His look is cold in the heat of the night.“You’ve been kidnapped by your father, who has sold you twice and tried to kill you more times than I can count.”
“And he now thinks I’m going to step into my place as leader of the family,” I say.“He’s not going to sell me as long as that’s true.”
I turn and start tugging him toward the other end of the balcony, where I know there’s a trellis he can climb down.
“We have to get you out of here.”
He pulls against me, trying to slow me down, but the clock in my head is telling me that he’s already stayed too long.
“The guard is going to be back any moment, and he can’t find you here.Go back to where you came from, Lucien.Let me handle things on this end.”
He jerks me around, staring at me like I’ve lost my mind, but I don’t give him time to talk.
“I can do more good on the inside than I can on the outside, and you know it.You may have a hacker but he won’t find everything.The only way to find everything is to be close to my father, and that’s exactly where I am now.Without that, we can stop shipments of girls, but that’s it.And how long until we get shot doing that?From in here, I could stop the whole operation.”
He’s thinking about it, I can see that much, and is opening his mouth to answer when I put a finger to his lips.
“I need to get as deep as I can so we can stop this, and you know it.I left girls to be shipped last night, and I won’t do it again, Lucien.I won’t fail again.”
He presses his lips together, his eyes a combination of sorrow and realization, and I know I have him.He might not like it, but he knows I’m right.He knows this is the only way.
Finally he leans toward me and brushes his lips against mine.“I’ll let you win this time.But the next time I see you, I’m getting you out,” he whispers.
I cling to him for a moment, desperate to keep him with me, but then let go and step back.“Stay alive and I might let you.”
One more long, considering look, and then he’s gone, disappeared over the railing like a fucking pirate off a treasure ship, and the night is still and dark again.
Seconds later, I hear the steps of the guard and move quickly back into the house.
Because I can’t afford to be caught out on the balcony when I’m supposed to be inside.
Not if I’m going to rescue the girls caught in this trap.
Lucien
The room I’ve chosen as my war room takes up much of the bottom floor of my house, which means it also includes most of the windows on this side.It’s always given this room the best view of the sunrise in the morning, with the sun coming up over the driveway and shining into the house like it went through the whole night dreaming about how it would illuminate my mansion once it rose from its slumber.
I’m just very rarely up to see it happening.
But I didn’t sleep last night.I got home from the Landry mansion with the blood so hot in my veins I wondered if it was going to evaporate.Seeing Brooks again was relief personified, and having her under my hands, having my fingers inside her...
I brush my fingers against my top lip and inhale, taking in the deep scent of her body, and allow myself to relive the moment when I had her pushed against the wall, her thighs clamped down on my hand and her scream coloring my palm.I wanted the girl like I’ve never wanted anything, my cock hard as steel in my pants, but knew we didn’t have time for that.
I’d also known with every instinct I had that the last thing I could afford was to be caught on Dominick Landry’s balcony with my pants around my ankles.
Bad enough that I’d had to leave my girl there.
I whirl around and get to work at that thought, because I might have left her there last night, but the next time I see her, I’m going to snatch her from whatever she’s doing, shove her into my car, and bring her home.
Some people might call that kidnapping.But when you’re in love with the girl you’re stealing, isn’t it more like rescue?
No?
“Where are we?”I ask.I snag my coffee cup from off the table where I set it and walk toward Daniel, taking in the maps and schedules tacked to the walls alongside a number of grainy photographs.This morning we’re working with the information Hunter managed to collect yesterday, and that means a number of new girls going into our own records.
New collection sites.
New trafficking routes.
