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“Thank you. ”
As if he’d guessed her thoughts, Xander nodded coolly. “No sweat. But before I leave, just ask yourself if I seemed like a dishonest slime at any time Logan let me touch you. ”
No, he hadn’t. Pushed the boundaries, yes. Done whatever he could to yank Logan’s chain, absolutely. But he’d never crossed the line. Still, if he were involved in this terrible human-auction scheme, he would have been nice to her from the get-go.
Tara made a mental note to ask Logan a few more questions about his buddy. Because Xander being involved in this sex ring would certainly explain why their room had been bugged and why he’d unexpectedly come to Florida to cozy up to them. On the other hand, why would a billionaire’s heir need money?
“Of course. ”
Logan looked between the two of them with a frown. “What do you know about Jordan?”
“Besides the fact he’s a serious sadist, not much. That dude gives Doms a bad name. ”
That had been her impression of Jordan. Just ick.
“I hear he hasn’t been here long, maybe six weeks. What’s odd is that he came from nowhere and didn’t have to do any time as a dungeon monitor. Kantor just moved him ahead of all the resident Doms and made him the dungeon master. He told some others that he was from Phoenix, but I’ve got friends who live there. I called around. No one’s heard of the guy. ”
Since BDSM could be a small community, if Xander was telling the truth, it was definitely fishy. “I’ll contact Bocelli and ask if he can look into our friend. ”
“Good thought,” Logan said, then addressed Xander. “Our top initiative is to rescue Tara’s friend Darcy. Hear anything about her?”
“Not yet. I’ll keep my ear to the ground. ”
Fantasy Key—Monday afternoon
Tara’s waiter delivered her plate of tropical fruit salad and iced tea. “Will there be anything else?”
She shook her head. “No, thanks. ”
“Your entrees should be ready shortly. Until then, Master Xander asked me to deliver something to you, which you’ll find under your plate. His instructions were take it discreetly at the end of the meal, not before. ”
The access card. She gazed across the table at Logan, who merely nodded at the waiter. “Thank you. ”
The tuxedoed man nodded, then turned on his heel. Tara ached to look under her plate for that little plastic card, but refrained. Too many eyes here could see too much. She’d wait until people left.
“I told you he’d come through,” Logan pointed out.
Xander had indeed done exactly as he’d said he would, but she still didn’t quite understand his motivation. He hadn’t seemed close enough to Logan that he would risk his life, but that was exactly what he was doing. Tara hoped like hell that Logan himself wasn’t being duped by his pal.
She shrugged. “We’ll see. ”
“He’s not going to betray us, Cherry. Believe me. ”
Like every day since her teenage heartbreak, she found trust difficult. “There’s a lot at stake here. You’re asking me to rest the outcome of my mission on your instinct that he’s honest. ”
“If the shoe was on the other foot and you asked me to trust someone I didn’t know, I would. No questions asked. ”
Tara winced and forked in a bite of pineapple to stall her reply. She’d like to call bullshit, but he meant that. Nor was it fair to hold their past against him since he’d left her to protect her. But when he’d cast her aside, it had frozen something deep in her core. She hadn’t allowed anyone to breathe warmth and life into her again.
Logan was on the verge of melting those walls around her heart. And it scared the hell out of her.
“I’ll try. It’s just not easy for me. ”
Logan put down his fork and leveled a direct stare at her across the table. “When are you going to trust me again?”
It was a fair question—and a painful one. “I don’t know. ”
“That’s why you don’t want to talk about our future. You don’t trust my sincerity. ”
He was right; she couldn’t picture him sleeping beside her every night, much less slipping a ring on her finger. It had been a fantasy for years, that he’d come back still in love with her and want her for the rest of their lives, have some perfectly plausible explanation for ripping out her heart and forever killing her adolescent ability to love with her whole being. But now that he’d returned with a noble rationale for their breakup, claiming she was still the only woman in his heart? Tara ached to believe it. She just didn’t know how to after twelve long years.
But she couldn’t quit trying. If he really did mean it, she needed to find a way to embrace him before her doubt ran him off again.
“Give me a little more time, when we’re not in the middle of. . . all this. ” She pushed her fruit around on her plate.
Logan hesitated. “I know you’ve endured a lot these past few days. I also know that I put you through hell in the past. But that was then. In my youth I allowed something to come between us that I’d never allow today. Just keep trying to trust me with more than your body, Cherry. I swear I will never give you any reason to regret it. ”
Hearing that sincerity from such a dominant, ferocious man undid something inside her. Deep inside, she knew he was right, and that if she didn’t want to be alone again, she was going to have to figure out how to close the door on their past and move forward.
Their waiter returned and smoothly replaced the fruit plate with her chicken before she could even see the access card on the table. Then he left Logan’s fish in front of him.
“How does everything look?”
“Excellent,” Logan said impatiently, clearly wishing the waiter would leave so they could finish their conversation.
“Very good. ” The waiter reached on the cart behind him and produced a silver jug of iced tea. “According to Xander, you’ll need to leave in ten minutes. He left service-crew uniforms in your cabin. You’ll have approximately five minutes to find Kantor’s office on the top floor, then another five inside. Ten at most. Trash the uniforms when you’ve finished. He’ll be back for the card later this afternoon. ”
“Why are you helping us?” Tara couldn’t help but ask. She still wasn’t exactly sure it was smart to put her faith in Xander, despite Logan vouching for him. Trusting their darkly handsome waiter, whose name tag read CHAZ, wasn’t any easier.
He produced a pepper mill with a bland smile. But his eyes were alive with hatred. “Laken Fox had just become mine, and she returned here to be with me. Kantor was the last person known to see her alive, and his excuses are bullshit. I want that son of a bitch nailed to the wall. ”
Good answer.
As another waiter sidled by and stared, he removed all expression from his face. “Have a good afternoon. ”
With that, he was gone. Tara immediately went into mission mode. “Eat what you can quickly. ”
They both shoved down a few bites of protein and vegetables. As the other guests filed out of the dining room, she lifted her plate aside with one hand and swiped her napkin beneath with her other. The little plastic card fell in her lap.
“Let’s go. ”
AT exactly two o’clock, Logan and Tara, dressed as maintenance workers in the outfits Xander provided, let themselves into the secure hallway on the top floor. He pulled his cap low over his face and pushed an empty trash can, just in case they were on surveillance. Cherry did the same, ensuring her hair was tucked beneath, as she shoved the vacuum over the garish, resort-style carpet.
The access card clicked, and they moved into Kantor’s office. Logan looked around for surveillance equipment and didn’t see anything obvious. Still, they had to be cautious.
Per the plan they’d developed as they worked into the gray zipup maintenance jumpers, he moved immediately to the safe beneath the ornate rug of red and gold near the window. It opened up with the combination Xander provided.
/> Logan pushed aside a stack of cash and stared at the thick section of DVDs tucked inside. He flipped through them quickly. None had any sort of writing or markings, so he’d have to put them back for now. He couldn’t afford to take them and have them be missed.
Next, he found a set of accounting ledgers, which meant these were likely the real books, and Tara would probably find the doctored set in Kantor’s desk. A quick skim proved this place brought in a more-than-decent take. But it was the pages devoted to “product sales” that caught his attention. Here, they recorded a staggering fucking fortune in the millions. There was no way their little shop of BDSM gear and other assorted perversions downstairs was bringing in that sort of money. The “products” they sold had to be human, but each of the ledger entries was marked with nothing more than a number. The first sale took place approximately six months ago. The latest was pending for Thursday.
Extracting a little camera, he took pictures of multiple pages, zeroing in on the most suspicious, then shoved the books back into the safe.
He checked his watch. “Four minutes. ”
“I’ll be ready,” Tara said.
Damn, he was proud of her. Despite this being her first mission, she was performing well under pressure. They could very well be risking their lives, and she didn’t trust Xander, but she wasn’t letting the stress get to her.
Logan poked his head into the safe again but found nothing more of interest. Locking up, he replaced the carpet on the hardwood floors, then went to Cherry’s side.
“Got anything?”
“It took me a minute to hack into his computer, but I’m in now and downloading everything onto a flash drive. I imagine it’s all encrypted and password protected so that will take a while. Here. ” She shoved the desk key into his hand. “Look around. ”
Without a word, Logan opened up the desk, poked around in drawers and files, not sure what he was looking for. In the back of the lateral filing cabinet, he found something long and rolled up. Logan spread them out across the desk.
“I’ve got the blueprints of this place. Shit, there’s a dungeon under the resort, and not the kind we play in. ”
Tara pulled her gaze from the screen, her brown eyes saucer-wide. “They could be holding Darcy there. We need to get inside ASAP. ”
“That could be easier said than done. Let’s talk to Xander, see what he knows. ”
“This is my mission, not his. ”
“Hasn’t he gotten us this far?”
A little beep sounded and she pulled the flash drive out of the USB slot, her mouth pursed in anger. “We’re not out of this office safely yet. For all we know, we’ve walked into a trap. ”
As if on cue, they heard footsteps in the hall. She bit her lip, then mouthed Kantor?
He shrugged, then motioned her under the desk. Tara put the computer to sleep, then shoved the vacuum into the corner, next to the trash can. They ducked down just as someone entered the room.
“Who left this fucking trash can and vacuum? Lazy bastards . . . ”
A cell phone rang.
“Kantor,” the voice barked, then paused. “You’re sure he’s dead?”
Logan’s brain raced and his instincts went on alert.
“Excellent. I’ll be down to the Pit to help you dispose of his body. And next time? I need better background checks on all incoming employees. ”
Tara pressed a hand over her mouth, clearly coming to the same conclusion Logan was. Had they somehow found out Xander helped them and killed him for it?
Just then, the office door opened again, and a woman stuck her head inside. “Sir, there’s a kitchen fire. It’s spreading quickly. We’ve called the fire department. ”
“Fuck!” Kantor snarled. “I’ll call you back. ”
With that, he slammed out the door.
TWENTY minutes later, Tara and Logan were safely back in their room. Logan tried to call Xander twice as he checked the new remote Xander had arranged. But his phone went to voicemail both times. Panic started eating at Logan’s gut. Other than his brother, Hunter, Xander was the best friend he had. He couldn’t be dead, god damn it.
Cherry emerged from the bathroom, taking the elastic band out of her hair. She looked at him with concern in those sweet chocolate eyes, then made her way to him, kneeling in front of him, taking his hands in hers.
“I know you’re worried. ”
Logan stared at the remote control.
“We can talk freely. I just checked the rest of the room. ”
He nodded miserably. “How can I not be concerned? I feel responsible. We had so little to go on with this case, and Xander seemed able to give us exactly the help we needed. But he isn’t trained for this shit, and I should have remembered that. ”
Tara kissed his cheek and squeezed his fingers. “You know, this is one of the things I always loved about you, your ability to care. You were never too macho to be worried or help someone. Please don’t let your worry eat at you. For all you know, he’s laying low or found something else for us to check. ”