The Dark Prince (The Dark Prince Trilogy #1) (33 page)

Things had been going good, though. Valerie thought, she really did, that things would be different. Not living under her father’s roof, she had the chance to see who the Marcel family was. Although she was never included in any family business, mostly because of who her father was, she felt like she finally had the family she never got the chance to have. If only they could give her a chance.

She knew that Ivan and Chase never trusted her. It was clear in their eyes that she didn’t belong and would be disposed of eventually. It didn’t help that Trent asked more times than she ever wanted to admit, for a child.

“And ruin this body?” Valerie would easily reply with every time. Her body was the only thing she had a say over most of the time. There was no way in Hell she’d give birth to a child. It would be just another thing that would be used against her, and she had enough of that. She was fed up with being bossed around and made demands of.

As the years went by, though, Saul wasn’t watching her as much. Her moves weren’t shadowed, and she was actually able to be herself. Mostly. It wasn’t until after Summer was brought into Chase’s house when things changed, and not for the better. Everyone seemed to cater to her, giving her everything she ever needed. It was like she was a part of the family, when Valerie herself never could be.

Valerie couldn’t believe that Chase picked her, a rat in sheep’s clothing, over so many other people that had literally thrown themselves at his feet. Couldn’t he have picked someone better suited, that knew the ins and out of how a Mafia Family worked?

But she was the good girl, and got her ready for that laughable wedding. She did feel bad, knowing that the girl wouldn’t make it far. Surely, such a frightened girl couldn’t take much more before the stress and depression took over her entire world.

Summer Meads was a drowned rat, and smelt like one too. Valerie knew that she would have no luck in becoming whoever Chase thought she could be. The brown haired girl was afraid of her own shadow, and there was no way Chase would be able to train her to be his wife. Just the thought was laughable.

So Valerie did the one thing she knew how to, hoping to save Summer some pain. She gave the little girl some drugs to make it feel better, because Chase would have to consummate the wedding. It was like a ritual, and if anyone found out the Prince and enslaved Princess didn’t, all hell would break loose. She just wanted to make the night a little better. And Valerie had no plans to let the man in question know.

But of course he knew. Valerie should have known better, but yet she still did it. Even the punishment that Trent handed out didn’t faze her. It was still worth it. Trent never left marks on Valerie’s skin, ever. He was too much of a gentleman to do that, even if it was what she craved. So instead, she was forced to not have any play time in the bedroom for a month, and work in his shop.

She was so fucking mad at him. Valerie never worked a day in her life! She could go without pleasure, but working? Was he serious? He couldn’t be!

But oh, he was. He even dragged Valerie out of the house by the arm. He didn’t give a fuck if she refused and fought him. Trent wanted her to learn she couldn’t behave like that. She needed to learn respect for others, something she seriously lacked. But Valerie was just happy he threatened to mark her, so after throwing a fit like no other, she was still forced to work in his shop.

Valerie’s ass was red and throbbing for most of the morning, from the spanking she had received, and she wisely kept her mouth shut. She had gotten what she asked for, that was for sure. But when Chase showed up with his wife, she was pissed off once more. The words with Jason just days before rang once again in her head.

~oOo~

“I can promise you what Trent is unable to do,” he whispered, running the pad of his index finger down the side of her neck and into the valley of her breasts. He teased her, knowing he couldn’t take his needs too far. “I can see he doesn’t satisfy you well enough.”

“He does,” Valerie tried to protest. Her eyes were wide as she lied through her teeth.

“No,” Jason laughed out, ignoring Saul as he stood back a way, silent as a mouse in waiting. Saul knew to not interfere if he wanted to live. “I can see the flush of your cheeks, your increased breathing. I could see the desire in your eyes the moment you saw me. That man you are married to doesn’t quell your needs like I could.”

He paused, removing his finger from her skin. Jason couldn’t help but smirk at the pout that landed on her face. She was so easy to read, which in turn made it so much easier, more enjoyable, to use a pawn in his own sick game.

“I can bring you pleasure that you have only read about,” he went on. “But I need something first.”

“What?” Valerie asked, nearly breathless with her need. It hadn’t helped that Trent had not allowed her a release in over a week. She would do just about anything.

“I want to know everything you can tell me about Summer. I know Chase has her, since your father so graciously let that slip. He was never to have her,” Jason said darkly, his eyes nearly turning pitch black. “I
need
to know every little detail. Not only about Summer, but also about the Marcel family. I need to know how they run the show. How they handle business, and where their secret hideouts are.

“In turn, I’ll pay you for your troubles, and please you in the way your husband cannot,” he ended. “If you so desire, of course.”

“And if I don’t?” Valerie challenged strongly, standing up straight.

“I’ll kill you and your father,” Jason said with a dark smirk. “Surely you don’t want that?”

When Valerie shook her head, he went on. “Didn’t think so. I know that slut who will spread her legs for any man. She is not as weak as she plays to be. I taught her well. But I know that Chase won’t give me the time, or the chance, to get to her to find what I need. She’s surrounded day and night. So you’ll do the work for me. I’ll be happy to reward you now, to show you how
pleasuring
I can be.”

When Valerie took up that offer, she didn’t think Jason would ever have the balls to brainwash her, making her think that Chase was easy to fool. She hadn’t thought that he’d be so careless with how he worded things, making her question all she knew so far about the Marcel family. She should have known better when he tracked her down, threatening to not only to shoot her, but putting her in Hell.

Now, here she was, stuck in a gated community. No one left unless death took them. And she was the only woman. Did Chase have any idea on how this made her feel? She felt like a caged animal! How dare he do this to her. These men here were pigs! They leered at her, promising their own form of pleasure. Okay, maybe Valerie did take a man or two up on their offer, but still, she was in Hell. No cell phone, no internet, nor computers!

She was unable to reach anyone outside of the electric fence, and it looked as if there was no one normal for miles. She’d scream, and no one outside of the community would ever hear her. How could Chase have something like this set up? And unreachable by normal, sane people? It just wasn’t possible, was it?

She hated what Chase had done to her, and in turn, Trent. But with all the time on her hands, she thought of what she could have done differently. Surly, her father was dead now, and there was nothing she could do. Between Jason and John, they owned her. She knew that because she screwed Jason over, John would demand her to bow to his wishes next. It was known those two worked together, planning and plotting, without the Marcel family knowing.

But Valerie knew that John Meads would come for her. It was the plan all along if anything were to happen to Saul. John would be the next in command, the one man that should have been in charge of everything from the beginning of time.

Valerie only had to wait. She’d be freed soon enough. She’d wait until then. But she sure as hell would make Chase pay for what he did to her.

~o0o~

Once the Prince was back upstairs, he pulled Trent away from his computer to find out what he had talked about with his ex-wife. Trent didn’t spare the details, giving Chase play by play of what happened.

“Why, Val?” Trent started out, his voice sad. His look was fake, but the woman didn’t know that. She was never very in tune with her ex-husband,
nor to anyone but herself.

“I wanted things you couldn’t give me,” Valerie answered, refusing to look at the man. “Jason came to me a few days after the wedding when I was out shopping. He . . . he swooned me. I don’t know how it happened, but it did. He . . . he’s very persuasive when he wants to be.

“Anyway, he offered me a deal. He wanted his daughter back, saying something about making the right choice now that she was of age. He didn’t really go into detail about any of it. And I didn’t ask. He offered me money to keep tabs on Chase. . . with his beliefs of his daughter. He said that she was a slut, and only wanted to use men for her own sick pleasure. He wanted her back, to teach her the ways, and giver her what no one else could. At the time, it made sense. I saw how Summer used Chase, and even you. She’s still using you!” she shrieked."

“So you thought you’d go against the Prince?” Trent laughed, not impressed as he leaned up against the wall, as far as possible for the person he thought he had loved.

“Well . . .” Valerie said, thinking. “He was busy with her; he’d never noticed if I drugged him again.”

“Actually, he wouldn’t have let you touch his food or drinks at all after that stunt,” Trent snarled. “I’m can’t believe you did this. There is nothing I can do to save you now.” Little did Valerie know he wasn't interested in wanting to help her.

With that, Trent left, slamming the door and locking her in.

~oOo~

Chase wanted a bounty out for John. He wanted him dead, and didn’t care how it was done. Trent was too happy to let everyone know. John was behind most of the sex trafficking rings in the state, and the only way to put a stop to that was to kill the man. It made sense that he was the man that was making planning behind everyone’s back.

Chase knew he never once treated women with respect, and he could rot in hell for the rest of his life. He had never been happier that Nick was already taken out of the equation.

With most of the important issues taken care of, Chase made his way upstairs after Trent left to help Peter and Jackson with the shipments, passing Clare in the hallway. She gave him a sad smile before she went off to find Asher. Seeing her sister in the state that she was in broke her heart. Luckily, Asher kept her busy, or she’d go have a . . . chat with the bitch that was locked away. Clare knew how to throw a mighty punch when the time called on it.

Inside the bedroom, Chase found Summer sitting on the edge of the bed, hugging his pillow to her chest. Her hair was pulled back into a twist of some sort. She wore one of his oversized shirts and her own pajama pants. The floor creaked as he stepped in, and her red, tired eyes met his instantly.

Without a word, Chase climbed on to the bed with his back up against the headboard, letting Summer rest her head on his chest as silent tears leaked onto his cotton shirt. He held her tightly, as her body relaxed against his and sleep took her once more.

“I love you, my Princess,” Chase whispered out, pressing a kiss to her head, before closing his eyes.

Chapter 31

Chase was brought out of deep sleep by the ringing of his phone. Groggily as his wife stirred, he dug out the loud thing from his pocket, answering it grumpily. Summer shifted, opening her eyes as she tried to figure out why someone was calling in the middle of the night. She was comfortable and didn’t want to move. She even grunted out as he moved to maneuver the cell phone from his pocket.

“What?” Chase growled out unhappily. With his arm that was wrapped around Summer, he pulled her tighter against him. He couldn’t help but love the feel of her against him and his cock didn’t mind either as her knee brushed his balls. It
was
her favorite spot to sleep.

“We have a small problem,” Trent said, his voice weary. Chase was sure that he was pacing wherever he was, his face controlled in worry. Plus, it was in the middle of the night, and he wanted to go back to sleep with his wife.

“What?” he said with a tired sigh. He was having an amazing dream before the rude awakening. In his dream, Summer was more than willing to help with his little hard problem as he had slept.

“Well, uh, you know how I like to go through each shipment. Knowing how many items of certain things, and all that?” Trent said, his thoughts filled with worry and seeping into his voice.

“Go on,” Chase said, still laying down.
What was he doing now?
he thought to himself. It was a normal occurrence for the younger man to find trouble easily. Which is the main reason why Trent was not the second in command. Trent was always thorough, so that wasn’t surprising to Chase that he wanted to keep the Prince up to date on everything.

“Well,” he paused, trying to gather the courage to say what he needed to say. “I found something that wasn’t like the rest of the shipment.” His voice was low.

Chase sat up, giving Summer smile as his movement caused her to sit up also, still stuck to his side like glue. It wasn’t often that Trent was so sorrowful over something like this. And Summer hated the idea of letting her husband out of her sight more than she had to.

“Spit it out,” he sighed, bracing himself for whatever he had to say. He was used to finding an odd item out of other things that could easily make things difficult if the item was in the wrong hands at the wrong time.

“Ifoundachild,” Trent muttered out, his words on top of one another. His voice was higher pitched than normal. He was afraid. Not much ever made him frightened.

It took Chase a moment to understand what Trent had said. After a moment of shock, he never expected that.

Chase kept his voice calm. “A child?” he repeated after a heartbeat.

“Yeah. About three years old, maybe four,” Trent said, calming somewhat.

“Okay,” Chase said, trying to quickly think of what to do here. He had never been faced with this type of issue. But he figured there was always a first time for everything, right? “Okay. Where are you?” he could just barely hear a child in the background crying now that he took the time to listen to what seemed to be going on around him, as Trent was on the phone.

“I’ll bring her to you. She’s scared and filthy. I don’t know what to do, but she won’t let me put her down for anything,” Trent said, rattled. Not much rattled him. Even his ex-wife didn’t cause such emotions in him.

“Alright. A name?” Chase asked, already planning to do a name search, along with missing children’s search.

“Not yet. She won’t talk, but maybe she will to Clare. Or even Summer,” Trent said as a car door was heard in the background. Chase could tell that he had got in his car, ready to drive over. “I’ll be there in fifteen minutes at the most.”

Chase let his head fall back against the headboard, a little too hard, which caused Summer to let out a small laugh. At least something made his wife amused, he thought.

She didn’t worry about changing out of her clothes, like Chase did, once he told her the news of a few guests coming. He didn’t sound happy, but she wasn’t too thrilled about having to get up during the night either. And she decided she should be comfortable since she knew she wasn’t going to be leaving the house at an hour like this.

Summer did feel better all considered, finally. She wanted to say it was just sleeping next to Chase, but knew that the shock had worn off and she could process her thoughts once more. It did make getting up and letting Chase out of her sight for a few moments easier.

Summer started a pot of coffee and some tea for herself, while Chase went to go wake Asher up, finding Clare in his bed also. The Prince had never been happier than having both girls begin on birth control that week.

It didn’t take long before a sleepy Clare and a wide awake Asher make their way downstairs. Summer couldn’t help but laugh slightly at her sister, who simply flipped her off as she snuggled into Asher’s chest once he took a seat at the table with a huge black coffee mug. She liked her sleep more than most, and it was cold outside. Asher seemed to always be able to bounce out of bed at any given time, which annoyed Clare as she liked her sleep now that she was able to get as much as she wanted most of the time.

Chase kissed Summer on the head as she handed him his own mug. “Thank you, honey,” he smiled, which she returned shyly.

Summer nodded in reply as Carter came in from the living room, yawning but on alert. He had crashed in one of the rooms downstairs. Summer was quick to hand him a mug of coffee also. He simply gave her a small nod in thanks before slumping down into the nearest empty chair.

“Anyone else showing up?” Asher asked.

“Just waiting on Trent and he should be here any time,” Chase answered after a yawn. “He’s bringing something he found in a shipment he intercepted.” He didn’t want to cause more worry than necessary. He glanced over at Summer considering her a moment trying to judge her state of mind. “He found a child.”

“How old?” Clare asked, seeming to be wide awake at the news. “What will you do with him? Or is it her? What’s the child's name?” she shot off. “What will happen to it? What about Trent? What about the mother?”

“He wasn’t sure. We’ll find out soon enough,” Chase said, amused that Clare was so open with asking questions. He sometimes wished his wife was like that, as it would make things somewhat easier for both of them, but he did like Summer the way she was. He never had to worry about her asking something he couldn’t answer.

It was only minutes later when Trent came in, Peter and Jack, as he demanded to be called, following close behind. Summer began to get up to get more coffee for the unexpected guests, but Chase pulled her back down on his lap, giving her the silent signal to not worry about it.

Wrapped in a blanket against Trent’s chest was the child, and as he sat down, she slowly opened her dark eyes, looking around. Although the child refused to let go of the big bear of a man.

He then began retelling how he came across the child, as she was hidden behind huge box of ammo and drugs, covered from head to toe in filth. She was still filthy, and tired. Her black hair was a tangled mess of knots and leaves. He wasn’t sure where the leaves came from, since there were no trees around the shipment dock they had been at.

“Has she said anything?” Clare was the one that asked what everyone was thinking. Her voice was soft, knowing that the child must be frightened as she remembered the first time she was shoved somewhere, sold, and bought by nameless men. Even with Clare being older, the child would still feel the same thing as she had.

Trent shook his head. “No. She cried at first, I think more in fear than anything else. But that’s all. She hasn’t hardly made any noises besides that. Unless I’m not in her sight. For some reason she only wants me.” He ended with a shrug.

“Where did the shipment come in from?” Asher asked, his voice low.

“Originally from New York, but it made a few stops on the way here. And she looks to be American, so really she could have been playing around and accidentally got shut in somehow, or she could have just as easily been forced in,” Peter answered. “She’s not fond of men, but is taken with Trent for some reason. She screamed bloody murder when I attempted to touch her when I tried to check her over.”

Clare stood and walked to where Trent sat in the kitchen chair, holding the bundle against his chest. The little girl looked so small next to the big man. She kneeled down so she was eye level with the child. Slowly, so she didn’t frighten the little one, Clare used her right hand and brushed some of the crazy dark hair out of the child’s eyes.

“Hi, there,” Clare spoke, her voice soft and sweet. “Would you like something to eat?”

The child simply blinked at Clare. Summer wasn’t sure if the child could understand English, or just wasn’t sure what to answer. Summer didn’t like to talk when there was a lot of people around, so she could understand if the child didn’t want to either.

“I’ll make you something; you must be hungry,” she said with determination before standing up and digging through the contents of the cupboards. There had to be something that a child would like. Chase’s kitchen was stocked with so many things, there had to be something easy to whip up.

The child watched everything around her with sleep filled eyes, blinking slowly, but Summer could understand not wanting to sleep. They were all strangers, just they like all had been when she first arrived. Not sure what to do to help, she simply leaned against Chase’s chest, letting his arms wrap around her. It helped for her haunting past to not make a presence.

“I can run her face in the database, but she needs cleaned up first,” Asher stated. “But it may be a good idea to bring Ryder in on this. You can’t just keep her like a lost pet.”

“Asher,” Trent said, keeping his voice low. “She’s more than a pet. And I don’t plan to keep her, unless she has no one waiting for her.”

“I didn’t know you wanted kids,” Summer said through a yawn.

“I didn’t. Well, not until I found Missy here,” Trent said sheepishly. “Valerie would never have been a great mother, so I’m glad she never was able to get pregnant.”

He paused before remembering something.

“We found Spike lurking about. He’s swimming with some fishes,” Trent said a little too loudly, causing the child to whimper out. “Sorry,” he whispered to her.

Spike got his name as such, since he loathed his given name, because he had tattoos of large spikes on his white shaved head.

“Did he say anything?” Chase asked, needing to know.

“Said that you should enjoy your free gift,” Peter laughed. “He may have wanted to say more, but I didn’t give him the chance to.”

It didn’t take Clare long to warm up some mac and cheese that was left over from the day before, setting a small bowl full in front of the girl.

“Here you go, sweetie,” she said sweetly. “Eat as much as you want. I can warm more up for you.”

Somehow, Trent maneuvered the girl so she was facing the table most of the way, and fed her small spoonful after spoonful. She ate most of it before she refused to eat another bite, her dark brown eyes taking everything in. Clare was quick to get the smallest cup of milk she could, setting it in front of her.

“How about we get you cleaned up?” Trent spoke up towards the girl, his voice gentle.

Chase couldn’t help but envy his cousin, knowing that kids had always been drawn to the man. Of course, they were drawn to Chase more times than not. But he didn’t want his own kids, as he didn’t want to force Summer and countless nannies to raise his own flesh and blood like he had been raised.

The girl only leaned into the man, not fighting, nor accepting, the request. Trent stood up with Clare in tow to help bathe the child.

“Take pics of any marks,” Peter said out, knowing that if Ryder was brought in, it would need to be done either way.

Trent grumbled out a reply before making his way upstairs.

“Where do you think she came from?” Summer asked towards her husband, meeting his eyes.