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Better than good now, she’s here in my arms, the heat and softness of her right and sure.
But it’s a fallacy, I kiss her softly, then ease her back and look at Diego.
“It’s done?”
“At least for now. I don’t know what they’ll do, if anything, about the sex trafficking ring. It’s not on our watch, and the message is clear. Keep out.”
Diego nods. “So, no fucking heads to crush?”
“Not from us. I’ll talk to you about this later.”
He nods again, touches Avah’s shoulder, and leaves.
Her blonde hair is pulled back in a low ponytail. She’s in jeans and a T-shirt, and my heart hurts.
She’s everything a man could want. Everything a man needs. She’s mine, and to have her happy, to give her what she wants, I have to let her go.
“Nicolo, what happened?”
“What happened is your boss was behind the fucked up shit being sent. Trying to get you all fucking scared so you were out of town.” I take her hand and show her the photo again. It’s still there, on the bed. I sit and draw her into me, between my legs. “It’s why I couldn’t work it out. You caught him in a photo where—”
“What?” Her blue eyes go wide. “What your Lina was saying?”
“Tesoro, this world is fucked. And if I could be the one to give you what you need and want, I would, but I can’t. And yeah. He was helping supply some girls.”
She shivers. “Me?”
“Probably,” I say because in the end, no matter what, she’s the kind of sweet innocence that those sick fucks love. Sell a girl to the highest, nastiest bidder. If she looks untouched, she has that air Avah has . . . yeah, even if she left, I’m betting Rhett would have kept tabs.
He would have come for her, had her, because the element of truth was there in the stalking. He wanted her, lusted for her. I saw it.
“But your boss was laundering money too. That’s how I got him.”
She swallows, looks at me. “Got him? We need to tell the police.”
“Fuck that. I handed him over. You’re unemployed as of half an hour ago. Because your boss won’t be breathing much longer. It’s what I do. What your father does.”
I bring her in and kiss her again, savoring it, memorizing the heat and softness as something in me tears apart.
When I ease her back, my hand curled on her ass, I look at her. “Tell me you don’t want a life away from this.”
She doesn’t answer, just stares at me, her blue eyes shimmering. “Nicolo . . .what? What are you doing?”
“Rejecting you. Ending this.” Fuck, pain rips through me as I say it. Because if I don’t, she’ll regret it forever. “You’re safe and we’re done.”
I push her from me now and get up, opening a side drawer next to the bed and pull out an envelope.
“Nicolo?”
“There’s five K in there.” I keep it for times I might need to bring a shit ton of cash with me to pay for information. But this time, I’m using it in such a way there’s a bitter, metallic taste in my mouth and that pain gets darker inside.
“You’re paying me?”
“Yes.”
“I’m not a hooker.” The horror, the pain, it’s almost too much to bear.
“You did service me.”
