27. Chapter 27
Chapter twenty-seven
Lucy
I’d known Dax would be gone by the time I woke in the morning.
I took my time getting out of bed, running my fingers through the silk sheets that smelled like him, and me and everything we’d done together while the sun was down.
Now, it shone through the curtains and reminded me once again of the reason I was here.
My interview was supposed to be tomorrow.
A sinking feeling in my stomach told me I wasn’t going to make it.
I considered sending a message to Echelon Developments to apologize in advance for bailing on our meeting.
I could beg them to reschedule and hope that didn’t ruin my chances of ever getting the internship.
I wasn’t sure why I was holding out. Maybe it was because I still had a flicker of hope I’d be able to make it.
That something profound would happen and I’d be back in the city by tomorrow.
Dax promised me I’d be there. I just wasn’t sure how that could happen at this point.
I’d spent all the day before holing up in the library, perfecting my portfolio to bring to the interview. It felt like such a waste of time now.
I remembered Dax and I weren’t alone anymore and wondered why he told Emile to drag all that equipment to the lake house.
With a last deep breath of comfort in Dax’s bed, I made myself get up and snuck down the hallway into my own room.
I wasn’t ready to go and face the two men who I knew were probably in the kitchen and living area.
Dax never told me what he had planned, but I needed a few moments for myself.
Last night was heavy. Transcendent. It was beautiful, but raw.
Emile was clearly an intelligent, observative man.
I wasn’t ready to walk in there and him instantly recognize how things had shifted between me and Dax.
And last night, something had shifted. I’d finally peeled back the layers of his past and came to understand who the man that had been plaguing my every thought truly was.
Even though the man he was and the one he thought he’d become were different.
I decided to sneak down to the indoor pool Dax had shown me the other day.
I didn’t have anything to swim in, but I figured the chances were slim either of the guys would go down there while they were working on tracking down Wrangler.
I put on a change of clothes and then slipped down the spiral staircase to the pool.
The design of this place really wouldn’t cease to amaze me.
It was crazy to think Dax just had the place sitting up here mostly unused.
I hadn’t been back there since the day Dax showed it to me, but it might have been my favorite room in the house.
The pool had columns surrounding it that reminded me of ancient Greek or Roman architecture.
The real showstopper was the ceiling, though.
The ceiling looked like stars spattered across constellations, the glow of the lights echoing in the pool’s deep blue reflection.
It overlooked the glimmering view of the beautiful, crisp blue lake.
I reached down to run my hand through the water, and it was just the slightly warm temperature I’d been hoping it would be.
Shimmying down my jeans, I sat on the edge of the pool, dipping my legs in the clear water so little ripples scattered like soundwaves off the surface.
I wished I could call Tara, or my parents.
Hell, I’d even call Bianca at this point, just so I could get an update on Ricky’s condition.
I slowly slid myself down into the water, not caring I was getting my bra and T-shirt wet.
I wanted the warm, calming comfort of its depths to coat my body.
I floated backward, my eyes taking in the faux starlit ceiling, admiring the handiwork.
This place was beautiful, and whoever designed it had luxury in mind.
If I was there for any other reason, it would’ve felt like a privilege to stay somewhere so grandiose.
Unfortunately, it felt like a prison as much as it did a retreat.
I was so separated from the outside world, meanwhile I felt like I was exploding inside.
I took deep breaths, blowing out through my nostrils as I let my eyelids fall, darkness closing on my vision as my eyes adjusted to the faint glow of light on the other side.
My arms and legs spread wide as I levitated in the pool, my T-shirt clinging to the skin on top of my breasts uncovered by the water.
I stayed like that for a while, recollecting my thoughts.
“You seem to have a habit of drenching your clothes, Luce.” Dax’s voice echoed in the pool room, and I jolted upward in surprise.
“How long have you been standing there?” I rushed out, wiping water from my temple as it trickled down my hairline.
Dax stood a few feet away, wearing dark jeans and a gray henley.
It never ceased to stun me how he could look so refined even when he was dressed casually.
He smirked. “Long enough to ask myself why I didn’t just rip that black dress off you the first night we met and fuck you right there at the bus station. ”
Heat washed over my cheeks as I paddled to the edge of the pool. “Were you thinking about fucking me that night?” I asked coyly.
Dax stepped forward and crouched down in front of me, lifting my damp chin from the water. His cobalt eyes shimmered with something wicked. “You don’t want to know the kinds of filthy things that ran through my mind.”
Despite the warmth of the pool, I shivered. He ran his thumb over my bottom lip, and a twinge of lust followed its wake. I had a sharp impulse to grab his shirt and pull him into the water with me, but my brain kept my arms at bay.
“I came to find you because lunch is ready. Though you’re gonna have to go put on some fresh clothes first. Emile might appreciate this look, but I’d rather keep it for my eyes only.
” He dropped my chin with a wink and walked over to grab a clean towel, wrapping it around my shoulders as I pulled myself out of the water.
I sat at one of the barstools next to Emile over the kitchen island. Dax made us some kind of fancy sandwich with an egg on top, and despite how delicious it was, I wasn’t hungry. My stomach soured the moment I understood why Dax had asked Emile to bring all this equipment to the lake house.
They’d hacked into Wrangler’s dark web profile, and were trying to find clues about where the videos may have been taken.
It made me sick to think about the kinds of things on that site, the horrors that real-life people had endured.
I hated to think either of them had to see these things, and I couldn’t imagine the kind of trauma the team at CIPHER must endure from coming across this stuff regularly.
I hoped they had access to good therapy.
I shuddered as I thought about it, and averted my eyes from the monitors that had been set up near us on the counter. They’d turned them off when I came in, but it still freaked me out.
“So,” I said, “have you been able to find any leads?” I didn’t want to sound too hopeful, but every minute we were stuck here, it felt like my future was hanging by a shorter thread.
Emile chewed a big bite of his sandwich before answering me.
“Actually, yes. While some of the videos were shot in random locations, like what happened to your friend, there are several that are consistent in Wrangler’s files.
The issue, however, is most of them are very dark and it’s going to be a challenge to pinpoint where they’re located. ”
I thought about this, and I realized what Emile just admitted to me. I felt like I had just swallowed glass. “You mean Tara? They took a video of her?”
I glanced at Dax. He swallowed, his fist gripped over the countertop. His eyes met mine, and I felt that terrible sinking feeling in my abdomen.
“We have to take it down! She already faces every single day reliving what they did to her, now it’s just out there for the scum of the earth to…get off to?” I pushed the plate away from me, nauseous.
“It’s already done,” Emile said, a hard look in his eyes. “We’ll take all of them down, but right now we need to use them to our advantage. My team is running facial scans on them to try to identify the victims. So far, some are alive, some have turned up dead. Others reported missing.”
I bit the inside of my cheek hard, the sharp tang of iron spreading through my mouth. There were thousands of these videos. Thousands of victims who had lived through horrors I couldn’t have ever imagined. They deserved justice the same way Tara did.
“Is there anything I can do to help?” I found myself asking, trying to keep down the few bites of food I’d eaten.
One look at Dax and I already knew he was about to tell me I needed to relax, to try to stay calm and let the professionals do their work.
He didn’t have the chance. “Please, I want to. I’m involved in this whether you like it or not. Let me help.”
I watched Emile and Dax exchange a look. Emile’s posture seemed to say, hey, she’s a big girl, give her a chance. Dax’s reciprocal glare was rigid.
“I don’t want you looking at any of this shit, Lucy. It’s depraved. Trust me, these things will haunt you.” His deep voice was unwavering.
“Actually,” Emile peeped up, “there’s something she could do that wouldn’t involve looking at the content.”
Dax shot him a glare to shut the fuck up, but I was already listening. “Okay, what is it?”