Page 78 of Beast

She rolled to her side and her profile came into view. Annie was mere steps away from me, only metal bars and a bunch of lowlifes stood in between her and her freedom. My muscles trembled.

No time to celebrate—she wasn’t free yet.

I signaled to my men. With those fucking bars on her window, we couldn’t just grab her. We had to go through the back door.

I had no intention to kill her captors. My only goal was to save Annie.

Gun and scope out, I touched the door. No lock. I pushed it in, and motioned for Vic and Kyle to follow. They were right behind me.

As they scanned for men, I crept down the hall to Annie’s door.

She was sound asleep, under the covers. Or in a drugged stupor. If I woke her, would she scream?

Fuck it. I was about to scoop her limp body in my arms, when something under the covers moved.

A little boy.

Wavy hair, dark skin. Annie was cuddling his tiny body.

What the fuck?

Her eyes opened, startled. She clutched him to her chest.

“Who’s that?” I whispered.

“My son. Please, take us away.”

Her son? She didn’t mention anything about a kid.

My heart almost pounded out of my chest. Lashes open, hazel eyes glowing. Color returned to her face. Her hope almost brought me to my knees.

I didn’t have a choice and even if I had, I wouldn’t leave her little boy behind. I scooped them up, praying the little boy wouldn’t wake. Who was his father? If he was the pimp or the dancer, how was I going to take the boy out of here without bloodshed?

We made it to the living room, and I immediately spied the pimp cowering in the corner. The dancer ducked behind the sofa.

A light went on; about a dozen half-naked women were huddled in the kitchen.

The pimp reached for his gun.

Stupid motherfucker.

Clickclickclick.

Kyle discharged his weapon without a second of hesitation.

A loud thud reverberated on the floor, the pimp’s body now splayed on the ground. Women shrieked. The little boy’s hazel eyes, the same shade as Annie’s, opened yet he remained silent. The smell of gun smoke mixed with rotten food wafted through the air.

I shifted the boy to my other arm and placed Annie down, her legs shook so bad she dropped to the floor.

Vic gathered the women, crying and screaming, and secured them in a back room. Then, I handed him the little boy and Vic took him out of the room. He didn’t need to see this.

Kneeling to the ground, I checked the pimp’s pulse. Gone.

“Secure!” Kyle yelled.

I aimed my gun at the dancer. As long as he didn’t do anything dangerous, I’d let him live. His eyes cast a cold glance at Annie. An unspoken command.

Annie clutched my ankle. “Don’t kill him!”