The Purchased Mistress

The Purchased Mistress P12 {Logan}

Hmm so I think it's time to start shaking things up...don't you?? :D

Enjoy!

Fan, vote comment!!!

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LOGAN:

"Thank You Nick. I appreciate it." I hung up the phone with a discouraged sigh.

I was afraid of this. After the phone call with Paige, my brain had started running circles around each other. I was becoming paranoid. I can understand not wanting to "belong" to someone per say, but she had everything, including unlimited space.

So why did she want her freedom so badly? Unless it was because she wanted to belong to someone else...

I had called Nick and he had confirmed my worst fear. He had not driven her around in weeks, not even to her job.

Oh I knew about her job...

Contrary to popular belief, I was not one to stop her from working. I didn't think for a second she would be content to do nothing with her time day in and day out. I certainly will not begrudge her a career. Not to mention, she may as well get money somehow since she was obviously not comfortable with the gift of mine.

But now Nick had confirmed my suspicions. If he wasn't taking her to work, who was? There was no public transportation around here and I doubt she would take a taxi every day to and from downtown...it was a half hour drive.

I turned around in my office to look out the window, lost in thought. Or more accurately, lost in moroseness.

Who had she met? Who held her so entranced that she wished her freedom so desperately? Who had captured her heart so quickly as to nearly annihilate my chances with her? Who?!

Maybe I had gone about this all wrong. Maybe I should have met her right away instead of giving her time and space. I mean, would it have hurt to have met her, let her get to know me? I know I didn't want to scare her, but as long as I didn't force her into my bed, I couldn't see her running away. She would have adapted eventually...right?

"Mr. Carver?"

I turned towards the sound of the voice that had interrupted my internal debate.

"Yes Mr. Deluca?" I asked patiently. My lawyer, the one who had retrieved Paige from the hell hole that was her previous life, the one who had told me first hand of all her reactions to the news of her new fate and her reaction to her new home. He had been there every time when I couldn't be, even though I desperately wished I could have been.

What I wouldn't have given to be the one to show her the house and to see her face when she saw the library...but that was all in the past now and nothing could change that.

"Sir, I have the information you wanted." He said nervously. I raised an eyebrow at that. Mr. Deluca, as long as I had known him, had never shown an ounce of fear.

"Yes? Well then..." I prompted him to get on with it.

"Sir...Logan...Are you sure you want to take this route? Did it ever occur to you to leave the girl alone? " he started off. Was he really telling me to leave Paige alone?

"Are you kidding me John? After everything I've gone through to get her out of that hell hole, everything I've done for her? She's my responsibility, mine to care for. Mine!" my voice was cold, hard as steel and on the verge of shouting.

"She's not yours Logan! Contrary to this whole scheme, it is not LEGAL to buy someone! All you did was BRIBE her mother with a large amount of money to make you her legal guardian until she is of age and to leave her alone! You do realize that if Paige ever bothers to dig into the whole affair, she will realize she was never trapped, owned and will most likely leave even faster than she got here right?!" Mr. Deluca answered just as threateningly.

I stared at him, mulishly I'll admit. Did he really think I didn't know that? That I hadn't realized what the repercussions of this were when I started this whole affair?! Damnit, I, more than anyone in this, knew exactly what I had at stake. It was a wild gamble where I risked losing everything that truly mattered to me and it sure as hell wasn't my money.

"Do you think I don't know that John? Do you really think I am so ignorant, or no wait...arrogant enough to believe that she won't walk out on me if she found out the wrong way?! I always intended to tell her, and I will...but in order to do that, you need to give me the damn information I asked for!" this time, I did yell, banging my hand on the desk in emphasis.

We stared daggers at each other for what seemed ages before he finally moved.

"Fine...have it your way." He said while tossing a beige folder on my desk. I opened it to see page after page of information, photos, stubs for plays and museums. One photo in particular froze the very breath in my chest. My fingers shook as I picked it up to stare.

It was a black and white shot of a stunning couple in front of a fountain near town square. They were staring at each other with loving smiles on their face. The woman had her hand in the man's coat pocket as his gloved hand graced the side of her face, as if brushing her hair out of the way. The gentleman was tall and very much handsome.

The woman was Paige...

"His name is Cade O'Neil, he is twenty three, six ft two and is a corporate account manager at Ernst and Young. He comes from Old money, inherited everything when his parents died...and he cherishes that woman, Logan..." finished John, his voice fading.

I raised my head to see him leaving the office. He stopped just at the door.

"I know she means a lot to you Logan and you want her to be happy...and she is. You might want to think about that before you do anything rash to ruin that happiness she just found."

He left at that, closing the door quietly behind him and leaving me with the folder.

I stared at the photo in my hand along with the countless others that now graced my desk...all shots of the woman I craved above all else...

And the man who was currently worshipping her the way I wished to...

I crushed the photo I had in my hand the way I wished to crush their budding relationship. I closed my eyes and fought the wave of emotion that would have me break down and cry right now at what seemed to be the loss of her.

She meant to much for me to just let her go...

"I'm sorry John, but I won't give up without a fight..." I breathed into thin air.

I looked back down at the crushed photo, running my finger along Paige's smiling face.

"I have to at least try..."