Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 61169 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 306(@200wpm)___ 245(@250wpm)___ 204(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61169 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 306(@200wpm)___ 245(@250wpm)___ 204(@300wpm)
I find my phone in my pants, pull it out and glance at it, seeing a message from an unknown number on my screen.
U – You better watch your back, Willow. You messed with the wrong person. He was mine. He belongs to me.
I know it’s Sharleen, and I know she’s mad, but I’m not going to take her threats.
W – Do not text me again, Sharleen.
U - Don’t walk alone, Willow. You never know who might find you. You’d be a pretty slave.
The fuck? What the hell is that supposed to mean? Something about her words makes me feel so incredibly uneasy. I don’t like it, not for one moment.
I turn my phone off and toss it aside, drifting into a restless sleep.
What the hell is Sharleen up to?
Why do I have a feeling it isn’t going to be good?
7
Jagger returns late; I don’t know what time, but I feel him slide into the bed next to me, his hard body curling around mine. It feels good, a feeling I’ve missed so much. I roll to face him, and his lips brush over mine, the beginnings of a beard scratching against my face.
“Sharleen messaged me tonight,” I murmur, sleepily.
He freezes. “What?”
“On a private number. She messaged me threatening me.”
“Show me.”
I push up, rubbing my eyes, and then I reach for my phone on the bedside table and find the messages, handing it to him. I can only see his face in the dim light my phone is shining up, but I don’t miss how his features harden.
“What the fuck?”
“What does she mean by I’d make a pretty slave? Is that some sort of joke? I don’t get it.”
He goes silent, for so long I wonder if he heard me.
“Jagger?” I push.
“Willow, you’re not to go anywhere without me from now on. Do you understand?”
I’m confused.
“What?”
“Do you understand?”
I flinch. “You’re scaring me ...”
He reaches over, flicking the bedside lamp on. When he faces me, I see something in his eyes, something that makes my skin prickle.
“You know the drug ring, on the island?”
I’m confused.
“Yes, but what has that got to do with Sharleen?”
“That’s not all it’s used for. They don’t just sell drugs, they sell ... humans. It’s used for human trafficking.”
My entire body goes rigid.
“What?” I whisper.
“They take and sell women, even men, as sex slaves.”
I shake my head, eyes scanning his face, confused. “Okay ...?”
“After what you said tonight, about Sharleen knowing where you lived, it got me curious. Talked to the guys, and I have a bad fuckin’ feeling she didn’t come back to be with me, I have a feeling she came back because she’s part of it all and you got in the way of her plan.”
This is too much.
This can’t be happening.
“Sharleen is working for those people? People like Manchez?”
“I don’t know, but her comment to you ...”
“You think she wants to sell me?”
Bile rises in my throat.
“I don’t know,” he growls, “but somethin’ isn’t right here. That man following you, her comment—I don’t think you’re safe.”
This can’t be happening again.
It can’t be.
He pulls out his phone without so much as an explanation and dials someone. A moment later he begins talking. “Huck? I’m cashing in my favor. I need information.”
Huck? As in the officer who told us of my father’s death? I knew he was part of this, but I didn’t realize he owed Jagger a favor. This just keeps getting worse. I thought this twisted web of fuckery was over, and it seems like we only just scratched the surface.
My mind is swimming.
“I want information on my wife. I want to know if she was in protection, and if so, with who and why. I thought it was because of the shit I was messin’ around in that had her locked up for her own safety, but I’m startin’ to think that isn’t the case.”
Silence.
“Call me back when you know. And Huck? If you so much as breathe a word of this to anyone, I’ll end you.”
Jagger hangs up the phone, and my eyes widen. He faces me, and I’m honestly struggling to process what the fuck just happened.
“Get some rest, we’ll sort this out in the morning.”
Get some rest? Get some rest?
He must be out of his mind.
“I can’t sleep, you just told me your ex might be trying to fucking sell me.”
He reaches over, curling his hand around the back of my neck. “Nobody will ever fucking touch you while I’m around, do you hear me?”
I swallow.
I’ve heard those words before.
Jagger is not God.
“How did nobody pick this up earlier? Didn’t you question why Sharleen was in protection to begin with?”
He releases me. “I thought it was because of me, because of Manchez, because of the shit that was going down. She told me it was for her own protection, and I believed her. I never thought she might be on the other side of all this.”