Page 17 of No Escape
“I don’t know what to do with this information,” I admitted. She’d rattled off a laundry list of offenses, some she knew of without a doubt and some she suspected.
She gave me a knowing look.
If what Elle was saying was correct—and after seeing one of Hollywood's biggest players arrested by Homeland Security on the news, I was inclined to believe her—then this was well above my pay grade.
Celebrities. Billionaires. Politicians. So many people were involved. I could see why she was scared and untrusting. Who do you trust?
“Have you told anyone?”
She shook her head. “No. The day I was arrested they sent a lawyer in to defend me. The lawyer was theirs and in on the entire operation. He told me to take the fall and keep my mouth shut. Otherwise, I wouldn’t make it to my trial date alive.”
“And the money?”
“I’d gone to a number of Aaron’s parties. I’d seen where his safe was a few days before I was arrested. I watched him press in the combination and caught a glimpse of the amount of cash he had in there. Not the exact amount, but a rough guess. He thought I was strung out on cocaine like the other girls. I pretended that I was, but I hadn’t been. I’d always pretended I was riding a high at those parties. But never actually took any drugs. They bought the act. I just watched. His parties were so full of drugs, sex, and alcohol that even if I didn’t pretend I doubt anyone would have noticed.”
“Or maybe you’re just that good of an actress?” I suggested with a chuckle.
She winked at me. “Anything is possible.”
“What do you think he’s been charged with?”
She shrugged. “Want me to make a list?” Running a hand through her hair she sighed. “Drug trafficking, sex trafficking. The list doesn’t end. It wasn’t until just before being arrested that I was let into the inner circle and the curtain had fully gotten pulled back. How I figure it all went down and I ended up getting framed, was that someone decided that it had been a bad idea to let me discover their dirty little secrets.”
“Why not just kill you?” It seemed to be that would have been the more logical solution.
“Your guess is as good as mine. For the past year or so I knew something wasn’t right. I couldn’t put my finger on it. But suspecting what was going on and then seeing it for yourself is another. But what could I do? The police are in their pockets. The FBI? Who knows. Before I could figure out a way to expose everything, I was arrested.”
“This could be enough to keep you out of prison. Maybe we could get you a deal.”
“We don’t even know what the charges against Aaron, Sebastian, and the others are yet.”
“No, we don’t.” Taking a deep breath in, I slowly released it. “How about this; we sleep on it. There should be more information about the arrest in the morning. Then we decide how we want to proceed.”
I swear to god, the look of relief and gratitude on her lovely features, as the hint of unshed tears shimmering in the corners of her eyes, was enough to bring any man to his knees. I don’t think there has ever been a time in my life when I wanted to wrap someone up in my arms and protect them with my life as much as I wanted to do with her at that moment. And I didn’t even know the woman! She was a criminal. Allegedly at least. That was the craziest part of it all.
“Okay.” I watched her as she slid from the bed and walked into the bathroom.
When she emerged, she stripped down and then pulled my claimed t-shirt on over her naked body.
Damn…
My dick sprung to life under the denim. I was softening toward her. This could be… dangerous.
Pulling back the blankets, she slid underneath, with me still on top, and then to my shock she skirted her way across the bed to me. Laying her head on my shoulder she wrapped her arm over my chest. “I hope this is okay?” She murmured, not looking up at me, but closing her eyes and relaxing against me. “I just need a little comfort for one night.”
Umm. I reached toward the nightside table on my side of the bed and started to grab the handcuffs. I needed to lock her up—just in case.
But when I looked down at her. She was already softly snoring. She looked so serene. I just didn’t have it in me to move her.
“It’s fine,” I grumbled, putting my arm around her and pulling her a little tighter.
I was in some deep shit and it wasn’t the people she was running from that I was worried about.
ELLE
Waking up, I was shocked by a couple of things. The first was that I was uncuffed, but even more shocking was the fact that I was wrapped in the embrace of a soundly sleeping Dayton.
He was still in full clothing, with the remote control in his hand. The television was playing a cartoon that I was unfamiliar with.
