Change (Finding Anna Book 5)

by Sherri Hayes

  She held onto me as if her life depended on it. Then I heard her whisper, “fourteen.”

  Stephan

  I stood beside Agent Marco and watched through the big picture window as Brianna talked to Mel. Sitting on the sidelines wasn’t my style, but I knew Brianna was right. She had the best chance of getting information out of the scared young woman.

  “Did you hear what she said?” Agent Marco asked.

  “No.” Mel had hurled herself into Brianna’s arms almost knocking Brianna off the bed. I noticed Brianna’s hesitation before she’d embraced the young woman.

  As soon as Mel had given her full first name, that she’d run away, and that she’d been gone for less than two weeks, Agent Marco had sent Agent Gibbson to run a search with the new information. Brianna may not have gotten everything they wanted, but it was a start.

  It also didn’t escape me that if she’d run away, that also meant she was most likely a minor. Every time I thought I couldn’t detest these men more, they did something to redefine my level of hate.

  Time ticked by after that as we watched Brianna do her best to comfort Mel. They said a few words back and forth but they were all too low for us to hear behind the glass.

  Agent Marco was beginning to get restless when Agent Gibbson came through the door again. “Melanie Graber. Fourteen. Went missing ten days ago from Corpus Christi, Texas where she was on vacation with her family.”

  “Fourteen?” Agent Marco asked. “Fourteen?”

  There was no masking his anger and I was right there with him. I didn’t know how he dealt with these monsters every day.

  She nodded and handed him what I assumed was the missing person’s information. I glanced over his shoulder to get a look. Sure enough, the girl in the picture was the same girl still clinging to Brianna. The only difference was that the girl in the picture wasn’t wearing makeup and had a huge grin on her face.

  “Should I call the Corpus Christi PD and let them know we found her?” Agent Gibbson asked.

  Agent Marco set the paper down on the table next to him. “Not yet. I want to see what else Miss Reeves is able to find out.” He glanced over at me, and then to the two women on the other side of the glass. “I’m especially curious about the uncle.”

  We were there for another four hours. Even then, Brianna hadn’t wanted to leave Mel.

  “Are you doing okay?” I asked once we were alone in the car.

  “I’m worried about Mel.”

  I took her face in my hands and made her look at me. “I know, but I want to know about you. How are you?”

  “I’m okay. Tired.”

  Kissing her forehead, I released her and started the engine. “I’ll draw you a bubble bath when we get home, and you can rest.”

  “Can we stay at the condo this week? I don’t want to be too far away in case Mel needs me.”

  We didn’t have that many clothes in the city anymore, but we could make do. “Of course.”

  As soon as we arrived at the condo, I drew her a bath and told her to relax until I came and got her. I stripped out of my clothes, changed into something more comfortable, and ordered dinner from one of our favorite Italian restaurants. Both of us needed comfort food tonight.

  I paid extra and had to wait for an hour for the food to be delivered, but it was worth it. The man who brought our meals didn’t seem to mind either, once I handed him a very generous tip. “You have a nice night, sir.”

  “Thank you.” I closed the door, locked it, and watched on the monitor as he made his way to the elevator.

  I’d ordered all our favorites: lasagna, chicken parmesan, fettuccine alfredo, and a large salad with fresh baked bread. While I’d waited for the food, I’d set the table with plates, glasses, and a pitcher of water. I removed our dinner from the bag and laid it out for easy access, then went to retrieve Brianna.

  She was lying in the bathtub with her eyes closed, her hair draped over the back and her breasts peeking up from beneath the bubbles. I felt my cock twitch but ignored it.

  “Brianna.”

  Her eyes opened and she sat up.

  “Dinner’s here.” I extended my hand, offering to help her out of the bath.

  She placed her palm in mine and stood, the bubbles sliding down her naked body. After the stress of the last twenty-four hours, all I wanted to do was lose myself in her warmth.

  I removed a towel from the shelf and dried her off before clothing her in the robe that hung on the back of the door.

  “You got Italian?” she asked when she walked into the main living area.

  “I did.”

  Guiding her to her chair, I pulled it out and waited for her to sit before taking my place beside her. Pouring us each a glass of water, I opened the containers and served us both.

  As always, Brianna waited until I’d begun eating before picking up her fork. She took a couple of bites, and then started moving the pasta around her plate. “Is your throat bothering you?”

  “No.” She glanced up at me. “It is a little, but . . .”

  “Then why aren’t you eating your food?” I asked. She needed to eat. The only thing she’d had since we’d left the condo earlier that day was a bag of potato chips and a candy bar from a vending machine, and that had been hours ago.

  “I’m worried about Mel. I didn’t want to leave her. She’s all alone.

  Picking up her hand, I brought it to my lips and kissed her fingers. “Mel is safe tonight and that’s what matters. Agent Marco will make sure of that.” Finding out the girl was only fourteen had been jarring, not only for me and Brianna, but for Agent Marco as well. We’d all suspected she was underage the more we listened to her speak, but none of us had been prepared for that revelation.

  “I know. I just remember what it was like for me that first night I was here with you. How scared I was.”

  “Yes, but you were still under the impression that you were my slave then, that you had no choices,” I said.

  “Mel doesn’t have a choice. They’ve contacted her parents. They’re coming to get her. She’s going to have to tell them why she left.” I could hear her voice rising with anxiety.

  “Agent Marco said we could stop by tomorrow and you could spend some more time with her. He said the earliest flight her parents could get was tomorrow morning, so they won’t be here until mid-day.”

  She nodded.

  “It’ll be okay. We’ll do what we can to help her. I promise.” I kissed her fingers again and released them. “And Agent Marco is going to make sure Wilks rots in a prison cell. I really want the satisfaction of knowing he’s alive and suffering.” I picked up my fork again and pointed it at Brianna’s plate. “Now, eat. If you’re going to be of any help to Mel, you need your strength.”

  “Yes, Sir.” Brianna picked up her fork and twirled pasta onto it before lifting it to her mouth.

  “Good girl. Once we’re finished with dinner, I’ll clean up while you write in your journal.”

  She nodded and took another bite.

  I was finishing up the dishes when my phone rang. Logan’s name flashed across the screen and I knew I needed to answer it. I’d already put him off once today. “Hey.”

  “Hey, yourself. When I didn’t hear back from you, I started to get worried,” Logan said.

  “We were with Agent Marco most of the day.” I filled him in on Mel’s situation. He was as appalled by her age as the rest of us.

  “Is there anything Lily and I can do?”

  “Nothing I can think of. Brianna wants to be there for Mel, so we’re heading back to see her tomorrow. Her parents are coming to get her, and I have no idea how that’s going to go. She’s pretty shaken up.”

  We talked for a few more minutes. I wasn’t in too big of a hurry since Brianna was writing in her journal. I wanted her to get her thoughts and feelings down on paper. Not only would it help me understand how best to help her, but it was good for her, as well.

  By the time I finished my phone call and Brian
na had completed her journaling, we were both ready for bed. Unlike the night before, I let her go into the bathroom alone to get ready, and then took my turn before joining her in our bed.

  Brianna curled into my side as soon as my head hit the pillow. Circling my arms around her, I closed my eyes and absorbed the feel of her pressed up against me. Here. Safe. Mine.

  “Sir?” Her voice was barely above a whisper in the darkness.

  “Yes, sweetheart?”

  “Thank you.”

  My lips brushed against her hair. “For what?”

  “For saving me. For helping me.” She paused and I felt moisture hit my chest. “For loving me.”

  I pressed a kiss to the top of her head, holding my lips against her hair. “Always.”

  Chapter 27

  Brianna

  I woke up again near morning with another nightmare. This one had been even stranger than the first. It had started off in a hotel room, and then ended up in an alley with Wilks strangling me.

  It was him strangling me that had woken me up, gasping. Stephan held me until I’d calmed down, and then we talked it through. Then Stephan had suggested I call Dr. Katlin.

  I would have had to call her anyway, since we’d been scheduled to meet at one o’clock and I wouldn’t be there, but it was seven-thirty in the morning. Her service answered, and I left a message.

  Dr. Katlin called me back ten minutes later. “I got your message, Anna. Did something happen?”

  “Yes. We . . . one of the men who hurt me . . . he was trying to hurt someone else. At the hotel after the masquerade.”

  She asked me several questions. The first was if the police were involved. After I confirmed they were, she continued with the questions. Not about the situation specifically, but more along the lines of how I felt having seen him again and how I was dealing with that.

  I told her about the nightmares. She’d listened and told me to try some breathing exercises before going to bed. “This is a new trauma, and your brain is trying to process it. That’s going to take time.” She paused. “I’m assuming you won’t be able to make your session this afternoon?”

  “No.” I shook my head even though she couldn’t see me. “We’re staying at Stephan’s condo in the city this week. I want to be here for Mel in case she needs me.”

  “I’ll plan on seeing you next Monday, then. But you have my number. If you need to talk before then, call.”

  “I will.”

  Stephan was upstairs in his study. He’d left me alone to talk to Dr. Katlin letting me know where he’d be in case I needed him.

  He lifted his head from the book he’d been reading, set it down, and opened his arms. I went to him, sitting on his lap. The chair up here wasn’t as comfortable, but that was okay.

  “How did your call go?”

  He brushed a strand of hair behind my ear and a warm tingle went down my ear to the pit of my stomach. It had been two days since we’d made love and I was missing that connection with him. “Good. She said to call her if I needed to talk before next week.”

  “Did she have any advice about the nightmares?”

  I reached for the buttons on his shirt. He’d dressed in a button down again today, something he didn’t wear that often anymore in our new home. “She gave me a website. They have some breathing exercises I can do before bed. She said that might help.”

  He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. I didn’t like that he was so worried about me. “We’ll look at it tonight. We can pull it up on the laptop while we’re in bed that way you can go right to sleep after.”

  I nodded and ran my hand up the front of his shirt. While I wanted to get rid of the nightmares, that wasn’t at the forefront of my mind. Last night I’d been exhausted and stressed. The night before, we hadn’t gotten to bed until the wee hours of the morning, and I’d been hurt by my encounter with Wilks.

  My throat felt better today, even though there was still a faint red mark from where he’d pressed my collar into my skin. The wound on my side was healing. As long as I didn’t reach over my head and pull the stitches, it didn’t hurt anymore. Everything else was in my head and there wasn’t a Band-Aid to fix that.

  What I wanted, though, was to forget for a little while. To feel something other than the pain of my injuries, the fear of reliving what had happened, or the worry about what Mel was going through.

  We needed to go to Agent Marco’s office again, but we weren’t supposed to meet him until ten. He was going to let me spend some more time with Mel before her parents got there.

  For now, though, we had some time. I should go make us breakfast, but food wasn’t what I wanted. I needed him. Needed him to take control and let my mind shut off. Even if it was only for a while.

  I met his gaze. “Sir?”

  “Yes, sweetheart?”

  While I wasn’t good at seduction like some of the heroines in the books I read, I knew Stephan. “I want to forget for a little while. “

  It only took him a moment to understand. The brown of his eyes got a little darker. He brought his hand up to cover my injured side. “Is it still hurting?”

  “Only if I lift my arms above my head.”

  Next, he skimmed my throat with his fingers.

  He didn’t ask, but I knew the question anyway. “It doesn’t hurt today.”

  Meeting my gaze, he threaded his hand into the hair at the base of my skull. I let my head tilt back into his grasp without breaking eye contact. He tightened his hold, and it was all I could do to keep my eyes open. I wanted this. I needed it. Needed him.

  “Do not be afraid to use your numbers, Brianna. If you reach a five or higher, you are to tell me immediately.”

  “Yes, Sir. I promise.”

  The pressure on the back of my head increased as he brought our mouths together. His lips were firm, demanding. He was taking what he wanted, and I was along for the ride.

  My fingers dug into his shoulders as he repositioned me to straddle him on the chair. In the new position, there was no masking his erection as it strained against his slacks. A moan escaped my throat as he rocked my hips against him.

  He snaked his hand under my skirt and nudged my panties out of the way to run his fingers up and down my sex, lubricating his fingers before he pressed them inside. My muscles clenched at the intrusion, but then relaxed, welcoming him. This is what I’d wanted. All I could think about was him. The way his mouth felt. His hands. The way his chest scraped my nipples with our movements.

  Then, he was slowing the kiss, bringing it into rhythm with the thrust of his fingers inside me. My hips began to move to that same rhythm, pulling me closer to my orgasm. Would he have me come on his fingers or would he change position and remove his pants so I could take him inside?

  I got my answer a few minutes later as he turned the palm of his hand to rub against my clit. “Come, pet.”

  With those words, I let the sensations overtake me and within seconds I was hovering on the edge. He tilted me to the side and scraped his teeth right below my ear. That was all it took to have me gasping for breath as I rode out my climax.

  My body was still pulsing when he stood, me in his arms, and placed me on the desk. The next thing I knew, he spread my legs, pushed my panties out of the way again, and slipped inside me.

  “Look at me,” he demanded.

  I met his gaze.

  “Number?”

  “One, Sir. You feel so good.”

  That was all he seemed to need. He pulled his hips back and began to move.

  Taking hold of my hips, he plunged and retreated with slow, steady strokes. He tugged my shirt down, exposing one of my breasts and sucked my nipple into his mouth. My head fell back as I let myself feel.

  Cool air sent another wave of sensation through my body as he released my nipple, wet from his mouth. He picked up the pace, holding my hips steady as he moved, edging us both closer to our orgasm.

  Sweat beaded on his forehead and we were both breathing hard by th
e time he adjusted one of his hands so his thumb reached my clit. I nearly came the moment he touched it. “Sir?”

  “Yes, pet?”

  “May I . . .” I pressed my hands against the desk trying to steady myself. “Come?”

  He didn’t answer right away, and I gritted my teeth trying not to come before he gave me permission. I’d only come once without permission and I didn’t want to disappoint him again.

  Right when I thought I wouldn’t be able to hold on any longer, he captured my lips with his and murmured the word I was waiting to hear. “Come.”

  Stephan

  I sent her to clean up while I made us breakfast. Her request for sex had been somewhat unexpected at first, but then I’d understood it. She needed to feel safe. Secure. And while our relationship was 24/7, it was during sex when it was usually at its strongest.

  After we ate our breakfast, I jumped in the shower to wash the sweat of our unexpected activities from my body before getting dressed in my last set of clean clothes. We were going to have to go shopping if we were going to stay in the condo for the entire week.

  Normally, I’d have Lily do it, but she was focused on her wedding, which was only two weeks away. Logan would have my head if I asked her.

  Dressed in a fresh pair of slacks and a dress shirt, Brianna and I headed downtown to Agent Marco’s office. Given it was a weekday, there were a lot more people in the building. Brianna held tight to my hand as we were surrounded in the elevator.

  Agent Marco sighed with relief when he saw us appear in the doorway. “Mel’s been asking for you. She’s been pacing her room and refused to eat any of the breakfast we brought her this morning.”

  “When are her parents due to arrive?” I asked.

  “Around eleven-thirty. Their plane lands in an hour.”

  He led us to the same room as the day before. As soon as the door opened, Mel froze. Then, when she saw Brianna, she ran over to her and hugged her. I couldn’t hear what she was saying because she was talking into Brianna’s shoulder.