Secured by the Buyer (Taken by His Alpha #3)

Chapter 10

10

R emnants of vomit cling to my tongue as I struggle to catch my breath.

Behind me, Liam holds my hair in one hand while he strokes my back with the other. “All done?”

My body heaves again, but nothing comes up, and I spit into the porcelain bowl before raising a shaky arm to pull down the lever on the side. The water swirls down the drain, taking with it the contents of my stomach. I fumble one-handed with the bath wipes, tearing off a few squares to wipe at my mouth.

Spitting again, I flush the toilet for a second time.

“Let me help you up.” Large hands cup my waist, lifting me to my feet .

I sway as I catch my balance. Liam keeps one hand on me as he leans to the side and lowers the lid.

I fall more than sit on it and lean forward, my hair screening my face as I struggle for breath.

“Here.” Liam presses a toothbrush into my free hand, paste already applied to the bristles. “Don’t you dare try to stab me with this.”

Despite the hint of amusement in his voice, caution tempers the words, and I roll my eyes as I take the toothbrush. “This would be easier to do at the sink.”

Liam’s focus drops to my semi-exposed body, then shifts to the mirrors that hang on the wall. “Just stay seated and brush your teeth.”

Confused, I mutter, “Fine, whatever.”

I do as I’m told while Liam rummages inside the vanity, producing a bottle of rubbing alcohol and some cotton swabs. The astringent disinfectant fills the air as he dampens a swab before kneeling in front of me to dab at my chest.

I flinch from the cold as memories of the auction flood back, and I remember the man who scrawled my worth on my bare skin. My stomach twists with the threat of more vomit, but I have nothing left to throw up.

“Y’know, you overpaid for me,” I say, trying to sound brave. “They didn’t even have time to test me for STDs or check to see if I was used goods.”

Liam doesn’t take his focus from his task, but a crooked grin spreads across his face. “Well, if you’ve got any diseases, we’ll go through treatment together. It’ll be a bonding experience for us.”

“Ugh, you’re so stupid.” I turn my head away from him. “I don’t have any STDs.”

I finish brushing my teeth, the minty paste a welcome distraction while Liam scrubs away the value of my life.

With only my left arm free, it’s awkward to toss the toothbrush toward the sink on my right, but I manage. Then I run into the dilemma of having nowhere to spit. Glaring at Liam, I let the foam dribble out onto my expensive-looking silk pajamas.

“Classy,” he comments as some of the drool gets on him, too.

I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand. “Told you that you overpaid.”

Amusement curls the corners of his lips. “If you wanted a bath, you could’ve just said so.”

“I prefer showering,” I retort, eyeing the claw-footed tub in the corner of the bathroom.

He caps the bottle of rubbing alcohol and sets it on the counter, well out of reach. “Well, I’m okay with that if you’re open to me joining you. My shower isn’t baby-proofed.”

Yeah, that’s not happening. “Bath is fine.”

As Liam runs water to heat, I raise my voice, “I would’ve thought you’d have a jacuzzi or something.”

“If I want a hot tub, I go down to the pool.” He tests the temperature before adjusting it. “Baths are for relaxing.”

“Are you going to light some candles, too?” I snark.

He throws a smirk over his shoulder. “I’m not giving you access to fire, but if you ask nicely, I’ll add bubbles.”

Not wanting to sit in the tub with all my bits on display, I bare my teeth in an approximation of a smile. “May I please have bubbles?”

“Yes, you may.” Liam reaches for a glass decanter and pours its contents into the steaming water.

The scent of lavender fills the room as the suds form and grow.

When he moves the decanter out of my reach from the tub, I snort. “What do you think I’m going to do with that?”

“I’m not sure,” he admits, “but you were creative with the breakfast tray, so I’m not taking any chances. ”

I jut out my chin. “I’m not apologizing for forking you.”

“Didn’t expect you to.”

Once the bathtub is full, Liam shuts off the faucet and walks over to me, lifting me into his arms as if I weigh nothing.

Crossing the short distance to the tub, he sets me down and moves to untie the binds on my torso. “No funny business.”

The second the constrictions ease, I hurriedly strip off my pajamas and scramble into the bath, suds sloshing over the edge in my haste. The heat of the water envelops me, and I hiss at the sudden contrast to my cold skin. Bubbles tickle my chest, making me shiver despite the warmth.

Liam remains silent, watching me with an unreadable expression.

“Are you done staring?” I snap, growing uncomfortable under his attention.

“Almost.” Liam places a stool behind my back.

I twist around to glare at him. “What are you doing?”

He lifts the showerhead from the wall bracket. “I’m going to wash your hair.”

“I can do it myself.” When he arches an eyebrow in challenge, I huff and turn my back to him once more. “I doubt I’d be strong enough to strangle you with the cord.”

“Probably not. It takes a lot to kill a person like that, and you have a delicate frame.” Liam finger combs my tangled mess before he directs, “Close your eyes and tip your head back.”

I comply, and warm water cascades down my head. Liam massages lavender shampoo into my scalp, lulling me into a state of relaxation I haven’t experienced in ages.

My muscles relax, and I let out a soft sigh, allowing myself—just for a moment—to forget the precarious situation I’m in.

I’ve never had someone wash my hair like this, not that I can remember, at least. Maybe my mom did when I was a baby, but those memories are long gone, buried beneath years of hunger, fighting, and disappointment.

“Does it feel good?” Liam’s low rumble vibrates through me.

“None of your business,” I mumble, unwilling to admit how much I enjoy this small act of tenderness.

Chuckling, he continues his ministrations, and as the water rinses away the shampoo, it carries away the grime from the auction block, too .

Next, he adds conditioner before working a comb through my hair, removing the last of the tangles.

As he lets it sit, he massages my temples and the base of my skull, easing whatever tension remains. “Do you have someone I should contact who might be worried about you? Your mother or father, perhaps?”

I stiffen at the words, straightening in the bathtub. “My father would be very surprised to hear from me, considering he’s the one who sold me to save his own ass.”

Liam’s hands settle on my shoulders. “What happened?”

“Long story short, my dad lost too much at the casino,” I say, trying to summarize a lifetime of cleaning up his messes, only for it to still not be enough. “I was already working as a maid to pay off some of his debt, but then he dug himself into a deeper hole. He had a choice between suffering the consequences or selling me, and he put his own life first. Just like he always does.”

Liam’s knuckles brush over the Mark on my nape, sending a shiver of awareness through me. “Would you like me to kill him for you?”

I twist around, staring at Liam in shock. “Are you serious? ”

Liam traces the Mark with his fingertips. “I can’t let you go right now, Milo, and I can’t promise to free you in the future. What’s happening is bigger than you.”

His eyes bore into mine with a fierce intensity. “But I can promise to be your Alpha and protect you. If you want your father dead for what he did, I will make it happen.”

“Is your family like the mafia or something?” Fear spikes through me, my heart pounding.

He grimaces, the muscles in his jaw tightening. “We’re trying to move away from that part of our ancestry, but we’ve been racking up a lot of bodies as of late.”

“Like Caruso?” I venture, remembering the man whose life Liam had taken to infiltrate the slave auction.

Liam nods, his expression darkening.

I lick my lips, tasting mint and salt from my sweat. “So if I tell you I want my father dead for selling me into slavery, you’ll just go out and do it?”

“Yes,” he says without hesitation, his voice dangerous. “It would be my pleasure to eliminate the man who put so little value on your life.”

My stomach twists, the urge to accept Liam’s offer warring with the part of me still clinging to my only family.

Lost in thought, I let Liam maneuver me to face forward once more and rinse the conditioner out of my hair. Once he finishes, he winds it up in a turban to keep it out of the bubbles.

When he offers a soapy loofa, I take care of my front, blushing a bit when I dip it beneath the water to wash between my legs.

I don’t protest when he takes the loofa from me and adds more soap to scrub my back. The bristles on my skin act as a soothing massage, easing tension from my muscles.

As he washes me, I finally say, “I don’t want you to kill my father.”

Liam pauses mid-stroke. “Are you sure?”

Years of being curled up on my thin, lumpy mattress, hungry and in pain after my father took out his anger at the world on me, had left me with a lot of time to let my imagination travel down various paths.

I nod, the words leaving my lips with certainty. “My shift at the convenience store paid for the mortgage and utilities.”

Liam starts scrubbing my back again, his silence encouraging me to continue. “Dad already drank and gambled away his tiny disability check for this month. The bank has tried to foreclose on the house a few times in the past two years, so they’ll start the process as soon as this month’s payment is missed. He never checks the mail, so he won’t see the foreclosure notice until they tape it on the door.”

The scent of lavender fills my nose, soothing me even as I say aloud something I’ve only considered during the dark moments when I questioned if living was even worth it. “In ninety days, the bank will take the house, which will put him on the streets in the middle of winter. He’ll be kicked out of any shelters the first time he starts a fight, which he’ll do, because Dad is quick to use his fists.”

My voice wavers as I map out the fate of the man who brought me into this world. “Without a safe place indoors to bunk down for the night, he’ll be sleeping out in the cold, and he doesn’t have survival skills. He’ll be dead by spring, and you won’t have to lift a finger.”

Silence fills the bathroom, the water rippling around me as Liam rinses my back and chest.

“That’s a very detailed scenario,” he says at last, not sounding put off or judgmental in the least. More like he’s impressed. “Now I understand how you turned a breakfast tray into a weapon.”

“It’s one of many I considered every time I thought of not returning home,” I admit, the confession bitter on my tongue. “But the thought that Dad cared for me, even just a little, kept me going back to the abusive asshole. It didn’t matter that he only let me stay for the money, first from the state and then from me working.”

“Lean back,” Liam encourages.

He drizzles coconut oil into his palms and rubs it into my shoulders, his thumbs digging into my tense muscles.

I rest my head against the edge of the tub, my face tilted up toward his. “What does it mean that you’re my Alpha?”

Liam cups my jaw. “It means I’ll provide for and take care of you, and anything you want will be yours.”

“Except for my freedom,” I say, the words less heavy than they were before.

He hesitates, a flicker of pain in his expression. “I’ll give you as much freedom as possible, but we can’t risk you being recognized by the people who run the trafficking ring and realizing you’re not with Caruso.”

A nagging thought tugs at the edge of my mind. “Won’t someone notice Caruso is missing?”

“We chose him because he has vacation houses all over the world and leaves for months on end.” His fingers move to massage my chest. “He doesn’t work, living off an inheritance, and he’s cut off from his family. It will be a while before anyone realizes he’s gone. By then, we’ll come up with an explanation, like him overdosing in one of his villas, where we have cops paid off who will produce the paperwork to match.”

Grudging respect fills me at how much thought they put into this, and how Liam had risked their entire mission to purchase me, despite spending less than an hour together.

That knowledge stirs desire within me that I shouldn’t feel, but is there nonetheless.

If I’m truthful with myself, if all the horrors of the auction had never happened, I would still have ended up here.

I would have met Liam at the vending machine, let him wine and dine me, and then allowed him to take me to some fancy hotel and fuck me. And if he’d invited me to come home with him afterward? Promised to take care of and give me the family I so desperately wanted? I would have gone without a second thought.

Does it matter that I don’t have my freedom the way things played out? Especially when it makes it easier to finally cut out my father? With no choice but to stay with Liam, there can be no guilt in abandoning my old life.

Pulse quickening, I catch Liam’s oil-slick hand and drag it beneath the water to press between my legs.

Liam groans, his breath hot against my skin. “Is this some new method of trying to kill me?”

I turn my face into his neck, inhaling the delicious scent of his pheromones. “Show me what kind of Alpha you’ll be for me.”