Into the Night (18 page)

Holly tipped her head curiously. “What’s her name?”

“Angela Ramsey. She has blond hair and blue eyes.”

A sullen look passed over Holly’s features, making it clear that she wasn’t thrilled to hear the name. “Oh, you mean
Angel
.”

The innocent connotations of the nickname Angela had been given weren’t lost on Nicole. “Angel?”

“That’s what Preston calls her,” Holly said, a bit of resentment creeping back into her tone.

“So you know her?”

Holly nodded, though she didn’t look happy about the conversation revolving around another girl she considered a rival for Sloane’s attention. “She’s another one of Preston’s favorites.”

At least now Nicole had verification that Angela was still involved with Sloane. It was a start. “Is she here tonight?”

“No.” Holly’s lips pursed morosely. “Preston doesn’t like to share Angel, but he will. Eventually.”

The pain in Holly’s voice tore at Nicole’s resolve. She tried to keep her emotions out of the equation, but it was difficult not to empathize with Holly’s situation when Nicole had been in a similar one herself.

“Do you know where Angela is?” Nicole asked, needing that last bit of information so she and Nathan could figure out their next plan of action.

“She’s at The Sanctuary in Summerlin.”

Before Nicole could ask Holly any more questions, out of the corner of her eye she saw someone approaching them. They’d been left alone up until this point, but whoever was heading toward them had Holly sitting up straighter and looking as though she was bracing herself for something very unpleasant.

Surprised by Holly’s odd behavior, and curious to know who had evoked such a strong reaction, Nicole glanced at the woman who’d come to a stop where they were sitting on the couch. She was wearing a black low-cut dress and had a centerfold-type body that most men would appreciate, coupled with gorgeous blond hair that fell halfway down her back in soft waves.

This was no young girl, but a fully grown woman who looked to be in her mid-thirties—and was most likely the oldest female in the nightclub. There was a hardness about her despite her outer beauty, a shrewdness in her gaze that came from years of experience—and not necessarily good ones. Whoever she was, her appearance prompted Holly’s expression to fill with dread.

The woman turned that discerning look toward Nicole, studying her through narrowed eyes. “Are you a new girl?”

Her inquiry was direct and to the point, and Nicole shook her head before any wrong assumptions were made. “No. I’m here with someone.”

“And who would that be?” the woman asked, an unmistakable air of authority in her tone.

“Alex Keller.”

“Fine,” she said, as if she recognized the name, then she turned that cool green gaze back on Holly. “Derek is asking for you, and Preston said for you to do whatever it takes to make him happy. He’s waiting for you in the sapphire room, so don’t be long.”

Reluctantly, Holly nodded her assent.

With that, the woman moved on. Her message was cut-and-dried, with no warm fuzzies to buffer the reality of what she was telling Holly to do. Nicole’s chest felt heavy with heartache and grief for Holly—and a deeper rage against Sloane.

“Who was that?” Nicole asked, certain the woman was someone important to Sloane—and if that was the case, she and Nathan needed to know all the players the other man kept in his employ.

“That’s Gwen. She’s Sloane’s assistant.” Holly stood up, her gaze despondent, yet resigned to her fate. “I’ve got to go before I get in trouble.”

Nicole watched Holly walk away, moving like a wooden, emotionless doll. She stopped at the bar, ordered another drink, then downed it in one gulp before disappearing down a hallway that Nicole assumed led to private rooms.

Knowing what awaited Holly in the sapphire room, it took every bit of control that Nicole possessed not to go after the young girl and rescue her from this degrading situation. She felt so damn helpless, and she knew why, but she had no time to dwell on her own past. Right now, she just hated being powerless to save Holly.

Pushing her own emotional turmoil aside, she exhaled a deep breath and focused on what needed to be done next. She now knew where Angela Ramsey was being sequestered, and she needed to let Nathan know so they could decide on their next plan of action.

Retrieving her cell phone from her purse, she texted Nathan the flirtatious phrase they agreed she’d use once she had information to share.

I’m ready for you, baby.

*   *   *

Nathan’s conversation with Sloane went fairly well, with the two of them enjoying a drink while covering a wide variety of topics—from the Vegas casinos they preferred to play at, to Sloane’s recent vacation at his villa in Italy, to the new business venture Nathan was considering investing in—a fictional deal set up by Lucas Barnes to add to Nathan’s portfolio as an entrepreneur. Eventually, their discussion came around to Nicole and the young girls at the nightclub.

And there were many from what Nathan could see. Some had hooked up with the men in the lounge, while others were mingling and openly coming on to the older gentlemen; most of the beds were occupied with couples getting busy. A few girls who looked high on something, either alcohol or drugs, were dancing provocatively together, their youthful bodies writhing against one another and providing a classic girl-on-girl fantasy for most of the guys in the club.

For Nathan, the atmosphere was nothing short of sleazy and a repulsive display of depravity, at the very least. Sloane’s lifestyle, and the careless way the other man exploited children, went against every ethical bone in Nathan’s body and was a stark reminder of how imperative it was that this undercover case concluded much differently from his last mission as a vice cop.

And that meant treading carefully with a powerful man like Sloane. One wrong move or slipup, and innocent lives would be in jeopardy. And that was something Nathan refused to allow this time around.

“See anything you like, Alex?”

Sloane’s curious question cut into Nathan’s thoughts, and he glanced at the other man reclining in the red leather chair next to his. “You have quite a stable of girls to choose from.”

Sloane casually swirled the dark liquor in his snifter glass and smiled. “Variety is a good thing, don’t you think?”

“For some.” Sensing the conversation held the undertones of a test, Nathan chose his words carefully. “Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer being with one girl, not many.”

Sloane lifted a brow, a daring light in his eyes. “Are you sure about that, Keller?”

Before Nathan could reply, Sloane signaled to a girl standing nearby, who immediately moved toward them, eager to do his bidding. Like every other female in the club, she looked too damn young, yet too experienced in other ways. She was wearing a miniskirt, a too-tight top, and high heels, and her shoulder-length black hair framed delicate facial features and a sweet smile.

She came to a stop in front of them, a little unsteady on her feet as she waited for her next cue from Sloane.

“Alex, this is Jasmine,” Sloane said, introducing the girl to him. “She’s one of the favorites here at the club. Whatever you want, she’ll be more than happy to provide, isn’t that right, sweetheart?”

Jasmine nodded, and before Nathan realized her intent, she sat down on his lap and wriggled her bottom suggestively against his groin, which did nothing to arouse him. If anything, it took supreme effort not to shove her right off his lap in disgust. He reined in the impulse and instead managed to pretend her brazen behavior didn’t bother him in the least.

“I haven’t seen you around before,” Jasmine said, her voice soft and languid as she draped an arm around his shoulders and cuddled closer. “You’re cute.”

He couldn’t smell any alcohol on her breath, but judging by her dilated pupils and her slurred speech, there was no question in Nathan’s mind that she was on some kind of narcotic. Or maybe she sedated herself in order to deal with the nightmare that her life had become.

Aware of Sloane assessing his response and reactions, he reached up and gently brushed back the strands of hair that had fallen across her cheek, the caress more caring than sexual. “And you’re very pretty,” he said, returning the compliment and hoping that’s as far as things went between them.

“Thank you,” she whispered, and laid her head on his shoulder while pressing her free hand to his chest. “Would you like to dance? Or maybe I could give you a massage?”

The words sounded rehearsed, as though she’d said them dozens of times before, to at least that many men. It was a disturbing thought, and one Nathan couldn’t dwell on at the moment. What he could do, however, was put an end to her advances.

“Maybe next time,” he said, turning her down as gently as possible. The last thing he wanted was her getting in trouble for not persuading him to take advantage of her offer. “I promised my girlfriend that I’d be good tonight.”

She pouted, but before she could do anything else to try to sway him, Sloane snapped his fingers and ordered the girl to leave them alone. Obeying, she slid off his lap, and moved on to a guy sitting across the lounge who immediately welcomed her overtures.

Unable to stomach what the girl was about to do, Nathan looked away and found Sloane watching him, his gaze a little too perceptive for his liking.

“You just passed up a sure thing, Keller,” Sloane drawled, and downed the rest of his drink. “You could have had Jasmine and Nikki never would have known.”

Sloane was questioning his motives, and possibly even his loyalty, and Nathan had to think fast on his feet. “What can I say? It’s fresh and new and exceptionally hot with Nikki. Right now, she gives me everything I could want or need sexually.”

“For now, yes,” Sloane said, the look in his eyes changing, darkening with determination. “But every man has a weakness, and mine, at the moment, happens to be Nikki.” His smile stopped just short of being perverse. “Now, we just have to find yours, and hopefully the two of us can come to some sort of gentleman’s agreement.”

Christ
. Sloane was openly proposing a trade-off. Nicole for any one of his girls that Nathan wanted in exchange.

Having made it very clear what he desired, Sloane stood and inclined his head at Nathan. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some business to take care of. You and I can catch up later.”

The other man walked away, leaving Nathan feeling as though he’d just been sucker-punched in the gut. He sat there, trying to regroup, and less than a minute later the cell phone in his front pants pocket vibrated, startling him. He was so goddamn tense that the buzzing sensation nearly had him jumping out of his skin. He pulled the phone out and read the text message Nicole had sent to him.

I’m ready for you, baby.

He was relieved to see she wasn’t in any sort of trouble, and hoped she’d been able to discover something about Angela’s whereabouts. Tucking away his cell phone, he found Nicole and dragged her out to the dance floor, where they could be close and talk without being overheard.

Keeping plenty of distance between them and the other couples, he slid his arm around Nicole’s waist and brought her body flush to his, from chest to thighs. To anyone watching, it was an intimate, sexual position, but Nathan’s only concern was keeping their conversation private.

He took one look at her face, saw that she was shaken about something, and wondered what had happened to upset her so badly.

Caressing a possessive hand down her back, he brought his lips near her ear. “Are you okay?”

“I’ll be fine,” she whispered back, and slid her fingers into the hair at the nape of his neck, keeping her cheek close to his. “She’s not here.”

Disappointment coursed through him. “Damn.”

“She’s at his estate in Summerlin. The girls call it The Sanctuary.”

Definitely a good-news, bad-news scenario. Good news because they’d nailed down her location. Bad news because now they had to find a way into Sloane’s estate to get Angela out. After what Sloane had just proposed, Nathan loathed the idea of letting Nicole anywhere near the other man again, but she was ultimately the key to getting them both one step closer to Angela. Now he just had to devise a strategy to infiltrate Sloane’s house in Summerlin, but without endangering Nicole in any way.

Over Nicole’s shoulder, Nathan caught sight of Sloane heading toward another man who looked vaguely familiar. It took Nathan a moment to fully recognize the older gentleman as a superior court judge. A very powerful man to have on your side, especially when you dabbled in the kind of immoral misdeeds that Sloane did.

The two men talked for a few minutes, then exited the nightclub together. Nathan had hoped that he and Sloane would be able to talk again, but after casually asking around, he discovered that Sloane had left for the evening and wouldn’t be back.

Which left him and Nicole back at square one.

Chapter Eleven

The first thing Nicole did when they arrived back at Nathan’s apartment was head into her bathroom and take a long, hot shower. She washed her hair and scrubbed her skin with body wash, as if by doing so she could cleanse herself of all the perversion she’d witnessed at Sloane’s private nightclub.