Club Helix: The Power Games (46 page)

* * * *

We arrive back at the Helix the following afternoon, and over dinner with Roman and me and Emmett and Rebecca, Logan details the plan for the next few days. Tomorrow the hotel will be full as the media, industry professionals, celebrities, and all the former contestants of the games arrive for the show’s live finale tomorrow evening.

“The finale will be held tomorrow night at seven o’clock in the Diamond Lounge where it all began,” Logan says with a smile. “We’ll be broadcasting live in front of a sold-out studio audience, so dress accordingly. The winners of the Power Games will be announced, along with the runners-up. If either of the winners is unable or unwilling to serve as the official Helix Dom or sub anytime during the year, the runner-up will take their place. Then the brand-new Helix Dom and sub will preside over the ribbon-cutting officially marking the opening of Club Helix.”

Logan looks around the table at all of us. “Regardless of which of you wins, all four of you will be walking away with a substantial cash prize tomorrow, and you have earned it. It’s been quite a journey for all of us, and it has been a pleasure to get to know all of you. Good luck tomorrow.”

Roman makes love to me that night against the backdrop of the glittering lights of Las Vegas, and it’s tender and raw and soul-shattering and beautiful. Afterward, he pulls me back against his chest one last time before the games end, and although I don’t think I will, I fall asleep almost immediately, safely wrapped in his arms.

I’m a bundle of nerves the next day, and Roman looks almost relieved when Tessa and Rose show up after lunch amid squeals and hugs, insisting I get ready for the finale with them. The three of us spend the afternoon at the Helix Spa talking and laughing, and I fill them in on Costa Rica and everything that’s happened since we’ve seen one another. In turn, they’re full of news about the outside world. Apparently
The Power Games
has been a much bigger hit than anyone expected, and all of us are household names. I also find out the show has been a source of major controversy with a contingent of right-wing activists, spearheaded by none other than senator and presidential hopeful Anthony Sanderson.

The mention of my stepfather’s name, coupled with my nervousness about tonight’s finale, has me feeling suddenly claustrophobic, and I would give anything right this minute for a hard, punishing five-mile run to clear my head. Unfortunately since I just spent an hour and a half having my hair and makeup done for TV, that’s probably out of the question. I catch a glimpse of the gardens out the window as we leave the spa; the solitary quiet of the outdoor garden is better than nothing.

“I’m going to walk in the gardens for a while,” I say to Tessa and Rose. “I’m so nervous I just need to clear my head. I’d go to the gym, but then I’d ruin all this.” I smile, gesturing to my TV-ready hair and makeup. “I’ll come up to your suite in a few minutes to get ready.”

The gardens are empty, and I walk aimlessly through the lush foliage, the gentle sound of the fountains soothing me as I think about the past six weeks and what the future holds. I find myself in the maze, remembering when I’d walked here with Roman. I smile to myself as I also remember what happened afterward. I’m near the center when a familiar and unwelcome figure steps in my path.

“Avalon, I’ve been looking for you.” The rich, cultured tone of Anthony’s voice makes me nauseated, and I have to swallow back the bile that rises at the sight of him.

“Don’t ever call me that again!” I say venomously. “You don’t have the right.” I look past him hopefully. “Is my mom here?”

“Of course not. You know how much she hates to travel.” He frowns at me. “Besides, I’d never have allowed her to come and see how you’ve ruined your life and possibly hers and mine in the process. I’ve managed to protect her from your sexual exploits so far. It would break her heart if she knew what a slut her daughter has become.”

I laugh mirthlessly. “Yeah, I’m a slut. Not such a good thing for a presidential candidate’s stepdaughter who prides himself on being antipornography, is it?”

“That’s what I came to talk to you about.”

“Oh, I’m sure you did. But I have nothing to say to you. Everything I have to say I’ll say on national television tonight. I only came on the show to expose you. I think the nation will be interested to know that the man who wants to be their president, the senator who champions women’s issues and campaigns against pornography, is actually a sex trafficker.”

He pales, but his thin lips flatten into a hard line. “No one believed you when you made your accusations two years ago, not even your own mother. You were suffering from posttraumatic stress; your mind had transposed the events to try to make sense of them. The psychologists all agreed.”

Psychologists he’d paid to protect him and make me think I was crazy. But I know the truth, and so does he.

“What makes you think anyone’s going to believe you now?” he asks with a sneer.

“They may not.” I shrug. “To be honest, I don’t care anymore. But maybe it will cast enough doubt so that you’ll lose any chance you have of winning the primaries. Even if they don’t believe me, the fact that I’m a finalist in the Power Games will probably be enough to crush any dreams you have of the presidency. Your stepdaughter is the Blindfold Girl. Pictures of me naked and blindfolded are plastered everywhere. I’m the face of the most talked-about new BDSM-themed resort in Las Vegas. And there’s nothing you can do about it,” I say triumphantly. “It’s done. You don’t have any hold over me anymore.”

I’ve dreamed of this moment, and it’s every bit as sweet as I’d imagined. Then he grabs my arm, and I’m hurled back in time, standing outside the derelict house on a side street near the Seattle waterfront, his hand on my arm exactly as it is now, urging me inside the house. I’d balked, some sixth sense warning me to give him the papers I’d come to deliver and get the hell out of there. But it hadn’t worked out that way.

My stepfather and I had disliked each other from the beginning. I resented him taking my mother from me, and he resented my presence altogether. That summer my mom had browbeaten me into taking a summer job at his law firm to earn some extra money for college, and when his secretary had asked me to take a contract he’d forgotten over to a property he was closing on, I had stumbled upon his sex-trafficking ring instead.

I don’t know if he’d planned all along for me to arrive when I did, or if he simply felt he had no choice once he realized what I’d seen. I’ll never know. But what he’d done to me next had been unthinkable. Unspeakable. Unforgivable. He’d pushed me into the derelict house with the other three women with their hopeless eyes and fearful cries, and left me to be sold along with them. Out of his way, with no tales to tell. I’d escaped. I’d survived. But the others hadn’t, and now he’s finally going to pay for what he did to all of us.

“I don’t think you want to do that,” he says, his voice menacing. “You’re not so innocent yourself.”

He’d used his legal connections to have the records of my involvement sealed under the guise of protecting me, but in reality he was only protecting his own reputation, and he made it his personal vendetta to try to destroy me, to ensure I never forgot the power he wielded over me. It was a subtle subterfuge designed to keep me quiet. Over the next few weeks, he took every opportunity to play upon my guilt, turning me into the villain instead of the victim. Consumed with guilt, abandoned by my mother, and utterly alone, I’d made the decision to take my own life.

Until Emmett had saved me, reassuring me over and over that it hadn’t been my fault. It had been months before the faces of the women stopped haunting my dreams, the thought of what happened to them tormenting me. Eventually, I’d built a wall around my heart to protect myself, distancing myself not only from the fear, anger, hurt, and betrayal that had threatened to consume me in the days and months that followed, but also the guilt.

But I’d let Roman break down that wall, and now the memories come flooding back, and I’m forced to face the truth. I’m to blame. I saved myself, but I didn’t save them.

But at least I can avenge them now.

I recoil from his touch, wrenching my arm out of his grasp. “You’re wrong. There’s nothing I want more.”

“What do you think your rich boyfriend will think when he finds out what really happened?”

I don’t give Anthony the satisfaction of knowing he’s hit a nerve. “You fucking bastard. Roman’s my partner in the games, not my boyfriend. You can’t hurt me anymore.”

He doesn’t answer. He simply hands me a picture of an apartment. “Do you know what this is?” he asks conversationally.

“Another house where you sell women into slavery?” I ask caustically.

“This is where your friend Tessa lives.” He shows me another picture of a lake with a jogging trail around it. “This is where she goes for a run every morning at six o’clock. It would be a shame if she disappeared, wouldn’t it? But not altogether unexpected, given the kind of girl she is and the seedy sex clubs she’s known to go to, not to mention the fact that she gained a certain notoriety on a depraved reality show.”

I can feel the blood drain from my face as he continues.

“Would you like to see more? I know everything about her—where she shops, her favorite restaurants, the late nights she frequently puts in at work all alone in her office downtown. Ah. And your friend Rose. With that luscious body, she’d bring a high price. Your friends are lookers, Avalon, I’ll give you that.”

“What do you want from me?” I whisper.

“I want you to deny your relationship with me and with your mother. You are never to contact either of us again. And you will tell the television audience and the press that you have been estranged from us for years, ever since you fabricated hurtful lies in a childish attempt to break up your mother and me. If you do that, your friends will stay safe. If not…” He trails off. “Who knows what will happen to them?”

Roman was wrong. He wasn’t the monster at the center of the maze.

“Fine!” I say, my voice lethal. “I’ll do what you want. But this isn’t over yet. You won’t get away with this forever.”

When I get to Tessa’s suite, I’m still shaken up from my encounter with Anthony, but I’ve managed to slip on the mask of emotionless composure that has gotten me through the past two years. And if I’m jumpy and not completely myself, I’m sure they write it off to my nervousness over the outcome of the games. This is why I’ve never had friends, why I’ve never allowed myself to get close to anyone except Emmett. Because when you open your heart, you become vulnerable, and when you become vulnerable, people can hurt you. But it’s too late now. I’ll do whatever I have to do to protect my friends, even if it means letting Anthony get away with what he’s done. Even if it means severing all ties forever with my mom.

When we walk into the Diamond Lounge, I want to cry when I see Roman standing there on the stage, looking impossibly gorgeous in his characteristic black suit, his gray eyes locked on mine. Tessa and Rose hug me fiercely, and then I step up to join Roman on the stage. My whole body melts into him as his arm goes around me, and I feel like I’m home. Giving up everything might be bearable if I was to get Roman in return, but I know there are no guarantees. This could all end in the next five minutes. I clutch the tiny padlock around my neck as if by holding on to it I can put off the inevitable and still belong to him.

“Breathe, Ava,” he murmurs in my ear.

I take a deep breath and try to remind myself that whatever happens, I’m going to be okay. Despite the fact that winning no longer means I’ll finally be able to expose my stepfather for who he truly is, I still want to win so badly it hurts. Because winning means Roman. I had come here to ruin Anthony’s life, but instead I’d gained my own life back. Standing on the very stage where I stood six weeks ago, I realize how different I am from the naked and terrified girl who’d defiantly waited to be purchased that day. I never dreamed in that defining moment when Roman called out the last bid that my life would change forever, and now I can’t imagine my life without him. More importantly, I don’t want to.

“Whatever happens next, I want you to know something.” Roman lifts my chin so I’m looking into those enigmatic blue-gray eyes that never fail to center me. “I have been honored to have been your Dominant for the show and humbled to be the man you entrusted with your power. You’ve given me more than I ever thought I deserved. You accepted me for who I am, and instead of being afraid, you welcomed my demons and embraced them, and somehow turned my darkness into something beautiful and profound.” Everything around me comes into sharp focus—the gold cuff links on Roman’s shirt as he lifts his hand to cup my cheek, the rare hoarse emotion in his voice, and most importantly, the love that’s shining in his eyes—and I know I will remember this moment for the rest of my life. “I love you, Avalon. You’ve given me your submission, but I’ll never be satisfied with just owning your body. I want all of you. I want your heart.”

“It’s already yours,” I whisper. “You own me body and soul, Roman.”

Logan walks onto the stage as dozens of blinding lights flash from the news cameras. “And now the moment we’ve all been waiting for,” he announces dramatically.

Roman squeezes my hand reassuringly.

Logan slowly breaks open the seal on the envelope. Roman and I are standing on one side of him and Emmett and Rebecca on the other, and for a split second Emmett’s and my eyes meet. Then Logan pulls the card from the envelope and reads, “The winners of the Power Games are…”

I grip Roman’s hand tighter.

“Roman and Ava!”

I shake my head slightly at Logan as Roman looks at me quizzically.

“It’s Avalon,” I say definitively. It’s time to reclaim my birthright.

The smile Roman flashes me is one of those rare but breathtaking ones that reaches all the way to his eyes, and then he’s pulling me into his arms and kissing me, and I’m kissing him back and laughing and crying as he holds me tight. We’ve won! As long as I have Roman, everything’s going to be okay.