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Chapter Nine

Saul

Two days later I again answered the door to David Martin, but this time he wasn’t on his own.

I knew with the expression on David’s face I was going to regret opening the door.

Luckily I’d just been going to wake Chris as he’d finished his last night, and now had a few days off.

I couldn’t wait for the promotion to be confirmed next month because it signaled the end of nights permanently. Both Jesse and I wanted him home more.

The other man in a suit held out his hand and introduced himself as Agent Michaels. I shook, then waved them to the kitchen. “Coffee’s brewed. Just give us a few minutes.”

I let myself into our bedroom to see Chris blinking sleepily up at me, his arms full of our boy. “Martin’s here and he has an FBI agent with him.” Worry crept over Jesse’s face but I leaned down and kissed him until he moaned deliciously.

“Later,” I promised.

“Daddy,” he whined even managing to stick his bottom lip out in an adorable pout.

“Come on,” Chris decreed and Jesse gave in instantly, letting me help him get dressed. He scampered off to brush his teeth.

“You look worried,” Chris said.

“Why is the FBI here?” I whispered.

“I can hazard a guess, but what concerns me is that we’re just getting Jesse settled. He’s responding beautifully to us both. He’s even been asking me some questions about the club, and if he can watch us when we have a session.”

I nodded. We’d had the conversation about consent and safewords because he had to understand the level of care he accepted from me, and the dominance from Chris was his decision.

“He’s thriving,” I whispered, just as the bathroom door opened and Jesse rushed back in, throwing his arms around me.

I clutched him back. “We’re going to be right here.

” It was on the tip of my tongue to say something else, but I held back.

We wanted the shadow of Graham Reynolds gone from our lives.

I just wasn’t convinced it was going to be that easy.

Chris led us into the kitchen where Sergeant Martin and Agent Michaels waited. Jesse stayed close to my side, his fingers discreetly brushing against mine as we entered. I could feel the tension radiating from him despite his outward calm.

"Sorry to disturb you," David said, standing as we entered. "But we have some developments in the case."

"Good news or bad?" Chris asked, his voice steady as he poured coffee for all of us.

The agent cleared his throat. "Both, unfortunately." He turned his attention to Jesse. "Mr. Carter, I'm Agent Michaels with the FBI. We've been investigating Deputy Sheriff Reynolds following your disclosure to Sergeant Martin."

Jesse nodded, his face carefully neutral as he sat between Chris and me at the table. I rested my hand on his knee under the table, offering silent support.

"We've managed to link Reynolds to two other missing persons cases," Michaels continued. "Young men with similar profiles to yours who disappeared in neighboring counties over the past five years."

Jesse's breath caught. "Did you... did you find them?"

A shadow crossed Michaels' face. "One of them, yes. Thomas Welch, twenty-two, disappeared three years ago. His remains were discovered in a wooded area last year, but the case had gone cold. Maybe not so coincidentally Reynolds investigated it."

I felt Jesse stiffen beside me, his hands clenching into fists on the table.

Chris reached over, covering one of Jesse's hands with his own. Agent Michaels sighed. “We’ve discovered that Reynolds keeps visiting the diner you worked at, plus another two closer to here.” He glanced up at me.

“And your restaurant a couple of times.”

Fury rushed through me. “Not again he won’t.”

Jesse's face had gone completely white. "You think he's looking for me," he whispered.

Agent Michaels leaned forward. "We believe so, yes. And that presents us with an opportunity."

“Absolutely not,” Chris thundered. “Whatever sting operation you’re planning, you use another cop. I won’t have Jesse put at risk like this.”

"No," I jumped in. "Jesse is not bait."

"With all due respect," Agent Michaels said, his tone measured, "this may be our best chance to catch Reynolds. We have circumstantial evidence connecting him to the disappearances, but nothing solid enough for an arrest. We need something more."

"And you think putting Jesse in harm's way is the answer?" I asked, unable to keep the anger from my voice. "After everything he's been through?"

Jesse's hand turned under mine, gripping it tightly. "What exactly would I have to do?" he asked quietly.

"Jesse, no," I said immediately, but he shook his head.

"I need to hear what they're proposing," he insisted.

Agent Michaels nodded. "We would place you in a controlled environment—somewhere Reynolds has been known to frequent. You'd be under constant surveillance, with agents positioned nearby. We need Reynolds to admit to holding you captive."

"And if something goes wrong?" Chris demanded. "If he gets to Jesse before your agents can react?"

"We would take every precaution?—"

"Like the precautions that let a deputy sheriff kidnap and imprison multiple victims without anyone noticing?" I cut in.

Jesse squeezed my hand. "Daddy,” he whispered then blushed realizing he’d outed us in front of the cops. Not that either Chris or I cared.

“Baby.” I turned, and, uncaring of my audience, gently took Jesse’s chin in mine. “We won’t risk you being hurt.”

Jesse smiled and took my hand, pressing a kiss on my palm. “I want my life to start. You promised I could train in the restaurant, but we can’t do any of that until this guy is in jail.”

I shot a helpless look to Chris.

Jesse turned back to the agent. “What exactly is it you need me to do?”

Jesse

I could feel Chris and Saul's tension radiating from both sides of me as Agent Michaels outlined the plan.

It wasn't complicated – I would work a shift at Saul's restaurant, which apparently Reynolds had been scoping out already, and because of Saul they could easily infiltrate with agents posing as staff.

The FBI would have agents scattered throughout as customers as well, and the entire place would be wired for sound and video.

"The goal is to get him to approach you," Michaels explained. "To say something incriminating. We just need enough to bring him in for questioning."

“But he’ll know it’s a trap,” Saul said incredulously.

“No, we don’t think he will,” Michaels said.

“He went to the hospital you were taken to, following up on a missing person, and intimated the missing person had been you when you were admitted after the fire. The staff did exactly as they were instructed, that details were confidential but that you refused to give a name and had discharged yourself.”

David leaned forward. “He thinks you’re terrified of going to the cops and that he’s safe. He will assume that if you’d breathed a word, he would have at least some questions asked of him, but there’s been nothing.”

"And what if he tries to grab Jesse right there?" Chris demanded, his arm protectively around my shoulders.

"We'll have agents ready to move at the slightest indication of danger," Michaels assured him. "Jesse will never be alone, not for a second."

I glanced between them, my stomach in knots. The thought of seeing Graham again made me physically ill, but the idea of him remaining free, possibly hurting someone else, was worse.

Plus I wanted it to be over. I wanted to start my life. I wanted bathtime and cuddle time and sexy times with both my Daddy and my Daddy Dom.

"When?" I asked, my voice steadier than I expected.

"We can start tonight if you want," Michaels replied. "We have information suggesting Reynolds will be off duty and in the area."

"That's too soon," Saul protested.

I squeezed his hand. "The sooner it's over, the better," I said softly.

After the officers left, Chris paced the kitchen like a caged tiger.

Saul kept finding reasons to touch me – straightening my collar, brushing his fingers through my hair, and in the end I led him to the sofa and simply climbed into his lap which I’d never done.

Saul threw his arms around me and I buried my face in his neck.

“I couldn’t bear to lose you,” he murmured.

I felt Chris come to sit next to us, and he rested his hand on the small of my back.

“You know I never counted myself as a Daddy,” he gestured to where I was curled up in Saul’s lap, “but it’s looking pretty good right about now.”

And in the middle of everything Saul and I shared a look. We both thought Chris had a lot of Daddy in him.

“I love you both so much,” I whispered.

Saul took my lips in a long slow kiss. “You complete us,” he vowed.

“We both love you very much,” Chris confirmed, wrapping his strong arm around both of us, creating a protective cocoon.

"We're going to be right there with you," he said, his voice firm but gentle.

"I'll be at the bar, and Saul will be working the kitchen.

We won't let anything happen to you, whatever the cops are doing. "

I nodded against Saul's neck, drawing comfort from his familiar scent. "I know. That's why I can do this. Because you'll both be there."

Saul's arms tightened around me. "I still don't like it."

"Neither do I," Chris admitted. "But Jesse's right. We can't truly start our life together with Graham still out there, still searching for him."

I lifted my head to look at them both. "This is the only way to end it, and to make sure he can't hurt anyone else."

The hours before my shift at the restaurant passed in a blur of preparation. Agent Michaels returned with a small team who fitted me with a nearly invisible wire and gave me instructions on what to say if Graham approached me.