Chapter 15

Chapter

Fifteen

LAINEY

W e'd barely returned to the city after Harper's "memorial service" when the Vandals arrived at Bodhi's place. Em was with them and it was time to put our heads together for the plan. We were going to be using private jets to get to Europe and not one of ours directly—we were borrowing from friends.

As much as I wanted to stay and catch up with Em, Bodhi murmured in my ear that Hans had called. It was an offer for me to go with him and since it had everything to do with his potential sibling as well as Em and Pretty Boy's, I agreed.

"We'll be back soon," I promised Pretty Boy with a light kiss. He gave me a steady look then glanced at Bodhi before he nodded.

"Go armed, Mayhem. Watch Bodhi's back."

"Good thing he has a nice ass." The light comment had Em whipping around to stare at me as Pretty Boy grinned.

While Ezra and Adam both looked like they wanted to go, they refrained from insisting. I left them each with a kiss. They'd work out the finer points while we went to get information.

I was still dressed in unrelieved black, but it was slacks, a tucked in turtleneck, and a jacket that hid my gun holster neatly. The boots had room for knife sheathes in them. Apparently, Bodhi hadn't been kidding about wardrobe additions. My baton was in my purse, which made it readily accessible.

Bodhi studied me in the elevator on the way down and when I raised my brows, he shook his head. "Just planning, Buttercup."

"Should I be intrigued or worried?"

He merely grinned. "Yes."

Fortunately, our meeting with Hans was not in a sex club. As titillating as our adventure to The Underground had been, I didn't want to spend time on the distractions. There was too much happening, and we were too close to leaving to find Andrea.

Instead, Bodhi drove us to an elegant, Romanesque Revival-style home located in a quiet Sugar Hill neighborhood. The architecture heralded to a more elegant time. It even still had a carriage house, and a receiving door.

Now, it was used by valets who took vehicles to park. Bodhi circled the car to open my door before he handed over the keys. We were not the only arrivals. The couple arriving behind us were dressed a little more formally, his suit and her dress more than acceptable for a business dinner, but maybe not a night out at the opera.

"Are we underdressed?" I asked as Bodhi guided me toward the doors.

"Not at all," he murmured with just a hint of a smile. A doorman admitted us and offered to take our coats. Since I just had the light jacket, I declined and Bodhi hadn't bothered with one at all.

Once we were passed the foyer though, I understood that we were far from underdressed. If anything, we were a tad overdressed in a very clothing optional atmosphere.

"It's a museum," I murmured, more to myself. One I hadn't heard of before.

Erotic art decorated the walls, with statues and other objects placed around the room. In the corners, there was living art. A woman on her knees, performing fellatio quite eagerly to a man who seemed on the edge of orgasm.

In another corner, it was a woman who sat in an old style chair, legs spread with a man's head poking up through the hole. It gave him the perfect access to her cunt, which he was devouring with a singular intent. Very well, based on the noises she was making.

I was almost sorry the guys hadn't come with us. Though, we might be too distracted and forget why we were here. Honestly, the volume of stimuli was a bit overwhelming.

"What do you think?" Bodhi murmured as he waved off the waiter who came around to offer us glasses of champagne.

"It's definitely different," I said. "Private collection?"

"Something like that," Bodhi said. "You've been to the Museum of Sex on Fifth Avenue?"

Amusement bubbled through me only to pop and evaporate before I finished forming the answer. "Yes, Tally and I went." I sighed, the ache of Tally's betrayal fresh again. "Right after our eighteenth birthdays. We took an afternoon and went to be scandalized."

"This is—far different." The living art was one example. The sensuality in the art was another. Still, that had been a fun afternoon.

Bodhi trailed his fingers down my back, it was a light caress. A reminder that I wasn't alone. Another sigh escaped before I could corral the sorrow and put it away.

"Don't let her current actions spoil a fond memory," Bodhi said as he guided me into another room. There were monitors in each room, or maybe they were called curators here, that seemed to be keeping an eye on everything and everyone.

This room had its share of art objects and paintings, as well as living art. It seemed more devoted to pain as pleasure and the different takes on it was fascinating.

Maybe a little on point. I was curious, but I'd never considered pain something I enjoyed. Definitely not heart pain.

"I'll try," I said, then forced myself to shake it off and focus on the room. I hadn't seen Hans yet, but that didn't mean he wasn't here. Our last meeting at the Underground had involved a pseudo tour through the pleasures and depravities available there as well.

Sex must be Hans' hobby. Or maybe he took advantage of the privacy enforced in these locations to conduct business. Maybe both?

We didn't find Hans until after we'd made our way through the bondage room—this time the art actually did capture me. Some of the paintings had a Renaissance feel to them but they were definitely modern depictions.

It wasn't just women artistically strung up by ropes in the paintings. I'd heard about Shibari but hadn't spent a lot of time studying it. What fascinated me were the men who were also being bound. Men. Women. Couples.

The poses on display with the living art was even more breathtaking. Near each corner was a statue that showed two fantasy creatures making love. A pair of mermaids—well a mermaid and a merman— interlocked, tails twining together.

Above the statue the man and woman were wrapped around each other with the ropes making up the tails for them. I couldn't actually tell if there was penetration happening but that didn't seem to really matter.

In the next corner, there was a statue of two dragon—people for lack of a better term, interlocked in a sixty-nine. Her mouth was open in ecstasy, his cock against her lips, and his face was buried against her cunt.

The pair behind the statue had been tied up in a similarly erotic pose and they were absolutely acting out the pleasure. The man was definitely a noisy eater and his partner was very much engaged.

I fanned myself a little as my face heated. The mixture of fantasy and bondage was not one I would have thought to be that erotic and yet… I really wanted to spend more time here.

"You like?" The soft question from Bodhi tickled my ear.

"Far more than I expected." To be fair, I wasn't even certain about my level of intrigue. Did I want to be one of the ones in the ropes or just savoring the view?

Maybe?

"We'll make time for another viewing later." The sensuous promise teased through me.

"You said that about the Underground." He'd told me that we could go again, explore, and enjoy—whatever we wanted.

"We will," he said, pressing a kiss just behind my ear. The light touch stroked flames through me. Desire, I wanted to act on, but we had a lot to do before we indulged. In this instance, we needed to find Hans.

Thankfully, our quarry was in a drawing room on the second floor. The door was open, but a velvet rope restricted access. Though it was the guard at the door that kept the guests moving.

"Cavendish," Hans said as he rose. "There you are and the lovely, lovely companion. I am very pleased to see you again."

The guard removed the velvet rope so we could enter. Hans greeted Bodhi with a firm handshake, then he offered me a similar welcome. Or at least similar in that he took my hand. When he gripped my hand between both of his, I raised my brows.

"You are an enchanting creature. I very much wish to know all your secrets, particularly how you've successfully captivated our mutual friend." The German flavor to his accent was a reminder of his "heritage."

" Mit dem Feuer sollte man nicht spielen ." At my light warning to not play with fire, he gripped my hand just a bit tighter as delight lit up his dark eyes.

"If you were with any other gentleman…"

"You still wouldn't have a chance," Bodhi said easily. "Now, let her go before she takes offense."

I almost laughed at Hans' expression. "Very well, should you ever decide against this one, do look me up, liebchen, I beg you."

Shaking my head, I withdrew my hand and Hans motioned to the guard who closed the door.

"Sit, both of you… Would you care for a drink?"

"No," Bodhi said as he waited for me to sit on the love seat opposite the sofa Hans occupied. Neither man sat until I did. Bodhi joined me and Hans reclaimed his own. "You said you had news."

"I do," Hans said. "I definitely do." Leaning forward, his elbows resting lightly against his expensively tailored pant legs, he smiled. "I have names."

Nothing about Bodhi's posture changed. He didn't seem to react. Yet the energy around him shifted. This was the kind of news he'd been waiting on getting. "What type of names?"

"First, the name of the woman who gave birth to the third King child. She was a challenge to track down, and a bit of a hellion herself. I would advise being prepared to lock her down should you need to speak to her. She was quite vexed that I located her." He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out an envelope.

Bodhi took it and passed it to me. "That she's alive is impressive. I take it she isn't local?"

"Yes and no, she married into one of the Bridgeport families, the newer money. But a rather acrimonious divorce, as well as a hefty payout from her prenuptial, keeps her in comfort. She has no interest in returning to New York however. She not only changed her name, she changed it again after she married. She is very much not Tracy Dunlop from Brooklyn who had an affair with Julius King and served as his mistress for four years."

I opened the envelope and pulled out the sheet of paper. It was older, the texture of the paper a little softer and finer as it had aged. It was a birth certificate.

Baby boy.

Theodore Julian Dunlop.

Mother Tracy Dunlop.

There was no name filled in for the father, just the mother.

A boy.

Milo and Em had a baby brother. My heart filled and crashed in the same breath.

"Does she have the boy?" Bodhi asked but Hans was already shaking his head.

"This was the part I found most difficult. She didn't want to part with any information. In fact, she became downright hostile until I made it clear that her life could become much more unpleasant. Finally, she admitted that she made arrangements for the boy to disappear. She wouldn't share the details but that she'd made it clear to the father that he would never see the child again."

"King could simply kidnap and torture her." It wasn't like he was above that.

"Perhaps, liebchen…" The faint smile touching his lips as he glanced to Bodhi while saying the endearment almost made me roll my eyes. "However, she has buried her identity very well. She took from him what he wanted most and made sure he couldn't have him. She mentioned using his own contacts against him. I can get more details, but it will take time."

Used his own contacts. "King is into human trafficking."

We'd known. Of course, we'd known. But we'd never had concrete proof.

Was King the one Harper used to get rid of Andrea?

The sulfurous scratch of anger lit inside me. Hans had names.

"I also have another birth certificate."

Another…

"For King?" The energy around Bodhi shifted once more. It grew almost deadly in its stillness.

"No," Hans said, withdrawing another envelope from his inner pocket. "This one would have been impossible without Ms. Dunlop's assistance. It would seem, one of the reasons she knew how to hide the boy was because she'd seen it happen to another woman's child."

Ice shivered over me.

"My mother." The two words escaped Bodhi like bullets being fired.

"I believe so. The certificate of live birth was buried, and the name isn't correct on it. However, the times, the place, and the dates all line up with everything else you've learned."

When he held out the envelope this time, Bodhi didn't move. He stared at the sealed rectangle like it would communicate the secrets of the universe.

"Shall I?" I asked gently and Bodhi gave the slowest of nods.

I put away Theodore's birth certificate and then took the new one. I slit it open.

"I wish I had more to offer you, my friend. These challenges have truly been a pleasure to dig into. I can, of course, continue to find more—should you require it."

Bodhi didn't even seem to be breathing as I opened the envelope and extracted another birth certificate. Like Theodore's it was slightly older, softer and worn. The timing seemed almost beyond coincidental. It couldn't have been more than a year before Andrea had been born.

Pain fisted around my heart. We would find her dammit.

Forcing my mind to the present, I scanned the certificate.

Another baby boy.

Levente Cassidine Noble.

I frowned at the name. The name of the mother was listed as Ayla Winters.

"If you're wondering, I did check—there was no Ayla Winters at that hospital nor any hospital in that region during that time. The name is very conspicuous as it's close to Isla." The absolute sobriety in Hans' manner was a distinct contrast to his earlier playfulness. "Without DNA, I cannot confirm one hundred percent…"

"But he was sold and moved into this pipeline that removed the King child?"

"Indeed," Hans said. "She gave me a couple of names that she used then but they were dead ends. Most likely aliases."

"But we can still talk to her," I said. "Find out if she has any other ideas?"

Two boys, relatively close in age—what? Seven months give or take between their births. If the birth dates were accurate. Even if they weren't, it was most likely within a year.

Why did it seem like everything bad that happened tied back to King?

"You can," Hans said. "I will provide you with all the information. But I'm telling you, she is skittish and a wholly despicable woman only interested in two things…money and punishing King."

I really didn't have a problem with the latter.

"Thank you, Hans," Bodhi said as he rose. The men shook hands and this time, it was Bodhi's hand that Hans held for a longer moment.

"My friend, it was my pleasure. I only wish I could bring you more concrete information. I am flying to Berlin tomorrow, to do a little more—looking into this Yuri Leistung. Be wary, what little I have already turned up says he was quite connected. I'll get more if I am there than through calls."

I didn't react. It made sense that Bodhi would have reached out to Hans, I just hadn't given it that much thought.

"Be careful," Bodhi told him. "We will be in Europe soon enough. If something feels dangerous, wait for us to be there."

Hans sniffed. "You worry too much and I haven't had this much excitement in a while." With that he clapped Bodhi on the shoulder and then gave me a polite tilt of his head. "Liebchen, it is always a pleasure to see you."

Bodhi held out a hand to me and since I'd already secured the birth certificates in my purse, I rose and took his hand. " Danke sch?n ."

Touching a hand to his chest over his heart, Hans said, " Gern geschehen ."

We left, Bodhi was no longer interested in taking our time as we weaved through the other visitors to the private museum of the erotic. I stayed with him, my hand clasped firmly in his.

The energy around Bodhi surged hot and then cold to hot again. A brother.

He and Pretty Boy each had brothers. It was an answer to a question Bodhi had held for so long, that I couldn't imagine what he was thinking right now.

Only, I knew what our next step was going to be.

And who it would have to be.

"Buttercup," Bodhi said in a low voice as we reached the exit.

"I'm here," I promised him. "Take all the time you need. I'm not going anywhere."

He lifted our clasped hands and kissed my knuckles. "I'm going to need your help."

"You have it," I said. "Anything."