“Easy,” Blaise said.

  I opened my mouth to tell him to let me go when the first heave hit me, and I tried not to get it on him. He moved me then, but didn’t let go of me.

  “Go get her a cold towel,” he said as another wave hit me, and I threw up again.

  He was holding my hair back as another came. My legs were weak, but Blaise was holding me up.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered once it stopped.

  Huck was there, holding out a cloth to Blaise. He sat me back on his lap, then cleaned my face. I let him do it. I needed him to because never in my life had I needed to know someone loved me more than in this moment. I’d only had one family, and they had betrayed me in a way so horrible that I wasn’t sure I’d ever recover from it.

  “How could they?” I choked out.

  “Heroine. It destroys people,” Blaise said. “That wasn’t the man who had raised you. Try to think of it that way. The drug took over his brain. Everything that had made Luke the man you called your father was wiped from him. The drug took all that.”

  Would I ever be able to accept that? Believe that Luke was gone? That the decision to sell me hadn’t been him anymore? I didn’t think I could. He’d had a choice. I couldn’t truly believe that drug addiction could make you that cold toward your child. It didn’t seem possible.

  I recalled that evening. Replaying every moment in my mind. “I came back to the apartment two hours later than usual. Their mom had been forced to work overtime. It had been so quiet. I went to the fridge to find something to make us for dinner.”

  “I know. I was in the apartment across from yours,” he said softly against my head.

  “The empty one.” It slowly began to make sense. “The one that was never rented out.”

  Blaise had been there.

  “The cops came. The sheriff came before the chili was ready. He told me about their accident. Said how sorry he was while I broke down and cried. Mrs. Miller heard me and opened her door, then rushed over and wrapped me up in her frail, small arms while she spoke with the sheriff.”

  “You looked so fucking lost and broken. My chest felt as if it was going to explode,” he told me.

  He had seen it all.

  “The rent was overdue, but I couldn’t stay in there alone. Mrs. Miller took me back to her apartment. Then, all that food came from those people who claimed to be from the local Baptist church, and they helped me go through the apartment.” I lifted my head and looked at him. “The people from the Baptist church …” I said.

  “Were damn good people,” he replied, but I could see the truth in his gaze.

  I’d never gone to that church—or any church. Mrs. Miller had said that was what local Southern church folk did. Except she’d said they normally brought casseroles and pies, not enough groceries to feed an army for a month. It had been him. He’d paid them or done something. All those things that hadn’t made sense back then because I’d been too upset to think about it were clear now.

  I laid my head back against his chest. Blaise stood up, still cradling me in his arms, and began walking. I didn’t ask where. I didn’t need to know. For once, I didn’t want any more answers. I might never want answers again. I feared them.

  The truth behind the lies wasn’t always a relief. It could also be the thing that nightmares were made of. Horrific nightmares that would forever change you.

  Blaise opened a door to the downstairs bedroom that Saxon had said was the master bedroom that his parents used. I hadn’t gone in there at all, and the door had been closed.

  When we entered the room, the smell was distinct. Mint and leather. Blaise. It wasn’t because he was in here. The room was his smell. I turned my head to look, and a massive four-poster bed sat in the middle of the room. The bedding was a dark gray, and the sheets were black. This looked nothing like something Melanie would choose. It was masculine. It was simple.

  Blaise continued into the master bathroom before sitting me down on the edge of a large tub. I looked up at him, then around the bathroom. When my gaze landed on the open door to the walk-in closet, I saw black boots, faded jeans, and a cowboy hat. Items I recognized. They weren’t hanging in an empty, unused closet meant for a rental house. There was a closet full of clothing.

  “This isn’t a rental cabin, and it isn’t the Houstons’ cabin,” I said, then turned back to Blaise.

  Blaise shook his head as he brushed hair out of my face. “No, it’s not. I had Saxon pick you up because he was someone I knew you trusted. I couldn’t let you walk on the road, unprotected. He was the only one I believed you’d leave with,” he said, then cupped the side of my face as his eyes locked on mine. “But if you weren’t going to be with me, then you were going to be somewhere that belonged to me,” he said, then dropped his hand and reached around me to turn on the water.

  This didn’t surprise me. Not now. Not after all I had heard.

  I wasn’t sure if my name was truly Madeline anymore. Was I really nineteen? Had my mother wanted me? Had anyone before Blaise ever wanted me? Everything I had thought I knew about my life had been a lie.

  I had wanted to hate Blaise for lying to me, but my entire life had been a lie.

  I looked up at Blaise. He was the only one who had ever cared. He’d lied to me, but he had done it to protect me. The pain in his eyes even now was genuine. He didn’t want me to hurt.

  Had anyone ever truly cared if I hurt?

  I thought about Melanie and the Houstons. It had all been orchestrated by Blaise. Melanie wouldn’t have known where I was or even looked for me.

  Then, something else began to sink in …

  “Blaise, whose credit card is it that Saxon left for me? It has my name on it, but Saxon said Melanie ordered me one with my name.”

  He added bubbles to the water. “It’s yours,” he replied. “Your name is on it.”

  “I have no money or bank account,” I replied.

  “I said it was yours. Not that you would pay for it. Can you stand up so I can take these shorts off?”

  I stood and watched him undress me. “Who pays for it?” I asked him, although I already knew.

  Only one person on earth had ever cared for me. The others had accepted me and brought me in because Blaise had told them to. Not because they cared for me as a person.

  “You’re mine. Who do you think pays for it?” he replied, then slipped my shirt off. His gaze went to my chest, then to me. “Get in the water. It’ll make you feel better.”

  I wasn’t sure anything could make me feel better, but I did what he had said. He was taking care of me. He wanted to take care of me.

  When I sank into the warmth, I looked up at him. “The clothes Melanie bought me,” I said.

  “Yes, I paid for them, Madeline.”

  How had I not figured that out by now?

  I looked back at the bubbles as they covered me. “What about the rental car?”

  “Not a rental. Did Saxon not give you the envelope?”

  The one he’d left on the counter for me. It was still in my duffel bag.

  “I haven’t opened it,” I whispered.

  I was prepared for him to ask me why, but he looked at me as if he could find the reason in my eyes.

  “The SUV is yours. Title is in your name. Insurance and registration papers for the vehicle—it’s all in the envelope. Along with a letter from me telling you that I would love you until I took my last breath. Even if I had to live this life watching you from a distance, I would always be waiting for you to come back to me.”

  I lifted my eyes to meet his. If I had read those words, I’d have been wrecked. He had no idea the power he held over me.

  “You bought me a car?” I asked realizing what else he had informed me.

  Blaise bent down until his eyes were level with mine. “I would buy you a fucking island if you asked me.”

  I frowned. “I didn’t ask for a car.”

  “No. But you needed one.”

  I held his gaze for a few more moments before the reality of everything I had just heard sank in. I dropped my eyes and felt the ache from loss deep inside. Not just the lives of the two men I had thought were my family, but their love too. Something I had never had and perhaps deep down I had known that. I’d wanted to be loved so badly that I had made excuses for them.

  “I’m sorry,” Blaise said again.

  “I understand. You saved me from people I thought loved me.”

  “I never wanted to tell you that. I swore to myself you’d never know. I hated Luke Reese, but you loved him. He didn’t deserve you. Neither did Cole. Without you, they’d never have made it as long as they did. But hurting you like this, knowing that the truth would do this to you, that was what I couldn’t face. That was what I fought so hard to keep from you.”

  As I sat there in my thoughts, which I knew were going to haunt me for a long time, if not forever, I thought about the sheriff who had come to the apartment. He’d told me about my dad and Cole’s accident. Looking up from the bubbles, my eyes met Blaise’s. He was watching me.

  “How did you get the sheriff to come tell me a lie?”

  A dark smile that didn’t meet his eyes formed on his lips. “We have cops, judges, and politicians at our disposal.”

  I bit my tongue to keep from saying dirty cops, judges, and politicians. His world was one I didn’t understand. I hadn’t wanted to. Living in the dark and loving him had been the only way I could deal with it. But now, knowing that I’d been living in a darkness before him and not realized it, things would change. I had changed.

  My thoughts went to those photos left for me at the top of the stairs. Someone had wanted me to see them. Someone had wanted to hurt me. But who? Did I even want to know? Not now. I wasn’t ready for that yet. I knew the answer was going to be yet another betrayal. No one who cared about me would have left them for me—because no one cared about me but Blaise.

  Six

  Madeline

  The flight back to Ocala was on a private plane. Huck was driving my new Mercedes back. I was going to deal with that later. I wasn’t keeping it, and that was going to be a fight with Blaise. Mentally, I wasn’t ready to discuss it. He wouldn’t see the issue. Claiming that I was his when we were having sex was one thing. Paying for everything in my life was another. It wasn’t equal, and it felt wrong. The amount of money he had spent on me in my life was more than I’d ever be able to repay him. It was overwhelming to think about it.

  I slept during most of the flight, which I was thankful for because my stomach wasn’t settled today. I’d eaten some toast for breakfast while Blaise scowled. He’d wanted me to eat something more. He wasn’t pushing me though. Not after yesterday. I was still accepting the truth.

  My head was resting on his shoulder as we rode in the back of the limo that had picked us up at the airport. He had woken me up before landing so I wouldn’t be startled. I needed an anchor to keep from losing myself, and Blaise was that for me. What I felt for him went much deeper than love or lust. It was frightening to accept that I needed him like I did.

  “You can go get in bed when we get home,” he said, kissing the top of my head. “I’ll let you sleep before I fuck you.”

  The casualness in his tone as he said it made me smile. A real smile, not one I had to force.

  I tilted my head back to look up at him. The perfect lines of his face and his firm jawline, set off by the green of his eyes, only highlighted the seductive, wicked appeal of his appearance. There was a reason women loved him, even without the knowledge of his power or wealth. It was an unfair advantage he had in this life.

  “What if I want fucked first?” The words spilled from my lips before I could think them through.

  Since I’d opened my eyes this morning, I’d craved connection. The reminder that I existed and I meant something to someone. Sex wouldn’t heal what was broken inside me, but it would make me forget the betrayal. Blaise made me feel alive, important, wanted. Being with him gave me a reassurance that my brokenness needed so desperately.

  His gaze darkened immediately. “Say that again,” he said.

  “What if I want fucked first?” I repeated.

  A devilish smile spread across his face. “I like hearing you say fucked.”

  I snuggled back against him, drawing relief from the pain buried inside of me simply from his touch. His hand slid between my thighs, and I uncrossed my legs, wanting nothing more than contact. He’d been careful not to touch me sexually since yesterday. Having his hand there was an unspoken promise to make me forget it all. If only for a short time. To escape into a place only he could take me. Where nothing mattered but being joined with him.

  “You wore a sundress.” He sounded pleased.

  I nodded, but said nothing.

  “Open your legs wider.” He demanded.

  I obeyed as a thrill ran through my body. It felt naughty to be doing this in the back of a limo. It felt public, although the windows were tinted. With reckless abandon, I would do what he wanted. Give him what he asked for.

  My gaze dropped to my lap, and I watched his hand moved up my right thigh until he met the wet fabric of my panties.

  “Soaked already?” His tone was amused. “Take them off, Madeline.”

  I lifted my hips and pushed them down until I could kick them free. His hands went to the zipper on the back of the sundress, and as he slid it down, the straps on my shoulders fell until my bare breasts were exposed. I leaned back, and his eyes dropped to my chest. He began unzipping his jeans. When he had his erection free, he slowly stroked it while he looked at me. I licked my lips in anticipation, loving how his large, tanned hand looked, wrapped around himself as he slid it up and down, finding pleasure as he looked at me.

  “Straddle me.” His deep voice was husky now.

  I was ready to do anything he asked of me. I stood up as much as the limo would allow causing my sundress to fall further down my body, then shook my hips enough to make it slip down to the floor. His eyes followed me, locking in on my breasts as they swayed with my movements. I stepped over my dress before straddling him, wearing only my heels. He held his cock in one hand as his other went to my waist and guided me down onto the engorged head.

  “Ride my dick.” His voice was thick with the same urgency I felt clawing just under the surface.

  I sank all the way down until he was completely inside of me. A cry escaped me when I was fully stretched and full of him. I glanced back over my shoulder toward the front of the limo. The opening between the driver and us was closed.

  “Fuck me, baby. Don’t worry about him,” Blaise said, grabbing my waist.

  I started to move my hips up and down his thick shaft. The friction on my clit was different from this angle, and I started to speed up until I was bouncing. Blaise leaned forward and took one of my nipples in his mouth and began to suck. I moaned with pleasure and held on to his shoulders while I rode him. Having the control was powerful. I was using his body to get my pleasure. I could feel my release building and bounced harder, forcing him even deeper.

  His hands flexed on my waist, and he laid his head back on the seat to look up at me. “Fuuuck! That’s it. Ride it, baby. Take my dick.” His mouth was slightly open as he breathed heavily, his eyes hooded.

  My orgasm was so close, and I wanted it. I leaned forward so that my clit rubbed against him with each move of my hips, and it only took three more rocks before I cried out his name, shaking as the peak of ecstasy crashed through me.

  Blaise let out a shout, and his hips jerked as he pumped his release into me.

  I fell forward onto him, pressing my chest against his. He wrapped his arms around me, and we stayed like that until our breathing returned to normal. Blaise caressed my bare back from my neck down to my bottom. I shivered from the touch and cuddled closer to him. If I could stay like this forever, then I could live with all I knew. This was a place where nothing else mattered. Sated in his arms.

  “You stay like this with my dick up inside you, I’m gonna get hard again, and we are going to have round two,” he said close to my ear.

  As if that was a threat. The idea aroused me. I wiggled my hips, wanting more. I knew my emotions were all over the place, but when Blaise was inside of me, I belonged. I knew I was wanted. I was loved. As fucked up as it sounded, it was my raw truth.

  “Damn,” he groaned, then gripped my butt cheeks with both hands. “I’m not kidding, baby.”

  I sat back up and began to move my hips back and forth slowly while he watched me with lust flaring in his eyes. He wanted me. Seeing him look at me like that was like a balm to my broken soul. I arched my back, and his thickness began growing inside of me. I moaned as I felt him harden and lengthen.

  “So fucking beautiful,” he said, reaching up and running his hand over my left breast, then to my stomach. “And full of my cum.” The grin that curled on his lips was gorgeously wicked.

  I started to bounce on him again, and he grabbed my waist to stop me, then picked me up until he pulled completely out of me. I didn’t want that. I shook my head, wanting to go again. Blaise stuck his fingers inside of me then, and I gasped as he pumped them in and out, then ran his slick fingers over my clit and then down the inside of my thighs.

  He looked territorial as he rubbed his cum on my skin and around my folds. “I want you full of my cum, leaking it from this pretty cunt all the time,” he groaned.

  “Yes,” I agreed.

  “Don’t leave me again.”

  His tone was angry, and then he slapped my pussy hard. I jerked, crying out.

  “I’ll chase you down next time. Pump you full of my cum until you can’t walk, much less escape me.”

  I shivered as his voice took a low, dark tone. I was reminded of the dangerous man he was known to be, but it excited me. His hand rose, and he slapped at my wet pussy again. I whimpered as my clit pulsed.