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  “We were trained for three years in covert ops.”

  “What, like spy school?” She tightens the blanket around her.

  “That’s one way to put it. After the training was complete, they let us out into the world. Leaving us to our own devices.” She looks at me puzzled. Explaining this is harder than I initially thought. “They gave us free license to break the law, with hopes of aligning and infiltrating ourselves with drug dealers, arms traders, terrorists. Really anyone who is a threat to national security.” Ellie looks around the room at the covered bodies and blood oozing all over the floor.

  “So that makes you what exactly?”

  “An undercover special ops agent for a covert operation called Endeavor. For six years I have lived and worked under the alias Kayne Roberts. I have assumed the identity of an entrepreneur, liquor distributor, and proprietor of an elite sex club called Mansion,” I spew. It feels like an act of confession. “It was a cover. A government trap used to lure the enemy. And it lured one of most notorious drug lords on Earth. That was my mission, bring down the bad guy.”

  “So Kayne Roberts isn’t your real name?” she asks.

  “No, Kayne Roberts doesn’t exist. Kayne Rivers does.”

  I can see the wheels grinding as she digests this information. I’m no one she’s ever known me to be. Not since day one.

  “Is Jett really dead?” Her voice cracks, it’s like she’s coming out of a coma.

  “Yes.” I put my hands on her arms, heartsick. Death is a harsh reality in this business. Jett and I both know that. We willingly chose this life, fully aware of the consequences. It still doesn’t make losing my best friend, my brother, any easier. I take a cleansing breath—my shoulder is fucking killing me—as I grab onto Ellie. She has no idea she’s my support. My rock. My everything. And I have to tell her.

  More tears spill out of her eyes.

  “No need to cry, sweet thing. Those fuckers had it coming.”

  I whip my head over to find a ghost standing next to us. I don’t think I’ve ever been so elated in my life.

  “Jett!” Ellie throws herself at him before I can move. Apparently I’m not the only elated one.

  “Easy, killer.” He winces as he catches her in his arms. He looks like shit, all bloodied and bruised.

  “You’re alive,” she weeps.

  “Barely.” He smiles weakly, his left eye swollen shut. “It’s going to take more than three goons and a paring knife to take me down.” He lifts up his sleeve and shows me his arm. There’s a thick white bandage around his bicep. “That was unpleasant.”

  “So was this.” I point to my bleeding shoulder. “The fucking thing went straight through.”

  “I’m glad you’re alright.” He grins, dried blood caked on his mouth.

  “You too.”

  Jett looks uneasily between me and Ellie. He knows we need our time. And it’s now. “Well, I just wanted to find you and let you know I was alive before you started planning a funeral.” He smiles at me with sad eyes.

  “The night’s not over yet. A funeral might not be taken out of the equation.” I glance down at Ellie.

  She frowns.

  That moment the solider chooses to return.

  “Ma’am.” He holds up bolt cutters. Motherfucker. Then he snaps Ellie’s collar in two. The leather falls to the floor, landing right at my feet. It feels like a bomb just went off. Ellie looks up at me with wide eyes as she grabs her neck.

  “Am I free?”

  Jett takes that as his cue to leave.

  “I’ll just be over there.” He backs up, thumbing in the direction of the door.

  Traitor. I shoot him a death glare.

  “You’ve always been free,” I reluctantly admit, snapping the delicate strings of crystals off her wrist cuffs.

  “I don’t understand.” Her voice wavers.

  “I did it to protect you,” I blurt out. Cause really how do you tell someone that you kidnapped them and turned them into your sex slave so some other pervert didn’t get to them first?

  “Protect me from what?” Ellie spits.

  “Not what, who. Javier, he wanted you. The night of Mark’s party, he wanted to take you. So I took you first.” I start to ramble. “I did it to protect you. You saw how he is. What he was capable of. I couldn’t let him get near you.”

  “He did get near me.” She starts to tremble.

  “It was a drop in the bucket compared to what he could have done.”

  I see the storm brewing in her eyes. “It wasn’t a drop in the bucket to me. Why didn’t you just tell me? Why put me through all ... that? All those things?” The agony in her voice destroys me. I know she’s recounting every second of the last month. Everything I forced her to do, the brutal fuckings, the spankings, the chains, the collars, the beatings, the humiliation.

  “I couldn’t. I had to make you believe. I had to make everyone believe.” I take a step forward and she takes a step back. It guts me.

  “Ellie, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for lying to you, I’m sorry for hurting you, I’m sorry for falling in love with you.”

  The words that have been stinging the tip of my tongue finally spill out. She looks at me dejectedly. I fly into a panic.

  “Ellie, please.” I feel her slipping away. “I love you. Forgive me.”

  She shakes her head, recoiling. “Get away from me,” she hisses, taking another step back. I take another step forward.

  “Ellie, stay.” It comes out more like a command than the desperate plea I meant it to be.

  She glares at me, disgusted.

  “Ellie, please stay with me,” I beg. The tables have finally been turned. Tears pour out of her eyes as she looks anywhere but at me.

  “Jett!” she suddenly calls out frantically. I watch, helplessly, as she flies across the room and into Jett’s welcoming arms. She sobs against his chest as he wraps her in an embrace. My jealousy flares.

  I have never wanted to hurt Jett so badly before, but at the moment I want to break every bone in his upper body just so he can’t lift his arms. I’m the one who’s supposed to be hugging her, consoling her. Loving her. Mine.

  All I can do is watch numbly as Jett leads a broken Ellie out of the room. He throws me a sympathetic look over his shoulder just before they disappear.

  My existence has just been eradicated. Everything is gone; my life, my soul, my beating heart. My eyes water as I stare into the void. I blink rapidly as something trickles down my cheek. I wipe my face. Tears. I lick my hand, they taste just like hers.

  IT FEELS LIKE I JUST woke up from a hundred-year dream.

  The air is cool, but my skin is on fire. It’s the first time I’ve been outside in I don’t know how long. The sky is clear and dotted with thousands of stars and the moon is a thin crescent above our heads. Jett is talking to me, but I can’t decipher a word he’s saying. My thoughts are just a mess.

  “Ellie!” I hear Kayne’s distraught voice echo behind me as Jett tries to usher me into the back seat of a blacked-out SUV. “Ellie, wait, please, just listen to me!” When I feel him grab my arm, something inside me snaps.

  “Get your hands off me!” I screech, batting him away. “I don’t want to hear anything you have to say! I hate you, you asshole!” I start throwing punches. Kayne deflects my fists with his forearms in an attempt to shield himself from my physical explosion. I do manage to get one good shot in. My open hand connects with his face; the loud slap rings out and my palm stings just before Jett encircles his arm around my waist and tosses me into the back of the Suburban. I breathe erratically as I crash against the leather seat.

  “Jett, get out of my way.” Kayne tries to climb in after me, but Jett blocks him with his body.

  “Kayne, back the fuck up.” He shoves him hard and Kayne is forced to take a step back. Jett uses the split-second separation to hop into the car and slam the door. “Drive!” he barks at the man behind the wheel. Less than a moment later we peel out, tires screeching as we pull away
from the house. I glance back to see Kayne’s shrinking figure crouched on the driveway with his hands laced behind his head.

  Ellie, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for lying to you, I’m sorry for hurting you, I’m sorry for falling in love with you. I take one look at Jett and unstoppable tears start to fall. He pulls me into his arms as I begin to sob. For God’s sake, it feels like I have been crying for an eternity. It’s a wonder my body doesn’t just give out from dehydration.

  As we drive, my life comes into sharp clarity. Like a fog has lifted. You’ve always been free. I cry harder and I don’t understand why. I’m free, but I have the heaviest feeling of loss crushing my chest. It’s almost suffocating me.

  “Shhhh, Ellie.” Jett comforts me. “Everything is okay. You’re okay.”

  “I’m far from okay, Jett!” I explode. “I was just held captive for I don’t know how long and forced to do unspeakable things with a man I once worshiped. I feel betrayed. I feel humiliated. I feel …” Alone.

  “He did it to protect you.” Jett defends Kayne.

  “There had to be another way!” I demand, my emotions overflowing everywhere. There’s no containing them.

  “There wasn’t. It was a split-second decision and we ran with it. Kayne couldn’t allow you to be tortured at the hands of a monster. It was the only way to keep you safe. We both agreed.”

  “You both agreed to what? Him becoming the monster?!” I shout. The man driving the car never turns his head to look at us. He just steers the car, keeping his attention on the road. I’m grateful for his disinterest. Or his feign of disinterest. I’m sure I look and sound like a raving lunatic right now.

  Jett scowls at me. Like he has any right. “Let me paint you a picture, Ellie. Say Kayne did tell you exactly who he was and exactly what was going on. And Javier came into your room that night and found you munching on popcorn and watching a movie instead of chained to the bed. Do you know what he would have done?”

  I shake my head slowly.

  “He would have tortured you until you talked. Until you divulged every one of Kayne’s secrets. Do you think you could have handled him yanking out your teeth one by one? Or carving you up one tiny slice at a time? Because that’s the kind of fucking animal he was.”

  I swallow hard, my throat sore from trying not to cry, my eyes wet with residual tears. “And after he finished with you, he would have gone after everyone else in the house. There was more than just your life at stake. So yes, we mutually agreed it was the best way. It wasn’t premeditated. If you belonged to Kayne, theoretically Javier should have stayed away.”

  “Well he didn’t stay away!” I wipe away the tears that are now escaping down my cheeks, reliving the aggressive, inhumane way he orally raped me.

  “Evil is unpredictable. But he got what he deserved. Javier’s death will ripple through the trafficking community. Countless lives will be saved.”

  “At what expense?” My voice is an agonizing whisper.

  “Ellie, the world is at war, and sometimes innocent bystanders get caught in the crossfire. What happened to you was unfortunate, but you can’t tell me you honestly believe Kayne is a monster.”

  “I don’t know what to believe.”

  “Yes, you do. Believe what’s in your heart. Over the last month I watched the two of you fall in love and now he’s falling apart because you left him.”

  “He doesn’t love me,” I reply desolately. He can’t. None of it was real.

  “No, you’re right. He doesn’t love you. His feelings run so much deeper than that. He’s obsessed with you. He always has been. Since the moment he met you, you’re all he’s ever wanted,” Jett informs me directly. “And for Kayne to feel that way is huge. Beyond Mt. Kilimanjaro huge.”

  I shake my head furiously. “No.” I don’t want to believe it. I want to believe Kayne is a monster who doesn’t deserve me. No matter where you go or who you’re with. You’ll always be mine.

  “Javier wanted you.” Jett clutches my arms and shakes me. “He would have stopped at nothing to get you, and once that happened, Kayne wouldn’t have been able to intervene. Javier would have killed you. Do you understand? It was the only way.” Jett’s phone rings in his pocket and we both pause. He pulls it out and glances at the screen then looks up at me; his aqua eyes illuminating from the oncoming headlights on the opposite side of the road. “Kayne.”

  “Don’t!” I frantically smack the cell phone out of his hand before he can answer it.

  “Ellie!?” Jett chastises me.

  “I don’t want you to talk to him!” I don’t even want to hear a susurration of his voice.

  “I never want to see him again.”

  The End

  Thank you for purchasing Owned! Do you want more Ellie and Kayne? Use the hashtag #ILikeYouCollaredBaby to let me know!

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  Make sure to check out the first chapter of Slade by Victoria Ashley after the acknowledgements.

  Out of The Black- Royal Blood

  Wild Ones- Flo Rida

  Control- Puddle of Mudd

  Sing- Ed Sheeran

  Seven Nation Army- White Stripes

  What You Wanted- One Republic

  Stay With Me- Sam Smith

  M. NEVER RESIDES IN NEW York City. When she's not researching ways to tie up her characters in compromising positions, you can usually find her at the gym kicking the crap out of a punching bag, or eating at some new trendy restaurant.

  She has a dependence on sushi and a fetish for boots. Fall is her favorite season.

  She is surrounded by family and friends she wouldn't trade for the world and is a little in love with her readers. The more the merrier. So make sure to say hi!

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  I NEVER SET OUT TO write a dark romance. In fact, when these characters first came to me, I rejected them. I wasn’t interested in exploring that side of my psyche. But Ellie and Kayne were relentless, screaming to be heard and drowning out all of the other characters in my head until I finally said fuck it, opened up my notes app and began typing away. I wrote close to twenty thousand words that weekend, and soon this dark erotic romance I never wanted to write took over my life. It would have never been possible without the help of some amazing people.

  My beta readers, Heather Davenport, Candy Royer and Ashley Grimes, you suffered through a horrific first draft and still loved every word. Your feedback was vital in bringing this book to the next level.

  Glenda Sue Smith, for giving me the courage to actually put the words on the page.

  My editor, Jenny Sims, thank you for all the extra suggestions and being available for every one of my neurotic moments.

  To Christine and Nichole at Perfectly Publishable, you ladies rock and thank you for making the inside of this novel as pretty as the out!

  My fantabulous cover designer Marisa Shor at Cover Me, Darling. Cupcakes!! I heart you hard core lady. You never disappoint.

  Holly Malgieri at Holly’s Red Hot Reviews, thank you for coordinating yet another blog tour, blitz, shout out, cover reveal, and putting up with my multiple projects at one time! You’re a rock star!

  My personal assistant, Zee Hayat, thank you picking up my slack!! What did I ever do without you?!

  A special thanks to Naughty and Nice Book Blog, Summer’s Book Blog, Panty Dropping Book Blog, Six Chicks and Their Love of Books, Confessions of a One-Click Addict, AJ’s Bootylicious Book Reviews.

  AND OF COURSE THE READERS!

  To my family who supports me every day, even when I’m working on a secret project I never want to talk about. Without you, I’m nothing.

  Last but not least, this book is dedicated to the victims of sexual abuse and human trafficking. You are true survivors, inspirations and fighters. “What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

&nbs
p; Slade by Victoria Ashley

  Chapter One Excerpt

  Slade

  It’s dark.

  I love it with the lights off. She insisted on teasing me this way. My arms are tied behind me, my naked body bound to a chair. Goose bumps prickle my flesh as she softly blows on my hard cock, almost breaking my willpower. Her lips are so close, yet not close enough. I insist on teasing her this way.

  “Na ah, not yet, baby.”

  She tilts her head up, her blond hair cascading over her shoulders as her eyes lock with mine. They’re intense, desperate. She’s silently begging me with her eyes, asking me to let her touch me already. I’m used to this. She needs to learn that when you’re in my house we play by my rules. “Slade,” she whimpers. “Come on already.”

  “Look down, baby.” She tilts her head back down and runs her tongue over her lips as she eagerly looks at my cock; no doubt imagining what it tastes like in her mouth. “That’s it. Don’t move.”

  I lift my hips, bringing the tip of my head to brush her lips. “You want me in your mouth?”

  She nods her head and lets out a sound between a moan and a growl. Damn, it’s such a turn on.

  “How bad do you want it? I want to fucking hear it?”

  Her nails dig into my thighs as she growls in aggravation. “More than anything. I want it so just give it to me, dammit. You already know how bad I want it.”

  A deep laugh rumbles in my throat as she scratches her nails down my legs in an attempt to hurt me. What she doesn’t realize is that I welcome the pain. I get off on it.

  “Is that all you got, pussycat?” I tease. “If you want my cock, you’re going to have to do better than that.”

  She looks angry now; determined. Standing up, she points a finger in my chest. “You’re the one tied up. This is supposed to be my game. Why do you have to torture me and make me wait?”

  Biting my bottom lip, I nod for her to move closer to me. When she gets close to my face, I slide my tongue out and run it over her lips, causing her to tremble as I taste her. “Show. Me. How. Much. You. Want. Me.”