Page 1 of Broken Warrior

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Page 1 of Broken Warrior

PROLOGUE

TATE

Two months ago.

I stareat my phone screen until it goes black then tap it again to make sure that call really happened.

It did.

The only call, in or out, in the last five and a half years is right there staring back at me.

Dori.

I actually did it.

I called my sister after having this cell phone for years, after hiding it beneath the floorboards, under my bed, or burying it under suitcases in my closets for almost six goddamn years. I called Dori and asked for help when it finally got to be more than I could bear.

Nobody touches my baby.

Nobody.

I get up from the bed and look around, Dori’s words echoing in my head.

Only the necessities.

None of this is necessary. Absolutely none of it.

I don’t need the designer clothes, the high end makeup or the breakneck heels, the over the top jewelry and expensive purses. The only thing I need is sleeping in the room across the hall, and that’s why I rummage through my closet, shed the dress I’m wearing and pull on a hoodie, jeans, and my sneakers then lace them up quickly before rushing into James’s room.

He’s napping, resting,recovering,and while I hate to wake him up when I know how badly he needs the sleep, it’s now or never.

I grab his Star Wars backpack and fill it with a few outfits, a hoodie, throw in his favorite bedtime story as well as some coloring books and crayons. James doesn’t need any of the things he has either; the hundreds of toys given to him in place of a father’s love.

It was one thing when it was just me enduring Gino’s version oflove, the posh prison and acts of violence in the name of caring so much it drove him to do the things he did, but when his warped sense of reality became directed at my baby, that was the last straw.

I thought when I got pregnant that maybe things would change.

Gino always wanted an heir to his empire, a son to carry on his name and his legacy, to make his father proud, but all it did was make him tighten the reigns of the already smothering hold he had over me. And I endured every minute of it so long as it meant James would be ok.

He was, for a long time, just another accessory for Gino, something to be seen and not heard that gave him bragging rights among his crew. I could live with that. I had to because I knew deep down the minute my son became anything more, he’d be subjected to the same treatment I have for the last fourteen years.

Something that was proven last night while I was at the club.

Gino came home before I did; came home with one of his side pieces and his number one goon, Nick, so he sent the babysitter away and paid her to keep her mouth shut.

While he was fucking that girl in the extra bedroom, James had an accident and got up to find me, and when he didn’t, he went to the man who makes him call himPapa. But Gino Valetti is nothing more than a sperm donor and sent James away. He sent him right into the arms of one of the most terrifying men that’s ever lived.

Nick made my sweet boy clean up his own mess, and when James had trouble he punished him for it.

The sadistic bastard burned my baby with his cigarette until James stopped crying, until he managed to change his bedding and clothes on his own, before leaving him alone with injuries that needed medical attention.

Gino was passed out drunk in the guest room with that girl draped over him when I got there, and he didn’t wake up until I was screaming at Nick for what happened to my baby. He kicked out his whore, sent Nick to his post in the security room, then made me pay for my actions. Thankfully he was too drunk to do more than hit me a few times and wound up making me put him to bed in our room before I could tend to my son.

I cleaned James up, took care of his burns, and decided right then and there we were getting out. No matter what it took, we were getting out of that hell because nobody was ever going to lay a hand on my baby again.

Despite the dire need to stay with him, sleep with my baby and hold him close, I tucked him in with his stuffed spider, Fred, kissed his head and promised to make it all better in the morning before joining the devil himself in the other room. If I didn’t come to bed and Gino woke up alone, he’d have punished me all over again, and I couldn’t let that happen if we were going to run.

As soon as Gino left this morning, I dug out the cellphone and worked up the courage to call Dori, praying that she would actually answer and be willing to help me—help us—get out.