Page 34 of Gideon

“Florida’s a huge place,” Karl said incredulously.

I nodded. “We know. But we fucked up Blakeny’s cash and businesses, as you know.” The money was currently being distributed to charities. “He can’t disappear while he’s trying to get it all back. We think he’s somewhere close, but isolated. We were wondering if he ever took you somewhere before the house where we found you?”

Clare glanced at her brother, and he frowned again. “Clare?” She sighed.

“Persuasion.”

“What?” Karl said and jumped to his feet. Clare flinched immediately and Max immediately inserted himself between Karl and his sister. Karl opened his mouth, probably to rail at Max, but then he saw Clare cower and all the fight left him.

“I’m sorry,” Clare whispered to her brother, and I got it. Persuasion was near the port and to say it had a bad rep was putting it mildly. On the surface it was a nightclub, but some of the members could apparently get other services so long as they paid for them.

“I know it was stupid, but they’re one of the easiest to get in with fake IDs.” Karl groaned and I didn’t blame him, but Clare had been punished enough for a mistake kids made the world over.

“You think she might be there?”

She glanced at her brother and he sat down, reaching slowly and gently to take her hand. “You’re not in anytrouble. I understand why you didn’t mention it, and this is my fault.”

“No it isn’t,” Clare whispered and clasped her brother’s fingers, but Karl shook his head.

“I haven’t encouraged Clare to talk about this at all. I ignorantly assumed that if we took care of her physical hurts the rest would mend on their own, and I know she’s frightened of disappointing me.”

Max cleared his throat. “We have a doc that treats our Littles, and he’s actually recommended someone he knows to talk things over with them. Someone who understands their situation.”

“I’m not a child,” Clare snapped, and Max nodded, but I could see the curled fists he was hiding and knew it was killing him not to try and comfort her.

“I went with my friends the first time. Jeremy was charming, attentive. Gabby and Erika thought I was crazy because he was so much older than me, but I’ve never been interested in silly boys.” Karl stood, smiled gently, and walked to the window. I got that this would be so hard to hear, but I respected him for not making her feel any more uncomfortable.

“We started dating and went to the club a few times. I was just coming back from the bathroom as a server was bringing more champagne. Jeremy had his hand up her skirt and when she jerked away, he smacked her. I’d never seen him so angry, and it was like a mask had slipped. I froze because I panicked. He looked up and saw me and his charming smile was back, so I sat down, determined to call Karl on my second bathroom visit. He poured the champagne, but I refused and said it was a little strong, so he called over to one of the bouncers and askedif he would get a fruit juice for me. I didn’t think it odd because the server wasn’t likely to come back.” She took a breath.

“I started feeling strange nearly immediately and tried to excuse myself for the bathroom, but I was really dizzy. I remember Jeremy being concerned and saying he would take me home, but all he did was drag me into an elevator.”

“Still at the club?” I asked, leaning forward.

She nodded. “I heard the music from upstairs once when he unlocked the door. I tried screaming at one point, but he just laughed and told me to go ahead, and said all the rooms down here were soundproofed so we wouldn’t scare the customers.” I glanced at Max and saw his jaw harden.

“I was there about two days until the next time I woke up and I was in the cage.”

I smiled and stood up. “Thank you. We didn’t know there was a connection with Persuasion. I can’t tell you how helpful that is.”

“I hope you get her,” Clare whispered.

So the fuck did I.

Chapter seventeen

Gideon

A dozen phone calls later and we were ready. Max drove us straight to the meeting area. Dion and Walker would bring the gear and more weapons. The plan was for Chris and his guys to go in as customers. Pretend to get stupid drunk and cause a scene. Early, so the club wouldn’t be fully staffed and no nightclubbers would be there.

Eric got us the plans and could disable the alarms. Keyhole could get us inside. We targeted the private entrance because, according to what Eric told us, it was a direct path to the lower floors. As soon as Eric let us know that Chris and the guys were causing enough problems upstairs so every security guard available had to deal with them, the alarms were off, and the cameras had been put on a loop. Keyhole got some kind of electronic hand-held box out and used it on the door.

And we were in. It was slow going because some locked rooms were empty and there were two floors, but eventually we found another flight of stairs behind a locked door.

My heart leapt. I knew she was here. I just knew it. We fanned out, but there were only three doors and only one was locked. Max and I got on either side, guns drawn, and nodded to Keyhole, but he just shook his head. No electronic lock. I almost snarled in fury and simply stepped back and kicked the door open. Sometimes knocking down doors worked just as well.

“DADDY” Abby cried out, and I took in Junior’s raised fist. Not that he got chance to bring it down because two heartbeats later Junior was down with a very large bullet hole in his temple and Abigail was in my arms. I nodded my thanks to Max and turned her away, lifting and carrying her out. She didn’t need to see anything else.

Dion drove us and Abby simply sat on my lap all the way home. She cried herself to sleep after a while, and didn’t wake until I carried her through the doors. But then she started crying and struggling. “No, don’t touch me, I’m dirty.” My heart fell to my boots, so I stepped back. “Call Margaret,” I ordered, but Abby shook her head.

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