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I didn’t know what to say. Two years? Two years belonging to someone who obviously tortured and used her. I wanted to touch her but settled for a soft, “I’m glad he found you.”
Tasmin nodded, her green eyes dropping to her drink again. “Where did Sullivan purchase you from?” Her forehead furrowed. “Not from Quarterly Market of Beauties, was it? Were you there with me? In that seedy hotel waiting for the auction?”
Goosebumps covered my arms. What the hell had this woman endured? “No.” I swallowed and added, “I was stolen from a backpackers where I was staying with my boyfriend at the time.”
“And I was snatched on shore leave when I worked on a cruise ship,” Jess said. “We were both held in Mexico but at different times. And it wasn’t a hotel.”
“QMB—where Alrik bought me from—exists no more. Q ensured of that.”
“Q?” My eyebrows popped up. “So it is Tess.”
“Excuse me?” Tasmin cocked her head.
“Tess. The woman you met. I met her too. She was in the same place as me. Q emailed Sully a few weeks before our wedding, ordering him to cease and desist or...well, he’d kill him.” I leaned forward. “Sully managed to convince him he was a changed man. A married man. In return, Q told him he was marrying a woman he’d received too. I was so relieved to know Tess was safe. And if she’s happy with him, who am I to judge? But it does sound as if Q sticks his nose in a lot of people’s business. How the hell did he steal you from Elder by mistake?”
“He thought Elder was the one to buy me from QMB.” Tasmin huffed. “He should probably do a bit more research before hunting men down. He almost killed him.”
“Thank goodness he didn’t.”
“It was hard to convince him that Elder was the one who saved me, not captured me.”
“Sounds pig-headed too.” I scowled. “He should definitely do more digging before he threatens someone’s life.”
“Or he just sees the worst in men and knows what they’re capable of,” Jess murmured. “He sounds a bit like Sullivan, really. Opinionated and egotistical but his heart is in the right place.”
I laughed, dispelling some of the seriousness of our chat. “Did you just call my husband egotistical and opinionated?”
“I did.” Jess threw a piece of pineapple at me. “And you can’t deny it. Just like I can’t deny that Cal is surly and sometimes cold, but beneath those shields, he’s a puppy dog.”
“A puppy with fangs.”
“Exactly.” Jess beamed then turned to Tasmin. “By the way, I overheard you have a dog. Spot?”
“Yes.” Tasmin sighed in total love. “We rescued him.”
“We rescue a lot too.” I pointed at Skittles preening her wing on my knee. “We’re surrounded by animals. It’s heaven.”
“I’d like to be surrounded too.” Tasmin’s face grew wistful. “I’d like to be surrounded by children but...” She pressed her lips together before shaking her head. “After everything I’ve shared, I don’t see why I can’t share this too.” Bracing herself, she said matter-of-factly, “I can’t have kids from what Alrik did to me.”
“Me either,” Jess murmured. “I had to have a hysterectomy to save my life.”
“I’m sorry.” Tasmin reached to touch Jess’s arm. “That sucks.”
Jess shrugged. “I’ve come to terms that I won’t be a mother, and that’s fine because I have the best people around me and a life I adore.”
Tasmin bit her lip, looking again at Elder in the distance as if seeking approval before blurting. “We’re getting married, and...we’re also adopting.”
“Wow.” I sat up, dislodging Skittles. “That’s two big life choices in one.”
“The men Q dispatches...who deal in trafficking and slavery...they often have women who have either had children in captivity or are currently pregnant. Some die, leaving orphans. Most children are traumatised and aren’t able to go to ‘normal’ homes or to people who haven’t endured similar situations.” Tasmin narrowed her eyes at Jess. “He’s arranging us to meet a little girl who’s mute. She’s...like me. I know what it’s like to be silent. To use quietness as a weapon. I suppose you could say I’m uniquely qualified to help her.”
Jess went eerily still. “And there are others? Other children who need homes and help?”
Tasmin nodded. “I can ask Elder to email Q and get in touch with your husband...if you want.”
My heart lurched as something fierce and forever sprung between the two women. I’d always known that Jess had a piece of her ripped away and murdered the day Drake shot her in the womb and almost killed her.
Unlike Sully and me, who thrived on being parents to animals and had no intention of ever bearing our own offspring, Jess and Cal were different.
They couldn’t create their own tiny human, but perhaps they could rescue one who deeply needed their care and comfort? They could rescue children while Sully and I rescued animals.
