Envy: A Dark Billionaire Romance (Empire Sin)

by Isabella Starling

  I called him, and he picked up on the seventh ring, when I’d almost lost hope.

  “Mr. Wolfe,” he said easily, the hint of a smile evident in his voice, even over the phone. “Anything I can help you with?”

  “Yeah,” I barked. “Get off your ass and go to work.”

  I could hear his chair creaking as he got up. “How did you know I wasn’t at–”

  “I know everything,” I told him. “I need your help, Bryant. There’s a gang I need to know more about, and I need you to find out everything you possibly can about them.”

  “What’s this about?” Bryant asked curiously. “Are you taking another case?”

  “It doesn’t concern you,” I told him coolly. “Find anything you can about the city’s gangs. Especially the foreign ones. And in particular, a man named Grigori.”

  “Grigori?” he asked down the line. “I know a Grigori.”

  “Spill,” I ordered, grabbing a notepad and taking notes as Bryant spoke.

  “There’s not much to explain,” he said nervously. “I was… I had some gambling debt a while ago. I got it online. I had to repay it all and Grigori gave me a loan. When I couldn’t return it, things got pretty fucking bad. They… threatened my family. My mom had to take a second mortgage to pay for the loan. I’m still trying to pay her back.”

  I never knew about this, although I didn’t much care. I just wanted to get to the bottom of Charli’s disappearance.

  “Tell me about Grigori,” I said to Bryant, and he went on.

  “I think he’s Georgian. Tall, tattooed. Mean guy. He works for other people though, it’s not his money that he’s loaning out. I’m pretty sure he’d be in trouble too if his bosses didn’t get their money back,” Bryant went on. “I don’t know the rest of them, just Grigori. I know there’s a lot more than just loans happening there, though.”

  “Like what?” I barked, my pen poised above the notepad.

  “Like…” I could hear how nervous he was. “This, I never was involved with. But I know there’s more. Prostitution, involuntary. Child pornography. The darkest, most awful shit there is.”

  My blood chilled as I listened to him talk. If this was all true, we were really talking about something bigger than just some lonesome loan shark who’d taken Charli for himself. There was more of the story there, more to unveil. And as I listened to Bryant talk about the prostitution ring they had going on, I worried about the worst.

  That Charli had been taken to work for them, forced to sell her body and probably not even see any profit for it. Just a slave for the men that had offered to help her out. Forced to repay her loan.

  “I’ll be in touch,” I said quickly, and cut the call.

  Before I went back to Lucy, I made another quick call and made sure Bryant’s mother’s mortgage was paid off in full.

  Once I came back into the bedroom, Lucy was sitting cross-legged on her bed. She was only wearing my shirt from last night, and underneath it, I could see her bare pussy, red and swollen from what we’d done. Right away, she made my dick react and twitch in my pants. God, she was irresistible. I could barely keep my eyes off her sweet little cunt. We had shit to do, and all I could think about was hurting her, taking her again.

  “Are you done with your letter?” I asked her roughly, and she pointed to the nightstand in response.

  A piece of paper awaited me there, scribbled on in handwriting that seemed oddly childish. I glanced at her as I took the paper in my hands, and she fluttered her lashes.

  “If I read this now,” I said slowly. “Do you promise to do whatever it takes to get your sister back?”

  She stared at me for a long time, her eyes full of hurt and regret.

  “Yeah,” she finally said in her softest voice. “I promise I will do anything to get her back.”

  “Good girl, I said, sitting down on the sofa and motioning for her to come to me. ”Come on, babydoll. Come sit at my feet.“

  She didn’t even need to be told to crawl. My girl just swung from the bed and dropped to her knees, and I watched her get closer and closer, her ass swaying seductively and her talon-like nails digging into the floor. She settled next to my legs with her arms and her head on my lap, breathing shallow breaths as I started to read.

  10 Lucy

  Beau,

  I want you to know the truth. Maybe if I get all of this out on paper, it will be easier for you to understand why I hate myself so much, and why I’ll never be able to forgive myself if we don’t get Charli back.

  The day she disappeared, I knew something was wrong. Charli had been talking about getting a new job for ages, about an opportunity that presented itself and that could leave us with a lot of money. I rarely asked about it, because truth be told, I didn’t really want to know. From the way she spoke about it, I could tell she was doing something that wasn’t quite legal. And I didn’t want to know more. I didn’t give a shit about what she had to go through to make sure we could get through the day alright.

  Charli had borrowed money earlier, when both our parents died. We were down on our luck and she couldn’t get a job anywhere. She was a waitress for a while, in a dirty little diner during the day, and in a seedy bar at night. She made some money, but it never seemed like enough. There was barely enough to cover the mortgage, to make sure we could keep our parents’ house and a roof over our heads. We were hungry sometimes, not that often after she got the second job at that bar. But we didn’t have a lot, so she got that loan and she really made it go a long way.

  I went back to school. My high school was Rosewood High, I got a full scholarship for it despite my grades being worse than ever before. They believed I had promise, and they would have done anything to keep me there. Maybe I was an excuse, the kind of student they kept so they could say they had someone of lower class there too. Someone common. That’s what the kids called me, and I fucking hated it.

  I never made any friends there. I wasn’t close to anyone. I barely got by, anyway. It seemed like everyone hated me, like the whole world was against me. I tried so hard in class, but the teachers wouldn’t take me seriously. I was always… not enough. Not pretty enough. Not smart enough. Not rich enough. An outcast.

  Charli hadn’t gone to that school herself. She went to a public high school where a shooting had happened only a few years earlier. They had a metal detector at the door and everything. I always thought she was angry that I got to go to a better school. She was forever telling me off, telling me to do my homework. I don’t think she was angry though. I think she was just working really, really hard to make sure I had a better life than her.

  Once, when I was at school, I got into a fight with one of the popular girls. This was when my parents were already gone, but we hadn’t gotten the loan yet.

  Charli came to pick me up from school, and she heard the popular girl insulting me. I picked a fight with her. I clawed at her hair, tearing out clumps of it. I scratched and kicked her and shouted that I was good enough, and that we were just the same. The other kids kept telling me I was nothing. I was trash, I came from a poor neighborhood, from a crumbling house in the shittiest part of town. Charli heard all of it. She heard them mocking the way I dressed, my cheap clothes, my borrowed textbooks. I remember her on the way back home. Her mouth was set in a thin line and she seemed determined.

  That night, she got the loan.

  I got better clothes. Nicer books. New shoes. She spent all that fucking money on me, never on herself. Just so my life could be better than hers. And I was an ungrateful little brat through all of it.

  I hated Charli. I’d hated her since I was a little girl.

  She was so obviously my parents’ favorite. Mom doted on her, and Dad ignored me completely, but as we got older, he paid more and more attention to my sister.

  When I was fourteen years old, my dad went to jail. Mom started doing drugs again. Six months after he left, we got a note from the prison informing us that he’d died in a brawl in the exercise yard. Mom went
soon after, not even a month. I didn’t find her, Charli did. But I remember how horrified she looked for days after. I remember the hospital telling us she’d overdosed.

  Charli was old enough to take care of me, just turned eighteen. She did everything, the best she could. She didn’t go to college. She just wanted what was best for me.

  But I couldn’t forgive her for our childhood. For the way our parents loved her the most while they neglected me completely. I was forever jealous of my sister. Of her beauty, the way our parents loved her more. The way she always seemed to get everything I craved, and I was supposed to work for a future I didn’t even want. I had no friends. No family but her. And I hated the world for making my life so fucking unfair, from taking everything I had away from me. My parents were gone. My scholarship was hanging by a very thin line. I’d almost lost it so many times, and I was very close to losing it for good.

  All I had was Charli, but I fucking hated her. I let my jealousy consume me, my whole life. All I thought about was the unfairness of it all. Hating Charli was my sport, and I was the best player.

  You wanted to know why I want to get her back. I guess it doesn’t make sense now that you know how much I’ve hated her my whole life.

  Yesterday, when you came into my room, I was having a nightmare. Really, it was more of a flashback. I was remembering what happened when I was younger, the first night my father started paying attention to my sister.

  I remember she got her period a few days earlier. She was terrified until Mom explained it, and congratulated on her being a woman. I remember the way her cigarette dangled from her lips as she told her that, switching the channel on the old TV we had. I remember Charli’s face paling, how she locked herself in her room for hours after that.

  Dad didn’t come home that night, and both Mom and Charli seemed relieved for some reason. I wasn’t – I was sad. He never paid any attention to me, and I tried so hard to get some from him. He only came home days after. And that was what my nightmare was all about.

  I remember him going into Charli’s room that night.

  I remember her screaming.

  I remember Daddy telling my sister she was a woman now, so what he was about to do to her was okay.

  And I hated her so much for it, for getting more attention from him again.

  I didn’t understand what happened that day until last night. I think I know now, but I don’t want to write it down. It hurts too much.

  I think I know, because I remember a day after our parents died in that shitty old house, when Charli found blood in my panties and cried with relief. I didn’t understand then. I think I know why she cried now.

  She cried because Daddy wasn’t around anymore to give me the same speech he’d given her when she was younger.

  She cried because she knew I’d escaped the things she had to go through, and she felt guilty for feeling relieved that our parents were no longer around.

  And I think she cried a little because it happened to her, too.

  But I didn’t understand it, any of it, back then. And when I took her role, when I stepped into her shoes, I still hated Charli so much. I wanted to have everything I felt she’d taken away from me. I wanted to steal her life, become her, take everything she’d worked so hard for. Including you. Including her job. Just everything I could possibly get my hands on.

  And now I finally understand that Charli was trying to protect me. I don’t think I can get rid of all my jealousy so fast, but I do want to help her. I want to find out what happened, and I want to save her from wherever she is. Maybe then we can start a new relationship.

  There’s one more thing, but I’m going to tell you that in person. I don’t want to write it down.

  I hope you understand now.

  xx Lucy

  Beau looked up from the letter and stared at me for a very long time. He didn’t say a word, just put the letter down after a few minutes and approached me. I fell back on the bed, and he climbed on top of me. Neither of us said a word as his mouth descended on mine and he kissed me slowly, but oh so passionately.

  “I’ll take care of you,” he whispered against my lips. “I’ll make sure you don’t get hurt, babydoll. I won’t let anyone come near you.”

  I let out a little cry as he kept kissing me, his lips soft but persistent against mine. He tasted so good, like nothing I’d ever had before. He was older than me, and he felt like a real man. Not like those boys I’d kissed behind the bleachers when nobody was looking. He felt good, and special.

  “And we’ll find Charli,” he muttered, his breath hot against my cheek. “We’re going to get her back from wherever she was taken, and we’ll make sure she’s okay. Got it, babydoll?”

  I nodded and he gently pulled me upright, getting off me and making me sit down.

  “Now, little Lucy,” he said, a more serious tone to his voice. “We’re going to have to make a plan. Understand?”

  I nodded again, my eyes on his. For some reason I was getting excited, feeling flutters in my stomach as we looked at each other.

  “What kind of plan?” I asked, barely able to hide my curiosity. “Will you tell me, Beau? Please.”

  “All in good time,” he promised me. “Let’s get you showered and ready first, babydoll. And then we can be on our way.”

  “On our way where?” I asked, and he merely grinned at me, chuckling to himself.

  “You’re about to find out, Lucy. And I think you’re going to like it a whole lot. In fact, I know you will.”

  My face lit up with a smile and I took his hand, leading me outside the room without hesitation. I couldn’t wait to see what he had in store for me.

  11 Beau

  “Where are we going?” Lucy asked me for the umpteenth time as I dragged her down the deserted street. “Please, Beau, my feet are getting sore.”

  “Be patient, babydoll,” I told her. “We’re almost there.”

  With Bryant’s help, I’d gotten the location of a gambling rig’s meeting in the seediest part of the city. He got me the password to go in, but he also told me the meeting wasn’t just for men who wanted to play cards. It was for their toys as well, and the rescue mission I was going to take care of myself suddenly turned into a two-person job. I’d need to take Lucy with me and we had to blend in.

  She wore a corset that pushed her tits up so high they were nearly in her face. The corset was black, made from a material that looked and felt wet to the touch. Her small black skirt barely covered her tight little ass adorned with a crystal thong. She wore fishnet stockings with lace at the top, and heels with a red sole that looked uncomfortable as fuck, and had cost me a fortune. She looked delectable, and she also looked scared as fuck as I dragged her down the street.

  For the first time since she’d been with me, I’d placed a collar on her perfect long neck. It was a simple one, just black leather with an O-ring I was intending to use in just a little while. Her hair fell in soft waves down her back, and her face had been left makeup free apart from the red lipstick on her mouth. She looked too young to be doing this, and I felt like a dirty fucking pervert parading her down the street like that. But we had business to take care of, and without her, I’d never be let into the gambling lair.

  As Bryant had explained, the gambling scene was populated by men who could afford to lose. But what set the Georgians apart was that they always brought women with them. Submissive, drugged, fucked up women, who, for the most part, didn’t have a choice in whether they wanted to be there or not. Lucy had a choice. I’d asked her if she wanted to go, and she’d nodded fiercely. As we walked down the windy street, I wondered if she’d changed her mind yet. She must have been terrified – it was so obvious to see from the way her voice shook, from the way her body trembled. But she tried damn hard to hide it, and I had to give her props for that.

  We didn’t stop walking until we reached a wreck of a building. It looked like there used to be a factory there, but now there was nothing but charred ruins and a sma
ll wooden building in the back. Someone had burned it down.

  I made Lucy follow me towards the smaller building, and once we were almost there, I turned to face her.

  “I have to add something to your outfit,” I told her gently, and her eyes widened as I took a chain out of my pocket.

  “What’s that?” she asked in a shaky voice. She was terrified, I could tell.

  “It’s a leash,” I explained. “It goes right here.”

  I clipped it on her collar and her eyes went so wide they bulged. I took a step back to look at her, barely able to hide my erection from her beautiful eyes. She looked fucking perfect like that, the chain firmly linked to her collar and leading right into my hand. There was no way she could get away now, even if she desperately wanted to. But I’d take good care of her. She wouldn’t need to get away.

  “One last thing, baby,” I told her, and her eyes snapped back up to mine. She’d been touching the chain, her fingers working every link, waiting, scared.

  “What is it?” she asked. Her voice was so fucking small.

  “You have to crawl.”

  Her eyes. They were like saucers as I placed my hands on her shoulders and forced her down to her knees.

  “It’s going to hurt a little,” I told her gently. “But inside will be better. I won’t make you do anything else, don’t worry, babydoll.”

  “Okay,” she whispered, and she looked up at me with such divine submission I wanted to fuck her silly right there on the ground. Instead, I just smoothed her pretty blonde hair down and gently led her towards the wooden building. She looked so vulnerable, and every time she winced when her poor knees made contact with the gravel, I hurt for her.