“Careful, you’re going to get a stomachache,” Ken warns me as he returns from the bathroom.
I pop the last chip in my mouth and crumple the bag in my hands.
“Aren’t you bored?” I ask him, swinging my legs off the bed. It’s been two days since the playhouse was demolished, and I’m taking no news as good news. Nothing in the papers or the news reports mentions anything about the playhouse or my parents being found.
“I found something interesting.” Ken clicks the laptop to life. He’s been going through all the stuff he downloaded from Daddy’s computer. I went to the cafe across the street to get us donuts while he watched the videos. He didn’t want me to see them, and I had no inclinations to disagree.
“What?” I toss the chip bag in the trash.
He turns the computer toward me. “Queenhearts is still active on the web.”
My blood runs cold, freezing me for a moment. “You can see her?” I ask once the shock thaws enough. “Can she see you? She knows what you look like,” I rush out, worried.
“No, it’s okay. I have a user ID and no pictures. People don’t like putting their faces on these sorts of sites. I don’t have a picture of her either, but I can see her activity.” He points to the list of logins on the screen. “She’s been watching old sessions on the Dolly for Hire site.”
I wrap my arms around my middle. “You didn’t take the videos down?” He’s been letting other people see all the horrible things I did while I was in the playroom. Men and women were still having fun at my expense. Laughing at me. Using me for their benefit.
His hands on my waist pull my focus back to him.
“I didn’t because I wanted to watch the activity.” His voice is soft, like I’m a scared kitten who will run away if he gets too loud. Even kittens have claws.
“I don’t want people watching!” I shove his hands away from me. “I want them taken down. Now! No one gets to watch me anymore. No one!” He stands from his chair and wraps his arms around me, holding me tight.
“Okay, okay.” He runs his hand over my hair. “We can shut down the feeds. I have what I need. I found her.”
My anxiety stills.
“Why did you let people—?”
“I needed to trace her, and the best way to do that was to let her keep watching. Dragonmate, too. But he hasn’t been on lately.”
I ease out of his embrace. “If you shut down the feeds, you won’t be able to see him?”
“Not on the site, but I might be able to track him down through other sites.” He rubs his forehead. “It’s been a long time since I’ve worked on computers like this. I mostly just play around. It would be easier if I could get into the state database, but if I use my login, the station will know. And I don’t know if they are looking for me or not.”
There’s been no mention of his disappearance or his partner’s.
“Can’t we throw them off? Go further out, say a hundred miles, then you can do your thing and we come back? If they see your login, they can trace it, right? It would trace them away from here.”
He rubs his hands over his jaw. The little stubble from before has grown into a full beard. It gives him a rugged look, like he spends his days chopping down trees.
“First, let’s visit Queenhearts. I read the logs. She and Dragonmate were responsible for the last special request. They pulled their money together.” He pauses a breath. “Fifty thousand to see you slice me.”
My heart stops.
“They wanted me to kill you?” I shake my head. “I never would have done that.”
He raises his brows. “They figured that too. If you didn’t cooperate, they would pay another twenty-five for Bossman to do it and make you watch. Then…” He clamps his mouth shut.
“Then what? What were they going to do that night?” I won’t let him keep this from me. I get to know everything he knows. It’s my right.
“Then they were going to paint you with my blood and rape you while you dangled from the ropes on the ceiling.” He’s not telling me everything, but I fill in the gaps myself. They had suspended me before, turning me into a marionette.
“And she’s the one who requested it?”
“Both of them did. I can’t tell whose idea it was, but we can ask her.” His lips curve at the edges. “We can ask her everything when we see her.”
“How do you know where she is?”
“I don’t. But I know where she’ll be.”
I frown. “You’re playing games. Just tell me.”
“She frequents another site, one where you can actually meet up with people for her idea of playtime. I put in a bid to be her plaything. If she accepts it, we’ll set a time and place to meet.” He rubs his hands together.
I sink down onto the edge of the bed. Queenhearts wanted me to kill my Ken. She wanted to see me tortured—paid to have me raped and hurt. And I’m going to be in the same room with her. A live person. Her heart will be beating, pumping when we say our hellos. By the time I leave her, it will be still and silent in my hand.
“When?”
“If she accepts the bid, I’m going to set it up for tonight. And if she can’t give us the information we need on Dragonmate, we’ll head out of town like you suggested. Once we’re in a safe spot, I can tap into the database and get what I can. We probably only have one chance to do it before we set off a search.”
“What happens when we’re done? When they’re gone—what happens to us then?”
He cups my chin, tilting my head back. “Then we start over.”
“People will look for us.”
He shakes his head. “We can worry about that later.” The computer dings, and he pulls away. “She answered.”
I hold my breath while he clicks on the computer.
“Fuck, yes,” he mumbles and starts typing. “She accepted. We’re going to meet tonight at ten o’clock.”
I bite my lip, trying not to smile so wide. It’s not polite to find joy in someone else’s misery.
But I can’t seem to stop the giddy giggle from escaping me.
“We need more tools.” I get up from the bed. “We can’t just have a gun. We need more.”
Ken laughs. “Don’t worry, we’ll get everything we need.”
My heart lightens. “We’re really going to see her tonight?” We might as well be planning a dinner with Santa, my heart beats with such joy.
“Yes, Dolly.” He squats down in front of me, pulling my hands into his. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you the feeds were still up.”
No one has ever apologized to me before. Pain settles in his eyes as he stares at me. He’s hurt me, and it’s brought him pain too.
“You were doing what you had to in order to find them.” I lean forward and press my lips against his in a quick peck that tickles because of his beard. “You weren’t trying to hurt me.”
“But it’s my job to protect you. I shouldn’t do anything that hurts you.” He’s going to beat himself up if I let him.
“We protect each other,” I correct him. “Now we know where she is, and soon, we’ll know about Dragonmate.”