“Are you missing her?” Rebecca asked.
He turned to her, shocked she’d spoken to him. “What?”
“Prudence? Are you missing her?”
James nodded. Voicing his feelings was harder than anything he’d ever anticipated. Her gaze remained on Tate and Kevin. Both men were trawling footage or trying to find something that would help them locate Prudence without having to give evidence away. Dane sat with the two agents going through everything he knew about Dominic Green and the organisation he used to work for. Mary had left the hospital but tried to stay as far away from Dane as possible. James had witnessed the interaction between the two. Part of him hurt for the guy while another part of him felt Dane deserved the treatment he was getting.
“I miss her,” James said. He was dying without her. Every waking moment his thoughts were possessed by her.
He pressed the glass filled with whisky to his lips and took a long, leisurely swallow. Coffee held little appeal to him, and he needed the numbing quality of alcohol.
“Lloyd was never like this. He didn’t care who he passed me around to.” Rebecca had been married to Lloyd Black, who used to work with Dominic Green, and Dominic was a criminal who used to sell women and girls. James finished the whisky then placed his glass on the table.
There was no staff around to serve him. “Lloyd was a f**king ass**le,” James said.
“I know that now.”
“Why didn’t you ever say anything about the way he was treating you?” James asked. His temper got the better of him. Up until recently Rebecca had suffered with agoraphobia and refused to leave her home. From the moment she was attacked in her home, her fear of going back there had far outweighed the fear of moving around outside.
“There were days he was nice.” Her gaze returned to Tate and Kevin, the two men who wanted to claim her. James had kept himself in the loop for a good while before the press invaded his privacy, taking away everything that was sacred to him.
“Did he threaten to tear them apart?” he asked, pointing in Kevin and Tate’s direction.
She nodded. “Something like that. He knew he couldn’t use them the way he did other men. Back then, Lloyd knew they were different. He took everything I loved away. I couldn’t risk them, even then I couldn’t. Lloyd stayed away from them. Looking back, I know he had far too much to lose if he tried to blackmail Kevin and Tate.”
Tears shone in her eyes.
James stood, grabbing his drink. “I knew Prudence when she was eighteen.” He smiled recalling her beauty and the way she’d made him feel. “I was dating her sister but had more in common with Prudence than I did her sister. I wasted those years because of my age and who I am. If I was you, I wouldn’t go around wasting your years without them. Kevin and Tate wanted you. I suggest when all this shit is over, you allow yourself to feel.”
He made to move away. Rebecca grabbed his arm, stopping him in his tracks. He stared at where she touched him then at her face.
She let him go. “I’m sorry. I don’t think they’ll want anything to do with me.” Rebecca stared around him to gaze at her men.
Sitting back down, James kissed her knuckles. “They’ll forgive whatever they find out. This possessive feeling inside us doesn’t go away.” He swallowed past the lump that had formed in his throat. “When I get Prudence back, no matter what is done to her, I’ll do everything in my power to win her back.” He prayed they didn’t lay a finger on her. James couldn’t bear the thought of her being hurt, tortured, or, heaven forbid, raped. The image entered his mind of her beautiful smiling face. No one should want to hurt her.
“We’ll get her back.”
Rebecca tapped his hand trying to offer him comfort. James didn’t give in to it.
“I need a drink.” He let her go, moving toward the bar. Stephen sat at the bar, speaking to someone on the phone.
“I told you, Ursula, this is for your own f**king safety. You can bitch and moan at me all you want.” Stephen slammed his palm against the table. “Won’t you see reason?”
James poured whisky into his glass then poured a glass for his friend. The other guy looked like he needed it.
“No, Ursula, don’t you dare hang up—” His friend held the phone away from his ear looking shocked.
“I guess your woman doesn’t like being told what to do.”
“I’ve sent her to be with Cadeon and Violet. I don’t like her being here. Why can’t she see it’s for her own safety that I do this?” Stephen downed his glass in one.
“What else did she say?” James asked.
“That if I don’t want her close by when I’m in danger then I don’t want to marry her.”
“She’ll come ‘round.”
He patted Stephen on the back then made his way up to the room where he was staying. His club was off limits as forensics and the police had claimed it for the murder investigation of Jermaine.
Thinking about the death of his barman made James pause in his movements toward his room.
“Are you okay?” Dane asked, stepping out of the shadows.
“I thought you were talking with your two best buds.” James moved past the younger man to get to his room.
“They’re trying to help, but I needed to be straight with you,” Dane said.
Staring past Dane’s shoulder, he nudged his head in the direction of his room. James opened the door and waited for Dane to enter. The room was small and didn’t have any memories of Prudence. When he needed to rest, James came here. It was the only place she didn’t plague his thoughts with happy memories. When he sat in this room, he could think of how best to get her back.
“Take a seat.”
James moved to the window overlooking the grounds. Possession was located in an ideal spot. The land surrounding the club was beautiful with many varieties of trees and bushes along the edge of the property. The garden looked amazing in spring and summer.
“Josiah and Hubert are not trying to save Prudence,” Dane said.
He turned to the other man. “What?” As far as James was concerned the only reason Prudence was taken in the first place was because of Dane and his stupid transaction for another woman. James knew Daren’s motives. Daren’s employer wanted that file James had found in his father’s stash. Mary was no use in blackmailing James, but Prudence was; so Dane had seized the opportunity to get back the woman he loved. James didn’t understand what Dane wanted from him. Dane had gotten Mary back, so what more did the man want?