Missing Link (The Finders Book 1)

MISSING LINK

The Finders Series

By

Addison Jane

Copyright

Addison Jane

Missing Link (The Finders)

© 2014, Addison Jane

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.

Warning- R18

This book contains themes related to violence and abuse and also themes of a sexual nature. Please be advised that it is not appropriate for anyone under 18 years old.

Dedications

There are a lot of people I need to thank for helping me to get to this point. I’m extremely lucky to have so many great friends and family who have supported me towards my goal.

My beautiful Betas.
Caroline, Andrea and Michelle
. Without you all being so passionate about my characters and supporting me throughout all of this, I doubt I would have succeeded. Your feedback, love and support always pushed me to write more. Not only that but you have all become such amazing friends to me. You girls have always had my back!

The amazing
Ava Manello
. I will always be your #1 fangirl! You are such a beautiful person and you inspire me every single day to reach for the stars. I’m constantly in awe of how big your heart is and how you always go out of your way to help others. If it wasn’t for you, I don’t think I would have ever decided to jump in the deep end and finally finish Missing Link, not to mention even think about releasing other books in the future. But knowing that you were there for me, pointing me in the right direction when I needed it and answering my weird questions, it suddenly became more realistic. Your support has been nothing but amazing and I can’t wait to meet up with you next year!

My amazing friend,
Allie
. The inspiration for one of my characters and the girl who keeps me sane when life gets a little crazy. Thank you for standing beside me and helping out whenever possible when you know I’m about to lose the plot, thank you for listening to me blab on about my book this, and my book that. Thank you for being you. I love you! (just wait till I get to write your book.)

My parents and my family.
I wouldn’t be who I am and where I am without your support. Its because of you guys that I know I can give anything a go and even if I fail, you will still be there behind me. I love you both.

Lynette
for taking on the massive task of editing for me! I know it must have been a lot of hard work due to my horrible spelling and grammar lol.

Francessca
for organising cover reveals and blog tours and all that stuff that would have never gotten done if it wasn’t for you!

And
Kris
from
CK Creations
for such a beautiful cover! It turned out even more perfect than I imagined.

Prologue

"Daddy, you can't do this!" I screamed at my father as he threw my belongings into a suitcase. "Daddy, please!"

He didn't look at me, he just continued hurriedly. I had known my Father was in too deep with some not so nice people, but I had never imagined he would use his own daughter as collateral in a deal that had now gone sour. I was his child, his blood; my little brother Devon and I were all he had. Our mother had passed away 5 years ago and we had stuck by each other solidly. His struggles with money had only started in the past year as his gambling and drug addiction worsened. It had quickly consumed him as the more we struggled, the deeper he dove into his dodgy dealings, bets and card games with high powered people while I stayed at home, making sure my 16 year old brother got to school on time, got fed and kept out of trouble. At 20 I was his surrogate parent.

Unbeknown to me, last night he had gone on a bender and joined a poker game with some of the richest men known in the neighbouring cities. He was running out of things to place on the table and after he lost our small house that we had bought with my mother’s life insurance, I thought he would have walked away. But here I was pleading with all my heart for him to not let them take me after he placed on the table his only daughter.

"He will look after you, which is more than what I can do." He muttered quietly, still unable to look me in the eye. Tears flowed freely down my cheeks, staining my beautiful blue blouse. "I’m going to send Devon to live with Aunt May, so don't worry about him. You need to put your head down, be polite and gracious, Sam. And he won't hurt you."

I sniffed and sobbed as I followed him out of my room and down our short hall. Pictures littered the walls, I stopped at one of my Mother and I, her bright green eyes shimmered back at me and I swallowed hard trying to force back the tears that threatened to breach my eyes. I touched my lips lightly and reached out, placing my fingertips to her cheek. Oh how I missed her.  People told me I looked just like her.  We were both petite at a small 5 foot 2 inches and weighing no more than around 55kgs. But the thing I loved the most that I inherited from her beauty was my long wavy red hair. It was a dark red but in the light it shone a bright orange. Some people were ashamed of their ginger hair, but I wore mine with pride, my Mother always telling me how beautiful and unique it was. She would have never let this happen, she would have never bargained me for money. I felt anger rise in my stomach, anger at my Father. He was selfish and an addict, maybe in some fucked up reality this was actually my escape from a man who just didn't care enough about his own daughter to fight for her, to keep her safe.

I wiped away the tears that had now trickled lightly down my cheeks and took a couple of deep breaths. I didn't want to show this man who had bought me any weakness. I would be polite and accepting but I would be strong. Strength.

I walked into our lounge with my chin up and confidence in my stride. My Dad was handing my suitcase to a large man dressed in a black suit. He looked like a bodyguard; he was huge. And not in the sexy muscle kind of way, but in the eats too many donuts for breakfast and doesn't run enough kind of way. There were two other men that resembled him standing and one sitting in my Father’s large arm chair. He was handsome, older, maybe in his late thirty’s. He had rings glittering on his fingers and a light gold chain hung around his neck. His hair was short, like a buzz cut and a light brown colour, nothing exciting. But when he looked at me, his dark blue eyes bore intensely into my soul. I was about to be owned and the darkness behind those deep pools was unmistakable.

He rose to his feet and quietly moved towards me. I glanced quickly at my Father. He stood, hanging his head shamefully, still unable to look me in the eye. He'd just gambled away his daughter’s freedom, he should feel shame. A soft gentle hand lifted mine and my eyes shot back to the man in front of me. He smiled, almost softly.

"Hello, Samantha." He lifted my hand to his mouth and brushed it across my knuckles. "My name is Charles. I expect you are ready to leave?"

I swallowed and took a deep breath, polite and gracious my father had said. I was unaware of what this man was capable of so for now, I would play the part until I could figure out how to get myself out of this mess my idiot Father had created.

"Yes, Sir." I said, unable to meet his eyes.

His smile grew a little as I expected he was pleased he would not need to drag me kicking and screaming through the door. He kept my hand in his light grasp as he led me past my Father. I didn't even bother to look up at him as Charles stopped briefly,

"Until we meet again Daniel. Thank you for your business."

We walked slowly down the front steps of my small house, his hand still held gently to mine. Strangely I didn't feel scared. Strength. That's all I needed.

"Sam!!" I turned to see Devon sprinting out the front door and racing towards me, tears uncharacteristically streaking his cheeks. He was always the strong one, I was usually the crier. But for right now, I needed to be his strength. I need to show him I was okay. Charles dropped my hand as Devon dived into the arms I didn't realise I had stretched out to him.

"Don't go Sam, Please!"

I looked up at the man who now owned me, pleading for just a moment with my brother, he smiled softly and nodded, climbing into the back of the large SUV parked at the curb.

I took my little brothers face between my hands and held his gaze.

"Listen Devon. You are gonna go to Aunt Mays, you're gonna finish school, you're gonna do your best and I will always be proud of you." He shook his head profusely. "Strength, Dev. I’ll see you soon.

I pulled his face to my shoulder and wrapped my arms around him. I sometimes wonder if I would have run had I known Charles wouldn't allow me to see Devon. But after he threatened Dev's life if I even thought about trying to escape him, I decided to stay as far from my little brother as possible and just hope like hell he's okay.

Hope.

Strength.

Chapter One

3 years later.

I dodged the left jab and swiftly raised my arm to block the right. I weaved like a professional fighter, matching the attacks with blocks or ducks and dives. I was fast and I was fit but so was my opponent and he was also a lot more experienced. I lifted my left leg and swung it towards his ribs but he was faster, grabbing my ankle and twisting it. I had no choice but to twist my body with it and land face first on the soft mat.

"Damn it!" I cursed myself and punched the mat. I rolled onto my back, breathing hard and feeling like my heart was going to jump out of my chest. A shadow fell over me and I looked up to see KC shaking silently with laughter. He reached out his hand to me and I huffed like a sulking child before taking it and letting him pull me to my feet.

I folded my arms across my chest, my breathing still heavy but slowing.

"I coulda had you." He smiled at me, the bright smile of a seasoned fighter who was missing a tooth here or there and a seriously wonky nose to match.

"Yes, you could have. But you still have a lot to learn." I huffed again and he laughed. I couldn't help but smile. KC was a bright personality, he wasn’t a stocky built man but he made up for his lack of muscles with his agility and speed which is more what I wanted than being able to lay someone out when I punched them in the face. And he was the best there was. He owned the gym where I worked out and when I'd seen him teaching a women's selfdefence class, I'd approached him to teach me how to defend myself.

Who really knows why, because I was followed around constantly by at least one bodyguard. Charlie refused to have it any other way because of the dealings he did, he was afraid someone may try to take me to get to him. Occasionally I wondered if that would really be so bad. It took me a while to convince Charlie to let me train with KC, but in the end with Charlie, there is nearly always a way to get what I want. I'm not proud of my methods, but this is the life I live, I have to do what I need to do.

KC walked to the side of the mat and grabbed two towels, tossing one in my direction. He rubbed the glistening sweat off his bald head,

"You are getting better though, you've stopped thinking about your moves too much and trying to anticipate how you were going to hit me. Now you are just feeling it in the moment." I smiled widely as I dabbed the sweat drops from my forehead and the back of my neck.

"Thanks!" He laughed and looked over my shoulder to the door.

"Seems it’s time for you to head home, see you next week?”

I ran over to him quickly and threw my arms around him, giving him a quick squeeze.

"Yes, absolutely." I skipped off towards the door to a frowning Bear. When I had originally seen Bear standing in the living room of my father’s house, I remembered thinking about how huge he was, but now to me, he was just Teddy because I quickly realised he was a big softy. Well, for me he was. For anyone else, they better run the other way.

He had insisted that he be my watcher and I had agreed with my whole heart. Since then we had become very close.

I jumped on him, wrapping my arms as far around him as I could, which wasn't far. "You stink, Sam." He said gruffly in his low scratchy voice.

I took a step back and feigned a shocked face.

"Well that's just plain mean." I pushed past him and stomped outside. I heard him scoff behind me,