By severing ties, any connection people had made for her meaning something to me was severed.
“She can’t leave the country,” I said. There was no way I’d be able to fucking survive with her in another country.
I’d lost count of the number of times I’d tried to get to her, only to stop myself when I was so close. I was doing this to protect her. Not because I wanted to.
My apartment was fucking lonely. My bed even more unwelcome. I slept in my office or a hotel room. Women made attempts to come on to me, and I took them back to my hotel room. Not to do anything with. I paid them to shut up. They stayed for an hour, and then I kicked them out.
Whores liked to embellish the truth. They got paid for their silence. I helped to create the image of Ashley meaning nothing to me. The women were nothing. Even having them in my apartment or my office felt like a fucking betrayal. If my grandfather could see me now. He’d consider me a disgrace to him, to men. Women were nothing more than ornaments or toys. To be used and put back until you needed them again.
They were a product. A commodity.
And right now, I was fucking falling apart because the one I wanted now wished to leave the country. To start a life elsewhere, and it was all my fault.
“Hello, Earl? Are you even listening?”
“Shut the fuck up, Caleb.”
The line went dead. The bastard had hung up on me.
Running a hand down my face, I dialed his number and waited for it to ring. It went to voicemail.
“You piece of vile fucking shit.” I called again. If he didn’t answer, I was going to make him pay. I’d drive down there and tear out his balls. I’d make him pay in every single way possible.
Rage rushed to the surface.
I was tired of people getting in my way.
Just as I was about to hang up myself, Caleb answered.
“Now, do you want to use nice words?”
“Listen here, don’t test me.”
“Don’t start.”
“You want to play this game? Hang up on me again, and I’ll make the call that can guarantee Emily’s life is in the fucking balance.” It was a low blow. I could do it. I had the power.
“You wouldn’t do that to Ashley.”
“I think it’s safe to say I will do anything for my woman. Think of what you did to get Emily back. You sold her to me without fucking blinking. No wonder my woman wants to be far away from you. She doesn’t trust any of you.”
“I’m not going to stop Ashley from leaving.”
Damn it. Deep down, I knew he couldn’t stop Ashley. My woman wanted a clean break. From the video I heard, she’d never said the words to me, but in some way, she loved me. Ashley fucking loved me. What she didn’t know was she owned me. All of me, she had me in the palm of her hand. The moment I cleared this shit up, I was coming to get her.
I wasn’t going to be held back.
I loved her so fucking much, and being apart from her, well, the beast within me boiled with a rage unlike anything I’d ever felt. I had to wonder if I should feel sorry for my enemies. The moment I finally got the chance to let loose, they were all going to suffer.
“Everything she wants is hers. I’m paying for it. Guards are to be with her at all times, but she’s not going to know about it. I want to know when she leaves and where she’s going. I’ll have men stationed at each point. Money is all hers. If she needs a job.”
“Earl, you don’t have to tell me any of this. We’ll take care of it. She’s one of ours.”
“No, she’s not yours. She will never be yours. You sold that right to me.”
“And Earl, you gave it back when she landed her ass right back here. This is done. I won’t call again.”
He hung up, and I threw my phone across the room.
I’d find a way to protect Ashley.
She was mine. She didn’t know it yet, but the moment it was right, I was coming for her.
Chapter Eighteen
Ashley
Two weeks later
I was leaving tomorrow. Excitement filled every single part of my body. My hands shook a little. I’d be alone, but there was already a job lined up for me at a restaurant on the other side of London. I wasn’t going back to the place that knew me as my other name. I’d be free to be myself, and I couldn’t wait.
My bags were already packed.
Rather than check on absolutely everything for the sixth time, I’d decided to head to the kitchen to cook one last meal.
A cake was already cooling. I’d made the frosting, and that was waiting to be spread all over. Now I was baking an entire head of cauliflower, crazy but also fun. I’d been trying out a bunch of new recipes the past few weeks after seeing some experiments online. This one I was baking in a tomato roasted sauce.
It sounded so good. My mouth watered for a taste, and the scents coming from the sauce made me hungry.
“I’m going to miss you,” Drake said, coming into the kitchen.
I smiled at him, keeping my hands busy as I made a salad.
Amelia, River’s sister, was also around. I’d rarely seen her. She either kept to her room or ate in the kitchen. She wasn’t mean, but I’d come to realize she was incredibly shy and had a way of sneaking around the house undetected. Three days ago, I’d managed to meet her. She’d been eating breakfast when I entered. For a good ten minutes, she didn’t say anything until she finally spoke hello softly to me.
That was all she said.
I’d kept on talking to help fill the silence. I didn’t know if it helped, but I liked to think it did.
She was … different.
“You’re going to miss my cooking,” I said.
“You can’t cook well. Honestly, it’s disgusting.”
I laughed as he wrinkled his nose. “You’re cute when you lie.”
“Damn, woman, I’m clearly losing my touch.”
“No, you’re not. I get it. You don’t want me to feel bad for leaving and then you’re going to have to find another cook.”
The cook who had been here before I turned up quit. Everyone had asked for me to cook instead. I didn’t even know their name, and I never saw them in the kitchen. At first, I thought they were happy to not have to do any work. Now they lost their job, and I did like cooking a lot.
Emily told me not to worry about it, and so I didn’t. Tomorrow would be the start of a whole new life for me. One I intended to grasp with both hands.
I couldn’t wait.
Earl Valentine.
His name was like a whisper in my ear.
Even as the days were filled with excitement where I held control over what I could think about. If he so much as came close to the surface, I got busy. I made sure I was distracted. He couldn’t invade my thoughts, at least not for too long.
At night, that was a whole different game.
I couldn’t stop him from invading them.
He did so all the time. The nights were always the worst. When memories flooded and desires rushed through my body as if they had a right to. They didn’t.
I hated it.
Even though I was carving an entire life out for myself away from all of this, he still filled my mind.
I wondered all the time if he was okay.
Did he think about me?
“Earth to Ashley,” Drake said, snapping his fingers.