OWNED by Dominic (Possessed #1) (3 page)

“Don’t fucking move you piece of shit,” he ordered Bradshaw. The Bulgarian was still in shock at his dead bodyguards laying on the ground beside him. “You came here to fucking sell her?” He roared. No longer able to contain his anger, he slammed a fist into Bradshaw’s gut, making sure to hit a kidney.

Bent over and wheezing for breath, Dom slammed his face down against his knee. A satisfying crunch came from his nose. Pushing him to the ground brutally, he turned his attention to the Bulgarian.

“Wait, this was his idea…” The guy tried to backpedal.

Cocking his head to the side, Dom remained silent. Studying the waste of skin as he tried to negotiate his way out of death. “I have money, lots of money.” His stammering just further pissed him off.

“You think I care about money?” he asked in a low, deadly voice. “You were going to buy a child. An innocent child. You were excited about the prospect of her being untouched.”

Resignation finally registered in his eyes. He knew he was going to die. In this life only a few things were certain, and death was one of them. Lifting his Glock, he pointed it between the scum ball’s eyes telling him, “You were going to try and take what was mine.” Pulling the trigger, Dom understood his grave mistake.

Scurrying sounds behind him drew his attention to his boss’s attempt to get up and run. “Fucking pussy,” he mumbled to himself as he fired a shot into Bradshaw’s calf. His screams rent the night air.

“Don’t do this, Slade. I own you. You won’t get away with this!”

“Are you for fucking real? You think you scare me? You think I wasn’t sent to do this very thing to you?” He was truly amazed that he thought he could scare Dom out of killing his sorry ass.

“Think about what this will do to my daughter.”

“You just tried to fucking sell her!” he bellowed. So far beyond anger.

“I know; it was part of the deal. H...he wanted her. He was going to give me a better deal on the gunrunning. I needed the money!” Bradshaw was near tears now.

“Make no mistake, Bradshaw, she is mine. Has been since the day you raised your hand to her. Did you honestly think you could get away with this? That I wouldn’t go to the ends of the earth to find her if you were successful?” His sheer stupidity amazed him.

“I knew you paid too much attention to her!” A sick sneer came across his face.

“Don’t be stupid, you fuck. Unlike you, I give a shit about her.” Pulling out his phone, he texted a buddy of his telling him what he needed before he dragged Bradshaw’s sorry ass back to the car.

“She’s gone.” He grumbled as Dom knelt down to pick him up.

He froze mid-action. “What the fuck you mean she’s gone?”

“I sent her away tonight. Why do you think I wanted you here? You were entirely too close to her. She needs to learn a hard lesson.”

“And what lesson is that?”

“Even when you think people love you, they’ll abandon you anyway.”

“What crack are you smoking, you moron?” He was getting more pissed the longer Bradshaw spoke. But he knew the more he talked the higher he would hang himself.

“Oh, please, I’ve been teaching that bit–. Fuck!” he bellowed as Dom kneed his calf wound for daring to call Dee anything but her name.

“Don’t,” he warned.

They were quiet the rest of the way to the car. When he opened the trunk, Bradshaw tried to put up a fight over going in, but Dom was pissed off, tired, and had some bodies to torch, so he wasn’t interested in his whiney mumblings. Balling his fist, he wound up and nailed him in the temple, knocking him out in one shot. Not bothering to catch the body as he fell to the ground, he gathered the gas can, torch, and small tool kit he kept for just these types of emergencies.

Placing those on the ground, he bound Bradshaw’s hands and feet together, tossing him in the trunk. Slamming the lid shut, he picked up his items and went back to the bodies in the warehouse.

*****

Slamming doors and
stomping feet woke Deidre from her fitful sleep. When her door smashed open lodging the handle in the wall, she jumped from bed screaming in terror. Trying to run for her bathroom, she felt a tug on her arm. Crashing to the ground with a thud, she looked up at the men surrounding her taking in every detail she could so when Dominic found her, they wouldn’t get away.

“Wh...who are you?” she stuttered out.

“Get up,” one of them demanded.

The shadows were too dark for her to make out any features other than big. Shaking her head no, another one of the men took a menacing step towards her, snarling at her. “Get up now before I make you.” The threat was clear.

“Me da won’t let you get away with this,” she said weakly.

“Who do ya think sent us?”

Shock worked its way through her.
Her da sent these men? What were they going to do with her? Where was Dom?
“I want Dominic,” she whined.

Harsh laughter was her only answer.

*****

Pulling up to
Bradshaw’s mansion, he shut the car off and went around to the trunk, popping the lid open while keeping his gun drawn waiting for Bradshaw to make a move. Nothing came but a sickening smile to his face when he saw where Dom had taken him.

“Home sweet home,” he mumbled as Dom nudged him up the steps.

Once inside, he pushed him onto the foyer stairs making sure he landed hard. “Deedee!” Dom called, needing to know she was okay.

Laughter caught his attention. “She’s gone,” Bradshaw sang out.

“What the fuck do you mean she’s gone?” Dom hadn’t actually believed him when he said he had already sent her away.

“I mean, I sent her away the minute we left the house.”

“Where?”

“Why should I tell you? You’re just going to kill me.” His voice held triumph. Like he knew he was going to get out of this.

“Tell me where she is and maybe I won’t.” The impatience was vibrating off of him, and his trigger finger was getting itchy.

“You can have her…”

“She’s already fucking mine.”

“…If you let me live…” he trailed off.

“Her life for yours?” A fucking waste of breath. He was still trying to trade his daughter.

“When she’s 18.”

“Excuse me? You know I could find her whether you’re alive or not.” Dom growled.

“Maybe. Maybe not. But if my guys don’t hear from me in the morning, they have instructions to execute her,” he said as if it were no big deal killing not only a child but his motherfucking daughter.

“Why do you hate her so much?” He’d never cared before, but he also never thought Bradshaw was as much of a lowlife as he did now.

“She’s not mine. Her mother fucked around on me. I kept Deidre to torment the bitch. The fact that I was able to make her life miserable was a constant comfort to me and being able to sell her daughter would have been icing on the cake. But you fucked that up!” The first signs of anger finally entered Bradshaw’s eyes as he thought of the monetary loss Dom had caused him.

Dom was sickened by what the man had done to her and her mother. He was even more sickened by what
he
was about to do. “I need to know she’s safe first.”

Two

Deidre ~ 18
^th
birthday

As soon as
the clock struck midnight, Deidre was gone. Creeping out the old windows of her boarding school was easy as pie. Climbing the barbed wire fence, not so much. Aside from the cuts all over her legs and arms, she managed to do it.

Not looking back, she ran into the street trying to get as far away from the horrible school as she could before they did the nighttime bed check in an hour. Legally, she was free to do as she wished now that she was eighteen; however, her father and the nuns didn’t see it that way.

She’d been rebelling against any authority for as long as she could remember. The only people to ever give a damn about her had already left, so what was the point of trying to be accepted? She couldn’t live life for anyone else anymore. It was time for her to take control and do what was best for herself.

Since arriving in Lugano, Switzerland a little less than seven years ago, she’d not had a single moment for herself. Every day was planned. Every minute was scrutinized. Maintaining a strict diet and exercise regimen had been expected from the moment she got there. Feeling more like she was being trained for something than receiving an education.

What little she had been able to see of Switzerland from behind the confines of the school was stunning. The small city they were in was surrounded by gorgeous mountains and covered in a variety of full green trees. She couldn’t begin to name them other than to know they were beautiful.

Lake Lugano bordered the breathtaking city, sharing its eastern shore with northern Italy. That was what she was banking on to be able to exit the country. She’d heard from other girls that had been allowed to leave the school that there were boat taxi’s waiting to take her right into Italy and from there, she could rent a car.

The only reason she had any money was because her mam had been sending her some as often as she could, and she had saved every euro since she arrived. By her estimation, she had roughly fifty thousand Swiss Francs. Hopefully enough to get her to Ireland and her ma.

She had to wait on going home, though, because she knew her dad would search for her there. The waiting would be the hard part. Her mam didn’t know she was coming, so she might be worried if he showed up there looking for her, but she couldn’t risk him finding her. Something was going on with him; he’d been checking in more and more of late. It was suspicious.

*****

Four months later

Italy was stunning
. The ocean. The sunsets. The villas. It was almost magical, but Deidre’s time was coming to an end. She had stayed longer than anticipated. At one point she even feared her da had found her, but it was her imagination.

When she first arrived in Italy, Dee had no idea what she was doing or where she was going. She’d rented a car in Milan under a fake identity her mam had sent her two years ago. This had always been the plan, and without her ma’s help, she never would have been able to execute it the way she had.

Since arriving, she’d been more isolated than ever before, unwilling to risk making friends or being seen very often in town just in case her father’s cronies were out looking for her. She stuck close to the isolated beach she was living on, only leaving if it were necessary.

When she’d been at the local market one Saturday, she witnessed one of the most heart-breaking scenes of her life: A young woman having a panic attack or a flashback. She still wasn’t sure which. What she did know was that the person, who’s name turned out to be Kennedy, was one of the most broken women she’d ever met. She felt for her. Knew the loneliness that ate away at them both was slowly killing them.

It hadn’t taken long before they realized they lived right next to each other. The need for isolation had them wary at first, but it wasn’t long before they met up on the beach for early morning walks, watching the sun set, and that soon progressed into having lunch together. They talked about frivolous things or nothing at all. Neither wanting to delve too deeply into who or what they were running from.

Ken was lucky, though. She had family who cared. Two gorgeous men who came to her rescue at a time when she was ready to give up. Deidre was lonely. So lonely, she had almost risked going home too soon. But first, she had to make sure she was out of her father’s clutches. She was almost home free, too. She’d spoken to her mam that morning and finally got the confirmation that the coast was clear so to speak. That her da’s men had left the area about a week ago, and she could start slowly making her way home. Which was good because she was nearly out of funds.

Excitement filled Dee at the thought of finally moving back to her native Dublin. She missed the bustle of the city, the congestion that was too many people and not enough homes. The smoky air. The rolling green fields and mountains. She was ready to go home.

A knock on her door pulled her out of her reverie. Figuring it was Ken coming to check on her, she didn’t bother to see who was there.

Big mistake.

*****

He’d been watching
Deedee for a little over two weeks now. She was isolated, kept to herself except for her one neighbor, a cute little redhead around her age. He still couldn’t believe the connection they all had. He’d been kidding in London when he saw the Black twins. He hadn’t actually thought they were all so close together in Italy, let alone for nearly the same reason—to collect a woman.

Yet here he was ready to call on an old debt. As far as Dominic was concerned, once he brought Dee home to her father in London, she was free to go as she pleased. He wasn’t even certain why Bradshaw wanted to see her, so he’d have to be on his guard while they were there.

Bradshaw had his hands dipped in more illegal shit now than he had eight years ago. His day was coming. Whether by Dominic’s hand or someone else’s was what remained to be seen. He’d lived too long and seen too much to let the man go, though.

So much had changed since he’d last seen Dee that fateful night so long ago. It took him a long time to realize just how big a part of his life she had played in such a short amount of time. She brought him light and happiness when he was shrouded in a world of gray.

After losing her, he’d tracked her down needing to know she was, in fact, still alive, so he didn’t have to unleash the depths of hell on her father for no reason. When he did find Dee in the all-girls school, she’d looked miserable, but they treated her all right, so he’d left her alone. Not wanting to disrupt her life until necessary, he took as many jobs as he could until Brooke...He’d fallen in lust with her so quickly, he still had whiplash.

Brooke had been the sister to one of his new “bosses”, innocent, sweet, and young. Or so he’d thought. Turns out
he
was a job to someone else, and she was sent to dupe him. Get him to flip on whatever faction he was working for at the time. What no one seemed to realize was that he never knew exactly who he was working for at any time. Only the job, the pay, and a contact. It was all he needed to know.