Missing Link (The Finders Book 1) (16 page)

"Has Link already got you cleaning his place, Sam?" Rome asked, clearly amused with himself. I frowned back, not understanding. He tapped the side of his neck, his grin growing wider.

"Just looks like you had a fight with his vacuum cleaner." I narrowed my eyes at him and flipped him off. He held his hand to his chest and mocked a shocked face.

"Shut up you idiot. Let’s do this already." Link said, rolling his eyes. Rome chuckled and opened a draw, pulling out a rather thick folder. He slid it across to me and I leaned forward, holding it in my hands nervously. It was heavy.

"What's this?" I asked, reluctant to open it.

"It's all the stuff we have on Charlie Holloway. His info, people we've linked him to, his guards, missing persons we think he may have involvement in, everything we know basically. We were hoping you could help shed some light on some of it." Rome explained, suddenly serious. I nodded and opened the front of the folder only to be met by a menacing picture of Charlie plastered in the first page. I jumped back, knocking the chair over and dropping the folder back onto the desk. Paper and pictures scattered and

Link leaped to his feet and held me tightly in his arms until my heartbeat started to slow. No one spoke, but Dominic moved closer and started collecting the pictures that had floated onto the floor. One caught my eye next to my foot and I wiggled out of Link's arms to bend and pick it up.

"Isla." I whispered, running my fingers over the picture of the beautiful young girl I had met a couple of weeks ago. She was smiling so wide, her hair blown back from her face and her eyes lit up.

"You know her?" Link asked peering over my shoulder. Dominic rummaged through the stack of papers and pulled a group of them.

"Isla Green. Missing almost a year." He read out loud.

"I met her, the week before you came for me." I explained, unable to take my eyes off the photo. She was bright and happy, smiling for the camera, uninhibited by the darkness that was to come. This was not the same girl I had met. Her spirit had been crushed, she was now slimmer and the light in her eyes had been smashed and destroyed.

"She's with Charlie?" Dom questioned as Link picked up my chair and pushed on my shoulder, forcing me to sit down.

"No." I replied shaking my head. "She came to dinner at the house with another man named Luther."

Rome now picked up the disarray of a folder and urgently flicked through the pages, whipping one out and thrusting it in front of me.

"This guy?"

I lifted my eyes from Isla's beaming face. There was a large picture of the man I had met, Luther. I looked up at Rome and nodded. His jaw clenched tightly. The picture was taken during the day but there was a certain darkness, a shadow that surrounded him. It was like you could feel the hate and the anger practically seeping from his pores. It disgusted me to think these men like Charlie and Luther thought they could simply take a woman, beat her into submission, and then sell her off to the highest international bidder. It made my stomach turn to think about what he had done and he was doing to this poor girl.

"So you all had dinner together?"

"Yeah, it was scary. She broke a glass and the next thing he just socked her right in the face. I jumped up and took her to clean her up. She kept talking about trainers, how we were given to these men to be trained not to talk back. That Luther had broken her ribs before when she had asked to go home." I sighed, angry at myself that now I was out I didn't know whether I'd be able to help her.

"Was Charlie their ring leader?" Dominic questioned from where he'd situated himself back onto the couch, leaning forward with his hands clasped and elbows resting on his knees.

"Charlie was rich and powerful in a lot of ways, but he took orders from someone richer and more powerful. But there was also a power struggle I think. When I heard that conversation on the phone, Charlie sounded desperate to keep me, but Luther was trying to force him to give me up. Charlie wanted me submissive, but only to him." I shuffled silently through the pictures of 20 or more innocent young girls, pointing out any that I thought I recognised but that list was small as I was never allowed to go anywhere or see anyone he didn't approve of. The list of body guards and powerful men I'd met at the occasional outing Charlie had dragged me to was a little bigger.

The boys were good, asking me questions without prying too much. I was greatful but I wanted to help. One day I was going to have to talk about all of this. And what better place to do it in an office with a group of men I knew would give their lives to protect me. I looked over at Link who gave me a reassuring smile before I let go of everything I had bottled up inside that might be any help to them. My body began to feel lighter already.

Chapter Eighteen

I pulled a few photos from the folder, mainly bodyguards. The girls I didn't recognise but that wasn't surprising, I didn't often get the privilege of meeting anyone Charlie dealt with. The phone rang and Rome promptly answered.

"Yeah, hold on a second." He said, before placing it on the desk. "It's Kale. He needs to speak with us."

I didn't miss the silent look that passed between Rome and Link before Link turned to me and held out his hand. I took it and he pulled me from the chair, ushering me towards the door and back down the hall to the front office.

"Why don't you go shopping for a bit?" He said stopping at the front desk. "Paige, can you take Sam out for a bit? She needs clothes. Get her whatever she wants and tell them to send me a bill."

Paige, smiled and stood, grabbing her hand bag and quickly taking my hand from Link, her face beaming.

"You're in good hands!" Link called, laughing as I was pulled through the doorway. I looked back at him nervously but he had already started to disappear back the way we came.

"So you and Link huh?" Paige asked with a wink as she finally slowed. I skipped to keep up next to her.

"I guess." I admitted with a blush. "I'm not really sure."

She nodded."I've known these boys for a while now and I've never known him to send a girl out shopping and pay for everything." She smiled at me knowingly.

"I've been living in his sisters clothes, while we are the same size, she seems like she might be a bit more confident with her body than I am." I told her, gesturing to the skin tight jeans and the way too much cleavage showing tank top I wore. Paige laughed.

"Yeah, that's about right." I followed her into a woman's store and we both started browsing the racks.

"So you know his sister?" I enquired.

"Yeah, like I said, the boys have been around me for a long time." I nodded but didn't say anything, hoping she would continue. "D, is very girly, but at the same time she's very straight up and a little rough around the edges." The description was very broad, but I didn't push.

"So where is she now?" I asked, pulling a couple of cute patterned shirts from the rack.

"She moved away a couple of months ago. Didn't really say why but I have my suspicions." Paige said, flicking her eyebrows up and down.

"She moved to be with a guy?"

"More like she moved to get away from a guy." Paige pulled a couple of pairs of dark wash jeans, and pushed me towards a changing room.

The jeans fit great, finally some that weren't skinny and felt like a second skin but still clung to me showing off my figure. I tossed them over the top calling out a yes and Paige threw me some more clothes over. By the time we had finished I had collected 3 pairs of jeans, 3 pairs of shorts, and 10 assorted tops and shirts. We chatted as we piled them on the counter, unfortunately not taking any notice of who stood behind it.

"Samantha, isn't it?" I visibly jerked, my eyes shooting up and meeting a large set of breasts which were attached to Kara, the girl I had recently met at Rome’s barbeque.

"Sam, actually." I corrected, clearly my throat uneasily.

"Oh yes, sorry." The apology laced with nothing but sarcasm.

"Just ring it up, Barbie boobs." Paige said, moving up next to me and tapping her fingers on the cashier desk and earning herself a glare. Paige just feigned a sweet smile before adding, "oh and Link said to just send him the bill.”

I caught the surprise that crossed Kara's face followed by a small sneer in my direction. But she recovered quickly.

"I didn't know Link had started doing charity." She said casually as she scanned and bagged the items.

"Buying things for your girl isn't considered charity, but I guess you've never really had a man stick around long enough to care to buy anything apart from time in your pants." Paige retorted quickly and I coughed, trying to hide my laughter. Kara ripped the invoice from the register and shoved it in one of the bags before throwing them over the counter at me.

"Link will need to come in and pay for it himself. Preferably today." She snarled.

"I'll let him know." I said smiling sweetly and grabbing a hold of Paige just as she opened her mouth to say something. I dragged her towards the door, both of us giggling.

"God, her and her friends are a piece of work. “Paige grumbled as we strolled through the mall. We made a few more stops, I picked out some underwear, just plain comfortable ones, along with a couple of thongs and a cute matching bra set that I knew would have Link weak at the knees. I blushed as I put them on the counter, almost reaching out to take them back. After one night of being with Link I was already imagining all the other ways I wanted to be with him, the things I wanted to do to him. My panties dampened at the thought. But the reality was I wasn't sure yet what last night had meant to him.

It was a conversation I wasn't sure I wanted to have, but knew it was important. Link had taken a hold of my senses, my body, my head and dare I say, it my heart. Now that I'd had a taste' I didn't want to let go. With the threat of Charlie still very real, I was scared to lose him but now I wanted to fight. I just needed to know if he was going to fight for me, too.

We headed back towards the office, catching a glare from Kara as we walked back past her shop. "Why the hell do the boys let them hang around?" I asked seriously.

"At first it was because they were an easy lay." We looked at each other, both making gagging noises, "then when they all realised how disgusting they were, they stopped getting invited places. But then they got their hooks into Devon."

She screwed up her face like she was both grossed out and sad.

"He's a teenage boy and they are slightly older and dare I say it, hot. He likes the attention, so they use him to stay in use circle."

"That's so sad. I'm surprised he can't see through them. He used to be good at reading people." I said sadly as we walked back into The Finders office and I dropped onto the couch. She sat down behind her desk and fiddled with some papers.

"I don't know if he's just naive and doesn't see it, or if he just likes the attention and doesn't care." She sounded slightly defeated. There were some obvious feelings there. Paige was strong and outspoken but it seemed when it came to my little brother she turned into your typical shy, puppy love teen.

"He's a young man, thinking with the wrong head. You deserve better than that, Paige." I told her quietly with an encouraging smile. She blushed, but didn't acknowledge my obvious point that I knew where her feelings were headed.

"You get some stuff, pretty girl?" Link said, walking out, closely followed by Rome, Dom and the surprise addition of Ethan. All their faces were tight, Link smiled at me, but even his smile didn't reach his eyes.

"Yeah, got enough to last me a while."

"Breasts for brains said you need to go in and pay for it. The other shops were happy to send a bill." Paige informed Link, whose eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"What's her problem?" Rome asked, leaning against the side of Paige's desk.

"Me thinks she and her friends are a little territorial over you fine specimens of men." I answered sarcastically. The boys all looked at each other. All equally cringing and shuddering. "Seriously boys, is it really THAT hard to find a girl who's hot but has selfrespect and is kind?"

"Harder than you think, pretty girl." Link answered pulling me from the couch and into his arms. "Harder than you think."

"As much as I would love to stand here and watch you two canoodle...” Rome said, screwing up his nose. “Some of us have work to do."

Link grabbed my bags and after a swift goodbye to everyone we headed out. We stopped at Kara's shop quickly so Link could pay for my clothes. He kept his hand in mine the entire time, much to her disgust and held onto it the whole way back to the apartment.

"You wanna pick a movie?" He asked as we strolled through the door. I shook my head.

"You do it. I'm going to put these things away. I'll be out in a minute."

I packed away my new clothes, moving Links sisters things into the bottom draw. Just as I went to place my new jeans in I noticed a photo tucked right at the back. I pulled it out. It was a picture of three small children. A boy standing in the middle who was the spitting image of Link, his arms wrapped around both girls. One was a little taller than the other, she had long dark hair that blew back from her face.

Her smile was shy, but warm, her eyes sparkled. The other girl was a little shorter, the same dark hair but cropped to just under her chin in a bob that I'm sure was all the rage back then. Her smile was smaller, it didn't stretch as wide as Link's and the other girl. There was a sadness in her eyes, I could feel it just by looking at the picture.

"Does it take like an hour to put your clothes away..." I startled and spun, not hearing Link come up behind me. The photo fluttered to the ground between us. We both stood silently, eyeing the picture. I saw his Adam's apple jerk up and down as he swallowed hard before bending down to pick it up. "I didn't know she still had this.."

"I'm sorry," I said quickly. "It was just sitting there so I picked it up."

"It's okay." He whispered, slumping onto the bed, his eyes never leaving the photo in his hands. I walked over to him, taking a seat beside him on the bed.