by Hamel, B. B.
Irene stared at me then laughed. “I have to say, you’re not what we expected,” she said.
“What did you expect?” Sasha asked.
“Someone scared,” I said.
“Sorry to disappoint you,” Sasha said, “but I haven’t been scared since they took me from home and ruined my life. No, I’m not scared, I’m only very, very pissed off, and when you called, I figured this was my chance to get some revenge.” Sasha leaned forward, grinning evilly. “So was I right, Cam and Irene? Is this my chance?”
I exchanged a look with Irene then laughed. She grinned back at me, and I nodded slowly as I drove into the night.
“Yeah, Sasha,” Irene said. “This is your chance all right.”
“Good,” Sasha said, sitting back against the seat. “Now, I’m starving. Let’s get something to eat.”
“Okay then,” I said, and headed out toward the suburbs.
15
Irene
Don Valentino let us keep Sasha at the manor house. Bea got her set up in a large, comfortable room, and I sat on a little couch at the end of the bed, legs curled under me as the girl bounced on the bed, her eyes wide with delight.
“I’ve never been somewhere so nice before,” Sasha said.
“Me neither,” I said, grinning. “I was like you before, you know.”
“Like me, how? From Ukraine? Barely speak English when you first come here?”
“No,” I said. “Lived on the street for two years though.”
She waved a hand, making a face. “Not like me then. I never lived on the street, and I never had a choice.”
I bristled at that. “I never had a choice either.”
She ignored my comment and flopped back on the bed. “Your man, Cam. He can be trusted?”
“He’s not my man,” I said defensively.
Sasha shrugged like she couldn’t care less. “Tell me about him anyway.”
I stood up and paced across the room. It had a working fireplace at the far end and a set of chairs in front of it. Books lined the shelves and extra sheets, pillows, and blankets were stashed in the closet, along with clothes from some long-gone former guest that apparently liked a lot of leopard print.
“Cam’s looking for Ronan,” I said. “He wants to take the guy out, and help you girls in the meantime.”
Sasha snorted. “Do you have any clue how many girls the Healy family owns?” she asked.
“No, we don’t,” I admitted. “But we can try to help as many as we can.”
“They own a lot,” she said. “More than you’ll ever see, and they keep tight control over them. Real short leash.”
“We have to try,” I said, feeling frustrated. Every step felt like we struggled forward, only to find that there was even more struggle ahead.
“Try all you want,” she said, shrugging. “Probably won’t do them much good.”
“Why are you here then?” I asked, glaring at her. I didn’t like that defeatist, selfish attitude. I was a survivor, a wolf that struggled on the streets, and even I wanted to help as many people as I could. Sasha should’ve felt more solidarity for all the other girls that were stuck where she’d been.
“Revenge, like I said.” She stretched her legs out and sighed. Her feet almost touched the end of the bed. “I’ll help you with Ronan, no doubt. I just don’t think you can save all those poor girls, as much as you try.”
“We’ve got some ideas,” I said.
“All right, whatever you say.” She shrugged and looked to the side, toward the window. “When I was a girl, I dreamed about coming to America. That’s a cliché, isn’t it? Girl from Europe dreams of a better life in the glowing lights of America.”
“How are you liking your stay in this country so far?” I asked, tone heavy and sardonic.
“It’s wonderful,” she said, eyes bright. “Despite being sold as a whore, I love it here. Did you know there are so many things on TV? It’s amazing, and the stores. So much food, I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
I laughed despite myself. She was strangely callous, but had an odd, almost childlike side to her that I found disconcerting.
“America the beautiful,” I said and approached the bed again. “We need you to convince more of the Healy girls to help us out.”
She frowned at me, eyes narrowed. “Why do you need them so badly?”
“Part of the plan,” I said, which was true. Cam wanted to recruit as many of the girls as possible to use as leverage against the Healy family. How he’d accomplish that, I wasn’t sure, but he insisted he had a good idea.
“Plan, plan, plan,” she said, waving a hand in the air and making a face. “I hear so much about plans from men. Do they really have plans, or are they making it up?”
I tugged at my hair, shaking my head. “Doesn’t really matter. Can you do it?”
“I can try,” she said. “Some will help, some won’t. Some are too addicted to what the Healy can do for them, if you understand me.”
“Drugs,” I said.
“Exactly. Get them hooked, then keep them hooked. It’s disgusting, but it works.”
“We’ll do what we can for them,” I said, though I wasn’t so sure.
Sasha only looked over toward the window again. “Tell them I’ll help, but I want something to eat first. I’m starving.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” I said, and left her there alone in the room.
Cam stood in the hallway, leaning against a statue of a warrior holding a sword above his head. Whoever decorated this place sure did love ancient weapons and all that crap.
“How’d it go?” he asked softly and fell in step with me as we walked toward the back stairs.
“She’s weird,” I said.
“But will she help?” He sounded anxious, and it set me on edge.
“I think so,” I said. “She said she’ll try, anyway. She says she wanted to eat first.”
Cam snorted. “I’ll ask Bea if she can help with that.”
I stopped him in the shadow of the hall before we reached the steps. I grabbed his wrist and held him there, and he stared down at me, head tilted to the side, his lips parted. I’d been thinking about those lips, about that body so much lately, and now I felt a sudden thrill pass over and through me.
“I was so close to being like her,” I whispered. “One wrong move and I would’ve ended up like her, you know? Jaded and used up.”
“But you didn’t,” he said and touched my cheek softly. “I found you.”
“You did,” I said, biting my lip. “What if you hadn’t?”
“That doesn’t matter.”
I pressed myself against him then in a rush. He stumbled back against the wall then held me tight. I didn’t cry—I didn’t think I had any tears left in me. But I breathed his smell deep, spicy and smooth and right, and let his strong arms keep me safe and warm in the darkness of the beautiful hallway.
It was another world, an entirely different world, and I loved it, wanted it so badly, wanted to be with him. I hated what I’d become, half-feral and living only to steal and survive, living for nothing more than my next meal. I was an alley cat, wild and rough.
Cam could bring me back. I already felt like I was finding my way home.
He tilted my chin toward him. I felt a wild, stupid giddiness as he kissed me softly, his other hand moving down to cup my ass. I bit his lip and he pulled me tighter against him as I reached down to unbuckle his belt.
He let out a grunt of warning, but I didn’t stop. I reached down and felt him, felt his length along my palm and stroked him slowly as his hands cupped my ass tighter. We were right in the middle of the hallway in a house that didn’t belong to us, and Bea or the Don or even Sasha could find us at any moment, but the lights were dim and it was late, and nobody wandered to this part of the manor, or at least that was what Cam had said.
So I didn’t stop, even if I should’ve stopped, should’ve controlled myself.
He turned and pushed me b
ack against the wall. His hands were rough as he got my jeans unfastened and shoved his fingers down to tease my soaked pussy. I kept stroking him, feeling him get harder and harder in my palm, getting rock solid and gorgeous, and I moaned as he kissed my neck and my lips.
“I won’t let you get like that again,” he whispered and slipped my panties aside to roll a finger around my clit. “I promise, I won’t.”
“I believe you,” I said and moaned as his tongue swirled around mine.
“I’m going to watch out for you,” he whispered as his fingers sank deep inside of me. I gasped and stared up at the ceiling as a wave of pleasure broke over me and made my back shiver, my legs shake. “You can hate me all you want for joining this Valentino family, but I’m not going to let you go again.”
“I don’t want to go back,” I moaned and stared into his eyes. “I want to stay here with you.”
He let out a soft growl and bit my lower lip then tugged at my jeans, getting them over my hips. I gasped as he turned me around, pushing me up against the wall, his hand down between my legs, his hard cock pressing against my ass. I moaned and felt the cool wallpaper against my cheek, and I looked back over my head as he kissed my lips. He teased me, pressed against my soaked pussy, then slowly sank his cock deep between my legs from behind.
I let out a low, gasping moan. He felt like heaven and fire, pain and pleasure and everything right. It was like I spent the last two years buried underground struggling to dig my way back out, and now suddenly I stepped into bright sky and fresh air.
Cam brought me back. He pulled me form that grave and gave me a new purpose.
I never hated him, even when I thought I did. I disagreed with his choice, and was angry he put himself in that position, but the truth was, I hated myself and my family even more. I hated my parents, and I despised that I stuck around. So when Cam joined the Valentino family, I felt something break inside of me, and I ran away from it all.
Now I was finally facing the truth.
He fucked me slowly, my Cam. I moaned as his hands teased my breasts then gripped my hips hard. He covered my mouth with one palm and sunk a finger between my lips. I sucked it then bit down and he growled his pleasure as he fucked me faster and deeper.
“Quiet, my little Irene,” he whispered in my ear. “You want the whole house to know what I’m doing to you?”
“Maybe,” I moaned into his fingers.
“I bet you do,” he said, cock filling me over and over, his strong arms and hands pinning me to the wall and taking me, his massive cock stretching and filling me. “You’d like that, if we got caught right now? You want the world to see how soaking wet you get when my cock fills you up?”
“God, yes,” I whispered. “I can’t help myself. As soon as you touch me.”
“You want everyone to see that you’re mine,” he growled, lips so close to my ear. “You want them all to know your body’s mine, your skin’s mine, your moans are all mine.”
He fucked me faster, taking me rough and wild, and the pleasure spiked in a wave that rolled down my spine. I dug my fingers into the wall and pushed back against him, bucking my hips, sliding his cock faster, letting him grab my hair and cover my mouth and take me, god, yes, take me. I’d never felt so controlled before in my life and I loved it. I wanted his strong arms to pin me down, his hands to grab my hips, his voice to command me to do all the filthy things he wanted. I’d give him my mouth, my pussy, my breasts. I’d give him whatever he wanted, so long as he kept fucking me, kept making me feel so good.
I came in a burst of intense ecstasy that nearly knocked me off my feet. Cam held me up against the wall and kept going, fucking me savagely, and I felt him stiffen as he filled me, warm and sticky and sweet. I moaned and squeezed my eyes shut as my dizzy head slowly came down from the incredible heights of that wild orgasm.
He turned me around and held me. He kissed my cheeks, my lips, my eyelids, my fingers, my neck, my throat. It was like he wanted to make sure I was all there, that I was really me. I ran my hands through his hair and let him hold me, and I felt safe, god, so safe. It took me a little while to identify the feeling. It’d been years since I felt safety and I wasn’t sure I’d ever have that again, but now I felt a glimmer of my old self returning, here in his arms.
“We should go feed our guest,” I said finally, unwillingly. I wanted to stay in that hallway for hours.
“You’re probably right.” He got himself dressed then helped me get my jeans back on. “I’d rather go find an empty room and keep doing this, though.”
“After,” I said and touched his cheek. I felt my face flush pink when I realized what I’d just said. “For tonight. Okay?”
He touched my lips and nodded. “For tonight,” he said.
We headed wordlessly down to the kitchen, holding hands.
16
Cam
“Holy crap, this is one freaking awesome pool,” Sasha said and went running down toward it. She threw herself onto one of the lounge chairs, shoved her hands behind her head, and let out a low sigh of pleasure. She grinned up as I approached, shading my eyes, with Irene right behind me.
“It’s pretty nice,” I agreed. “You have anything like it back home in Ukraine?”
“Hell, no,” she said. “Nothing like this. Not for girls like me anyway.”
“What was your home like?” Irene asked, sitting down on the chair next to her.
I walked a few feet away and stood near the edge. An inflatable giraffe floated past, blown by the invisible wind. The grounds of the manor house were immaculate, and I could only imagine how many people it took to cut the grass and trim the bushes and weed all the flower beds. Dean clearly cared about the place though and kept it looking nice.
Which made sense. It was the heart of the Valentino family, and if he couldn’t afford the upkeep, then there was something wrong with the family’s finances. I looked out across the slowly sloping yard, past a gorgeous oak tree, and toward the forest beyond. It was all owned by Dean as far as I understood it, Dean and his wife Mags.
“Quiet,” Sasha said. “Dusty. Old. Soviets came years ago when my parents were young and they messed everything up but also modernized it all. Then they left, and nothing got fixed, so it’s all still rotting away. My village was a little nowhere place in a little nowhere country.”
I turned and faced them, standing on the edge. “How’d you end up here?” I asked.
“Met a man online.” She made a face. “He sweet-talked me. Said nice things, called me pretty, said I could model. He said he was a talent scout from America. I assume he meant a model scout. But that wasn’t the talent he was interested in.”
Irene glanced at me and I clenched my jaw. “So you came over, thinking you’d be modeling.”
“I figured it out pretty fast,” she said. “On the boat over here, I figured it out. Some of the other girls were in denial, were convinced that we were going to be models. But we weren’t all pretty enough for that.”
“I’m sorry,” Irene said, looking horrified.
Sasha waved it away. “It’s fine, it’s in the past now. Look at this though.” She spread her arms, grinning. “What a place. I never thought I’d see something like it.”
I walked over and sat on her other side, leaning my elbows on my knees. “Don Valentino says you can stay here for a while,” I said. “At least until this is over and we’ve taken care of you.”
Sasha eyed me sideways. “Taken care, how?”
“Money,” I said. “Mostly, anyway. We’ll set you up with a job too, if you want it.”
“I’m not fucking anymore,” she said harshly. “I’m done being a whore.”
“That’s not what I mean,” I said, looking at Irene for support.
“We’re not doing that,” Irene said softly. “I swear, that’s not why you’re here.”
Sasha chewed on that for a second. “Kira talked about you once,” she said suddenly, glancing at me. “That’s why I listened when you call
ed. She said you’re a murdering piece of shit like all the other mafia guys, but you’re not so bad.”
“What a compliment,” I said, deadpan.
“From her, that’s basically the nicest thing she could say.” Sasha stretched then put her arms above her head lazily. “What’s the plan then? What do you want from me?”
I took a deep breath and slowly let it out. Before I could start explaining, the back doors opened and Don Valentino stepped outside. He wore a slim navy suit with a white pocket square and a pair of black sunglasses. He walked down toward us, hands in his pockets and stopped a few feet away.
“Look at this crew,” he said. “Weird little group.”
“Don,” I said, standing.
He held up a hand. “No need to be formal right now,” he said. “Sit down. Call me Dean, please.”
I hesitated, but sank back down and nodded gratefully. I knew some of the guys closest to him still used his first name, and I felt almost honored to be given the privilege, if at least only for one conversation.
“It must be my lucky day,” Sasha said. “The big boss himself comes and graces me with his presence.”
Dean snorted. “You’ve got an attitude on you,” he said.
“Damn right I do,” Sasha said. “Everyone needs some way to survive being forced into whoring. Mine happens to be an upbeat attitude and a sharp intellect.”
“I’m sure the Healy guys loved it,” Dean said, grinning.
Sasha shrugged. “Not really, but okay.”
“I was about to explain the plan,” I said, shifting in my seat. Dean gestured for me to continue, so I cleared my throat. “I’m thinking we’ll keep this simple. Thanks to a trove of information about their trafficking business, I want to dismantle the entire operation from the ground up.”
Sasha let out a sharp laugh. “Ambitious,” she said.
Dean’s eyes narrowed, but he said nothing. Irene only looked anxious as she chewed on her lip.
I plowed ahead.
“I want to start with the girls,” I said. “You know a lot of them, so they’ll listen to you. My idea’s pretty simple. We’ll find some sympathetic conspirators, give them money and guns, and kill as many Healy fucks as possible.”
