Chapter 4

Silver.

Silver.

Ivan's voice was raspy as his hot breath bathed the sensitive skin at the nape of my neck. I didn't move because I knew it would be over soon. When he said my name like that…

"Silver, wake up, sweetheart."

I sucked in a breath because Ivan had never called me that. I hadn't known that Ivan's so-called endearments had been ugly ones until I'd started using his computer to look up some of the names he'd called me. It had taken me weeks to even figure out how to use the internet, but when I had, it was like I'd walked into a whole new world, and I hadn't really cared that the names Ivan had called me most definitely weren't sweet or romantic.

At first, I'd never risked more than spending twenty or thirty minutes to explore all the internet had to offer because there were times when Ivan would expect me to be lying next to him so he could fuck me again. But as he"d aged and especially once his mind had started to be less clear than it had once been, a little alcohol and the handful of pills he'd consumed like candy usually meant I'd had hours, if not all night, to learn about the world outside my own before crawling back into bed with the heavyset man.

I'd always made sure to be in bed as dawn broke because that was when Ivan would pull me against his sweaty, dirty body and force his morning erection into me with only a little of his spit to ease the way. Afterward, he'd lumber to the bathroom to relieve himself and forget my presence for a while, which I'd used to mentally distance myself from what he'd done to me. Even as his release had seeped out of my pained ass, I'd put the shame and hurt into that little part of my brain that would let me forget. Once I'd learned there was a life outside the only one I'd known from the moment my parents had handed me over to Ivan, it'd been easier to escape into my mind to a place where I could pretend I was safe and loved even as my body was being used in the most degrading ways.

Silver.

There it was again. Ivan most definitely had never called me any kind of name in a way that made a sliver of warmth unfold deep in my belly. I tried to hang on to the sensation as I waited for Ivan's heavy body to roll off me so I could breathe more easily, but all I heard was my name being called over and over. I couldn't stifle the cry of frustration as Ivan's heavy body continued to press me into the mattress. Fear tore through me as the softening dick that was still buried deep inside me began to harden again. He never took me so fast again. Not anymore. I needed those moments after he pulled free of me and left the bed to find the mental strength to escape into my mind where I could put the encounter in the past and once again feel numb.

"Damn it, Silver, wake up!"

The words were like ice water being dumped on me. I gasped as I tried to sit up, but I was still being held down, this time from the front. Ivan had never taken me from the front.

The line between sleep and reality began to disappear when a gentle but deep voice said, "Hang on, I've got you."

The restraints that had been holding me in place disappeared and I instantly sat up. My lungs hurt as I tried to take in deep breaths. My eyes darted around my surroundings. Even as I gasped for air, one memory after another was like a slap to the face.

Maggie's funeral.

Walking in the rain.

A stranger with a gentle voice.

Dry clothes that smelled like the man next to me.

"Dalton," I managed to choke out.

"Focus on your breathing," I heard Dalton say and then his big hand was rubbing circles over my back.

That hand felt good in so many different ways that I focused on it and nothing else. When it made a complete circle, I'd inhale. With the next circle, I'd exhale. It took a while to match his rhythm but when I did, his hand slowed even as it continued to rub circles against the soft material of my shirt.

His shirt.

Despite the fabric on the inside of the shirt being worn down, it still felt good against my skin. I wondered what it would be like if there was no shirt separating us.

Reality slammed into me like a freight train as I remembered our arrangement. I'd know what his touch on my skin would feel like soon enough. I yanked my body as far from him as I could. My side hitting the inside of the car door made the bruises on my body scream in pain.

I reminded myself that the bruises were a good thing. They were proof that Ivan would never be able to touch me again. The beating that had nearly killed me had been Ivan's last punishment.

He was dead.

I'd watched him die.

Some of his blood had splattered the side of my face when a bullet had ripped through Ivan's head. There'd been a lot more bullets flying but by then a heavy hand had pushed my naked body to the floor, leaving me to stare at Ivan's lifeless body as blood pooled beneath his head. At first I'd thought the heavy body that was partially covering mine was one of Ivan's men, but it hadn't been. Whoever had put their body between mine and the flurry of bullets that seemed to be coming from everywhere had taken a split second to whisper in my ear that everything would be over soon. I couldn't remember anything about the man besides his rumbly voice and the way he'd covered my body with his heavy one yet hadn't pressed his entire weight down on me. I must have blacked out at some point because I couldn't remember anything after those words had been spoken in my ear.

"Silver, it's okay. You're safe now."

They were Dalton's words.

I was with Dalton.

I was safe.

For the moment.

"Where are we?" I asked, terrified that we were already at Dalton's house. I wasn't afraid of the Dalton before me now, but what would happen once we walked through his door? Would he fuck me up against it right then and there? Or put me on my knees first? Maybe he'd bend me over whatever piece of furniture was convenient.

Two hundred dollars,I reminded myself. I wasn't sure how far it would get me, but I doubted I would have made that at a bus station.

"We're at a gas station," Dalton responded. I managed to settle my eyes on him. He was leaning away from me, his hands in his lap, palms flat against his thighs. His position made me feel better. I wondered if he knew that and that was why he'd done it.

"We've still got a few hours left until we get to my house. This gas station has a restaurant attached to it. We can sit down and eat if you're hungry or get something to go," Dalton explained. "They have restrooms inside," he added.

"Restrooms?" I asked in confusion. "Why would people want to rest in a room in a gas station?" I settled back into my seat and looked at the building we were parked in front of.

"They're bathrooms. Restrooms is just a fancy way of saying bathrooms," Dalton explained.

I felt like an idiot. It was the seat belt thing all over again. There was only so much you could learn from the internet, especially if you didn't know what you were looking for. I definitely hadn't had any reason to look up fancy words for bathroom.

"Um, okay," I began to say when something in my mind clicked, and an unexpected wave of betrayal came over me. Instead of reaching for the door, I curled in on myself and wrapped my arms around my stomach to try and ease some of the cramping that had taken over from the moment I'd realized I'd fallen for Dalton's act.

"Silver—"

"So what's the plan, Dalton? I get out of the car and they grab me, or are they sitting in the restaurant just waiting for me to walk inside?"

"I don't understand?—"

I was so angry that I jerked my head so I was looking him right in the eye and snapped, "You know my name. I never told you what it was, so that means you talked to Jace or one of his friends—the ones who brought me here!"

I already knew Dalton was guilty but to see him drop his eyes had me wanting to cry. Tears wouldn't do anything—I'd learned that a long time ago when I'd begged Ivan to take me back to my parents after he'd raped me the first time—so I refused to allow the ones that were currently stinging the backs of my eyes to fall.

What I couldn't keep myself from doing was studying Dalton's profile as he stared at the floorboard of the still-running car. He was considerably larger than me and definitely more heavyset. Physically, he reminded me of the men who'd been in charge of taking Ivan's girls to and from their "dates," but that was where the similarities ended. Like when I'd been changing inside the car and had looked at him, he'd turned his body so that there would be no possibility of him seeing me as I'd changed. He'd remained there even as he'd shifted his weight back and forth on his feet… like he was uncomfortable.

Physically uncomfortable.

But he'd stood there patiently and hadn't uttered a word for me to hurry up.

I reminded myself that I didn't care. I'd trusted this man even if I hadn't fully understood why, but this whole time he'd been driving me into a trap.

How could I have been so stupid, so careless? Despite the rain that had soaked through every layer of the only clothing I owned—the only thing I owned—I'd been free.

Truly free.

Scared shitless about what was to come but fucking free.

When Dalton didn't respond to me and even refused to look at me, I turned and began searching for the door handle. As soon as I found it, I reached for it, but the door wouldn't open when I pulled on the handle.

Panic rushed through me. Some of Ivan's vehicles had been like this. I'd always been in the back seat, but I knew it was the same thing. Only the driver controlled the doors. No matter how many times I'd tried to open those doors to attempt escape early on when I'd been a kid, they never had, no matter how many times I'd pulled the handle.

I didn't bother to try it again because I knew it wouldn't get me anywhere, and there were so many buttons on the door that I had no clue which one to try.

"Let me out," I demanded. Even if there were a dozen men waiting to pounce as soon as I got out of the car, there were enough people around that if I screamed my head off, my attackers would surely be forced to let me go.

"I spoke to Jace shortly after you fell asleep. I knew he'd be worried about you?—"

"You're a liar!" I snapped as I stared at all the buttons on the car door. None of the symbols made sense. Some had numbers, some had what looked like little pictures.

"That I am," I heard Dalton say on a sigh.

His admission had me pausing in my search and turning to look at him in surprise.

"Jace and Caleb and all those men and women at the funeral are so fucking grateful to you, Silver. What you did for Willa…" Dalton shook his head. "Jace never stopped believing his sister was alive. He followed up on every lead he ever came across, and I was there when he came home without her. I think deep down he knew he would never see her again, but I have no doubt that he sees her every day in that baby's eyes."

I saw a fleeting smile grace the man's mouth despite the neatly trimmed beard that covered his lower jaw, chin, and just above his lips. The beard, while not bushy, even continued up on each side of his face until it nearly met his hair. I felt a little twitch of curiosity go through me as I studied it. What would it feel like? Would it be soft or rough to the touch? How would it feel against my skin if he?—

What the hell?

The inner voice reminding me where I was and what was about to happen was a brutal wake-up call.

"Why are you telling me this?" I asked even as I thought about Willa's chubby face. I hadn't taken care of Maggie's daughter for very long after we'd made our daring escape from Ivan's compound, but it hadn't mattered. I'd fallen in love with that baby the moment I'd held her in my arms. Her trusting blue eyes had most definitely been Maggie's.

All thoughts of escaping the vehicle fled as my memory shifted to the day that I'd betrayed Ivan and helped Maggie and her baby make their escape.

"I couldn't save them both," I heard myself whisper. Those damn tears were back but my body instinctively held them at bay, something I was extremely grateful for because I'd never felt more like letting go of the emotions that consumed me whenever I thought of that moment when I'd had to choose between Maggie and her child.

"What happened?" Dalton asked, his voice soft and gentle.

I tried to remind myself that I'd already told this man—this man who'd deliberately set a trap for me—too much but it was like my mouth was on autopilot.

"They were going to sell Willa. I didn't even really understand what that meant until Maggie explained it to me. There's some kind of… um… place or something where they could sell her…"

I struggled to remember the words.

"It's called the black market," Dalton supplied. "White babies with American heritage are sold to people who can't or won't adopt a child through normal means. They can sell for tens of thousands of dollars, maybe even more depending on how desperate the buyer is or how the baby looks."

I nodded because Maggie had used a lot of the same words when she'd told me her baby would be taken from her and she'd never see the infant again… never know what had happened to her. Maggie had survived the time she'd spent in captivity after she'd been kidnapped and her boyfriend had been killed while they'd been touring Europe, but she'd never have survived losing the baby she'd come to love as it'd grown inside of her. She hadn't cared that Willa was the result of a stranger forcing himself on her. Maggie's only goal had been to make sure Willa would never end up in the hands of some stranger who could be even worse than the monstrous Ivan.

"She made me promise to save Willa no matter what happened to her. She fell as we were trying to escape. I tried to help her up, but I think her ankle was broken. She begged me to keep my promise," I whispered.

I felt fingers tighten around mine. I focused on Dalton's big rough, tanned hand enfolding mine. I didn't even remember Dalton linking our fingers. "You had no other choice, Silver. You kept your promise and because of that, Willa will have an amazing life with Jace and Caleb. And she will be well protected by the rest of her family."

His words caught me by surprise. "Maggie said she didn't have any family besides Jace."

"I can't say I really get it myself, but the second you placed her in the safety of her uncle's care, she became a part of that group of men and women at the funeral. Most of them aren't related by blood as I understand it, but once you're in, you're in, whether you want to be or not."

Dalton let out a little laugh.

"I don't want to be," I quickly said. "I just want to be left alone."

"That, my friend, is something we have in common." Dalton's words were firm, but I could sense a hint of sadness in them.

"Aren't you part of their fam?—?"

"No," Dalton quickly interrupted. He released my hand, and I immediately missed its warmth, its strength. He reached for a lever on the console and pushed it forward. As soon as he did that, door locks clicked.

"I called Jace so he wouldn't be worried, but I told him that you didn't want to see any of them. He'll respect that," Dalton said. "You're a free man, Silver. You're safe with me, but if you want to take your chances hitching rides with strangers or just hoofing it, that's your right."

I didn't understand most of the words Dalton was saying but got the gist.

He was letting me go.

Just as he was welcoming me to continue with him on wherever our journey would take us. My mind spun with all the different possibilities if what he said was really true… that I was free.

"And for future reference, in case you get in a car with somebody else, most cars don't have child locks on the front doors, just on the back ones. Some cars like this one won't unlock the doors until the car is put into park. If the car is parked and someone presses the lock button as you're trying to get out, just pull the handle again and the door should open."

"What?" I asked in confusion. Dalton was out of the vehicle already. He turned to face me, then pointed to a spot on the inside door frame on his side of the car.

"The child lock would be here but usually only on the back doors. They're meant to keep kids from accidentally opening the door while the car is in motion. Take a look at the door behind you so you know what it looks like. If you ever see something like that on the front passenger door, don't, for any reason, get into the car." Dalton's explanation was firm but indifferent. The fact that he knew how na?ve I was when it came to stuff like how different things on a car worked stung.

I tested my door and sure enough, it opened. I held it so it was more closed than open and waited for the same men who'd killed Ivan and his bodyguards to appear and grab me, but all I saw was normal people going about their business. People were coming in and out of the gas station side of the building as well as the restaurant side.

I opened the door wider but still nothing.

Well, not nothing.

A delicious smell hit me, and my stomach instantly began rumbling. It was a foreign sensation. Or rather, a distant one. I remembered that in my early days with Ivan, my stomach had growled loudly as I'd sat at the table next to the robust man and watched him feast on various meats and sides, the grease often escaping his wide mouth and streaking down his chin. The very first night after my parents had sold me to him, I'd sat at that same table but had made the mistake of reaching for some kind of drumstick from a gleaming silver platter in front of me. I'd been rewarded with a smack across the face that had literally knocked me to the floor. I'd started crying but there'd been no apologies or explanation, just a curt order from Ivan to crawl across the fancy carpet beneath me and kneel at his side.

I'd been so shocked I'd done it without thinking. When Ivan had finished his meal, he'd ordered one of his men to take me to the kitchen where I'd been fed a stale piece of bread with a thin slice of dark meat on it. I'd gagged as soon as I'd taken my first bite, but my rebellious stomach hadn't cared about the smell or taste. I'd swallowed the food down in a few large bites and then I'd been promptly escorted to Ivan's bedroom to await a fate I'd been too young to understand.

None of the food at Ivan's table smelled as good as whatever I was smelling now. I actually forgot about the prospect of men appearing from all corners and got all the way out of the SUV. From the moment Ivan had been shot as he'd been fucking me at the foot of the bed, I couldn't remember if I'd eaten anything or not.

I'd been offered food at the lodge that we'd stayed at in a place called Vermont, which had apparently been where Jace and Maggie had grown up with their grandmother, but I'd sent it all away. I'd been too afraid that it'd been drugged or that someone was waiting in the shadows to punish me for daring to take a bite without Ivan's permission. It didn't matter that I'd known the man was dead. My body continued to react like he was very much alive and would appear at any moment, his mind clear and astute like it'd been when he'd been younger, laughing that cruel, ugly laugh before taunting me with what kind of punishment I should face for my disobedience.

I jumped when there was a soft thud that came from the other side of the car. Dalton appeared a moment later. "I'm gonna get something to eat," he casually said as he pointed at the restaurant. "You coming?" His voice sounded distant, disinterested.

I didn't answer him. I couldn't. My mind had gone blank. It managed to hear something about Dalton needing to move the car but not even that made sense to me. But the sight of his vehicle driving off made my heart sink to my knees. I was in the process of beginning to run after him and beg him not to leave me in this strange place before I realized he'd only driven a short distance so he could park in front of the restaurant. I watched him get out and walk into the building without even looking back.

I was being abandoned.

Again.

No, Mama, Papa, I don't want to stay here. Please!

A flash of the alley with my parents standing there impatiently as a big dark car approached went through my mind. I could still feel the strong fingers wrapping painfully around my wrist as I struggled to run after my parents who'd rushed back into the alley, their greedy fingers holding the small plastic bag that was filled with nothing more than some little white rocks.

Without me.

A blaring horn ripped me from the memory. I looked to see that a little red car was just inches from my knees. "You gonna fucking move or what, kid?" a man shouted from the driver's side. The car's engine was loud. It sounded as angry as its driver.

I quickly moved out of the way but not before I heard the driver call me a stupid little bitch.

I knew what those words meant, and I instinctively began walking toward the restaurant. By the time I reached the door, Dalton was there, holding it open. His eyes kept shifting from me to the driver of the car who'd yelled at me.

And he wasn't happy.

I didn't know if he was mad at me or the driver, but I didn't really care. Just feeling the warmth that radiated off him made me feel safe for the moment. If he was pissed at me, he'd just take it out on me later when we got to his house.

Wait, was I really considering continuing on with him?

He'd lied to me.

I wanted to laugh because my entire life had been a lie, so what did Dalton's matter? I needed to be smart about my decisions, and the reality was that Dalton could have turned the car around while I'd been asleep and taken me back to the lodge. If he'd wanted to hurt me, he could have done it in the car or any side road that we'd likely passed. He wanted me for sex.

Sex and nothing more.

It was a fucking harsh reminder of my situation. I wasn't free. Not the kind of free I wanted to be, anyway. I'd merely traded one captor for another.

I dropped my eyes as I walked past him because Ivan had never liked it when I'd looked at him or any of the men who'd worked for him in the eyes. Of course, he'd never opened a door for me either, so the very first thing I did when I got inside the crowded restaurant was come to an abrupt halt. I felt Dalton at my back but thankfully he didn't slam into me. If he had, I probably would have hit the floor.

"I can't do this," I blurted as I spun around. "I… I have to… I can't…" For the life of me, I couldn't complete a sentence. I could feel my bruised cheeks filling with heat and tears stung the backs of my eyes.

Yep, definitely not free.

Even if Dalton and his offer had never existed, I might have physically had the right to go anywhere and do what I pleased, but I was still being held hostage by my own mind. I could smell Ivan's sweat and body odor; I could feel his roughened skin against mine as his weight held me down?—

"Silver, open your eyes," I heard a familiar voice demand.

I squeezed my eyes closed even harder as a wave of relief went through me.

Dalton.

Not Ivan.

A restaurant.

Not Ivan's semen-encrusted sheets against my body… the semen that had dripped out of whatever part of me Ivan had chosen to mark me with the sticky proof of his release.

"Dalton," I whispered because I needed to be sure that I was where I thought I was.

"Yeah, it's me," he practically growled, but not in a scary way. Okay, well it was kind of scary but for whatever reason, I didn't think it was meant for me.

"Wait here," Dalton murmured as he released the door so that it was now my back holding it open. I had a clear view of the outside, where all the cars sat, as well as the inside of the restaurant.

"Dalton—" I began as the terror in my bones climbed yet another notch.

"I'll be right back," he assured me, his fingers briefly trailing down my lower back. "I'll be in sight the entire time," he added as he began walking away from me. But it wasn't his car he headed to. Instead, he went to the gas pump where the little red car sat. Dalton walked straight up to the driver and began speaking to him. I had no idea what he was saying but when I saw the tall, skinny man glance at me and then rapidly shake his head, much of the fear that had been gnawing away at me from the moment Dalton had woken me up evaporated.

It was replaced by warmth.

Warmth and something else. Something in my belly that made it feel like it was doing little cartwheels.

Cartwheels.

How the hell did I know what those were?

I completely forgot about Dalton and closed my eyes as I tried to reach for an obscure image in my brain.

Impossibly green, lush, cool grass.

Laughter.

Hands touching that grass as the owner of them did one cartwheel after another.

"Hey," I heard someone saying. It sounded far away.

"Silver," the voice said firmly. The name sounded all wrong and didn't match up to the memory I was still trying to cling to. But just like that, it was gone. All of it. The grass, the laughter.

"Hey, you okay?" I heard Dalton ask as he pulled me out of the doorway to the restaurant. I wanted to curse him and thank him at the same time for pulling me from the memory or dream or whatever the hell it had been. I'd probably seen it on TV or something.

I nodded with all the strength I could manage but didn't say anything. Dalton's fingers were gently wrapped around my elbow, but I ignored the little zaps of energy that popped beneath my skin.

There was a long beat of silence before Dalton said, "How about we go in and check out their menu and if you don't like it, we can leave?"

I nodded again because I didn't know what else to do. Between Dalton confronting the jerk who'd called me that word and the knowledge that he had done it for me, I was worn out mentally, physically, and emotionally.

I was done.

Just… done.