Page 23 of Obsessed

I have a good laugh as I stand up from the bed to walk to the closet. "That's hilarious. He doesn't loveme."

"Right." Blake walks past me and pulls out a pair of shorts and t-shirt for me to put on. "Old habits," he says with a shrug. "Anyhow, I've got to go. Next party is in a week. I've got caterers to deal with. I've left very detailed instructions for your smoothies." His brows scrunch with worry as he looks me up and down. "Talk to him about cutting back on the doses. It might help you eatmore."

Tears well up in my eyes as he heads to thedoor.

"Take me with you,Blake."

He looks back. "I wish I could. But you're safe here, darlin'. Just try and eat more." He blows me a kiss and walksout.

22

Maddox

I'm pacinga groove in the polished wood floor of the penthouse. A knock pulls me out of my trance. I practically yank Clark into the apartment. He's holding a heated pizza delivery bag. "What the fuck took you so long?" Iask.

"Had to convince the owner of the pizza restaurant to rent me the shirt, hat and pizzacarrier."

I grab the pizza carrier. It's light as air. "Really? Water in wine bottles and empty fucking pizza boxes?" I toss the carrier on thetable.

"Do you know how much this undercover thing is costing the department?" he asks for what I'm pretty sure is the millionth fucking time. "Pizza and wine are extra. What do you have? Soundedurgent."

I comb my hair back with my fingers and pull up a chair as he sets his big ass on thecouch.

"She's there. I sawTen."

Clark sits forward. The usual red in his face blanches white. "Is she all right? How did shelook?"

I shake my head once. "She was wrapped in a big coat. Only saw the top of her head as she was being carried from a van in the garage.Hewas carrying her. FuckfaceFreestone."

Clark looks as stunned as I felt when I saw the red hair poking out from the coat. "If you only saw the top of her head, how do you know it washer?"

"Because I know. If I saw the tip of her pinky, I'd know it washer."

Clark stares at me oddly. "Boy, you've got it bad, don't you,kid?"

"Fuck off. I'm going back to the club in two days. Freestone has the place covered with cameras and guards. But I'll figure out a way to findher."

"And that's just what I don't fucking want to hear, Maddox. Look, let's just shut this down. We know she's there. She's alive. Thank God for that. I've got a team working on the airport schedules to find out what airport Freestone's plane takes off from and more importantly where it lands. It's not easy. The guy covers his tracks. He uses shell companies and every other trick in the book to stay off law enforcement'sradar."

I get up and swing the chair back to the table. I pace in front of the couch. "She was right fucking there. Close enough to touch. She was right there and I couldn't do a fuckingthing."

"It's a damn good thing you didn't do a fucking thing. I would have lost two detectives." Clark gets up from the couch. "What do you say, huh? Let's shut this down and wait until we figure out the location from the flightlogs."

I shake my head. "That could take awhile. I'll be back there in two days. Give me anotherchance."

He opens his mouth toprotest.

"I won't do anything crazy. Let me just get in the doors one more time. I've come this far. Don't shut me downyet."

He nods weakly. "One more time. You didn't tell me many details. What did you see when you werethere?"

Most of the night was wiped clean from my head the second I saw Ten's red hair swaddled in the black coat, her body cradled in the asshole's arms. "It's basically a high-end escort club. Food, drinks and scantily dressed women who are more than anxious to please. Most of them pretty damn high from what I could see in their eyes. But they seemed content andhealthy."

"Why do you think Angie wasn't with the other women at theparty?"

"The same fucking question has been eating at me since I walked out of there." I walk to the refrigerator and pull out my last beer. I've come up with a number of theories but the one that sticks in my gut, the one that makes me want to tear Freestone limb from limb, is the one that keeps coming to the top of the heap. I gulp half the beer and smack it down on the counter. "I think he's keeping Ten forhimself."

"Fucking hell, Maddox. Why the hell did I give in and let her go? I'll never forgivemyself."

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