Indiscreet (The Agency Dark Affairs Duet Book 1)

by Amélie S. Duncan

  I swallowed. Of course Liz had to tell him about me if she found out I was here. I only hoped he hadn’t hurt her to get the information. “Liz is here?”

  “Yes, she is,” he said, like he’d given me a gift. He gestured toward the open door of the limo. “She can’t wait to speak to you.”

  I held my tongue and didn’t move away when he stroked my cheek.

  “See? I’m good when you behave,” he purred, taking my silence as compliance.

  I needed to stay focused until I could escape.

  “You and Liz stay good and we can all have fun together.” He pressed his hand on my back and I climbed inside the vehicle then watched him go back inside the house just as the driver moved the limo.

  “Gia!” Liz exclaimed as the door closed. The sight of her left me temporarily speechless.

  Liz was sitting across from me. She was…radiant. She was well dressed in a strapless satin evening gown a shade darker than her red hair, which was swept to the side in stylish waves. The shawl I’d loaned her was folded neatly next to her on a plush leather seat.

  “Thank God you’ve woken up,” she said. Her eyes shone. “I was shocked when they brought you inside Marco’s house. I begged them to get a doctor, but—”

  My jaw tightened. “You knew about them taking me?”

  She shook her head. “No. I didn’t know you were here. I was at the house of one of Marco’s friends overnight. I only arrived back at his place this morning. He and I aren’t together anymore.” She stifled a sob. “It’s all complicated…I tried to warn you to stay away from The Agency members, but here you are.”

  Seeing that she was distressed, I decided not to point out how vague she’d been at the time, but I couldn’t blame it all on her. No one knows when or where danger comes. We learn after it’s done.

  “Did Marco hit you too?” I asked. “That time at the gym.”

  “No, that wasn’t him,” she said. “He didn’t like that I was jealous of him being with someone else. He offered to ‘make it up to me’ by giving me to his uncle for the night. He went from treating me so kindly to treating me like trash… I’m devastated that he hurt you.”

  My hand clasped Liz’s. I didn’t blame her. I was grateful she had tried to help me, though the thought of hours lost from my life was disturbing. It couldn’t have been easy when they found out she knew me. The lump lodged in my throat made it hard to swallow. “He made you talk about me.”

  She blinked back tears, reached into a small clutch for a handkerchief, and dabbed her eyes. “Yes. I was upset when I saw you and was told I had to tell them everything I knew about you. I told them you were a governor’s wife, but I don’t think that helped.”

  I would have thought it’d give me leverage, but not with these men.

  “They plan to take you to the trade show, do you know that?” she asked in a hushed tone.

  “Yes,” I said as I coughed.

  She reached over, took out a bottled water from a hidden drawer, and handed it to me. I drank down almost all of it.

  “How did you find out about it?” she asked.

  “Dane and Elliott,” I said, and a pang went through my chest. They were being told I had left. Would they believe it or do anything rash?

  She sighed heavily. “I thought so, but from what I understand, this will not turn out as bad. There will be something like that orgy, but then you will be chosen by a man who will keep you. You’ll discuss what they could do for you and what they expect. In the end, everything will work out. You’ll be better off financially.

  I scoffed. “What money do either one of us need?”

  “Come on, Gia. Everyone knows you’ve lost your company,” she said. “My own money has been frozen for an investigation into my late husband’s assets.”

  I started to say that was impossible, but then it all started to make sense. Angel, Liz, me—I now completely understood The Agency. The powerful men created situations for women who were strong and successful, women who didn’t need them, so they could play with or break them for their own amusement…but could there be more to their choices? While I worked it over in my mind, trying to figure it all out, Liz lamented.

  “This is all my fault.” Liz sniffed. “The Agency, the men were too good to be true…and I found out they were. They know everyone we know, so there is no escape. I was told if I cooperate, everything will return to normal or better. He said I’d be able to get my business back on track.”

  I closed my eyes. That was what Dane’s Angel must have thought. They didn’t return her to her life, and from what Marco said, I knew too much to leave. Dread swallowed me whole. I didn’t see a return. We both needed to get out of there.

  “Listen to me, Dane and Elliott would help us—”

  “Save your breath. They knew I was here with Marco,” Liz said, cutting me off. “They are Agency men. Where were they when you were taken?”

  My throat closed. I didn’t have the answers, but I couldn’t believe Dane or Elliott would do this to me. She had to be wrong.

  “You cause no trouble and you return to Seattle,” she said. “You obey, and things could get even better for you. The man I met that Marco’s trading me to is getting me a new penthouse in Seattle and a vacation house in Spain. He has a lawyer already working on my financial problems.”

  The financial problems he and his friends created for you for their own sick entertainment. I scowled. I couldn’t believe Liz was getting caught up in their lies. “You tell me not to trust, but you trust they’ll hold up their end of the bargain with you?”

  “We’ll just have to see,” she said, leaving out the fact that we had no other choice.

  I pursed my lips. “But they are so transparent, and you really believe a man who’s making us go is actually going to help you?”

  She didn’t respond, and we stopped speaking. Liz was in survival mode. I was too, but my plan was not to cooperate. I was going to get away and call the number Dane had given me for his lawyer. The second I found a way to get a call or message out, I would say where I was and hopefully get the police to come rescue me. I wanted to believe my plan was possible, but then doubt crept in. What if Liz had been right all along? Why was I willing to just think the other men were bad and not Dane and Elliott? Dane was about to do all the things Liz was claiming this new man was going to do for her. Had I been equally naïve?

  The car moved onto the highway. I decided to keep a mental note of markers. AT&T park, the Embarcadero…we were going toward the pier. With all the pedestrian traffic, I was sure it would be easier to get out and escape. My hopes diminished when we exited and turned under a bypass. This wasn’t one of the bustling picturesque areas of the city; it was a construction site with boarded fences and scaffolding. No one would go there unless they were working on the building. An Agency member probably owned the site, so no one there would help us.

  The limo turned down a dead-end road and drove underneath a scaffold-fronted building to an underground parking garage then out the other side to a driveway. At the end was a row of three brand new Victorian-style homes in various stages of completion. We parked at the most finished one, and an armed guard opened the door. He was surprisingly gentle when he helped us out of the car, though he stayed close behind us the rest of the way up the driveway.

  Once inside, we were taken into a formal dining room with fabric and mahogany paneling and a grand chandelier as its centerpiece. Besides the beautiful handmade ornamental rugs, four floral-patterned pastel lounge chairs were the only seating in the room and were set up near one of the two fireplaces. Two of the chairs were already occupied by women dressed as formally as Liz and I were. It was quite the contrast from the boat. They were also unmasked, but I didn’t recognize them.

  The guard motioned for Liz and me to take the open seats, and we sat down on one next to each other.

  I was relieved to see him turn to go, but then high-pitched laughter filled the room. I looked over to find a wraithlike woman wit
h eyes that were too big for her face sauntering over to us. Her blonde hair was curly and swept up in a chignon. She had on a silk evening gown made of shimmering fabric, and golden rings looped through her pale skin ran the length of her back. I stared at them when she spun around before us.

  “If you’re scared of this, let me assure you, it will get worse,” she sang out at the end of the room.

  “Now Angel, behave,” one of the guards said to her. He came forward and tried to take her arm.

  Angel jerked away from him, and he let her. “No. I’m in the trade show today and I get to stay.”

  “Not if you cause trouble,” he whispered.

  “You don’t control me,” she hissed at him then started laughing again. He followed her around the room as she continued her spectacle, trying to stop her from knocking over vases and lamps, tilting pictures on the walls, or picking up the pillows on the back of the lounge chairs to throw on the floor. One of the women tried to help him keep the order, and that I didn’t understand. The rest of us stared at Angel in shock. I couldn’t believe this was the same woman who’d headed her own company. I elbowed Liz and gave her a hard look. Liz didn’t know Angel, but she had to see that the woman before us was where we were all headed if we didn’t do something about it.

  Liz cast her eyes down, and I sighed in acceptance. Whatever I chose to do, I’d be doing it without her help.

  “Mommy, Mommy.” A little girl toddled into the room in a pink party dress with little wings. She had springy blonde curls, the same color as Angel’s. She brushed her chubby little hand on our dresses as she passed by. “Pretty…pretty…pretty…”

  Could she be Dane’s? When she approached my seat, I quickly put my hands on my knees. Her hand tapped my own and she paused. Her eyes—which were so like his—met my own, and my heart broke. I’d seen her before he had the chance. I didn’t think for a minute Dane would give up his daughter. Her being there proved Liz was wrong about him and Elliott.

  “Angel, Melinda’s here,” the guard said, taking the little girl’s hand.

  Angel didn’t turn around. She stared out the window.

  “Get her out of here.” Vincent’s voice came from the archway. “Where is the nanny they brought with them?”

  I recognized the woman in uniform from Marco’s home as she came rushing in and swept the child up in her arms. The guard followed her out before pulling a pocket door to close off the room.

  “I see you’re all here,” Vincent said, walking over to the fireplace. He was dressed in a shirt and trousers, almost casual. Above where he stood was a painting of a younger man who resembled him. Marco had been right about taking us to his uncle’s home. “You four had to come here first because we think you need more training. Angel, come over and show the girls how to get into position.”

  Angel quickly rushed over to him and dropped to her knees.

  He petted her head. “How about you show the others how we want them to behave at the show?”

  She lay down on her back and pulled up her dress then slid down her panties. She bowed her legs out, revealing her bare sex before him.

  “Now spread your lips,” he demanded.

  My stomach lurched, and I turned my head away from the display. I’d never do that, I thought, yet a seed of doubt planted in my head. What if the man that bought me drugged and hurt me?

  “You’re perfect baby girl,” he cooed to her. “That’s good training. You will all learn to be just as willing to please when asked. It will be like one long green mixer at the trade shows, but the rest of the time will be mostly yours, as long as you behave. You have access to the best men in the world, and once things are settled, you won’t want to leave.”

  It was a struggle to school my face. I didn’t care who they were; I’d go to the police the second I was free. It was as if Vincent plucked the plan from my mind.

  “Leaving won’t help your situation,” he said. “It’ll get worse. Who but us could right your accounts, get judges to throw out any ruling against you in court? Without one of our backings, you could end up humiliated, ruined, and in jail. You’ll lose it, trust me.”

  I bristled. Like I’d ever trust you.

  The door pushed back and a guard stuck his head inside. “The men are all here.”

  “Great,” he said. “Now Angel, I need you to wait upstairs.”

  She sat up on her knees and started rocking. “I’ve been good.”

  “Yes, but these ladies haven’t worked out, so I’ve got to work with them before they go to the show,” he explained in a childlike voice. He pulled the silk at her back, causing her skin to stretch into little peaks, and she moaned. “Don’t worry, I’ll give you a playmate to take back with you once we’re done.”

  Her eyes widened. “He said to pack everything. I’m going back?”

  He snickered. “Of course you are baby girl. You wouldn’t want to leave your home. You’ve got mansions, cars, servants, and your daughter. Why would you want to leave?”

  Angel leaned toward his ear like she was going to whisper a secret. He blew out his breath and cocked his ear. She came close to him and laughed loudly.

  “Stop,” Vincent said, yanking harder on the fabric at her back, but Angel didn’t comply. She laughed louder and louder until the room was filled with her high-pitched shrieks.

  Vincent glowered at her and yelled, “Get her out of here now.” He tried to push her forward, but she didn’t fall. The guard came in, swept her off her feet, and carried her out.

  I snickered. If only she could have ruptured his eardrum.

  He came over to stand in front of me. “You find that amusing? No wonder one of your lovers called me this morning to bring you here.”

  I pressed my lips together. “You’re lying.”

  “Oh good.” He chuckled. “I was hoping to be the one to break this news to you.” He next called the guard over. Liz was escorted out with the other women, leaving me alone with him, but not for long. My heart dropped to my feet. Coming through the door in a suit and tie was none other than Elliott Carmichael, the very man I thought was Dane’s best friend and my ally. He strolled over to Vincent and they gave each other a hug. Hatred took hold of me. I’d been completely blindsided. I hadn’t fully understood Elliott, but I couldn’t believe he’d betrayed me. I bit the inside of my cheek hard to stop myself from falling apart, but I was losing the battle. Is Dane here too?

  “Miss me, baby?” Elliott said to me as he winked.

  “Fuck off,” I hissed, and Vincent laughed.

  “You were right.” Vincent chuckled. “Seeing her face when you came in was worth having you here.”

  “You should have let me take her off the ship.” He glanced over my face. “It would have gone better than using Marco.”

  Vincent cursed. “Yeah. Marco is as much a disappointment as Dane. You smoothed that over?”

  “Yes, I did,” Elliott said. He took out a key I recognized as the one Dane had used to lock the band on my wrist. “He thinks she left with me and by the time he finds out, he’ll just think she wanted to put it all behind her and stay away from him.”

  “You fucking asshole,” I shrieked. “How could you do that to him after all you know—”

  “Shut the hell up,” Elliott said through gritted teeth. He came over and clasped the sides of my face. His eyes bore into mine. “Or will we need to drug you again?” His voice dropped to a whisper. “Like I told you before: you try to escape, and I’ll turn everything upside down to find you.”

  I blinked at him in confusion. What he said was close to what he’d told me before.

  Did that mean he was there to help me, or was this more betrayal? I wouldn’t risk it.

  I jerked away, and his head nodded before he swung back around to Vincent. “See? A pain in the ass. That’s why I want rid of her. Dane seemed to like the challenge.”

  Vincent shrugged. “I’m with Dane—I like them feisty. You should see the one that came over from our European chapter.
She was a spitfire when I saw her once before, a few years ago, but now she’s kind of slow.”

  I swallowed. Angel.

  “If she’s that messed up, why not cut her loose?” Elliott asked. The sound of sirens temporarily made it hard to hear Vincent’s answers. My heart beat harder when they came close, but then the sound faded again.

  “I got a call to pick her up for the trade today,” he said as he sat down on a lounge chair next to me. “The man that had Angel kept her too long and was stupid. It happens sometimes. He’s in the hospital over here, getting surgery for something rare. We are planning to kick him out. So, we hope to find one of you to take her. He had picked out Dane, and even wanted us to do a video stream so he could see her going to him, but Dane brought Gia and was an ass about hiding her, so he’s out. I head up the trade shows. I decide who gets to play.”

  I sneered at him. Vincent was full of shit as much as he was of information. He wouldn’t say his name, but what the man who’d kept Angel had against Dane was apparently personal. The Agency wasn’t just about taking women; it was also about revenge. The absolute cruelty of the man who’d kept Angel for years made me cringe. He must have known all along who she was, and Dane, possibly the real Dane…Dane Prescott. It made me sick to think he wanted to watch Dane be destroyed by seeing what he and his buddies had reduced Angel to. If that weren’t horrible enough, he’d also meet the child he never knew.

  “Sounds like a good plan,” Elliott said, and they laughed together. “But you shouldn’t talk in front of her.”

  Vincent shrugged. “Why not? She can’t go home. I might as well keep her…it’s a shame Angel’s keeper is sick,” Vincent said then turned to me. “He does good training. When he recovers, I might let him have Gia for a week before we kick him out.”

  His calloused fingers stroked my cheek and I swiped his hand away.

  He scoffed. “I’m too old for brats. When you start behaving like an angel, you will have more freedom. Could someone get her some e-comply?”