Chapter 1

Nicole

“Fuck, you feel so good,” Owen grunted into my ear, one hand on my hip and the other groping one of my bouncing tits. He pounded ruthlessly into me from behind, fingers digging into my sensitive skin. “You like that, you dirty slut?”

I bit back a whimper and nodded.

After seizing a fistful of my hair, he yanked back on it harder than he ever had and forced me to stare up into the vicious eyes of my own father. Tears stung my eyes. I dug my manicured fingernails into our leather sofa, the same place Dad watched his work buddies fuck me after he lost a game of poker this weekend.

“You’re a worthless whore.” He spat on my lips. “Say it.”

“I’m a worthless whore,” I said, voice cracking.

He tightened his grip on my hair. “Say it like you fucking mean it.”

“I’m a worthless whore!” I cried. “I’m a worthless whore! I’m a worthless whore!”

And I believed it too, because that bastard forced me to say it every morning to his face. 

Just like this.

A moment later, he released the grip on my head and slammed hard into me from behind. I stared down at the couch and bit back another sob, because worthless whores didn’t shed any tears. Or else they received a punishment.

“You got your shot this month, didn’t you?” he asked, after he already came inside me.

As he pulled out of me, I nodded. If I said anything, I feared that my voice would crack and Dad would see how many tears threatened to stream down my cheeks. And I didn’t want to be punished before school. He’d make me do something embarrassing again.

Force me to seduce happily married men and ruin their marriage.

Dump all our trash out and make me crawl through it.

Chain me up to a pole in our backyard, naked and in the cold.

I squeezed my eyes closed and swallowed hard. That couldn’t happen. Not again. I wouldn’t survive another punishment like that. Last time, I almost lost my fingers from the freezing temperature.

Once Dad rolled over onto the couch next to me, I slipped off it, grabbed my sweater on the floor, and draped it over my shoulders to cover myself from him. I glanced over at Dad’s phone lighting up on the side table.

6:45 a.m.

Only fifteen more minutes with him. At most.

In a haze, he leapt off the couch and stalked over to me. “We need to talk.”

“About what?”

He ripped open my sweater. “These.”

When he looked down at my tits, I held my arms over my chest and averted my gaze. He had seen them, touched them, fucked them hundreds of times, and had let his buddies do the same, but this time there was disgust on his lips.

“I’ve scheduled an appointment for you with Doctor Aldridge. She’s a plastic surgeon.”

“Why-Why do I need a plastic surgeon?”

He fondled one of my breasts. “Because these aren’t doing it anymore. You can only go so far with tits like this, Nicole. My business partners are losing interest.” He gently slid his thumb across my chin. “Can’t have that now, can we?”

“I’m getting a breast enhancement?” I whispered, a lump in my throat.

“Yes. F-cup or larger.”

Tears burned my eyes, my chin quivering. But I didn’t want to get any enhancement. If anything, I needed a reduction. I always mentioned to him how much my back fucking hurt me every day because he… because he hadn’t gotten me a brace for my scoliosis when I was growing. It wasn’t that bad, but some days… it killed me.

“I don’t think they’re becoming uninterested,” I said in an attempt for him to reconsider.

“I’m becoming uninterested in them.” He turned around, headed into his bedroom, and grabbed his uniform for work at the police station. “And if I’m becoming uninterested in them, then everyone else will surely follow. Besides, Pope’s daughter has bigger ones than you.”

I turned away so he couldn’t see my tears and bit back a sob. “Please, I don’t want it.”

“I’m not asking you, Nicole. I’ve already made the first consultation.”

My fists tightened so hard that my nails split through the skin on my palm. I inhaled deeply in an attempt to calm my racing heart. But I… I didn’t want to do this. I didn’t want to do any of this anymore. I never did.

“Yui’s son,” Dad said, buttoning up his shirt. “You know him?”

Yui, as in the leader of the Redwood mob?

“What’s his name?” I asked quietly.

“Akio. You have anatomy and physiology with him.”

“I don’t know him.”

It wasn’t my fault that I didn’t know anyone else in my class besides the people Dad wanted me to know. Between cheer and… following all his orders, I didn’t have time for much else, nevermind make friends.

“Well, get to know him,” Dad said. “I want information on Yui. I don’t trust her.”

“But you’re work–”

Before I could finish my sentence, Dad’s hand collided with my cheek. I stumbled back and grasped my burning flesh, immediately dropping my gaze and pressing my lips together so he wouldn’t hit me again.

“Don’t fucking talk back to me,” he growled, spinning around and heading through his bedroom door while he buckled his belt and pulled up his zipper. “Do your job, like the good little bitch you’ve always been.”

My eyes stung with tears, but I hurried toward my vanity in my bedroom to cover the light swelling and redness, so nobody would suspect a thing. But it wasn’t even like anyone would care. Everyone at Redwood hated me anyway. Nobody would believe me if I told them what really happened behind closed doors, what my father actually did to me, and what my fate would end up being.

Dumped into the Atlantic Ocean. Used up, pimped out, and dead.

Just like he had done with Hannah.

Or maybe I’d end up killing myself like Mom did because she couldn’t handle the thought of what Dad did to his own daughters. Maybe I’d take the easy way out and end it all myself. Because the thought of this being the rest of my life…

I dabbed the corner of my eyes with a tissue, so my mascara wouldn’t run. Couldn’t have that happen and ruin Dad’s perfect image with Yui, the rest of the police force, or the town. To him, we were the perfect family who tragically lost two of their loved ones.

The only thing that I was holding out for was Jace Harbor or Carter or someone to see my pain, ask what was wrong, and rescue me from this living hell. But that’d never happen because nobody at Redwood cared about anyone but themselves.

Maybe it’d be better if I was dead.