“What are we supposed to do about this? When have we ever just sat around and waited for someone else to take care of our problems?”
“Never, we deal with things ourselves, but this is different. If we take one wrong step, it could ruin your career and Audrey’s.”
“What about your career? You don’t seem too worried about it,” Dakota said.
I shrugged. “What is there to worry about? If you and Audrey’s political careers are over, I have no intention of staying in the industry. I’ll land on my feet, either way, I never was one for the limelight.”
“You have too good of a heart, Declan. One of these days, that softness is going to get you in trouble.”
“Probably,” I chuckled. “But I know that you’ll be right there to bail me and my clean conscious out.”
“Every single time, little brother. So we are at a stalemate. Nothing can be done until tomorrow?”
“That’s what it sounds like. The only thing that I don’t understand is how Kylan was able to get Molly to play along. Even if she is following her brother's lead, that woman always seems to have an ulterior motive.”
“I agree,” Dakota said. “She seemed too willing to hop on a plane that was going nowhere. Is it possible she’s the stalker?”
I shook my head and shrugged. I’d given the idea a few minutes of my attention, but it didn’t go anywhere. Molly had seemed genuine when she showed me the picture earlier in the week, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t just playing the part of a helpful PR firm. She would have to be working with an accomplice, and if we wanted to go down that rabbit hole, we’d have to start looking at everyone all over again.
“I think it’s very likely that she isn’t telling us everything she knows. Kylan seems genuine, though. If the stalker reached out to Molly first to initiate the plan, I could see her jetting over here in a heartbeat to have a hand in your downfall.”
“Would she do that to an innocent victim, though?” Dakota asked. “You’ve seemed to get through to her more than I have. I can see her hating me enough to destroy my life, but Audrey’s?”
I frowned, “It does seem far fetched. Molly isn’t a nice person, but she’s not a vengeful dragon either. Unless she sees some way to come out on top, I don’t think my theory will hold water.”
“At least you’ve got theories,” Dakota muttered. “You’re the only one who is acting like this is important enough to give it some thought.”
“Kylan is working on something as well, but we can’t spend all night stewing without any more information. Where is Derek when you need him?”
Dakota chuckled, his tension starting to slip away. “Poor guy got roped into going to DC to see our parents. I’m pretty sure that our mother laid on the guilt to get him to come back for a night.”
“Jeeze, well, maybe he’ll be able to corner David while he’s there.”
“I didn’t even think about that. If David is the one behind all of this, Derek should be able to find out pretty fast. I mean, he’s always latched onto the first lady, so if he’s not hanging off her nipple, he’s already here making our lives hell.”
I cringed at the visual his words brought to mind as a silence filled the room. It was already late, and we wouldn’t be getting any more answers before dawn broke again. I rolled my neck and closed my eyes as I melted into the sofa. Suddenly my room seemed too far away. My mind started to slow as I thought about Audrey. I couldn’t wait to hold her in my arms again.
24
Audrey
I stretched out, the empty room encompassing me. I hadn’t felt so well-rested in months, yet the reason for my chipper mood was nowhere to be seen. Even though Kylan had told me the night before that he’d be gone before I woke, my heart still lurched to find him gone. Initially, my desire for him had been overwhelming. The very idea of his body pressed against mine all night spurred the sensation.
All of that changed when he wrapped me in his arms. I felt safe and secure, the exhausting reality gripping me until I dozed off. My bed still held his lingering scent. It enticed me to stay between the sheets just a moment longer. Had it not been for the phone vibrating in my purse, the silence would have lulled me back to sleep.
My stomach lurched. I reached for my bag and pulled out the little black device that had brought me so much pain. I flipped it open and saw dozens of missed messages. The stalker wasn’t happy. I scrolled through the messages, watching his tone become more erratic with each message. He’d been watching me. He’d seen me when I got back to the hotel room with Kylan. I couldn’t believe that Kylan had been right. The stalker was there and following me every step of the way.
The last text had been sent just a few hours ago, one last threat that caused the color to drain from my face. There were four pictures in all. A clear shot of Kylan and me, my hand wrapped around his exposed shaft. The second and third shots with the Hartleys were equally as graphic. Bile rose in my stomach as I zoomed in on the fourth image. It was a mock newspaper cover.
The image was skillfully edited to include the first three images into a scene that stirred my darkest desires. My naked body was arched in pleasure, the three men stroking me in various ways. It was a picture that could ruin all of us. Despite being a complete fabrication, I knew at that moment I wanted the pleasure of all three men.
You have until eight, or these go live.
I looked at the time. It was nearly eight in the morning. Our plan was to buy time until Kylan could start the trace, but there was no way I could wait to reply.
Me: I’m here! My phone died, and I fell asleep.
His reply was instant. You didn’t hold up your end of our deal.
Me: How do you know that?
That’s strike three.
Me: I’m sorry, there wasn’t time. People kept coming in. Just give me a little longer.
You’re out of time. I was trying to play nice, but I see that you need a firm hand. Now you’ll have to do something else, or the cover goes viral, Princess.
Me: I can sleep with Dakota and Declan. Just give me more time.
Time’s up. Now we are going to make things interesting. I think I was too lenient with you. The brothers are an easy feat. Sex with you is easy in general.
Me: What do you want?
You need to be put in your place. You’ve been stringing those men along like a whore for too long. I think they deserve a little show.
I hated him so much. My hands shook as I stared at the words. The sick bastard was getting pleasure from destroying my relationships. I wasn’t a toy for his amusement. There wasn’t a chance in hell I was going to go along with his threat. It was bad enough that I’d already crossed a line with Kylan at his bidding. Exposing myself more wasn’t going to happen.
My nerves snapped.
Me: What the hell is your problem?
Wrong answer.
In the corner of the phone, a new message alert appeared. I quickly opened it, and nausea returned. It was my group text with Declan and Dakota. The stalker had sent them the photo of me stroking Kylan. I felt like I was going to be sick. Kylan was probably already with them and my mother at their charity meeting. Instantly I started to text Kylan and warn him, but the stalker's name popped up again.
Not so fast, Princess. You’ve got eighteen hours to get all three of them in your room.
Me: What happens if I can’t do it?
Horror washed over me as another message alert appeared. The number looked familiar in the group chat, but I couldn’t place it. Diving for my real phone, I typed in the number and doubled over, barely hitting the trashcan as I vomited. The stalker wasn’t playing around anymore. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Janice Davis was a friend of mine but also a reporter for DC’s most prominent newspaper.
The image was of me and Kylan pressed against the glass of my hotel room. It was cropped at the shoulders, but you could still tell I was at least topless. Our lips didn’t touch, but his thumb was placed seductively on my bottom lip
. It insinuated enough on its own. To drive the final nail into the coffin, though, the stalker had added a simple line. When three becomes four.
I’d be able to stop Janice from publishing the image and any story, but the threat was enough to prove his point once again. The stalker was in control of my life.
You have eighteen hours.
Me: Okay, I’ll do it. Please just stop.
The man didn’t reply, but the storm that followed was enough to keep his threat at the forefront of my mind. I called Janice from my personal phone and dampened things down. She was curious but promised to wait until I was back in DC before asking any questions, given the security threat. Neither the Hartley’s nor Kylan replied when I texted them. By the time eight-thirty rolled around, I was jogging out of the hotel for the senator’s house, praying that no one was hurt.
* * *
I hated waiting alone in the senator's sitting room. Part of me had expected to be greeted by the three men the second I walked through the door. It felt better knowing the stalker couldn’t see me inside the secured room, though I was still lost as to how he was able to find the perfect vantage point every time for pictures. He had to be tapping into the phone to know everything that was going on as well. When the door opened, and Kylan stormed in, my heart sank.
“Do you want to tell me why I just went from a great meeting with your mother and the Hartley’s to nearly getting sucker-punched by your boyfriend?”
“Oh Jesus,” I groaned. “Are they coming back in here?”
Kylan nodded. “What the hell is going on? I got as far as Dakota was going to cut off my dick before making a break for the door.”
I shook my head. I couldn’t find the words to tell him everything that had happened. Instead, I fished out the burner phone and handed it to him. I watched his face play with a multitude of expressions as he scrolled through my conversation with the stalker. By the time he was finished, his face was flushed with rage as he shoved the phone into his pocket.
“Well, I guess this morning makes a little more sense now. Let me get this straight, this sick fuck wants you to…”
“Strip for you three, get you back into my room, and give you a show. I'm assuming much like the one the other night.”
“Jesus, is this pervert getting off on this crap?”
I shook my head. “I really don’t think so. It doesn’t feel sexually charged like that. More like they are stockpiling ammunition.”
“But look at the edited image. Why do they need more pictures when they can already do that?”
“Some kind of power trip? Whoever it is, things are escalating quickly. Janice is a friend of mine, but she’s about the only one when it comes to journalists.”
“I’m not worried about that picture. It won't do much to damage my reputation.”
“Of course not, you’ve already got one for being a bit of a playboy. I guess this might actually look good for you,” I snapped. “I have a question, why is Molly going along with all this?”
His eyes narrowed. “I don’t like what you are implying. I know you’re upset but don’t take it out on me. Molly is my sister and doesn’t want to see anything bad happen to you or the Hartley’s, despite whatever bullshit they’ve been feeding you.”
I cringed. “What are we going to do?”
The doors opened again, and Dakota appeared, his anger matched only by Declan’s expression. Neither of them gave me a second glance as they watched Kylan step away from me. The tension in the air was thick as my heart pounded. When I’d first started my relationship with the brothers, there had been a long-standing bond between the three of us. Adding Kylan and his feud with Dakota into the mix was dangerous, but I knew we could weather any storm.
“All of you, stop acting like cavemen,” I finally whispered. “This is exactly what the stalker wants, but we still have the upper hand. He doesn’t know that we are working together now.”
“Who says we are anymore?” Dakota snapped.
“I do. Because divided, we fall, and I’m not going to let that happen,” I said. “We need to put our feelings aside and figure out what our next move is going to be. Kylan, where are we at with the phone trace?”
“I’ve got my best guy on it. We should have a number and name along with an address by tomorrow afternoon,” Kylan muttered.
“Good. Then we don’t have to keep dealing with him much longer,” I said. “We just need to stay positive and keep working through it. Once this pig is behind bars, we can sort everything else out.”
“That still doesn’t solve the problem of your next deadline. Who knows what he’ll release when you don’t follow through,” Kylan added.
“What deadline?” Declan asked.
Kylan fished the phone out of his pocket, tossing it to Declan. It was the same expression of horror I’d seen earlier from Kylan at the proposition. Yet Dakota’s eyes flickered to me for a split second. It was all I needed for the desire to be sparked inside of me again. No one else noticed it, but I knew the idea of watching me excited him.
“You can't really be considering this, right?” Declan asked.
I shrugged. “I don’t know that any of us have much choice in the matter. You saw what he did when I questioned him. We are too close to catching this guy to let him blow our covers now.”
“It’s not like you have to do anything but sit there. Audrey is the one putting herself out there. Jesus, you can close your eyes if you want,” Kylan snapped.
Declan flushed a deep red. “Of course, you’d be more than happy to join the show. We saw how much you liked being on the receiving end of the stalker's last threat.”
Kylan moved towards Declan, but I grabbed ahold of him. To my surprise, Dakota offered the same restraint with Declan. I looked at him, a pleading in my eyes. Declan wasn’t going to go along with it unless Dakota stepped in and said something. His jaw clenched as he turned away from Kylan and me, shoving Declan back as he leveled his gaze on him.
“Declan,” Dakota growled. “I don’t like this any more than you do, but it’s one night. After that, we can be done with Klaus.”
Declan glared at Kylan over Dakota’s shoulder. To my surprise, it was Kylan who spoke up as he stepped around me. He didn’t seem upset anymore though I was hesitant to let him go.
“Listen, why don’t you and I take a walk? I swear to you that I just want this to end,” Kylan said.
Declan eased some. “Fine.”
I was still in shock as I watched the pair leave, wondering if we should follow after them to make sure there wasn’t any bloodshed. As the door closed and I turned to Dakota, all thoughts of chasing them down were forgotten. I’d missed him.
25
Kylan
We moved through the house to the back gardens.
It never ceased to amuse me how every politician's house seemed to have a garden designed just for strolling. Declan was still tense. I could understand why. The idea had shocked me initially as well but seeing Dakota's reaction had snapped my brain back into problem-solving mode.
My rival hadn’t seemed fazed in the least about the prospect of seeing Audrey strip for him. It had taken me several minutes to piece everything together. Once I had the picture in my mind, though, it was clear. Dakota had commissioned David to take photos of him and Audrey to start with. It was why we all assumed the stalker was David. Yet Dakota still had the images on his phone. I’d found them during a slightly illegal cyber search.
He liked to watch Audrey. Not that I could blame him. Her private show for me the other night had almost brought me to my knees. Never before had a woman possessed such control over me. I’d been close to begging for her to keep touching me, like a thirsty man in a desert.
“I hope you didn’t bring me all the way out here just to try and fight me,” Declan grumbled. “Because I promise, Dakota won't take kindly to that.”
I chuckled, “Does he always fight your battles for you? Not that I was going to pick a fight to start with. You
seemed like you needed a second to cool off, and those two haven’t had much time alone.”
Declan eyed me. “So you’re playing matchmaker now?”
“No, but I am protecting Audrey. I don’t think her being caught in the middle of a brawl would be a good thing. Can we at least agree on that?”
“How can you go along with this?” Declan snapped. “Look, I get it that she’s an amazing woman; it’s hard not to fall in love with her, but this is just playing into that creep’s hands.”
“I don’t like it, but the way I see it, we’ve all seen her naked before. I know that’s not what you want to hear, and yeah, it was shit circumstances for how it happened, but it did.”
“So that makes all of this okay suddenly? Are you sure you aren’t in league with the stalker?” Declan asked.
My jaw clenched. “My company has been vetted by the NSA, CIA, FBI, and Interpol. I’ve had more security clearances, and background checks than a president's kids could even dream of. If you think I have a hand in this, you’re welcome to start digging around.”
“I don’t think you’ve got anything to do with it. I just don’t like you.”
“That’s fair,” I grinned. “There are a lot of reasons for you not to like me given our past. I’m here for Audrey. It’s as simple as that. I assure you if she wasn’t part of this mix, I’d leave you both dangling out there for the press to eat alive.”
“Well, at least you’re honest. I don’t like this plan of yours, though. It just doesn’t seem right.”
“Tell me something,” I pressed. “If it’s something Audrey is on board with, will you still be this upset? Or is it just because it’s me?”
“It’s because it’s anyone beside Dakota and myself. She was ours. Who said you could come in and throw a wrench in that?”
Wicked Dynasty: The Untouchables | Book Two Page 15