‘You had a team of bodyguards.’
‘It wasn’t enough.’
Carter shook his head. ‘Sometimes it really is out of our hands.’
Jakob was silent for a long time. ‘Quilla’s a fighter, you know. I keep expecting her to turn up, barefoot and bedraggled on some highway somewhere, with Hayley, having kicked and punched and fought her way out.’
Carter watched him. ‘That’s a romantic notion, but that could get her killed. I hope she’s not taking risks.’
Jakob was silent. God, come back to me, baby, please…
Carter’s phone rang. ‘Yeah. Cool, on our way.’ He stood and gestured to the door. ‘The tapes are here, let’s take a look.’
The second night, Quilla gave the performance of her life. She and Hayley had talked all day about how to deal with the impending… ‘Rape,’ Hayley said firmly.
‘God, don’t call it that,’ Quilla groaned, nausea rising in her throat. ‘Please.’
‘But it is, Quils,’ Hayley said, suddenly seeming eons older than her twenty years. ‘He’s using the threat of death to make you have sex with him. Rape.’
Quilla knew she was right, but it didn’t make her feel any better knowing that technically, her consent was being extorted from her. She had cried pretty much the rest of the night, trying to hide it from Hayley but her friend had known and had held her tightly. If we ever get out of here, Quilla thought, I’m telling the world how much I love this girl.
‘Look, can you make out it’s Jakob you’re having sex with? Close your eyes and think of Mallory?’
Quilla blew out her cheeks. ‘I don’t want to do that. Because if I ever get to be with Jakob again, I don’t want the association.’
Hayley made a face. ‘Of course not. Okay, how about someone from your Hall Pass list.’
Quilla looked askance. ‘My what?’
Hayley rolled her eyes. ‘The list of celebrities you’re allowed to do it with, and your boyfriend can’t complain.’
Quilla laughed. ‘Is that right? Have you got a list?’
‘Hell yes. So has Skandar, we locked that shit down the first week we were together.’
Quilla shook her head, still laughing. ‘So the rules are you can pick so many celebrities that if you were to meet and get the chance to have sex with, you’re allowed?’
‘That’s it. So, I’m saying, tonight, use one of yours.’
‘I don’t have a list.’
‘Everyone has a list. Come on, think of someone.’
Quilla chewed her lip. ‘Matt Damon?’
‘You got the hots for him?’
‘Kinda.’
‘Not good enough. I know, pick someone you would have hot, dirty sex with but that would be it. You don’t even want to chat with him, just do it against a wall then leave. That’s who you want to picture.’
‘Got it. Hang on then, let me think…’
‘Channing Tatum?’
‘Eww, no.’
‘What, not even as a DF?’
‘DF?’
‘Dirty Fuck. That’s what they’re called.’
‘Man, you’ve really thought this through.’ She chuckled. ‘But you are making me feel a whole lot better.’
‘What else have we got to do but talk? One of the Avengers?’
Quilla raised her eyebrows. ‘I can’t see past Black Widow when I watch that.’
‘Oo, little lady loving, nice. Beyoncé’s on my list. No, we need a man. Hey, how about Sebastien Winter?’
‘Asia’s ex? Nope, look, I’ll just come up with a composite man in my head. Again with the association thing, I don’t want to be watching…Daniel Craig, and then feeling sick.’
‘Good plan. But we are going to discuss this further; I can’t believe you haven’t got a Hall Pass list.’
Hayley’s attempt to lighten the mood had worked and it wasn’t until Paul came to fetch Quilla that the horror set in again.
Again, she was unable to eat but followed Gregor as he led her to the bedroom. It came to her as Gregor was undressing her. She needed to pretend that she was someone else, not pretend this monster in front of her was anything than what he was. As her dress hit the floor, she switched Quilla off.
Gregor kissed her, and she responded, kissing him back. She noted his surprise with satisfaction. I hate you, you scumbag but you will believe quite the opposite when I’m done.
And she did it; she went through with it, faking every sigh, every moan – not too much, so it was clearly fake – but enough so that Gregor was convinced she was starting to enjoy herself. So absorbed was she in her performance that it was over quickly, and Gregor looked pleased. ‘That was much better, my darling,’ he kissed her tenderly.
When she got back to the room, she nodded at Hayley, almost imperceptibly. Hayley’s eyes flickered to Gregor and back.
‘After a lovely evening, I’m feeling generous. Hayley, dear, is there anything you need?’
Hayley sighed. ‘Our freedom?’
Gregor smiled. ‘Funny girl.’
‘New underwear,’ Quilla said suddenly,’ and tampons.’
‘Of course. Let Paul know your sizes for the underwear and we’ll arrange it.’
‘Pizza. Hot pizza,’ Hayley added hopefully.
When Gregor and Paul had gone, Quilla hugged Hayley. ‘Not so bad tonight.’
‘Good. Undies and tampons?’
Quilla grinned. ‘If you saw an oaf like Paul buying underwear, especially in specific sizes, and tampons, wouldn’t you suspect something weird? He has hick written all over him. I’m hoping some salesgirl will have some smarts about them and maybe say something to someone. It’s a long shot, but you never know.’
Hayley squeezed her arm. ‘You are a genius. Do you want a bath?’
‘God, yes please.’
‘Good, because there’s something I want to show you.’
She led Quilla into the bathroom, twisting the faucets on. When the water was filling the tub, Hayley beckoned Quilla over to the wall near the toilet. She glanced over at the door to make sure no-one was coming in then indicated a tile near the floor. She flicked it with her nail and it popped out.
‘I found this earlier,’ she said in a low voice. ‘I’m thinking, we snap it in two then use the rough edge to..’ She made a cutting motion against her neck. ‘We wait behind the door, then when one of them comes in, jumped on his back and kill him.’
Quilla smiled at Hayley’s excitement. ‘It’s a good plan, Hays….if we’ve run out of every other option. This is our back up, right?’
Hayley looked a little deflated. ‘I guess. I just…I hate that you have to do this for us. I want to help.’
‘You are helping, so much, you don’t know.’
Hayley looked a little tearful. ‘I feel so useless.’ Quilla hugged her.
‘You know what? Sit on this toilet and talk to me while I soak and get that asshole’s stench off of me.’
On the other side of the house, Gregor watched the video of him making love to the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, watched her face as she came, her delicious body undulating under him as he fucked her, saw her kiss him passionately. He smiled.
‘This is for Padme, you bastard.’
He opened his email and began to type.
‘Carter, dude, we may have something.’ Carter sighed as Ali Bell, looking excited, flew into the room.
‘Really? Or is this another false trail.’
‘Debbie Downer,’ Ali snapped at him, then grinned. ‘Nope. You know the ex-girlfriend, the one Jakob Mallory was shtupping on the side?.’
‘Yeah?’
‘Padme Khan. Got a job in prestigious London law firm and left Seattle – and her two lovers behind.’
‘I know this already.’
‘Patience. Khan was murdered less than two years later, an apparent street mugging went wrong. But, here’s the thing, even the London dicks think there was more to it. Overkill, they called it. The perp wanted it to look like
a mugging, but the woman was repeatedly stabbed, more than thirty-seven times in the stomach. No street mugger does that.’
Carter was interested now. ‘Was Fisk ever questioned?’
‘Had an alibi. A shady one but enough for them to drop that line of questioning.’
‘So he knew about the affair then?’
‘I’d bet my ass on it.’
‘Wow, that’s a big bet.’ Carter grinned as Ali flipped him the middle finger. ‘So, do we have a motive?’
‘Putting my psychologist’s cap on – hey, I got some Psych credits before I switched – I’d say killing his first love sent him over the edge, and he blamed Jakob. To him, Jakob put that knife in his hand. Jakob took away his love now he’s going to do the same to him.’
Carter looked bleak. ‘We’re not getting those girls back alive, are we?’
Ali didn’t answer. Steve, a younger agent, stuck his head around the door. ‘Sir? We’ve got a hit on an email Mallory was just sent. We think it’s from Fisk.’
Ali looked shocked. ‘You’re monitoring his emails?’
Carter shot her a look. ‘Of course, we are. You really think it’s from Fisk?’
Steve nodded. ‘I don’t think there’s any doubt. You gotta see this.’
Jakob was flipping through the photos he and Quilla had taken of each other since that first meeting in Venice. It was sweet, sweet torture. His email pinged, and he switched over to it, expecting spam or worse, more press intrusion. When the name showed up as unknown, his heart started beating harder. He clicked on it, and his heart dropped.
Love from Quilla… was all it said. A video attachment. Oh god, no….was this Gregor sending him the video of him killing her? Was he about to witness Quilla’s murder?
Please, God, no…
He hesitated for a long moment, closing his eyes, not wanting but needing to know what was on that video…he opened his eyes and clicked play.
‘Shit,’ Carter hissed and was out of the door before Ali could stop him. He ran the few blocks to Jakob’s hotel and took the elevator to the top floor.
Jakob answered the door, and Carter knew he’d seen the video because he was looking at the face of a heartbroken man…
Taunt Me Part 9
Mallory
By Michelle Love
Floriana Morgan smiled at Jakob as he came into the kitchen the next morning. ‘Hey you, can I get you some coffee?’
He looked awful; dark circles under his reddened eyes, his whole body slumped and dragging. He tried to smile at her. ‘Yes, thanks.’
As she poured his drink, she could feel him watching her, and she blushed a little. Jakob gave her an apologetic smile.
‘I’m sorry I’m staring. I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable,’ he said gently, ‘It's just you remind me of Quilla so much.’
Flori swallowed her own sadness. In the few months she had known Quilla, they had grown very close, and yes, she could see the resemblance. Both them dark, petite, curvy, both of them obsessed with art, both of them madly in love with a Mallory brother. She put a hand on Jakob’s. ‘We’ll get her back, Jakob.’ But she knew that’s not all that was bothering him.
The FBI agent in charge of their case, Carter James, had called Grady the previous evening and told him what had happened. Grady had gone to collect a wrecked Jakob, and when Jakob had retired to the guest room, Grady told Flori what had happened. Flori couldn’t imagine that Quilla had slept with Gregor Fisk voluntarily, the man who had tried to kill both her and Flori, never mind enjoyed it. No, she reasoned, he must be coercing her, under pain of death for her and Hayley. That was the only explanation but now, looking at Jakob, she could guess the turmoil in his mind.
Grady, fresh from the shower, appeared and smiled at them both. ‘Hey, kiddo.’ He kissed her cheek and then clapped his brother on the back. ‘Hey, dude. Get any sleep?’
The answer was obvious. Grady shot a look at Flori then sat down next to his brother. ‘Dude, there’s no way that tape wasn’t…manufactured. Quilla would never cheat on you; that’s the one certain thing in all of this. If she looked like she was enjoying it, she was probably forced to. We all know the disgusting things Gregor threatened to do to her.’
Jakob, hollow-eyed looked at him. ‘I should know this; I should be certain. And that’s what I can’t face, that I don’t trust Quilla enough to believe that. And she’s done nothing wrong, nothing. It is my fault that she’s even in this situation.’
Grady sighed. ‘Padme?’
Jakob nodded. ‘It all comes down to that. Gregor was always a player, always, I never imagined that he had been so much in love with her that her cheating with me would kick off some deep psychosis in him.’ He hesitated. ‘I never told you this but…Padme was murdered. Stabbed to death in London.’
Flori couldn’t help the gasp of distress and Jakob looked at her in sympathy. ‘I apologize, Flori. You are as much as victim in this as Quilla or Kit or any of us.’
‘Not a victim,’ she said quietly, ‘a survivor.’
Jakob’s smile was kind. ‘Of course. I’ll drink to that.’ He raised his coffee cup. ‘Look, both of you, thanks for last night but I’ll get out of your hair. I need to regroup, talk to Carter, and see where we go from here.’
When they were alone, Grady sighed and took Flori in his arms. ‘Have I told you both how proud I am of you and how much I love you?’
She leaned against him. ‘I know you are. God, Grady, is it wrong that while everyone is so wrecked, that all I can think about is how lucky I am to have you?’
‘Not at all. Right back at you.’
She tilted her head up for a kiss. ‘Take me to bed, Grady Mallory, I need you.’
Grady smiled, his eyes soft. ‘Your wish is my command, beautiful.’
He still smelled of his shower gel, and she breathed him in as they slowly stripped off and tumbled onto the bed, their arms and legs curving around the other, lips against lips.
Flori gazed up at him, and he smiled. ‘Hey, pretty girl.’
She grinned then moaned as he bent his head and took her nipple into his mouth, his tongue teasing the nub until it grew hard and ultra-sensitive. Flori reached down to cup his cock, feeling it thicken and grow in her hand, brushing her thumb lightly over the sensitive tip, making his hips jerk, his low groan making her wet.
‘I want you inside me,’ she whispered but Grady, grinning, shook his head. ‘Not yet…’
She groaned, impatient, as he sucked her other nipple, the nerve endings in her breasts screaming for him. His tongue drifted down to her belly, circling her navel. He kissed each one of the scars there, tenderly before making his way down and burying his face in her sex. As his teeth grazed her clit, Flori gasped, her fingers knotting in his hair. He brought her to a screaming orgasm with his tongue then before she could catch her breath, his cock, heavy and thick, plunged into her, and Grady, grinning, thrust hard, knowing he had complete domination over her body.
Afterward, she pleaded with him to stay in bed with her instead of going to an auction. ‘I wouldn’t ask if there were any significant pieces at it,’ she said, ‘but I can’t bear the thought of not spending the day with you.’
‘You could always come with me,’ he said, but she could tell his heart wasn’t it in. He smiled and kissed her. ‘So, vegging out day?’
‘Yup. Sexy times and vegging out. Is it wrong that I want to do this while Quilla and Hayley are missing?’
‘Not at all. What are we supposed to do that we aren’t already doing? We have to keep things as normal as possible – not that sex with you could ever be described as normal.’
They were silent for a while. ‘Be honest,’ Flori said finally, turning onto her side to look at him. ‘Do you think they’re dead already?’
Grady sighed. ‘Or they wish they were. God.’
Flori felt tears threatening and instead leaned over and kissed him. ‘I refuse to believe they’re dead. Positive vibes and all of that.’
; He cupped her face with his big hand. ‘Good idea.’
And they began again where they left off.
Quilla wasn’t sleeping. Hayley knew, even though her friend closed her eyes and lay curled next to her, that she lay awake all night, every night. Every time Gregor brought her back to their prison room, Hayley could see the pain in Quilla’s eyes, and it worried her. Something in her friend was dying. Hope. Faith. Self-respect. She would try to hold her, help her grieve for the part of her that was lost but Quilla would just give her a half-smile and turn away. It broke Hayley’s heart. In the evenings, Gregor would keep Quilla longer and longer, force her to do God knows what – the way he looked at her friend terrified her. Obsession. Psychopathic. Dangerous. Lethal. Gregor Fisk was a man on a knife edge – when he was with Quilla, Hayley would sit alone wondering if this would be the night that he would snap and kill her friend.
Seven days. Seven days without seeing Skandar, touching him, loving him. Seven days where she didn’t know if the next moment would be her last. Hayley was a resilient girl, but this was pure torture, and her nerves were shredded. Last night, Quilla had returned with blood on her dress. She had gone into the shower, and Hayley followed her. There were scratches and cuts on her body. She saw Hayley’s scared face and tried to smile. ‘Don’t worry; it’s all superficial.’
‘Did he have a knife?’ Hayley’s voice quivered as Quilla nodded, not meeting her eye. Hayley hated to acknowledge the thought that kept buzzing around her brain; Quilla will not survive this. All it took was for Gregor to lose his temper. Jesus….
Now, in the pale light of the morning, Hayley laid on her back, staring at the cracking paint on the walls, the blankness of the ceiling. They had to figure something out, even if it cost their lives. They had to take control. She rolled onto her side. Quilla was lying next to her, her eyes closed.
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