Green Broke Woman (29 page)

“I assumed an
alias after Romanov escaped from prison. We all did. We've been looking for
him, though. We needed a plan to let him know we're waiting for him to lure him
out of hiding,” Hugh explained.

“So you named a
sex club after him?” Jake snorted. “If that predatory psycho comes terrorizing
my club—”

“He won't. We just
needed him to know we were still out there ready for him.”

“What makes you
think he'll go after you?” Keith asked.

Hugh stared off
into space. “He always finishes what he starts. He won't be satisfied with
simply killing Blue Dragon and Gold Dragon. He intends to wipe out the whole
team. Since he couldn't find us, he recently started hunting down some of our
exes and friends and either torturing them or pinching them off. He threatened
to continue to kill those closest to us or in our past until we came out of
hiding.”

Kayla looked like
she had an epiphany. A vulnerable, almost pleading look washed over her
breathtaking face. “Is that why you sent me away early and without explanation—because
he was hurting your exes and the people closest to you?”

Hugh nodded once,
letting his true emotions show to remove all doubt from her mind about his
feelings for her. “I had to protect you. I couldn’t tell you the reason because
anyone who’d been told about it went missing or turned up dead. I warned my ex—excuse
me, your boys' mother—about him pinching off my ex-girlfriends and the exes and
friends of other team members. Didn’t figure Romanov could possibly know I’d
told her since she was on the other coast. She was skeptical at first. After I
sent Kayla away for protection your mother turned up missing.”

“What?” the three
Langley brothers shrieked.

“You got our
mother killed?” Jake shouted.

Hugh rolled his
eyes. “Pipe down, Jake. My exes’ bodies have either shown up dead or the
bastard had a couple of them call me, pleading for help just before he killed
them with me listening. I went to your mother's house, and she was missing. I
haven't heard from her, nor has her body turned up. My guess is she's still
alive wherever she is.”

Jake dragged his
hand down his face in worry. The other brothers looked just as distraught.

“We'll find her ...
and your sister.” Hugh looked over at Keith with an eyebrow arched in
accusation.

Keith turned pale.
“How did you know about that?”

“Black Dragon left
me a note at your mother's house. He said Miranda was a product of My
Fairytale. I still don't know what the hell My Fairytale is, but I know she was
abducted,” Hugh explained, glancing from the others to Keith. “You're still
here, and she disappeared from New Orleans during Mardi
Gras
.”

“What?” Travis
shrieked. “You took her to Mardi Gras?”

Keith's eyes squeezed
shut. “I know. It was stupid of me.”

“Did those
Doms
kidnap her?” Travis asked.

Keith shook his
head, looking like he might cry. “The two
Doms
she
met online weren't from New Orleans. They were from here in Lexington, Jason
and Armand from the club.”

“You took her to
the club?” Jake growled.

“Of
course not.
She was just
supposed to meet them on a lunch date after we got back from our trip to New
Orleans, but then...” Keith's voice went hoarse when his eyes spilled over.
“Three men abducted her. I don't know who they were, but one of them looked
familiar. I still can't place his face, though.”

“You lied to us.”
Travis's expression twisted with pain. “Damn it, Keith. Mardi Gras
is
vile.”

“Actually it makes
for a fun time,” Hugh said, “but I agree with you. It's no place for a nice
girl like Miranda.”

Jake glared at
Keith before storming toward him. “Do you know what those slimy fuckers
probably did to her?”

Kayla tugged
Jake's arm. “Jake, it's not his fault. He was outnumbered, and they were
armed.”

“I don't care! He
should have died and protected her!” Jake yelled, advancing despite her hard
tug on his arm.

Virgil let out a
long whistle and got between Keith and Jake. “Whoa. Easy there, partner.”

“I'm not your
goddamned partner, clown!” Jake shoved him, only to stumble over the cane Hugh
nonchalantly extended to hinder him.

“Pipe down and
apologize to your brother. That could have just as easily been you in New
Orleans.”

“Yeah, except I
wouldn't have been stupid enough to take her to Mardi
Gras
in the first place!” Jake spat.

Hugh remained
calm. “You don't have to go looking for trouble to find it. Sometimes trouble
comes knocking at your front door.”

“Well, I guess
it's a damned good thing the three of us are sharing Kayla. If she just
belonged to Keith, she'd wind up dead,” Jake snorted.

“Jake, stop!”
Kayla looked appalled as her eyes welled.

Keith glared at
him, though his eyes betrayed how badly he hurt over the remark. “I would never
let anything happen to her. I did the best I could to protect Miranda. Where do
you think I got that fucking knife slash from?”

“She's dead
because of you!” Jake shouted.

Hugh stood and
stuck his cane between them. “Jake, either apologize or leave the room like a
normal person. This is no time for brawls. I've got a tape to watch.”

Jake glared at
Keith and then stormed out of the house, slamming the front door shut behind
him.

Keith was about to
leave when Hugh stopped him. “Not you. I want you here when I watch the tape.”

Kayla sounded
impressed. “How did you know I had a tape?”

Hugh looked at
her. “Black Dragon mentioned a tape. He likes to leave me notes and texts to
toy with me.”

She shrugged.
“It's just three men playing Scrabble.”

“No, it's not. Who
the hell films themselves playing Scrabble? If that Romanov psycho informed me
of it, then he wants me to see it for a reason. My guess is there's something
on it everyone missed. Now get it for me.”

She went to get
the tape from her bedroom.

“You still have a
VCR, don't you?” Hugh asked.

Travis let out a
heavy exhale. “Yeah, somewhere, but it's been ages since—”

“Go get it.”

Travis gave Keith
a sympathetic look and placed a forgiving hand on his shoulder before
disappearing into the garage. Once he found the VCR and set it up, Kayla put
the tape in.

The video showed
three men playing scrabble together. Conversation was minimal.

“That's Beck Hammond
and that's Slade,” she said quietly, pointing them out.

“What about the
other man?” Virgil asked.

She shrugged. “I
don't know. I think it might be Bruce Callaghan, but his face never shows up on
this tape. Not sure if he planned it that way or not.”

“Who is Bruce
Callaghan?” Hugh asked, not taking his eyes off the screen.

“A
bad guy posing as a cop.
He went missing when Beck and Slade disappeared after I reported them to the
police,” she explained.

“
Pause
the tape,” Hugh ordered, frowning at the lines on the
screen.
“Hmm.
No good. I can't make out the words on
the table, but one of them is a name, Julianne.”

Travis looked
spooked. “That's Mom's name.”

“I know,” Hugh
said absently. “Notice the words
blue
and
gold.
I want to see what the
other words on the board are and what those numbers are written on the notepad.
Do you have one of those burn-a-video-to-DVD things?”

“Yeah, somewhere,”
Travis replied.

“Good. Get it.
I've got a bad feeling about the words on that Scrabble board.”

Once the tape was
burned to a disc, Travis popped the disc into the DVD player.

“Perfect,” Hugh
said. “Now we can zoom.”

The words and
names on the Scrabble board made his blood run cold. Some of the words were random,
but the others he knew weren't.

“Crap. Blue.
Gold.
Purple. Those are the code names of the team members
who were killed by Alexei Romanov.” Hugh internally panicked, knowing that the
Julianne the game referred to had to be Julianne Langley, his nephews' mother.

“I thought you
said only Blue Dragon and Gold Dragon were dead?” Travis reminded him.

“They were, but a
few days ago Romanov found Purple Dragon. She was the one female in the group.
She wound up dead,” Hugh explained.

Virgil sounded
frantic. “Zoom over there. That's Gretchen's name on the board and my other
sister, Sadie. She went missing recently. She left her boyfriends a note saying
she was going to look for Gretchen.
Haven't heard from either
sister since.”

“They're all
connected?” Kayla asked.

“Apparently.”
Hugh studied the screen. “What are those
colored figurines in the background? Zoom in.”

Virgil zoomed and
seven dragon figurines, each of a different color, enlarged. The blue and gold
dragons were knocked over. The purple still stood next to the others, but the
dragons were lined up in an order Hugh knew wasn't by accident.

“That magnificent
bastard, he has a colored figurine for each team member on that mission.” Hugh
shook his head in wonder. “Notice the gold and blue dragons are knocked over.
The two team members who were killed. The purple is still standing with the
other living members, but this tape was made before Purple Dragon was killed.
She was killed after Blue Dragon and Gold Dragon. The figurines are lined up in
the order he intends to kill them. I'll bet you anything.”

“The silver dragon
is last.” Kayla took his hand in hers. “I won't let him kill you.”

Hugh glanced down
at her with a loving smile and squeezed her hand. “The narcissist would make
the black dragon the biggest. It's separated from the others. I doubt he
intends to kill himself afterward.”

“Wait.” Travis
sounded worried. “Move back to the left. Shit, Miranda's name is on the board,
too. I don't understand. All these women disappeared from different states. How
could he have organized something this big? What does it mean?”

“I don't know, but
my guess is it has something to do with whatever My Fairytale is,” Hugh said.
“I just need to figure out what those numbers on that paper mean. There doesn't
seem to be any particular order.”

“We'll find your
sisters,” Kayla promised Travis and Virgil. Her voice bore traces of pain when
she turned back to Hugh. “And we'll find your ex-wife.”

“She wasn't my
wife, Kayla.” He glanced down at her.
“Or my slave.”

Joy swept through
his soul when he saw the relief in Kayla's eyes. She still loved him.

Chapter Twelve: Choice

Kayla got up
around dawn, unable to sleep in light of the night's events. She dressed and
went downstairs, feeling her chest clutch with emotion and hurt when she saw
Master Hugh seated on the couch, appearing deep in thought.

He noticed her
before returning to his engrossing thoughts. “Good morning.”

“Good morning.”
She stuck her hands in the front pockets of her jeans, but walking that way
felt unnatural, so she folded her arms under her bust as she made her way to
the kitchen.

Virgil smiled when
he saw her as he flipped an omelet. “Good morning, honey. Sleep well?”

She shook her
head. “I couldn't sleep.”

“Yeah, me neither.
Hugh and I have been up all night trying to figure out what all those dang
numbers mean on that tape.”

“Any luck?”

He sighed.
“Nope.
Figured some breakfast and coffee would do us some
good. Want some eggs?”

“No thanks. I'm
not really hungry.”

She peeked out at
her former Master seated on the couch, puzzling over mysterious numbers ... not
looking at her. But why should he? She only wore a casual hoodie, T-shirt, and
jeans. Why should he look her way for that? But she'd put on makeup, masking
the dark circles and tired eyes received from a long, sleepless night.

“You've got to eat
something, sweet thing,” Virgil insisted, scooping the omelet onto a plate.

“I'll have some
yogurt and fruit. Maybe some walnuts with it,” she replied absently, swallowing
down the sweet pain when she heard the pet name he'd once used on her. Damn,
she still loved Virgil, too. But she couldn't have him or Master Hugh anymore,
not without losing the three Langley men she treasured.

“Here. Open up.”
Virgil made an airplane noise as he forked a pile of eggs into her mouth.

She smiled at his
playfulness, feeling warm and rich beneath the dark decadence of his brown
gaze.

“I never stopped
thinking about you,” he murmured.