“Are you all right?” he asked.
“Yes.”
He could have no idea what that simple gesture meant to her. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath, holding the gift to her chest. When the limo pulled up outside, she followed him outside. With a hand on her back, he escorted her upstairs. Next to him going through his office, she felt immature and out of her depth. There were so many women who would love to be with him, who could keep up with him at every turn.
She felt the stares and tried to ignore them. The hatred coming off the women threatened to burn a hole straight through her back. He yanked on his office door, and it opened instantly. Stacey stared at her but smiled rather than glared. At least there was one person who wouldn’t hate her.
For two nights, she’d gone home with the boss. For two nights she’d slept in his bed. Last night they’d done something that made her feel so good inside. Cadeon was working his way into her system. When she looked at him, her heart beat, and she felt alive. Someone was looking at her, not staring over her. Cadeon saw her; he didn’t see through her.
“Take a seat. Relax and enjoy.”
He threw his jacket on the seat and went around to his desk. She sat on the seat next to his jacket.
Opening the flap of her present, she read through the titles of the books available to read. Not many stood out, so she decided to start from the top.
His voice as he spoke on the phone would distract her. At times she looked up and caught him staring back at her. After a time, she pulled his jacket over her. She felt so calm and happy to be safe.
Chapter Nine
Dominic Green stared at the queue of girls in front of him. Some looked like they were knocking on death’s door. He picked out a selection before going back inside his office. Business was booming. The crisis in the world meant more people were turning to gambling, drugs, and women to escape the pain of their situation.
He lit up a smoke and sat down. Pouring himself a healthy measure of scotch, he glared at the picture on his desk. The girl was a pretty bitch, he’d give her that. She’d pack a couple of grand in a few nights. Some of his more expensive clients liked them on the chunky side with the girl-next-door kind of look.
His men had failed to gather any information on the girl’s whereabouts. It was as if she’d fallen of the face of the earth. Valerie had been a rare find, a girl with a heart yearning for love. How that bitch had managed to keep her daughter a secret was beyond him.
A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts.
“Come in,” he said.
His second-in-command stood in the doorway.
“Anything?”
“We might have got something. We’re not sure because it would lead us to a different country,” the man said.
“What are you fucking talking about?”
“We believe Valerie Walter’s daughter has moved to America, sir. We’re going through the scanners now trying to find a match. This picture isn’t the best thing to go on. It’s a little older, and we don’t know for sure how old she might be.”
Dominic lost his temper.
“I don’t give a fuck how long it takes. Get me some answers, and do it quickly. I want this girl, and when I get my hands on her I’ll show everyone not to fucking mess with me. What’s mine, stays mine.”
He rubbed his hands together just thinking about the pain he would inflict on her. The nameless girl who was causing him trouble.
****
Tate growled with frustration as every lead came up blank. There was no way he could find any fucking information about the girl that Cadeon wanted. That could mean only one thing. She was in the country illegally. Pulling the notes up he’d phoned through early in the morning, he picked up the phone and dialled Sean.
“Hello?” a female voice answered with a purr.
“Is Sean in?” he asked.
“Give it here, babe. Go and make some coffee. No, don’t put any clothes on. You won’t need them later.”
Tate rolled his eyes as he heard Sean giving out orders. “Sean here.”
“Don’t you have anything better to do than fuck?”
“Cadeon isn’t keeping my girl away from me. I’m a free agent until the right woman comes along. What do you want?”
“Cadeon phoned me this morning with more information about this girl.”
“Fucking hell. He must really like this girl.”
“Yeah.” Tate thought about his own girl, Rebecca Black. If he did this, he could finally get a shot with the only woman he’d ever cared about. He remembered the last time he had seen her. She’d been terrified, but he’d known right away what she’d come to mean to him.
“Give me the names and what-not.”