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“How are you doing, Jason?”
I close my eyes for a moment and let out a deep sigh before looking back at him.
“As can be expected,” I admit running a hand over my face. I decide to take this opportunity to speak to him without the fear of being overheard. “Are you sure there is no way Taylor is involved? For someone who couldn’t stand us a month ago, he is being very helpful. Maybe a little too helpful.”
Geralt tugs on his ear as he looks down at the carpet. It’s his tell, he always does this when he has a bad hand of cards when we play poker, or if he is uncomfortable with a situation. I push myself away from the wall as I pay attention.
“What do you know?” I demand.
“Nothing concrete, but I’ve been wondering the same myself. Don’t get me wrong I’ve known Taylor for many years and always found him to be trustworthy. But recently something has felt off, like the fact Hudson just left and he had no idea. He sees Hudson like the son he never had and for Hudson to just leave him makes me think there is more to the story than he’s letting on.”
I nod in agreement it just all seems a little too much for my liking. I need to speak to my brothers and see what they think on the matter. I know Sean and Maximus have always been dubious of Taylors intentions and have voiced their concerns more than once, but Christian seems to be reaching out to him a lot since Jasmine was attacked.“You keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”
I look at Geralt and place my hand on his shoulder and squeeze, as things start to click into place.
“Thanks, I think I might keep an eye on him and see what he’s up to.” I look into his eyes as I add, “This conversation stays between the two of us until I have a chance to speak to my brothers.” Geralt nods and offers me a warm smile.
This man has always been more of a father figure to us than Tommy ever was. He has stayed close and become friends with Jasmine since her attack. He has even brought his family around for dinner a couple of times and I know his daughter has become good friends with Jasmine as they are around the same age.
“Of course, Jason. Anything you need you just shout. Know we are here for you all. Abigail is beside herself with worry, I know she is hoping her friend will be back soon, we all are.”
I nod as we head out of the dining room and I led him to the front door. As we stand on the front steps I watch as the last few cars drive away, Geralts driver being the last one on the large drive.
“Thank you, Geralt. I will keep you posted.” I squeeze his shoulder one more time and force myself to go back into the house before it becomes harder to hide my pain.
I close the front door behind me and head to the sitting room, in the hope of finding my brothers, but it’s empty. We don’t seem to come in here now, it’s become the room we spend time in as a family, but our family isn’t complete without Jazzy. I try Christians office next and again find it empty. There are only two other rooms which he would be in at this time, and I have a feeling I know which it will be.
I make my way through the house to the stairs and listen out to see if I hear anyone, but the house is too quiet. We have become accustomed to the sound of Jasmine laughing, or singing to herself as she walks around. I miss the tell-tale squeal she does when she has pushed Maximus’s buttons or the way she lets out a high-pitched laugh when Sean catches her off guard and sweeps her off her feet. Before Jasmine, we hardly ever heard Christian laugh, mainly because he was hardly ever here and when he was he worked. But now we can hear the two of them laughing together daily and he seems to have become the old Christian we haven’t seen in many years.
I’m just about to head upstairs when I hear the sound of someone crying quietly in the kitchen. I reach the door and see Mrs Brown dabbing her eyes as she cleans the sides, crying quietly to herself. I walk in without saying a word, pull her into my arms, and hug her. For a moment she freezes before wrapping her arms around me and crying into my chest.
After a few minutes, she pulls away from me and wipes her face on the tea towel she has in her hand.
“I’m sorry,” she whispers before turning away from me.
“Don’t apologise, we all miss her. We will get her back.”
Mrs Brown reaches up and pats my cheek.
“I know you will, I don’t doubt it,” she replies before turning around and walking into the small annexe she has at the back of the house. I let out a sigh as I turn around and head back to the stairs to find Christian.
As expected, I find him in Jasmines room, just looking at her bed. I can still smell her perfume in the air, and the sweet scent coming from her roses that Mrs Brown keeps fresh in here.
I lean against the door and cross my arms over my chest. I don’t think Christian sees me to start with. He’s just sitting back in the chair drinking a glass of whiskey and staring at the bed. I think back to the time I sat just like that watching her sleep before tying her to the bed and punishing her by withholding her orgasms. I swear I will never withhold them again if we can just get her home.
“This isn’t how I expected to spend tonight.”
I let out a sigh and look from the bed to Christian.
“This isn’t how any of us expected to spend tonight,” I sigh. “We should be making love to our girl before whisking her away to the villa to celebrate.”
Tomorrow is Jasmines birthday and we had so many surprises planned. We have booked a flight to Majorca and planned on spending a week treating her to anything she wanted. Instead, she is tied to a bed somewhere possibly having unspeakable things done to her, and we are powerless to stop any of it.
“Everything I have built and all the things I’ve had to do over the years to get us into the position we are in was for nothing.”
I look at Christian and shake my head.
“It wasn’t for nothing Christian, none of it was for nothing.” But when Christians eyes meet mine I see no life in them, it’s like he has switched off his humanity. They are like two voids, I can’t even see his pain, he looks like he has died inside.
