One Night With the Billionaire: Book Three Read Online Free Page B

 
    “They were both basically married to their work, and hired help to take care of me, so I didn’t miss out on the fun parts of being a kid. I had a driver who took me to and from all of my practices,” he explains in what seems like one long whoosh of words, like all he wants in this world is to get them all out and be done with it.  
    Kaia just sits there listening, holding his hand.  
    “One night on my way home from soccer practice, this car cut us off at an intersection.” He pauses, as he stares out into the room, his eyes glassy with unshed tears. “I can still hear the screeching of the tires as the car came to a hard stop.”  
    Kaia can tell the story is getting more difficult for him to tell, and there’s a pained look in his eyes that she can hardly bear to look at.  
    “Jason,” she whispers, reaching up and cupping his cheek. “You don’t have to-”
    “Please,” he says desperately, leaning into her touch. “I have to get this out.”  
    Kaia nods. If that’s what he needs, she’ll make sure he gets it.  
    “The guy driving the car that cut us off, he got out and just…he shot my driver. He was a new guy, a replacement for a man who had just retired. I don’t even remember his name, and he died just because he took a job for my family.”  
    There’s guilt wrapped around every single word that comes out of his mouth, and all Kaia can do is sit there and hold his hand, offering him whatever support she can.  
    “The guy opened the back door, and dragged me out, screaming. He put a cloth against my face, and I…I woke up tied to a chair in the den of my house. He…”
    Jason’s voice falters now, and Kaia doesn’t need him to tell her exactly what happened. She’s seen evidence of it all over his chest, and she’s kissed every one of the scars that hasn’t faded with time. Oh how she wishes she could soothe the scars she can’t see.  
    “He tortured me for what seemed like hours .”  
    Tears burn Kaia’s eyes as she runs her thumb over Jason’s knuckles. She can’t imagine. Can’t even fathom what it was like to live through that, and to still be living with after all these years.  
    “I could hear my parents screaming for me,” he says, looking down at where his hand is twined with Kaia’s. “They were being held in some other part of the house by another man.  
    “I nearly blacked out from the pain. All I can remember is the man that was holding my parents captive was yelling about money, and my dad kept telling him that he could have whatever he wanted, as long as he stopped hurting me.”  
    “Jason,” Kaia whispers, really not wanting him to go on. She can see how much this is tearing at him, opening old wounds that had closed over time. But still, he continues.  
    “The man who had them, he brought them down to see me just before…and I’ll never forget the look in their eyes when they saw what had been done to me. Lacerations, burns…they were all over my chest and back,” he says, his voice completely wrecked. He looks up at Kaia then, looking so lost and broken. “My mother couldn’t stop crying. One of the men kept telling her to shut up, but she couldn’t help herself.”  
    The tears are falling freely down his cheeks now, so Kaia reaches up and takes his face in her hands, and kisses them away. She lets her forehead rest against his for a moment, and the two of them are quiet, just existing in the same space.  
    Then she waits for him to continue, because she knows he will.
    “Finally the police showed up,” he says. “The man who took me shot my parents, and then the cops shot him and his accomplice.” He swallows hard, then inhales in one quick sniff. “And I was still tied to that fucking chair, completely helpless.”  
    Kaia isn’t sure what she should do. She wants to wrap her body around his and take away the hurt, but she’s not sure if an outpouring of support like that will be received as pity.  
    The very last