Secrets in the Dark

by K D Michaels

  Pratt smirked when Jennifer growled before looking over at Jackson. Pratt and Ian noticed Jennifer shifting in her seat, getting antsy and sending glances over to Jackson off and on as if waiting for a signal. Ian placed a hand on Pratt’s arm as if to hold her back, incase all hell broke loose.

  “Mr. Sawyer, I must compliment you on your club, it’s very nice. Hard to get into, long waiting list I’m told. You must be very proud of your accomplishments. A former Navy SEAL, this club and also a very successful security consulting company. I have to say I’m impressed myself.”

  “We’re very selective with our clientele. We make sure that the people we allow in will follow the rules and are truly part of the lifestyle, not just someone wanting the name of a Dom or Master. Even if we give you a chance, it doesn’t mean you make it in. You have steps you have to take before you’re approved, even then you’re on probation for one year.” Ian shrugged, staring Jackson down.

  Jackson nodded as he looked around the club, ignoring the two women. “Makes sense. We tend to have to do the same with our society. Have to protect your investments. Well…” Jackson laughed as he shook his head, “We have to protect our way of life. While you do yours this way, ours is more…in depth, shall I say.”

  “BDSM doesn’t include kidnapping unwilling victims and beating the shit out of them and claiming it’s the lifestyle.” Pratt growled at Jackson. “The one thing that Ian’s club has that you don’t, is consent. The men and women here consent to the lifestyle, they consent to the role play, they consent to the sex. Oh, well, make that two things, the women get to go home to their own beds, not forced to sleep with whatever Tom, Dick or little Harry you demand they sleep with to make you money.”

  Jackson pounded the table with his fist as he leaned forward, pissed. “I do not force my wife to fuck every Tom, Dick or little Harry, as you call it. There is only one person her sweet cunt satisfies and that is me!”

  “Wife?” Jennifer asked before Ian and Pratt could say anything.

  Ian and Pratt looked at each other in confusion, mouthing the word ‘wife’ to each other in question. When they looked back at Jackson and Jennifer, who was still in a heated discussion, their confusion mounted more.

  “I do not have to answer to you Jennifer, you work for me, remember?”

  “You never said you took that little whore as a wife!” Jennifer screamed at Jackson.

  “Goes to show you that he never trusted you with that bit of information there, sis. I mean, think about it, here you are doing all his dirty work for him while he stays in the background. He had Peter and Asia taken out when their usefulness ended. Had Candy canned in local jail she was being held when he found out she was going to spill the beans. It was only a matter of time before your last breath. You were hoping, eventually, he would give you the dick and yet he married the younger snatch and didn’t tell anyone.”

  Jennifer lunged for Pratt, screaming at the top of her lungs, grabbing Pratt around her throat.

  Pratt broke the hold, knocking Jennifer’s hands off of her. Once she could breathe, Pratt threw a right hook, punching Jennifer in the face, causing her to fall back, hard onto the ground, screaming in pain.

  Jennifer landed with a hard thud, screaming from the pain of her nose being broken and landing on her back. Gingerly getting up, Jennifer lunged at Pratt again. Pratt blocked the swinging hand Jennifer threw her way, punching her in the throat with her free hand.

  Jennifer stumbled backwards, coughing and gasping for air. Jennifer Grabbed for something behind her back, screaming as loud as she could as her arm swung back around, firing her weapon several times at Pratt.

  Pratt went down with an ‘oomph’. When she didn’t move for several seconds, Jennifer laughed manically as she stumbled on a broken heel towards Pratt. Kneeling down, Jennifer got into Pratt’s face, breathing heavily.

  “I won, bitch! See you in hell!”

  “You first, bitch!” Pratt jerked upwards, grabbing Jennifer with a handful of hair at the same time as she pulled a knife from her pocket, stabbing Jennifer in an upwards motion, under her jaw.

  When Pratt looked around her, Jackson and Ian were fighting. As she got up, Cater and several of Ian’s men came rushing into the room and grabbed Jackson and placing zip ties onto his wrists. Pratt walked up to Jackson, staring him directly in the eyes.

  “Where’s Dakota?”

  “You will never find my wife!”

  “The marriage isn’t legally binding when it’s a forced marriage. Just because one of your cronies preformed the ceremony doesn’t mean it’s legal dumbass!”

  “Ah, so much you have yet to learn, cunt! My brother, a true embarrassment to our father, never really did learn how to train his whore’s properly. Father should have given you to me, but then again, since you weren’t that much of a prize, I can see why he gave you to Jon.” Jackson smirked at Pratt as he growled at her.

  “Eh, neither are you, dumbass. See, daddy didn’t even arrange a marriage for you. Only for the two he does claim. Must hurt that daddy doesn’t claim you to the public, see, what you don’t get, is your daddy’s dirty little secret. He raped your mother while they were in high school. After finding out she was pregnant with you, well, daddy told everyone what kind of lay your mother was, in his mind anyways. Mommy dearest ran to hide until she gave birth to you. Daddy found your mother and had her taken out so she couldn’t tell anyone about the rape. Had you sent off to foster care and technically no one was supposed to know of your connection to the Senator.”

  “You’re lying. My mother abandoned me. Left me to die in the woods until some hikers found me. My father never knew about me!” Jackson screamed out, clearly angry.

  “Did daddy tell you that? If that was true, why hasn’t he come clean about his relationship with you? Huh? Think about it, Jackson! He still has not told the public he has a child out of wedlock from a tryst in high school. I know you’ve been searching for your mother and never found her. Why is that? If you’re the all-powerful Ares, why haven’t you found her? Guess what, slick, you’re not the only kid he’s got out of wedlock. There’s several of you. It’s a fucking game for him. Hell, the four he does claim, only one has a head on his shoulders and doesn’t have anything to do with him. Think with your head, Jackson, you’re not fucking stupid. You’re just a tool in your daddy’s games that he can deny and call delusional when you scream the truth.”

  “Fuck you!”

  “No thanks. Now, where’s Dakota?”

  “You’re not getting my wife!”

  “She’s not your wife dipshit! She was sold to you by a delusional mother who was jealous of the attention the girl got. Once we’re done with you, you’ll never see her again!”

  “You’ll never get your hands on her. You have no idea how our society works. You’re an outsider, a wannabe. You’re nothing but a whore with a badge. Ask your friend there, he knows what I’m talking about, don’t you Sawyer?”

  Pratt looked over at Ian who glared at Jackson like he wanted to end him right then and there. Ian turned to look at Pratt, never wavering his stare, slightly shaking his head.

  Sgt. Brocard came forward, informing them that Tampa PD was outside ready for the suspect. “We’ll get him in interrogation, Red. We’ve got him away from her. We’ll find her. Men like him always fuck up when they are cornered.”

  Jackson was turned over to Tampa PD and escorted to the squad car waiting for him. Pratt watched as the car drove away after the officers spoke with her team leader and Larry for several minutes.

  Feeling presence behind her, Pratt ignored the desire to turn around. When she felt a hand on her shoulder, her looked down at the offending appendage before looking back up towards the sky.

  “We will find her, Red. Brody and Carter are looking into a few things now that we know who he is. Carter is sending out some feelers with people he knows, same with me and Larry. Someone is going to give them up.”

  Pratt turned around to give her uncle
Gene a glare. “Men like Jackson run this country. Don’t give me that bullshit. You don’t even believe that line, so why feed it to me? Jackson is going to be out without so much as a fucking slap on the wrist. His sperm donor will hire an attorney if his ‘society’ doesn’t have one on retainer. They will run circles around our arrest and use me as the excuse for false arrest!”

  “Laura, we are going to get him. Have faith in us, please?” Ian asked, knowing she was upset.

  “Fine. Let’s head to the department. He’s going to lawyer up.” Pratt started to walk away but stopped after several steps. “Ian, will you go in with me? He seems to have a rapport with you, me I just annoy the fuck out of him, but you, he seems to think you two have something in common.”

  Ian nodded as Carter walked up to the group. “We took out several of his men that were trying to sneak into the club behind him. Jordyn managed to interrogate one of the men before she dispatched him.”

  “What did she find out?”

  Carter looked over at Pratt for a moment. “Dakota is here in Tampa. She apparently signed a slave contract and is the property of Jackson. None of his men can touch her. Jackson managed put both Candy and Jennifer in their place when they wanted to mess with her. Took care of her training himself, something he doesn’t do.”

  Pratt looked over at Sgt. Brocard as she walked up towards the group. “Swift is getting a search warrant for his place. They are using the attempted homicide of a cop to get it. York, Raso, Cortez and Diesel are headed over. Anyone else going to go with?”

  “I’ll go.” Pratt looked around at Carter, Ian, Gene, Larry and Highlander as he walked up to the group.

  “Jordyn and I will join them. We’ll focus around the house while everyone else looks inside. Make sure there are no surprises when you go in.”

  Ian nodded at Carter as he watched everyone move around them. “I’ll keep Omega Team here to watch the wives and kids. Brody, stay here and keep doing your deep dive on Jackson and anything else you can find. Devon, you and Jake go with Carter, monitor things outside the house. I’ll go with Highlander, Pratt and the others to search the inside of the house.”

  14

  Cortez, Pratt, Diesel, York, Ian, Highlander, Carter, Jordyn, Devon and Jake all pulled up to the house that was registered to Jackson. Carter, Jordyn, Devon and Jake disappeared into the surroundings while the others made their way up to the front door before entering the house.

  Upon entering the house, Pratt looked around, taking everything in. She slowly walked into the living room, feeling like she needed shades from the brightness the room showed, even though the shades were drawn.

  The entire room was done in white. The walls were painted a omni white color with nothing on them. No photos or paintings adorned the walls at all. The sofa was a white sectional with matching white pillows that seemed to have a silver stitching added to the pillows, the only color obvious in the room. The coffee table legs were white while the table itself was nothing but glass, with white candles on top of them with glass mirrors underneath the candles.

  No TV or entertainment system of any kind were in the room, which made the room seem dull and unused. A lone, white chair sat in the middle of the room, with zip ties laying on the floor near the chair. A silver box sat to the side of the chair behind the zip ties, caught Pratt’s attention as she walked over towards it.

  Diesel seeing the box walked over besides Pratt, staring at the object in confusion. “Okay, this stands out in this room. What the hell is it?”

  Pratt watched as Diesel leaned over and picked it up, observing the item, turning it around in her hands. “It’s a discipline box. Everyone calls it something different. When you do something wrong, if you have a fear of the dark, it’s a tool used to teach you obedience.”

  Standing behind Pratt, at a distance, Pratt didn’t see Ian and Highlander exchange glances. Both men were shocked she knew what the device was and how she knew what it was used for.

  “What do you mean?” Diesel asked, confused by the statement.

  “Using Highlander and myself as an example, I piss him off, he’s trying to train me to be a good little whore, I buck, he knows my fear of the dark, he ties me to the chair and then place the box over my head and leave me there for hours. Not only do I have my fear of the dark, I have my fear of closed in spaces that teaches me to comply to his wishes no matter how much I want to fight him.”

  Everyone in the room noticed how Pratt’s voice was monotoned and no emotion as she just stared at the object in Diesel’s hands. Breaking the silence, Raso walked up to the group with several burnt items in her hands.

  “Looks like he knew it was only a matter of time before we found this place and searched it. These were found in the fireplace in the other living room that was dark compared to this one yet looked to be more widely used.”

  Ian took the papers from Raso and looked at what was left of them. Cursing when he saw a few of the names on the items, he handed them over to Pratt.

  “He tried to burn the slave contract he made her sign. The other looks to be a contract between them about her turning everything over to him, a normal contract between two consenting adults in the lifestyle, but this one is more in depth about what she can and cannot do. It goes along with the slave contract that she also signed.”

  “The dates are three years ago. These can’t be legal since she wasn’t eighteen at the time. Federal law says eighteen, but this is also Florida. Ian, what is the age of consent here in Tampa?” York asked Ian, looking at the papers over Pratt’s shoulder.

  “Age of consent in Florida, period, is eighteen. So, if these were signed when she wasn’t eighteen then they are null and void.”

  “We got him! Mother fucker we got him! Let’s get to the department and nail this son-of-a-bitch!”

  “Slow down, lass. Let’s look at the rest of the house and see if we can’t find anything else.” Highlander advised his wife, taking the papers away from her so she could focus on her surroundings.

  Hesitating for several moments, she looked at everyone around her. Nodding, she walked off to check the upstairs room.

  Two hours later, Pratt and Ian sat down in front of Jackson in the interrogation room, along with his attorney. Pratt and Jackson participated in a stare down for several minutes before his attorney coughed, breaking the tension.

  “I’m the lead counsel for Mr. Ares, Delbert Robertson. Now, let’s get this unpleasant business behind us.”

  Pratt and Ian ignored the attorney, both of them staring Jackson down, waiting for him to make a move or say something. Pratt cocked an eyebrow at Jackson while his attorney did his spiel.

  “Now, as Mr. Ares already told you, he and this Ms. Hamilton are married, therefore she is not missing nor do you have any right to harass my client like you have been.”

  Pratt burst into laughter before the attorney had finished his sentence. “For an attorney, you seem a little lax on the state of Florida law, Mr. Robertson. The ‘bride’ wasn’t eighteen when they wed. She couldn’t legally consent to shit with Mr. Ares when he had her kidnapped…”

  “She had her mother’s consent, officer. This isn’t California.”

  Pratt looked over at Ian and rolled her eyes. “No shit Sherlock! First of all, it’s Detective! Next, you may want to look at your information again. Candy Hamilton-Ruiz was wanted for two counts of kidnapping, attempted homicide, first degree murder, and two counts of endangering of minors. Because she was facing felony criminal charges, her ability to ‘consent’ to Dakota’s relationship with your client became null and void.”

  “Again, officer, this isn’t…”

  “Yeah, yeah, this isn’t California. Now I’m starting to think you’re a court appointed shithead that daddy had sent in since you don’t know rank. Like I said earlier, learn your laws Mr. Robertson. Candy was wanted by the FBI since Dakota was taken across state lines. So, let me educate you how that works. When the FBI gets involved, Candy nor Dakota were able to con
sent to the relationship that this man fantasizes himself in with the victim.”

  “Consent doesn’t apply to monetary gains either, Mr. Robertson.” Ian matter of factly pointed out to the attorney. “Your client paid to have his so-called wife kidnapped and brought to Florida. He purposely avoided law enforcement, then ordered a Navy SEAL to be murdered after he had three others involved in Dakota’s kidnapping executed so they couldn’t identify him.”

  “You know this how?” The attorney asked sarcastically.

  “Your client was on the phone with me, gloating about Candy’s demise when he stopped his conversation to give the direct order to someone to take him out.”

  Jackson smirked at Pratt as she informed the attorney about the execution order. Leaning forward, Jackson placed his elbows on the table with his chin in his hands, assessing Pratt as she spoke.

  Several minutes into the interrogation, a knock on the door sounded. Pratt and Ian got up, ignoring the attorney complaining about the disruption and left the room. As they walked into the other room, Pratt noticed the look on Highlander and several of her teammates faces.

  The door on the opposite side of the room opened, allowing a lone figure to walk into the room. Pratt gasped in shock when she saw none other than Dakota Hamilton enter the room. When Pratt walked towards Dakota, she stopped when she saw Dakota freeze in fear.

  “I-I-I’m here for my husband.” Dakota said softly.

  “Dakota, the marriage isn’t legal. He can’t force you to stay with him. We can protect you from him.” Diesel told Dakota, walking up behind her.

  “No, you can’t. He’s my husband. I’m the one who called his attorney when you arrested him. I married him willingly.”

  Everyone looked at each other in shock and disbelief. Pratt couldn’t believe her ears and stumbled back. She became worried when her husband walked out of the room, slamming the door to the room making the women jump.