"I know what you did," I told mom. "I know you killed my dad. I know you're trying to do it again! I know you want to poison Law."
She stared at me coolly, not giving even the smallest reaction. It only made me angrier.
"And," I spat out at her. "I know what you tried to do to me."
I faced her guests. The woman was looking at me with her eyes wide, and the man was drinking me in. Gross.
"She tried to fucking sell her own daughter," I told them. "She tried to sell me to some rich prick as a sex toy."
The woman, who’d looked rattled before, paled and covered her mouth with her hand, but I wasn't done just yet.
"She even fucked the buyer's wife," I told them, looking at my mom for a reaction. "She'd do anything for money. She doesn't give a fuck about me, her husband or the woman she's been sleeping with. All she cares about is getting what she wants."
"That's quite enough, Lily," mom said sternly, standing from her seat, and I glared at her.
This wasn't going quite to plan. I didn't know what I expected would happen, but everyone was being too calm. I wanted reactions, I wanted a big fight. I wanted to end my mother for what she'd done to our family.
I wanted Law.
"I'm going to find him," I told her. "And tell him what you've been trying to do."
The color finally drained from her face and fanned her face, laughing nervously.
"No one is going to believe you, Lily," she said roughly. "You're just a stupid, selfish little girl."
I stepped up to her, looking her right in the eyes.
"Just watch me," I told her. "I'm going to make sure everyone knows who you really are."
As I walked out of the room in search of Law, I felt that man's eyes on me, following my every move. I tried to push it to the back of my mind as I ran up the stairs, crying out for Law. My heart beat with a crazy need to see him, fuck him, tell him things I should've really kept to myself. I felt so confident, I almost got off on the high.
But he was nowhere to be found.
I went through the upper floors of the house, all of the bedrooms. Not a sign of him, or anyone else for that matter.
I ran back down. I'd seen his truck in the driveway, so he had to be somewhere nearby.
As I reached the bottom of the stairs, I bumped into a broad-shouldered, much taller than me figure.
I looked up, and took a step back.
It was the man from the dinner table, the one who'd stared me down and made me feel uncomfortable. I hadn't realized how fucking tall he was when he was sitting down, but he was definitely towering over me now.
"W-what do you want?" I asked, hating myself for stuttering.
"You," he replied, flashing me a devilish grin.
I looked around us to find a way to escape. I didn't like this man. He made me feel deeply uncomfortable. There was just something off about him. Any normal person would have balked at my statements at the dinner table, but he didn’t seem to care much at all.
The realization hit me too late.
"Please move," I asked and tried to get past him, but he wouldn't let me.
His enormous, meaty hand wrapped around my forearm and stopped me in my tracks. I looked up into his dark, threatening eyes. My heart was beating out of order, every beat accompanied by panic being shot through my veins.
"Not so fast, little bird," he told me with a grin. "I want to get a good look at you."
"Why?" I asked.
He gave me a meaningful look and that was when it finally sunk in.
"You're the buyer," I said breathlessly.
"Ding ding ding! Bingo," he mocked me, a grin spreading over his face.
He was a very handsome man. Not so much unlike Law - tall, dark and handsome, except his eyes were a murky brown where Law's were gray. But he made me feel scared, really, really scared. Not in the way Law did, where excitement took precedence. This man made me want to run as fast as I could in the other direction, when Law had always made me want to run to him.
"I'm not for fucking sale," I bit out, and his fingers dug into my arm.
"Language," he reminded me roughly, then chuckled. "Your mom painted you as a sweet, naive little virgin, Lily. Another lie, I presume."
"I'm not a virgin," I told him pointedly, hoping that would dissuade him from pursuing this sale.
"Ah." His eyes sparkled with mischief. "Lawson?"
I glared at him and he laughed again.
I moved to get away, and he yanked me back. I cried out, the pain of him pulling on my arm so intense my eyes watered.
"You're hurting me," I said softly.
"It's just the beginning, dear," he said with a smile. "Just the beginning of what I'm going to do to you."
I swallowed a sob and tried to hit him where it hurt.
"My mom's sleeping with your wife," I reminded him. "Maybe you should focus on that."
"I don't give a shit," he told me roughly. "Julie's a spineless frigid bitch. Maybe that's why they like each other - your mom has balls of steel... for a frigid bitch, anyway."
His own joke made him laugh and I tried to use the distraction to get away from him again. I pulled, but instead of letting go, he yanked me closer until my back was flush against his chest. He caged me in, his hand curling around my neck and cutting off my air supply.
"Not so fast, little bird," he groaned.
I cried out. He was hard, I could feel his erection.
"Get the fuck off her."
I followed the sound of the voice. Law was standing in the doorway, the patio doors leading outside. A half-smoked cigarette smoldered in his hand. He dropped it to the ground and stomped on it. His expression was unreadable, dark and dangerous like the first few times in the cellar.
"Come to stake your claim?" the buyer mocked him. "You really brainwashed this one, Lawson."
He let go of me and pushed me forward until I stumbled into Law's arms. He embraced me roughly and I clung to him.
"Guess hot pussy runs in the family," the buyer laughed. "Like mother, like daughter."
I felt Law tense, but it was me who stepped forward and smacked the man in the face, hard.
He didn't budge, but it felt so fucking good to see the rage on his face, to know I'd actually stood up for myself.
"Do not fucking ever compare me to her," I hissed at him.
He merely grinned, soothing his bright red cheek.
"Get lost," Law told him.
"You gonna let a girl do your dirty work, Lawson?" the buyer mocked him.
Law pulled me aside and stepped forward. He made a single move, a loud crack echoing in the room followed by the buyer's scream.
The man's right arm was hanging crookedly and uselessly next to his body.
"Fucker," he snarled at Law, cradling his broken arm.
"Get. Lost. Now." Law punctuated every word by breaking his fingers. "Three down. Do I need to break them all?"
I felt myself getting sick from the disgusting crunchy sound of bones breaking.
The buyer stumbled back, glaring at us.
"Fucked up family," he muttered under his breath. And then he was finally gone.
Law's shoulders tensed once we were alone and I tried to control my erratic breaths as his posture fell. Would he be mad that I'd come to the house? Had I done the right thing?
“What are you doing here, Lily?” he asked me sternly, turning around to face me.
"I had to come," I cried out. "You're in danger, Law."
"What?"
"My mom," I told him. "I... I think she's poisoning you. Or planning to poison you."
He gave me a blank stare.
"She did it to my dad." My voice was shaky. "I... I remembered. When you left. She’s done this before. She’d never let you disobey her."
"Lily."
He stepped closer to me and I ran into his arms.
"I know," I said. "You told me not to come. But I had to. You can punish me all you want, but..."
I looked into
his eyes. They were brighter than ever.
"I'm not leaving, Law. You can’t make me. We can take her. We can fight."
There was a war going on inside of him.
"This is the fucking last time," he growled. "That you call me by my name to my face."
I grinned.
"Is that fucking clear, babygirl?"
"Yes," I couldn't help but smile.
"Yes?" he taunted me.
"Yes, Daddy."
He claimed my lips, a deep kiss that left my mouth feeling hot and needy. He pushed his tongue between my lips, demanding that I submit to him. And this time, I did it freely. I wanted to be his babygirl forever.
"Don't send me away again," I begged him against his mouth, and he bit my bottom lip, making me cry out.
"You're not getting rid of me," he promised me. "Daddy's gonna keep you, Lily."
My heart soared when I heard those words coming from his lips. No matter what happened next, I would always have this moment.
When the beast fell for the brat, making her grow up in the process.
Twenty-Five
Law
I’d never felt a high like the one I was experiencing with Lily back in my arms. Letting her go had been the worst mistake I’d ever made, even if at the time, it felt like the only thing I could do.
I hadn’t banked on her being this brave… or maybe this stupid, but if that was the case then you could say the same for both of us. I was more than happy to be in the same fucking boat with her.
I kissed her forehead when I’d claimed the breath from her lungs and crushed her against my chest, completely forgetting that we were still in the same house with Emily and Julie. Kent was a distant afterthought. I might have made a powerful enemy that night, but I sure as fuck wasn’t going to spare him a single bit of my attention for the rest of the evening.
I could stand there forever, just kissing and holding my babygirl, completely ignoring the tough choices we would have to make next. A sharp, shocked scream was what shook me from my reverie, snapping my attention back into the moment. Back to the danger we were both in, sharing a house with Emily.
I’d have to ask Lily exactly what she meant by what she’d told me, but I didn’t need any additional confirmation to know that Emily was dangerous. More so to Lily than she was to me.
“Come on,” I told her, releasing her from my grip but grabbing her hand tightly in mine.
I didn’t want to let her go again, not for a second.
“That sounded like my mother,” she said softly, her brows knitting together as I tugged her forward.
We rushed through the house toward where the noise had come from. There was more commotion in the kitchen, so I guided us there. The moment I stepped through the door, I knew I shouldn’t have brought Lily here.
“Shit,” I muttered, grabbing her and making her turn her back to the kitchen, holding her head against my chest. “You don’t need to see this, Lily.”
“What?! Let me see!” she gasped, probably catching the tone of my voice and knowing something bad was going on.
She struggled against me just as Emily groaned, blood bubbling out of her mouth as she lay on her perfectly tiled kitchen floor, bleeding out of her abdomen. Julie was standing over her, her face a mask of shock and rage all at once, holding the same damn knife we’d used to carve the roast.
“Julie, put that down,” I said, keeping my voice level.
“Please let me see,” Lily almost hissed at me, panic high in her voice.
Reluctantly, I let her go. I might need my hands to get that knife away from Julie and as much as I would have preferred to protect Lily from this moment altogether, I knew that I couldn’t shield her from everything.
She spun around, freezing in spot as her gaze hit her mother.
Emily, so put together and always flawless, was sprawled out, the delicate gown she’d chosen for the evening ripped in several places. I could count multiple puncture wounds, but it was the deep gash across her abdomen that was going to be the end of her. Through the thick, crimson blood, I could see broken intestines, which Emily was desperately trying to shove back within her stomach cavity.
“Mom,” Lily whispered, covering her mouth with her hand a moment later.
Emily’s face was drained of color and I could see the flicker going out of her eyes. She was moments from dying and I knew there was nothing I could do about it, even if I’d wanted to.
“Lily, call the ambulance,” I said. “Lily, now.”
That’s what snapped her into motion. She turned and ran out of the kitchen, doing as she was told. I knew I had to take control of this situation, because apparently I was the only fucking adult in the building.
“Julie, put the knife down. Don’t make me tell you again.”
I moved closer slowly. Julie kept her grip on the knife, looking down at Emily, her face an unreadable mask of indifference. Gone was the shaky little woman I’d shared a cigarette with outside. This was a warrior, out on a mission. I wondered how I’d missed it before.
“Not yet,” she said calmly, holding a hand up to me. “Give me a moment.”
“Where’s Kent?”
“Crying somewhere about his arm,” Julie said with a shrug. “He deserved it, though.”
I couldn’t agree with her more.
Emily couldn’t utter a word. In another couple of seconds, I saw the last flashes of surprise and pain seep out of her gaze, and all that was left was the cold depths of her blue eyes, staring lifelessly at the ceiling. Julie let out a breath and with a small smile, she put down the knife on the kitchen counter, as if she was only now satisfied that she wouldn’t need it anymore.
“I knew,” she said, slumping against the counter with one hip, staring down at Emily. “Because of Kent… I knew what she was doing. I ignored it for years… I ignored what Kent did for years. But this, this was too much. The people she was selling… they were children, practically.
“She thought she was getting close to Kent through me, but it was the other way around. I didn’t think I’d actually go through with it. I didn’t think I would… I can’t believe that I did!”
She looked at me with bright eyes and a smile warmer than any I’d seen on her. Instinctively, I reached into my back pocket and offered her the pack of cigarettes. Julie giggled as she snatched one of them out and I helped her light it.
“Some dinner,” I said, not joining her in having a smoke.
I didn’t need one anymore. I had Lily now, that was all the addiction I was capable of handling.
“It’ll go down in history,” Julie chuckled, proudly looking down at her handiwork, the pool of blood around Emily’s body slowly spreading across the tiles.
It was almost up to Julie’s peeptoed shoes.
“You know I’m going to have to call the cops now, right?” I asked her.
“I know,” she said with a nod. “But it was worth it.”
My only regret was that I hadn’t done it before Julie had to.
Twenty-Six
Lily
Three months later
"Do you like it, babygirl?"
I twirled around the spacious living room area, not caring if my skirt riding up revealed my butt. I smiled wide at Law and clapped my hands excitedly, jumping up and down at the mere idea of it.
"Yes!" I told him. "I love it. I love it so much. It's absolutely perfect."
This was the tenth house we’d come to see. And it was the first one that felt like home to me. I knew we’d found the right place the moment we stopped in front of the building and I got a look at the big, spacious yard, perfect for having kids and a dog running around and playing.
It had only been three months since my mother’s death, but it felt like I’d lived a lifetime since then. Probably because I never felt like I’d lived much at all with her shadow still over me.
I was back in school, working on my degree – though I’d switched my major to social work now – and there hadn’t been a
day I hadn’t spent with Law and loved every second of it. He was just as rough and brutal and unpredictable as ever, but also kind, loving and fiercely protective of me.
Julie was awaiting trial for my mother’s murder, though I couldn’t harbor any hate for her in my heart. She’d done the right thing, as fucked up as it was. Kent had been brought up on charges for human trafficking, based on Julie’s testimony. I hoped it would let her get a lighter sentence.
As shocking as it was to realize that my mother was dead, I couldn’t help but think that the world was a better place for it. I was determined to spend my life exposing others like her and the people Law had once worked for in the name of sparing innocent people.
I mean, I would be the last person to claim that I was impartial about all of this, but I knew right from wrong. There was a difference between giving yourself into a situation like the one Law and I now had – though it hadn’t begun that way – and being forced into it.
Law turned to face the wide-eyed realtor, who tried to keep the judgment off her expression. I gave her a questioning look and her face was wiped clean of emotion in the next moment. Good. She'd get paid a hefty commission for this sale.
"We'll take it," Law told her, and she beamed.
"Excellent," she nodded, scribbling something down in her notebook, which was already overflowing with papers and notes. "I'll contact the sellers and we should sort out the initial deposit in the next few weeks..."
"No," Law interrupted her, his hand in the air and motioning for her to stop. "We're buying the house. Now."
"But I..."
The realtor looked frazzled as hell.
"Cash," Law told her. "Or I can wire the money into the company's account now, and we can sign the papers as soon as possible. I want the keys now, though."
The realtor opened and closed her mouth like a fish out of water, finally squeaking out a reply.
"Let me make a quick phone call."
She excused herself and made her way outside while Law joined me in the bare living room. I loved that the house was new. No bad history to follow us, just a fresh start - exactly what we needed.
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