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  Cherry Hill 1: A Place to Call Home Athena is in hiding and will do whatever is necessary to be free. No one can be trusted. Not even the good-looking local sheriff.

  Battered, abused, forced to live as a prisoner after her father double-crosses some business man, her future looked grim until she decided there was no one to save her but herself. She was willing to die for freedom and never once thought by running would she wind up in a place like Cherry Hill, Texas. The local sheriff, Kane McCabe and his three brothers aren't exactly buying her story. Culter runs a dojo, Chase and Fox are mercenaries, and they know when someone is in trouble and lying to survive. They do their best to convince Athena to trust them before it's too late.

  Athena never knew love before, she feared intimacy and letting down that guard. The McCabe brothers prove to her that love is real, and they can make a safe and loving home in Cherry Hill, only if they eliminate the real threat and save her and their future together.

  Genres: Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Romantic Suspense Length: 48,954

  CHERRY HILL 1:

  A PLACE TO CALL HOME

  Dixie Lynn Dwyer

  

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  Cherry Hill 1: A Place to Call Home Copyright © 2018 by Dixie Lynn Dwyer

  ISBN: 978-1-64243-541-2

  First Publication: December 2018

  Cover design by Les Byerley All art and logo copyright © 2018 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  W A RNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

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  PUBLISHER

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  For all titles by Dixie Lynn Dwyer, please visit www.bookstrand.com/dixie-lynn-dwyer

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  CHERRY HILL 1:

  A PLACE TO CALL HOME

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Epilogue

  CHERRY HILL 1:

  A PLACE TO CALL HOME

  DIXIE LYNN DWYER

  Copyright © 2018

  Prologue

  N ew York -Manhattan Penthouse

  “Athena! Athena!”

  Athena Monroe tightened up at the sound of Matias’s voice. She looked out over the city by the balcony of the top floor of the hotel, the penthouse suite. She gripped the metal as her heart pounded inside of her chest and fear gripped her insides. Every waking moment of her life over the past two years had been a nightmare. A never-ending nightmare. The first year, she thought of taking her own life. Ending his control, his power over her, the pain he inflicted at her resistance, with hope of destroying this game against her father. But he was always around, always had people watching her. The last year became a crucial, strategic plan of action on her part to do some major manipulating of her own. He stole from her body, broke down her fight for quite some time, but not her soul.

  She tightened up as she heard his heavy footsteps approach and then his hands were on her. Hard and firm. The man loomed over her by over a foot, his presence instantly erupting fear and hatred within her. One hand to her shoulder, one around her waist, crushing her instantly, and taking her breath away a moment. The man always showed possession of her in every aspect, and in every action. She gasped as he handled her like an object and not a woman. He was so big, over six feet three, filled with muscles, and was the meanest son of a bitch on the face of this planet. He was a killer, a manipulator, a shrewd business tycoon, as well as a rapist and an abductor. He stole her virginity, her life, her innocence, and she hated him deeply. He cupped her breast best he could. Gripped it tight, still trying unsuccessfully to cover the entire large mound two years into this prison sentence. His mouth was over her neck, his teeth nipping her skin. That smell of his cologne irked her senses, nearly bringing on a panic attack. She forced herself to give a reaction he would accept so he would do her no physical harm tonight. Something that played into her game, her control, that she was so desperately hoping would pay off soon enough. If she got through this and her plan was a success, then she wouldn’t have to end her life. She could be free for however long she could run.

  “She meant nothing. You know Esmeralda always tries to touch me, to get me to pay attention to her. Don’t be jealous.” He suckled harder and began to push the strap down on her evening gown. His hands weren’t just hands, but hard weapons that beat her into submission, that broke bones in her body, bruised her, made her cry out in pain, and eventually controlled her every movement and action. It was easier to lie there and let him have his way, than to fight and feel pain for weeks or even months.

  “Don’t be jealous,” he whispered, and nipped her earlobe because she didn’t respond verbally, but instead tightened her body up with disgust.

  Jealous? You egotistical monster. How can I be jealous when I don’t care about you, or love you, or have any say in this arrangement? God, I can’t go on like this. I can’t remain a prisoner because of my father. I can’t. Why hasn’t he come to rescue me? Why? We’ve been in New York for a year now. He has to know I’m here. He has to. What about Louis and Voight? Surely, they have to know about this by now after being away on tour in the military? God, please, please. I can’t go on like this.

  The tears flowed, and she let them. She had a plan. A means to an escape she had been working on. Patience, and a bit of her own deceit. This time when she ran, she wouldn’t get caught. She was smarter now, and fully healed from his abuse, his punishment for her leaving him the last time. She shivered, and his hold tightened.

  “You’re jealous. My God, I’m so hard. You’re mine, angel. You’re all mine and no other man will ever get to explore you, to touch you, to have you in their bed underneath them but me. Me, Athena.” He pulled back, unzipped her dress, and she pulled away and turned. That was her mistake.

  “Athena!” He grabbed her arm and yanked her against his chest. Those evil eyes shook her to the core. His teeth clenched. “You know the fucking rules.”

  She stared at him and knew she couldn’t react. She couldn’t let on to the fire inside of her, the fight that was near the surface. She would ruin months of planning. It was days away, surely she could let the man do as he wished with her, for it would be her last attempt. If she failed, she wasn’t coming back to him. She would never allow him to rape her again. No, she would die first. She closed her eyes and shook her head. “You hurt me,” she whispered, laying on the bullshit best she could, despite the bile rising in her throat, knowing she would have to have sex with him again. Have to feel his mouth on her, his hands, and his control as he pounded into her flesh and she felt nothing but pain and hatred.

  “Oh, oh yeah, I thought so,” he said, breathing heavily, still looking angry and ready to instill pain on her as he rubbed her arms, then pushed down the
straps of her dress in the process. The emerald green gown pooled to the flooring and he smirked, licked his lips, and then looked her over.

  “This is unacceptable. You are at my command, and if I choose for a woman to join us in our bed, then you will comply.”

  Her eyes widened, and she shook her head. He gripped her hair and yanked it so she was forced to lower. She gasped out in pain, falling to her knees.

  “Lucky for you, despite how tasty a treat Esmeralda is, she doesn’t belong in the same room with you. You’re a goddess, Athena. My goddess, and I love that other men want you and cannot have you.” He pressed his mouth to hers and plunged his tongue in deeply. She was forcing herself to not react. To not show her hate, her disgust. Just a few more days. Just a few more days.

  He yanked her head back, tweaking her neck and she felt the pain, but it was nothing compared to what this monster had done to her in the beginning. His rage, his insistence that she belonged to him, and his command for her to tell him so every time he raped her, would forever haunt her sleep. She tried to calm her breathing as she heard his zipper lower, then felt him press his cock to her cheek like she was some whore. She fought the urge to react, to fight, to risk dying tonight. I have a plan. Stick to the plan and tonight will hopefully be the last time Matias would ever take from my body, force his commands, and the last time I will have to lie and tell him I belong to only him.

  Malloy Monroe rubbed his hand over his mouth as he paced in front of his desk. He felt sick, absolutely sick to his stomach as news came in that Matias Garcia was in New York, and that Athena was alive. Had been living there for a year with her. His heart ached at the thought. His daughter ripped from his grasp, forced to be the Matias Garcia’s woman, his lover, his prisoner. She was twenty-four now, two years had passed. Two years of not knowing where Matias took her, what he was doing with her, and whether or not he planned on killing her as ultimate revenge against Malloy.

  His sons, Louis and Voight, both Marines, hated him. They’d tried to use their resources to find her, until Malloy had to explain what went wrong. How their own father caused this by backstabbing a man as powerful and evil as Matias Garcia. A man with connections, and eyes all over the industry. There was no such thing as sneaking goods in and out of a location. He would find out, and those that tried to backstab him suffered. But Malloy suffered the most. His one daughter, his gorgeous daughter who had already gained men’s attention in her teens because of her body, her beauty, her intelligence, was abducted by his enemy, the man he attempted to screw over in business. Where were Malloy’s partners now? Dead.

  He thought about calling his sons, but they didn’t talk to him. Not after the news came in that Athena was dead. Matias sent pictures showing her battered face, mangled arm, and her lifeless body. His sons hadn’t spoken to him in over a year. They were active duty up until six months ago, when Voight sustained injuries, then Louis did, as well. They’d moved to Texas, to some town called Pearl. He knew that much, but nothing more. Everyone had given up hope on trying to find Athena because they thought she was dead. Now this? Lies, all lies.

  Tears stung Malloy’s eyes. She was alive. That son of a bitch lied in order to get the pressure from her brothers off his back. They lived in Cuba, then Spain, then God knew where else. The cocky fuck was now in New York and there wasn’t anything Malloy could do about it. Or could he? Could he call his sons? Could they have access to some help from their military friends? He could hardly swallow the lump in his throat, the fear, the guilt, absolute guilt he felt for letting this happen. For not seeing it coming, and knowing his daughter suffered.

  He had to make the call.

  He pulled out his cell phone. His hand was shaking. He had a meeting in less than an hour, but nothing else mattered. Just making this call and hoping he didn’t get them killed.

  The phone rang and rang, and he was about to hang up, figuring Louis wouldn’t answer.

  “Hello?”

  He exhaled. “Louis?”

  His son was silent. He could hear him breathing into the phone. “What?”

  “Matias is in New York with Athena. She’s alive.”

  “Calm down. We need to seriously think this through. Holy fuck. She’s alive man. She isn’t dead. I can’t believe this,” Voight said to Louis.

  Louis paced the kitchen. “We can’t just go storming into that building. We’ll never make it up there, so we’ll need to get to her from the street. Maybe when they’re leaving together, or if she’s out alone.”

  “Louis, there’s no fucking way that man would ever leave her alone, and not with those fucking guards,” Voight said to him.

  “Fuck, Ferno, Hernandez, Costa, and Frank. They need to die, too.” Louis slammed his fist down on the table.

  “We have to be fucking smart. We screw this up and Matias will kill her and us.”

  “We have to try, Voight. We have to. God only knows the hell she’s gone through, man. Holy shit, she was still alive this whole year in a half and we did nothing to find her. We gave up,” Voight said.

  “We didn’t give up, we were told she was dead. We saw the pictures. We have to be smart and handle this like a strategic military operation.”

  “So we’ll need our friends help, you know that? We’re going to have to tell them what our own fucking father did to our baby sister.”

  “We didn’t make that decision, weren’t and aren’t part of his illegal business operations and his money hungry attitude. He did that, but we can save her. We can get her out of there and help her hide until we can take them out entirely.”

  “You know it’s our only choice. Matias and his men have to die in order for this nightmare to be over for Athena. My God, she’s alive,” Louis said as tears filled his eyes.

  Voight gripped his shoulder and squeezed. “We’re going to need some help.”

  “This is going to be completely illegal. We could wind up dead or in jail. We need to be careful who we ask help from. Who we tell this to.”

  Louis held Voight’s gaze. “Ferion. We can trust him and his crew of hired mercenaries. We’ll need the best. He offered us those jobs months ago.”

  “You’re right. We can’t just get anyone involved with this. We’ll need men like his, like him. Let’s set up a meeting right now.”

  Athena hadn’t expected Matias to be so rough. The last three days, when she should have been getting things ready to escape, she instead spent soaking in a tub, her insides sore, her body aching and in pain. He was a batterer, a monster, and the only way to be free from him would be to kill him. As they sat together last night and had dinner, she stared at the sharp steak knife and thought about grabbing it and shoving it through his throat. She would die right after. His men would kill her instantly, so something stopped her. Maybe the fear of taking a life despite the hatred she had for him, or perhaps the fact that she was only twenty-four years old and wanted to live. She wanted a life, control, and freedom more than anything. She didn’t think she had that capability to go out in a blaze of glory as she stabbed him, or grabbed a gun and pulled the trigger, then shot him and hoped to kill his guards one by one. This wasn’t the movies. This was real life.

  He beat her down, made her physically and emotionally weak. Where was that fire that was there three days ago? She couldn’t let his actions from the last three days deter her from her plans. She had to fight. She had to be free from the pain, the control, and the fear. She had to be.

  She exhaled, leaned her head back and forced her mind to get back on track. She was sore even after the long, hot bath, and her will to enact her plan of escape felt like a stupid one. Like she would fail and he would hurt her worse than ever before, and perhaps would do the things he threatened to do to her. Like scar her for life or God knew what else. She was shaking, and it wasn’t only because of the way he took her several times last night, and then again this morning despite the pain she made him aware of. It was because the time to escape was approaching.