Page 31 of Merciless Obsession (The Bloodline #2)

Moving on I turned and looked around the room.

A photo frame on the side he slept on caught my eyes.

Walking over to it my mouth parted and I snatched it up.

I brought it closer to me and my heart leaped as I stared at myself.

It was from when he had tied me the first time around my chest and I was still unconscious in the picture. It was in black and white.

“What the hell,” I mumbled.

I was unaware he printed the pictures out.

Vaguely I remembered him taking the picture but I had other things on my mind at that time.

The photo was beautiful, even I couldn’t deny it.

Even if pictures weren’t my thing, Ezra managed to capture me in a way I never noticed before.

I looked posed, relaxed, and like I was being photographed for a magazine or something.

Ezra was talented with a camera and if he wasn’t a lawyer I could see this being his profession.

My mouth suddenly turned upside down thinking of him taking pictures like this of other women.

I bit the inside of my jaw then set the picture back down.

What he did and who he did it with was none of my business.

Turning from the frame, I walked to the other door in the room and opened it up.

My eyes ballooned when a light popped on when I stepped inside.

It was a huge walk-in closet. On the back wall were shoes organized in built in squares.

They looked to be organized by style, first being his professional business ones, then moving into casual ones.

All of them looked expensive and in good shape.

I stepped deeper into the closet. On the left side were his suits, freshly pressed, color coordinated, and all looked tailored to fit Ezra perfectly.

The right held his everyday clothes, organized by color like his suits.

The crazy thing was he hadn’t even filled all the space in the closet and could probably triple the clothes he had and there were already a lot.

There were built in drawers also on the walls closer to the door.

I walked to them and pulled them open, seeing there were neatly folded ties, socks, and his boxers.

“Fuck.”

The Tavarez’s truly were loaded.

Once I was finished looking through the closet, I left out it and looked around the room again.

I went to the chaise and my skin flushed when I opened it and saw the ropes from last night.

That wasn’t all inside, there were more in different colors.

Along with some cuffs, a gag ball, and a few toys that looked to be for female pleasure.

Biting into my bottom lip I shook my head and raked my fingers through my wild curls. Heading for the dresser I located my purse, untouched, dug inside until I found a ponytail holder, and pulled my hair into a bun.

With my phone in hand I finally left the bedroom.

I heard voices coming from downstairs. Bypassing the other rooms up here, I walked to the steps and headed down slowly.

The voices were muffled and when I crossed the foyer and stepped into the living room I laid eyes on Ezra and Emmet.

Emmet had his laptop, his hands moving swiftly over the keyboard while Ezra talked.

Emmet’s head snapped up before I could even make a sound and his eyes landed on me, causing me to still.

I cleared my throat. “Good morning.” My eyes bounced between the two.

He stared at me intensely with dark eyes then lowered his head back to the laptop with a muffled morning.

“He’s not a morning person. Come over here,” Ezra encouraged me.

Gripping my phone I walked to the couch where he was sitting.

He stood when I got close and reached up, grabbed my chin, and leaned down, pressing his lips into mine.

“I love seeing you in my clothes. We might have to make this an everyday thing.”

I pulled away from him and looked down at my clothes then back up at him. “What’s going on?”

Ezra leaned over and picked up a medium sized mug. “Here. I heard you get up and knew you would be up soon.”

I looked at the white liquid in the mug. “What is this?”

“Tea with lavender, cream, and honey.”

My brows shot up. “How did you…?” With my words trailing off, I wet my lips and squinted. “Did you drug this?”

A crooked grin appeared on Ezra’s face. “No. As long as you don’t fight me I see no need to do that anymore. Unless you want me to, that is.” He returned to his seat.

Taking a deep breath, I stared into the mug and lifted it, sniffing it before bringing it to my mouth and taking a sip.

I couldn’t believe he had learned one of my favorite things to drink. It made me wonder just how long Ezra had been watching me. Never had someone pay this much attention to me before.

Taking a seat next to Ezra, I laid my phone on my lap and wrapped my hand around the mug, bringing it back to my mouth.

“So what’s going on?” I asked again.

“Emmet’s here to talk to you.”

“To me?” That surprised me. The guy barely said five words to me since meeting me.

“I told you we found some information that could help.”

That caught my attention, causing me to sit straighter. “Right, what is it?”

My skin buzzed.

Neither spoke right away. I began to grow anxious. Just when I was about to snap at them Ezra spoke again.

“Nazai did some digging and it seems like The Veil might be behind all this.”

“The Veil?” My words came as slow as my forehead creased.

“You’ve heard of them before?”

I nodded. “But I thought they weren’t real. Or at least there’s never been concrete proof it existed.”

Of course I’d heard of The Veil. With all the digging I’d done into the organized crime world in this city and the dark web it was hard not to see or hear about The Veil every now and then.

From what I learned they were a group who typically worked with mercenaries.

I never thought to look deeper into them since there was never proof the group was real.

People believed they were a band of people working together with unknown faces in charge.

Emmet spoke up, causing me to jump. “Yes, The Veil.”

Since he was so quiet I wasn’t sure if I would ever get used to hearing his voice. It was deep and gravelly. I wasn’t sure if it was because he didn’t use it often or if it was just naturally raspy.

“I’ve been looking into them since Nazai brought them up to me.”

“Wait.” I put my hand up, leaning forward and setting my mug on the coffee table. “The Veil has never been proven to be real. How do we even know they’re really involved?”

I wasn’t about to get my hopes up about some urban myth.

“Nazai isn’t one to half ass anything. If he revealed this, that means he did the proper lurking and got the right information before he told us.”

“Okay…so let’s say The Veil is real. Then that means they’re running this trafficking ring.

If no one knows who they are or where to find them, then how do we stop them.

” A knot began to grow in the pit of my stomach.

This news didn’t make me feel better like I thought it would.

If anything it made me feel discouraged.

These weren’t everyday street thugs that could easily be brought down.

The Veil was rumored to have high connections which makes sense since they’d never been caught.

“I checked into some things. I found a site that a lot of sickos in the city use to get things anonymously,” Emmet started, tapping on his computer as he spoke. “The site ranges from illegal adoptions to organs, and even sex trafficking.”

“You think The Veil operates it?” I stood and walked over to where Emmet was. He stared at me, frowning, but I ignored it and peeked at his screen.

“Can you take that off?” I asked. He had a privacy protector on it so when you looked at the screen from an angle it was blacked out.

Emmet stared at the computer, not moving at first, before finally removing the privacy screen and setting it to the side. Now that I was able to see his screen, I squinted and leaned in, studying the screen.

“This is run by The Veil?”

“I’m not sure yet, according to some sources it is, but I’m still investigating.

I’m working on finding out where it’s running from but they’ve gone through extensive measures to make sure their location and identity stays secure.

I do know a lot of mercenaries get work from the site.

It’s almost like a freelance site for them.

You choose a job and send an encrypted link to get more information about whatever you choose. ”

“May I?” I reached for his laptop.

Emmet’s head snapped up and he glared at me with an scrutinizing expression on his face. You would have thought I just talked ill about his mom.

“E, it’s cool. Let her see it.”

“No one touches my laptop,” he responded.

I could understand. I was the same way with my things.

People like us who kept a lot of incriminating and sensitive information on their devices didn’t want anyone touching them.

Emmet in particular seemed like the type who took what he did to the extreme so it was clear why he didn’t want me in his things.

“Just let her see it. She not gon’ do shit.”

Emmet side-eyed me, still unconvinced.

“Oh c’mon, you were all on my home computer without my permission or knowledge. Let me see the damn thing, please.” My patience was running thin. This could be the missing piece I’d been waiting on and Emmet was acting like a child who didn’t want to share his favorite toy.

Eventually Emmet slid the laptop onto my lap. He watched me like a hawk as I examined the site.

“I’ve never heard of this site before,” I mentioned with my lips twisted to the side.

“It’s highly secured. I told you that.” I cut my eyes at him but kept quiet.

“The jobs they ask for and that are fulfilled are ones you have to be sick and lack morals to do. It wasn’t easy to find and was perfectly hidden.

The money exchange is all in digital currency.

The VPNs are set up so the IP address tracks from all over the world and each time you refresh it’s a new location that pulls up.

They also have top notch scramblers in place. ”

“How do you get a job?” I wondered.

“An account. No personal information is exchanged, no meet ups required. When you go to the site you have to have an access number. That’s how you do everything on the site.

Whoever runs the site, gets a profit of whatever the job costs and the person posting has to pay for the job too of course.

Since nothing is ever in person it’s hard to know who’s requesting these tasks.

Measures are set up between each party for if you ever need to meet in person to fulfill a job. ”

This was the most I’d heard Emmet talk, but it was informative. “You’ve done your research. How did you learn it all?”

Emmet grunted. “I’m good at my job.” I lifted my head and turned toward him. He stared at me as if I should already know this.

“I told you E’s thorough. That’s why I know with you two working this, I’m sure we’ll be able to get more info behind The Veil and that site if it’s run by them.”

I looked back at the screen. Bile rose in the back of my throat seeing the request. They truly ranged and got sicker with each post. I knew the world was sick, but I wasn’t aware so many lived right here in our city.

By the time I was done going over the page I felt like I needed to bleach my eyes and drink a bottle of Holy Water.

“What are you doing?” Emmet asked as my hands started moving across the keyboard and trackpad.

“You weren’t lying, this is high level shit.” Excitement filled me. It was always exciting to try and get through things like this, almost like a game in a way.

“Even if we can’t track the exact location, narrowing it down might help us.”

I opened the properties window.

“I need to get to my computer.”

This couldn’t wait. If this was a lead I needed to get on it right away.

“What about The Veil? Anything concrete on them?”

Emmet reached over and took his computer from me.

“A couple forums popped up, but nothing to go by. It looks like they find you if you’re in need of their services. I haven’t figured out how they’re notified yet.”

My teeth sank into my bottom lip.

I lifted my head and faced Ezra. “I need to go home. I need my computer.”

“I’ll take you home after we eat.”

“I’m not hungry.”

I looked at Emmet. “Come to my house. We can work on this together.”

Emmet stared at me like I was speaking another language.

Ezra spoke up, but this time in Spanish, which I wasn’t fluent in. Emmet replied, also in Spanish. The two went back and forth a while before I cut in.

“Enough! Can you speak so I can understand it! Especially if it’s about me!”

I bounced my eyes between the two.

“We’re going to grab food, Emmet has some things to take care of then he’ll meet you at your house. I made sure to tell him not to try any funny shit and to keep his hands to himself.” I rolled my eyes then faced Emmet again.

“You know my friend has a crush on you, right?”

He started putting his things away. “I’m aware. I’ll handle her in due time.”

My face scrunched. “In due time? What does that mean?”

Emmet didn’t say anything else. Knowing how Ezra was I could only imagine what Emmet had in mind for my friend.

I couldn’t worry about that right now. My skin was still buzzing and my heart pounded.

Once I got home, I would have more resources to do a deep dive like I needed.

If The Veil was real and this site was connected to them then I would unmask them.

We were in my playing field now and there’d never been a site I couldn’t get into.