Free Where She Belongs (The Forever Collection Book 1) by Dani Wyatt Page B

passes out of Simon’s hands.
    But it doesn’t go to me. It goes to my husband, who is supposed to take care of me. If we ever get divorced he doesn’t have any rights to the money though, so when Victor and I do tie the knot, it’s until death us do part for real. Proper old school stuff.
    And, I have to produce an heir. I have to be pregnant and married for the terms of the trust to be fulfilled. Otherwise it stays in the conservatorship, which has limited power.
    I still shake my head at my dad. He loved us so much but he was so old fashioned. Didn’t realize we may have a different version of our lives in mind.
    I shiver under the blankets as the grandfather clock chimes in the downstairs parlor. I count the number of chimes. Six o’clock. I haven’t slept a wink and I don’t see that changing until I fall over, exhausted, tonight.
    Tonight.
    It dawns on me that Deck hired me and I have a job.
    I think of all the reasons it doesn’t matter and I’ve already decided I won’t go back. Leah was right. I need to grow up and stop with my crazy schemes.
    Besides, what happened with Deck can never happen again. It felt too good. Too right. And I know if I ever see him again, I will never want to come back here. I’ll never be able to marry Victor, let alone think of him doing the same things that Deck did to me. Just thinking about Victor touching me like that sends a very different kind of shiver through my body.
    You would think that of the two of them, I would be more attracted to Victor. After all, he’s closer to my age. And he looks like a slick advertisement in GQ. His helmet of dark hair, never a strand out of place. His cold, dark eyes feel as real as a model in the pages of a magazine.
    I should feel lucky. Lucky that someone with those looks would even want to marry someone that looks like me. But I don’t. I don’t feel lucky at all. I feel sick and I have to shake away thoughts of Deck’s mouth. His fingers. The taste of my orgasm on his kiss.
    As I curl into a ball, trying to shake the chill, I think of how other parts of Deck would have tasted if my mouth would have given him the same pleasure he gave me. And the tears seep out of the corners of my eyes, because I’ll never know.

Decker
    “W ell, fucking find a way!” I slam the phone down, then lift the receiver and slam it again, a couple more times before I finally put my head between my hands.
    It’s been almost forty-eight hours. Thoughts of where she is, and if she’s okay, are pushing me to the edge of madness.
    I called in a few favors with some cops that come in here, trying to figure out who that slick fuck was, the one who was sitting there the other night, talking about killing May. But their lack of urgency isn’t making things easy.
    I still don’t believe it. I know deep down that it can’t be true because who could think of killing someone as kind and pure as May? But I’m not taking a fucking chance here. I have to know for sure.
    The phone I gave her has a tracker in it. Okay, I lied, I don’t usually give them out to all my employees. But I had that one in my pocket so I gave it to her. I have a few special phones I give the girls if they are in trouble. Some of them have angry boyfriends. Pimps sometimes.
    Over the years I’ve taken on a paternal role with some of them so I keep track of their movements if I think they’re in danger. I think somewhere deep inside, I figured I would never have a family of my own. After watching the shit my mom put up staying with my dad, coupled with my own awkwardness when it came to dating, I just threw myself into helping out the girls here, sort of a replacement for the family I would never have.
    But I didn’t think May was in danger when I handed it to her. I just needed to know exactly where she was, if she were ever out of my sight.
    Only problem is the phone was dead when I gave it to her. And apparently she hasn’t followed my directions and charged it.
    “Goddamn it.”