Chapter Twelve
Two days later…
H ollywood Hills was known for its spectacular views and secluded locations.
Jimmy Lincoln’s property was large for the area and on it stood a thirteen-million-dollar home that overlooked Los Angeles and offered panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean. The house itself sat at the end of a long driveway with access at the entrance behind guarded gates.
When the Uber driver dropped him off at the gate, Rebel waved to the guard in the shack. The guy gave a nod and buzzed him through the wrought iron gate.
It really was a nice walk up the driveway even though it was steep as hell. Reaching the pool area, sounds of laughter, splashing, and music filled the air. There was always a party going on at all hours of the night, but one good thing about this place was that the noise couldn’t be heard by neighbors.
“Hey, Rebel,” one of the guards at the end of the driveway greeted him.
“Hey, Bob.” Rebel gave the guy an up-nod and kept walking until he reached the front door and stepped inside.
The two men at the door held metal detectors in their hands and swiped them over him before he was allowed to fully enter the massive foyer.
Jimmy never allowed anyone—who wasn’t a guard—to carry weapons in the house. Of course, the guy had his own arsenal, but those were behind locked doors.
The inside of the massive house was even more majestic than the outside, and its rich interior was filled with expensive furnishings. Jimmy loved the classics and everything inside was an antique.
Instead of looking for Jimmy, Rebel turned to the wide staircase that would take him up a level. He walked down until he reached the room he’d been given.
Keeping his weapons off-site had been a chore. First, he had had to retrieve the case from the floorboards of the vacant apartment and move them to a closer location.
One thing he hadn’t done was spare a glance across the street at his old house. No way in hell did he want to get a glimpse of the woman who claimed to be his mother, but had lied.
Because if he did? He would kill her. It was that simple. Sure, he had hated people throughout his life—starting with Solomon and Tanis and a handful of others.
But the woman across the street who had given him hope? He had a special kind of hatred reserved just for her.
Perhaps that was when Rebel had begun to formulate a plan. The idea to eventually wrap his way back around to his fake mother’s house and slice her throat open—watch the life drain from her eyes. But that would be after he got as much information out of her about his abduction.
Once Rebel washed up, he slipped out of the door and closed it.
He had minutes before Jimmy would know he was here, so he had to hurry. Running lightly down the hallway, he took the stairs at the end upward and reached the second door on the upper landing. With a brief knock, he opened the door with the key he had made a month ago and stepped inside.
He stayed close to the door. It was the only spot in the room where the overhead cameras wouldn’t catch sight of him.
“Angel?” Rebel whispered and a sound near the curtain drew his gaze.
Sixteen-year-old Angelina Noble came flying from her hiding spot toward him. Rebel caught her and hugged her close, pulling her with him back against the closed door.
There was a new bruise where fingers had gripped her throat. The marks were slight, but he saw them as she ran to him. His heart hurt and anger built.
It was weird. He had gone from not giving a shit about anyone, to wanting to protect this girl at any cost. Only getting her out of here wasn’t possible…not yet anyway.
Jimmy had a chain, much like a dog chain, around her ankle and a locater embedded into a collar around her neck. Jimmy wore the key to the collar around his neck like it was some fucking prize.
Yeah, it takes a real man to rape a sixteen-year-old girl , Rebel thought with derision.
“I thought you’d left me,” her voice trembled.
“No, I just had to do a job,” he assured her, running his hand down her thick black hair, he patted her back.
They stood the same height, so when she eased back, their eyes met. Her eyes were just as dark brown as his were and she had joked one time that they could have been siblings.
“When we get you out of here, you can be my younger sister,” Rebel had teased her at the time.
In truth, he was going to save her. Only, he wasn’t sure how the hell he could do it. The house was a fortress and she was heavily monitored.
If Jimmy knew he was in here plotting against him, the guy would have him killed. Of that, he had no doubts. And as much as Jimmy trusted him, Rebel knew that when it came to Angel, the guy was a demonic freak.
Rebel had seen Jimmy shoot one of the guards in the head when the guy looked too long at Angel.
She was Jimmy’s only weakness. She was his obsession. Two years ago, at the age of fourteen, Angel had been sold to Jimmy by her own crack-head father.
That was another thing Rebel and Angel had in common. They both had run-ins with the same type of sick fuck.
“I was also sold by the guy who stole me,” Rebel had told her that day.
“You were stolen?” She looked aghast.
“Yeah, twice. Then I was sold to a sexual predator.”
Angel had hugged him tightly and for the first time in a long time, Rebel let someone hold him.
Right then, though, he had a surprise for her. He dug into his back pocket and pulled out the used paperback romance novel.
“Oh my God, thank you!” She almost squeaked and clutched the used book to her chest.
“Of course,” Rebel smiled. “Hide that good, I’ve got to go. I’ll see you at dinner.”
“Do you think Jimmy will let us go into the gardens after dinner?” she asked hopefully.
“I don’t know, maybe?” Rebel said. “I’ll try to make it happen.”
Several times after dinner, Jimmy had ordered Rebel to take Angel out to the gardens for some fresh air.
The men around the table had looked shocked. Rebel knew the only reason Jimmy trusted him with Angel was because during the interview for the gun-for-hire job, Rebel had confessed he was gay.
“Gay?” Jimmy had looked him over and Rebel tried not to react. “You don’t have the hots for me, do you?”
“Um…” Rebel didn’t want to offend the guy so he shrugged.
“I’ll take that as a yes?”
Rebel stayed quiet, giving a slight smile.
Jimmy seemed pleased about the idea of a crush and Rebel worked that into his favor with some light flirting.
Jimmy had begun placing a hand on Rebel’s back or shoulder and running fingers through his dark curls. One time, the man had pulled him flush to his body and held him for a long time, but other than that, Jimmy hadn’t made any attempt to try and fuck him.
It wasn’t the same for Angel , Jimmy took great delight in going to her room nightly.
Rebel had gotten his first glimpse of the sixteen-year-old girl at dinner that first night. Angel had come shyly to the table, and Rebel immediately understood the look of hopelessness in Angel’s eyes.
He knew that look. He knew the desperation that slumped the girl’s shoulders. Her pale face was bare of makeup. Rebel understood every wince and grimace as she sat tentatively on the hard chair.
Angel was living his past nightmare. She was him—same scenario, different perpetrator.
And after Rebel had met her and talked to her and became friends with her…he was sure of one thing.
He was going to try and save her.
After dinner that evening, Jimmy Lincoln sat on the patio that overlooked the gardens below.
“Beautiful,” Mitch Fallen said from the chair next to him.
“Very,” Jimmy agreed. He couldn’t take his eyes from the pair of teenagers wandering through his garden arm in arm.
The girl was gorgeous and had been since the age of fourteen, but standing next to the young man, the pair was stunning.
They really were a matched set. Rebel with his slender build and curly dark hair and Angel with her waist-length black hair, both slender, both achingly beautiful.
Jimmy’s cock went hard.
He wanted them both, preferably at the same time, in his bed.
But with Rebel, he had to be careful.
The teenager wasn’t like Angel, who had no choice. With Rebel, it was different.
Jimmy had never had sex with a man before, but from the moment he’d met the slender teenager and had learned he was gay—having sex with Rebel was all he could think about.
The eighteen-year-old was an old soul and unlike anyone Jimmy had met before.
To become Rebel’s lover, he had to coax the man to fall in love with him.
“If you ever want to part with them, let me know,” Mitch said.
Jimmy tilted his head slightly, his gaze locked on Mitch.
Mitch Fallen was his equivalent in their line of work, they both answered to the same boss. Only, Mitch ran things down south, near the Mexican border towns, while he handled things up here and in the central area of California.
Mitch did things a bit differently and dealt in human trafficking with young children.
That wasn’t Jimmy’s thing. He was content with what he owned.
He ran his gaze over first Angel and then Rebel.
“I’m serious,” Mitch said.
“Don’t even think of it,” he warned Mitch and when the man suddenly gave a very hard swallow, Jimmy smiled.
No one ever got away with taking what was his and lived.