Unbound; The Dominator III

by DD Prince

  We were both quiet for a minute.

  I couldn’t believe my eyes. Holly looked older, more beautiful than ever, but it was like I wasn’t sitting across from my baby sister. It was like she was someone else. It was surreal.

  I guess I should’ve expected it to feel different. We’ve been apart for over two years and a whole lot had happened to the both of us.

  I don’t know what I was expecting. I haven’t a clue what she’s been through. I would never ever want her to know the detail of what I’d been through.

  My relationship with my sister would likely be different from what it had been. We lived in different countries, for one. We were both with “connected” men. We’d both been stolen away from our lives and imprisoned.

  I’d found my happily ever after. I only prayed that she would, too. Here, in this place, I didn’t think she could.

  “Forget the negative stuff. God, Angie, it’s so good to see you,” she said and I looked at her.

  “No one calls me that.”

  “What do they call you?”

  “At the place I was at, they called me Felicia.”

  Holly sucked in breath, her mouth in an O.

  “It was a punishment, a way of breaking me. Convincing me I was someone I loathed.”

  She knew how that’d impact me, being called my mother’s name.

  “What about Dario? What does he call you?”

  “Angel. He didn’t even know my real name but he called me that a couple times and I took it on as my new name.”

  “That’s what your dad called you.”

  “Yep.”

  “New old name.” she smiled brightly.

  I felt a little bit warm inside.

  “Have you contacted anyone else? People in South Carolina?”

  “No. Up until now it hasn’t been safe. I’ve only been out a few months. Hopefully I can. Eventually. Dare told me that Charlie and Betsy still live on my Dad’s farm and that they’ve been putting money away in my account, I guess dividends from the farm, for if I ever turn up. I don’t wanna put them in danger though, so I’m gonna wait a bit. I’d hoped that was where you went.”

  “It’s where I’d have gone if I could’ve,” she smiled at me, “But, don’t wait too long. Never know what can happen.”

  “True that.”

  My little sister was wise; she always had been. I’d ask Dare if maybe we could consider visiting at some point. I, at least, wanted them to know I was okay.

  I didn’t know how my sister and I would have a relationship with her here but for now, at least I knew she was okay.

  “You gonna go see Mom? If Dare says it’s okay?”

  I frowned, “No.”

  “What if seeing us, if us talking to her after all this time could help her decide to get better? What if she isn’t getting better because she’s lonely?”

  I’d heard stories from Holly about how awesome our mother was before Holly’s dad died, how he’d gotten her sober. I’d never seen it.

  “Let’s talk about Mom later. Right now, tell me about you, about your life here.”

  She gave me a disapproving look.

  “What?” I asked.

  “You’re looking for reasons to convince me not to marry Alessandro. Stop that, Angie. I can barely wait to become his wife.”

  She may be eighteen now but my little sister was looking to me to be as naïve as she’d been at fifteen, when I’d first left for Thailand.

  Dare

  I put Angel and Holly in the car. Holly was still crying. She’d thrown a fit at the news she was leaving. But Alessandro took her into another room and shut the door and in less than five minutes, she was back, solemn, obedient.

  He and I had talked, briefly. He wasn’t an easy nut to crack, but we’d sat, he’d poured me a drink, and then he shocked the hell outta me when he said,

  “Dario, can I ask you something? For a favor.”

  “Ask,” I invited. I’d already thanked him for helping us with our problem ‘in the east’ and he’d smiled a little, not replying. I still didn’t know why he’d lent those resources but without them, it would’ve been a fuck of a lot harder to do what we did so seamlessly. The guns, Jonas? The bomb-making materials? He was directly responsible for Kruna being no more.

  “Will you take Holly home? I need you to look after her for a bit for me.”

  That was a surprise.

  “I’m trusting you to keep her safe. I’ll be back for her.”

  I took a sip of the drink.

  “I realize you don’t know who I am, what I’m about, or whether I’m worthy of her. I’ll save you some time and tell you right now, I’m not worthy. But even with that said, she’s mine. This is just temporary. I’ll be back for her and then I’ll marry her.”

  “What if she doesn’t want you back?”

  “Then I take her.”

  “What if I decide that isn’t gonna happen?”

  “Then I do it anyway.”

  “You got balls, man,” I laughed, without humor; this wasn’t funny.

  “So do you. Here, in my house, after all you and your brother have done to my relatives. After all I’ve just done for you. Seems we’re both men with balls.”

  He had a point.

  I’d hoped to get here and find out this guy wasn’t what we’d heard he was. I’d hoped to get here and find out he was maybe a little bit like me and my brother, doing what we had to do.

  Maybe he was. I couldn’t tell. He wasn’t about to reveal his true self to me. Why would he? He had all the power here.

  “I trust, with what I know of you, with what I’ve seen, that her safety will be your priority.”

  “Absolutely,” I said.

  “She stays in your city, lives with you or someone in your family who can look after her. She’s guarded at all times in public. I’ll happily pay for security and any other expenses. If you need to take her out of your city, I want to approve it first. Zack will always be able to reach me but I’ll get you a secure number.”

  “You don’t pay me for looking after my wife’s sister. I may have just met that girl half an hour ago, but she’s my family.”

  He nodded. “So you’ll do this for me and then I’ll marry her and I’ll be your family, too.”

  I didn’t know if I caught a trace of humor in his eyes. Maybe.

  He kept talking, “This will give them time together. Perhaps it’ll help your wife heal from what she’s… endured. And it’ll give me time to get some things in order, knowing Holly is safe while I do this.”

  “Fine. But I can’t promise that when you’re ready----”

  “Dario, no offense but please. Let’s not muddy the waters here. You came for Holly. You’re leaving with her. I’m telling you I’ll be back for her. Consider this concession a gift. You’ll be doing me a favor by looking after her, but it is temporary.”

  I studied his face and decided to keep my mouth shut. I’d get her outta here and figure the rest out later.

  His eyes lit with a bit of amusement but a very small amount. He’d probably read my mind and left it at that.

  “Why’d you help me take down Kruna?” His hacker was invaluable. The guy bypassed security systems, got the money moved, helped with the trackers, the list went on. We also had all the firepower we needed as well as the bomb-making materials I used, thanks to Alessandro.

  “They had to be stopped. Delgado, especially.”

  “Is that because they take from your trade or because what they were doing was immoral?” I asked.

  He snickered, “You gonna try to take my outfit down now? Rid the world of human trafficking? Please.” He rolled his eyes.

  I regarded him carefully. I didn’t know what to make of this guy.

  ***

  We left Mexico that night. We had planned to stay but with Holly? We left immediately. Mission accomplished, if only for now. I had gotten Holly for Angel.

  Angel was careful about Holly but Holly was distraught. We stepped
into the bedroom and saw them sitting on the bed together. Alessandro looked at her pointedly.

  “Hi,” she greeted sweetly.

  “You’re going with your sister,” Alessandro said.

  Angel and Holly both jolted.

  “What?” Holly went pale.

  “For now. I’ll be back for you soon.”

  “Soon? When?”

  “When it’s time, mi pequeña flor.”

  “Is this a punishment for what I did?” she asked, giving him big doe eyes.

  “Go. Spend time with your sister. I’ll see you soon.”

  “Let’s have them stay here, so I can spend time with Angie here. Can she stay here?” Holly looked at me.

  “Not a good idea, Holly,” I said.

  “I’m not going,” she folded her arms over her chest. “I’m not.”

  “Pack a small bag. I’ll have more of your things sent,” Romero said.

  “Alessandro?” Tears started to flow down her face.

  “Will you excuse us?” he asked. He took her hand and led her out of the room.

  “She’s coming home with us?” Angel asked, astounded.

  I nodded, “Yep.”

  “Dare!” she was in awe.

  ***

  We took her home and put her in the den for the night.

  “I’m so worried about her,” Angel said, “What happened? How did it happen?”

  “I know almost nothing. He asked us to take care of her for now but insists it’s temporary.”

  “Do you think he’s really a good guy? Do you think he’s gonna clean things up before he comes for her? Get out of the skin trade?”

  “I don’t know,” I said.

  “I hope so.” Angel looked beyond hopeful, “Maybe I’m wrong about him. My feeling that he’s a really bad guy.”

  I wasn’t so sure but I wasn’t about to burst her bubble.

  “Thank you, Dare. Thank you for getting my sister back.”

  “It might not be for long. This situation? I don’t---”

  “For tonight, whatever it is, for now, I’ll take it.”

  I didn’t know what was next. I didn’t know what the fuck to make of Romero.

  Angel

  Holly would only say she loved Alessandro and wanted to know why he’d sent her away. I didn’t get it, any of it. I wanted to think maybe I was wrong that he was a bad guy. I felt it in my bones when I saw him. I felt a vibe in that place. A Kruna vibe. I hoped I was wrong.

  We’d only seen one lounge-like room and then his private bedroom / quarters but the size of the compound, the lavishness of it? For now, Holly was home with me. To go from wondering if I’d ever see her again to having her under the same roof? I was ecstatic.

  I’d seen the look in Dare’s eye as we left and knew that we were on the same page. We’d figure out how to stop that guy from taking my baby sister. We’d stop him just like we’d stopped Kruna.

  For now, get Holly home. Figure it all out later.

  She was weepy and sad. She wasn’t rejoicing in being with us at all. Every time I told her something about Portland or about our place or the people in Dare’s family she’d meet, she’d give me a watery half-smile. She still had a face like someone had kicked her puppy with steel-toed boots on when I said goodnight.

  ***

  After dinner with a few of the girls the night after we got home, a quiet dinner where Holly didn’t say much, but where Luc and Bianca’s chattiness made up for what would’ve been deafening silence, we left them to watch a movie at our place with Holly. Will also hung out. Will would be working full-time, for now, as Holly’s bodyguard.

  Dare took me to the storage unit, the same building we’d gone to when we’d hidden at Luc and Eddy’s cottage. This time, Dare brought me in and took me to a unit that had a big wall of safes in it. He’d shut the garage-style door in the small unit at the end of a long hallway. There was a folding chair against the wall. He unfolded it and motioned for me to sit.

  He wasn’t saying much, so at first I thought it was business but then he was so quiet and serious that I thought it was something fun, that he was going to surprise me somehow. But when he opened a safe and pulled out a smaller lock box and inside of it was a laptop. He lifted it out and put it in my hands.

  “What’s this?”

  “This is Jason Frost’s computer. The hard drive is filled with videos of you. From Kruna.”

  I didn’t drop it, but suddenly felt like I was holding a poisonous snake. Cold iciness flooded my body and I suddenly wanted to hurl it against the concrete wall.

  “What do you want done? You want evidence in case anything ever comes back to bite us or you want this destroyed?”

  “Have you watch---”

  “No. Swear to you, I haven’t. No one else has, either.”

  “Destroyed, please Dare.” I said softly.

  He gave me a nod and there was a moment of heavily weighted silence between us until I heard a door slam and then multiple sets of feet walking as well as the sound of something rolling down the hallway.

  “One sec, baby,” Dare said.

  He opened the door and two men stood there with a very large metal drum that was on a dolly.

  “JC,” Dare greeted.

  “Dario.” The huge dark-haired guy dressed in head-to-toe leather shook Dare’s hand in a bro handshake, “This is Hugo.”

  Hugo, an equally huge blond man extended his hand. Dare shook it.

  “Hugo, JC, my wife, Angel.” Dare gestured to me.

  “Hi,” I said.

  They gave me a nod and carefully wheeled the dolly in and one reached into a black satchel and handed us long gloves and a mask/goggle contraption.

  I was speechless.

  Dare put his on and I put mine on.

  The two men gave us nods and left, shutting the roll-down door behind them.

  No further smiles nor pleasantries had been exchanged. Those guys were evidently aware of just how serious things were.

  Dare used a utility knife to carefully pop the top off of the drum. Inside was a seal that he slowly peeled off. I stood. The drum had a strainer basket and below it I could see blue liquid but only at less than the half way mark. The inside was white, made of a different material than the outside.

  I handed him the laptop and he very carefully slid it into the basket and then put the shower cap-like seal back on and slowly cranked something on the side of the drum so that the basket descended slowly without splashing. He put the top lid back on and then took off his gloves and mask so I followed suit. We went outside and sat down on the curb.

  “What now?”

  “Thirty minutes. JC and Hugo went for a coffee. We check to make sure it’s dissolved. Should be gone, not a trace. Then JC picks it up and we go home and put this behind us.”

  I sat there and my mind streamed visions from Kruna, from being broken, from being stuck with Mr. Frost. I ached. And then I felt numb.

  And then the numbness evaporated when I felt the beautiful touch of the man who’d saved me, who brought me back from near catatonia, who’d kept his promise and made sure that Kruna was taken down and destroyed.

  “You kept your promise to me,” I said.

  He’d put one of his hands on the back of my neck.

  “About Kruna. You took them down. You made them hurt. You saved all those girls. Thank you, babe. I still can’t believe it. Not only do I get all of those things, but I get you. I’m the luckiest girl in the world.”

  Dare

  JC and his employee came back and checked the drum and showed me, with a flashlight that there was nothing but liquid in it. No sign of that hard drive, no sign of a single screw or wire from that computer. It was an extreme method to get rid of it but it was thorough and I was taking no chances whatsoever that Frost’s hard drive would turn up somewhere.

  JC’s clean-up services were worth the exorbitant fees he charged and he was worth keeping in our Rolodex.

  He and Hugo sealed the drum up an
d wheeled that dolly away from our sight and put it in the back of a truck.

  I took my wife home and made love to her in our bed, quietly though, since her sister was in the den. I’d have to do something about this. Time to get a bigger place.

  Tia

  We were having a family dinner. Me and Tommy, Sarah, Dare and Angel and Holly, Tessa, Lisa, Bianca and Nino, Luc and Eddy. I’d made lasagnas, Eddy and Luc brought dessert, Tess made bruschetta, Bianca made salad, and Angel and Dare brought the wine.

  Lisa came early and helped me set up. She was quiet, subdued, but Tess arrived first. I planned it that way. At Tessa’s request.

  Tess walked in. Lisa froze.

  “Leese.”

  “Hey,” Lisa stared.

  “I’m sorry that I made you feel like we might not be able to get over how you came to be part of our family. But…” Tess choked up. I choked up. Lisa’s face crumpled.

  They fell into one another’s arms.

  “You’re our family. We love you. I’m sorry for what you’ve been through but I’m so glad you’re here, in our family.”

  Lisa sobbed, “I’m so sorry that you got taken and violated. And I wanted to come to you the minute I heard but I…”

  “It’s okay. I was a bitch to you.”

  “You were processing.”

  “I was still a bitch.”

  “I have something for you,” Lisa said, and reached into her purse, which was sitting on my kitchen counter.

  I started handing out Kleenexes.

  “They found your phone. It was crushed. But I took it to a guy at the mall and he got your pictures off it. I remembered you saying your memory was full like, two days before, so I knew you had lots on there. There were like 289 of them. They’re on this little thumb drive.” Lisa passed it to her.

  Tessa fell apart.

  “Jim. I knew there were pictures and I never backed it up and that’s all I could think about when they were kidnapping me. I--- Fuck. Thank you, Leese.”