Sweet Possession (Carson-Fox Resorts #2)

Chapter 28

Fox

B efore the planeeventouched down in Vegas, I was out of my seat.Every second of my return journey had passed excruciatingly slow, my mind in a sheer panic over where Cora was.

Unhelpfully, I tortured myself by rewatching the footage caught on mydoorbell camera of Lily turning up at the house and breaking my girl’s heart.

Of course, Cora believed every damn thing Lily told her. The worstpart was Lily wasn’t lying, not completely. I had gone out for a lunch date,justnot with her.

How Lily knew I’d been to Le Voile though, I didn’t know. Nor did Iknow how she knew I’d gotten shitfaced laterthatnight. It didn’treallymatter though, Lily used it to her advantage.

And she made sure to drive an invisible knife into mine and Cora’srelationship when she shoved her phone in Cora’s face. The camera caught the picture Lily was showing Cora .

The picture of us in bed after we’d fucked. The picturethatwas takenwhen Onyx first opened.

The picture taken months ago.

I would deal with Lily. Once I’d found Cora, Lily would regret everapplying for a job at Onyx and finding a way into my bed.

But not now.

Cora was my priority.

I knew something was wrong when she didn’t answer her phone. Assoon as I’d landed in New York, I’d called her, desperate to hear her voice.

But she didn’t answer.

I blew up her phone, hoping she’d fallen asleep and couldn’t hear itringing, but by the seventh time of my call being unanswered, panic set in.

I phoned Nash, telling him to get his ass over to my place to checkshe was okay, andthatwas when my world fell apart.

Cora was missing, along with some of her clothes, and the cash I’dleft her. But she’d left her phone and my credit card, the two things I could have used to track her.

Somehow, in my state of shock, anger, and hurt, I’d been rationalenough to load up the app for the camera, trying to get an understanding of how long ago Cora left, and whether she went in a cab.

But before I could scroll through and find the moment she walked outof the house, taking my heart with her, I saw a notificationthatsomeone had rung the doorbell a few hours after my flight to New York had departed.

I hadn’t watched all of the footage before I was rushing back throughthe terminal to where my pilot, Richard, was doing his post-flight checks on the plane. Within the hour, we were back up in the air .

Nash was waiting to pick me up when I landed. I wasn’t surprised tosee a worried-looking Savannah sitting in the back of the car, her eyes red where she’d been crying.

“Anything?”I said, sliding into the front seat.

Nash pulled away, his jaw grinding. The simple action told methatwhat he was about to say next was going to piss me off more than I already was.

I’d asked him to pay a visit to the gate guard and find out what thefuck was going on. Why the hell had Lily been allowed to go up to the house after I’d had her removed from the approved visitor list?

“The gate guard crumbled quicker than a cookie. He was fuckingLily,”Nash said stoically. He was better at hiding his emotions than I was, but I knew him well enough to knowthathe was seething.“They’ve been fucking for the last few weeks, and when she paid him a little visit earlier, she convinced him to let her go up to your house. Apparently, he knew you were her boss, and he’d met you?”

Nash looked over at me, a brow raised in question. I muttered acurse.“Was his name Robbie by any chance?”

“Yeah, that’s the dickhead’s name,”Nash said.

“Fuck. He was the dude who was at her apartment the morning after yourparty. Why do I get the feeling she was only interested in Robbie so she could get easy access to my house?”

I tried to picture the guy I’d metthatmorning at Lily’s place. I didn’tremember ever seeing him on guard duty, but honestly? I neverreallypaidthatmuch attention. The security firm who covered the estate had a number of staff on rotation to man the gate, but they were also supposed to be fucking professionals.

“Whatever the reason, she had him wrapped around her little finger.She was in his little security hut when the cab arrived to pick Cora up which conveniently coincided with her giving him a blowjob, and him forgetting to make a note of the license plate.”

My knuckles crunched as I balled my hands into fists. My doorbellfootage didn’t capture the license plate either.Thatwas the one fucking chance I had of finding where Cora had been taken to.

I didn’t reply, instead churning over options in my mind. She couldn’thave gotten far. There was a couple of hundred dollars in the cash I’d left behind, she wouldn’t be able to live onthatfor too long.

“What about her dad’s house? Hasthatbeen checked?”I asked,racking my brain as to where she might have gone.

“Brian’s on his way there now,”Nash replied.“I knew you should haveput a tracker in her like I did with-”His eyes flashed to the rearview mirror.“Never mind.”

“With who?”Savannah said, sitting forward, her brows raised inalarm.

“No one. Forget I said anything.”

As if Savannah would. I told himthatputting a tracker under the skinof her neck would come back to bite him in the ass at some point.

“Nash Carson, you better not be saying what I think you’re saying!”she screeched, her face now pale.

I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose. The last thing Ineeded right now was these two arguing.

“I did warn you, sweetheart. Didn’t I say if you ever tried to leave me,there wasn’t a place in this world you could hide from me,”Nash replied casually.

“Stop the car!”Sav bellowed, banging her fists against the back of hisheadrest.“Stop this damn car right now!”

“Savannah!”I barked, my temper fraying.“We don’t have time for thisright now. You can be mad at him later, but right now, we need to find Cora. And truth be told, putting a tracker in her doesn’tseemlike a bad idea. You and her are as bad as each other.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Savannah hissed, turning her wrath on me.

Before I could answer, my phone rang. Pulling it out of my pocket, myheart galloped faster than a racehorse.

Arnold Diaz.

“Diaz,”I said, answering the phone and meeting Nash’s surprisedgaze.

“Ah, Fox. I’ve been trying to get hold of you for a few hours. I believe Ihave somethingthatbelongs to you.”

A stony silence filled the car as Nash drove like a NASCAR racer toDiaz’s casino.

Savannah sulked, her arms folded across her chest as she glared outthe window. The muscles in my hands ached from where I was clenching my fists too tightly.

Diaz has Cora.

Diaz has Cora.

Thatwas the mantrathatplayed over and over in my head until Nashfinally brought the car to a stop. I rushed out, not waiting to see if Nash and Sav were following,bursting through the doors of the casino.

“Mr. Fox, Mr. Diaz is expecting you,”one of Diaz’s men said as Ireached him.“This way.”

“Hold up,”Nash called, jogging to join us as the guy opened the doorto lead us back to where Diaz conducted all of his illegal dealings.

Knowing Nash, I’d hazard a guessthathe’d locked Sav in the car.

We followed Diaz’s guy into the room, the door sounding ominouslybehind us. Diaz was alone, sitting in his chair like a fucking king. On the floor in front of him were drops of fresh blood.

“I swear to fucking god, if you’ve hurt her,”I snarled, launching myselfat Diaz, only to be held back by Nash.

Diaz chuckled, the sound grating through me like a fork scratchingagainst a plate.

“And there I was thinking you’d changed your opinion of me after ourlast visit,”he said smugly before standing.“Relax, Fox. That’s not Cora’s blood. It does, however, belong to her father.”

My shoulders slumped fractionally in relief. But until I had Cora in myarms again, I wouldn’t breathe freely.

“Freddy brought Cora here? I thought he’d left town,”Nash said,letting go of me when he knew I wasn’t going to attack Diaz.

“It would appear he came back. He’s currently languishing in the cell Ihave out back.”Diaz replied, inhaling deeply, and standing to his full height.“He believed he still owed me money, so he brought Cora here in hopes he could sell her to me.”

My teeth ground so damn hardthatit was a miracle they didn’t crack.Fucking Freddy was going to sell his daughter a second time? At least I knew where the cunt was now, there was no way he’d be leaving here alive.

No matter what Cora wanted.

“But as I said to Freddy,”Diaz continued.“How could he sell Cora tome when she isn’t his to sell in the first place? She belongs to you. ”

“Where is she?”I growled, hating the way he was talking about Corabeing a possessionthatcould be sold so damn easily.

I mean, Cora was mine.

I owned her.

But not in the way Diaz was implying.

I owned her heart in the way she owned mine.

“She’s through there,”he replied, nodding his head to a hallway offthe room.“But I should warn you, she doesn’t want to see you. She begged me not to tell youthatshe was here. In fact, I think the exact words she used were, ‘I’d rather be sold as a sex slave than seethatman again.’ ”

White hot pain burned through my chest. Lily was going to pay for thehurt she’d caused Cora.

Caused us.

“Freddy’s mine to deal with,”I hissed, ignoring the stabbing pain nowcoursing through me.

Diaz bowed his head.“Naturally. But maybe this time do us all afavor, Fox? Putthatman out of his misery.”

“You have my word.”

I turned my back on him, heading down the hallway he’d indicated,and finding a staff room at the end. I yanked open the door, air whooshing out of me at my relief of seeing the best fucking sight I’d seen in a long time.

Cora was sitting at a table, holding an ice pack to her face. Her headwhipped up, her eyes widening when she saw it was me, and her hand lowering to reveal what she was icing. A huge purple-blue bruise spread across her cheekbone andeye socket, her eye swollen. I bolted toward her, only stopping when she recoiled as if she was scared of me. Neither of us spoke for a beat.

Didn’t blink.

Didn’t breathe .

I cleared my throat.“Diaz said he didn’t hurt you.”

“He didn’t,”Cora replied softly, holding the ice pack over her eyeagain.“My dad did it.”

I squeezed my eyes closed and took a breath, trying to quell themurderous rage brewing under my skin.“Baby girl-”

“Don’t,”she interrupted me, her voice hard, a tone I’d never heardfrom her before.“Don’t call methat.”

My brow quirked in surprise.“Cora-”

“Justgo,”she said, tearing her gaze away from me.

“Not happening, Cora,”I snarled, taking a step toward her, mytemper now only hanging on by a thread.

She suddenly stood, slamming the ice pack down on the table.Despite her fury being aimed at me, I was proud of her. Not so long ago, she was too scared of her own shadow to ever stand up to someone. She’d finally found her voice. It wasjusta shame she’d been pushed to breaking point to findthatvoice.

“I don’t want you here, Fox!Justleave me the hell alone! I’m notgoing to be made a fool of anymore! Go back to Lily and enjoy your lives together and let me be!”

I chuckled, crossing my arms across my chest.“Anything else to add,Cora?”I asked, cocking my head.“I’ll give you one chance to get everything off your chest right now, because after tonight, we’re going to put your trust issues to bed, once and for all, baby girl.”

“No! After tonight, I never want to see you again. I’m leaving Vegas,and I’m getting as far away from you as I can!”she bellowed, her voice shaky as her eyes brimmed with unshed tears.

I unfolded my arms, my gaze narrowing on her.“Let me make thisclear to you, Cora,”I growled, my voice low. Deadly. “You’re not going anywhere without me. You’re mine. And if you think I’d ever let you go, you’re out of your goddamn mind.”

I prowled toward her, the last few hours of worry, anger, fear,and every emotionthathad gone through me leading up to this moment bubbled to the surface.

I’d done everything in my power to earn Cora’s trust, and I wasn’tgoing to lose it now. It was time for her demons to learnthatthey didn’t control her anymore.

“I’m not yours,”she replied, her voice breaking.“I never was.”

“Ifthatwere true,thenwhy the fuck did I tell you all about Jessie?”Icarried on stalking towards her. Surprising me, she held her ground, not stepping back like I expected her to.“If you weren’t mine,thenwhy the hell did I make it so the men who wanted to sell you couldn’t hurt you ever again? Why do I intend on ending your dad’s life so he can never lay another finger on you?”I stopped in front of her, her breath coming out in short gasps as it took all of her strength to not let her tears fall.“If you weren’t mine,thenwhy did I spend an entire afternoon getting an engagement ring custom-made for you?”

Her eyes widened as her jaw dropped to the floor.

“Wh…what?”

Closing the last bit of space between us, I gripped her chin betweenmy thumb and finger, holding her so she had to look at me.“I meant what I said, Cora. Get everything off your chest now, because when it’s my turn to speak, you’re going to listen to every damn word I’ve got to say.”

I released her chin, and took a step back, waiting for her to speak.But she could only gape at me. When she blinked, a tear slid down her cheek.

“My turnthen. I did lie to you. The other day when I said I was atwork, I wasn’t. I had lunch atLe Voile. Want to know who I was with? ‘Cos it sure as fuck wasn’t Lily as she claimed. ”

She didn’t move, notevento shake her head.“I was with Savannah. Itook her to the restaurant as a thank you for giving up her afternoon to come to the jewelry shop with me and helping me design the ring I wanted to propose with, because every damn ring I’d seen up tothatpoint didn’tseemspecial enough to give to you. I lied to you because I wanted to surprise you when I got down on one knee and asked you to be my wife.”

Her breath hitched. I wasn’t sure if it was at my words or the coolnessin my tone but I didn’t care. I needed her to hear everything I had to say.

“I have no fucking clue how Lily knew I’d gone out drinking, but if Ihave to get the security footage from every bar Nash and I drank in to provethatthe two of us were celebrating my intention to propose to you, I will.”

She continued to gape at me as if I’djustspoken a foreign language.But I was far from done.

I grabbed my phone out of my back pocket and quickly loaded up thephoto gallery, scrolling through months and months worth of photos until I found the one I needed.

“She showed you this photo, right?”A sneer of disgust formed onCora’s lips as she turned her head away from the photo I held in front of her.

Truthfully, I’d forgotten it was on my phone. Lily had sent it to me aftershe took it, and I’d silently told myselfthatI’d delete it the following morning, but I’d forgotten. It was a good job though, the photo was the evidence I needed to prove to CorathatLily was lying.

“But I bet she didn’t show you this bit, did she?”Clicking on the photo,I brought up the metadata on a separate tab before holding it back in front of Cora.“See the date, baby girl?Thatphoto was taken months ago. The night Onyx opened.”Tentatively, she looked back at the phone, a small gasp leaving her when she saw what I was showing her.“And I bet she didn’t show you this.”I clicked back on the photo, zooming in on the table next to the bed where there was a poster laying face up. A poster reading, ‘Welcome to the opening night of Onyx, a Carson-Fox Resort,’ with the date written in big letters.

Her eyes scanned over the poster several times, and I gave her aminute to read it, knowing it took her time to make sure she’d read correctly.

“Cora,”I said, repocketing my phone and letting out a sigh.“I knowyou’ve had a lifetime of lies and betrayal thrown at you, and I’m not stupid enough to thinkthatit can all be undone within a matter of weeks. But I’m not your dad, baby girl. When I tell you I love you, I damn well mean it.”I reached up to cup her cheek, another tear falling from her sorrowful eyes.“When I tell you you’re the best thingthatever happened to me, it’s because it’s the truth. And when the day comes when I propose to you, and tell youthatI want to spend the rest of my life with you, it’s because I can’t imagine a day without seeing your beautiful smile. It’s because I never want there to be a day when we don’t go to sleep together with you in my arms.”

The dam broke. Tears streamed down her face as she began to sob. Ipulled her into my arms and let her cry.

And she did.

She cried harder than I knew was possible.

Butthen, she had eighteen years of hurt to get out of her system.