“Here,” I said, handing her the shot I’d poured her before I came into the bathroom. She took it, immediately swallowing it all before she handed me the glass back, and I put it down on the counter.
Instead of going back to where she was, I stayed at the counter, just looking at her. She had her gaze focused on something I couldn’t discern, but her mind was clearly somewhere else. Whatever she’d used to make the bubbles must’ve been some quality stuff, because there were plenty of them still there, covering most of her skin. Her head and shoulders were the only things in full view.
And that goddamn rose tattoo.
“Hey…” she started, her tone immediately getting my attention. Those pretty brown eyes of hers were soft – I definitely wasn’t talking to a Rose right now. This was just Alicia.
“What’s up?” I asked, when she hadn’t continued on her own.
She took a little breath, like she was fortifying herself, and then let her request tumble from her lips all at once. “Get in with me.”
I raised an eyebrow, but before I could say anything, she kept talking.
“I know that you’re thinking I’m trying to… deflect or something. With sex. But I just… mentally, I had to go to a really dark place today. A place I hadn’t been in a long time. A place that, if we’re going to figure this out… if we’re going to find my sister… I know I’m going to have to go back. But for now, if you could just… I know you say I’m not a robot, but I just need to make sure, so—”
“Hey,” I said, holding up my hands to interrupt. I pushed away from the counter, moving to the edge of the tub to kneel beside it. She met me there, supplication in her eyes as I cupped her face in my hands. “I’ve got you, okay?”
She nodded as I pressed my lips to hers. “Okay.”
“You’re not a damn robot.”
“Okay.”
I straightened up, taking a few moments to strip down to nothing as she watched. Then I slipped into the tub with her, taking a position behind her so she couldn’t see the expression on my face as I wondered how the hell -why the hell – the water was still so hot.
Then, I remembered where we were. A place like this probably had heated tubs, for women to swim around in water hot enough to boil any man stupid enough to get in with them. But I was in here now, and instead of complaining, I sat back, relaxing into position for her to lay back against me, close her eyes, and say absolutely nothing.
There’d be plenty to say tomorrow.
For now… it was time to rest.
NINE
The Collective – Maxim Bissett, Sebastian Gray, The Belrose Syndicate, __?
I drummed the pen I was using against my notebook, halfway hoping that the steady thump would organize my thoughts into something, anything, other than a confused mess. This stuff had been on my mind non-stop, and I didn’t feel any closer to making sense of it than I was when I started.
There was so much that I didn’t know.
Starting with this “Collective”.
It was something I’d never heard of, probably by design. I could only speculate, and my sole speculation was wild – even wilder than the truth behind the Belrose Syndicate.
The Collective were the people with real power.
So far, all the names I knew were French, but there was no way it stopped there. If I had a list of names, the likelihood of them spanning the globe was quite high.
If only I had a list.
Especially considering Reo’s revelation about Dacia, that she was someone important’s daughter – someone with power and leverage. That gave me a piece of information I’d been missing, sure, but it raised yet another…
Why Dacia, but not me?
And if Sebastian knew Dacia had “political” value… why didn’t the same thing go for me? We hadn’t been face to face in some time, so maybe it just didn’t click for him that Dacia and I were sisters.
But, at the same time… how did he know who Dacia was at all?
“What the hell happened to your face?!”
I looked up from my notes to find Daniel Whitfield standing at the door to Kingston’s kitchen, with his son beside him wearing the same question on his face. I wasn’t on duty with them today, but I’d come by anyway, to have a conversation that was honestly overdue.
I smiled as I stood up to greet Daniel with a hug, and offered the “good” side of my face for him to kiss my cheek.
“Come on now Daniel, you know the first rule of fight club.”
His eyes went wide as he stepped back. “You’re in a goddamn fight club?”
“If I was, I wouldn’t be able to talk about it, would I?”
That broke the tension in the room – at least between me and Daniel. Kingston was still standing there, scowling.
“Enough with the jokes, Ace. What happened to you?”
“Something that is better left unsaid,” I replied, looking him right in the face. “Plausible deniability. You already know this.”
King let out a grunt. “So I find you in my house wearing a goddamn sling, sporting a black eye, and I’m supposed to just not ask questions?”
“You can ask whatever you’d like – doesn’t mean you’ll get an answer.”
“Damnit Ace, you—”
“That’s enough, kids,” Daniel scolded, effectively quieting both of us. “Alicia, sweetheart, just one question – do I need to tell our lawyers to be ready for something?”
I took a moment to think about it before I answered with a nod. “Honestly… Maybe.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Maybe? Or more… probably? Or flat out yes?”
“Just maybe.”
He nodded. “Fair enough.” He was turned back to Kingston when my notebook must’ve caught his eye. It wasn’t like Daniel to be interested in things that weren’t directly related to his business or his family, but something about that paper made him freeze where he stood, then reach to pick it up.
“What do you have here, sweetheart?” he asked, in a tone I clocked as concern – my bruised appearance probably didn’t help.
“Nothing really,” I said, taking the notebook from his hands. “You know Sebastian is all over the news right now, because of what happened with that cop in his driveway. I’ve just been following news reports, trying to figure it all out.”
I didn’t have to lie.
This was Daniel Whitfield, the man who’d taken me in, treated me like family, had seen to it that I was able to have a somewhat normal life. Not to mention, he had to know about my outburst a few weeks back, with me chasing Dacia across the casino floor. If there was anybody I could tell the truth – who would very likely be able to give me some answers, it would be him.
Still… something held me back.
“Looks like some pretty serious stuff, dealing with some pretty serious people… I want you to promise me you’ll be careful,” he said, and I nodded.
“Of course Daniel. Always. That’s actually why I’m here,” I continued, looking between him and Kingston. “I need to take a leave of absence, to look into some things regarding my personal life.”
“What personal life,” Kingston grumbled, just barely loud enough for me to hear it, prompting me to flip him off.
“Both of you, behave,” Daniel commanded. “Alicia… are you in some sort of trouble?”
“Not at all. I just need some time. Between Kerri, Jennifer, and the others, your family will still be well-protected, and if I need to bring in temporary contractors, I have no problem making those arrangements.”
“That won’t be necessary. Your people are perfectly capable, and I appreciate you setting up contingencies for your absence. Take whatever time you need.”
I nodded. “Thank you Daniel.”
“You’re welcome.”
He kissed my cheek again and then shared some parting words with Kingston before he left. Kingston saw him to the front door and then came right back, stopping in the doorway with folded arms.
“Okay – he’s
gone. Now you tell me what the hell is going on.”
I scoffed. “Shouldn’t you be monitoring what Asha is spending on this baby? I heard she was out nursery shopping with Zora and your mother. Your account is bound to be five figures lighter.”
“Ace,” he growled, stepping toward me. “Seriously – what happened to your face?”
“Reo Tanaka happened to my face, okay?” I told him, knowing he was someone I could trust. “And that is all I can say about that.”
“Reo Tanaka was murdered two nights ago – by a business rival, or a fighter with a grudge. That’s the speculation.”
“The speculation is wrong,” I said simply, already breaking my rule of all I can say about that, but when it came to Kingston… it was hard to hide anything, when the man had become like a brother to me, and I knew all his dirty little secrets. I so rarely had any business of my own, it almost didn’t seem fair to hide it. But still… “Kingston, don’t make me tell you anything that could be used to incriminate me.”
He scoffed. “As if I’d testify against you.”
“You’ll be a married man soon, and a father even sooner – if it comes to you taking the witness stand against me… you’d damn well better.”
“Whatever, Alicia. You don’t want to talk about that, fine. Tell me what’s going on with you and Cree Bradley.”
My eyes went wide. “Excuse me?”
“Don’t play dumb. I know goddamn well Cree Bradley was in my hotel, in your reserved suite, with you. So… what’s up? I’m about to have a new brother-in-law?”
“I will kill you dude, don’t play with me,” I said – a response that was too overblown for the relative truth of his words to not be painfully obvious. I should’ve just rolled my eyes and said nothing – not even dignifying his words with a response. Then, he probably would’ve left it alone. But as it stood, my horrible attempt at lying about my affiliation with Cree only heightened his suspicions.
“Yoooo,” he cackled, putting his fist to his mouth. “You and Boy Scout Bradley, for real?! Nah, you gotta be shittin’ me.”
“Will you… could you… ugh… just shut up, okay?!”
His eyes went even wider. “Woooow, you really like him don’t you?” Kingston laughed even harder, approaching me and wrapping his arms around my shoulders. “You finally put the moves on him, huh?”
“Nobody put any moves on anybody,” I insisted, shaking him off of me. “You’re mischaracterizing it. He’s… helping me.”
“Helping… show you how your pussy works or nah?”
“Ugggghh!” I exclaimed, throwing a weak left-handed punch that Kingston easily dodged. “Why are you being so obnoxious?”
“Like you weren’t obnoxious about my thing with Asha? Nah, you’re gonna take these jokes.”
“But I’m trying to be serious with you. Maybe you could actually, I don’t know, help me.”
“Sure, but I’m going to need a written definition of what you think help means, cause I don’t think Asha would be down with me helping you the way Cree Bradley has been helping.”
“Can you not?”
Kingston smirked one last time. “Fine, fine. But only because you seem so stressed about it. This ain’t over though.”
“Later you can tease all you want, but for now, I need your critical thinking skills.”
“Aiight. What’s up?” he asked, sitting down with me at the counter. “You found anything new about the woman from that picture?”
“Well… yes and no. I know now that… she’s my sister. And her name is Dacia.”
His eyes bugged out. “Seriously?! How did you find that?”
“I didn’t, exactly. I remembered it. And the guy in the picture with her, he’s Maxim Bisset.”
“That name sounds familiar.”
“Well he’s a flesh peddler. Not exactly a big deal here, but he is over in Europe. Runs a bunch of brothels, and he is apparently buddies with our old friend… Sebastian Gray.”
An immediate scowl took over Kingston’s face, with good reason.
On the surface, Sebastian dealt in art, both as a profession and personal hobby. That was the connection he’d had with Kingston’s former wife, Robyn, who ran a local art gallery. The two had started an affair – with dubious consent on Robyn’s part, and now that I knew more about Sebastian and the things he was connected to, I wondered how fairly, if at all, we’d judged her.
The way it ended was in Robyn’s death – one the police ruled a suicide, but Kingston felt otherwise. He suspected it was murder, and had acted accordingly – which was how Cree first ended up in our lives at all.
“Talk to me about how Sebastian is connected,” he said, his voice solemn.
“I don’t exactly know… not yet. But, the detective who was killed in Sebastian’s driveway? That was Cree’s partner. They were there to question Sebastian because they had a murdered Jane Doe, and Sebastian was the last person to see her alive.”
“Okay… but how does that connect to your sister?”
“The Jane Doe… wasn’t a Jane Doe. She had a rose tattoo. Like mine. Like my sister’s. All of this, somehow, is connected. I just can’t figure it all out.”
“But it all comes back to the Belrose family,” he mused, and I nodded.
“Right. Which… brings me to this “Collective”. The Belroses are one of the names on the list. Maxim and Sebastian are there too. Whoever Dacia’s parents are – whoever my parents are… their names are there as well.”
Kingston frowned. “I thought your parents were…”
“Dead? Yeah, I assumed. But the truth is that I don’t really remember anything from before the Belrose compound. These little scraps of memories are all I have, and I can’t even be sure of what they mean… can’t be sure I can trust them.”
“Wow,” King sighed. “This is… a lot.”
“Yeah. It is. I know.”
“I mean… how do you feel about just… asking, you know? Just approaching Maxim Bissett straight up and asking, “where the fuck is my sister?”
“It’s too blatant, I think. I don’t know if I can risk that kind of exposure now that I know that her parentage is what makes her valuable to them.”
“Not just her parentage. If this is your sister, it’s yours too.”
“Then why wouldn’t they have come for me by now? Whatever happened to us, there had to have been… some kind of news or something about it, right? They have to know she has a sister, and if they were able to find her, I have to assume they could find me. One way or another, we’ve both been indoctrinated by the Belrose family, with the mark to prove it. I just don’t know what it all means.”
For a long moment, Kingston was quiet. And then, “Maybe you should ask my parents. I mean, they had an affiliation with the Belrose family once upon a time – it’s how you ended up here with us. Maybe they know something.”
I chewed at the inside of my bottom lip, thinking about how Daniel had reacted to seeing the names I’d scribbled down on that paper, and his admonition to be careful. I didn’t know what, but it was more likely than not that Daniel knew something.
“I really don’t want to bring them into this. Not unless I absolutely have to,” I said, earning a nod from Kingston.
“I understand. It brings…”
“A whole other element to the table.”
I didn’t want to say it out loud to Kingston, but I honestly had to consider that on a list of members of The Collective… In terms of wealth and power, I was fairly likely to find the Whitfield name.
“So… what do you do in the meantime?”
I sighed. “In the meantime… I focus on Dacia. Now that I have her name, Cree has a contact who is looking into it for me. We know she’s an adult, younger than me, so that gives us something to go off of, in terms of searching birth records for the names. If we can just find her history, then maybe we can build from that.”
“And if that’s a dead end?”
“If that’s a dead end�
� then I’ll go to Daniel.”
&
“Because it’s important for you to not stay cooped up in that house, that’s why,” I fussed, in response to Penelope’s lamentations about having her follow-up with Loren at her office, instead of at Jennifer’s house. In my opinion, it was doing her more harm than good to be completely isolated from the outside world.
Penelope… had a different view.
“People are horrible, and you know they are,” she argued from the passenger seat of my car, arms crossed as she glared out the window. “You’ve seen the same things I have. Probably worse.”
I returned my gaze to the traffic in front of me, and sighed. “You know… you’re right. I have seen worse, and people are awful. Mostly. But not all. The key is finding the ones who are good enough to make everybody else tolerable.”
“Or I can just stay in my room.”
“That’s not the answer.”
When we pulled to a stop, I looked over at her again. She was recovering well – so well that glancing at her, you’d never guess what she’d been through. Dressed in leggings and an oversized tee shirt, all that hair pulled into an oversized bun on top of her head, big sunglasses hiding her eyes… she looked like any other teenage girl.
Unfortunately, I knew different.
“Pen,” I started, as traffic began moving again. “I know that after what you’ve been through, it seems… safest, I guess… to isolate yourself. To try to eliminate the chance that you’ll be victimized again. But the truth is that… we need each other. Humans need other humans – we need the touch, we need the communication, all the interaction. It’s necessary to keep us connected to the stuff that makes us… not robots.”
“You mean… not Petals?”
I raised an eyebrow. “Is… that’s what they called you?” I asked, my stomach churning a little at the obvious reference to female anatomy.
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