“Eh, neither are you, dumbass. See, daddy didn’t even arrange a marriage for you. Only for the two he does claim. Must hurt that daddy doesn’t claim you to the public, see, what you don’t get, is your daddy’s dirty little secret. He raped your mother while they were in high school. After finding out she was pregnant with you, well, daddy told everyone what kind of lay your mother was, in his mind anyways. Mommy dearest ran to hide until she gave birth to you. Daddy found your mother and had her taken out so she couldn’t tell anyone about the rape. Had you sent off to foster care and technically no one was supposed to know of your connection to the Senator.”
“You’re lying. My mother abandoned me. Left me to die in the woods until some hikers found me. My father never knew about me!” Jackson screamed out, clearly angry.
“Did daddy tell you that? If that was true, why hasn’t he come clean about his relationship with you? Huh? Think about it, Jackson! He still has not told the public he has a child out of wedlock from a tryst in high school. I know you’ve been searching for your mother and never found her. Why is that? If you’re the all-powerful Ares, why haven’t you found her? Guess what, slick, you’re not the only kid he’s got out of wedlock. There’s several of you. It’s a fucking game for him. Hell, the four he does claim, only one has a head on his shoulders and doesn’t have anything to do with him. Think with your head, Jackson, you’re not fucking stupid. You’re just a tool in your daddy’s games that he can deny and call delusional when you scream the truth.”
“Fuck you!”
“No thanks. Now, where’s Dakota?”
“You’re not getting my wife!”
“She’s not your wife dipshit! She was sold to you by a delusional mother who was jealous of the attention the girl got. Once we’re done with you, you’ll never see her again!”
“You’ll never get your hands on her. You have no idea how our society works. You’re an outsider, a wannabe. You’re nothing but a whore with a badge. Ask your friend there, he knows what I’m talking about, don’t you Sawyer?”
Pratt looked over at Ian who glared at Jackson like he wanted to end him right then and there. Ian turned to look at Pratt, never wavering his stare, slightly shaking his head.
Sgt. Brocard came forward, informing them that Tampa PD was outside ready for the suspect. “We’ll get him in interrogation, Red. We’ve got him away from her. We’ll find her. Men like him always fuck up when they are cornered.”
Jackson was turned over to Tampa PD and escorted to the squad car waiting for him. Pratt watched as the car drove away after the officers spoke with her team leader and Larry for several minutes.
Feeling presence behind her, Pratt ignored the desire to turn around. When she felt a hand on her shoulder, her looked down at the offending appendage before looking back up towards the sky.
“We will find her, Red. Brody and Carter are looking into a few things now that we know who he is. Carter is sending out some feelers with people he knows, same with me and Larry. Someone is going to give them up.”
Pratt turned around to give her uncle Gene a glare. “Men like Jackson run this country. Don’t give me that bullshit. You don’t even believe that line, so why feed it to me? Jackson is going to be out without so much as a fucking slap on the wrist. His sperm donor will hire an attorney if his ‘society’ doesn’t have one on retainer. They will run circles around our arrest and usemeas the excuse for false arrest!”
“Laura, we are going to get him. Have faith in us, please?” Ian asked, knowing she was upset.
“Fine. Let’s head to the department. He’s going to lawyer up.” Pratt started to walk away but stopped after several steps. “Ian, will you go in with me? He seems to have a rapport with you, me I just annoy the fuck out of him, but you, he seems to think you two have something in common.”
Ian nodded as Carter walked up to the group. “We took out several of his men that were trying to sneak into the club behind him. Jordyn managed to interrogate one of the men before she dispatched him.”
“What did she find out?”
Carter looked over at Pratt for a moment. “Dakota is here in Tampa. She apparently signed a slave contract and is the property of Jackson. None of his men can touch her. Jackson managed put both Candy and Jennifer in their place when they wanted to mess with her. Took care of her training himself, something he doesn’t do.”
Pratt looked over at Sgt. Brocard as she walked up towards the group. “Swift is getting a search warrant for his place. They are using the attempted homicide of a cop to get it. York, Raso, Cortez and Diesel are headed over. Anyone else going to go with?”
“I’ll go.” Pratt looked around at Carter, Ian, Gene, Larry and Highlander as he walked up to the group.
“Jordyn and I will join them. We’ll focus around the house while everyone else looks inside. Make sure there are no surprises when you go in.”
Ian nodded at Carter as he watched everyone move around them. “I’ll keep Omega Team here to watch the wives and kids. Brody, stay here and keep doing your deep dive on Jackson and anything else you can find. Devon, you and Jake go with Carter, monitor things outside the house. I’ll go with Highlander, Pratt and the others to search the inside of the house.”
14
Cortez, Pratt, Diesel, York, Ian, Highlander, Carter, Jordyn, Devon and Jake all pulled up to the house that was registered to Jackson. Carter, Jordyn, Devon and Jake disappeared into the surroundings while the others made their way up to the front door before entering the house.
Upon entering the house, Pratt looked around, taking everything in. She slowly walked into the living room, feeling like she needed shades from the brightness the room showed, even though the shades were drawn.
The entire room was done in white. The walls were painted a omni white color with nothing on them. No photos or paintings adorned the walls at all. The sofa was a white sectional with matching white pillows that seemed to have a silver stitching added to the pillows, the only color obvious in the room. The coffee table legs were white while the table itself was nothing but glass, with white candles on top of them with glass mirrors underneath the candles.
No TV or entertainment system of any kind were in the room, which made the room seem dull and unused. A lone, white chair sat in the middle of the room, with zip ties laying on the floor near the chair. A silver box sat to the side of the chair behind the zip ties, caught Pratt’s attention as she walked over towards it.
Diesel seeing the box walked over besides Pratt, staring at the object in confusion. “Okay, this stands out in this room. What the hell is it?”
Pratt watched as Diesel leaned over and picked it up, observing the item, turning it around in her hands. “It’s a discipline box. Everyone calls it something different. When you do something wrong, if you have a fear of the dark, it’s a tool used to teach you obedience.”
