Read Online THE FIRST SIN by Cheyenne McCray - Free Book Online Page B

Oxford didn’t do anything without a reason. She was Machiavellian in her motives and goals, so she must be after something major here and killer boy Donovan was the key to getting it.
    Yeah, I was interested in knowing what her reasons were.
    It still didn’t change my opinion that a man on a mission with such personal stakes didn’t belong on an op he was this close to.
    The tablecloth felt rough beneath my forearms as I leaned forward. “All right, we’ll get to your sister in a minute. First tell me why Oxford allowed you on a case involving a family member.”
    Donovan’s blue eyes betrayed nothing when he said, “Oxford and I have an agreement.”
    “That’s not enough.” I leaned back in my chair. “I need to know why she’s willing to take such a big risk.” He narrowed his gaze. “The only risk is to my sister if I don’t find her.”
    “We’re talking about a local operation where dozens of women’s lives are on the line,” I said. “I understand the importance of you finding your sister, but as it stands I can’t accept that anyone with such a personal interest should be a part of this op.”
    Donovan was silent for a long moment. “I have something she wants.
    Experience she can’t get anywhere else.” I let what he said sink in for a moment. He hadn’t told me a whole lot, but it gave me something to go on, believe it or not. When she could, Oxford collected people with unique skills, so this guy was bringing something serious to the table. Which meant Oxford also wouldn’t let him go easily. So Nick Donovan was going to do RED some serious good. I sighed in resignation. After all, when had we ever done things the easy way? “All right. We’ll find your sister,” I said. “But let me make something very clear. I’ll do everything I can to protect this op and my agents. I won’t let allow anything to compromise either. Do we understand each other?” His expression was icy. He folded his arms across his chest.
    “That’s fair.”
    I nodded. This was all going from shit bad to shit worse. But I couldn’t only deal with what I had in front of me right now.
    ‘Tell me about your sister. When was she taken?”
    “About two weeks ago.” Donovan’s voice was raw as he spoke. “Kristin was at a nightclub with some friends from college. A nightclub you’ve been monitoring—the Diamond Castle. Kristin’s friends saw her across the club with a man they didn’t know.”
    Donovan glanced from my face to his hands as if he was suddenly lost.
    “According to one of the girls, the man took Kristin out the back of the club.”
    Donovan looked up, fire sparking in his blue eyes. “There wasn’t a sign of my sister inside or out of the building.” His throat worked. “She was gone.”
    He shoved his hand through his dark hair, the movement terse, filled with anger. “The intel your agents gathered and the monitoring you did on that specific auction recorded the”—his voice went suddenly hoarse—“the entire transaction.” My body went numb.
    “When they sold her,” Donovan continued, “the slave auctioneers videotaped her, naked. They gave her first name and recorded every bit of her body, right down to the birthmark at the base of her spine.”
    I’d seen those vids. I’d seen all the women. I remembered her.
    I’d seen Donovan’s sister being auctioned.
    The cold in my body sent ice down my spine. “I came across the country the moment I was contacted and told she was missing.” Donovan’s voice was a growl, yet pain was there, too. “I don’t have much intel despite every bit of investigative work I’ve done beyond what you’ve accomplished.”
    “I’m sorry,” was all I could think to say at the moment. The urge to reach out to Donovan, to comfort him somehow, was almost overwhelming. And so unlike me. I didn’t do huggy-huggy. Especially with a stranger. But the thought of his sister being sold in a sex slave auction sent more flurries of cold that iced