Page 70 of My Three Rivals

Lou stood back, folding his arms over his slim chest, shaking his head. “It means this time, I won’t work with junkies and idiots,” he replied. “How old are you?”

I pressed my lips together, my gut screaming not to respond, but his backhand came unexpectedly, throwing my head back.

“I asked you a question!”

“T-twenty-six!” I choked, tasting blood.

“Shit. I really do need to watch your faces…” Lou muttered, more to himself.

His scowl deepened. “You’re old, but you’ll do,” he decided as ice filled my bloodstream. “At least for now.”

“W-what?” I gasped, struggling against my bindings.

He rolled his eyes and again crossed his arms.

“You really think I’m going to let so much money slip out of my hands? I’m not going to let those monthly checks from the Suncrop boys just disappear.”

My heart beat faster. What had I done? I was terrified.

“We’ll see how much I can get for you. I doubt it’ll be much, given your feistiness, but you are pretty sexy… well, when you’re all cleaned up, at least.”

“You can’t sell me!” I screamed, my fire returning as I fought.

Lou began to laugh, and he dropped his arms to chuck me under the chin.

“I really would have rather avoided the hassle,” he agreed. “But it looks like your partners at the vineyard don’t much care what happens to you, or they wouldn’t have stopped paying. You’re probably just a pain in their collective asses, sweetie.”

He chucked my chin again and turned to disappear the way he came.

“Where are you going?!” I screamed desperately.

“I have phone calls to make,” he replied, glancing over his shoulder, appearing surprised by my question. “See if I have any takers for a mouthy, overaged bitch. It’s probably not going to be an easy sell, so you might be here a while.”

He hesitated. “Maybe I should get you cleaned up and see what’s under all that filth,” he murmured, his eyes flicking toward the center of my dirty pants.

Horror washed through me, and for the first time in my life, I found myself speechless, terror overtaking my voice. Inside, I was screaming, crying, hysterical, but outwardly, I struggled not to show him how frightened I was.

“On the other hand, there’s no sense in wasting soap. You’re only going to stink again by the time I have buyers. The margins are shitty enough with you.” Shrugging and grinning, he sauntered away, leaving me trembling and bound where I sat.

Obviously, wasting my breath was futile. If anyone could hear me, he would have covered my mouth—or there were others around this abandoned boat storage, but they weren’t out to help me.

I had left the house without anyone knowing where I was going and put myself in the very danger that all the men had warned me about.

I was on my own—again. But this time, I wasn’t getting out… at least not alive.

CHAPTER30

Atticus

By five o’clock, I couldn’t wait around anymore. Tegan hadn’t returned, and my instincts told me that something was wrong—very wrong.

“Do we still have that guy at the SPD?” I demanded after trying Tegan’s phone for what felt like the hundredth time.

It continued to bounce to voicemail.

Wyatt eyed me warily. “Guardino?”

Maverick started to shake his head. “Atticus, we can’t use him. The last time, he said he wasn’t getting involved with us anymore.”

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