by Measha Stone
“I’m guessing she was afraid Bradley was beckoning her, but it turned out to be something else. Which both relieved her, but then disappointed her. You see how her shoulders sort of slumped after she read her screen?” Jessica waved a pointed finger toward Erin.
“The two of you are really annoying, you know that?” Erin tried to keep a straight face, but couldn’t manage it. “It was just a reminder. I have a new client meeting me this afternoon. Some big company that manufactures security systems wants new branding. We’re going over some ideas for the logo.”
“Anything to keep from dealing with Bradley, right?” Jessica smiled.
“Hey, that reminds me. I heard Kendrick talking with Bradley about the stalker situation. Have you gotten any more funny letters?” Kelly sat back in her seat with her arms folded over her chest.
“No. I’m sure it was just a screwball. I mean it was so stupid, like I could break into Bradley’s computer to get his financials. I’m not worried.”
“You aren’t thinking of going after the stalker on your own are you?” Kelly’s eyes narrowed. “I mean you aren’t hiding that you got some secret letter and have the brilliant idea to take them on by yourself?”
“No, Kelly.” Erin sighed heavily. “I’m not reliving your adventure. No thank you. Besides, that would probably be a sure fire way to get Bradley to finally realize he’s too out of my league and dump my ass at the first Metra stop he could find.”
“I don’t understand where these doubts are coming from. I mean, is it because of Jonathan?”
“No. I mean, who knows. One guy woke up and realized I wasn’t worth his time. What’s to stop the next guy from doing the same thing?” Erin slipped her phone into her purse while pulling out the bills to pay her tab. “Look. It’s fine. I’m fine. I’m just having a day, okay? Bradley was supposed to be a rebound guy, maybe that’s all it was supposed to be.” Erin dropped her money in the center of the table and pushed her chair back to stand up.
“I think he’d take you back to that office of his if he heard you talking like that,” Kelly said. “I may think he’s a bit more than I could handle, but I can’t deny what he’s done for you, Erin. You’ve really come out of your comfort zone, and look how much you’ve grown. I mean you’re out to lunch with us in the middle of a work day. You wouldn’t have done that before. And you wouldn’t have put yourself out there at the auction. You sure as hell wouldn’t have explored all of your fantasies, gone after what you want. Face it—Bradley is good for you.”
Erin swallowed the knot in her throat and took a deep breath in. “That may be true, but what’s he getting out of it? Nothing. Look I have to go meet this woman, from what I hear she’s a real bear.”
“Okay.” Jessica gave a sympathetic smile. “You call us if you need to talk, okay? I know you are doubting everything right now, but I promise you, things will be more clear after you talk to him. So talk to him.”
“Yeah. Thanks.” Erin slipped her purse over her shoulder and gave a little wave before she left for her meeting. Talk to him. Right. They’d have a long talk, and he’d tell her she was thinking too much, when in fact she might be the only one thinking at all.
Her client had already arrived when Erin ran through the door of Pete’s Coffee. At least she assumed it was her client sitting in the back of the shop, her fingers typing over her phone with more agitation then Erin would think being a minute late would warrant.
“Miss Hoffman?” Erin bobbled her purse and her bag as they slipped from her shoulder at the exact moment she reached her hand out toward the woman.
When the woman looked up at her Erin felt a twist in her stomach. She looked very familiar. She’d seen her somewhere before. Short blonde curly hair, deep green eyes, and perfectly applied made up, nearly perfect complexion—she’d seen this look before.
“Erin!” A warm smile spread over her berry red lips. She stood up from her seat, leaving her phone on the table.
“Yes. Hi. I’m so sorry I’m late.”
“Oh, no. You’re not. I’m just early.” She waved a petite hand through the air before using it to grip Erin’s outreached hand. “Sit. Sit.”
Erin slid her bags from her shoulder and plopped into the chair across from her. “I’m sorry, but you just look so familiar.” Erin studied her for another moment. “Really familiar. Have we worked together before?”
Claudia’s smile slipped a fraction before quickly recovering. “No, I don’t think so.” She tilted her head to one side. “I think I would remember you.”
“Hm, well.” Erin brushed the subject away, though the nagging sensation didn’t lessen as they began talking about Claudia’s company and her need for a new branding.
After they both finished their drinks Claudia looked at the shining silver watch encrusted with small diamond chips around the face, and sighed. “Oh shoot. I have another meeting across town I need to get to.”
“Oh.” Erin looked at her phone for the time. They’d only been talking for twenty minutes. Surely she could have scheduled more time for the initial meeting. “Um, okay. We can schedule something for later in the week?”
“Or, well, this may seem a bit needy, but I really want to start getting this new logo and all that up as soon as possible. I’m going way across town which will take at least a half hour at this time of day. Come with me? We can chat on the way, and my driver can bring you back to your office afterwards.”
Erin looked at her phone again. Still no message from Bradley, and technically her work day still had another two hours in it. “Sure. That works. Let me let my boss know I won’t be back in the office for a while.” She quickly shot a text to the office.
The two women walked the short distance to the car waiting on the corner of the street. Erin slid into the backseat while Claudia made a phone call. Erin couldn’t hear what she was saying, but she could have sworn she heard her name being used. Maybe she was just telling one of her business partners the meeting had gone mobile.
When Claudia settled into the car, Erin continued to wrack her brain about where she knew her from. It wasn’t a random place. She’d seen her, really seen her, somewhere. Claudia scrolled through her phone and frowned. It was then that it hit Erin.
“Top Floor!” Erin called out triumphantly.
Claudia slowly turned her gaze from her phone to Erin. The once warm, inviting smile curled into a chilly stare. “What did you say?”
“Where I know you from,” Erin repeated with much less vigor.
“Yes.” Claudia nodded then went back to her phone.
“You were talking with Bradley. You know him.” Erin’s throat tightened, the little hairs on her neck began to stiffen.
“Yes. I do.” She tapped out another message on her phone. “And you have been a big enough nuisance already. I would appreciate it if you would shut the fuck up for the rest of the ride.”
The locks on the doors clicked loudly, resounding in Erin’s mind. Panic struck her and she tried to pull the latch open. It wouldn’t budge.
Claudia didn’t even look up from her phone. “You’ll only hurt your fingers. It won’t open. Do sit still, I don’t want to have to sedate you. It takes so long for it to wear off.”
Erin looked to the driver. His eyes were fixated on the road. Surely he heard everything being said, so she wouldn’t get any help from him. At a red light, deciding it was worth the risk, Erin threw herself at Claudia, trying to scratch at her.
A sharp pin prick pierced her neck, and she pulled back touching the offended spot. The driver turned back around to face the road, dropping something into the front seat as he did so. The car lurched forward again, and her head started to spin.
“Dammit. I told you to stay still. Disobedient little bitch.” She heard Claudia’s snarl just as she rested her head against the window. She just needed to close her eyes for a moment, then she’d be okay. She’d be fine in just a minute.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Bradley hung up the phone
with Jerry more confused than he had been at the beginning of the call. As if on cue, there was a knock on the office door, and Alex walked in.
“Hey, I was just going to head over to your office.” Bradley sat back down in his chair.
“I was just bringing you a copy of the ad I’m going to run on Kink Academy. If we’re going to start offering classes, we’ll need to partner up with some other websites and clubs. Maybe start doing a yearly retreat.”
Alyssa had been right. Alex may have left his career in marketing and advertising, but the career hadn’t left him yet.
“Sure, that sounds good. But, uh, well, I just got a call from Jerry.”
“Did he find more theft?” Alex’s shoulders slumped.
“No, not theft. But something weird. I know you and Kendrick worked closely on the security set up for this floor. Do you remember what company he used to buy the cameras?”
Alex screwed up his face in thought for a long moment. “Yeah, Hoffster, Hoffman something like that. I still have the invoices. I can pull them. Why?”
“Jerry found a few big payments to them during the building phase. They all check out fine. But there’s at least half a dozen in the last three months that don’t have any invoices attached. When he tries to get a hold of the old firm to get them, all they tell him is they never received any. They said they were told to pay those exact amounts to that company, and that was it.”
“Travis?” Alex nodded, though it didn’t need to be said.
“Yeah. But it’s weird. They aren’t in odd amounts, like for purchases, there are four payments each for the exact same amount. Twenty-five hundred dollars each.”
“That’s ten grand. What would he be buying for that amount? The security system for the club was only a bit more than that.”
“Yeah. Jerry didn’t think much of it when he did the original audit, but now that he’s been given all the bookkeeping since the beginning, he noticed the company showed up the second time.”
“Let me go grab the invoices. You know we need an IT guy to come in here. We need to go entirely electronic. We should have this stuff on a server or something.” Alex tossed the papers he had in his hand on the desk and disappeared out of the office.
As the door closed behind Alex, Bradley’s phone rang. Erin’s ring tone. He answered it by the third ring. “Erin.” He held the phone to his ear, his breathing ragged. The radio silence with her all morning had him a little on edge. Something was turning in that pretty head of hers, and he needed to get to the bottom of whatever it was. If the punishment from the night before had been too harsh, or had left her emotionally wounded he needed to know. He would make it right, he would soothe it away, but she needed to tell him.
An electronic voice greeted him, “Bradley. Erin’s a bit indisposed at the moment.”
“Who the fuck is this?” He launched himself out of his chair. Alex walked in at that moment with a folder in hand, his expression darkening when he saw Bradley.
“That’s not important at the moment. What is important is Erin. She hasn’t been playing along with my game very well. Hasn’t been following the rules, but she’s a new slave, so I suppose that’s to be expected.”
“Put her on the phone,” Bradley demanded. The slight curdling of his stomach intensified when the electronic voice laughed in response.
“Not an option right now. Right now, the only thing you can do, my big bad dominant is to listen to my instructions, and if you’re a good boy you might have your little whore back by dinner time.”
Bradley’s fingers burned from holding his cellphone with such a grip. He could barely process the situation. Alex took tentative steps toward him. The room filled with stuffy unbreathable air, the heat of the space nearly suffocating him. “What do you want?” He managed to keep his voice steady, but that wouldn’t last much longer.
“Money of course. I’m not greedy, five million should do it. Wire transfer. I’ll send you information on where and when it needs to be sent. Do what your told, and you can get your girl back. Start fucking around, and I’ll send her home a little at a time.” The click of the other line going dead echoed in his ear.
“What’s wrong?” Alex’s grave expression mirrored the brick sitting in Bradley’s chest. “Where’s Erin?”
“I don’t know.” Bradley’s chest vibrated with his growl. “Where’s Kendrick? Is he here? I need him right now.” He pushed past Alex and charged into the lounge.
Alex caught up to him. “No, he’s not here today. What’s going on?”
Alyssa walked up to them with a casual grin, which she quickly dropped on seeing the look on Bradley’s face. “What’s wrong?” She looked to Alex.
“Something’s up with Erin. Have you talked with her today?”
Alyssa shook her head. “No, the girls all got together for lunch though. I had a class and couldn’t join them.”
“I’ll call Kelly. You call Kendrick.” Alex pointed to Bradley. Considering the heated glares Kelly shot his way every time they saw each other Bradley wasn’t going to argue.
“What’s going on?” Alyssa asked, but Bradley was already half way through dialing Kendrick and ignored her.
Kendrick picked up after the first ring. “Get here now,” Bradley barked at him.
“Whoa, wait a minute.” Kendrick laughed on the other end. “What’s up?”
“Someone has Erin. They took her, get here now.” Bradley turned away from the anguished expression on Alex’s face. He couldn’t let himself go there yet. He had to remain in complete control. He could lose it later. Much later. Once they had her home safe and sound. Then he would lose all control and kill the son of a bitch that dared to touch his fucking woman.
*
Bradley’s office swarmed with people. Alex, Kendrick and Royce huddled around his desk while the girls all huddled on the couch in the corner trying desperately to keep Kelly from bolting from the room to go in search of Erin.
He hadn’t intended for the whole damn gang to come over, just Kendrick, but once Kelly got wind of what was going on everyone showed up at once.
It was already late afternoon. The club would be opening in a few hours for their first set of round table discussions. Alex offered to have it cancelled, but Bradley didn’t want to change anything yet.
“Those fuckers could be planning on bringing her here, or they might try to blend in with the fucking group. Alert the security team.”
“Already done.” Kendrick nodded and said, “I called in the off duty guys. They are on their way here. Either to help here or whatever else we want.”
“Shouldn’t we call the police?” Jessica asked from across the room.
“Not yet,” Bradley said, and shook his head “This is personal. The police will just start playing games. Not until I know what the fuck they want. Then we’ll decide.” He checked his phone again. “I should have put a fucking tracker on her phone when this all started. I should have put a fucking guard on her! I never should have let her go about her fucking day as though there wasn’t some fucking crazy person harassing her.” Each statement raised in volume, and by the end his fists were clenched and his lips were pursed together so tightly his bottom teeth dug into his lip.
“Jess, Kelly, what else did she say at lunch?” Royce turned the conversation.
“Nothing.” Kelly shook her head. “She said she was headed to some coffee shop for a meeting. She didn’t say which one or with who. Some new client.”
Jessica shot Kelly a glance then turned her gaze to Royce. He shot her a questioning glance, but she clamped her mouth shut. “Just normal girl talk, and then she headed off to the meeting.”
“I called her office, her assistant was off today, but they got me to someone else who is trying to track her down. She should know where the meeting was supposed to take place and with whom.” Kendrick slapped a hand on Bradley’s shoulder. “We will find her.”
“I know.” Bradley pulled away and started pacing the office. There wa
s little to do until the assholes reached out to him again. Kendrick already had several of his guys working to try and trace Erin’s phone, the call might have been too short but they were trying.
Bradley’s phone rang. The room went silent and all eyes trained on him. He lifted the phone to his ear. “Hello?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Erin could hear murmurings, but nothing came clear to her. Looking around the room was useless, everything was shrouded behind the black fabric tied around her eyes. She hadn’t been able to get any answers out of Claudia, and the last time she screamed for answers she’d been backhanded. Her ear still hummed from the impact.
“Do you understand the instructions? Good boy.” Claudia’s sweet as sugar voice sickened Erin.
A manly chuckle surprised her, and she turned her head in the direction that it came from. She tried to move, but her hands were bound tightly to her ankles, leaving her hog tied and lying on her side. Wiggling a little she could make out a mattress beneath her with some coverings, but she couldn’t tell how big the area was, and how much room she had before falling off.
“What an ass.” The man snickered after Claudia tossed her phone down. The sound ricocheted around the room. It couldn’t be so big if her phone made such a loud noise. The room had to be empty. Where the hell had she taken her?
There was a slight draft in the room, but otherwise it wasn’t uncomfortable. Images of women bound and helpless in some cement basement cell came to her mind, but the room didn’t smell of dust and dirt. It was more lavender and honey.
“He’ll make the drop in one hour. Princess here needs to be ready, but I really don’t want to give her back just yet.” Bradley was coming. She would be okay once Bradley came.
“We could have a little fun with her first.” At the man’s suggestion, Erin’s skin crawled at the snarl in his voice. “It’s been a while since I played with someone as innocent as this one.”
“Idiot. She’s been fucking Bradley, so she’s no innocent any more. Look.” Erin’s skirt was yanked up exposing her ass. She’d worn a thong that morning, to ease the discomfort of more than necessary fabric brushing against her still tender ass. “Look at these marks. He laid into her ass good last night.” The skirt was thrown back down over her, but the hands moved into her hair, yanking her head back. “Right? You were a naughty girl so he punished you. I saw the whole fucking thing. He didn’t even fuck you afterwards. Just punished you and left you to kneel in his office.”