Page 10 of Hunted Temptation
Obviously, I couldn’t put them in Elodie’s bedroom, considering she was in her room when I started working. But I was able to put a camera in Scoggins’s bedroom and office, along with a listening device in both places. I planted a tracker on his car as well.
By the time I make it back to the Airbnb and test my new devices, it’s already dark. I get all the surveillance screens back up and wait for whatever is supposed to be coming tonight.
The way Elodie was behaving with the makeup and hair, I figured something was happening. But when the screen in her bedroom comes back up, she’s no longer in her robe. Instead, she’s barefaced, wearing shorts and an oversized hoodie.
Finding Scoggins in the house is easy. He’s in the kitchen. His back is to the camera, but he’s standing at the stove. Glancing down his body, I notice that he, too, is dressed very casually in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt.
I watch them, though I watch them in silence because neither of them is speaking. Then I hear Scoggins’s voice loud and clear. He calls Elodie out for dinner. Shifting my gaze to her, I watch as she gingerly, almost as if she’s in pain, throws her legs over the side of the bed.
She stands and lets out a heavy sigh, seemingly completely exhausted as she begins to move through the bedroom, thehallway, the living room, and then into the dining room. Scoggins tells her to sit down before he brings a plate of food over to her.
That single move causes my spine to straighten. Of everything I know about him from his file, I cannot imagine him being a kind and thoughtful parent. I shift my attention over to Elodie. Her gaze is downcast, her hands are in her lap, and she sits perfectly still.
Then, when the plate is set down in front of her, only then does she speak. It’s my first taste of hearing her voice, and I instantly hate it.
“Thank you,” she breathes.
I don’t hate her voice because it sounds bad. It’s actually sexy as fuck, perfect really, but what I hate is how small she’s making herself, and that’s because her father wants her that way. He doesn’t make himself a plate.
In fact, he takes a step backward from the table and tilts his head to the side, watching her for a moment before he speaks.
“Clean the kitchen. Go to bed early. You need your rest.”
“Yes, sir.”
He dips his chin, then he’s gone. He walks out the front door. Pulling up the tracking app on my phone, I get that set up while he climbs into the car. But my visual focus is on Elodie. She seems defeated.
Completely and totally defeated.
I don’t like this at all. I haven’t liked the vibes of this household since the moment I pulled in across the street, but right now, they seem downright off-putting. Knowing what I do about this man, there is no way that this is a normal household.
Although it’s not like I would know what normal is anyway. I really don’t have the first clue.
Normal isn’t in my vocabulary, or any of the other guys’ of Securus, either. Opening the tracking app on my computer, Iwatch as Scoggins’s car moves down the street. Then I reach for my phone, find Boden’s number, and hit the call icon. I can’t focus on the screen and text at the same time.
“Vaughn,” he announces.
I have to wonder if he’s with anyone else, the way he said my name. I wait for a moment, wondering if he’s going to continue, but when he doesn’t, I start to speak.
“I need an in-depth report on Elodie Scoggins.”
I’m met with silence.
Then a little more.
Opening my mouth, I start to ask him if he’s still there when he speaks. “You want information on this asshole’s family?” Boden asks.
“His eighteen-year-old daughter.”
More silence.
Then a whispered word. Just one. “Vaughn.”
Clearing my throat, I try to think of the words to say. I don’t know what exactly I’m going to say to make this sound not creepy. Because it’s creepy. Even I know that much. But that doesn’t mean I can stop myself from watching, like now, when my gaze finds her.
She’s finished up the dishes and is making her way through the house, turning off all the lights as she moves toward her bedroom. Closing the house for the night. If anyone looked in on her in this moment, they’d think she was a normal teenager.
“I just need to know. Something isn’t right.”
