Page 77 of Rogue Royal
“Sorry it took me so long,” he said to Freddie, who was standing by the window with his arms crossed and a tense posture. “What happened?”
“Don’t be sorry, Mav. Zara has shown me some things you’ve been working on, and it’s great. Thank you.” Freddie glanced at the floor, then back at him. “There’s been a development.”
Mav’s heart skipped several beats. “What?”
“Let me introduce you to someone.” He indicated with his hand. “Mav, meet Umar.”
The man was tall and slender, with closely cropped black hair. Mav glanced at Freddie as a wave of anger swept through him. “Why is he here?”
Freddie held his hands up, palms out. “Listen to what he has to say.”
Mav firmed his jaw and crossed his arms over his chest. He didn’t want to hear anything this person had to say, but if Freddie thought it was important, he’d listen.
“I’m sorry for—”
“I don’t want to hear your apology. I don’t need it. Tell me what you need to.” Umar flinched at Mav’s words, and he felt a certain satisfaction.
Umar bowed his head, his fingers tangling between themselves. “I lied about Douglas. I was told to request a lesson with him and, afterwards, to go home. Once at home, a man would meet me there to…”
Damon moved to sit next to Umar, and Mav bristled at the comfort he was giving the man who had lied about what Douglas had done to him. When he opened his mouth to complain, Freddie squeezed his shoulder and shook his head.
After several minutes, Umar continued, “The man would meet me at my house and flog me again, after which I was to call the police and blame Prince Douglas.” Umar’s water-filled gaze met his. “They said they would go after my sister if I didn’t do as they’d asked.”
“Why are you here then?”
“The second flogging wasn’t supposed to be bad, just enough to break a little skin and make it look like Prince Douglas hadn’t completed the aftercare. The man didn’t use a flogger. It was worse…much worse than I was told it would be, but I did what I was told to do.” Umar dropped his gaze again, tears sliding down his cheeks. “How could I choose between my family and pointing the finger at an innocent man?”
“Umar went to Quinn and told him what happened. Once Quinn contacted me, we hid his family. He has no reason to lie any longer. No one can touch his family.” Freddie stared at Mav.
Mav dropped into an armchair, weary. “Can we get this cleared up and Douglas free?” he asked Freddie.
“We can, but we need information on this Harvey guy. That’s who did this to Umar.”
Mav’s eyebrows rose. “Not Charles?”
Freddie shook his head, his mouth a hard line. “We can’t prove who called Umar. It could’ve been Charles, or it could’ve been a third person. We have nothing to link Charles to anything other than our suspicions.”
Mav dropped his head in his hands, then straightened, wandering over to his desk where he’d spent several hours of the night. “I’ve found out some things about Harvey.”
Freddie and Damon drifted closer. “How did you find him?” Damon asked.
“Social media is my bitch.” Mav cracked a smile. “Harvey Johnson, age twenty-nine, worked several jobs over the past ten years, usually bartending or in supermarkets. He has no family I could find but has plenty of friends, according to his photos. They have arrested him several times over the past five years for GBH, assault and domestic violence.”
“Fucker.” Damon placed a hand over his mouth. “How did we not know about him?”
“He’s been in the BDSM community for two years,” Mav added.
“I wonder if he’s tried to get a membership at the club?” Freddie said. “It might give him the motive to do what someone else had told him to. They could’ve offered him a place at the club as payment.”
Mav frowned. “Who has control over who is and isn’t given membership?”
“Several people, but members can vouch for someone, and if their checks come back okay, they’ll be accepted. I know for a fact Harvey wouldn’t have been because of the specifics of his police record, buthewouldn’t know.”
“It makes sense. Theoretically, Talon could’ve contacted Charles and asked him to mete out punishment to Douglas, but from what you’ve told me, Charles doesn’t seem to be a person to do what other people tell him to. Do you think he’s behind all of this?”
Freddie shared a look with Damon. “Yes. I have no proof, but it fits. I’m not sure how Charles and Talon connect other than being at the same club, but it’s not impossible that he orchestrated it. In my opinion, he seems to have had a hand in what happened with Douglas, Umar and Harvey, though.”
“You need to speak to your father.” Mav held out the sheets of paper he’d printed with the evidence he’d found on Harvey. “I want Douglas out of there.”
