Page 5 of Master Vidar & Vali

“Unbelievably so, but that is beside the point. I think she’s in trouble.”

I took a deep breath. “You know a foreign girl trying to give a sob story to a rich American she slept with is not uncommon.”

And something we were both vulnerable to, given our history. But even as much as I wanted to believe it was just a case of someone attempting to fleece my friend, the uneasy feeling in my stomach didn't agree.

“Zara Parker is an American”—he tossed back a swig of his drink–“and I didn’t sleep with her.”

“Zara?”

Colin sighed. “Mihal’s PA. Did you read my report on the job?”

“No. Didn’t think it needed my input.”

“It doesn’t. The guy was an asshole with delusions of power. I gave him the recommendations we were hired to give him, but there isn’t enough money in the world to make me work with that guy again. I recommended we not accept any future work.”

I took another sip of my drink, trying to fit what little I knew into a picture that would explain why my friend was so worked up. “Because of something his assistant said to you?”

“No. I barely said anything to her. It’s just a feeling I got. She looked like a trapped rabbit trying to survive among wolves. I overheard him saying something about keeping her passport safe and threatening her if she broke her employment contract.”

My pulse leapt into my throat, and I had to take a moment before speaking. “You heard him threaten her and didn’t do anything?”

“It wasn’t exactly a threat.”

“Then what was it?”

Colin knocked his fist against the railing. “I don’t know. It could have just been a reminder about penalties. See, this is why I don’t know. I offered to help, gave her my card, and she blew me off and didn’t call. But it doesn’t feel right.”

It was hard to think straight. Both Colin and I were sensitive when it came to leaving women in danger. We failed once and neither of us were willing to risk that happening again. But what could we do? Without more information, we might be blowing things out of proportion, or be putting a young woman’s career at risk.

“You should talk to Gabe about taking a trip back. We can call it a follow-up visit.”

Before we could start a plan, Mrs. Goodwin called everyone inside for dinner. I knew both Colin and I were thinking about what to do with his concerns. From the look Gabe and Declan exchanged, they knew something was up. Colin’s older brother was always up in our business, but with his brother, he tried to be more subtle about it. So, it didn’t surprise me when it was Gabe who spoke.

“Hey. What’s going on?” He nudged Colin. “You’ve been off since you arrived.”

“This is my problem.” Colin passed a card over. “I met her at my last job, just before I packed up to come home.”

This must really be bothering my friend if he was willing to talk about it where everyone could overhear.

Gabriel studied what I could only assume was Zara’s business card, a puzzled expression on his face. “What’s the problem?”

Even though I knew what he was going to say, the stress in his voice as he spoke surprised me. “I think she’s in trouble, but when she tried to talk to me, she was hustled out of the room by their in-house security. Anyway, I gave her my card before she was removed, but I didn’t hear from her before I left. I can’t help feeling that something is seriously wrong, Gabe, and I’m not sure what to do about it.”

“I think you should go and check on her, but not alone. Let’s talk about this more after dinner and we can make a plan.” I was happy to hear Gabriel was on board. Hopefully, with both of us we could keep Colin from running off halfcocked.

Dinner seemed to take forever, but when we moved outside to talk, I wasn’t surprised when everyone joined us. It was nice to have the support of our friends, even if they could be a little overbearing. That was the price of being friends with a bunch of Dominants.

“What’s going on?” Unsurprisingly, it was Declan, Colin’s very protective older brother, who spoke first.

“It’s work related, no need to worry.” Colin tried to blow off his brother. The two of them had a rocky relationship at the best of times, but no one doubted they would have each other’s backs.

“If something has my brother this down, then it isn’t just work related.” The frustration in Declan’s voice was evident as was the irritation on Colin’s face. This was a constant with the two of them. They had been tight before we’d been shipped offand it annoyed the hell out of our group leader to not be in the know regarding his younger brother.

“Is that true?” Gabe asked. “Do you have a personal stake in this?”

From the moment he’d described her as unbelievably hot, I’d known this would be personal for more than one reason. Even if he hadn’t any romantic intentions or otherwise with the woman, neither of us was detached enough to not help if we could. “I don’t know yet. I told you it’s my gut talking, not my head. Something is wrong with that woman, and I feel bad I couldn’t find out what, but I know somehow that she is in trouble.”

And those were the magic words… gut. This was the struggle my friend faced, the balance between gut and logic. A play partner at the club had once joked that Colin was the very epitome of a Libra, whatever the hell that meant. Something about always trying to balance the unbalanced.

---