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"Ruth did..." I managed to mumble.
I was too weak to stop her from tearing the jewel out of my hand. She swung it high above her head and then brought it down, smashing it into a million little pieces on the stone hearth of the roaring fireplace.
“What are you doing?” I screamed. All our hopes of surviving this fight were gone in an instant, shattered like that jewel across the floor. Now I’d never beat Wesley. The horror brought me to my knees.
"I know that jewel." Mother knelt next to me, her dress torn in three places. "It’s nothing but evil. At first, you think it’s working. Your power increases and you feel invulnerable. But it doesn’t stop. Not until it kills you. Kings and rulers have died because of that cursed thing. You're lucky it didn't have time to finish its curse."
Blinking against the light of the fire, I bit my lip. Ruth had planned it all out. She'd invited me to her office with the intent to eventually kill me. She was only too happy to give me Athena's Jewel. A curse cloaked as a gift. The very thing that almost killed me was what earned her my trust.
"You were never going to beat me." Wesley stepped forward and dusted off his pants, stretching his arms out wide. "I built this from the ground up. No one can take it from me."
"Keep your filthy Ranch," I spat. "Just release the girls. You have no right to keep them here."
He tossed his head back and laughed. "I have every right. They're damaged goods. Just look at them." Pointing to the door, his eyes scanned the girls as they flinched in the doorway, their eyes glued to the broken and dirty floor. "Where else would they go?"
Pushing myself to my feet, I waved away mother's hands. Despite the destruction of the jewel, I could still feel my enhanced power on the edge of my mind. Maybe I had just enough juice left to finish the job.
"They're not damaged goods. They're innocent women that you enslaved. I won't let you have them."
With a deep breath, I threw everything I had at him. Anything not bolted down flew toward him in a cyclone of fury. Nails from the floor beams, broken furniture, rocks from the fireplace - they all joined the assault. Wesley threw his hands up, but his strength was weakening. Eventually, a nail shot through his defense and buried itself in his thigh.
"Girls, help me!" he cried.
I walked forward, putting even more pressure into the attack.
"Kill her and I'll reward you."
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw them move forward. My heart sank at the prospect of fending off their attacks. I couldn't hurt them. Not after what they'd been through. Wesley had kept them under his thumb for so long, they were petrified of going against his will. They weren't in their right minds.
"Patty, don't," I cried when the redhead came into focus. "Anastasia, don't listen to him. I'm going to take you out of here. You don't deserve this torture."
Tala was the first to reach my side. Claws began to protrude from her hands as her ears morphed into pointed canine ears. Fur sprouted along her arms.
"Tala..." Tears sprung to the corners of my eyes. "Tala, I'm your friend."
She grabbed my arms and pulled them down to my sides. The cloud of objects surrounding Wesley fell to the floor in a giant crash, stirring up dust in its wake. Girls continued to stream into the room until there were almost two dozen of us. They formed a mass that marched forward until they stood between Wesley and me.
"Yes... yes, girls. I knew you'd join me." He wiped debris from the side of his cheek and pointed at me. "Finish her off."
I closed my eyes, expecting the attack to come. Instead, there was a flurry of activity in front of me that ended in a man's tortured cry. With a surprised flutter of my eyelids, I saw the women close in on Wesley, each wielding their own kind of power.
Gideon's hand closed around my arm. He pulled me toward the door where my mother waited. Looking around, I noticed Ruth's absence. She must've escaped during the scuffle with Wesley. Bobby Caro and Jack were neatly tied up and lined against the opposite wall.
"Should we stop them?" I asked Gideon, leaning into his embrace.
He looked over his shoulder as Wesley screamed again. "Normally, I'd interfere. But I'm leaving justice up to them for once."
He led me and my mother down to the front entrance and out into the cold bitter night air, the Ranch shimmering in a magical haze behind us.
Chapter Twenty
It felt strange to be back in the museum after everything that had happened the last week. Being kidnapped, sent on a secret mission, sold into sex slavery, meeting my missing mother, and defeating a powerful mage, weren't exactly things I could easily explain to Mr. Jones when he asked about my supposed vacation. So, I didn't tell him anything. It was better left unsaid.
Angel and Johnny knew everything, of course. As it turned out, Johnny’s client had been connected to Bobby Caro’s organization. Matt Rue had replaced him after his arrest. Johnny had managed to get his client to take a plea bargain, in exchange for his testimony against Bobby Caro and Wesley Blake.
They were horrified when they heard the truth. Gideon had to practically shield me from their assault of questions and hurt expressions. Their anger didn't last long. All it took was Gideon mentioning to them once how I'd nearly died saving two dozen women from slavery, and I was back in their good graces. Not to mention, Andrew’s mine had been shut down, and Dr. Kim’s laboratory burnt to the ground. They were all effectively out of business and languishing in the SI prison system.
