Page 44 of Defending Van

“Not usually necessary for you to know.”

“But it is this time?” Van asked.

“Yes,” Griffin ground out.

“Going to need more to go on than that if you expect me to do something about whatever your problem is.”

“All of our problem, if we don’t fix it.”

“Very cryptic.” Van feigned boredom and held out a hand to grab the tablet back, but Griffin yanked it away before he could snag it.

“The girl ran.”

A mix of surprise, terror, and pride swirled inside him. Of course, his girl would cause chaos. He’d only known her for days, and it was already what he’d come to expect from her. “She escaped?”

“Yes,” Griffin snapped.

“Like, actually escaped? Managed to get away from whoever bought her?”

“Yes,” the other man ground out with a glare.

“How the hell did she manage that?”

“Killed someone.”

Almost choking on his own saliva, Van pushed up so he was sitting properly instead of half reclined on the couch. She’d actually done it? Killed someone? It was what he’d told her to do, to put everything else aside and focus only on what she needed to do to save herself, but part of him had believed she didn't have it in her to be that ruthless, that selfish. Regardless of her knowing she didn't have a choice, he could guess it was eating Makayla up inside to know she’d taken a life. Worse, she was alone out there, with no one to reassure her that she’d done the right thing.

“Makayla Adair killed someone and escaped?” he repeated, not quite sure he was hearing everything correctly, because it was so outlandish. Even though he’d known his girl had what it took to escape, he hadn't really thought she’d be able to pull it off, because you didn't purchase a woman and then not have proper security in place to keep her contained.

Only it looked like Asahi Watanabe, in fact, did not have proper security.

“She was being kept in a glass cage inside Mr. Watanabe’s bedroom. When the maid came to bring her breakfast, she attacked the woman. Stabbed her twice, then took her uniform and put it on. Walked right out of the building, and no one stopped her because they didn't realize it was her. It wasn’t until Mr. Watanabe was ready to have his breakfast served, and it didn't come, that they realized something was wrong. Another maid went looking for her, found the woman in the bed in the cage, she’d bled out, probably quickly from the position of the wounds. By that time, Makayla already had a head start on them and was long gone.”

“Wow. That is quite a story. Would have thought he’d know better than to underestimate one of the women sold specifically because they're so wild,” he said, once again reaching for the tablet. As badly as he wanted to know more, to get the address he needed to send Prey in after Makayla, if he acted desperate for the information, he’d give himself away.

“No more iPad for you,” Griffin snapped at him as though he were a toddler begging for more screen time.

“Why not?”

“Because I need you to get on a plane and go to Japan. I need to send someone there to fix this mess. Ideally, you’ll be able to find the girl and return her, after punishing her, of course. If not, you’ll need to apologize to Mr. Watanabe and have him choose another woman to replace this one. If he decides he doesn’t want another woman from Azure, we will offer to purchase her for him. I want the girl stopped before she can get to the cops, but if not, then I want her taken care of as soon as she gets back home. She knows too much, and she’s going to be a talker. Without her, they’ll have nothing, and I won't risk a repeat of this behavior. So if she isn’t found and returned to her owner, then I want her taken care of. For good.”

Van understood what his boss was saying. Makayla was a liability they couldn’t afford and it was safer to have her dead than able to escape again and talk, but he had an entirely different plan in place for taking care of his girl.

Chapter

Sixteen

August 31st

3:28 P.M.

Had she gone far enough?

Makayla shook from exhaustion, or shock, or the cool temperature up here in the mountains, or probably a combination of all three, but she couldn’t seem to stop moving. It had been hours since she managed to slip out of the house unseen, and she knew that it had probably also been hours since her escape was noticed.

They would be looking for her, and they had the advantage. They knew these mountains, while she didn't. She had no idea where she was going, although after running blindly until her legs threatened to give out and she couldn’t push herself to keep going any longer, she’d tried to start working her way down.

Down had to lead to a town, a city, or a major road where there would be people.