Day 1 with Girl

Lucas

I pulled on the cufflink at my left wrist as my mentor droned on over the phone ten minutes later. “Because there wasn’t a point in staying, like I told you before.” I let out a slow breath through my nose to calm myself when he scoffed, as if I was a kid who didn’t know any better. Before he could inform me of all the reasons to stay, I reminded him, “After everything I had to fix for you last night, I’m exhausted and ready to go home. I got what I came for; I’m leaving with a girl. There isn’t a reason to buy another.”

“You will grow bored with one.”

My jaw tensed in frustration. I doubted that. “There will be another group in six months. If you’re right, and that’s the case, then I’ll buy my second at that auction.”

Another scoff. “I wonder about you, Lucas, I do. I wonder about your ability to do what you’re supposed to. I think I put too much faith in you . . . I’m not sure you can do this.”

I narrowed my eyes at the fogged privacy glass in front of me. “Only an idiot would question the man he’s trained to pass as his shadow. Only a man with a death wish would question me.”

There were a few beats of silence before he said, “I will need to come inspect her.”

“Like hell you will,” I said with a surprised laugh. “That is not how any of us do this, don’t even attempt to deny that.”

“How dare you tell me what I will and will not—”

“Did your mentor ever once come to inspect any of your women?” I asked quietly. Dangerously. There was warning in my tone of what would happen if he went against the rules.

“This is different, things are expected of you. You are my protégé,” he yelled, and I laughed bitterly.

“Don’t deceive your old mind into believing that you’re someone greater than you are, with more power and holding than you have,” I sneered. “No. This is no different, and you are no different than the rest. You are a mentor—nothing more—and mentors do not visit or inspect. I will visit you with her when she is ready.”

“Lucas—”

“Trust that you trained me well, William, and remember that it was you who trained me. Mentor or not, do not cross me. You already know the consequences, since they came from your own mind.” I ended the call before he could say anything else and dropped my phone onto the seat next to me.

I’d just rested my head on the back of the seat when there was a light tap on the back window of the car.

My eyes shot open, and I raised my arm to glance at my watch before leaning over to roll down the window. It hadn’t been fifteen minutes since I’d finished buying the girl; she shouldn’t have been ready yet.

“Sir?”

“What?” I growled, and narrowed my eyes at the seller trying to get a glimpse into the car.

His eyes darted back to me, and he scrambled to grab something out of his pocket. “You purchased 48-1, yes?”

I only continued to glare at him. Considering we had talked just minutes after the purchase had been finalized, he and I both knew I had.

“Yes. Here. As requested.” He shoved an old, crumpled piece of paper into the car and jerked his arm away as soon as it was in my grasp.

I didn’t offer my thanks. I looked away in dismissal and waited until the window was back up before I allowed myself to read the scrawled notes about the girl.

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.

“She’s been trouble since we took her,” another man responded. “All the others stayed silent, this bitch wouldn’t shut up.”

All three men laughed. My driver and I joined in, but my driver shot me a nervous look when I turned to put the girl in the backseat of the car.

He was worried. He was smart to be.

I paused from straightening out of the car and glanced over my shoulder when one of the men behind me said, “I had to drug this bitch constantly just to keep her quiet. Surprised anyone wanted her.”

“Surprised she’s still alive,” another said with a laugh.

“Surprised you are,” I added coolly. I wrapped my hand around the handle of one of the guns I had hidden below the seat and took aim when I turned around.

The three men began yelling and backing up, but I just spoke calmly over them. “We don’t ask in this business, right?” I didn’t wait for them to answer. “You don’t ask what I do; I won’t ask what you do. You don’t judge me; I won’t judge you. But you just harmed something that now belongs to me. I did not pay all that money for you to bring me an unconscious girl or for you to decide what happens to her when she acts out. Do we understand each other?”

The men were still slowly backing up, hands now raised, and murmuring their agreements and apologies.

“Next time I won’t be so forgiving,” I warned, dropping the arm holding the gun.

The men exhaled roughly, and one even laughed nervously.

The same man who had bragged about drugging the girl joked weakly, “My life just flashed before my eyes.”

“Why would I kill you?” I mused darkly. “She’s still breathing.”

And there are rules . . .

Before he could react, I lifted my arm and fired once, hitting him in the knee.