Page 7 of Capture (Primal #3)

C an I have a word?” I asked the head bartender, who gave us the tip on the drug-taking dance girls, and who was selling them the drugs.

I took this to mean that she was loyal to us, but one had to be careful regardless.

And it’s she who had to be cautious of us, not the other way around.

Whoever betrayed us must be siphoned out and eliminated.

The color ran from her cheeks as confusion washed behind her eyes as if she thought she was in trouble, but didn’t know what for. She will be in trouble if she lies to me, though, so she had better think before she speaks.

I wiggled my finger to lure her close to me, and she leaned over the bar, swallowing nervously as her eyes were the size of saucers. “Is everything okay?”

I cast my eye around the empty showroom and bar to see if anyone was watching us. A cleaner had her head down vacuuming, and a younger bartender was shining glasses with a cloth. Betty, who Annika believed was the one speaking about the rats dumped in the club, even though she wasn’t entirely sure.

She had her dark blond hair pulled back into a ponytail with tidy bangs, clean makeup, and a starched, perfectly ironed uniform. She set a good standard and work ethic for newer and younger staff.

“What I’m about to say to you must be kept between you and me,” I stated sternly.

“Sure,” she nodded nervously, then swallowed as her eyes darted about the ample empty space. “Has something happened?”

“Well, you’d be aware of the rat dump, an attack by an enemy, to have this place shut down by Health Inspectors.”

“Dumped? It was deliberate?” she asked warily, and I paused to consider whether I should continue pursuing my line of questioning.

Maybe she doesn’t know anything. She was the type of staffer who turned up early, put her head down, and worked diligently without complaint.

She added, “I heard about the rats, but I wasn’t aware that it was a deliberate hit. By who? Our competitors?”

“Ah. So you don’t know anything,” I groaned as my heart sank.

Confusion washed across her face, then a glint of something in her eyes. “There were rumors. I didn’t take them seriously,” she shrugged her shoulders.

“Like what?” I pressed firmly.

She bowed her head and glanced under her eyelashes over my shoulder as if seeking out someone in particular.

I slowly turned my head around, so it didn’t seem obvious what I was doing.

It was Betty that I saw, striding toward us, impeccably dressed, scarlet lipstick, long black ponytail swinging behind her.

I glanced back at the bartender, who dropped her eyes.

“Her?” I pointed my thumb behind me. “Betty?”

“Like I said, it was a rumor that I didn’t pay much attention,” she whispered, then recoiled and slunk away as Betty approached.

“You’re here early?” Betty stated breathlessly with that blood red smile as the bartender moved further away from us. Betty’s eyes flicked between the bartender and me, then forcefully relaxed my stance, cracked open a couple of pistachios, and then threw them back into my mouth.

“Just checking up on the place,” I replied, forcing the warmth in my tone, which wasn’t easy, since I’d never been a great actor.

“Ronan’s busy with school.” I knew Ronan was guarding the traitor’s room and might need to catch up on sleep once he was done.

But I wasn’t going to tell Betty that because right now, she’s got a target on her back.

“Okay, great. Is there anything I can help you with?” She cocked her head to the side as if she was picking up on my restrained energy.

“Yeah, no sign of rats?” I asked her, straight to see how she’d react.

She barely flinched. “No sign of any pest, including insects. You know we have a very high standard here at Savile, Mr. Kaiser.”

Her answer seemed rehearsed and out of character, but it was an answer that she knew I would want to show that she had it all under control, and for me not to worry about a single thing. Sure.

“Good,” I replied. “And the health inspector?”

She shrugged those shoulders and glanced at the bartender again, who crouched down behind the bar to check something. “I haven’t heard a peep since you paid him off,” she replied flatly.

“And the media?” I pressed, looking at her directly in the eyes, expecting a flicker of guilt, but seeing nothing. If she was collaborating with the Russians, then she had a clear conscience. Not a fleck of culpability in her face.

“Again, I haven’t heard a peep from them,” she asserted in that level tone that she had perfected. “You’ll be the first to know if I did.” She checked her phone as if a message had just come in, then tapped her long fingernail on the bar. “I'd better get back to the front desk.”

“Sure,” I nodded in understanding, and I waited until she was a few feet away before adding, “Didn’t you used to work in the theatre?”

She froze, looking back in confusion. “The theatre?”

“Yeah, acting on stage,” I clarified. “Weren’t you a theatre kid?”

“Yes,” she replied suspiciously. “Not just theatre, but I had small roles in movies and television series.”

“So, you didn’t quite get your break in Hollywood?” I postured, suppressing a smirk because she didn’t like that question. I touched on a sore point and found Betty’s weakness, an unresolved career.

“No,” she answered brusquely, controlling her tone so she didn’t snap at me.

“So, is running a Gentleman’s club Plan B, or maybe Plan C for you? I mean…it must be a comedown after pursuing an acting career,” I pushed further to see if she’d crack and show me who she was.

She sighed, frustrated and confused by my line of questioning. If she were colluding with the Ivanovs, she might tell them that I’m on to her, or she might assume I’m in a foul mood because everything had been crap lately. Well, she wouldn’t be wrong there, and she might be responsible for it.

“I better go,” she stated evenly, then left.

As she started walking away, I swiped for our private investigator’s number, Danny, and as soon as he answered, “Beatrice Hewitt. Can you do some digging on her?”

He hesitated two beats. “Betty, your manager?”

“Yes. I assume a security check was done on her when my aunt and uncle hired her many years ago, but I’m starting to have some doubts,” I explained as my gaze latched onto the door that led upstairs to the little liar’s room.

“I’ll get onto it, Mr. Kaiser,” he replied. “Can I ask for specifics on why you think Ms. Hewitt might be a problem?”

Fair question. “A trusted staff member overheard a conversation that was cause for concern,” I told him, thinking of her.

She wasn’t trusted at all, but I sounded more convincing by saying that she was. But right now, she’s up in that room alone, feeling sorry for herself. My cock twitched. Huh. Interesting.

“Okay. I had already spoken to her, but it was mostly asking about her staff, not about her, since you held her highly,” he explained as if using that as an excuse.

“Well…I’m having second thoughts about that now,” I told him as I waved my hand at the bartender to grab her attention, then pointed to the glass bottles of spring water in the fridge, and she opened the door and took one out and was about to open it, when I held my hand up to stop her.

“Let me do some digging, but just to clarify, would you like me to update you or Mr. Brynes if I discover some sensitive information?” I’m glad he asked this question and understood the project's confidentiality.

“I prefer you come straight to me and make sure no one else knows what you’re doing, but if I’m unavailable, then Ronan is next in line,” I asserted as I pointed to a packet of salted potato chips behind the bar, and the bartender grabbed a bag.

Still, I raised two fingers and as if reading my mind, she grabbed a sour cream and onion to go with the salted packets.

It was hardly nutritious, but it was a good snack food to eat between meals.

I didn’t want her to go hungry, even though she was our prisoner and I hated her.

“Let me see what I come up with,” he said evenly, and I assumed he was going to end the call, but he added, “It’s obvious that the latest ruses are coming from the inside-out, so it makes sense that it might be her.

Remember the witness saw the laundry delivery van drop off something in the early hours of the morning, and there was someone in your building that had a key to unlock the delivery door so they could collect, what one can assume was a box of rats. ”

“Yeah, we were aware and had been putting our ear to the ground, but as you know…keep your friends close but your enemies closer,” I stated bluntly, and he agreed.

I swiped off, noticing the bartender had already restocked the packet of chips that I’d taken.

With Betty out of the way, I was tempted to pressure the bartender with more questions about the rats and the traitor in our midst, but my abdomen was pointing me in another direction, toward the door that led to her room.

A strange tingle traveled down the back of my neck as I strode to the Red Velvet lounge rooms as if my body was instinctively warning me against it. An inner dialogue played out as the scent of plush leather hit my senses, between the good, sensible me and the reckless, instinctive side.

What? I had no intention of touching her.

She’s my enemy. I’d be mad to lay a hand on the girl who got me sent to prison.

Yet, it’s been a while since I slid my cock into the warm, wet core of a woman and since she spread for the boys, then maybe…

no. She’s my enemy. I hate her. She means as much to me as the bug on the wall or the sludge in a swamp or the fungi in the damp garden.

Damp. Fuck, my mind is back between her legs again.

As I ran up the stairs, I was getting hotter, and even when I saw Ronan’s surly, bored face at the end of the hall, it didn’t cool my heat.

“Is she alright?” I asked him as I approached her door.

“Yeah, well, no, she had a panic attack, so I think all those stories she told and lies she spun had come back to haunt her in one giant heap,” he explained, sounding grim.

“A panic attack? Huh,” I swallowed back the guilt rising in my stomach. She’s young and easily influenced, and I should be more forgiving, but she chose to side with the police instead of the family that loved her. “Was it real? It wasn’t a little Hollywood, so you’d feel sorry for her?”

He hesitated as an annoyed expression washed behind his eyes. This was always my concern with these two lads, that the sweet perfume of a pretty girl would dull their senses while she crawled under their skin to plant a lie. Dipshits.

“Yes, it was real,” he stated, grinding his jaw, holding back his irritation at me.

Perhaps it was time to set him straight. “Ronan, if you and Gunner are turning soft over this girl, maybe I can’t trust you anymore.”

He flinched as he rose to his feet to look me in the eye, then mumbled something. He wasn’t usually a mumbler, unlike Gunner, so whatever he said was difficult for him to express, in case he bore the wrath of my anger.

I placed my hand by my ear, “What?”

He shrugged as the color seemed to run from his face. “I don’t think she deserves this,” pointing toward her door.

A strange sensation of loneliness came over me.

Am I alone in this? Have the men I rely on the most abandoned me?

I can’t rely on Betty anymore, and these two chumps were siding with the traitor, which left only Freddie.

That didn’t fill me with confidence, as my world seemed to be crumbling before my eyes because of her .

All of this heartache and division was because of her .

“No, you’re right,” I replied, and I could see his shoulders relaxing as a flicker of hope expressed in his eyes.

Only for me to demolish his hope by adding, “This room is too good for her. We should’ve kept her in a cold, stone dungeon, chained to the wall, fed only bread and water.

Luckily for you, there are no dungeons around these parts. ”

“C’mon, Mikky, she’s told us everything. What more do you want from her?” he pressed as his stare noticed the chips and spring water in my hands, which kinda contradicted what I just said.

I cut him a black scowl. “I’m disappointed in you, Ronan. I thought I could rely on you, but maybe I’m wrong,” I warned him.

“You can rely on me,” he asserted. “But…she was a kid, man. She was na?ve and scared and fell into a fucking rabbit hole of cops emotionally blackmailing her.” He exhaled. “She was a kid. Sixteen, Mikky, a fucking kid.”

I agreed with him. She was a kid. I get it. But I wasn’t about to give the little liar her freedom because the first people she’d run to were the fucking cops. Ronan should know this. “If she betrayed us once, she’d betray us again, Ronan.”

“Mik-”

“Leave,” I demanded, interrupting another guilt trip. “Go and get some sleep, Ronan. That’s an order.”

“I honestly don’t think she’d be that dumb, Mikky,” he groaned, peeling his back away from the wall.

I scoffed, shaking my head in disappointment as I unlocked her door. “She’s not going to get a chance to find that out, is she?”

He stalled and I shot him another black scowl, before he continued on his way down the stairs, head low, looking like a wet guppy fished out from a pond.

At this rate, there’d be no one left on my side. Maybe I should destroy everyone, burn this fucking down, and start again from scratch with new people by my side. Maybe.

Then I swung the door open and my gaze latched onto her small body bundled up in the corner of the bed, hugging her bent knees, messy dark hair, fear flashed behind her eyes, and my heart lurched in my chest.

Damn.