The Madame (The Chloe Chronicals) Read online

  She let’s out a squeal and then sets the phone down. “It’s registered to Barry Delacruz.”

  “Are you serious?” I ask in disbelief. “What the fuck is up with your brother?”

  Chloe shakes her head and then places her hands over her face. “There has to be some mistake. He wouldn’t do this. There has to be something wrong with the whole thing. Fuck!”

  I place my hand on top of hers which stills her fingers from drumming on her thigh. As I do, she looks at my hand and then travels up to my face. When she looks at my face, her eyes horn in on my lips and I can’t help the slight curve of them when she licks hers.

  “Chlo-”

  “How-”

  We both start talking at the same time but then I squeeze her hand. As my fingers tingle from touching hers, I lean in and press my lips firmly against hers. They are soft and warm against mine and when I slip my tongue between them, the velvety feel of hers makes me groan.

  My hand is gripping her thigh and I begin to tug her closer to me so I can slip my hand higher on her thigh. When my fingers hit heat from her pussy, I pull back quickly and then push myself back into my seat. Shit!

  Chloe- Then

  My lips tingle from his kiss and I feel them puffing up from the intensity of his kiss. “Shit!” I whisper to myself as I press my fingers to my lips.

  “Indeed,” he murmurs.

  Before I can say anything, my phone rings in my pocket causing me to jump. “It’s Barry.” I don’t answer it because I don’t want to hear what he has to say about the situation that he is in. Even though I want to know why his name is on that car when he doesn’t have any money because all of it is going to the prison for him.

  That’s what people don’t understand about being institutionalized. You have to pay for staying there. It’s not fucking free.

  “Chloe! Hello?”

  “What?”

  “I have been calling your name a few times.”

  He has? What? “Okay, sorry. I was zoning out.” That is a half truth. I was zoning with conflicting thoughts of kissing Howard and then why my brother’s name was on this car.

  “What are you going to do?”

  I shrugged and then picked up my phone to a bunch of messages that were on it. “Shit, I have like ten text messages.”

  Howard chuckles and then looks forward. “We got movement!”

  Quietly, he turns on the car and then begins to drive down the road behind my brother’s car. My brother’s fucking car. We follow about six car lengths behind him and stop at all of the red lights and yellow to make it so we didn’t look like we were following them.

  And then the car turns on a dirt road. We wait about two minutes before we go down the road too and then we stop away from the building. I push my seat back and then tilt it down so no one can see me as I sit there. Howard is wearing a hat and sunglasses to disguise himself from being identified.

  There’s a big boom and the garage door opens on the side of the building. I peek over the window and see a group of men talking and walking as if they are shooting the shit. But in the back of them, there are several people being led while holding hands from the garage door. There has to be like twenty or so girls.

  “Are you catching this?” Howard whispers and snaps pictures on a special camera for these situations.

  “Yeah, I am. Can you believe this?”

  Before he could answer me, a van pulls up and then stops abruptly in front of the garage. It was then that the girls were shoved in the open van and then van took off.

  Howard pulls his phone out and then gestures for me to look over his shoulder. “It says Barry’s registered with this van as well.”

  “What the fuck!” I howl and then lean my seat back up.

  We follow the van back down the busy road but before we do, I make sure to write down the address of the warehouse that we are at. You can never be too careful or too prepared in this field.

  The van continues down a bunch of different roads and I have to convince my mind to be here right now. All I keep thinking about is that kiss from Howard and how I want to do it again. I squeeze my thighs together to relieve some of the pressure that is pounding in my clit from it.

  Through my peripheral vision, I can see that Howard is watching me do this and not to discreetly, he reaches down and adjusts his dick. I watch the movement and can’t help a humming noise coming through my mouth. Jesus. My nipples harden and press against my bra causing me to want to rub them. My pussy throbs from it’s lack of attention being given to it and I know I’m breathing heavy.

  Howard- THen

  Chloe’s breath is coming harder and quicker as she watches my hand move to adjust my dick. I’m wanting to call her out on it, but I don’t. This isn’t the time to throw her ass in the backseat and make her realize that she missed me as much as I do her. And god damnit, do I miss her.

  Stop thinking with your dick.

  Seriously, stop thinking with your fucking dick. You need to be able to work with Chloe and not want to fuck her fifty different ways.

  Jesus.

  “Where do you think they are going?” I ask huskily as I continue to follow the van down the road. We have been following it for hours but this is the newer vehicle.

  Before she answers, they take a sharp right onto the road that the warehouse is on. We are still several car lengths behind them and they don’t seem to have any idea, so when we turn onto the street, we park.

  “Well, looks like you have your answer.”

  I turn and look at her face but she is focused on the movement. We both pull our cameras out and start taking pictures of what is happening. They are pulling the girls out of the van and then lining them up against the wall. I swallow the bile that is threatening to come up when they strip the girls and circle them like cattle.

  The process takes forever and we each have a lot of pictures that are taken to the point where we switched out memory cards.

  “This is taking a long time,” Chloe says as if she is mirroring my thoughts.

  I nod and then sit up straight when they open the door and then shove the girls inside. Before I can say anything, Vlad looks over at us and I duck down in my seat and so does Chloe.

  After a moment of not hearing anything that is going to startle us or that proves that we have been caught, I peek up and the building is dead still again.

  “It’s okay now, baby,” I murmur and rub my hand on her thigh. Her thigh is warm and I want to run my hand up farther just to feel the other heat.

  Her lips open a little and then when I look at her, I notice that her eyes are a little cloudy. Fuck my life. Why am I doing this to myself? Jesus.

  Grant- Then

  Time is unfortunately moving by very fast and I’m no closer to finding out where Chloe or Howard have gone off to. Both of their cell phones have been disconnected and it’s making me nervous that I can’t fucking get in touch with them if I need to. What if I needed one of them?

  Shit, I need Chloe in every single definition of the word. Kayla and I have been living together and we seem to be getting along. My only concern is Christine and that’s because she shows up at weird times.

  Take today for instance. I come home from work and see her pacing by my door. “Christine, what’s going on?” I ask her as I stop in front of my door and block it from her. I’m not wanting her to come in but she’s being strange.

  “Uh, do you think we could talk?” She looks nervous as she stares at the door and then back at me.

  I shrug and unlock my door. “All right. Let’s make it quick. I’m exhausted from work.” I am exhausted but it’s not just because of work. I’m freaking the fuck out about not knowing where Chloe is and about Kayla. I know that Kayla is going to want some type of commitment and I don’t know if I can do that.

  I’m a horrible fucking person.

  She follows me through my apartment and then when we reach the living room, we see Kayla stretched out on the couch with her hand around her b
elly. It’s fucking adorable that she’s so comfortable with her pregnancy that she’s wearing these little shorts that are making me hard as a rock right now.

  “Let’s go talk in my room, I don’t want to wake up Kay.”

  Quietly, I lead her through the open floor plan until we hit my room that is clean to a T. I can tell that Kayla must have gotten bored because she has everything so clean in here. The bed is made and even those useless throw pillows are resting on the top.

  I bend over to start taking off my shoes and I set them at the end of the bed. My room is big enough that there are two oversized chairs in the corner of the room, so I make my way over to them. I do not want to be on the bed with her. That would create too many fucking problems.

  “Your place is really clean,” she whispers as she looks around at the walls that have paintings on them now.

  “Yeah, Kayla likes to clean.”

  Is it just me or is this really awkward?

  “So…” She starts off and wait to hear what she has to say. “I just wanted to say- uh, shit.”

  “Hey, how’s it going? When did you get home?” Kayla asks as she leans against the door. I love that her belly is getting bigger and you can see my baby growing in there.

  Christine winces and looks around the room before addressing me again. “I just wanted to say that I’m sorry for my part in Chloe leaving.”

  It’s my turn to wince and then I hold my hand out to Kayla for her to come and sit on my lap. I needed the strength from her because talking about Chloe is still a hot button. “Don’t worry about it. Her leaving was a hot mess.”

  “But it was a good thing that she left,” Christine whispers and then looks at me before getting up. “Uh, yeah, congratulations on the baby.”

  Kayla looks from me to her and then shrugs. “Yeah, thanks. Have a good night,” but before the words were spoken, Christine has left and then I hear the front door slam shut. “What was she doing here? I don’t fucking trust her. I don’t want her over here anymore.”

  I don’t miss how she sounds and I don’t miss the accusation in her voice. “Baby, I have no idea.” I rub my hand up her thigh and she moans a little when I touch her underwear. “Are you needy?” I taunt her.

  Damn right, I’m going to use sex to get out of this conversation.

  Howard- THen

  It’s been a week since we have last seen Dom and Vlad and Chloe is getting nervous. I would like to say it’s because she’s ready to get them locked up and the girls safe, but I think it’s because she wants to find out what Barry is really doing in the middle of this.

  Fuck. I want to know how some guy from Colorado gets involved in cocaine and the smuggling of women. Honestly. He’s a little fish compared to these big guys and I want to know how he got in the middle of this fucking mess.

  My hand is paused over Chloe’s door when I hear a crash and a scream from her apartment. It’s when I hear Steve’s bark that I begin to panic. Shit. Did they find out that she’s an FBI agent? How the hell could they have worked that fast in order to find this?

  “Chloe! Open the door, right now!” I yell and try twisting the doorknob again. It’s locked but I shove on the knob for good measure. “I swear to god, if you don’t open this fucking door!” I yell once more.

  I hear the tick of the door handle and then I hear her cry again. I burst through the door without even thinking about the consequences of making such a big scene and see her in the middle of the floor holding a weird blue box.

  “Sweetheart, what happened?” I ask as I drop to my knees in front of her. “What happened? Tell me all about it.” My knees crash onto the floor and I feel the pain from the impact radiate through my whole body. It was almost as if my legs couldn’t hold me up anymore.

  I look over her hair and see that there are several spots that have grown lighter because of her natural hair color is growing back. She doesn’t look as if she’s been hurt but then again, I never know with this woman. She has the ability to blend into the background if she wanted to.

  “God, this is so embarrassing. Why did you have to come over right now?” She whispers from underneath her hands. I pull her hands away from her face and she looks up at me. “I need to go to the pharmacy before we go over to the Russians. I will meet you there.”

  Before I can pull her back in order to get her to tell me why the hell she needs to go there, she jumps out of my hands and runs to the door without crating her dog. That should have been my first clue. She always crates her dog before she leaves.

  Chloe grabs her purse and keys before she bursts through the door in order to leave. I follow behind her not bothering to crate her dog, either.

  “Sweetheart, come on. Tell me what’s going on. You have me freaked out. Please, you have to tell me what’s going on.”

  She stops in the middle of the sidewalk and I can see her shoulders moving. Oh my fucking god. Is she crying? Chloe doesn’t cry easily. There must be something wrong and she’s scaring the shit out of me. “Please, baby. Tell me what’s got you worried. Tell me and I will fix it.”

  “You can’t fix it. No one can. God damn it, Howard. I think I’m pregnant.”

  My heart crashes in its cavity and I swear the earth stops moving and everything grinds to a stop. Pregnant? What the fuck. I mean, what the actual fuck is she talking about? She can’t be pregnant. There is no way.

  “Say something.”

  I didn’t even realize that my eyes were closed until I opened them slightly and saw her standing in front of me looking scared. Shit. “With, uh, Grant’s baby?” I stammer over the words and feel acid in the back of my throat. It’s hot and I feel it bubbling over in my throat and into my mouth.

  She nods and then continues walking.

  Chloe- Now

  The man that is holding my shoulder pushes me forward so I’m walking out of my bedroom. Before I can reach for one of the guns that I have hiding behind the painting on the wall, the man slaps the back of my head and drags me out. Once I’m through the entryway of my bedroom, I see why he’s so cocky.

  On the floor of the living room, I see my collection of guns scattered. The boxes of bullets are there as well and the various types of clips are there too. “What are you doing here?” I ask as he pulls me towards the couch and then pushes me on it.

  Steve is barking very loud and he’s running around the apartment like a wild dog. Part of me is happy that he’s doing this because this means that someone might hear him. But the other part of me is worried that he’s going to get shot. I couldn’t deal with my dog getting killed.

  The man reaches behind him and pulls out a roll of duct tape and holds it out in front of him. He’s making a show of gripping the frayed end of it and pulling it out. Once it’s as long as he wants it to be, he rips it off. As he walks towards me, I see what his intentions are and I try to fly back as much as I can. I mold my back against the back of the couch as much as I can but I’m still not far enough.

  Fuck.

  “You shouldn’t have come. Vlad and Dom know all about you. You should’ve just stayed in Denver. You stupid fucking bitch.”

  The tape is placed over my mouth even though I’m shaking my head from left to right as much as I can. It’s no use.

  When I awake, I’m in a dark room and I see the Russians. This is not good. This is not fucking good at all.

  Chloe- Then

  I haven’t seen Howard in a few days but I know that he has a lot of paperwork to make up for since he is the handler on this case. I’m worried that he’s not getting enough evidence in order to get these girls out safe but we can’t do much more. I hate how the law has been bounded so tightly that we can’t act out how we want to. That’s the part that is the hardest with this whole thing.

  Plus, after everything we saw? Fuck.

  We can’t barge into their compound and start saving everyone. These girls are living through god knows what and there is not one thing we can do about it.

  I pull out my phone
about to call Barry and see where he is at since he was supposed to be on his way over to discuss what we are about to do. I have it planned out to a T but I need to make sure that he’s in the know. Fuck. In a perfect world, I would definitely love if my brother was not in this too.

  And I can’t wait to question him and find out how the hell he got involved with this. And his name is on those cars.

  Before I can hit contacts, I notice my cycle application on my phone. I haven’t looked at it in a couple of weeks and I’m curious when I am supposed to be getting my period. Since the phone is relatively new, I merged my old apps on my personal phone to this one in order to keep up with things like my calendar and my period cycle.