Guilty Desires

GUILTY DESIRES BLACK ROSE DOMS BOOK 2 RORY REYNOLDS Copyright © 2023 by Rory Reynolds. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, email [email protected] Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental. Cover Design by PopKitty Design Created with Vellum for all the survivors out there… CONTENTS Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Epilogue Also by Rory Reynolds About the Author I always knew I would be sold to the highest bidder. I’m a prize. I’ve been beaten into submission. Trained to do as I’m told without question. The only words expected of me are ‘yes Master.’ My new Master isn’t what I expected. He’s fierce and unforgiving, yet promises to set me free. I’ve spent years dreaming about escaping, but now that it’s within reach, freedom terrifies me. I don’t want him to let me go. I’ve never felt more free than when I’m kneeling at his feet. He’s not a good man. Others say he’s a monster. I call him master. Guilty Desires is a full-length dark romance that deals with sensitive subject matters that some readers may find distressing. * * * Sign up for Rory Reynolds newsletter and never miss a release. Sign up here or go to www.roryreynoldsromance.com CHAPTER ONE SLADE 2014 A sick pit of dread opens in my stomach as I realize for the first time what exactly the prize Vicente Ruiz, head of the Ruiz Cartel, wishes to give me. Five girls are marched into the room. All of them barely dressed, wearing nothing more than bras and panties. All of them completely downtrodden and submissive to every barked command from the men leading them. I’m sickened further when I notice details of the girls. Each of them is thin—too thin—with bones protruding sickly under their pale skin. Christ, they are young. “They are beautiful, no?” Vicente asks with a hint of pride. “The cream of the crop for my friend.” The amount of self-control it takes to not slit this fuckers throat is immense. I clench my jaw so hard my teeth creak. It took four years to get an in with the Ruiz Cartel and another year to gain Vicente’s trust. The end of this years’ long mission is almost in sight. I’m here to get intel on who is smuggling drugs and guns into the States from Mexico. That’s my objective. Find out who is Vicente’s connections in the States and take them down. Legally. They want justice to be served. Spending years in a cell isn’t justice for the likes of Vicente and his minions. They deserve much, much worse. Especially if they’ve taken up human trafficking as a new income source. How the fuck did no one know about this? One of the girls stumbles in her too-high heels, the man behind her doesn’t hesitate to punish her. Using a small black whip I hadn’t noticed him carrying in my distraction, he strikes the frail-looking brunette. A line of red instantly blooms on her pale skin, but she doesn’t cry out. She makes no protest as he raises his hand for another strike. “You idiot!” Vicente shouts in his thick Spanish accent. “Don’t mark the merchandise. After my friend here picks his girl, the others are to go on the block.” The man drops his arm, giving Vicente a petulant look. He quickly schools his features before Vicente can see—the first smart thing he’s done—defying the boss is detrimental to one’s health. There are a dozen men waiting to step up and take this jackass's place of obvious favor, and he knows it. He turns to the girls who are now lined up facing us. “Kneel.” Like perfectly programmed robots, all five girls gracefully fall to their knees. Each one spreads her legs, rests her hands palm up on her knees, and bows her head in capitulation. I look from one girl to the next, trying to memorize this moment. The moment that the final bit of my humanity leaves me. As much as it disgusts me, I will be taking one of these girls as my prize. To do anything less would draw suspicion from Vicente, and I cannot risk the years I’ve dedicated to this job to save these women. Bit by bit and piece by piece, the little honor I had when I decided to enlist in the Army all those years ago has been eaten away. To serve and protect my country, I have done unspeakable things. Things that would have me rotting away in a prison cell somewhere, waiting for a lethal injection to end it all under normal circumstances. Only my crimes are sanctioned by my superiors. I’ll never forget the day I was pulled from basic training and told I wasn’t cut out for the military. At eighteen, I was quick-tempered and gave zero fucks about if I lived or died. I stood from the chair I had taken when I’d been told to sit like a good dog and threw it at the wall. The unbridled rage