Read Online Just Desserts by Marquita Valentine - Free Book Online Page B

compared to what his father and his father’s former bodyguards had done to him.
    Sebastian smiled. “Hit me again.” Or else wasn’t said or unsaid. The statement was there.
    “ What?”
    “ Hit me again,” he repeated.
    The man’s eyes widened. “You’re insane. Who the hell smiles after getting punched in the head?”
    “ I do.” Sebastian turned his attention to the woman, still standing there. Trembling in fear and cold. “What’s your name, love?” he asked softly. He didn’t want to scare her.
    “ Molly B—”
    “ Don’t need a surname.” Sebastian smiled gently. “Now, would you’d be so kind as to grab my mobile from my left coat pocket, go to my contacts, and call Ivan?”
    Molly hesitated. “You’d trust me to not run off with it?”
    No, he didn’t. “Let me help you, Molly. Call Ivan and he’ll come round with a car. We’ll go pick up your little one and take you both to a very safe place where no one can hurt you.”
    Molly stretched out her hand. It shook. “How do I know you won’t hurt me more than Frank has?”
    “ You don’t.” He looked at Frank, who stared back at him like he was the very Devil. “Whatever you decide, I’ll take care of this one. Won’t I, big boy?” Then he applied more pressure and finished breaking the rest of Frank’s wrist bones.
    Two days later, Sebastian stood outside the back entrance of the safe house, with the director. She was a no-nonsense woman who he had complete confidence in and used the money he sent every month wisely. The former mansion could house up to thirty women and children. It wasn’t the only one he supported. There were twenty more like it throughout Scotland, Ireland, and England.
    Helping these women and their children wasn’t something he bragged about, and not because he was a humble man either. He wasn’t. It was shameful that these houses had to exist in the first place, but they were needed. And so, he had provided them.
    “ Molly’s fitting in very nicely here, Mr. Romanov. Her little one’s already playing with the others.”
    “ Excellent.” He turned to leave.
    “ She asked for your name,” the director said.
    He wasn’t surprised. Molly had asked him on the limo ride over, right before she put her hand on his crotch and offered to pay him back. He’d let her down gently, moving her hand away. She’d collapsed against him, crying, and he’d let her, offering his handkerchief when she was done.
    “ What did you tell her?” he asked, already knowing the answer. She’d say nothing at all, of course.
    “ That names weren’t important around here, only deeds.”
    “ We’ve need of a director for a new house in Glasgow. Know anyone?” he asked.
    The director didn’t blink. A breeze blew a lock of platinum hair over the scarred side of her face. Her ex-husband had taken a razor to her, and since owning a gun hadn’t been an option, the restraining order had become just as shredded as her face when he’d broken into her flat.
    A nosy neighbor had saved her, and brought her to Childers, where his father had been a patient at the time. Sebastian heard the story, and had paid for her to be moved to a nicer place, with private medical care.
    She’d healed, written him a thank you note, and he’d responded by offering her a job, but not before doing a thorough background check on her.
    “ I might have someone in mind. Unfortunately,” she said.
    He watched as the director went inside, using a code that even he didn’t know, and locked the door behind her.
    Suddenly, he realized that he was tired. That he was lonely, and he wanted his old life back. It was time for him to quit feeling sorry for himself and move forward.
     
    Two days later
     
    Jules: I’m back.
     
    Daisy: Better?
     
    Jules: Getting there.
     
    Daisy: I missed you. Did you meet someone?
     
    Jules: Would it have mattered if I had?
     
    Daisy: Yes, and it only took a week of not talking being able to you everyday to realize