The Auction (23 page)

“Did you…torture them?” Victoria seemed hesitant with her question.

Foster nodded in the affirmative. “Yes. I told myself that it was because I was determined to get Macy back and mainly that’s the truth, but part of me enjoyed it. A little too much. That’s when I realized that monster I’d tried to keep at bay all those years was still lurking. I had no future with you. I didn’t deserve you. It hurt like hell to admit it but there you have it.

“When I found out who was behind the trafficking and was able to rescue your sister, I let you go. But know that it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.”

Victoria remained silent to the point where Foster didn’t think she would respond but finally she asked, “For my peace of mind. Who was behind it all? The auction, I mean.”

“Turns out it was the son of my grandfather’s former business partner. He was the father of the son my grandfather had killed. He had his eyes set on revenge for years. His name was Eli Winthrop III. But you might know him as Mr. X.”

Victoria gasped as her eyes widened. “He was behind it all? The trafficking and attacks on you?”

“Yes. He tagged you on The Run because of our association. So you see, everything bad that’s happened to you is my fault. And now that you know this, I understand if you completely hate me. But if it’s any consolation, you can’t hate me as much as I already hate myself.” Just staring at her, knowing that all his dreams would never come true where Victoria was concerned, was too painful to endure.

Abruptly he pushed his seat back and stood up. “I’m going to give my apologies because I have to leave. But if you need to order anything put it on my account.” Foster didn’t wait for her to say anything else because he was too focused on getting out of the restaurant.

He didn’t want to see the look in her eyes now that she knew him for the monster he was.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Tori remained frozen to the spot long after Foster had left her at the restaurant. She wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting to hear but it certainly hadn’t been this. Everything she had suffered through was horrible but she could also see that he had been through a lot too. How could she condemn him for something that he was pushed in to at an age where he didn’t fully understand the ramifications of his actions?

She
had
only been able to focus on
her own pain
bypassing his suffering
.
Tori would never forget the look in Foster’s eyes as he relayed that story to her.
She knew then what she had to do. Tori contacted her driver. It still took some getting used to that her family had servants. All thanks to Foster. There was no reason for him to go above and beyond the way he had, but he did. Foster had always been generous but it was something she’d taken for granted.

“Where to, Miss Preston?” Keith, the driver, asked when she slipped into the back seat of the luxury vehicle.

“Could you please t
ake me to Foster’s house
? I mean Mr. Graham
’s
.”

“Certainly.”

Tori’s heart beat faster the closer she got to her destination. By the time Keith had pulled up to Foster’s gate and got authorization to enter, Tori was a nervous wreck.

Tori was surprised to see Mrs. Gordon waiting for her at the door. “Ms. Preston, please come in. Mr. Graham hasn’t returned home yet but you’re welcome to wait inside.”

Tori frowned. “He’s not back? But he left the restaurant before me.”

The housekeeper shrugged. “He didn’t inform me when he’d be back but I’m sure he’ll be here soon enough. Please come in.” She stood back enough to allow Tori entrance.

She walked inside and followed Mrs. Gordon to the living room.

“Can I get you anything to drink or eat?”

Tori shook her head as she took a seat on the couch. “No, thank you. I’ll wait here.”

“Okay. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you need anything.”

“Thank you.”

Once she was alone, she waited anxiously for Foster, but after an hour he still hadn’t returned. She turned on the holovision and found a program to watch while she waited. Before she realized it another couple hours passed. She turned it off and contemplated her next move.

The next thing she realized, someone was shaking her. Tori stretched her arms over her head. Shit! She must have fallen asleep. She sat up to see Foster standing over her. His eyes were bloodshot and hi
s hair was messy as if he’d rak
ed his fingers through it several times.

She stood up and smoothed her clothes down. “Foster. I uh, was waiting for you.”

“I can see. Mrs. Gordon contacted me to say you were here, otherwise I would have been on a jet out of the country.”

She moistened her lips with a quick flick of her tongue. “You were going to leave?”

“Not forever. I was going to visit my mother overseas.”

Tori raised a brow. “Your mother?”

“Yes. I do have one.”

“You’ve never mentioned her before. I just assumed she was dead, like mine.”

“No. She’s very much alive and living quite happily with her latest lover. She and I had never been particularly close. She left my
father and me when I was eight
because she decided that being a wife and mother wasn’t all that she thought it would be.
She
left the country to go on adventures, according to her at least. The truth is, she found an older trillionaire who pampered her and didn’t make any demands on her. He eventually died and she got all his money and has been living quite nicely since. We’ve been in touch over the years but sporadically. Out of the blue she issued me an invitation to see her. This seemed as good a time as any to make that visit.”

“Where overseas does she live?”

“Dulcinia, it’s a small country that used to be a part of Italy before the war. She says it’s beautiful there. She has a home right on the sea.”

“Sounds nice.”

He sighed before putting some distance between them. “So why are you here, Victoria? Do you want to yell at me? Or tell me how much I disgust you?”

It hurt a little that he thought she would be angry with him, but it was no less than what she deserved. He’d come to her before with his feelings and she didn’t believe him. She understood why he’d be wary of her presence now. “Actually, I came by to talk to you. Not yell. Just talk.”

“Then talk.” He turned away from her, back stiff.

“Could you at look at me?”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because it hurts dammit!”

Determined, Tori walked around Foster until they were facing. “Foster please, you’re not making this easy for me and granted you have every right to think I wouldn’t take what you had to say very well, but I just want you to know that I don’t hate you.”

“You don’t have to lie. How could you not after I confessed what I did?”

“I admit that it’s frightening to imagine you h
urting
people the way you described, but you were a boy under the influence of someone you looked up to.”

“A boy who grew up into a man who sliced people up and took pleasure in doing it. You don’t understand the enormity of my actions.”

Tori reached out and placed her hand on his arm. Foster flinched but didn’t pull away from her touch. “You’re right, I don’t understand any of it, but I do realize that you were driven by your hero worship of your grandfather and he used that to his advantage. And you may have even liked it a little but—”

“There is no may about it. I did like it.”

“Sometimes we can get caught up in things that go against our true nature, but I don’t believe that’s who you were. If that was really who you are, you wouldn’t be harboring so much guilt and being so hard on yourself. You did the right thing by wiping out your grandfather
’s legacy
and that in itself tells me that you wanted to change. People aren’t infallible. We make mistakes and yours may have been huge, but you tried to right those wrongs. Besides, an evil person wouldn’t financially support a family he barely knows just because he knew they needed it. An evil person wouldn’t make promises then follow through on them. The way you were relentless in your search for Macy, even while you were under attack, is something I will forever be grateful for. And even if in your misguided way you sent me away you were doing it for my protection. I didn’t see it at the time, or didn’t want to, but I do now. Those aren’t the actions of an evil person.”

He raised a brow. “Oh yeah? Do you want to know what I did with your Mr. X? I had that bastard strung up and worked him over until he drew his last breath.”

“You killed him?” she whispered in surprise.

“Damn right I did and I’d do it again.”

She thought over all he’d done to her and the other women in his residence. That man was sadistic for no reason at all. Learning about his son made no difference. She and his other victims had nothing to do with that, but he chose to mete out excruciating punishments time and time again. She remembered all the times he’d beat her or deprived her of food. He’d shown absolutely no remorse. She’d looked in the face of evil before and it wasn’t Foster
’s
. “Good,” Tori finally answered. “He deserved it. Besides, if you didn’t kill him he’d be torturing other women and having his people kidnap them off the street.”

“You don’t know what you’re saying, Victoria.”

“Oh, but I do. You have no idea how many nights I’d fantasize about murdering him. I’m just sorry you got to him before I did. Look, Foster, you can’t continue to beat yourself over this. That’s in the past. The only thing now is to look toward the future…and if your feelings for me haven’t changed, I’d like to be a part of it.”

He backed away from her, shaking his head. “Don’t do this to me, Victoria. Don’t fucking play games with me.”

“I’m not. I was so wrapped up in the pain you caused me that I didn’t realize you were hurting too. So when you told me how you felt, I didn’t want to believe you because I wa
s scared that you’d hurt me
again. I’ve never felt for anyone what I feel for you. And when you sent me away that first time I was devastated. I couldn’t eat or sleep, and despite it all I loved you through the pain. I’ve blamed you for all the misfortune in my life so long that all my emotions just came out in one big ball of anger.”

“You love me?” he whispered in disbelief.

“I never stopped.”

“You’d better fucking mean that because once you commit yourself to me I’ll be damned if I ever let you go again.”

Tori closed the distance between them and cupped his face. “I mean it. Every word. I love you, Foster Graham. Past and all.”

“Good, because you’ll always be my Victoria.” With what seemed like a hungry growl, he gripped her hair and fastened his mouth on to hers. He kissed her with the force of a man who had been deprived for too long.

Foster wrapped his other arm around her waist so tightly, she could barely breathe, but she didn’t mind it. One of the things she loved about him was the forcefulness of his lovemaking.

Tori dug her fingers in his hair, loving every second of being in his arms again. She’d dreamed about this moment since they parted, but her fantasies didn’t come close to the reality. Her body went up in flames and her core ached with need.

The kiss went on and on but soon it wasn’t enough. Tori was eager to feel his skin beneath her fingertips. She tore her mouth away, gasping for breath. “I need you.”

She shivered as she spied the unbridled lust within the depths of his eyes. Foster’s only response was to scoop her into his arms and carry her out of the room. Tori wrapped her arms around his neck and snuggled closer to him. Foster took the stairs two at a time and when he reached the top
,
marched across the hall,
not stopping until they made it to
his bedroom. He threw her on the bed unceremoniously and quickly undressed.

When Tori attempted to take her clothes off he halted her with a shake of his head. “If anyone is going to undress you, it’s going to be me.”

“But I want you right now. I can’t wait.” She cupped her breasts and slowly licked her lips to tease him.

“If you keep that up I’m going to spank that big beautiful ass.”

Tori undid three of her buttons, deliberately disobeying him.

“Keep that shit up and your ass will be sore for weeks.”

Tori grinned, undoing the rest of her shirt before shrugging out of it.

Foster narrowed his eyes unt
il they were sapphire slits. He
fisted his hard cock and stroked it back and forth as Tori continued her striptease.

Once she tossed her shirt out of the way, she rolled her pants down her hips and kicked them off.

Foster groaned when she unclipped her bra and let it fall off. Her panties followed leaving her completely naked to his gaze. She moved back on the bed and
spread her legs for his viewing pleasure
.

“You’re a nasty girl, aren’t you?”

Tori moaned as she massaged her clit. “You have no idea.”

Before she realized he’d moved, Foster grabbed her by the arm and yanked her off the bed. “What did I tell you about teasing me?” He demanded.

Foster didn’t wait for her reply. He placed Tori on her feet then positioned her facing the bed. “Bend over.”

Leaning forward, she planted her hands on the bed. Before she could properly brace herself he smacked
her
ass
with his open palm
. Foster didn’t give her a chance to recover before he brought his hand down on her other cheek. Foster proceeded to hit her ass in a relentless assault.

Her bottom stung like crazy but each time he smacked her
,
the tips of her fingers grazed her pussy. The mixture of pleasure and pain was nearly enough to make her come.

“This is what happens to bad girls who tease.” And just as quickly as he began he stopped. Foster caressed her tender flesh, carefully rubbing and stroking Tori until she purred with pleasure. She looked over her shoulder just in time to see him kneel behind her. “Turn your head,” he ordered.

Tori quickly straightened her head. The next thing she knew, Foster
buried his face
between her legs. He pressed his tongue into her wet channel and his thumb inside her sphincter. The sensation was incredible
. Only Foster played her body this
masterfully, sending waves of pleasure flowing through her body.

He was relentless with his mouth, tongue and fingers, bringing her to a hard and quick climax. “So delicious,” he murmured. “You have the best tasting pussy. I miss this so much.” Foster returned to his task of devouring her center until her pussy wept.

Tori collapsed when her arms could no longer support her. She was weak from the intense sensations. Foster was relentless like a man on a mission. Just when Tori didn’t think he’d stopped he removed his hands and stood up.