Sophie Oak - Siren Unleashed

“Now I already let the deputy take a look around here, Sheriff. And without a search warrant, might I add. He didn’t find anything. I let him go everywhere.” Cooder’s shoulders straightened. “I’m trying to run a business here. I don’t have to take this. I’ve already called in a lawyer.”

The sheriff sighed. “And these fellows have called in the feds. We’ve had too many girls go missing. If there’s something you have to say, you better start talking.”

“I already answered the deputy’s questions. I don’t know this Tate person or Don or whatever his name is. Gretchen has worked here for a couple of months but I fired her because she’s a crazy bitch. Now I deal with a lot of crazy bitches, but she tried to take a knife to a girl the other night. Seemed to think she was some woman named Natalie.”

Chase chuckled, but he wasn’t amused in the slightest. “Is that how you’re going to play it?”

“You should watch your mouth, son.”

Cooder looked pissed, but the club owner wasn’t getting rid of them. He hadn’t called his bouncers or tried to push them out or even threatened them if they didn’t leave. Shouldn’t he be attempting to toss them all out? God, he hoped Ben’s eyes were as good they used to be. “I’m not your son. So you’re planning on pinning Natalie’s disappearance on Gretchen. Why would Gretchen hurt Georgia? She’s my sister, by the way. You took my fiancée and my sister. I’m going to utterly destroy you, you know. I’ll make your life from this moment on a living hell. I’ll ruin you financially. I’ll make sure you never work again. If you have a wife or children you love, I’ll burn down their lives, too. You have one chance. Tell me where they are and then you can do the gentlemanly thing and end your own life with some semblance of honor or I’ll raze your house and no one will remember you ever existed.”

The sheriff’s jaw dropped. “Damn, Dawson.”

Logan stood beside him. “What he said, except I’ll kick your ass first.”

“The ass kicking was implied, Logan,” Chase shot back.

Cooder’s eyes had gone wide. “You can’t do that. I have money.”

“And I have five hundred million in a trust fund. Has your drug dealing gotten you to the millions yet?”

Cooder sputtered. “I don’t do that. Damn you. How can you let him come in here? I already let the deputy check. I already did it.”

He was on the ropes, panicking. It was perfect.

“Did the deputy check the room where you cut the dope?”

“How do you know about that?” Cooder whispered the words.

But it was enough for the sheriff. He drew his gun. “Down on your knees. Right now. Goddamn it. This is why I left the damn city. Green, Dawson, consider yourselves deputized. I think this whole thing is about to come down on our heads.”

It was the go-ahead to draw weapons, but chaos was already raining down on them. The minute the sheriff had drawn, one of the strippers had screamed and hit the floor. The men sitting at tables rushed to try to get out, likely fearing a raid, and even the meth head scrambled to get away.

“He promised me I would make money. I didn’t know about the girls. Damn it. I didn’t know. They’re in the dark room. The only way to get in and out is hidden on the roof. Push back the air-conditioner unit on the right. It’s a fake. It’ll get you down there. Please don’t kill me like they killed Stan. He was going to talk. Tate said he would take care of it. I didn’t know it would end like this.”

Chase heard the sheriff cursing, but he and Logan ran for the door, one thing on their minds—getting in that room before something else went wrong.

“The guys were right, Master.” Gretchen climbed back down the ladder. The minute she looked to Tate, her words and body language softened. Nat felt her stomach churn. “I hid behind the sign and watched them. There are only the three.”

Tate never took his eyes off Nat. It had been that way for almost fifteen minutes. He’d stared at her like she was a work of art he was trying to figure out.

“The brothers?” Tate asked.

“Only one.” Gretchen crossed the small space between them and attempted to tangle her fingers with his, obviously seeking comfort.

Tate finally turned to her. “I did not give you leave to touch me, slave. Move back. To the corner. Don’t you speak to me again unless I give permission.”

Gretchen moved immediately to the corner, turning and facing away from them, her body shrinking into itself, becoming less.

Poor Gretchen.

“That’s pathetic,” Georgia said, wincing a little.

“You shut up, bitch. You’re not my problem. You’ll have a new Master in a few weeks. If you wish to survive to meet him, I would be very quiet so I forget you’re even here.” Tate held a nasty-looking gun in his hand. It was black with a long circular head. A silencer. Though he wouldn’t need it in here. He studied Natalie for a moment. “I’m sorry about the accommodations, love. You should know that I didn’t intend for our reunion to go this way.”

If he was talking, he wasn’t shooting, and one of her men was out there. She could buy a little time. She kept her eyes down. “Why did you wait so long? You’ve been at the resort for months.”

He chuckled a little and his fingertips touched her chin, pulling her up to look at him. “I wanted to keep an eye on you, love. I needed to make sure you weren’t whoring yourself out to other men. You were quite good until the last few days. You’ll be punished for that. As for the rest of the time, I lost a lot when you killed Hawk. I’d given him everything I had for you and I found myself in dire financial straits. I had to lay low. I couldn’t let anyone suspect that I was in on his little games.”

She nodded. “I can imagine the feds investigated you.”

“Quite thoroughly, but all they found was a business partner who was utterly horrified at what his acquaintance had done. I said all the right things. ‘Oh, but he seemed like such a nice man. Who would have guessed?’ And I left Texas to spend time with my brother. I disappeared and no one thought about me. But I never stopped thinking about you, Natalie.”

She forced herself not to shudder. He was so close. “Why the drugs?”

He backed off. “The better to take care of you, my dear. Drugs are an easy way to make money and you, little pet, require money. I’ve had to buy a new place and completely renovate it to meet our happy little family’s needs. That doesn’t come cheap. Do you know how hard it’s been to watch you and not take you? But I did it because I’m not going to let it go to hell again. This time it’s going to be right. And it’s going to start tonight.”

Maybe he was planning to move her while he thought he knew where everyone was.

Adrenaline began to course through her system. It was a risky play on Tate’s part. How high up were they? If she got away, could she jump? There had to be people around. Georgia said they had been taken up a flight of stairs to the roof and then down to this room. Anything could happen. She might not get a better shot, but she had to think of Georgia.

“We’re going to move while your boyfriends are occupied. Cooder can handle the sheriff. While the sheriff and the others are searching the club, we’ll take you out the back. Slave, is the car ready?” Tate tossed the question Gretchen’s way.

“Yes, Master,” Gretchen replied. “I got rid of the van. I brought another vehicle and the drugs you requested. We just have to get them to the car and then I can put the bitches out for hours. We can easily move them to the house in Houston.”

“If you call Natalie a bitch again, I’ll slice your throat, slave.” Tate turned back to her. “My apologies, love. I don’t intend to allow that one to harm you. That’s my job. You’ll be the queen of my slaves. I always intended that for you. You’re special, Natalie. Though I won’t call you Natalie after today. I’ll select a name for you as is my right as your Master. You’ll be reborn to my collar.”