My head feels heavy, and it’s a struggle to open my eyes. I try to move, but my body doesn’t work properly, my limbs won’t cooperate, and everything feels disjointed. But as reality sets in and my mind clicks on, I realize my hands and feet are tied. I draw in a sharp breath, panicking at the restriction and helplessness that I’m feeling right now.

Recalling what happened with Nate and Carrie at the store, I tug at the binds, knowing that something is really fucking wrong and I have to get out of here, at any cost. I analyze my surroundings. I’m on a small bed, in a familiar room…This was my room, in the rental in San Fran.

“Vaughn?” I call out weakly, and even that small noise in the room makes my head spin. I don’t know if I should be calling and drawing attention to the fact that I’m conscious. I don’t know who’s on the other side of that door. But I do know that Vaughn wouldn’t hurt me. Nate must have been going behind his back. He must have gotten into something really bad for it to come to this. I don’t know what he wants with me. But after everything we’ve been through, the concern and protectiveness he’s shown to me over the years, surely he’s not going to hurt me, right?

The door swings open, and Nate’s wide shoulders fill the space. “Ah, you’re finally awake.” He sounds different: cold, detached, and it sends shivers through me. I’ve never seen him like this. He’s never been anything but warm and like…family. The thought makes my lip quiver. His betrayal hits me where it hurts as he comes into the room, lowering himself slowly beside me on the bed. I try to shuffle away from him, but it’s almost impossible as I’m propped on my side with my feet tied together, and my hands bound tightly behind my back.

“Nate,” I croak out. “What—”

“Ah, Sadie, Sadie, Sadie,” he sings mockingly, shaking his head. “You really had no idea, did you?”

“I don’t know what…what’s going on, Nate?” My consciousness increases with every second that passes, and although I can’t piece everything together properly, I know that I’m in real trouble this time.

Ramsey will be looking for me, but how will he even know where to find me? But then a worse thought tramples through my head like a herd of elephants trumpeting their arrival. What if they’ve got to him? What if whatever is going on here means that Vaughn took me out of the picture to go after Ramsey? I mean, Ramsey took everything Vaughn lived for. Everything being me. And I know he’s not only going to be hurt about that, he’s going to be seething.

“She’s awake?” A voice asks from the doorway, making all the hairs on my body stand on end. It’s not Vaughn, but the coolness of his words sends chills directly through me, and I know it’s going to be someone that isn’t coming to my rescue.

“Yes, she is.” Nate smiles that treacherous, cruel smile that I’ve only ever seen him use today, and a sob pushes up through my chest, catching in my throat.

“You carry on playing the sweet, innocent, broken little girl.” The man at the door comes closer, letting me see him. He’s dark-haired and dark-eyed—not a speck of light within him. He stands over me, his broad shoulders and towering form casting a shadow across my whole body, and making me shrink into myself. “Leave,” he orders Nate quietly, but there’s no mistaking the demand in his voice.

“That’s not gonna happen, Rev.” Nate stands, squaring up to him as I process his name.

Rev.

President of The White Wolves…

Oh. Fuck.

“Vaughn said…”

“I don’t give a fuck what Vaughn said,” Rev bellows, his face drawing tight and his fists balling up at his sides, causing me to shake uncontrollably. I’ve met some pretty awful human beings in my life, but never someone who makes me feel like the dread is climbing up each bone of my spine like I’m feeling now. “Crawl back out of his ass would ya? Now do as I say, and LEAVE!” Rev growls, virtually baring his teeth at Nate.

Nate curses under his breath. “If you touch her…,” he warns.

“You’ll what?” He cocks his head and raises his eyebrows in challenge. “You won’t do anything. Now, leave.” He waves his hand in dismissal, and I silently beg Nate not to leave me alone with this man.

I don’t trust Nate anymore. I don’t know who to trust, or what the fuck is going on. But if this is Rev, the Rev that Ramsey and JJ have been looking for, I’d prefer to be alone with Nate than him.

“You turned out to be a pretty little thing, you know?” He talks quietly and strokes the hair from my face with his index finger, letting it linger on my skin and making my stomach churn loudly. I frown at his words, having no idea what the hell he’s talking about. “Pretty fierce, too. I mean—” He sighs, dropping down onto one knee beside the bed. “You really did a good job on my boy, Donny, didn’t you?” He smiles, showing all his pearly white teeth and my mind flashes back to that night. The night when I took out Donny Carden. The night when I met Ramsey. A tear rolls from the corner of my eye and down my cheek. Ramsey’s my only hope now. But he could be hours away from finding me, and I could be less than hours away from all the scenarios that I don’t want to let myself think about.

“Don’t get me wrong. I would have put a bullet in his filthy brain before long anyway, but he was a good talker. A go-between. You get me?”

I press my lips together, pushing back all the words I want to hurl at him but won’t for fear of what he will do to me if I have the bravado to speak out.

“I said, you hear me?” he repeats, and I nod. “How old are you now? Twenty-three? Twenty-four?”

“Just tell me what you want.” My voice quivers, but I force myself to continue and stay strong.

Strength is the only choice I have.

“I can get you money. Is it money you want?” I ask desperately, although I’m damn sure this isn’t about money.

The predatory look in his eyes sends tremors through my whole body. “Oh, sweetheart,” he grins, “I’ve already had what I wanted.” He leans in closer to me so his lips are touching the shell of my ear. “And, man, did it taste sweet.”

“Rev,” Vaughn booms, storming into the room, and I let out a cry of relief as tears coat my cheeks. But the relief doesn’t last long. Vaughn is cold, distant, and has no interest in my well-being.

“Vaughn,” Rev sneers, turning with his lip curled. “I was just speaking with your young lady here. She’s…” He rises to his full height, almost standing chest to chest with Vaughn. “Pretty.” His lips caress the word, and his eyes reflect the desire he’s exuding.

“Yes.” Vaughn frowns. “She is. Go and load the others while I speak with Sadie.”

“Excuse me?” he asks, leaning away from Vaughn and looking extremely put out.

“You want me to repeat myself?” Vaughn questions and the tension bounces between them.

“I heard you. I’m just not sure who you think you’re speaking to.” Rev steps into Vaughn so they’re bumping chests and almost head to head.

“Don’t fuck with me, Rev,” Vaughn warns in a low, menacing tone. “You need me too much to piss me off. I’ve rescheduled the flight, we leave in two hours. Nate needs a hand loading up the girls, and I want to speak with Sadie. Go.”

“Fine,” Rev spits. “But that’s the last time you give me an order, hear me?” He shoves Vaughn’s shoulder with his as he pushes past him, and Vaughn closes his eyes slowly, taking a deep breath before opening them again, and settling them on me. His gaze has me trembling. This isn’t the man I know. He’s a monster, and I’m at his mercy.

“Oh, Sadie.” He sighs, stepping closer. I’m as fearful of him in this situation as I was Rev. “You had every privilege I could give you. I gave you a life.” He frowns, framing his chin with his thumb and forefinger.

I need to appeal to his good side. The side that I know. The side that I once loved. The side that I thought loved me unconditionally as his daughter. “Vaughn, I—”

“Shh, shh, shh.” He shakes his head, wagging his index finger at me. “Not your turn.” He drags a chair from the opposite side of the small room and places it quietly next to the bed. He pauses for a minute, creasing his forehead in thought, before taking a seat and sitting with his elbows resting on his knees and his fingers steepled under his chin. “Do you remember when we first met?” he asks, and I don’t dare answer. But then he widens his eyes and nudges his head lower to me. “Well?”

“No,” I say on a whisper.

“I’d watched you for days. Your mom used to take you and your little brother to the park around the corner from where you lived, do you remember that?”

I nod.

“I followed you all home, watched her from my car, then when the sitter came, I followed her to work at the late night diner, where I befriended her.”

My blood runs ice cold through my veins as I start to piece together what’s happening here—what’s happened for the last fourteen years of my life. Only, it doesn’t make sense. None of this makes sense. Not only do I feel all hope slipping away, but fear and betrayal slip seamlessly in its place.

“Why? What did she ever do to you?” I blurt the words out, speaking louder than intended as fear rushes the words past my lips. But if I’m helpless to this situation regardless of how I react, I’m going to fight until my last breath.

“Do you realize that I put that fire in your belly, Sadie?” His voice is level, calm, and composed, and I want to slam my fists into his face, over and over for what he’s doing to me.

“What did you want? What could you possibly get from my mom? She had nothing. NOTHING!” I yell.

He laughs, stopping abruptly when he leans forward and whispers in my ear. “She had you.”

His breath touches my skin, a scorching flame that burns and makes my stomach twist in impossible knots. I heave in my chest, sickness at his words pushing up through my throat. “What did you want with me?” I ask, needing to know if what I’m thinking is right.

“You were so pretty. So petite and unassuming. Perfect innocence.” He sits back in the chair, crossing his legs and placing his hands on his knees. “You were supposed to be mine.” He holds my gaze, his eyes challenging mine, his body exuding power over me.

“You…w-w-what?” I stutter in disbelief.

“You made my dick hard, Sadie. Your little body. Your sweet, sweet, smile.” His gaze is wistful, his grin sinister, and the noise that escapes my lips sounds feral, even to my own ears.

“You sick fucking ASSHOLE!” I scream, tears of rage filling my eyes as I lunge forward, anger propelling my upper body. But it does me no good. Bound by my hands and feet, I’m not going anywhere.

I’m helpless.

Hopeless and broken.

Falling into a bottomless pit of body shattering despair.

“I despise you,” I tell him, my lip curling at the sight of him. “I despise everything about you. You’re sick, do you know that? Sick in the fucking head. You need putting down, all of you,” I yell, and suddenly pieces of the puzzle start to slot into place. “You killed my mom and my brother so you could get to me?”

“Yes.” He smiles calmly. “That was the plan. Well, I didn’t do a thing. I don’t like to get blood on my hands. I had some friends do the dirty work for me. Just like I did for old Mac.”

The breaths stop dead in my chest, a lead weight pressing down on my stomach as I blink slowly, and recall the horror that awaited me when I pushed open that door to find Mac.

Beaten and bloody. Cold and helpless.

“Y-y-y-you killed Mac? Why?” I ask. “He did you no harm.”

Rev being here means that Vaughn is involved with The Wolves somehow. And I know it was The Wolves that killed Mac.

“Because you couldn’t stay away from him, Sadie. You went there almost every day. He had the pleasure of your company, your smile, your laughter, and I didn’t want him to. You messed with it all. Donny Carden, Old Mac, and the Steel Souls.” He pauses, waiting for my reaction and giving me another chance to shout and scream at him.

How the hell does he know about Donny? I thought Ramsey had business with him, but Vaughn? I never had the tiniest inclination that he was involved with him in any way, and my heart sinks to think everything is so very tangled—so tragically fucked up.

But I don’t say anything. I try and keep my expression as neutral as possible and let him continue. I want to hear what he has to say, despite the bile rising in my throat at his cold cruelness that I didn’t see all these years.

“Donny was a breaker…” He looks intently at me, a smile creasing the corners of his eyes. “Do you know what that is?”

I don’t know. I swallow down the lump in my throat and hold his gaze, holding my silence. I am not weak. I can take whatever he has to say and push it into a box, never to be thought of again—can’t I?

“We employed him to break the strong-willed girls. To make them comply. After you’ve been taken by someone like Donny, whoever you’re sold to seems like a fucking prince.” He laughs, and I lose all my strength and composure. Strong burning bile powers its way out of my mouth and Vaughn jumps back to avoid being hit by the pungent fluid as it leaves my body at full force.

He curls his lip, looking at me with disdain, but quickly slips the mask back on and continues talking. His voice is low, contemplative—as if I were his therapist. As if he needs someone to hear it all as he sees it in his head. He’s hoping for justification, which will never come from me.

“But Donny couldn’t keep his needle dick in his pants. He had a thing for the younger ones. Ironic to think that you took out the man that had broken many girls for me, don’t you think?”

I push it away. The words. The feelings. The thought of those poor girls being used by Donny so he could get his sick kicks, and so they could be sold. Used, bruised, and broken, by the man that called himself my father for the last fourteen years.

“Why did you look after me all this time?” I snap, glaring at him with a hard frown. “You’ve always been like…” I stop, my shoulders dropping with grief and sorrow, in disbelief that I’m about to say the following words. “Like a father to me.”

He’s always been so protective and loving. Was this twisted, sinister side of him always there in the background, and I just didn’t see it? Or did I see only what I wanted to see, what I needed to see at the time?

A father figure. The devil dressed in an angel’s robe.

“Because,” he growls. “They used you, didn’t they? They were never supposed to rape you. Just leave you, frightened, for me to find. But I knew from the blood and the hospital reports at the time what they did to you.” He frowns hard, bringing his thumb to his mouth and biting on the nail.

There were no hospital reports. I upturned every stone I possibly could, and it was like it had never happened to me. But now I know. He made it all go away. “Who did it?” I demand, twisting my wrists in an effort to break the binds. I know it's futile, but I have to try. The longer I manage to stay here, coherent, alive, and fighting, the more chance I have of Ramsey and JJ coming for me.

“He’s dead.” He shrugs. “I had him killed for taking your precious virginity. He ruined you.”

“Then why keep me? Why not kill me, or sell me to someone else when I was young?”

He frowns at me and tilts his head. “Because I love you, Sadie. I loved you from the second I saw you in the park. One way or another, you were always going to be mine.”

“Vaughn.” I sigh, looking at him as softly as I can manage when all I want to do is drive a knife through his perverted, cruel heart. But I try and appeal to the man I used to know. The man I thought I knew, with the hope that he's still there, somewhere. “You don’t have to do this. I can still be yours. You’re my family. My only family. I need you, please, Vaughn, I'm begging you, don't do this.” I hold his gaze, not dropping away for a second, then I lower my voice. “I love you, Vaughn.” The words cut my tongue like shards of glass, but it’s a last-ditch attempt to get him to change his mind.

He looks at me for long moments, then narrows his eyes in quiet contemplation. “I have a buyer for you,” he says with a flick of his wrist. His voice detached, bored even. “He’s a sadist, I believe. Which is perfect for you because I hear you like it rough.” He grins. “He’s wealthy, so as long as you scream loud enough when he demands it, you should be treated well. Think yourself lucky, some of the other girls aren’t facing such a nice life,” he muses, more to himself than me, like he has to tell me all of this, to show me this side of him, reasoning everything in his head before he discards me.

He has a buyer for me?

I’m… SOLD.

My clouded, drugged mind can’t keep up with the pace that the facts are being hurled at me. I’m barely able to make sense of anything. There’s no logic. No justification. No reasoning for any of this.

“Is this how you’ve earned all your money over the years?” I look up at him with more lead weight in my heart than ever before.

He smirks. “Acquisitions, sweet Sadie. People are worth more than oil to me.”

“Time to go, Boss,” Nate says from the doorway, halting the tirade I’m about to unleash.

“We’ll be right there.” He nods, still looking down at me, and not even glancing over at Nate as he speaks.

“Vaughn,” I implore desperately. “Give me a chance. We can be happy. If I had just known how you—”

His laughter fills the room as though he were watching a hilarious comedy sketch. “You think I want you now?” A cold expression settles on his face. “You’re tainted, Sadie. That little pussy of yours is filthy. I don’t want a hole that Ramsey Dalton and, likely, his merry men have filled. You disgust me.” His face contorts—affirming his feelings and taking with it what very little hope I have left.

I choke out a sob at his harsh, bitter words, and he stands, straightening out his shirt and tie. “Your mother was a whore, and the apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree, has it, Sadie?”

“Vaughn,” I cry out desperately.

“Too late.” He stands as Nate and Rev stride into the room. “Hold her,” he orders coldly, pulling something from his pocket. A syringe.

“Nate,” I plead, a last ditch attempt as he grabs my ankles, pinning them to the bed. “Please, Nate. Don’t do this. Don’t do this to me, Nate!” He ignores my cries as though I weren’t even there. I twist my body, helplessly fighting these huge grown men, and Rev stands at the head of the bed, pushing all his weight onto my shoulders, pressing me into the mattress. Vaughn comes closer, and the silver tip of the needle glints in the light as he lowers it, injecting it smoothly into the pulsing vein in my arm. I fight until my sweat-soaked body starts to weaken, then I cry as a panic attack steals my breath and every last hope I ever had, dies.