Page 94 of The Disputed Legacy
“First time?”
I nodded. “Another cop on the force found me trying to run away. He brought me back and raped me, then the cop who ‘owned’ me beat me and raped me. The only break I had was when I had my period. No one touched me then. I was left alone in my cage?—”
“Cage?” Murderous intent lit up his eyes.
“Yes. So, I tried again before my period was over. I broke out and ran again, getting caught by a state trooper in the next state. And lo and behold, I was dragged right back to him. I realized no law enforcement could be trusted. The next time he raped me, I just couldn’t take it. I couldn’t let that be my life. I tried again, breaking out and going home to take all the money I could find. Then I hid and ran and stayed away for months. I found out I was pregnant, and it made me promise that I would never be caught again.”
“And he never found you?”
“No. But he came close. I was pulled over for speeding once, on the way to the hospital, and I snuck away. I had to make up names, lie, work under the table, sleep in a stolen car… Just about anything you could imagine to hide from him and any cop who would look me up in the system and bring me back.
“I never used my given name, Rachel Noone, again. I became Willow Drake and I did what I had to, whatever it took, to avoid being dragged back to him. It would always be my word against his. He’d always get me back. So I hid. I earned everything underthe table. I got the crappiest jobs I could. You’ve seen how I never let Oscar out of my sight. It’s bad enough that I have to fear him finding me and taking me, but if he were to know I had a child, one he’d wanted to ‘breed’ in me, he would take Oscar too.”
“He’s dead.” He pulled me down in a tight hug. Closing my eyes tightly, I clutched him and breathed through all the angry and fearful emotions that swarmed in me at revisiting this story.
“He is a dead man walking,” he vowed as he rubbed my back and kept me plastered to him.
“I could never trust anyone. If they were to ever contact the cops, I’d be done for. If anyone were to get too close and learn anything about my past… I could never let myself date a man and risk them wondering about where I’d come from. Or get a driver’s license or own a car. Everything off the record…”
“You don’t have to worry about him, or any cop, ever again.” He framed my face and lifted me up so I could see the promise in his eyes. “It’s done, Willow.”
I inhaled a shaky breath, daring to believe. “Can it be done?”
He nodded and kissed my brow. “It will be done.”
“Because…” I winced, looking down. “I mean, I know rumors about Mafia families, but I don’t know what’s fiction and what’s not. What… to expect or believe.”
“The Ivanov Syndicate is one of the oldest, strongest criminal organizations in the country. We have never allied with the civilian police force, and we never will.”
“So if you were to… take care of him…”
He nodded. “I will. And you and Oscar will never have to fear him again.”
“Even if he’s not local? He was a cop, but when I was worried when Oscar was a toddler one time, I went to the library and looked him up. It sounded like he was promoted. Or in the DEA. Federal, not local.”
“It doesn’t matter who he works for. I love you, and you are mine. Mine to protect and cherish. And if he is a threat to you and your son, I will kill him, then wish I could raise him from the dead just to end his life again.”
I dropped down to him, hugging him so tightly that I worried I’d hurt him. He didn’t care, embracing me right back as I accepted the impossible. That I had found a hero, a real savior, who had the means to handle my enemy and nightmare.
No one else could shelter me. No other power or organization could rescue me. I learned that early on, and that was why I reimagined myself as an independent survivor, on the run, always hiding, and capable of deflecting and defending myself and my son because no one else would ever be there to support me.
Only Saul.
He could make his promise come true.
And I realized that not trusting him, not opening up to him and leaning on the love that built between us, could’ve been my biggest mistake of all.
“I love you, Saul.”
I sat up to kiss him, closing my eyes and letting the tears of relief streak down my cheeks. “I love you not because you want to save me. But because you could find me and fight to be with me no matter how many odds stood against us.”
“I told you,” he whispered after another hot kiss. “From the moment I saw you, you were mine. And I will love you forever.”
36
SAUL
Willow slept in late the next morning. I hadn’t kept her up all night making love. That would’ve been a distraction that might have helped her, but I wanted to be available if Oscar woke up in a strange place and looked for her.
