Chapter 38
My world has turned into a shitstorm.
The night Nikita asked for one thing in return for custody of Oliver, I never expected it to be to attend the wedding of a billionaire friend of mine. It was a shame she insisted on dragging Oliver along to it. Apparently, she wanted one final day with him.
What a crock of shit.
Ironic she spent most of that day cozying up with one of the groomsmen, which led to me later finding her getting fucked by him in a hotel room while my son threw a tantrum because he wanted his fucking caterpillar book Ellie has him hooked on. I shut the door and left them to it, laughing at the relief on the poor dude’s face when he realized I wasn’t going to do a damn thing to stop it.
When I finally returned home with the papers in my hand telling me Oliver was all mine, it was only to discover Ellie was nowhere to be found.
Anger rippled through my body so strong at her leaving that I turned the house upside down in a crazed rampage. I shattered every piece of furniture in her room, and every surface we ever fucked on received the same brutal treatment, as if it needed punishing for the reminder. I punched holes into every wall in the house until my knuckles cracked and my body was spent, but still, the anger didn’t ease. My body was alive with a fury hell bent on retribution.
Jade was sitting tight-lipped, and if the girl wasn’t pregnant, I won’t lie, I’d have tortured the truth out of her. Instead, her knowing face said it all. You fucked up. You’re a bastard and she deserves better. It said the fucking truth, but I refused to accept it.
I searched her house and discovered the cash she’d harbored was gone. The phone I bought her was tossed in the trash, but sitting in her inbox were a bunch of messages along with a photo from the event I was coaxed into. A parting gift from my bitch of a wife.
I bet she’s still fucking smiling now, counting her millions while I wash away my sorrows in a bottle of scotch.
It was at this low point I realized how much I loved my little doll. So fucking much it hurt, yet I never got to tell her. My heart felt like it had been destroyed under the heavy feeling of my lungs being crushed while I struggled to breathe without her presence. She was gone.
Only the memory of her filled my rooms, and worse, they left a void in my previously untouched heart. She said she hated my scars, yet the ones she left behind were deeper than any others.
The foreign feeling of devastation felt too much to bear, crippling to the point I couldn’t function without her. If it wasn’t for Tommy stepping up and vowing to support me in my quest to find her, I don’t know how I would have continued. A piece of me was missing. I was lost without my little doll.
The link in the chain that tethered us together was broken, and I was detached without her, unhinged even.
The worst was yet to come. I somehow had to explain to Oliver about her absence, but instead of the truth, I opted for a lie to protect him. He still took it badly. Devastation was an understatement, and I had no idea how to comfort him, and this only emphasized how much I missed her, how much I needed her guidance to be the father I longed to be. Our boy insisted on sleeping in her bed with me by his side, both missing her too much in our own way that we needed her close. So, I spent the nights reading him The Hungry Caterpillar, and I’d lay beside him stroking his hair much like I did with her. All the while, I repeated the lie that felt like acid on my tongue, yet it also gave me a glimmer of hope because if I said it enough, maybe I could believe it too. She was on vacation and would be home soon.
Where she belonged.
Three weeks after tearing through New Jersey in search of her, I was arrested for fraud and manslaughter, and it took a further two weeks before I was released without charge. They were trying to pin the fire on me, saying it was an inside job due to lack of security footage.
I’m just grateful Kai kept the young girl we discovered in the back of the truck under wraps. The last thing we needed was for charges to be brought against me for human trafficking too. He assures me the girl is safe and happy, and I trust my best friend like a brother.
Once the actual footage was found, along with the perpetrator, thanks to Owen, I was released without further charge. The little prick walks free but with a big black cloud hanging over him. He knows we know it was him and that we’re coming for him.
My brother will be the one to deliver his punishment when he finally gets his girl.
Owen was taken away on a business trip, so the search for Ellie took a backseat, and I was handed over to a colleague of his. Something tells me it was more personal than business.
Sitting in the office of Oscar O’Connell, I roll my head from side to side. “What the fuck do you want, O’Connell?” I narrow my dark eyes at Oscar, Bren’s younger brother. He’s a tech whizz who has close dealings with Owen, and it’s this knowledge that has me wondering if I have in fact sold my soul, agreeing to deal with Owen to begin with.
Shaking my head, I banish the thought.
Doesn’t matter, I’d sell it all for her.
His lips twitch, but other than that, he sits stoically still. “Velvet.”
I reel back in my chair. My father’s first club, gifted to him from his father, then gifted to me. I move to shake my head, but he holds up his hand. Anger flares through me at a lightning speed at his disrespect, and my fingers twitch to pull my gun and end this meeting now.
“I found her.”
Three words knife through me, cutting into my heavy heart, yet spurring it back to life. “What?”
“I found her,” he repeats, slower this time.
Thud.
My heart beats louder.
Thud.
I lick my dry lips.
Thud.
“Where?”
He shakes his head. “Velvet.” The little bastard is building an empire. It wouldn’t surprise me if he didn’t know where she was all this goddamn time and saved it up, reveling in my self-destruction along the way. No doubt waiting for me to become desperate. So desperate I’ll sign over one of our most notorious and profitable clubs.
Sweat gathers on my forehead, and the thud of my heart rings out in my ears as I tug on my hair. “Fuck’s sake!” I slam my fist on the table, yet the prick doesn’t even flinch as I bare my teeth like a rabid dog.
She’s within reach. So close, yet so far.
“Is that a yes?” He raises an eyebrow at me, and I’ve never felt so fucking ferocious, so cornered in my entire life.
I slump back in my chair. “I’d need to get the papers drawn up.” My mind races with how fast I can achieve this.
“Already done.” The devious smile on his face looks out of place and downright creepy.
“Of course you have,” I grunt as he grabs a folder from out of his drawer and lays the paperwork out on the desk. “And don’t fucking smile at me like that. It’s creepy as fuck.”
Then, feeling like I have no other choice, I grab the pen pushed into my hand, skim read the terms, and sign our forefather’s club over to the gloating prick, pushing the papers back abruptly in his direction.
“Where is she?” I push back in my chair, looking toward his smug face.
He sits back, taking his sweet ass time before he finally meets my eyes, his expression now serious, and I know I won’t like whatever it is that spills from his lips before he even says it.
“Amber’s.”
White noise plays out in my head as I stride toward the door. Knowing my girl is working in a strip club has fury like no other ravishing through me, and to know it’s one owned by the O’Connell’s, confirms the sons of bitches knew where she was the entire time.
I’m coming, Little Doll, and when I do, I’m going to break you so much, there’s no putting you back together.