The Auction (14 page)

Foster’
s expression softened. He closed the distance between the two them. “Blaming yourself isn’t going to bring her back. You’ve done all you could.” He wiped away a tear she didn’t realize had slid down her face.

“Thank you for watching out for her.”

“It’s my pleasure. I’ve always felt a special connection to her.”

“Why?” Tori couldn’t help asking.

“Because she reminded me of someone who was and still is very special to me. But I fucked things up with that person so thoroughly, I doubt I’ll ever be able to fix
it
.”

Tori’s heart started pounding. He couldn’t be talking about her. Could he? “Foster…”

“Forget I said that.” He backed away from her. “Goodnight, Victoria.”

This time when he walked past her, she let him.

<><><><><>

As soon as he got the call, Foster hurried to the main branch of his bank. When he stepped into the building his personal assistant ran to greet him. Her usual calm demeanor was replaced with a frazzled expression. “Mr. Graham, I tried to hold them off as best as I could but they had a warrant and told me if I tried to stop them, I’d be arrested. I’m so sorry.”

Foster nodded. “It’s okay,
Serena
. It’s not your fault. Let me handle this.”

“I’ve contacted our legal representatives. They should be joining us shortly.”

“Thank you. You’ve done all you can do. If anyone asks you for codes, do not give it to them.”

“But Mr. Graham, they could have us arrested.”

“No one is going anywhere. Now go back to your office and handle any business matters like nothing else is going on.”

Serena
looked uncertain but walked away as instructed.

As Foster walked father into his building
he noticed men in black suits swarming the building, demanding computer codes from harried employees.

A tall, painfully thin bald man appeared to be giving the orders. Foster walked over to him. “What’s this all about?”

The head agent
turned on his heels and gave him a long accessing stare through small raisin-like eyes. “Ah, Mr. Graham, perfect timing. I need the codes to access all of your business and personal correspondence.”

“
For what
?”

“You’re being investigated for running an illegal gaming operation that hasn’t been cleared through the licensing bureau. Now, if you don’t mind, I have an audit to conduct and you’re holding me up. I need those codes please.”

“I need to see the warrant.”

The agent
waved his hand dismissively. “One of my men has it.”

There was definitely something wrong here. His bank was clean as were his other business holdings. The only reason the licensing bureau would have been called was because they had some kind of tip, and usually those tips were ignored even if the business did participate in shady dealings. The only way an establishment like his would ever be under scrutiny was if someone with a lot of pull had been the tipster. Foster cold smell the bullshit.

“Now,” Foster demanded.

The bald man raised his brow. “Excuse me sir, but you have no idea who you’re dealing with, so I suggest you offer up those codes, or we’ll take this to the next step which will be for me to contact the enforcers and haul you off to jail for obstruction. And then we’ll freeze all of your business assets. It would be a shame if you’re not able to maintain that fancy lifestyle of yours.” A smug smile of satisfaction curled his lips once he delivered his threat.

Foster refused to be intimidated.
“You can do that, Mr…”

“Williams. Earl William, Head Investigator for the Department of Licensing and Corporate Regulation.”

“Mr Williams. You can do that but I promise you that if I go to jail, you’ll be out of a job by morning.”

Williams
narro
wed his
eyes. “Are you threatening me?”

Foster moved close enough to get in the other man’s face. What he had to say was only for Williams’ ears. “No. I’m making you a guarantee. You see, I know your type. You probably weren’t born into money so you had to scratch and fight your way into the high ranking position you have now. Maybe you even had to suck a few dicks to accomplish your goal, but you and I both know that this fancy title you hold so dear is meaningless because it only takes a transfer of a few credits and something like this goes away. But in the meantime, you take joy in causing a little discomfort because you resent people like me who live the life you’ve always wanted. You’ll go home tonight to your mediocre life in your below average home and think about me and all the things I have that you can only wish for. You see, I know why you’re here, and I’m going to find out who’s at the bottom of it. And when I do, I’m going to come back for you. So you have to decide if you really want to do this. Is it worth it to you to lose that fancy title and your mediocre possessions all because you picked the wrong person to fuck with?”

Williams gulped. All colo
r drained from his face. “You
have to understand, Mr. Graham, that we were handed some very damning evidence. We have to look into every claim we get.”

“Is that so?”

Before the other man could answer, Foster spotted his legal team walking toward them. “What’s going on here?” Foster’s head attorney, Howard Robb, demanded without preamble.

Williams sputtered. “We’re in the middle of an audit and your client is being unreasonable. Perhaps if you conv
inced him into seeing reason,
this will be over quicker.”

“Do you have a warrant?”

“Of course, we wouldn’t be here without one.”

“You should be able to produce it.”

“One of my men has it.”

Howard gave Williams a stare that clearly said he didn’t believe him. “You should be able to produce this warrant on a holo
device. I notice you’re wearing a holowatch. Let’s see it.”

“Well, I may not have downloaded it to the system yet.”

“A warrant can be downloaded and in our correctional system within an hour of its issuance. According to Ms. Riggs, you and your men have been here for more than that time. So what you’re telling me is that you have no warrant but you’re here harassing my client?”

“I’m sure it was being downloaded before we arrived.” Williams was lying, that much Foster was sure of. So the fact that this wasn’t a real raid made him suspicious. He had no doubt someone had put Williams and his men up to this. Whoever it was had to know Foster would demand a warrant. With so many agents swarming around, it might have been a way for this mysterious tipster to get any information they could gather on Foster and his holdings. There was only one other explanation he could think of for why someone would do this to him. Because they could. To make him aware that he was being fucked with simply because they
wanted him to suffer
. For a weasel like Williams to risk his position, the fee
must
have been hefty.

Foster
doubted
Williams even know who his donor was. That person would be way too smart to directly connect himself to this man.

“Howard, I want Williams and all his men out of my building.” Foster then turned to the bald man. “I suggest you tell whoever it was who put you up to this that it won’t work. And if I see you in here again, you’ll live to regret it.”

Foster’s holophone began to vibrate. He pulled it out of his breast pocket to see who the caller was. There were only a few people who had his personal holo coordinates so he frowned when it was a number he didn’t recognize. He then remembered the mysterious call he’d received before.

“Excuse me. I
need to take this.” He walked off until he found
an
unoccupied space out of everyone else’s earshot. He pressed the engage button to receive the call. Like the last time, no image popped up.

“I see you got my surprise this morning.” It was the same disguised voice from before.

“I suppose it would be a waste of my time to ask who this is.”

“You’d guess right. By
tomorrow
morning, everyone in your circle will have heard about the raid of on your business. You know people in the Elite like to gossip. Imagine what it will feel like to be the center of it. What if they all think you have something to do with the recent wave of disappearances and you’re just using your bank as a front? That could possibly ruin you. No one would want to associate with a known trafficker.” The owner of the mysterious voice chuckled. That was one of the big ironies of their culture. Most of the people he knew had skeletons in their closets and had done some very bad shit behind closed doors, but it was never talked about in polite society.

But once those secrets were ‘exposed’ to the public, that’s when it began to supposedly matter to the people who didn’t want to associate with trash. They wanted to maintain the appearance of their own images and to do that, most of them had no problem throwing said trash under the bus. Foster wasn’t concerned about
what
other people thought of him. If there was damage to his reputation after this, then so be it.

Foster didn’t bother to reply to that taunt because he wanted to see what else would be revealed.

“You have nothing else to say? Not so smug anymore, are you? You may think you have the upper hand just because you’ve managed to get some information out of a man who is no longer any use to me, but remember I’ll
always
be one step ahead of you. You might employee your grandfather’s thug tactics, but you won’t come out on top this time. Enjoy that pretty little exotic you have h
idden
away.”

The
reference to
Victoria got a rise out of him. “You don’t have to tell me who the fuck this is because I will find you and you I’ll have your fucking tongue.”

His threat was met with a chuckle before the connection ended.

“Shit!” he yelled in frustration.

Foster wasted no time leaving the building. He didn’t wait to see if all the agents had cleared out of his building. That’s what he was paying his legal team to handle. He needed to get back to the house. Clearly someone was having his place watched if they knew about Victoria. At all costs he would keep her out of harm’s way. As he slid into his vehicle and pressed his thumb against the print analyzer to jumpstart the ignition, his holophone vibrated. He was going to ignore it but thought better of it. He pulled it out of his pocket and clicked engage.
Serena
’s image popped up.

“Mr. Graham, there’s some trouble at the west end branch, and the commodities building downtown.”

“Is this something you’ll be able to handle?”

“It’s more serious than that. They’ve been bombed. There have been some reported deaths.”

In that moment, Foster realized this wasn’t just about his digging for information on the auction and the trafficking. This was a vendetta and whoever was behind it was coming for him.

Foster had done a lot of bad things in his life. Very bad things. But there was a line he’d dared not cross to keep his humanity intact. But now this was no longer about him. Innocent people had been involved, people he was in charge of. And for that he would become that monster that he’d kept hidden within himself for so long.

He would make them all pay.

Chapter Fifteen

It had been four days since she’d seen Foster. The last time she had
laid eyes on
him was the morning after the visit from Aya and Dare
and their brief conversation
. He had said he wanted to talk and though she wasn’t ready to have
another cryptic
conversation with him, she met with him in his dining room for breakfast. It was then he received a business call that had him hurrying off with a promise to continue their conversation later. She hadn’t seen him since.

She was almost certain he hadn’t been home and it shouldn’t have bothered her as much as it did. Tori didn’t want to care, but she was worried. Something about that call had frazzled him and she wondered if it had anything to do with her sister. She found it hard to
determine who the real Foster was. Was he
the man who had treated her so callously
or was he
someone who actually looked out for and protected people like Macy. She believed him to be another predator who used people like her for his own sick amusement.
The last time they spoke left her more confused than ever. If she didn’t know better she would have thought he was confession his feelings for her.
But that was crazy. She had to admit however, that Foster was full of surprises.

It also
astonished
her to learn that he was financially supporting her family, people he had no obligation to simply because of his friendship with Macy.
Even though he’d denied it
Tori couldn’t help but wonder if there had been more between Foster and her sister. The thought of Foster doing things to Macy that he
done to her
brought back that sick angry feeling. It was an emotion she could no longer deny. It was jealousy.

Tory had
convinced herself that she hated him. When he’d tossed her out his home in such a cruel way Tori had cursed his name. She blamed him for having to do The Run a second time. She hated him when she was taken by a man who used her as his own personal whipping post and outlet for all of his perversions. She hated him for being sold off to a bunch of sadistic monsters who forced her to their will,
only
to be put on an auction block and sold like an animal.

Even though he wasn’t directly responsible for all the woe
s
she’d endured over the past couple of years, she
still blamed him
. In her mind, they should have been together just like he said they would be. She hated that despite the blame she placed at his feet that she didn’t really hate him at all. Those residual feelings from a time when he’d made her happy were still there and she couldn’t shake them.

Now here she was driving herself crazy with worry for a man who ignored her presence half the time he was in residence. She still couldn’t figure out why he’d bothered to buy her in the first place, if he was just going to keep her here as a glorified houseguest. Aya had seemed so sure that Foster’s motives were altruistic but Tori
doubted it
. She’d learned that Foster was good at projecting an image he wanted people to see.

Tired of wandering aimlessly around her room, she headed downstairs. Tori found herself heading to a room she hadn’t visited since her return, Foster’s library. She pressed the panels to reveal the old hardback books. She ran her fingers along the spines and thought about the first time he’d brought her here. Despite this being the place where the lies began, she felt a certain sense of peace.

She took a book from off the shelf without reading the title. It didn’t matter. She liked the feel of it,
and how when she opened it, the black words neat
ly lined each white page. It seemed much more intimate to reach from printed paper than
a holographic image
.

“I used to do that a lot when I was younger.”

Tori jumped, start
l
ed by Foster who walked into the room without warning. The first thing she noticed were the large dark circles beneath his bloodshot eyes. His hair was in disarray and his clothes were rumpled. Stubble lined his chin and jaw indicating his need of a shave. Foster looked as if he hadn’t slept in days. He was someone who took pride in his appearance and Tori had never seen him look anything less than impeccable.

She opened her mouth, but no words came. What could she say to him when they hadn’t seen each other for days and with him looking like he was on the verge of passing out?

When she didn’t speak in return he walked toward the bookshelf and scanned the books. “I liked to take each book off the shelf, and run my fingers over it and just look at all the words. It was fascinating to me.” He pulled down a red book and tapped it. “This was my favorite. I still read it in times of necessity.”

Tori leaned forward to catch a glimpse of the title.
The Art of War
.

There was something in the way he rubbed the cover back and forth, almost compulsively, that alarmed her. Though she told herself not to
care her
conscience wouldn’t allow her to not ask. “Foster. Is everything okay?”

He stared at the book without looking up. “
It
will be.”

“What’s that supposed to mean. What’s going on?”

He lifted his head then and gave her his signature smirk. “Careful Victoria, if you keep asking questions, I just might begin to think you care.”

“I’m just trying to be polite. But…seriously. Are you okay? You don’t look well. You haven’t been home for days and the way you’re holding on to that book, I’m scared for you. Does it have anything to do with Macy? She’s not… Did you find out something about her?”

“
No. I s
till haven’t been able to track her down, but I haven’t given up. Victoria, do know what this is?” He held up the book.

“It says
The Art of War
. Why did you pick that one?”

“For strategy. I’ve found myself fighting a losing battle, but I’ve been going about it all wrong.”

Tori wasn’t sure if it was his apparent lack of sleep talking or if he’d actually lost his mind, but something was going on with him
and didn’t like it one bit
. “I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

“I got sloppy. Didn’t cover my tracks.” He spoke so softly, Tori had to strain to hear him. There was a glazed look in his tired eyes and
he had her worried
.

“Foster. What’s been going on with you? What happened?”

“I’m going to have to wake him.”

“Who?”

“The monster.”

She took a step back. “Foster, you’re starting to scare me.”

“I should scare you, Victoria. I’m not a good person. I should have never brought you here, not even the first time. But I thought…”

She clutched her hand over her heart wondering what he was going to confess before his words trailed off. “Foster?”

He stared into space for several moments, stroking the book in his hand before focusing on her. “I’m going to fix it. I’m going to do what I should have done a long time ago.” Even though he was looking directly at her, she had the distinct impression that he wasn’t actually seeing her. He had to be delirious.

Tori took another step away from him. It had to be the
lack of sleep
talking.

“I think you might be
having a breakdown of some sort
. Maybe I can get some help.”

“You think I’m crazy don’t you? To be perfectly honestly, I haven’t seen this clearly in a very long time.”

“Then tell me what’s going on. If it involves my sister, I have the right to know.”

“Victoria, I’m going to get her back but this thing has become bigger than finding her.”

“What do you mean?”

“It doesn’t matter. Just know that I’ll take care of it. I’ll do whatever I have to
in order to
get her back.” He turned away from her and looked as if he was going to walk out the room book in hand, but Tori grasped him by the shoulder.

“Wait. Foster. You can’t leave like this.”

He stiffened. “Victoria, remove your hand.” His voice was expressionless but she wanted answers. Something was going on that he wasn’t telling her and she was tired of being left in the dark.

“No. Tell me what’s going on with you. Why won’t you tell me?”

“Because you don’t really want to know the truth. You know that I’m dealing with dangerous people based on your own experience with them, and when you get in league with them sometimes you have to do bad things. You don’t want to know the bad things I’ve done.” He turned around suddenly, effectively dislodging her hand. “Or maybe you do. Maybe you want to know so you can give yourself a reason to keep hating me.”

“I don’t hate you,” Tori blurted out before she had a chance to think about her words. She hadn’t meant to tell him that, but now that it was out there was no taking it back. Besides, she didn’t hate him, these last few days alone with nothing to do but think had made her realize that.

He gave her a humorless smirk. “I bet if I told you what I did, you would. You’d despise me and spit on the ground I walk on. Do you want to know what I used to do, Victoria?”

She backed away. “Don’t.”

He narrowed his gaze. “I didn’t think so.”

“I just want…”

The almost dead look in his eyes stopped her mid-sentence.

“You want to what?”

“Whatever it is you’re going through right now, I want to help.”

He raised a brow. “Help me? In what way do you think that you can help me right now? What do you plan on doing exactly?”

“I don’t know, I mean, I can do something ot
her than staying cooped up in
this house all day. I’ve been bored out of my mind.”

“Have you?”

“Yes, there’s only so much holovision I can watch or books I can read. Frankly I don’t even know why I’m here. It’s not like we…” Again Tori stopped, realizing she’d said way too much.

“Then far be it for me to leave you without something to do.” Without further warning, he tossed his book aside and grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her against him. Tori opened her mouth to protest but his mouth was hot and heavy on hers before she could get the words out.

Tori beat against his shoulder
s
in an attempt to break his tight hold. His arms were like chains around her, almost making it hard for Tori to breathe. Foster p
ushed
his tongue against the seam of his lips but she pressed them closer. Every other time Foster touched her, Tori’s body went up in flames but this time around she was determined not give in.

“Open your mouth,” he muttered against her closed lips but Tori remained firm in her resolve.

When she failed to comply, he gripped her by the hair and yanked so hard she gasped in pain and surprise. Foster thrust her tongue in her mouth, sweeping and seeking, claiming her.

Again she tried to push him away, but he molded his erection against her pelvis, grinding aggressively. Foster had been forceful with her before. He was a dominant lover, but there was something different right now. He seemed to be driven by some intangible force. Whatever was going on with him, it had taken over and it scared Tori because she didn’t have the strength to fight him off.

She’d
survived being
starved, beaten, raped and tortured,
but
if Foster continued on like this, Tori wasn’t sure if she would recover.

Foster released the tight grip he held on her ha
ir
to tear at her blouse. He yanked it off without ceremony. “Please don’t do this to me. This isn’t you.”

His response was to
rip
away her bra, exposing her breasts. He tweaked one nipple and then the other.

Tori felt a stirring within her core, sending a wave of warmth throughout her body. No. She couldn’t give in to him. Not like this. It didn’t feel right.

“You’re better than this.” Tori tried to appeal to any sense of decency he
had
. No one had ever hurt her as bad as Foster, but even when she was at her lowest, she didn’t believe that he was all bad.

He raised his head then. “You only think I am. But I’m a really bad man, Tori.”

There was so much pain in his voice that she could almost feel it herself. He was hurting and she didn’t know why. Whatever issues the two of them had could be dealt with later but now, she had to help him somehow. She relaxed her body within his hold. “I doubt there’s anything I can say to the contrary.”

“You’re absolutely right about that. After all, every time we encounter each other even if it’s briefly, you let me know by your words or the
angry glares that you hate me and
that I’m the lowest form of life.”

“I don’t think that, Foster, but how am I supposed to act after what you did?” She shook her head. “Look, that doesn’t matter now. Just let me help you. Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do it.”