Page 62 of Indiscreet

“No, that wasn’t him,” she said. “He didn’t like that I was jealous of him being with someone else. He offered to ‘make it up to me’ by giving me to his uncle for the night. He went from treating me so kindly to treating me like trash… I’m devastated that he hurt you.”

My hand clasped Liz’s. I didn’t blame her. I was grateful she had tried to help me, though the thought of hours lost from my life was disturbing. It couldn’t have been easy when they found out she knew me. The lump lodged in my throat made it hard to swallow. “He made you talk about me.”

She blinked back tears, reached into a small clutch for a handkerchief, and dabbed her eyes. “Yes. I was upset when I saw you and was told I had to tell them everything I knew about you. I told them you were a governor’s wife, but I don’t think that helped.”

I would have thought it’d give me leverage, but not with these men.

“They plan to take you to the trade show, do you know that?” she asked in a hushed tone.

“Yes,” I said as I coughed.

She reached over, took out a bottled water from a hidden drawer, and handed it to me. I drank down almost all of it.

“How did you find out about it?” she asked.

“Dane and Elliott,” I said, and a pang went through my chest. They were being told I had left. Would they believe it or do anything rash?

She sighed heavily. “I thought so, but from what I understand, this will not turn out as bad. There will be something like that orgy, but then you will be chosen by a man who will keep you. You’ll discuss what they could do for you and what they expect. In the end, everything will work out. You’ll be better off financially.

I scoffed. “What money do either one of us need?”

“Come on, Gia. Everyone knows you’ve lost your company,” she said. “My own money has been frozen for an investigation into my late husband’s assets.”

I started to say that was impossible, but then it all started to make sense. Angel, Liz, me—I now completely understood The Agency. The powerful men created situations for women who were strong and successful, women who didn’t need them, so they could play with or break them for their own amusement…but could there be more to their choices? While I worked it over in my mind, trying to figure it all out, Liz lamented.

“This is all my fault.” Liz sniffed. “The Agency, the men were too good to be true…and I found out they were. They know everyone we know, so there is no escape. I was told if I cooperate, everything will return to normal or better. He said I’d be able to get my business back on track.”

I closed my eyes. That was what Dane’s Angel must have thought. They didn’t return her to her life, and from what Marco said, I knew too much to leave. Dread swallowed me whole. I didn’t see a return. We both needed to get out of there.

“Listen to me, Dane and Elliott would help us—”

“Save your breath. They knew I was here with Marco,” Liz said, cutting me off. “They are Agency men. Where were they when you were taken?”

My throat closed. I didn’t have the answers, but I couldn’t believe Dane or Elliott would do this to me. She had to be wrong.

“You cause no trouble and you return to Seattle,” she said. “You obey, and things could get even better for you. The man I met that Marco’s trading me to is getting me a new penthouse in Seattle and a vacation house in Spain. He has a lawyer already working on my financial problems.”

The financial problems he and his friends created for you for their own sick entertainment. I scowled.I couldn’t believe Liz was getting caught up in their lies. “You tell me not to trust, but you trust they’ll hold up their end of the bargain with you?”

“We’ll just have to see,” she said, leaving out the fact that we had no other choice.

I pursed my lips. “But they are so transparent, and you really believe a man who’s making us go is actually going to help you?”

She didn’t respond, and we stopped speaking. Liz was in survival mode. I was too, but my plan was not to cooperate. I was going to get away and call the number Dane had given me for his lawyer. The second I found a way to get a call or message out, I would say where I was and hopefully get the police to come rescue me. I wanted to believe my plan was possible, but then doubt crept in. What if Liz had been right all along? Why was I willing to just think the other men were bad and not Dane and Elliott? Dane was about to do all the things Liz was claiming this new man was going to do for her. Had I been equally naïve?

The car moved onto the highway. I decided to keep a mental note of markers. AT&T park, the Embarcadero…we were going toward the pier. With all the pedestrian traffic, I was sure it would be easier to get out and escape. My hopes diminished when we exited and turned under a bypass. This wasn’t one of the bustling picturesque areas of the city; it was a construction site with boarded fences and scaffolding. No one would go there unless they were working on the building. An Agency member probably owned the site, so no one there would help us.

The limo turned down a dead-end road and drove underneath a scaffold-fronted building to an underground parking garage then out the other side to a driveway. At the end was a row of three brand new Victorian-style homes in various stages of completion. We parked at the most finished one, and an armed guard opened the door. He was surprisingly gentle when he helped us out of the car, though he stayed close behind us the rest of the way up the driveway.

Once inside, we were taken into a formal dining room with fabric and mahogany paneling and a grand chandelier as its centerpiece. Besides the beautiful handmade ornamental rugs, four floral-patterned pastel lounge chairs were the only seating in the room and were set up near one of the two fireplaces. Two of the chairs were already occupied by women dressed as formally as Liz and I were. It was quite the contrast from the boat. They were also unmasked, but I didn’t recognize them.

The guard motioned for Liz and me to take the open seats, and we sat down on one next to each other.

I was relieved to see him turn to go, but then high-pitched laughter filled the room. I looked over to find a wraithlike woman with eyes that were too big for her face sauntering over to us. Her blonde hair was curly and swept up in a chignon. She had on a silk evening gown made of shimmering fabric, and golden rings looped through her pale skin ran the length of her back. I stared at them when she spun around before us.

“If you’re scared of this, let me assure you, it will get worse,” she sang out at the end of the room.

“Now Angel, behave,” one of the guards said to her. He came forward and tried to take her arm.

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