I put my hand over my mouth and tried not to throw up. My stomach was churning, the champagne I’d drunk threatening to make an appearance. I forced myself to take slow, deep breaths. I couldn’t leave any evidence that I’d been here. Howard was just as dangerous as I’d thought, but now I couldn’t even count on Gavin to protect me. He was part of this.
A sharp cry of pain drew my attention back out in time to see Howard finish. Annie was slumped over the desk, her face turned away from me so I couldn’t see her expression. She had to hate what he’d done to her, had to want him to pay. Maybe I could get her to talk to me, give me the evidence I needed. I wanted everyone involved to pay for what they were doing to these women. My nausea faded as my anger flared. I wanted everyone to pay.
Howard took a step back and I heard Annie suck in a sharp breath of air. He didn’t bother to fix her dress, but rather slapped her ass hard enough to make her jump. “Good girl.”
My hands curled into fists. If I thought I could physically take him, I would’ve been out there in a minute, but all that would do would give him one more victim. I knew self-defense, but this dress would hamper any sort of movement I tried to make. No, I had to bide my time. I needed that file, and I needed to see if he had any more records of what he was doing. When he left, I was going to grab as much as I could carry and then figure out what to do next.
A knock at the door startled all three of us. Annie straightened, a pained look crossing her face before it became blank. Her make-up wasn’t even smudged. For a moment, I thought maybe they’d just been role-playing, that he hadn’t really hurt her, but then she took a step and I saw her wince.
“What is it?” Howard asked sharply, raising his voice to be heard through the door.
I wondered if whoever was out there had heard the end of what had just happened and what they thought about it.
“Sir, one of your guests has a concern regarding the origin of the fruit being served. He’s worried about whether or not it’s organic.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” he snapped. He wheeled on Annie, who flinched a little. “Since apparently none of my employees know how to do anything on their own, I need you to go handle whatever the hell this is and then come back.”
She nodded without looking at him and started for the door. When he spoke again, she paused.
“And, Annie, darling, remember, if this situation isn’t resolved, what I just did to you is going to seem like a picnic compared to what will happen.”
I saw her shoulders stiffen, but she gave no other outward sign that she’d heard the threat. How could she let him do that to her? Hurt her, threaten to sell her off? And it wasn’t like she was some escort he’d hired or one of those bimbos downstairs. That would’ve been bad enough. Annie was his assistant. She had a legitimate job with him and he hadn’t even hesitated to hurt her. I was no psychologist, but I could tell this hadn’t been the first time he’d done this. She couldn’t actually care about him, could she? Was that why she hadn’t gone to the police? Or, the thought came to me, was it something more basic? Howard wasn’t only rich and with friends in high places, but his family’s history meant he probably had friends in low places too. Even if someone did believe her, she’d never be safe. I realized that meant the same for me. If I tried to follow through with this, there was a good chance I could get hurt. I could just walk away, tell Mimi that my relationship with Gavin had ended and I couldn’t be objective. I’d stay away and pretend like none of this ever happened.
The thought was fleeting and immediately followed by the images of Patricia, that sweet-looking girl, and how she’d been degraded and used. I knew now that those pictures didn’t even tell a small portion of her story, and if she was still alive, she was experiencing things worse than I’d just seen. I squared my shoulders and set my jaw. No, I wasn’t going to let fear of what could happen to me keep me from doing what was right.
I turned my attention back to Howard. He opened the filing cabinet and began shuffling through its contents. I took a moment to look around while he was occupied. I needed to know more about my surroundings in case he decided he needed something from wherever it was that I’d hidden myself.
I’d been right when I’d thought the space I was in was too big for a closet. It was actually a small bedroom. Well, more accurately, a room with a bed, a double that took up most of the room. The only other thing was a small table to one side of the bed. There was another door, and what little I could see in the dark interior told me that it led to a bathroom. A bathroom off of his office made sense, but if I hadn’t just seen what Howard had done to Annie, I would’ve been puzzled by the bed. After all, he was in his house. It wasn’t like he needed it in case he worked too late. I knew, though, that this bed wasn’t for sleeping. I had a feeling if I looked closely, I’d find the same kind of restraints on this bed that I’d seen on Howard’s yacht and at the club.