But he knew better. Alea had been ground under some f**ker’s boot, and deep down Coop needed to know who he could blame so he’d have someone to kill. He’d finally found the girl who made his heart pound, and she was broken because of this ass**le. Or maybe there was more than one ass**le. Shooting multiple criminals wouldn’t bother him.
The tall dude at the front of the room slipped out of his blazer and took a seat at the head of the table. “If you will all take a seat, we can go over the findings fairly quickly and get the sheikh back to his ball. My name is Riley Anders, and I’m the research expert at Anthony Anders. This is my brother, Lawson. He’s pure muscle so don’t expect him to actually talk. He prefers to grunt.”
Law sat beside him, straddling the back of a chair, and flipped his brother the finger.
“So they’re civilized,” he muttered as he took a seat next to Dane.
Dane leaned over, talking behind his hand. “No doubt. But according to the Lennox brothers, these guys are the best.”
“I just wish we’d done the investigation ourselves.”
Dane shook his head. “We wanted the best. Alea deserves it. After they tell us the news, then we take over. We can either give her the good news that Khalil was the one who had her kidnapped or we quietly take down the motherfucker who did. That, my friend, is a job we will do ourselves and relish.”
Because they damn straight were the best at killing someone who needed to die.
“If you’ll open your folders, you’ll see that we’ve done a very thorough investigation of the princess’s abduction. Since we were not allowed to interview Princess Alea, it’s incomplete,” Riley pointed out with a tight smile.
Tal scowled. “I’ve explained this. You have everything you need in the reports.”
Law’s eyes narrowed. “Do we? Those reports seem a bit sanitized. There are no real details about what happened to her while she was held.”
“Bad shit,” Dane shot back. “What the f**k more do you need to know?”
Riley glared. “Shut the testosterone off and get real. We need to know everything. We’re not here to judge the princess. We’re here to figure out who plotted her kidnapping. Knowing what she endured during her captivity might provide clues.”
Tal leaned forward intently, his jaw tight. “Are you telling me you know this wasn’t random? Alea is a beautiful girl. Isn’t it possible that she was taken and held for the highest bidder? It makes sense that she’d be targeted because she hid her wealth. The person who nabbed her might have believed she wasn’t protected.”
Law’s head shook, shooting down Tal’s earnest hope. “Not a chance.”
“What my brother means to say is that we have proof to the contrary. Turn to page five of the file. It’s a photocopy of the note that brought Alea to the club that night. It was found amongst her things from New York,” Riley said quietly, the very somberness of his voice an answer to the question.
Meet me at 7 at the Jackson Club downtown. Please. I need help.
It was unsigned, but the stationary was unmistakable. It had come from the Bezakistani embassy in New York.
“We’ve seen and discussed this note.” Dane sighed. “You’re right. She must have believed she knew who wrote it. Whoever’s behind her abduction knew she would respond to a request from the embassy. It stands to reason this person knew exactly who she was and targeted her. Motherfucker.”
“The question is why,” Riley said, then turned to Tal. “You never received a ransom note?”
The sheikh shook his head. “No. I would have paid. I would have paid anything.”
“Then they weren’t after money,” Dane concluded.
Riley shrugged a little. “We can’t be completely sure of that, but there’s one other reason we’re convinced this wasn’t random. If we were just dealing with slavers filling an order, she would have been raped about ten minutes after her kidnapping. You’ve read the medical file. You know that didn’t happen.”
Dane’s whole body had stiffened. Coop wasn’t any happier. When they had first heard Alea’s story, he, Dane, and Lan had sat down and talked. Even if she hadn’t been raped, she’d been through a lot. They had backed off physically because of it. Coop had started reading about the psychology of victims, trying to understand.
Law frowned. “From what we’ve been able to tell, Alea was brutalized in every other way imaginable. They left her virginity intact for a reason.”
Tal slapped at the table. “Do we have to talk about this?”
“The information won’t leave this room,” Coop vowed. “But you asked us to be responsible for Alea’s well-being. It’s hard to do that if we don’t talk about information that might be relevant.”
“This is none of anyone’s business, even yours. I tasked you with making sure she doesn’t get hurt again. That’s all.” Tal glowered.
Ouch. That hurt like a bitch. But Coop refused to back down. “Knowing what she endured may tell us what happened to her and why, so yeah, I think it’s my business. I also happen to think that protecting her life is more important than protecting her modesty. She’s not just a job to me. She’s a good woman who deserves to close her eyes at night and sleep soundly, knowing that she’s safe.”
Tal drew in a calming breath. “Sorry. You’re right. I know how you all feel about her. I’ve seen how Alea reacts to you three. I asked you here for a reason, and it wasn’t as her security team.”