Chapter 21 #3
Bree was actually pretty familiar with the layout of his place, since she’d spent some time there with Kelli over the last week, and figured he was headed for his bedroom.
Jude returned, holding some clothes in his hand. “You’re sleeping in my bed,” he stated. “I’ll take the floor. I’m not risking you sneaking off in the middle of the night after you have some time to think, telling yourself that you made a mistake by coming to me for help.”
Bree could’ve reassured him that she wasn’t going to sneak off again, but it was obvious he needed some time to learn to trust her. She understood.
“I don’t want you to sleep on the floor,” she told him.
“I’ve slept in worse places. It’ll be fine,” he told her without batting an eye.
Again, Bree should’ve probably felt wary. It wasn’t every day a man basically ordered her to sleep in his bed. But she hadn’t been lying earlier when she’d told Jude that she trusted him. Besides, she was at the end of her rope. She literally had nowhere else to go. No one else to turn to.
Standing, she walked toward him to take the clothes, grateful to have something clean to put on…after she’d showered, of course.
But when she tried to grab them, Jude held on until she looked up and met his gaze.
“Thank you for saving Kelli,” he said gruffly. “It would’ve destroyed Flash if she’d died.”
That was all the reassurance Bree needed to solidify the fact that she’d done the right thing by coming to Riverton, and to Jude Stark. His friends were obviously important to him. And even though she could tell he was irritated with her, he’d still done what he felt was right and thanked her.
“You’re welcome,” she said softly. “For the record? What I did was stupid,” she admitted. “Getting into the car was pretty reckless. And dangerous. I could’ve been seen. He could’ve killed me. I should’ve written down his license plate number and gone to you immediately. I’m sorry I didn’t.”
“Me too. I don’t like that you put yourself in that situation. But…you did reach out to me. And you were able to tell me exactly where Kelli was being taken. It’s very likely we wouldn’t have found her in time if you hadn’t done what you did. You did good, Bree. Really good.”
His words lessened her guilt somewhat. But she vowed to try not to do something so stupid again in the future. To not put her own life at risk as she’d done earlier that day.
Being around this man was a balm to her battered and bruised soul. For too long, she’d been a nobody. A homeless person living out of her car. Ignored. Looked down on. A piece of property that someone had paid for. A commodity. But to Jude? She was more. She was Bree Haynes again. And it felt good.
So she simply nodded.
“Go on. Shower. I’ll change the sheets and make the bed so it’s ready for you when you’re done.” With that, he turned and headed for the bedroom, presumably to strip the sheets off the bed.
Without another thought, Bree did as she was told.
She hadn’t lied. She was tired. Bone-deep exhausted from trying to stay one step ahead of the man who’d bought her.
From trying to stay under the observant SEALs’ radars.
From being terrified that one wrong move would end up with her in a situation she couldn’t even fathom.
Bree needed Jude Stark. And she vowed to herself to do whatever he told her to do.
It wasn’t in her nature, but she’d do it.
Because it was obvious the path she was on wasn’t working.
The truth was, she needed a knight in shining armor.
And while Jude’s armor was dented and not so shiny, she wouldn’t want anyone else by her side while she tried to figure out who’d bought her from her ex, and why they still wanted to get their hands on her so badly.
Mateo Castillo stared up at the apartment building that his property had entered earlier that evening. He’d been looking for her for months now, and had almost run out of patience when he’d found her .
Turns out, her being here in Riverton was actually a good thing. It presented an opportunity that he’d waited two long decades for.
When he was in his mid-thirties, he was living in Mexico, part of a sex-trafficking ring. A low-level partner at the time, it had taken years for him to work his way back up the organization after one of their most expensive acquisitions had been stolen right out from under their noses.
He hadn’t been at the camp when it happened; that was the only reason why he’d been allowed to live.
The other dozen or so men who’d gotten drunk and passed out—allowing a US Navy SEAL to sneak into camp and steal the woman out from under their noses, plus another female asset—had all been eliminated.
The senator’s daughter, plus the mousy woman they hadn’t been able to find a buyer for after three months of looking, had both been taken back to the States. But Mateo was a believer in fate…and here he was. In Riverton.
Where those same women were now living.
They’d moved on, married Navy SEALs. Were living what they thought were happy lives. But they’d soon learn that the past never truly went away. It could always come back to haunt you. And Mateo was there to take back what was his.
Julie Lytle and Fiona Rain Storm were his . As was Bree Haynes. It was just a matter of finding a way to snatch them all back…then he’d get his money’s worth out of all three.
In the last decade, Mateo had partnered with a man in Peru named del Rio.
He’d supplied the man with women from all over the world for his business, until del Rio’s organization collapsed after he’d been killed by some assholes from Indiana.
But Mateo had gladly stepped in. He was now based in Ecuador, and the current unrest in the country made it easier for him to get his property moved in and out under the radar.
He sold women to the richest men in the world, and even knowing the sexual appetites of these men were depraved and downright sadistic didn’t deter him. In fact, their proclivities only made the men willing to pay any cost to have a new plaything delivered right to their doors.
Full circle.
Things were coming full circle. Mateo would take back what was stolen from him and make a shit ton of money in the process. Thumbing his nose at the very men who’d stolen from him all those years ago was a huge bonus.
If they came after him, he’d be ready this time. There would be no drunken parties in the jungle. No, the SEALs would die if they tried to take back what was his. And they would. They’d come for the women. Of that, Mateo had no doubt.
Smiling, he started the engine of his black Mercedes.
He knew where Bree Haynes was now. She wouldn’t be able to hide from him anymore.
He could take her tonight, break into the asshole’s apartment and take back what belonged to him, what he’d bought fair and square.
But now that he knew this man was connected to the other two women?
He’d wait. Be patient.
His time would come.
He couldn’t wait to see the looks on the other women’s faces when they realized their worst nightmares were coming true… again .
And when Bree Haynes understood that running had only put off the inevitable?
Bliss.
The terror they’d feel made Mateo’s dick hard. He might not have the reputation del Rio did, but when word got out that Julie and Fiona had been taken a second time, people wouldn’t be able to deny his authority any longer. He’d be the most powerful man in South America. Respected. Revered. Feared.
Finally.
The black Mercedes drove off without a sound, without anyone looking twice at the vehicle. Never knowing evil was on the move, and with it, a black cloud of terror was about to descend on Riverton.
* * *
You’ve been waiting for Bree and Smiley’s story for what seems like forever and it’s finally here!
And yes, I went there. I went back to almost the very beginning of my writing career and brought back a bad guy from Protecting Fiona …
everyone is going to lose their minds when they find out the connection between the man after Bree and Fiona and Julie’s ordeal.
Everyone will have to band together to end this new threat once and for all.