Page 14 of Torment

James handed Scarlet a brown envelope. “All the proof you need is in there.”

“What is this?”

“Every letter, every photo, every movie ticket we ever bought while we were together is in that envelope.”

“You kept it?”

“I kept everything.”

Scarlet and James stared at each other, and something told her that he wasn’t lying. She could see it on his face. The way his eyes seemed like they were on the brink of bleeding with unshed heartache, and the way he stared at her with so much regret plastered all over his face—all of that told her the man in front of her was telling the truth.

Desperately trying to keep her composure, to not show any weakness, Scarlet turned around and walked to the other side of the couch, still clutching the brown envelope in her hands.

“What kind of business are you in that is so dangerous it would make you break my mother’s heart and keep you from being a father to me?”

James took a deep breath while rubbing his hand over his bald head before walking over to his desk and taking a seat behind it. “I guess I have to start at the beginning, then.”

“That would be a good place to start, yes,” she said with sarcasm.

James glanced at Riggs and they nodded at each other.

“Okay.” He leaned forward on his elbows. “We run a secret operation where we infiltrate the underground sex market, posing as buyers or agents.”

Scarlet shook her head slightly. “What does that even mean?”

“We buy girls on the black market, take them to various safe houses, rehabilitate them, and then give them a life free of slavery.”

Hunter stepped closer to James. “So let me get this straight. You’re sex slave dealers?”

“Yes. But our only goal is to save as many girls as possible.”

“How?”

James looked in Scarlet’s direction. “Your grandmother has been funding this operation for the last thirty years. And I’ve been head of this operation since the beginning.”

And then it dawned on her. “That’s how you met my mother, isn’t it?”

James nodded. “Yes. I was at Bella Vista one day for a meeting with your grandmother when I met your mother for the first time. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen in my entire life.”

Scarlet gave a tiny step closer. “That’s why you couldn’t be with her.”

“I’ve been head of this operation ever since your grandmother and my uncle started it. I’ve successfully infiltrated this sick world of sex and slaves. I live by a completely different identity. To most, I’m a notorious slave dealer who finds clients and make the deals.”

“And this is why the girls in this safe house can’t see your face. They can’t know that you actually saved them.”

“Exactly.” James nodded.

Hunter jerked his head toward Riggs. “And him, where does he fit into all of this?”

James looked in Colton’s direction. “Riggs is my, how shall I put it, apprentice. I’m not getting any younger, and the day will come when I will no longer be able to head this operation. The sooner I get someone else in on this, introduce someone new into this world, someone all the bad guys will trust by the time I’m gone, the better. But right now, he’s still a card I’m keeping close to my chest. Once he’s learned all there is, he’ll start dealing with me.”

Scarlet glanced at Riggs. Funny, she never figured this tall, brown-haired, brown-eyed guy was into shit like this. Sure, he looked badass with his gun and his soldier attitude, but she never figured him as a slave dealer impersonator.

Riggs caught her staring at him, and she quickly looked away.

“I wanted to be with your mother, Scarlet. I really did,” James continued. “Not a day went by that I didn’t wish there was some way I could be with her—with you.”

“Then what stopped you? You could have walked away from this. You could have chosen us.” With every word, she felt anger filling her insides little by little. “Nothing was forcing you to keep doing this, to stay away from us.”

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