Quintessentially Q (Monsters in the Dark #2)(52)

I’d been shot.

Frederick appeared, reaching for my jacket. “Oh, shit. How bad is it?” He ripped off my jacket before I had a chance to push him away.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll be fine.” The bullet had gone right through my bicep. Fairly clean and tidy considering. It didn’t even hurt.

I looked toward the entrance where a mound of corpses lay. Puddles of blood dotted the white tiles.

Franco met my eyes. “Five dead. Four shots and one stabbing.” He motioned for us to leave. “We have to go. Who knows how many more guards are on their way.”

I shook my head, feeling strangely lightheaded. “We’re not leaving until we search the place.” Scooping up the gun and clenching my jaw against the sudden flash of pain in my arm, I took off in direction of the bedrooms. “Fan out. Meet back in here in ten minutes.”

Picking up my pace, I jogged quickly down the long expanse of corridor, trying to ignore the chills of eerie silence and mound of bodies behind us.

Gerald normally only had three to five guards in his private residence. He said they cramped his style when I asked a few years back why he didn’t surround himself in security. We were alone. For now. I just hoped we’d stay alone for a bit longer.

Keeping my finger tight on the trigger, I swept room after room. Strode through decadent parlours and bedrooms fit for a prim aristocrat, not a raping, murdering mobster.

But I only found emptiness. No women. No Tess.

I opened cupboards, searched under beds, even smashed a few floorboards to see if a secret room had been added since the original blueprints. But nowhere did I find a bound and frightened woman. No evidence of a struggle. No trace of Tess at all.

After a full circuit of the apartment, I met Franco and Frederick by the elevator. “Anything?” Three pairs of eyes were better than one. Especially seeing as I’d been f*cking shot. Please let them have found something.

Frederick hung his head. “Nothing.” He sighed, adding, “But it doesn’t mean she isn’t in the building.”

I had a better idea. Pulling out my phone, I entered the same website that tracked Tess the first time and waited for the little red dot to appear on the map.

Nothing.

Heart racing, I tapped the device against my thigh. “Viendra sur, toi merde.” Come on, you piece of shit.

I looked again, wishing, praying for the little red dot to show me where Tess was. It was the only connection I had to her. It had to work. It had to.

Franco looked over my shoulder as the screen flashed and came up with an error message. The tracking device you have requested is no longer in service. Please check the number and try again.

“Fuck!” I threw the phone across the room, trembling with rage. My eyes fell to the bodies, and I wanted nothing more than to stab and stab and stab, take out retribution and funnel my rage.

Frederick put his hand on my uninjured arm. “We’ll find her, man. Don’t worry. With or without a beacon.”

Franco nodded. “He’s right. We’ll find her, sir. We’ll just have to mow down some bastards to do it.”





Tie me, tease me, let your pleasure please me. Hurt me, love me, but please don’t ever leave me…



My employment began immediately.

Trapped in a world of drugs and insipid fog, White Man plucked me from my bed and threw me at Leather Jacket.

I cried out as I collided with his creaky leather and stench. I cringed as he smirked, holding me tight against him. “Hello again, puta. Time for some fun.” He spun me around, trapping my wrists.

His dirty fingers wrapped around my skin, hoisting my arm back till my shoulder bellowed. Even the foggy stupor couldn’t save me from the pain of a dislocated limb.

“What the—” he muttered.

“Let her go, Ignacio. I need her to be able to use her arms.”

“But look at what the little bitch did. Stupid slave.” He ran a thumb over my modified barcode, no doubt seeing the sparrow and the number fifty-eight. He chuckled and shook me, breathing hard against my ear. “You idiot bitch. You fell for the bastard who bought you.” His chuckle morphed into a laugh, shaking both our frames. “This is too good. I’ve heard of slaves becoming attached to their masters, but you went to a whole other level.”

He grabbed my chin, digging his fingers into the hollow of my cheeks. “You were like a f*cking queen in that bathtub, thinking you’d landed on your pretty little feet. Well, live it up, princess, ’cause you’re in servitude now.”

His head cocked to the side, and he kissed my cheek with dry lips. “Then again, if you fell in love with one *, you can fall for another. Maybe you’ll want to f*ck me before the week is out. Huh?”

I flinched as he stroked my hair, then sighed in relief as White Man pulled me from Leather Jacket’s embrace. “You’ll have plenty of time to mind-f*ck the poor creature. But first I want to see just how strong she is.”

He held out his hand as if he’d asked me out on a date; blue eyes twinkled as I gawked at his palm. I couldn’t remember what I should do. I couldn’t remember anything. The alchemy of chemicals in my bloodstream slowly stole everything I knew.

“Come along, little one. No time like the present to start your initiation.”

I tried to step back toward the pallet. I ordered my limbs to move, to run, but nothing obeyed. I just stood there swaying until White Man grabbed my elbow and guided me from the room.