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Hannah was about to tell Mia again that they didn't need Lucy's help since, technically, Lucy was no help at all even when she was there, but she pushed the words down, knowing Mia would need her younger sister's help if Hannah decided she needed to leave town because of Jake Davenport.
They were back in the front of the flower shop when Hannah heard the incoming text on her phone. The words on her screen made her knees start shaking.
Text from Jake:
'You can't hide, Hannah. You agreed to do a job for me and I expect you at work tonight.'
With her trembling fingers she replied:
'Not a chance. Find someone else.'
Several minutes passed, and she thought he might have finally given up pressuring her to change her mind. She wouldn't be that lucky.
Text from Jake:
'Will pick you up at 9 pm. No is not an option.'
Hannah didn't realize she was crying until the tears spilled down onto her phone. She was out of time. She'd either need to let Jake use her, putting her in danger, or she needed to pack up and leave before nine that night. She looked around the flower shop she'd worked in for the last two years. She was going to miss it and Mia very much, but she needed to think of Connor. She was all he had.
* * *
Dylan
"Let's go back to that last photo. Who's that guy with Davenport?"
Dylan listened while his boss, Lukus, ran another meeting of his employees working on the Davenport case.
Cameron, their tech guru, answered over the speakerphone. He was the only one still investigating from Chicago. "His name is Mohammed Khezal and, as best I can tell, he's Davenport's number two at Strictly Disciplined. He's there daily, and we've seen him giving more than a few women rides to and from work."
"Any being forced to go?" Derek inquired.
"Not that we've seen. I think the websites are a dead end. There's nothing going on there illegal that I've been able to find," Cam said.
Dylan's blood pressure was rising just listening. They'd been over this all before, and he couldn't keep his mouth shut. "This is so fucked up. These guys are hurting those women. Open your damn eyes."
Lukus shot him a dirty look as his brother Derek stepped between them. "Listen, I know you don't approve, but it's all about consent. The women are giving it. That means it's a dead end."
"He's brainwashing them. They don't know what they're doing." Dylan couldn't believe anyone would voluntarily let someone whip or paddle them until they were bruised or bleeding, like was happening nightly on the websites.
Derek stepped closer, talking more softly, as if to try and keep the conversation between the two of them. "I know you don't think it's possible, but there are a lot of women who get into the whole D/s scene. Your sister-in-law is one of them. Are you accusing me of brainwashing Rachel?"
Dylan didn't miss the defensiveness on his brother's face as they met eye to eye. They may have been the same height, but Derek had fifty pounds of muscles on Dylan. He made an intimidating roadblock. Glancing around the room at Lukus and Zach, Dylan knew he was outnumbered.
Still, he wasn't backing down. "I know you love Rachel, but I don't understand how you can justify disciplining her. This is the twenty-first century. I don't get why she doesn't hate you for hitting her." Dylan tried again.
"Listen, you twerp, I know what the year is. If you'd open your ears you'd know that I'd cut my right arm off before IhitRachel. I spank her. Discipline her. And we do what we do because it's what makes Rachel feel safe and protected. It's what she wants; what she needs. But the only way it works is because she consents to it all. Just like Tiffany consents to Lukus, and Brianna to Markus. And if the women working in the warehouse have consented, then it's a dead end. We've interviewed a dozen of them and they are all happy with their job and the money they're making."
"What about Hannah? She's not happy. She's not consenting."
Lukus had obviously been listening in on the brothers' conversation because he injected questions. "What about Hannah? You've had a hard-on for her for weeks. Explain it to me. Why do you think she's different?"
"For starters, she seems scared to death of Davenport, and she refuses to go anywhere with him since she went to his house just once. I haven't seen her going to the warehouse, so his interest in her is different. He's not after her to be in front of a camera."
Cameron piped in over the phone. "I've watched all of the footage from the security cameras at the warehouse, and Dylan's right. Davenport has never taken her there. Dylan's photos of the two of them together are different. For starters, Davenport has no shortage of women. We've seen him out with at least six different women just in the weeks we've been on his ass. He doesn't need to chase anyone, yet he's clearly pursuing this woman, who is having no part of going anywhere with him."
Lukus looked thoughtful. "That is odd. He has women throwing themselves at him and if it was just sex he was after, he's got a whole warehouse full of sex workers. Why seek out an innocent outsider?"
Derek probed, "What do we know about her?"
