“We will.” Quiet certainty laced Adam’stone.
As if on cue, their butler reappeared in the room, placed the highballs on the table with a flourish, and disappeared back through the curtains. Yet his quiet entrance and exit was punctuated by a loud bellow of outrage, and it was then Cole knew without a doubt that Clint and Carter had come through. They’d managed to freeze hisaccounts.
“I’m pretty sure that’s our Russian friend screaming,” hesaid.
“Sounds like your brothers came through. Hopefully that’ll buy us enough time to get the girls.” Adam straightened the edges of his suit, carefully sipping his drink. The host made his way back to the microphone on center stage, clearing his throat. Luis had yet to move, and Tomi’s eyes were widening as if she were going intoshock.
She’d needed some sort of sign from him earlier—one he’d known better than to give her. No doubt she thought the worst of him now, but Cole couldn’t do anything about that yet. No matter how badly he wantedto.
“Gentlemen,” the host announced, “next up on the menu are our main courses. Each girl has been hand selected and groomed, with the highest ratings in each category. I hope you will cherish and enjoy these gems for many months to come. Our first beauty comes to us from the great state of California. She has 100% Latino lineage with bloodlines tracing back to Spanish royalty. An Olympic bronze medalist in track, she also has a master’s degree from Caltech. Certified 100% pure. May I introduce,Garnet.”
A stunning young Spanish girl was escorted out onto the stage. Her steps were too steady for her to have been drugged, and she held her chin proudly despite the fact that her hands were bound in thickly padded leather cuffs in front of her waist. They’d dressed her in a scarlet satin braless bustier and a matching sheer thong. Incredibly high heels showed off her toned calves and legs. “You’redisgusting!”
The host chuckled at the victim’s outburst. “As you can see, she is fully aware, and while her spirit shows, she should be tamed fairly easily. We’ll start the bidding at $500,000 for my Latinobeauty.”
The bidding war began, and the woman’s false bravado wavered toward the end as reality set in. The winning bid, a stunning $700,000, was made by a very American-sounding gentleman off to theirleft.
“Our team better be ready… I have a feeling these men won’t be sticking around long,” Adamsaid.
Cole kept his gaze locked on Tomi as he answered, “They’ll be ready. They want to catch these bastards as much as we do.” While his business was only a couple of years old, still in its infancy stages in terms of private security firms, they had a 100% success rate on all of their missions. Cole had no intention of breaking that trackrecord.
The bidding continued efficiently and quickly as the host ran through the next three girls, each more beautiful than the last. But none of them were Tara. Cole could see the worry lines forming on Adam’s features. They had to prepare themselves for the possibility that she wouldn’t be in tonight’s auction, which meant they couldn’t risk blowing theircover.
The host escorted the last girl listed on the menu. She stepped into the circle of light cast on the stage from the overhead spotlights, her alabaster pale skin gleaming like porcelain. Dark red hair hung in waves down her back, and the green scrap of lingerie she wore perfectly offset her deep greeneyes.
There were audible gasps in the room. Cole knew they were coming from the Saudis he’d noticed during the intermission. Their culture valued redheads as nearly priceless treasures. This girl would go fast. The bidding commenced at $900,000. The bidding war became a vicious battle and the host practically swooned in delight as the price went above $1.2million.
Adam barely seemed to notice. Tara wasn’t here. They had no idea where Luis kept the women in betweenauctions.
“I’m sorry,” Cole saidquietly.
Adam clenched his jaw and gave a brisk nod ofacknowledgment.
“It’s okay, I’ll find her. Let’s get yourgirl.”
The bidding wrapped up. The host clapped, gestured for the guards to escort the stunned beauty off the stage, and announced, “Gentlemen, I am honored by your presence here tonight. To show our appreciation Luis has arranged for a special surprise ending. I know you ask yourself, what could it be? How could we have any gem more precious than the last? Well, Luis has handpicked the final girl himself. And in deference to him, I shall kindly bow out so that Luis may present tonight’s surpriseattraction.”
Luis rose to his feet in a fluid motion and there was an audible shift in the room as everyone’s attention turned to him. He wrapped a hand around the chain linking Tomi’s collar to the cuffs, forcing her to her feet. Cole gnashed his teeth together so hard he was surprised his jaw didn’tcrack.
“Esteemed guests, I would like to present to you my southern belle. She is very special to me, and I’ve struggled with myself on whether to keep her, but seeing you all tonight, I could never be so selfish. My belle is certified 100% grade-A healthy, she has experience in early childhood education, and—as you can see—is flawless.” Luis forced Tomi to turn in a slow circle. The sheer white babydoll emphasized her curves and the clear crystal spiked heels on her feet made her already shapely legs mouthwatering. “I have personally inspected the merchandise and can guarantee your satisfaction. The bidding starts at $1million.”
Luis nodded to someone else in the crowd. “I have 1 million, who will give me $1.2? Very good, you have been matched, who will give me $1.5? Excellent, who will give me $1.7?”
The bidding quickly rose to $2.2 million, each increment tightening Cole’s gut as if there were a steel cable wrapped around it, squeezing. “Adam,bid.”
“Wait until it slowsdown.”
“She’ll be fucking gone by the time it slowsdown.”
“I’m not going to let that happen. Rein it in before you get someone killed,” Adam said, giving him a pointedlook.
Shit. Shit. Shit. His emotions were hitting a boilingpoint.
Cole focused on his breathing, in and out, slow and steady, controlling his heart rate until it evened out to a reasonable level. Then he focused on Tomi. Her unmistakable terror tested his control. What was wrong with him? He'd never had an issue shutting that shit down and getting the jobdone.
Right now, her survival depended on him having a cool head. Later, when she was safe, he'd let the ocean of pent-up emotions out of their cage. Now, he dropped his gaze to his clenched hands and pulled back inside himself. Shutting off the world, he locked his rage down tight and let the ice encase his veins. The hollowness that usually came with this state of mind eluded him, though. He felt anything but emptynow.
“Who will give me $2.5? This lovely slave is worth it—I can promise youthat.”
