Page 61 of Guardian
Absolutely not.
“I’m coming with you,” I say again.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Liam
Zed whistles.“This place is the stuff of nightmares.”
The downstairs front of the house—the mansion, rather—seems fine.There’s a side exit that leads out to a wide tiered patio, the kind people use for entertaining.The kitchen looks like the sort any wealthy asshole would be proud to show off to his wealthy asshole friends.Imported marble counters and lots of shiny steel.All of the upstairs bedrooms connect to private bathrooms with jetted tubs and private balconies.
The rear of the first floor, however, is a different story.
Through the butler’s pantry—and who the fuck even has a butler these days—is a hidden sliding door.And through that sliding door?
“People were definitely held here.”Zed points to a mattress against one wall, dirty and stained.It’s sickening to even think what it was used for.
For a moment, my feet are frozen to the floor.I can barely touch the thought that the guy who owned this house was in the same room with Ravi without wanting to gag.
There’s a row of eyebolts along one wall, the paint peeling and the tiles chipped.Nobody was paying any attention to maintaining this room the way they were to the rest of the house.
“Photography equipment.”I point to the other end of the large room.One wall is covered by one of those drape things photographers use as a background.On the ground is a tripod nobody bothered to take with them for some reason.
“Jesus,” Zed mutters.“That’s sick.Probably a real good thing Ravi didn’t take this guy up on his offer.”
“No shit.”
Jesus.Thinking of what Dylan Beck could have done to him wrings my insides out.This bastard could have snuffed out the kid’s bright light.
You’re going to do the same thing if you’re not careful.Leaving him on your bed with not even a backward glance.You’re such a bastard.
Well, I never denied being a bastard.At least I don’t hold people against their will.
Then I remember spanking Ravi to orgasm on his bed and then locking him in his room.Fine.Maybe I deserve to be sent to hell with the rest of them.But if I’m going to hell, I’m taking the guy who chained people to a wall in his hidden back room with me.
That’s when a memory hits me.“Shit.Chains.”
Zed looks up from where he’s inspecting a doorway.“Yeah, I figure that’s what the bolts were for.”
“No.”I rub my forehead.“I mean, yes.Also…” Dammit, I’m going to have to come clean about stalking my damn ward.“The thing is, when I took this past week off?I wasn’t exactly relaxing at home.”
“I’d be surprised if you know how to relax.”
“That’s not the point.”Looking up in despair more than thought, I notice the tiny intrusive eye of a camera mounted in one corner of the ceiling, aimed roughly at where the mattress and the row of bolts were placed.
Chills erupt on the back of my neck.
“Well, I suppose that’s not too surprising.”I point to the camera.
Zed pulls out his phone.“I’ll get Bev on it.You were saying something about chains, though.Or…your time off.”
Right.Fuck.“I was following Ravi.”The confession rushes out, hot and guilty.
“You were…” Zed’s gaze swings slowly in my direction.“I’m certain I misheard you, because it sounded like you said you’ve been following a nineteen-year-old college student with no criminal history.”
My petulantly muttered “He’ll be twenty in November” only buys me more of Zed’s exasperation.
I know.I heard it when I said it.
