Frustration went through me as I stood but the attorney put up his hand. “Wait, what do you mean by ‘keep profiting’”?
“He showed me once how much money he made in just one day from one of the videos he made of me. Those plus the pictures…those aren’t ever going to go away.”
“Jonas, did he post the videos and pictures on the Internet?”
I nodded. The knowledge that even now there were men out there getting off on watching me being raped over and over again made me feel ill. I expected Kyle to tell me how sorry he was that that had happened to me but to my surprise, he actually smiled and then reached for his phone.
“Distribution and possession of child pornography is a federal crime. There’s no statute of limitations,” he said excitedly.
“But I don’t have proof.”
“Your affidavit would be enough to get us a warrant. We can check his computers, his financials.”
I only half listened as he made a call to someone to discuss the next steps. My thoughts drifted back to where they’d been in the two days since I’d left Mace and Cole wrapped in each other’s arms in the old farmhouse. Mace had actually woken up as I’d crawled over his big body and I’d been forced to make up a lie about needing to take a shower and then starting breakfast. He’d looked at me with such contentment in his eyes that I’d leaned down and kissed himand told him to go back to sleep before I could change my mind. I’d gone into the bathroom long enough to turn the shower on while I tugged on my clothes.
By the time I’d come back out, Mace had rolled against Cole’s chest and had wrapped his arm around Cole’s waist. I’d wanted nothing more than to crawl back in between them and go back to sleep.Almostnothing. And it was that one thing that I did want more that had had me hurrying down the stairs, taking Mace’s car keys as well as all the cell phones and climbing into his car. The only thing I’d left behind were the guns and my sketchbook. I’d also left my watch behind since Cole had told me it was how Ronan had found us.
I’d known it wouldn’t take long for Mace and Cole to make it to the nearest town or even to a neighboring property, but I’d hoped the few hours lead I had on them would be enough time for me to connect with the District Attorney in Chicago who was handling Mateo’s case. Kyle had been thrilled to hear from me since he’d been looking for me for nearly a week. He’d taken care of the arrangements to fly me to Chicago and as soon as I’d arrived, I’d been swept off to a nondescript hotel on the outskirts of the city.
I’d half expected Mace and Cole to arrive at some point to try and drag me back out of harm’s way but when they hadn’t shown up last night, the self-doubt had started to trickle in and wreak havoc with my head. Maybe they hadn’t really meant what they’d said when they’d whispered their words of love to me. Maybe I was just too damaged and not worth the effort of having to deal with my hang-ups. Maybe they just needed each other…
Asking Cole to let me make love to him had been an impulse and as soon as I’d done it, I’d feared that I wouldn’t be able to make it perfect for him. When Mace had come into the room, I’d been torn between wanting him with us and wanting to force him to promise that he wouldn’t go after Mateo and Eduardo. But then I’d seen the loss in his eyes and I’d known that I’d take any moment I could have with him and Cole, because I’d already known at that point it could very well be my last. Because I’d already decided what I would have to do to make sure Mace didn’t lose any more ofhimself to the brutal world he’d relied on to stem the pain of losing his son.
“Okay, let’s go ahead and get your statement written up,” Kyle said, snapping me out of my reverie.
It took another hour to get everything down on paper and I struggled to keep my emotions in check as I described the sordid details of the many times Eduardo had committed my torment to film. When we were done, all I wanted to do was take a shower and try to rid myself of the filth the memories had left behind.
Kyle shook my hand and then escorted me back to the guys who’d been assigned to keep me safe. I couldn’t remember their names and they didn’t speak to me other than to tell me what to do as they escorted me from place to place. Both men flanked me as we walked towards the elevator.
“Jonas!”
At the sound of my name, I felt my heart soar at the same time that my stomach crashed. They’d come.
My bodyguards immediately shoved me behind them as we all turned and I could only get glimpses of Mace and Cole striding towards us. I saw Ronan at the end of the hallway but he stayed where he was.
A mix of emotions went through me at the sight of my men. I was thrilled that they’d come for me after all, but I knew they wouldn’t understand why I’d done what I’d done, and we’d be back where we’d been two days earlier.
“Sir, I’m going to need you to stop right there,” I heard one of the bodyguards say as he reached for his gun.
“No, no,” I said quickly. “They’re with me, they’re friends,” I said. “I want to talk to them.”
The bodyguard didn’t remove his hand from his gun but he kept it holstered. But neither man moved as Cole and Mace reached us.
“Get the fuck out of our way,” I heard Mace growl.
“Sir, if you want to speak with Mr. Davenport, you’ll need to arrange it with Mr. Ridgefield.”
Shit, this was bad. No way Mace and Cole were going to let me go without talking to me. At least a dozen people were milling aboutin the hallway and many of them were stopping to watch the confrontation.
“Please,” I said, grabbing one of the bodyguard’s arms. “Just a couple minutes.”
The man glanced down at me and then finally relented with a nod. He moved enough to let me pass by him but when he and the other bodyguard only took a few steps back, I knew my men and I were going to have an audience whether we liked it or not.
“What the fuck were you thinking?” Mace bit out as he dragged me into his arms. Since my answer would take a lot longer than the few minutes I’d been granted, I remained silent and just held on to him. His hold bordered on painful but I loved it. And then Cole was wrapped around me and while the hug wasn’t as tight, his lips settled against my neck and I heard a long rush of air brush over my skin, like he’d been holding his breath in for a really long time. Guilt went through me as I realized how much my disappearance hadn’t just hurt them…it had scared the hell out of them.
“Sorry,” I murmured against Cole.
I felt Cole nod and then he was kissing me, not caring who watched. “Don’t ever do that to us again.”
