When I woke up, Breaker was gone. I sat up in bed, rubbed my eyes, and looked around. Yep, he was nowhere to be seen. I got up and wandered around a little, but found nothing to indicate that he was anywhere nearby. He had left me alone in this place. Completely and utterly alone.
Jeez, he could have at least left a note or some shit. It wasn’t like I was some one night stand he could slip out on while I was still out for the count. He owed me at the very least some kind of explanation before he dumped me here without a soul to talk to. I wandered around the apartment, giving it a half–hour in case he’d gone out to get us some coffee or something, but he didn’t arrive back. His coat and shoes were gone, and so were his keys. I had no idea where he might have gone, but he was even more of an idiot than I thought if he imagined that I was just going to sit here, all docile and obedient, until he graced me with his presence once again.
I couldn’t help but feel kind of put out that he’d apparently dumped me without a word that morning, especially after what had happened the night before. I climbed into the shower after a few minutes, letting the hot water cascade over me and wash the scent of him off my skin. Had he even come to bed? His side of the covers were untouched, and I assumed that he’d ducked out as soon as I started snoring. Jack–off.
As my hands moved over my body, I couldn’t help but remember our encounter the night before. I mean, how could I not? I had never been fucked like that in my entire life. No matter what happened from here on out, I would never forget the moments we shared there. There were still faint red marks on my wrists from where he had restrained me, and I loved feeling them, a reminder of what he would do to me given half a chance. I had hoped we might be able to pull off a repeat performance this morning, but he had obviously had better ideas.
Well, watch me. I wasn’t going to stick around and wait for him to come entertain me again, stuck up in this apartment like a princess in a tower. I ran my hands through my hair, glad it was short enough to dry quickly. I ran a towel over it and went to the bathroom mirror, peering at myself.
I looked different. I couldn’t put my finger on exactly what it was, but something had changed about me. It wasn’t the way I looked, because I didn’t normally spend much time on my appearance anyway. No, this was something less explicit. I ran my fingers through my hair and spiked it up and away from my face, and returned to the bedroom so I could go through Breaker’s wardrobe.
I managed to dig up a pair of jeans and a belt that I could just about get secured around my waist. I was at least four or five full inches smaller than Breaker, and I had trouble keeping them up initially, but I eventually got them to stick. I found a shirt that looked okay tucked into the waistband, and grabbed for the heels that he had brought me a couple of days ago. They weren’t ideal, but at least they actually fit me. And besides, I wasn’t going for looks here. I was going to get into that club and see what I could find out without Breaker on my arm the whole time. I knew his presence scared some of the guys off, and I had a feeling they’d be much more willing to spill shit to me if they didn’t have to go through Breaker to do it.
I made my way downstairs, grabbing a set of keys off the table absentmindedly as I went. I wasn’t even sure if they were for the apartment, but part of me just felt too weird leaving this place without at least some pretense that I could get back in if I wanted to.
Maybe I didn’t want to? The thought crossed my mind as I made my way downstairs and to the door of the club. I came to a standstill there for a moment, staring at the nondescript entrance to this place. He had left me here, as though I wasn’t worth anything to him. After what we did last night…my brain blurred that bit out. It was just too distracting to consider. But all I knew was that after everything we had done, he’d still left me to wake up alone while he sauntered off to do God knows what. This wasn’t exactly my world, and he’d still dumped me in it with him—I could have broken free of any other guy who’d tried to take me home that first night, fought my way out and reminded them all just who I was and who my father had been. But instead, I was hanging around Breaker for the promise that he was going to actually do something. He told me he wanted to bring this place down, but what if it was nothing more than a lie meant to make me look like an idiot? Maybe he was in there already, delighted recounting the details of how he’d got me to hang around of my own free will like a sucker. I clenched my fists at the thought. It was one thing for all of this to happen—the kidnapping, the auction, the sex—it was another to be made a fool of. A rush of anger rolled over me, and I pushed the door open before I could stop myself. We would see who looked more the idiot once I had him by the balls and got him to tell me the truth.
The place was busy, considering how early it was. I peered around, squinting against the dank, smoky half–light, but I couldn’t see anyone I recognized, let alone Breaker. Making my way over to the bar, I leaned up on it and hoped that I could convince the bartender to give me something on credit. I needed a fucking drink, after all.
“Rum and coke, please,” I spoke before he had a chance to open his mouth and he raised his eyebrows. “Put it on Breaker’s account.”
“You sure about that?” He asked, and I could tell from his tone of voice that he was half–warning me off my little scheme. I nodded, making eye contact, and giving him a look that told him I would ask for his opinion when I wanted it and not a moment before. He rolled his eyes slightly, and poured me a drink. I took it gratefully and took a deep sip. Yeah, that would do it. I closed my eyes and let the alcohol slip down my throat, warming me lightly and letting me relax a little for the first time since I’d woken up in that cell. I shuddered at the thought. The memory of that was going to take a long time to shake, I could tell. I would need to pick this whole place apart at the seams before I could move on from that, needed to see those cells in ashes. Suddenly, I sensed a presence next to me, and turned around to find myself face–to–face with the auctioneer.
“You look different,” he remarked, his eyes trailing up and down my body with interest. “Is this how Breaker likes you, then?”
“These were the only clothes I could find,” I protested, trying to keep my voice light and playful. The last thing I needed now was for my cover to get blown. “I wanted a drink so I had to wear something to come down here.”
“I don’t think many of the guys would have minded if you came down without anything,” he cocked an eyebrow, and I fought the urge to recoil away from him in disgust. What the hell gave these people the right to speak to me like this? Then I remembered where I was. As far as he was concerned, he was probably treating me with the utmost respect. I didn’t even want to think what he came out with to women who weren’t owned by someone he was friendly towards. I tossed my hair back out of my eyes, wishing for a moment that I had longer hair so that I could hide behind it. But now, this pixie cut of mine would have to do.
“Well, they didn’t pay for me,” I pointed out, unable to believe that those words hard really just left my lips. And that they’d sounded so reasonable! This place was twisting me already, I could feel it.
“I can’t imagine what the bidding would have gone up to if you’d been in on a bigger night,” he remarked, waving the barman over and holding one finger up. A few seconds later, the barman deposited a beer in front of him.
“Yeah, me neither,” I replied through gritted teeth. I still hadn’t given up on the plan completely, so I didn’t want to alienate him, but it was a real and genuine struggle not to just break his nose where he stood to teach him a lesson about the way he spoke to him. And the way he treated them, too.
“They told me you were a cop,” he leaned closer, closing the distance between us. His sticky, boozy breath filled my nostrils and I jerked back without thinking.
“I am,” I nodded. As far as I was concerned the present tense was still applicable here.
“You ever come across this place before?” He waved his hand around, and I caught a flash of nervousness in his eyes. That was all I needed to see, and without further ado, I went in for the kill.
“Oh, yeah,” I shrugged, as though it should have been obvious. “I’ve seen a lot of faces before, you know, but on a most–wanted list. I don’t think they’re far from busting this place for good.”
“You think?” The nervousness turned to full–blown panic, and I twisted the knife.
“I don’t want to think what kind of jailtime everyone here would be looking at,” I shook my head. “Two decades, maybe more…”
“For everyone?”
“Everyone,” I confirmed, meeting his gaze steadily. “They take this kind of shit very seriously.”
The auctioneer took a sip of his beer, and I could see that his was contemplating his options. I held my breath. Had I pushed it too far? I didn’t think so. I needed him scared, because I knew for sure that criminals had a habit of selling each other down the river when they were afraid for their own safety.
“What…if someone cut a deal, what would happen then?” I had to stifle a laugh at how unsubtle he was being. Okay, play along, make this work to your advantage.
“They might get some years shaved off their sentence,” I shrugged. “Maybe even the whole thing commuted down to probation, if they give up enough information.”
I could see his brain ticking over, and I casually took another sip of my drink, as though I had no idea where he was going with this train of thought. I wanted him to think he had come to the idea all by himself. Guys like this had serious egos, and the last thing they wanted was for a woman to influence any of their life choices. By the time I put my glass back down and met his gaze once again, I could see that he had made his mind up. I had to suppress a smile as he spoke again.
“I want a deal,” he leaned in close, glancing around the place as though he expected someone to be listening in to our conversation. “Can you do that for me?”
“If you help me out of here,” I promised, trying to act surprised and probably failing. “You just have to stick on my side, right?”
“Anything,” he nodded, running his finger around the rim of his drink. “Uh, how long do you think we have? Before the cops get here?”
He shot a look towards the door, as if he could imagine a bunch of cops smashing it in and arresting everyone in the next ten seconds. God, he was making this too easy for me—all I had to do was let him fill in all the blanks in his head and I could get him terrified for his freedom in not time.
“I don’t know exactly,” I admitted. “But it could be within the next few days. I would be on your guard.”
“But you’ll get me a deal, won’t you?” He checked, a little hint of desperation in his voice. I nodded.
“I promise,” I agreed, downing my drink and waving the barman over so I could get another. It seemed like the alcohol was making me that much smarter. Although, a stupid idea passed across my mind—but one I couldn’t resist taking myself up on. “On one condition,” I turned to him, and he furrowed his brow.
“And what exactly—“
Before he could get the sentence out, I had driven a closed fist into his stomach. He doubled over, gasping for breath, and gripped the bar for support. He looked back up at me, brow furrowed in horror.
“What the fuck was—“
“That was for how you treated me at the auction,” I snarled, and dared him to hit me back. Part of me wanted him to. Part of me wanted to beat the ever–loving crap out of him, even though I knew that would be a terrible idea. But, to my surprise, once he had caught his breath back and got himself upright, he offered me a grin instead of retaliation.
“I’ve got to admit, you’ve got a hefty punch on you for a tiny little thing,” he remarked, eyebrows raised. “And I probably deserved that.”
There was no way he would have taken that from anyone else. No way in hell. But he wasn’t going to mess with me when he knew fine well that I held his fate in the palm of my hand. I wasn’t going to exploit that power. Not now I’d gotten a decent hit in, anyway. I felt a lot better knowing that at least he had an inkling of the hurt I’d been through that night. He turned to me, grabbing his beer, and leaned in to me again.
“Why are you sticking around here?” He asked, frowning, a sudden hint of suspicion passing across his face. “Why don’t you just get out?”
“Huh?” I slid my eyes away from his, hoping he wouldn’t pick up on the guilt that flashed through them at his words. I couldn’t let him know that Breaker, more than the cops, was the one getting this show on the road.
“Is it to do with your father?” He asked, and my stomach dropped to my feet. I felt dizzy, and the alcohol churned in my stomach so much I thought I might throw up all over the bar, right where I stood. He shrugged, as my vision swam in front of me before slowly returning to normal.
“I mean, that’s what I assumed,” he replied. “I didn’t know you knew who killed him, though.”
“Yeah, well,” I shrugged, managing to keep my voice steady even though it felt like my heart had been ripped from my chest.
“I don’t know how you cope with it,” the auctioneer leaned in even closer, and I fought the urge to shove him away from me, to sprint out of there and leave that place for good. “If I was somewhere, and I knew that the person who killed my dad was there, I’d—“
But before he could go on, a door opened towards the back of the club, and both of us immediately glanced in its direction. My blurry vision centered on someone walking through, and a powerful cocktail of emotions hit me when I saw that it was Breaker.
He made his way towards me, smiling as though nothing was wrong, but a few days of close contact with him let me see that he was trying to hide something from me, and he wasn’t doing a particularly convincing job of whatever it was. I wanted to fall into his arms and let the tears that were threatening finally take over, but I had to keep my cool. My father needed me to. Because now, I knew that there was more hanging on this that just taking down this terrible place and saving the women who had found themselves trapped in the same predicament as me. Now, my father’s legacy hung on it too. My father’s killer was part of this place, somehow, and I would be damned if I let him walk free. I had always suspected that there was more to his death than I could see on the surface, but now I knew for certain, and I had to do everything I could to make sure that no–one made it out of here without giving me everything they could on what had happened the night of his death.
Breaker finally reached me, and he put his arm around my waist. I gratefully leaned on him, glad that I had someone to cling on to. For a minute there, it felt as though I was going to collapse to the floor in a heap. He gave me a funny look, as though he hadn’t expected to see me like this, and then turned back to the company at hand.
Thaddeus Bane was the only other one to leave that room. I craned my neck to see if anyone else was in there, but the door had clamped shut behind them before I could get so much as a look in. What had they been talking about in there? I turned my attention to Breaker, and knew at once that whatever was about to come out of his mouth, it was bad news.