I felt a surge of elation that soon became icy dread when my gaze reached the last screen on the row. Miriam. My queen. Huddled in the corner of a stark appointed hotel room, naked, her wrists cuffed. I stepped forward. The agent in front of the screen cut a quick glance over his shoulder, then hunched further in front of the monitor blocking her from view. He tersely uttered a string of technical information into his headset. LL3. Room 220. Access restricted. Entry through the hallway on the right before the pool. Elevator override. My cell rang as those details penetrated my frenzied mind.
“What?” I answered it without thinking. And I heard a voice. Her voice. “Miriam,” I breathed. But she didn’t respond. She was talking, but I realized that it was only a recording.
“Please, don’t,” she cried. I heard a slap and a gasp that made my blood run cold. “You don’t have to do this.” Another slap. And another. I heard her crying, begging them to stop. Her pleas were met only with jeers and obscenities. My hands shaking, I jerked the phone away from my ear. That was when I realized that it wasn’t only sound. The caller had opened a video chat feed. It looped again somehow. Helpless to do anything, my gut churned as I watched a circle of men ripping the clothes from Miriam’s body. Every beat of my heart pounded with horror as they began to take turns slapping her, one after another until she stopped getting back up.
My queen on her knees, in front of monsters like that. I’d make every one of them pay.
A text message dinged.
Unknown caller: Enjoy the show? VC
A red-tinged haze curtained my eyes. Vincenzo Campanella. I would kill him first. Then the rest of them. Stumbling backward on unsteady legs, my shoulders hit the metal wall of the van behind me so hard my teeth rattled. Heart racing with retribution for them and fear for her, I returned my gaze to the monitor that held her image. I tried to reconcile what I had seen on my cell to the live feed on the security camera. No one was in the room with her now. She lay in a corner, unmoving. She stared vacantly at the door. They had stripped her of more than just her clothing. They had stolen her fire and robbed her of her dignity.
“C’mon.” I turned my head to her brother and mine and lifted my chin. I wouldn’t stand around and watch anymore. Their gazes sharp, they silently acknowledged me. They hadn’t seen what I had on my phone, but they saw the result of it on the surveillance screen that featured Miriam. They were right behind me as I slipped stealthily out the back door of the van.
* * *
Miriam
I stared at the door. What they had done to me had been horrible. I hurt all over. But I knew what they planned for me next would be worse. They had promised to cut me. To burn me. And after that would come the ultimate violation. A shudder rolled through me. Chill bumps rose on my skin. I couldn’t contemplate it. My body already felt alien to me. No longer my own. No longer my choice. Carefully, awkwardly because of the stiffness in my limbs and the handcuffs, I pulled my knees to my chest, dropped my head, and I wept.
* * *
King
Inside the lobby of the lobby, I glanced around to get my bearings. Security lights flared like strobes. The electronic music of the slot machines droned on muffled by the clanging alarms. Uniformed Las Vegas Police ushered frightened people toward the main exits. Pressing forward against the flow, my bandmates behind me, I made my way in remembering the coordinates from the van. I reached the pool exit and the propped open door to the right. I ducked into it and scanned the long hallway that stretched out before me. Along its length several HSI agents I recognized from the main office stood with their weapons trained on men who sat with their backs against the wall, their hands handcuffed behind them. It pleased me to note that most appeared roughed up in one way or another.
“Mac sent us,” I lied. “Where’s Miriam?” I threw out the question to no one in particular keeping my head down so they couldn’t see the barely-contained rage in my eyes.
“Lower level three. Room 220. Take the elevator,” one of them replied without looking away from the man he guarded. I put my hand in the air to acknowledge his directions, and he waved us past.
Bryan and Sager exchanged glances with me as soon as the doors closed.
“Do you think she’s ok?” Bryan asked as I punched the button for LL3.
“There might be guards,” I warned.
“I almost hope so.” Bryan’s eyes blazed.
The doors opened. We exited shoulder to shoulder. The corridor we entered was more dimly lit than the one above. The strobes flashed ominous shadows on the walls as the alarm bells clanged. We followed the signs that pointed to the right for rooms 210-220. As we made our way down the hall, open doors revealed rooms similar to the one we had seen Miriam in. Each of these, every single one, stood eerily empty.
My strides lengthened, my companions matching my pace. Around the corner, I saw a uniformed agent outside the room that held my reina.
“Still working on the override for this door,” he said sheepishly as we approached. “The pass code’s more complicated.”
“Stand back.” I shouldered him aside. The panic I had held at bay was cresting. Surging on a wave of adrenaline, I reared back and kicked the door. It gave way too easily. Off balance, I staggered inside the room as I heard the agent’s comm unit crackle.
“Lock override complete. Visual clear. Subject secure. Medical team dispatched.”
I dropped down on my knees beside Miriam’s prone form.
“Miriam. Reina. Wake up.” My eyes began to burn when she didn’t respond. I slid my hands under her. Her skin felt ice cold. She whimpered a protest as I pulled her to my chest. Her head lolled listlessly to the side. Cradling it, I stood. The rattling of the handcuffs behind her back made my anger surge anew.
“We’ve got her.” Bryan removed his shirt and threw it over her to cover her nakedness. He put his hand on my shoulder, his expression revealing he was having his own issues tempering his rage. “We gotta keep it together. Get her out of this place.”
“Let’s go.” Sager gave us both a look. The presence of my bandmates brought me a small measure of comfort. But after what Miriam had been through I wondered if there would be anything I could do to fix her.
Chapter Forty-Two
Miriam
Juaquin was here. I remembered the disbelief I had felt when he had come to my rescue. How had he found me? Waves of relief alternated with panic as I remembered the violation I had endured. Juaquin had saved me. So handsome. So vital. So fierce. Even now he stood guard outside my room like a sentinel as the ER staff attended to me.
But I was a wreck. Why bother? What could the empathetic nurses and no-nonsense physicians possibly do to make me better?
I hardly remembered the ride over in the ambulance. Since then I had endured questions, exams and bloodwork. Although I had declined the rape kit.
I wrapped the scratchy blanket tighter around my shoulders. Though the nurse had somehow managed to secure all the ties of the flimsy hospital gown, I still felt glaringly exposed.
The way I feared I always would from now on.
Juaquin was talking to the doctor and my brother out in the hall. The staff had sent Mike and Sager to the waiting area, which was a good thing given their pasts. Neither did well with emergency rooms or the aftereffects of physical violence. Especially on such a personal level.
What is the doctor asking my brother and Juaquin? I wondered. What more needed to be said? I had been beaten. Threatened with sexual abuse. My torturers had videotaped my humiliation. The inquiries and questions seemed unnecessary in light of the video evidence. I couldn’t stand any more. I wanted to go home. As if sensing my disquiet, Juaquin turned his head my way.
Ah, I felt his concern. His sympathy. I didn’t want it. I wasn’t worthy of it. I had walked directly into Campanella’s trap. I had endangered everyone. My bruised and broken body, as well as the inner wounds that no one could see, were all my own damn fault. I dropped my gaze.
“Miriam.” Hi
s black and white Adidas high tops entered my field of vision. I gripped the blanket tighter and cranked up my chin. I was his queen, or I had been. How could I resist his call? He winced and narrowed his golden eyes. I looked like hell. I had seen my face in the mirror. It wasn’t pretty. A stark contrast to him and his devastating masculine perfection. Black sweatshirt with cut off sleeves. Jeans snug in all the right places. More than one nurse had given him a second look as he had passed.
“What did the doctor say?” I licked my dry lips and glanced away. I lifted the Styrofoam cup with a straw to my mouth. He watched me closely. I took a long sip, cool and refreshing. I realized, like many things, I would never take the freedom to drink whenever I was thirsty for granted again.
“That you’re ok to go home now if you want.”
How will anything be ok after this? I thought as he removed the turquoise jacket that he had tied around his trim waist. He had probably actually needed it back in Seattle. “Here.” He gently removed the blanket and replaced it with the jacket, carefully arranging it around my shoulders as if it were a mantle, and I was still good enough to be his queen. “You ready?”
“Yeah.” I brought the edges of his jacket closer together and breathed in his familiar margarita-like scent.
“Warm enough?” he queried.
“Yes.” I nodded, burrowing deeper into it.
“Good. Then let’s get out of here.” He gave me a weighty look. “Your brother and I were having a disagreement about where you would want to go.”
“To my duplex.” I cocked my head to the side. “Where else?” I saw the flash of disappointment in his gaze. What had he expected me to say? “Can you tell Mike I’m being discharged?” My best friend was almost as busted up as I was thanks to me. “Have him bring the car around, please.” I started to get off the examining table, but sucked in a swift breath the moment my feet hit the floor and pain sliced through me.
Juaquin noticed. “Let me help you, Reina.”
“No,” I countered sharply.
My brother turned. He and Juaquin exchanged a worried glance.
“Stop it, alright? Both of you. I want to do things on my own. Even something like getting down from this table makes me feel like I’m taking at least a little bit of myself back. I think you can understand that.”
I heard a sudden commotion out in the hall. The ER doc appeared with my ex-boyfriend, my uniformed ex-boyfriend, who I realized now had serious acting skills, better than my own. I had been brought up to speed on a lot of things. My head was spinning from all the details, but apparently a few of them had been left out.
“What’s going on?” I asked him. I didn’t know how I felt about Frank right now. He had deceived me, but if he hadn’t I might not be breathing air right now. Me or Juaquin. I had talked to the investigators. I had the chain of events since my capture mostly straight. I knew the important things like who had busted open the door, freed me and carried me to the ambulance. “You’re a federal agent?”
“Didn’t anyone tell you?” Frank gave my brother and Juaquin a chastising look.
“We haven’t had a chance to yet,” my brother explained. “More pressing matters.” He inclined his head toward me.
“Yeah, I can see that.” Franks gaze swept over me. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be here sooner. I had to get Vincenzo squared away.”
“You were investigating Campanella?”
He nodded. “He’s been filming little kids right inside the basement of his hotel. Jasmine caught on to it pretty early. Her quick thinking probably saved your life. Street-smart and feisty, yet observant and even at her young age, knowing the difference between right and wrong? Enough that she turned that thumb drive over to someone who could help expose her father? Her father’s not going to be Mr. Popular in prison. That I can guarantee. None of his guys will be.” His tone gentled. “I wanted you to know we got all the ones who assaulted you. We’ve got enough to put them away for a long time.”
“I don’t feel sorry for them. I hope they all rot in hell.”
“Chiquita pero picosa,” King stated softly, approval glittering in his gaze. I lifted my chin. I found his approval a much better balm to my damaged psyche than his sympathy. One made me feel powerful instead of coddled and small.
“So our relationship?” I focused a little of the power Juaquin’s approval gave me on Frank. “It was all a lie?”
“It sounds pretty evil when you say it that way, but yeah. Mostly.” He smoothed his hand over his military crewcut. “The business about the trips was, anyway. I was just going into my regular office here. Staying on top of the case. I really did go to New York, though, to coordinate my operation with the investigators handling the Joe Campanella case. I gave the agents my personnel cell.” He moved his gaze to my brother and Juaquin. “That’s how I found out so quickly after your friend Justin gave them the heads up.” His gaze swung back to me. “The one thing that always was true was the way I felt about you, Miriam. Can you forgive me for deceiving you?”
“I don’t think I’m in any frame of mind to be absolving anyone for anything. Can you understand that?”
“Actually, I can. I think we all can.”
I nodded succinctly, though I wondered how any of them could truly grasp how I felt right now. “Is there anything else you need?”
“Not now. We might need you to ask you a few more questions down the line, but they can wait.”
Juaquin frowned at me as if he didn’t like that idea much. “Is she at risk here in Vegas?”
“If Joe wasn’t already behind bars, maybe. But the Campanella reach has been shortening ever since his incarceration. Desperation is part of the reason I think Vincenzo went down the path he chose. Beside the fact that he’s a truly despicable human being. No one is really loyal to him. No other children besides Jasmine. His ex-wife despises him. He’s alienated all of his associates. Even criminals don’t tolerate the kind of shit he was involved in.” His gaze cut to me. “I wouldn’t worry about staying in town. But I wouldn’t leave Miriam unattended until she gets an alarm system for her house. My agents got in there far too easily at the beginning of my investigation. No need to take any chances.”
“It’s going to be a long while before any of us rests easy.” Frank shook his head, his gaze encompassing us all. “But I hope the worst is over now.”
Chapter Forty-Three
King
“You’re barely in better shape than she is.” I noted Mike’s battered face and how he hovered discretely nearby.
“I’ll be fine. I have an idea of the trials she has ahead of her. Her bruises are bad, but those are only on the surface. Deeper ones will emerge, the emotional kind. It’s gonna be rough going before it gets better.”
“Sounds like you might be speaking from personal experience.”
“Sadly, yes. Not all strip clubs have security as good as Sexxy. But that was a long time ago. She knows about it. Alex knows.”
“Now I do. I appreciate being inside a circle of confidence that small.”
“Yeah, well. I figure if she trusts you, then why shouldn’t I? And she needs you right now. She’s fragile. She’s processing a dozen different emotions at once. Guilt. Shame. Anger. But at least she’s processing. At least she hasn’t completely shut you out.”
“I’m not so sure about that.”
“I am.” He nodded. “I saw how well you handled things with her. It took me many failed relationships after my assault to find someone who had the patience to wait on me.”
“I love her. I’m here for the duration. I just…” I glanced in the direction she had gone. She’d said she needed sleep after a teary call to her mother and sister. But I worried about her being alone. Worried about me being without her. I was feeling restless and unsettled. I wanted to hold her, but she had kept me at arm’s length since the rescue. She seemed resentful that I had insisted on coming to the house with her and Mike. Did she really expect me to go a hotel with her brother and Sager?
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“I know you need someone to lean on, too. When someone you love gets hurt under your watch you can’t help but blame yourself. In some ways it makes you feel violated too. It’s a natural response to that kind of stress.”
I nodded. “I see why she loves you so much.” My voice was thick.
“Yeah, I get that a lot.” He put his hand on his hip trying to affect a lighter tone, but the darkness in his eyes betrayed a heavier emotion. Frank had gotten it right. It would be a long time before any of us would rest easy.
“So listen. Don’t take this the wrong way and all. I mean I know you’re capable of keeping her safe but for my own sanity, I have to stay here with her tonight. I’ll call the alarm company in the morning. We’ll figure things out from there.”
“I have no problem with that. The couch folds out. You’re welcome to stay…for the duration.” He grinned. “She might not like it. Knowing how these things go, she’ll probably want to avoid the issues, but between the two of us, we’ll draw her out again. Agreed?”
* * *
Miriam
Overhearing Juaquin’s words of affirmation made my steps lighter as I returned to my bedroom. The glass of water I had come to get could wait. I’d drunk plenty at the hospital. The phone calls, one with Jasmine to thank her and to make sure she was ok with her mom, and then the other with my own mother and Ann had brought everything back to the surface. I was worn out. I needed rest more than anything.
Well, maybe not rest more than anything. What I needed most was what I already had, a best friend like Mike, and a man who might love me like Juaquin. I had no doubt that Mike would always be there for me. I needed King desperately, but I was afraid I might be too messed up for him to hang around. The duration he had spoken of might very well end up being shorter than he imagined.
Scandalous Beat (The Tempest Rock Star series Book 6) Page 23