“Excuse me?” I asked with more attitude than I ever knew I had. “Why would I ever want to see that piece of shit again?”
“It seems Cable Friggs is a pseudonym and the police are at a loss for who he really is.”
“So?” I sassed, failing to see the point.
“So, Zander has yet to be forthcoming about the man’s whereabouts, so without his real name, they have nothing to go on to even begin tracking him down. And unfortunately, Zander won’t give up this information unless you alone are sitting down in the chair in front of him.”
I drew in a sharp breath. That. Goddamn. Fucker.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Nick shouted. He’d said it so many times you’d think it would’ve lost all meaning by now. “I should’ve known that wasn’t going to be the last time you had to deal with that shithead!”
I was curled up on the less-than-comfortable love seat that came with our small hotel suite, watching him pace back and forth over the scratchy, worn down carpet. He had to be carrying one hell of a static punch by now. I had time to get over this as my detail officer drove me back to the Fulton Suites and Inns after my therapy session. It didn’t take me long, as I really wasn’t that surprised by what Zander was pulling. He had to be sitting inside his little pen, his smile growing larger by the day, knowing that in just four more days, Friggs would be expecting me to appear on his front door step tied in a pretty red bow.
But I wasn’t going to be there. And then he would go looking for me, for Zander, and realize neither one of us still resided in the home, despite the tracker stating otherwise. And then I had no doubt I would become Friggs’ new obsession. I had dumbly dangled myself in front of the lion.
I wasn’t going to lie – that upset me beyond words, even beyond comprehension. Zander knew how much this man horrified me and he was using that fear against me. Once again manipulating me, this time from behind bars. All to get me within six feet of him again. Diabolical.
“You cannot go.”
“You know I have to go,” I rebutted tiredly. “I don’t know what Zander wants but the last thing you or I want is Friggs remaining free. He knows about you too, you know?”
Nick smothered his face as his hands covered it hair to chin, groaning what I imagined were another string of expletives inside his head.
“I don’t want to hide anymore Nick. We still can’t really see our families because they can be used against us. I want to feel safe again. I want to think that Thea can go to work each day without being snagged just because she’s my sister. I want to be able to spend more than five minutes on the phone with our mothers. I want you to be able to actually cook for a living! Not sit in a shoebox doing work you hate.”
“You know I never resented that. I’ll do it forever if I have to.”
“Great,” I sassed. “We’ll spend the rest of our lives alone and miserable. Super.”
He just shook his head, crossed his arms and continued pacing.
“Look, you know I don’t need your permission to do this.” His look cut me. “But I’d like your blessing, because I’m going to go either way.”
I didn’t like the way the air chilled me to the bone. I was already a little nervous, tightly wrapping myself up with my arms, the leg I had crossed atop the other bouncing madly up and down. Guess the officers weren’t interested in sweating the truth out of any felons because they didn’t seem to care about running the heater to counter the outside temperature. Nick tried to warm me up, his hand behind me, firmly rubbing up and down on my back. Once he had a little more time to digest and come to terms with the situation, he agreed that I needed to come see Zander. Of course that didn’t make it any easier for him, knowing he wouldn’t be in that room with me. He’d have to settle on the two-way glass inside the interrogation room they were going to use.
My instructions were clear. Do my best at getting Zander to relinquish the name and/or location of Cable Friggs. Detective O’Neill already sat down with me this morning and filled me in on what they knew up to date.
Zander’s phone was a bust. Apparently, he had a program on it that erased the entire memory if it went a full twelve hours without the timer being reset. We blew through that before we ever even escaped his home. Nick called him a fucking Mr. Gadget.
They did manage to send a small team into Zander’s home in the dead of night by having them trek through the woods from the opposite direction, getting in using the garage door opener we left in their possession. After bypassing all his locks, they performed a thorough search and came up with practically nothing. Zander kept no physical paper trails and just like last time, his computer was completely useless to them. He was smart enough to store all of his files on a virtual server in the infinite World Wide Web and his computer had software that had completely covered his tracks by superior encryption and systematic deletion methods. Even the images of his monitoring system were sent to a host site that they couldn’t identify, let alone stream to view for themselves. So basically, they had nothing but our word against his. Even the cameras he claimed to have within our house were long gone, probably taken the same night he took us, and not a single fingerprint was left behind because of the gloves he wore. Even the trackers he had put on our cars the second time around seemed to have done a re-disappearing act before police could get to them.
So every conversation we ever had, every despicable act he forced us to commit, every bit of proof we needed to show abduction and rape… well, it was out there somewhere for his viewing pleasure, but it was unlikely to ever see the light of day by anyone else. He’d most likely still get convicted with our testimonies, but it wasn’t looking so good to keep him in there for as long as he deserved.
And I was sure that was why his smile was smug as I stood to watch him through the two-way glass as he was brought in and chained down. As if those chains could protect me from whatever he’d concocted in that twisted mind of his. Nick released an upbeat grunt, his lips curling as his arms crossed over his chest. And I knew why – not only did Zander have a slight limp, but his face was still a bit damaged, blotches of faded green and black highlighting the skin over and around his nose.
I took a deep breath and went for the door, refusing to take that last look at Nick, O’Neill or anyone else hanging around for the show. The door handle was cold against my skin as I pushed down and moved the heavy door inward. Zander couldn’t contain the pleasure of a smile, scanning my body head to toe as I made my way to sit opposite of him at the table. He probably hated that I’d completely covered up with jeans, a high scooped-neck tee and a soft jacket. His lawyer was standing beside him, but I didn’t care to acknowledge him. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was from one of the circles Zander ran with, always reaching out to help another trafficker with whatever he needed. One who wouldn’t sell him out to Friggs.
“Let the record state that anything said during this conversation is not a confession of guilt against any alleged crime, but of hypothetical situations and information, and cannot be used against Mr. Malone in a court of law unless my client agrees to a hand-written document that he will later then sign.”
“Fabulous,” I sassed, crossing my arms. “Now if you’re done protecting the serial rapist, could you leave? As I understood it, he wanted to speak to me alone.”
“Alleged rapist,” he corrected, and then for good measure, added, “and hypothetical conversation.” He slid a closed manila folder beside Zander, who secured it between his forearms and the table.
For a moment, my eyes took in the annoying attorney. Middle-aged with salt and pepper hair, a good fifty pounds overweight, beady eyes beneath silver-rimmed spectacles, chubby round face and a rude habit of talking to my breasts instead of my face. “Leave already, because I’m on the verge of hypothetically kicking my foot up your ass, and I doubt the pain of it will be pretend.”
Zander continued to gaze my way, a smile indicating his love for my sassy retorts. More annoyed by my remark than appalled, the attorn
ey narrowed his glare. I flicked my hand at him, beckoning him ever so rudely to beat it. Once the horrible lawyer left, silence ensued for a bit, both of us taking in the other, neither willing to speak just yet. I mean seriously, we knew we had an audience. Most likely every word that passed our lips would be triple-checked before coming out.
“You look well,” he began in such a civil manner I found it necessary to cock my eyebrows in disbelief.
“You look…orange,” I countered, taking in the cotton jumpsuit that by no means reduced his physical attractiveness. Not even the bruising did that. It all gave him that bad boy vibe so many women seemed to crave.
He chuckled lightly, and it bugged me that he could be so at ease even in this situation. He sat there technically under arrest and bound in chains. I’d be anything but jovial if the stakes were reversed. But I supposed that was exactly how a man without a conscience would behave.
“What am I doing here? I’m quite certain the DA has offered you something in exchange for Friggs’ information. So why haven’t you cut a deal yet?”
“Why would I need to cut a deal? In case you haven’t been informed, there’s any incredible lack of evidence in this case.”
My chest tightened. Of course his lawyer would know that his phone and the raid on his house were fruitless, but I guessed Zander knew all along that they would be. Assholes like him had the best of the black market available to them and others willing to go to the mat to help cover their asses. Which made me fear he never had any intention of giving up Friggs. They were one in the same, even if Zander operated on a far smaller scale.
I leaned over, keeping my arms crossed but allowing my elbows to crash on the table. “Why am I here?” I asked again.
“Well, I may not be in much of a conundrum, but you still are. You’ve still got Friggs to deal with.”
“And you don’t? You’re the actual associate.”
“Hypothetical associate,” he amended with a smile. “And now that I’ve been picked up and going to be charged, Friggs will lose complete interest in me. He won’t risk any further relations with me because I’ll have a tail attached to me for the rest of my life. He won’t like letting me go, but this petty indiscretion between us isn’t worth risking his entire operation. You, however… Well, he’s gotten a taste of something he likes.”
The way he said that made my insides tighten and curl. I remembered all too well Friggs’ excitement of getting me stuck inside that table. It still bothered me that I had no recollection of the other things he must’ve put me in while I was drugged under his supervision. I wanted to know, but at the same time, I prayed I never found out.
“That was rape,” he explained.
Somebody fucking shoot me. If I had to hear one more time that he wasn’t raping me!
“I truly hate you,” I stated coldly, selling it with every ounce of my stare.
Zander lazily danced his eyes in arc. “You say that a lot, particularly with your eyes. And you know what that tells me?” He leaned over the table like I was doing. “That you’re saying it to convince yourself, because deep down, you know the very opposite is true.”
I diverted my eyes and twisted uncomfortably in my seat. Which unfortunately for me, only fueled his will to speak.
“You and I both know what really went down between us, and it wasn’t rape.”
I sighed loudly and returned my attention to him. “Are you done padding your ego yet? Or do you need more time? What the fuck do you want from me?”
“Oh, I want a lot of things from you,” he murmured audaciously. I was already moving my head side to side, ready to fire back, before he added, “But for now, I’ll settle for this. I can tell you who Friggs really is and where he’s currently located, but if I do this, it will be at great personal risk to become an informant against someone like him. And for that, I require something in return.”
His fingers thumped on the table, four separate beats constantly repeating themselves as he forced me to either endure the silence or engage the offer he just couldn’t wait to give me. Whatever it was, it wasn’t good.
“If you’re asking for conjugal visits, the answer is no.” Hell, that got him laughing, and by the way his face twisted after thinking on it, I feared I might’ve just implanted an idea that wasn’t there to begin with. I sighed and tilted my head down, pinching the bridge of my nose. “What? Just tell me already.”
“I’ll give you what you want on Friggs, when, and only when, you and your boyfriend drop all charges against me.”
My fucking mouth hit the floor. I swear to God I could hear Nick’s yell through the thick glass. Swiftly leaning forward until my chest mashed against the table, I cried, “Drop the charges? Are you fucking insane? You! Raped! Me!” I wasn’t even going to sound off on the things he did to Nick.
He nonchalantly waved me off, shrugging indifferently. “So you claim. No means no and you never once said anything of the kind.” With a wicked smile, he added, “At least not on top of one of your many satisfied moans.” He paused long enough to wait for the eye roll he knew was coming. “So while I won’t deny we’ve had intercourse, it was completely consensual, and the only video feeds my lawyer will be able to miraculously retrieve from one of my storage sites up in the clouds will prove so in my favor.” He leaned over as far as he could, whispering just for me, “You do remember how attentive you were at times, don’t you? How about the shower scene when you so boldly told me how much you wanted to see me fuck you? That particular video will be the headliner.”
I hadn’t realized I was almost panting, my breaths moving in and out of my lungs so quickly it was obvious how much he just unnerved me. It was like he’d always been on the defensive, always preparing for the likelihood that he could get caught. Yeah, all the videos were streamed to some secret site only he could sit back and fantasize over, but the fucker sent a special few to a completely different site. One that he could make easy for the police to find. One that would only show videos of me fully participating, because I never allowed my disgust of the situation to taint my words or paint my face. Because I was doing all I could to convince him I wanted it.
Just like when I told him I want to see you fuck me.
I never realized at the time how my actions could be used against me like this.
“You have four more days until Friggs expects you. Now, do you want me to tell the police what you need to find him, or do you just want to wait for him to come looking and take you as his own? You’ve seen how easy it is. Hypothetically speaking, that is.”
I couldn’t help it. My eyes closed and my throat groaned defeat. Because I knew right then he was going to walk away from all this. “Does Friggs know my true identity?” I fearfully asked, ready to chomp down on one of the fisted knuckles currently tapping forcefully against my bottom lip.
His answer was nothing more than a smile. Fucker wasn’t going to tell me. Because this was all about negotiating his get-out-of-jail-free card and nothing more. He wanted me to play chicken. Give him what he wanted or risk that Friggs didn’t know enough to come knocking. And it was a game he knew I was too terrified to chance.
He took my newfound affection towards silence as my answer. Sliding the manila envelope my way, he said, “My attorney has taken the liberty of drawing something up for us.”
Flabbergasted, I boldly stated, “Oh, no. You may be like fifteen years older than me but I was not born yesterday. Whatever you have written there will be amended to cover both sides. Because like hell I’m not going to put something into this agreement that says you can’t sue me for defamation of character or whatever other bullshit you’ve concocted inside that fucked up head of yours. You do not get to become the victim in all this.”
I stormed out, yanking the heavy door behind me to slam shut. Nick was on me in a second. “Really? You’re seriously considering this?”
“What choice do I have?” I yelled back. “He might be bluffing about what Friggs knows, I don’t know.” I began
checking off points with my fingers. “One, Friggs put the tracker in me and would’ve checked afterwards to confirm it was working. Which means at any point while I was not owned, he could’ve logged on and seen where we were living. Two, I really pissed Friggs off. You have no idea how much he wants to get his hands on me right now. Three, he threatened to take you. And four, the man is like the fucking Godfather of traffickers. You seriously think he doesn’t have the resources to track our asses down?
“We need to find him now! Before he realizes we’ve escaped and Zander’s locked up. He’ll be in the wind if we don’t. I will never feel safe again if that happens. So yes, I’m willing to sign the fucking piece of paper that gives us what we need to capture him.”
My face had to be red. It was like I was fuming inside. He literally set my insides ablaze.
“This means he won’t be in jail either. How the hell do we keep him from coming after you a third time?”
Detective O’Neill cut into our conversation. “If he turns state’s witness he’ll be given protection.” Both Nick and I soured at that. Jesus! He is not the fucking victim! “What I mean, is that he’ll be watched by our people for quite some time. So will you two.”
I closed my eyes off to darkness and hung my head back.
“Witness protection? More hiding? Well that’s just fucking great,” Nick spat. “Again, we won’t be able to see our families.”
O’Neill didn’t have an answer for that because she knew just as well as we did that we’d probably have to cut ties. Maybe we could get them new identities since they were threatened in a way, too.
Something occurred to me and I pulled my head back up. “What about Veronica? She was kidnapped. He might be making a deal with us but she could still bring up charges against him.”
She was already shaking her head sadly. “I’m sorry, Megan. But Veronica didn’t do well with rehabilitation. She overdosed four weeks ago.”
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