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“No!” I protested as loudly as I dared. “We’re here to get you out of this place. No one’s going to own you again. No one’s going to use you again. We want to help.”
She blinked at me, looking bewildered, but her mouth closed. I pointed down the hall the way I’d come. “Gather by the back door. If you see any of the other girls who were brought here against their will, get them to come too. We’re going to escort you away from here as soon as it’s safe.”
They clutched each other’s hands without a word, but they scurried past me the way I’d indicated. I ducked back out, picking up my pace as I approached the front of the house.
I paused at the end of the hallway, peering out into a vast foyer with a ceiling that loomed two stories high, a second-floor mezzanine wrapping around the space over the front door. A crystal chandelier glittered overhead. I gritted my teeth against the urge to shoot at it and shatter all the vicious wealth it represented.
Two more security guards were standing by the front door. It was too much distance to cross to hit them by stealth—at least, not both of them. Things were about to get a bit noisy.
I leapt forward, hurling my knife and pulling the trigger on my pistol at the same moment. The blade and the bullet both lodged in their target’s heads, and the men toppled over. Even with the silencer, the bang of the shot reverberated off the high ceiling. I winced as I darted across the room, scanning it.
Another shot rang out elsewhere in the house. Garrison jogged into view, a streak of blood marking his shirt. “All clear that way,” he said. “I’ll take my position upstairs.”
He hustled up to the mezzanine overlooking the front of the house, and Talon and Julius followed moments later. Blaze hadn’t appeared yet. I wondered how many more girls had been on the first floor—were they all waiting by the back door, ready to flee?
A motion near the edge of the room caught my eye. I stepped closer and spotted a girl who couldn’t have been more than fifteen crouched in an alcove, shivering. I walked over, holstering my gun.
“It’s okay,” I said. “We’re going to get you out of here.”
She simply stared at me blankly. I crouched down, a lump rising in my throat. “Can you manage to walk to the back door? I’ll take you if you need me to.”
Her lips parted, but no sound came out. Then her gaze flicked upward with an expression of panic just as a faint creak reached my ears. I leapt up and spun around to find a knife slashing straight toward me.
