“Premiere Valley,” he announces.
Everyone sits back in the seats, except me. Leaning forward, I place my hands on the table. “Premiere Valley?” I ask.
“That gonna be a problem?”
Shaking my head, I push up to my feet, looking across the table at my president. “It’s not, you know that. I just don’t see how we’re going to infiltrate? That place, all of it is impenetrable.”
“Let’s leave that up to Worm. He got us the name and address of a big fish. One who is the third-highest order on the list.”
“Bring him in, let’s hear this, then,” Taz grinds out.
A few moments later, Worm walks in, his laptop in hand. Without delay, he begins to tell us about Tom Richardson. He is in mergers and acquisitions and on the side, to entice his clients, he has little parties for them. Parties that include girls he keeps off-site and brings in to use for the night.
“How do we get in and out without getting caught? That police department is definitely not in our pocket. They protect the people of Premiere Valley no matter who is in the wrong,” Wolfe points out.
He’s not wrong either. Not in the slightest.
“I can disable the house security system for ten minutes. After that, it sends an automatic offline alert to the monitoring company and the police department.”
I nod my head, liking everything that he is saying. Ten minutes isn’t long, but it’s long enough to get in, take care of shit, stage the deaths, and get the fuck out. They will die too, everyone involved. People like that don’t deserve to breathe, let alone live a minute longer than necessary.
“What about the girls, do we know where they are?” Eagle asks.
Worm holds his finger up, while he types on his laptop with his other hand. It only takes a couple of seconds before he lifts his head, his eyes finding Dragon’s. “They’re in a storage container on the edge of town. He has it heavily monitored, not only with cameras, but with an armed guard as well.”
“We gonna be able to get past that tape?” Dragon asks.
Worm looks up, a grin playing on his lips. “Oh yeah. The guard is the hard part, that’s on you guys. The camera system isn’t as sophisticated as his home, obviously he doesn’t feel as though these women are as important as his artwork and shit. The camera system isn’t even connected to the police department, you can stay there all fucking night if you want.”
“That settles it. We’ll do the house first, in and out, then the storage unit we’ll take our time, get those women outta there. Get rid of the guard,” Dragon explains. “You all in?”
Without hesitation, all of us shout out a loud aye.
The time has come. More perverts are going to be brought down. Their lives will be ended and hopefully some women will be saved. Though, doesn’t that make me some kind of hypocrite as someone who pays whores for sex, and often?
I’ve been struggling lately, a fuck’ve a lot.
Am I just as bad as these fucks who buy girls to use?
Chapter One
ONE MONTH LATER
LEIGHTON
Pounding on the door, I know that it is no use. My father has locked me away. Suddenly, locks on my doors are okay as long as they’re on the outside. I had a good run, being away for as long as I was. It’s done now.
My father hasn’t explained anything to me, not that he ever does. I’m meant to be seen, not heard. I am just like everything else in his life. A tool to use in his work. A merger and acquisition. He has been using me to barter deals for longer than I care to think about.
The hairstylist has just left, stripping all of the black hair dye out of my hair and turning it back to light blonde. Then she took the glasses from my face and quietly disappeared.
It shouldn’t have surprised me that she said absolutely nothing to me, but I couldn’t deny that it would have been nice to have someone speak to me at least. My father’s talons sink into people though, and I have no doubt he scares them, mainly because he terrifies the absolute shit out of me.
Walking over to the window, I stare outside. I can see the pool and the cabana from here. Nightmares. That is what this home is filled with. Every square inch. If I were someone who felt sorry for myself, I would really be feeling that way right about now.
I hear the door open behind me, but I don’t bother turning around. I know exactly who is on the other side. That’s one thing about Tom Richardson, he commands a room, every single microscopic inch of it.
“Turn around,” he murmurs.
His tone is cool, his voice soft and I hate it. This is the voice that he uses to get what he wants. This is his salesman voice, this is the one that I know is going to cost me the little last bit of myself.
Slowly, I turn around to face him. His eyes move up and down the length of my body. He arches a brow, his eyes finding mine almost immediately.
“Did you think that you could hide away forever?” he asks.
I shrug a shoulder, keeping my arms loose at my side. “I did a pretty good job for five years,” I explain.
He snorts. “I hope you had your fun. You’re done with it now. It’s time for you to take your place.”
“My place?” I ask.
His lips twitch into a smile. “Don’t play naïve, Leighton.”
“I’m not, Father. I know exactly the kind of man that you are. Does this mean that the merger of Leopold and me will be official, then?”
He grins. “He doesn’t want you anymore. He had his fun, he’s married with a child. No, you messed that up, Leighton.”
“Did I? Seems I dodged a bullet. Leopold was despicable.”
There’s a moment of silence, then he shakes his head a couple of times as if he cannot believe what I’m saying, but he finds it comical at the same time.
“You are incredibly naïve. It seems that I have done a good enough job sheltering you, or perhaps it’s just the way that I kept you under my thumb as a child. No, Leighton, you did not indeed, dodge a bullet, as you say. You’ve passed over one of the Devil’s henchmen for the Devil himself.”
“Oh, are you into incest now?” I ask.
My father’s face immediately turns red. His fist tightens at his side and I expect him to close the distance between us and hit me, but he doesn’t. Instead, he takes a deep inhale, then lets it out slowly.
“An associate of mine purchased you. The price was steeper than I would have paid for something like you, but he’s been interested in you since you were a girl. He wants to own you, dear daughter,” he explains slowly. “You’ll be married in a month, it will be a big affair, it will also be your last moments of freedom.”
“So, what? Being this rich old man’s wife is going to be a prison?” I ask.
Sounds like as long as I pet the old man’s dick, I can maybe breathe a little. It doesn’t sound like fun, but it’s better than being used by Leopold and all his bastard assed friends. My father throws back his head with a deep laugh.
“You’ll be caged, Leighton. You will never see the light of day again. Enjoy looking out that window, I have it on good authority your new husband keeps his toys in his basement.”