"Yes. Hi. I'm so sorry I'm late."
"Oh, no. You're not. I'm just early." She waved a petite hand through the air before using it to grip Erin's outreached hand. "Sit. Sit."
Erin slid her bags from her shoulder and plopped into the chair across from her. "I'm sorry, but you just look so familiar." Erin studied her for another moment. "Really familiar. Have we worked together before?"
Claudia's smile slipped a fraction before quickly recovering. "No, I don't think so." She tilted her head to one side. "I think I would remember you."
"Hmmm…well..." Erin brushed the subject away, though the nagging sensation didn't lessen as they began talking about Claudia's company and her need for a new branding.
After they both finished their drinks, Claudia sighed at her watch. "Oh, shoot. I have another meeting across town I need to get to."
"Oh." Erin looked at her phone for the time. They'd only been talking for twenty minutes. Surely she could have scheduled more time for the initial meeting. "Um…okay. We can schedule something for later in the week?"
"Or…well, this may seem a bit needy, but I really want to start getting this new logo and all that up as soon as possible. I'm going way across town, which will take at least a half hour at this time of day. Come with me? We can chat on the way, and my driver can bring you back to your office afterwards."
Erin looked at her phone again. Still no message from Bradley, and technically her work day still had another two hours left. "Sure. That works. Let me tell my boss I won't be back in the office for a while." She quickly shot a text to the office.
The two women walked the short distance to the car waiting on the corner of the street. Erin slid into the backseat while Claudia made a phone call. Erin couldn't hear what she was saying, but she could have sworn she heard her name being used. Maybe she was just telling one of her business partners the meeting had gone mobile.
When Claudia settled into the car, Erin continued to wrack her brain about where she knew her from. It wasn't a random place. She'd seen her, really seen her, somewhere. Claudia scrolled through her phone and frowned. It was then it hit Erin.
"Top Floor!" Erin called out triumphantly.
Claudia slowly turned her gaze from her phone to Erin. The once warm, inviting smile curled into a chilly stare. "What did you say?"
"Where I know you from," Erin repeated with much less vigor.
"Yes." Claudia nodded, then went back to her phone.
"You were talking with Bradley. You know him." Erin's throat tightened. The little hairs on her neck began to stiffen.
"Yes. I do." She tapped out another message on her phone. "And you have been a big enough nuisance already. I would appreciate if you would shut the fuck up for the rest of the ride."
The locks on the doors clicked loudly, resounding in Erin's mind. Panic struck her, and she tried to open the latch. It wouldn't budge.
Claudia didn't even look up from her phone. "You'll only hurt your fingers. It won't open. Do sit still. I don't want to have to sedate you. It takes so long for it to wear off."
Erin looked to the driver. His eyes were fixated on the road. Surely he heard everything being said, so she wouldn't get any help from him. At a red light, deciding it was worth the risk, Erin threw herself at Claudia, trying to scratch at her.
A sharp pinprick pierced her neck. The driver turned back around to face the road, dropping something into the front seat as he did so. The car lurched forward again, and her head started to spin.
"Dammit. I told you to stay still. Disobedient little bitch." She heard Claudia's snarl just as she rested her head against the window. She just needed to close her eyes for a moment, then she'd be okay. She'd be fine in just a minute.
Chapter 26
Bradley hung up the phone with Jerry, more confused than he had been at the beginning of the call. As if on cue, there was a knock on the office door, and Alex walked in.
"Hey, I was just going to head over to your office." Bradley sat back down in his chair.
"I’m bringing you a copy of the ad I'm going to run on Kink Academy. If we're going to start offering classes, we'll need to partner up with some other websites and clubs. Maybe start doing a yearly retreat."
Alyssa had been right. Alex may have left his career in marketing and advertising, but the career hadn't left him.
"Sure, that sounds good. But…uh…well, I just got a call from Jerry."
"Did he find more theft?" Alex's shoulders slumped.
"No, not theft. But something weird. I know you and Kendrick worked closely on the security set up for this floor. Do you remember what company he used to buy the cameras?"
Alex screwed up his face in thought for a long moment. "Yeah, Hoffster, Hoffman—something like that. I still have the invoices. I can pull them. Why?"
"Jerry found a few big payments to them during the building phase. They all check out fine. But there's at least half a dozen in the last three months that don't have any invoices attached. When he tries to get a hold of the old firm to get them, all they tell him is they never received any. They said they were told to pay those exact amounts to that company, and that was it."
"Travis?" Alex nodded, though it didn't need to be said.
"Yeah. But it's weird. They aren't in odd amounts, like for purchases, there are four payments for the exact same amount. Twenty-five hundred dollars each."
"That's ten-grand. What would he be buying for that amount? The security system for the club was only a bit more than that."
"Yeah. Jerry didn't think much of it when he did the original audit, but now that he's been given all the bookkeeping since the beginning, he noticed the company showed up the second time."
"Let me go grab the invoices. We need an IT guy to come in here so we can go entirely electronic. We should have this stuff on a server or something." Alex tossed the papers he had in his hand on the desk and disappeared out of the office.
As the door closed behind Alex, Bradley's phone rang. Erin's ringtone. He answered it by the third ring.
"Erin." He held the phone to his ear, his breathing ragged. The radio silence with her all morning had him a little on edge. Something was turning in that pretty head of hers, and he needed to get to the bottom of whatever it was. If the punishment from the night before had been too harsh, or had left her emotionally wounded, he needed to know. He would make it right, he would soothe it away, but she needed to tell him.
An electronic voice greeted him. "Bradley, Erin's a bit indisposed at the moment."
"Who the fuck is this?" He launched himself out of his chair. Alex walked in with a folder in hand, his expression darkening when he saw Bradley.
"That's not important at the moment. What is important is Erin. She hasn't been playing along with my game very well. Hasn't been following the rules, but she's a new slave, so I suppose that's to be expected."
"Put her on the phone," Bradley demanded. The curdling of his stomach intensified when the electronic voice laughed in response.
"Not an option right now. Right now, the only thing you can do, my big, bad Dominant, is listen to my instructions. If you're a good boy, you might have your little whore back by dinnertime."
Bradley's fingers burned from holding his cellphone with such a grip. He could barely process the situation. Alex took tentative steps toward him. The room filled with stuffy, unbreathable air, the heat of the space nearly suffocating him.
"What do you want?" He managed to keep his voice steady, but that wouldn't last much longer.
"Money of course. I'm not greedy, five million should do it. Wire transfer. I'll send you information on where and when it needs to be sent. Do what you’re told, and you can get your girl back. Start fucking around, and I'll send her home a little at a time." The click of the other line going dead echoed in his ear.
"What's wrong?" Alex's grave expression mirrored the brick sitting in Bradley's chest. "Where's Erin?"
"I don't know." Bradley's chest vibrated with his g
rowl. "Where's Kendrick? Is he here? I need him right now." He pushed past Alex and charged into the lounge.
Alex caught up to him. "No, he's not here today. What's going on?"
Alyssa walked up to them with a casual grin, which she quickly dropped seeing the look on Bradley's face. "What's wrong?" She looked to Alex.
"Something's up with Erin. Have you talked with her today?"
Alyssa shook her head. "No, the girls all got together for lunch, though. I had a class and couldn't join them."
"I'll call Kelly. You call Kendrick." Alex pointed to Bradley. Considering the heated glares Kelly shot his way every time they saw each other, Bradley wasn't going to argue.
"What's going on?" Alyssa asked, but Bradley was already halfway through dialing Kendrick and ignored her.
Kendrick picked up after the first ring. "Get here now," Bradley barked at him.
"Whoa, wait a minute." Kendrick laughed on the other end. "What's up?"
"Someone has Erin. They took her. Get here now." Bradley turned away from the anguished expression on Alex's face. He couldn't let himself go there yet. He had to remain in complete control. He could lose it later. Much later. Once they had her home safe and sound. Then he would lose all control and kill the son of a bitch who dared touch his fucking woman.
* * *
Bradley's office swarmed with people. Alex, Kendrick, and Royce huddled around his desk while the girls all grouped together on the couch in the corner trying desperately to keep Kelly from bolting from the room to go in search of Erin.
He hadn't intended for the whole damn gang to come over, just Kendrick, but once Kelly got wind of what was going on, everyone showed up.
It was already late afternoon. The club would be opening in a few hours for their first set of roundtable discussions. Alex offered to have it cancelled, but Bradley didn't want to change anything yet.
"Those fuckers could be planning on bringing her here, or they might try to blend in with the fucking group. Alert the security team."
"Already done." Kendrick nodded. "I called in the off-duty guys. They are on their way here. Either to help here or whatever else we want."
"Shouldn't we call the police?" Jessica asked from across the room.
"Not yet," Bradley said, and shook his head "This is personal. The police will just start playing games. Not until I know what the fuck they want. Then we'll decide." He checked his phone again. "I should have put a fucking tracker on her phone when this all started. I should have put a fucking guard on her! I never should have let her go about her fucking day as though there wasn't some fucking crazy person harassing her." Each statement raised in volume, and by the end, his fists were clenched, and his lips were pursed together so tightly, his bottom teeth dug into his lip.
"Jess, Kelly, what else did she say at lunch?" Royce turned the conversation.
"Nothing." Kelly shook her head. "She said she was headed to some coffee shop for a meeting. She didn't say which one or with who. Some new client."
Jessica shot Kelly a glance, then turned her gaze to Royce. He shot her a questioning glance, but she clamped her mouth shut. "Just normal girl talk, and then she headed off to the meeting."
"I called her office, her assistant was off today, but they got me to someone else who is trying to track her down. She should know where the meeting was supposed to take place and with whom." Kendrick slapped a hand on Bradley's shoulder. "We will find her."
"I know." Bradley paced the office. There was little to do until the assholes reached out to him again. Kendrick already had several of his guys working to try to trace Erin's phone. The call might have been too short, but they were trying.
Bradley's phone rang. The room went silent, all eyes trained on him. He lifted the phone to his ear. "Hello?"
Chapter 27
Erin could hear murmurings, but nothing clear. Looking around the room was useless. Everything was shrouded behind the black fabric tied around her eyes. She hadn't been able to get any answers out of Claudia, and the last time she screamed for answers, she'd been backhanded. Her ear still hummed from the impact.
"Do you understand the instructions? Good boy." Claudia's sweet-as-sugar voice sickened Erin.
A manly chuckle surprised her, and she turned her head in the direction it came from. She tried to move, but her hands were bound tightly to her ankles, leaving her hogtied and lying on her side. Wiggling a little, she could make out a mattress beneath her with some coverings, but she couldn't tell how big the area was or how much room she had before falling off.
"What an ass." The man snickered after Claudia tossed her phone down. The sound ricocheted around the room. It couldn't be so big if her phone made such a loud noise. The room had to be empty. Where the hell had she taken her?
There was a slight draft, but otherwise, it wasn't uncomfortable. Images of women bound and helpless in some cement basement cell came to her mind, but the room didn't smell of dust and dirt. It was more lavender and honey.
"He'll make the drop in one hour. Princess here needs to be ready, but I really don't want to give her back just yet."
Bradley was coming. She would be okay once Bradley came.
"We could have a little fun with her first." At the man's suggestion, Erin's skin crawled. "It's been a while since I played with someone as innocent as this one."
"Idiot. She's been fucking Bradley, she's no innocent any more. Look." Erin's skirt was yanked up, exposing her ass. She'd worn a thong that morning to ease the discomfort of more than necessary fabric brushing against her still tender ass. "Look at these marks. He laid into her ass good last night." The skirt was thrown back down over her, but the hands moved into her hair, yanking her head back. "Right? You were a naughty girl, so he punished you. I saw the whole fucking thing. He didn't even fuck you afterwards. Just punished you and left you to kneel in his office. That's what he does to girls he doesn't give a shit about."
Those words were like needles in her heart.
Claudia continued. "He's done playing into your fantasies. Now, he'll want a real submissive. Someone who can serve him the way he deserves and craves. He'll be done with you by the end of the week." Claudia shook Erin's head, then shoved her into the mattress.
"You are so damn jealous." The man laughed. "You want him all to yourself, but he's not going to want you after this is all done."
"Shut the fuck up. He's not going to know I had anything to do with any of this. You'll get your fucking cash, you'll send me my cut, and you'll give this bitch back to him. He'll tire of her and toss her out, and I'll be there to soothe him. It would be better if we could kill her. Then I could really get some good consoling in."
"I'm not killing anyone," the man told her. "You do what you want with her, I just want my fucking money. That bastard ruined me with his fucking witch hunt. He should have left it alone. All that digging around, thinking I didn't know what he was up to. Like I didn't know he had gone to his accountant for help." The man scoffed, and a chair scraped against the floor. "Well, if we are meeting him in an hour, you better get Princess cleaned up."
"I'm not touching her. She goes back the way she is. You go do your thing. I'll meet you there." The sickly saccharine voice was back.
A long pause made Erin wonder if the man had left. "Fine. Don't fuck this up, Claudia. How are you going to keep her from blathering your name all over the place?"
"I have my ways, don't worry about that. Just go kiss your wife, make nice-nice, and meet me."
The door closed, and Erin tried to relax. Everything tensed and burned with the way she was tied up. "Do you want to know what my ways are, Erin?" Her breath was hot against Erin's ear. "If you never see him again, you'll never be able to tell him. But don't worry. I'll take good care of him. I know what he likes, what he needs. And it's not some fucking newbie who doesn't know shit."
A few seconds later, the door slammed, and Erin listened to an empty room.
Would she really never see Bradley again?
Chapter 28
"Why the fuck would she do this?" Bradley stared at the invoices Alex had been bringing him when the first call came through. Claudia Hoffman, owner of Hoffman Securities. "Are you sure?"
"I'm telling you, if she owns that company, and she does, then she knows how to tap into our feeds. She's the one getting those photos. And if she can tap into our feeds, she can tap into our systems to get Erin's work information and her home address." Kendrick jammed his finger into the table.
"Why? For what fucking purpose? If she owns this company, she has no fucking reason to ask for five million, she probably has more than that in the fucking bank."
"It's probably not for the money." Alyssa stood behind Alex with a sour look on her face. "Every time she's been in here the past few months, she's asked about you, Bradley. If you were working, if you'd be playing. Brandon told me she cursed up one way and down the other when you bought Erin at the auction. He heard about it all night, every time the guy who bought her sent her for a drink. You were supposed to buy her, she said."
"Claudia?" Bradley wrinkled his brow and tried to think back to their short time together. "I never gave her any reason to think we were anything more than casual the few times we played, and I never said I was buying her at that auction."
"Well, sometimes the reality doesn't quite make it up to the brain, you know." Alyssa tapped her temple.
"But why demand money? How is that going to help?"
"I don't think it's her who wants the money." John entered the office, looking like a beaten puppy. "I'm sorry, I know I'm not welcome here, but I found out something I thought would be important. From what I'm hearing, I'm too late."
Chapter 29
"You understand that I'm doing you a favor, right?"
Erin wiggled her fingers, trying to make the blood start circulating faster, completely ignoring Claudia's attempt to get her to fight back.
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