Masquerade

by Desiree Holt

  Noah chuckled. “She took on the bad guys in the Mexican jungle, so yeah, she’ll do whatever it takes.”

  “Oh, I definitely want to hear about that one of these days. Okay. Tomorrow I’m going to sit down with Jerry Ortiz again. I haven’t been satisfied with either his attitude or the two meetings we’ve had. Time to get tough. If something was going on with those trips, you can bet he’s in it somewhere.”

  “No doubt,” Taylor agreed. “You think you’ll get anything from him?”

  “I have a feeling if he thinks he’s really in the hot seat he’ll open up. For a consideration, of course. He impresses me as someone who runs from trouble and avoids taking the blame like the plague.”

  “I agree. Let’s see what applying a little pressure will do.”

  John pushed his plate aside and opened his laptop. “Meanwhile, I’m going to pull up the files I’ve been working on and walk you through them step by step. I gave you the broad strokes. Now let me fill in the spaces.”

  It was after eleven by the time they had the basic flow chart put together. Lindsey had been diagramming as John gave them information. When she was finished, she sent it to everyone at the table, so they could all look at it together.

  “There’s still a lot of spaces,” Taylor commented, “but I see a pattern beginning to emerge.”

  “Podesta, Merriam and Craig have been friends since their days at the University of Miami,” Lindsey pointed out, “so there’s the beginning of the connection. That’s probably why they went into business together. But why sell out to Natalia and go their individual ways?”

  John shrugged. “I’m guessing because something came down that opened a bigger door for them and it worked better for the other two to start their own businesses. And look at those businesses. International shipping and finance. Transporting illegal goods around the world and moving money from place to place. What better setup can you have? Especially if you’re getting even richer from illegal funds.”

  Taylor looked at her watch. “Well, children, I think we’ve put in a full day and should quit for the night. Tomorrow will no doubt be another bitch of a day.”

  The Cantrells had barely left before John pulled Lindsey into his arms.

  “I prescribe a hot shower and a massage,” he told her. “Especially the massage.”

  Desire bubbled up inside her as his words conjured up images of the two of them naked in a shower. Her nipples popped to attention and she had to squeeze her thighs together to contain the pulse beating in her sex.

  John looked at her, the same dark desire flaring in his eyes, and a muscle twitched in his jaw. He cupped her cheeks, his palms warm against her skin, and tilted her face up to his.

  “You’ve carried the bulk of the stress so far, Lindsey. Let me make you feel good.”

  “But—”

  He touched the tips of his fingers to her lips. “Hush. Dr. Martino is on the job. Relax and enjoy it.”

  Erotic pictures kept flashing through her mind like a video. She visualized his hands roaming everywhere on her body, his mouth doing dangerous things to her—sucking her nipples, licking her clit, thrusting inside her needy channel—and desire, hot and greedy, consumed her.

  John wrapped his fingers around her wrists and tugged on her hands. “Come. Sit. Just…sit. Leave this to me.”

  “But…”

  He led her into the bedroom, where he sat her on the edge of the bed. “Just stay like this for a minute. Please? Close your eyes and empty your mind. Forget about Elite, Arroyo, Wainwright, everyone and everything else.” He kissed the shell of her ear and murmured, “Think of soapy bubbles sliding over your body and my hands doing wicked things to you.”

  “Oh, god,” she whispered, closing her eyes and letting more sexy images play through her brain.

  “Not god, just me.” He brushed a kiss over her lips. “Be right back.”

  She sat there as directed, eyes closed. She heard the sounds of the shower starting, then John was back, his hands urging her to stand.

  “Don’t open your eyes yet.” He kissed the closed lids.

  He undressed her in slow motion, caressing her skin as he bared it little by little. By the time she was naked, she was trembling with need.

  “Okay, now you can look.”

  She swallowed a tiny gasp. In the intervening moments he’d shed his own clothes and stood before her in his glorious nakedness, dark hair curling on his hard chest, arrowing down his flat stomach to the nest of curls surrounding a thick, glorious cock. She reached out a hand to wrap her fingers around his shaft, but he circled her wrist and moved her hand away.

  “Uh-uh. This is my show. Come on.”

  He led her into the bathroom where hot water steamed from the rain showerheads, creating a warm cocoon. He tugged her into the enclosure where the water could pour in soft streams onto her body.

  “Close your eyes,” he told her again. “No thinking. Just feeling.”

  In a moment his hands were gliding over her skin, coating it with fragrant body wash, the soothing scent of hyacinth drifting to her nostrils. She stood as still as a statue, hard as it was, while his hands glided over every single inch of her body, rubbing, caressing, stroking. She sucked in a breath when he palmed her breasts and rubbed the slick substance onto her nipples, pinching them a little while he did it. Then he skated a hand over her mound and slid one finger between the lips of her sex, teasing the tip of her clit before moving on.

  When her entire front was coated, he turned her and began the same process with her back. When he stroked the cheeks of her ass and slipped his fingers through the crevice between them, it was almost more than she could bear. Her legs trembled and she had to press her hands against the cool tile of the shower wall to steady herself.

  “Eyes still closed.” John’s voice was right near her ear and in the next minute he traced the shell with the tip of his tongue.

  Then he proceeded to rub and knead and stroke every single inch of her body until she was so weak with desire she wasn’t sure she’d be able to continue standing. The sluicing of the water over her skin as John rinsed her off did nothing to ease what she was feeling.

  “Hold still now,” he said, when all the soap was gone. “And remember. Keep those eyes shut.”

  She wanted to tell him she didn’t think she could open them if she wanted to.

  When she heard the crinkle of foil she was tempted to look but John touched his mouth to hers, placing a light kiss on it, and she just let herself enjoy the feeling. In the next moment he lifted one of her legs and draped it around one of his hips. Then he reached between her thighs to spread the lips of her pussy and very slowly eased his thick cock inside her.

  Oh, god!

  She was so aroused she came at once, her orgasm enhanced by his fingers rubbing her clit again and again. She gripped his shoulders, little mewling sounds escaping from her mouth as her body shuddered again and again. Her inner walls gripped John’s very swollen shaft, spasming as she came and came and came.

  She had barely taken a breath, little aftershocks still rippling through her, when he coaxed her up again, still teasing her clit—only now he added his mouth, sucking first one nipple then the other. She gripped his shoulders so hard her nails dug into the skin, but he never let up for a moment.

  This time when she came he palmed her breasts, pinching the nipples hard, increasing the intensity of her orgasm. The tiny aftershocks hadn’t yet stopped when he gripped her leg again with one hand, pulling it tight to his body. Holding her in place with the other, he began to drive into her, hard thrusts that hit that sweet spot inside every time. The second orgasm had barely finished before she felt, shocked, another one begin. This one reverberated through her entire body.

  She could sense him holding himself back just a little, waiting for her to catch up again. Then it was hard and fast, over and over, until they exploded together. The walls of her pussy squeezed him over and over as his cock pulsed thick and heavy inside her. />
  At last, spent, they just stood there, her leg wrapped around him, his head on her shoulder, breathing ragged, while the gentle shower poured down on them. When the pulsing in his cock stopped, he eased himself from her body and lowered her leg, massaging the thigh muscle to relax it.

  Then he kissed her, such a gentle touch it was like a brush of air over her lips. She still had her eyes closed while he killed the shower, lifted her out with him and dried them both off.

  “Now you can open your eyes,” he teased.

  When she did she saw so much emotion on his face it nearly brought her to her knees. This was a side of John Martino she’d never seen. How the hell was she going to handle this, anyway?

  “Still worried about Elite?” His mouth curved in a small grin.

  She sighed. “What’s that?”

  “Good girl. I think we can both get a good night’s sleep now.”

  When he slid them both into bed, he pulled her against him. His body was spooned around hers and one arm wrapped around her waist, his hand cupping her breast.

  “Sleep, sweet girl,” he murmured in her ear.

  And she did.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Identifying the girl had been easy after all. Sadly, Dania found her in the National Missing Persons Database, along with far too many others. Daisy Winston’s roommate had filed the report three weeks ago. She’d said the girl had been offered a job with a modeling agency and it was a big deal. She was getting a trip to the Caribbean and everything.

  Dania had to make a conscious effort to tamp down the murderous rage surging through him. He and the detectives from Fort Lauderdale and New York had come to the conclusion that this was another version of grabbing girls for the sex trade. But, they all agreed, this was taking it to a new level, because all the girls were between the ages of eighteen and twenty and without question model material. So this was more than just ‘grab a bunch of females and sell them off to a whorehouse somewhere’.

  The first thing Dania did was call the roommate and give her the sad news. He hated doing this stuff. It always depressed him as much as the people receiving the news. This time was no exception. When the friend had calmed down at last, Dania made arrangements for her to come down and make a formal identification of the body. Another depressing act.

  “I-I’ll have to call her parents,” she stammered, tears evident in her voice. “Oh, god. She should never have left home. Maybe none of us should.”

  Dania wanted to say, Not until you learn how cruel life really is, but he kept his mouth shut. This was no time for a life lesson. Daisy’s death was education enough.

  He was still sitting there, scrolling through the others in the database, looking for similar reports, when his phone rang.

  Detective Rolf Andrews was with the New York Police Department and according to what he told Dania was focused on missing persons, with special attention to girls of this age. What he had to say made Marco tighten his grip on the phone and pray they were all making something out of nothing. Jumping to conclusions.

  “The friend who filed the report insisted she went to Miami and she calls every single day. She just called again, asking me if we’d heard anything.” His sigh echoed over the connection. “I hated to tell her that usually, unless the person is found within the first few weeks, the case just languishes in the database. There are too many ways for people to disappear to spend a lot of man-hours on it. But damn, she’s a persistent pest. Asked for the number to call in Miami. I figured we’d have better luck if I called you myself.”

  “Totally understand.”

  “I don’t hold out much hope, but let me tell you what I’ve got. Maybe it will ring a bell with someone else who disappeared in your area. Especially since this girl was headed in your direction.” He paused for a moment. “The friend who filed the Missing Persons said Arianna had been offered a contract by a modeling agency, with a photo shoot in an exotic location in the Caribbean. Do you know if these other girls were in the same situation?”

  “At least one of them was. I’m going to check through all the rest of them and see what I can come up with. Do you know the name of the agency?”

  “Yeah. Bella Donna. They’re a pretty big outfit. Their models appear in some very high-end ads. I can’t see them involved in something like this. They’re too visible. But the girl who filed the report swears her friend called her on her cell, said she just had a few minutes while they changed planes in Miami.”

  “I think the modeling agency has an office in Miami, too. These girls are too similar, as are their stories. Too coincidental. But I’m with you. How would a prominent agency like Bella Donna be connected to this? They pay their models a ton of money. Why would they dabble in the sex trade? Still, I’ll have to look into it.”

  “Same here,” Rolf agreed. “If you find out anything, please let me know. I think we need to coordinate on this.”

  “Listen, a friend with the Fort Lauderdale Police Department called me a couple of weeks ago about the same thing. I’m going to dial him in on this too, okay?”

  “You bet. If it’s this widespread, then we’ll need a lot of help bringing down what looks like a massive organization.”

  “Yeah. Damn.” Marco tightened his fist. “They look so young and innocent.”

  “Well, someone’s after them, that’s for sure. You know, it used to be these people who provided girls for the sex trade just scooped them up wherever, drugged them and sold them off. Maybe the buyers are more specific now. Paying more money for better goods.”

  “Jesus!” Marco felt sick.

  “Listen, I’ll put a list together from our database, those who fit the profile who’ve gone missing in the past three years and shoot it to you. If you’ll do the same, we can see how many of them got a gig with Bella Donna. And have your friend in Fort Lauderdale do the same.”

  “Works for me.”

  He exchanged cell numbers with the other detective and they both hung up. Then he typed Bella Donna Agency in the Search bar of his computer and watched the website load. He was still sitting there surfing through it when Jon Alpert came into the bullpen and sat down at the empty desk next to him.

  “Find out anything on your phone call?”

  Marco sat up. “Maybe something.” He told him what he’d learned from Rolf Andrews.

  “This is more than just some missing girls,” Jon observed. “And I’m willing to bet the number of missing girls is bigger than we imagine. While you do that, I’m going to check the national database for other girls who fit this profile and see what I can come up with. You checking out the modeling agency?”

  “Yeah. Interesting.” He scrolled back to the main page. “Before you do your thing, take a look while I click through the pages. Their models are in some pretty top-tier ads and also work in the gold standard fashion shows. Tell me if you notice the same thing I did?”

  “The ages?” he asked at last.

  Marco nodded. “Those missing girls fall right into the age range Bella Donna hires. And the looks are pretty much the same.”

  “Yeah, but I’ll bet if you check other agencies, you’ll find the same in a lot of them.”

  “But how many other agencies have a bunch of their models go missing?”

  “You don’t know for sure if any of the other missing girls are hooked up with Bella Donna.”

  Dean shrugged. “Well, there’s a sure way to find out. Match the names of the ones we’ve identified with the list of models, and hope they still have pictures of them up on the site.”

  “Maybe they think the girls just asked for a few days off. That’s possible.”

  “I dated a model once. Very briefly. That job consumes their lives, one hundred percent. They don’t just ask for days off.” Marco rubbed his jaw. “Besides, I can’t imagine, after an agency has invested in a portfolio for a girl, taught her how to walk, wear makeup, pose, all that stuff, that they’d just say, ‘Too bad, so sad, I wish you luck.’ And just let her l
eave.”

  “Well. One way to find out. Let’s pull the list, see how many of them told their friends they got a gig with Bella Donna, then go talk to the people at the agency. Rolf Andrews is going to do the same in New York. You and I both know sometimes the most information you get is what the person being questioned doesn’t say.”

  “Got it. Let’s get busy on this. You want coffee?”

  “From here?” Marco snorted. “Not if I want to keep my stomach lining. When we leave here I plan to stop for some real stuff. I’ll even pop for one for you.”

  As he sat there, compiling a master list of girls eighteen to twenty-one years of age who had gone missing in the last three years, he hoped and prayed he was wrong about this. That, far-fetched as it might be, all these girls had somehow decided to play hooky from their lives and would show up unharmed. But his gut was telling him something different.

  Chapter Eighteen

  How could I have been so stupid?

  Mia Silva huddled in the bedroom, hugging her arms around herself and trying to calm herself down. She was such an idiot. She should have been smart enough to know that things didn’t happen the way this did or as fast as this did. But she was just so damn tired of her parents stifling her and never allowing her to do what she wanted that when Dax Fornell, the agent from Bella Donna, had approached her, she’d jumped at the chance.

  First she’d been thrilled when she’d called the number he’d given her and he’d said she was just what his clients was looking for. But when he’d invited her to a photo shoot at an estate in Miami Beach with some other models, she’d had a hard time containing her excitement.

  “I know this is a bit unusual,” he’d said, “but we have an opportunity coming up to put you and three other girls into a layout for a major designer. The major partner in the firm is here along with the potential client. This would be a great opportunity for you. If they like you, it could mean major assignments right out of the gate.”

  Ohmigod!

  That was all she could think of. Lucky for her, both of her parents were planning to be out at an event that night. Dax had said he would send a car for her, but she didn’t want it to come to the consulate. She was afraid if they knew who her family was, they’d kill the deal, not wanting to get involved in a possible political situation.