And now he was trying to turn me on Nathan. If I gave him access to one of Nathan’s computers, there was no telling what he might do.
But why? What the hell was his angle? Money? Power? Promotion? Was he working some kind of vigilante angle? If Captain Pierce had any part in this, then the blood of thirty-six women, and maybe even more, was on his hands.
There was still one small problem, though. A container was on an inbound ship, and it had Nathan’s fingerprints all over it.
“Are you okay? Talk to me,” Nathan said.
“Nathan, I’m going to need you to be honest with me,” I whispered, staring at him. My gun was sitting on the floor well out of reach, but I was already making plans to lunge for it, if necessary. There were so many possibilities surrounding this whole sordid affair that I still couldn’t rule anything out, and that included Nathan’s possible involvement.
My heart told me a different story. It begged me to rush into Nathan’s arms, to bury my face in his chest and promise to protect him, no matter what. Listening to it would have been dangerous, but at that moment, it was all that I wanted to do.
I forced myself to listen to my brain instead. That way, I was far less likely to get myself shot.
“I’ll tell you anything, Sandra,” he replied, his eyes sparkling in the way I’d come to enjoy. Could he really be the evil man the Captain had made him out to be? I’d been a detective long enough to know when someone wasn’t being sincere, and either Nathan was the best liar I’d ever met, or he was genuinely concerned about me.
“You signed for another container. Didn’t you?”
His eyes cast to the floor quickly, not wanting to meet my own. He might as well have come right out and said it: yes, that was his doing. My body was tense, muscles ready to throw myself to the floor, toward the gun that might be my only salvation.
“I had to, Sandra. Let me explain.”
“You want to explain? The last container ended up at the bottom of the ocean. You just condemned another group of women—children—to death or sex slavery, and you want to explain?!”
My mother would have been proud. Her angry woman voice was channeling through me from beyond the grave. Maybe Nathan was right; maybe the Captain was trying to hand his ass over to the Irish, but none of that mattered if this asshole was still bringing women over. This time, he had no excuse. He knew what was in that container, but he’d signed for it anyway. This wasn’t a case of willful ignorance. He was a monster, and he needed to be stopped.
“Sandra, stop. Mr. Wallace used my company to keep his business at arm’s length. The Chinese didn’t know who they were working with. They didn’t know Mr. Wallace’s operation had ceased to be, and they had already been paid for the next shipment up front. The container showed up at my Chinese dock with three heavily armed guards to ensure it arrived safely. If I hadn’t signed for the delivery, there would be another pile of bodies.”
“You could have told the police,” I countered. “We could have…”
“You could have what, Sandra? Sent police to the far side of the planet to stop those assholes from killing dozens of women? The only chance those women have is on that ship! If there’s even a hint of police involvement, that crate will end up right where the last one did. The Chinese expect prompt receipt and delivery. If that ship deviates from the schedule, you know exactly what will happen. You’ve seen it.”
I considered his words. They made perfect sense. Damn. Why couldn’t the bad guys all wear black hats and twirl their mustaches? “What are you planning, Nathan?”
“I’m not lacking in connections or money to pay for the right kind of help. I’m going to take delivery of the crate, and I’m going to shelter those girls while they apply for asylum. With Wallace out of the picture, there are no more payments, no more shipments, and no more problems,” he said, his eyes sweeping back and locking with my own. “Nobody was supposed to know about this. How exactly did you find out about the shipment?”
“What do you know about computers?” I asked quietly.
“Not much. But what does that matter? Didn’t you hear what I just said? How do you know about the shipment?”
“I didn’t come here to be with you, Nathan. I came here because Captain Pierce wants access to your computer. He knew about the shipment. He thinks you’re still involved with the Irish mob.”
It was all out in the open now. No more secrets. Captain Pierce was building a case. He was setting Nathan up for a fall, and I was just one of the pawns.
I closed my eyes for a moment, letting that realization set in. I believed every word Nathan had said thus far. There was too much that just didn’t add up on Captain Pierce’s side of things, too many questions he didn’t have answers for.
Part of me felt relieved. Nathan wasn’t a sex trafficker. He hadn’t lied to me—not in the way I’d thought, at least. But another part of me felt sick all over again. Captain Pierce and God knows who else in the department had a connection with the Irish mob. That meant they were complicit in murdering thirty-six women and children and trafficking countless others. My whole world was crumbling around me. The cops were supposed to be the good guys…
And clearly, I didn’t know Nathan as well as I’d thought. Maybe he was trying to do the right thing, but he’d had no qualms about hiding it from me. What exactly was his game plan, anyway—to disappear from my life, to hide out in this safe house until the threat passed, and then just waltz back up to me once it as all over?
I needed to be careful around him. Despite how much he had changed, it was obvious that he still thought of himself first and everyone else second.
I looked down to the floor, and almost embarrassed feeling rolling through me for not seeing this sooner. I was a detective. I should have seen this coming, asked more questions, demanded more answers. After all of this, Pierce was just setting me up as collateral damage.
“Sandra, if Captain Pierce is involved, this whole thing might go deeper than even I suspected. I knew Mr. Wallace had men on the inside, but I never would have guessed the good captain was one of them. If he gets access to my computer…”
“What is on the computer, Nathan?”
“Leverage.”
I snarled. I was tired of his cryptic bullshit, his “cover my ass” attitude. “What the hell do you mean?”
“It doesn’t matter,” he said evasively. “Look, we have to stop him,” he continued, reaching out and laying his hand on top of mine. His skin was soft and warm
, and it felt nice to connect like this.
I shook my head. That was hardly an answer, but he was right. Time might be of the essence.
“How do we do that?” I asked softly, staring back at him.
“We give him what he wants,” Nathan replied, lifting the t22 transmitter into the air and smiling. “We give him exactly what he wants.”
Chapter 13
If I was going to make this believable, I had to play my part. That meant spending a lot of time around Mr. Hale for the next few days and reporting back to Captain Pierce on my progress at getting him computer access.
On the plus side, this gave us plenty of time to explore each other’s wild sides.
Some people deal with stress by drinking, some do it by smoking, and I was dealing with stress by riding Nathaniel Hale’s incredible cock. His hands gripped my luscious hips and rocked me softly as I straddled him, bringing our flesh together. Everything about it was primal, animal, beyond the scope of human control. It was just what I needed: less thinking, more doing.
There was something to be said about living like this. Nathan rarely had to leave the house, choosing to do most of his work via his computer, and although we were holed up here in his mansion for a few days, it wasn’t like we were lacking for things to do, or places where we could have a little fun.
For one, there was the indoor pool. And the hot tub. And the sauna. And the kitchen…
Okay, maybe that last one was a little impromptu. Turns out, granite countertops are cold, and it’s not nearly as fun as it sounds to be propped up on top of one.
“I can’t hold out, baby…” Nathan whispered beneath me, my body bouncing on him ever so softly. We weren’t fucking right now. This was love making, the oldest and purest thing in all the world. Nathan had once pushed my limits, drawn out the experience with such delicious agony that I’d almost lost my damn mind right there in his arms. Now I wanted to return the favor.
“You’re vibrating…” Nathan said. I laughed, throwing my head back and riding him faster.