Bought By The Billionaire

Chapter 36: Bought By The Billionaire - Chapter Thirty-Six

… he reaches, grasps the top of my panties and is about to pull when…

There is a wailing noise, eerie and strange as it echoes around the room, but to me as welcome as sunshine after rain. The cavalry has arrived…… at last.

The sound of police sirens reverberates around us.

Konner dashes to the window, peering down through clouded glass and cobwebs, then says. “There’s police cars out there. Lots of them. The building’s surrounded.”

Fury washes across Mack’s face, followed by confusion. Adele’s expression is apoplectic.

“How?” she demands. “How did they find us?”

They both look at me.

Relief washing over me, still sick to my stomach but nonetheless, relieved, I say “You figure it out. You’re neither of you all that bright, are you?” Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

Bafflement on both features. “Did it occur to you that mobile phones these days do a lot more than make phone calls? Of course, my friends know where I am. They only had to trace my phone signal.”

They still both look blank. “It’s a modern phone.” I continue. “A smartphone. They all have GPS built in. And they can all be set to be traceable. Usually it’s just a protection against phones being stolen, but in this case, it meant that I could be tracked if needed.”

Adele’s face twists. Mack still looks bewildered. How did he succeed in defrauding my Master for so long if he is really this stupid?

From below comes the sound of many feet running up the echoing stairs.

“Put your gun down,” I say to Konner.

“Don’t,” says Mack to him. “We’ll fight it out. We’ll….”

Konner throws his gun to the ground. Another follows, dropped by Elroy. Mack looks furious. “You’re being well paid for this!”

“I was being paid for a job,” says Konner. “No-one said anything about fighting it out with the police. I’m not being paid for suicide.”

The door slams open and my Master bursts in, closely followed by several police officers. To the rear, I see Ross and Francis. Francis’ eyes are swollen, as though she has been crying. Ross looks at me, still down on the floor, holding my eyes long, radiating apology.

My Master gazes around the room, taking in the tableau. He looks down at me, his expression bland. “What have they done to you, Elizabeth?” His gaze lingers over my swelling eye, my ripped clothes...

A strange reluctance takes me. I don’t want to tell my Master about what has/was going to happen. I am his. I do not want to admit that….

…… Of course I must tell him.

“Not much so far. They didn’t have time. It probably looks worse than it is.” I wipe my eye, streaming fluid: tears? Or blood? “Mack was about to… to…. to gang rape me”

My Master raises an eyebrow, but his expression stays blank, his gaze sweeping over Konner and Elroy. “With these two?” he asks me.

“With them, yes. They were holding me down when….” My throat seizes up and the words won’t come out. No longer able to hold my self-control, my tears start flowing, running uncontrolled down my face as I try fruitlessly to wipe them away.

Still calm, my Master asks “And Adele?” He glances at her. Astonishingly, she is still holding her wine glass.

“Adele wanted to watch. And then Mack was planning to ransom me back to you, but sell me anyway to someone in the third world even when you paid. I’m not sure who. A brothel-keeper or people-trafficker I think. That’s what he said anyway.”

My Master’s voice is calm, measured. “Is that right?”

I am not fooled by his calm tones. This is my Master at his most dangerous. He holds out his hand, helping me to stand, his stare hovering over my ripped clothes, my tear-stained face.

“Francis, Ross. Please take care of Elizabeth. See if she needs medical attention.”

Ross removes his chauffeur’s jacket, placing it around my shoulders, and then with Francis, takes me by an arm, trying to lead me out of the room, but I resist. I want to see what happens next. Now that my Master is here, in charge, in command, I know that everything will be alright. But I need to know how this ends.

“Adele. Anything to say?” he asks, his stare like the passage of the Angel of Death.

She runs to him. Tries to fling her arms around her. He pushes her away with an expression as though he had just bitten into rotten meat.

“I did it for us,” she says. She starts to cry, dabbing her eyes. “I didn’t mean her any harm. She’s just a kid. But I wanted her to go away so that you and I could be together again.”

I have to admit she puts up a good act, but it is all so false. Adele is a snake.

“And for that, you wanted to sit back and watch her be gang-raped? Sold to the highest bidder? While you drank wine?”

She falls silent.

“Adele, whatever else happens now. You and I will never be together. It would never have happened anyway, but after what you have done here, and tried to do….” His voice trails away.

He turns his attention to Mack. I cannot help but contrast the two men. My Master, tall, holding himself proud. Mack, slinking, cowering, caught. If Adele is a snake, Mack is a worm.

“And what do you think I should do about you, Mack? You stole from me. Attacked Elizabeth in her own apartment. Now you abduct her, assault her. You were about to rape her and then sell her into sexual slavery? What is the appropriate way of dealing with a man like you?” His voice is calm, but I see the whiteness of his knuckles. My Master’s self-control is trigger thin.

He is interrupted. “It’s not up to you, Mr Haswell.” says a voice. “This is a police matter now. I think we’ll take it from here. Look after your girl there. That’s the best use of your time now.”

My Master says nothing, simply looks at the Police Chief who has entered the room. He nods and turns away, holding his hand out to me, crooking his fingers in the old ‘Come with Me’ gesture.

I step towards him, but at that moment, Mack screams and launches himself at me. Taken utterly by surprise - Mack is unhinged - I retreat, but my Master is there, grappling with the madman. The two struggle back and forth, wrestling, fighting. My Master is much the taller and stronger, but Mack is behaving like a lunatic. All the while, he screams dementedly at my Master. He cannot win. He knows this. Even with the small chance that he might overpower my Master, the Police are here, guns trained on him. I think they would shoot now, except for the chance of hitting the wrong party.

My Master breaks loose from Mack, throwing, almost hurling, him against the wall. Mack launches himself back at my Master, who sidesteps him. Mack overshoots, directly towards the window, teeters on the edge for a moment, then, screaming, tumbles out.

His scream is abruptly caught short. We all dash to the window to see that, somehow, he has caught hold of the winch and pulley and is dangling from the end, two hundred feet above the hard concrete far below.

My Master hesitates for a moment, then catching the window edge, Ross holding him by the wrist for support, leans far out, reaching a hand to Mack. He gestures hard, that Mack should take his hand.

“Oh, come on, man. You don’t seriously have any choice, do you?”

Mack stares at him, cold-eyed. “Fuck you, Haswell.”, then, sneering, lets go, and drops.

Screaming, he falls, lands and rebounds from an iron paling five floors below, then finishes on the concrete of the yard. Even from here, the strange angle of his neck is obvious. A small crowd from the assembled police vehicles below gathers around the awkward body, but there is no movement from Mack.

There is silence, no-one daring to speak, then Adele’s voice drawls “Well at least that’s one less in the courtroom.”

Is she really that stupid?

My Master startles as though stung. He strides over to Adele, fury on his handsome face, his hands balled into fists.

Before he can reach her, two police officers block his path and the Police Chief places a placating hand on his chest. “I think we’ll take it from here Mr Haswell. Don’t want you doing anything you regret. Anything that might get you in trouble. We all saw what happened there. There’s no need to upset yourself over this one. You need to look after your lady there” And he head-points towards me.

Screaming hysterically, Adele is led away in cuffs.

“She won’t be out of prison anytime soon.” says the Police Chief. “By the time they find the key, I should think she’ll be quite a different person, certainly a lot older.”

My Master flings his arms around me and I finally feel able to let go, to release the emotions boiling up inside me. Sobbing hysterically, I hide in my Master’s embrace as, kissing the top of my head, he rocks me from side to side; I think, comforting himself as much as me.