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Coppery bitterness filled her lungs as she came to stand alongside Roman. “They’re injured.”
“I know.” Ragged breaths forced his nostrils wide.
Shit.
She looked behind her. The whispered voices grew. Grunts and loud, guttural screams poured from the exit, and she only hoped that meant Lucian was keeping off their attackers long enough for them to do what they needed.
Sevastyan and Matteo...God, she hoped they were okay. She silently reached for them, lending strength.
“Roman.” She grabbed his arm when he raised a gun at one lock then another and another. Shots fired and pinged off metal, chains falling to the ground. The black-haired girl was by the doors, fear-stricken and trembling.
“Stand back.” Maddox rejoined them and covered the room in three strides. Together he and Roman kicked in the doors and they flung open.
Out of the six cells, there were only four girls. Her heart ached for the dozens they must have lost, whisked away under the veil of night to be sold somewhere else, but she shoved it down and worked fast. Roman carried two of the weakened girls, her one and Maddox another.
“Follow me. I know a way out.” The brave girl trying to save the other girls pulled at her arm for them to follow.
An overwhelming sense of dread tightened into a knot in her gut.
“Sevastyan and Matteo, we need to find them. Something is wrong.” She picked up speed, pushing past the slower girl.
Half carrying, half dragging the extra weight, she pushed through another chamber hidden behind a red curtain. On the far side of the room that looked about as big as her crappy apartment was a set of stairs leading out of this hellhole. Around the edges of the door, shimmering flickers of moonlight pushed through the cracks and gave her a sigh of relief as they climbed the short flight of stairs.
After this, she never wanted to see another basement again.
“Roman, we need to call the detective.” Sevastyan might rip into her for it, but they needed help. They needed more help than what they could handle to take this shit circus down once and for all. Her men would just have to suck it up.
“I know, sweetness. I know. Already on it.” He sounded strained, but at least he was on her side about calling in help.
She peered over her shoulder and saw him, phone in hand, the weight of the girls in his arms like a feather it seemed. He passed one off to Maddox so he could hold the phone easier.
They finally broke free of the dank corridor with its dirt floors and smell of death that would take ages to rinse from her mind. She was the first to step through the rusted metal door that swung out after putting a little weight into the crusted hinges.
She sagged. Not moonlight, she quickly realized, but a huge floodlight lighting up a massive swath of land instead. Better than pitch black.
Loose black gravel crunched under her bare feet, but she paid no mind to the tiny pricks of pain. Not when bodies were littering the grounds at every turn.
Lightning tore across the sky. With it came a cool air and wisps of fog. Crap. Rain was the last thing this shitshow needed.
Her senses sparked.
“We’ll be seeing lights within minutes.” Roman came up behind her.
Something beyond the obvious didn’t feel right. She rubbed at the back of her neck.
“You feel it too?” he asked in a hushed tone. “Death leaves behind energy. You get used to it.” She knew he spoke from experience. Of a time long before she met him. A haunted look came to settle over him before he shook it away.
She picked over the bodies relieved to not find Sevastyan’s or Matteo’s face among the fallen.
Trees flanked the entire property, locking them inside a clearing with the mansion in the middle. Well-trimmed grass with the gravel of the turnabout driveway cutting a circular path through it to a gate at the end of the half-mile entrance.
And not a breathing soul in sight. Not good. Too easy.
“You got your girls and did your heroine thing. Time to get your ass out of here. You got wheels?” Roman shot his question at Maddox, his body as tense as she felt.
Like fucking hell. She was not leaving here. Not without her men.
Roars erupted from somewhere and sent a trickle of icy fear through her. Snarling, vicious sounds tore through the night, and she knew it was them. Her other men. An urge to run to them settled over her.
