Page 76 of His Wild Seduction

Phones, tablets, and computers could all be traced.

I’d confiscated what she’d brought, offering her son an older but safer tablet to use. Then, I locked her things away in a go dark bag and stored them in the safe.

I recognized the name brand clothes she wore, and the designer backpack her small son had carried in with him. They came from money. Or her abusive piece of shit husband did.

Ellie was safer than she had been before she arrived. That was just a fact. Too often did these cases turn fatal, and so many women did not get the help they needed.

That was why I worked at St. Elizabeth’s and why I hoped my husband wouldn’t mind that I used the money my stepfather had paid into my old bank account for years, to set up temporary housing for those women who didn’t want to sleep inside the shelter. Women who just didn’t feel safe there.

I understood.

I mean, the shelter was easy enough to track. Plenty of exes had tracked their spouses or significant others to our doors, and the resulting confrontations were difficult and sometimes violent.

Ellie was one of those women who felt she needed to go elsewhere. But where? That was the question.

She was fine at the shelter for a little while. But her husband had money and he would find her. She knew it and I knew it. Which was why I also knew she wouldn’t stay there long.

She needed something more permanent. And I was going to find it for her.

With a little over seven figures in my account, that’s what I had of Franklin Gray’s blood money, I called the shelter’s lawyers and asked them to find a place I could buy as a sort of off-site accommodation for women in the tri-state area.

They were looking into it, and I felt a deep sense of satisfaction knowing I could use the money for something good. Sure, the law tried to help, but I never met a restraining order that could physically stop someone hellbent on hurting another.

Ellie’s was just one story, but something about her drew me to the woman. Maybe it was her sweet little boy. Either way, I left work feeling a sense of hope for the first time in a long while.

The night security guard waved goodbye to me when I went into the hall to meet Mario who’d arrived at four to bring me home.

I had no idea the surprises that were waiting for me inside the condo. And when I saw them, I cried happy tears.

Such beautiful surprises.

If my husband was trying to sweep me off my feet, he’d succeeded.

Dresses, gowns, pants, blouses, purses, and shoes. Dozens of the most exquisite items I’d ever seen had been delivered to the penthouse.

Even better, all of them had pink somewhere in the design.

And there, placed right on top of the bed, was a small envelope with my name scrawled across the back. I opened it, and there was a note tucked inside.

Pick something delicious, Little Red. I’m feeling ravenous.

Your Big Bad Wolf.

Excitement filled me and I’d giggled for five full minutes as I flitted from bag to bag and hanger to hanger.

Everything was so beautiful. So colorful. And all the right sizes.

Someone had obviously been inside the condo, because all the dresses and clothes were in the closet on velvet-covered hangers. I couldn’t wrap my head around it.

I felt like a teenager getting ready for prom. Something I’d missed in my youth.

We were going to a party. Tonight. And he wanted me to meet his friends. Squeal!

I was nervous, but also eager to be introduced to the people close to him.

I took a quick shower, careful to keep my long hair dry. I dressed with care, rubbing the new jar of imported body butter my husband had bought me all over my skin first to make it soft.

Josef had truly outdone himself. I only hoped he was happy with the result.

---