Chapter 7

Grace couldn't stop shaking. She wished she could say she'd never been so scared in her life, but that would be a lie. She'd been far more scared than this many times.

Her time was up. The clock had stopped ticking. A part of her was so relieved that she was having trouble convincing her legs to hold her up.

"Ma'am," the agent named Jagger said. "I just want to talk to you. Could we maybe go inside? Just the three of us? The rest of my men will wait out here. Or just you and me if you'd rather."

She gave a shaky nod before looking up at Khai. Tears ran down her cheeks. "I'm so sorry."

He rubbed her back and held her close. "No need to be sorry, love. It's going to be okay."

"It's never going to be okay." He didn't understand. How could he?

"It will. I promise." He led her back into the house.

Jagger followed them.

"Do you want me to wait outside?" he asked.

Damn, he was so kind. She knew it would kill him to walk outside and let her talk to this man alone, and yet he'd offered because he loved her. Or he loved the woman he thought she was.

There was no reason to hide her truth from him any longer. Whatever happened was going to happen. The dominos were falling. All of them were going to fall sooner or later. Making him wait outside would only put off the inevitable and cause her to have to tell her story more than once today.

"No. Stay."

She was pretty sure she lifted a hundred-pound weight off his shoulders with those words. He guided her to the couch, sat, and tugged her down alongside him.

Jagger shut the front door, grabbed one of the kitchen chairs, spun it around, and sat a few feet from them. His first words made Khai stiffen next to her. "I only know your name as Tulip. Can you tell me your real name?"

Grace licked her lips. She was surprised. "How…"

"We've been looking for you. All six of you. So far, we've found three of you."

She gasped. "You found…" She couldn't continue. Her mouth was dry.

"Marigold, Oleander, and Jasmine. You're the fourth."

She placed a hand on her chest. It felt like her heart might beat out of her body. "Oh, my God. How?"

"We have an informant. No idea who he is. He's on the inside. Or maybe he's a woman. We don't know that, either. But whoever it is, he's scanning through emails until he finds a match. When he gets a match, he lets us know."

Grace's ears were ringing. "Am I in trouble?"

"No. Not at all. We'd like to bring you into the fold. Gemma, Kalinda, and Nora would like to see you. Those are their real names. We have counseling services, and you'll find it's much easier to heal if you have the other women to talk to."

She couldn't stop the tears that ran silently down her cheeks. And Khai said nothing. He just kept rubbing her back. She was afraid to look at him. He had to have a million questions, and she would have to answer them, but first, she needed to deal with this agent.

"My Master… Is he…dead?"

"We don't know where he is. Maxim Chekov. He's missing."

She let out a long breath. Maybe she hadn't killed him then. She had mixed feelings about that. On the one hand, the fucker deserved to be dead. On the other hand, she still struggled to close her eyes without seeing his body on the floor with blood running out of the wound she'd inflicted on his head. She didn't care if she'd killed him. At least, not when she was awake, but in her sleep, it haunted her, which infuriated her because she should have stomped on his face and then stabbed him until he was good and dead. Instead, he haunted her.

"How did you find me?" she murmured.

"When we got the tip from our informant, we went to his residence. Surrounded it. No one was home, but the neighbor across the street came out. I figured she was just being nosy, but…"

"She saw me that night," Grace whispered.

"Yes. She told us she hadn't seen Maxim Chekov since he left the house the following morning. Or she assumed it was him. He left in his SUV. She hadn't forgotten because she thought it was odd. She told us you'd come out of the house late at night wearing nothing but a suit jacket and that you told her you were dating his nephew."

Khai flinched at that.

Jagger must have noticed because he glanced at Khai and gave him a slight smile. "There is no nephew." He turned back to Grace. "We found traces of blood in the house, but we couldn't know if it was yours or his. We got a sketch from the neighbor and started going door to door. We suspected you'd escaped Chekov's house with almost nothing. You wouldn't have had ID or money. You hadn't even had shoes. So, we kept trying, widening our perimeter, praying you were still in the area. Finally, we found a neighbor who'd seen you down by the dock a few times."

Grace rubbed her hands together. It was a lot to take in.

Jagger shifted his gaze to Khai again. "I assume from the look on your face you don't know any of this."

"No," Khai admitted, giving Jagger nothing else.

Grace sat up straighter. "I knocked my Master, uh Chekov, out with a fire poker. I never even knew if I'd killed him or not. I just took off. When I couldn't walk another step that night, I found this cabin off the road. The key was under the flowerpot. I only meant to get some sleep, but I stayed. There was some food. I had no clothes still. I…" She felt like she was rambling.

"And then the owner showed up…" He glanced at Khai again and then back at Grace. "You were scared," Jagger added with a very kind voice. He leaned forward, putting his hands on his knees. "Why didn't you find someone to call the police or have Khai call? Why are you hiding?"

Her lip trembled as she met his gaze. He seemed nice, and he wasn't with the police. She cleared her throat. "The man who kidnapped me in the first place was a police officer."

Jagger winced.

Khai's hand stiffened on her back.

She continued. "I didn't know where I was. Every time I was moved, I was drugged. When I found this cabin, I could've been in Alabama for all I knew. But what if I was still in Denver? What if I called the police and that same officer showed up and took me back to Master J?"

Jagger sat up tall, running a hand through his hair. "Fuck," he muttered.

"Did that same police officer abduct the other women?" she asked. She had more questions than Jagger.

"No. This is the first time I've heard of an officer being involved. No wonder you went into hiding." He met her gaze again. "I want to tell you a few things that are important in the short run. I know there are a million other details to cover, but first, I want you to know that Master J has been arrested. He's in prison. He won't hurt you or anyone else again."

She gasped, eyes widening.

"And the second thing I want you to know is that I'm the one who found Kalinda Spiers, Oleander, and we fell in love. She lives with me. I'm on your side. My team and I have spent every waking moment looking for you and the others. Until the last two women are found and identified, I will not rest. It makes me want to break a few things with my bare hands to hear that a police officer was involved in your abduction, but I promise you that the FBI has only one interest here: finding and rescuing all six of you and anyone else this organization might have trafficked. It's also important to point out that Master J, whose real name is Jovani Russo, was only a middleman. Someone above him is the kingpin. We intend to find that man and make sure he never has the ability to buy and sell women again."

Khai's hand had stopped moving on Grace's back. His fingers were so stiff it was hard to fully focus on Jagger's words while half of her attention was on the man at her side, the man she'd kept all this information from. She was afraid to look at him for fear she would see disgust, horror, or any number of expressions Grace couldn't deal with right now.

"I know this is overwhelming," Jagger continued. "I'll give you some time to process this, but I'd like you to consider coming home with me."

She flinched. Go home with him?

"My home is secure. I'm running this operation out of my house. Nora, the woman you know as Jasmine, and her boyfriend were staying with Kalinda and me until recently. They've moved into a secure location nearby. Gemma, or Marigold, lives nearby, too. Her boyfriend is one of my best friends. He's the reason I got involved in this case and ended up finding Kally. My home is safe. I'd like you to stay with us for a while until you get back on your feet. You can work on your recovery with the other women and get counseling."

Grace was too stunned to respond.

Khai finally spoke. "I've never heard of an FBI agent taking victims into his home." His voice was gruff.

Jagger nodded. "It's the most unconventional situation. That's for sure. Coincidences led to this. I have security, and I'm not willing to risk Kalinda's safety by exposing her to any possible threat. I have plenty of room. I don't know how long you've been here, Khai, or what your relationship with Grace is, but based on your possessiveness and protective nature, I'm going to assume you aren't interested in letting her walk away. My invitation extends to you, too."

Khai's hand slid down her back, still applying pressure. "Will you please give us a few minutes?"

Jagger rose to his feet. "I suspect you'll need more than a few minutes. I'm in no hurry. I'll send four of my men back to the office and wait out front. Take your time."

Khai stood.

Jagger looked toward Grace again. "I'm so fucking glad we found you. You still haven't told me your name."

"Grace. Grace Scarponi."

"Nice to meet you, Grace. Just so you know, I'm going to run your name through the system and see if I get a hit. Do you think anyone would have reported you missing?"

"I doubt it."

"Okay. I'll be outside." Jagger quietly stepped out the door and shut it behind him.

Grace dropped her face into her hands. "I'm so sorry."

Khai squatted in front of her. He set his hands on her thighs. "No more of that. I'm the one who should be sorry. I had no idea what you'd been through, but I understand why you didn't tell me. You must have been scared out of your mind. No wonder you have nightmares."

Several seconds went by.

Khai rubbed her thighs. "Nothing changes, love," he whispered. "I'm here for you. We'll walk this path together if you'll have me."

She lurched forward and wrapped her arms around him. "I can't ask you to do that. I'm a mess. I don't know if I'll ever recover. I've spent the last month with you acting like nothing ever happened, but it did, and I'm going to have to face it now."

He tipped her head back. "We're a team, love. For better or worse. I'm not going to let you walk away."

More tears escaped to run down her cheeks. "I need to go with Jagger. If nothing else, I'm compelled to reconnect with the other women he's rescued. I need help. I can't promise I'll come out on the other side a whole person. I can't ask you to go through this with me. I don't know how long it will take or even if I'll ever heal enough to be a normal human. I have a lot of demons to deal with."

He held her face and her gaze. His expression was intense. "Grace Scarponi, you captivated my heart. I think I was already yours from the moment I found you playing Goldilocks in my bed." He gave her a small smile. "I'm not going anywhere except with you."

"You came here to relax. I'm never going to be relaxed."

"Plans change. My priorities have shifted. All I care about is you, Grace. Whatever you need, we're going to face it together. Unless you can look me in the eyes and tell me you don't feel the same way about me, there is no discussion to be had here."

She opened her mouth to speak.

He cut her off, sliding a thumb over her lips. "And don't even try to lie to me. I already know you're a terrible liar. I also know you look at me the way I look at you. The rest is details."

She snorted. "Details? Khai, what I've been through is a lot more than details. You don't know even half of it. You've spent the last half hour trying to fill in the blanks between Jagger's sentences."

"We have a lifetime for you to fill in the blanks, love."

She gently pushed him away, rose, and paced across the room. She knew she was hurting him, but he needed a few more facts before he made a decision of this weight.

Grace threaded her fingers into the front of her hair. It was in a loose braid that hung down her back. She spun around. "Can you…" She drew in a deep breath and met his gaze. She wasn't in the habit of ordering him around. Hell, it was deeply ingrained in her to take orders, not give them.

"What do you need, Grace." He stood several feet from her, palms up.

"Can you just sit and listen for a minute?"

"Of course." He lowered onto the sofa.

"Thank you." She paced, trying to decide what to tell him. She wanted to spill the basics so he'd know what he was signing up for and could make a more educated decision.

Finally, she faced him. "Two years ago, after my grandmother died, I moved to Denver to make a life for myself. I had been caring for my grandmother around the clock for a long time. I had no friends, no job, no life. I also had very little money."

She paused, gathering her thoughts, grateful he wasn't interrupting. "I got a small apartment in a rough area of town and started walking people's dogs. One day, I was out with three dogs, and a police officer stopped to talk to me. He said he could really use a dog walker and invited me to come back when I got off work, meet his dog, and see if we would be a good fit. I went, of course. He was a policeman, for fuck's sake."

It was impossible not to nearly shout her frustration. "In my head, he was safer than most of my other clients. After all, what did I really know about any of them?"

Khai's brow was furrowed, but all he did was nod.

"So, I went to the man's apartment. Believe it or not, he did have a dog. I played with the little furball for a minute while the man told me his schedule. When I rose from the floor where I was petting his little dog, he was coming toward me with a cloth in his hand. I had about two seconds to panic. The next time I woke up, I was in Master J's basement, naked, cold, hungry, and thirsty, with a pounding headache. I was gagged and strapped to a cot, spread eagle. Several men were staring down at me."

Grace jerked her gaze away as she shuddered. The memory almost brought her to her knees. Telling it to Khai was almost too much to bear. She was certain that if he really did want to stay with her, she would end up telling him more and more in the coming days and weeks, but for now, he needed the basics.

Another deep breath. "For the next eighteen months, I was trained as a sex slave, prepared for auction, and then sold to the man Jagger spoke of. I was with him only a few days before I got an opportunity to attempt an escape. I hit him in the temple with the fire poker, grabbed his suit coat, and ran half the night until I was out of steam at the entrance to your driveway."

Grace's knees finally buckled, but before she hit the floor, Khai rushed over and scooped her up. He pulled her against him, held her close, and buried his face in her hair.

Grace closed her eyes and let herself believe he truly had her. Even if it was only true for a minute, it gave her strength. It felt so good to be held in his arms.