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“I would like to hear the story,” I say.

Keeley looks nervously at the page. “I’m not sure I can read out loud.”

“You’ve been practicing your letters with Mabel, haven’t you?” Harvey asks her, dipping his head to look her in the eye. She nods, bringing her finger to her mouth to nibble on the pad nervously. “Okay, well we’ll take it slow and sound the words out.”

They start reading, sounding each letter out and then trying to put together each word separately before repeating a sentence as a whole. I never thought I’d have any patience for something like this, but each time Keeley gets a word out and smiles with pride at her own achievement, I can feel myself glowing with her. Mabel’s nervous energy is a living, breathing thing next to me and I want to comfort her, I’m just not good with this kind of thing. I could pat her leg but that feels incredibly unnatural, not to mention the fact that I don’t think any uninvited physical contact is a good idea with this girl. I’m still contemplating what to try when Mabel’s hand reaches for mine and her little finger wraps around my manicured pinkie. She doesn’t look at me or say anything, just watches her sister. This tiny gesture thaws my heart and I feel a sting at the back of my eyes. I glance up to find Harvey looking at us, a small smile on his lips and he gives me a single nod, just as I did to Mabel earlier.

“Ma’am, Harv, can I speak to you?” Lee’s head pops round the library door a while later. Harvey and I exchange a look beforestanding. He lifts Keeley gently, setting her on her feet with her pop-up book, which she took to sit next to Mabel.

“What’s up?” Harvey asks when he clicks the library door shut behind him.

Lee rubs the back of his neck. “My contact with the drone says that he still doesn’t have anything, and he’s got to work on another project, so we’ve lost the feed.”

I let out a slow and frustrated breath.

“Also, I’ve looked through personnel as you asked, and no one meets the criteria you gave me.”

I’m not proud of how that news makes me a lot happier than it should. Harvey looks at me in question and I huff out a breath. “I asked Lee to look for someone who would be suitable to approach about taking the girls.”

Harvey puts his hands on his hips and screws his face up, unhappy with the news he’s been given. “Where do we go from here? How can we find where they were being held?”

Lee shakes his head, looking sad.

“Is there anything else?” I ask him.

“No, ma’am.”

I nod at him in dismissal, and he leaves us. Harvey starts walking to the kitchen and I follow him. “They have other kids at that place, Annika.”

I frown at him, my anger bubbling. “You don’t think I know that, Harvey?”

“We have to do something,” he snaps.

“I am doing what I can,” I growl back.

“You need to call the police.” He points at me, eyes blazing, and I see red.

25

HARVEY

"You have to pass this over to the police,” I urge her to understand. “These girls have been through enough. This needs to be looked into by proper investigators. They need to talk to people who are trained to deal with children who have been traumatised.”

“No.” Her flat-out refusal annoys me.

“Annika,” I warn, my voice growling over her name.

“What? Am I angering you,DetectiveCampos? Are you going to spank me again?” Her eyes narrow at me, her face glowing in contempt.

That surprises me so much I forget what this conversation was about as I remember the sting on my palm as it struck her delicious behind. My cock strains against my jeans as images of her pale skin pinking with each blow, my handprints framed so beautifully by the black straps of her suspenders.

“Is that what you want,rainha?” I purr.

Her eyes flash with something, lust, it has to be. But as quickly as it arrives, it disappears. She comes to stand in front of me, too close to be socially polite.

“No,” she growls through gritted teeth, and I smirk at her, smug satisfaction warming my chest.

“Lies,” I whisper. “You want me,rainha. I see it in your eyes, in the way you look when you think I’m not watching. You like it when I tell you what to do because no one has done it in so long. You like it when I punish you because you don’t have to be the one in control for a short time. But you’re holding back, and I don’t really understand why. You can tell me it’s because you don’t trust me or because you don’t get involved with employees all you like but something else is stopping you.”