, along with all those who were near and dear to them. Although her mother and father would not be with her physically, she knew she would have their blessing as she and Colton said their vows and promised to love and cherish each other for the rest of their lives.

  She was the Salvatore princess and he was the knight in shining armour who’d ridden up on his white charger and not only helped her save her empire, he’d saved her heart for a life of love with him alone.

  About the Author

  After working in a variety of administrative and educational support roles until my children finished their schooling, our family was met the challenge of relocating to the country in search of post-school support services for our son with profound disabilities. As it turns out, this move sparked a massive transformation for us all.

  Through my isolation from family and friends, and without the business of work, I reconnected with my love of reading. This quickly became an obsession. A chance meeting with a young self-published author at a book-signing for an international author sparked a conversation which has lead me to the place I am now… that of writing my own stories and using my passion for the written word to help other authors to edit their stories ready for publication.

  ‘BROKEN by my past HEALED by my future’ began its journey as an unfinished dream I was having as I was waking one morning. The images from the scenes where Lyndall is waking in the hospital, confused and hurting physically and emotionally, haunted me all that day until I wrote them down. Those visions filled my sleep for a few more nights, before I decided to see where I could go with them.

  What followed was the emotional task of teasing out the backstory which had brought Lyndall to that devastating point, and following her through her process of healing and arriving at her happily ever after.

  Connect with Ann:

  Facebook:

  http://www.facebook.com/ann.mickan

  Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14198058.Ann_Mickan

  Amazon:

  https://www.amazon.com/Ann-Mickan/e/B019BTU7ZS/

  Twitter:

  https://www.twitter.com@MickanAnn

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  Other titles by Ann Mickan:

  When It Feels Good - https://www.amazon.com/B01N3C19HX/

  The Book Boyfriend – https://www.amazon.com/B076C6588X/

  Co-Written with Jo Tannah

  The Lemonade Stand – htt
ps://www.amazon.com/B074M5QW1V/

  A Lemon Flavoured Christmas – https://www.amazon.com/B078GDTTLQ/

  Co-Written with MT Abraham

  Conversations With People I’ll Never Meet – https://www.amazon.com/B07QHNSRPK/

  Callie

  A BODYGUARD STORY

  THE DIRTY DOZEN – DAMSEL EDITION

  Gemma Arlington

  CALLIE

  A Bodyguard Story

  Copyright 2020 Gemma Arlington

  All Rights Reserved This book is a work of fiction. Any references to real events, real people, and real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the Author’s imagination and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, organizations or places is entirely coincidental. All rights are reserved. This book is intended for the purchaser of this e-book ONLY. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage retrieval system, without the express written permission of the Author.

  Prelude

  Callie

  You could call me a damsel in distress if you like but the god truth is, I’m just a girl who needs help big time.

  “I’m fucked!” Heidi screeched.