6

Oscar

She’s so much more perfect than I could have possibly imagined.

“You’re pretty, pet.”

“Don’t call me that,” she says.

“New rule,” I say. “No talking.”

She presses her lips together. I can tell staying silent is hard for her.

“Do you need to go to the bathroom?”

She shakes her head.

“Good. Then let’s get you into the bedroom.” Her eyes widen, but she doesn’t say anything. “I’m not going to fuck you,” I add.

Is it just me, or does she look disappointed?

“Until you beg me to,” I say.

Yeah, she looks relieved.

Interesting.

I never thought Dolly was the kind of woman who would fall for an asshole like me, yet here we are. I take her hand and lead her through the luxurious apartment. We slip down the hallway past my office, bathroom, and guest room. Then we reach my room.

She gasps as we enter the room. The walls are painted red, but the ceiling is black. A four-poster bed sits in the center of the room. It’s covered with a red comforter, black throw pillows.

“Get on the bed,” I say.

“Oscar.”

I grab her by the throat, kiss her hard.

“Say my name again,” I say.

“Oscar.”

“Again.”

“Oscar.”

“Now shut the fuck up and get on the bed.”

She moans as she scurries toward the bed. She climbs on, settles in the center, and looks at me.

“You’re not leaving this bed until morning,” I say.

“Okay,” she says.

I walk to my ornate wooden dresser. I’m silent as I fish around for a handful of ties. Then I come back to the bed and secure each of her arms to the bed posts.

“What are you doing?”

“No more questions. I’ll gag you.”

I will, too. I don’t feel like talking. I’m sure she thinks she has a lot more to say, but she doesn’t. Instead of sticking around to watch her gorgeous naked body, I leave the bedroom, and I close the door behind me.

Once I’m back in the living room, I call both of my brothers.

“Oscar?” Phoenix says, answering the call. Ryan joins seconds after.

“Where the hell have you been?” Ryan asks.

“Abducted,” I say.

“What?” Phoenix asks.

“What the fuck?” Ryan adds.

“The receptionist,” I say by way of explanation. “Our girl Dolly took me and didn’t seem to mind. It’s not exactly a good look, really.”

“What happened?” Phoenix asks.

“I was invited out to coffee. I did not get coffee,” I say.

“She took you? How?”

“Two men were with her. Their names are Hank and Craig. Craig is her brother.”

“On it,” Phoenix says. I know he’s doing his Hacker Man stuff where he tries to find out everything he possibly can. The thing about Phoenix is that he’s wildly smart. The other thing about Phoenix is that he doesn’t have any financial limitations, so he can pretty much find anything he wants to.

“What did they want?”

“Apparently, they told her they wanted to talk to me,” I say.

“And that was not the case,” Ryan says.

“No.”

“They took you,” he says. “What details can you share? Vehicle?”

“They jabbed me with something. I passed out. Not sure how long for. I woke up in a minivan. Dolly was with me. They didn’t expect her to.”

“So was she an accomplice?” Phoenix asks. I hear his keyboard clicking. He’s tapping away, trying to figure something out. What exactly, I’m not sure. Something helpful.

“I don’t know.”

“Bro, you have to have an idea,” Ryan says gently. He’s breathing heavily.

“Are you fucking right now?”

“No.”

“Oh shit,” Phoenix says. “Ryan. Stop.”

“I’m not doing anything,” he says, but we can all hear him breathing heavily.

Shit.

“Look, all I know is that she says they wanted to talk to me. Then they took me. One of them said something about adoption stuff.”

“You think this has to do with Dad?” Ryan asks.

“Bingo,” Phoenix says. “Here’s what we’ve got.”