Merciless Protector, page 1
MERCILESS PROTECTOR
TERRI E. LAINE
First Edition
Copyright 2023 Terri E. Laine
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used factiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. The scanning, uploading and distribution of the book via the Internet or via any other means without permission is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchased only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support for the author’s rights is appreciated. For information address to SDTEL Books.
Michele @ Michele Catalano Creative - cover design
AUTHOR’S NOTE
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CONTENTS
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by Terri E. Laine
1
My internal alarm clock went off, and I blinked several times to focus. For a second, I didn’t remember where I was. But the exposed brick walls reminded me I was back in my studio apartment in Chicago.
“Hey.” The soft voice was another reminder that I wasn’t alone.
“Hey,” I said back.
“Don’t sound so excited.” My handler rolled to the left and gingerly got off the bed naked as the day she was born.
Inwardly, I groaned. It was true her cover was one of a long list of women to spend time in my bed. That didn’t mean we had to fully act it out. Besides, the op was over. Nicolas Cortez, the kingpin of Chicago, was in federal custody.
“What are you going to do now?” she asked, undeterred by my silence. I shrugged because I wouldn’t tell her my plans. “Maybe you should take a vacation, Shawn.”
Shawn wasn’t my real name. But I’d been called it so much I responded as easily as if she’d called me Matt. Her point, however, was to convey that the brass at the bureau wanted me out of Chicago.
“Things are hot in the city right now. I just might do that,” I said, sticking to my cover. Though the kingpin was in jail, the extent of his reach was long. I swept for bugs daily, otherwise known as listening devices, but you never knew.
She giggled as if she were some silly woman instead of a deadly weapon. Her training was as extensive as mine. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” she said teasingly, but I understood it for what it was—a warning.
“You know me.”
She didn’t exactly know me. We’d only worked together for about a year when she replaced my previous handler. What she hadn’t suggested was for me to move from the area. That meant I was to remain a cop with the Chicago PD. Technically, I was on suspension from that job. An internal investigation was pending regarding my involvement with the kingpin. I’d been his right-hand man. Chicago PD’s internal affairs department was looking into it because they’d caught me with Cortez when he was arrested. It was all part of my FBI cover, and the bureau would use back channels to clear me of that… eventually.
After my handler left, I checked my watch. I had an hour before a meeting I’d set up and headed for the shower. I’d made promises I had to keep. One I’d made to my brother-in-law, Connor King. Another to the man I was meeting.
An hour later, I walked into a dive bar on Rush Street and headed to a back shadowy corner that had been agreed upon. There sat David Royal. I almost didn’t recognize one of Chicago’s most eligible bachelors as he wore a White Sox baseball hat.
I slid into the booth opposite him just as a server dropped off two beers. It was a little early, but past noon.
“On time,” he said and took a swig of his beer.
“Always. I keep my promises.”
He nodded but didn’t look happy about it. “How’s Natalie?” he asked.
Natalie was the kingpin’s only daughter. She’d also been a bargaining chip David lost.
“Do you really want to know?” He looked away. “You really liked her?”
He met my eyes, and I held his squarely as he spoke. “It’s not often you find a woman like her. She was a breath of fresh air.”
I nodded, understanding what he meant. He had no idea how closely I could commiserate with him. He saw me as part of Chicago’s underbelly. Where I’d grown up like him, rich and privileged. Most didn’t know that because I’d walked away from my blue-blood life.
“You win some, you lose some. I lost a woman like her, a day late and a dollar short.” I took a pull from my beer, which had already begun to sweat.
What I said was more truth than I’d told anyone outside of my inner circle in a very long time. I could have fallen hard for my twin sister’s best friend since college. I’d kept Bailey at arm’s length, not wanting to corrupt her. She was sweet as homemade apple pie, and I hadn’t been ready for anything real. Much later, I’d changed my mind and gone back to New York, a few days after she’d met a man wealthier than God. She married that man because I’d been a fool.
“Regrets?” he asked, drawing me out of my musings.
“Abso-fucking-lutely.” I tipped my beer in his direction. “But lightning can strike again.” At least, I hoped it would. “But I’m not here to walk down Lost Love Avenue, am I?”
“How can I trust you, Shawn? If that’s even your real name.” His posture was stiff. But given how we met, he shouldn’t be this angry. I wasn’t a choirboy.
“As real as it gets,” I responded. I’d been Shawn longer than any of my previous FBI covers. Some nights, I thought I was more Shawn than Matt, probably because, for so long, I’d been running away from the stigma of how I’d grown up. I’d wanted to be anyone but.
“Disgraced officer. Again, why should I trust you?”
It was a valid question. He’d been paying attention to the headlines about my shady link to a crime boss. “Don’t,” I answered with another casual shrug.
David had hired the best private detectives, or so he thought. None of them had been able to find his sister. He needed someone with their hands dirty to even have a shred of hope of finding her. When he visibly relaxed, I assumed he had come to the same conclusion.
Without words, he slid a picture across the table. I picked it up. A striking woman smiled up at me, carefree. A woman who could model on the cover of fashion magazines. One who would be eaten alive in the human trafficking world. She was just that stunning.
“Not much of a resemblance,” I said.
Besides their facial structure differences, she had more color to her than her brother, as if she’d been tanning on the beach.
“She’s Dad’s. A DNA test my mother insisted on proves it.”
There was a story there. “But you’ve only recently connected with her?” I guessed.
“After Dad took ill, I took over. Certain monthly payments led me to the truth.”
“How old is she?” I asked. She didn’t look like a child, but young. Based on his statements, I couldn’t imagine his mother would approve of her husband continuing to pay child support for an adult. Besides that, age was an important factor. It was sick to even contemplate, but some human traffickers only dealt with kids.
“She’s not a kid. Mom doesn’t know Dad’s still sending money. And Dad’s guilt is long,” he said, answering my unasked question.
“Have you met her?”
He nodded. “We spoke a few times. I met her in person only once.”
“What happened?” I wanted to know what he knew about her disappearance.
“According to her younger sister, who is twelve, by the way, she had been communicating online with another girl who shared her love for dogs. She was going to meet said girl at a park near the Magnificent Mile when Tayla caught and stopped her. She thinks Tayla went to the park as she left in a rush and never returned.”
It was a classic story. The internet had opened a lot of doors to predators and kids who didn’t understand stranger danger.
“She’s barely out of college,” he pleaded, speaking of Tayla, not her younger sister.
I nodded. “Do your brothe
David was one of three sons by the elder Royal. “No. Declan wouldn’t understand, and Dean… well, Dean has no boundaries. Tayla wasn’t exactly excited to meet me after the way my mother treated hers.” His face hardened. “Can you help?”
“I’ll need some information from you.”
I laid out everything I would need, including the full names and birth dates of Tayla and her sister. I also needed Tayla’s sister’s email address. My brother-in-law was one of the best hackers. If we could trace the sender of the email, we might link him or her to whatever group was organizing the sale of children, as Tayla’s sister had been the target.
He promised to get me that information as we ended our meeting. Not wanting to be linked with the likes of me, he left first. I called Connor and filled him in.
Less than two weeks later, I found myself outside of a warehouse where an auction of human beings was to take place. Everything in me wanted to go in guns blazing. Instead, I became my next persona, code name Rook, a billionaire with a taste for innocence.
Matt, the name I was born with, was shoved further into the darkness.
Later, when I set eyes on Tayla, I knew I was going to hell. What I would have to do to save her. Only God could save my soul because David Royal was going to kill me...
2
TAYLA
Only now did I realize the life of privilege I’d lived. I’d dumbly assumed that the bad guys couldn’t win as I rushed into danger. How wrong I’d been. No amount of training could have prepared me for how things had turned out.
In chains, I sat at the feet of my captor like a modern-day Jedi princess, especially in the getup I was wearing. It was the sexier version of a cosplay outfit Princess Leia would have worn with Jabba the Hutt.
The man called Ruin was no Jabba the Hutt. He was a monster formed with handsome features and a cruel smile. He was the contradiction that left me feeling insane. His grooming game was working. The pressure cooker of wanting to save my life was slowly breaking me.
“What do you think, pet?” There was an edge to his tone that let me know this wasn’t the first time he’d asked.
I hadn’t heard the question, lost in my thoughts as I was most days. I opted to shrug.
His movement was swift. His punishment absolute. He fisted a hand around my right breast and squeezed. The pain was excruciating. I knew better than to cry out. My only reaction was a change in my expression. That couldn’t be avoided.
“I could give you to my men. I don’t know why I keep you around,” he said near my ear, but the men with guns that stood in his presence heard well enough. They laughed. “I suppose I get a kick out of the headlines. They are still looking for you after all this time.”
Hope flickered in my heart as the double doors to the madman’s throne room opened and his right-hand man entered. The laughter died as the burn of tears threatened to spill down my cheeks.
“Boss,” the man said.
If I hadn’t been chained, I would have rolled to the right during the momentary distraction. I would have barreled into the guard who stood sentry over Ruin and taken his gun. I was a damn good shot and would have taken out at least six of the men in the room before they had a clue what was going on. But I was chained, leaving me zero options.
“You have a request,” the man finished.
He released his hold on my breast. I didn’t have to turn back to know Ruin was pulling out his phone and reading the request. Violently, he yanked my chain, forcing me back. My head landed in his lap.
“This makes me hard,” he said. My eyes were tearing up now from lack of oxygen as the collar tightened around my neck, forcing me to find my breath. I wouldn’t have long. “Suck my cock, pet. Just like I taught you.”
Gagging would be all I knew until his completion. If I ever lost my will to live, I would bite off the head of his dick. But there was still a tiny spark of hope that squashed that idea. My mind went somewhere else as he used my mouth while displaying my body in front of his admirers.
Ruin was perverse and didn’t care who saw the things he did. I was helpless to fight him or the desire he forced on me. I hated him more for forcing an orgasm I didn’t want as he touched me until I had no control over the outcome.
Later, as I lay at the foot of his bed, still chained like an animal, he continued his ruthless pursuit of my mind. “If you weren’t a virgin I could get top dollar for, I’d fuck you just to be your first.”
Ruin’s perversions didn’t run to just women or girls. He didn’t care what was between your legs when it came to his sadistic needs.
I didn’t respond. It wasn’t in my interest to. If I said the wrong thing, it would be a long night. Though he hadn’t fucked me, he’d done just about everything else. And his desires ran dark.
“Someone wants you.” His chuckle was disturbing. “He didn’t quite say it. But the request was too fucking close to your description to be anything but a setup. If he wants to play, he won’t like the game.”
And there it was again. Hope. Had my brother found me? Just as quickly, that thought tanked. I’d seen Ruin shoot a man for bringing him white toast instead of wheat. I may not have love for the brother I’d only met recently, but I didn’t want him dead.
There was a flurry of activity the next day. A woman blindly loyal to Ruin, for whatever reason, came in carrying garments I assumed were for me. As much as I wanted to protest, I’d learned hard lessons early on about the punishments I would receive for noncompliance. All would end with me walking around naked wherever he wanted me to be.
No matter how much it physically and mentally hurt me to do what he wanted, I had to bide my time until I had a clear opportunity for a successful escape. It wasn’t now. When the door had opened to let the woman in, there had been an armed guard just outside. There were likely more. I would survive whatever was happening. I would.
I let her dress me in an Alice in Wonderland getup surely made for a stripper. The simple blue dress was cinched at my waist. The ruffled hem barely covered my ass. And the white bib of the apron lay just slightly above my nipples. I was given long white socks and too-small Mary-Jane black flats. When she proceeded to plait my hair in two braids on either side of my head, I guessed what I was being set up for. Ruin wanted to capitalize on what some had called my baby face. I’d been told most of my adult life I looked younger than I was. The style of my hair would likely make me look even younger.
A rap came at the door, and I was led out into the hallway, where I joined several other girls dressed just like me. My heart raced as a reminder of Ruin’s words came back to me. Someone wants you. Had the time come when I’d be sold? It was both a fear and an opportunity. My guess was that anyone who bought me wouldn’t have the same level of security Ruin did. It could be my ticket to freedom.
Only now, I had a bigger moral dilemma. I’d gotten caught while trying to save my little sister from a predator. The girls lined up with me looked her age, preteen. While it was possible one or more could look young like me, from the fear on their youthful faces, I didn’t think any were of legal age.
As they marched us to the room where Ruin held court, I racked my brain for a way to save us all. Without backup or a weapon, I didn’t think I would be able to do so, and it broke me.
We were filed into the main room of the compound. Gone was the raised platform and throne Ruin liked to sit on. Instead, a table was in the middle of the room. Men sat on either side of it. Without counting, I guessed the number of men matched the number of us females.
