Conviction (5 page)

“To a warehouse…until the bruises faded.” Kelly finished for him.

“I promise you, Kelly, we
were
waiting that night. If they had of just kept to the plan! We would have saved you as well. We lost twenty-eight fifteen to sixteen year old girls across the country and only saved ten of them in the first forty-eight hours. Another ten showed up dead within six months. They were so badly abused…I’m surprised they even lasted that long. Most had died from a combination of internal and external injuries. Two died from infections in wounds that had been left untreated. One was...decapitated and another was dumped on her parent’s doorstep...somehow she survived the physical but she committed suicide with a year.”

“Oh my God…I think I’m going to throw up!” Xander was next to Kelly in an instant holding out a waste basket for her to throw up in. He rubbed her back silently until her stomach stopped lurching. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be. I’ve done it plenty of times." Xander resettled Kelly on the couch, before he continued again. "This case,
your
case, was the reason I ended up leaving the force. It was too brutal, so raw, with a level of evilness that I couldn't rap my head around. The good guys
didn’t
win. Even the families that got their girls back had years of counselling and recovery to go through, and many of them will never fully recover.”

“I can understand that,” Kelly murmured.

“As the months wore on, the funding for your case started to dry up, new cases started staking precedence. The online group I had infiltrated had moved on. Turns out they made new ones once the drops were finalised. It was all done through a series of cryptic emails, text messages and phone calls. To receive the next message that would lead to a series of access passes, you had to know the passwords. I managed to track them for a while, before they went offline completely. Without any leads I had no way of tracking them and the FBI had no way to keep tabs other than keep an eye on a few of the major players. They kept their noses clean. I swear they
knew
when we were watching them. I still think we had someone on the force, one of
us
that was tipping them off. In the end we had no more resources available for the surveillance.”

“So they just
gave up
on us?” Kelly whispered once again staring blankly into the room.

“Basically. Until the following year when another group of girls went missing, again four from each state, on the same date that you were taken."

“Fuck me.”

Xander stood up and faced Kelly again, taking in the fresh tears that silently streaked down her beautiful pale face. She had such natural beauty, with her sun-streaked auburn hair and a smattering freckles that dusted across her nose and cheeks.

“These men, Kelly, they were all…”

“Evil, heartless, soulless bastards who liked to hurt women for fun.”

“Well I was thinking sociopaths but I like your description too." Xander tried to lighten the mood, but even the smile that crept onto Kelly's lips was more of a snarl. "I kept up my own investigation until I got caught, again. This time the FBI weren't so forgiving. I know someone from my division had to have dobbed me in because there was no other way for anyone to find out. It turned out okay though, because the same day I was fired I was offered the position with the military.
They
didn’t bat an eyelid when I told them why I had been fired, as long as I said yes, they were happy.”

“The thing is, Kelly, I
never
gave up on the investigation. I found out where you were six months before you escaped.”

“It was
you
? You were the one feeding me messages and times to escape?”

“Yes. I’m sorry I couldn’t do more for you…or for Abbey.” Xander didn’t miss the gasp that escaped from her. The sound filled the room the anguish behind it slamming him in his core.

“How…did…do you know…is she?” Tears once again streamed down Kelly’s face as the realisation that someone else
knew
about Abbey.

“She’s okay, for now at least. He keeps her well hidden. Only a select few people have ever laid eyes on her. I’ve been trying to find a way…a way to get her out safely.”

“She’s only four years old! Any move you make will put her in danger. I know because I was
in
there and I couldn't get her out with me. Why do you think I had to leave her there? He would have killed me, after he'd tortured me. His anger and sadistic brutality had been growing at a rapid rate before I managed to leave."  Kelly sobbed but managed to calm herself down and continue. The floodgates of her past were open, and she couldn't hold back anymore. "I only ever saw her once a week. That was all he allowed me. And if he wanted to punish me…he took away that time too. It was the perfect control, he
knew
that I would do anything to have those few hours every week. The things I did...that I
agreed
to do for even a few minutes with her. You have to believe me Xander, I had no way of getting her out with me. I only saw her a handful of times before...before I
abandoned
her. She'd just started walking. It was hard to tell how old she was in months. I never knew what day it was most of the time, let alone how many months had passed since her birth.”

“You don't owe me an explanation, Kelly. Nor do you need to justify your actions. You took a gamble that he would leave her alone, and he did. You wouldn’t have survived much longer. Actually, I’m surprised that Devlin kept you alive as long as he did. From what information I could gather, most of his slaves would last between three and twelve months. You lasted three
years.
That...
that
is a testament to your determination to survive. You should be proud of that. ” Xander came back to the couch and sat down beside her gently reaching for her hand and pausing to give her time to pull away before he enclosed her smaller one in his. “Kelly, I have an idea to get Abbey out. But there is only
one
way of getting back in there.”

Kelly waited for him to continue before realisation dawned on her. From the look of desperation on Xander's face she managed to figure out exactly what he wanted. What he wanted
her
to do.

“No.”

“It’s the only way, Kelly. Trust me I’ve been trying to find an easier way but there just isn’t one.” Xander desperately wanted to hold her but held back, waiting for the right moment.

“I am not going back! You have no idea the things he did to me…what he let others do to me…oh God! No...no...no!” Kelly thrashed wildly, sending the cushion in her lap flying across the room and knocking several items off Xander's desk.

“Kelly, breathe, just breathe.” Xander soothed. “I’ll…I’ll find another way. I just wanted you to know that he’s…Devlin has put her up for sale. I heard the rumour a while ago but I didn’t have concrete proof. I have that now. It came through last night. I have a man in the inner circle and he brought it to my attention. I’m...I'm so sorry, Kelly.” Xander reached for her hands and held them gently to get her to focus, bringing her back the present. Tonight wasn't supposed to go this way. Kelly was supposed to accept her punishment for her attitude to a master and the night would have moved on. He should have known that nothing ever goes to plan with the little red head.

“She’s not a fucking dog! She’s a child!” Kelly wrenched her hands free and started to pace the room as fear for her daughter, who
she
had abandoned, escalated. "He can't just sell her because he's had enough of looking after her."

“I know! Why do you think I've been keeping track of him? I knew he had her but even
my
team wouldn’t be able to get her out alive. He has a guard on her door that has been instructed to kill her if the intruder alarm goes off. A guard he trusts
implicitly
to follow through with that order”

“Oh my God.” Closing her eyes Kelly tried to shut out the image of her daughter. Despite also being from Devlin’s blood, she looked exactly like Kelly. Auburn hair with creamy, pale skin and a handful of freckles across her nose. But Abbey's baby blue eyes with a hint of lavender around the edges haunted her soul. “I can’t believe I left her there.”

“But you’ve been trying to figure out a way to get her out.” Xander guided.

“Well, yes. But so far all I have is extra muscles and some bullshit defensive skills. It’s not enough! I couldn’t get her out of that house on my own then and nothing has changed except that I'm on the outside of that hell hole! She'd be better off dead...than...than sold, Xander.”

“Kelly, you would have been caught if you'd tried to take her with you. You'd
both
be dead. Two more pointless deaths thanks to Devlin King." Xander paused and gathered his thoughts, wanting to tell her everything he knew, had
known
since before he'd even met her, but he didn't want to overload her too quickly. "He thinks you’re dead, you know. When you escaped he put a bounty on your life. It was worth a hundred and fifty-thousand dollars.”

“So I heard. I spent months running from his bastard men and hired help.”

“I earnt that bounty.” Xander said so quietly she almost missed it.

“I don’t…I don’t understand, Xander,
clearly
I’m still alive.”

“I faked a photo of you. My P.I. found you in a doorway one night and snapped a photo. You were spread out with blood running down your head. You’d taken a pretty bad beating. A little creative editing and I had the proof that I had shot you, fatally.”

“Was it the same P.I. that left the money and the note to tell me to get on the first morning bus out of town?” Kelly was surprised at how many of the puzzle pieces she had been missing were now falling into place. When she'd found the note and the money that someone had stashed in her coat while she'd been out of it, she was sure it was all a set-up, that Devlin or one of his bastard henchmen would be at the bus depot waiting for her.

“Yes. I hate to admit but I also knew the next bus was heading here. I knew if you got on that bus I had a much better chance of keeping an eye on you.”

“So this job, my life here…you set it all up?” Kelly was feeling lost and humiliated. The life she thought
she'd
created was a fraud. Xander had manipulated nearly every decision she had made as a free woman.

“I did keep my distance, at first, letting you find your feet. You'd been forced to live a certain way for so long that I knew if I swooped in and tried to take care of you that you would push me away and disappear again." Xander replied, not meeting her eyes. "Then Devlin heard that there was a possibility that you weren’t dead. I wanted to keep a closer eye on you and I knew how tight things were for you financially. It was win-win for both of us.”

“But why not just tell me? Why hide that you knew? It would have been nice to know that there was someone in my corner.” Kelly stood and looked directly into one of the few men in her life that she trusted.
Had
trusted. "You lied to me, for months. Since before I even met you, you were lying even then."

“Kelly, listen to me. I will not apologise for any of the decisions I have made for you and your future." Kelly took a step back as Xander's dominance became clearer. "You're recovery was...
progressing,
and I didn't want to scare you off. When I collected the bounty I used an actor. Devlin has no idea who I am or what I look like. There’s no way he can connect me to the man he paid for your murder. The money is sitting in a trust fund for Abbey.”

Kelly closed her eyes. Xander could have blind-sided her, controlled her every movement from the second she escaped. Instead he seemed intent on keeping her safe. Watched. But safe. Until now that is. “And you want to send
me
back in…to get to Abbey? You're insane to think that this...
plan
of yours will even work. Why not use another actress? What makes you think he won’t just kill me on sight? He won’t let me see her anyway. He will use her against me.” Kelly's words were jumbled and her thoughts were trickling out of her mouth faster than she could control them. She wondered if she was even making sense to Xander.

“He won’t be able to kill you...because I’m sending James in with you...as your Master.”

“And, if I can't get near her, how the hell is anybody going to get to her? He thinks I'm dead, why not just leave it that way? Won’t he come after you for faking the bounty?”

“You can’t. But it would be a big enough distraction having you there that when my offer comes through for Abbey he won’t hesitate. He has always let money rule his mind. Abbey costs him more money than she is worth to him. He has no limit on the auction for her. Anyone is free to bid. The current leader is a well-known paedophile in multiple countries. He has used this network to buy and sell children over a dozen times. Each transaction is virtually untraceable, at least to the FBI and international police, and, as he doesn’t kidnap them himself, he always has an alibi.”

“Fuck, Xander we have to help her!” Kelly ran to him and threw herself at his chest. She hadn’t ran to a man since she was little, and that man had been her father. She hadn’t seen him or her mother since the day before she was taken. They had died in a double suicide exactly one year after she had gone missing. Now that Kelly knew about the kidnappings that took place on the one year anniversary of her own, she knew the pain must have been too much for them to overcome.