Chapter Twenty-Nine

It couldn’t be. It just couldn’t be! Kara reacted on instinct, throwing the door closed on her father as he stood smiling on the front steps.
She stepped away from the door with shaky legs, trembling at the sound of his laughter that seeped in through the barrier between them.
The fear in her heart was bitter and cold as it wrapped around everything within her. He would kill her. He would kill her, she had to get away!
Kara darted around, running blindly back in the direction she’d come. If she could exit through another door, she might manage to reach the woods before they got to her. She could escape if…
“Did you think I would come alone?” the voice stopped her cold and Kara spun around to find Markos standing directly behind her.
How did he get in? She didn’t stop to think. Her heart was racing in blind fear and the tears filling her eyes would soon truly blind her from her escape.
She turned and fled, hearing Markos laugh behind her.
Kara felt like she was in a nightmare. Only this was real and they’d found her, whereas in her dream it was just running with the terrible and constant fear of being captured, which in a way was worse than being captured. But at the moment when Kara came to a sharp halt, staring at the faces of Markos’ men as the blocked her way, she wished for the constant running even if it came with its fear.
She wished for the running, as long as she never got caught like this.
One of the men came forward and grabbed her arm, roughly hauling her back to where Markos stood.
Kara struggled as much against the hand on her arm as against the tears burning her throat. They threw her at his feet where she landed painfully.
His shoes shined where she knew his slaves had polished them with their own sweat, fearing for their lives. Slowly, Kara lifted her eyes to his. Markos stared down at her like he would a rock. Something of little interest to him, unless that rock contained valuable elements, which sadly this particular rock didn’t. She was just the girl he’d been foolish enough to leave behind in the womb of some American whore.
The girl had served her purpose in the business well. Silently doing as told and easily abiding by rules after a good whipping if she stepped out of line. Like now, with her escaping the girl’s establishment.
Markos said nothing, only stared coldly at her, feeling her fear and loving it. She was terrified of him. Good.
Obviously she knew that what she had done didn’t require a whipping. No. Trying to escape required nothing less than a bullet in the brain and Markos saw no reason why he shouldn’t do it. But perhaps not in that particular location. That man, Lucas Cartier had always been someone who Markos knew hated him, but still he’d been kind enough to retrieve the spoiled girl for him. Leaving the man’s house with zero blood splatters was the least he could do.
So giving the girl a final look, he signaled to his men to take her and he turned, leading the way out of the house.
Kara’s heart sank. For one pathetic moment, she’d hoped. She’d hoped that he would see how identical her eyes were to his and he’d remember that she was his only child. No such luck.
Markos Vilmont would kill her and Kara knew it. She bit her lip as they ripped her bags away from her and grabbed her by the arms, practically dragging her from the house. The tears streamed endlessly down her face as Kara dug her heels pointlessly in. All her stubbornness did was drag the rug halfway across the room and the men easily tugged her up off the floor when she’d held back.
“No…” Kara whimpered through a heavy heart, weighed down by fear and sadness. She would have been free. She would have left and they wouldn’t have found her, but they did even before she could leave. How on earth had they found her at Luc’s house? He’d told her she would be safe here!
Kara’s heart stopped as a thought occurred to her. Markos couldn’t have gone to the ranch and… could he? Celeste and François! What he done to them?!
With panic she began to struggle to reach Markos where he sat in his car as they dragged her past.
“What did you do?” she screamed, her fear of the danger her friends could have gone through greater than that of her own danger.
Markos merely turned his head in her direction as she fought to remain by his car window.
“What did you do to them?! Please! Please, tell me you didn’t hurt them…”
He watched the tears run like crazy down her face and his own face became a mask of confusion. Please tell her he didn’t hurt who?
Kara slowly stopped struggling when she saw the look on Markos’ face. She knew him and she also knew that he had no idea what she was talking about.
Weakening, she let them lead her to the second car where the rough handed brute pushed her in. Kara was used to it and let the pain in her arms dull away as the cars drove away. Kara sat very still, the tears turning cold on her cheeks.
Markos didn’t go through François and Celeste… thank God. But then how did he know where she was?
______
Lucas pushed away from the boardroom table, pulling himself up as the meeting came to an end. He absently dusted at his jacket as it sat draped over the back of his chair. He hadn’t heard a word Raphaël or anybody else had said for the entire half an hour and from the looks he was getting from his partner, he knew it showed.
But Luc couldn’t help it. Since he’d left the house that morning there had been only one thing on his mind. Kara.
She occupied his mind and engaged every single one of his brain cells so that he was remembering the sound of her laughter, the color of her eyes, the scent of her arousal, the softness of her skin, the taste of her lips and the way she sent his heart off at a gallop whenever she was close to him.
She was all he could think about.
Lucas leaned back against the table as the room cleared and it was just him and Raphaël left. He didn’t notice anything until his friend was standing right in front of him. Luc started when Raphaël snapped his fingers before his face.
“What’s the matter with you?” asked Raphaël gruffly as he shoved his hands into his pockets.
Lucas scowled and ran a hand through his hair, messing the perfect style to a tousle that would certainly get all the receptionists sighing. But Lucas didn’t care about them. He only wanted Kara.
But he’d sent her away all by himself, hadn’t he? So now he didn’t get to whine about it.
Raphaël lifted a brow when Lucas remained silent and stared at his shoes.
“Ay?” he called and Luc finally looked up. When Raphaël saw the look in his eyes, he just knew.
“It’s Kara, n’est pas?” he asked. Luc flinched and Raphaël had his answer. “You look like shit, man, what the fuck happened?”
Lucas crossed his arms in a pose Raphaël knew to be his defensive pose. He narrowed his eyes at Luc. “What did you do?”
“What do you mean, what did I do?”
“Cut the bullshit, Cartier.”
Lucas sighed and uncrossed his arms, pushing his hands into his pockets.
“I found out from Gérard that she’s his daughter.”
Raphaël didn’t even flinch. “So?”
Luc’s eyes narrowed. “So. So?? Did you hear me, Raphaël? She’s the daughter of that scumbag. His seed.”
Raphaël deadpanned and shrugged a shoulder. “Again…so?”
Lucas huffed and crossed his arms again. “She’s obviously her father’s daughter and takes after him. No wonder she stole from me so easily. She bought a fucking flat screen with that money, do you know that? And a whole bunch of other shit. Zero remorse!”
Raphaël silently studied Lucas. “That’s why you look like shit? Because she spent the money that’s less than a cent compared to the rest in your bank accounts?”
Lucas growled and pushed angrily away from the table, Raphaël grinned, enjoying his friend’s obvious irritation to the fact that he was falling in love with Kara. But as blind as Lucas was, Raphaël could bet he didn’t even know it yet.
“She’d probably stolen from Vilmont and ran away from home when it was time to fess up.”
Raphaël shook his head, his face now void of any form of amusement. “I doubt Kara thought of that place as anything even remotely similar to a home.”
The grave tone of his voice had Lucas turning around to face him.
“And how would you know that?” Luc demanded.
“If you’d answered your phone when Gérard called last night, you’d know.”
Lucas frowned. “Know what?”
Raphaël shook his head and began lifting his briefcase off the table. “I’m not telling you anything. Go home, ask Kara herself and if for once you actually listen, I’m sure you’ll understand that that place was hell for her.”
Luc tensed and looked away. Raphaël froze then slowly lowered his briefcase back onto the table.
“What is it?” he asked Lucas.
Luc glanced back at him and Raphaël had a bad feeling in his gut.
“She’s not there… at home,” Luc finally said.
Raphaël nodded. “Okay… then where is she because François and Celeste said she’s at your house.”
Lucas remained silent and Raphaël’s heart sank. “Lucas…”
“She’s his daughter, okay?!”
“Lucas, what did you do?”
“I called up Vilmont and told him where to find her! She should be with her father by now. So it’s done!”
Lucas huffed, swallowing to moisten his dry throat as Raphaël stared at him with huge eyes.
“What?! You called Vilmont?! You idiot!”
Lucas crossed his arms as Raphaël searched through his jacket, pulling out his phone.
“Sometimes, I swear you’re the biggest idiot, Lucas, honestly!”
“You’re going to stop insulting me, okay?! She’s with her father, the most he’ll do is ground her for being bad, calm down.”
Raphaël threw his hands up. “Are you insane?! He’s Markos Vilmont, you think he gives a fuck about her being his daughter?!! She was his prisoner, just like those other girls and she escaped! She defied him, he’s going to murder her, Lucas!”
Luc froze, his arms dropping to his side.
“He wouldn’t…”
Raphaël dialed Gérard’s number and brought the phone to his ear as he grabbed his bags.
“Oh, yeah? You stand here and wait to find out, okay? I’m going to go and sort your mess out,” he yelled as he glared at Luc’s paling face. As he exited, Raphaël pointed the phone at Lucas. “Isabelle is going to kill you!”
Luc’s hands came up and covered his mouth as the dread filled him.
What. The. Fuck. Had he just done?
“Fuck.”
With his heart in his throat, he grabbed his jacket off the back of the chair and ran out of the boardroom.
Lucas sped through the corridors where everyone stepped quickly out of his way. The men in fear and the women in submission, their fancy hair-styled heads bowing. Lucas didn’t have time to consider how the females in the office thought he was a Dom and continuously played submissive roles to draw him in. He stalked past them, his entire being filled with one thought. Kara.
Oh, fuck, Kara. She was going to get killed by her own father. Her own father!
Lucas shrugged into his jacket as he caught up with Raphaël who glared at him, but continued to speak on the phone inn rapid French. He’d given orders to Gérard to follow them to Rein with Jean, Tristan and their other men.
Thanks to Luc, they’d have to shift their plans to shut down Vilmont’s pathetic establishment a hundred days forward.
When Raphaël hung up he called Isabelle, letting her know what was happening.
They were in the VIP parking lot then and Raphaël easily put the phone on loudspeaker, shoving it under Luc’s nose so he could clearly hear Isabelle.
“That big-headed billy goat Lucas! Wait till I throttle him to death! When you get Kara, bring him here so I can skin him alive, that pompous Frenchman!”
Raphaël snickered in satisfaction at Luc’s paled face as he brought the phone back to his ear.
“Absolutely, mon amour. I will do just that…Yes, damn right!…Sharpen your knife, babe…I love you too, ma belle.”
Raphaël hung up as they got into his car. God, he loved how Bella could easily say the most psychotic things then tell him she loves him right after.
Lucas found it disturbing and his eyes said so as he glanced at Raphaël.
Raphaël only shrugged. “Don’t look at me, you’re the one who fucked up. Now my wife’s going to kill you. Let’s not forget Celeste when she also finds out.”
Luc groaned and pushed a frustrated hand through his hair. “They don’t worry me for now. Kara, Raphaël. She managed to escape that hell-hole. What will she think of me when she finds out I sent her back there?”
Raphaël took no mercy on the panicked look in Lucas’ eyes.
“That you’re an ass,” he said flatly. “And she wouldn’t be far from the truth.”
Lucas silently agreed. He was the biggest asshole alive. The biggest jerk that ever lived! What would he do if he didn’t find Kara alive? What if that bastard, Vilmont, already hurt her? God, how could he have sent her back there, stupidly thinking that in getting rid of her, he’d get rid of his feelings for her?
She would hate him. She would detest his guts… and that’s what scared Lucas the most. In his ignorance he’d sent her away, because he didn’t want to love her. And that was the shittiest part. He did love her.
Lucas swallowed, staring unseeingly out of the window as they flew over the road and everything became a blur.
He loved Kara…he loved her and he wanted her with an intensity that scared the shit out of him. So he sent her away because he was too much of a coward to face his emotions. And now, he’d never know what it feels like to be loved by her.
**************
Kara didn’t beg. Her eyes kept overflowing and a sob would escape her at times, but she never begged them to let her go.
They reached the warehouse that Markos owned. The place she’d watched him kill countless people, forced, on more occasions than one, to clean up the mess afterward. Now it would be her blood some other poor girl would be mopping up. Her blood that was the same in Markos’ veins.
Kara felt sickened by the knowledge and her stomach churned as she was pulled roughly out of the car. It had been such a long drive. For longer than an hour and a half, they’d driven and Kara was saddened at how far away she’d managed to run from Rein, just to be hauled back. Her efforts wasted.
Finally, they were pushing her into the place where people were often taken to die if not for some business deal.
Kara lifted her flooded gaze to Markos’ as he stood in the middle of the empty space before the open doors.
Boxes and chains filled the place. Kara knew that most of them contained thousands worth of drugs and pornography films.
Markos tilted his head at her.
“How was it?”
Kara stared at him, then asked through a sore throat, “How was what?”
Markos chuckled. Actually chuckled, like he wasn’t minutes away from putting a bullet in his own daughter’s brain.
He stopped chuckling when he realized something then immediately glared at the guard behind Kara.
“Why is she on her feet?!”
A hard push sent Kara falling painfully on her knees and a cry tore out of her. She closed her eyes against the pain in her body as well as the pain in her heart.
Oh, how far Markos was from what she’d wished him to be. How very far.
He smiled. “Better. As I was saying… how was it? Your… freedom.”
Kara glared up at him. “It was fucking perfect. Like a beach vacation.”
Markos laughed heartily and slapped a hand against his cheek. “My, you’ve got a mouth now! Don’t worry…” he extended his hand and his fingers closed around the gun he was handed. “I’ll shoot it right out of you.”
Kara’s heart hammered with terror and she trembled where she knelt on the floor.
Markos lifted the gun. Kara lifted a shaky middle finger.
“Fuck you, Vilmont.”
Markos blinked in absolute surprise, then shrugged, his finger moving to the trigger.
“Vilmont!”
Markos froze, his gaze snapping to the entrance where two men stood, guns in their hands, their white shirts stained with blood. No doubt the blood belonged to his two door men. Fuck, those two had been expensive. Money wasted. The few men in the warehouse raised their weapons until they saw who just walked in. Then their gazes went uncertainly between Markos and the two men who they knew could end them in much crueller and scarier ways.
Their boss didn’t notice their uncertain gazes, or when they lowered their weapons. He thought of the dead guards outside, but didn’t dwell on the lost money for too long. He was too busy staring as Lucas Cartier and Raphaël Sauvage stalked into his warehouse like they owned it.
Markos felt his blood go cold in his veins. Didn’t they? Didn’t Sauvage and Cartier really just own all of France?
Kara’s eyes were huge in her head. Lucas! He’d come for her. Lucas had really come for her and she couldn’t stop herself from leaping to her feet and running to him. The feminist inside her told her that she was pathetic, but her heart told the feminist to shut the fuck up.
Luc’s heart nearly flew out of his chest at the sight of her. His arms opened and caught her the moment she reached him, crushing her against him.
“Lucas! Oh, my God!” she cried, her voice muffled against his neck. Luc held her, his throat too constricted to speak. He held her tightly, memorizing the feel of holding the woman he loved before she began hating him.
“Uh… Cartier… Sauvage…?” said Vilmont in badly concealed shock. He didn’t know what to say, he was out of his depth here. There stood Lucas who had for many years tortured people like Markos, sending them from his basement with missing fingers and teeth and new plans for a business that didn’t involve selling girls or coke.
Lucas Cartier had grown men trembling at the mention of his name. Just as Markos was doing. But he’d thought that by getting him Kara, Lucas had been trying to form an alliance with him. Apparently fucking not.
And to make things worse, he brought his best friend, Raphaël Sauvage.
Markos gulped. The man had been possessed by nothing short of a demon when he was seven years old. Markos wasn’t sure if the demon was still there and he didn’t want to find out. Both Raphaël’s father and his father-in-law had been in a demonic cult.
In short, Markos preferred a visit from Satan himself than from the two men standing before him.
“Markos Vilmont,” said Raphaël, waving his gun with a silencer protruding from the tip. He glanced around with a grin. “How’s business going?”
Vilmont swallowed and narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “Uhm… as well as always.”
Raphaël nodded pleasantly and glanced at Lucas who gently released Kara from his hold.
Markos was confused. “Cartier,” he said, trying to carry his usual authoritative tone and failing miserably. “What’s happening here? I mean… don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful you got me the girl back but… you killed my guards…”
Markos’ voice sounded horribly whiney even to his own ears.
Luc was looking right at Markos, but ignoring him. All his senses were trained on the feeling of Kara’s wide eyes boring into the side of his head. He saw and felt her step away from him, leaving him cold.
Markos saw her reaction and raised his brows. “You didn’t know that Lucas Cartier got you back to me?” he asked with genuine interest.
“Shut up, Vilmont,” Raphaël barked, his pleasantries gone like wind.
Markos paled when Raphaël took a single step toward him.
Lucas didn’t move. Kara’s eyes pinned him like a fly on the wall.
Her voice came out low and dangerous.
“You did what?”