I pulled out my phone, and when Roman nodded at me, I hitrecord. We had a video camera set up in the corner that would record all visual and audio, but we liked to have a backup of at least the audio from any interrogation. We’d learned that lesson the hard way when a perp’s magic caused our camera to glitch for part of the conversation.
Roman waved some smelling salts under the guy’s nose, and after a few seconds, he sucked in a harsh breath and jerked his head up, gasping.
He was breathing hard, so I stepped forward, saying, “You’re okay, Porter. You’re okay.” When he took in his surroundings and seemed a little less out of it, I added, “Well, you will be as long as you cooperate with us.”
He stared at me for a long moment, recognition dawning in his gaze before his face shifted into anger. “You! How dare you! What did you do to me? Where am I? When I get out of here, you’re dead. You hear me? You’re dead!”
He started slashing around, trying to break free from his chains. For a moment, I was nervous they wouldn’t hold, but after a few good tries without the ring or chair budging even a millimeter, I blew out a breath of relief.
We were good. We hadn’t fucked up.
“Where are those kids, Porter?” Roman asked without preamble. “The three girls and two boys who went missing from your club?”
“How the hell should I know?”
“Where are they?”
“Fuck you!” The guy spat in Roman’s direction, but all the sexy dragon did was take a small step back so the spit landed on the floor in front of his toe.
So gross.
Roman suddenly moved so fast he made even me jump as he rushed forward, grabbed the guy’s hair, and yanked it back so he was forced to meet Rome’s eyes. “Where are they, Barney? Tell me now, and just maybe I’ll let you leave here with all your limbs intact. Maybe even all your fingers and toes.”
The man sneered at the dragon.
Rome shook him a little. “Tell me now, or I’ll start removing fingernails, then the fingers themselves. Then I’ll move on to your toes.” He leaned in farther, speaking to him as if they were friends. “Listen, Barn, I’m very, very old. I’ve fought more battles, more wars, than I can count. I’ve also interrogated more people than I want to remember. I know exactly how far to push the body before it breaks.”
“Bullshit.” The guy had spittle flying out of his mouth, and I wrinkled my nose, glad I wasn’t the one close to him.
Roman smirked, but it wasn’t a nice smirk at all—he was a good actor, that was for sure. Although, some of this wasn’t acting, I didn’t think. I was sure he really had interrogated many people in his life, so he probably did have a good idea of how far to push someone.
I wasn’t sure if I was impressed or horrified that the guy I was crushing on had likely tortured someone—no, multiple people—in the past.
Esch. It was like Roman could do no wrong in my head—the big one and the little one.
Rome grabbed an extra chair we’d brought in, flipped it backwards, and sat down, keeping hard eye contact with the guy the entire time. “Do you really want to put that theory to the test? Do you recognize me, Barney?” He smiled again. “I’m Roman Trevil, a royal guard, personal guard to Royal Oakley Von Stein, and the best friend to the very king himself.”
The man took Roman in, his eyes flickering over his face. I saw the moment it hit him. His eyes widened in horror as he realized Roman told the truth. He whispered under his breath, “A dragon.”
“Yes.” Roman tilted his head toward me. “And so are they.”
Barney glanced in my direction, and I gave a cheery wave, trying to pull off the same mean-smile thing Roman had going for him, and I let my eyes flash to my dragon’s—vertical slits and glowing green.
I wasn’t sure I pulled off the menacing thing, but I must’ve looked at least a little scary—most of the time, people thought I was innocent from my looks alone—because the guy cringed back away from me.
Yay for me.
Maybe I could practice in front of the mirror later so I could really scare the perp next time.
Chapter Four
Oakley
Roman shook him a little, getting Barney to meet his gaze again. “Now… do you really wanna try me? Or do you want to cooperate and have a chance at leaving here in one piece?”
“I-I-I… I’ll co-op-er-ate.” He was trembling now. Good. He deserved to be terrified, the disgusting, horrible man.
“Where are the missing kids?”
