Authors: Mari Carr
“I don’t know. My wildest dreams can get pretty expensive.” Night’s joke seemed to break the tension that had been shimmering in the air since they’d first entered the room. He sensed Cassandra truly believed they would be willing participants in her illegal scheme. She’d had plenty of time to imagine herself as the Mistress of her own private and profitable enterprise.
“Buyers will line up for my slaves—trained by the best Masters in the world.” She walked behind her desk and sat down. For the briefest of moments, Jon thought he saw a small tear forming in the corner of her eye, but it was gone in the next instant. “I regret not being able to be a mother to you these past years. Seeing the strong, handsome, powerful man you’ve become does my heart good. I’ve been quite lonely, you see, but now, at last, we can be a true family again.”
A true family. His mother’s words cut through him like a knife. She didn’t have the first inkling of what it meant to be part of a family. Perhaps, once upon a time, when his father was still alive, they may have had that chance, but that time was long past. Besides, he thought, considering the concept, he had found his true family with Night and Carly. They were the only family he’d ever need.
Reilly was right. He’d been lucky to escape his childhood with his sanity and his sense of decency intact.
“Oh, think of the money we can make. We’ll be rich.” This time her cackling laugh truly betrayed the lunacy that had infected her mind.
“Shall we take our tour, Mother?” As soon as the words left his lips, Jon realized his mistake.
“If you call me Mother again, I will have Sammy cut your tongue out and serve it to me on toast for breakfast.”
Nothing like motherly love and family.
Carly paced the floor of her sparsely decorated bedroom and glanced at the clock once again. It was nearly one in the morning and the compound had been quiet for hours. She’d looked for Night and Jon all day, but other than glimpsing Jon once across the inner courtyard, she’d had no opportunity to see or speak to them.
Now she was struggling to determine what her next move should be. She’d learned during her first night in residence that the quiet was deceiving. She had attempted to leave her room to do a little exploring, but was halted before she made it to the end of the hallway by one of the numerous well-armed guards. The look he’d given her had been a menacing leer that made her blood run cold. She’d said she was merely looking for the bathroom and had taken a wrong turn before she’d quickly returned to her room. Since then, she’d been too afraid to venture out again after dark.
Tonight, however, her desire to see Night and Jon was much greater than her fear. She was desperate to learn how their conversation went with Cassandra. The fact that they were still on the compound seemed hopeful. Obviously, they’d convinced the nasty woman to let them stay. But how? What was the plan now?
She’d seen absolutely nothing illegal since her arrival three days earlier. The women and children staying here were well fed and relatively happy. Unlike her, many of them seemed to take solace in the armed guards roaming the estate. She silently wondered what private hells they’d escaped from to find comfort in such large weapons.
Her main concern was the fact that Trisha and her mother didn’t appear to be anywhere in the compound. When she’d casually mentioned their names, she had been told by another woman that they’d decided to return home. She’d sensed the woman’s disdain over that decision, yet Carly had secretly hoped it was true. Regardless of the situation in the Jackson household, she couldn’t imagine it being any worse than Reilly’s description of what would happen to them here.
Opening her door a tiny bit, she glanced down the hallway. She was sure Night and Jon weren’t hiding out in their bedrooms. The thought left her feeling guilty. So far she had nothing to show for her days on the compound. As a spy, she was an utter failure.
Taking a deep breath, she ventured into the corridor. When she wasn’t immediately stopped, she quietly continued. With each step that drew her farther and farther away from her bedroom, she became more certain she would do whatever it took to find them. She was desperate to see them after such a long absence. Okay, well, technically, three days wasn’t really that long, but to her it had seemed to last an eternity.
She suspected they would be staying in the east wing, the one directly across from where she and the women were being housed. The north wing at the front of the house seemed to be composed entirely of the business area—offices, sitting rooms and counseling areas. The south wing was Cassandra’s private living area. As far as Carly could tell, that area was the most heavily guarded and none of the women she’d spoken to had ever been there.
In order to get to the east wing, she would either have to sneak outside and cross the inner courtyard or attempt to traverse the hallways of the north wing. The inner courtyard was well lit even at night and there were at least two guards posted on the roof at all times, so she quickly discounted that route.
At least inside, the hallways were dark and she could keep to the shadows. Either way the chances of her making it undetected were slim to none. Still, she needed to take the chance. For one, she hated being so isolated and out of the loop. Secondly, she was terribly worried about Trisha and her mother, and anxious to tell Night and Jon they were missing.
And lastly, she simply missed her lovers. She wanted to wrap her arms around them and never let go again. Seeing them in Cassandra’s office this afternoon had reignited her libido. When had she become such a sex maniac? Maybe there was some truth to the fact that women peaked in their thirties. Her body actually felt achy from the withdrawal she’d suffered these few days without Jon and Night in her bed.
When she made it to the end of the hallway, she slowly peered around the corner. Shock warred with relief when she realized this corridor was guard-free as well. Where the hell were the gun-toting villains? She usually couldn’t take ten steps without bumping into one, but tonight they seemed to be suspiciously absent. Taking a steadying breath, she continued on her way, heading down the north wing.
Her heart began racing with each step she took. Suspicion permeated her body as she realized there was no way she should have gotten this far from her room without being stopped. Was this a trap? A trick? What if the guards were lying in wait?
Pausing at the next corner, she took a deep breath and tried to calm down. If she didn’t get her wayward thoughts under control soon, she’d succumb to a full-blown panic attack. Not for the first time, she tried to figure out how a divorced secretary—whose idea of excitement up until a month ago was a new made-for-TV Hallmark movie—got from there to here.
She was about to proceed when a hand covered her lips and she was dragged into the empty office she’d just passed. Struggling, the image of the hulking guard from three nights ago entered her mind. His leering looks left no doubt in her mind what he would do to her if he caught her alone again. Kicking back toward her captor’s shins, she dug her nails into the hand on her mouth.
“Dammit, Beauty, stop now.”
Night’s hushed admonition froze her in her tracks. Once he had her in the office and the door shut behind them, she turned, pulled his lips to hers and kissed him. Hard. Intense. She put every bit of worry, fear and loneliness she’d suffered the past three days out there, and he took it all away from her. She had only begun to come down from that kiss when she felt another pair of arms embrace her from behind.
“Did you save any of that for me?” Jon whispered. She choked back a sob of relief and she turned to offer the same welcome to him. The kiss seemed to last hours when Night cleared his throat behind them.
“Much as I’d like to celebrate this reunion in style, we don’t have the time.”
His words had the same effect as cold water on Jon. He broke off the embrace. “What in the hell are you doing out of your room?”
“I knew the two of you would be out looking for evidence and I wanted to help.”
Jon scowled at her. “Of all the dangerous, stupid things to do. Do you know how lucky you were it was Night who spotted you and not one of the guards?” Jon’s voice was no more than a whisper, yet she felt as though he were screaming at her.
“None of the guards seem to be at their posts. That’s one of the things I wanted to tell you.”
“We know that,” Night reassured her. “We slipped a little something into a couple the tea pitchers prior to their dinner. I figure we managed to drug the drinks of at least ten of those bastards. The ones who aren’t passed out are puking their guts up in the bathrooms, thinking they’ve got food poisoning.”
“Oh.” She breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank God. I was afraid they were setting a trap or something. Of course you realize that still leaves about ten more of the assholes roaming around.”
“Which is all the more reason why you should have stayed in your damn room.” Jon was still upset with her.
“I needed to talk to you. Find out how things went with your mother. See what the plan was.”
Now it seemed to be Night’s turn to chastise her. “The plan is the same as it was three days ago, Carly. We’re trying to earn her trust and buy time while we search for evidence. That’s what we were trying to do tonight, but now we’ll have to find a way to smuggle you back to your room without getting caught.”
She felt guilty about the danger she’d brought to them and their scheme. “I’m sorry. I really am, but I’ve been so worried about you. All I could think about was making sure you were okay.”
“You saw us earlier in Cassandra’s office.”
“I know but, well, I didn’t exactly get those kisses in Cassandra’s office, did I?” she answered with an impish grin, hoping to dispel their annoyance. “Besides, I needed to tell you something and I couldn’t figure out how to get a message to you.”
“What?” Jon asked.
“It’s Trisha. She and her mother aren’t here anymore. One of the women said they went back home, but I’m afraid that may not be true. Where do you think they could be?”
Jon was dismayed by her information and she heard Night mutter a curse behind her before voicing his suspicions. “There’s a dungeon on the compound.”
She nodded. “I remember Reilly mentioning that.”
“Cassandra’s already taken some of her victims there for training. She certainly insinuated that earlier when we were in her office,” Night explained. “That’s actually where we were headed. We need to take a look around. See if they’re there. If Cassie’s locked those women up and begun the training, it’s all the proof we’ll need. We’re familiar with the layout, so we’ve got a plan for smuggling them out. Problem is, we need to wait until
you’ve
been taken there as well before we make the escape.”
“Trisha,” Carly whispered, her hopes that the young girl was safely away from the place dashed in an instant.
“Yes. I’m sorry. She’s most likely still here,” Jon admitted. “Dammit, Carly. You have to trust us when we say we have things under control.”
“So is it what we feared?” She could tell by the look in Jon’s eyes it was, but she needed the confirmation.
It was Night who answered. “It’s worse than we feared.”
“Worse how?”
Jon answered her. “She’s running an honest-to-God shelter for a lot of these women, helping them get their lives back on the right track.”
“How is that bad?”
“She’s sending them out into the world swearing this is the most wonderful place on Earth, so that they’ll refer other women in trouble here.”
Night picked up the explanation. “Then she puts them into categories she’s labeled marketable and unmarketable. She’s already moved the first candidates to the dungeon and told the other women they left to return home.”
“That’s what we thought,” Carly said, wondering how it was worse.
“Eventually Cassandra is planning to expand the business into child pornography,” Night added.
Carly’s stomach lurched as she recalled the face of an adorable five-year-old boy, named Jack whom she’d spoken to the day before. He’d come to the compound with his mother, thrilled to discover what he called
the
bestest swing set ever
. “That’s inhumane.”
Jon muttered a curse. “You have no idea. You played your part well, Carly. I was so proud of you in that office today.”
“Well enough to piss off your mother, to put me at the top of her list of trainees?”
Jon hesitated, then nodded.
“What is it?” she asked.
When Jon didn’t answer, Night offered the reply. “You’re going to be our test.”
Carly bit her lip, suddenly feeling nervous. They’d known this was a possibility. Hell, it was the reason she’d come in the first place. Now, however, when faced with the reality of what that meant, what they’d have to do to her… “When?”
Night shrugged. “She wanted to do it tonight. We convinced her to wait, suggested she give us a few days to become acclimated to the set-up here.”
“She won’t wait that long.” Jon spoke what they all knew was probably the truth.
“Okay.” The word came out more breathlessly than she liked, betraying the constriction in her chest. “Tomorrow?”
Jon tugged her close, rubbing her ice-cold arms, trying to warm her up, comfort her.
“She’s insane, Carly.” Night’s voice revealed his fears. “If we don’t find anything tonight, we won’t have the information we need before she demands we take this test.”
“So you’ll train me.” Carly recalled their weak-hearted attempts in the kitchen. Neither man had given her any indication they’d be able to go through with this if there was the slightest chance they’d hurt her.
Jon shook his head.
“You have to,” she insisted.
“I won’t.”
“Then all of this was for nothing and those women will be sold. Trisha…” her voice broke.
“We’ll find something,” Jon said, his voice suddenly strong. Sure. Desperate. “Come on. Time’s running out.”
The three of them began rummaging through the files in the office, but it was clear Cassandra knew her business. Everything they found only further legitimized the retreat, proved that it was running on the up and up.