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Alisha was faintly aware of Rueben calling in backup, lost in her head and the past that had caught up with her. Rueben explained the situation and gave their location but Alisha wasn’t paying enough attention to get all the details.
How the hell had she let this happen? If Alisha hadn’t been so worried about her reputation and her damn job, this probably would never have happened. Maybe if she’d let Rueben go to Detective Dan earlier, they would have found something sooner to help them catchThe Steed.
Or not.
But now they’d never know, and she’d always blame herself for putting Adam in danger. It was all her fault he’d been kidnapped. And goodness knows what was happening to him under that maniac’s hands.
“Alisha, babygirl. I need you to tell me what you know.” Rueben’s deceptively calm voice broke into her stupor.
The compounded fear for Adam’s safety and the nerves of having to share this secret with Rueben made Alisha’s voice waver when she turned to him and let him in on one of her less-than-great moments.
“I was very young, barely out of high school, when I found my first Dom online.” She paused to take a deep breath, and Rueben reached over to take her hand. “I was so naive and inexperienced. All I knew was that I needed something more, and went looking for it. He saw me coming.”
“Oh, sweet girl,” Rueben said in a hushed tone. He was still standing out in the rain, but he showed no care for the deluge coming down on him.
“It was barely a few weeks, and he had complete control of me. It was still all long distance, but he had my number, all my details, and even had control of my spending habits. I couldn’t even decide on my own lunches.”
“And you didn’t like it?” he asked her, his tone carefully modulated, not indicating where his thoughts were.
“I didn’t know any better. Look, I’m aware that there are plenty of subs or slaves out there who enjoy that kind of relationship. But this man, who was remarkably older than I was, saw me as inexperienced and I was. He never took the time to find out what I needed. And I didn’t know any better.
“And then, one day, I passed out between classes. I pretended it was nothing, and the few friends I still had left believed me. Until I passed out again. See…” Alisha paused and took a deep breath, embarrassed to admit how much control she’d given over to this man. “He thought I was overweight and had restricted my diet to the point where I wasn’t getting enough in to keep me going.”
Rueben’s hands tightened around hers, squeezing it so hard it hurt, but the pain kept her grounded in the now, stopping her from falling too deep into her memories.
“My friends grew worried and tried to get me to break things off, but I was convinced they were just jealous, so I broke away from them, instead. I refused to listen to them until I ended up in the hospital. Malnourished and underweight.” Alisha found it hard to get the words out, but she forced herself to push through, without looking at Rueben. She knew, no matter what, she wouldn’t be able to do this if she saw any kind of censure or disgust on his face.
“While in there, I got the help I needed to do what had to be done. It wasn’t easy, though. I had to change my number and ask the university to let me change rooms because he wouldn’t stop calling me or sending me letters.”
“Something tells me it didn’t stop there,” Rueben said. Alisha finally risked a peek at him, and the tremendous relief she felt at the acceptance she saw on his face gave her the confidence to share the last of her story with him.
“No.” She shook her head. “He showed up. Enraged that I wouldghosthim, as he called it. He’d worked so hard to save me from my ‘mundane life’. To teach me and mold me into the perfect little slave. We were standing in the middle of the quad, with hundreds of students around us, and he outed me to everyone there. And then”—she paused to take a deep bolstering breath—“and then he grabbed me by the hair and started dragging me away.”
Alisha’s mind got lost in the memory, against her will. She could feel her ex’s hard grip dragging her around. She had no choice but to follow, or he’d pull it out of her head. Lucky for her, there was a cop in the quad with them. She’d been visiting her baby sister. With a few expert moves, her savior had her ex on the ground with his hands cuffed behind his back.
That’s when Alisha decided she wanted to do that one day. Protect the people who needed it. The next week, she changed her major to criminal justice, and when she graduated, she went straight to the academy instead of going into accounting like she’d planned.
“He was stopped, and a friendly police officer helped me file a restraining order,” Alisha concluded her story, relieved to have the icky weight off her chest.
“Babygirl, not that I don’t believe you, but what makes you so sure it’s him who has Adam?”
Alisha looked at Rueben, finally feeling a bit steadier and more confident after hearing Rueben’s acceptance of her story.
“His name is Colt.”
Rueben was quiet, and Alisha hurried to explain.
“I know, it seems too obvious. But he used to joke about how he wasn’t my prince charming, or my knight in shining armor. He was much more than that. He was the steed the knight rode in on. The steed never got any recognition but was stronger than the knight. He made me call him that. Not Sir, or Daddy or Master. No. He wasMy Steed. And I thought it was sweet. I thoughthewas sweet and special.”
“Sweetness, I need his last name,” her Daddy asked as he took out his phone again.
“Cavallo.”
“Don’t worry, Ali. We’ll catch him and find Adam. Everything will be okay.”
Alisha took a deep breath to steady herself. He was right. Everything would be okay. She’d become a cop for this reason. She was a strong, capable woman with training. That young, naive girl was in her past.
“You’re right. We’ve got this.” She felt more confident as she said the words. They really did. With her Daddy, they could take on the world.
