Page 67 of Prince of Control
“Don’t leave town,” the officer warns me.
I nod and walk out to the lobby of the small police station.
Another dose of warm liquid floods my limbs when I see her. Lara surges up from a waiting chair to meet me. She’s in a pair of teal sweatpants with branding down one leg and a pale cropped pink t-shirt, fitted tight around her braless tits.
“Malyshka,” my voice sounds rough. I stumble toward her. “You came.”
She meets me halfway, throwing her arms around me. I catch her waist, lifting her off the floor for a long, tight embrace.
My eyes smart.
Leo stands nearby, and Anders emerges from the interrogation room, looking haggard.
“Let’s get out of here,” I say, and the four of us walk out.
When we’re safely in Leo’s SUV, I say, “I don’t know what the fuck just happened. They said Melinda was drugged and sexually assaulted at our party.”
Anders looks like he’s going to be sick. “Can you take me to the hospital, Leo? I need to see her.”
I nod. “Yeah, me too.” I reach for and squeeze Lara’s hand. “Is that okay with you?”
Her brows lift in surprise, but she nods.
“I showed them the video of her leaving the party, clearly not drugged,” Leo fills us in. “And I verified that I personally saw you and Anders in the house the entire time after she left.”
“Thank you,” I say quietly.
“I told them I’d comb through all the footage from the party to find everything with Melinda in it. I can find footage inside the house of Anders after she left, and Lara was your alibi.”
I turn to look at Lara, suddenly sick.
She nods. “They questioned me, and I told them we were together during the last hour of the party.”
I grind my teeth. One thing I would never wish for is my wife being interrogated to corroborate my story.
“They questioned you? I’m so sorry, Lara.”
She lifts her chin. “I volunteered.”
Another wave of warmth washes over me. I bring her hand to my lips and kiss the back of it. “I’m sorry,” I murmur again.
“Not everything is under your control, Baron.” She holds my gaze steadily with her blue one, and it feels like I’m somersaulting. “You’re not responsible for all the bad things that happen in the world.”
“I’m a prime suspect,” Anders says tightly from the front seat. “They’re going to find my DNA all over her. But it was consensual.”
“Of course it was,” I say. “She’ll tell them that when she wakes.”
He turns to look at me. “Dude, what if she doesn’t remember? She was covered in marks–everyone’s going to think I’m some kind of heinous sexual predator.”
That’s when it becomes crystal clear.
“This was all a setup,” I say, working it out in my mind as I speak. “Everyone knows or thinks they know that we have a dungeon. It might also be known that Melinda Tracy frequented it last year. Maybe that she frequented it with me.” I dart an apologetic glance at my wife, but her face remains sympathetic.
“So someone roofies Melinda at the party and maybe calls for help, and the police find her drugged and covered in bruises with someone’s DNA all over her,” Leo finishes.
“Exactly. It has to be setup, or they wouldn’t have shown up at our party looking for me. I never said one word to her the whole night,” I say.
“What if it was that guy I thought roofied Lili?” Leo asks.
