Page 45 of Seduction

This shit isn’t anything close to what I was prepared for.

I was ready to find some shit about women and children, but the level of depravity that goes into grooming and manipulating hundreds of children into thinking you’re the be all and end all of their world is just fucking sick.

“Corden says they’re almost here,” Mathias says from a chair in the living room.

We’re all waiting for Haliee and the guys to get home so we can go over everything Ollie found on Dimitri, but it’s not going to be a pretty conversation.

Torren didn’t end up going with Creed because Ollie wanted him to be here with us, worried I’d lose it without him to ground me.

“How do you think she’s going to react?” Torren asks from beside me.

“She’s going to be sick and pissed,” I say with certainty and the three of them nod.

“Creed might lose his shit if he thinks Dimitri is planning on doing this to Haliee,” Ollie adds in, and I sigh.

“Probably a good idea to tie him down until we make it clear that he hasn’t planned all of this for Haliee.” I shake my head as we hear the car doors close.

“You don’t think he wanted this for her?” Mathias looks at me like I’m insane.

“I think he would have done the imprisonment and grooming, but he seems to have an attachment to her. I think he wanted to do a lot of the things to mentally fuck with her head until she saw him as a saviour, but I don’t think he would ever allow anyone else to see her,” I state.

“You think he’s in love with her,” Torren guesses, and I nod.

“I think he believes he’s in love with her, but in a very Creed kind of way. I think he’s too obsessed with her, and too much of a true sociopath to feel love.” I take a deep breath as I hear them walk into the room, knowing Creed heard me. “With Creed, we know he would never do this type of thing to kids and women, and we know he loves Haliee. Dimitri’s past proves he doesn’t care who he hurts or how he goes about it aside from refusing to rape underage women. That doesn’t make him a good guy,” I finish speaking, and Haliee walks over to us, crawling into my lap and wrapping her arms around me.

God, even being away from her for a few hours hurts. I am so in love with this woman.

“What happened today? Is it about Dad? Because I love you, Lukas, but I will stab you if you’re hiding something from me.”

I swallow, hearing the pain in her voice and actually feeling the fear creeping up my spine at her stabbing me. I’m not Creed, I do not get off on that shit, and I know she would do it without hesitation if I lied or withheld anything from her again.

“I didn’t tell you anything because I was unaware of what the call from Ollie was about until I got here, Scratch. I would never hide things from you again, baby. I promise.” I kiss the side of her head gently, and she nods in understanding before turning to Ollie.

“What did you find out then, my beautiful nerd?” She gives him a gentle smile that he lovingly returns as the others find a seat around us.

Creed is on the floor in front of the couch where Haliee, Ollie, me, and Torren are sitting. Barren and Cord both take up the love-seat across from us while Mathias is leaning against the wall like always.

“Dimitri has a more colourful past in Russia than we knew. He’s known there for kidnapping children and grooming them to trust and know only him, then when they come of age, they would strip and sell themselves in his clubs. They were his puppets,” he states before wincing. “When he fled Russia, presumably to come here to America since that’s where he is, they recovered a few of the girls. They’re locked up in mental health institutions for the rest of their lives because he brainwashed them so much that the therapists can’t get them to see him as anything but their hero and saviour.”

My stomach is literally sick over the details of just how brainwashed those women are. Just thinking about what he would have had to do to rewire their brains after being ripped away from loving families is enough to set any of us off with everything the others have been through in their lives.

“Creed, sit the fuck down,” Mathias barks out when Creed jumps up, wielding his knife like he’s going to gut the fucker right now. I knew we should have tied him up.

“He was going to do the same thing to my Doll!” he screams, and Haliee shakes her head.

“No, baby, he wasn’t. He would have brainwashed me, sure, but I don’t think he’d have fought to get to me this long if he just wanted me to be a piece of ass for him to make money with.” She winces and looks a little pale. “I think he wanted me for himself. I’ve heard some of his men talking in the past while they were fighting my father, and none of it fits with being sold like they were.” She shakes her head and Creed comes to sit back down, kneeling in front of her.

“No one is going to hurt you, Doll. I won’t let them,” he promises with a fierceness that leaves no room for doubt, and we all grunt in agreement.

I watch Haliee lean over and hold his face in her hands before kissing him hard until his body settles, and she pulls back.

“I know you guys won’t let him have me, Creed. I trust you; I promise.”

BANG. BANG.

There’s a hard knock on the door, jolting us from the moment.

Sharing a look with Mathias, he checks the gun in his waistband before heading to the door.

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