Little Bird (Caged #1)

M. DAUPHIN

H.Q. FROST

Little Bird
© May 2016 by Dauphin/Frost

All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental. All sexually active characters in this work are 18 years of age or older.

This book is for sale to ADULT AUDIENCES ONLY. It contains substantial sexually explicit scenes and graphic language which may be considered offensive by some readers. Please store your files where they cannot be accessed by minors.

Cover design © 2016INKEDIMPRINTS

Second Edition April 2016

Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000
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Torment can lead you to power if you can make it through the pain

A 10 year old girl unwanted

"Megan, pack your shit. Your old bitch of a gramma just kicked us to the curb. She only loves your good for nothin' brothers." The drunken slur of his words aren't surprising. 

What is surprising is he hasn't broken anything yet. I'm sure it's coming. 

"You hear me girl!?" I get a kick to the back that makes me jump up because next will be a punch to the head. 

"I heard you," I mutter rolling up my sleeping bag. 

"Why isn't she in school?" Gram says pointing her finger at me. "Just leave her, Judith." 

Hope flutters in my heart until my dad grabs my arm and yanks me to his side. "Fuck you, Faith." His shove makes her stumble back and hit the door. 

Lunging for her before she falls, I don't catch her before I'm plummeting to the ground from my dad's hard slap to the side of my head. 

"Megan!" Gram cries out, but before she can grab me, my dad yanks me up by my hair and shoves me at my mom. "Judith, please!" Gram pleads with my mom but she's already - or still - high, and her eyes are barely open while she pulls me out the front door. 

Ryley, the girl that lives next door to Gram, is standing by her parents' truck and watching as my mom escorts me to the van my dad got by trading everything except the clothes off our backs. We lock eyes and her scowl turns to a frown while her hand lifts in a small wave. I don't wave back, it'll get me hit so I drop my eyes and march toward the van, listening while Gram calls out from the porch in pleading cries. 

"Get inside, ya old bitch, before I lay you out," my dad threatens. 

I don't hear what Gram replies because I'm shoved into the back of the van that no longer has seats because my dad sold them. 

"Buckle up," my mom says before cackling and rounding to the passenger door. 

When my dad gets in, he looks into the back and starts to laugh. "Think if I slammed on the brakes she'd fly out the windshield?" 

I wrap three fingers around one of the hooks in the floor that was meant for a seat at one time and wonder what I did to ever deserve this. 

"Don't. I'll hurl," my mom groans. "Maybe I'm pregnant." 

"This'll kill it." He hands her a bottle in a paper bag and I close my eyes, losing the battle of tears this time. 

A 16 year old girl used

"Hello?" My dad answers his ringing phone as he pulls up to a house that has panels of vinyl ripped from it and it looks like the roof is falling apart. "Jasper, my man, how ya doin'?" 

I glance over biting my bottom lip because I know who Jasper is. I met him for the first time a month ago and he's the scariest man I've ever met. His face and smile had my heart in a flutter but when I watched him strike a man with the butt of a gun because the man spoke over him, I wet myself thinking he was going to kill my dad.

"Ya, ya, I'll have your money. Don't worry this time. It'll all be there." My dad throws a glance my way and I look at the house again realizing why I'm here. It's to - yet again - make money so my dad can pay off Jasper. After hanging up, he looks at me. "I'll be back for you in an hour." He's waiting for me to get out of the van and my trembling hand with dripping palms feels like it's melted to the door handle. "Get out." He shoves my shoulder. "This is three hundred dollars, girl. You want your mama to starve? She's pregnant, Meggy!" 

My mom's been 'pregnant' for three years and she's yet to have a child. In these three years I've done more immoral, shady things than an adult will in their lifetime. 

"Get out!" he screams and I jump, flinging open the door. "I'll be back in an hour, just do what the man tells you. Just like last time."

Last time was the worst and I'd rather die than go through that again. 

"Dad," I squeak with pleading eyes. "Please." 

"We need this money." He shoves me out then accelerates away before I can jump back in. 

The dilapidated house behind me has thumping music booming from the closed doors and windows but it's so loud I can make out the words. 

"You Maggie?" 

Turning around to the voice, I'm face to face with a three hundred pound man in a ribbed tank and overalls. 

"Girl?" he barks like I'm hard of hearing. 

"Megan," I say in a tweet. 

He shoves me toward the house and doesn't stop pushing until I'm stumbling through the front door of a smoke filled room and instantly can feel the effect of a contact high start to blur my vision. 

"This her?" 

I don't know who said it, there's about fifteen people in this room. 

"Gentlemen, meet Maggie." 

There are no gentlemen here.

"Megan," I mumble but it doesn't matter, they can't hear me over the music. 

"Can you dance?" 

I'm not sure who said that either but it doesn't matter anyway. I have to do what they've paid for. The thin strap of my dress is ripped with a yank and when I reach for it, I'm pushed against a wall and my dress is torn from my body. Jabbing fingers coming from several hands pull my bra from my chest and I'm exposed to salivating child molesters. No matter how hard I fight, I will not overpower a dozen grown men. My family needs food. We need shelter. Rod and Judith, two people I will no longer consider parents, need drugs. Jasper will kill us all if he doesn't get his money. 

An 18 year old woman's revenge

"Meggy, what the fuck are you doing?" Judith stares at me through squinted eyes that are half mast because she's high. "Rod." She shoves him. "Rod." 

Blinking his eyes open, he looks at me. "Meggy?" 

"Fuck. You." Spit sprays with my words while tears and snot drip from my face. 

"Is that my gun?" Rod groggily asks. 

"Pull the trigger, Little Bird, and you're in." 

"Jasper?" Rod croaks in a half asleep/fully drunk voice while looking around for him. 

"Bird?" Jasper's voice comes over the cell I have on speakerphone sitting on the table behind me. 

"I'm here." My wrist swipes under my nose but it does nothing to clear the liquid running from my face. 

"Eliminate my issue and you're mine." 

"Issue!" Rod thrusts to a sitting position and when he reaches for me, I press the gun to his forehead. 

"Don't fucking move." 

"Pull the trigger, Little Bird," his voice over the phone says. The man that will be my salvation. A love I've always dreamed about. 

"Meggy, get that gun out of your daddy's face," Judith says. 

"You won't pull the trigger, you little cunt," Rod provokes. 

I don't hear the ricocheted shot until I'm sprayed with blood and my heart seems to thump with the reverberation. 

"Meggy!" shrieks from Judith's mouth. 

"Fuck you, mom." My arms pivot with my words until I'm aiming the gun into the face of the woman that gave birth to me. The woman that was supposed to love and protect me, not get me high enough to numb my body and mind to lay lifeless while the most perverse of men sat by watching the incestual acts she did to me for money. 

There's no hesitation pulling the trigger and I watch her eyes cross before her body falls back with the momentum of the bullet. 

"Bird?" Jasper's voice fills my head. "Is it done?" 

"They're dead." It doesn't feel like I'm the one that said it, but I'm the only one in the room right now. Blood splattered, cold, afraid, and now alone until Jasper comes for me. 

"You're in, Little Bird." 

The call disconnects.  

That look in someone's eyes right before they take their last breath is the most bone chilling, powerful thing I've ever done.

And I fucking love it.

PRESENT DAY

3 Weeks Ago 

"Ace, I think you need to hear this," Jasper's voice booms from the other room. 

This is why I don't ever come to the house. There's always drama and I can't take drama. I'd just as fast enjoy shooting someone in their face the minute the gossip slips from their lips, but I can't do that. That floor is way too fucking pricey. 

I saunter into the room, giving absolutely no fucks who is in here with Jasper, and he glares at me from the desk. 

"Took you long enough." He shakes his head and apologizes to the company. 

Vince McLean. He thinks he's hot shit, but this operation is twenty times more powerful than his will ever be. I give him and his lackey a once over before leaning against the desk. 

"What can I do you for, boys?" I place my hands on the desk next to me, grazing my piece tucked neatly into its holster. 

They narrow their eyes at me then look back at Jasper who chuckles from his seat. 

"He's not very personable, you'll have to excuse him. But, he gets the job done." 

Motherfucking right I do. 

I've been killing people for the last seven years and in the business for about twenty more than that. It's a family business, per se, though Jasper and I aren't blood related. Blood relation means nothing here. When you've been through what we have, there's not much that can tear that unrelated family bond apart. Not when the same man killed your parents. A man you took out, together, at the young age of sixteen. 

One. Slice. At. A. Time. 

No, Jasper and I are a team, though to the employees he's the powerful one dealing all the cards, but he can't function without me. He'd never admit it to anyone, but being the strong arm - in this case - holds the power. 

"Ace, we were just filling in Jasper about some new info we have on one of his employees." 

"The girl," Jasper mumbles from behind me. 

I turn quickly and glare at him while he looks back at me with a fury in his eyes I'm happy to see. 

That motherfucking girl. I knew she was a bad choice. She was given too much power in this business, but he swore up and down he trained her right and told me it wasn't my place to question him. 

So I backed off. 

That was what... seven ish years ago? What the hell has she been up to? 

"What's she doing?" I sigh and walk over to the wet bar, grabbing two fingers of whiskey. 

"There's talk of her planning something big. It's just talk but I know how word spreads. We've had a good relationship with your empire and would hate to have something like this come between us if you ever found out we knew before you. We just want to warn you. I'd watch her." 

Vince is a smart man. Yes, we're rivals of a sort, but we own two totally different trades. Drugs and prostitution sometimes go hand in hand, but in our case we're able to work separately together. 

I still don't trust him. But I don't trust anyone.

"Thank you for your input, Vince. We appreciate any and all intel on our employees." Jasper stands from his desk and walks Vince and his lackey out. 

I wait for it. 

The minute the door closes I hear things start smashing from the foyer. He's always been the dramatic one. Shaking my head I walk to the doorway and lean on the frame as he completely obliterates the table that used to be in the middle of the room. 

"Goddammit! Nobody crosses this empire!" he screams, smashing a lamp to the ground. "And especially not her!" 

I watch him in amusement.

Jasper throws temper tantrums every now and then, but nothing like this one. I'm not entirely certain who this bitch is, but she's obviously gotten under his skin. He handpicked her, so I know she means something to him. Obviously enough to turn him into this lunatic the minute she crossed him.

"I'll take care of it," I mumble taking the last sip of my drink and setting it on a table nearby that he didn't get the chance to smash.

"You watch her. She's sneaky. I know that much."

"Yeah, got it." I nod to him and grin. "Althea!" I holler down the hall. "Jasper needs you!"

Her laugh travels from a nearby room and I smirk. She's cleaned up a few of these messes before and knows just what she's about to walk into.

He grumbles and curses, kicking the broken glass as he walks straight to the wet bar. 

"Just keep an eye on her, Ace. I'll be in contact shortly." 

1 Week Ago

So that's where it all began. This journey to find out what the hell this bitch is up to. 

Now here I sit in the driveway of Ed and Liza Milkey. I need a cover. I need a place to stay. Which means they need to vacate the premises. 

And in this business there's really only one way to get rid of people and get rid of them for good. 

"Can I help you?" Ed answers the door looking confused. Of course he is. Who isn't nowadays when a stranger knocks on the door? 

"I just need a moment of your time," I say making sure he sees the gun in my hands. "If we could make this quick, I have plans tonight." I smile when I see the tremble in his hands. 

It only takes a half hour to completely take care of business. The cleanup crew waiting in the van are able to come in and efficiently make it look like nothing happened here. 

Once it's done and I see through that nothing is out of place, I call Jasper. 

"It's done," I grunt sitting on the plastic covered sofa. First thing that needs to go. I can't take crinkling furniture. It's just wrong. 

"All go as planned?" he asks, obviously half interested in this phone call, but it has to happen. 

"Yes. Fine. I need her schedule, Jasper. After tonight, I have to start casing the place. Like you said, she's the top-ranking employee for five years straight. We have to cross every fucking t and dot every i before she gets put on that list. 

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he mumbles then proceeds to give me a rundown of her daily schedule. 

Good lord, this girl seems boring. If she's got anything up her sleeve like Vince and his lackey were insisting it'll be a huge surprise to me, but we can't let a lead like that go unnoticed. 

The next morning, I'm up before the sun. The early bird gets the worm. Isn't that what they say?

That's why I'm standing here in this motherfucking bush at six a.m., waiting for the minute this bitch decides to get out of bed and start her boring daily routine. From what Jasper gave me last night, it seems like these next few days of casing the joint and finding information out about her is going to be pretty low-key. As long as I can stay out of the nosey neighbor's view, I'll be good. As far as they know, right now nothing has happened to the Milkeys. The news will come later this afternoon that they died in a car crash on interstate ten. There will be a ceremony for the people of the community at a local church in a few days, and a day after that I'll be knocking on this bitch's door, hoping to get to the bottom of this shit. 

For now though, I'll be spending my time adding cameras to the outside of her house as well as some of the lamp posts that surround her block. I'll be placing a tracking device on her car so I can see every move she makes. The guest bedroom of the Milkey house will be set up as a headquarters of sorts, so I can track all online activity but still leave the rest of the house looking normal just in case I have people stop in while I'm staying here. 

Everything is set and ready to go. 

This bitch is going down.