Cruel Seduction (Underground Kings 2)

“It’s the least I could do. I’m so glad Quinn is okay. Poor thing, I can’t imagine. I was blessed with my three children. I had no issues. She must be terrified.”

“She is,” Grayson says, filling his plate with bacon, eggs, pancakes, and fruit. “But Jaxon is there, and so far everything is okay. We will definitely keep you updated, Julia.”

Owen’s phone dings, then mine, and everyone else’s.

I dig into my pocket and turn on my screen. What I see almost has me dropping my phone. My own name is on the alerts.

I click on it, and my lungs stop working when I see my mugshot. I was pissed in that photo, and my hair was a greasy mess since I hadn’t showered in three days being stuck in a cell. “Fuck!” I run my fingers through my hair. This was why we didn’t go out in public.

This shit right here.

“What is it?” Gabriella blinks up at me, popping a grape in her mouth.

“Julia, can you give us some privacy, please?” Owen ushers her out, a simple and gentle way of telling her that it isn’t a question, but an order.

“Of course. I will be in my room. Call if you need me.” Julia smiles before she hurries down the hall. We all wait for the door to shut and then Grayson drops the plate, his eggs spilling over the edge.

“What’s going on?” he asks.

I don’t want to say. All of us are fucking tired. We need to sleep for a few hours before we go back to the hospital, only I can’t.

“I have a warrant out for my arrest. For kidnapping Gabriella.”

“What!” Gabriella shrieks and snatches my phone away from me, reading the alert on my phone. “No, why? Why! I don’t understand what he wants with me. I didn’t think he was there last night, but maybe he was.”

Owen straightens. “Back up. You saw him?”

“No.” Gabriella rolls her neck from left to right. “When we were walking in… I thought I felt someone watching me. I looked around, but I didn’t see anyone. I thought it was all in my head because it was dark. I’m…” She closes her eyes, and she must have gathered courage because she doesn’t slouch anymore. Her spine is straight. “I’m afraid of the dark. And no, it isn’t because of scary movies, okay? I didn’t come out unscathed from my time with Kendrick, so please don’t tease me about it.”

“We would never do that. We know your life hasn’t been easy up until now,” Heaven reassures her. He isn’t always serious, but when he is, he says the right things.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” I ask softly. I don’t want to make her feel like I am being accusatory.

“I thought it was in my head, I swear.” Her bottom lip wobbles. “They are going to come here and raid the place. They are going take you from me! I just got you, Sebastian. This can’t be happening. I’ll go back to him. He always makes sure I’m his. There’s no getting away from him.”

“Hey.” I lift her chin, and her eyes aren’t watering, but I know they are on the verge. “You don’t need to worry about that. Police aren’t going to come here. No one knows we live here except us. There are some illegal names involve, and I have to cover our tracks, but no one knows we are here. No one will be able to find me. He won’t be able to find you.”

“Well, you can’t stay here forever,” Owen says. “Eventually, you’ll want to go out. You’ll want to do something, what then?”

“We need to prove that I haven’t been kidnapped. Why can’t I just go to the police and say I left him on my own free will and that he abused me? I have the scars to prove it.”

“Guys like him will probably get off. He’ll blame the scars on Sebastian.”

“But what about my word?”

“Is your word rich?” Grayson stabs his fork into a pancake, waiting for her reply.

“No, but—”

“No, no buts.” Her chews and swallows. “Money talks. Money makes the world spin in the circle we love so much. “If you go to the cops, it won’t end well. We need to call our lawyer, just in case. We can tell him what’s going on, and he can at least put a restraining order against Kendrick for you. I’m not sure how much good it will do. Cops don’t really give a shit until someone gets hurt.”

“But I have been hurt.” Gabriella sounds so defeated. “I can give them pages and pages of things that happened. Things they never thought they would hear. I’ve been hurt.”

“You aren’t currently bleeding. I’m sorry, but they won’t care. We can set up precautions, but that’s all we can do. Sounds like Kendrick is a man who always gets what he wants. He probably has a few cops on the payroll. If he’s smart.” Grayson stares off into the distance and chuckles. “We could start there too.”

“We don’t deal with cops, Gray.” I say.

“I know, but we could. There’s always a cop on the right side of the law. I have the perfect guy in mind. The guy who arrested me.”