“It’s okay, Vicky, after all the things I’ve done and seen you won’t be scaring me…talk, pretty girl.” He urged me forward looking at me with reverence. My heart clenched. I felt too much for him after meeting him only days ago.

“He’s blackmailing me, he made a tape of our time back in Toronto…I didn’t know he was taping me….now he said if I don’t sleep with him, he will show the tape to Bryce or even better, he said he will sell it to the media for a good dollar since I am Bryce Andrews’ daughter.” As I finished speaking I could see that Luc’s posture had become rigid and his jaw was ticking.

“I can go kill the bastard,” he said with clenched fists by his side.

“Luc, please…you told me that fighting isn’t for you and I don’t need to get you into trouble. I will find a way out of it,” I explained, hoping to calm him down. He was clearly larger than Scott and probably trained to inflict pain, but I didn’t want to put him through the exact thing he had been trying to escape from with his own family.

I realized that Bryce’s driver should be waiting for me outside. I wondered if he had left. I was supposed to leave for the motel. “Vicky, I need to keep you safe, Scott Wellington is a scum bag.”

“You have no idea,” I huffed out, rolling my eyes.

Luc’s face constrained. “What does that mean? Did he hurt you?”

“Luc please…” I bowed my head to the floor.

He held onto my arm gently as if he was scared I would run. “Vicky, tell me, I need to know, did he hurt you?”

“Luc, I told you, I was messed up. Trust me when I say that I am doing you a favor, you don’t want to know the likes of me.”

“Vicky, stop it…right now…whatever this is that you are running from, I can handle it. You are in trouble and I’m not walking away so, please….” The irritation in his voice died down. “Please talk to me,” he whispered softly as his eyes pleaded with me.

I closed my eyes remembering the pain. “I can’t say it, Luc…but Scott Wellington is a bad man.”

“Okay, I’m not going to push you. You will be safe with Bryce’s driver, he is trained… but please give me your phone number, so I can call you and make sure that you are okay.”

“The driver will be taking me to one of Bryce’s apartments, but he didn’t say where.” After exchanging numbers with Luc, I left out the front door and a kind man that was waiting outside of a black SUV greeted me.

“Ms. Molino?” he smiled.

“Yes.” I smiled back.

“Derek. I’m Mr. Andrews’ driver. Where to?” he asked as I got in the car.

“Motel Lafayette,” I said as a light pink crawled up my cheeks.

“Of course,” he smiled again and moments later we were merging into another Manhattan traffic jam.

Chapter 10

Vicky

Bryce’s driver insisted on following me into the motel and ensuring my safety, per Bryce’s orders. The truth was I couldn’t argue with him. Not after what had happened with Scott. I was still shaking from the inside out. As Derek walked into my motel room, I knew he was trying to be polite and help me pack, but I could see the disgust in his eyes at how gross this place was. That was why I had to take Bryce up on his offer for the apartment. If I was going to spend some time in New York, it couldn’t be living here. I never unpacked my duffle, so Derek and I made it back to the SUV in record time. When he insisted on paying my motel bill, I declined politely but he insisted on paying, per Bryce’s orders.

Back in the SUV I watched the bright lights of the big city come into view. I already knew we were headed for the nicer part of town. Looking at my watch I realized it was already seven o’clock. It was already nighttime, my loneliest time of day, when everything was quiet and I had plenty of time to drown in my past.

As the driver pulled off to the side of the road, he stopped in front of a brown building with stone facing. The two large entrance doors in the front were clear glass and the view of the extravagant lobby could be seen from outside. My heart sunk into my stomach when I realized that this building looked too much like the one that Luc lived in. I quickly rummaged through my purse, looking for the address from the sex party that I had scribbled onto a random piece of paper.

“This is it, Miss Molino,” the driver looked back at me through his rearview mirror with a kind smile. Then he stepped out of the car, I’d assumed to open the door for me. I finally found the crumpled piece of paper and opened it up. Fifteen Park Avenue, I swiftly glanced to the address written in cursive writing at the top of the glass. Shit, it’s a match…

“Miss Molino?” the driver asked, almost questioningly as he stood holding the door open for me, probably wondering why I had not exited the SUV. I was going to be living in the same building as Luc? How was I supposed to resist this man when I was living and working in the same place as him? “This way ma’am.” The driver motioned to me with my duffle bag thrown over his shoulder. The doorman held the door for both of us.

“Miss Molino,” the doorman smiled brightly. “I am Tim, I take care of security around here, if you need anything, there is an intercom in your unit. Don’t hesitate to give me a shout,” he explained, while his eyes roamed my body quickly before landing back up on my face.

As I followed the driver up to the apartment my stomach flip-flopped wondering if I would bump into Luc. I was glad to hear this place had tight security, even though I doubted that Scott would be stupid enough to show up here. As the elevator rose, I noticed the driver had pressed the twenty-third floor, one floor below Luc. Holy crap.

“Here’s the key,” the driver said, passing me the key to open the door. He had his hands full with my oversized duffle. As I opened the door my mouth opened into a large O. This was not a small apartment by any means. Yes, it looked smaller than Luc’s apartment that had two floors but, holy shit, this place was massive and modern, with dark wood floors and intricate trim on the ceilings and walls. The walls were a pristine white and all the furniture was white, everything was white except for the very colorful modern paintings that adorned the walls.

“Ah! Miss, where can I put your bag?” the driver asked, pulling me from my daze. I couldn’t believe I would be living in a place like this.

“Just over there is fine.” I motioned, waving him off. “And please call me, Vicky,” I mumbled.

“Are you sure, Miss? I should take it to the bedroom, it’s very heavy,” he insisted with a pained expression, it must be weighing on him.

“I can take it myself, no worries,” I continued to mumble awestruck. I would be living in this place. It was huge. It was beautiful. I wanted to shriek from excitement.

“Please, Vicky, I was told to make sure you are settled in, can I please take this to your room,” he said as his face reddened by the moment. The duffle really was heavy.

“Sure, sorry go ahead, the bedroom must be back there.” I motioned to the back of the apartment.

“I know, ma’am, I mean, Vicky,” he mumbled.

A few moments later he stepped back into the main room huffing and puffing. “Bryce wanted you to have this, he said feel free to use it for whatever you need.” I had no idea what he was referring too until he placed a platinum colored credit card in my hand. My eyes went wide.

“Oh no, thank you, that won’t be necessary,” I said passing the card back.

Derek lifted his hands up, making it difficult to place the card in his hand. “I’m sorry, Vicky, I am only following the boss's orders.”

“Of course, I am sorry. I will talk to Bryce,” I said holding up the card. I was going to have to stop by his office tomorrow morning, we agreed to no special treatment. I wanted him to keep his end of things, even though this apartment was definitely special. I assumed Bryce had lots of properties and this one was probably sitting empty so it was no big deal anyway to him.