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She shakes her head and diverts her gaze to the window. She’s barely said a word since we found her and Clara, and every moment of silence makes me a little more uneasy.
I settle into my own seat across from her and clip the belt over my hips, never tearing my eyes off the woman in front of me. Although she’s skin and bones, there are womanly curves that even starvation couldn’t steal from her, and as fucked up as it is, I want to explore every fucking one.
Before she was taken, I had all these grand notions of whisking her away and giving her a life she rarely allowed herself to dream of growing up. I wanted to give her the puppy she always wanted but was never brave enough to ask for, the kids she never dared hope for, and the happiness she deserved more than any other human on this planet. But most of all, I dreamed of giving her love. An endless amount so she would never spend a day without a beautiful smile stretching across her full lips.
But I fear she doesn’t know how to smile anymore, that they took it from her, and no matter how much I try, no matter how I burn the world down around her as penance for all she’s been through, I may never see those rosy lips turn up at the corners and the blue of her eyes sparkle like the ocean on a sunny day.
I meet Storm’s eyes across the aisle, his brows pinched together with concern. I don’t particularly like the guy, but that may have more to do with the fact he stole the only family I have in the world while simultaneously taking out my business. But it’s been years since he took down the key players of the Chicago dark web and left me without work. Thankfully, most of my clients are out of state and abroad, but still, I don’t have to like the guy.
His eyes flicker from me to Mia and back again, like he’s trying to figure out what’s going on between us. We’ve barely said a word to one another. She’s too frightened, and I’m afraid the anger beating in my veins will come out in the words I speak and scare her more. She’s known too much fear in her life, and I refuse to add to that.
The pretty blonde flight attendant comes to tell us we’ll be taking off in a few minutes, but I don’t look away from Mia as she pulls her legs up underneath her. I wish I could hold her, and if I thought she would let me, I’d have her on my lap right now, but every time I touch her, she flinches.
The jet rolls forward a few minutes later, and I don’t miss the way Mia curls in on herself further. Is she afraid of flying? Or is it something else that has her knuckles turning white around her knees? But she just watches out the window as the plane takes flight and we’re finally on our way back to Chicago.
Mentally, I start a list of things I need to do when we get back. I need to find a new apartment because there’s no way in hell I’m allowing Mia to live in the dank one I’ve been living in the last eight years. At one point, it almost became a punishment for myself. If she couldn’t live a happy life, neither could I. If she couldn’t have a nice home, neither could I. Everything I’ve done for the last eight years has been to punish myself for letting them take her, but now there’s something that matters more than my own self-pity.
“I’m surprised she could fall asleep,” Storm whispers, his words dragging me out of my mental to-do list. Mia’s eyes are closed, her head resting against the window and her arms still wrapped tightly around her knees, but her breaths are steady and even, and the faintest snore fills the cabin. “She doesn’t trust any of us.”
“Would you?”
He shakes his head. “No.”
I rub my hand over my face. None of us have slept in days. Not since Tommy called to tell us Clara had been taken. Everyone on this jet jumped into action to try to bring her home, but for me, it felt especially personal, like somehow bringing her home might extinguish some of the guilt that I could never bring Mia back.
“You should sleep,” he says, dragging me back to the present.
I chuckle and shake my head. “You should sleep too.”
He sighs and nods to his phone sitting on the tray beside him. “I have to get ahead of the Lombardi thing. We did just storm his compound, take the two women he thought would provide him grandchildren, and then shot his sons for good measure.”
“Sounds bad when you put it like that.”
He chokes on a laugh, but his cold gray eyes show all the exhaustion sitting heavy on his chest. He flickers his attention to Mia again before returning to me. “I know we haven’t always seen eye to eye, but if she needs anything, let me know and I’ll arrange it.” I open my mouth to argue, but he lifts a hand and continues. “Last year, my fiancée was taken. It was only a few days, but the impact it had on her was challenging for the both of us. She didn’t want to burden me with the scars the days left on her soul, and all I wanted to do was give her the world to apologize for allowing anyone to harm her. I obviously don’t know your situation, but sometimes we’re too close to look at what they need objectively. Rayne’s wife is about to finish her master’s in counseling, and she helped Ayvah get through those first few weeks when I was too deep in my own guilt to be objective.”
I consider him for long seconds. Storm Saint James is not a man who ever allows himself to be vulnerable, so why is he telling me this? Why would he lay out what I can only assume was one of the worst times in his life to help me?
“We’ve saved a lot of girls from trafficking over the years, and we do what we can to set them up and help them move past what they’ve been through. You have no reason to trust me, but if you need anything, if Mia needs anything, just give me a call.”
“Thank you. I’ll keep it in mind.”
He gives me a short nod before picking up his phone and turning his attention back to business.
I look back to Mia’s sleeping form across from me, her eyes flutter as she dreams restlessly.
The wild part of my heart that has always beat for her settles. I have her. She’s here. And nothing else matters, as long as she’s safe.
CHAPTER THREE
MIA
The feel of unfamiliar hands on my body wakes me with a start, my heart beating so hard in my chest I’m sure it’s going to leap out from behind my ribs. You’d think after eight years I would be able to accept strange men using my body for their own pleasure, not stopping to consider my comfort or consent, but if anything, it’s getting worse.
“No, please,” I cry out, my eyes flying open and taking in my unfamiliar surroundings. Where the hell am I?
“Mia, it’s just me. It’s Ace.” His worried tone drags me back from the brink of panic, and I allow myself to relax just enough that my muscles no longer scream at me for release from the tension.
“We’ve just landed in Chicago.”
