I frown. “What agency?”
Lillian taps her lips. “Black something-or-other.”
I flinch. “Black Blade Protection?”
“That’s it. I found their website. They looked reputable, so I called them. They were fast, too. They found you in less than a day. Obviously, I paid them well, but it was easier to find you than I expected.”
Jameson grunts. “We’re familiar with them. They aren’t cheap, but they are certainly efficient.” He glances at me.
I’m already nodding as I pull out my phone.
“What’s wrong?” Simone asks.
I hold up a finger while I wait for Blade to answer the phone. It takes two rings.
“Camden. What’s up? Everything okay with your Little?”
“Hey, Blade. Yes, she’s fine. Got another issue to discuss. Coincidentally, your agency helped a woman find my Little girl recently.”
“Fuck. Seriously?” I can hear him clicking away at his computer. “Shit. Yes. It was after the attack. Someone else took that call and found her. Easily, it seems. She wasn’t hiding. Is there a problem?”
“No. Not at all. The woman, Lillian, is her sister. It’s fine that she found us, but would you do me a favor? If anyone else calls trying to find Simone or Lillian Lighton, turn them down and let me know immediately.”
“Consider it done.”
“Thank you. Appreciate it.” I end the call and set my cell on the table. “I can’t promise your parents won’t call another agency in the state. There are a lot of PIs in Seattle, but they won’t get any help from Blade and his organization.”
Lillian wrings her hands and looks at her sister. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cause trouble. I just wanted to touch base with you. It was probably selfish of me.”
I shake my head and answer for my girl, “Nonsense. We’re glad you came. We’ll do whatever is necessary to help you.”
“Are you not staying in your apartment?” Lillian asks. “I waited all day for the past two days. Luckily, your friends showed up today.”
“Yeah, that’s a long story. Let’s finish the cocoa and move to the living room.”
Chapter 19
Simone
* * *
“Oh wow. This room is so pretty,” Lillian says that evening when I take her upstairs to show her to the guest room. Camden has other guest rooms, but I figure my sister will like sleeping in the pretty pink one I used for about five minutes when I first came here.
It took a while to explain everything that happened, and then Jameson was kind enough to take Lillian to check out of her hotel and bring her things back here.
For about half a minute, I considered letting Lillian stay in my apartment. It’s sitting there vacant, and I no longer care if she sees all the evidence of age play that fills the place.
Daddy nixed the idea immediately, though. For one thing, he doesn’t want any of us even going there until my attacker is caught, and for another, he worries it would be too easy for my parents to find Lillian there.
Lillian and I both realize we can’t go on for the rest of our lives without contacting them, but it certainly doesn’t need to happen today or any day in the near future. Let them stew. Meanwhile, there’s no sense in making it easy for them to find us, either. They can’t find us at Camden’s, and even if they do, they’ll never be able to get to us.
“I can’t believe Camden worked so hard to create this room for you, and you’ve never really used it,” Lillian says as she roams around.
“I’ll use it in time. We’ll turn it into a playroom soon. We’ve just been too busy to focus on this room.” I talk like I’m staying here forever, and I catch myself. How strange that the words would come out so easily.
Oh, yeah, sure, my Daddy is going to create the perfect playroom for me, and I’m going to live in this castle forever and ever, happily ever after.
I know that’s what Camden says he wants, but it still feels so soon and unrealistic to me half the time. I’ve been here nine days. Most of that time, I was partly catatonic. Today is the first day I’ve come out of my shell for the whole day.
