by KB Winters
“A coffee for me. Madison?”
She rolled her eyes. “Burger and fries. Well done, lots of ketchup.”
Yep, she was definitely a kid.
“Thanks Brad.” The waiter left, and I turned my gaze back to Madison. “You were saying?”
Madison nodded and sucked in a deep breath that she had to let out slowly just to calm her nerves. “Three months in and Molly hated the job. Said the couple was weird and evil. Told me she’d caught the guy trying to sneak into her room, and she started pushing the small dresser in front of the door when she slept. Then on month five, I stopped hearing from my sister altogether.”
It was a story I knew well, had heard it at least a thousand times. “Shit Madison, I’m sorry.”
She shook her head, doing her best to look tough even though I could see she was on the verge of tears.
“I don’t need your pity, I need answers. Molly sent me a photo of her inside their big ass house, so I have their address, but they moved. And I tracked them to your hotel. This hotel.”
Her words sent a tingle of awareness up the back of my spine, so much that I had to tell myself to keep calm. To relax and not get too far ahead of myself. Yet.
“Do you have their names? Or a photo?”
She was a kid who’d done a little detective work, but I wasn’t holding out hope.
“Dennis and Debbie Smith,” she snorted.
Aliases. “I’ll look into it. I promise. Do you have someplace to stay?”
Brad chose that moment to interrupt with our food. “Anything else?”
“We’re good now,” I told him and watched him walk away to check on the other customers. Madison sank into her food like she’d skipped more than a few meals. My heart went out to the kid.
“Well?” I said.
“Well what?” She shook her head and took another bite, chewing like the food would disappear if she didn’t eat it all at once. “I don’t need your charity, rich girl. I just want to find my sister.”
I sighed heavily and reached for any patience I could find. Normally, I was the patient Ashby. Okay, well, Cal was the patient Ashby, but I came in a close second.
“It’s not charity. I’m terribly busy at the moment, and I won’t always be so easy to find. Do you have a phone, some way I can get a hold of you?”
“Why,” she asked with a sneer. “You gonna offer me a phone too?”
I rolled my eyes. “Do you have a phone or don’t you, Madison?”
She looked away, ashamed. “I don’t.”
Dammit, she was just a fucking kid. Too young to have to pretend she could handle all the shit life had already thrown at her.
“Finish your food,” I ordered and went back to my now lukewarm coffee.
Madison finished every bite of food and the iced tea, savoring every bite like she didn’t know where her next meal would come from.
“I’m done.”
“Come with me,” I told her as I stood and straightened the sapphire blue dress that was comfortable enough to wear all day, even after a big meal. When Madison’s light brown eyes started to dart around the restaurant, I groaned to myself. She was scared. Of course, she was scared.
“Just up to my office so we can talk. Privately.”
She glared and then pointed at me. “Don’t try anything funny lady.”
I laughed and nodded for her to follow me to the executive elevator.
“I can barely tolerate talking to teenagers, Madison. I definitely have no interest in doing anything funny.”
She stepped onto the elevator behind me and snorted. “Funny is in the eyes of the beholder, or haven’t you heard?”
I nodded. “Believe it or not, Madison, your sister isn’t the only one who’s been through this shit.”
“You mean…you?”
“Not me, but some people very close to me.”
“So what do you plan to do then?” The teenager practically nipped at my heels as we exited the elevator and headed toward my office. “Damn, this is even nicer than those church people’s house.”
Inside my office, I closed the door and made my way to the desk while Madison bounced around every corner of my office, in awe of all the lavish furnishings. I sent a quick message to Oliver to come up to my office as soon as he could.
“I’m going to do some digging because I have a feeling we’re both looking for the same people.”
She was a kid so there was no way in hell I’d give her any real details, but Madison needed to know I was just as committed as she was to…whatever this was.
“Yeah, why?”
Luckily, a knock sounded on the door. My assistant announcing Oliver’s arrival.
“He’s setting up a new phone for some reason. I told him I could do it but he insisted.”
“All right. Thanks, Shelby.”
She nodded and left, closing the door quietly behind her. Madison snorted. “It’s good to be boss, huh?”
“Not this week. Too much shit to do, kid.”
“Sounds like a blow off to me,” she said and stood, making a beeline for the door, but Oliver’s arrival stopped her dead in her tracks.
“That’s the problem with teenagers, they think they know everything when the truth is you don’t even know your head from your ass.” She turned with an angry stare that I ignored. “This is Oliver, he is our family driver and he’s going to take you someplace safe.”
She shook her head, dirty blonde hair brushing her shoulders as she backed up to the floor-to-ceiling windows. Terrified once again. “Yeah, I don’t fuckin’ think so, rich girl.”
I held up a hand for Oliver to stay where he was. “For a tough girl you sure do scare easy. Oliver is just taking you to one of our other hotels, where you can sleep safely, get some food and most of all, so I’ll know where you are when I have any information for you on your sister. Got it?”
She nodded, but Madison’s mind wasn’t made up. Not yet. Her dark gaze darted between me and Oliver, trying to decide if we were taking her to a sex dungeon to share her sister’s fate or if we were for real. “You don’t have any female drivers?”
Oliver covered his laugh with a cough.
“You think men have the market cornered on being sickos and perverts?”
“No,” she sighed in defeat. “Fine. Whatever.”
“Oliver’s worked for the family for years. He’s a good guy. I swear.”
She didn’t look convinced and Oliver shrugged with a charming smile. “My husband thinks so, too.”
“Fine, I said! Whatever.”
Ten minutes later we were all on our way to a budget hotel where Madison wouldn’t stand out, and I couldn’t decide if I wanted to involve Calvin in my digging or not. At least not yet. Bonnie was still going through some shit and acting weird as hell so he had a lot on his plate at the moment.
Which meant, for the moment, I was on my own.
Chapter Six
Terry
“Thought you were having Kat deal with Rob.”
Secretly, I was glad Jasper had called and asked me to come with him to deal with the man everyone called Ravager, based on his incredible boxing skills. The dude was talented as fuck, equally as difficult, but he had a bad habit of looking at Kat like she was a juicy steak he couldn’t wait to devour. Not that I could talk, but I only thought about it.
Jasper laughed and looked up at the cement and glass structure that was House of Ashby. The best fight school and training center in the western hemisphere if you asked Jasper.
“Yeah, I was, but I dropped all the fight shit on her lap so that we could deal with The Crusaders. And Brendan fucking Rhymer.” Jasper sighed and his broad shoulders fell just a fraction. “She’s doing a damn good job,” he said, leaving the rest of his thought hanging in the air.
“And?” Jasper was my best friend, closer to me than my own blood brother, but he was shit at giving out compliments.
He smirked and shrugged. “And I didn’t want her to hurt him right be
fore the right.”
We shared a laugh at that, knowing that Kat was twice as fierce as a woman in her position needed to be, a benefit of growing up with three bad ass brothers. And two equally rowdy honorary brothers. “She’s a killer, in the boardroom or in the streets and we need this fight to happen. Ready?”
“Yeah,” I sighed and nodded, knowing what needed to be done. It was my job to keep Emmett distracted while Jasper had a private chat with Rob. We couldn’t risk my brother walking in on that convo. I hated the deception, but in this case it was necessary. Emmett wouldn’t like it; he wouldn’t agree to it, and he didn’t have to. As long as Rob did.
“Got some shit to share with him anyway.”
Jasper paused and turned to me. “Wanna talk about it?”
“Not more than once,” I snorted and clapped him on the back. “But thanks, Dr. Phil.”
Jasper pulled the glass door open with one hand and flipped me off with the other. “Well you know…I’m here.”
“I know, man. Thanks.” I stepped inside as the cool air washed over me, followed immediately by the stench of sweat and nylon. “Let’s do this.”
Jasper gave a sharp nod. “And then we can head back to Midnight Mass for some fish & chips. And whiskey.”
“Helluva workday,” I said with a grin as we walked through the gym, Jasper’s presence causing a wave of tension. The grin remained because every day I woke up finding it hard to believe that my workday consisted of being at my best friend’s side, shooting the shit, and having each other’s backs in all things.
It was a fucking great way to earn a living.
“Gotta earn those dollars somehow,” he grinned. “No more than an hour. I hope.”
It was then that I realized that Jasper was actually worried he might have to apply pressure to Ravager. Not that he ever backed down from a confrontation or a fight, but he preferred to be a businessman when it came to business. And a brawler when it came to the real business. It also told me that I needed to be on my toes and extra observant because this shit with the return of Brendan Rhymer was fucking with him more than he let on.
Just before we came to the row of octagons, Jasper went right and I went left to Emmett’s office and knocked, Hard.
“What is it,” he barked, sounding so much like our old man I had to do a double take before I opened the door and poked my head inside.
“Got a minute?”
Worry instantly clouded Emmett’s gaze as he nodded and waved me on. “Yeah. What’s up?”
I stepped inside slowly and shut the door. This was private news best shared behind closed doors.
“My mom ran into yours in lockup at County recently. Wasn’t sure if you’d heard from her or not.”
It was the same story with both of our mothers, in and out of jail on petty charges, mostly stemming from addiction. After a while it just became normal.
“I haven’t,” he said warily. This was often the intro to some really bad shit.
The laugh that escaped my mouth was bitter more than amused because we both lucked out in the parental department. Moms were both drunk junkies who dabbled in hard drugs and our dad was a dealer who dabbled in everything, legal or otherwise. Sadie had saved us both, ironically.
“Well, you’ll be happy to know she’s alive and well. Picked up on a theft warrant, stole some shit from one of those boutiques inside the Venetian.”
Emmett let out his own bitter laugh and shook his head. “Thanks for letting me know. How’s your mom?”
“Just got out and thinking about turning her life around. Again. Got a new boyfriend so I’ll hold my breath in anticipation of the wedding announcement or the death notification.” With her, I never could tell. “How’s fight training going?”
“Fine. Mostly.” He sighed, weighing whether or not to tell me what was on his mind. It was either because he was afraid I’d tell Jasper, or he was more afraid I’d handle it on my own.
“Well?” I asked, impatient to get moving.
“Something is up with Rob. I can’t say for sure, but I know it’s something. His fighting is fine, on point as usual but his attitude. It’s different this week. More aggressive but not pre-fight aggression.”
I knew exactly what he meant about pre-fight aggression because we’d gone a few rounds in the days leading up to Emmett’s first few fights.
“Get in the ring with him, make sure it’s not just nerves. Worked for you.”
“And risk injuring the headline fighter days before the main event? You trying to get me kneecapped?”
“Never,” I responded seriously. It was always a worry when we did the kind of work we did, mingling with the underworld crowd. We always had to be careful. “Let me know if his head isn’t in the game, he’ll end up dead.” In more ways than one.
“I’ll handle it, Terry.”
“Don’t be defensive, Em. I know you can do your fucking job, but you have a problem giving people news they don’t want to hear. Except me, then you have no problem at all.”
He nodded, saying nothing, but the quirk of a smile on his lips said everything. “This fight is a big deal for me too, Terry. I’ll do what needs to be done.”
“You always do, little brother.”
He shook his head. “I’m bigger than you, asshole.”
“I’m still more badass, though.”
We shared a laugh at the old joke that never failed to get a rise out of us. Emmett was younger and big as fuck, but I made up for my wiry frame by being what Jasper called a crazy motherfucker.
“Heard you scared off some asshole messin’ with Kat.”
I nodded, still angry that asshole had the nerve to get so close and on Ashby property no less. “Anything show up on camera?”
“Nope. You can see it if you want, but he was really careful about hiding his face from the cameras. Like he’d been here before and knew where they all were.”
“Any newbies here that set off alarms?” I asked, filing away more bad news.
Emmett shook his head and raked a hand through his thick brown hair. “Plenty of people are in and out of here, mostly fighters and trainers, medical crew. Nobody who caused concern, at least not if you don’t count all the agents and managers looking to poach fighters.”
Shit. Poaching was part of the business; we all knew that. But still it shocked me how many were willing to risk certain death by crossing Sadie or Jasper. Boxing was a money maker and the Ashbys would do anything to stay on top.
“All right. I’ll get security to get me the last two weeks of footage. See what we can find.”
Emmett’s brows dipped low. “Kat is family. I already pulled the past four weeks. I’m sending it now.”
“Thanks.” I’d hit up Cal with what I could remember of the man’s description once I went through the footage.
“Anything for Kat. Right?”
My lips twitched, and I shook my head. “You relentless little shit,” I laughed. “Save that for Rob.”
“But it’s so much more fun to give you shit. Especially about this.” Emmett just laughed when I flipped him off. “Any news on the Kat front?”
“Nothing at all and there won’t be. You know that.” Jasper and Virgil had never reacted well to any of the men Kat had brought home and as Jasper’s best friend, she was strictly one hundred percent off limits.
“That’s some bullshit high school posturing and you know it. I mean, I’d rather have my sister with someone who’d take a bullet for me than anyone else.”
“Good thing you don’t have a sister, huh?” I nodded, taking his point. It always bothered me too. “Anyway, there’s nothing I can do about it.”
“Until there is,” he said with a satisfied smile just as Jasper knocked and interrupted.
“Things are looking good, Em. Keep up the good work.”
Jasper stepped inside, confident that his interruption wasn’t unwelcome.
“Thanks. Everyone is working hard.”
“Any problems?” Jaspe
r’s tone was even but I knew him better than that. He was fishing for something he already knew about.
“Nothing I can’t handle.” Emmett was tougher than he looked, and I pitied the men who learned that lesson the hard way. My big-little brother was a nice guy. A good guy. He didn’t seem like the vet and pro brawler that he was, which had served him well. In many ways.
“If that changes, I’m a phone call away.”
Emmett nodded but kept quiet. Jasper gave a sharp nod to my brother before he turned and walked out.
“Later,” I told Emmett and caught up with Jasper. “How’d it go?”
“Could’ve gone better, but I hope I made my point. Clearly.” Because if he hadn’t, it would be made crystal clear. After the fight.
Chapter Seven
Kat
Thanks to the information I’d gotten from Madison, I was able to find out more on the couple staying in the Mueller Suites with a credit card and a basic internet search. Dennis and Deborah Smith were actually Stephen and Donna McLaughlin. He was a forensic accountant and she was a publicist, owners and operators of two small practices, both with just one client. The Las Vegas Diocese.
That couldn’t be a coincidence, and I was eager to share my news with the family and see what else Cal could find. But it would have to wait until Sunday dinner since there was too much to do to prepare for the upcoming fight. But that also gave me three more days to dig on my own, before Sadie ordered me to stop. Which she would as soon as I told the family.
The McLaughlins had an open-ended reservation, which was strange, since they lived and worked in Vegas, not to mentioned they owned a home here in town. Just like Madison said. Another quick online search showed the address on the background check was indeed the same house that Madison had seen in the last photo Molly had sent to her.
“Definitely not a fucking coincidence,” I muttered to no one in particular since I was alone in my office.
It was all starting to add up to exactly as I suspected but still with no concrete proof to make any formal accusations. Which meant all I had was a half-baked theory, which was likely true, but no way to prove it. Yet. With Madison and my own surveillance, I was close.