Page 142 of Savage King
She scowls and tilts her head. “What do you mean?”
“When did he sell you to Lincoln?”
The room has gone quiet as we wait for her answer. I haven’t wanted to pry because she’s still been so fragile, but she opened the door on the conversation, and I have to try to get some information.
“He didn’t.” She nibbles her lip in thought. She doesn’t look scared or uncomfortable.
“But when you sent me the letter a couple of years ago, you mentioned Damien in it,” Violet says. “That’s why I moved to Vegas.”
“I didn’t think of the postmark on the letter,” Rose mutters. “I shouldn’t have sent it. It put you in danger.”
“You definitely should have sent it,” Diego assures her.
“How did you come to be with Lincoln?” Violet asks.
“LincolnisDamien,” Rose says softly, looking toward the front of the store to make sure no one else can hear her, but all eight of us men tighten with awareness. “When I was first ... well, when I was new, he went by Damien. But his face and hands were covered, and he was a mess. I don’t know what happened.”
I look to Carson.
We know what happened.
“He had so many surgeries. I don’t know what he looked like before. Then, after he was healed, he told us all that we had to call him Lincoln, or Jeremy, butneverDamien ever again. I slipped once.”
She presses her hand to her side.
“He broke my ribs for it.”
“That fucking hurts,” Natasha hisses.
I hate that anyone did that to them.
“You’re saying,” Rome says, because Carson can’t speak, he’s so fucking pissed, “that Lincoln, the man that’s taken you all over the country to dinners and parties with the heads of the families, is Adam fucking Damien?”
Rose nods and then swallows hard as she looks around the room.
“Oh. I’m not supposed to tell. I’m sorry.”
“No, you didn’t do anything wrong,” Diego assures her. “We have a history with Damien, that’s all.”
“He’s bad,” Rose whispers, but then she takes a deep breath.
“Where does he live, Rose?” Julian asks her.
“What do you mean? The house burned down.”
Julian’s eyes narrow. “You’re saying the house we found you in has been Damien’s main home all this time?”
“For as long as I’ve been around,” she says. “We stayed in hotels a lot. We always had separate rooms because, well, he couldn’t?—”
She clears her throat and then swallows hard.
“Okay, I’m just going to say it. We’re all adults here, right? He couldn’t get it up. Hecouldn’trape me. And man, did that piss him off. He wouldn’t let anyone else touch me, either, because he was convinced that I was his, and honestly, that was fine by me because what they did to those other girls.”
She shudders, and Diego rubs his hand on her back.
“Are you saying he never—” Violet blinks in surprise.
“Never,” Rose confirms. “And that made himso madthat he’d hit me. Said it was my fault, but he was embarrassed.”
