Somebody’s Perfect
Page 1
Somebody’s Perfect
(Seventh in the Rescue Me Saga)
Savannah Orlando escaped horrendous abuse and torture at the hands of her father. As his trial approaches, she struggles to accept her newfound happiness with her husband, Damián, and to keep from falling back into old habits that once served her well, but no longer work. Nightmares and memories of the past threaten to destroy all she has gained since her escape.
Damián Orlando knows her father will go to any lengths to destroy them, even from within custody. The need to protect Savannah wars with his need to prepare her to face again the monster who robbed her of her childhood innocence. If anything happens to Savannah, their daughter, or their unborn child, Damián will finish the job he started at the desert compound where he rescued her.
Praise for Somebody’s Perfect
…it was sooooo worth the wait! Kallypso Masters puts her heart and soul in all of her books and this one is no exception…. Savannah and Damián now have a battle not only in the courts but in Savannah’s mind. I laughed and cried and worried. I also felt like I was catching up with old friends and wanted to stay after the epilogue ended.
~ Carolyn, Goodreads Review
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Loved loved loved this book. So much love and strength in every page.
~ Donna Kemp, Goodreads Review
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I loved this book.… There were ups and downs, there were what the hell moments and there were teary moments. It will keep you locked in until you can’t put it down until you finish it.
~ LaWanna Lewis, Goodreads Review
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I love that they have all come together as a family and I am excited to see the new couples that are forming and cannot wait to see what happens with Grant and of course Mari and her friend Aidan.
~ Toi, Goodreads Review
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An emotional touching story of overcoming abuse and torture and finally facing the demons both in the mind and in a court of law.
~ Cindi, Goodreads Review
Somebody’s Perfect
(Seventh in the Rescue Me Saga)
Kallypso Masters
Copyright © 2018-2019
Ka-thunk! Publishing
Somebody’s Perfect
Seventh in the Rescue Me Saga
Kallypso Masters
Copyright © 2018-2019
Ka-thunk! Publishing
Google Play Edition
E-book ISBN: 978-1941060322
Original e-book version: December 27, 2018
Last updated e-book version: Jan. 2, 2019
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Edited by Meredith Bowery and Jacy Mackin
Proofread by Christine Mulcair
Cover design by Linda Kuhlmann of Two Trees Studio
Cover images licensed through Shutterstock
and graphically altered by Linda Kuhlmann
Formatted by BB eBooks
This book contains content that is NOT suitable for readers 17 and under.
Thank you for downloading this e-book. Please be aware that this e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. It may not be reproduced, uploaded to share on Web sites, e-mailed, or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the author, Kallypso Masters, at kallypsomasters@gmail.com or PO Box 1183, Richmond, KY 40476-1183, or within the sharing guidelines at a legitimate library or bookseller’s lending programs.
WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction, sharing, or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to five years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000. (See http://www.fbi.gov/ipr/ for more information about intellectual property rights.)
This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons—living or dead—or fictionalized places, events, or locales is purely accidental. The characters are reproductions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.
To discover more about the books in this series, see the Rescue Me Saga section at the end of this book. For more about Kallypso Masters, please go to the About the Author section. Or visit her web site directly at kallypsomasters.com.
Table of Contents
Cover
About Somebody’s Perfect
Praise for Somebody’s Perfect
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Author’s Note
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Epilogue
Books by Kallypso Masters
About the Author
Get your Signed Books & Merchandise in the Kally Store!
About Roar (A Rescue Me Saga Spin-off)
The Rescue Me Saga
About Bluegrass Spirits (A Supernatural Contemporary Romance series)
Dedication
To all my fellow survivors who weren’t able to experience their own justice, and to
Cassandra Dawn, who inspired a scene in the epilogue of Somebody’s Perfect when she told me about it more than seven years ago. I immediately knew it had to be told in Damián and Savannah’s continuing story and finally found the perfect place for it!
Acknowledgements
This book took longer than any other book I’ve ever published, including its predecessor, Nobody’s Perfect (Rescue Me Saga #3). Now let me take a moment to thank the many people who helped me make Savannah and Damián’s continuing story the best it can be.
As you know, research and accuracy are important to me. This book required legal expertise in a number of scenes because there is a major legal component to the story of Savannah obtaining justice. Rhonda Copley and Glenda Edwards provided criminal law advice, and Glenda also gave me the idea of having George Gentry testify in the narrative, which just blew the trial scenes out of the water. (I doubt any of you will have predicted that and I love providing something new and different than other authors might have done.) I also received legal expertise from several California attorneys familiar with San Diego County courtrooms and procedures, including Lauren Weidner, Leslie A. Braun-Winet, Esq., and several who wished to remain anonymous.
Anytime I have a birthing scene to write in one of my books, I run to Kim Bollinger, a labor-and-delivery nurse, for help. And with this book, I had to call in a new type of expert—a hypnotherapist to help with the Alive Day scene and the hotel scene during the trial. Traci Kanaan was recommended to me by Tymber Dalton and provided great insights and advice. And of course, I received more hel
p on the BDSM scenes from Trish Bowers, Tymber Dalton, Iliana Gkioni, and Ekatarina Sayanova.
Jack and Kay B. provided feedback and helpful information about the inside of a California detention center and read over those scenes multiple times until I got them right.
Several mentions of US Marine Corps traditions brought Top Griz (Jeff Griz) back to help on uniforms and SERE training. Christine Mulcair brought in her son to help with the USMC uniform question, and the two of them plus Meredith Bowery and her contacts helped me avoid a significant mistake there.
As always, my incredibly patient beta reader team helped me get the story facts straight from start to finish. A special thanks to Barb Jack, who not only beta read it, but also gave it another look at the last minute when she was still recovering from an illness to help me polish it before it went to the line editor.
My thanks always to Margie Dees, Iliana Gkioni, Carmen Messing, Ruth Reid, and Lisa Simo-Kinzer. Ruth and Lisa provided help with the psychology issues that ran throughout the pages of the book. And to Charlotte Oliver, my assistant, for compiling multiple files from betas into a single document of the first part of the story, which made it much easier for me to follow and compare.
The content edits for this book were done by Meredith Bowery, who was a major factor in helping me revise this story to my satisfaction—and kept me sane when the writing/revising process became daunting at times. Anytime I stumbled, Meredith was there with her superb analysis of the characters and their motivations and always helped get me back on track. Meredith and Carmen Messing also did a brainstorming session with me to work out some logistics problems when doing a rewrite of the Alive Day scenes at the club.
Jacy Mackin of Red Ink Editing, LLC, provided excellent edits on punctuation and overused words, as always, but her pointed comments about where I’d dropped the ball also helped keep you from hating Damián and Savannah at one part in the story. Some last-minute revisions and corrected motivation made this book even better. (It takes a village!)
To my proofreader, Christine Mulcair, for catching even more things we missed! Any remaining mistakes were probably made after my editors and proofreader signed off—and I take full responsibility!
And last, but not least, to the readers in my Rescue Me Saga Discussion Group on Facebook who kept me writing by answering research and character questions without stopping to look them up. Usually, they have my answers within half an hour. Jessica Kelly of that group also provided me with the URL for the image of the couple on the cover. It took some work for my graphic artist, Linda Kuhlmann, to morph two images of the couple together for the final version, but it totally rocks!
I also ran several contests during a birthday party for Damián there in February 2017 that resulted in one person being named here. Eva Meyers suggested that Damián and Savannah would live in the University Hills section of Denver, and that was perfect. And Sarah Moody for being the first to guess they might use one of Damián’s parents’ names for the baby. I did run some other contests for things that didn’t end up in the book, but appreciate all who made suggestions and engaged with me there!
As always, all new and remaining typos and errors are solely my responsibility. So if you see something, please let me know via FB Messenger or email at kallypsomasters@gmail.com. If I don’t respond to you, try again because it will mean I didn’t get the message.
Author’s Note
I hope you’ll agree that this book has been worth the wait! I know for some of my fellow survivors of child sexual abuse, this is going to be a difficult story to read, but I hope sharing in Savannah’s justice will help ease your own pain if you’re like me and never got to experience that.
If you’re experiencing emotions and feelings while reading that you need help to process, please reach out to a trusted friend. If needed, here are some web sites that can provide you with someone to talk, too.
Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN):
www.rainn.org
Crisis and Suicide Prevention Services (United States):
www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org
Please don’t try anything you read about in a book without consulting experts. Wax play, for instance, requires that special care to be taken when used on a pregnant woman. And hypnosis can be dangerous without some training, even in a fun BDSM scene. Please ask a kink-friendly doctor or knowledgeable mentor in the community before you attempt anything you read about in this or any other book.
Lastly, while I did consult with numerous legal minds on this story, please remember that this is fiction and that time frames are truncated to fit the story. Justice is rarely swift in our judicial system, so please read those scenes with that in mind.
For timely updates, sneak peeks at unedited excerpts, and much more, sign up for my e-mails and/or text alerts!
Chapter One
Savannah Orlando numbly pressed the button to end the call with the district attorney’s office before laying the phone on the coffee table.
Lying on the sofa, she wrapped her arms protectively over her well-rounded belly. Bile threatened to escape her rapidly closing throat, and she swallowed several times to keep it down. She hadn’t thrown up since the third month of her pregnancy but wasn’t sure she’d make it through today without doing so.
Hearing that George Gentry’s trial date had been set for December—barely two months away—had thrown her for a loop. She hadn’t expected to be in her eighth month of pregnancy when she confronted him again. Even though Gentry couldn’t possibly know she was pregnant, she couldn’t help but feel he’d done this because he couldn’t wait to torment her again. While he’d originally pled not guilty by reason of insanity, he’d been declared competent to stand trial over the summer. Gentry would no doubt make sure she’d be humiliated and beaten down again with verbal and emotional assaults at every turn. She could easily imagine the hatred he’d built up for her after being thrown in jail last spring.
Am I ready to face him again so soon? Will I ever be?
Chiquita whimpered as she padded across the room to where Savannah sat on the sofa and placed her front paws and head in Savannah’s lap, staring up at her with soulful eyes. “Don’t worry, girl. I’m not upset with you.” The fast-growing four-month-old puppy seemed to sense the moods of those around her and always tried to comfort anyone who might be having issues. When they’d first brought Chiquita home, Savannah had noticed the rescue puppy had an uncanny way of knowing when Damián was about to have a PTSD episode or nightmare. But Chiquita also tuned in to her and Mari’s moods, often lifting their spirits or calming them down when distressed. She was in service-dog training now, along with Adam and Karla’s dog and Chiquita’s littermate, Hero. They’d only had their puppies since the family picnic at Luke & Cassie’s last August, but couldn’t imagine life without them now.
Chiquita’s attempt at distraction was appreciated but short-lived as the other part of the DA’s news came to her. Savannah picked up her phone to check the time. 2:18. When did Damián say he’d be home from the Patriot Riders’ funeral detail? Knowing him, he’d stop by his Harley shop to check on things after being away all day. But Damián rarely missed a chance to sit down with them for dinner. He’d probably text when he took his helmet off to give her a heads-up on his arrival.
That could be hours from now, though. How would he react to the news that absolutely nothing pertinent to the charges relating to her mother’s and John Grainger’s murders had been discovered on the hard drive she’d stolen from Gentry’s home office the night she’d escaped?
All that had been found on the drive were humiliating videos of her in the penthouse. While they’d found a copy of the sex-slave contract Gentry had held over her head that last year she lived with him, it wouldn’t be allowed, even if relevant, because it wasn’t signed.
To her horror, they did find photos of her brand.
Damián had worked so hard with her to change her mindset about the GG brand on her labia, which was
originally intended to mark her as George Gentry’s slave. In her mind now, the GG had come to mean she was Damián’s good girl. Much of the shame associated with its origins now gone, she still wasn’t ready to have that time in her life discussed in a public courtroom with Gentry watching for her response. At least she’d be spared that.
If her obstetrician even allowed her to attend the trial so late in her pregnancy. Every fiber of her being wanted to be there to confront that arrogant, evil beast, but travel might be an issue. So far, she had a low-risk pregnancy, and Doctor Palmer saw no reason to restrict her travel. However, no one had anticipated such a trip just seven weeks before the baby’s due date.
While she’d waited decades for this long-overdue justice against the bastard who had stolen her mother away from her in such a brutal way, this baby’s health outweighed everything else.
Even without her live testimony, surely the police and forensic evidence would put him away forever for the murders of her mother and John Grainger, not to mention for kidnapping and torturing Savannah last March.
Nausea continued roiling in her stomach at the thought of facing that monster again.
Perhaps she could submit a videotaped testimony telling the DA and the court what she remembered. Or a two-way video interrogation and cross-examination with her still in Denver might be admissible. Not as satisfying for her as facing her nemesis should be, but safer for the baby.
Who was she kidding? She wasn’t brave enough to do this. She never had been. Savannah had simply run away from him before—twice. That wasn’t an option this time.
Regardless of right or wrong, she needed to opt for the safest choice for the baby while not jeopardizing the DA’s case.
She wished Damián was here to talk over her options with. Knowing it could be hours before he returned, Savannah stood. A stabbing pain behind her eyes had her pressing her fingertips to her forehead as counter-pressure, but it persisted. She shuffled toward the kitchen to check on dinner. After seeing the last of her Tuesday clients at noon—her short day at Doctor McKenzie’s clinic—she’d come home to flesh out the fantasy Damián would ask her about later. They’d been working on it for a while to help overcome her past. While creating the scenario before the call came, she’d filled the slow cooker with the ingredients for chicken tortilla soup, Damián’s favorite. The rich, spicy aroma soothed her as she entered the room, if only for a second or two.