31. An Unwelcome Message

Killian's scene with Ivy and Cordelia wrapped up as she finished the last of her chicken wings. She almost felt bad for picking on him so hard when she saw how tenderly he treated Ivy as he passed her off to Cordelia for aftercare.

Almost.

He was still a mob boss—and a supersized jerk—but she'd admit he was a good Dominant.

Watching them, and Mistress Rogue with Shane, went a long way toward erasing her memories of Dr. Pappas too. Power exchange wasn't gaslighting or abuse. It was supposed to be pleasurable for all parties—not make submissives too terrified of being hurt to find help.

The last of the people watching the scenes were gone, and they were the only ones in the restaurant aside from a server wiping down the tables. The sight of the empty club, and especially the vacant hostess podium, jogged something in her memory.

"Daddies, I completely forgot something!" She pulled out her phone and scrolled through her call list. "I got a call from?—"

"Shh." Bastian laid a hand over her mouth. "Let's go to Braden's office. Des, will you ask Killian to join us if he's still here?"

Tania pushed Bastian's hand down. "Ew. Why him?"

"Because I said so." He swatted her butt to get her moving, then escorted her down the corridor to a wooden door and knocked softly. Desmond appeared with Killian while they waited for Braden to let them in.

"Has something happened?" Killian asked. "What possible reason?—"

The door opened to reveal Braden working the buttons of his shirt. "Do you mind? I was busy."

Lottie appeared with his tie draped around her neck. "Ooh! I love having an audience!"

"Sorry, Lottie, but this isn't that kind of visit," Bastian replied.

Ignoring Killian's protests, Bastian pushed him into the room after Desmond and Tania, then shut the door and locked it. "With everything that happened, we forgot to discuss the call Tania got."

"Why do I care?" Killian asked.

"Because when I asked questions on the auction website's contact form, the person who called me spoofed the number to make it look like it came from Club BDE," she retorted.

"And I didn't know about this, why?" Killian asked, his expression darkening with irritation.

"I had no idea the auctions weren't sanctioned by Club BDE until Lottie and Emily told me the night I met you." She hesitated, then added, "Can we do this without Dom and sub rules? I get abrupt when I'm angry."

"Go ahead, Tania," Braden replied. "No punishments for anything you say."

"Good. Thank you." She whispered a virulent curse that made even Killian's eyebrow raise, then added, "Mr. O'Rourke, the only thing I knew about you at the time was that you're an arrogant bastard. Aside from being unaware the auctions were bogus, I couldn't have known you were looking into the situation."

"Fair enough." Killian nodded to acknowledge the point. "Continue, please."

"For what it's worth, I researched the website and the phone number. I even looked in places nice girls like me shouldn't go before I signed up. Both came up clean and were registered to Club BDE."

"A woman of many and varied talents," Killian murmured. "My people came up with the same information."

Tania sighed, wishing she had something more to offer. If nothing else, she'd really wanted to have one over on Killian. "I guess it's flattering to know I'm at least as good as a black-hat hacker."

"Touché."

"Anyway, whoever did this is really freaking smart, so unless we can find a way to trace the money…" Hating the idea of disappointing them, she glanced at Bastian and Desmond. "I'm not sure we're going to find him without getting a warrant and a good forensic accountant."

"Him?" Killian asked.

"A man called me, but I shouldn't assume. He might have been an assistant or something."

"You're definitely your father's daughter, but I doubt the Elliott brothers will approve of such an investigation."

"It isn't our preference, no," Braden replied.

"There's one thing we could do," Lottie said.

"What's that, Lottie-bug?"

"I can't believe you're overlooking the obvious." She rolled her eyes and sighed. "Call the number. Maybe one of you will recognize his voice."

"Dang, girlfriend. You're a freaking genius." Tania laid her phone on Braden's desk and tapped the number.

She touched the phone again to put the call on speaker. It rang twice, and she spun when she heard a tinny ringtone coming from somewhere outside Braden's office. Frowning, she asked, "What's on the other side of that wall?"

"That's my IT guy's office. His name is Martin Hall, but he's been out sick for several weeks," Braden replied.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" She jabbed her finger into his chest. "You didn't think to investigate the one person who has access to your banking, taxes, personnel, and your goddamned computers? What the fuck, Braden?"

"Both Killian and I did a full background check on Martin. He came up clean."

"Uh huh. Talk about overlooking the obvious." She rolled her eyes and ignored Desmond's attempts to shush her. "Pretty sure Sherlock Holmes said something about eliminating the impossible."

"And whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth." Killian murmured. "Little love, we did investigate him. I promise, there was nothing to find, and I daresay my investigation was more thorough than Braden's."

"A background check doesn't exclude him. It just means he's better than your investigators," she retorted. "Don't any of you find it at all suspicious that he's so conveniently out sick, and has been for weeks?"

Her phone stopped ringing, as did the one in the adjoining office, cutting off the rest of her meltdown.

"Hello, Elliott bastards."

"That's him," she whispered, slowly approaching the phone as if it would bite her. "That's who called me."

"You were right." Braden's face reddened and a vein pulsed in his forehead. "Fucking Martin."

"Braden, if you're listening to this, it means Titania Andersen finally remembered she has my number. She's cute, but just not that bright. Like father, like daughter, I guess. Such a shame the smuggling ring he was trying to bring down found out he was an undercover cop. Can't imagine how it happened. Anyway, I'm off to greener pastures. Thanks for making me a very wealthy man. Oh, and before I go, tell O'Rourke he needs to hire decent hackers. My senile grandmother could have done better."

Her fingers tightened into fists, and she blinked to halt the wetness burning her sinuses. If what Martin said was true, he was the reason Victor was gone. Slowly, she forced her hands to relax, then went to the window overlooking the club in a desperate attempt to control the furious tears threatening to fall.

Low conversation sounded behind her, and she heard footsteps approaching.

"Babygirl—"

She held up a hand to stop Desmond. "Give me a minute, please."

One greedy man was the reason she and her sister didn't have their dad and Mandy was a widow. How the fuck was she even supposed to tell her?

Her bones aching with a mix of worry, sadness, and hot rage, she turned to face the people surrounding Braden's desk "I want him."

"We're going to do our very best to get him for you," Bastian promised. Turning to Braden, he added, "We have to take this to the police."

"Yes. I should have done it weeks ago instead of trying to figure it out myself." Braden pulled Lottie into his arms and kissed the top of her head.

"If he's very lucky, he'll live long enough for the police to find him," Killian muttered darkly. "If I catch him first, I'll present Tania with Martin Hall's hands on a silver platter. I'll be taking his head."

She lifted her chin and bared her teeth in a smile. "Thank you, Mr. O'Rourke. For that, I'll stop calling you Master Cinnamon."

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