She thinks I’m going to throw her out the same way her family did, but that’s the furthest thing from the truth. If I have it my way, which I will, Ayvah will find her permanent home at the estate by my side, but she’s not ready to hear that yet, and I’m willing to lie to her just enough that she doesn’t think she’s escaped one prison for another, even if that is partially the case.
There are certain things that come with being with someone of my profession, and one of those things is that I will need to know exactly where she is at all times, and she will have at minimum two guards with her whenever she is outside the safety of the estate. She’s not going to like it, but she’s going to have to live with it.
It comes with the territory of being mine.
I bring the car to a stop out the front of a run-down apartment building and the tension that was building the whole drive grips me by the throat. She lived here. Up until last night, my woman lived in this shit hole, and I had no idea. The rational side of my brain tries to remind me that I didn’t know Ayvah existed when she lived here, but that doesn’t seem to ease the anger thundering through my body.
“Storm?” she says softly.
“Let’s get this over with. I have a removalist meeting us here shortly.”
“Oh, uh, I don’t really have that much stuff. I thought that’s why you drove this big car.”
I almost laugh and tell her I brought this SUV today because it’s bulletproof and her safety has quickly shot to the top of my priorities, but I manage to swallow it down and remind myself I’m trying not to freak her out, at least until she’s locked up behind the walls of the estate where nothing and no one can hurt her. “Just in case then.”
She watches me curiously for a moment before giving me a short nod. She’s dressed in tight yoga pants and a light pink sweater I had my assistant pick up this morning and have delivered to the estate for Ayvah. There’s a whole wardrobe on its way, but after a short discussion with Emerson about how she reacted when Rayne did that to her, I decided to trickle the new clothes into her life so she doesn’t freak out and try to take off. My baby girl is a flight risk, and if I want this to play out without a fight, I need to play my cards right. She’s not going to take kindly to what’s about to happen, so if I can make small allowances for her, hopefully it will be enough for her to come around.
“Stay there, I’ll come around to you,” I tell her before I fling my door open and get out of the car. Being close to Ayvah makes it hard to breathe, but as soon as she’s out of my sight a dull sense of panic starts eating away at me. Fucking Rayne and Everett were right about this shit. It’s all consuming from the moment you realize they’re the one.
When I make it around to her side of the car, I find her already standing with the door closed and her arms crossed across her chest.
I growl and stalk toward her, pushing her up against the side of the car before I can think better of it. “What did I say about staying put?” I rumble.
Fear crosses her eyes for the briefest of moments before defiance appears in its place. “I can get out of a car on my own, Storm. I don’t need a fucking adult,” she snaps and my cock jumps at her brattiness. Fuck, I’ve always liked my women obedient, but it appears Ayvah is the exception to that rule.
I bite back my response, because it will do more harm than good to our already tense situation. I’ve never cared enough about anyone else to be mindful of what they’re going through, but right now I need to put Ayvah and what we’re about to do ahead of my irritation that she doesn’t listen to me. She’ll learn there are consequences for her behavior soon enough, and then she’ll think twice about disobeying me.
I push off the car and grab her hand in mine, pulling her toward the building. The bricks on the exterior are dirty and dated, and the lobby isn’t much better. Yellow linoleum covers the floors with brown stains. I don’t want to begin to think about how they came to be. This place is disgusting.
“How long has your family lived here?” I ask through clenched teeth.
“My whole life,” she replies. “It’s on the second floor.”
“I know.”
Everett is in the process of gathering every single thing there is to know about Ayvah Michaels, but he was able to get me some of the smaller pieces of information like address quickly. When I asked him for the intel, he just chuckled and said something about how he told me so before hanging up the phone. If he wasn’t the father of my sister’s unborn baby, I would consider shooting him for his bullshit, but alas, that’s not an option.
The stairs are dated and worn, just like the rest of the building, and the railing needs to be replaced. If someone fell down these stairs, there’s no chance the rail would save them. I’m tempted to put in a call to the city to have this place condemned, but Ayvah will never come back here so it’s unnecessary.
When we reach the door, apartment 2B, I raise my hand and knock loudly, placing my body slightly in front of Ayvah’s in case they try to pull something. I don’t allow myself to think about the fact I’m putting myself in danger for a woman I met last night, or that if it came down to it, I would protect her with my life, because that would mean I would have to acknowledge how fucking insane this whole situation is.
The door swings open and a middle-aged man in a greasy white tank top greets us in the doorway. His eyes flick from me to his daughter and back again as recognition reaches his eyes. He knows who I am, and that brings a smile to my face. Sometimes it’s more fun when they don’t have a fucking clue who has come for them, but I want Ray Michaels to know who he’s dealing with, and who will end his miserable existence if he ever dares to come near his daughter again. He doesn’t deserve to breathe the same air as her.
“Ayvah.” He forces a fake smile to his face. “We were so worried about you.”
“No you weren’t,” I growl.
“Of course we were. Sarah told us someone tried to take you last night and she lost sight of you. We were just getting ready to file a police report.”
A laugh rumbles through my chest, but it’s Ayvah who replies, stepping forward until she’s face to face with her old man. “The thing about the drug Sarah helped them slip me is that I remember every word she said, dad.” The snarl in her tone only makes me want to fuck her right here in front of her father, but even I know that’s crossing a line.
His eyes darken on Ayvah, and I step forward again, pushing her back behind me. “You little bitch! You don’t know what you’ve done.”
“If you ever speak to her like that again, believe me when I say you will regret it,” I growl. “Now, Ayvah is going to collect her belongings, and then we’ll be leaving.”
“You’re not taking my daughter anywhere.”
“Oh, but I am. I’m taking her away from people who would sell her to make a buck, and she will not be returning.” I turn to Ayvah, her eyes wide with shock. “Go and get what you need, baby girl. I’ll be here.”
She nods once and slips through the door, careful to avoid her father as she makes her way deeper into the apartment and out of my sight. Once I’m sure she’s out of earshot I take a step forward, crowding into Ray’s space, towering over the man who is tall in his own right, but nothing on my six foot three.
“Here’s how things are going to play out for you, Ray. You’re going to pack the fuck up and move your shitty wife and your other shitty daughter out of my city, and you’re going to do it today. If I find out you’re still in Chicago when the sun rises tomorrow, I will have all three of you killed, slowly and painfully. I’m being generous here, because I want to put a bullet in your head right here and right now. However, despite the fact you sold her like an old T-shirt you don’t want anymore, I suspect killing you in front of her will upset her, and that’s the last thing I want. Do we understand one another?”
“What the fuck do you want with Ayvah? I’m sure a man of your reputation could do better than a short, fat girl who grew up in a shitty apartment like this.”
I’m not conscious of the decision until my fist slams into his cheek, a loud crack filling the room. The words he spoke about my woman are so untrue and vile, I wish I could end him right here and right now, but I stamp down the urge for blood.
I thought after I ended Adam and Andrew this morning, putting them out of the misery Tommy put them in after hours and hours of torture, would satisfy my need for violence, but apparently not. Apparently my need for blood is just as strong as it has been since I first saw Ayvah and something tells me it’s not going to weaken anytime soon.
“You know who I am?” I growl as I slam my fist into his face again and he falls to the ground like the sack of shit he is.
He nods, fear flaring behind his brown eyes that are so similar to the woman who has captured my attention so completely.
“Then you know what I’m capable of?”
Another nod.
“So do you think it wise to insult the woman who I came here with? Who I am very clearly quite protective of?” I shouldn’t have to spell it out for this asshole, and yet here we are.
“No.” He shakes his head quickly, his eyes darting around the room looking for something to defend himself, but when you’ve been doing this for as long as I have, you learn to look for potential threats, including things that can be used as a weapon, from the moment you enter a space. The lamp beside the lounge is one, but it’s too far away and the plug will prove difficult for him to use it on me. There’s a hideous ceramic plate that he could hurl at me, but I would dodge it without issue, so I discount that. The kitchen is too far away for him to get without me shooting him, so knives are out as well. This dumb motherfucker is without any options, just the way I like them.
“Where’s your wife and other daughter?” I ask, looking around the run-down apartment. The furniture is old and worn, the carpets have holes in them, and the curtains are stained an array of different colors. I don’t even want to think about what the rest of the apartment looks like, at what Ayvah’s room looks like.
“At work.” His voice shakes. “Please don’t hurt them.” The plea in his voice is almost enough for me to reach into the back of my pants for my gun. He was willing to sell Ayvah into a fate that would have seen her demise, but the idea of his other daughter or wife coming face to face with the devil scares him?
I pretend to think on his request. “I saw some footage of your other daughter, Sarah, is it? Perhaps when the Lounder Cartel come to collect, you can give them her in exchange. She’s nothing compared to Ayvah, in looks or personality I imagine, but perhaps it will be enough to get you out of the mess you’ve got yourself in.”
His face pales, the gray stubble on his chin becoming even more prominent as the blood drains from his cheeks.
“Oh, does the idea of that turn your stomach?” I tilt my head. I’m enjoying this far too much, fucking with people is almost as fun as ending them, although my brother would disagree with me wholeheartedly. “And yet you tried to sell your youngest daughter. What could possibly have been so important that that was an option, hmm?”
“We needed the money,” he whimpers. What a pathetic piece of shit. Every minute I spend with him makes me regret my decision to keep him alive more. He’s a waste of oxygen.
“You needed the money so badly that you were willing to sell a human being. But not any human being, your daughter, your own flesh and blood.” I whistle. “Must be some debt you owe, and now there’s an even bigger one above your head.”
“Please don’t take Ayvah.”
“Like I would leave her here with you,” I spit.
“You think you can offer her a kinder fate than we did when we sold her to Lounder? She could have had a nice life with someone rich. She could have had all the things we couldn’t offer her when she was growing up. Isn’t that what you’re going to offer her?”
“I’m going to offer her the goddamn world, and the day she requests your head on a platter, I’ll deliver it with a smile on my face.” Without another word, I stalk further into the apartment, the same way Ayvah went when she disappeared. She’s been out of my sight for too long, and every second is making me itchy.
The sooner I get her out of his godforsaken place and back to the estate, the better.
