Page 49 of Lily

“The kind you put in dogs with information so they can be returned to their owner if they get lost.”

She stared, confused.

“I think the tattoo was a coverup, so you wouldn’t realize you’d been chipped.”

“Why?” Her head was spinning. She looked at the computer again, realization dawning. “There are six boxes. One for each of us?”

“Yes.”

“Master J made these?”

“No.” His breath hitched. “I did.”

Her eyes bugged out. Her lips parted, but she couldn’t think what to say.

“Master J is not the ringleader in this operation. He was a pawn. His name is Jovani Russo—and he was arrested three months ago. He’s in prison.”

She shuddered. She had a thousand more questions than she’d had before. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

He sighed and lifted one hand to rub his forehead. “Because I wanted you to myself. I wanted to take you away and never look back.”

“You wanted me to be scared, so I would always be looking over my shoulder?” Stunned, she jerked back a few inches.

“No. Never. I would have told you that Master J had been caught, eventually, but that wouldn’t have changed anything. He’s not the man you’re running from. He’s not the man who sold you for a million dollars. He was a middleman. He didn’t even know who he was working for.”

Her whole body seized as she put the pieces together. “It was Santo.”

He nodded, the blood draining from his face. “Yes.”

“How long have you known?”

“Since you went missing, and he lied to me and told me you’d quit. That’s when I started digging into his private side business, looking for proof he was selling humans.”

“Why didn’t you do something? Why didn’t you call the police or the FBI or whoever gets called for human trafficking?”

He scooted closer, looking at her directly. “Rose, if I had thought that would do any good, I would’ve done so. But I knew there was a good chance you would be gone from me forever if I alerted anyone about what I knew. Three months after you disappeared, Santo asked me to create those chips. I had no idea what they were for at the time, but I did some research on Roberto Moretti. I figured out who he was and what his connection to Santo was—but that’s not important. What’s important was I knew those chips were somehow connected to your disappearance. I had already been looking for you. With the chips created, I suspected one of them would go into your body. There were six chips, so I guessed there were six women. I suspected something was about to change. And I was right. After the chips were inserted, you were sold to Vanderbilt. I hoped I could find you through the chip somehow. I searched day and night. I wasn’t about to stop until I found you. And I didn’t need to call the FBI. They already knew.”

“How?”

“You’re the last woman to be found, Rose,” he admitted.

She gasped. “All of the others have been rescued?”

“Yes.” He cringed. “I hated keeping that from you. I lost my mind when you called me. All I cared about was getting you back, helping you heal, making you mine. I couldn’t stand the idea of anything ever happening to you. I still can’t. But I’ve been lying to myself and to you. I have to let the FBI know I have you. I have to take you in. I have to turn myself in for the things I’ve done.”

“You didn’t traffic women,” she pointed out.

“No, I did not. My crimes go back eighteen years, Rose. Way before anyone was sold by Santo. I had no idea he was selling women, and to be honest, if I had found out, I might not have done anything about it because I was in a singular frame of mind. The only reason I got sidetracked was because of you. I was in love with you. It hadn’t been in my long-term plans, but it happened anyway. The fact that Santo didn’t realize that, because I hid it so well, was his downfall. I was working for him for one reason only. Revenge. My intent for the last fifteen years has been to destroy him. Then he sold my girl, and I stopped caring about ruining his fortune. All I cared about was finding you. It was an addiction.”

“And then I called you.”

“Yes, and I went into survival mode. I only cared about holding you, looking at you, reminding myself you were safe in my arms. I didn’t mean for us to have sex so soon. I would’ve waited a lifetime or never if that’s what you had needed. It was enough just to have you back. I only wanted to fix you and keep you safe.”

“You did, Stefano. I’m right here. I’m safe. I’ll heal. Eventually, I’ll be able to go outside and restart my life. I won’t be the same, but I’ll be a new version of me.”

“And I’ll love whatever version of you I can get. But I have to take you to the others. I have to tell the FBI what I’ve done.”

“Why?” More tears fell. “You said it was eighteen years ago? Who will care?”

---