Page 79 of Perfect Sin
“Are you—” Lucien swallows hard, unable to ask the question he’s clearly dying to ask.
She nods. “I’m your mother. I’m the reason David demanded to meet Raven. I wanted him to get a sense of who you were, and to see if you were anything like your father.”
“And what did you decide?” Lucien asks.
She smiles, but it’s a sad smile. “That I wish I’d been strong enough to save you both. I wasn’t then, but I’m hoping I can help you now.”
“How?” Raven asks.
“You need proof to bring him down, right?”
“Yes,” Lucien replies.
Her smile brightens. “I’ve been saving years worth of evidence. He took me from my family when I was sixteen, then he took the only bright parts of my life away from me. I know you probably don’t need a mother, but please let me do at least one thing for you.”
Holbrook stands abruptly. “I’ve got to start putting some things in motion. You’ll have your deal, Neville. Let’s put that fucker in a cage.” He strolls out the door before any of us have a chance to speak another word to him.
“That was odd,” Raven comments when he slams the door shut.
“We can trust him,” Ted says.
“Are you sure about that?” I ask him.
“I don’t see what other choice we have,” he replies. Somehow his answer doesn’t provide comfort.
Holbrook has us over a barrel, I only hope there’s not a scenario where protecting Damien works better for him than bringing him down. I can’t help but recall how closely he’s managed to work with him when he sprung me from the institution my parents locked me in. Then there’s the fact that Damien has known too much about our new group of friends almost from the beginning. Perhaps Holbrook has already found a better deal and has been working to those ends nearly from the beginning.
Lucien catches my eye, and without saying it aloud, I know he’s on the same wavelength as me.
Like Neville said before, trust is a fool’s endeavor. Let’s hope we still have enough common ground with Holbrook not to find a knife in our backs.
24
Cracked Not Broken
Raven
David relaxes after Grant leaves.“Now that he’s gone we can talk about the other reason I’m here. Len Jones called me for a meeting. He’s looking to sell over a dozen women.”
Sin tenses. “You brought us to the club to prove you weren’t in the business of selling people, so what are you asking us right now?”
David leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees and steepling his hands together. “Now I’m going to let you know what I do.”
We all mirror his posture and lean in like we’re trying to prevent others from over hearing our conversation. “Make it good,” Sin says, breaking the tense silence.
“When I hear of a major supplier I make inroads to bring them to the table. This is the first time I’m meeting with Jones, but I’ve done some digging and learned Damien is his largest client. My intention is to purchase the women he is smuggling into the country. Natalie will help rehabilitate them from whatever traumas they’ve already experienced, then we will work to either help them return home or get them the paperwork they need to stay in the United States. Once I become a trusted client, I work behind the scenes to shut them down.”
“I don’t understand what you need us for,” Lucien comments.
“You can only dismantle so many operations before word starts to spread. It was harder than usual to get the right contacts to set up this meeting. Jones is an idiot, so he accepted readily when I called him, but it was challenging getting past the gatekeepers. I want to shut down his supply route, and you need information to use against Damien. If you come, it will be assumed you are there on behalf of Damien, and he’s more likely to do business with me. I won’t risk the women falling into the hands of your father. His clients are extreme, and the women don’t live long once he has them.”
I suck in a breath. I’m not sure what I thought happened to the people my father purchased and sold. I’m ashamed to admit I didn’t really give it much thought. It isn’t that I don’t care what happens to them, but living in survival mode I have been focused on the most immediate crisis of staying out of his clutches myself.
“If Damien thinks we are fucking with his business he won’t hesitate to kill all of us. We need to be sure we are going to get something we can use out of this before we act,” Sin states.
David grabs Natalie’s hand and pulls her to sit next to him. “We know what it’s like being on the run from Damien Blackthorne. Natalie was his prized possession, and he hasn’t stopped looking for her since I rescued her a decade ago. Of course, now he is more interested in retribution than getting her back. We have a daughter. She’s eight years old, and he wouldn’t hesitate to take her away and use her the way he used Natalie.”
Lucien nods and looks at me pensively. “As disgusting as this sounds, I think the real reason he sent you away, Raven, is because you do look like Natalie. I’m not sure he’s capable of seeing you as his daughter. He’s always been quick to have you away, because it’s the only way not to cross the line to something even he would view as depraved.”