9. Kitty
9
Kitty
Fox’s cut-off words break the delicate bond I’ve unexpectedly woven with Raul. I exhale the breath I held waiting for him to reach out to me. The dynamic has changed between us, and I am shaken to my core. How can what felt like just a moment impact our lives so drastically?
Raul recovers first. “What’s happening?” he asks.
Shaking my head to clear it, I dash to my laptop to confirm what I know has happened. My “Russian dolls” program has done its job, and it’s gathering all the data I need to pinpoint where we can find the Fox. With a satisfied smile, I leave it to finish the job and go back to Raul, who’s still strung up on the cross, looking sexy as fuck.
My smile widens as I stand before him.
“It’s over.”
“Define over,” he says.
I simplify my explanation. “I locked them out of the network.”
“But I thought he caught your Trojan horse.”
He looks baffled, which is adorable while still in such a compromising position. I find it interesting he didn’t tell me to release him first.
I get on my knees to unbuckle his right ankle. “Except my program isn’t a Trojan horse. It’s like one of those Russian dolls, y’know. You keep finding a smaller doll inside the bigger doll. By design, they caught the first one, but by doing it, they unraveled a string of smaller dolls, so to speak. I needed them to continue their connection with us so the rest of my program could infiltrate their system without them the wiser,” I elaborate.
“ Astuto ,” he says under his breath.
His praise makes me smile proudly.
“Yes, pretty crafty, if I say so myself.”
That’s also the second I realize my face is right at his magnificent and still quite erect cock, despite the interruption. My mouth waters, and I lick my lips at the sight of the appetizing display. Shit, playing Mistress Kat to Raul’s Toro must’ve been the hottest thing I’ve ever done in my life. Though he was supposed to be my tortured soul, my eager kitty was suffering along with him.
Raul reminds me of my task. “Kitty, are you going to unstrap me?”
I force my gaze up to meet his again. “You were about to say something before Fox interrupted us. What was it?” I ask. “Were you about to ask me for something?”
“Are you asking as Mistress Kat, Kitty, or…?”.
“Who were you going to ask?” I return the question.
Clank!
The sound of heavy metal moving makes both of us jump. My head turns to the vault door, and the circular handle rotates. I quickly finish unbuckling Raul’s ankles and wrists, then throw him his clothes. I might’ve frozen Fox, but we don’t know who the mole is at Club Wonderland. We need to stay vigilant. There’s still a security risk to deal with.
Raul just manages to pull his pants over his ass when the heavy metal door opens. Oracle and a tall, muscular man enter the room—their masked faces, stoic. I’m not sure who the man is, but if I have to guess, he’s one of Kane’s right-hand men and Oracle’s protectors.
“Are you both all right?” Oracle asks.
The man-in-charge returns. “Yes. Who the hell locked us in here?” Raul questions sharply.
The man accompanying Oracle takes a step forward in response to Raul’s brusqueness. Oracle places a hand on his arm to restrain him. I give Raul a warning glance, reminding him to watch himself. We don’t want to be on the Kane Family’s bad side.
“We think we figured out who they are. There are interlopers in our midst. They created a minor problem in the ballroom to distract me from what we were doing in here. Before I even made it there, my men told me Fox had moved the goal post and locked you in this chamber,” she explains.
“Were you able to see us?” I ask.
Oracle nods. “We couldn’t hear any audio. Only the footage and Fox’s messages. What happened in here?”
“Toro challenged Fox, and the sick bastard retaliated by threatening to release the videos unless we played a game with him,” I summarize as I scan through the results on my machine. “I don’t know who Fox is, but I can give you their location. You’ll need to move fast because they know they’re fucked.”
“I have people tracking down an employee in security and another in ground maintenance, who managed to cheat our vetting process,” the nameless man says, looking furious that their sanctuary has been invaded. “Their information turned out to be very good fakes. We’ll get to the bottom of this, but we know Fox was seeking revenge.”
Neither Raul nor I ask any further questions because we really don’t want to get involved. But at least I know for sure based on the data I scraped Oracle and her team seem to be on the right path.
“Kitty says all the videos have been erased by her program that destroyed Fox, but you should do a thorough sweep to rid of the cameras,” Raul suggests. He runs a hand over the structure of the suspension frame but finds nothing. Then he moves on to inspect the wall and ceiling when he freezes. Reaching up into a recessed light, he yanks at a tiny camera no bigger than a button. Whoever installed it has connected it to the light cable. “Make sure you check all the light fixtures or chandeliers,” he adds.
The nameless man takes the camera from Raul and swears. “These people will pay.”
Oracle spreads her arms regally, the hostess again. “I thank you both for your help in the matter. My apologies that you were forced to play a game neither of you signed up for. I hope you understand we don’t condone that type of behavior.”
I appreciate Oracle’s sentiment, though the fault isn’t hers to have to apologize for. Plus, the experience gave me quite an unexpected thrill.
“Toro and I agreed it was the best course of action,” I assure her.
The other woman nods with a small smile. “Please, you’ll have to excuse us. We have urgent matters to take care of.”
The menacing way she utters the last three words raises goosebumps on my arms, sending a clear message she and her men are about to hunt Fox. Oracle and her family aren’t the type of people anyone should mess with.
The goosebumps also make me realize I’m basically standing here in lingerie. Before I can reach for my coat, Raul drapes it over my shoulders. He’s already fully dressed again, though the bulge in his pants is still quite prominent. If he’s in pain from having no release, he doesn’t show it.
Deciding not to address that, I stick to what we’re there for in the first place.
“Knowing this family, things will go down sooner than later. You and Princessa should go home and be nowhere near this. I’ll have the plane waiting at the airport as soon as we get there,” I tell him.
“Agreed,” he replies simply.
We move urgently after that. Núria protests that her night is cut short and has to leave Knight without an explanation, but once in the car, we tell her what really happened. Shocked and visibly shaken at the news that she was almost exposed, Núria can’t wait to get into the private plane I arranged for them.
With a small window for a discreet departure, I rush both Raul and Núria to board the plane as soon as we arrive at the hangar.
“Kate, gracias ,” Núria tells me as she hugs me. “You gave me a night I’ll always remember. Thank you for not judging me.”
I smile. “Despite what happened, I’m glad you got what you needed.”
“Next time—”
“We barely survived this one, Núria,” Raul groans and urges her up the stairs into the plane, leaving him alone with me. He takes in my unmasked face finally. “Ah…thank you for—”
I can’t stand goodbye, so I cut him off. “Of course. It’s the job. I’m glad it worked out.” I hold out my hand to him to shake.
He looks at it, but then gives me a half-smile as he takes it with both of his and lifts the back of my hand to his lips.
“ Hasta la próxima, Amante Kat.”
Until next time, Toro.