My Addiction (Club Desire #2)(82)

Dex nodded, and held out his hand as he closed the distance between them.

“Richard Fretwell.”

The man had a firm, dry grip that said he was a confident businessman and was used to dealing with hard decisions and tough conversations.

“How is she?”

“Her arm isn’t bad—a fractured humerus. It’s been set and cast.”

Dex nodded. Kate’s protection detail had told him about that. He wanted to know something more current. “Have they said anything about the severity of the concussion?”

Fretwell shook his head. “They’re just watching her, and they’ll definitely be keeping her for a while.” He ran a hand over his face. “Why did you let this happen?”

Hot anger flashed through Dex’s chest, and he had to force himself to calm down before he spoke. If Fretwell only knew how often in the last several hours Dex had asked himself that same question. “We are looking into—”

“Bullshit!” Fretwell made a chopping motion with his hand, cutting Dex off mid-sentence. “We both know what this is about, and I want to know why Kate was involved, and how you let this happen.”

Dex clenched his jaw as he saw a member of Kate’s protection detail approach them.

“Mr. Fretwell, there’s a conference room down the hall where you and Agent Alexander can talk. The hallway isn’t the best place for this discussion, and you’re disturbing the other patients.”

Fretwell glared at the agent, but finally nodded. “Fine. Lead the way.”

Dex followed them down the hall past several patient rooms until they reached a closed door that looked different from all the others.

The agent opened the door and motioned them both inside. “I’ll be out here if I’m needed.”

Dex recognized the underlying warning in those words. He wondered if Fretwell did.

This would be interesting.

He took a seat across the conference table from Kate’s father. “Mr. Fretwell, you said you had information for me. I’m always willing to meet with anyone who comes forward to help us solve cases.”

“Please, call me Dick.”

Dex was proud of himself for not smiling. He was well aware that Mr. Fretwell preferred to go by Dick rather than Richard, but after all he had heard about the man from Kate, Opal, and now the detail looking out for Kate, the name seemed very apt.

“Dick, thank you for contacting us, sir.”

Dex let silence sit in the room, curious what the man wanted to tell him, but confident he would spill it in his own time.

After a few long moments during which the tension continued to grow, Fretwell leaned forward in his chair. “Let’s talk about the most important item first, shall we?”

Dex smiled. He hadn’t expected this opener, but he was all for it. “Absolutely. Where would you like to start?”

Fretwell set his briefcase on the table and took out a thick file. He snapped the case closed and pushed it aside before laying the file on the table between them. He gestured to it as he met Dex’s gaze. “Open it.”

Dex reached out and gently opened the folder. As soon as he saw the first picture on the stack, a wave of anger rushed through him, followed closely by an urge to protect Kate at all costs.

The picture was from the night of Kate’s flogging. She already had several stripes of red across her lower back and ass, and Dex was poised to deliver another blow with the flogger.

“What do you want?” If the man was hoping to blackmail him, he was going to be disappointed. Dex had no one in his life who didn’t know about his fetish activities. Even his parents and sisters had found out over the years since he’d joined the lifestyle.

Fretwell leaned back in his chair, so it creaked softly. “I want to know what you want. I know my daughter has had some high-profile Doms, all political or Hollywood elites. So it seems very coincidental that an undercover Fed suddenly shows up to take her on as her new Dom, unless you want something from her. So what is it?”

Dex bristled at the man’s tone, but he supposed he couldn’t blame him. If this was Dex’s daughter they were discussing, he would be protective too.

“I’m not at liberty to—”

“Like hell you’re not. You were undercover for a reason, otherwise you would’ve just pulled her in to an interview if you had questions. You can’t tell me that out of all the submissives at The Dungeon, you just happened to pick the one who had access to some very powerful men, and who might have been in a position to learn some of their secrets.”

Dex kept his expression bland. He wasn’t sure whether Fretwell was fishing or if he knew. But either way, the man was obviously astute. Though it didn’t really take a rocket scientist once he knew Dex was an agent.

“You don’t think I asked Kate to be my sub because she’s an intelligent, attractive, independent woman?”

Fretwell narrowed his eyes. “If you’re trying to get me to argue that my daughter isn’t any of those things, you’ll be disappointed. Of course she is. She takes after her mother.” A shadow passed over the man’s features at the mention of his late wife. “But since Kate didn’t sub long for Stanton, and she kept turning that idiot Balkins down, you had to be after something or someone else.”

Dex made a judgment call. If he didn’t give a little bit, they would never get anywhere.