Luc marched her into the house and up the stairway to a door at the back of the house. He opened it, revealing another set of stairs that led to the third floor. Cassie froze as the memory of a similar set of stairs flashed through her mind and she fought to get away. “No, no.” She strained her arms and kicked out at Luc.
He picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder then took the steps two at a time with Logan a couple steps behind them. She heard one of them key in a code on an electronic panel and then the sound of a door latch clicking open and more images flashed through her mind.
“Welcome to your new home, pet,” Luc said as lowered her to a bed then grabbed her ankle and locked a wide cuff around it.
Cassie jerked away from him and scrambled across the bed. Before she could slide off the bed and run Luc held her down and Logan attached a chain to the cuff. They moved back and stared at her. Cassie backed away from them, her body shuddering as she shook her head in denial then bent down and clawed at the restraint. “You promised,” she screamed, “you promised.”
“You’ll have enough length on the chain to get to the bathroom,” Luc said as pulled the chain loose from the hooks it hung from at the corners of the bed. Logan went into the bathroom and a moment later he came out with something wrapped in a large towel.
Luc emptied the two tables on either side of the bed then he and Logan placed the items in large cabinet in the corner and locked it. Then without another word or look the two of them left the room. A second later she heard the door lock.
Cassie looked around the room. Other than the bed there was a St. Andrew’s cross, a bench with many, many places where restraints could be attached, a doctor’s padded examination table with stirrups, and the large cabinet. The wall across from the bed was mirrored from floor to ceiling and two chairs and a table sat in front of it. She watched herself in the mirror as she backed up, sat down on the bed, and wrapped her hands around the post. Her heart pounded with fear and the pulse in her neck was going crazy. She swallowed then tried to take a deep breath but her chest was too tight and all she could manage was another shallow breath and then another.
A few minutes later she heard the door open and Luc and Logan entered the room. Luc carried a tray with several covered dishes on it. He set it on the table then pulled it and one of the chairs close enough to the bed that she could reach it. Logan tossed a pile of her clothes and her cosmetic bag on the bed, followed by a sketchpad and her box of art equipment.
Luc walked over to her. “Open your mouth.”
“Why?”
Luc held up a small white pill. “Wouldn’t want you to go into withdrawal, pet.”
She looked at the pill, tempted to open her mouth and take it. She pressed her lips together and shook her head. “I only take the pills when I need to, Luc. I don’t need one right now.”
“Fine,” Luc said. “When you decide you need one let us know.”
Logan reached out to touch her then drew his hand back. “The remote on the bedside table operates the TV. You’re going to stay in this room until you tell us the truth about Tyson and Mike and your involvement with them.”
Cassie watched them leave then she sat down on the chair and curled into a ball. She buried her head against the wingback of the chair and closed her eyes. She should have trusted her instincts and left days ago. They hadn’t even given her a chance to explain and they hated her now.
* * * *
A week later the sounds of her own screams woke her. Cassie sat up and covered her pounding heart with her hand then reached over and turned on the lamp. She searched the room as her breath shuddered in and out of her chest. When her breathing calmed, she got up and began to draw the object she had seen in her nightmare. After drawing as much as she could remember, she tried to figure out what it was but couldn’t identify it. She slid the sketchpad between the arm of the chair and the seat cushion, then yawned and fell asleep.
Hours later, the sound of the door opening woke her. She opened her eyes, than sat up and stretched her arms over her head. The T-shirt slid up her legs to the top of her thighs.
“Sorry, pet, I’m immune,” Luc said as he set a tray of food on the table next to her.
“What?” Cassie asked, her voice husky from sleep.
“Stretching and showing a little skin doesn’t do a thing for me.”
“I wasn’t trying to seduce you, Luc.”
Luc shook his head. “Huh-uh, pet, in this room you call me, Sir.”
Cassie stood up and the T-shirt fell to her knees. She tossed her hair over her shoulders, looked Luc straight in the eyes, and said, “Sir,” in a flat voice.
Luc narrowed his eyes at her then swept them down her body. “Is that my shirt?”
“Yes. It was in the pile of clothes Logan brought me.”
“Give it to me.”
“What?” Cassie took a step back. “It’s the only thing I have to sleep in.”
“I said give it to me.” Luc held out his hand.
Cassie looked around, saw her thin pink robe on the end of the bed and reached for it. She turned to go into the bathroom and Luc stopped her.
“No. Take it off and bring it to me. Now.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“Why are you pretending to be a victim when we both know you’re not?”
Cassie whipped the shirt over her head and threw it at him, then shrugged into her robe. “Happy now?”
Luc slung the shirt over his shoulder then walked out of the room. Before he closed the door he told her Logan would bring her lunch.
“Wonderful,” Cassie said, “I’ll make sure I’m naked. Maybe I can seduce him instead.” She smiled when she saw Luc’s frown. Her smile disappeared when he smiled.
“Don’t bother, pet. We spent a few hours at the club last night after Cade and Addison’s wedding. Logan’s as worn out as I am today.”
Cassie looked down, then turned her back to him. When she heard the door close behind her, she dropped into the chair, pulled her feet up, and curled her arms around her knees. She had given them a week to come to their senses but now it was time to leave. Marisol had said she had a cousin, Vincent Vitale, who’d been a cop in Chicago. He might be able to find out more about Julia’s family and why her father had been transferred to Texas.
She rested her chin on her knees as she made plans to leave. She had a third spare key hidden on the car but she doubted the battery had been replaced. She couldn’t take the time to find it so she would have to run, literally. She would have to use all the skills her father had taught her about tracking if she was going to get away from Luc and Logan. She wasn’t worried about getting out of the room. They had made the mistake of installing a large exhaust fan in the bathroom ceiling. All she had to do was use the small tool kit hidden in the bottom of her art supply box to pick the lock on the cuff around her ankle and then remove the fan. Once in the attic she could use the access door to move into the third floor hallway and from there it was a piece of cake to get out of the house.
Now to decide whether to keep moving or find a place to stay and lay low. Her dad had taught her to keep a backpack packed and ready to go at all times. Hers was hidden in the trunk of her car and held several weapons, high-energy foods, a pre-paid phone and cash as well as some basic hiking and camping equipment. Two hours north was a large lake and camping area. She could go there but she might not be able to recharge her phone which meant she needed a place that gave her access to electricity. She also needed access to food, she thought, as her stomach growled and she decided it was time to eat. She had until midnight to complete her plans.
While she ate, she opened her sketchpad and began adding a line here and another line there until the object she had drawn in the early morning hours began to take on a recognizable shape. Every now and then she added shading or a curve to the drawing. She held it up and decided it looked like an anchor with some sort of design on it. She turned it and looked at it from several angles. She wasn
’t sure what it was but the sight of it made her want to cower in a corner and scream. She stood up and shoved her hands in the pockets of her robe and paced back and forth as far as the chain would let her.
Frustrated, and angry, she went into the bathroom and turned on the shower then shrugged the robe off and let it drop to the floor. She stepped into the shower and stood beneath the spray. Images of the object she had drawn began flashing through her mind. At first it was just a blur of color, then it took on the shape of an anchor, then an anchor with two initials on it.
Cassie dropped to her knees, banging them hard against the tile floor as she grabbed her head and screamed, then screamed again. In her mind she saw the mark, a tattoo, on the back of a large hand. Her face had pressed against it as the man had held her down and raped her. She curled forward, and rocked back and forth, comforting herself as the water grew cold. Minutes or hours later, she shivered then forced herself to shut off the freezing cold water. She wrapped a towel around herself then ran into the bedroom and grabbed the sketchpad. A few minutes later the door opened and Logan entered with a tray of food. He set it down and picked up the breakfast tray then started to leave.
“You could stay and talk to me, Logan.”
He turned to look at her. “Are you ready to tell the truth?”
“I’ve already told you the truth. You just won’t believe me.”
“Because we have proof you’re lying. Every trail we’ve followed leads straight back to you. Tell the truth, and Thor will make sure you get a reduced sentence.”
“But I’m not guilty, Logan. I’ve been set up.”
Logan smiled. “That’s what they all say, pet.” He walked over to the door. “Last chance. Thor’s coming up to talk to you tomorrow and then he’s notifying the feds. They’ll be coming to arrest you.”
“I’ve remembered something, Logan.” Cassie tore the drawing of the tattoo out of the sketchpad and held it out to him. “This is a tattoo one of them had on the back of his hand.”
Logan took it and glanced at it. “Leroy Tyson’s tattoo. Those are his initials.”
“No. He never did that to me.” Reluctant to talk about the details, Cassie knew she would have to if she was going to convince Logan. She looked away and swallowed, then said, “That one.” She nodded at the paper in Logan’s hand and blinked her eyes trying to clear the tears away. “He would put his hand down on the bed next to my face when he—” She swallowed again, then said, “I could see his hand.”
“I don’t know what you’re trying to pull here but I know this tattoo. It was on the back of Tyson’s right hand.”
“Then why did I draw it on his left hand, Logan?”
“Because you were flying high on the drugs you had taken, pet.”
Before she could tell him she had never willingly taken drugs, he wadded up the paper and threw it on the table then walked away from her. She heard the door lock engage as she reached for the paper, smoothed it out and stared at it for a few moments. She placed it back in her sketchpad and laid it on the table.
After eating, she took a nap then got up and exercised. Finally she turned on the TV and caught up with the news and that was when she remembered Addison’s house was empty. She knew the codes to the security system because she had used it as a safe house when she’d helped the Ramseys investigate the local chief of police. Satisfied with her plan she settled back and waited.
That evening Luc came to retrieve her dinner tray then left before she could say anything to him. She let him go then got the tool kit out. Thirty seconds later the lock on the cuff clicked open. She dropped it on the floor then went into the bathroom and climbed up on the counter. She removed the four screws that held the chrome frame in place, then she removed the screws on the inside that held the unit in place and shoved it up into the attic.
Cassie climbed down then closed the door to the bathroom before she went back into the bedroom and picked up the cuff and wrapped it around her ankle again. She didn’t lock it.
At midnight, she removed the cuff, stretched, then went into the bathroom and looked up at the opening. The attic appeared to be pitch dark and she wished she had taken the time earlier to climb up there and take a look around.
Shrugging, knowing there was no hope for it now, she stood on tiptoe and reached up and grasped the wood frame. Her fingers barely curved over the top and she knew she would get only one chance to do this. If she fell, Luc and Logan might hear the thump she would make when she hit the floor and they would come to investigate. She pulled herself up, then adjusted her hands and with a soft grunt lifted herself into the attic.
There was just enough light coming in through the dormer windows that she could see where she was going. She went over to the pull-up attic stairs, said a prayer that they wouldn’t squeak, then lowered them and breathed a sigh of relief when they went down without a sound. She climbed down them into the storage area of the third floor then pushed them back up into place.
Cassie held her breath as she tiptoed down the stairs then disarmed the alarm system and slipped outside. Almost free, she thought to herself, as she stuck to the shadows and worked her way over to her car. She slid under the car and searched for the hidden magnetic box. When she found it, she smiled then crawled to the back of the car, opened the trunk and lifted the carpet that hid the spare tire compartment. After removing the spare backpack she placed the towel in the trunk, along with the sketch of the tattoo. The trunk snapped shut with a soft click. The last thing she did was put the key back in the magnetic box and stick it to the top of the trunk.
Once she was far enough away that Luc and Logan wouldn’t hear her footsteps she broke into a run, heading north for three miles. Ahead of her lay a road that led to Rendezvous and Addison’s house if she went east or to the main highway if she went west. She figured she had about twelve miles to run but she knew she could make it. She’d run farther distances in the past. She blanked her mind and concentrated on her footsteps. She set a steady pace until she hit the intersection, then she stopped and rested for a moment. She hid her backpack in the weeds by the side of the road then ran west toward the truck stop.
Every now and then she let her foot slip off the shoulder of the road the way a tired runner would, but she was deliberately leaving a false trail for Luc and Logan to follow. When she reached the back of the truck stop, she hid in the shadows until the coast was clear then she turned around and ran back toward the intersection where she had left her backpack.
If she had looked back at the truck stop she would have seen three men glance her way then hurry toward a car in the overflow parking lot at the back of the truck stop. She also would have seen a large man step out of the shadows and take them down. In less than twenty seconds the three men were tied up and loaded into the back of a windowless van. Another, smaller shadow jumped out of the van then ran toward the men’s car. A moment later the car led the way out of the parking lot with the van following behind it.
* * * *
The sun was lighting up the eastern sky when Cassie reached Addison’s house. She found the spare key Addison hid in a fake rock in the flower bed then opened the back door and changed the security system to the correct setting. She moved to the spare room and threw her backpack into the closet. In the bathroom, she splashed water on her face then cupped her hands and took several sips. Breathing a sigh of relief that she had made it, she got her gun out of her bag, checked to make sure it was loaded, then sat down in the chair by the window. A small line of light struck her in the eyes where the curtain didn’t quite close. She adjusted it then sat back and stared at the pattern on the drapes.
Gradually the room lightened as the sun rose. The longer she sat there the angrier she became. They really hadn’t given her a chance to explain and they had believed everything Julia had said on the recording. She got up, and got the pre-paid phone from her backpack, and then went into the kitchen. She got the phone out of its casing and plugged it in then put on a pot of coffee.
There wasn’t much food left in the cupboards but there was enough to get by for a few days.
She drank a cup of coffee then ate some cereal straight from the box. After another cup of coffee, she made a list of the things she needed to do and people who might be able to help her. When the list was complete, she took the phone back to the spare room and plugged it in so it could finish charging. The clock said nine. By now they knew she was gone and they would be tracking her. She would wait a day or two before she called Marisol.
* * * *
Luc moved along the side of the road and carefully swept the ground for a sign that Cassandra had gone this way. He and Logan had been looking for over an hour and he was beginning to wonder if she had been picked up by the men hunting her. He and Logan had been too rough on her and she had sent them an “in your face” gesture by escaping. The fact that she could have left at any time but had stayed to give them a chance to come to their senses weighed heavily on his mind. The longer he looked for her the more he felt like an unfeeling bastard who didn’t deserve a woman like her.
He blinked his eyes to clear the dust from them then went to one knee and signaled Logan. Feeling relieved, he pointed to the ground. Cassie’s foot had slipped off the shoulder of the paved road and left an impression in the soft dirt. Logan crouched down next to him and examined the print.
“She was tiring by the time she got this far.” Luc looked toward the west.
“Think she was going to Harry’s Truck Stop to hitch a ride?”
Luc nodded. “If she got in one of those trucks there’s no telling where she is by now.”
“Or, if she’s in trouble.”
The wind gusted and blew several black strands into Luc’s eyes. He brushed them away then looked west again. “We have to find her.”
Their Temporary Sub [The Doms of Club Mystique 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 13