Page 53 of Thaddeus

I was officially fucked. There was no coming back from how screwed I was. And only fifty percent of that had to do with Thad. The other half may’ve been even more grim.

I couldn’t begin to process seeing my sister or what she’d said to me. That was because as I was finishing up my shower, the one that Thad had put me in, gutted me, then walked out of, Tatiana knocked on the door and gave me fresh clothes and told me I was needed downstairs immediately.

I donned the clothes, that incidentally were mine, which meant she’d gone through my suitcase. Not that I cared, it was actually thoughtful of her. Had she not, my backside would’ve been running in a towel down the hall to the room my stuff was in.

After I was dressed, with my hair still wet and hopelessly in tangles, I went downstairs. The sooner this was over, the sooner I could go up to my room and be alone in my misery. And it was apparent I needed time alone, a lot of it. I needed to get my head sorted. In a moment of weakness, I’d let my guard down. No, scratch that, I didn’t let it down, I’d chucked it out the door completely.

In my defense I’d been more than a little shocked to see my sister, so when Thad had taken over, I allowed it. I needed it. I couldn’t think of anything other than Autumn’s dead eyes. Letting Thaddeus undress me and then touch me was a ginormous mistake. And I’d said some things I shouldn’t have.

This time when I walked into the room full of men, Tatiana was absent, and the conversation didn’t stop. They all continued like I hadn’t entered and they weren’t talking about me. Which they were.

“Did you get a picture of Harry Landry?” Declan asked. My gaze swung to him and I honed in on the angry, red welt on his neck.

There was still blood smeared down his throat disappearing down his shirt. Holy shit. Earlier there had been so much blood I couldn’t see how long the cut was. But now, shit, goddamn, it went from below his ear almost to his Adam’s apple.

“Yeah. I’ve emailed it to you. How sure is Emerson that Landry is Leon Brown?” Tex’s voice boomed from the phone that was on speaker.

“You heard her, she said she was a hundred percent sure,” Declan returned.

“That’s a big fuckin’ problem then, boys,” Tex said.

“Why’s that more of a problem than we had before?” Brooks asked.

“Well, considering Harry Landry is one of the largest exporters of women from the U.S. and he’s also been running military style ops using good men and women to take out the bad guys of the world, all the while what they were really doin’ was taking out his competition. I’d say, that’s a major issue. That and the fact he had the intel he had to give to his operatives, I’d say, that’s a clusterfuck, friends. One that’s gonna take me a long time to unravel.”

“Tatiana’s gonna flip her shit when she finds out The Company is a part of the Omni,” Brooks muttered.

“Goddamn.” Kyle shook his head. “You think this runs deeper? Tatiana was approached when she went back to work for the CIA.”

“Zane’s got Garrett diggin’ into that. And before I go, Autumn Pierce was correct. Garcia’s second-in-command has already made moves to take over operations. He’s dumping the dogs but keeping the women and drugs. There’s a million dollars on Emerson. Though, I don’t know how he plans on paying that bounty, unless Garcia’s dogs fetch a good price.”

Oh, God.

“And people in hell want ice water—”

“Don’t do that, Thad. Paul’s not your average piece of shit. He has connections and power. The only thing he lacks right now is the money. Her best chance is to be locked in a safe house, while the rest of you go hunting. And I’d get back in contact with that woman Faith, see if she knows any international organizations that rescue animals. You need to cut the money off fast. He’ll be less apt to dump women at a rock-bottom price, but the dogs… those are all going.”

“And Autumn?” My voice cracked and I cleared it before I started again. “Where does that leave her? Why was she there?”

“That leaves her where she’s been, running her own game, Emerson. I didn’t want to say anything earlier because I didn’t know for a fact, but seeing as she was at the camp I think I can confirm the rumors are correct. She’s spent the last eight years much like you have, only she didn’t go soft and easy. She’s worked her way across three countries taking out as many traffickers as she could. The women she’s saved call her The Angel of Death. Draw from the nickname what you will, my guess is you’d be right. That also means, Autumn’s in the wind and likely will remain that way unless she wants to be found.”

All these years I thought she’d been taken again.

I thought she was being held against her will and…

“Emerson?” Declan cut off my morbid thoughts.

“Yeah.”

“We’re taking you back to the States and we’re gonna put you in a safe house. Would you like us to arrange for your parents to—”

“No.”

Oh, God, my parents hadn’t been in the same room together for a long time.

“You’re going in a safe house,” Thad told me.

“No shit, Sherlock,” I returned. “The last thing I want is for Paul to get his hands on me. Why do you think I left willingly with you back at the hotel?”