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“Well, if you’re not going to talk, then you’re gone but remember what happens when a member of the family betrays me. You’ve already involved both of your sons, just think about that.”
My father’s not-so-subtle warning does not go unnoticed. However, my father is also done with Samson and the way he’s avoiding answering anything. He shifts away from him, making his way to the men who are on their knees in the middle of the floor.
I agree with my father’s assessment, even though he hasn’t technically said anything. He doesn’t have to. Those idiots look like they’re seconds away from breaking, and nobody has even said a word to them.
ALLISON
I’m not sure I should be standing here watching this thing go down. I can’t deny that I’m completely invested in this whole thing. I stay quietly at Hendrick’s side, hoping that if I am still, I’ll be able to get all the info. Even if I don’t quite understand it all, I still want to know what’s happening.
Samson lifts his head, his chin jutting straight up as he looks down his nose at Henry. His words are even-toned when he speaks, and I know they aren’t meant to surprise me, but they do anyway.
“It doesn’t matter what I say. I tell you who is involved, I’m dead anyway. My family, too. So fuck you, Henry Hamilton.”
“Fuck me?” Henry asks. He leans in closer. “It’s the government. I’m not fucking stupid,” Henry growls.
“You thought you could go behind my back. Maybe you aren’t like Dean. Maybe you didn’t want to take over the family, but you did want to fuck me in a completely different way. And I’m not going to accept that. But when you fuck your kids and wife? That’s what tells me that my father made the wrong goddamn choice by allowing you to be initiated, and I made the wrong fucking choice when I moved you up to an executive.”
Samson doesn’t say anything in response, but I can tell he is thinking hard about Henry’s words, and I don’t miss the way his body tensed when Henry said that it was the wrong choice to promote him.
I’m also not completely unaware that in this moment, in this circumstance, this company or family that Hendrick, Wells, and Coleman are part of definitely has Mafia vibes. Sinking my teeth into my bottom lip, I glance around at all the people on their knees and can’t help but be grateful that it isn’t me down there.
“I’ll tell you anything and everything you want to know,” Harlow says, her high-pitched voice popping off so loudly that it bounces off the walls, although that could be because this place is completely empty save for a sofa.
All eyes swing to her. And I would write her off as some fucking idiot, except she’s been trying to find her sister, and she’s immersed herself in this world enough that she almost married one of these men just for answers. I think she would do just about anything, which means she probably does have something.
“What do you have?” Henry asks.
Harlow’s lips screw up into a smile, and I almost roll my eyes. She thinks she’s going to get something here. Like maybe they won’t kill her, but I don’t know. I think she’s on death row personally, no matter what she gives him.
“First, I want assurance that I’ll be safe.”
It’s Henry’s turn to smile, but it’s not genuine. If I didn’t know him at all, I would say that maybe it could be, but I know him enough and can see behind his facade.
He takes a step toward her, sinking down into a crouch in front of her so that his eyes can meet hers. He’s looking right into her gaze, probably even into her soul.
“Yeah, you’ll be safe,” Henry purrs the lie that if I were just listening to and not watching the exchange, I might believe him.
“You’re right, it’s the government. It’s always been the government. I know they were involved with my sister’s disappearance. But it’s not just them. Sure, their big players get their shits and giggles with the women before they’re sent off.”
“Sent off?” Coleman asks, interrupting her.
Harlow hums, not waiting even a moment before she continues. She’s been dying to tell someone everything she’s discovered. I have a feeling once she spills all her tea, her time is done, but she had me kidnapped, so I’m going to let her dig her own grave.
And she does.
“They send the women as gifts to important men in other countries. Businessmen, dignitaries, whoever they need something from or may need something from in the future.”
Oh my god.
What if that happened to me?
I begin to tremble, and that’s when Hendrick doesn’t allow me to stay in the house a second longer. The fact that I was taken twice by the same kind of people and didn’t get trafficked is beyond a miracle, and I know I should feel that way, but I don’t. I feel absolutely and completely terrified.
And sick.
I feel completely sick to my stomach.
Wordlessly, he picks me up and carries me out of the house, only releasing me when we’re standing in the middle of the grass. He forces me to face him, his hands pressing against my cheeks as he tips my head backward.
