Only goes between work (restaurant – Glow) and home.
Dad only. Abusive.
Dad deals out of home.
Girl does not use.
Perfect!
There wasn’t anything to help me know more about the girl I’d just bought, but I had figured it was too much to hope for. The sellers’ jobs were to study girls, finding ones who fit a certain profile and would be easily forgotten from their old lives. Nothing more.
Once I’d read the few descriptions they’d given me on her enough times to memorize them, I balled the crinkled paper into my hand and let it fall to the floor of the car.
My mouth twitched into a grimace when I thought about the girl again, trembling and crying out. The initial reaction she’d forced from me—the one to go to her and protect her—rushed to the surface and was quickly met with old memories.
Not the same, I told myself harshly as I rested my head on the back of the seat again. Not the same.
“Mr. Holt?”
I slowly cracked open my eyes and immediately noticed that the privacy window was down.
“Mr. Holt?”
I tensed when I realized the voice was coming from next to me and the back door was open. When I tilted my head enough to notice the driver standing there, I relaxed. I straightened in the seat as I cleared my throat and fixed my tie, though it was fine. “What?”
“They’re coming with her—I thought I should warn you. You aren’t going to be happy.”
I stopped trying to fix my tie. “Why?”
My driver looked nervous to deliver the news, as if he was worried about my reaction. But I was already getting frustrated with the way he hesitated and scrambled for words. “They said she was screaming . . .” He looked at me uneasily when I stilled.
“You have exactly three seconds to tell me what happened if you want to keep your life and your job.” My voice was deceptively even, but it still had the desired effect.
I wasn’t to be ignored. Ever.
I watched the man turn into a scared kid. He swallowed thickly and his face paled.
“Yes, Mr. Holt. They uh, they said she was fighting them and she was uncontrollable.”
“What happened?” I demanded harshly, each word clipped.
“They knocked her out; s-she’s still unconscious. I’m sorry, Mr. Holt, I—”
“Move,” I ordered, and barely waited until he was out of my way before I got out of the car. “How did you find out?”
“One of the men came to tell us.”
I nodded, accepting his answer. I shrugged out of my jacket and threw it into the car, then shoved my hands into my pants pockets as I stared at the building ahead. My body vibrated as I resisted the urge to pace. “Knocked her out how?”
“Some drug, he didn’t say what.”
A growl built in my chest and cut off abruptly when a few men exited the building, one of them carrying the girl. She looked lifeless.
Barely concealed rage pounded through me by the time they reached us, and I gently took the girl from the man’s arms. I studied her chest until I saw it rise and fall a few times, then I let out a slow, relieved breath.
“You bought a wild one,” the man who handed her over said.
“She was uncontrollable, huh?” I tried to make my tone light but knew I didn’t succeed.