Claire: The Forced Virgin Of The Billionaire

Azriel’s POV

I had evidence corroborating Earl’s story. Regardless of why he did what he did, he took her from me and that was unforgivable.

His son Michael had stumbled upon the meth situation because Michael was using and selling and spotted Uncle leaving the house of his dealer’s dealer.

Earl was dead and gone; I’d shot him after I’d tracked him down, after he told me why. He knew he was a goner when he saw me. He told me that he had a feeling when she was given back to me that I’d be coming for him. He told me he didn’t think, at first, I’d get involved.

Never thought I was the type to be a girl’s hero.

My Uncle didn’t get involved in these sorts of things since Claire was just a pawn, Earl had known about her father and my Uncle’s quest to ruin the man’s life. He didn’t think I’d come for her.

But he expected my Uncle to get lured down here after all was said and done and that’s when Earl would get his chance for revenge. He told me it wasn’t personal.

When he told me what’d happened I didn’t believe him at first. Uncle wasn’t ever very heavily into the drug game from what I knew.

Yeah, he’d said he profited from cocaine here and there back in the 70’s and 80’s but didn’t bother nowadays, other than weed, which we made good money from, and which I didn’t classify with the heavier stuff, he’d said he didn’t like to get involved with heavier drugs.

It was now obvious he’d been keeping it from me.

My PI showed proof that he was moving about $2M every few weeks through a few guys locally and with that, who knew what else he was into?

He wasn’t directly involved but he’d financed the start-up of a lab and was making a good chunk of change off it. But my PI also talked to Michael’s girlfriend, who admitted she had told Earl after Michael died about the meth and that Michael had been worried about seeing my uncle leave his dealer’s dealer’s house.

Earl did some investigating of his own and put the pieces together. The girlfriend died of an overdose a few days after my PI talked to her.

My uncle was set up for retirement. He was set up for leaving all his kids enough money to live comfortably on (although Dare and I had already set ourselves up and didn’t need Uncle’s dough) as well as leaving money to set his young wife up for life.

He had thriving businesses that were run by his people and that continually brought profit.

So why was he in the meth game?

It was ego, power, it was all so important to Uncle.

If there was a business where money could be made, he wanted in. Wanted to be seen as a master of all trades. It made me wonder how on earth he’d retire to the Caymans with Lisa.

If he was still in the day to day s**t of this life when me and Dare practically ran Clarke Enterprises and the subsidiaries for him, would he really let go for retirement? Or had I gone through all these motions for nothing?

It made no sense; he was practically shoving me down the aisle so he could hand me the reins but why was he dabbling in new business, shadier than f**k business, at the same time? Had he had Michael’s girlfriend killed because my PI was hot on his heels?

Signs pointed to evidence that Claire’s Uncle Joe’s death wasn’t an accident. Brake failure on his car during a snowstorm and he’d been out on this crazy winding stretch of road that was known for being a bad accident area. He was out on an errand for Uncle during that storm. Uncle gained a f**k of a lot from Joe’s death.

Wife number 3, Stacia: she crashed into a tree and died of head injuries. Her airbag didn’t go off. They found drugs in her system and figured she fell asleep at the wheel. But she wasn’t a known drug user. What she was, was a shrew. She was always getting up in Uncle’s grill about s**t. She was a former model, she was gorgeous.

High maintenance. Did Uncle get sick of her? He married Lisa, friends with the girls, just 4 months after Stacia died.

Lisa was just as beautiful as Stacia but without the high maintenance. And Lisa got along great with the girls. Stacia and my sisters hated one another so Uncle never got his Sunday dinners with his family around him until he married Lisa.

Maybe I’d talk to Annette, mother to Dare and the girls. She was alright to me growing up. I wouldn’t say she treated me like a son, she always seemed a little afraid of me, it seemed.

Never disciplined me; wasn’t affectionate. But was real affectionate with her own kids. Maybe I needed to get information from her to help put some of the puzzle pieces together.

I hadn’t talked to Dare yet. I didn’t know how he’d take all of this. I knew he’d believe me, I mean the evidence was right in front of us but spilling my guts would hurt my brother.

I’d already hurt my b***d brother to a point that I couldn’t even see his face anymore…. I wasn’t going to f**k it up with my cousin too. Laying out the sort of man our uncle might really be, the man behind the mask, it wouldn’t be a fun conversation.

Did I want him to feel what I felt right now? I guess I had to; it was the only way forward.

As for Lita Dawson, I didn’t know if she’d offered herself or if Uncle had something to do with it. Had it been a car accident, I wouldn’t have had a doubt in my mind. But slit wrists in the tub?

I found out her tox screen came up clear so it wasn’t like Uncle could’ve drugged her and then slit her wrists, not likely.

There was nothing on the coroner’s report that pointed to any struggle, any bruises on her or anything like that.

I’d have a discussion with Dawson today and then I’d go from there.

I didn’t know if he could tell me any more than I already knew but I also wanted Claire to have an opportunity to put things to rest, too.