Chapter 13 Cade
Chapter Thirteen
CADE
I want to go with her every morning, to make sure she’s safe, but I know I can’t.
For the last few days, I’ve been there, riding the crowded train for the short trip from my place to her office, and spending that time with her is nice. Going places with her is nice. In that mindless, perfect way some things just are.
Those minutes aren’t anything but being together, a few more minutes in each other’s company. Mindless, priceless, a nice that makes morning rush hours in New York more than bearable.
She flat out refuses to take an uber or car service there.
So, I’ve told her if I’m not with her, she won’t be alone. Someone’s keeping her company whether she sees them or not. Whether she likes it or not. She won’t be left exposed and vulnerable.
And Vi’s smart. Even if I hadn’t told her, she’s the type to work it out.
I sigh as I ride my train to meet with Enzo and the team we’ve put together. It’s at an underground hacker space, one The Syndicate owns. A good place to keep an eye on other hackers, to discover talent.
But I’m not interested in that.
I’m interested in meeting the others in the private rooms downstairs. Those are for members of The Syndicate only.
When I get off in Astoria Queens, I make my way next door to the space and go in through the dive shop. I nod at Esther behind the counter and go through to the back.
She’ll turn the sign to closed when the last person gets here.
Enzo doesn’t look up as I join him at the table.
This place looks like a basement that’s used for clandestine things. Mismatched tables and chairs, a bar, a fridge, and enough outlets to please an army of hackers.
There’s even a sofa down here to sprawl on when working on a laptop, as we’ve both done countless times.
Not everyone meeting us here today is a hacker. I do, however, trust them all.
Enzo is on his computer, and I join him, pulling out mine.
“How’s your girl?”
I smile. “Still mine.”
He sighs. “Only because I haven’t tried to steal her from you yet. I remember how she moaned out my name.”
“I’m not sure it was a moan. And haven’t you got enough on your plate? Didn’t you just piss off that mob boss’s daughter?”
His mouth turns up at the edges as he slides me a dark look. “Verity DeSouza is part of a Boston crime family. They’re small, it ended, she’s a drama queen.”
I try not to smile as I go through the information our search has thrown up. “Boston mafia isn’t cuddly. So, you should watch it.”
“Nah, I’m good. She’s not a favorite daughter. Besides, she’s meant to still have her big V card, so she’s not going to cry to Daddy. Believe me, I haven’t been the only one up there.”
I wince. “Real nice, man. Seriously.”
“What can I say? I’m a nice guy.” Then he drops the fun and games.
“I’m being serious, she’s hoping I’ll come back.
But Daddy’s not going to do more than pressure me a little.
I’m not who he wants as her husband. It’s gonna be a marriage to suit him.
And she won’t tell him I fucked her because that isn’t in her interest. She hasn’t yet, and that girl has quite the head count. She brags about it. I mean…come on.”
“So, you hooked up because she was easy?”
He snorts. “I hooked up with her because she was fun. And not a virgin. I don’t do virgins.”
Enzo shudders.
“As long as you remain upstanding,” I say with a big helping of sarcasm.
Under the fuckboy words, he speaks his own truth.
Enzo does stupid things. What he doesn’t tend to do is mess with the innocent.
He’ll mess with dangerous things, he’ll mess with girls who wear rings—if they don’t care, he doesn’t care either.
Enzo has his own set of morals.
For me, living on those kinds of edges is not where I get my thrills,. But I do like edges, thrills, and dark things. Would I like Vi as much as I do if she didn’t have the inclinations she has?
I let a breath out.
Maybe?
I stand up and help myself to a bottle of water.
Shit. The answer is yes. Because I liked Vi for a long time. Even before I knew her darkness aligned with mine. I just kept it all hidden, kept it all pushed down.
The fact that our inclinations match is a bonus. And I think even if they didn’t, I’d be happy keeping it vanilla. There’s porn to look at, but…
But I know I’d have done my best to push the edges, find her comfort levels, explore whatever fantasies she might have had.
Some people claim they don’t have them, but they just don’t know what they are.
I’m fully aware there are those who only have vanilla fantasies, but there’s also fun to be found in those.
Even when I started becoming sexually active, I knew there was something different about my desires. I found ways to explore offline and on. With girlfriends, too.
We found fun spaces.
With Violet, the spaces we have to play are mind-blowing. It’s like finding a missing piece of yourself.
Enzo cuts into my thoughts “Any word on Joseph Walsh himself?”
I rub a hand against the back of my neck and shrug. “Not unless Easy E has something. And you?”
I don’t trust that many people, not completely.
Enzo. Violet.
And…and Jack. Within reason.
Jack, mad at me as he is, would never in a million years sell me out and while I taught him a lesson or three, I’d protect him with my life. I’d protect all three of them with my life. Violet…I’d move the heavens to protect her. But… Yeah, I’d protect Jack. And I trust him.
What I wouldn’t do is give him more weight than I think he can take.
Like what I do. He’s a world away from that, and I’d give anything to keep Vi away from it all, too.
Unlike Jack, Violet’s way too curious, way too stubborn, and way too determined to be anything other than an equal.
Currently, we’ve got the handpicked team coming in to look at other areas, other people.
“Vi doesn’t think he’s dirty, and I believe her.”
Enzo’s eyes narrow. “That isn’t an answer.”
“Until I know more or have enough to sway me, that’s all I have.
I’m keeping Easy on him, but…” I sigh. “She’s in his office, her position is working alongside him, even more than she did with Isaac.
And her gut says he’s good. I have to go with that.
We need to concentrate our attention elsewhere. ”
“Fucking Ivan’s disappeared.”
“He’s protected, anyway. Disappear back to Russia for a few months or underground here…I don’t think we’ll hear from him. Yet.”
Until these poisonous bastards are dead in the ground, I always attach a yet to anything to do with them.
But until he’s seen or does something, all my people can do is trace covered steps, look into all his connections, and I know it could take a while.
All this could take a while. Unless we hit on something, which is what this meeting’s about.
We’ll collate the information, and then Enzo and I will decide on a move.
“The dreaded fucking yet,” Enzo mutters. “So, we accept Joseph is clean.”
I nod, then check my watch. The others will be here soon.
And then I hope I find something to make a move. Because the sooner Gianna is found and whatever human trafficking ring Ivan is involved in is uncovered, the sooner I can relax and know my girl is safe.
It’s more than keeping her safe, though.
I don’t want to let her down.
Ever.
I want to be more than the man that turns her on and satisfies all her dark desires.
I want to be her hero.
So, I want to find that girl.
For Vi.
When the last person leaves, both Enzo and I look at each other for the longest time.
Frustration bubbles up, but Enzo takes a long swallow from his energy drink can. He looks at it and wrinkles his nose. “Fuck this natural shit. I need chemicals.” Then he takes me in. “You didn’t think this would be easy, did you?”
I throw him a dark look and tap my fingers on the edge of the table. “Did I think one of them would come in and say hey, I’ve found the man who’s selling little rich girls? No, I did not.”
“I know you want to find this Gianna. And we have the best people, including ourselves, looking into it. Your Vi doesn’t think Daddy’s involved, but we’re keeping someone on him, just in case. There are some other groups, but no one who’d keep someone for that long. And definitely not just one.”
I sigh, looking over my screen at all the places we could start.
“You’re right. That says private buyer, but nothing like that’s making a blip.” I open a website, something most people don’t know about and most people wouldn’t be able to get into.
Even the guy who brought up the place today couldn’t get a look at the girls being moved in or a way to get an invite.
The Dungeon is beyond exclusive…
I look at Enzo. “What do we know about the Dungeon?”
He looks at me. “The sex club?”
When I raise a brow, he says, “I’m just going on what I heard our friend state. I know about it, but I haven’t been. You?”
I shake my head. “No, but girls move in an out, and it’s an anything goes kind of place, right?”
“Your guess is as good as mine. I find nothing on any of the kink sites. You?”
I do a quick search but apart from gossip, no one’s been there. And not that many talk about it. Interestingly, it’s not the hardcore people, either. Then again, there are plenty of clubs out there that cater either to one fetish or a wide array of them.
This…this is something different.
Bug, who brought it to us, said the clientele is exclusive, rich, powerful. And it’s a mix of both sides of the law.
While perhaps a lot of the things that go on in the Dungeon are between consenting adults, I’m thinking there are a lot of things where consent isn’t even thought of.
“I don’t either. I’d heard of it, but it’s never been my level of thing.”
“They get fresh girls who come in there. Didn’t Bug say that member he spoke to say the girls were always perfect for what a man might want them for?”
“Yeah, sick fucker. He also said he was looking for someone younger. Even showed Bug a photo of his daughter. He wanted a girl who looked like her. Who’d want to bang their own daughter? Sick perv.”