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Anna swallowed the lump in her throat. She instantly thought

about the time two weeks ago when she found her father beaten,

bloody, and drunk by the front door. She figured he drank too much

and had a fight in a bar somewhere. Boy, had she been wrong. She

was sick and tired of living this life and having nothing.

“I’m afraid if he doesn’t show up, we’re going to have to leave

him a message. Unfortunately for you, it’s going to be a very clear

and precise message that he can understand.” He rubbed the ring

against her cheekbone. Not enough to cut her skin, but the threat was

apparent.

“I swear I don’t know what you are talking about. I work all day

and night and give him the money for the rent and the food shopping.

I didn’t know he borrowed money. I swear,” she yelled, and he

grabbed her face so tight she felt pain in her jaw. She squealed as his

fingers dug deeper into her cheeks.

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Dixie Lynn Dwyer

“It’s a shame that my partner here has to mess up this pretty little

face, sweetheart.” He shoved her face to the side, but his eyes

remained on her.

“She’s got quite the body, too,” the guy holding her whispered,

then grabbed a handful of her backside.

Anna screamed and tried to pull away, and he hurt her when he

grabbed her rear. She clawed at the man behind her and kicked the

man in front of her. Screaming, she attempted to run but was hit in the

shoulder blade from behind.

“Bitch!” She heard one of them yell. Then she felt pain as the man

who had been holding her backhanded her across the mouth. Strike

after strike, she attempted to defend herself, rolling to the floor in a

fetal position.

They kicked her ribs, and she felt the impact of each hit.

She cried in agony as their kicks lifted her off the floor, sending

her farther across the room. Someone had to have heard her screams.

Oh, please, someone help me!

“Hey, what’s going on!” She heard her father’s voice and erupted

into a deep, painful cry. He would save her. He was her father.

The one guy grabbed her dad and closed the door before shoving

her father up against it.

“Where’s the money!” the man with the facial hair yelled.

“I…I ain’t got money,” her father stated as he pulled out the

inside of his pockets in his pants, revealing lint.

The other guy started beating on him.

“You owe us money. A lot of money and our boss wants it now.”

“I don’t have anything. I need more time.”

“We gave you more than enough time.”

Anna cried out in pain as the other goon grabbed her off the floor.

Her head throbbed, and her body ached everywhere. Her father

wouldn’t even look at her.

“Get the money by tomorrow, or we take your daughter for a

down payment.”

For the Love of Anna

13

The men looked her over as if she were edible.

“She’d make a nice profit,” the one guy stated.

“With her body, looks, and age, we’d have the old man’s debt

paid off within a few weeks,” the other man added, then licked his

lips before sniffing Anna’s hair. She pulled her head away, and he

jerked her body back up against his.

“No! Daddy, please. Help me, please. Give them something.

Where’s the thousand dollars I gave you this week?”

He wouldn’t look at her.

“Daddy,” she cried, and he looked at each of the men.

She was terrified at the thought of the men taking her.

She looked at her dad as she held her side, the pain increasing

with every breath she took.

“Take her. I don’t want her.”

Anna felt her whole world crumble. Her father didn’t love her at

all. She wasted all this time, all these years caring for him, and for

what? So he could whore her out to pay his gambling debts?

“Please don’t do this.” She pleaded with the men to leave her.

The one guy pulled her to him, caressed her arm, and then slowly

caressed her throat, holding her closer against his chest.

“She’s a real looker. Big tits, firm, round ass, and innocent. I can

tell.” He chuckled then he rubbed his hands across her breasts,

squeezed, then glided his hand to the V between her legs.

She shook in fear.

“I may just have to break her in so she can be a real good cash

machine for the boss.”

Tears streamed down her face as he pressed his erection against

her back. She wouldn’t be able to fight them off. They were big men

and used to using their strength and fists to get their way. Anna knew

she was as good as dead if she didn’t get out of there.

She needed to do something. She needed to escape. Her body

shook so hard her teeth chattered. She needed to be strong. She was

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Dixie Lynn Dwyer

on her own, that was obvious. Anna lifted her eyes toward her dad,

and her heart ached. He wasn’t even in the room.

The thought of what her father did and how easily he gave her up

caused bile to rise in her throat. It burned a streak straight to her

stomach.

Think,
Anna…think
.

She felt his hot breath then his lips against her neck. When she

tried to push away, he grabbed her throat and squeezed. His other

hand pressed against the zipper of her jeans. He had the button

undone and was working on the zipper.
Oh, God, please help me.

“Please…” she barely got out.

He released his hold on her neck but kept her body against his. He

kept rotating his hips and touching her everywhere. When he grabbed

at her breast, ripping through the fabric of her blouse, he scratched her

skin, and she cried.

“I have some money stashed in my room. If I give it to you, will

you give us a few days to get the money my father owes you? I can

ask the guys at work. They like me, they’ll help me.” She knew she

babbled, but she needed to get to her room. She would escape out the

window and get the hell out of town.

He paused a moment, and she pressed the palms of her hands

against his chest. He was a combination of muscle and fat, the

stereotypical wiseguy gangster.

The other man pressed against her, holding her hips while he

rubbed his crotch against her ass. She was trapped between them, and

panic set in. She nearly began to hyperventilate. Then she heard his

question.

“How much you got stashed?”

She heard her father in the background.

“Anyone want a drink?’ She cringed, and the tears burned her

eyes. The bastard was getting a drink, and she was about to be raped

by two criminal gangsters. Anger and determination felt like they

burned through her blood.

For the Love of Anna

15

“How much?” The other man repeated the question, squeezing her

hip bone, grabbing her roughly on her thighs.

“A few thousand,” she lied.

“A few thousand! You bitch. You been holding out on me.”

She turned toward her father to give him a piece of her mind, but

he was already there and struck her across her cheek. She went flying

to the floor. The other two men laughed.

It was horrible, and she wanted the floor to eat her alive.

“Please. I will give you all I have. Let me go to my room.” She

held her hand against her cheek. She felt the blood, and the pain in her

body was increasing with every minute that passed.

She slithered across the floor. Her body was in so much pain, but

she feared for her life. She needed to escape.

The men didn’t move to help her up, and they didn’t stop her

either.

The ache in her ribs made it difficult to walk. Her face and body

throbbed with every step, but as she finally stood, holding the

doorframe for support, she walked closer to the room. When she

entered the room and slightly closed the door, she felt relieved at the

distance between her and the three men.

No one followed her inside, and the second she was there, she

grabbed the box under her bed and headed toward the window.

Carefully peeking over her shoulder to make sure they didn’t

follow, she heard their laughter then an argument.

Lifting the window open, she crept out, closing the window

behind her.

* * * *

Anna wouldn’t look down. She just focused on surviving and

putting this life behind her.

With each step, the tears leaked harder and faster, and the pain

increased.

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Dixie Lynn Dwyer

Finally, she made it to the first floor and jumped the last twelve

feet.

Her ankle twisted, and she bit her lip trying not to scream as her

bruised and battered body hit concrete. Just her luck. How the hell

could she run in so much pain?

Someway, somehow, she limped quickly to the corner. She could

smell their cologne on her clothes. Bile rose in her throat, but she

pushed on.

She waved down the first cab she saw and got in. “Go, go, go!”

she yelled and constantly looked over her shoulder then behind the car

as they traveled away from her apartment.

“Where to, miss?” he asked, never looking at her.

“The airport, please,” she stated in a quivering voice before

sinking into the smelly leather seat and closing her eyes.

For the Love of Anna

17

Chapter 2

“Get over here, honey. I want a good morning kiss just like you

gave Eric,” Max stated as he chased Stacy around the bedroom.

She screamed in delight as her man caught her around the waist.

Before she could protest, his lips covered hers, and his arms

wrapped around her body, pulling her against his solid chest.

He was breathtaking. Both brothers, Max and Eric, took her breath

away. A relationship with two men was the furthest thing from her

mind when she arrived in Pearl. It was an amazing town filled with so

many different types of people and families. She loved it instantly.

Everyone was friendly and outgoing. They had town barbeques,

carnivals, concerts, and celebrations all year round.

Max released her lips and held her close. His gun holster rubbed

against her hip bone, making her feel horny and aroused. She pressed

her cheek against his chest and squeezed him.

Stacy yawned against his chest, unable to control its release, and

Max laughed.

“You were tossing and turning a bunch last night. Something on

your mind, doll?” he asked, showing off his adorable dimples.

Stacy avoided eye contact, especially with him standing there in

his deputy’s uniform.

He was so intimidating with it on. He wouldn’t understand the bad

feeling she’d had the last few days. She couldn’t stop thinking about

Anna. Something was wrong.

“Stacy,” he whispered, gently caressing her chin with his thumb.

“It’s silly,” she whispered back, but he wouldn’t let her turn away.

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Dixie Lynn Dwyer

“Come on, baby. I’m not falling for that ‘nothing’ stuff, and

neither is Eric. If he didn’t have to be up at dawn, he would be here

right now, just as concerned as I am.”

“I feel foolish is all.”

“Talk to me.”

He pulled her across the room, sat on the bed, and held her

between his legs. Gently, he rubbed the palms of his hands over her

backside.

Stacy placed her hands on his shoulders and locked gazes with

him now that he was sitting down.

“You’ll think it’s silly.”

He raised one eyebrow and looked at her in a way that said “spill

the beans or I’m gonna get mad.” A mad Cantrell was a bad thing,

especially when it came to Max and Eric’s cousins Charlie, Wyatt,

and Ben. They were forces to reckon with.

“You know that Anna and I are very close? We’ve always had a

strong bond with one another?” She hesitated.

“Stacy. Come out with it.”

“I think something happened. I think she’s in some kind of

trouble.”

He immediately squeezed her and scrunched his eyes up.

“What can I do to help? You want me to call some friends back in

New York? Wyatt knows a bunch of people.”

“I…I don’t know. Maybe I’m being foolish. If something

happened, I’m down as the first person to call besides her dad.”

“Yeah, like that asshole would even care,” he responded, and she

smiled.

“Thanks.”

“For what?”

“For listening these last two years and knowing how important

Anna is to me. She needs to get away from her dad. She needs her

own life. A better life.”

He continued to hold her.

For the Love of Anna

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“Why don’t you call her?”

“I tried but didn’t get an answer.”

“Well, what about calling the restaurant she works in? Maybe they

can give you more information?”

Her eyes widened.

She hugged him tight, then kissed his cheeks, his forehead, then

his lips.

“You’re such a smarty-pants, Deputy Cantrell.”

Giggling, he pulled her back onto the bed and began moving her

nightgown from her body.

“I’ve got fifteen more minutes before I have to be at work. Why

don’t y’all show me some luvin’?”

Stacy straddled his hips and unzipped his uniform pants, smiling

wide and loving her man.