Chapter 13 #2
Theresa bobbed her head and let out a few slow breaths before meeting my gaze.
“I think this is too much of a risk. You’ve had such a hard life and you deserve easy.
You deserve time to do nothing and heal, and—this isn’t what I want for you because you’re not the villain of my story nor a villain, Aurora. ”
She took in a slow, shaky breath and let it out.
“But if this is what you want—he is what you want, then I support you. Not that I—that sounds like permission, but it’s not.” She quickly wiped under her eyes. “Just please don’t get killed in his mess before I have time to work through our past and we have a chance to…”
“I will protect her,” Creed promised. “I’ll live through this and protect her. I won’t swear it because life is just—we could all get creamed by a falling plane tomorrow. I know how they work, and going after a previously abused woman—that’s not their MO. She’s not the one I’m worried about.”
Theresa flinched. “I am.”
“No, you’re not a citizen here, and that’s a different government,” Creed clarified.
“Me,” Ellie chuckled darkly. “They’ll try and pressure you to use your position and get intel—threats and your debt—all of it.”
“Yes, and that’s the trap,” Creed told her.
“I love a good trap, cub,” she purred, giving me a shocked look when I cleared my throat.
“He is to be my mate. Would you like if I called Ha-joon ‘pup’?”
Ha-joon chuckled, answering the questions without making Ellie say anything.
So I didn’t push it, standing and moving towards Theresa.
“Thank you for your worry and concern. I’m sorry I didn’t understand or—someday I would like to work on our communication.
We don’t have the normal bond or others tell me this is how mothers and daughters miss each other. I would like to stop that.”
“One day,” Theresa whispered. “In the interim, please let me handle the prenup. I wasn’t able to get you the divorce as I wanted, so let me protect you. Please.”
“I would love that, but it should be pretty straightforward when Creed is agreeing to it all.”
“We shall see,” she said hesitantly, but not over the top and how an attorney should be.
I took it as a win and Creed eased down as well. We talked more logistics, deflecting some of the questions Ellie and Theresa asked that they shouldn’t have.
“You might not consider me your mother or be comfortable with me having that role in your lives, but you will forever have the role of daughters in my world given I breastfed you both,” I told them firmly.
“So I will discuss our sexual activities and my comfort level with my psychiatrist and my therapy group if I should need. Thank you for your concern.”
Creed and Ha-joon both choked on what they were eating or drinking, but I was glad the topic was put to bed.
“Alright, well, on that note, you have another follow-up, mate,” Ha-joon said to Creed. “And I suggest you interview some female guards so you’re not stuck at home. Also, a rental house now that you have money and will need more space because you can’t just close on a large place tomorrow.”
“How big of an ulcer was growing with you trying to get that all out knowing it might get you into trouble?” Ellie asked him dryly.
“I get out of trouble well,” he grumbled.
It was best not to think about that. I did take his advice on both topics now that we all agreed that Xavier not be my guard anymore.
I tried to have Ellie and Theresa give me a bill now that I had my own money, but they said they knew I was going to spend most of it helping other Graves women and they wanted to be a part of that too.
Plus, Ellie was ridiculously rich, and she wasn’t going to be petty with me like we’d had some sort of falling out. She’d rather take food from me later when I was settled because everything of mine she’d eaten was to her taste.
That shocked me since I hadn’t known she’d even eaten it.
She cleared her throat and looked away. “Creed is pushy. Plus, Ha-joon is really pushing for me to take my physical and mental health more seriously, so someone to help meal plan and—I want to get back into swimming. There are only so many hours in the day.”
“I would love that. Truly.” I was going to leave it at that, but my doctor cleared her throat. “But maybe Ha-joon could pick it up and drop off containers.” I hurried on when she looked hurt. “For a bit. I agree with Creed that we take a breather and the fresh start.”
“More than understandable after what we’ve all been through. Best of luck tomorrow.” She hesitated in leaving. “I’m sorry about Xavier. Him being attracted to you seemed unfair to hold against him as his employer. I shouldn’t have been fair when it was personal.”
“Thank you,” I accepted.
“You’ll still let me know if you need anything?”
I smiled as I saw the young girl she used to be worried that I was disappointed in her. “Of course, Ellie. I appreciate all you’ve done. I look forward to helping Amanda’s Hope with their next event.”
She blew out a harsh breath. “Good, because all of the committee members demanded it. They said you made everything ten times easier with your organization than the last chair. And the reviews were much better even with me getting shot.”
That seemed to amuse her, but Ha-joon and I shared a look that the situation wasn’t actually funny.
I was surprised when my doctor and Alexis asked to stay, but they had talked on the side and wanted to have input on the temporary housing for all the Graves women we were rescuing tomorrow.
It was going to be traumatic enough, and now that they were trying to be “accommodating,” we looked like fools without everything in place… We couldn’t fail.
“Thank you,” I accepted, giving Creed a quick kiss and wishing him good luck at his appointment. I didn’t realize what I’d done until Ellie had dropped the purse in her hands. “Please leave it and don’t make me uncomfortable about my progress.”
“Yes, of course. I—sorry. Congratulations.” She winced and then about fled which was actually adorable.
Theresa handed Alexis a folder but kept my gaze.
“I will be there tomorrow but not front and center for obvious reasons. I foresaw them possibly pulling this crap. Those are—I’ve worked with other organizations and law firms that do what Amanda’s Hope does or has worked with them. Those are properties, they are—”
“Willing to lend us quietly?” Alexis surmised, relief all over her face when Theresa nodded. “And they want?”
“Mostly for no one to ever find out it’s their place, but one wants a consultation at ASH, and I don’t understand why she can’t get it or maybe to hide she wants it?” Theresa admitted. “I didn’t have time to look up the doctor.”
I looked over Alexis’s shoulder and instantly recognized the woman.
“She’s a fertility specialist Ha-joon stole from his old hospital for the new addition Ellie is plotting.
It’s caused big trouble and she’s the best in the world, but women are embarrassed to go see her because that means admitting they have fertility problems. She’s not taking patients yet and—”
“And that’s the issue. Of course. Her property is the one that actually is the best for what you need and she can give you three months before she needs it for her own family.
So that’s ample time for you to find what you really need, buy, and keep pressure off yourselves,” Theresa told us.
She gave me a kind look. “Good luck tomorrow. I will be there rooting for you.”
“I wish you wouldn’t go,” I said again.
“I have to. I have to see with my own eyes.” She hurried on when I frowned. “I believe you. I never doubted how you were treated or what you said about your family. Some things we just have to see for ourselves.”
Yes, yes, we really did no matter how much pain they would cause us.
I was pretty sure Creed was surprised that I texted him asking him to pack a bag and stay over with me.
It truly was the best night’s sleep… And it seemed silly when we were going to be mated soon.
There was so much to do and I wanted to return Ellie’s condo to her so someone else in need could use it. I was taking away from that.
“I’m not letting you go alone so don’t even ask me,” Creed said gruffly the next morning. We hadn’t had a repeat of him cupping my breast, but I wasn’t sure his hand snuggled between my legs was any better.
And yet it didn’t bother me.
It was Creed, and that was about the only answer I had.
Plus, I was going to confront my own hell even if my father and brother were currently locked up.
Father had paid bail for the first time but, then he was dragged in on more charges and something found made the bail revoked—or more the fact he was given bail upset too many people.
It all made my head hurt, so I stuck with the fact he wouldn’t be there and my relief.
“You’ve got this, beauty,” Creed assured me when it was time to go.
“I’m glad you’re here,” I told him even though I’d asked several times for him to not come with. I hadn’t wanted him to see this side and how I would be treated, but my doctor had pushed that it would help him understand me.
And I would feel safer with him there.
She wasn’t wrong on either account.
The European police were waiting for us with their orders and all the paperwork. I was there as the familiar face and to speed things along given I knew the people.
Plus, if I was going to do this, I wanted to face my mother and others that I knew wouldn’t take the chance at freedom.
“There is the traitor to her own,” she spat out in French immediately.
“Coming from a woman who sold her daughter like cattle, it’s not an insult one takes seriously,” I replied easily before turning to the policewoman in charge. “Were you given maps? There are several underground dungeons and rooms where they will try to hide people.”
“Yes, we were made aware already, thank you for being diligent,” she replied.
“You are so lost that you don’t even speak your tongue,” Mother tried again.
“Father and Andrew speak fluent English. Do you say the same to them?” I snorted when she looked surprised.
“They lied to you and all the other women while laughing that you are so stupid, Mother. Father probably knows ten languages. I thought Andrew too stupid and hating of others, but his English was perfect when he came to abduct me.”
“You lie.”
“Why?” I pushed. “I have no reason to. I’ve won.” I moved closer. “There is nothing I win by lying to you. I pushed for you to be freed as well. You can still leave here and start over.”
“Shame on you for suggesting I abandon my mate!” she blasted.
“You are not his mate,” I snapped. “You are but his wife, the woman he breeds. You were sold to him, bought like property. Everyone knows he has women he cares for and—” I caught her wrist when she went to slap me.
“No, you will never hit me again. I am not the lost one. See reason. This once, stop lying to yourself, Mother!”
“She is too far gone, Cousin,” one of my cousins said as she came towards me holding one of her children on her hip and holding the hand of another.
“Both of our mothers. Do not eat or drink anything while you are here.” She glanced around.
“Any of you. It is unsafe, and many of the women are planning to punish the ‘traitors’ this way.”
I thanked her and shoved my mother’s wrist away. “I am not lost. You are weak. You let yourself be brainwashed to believe this nonsense that we are property.”
“We are but—”
“Show me where the gods have ever said so!” I bellowed.
I snorted when she only sneered. “Because you can’t even read to do that.
You only know what men have told you. Weak.
Pathetic and weak.” I might have said more, but one of the other women coming with us, a younger cousin who had slipped me extra food, gave me a note.
My eyes went wide as I quickly read it. I handed it to the policewoman and saw her reaction.
“The orders have changed,” she announced loudly. “Call in extra support. We have information that there are servants here kept against their will and not allowed to leave or speak to outsiders like slaves. We will question each member of their staff and—”
“Me! Please save me!” a servant called out from the doorway and came racing towards us. “Save my daughter. They are holding her—many of our bastard children until the outsiders leave. They are threatening—”
“Who allowed you to speak, you stupid wench,” one of my male cousins growled as he came out from somewhere and backhanded her. One of the officers went for him, probably to arrest him.
But Creed was faster. He grabbed him by the back of his shirt and flung him away from the woman and then helped her up, checking she was okay and calling for medical attention.
“That is a real man,” I told Mother, pointing to Creed when I noticed her disgust. “Not these dogs here who enjoy raping, selling, and abusing women. We are not property or things for them to use as they wish. They know this and that it is wrong. Father knew it was against the law. You were just too stupid to see all that was in your face, too weak to believe what was right.”
“He is an animal,” she spat.
I chuckled darkly. “Father is an animal. Creed is a good man who has never hurt a woman and treats me better than I have ever seen Father treat you.” I nodded when she did a double take.
“We are to be mated. He is my future—one I choose. Those are the rights we have instead of being sold and then our husbands having other women while abusing us.”
I turned to yell at the guards of the family to stand down or they would be arrested. That anyone was allowed to leave and my father wasn’t a king or a god that was bigger than the law or president.
My mother used that moment to try again to hit me when Creed wasn’t there. I raised my hand to block it knowing I wasn’t going to be fast enough.
But then suddenly Mother was on the ground.
And Theresa was standing next to me.
“Touch my mother and I will end you, you pathetic piece of shit,” she said in fluent French.
I wasn’t sure if I was more shocked, touched, or proud of my beautiful daughter. All three?