* * * *
Cooper held the door open for Sheikh Talib al Mussad and wondered if they were doing the right thing. Alea needed peace and to believe she was safe. He didn't like the idea of worrying her just because they had a gut instinct that could be wrong. If his hunch was on the money, they'd handle it so she could be none the wiser. Right?
Tal strode into the room where Dane and the Anders brothers had already set up. There were seats with a folder in front of each.
The investigation into Alea's abduction. God, he almost didn't want to know what that file said. A part of him wanted to pretend that the past was behind them all, that she was healing even now, and merely playing coy and hard to get.
But he knew better. Alea had been ground under some fucker's boot, and deep down Coop needed to know who he could blame so he'd have someone to kill. He'd finally found the girl who made his heart pound, and she was broken because of this asshole. Or maybe there was more than one asshole. Shooting multiple criminals wouldn't bother him.
The tall dude at the front of the room slipped out of his blazer and took a seat at the head of the table. "If you will all take a seat, we can go over the findings fairly quickly and get the sheikh back to his ball. My name is Riley Anders, and I'm the research expert at Anthony Anders. This is my brother, Lawson. He's pure muscle so don't expect him to actually talk. He prefers to grunt."
Law sat beside him, straddling the back of a chair, and flipped his brother the finger.
"So they're civilized," he muttered as he took a seat next to Dane.
Dane leaned over, talking behind his hand. "No doubt. But according to the Lennox brothers, these guys are the best."
"I just wish we'd done the investigation ourselves."
Dane shook his head. "We wanted the best. Alea deserves it. After they tell us the news, then we take over. We can either give her the good news that Khalil was the one who had her kidnapped or we quietly take down the motherfucker who did. That, my friend, is a job we will do ourselves and relish."
Because they damn straight were the best at killing someone who needed to die.
"If you'll open your folders, you'll see that we've done a very thorough investigation of the princess's abduction. Since we were not allowed to interview Princess Alea, it's incomplete," Riley pointed out with a tight smile.
Tal scowled. "I've explained this. You have everything you need in the reports."
Law's eyes narrowed. "Do we? Those reports seem a bit sanitized. There are no real details about what happened to her while she was held."
"Bad shit," Dane shot back. "What the fuck more do you need to know?"
Riley glared. "Shut the testosterone off and get real. We need to know everything. We're not here to judge the princess. We're here to figure out who plotted her kidnapping. Knowing what she endured during her captivity might provide clues."
Tal leaned forward intently, his jaw tight. "Are you telling me you know this wasn't random? Alea is a beautiful girl. Isn't it possible that she was taken and held for the highest bidder? It makes sense that she'd be targeted because she hid her wealth. The person who nabbed her might have believed she wasn't protected."
Law's head shook, shooting down Tal's earnest hope. "Not a chance."
"What my brother means to say is that we have proof to the contrary. Turn to page five of the file. It's a photocopy of the note that brought Alea to the club that night. It was found amongst her things from New York," Riley said quietly, the very somberness of his voice an answer to the question.
Meet me at 7 at the Jackson Club downtown. Please. I need help.
It was unsigned, but the stationary was unmistakable. It had come from the Bezakistani embassy in New York.
"We've seen and discussed this note." Dane sighed. "You're right. She must have believed she knew who wrote it. Whoever's behind her abduction knew she would respond to a request from the embassy. It stands to reason this person knew exactly who she was and targeted her. Motherfucker."
"The question is why," Riley said, then turned to Tal. "You never received a ransom note?"
The sheikh shook his head. "No. I would have paid. I would have paid anything."
"Then they weren't after money," Dane concluded.
Riley shrugged a little. "We can't be completely sure of that, but there's one other reason we're convinced this wasn't random. If we were just dealing with slavers filling an order, she would have been raped about ten minutes after her kidnapping. You've read the medical file. You know that didn't happen."