To Die For - Davidson King Page 0,44

bed sores. One time they restrained her, and when I asked why, they just shrugged. I knew I needed to get her out of there.”

Max scooted closer, and his warmth felt nice.

“I’d just turned seventeen the day before when Dorian approached me. He said all the right things and made me feel adored…at first. He wanted to rescue me and help me and my mother. He seduced me into moving in with him and promised he’d find a better place for my mom. But it wasn’t long until I saw his true colors and how he had no intention of helping her.”

“Sparkles—”

“No, Max, let me just get this out.”

He had my hand in both of his, like he wanted to convince me he wasn’t leaving, but it was the next part of the story that I had a feeling would make him think otherwise.

“I turned into entertainment for Dorian. He would make me wear next to nothing around the house. When there was company, he’d use me as a party favor. If I spoke out of turn, said no when I should’ve said yes, looked left when I should’ve looked right, he’d hit me. Sometimes he’d lock me in a room and forget about me for a day. Then he’d apologize, give me things, and tell me he loved me so much, it hurt to see me be defiant.”

I placed Tank on the floor when he tried to jump and watched as he went to his water bowl.

“Dorian thought I was an idiot. I knew I had to get out of there, so I spent months being observant. I saw the code to his safe one day and for weeks repeated it over and over in my head. When he went on a business trip, he left me at the house. There were only a couple of guys there, and I’d never tried to run, so no one thought to give me even a second glance. One night I went into his office, opened the safe, and took all his money. He had something like seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. I knew I couldn’t carry all that, so I grabbed a few rolling suitcases. Filling them took hours, but I got them into one of the many cars he had in the driveway.”

“Jesus,” Max whispered.

“The following morning I told one of the guys I needed a car to go to the store and get a welcome home present for Dorian. God, they all thought me so innocent. They just let me go. And I never stepped foot in that place again.”

“And now Dorian wants his money back?” Max asked.

“No. Now he wants to bury me. I don’t have it anymore. All I had went into getting my mom into the place she’s in now, my place, business—all of it. I have enough to live on for a while, and anything extra goes to keeping her in that facility.”

“So he’s what, going to just make your life hell?”

“Pretty much.” I chuckled darkly.

“Over my dead body,” Max growled.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Max

The thought of Sparkles dealing with daily harassment from some asshole didn’t sit well with me at all. When I thought of all he went through, I felt anger surge through my veins. The fact that Dorian was here in Haven Hart, tormenting him again? I was barely holding it together.

“Max, it’s not like I can call the police and say the guy I stole a shit-ton of money from is mad at me and making my life hell. At the end of the day I took his money, which I’m sure he can prove. I have no leg to stand on here.” Sparkles looked so helpless, and I wanted to wipe that expression away.

“So what’s your grand plan, to just take the hits until there’s nothing left of you?”

He shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know. I never thought he’d find me, and I guess after all these years, I thought I was in the clear and I let my guard down.”

I had this urge, this need, to wrap Sparkles up and never let him go. To protect him from the assholes of the world and for him to know he wasn’t going to be dealing with this on his own. Of course, I had a feeling if I tried to lock Sparkles away, he’d kill me. The thought made me chuckle.

“What on earth do you find so funny about any of this?” he asked with wide eyes.

“Oh, no, no, nothing. I was thinking