The only problem was, we didn’t have that many days left. As much as I loved these weeks I’d spent with Aleks, he wasn’t mine to keep. I’d already talked to Luca, King, and Con about the fact that Stylianos hadn’t made contact in the two weeks since we’d made it known that Luca had Aleks. We were coming to accept that either the man had lost interest in Aleks, which seemed unlikely, or something had happened to him where hecouldn’tcommunicate. He could have been hospitalized, put in jail, killed, or he’d just needed to keep low and out of sight for some reason… there was just no way to know. There was also the possibility that we’d gotten things wrong and the men who’d taken Aleks from his shop hadn’t worked for Stylianos.
Either way, I couldn’t keep Aleks with me indefinitely. As much as he seemed to enjoy being with me, he had a family that he wanted to get back to and who were eagerly waiting for him to come home. And Dante and Magnus now understood the danger Aleks faced so they’d take steps to make sure no one could ever get to him again. They’d do all the same things to protect him that I was.
And I still needed to find Gio.
Even if Stylianos was out of the picture, Gio was still out there.
I couldn’t have the life with Aleks I wanted, even if by some miracle we found Gio. There were too many kids like Gio and Aleksand the boy Luca had been forced to leave behind who needed to go home.
I forced myself to let go of thoughts of a future without Aleks as a couple of men approached the seating area we were in. “Mr. Black?” an older man with carefully groomed gray hair said as he used Luca’s online alias. Chances were good he knew who Luca really was, but the guests usually referred to each other by their online monikers. The man reached out his hand toward Luca.
Luca didn’t react to him at first. Instead, he glanced at me and then waved his hand. “Get me a drink,” he ordered.
“Yes, sir,” I said.
It was all part of the plan… getting Luca a drink would give me the freedom to check out the initial layout of the building. Since no one would dare touch Aleks while he was with Luca, I didn’t hesitate to walk away from the pair. I overheard the man whose hand Luca finally deigned to take mention how lucky Luca was to have found such a prize, and I knew the fucker was talking about Aleks. I glanced over my shoulder to see my brother looking at the man like he was nothing more than a bug he’d inadvertently stepped on and messed up his fancy shoes with.
I had to give our father credit for making Luca such a stunningly convincing actor.
Aleks, for his part, didn’t even flinch or respond to the comment. I wished there was a way I could show him how proud I was of him and that I was there and always watching out for him, but I couldn’t interact with him in any kind of meaningful way in public or it would all be over.
I scanned the room as I made my way to the bar. There was only one marked exit besides the front entrance and both were heavily guarded by several men. There was another doorway that wasn’t marked. There was one guard there along with a smaller man dressed in a tux. I watched as two men and a young girl stopped in front of Tuxedo Man. He said something to one of the men and pointed behind him, then gave the man a slip of paper. I felt my stomach drop out because I knew where the men were taking the girl. I confirmed it when I reached the bartender andordered Luca’s drink. As I waited I asked, “Are there private rooms?”
“Yes, sir,” the bartender said as he motioned toward where Tuxedo Man was standing. “Douglas will get you all set up with one.”
I nodded and mentally told the girl to hang on just a little longer.
I took the drink he slid me. “Restrooms back there too?” I asked.
The man nodded. “Don’t let your boss fuck his pet in there, though,” the guy said crudely. “Management frowns on that.”
I wanted to punch him but managed to force out a chuckle. “Good to know. Thanks.” I nodded at him and grabbed the drink. By the time I reached Luca, all the other chairs around him and Aleks were taken. Most of the men were alone, but one had a young boy with him. The boy was in his early teens and very petite with feminine features and long black hair. In reality, I couldn’t be completely sure the child was a boy. He or she was sitting on the man’s lap and was fondling the man discreetly through his pants.
The kid had dead eyes.
Just like Aleks’s had always been.
I schooled my features into a mask of indifference as I went around the chairs and set Luca’s drink down on the table next to him. When I went to stand behind his chair, one of the men said, “Vaughn, it’s good to see you.”
“Mr. Stark,” I said with a nod. It wasn’t the fucker’s real name… he was just an avid fan of superheroes. I’d never worked for him, but he’d tried to lure me away from Marcus at one point. The man was extremely wealthy, but he wasn’t a big player. He bought and sold kids like they were a new pair of shoes, and he preferred girls.
“A shame what happened to Marcus,” Mr. Stark said. After Marcus’s death, people hadn’t bothered with his alias anymore. “I was so happy to learn you weren’t at the home when tragedy struck,” the man said to me. “You were always such a valuable asset to our community,” he added.
If I hadn’t wanted to slit the guy’s throat, I would have found the situation humorous. He was clearly still looking to add to hissecurity team. “And of course, the news that Aleks had survived as well was like we’d won the lottery or something,” he said with a chuckle. “Mr. Oak here” – he used the hand he was holding his drink with to point at the man who had the child on his lap – “was actually disappointed he’d already made a purchase… said he’d have made an exception on his age preference for Aleks.”
The man laughed heartily and took a drink. Mr. Oak shot him a glare but it was clear the man was correct because the fucker then leered at Aleks.
“Yes, I believe you reached out to me about an exchange,” Luca said in a bored voice as he reached for his drink but didn’t take a sip. “Your… ‘acquisition’ is quite lovely, but Aleks and I are still getting to know each other, aren’t we, my sweet?” Luca dropped his hand to Aleks’s head and Aleks obediently looked up and nodded.
My gut wrenched painfully because I could see Aleks was one hundred percent there… no escaping into his head, no blackout.
He was hearing, seeing and feeling everything.
“Yes, Sir,” Aleks said softly, reverently.
I wanted to throw up.
Luca touched his chin briefly in what one could have almost called an affectionate way. But then his expression hardened, and he motioned to the floor and Aleks immediately dropped his eyes and went silent. “Of course, if the price were right and I found something that was more in line with my tastes…”
