“You’re so tense, though. Are you nervous, Sylvia?”
“No, sir. I am here for whatever you desire.”
Sylvia had her own set of dangerous words. Apparently, she had just said them.
Miraculously, she had only been in a few dangerous situations since starting her career as a high-priced escort and courtesan. Most of them occurred when she was still wet behind the ears and working for a somewhat shady escort agency. During her short tenure at the Château, however, there was a client who got so uproariously drunk that he thought it would be funny to hold Sylvia down and ignore her safe word. That situation included security she could quickly call to her rescue.
No one would protect her from Alexander once he decided he had to run through every little thing he wanted to do with Sylvia. Safe words? What safe words? This was not a man who paid to respect safe words. Sylvia would be lucky if he avoided bruising her in obvious places.
Fuck. This sucks. If she dwelled on it too much, then the trauma would settle in that much more quickly.
What did Joseph think of this?
Apparently, Joseph thought a lot of things.
Someone pounded on the door. Alexander chose to ignore them, snarling something nasty about interrupters as he attempted to haul Sylvia to the bed. You could ask nicely, asshole! Some men. They weren’t happy to have a consenting woman. They had to push boundaries and become a fucking statistic. Yay.
“Do not answer that,” he growled at Sylvia. “Respond to that, and I’ll make you regret it.”
She wouldn’t respond to anything. She doubted he cared about her pleasure anyway.
The door pounded again. “Mr. Sheen!” came a deep voice. “Everything all right, sir?”
“Why is he doing this?” Alexander shut off the nearest light, as if that would make a difference. “Leave a man on a mission alone.”
Yeah, let’s get this over with.
“Mr. Sheen! Is everything all right in there?”
Sylvia pointed her necklace toward the furious way Alexander acted around her. Already a bruise was on her arm. Who knew where they would be next?
“Say anything,” Alexander said, his teeth, his breath, his spit coming for Sylvia’s nose. “And you will die.”
Later, Sylvia would find out that Alexander knew everything. That he was being investigated. That she was undercover. That this was a rouse to get him to give up some information. So, even knowing that she was wired in many ways, he still outright threatened her. That was his level of oh hell no.
The only thing that could pull him from his psychotic stupor of erupting testosterone was the door breaking down and three armed agents storming through.
***
This wasn’t Sylvia’s first guns-ready-to-blaze party, but it was the first time that one of those guns belonged to her lover.
“Get down on the ground!” Joseph pointed his Glock at Sheen, who was more than a little miffed that his assault party had been interrupted. Sylvia scurried to the other side of the bed and wrapped a loose quilt around her body. What? Maybe bullets will start flying! She would need the padding. The only table to hide under was on the other side of the room.
“What is this about?”
“I said step away from her and get down on the ground!” Behind Joseph, the two new agents kept firm grips on their firearms.
It all happened so fast. Sylvia, whose detachment to life, the environment, and what happened to her was so great that she barely ascertained what was happening, kept her eyes focused on Joseph, the only one in the room to draw emotions out of her. His anger was etched deep into his demeanor, lines on fire, eyes blazing in fury, and hair curling from the sweat emerging on his skin. I’ve never seen him like this before. Was this for her? Had he come to her rescue again, only now… willingly blowing their cover?
For her?
One of the agents pulled Alexander in the same way he had pulled Sylvia across the bedroom, intent on having sex with her, his way or his way. By then, Sheen’s bodyguards were in the room, brandishing their own weapons.
A shootout could have started at any moment. Instead, the impasse was soon quiet enough that Alexander couldn’t help but start laughing.
“Carlos,” he said to one of the bodyguards. “Call my lawyer. You know which one.”
The bodyguards put down their weapons. Alexander was handcuffed. Joseph delegated quick orders to the other agents before approaching Sylvia. His mere presence was enough to bring Sylvia back to Earth. Detached no more, she threw herself into his arms and exhaled a single hearty sob.
He briefly stroked the back of her head before asking, “Are you all right?”
“No. What are you doing here?”
“Getting you out. Come on. They’re going to need a statement from you.”
“Who?”
As Sylvia soon came to find out, he meant the two uniformed police officers who soon came into the hotel room, the building’s night auditor right behind them.
Chapter 19
Joseph
Everything was blown.
Their cover, the fact that a regional investigative unit was digging into Alexander Sheen, everything… all blown. Why? Because Joseph was not going to stand back while Sylvia had a heinous crime committed against her.
Jim, the other agents… everyone had seen it. It wasn’t only Joseph’s feelings getting in the way, either. Jim was the first to express discomfort that Sheen was handling Sylvia like that. The bruise she caught on her camera instigated Joseph to lead two other agents up to Sheen’s room. It was the you will die that brought them into the room.
Sylvia. She was shaken. Withdrawn. Aside from a few tears of fright, she was largely disconnected from the world and what was happening around her. She gave the police a few gruff answers about how she was pretty sure Alexander Sheen was going to do more than simply assault her. Sheen, of course, insisted that Sylvia consented to his rough manner. No woman would consent to that. Joseph didn’t want to believe it.
Alexander was going to rape her. Even if Sylvia wasn’t Joseph’s lover, he still would have gone in. She was a civilian. Shit. Even if she wasn’t, no one going undercover had to assume they would be assaulted and put up with it.
All right. So maybe the anger controlled Joseph a little. But he had held on. He hadn’t outright punched the fuck out of that shit-face, had he?
Still, things were messy, and they would stay messy for a while. It would be a long night.
They knew they couldn’t get away with charging Alexander of anything. He – and his lawyer – were too powerful to get him on an attempted rape charge. Added to the fact that they admitted that Sylvia was “just a hooker,” Joseph knew they were all in trouble. They expected a slap on the wrist, if that, and for Sylvia to be the one who was arrested for trying to make a living. If she weren’t undercover, that may have been the protocol followed. Instead, she spent most of the night at Joseph’s desk back at the office, a few floors above the interview rooms and holding cells. Last Joseph had seen her, she had put her head down and dozed. One of the night secretaries kept an eye on her. Technically, she was a witness. At worst, she was a victim.
Alexander was released by one in the morning, oh-so-nicely offering to not sue the police for the trouble. He also found it very curious that the police acted so swiftly. Why, it was almost like there were security cameras in that room, and that couldn’t have been possible…
He knows. Joseph left the interview room, watching Sheen and his lawyer saunter out of the building as if they owned the world. The knowing looks both men exchanged with Joseph insinuated that there was an untold secret between them – the three of them. He knows we were investigating him. But how? Who tipped him off? How long had he known? Had they been sent on wild goose chases this week? And what happened to Cindy Kline still had yet to be explained. She was alive, yes, but that didn’t mean she was conscious.
The worst happened fifteen minutes later. When Joseph was filling out paperwork and nur
sing a headache. Sylvia sat a few feet away, dozing.
“Joseph!”
He jerked back at the sound of his mother’s voice. Great. Here we go. He knew it was coming. It was inevitable that his mother would show up. The commander’s son had blown everyone’s cover, after all. The only way they could have known that Alexander was about to assault a woman in his hotel room was if they were already watching him. No doubt she had first received a call about what had happened… and then a threatening call from Sheen’s lawyer as soon as his client was released.
This was going to be bad. Possibly worse than two nights ago, when an agent on his watch was mauled? Yeah. That.
“My office!” Genevieve barked. She was a blur of jeans and plain cotton T-shirt as she marched to her office. “Now!” She happened to glance at Sylvia in her quiet corner. “Alone!”
Joseph stood up with intense resignation. A terrible feeling continued to loom above him like a black cloud all the way to his mother’s office, now bright with a fluorescent light.
“Shut the door.”
The click was the only sound, aside from Genevieve’s heavy breathing, to echo in the small room. I’ve never seen her this frazzled before. Not because of him, anyway. Joseph had always been cautious to not cause his mother too much fuss. Well, when he was a young man. Now that he was thirty-two? Rather a surprise that he hadn’t raised her ire like this recently.
“I’m told that our cover was blown tonight.” Cold, hard eyes chipped away Joseph’s tired mind. “On the last night of the investigation. Everything was blown. Is this true?”
She knew it was. All Genevieve cared about was hearing it from her son’s mouth.
“Yes.” Joseph’s attempts to remain firm in front of his mother weren’t doing too well. It’s because I’m tired. Not because I’m ashamed or embarrassed. He’d die on that hill. “Unfortunately. We had to intervene.”
A deep, slow breath wracked Genevieve’s body. After briefly closing her eyes, she sucked in her cheeks and bit her lip. “Explain.”
Joseph matched his mother’s breath. “Sheen was going to rape our undercover agent. He threatened to kill her if she did not comply. We had to act.”
Genevieve sank into her chair, hands folding before her face. Still stern. Still ready to verbally – and possibly physically – kick his ass. “Had to?”
“Well, yes…” Joseph was the first to break eye contact. “He was committing a crime. Against a civilian.”
“What does her being a civilian have to do with anything?”
“For one, she does not have the proper training to realistically deal with those situations.”
“We trained her in self-defense before sending her in. You assured me that she would be in no physical danger while fulfilling her role.”
“Can’t say I had heard that Sheen is a rapist, Commander.”
“Can’t say, and yet here we are.” Genevieve’s fingers tightened together. Red imbrued each digit until Joseph could only figure his mother was on the verge of punching both fists upon her desk. “I’m going to pretend that this was out of genuine concern for that woman and not because you’re dating her, thus having your judgment clouded.”
“Commander…”
“Don’t, Montoya.”
He stepped back, mouth clapped shut. She never calls me Montoya when we’re alone. That was saved for meetings and getting attention in the main office, when everyone (except her, of course) was referred to by their last names. When he was alone with his mother? He was always Joseph. Occasionally “son,” although it was rarely said with affection.
So for his mother to call him by her ex’s last name? There was so much distance between them that Joseph needed a pair of binoculars to accurately see his mother’s face.
“Listen, and listen to me good, in case you are ever granted another investigation again. Your civilian knew the risks going in. She was briefed. She agreed to the terms we put forth in order to not break her cover. And, as I may remind you, from what I understand, she didn’t blow cover. That was all you.”
“Yes, ma’am. I gave the order.”
“Did she say her safe word at all?”
“No, ma’am.”
“Then why the fuck did you blow cover? For something we were never going to hold him on? Even if he went through with the crime on our camera, his lawyer would have found a way to get him out with nothing but a slap on the wrist. You know who that woman is.”
Was the room closing in? Because his mother insinuating that Sylvia somehow deserved what happened to her would certainly make the room feel like it was closing in on Joseph.
“Don’t give me that look. That’s what his lawyer would have said. Even if he admitted to purchasing the services of a sex worker, he would’ve gotten away with a warning, and we would’ve been forced to arrest our own undercover worker to protect what image we have left. For fuck’s sake, Joseph.”
At least she was calling him Joseph again.
“I couldn’t let him rape her, Mother.” Did this mean they had an open dialogue as parent and child? That would’ve been great. “Not even for our investigation!”
“I do not question your ethical fortitude, Joseph. I question your ability to handle such important investigations. This is the second time this year you’ve lost any edge you had.”
He started to say something, but quickly pulled it back. Don’t get defensive. He wasn’t fifteen and visiting his mother for a month. This wasn’t when he decided to party hard for a semester and crash his grades, almost irreparably. This was bigger than himself. Besides, the way his mother said that insinuated some other fact Joseph wasn’t ready to face.
“You think I can’t keep a level head because I keep getting involved with people I’m working with.” First Stella, now Sylvia.
“I don’t think that. I know it.”
He rubbed his face with sweaty hands. There was no way he wanted to admit that his mother was right, but… she was right, wasn’t she?
“You’re an empathetic person. You always have been. I’m not like you, son.” Genevieve sat down, fingers combing her thin, slightly tangled hair. “I don’t get emotionally attached to people as quickly as you do. It’s been like that since the day you were born.”
“What do you mean?”
Genevieve’s cheeks burned red. Was she embarrassed? Truly? Genevieve Stone was never embarrassed about anything. Like she said, she didn’t feel emotions easily. She wasn’t a sociopath by most definitions, but she was reserved. Anything she felt was withheld until she was absolutely sure she could trust someone. It took years for her to even open up to her own son. “Never mind. I was saying that you were an emotional child. That’s not a bad thing. In fact, do you know why I so readily agreed to let you go live with your father’s family?”
Joseph shifted on his feet. “Because you were too busy to take care of me anyway?”
“I was going to be very busy, yes. But we could’ve made do. I didn’t have trouble providing a safe home and food for you. Yet I did have issues providing a good social example. Look, Joseph, you and I both know that I’m not the most maternal person. That’s why I thought it a great idea for you to go live with the Montoyas. They took much better care of you, emotionally. Children need that sort of environment. I didn’t want to crush your ability to empathize and feel love.”
“I never felt that way around you.”
“Don’t lie to me. I am the way that I am, and you are the way you are. We may not agree most of the time, but we understand each other, yes?”
“I suppose so.”
“That’s why I don’t hesitate to say that I know you.” Genevieve jotted something down on the nearest pad she could grab. “You have a big heart. You love easily. Your decisions are made through the pink hue of emotion. That makes you a fantastic person to know. It makes you a weak agent.”
Well, that was one way to eviscerate him.
“This investigation is… was… bigger than all of us. Thousan
ds of lives are on the line. Victims are going through hell all over the world because of what Mr. Sheen has allegedly done. You cannot get emotional, Joseph. Do you understand?”
These words did not come from his commander. They came from his mother. A mother that he didn’t hear from often. She never speaks that softly to me. It could be Christmas morning and she would still sound like heavy raindrops on a metal roof. For her to get this sentimental with him after he botched such an important investigation? After midnight on a Friday night? (Saturday morning?) She had to have seriously pulled it from the depths of her being. Such things did not come easily to Genevieve Stone – she had to put purpose into them.
“I understand. My apologies. I accept responsibility, but I do not regret my actions.”
“No. I would be worried if you did. Just because you’re too emotional for this investigation does not mean you’re a bad person, Joseph. It doesn’t even have to mean you’re a bad agent. What it means is that your talents are best suited elsewhere. I’m afraid that undercover operations – even heading them – is not your strongest suit.”
“Oh, God, please don’t put me on eternal desk work.” That’s what happened after the FBI got the jump on Xavier Crow. Once it became apparent that Joseph had slacked a bit, his mother assigned him to desk work for months.
“For a while, that may be what we have for you. Starting now, you are off any further investigations into Alexander Sheen. If another opportunity arises, another agent will be assigned. I may even do it myself.”
“I see.”
“We’ll find something for you to do that isn’t sitting at your desk. You do well in the interview room, and you would be more than decent at doing follow-up interviews on location. Trust me, would you?”
Joseph did his best to not scoff at the woman who was both his boss and his mother. “Only if you promise to trust me too.” He turned. “Am I dismissed? I still need to finish my paperwork and make sure Sylvia gets home.”
Damaged Goods Page 21
