Page 62 of Bought
I ignored this, trying to resist the urge to pace around. “She’s a Hamilton plant.”
Atlas’s gaze lost the amusement. “What?”
“They sent her to find evidence I murdered Sir George.”
He blinked. “How did they—”
“They must have found out about me buying virgins and decided that was the perfect way to get someone into my house.”
“Buying virgins?” Atlas repeated. “What are you—”
“And they must have been hoping she would honeytrap me into revealing the evidence, or more likely a confession since there is no evidence. I assume they want to use it to convict me, and maybe that’s why they’re moving on Isabel. She’ll stand to inherit Fox Tech so if they manage to get to her, they can potentially take control of my company in some kind of bizarre revenge—”
“Ten,” Atlas said. “Back the fuck up.”
I shut my mouth, conscious abruptly that I was still furious, and the fury had a possessive edge. They were using her, my little sub, and holding money over her head. Though of course, she was using me. Had she pretended all this time? Was it me she really wanted? She’d said she’d enjoyed it, but had she? Or was that just another lie?
Why are you even thinking of her? She was a playmate for a night, and it was good, but now it’s over. What does she matter?
She didn’t. Yet the way she’d lied to me felt like a betrayal all the same.
“Okay, so first things first,” Atlas said. “The virgin you bought on Friday night is Zara Bishop, Izzy’s friend and who works with her at Cross.”
“Yes,” I bit out.
“And she’s a Hamilton plant.”
“That’s what she said. The money for her virginity auction will be paid to her once she completes the task of finding evidence that I killed Sir George.”
“So…Ten. Why have you been buying virgins? Is this a regular thing?”
I let out an impatient breath. “I don’t do anything with them. I buy them and tell them to think through the consequences of their actions and then let them go on their merry way.”
Atlas blinked at me again. “Fuck’s sake. You buy them, deliver a lecture and then…release them? Like fish?”
I gave him a cold stare. “I don’t expect you to understand.”
But he held up a hand. “Hey, no, I understand. You’ve got a daughter, that makes sense. Except in this instance, you didn’t release her.”
A muscle ticked in the side of my jaw. “No. She wanted to come home with me.”
Atlas leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, his hands clasped together. “You took her home without a background check? I’m surprised, Ten. Very fucking surprised. That’s not like you.”
I didn’t deign this with a response because I knew how stupid I’d been. “She knows nothing,” I said. “There’s no evidence to find and I certainly didn’t tell her about my past. But the Hamiltons know, or at least they suspect, and they’re not going to let it go.” I paused, then added, even though he’d no doubt have spotted this already, “There’ll be implications for you too.”
Atlas nodded thoughtfully, his sharp brain already turning things over. He looked like a biker and acted as if he didn’t care about anything, but he owned a massive construction company and he was one of the most intelligent men I’d ever met. “Well, we’re going to have to find out what they know and how they know it.” He muttered a curse. “We should really pull Cal in on this.”
But I shook my head emphatically. “No. He doesn’t know a thing about it, and I want to keep it that way. He’s got enough on his plate without this anyway.”
Atlas gave me a narrow look but nodded. “Okay, so who do you know who has the inside track on the Hamiltons? North might know something, but he wasn’t sure about what was happening with Izzy, so I don’t think he’ll have any intel.”
North was Atlas’s brother and had fingers in all kinds of pies.
I thought a minute and then remembered something. Something I should have thought of a while ago. Cal still retained the reins of his old crime empire, though he’d distanced himself from it years ago. However, I was pretty sure he still kept tabs on it through the girlfriend of Old Nick, the crime lord who used to run it before Cal took over. Livia was the titular head, but I knew she reported to Cal.
I also knew her. She’d been kind to us when Old Nick had caught us as teenagers trying to pickpocket some of his men. He’d dragged us into The Castle, the bar he’d used to run, all set to give us the lesson of our lives. But she took pity on us and intervened. She’d remember me, I was sure. Just as I was sure she was the source Cal was using to track what the Hamiltons were doing with Isabel.
If I could contact her, I could find out what they knew about me too.