Black as Night_Black Star Security

by Cynthia Rayne

  Nox intended to confront this asshole and see if he was behind the kidnapping. Although, Deville probably wanted a public reckoning, where he could socially humiliate the family.

  She chewed her lower lip. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “Remember what I said, about information. Tell me.”

  “Fine. It’s about Jim.”

  That fucker.

  Nox had asked Storm to look into the man, just in case, but they hadn’t found anything out of the ordinary. He’d never been in trouble with the law. There were no suspiciously large withdrawals from his bank account either.

  “Go on,” Nox prompted.

  Maeve glanced out the window, as though she found the scenery fascinating. “Jim and I were in the hallway, having an, um, intimate moment, and Deville saw us.”

  Nox nearly slammed on the brakes. “Intimate moment? You slept with him?”

  “No, he was trying to convince me to go home with him, and things got out of hand. I made him back off, and Deville saw the whole sordid thing.”

  “Wait a minute. He tried to force himself on you?” Nox gripped the steering wheel harder, wishing he were wrapping his hands around Jim’s throat instead.

  “No. We were both drunk, and it was a mistake, but this isn’t about Jim. It’s about me, and the morality clause.”

  “The what?”

  “Because I’m the public face of the company, I have a clause in my contract about behavior. I can’t bring any shame on Kent Bourbon through my actions. If I do, they can fire me.”

  “You’ve gotta be kiddin’ me. Why does a group of old pasty white guys care who you bump uglies with?”

  “It’s all about reputation.”

  “Hold up. Forgive me for sayin’ this, but your father was…”

  “Slutty?” she supplied.

  “That’ll do. And they’d kick you out for fooling around in a hallway? Somehow, that don’t seem fair.”

  “Because it isn’t. Welcome to the double standard. My father was a man, and I’m not. Although, Reggie had strict rules about his conduct with co-workers.”

  “And you ‘re worried, Deville is going to take over the company, and use this clause against you.”

  “Yeah, from what I can tell, he’s buying up shares. Profits are down, he saw me in a compromising position with Jim, and the board doesn’t have a lot of faith in me. The next meeting might very well be my last. They might vote me out, and Deville could take over.”

  “Over my dead body.”

  “Unfortunately, you can’t help me with this problem.”

  Just then, they pulled into the parking lot, and Nox didn’t even bother finding a space, he parked the SUV by the door.

  Earlier in the morning, Maeve had called ahead to make an appointment and Deville’s secretary met them at the door and walked them down a long hallway to a large office. Inside was a long, walnut conference table, an impressive liquor cabinet, and a massive desk.

  Maeve was tense beside him, and her face was solemn.

  Deville sat behind it with a smirk on his face. He had to be pushing seventy, judging by the deep grooves in his face and his white hair.

  “What did you want to discuss, young lady?”

  “Do you have my sister?” Maeve asked.

  Nox hung back, letting Maeve handle the questioning. He’d step in if the old fart wasn’t being cooperative.

  “I don’t know what the devil you’re talking about.” Deville glowered at her. “I thought you came here to talk about the board meeting.”

  “It’s the very next item on my list.” Maeve squared her shoulders. “After you tell me what you did with Amy.”

  “I already told you, I don’t know what you mean.”

  “Don’t play games with me, old man. Amy is missing, and I think you hired somebody to kidnap her.”

  “These are outrageous allegations.” Deville stood. “You can take your accusations and get out of my office. And I promise you, the board will hear about this.”

  “I don’t have time for this shit.” Nox lunged for the old codger. He grabbed Deville by the throat and slapped him against the wall. “Do you have Amy?”

  The old man clutched his wrist, but he didn’t have a prayer of breaking Nox’s hold on him.

  “Nox, stop. I don’t think he did it.” Maeve squeezed his arm, but she didn’t have a prayer of breaking his hold on the bastard.

  “How do you know?”

  “He’s a bitter old man, not a kidnapper.”

  Nox released him, and the old man sputtered, backing away.

  “You’ll hear from my lawyer.”

  “Go right ahead.” Nox wasn’t scared of the law.

  Deville frowned when his threat fell flat.

  Meanwhile, Maeve tried to smooth things over. "Look, I apologize. I ran into you at the wedding, and you got in my face. I just assumed you had something to do with it.”

  “I’m sorry to hear about your sister, but I didn’t have a hand in it. I prefer to outwit my enemies through legal means.” Deville said stiffly, rubbing his throat. “Do you always go around threatening people?”

  “No, and while I’m at it, I owe you another apology. I'm sorry about what Reggie did to you. It wasn't right."

  He was stone-faced, unmoved by her plea.

  “Kent Bourbon is the only thing I have left.” Maeve spread her hands. “I can’t lose it, too.”

  His nostrils flared. “But you will.”

  “Why do you want the company? Or you going to take over and make bourbon again?”

  Deville sneered. “No, I make fine spirits now. I’m going to sell it off to the highest bidder.”

  “You would take it away from me, just for spite?” Maeve was tearing up and kept hastily swiping at her eyes.

  Nox gritted his teeth. He might not have taken Amy, but the prick was trying to hurt Maeve, and that, he could not abide.

  She made him feel protective, in a way no other woman had. It’s almost as if she’d thawed his cold, black heart. He’d been pretty damn sure, he didn’t have one anymore.

  “I suggest you and this lunatic need to get out of here before I get my lawyer on the phone.”

  “This isn’t over, Deville,” Maeve said.

  “I agree. See you at the meeting.”

  They left, and security escorted them from the building. The two burly guards stood by the front doors until Nox drove them away.

  An awkward silence filled the car.

  “Maeve, I’m sorry, I got carried away in there.”

  “It’s okay. I wish I could smack him around a bit too. I still can’t believe this is happening.” She groaned. “And to think, I was complaining, about putting so many hours in at work. My father would be so ashamed of me.”

  “Don’t say that.”

  “Why? It’s true. I’ve let him down. I didn’t take care of Amy, and I’m running his business into the ground. I’m about to lose everything.”

  Chapter 11

  When Maeve walked into the kitchen later in the day, she overheard Storm and Nox talking to each other in low, urgent tones. She couldn’t make out what they were saying, but they both wore grim expressions.

  Maeve didn’t think she could handle any more bad news. Deville was going to destroy Kent Bourbon, but he didn’t know a thing about Amy. Storm and Nox had gone through the rest of her short enemies list and came up empty.

  And they didn’t have any new leads on her sister’s whereabouts. Or did they?

  When she got to the bottom of the stairs, they stopped speaking and swiveled to face her.

  “What is it? What’s wrong?” she asked.

  Oh God. They’re gonna tell me she’s dead. They found her body.

  She clasped a hand over her mouth to keep from screaming.

  “I found Amy,” Storm said.

  “Is she…?”

  “She’s alive,” Nox said.

  Relief came like a warm ocean wave, washing away the fear.

&nbs
p; “Thank God. Where is she? Is she hurt?” Maeve rushed forward, eager for more information.

  Storm shook his head. “I wish I could say this was encouraging news, but I took a look around the dark web, and you’re not going to like what I found.”

  She steeled herself. “What?”

  “You’d better sit down.” Nox pulled out a chair, and she collapsed in it. He placed his hands on her shoulders.

  “Amy’s being auctioned off, along with half a dozen other young women.”

  Maeve gasped. “Auctioned? Someone’s selling her?”

  “I know this is a lot to take in.” Storm absently touched his laptop, which was sitting on the kitchen table. “But she’s alive and looks unharmed. Don’t lose hope. Now that we know where she is, we’re one step closer to getting her back.”

  “You’ve seen her then?” Maeve asked, trying to focus on the problem, instead of giving into the sheer terror of the situation.

  “Yes. They’ve offered photographs and short video clips of the women to…” Storm expelled a breath. “To Entice buyers.”

  Entice. Like they were writing advertising copy, and Amy was a product, not a person.

  Nox muttered something under his breath, and she squeezed his hand, clinging to him for support.

  “Let me see.”

  Storm shook his head. “No, you don’t want these images in your head, Maeve. Trust me.”

  “Please.” Maeve held out her hand for the laptop.

  Storm glanced at Nox, who must have offered some silent approval because Storm gave her the computer.

  Numbly, she took in the scene. Maeve felt like she was going to throw up.

  Amy was shackled to a chair. She was blindfolded, and it looked like a dirty rag was stuffed into her mouth. Her face was streaked with wetness, on either side of her cheeks. From crying?

  “Oh, Amy…” Tears came to her own eyes, burning hot. She must be so scared. All this time, she’d been with these bastards. What if they’d hurt her? Tortured her? Raped her?

  “Have they hurt her?”

  “I don’t know for sure, but it’s unlikely. Forgive me for saying this, but she’s merchandise, so they want her in decent condition. From what I can put together, it’s a very exclusive sale, so she’ll fetch top dollar.”

  “I know this is hard, but we could use another set of eyes on this intel. Pull back and focus on the details,” Nox murmured, stroking her hair.

  And she pulled in a breath, held it, and then released the air slowly.

  “It looks like a warehouse or a factory.” The walls around Amy were industrial, made of steel, and the floor was concrete.

  “Do you notice anything we could use?”

  She carefully surveyed the scene again. “No, I don’t see any words or pictures. No landmarks are visible. It doesn’t look like there are any windows. How do we get to her?” Maeve asked Storm.

  “I’ve been trying to digitally track down the physical location, but I’m running into interference. The signal is bouncing all over the world. It’s impossible to track, even for me.”

  “So, you think these guys are pros?” Nox asked.

  “I know they are.”

  “Fine, we can’t go and get her.” Her mind was racing with options. “You said there was an auction. So, I can buy my way out of this problem. What’s the asking price?” She had millions of dollars at her disposal and Maeve couldn’t think of a better way to spend it.

  “From what I can tell, the opening bid is a few thousand to start, but we’ll need to score an invite to make one.”

  She frowned, not understanding. These bastards wanted cash, why would they be so choosy?

  “They don’t do business with just anyone,” Storm explained. “You need an invitation from a friend of a friend, someone they know and trust. It’s an insurance policy. They don’t want the feds making a bid and then arresting them at the pick-up location.”

  Smart but evil. If they only did business with people they knew, they were less likely to get busted.

  “Fine. How do we score an invite?”

  “I’ll work my contacts and see what I can do.” He placed his hands on his hips. “The auction begins in six hours, so the timeline’s fast.”

  “And you know criminals?”

  “Fuck yeah,” Nox said. “He used to work for the CIA.”

  Storm’s lips thinned. “I can neither confirm nor deny who my former employers were.”

  “And that’s spook speak for ‘yes,’” Nox clarified.

  Storm cleared his throat. “I know you want Amy back, but they could use this money for anything. They could be funding terrorism, or the drug trade, or any number of criminal enterprises.”

  “I don’t care.” Maeve hated to sound so callous, but it was the truth. “I’m sorry, but I don’t, not when it comes to her life. Screw the world. She’s my sister and money’s no object. I don’t give a damn what it costs.”

  “Understood.” Storm took the computer and started typing, evidently reaching out to his contacts.

  She offered up a silent prayer that he was successful.

  “What happens when we find the bastards that took her?” Maeve wanted them to be punished. They deserved to go to jail for a long time.

  “Then we get your sister back, and I handle it.” Nox folded his hands over his chest.

  “Handle it? What do you mean?”

  He glanced away, refusing to meet her gaze. “My brothers would probably turn them over to the authorities, but that ain’t the way I handle a problem. I usually solve them by puttin’ a bullet between somebody’s eyes.”

  Storm glanced up. “No objections on my end.”

  “These pricks kidnap co-eds, and I don’t have an issue with puttin’ them down. Do you?”

  After a moment, she shook her head. Maeve had always thought of herself as an ethical person. She didn’t lie, cheat, or steal, and yet here she was casually discussing murder in a kitchen.

  But these were extreme circumstances, and the authorities rarely caught these kinds of criminals. From what she’d read, they often arrested low-level flunkies, and the problem was never truly addressed. The criminals in charge just hired new flunkies. There was a seemingly endless supply of them.

  “Okay, then. We have a plan. I’ll be upstairs if you need me.” All she could do was sit there and stare at Storm while he worked.

  Maeve paced the length of Nox’s room, trying to wrap her head around this.

  A short time later, Nox knocked on the door. “What can I do for you?”

  “You’re already taking care of it.” Storm would score an invitation to bid, and she’d pay the bastards off.

  “No, I mean you, personally. What do you need?” Nox stood there awkwardly, and he tugged the collar of his shirt.

  “You’re trying to comfort me, aren’t you?”

  He tossed her own words right back at her. “Yeah, is it weird?”

  “A little bit.”

  “Should I stop?”

  “No, thank you for caring.”

  “I do, you know.” He stepped further into the room and closed the door behind him.

  “What?”

  “Care. A lot. You’re…” He paused to swallow. “Special.”

  ***

  “What are you trying to say?” She licked her lips, and he had the urge to kiss them again.

  Fuck if I know.

  “I don’t like to see you upset. It bothers me.”

  He got antsy when women tried to show him affection. And yet he wanted to wrap his arms around her. Couldn’t get close enough to her. If he could permanently share his body with her, Nox would.

  They sat on the bed and she leaned against him, laid her head on his shoulder, but said nothing. Nox didn’t know what to make of his strange behavior.

  “You’re awfully quiet,” Nox prompted when she didn’t speak up.

  “I'm just thinking.”

  “About what?”

  She sat up, blue eyes a l
ittle watery. “Are you sure you wanna hear all this?”

  “Of course, I do.” He stroked her pale white cheek. “Come on, talk to me.”

  “What if I’m wrong?”

  “About what?”

  “Everything. My father spent his life working and chasing women. And what have I done? The same damn thing, only I’m after men. I haven’t been spending my time on the things that really matter. I should’ve been making memories with my sister. And I’m not taking care of myself either. I’m not getting enough sleep, I’m not eating right. All I do is work.”

  “Maybe you need someone to take care of you.”

  She gasped but didn’t say a word.

  “What? Don’t look so shocked. We’ve gotten close the past few days.”

  “Yeah, we have. And I’m sorry, but you make me nervous.”

  “Right back at you. You’ve gotten under my skin, too.” It was much easier to deal with her on a sexual level than an emotional one. “And let’s be honest, we’ve already stopped being casual.”

  “Maybe you’re right, but how on earth could I make you nervous?” Maeve shook her head. “You always seem so confident.”

  “Like I said earlier, I care. It matters to me what you think, what you feel. You matter.” And it scared the ever-living shit out of him.

  “So, what should we do about us?”

  “I don’t have a fucking clue.” Nox wasn’t even sure they were an “us.” He’d never allowed himself to get this close to a woman before, and he didn’t have a roadmap. Nox needed to consult with someone, get some information. “We’ll figure it out, once this case is solved.”

  “Speaking of the big elephant in this room, what if I don’t get Amy back? And what if I lose the business, too?”

  He rubbed her shoulder. “You just have to get through this and come out the other side. And when you do, you’ll be stronger for it.”

  And colder.

  He’d been in a lot of tight spots and hairy situations over the past few years, and it had taken a toll on him. With each confirmed kill, he had grown a little more distant. Until one day, when he was looking in the mirror, Nox didn’t even recognize himself.

  Nox didn’t want that for her. He wanted to give Maeve a happy ending. She should have her sister and be able to create the life she wanted. Unfortunately, fairy tales aren’t true, and reality can be harsh. Her sister might die and the Deville bastard might very well take and destroy her father’s company.