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She lifts her face from her hands, her ravaged eyes meeting mine for the first time. She shakes her head no before lowering her gaze back to the floor. I squat in front of her, tipping her chin up with one careful finger until she is looking at me again.
“I’m going to make him pay for this, ” I promise her. She blinks rapidly as two fat tears roll down her dirty cheeks, and she rushes to wipe them away. The sound of booted feet crashing down the stairs behind us makes her jump like a startled rabbit, but a small glimmer of hope sparks in her dark eyes, and she nods slightly, accepting my roughly spoken words.
“What the fuck?” I hear Travis mutter as he enters the room, taking in the rack of whips and floggers against the far wall, the cabinet of sex toys and bondage gear along another. He hunkers down beside me, bolt cutters in his hands. His voice is gentle when he speaks.
“Hold tight, darling.” He whispers to the battered girl, clamping the instrument around the chain and quickly cutting through it.
With an echoing clatter, it falls to the floor. The girl, released of her bonds, collapses into a sobbing heap beside it, pulling the sheet protectively around her naked form. I look up as Grayson lowers his head to stoop through the low doorway, a medical kit in hand. He was a firefighter back in New York, while I was learning the business at my father’s side. We grew up together. His mother was one of the working girls at one of my uncle’s clubs. There have always been rumors that he’s my cousin, Dominic’s son, but it’s not something I’ve ever brought up, and neither has he.
I quickly move out of his way to allow him to do a quick assessment. Gray is a mountain of a man, probably the biggest guy I have ever seen. He is always joking and cheerful, but not right now. I’ve never seen him move so slowly and speak to anyone as gently as he is to this girl. I can’t hear what he is saying, just the gentle rumble of his voice. She whispers a few words back to him, and he tosses the medical kit to me, tucks the sheet more closely around her naked body, and lifts her into his arms. He doesn’t say a word as he turns sideways and eases through the narrow threshold before stomping up the stairs.
Travis meets my eyes and shrugs, apparently just as confused as I am. He has spent a lot of time with Gray over the past several weeks, so his unusual silence wasn’t just surprising to me.
“Suppose we should look around a bit?” He finally asks. We definitely should. This basement was obviously where Dominic has been spending his time. There is a small office space set up in the corner opposite where the girl was chained. I immediately go there and yank the desk drawers open and begin rifling through his papers. He didn’t leave anything worthwhile behind. Hell, he probably never even brought anything here that he didn’t take with him whenever he left. My father was the same way. He kept anything incriminating somewhere else. Somewhere he considered safe. I know that Dom has been doing the same. Now I just have to figure out where the fuck that is. I had sincerely hoped it would be here.
Keying up my mic, I call out to Blake again. “Go ahead and let Weaver know about this place. We are on our way out.”
The SUV’s are waiting in the driveway when Travis and I make our way outside. The victims, eight of them not counting the one that we found downstairs, are huddled tightly together in the backseats of one large suburbans.
“Called for another ride when I saw how many were being brought out,” Blake says solemnly as I open the passenger door and slide in beside him. Travis is already driving away in the big vehicle, heading towards my place as planned.
“Weaver is going to come by after she gets this under control.” He indicates the now brightly lit house. A lot of rules were bent tonight when we stormed this place without her, so we aren’t going to keep Dom’s victims away from her. Really, we are all lucky that K&S already had government ties so that the feds were willing to work with us. This operation could have landed all of us in hot water otherwise.
Hearing the low murmur of a voice in the backseat, I look over my shoulder. In the dim light from the dash, I can see Gray and the girl from the basement. She is limp, cradled against the enormous expanse of his chest while he croons soft words against her filthy hair. His huge hand is rubbing circles against her back. I can’t make out what he’s saying, but she isn’t sobbing anymore. She is staring out the window with a disturbingly blank expression on her face that is almost worse. Taking in the look of distress on my oldest friend’s face, I decide that it’s definitely worse. He knows this girl. I’m not sure how I’m betting she has something to do with why he’s been missing so much over the last few weeks. We will be talking about this later.
“I think she needs to see a doctor, X.” His voice is raspy and thick with worry. I’m pretty sure that he’s right.
“Already have one coming to the hotel,” Blake says in a low tone. I nod. He picks up his phone from the console and places a call, filling someone in on the situation. A minute later, he sets his phone back down and glances quickly back at Gray.
“Dr. Halvorson will be there when we arrive. Ellie will be there too, and she will help take care of your girl if she needs anything.” His words make my lips twitch in a smile, it’s about damn time. My moment of lightness fades when Gray speaks again.
“Dominic is mine now, X.” The words sound half-strangled in his throat. Almost like he’s fighting tears. This woman definitely means something to him, and I understand his need to avenge her, but Dominic is MY burden. It’s MY duty to end his sick fucking life. Every cell in my body rejects his words, but I’ll bite my tongue for now
Unwilling to push Gray past the point of his control, I choose my words carefully, “We can figure that part out once we know where the sick fuck is.” I leave it at that, knowing that he is at a breaking point. He’s been almost completely out of touch for the last several weeks, and when he has been around, he hasn’t been the fun-loving, happy guy I’ve known since before pre-school. I would do almost anything to help get my friend back, but the one thing I can’t do is tell him that Dominic will be his when the day comes. No matter what anyone says, or thinks, that is MY job. I’m not going to let anyone else shoulder the responsibility.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Ana
Blake called and told us they were on their way back with six trafficked girls and two young men. Eight of them! I know that is a drop in the bucket worldwide, but those eight people are about to be in my house. Along with an FBI agent that has already been witness to some of the worst days of my life.
When did my life turn into this… this soap opera?! Oh yeah, that’s right… when mom died and I went to live with Vince, the mafia goon. I shouldn’t be surprised by this turn of events, it’s becoming my new normal. Taking a steadying breath, I try to shut down the anger and anxiety flowing through me.
Faye, Ellie and I have been preparing for this. The table is loaded with food and carafes of herbal teas and cocoa. There is a pile of pillows and blankets in the living room, and the bathrooms are stocked with clean towels, sweats and lots of soap and shampoo. Blake has a doctor coming to look everyone over and document any injuries they have sustained for the police. Everything is in place, except the cacophony of thoughts racing through my mind.
Margot has been sitting at the dining room table, as pale and still as a statue ever since we got Blake’s call. We are all hoping that they found Gracie in that house and that by some miracle she is unharmed, but no one as much as her grandmother.
Personally, I just want my man to come home and for this to be over. He tries to hide it from me, but I can tell that his worries about Dominic, and his activities, weigh heavily on his mind and heart. Xavier is such a good man, doing his best to make things right for everyone that he can find who his family has hurt, that he forgets that taking on the responsibility for things that he can’t control makes him as much a victim as the rest of us have been.
The time for dwelling on it ends as the front door swings open, and a young brunette girl steps hesitantly into my apartment. The voices following her are drowned out as Margot gasps and jumps from her chair, toppling it to the ground in her haste to get to her granddaughter.
“Gracie!” She cries in a relieved voice, enveloping the trembling girl in her arms. Gracie falls into her embrace with a hysterical wail, the painful sound bringing tears to my own eyes.
“I’m so sorry Grandma!” she sobs over and over.
My father was a part of this. It makes me feel sick, and I rush down the hall to the bathroom, my hand clutched over my mouth as I struggle not to lose the contents of my stomach.
