Page 10 of Handcuffed By the Bounty Hunters

“You have to do that now?” Cameron asks.

“Where are the files you stole from Oberon?” I ask, my gaze hard on Penny.

She shrinks against Cameron. “You’re not going to find them.”

I sift through the items on the floor. Clothing—a couple of tank tops and pairs of underwear. Lacy, I try not to note. Groceries, which make my stomach clench angrily in hunger.

Satisfied I’ve missed nothing, I check the smaller compartment on the pack, only to find tampons, lip gloss, and several elastic hair ties. Notably lacking are a phone, thumb drive, or anything else that could store electronic files.

Fine. She might not want it to be easily found. I run my fingers over the seams of the backpack, of her clothing, even her panties.

Not gonna lie, I linger longer than necessary on her undergarments. It isn’t the worst thing I’ve ever done.

“Really?” Her voice is laden with disapproval. “My underwear?”

Ignoring the question, I toss her garments to the side and eye the little princess up and down. “Where are you hiding it?”

She tugs the blanket more tightly around her shoulders and clings to Cameron.

For his part, Cameron started easing the blanket off of her. “If you’re hiding a flash drive somewhere, baby, you’re better off just handing it over.”

“What—what are you saying?” Her voice trembles.

“He’s saying we’ll strip you down, find the drive, then spank you for the trouble you put us through,” I say.

With a derisive snort, she says, “I had you pegged as a daddy dom from the start.”

I keep my face expressionless, not wanting her to see my surprise. She knows what a daddy dom is? And she thinks I’m one?

She’s right.

5

Penny

The dark look in Roark’s eyes makes me shift slightly in Cameron’s lap.

And that shifting around reminds me that he’s been sporting a hard-on since the moment I settled here.

“Why don’t you tell us exactly what happened?” Roark says.

“Because you won’t believe me.”

“Hey.” Cameron’s arms tighten around me. “Why don’t you give us a chance? We’re the good guys, Penny.”

“Okay, sure.” I’m not entirely certain I believe them, but at this point, what do I have to lose by talking? I don’t have to say everything yet, just give them the bare bones. “Clive Oberon’s company is spewing all kinds of disgusting pollution into our air and water, and he’s trying to hide it. He’s working with everyone from corrupt politicians to drug lords, and falsifying reports and I don’t even know what else because I don’t understand it all.”

“The files you stole aren’t sensitive documents meant to undermine his legit business,” Roark says.

“Why would I care about his stupid business?”

“Our report says you lost your inheritance,” Cameron says.

When did my life become such a circus of misfortune? “Yeah, someone I trusted gave me bad advice to benefit their own business. It sucks. But I got a job with Oberon Transport, pretty high up. Clive noticed me and started dating me, and then I found out what the company was really up to.”

I don’t tell them about the other things I know. The way that man screamed as he fell. Clive’s cold eyes as he instructed his men to continue laying concrete.

A long silence follows my partial testimony, broken only by the sound of falling rain. The wind has died down, and thunder hasn’t boomed in my ears in quite some time.

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