Page 8 of Rattler's Revelation
Bianca explains how she crashed her car and how the arrival of Randy and his partner in their patrol car saved her from abduction. “If that wasn’t bad enough, when Rattler took me to my apartment, we discovered someone had started packing my things.”
Brigit frowns. “I don’t understand. Who was packing up your apartment?”
Brigit and I take turns explaining what Rafe discovered about two of the missing women and what Bianca learned when Billy tried to find two others.
“So, the police think that not only did someone kidnap these women, but they covered their tracks by packing up their apartments?” Wildcard asks. He nods slowly as he considers the ramifications. “That makes sense. Well, shit. Does this mean someone kidnapped all twenty-seven women?”
“Twenty-seven?” Bianca gasps.
Wildcard’s expression goes blank. Brigit places a hand on Bianca’s arm. “We found a link between the previous HR manager and several women who quit during the time she worked for us. That doesn’t mean all of these women are victims. Rafe will need to investigate each one.”
Bianca looks so sad that I want to wrap her in my arms and find a way to distract her. Images of stripping her naked and making her come over and over until she forgets everything float through my mind. The realization that I want to follow through with my imaginings staggers me. I have a secret that I’ve never shared with anyone. Not even with Viper. I’m a virgin. Well, kind of. I’ll get to that later. I’ve never had sex. I know it’s odd for a twenty-three-year-old to admit to never having sex, especially a man. But there it is—my deepest secret. I’m a virgin. Not only am I a virgin, but until I met Bianca, I’d never been attracted to anyone—female or male. So, realizing I’m attracted to Bianca staggers me.
“What are your plans? You’re still planning on working at 1%, right?” Brigit asks. Her question draws my attention back into the conversation. I turn to look at Bianca and hold my breath. Her answer is essential to me.
“I already told my manager that I was staying. If that’s okay?”
“It’s what we wanted,” Wildcard assures her. “Trouble speaks highly of you and was distressed when you turned in your notice.That’s why you were the first one he chose for Brigit to talk to. We were hoping she could convince you to stay.”
Trouble is the President of the Shadow Borns. They’re an ally club that joined with us in building the casino. We own the majority, but the Shadow Borns have a significant stake.
“Oh. That’s nice to hear. Before Walt showed up, it was the best job I’ve ever had. I was so excited when I first started working there. Everyone I work with loves it, or they did until Walt started harassing them. He’s the only reason the other women were quitting. It got so bad that they didn’t feel they had another choice.”
“Do you think you’ll feel comfortable again? Now that he won’t be there?” I ask her.
She slowly nods, but I see her eyebrows draw together as if she’s thinking otherwise. “It will take me some time to stop looking for him around every corner. I used to take alternative routes to avoid him, but he always seemed to find me. The other girls said the same thing. At first, I thought he was following me via the security cameras, but I realized there wasn’t enough time for him to get to my location if he was coming from the security office.”
Wildcard glances at me, and I nod in agreement. There was a way for him to use the security feed to track her movements. All it would take is a security guard or two in his pocket.
“I need to do a thorough check on each member of security,” Brigit says, giving voice to Wildcard and my silent conversation. “He likely had at least one guard working for him. Damn, he could have people from different departments working for him. We need to check everyone.”
“We’ll bring it up in Church tomorrow,” Wildcard tells her.
“Church?” Bianca asks in confusion.
“Club meeting,” I explain. “The club members meet regularly to discuss club business. Since the club owns the casino, the members will meet to discuss the next steps.”
“That includes you now,” Wildcard says with a chuckle.
“Oh, yeah,” I grin. “Wow. That’s going to be different.”
“I wanted to ask you about that,” Bianca says. “At the casino, they were calling you Max. Now they’re calling you Rattler. Elina mentioned that they patched you in. What does that mean?”
“I thought you watched Sons of Anarchy. You were afraid to come here because you thought it was like the television show. Didn’t they patch in new members on that show? Getting my patch means that I’m now a full member instead of a prospect.”
A hint of pink glows under her ebony skin as she pokes me in the stomach. “As I recall, you laughed at me when I asked if the club resembled the show. Although seeing it in person, I can understand why you did. This is nothing like what I expected.”
“I felt the same way,” Brigit says with a laugh. “I was as surprised as you when Wildcard brought me back here. It was so much different than what it was like when I was a kid.”
“You were here as a kid?” Bianca asks.
Brigit nods. “My father was a member when they had a different President. His road name was Squiggy, and he was nothing like Puma. His clubhouse was brutal. It made Sons of Anarchy look tame.”
Bianca’s eyes widen before she glances around the room, her eyes landing on the kids who are running around laughing and screaming as they enjoy a major sugar rush while the adults look on with fond smiles. They laugh at their antics and occasionally scoop up a child to tickle or toss into the air. As usual, Puma is in the center of the chaos, doing his best to rile up the kids. They all merge on him and climb him like he’s a jungle gym.
Bianca yawns, and I remember she’s had a rough day and is likely exhausted. I take her now-empty plate and dispose of it. “How about I show you to your room?”
“That sounds great,” she says. After offering Wildcard and Brigit a small wave, she takes my hand as I lead her toward the hallway. However, before we reach it, the kids converge on us.
