“Make your point, but if this is a business decision, you don’t need my assistant tied up,” I said.
“Your assistant,” he said. “This little nerd is your assistant? I thought he was just your hole for the week.”
My fingers burned to grab my gun and fire off a couple of shots at him. “Five,” I said, counting down. “Four.” I sucked in deep. “Three.”
And as I got to two, Locke asked the question he’d gone to all these lengths for. “Access to your harbor, to the imports,” he said. “We have shipments coming in, but nowhere to import through.”
“Now, you know I—” I looked at Isaiah again. He’d sweated right through blue croptop and matching sweatpants—maybe he’d also peed himself a little. He didn’t deserve to bescared like this. It was my fault, and I’d need to make some compromises for his safety. “There’s an import fee of thirty percent.”
“Fifteen,” he countered.
It was always fifteen, he was so unbelievably easy. “Deal,” I said. “Now, untie him and bring him to me.”
They immediately started to untie Isaiah. He was sobbing, his chest and body shaking. I couldn’t do anything yet, he needed to be brought across the road to me. There was a moment I imagined just unloading my chamber and hoping through adrenaline I’d find the bullseye marked on their foreheads.
“Pleasure doing business with you,” Locke said with his smug smile.
Isaiah rushed behind me, shivering, while Locke stood in front of me. I stared at him for a moment, picturing all the things I was planning on doing to him once I had Isaiah in a safe place. Locke stuck a hand out and I couldn’t take it. I knew I’d end up breaking his wrist.
“No,” I let out with a growl.
Rocco shook the hand instead.
“See, that was easy,” Locke laughed. “We didn’t need all the dramatics. But next time, I’ll make sure to come to you directly. We can work together.”
If I clenched my teeth any harder, I feared I might make the enamel turn to a gritted mush between my teeth.
I got Isaiah into the car and we drove for a moment. He hugged my arm tightly, not speaking, until I pulled over into a roadside space near the park. He looked at me with those big eyes.
“Sorry for making a mess in your car,” he said softly.
“It’s not your fault, baby,” I said. I ran my fingers through his hair, pulling his head close to kiss his forehead. “We’ll get them back, I promise.”
“I was scared, Daddy,” he said before sobbing.
I squeezed him into a hug, holding him as we stayed in the parked spot for a moment. “I’ll never let anyone hurt you, ever again.” And that went for his mother too. I didn’t want to insulate him in my love completely, but cutting him off from her was going to be next, I just didn’t know how to get there.
11. ISAIAH
I was numb. Every part of me had lost feeling. I didn’t say another word until I was safe in Daddy’s penthouse again. And only when we were alone did I fully breakdown into a mess of tears and whatever else was coming out of my face.
“I’ll never let anything like that happen to you again,” Daddy said, kneeling on the ground to cradle me, as I was in the fetal position, broken inside with fear of what might’ve happened today. The sensation of the gag around my mouth and pulling my arms tight behind my back. “Just glad you kept this on.” He stroked a hand over the bracelet and I flinched.
“They—they tried to take it,” I said, sniffling now. I didn’t know what stopped them—maybe it was their leader, Locke. I didn’t think they were going to hurt me, they just wanted to use me as a bargaining chip in whatever they were doing—drugs, probably.
Eventually, I got to Daddy’s bathroom where he undressed me out of my soiled clothes and ran me a bath, adding all the expensive-smelling bubbles into it. I continued to sit on the tiled floor, naked, waiting for the bath to fill with just the right temperature.
“How did you find me?” I asked in a whisper.
“The bracelet,” he said, swishing a hand in the tub. “You’re mine, baby, and I like to keep track of my things.”
Suddenly, my dick was twitching. This wasn’t how I thought my body would react to what happened today, but here it was, becoming aroused, and I was doing my best to hide it. The last thing I wanted was for him to think I was a freak.
“It’s okay,” he said, removing my hand to see my cock getting harder. “You just need me. And I need you too. But morethan that, I need you to get in the bath, get all cleaned up, and then you can exist in your little space for as long as you need.”
“Are you sure, Daddy?” I asked. “Because—” And I was pouting so much. “I still have to pack and bring all my things here.”
“I’m doing it,” he said. “You’re not leaving again, unless it’s with me. You hear?”
