Page 42 of Claimed by Him

I stared at him. What the fuck? He was acting like the other night hadn’t happened.

Then Elise shoved past us both, and I reminded myself to keep my focus where it belonged. On Meka.

“Don’t mind her,” Jalen said as he walked back into the house. “I’m glad you’re here. We need to talk.”

I followed. “I told your wife–”

“About that–”

“I don’t care,” I cut him off again. “I really am here about Meka. I need your help.”

“What happened?” His entire demeanor changed, and I knew he had his focus in the right place now.

“To get right to the point, Meka’s asshole boyfriend sold her for drugs. He gave me the address where he took her. I went there–”

“Alone?” His head snapped around. “That wasn’t smart, Rona.”

I held up a hand. “Not your business and not the time. I found Meka and at least five other girls. They were being held in a storage unit by several armed guys. Contrary to what you might think, I’m not stupid. I knew I couldn’t get all of the girls out safely, so I went to the cops, but they aren’t going to do anything.”

“What do you mean they aren’t going to do anything?”

I leaned against the back of an overstuffed chair. I was exhausted, but I still had, as they say, ‘miles to go before I sleep.’

“I took the boyfriend down to the station after he confessed what he did, but they let him go. My phone was dead, so I couldn’t call for help, and when I went to the station to tell them what I found, Officer Lennard basically blew me off, acting like I was trying to interfere in a police investigation. He actually threatened to arrest me.”

“I’ve never liked that slimy bastard,” Jalen muttered. He looked at me, a hard glint in his eyes. “You need me to pull some strings to get the cops to that storage place?”

“I’m afraid they’re going to take the girls somewhere else,” I said, worry worming down my spine. Too much time had already passed, and I’d never forgive myself if I lost track of the girls because I hadn’t charged my stupid phone. “Shawn could have already warned them. He’s the one who tipped them off that I was looking in the first place. I thought about going back myself, but it’s not something one person can pull off, not without risking everyone’s lives.”

Jalen already had his phone up to his ear. I would’ve been annoyed that he seemed to be ignoring me, but he was doing exactly what I needed.

“Hey, Chet, it’s Jalen.”

It took me a moment to realize that he was talking to the Police Commissioner, Chet Shumaker III.

“I need to call in a favor. There’s something going on at King’s Storage, unit twelve. I can’t tell you how I know, but I can tell you that if you send some men out there, prepared to take down some pretty nasty guys, and have a couple ambulances waiting, you’ll end up being a hero. Great press to use when you start your campaign for governor in a couple years.”

Smart, using the commissioner’s political ambitions to get him to do the right thing. I could see the business side of Jalen in that small conversation.

“Yes, this needs to be done now. I know it’s early, but it’s time sensitive.” He waited a few seconds, then smiled. “Excellent. Thank you, Chet. And yes, if you could give me a call when it’s taken care of, I’d appreciate it.” He set the phone down and looked at me. “It’s done.”

“Thank you.” The words were said on the exhale of a relieved breath. “I’ll head down to the site, and once I see Meka, I’ll give Theo a call. I’ll send you a bill after that.”

“Wait,” he said before I was even able to turn to go. “You can’t go there. It could compromise the rescue.”

Dammit. I didn’t think I would, but as soon as he put the idea out there, it was all I could think about. “Good point. I’ll go to the police station then.”

“Wait here with me,” Jalen said. “You can find out what happened when Chet calls me. And we can talk.”

I bristled at that. “We don’t have anything to talk about.”

His expression was serious as he walked over to me. “Yes, we do.”

I swallowed hard and nodded. Apparently, we were going to talk.

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