Jace decided if he ever decided to get out of ranching, he might be able to make a living as a detective. As soon as he’d gotten the letter from Miss Edmunds, he’d gone to work, using an online service to match the address on the envelope with the corporate offices for Bayside Gentleman’s Clubs, Inc.
He’d done a Google search of the business, narrowing his search to the name of the owner, one Tony Orzo. Here he found very little beyond a few articles about a neighborhood’s unsuccessful fight to keep a third club planned by Orzo from opening.
After that he’d come up short, but then remembered a friend had once mentioned subscribing to an online service to investigate a shady business associate. The friend was more than happy to recommend the service, called Nexis, and Jace subscribed. Within two hours he’d tracked down records on several court cases involving Tony Orzo, sometimes as a plaintiff but more often as a defendant. Further digging uncovered convictions for communicating threats, assault, and one hung jury on a money-laundering charge.
Jace had no way of knowing if the man he was researching was the man who’d sent Lily Mae the letter, but he’d always relied on his gut instinct and now it told him that he was on the right track.
Lyle had stayed at the house. Now, as Jace threw a few things into a traveling bag, his friend paced nervously nearby.
“You sure you want to do this, Jace? I mean, this guy sounds like a mean dude—criminal record, strip club owner. For all you know, Lily Mae was a stripper. Maybe she wanted to go back to that kind of life, to that kind of guy…”
“If she was, and if that’s what she wants, then she can damn well tell me herself, Lyle.” He threw a pair of jeans and a fresh t-shirt into the bag. “But I don’t think that’s the case. That letter she got was clearly a threat from this guy. And I’m thinking with his past she’s probably afraid of what he’d do if she didn’t handle this debt.”
“So if that’s the case, why not tell you and let you pay it, Jace?” Lyle walked over to his friend. “You asked her to tell you everything.” He paused. “She lied to you, buddy.”
“I know.” Jace sighed. “And don’t think this means I’m bringing her home. To be honest, I don’t know how this is going to end, but it won’t end with me spending the rest of my life wondering whether she left me for any other reason than because she wanted to. That, I could live with. But if there’s any chance she’s trapped somewhere wanting to come home, I want to know.”
“And the fact that she lied?” Lyle pressed.
Jace zipped his bag shut. “Then if she comes home with me, there’ll be a reckoning, even if she meant well. She knows better.”
“I can’t tell you what to do, Jace,” Lyle said. “Just know that either way, I’ll support you a hundred percent.” He paused. “Sure you don’t want me to come with?”
“Nah,” Jace said, shouldering his bag. “I have to work this out on my own.”
“I was thinking more in terms of backup.”
Jace grinned. “Don’t worry,” he said. “This guy sounds like a bully. I’m looking forward to taking him on if my instincts are right about that, too.” He embraced his friend, clapping him on the back before turning for the door.
“I got a flight to catch,” Jace said. “God willing and clear skies, I’ll be in L.A. by tomorrow afternoon.”
Chapter Fifteen
When Lily Mae had been twelve, one of her best friends had been the daughter of a chicken farmer. One Saturday, her friend’s father had taken them to check the trap lines along the creek. Lily had instantly wished she’d stayed behind when they came across a coyote snarling in the trap. Both its paw and muzzle were bloodied, and her friend’s father had explained that the animal was trying to gnaw its own paw off to escape.
“Some animals will give up anything to get away.”
Lily Mae had told herself there was no way she could ever imagine feeling that trapped. But now, as she stood in the locked conference room, dressed in the dress, shoes, and underwear Tony Orzo had picked out for her, she completely understood how it felt to feel so hopelessly cornered and desperate.
She felt dead inside. Too dead to feel. Too dead to cry. It was nearly seven. Tony would be coming for her soon. She felt like a prisoner being treated to her last supper. He’d made it clear what he expected afterwards. Lily Mae thought of Jace’s loving dominance and compared it with the self-serving authority Tony Orzo exercised. He expected her submission, but a man like that could never earn it. He could force her body to yield, but her heart and soul would never be his. Both those things had been given to Jace Whitaker. Tonight would, she decided, destroy her. But she would know even as it happened that she’d once lived, had once loved.
“You look beautiful.”
She stiffened at the sound of Tony’s voice, but did not respond or turn to face him.