"Oh, boohoo. So I lied." Gates rolled his eyes. "He's alive. I just hit him with a tranquilizer. I brought it along in case Miss Wright proved difficult, but now we've got to figure out how to include him in the scenario. I think I have a way to make this work. Hand me the gun."
Mike set down the bag and Gates exchanged his tranquilizer pistol for what looked like a real semiautomatic.
Belle glanced Tate's way and her heart soared. Finally, she saw what she'd been looking for: Tate's chest rising and falling slightly. He was alive-at least for the moment. Hope flared inside her. There was still a chance to save him. She'd have to get out of this mess first.
Gates moved into her space. "Yes, Miss Wright. Your lover is still among the living, but if I hit him again, I assure you his status will change. This one fires bullets. If I hit him in the chest now, he won't get up again. You don't want that, do you?"
Belle shook her head. Tate's death would devastate her.
"Excellent." A reptilian smile passed over the lawyer's face. "Then you're going to cooperate with me. If you tell me where the list is, I'll make sure this goes easy and quick. We'll finish our business and be out of your hair."
The only thing quick and easy would be her murder. There was no way he could leave her alive after all she'd heard. He'd just committed assault and threatened murder. Now he meant to burglarize her home. He'd admitted to planting listening devices around the house and spying on her grandmother for years for his client, a powerful and obviously corrupt judge. There was no chance he'd let her live. But he needed her cooperation before he offed her.
She just needed to buy some time to hatch a plan or give Eric a chance to get home. "Of course I'll help you. Just please don't hurt him again."
She had no idea what drug they'd given him. He could have a bad reaction to it. As still as Tate was now, if they even gave him another dose, he might overdose. It could kill him. He looked so vulnerable, and Belle knew that only she stood between Tate and death.
"Stop yakking and hurry up." Helena loosened her hold. "I want this over with. The other two men are out, but I don't know for how long. We need to be gone before they return. Why are there so many men living here anyway?"
Gates sneered Belle's way. "Because she's a whore, just like her dear old grandma. You do know your grandmother ran a house of prostitution, don't you? But when she retired, she sold it to her protégé."
"Karen Ehlers?" The infamous madam. Several things fell into place, and Belle got an inkling of what they were looking for, but it was probably in her best interest to play dumb.
"Yes, Karen Ehlers." Gates nodded toward Mike. "Get set up while I talk to our friend here. You know what to do."
Mike looked a little green in the dim light of the hallway. His hands shook as he held his bag and walked toward her. "I just want to go home, man."
Gates wouldn't back down. "If you don't do what I tell you to, you'll go to jail. Did you forget that I have your parole officer in the palm of my hand? One word to him, and you go back to prison. I know how life was for you there. You spent a lot of time being passed around, didn't you? Maybe you liked it. Is that what you want? Do you want to be someone's bitch again?"
Mike came to stand in front of her, his face hardening as he obviously made his decision. "I'm sorry, Annabelle. I don't want to do this, but I'm on parole. He works for people who can send me back to jail. I can't go back. Give him what he wants. Please."
Mike walked away, his footsteps heavy on the stairs.
Gates got in her face. "I want the list, bitch."
Belle's brain went straight back to her first night in the house. She'd found a weird list written by two different hands in the desk, along with her grandmother's journal, in some sort of hiding place. She'd taken the journal, but put the list back because it had seemed like nonsense at the time. It was very likely some sort of code written by Grandma and Karen Ehlers. Their client list? She wasn't sure, but that seemed likely, given how badly Gates wanted it.
Her grandmother and Karen Ehlers would need some way to keep track of their transactions. Maybe they'd even dealt in information as well as pleasure. According to the news, Ehlers had decided to write a tell-all book. To ensure her retirement? Had someone learned of her plans and silenced her for good?
"What list?" She couldn't let on that she knew where to find it. Play dumb. Buy yourself time.
Gates slapped her face. A hard crack rent the air before the pain bloomed in her cheek. Belle bit back a groan because her skin was on fire-and not in a nice way. The difference between violence and what her men shared with her was massive. They were careful to bring her up to the edge of pain. Gates just wanted to torture her.