Trapped in her darkness

6- Dancing Queen

James PoV

“This is some deep s**t you have put yourself into, James.” Jonathan tells me, after Connor and I explain to him all about Harper’s troubles.

“We would not have called you in, otherwise.” I scoff.

“He’s here to help, James.” Ethan says.

Ethan, Andrew, Jonathan, Connor, and I are in an executive meeting room in our headquarters as agreed last night.

“What are our options, Jonathan?”

Jonathan taps his fingers on the table, thinking.

“You know what the wise and only logical option is, James…”

“I will not throw her into the street.” Roars Connor.

“And what would you do, Connor?” Jonathan asks him, defiance in his tone.

“I will pay off her debt!”

Here it is. This is what I was afraid of.

“Are you out of your f*****g mind! Giving one million dollars to a perfect stranger?!” yelled Andrew.

“You all know that, for us, one million dollars is like a thousand or, eventually, ten thousand not more!” mumbles Connor.

“Speak for yourself!” replies Jonathan.

I laugh lowly at the heated discussion which is not appreciated by Andrew nor Jonathan as they both glare at me.

“Please tell me you do not agree with him, James!” Andrew asks me.

“Connor, you know it is not that easy to withdraw such an amount of money from the bank.” I sigh, trying to explain how complicated this can be.

“So, if it were not complicated you would have done it, James?”

“Andrew…”

“Oh My God! You would have! What did this girl do to you? Did she hypnotize you or bewitch you or something?”

“Dial it down Andrew.” Ethan asks, with a stern voice that is not open for discussion.

And I am grateful for his intervention. I would like the bashing to stop!

“James, our bank will accept. We have the liquidity in our bank account.” Connor insists.

“Yes, we have the money, Connor. But you know that banks do not have such money lying around in their vaults. They will require a week or even a couple of weeks to secure the money.”

“Ok. So, we hide Harper until the cash is made available.”

“Connor, asking for such an amount of money, in cash, must go through a long process. The bank will have to inform the IRS. This is the law, and it is meant to track and prevent money laundry. This is real life, not a movie!” Explains Jonathan.

“So, what? It is our money.”

“Connor, withdrawing one million dollars in cash will open the IRS’ eyes on you. This could impact your family business.” Ethan explains as well.

And I know that Jonathan and Ethan are both right. The IRS is a governmental institution, and they will undoubtedly suspect that we are up to something illegal if we withdraw such an amount.

And the problem is that we do not have any explanation for that. What do we tell them? We need to give this money to the MS-13 to clear a friend’s debt?

I rub my eyes, frustrated with this dead-end situation.

“Listen, guys. Let me check with my network to see whether the MS-13 is still actively searching for her. I can also try to identify which faction of MS-13 is after her. If it is a small local branch, we can maybe negotiate with them and clean her debt. If it is the headquarters, then it is more difficult.” Jonathan proposes.

“Ok. Thanks Jonathan.” I say as I doubt we will reach a better plan for now.

“What is her full name?” Jonathan asks.

Connor and I look at each other. We do not know.

“Are you kidding me? You do not even know her family name? And you were ready to give her one million dollars?” Andrew shakes his head in disbelief.

Fuck! How did this happen?

“It doesn’t matter, this girl probably does not have a social security number. She never went to school; her mother was a junkie who most probably did not record the birth of her daughter.” I say.

But let’s face it. I am just trying to save face! It is staggering how little I know about Harper and yet, I feel compelled to help her.

“Can I talk to her? I have a couple of questions to ask her.”

“No! She already had a bad experience with law enforcement. Tell me what you need to know, and I will talk to her.” Connor immediately interjects.

Jonathan glances at me and I nod.

Connor is overly protective of her, and I do not want us to fight about something so trivial. We can talk with her and give Jonathan all the details he needs.

“OK. I will message you the questions and information I need. Make sure you send me everything by tomorrow, Sunday, evening.” Jonathan tells Connor.

“Meanwhile, do not do anything without checking with me first. This is a dangerous situation, guys.”

A few minutes later, Jonathan and Andrew leave as they both have other business to attend to.

Ethan stays behind, and by the look in his eyes, I assume that the discussion is not over.

“What is it, Ethan?”

Ethan glances at my brother, then at me, not sure whether to address the elephant in the room in his presence.

“I am surprised. You are always thorough. You do deep background checks for any future business partners… You question everything and everyone. Yet, for this girl, you blindly believe her.”

“It is not blindly. I saw her battered and bleeding.” Connor cuts him off.

“Um-hum. And you believe this cannot be an act?” Ethan asks Connor.

“No, it cannot be an act. I might not know this girl and I might not have done a background check, but I know what I saw. And James saw it too. Now, if you will excuse me, I have another meeting.” Connor barks, storming out.

“And you, James?”

“Honestly? I believe her. I understand your skepticism. I would have done the same if I had heard such a story from you. But when you see her, you will understand why I trust her.”

“I just don’t want you to get hurt, James.”

“I know E... I know.”

“I have to leave for now. The principal wants to see us, Sawyer and I.”

“On a Saturday?”

“Yes. Carl got into a fight… just outside the school.”

“Well, it was outside the school grounds so he can do whatever he wants.”

“Not for the snooty private school of our kids.”

Our kids. I always smile when I hear him say that. I am so happy for Sawyer and him...and for the kids as well!

“Yes… Sorry… I always have a slip of tongue.”

“They will become yours soon.”

“No, we are not sure. We are just a foster family for now. The process is long and complicated. And I think this is why Carl is acting out. He refused to tell us what the fight was all about but, from word-to-mouth, it seems he was mocked for being a foster kid by the Morrison kid.”

“Never liked this snobby family!” I grumble.

The Morrisons were not trustworthy and had a bad reputation in our business world.

“Yes… But anyway, it is not only the Morrison, and it was not only yesterday... Still, some bystanders told Sawyer that the kids have been mocking Carl and taunting him that he will go back to foster care and to his… rightful place.”

“Well, your kid was right to fight them.”

“Yes, and that is what I intend to tell the principal.”

“Then good luck! … To the principal!” I laugh as I walk him out.

As soon as I get back behind my desk, Connor comes back in.

“Is he gone?”

“Connor… You know that they have our best interests at heart.”

“I did not like how the whole conversation went, James! They are questioning everything about her. You saw her. You are a good judge of character. And you believed her.”

“It won’t hurt to do a background check, Connor.”

“So, you don’t believe her anymore?” Connor accuses me.

“I still believe her, but just to be on the safe side, let’s get her full name or her mother’s name. This will help us in our investigation of the MS-13 gang, anyway.”

A silence settles between us, Connor brooding on the seat in front of my desk, and me trying to make sense of this whole situation.

Ethan was right. I never trust people. They need to prove themselves to me… They need to earn my trust. But Harper… Just one look at her beautiful brown eyes and I felt as if I could read her soul… An innocent soul.

“Do you think she is OK? She seemed stressed this morning.” Connor says, breaking the silence.

She did seem stressed. She told us she was afraid of staying all alone in such a big house. Although we both reassured her that she is perfectly safe and that she can go walk around in the garden as well, she chewed on her bottom lip, shifting incessantly in her seat.

“The guards did not call me, so I suppose everything is OK with her.”

“You have access to your surveillance cameras, no?”

“You want me to spy on her?” I raise an eyebrow.

“What? No. I just miss… I mean I am just worried about her!”

I shake my head at my brother’s infatuation. But who am I kidding? I missed her too and we saw her three hours ago…

I open my laptop and connect to the Security Surveillance application to access the live feed.

We both go silent as our eyes bulge from their sockets, yet still focus on the screen.

Who could remove his eyes from this captivating sight!?

I glance at Connor and his lips are parted in surprise, staring at Harper… Dancing in the living room!

She is wearing one of Connor’s T-shirts, which reaches mid-thigh. But as she is raising her hands and jumping on the couch, the T-shirt rises to a dangerous level… So dangerous that we see her round and perfect ass.

My c**k hardens at the scene in front of me. What the hell is this woman doing to me?!

I am mesmerized by her every move, my eyes linger on her long legs, going up to her round breast, and resting on her face. She is smiling, a bright smile that illuminates her face. She flips her hair like a rock star and I smile with her, as if I am in the same room.

“James…” Connor calls to me and I take a few seconds to recover from this.

“Yes…” I reply, my eyes still on the screen.

“She is mine, James. Back off.” Says Connor with a determined tone.

What did he just say!?