Page 33 of Trident: Mayhem Makers

“Where are you taking me? Back to Australia?”

Panic had my heart racing as my mind swirled with possibilities, which did not help my headache.

“I’ll be heading home eventually, but first we’re making a stop in Kaua’i to drop you off.”

Closing my eyes, I rubbed my fingers over my temples again. My head was still pounding and I wasn’t in the mood for my uncle’s bullshit games.

“Can you give me a straight fucking answer already? I have a splitting headache and am not in the mood to play twenty questions to get the information you know I want.”

He sighed like I was ruining his fun or something. Not that I gave a shit.

“Fine. You want the facts? Your father sold you and your mother to me the night before the fire.”

He couldn’t have possibly said what I thought he had. Could he? “Sorry, he did what?”

I’d have loved to have been able to slap the slimy smirk off his face, but was honestly too shocked by his revelation to even try.

“Yes, Grace. You see, my brother loved to gamble. He’d gotten addicted to the rush of it all, but unfortunately, he never was any good at it. In the end, he owed quite a substantial amount to a loan shark who had threatened to start breaking body parts if he didn’t pay up. When he came to me to bail him out, I made it clear I couldn’t simply gift him the funds. He needed to offer something in exchange. Sadly for him, all he had that was worth anything was you and your mother. It didn’t take me long to convince him his only option was to sell you both to me. I was actually surprised at how easily he agreed to it. He was meant to deliver you both to me the afternoon of the fire. But instead of simply bringing you both to me, the fool tried to explain to your mother what he’d done, how it made sense. Naturally, she refused to come quietly. Gordon had thought he had her cowed enough to do anything he told her to, but turns out he didn’t have her under his thumb as much as he’d thought. It was for you she fought. To protect her only daughter, she found her long forgotten spine and attacked him. Of course, he was stronger, and well, you know how that ended. Gordon fled after the fire got out of hand. He came to me begging for help.Again.” He paused to take another drink. “Such a fool. I had my men take him to the police to deal with.”

Bile churned in my stomach. Gordon had died way too quickly. He’d sold his wife and only daughter into human trafficking to pay a fucking gambling debt. What sort of man does that?

“What were you planning on doing with us?”

I almost didn’t want to know what he’d planned, but the fact he’d come for me now had me thinking it was about to become my future, and I preferred to know rather than go into whatever it was blind.

Another of his shark smiles that had my skin feeling too small for my body didn’t exactly ease my fears.

“Well, you’ll be happy to know I had planned on allowing your mother to continue raising you.” He paused a moment, like he was expecting me to thank him or some shit. When I stayed silent, he huffed before continuing. “Not full time, of course, only when she wasn’t busy working in my stable. Gordon was a fool to keep a woman like her to himself. The money he could have made would have more than covered his debts if he’d been putting her to work since the beginning.”

Bile rose up my throat making me gag, but I managed to keep it down, while also refusing to let the tears that stung my eyes fall. My uncle had intended on pimping my mother out. My father, her husband, hadknowinglysold her into sex slavery.

“Don’t be so upset, my dear. You weren’t ever going to end up there with her. You were much too valuable to waste there. A sweet, innocent young girl who was already showing signs of the beauty she would grow to be. You, I auctioned off. Made a large sum of money from that auction, and a powerful alliance with an up and coming Yakuza man.”

I shook my head, what he said didn’t add up. “Stop lying. How were you going to let my mother raise me, if you’d soldme off to some bloke in Japan? And what were you planning on doing with Donny? He never would have stopped looking for us.”

Donny and I were half-siblings, with different fathers. Donny’s dad had been the love of Mum’s life. A US Marine who’d died in combat. He’d had a sister here in the US who Donny was sent to live with after the fire.

He frowned, “I have not lied. Kenjiro Takeda is not a pedophile, he wanted you for his wife. You were to be raised by your mother until you were eighteen. With your red hair, you’re quite the novelty to Asians, and he wanted to ensure his future bride would be a virgin, who had been raised to know how to behave as a made-man’s wife should. As for Donny, I would have brought him into the fold, made him a soldier for the family. He was still a teen, the perfect age to being training as an enforcer for the family.”

I scoffed, he knew nothing about what type of man my brother was, but I wasn’t going to correct him. Let him find out when Taz slit his throat for all he’d done.

“Well, considering it’s been some time since my hymen was intact, and I was raised by an AFP agent to be the very opposite of what this fucker Kenjiro no doubt wants, I wouldn’t have thought he’d be interested in me anymore. And are you trying to tell me he’s what? Waited all these bloody years in the hopes I was still alive and would be found?”

Stupid tears of frustration stung my eyes again. My headache had dulled a little since I’d woken, but my uncle’s bullshit was starting to make it worse again. He’d kidnapped me, was taking me far away from everyone who’d be able to help me, and now he was spinning some story that made no fucking sense.

He scoffed after draining the last of his whiskey. “Of course not. He has a wife and a daughter. That’s why we’re going toHawai’i. You’re to be his mistress, hidden away from the world until you bare him a male heir he can train. Then he might divorce his wife to marry you. If you’re lucky. Although, I doubt it if you continue to swear like you do. He’ll want a lady. Oh, and the reason he still wants to take possession of you is because he paid a fuck ton of money to me for that privilege. I can’t tell you how happy I am you survived that fire, my dear. Now my alliance with him and the Yakuza can get back on track and I can get the power and position within the family I should have risen to over a decade ago.”

Well, fuck. I was so screwed. Literally if I couldn’t find a way to escape before this Kenjiro guy locked me away somewhere.

A young woman came toward us from the rear of the plane.

“Mr. Milani, are you ready for the dinner service?”

Trying to gage if she’d be an ally, I watched her closely as she sauntered up to stand beside my uncle, leaning down to pick up his empty glass from where he’d sat it on the table between us. Obviously guessing my thoughts, my uncle held my gaze, with a raised eyebrow, as he put his palm on her lower leg, sliding it up, taking her skirt with him as he went up the outside of her thigh. Setting the glass back down, the woman straightened and with a moan of pleasure, moved so she faced him. His gaze left me and went to her as he used both hands to shove the fabric of her skirt up around waist, baring her lacy thong and stockings that were connected to garters.

“Very nice, pet. I hope this is a sign of your skills.”

Her voice was breathy when she responded. “Yes, sir. I’ve been fully trained to be able to provide any service you might request of me.”

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