Page 44 of Tower

Chapter 14

“Peter.” Hunter, a former client of the Annex, rose from his chair in the office with an extended hand.

Peter took it in greeting. “What brings you back here? Is Jae giving you too much trouble?” Peter joked. Jaelynn had been contracted from a party to Hunter for a weekend, but she never returned—becoming his full-time submissive.

“She will never be too much trouble.” Hunter grinned. “Just the right amount.”

Peter laughed. He understood the sentiment.

“So, what brings you around?” Peter sat across the desk.

“I heard you’ve been looking for a man named Santos.” Hunter leaned forward in his seat.

“I am,” Peter said with a firm nod.

“He’s been to see my uncle,” Hunter said. “My uncle has some dealings with Santos’s boss. Santos came looking for help. Says you have his boss’s daughter.” Hunter leaned back, leaving the sentence open in the air.

“I do.” Peter gave another nod. “And if he’s got any balls on him, he’ll come to talk to me, not your damn uncle about it.”

Hunter opened his hands as though to ward off an argument. “You know how I feel about my uncle’s dealings, but you also know there’s little I can do about it right now. He wants to know if you have her, and if so, he’d like you to turn her over to me so I can bring her home.”

Peter laughed. “That’s not going to happen. Did Santos also inform your uncle he owed Ashland over a hundred grand?”

Hunter shook his head. “I’m sure he left that out.”

“The girl stays with me. When her mother returns from whatever trip she’s on, she can come collect her, but I will not hand her over to fucking Santos.”

“So, she’s not being sold?” Hunter raised his brows.

“We don’t sell the unwilling. You know that,” Peter ground out.

“I know, I know. That’s why I offered to come speak to you. Didn’t seem right, you just taking the girl from her home. That’s not how things are done here anymore.”

Azalea hadn’t been given a choice in the matter of coming home with him, but Peter wasn’t going to explain the events to Hunter.

“When her mother comes back—”

“That’s what has Santos all in a fucking uproar. Her mother is probably going to have his head for letting her out of his sight. I don’t understand the whole thing. Last I saw of Bellatrix Gothel, she never mentioned a kid. Even my uncle was surprised to hear of it, and he’d been dealing with her for years.”

“Dealing with her, how? I can’t imagine she works on his garbage routes or in that casino of his. She seems older, more along the lines of his age—”

“No, nothing like that. I believe she’s a supplier.” Hunter’s gaze faltered. They both knew what a supplier in Jansen’s world meant. And it wasn’t any product that could be stored on a shelf.

“I’ve heard her name before, but I can’t place her. If she’s a big supplier, Samuel would have mentioned her, right? I would have seen her around the house growing up. Maybe Ash remembers her.” Peter rubbed his chin. “She never mentioned a kid at all? She had two daughters. One was kidnapped.”

“My uncle said he didn’t know much about her. She’s very quiet about her work, doesn’t like to be out in the open. Maybe she never mentioned her kids because she kept business away from family. I remember your father once coming over to my uncle’s when I was in high school. He mentioned her—I only remember because it’s such an odd name. But I don’t ever remember seeing her or hearing of her otherwise.”

Peter’s stomach clenched at the mention of his father. He’d made the ultimate sacrifice to keep business from hurting his family, taken a bullet aimed at Peter during a bad deal.

“So, she may have worked with Samuel then, too.” Peter forced his thoughts to stick to the topic at hand. Wandering off thinking about the past never gained anything. “I have my men looking into her, but I’ll have them check the old records again. Maybe Samuel has her marked somewhere as a vendor.”

“Thought he filled his own inventory,” Hunter said with a huff.

“Most of the time, yeah, but he wasn’t averse to buying from the outside. And if I remember correctly, your uncle preferred the quick sale.”

Hunter nodded. It didn’t matter what vocabulary they used, neither of the men liked the business practices of their families. The buying and selling of women was a bit more complex, a bit more gut twisting than simply ordering stock and having it delivered like they were in the market for party supplies.

“You don’t think this girl you have held up here is one of hers, do you?” Hunter stood from his chair, buttoning his jacket.

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