Page 89 of Never Quiet

Chapter Nineteen

June – September 2016

The day Amanda landed in Florida, the sexually explicit but not very revealing image she’d personally selected had been purposely leaked to the dark web.

It landed on her trafficking entry within hours.

The next morning, her first waking up in her new house with her new team, Noel, Chaz, and Dakota knocked on the door of her bungalow.

Ash led them through the house to the kitchen where the three of them had been chatting over breakfast. Their visitors’ expressions told Amanda instantly that something was wrong.

The smile dropped off her face and Roark moved to stand beside her. Noel held out her cell phone.

Amanda’s bounty went up by six million.

Confused, she murmured, “But, everyone said…”

“Your contract with Helios is known now. You’re the only person he’s ever endorsed. Apparently, if he wants you, the most discerning collectors of beautiful things want you. They removed all reference to you as a virgin.”

Shaking, Amanda turned to the trashcan and vomited everything in her stomach. Ash held her long braid and Roark appeared with paper towel and water.

“We have to speed up your training. It means long days. Morgan wants to launch you in December. He needs you in New York by early November. He wanted you there a month earlier but there’s no way we can work that fast.”

“G-give me a minute. I need a minute.”

“Amanda! We don’t have a minute. When a bounty surpasses twenty million, it brings out mercenary teams from all over the world jockeying to get to you first because the split is worth it among several people…”

“Noel…” Chaz began.

“No! It’s either speed shit up or put her in a bunker. That’s all we’ve fucking got left. Which is it going to be, Amanda?”

Straightening, she wrapped her braid tightly to the base of her neck, secured it with the band around her wrist, and took the bottle of water from Roark.

Rinsing and spitting several times into the trashcan, she wiped her mouth and walked to the sink to wash her hands and face. From the fridge, she took a lemon wedge from a little container and squeezed it into a fresh bottle of water.

Rinsing and spitting some more, she said, “Let’s go.”

“Amanda…”

“Let’s go! We’re wasting daylight.”

She walked through the house to the garage, her team beside her. Without looking at anyone, she got in the back of the SUV and they slid in the front seats.

Roark asked gently, “Are you okay, Amanda?”

“Not really. Everyone said…the virginity was supposed to be such a big thing. Talking to Erick about it, knowing the camera was going off, it wasn’t what I would have chosen. Not exactly spontaneous.”

“No one will touch Amanda.” Ash growled at Roark from the passenger seat. “We will kill them all.”

“Yes,” his partner replied. “We’ll kill them all.”

“I am really angry.” She rubbed her temple firmly. “If I seem snappish, it isn’t you guys.”

The men chuckled. “We know. Believe me, we know.”

Angry, confused, and nauseous, she texted Hayden.

It was all for nothing! Like I wanted to schedule my fucking deflowering and enlist a male to do the deed like hiring a contractor to paint a room! These assholes are relentless. So much embarrassment that wasn’t even necessary.

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