SIXTEEN
T he stare of every person we walk by makes me uncomfortable.
Hudson doesn’t seem to notice the harsh daggers thrown his way. If he does, he doesn’t care enough to tell me about it. Everyone stops what they’re doing and glares at him, eyes widened in surprise.
They don’t dare to even glance at me but since Hudson is not only the unwelcome guest, he’s also the enemy, the staff is trying their best to show their hostility.
My heart is racing against my ribcage. I don’t know if it’s because now I’ve truly fucked myself over or because Hudson is holding the edge of my sleeve as we’re walking. He’s silent for the most part, though he did throw in a few tasteless comments during the car ride.
“What’s the plan?” he whisper-yells. “You brought me to the lion’s den, and I’m probably going to leave this place in a body bag.”
I roll my eyes at the dramatics. “Don’t be ridiculous. I’d display your dead body and decapitated head above the fireplace in my office.”
“Either way, I’m not leaving this place.”
“Not without me, no. By now, Ray’s found out that we’re here, and I’m waiting for my mother to make an appearance.”
“I don’t want to meet your mother.” He huffs and tightens his hold on my sleeve. “She’s a scary woman.”
I pause, look at him over my shoulder, and raise a brow. “My mother? Scary? Are we talking about the same woman?”
She’s married to a very… unique man, so she’s not a saint, but she’s not a blood-thirsty murderer, either. At best, she lost her temper a few times and yelled. That’s all. She’s a very reserved and introverted person.
“I’ve seen her once at one of the events. Apparently, someone served your father something with apples, which he’s allergic to, and she responded by stabbing the person’s hand. The Campbells sure have stabby women.”
“I’m sorry? My mother stabbed someone?”
“I saw it with my own eyes.”
I nod. “Alright. It was deserved. Anyway, let’s hurry before Ray returns.”
“I noticed you’ve been calling him ‘Ray’ often. Any reason for that?”
My throat closes, but I don’t let him see that. “His name is Ray, so I’m calling him Ray.”
“But he’s your father.”
“Should I be calling him ‘Daddy dearest’?” I laugh. “Stop meddling. It’s none of your business. You’re here to work.”
Hudson groans. “I knew that listening to you would come back to bite me in the ass.”
“It’s nothing too hard. It’s just boring until we find what we’re looking for.”
“Which is?”
“Everything on the Silencer. Ray is a firm believer of keeping everything on paper, so I’m certain he has files upon files on him somewhere in his office. We just have to find it before he gets home.”
“Isn’t it easier to just ask him?”
I take a deep breath and push open the door to Ray’s office.
“I need to see everything for myself. Ray won’t remember every single detail, but those details are what I need.”
“Alright.” He yawns, and I slam the door shut, locking it behind us. Kalina will soon get wind of this, if she hasn’t already, and will be banging on the door. I doubt she’ll do anything to Hudson, though I’d rather not have to deal with her at all.
“You start with the cabinets next to the windows.”
Ray’s office is enormous. It takes up the entire top floor of the manor, and it will be mine soon. However, Ray isn’t as neat and organized as I am. I’m struggling to find anything remotely helpful, and having hundreds of papers isn’t making the situation better.
Hudson is thoroughly searching through the designated area. My eyes are drawn to him, and I momentarily forget all about the task at hand. Instead, I lean against the wall and stare at him.
He rolls his sleeves up to his elbows, exposing his tattoos. He’s flipping through papers, his brows creased. He’s deep in thought and doesn’t seem to notice that I’m openly ogling him.
If we weren’t in the positions we are, I’d die to have this man for myself.
He’s smart, despite trying to act like a dumbass. It’s a pathetic mask to hide the intelligence behind his jokes. He’s tall, with a great body and an even better face. He looks like he was painted by the most talented artists. He’s truly a work of art.
I shake away the impulsive thoughts and turn to skim through another set of papers. Thinking in such a manner about Hudson will only hurt me in the end. He’s insufferable, and there isn’t a single thing, looks aside, that I like about him.
Hudson is annoying and overbearing.
And he’s the person I hate the most in this world.
Whenever I look at him, something tugs at my heart. Thoughts of fury reverberate through my mind, and it’s the only thing that’s keeping me motivated and focused. He’s not someone I can ever allow to even have sympathy for, let alone an emotion greater than that.
He’s just not worth it.
He’s not worth all the pain, all the sorrow, and all the darkness he’s bound to bring with him. He has demons I can’t even dream of taking on as my own, and he’s someone who is too selfish to think about someone else.
“I found something,” Hudson says, and I’m snapped out of my trace. “It’s his background information.”
I’m standing next to him before he can say anything else. I snatch the papers from his hands and spread them on the desk before bringing a chair for myself to sit on.
Hudson finds a hidden stash of alcohol and just drinks from the bottle. He joins me, though he’s standing next to me. All I can smell is the musky scent mixed with alcohol that oozes from his body.
“Glen Cavanaugh,” I announce, reading his name out loud.
“Any relatives?”
Was Hudson’s voice always this deep?
“His wife died during labor twenty-seven years ago.”
“That’s around the time he also died. So he has a child out there?”
“Quite possible, though there’s nothing on the kid.”
I shuffle through the papers, trying to find if there’s anything on the child. The papers are old; since it’s been well over two decades since The Silencer was killed, I won’t find anything else here.
My phone is in my hands, and I snap a few pictures and immediately send them to Lucas. If someone can find the child, it’s him. If the child is even alive, that is.
“Look here.” Hudson slides one paper in front of me, and I watch as it falls. “According to this, Glen died after his wife. And he set up an account for his kid.”
“Right.” I nod. “But the chances of the kid keeping his given name are low, especially if he’s out to get revenge for his father.”
We continue with our research in silence. My head throbs at the sudden burst of information, and, once again, I feel utterly and completely useless. The child might not even be alive, and here I am, looking through the stack of hay for a needle. A needle that might not even exist.
The only person who truly might be able to help aside from Lucas is Dylan. And he’s nowhere to be found. I’ve texted, called, even tracked down his most trusted employees, but no one has heard from him in a while.
I sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” I swallow the lie. Then, I glance at Hudson, who isn’t looking at me. “Actually, can you use your connections to see where Dylan might be?”
Hudson’s body freezes, and he blinks. Slowly, he turns to look at me with such a fake smile that he resembles a swamp monster.
“Uh, why?”
I blink. “What do you mean, why? He’s my fiancé, I’m worried because he’s missing.”
Hudson’s shoulders go rigid, his jaw clenches, and he closes his eyes, taking in a deep breath. It’s like an eternity passes before his eyes snap open, a blank, expressionless stare greeting me.
“Are you sure he didn’t just ditch you?”
I frown. “That doesn’t sound like Dylan.”
“And why are you so certain? Men are pigs, you know.”
Involuntarily, a snort slips from my mouth. “Dylan loves me. He wouldn’t just leave me.”
“What about you?”
“What about me?”
“Do you love him?”
I pause to think. “Romantically? No. But I’ll learn to love him once we’re married. He’s worthy of love, and he’ll make a great husband.”
An expression of displeasure appears on his face. It’s something between a scowl and a grimace, and he doesn’t even try to hide the look of pure disgust. Then, he clears his throat and steps back, leaving me to wonder what the hell that was all about.
“Have you visited that bar?”
Hudson nods. “It’s nothing spectacular, and I got no answers. It’s a dead end.”
“I figured as much,” I mumble. “Then our next step is infiltrating the auction.”
“As buyers?”
I blink. “Of course. They’ll never bring all the girls out at once. But if we’re smart about it, we can figure out where they’re being kept and have backup on standby to go to the secondary location.”
“And you think that the culprit is The Silencer?”
“Yes.”
“Although it’s highly unlikely, it could be someone entirely different with the same name.”
I sigh and lean back in the chair. “The possibility of that is low. No one wants someone else’s name to ride on unless it’s someone extremely important. The Silencer died over two decades ago. I’d be surprised if anyone still remembers him.”
“Then it’s either a friend, a family member, or the child.”
“Right.” I nod. “He didn’t have a lot of family and from what I see here, they’re all dead. If someone managed to escape the wrath of our two families, then it’s a miracle.”
“So what do we do in the meantime?”
“Lucas will be able to find the next auction, but I’m worried about why the four women were murdered. They’ve all been branded and killed in the same way, so I doubt it was the person who bought them.”
Hudson’s brows narrow as he thinks about it. He sits on the couch behind me, and I turn my chair to face him.
“Human traffickers have no tolerance for disobeying and trying to escape. The girls might’ve done one of the two, and it got them killed before they got the chance to sell them off.”
I groan in frustration and bury my face in my palms. My heart is aching for the people who got kidnapped. Judging by the list Lucas sent, there have been quite a lot of them in the past couple of months.
I’m aware that saving everyone is impossible, and it infuriates me. I’m not a saint. I’m not even a good person, but the thought of what those people have to go through just because these rats managed to slip through my fingers infuriates me.
On some level, it’s entirely my fault.
The last time this happened, I vowed I’d never allow it to happen again. But it happened right under my nose, and I didn’t even notice it until it was too late.
The guilt weighs heavily on my chest, threatening to eat me alive. My heart is beating roughly against my ribcage, and I can no longer hear anything in this room except for the voices telling me how big of a fuck-up I am.
But regardless of the uselessness that nearly kills me, I straighten my back, hearing a small crack, and push the dark thoughts to the back of my head.
It’s not over yet.
I’ll find them and make sure the bastards who are doing this die in the most painful manner imaginable.