“Are you sure it was her?” he asked.
“She looks very similar. I can’t guarantee.”
There was a noise in the bushes. They froze as the sound came again. Sean pushed the leaves out of the way. He took the torch from her and shined it through the darkness. There on the ground lay a body curled up.
Sean went towards it. Ursula followed behind. The tension in him couldn’t be mistaken for anything else.
The body didn’t move when he approached. He handed her the flashlight. She pointed the light near the body’s head. Sean turned her over.
“Isabella.” He cried out her name holding her close. “She’s freezing.” He pulled her in close. His shouting alerted the others. They helped them out, Stephen shooting her a glare as they walked. Lucas took her from Sean. They pushed her matted hair off her head. She was pale, thin, and looked dead.
Stephen wrapped his arms around her as they checked her pulse. “She’s got a pulse, but it’s weak.” There was no movement from her.
The next few hours went by fast. Sean and Lucas drove Isabella to the hospital. Cadeon left to be with his woman while Tate and Kevin said they were going home.
“You’re not going to Rebecca’s tonight?” Stephen asked.
“She’s been on edge. We don’t want to scare her. After tonight I just want to go home.”
“We’re going home,” Stephen said.
Ursula didn’t argue as he drove back to his place. He was silent. The anger inside him could not be mistaken. She watched him lock the door then turn ‘round to her. Stephen pressed her up against the wall, his anger clear.
“Do you have any idea the kind of danger you were in? Anyone could have been there tonight. I asked you to stay in the car,” he said.
“I wasn’t going to leave you alone. I’m not built that way, Stephen.”
“You don’t understand anything I’ve told you. There is a man looking to bring me down. He’s not against using you to get to me. I’m talking about selling you, Ursula. He trades women as whores. This is what he does.”
“I’m right here. Nothing happened.”
He cupped her face, caressing her cheek with his knuckles. “If anything ever happened to you I wouldn’t forgive myself.”
“Nothing is going to happen to me. I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere.” She grabbed his face to kiss him. He let her. Their passion clawed at them until they were up in their room, making love on the bed.
They were too distracted to hear the phone, which rang until it cut out.
****
Stephen pulled out of Ursula quickly to answer the phone. She moaned in protest. Their lovemaking had gone deep into the night, and he hadn’t wanted to leave the snug fit of her pu**y.
“Hello,” he said.
“Stephen? You need to come to the hospital.” Cadeon was on the line.
“What? Why? Is something wrong with Violet?” He rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Ursula turned on the light. He caught a glimpse of her red ass from his hand the night before. His c**k stirred at the thought of taking her again. She’d become insatiable in the last few days. She wanted him constantly.
“Violet is fine. Rebecca Black was attacked in her home. She’s in the hospital. Tate and Kevin are ready to kill. We were all distracted, Stephen. Lucas and Sean finding Isabella that easily after all this time was a trick. Also, before you get here, turn on the news.” Cadeon hung up.
Stephen frowned at the cryptic message, his heart pounding.
“What’s going on?” Ursula asked.
“Rebecca has been attacked.” He turned the television on and flicked to the news channel. Ursula gasped while he felt immeasurable anger. Someone had exposed his club. James came onto the camera trying to get past the press as he got into his car.
“Exposed, a club designed to lure women for men’s pleasure or simply a rich man’s control. This is Anna Stern reporting live outside the location of Ravage. A BDSM club, which is connected to Club Possession another local—”
He turned the television off, unable to deal with the rest of what the woman would say.
“Is this bad?” she asked.
“It’s bad enough. First, we need to get to the hospital. I don’t want you at home alone. If the media are determined to run this story then we need to stick together. They’ll be hitting here next.”
Stephen dressed and called for his security team to pick him up. Ursula ran to get dressed as he went to his office. He’d begun dressing while talking with Ursula. He buttoned his shirt up as his mobile phone went off.
“Hello,” he said without looking at the caller’s number.
“I never meant for that woman to get hurt.” It was the voice of a man on the line.
“Who is this?”
“He’s going to call you in an hour. It’s a trap. You need to be waiting. I signed on for money. I didn’t sign on for this,” the man said.
“Paul?”
The caller hung up.
Stephen was more confused. Another call came through as Ursula walked into the room. It was his security team letting him know they were ready. Getting out of his house became similar to a jigsaw puzzle. There were paparazzi everywhere. The driver had to dodge all the people who stood in the way.
When they arrived at the hospital there was more press. His lawyer had everything in place for Dane to be transported out of England. Ursula was shaking. He wrapped his arms around her as they got out.
“Is it true you abuse young women?”
“How can you be engaged to him?”
The badgering questions kept coming. Stephen rushed her inside. She covered her ears. The nurse was waiting to escort them upstairs. He recognised her from the last time Rebecca had been in the hospital.
James and Cadeon were in the waiting room. Violet lay curled on the chair next to her man fast asleep. Tate and Kevin came out of one room while Sean and Lucas came out of the other.
All four men looked like they’d seen death.
“What happened?” Stephen asked. Ursula helped him to focus.
“A couple of guys broke into Rebecca’s place. They trashed everything and then—” Tate couldn’t finish.
“Her neighbour alerted the police. The house was in Cadeon’s name, so they called him first,” Kevin said.
“Was she ... raped?”
“No. They slapped her around. Someone stopped it. There was an ambulance already on the way when the neighbour called the police.”