“Where’s Kingston?” I rasp, heaving and spitting into the sink, my stomach cramping painfully.
“About to rip off heads if I don’t tell him within the next five seconds that I have you.”
“Get him to stop,” I rush, gagging some more but nothing comes up, “He’ll ruin everything.”
“I’m trying!”
I manage a watery glance at him, seeing him with the phone pressed to his ear, a rare sort of panic in his eyes. I sag with relief as he says into the phone, “I’ve got her. She’s safe.”
I heave into the sink, the images replaying like a sick movie inside my head, but I have nothing left in my stomach to purge. A hand comes down onto my spine, soothing, “What happened, little one?” Ace asks softly.
“I don’t know if it worked,” I mumble, “He came in, I didn’t get to check it.”
“Did you get the drive out?”
I nod weakly and pat my pocket, just in case.
“Okay, we’ll find out if it worked, right now, it doesn’t matter.”
I nod again.
“What else happened?”
A sob cracks through me, all I could see was the violence, the depravity, “I found images.”
“Alright,” Ace hauls me up, straightening, “shh, it’s okay.” He drags me into his chest, tightening his arms around me as if to contain all the pieces of me he knows are falling apart. He smooths his hand down my hair and pats my back until the sobs quieten, but the tears still fall if only silently now.
“You’re safe,” he reminds me.
But I wasn’t, no woman was when Tobias, his son and that damn organization still existed. Still kept taking innocent women.
I have no concept of time, I just stand there and let Ace soothe me until I feel him shift slightly and the lock on the door clicks open.
It’s only when that familiar scent hits me that I realize who it is he just let in.
Kingston doesn’t hesitate taking me from Ace and I go willingly, falling into him as Ace leaves. King relocks the doors, secures me harder into his arms and then sinks us both to the tiled floor of the ladies bathroom, cradling me in his lap.
A numbness has seeped over me, stopping the tears, the uncontrollable shaking and I stay there, ear pressed to King’s chest, letting his steady heartbeat bring me back, chase away the chill in my blood.
It’s okay, I tell myself, we’re going to stop them. We’ll save them. Tate.
“Did he suspect anything?” I ask after a few minutes.
“I don’t think so, he came back, finished the meeting,” King answers softly, smoothing a hand down my hair, “What happened?”
I tell him the same thing as I told Ace, but then more words spew out as I detail what was in the pictures, what I saw, “It was easy to pretend it wasn’t real, that it was a mistake. I knew he wasn’t good but now I know. I’ve seen it.”
“I know,” King whispers.
_
The bath is heavenly. The soapy bubbles pop incessantly at my ears, the water gently rippling as I take steady, even breaths.
It was okay. I was okay.
The images, they’re burned in my brain, but I had to keep moving. Keep the plan going. Tonight was a necessity, showing my face after what happened today was needed to ensure Tobias knew nothing, suspected nothing. If he did though, this could be suicide.
Fingers suddenly brush against my cheek and I startle, eyes shooting open to find Kingston sat at the edge of the bath, head cocked to the side.
“You looked deep in thought,” He muses.
“Just thinking about tonight.”
“We don’t have to go.” He says sternly. “My guys confirmed the drives did what they needed, they’re getting through the encryption as we speak, and we’ll be online within the hour.”
“We do have to go, we need to make sure he doesn’t know. Not going will look like I’m hiding, I was hardly conspicuous getting out of that office and then tomorrow it’ll be over.”
He grits his teeth, but doesn’t say anything, doesn’t argue any further.
I climb from the bath and wrap a towel around myself, heading towards the bedroom with King following.
“After, you and I,” King runs his hand across my shoulders, leaning to whisper the words in my ear, “We’re going to go and have some fun.”
A shiver runs down my spine. “Yeah?”
“Mm,” his husky baritone vibrates through me, “We’re going to make all those dirty fantasies of yours real.”
My intake of breath has him chuckling and then his footsteps sound away from me, “Get ready, Eleanor. We leave in a few hours and then after, you’re all mine.”
I swallow, anticipation making me hum. I take my time dressing, applying my make-up which is done shakily with my lack of experience, but it goes on and then move onto my hair, drying and curling it before pinning it up in an elaborate style at the back of my head.
When that’s done, I move over to the dress, running my fingers over the material and smile.
Everything would be fine.