“I’m sorry to have had to drag you here, Master Cole. I know you don’t come to the clubs anymore, now that the governing council has outlawed them, but I saw Mistress Ciel and Amber come in and take a private dungeon. When Master Dax got here a little while ago and told me they were expecting him to join them, I figured there was likely to be trouble.” The sort of trouble that got BDSM clubs shut down in the first place, Cole thought sourly. “It’s all right. Not your fault. You can’t be expected to keep an eye on my sister and her friend 24/7. How long have they been here?” “About two hours.” Ellen sounded apologetic as she hurried them down the stairs to the underground levels. “Master Dax only got here about forty minutes ago. That was when I called you—as soon as I realized he intended to join them.” Cole mentally refreshed his memory about the layout of this club, which occupied the basement and sub-basements of an old garment factory. As he recalled, there were only two exits, the one at ground level through which he’d entered and an emergency escape route through a hollowed-out tunnel accessible from one of the lower tiers.
