The Auction (12 page)

“That sounds
like
promising
information
but
is it getting you any closer to finding Macy?
She’s been gone for months now, and her family is running out of hope of ever seeing her again. They’ve already lost her older sister who may or may not be dead. I’m so worried about her. She
once
told me that if she ever went through another ordeal like she did with Rat Face, she said she’d either lose her mind or she’d do something to end her suffering.”

“Aya, I made a promise and I intend to keep it.”

Tori had heard enough. She had to know. She stepped back into the living room. “Macy who?”

Foster looked up first. “What?”

“Macy who?” Tori demanded. “I need to know.” Macy wasn’t an uncommon name but it was the mention
of a
sister who had gone missing that had caught Tori’s attention.

“She was
—is
my friend. I met her when we participated in The Run together. She volunteered to support
her family because her father i
s disabled and her sister had disappeared after she’d done The Run a second time,” Aya answered.

Tori gasped. “No!”

Foster strode over to Tori and grasped her by the shoulders. “What’s
the matter
?”

“Macy. That’s my sister.”

Chapter Thirteen

Foster stared at Victoria and it finally all made sense. He’d always felt an instant connection to Macy because she reminded him of someone else but he could never place his finger on
who
. Now he knew. It w
as Victoria. The only reason
he hadn’t made the connection was because of the two different skin tones. Where Victoria’s skin tone was a rich bronzish-brown, Macy was pale like alabaster. Macy’s eyes were violet where Victoria’s were hazel. Despite these superficial differences, the resemblance was there. His keen observation skills were one of his strengths, so he could smack himself for not seeing this before.

“Sisters?” Aya was the first to speak after the revelation.

“We have the same mother but different fathers. She married my stepfather when I was very little so he’s basically the only father I know. That’s why we look so different.”

“Not as different as you think,” Foster murmured. “You never mentioned you’re her sister.”

“I told you I have two sisters and three brothers,” Tori pointed out.

“But you never mentioned their names.”

“I
guess I never got around to it
. But what is this about her being missing? And her involvement in the Run?” She glared at Foster. “Did you hunt my sister down in The Run?”

“No I didn’t, but I did see her that day. She was taken by someone else. A really bad man who hurt her.” Foster was careful not to say too much. It was clear Victoria was already in distress knowing her sister was missing, but if she knew the
type of
abuse Macy had suffered at the hands of West it just might break her. During her first stay with him, Tori would mention her siblings and how much they meant to her. Though she’d never said their names, there was one sister in particular whom she’d allude to as being very naïve and innocent in a world that wasn’t kind to people without enough money or influence to navigate it. He remembered the way Victoria’s eyes would light up when she spoke of her sisters and brothers.

“You’re not telling me something. How are you connected? Why are you looking for her?”

Aya placed her hand on Foster’s arm. “I think you should tell her everything. It’s her sister. She deserves to know.”

He sighed. It wasn’t his intention to drag Victoria into any of this. The less she knew the better off she’d be, but he realized she wouldn’t rest until she had answers. “Maybe you should start, Aya.”

Aya nodded. “Tori, I think it’s best if you sit.”

Tori shook her head defiantly. “No. Just tell me. What’s going on with my sister?”

The way that Tori glared at Aya gave Foster the impression that she felt some sort of resentment toward Aya. If he didn’t know better, he’d think she
was
jealous, but he didn’t have a chance to dwell on those thoughts because Aya began to speak.

“Like I said before, I met Macy when she and I both volunteered for the Run. Obviously I didn’t know what to expect. I’d only heard about it. I didn’t
think I’d ever participate in something like that
. As you can imagine I was scared out of my mind, but Macy approa
ched me. She was very kind,
even though I could tell she was frightened herself. She was already familiar with the process because she said that her older sister, you Tori, had been through it before and had told her what to expect.”

“
I only told her about it because she wouldn’t let the subject go until I gave in. It wasn’t my intention to prep her for it.
Did she say why she was there?” Tori demanded.

“She said she had to support her younger siblings and that your father was sick and unable to work.”

Tori snorted. “More like sick of working.” She shook her head. “I’m sorry for interrupting. Pleas continue.”

Aya nodded. “You basically know how things went after that. I had the idea that if she and I could stick together, we’d have a good chance of fighting off anyone who tracked either of us down. The plan seemed to work well at first, we had each other to get through the grueling trek but then she fell and hurt herself. I wouldn’t leave her but she wanted me to go. I couldn’t. She’d been way too nice to me. I tried to take her with me as best I could but Macy being injured had slowed us down significantly. I was caught and so was she. But I remembered the man who had captured Macy had given me a really bad vibe earlier when the patrons came to inspect the volunteers. Dare, the one who took me, was able to negotiate with him to get her back and he hired her to be my companion. When Dare eventually let me go on my own recognizance, I returned to work at my uncle’s bar and my uncle gave Macy a job. She was working at the bar and things were going great until she disappeared.”

Though Aya was speaking, Foster watched Victoria’s expression the entire time. Her eyes were bright and damp with unshed tears and her lips quivered. He wanted to pull her into his arms and offer her
the
comfort she needed but he didn’t think she’d appreciate it.

Tori remained silent for what seemed to stretch on for minutes until she finally spoke. “Thank you, Aya, for being my sister’s friend. But I get the feeling that a lot is being left out.” She turned to him then. “How do you fit into all this, Foster? Why are you actively looking for Macy if you only briefly met her at The Run?”

“I was with Dare when he made his negotiation with West. There was a reason why this man gave off bad vibes. It’s because he’s not a good man. In fact….” he paused, wondering if he should tell her everything.

“He hurt her, didn’t he?” Tori asked in a whisper. “Please, just tell me.”

“Yes. He tortured her. When we got her back from West, she was co
wering
in a corner in her own excrement. There were scars all over her body and she had a few missing fingers. He’d
also
shaved her head.”

“No.” Tori shook her head as if she were in denial. The tears she held back earlier now flowed down her face. “Not her. She didn’t deserve that.”

Aya walked over to Tori and rubbed her back. “You’re right, she didn’t, but she got the best medical treatment money could buy, thanks to Foster. He saw to it that every single one of her wounds were healed. She even got her fingers back.”

Tori flinched away from Aya’s touch. “Physical scars are one thing, Aya, but what abou
t the psychological ones?
You don’t understand. Something like that would
destroy
my sister.”

“She was in a bad way when we found her,” Foster continued. “Dare didn’t have much success with getting her to come with us, so I talked to her.
Macy
seemed to take to me and she clung to my side and wouldn’t let go. I think she saw me as her savior. I was there through all of her medical treatments and I became somewhat of a guardian to her. She’s my friend and that’s why I care about her. I made a promise to protect her so that nothing bad ever happens to her again, but I failed her and she was taken. I should have moved her and
the rest
your family out of that
area. And now she’s missing but
I’m going to get her back.”

Foster didn’t know what Tori would have said because Mrs. Gordon stepped into the living room with
a brooding Dare following close
behind. “Mr.
O’Shaughnessy
is here, sir,” she stated
the obvious.

“Thank you.” Foster nodded his head in dismissal.

Instead of greeting Foster
,
Dare zoomed in on Aya. “You were supposed to go straight to my house.”

Aya shrugged. “But I came here first. I needed to see Foster.”

“Seems the two of you have been spending an awful lot of time together lately,” Dare pointed out.

Aya sighed. “You know why. Can you not do this right now?”

Foster would have told Dare to cool it, but Victoria scrambled out of the room, visibly upset. He wanted to follow her but felt he needed to handle this situation first. He’d deal with Victoria later.

Dare walked over to Aya and grasped her by the wrist and tuck
ed
her underneath his arm. She did not look pleased
.

“Dare, what the fuck is your problem, man?” Foster asked.

He and Dare
had been friends since they were children, but no one knew better than
Foster
that Dare could be an asshole. Since his friend had been with Aya, he seemed to have softened a little, but every now and then the asshole would come out. He was extremely possessive over Aya. Foster understood the possessive part; it was the same way he felt toward Victoria even though he wasn’t in a current position to show it. But Dare seemed to take it to another level. Foster hadn’t known Aya as long, but he knew enough about the pint-sized woman to know she wouldn’t take it for much longer.

“As I said, the two of you seem to be spending a lot of time together and I’m wondering what you could possibly be talking about that you’re having secret meetings in Aya’s apartment.”

Aya glared at her lover.
“That was one time, Dare, and we were talking about Macy. If you’re going to be a jerk, I could just go back to my place tonight. Right now, I think I’ll go check on Tori if Foster doesn’t mind.”

Foster shook his head. “No. Go ahead. She’s in the west wing. Take the spiral staircase, third door on the right.”

“Thanks.” She squirmed out of her lover’s hold and marched out of the room, leaving the two men alone.

Foster turned to his friend. “You have got to stop doing that. First of all, you know neither Aya nor I would do something that would jeopardize your trust in us. There’s only so many times you can keep doing that to her before she has enough.”

Dare narrowed his gaze and balled his fists at his sides. For a moment, Foster though
t
his friend would throw a punch but instead, Dare relaxed his stance and
released a deep sigh. He raked
his fingers through his dark hair. “You’re right. I’m sorry. It’s just…I’m so used to being in control of everything I don’t know how to handle all the
emotions
she makes me feel. She says she loves me but she’s so damn independent. She won’t move in with me, won’t even let me take care of her. She insists on working at her uncle’s bar and
living in
that tiny apartment. I could give her anything she wants but she refuses it.”

“Has it occurred to you that maybe all
she wants is you?
You have to stop treating her like a possession and maybe she’ll be a little more receptive to living with you.”

Dare ra
ked
his fingers through his hair.
“I don’t know what I’d do if I lost her.”

“Aya loves you. You need to stop worrying so much
and calm the fuck down
.”

“I’m kind of new at this love thing. I feel like I’m at its mercy and it makes me confused and angry.”

“Love can do that sometimes.”

“I guess I got a little jealous when she mentioned that you
had
visited her apartment, and then when she wasn’t at my house when I left the office I was disappointed. I’m sorry.”

Foster raised a brow. “Excuse me? Is the great Alasdair O’Shaughnessy actually apologizing?”

“Fuck you, Foster.”

Foster chuckled. “So is there any other reason why you came here other than to claim your woman?”

“Yes, actually. Something strange has been happening lately. I was reading the news on the holopad this morning and I noticed an article about people going missing. It might have been an insignificant blip but I remember you mentioning in a previous conversation about your last encounter with West. People were using The Run to filter woman into this auction thing. Since I’ve shut down the game, I’ve been hearing about a lot of missing women. When I was in Aya’s part of to
wn, there were a handful of flye
rs posted on billboards. It’s one of the reasons I’ve been paranoid about Aya’s whereabouts. Macy was taken so I’m making sure it doesn’t happen to Aya. She’s not to go anywhere without having one of my drivers to take her around. She thinks I’m being overbearing and maybe I am, but as long as it keeps her safe, I don’t care.”

“Shit.” Foster realized this thing was even bigger than he thought. “West is involved in this.”

“I thought you’d already established that.”

“Yes, but apparently he’s more heavily involved than he had led on.
The thing is, he has
completely disappeared. No one has seen him in over a week.”

“Can’t he be tracked down?”

“I have someone working on it but I haven’t heard anything back yet so it doesn’t look good.”

“What’s your next move?”

“I’
ll have to go to the
source.”

“Look Foster, I know you don’t like to talk about your past but have you fallen back into your old habits?”

“Don’t ask questions you don’t want the answers to, Dare. I’m doing what I have to do to get Macy back.”

“Just remember if you slip back into that lifestyle, you might find it’s not so easy to get out of a second time.”