Rake (Wolfes of Manhattan 4)

Reid opened it. “Good evening, Monique.”

I turned.

And nearly burst into laughter.

Monique was lovely, but she was an older woman with silver hair à la Helen Mirren, and she wore black slacks and a white shirt. Hardly a French maid’s uniform.

“Here you go, Mr. Wolfe.” Monique held out a bottle of Fiji water.

“Thank you, Monique. This is Zee. She’ll be here for a few days.”

Monique nodded to me. “Ms. Zee.”

“Just Zee is fine. Thank you so much for the water.”

“My pleasure.” Monique smiled. “Is there anything else?”

“No, thank you,” I said.

“All right. Good night, then.” Monique left.

“Please make yourself at home,” Reid said. “If you need anything, just buzz for Monique.”

“She seems very nice.”

“She’s the best. I only hire the best people.” Reid smiled.

I returned his smile shyly. “Thanks for all this.”

“You’re very welcome. Get some sleep, and we’ll talk in the morning.”

I opened my mouth to tell him not to go yet, but the words stayed stuck in my throat as he closed the door behind him.

I was alone.

I hadn’t slept alone in a bedroom for years.

Part of me was scared silly.

How long had I been in the room with no windows? Someone in a mask had brought me food five times now, but without a clock or daylight, my internal clock was all messed up.

The meals were good, oddly. Whoever had kidnapped me didn’t want me to starve, at least not yet.

Strange.

I gobbled up every morsel each time they fed me. After all, I never knew if it would be the last meal.

I slept and I ate. I went to the bathroom. I washed myself in the small sink.

And I waited.

Waited to…

To what?

Women didn’t get kidnapped to just exist in sterile rooms and be fed. Something would happen. Someone would eventually come and beat me. Or rape me.

Or kill me.

One of those things would happen. Probably all three.

I existed on edge. Eating the meals they provided and always frightened of what would come next.

Why? Why had this happened to me?

I was supposed to be starting college. Orientation week.

Parties and mixers. Classes and new friends.

All that I’d looked so forward to.

I’d stopped crying a few days before. I had no clothes, no tissues. Only toilet paper, and I needed to save that. I had no idea if they’d replenish it, and the thought of not being able to…

Yuck.

I simply existed. Existed in a perpetual state of fear, my flesh crawling with invisible fingers, my mind numb yet always racing.

Racing with all the torture that could be coming my way.

But when it finally came, what actually happened to me had never crossed my mind.

24

Reid

It was late, but I called Rock. “Any news on the Nieves front?”

“None,” he said. “I’ve tried to get in touch with her.”

“What’s up with Leta?”

“She’s still in the hospital,” he said. “Someone knocked her around pretty good.”

“Any idea who?”

“The guys are looking into it. She knows something, and someone doesn’t want her talking.”

“She’s already talked.”

“Right. That might be the problem.”

“Maybe you should go back to Montana and check things out,” I said.

He harrumphed. “No can do, brother.”

“Why?”

“All of us, including Lace, have been told not to leave the state of New York.”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

“Nope. I just got that news while you were in flight. I was going to tell you first thing tomorrow.”

“How are we supposed to do our work?”

“Beats the hell out of me, but Morgan says they’re close to making an arrest.”

“Then we’ve got to move faster,” I said. “Which we may be able to do.”

“What do you mean?”

“Zee is with me.”

Silence for a moment.

Then, “Did you…”

“Of course not!” I raked my fingers through my hair. “I’ve hardly touched her, and she came to me. She said she’s ready to talk.”

“Nicely done,” Rock said. “And thanks. For not…”

“Do you all think I’m nothing but a complete asshole?”

“No. But—”

“You do.” I sighed. “I guess I haven’t done a lot to prove you wrong. I learned from the best.”

“Hey,” Rock said. “None of us thinks you’re a carbon copy of Dad.”

“Right.”

“We don’t. But you learned at his side, so business-wise, you’re used to getting what you want at any price.”

I couldn’t deny his words. “Whatever. We need to find out who made that call from my office to your place in Montana. I swear to God it wasn’t me.”

“We all believe you.”

“Do you?”

“Of course. Your ass is on the line just like all of ours. We’re in this together, Reid. We have to trust each other.”

“Good.”

“Once Zee tells her story to Morgan, they’ll search our building from top to bottom.”

“And they won’t care what they destroy in the process,” I added.

“Right. So we need to find Dad’s shit first. He may have destroyed the bottom floor after Roy saw it. Which means he and Father Jim found a new place.”

“Right.”

“Damn.” Rock rubbed his temple. “We need to find out what that sicko priest is hiding. But Morgan is keeping us all busy with this nonstop questioning.”