Bent : The Dove Series: Book Two (The Dove Series Book One 2)

by Renea Porter

  The ladies seemed to appreciate this. They had nothing but the clothes on their backs.

  I turned to Jacinda. “Can you get their sizes in clothing and I’ll see what I can do?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Just email me the info.”

  Email was a tricky thing, since I normally wasn’t allowed to use it at Damon’s place. But if he wanted me to stick around, things would be changing and he would not challenge me on those conditions. Because, obviously we could not go back to what we were before. We had to be man and woman. Equal. I wasn’t quite sure he’d be able to live with that.

  “Just take this credit card.” Damon handed her a black card. “Get all the necessities you need. And forward the info to my accountant.”

  “Of course, Mr. Alessio. We should get these girls settled in,” she suggested.

  “Absolutely. We’ll get out of your hair and let you do your thing. I’m going to show Kara around and then we’ll leave.”

  “Sure.” She offered a genuine smile.

  “Aren’t you full of surprises,” I mentioned once we were alone.

  “There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Dove.”

  “There’s a lot for me to learn, then. And thank you for all of this. It shows me how big your heart really is.”

  “Come on. Let me show you around. I know you’ll be unsettled unless you see this place for yourself.”

  “True.”

  First, he showed me the massive kitchen. “It’s fully staffed during the day and they’ll even show the women how to cook.” Next was the grand living room, full of books, a TV, and a stereo. He showed me an exercise room, and another one where they could practice yoga. “There’s even a therapist on call for these women as well.”

  “This is amazing. I definitely feel more comfortable seeing everything.”

  “There’s a pool out back plus a tennis court.”

  “Wow.”

  Of course, the women will have a curfew, like any halfway houses would have. But they will have a lot of freedom to do as they please.”

  “Good, because that is important.”

  “I know.”

  He gripped my hand in his and kissed my fingers. My heart constricted. It was that moment that I knew I loved Damon. But I wasn’t sure love would be enough for us to survive the future.

  Chapter Nineteen

  DAMON

  As much as I was happy to have Kara back, I knew she was different. She was definitely stronger than any woman I’ve ever known. After showing her the facility we loaded back into the SUV. “There’s a stop I’d like to make before heading home.”

  A smile played on my lips as I had a hint of where she wanted to go.

  Kara held her hand. “Give me your gun.”

  I hesitated. “Why don’t you let me handle it?”

  “Because I want to be the one to do it, Damon. This is for me and no one else.”

  I didn’t want the blood to be on her hands, but looking into her eyes, I knew she needed this. With a wicked grin, I passed her a gun. For all I knew, she could pull the damn thing on me, but something in my gut knew she wouldn’t.

  “I pulled a gun on Jose once.”

  My eyebrows raised up.

  “It’s a long story. But as you could see, I didn’t go through with it. I’ll tell you about it another time.”

  Once we pulled up to her childhood home, I ordered my men to keep their eyes open. We didn’t need any surprises. I let them know we only needed five minutes.

  “You know how to use that thing?” I questioned.

  She smirked. “Just pull the trigger. How hard could it be?”

  I got my other gun out in case I needed to jump in. But I was letting her handle this. We rounded the house and cleared it, making sure no one was around.

  “You ready?” I asked Kara before entering the home.

  She nodded in response. Then turned the knob, surprised to find it unlocked. Was her father that confident? Or did his men fuck up?

  As bad as I wanted to kill her father, she wanted this worse than me.

  “Hello, Father,” she said in a wicked tone as she rounded the chair he was sitting in.

  “Hey, baby girl.”

  He went to stand and she shoved him back down in his chair.

  “Don’t baby girl me.” I could tell she was disgusted by this man.

  “What? You’re here to kill me?” he questioned once her spotted the gun in her hand.

  Then I moved to stand next to her. “You will never be able to hurt her again.”

  “I got this, Damon,” Kara scolded me.

  She turned her attention back to her father. “He’s right. You’ll never be able to hurt me again.”

  “Come on, girl. This is the way of the life. You kill me and you have to live with that,” he told her.

  “I can do it, and you can watch,” I told Kara as I still tried to persuade her from having blood on her hands.

  “I have to do this, Damon.” I stepped back while she raised the gun and aimed it at his head. She wasn’t fucking around. “I want you to say you were a shit father.”

  He laughed, taunting her. Then the gun went off and she shot him right between the eyes before spitting on him.

  “Fucker,” she announced as we were walking out the door.

  I reached for the gun, and she willingly handed it back to me.

  “Do you feel better now?” I asked her once we loaded back in the SUV.

  She brushed her hair out of her face. “Much better, knowing he’ll rot in hell. And if that means I go to hell, too, so be it.”

  I took her hand and linked my fingers with hers. No more words needed spoken. My Dove was safe, and she could take care of herself. She had proven that and now when I looked at her, I saw a strong woman.

  It didn’t take long to arrive home. “Do you want to fill me in on what you went through the last few weeks?” I asked.

  “Not really. Can I just go take a hot bath and get my own clothes on?” she asked.

  “Absolutely, Kara. Get settled. Take a bath. I’ll be in in an hour or so.”

  “Okay.”

  Chapter Twenty

  KARA

  I needed time to myself. I needed the time to process everything that had happened, including killing my own blood. Who kills their own family? Me. I didn’t feel remorse in any way.

  I was in no way, shape, or form the same woman Damon took. And I couldn’t be more thankful for him coming to get me. But it made me sad, knowing Greer lost his life because of me and I didn’t even know him.

  In the bathtub, I drew my knees to my chest and let the tears finally fall freely without repercussions. When the door opened, I quickly swiped my tears away. “Don’t hide from me, Dove.”

  Damon stripped out of his clothes and slipped into the bathtub behind me, pulling me against his chest. I leaned back and let him engulf me with his arms. No words needed spoken as he wasn’t pressuring me to say anything.

  “If you need to cry, let it out. I’m here for you.” He kissed the back of my head and then my bare shoulder.

  It felt weird letting myself be vulnerable but I needed to let it out and not let this swallow me whole. And let it all out, I did.

  After about ten minutes, I dried my eyes and ran more hot water since the water was already turning cold.

  “Some things need to change between us.”

  “I know, Dove. I know. You can leave the house whenever you want, but I’d feel more comfortable if you took a security guy with you, just for my peace of mind.”

  “I can live with that.” It was a good compromise.

  “Why don’t you just rest and we can discuss specifics tomorrow over breakfast, if you want.”

  I nodded my head in response.

  “Susie will be thrilled to see you.”

  That made me smile.

  Damon reached for a sponge and the bar of soap and started washing me. But no amount of scrubbing would erase what I’d been t
hrough. However, I’d let Damon try.

  “Did you get everything squared away for Greer?” I asked with my heart constricting.

  “I did. His funeral will be the day after tomorrow.”

  “Good. Will you give Matteo my condolences?”

  “Of course.”

  Damon took a cloth and cleaned the soap off my body. “Come on. Let’s get you dried off and in your comfy bed.”

  I stood on the bath mat while Damon moved the towel over my body. Once he was done, I walked into my closet and grabbed a pair of panties and long tee to sleep in.

  Damon pulled the comforter and the sheets down so I could slide in. “Want me to sleep in here with you?”

  “I think I need some time to myself, if you don’t mind.”

  “Of course not. But I won’t be leaving the house for a few days, so I’m around if you need me.”

  “Thank you, Damon.”

  “Sure thing. Goodnight, Kara.”

  “Goodnight, Damon.”

  As soon as he shut the door behind him, the tears began to fall again. But it wasn’t long before exhaustion came and sleep took over.

  ***

  The sun beamed bright on my face so I swung my legs over the bed and moved to close the curtains tightly. Then I got back in bed, cocooning myself in the sheets. There were no plans of getting out of this bed. I couldn’t bring myself to face the day as if nothing happened. Depression took hold of me and it wasn’t letting go.

  An hour or so later, there was a knock on my door. “It’s Susie I brought your favorites.”

  “Susie!”

  After she sat the food tray down, I immediately got up and hugged her.

  “I’m so glad you’re home, Kara. Damon was worried sick about you. He worked around the clock trying to find you. I was so worried, too.”

  She and I both started crying. “I can’t seem to stop crying,” I said, swiping at my tears.

  “You’ve been through a lot in a short amount of time. So, you take all the time you need to recover. And if you want to talk about it, I’m here. I won’t even say anything to Damon if you don’t want me to.”

  “Thank you, Susie. I’m trying to forget it happened.”

  “Well, I baked blueberry muffins, and there’s the sausage links you like, and there’s eggs, too. You need to get your strength back. And put some of that weight back on. You’re too skinny.”

  I smiled at her. “I appreciate it.”

  “And don’t forget to drink the juice. It’s freshly squeezed.”

  She turned and shut the door behind her.

  Even though I knew she went through a lot of trouble to make all this, it just wasn’t appealing to me at the moment. With the blueberry muffin in my hand, I only took off a piece to eat. Then I only ate one sausage link. Setting the tray aside, I pulled the blankets back over my body. The weight of the comforter was soothing.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  DAMON

  I spotted Susie emerging from Kara’s room.

  “Did Kara eat breakfast? We were supposed to discuss things this morning.”

  “I took breakfast to her. She was still in bed.”

  That was odd. She never stayed in bed this late. I swallowed a hard lump as uneasiness settled within me. “I’m gonna lose her, Susie. I can feel it.”

  Susie patted my chest. “She just needs some time and rest. She needs to work through what happened to her. Just be there if she needs you.”

  That was the problem.

  What if she didn’t need me?

  THE END

  Stay tuned to Book 3 (Broken) in The Dove Series.

  About the Author

  Renea Porter is best known for writing realistic stories with realistic characters. Her reads may even cause you to shed a tear or two. She mainly writes New Adult and Contemporary Romance. However, she’s not afraid to venture into other genres, like Paranormal Romance.

  She enjoys spending time with her husband of nearly twenty years, and step son. She calls Pennsylvania home, but loves to travel and try new things. In her free time, you can catch her reading books, watching reality television, baking, and enjoying her addiction to fake nails and nail polish.

  Her other works include:

  - Coming Back to You (A contemporary romance)

  - Bare Hearts (A contemporary romance)

  - Mirror Mirror (A Novella) (An M/M romance)

  - Driving Layne (A new adult college romance)

  - Switching Lane (A new adult college romance)

  - Outbound Lane (A new adult college romance)

  - The Truth of Us (A contemporary romance suspense)

  - The Butterfly Effect (A paranormal romance)

  - The Year I Met August (A new adult romance)

  - Pinkie Promises (A new adult romance)

  - Keeping Promises (A contemporary romance)

  - Criminal Attraction (a contemporary romance suspense)

  - With Every Goodbye (a contemporary romance)

  - The Games We Play (a contemporary romance)

  - Betrayal Book One of the Dove Series

  - Bent Book Two of the Dove Series

  All of her books can be found at major retailers.

  Click here to join her Reader Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ReneasRomanceReaders/

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