“What happened to her mother?”
“We found the local priest. Unfortunately he’d been beaten to a bloody pulp and killed before we could get anything out of him. However, they hadn’t burnt his church or house to the ground, and we had the paperwork for Violet. Every little detail of how he got her out of the United Kingdom and into the States. It would seem the priest had a soft spot the girl and the mother as he kept note of them in his journal. The reason Tate couldn’t find her was because she wanted to stay hidden. She has no immediate traceability to anyone who looked. She’s nothing more than a ghost..”
Cadeon didn’t like the thought of where this was going. “Are you telling me, Violet is in trouble?”
Sean glanced at Stephen and the owner nodded his head. “Green never gives up, and the last sighting of him he was on American soil, Cadeon.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Cadeon sat in his car, staring at the house. He glanced at the file that contained all the information on the woman he loved. She was in danger, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. Turning the car off, he walked into the house. He heard her in the kitchen. Anne would have left for the day. His life had gone from shit to worse in a matter of hours. It was only eight at night, and he felt he’d been up days.
Violet stood at the corner. He saw she was using a rolling pin on some dough, humming to herself. She hadn’t looked up to see him. Did she even know he stood there? Violet glanced up as and smiled at him.
“Hi.”
He stared at her smiling face, feeling drained and exhausted.
“Who’s Valerie Walter?” Cadeon asked. He watched her pale and sway on her feet. Usually he’d assist her, but this time he didn’t trust himself. The tension in the air grew between them. He knew, by looking at her face, the file contained the truth about her.
“How do you know her name?”
“A prostitute and known drug smuggler. She also has a history of convincing young girls to become part of the ring.”
Her tears fell. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Cadeon moved closer into the room until he stood in front of her. “Don’t lie to me, Violet. You could be in danger. Do you understand that?” He shook her as the fear overcame him.
“Stop it. You’re hurting me.” The tears in her cascaded down her cheeks.
“Why didn’t you come to me? Why? I could have protected you.” Cadeon knew what he was saying was wrong.
“Because this has nothing to do with you,” she said.
“Nothing to do with me? Violet, these people are real. They don’t forget anything.” She was shaking in his arms.
“They don’t know about me, and what you said about my mother was wrong.” She attempted to pull away from him. Cadeon held her tighter.
“Violet, your mother has a record. She got caught.”
“They were only using her. I never knew everything she did. I wasn’t part of it. All I had to do was be quiet until they went away.”
He watched the tears fall down her face. His heart felt like it was being butchered by a blunt knife. “You could have told me,” he said.
“Why?”
“I love you.”
She shook her head. He held on, but she was too frantic. She pulled out of his arms and slapped his face.
“You don’t love me. You like to think you can control me.”
“That’s not the way it is,” he yelled.
Their first fight.
“You’ve warned me about your controlling nature before. Do you even want me now? The daughter of a whore?”
He knew how broken she was. She looked like the world was on top of her shoulders. “I’m going to take care of you.”
“No. You’re not.”
She ran.
****
Violet ran with the hope of escaping her past. She’d never thought her day could end like this. For the past few days she’d thought about nothing but telling him her shameful secret. Only he’d somehow found out. She didn’t know how. The cold felt good on her exposed skin. The pain helped her get past so many obstacles.
Her head was ringing. Cadeon was so angry with her. Violet ran until a stitch in her side rendered her useless. Gasping for breath she rested her hands on the back of a park bench. She was in love with Cadeon Ashwood, and he knew her secret. The daughter of a whore. He would never allow himself to touch her again.
The love she’d finally found was lost to her forever. The only mistake she’d ever made was being born. She’d not been party to that. Her tears fell as the hopelessness of her situation overcame her. Life moved too fast. The changes unexpected.
“Well, I guess if you want something hard enough, they’ll practically walk right into your hands.”
Violet stood up. Two men approached. She didn’t recognise anything about them. The danger was present, and she thought about what Tate had taught her. The few moves he’d had time to show her before Cadeon came for her. The moment one of the men was close enough she slapped him while she kicked the other between the legs. She ran before she had time to think about what she was doing.
The wind rushed out of her as another man took her down, slamming her against the hard cement path.
A cry escaped her, and then darkness.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Cadeon was frantic. She’d taken off without arguing with him. Why had she left him like that? He’d take care of her no matter what. Grabbing his mobile he punched in the numbers as he followed the direction she’d taken.
Sean picked up on the first ring.
“She ran out of here.”
The man cursed on the other end.
“What?” Cadeon asked. They’d all come to an agreement for him to take her back to the club with the intention of keeping her safe until Sean could call some of his friends. The guy had a history of his own. Scary shit that Cadeon didn’t want to even think about.
“I hate to alarm you, my friend. Green was spotted about a mile from your house.” Cadeon didn’t listen to the rest. He ran out of his house, then closed the phone and put it in his pocket. He thought about where she could have run to. Violet loved open spaces. He went in the direction of the park.
How the f**k had Dominic found out so much information about Violet? It was as if he’d been led right to her. Not wanting to think about the situation, Cadeon ran, hoping against hope that he’d been right. The park seemed like the ideal place she’d try to escape to.
“What you’ve got to remember is that Dominic has been hunting her for years. It was only going to be a matter of time before he found her,” Sean said.