Caged and Tamed, page 6
“Their presence must have come in handy when Ricky was looking for a way to support himself.” Caleb straightened. With the not so simple gesture, he destroyed the lie she’d tried to tell herself about how they’d find a meeting of the minds.
But keeping her brother alive meant too much for anything else to matter. She’d risk everything for him.
“He dropped out of high school. I jumped all over him when he did but it didn’t make a difference. He isn’t stupid but—”
“Isn’t he? Look what he’s doing.”
“Stop it!” She hadn’t seen any neighbors after leaving the pavement so maybe keeping her voice down didn’t matter. “You don’t know what his life’s like.”
“Not intimately but close.” He rubbed his thighs like he’d done when he was done spanking her. “You aren’t the only one with a personal stake in how the mafia operates.”
“Personal?” Old pain and anger seized her and killed caution. This damn by the books detective couldn’t know what it was like to be trapped like her family was. “Was your father murdered?”
“No.” He threw the word at her. “But—”
“Did you have to identify your father’s body? Be told what the last minutes of his miserable pain-filled life were like?”
“Not him but—”
“But what? Don’t answer. Whatever you’ve experienced, it can’t compare to having to describe to your mother what her husband looked like drenched in his blood?”
His response came in the form of muscles gone hard and still. He didn’t so much as blink. His mouth didn’t move.
“What kind of detective are you?” Why was she so raw? Had fear for her brother torn her apart? Maybe this dangerous man was responsible. “You’re so damn protected behind the badge you wear. Your life’s safe and normal while my brother and I—we lived on the streets after Dad’s murder. Digging in trashcans to fill our bellies. Listening to Ricky cry and Mom curse. Needing someone to hold me but knowing it wasn’t going to happen.”
“I’m sorry.”
Don’t give me compassion. I can’t handle it coming from you. “Not as sorry as I am that I approached you. It was a mistake. One I’m pulling the plug on. Now.”
She’d gotten partway to her feet before he was so close his features blurred. He put her in mind of a predator, a dangerous hunter who’d sensed weakness in his wounded prey. She’d never considered that she’d reveal what she just had. Those tearless years were supposed to be her secret.
“No,” he said without emotion. “You aren’t ending this. You need me.”
“No, I don’t.”
“The hell you don’t. Damn it, we’re doing this all wrong. I want to sit down again, but I know better than to until I’m sure you’ll stay where you belong.”
She didn’t belong anywhere. He didn’t own her.
And he sure as hell wasn’t responsible for her rapid-fire breaths and hammering heart. He was sexy all right, dark and dangerous. Something about him had opened the floodgates. Instead of so much as let him finish a sentence, she’d confessed what was behind her nightmares, but he wasn’t in charge of her system. She’d just briefly lost hold of the reason for this meeting. She’d get it back—any moment.
“Sit,” she forced herself to say. “I’m staying—for now.”
She hoped he felt foolish for looming over her like a wolf focused on a small, crippled creature. Too bad she wasn’t a porcupine or skunk.
Teeth clamped to keep from laughing at the image she’d created, she waited. He didn’t look at all amused as he returned to his lounge with its garish flower design. A mix of green, yellow, and red, it was better suited for an adolescent girl than a career cop. It dawned on her that he wasn’t any more at home here than she was. She’d pass on what the law needed to know; wait for him to thank her for the tips then leave.
Maybe to never see him again.
“Ricky and I talked,” she said to get going. She struggled not to mentally replay what she’d told him about her old man’s death. That subject was closed. Permanently. “It wasn’t a long conversation, but he told me some things I probably shouldn’t keep to myself.”
“Such as?”
“Like how Ethan being in prison has uprooted the usual order. He’s lost some of his hold. It’s enough to satisfy several men who’ve been waiting for their leader to go down.”
He grimaced. “Loyalty and greed in opposition.”
“That’s one way of putting it.”
“Are a lot of those under Ethan positioning themselves to fight for the turf?”
“Ricky hasn’t seen any sign that it’s widespread.” Officer Caleb Roth and she were, briefly at least, on the same page. They spoke the same language. “The majority remain loyal to Ethan, but he was just getting into a new enterprise when he was taken off the streets.”
“The disloyals—I don’t know what else to call them—want to control that particular action?”
“I don’t see how it matters,” she insisted because it made her sick to think her brother might have signed on for a scheme that turned others’ lives into hell. That’s why she hadn’t been able to sleep last night. Just thinking how she’d tell Caleb, if she wound up doing so, had torn her into pieces. Damn her brother for revealing as much as he had.
“Look,” she continued, “can’t you go with what I’ve told you? Be ready for conflict similar to what my brother was involved with? I’m afraid there’s going to be more bloodshed unless law enforcement intervenes. Innocent people will get sucked up into things.”
“Where does Ethan factor in?”
“According to Ricky, he’s waiting for the dust to settle. That way he’ll know who’s left for his men to take on.”
“Dust nothing. You said the word blood—like what happened to Ricky and Konga.”
“Yes,” she admitted. There was no easy way out of this.
The fans-created breeze should have cooled her cheeks so why did she feel so hot? Judging by Caleb’s firm mouth and hooded eyes, he didn’t feel the same way. Of course he didn’t. After all he was an investigative law enforcement officer focused on criminal activities while she was what, on the other side? Her being a nurse didn’t change things, didn’t make her any less his enemy.
He sure as hell didn’t see her as a woman.
Too bad her body hadn’t gotten the message.
“Let’s take another run at this,” Caleb said. “I’ll pretend I’m content with what you’re giving me. At least for now. Start with names. Then we’ll move onto the odds.”
“Odds?”
His cold smile didn’t reach his beautiful dark eyes. It also did nothing to calm her nerves or quiet her heart. Her pussy took note but maybe it had been aware of him from the beginning.
“Power in the mafia ebbs and flows.” He slid his hands over his thighs. “I get that. One week a particular underboss has positioned himself one step below the top of the heap. Then shit happens. A handful of his soldiers get arrested. Someone gets jumped. Blood’s shed.”
She’d be crazy if she didn’t understand the message behind his clipped words. He was telling her he hadn’t forgotten what she’d told him about her father’s violent death or intend for her to. Angry and scared, she wished she could tell him more—specifically that her father’s murder had left her with a stark reminder of how the mafia world functioned. But if she did, he might grasp the depth of her vulnerability.
“Here’s what I’m thinking,” he said. “Your brother gave you the names of those Ethan considers his enemies. You know shit’s going to happen if you keep that information to yourself. That’s why you reached out to me.”
“Maybe,” she whispered.
“No maybe to it. Who the hell are we talking about?”
“It’s just guesses on Ricky’s part.” She hated her reluctance but what if what she revealed came back on her brother?
“You know certain things about those men,” he pushed. “Like it or not, they’re part of your world.”
“I don’t want it like this,” she admitted.
“It doesn’t matter.”
His impatience swirled around her. Any moment now she’d push him too far. “I know more than I want to about how the men Ethan doesn’t trust feel,” she admitted. “They’ve spent their adult lives strutting within the organization and on the streets. If deep down they’re scared, they’re doing all they can to make sure no one knows.”
“Everyone’s like that to some extent.”
Chapter 5
Was Caleb admitting that he too existed beneath the surface he’d revealed to her? Determined not to get hung up on personal matters, she named the men Ricky had told her about. She wasn’t surprised when instead of taking notes, he just nodded.
“Now for the rest it,” he said. “Why are these fools risking pissing off the godfather?”
“Risking?”
“Don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about. There has to be a lot at stake. Making the risk worth it. You’ve been dancing around this undertaking Ethan was putting together before a guilty verdict put a kink in things.” Frowning, he cocked his head to the side. “Maybe he’s working on a new fail-proof way of getting drugs on the streets.”
“There’s no such thing.”
“Not so far. Maybe it’s the drugs themselves. A chemical mix that hasn’t been tried before.”
The more he said, the more her stomach roiled. “No.”
Eyes narrowed, he glared. “I’m not going to keep asking stupid questions. Either you tell me what you know—everything you know—or this conversation’s over.”
“Women,” she whispered. “Sex.”
Even though he didn’t move, she read a million emotions in his steady dark eyes. “That’s hardly new.”
“I know.” She swallowed repeatedly in an attempt to work moisture into her dry throat. “But this isn’t hookers.”
“In other words, the women you’re talking about aren’t there willingly.”
She chided herself for not keeping up with him. He’d been in many of the same gutters she had. Walked in the same darkness.
“No, they aren’t.” It took a great deal not to bury her face in her hands.
“Where do they come from? How do they get pulled into this mess? Where are they being kept? How will the bastards who want them know they’re available?”
Available. For sale. She couldn’t meet his glare. “I don’t know.”
“But you know more than you’re telling me, damn it. Answer one thing. What kind of women are we talking about?”
She went in search of enough moisture to keep her throat from closing down. “Regular. Normal.”
“In other words they aren’t mafia bred and raised.”
“I don’t think so.”
“You don’t think! Fuck it, you can do better than that.”
“Don’t!” She held up her hands. “I’m not the enemy.”
“Aren’t you?”
Furious, she continued meeting his glare. “I wouldn’t have approached you if I believed it was going to lead to an argument between us.” She clenched her hands to keep from raking her fingers through her hair. “I don’t know much. I honestly don’t. Neither does my brother, but because of what Ethan has told his soldiers, Ricky included, I believed something’s going down.”
The two of them were surrounded by wealth and self-indulgence. For all she knew Korbin Aldrich had or would pay for what he considered his right to control a woman. She’d be an object to the billionaire, a possession to indulge himself with.
And Caleb understood that world.
“Considering your experience with the mafia,” she said, “I have no doubt you know what steps need to be taken. Who might give you the information you need. Talk to one of your snitches. Twist some arms if you need to.”
He snorted. “You’re giving me too much credit. This isn’t some damn cop show.”
“Close enough.” She’d gotten to him, taken the pressure off herself. “I’m sure of one thing. The mafia is determined to make money off unwilling female bodies. Whoever winds up running the show will advertise the product in ways only they can. Set prices. Acquire enough sex slaves to…” The last words froze her vocal cords.
“Acquire?” he threw at her. “Like kidnapping?”
“I don’t know.”
“There aren’t that many options.”
Ricky had spelled out in greater detail than she wanted to know about how trusted soldiers would set their sights on potential captives. They’d stalk the women, learn as much as they could about their lives, memorize their routines, decide on the best way to take them off streets or break into houses and apartments. The whole time Ricky was passing on what he’d learned, she’d managed not to throw up. She wasn’t sure she still could.
“Let me get this straight,” Caleb said when she ran down. “Several underbosses are so enamored of Ethan’s money-making project that they’ve decided to take over. They figure it’ll be easy to push the godfather to the side. One staked his territory by going after your brother and Konga because they’re loyal to Ethan.”
“That’s what Ricky thinks.”
“Of course he does. While he waits for his marching orders, the underbosses start building their supply. They order their soldiers to identify, track, and seize targets. Hell, that part of the operation has probably started.” He glared at the horizon. “The soldiers intend to scare the shit out of whomever they grab. They’ll lock them up, make sure they can’t get loose. Train them to do what the bastards who buy them want done so the prospective sex slaves will fetch hefty prices. What if the captives prove to be difficult to tame? What if they have spirit? Is that beaten out of them?”
Her stomach twisted. “I—maybe.”
“No maybe to it. This is damn sick.”
“Yes,” she whispered. “It is.”
“And your brother has signed on.”
“No! He’s loyal to Ethan. He wouldn’t—”
“Ethan’s a bastard. He’s the worst of the worst. Hell, unless you’re an idiot, you know he’d like nothing more than to force a captive to obey his every damn command. He probably gets a hard-on imagining he has you in chains.”
She couldn’t speak, could barely keep from losing her last meal.
“How does your precious Ricky feel about that?”
“Stop it! Why the hell do you keep making him part of this?”
“Wake up.” His nostrils flared. “He’s no better than the rest of those animals. Hell, maybe he put your name out there as possible slave material.”
Her pulse throbbed. Cursing, she threw herself at Caleb. Thinking to knee him in the crotch, she dug her nails into the sides of his neck. His silence in contrast to her outburst threatened to distract her, but he’d said something she could never forgive or forget.
Before she could land a blow, he knocked her leg aside, causing her to lose her balance. He grabbed her wrists to keep her from hitting the patio.
“You hate it when I say something against your brother, don’t you?”
Scrambling to her knees, she glared up at him. She swore he’d doubled in size. “Of course I do. He’d never—”
“You don’t know him.” Widening his stance, he returned her stare. “Just as I didn’t know my sister like I believed I did.”
Despite her anger, she longed to know what he was talking about. The knowledge might give her an advantage.
“Here’s what’s going to happen.” He was much too calm. “We’re going to confront your brother. You’ll convince him that his freedom depends on him being honest. He’ll answer every question I ask. If he doesn’t…”
“What?” Damn her legs for threatening to give out. “You can’t arrest him. You don’t have grounds.”
“I can find some if it comes to that. Believe me, I don’t make idle threats.”
No, he didn’t. “Ricky doesn’t know I’m here. He’ll hate me. Maybe never speak to me again.”
“That’s your problem.”
She couldn’t recall ever being involved in a more unsettling argument. He wasn’t giving her any wiggle room.
“He won’t talk to you.”
“He will if you convince him to.”
“Which I have no intention of doing.”
“In other words, you don’t care what happens to the women we’ve been talking about.”
Where had she left her purse and had she placed her keys in it?
“We’re done.” She didn’t look at him. “I won’t let you push me in a corner, damn it.”
“Stop cussing.”
As much as she wanted to keep on doing just that, she’d come across as an obstinate child. Keeping her attention on anything except him, she took in their surroundings. They were too calm. The opposite of what she was experiencing.
“Where’s your brother?” he asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Fuck!”
Suddenly everything about this moment became funny. A joke. She couldn’t stop laughing, the tone hard and sharp.
“That’s it,” he snarled. “A step too far.”
Even though she was still laughing, she caught the warning coming from deep inside him. She’d pushed him past his limits just as he’d done when he’d said what he had about her brother.
She backed up. “Don’t touch me.”
“Too late.”
“The hell it is.” Shut up. You’re making things worse. “I’m out of here.”
“No, you aren’t.”
His movement was beautiful, a thing of deadly grace. One instant she was a modern woman in charge of her life. The next he’d hauled her to her feet, thrown her over his shoulder, and was marching them inside. She was so surprised that he’d carried her through a door she hadn’t noticed before her thoughts caught up with her. This room was dark with a single window set high. The parallel bars over it grabbed her attention.
“What—”
“Korbin’s invention.” He threw her face down onto a bed.
Before she could face him, he straddled her. His weight pinned her to the narrow mattress.
