Chapter 10
Victor
“Go ask Bellamy if any of the suites are available. We’re going to stay in town tonight, and I would prefer to stay here.”
Grace looks at Harper and back at me, and I can tell she’s worried I’ll torture her.
“No harm will come to Harper at my hand, Grace. You have my word.”
She nods and puts a hand on my chest. “Thank you, Sir.”
I hold her hand flat against my shirt for a moment before letting her free, then I kiss her cheek and let her go.
When I’m alone with Harper again, I turn to face her and strip my suit jacket off.
“You’re lucky I value Grace’s opinion so much. Now, tell me everything.”
Harper’s lip trembles as she shifts to find a more comfortable position. Not a simple thing with the way she’s cuffed to the chair. “It was never supposed to get this far, but things weren’t going… h… their way.”
She started to say his or her, but I’m not sure which, but my money is on her, given what we’ve learned about Kara’s involvement.
“What was your role?”
“I was befriended by someone who came into the sandwich shop during one of my shifts. We hit it off and went on a date of sorts. After that, things got… complicated, and they started asking a lot of questions about Gracie.”
“Grace,” I correct.
“They called her Gracie. It was odd. I got the feeling that they knew her. And I was mad at her that day, so I answered the questions. But then they started asking me to… do things. And I didn’t want to. But on our date, they… took some pictures. And threatened to send them to my family.”
I close my eyes. Harper’s family is vicious and conservative.
“So, you’re saying they’ve been in the shop?”
“Yes, Sir,” she whispers.
“How long ago?”
She sniffs and looks at the ceiling.
“Damn it, Harper. I don’t have time for your emotions right now. You got yourself into this. Now, if you want out, you’ll answer my questions. How long ago did this person first approach you?”
“It was right after Bellamy left for London. When we thought she was moving.”
Shit. That means Bryce Cameron, Skylar’s brother, could have worked with whoever it was.
I press a button on my earpiece to speak to the other owners. “I need someone to stand guard over Harper while I talk to Owen in his office.”
It takes a minute for Luke to respond. “Zara and I will come and keep her company.”
Matteo’s voice comes over the comms next. “Griffin Price is done with his playtime and wants to have a drink with us.”
I groan. In all the chaos, I’d forgotten about the prick. “I don’t want to do business with him. He’s not a good fit. But we’ll have the drink to keep things smooth. Just give me twenty minutes with Owen.”
Owen’s voice is next in my ear. “I’m already in my office. Bellamy and Tobias are with Grace and Liliana.”
Bless them.
Luke and Zara come strolling into the back room of the sandwich shop looking like they stepped off a red carpet.
“She doesn’t want to name names and fears for her life,” I tell them, looking pointedly at Zara.
She puts a hand on my shoulder and gives me a subtle nod. “Understood.”
Hopefully Zara can put her magical people skills to good use and get something else out of the girl.
I race to Owen’s office and give him a rundown of everything Harper told me.
He’s already at his bank of monitors and keyboards typing away. “Motherfucker,” he swears.
“What is it?” I look over his shoulder as if I’ll be able to understand what he’s looking at.
“Someone tried to delete security footage several times over the last few months.”
“Tried?”
Owen lets out a mirthless laugh. “Bastards didn’t realize I keep triple backups of everything. One on an air-gapped laptop, and two on completely separate servers. I’ll need a few hours to pull everything back in and sort through it. Can you and Matteo handle Price?”
“Definitely. He’s my contact, and Matteo is the face of our organization.”
Owen looks at me as I head for the door. “Just… be diplomatic tonight and turn him down tomorrow. He’s not known for taking no for an answer, and we don’t need a scene here tonight.”
I give him a thumbs-up and head for the bar to meet Matteo. He’s already there with Skylar kneeling next to him. I lift an eyebrow, silently asking why she’s there. We try not to involve wives and girlfriends in this aspect of our business.
“Price responds to power. Having a sub kneeling at my feet gives me more power. Especially since I found other tasks for the women who were playing with him earlier, and miraculously there were no others available to keep him company.”
I laugh. Matteo may not be violent the way I can be, but he’s vicious and sharp, and I’m grateful every day that he never believed my family took out his father or I would probably be in a shallow grave somewhere.
Out of the corner of my eye, I spy Liliana at the bar. When her eyes land on me, I motion her to my side.
“Kneel here with me,” I murmur in her ear when she arrives. “Observe the man we’re about to have a meeting with. I’ll want your thoughts when he’s gone. Just pretend to be my submissive.”
She drops to her knees without hesitation, and I stroke her long, dark hair.
A few minutes later, Price joins us and nods approvingly at the women kneeling at our feet. It makes me want to see Amarjit Singh crush his balls even more.
“Are they discreet?”
Matteo smiles and strokes Skylar’s cheek. “Are you discreet, Princess?”
“Yes, Master. You would cut out my tongue if I were to speak out of turn.”
The absurdity of her statement almost makes me snicker. If anyone in that relationship is cutting out anyone’s tongue, it would be Skylar wielding the knife.
But she put just enough wobble in her voice for Griffin to believe she’s actually terrified of Matteo, so he seems satisfied.
“You have a hell of a space here, gentlemen. And your goods did not disappoint.”
It comes with the territory, mixing criminals and kink, but it still pisses me off to hear him refer to the submissives who chose to play with him as ‘goods.’ It takes effort, but I keep my expression neutral as I stroke Liliana’s hair and smile as if I know exactly what he means.
“Fetch us all a drink,” I say, leaning down enough for her to hear me.
“Help her,” Matteo says curtly to Skylar who purses her lips but nods.
“I’ll have a vodka martini with a twist,” Griffin says without looking at either woman.
When they are gone, he leans forward with a slimy grin on his face. “How much to play with those two?”
Matteo’s fist clenches in his lap but he doesn’t say anything.
“They are off-limits. Each owner has a… special submissive who can’t be touched by anyone else,” I explain, glossing over the fact that they are well-negotiated relationships with full consent. This man makes my skin crawl.
Griffin nods. “You chose well, then. Now, shall we discuss business?”
Matteo clears his throat and sits up a little straighter. “We can discuss the broad basics, but we prefer to get into the details at a secondary location.”
Griffin narrows his eyes but doesn’t argue. “Very well. I’m offering five percent off the top for clean cash.”
Matteo chuckles. “Our rate is fifteen.”
Griffin leans back and eyes him. “That’s absurd.”
“We’re the best at what we do. We have arrangements with all the right people, including a few on the Nevada Gaming Commission. If you want to risk losing everything, use someone else. But if you want the best, you pay the price.”
Our actual rate is closer to eight percent, but Matteo knows I don’t want to work with this bastard, so he bumped it enough to raise eyebrows.
The fact that the number doesn’t have Griffin stalking out is an interesting tell.
He must really need someone. It makes me wonder why other people won’t work with him.
I make a mental note to ask Owen to dig into him.
But that will have to wait until after he’s done digging into Grace’s stalker, and Phineas Draven.
At the bar, I see Grace talking animatedly to Lili, and my senses are on high alert. That’s her worried face. Lili remains calm as a bartender slides her Griffin’s martini. She puts a hand on Grace’s cheek and says something that calms her, and she sits on a barstool.
Skylar and Lili return, and Lili bends to whisper in my ear as she hands me my whiskey. “Grace says Griffin looks familiar, but she doesn’t know why. Says something about him is off-putting, though.”
I kiss her cheek and nod to show I’ve received the message, and she kneels next to me again.
“I’ll have to hear a lot more about your operation before I even consider anything higher than ten percent,” Griffin says, as he sips the martini.
“Then we can meet again next week.” Matteo stands.
“Princess, follow me.”
Griffin stays still and calm, but I catch a spark of irritated surprise in his eyes that Matteo is walking away, and he nods curtly. “Next week, then.”
When Griffin leaves the table a minute later, I pull Lili up and have her sit in the chair Matteo vacated.
“What else did Grace say?”
“Just what I told you. When she saw his face, it sparked not quite a memory, but a fear. And she doesn’t know where she’s seen him before.”
“OK. We have a lot on our plates, but we’ll look deeper into him.”
She reaches for my hand and squeezes gently. The touch is calming.
“I hear Trinity Novak is awake. That’s good news, right?”
I nod, tracing my thumb over her knuckles. “It is.”
“Do you think we could arrange for me to visit her? I’d like to express how sorry I am for what happened.”
I scowl. “You have nothing to be sorry for.”
“I know. But that bullet was meant for me…”
“Enough.” I cut her off. “I don’t want to think about that. But I’ll talk to Hunter about a visit. Don’t expect him to say yes, though.”
“What happened with Harper?” she asks, mercifully changing the subject.
I give her a broad overview of what we discovered, leaving out the details Harper shared about being extorted.
“That’s a crazy story, Sir. How much do you buy it?”
I shake my head. “It’s hard to say right now. Owen is digging up what he can. Speaking of which, I should go check in with him and see how far he’s gotten. Will you keep an eye on Grace?”
“Of course,” she smiles and reaches for my whiskey. “You going to finish this?”
I chuckle. “Have at it, Spitfire. But no more after that. I need you alert.”
For the rest of the evening, I bounce between answering questions for Owen and switching off guard duty with Luke and Tobias.
Zara was unable to get much out of Harper, but she tells me she believes the girl is just as much a victim as Grace.
It’s hard to see it that way, but it will make Grace feel better to believe she was taken advantage of as opposed to her being malicious.
By the time the club is shut down, we’re all exhausted, and Grace, Lili, and I crash in the lone suite not being used by members for the night, with me in the middle of the king-sized bed.
Grace claims my chest as her pillow, and Lili curls against my side with her back to me.
It isn’t long before they’re both asleep, but I lay awake for a long time, wondering how the hell I’m going to keep them both safe.