Page 15

Chapter Fifteen

Chelsea

"She was quite the interesting person," Ice remarked.

He leaned forward, propping his elbow on the table and took a sip of beer.

"Why is that?" Storm asked.

He looked over the table at my brother, his eyes narrowed.

Hazards was relatively quiet for this time of night.

My brother, Storm, Ramsey, Dallas and I sat around a table.

Frost, Jay and Atlas were playing pool and laughing about something.

As usual, Dallas sat as close to me as he could, his hand on my thigh.

"From what I can tell, India was popular with staff and customers," Ice said slowly, giving me a slight tilt of his head.

"She did well at school. She got into university to study veterinary science, but never went."

"She went straight from school to working at Flirts," I said.

"She never said anything about getting into uni. Mostly she talked about being close to her family and things like that." He was right though, everyone adored her.

"How does that make her interesting?" Storm asked.

"Plenty of people don't go to university."

"That's true," Ice agreed.

"But from the start she had more in her bank account than the average employee of Flirts. We've traced a bunch of payments that went in every month. Divina wasn't her only employer. She probably owed a ton in back taxes."

"Avoiding tax doesn't mean she deserved what…happened to her," Dallas said awkwardly.

"It depends where the money came from," I said. "Let me guess, Carlos Jones?"

"We haven't traced it directly to him, but that's pretty much the direction it's going, yes," Ice agreed.

"An associate of mine suggested India had connections to a number of young people who went missing. A big enough number to warrant looking deeper into it."

"Missing—" Dallas stared at Ice.

"You mean they were trafficked?"

"That would be my suspicion." Ice took another sip of his beer.

"If I had to guess, I'd say Carlos Jones paid her to bring him people."

I blinked at him a couple of times. "She seemed so nice. I can't believe she'd be involved in something like that."

"People say the same about me." He smiled. "And yet, here we are.” He raised his hand out to the side. “Chelsea, did she ever approach you in a way that suggests she tried to coerce you into a dangerous position?"

"She better fucking not," Storm growled.

"She's already dead," I pointed out.

"Doesn't matter, I'd still…" He shook his head. "I don't know. Something that would make her glad she's already dead."

Dallas squeezed my thigh. "Did she do anything like that to you?"

I leaned into him and thought carefully. "Not that I can think of, specifically. She invited me to her place a couple of times, but either I had to work, or had to study. Or I was having dinner with Isaac, Mum and Dad."

Storm growled. "She might have done something to you if you'd gone."

The thought made my blood run cold. "I guess it's possible. She wouldn't have gotten very far with me."

"Absolutely not," my brother agreed. "No one kidnaps my sister and gets away with it. Unless she consents." He gave me a sly smile.

Dallas let out a ragged breath, clearly remembering when he, Storm and Frost bundled me into the back of the car and took me to Frost's cabin. I didn't need to look, to know he was hard now. His expression was already strained.

"If India tried to have Chelsea taken, we might have found out what she was up to sooner," Ice said with a rare hint of regret. "We would have got to her before anything happened and figured it all out."

"You seem very sure about that," Storm said. "That you'd get to Chelsea before anyone laid a hand on her."

"If they tried, Chelsea would have given them hell," Ice told him. "She looks sweet, but she has a mean right hook. Between growing up with me and studying at Brutham Academy, she's learned how to take care of herself."

"Not to mention working at Flirts," I said. "You had to know how to handle people, or they'd take advantage."

I tried to look confident, but he seemed to have more faith in me than I had in myself. If I was held at gunpoint, or drugged, I'd be hard pressed to fight back. If they roofied me like Frost did, I couldn't stop them from raping me. The idea was terrifying.

"You definitely know how to handle people," Dallas said softly. He lightly pressed his head to mine, inhaling my scent and burying his face in my hair. "You know how to handle me."

"You're easy to handle, because you'd never do anything to hurt me," I whispered. "Except in the way I like to be hurt."

"You've done a good job handling Atlas too," Storm said. "He's almost not a complete asshole anymore."

"He'd say the same about you," Ramsey said. He'd sat quietly, listening to the conversation and looking thoughtful, if pissed off at the suggestion India might have tried to have me trafficked.

"Probably," Storm agreed. "He'd be wrong though. I'm still an asshole. And I'm okay with that. Someone has to be, to keep the rest of you in line. For Chelsea's sake."

"You like being in control," Ramsey observed. "Chelsea's sake or not."

Storm shrugged. "Maybe I do. You know what I'm not going to do? Apologise for it. It's who I am, and I'm not going to change for anyone."

"We wouldn't ask you to." I leaned over and put a hand on his. "It's one of things we like about you. You don't hold back. You say what you're thinking and everyone knows where they stand with you. It's a refreshing change from trying to figure out what's going on inside people's heads."

"There's only one thing going on inside my head," Dallas said. He moved his hand up my thigh, and between my legs.

"You don't want to see inside mine," Ramsey said.

I shifted my gaze over to him. "You think I'd be scared of what I saw in there?"

"You should be. I am." He took a sip of his own light beer and shrugged a shoulder.

"That sounds like a challenge to me," I said. "I don't think someone who would take me on a hot air balloon ride to watch the sunrise could really be that bad."

"That might be what he wants you to think." Storm squinted at Ramsey, as if trying to figure him out. "Lull you into a false sense of security before he… I don't know what. Are you sure you're not working with Carlos Jones?"

"Not a chance," Ramsey said. "I wouldn't work with a trafficker."

"That's good, because any hint that you planned to traffic Chelsea and I'll be the next person on the team to kill someone," Storm growled.

"Don't threaten me," Ramsey said without flinching. "I could end you before you move." He could have out glared Storm with the look he was giving him now.

"You guys are kinda hot," Ice remarked. "No wonder Chelsea is into you."

They both turned to look at him until he grinned with no hint of apology. "What? I'm very taken, but I can admire hot people when I meet them."

"Of course you can," I told him. "They're both very hot." It was probably just as well my brother was taken, because I suspected he would have found a way into our little family of seven. I could see him sharing Frost and Jay with me. Maybe Atlas too. We'd always been close, but that would have been one hell of a tangle.

"Dallas is too," I said before he felt left out.

"Dallas is hot for you," Dallas said. "Always."

"I'm hot for you too," I told him. I took a moment to clear my head and get the conversation back on track. "Isaac, is there any way of tracking the people India trafficked? Could we find them and return them to their families?"

He raised an eyebrow and cocked his head. "Look at you, wanting to take on the big bad. People like him tend to keep a tight leash on anyone they steal. Once they disappear into that world, it can be difficult to get them back."

"But not impossible," I stated. "I know it's happened before."

When Storm and Dallas glanced at me, I said, "One of the Bell sisters was trafficked. Back when the Bell family was the main rival of the Brantley family. She got free and freed all the women with her." Only a brave or stupid person would do that to one of those women. They were powerful and had powerful friends.

"Most people aren't the Bell sisters," Ice pointed out. "Had she disappeared into the network, she might not have been found again."

"Are you saying we can't find them, so we shouldn't try?" Storm asked.

"He saying it's dangerous," Ramsey said.

"Exactly," Ice agreed. "They might not be alive anymore. But now we know India was involved, we can look at who she was working with. Maybe we can uncover something. I won't make any promises except that I'll try."

That was all I was going to get, so I nodded. "Thank you. I don't want to take on any big bad anything, but their families should know what happened to them."

"I agree, totally," Ice said. "I've never been a fan of trafficking. The Brantley family does less of it these days than they used to, thanks to the twins. The only one involved nowadays is Caleb. In his case, it's probably to piss Hunter and Parker off."

"Who's Caleb?" Dallas asked.

"Reuben Brantley's younger brother," I said. "Second in command of the family business. Older brother of Hunter and Parker. If anyone is getting their hands dirty these days, it's usually him."

"Total narcissist without any remorse," Ice said. "If the man has a soft spot for anything, I've never seen it. And you know me, I like to see the soft spot in anyone."

"Sounds like a total prince," Storm said sarcastically.

"He's an asshole," Ramsey said. "Still better than Carlos Jones."

"This Jones guy must be a real prick then," Storm said.

"Total prick," Ramsey agreed. "Prick that is going to be annoyed we killed one of his contacts."

I sighed softly and leaned over towards my brother to ask, "Do you have any idea who Nile Fox is?"

Ice cocked his head in thought. "I can't say I do. Why?"

"India said something about him before I…she died," Dallas said. "He's got something to do with Otis Skinner and Dominic King."

"Huh." Ice scratched the side of his head. "It doesn't ring a bell. She didn't say anything more about him?"

"Not that I remember," Dallas said. His brow creased in thought. "She thought I should know who he is. When I didn't, she came at me."

"Interesting," Ice said. "I haven't got a clue, sorry. I'll ask around and see what I can find. If he's that high profile, he shouldn't be too hard to track down. He might be operating under some sort of codename, and only a select few know his real name."

I nodded slowly. "That's possible. I'm sure you'll figure out who he is, if we don't find out first."