скачать книгу бесплатно
She kept the other employees and offered them at a reduced rate. They stayed busy, the revenue continued to pour in and already Leese Phelps was in high demand. Soon, with any luck, she’d find a few more new hires and round out the employee cache with something for everyone.
Thinking ahead, always, she strode toward her personal receptionist, Enoch, who jumped to his feet to present her with her day’s agenda.
“Guests inside, Sahara. Leese and Justice, and they brought with them a young lady—”
She drew up short. “Not another fighter?”
He smiled. “Sorry, no. Or at least I assume she’s not.” He leaned in closer. “She’s rather small.”
Enoch knew her well enough to understand she preferred first names whenever possible, and because they got along so well, he was often very familiar. On any given day, Enoch was her right hand, her calendar and her friend. “Now I’m doubly curious.”
“Would you like to go over your schedule first, or after you meet with them?”
“I have time?”
“At least an hour.”
“Wonderful. Let’s do the schedule after.” Sahara smiled at him. “Could you bring us coffee and whatever...and see that I’m not disturbed while they’re here?”
“I’ll make a fresh pot.” Off he went, always so quick at his tasks.
She did love Enoch’s efficiency and understanding of her needs. If only she could find a man who—no.
The last thing she needed was a man in her life.
No time, not for that sort of nonsense, and not while shifting the agency into the powerhouse she wanted it to be.
Pasting on a smile, she opened the door and surged into her office. Leese stood looking out a window, hands in his back pockets. Justice took up most of the space on a small settee, his bulky arms stretched out along the back.
And in the chair facing her desk...
Sahara hurried in. “Hello.” She circled the chair to face the woman, then stepped back in surprise. “You’re Catalina Nicholson.”
“Yes.” With far too much caution, Catalina asked, “And you are?”
“Sahara Silver. I own the agency.” Brows up, she turned to Leese. “You brought her here...why?”
Folding his arms over his broad chest, Leese turned his compelling stare on Catalina. “I’m hoping she’ll tell us.” He watched her a moment, then said softly, “Cat? What’s it to be?”
Put on the spot, the girl glared back at Leese, then seemed to deflate. Her gaze shifted to Sahara, and damned if Sahara didn’t feel a thrill go up her spine. She just knew this was going to be something unexpected and stupendous.
Anxious to hear it, she said, “Go on.”
After a few more seconds of hesitation, Catalina asked, “Have you heard of Désir Island?”
* * *
JUDGING BY SAHARA’S startled reaction, Cat assumed she had indeed heard of the island and was aware of its awful reputation.
The beautiful brunette inhaled deeply, then rushed around to get comfortable in her chair. Forearms on her massive desk, expression rapt, she leaned forward. Both Leese and Justice were lost and, in truth, Cat was glad they didn’t know about the island.
Enthralled, titillated without having yet heard the details, Sahara urged, “Go on.”
Before Cat could, a man stepped in with a tray of coffee, fresh fruit, pastries and muffins.
Sahara didn’t miss a beat. “Excellent. I definitely need more caffeine. Pour us each a cup, will you, Enoch?”
“My pleasure.” Cups and saucers rattled as the assistant filled each cup. “Cream and sugar?”
“We can doctor them ourselves, but thank you.” Sahara reached for a gooey pastry. “Fresh from the bakery?”
“Of course.”
“You’re the perfect man, Enoch. Thank you.”
Smiling, Enoch departed and Sahara told Cat, “Please, help yourself.”
She hesitated, but what the heck. If everyone else could be blasé, she’d give it a try too. “All right, thank you.” After swallowing one big bite of a blueberry muffin, she asked, “You’re aware of what happens on the island?”
“Yes, of course. Decadence. Perversion.” Sahara waved a pastry. “Anything and everything sexual that money can buy.”
Leese came around closer to Cat, which she appreciated, and propped a hip on the desk. After a sip of coffee, he asked, “Where is this place?”
“It’s near the Virgin Islands. Uninhabited until twenty or so years ago. Since then it’s been built up and used for...” Cat swallowed, unable to say it.
Sahara didn’t have the same problem. “It’s a privately owned playground for the global ultrarich. Anything goes if you have enough money or influence, preferably both. Many politicians love it for the secrecy. It provides every luxury you can imagine with a small, posh hotel, a helipad for invited guests only and plenty of space for orgies.”
“Orgies?” Leese asked, one brow climbing high.
Sahara nodded around another bite. “Lots of nasty business going on there. Like I said, anything can be bought if you offer the right price, whether it’s legal or not, whether all participants are willing or not.”
Now both of Leese’s brows snapped down. “You’re talking rape?”
“Sadly, yes. There’ve been accusations, some of them truly gruesome, but none have been proven because witnesses have a way of changing their tune, probably after being bought off, or they disappear, likely—”
“Murdered.” The second the word left her mouth, Cat’s stomach jolted. Oh God, she’d said it aloud. She fought off the panic, knowing she’d just crossed a line; she’d admitted the awful truth, trusted these people when for so long she’d been afraid to trust anyone, even her family.
But what choice did she have? She couldn’t continue living her life on the run, and she didn’t want to end up on that island, a victim herself. Sooner or later she had to share it all. For whatever innate reasons existed, she trusted Leese. Really trusted him.
By association, she trusted his closest colleagues. She couldn’t believe he would bring her here, ask her to explain everything to Sahara and Justice, if he didn’t know it would be safe.
On top of that, she was in a secure building, shielded from threats. Justice had already gotten past her guard and, as the owner of the elite bodyguard agency, Sahara seemed to have a measure of her own power.
When would another, better opportunity present itself?
Now that the truth was out there, it brought about a heavy silence. Disbelief? Uncertainty?
Accusation?
Without knowing what they all might think, Cat sipped her coffee and waited in an agony of suspense.
“Jesus,” Justice rumbled, sitting forward now too. He snagged up a cup, black, and swilled back half of it.
Leese shifted uneasily. “And Webb?”
“I don’t know!” Emotions propelled her from her seat. She set the cup aside with more noise than necessary and strode to the window, needing to see the view to breathe, to feel less trapped in the awful circumstances.
The vantage point of the office offered a view of the Ohio River, disturbed only by a few slow-moving barges. Ice and snow lined the shore and a sluggish sun struggled to shine through dark, rolling clouds.
The day looked as miserable as she felt.
Despite the bitter cold of the morning, cars filled the bridges and people went about their business. None of them had a clue what fate could dole out.
That was nice. She didn’t want others to have to be as hyper-aware of threats as she’d recently become.
When she sighed, her warm breath frosted the window.
Knowing she’d stalled too long, Cat whispered, “My stepfather...he knows about it. He might only be involved in covering it up.” Or he could be guilty of the violent acts. She shook her head. “I don’t know.”
Leese’s hands settled on her shoulders and he drew her back against his chest, his chin atop her head. He said nothing, just held her, surrounding her in his size and scent and power.
In the reflection of the window, Cat saw Sahara look to Justice for an explanation, and she saw Justice shrug in a “haven’t got a clue” sort of way.
So Leese didn’t embrace every client? This was an aberration for him? Nice to know. But it was still confusing—to her, and obviously to his boss and his colleague.
Clearly, no one understood it, least of all her, but Leese made her feel as if all the bad things in the world couldn’t touch her, not when he was close, and that robbed her of the debilitating panic.
She took one deep breath, then another. “A woman was killed.”
“Who?” Sahara asked sharply.
There’d be no backing out now. Still, she couldn’t tell them everything. She didn’t dare.
The less they knew, the safer they’d be. She’d have to start juggling and, blast it all, she wasn’t that coordinated.
“I only know her name.” Cat pressed closer to Leese, stealing some of his strength. “And her age.”
Leese waited.
Grateful for his patience, she sorted her thoughts. Though she’d already decided these people wouldn’t hurt her, she needed further verification before she said anything more. “I can trust everyone here not to repeat what I’m going to tell you, right? If the wrong people find out—”
“You can trust us,” Sahara assured her.
“Besides,” Leese said, giving her shoulders a gentle squeeze, “I’m not going to let anyone hurt you, remember?”
He didn’t seem to mind that others were watching, and Cat wasn’t sure what to make of that.
Flustered, she stated, “It can’t leave this room.”
“Then it won’t,” Sahara promised.
Accepting that, Cat drew a breath and whispered, “Georgia Bell. She was only eighteen.”
Justice cursed softly. “So young.”
Wretched grief welled up. Every time Cat thought about it, about a young girl scared and alone and desperate, it broke her heart all over again. That poor, poor girl. How badly had she suffered?
And if the ones responsible found her, would Cat suffer the same fate?
Leese interrupted that thought by rubbing her shoulders. “Do you know how and why she was killed?”
The memory made Cat shiver. “From what I overheard, Georgia was hired to waitress at a private party on the island. Because she was offered so much money, she agreed—but only to waitressing. She didn’t understand that the offer came with certain expectations regardless of how she’d feel about it.”
“Like?” Leese asked.
This was the tricky part, where she had to dance around the truth without revealing too much. “One of my stepfather’s more influential friends—” a name they’d all recognize, if she shared that much “—wanted her for...more. She agreed, to an extent.”
As Cat spoke, the words came faster, more strained, matching the frantic beat of her heart.
“But I guess he took it too far because at one point Georgia wanted to leave.”
“You’re sure?” Justice asked. He scratched his left ear, thinking aloud. “If she said yes to something—”
Cat almost lost it. She jerked around to face Justice, wanting, needing a little violence. If he’d been closer, she might have slugged him.
As it was, Leese held her back when she started to lunge forward.
Fine. She still had her voice, and by God, no one would rob her of that. “She agreed to sex with one man. She said no to others joining them, and she obviously said no to being a sideshow. And no, as far as I’m concerned, always means no.”
Eyebrows shooting up, Justice said, “I agree one hundred percent, honey, so spew the venom elsewhere. Rapists are at the top of my list of scum of the earth, right up there with child abusers. I was just going for clarification. How do you know what happened? Were you there?”
“Oh God, no.” She shook her head hard. If she had her way, that damned island would be blown to pieces. “I know Georgia refused, because that’s what they said.” The turbulent mix of anger and panic descended on her again. “They joked, laughing over how she wanted to leave but saying it was already too late for that and they couldn’t let her, so they...they killed her.” She squeezed her eyes shut, horrified anew at the blasé discussion of cold-blooded murder.
They’d talked about ending an eighteen-year-old girl with the same lack of empathy they’d have given to an annoying fly.
“Shh.” Leese turned her into his embrace and his big hands moved up and down her back. “Take it easy.”
Until he soothed her, she hadn’t realized how badly she trembled.
No one spoke and by the second she felt more like a wimp. She knew Sahara watched them with wide-eyed incredulity, and that Justice was confused by his friend’s familiarity. By letting Leese comfort her, she was putting his job at risk. He couldn’t get in trouble over her.
Somehow she had to get it together.
But it was a struggle. Georgia Bell had been gone for months now, but for Cat, the horror was fresh, as if it had happened just yesterday. The cut felt raw and still far too painful.
A steadying breath helped a little. Trying to compose herself, she levered away from Leese’s comfort. If this was her time of confession, she needed to get through it.
Leese kept his hands on her upper arms and dipped down a bit to look her in the eye. “How do you know all this?”
