“Aster, love,” Ron said when the bidding stalled out. “I need you to take off your panties so my friends can see your pretty pussy. Can you do that?”
“Yes, sir,” she said, then began to shimmy out of her pants.
I lurched forward, wanting to stop her, wanting to stand in front and hide her from lecherous eyes.
An arm shot forward, barring me from going any closer.
“I hit the button,” Leroy whispered. I hadn’t even noticed him come over.
“I did too,” I admitted. But the cops still weren’t here and Aster was now naked with the auction at a stall.
“Going once,” Ron said. “Twice.”
I did the only thing I could do. “Seventy-five thousand,” I shouted, not sure if we were bidding in dollars or pounds. It didn’t matter. The money would never be paid. This was a stall tactic and nothing more.
“Eighty,” came the man with the previous high bid.
“Eighty-five,” I said.
“Ninety.”
“One hundred.” The two of us were in a bidding war, which was fine with me. I’d match him as high as he’d go.
“Gentlemen, please remember,” Ron said. “If you don’t get to go first, you can certainly be second. Do I hear higher than one hundred thousand?”
The other man was silent.
“Going once, twice.” The obligatory pause. “Sold to Edward Fasbender.”
“Keep stalling,” Leroy whispered with a smile, clapping his hand across my back as though to congratulate me.
Jesus, where were they?
Somehow refraining from looking over my shoulder, I walked forward, taking my time to engage with each debauched man who had a lewd comment to share as I approached the stage. It took everything in my power not to cover Aster up when I got there. I did manage to stand in front of her, blocking the crowd’s view while I spoke to Ron.
“Should I write the check first?” I reached into my jacket pocket, looking for my billfold.
“I think you’re good for it,” Ron said, his face flushed with exhilaration. “Let’s not waste time with the housekeeping. I’m ready for the show.”
All the ways I wanted to hurt him flashed through my mind in the space of a few seconds. I wanted to take his eyes out with my teeth. I wanted to rip his intestines out through his arsehole. I wanted to break his erect cock with my hands then press on his balls with the heel of my foot.
I smiled at him. There was a commotion out in the hallway, and I knew what was coming next. “I’m ready for the show, too,” I said. “I think it’s going to be a good one.”
Then, right on cue, the task force was upon us, shouting out commands, guns pointed. I turned to Aster, handing her the discarded pants and helping her cover up before passing her off to Felisha who was designated to take her away.
By the time my attention went back to Ron, he was on the floor, his hands pinned behind his back while an officer cuffed him. I was seconds from being cuffed as well—I’d been warned that Leroy and I might even be booked before Dominic could get to us. I could spend the night in jail, for all I cared. Nothing would take away the glory of this moment, of watching Ron’s horrified face while he was read his rights.
It was over.
It was finally over, and I was higher than I’d ever been. This moment was karma and justice and, yes, it was revenge, but it was the most deserved of any I’d ever administered, and the power that stirred in me was beyond intoxicating. I was no longer human—I was a god, doling out Ron’s reckoning as though I were sitting on a throne on Judgment Day.
“This is for what you did to my father’s company,” I told Ron, making sure that he knew without a doubt that this came from me. “But most of all, this is for Celia.”
His horror turned to outrage, the look of murder sharp in his eyes.
And I laughed, amusement bubbling up through me like champagne despite my arms being wrenched behind my back and slapped with metal cuffs. I was untouchable. I was without bounds. I was on cloud nine.
It was over, and, deep in the marrow of my bones, I knew it had only just begun.
Twenty-Three
Celia
“You’re still up?” Edward asked as he walked into the bedroom just after four in the morning. He’d entered the house so stealthily, I hadn’t even heard him moving around downstairs.
I sprang up from the armchair I’d been sitting in. “Of course I’m still up! Did you think I’d be able to sleep?”
Honestly, I hadn’t even tried. I’d taken a shower and changed into loungewear simply so that I could appear to have made the effort, knowing Edward wouldn’t want me staying up all night, but I never even made it under the covers. There was every chance he’d want to punish me for it, and I didn’t care one bit.
It wasn’t punishment on his mind, though, when he strode to me and wrapped me in his arms. He held me like that, his face pressed into the crook of my neck, his embrace so tight it was almost uncomfortable.
I tolerated it for about fifteen seconds.
Then I couldn’t stand it. “What happened?” I asked impatiently, needing to know everything.
I tried to push him away so I could see his face when he answered, but he only gripped me harder. “I’ll tell you. Just...give me a minute. I need to hold you first.”
Understanding rippled through my chest sending goosebumps down my arms. Whatever had occurred, it had been awful. Of course it had been. I lived with the memories all the time. I was used to them. They were second skin, so embedded in the fabric of my being that I sometimes forgot how brutal they were to look at head-on.
I reached my arms around Edward’s back to hold him closer. “Okay,” I said soothingly. “I’m here. It’s okay.”
Time passed without measure while we clung to each other. What he’d witnessed, what I’d discovered about him earlier—none of it meant anything in the moment. It only mattered that we loved each other—in good and bad, in dark and light, within boundaries and beyond. Everything outside of that was insignificant.
But moments only last so long.
And eventually, his grasp loosened, his breathing steadied, and slowly, he untangled himself from my arms.
Then, we were no longer alone, our recent discoveries about each other as present as though they were beings in the room with us.
I hugged my arms over my chest, suddenly cold. “If you can’t talk about it right now, I understand. But I need to know—did we get him?”
His chest lifted and fell before he answered. “We got him.”
I wanted to believe it too badly. I needed to be sure. “He can’t talk his way out of this? You’re certain the charge will stick?”
“There are several he’ll be facing after tonight. Too many witnesses and evidence against him. He won’t get bail. He’ll serve time. No doubt in my mind.”
Relief threaded through me, overwhelming and euphoric. Not the relief I’d imagined, like a tight muscle suddenly becoming unknit or a heavy weight being taken off my shoulders. More like a release from a tether, like the flight of a butterfly bursting out of its cocoon or the rising of a phoenix from a fire.
Tears sprang to my eyes, the ecstasy so unbelievably potent. I’d never realized how captive I was to my uncle, after all these years. After all the work I’d done to break loose. His freedom had been my tether. Now, with him behind bars, I was finally unleashed. I wouldn’t have believed it could make such a difference to my existence.
Edward had known, though. He’d said this would matter, and he was right.
Did that justify all his acts of vengeance?
The thought threatened to ruin the glory of my liberation, and I shoved it away.
“Thank you,” I said, focusing on the good. “Thank you for doing this, Edward. I know it was for you, too, but I’m grateful beyond words.”
Hands in his pockets, he leaned against the wall, looking so tired that he needed the structure to keep him standing up. “It was primarily for you, bird. E
specially after tonight. After what I saw, after knowing what it must have been like…”
He trailed off, and what he didn’t say—what he was unable to say was more telling than if he’d used words. The party had to be agonizing. Whatever those men had done, whatever Ron had done...
“You don’t need to say,” I told him. “I know.”
“You do. You know.”
His gaze locked with mine, so full of sympathy for what I’d gone through in my past. So full of compassion. So intense, I had to look away.
I perched on the arm of the chair, thinking about the terrible things Ron had done that hadn’t been done to me. “This was meant to heal you as well. Did it do that? Is it what you wanted it to be?”
“Yes.” He nodded. “It’s more than I wanted it to be.”
This relief was almost as intense as the first. “I’m so glad, Edward. Now we can move on and put all these schemes behind us.” Yes, I was grateful he’d done this, but I was equally grateful that his distractions could be done.
But his response put me back on edge. “I don’t know about that.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, digging my fingernails into the upholstery because I was afraid of the answer.
He smiled suddenly. “We found the fifth man, Celia. All of them were there. The ones who were still alive. We have them all now.”
Over the past year, with my help, Edward had discovered the fourth man who had purchased me at auction had passed away. The fifth we had yet to identify.
Those men were the sources of my nightmares as much as Ron was, if not more. He’d given me whiplash with this change of subject, but I was happy for the turn. “Thank God for that. I can’t begin to express how that makes me feel. Thrilled isn’t the right word. Relieved isn’t good enough either.”
“I understand.” He ran a hand over the scruff of his jaw. “To think how long they’ve been doing this...all those girls who will feel the same way you did when they find out about this bust. This will bring them so much peace.”
“And all the girls you’ve saved from future harm.”
“Yes, that.” His smile slipped away into solemness, his gaze laser sharp. “I realized a lot tonight. I realized that these schemes are important. That they make a difference. And I realized that I have power. Because of my class, because I’m a man, because I have the stomach to fight the fights others can’t fight. I can’t retire from this work now, just because my own list has been completed. There are more battles, and I have a responsibility to wage them.”
My mouth went dry as unease settled again on me.
“Okay. That’s good. That can be...good.” I didn’t want to jump to conclusions, but I was sure I knew where he was headed. All I could do was try to steer him another way. “There are others who need help. People who need a social justice warrior. Our resources could be extremely valuable. We can reach out to different organizations, see who needs money and advocates and…”
There were so many ways we could contribute. My mind was spinning with possibilities.
“Yes, we can do those things too. But there are personal battles we still need to get through.”
My heart sank. “I don’t like where this is going.”
He pushed off the wall and crossed to his dresser, undoing a cufflink as he did. “One of the men there tonight—I knew him. He’s one of the owners of the company that Genevieve worked for before coming to Accelecom. I can’t stomach how close he was to my daughter.”
“I don’t mean to minimize how that must have made you feel, but I’m sure he wouldn’t have done anything to her. If he was there tonight, I’m guessing he has another type.”
He set the cufflink down and started on the other. “Yes, I’m sure you’re right. But other people’s daughters aren’t so lucky. It takes the people who are close to the predators to call them out. The reason we don’t catch them in their horrible acts is that their friends keep their secrets. We can’t be bound to those sorts of obligations. To be better, we have to be willing to expose what needs to be exposed.”
“Edward…” Silently, I willed him not to do this, not to turn tonight into a crusade.
“Tell me his name, Celia.”
My eyes closed briefly, and in that tiny space of time, I allowed myself to be disappointed. I’d hoped beyond hope that tonight would have taken him another direction. I’d allowed myself to believe he’d drop his pursuit of A’s real name, that he’d let it go, that a change of heart might be possible. Finding that it hadn’t happened was devastating.
But as soon as I opened my eyes again, I let that emotion pass so I could focus on the one that was necessary, the one that would give me fuel—anger.
“No,” I said sharply. Then I stood and brushed past him to go to the closet.
Edward followed on my heels. “He’s a predator of a different kind, but he’s still a predator. You are well aware of the harm a man like him can do.”
I pulled a sundress off a hanger and haphazardly folded it as I spoke. “He’s not like that anymore. He’s changed, and this is not your responsibility.”
“You thought you were the only one with Ron, too. Do you know how many victims he’s had since you? You have journals upon journals of games you played with this shithead. You really believe he stopped when your friendship ended? You didn’t stop.”
I paused to glare at him. “Our friendship ended because he stopped. I was the bad guy in that scenario, Edward. Me. Not him.”
“There’s no way you can know that he really stopped.” He took off his jacket and threw it on the closet island, ignoring my attempt to shift blame. “Even if he did stop, he has to take responsibility for what he did before. Not only his own victims, but yours as well, because he’s the one who taught you. Tell me his name.”
“I won’t.” I threw the dress into my open suitcase then reached for another off a hanger. I’d set the bag out earlier, when I’d realized what Edward had done to his brother-in-law, unsure how I should react to that knowledge.
All night, as I’d paced and waited for word, the luggage had sat untouched. The truth of it was that my husband scared me. But he’d always scared me. If I’d stuck with him before, there was no reason for that fear to suddenly drive me away.
Now, though, I was glad I’d set the case out for a different reason—because I was raging, and I needed space.
Apparently, Edward was too narrowed in on our fight to have noticed. “Stop stalling. You will tell me eventually. Get it over with and tell me now.”
I spun toward him. “And then what? What will you do to him when you find out who he is?”
“Whatever is needed.” He smirked like he was untouchable. Like he was omnipotent. Like he had every right to rule the universe, and if that meant taking extreme action, so be it.
It was too much power for a man to have. He believed in calling people out? Then, fuck if I didn’t call him out. “Did you kill Frank?”
Something flashed across his eyes so fast I almost missed it. “What?”
“Don’t play dumb. You killed Camilla’s husband, didn’t you? Do you want to tell me about that?”
“Not particularly,” he said cooly, as though detached from the accusation.
His nonchalance flamed my fury. “I’m just supposed to give up A—a man who is a decent, respectable human, no matter what you think—when you still can’t tell me all of your secrets?”
“The two aren’t related in any way.”
“Aren’t they?” I threw the outfit I was holding in the suitcase. “Did Camilla know what you were going to do to her husband? I’ll bet she didn’t have a clue.”
“You’re guessing.” But his tone wasn’t so sure.
I pounced on his uncertainty. “She might be thanking you now, and that might justify your actions as far as you’re concerned, but it doesn’t justify them to me.”
“Ah,” understanding clicked on his expression. “You found her letter.”
I’d given myself a
way, but it didn’t mean I was wrong.
I doubled down. “It makes me sick, Edward. That you could take things that far. You said you had no boundaries, and I knew you didn’t, and still I let myself believe you wouldn’t do that. Now I’m facing the truth, and I’m horrified.”
The corner of his mouth lifted into a sneer. “No you’re not.”
“Yes! I am!”
“You’re telling yourself that you are, because you think that’s what a decent person should think.” He took an intimidating step toward me. “But deep down, you’re not horrified at all.” And another. “It excites you.” He was right in front of me now, bending to my ear. “To know that I would go to those lengths for someone I love. To know the lengths I would go for you—you’re turned on.”
His breath was hot on my skin, and I shivered, not only from his nearness, but because he was right, as always. It did excite me. It did turn me on.
And because of how it made me feel, I was horrified.
This is where he usually won, where I backed down and admitted he knew me better than myself and his ego puffed up a little bit more because of his omniscience.
Not this time. He’d told me he needed me to give him limits, so this would be mine. I wouldn’t fold.
“You’re full of yourself.” I pushed past him to go to the drawer where my underwear was kept.
He chuckled behind me. “Only the truth, Celia, remember?”
“The truth is that you’re insane.”
“Let’s stop with the harsh words, can we?” His voice was softer but still patronizing. “Listen to me. You can’t deny how tonight has changed things for you. It’s given you an end that you so badly needed. You need this closure with A too. We need this closure. Then we can be free of the past, and we can have your baby—”
I cut him off sharply, my finger pointed at him. “You’re just as manipulative as anyone else. Hanging a baby in front of me like bait. You think I’m thinking about a baby right now? When I know how dangerous you can be? I’d be just as crazy as you are to even consider it.”
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