Run (26 page)

“Yes. I had no right to take you in the first place. In my arrogance, I believed my wealth and power entitled me to anything and everything I wanted. But now, I know the one thing I want more than anything, I can’t have.”

She swiped the tears that flowed freely down her cheeks. “What? What is it that you want?”

“No.” He waved her off. “I’m not going to burden you with my problems anymore, Aya. But if there’s one thing I can do to make you happy, I’m giving you what you’ve wanted all along.”

“But—”

“The staff will have your belongings packed up and ready to go in the morning. I’ve set you and Macy up in an apartment in the same building as your uncle until you figure out your future living arrangements. Everything I bought for you is yours, so take it with you.” Dare walked toward the door and paused. “I’ll leave all my contact information in your holopad, should you need to contact me.”

And then he was gone, leaving her alone to ponder what had just happened. When she’d first come here, Aya had been consumed with thoughts of leaving. Once upon a time, Dare releasing her had been what she’d desperately wished for. But now that her wish had finally come true, Aya wasn’t so sure she wanted it anymore.

“You do know you’re going to have a lot of angry patrons when they find out one of their favorite pastimes is being shut down,” Foster pointed out as he lounged in the chair across from Dare’s desk.

“What they say or how they’ll react is none of my concern. It’s over. Whenever I scanned the system to check out my financials, The Run report would come up and I couldn’t stomach reading it. All these years, I’d only seen profit but now all it does is represent a bunch of rich assholes with too much time on their hands taking advantage of Dre—disadvantaged women with little to no options.”

Foster winced. “Yeah, I used to be one of those assholes. It’s strange how things happened to change our perspectives and you’re doing the right thing. Some people will make some noise about it but of course, no one’s going to challenge you on it.”

Dare shrugged. “Even if they did, I don’t give a shit. I’m probably going to level the house on that land and rebuild something to help people. It’s a novel thing for me but I don’t want to continue to propagate my father’s legacy. He made The Run what it was but I made it bigger, more profitable just to prove that I was better than him. But, I’m not going to allow him to affect my decisions anymore.”

Foster leaned forward in his chair. “Speaking of his legacy, word is, The Auction is back.”

“I have nothing to do with that.”

“Maybe not but word is, your father used to be heavily involved. I’ve heard whispers about women disappearing, mainly from the brothels but Maxine Walter’s teenage daughter is missing.”

Dare raised a brow. “Not to cast a shadow on the girl’s reputation, but she’s no innocent. She’s propositioned me a few times when I was invited over for a dinner party with her parents. But to her disappointment, I don’t sleep with children. It’s quite possible, she could have found someone who doesn’t care about age. Isn’t sixteen usually the age kids start rebelling against their parents? Her parents have the resources to locate her.”

“That’s the thing. Her chip is off the grid.”

“This is really bothering you, isn’t it?”

“Yes. The Run was child’s play compared to this Auction. I hear there are girls, boys, children but it’s all just whispers. If I could get an invite, I could investigate myself.”

Dare wasn’t the only one who had changed from this experience. Foster had become somewhat of a crusader for the disadvantaged. Gone was his constant need to see and be seen at every big soiree or have a different bed partner every week. He now funneled his energy into more philanthropic pursuits which he encouraged Dare to pursue as well. Dare wasn’t going to change who he was overnight but ending The Run was a start.

He rubbed his temples with a sigh. “Is this really that important to you?”

“Yes. If anyone could do some asking around to wrangle an invitation, it would be you.”

“Fine, I’ll have Ronald look in to it.”

“Thank you.”

Dare lowered his head and tried to concentrate on the work before him, anything to keep him from talking about the one subject he’d tried to avoid since Foster’s arrival.

“Are you going to ask or do we pretend she doesn’t exist?”

Dare kept his gaze focused on the numbers in front of him, though he saw none of them. “As you can see, I’m busy. I’m glad you stopped by Foster, but as you can see, I have some reports to go over as I prepare for a board meeting this afternoon.”

“What I see, is you pretending to be busy so you don’t have to ask about Aya.”

Dare balled his fists on his desk. Even the mention of her name was enough to send his heart spiraling into despair. It had been five months, five long months where he fought each day to keep from seeking her out, and begging her to love him even just a little. One hundred and fifty-two nights where he dreamed of holding her, only to wake up and she wasn’t beside him. Two hundred, nineteen thousand one hundred and forty-five minutes of wishing to have just a glimpse of her. Thirteen million, one hundred forty-eight thousand seven hundred and nineteen seconds and counting since he had felt whole. He’d been shot by his own gun, but the physical pain couldn’t compare to the ache deeply imbedded in his heart.

As much as it pained him to do so, he’d stayed away. As instructed, Ronald had reports sent to him on Aya and her uncle but after the first few, he couldn’t read them. All he knew was that they had reopened the bar and had expanded it to make it more of a restaurant atmosphere. Beyond that, he could only assume Aya was happy. She was after all away from him.

“Let it go.”

“It’s clear you’re miserable. Why don’t you check on her yourself?”

Dare slammed his fist against the desk. “I said, let it go!”

“No, you’re not the only one who’s hurting.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’ve been by the bar a few times. I’ve even talked to her uncle. He says she hasn’t been the same since they’ve been back.”

“That could mean a number of things. What does that have to do with me?”

“Did it occur to you that maybe she hasn’t been the same because she misses you?”

He didn’t dare imagine that even a tiny part of her missed him. It would crush him if his hopes were raised only to learn they were for nothing. Besides, even if she did somehow have any feelings toward him, he had no right to act on them, not after what he’d put her through.

“It doesn’t matter. She’s better off without me. Everything I touch, I destroy.”

“Look, Dare, it’s good that you’ve learned to humble yourself, but this side of you doesn’t accomplish anything either. There’s no reason for this defeatist attitude. You’re not your father.”

Dare cupped his hands over his forehead and rested his elbows on his desk. “You don’t understand.”

“Then make me.”

“It took everything I had within me to let her go. If I see her again, I can’t trust myself to not do something drastic. You can’t even imagine some of the thoughts I’ve had about her. I want to drag her back to my side and keep her with me. I want to tie her to my bed and keep her there and just stay inside of her. She is my obsession and she’ll always be. I can’t trust myself not to blow up if I see her talking to another man or smiling at him. And, I don’t want her to live in fear of me.”

“Do you think you would ever hurt her?”

Dare raised his head. “Never! I’ve seen that look in her eyes when I’ve pushed too far and I never want to see that again.”

“So there you go. Sounds to me like you’re allowing your fear to control you. You let fear ruin your life once because you were scared of becoming like your father. Don’t let it ruin it again,” Foster said softly.

“You don’t understand.”

“You’re right. I don’t but I do know when I see two miserable people who wouldn’t be so miserable if they would only just talk to each other.” Foster stood up. “I’ll leave you to your work. Believe it or not, I’m actually heading to the office myself. I’ve taken more of an interest in my business.”

This was news. It was no secret that Foster had little to do with his business besides collecting a check. After his father had died, he’d left the running of his family’s corporations in the hands of capable managers. “That’s good to hear. Any reason for this change?”

“I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on my choices lately, is all. And now, I have the proper motivation.”

“Oh?”

“Yes,” Foster replied without elaborating. “I’ll be in touch. Think about what I said, won’t you?”

“We’ll see.”

“Dare.”

He shook his head in warning for his friend not to push it. “I’ll said, ‘I’ll see’.”

Foster wisely said no more as he left Dare to his thoughts. Dare leaned back in his chair with a heavy sigh giving up any attempts at working. It would be especially hard getting through night number one hundred and fifty-three.

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“Hey Aya, can I help you with that?”

Aya was so preoccupied, she didn’t notice her friend come in to the kitchen. She turned to see Macy behind her. “Oh, I’m sorry. What did you say?”

“I asked, if you needed help.”

“Oh no. Thank you. These machines make everything so easy, I feel like I don’t need to be here myself. It’s getting late. Why don’t you go home?”

“Mac wanted me to wait for him so he could walk me home.” Because of the generous salary Macy received, her family had been able to move to a larger apartment which happened to be a few blocks away from the bar.

“I’m glad you stopped being stubborn and allowed him to walk you home at night. I don’t want you to become one of the missing.”

Macy shuddered. “I know. It’s kind of scary how all these women are disappearing from the grid. My little sisters aren’t allowed to leave the house unless one of my brothers’ is with them.”

“That’s wise.” Something sinister in town had been happening lately. Women were disappearing which was unusual because anyone could be tracked through their chips. But apparently, the wave of women who had gone missing couldn’t be. It had the town in a panic.

“I hope the powers that be figure out what’s going on. But I suppose, they won’t do anything until someone they deem important goes missing.”

“Isn’t that always the case?”

“Hey, you ready?” Mac poked his head into the kitchen before stepping inside.

Macy smiled, showing off her perfect white teeth. She looked completely different from the girl who had suffered unmentionable abuse at the hands of a psychopath. The large scar on her face was gone, her hair was still short but it now hung past her ears. Her teeth had been repaired and best of all, she’d gained weight.

“I’m ready. I’ll see you tomorrow, Aya.”

“Okay.”

Mac grinned and waved goodbye with one hand as he placed his hand on Macy’s back and led her out. Aya grinned. She had a feeling Mac had a crush. Macy, on the other hand, didn’t seem to see Mac as anything more than a friend. But there was one man in particular who made her friend blush whenever he came by the bar, Foster Graham. Macy hung on Foster’s every word and became giddy in his presence. It seemed liked pure hero worship. Aya couldn’t tell how Foster felt toward Macy but he was always respectful.

So much had happened in the past five months. After leaving the mansion, she was moved into a luxury apartment with Macy where she learned from her uncle of Dare’s offer of rebuilding the bar and giving them a substantial amount of credits that would afford them a lifestyle of comfort, if they chose. Uncle Arthur didn’t want to accept it, but Aya convinced him that they could go back to their old place and use the money they were given to help others, which is what they did.

When the renovation of their old building was complete, they found that the bar had been completely redone with every expensive gadget possible to ensure their business was run smoothly. They kept the bar area but converted it to more of a restaurant atmosphere. They created a diverse menu of foodstuffs and their patrons paid only what they were able to afford. They would never turn anyone who was hungry away, which is why the place stayed packed since they’d reopened. Because of that, Uncle Arthur was able to hire Mac full time to help out, along with some locals who were in need of work. Macy insisted on helping out as well even though she remained on Dare’s payroll.

Aya was back at home, in her community, helping people in ways she never thought she’d ever be able to. She should have been happy, but she couldn’t bring herself to smile when no one was looking. She would often find herself crying at night as she lay awake unable to sleep and the only reason she could think of was Dare.