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Trevor walked into the apartment and stilled. He looked around at Damon, who nodded.

“Yeah, I feel it too.”

Kano stared at them, from one to the other. “What is it you’re feeling?” he asked cautiously. “And should I be alarmed?”

“Somebody has been in here, and not just law enforcement,” Trevor stated, “and yet something is fairly familiar about this energy.”

“When you say, fairly familiar, what do you mean?”

He shrugged. “That I can’t tell you yet. If we’re lucky, by the end of this visit, we’ll figure it out.”

“When you say familiar , are you saying…” He hesitated, as Damon lifted a hand.

“Give us a chance to work for a bit,” he shared, “and then we’ll tell you what we come up with.”

Kano snapped his jaw shut and nodded. “Hurry up,” he growled.

Damon smiled at him. “We will.”

Kano’s tone was harsh, but neither of them took offense, because in these stressful situations, everything counted, especially time. As Damon wandered around, doing his own thing, Trevor sent his energy soaring up and above to look down. Everything that he saw as he walked through the apartment was that something in progress had been interrupted. Thank God for that, and apparently the dangerous materials had been removed, but nobody had been in to do the final checks yet. That was coming this afternoon.

So they were here first. Hopefully they could come up with something. Trevor followed his instincts and ended up in one of the two bedrooms. Damon had gone into the other. Trevor stopped in the middle of this bedroom, closed his eyes, and sent out an energy probe, looking to see what and who was here or had been here. He knew Kano was just watching, standing there, waiting for somebody to say something to him. Trevor ignored him and searched for something foreign.

It was such a faint energy that he almost missed it. He went deeper, and, when it became something strong enough that he could pick it up, he walked a little bit closer and opened up the night table drawer. Nothing was there, but he knew something was somewhere. He looked over at Kano. “Give me a hand, will you?”

They quickly flipped the mattress and, in between the mattress and the box spring, was an envelope. He pulled it out with a smile. “This is what we’re after.”

“Seriously?”

Trevor nodded. “Yeah, I think so.”

At that, Damon came into the room, took one look, and muttered, “There it is. I saw a bed but I went to the wrong room.”

“Yeah, and I went by energy, and this is what we’ve got.” He looked around and nodded. “I think we can leave now.” He looked back at Damon for confirmation.

He nodded. “Yeah, and we need to leave right away. Something’s happening.” He frowned. “I don’t like it, but it’s outside.”

And, with that, they quickly left the apartment, Trevor stuffing the envelope underneath his shirt, tucked into his pants now. As they got to the elevator, Damon sighed. “As much as I don’t like it, this will be much faster.” They piled into the elevator and dropped down to the ground floor.

As they stepped out, Jerome stood there, a smirk on his face. Bullard stood nearby, glaring at him, and Reeni was beside Bullard, almost cowering, while another man yelled into her face.

Trevor immediately walked over to Reeni, wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and pulled her close. He glared at the other man, who was burning like an inferno. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Reeni whispered, “It’s my father.”

He glared at the other man. “Haven’t you done enough to ruin her life? Why are you here again, still trying to make her miserable?

Her father stiffened and glared at him. “I don’t know you, but you are a piece of shit. I don’t care if she is sleeping with you. What right do you have to talk to me like that? You can bet I’ll ensure you don’t have a job when this is over.”

Only by accident did Trevor catch sight of Jerome’s face. Trevor motioned to Damon, who gazed over at Bullard’s employee. He walked closer and asked, “This is your doing, I presume?”

The smile left Jerome’s face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He sneered. “She’s a loose cannon for Christ’s sake, so why the hell does anybody care?”

Just then her father grabbed her by the arm and pulled her out of Trevor’s arms and toward the waiting car. She cried out in pain, and he glared at her. “God, you’re such a whiner,” he declared in the same disgusted tone. “I can’t wait to get you locked up where you belong.”

“That’s not happening,” Trevor snapped, his tone hard. “You don’t have any rights here.”

“Of course, I do. I don’t give a rat’s ass about this fucking country. And nobody here will stop me from taking my runaway daughter home.”

Trevor shook his head. “Your daughter is an adult. She has a right to choose what she wants and where she wants to go. She can stay where she is.”

“Not according to the paperwork I have,” he declared, with a sneer. “I got that all locked down a long time ago, and nothing anybody can do about it.”

He was nothing if not arrogant.

“She’s mine to do with as I will, and that’s how it’ll be. I’ll ensure she can’t get away this time.” He glared at her. “You’re such an embarrassment. You’re a fucking nightmare, just like your sister.”

“What happened to my sister?” she asked, stopping in her tracks, turning to face him. “Outside of the fact that you probably locked her up too.”

“Of course I did, and her husband was fully agreeable. He wanted a decent wife, and I couldn’t hold him to the marriage, not after I realized she was trying to divorce him,” he replied, with a groan. “After everything I’ve done for you ungrateful little whiners, that’s what you do.”

“What? You mean choose to live with somebody we care about instead of being an object to be abused by you?” Reeni replied, defiance in her tone. That response had everybody turning to look at her. “You’ve done nothing but manipulate us, steal from us, lie and connive everyone with your crooked lawyers to take away our inheritance, when all you care about is making sure we do what you want us to do. Even Mom’s locked up, isn’t she? You somehow got her sectioned too.”

“Your mother is unstable,” he declared in a very gentle tone now. “I get that you’re the same, and you just don’t understand, but that’s all right. I’ll ensure the doctors take good care of you.”

“Like hell,” she roared, as she stepped back and glared at him. “No way I’m going anywhere with you. Not now, not ever.”

“That’s too bad you feel that way, but you can’t stop me.”

“Really?” she asked, her anger flaring.

Trevor smiled. There was the woman he knew. Strong, confident, still learning to burn.

Reeni continued. “What you’re doing right now is completely illegal and the African government, whether they like it or not, is supposed to save me from assholes like you. Then you can go through the proper channels to try and extradite me out of here,” she explained. “However, I’m not going without a major screaming fit happening right here and right now. Believe me that this time is like nothing you have ever seen before.”

He looked over at the rest of the men, standing beside Reeni, now glaring at him too. “No, you don’t understand,” he noted in a calm tone. “She’s a danger to herself and to everybody else around her,” he explained, trying damn hard to convince everyone. “She needs help, professional medical help.”

Bullard stepped forward, obviously furious. “You’re right about one thing. She needs help, but not in the form of you. She needs somebody to save her from you,” he stated, his tone hard. “We don’t abuse women here.”

Her father laughed. “This is Africa. Of course you do. Women are no better, no worse than anybody who can take advantage of them,” he snapped, with a sneer. “I don’t know who the hell she’s got as a protector in you, but you’re nobody, and, by the time I’m done with you, if you even think to interfere, you won’t be anybody.”

Bullard stared at him, and a slow smile crossed his face. “Challenge accepted,” he declared. “I don’t think you have any idea who you’ve just tried to take on.”

At that, the other guy with Reeni’s father looked around uneasily. “My name is Matthew Cantor,” he announced, “just in case you need it for the record.”

“I already know your name,” Bullard stated, with a wry smile that was just a bit unsettling. “I already know everything I need to know. Right now, your wife is filing divorce papers, and the cops are looking to bring you up on criminal charges, even as we speak.”

Reeni turned and looked at Bullard in shock. “What?”

He nodded. “The doctor who has been signing all this bogus paperwork passed away, and his son took over the business. So he is doing what he can to rectify the criminal activities his father engaged in for profit, one of which was signing documents to commit your mother, your sister, and yourself, as your father saw fit,” Bullard shared with one and all. “Completely illegally, but it allowed him to control your fortune, which by the way is quite vast. Here you are, trying hard to stay afloat, yet he’s been controlling your money all this time.”

Her father stepped back and glared at Bullard. “I don’t know who are you or what you think you are doing,” he bellowed, “but you won’t interfere in my family business.”

“I’ve already stopped it. It didn’t take much, just a couple phone calls to set things in motion. Also, you have a slight issue regarding tax evasion, and it seems the US Treasury is looking into your history pretty intently at the moment. Then we also have the other nuisances of the criminal charges for what you’ve done to your wife and daughters, including Reeni. That involves you too, Matthew.”

Matthew stiffened and glared at him. “I haven’t done anything wrong,” he stated. “It’s obvious that they’re desperately in need of help. Have you listened to the crap that comes out of her mouth?”

Bullard nodded. “Yeah, and I wish I’d listened earlier to some of it,” he admitted. “But I didn’t, so that’s my mistake. I won’t make a second one, by letting you haul her away as if she’s damaged goods. That won’t happen.”

“You can’t stop us,” her father roared, as he grabbed her by the arm and jerked her hard toward the car.

She jerked back, pulling her arm free again. “I won’t get hauled out of here just because you say so,” she cried out. “I’ve been looking for a lawyer myself to fight you.”

“That’s not happening,” he thundered. “I have documents that say how inept and totally unequipped you are to handle life in this world. So, believe me that the judge will listen to that over anything you have to say,” he argued, with a sneer.

“Not necessarily,” Bullard snapped, “particularly when it was all obtained illegally and for the purpose of controlling her money.”

“I don’t need her money,” he snapped. “I have more than enough for my own needs.”

“If that’s the case, it’s interesting that you decided that you had to have hers anyway,” Damon noted, stepping closer to Reeni. “Because you’re the one who’s been handling it all this time.”

“I had no choice,” he stated. “These things have to be managed. It’s a father’s sacrifice.” He spoke in such a woebegone patronizing tone of voice that everybody stiffened and glared at him. “Look, this is a private family issue. It’s got nothing to do with any of you.” He motioned at Trevor. “You can find somebody else to sleep with, one who won’t be waking you up with night terrors,” he pointed out, with an eyeroll.

“Is that what it is to you?” Trevor asked. “Somebody who has deep-seated nightmares of being held captive, kidnapped in the middle of night by her own father, and locked away in institutions? That’s all it is to you?… Something to mock, something to make fun of, just because you can?”

Her father glared at her. “I’m not the source of her night terrors,” he declared. “Even my mother had the same strain of mental instability. I know what I’m talking about, and you guys obviously don’t. Somehow Tangerine has managed to show you a different side of her.”

“No, I haven’t,” she argued. “They have seen the exact same side as you have, but they’re not terrified by it, like you are.” She pointed at him. “That says something.”

“It doesn’t say anything,” he countered, with yet another sneer. “You don’t scare me, but you can bet I’ll ensure you’re locked up so that you don’t scare the rest of the world either.”

“Of course. That’s what you do with everybody you can’t control,” she replied. She glanced back at the driver. “So, did he just hire you from here, or did you come with him?”

The driver looked at her in confusion. “I was ordered to pick him up at the airport and to bring the two of you back to the airport,” he said. “I’ve never worked with him before.”

“In that case,” she began, “you may want to just take off because it’s likely to get a little uglier here, and people might think you’re involved.”

At that, his eyebrows shot up. “You really don’t want to go?”

“Hell no,” she spat, “I have no intention of going anywhere with this man. He’s a deranged power-hungry kidnapper,” she shared, “a bully, who likes to play games with people for his own entertainment.”

And, with that, the driver tilted his head toward her. “Good luck.” He quickly drove off, leaving her father stranded.

“Now what will you do?” she asked, with a laugh. “It’s not as if you can just drag me through town at will. Not everybody here wants to be part of your crooked little operation,” she muttered. “I would be very, very happy if the taxman showed up. I’ve also got information for him that he would love.”

“You don’t have anything,” he scoffed.

“Oh, actually I do. I got it from Grandma,” she stated, with a smile. “She wanted to ensure that you could never treat the rest of us like you treated her, so she’d been compiling information for a very long time,” she explained. “I just didn’t have anybody in my corner I could trust with this information to help put you away.”

He stared at her in shock, and she nodded. “Yeah, so you should be making plans yourself right now, because, whether you leave me alone or not,” she promised, with a sneer of her own this time, “we’re coming after you. We’ll be around to confirm that you get to spend the rest of your life, not in a nice padded little cell like you arranged for your family, but in prison, where you can deal with criminals, some who may not take kindly to you locking up your entire family so you could control their inheritance.” She smiled as she added, “Not everybody likes abusers.”

He looked uncomfortable for a moment and then scoffed. “You’re just making empty threats. Crazy little bitch.”

“Oh, not empty threats,” she confirmed. “I do have that information. I’ve been looking for an honest person to go to bat for me, a lawyer, somebody I could trust, but trust is something that’s a little thin on the ground these days. Particularly when it comes to this because almost everybody can be bought off, as you have found out quite easily. You’ve had to buy a lot of them.”

“I bought off your last attorney,” he stated, with that endless sneer.

“Which is why I didn’t try again because I couldn’t tell who to trust,” she admitted. “However, now I’ve found some trustworthy people, who can’t be bought by you.”

“I doubt it,” he muttered. “I can offer them a million bucks each, and believe me that every one of them will take it.”

Bullard just shook his head. “No, I sure can’t be bothered for that paltry sum,” he replied, with a cheerful smile. “You want to talk billions, and I might be interested, but probably not, because I just don’t like you,” he proclaimed in an ugly tone. “I’ve had quite enough out of you. I know exactly what kind of a guy you are. I’ve spent a lifetime fighting assholes like you, and believe me that you are not taking her away, and we will definitely be coming after you.”

With that, Bullard pulled out his phone and called back the driver. When he showed up, Bullard ordered, “Take him to the airport and ensure he gets on his plane.”

At that, the driver grinned. “Absolutely.” He led her father to the car.

Her father turned to her and vowed, “This isn’t the end of it. My team is here. I might leave, but they will stay to deal with you.”

“No, it isn’t the end,” she agreed, “because the tide has turned, and I’m coming after you now.” She smiled. “That you can believe, and I will make you pay for what you did to the rest of my family. Once my sister and my mother realize they really are safe, I’ll ensure they testify about what you’ve done to them. It’s over. We’ve had enough of you and everything you’ve done to us. See you later, Dad .”

At that point, he was shoved into the car, and they drove off.

She turned to Bullard and studied him for a moment. “Did you mean it, or was that all a bluff?”

“I meant it.” He nodded. “You don’t know me that well yet, and what you do know probably isn’t all that positive,” he added, with a smile. “Yet I meant every word. I don’t say what I don’t mean, and your father needs somebody in a position of power to stop him.”

“True.”

“Believe me that I have that power, and between me and the rest of the team, we know a lot of people in this world who will go to bat for you,” he shared. “So, yes, I can’t say your problems are over, and, in many ways, they’re just starting, but your father or his minions won’t lock you up ever again.”

“So, you say, but, if I get kidnapped in a dark alley, with nobody around, he’s still got all that paperwork, doesn’t he?”

Bullard nodded. “That he does, at least until we can get some of this sorted out,” he admitted. “It shouldn’t take long, but it will take a day or two more,” he muttered. “So, we need you to stay safe in the meantime.”

“Yeah, well, in order to do that,” she stated, “I’m definitely leaving your place.”

Bullard glared at her, but she pointed toward Jerome. “He’s the one who called my father. Jerome is the one willing to turn me in as a sacrificial goat. For money I’m sure, but also because I made him very uncomfortable, and he was upset that you were foolish enough to listen to me. So, while I do feel more welcome there, I’m still not sure I’m safe at your place.”

Bullard turned to Jerome, who glared at the group. “I can’t believe you’re listening to her. It’s obvious that she’s got serious problems. Why didn’t you just let her father take her away?”

“Why would we?” Damon asked, studying him. “We don’t do that to people.”

“She needs help, so you should look at it from that point of view,” Jerome snapped. “It’s obvious that people need to be helped, and she couldn’t help herself, so somebody had to step up and do what was right.” He sneered at Kano. “Even you were smitten. Somebody just has to say a few little things, and suddenly everybody here is all gaga about her. It’s all bullshit.”

With a flick of Bullard’s hand, Damon and Kano secured Jerome, including cuffing his hands and his feet. When he started to loudly object, they obliged him with a gag in his mouth.

She stared over at Damon and then back at Trevor. “That confirms how my father found me,” she stated, “but it doesn’t answer the question about what you found.”

Trevor nodded. “We did find some things,” he murmured. “It might answer some other questions as well, but it would be nice if we could get out of the public eye, preferably before the cops come and start tearing apart that place.”

Bullard narrowed his gaze at him. “Did you guys find something?”

Trevor nodded. “So, can we get back to your place and maybe sort it out there?”

He nodded. “We will, indeed. Let’s go.” And, with that, they all quickly trooped back to Bullard’s compound, with some adjustments. Bullard took Jerome and Damon and Kano back with him. That left Trevor driving Reeni with him.

On the drive over, Trevor kept his hand on her the whole time. She shifted against him and whispered, “I’m fine, you know?”

He grinned at her. “You’re more than fine. You handled that great. You didn’t succumb to the fear, and you did really, really well,” he stated warmly.

She sighed and snuggled in close. “I’m sorry for all my father’s insults—to you, I mean.”

He looked at her and then laughed. “Honey, those were hardly even insults. They were just an old man scared of losing control.”

“Yep, that’s what he is, but he will lose control,” she declared in a determined tone.

“He will. Whether he knows it or not, he has a whole new reality coming his way.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t have warned him though,” she murmured. “He’ll just have a chance to pull his forces together and to make our lives even more difficult. He might even hide away.”

“That’s fine if he does,” he replied, reassuring her. “Bullard meant it. He’s contacted people, and I know Terk has as well.”

“Sure, but contacting people ,” she repeated, using her fingers to make air quotes, “doesn’t mean that those people will act or will be willing to help.”

“Terk and Bullard both have a whole lot of people ,” he noted, with a grin on his face, “people at their beck and call, who are more than willing to help out, particularly when it’s something that’s so obviously injurious to you.”

She shook her head. “I hope so. The thought of my sister and my mother both being locked up, knowing there’s no chance he would ever let them out, really makes me want to cry.”

“Don’t bother crying,” Trevor suggested. “We will get you back over there, and you can say hello to them in person.”

She smiled. “Now that would be nice.”

“I presume you do have some kind of a relationship with them then.”

“If my father’s out of the way, I might,” she said, thinking back. “My mother always seemed to be his malleable instrument, so I’m not too sure what there is for a relationship between us.”

“But remember that she’s also taken a lot more years of his abuse than you have.”

“Right, and I do need to consider that.” She sighed. “I would like to think she’s a good person. No,” she corrected in a firmer tone. “I choose to believe it.”

“If she has been under his thumb all this time, it couldn’t have been easy on her.”

“No, it wouldn’t have been easy at all,” she agreed. She then smiled and nodded. “I guess it’s a good thing I came over here after all. It was a good decision.”

“Absolutely,” Trevor confirmed. “Now we need to resolve the problem at Bullard’s place.”

She pondered that, and he studied her face, waiting to see how she would handle that. “Even though Jerome must also be involved in that mess, I guess it’s all about learning to trust the rest of Bullard’s men, isn’t it?”

“It is,” he said. “An awful lot in life comes to us if we just give it a chance to find us. Now your father created all kinds of trouble and trauma and your innate need to stay out of the middle of all this mess. So those issues just confuse the process.” He grabbed her hand and gently squeezed it. “By the way, I’m really proud of the way you handled yourself there.”

She snorted. “All I did was shriek and scream at him.”

“Exactly.” He chuckled. “You stood up to a bully. You fought back, physically and verbally. You did very well. Considering what you’ve been through and what he intended to do”—he beamed at her—“you did really well.”

She leaned back, looked up at him, and smiled. “There’s that cheerleader again.”

He rolled his eyes. “Don’t say that,” he scolded softly.

She scooted over closer to him.

“What do you think we’ll find at Bullard’s place?” he murmured.

“The answers,” she muttered, followed by a yawn. “I have to admit that I’ve been off my game. Maybe not even so much off my game, but more like… I’m just seeing more clearly now.”

“I think that, once the fear gets out of your system, a lot more can fall into place.”

“You’re right there,” she stated. “And it definitely has a weird electrical sense.” She pondered that. “I also don’t know why.”

“Why is a part of it, and something for us to figure out at the same time,” he noted. “When this is over, will you consider coming back to England and spending some time with me?”

She smiled at him and nodded. “I would like that. I just have to deal with my family first and ensure they’re okay.”

“You do,” he agreed, with a nod. “But nobody said you had to deal with it alone.” She looked at him for a long moment, and he saw tears come to her eyes. He smiled, then gave her a quick kiss, and whispered, “I mean that.”

As they pulled into the gates at Bullard’s place, which opened automatically, she sighed. “I wonder if I will ever look at these gates in the same way.”

“Probably not, but then again,” Trevor added, with a laugh, “neither will Bullard.”

As they all exited their vehicles in front of the compound, Bullard pointed at the front gates, then turned to Reeni and grinned. “Even an old dog needs to be taught new tricks every once in a while,” he admitted.

She smiled at him. “Thanks for your help back there with my father.”

He shrugged. “Your father’s an asshole,” he declared cheerfully. “We’ll have some fun bringing him down a peg or two.”

“Needs to be more than a peg or two,” she stated. “Otherwise my life will never be the same.”

“Okay. I’ll be happy to make it a big peg or two then,” he clarified, still chuckling. “But table that for the moment, because I need your help here.”

She nodded. “Even if you don’t like what I see, what I tell you?”

His eyebrows shot up, and he stared at her intently. “Especially if I don’t like it.” He looked over at Trevor, who just shrugged. “I’m just grounding for her,” he shared. “Yet she seems to think something is happening.”

“Good that we’re back then,” Bullard muttered.

As they walked into the main room, several of the staff came out to greet them. Trevor nodded and explained, “We found an envelope at the apartment, and we need to sort out its contents. We haven’t seen them yet, but the choice was made to come back here, where we would have the privacy to sort it out.”

“That makes sense,” Dave agreed. “Let’s take a look.” And he pointed over at the dining room table.

Just as they got to the table, the lights flickered.

Reeni looked back at Trevor. “Here we go again, but how and why?” She looked over at Dave. “Do you have any pets here?” she asked.

He frowned at her. “There’s always been cats around, although we’ve lost a few lately.” He added, “We’re not exactly sure what happened to one in particular, but he’s gone missing. I keep calling for him and putting out food for him, but I have seen no sign of the cat.”

She nodded, as she looked back at Damon. “Any chance you can track a cat?”

He frowned at her. “Can’t say I’ve tried. Is it important?”

“Yeah, it is.” She faced Dave now. “You really liked that cat too, didn’t you?”

He nodded. “I do. Two of them were older, and, when they disappeared, I more or less expected it. A lot of times, animals just choose to disappear and hole up someplace to die,” he noted, “but this particular cat was young, smart, and a favorite of mine.” He looked at her hopefully. “Are you saying that you can find him?” He looked over at Damon. “Can you?” Then he turned back to Reeni. “Can he?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure,” Damon admitted. “I’ve never been asked to track a cat before.”

“I’m asking now,” she clarified, turning to him. “And it’s important.”

An audible snort of disgust came from the other side of the room.

She turned and glared at Jerome, noting he was no longer handcuffed, and his gag had been removed. “That’s enough out of you,” she snapped. “I don’t have to take insults from you.”

He glared back at her. “I don’t have to take this shit either.”

“That’s a good start,” she said. “Why don’t you quit then?”

He stared at her in astonishment. “Why the hell should I quit? I’ve always wanted to be here.”

“What do you mean, you always wanted to be here?”

“I always wanted to be here. This is where I belong,” he declared, glaring at her. “You don’t.”

There was an uncomfortable shuffling around her as the others realized some personality issue was going on.

She shrugged and looked over at Bullard. “I don’t know what you want to do.”

Bullard studied her for a moment and replied, “Maybe you could give me a hint.”

She frowned, and, without saying anything else to Bullard, she turned to Damon. “I really need that cat.”

“Fine, give me a minute.” And, with that, he left the room.

She nodded, and as Jerome stood, she added in a caustic tone, “I would like you to stay here.”

“I don’t care what you want,” he stated, with a hard glare. “The last thing I need is to have some crazy chick like you ordering me around.” And, with that, he quickly made his escape.

She turned to Trevor and nodded.

His eyebrows shot up, and he studied her.