Chapter 19
KYLIE
Oh, my goodness! The theater? Amazing.
The show? Brilliant.
My life at this very moment? Miserable.
How did I end up here?
It was the perfect opportunity to get Tinley and Rayna alone.
Their Daddies and Patrick already instructed them to listen to every word I said.
The group of three hundred people was relatively small, but with the chaos of two-thirds of them being little, it felt like it was three thousand people running around, especially in the lobby during the after show.
Rayna was off to the side of the stage, watching by herself.
Two of her guards were within earshot, but Kyler was off to the side on his phone.
Josh and Tinley were near the back. She was so short; he had to lift her for her to see, and she wasn’t about to get lost in that crowd.
It was harder than I thought to keep professional.
Several times during the show, and like now, the atmosphere had my little banging on the door to be let out to play.
A few hundred deep breaths and a little pinch on the wrist kept me from sinking deeper into little space and kept me focused and alert.
Anyone who tried to hurt Rayna, Tinley, or the Grants in this situation would be insane.
Which again made it the perfect situation to get the girls alone and get them out. Or at least, it was the perfect time to plan their escape. They needed to know I was here to protect them, even if it meant from themselves.
“Kylie? Copy?” Patrick’s voice in my earbud said.
“Go for Kylie.” I answered.
“Report to Tinley and Josh. Copy.”
“Tinley and Josh, copy.”
The teamwork modeled after Patrick’s special forces experience, the six-member team worked together well. It seemed a bit overkill in this situation, but I wasn’t here to reinvent their protocol. I was here to poke holes in it.
I made my way over to Josh and Tinley near a pillar. As I approached, Josh sat Tinley’s feet on the ground.
She waved frantically.
I hurried over to her.
“Is everything okay?”
“Um.” She looked at Josh, who nodded. “Will you walk to the bathroom with me?” Her cheeks flushed pink.
“Of course, I have to go too.” I took her hand. “Girls always have to go to the bathroom together. It’s a rule.”
“It’s a rule, Daddy.” She repeated with a definite nod to her daddy.
His left eyebrow shot up to the sky. Tinley giggled and waved.
There were two secure bathrooms on the floor, but the one behind Rayna would allow me to check on her and get them alone faster.
I walked around the back perimeter of the crowd. Approaching Rayna from behind. I tapped her on the shoulder.
“Tinley and I are going to the bathroom.” She frowned. “You should come too before we head home.”
“But I don’t have to go.” Rayna turned back to the crowd. Tinley helped me out.
“Please Rayna. We have to do what Tinley says, remember.” She grabbed her friend’s hand. “I’ll pee quick, I promise.”
“Okay.” Rayna really looked out for her friend. It seems while Rayna was a middle who was told no all the time, Tinley was the one who had everyone wrapped around her little finger.
The bathroom was a few feet away; I led them into the spacious room. A line of the three of us reflected in the mirrors behind the sinks. The tiles were a matte silver metal that reminded me of the rusty tin man.
The bathroom stalls were in a separate area on the other side of the wall. Instead of taking Tinley to the nearest stall, I proceeded down to the stalls at the far end. I opened the last one for Tinley; she scrambled in and did her business.
“You better go to, since we’re here.”
Rayna rocked on her heels.
“I guess so.” She stepped into the closet stall and locked the door behind her.
I made sure no one else had followed us into the bathroom.
Tinley was the first to finish. “Let’s wait here for Rayna before you wash your hands.”
She looked into the disabled stall. “There’s a sink in here.”
“Oh, okay, go ahead.”
She went into the larger stall and washed up.
Rayna came out a few seconds later. “You can wash your hands in here after Tinley.” I opened the handicapped stall and stepped in behind Rayna and shut us all in.
I pulled the earpiece out of my ear and shoved it deep into my pocket. If they could hear us, the sound would be muffled.
There were no other listening devices on us. Rayna and Tinley just had their location devices around their necks. Kyler and Josh had the keys for the small little locks that attached them. They never took them off. I would have to figure that out once we decided to take off.
Rayna washed her hands; a strange expression came across her face as she watched me in the mirror. Once she dried her hands, she automatically stepped between Tinley and me. She had sharp instincts. The playfulness was gone. Must be all that ninja training.
“What’s going on, Kylie?” She took Tinley’s hand.
“Before we go back, I just wanted to talk to you both for a minute.” I stepped forward.
“About what?” Rayna backed up.
“I just want you both to know if you need someone to talk to. If you feel you need a break from. . .” I waved my hands in the area, “all of this. You can talk to me. I won’t tell your daddies. If you ever feel like being here is too much, I can get you out.”
“The Sphere is wonderful. I love it.” Tinley shrugged. She was still in Emerald City bliss. I doubt she was even listening. But Rayna was.
“What do you mean?” Rayna stepped around me with Tinley in tow.
“Listen, I am a little, too,” I admitted. “And I know sometimes it can be overwhelming, that's all.” I bent down to catch Tinley’s eye. “Living in a place with no freedom and always having to do what you're told. . . You don’t have to live like that. You can go—”
Tinley's head tilted. “Oh my God! We knew you were a little. That’s so great. You have to come and play with us sometime.” Clearly, Tinley wasn’t listening.
“I would love that, but I just want to make sure you two are okay.”
Tinley’s face fell into a frown. It broke my heart stealing her joy, but it was a coping mechanism, right? Her joy couldn’t be genuine. No one lived like them and enjoyed it all the time. Did they?
“Of course we’re okay.” She turned to Rayna. “What does she mean, okay?”
“I think she just wants to make sure that, as littles, we’re protecting ourselves.” Rayna patted Tinley's hand. “She’s just looking out for us like she was hired to do. But we are good, right? We’re living our best life.”
“Damn right.” Tinley slapped her hand over her mouth and giggled.
“Yeah, and we are little,” she stepped toward me.
Her voice sounded more adult than I had ever heard it .
“And we are here with our Daddies because we choose to be here. We choose this.” She leaned toward me and growled.
But then she straightened up and smiled.
“Being with our Daddies is the freest we've ever been in life.”
The room fell silent.
Tinley spoke up first. “Is something wrong?” she asked Rayna.
“No, Sweet T, nothing’s wrong.” She glared in my direction and took Tinley’s hand. Adult Rayna was scary. “It’s nice we have someone like Kylie looking out for us and making it safe so we can go out with our daddies and not have to look over our shoulders. We have all the freedom we need now.”
“Oh, yeah, everything tonight went perfectly.” Tinley started out the door. “I worried for nothing. Let’s get back. I want a souvenir.”
They headed back down the length of the bathroom. I scrambled to catch up with them. That didn’t go the way I thought it would. And now Rayna knew my intentions. No doubt she’d run straight to her daddy and tell him, and I would be done.
I shoved my earpiece back into my ear before emerging from the bathroom. Josh and Kyler were just outside waiting. They both avoided eye contact with me. Tinley jumped right into Josh’s arms.
“Daddy, can I get a souvenir?”
“Of course, baby girl.” He hugged her close and kissed her cheek.“Anything for my little one.” He whisked her off toward the merchandise area.
Rayna wrapped her arm around Kyler. His expression tightened as he looked down and whispered something in her ear. She nodded and hugged him tighter.
They followed Josh and Tinley. My gaze scanned the crowd and found Patrick standing near the pillar where I had found Tinley.
He wasn’t avoiding eye contact with me. He didn’t move or say a word.
With legs wide and arms crossed over his chest, his stance was solid.
His face was void of expression. A look that would have been devastatingly sexy, if waves of fury weren’t rolling off him. Anger directed at me.
“Kylie? Copy,” said Martin in my earbud.
Saved by duty.
“Go for Kylie.”
“Patrick wants you to give us a hand getting these rascals into the bus,” said Martin. “You can ride back with us.”
Just like that, they reassigned me. I made my way over to the front entrance to connect with the other team and see where they needed me.
I didn’t even see Patrick and the rest of them exit the building. The team usher the last of the group onto the bus and hopped on, sitting up front with a little boy who was here alone.
“Did you just love it?” He wore a light blue, short-sleeve seersucker suit. A crisp white shirt, matching blue shorts, and a dark blue bow tie. His knee jumped as he spoke to the littles sitting across the aisle from him. “It was so cool. I want to see it again.”
The two guests in the seats spoke just as animatedly. They were dressed identically, which made me wonder if they were really related or two friends who were both little.
Even their excitement couldn’t quiet the butterflies in my stomach. As the Quadrangle Las Vegas came into view, the butterflies turned into one congealed solid mass.
I knew it wasn’t possible, but I felt like they heard every word I said. But if Rayna and Tinley were being held against their will, I would stand by my actions.
All I wanted to do was protect those girls. I couldn’t protect my sister. This was my way of making sure what I imagined my sister went through didn’t happen to anyone else. Not on my watch.
The evidence was insurmountable. Rayna and Tinley could only stay within the walls of this hotel and casino. Their every move was controlled by men with power and money who were skilled at spotting a mark and eliminating anyone who got in their path. I had seen it firsthand.
The rescued women kept surfacing. Raids on Quad hotels, anonymous tips funneled through the brothers—each one pulled from somewhere dark and deposited quietly into a new uniform, a new life, but connected to Grant Enterprises.
Housekeeping. Sales. Interacting with guests.
I wondered what they had traded for the privilege of still being here.
I couldn’t save them all, but I had to make sure these two girls would be okay. If someone in some far-off country had the opportunity to help my sister, they would have done the same for her.
The bus pulled into the private garage entrance of Quad IV. The group has some free time before the dinner and events at the club tonight. A lot of caregivers mentioned naps, and a lot of littles were not happy about it.
I could use a nap myself.
We ushered everyone off the bus. We turned our communication equipment into an assistant who would take it back to the security office. I made my way across the parking garage toward the employee entrance when I spotted him.
Patrick standing in much the same manner he was at The Sphere. His face remained stoic, but it had softened a little.
I knew who he was waiting for. I might as well get it over with.
Seems I will not be testing my little anytime soon.
I was about to get fired or worse.