Page 36 of Thaddeus

“The beginning of what? When my sister was kidnapped by sex traffickers or when I met Jefferson?”

I vaguely heard Tatiana’s gasp, probably from my nonchalance, but I’d already fortified my resolve to get through this as emotionless as I could. I’d give them the facts and be on my merry way.

“Let’s start with Jefferson.”

“I met him at an art auction in Houston, Texas—”

“How’d you know he was going to be there?” Declan cut in.

“I’d heard his name while I was in the company of David Duncan. David was trying to do business with Jefferson, but was having no luck, so he had one of his men research Jefferson and find out where he could orchestrate a run-in. The information was gathered, unfortunately David met his death before he could meet with Jefferson.”

“And you killed him?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

I felt like I was being interrogated by the police, minus the small room, bad lighting, and handcuffs.

“Listen, it would take a week for me to explain the last eight years of my life and why I’ve done everything I’ve done. I think it would be easier if you just asked me the questions Zane wanted you to.”

“Eight years?” Thad asked without looking up. “Autumn was taken ten years ago. There’s a two-year gap. What happened during that time?”

“That’s meaningless to the story,” I told him. “I met Jefferson at the auction and we hit it off. I’d used the research that David’s people had provided and made sure I’d memorized everything about him. I played hard-to-get and he bought it. Within a few days he asked me if I wanted to join him on a trip to Spain. I declined and he left. A week later he was back and double-downed. He took me out and tried everything he could to get me to agree to go to France with him. I agreed that time and we went. The first three months, he was cautious and didn’t discuss any business in front of me.”

“What changed?” Kyle inquired.

“I told him I’d fallen in love with him. He asked me to marry him. After I said yes, he told me he didn’t want secrets between us, and started to introduce me to his business associates. Of course, it was bullshit. There were plenty of secrets. He had his harem of women on the side. He never allowed me near his stable of women he sold or the prostitutes he pimped out, and his drug business was never spoken about, but he did tell me he made money buying, breeding, and selling animals.

“I assured him I loved him and didn’t care what his business dealings were. He took me to a dog fight and when I didn’t bat an eye, he took me to more. The more I proved I was loyal the less guarded he was around me.”

“You were fucking him, even though you knew he had women on the side?” Thad looked up from the report he’d been reading, clearly disgusted with what I’d told them.

“Didn’t say I was fucking him,” I returned.

“Right.” He shook his head. “Go on. After you won his trust, what?” he prompted.

“The most significant change was, he started taking me places. Everywhere he went he carted me along. I didn’t always sit through the meetings, but he most every time brought me. And the ones I did sit through were about his dogs. He also started talking on the phone in front of me. Mostly Spanish, sometimes French, or Portuguese.”

“And you speak those languages?” Max asked.

Yeah, he wasn’t happy with me. His tone had gone back to detached and hateful. Nothing like being the most detested person in the room.

“Spanish and French, yes. He talked about the procurement of the women mostly in Spanish, but he spoke to the buyer mostly in French. Same with his drug shipments. I’d assume the girls were being sent to Spain. We made several trips there. Before you ask, I was never able to follow him while we were there. I had a guard with me at all times.”

“And Mexico? Who were you with then?” Max continued.

“Jefferson. The day I saw you and Thad, Jefferson had gone to one of the training camps to see some pit bulls. He asked Seth, the guard I was with, to take me to lunch.”

“Yesterday,” Declan started. “You said he was aggravated when he got back from checking on the girls.”

I thought about how mad Jefferson had been when he’d gotten back to the villa.

“We didn’t find all the girls,” I announced. “He wasn’t happy that one was overweight. The five we found were skinny. He’d said some were too old. All of those girls had to be under eighteen. One of them looked to be twelve or thirteen. Someone moved the rest and his yacht was gone.”

“Maybe the seller came back and took the ones he didn’t want back,” Kyle noted.

“Maybe. But where’s his boat? His boat should’ve been there. Did you get the guy Jefferson was meeting with?” I asked.