Her eyes welled, finally noticing me but still my anger and relief held no words.
I didn’t know what we were to each other, but Katie’s abduction must have been to teach me a lesson. By someone interested enough in Katie to have seen what she meant to me. Yes, she’d been returned and presumably untouched, but not unharmed.
“Katie, do you want to go to the hospital?” Darius repeated when Katie curled up almost comatose. She violently shook her head. “Fine, well, how about we reduce your visitors to a dull roar, Ibby since this is your room you stay with Katie, and I’ll get one of the girls to rustle up something warm from the kitchen.”
Alone.
We hadn’t been alone in weeks. If ever.
Now, with Darius shutting the thick, door behind him, even the muted music from downstairs couldn’t silence the pounding in my head.
People were going to die because of this.
People were going to suffer and then die a terribly painful death because of this.
Garrison was going to suffer, be humiliated and then die a torturous death because he’d crossed a fucking line.
Retribution could wait. It had to.
Katie hadn’t spoken, but her eyes followed me around the room. As I turned on soft music to drown out the silence. They followed me as I made up a lemon, lime and soda as an alternative from all the bottled water.
What was taking the doctor so bloody long? I’d explained money was no option and as a valued customer of The Club, I could offer any reward her kink desired.
“Doctor Kerr, it’s Ibrahim Mercia—” I started, needing to do something practical. “I’m just calling—fine—I’ll have someone meet you.”
“Chelle, there’s a Doctor Kerr about to walk in—thanks—yes—thanks.”
Still, Katie clutched at the blanket and watched. Strands of loose blonde hair falling across her face, but to push them away she’d have to let go of the blanket.
Finally, something I could do, for her.
Carefully, watching for any reaction, I made my way across the room. The rapid blink of her eyes caused me to stop, still a metre away.
“Can I sit?”
She didn’t move.
“Do you want me to leave?”
The small shake of her head loosened more blonde strands.
The couch was big enough for two, hell, in a previous life I’d had three women on the couch. Size wasn’t the point. I knelt in front of Katie. Gently brushed the hair caught in her eyelashes and offered her a sip of the drink. Watching her pale lips press against the glass, I continued to raise and lower, allowing her to set the pace until she again shook her head.
Katie hadn’t spoken. Not since she’d told Steve she could still walk. All her friends and staff milling around, she’d been silent. Darius assumed she’d agreed to the doctor. I’d assumed she wanted something to drink.
“Katie, sweetheart, I’m so sorry this happened to you.”
Words weren’t enough, but they seemed enough for her to rock forward into arms that had been waiting. Feeling her tiny form wrapped within the blanket and my jacket, I was at a loss. To caress? To kiss? To offer stupid platitudes that everything would be okay?
As she pressed her face into my chest, I did the only thing that came naturally. I kissed the top of her head. Only then did her body start convulsing and the tears I knew she’d been too scared to shed, begin to fall.
Seriously, I would kill the bastard who did this.
But first, I needed to protect the woman in my arms.
Katie
The fear of what could happen had been worse than anything that did.
From the moment I’d been tossed into the van like a sack of potatoes, my imagination had tried to prepare me for the worst.
Gang raped and killed.
Gang raped and left to live with the trauma.
Killed without the chance to plead my case.
Bashed, disfigured and left for dead.
The longer I was held without anything happening, the darker my imagination got. After all, someone had gone to a lot of trouble to find and take me. It couldn’t have been a random assault.
Someone close to me knew about my hair appointment. Someone had tracked me down and taken me.
Only, the longer it took for them to inflict whatever they were going to do, the more real my fear. Instead of calming down and living with hope, I’d become more agitated. Hyperventilating underneath the black hood until my captors joked I’d end up killing myself before they had the chance.
My fear didn’t subside even when Steve’s familiar voice called to me, his pounding footsteps coming closer after I’d been tossed out of the van like day-old bread.
As the screeching tyres tore off, I half waited for a gun shot just when I thought I was safe. Isn’t that what happened in movies? When the heroine is rescued and her future assured, a car blows up or a shot comes out of nowhere?
“Katie, it’s Steve, hold on. I’ve got you.”
Black hood gone; Steve took my full bodyweight while my legs adjusted to standing. The daylight stung my eyes after what I assumed had been more than a day of darkness. Even after Steve cut the straps and released my arms, it took until he’d carried me upstairs before I could feel my fingers again.
I wanted to believe it was over. That I was now safe.
Impossible.
Why me?
I was nothing. No risk or threat to anyone.
Yet someone had gone to a lot of trouble to kidnap me. Forced into darkness, my hearing became acute and I heard more than the men who held me probably expected.
I’d been targeted.
Someone had selected me.
A customer from The Club? Could I trust anyone?
Still, I could be grateful to still be breathing. I hadn’t cried or demanded answers or done anything that could possibly enrage my captors. All the fear and screams remained trapped inside my head even when they’d flung me onto a cold floor with only a thin rug or blanket thrown over. Hands still bound; I couldn’t position it over my frozen toes.
Even then, I didn’t cry out or complain. Hoping at least one man would find mercy and talk the others out of the fun they wanted me to experience.
The five or six different voices talked about me as if my body was a piece of meat, ready to be carved up and shared. As my fear grew and wish to die became greater than my will to live, a stronger voice would intervene. Warning the others that he wanted me for himself.
Who? A customer? I didn’t go out to meet other people.
“Pack her up, she’s going back.” I’d been almost catatonic from adrenaline and exhaustion. At first the words didn’t make sense. Going back?
“But we haven’t—” this from the whiny voice who enjoyed whispering to me the words he wasn’t brave enough to say in front of the strong voice.
“The boss has spoken, if you don’t like it then take it up with him.”
“Can’t we have some fun, first?”
Thwack. The smashing of cartilage or bones wasn’t mine, but I couldn’t feel sorry for the whiny voice.
“Too many people looking for the bitch.” The stronger voice came closer and pulled me to my feet. Even though I could feel the warmth of his breath near my ear, he didn’t speak to me. I was a package, not a human. A possession his boss could claim or return as required.
“We need to return her, this time.”
I didn’t feel safe until the scent of Ibby’s cologne and sweat swaddled me inside his jacket.
Of course, the welcome home hugs and tears from my friends were grateful, but truthfully, I’d been overwhelmed by the last day. Unable to mutter more than a few words. Shaking my head at all the accolades of how brave and strong I’d been.
No, I wasn’t.
My life had been over. Even now, I was only here because he chose to let me go.
Not once had I shed a tear while being held, but after the others left, and Ibby pulled me close, I faltered. When I could collap
se against his chest and let him bear my weight, a torrent of unshed tears unleashed my pain and fear.
“Sweetheart, sweetheart, sweetheart,” he murmured over again. A soothing lullaby until my shaking slowed and then my breathing calmed to be in time with the rise and fall of his chest.
“Katie, you’re safe. I promise you, you’re safe.”
Another soothing lullaby that neither of us believed, but I wanted to.
“I was scared.” Lifting my head from his chest, Ibby’s eyes lacked their usual guard. “I was so scared, but I kept hoping someone would find me.”
“Katie.” My body rose and fell with his deep breath. “I promise you; I’ve never been more scared.”
He pulled me closer, kissing the top of my hair and tightening his grip. “I turned this town upside down with people looking for you.”
Ibby.
Ibby was the reason they’d let me go! The snippets of conversation made sense and now I knew half of the puzzle. Not who took me, but who saved me.
“I know. They were going to—well it doesn’t matter what they were going to do. But I heard them talking about too many people looking for me, so he decided to—”
Words became stuck. If I said them, they became real. My body started convulsing again as I remembered the whiny voice and threats, “If you hadn’t been looking for me—”
“Sweetheart, sweetheart, you’re safe,” Again, I calmed to Ibby’s soothing lullaby, this time accompanied by one hand stroking my hair.
Tap, tap.
“Boss, the doc is here.” A strange male voice. Authoritative but not Steve or any of the other club security guards.
“Send her through,” Ibby called over his shoulder before kissing my head again. “That will be the doctor. Luther has one of his guys standing guard over you and Karnal has one of the Redbacks looking out for Chelle. I promise I’ll deal with the bastards, but right now, all I care about is making sure you are and feel safe.”
“Doc, thanks for coming.”
Ibby unwound my arms, getting up to shake the hand of a woman I recognized. Even with her chocolate brown tresses pulled up into a messy bun, I’d recognize Layla anywhere. Although normally she was dressed in red latex and ready to play with the bachelor party boys.
A familiar face.
“Katie, she’s a doctor as well as a friend. She’s here to look after you, okay?”
I sucked one dry lip through my teeth. Suddenly needing my lip balm as much as I craved a warm bath and soft pillow. I didn’t want to talk. Not to a customer, not to anyone. I was alive. That had to be enough.
Layla took control, her warm hands cupping one of mine. “Mr. Ibrahim, in these circumstances, you can call me Dr. Kerr. Could you leave Miss Elias and I alone, please?”
Ibby didn’t release me until I nodded. The woman we both knew as Layla had transformed into the professional and trustworthy Dr. Kerr. If Layla never exposed bachelor party secrets after the event, not even when the subjects were often society’s finest and their wives became her patients, then I could trust her.
Ibby’s parting kiss burned against my cheek.
Ibby
“What the fuck do we know?”
Extracting myself from Katie had only been possible with the thought that Luther or his guys had answers. Pushing aside what the bastards had possibly done to her in the ten hours she’d been missing before the twenty-two hours we’d been searching—thirty-two fucking hours, was beyond my ability to reasonably comprehend.
Cities would burn.
Offerings would be made.
I didn’t give a flying fuck what it took, the people responsible would pay and money wouldn’t be enough.
“Good to see you, how’s your girl?” Luther paid me the ultimate sign of respect, standing guard over Katie until one of his boys could grab a couple of hours sleep and take over.
“Doc is with her. I feel fucking useless, what do we know?”
My anger at the world didn’t involve Luther, at this moment. Although, if he and Karnal didn’t sort their shit out, they would be next on my hit list.
“No surprises, Garrison.” Luther’s voice held no emotion, waiting for my reaction.
“Fuck.”
“He’s using the girl to send you a message, it’s up to you how you respond.”
“Give me half an hour alone with him, and I’ll show him how I respond.” Luther and I had enough history for me to fume.
“Smart way to sign your own death warrant.” Luther cautioned. “Look, you’ve got the moral high ground at the moment, but what you do with it is up to you.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, that you put the word out the girl went missing, and everyone rallied. I mean, have you ever seen Karnal’s crew and mine join forces so fast? It was pretty clear that Garrison was behind it because his were the only guys not rattling cages.”
Yes, I’d been overwhelmed by the support coming from all directions, but I hadn’t had time to put the omission of Garrison’s crew together.
“So, what do I do?”
“How far deep are you with him? I know that he’s got guys selling in your nightclubs.”
“Instead of paying interest on my new venture.” The venture my banks didn’t want to touch but I knew would be successful, if given a chance.
“And the girl? How’s she involved.”
The solid door to my private viewing room didn’t give me the answers. Shit. Would I have gone so bat-shit crazy over any hostess or staff member? The good man hiding inside me wanted to scream, yes, but the real me knew the truth.
Katie.
The last day proved why she deserved better than me but keeping my feelings on ice was getting harder. After putting his guys on the line, Luther deserved an answer. Of all my associates, Luther and I went back the furthest. Kids who didn’t fit in at high school; we’d gone off in different directions but ended up at the same table, mostly.
“Mate, you don’t need to give me all the deets, just high level. I can’t protect either of you out on the street if you don’t give me something.”
“Ibby, how’s the girl?” Karnal didn’t look to Luther as he joined us. Two presidents of warring clubs stood by my side. As much as I wanted to smash through the closed door and get back to Katie, this could be the chance to bring enemies together. Broker a peace deal before blood filled the streets, and my clubs.
“I’ve left her with the doctor. Apparently, I’m not invited to secret women’s business,” I tried to joke. “Thanks to both of you for everything. I didn’t know who to call and I don’t know who’s shaking the tree scared the bastards.”
“Seems everyone has an interest in your nightclubs,” Karnal’s tone was easier than his body language. “Luther thinks he has special privileges, Garrison is setting up shop, and I just want us to be friends.”
Of all the ways I could take the definition of friends, the situation called for calm and positive thinking.
“Is there anyway the two of you can find common ground?” I waited for Luther or Karnal to do more than size each other up and down. “I mean, you can tear the city apart, but for what?”
“How about the usual, money and power,” Luther laughed before Karnal joined in.
“I’ll go for the power first and then clean up the money, second.”
“Sydney should be big enough for both of you.”
“Should be but isn’t.” Luther’s crossed arms should have given me enough warning to back the fuck off, but for the sake of all the innocents about to be caught in crossfire, I had to try.
“Okay, you want to shoot up the city, fine. I get you need to be seen at each other’s throats. But you’re not the only clubs in town. You’re not the only businessmen wanting the same patch of earth.”
So far, I could take lack of broken bones as permission to keep going. “Think about it. Your crew look up to you. They expect you to put on a show and make moves. But don’t you both deserve a safe place—somewhere c
onsidered neutral ground.”
“You mean, where we can have private conversations?” Karnal had waited for Luther to flinch before responding. No reaction. Positive or negative.
“Or chill, relax and know that everyone is safe. Take your women, pick up new ones. I don’t care.”
“You think your clubs could be neutral ground?”
“I’d rather neutral than battle ground. Not good for business, and none of us are winning when the police have me on speed dial.”
“What are you gonna do about Garrison?”
“Our agreement has him set up shop in lieu of paying interest.”
“Which brings me back to my original question, how is the girl involved?”
“She wasn’t, but unless she insists on going back to her place, she’s under my protection now.”
“Far enough.” Luther sized Karnal. “Shall we go downstairs and ask one of those gorgeous girls to bring us a bottle or two while we discuss this idea of neutral ground?”
“Never thought I’d see the day.”
“We’d agree to have a drink, or talk?”
“Be on the same side.” For the second time in twenty-four hours, Karnal offered me the rare shake of his hand. “Mate, it took balls to call in all favors for some girl who works for you. You can’t pull a stunt like that every day.”
If Karnal suspected Katie was more than some girl, he at least allowed me to keep my balls intact and ego in place.
“I appreciate what you did.”
“And now you want us to put business aside and play nicely together?”
“I know the two of you have some serious shit that can’t be resolved over a drink or two, but your disagreements are costing me money. If I can’t pay Garrison back, he’ll become your problem too.”
“Fair enough, seems like Luther here is shouting the first bottle,” Karnal laughed all the way down the hall and circular staircase.
My old friend waited until Karnal was out of earshot.
“Look, mate, this isn’t any of my business but I’m gonna give you some advice for free.”
Hard Bargain: a Billionaire Suspense Romance (City Sinners Book 3) Page 8