Caught for Christmas (Stripped 3.50)

“We go to Ivan.” West wants me to trust him, but I’m too far gone for that. But I might be able to make a deal with Ivan—with the devil of Tanglewood. I’d probably have to sell my soul. That’s all I deserve.

She gasps. “Bee, no.”

“He’ll be pissed when he finds out what we did.” He might even kill us and save the Caivanos the trouble. “But we don’t have any other options. At least Ivan knows I can earn money. I can work it off.” Though I might have to do more than stripping to earn that kind of money in this lifetime. My stomach is a hard, twisted knot.

“I can’t let you do that.”

I’m actually touched that she’s fighting this so hard. It’s always been her and Jeb against the world. I was their daughter, but not a loved and cherished child. I was more like the getaway driver or the strategically placed distraction, someone useful to have around for a con—unless I wasn’t.

The fact that she doesn’t want to give me up to the cartel means more than it should. “It’s the only way. I won’t let Jeb die, and you too, when I could stop it.”

“I’ll find another way,” she says, her voice rising. “I’ll negotiate with them.”

“They won’t negotiate,” I say softly. “Not after they’ve taken Jeb. It’s gone too far for that.”

“I’ll talk to them,” she says stubbornly.

Why won’t she see? “At least let me go to Ivan first. Then if I don’t—” If I don’t make it out alive. “If I don’t come back, then you’ll know it didn’t work.”

“You can’t.” Now she sounds almost petulant. It’s a familiar tone but strange at a time like this. I know how much she loves Jeb. I’ve had reason to doubt her love for me, but never him.

“I don’t understand,” I mutter, almost to myself.

“She doesn’t want you to understand.” The voice comes from the end of the alley. A voice I recognize. A voice that very recently was murmuring dirty words against my clit.

West.

I whirl, blocking Maisie with my body. “Leave her alone.”

“So protective.” He’s just a shadow, his body hidden by the building beside us. I can see he’s holding something. My bag. I must have left it behind in my rush, which is foolish.

This entire thing is foolish.

We’re deep in the alley, but the chain-link fence behind us doesn’t provide any cover or protection. “I didn’t take anything,” I say, raising my chin. “And you had your fun. Let me go now.”

He shakes his head. “I can’t do that. Not when you’re thinking of going with her.”

The way he says her makes my gut clench. I know she hasn’t been the best mother, but that’s for me to decide. Not him. “How do you know who she is?”

“She’s the one who sent you down to that basement. And she left you there while I did whatever I wanted with you.”

My insides turn cold. She did leave me there. She must have known it was taking longer than usual. Hell, she must have seen Blue when he left the Grand, proving I’d been caught.

She hadn’t come in after me.

Logically I know there wouldn’t have been any point to her getting caught too. The emotional side of me, the core of me is hurt that she let me suffer it alone. West didn’t hurt me. No, he fed me and made me climax—but she couldn’t know that about him.

I clench my hands into fists. “It’s not your concern.”

What I really mean is, I’m not your concern. Why should he care about me? No one else does.

He shakes his head, hearing exactly what I meant and denying it. “Someone has to look out for you,” he says. “And it’s not going to be her.”

The words pierce me deeper this time, and I have to lash back. “She was doing what she had to do. You don’t know what these people are capable of. They have my father.”

“Are you sure about that?” The question is so soft I might not have heard it, but it echoes in my head as if he shouted it.

“Of course I’m sure.”