Don’t look. Don’t look. She looked.
Devon’s head tilted back as he chugged water, his Adam’s apple working up and down as he swallowed. His other hand was clenched so hard his knuckles had turned white.
What exactly did debauchery entail?
Caught up in her musings, she didn’t look away fast enough when Devon lowered the water bottle. His gaze caught hers, and the heat in his eyes scorched her. She wasn’t the only one wondering what debauchery entailed.
“We’ll use those three days learning the layout of the castle and grounds, filling in the gaps in Angie’s rendered floorplan. We’ll retrieve Braedon and Michael before the auction.”
Paige’s voice snapped Addison out of the sudden and sensual staredown with Devon. Braedon. Head in the game.
“The information we received indicated the women attending the auction are powerful,” Angie said. “They’re independent and rich, and it’s not unusual for them to be serious powerbrokers within governments and international companies.
“They never attend with their husbands, even if they’re married. They attend with security or lovers. That’s it. You can’t give the impression that Paige and Addison are in any way not what they appear to be.”
“What’s that?” Addison asked.
“Paige, you’re going to be you—no worries there,” Graham said.
Paige pointed at Graham. “You can be my security. I don’t even want to pretend to kiss that hairy face.”
“Addison, you’re a rich, bored heiress in need of a new sex toy,” Graham said.
“Don’t they sell those on Amazon?” she asked. That’s where she got hers, anyway.
“Yes, but not the living, breathing kind,” Graham said. “Devon will be your security as well.”
Graham picked up his burger and concentrated on taking a huge bite, so he missed the glare Devon shot his way.
“Addison, you and I are going shopping this afternoon. We need to get you some clothes. And a haircut,” Paige said.
Angie jumped up and down, clapping her hands. “Can I come?”
“What’s wrong with my clothes? Or my hair?” Addison ran a hand over the top of her head.
“If you’re going to be a rich heiress, you need rich clothes and a fancy haircut. At the very least, they need to be rich-looking,” Paige said.
“Why can’t I be a miserly heiress?”
“We can play that off, but you’re still going to need a few dresses.”
“We have an early morning departure,” Graham said. “Take care of what you need to take care of.”
“Admit it, you like the dress,” Paige said.
Addison turned to admire the back of the dress in the three-way mirror. Or the lack of the back of the dress. The sleeveless, deep blue shift had a boat neck and fell straight to the floor with a thigh-high slit on the side. From the front, it was demure and understated…until she turned around. Her entire back, down to the hollows in her lower back, was completely bare. If she twisted the wrong way, she felt air on the top of her butt crack.
“I like the dress.”
“Good. Try on the black cocktail dress next.”
Paige had told her they couldn’t be seen in anything mass market, so she’d followed her to King Street and the little boutique store. They’d been there for an hour, trying on dresses, pantsuits, and various ensembles. Addison was exhausted—shopping was not her thing and she was sure the growing ‘to buy’ pile would cost more than she’d spent on clothes in the last five years.
She slipped out of the dress and placed it back on the hanger. “How long have you known Devon?”
“He was one of the first ones Graham hired when he started TLC, so a few years.”
“What can you tell me about him?”
A beat of silence. “What do you want to know?”
“I don’t know.” Everything. “I’m going to be spending a lot of time with him the next couple of days, but he’s a virtual stranger.”
“You decent?” Paige asked.
Addison had just slipped her bra back on. “Yes.”
The curtain opened enough for Paige to slip into the changing room with her. She turned her back to Addison. “Zip me up.”
She pulled the zipper up and took the last dress off the hanger, slipping it over her head.
“He’s a quiet one,” Paige said. “Keeps pretty much to himself when he’s not on mission. Security-wise he’s clean—doesn’t even speed. He likes to do everything by the book, but he’ll be the first one to fire the shot if he needs to.”
Paige smoothed the burgundy dress down her waist and hips, twisting to see it from different angles. “I like it. Unzip me?”
“Is there someone who’s going to get upset he’s going on this mission?” Addison asked, pulling the zipper down.
“As far as I know, he’s not in a relationship with anyone. I don’t think he’s celibate, but he definitely doesn’t spread the wealth like Turner. Thank God for that—I go through enough receptionists as it is.”
Chapter 9
Addison bounced her leg as the wheels of the small commuter jet returned to terra firma in Atlanta. The extra-large latte with the extra shot of espresso had been a great idea at four in the morning, but her bladder decided to wait until the last possible moment to make its needs known.
She judged the width of Devon’s legs in the aisle seat. She was going to vault over him as soon as the doors opened.
“Are you nervous?” he asked.
He must have woken up when they touched down. She took in his tousled hair and sleepy eyes. That’s probably what he looked like in bed. Shit. She didn’t need to think about that. This trip was going to be complicated enough as it was.
“I really, really have to pee,” she said.
His eyebrows rose, and then he leaned into the aisle and back. “You could probably go now.”
“We’re still taxiing.”
“You gonna make it until we get to the gate?”
“Don’t really have a choice at the moment. Just block the aisle when we get to the gate so I can run out.”
He chuckled. “Will do.”
After an eternity, the plane finally pulled up to the gate and the seat belt sign turned off. Devon stood and took up as much space as possible without even trying, having to duck so he didn’t bean himself on the ceiling. He retrieved her small carry-on and set it in the aisle for her.
Squeezing in front of him, she bounced on her toes, waiting for the door to open. Thankfully, the three people in front of her appeared to be just as eager to get off the plane.
Devon bumped into her, throwing her off balance. His hand wrapped around her waist and splayed over her lower abdomen, pulling her flush against his front. His heat permeated through her clothes, and his fresh, woodsy scent enveloped her.
“You good?” he asked in a low voice.
No. No, she wasn’t. Because now all she could think of was him wrapped around her while he bent her over something. Like a bed.
Addison swallowed twice before she could speak. “Yes.”
He relaxed his arm but kept his hand high on her hip. The door opened, and she made a break for it.
“I’ll meet you guys in the lounge,” she said over her shoulder.
Bemused, Devon watched Addison do everything short of pushing the older woman in front of her out of the way before rushing off the plane. He wasn’t sure how he’d ended up with the seat next to her, but he didn’t really care. He’d planned to talk to her on the flight, but she’d rested her head against the window and fallen asleep. Oh, well. They’d have time on the flight to Vienna.
Graham, Paige, Jane, and Tinker were seated behind them, so Devon waited for them in the gate area.
“Where’s Addison?” Graham asked.
“Nature call,” Devon said. “I’ll wait for her if you guys want to go ahead.”
Paige checked her watch. “Make sure you’re there in the next ten minutes.”
�
�I didn’t think our flight left for another three hours.” Tinker pulled out his boarding pass.
“It doesn’t, but we have a short window for a private conversation,” Paige said. “Connie is meeting us there to give us an update.”
“You mean we get to meet the Shady Lady?” Jane asked.
Paige sighed. “Do not call her that when you meet her. She will stab you.”
She headed in the direction of the first-class lounge. In her blouse, slacks, and heels—with Graham beside her and Jane and Tinker following—she looked like a celebrity with her security detail. More than a few people turned to watch her as they passed.
Addison came out of the restroom, tucking her phone back in her purse. “Hey. You didn’t have to wait.”
“No problem. We need to get to the lounge. Paige’s contact is meeting us there,” he said.
Walking through the concourse, he took every opportunity to touch Addison, placing his hand on her lower back to steer her around their fellow travelers. No, she didn’t need him to, but he couldn’t have cared less. His palm still tingled from when he’d caught her from falling on the plane. The asshole behind him had jostled him, making him bump into Addison and sending her forward. It’d taken everything he had to ignore the small hitch in her breath when he’d pulled her against him. Remembering the throaty sound of her voice sent blood rushing to his dick.
Letting her go ahead of him into the first-class lounge, he bent at the knees and pulled at the crotch of his jeans, trying to give the family jewels a little more room to breathe.
Other than their traveling partners, no one else was in the lounge. Jane and Tinker had claimed the far corner, beers on the table next to them. Devon followed Addison to the low table Paige and Graham sat around.
A woman walked into the lounge before he could ask if Addison wanted anything to drink. A wide smile lit Paige’s face when she stood and met the woman in the middle of the room, hugging her tightly. He could hear the murmur of their voices but couldn’t make out the words.
They broke apart, and Paige waved Jane and Tinker over to their table. “Everyone, this is Connie Johnson. She’s joining us on the trip.”
That was unexpected. Devon raised his eyebrows and glanced at Graham. He didn’t look surprised, so they must have discussed it earlier. He didn’t know what Connie’s background was, but Paige and Graham had mentioned her on more than one occasion, and she seemed to be very connected. Paige had referred to her as the Shady Lady, and that was all any of them called her from that point on.
“Connie, this is Addison, Devon, Jeremy, and Christian. And you know Graham.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She sat in the chair next to Paige and looked meaningfully at the lounge attendant.
Devon understood when he locked the front door and left through a service door in the back.
“We have the room for thirty minutes,” Connie said. She pulled small, zippered money bags from her carry-on and handed them out to everyone except Jane and Tinker.
“In those bags, you’ll find passports, driver’s licenses, and credit cards under a fake name. Your first names are the same, but your last names are different. I’ve found it’s too easy to slip up when trying to remember a cover name if you’ve never used it.
“In Odesa, you’ll give all your real personal identification—IDs, credit cards, bus pass, everything—to Jeremy and Christian. They will hold on to them for the duration.”
“Why not now?” Addison asked.
“We didn’t have time to book tickets in your cover name, so you have to travel on your real passports,” Connie said. “Make sure you hand everything over—anything with your real name on it or anything that can be tied to who you are. My team is scrubbing any social media presence you have, which is thankfully minimal for most of you. They’re also creating new profiles for you.”
“You have people that can do that?” Addison asked.
“I do.”
“Us, too?” Jeremy asked. “You didn’t give us new identities.”
“Since you aren’t going to the auction, it wasn’t a concern,” Connie said.
Jeremy shrugged and sipped his beer. Tinker remained his usual stoic self.
“Do you know how they got my brother and his teammate?” Addison asked.
Connie inhaled and scooted to the edge of her seat. “We still aren’t sure how they captured them, but they somehow ended up in the control of a member of an organization that calls themselves The Cooperative.”
“Paige mentioned them before,” Addison said. “Who are they?”
“They’re a group of high-level crime bosses who have formed loose alliances. They cooperate when it suits them—they stay out of each other’s way when it doesn’t. Your brother and Michael passed through several hands until a woman who goes by the name Tsarevna got ahold of them.”
“Who is she?” Devon asked.
“She’s a very powerful woman in the Russian underworld. Her real name is Tatiana Olynykova. She claims to have descended from Russian royalty, so insists everyone address her as Tsarevna. In reality, she’s Ukrainian. She was trafficked as a teenager and forced into prostitution until she caught the eye of a Bratva leader. He married her and, when he died of mysterious causes, she took over his role and organization. She’s also part of an organization called the Council of Helen.”
“Like Helen of Troy?” Addison asked.
“Yes. A strong, beautiful woman who manipulated men into fighting wars over her. The Council was originally formed to help girls who had been trafficked, to empower them and help them rebuild their lives.”
“I hear a but,” Jane said.
“The Council still does that, but Tatiana decided what was good for the gander was good for the goose. She traffics men and she holds these auctions three or four times a year. Invite-only and the list is exclusively powerful, sexually dominant women who participate in the D/s lifestyle.”
“The what?” Tinker asked.
“Dominant submissive—BDSM,” Connie said.
Tinker nodded once. His impassive face was hard to get a read on, but if he was thinking anything along the lines of Devon’s thoughts, it was, “What the hell are we walking into?”
“This auction is special. She’s never had American men before and for them to be military men…” Connie spread her fingers out. “I was lucky that I was able to get an invitation.”
“How did you?” Addison asked.
“I’ve been to one of her auctions before, and we’ve had dealings outside of them through the Council,” Connie said.
Devon had an idea she was understating her connections. Whatever organization she worked for, she was in deep.
Addison’s fists clenched on the arms of the lounge chair. “If you’ve known about these auctions, why haven’t you stopped them before now?”
“Addy,” Devon said quietly, wedging his hand into her fist.
She gripped his hand tight and looked at him, tears brimming in her eyes, but he could tell they were tears of anger.
“Because until now, the men participating in these auctions have volunteered,” Connie said.
“What?” Devon tore his gaze from Addison. Who the hell would volunteer to auction themselves off?
Connie moved back in her seat. “All the men volunteered as a way to work off some kind of debt—either theirs or a family member’s. As reprehensible as it may be, there was nothing we could legally do about it.”
“Even though they were essentially coerced into it?” he asked.
“Even though. Because we didn’t have any proof. No one talked. Not the men. Not the women who won them at auction. No one.” Connie looked Addison. “As much as it sucks that your brother is in this situation, it’s giving us the means to take them down. As soon as we get your brother out, the castle will be raided by the authorities.”
“Why not now?” Jane asked.
Connie exchanged a look with Paige and Graham. Devon could only assume they’d
already had this conversation.
“Anytime the authorities have gotten close in the past, the victims were killed,” Connie said. “No matter which group we went after, no matter how tight the intel, their first protocol was to kill the victims—no witnesses.”
Her voice held a restrained edge of frustration and anger.
“We’re not taking that chance with Braedon and Michael,” Graham said. “Connie pulled some strings to let us go in first.”
“Addison, your cover is you’re my protégé. I’m training you to be a Domme,” Connie said.
Addison blinked and opened and closed her mouth twice. “I thought I was going as a rich heiress.”
“You’ll be that too, but it’s not enough to explain your presence at this particular auction. The only women taking part are deeply involved in the lifestyle and have been vetted by Tsarevna. This was the only way to explain why I needed an invite for you.”
“What does being your protégé entail…exactly?” Addison asked.
Connie glanced from Addison to Devon and back again, her gaze sharp and assessing. “A number of things. You may be expected to discipline Devon for a perceived infraction. You may be expected to engage in sexual activities with each other and possibly in front of others. I’ll be expected to guide you and make sure you’re following established rules and boundaries.”
Devon didn’t know which was pounding harder—the pulse in his neck or the one in his cock. When Connie said the words discipline and sexual, fuck, his mind went wild. Addison’s hand had twitched in his. He was afraid to look at her, not knowing if he’d find her as curious as him…or horrified at the idea.
She looked at Addison. “You’re my close friend. Shouldn’t be too hard to pull off.”
Paige arched an eyebrow and winked.
Connie stared at Graham. “It would be better if you were more than security.”
“We’ve already talked about that,” Paige said. “I won’t be able to pull off pretending Graham and I are a couple.”
“We’ll figure something out,” Graham said.
Truth In The Lie (The Leonidas Corporation Book 2) Page 6
