Chapter Thirty-Four

Mil

I couldn’t believe that I was actually telling him. Never in a million years had I planned on cutting open past wounds and letting myself bleed out onto the ground.

But for some reason, Chase made me want to share. He made me believe that if I told him about my demons, he wouldn’t run away screaming; instead he’d help me conquer them.

“Fourteen?” Chase repeated. “Before or after you and I—” His voice died off.

I could feel the tension in his body as silence filled the bathroom.

“Before,” I whispered. The memories surfaced slowly, and then it was impossible to stop the pain as it pinched my chest. That’s how demons destroyed a person. The minute you opened the door to one, the rest of them followed suit, leaving you defenseless and desperate to do anything to get the door to close again.

“Mil.” Chase rubbed my arms. “It’s okay, I’m here.”

I was shaking, and although the bath water was still searing hot, I had goose bumps all over. Chase continued rubbing my arms as I talked.

“My dad… he wasn’t right in the head.”

“Understatement of the century,” he grumbled.

“Not like that.” My body felt heavy. “I’m sure Phoenix told you about the prostitution ring. Not only was he into selling young girls, but he liked to break them in himself.”

Chase’s fingers dug into my arms. My world stopped. Would he be disgusted? Maybe I was all of those things my dad had said to me.

“Mil?” Chase kissed my temple, his lips hovering over my skin as he whispered, “It’s okay, keep going.”

“One day, one of his men came and said my dad needed me for something. He was at The Cave and had forgotten his cell phone on the counter. So, being the dutiful daughter that I was, I went with the man to drop off the cell phone and ask my dad what he needed.”

Terror filled every square inch of my body. “I remember that it was really dark. They didn’t call it The Cave for fun. It was an abandoned warehouse that had lights which flickered on and off. My dad was in the middle of some circle, surrounded by a few men in suits. He asked me to come forward, so I did.”

Chase was quiet, so I kept talking. “I’m still not sure if it was his plan all along, but one of the men asked how much I was. And then another offered money for me. Someone else shouted in a gravelly voice that he’d pay over two million.” I shook my head. “It was such an astronomical amount that I thought they had to be joking. But they weren’t. My dad didn’t even hesitate. He turned to the man with the raspy voice and asked him what the catch was. The man was standing in the shadows, but I remember that he was really big, as in, for a second I thought he was a giant, but his voice… it never changed. It was gravelly, almost as if he’d somehow lost the ability to speak.”

Chase released his grip a bit on me and kissed my head again. “Did he touch you?”

“No.” I shook my head. “My dad told me to go home, but he stayed out all night. When he got home, it was the first time in years that he actually smiled at me. The next week was the best week I’d ever experienced with him. He took me shopping, kissed my mom in front of all of us, and was honestly acting like the dad I’d always wanted. Even Phoenix had been impressed. We left for Vegas later that week and that was when my mom told me.”

“She said my dad was going to sell my virginity to a horrible man. She said if I didn’t do something about it, I would die.”

“Wow,” Chase interrupted. “Dramatic much? Couldn’t she have at least lessened the blow?”

“Would that have made what I had to do any better, Chase? Yes, she freaked me out, but it also lit a fire under my ass. Later that night we all met for dinner.”

Chase sighed. “You were wearing the prettiest blue dress I’d ever seen.” He laughed. “I remember, I assumed you were Phoenix’s cousin. No way could a girl that pretty be related to him. It didn’t seem logical. I mean, he was just so Phoenix and you were so…” He paused. “So damn beautiful it hurt to stare at you.”

I smiled at his memory.

Chase’s mouth found my ear. “I’m pretty sure I propositioned you that night, and you tried to slap me.”

Laughing, I pulled away and shifted in the water so I could see part of his face. Looking at Chase would probably go down as one of my favorite things to do in the world. His beautiful smile made my stomach drop.

He lifted his hand to my cheek. “What made you choose me?”

I looked down, feeling the shame of that moment tenfold. “I didn’t.”

Chase pulled his hand back.

“My mom did.”

“Your mom picked me out? The same one who just—”

“Died.” I choked on the word. “Yeah, she pulled me aside and told me not to screw things up. She said you were safe, said you’d protect me. And then she left. Luckily, you took that opportunity to seduce me.”

“I’m an ass.”

“No.” I gave Chase a weak smile. “You did what I needed you to do—”

“Mil, I used you as a Vegas one-night stand.”

“Right.” I shrugged. “But I needed you.”

“I left you.”

“I know.” I couldn’t look at him in the face.

“Mil.” Chase tilted my chin toward him. “If it was all a ploy, why were you so upset with me when I didn’t want to take the relationship further?”

Because you made me fall for you. Because you protected me when nobody else did. Because the minute you took my heart, I didn’t ever want it back. Because the minute you touched me, my life was never the same.

“I was fourteen.” I shrugged. “And I am a girl. We tend to get emotional when sex is involved.”

His eyes narrowed. I cleared my throat and looked away. “At any rate, Phoenix told my dad he found us in bed together, and that’s where the story ends.”

“And the scar?” He grabbed my wrist.

I tried to pull away.

“Mil—” Chase’s teeth ground together. “Tell me all of it. Now.”

“He was upset.” My body convulsed at the memory. “Please don’t make me say it—”

“Damn it, Mil, did he touch you? Did he do this to you?” He grabbed my wrist hard in his hand, his eyes wild with fury.

I nodded. “He beat me and then he used a knife to cut this scar into my wrist, he finished it off with a branding on top of the scar, burning it against my skin, covering what he did. He said I was a marked woman, that anyone who saw this scar would know who I should have belonged to. He said it was only a matter of time—”

I choked on my words. “Only a matter of time before I was killed. He said I ruined everything. He called me a damn Helen of Troy and laughed.” Hot tears ran down my cheeks. “He laughed the entire time he cut the scar on my wrist, no matter how many times I screamed or yelled. Nobody came. Nobody saved me. I was fourteen, Chase. I thought that’s how life worked, just like the movies… someone hurt me, but the person I cared about the most would rescue me. I kept thinking of your face, but the door never opened. The next day he sent me to an all girls academy.”

At Chase’s sharp intake of breath I knew it was time to get out of the tub. The story was finished. He either accepted the truth as it was — or dug further. I preferred for him to let it go.

I tried to stand.

Chase gripped my wrist and held me firmly against his body. “You’re not going anywhere.”

“Chase—”

His mouth silenced any sort of complaint I would have had. When he pulled back, his eyes darkened. He cursed and let me go. “We need to contact Tanya.”

“I know,” I said in a small voice. “She was my mom’s only friend after the separation. She never forgave Phoenix’s dad for sending me away. And I never forgave him for making it so the first and last time I talked to my mom in years. And now she’s dead.”

Chase cleared his throat. “The sooner we get to the bottom of this the better everything will be, okay?”