Lukus answered. "He's running several legal online sex rooms and phone lines. They are pretty hardcore, stretching the boundaries of consent, but as best we can tell, they aren't illegal. I have reason to believe those are just a front to cover his illegal business. My tech guru is tracing the money, but Davenport is smart. We need help from the inside to find the kind of dirt we need."
Something in the way he said the word 'inside' alarmed Hannah. "Why don't you just go to the police? I mean, if he is threatening your fiancée, they should arrest him, right?"
"If only it were that easy. He's good at covering his tracks and even better at finding people's weak spots and capitalizing on it. I'm assuming he has something on you that kept you from going to the police yourself?"
She wilted under Lukus's stare and decided to tell the truth. "I haven't had very good luck with going to the police in the past. I decided it would be easier to just disappear." She looked up at Dylan. "I'd take you up on your offer to help me and Connor get away from here if you were serious."
Before Dylan could answer, Lukus interjected again. "There is nowhere you can go where he can't find you if he wants to. Do you want to look over your shoulder for the rest of your life? Be afraid to let Connor play outside, for fear Davenport will find you? No. The only way to be free of him is to put him behind bars or, better yet, six feet under. Now think, what else do you remember?"
Her heart pounded in her chest as she debated her next move. Her decision made, Hannah stood and crossed to her freezer, reaching in to remove the leather journal she had nabbed from Jake's home office. She took it out of the frosty plastic bag and placed it in front of Lukus before returning to her seat.
The three of them sat frozen, the men both staring at her, waiting for an explanation she didn't want to give.
"I was an idiot," she said at length. "That's the journal he had me translating data from when I was at his house. I wasn't thinking when I took it. Of course, he knows I have it. He'll never leave me alone until he gets it back, and since I've experienced how he punished me for doing nothing wrong, I kinda want to avoid seeing how he decides to punish me for stealing that from his house."
Lukus's whistle confirmed what an idiot she was, right up until he spoke. “First, don’t call yourself an idiot again. Davenport is evil, but he’s smart as hell. We’re all doing what we can to get him neutralized and this might turn out to be the big break we need.”
While Lukus reached to open the journal, Dylan moved into action. "Do you have any luggage? How about boxes? I'll help you pack," he said.
Hannah sat rooted to her chair, watching Lukus leaf through the pages of the book quickly before glancing up at her. "You have any ideas on the coding system?"
"A few. I think the two letter codes are locations, and the numbers represent people or products. The lengths he is going to keep the information private alone tells me it's something illegal. At first, I thought it might be drugs."
Lukus calmly asked, "What made you think that?"
She hesitated, looking up at an agitated Dylan. "Because he drugged me when I was at his house."
Dylan was pacing around the small apartment like a caged animal searching for his prey, while Lukus pressed her calmly in contrast. "Did you lose consciousness?"
"Unfortunately, no. It made me lethargic. Like I was seeing through a tunnel. My ears rang, and..." She had to look away from Dylan as she finished her sentence. "It was like an aphrodisiac. My brain hated what was happening, but it was like I couldn't control my body."
"Motherfucker. Dead. I want him stone-cold dead," Dylan snarled.
"Dylan, sit down and take a deep breath. We're going to get him. I promise you." Lukus was eerily calm. Hannah was tempted to believe his promise. He waited for Dylan to sit before he continued. "I'm going to take this with me and get photos of each page over to my tech guru to see what he can put together with the information inside. In the meantime, I don't think either of you is going to like what I'm about to ask you to do. If I thought there was any other way to proceed, I'd take it, but we're running out of options."
Hannah may not have known the man at all, but she could see regret in his eyes as he continued. "We need to get inside that warehouse, Hannah. We've talked to several employees and haven't been able to find anyone who knows anything about what is going on. You're our best chance."
Dylan was back on his feet, this time up in Lukus's face. "Are you nuts? You want to send Hannah inside that house of pain? Alone?"
She was shaking at the thought of even seeing Jake again, let alone going inside his lair, where she would once again be at his mercy. "You can have the journal. Use it, but that's all I can do. You can't ask me to see him again," she pleaded.
Before Lukus could reply, her cell phone was ringing inside her purse on the kitchen counter. It was Mia's ringtone. She was about to let it roll to voicemail until the memory of Jake leaving the shop with Lucy flooded back to her. "Damn. I need to get that."
She crossed to her purse and answered the call. "Hey Mia." A pang of regret hit her as she realized she was going to be leaving her life behind, including her friendship with Mia. Then her regret took a back seat as Mia cried through the phone.
"Lucy is
