Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 57067 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 285(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57067 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 285(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
“Fuck,” he grunts. “I just don’t—”
“Shit,” I snap, when it hits me.
“What?” He stops pacing.
“She might be at the recovery place. I mentioned it to her, and she tried to convince me to let her help. She seemed pretty stubborn about it.”
“Yeah, she gets like that,” Julian says. “You might have noticed.”
I smile, can’t help it. Just for a moment. “Why do you think there are snowflakes on the stairs, and my living room looks like Santa threw up in there? She gets so…”
Beautiful when she’s stubborn. I stop myself before I cross that line.
“I think the Don has hired the scumbags of the Family to operate a human trafficking ring out of the rehab place,” I tell Julian, smile disappearing.
His eyebrows shoot up. “The fuck? Why?”
I tell him about my attempted raid, about the underwear. “Before the attack…” We both avert our gazes, not wanting to acknowledge what he did. It still makes my blood boil. “I noticed the way some of these men were talking—little seedy jokes, secret looks. It didn’t make sense at the time. But that underwear… it fits with their fucked-up sense of humor.”
“It’s a leap,” Julian mutters.
“It’s instinct,” I growl. “Which is what has kept me alive for so many years. I think she went there, got in too deep, and then they…” I swallow.
“Don’t say it,” he warns.
I don’t. I can’t even think it.
“We have to believe they’ve taken her hostage,” I say. “If I’m wrong, if it’s the other thing, then they’re all dead anyway. The whole fucking Family will burn.”
He nods, matter of fact. We both know it’s the truth. “What the hell are we going to do?”
“Let me think.”
Now it’s my turn to pace, my mind spinning over. It takes me several minutes to come up with something approximating a plan.
“You need to go there,” I say. “Claim that Rico told you what was going on before he disappeared on some bender. It wouldn’t be the first time he’s gone AWOL. Say you want to get in on the action – want to buy one of the girls, even. I’ll be close by. When you get visual confirmation that Celine is there, give me a signal.”
“What will you do?” Julian asks.
“What I do best.”
Unleash the fucking Beast.
Julian strokes his chin. “A lot could go wrong.”
“The alternative is to leave her there. Let some sick scumbag buy her and…”
Just the idea of it makes me want to roar.
I spin and put a hole in the wall with my fist, a layer of sweat pricking my body.
“I can’t let that happen,” I snarl, pulling my fist from the wall. I don’t feel a damn thing except the need to keep her safe.
Julian steeples his fingers, a pose I know well, the one he uses when he’s contemplating something. He tilts his head at me as though wondering if that was an act. If his best friend could truly care this much about his sister.
The answer?
Hell fucking yes.
“What if you’re wrong?” he says after a pause. “What if the underwear being there is a coincidence? I could roll up, tell the fellas I know about the trafficking, claim I want to get involved… and they’ll look at me like I’ve got an ass on my face. The shooting won’t take too long after that.”
“I’m not wrong,” I snarl.
“Because… instinct?”
“Think, think hard. When has my instinct ever been wrong? When?”
I struggle to keep my voice level. All I can think of is Celine in a place she doesn’t belong. People doing shit to her they’ve got no business doing.
He sighs. “You’ve got me there. Even the attack came out of nowhere. No amount of instinct could’ve saved you then.”
He’s not wrong.
“It’s up to you,” I tell him. “We can either do this subtly. You can check… if she’s not there, then we’ll search somewhere else. I can stay hidden. I can make my resurrection have some meaning. Or I’ll gear up right now and go in guns blazing. But if I get dropped, and she’s not there, you need to find her. You need to save her.”
He stares bleakly at me. “You’ll die for the chance you can save her life?”
I turn away. He doesn’t even need to ask me that.
“I’ll do it,” he says after a pause. “You’re right. We’ve wasted enough time already.”
CHAPTER 25
CELINE
They keep us in a large stone room with a small room off to the side. It’s been a few hours since they forced me down here, and Maria tells me in a low whisper that the side room is used for the pleasure of the kidnappers. Every so often, they come by and drag some poor woman or girl in there, she says, and they…
I sit against the wall, my knees to my chest, trying not to succumb to sadness and not to feel sorry for myself. Some of these women–like Maria, whose dislocated finger I set and bound with a strip of torn cloth from my shirt–have been here for months. Others were only here for a couple of days before the men brought buyers down to purchase them.