Ashes Read online

  “Maddie, talk to me.”

  “And say what?”

  “I don’t know. That’s up to you.”

  “Mrs. Sparrow has an institute to help victims of trafficking.”

  I scoffed. “I know you mean Araneae because, believe me, Mrs. Sparrow—Sparrow’s mother—would never do anything as altruistic.”

  “His mother is still alive?” she asked.

  “Unfortunately.”

  Madeline wiped her cheeks as her eyes grew wide. “Patrick Kelly, I’ve never heard you say anything bad about another person. She’s your friend’s mother.”

  “Don’t worry, Sparrow would say the same thing.”

  “His mother must be a real winner.” Madeline shook her head. “My mom was a lot of things, things I’m just learning—such as a mistress—but I never remember thinking that she wasn’t kind.”

  I took a deep breath. “I won’t sing the praises of Allister and Genevieve Sparrow—with two exceptions. Their son is a good man and Allister’s daughter is the love of my life.”

  Maddie sighed and gave me a sad smile. “Laurel said Allister was involved in trafficking, similar to the senator?”

  “Yes, that’s why Sparrow asked if it was his father who was…involved with your history.”

  “Who sold me, Patrick. I’m being honest with you. Believe it or not, I hate telling you what happened almost as much as I hated it happening. However, I’m done living a shell of a life. I’ve done terrible things to survive.”

  “You didn’t do them willingly, I suppose.”

  “Does that really matter? I did them, and I need you to face that fact too if we have any hope of moving beyond.”

  Again my hands found the way to the small of her back, pulling her warm, sexy body against mine. “I’m facing it. I hate what you’ve been through—not you. I’m so fucking disgusted with myself for not protecting you back then, for not finding you, for failing you.” With each phrase, I pulled her closer and closer until our bodies were flush.

  “It wasn’t your fault. I never blamed you.”

  “I’m fucking blaming myself enough for both of us.” I took a step back. “Madeline Kelly, I failed you. You were in the city, and I joined the military and left. I won’t fail you again. I will be beside you every damn day to remind you that I love you, that I never stopped loving you, and that you are the strongest, most determined, and most beautiful woman in the world. From the time I pulled you into that damn hole in the wall, you’re the best fucking thing to ever happen to me.”

  “Patrick, I don’t know if I can tell you everything. I’m ashamed.”

  “Look at me,” I said. “You know enough about the bratva to have an idea of what I do for Sparrow. I’m not a good man.”

  “You are.”

  My head shook. “I have done bad things. Does that make you hate me, knowing I’ve stolen, cheated, and killed? Or that I’ll do it again if called upon?”

  Madeline inhaled. “I’ve never killed, mostly because I didn’t have the chance.”

  A smile curled my lips. “We were meant for one another the day we met and, Maddie girl, we still are.”

  “But you don’t know—”

  I brought my finger to her lips. “You were upset about the institute. We don’t need to dredge up any other memories.”

  “I was surprised about Allister and about Araneae. She’s a good person, not me.”

  “She is, and I care for her and think she’s the best fucking thing to happen to Sparrow. I love you and believe you’re the best thing to happen to me. It’s not a competition.”

  Madeline’s forehead fell to my chest, reminding me of the vest below. I lifted her chin and brushed my lips over hers. “I’m going to get out of this vest.”

  Patrick

  Hand in hand, we walked back to the bedroom, letting go as we entered. As I opened the walk-in closet, I stopped. Most racks held my suits and shirts. I had a few casual clothes but not many. What were glaringly missing from the closet were Madeline’s clothes.

  “We need to get you clothes.” I spun back, seeing Madeline standing near the tall windows. “Or not.”

  “What?” she asked, looking my way.

  Tossing my suit coat on the floor of the closet, I tugged my tie free and then began with the buttons of my shirt. Madeline came closer as I peeled the shirt from my arms. She laid her hand over the Kevlar vest and looked up.

  “Patrick, where were you?”

  “There are some things I can’t say.”

  “Or won’t?”

  I nodded.

  Her green gaze stayed fixed on mine. “But wherever you were, it was dangerous?”

  “Not for me.”

  “For Mr. Sparrow?”

  I shook my head. “No, we just took preventive measures.”

  Madeline lifted my shirt from the floor and held it up, inspecting it. “What if you were shot? What if there was a hole in this?” She hugged the material to her chest. “Please don’t tell me this was about me.”

  Pulling on the Velcro straps, I loosened the vest and removed it. Hanging it on a wood hanger, I turned. “Maddie, you will be safe and so will Ruby. I…we will make sure of that. Today was about that but also about what Laurel was saying. Today we learned the identity of Dr. Miller.”

  Madeline gasped as she stepped backward, her knees giving out as she backed into the bed. Lowering herself, she sat on the edge. “No.”

  “Dr. Miller didn’t hurt only you. He and his wife were responsible for a large intake of trafficking victims.”

  “Wendy?”

  “Yes.”

  Her head shook.

  I went closer and sat beside her. “Dr. Miller…” I chose not to use his real name. “…had incriminating evidence against a lot of people, people who would like to see him removed as a possible threat.”

  “Is that what you did, remove him?”

  My nostrils flared as I exhaled. “We also found journals. Wendy kept better records than we anticipated. We have a lot of new information to decipher. Hopefully we can find names. If we do, Reid will run the data through the national registries and try to find other survivors, perhaps changing their last names to Miller.”

  “Cindy.” Her eyes widened. “I don’t know her last name, but her first name was Cindy. She was taken to the cell house before me. Her baby was due probably in May or June of that year.”

  She was asking for a needle in a haystack.

  “I can’t make any promises,” I said honestly.

  Madeline reached up, draping her hands over my shoulders. “Is Dr. Miller dead?” Her green orbs stared into mine.

  “Yes, and also his wife.”

  Her eyelids fluttered as she exhaled. “Good.”

  “You’re not upset?”

  “I never wanted revenge, but having you care enough to want it makes me feel…I’m not sure what the emotion is.”

  Reaching for the hem of her sweater, I lifted it until her arms rose, allowing me to pull it free. “The word is loved. You’re loved. Maddie. I love you.”

  Her fingers splayed over my bare chest. “I love you too, and I don’t want to lose you, not again.”

  A flip of my fingers and her bra was unfastened. Next, I unbuttoned the top button of her blue jeans and lowered the zipper. Tugging them over her sock-covered feet, I pulled them off. Standing, I took her in. With only her panties in place, my wife was stunningly sensual and despite the life she’d been forced to lead, the look in her eyes was energy to my dick.

  Wonder.

  Trust.

  Lust.

  I pulled my belt from its loops and kicked off my shoes.

  “No is always an option,” I said, “but if I don’t take my wife soon, I may explode.”

  Maddie smiled as she tilted her head toward the bedroom door. “Shut the door, Mr. Kelly. You have a daughter who may decide to pay us a visit.”

  Fuck.

  It wasn’t that I’d forgotten we had a daughter. It was that her
mother had my full attention.

  Walking to the bedroom door and holding the doorjamb, I leaned my head into the hallway and listened. The rest of the apartment was quiet. Turning, I closed the door and secured the lock within the knob. With her gaze on me, Madeline reached for the waistband of her panties and pulled them down.

  With each inch they were lowered, my pulse kicked up a notch until my circulation pounded in my ears with most of the blood engorging my now-fully-erect penis. Unbuttoning my trousers, I lowered the zipper and stepped out of them. Next, my boxer briefs joined the growing pile of clothes. Fisting my cock, I moved my hand over the tightening skin as I came to the bed. “Lie back, Mrs. Kelly.”

  Though her gaze never left mine, Madeline did as I instructed.

  “That’s it. Now, show me what you like.”

  Her brow furrowed. “What I like?”

  “Touch yourself. Show me what makes you wet.”

  “Shit, Patrick, you do. Having you here and your sexy blue eyes on me, your wide chest, and shit, the sight of your cock. I want you.”

  My hand moved rhythmically up and down. “I want you, too, so fucking much my balls ache. Show me.”

  Her tits moved up and down as she laid her head upon one of the pillows, lifted her knees and scooted her feet, and with one hand, she reached down.

  “Close your eyes,” I said. “Show me how wet you are.”

  Her head shook once as her eyes stayed wide. Yet her hand obeyed, opening herself. Maddie’s back arched as she teased her own pussy with one and then two fingers.

  Fuck, I was about to blow.

  My hand moved faster.

  When she lifted her glistening fingers, I knelt upon the mattress. “Give them to me.”

  Opening my lips, she placed her fingers inside. I closed my lips, sucking her sweet essence as memories of the nights in the hotel came back. My tongue ran around and around her fingers as her body squirmed and moans filled the room.

  Releasing her hand, I lowered my lips to her taut nipples. Again, I circled and circled with my tongue as my hand found its way to her core. Two fingers and then three. She wasn’t just wet. My Maddie girl was soaked. In and out, I teased and then my thumb found her engorged clit.

  “Patrick,” she called out.

  “I fucking love hearing my name. Now tell me who you are.”

  “I-I’m Madeline Kelly.”

  With that, I reached for her knees and spread her wide as my mouth found her wet pussy. My tongue lapped and teeth nipped. Over and over, I brought her to the brink until my patience was gone.

  Lifting myself over her, I poised my cock at her entrance. “I love you.”

  “Oh.”

  In one long thrust we were joined. “You feel so fucking good.”

  Her hands again came to my neck. “Don’t stop, Patrick, please never stop.”

  “I never did. You’re mine, Maddie girl. You always were.”

  Faster and faster, we moved. Her walls tightened and quivered as I found my rhythm. In and out, thrust after thrust. Pulling her hips to mine, I rolled until, still connected, Madeline was above me, her dark hair loosened from its tether and messed. Her tits were splotchy and reddened from the abrasion of my day’s beard growth. She was spectacular.

  A smile came to my lips. “Fuck me, Maddie.”

  Her lips curled upward as her petite hands came to my shoulders. Never once did her green gaze leave mine as she lifted and lowered herself, not until her back arched, her lips drew up into a tight “o” and her body tightened.

  Reaching for her hips, I lifted her sexy body and lowered her over and over, faster and faster, until the room filled with my satisfied roar. Holding her tightly to me, I filled her with my seed.

  I hadn’t considered birth control and at the moment didn’t care.

  Madeline’s body collapsed upon mine. Perspiration sealed our connection as she lay upon my chest. My fingers stroked her long hair until our breathing slowed to a normal rate. Finally, Madeline lifted her head. “It feels right to be with you, so right.”

  “That’s because you’re where you belong.”

  She laid her head back on my shoulder. “Patrick.”

  “What?”

  “Please don’t ask me to close my eyes.”

  I started to ask why. The word was on the tip of my tongue. Instead, I wrapped my arms around her and cocooned her close. “Never again. I want you to see me, know you’re with me. Besides, your green stare is like fucking Viagra.”

  Maddie giggled, her body vibrating on top of mine. “I don’t think you need Viagra.”

  Turning us on our side, I lifted her chin. “Not as long as I have you.”

  We were almost asleep when a vibration sound echoed from the closet.

  Shit.

  It was my phone.

  Freeing my arm from under Madeline’s head, I made it to the closet and pried my phone from my suit coat before the vibration ended. On the screen was REID.

  Madeline

  Fifteen years ago

  My heart ached as I pulled my clothes from my closet racks and laid them upon the bed in the only room I’d known as mine in Andros’s compound. Trip after trip from the closet to the bed revealed how many outfits I had accumulated in a little over a year. The drawers were filled with velvet boxes of jewelry, my rewards for good behavior.

  The styles of the dresses varied from casual to elegant. The long gowns twisted my stomach while making my skin feel tight.

  I hated that they existed and that I wore them, obeying each directive.

  While I’d left the compound on numerous occasions over the year as Andros’s companion, most of the attire was purchased for within.

  At nearly thirty years of age, Andros Ivanov had come into power through dubious means. He lived life hard. Whether it was killing and stealing or partying, he pushed not only his own limits but those of everyone around him.

  While I’d not seen Andros partake of illicit drugs and he usually kept his alcohol consumption in check, he found great pleasure in bringing others to ecstasy. The men who worked for him at the top of his hierarchy were rewarded with spoils from their bounties.

  As Andros’s companion it fell upon me to prepare the women they acquired.

  While Ruby slept or played with Irina, I would go to the other side of the compound when summoned. The thought turned my stomach and yet I obeyed.

  Memories of the first time came to mind.

  “Where are we going?” I asked Andros as he escorted me across the courtyard and down long corridors.

  “I have a job for you.” His dark eyes narrowed. “One you’re uniquely qualified to do.”

  I tried to keep up as the heels he’d instructed me to wear clipped along the tile, my steps constrained by the narrow skirt on the long blue gown. “Why am I dressed up?”

  It wasn’t only my clothes that he’d directed. My hair, which was much healthier than it had been upon my arrival nearly seven months ago, was styled high upon my head and in my ears and around my neck were diamonds and sapphires to match the blue dress.

  “Tonight we are celebrating. My men took over an organization north of here.”

  “And you want me there?” I asked with trepidation. Since Ruby’s birth, the subject of my producing Andros’s heir hadn’t been revisited. While he’d come to me a few times for sex, he’d also not brought anyone else.

  I didn’t hate sex with him.

  I didn’t love it either.

  He was experienced and not selfish in his sexual endeavors as most of the customers had been at the cell house.

  Given the choice, I preferred being with him over the time he gave me to the other man before Ruby’s birth. I now knew the man’s name. It was Adrik, one of Andros’s closest advisers.

  As we continued walking, I suddenly worried that tonight would be like that night a week before her birth. My fears weren’t innocent enough to imagine one of his men. My neck stiffened as I imagined many.

  Would he do that
to me?

  I had no doubt that he would.

  “Andros, what is my job and what are my qualifications?”

  He reached for my forearm, wrapping his fingers tightly around it and pulling me to a stop. “My men acquired what had been the other organization’s spoils.”

  “Money, guns, drugs?”

  “And women.”

  My stomach fell as I tried to comprehend. “Women? You took women?”

  “Not me personally, my dear. Now they are here for the pleasure of my men.”

  I shook my head. “No. That’s not right.”

  Andros’s smile grew as his gaze darkened. “What was your limit, Madeline? Is this it? Do you no longer want to be with Ruby? Irina is very attentive. My men, they sometimes get carried away when they fuck. And taking turns isn’t their forte. The choice is yours, my dear. You will go to these women and calm them, clean them, dress them, and bring them to us, or you will take their place.”

  My pulse raced as I fought to breathe. “Andros, I can’t do this. It’s like Miss Warner.”

  “Was Miss Warner doing her job to save her child?”

  “I don’t know why she…” I had never given her motivation thought. “What will happen to them after…?”

  “You will not see them again.”

  “You will kill them?” I asked, aghast.

  “Not I. And that isn’t your concern. The clothes are in the attached dressing room. Tonight there are only three.”

  “How many men…?”

  “Fifteen.”

  I wrapped my arms around my midsection, trying to quell the bubbling nausea. “Please, Andros. I can’t leave Ruby, but even you know this is wrong.”

  “My men deserve to be rewarded. They could have fucked them when they found them. Instead, they brought them here to share. Tell me, Madeline, them or you.”

  “I-I…”

  He reached for my chin and snapped it up. “Behave and when my men are happy, you will be rewarded.”

  “I don’t know what to do.”