Page 33 of Room One Hundred and Five

Adrian pulls me into his arms. He tucks me under his chin with a gentle hand on the back of my head.

“Go on, little flower. Tell us everything. You’re safe here.”

I hold nothing back. I spill my heart all over them and no one balks, brushes me away or tells me how disgusting I am.

“William promised to show me the world. He took me on expensive dates, lavished me with jewels and trips to far-off places I only dreamed about visiting. At first he kept his word to protect me. He used words likemine,foreverand that I was his, now and always. I felt special. I never asked him how he made his money and he never asked me for anything I wasn’t willing to give. And unlike the few superficial boyfriends I had in highschool, he never asked me to introduce him to my father. I thought he wanted me for who I was.”

I let out a huff of humor I don't really feel. “William was patient with me on many levels. I mean, he never forced me into bed with him. That is obvious given my V-card status. It wasn’t until the night he tried to kill me I realized the respect I thought hehad for me was a farce. He didn’t love me. I was nothing more than a trophy on his arm because of who my father was.”

Adrian takes my chin in hand and brings my gaze to his. God, this man smells like fresh sunlight on a cold winter day. Cool, crisp, and warm at the same time. Dark hair tumbles over his forehead and the stubble along his chin lends an air of danger to him that makes me feel safe in his arms.

Adrian wipes at a tear. “Who was your father, Stella?”

“I doubt you would know him. He kept to himself and never let outsiders get too close. He wouldn’t even let his closest friends share time with his family. The joke’s on him though, because my sister is marrying all three of his mentees in a few months.”

“Stella?” Emilio takes a long drag on his cigarette. “Your father’s name, little flower?”

There’s no way men like Emilio, Adrian and Stefan run in the same criminal circles as my father. My father was a gentleman thief. I consider their scarred knuckles and the tattoos. If anything, they are a different breed of criminal. “Vincent Moone.”

Silence falls over us. By the wave of recognition washing over their tight expressions, it might be safe to say I’m wrong. “How did you know my father?”

“He was a friend of my father’s back in the day.” Adrian considers me for a long moment before adding, “Tell us more about the man who hurt you. Willam. What’s his last name?”

I bite into my bottom lip. My hands find the hem of the shirt Adrian pulled on when we arrived at their apartment. I keep myfingers busy and my mouth moving. If I stop, I might never get it all out.

My heart hurts, but I push on. “About three weeks after we buried my father, I was left alone in William’s office. He took a call and stepped out. Curiosity got the best of me when I found a black ledger on his desk. Worst decision of my life to open it.” My head falls back and I watch the smoke from Emilio’s cigarette mingle among the hanging lights of their kitchen. “My insides turned to solid ice at what I found written on those pages.”

I turn watery eyes to Adrian and then to Stefan. Emilio grips my hand and I accept the strength he feeds through our connection.

“What did you read, Stella?”

Adrian’s voice is soft, in control and what I need to hear in order to keep going.

“William is more than a fancy lawyer who else crooked people get out of legal binds. He didn’t get all his millions of dollars from winning cases. He was helping a client move product for months. Months!Humanproduct. I was dating a man who earned profits from trafficking women.” My stomach churns. Maybe those pancakes were a bad idea after all.

Stings of curses leave the men’s lips.

Bile rises in the back of my throat at the memory of accepting gifts from him. The trips.

“I was stupid enough——arrogant enough——to think I could confront him about my discovery. So, so stupid.” I lift the edges of my shirt to reveal the scar. “Monsters are never the ugly ones hiding in the darkness. They are the ones right in frontof you wearing the beautiful clothes and making promises they never intend to keep. ‘Be careful of the handsome men with the charisma of a charmed snake, for they are the ones who poison beautiful girls’. My mother’s warning went unheeded and I nearly paid the ultimate price.”

Adrian’s arms wrap around me again, and Emilio is right there too.

I hold up my hand and push them away. “I need a minute, please.” I step out of their arms and leave the bar stool between them. I hate leaving behind their warmth, but I can’t let them touch me as I tell them this next part or I won’t make it through.

Three sets of concerned eyes track my movements as I put several steps between me and them. Cool marble against the bottoms of my feet help ground me so I can focus.

“The amount of anger he felt toward me is a memory I will never forget.” I wrap my fingers around my throat. My eyes slam shut, but the memories refuse to disperse.

“A rage so thick and heavy came out of him that night. Trust me when I say it nearly suffocated me. I don’t know why, but I froze up and didn’t hear him coming back to the office until he was on top of me with his hands around my throat.”

Tears stream down my face. All three men rise, but I hold a hand up for them to let me finish.

Dark brown eyes land on me. There is so much pain behind those thick black lashes I feel it to the core of my being.

“It’s okay. I can do this. Please. You have to understand why I can’t stay. All three of you are who I wish I could have known instead of the asshole I meet. But that’s not what happened.William had every intention of killing me that night and dropping me in the middle of the ocean. All it would have taken was a little money and a small space on the next cargo ship he procured for his client.”

I hate how weak I am. My chest heaves with the amount of fury coursing through me. All I want to do is give in to the pain and let it consume me.

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