“Now. Let’s talk about the missing Honourable Kyle Bradshaw and his wife, Amanda Grey, shall we? It seems you’ve been averybusy boy, and my investors arenothappy with how you’ve recently decided to spend your free time.”
The conversation with Damian did not go well.
I was in big shit.
Turns out, Kyle Bradshaw had been a middleman between Apex and another black hat group that ran all sorts of trafficking rings.
The main product they trafficked was drugs. However, they had big stakes in human trafficking as well.
“We had an agreement, Damian,” I growled, though I kept my gaze cast downward as he slowly walked the room, stalking around me like some sort of predator circling its prey.
“I don’t do shit that involves kids. I found ownership papers on the guy’s laptop with missing children listed as the product.”
Damian continued his slow circle around me before coming to stand in front of where I was kneeling. He curled his fingers under my chin and forced my head back to meet his gaze.
He ran his thumb over my lips, and I jerked my head away from him, scowling. I was too angry to play into his fucked up ‘Daddy’games. My gaze flitted to the pictures of Naomi and Cass sitting on his desk, and I clenched my fists to hide the tremor that had started in them.
I wasso fucking angry.
Ryker was pressing the only two buttons that made me see red, and if I didn’t think he already had arrangements in place to wipe out my sisters, he would be a fucking dead man right now.
Damian sighed as if I were a disappointment but let his hand drop away from my face.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know,” he said, and I glared up at him, not trusting him at all. “Callum, I promise. When I made the deal with them, there was a clause stipulating that Apex didn’t deal with child trafficking. If they were running children, it’s news to me.”
I narrowed my eyes on him. Nothing wasnewsto Damian Ryker.
“They had our code on the papers,” I snarled. “Why would they use 2739 if they weren’t clearing the deal with someone from Apex?”
Damian frowned, rubbing his jawline pensively. “They were using our code? Are you sure that’s what you saw?”
“I wouldn’t make it up,” I snapped. It was difficult to be menacing when I was literally on my knees, and he was towering over me… Which wasexactlywhy he made me sit like this.
He wanted to look down on me, to remind me of my place.
“I will look into it. However, in the meantime, I want you to put a stop to your little hobby. I have another job for you that will be taking up much of your focus, anyway.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but he walked back to his desk and picked up the picture of Naomi, smiling down at it like he was some sort of deranged, doting uncle.
I almost cracked a fucking molar.
“Several of the higher-ranking officials we have on payroll have been turning up dead. We think it’s a vigilante group. A man, maybe ex-police, and another man who’s making kills with a tattoo machine of all things.” Damian chuckled at this. “It’s unclear if they’re working together, but they seem to be targeting the same people, so they may be connected.
“They’ve been working through the ranks, killing some rather influential people that our benefactors have been sorry to lose,” Damian said idly, setting the picture of Naomi down on his desk before circling to the other side to sit behind his monitors.
He typed several words into his keyboard, and my phone vibrated in my pocket.
“I have just sent you everything we have on these…pests.I would like them eliminated as quickly as possible. Is that understood?”
“What about the child trafficking?” I insisted, doing my best not to glance at the pictures of my sisters.
Damian sighed and leaned back in his chair, steepling his fingers. “I told you I would look into it, Callum.”
I scowled at him, and he softened slightly, some of the ice melting in his whiskey eyes.
“I’m serious. I will look into it, and if they are using our code to trade children, I will remind them of the clause in our contract. Other than that, I don’t know what I can do to make it up to you. You know what this business is and the types of people we work with. These things happen.”
I chewed on my lip ring, still too pissed off to respond.
