Chapter Twenty-One
ARI SAT IN the back of the car, wrapped in a thick blanket. Under it she wore the piece of lingerie she had on the night Rex had brought her home. They had torn it carefully and soaked it in dirty water before letting it air dry. Ari, too, had been artfully dirtied. She hadn’t bothered to do anything with her hair or her face after the epic round of lovemaking. She needed to look upset and used. Ari privately thought they’d nailed the look.
Rex held her on his lap the entire ride, his arms wrapped around her. They didn’t talk. She didn’t know about Rex, but there were too many thoughts going through her head to make small talk. She simply enjoyed being held. Even if everything went according to plan, there wouldn’t be any more moments like this. She hoped for a good outcome to get to take care of her brother and sister. She would never give up having them safe, but maybe if she hadn’t been responsible for them, she could have tried to build something with Rex.
She gave herself a mental shake. If she didn’t need to take care of her siblings, she likely would never have been on that auction block to begin with. It was the most unfair part of all this. To experience love and desire and then to have to let it go. Not everyone got to live their happily ever after. That was just for books and movies. As the car slowed, she tensed. She didn’t mean to. She was determined not to give Rex any cause to worry about anything other than their plan.
Rex had an earpiece that could hear the cops and Rex’s own men they were working with. Even Jack and Kayla had shown up. Kayla was home with Liesel and the other kids. Jack was in the field with the rest of the Nardone men. Kayla had sewn a microphone that was a thin thread into her outfit, and one sequin was really a tiny camera. The feeds were being monitored by the police and they were ready as soon as Ari had eyes on Stella to get them out.
Taking a fortifying breath, Ari moved off Rex’s lap and unwrapped the blanket. She also slipped off the boots she’d used to get to the car. She would go back in exactly as she’d come out but looking worse for the wear. Rex moved toward the door, then stopped and looked back at Ari.
“Just remember, everything from this moment on is acting. I’ll apologize now in advance,” he said, giving her a tender kiss. “And then again when I get you back safely. Do you understand?”
The tears that formed in her eyes were real, and she knew the next part of the act would draw more. He was going to actually hurt her. Just enough to be convincing, but still.
She nodded at him then whispered, “Yes, sir.”
With that, he opened the door and his hand closed on her arm in an iron grip that would leave a bruise. He dragged her from the car, and she stumbled and cried out as her feet hit the cold stone of the driveway. Rex hesitated, then apparently deciding that was too much, he hoisted her over his shoulder, hissing, “Fight me,” as he stalked toward the front door. As it opened, a man said, “Rex, what is going on?”
Rex growled at the man and pushed his way inside and let Ari tumble to the floor. She’d been prepared for it and kept rolling until she was curled up on her side. She was shaking, and that was real.
“What’s going on is you sold me defective merchandise. She’s a whore, and she’s too old. I paid good money, for a gently used sixteen-year-old girl. This is a nineteen-year-old cock slut.”
“Are you sure?”
“Definitely. She matches the description of a missing person. I got a tip from an insider,” she heard him say, his intent to intimidate clear in his voice.
“Sir, we verify all merchandise—”
“Not well. I want my money back. Get her away from me,” he said, walking away dismissively.
Ari cried out in pain as she was pulled off the floor by her hair. “Stupid fucking slut. You had to open your mouth, didn’t you? Well, you’ll pay for that. You’ll be begging to go back to him when I’m done with you.”
Ari shuddered but had to concentrate on keeping her feet under her as the man pushed her down a hallway. The opulent surroundings out front were nowhere to be found back here. This was a bare cold hall, and she knew that he was taking her back to the holding area. When he pushed open a door and shoved Ari through in front of him, she saw a crowd of what had to be the girls for tonight.
The man who’d brought her back started stripping her, ripping her clothes off, and Ari struggled. She couldn’t let him get the microphone and the camera off until she found… Stella. Her eyes landed on the shaking, crying girl. Stella’s eyes locked with hers and went wide. Ari thought she was going to cry out, but she pressed her lips together and shook her head. Why? She stared at her and started to call out her name, but Stella made a violent shake of her head look like a shiver of her whole body.
Ari continued to struggle against the man who was trying to get her out of her clothes, and one of the backstage handlers came to help him.
“Get off of me,” she shrieked at them, kicking out. She hit one of them because the hands pawing at her loosened and she stood quickly, looking around. She saw Stella cowering on the ground, another thug standing over her.
“Thought you’d warn her, didn’t you? You’re just as stupid as they are, little girl. We already know. Your fucking cousin is being taken care of as we speak. And you’re both being sold off… privately… to make sure there’s no way to track you for the rest of the family.”
Ari froze. Shit. They knew. Rex had been right; it was a trap. She took a deep breath. They had prepared for this. And there was a plan, but it was much more dangerous. Rex had reviewed a few basic defensive moves with her over the last few days, and she had to put them to the test now. No matter how well she fought, they were going to hurt her, but if she could distract them long enough for the teams in place to get inside, it would be worth it.
Ari slumped forward, pretending to give up, and when the first man reached for her, she clamped her teeth into the soft part of his hand between his thumb and forefinger. He howled in pain and rage, pushing her to the floor, where she kicked wildly until she contacted the second man’s knee. When he tried to drag her to her feet, she launched upward, the crown of her head smashing into his face. That made her dizzy, but she forced herself to her feet as another man rushed her. Too disoriented and hurt now, she couldn’t get away and he tackled her to the floor. Her head bounced, and the world spun as her vision tunneled and went black. Just as the light faded completely, the room exploded in sound around her before everything went completely black.
Rex had never felt so torn in his life. On one hand, Stella had her arms wrapped around him and was refusing to let go. He didn’t leave her, either. Tommy hadn’t been able to make his way inside the building yet. He was busy working with the cops to make sure they rounded up all the participants. On the other hand, he was terrified as he watched paramedics putting a neck collar on Ari and loading her onto a gurney for transport to the hospital. The gash on her head was still bleeding freely, and she hadn’t moved since he’d burst through the door. He’d come in just as a big man who was now lying on his stomach in cuffs had slammed her head into the concrete floor.
The raid had gone with Plan B. Rex had realized within minutes of letting Ari out of eyesight that the entire night and Stella’s capture had been a set-up to get him. Somehow, the organizers had realized who he was and what his actual intention was. Deciding he was too dangerous, they’d taken Stella to use as bait to teach him a lesson and then eliminate him. He’d known from the minute Stella had been taken that it was a possibility that the whole thing was a vendetta and thankfully had planned appropriately. It had been the more dangerous plan though, because it required Ari to put herself in danger by causing a scene to give them time to get in. It also meant that cops and his own men had needed to go in guns blazing. When you did that, there was always a risk to innocent bystanders.
Apparently, the organizers of the ring hadn’t expected him to show up with so much firepower, though. They’d fallen with only a few shots fired.
In this moment, no matter what he did, it would feel like the wrong choice. He wanted to hold Stella, rush to Ari, and round up these men he’d spent three years trying to bring down. Right now, the only place he could actually make a difference was holding his trembling cousin and assuring her she was safe now.
He’d been trying to talk to her, but that had just made her cry, so he was sitting on a couch someone had dragged against one wall and she was curled up into his side, wrapped in a blanket. Rex was holding a bottle of water that he kept forcing her to take small sips from. He remembered how hungry and dehydrated Ari had been when he’d first gotten her to his house. Stella hadn’t been held as long, but he was trying to prevent her from having to go to the hospital since there were cops and EMT’s everywhere. He didn’t think she’d react well to being questioned by strangers right now. Eventually, she would have to sit down and talk with the police and then with a counselor.
Rex kicked himself in that moment that he’d never brought one to the house for Ari. She’d kept it together so well he hadn’t even thought about it. Looking at his cousin now, he knew that what she was showing externally, Ari must have been feeling internally and he’d ignored it because it suited him to do so. He really was a product of his upbringing. Unfeeling and neglectful.
At least now it was finished. He would make sure Ari was set up to succeed with the money, a home, and the help she would need. Hopefully, someday, she could remember him as someone who helped her and not just as a crime boss. Every mistake he’d made with her over the last week tormented him now. He didn’t know what their physical encounters over the last week had meant to her, but he hoped like hell she’d never felt pressured. She probably had since she had depended on him for everything. That thought made him sick, though.
Rex knew he should talk to her about it before sending her on her way, but deep down, he was a coward. He didn’t want to hear the first woman he loved tell him how despicable he was and that she’d only fucked him because she’d owed him. No, he’d much rather leave it as it was. If she hated him in the end, he really didn’t want to know.
He watched with aching pain in his chest as the medical team wheeled Ari out of the room. Just as they got to the door, Tommy rushed inside. His eyes found Stella and his face twisted in agony. Rex knew that feeling. Seeing the innocent hurt was always hard, but knowing someone had done it specifically because of who she was and what she meant to them was torture. Rex gently nudged Stella. She looked up first at him, and then when he jerked his chin across the room at her brother.
“Tommy,” she cried, her voice breaking.
Tommy rushed to them, and Rex moved to let him take his place. Stella actually crawled onto his lap, sobbing. Rex watched Tommy hold her tenderly.
Tommy had been more than willing to follow his father until he first laid eyes on his siblings. After that, he’d been open to Rex’s plan to change things, but had they? Here they were five years later and the people they loved were still being hurt because of who they were.
Rex was standing against a wall close to Tommy and Stella when one of the EMTs came over to talk to him. “Mr. Nardone, I need to know who the next of kin is for Ms. Sloane.”
He hesitated. There was no one to tell him. Her mother was still in a coma, and he’d received word just before they’d left the house that her stepfather’s body had been found in a quarry outside the city limits. Finally he said, “I am.”
“What is your relationship to her?”
Another pause and Rex said the only thing he knew that could get him into that hospital with her. “I’m her fiancé.”
The EMT raised one eyebrow at him, but Rex didn’t back down. Describing himself as a friend, benefactor, or even a lover wouldn’t have done it. They would have assigned Ari some overworked social worker to make decisions on her behalf. He hoped that she just had a concussion, but he couldn’t be sure. There had been a lot of blood, but head wounds tended to do that.
Rex stared the man down, and he finally nodded. “Are you riding to the hospital with her, or do you want to meet us there?”
Rex glanced at Tommy, who had obviously been listening in. “Go on, I’ll send someone over with a bag for you later.”
He dropped a hand on Tommy’s shoulder, giving it a quick squeeze. “Thanks.”
Then he left the room and followed the man outside. The myriad of flashing lights in the dark was a little disorienting, but that all faded away when he neared the back of the ambulance they had loaded Ari into. He climbed in and was directed to a seat near her head by the EMT. The doors were slammed shut with what Rex thought was unnecessary force, especially when, after the second one shut, Ari’s eyes fluttered. Her gaze was unfocused, but her eyes moved, trying to make sense of everything until they landed on him.
“Rex?” she croaked, the question clear in her voice.
Rex leaned in and pressed the barest whisper of a kiss to her lips, “It’s ok, baby. You’re safe. We got them. Stella is safe. Just rest. We’re on our way to the hospital.”
Her eyes glazed over with tears. “Thank god. Thank you.”
“For what?” he asked, confused about why she was thanking him.
“For being here…” she whispered, her voice trailing off as her eyes closed again.