Embracing Fate: A Captive Hearts Novel Read online

  “Most men would think that was heaven.”

  “I’m not most men.”

  “So, I’ve heard.” He leaned back and tapped the table. His eyes kept straying back to the paper I still controlled. “I have also heard other things, concerning things, and because of what I’ve heard, you’re not welcome in my establishment.”

  “Because of the sting the FBI has planned?”

  His eyes widened. “You continue to surprise me, Mr. Davenport. I didn’t expect such honesty.”

  “Like I said, most people underestimate me, and you have not yet separated yourself from that crowd. I prefer not to beat around the bush, and I will be there tonight.”

  “I’m extending you the courtesy of a warning.” He straightened his tie. “Don’t show up.”

  “You’re scared. You don’t know how the FBI got wind of your auction, and you desperately need to know how far they are inside your operation. You have an inside source, which is how you know about me.”

  “You don’t mince words.”

  “I prefer to get to the point, and as I’ve said, you’re wasting my time. Don’t think you’ll leave this table without paying me back for what you’ve taken.”

  “And bold.”

  “Not bold. Straightforward. Now, are you going to keep wasting my time, or are we going to have a conversation?”

  “Fill our drinks.” He called to the cocktail waitress. “I’m not certain what kind of conversation you think we should have.”

  “Well, you said you were interested in what I have to offer, but I suggest we start with why you’re fucked. You know about me, but you’re mistaken about my role, and you don’t understand my motives.”

  “Really,” he said with a snort. “Seems like the FBI has made you a stooge. That’s kind of embarrassing.”

  “So it would seem, and if that’s what you think, you’re not the man I need to be talking to. I have every intention of having revenge on those who put me behind bars.” I looked at my cuticles, taking more time than was necessary to pick at them. “I’ll throw you a bone. I’m going to tell you why you’re fucked.” It was time to dig for a little information. “But it comes with a price.”

  “You haven’t said anything I’m interested in yet.” But his body language gave him away. That tiny flick of his lids when I mentioned getting revenge intrigued him.

  I pushed over the paper, flicking it over the last foot of the table separating us. “That is what I want.”

  Too eager to hold back, he unfolded the photograph and a smirk crossed his face. “A girl? You want a girl?”

  “The girl is important to Kate Summers. Since I want to destroy everything she cares about, it begins with the girl.”

  He glanced around. If he was smart, he’d consider whether I wore a wire. I didn’t, but he didn’t know that. Carefully, he refolded the paper and sent it back across the table.

  “Still haven’t said anything I’m interested in.”

  “I want her.” I pointed to the photo of Clara.

  “Things like that aren’t free, and since you’re no longer welcome at my establishment, it’s out of your reach.”

  “What I want is something that can’t be bought. You’re going to give her to me. I’m not paying a dime for some broken doll.” The sad truth was that I would take pleasure in breaking Clara. I’m sorry.

  His eyes flicked up and he shook his head. “You’re no different than any of our other clients.”

  “Well, that’s where you’re wrong because I’m not going to force her to do anything against her will.” I’d thought long and hard about how to accomplish my goals while keeping the promise I made to myself. That would be the only way.

  “Isn’t that the point?”

  I pressed my finger to the tabletop, then gestured to the girls at the end of the bar. “Those girls do what I say because I pay for the privilege. If I don’t pay, they don’t play. Who wants that? This girl…” I took the photograph and tucked it back inside my breast pocket. “She’s going to give me everything. Not because I bought her, and not because she fears me. She’s going to do it because pleasing me will be the one thing she wants most in life. Kate thinks I’m going to rescue her. Instead, I’m going to break her in the most delicious way. She’ll be eager to do whatever the hell I want.”

  “You’re fucking insane. She’ll never give you that.”

  “You doubt my abilities,” I said with a drawl. “That’s why you’re fucked, and you don’t even realize it.”

  “I don’t give a shit what you think. Consider your invitation rescinded.”

  “One phone call,” I said. “That’s all it’s going to take.”

  “To do what? Call your contact and tell the FBI your cover is blown? You must think I’m stupid.”

  “I actually think you’re a smart guy. This is why you and I are going to help each other.”

  “Don’t see that happening.”

  “Well, you see there is something you have that I want.”

  “The girl?”

  “The girl is already mine.” His brows drew together, and I realized I would have to explain. “Look, my contact doesn’t know this whole op has gone to shit. That gives you an opportunity. They don’t want you. They want to place a man inside your organization. They have your guest list and know about the girls. You’re already fucked, and the only thing keeping you out of jail is what they want with me.”

  “Is that so?”

  “They’re not interested in you, which means we’re in a position to help each other. This is an opportunity you don’t want to walk away from.”

  “How so?”

  “Because you can clean up your operation.” I hated explaining the basics to this fool. “My job isn’t to crash your little auction.” I could see the wheels churning behind his dimwitted eyes.

  “What the fuck is your game?”

  “The Feds hooked me up with ID, passports, and cash. I have no interest in being a pawn for them. Nor do I have any interest in being a stooge inside your organization. I want a way out of the country. We’re going to act all civil and chummy. So chummy in fact that you’ll invite me someplace warm and tropical where we can chat while my funds are transferred to accounts I control.”

  “You want to skip the country?”

  “I don’t need your help to skip the country. I have a passport. You’re getting the FBI off my back. In return, I give you the time you need to plug your leaky ship.”

  “Interesting.”

  “That gets them off my back. It gives you breathing room. Once we conclude our business, you’ll go your way and I’ll go mine.” He didn’t know I’d be back to own his ass.

  “Still not seeing how this helps. I can take you out right now and that ends all my problems. You don’t have anything I want.”

  “See, that’s where you’re wrong.” I allowed a slow smile to creep across my face. “I have your entire client list. One call and they get a message. The contents of that message will tell them how you’re working with the FBI to implicate them in human sex trafficking. None will show up for your auction, and word of your involvement with the FBI will spread. Of course, I’ll step in and take up the slack. As you’ve so eloquently stated, my reputation proceeds me. Basically, you can’t afford to piss me off.”

  “Those are some big cojones you have, my friend. Maybe you don’t understand who you’re dealing with.” His phone buzzed in his pocket.

  “I suggest you take that,” I prompted. “It’s your boss.”

  How Chambers managed to find that name was beyond me. He seemed to be working with inside information of a caliber I couldn’t fathom. There was more to the FBI agent than I understood. I respected that and kept my distance from it. He needed me in this organization, and I would get there, with one exception. I wouldn’t make my way up through the ranks. My intent was to demolish everything from the top down.

  With his eyes on me, my drinking partner retrieved the phone from his pocket. Whatev
er was said on the other end of that phone didn’t matter. The way the blood drained out of his face put a huge grin on mine.

  I’d just entered the game.

  Chapter 10

  Awareness didn’t come with a slow fade in from nothingness. It might have been nice if it had.

  Instead, I bolted out of a chemically induced fugue with my heart hammering and screams issuing from my mouth.

  All that accomplished was to alert my kidnappers I had awakened.

  In the grip of the worst nightmare of my life, I couldn’t think straight and feared the worst.

  I would soon find out I hadn’t been afraid enough.

  The worst headache of my life made me want to throw up. From the sour smell flooding my senses, I may have already done that. I tried to retch, but my stomach appeared to be completely empty.

  A sniff had me gagging. I definitely smelled puke.

  My circumstances were beyond comprehension. I kept thinking it was a trick. A sick, twisted prank and mindfuck of the worst kind.

  While I wished for nothing other than to escape back into blissful unawareness, reality snapped at me and forced me to face my current state.

  I’d been abducted and drugged. Or drugged and abducted. Who knew which came first. Not that it mattered. I think I was drugged because I remember feeling floaty.

  My nerves jangled and buzzed. The floaty sensation from before no longer had me flying high. Instead, I plummeted back to earth, racing toward an undeniable truth. This wasn’t an awakening.

  It was a free fall into hell.

  I wished I was still flying.

  If I could linger in that half-aware state then I could ignore the mattress full of lumps which held the fetid odor of piss and vomit. With much effort, I cracked my lids open, peeked at my surroundings and took inventory of my injuries.

  Deep purples and reds decorated my arms, and if I bothered to look at my legs, I was virtually certain I would see deep bruising there as well. I might be able to convince myself my pinky finger hadn’t been broken, except it sat at an unnatural angle and throbbed in time with the ache in my head. The lump on my cheek, the cracked fissures of my lips, and the painful swelling behind my eye couldn’t be ignored. A tortured moan escaped me.

  I’d been drugged, and even now my body craved whatever had been in that needle with a relentless hunger. There may have been more than one needle. My fuzzy mind informed me this had not been my first moment of awareness.

  I squeezed my eyes shut, not willing to look at my surroundings. To see would make this nightmare real. A coppery tang coated my tongue. It took a minute, but that taste was definitely my blood. A cough would be good about now, but I didn’t seem to have the energy to move, and my ribs hurt.

  “You awake, baby girl?”

  That voice. It scratched at my senses and set my nerves to buzzing. My skin vibrated beneath the flimsy sheet covering my nakedness.

  Wait!

  Where were my clothes? A pathetic croak worked its way out of my mouth.

  “I’ll get you some water. You need to behave, baby girl. No more biting. Boss needs you presentable for tonight.”

  I wished he would stop calling me his baby girl. It felt too intimate.

  “Where am I?”

  I didn’t want an answer to my question, but wishing this hell didn’t exist wouldn’t make it go away. It was time to focus, except my body craved more of whatever they had stuck me with. That floaty sensation promised relief from this unbearable pain. I wanted more. I needed escape, even if only to the blackness of unconsciousness.

  Rough hands pawed at me. The scratchy sheet was yanked back. I curled inward, instinctively trying to protect myself, but it was a useless gesture.

  “Please,” I begged, “no more.” But I wanted more of the juice. I remembered that word. It’s what they called the stuff they injected me with.

  The fog of my brain lifted and with it, memories returned.

  Juice.

  A drug which sent my mind spinning and my body flying. Too easy to crave, I would do anything to feel that rapture again, but my mind struggled to tell me that was not what I should do. Body and mind at war, I allowed the two to battle it out. In the meantime, rough hands forced me to sit and tried to make me stand. I collapsed in a useless tangle of limbs.

  “When was the last time you juiced her?” a second voice asked.

  How many men were there? I strained to find that answer.

  “It’s been a while,” another voice said. “She should be coming down from it.”

  Three men?

  I squeezed my eyes tight. How was I going to fight off three men?

  You can’t!

  “Well, we need to get her ready.” That came from the one who called me baby girl.

  He lifted me to my feet, but I promptly fell back on the bed when he released me.

  “What’s going on?” a groggy moan escaped my swollen mouth.

  “You’re going to have to carry her,” the second voice said.

  “We’ll wake her in the shower.”

  “You sure you didn’t give her too much?”

  The man standing over me snapped. “I gave exactly what he told me to give.”

  “Well, shit. She’s a fucking mess.”

  “Don’t worry. We’ve got time.”

  My world tilted and spun. Then it rocked as one of the men carried me in his arms. Forcing my eyes open, I saw nothing beyond the blurry veil covering my sight. Blinking didn’t help. I couldn’t focus. My scratchy lids merely scraped across tender eyes. Each time I blinked, I winced with pain.

  The world tilted again, and I gasped. Cold tile pressed against my butt. My legs folded beneath me, and my body flopped over on itself. I could stay like this forever, rocking silently with tears that did no good, but rough hands grabbed at me and forced me into a cold corner. Those same hands propped me into a sitting position.

  A low moan escaped my lips, one of helplessness and terror. I couldn’t fight. I couldn’t escape. I didn’t want to be here. A part of me said that if I simply shut my eyes, all of this would go away. Another part shouted in my head.

  Be smart! You can’t fight them, so what can you do?

  I had no idea what I could do. Be smart? What the hell did that even mean?

  Stinging needles of ice cold water hit me in the chest. I tried to scramble away, but a strong hand held me in place.

  “You smell like sweat and piss,” the man said. “Time to get you clean. You think about biting me again and you won’t like what happens next.”

  I didn’t remember biting anyone, but gave myself a little cheer.

  Yay!

  At least I’d thought to fight back at least once.

  Be smart!

  I wished that little voice would shut up.

  The man’s threat forced me to be still, or as still as I could be with ice running over my body. Couldn’t they have turned on the heat? Didn’t they have any compassion?

  Wait, don’t answer that. I didn’t want to know the answer to that question.

  The man’s hands ran over my body, coating my skin with soap and invading all my private parts with his fingers. He gave me a thorough scrubbing.

  I thought the invasion would progress, but he seemed more interested in actually cleaning me than violating my body. Nothing down there felt different. If I’d been raped, wouldn’t I feel something?

  I didn’t know.

  The man lathered and rinsed my hair, then dragged me out of the shower.

  My legs seemed to be working better. Some coordination returned, but I still wasn’t capable of walking on my own. I managed to half sit, mostly lean, against the man, as he put me in a chair and roughly pulled a comb through my hair. He then proceeded to practically burn me with the heat from a hairdryer.

  I slipped in and out of awareness as the men worked. My hair was styled. They applied makeup to my face. They maneuvered my weakened limbs into a dress, which felt soft and silky, like heaven. They did n
ot put heels on my feet, for which I was thankful. If I had to balance on heels, I would likely break my ankles. I guess they realized this and didn’t want their property broken.

  I still wasn’t ready to accept my change in status, but there were no illusions here.

  Be smart?

  That voice in my head had been silent during my primping and prep for who knew what. I needed to fight. To resist. I needed to do something.

  Control of my body came back by degrees, but I was far from steady as they led me down a long hall.

  “In here, baby girl.”

  The nickname made me cringe, but I followed the man’s lead. He gripped my upper arm and steadied me as he led me through the doorway and into a small lounge. Several other girls sat on chairs lined up in a long row. They looked as scared and wretched as I felt. Like me, they were dressed in long, flowing evening dresses.

  “Sit.”

  I was taken to the next empty chair in the row and forced to sit. I tumbled into the chair and bounced on the cushion.

  “If you promise to behave, I’ll get you coffee to help clear your head.”

  I stared at the other girls, mute with the terror swirling in my head.

  “Look at me.” His command had my gaze snapping to his face. Broad and without an ounce of compassion, his dark eyes seemed to see right through me.

  I meant nothing to this man and that might have been the most terrifying thing about this experience thus far. To him, I wasn’t a person.

  Which meant what?

  My mind struggled to piece together what was happening. What did all this mean? Abducted. Maybe raped? Drugged for certain. Now, dressed as if I were to attend a ball. What was going on?

  Come on Clara! You’re smarter than this!

  But my mind refused to cooperate.

  “Baby girl, I need you to drink the coffee, but I want your promise you’ll be a good girl and not spill it on your dress.” His eyes narrowed to tiny slits which brought a whole-body shiver rippling down my spine. “Or throw it in my face. Do you understand?”

  I returned a blank stare. My sluggish mind was unable to piece together a thought, let alone answer such a ridiculous question. He snapped his fingers in front of my nose, making me jump.