My Love Came With An Invoice Chapter 2

Richard's face was drawn tight with fury.

"A whole day! She is deliberately trying to defy me!" He paced the expanse of the living room. "Honestly, raising a stray dog would be more rewarding. You throw a dog a bone and it wags its tail. But her? I put all this effort into building her character, forcing her to be independent, and she treats me like the enemy!"

"Maria!" Valerie called out, rolling her eyes. "Enough of this. Clear out her bedroom."

"Clear it out?" Maria froze. "But ma'am, when the young miss returns, where will she sleep?"

Valerie’s gaze was glacial. "Tear down the wall between her room and the guest suite. We'll expand it into a proper music studio for Preston."

"As for where she'll sleep when she gets back..." Valerie took a sip of her espresso. "There's still that storage closet in the basement, isn't there? The rent is cheap. Five dollars a night. She should be able to afford that."

Preston's eyes sparkled. "Really, Mom? I get the mega-studio?"

"Of course, darling." Valerie looked at him, her coldness melting into absolute adoration. "When has Mommy ever lied to you? You are my precious boy. You deserve the absolute best."

...

Miles away, a filthy blindfold was ripped from my eyes.

The pungent smell of rust, stale beer, and damp earth hit my nose. I was in an abandoned warehouse. Several men in grease-stained clothes were playing poker around a folding table. When they saw Jax walk in with me, they threw their cards down.

"Damn, Jax. Premium merchandise this time," a man with rotting, yellowed teeth leered, reaching out to pinch my cheek.

Instinctively, I flinched and pulled away.

Smack!

The yellow-toothed man backhanded me across the face. Pain exploded across my cheek, hot and sharp.

"Who told you to dodge, you little brat!"

I fell hard onto the concrete floor. The metallic taste of blood seeped into the corner of my mouth.

But I didn't cry.

I just lay there, staring dead into his eyes.

"Ooh, look at the glare on this one." The man laughed, pulling back his heavy work boot to kick me in the ribs.

"Enough." Jax caught the man's shoulder, shoving him back. "Cut it out. This one's completely healthy. We're gonna get top dollar for her."

Jax crouched down until he was eye-level with me. "Listen to me, kid. You're here, which means you play by our rules." He pointed toward the darkest corner of the warehouse. "You see that cage?"

It was a massive, rusted iron dog crate. Inside, three mangy, aggressive dogs paced back and forth, growling.

"If you don't listen, you sleep in there with them. If you listen, you get fed."

I slowly wiped the blood from my chin with the back of my hand.

"How much to sleep in the cage?" I asked.

Jax froze.

The entire warehouse erupted into booming, ugly laughter.

"Holy shit! Jax, is this kid mentally challenged?" the yellow-toothed man cackled. "She wants to pay to sleep in a dog cage? Ha!"

Jax shook his head, staring at me like I was an alien. "It's free, kid. Free lodging."

"And the food?" I asked, my voice steady.

"Also free."

I nodded. I pushed myself off the ground, dusted off my knees, and walked straight toward the rusted iron bars.

"Then I'll sleep there."

As long as it didn't cost money, anywhere was fine. Back at the mansion, sleeping in that tiny, unheated bedroom cost me two hundred dollars a month in rent.

This place was filthy. It smelled like wet fur and decay. But it was free.

I crawled into the cage, pulling my knees to my chest, making myself small as the dogs sniffed at my shoes. The men's laughter echoed off the high corrugated ceiling.

I knew they were laughing at my stupidity.

But as I sat there in the dark, my heart felt lighter than it had in years. To me... anywhere in the world that didn't demand coins for my existence was paradise.

...

That evening, the Croft estate finally received a phone call from the police.

"Is this Valerie Croft? This is the precinct."

Valerie was in the middle of a Zoom call with her board of directors. She sighed, deeply annoyed. "Speaking. What is it?"

"We found a backpack belonging to your daughter, Sally Croft, abandoned by a drainage canal on the outskirts of the city. We need you to come down and identify it."

Valerie’s tone was impeccably flat. "I do not have the time right now. I am in the middle of a vital executive meeting. When it concludes, I will dispatch my assistant."

The officer on the line was stunned into a brief silence. "Ma'am, this is your biological daughter. She could be in grave danger! You need—"

"Officer." Valerie cut him off sharply. "She is throwing a temper tantrum. She ran away from home to get attention."

"Furthermore, my time is currently valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars an hour. I am not going to waste it driving across town for a dirty backpack."

"Besides," she added with a dry scoff, "we live in a civilized society. What exactly do you think is going to happen to her?"