Page 78 of Ash Storm

The similar gray background and bad lighting told her these pictures had been taken at the police station. She recognized the tall man who’d looked into her mouth, as if she were a horse—had to swallow back the urge to vomit. The old man with the cane was also there.

Ash’s arm went behind her, supporting her, when she might have wavered. He pulled Reka into one of the closest chairs and she went down, her eyes still fixed on the screen.

And to think she might have ended up being purchased by one of them, if it hadn’t been for the men around this table …

“Ahmed Afsan’s not there,” she said.

“You know Afsan?” Dark asked.

“He introduced himself to me and Chloe in his library, before … before he shot the man who took us on the street. His name was Yusuf.” She shuddered as she remembered the scene.

“I’m sorry we have to go through this,” Dark said.

Reka narrowed her eyes. “I’ll do anything to get Chloe back.” She sighed. “I don’t recognize those other men. But there were a lot of men there.”

“We know,” Dark said. “Ash and Griffin have given detailed descriptions of many of them. We will be informing their home country’s police of their identities,” he said. There was an apologetic tone in his voice, as if he realized that wasn’t nearly enough.

Reka shook her head. “What about Afsan?”

The men exchanged a quick look, as if deciding how much to tell her. Reka forced herself to keep her expression neutral. She had to show them she wasn’t going to crack.

“The Turkish police don’t want to touch him. He’s got a lot of clout in the country. The only reason they showed up in the first place is because we called to say shots were being fired inside the mansion. Even they couldn’t ignore that.”

“He’s a murderer who traffics with women,” she said. Her fingernails dug into her palms.

Ash took her hand in his under the table. “We know. And we will find him, Reka. We just haven’t been able to do so yet.”

“We also don’t know for sure if he’s the one who took Chloe,” Dark said. “I’m sorry, Reka. But it could have been any of them.”

Reka pondered his words for a moment.

She remembered the way Afsan had looked at Chloe.

Covetous.

Reptilian.

“No,” she said. “Afsan wouldn’t have let her go.”

“Chloe—“ Ash began.

“You don’t know the way he looked at her. He wanted her for himself. If we find Afsan, we will find Chloe.”

She was sure of it.

She looked at each man in turn, willing them to believe her. One by one, they all nodded.

“We’ll focus on him,” Ash said.