Chapter 36

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

JJ

I wouldn't say I so much regretted having Mason get away and be safe, but I hadn't thought it through very well. Sure, they'd get help, and I knew in my heart Four would be the key to finding me, but did the baddies know that?

Gabe had managed to take out two bodyguards before he'd escaped with Mason. I wasn't there, but while I sat in this terrifying van, I listened to them talking.

The only comfort I did have was Nick's soft voice filtering in my ear. "I'm with you, JJ." I wasn't alone, and my camera and earpiece were working. If they managed to get one, they wouldn't find the other.

We turned onto a gravel road, and I peeked out the window, trying not to draw much attention to myself as I was crammed between two huge guys. I saw long grass, wooden fences, and then two rather large statues of crying angels.

This was the location Four had said he'd been told to return to.

Surprisingly, no one tied my hands or feet and once the van stopped, one of the men got out. I was simply waved at to exit.

I didn't know architecture. I referred to houses as big, decent-sized, and small. This one I'd say was big. It sort of reminded me of the Amityville Horror house, and yeah…that wasn't sitting well with me.

There was a large porch that appeared to wrap around the entire house, but I couldn't be sure. Two boys, and I do mean boys—they couldn't have been older than fifteen—stood sentry by the door.

"This way," one of the guards said as he opened the door. And that was when the place no longer looked like a home. It was as if I'd stepped into a laboratory or hospital. White gleaming floors and walls. Stations, not desks, with people in scrubs, others in suits, and some in regular clothes, much like the men who'd tossed me into the van and dragged me here.

I was led down a hallway and through another door. This room was not friendly. All white, no window. There was a twin-sized bed that didn't scream luxury. A toilet in the corner and a sink.

"Is this a cell?" I asked but received no answer.

I was pushed in and the door shut. There was no handle on my side so yep, this was some prison shit right here. Fuck .

If anyone was going to be able to find me and save me, it was going to be the Saint brothers with Four's help. I knew I just had to wait it out.

I walked to the bed and sat. Yep, lumpy. I took a few cleansing breaths and figured I'd be in the room of solitude for a while.

I was wrong. The door opened, and in walked an answer to a question we all had.

"Is it really Clark Columbus?" Harper Reese asked. He was in a three-piece dark suit with a crisp white shirt and deep-red tie. His salt-and-pepper hair was perfectly styled, and his gorgeous face was smirking.

I narrowed my eyes at him and didn't say a word.

" Hmm …I heard you were quite the talker over at Alicia House, but not now…interesting."

"Is it?" I folded my arms across my chest and stood.

"When I did the background check, it was exactly what I'd assume someone who wanted in on my more nefarious businesses would look like on paper. Almost too good to be true, if you ask me. However, I liked you and your husband. Then Penny called and told me what happened, and things sort of began clicking into place."

He motioned to one of the guards, and another came in with a chair. They brought it to where he stood, and Harper sat. "Please sit."

I didn't want to, but I also believed in picking your battles. Once again, I was on the lumpy mattress.

"I'll tell you my theory. I believe you're one of the Saint brothers—that, or you are at least linked to them. I think you have something that belongs to me, and you and your posse of nosy bodies have it in your heads that you can tear my establishment to pieces."

I couldn't keep quiet—it was an illness. "First of all, I get that you're sort of old, but don't say nosy bodies; no one says that anymore. My grandmother did, but just no, Harper, have some self-respect."

He snorted. "Noted, and what else?"

"I don't have anything that belongs to you."

He sighed. "See, that's where you're wrong. I know for a fact that you have Four somewhere."

"Ha! See, that right there. Harper, don't worry, I'll get you through this thing called humanity. Repeat after me: You. Can't. Own. People."

The happiness drained from his face. "Four is mine. I do own him."

"Oh…ohhhhhhhhh. Okay, let's start over. There's this thing called the Thirteenth Amendment; what that is?—"

"Enough," Harper snapped.

He'd cracked sooner than I'd thought he would. "Sorry, I thought maybe you didn't know how the world worked."

"Do you think I won't find Four, bring him here, and have him fall in line?" He regarded me with a grin. "Your family also has Two, and that was foolish. He'll fight to the death, and if you think he won't tear through everyone you love there, you're sorely mistaken."

Okay, I'd play. "Seems to me like you haven't done your homework, Harpy. It's you who have no idea who you're messing with."

"Foolish man." He rose from his seat, and one of the guards immediately picked it up and removed it from the room.

"I have no real use for you, actually, and I can't let you leave." He stepped closer, and the mask dropped completely, and in front of me stood someone more demon than man. "Some of my boys have been in serious need of a live specimen to practice with. John here will bring you out to the training room. It was nice meeting you."

"Wait." I grabbed his arm. He stopped a guard from approaching.

"Release me."

"Answer something first."

"What?" Harper's voice, while calm, held a certain amount of sternness.

"Why? Why take little kids and mold them into weapons?"

He pulled free of my grip and stepped away. "You make it sound like I kidnap children. On the contrary, I rescue them." I opened my mouth, but he held up his hand to stop me. "Let me finish before you blubber on with some snarky remark."

I mimed zipping my lips. I just wanted to buy time, and I'd seen enough bad-guy movies to know to let them monologue.

"These are kids who had no futures, no homes. They were burdens to their parents. Each boy and girl is legally adopted by a person in the consortium. Here and at Alicia House they are cared for, fed, all their health needs met. In return I give them purpose."

"No." I pointed at him. "You're a liar. You kidnapped Maxwell's daughter, made him believe you rescued her, then set him up to fail. What purpose is that?"

He was silent, whether it was because he hadn't realized I'd figured out he was full of shit or I'd just pissed him off.

"Money is made in all sorts of ways. I found one that gives these kids purpose and lines the pockets of people who can change the world."

"That's not an answer, Harpy, that's an excuse. You're finding a reason for what you do when there is in fact none."

In a flash he was on me, pressing me to the mattress, his hand around my neck and squeezing. "I don't expect someone like you to understand the mechanics. I'm a god; you're a peasant. I saved these kids and for that reward, they happily do my bidding."

My vision was starting to dim, and I could barely breathe, let alone talk.

"Those girls in Alicia House will grow up and be conditioned perfectly. And they'll get to be on the arms of rich and powerful men and women of the world. Live in the lap of luxury and never want for anything."

For a price , I thought and wanted to say. But everything was getting fuzzy and while I tried clawing Harper's hands off me, it was useless. A moment later the world went black, and I fell into oblivion.