Mistress's Master: Men in Blue, Book 3 (37 page)

It didn’t surprise her that Morselli couldn’t comprehend the true reason for her silence.

In a kinder, more controlled environment, she’d facilitated extreme pain. Those subjects who’d begged for it often described a communion with their innermost essence following those episodes. They experienced a meditative high that could become addictive.

Surrounded by the brilliance of pure emotion, she admitted the reason she’d never reveal Jeremy’s affiliation with justice. In a surreal, otherworldly place—far above the pedestrian plane she usually inhabited—a million disparate hopes and fears crystalized.

She loved him. Was
in love
with him.

“Fine. Bitch. Have it your way.” Morselli ramped up his brutal attack.

With every new jolt of agony, she railed against the encroaching darkness, which threatened to consume her.

A stray swing of the savage instrument wrapped around her hip and picked up speed. The tip went supersonic and split open her inner thigh. Mercifully, the excruciating pain overflowed her mental strongholds and shut down her system.

The world went black.

Cold.

That’s all she could think.

Until millions of razors attacked her. Her eyes flew open and panic spread when she realized the maroon stains floating before her meant Morselli had dunked her in the tank. Thank God he’d left her mouth and nose above the water line. With her weighted feet and bound hands, she’d never escape.

Master Jeremy, where are you?

A jerk nearly ripped her shoulders from their sockets. She gasped as panic replaced searing pain. Was she falling? Or rising? She couldn’t tell.

“Welcome back.” Morselli crouched at the edge of the vat, meeting her stare.

If only she could take him with her, she’d gladly sacrifice her life to rid the world of his malignant presence.

“F-fuck you.” Her teeth chattered despite her best efforts at calm.

“Last chance.” He snarled. “I don’t have time for this shit. If you won’t tell me who the two of you are teamed up with, I’ll make sure you don’t blab to anyone else about what you’ve seen. I’m not exactly a patient man.”

“No shit.” She glanced toward the door, expecting to see the silhouette of her sexy-as-sin cop.

Nothing.

“Burn in hell.” She didn’t flinch when he threw a lever. The entire hook suspending her separated from the chain. Somehow it missed bashing in her head and ending things immediately. Whether that was a blessing or a curse, she couldn’t say.

Bubbles rose around her, whizzing skyward as she sank. The weight between her feet clanged into the bottom of the tank. She supposed that’s what she got for making fun of cement shoes. Awkward angles paired with the slimy surface beneath her feet, guaranteeing she wrenched her ankle.

Still, she didn’t thrash. Lily preserved her breath as best she could.

Jeremy
would
come for her. He’d promised.

Unless Morselli had already done something to him…

No.

She calmed the immediate jolt of despair causing her to wriggle against her bindings.

If only she could see him again she wouldn’t hesitate another minute to share what she’d suspected for months and had given herself permission to admit when the lightning of Morselli’s whip had smote all her false pretenses.

Lily would shout her love for Jeremy from the rooftop if she had the chance.

She held hope even as her lungs screamed for oxygen.

And screamed more.

And more.

The final wisps of air disintegrated into her bloodstream as memories flashed before her eyes. She comforted herself by imagining Jeremy supported her in the bathtub and any second now he’d raise her up.

Because that’s what the man she trusted would do.

The friend who’d comforted her at Malcolm’s funeral and in the hospital afterward, the champion who’d fought for innocent victims by her side, the Master who’d shared his taming touch on stage in this hellhole and the soul mate who’d demonstrated complete possession of her being.

Her lungs shriveled as she forced her instincts into remission. Aspirating a huge swig of water would end her battle.

He was coming.

He would save her.

The fringes of her vision dimmed once more. True gaspers chased the euphoria lifting her spirit higher with each passing moment. So high, she thought she imagined a distorted version of Jeremy’s voice and his face just outside of her reach. Close enough to her final wish, she figured there was no better way to spend her last instant on Earth than to tell the illusion what she wished she’d shared with her Master.

“I love you.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Jeremy charged between a pair of stainless-steel silos. He didn’t have to pause to figure out he’d stumbled into the belly of the beast. All around him Sex Offender oozed through enclosed, large-scale production equipment.

Mother fucker.

Didn’t it figure he’d breached the inner sanctum exactly when it no longer ranked as his top priority? He’d lost precious time searching for Morselli on the surveillance cameras he hadn’t been able to access before without leaving a trace. He no longer gave a shit about avoiding detection. Racing around hunks of metal, he searched for the two large holding tanks he’d spotted on the live feeds.

There. Except the spot where Lily had hung, enduring the cruel lash of Morselli’s whip, no longer supported her.

Jeremy glanced around. He scanned the floor for footprints. Fresh paint on concrete had ensured none lingered. Rounding the corner, he tripped when he caught sight of Lily, submerged in a water storage tank. The slight blue hue to the liquid painted her face with an unhealthy cast. She thrashed in her bindings, clawing at the rope around her legs.

“Lily!”

“I’m sorry about that,
Detective
.” Morselli stepped from the shadows, a gun aimed point-blank at Jeremy’s heart. “I have to admit, I’m a little disappointed. You had me convinced you were a player. A worthy opponent, not a pathetic cop who’s dumb enough to speak openly over an unsecured phone line.”

“Get her out!” He snarled despite the danger to himself.

“Or what, you’ll turn over all the evidence you’ve compiled?” Morselli’s cackle proved he’d flipped over the line from functioning despot to full-on psycho. “You’ve already done that, haven’t you?”

“Fuck yes.” Jeremy struggled to win their game. If he had any chance to save Lily, this was it. Standing there, negotiating, when he needed to rush to her aid killed a part of him as surely as if Morselli had blown him away. If he didn’t live up to his promises to Lily—to always come back for her, to keep her safe—the man might as well pull the trigger. “But a jury might be more lenient if you free her.”

“I think I’d rather take my chances.” Morselli chuckled. “Maybe you’ll kill me yourself and save me the trouble of a brutal prison murder. I’m not the kind of man to rot under someone else’s reign. I make my own rules. I won’t go to jail.”

“Too much a coward to do the honors yourself?” Jeremy raised an eyebrow. “Go ahead. Take the easy road.”

“I’d rather reunite you with your pet Mistress if you don’t mind.” Morselli’s knuckle turned white on the trigger.

Lily, I’m sorry.

And then Morselli’s wide, joker smirk dissolved into a chunky red and grey sauce.

The bang of the gunshot didn’t register on Jeremy until the husk that used to be Tony Morselli hit the floor.

Razor raced to his side. “Holy shit, JRad. He was going to do it. Are you okay?”

When Jeremy did a double-take toward the doorway, Mason stood with his gun still leveled in a double-handed grip. Tyler pressed his forearm over the other man’s wrists, lowering his weapon. He smothered his lover in a one-armed hug.

Their blatant affection triggered the defrosting of Jeremy’s brain.

“Lily!”

“What the—” Razor gawked at him as though he’d lost his marbles when he bolted toward the tank.

Struggles over, she floated at the extremes of her bonds. The peaceful look on her face terrified him. His heart stopped in his chest when she moved a tiny bit. She smiled and mouthed something he swore looked like,
I love you
.

Spasms racked her body. Her hair billowed around her like a dark cloud in a violent summer storm. Though it seemed like an eternity, she went lax in a matter of moments. Deathly still.

No! Not again!

He refused to be too late for her.

A metal cabinet seemed light as a feather as he hefted it above his head and smashed it against the glass panel. A clang reverberated around them when the fixture tumbled to the floor. It hadn’t shattered the industrial thickness.

“Mason, I need your—”

A
crack
winged around the room. The thin white line on the tank spider-webbed across the surface until dozens of flaws developed.

“JRad! Move!” Razor shouted to him as water and glass gushed from the weakened pane.

The tsunami slammed into Jeremy, washing him a dozen feet from where he’d started. He scrambled toward the gaping hole in the container when Lily poured from the opening. A weight anchored her to the base of the tank.

“Need a knife.” He shook his head, sending a spray of water from his face and hair.

Tyler leapt over the debris and hacked at the soggy rope with a small yet effective pocketknife. As soon as Ty cut her loose, Jeremy dragged her onto a clear section of the floor. He deposited her gently, tipped back her head and began CPR.

His brothers stood in a semicircle around the macabre scene. As though he floated outside his body, he noticed every detail of the nightmare while he worked on the woman who’d given him everything. Including her trust.

Razor folded his hands and prayed while Tyler made quick work of the cords binding her arms. Mason hauled out his cell and called someone, probably Lacey, to send an ambulance.

Jeremy willed Lily to breathe—pleaded for her heart to pump. Instead, her face blurred and merged with Karen’s. The awful color of Lily’s skin resembled the hue his ex-girlfriend’s had taken on when she’d sprawled lifeless on the floor of her shitty apartment.

He redoubled his resuscitation efforts.

“JRad.” Tyler laid his hand on Jeremy’s shoulder. “That’s enough. She’s gone.”

“No! I told her I was coming back. I promised.”

“She knew.” Mason wrapped his arm around Jeremy’s chest and tugged him backward. “I saw the look on her face. She knew.”

“Don’t make me deck you.” Jeremy wrenched loose and tried again.

More pumps.

More breaths.

More begging to every power in the galaxy.

“It’s over.” Razor crouched beside him. “I’m so fucking sorry.”

“Lily.” He buried his head against her chest and gathered her body into his arms. “I love you too.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

“Agent Sterns.” Jeremy forced himself to stand despite wobbly legs. He teetered from the body on the floor. The grotesque lump beneath the canvas tarp resembled the woman who’d stolen his heart in no shape or fashion. Still, he had to force himself to tear his watery gaze away in order to meet his superior officer across the litter of rubble.

He scrubbed his cheeks as though the evidence of his desolation could be wiped clean so easily. Soggy clothes barely registered on his dazed brain. He had to concentrate on making it through the next hour, the next minute. Otherwise Lily’s suffering might be for nothing.

Shivers racked his body. “Thanks for coming. Things turned into a giant cluster.”

“You can say that again.” The agent edged closer, not paying full attention to Jeremy as he scoped out the facility, the shrouded form—Jeremy couldn’t bear to think of it as the woman who’d filled his arms with laughter and heat—and the smeared remains of Tony Morselli. “You were smart to call me in. Alone. I can help. We’ll keep this quiet.”

“Thank you, sir. I never meant for it to go this far.” He groaned then attempted to choke out some explanation. “If the public sees this… It looks bad. On Lily. She didn’t deserve—”

“You’re a cop, son. Problem number one, I gave you instructions. A mission. Your hard-on for some expendable bondage Barbie shouldn’t have rated in our investigation.” Agent Sterns came awfully close to having his heart ripped from his chest with Jeremy’s bare hand.

Screw his career. It had probably breathed its last gasp along with the woman he’d never have chosen to leave behind. He refused to hear anyone, especially this man, insult her.

Not right then, not ever.

“She was
not
a prostitute.” Jeremy gnashed his teeth as the bastard approached the tarp and stared down at the carnage there. The angle of Jeremy’s torso prevented the asshole from attempting to touch her or even look at her.

“Whatever you want to call it.” Agent Sterns shrugged. “I’ll have to call in favors to pass you through board review after this fiasco. If I’m gonna go to all this trouble for you, I have to know I can count on you next time. No matter what I ask. Maybe if you’d done less fucking and more undercover work, you might have some idea of the final component of the drug.”

Jeremy didn’t really give a shit about
next time
. He couldn’t stomach anymore of this bullshit. He had to end the game, break free of the lies. Time to cut to the chase. “I know the whole formula.”

Sterns stopped dead in his tracks. “What? Why the fuck didn’t you say so?”

“It didn’t seem important anymore.” Jeremy gnashed his teeth as he remembered how Lily had thrashed as she drowned in the storage tank. His guts cramped.

Agent Sterns laid an arm on Jeremy’s shoulders.

Jeremy didn’t think he imagined the tremor there.

“You know, you’re right. I’ve been insensitive. You had feelings for this woman. Let me help. Share your burden with me and I’ll make sure the trial proceeds as it should. You can stay out of it and nurse your grief.”

Jeremy chewed his lip. Detachment pervaded his mind despite instincts screaming at him to think. To react. All he hungered for was an end to the madness.

“We have the production facility. The chemical construction is the last thing we’d need. If you’re able to button up the case, I’m sure the department will overlook the tragic repercussions of decisions made in the line of duty. Sacrifices are often necessary for the greater good.” Sterns nudged the body beneath the cover with the toe of his boot before Jeremy could stop him.