Informant

Chapter 1

Independently owned coffee shops were so aesthetic. At least compared to franchised ones. It was such a fortunate thing to have Sips and Stirs in town. Even more fortunate was the fact it was surviving the stiffer competition. It was definitely a fast favorite.

Evelyn bounced on the balls of her feet, excited to start her day with a chocolate latte. She really shouldn't be ordering it. The chocolate always gave her migraines, but it was Friday. She had plenty of time to recover over the weekend of planned nothingness. It would be the first in a very long while.

It seemed her every waking and sleeping minute was consumed by the case she took on. She was so close to gathering everything the Federal Bureau of Investigation wanted. Just another day or two, maybe a week at the max, and she would be finished. After she received her final pay check, she would officially call the case closed on a year-long investigation. A vacation was definitely in order. Ah, yes, the life of an informant was very rewarding. Far more than that of an agent.

Evelyn looked at her nails a second before biting down on a hang nail, but her hand was swatted away.

"Owie!"

"Stop biting your nails, Cassie. That's dirty."

Evelyn pouted, looking to her feet. She knew people were staring at her. She was semi-used to it, yet not at the same time. Didn't matter. This gig was about to pay out a cool fifty grand, so she didn't really care how stupid she looked. And she did look stupid wearing white ruffled bobby socks, white patent leather shoes, a pink ruffled skirt--tutu style--with a matching pink t-shirt. To make matters worse, her blonde hair was in pigtails with little pink bows.

To the untrained eye, one could guess she was dressed up for Halloween. Only problem, it wasn't October. To the more savvy eye, they would know right away. She was a little. And the man, Liam Drake, who just swatted her hand, was her daddy...and under investigation unbeknownst to him. Soon, the hammer was gonna be swinging down on his sex-trafficking ring.

Who knew this six-foot hunk was a daddy running an illegal shit show. Actually, Evelyn licked her lip, it was kind of believable. Especially having lived with him for the last several months out of the year. Not that it was super terrible. Because, in all honesty, it wasn't so bad. Only because she was his special girl, she reasoned. Had she been among some of the poor, unfortunate souls  being kidnaped and shipped worldwide, she would have had a different opinion.

In her reality, she had her own room in this dude's mansion, the best of the best food, the best health care, the best salons, the best clothes, albeit baby crap, and the best vehicles. Not that she was allowed to drive, but when she wasn't in her head space, he gave her some free time on her own so long as she didn't interact with him at all. On those days, he disappeared. He never knew her outside of being his little.

When it came to sex, it was strictly limited to oral. He never gave an explanation, but she knew why. He was saving her for when he was finished with her. Virgins were in demand and buyers paid big. Unfortunately for her, he found out about her secret early on in the game. She was punished for it too.

She'd never forget that night either. It was the first night after she moved in and they were celebrating. He made it abundantly clear what was planned for the evening, and she was ready. Ready with a hefty dose of diphenhydramine. An effective antihistamine for her purpose, when given at seventy-five milligrams. How she came up with that dosage was by trial and error. Twenty-five was a standard dose. Fifty was a lot, making a person pretty sleepy. Seventy-five was enough to really make a person--a bigger man--knock out without killing them, thus avoiding sex. Easy.

Except, it hadn't been so easy. Rather, she botched the entire thing with him having caught her in the act of dissolving the three capsules in his brandy. It wasn't the best combo, not because alcohol shouldn't be mixed with drugs, because it shouldn't, but because the damn pills weren't dissolving, taking up too much time. When he came to check on her, she was busted.