Outlaws’ Property (Property of Outlaw Sons MC #1)

1. Jessica

1

JESSICA

The window pane is cold, its chill prickling my palm. Outside it, darkness hides the frigid waves crashing against the rocky shore at the end of the vast lawn, but only a few days ago, it was lit up by fireworks launched from a boat out on the water.

I stood in this same spot, my hand cooled by the same window, watching a party I wasn’t invited to, and made the same New Year’s resolution as I do every year.

Live.

We’re barely into January, but Victor’s people have already scrubbed away all signs of the holidays. No lights, no snow, no decorations. Dreaming of a white Christmas here is as useless as waiting for a knight in shining armor to come take me away. All we ever get is icy rain and cold damp weather that sinks into our bones. Just once I want to build a snowman and go sledding. I want what I’ve seen in the movies.

The joy that I remember from the foggy memories I have of holidays with my parents… before.

"Jessicaaa, I don't wanna do homework. I hate math.” Anne gets up from her desk and flops on the bed. Her golden curls bounce as she lands.

I straighten my glasses with a sigh, shaking off the doom and gloom that isn’t going to get me anywhere. I love her to death, but I swear she went to bed a lovable kid at eleven years old, and woke up a surly tween the day she turned twelve. “Come on, you just have one more section to go. Problem eight is just like the second one, see? If you take the denominator and?—”

Anne lets out a groan that sounds like it was ripped from the bottom of her soul. “Maybe if I had something to help me concentrate.” She twists upright, kneeling on the bed in her PJs. “Like coffee.”

“Nice try, sneaky.” I poke her in the side and get a little giggle. Good, the kid is still in there somewhere. “You’re too young for coffee.”

She pouts, with a sly glimmer in her eyes. “Okay, then how about sugar? I hid some cookies in a pot in the kitchen.”

“You’re a sneak! Are you trying to get me in trouble?” I keep my voice light, but Victor doesn’t like it when we leave Anne’s rooms at night and she knows how her father can be. Well, at least a little bit of how her father can be. She’d be shocked if she knew the whole truth.

I don’t particularly want to do fractions either, but if her tutor reports that she’s not getting her work done, I’m the one who will pay the price. The consequences can be brutal, so let’s just say I’m motivated. Much more than Anne, who has more wealth and privilege at her fingertips than most people will see in a hundred lifetimes. It could turn her into a total brat, but she has a good heart, and she’s still too sheltered to fully understand her situation.

Her eyes lose their sparkle. “No.”

“Then let’s make a deal. If you finish this up before nine, we can go check the kitchen and see if your hidden treasure is still there. Marissa never cooks so I bet they are.” It’s a risk, but a huge one.

“Yes!” She wrinkles her nose at the mention of her father’s newest girlfriend, but sits down and dutifully goes back to work on the assignment she was given for the holiday break.

I pick up a brush and braid her hair while she works, nudging her in the right direction when she gets stuck. Times like this make me almost forget how fragile my own situation is, but I can’t get complacent.

Does that sound dramatic? It isn’t.

Victor Kane, this sweet girl’s father, murdered my parents when I was a little younger than she is now.

Ten years later, I still don't know why. Why he killed them, or why he took me instead of letting me die on the boat with them. It definitely wasn’t mercy. If you ask me, he gets a perverse thrill out of keeping me around like a trophy. When people make him mad, he can point at me and say: “Look. See what I’m capable of? I’ll take everything you love.”

He's a monster, and I have to look him in the eyes every single freaking day. That sounds like it would be the worst part, but it isn’t. What really kills me is that I’m used to it.

I fought as well as a child could. I cried. I tried to run away. None of it worked. The only thing I earned for my trouble was nightmares, and in the end, working for Victor is the only life I know. I’ve helped take care of her since she was a toddler, and been her full time Nanny since I was sixteen. Nobody talks about her mother. The rumor is that she tried to get away after she had Anne, and Victor had her removed from the picture.

Permanently.

I believe it. Victor doesn't have family. He has possessions.

“Done!” Anne drops her pencil on her desk and is at the door in a shot. She takes her silk robe off the hook and slips it on over her pajamas. “Let’s go.”

There’s no matching robe for me. I’m wearing plain gray sweats, the only real option I have aside from my regular uniform: a shapeless navy skirt that reaches my calves, with a matching cardigan for warmth over a frumpy white blouse. Sometimes I envy Anne’s bottomless wardrobe, but where would I use it? Most of the time I’m glad to keep a low profile. Being ignored beats the heck out of catching the wrong kind of notice.

“Okay, come on. It’s almost past your bedtime, but if we make this quick we can be back before nine. Quiet like a mouse, right?”

Anne nods with a grin. She puts her finger against her lips and we slip out into the silent hall.

The shortest path to the kitchen means cutting through the open area in the middle of the main house and going past the steaming pool. There’s a shadow of a helicopter on the far wall, cast from the helipad on the roof. Having the building all around us cuts off the bitter January wind coming off the water, but it's still freezing cold. We dash across to the other side and slip through the open glass doors into the large living room. From there, the kitchen is just around the corner.

A solitary guard looks up as we pass. He catches my elbow and leans in so Anne doesn’t hear. “Hurry up, Ratty. Better get back to your hole before the cat notices you’re out.”

I shiver and shake off his grip. Victor’s men named me Rat Girl, saying I’m always scurrying around in the shadows. They think it’s an insult, but I’ll take it over the alternative. I learned my lesson early. I was fourteen when I was just starting to realize becoming a woman might hold a new kind of power. One of Victor’s bodyguards was handsome and liked to flirt when nobody was watching. That was all it took to make me start dreaming of us falling in love, and maybe he would take me away from this, and…

Let’s face it, I don’t know what I thought was going to happen. I was young and stupid. Catherine—Anne’s old Nanny who was also in charge of keeping an eye on me—caught wind and went straight to Victor.

The next day, my back was covered in bruises, and I never saw that guard again. I was hurt and heartbroken, but now I’m glad it scared me enough to keep me from making the same mistake again. Catherine might’ve been a nasty piece of work, but now that I’m older and understand what was happening better, she did me a favor.

Oblivious, Anne slips ahead, making a beeline for a particular cabinet as soon as we get to the kitchen. She pushes pots and pans aside, practically crawling inside to get to her hidden stash.

"Got it." She emerges with a bag in her hand, full of cookies stolen from the catering before they ended up in the garbage. “I saved enough to share. Let’s go!”

The ceiling light turns on, making both of us wince and blink. "What the heck do you think you're doing?" Marissa’s shrill voice breaks the quiet with all the gentleness of a dish thrown at the wall. “Are you stealing food?”

"Stealing? This is my house, not yours!" Anne snaps back. "I’m just getting a snack."

"For now,” Marissa growls. “Listen here, you little snot. I don't care that I'm not your mother. I’m not going to let you embarrass us by getting fat ."

Anne freezes, red splotches staining her cheeks. Her body is just starting to lose its childish lankiness, filling out in places that are new and a little scary to her. There’s nothing wrong with her. Not one bit. She could eat a whole bag of cookies every night and still be perfect.

I step in front of her, blocking Marissa’s poisonous glare. “Don’t be ridiculous. It’s just a few cookies.”

Victor's girlfriends come and go like a revolving door. Marissa has made it nearly two years now, and she might think that means something, but I’ve seen better women than her get kicked to the curb. Standing up to her is going to come back and bite me, but I’m not going to stand here and let her fat shame a little girl for wanting a cookie.

"You shut the hell up," she seethes. "You’re the help . Maybe you should do your job and watch Anne, not enable her. If you can’t follow simple instructions and be a healthy role model, then it’s time for Victor to finally listen to me and get rid of you. She should be in boarding school where she can learn some real manners."

I bite my tongue. I can’t afford to make her too mad while she still has Victor’s ear. Without Anne, I don’t have a place here, and without a place, Victor might decide my usefulness is over. Anne makes a small unhappy noise. I put my hand behind my back and she slips her fingers into mine. I give them a small squeeze of support.

Anne raises her chin in defiance. "Why are you so mean to Jessica? I finished my homework. Here. If the cookies mean so much to you, you can have them. Maybe if you ate a few you wouldn’t be such a witch."

It’s all I can do not to burst out laughing at the shocked look on Marissa’s face.

But her shock turns quickly to rage. She glares right at me and reaches out, grabbing Anne by the wrist and yanking her away from me. “You are a horrible influence on her. I don’t know why he bothers keeping you around.”

“Yeah, well I don’t know why he bothers keeping you around either,” I snap. “Let her go!”

"What the hell is all this yelling about?" Victor strides into the kitchen, his hard dress shoes echoing off the marble floor. The disaster is officially complete.

“Baby,” Marissa croons. “I was taking care of it. Anne’s nanny is useless. I think you need to seriously think about what I was saying. I?—”

“Shut up.” He doesn’t even bother looking at her. "Jessica."

Just the one word, not even said very loud, but with complete conviction that he will be listened to. My stomach drops, twisted into a knot that threatens to unfurl so fast I’ll puke. Victor is a man that’s used to being obeyed without question. In another universe, he could use that power and charisma for good, but in this one, he's just a monster. His cold gaze is fixed on me. That's never good.

“Daddy, I’m sorry,” Anne whispers. “It’s my fault.”

I wonder if he knows she only calls him that when she’s afraid of him.

"Maybe I've been too lenient. You’ve forgotten your place.” He glances towards Marissa before his hard gaze shifts to Anne. Her shoulders curl in, slumping under the weight of his gaze. “Keep my daughter out of the way. I need to have a word with the nanny ."

Anne’s chin wobbles. "I'm sorry. I just wanted a snack. I didn't think it was a big deal."

"Enough! You’re old enough to learn a lesson about respect, and consequences." His eyes shift back to me. "I understand that you’re fond of Jessica, but she’s our servant, not your friend. Marissa, make sure Anne watches this. It’s time she realizes that obedience comes at a cost." He peels off his suit jacket as he speaks, folding it neatly and placing it on the kitchen counter before rolling up his sleeves. "Jessica, come here."

My feet move on their own accord. I don't want to. I really, really don't want to, but running away will only make it worse. It's better to take whatever punishment he decides on and be done with it. “Please let her go back to her room,” I whisper. “She doesn’t need to see this.” There’s no point in groveling. I’ll live, and he’s always careful to not leave marks where they will show.

"What’s happening?" Anne's question is so quiet, so unsure that it breaks my heart. We’ve grown up together in a lot of ways, but in two different worlds.

"Shh," says Marissa, grinning in ghoulish delight. She’s hated me for a long time and the feeling is mutual. "This is what happens when you don't listen."

Victor grabs my ponytail and wraps it around his fist, pulling me to my toes. His other arm pulls back before punching me right in the stomach. No warning, no time for me to react. Anne screams as I buckle over in pain and shock, struggling to suck in air. Everything is numb for a moment, before the pain hits. I pinch my lips together and try to breathe through it so I don’t throw up on his feet. I don't want to give him an excuse to do worse. Or traumatize Anne more than she already is.

“What do you have to say for yourself?” he asks calmly.

"I'm sorry. We were out after curfew. It’s my fault." Adrenaline has taken over, making my voice unsteady and my breathing quick.

"And she insulted me!" Marissa adds.

Victor yanks my head up. “Is that true?”

I open my mouth, wanting to deny it and try to save myself more pain, but maybe I’m better off admitting it because he’d never take my word over hers anyway.

“Answer me!” he growls, shaking me by the hair.

My glasses fall, hitting the floor and sliding across the tile. If they’re scratched, who knows how long I’ll have to live with it before he decides it makes him look bad. “Fine! Yes, I?—”

And that's when the explosion rocks the whole building.