Page 74 of Reckless Seduction

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Not accounts. Not business dealings.

People.

My stomach burns.

I click the first folder.

A list populates the screen. Rows and rows of names with corresponding numbers beside them. Prices. Notes. Status updates.

Sold.

Pending.

Training.

My throat tightens so violently it burns.

“No…” The word barely makes it past my lips. My eyes scan faster, heart pounding harder with every line I read.

This isn’t just trafficking. This is a system. A network.

A goddamn empire.

And my father?—

No…

Not my father.

He isn’t that anymore—he’s a monster. A traitor.

And he is at the center of it all.

My pulse roars in my ears as I continue scrolling, breath coming faster, sharper. Then I see it and it’s like the world has tilted on its axis.

Bailey.

My name sits there like a death sentence.

Status: Acquired.

Notes: Pending transfer to Knight, possible contingency if no cooperation.

My fingers go numb and a buzzing fills my head, drowning out everything else as I stare at the screen, failing to process the fact that I’m nothing more than a line in his system. After all these years, he’s reduced me to nothing more than a product.

Something he owns.

Something he sold.

A broken laugh bubbles up in my throat before I can stop, jagged and wrong.

“Of course,” I whisper. Of course he did this. It all makes perfect sense. Every punishment, every cold look, every moment of indifference wasn’t because I was difficult. He was correcting behavior to make me the perfect fucking cattle to sell at market.

The room tilts further, my vision blurring as I grip the edge of the desk, knuckles going white as I force myself to stay upright.

Focus.

You don’t get to fall apart. Not yet.

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