His Prize (The Cleaners Book 1) (10 page)

“Both bodies were fished out of the canal last week. It took us some time to identify them due to the damage inflicted by the water, but this,” he tapped a particularly gruesome image of bloated body, barely recognizable as a black female and Susie knew instinctively that it had to be Myrtle. “This is Myrtle Jones, or what remains of her, once your boyfriends were done with her.”

Susie shook her head and screwed her eyes shut, but the images were already ingrained in her mind.

I mustn’t be sick. I mustn’t be sick. She was a bitch. She had it coming.

Her internal mantra failed to work when Wonsan listed her injuries.

“They cut off her hands and tongue. A common thing to do for what they class an informer. She was also beaten into a pulp and raped repeatedly. We can’t be sure if that was while she was still alive or afterwards.” He paused, and Marian Roots passed her a glass of water from the carafe Huntly always kept on the long sideboard in his office

“Here, drink this. I know these are hard to take. You knew her, of course. I suspect you were quite close, after all—”

“We weren’t close at all. Myrtle was a royal bitch, who didn’t care about anyone but herself.” Susie slammed her mouth shut, lest she said something she might regret and Marian pulled back in surprise.

“So, you’re saying she had this coming? That she deserved this somehow? Wow, where is a little sisterly solidarity here?”

Susie bristled inside, and having taken a hasty gulp of the water in front of her, slammed the glass back on the table.

“Don’t put words in my mouth. I’m not saying anything of the sort. I’m just not surprised she found a gruesome end. Besides, how do you know she was raped? That woman had more paying customers than you could throw a dick at. Who’s to say that wasn’t consensual?”

Wonsan gave a short laugh, and Marian shook her head.

“Be that as it may, I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t have consented to having her hands cut off, though you don’t seem too surprised at that. What did she do? Steal from Huntly and he had your boyfriends take him out?”

“They’re not my boyfriends, damn you. Don’t twist this into something ugly. I’m only involved with…” Susie bit her lip and scowled at the triumphant smile that spread over Wonsan’s face at her almost admission.

“Oh don’t stop there, you’re involved with…”

“None of your fucking business.” Susie ground the words out through clenched teeth, and flinched when Marian put a hand on her arm.

“I understand. You don’t want to end up like Myrtle, but we can protect you. If you’ll only testify against him…”

Susie reared away from the other woman’s touch and shot to her feet with so much force her chair cluttered to the floor. Sidestepping Wonsan, she stepped up to the one way glass, and rested her forehead against it. Ren was smiling at something Ty said to him, and her heart gave a flip.

Even if she wanted to, the police wouldn’t be able to keep her safe. Ren or one of his men would find her, and besides, that man owned her body and soul, and had done almost from the minute she’d laid eyes on him. She could no more betray him than she could stop breathing.

“If you’re worried that we can’t, then—”

“Spare me.” Susie interrupted the other woman. “I wasn’t born yesterday. Even if I had something to tell, which, by the way I haven’t, you could never protect me. I have no wish to end up as the next lot of fish food, so whatever you’re going to throw at me, it won’t work. You clearly have no evidence at all, and are fishing for answers with me. Well, babe, you’re not going to get those answers from me, so save your breaths and go after the real bad guys. Like the Priestly brothers, maybe.”

“Funny, you should say that, especially as you seem to have switched alliances so recently.”

Wonsan pinned her in place with his gaze, and Susie frowned at him.

“I’m sure I have no idea what you mean,” she said and promptly flinched when Wonsan slapped another gruesome picture right up next to her on the window.

“I know he’s in bits here, but surely you recognize one of your boyfriends?” The Detective’s smirk made Susie feel ill, as did the image. They seemed to have pieced his body parts back together. Neither his head, nor his limbs were still attached to his body, his face was almost unrecognizable due to the beating he’d received, and the next picture Wonsan shoved in her face made Susie retch.

It was his severed penis and balls.

“Rather a coincidence that he was done over like that, when you’ve shacked up with the cleaners, wouldn’t you say? This was a personal attack, a jealous new boyfriend maybe, going by the name of Ren, by any chance?” He paused in seeming effort to let his words sink in, and when she didn’t react he shouted loud enough to make her jump. “Damn it, all hell is breaking loose out there, and it all traces back to you, Ms. Elliot. That’s not a fucking coincidence. You’re going to cooperate and help me put these monsters behind bars or—”

“Jim, stop.” His partner’s sharp command stopped the man mid angry diatribe, and Susie took a few steps away from him. “What my partner means to say is that we would value your cooperation in this matter. We will be able to keep you safe and you would protect countless innocent lives by speaking up.”

The woman frowned at her when Susie couldn’t hold back her laughter. Slightly hysterical laughter, for sure, but really, it was laugh or cry and rock in a corner somewhere.

“You’ve got this all wrong. If there are any monsters here, it was Brian. He groomed me for fuck’s sake, like he did to countless women before me, and would no doubt have done to countless women after me. Whoever killed that bastard did society a favor. He was never my boyfriend. He was a sick, sadistic monster, who tried to control me with threats to my life and the use of his fists. He ran up debts in my name with loan sharks who threatened my life and the house I called home, trying to force me into prostituting myself for the Priestly brothers. I ran the first chance I got, and Huntly was kind enough to offer me a job as a waitress, and his protection. If you think for one minute that I am going to repay him by ratting on him, then you’re deluded. You want to go after the bad guys, go after the Priestly scum. And no, I’m not going to testify against them either, so save your breath.” Susie paused, and glared between the two detectives, before she stepped over to the desk and pressed the intercom.

“I want out of here, please.”

Wonsan swore, and out of the corner of her eyes she saw Ren jump into action. It took a matter of moments before he wrenched open the door, and not caring what anyone thought of her, Susie threw herself into his arms.

“There, I’ve got you, baby.” His deep rumble in her ear soothed her internal horror, and taking his beloved scent deep into her lungs she clung on for dear life, oblivious to what else was going on, until she was forcibly wrenched out of his grasp.

“Your girlfriend has proven most cooperative to us, and you, Ellis Reynolds, are under arrest for the murder of Myrtle Jones and Brian Monk. Anything you will say will be taken in evidence…”

Susie didn’t hear the rest of the arrest spiel, too horrified by the look of betrayal she glimpsed in Ren’s eyes, before he pulled down the proverbial shutters, and he became a man she didn’t recognize.

“You can’t do that. I didn’t say anything. I … umph.”

Ty clamped his large hand over her mouth to stop her from talking, and even though she fought him, she was no match for his superior strength.

In truth she could hardly breathe, as he also cut off her air supply, and the world grew fuzzy. Through the ever narrowing light of her fading consciousness she was dimly aware of Huntly’s solemn promise to get
Ren out of this mess,
before the world faded to black.

Susie struggled back to consciousness, and she blinked in the bright lights of the locker room. Kim’s concerned face appeared in her vision. Her friend helped her to sit up when she struggled.

“Here, take it easy now. You’ve been out a while. Drink this.” She pressed a cold bottle of water into her hand, and Susie dutifully swallowed. The cool liquid felt heavenly as it slid down her bruised throat, and she blinked away tears of relief at being alive.

“Tell the boss she’s awake, will you, Ty?” Kim’s words brought Susie’s head up, and she swallowed hard when she saw Ty approach. He didn’t look happy, and neither did Josh, who pushed away from the wall and took off, presumably to tell Huntly that she was awake.

Bile threatened to come up, and she struggled to her feet, as Ty stopped in front of her.

“I … I didn’t say anything to the police. I didn’t.” She flinched when Ty raised his hand to her throat, and his deep sigh ghosted across her face. Instead of choking her anew like she’d been expecting him to, he stroked his thumb along the bruised flesh and clucked his tongue.

“Relax, we know that. I’m sorry I was so hard on you, but you were going to drop us all in it in your distress, and this was the quickest way to shut you up. I hope it doesn’t hurt too much?”

Susie blinked in confusion. It took her scrambled brain a while to catch up with the meaning behind his words, and when she did, she sank back down on the bench she’d been sitting on.

“Oh, but I thought, you thought … Ren looked so angry, and why did they arrest him, when—”

“Mind games, sweet thing.” Huntly’s deep tones interrupted her warbled words, as he strolled through the doors to the locker room. “They think by arresting him, they’ll get him to talk. Make him believe that the woman he loves betrayed him, and he’ll lose his cool.”

“They don’t fucking know him very well, if they think that’s gonna work,” Alex said, and his brother hooted in laughter. Ace smirked, and Josh crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head. Susie had no idea how they all came to be there. Maybe they had always been there. Her mind was still stuck on the L word.

“But that’s ridiculous. Ren doesn’t do love.”

Huntly seemed to find her croaked protest most amusing, and the rest of his men all sniggered. Even Ace, which was most disconcerting, especially when he strolled over to her and flicked her nose.

“He doesn’t do love, but he certainly
does
you, girl.” Ace grinned, and the rest of the men all dissolved into laughter, which rang round Susie’s hurting head like clanging cymbals and she winced.

Kim urged her back to her feet.

“Sir, with your permission I’d like to take Susie home. She’s in no fit state to work tonight, especially not with all these cops still sniffing around.”

Susie tried to protest, but it all fell on deaf ears.

“I don’t want to go home, and what about Ren? I need to be here when he gets back. I need to explain.”

Kim sighed, and Huntly grasped her chin to make her look at him.

“Listen to me, girl. You’re exhausted. There is nothing you can do, and they’ll keep Ren in for twenty-four hours to try and wring a confession from him.” At her horrified gasp, he nodded. “They’ll try for an extension, but my solicitor will make sure they won’t get one. They have no real evidence against him. Ren is too good at what he does.”

That simple phrase brought those terrifying images she’d seen back to the forefront of her consciousness, and wrenching free from the loose hold Huntly had on her, she made a dash to the toilets, afraid she would bring up the contents of her stomach. Kim, like the good friend she was, followed her, but there was no need as Susie managed to get a hold of herself in time. Kim smiled at her over the sinks as she freshened up.

“This seems to be becoming a habit of yours, girl,” she said. “Glad that passed, because you’re gonna have to work on that constitution of yours if you’re gonna stick around, you know. Now, let’s get you back to my place for a bit. I’ll promise I’ll bring you straight back here if we hear anything from Ren.”

Exhausted after all the events of the last few hours, Susie allowed herself to be led away. Josh drove them both back to Kim’s, and despite her friend’s protestations that they didn’t need a bodyguard, the big guy stayed.

Much to her surprise Susie did sleep. And it was an even bigger surprise when she encountered a half-naked and sheepish looking Josh emerging from Kim’s bedroom the following morning. She sure hadn’t seen that coming.

Despite Huntly’s assurances, twenty-four hours turned into forty-eight, and Ren still hadn’t been released. The not knowing when he was going to be was slowly driving Susie ‘round the bend, and she threw herself into her work at the club with renewed vigor. It was the third evening following his arrest that she felt his stare on her ass. As she looked up, her heart stopped
and then turned into a jackhammer when their gazes connected in the mirrors behind the bar.

Something hot, hard, and dangerous flashed across Ren’s expression as he strode toward her with a single minded determination that made her whole body tingle in anticipation. He had never looked more dangerous than right now. He hadn’t shaved, and the thicker than usual stubble, combined with the creased, dirty clothing, and the way he ignored all greetings aimed at him made her feel like the prey about be devoured. His thick forearms came round her trapping her against the bar, and with his body heat against her back, she had nowhere to go. All the previous days’ tensions left her body, and she sagged against him when he nuzzled into her neck.

“What are you doing here, pumpkin?” he asked.