19. Dawson
Dawson
Being here with Xander and Ella is refreshing. My phone is turned off and email accounts are logged out of. I don’t have to hear my father complaining about how I left before he was going to take Harper to her doctor’s appointment.
I had to get out of there. If I would have stayed even a moment longer, he would have come and swept her away. Then after that, he would have promptly taken her to Malik, where she would have been handed over like cattle.
Well, that’s what would have happened if she was a virgin. She would have been brought to that doctor’s appointment, and they would have seen clear signs that she’s been getting fucked, and she would have been disposed of like garbage—likely after Malik and his cronies had their fun with her.
I wasn’t just going to stay there and let that happen.
Now that I’m here, I feel like I can breathe. The compound is safe, and nobody who isn’t invited can get in. If they try, they’ll be shot and dumped at the bottom of a lake where no one will ever find them. Anyone with half a brain wouldn’t even try.
“What do you think, Dawson, should we retire to the study and discuss business now?” Xander says after the conversation has lulled and all of us have had our fill of the spread on the table.
Harper and Ella have been talking amongst themselves for the past half an hour, getting on brilliantly. I knew they would. Ella has a way of charming just about everyone she meets.
Both of them look at us, and Harper raises her eyebrows as if expecting to join me to take notes like she normally would.
“Why don’t you ladies spend some more time getting to know each other while we talk?” I say, standing up alongside Xander as we stretch and turn toward the house.
“Sounds perfect!” Ella chirps, clasping Harper’s hands to make her feel better about everything going on. I don’t know what Ella knows of the situation, but if I’m here with Harper, she must understand there’s something serious happening. “I’ll take you on a tour of the garden.”
With that, Xander and I head back inside to his study.
I’ve been here once before, so I sort of know my way around.
His study never ceases to amaze me. Xander has more money than God, and that shows in his home.
He has artifacts that he’s collected lining floor-to-ceiling shelves, surrounded by books both old and ancient.
Looking at his office, you might think he was some kind of esoteric collector, but really, he just has more money than he knows what to do with.
His home could probably be turned into a museum one day.
He opens a cigar box and pulls out two cigars, handing me one.
I look it over in my fingers, thinking that this must cost at least $30,000.
Xander takes it back, clips and lights it for me and hands it to me again.
I take a deep inhale, savoring the chocolatey, bitter taste of the tobacco before exhaling the smoke.
“Not that I don’t enjoy your company,” Xander begins as he takes a seat beside me and crosses his ankle over his knee, “but what do I owe this pleasure? You didn’t give me much information over the phone.”
Where do I even begin? I can’t tell him the full truth of the situation because he might want nothing to do with me or Harper if he knows.
But despite Xander having his fingers dipped in so many different pies in this underground world, I know he’s a good guy.
He would never let something so unjust happen, especially when it’s about someone I clearly care about.
“What do you know about Malik?” I ask, leaning back and twirling the cigar between my fingers.
Xander raises his eyebrows and slowly exhales as he shakes his head. “I know he’s a dangerous man. He’s one of the most brutal people I’ve ever had the displeasure of knowing.”
“Have you worked with him before?” Xander wrinkles his eyes at me as if trying to question why I’m asking.
In our line of business, you don’t typically tell people about the business dealings you have with others.
They’re kept private because you never know who is going to sell you out to deepen their pockets.
“Never. I never want to either. Malik isn’t to be messed with, and I do my best to steer clear of him,” Xander promptly replies.
Malik is dangerous, and I know that, but for a man like Xander to be afraid of him says something.
Malik must be a very serious threat. “I don’t know why you’re asking these questions, but you need to stay away from him if at all possible. ”
I nod and take another inhale of the cigar to buy myself some time.
It’s far too late to stay away from him now.
I’m in much deeper than I ever thought I would be.
In no time at all, Harper is going to be handed over to him, and he’s going to find out she’s not a virgin, and it won’t take long for them to figure out I’m the one who stole her innocence.
My head is going to be served to him on a silver platter.
I just have to figure out a way to keep that from happening.
“What happens to the people who tell Malik no?” I ask, hoping I can get some insight, so I can properly weigh all my options.
Xander sits up straight and uncrosses his leg, turning his whole body toward me as he looks me in the eye. I can feel how serious he is about this, and even talking about Malik like this stresses him out.
“I had an associate who was working with him years ago. Malik wanted them to help move some product around the country, mostly light stuff that they could buy their way out of with relative ease. But then heroin was added to that list, and they pushed back. Malik threatened them and gave them a warning, and they gave in.” Xander pauses and takes another drag of his cigar before exhaling it.
I watch him, knowing this isn’t the end of the story.
“After Malik saw he could intimidate them, he added women to the shipments. Human trafficking. The associate put their foot down and said there’s no way in hell they’d continue with that.
They told Malik to find someone else because they wouldn’t do it.
Well, Malik had trouble finding someone else willing to do this for him.
He asked my associate to reconsider, hoping to sweeten the deal.
Of course, they said no. Drugs are one thing, people are another.
“About a week goes by, and they’re away on business, and they get a call from a local hospital telling them their entire family is dead.
Coincidentally, they turned Malik down, and their entire house blew up after there was a gas leak.
” Xander pauses and raises his eyebrows at me as a silent warning.
This is what I would get myself wrapped up in if I chose to work with Malik.
This is what my dad chose. “Nobody turns him down and walks away from it unscathed.”
My stomach wrenches, and I feel like I could be sick, but I take a drag of the cigar and try to think. Xander just watches me as I attempt to brainstorm a way out of this. Turning Malik down isn’t impossible. Maybe nobody has done it before, but I am not giving in.
When the conversation is done, we both head outside to the garden to find Harper and Ella sitting on a bench and laughing with each other.
I watch both of them as I approach, delighted to see Harper happy for once.
I’ve never seen her smile the way she is now.
There’s always a tentative nature about her, and now that she’s alone with someone as friendly and welcoming as Ella, she’s carefree.
How am I supposed to see her like this and hand her over to a monster like Malik? Once he has her, she’ll never smile like this again.
There has to be a way to get out of this arrangement without getting either Harper or myself killed for it. I could curse my father for all of this. He knew damn well what he was getting himself into, and he didn’t care.
Xander and I approach, and all of us make small talk before Harper and I excuse ourselves to go to our room.
I know where it is, so I turn down the offer to show us there, and I wrap my arm around Harper’s shoulder as we walk.
She almost seems a little confused by the affection I’m showing her, but Xander and Ella are friends. Plus, I doubt they’re surprised by it.
She doesn’t say anything as we walk through the mansion, but as soon as the door closes behind us, she whips around and stares at me with her arms folded in front of her.
“Can you please tell me what the hell is going on now?” Her face is contorted in a mixture of confusion and desperation. “I know something is wrong.”
“It’s not for you to worry about,” I say, attempting to reach out and cup her face, hoping it might comfort her. Instead, she backs away and shakes her head.
“Really? Because you forced me to get everything together in less than an hour and travel across the country without any warning. You refuse to talk business in front of me now that we’re here.
That’s not to mention you didn’t even tell your dad where we were going,” Harper says, rattling off all the strange things she’s noticed today.
“Something is wrong, and I want you to tell me what it is.”
I back away from her and pace for a moment, running my fingers through my hair.
“Do you really want to know what’s wrong?
” I ask, turning around and watching if she nods.
My frustration with everything today is boiling over, and I can feel it about to explode out of me, and I wish I could stop it.
“You’re what’s wrong. This obsession I have for you is what’s wrong.
You’re making my life miserable and adding so much stress to it. That is what’s wrong.”
She unfolds her arms from in front of her and stares at me with a mixture of hurt, anger, and confusion on her face. I almost wish I could take back what I said, but I can’t now. It’s out in the open, and it was 100% true. If it weren’t for Harper, I wouldn’t be in this situation.
Sure, I would have thought that selling her to Malik was wrong, but I might not have cared the way I do. I wouldn’t be risking my life to protect her the way I am.
I’m furious about it. My entire life has been turned upside down because of her. It’s for that reason alone that I feel like I need to punish her for it. I feel like I need to make her squirm, to see her fighting back against my retaliation.
I take a few quick steps toward her, and she tries to move out of the way, but she’s not fast enough. My hands wrap around her arms, squeezing tightly as I grip her and pull her toward the bed.
“What are you doing?” she snaps, trying to free herself from my grip.
I don’t let go as I shove her down on the bed and reach for her skirt.
I fumble with the button for a second, not able to get it undone right away, opting to just rip it open instead.
The button flies across the room as I tear through the rest of the fabric to see her in front of me in her blouse and panties. “Dawson!”
“Stop talking and let me fuck you,” I demand, holding her down while I lower her panties. She writhes underneath me, and when she’s completely bared for me, I spread her legs and unzip my pants.
“You can’t run away from your problems like this!” Harper shouts, pushing against my chest and staring at me with an intensity in her eyes I never expected to see from her.
I stop what I’m doing and sit up on my knees, letting her scoot away from me. She just watches me with her chest rising and falling rapidly as I take a moment to simmer down.
She’s right, and I hadn’t thought about it like that. Every time something’s come up that’s inconvenience to me, I’ve chosen to just fuck her in an attempt to forget about it. I’ve done it a lot more with the entire Malik situation too.
My eyes narrow at her, and I point my finger, forcing my face to be as stoic as possible. “Stop asking questions for your own sake, got it? If you don’t, there’s going to be consequences.”
She watches me with her jaw clenched, but when she sees the sincerity in my eyes, fear takes hold, and I can tell she’s shaken by what I said. Good. She should be.