Chapter 22
Jay
We moved from deep despair to pure happiness while we waited for Kai’s big plan to take form.
On the day everything went down and I was so close to leaving that the door was biting my arse, and Haden told me that Kai was going to help, I thought he was part of the mafia… but then his silly faces, gentle manners, and being an amazing doctor doesn’t really scream bad boy.
The most amazing moment was when Haden said those three heart-stopping words.
I love you.
My heart still trembles every time I think about it.
Shame fills me when I think that I was going to reject him. Reject everything I ever wanted, even when I was convinced I didn’t deserve it. But then my mouth had run away from me, revealing the truth when I wanted to hide it because I wanted to protect those I consider my family.
Haden hadn’t allowed me to walk away like I did before. He kept me there, giving me the confidence to fight for us, even if everything was against us. He made me believe we could win if we stuck together, and here we are… each one of us fighting his own battle so that we can be reunited forever.
If we win, I’m never letting him go. Never letting them go.
I pull my phone from my pocket and open the messages section.
Jay
I’m never letting you go, babe.
Haden
I never want to be apart from you.
Jay
Keep calm and let them hang themselves.
Haden
Be careful and come back to me.
Jay
Always. Love you.
Haden
Love you too, Angel.
“Jay? Are you okay?” Kai’s friend, detective Shine asks.
“Yeah, I’m good.”
“We’re close.” he says, but this time for everyone.
We met Shine in the evening when he came to our place.
Kai’s big plan, as Haden had called it, was to involve his friend, a detective, to frame Dick for human trafficking and sexual exploitation through modern slavery, as well as illegal money lending, and some other things he mentioned but my mind can’t remember right now.
If what they’re saying is true, Dick is going to go away for a long, long time.
It took them fifteen minutes to explain the plan we’re going—I’m going to execute in the next ten minutes.
Haden wasn’t happy with the idea of me going into the lion’s den, and neither was I. Until they told me Dick could get between twenty and thirty years. If it meant being free of Dick for that long, and from Haden’s parents, then I’m willing to do everything in my power to make that happen.
We spent an hour discussing pros and cons, Haden always thinking about my safety first, but there wasn’t any way to avoid this. He nearly lost it when his lawyer told him the emergency hearing was on the same day.
My mind goes there, and I let the memories soothe me.
“He’s not going there alone.” The fierce look in his eyes makes my skin tingle with awareness. He’s so strong and protective, and the love he has for me is pouring out to reach me.
“Haden.” Kai tries to make him see reason.
“Would you send the man you love inside that place?” He’s facing Kai, but the question is for both of them.
I watch Kai biting his lips, Shine shuffling from one side to the other, and Haden’s triumphant look makes me chuckle internally.
“Mr Taylor—”
“Call me Haden. If you’re asking me to put Jay in danger, the least you can do is call me by my name.” And then he mutters, “And that’s my father’s name, and I’m nothing like him.”
I want to reach out and touch him, and allow him to touch me, until we’re one again.
“Haden. It’s the only way, and the most secure way to catch him in the act. We’ll have the proof on tape, and there won’t be anything they can do to refute it.”
“I hear you, but I don’t like it.”
“We’ll be there with him. Not you,” he says to Kai, before bringing his attention back to Haden. He ignores Kai’s outraged face.
“This was my idea.”
“Yep, and my execution. You’re out.”
Haden’s smirk is priceless, as is Kai’s, who sticks out his tongue to both of them.
“I’ll do it,” I say to stop the back and forth.
“Angel?”
“We all know I have to do it. Let’s stop the discussion and make this a plan no one can break.”
“Jay?”
I return to the car and the plan. “Yeah?”
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” Even if I’m not, there’s no way I’m running away now.
Not being there for one another doesn’t sit well with either of us, but Arianna was and is the priority, so it’s happening.
Haden threatened Kai with bodily harm if even a hair on my head is hurt, and Kai looked for his friend’s support, but Shine pretended not to hear him.
My nerves come to the surface now that I’m so close to facing Dick. Not knowing whether Jeremy is going to be there is unsettling. I’m not sure if I want him to be there, so I know where he is, or if I want him to not be there and be safe somewhere else.
I called and called but never got a reply. I’m not sure if I’m more angry at him or worried for him.
“Can we check that we’re connected?”
Someone must have answered, because Shine nods, and then replies, probably remembering that people can’t see him. “Okay.”
I look at him, wondering what Kai and Shine have in common to be such close friends. The corner of my lips curve at the memories of Kai losing his cool for the first time since I met him.
Kai was ordering Shine to let him come with us, while the other man kept saying no, without even sweating.
I wish Haden was there to witness it, but he was gone before they arrived.
“Do you have the money?”
I pat my pocket, wondering how Haden managed to get all this money in such a short time. “Yes, I do.”
“Okay, let’s go through this again.”
“I go in, give him the money, and walk out.” I hope it’s going to be that easy, but knowing Dick, it won’t be.
“Great. We just need him to talk, so let him talk.”
“Okay.”
“Good. When you’re ready…”
I am ready. I want this done, because it means I can go back to Haden.
“I’m good to go.”
I exit the car a few blocks away from Jeremy’s and my place. I’ve already told Dick that I’ll be there today with the money. I made sure to tell him Jeremy had to be there. No reply from him, but knowing Dick, he’s going to be there.
“Jay?” Shine stops me, and I turn around. “You’re very brave.”
“I’m not. I’m just someone protecting his family.” With a nod, I walk away. When I’m close, I fake a dejected behaviour. I don’t want Dick thinking something is off.
I use my key to enter the apartment, and I’m not surprised when I find the weasel there.
“What are you doing here?” I say looking around, hoping to see Jeremy.
“I was waiting for my favourite piece of arse.” He stands and I take a step back, involuntarily reverting back to my usual behaviour.
I hate it, but it works in my favour, because it makes Dick more confident of having me under his control.
Jerr, where the heck are you?
Dick is standing near the kitchen, leaning on the counter and looking like he doesn’t have any troubles in life.
His dark hair is pulled back with so much gel it shines in the light, as if it’s full of grease.
His lips sport a self-satisfied grin, showing his black and ruined teeth, and making my stomach revolt in disgust.
I really hope I won’t have to go as far as to let him touch me. I don’t want anyone but Haden to touch me. His touch makes me fly, makes me free, and makes me whole.
He looks at me like he always does, with those eyes that undress me every single time.
I push my revulsion deep inside and instead pretend to be nervous, the way Dick likes it.
“You’re late, boy. I don’t appreciate that, especially when you owe me.”
I gag, and immediately pretend to cough, not to upset him.
The word boy sounds so revolting coming from Dick. When Haden says it, he’s able to ignite my need to be taken.
“I wanted to talk… mmhh… about what I owe you.”
His laugh is sharp and uncaring.
“What’s there to talk about? Your boyfriend ran off with my cash, and someone…” He points at me. “Has to pay.”
“But…”
“You should be grateful I gave you a way to pay it off.”
Shine said they were going to enter when they had enough to put him away for a long time.
I stop thinking about what’s happening outside, and focus on making it happen inside this room.
“You know that wasn’t my debt.”
“You lived with him, so I don’t care about the name on it.” Irritation is taking the place of satisfaction at having me where he wanted.
My breath shakes and my voice cracks, but I’ve never felt more in control than I do now. An irritated Dick means a Dick who is losing control, and that’s what I want. “You made me work to pay that debt.”
I want to cancel the smirk on his lips with a punch, but instead I bite the inside of my cheek to keep myself from losing it. I can smell how close I am to having everything I need. I’m not going to fail now.
“Work is work, isn’t it? You didn’t complain when that money paid for it.”
I force myself to look him in the eye. “I wasn’t working by choice.
You sent Jeremy and me to that shithole to satisfy clients you and Ed were choosing for us.
And you took all the money, not even leaving us enough to eat.
Every time I asked, you told me the debt had gone up, even when we did everything you said. ”
Dick just scoffs, dismissing my genuine description of what a nightmare Jeremy and I had lived with him. I didn’t know I could despise him even more, but he’s proving me wrong.
“That’s how it works. You pay until I say differently.”
I take a step forward, my body trembling in fear, but I want to be brave.
“You forced me to sell my body. You kept us in this shithole of a flat. You took everything I owned. You checked on us every day, twice a day. You told me I had to do what you said or I’d be dead.
” My voice rises with every new statement, because of the unfairness of everything we went through.
Dick stands, annoyance clear on his face at the shift in my behaviour.
“You had a roof over your head. And I took a sample only once, just to make you understand how to behave. You should be thanking me.”
I stare at him, disgusted by the way he’s dismissing the pain we went through.
“Thanking you? You exploited me. You used me to make money. You forced me to sell my body for a debt that wasn’t mine.
There’s nothing to be thankful for in all of that.
You used me, and you made me a slave.” My words are like petrol on a fire, sparking Dick’s anger.
His eyes flash like those of a snake before the attack.
“What the fuck are you talking about? I run a business, there are no slaves here. You pay with what you’ve got…”
“You mean our bodies.”
He ignores me and continues. “Until the debt is paid. I do what people in my line of work do.”
Silence falls on the room. I can’t believe he said it. “Are you admitting that you made me do all that? Are you admitting I had to use my body to pay someone else’s debt?”
He scoffs again, his arrogance without limits. “I don’t have anything to hide. I did. You weren’t here because I liked your company, that’s for sure. You and that friend of yours are a fucking pain in my ass.”
The door crashes open, and the police storm in.
I watch Dick freeze, and his eyes fill with fear, and something inside me settles, as if a huge weight has been lifted off my chest. I take a deep breath, and for the first time in a long time I’m free.
“You set me up, you fucking whore.” He spits when they cuff him, and I step aside to let the police do their job.
“I didn’t do anything. You did this to yourself,” I say to him, repulsed by his behaviour once more.
Shine steps closer to me, as if ready to protect me. “You’re safe now. We got you.”
Tears fill my eyes, but I stand tall. “Thank you.” I don’t want to be here anymore, so I walk past the police, ignoring Dick, and out into the corridor, stepping away from two years of my life.
“I’m free,” I whisper, and those words nearly take my legs out from under me. I’m not really sure what to do now all the fight, the fear, and the desperation are gone. The walls aren’t squeezing me any longer and everything feels harmless.
I can still hear the officer inside the flat, but that’s no longer my life. I’ve been living with the constant fear of being found, and now the absence of it is confusing. I blink as tears blur my vision, still unable to process that this is reality and not a dream.
Shine approaches me. “Jay, are you okay?”
I nod because I’m unable to speak, afraid sobs will be the only thing coming out of my mouth. “I want to see Haden. And Arianna,” I say to no one in particular.
“The car is ready downstairs. We’ll be in touch for your interview.”
“Thank you.”
“No problem.”
“Jeremy?” I ask before he walks away.
He shakes his head before saying, “We haven’t found him yet.”
An ache spread inside me, because if there is someone I want to share this freedom with, it’s Jeremy.
I walk away and down the stairs, placing my hand on the bannister. My legs are still shaking and feel a bit noodle-like.
I look at the sky when I’m out of the building, finding the dark clouds the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen. Even the light rain is welcome on my overheated face.
I wrap my arms around me. I’m trembling, but there’s no fear, no shame, it’s just shock. I’m safe, I’m free, and I’m allowed to live the life I want. With the people I want.
While the car takes me toward my new life, I pull out my phone and type a message.
Jay
I’m coming home. I love you.
I’m not sure I would have trusted love if I hadn’t met Haden.
His grumpy and hard exterior is melted by a heart that loves deeply and without judgement. Maybe because he wears the scars left by those who judged him.
We both have broken parts, but they fit perfectly together, making us whole again.
Our love may not be made of flowers and chocolates but of glass shards and scarred skin, still nothing has ever been so beautiful, so perfect.
We bring peace to each other’s internal wars, and we are for one another a place to rest and heal.
It’s us against the world… and with Arianna, we’re a family.