Free The Alpha's Prize by Krista Bella

Chapter 1
     
     
    "You go find that piece of shit and tell him to bring my fat her's God damn brooch back here right now, Erica!" her father yelled at her, his face purple with rage.
    Standing before her father's desk dressed in a pink, baby doll dress, Erica Clayworth rocked back on her heels, taken aback by her father's vicious outburst.
    For some reason, her father, Jerle, thought that Erica's friend Connor Greyson, had stolen a treasured family relic.
    It galled Erica, because if she knew one thing for sure, Connor wasn't a thief.  He would never steal from her. Not ever .
    It was bad enough that her father had banished Connor from the Clayton estate for good when he found out that he was working for him at his daughter's request.
    It had been embarrassing, the way Jerle had laid into Connor. Erica had been impressed by Connor remaining calm and cool all through the ordeal seeing as how he had a temper himself.
    The cool way Connor had weathered her father's fury furthered convinced Erica that he could not have stole his brooch.
    "I blame you for this!' Jerle stabbed a finger at Erica's large breasts , continuing his tirade, his iron-grey hair reflecting a ray of sunlight coming in from the window behind his chair. "If you were not so damn desperate for dick, this would have never happened!"
    Erica's breath was nearly sucked from her lungs. Desperate for dick? What was her daddy talking about? Connor had been her childhood friend for ages. Though hot as-all-hell, he was like a brother to her and she was like a sister to him. There would never be anything more between them.
    I may have had feelings for Connor once, she thought, but that stopped once I seen all the skinny chicks that was after him.
    Besides that fact, Erica was practically a virgin. Ever since putting on weight in high school, her confidence had taken a big hit.
    "Do you know how important that piece is, Erica?" Her father's angry voice pierced her musings. "It's a family heirloom that has been passed down generation to generation for centuries! And it's gone now because you did not hire someone trustworthy to work on this house!"
    " Connor is as trustworthy as they come, daddy," Erica protested. "You just don't like him because you hate his dad and think all Greysons are liars and cheats." The Greyson family and Clayworth family had beef going back decades. Erica knew very little of what it was about, having not been alive when these sordid events had taken place, but she did not care. The past was the past. She had grown up with Connor through grade school and he was as honest as they came. There was no way he had stolen the brooch. Her father must have simply misplaced it.  "And if you wanted someone else to do the job, you should have found them yourself instead of asking me to do it."
    Jerle paused, staring at his plus-sized daughter like she had lost her mind. " Found them myself?" he growled. "Do you have any idea how much work I do around here, girl, how busy I am?"
    Nope, because I do all the work.
    Her father waved his hairy knuckles at her face in exasperation. "How else do you expect to drive around in that tasteless, pink convertible that I bought you and wear the fat girl dress you have on right at this second?" Jerle snarled.
    God damn it, daddy ! Erica shouted inwardly. It's too early in the morning for this shit!
    Erica held back her emotions as she studied her father's rage-filled face. It always came back to this. Her daddy never failed to remind her of his position and how much she should be grateful for it.
    Never mind the fact that she worked for him and that he worked her like a dog, having her run his antique shop in the middle of town, iron his clothes, schedule his appointments and whatever flirted his fancy at the moment.
    " Although I am grateful for everything you have done for me," Erica said evenly through gritted teeth, "that has nothing to do with subject at hand. Connor did not steal that brooch." Erica scratched at her