Page 91 of Kyle

“We absolutely do,” I confirmed.

“We got this.”

I smiled at Emerson and could totally understand why Thad was ass over tea kettle in love with his wife. She was brave and badass. We were both scared but she made me believe we could push through.

And together we could.

* * *

I learned two things sitting next to Emerson as she tried to get Monica to talk.

The first was, Emerson Bench was by and far the strongest, bravest, most badass woman I had ever met. The second was, I wanted her as a friend. A real friend, a friend I opened up to and had for a lifetime.

I also was learning there was so much more to the story about her and Thad, and about her and her sister Autumn than she’d told me.

And I desperately wanted to meet Autumn. She wasn’t a badass, she was the baddest of badasses.

“Monica,” Emerson whispered. “We can make you safe. You are safe.”

The tattered woman was looking at her lap and shaking her head.

“I was thirteen, too,” I told Monica. Her head stopped shaking but the rest of her started. “I was sold.”

Monica’s whimper spurred me on.

“I was taken to a warehouse and stripped to my bra and underwear. After that they made me walk in front of a room full of men and I listened in disbelief as the men called out their bids. I wasn’t even scared, not then, because I couldn’t understand what was going on. It was like it wasn’t real, but it couldn’t be, I was a person. How was it possible for someone to buy me? I was in such a shock, I hadn’t realized the bidding was over until a man came up and grabbed my arm. I didn’t fight when he put leather cuffs on my wrists. I just stood there like an idiot. It wasn’t until he started to pull me behind him that I came out of my daze and started fighting. But of course, there was no fighting it. Not then. Not when I was being auctioned. I was no longer a person, I was a thing. I was a nothing.”

I stopped and watched Monica’s body quake and wondered how much she’d gone through. How much worse it was for her.

“Were you auctioned off, too?” I asked.

She shook her head no but didn’t say anything else.

“Will you tell us what happened?” Emerson pressed.

Monica continued to shake her head.

“We want to help you,” I started. “We want to take you somewhere where no one will ever hurt you again. A place where they can’t ever find you again.”

“They’ll always find me,” Monica croaked. Her voice hoarse and scratchy.

“No, they won’t—”

“You can’t stop them. No one can. No one. You don’t understand.”

“Then tell us,” I gently demanded. “Tell us so we can help you.”

“You can’t help,” she snarled. “They’re coming for me. They always do. And when they get here it’s gonna be bad. Worse than all the times before.”

“No one’s—”

“Yes. They. Are,” she cut me off. “And if you don’t think they are, then you’re stupid. They’re gonna take you, too. And no one will ever find you again.”

Fear slithered down my throat and filled my belly.

“We found you,” Emerson declared.

Monica scowled at Emmy, every feature twisted in a nasty grimace.