“Okay, take me there. I’ll watch over things tonight, and then we should be able to shut this shit down tomorrow. I have people on tap from Anacortes and Whidbey Island. They are five miles off shore. We’ll bring them in closer tomorrow. They’ll be ready to hit here and Victoria at the drop of a hat.”
Darius loved his commander.
***
Rylie needed a drink. She felt like the afternoon of a prom. Not that she had ever gone to one, but this is what she had always imagined it to be like. Girls getting ready together, nervous about their hair and make-up, wondering if the boys would like them. Only, in this case, wondering if the men would be kind to them, and mostly hoping they wouldn’t.
Ophelia looked at her with such hope, she had to turn away. But it didn’t work, because finally the girl was able to corner her.
“Ursula? Is Ursula safe?”
“I don’t know.”
“You will save us?” Rylie put on her sternest Sylvia face.
“I don’t know what you are talking about.” One of the other girls came up to where the two of them were talking. The seamstress would be arriving in an hour with their gowns, for now, they were all running around in robes the woman had left for them.
“Ursula?” the girl said. “Where is Ursula?” Her face started to crumple, and Rylie wanted to swear. She felt the same damn way. She prayed to God Ursula would be found on the other side of the island and not buried somewhere beside Klein.
“Ekatarina! Go back to the other girls. You need to work on your make-up. Your dress is red. You need to have brown eye-shadow.”
“Yes, Mrs. Hess.” The girl slunk away.
“As for you,” she turned to Ophelia, “I know nothing more than what Klein and Howard told me. Ursula is supposedly dead. If I find out differently, I will tell you.”
“I would know in my heart if she had died.” Ophelia placed her hand over her chest, her eyes filled with tears. Rylie prayed the girl was right. There was a knock on the door to the master suite. All of the girls went silent. She answered it, it was Drake.
“Jiang wants you downstairs.”
“I’ll be right down.”
“All of you,” Drake clarified.
“They’re not dressed.”
“I think he’d prefer that. Anyway, he’s pissed about something, and he said, everyone.”
“Well, he’s only getting me. Guard the door.”
Rylie made her way down the long hall, then glided down the beautiful grand staircase. Albert and Jiang were waiting for her.
“Where are the girls?” Jiang demanded.
“Their gowns haven’t arrived. They will be presented when they are properly dressed, and not before.”
“I said I wanted to see them now,” Jiang’s tone was menacing.
“I want these girls to feel confident. This is imperative to their performance this evening. Confident women will bring higher prices. If they feel disrespected and demoralized, they will not interact well, they will walk around with their heads down, and I won’t receive nearly the money I anticipate. I do not like it when my money is negatively impacted due to somebody’s ego.”
“Listen here, little girl–” Jiang started.
“No you listen, Uncle Jiang. You have said you admired my way of doing things. If I fail, then you can berate me. You can run things your way on the next operation when I am long gone. This is a partnership between your nephew and me, and this is my contribution. I will not have it fall to pieces at this juncture.”
“I am head of the Liu family and you will obey me.” Jiang’s black eye’s glittered at her, filled with rage.
“I am not an employee. I am a partner. With Albert, with you, with whichever Liu is in charge, I don’t give a damn. All I care about is my bottom line. I want the most money out of tonight’s auction because I am an equal partner. With that in mind, you will wait to see the girls.”
Jiang looked over her shoulder and nodded his head. Rylie felt her arm being yanked by Huan. She wasn’t surprised. She waited for a tenth of a second, and then she was freed. She gave Finn a cool nod.
“Thank you, Tibbs.”
Then looked over at Jiang. “Jiang, we each have men willing to do our bidding. Mine are more adept. Please keep that in mind. I like Huan, I would prefer not to have him killed.” She saw the flare of panic in Huan’s face. “I’m going back upstairs now. When the girls are ready, I will bring them downstairs for inspection. By the way, I think I will prefer doing business with you, Uncle Jiang. Brandon was getting tiresome.”
As Rylie marched up the stairs, she could feel Albert’s hatred following her with every step. Good, it meant he was more likely to screw up. She was so damned tired. Everything was set for tonight’s party. The real estate agent had come through like she had known she would. She had triple checked with all of the buyers, and they would be arriving in less than three hours. Clint and Lydia said the servers would all be military personnel, but Rylie was stressed about getting all of the caterers off the premises as soon as possible. She didn’t want any non-combatants anywhere on the estate when the shit-storm started.
She took a left at the top of the staircase towards the master suite, but as soon a she was out of sight, she slipped into one of the many unoccupied bedrooms. She ignored the beautiful elegance and instead headed straight for the closet and went in and leaned up against the wall. God willing, this wouldn’t be the last chance that she had to talk to her family, but she wanted, no she needed, to talk to them.
“Hello, is this you, Rylie?” Charlotte answered the phone, her sweet Southern accent a soothing balm.
“Yes, it’s me.”
“You sound far away. How’s Omaha? Did you get the sale?” Rylie winced at the question.
“We’re having dinner tonight with the client. I’ll know then.”
“Are you coming home tomorrow?”
“Or the day after. How is everything?” Rylie asked.
“Great. Hold on, Georgie wants to say hi.”
“Hi, Rylie! Sawyer bought me a dinosaur.” Rylie shook her head and grinned. Sawyer was a soft touch, like she was.
“What kind of dinosaur?”
“What do you mean? Oh. He’s a girl dinosaur.” Rylie barely stopped herself from letting out a laugh.
“What’s her name?”
“Rylie. He’s tough. He has claws and teeth, and he wins every fight. You’ll win your fight, right Rylie?”
“Georgie, I’m not going to have to fight, but if I did, I would use everything I had to win so I could come home to you.”
“Good.”
“Where’s Sawyer?”
“He’s at the gas station. My dinosaur is pretty like you are.”
“Thank you.”
“Here’s Charlotte, I’m going to go play.” Once again, Georgie had managed to surprise the hell out of her. How in the hell did he seem to know things?
“I’ll make a grand coming home dinner for you, and there will be nothing with any milk products, I promise.”
“Thank you.” Rylie smiled. “I love you, Char. Give Georgie and Sawyer hugs for me. I have to go.” She pushed off the wall of the closet and was soon back to the menagerie that was the master suite.
***
Penelope, the girl forced to drink the hot sauce, had been inconsolable since arriving at the estate. Rylie had been giving her antacid and making her keep ice on her burned mouth. As Ophelia and Rylie worked with all of the girls to get them into their gowns, Penelope decided to sneak out of the suite. Rylie gave a mental fist pump, good for her. She was glad to see the girl’s spirit wasn’t broken as she watched. She didn’t do anything because she knew Drake was standing guard outside the door. But after twenty minutes, she went in search of the girl.
She heard them, they were in the little alcove around the corner. Curious, she moved closer to see what had kept them for so long.
“Women have a lot of power. Do you understand that word?” Drake’s drawl was very
apparent, which told her he was feeling very emotional.
“Power? It mean strength? I have no strength. I am weak.”
“Penny, you are a strong woman. You have survived this. You just tried to escape again. You fought me when I tried to stop you. I admire your courage. Do you understand me?”
“You lie.”
“I don’t lie,” Drake said in a firm voice.
“You criminal. You mean man. You lie.”
Drake gave a soft laugh. “See what I mean, you’re strong and proud.”
“I weak and scared. I will be sold and killed.”
“Can I tell you a secret?”
“Da. I mean yes.”
“Men who have to buy women are weak. If a woman is smart, she knows this. She will know how to manipulate him to get what she wants.”
“What is this word, manipulate?”
“You play a game. You pretend like with a child so you can get them to do what you want them to do. But the men must never know you do this, you must always act like they are in charge.”
“Like with my father. When my mother talked back, he would beat her.” Drake gave a long sigh.
“Penny, I knew we were soul-sisters.”
“Soul-sisters? What means this?”
“It means we understand one another. We share a soul. How is your mother now?”
“She dead. My father sold me.”
“Ah, baby. I’m so sorry.”
“Maybe you not a bad man.”
“Penelope,” Rylie called out. “Where are you?”
“She’s right here, Ms. Hessman.” They came from around the corner.
“Penelope, your hair is a disaster. Go in and have someone help you with it.” Penelope gave Drake a small smile and scurried inside.
“The two assholes downstairs want a showing of the girls, will you go with me, Drake?” She saw the shadows leave his eyes, and instead they shone like lasers.
“It would be my pleasure.” He looked at his watch. “The party should be in full swing in a few hours, right?”
“Yep. What time is Aiden going to be here?”
“He will have decided to arrive unexpectedly early. So he’ll be here within the hour.”
“Well isn’t that unfortunate.” Rylie grinned. “That should keep Little Liu and his uncle busy.”
“Come on Rylie, call him by his correct name. He’s Sick Old Fuck.” Rylie chuckled. She really liked Darius’ team.
***
It was like some kind of warped debutante presentation to the court. Jiang and Albert were seated at the bottom of the staircase. Each girl had been told to curtsy in front of Jiang, who would then attach a corsage to their dress. Rylie had told all of the girls that tonight was a party where the men would get a chance to meet them, and tomorrow there would be an auction. They had no idea men would be writing down their bids beside the bouquets lining the veranda that corresponded to the type of flower each girl wore.
“Fucking disgusting,” Drake muttered under his breath.
“Keep your voice down.”
They watched as Penelope curtsied and kept her head up as the corsage was pinned on her. Rylie was thankful the makeup had covered the blistering around her mouth from the hot sauce.
“You did well with her, Drake.”
“I’m going to beat the ever loving shit out of that Mike bastard who fed her the hot sauce.”
“I think Finn has dibs. Where is he?” Rylie asked.
“He’s making sure all of the caterers, florists, and any other helper types are getting off the premises before all the bad guys start arriving,” Drake said out of the side of his mouth.
“Sylvia!” Jiang motioned for her to come to him now the last girl had been pinned. Rylie went over to where the two men were seated.
“We just got word, Jarlson’s car is headed up the drive,” Albert whispered.
“He’s early.”
“I thought you were precise in your instructions to him.” Albert glared at her. She shrugged.
“The man is a billionaire. He’s going to do what he wants to do.”
“This gives him an unfair advantage,” Albert complained. Rylie was sick of his stupidity, and apparently so was his uncle.
“There is no thing as an unfair advantage, nephew. All that can happen is he gets taken with one or two of these beautiful girls.” He waved his hands at the women in front of him. “Then the advantage is ours.”
“Still,” Albert pouted.
“Shut up, your ignorance is annoying me.”
Albert’s I.Q. points had definitely decreased the longer he was in the presence of his uncle. It was a sad family dynamic.
“What worries me is the help has not arrived. They are not due for another hour,” Rylie said in a bored tone of voice.
“You don’t sound worried,” Albert snapped.
“That’s because she probably has a plan.”
“I do. Gentlemen, why don’t you go and get ready, in the meantime, I will see to our guest's needs, and coordinate with the servers as they arrive.”
“I do enjoy competence,” Jiang said as he got up from his chair and headed for the staircase.
“Penelope and Ophelia, I need you to follow me. The rest of you go into the kitchen with Drake, he will tell you what needs to be done.”
“What makes you think I know my way around the kitchen, ma’am?” Drake questioned as they both watched Jiang and Albert walk up the stairs.
“Just a feeling I have. I think there are a lot of hidden depths to you, beyond your driving abilities. Girls, follow him.” Penelope and Ophelia came over to her, and she took each of their arms and guided them towards the front door. They didn’t have long to wait before a loud sound was heard coming up the drive. Suddenly Drake was beside her.
“What the fuck?!” he said. He bounded down the stairs.
A blue sports car pulled up, Rylie recognized it as a Ferrari. Aiden got out of the door, and he and Drake were in a heated debate that she thought might come to blows.
“Girls stay here.”
“What the fuck is going on?” she demanded of the two men.
“He’s driving the F60 America,” Drake accused. Aiden smirked at Drake, and she ignored the car, as she looked at him in his tuxedo. Damn, the man looked good.
“So what Drake, he should be driving a Ferrari,” she said finally.
“Not an F60 America,” Drake shot back.
“Drake, you need to be in the kitchen with the girls. What if the Lius see you out in the courtyard?” Rylie was getting pissed.
“I’m surprised they didn’t hear this rocket ship pull up and come out. What the fuck O’Malley, are you out of your God damn mind? Where the fuck did you find it? Can I drive it?” Drake was acting like a madman.
Finally, Aiden spoke.
“If you are the valet, you can drive it,” Aiden flipped him the keys.
“Sweet,” Drake crooned.
“Somebody better tell me what the fuck is going on, or I’m going to be using their dicks for my keychain.”
“Rylie, only ten of these bad boys were ever made. The F60 is worth two point five million dollars.” It felt like the Earth moved. Aiden cupped his hand under her elbow.
“Easy now,” Aiden said. She nodded and realized this was the correct decision for the part he was playing. But seriously, that much money for a car? Drake was getting into it.
“I’ve scouted where the garage is. This is going in there. I’m going to make sure nothing happens to it.”
“It’s insured,” Aiden said.
“Bite your tongue, cretin. That’s like saying the Mona Lisa is insured. This is not about money.” Drake drove off.
“How are you doing, Rylie?” Aiden asked.
“I’m fine.” She looked up at the top of the steps where she had left Penelope and Ophelia. They had not been able to hear their conversation, but they were still fascinated by the interaction that had taken place. “Aiden, are you ready to start pla
ying your part?”
“Truthfully? I’m going to fucking hate every second of it. But if it will get these girls to safety, I’m all for it. Let’s get this show on the road.” His blue eyes changed from sky blue to chips of ice. He stalked in front of her, up the stairs towards the two girls.
“What are your names?” All of the backbone Drake had worked to instill in Penelope drained right out of her.
“Penelope, sir,” she said quietly. Ophelia stared at him. He grabbed her hair and pulled it. Hard.
“I said. Tell. Me. Your. Name.”
“Ophelia.” Tears welled in her eyes and then leaked down her cheeks.
“Mr. Jarlson, you have not made any purchases, you are not allowed to bruise the merchandise,” Rylie said in a velvet tone.
Aiden threw back his head and laughed.
“I have harmed nothing. Tell her, little girl, tell her you are not hurt. Do so immediately.” Aiden increased his grip in Ophelia’s hair, and she gasped inpain.
“Please, sir, I will say whatever you want.”
“Good girl.” He released her, and she sagged into Penelope’s arms. “This is going to be fun, Ms. Hessman.” Rylie was about ready to pull the knife out of her garter belt and cut off the man’s cock. There was no reason for this kind of performance. As she opened her mouth to tell him off, he made a small hand signal, and she gave a quick glance toward where he was pointing. There on the balcony was Jiang Liu, he had witnessed the entire exchange. Rylie felt somewhat mollified that Aiden wasn’t a total sadist for no reason.
“Girls, go to the kitchen, bring out some champagne for Mr. Jarlson and me.” They left at a run. She watched Jiang go back into his room.
“Rylie, I’m not a monster,” Aiden said quietly.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know what I was thinking.” She felt like a piece of shit she had bought in to his act.
“You’re a good woman, who is very protective of these girls. Don’t worry, your plan is fantastic, and we’re going to take these fuckers down.”
“It’s not my plan, it’s a team effort,” she said under her breath.
“Good woman, you said the magic word. Team. I hear cars, and I see Finn. I’m going inside. I promise to be kind to your girls.” Rylie had no idea what he was talking about as he headed inside. Then Rylie heard more cars coming down the drive, and Finn miraculously appeared from the other side of the house. How in the hell had Aiden noticed and heard all of that she wondered? She went over to Finn.
Her Daring SEAL (Midnight Delta Book 5) Page 18
