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A few minutes later, they both come in with smiles, holding hands like love-struck teenagers, and I have to fight the urge to gag just watching them.
Am I being dramatic?
Probably but oh well, sue me, I’m not a fan of my best friend being played by the little innocent act she has going on.
Kratos clears his throat to grab our attention as Zander closes the door behind him, steering Jade to the empty seats between Rick and Kratos. I don’t miss the fact that he decided to sit as far from me as possible. It fucking stings to know we have so much shit between us that he can’t even be near me, but I work hard to keep it off my face. So instead, I look at Kratos and pretend I don’t even notice.
“Alright, as we all know, Froggie has been working hard to clear out the traffickers. Thanks to Jade shutting down the last one, we know of only one left in the area.” Kratos tells us, but we all know this, so he continues.
“From what we have gathered, it appears to be run by the last few remaining Sin members. We believe they were one of the first groups in the area who took the skin trade to what it was a few years ago, which means they won't be easy to nail down.” Again we know this, none of the rings have been easy, but this one is the largest, and while we may have been able to take out the smaller groups, this particular one is the one we have been after for years and have gotten nowhere with.
“Jade is going to give us everything she can, from client list to known meet points, anything and everything, so we can try and see if anything crosses over with them.” I see Zanders's posture stiffen from across the table, and I know without looking that he hates this already, but he keeps his mouth shut.
We all know better, and honestly, Jade may hate having to talk about this, but I know she would never pick herself over shutting down the ring. Even if it tore her apart, she would give whatever she could to take them down. She’s been for years already, and this seems like light work compared to what she was doing before.
“After we have as many of the pieces as we can get, we will figure out how to best handle the rest.” He tells us before he gives Jade a pointed look. She rolls her eyes at him but nods as if agreeing to something.
“Froggie wants this handled as quickly as possible. If we can shut down the last ring before another pops up, it will be easier to keep this kind of shit out of the city in the future.” He stops talking. I watch as his posture goes rigid, his jaw clenched.
Whatever he’s about to tell us, he’s not happy about. He hasn’t looked away from Jade, and I can’t help but look at her to see how she feels about whatever he’s going to say.
She sits in her chair, back straight, looking utterly unfazed as she holds Kratos' gaze. One look at Rick and Zander let me know they have no idea what's going on either, and I feel the tiniest bit of relief knowing I wasn’t the only one kept in the dark. But that relief is quickly squashed when I realize that Jade knows something we don’t. I bite my tongue against voicing my annoyance at this turn of events, instead waiting to see what’s said.
Kratos unclenches his jaw and slowly turns his gaze away from Jade as if it’s a struggle before he addresses the rest of us.
“If we have nothing by Christmas, Jade will be going back in to take the ring down from the inside.” His words come out low and bitter, like just saying them left a bad taste in his mouth.
His words shock me so much that I wonder if I heard him wrong for a moment. One look around proves I didn’t. Zander and Rick both have different signs of shock showing on their faces. My annoyance at Jade, knowing something before us evaporates as I go back over the words Kratos just said. I had to have heard him wrong. There's no way we could be planning to send her back to that shit.
I might not like her, but that's too far even for me.
Zander jumps up, and his chair flies back, landing on the floor behind him. “No! No way! She’s not going back into that shit!” He screams and slams his hands on the table. “How the fuck can you guys even suggest that?”
Zander is usually the first to overreact, but I think his anger is justified for once. Zander cares for Jade, and while I might not agree with him trusting her, I agree with everything that just came out of his mouth. I can feel my own anger at the situation boiling below the surface as I watch Zander.
“He didn’t.” Rick says from where he sits next to Zander. Zander turns to look at him so quickly that I’ll be surprised if he didn't give himself whiplash.
“What do you mean? Did you not just hear him?” Zander asks Rick looking at him like he’s lost his mind, each word sounding like he’s choking on it as he tries to keep his cool with Rick.
“I did.” Rick nods, and as collected as he may seem, I can see the cracks. His jaw is tight, and his words are clipped. Rick hardly ever loses control, but I can tell he’s close, and that’s not good.
“But I can also see how upset he is about this.” He tells Zander with a nod toward Kratos. Zander looks back at Kratos, and I do too. Rick’s right. I just watched him all but force those words out; this decision isn’t something he would do if he didn’t have to.
My eyes return to Jade as she sits, looking straight ahead at nothing.
“You decided this, didn't you?” I ask her before I can stop myself, but that's the only thing that makes sense here.
She looks up at Kratos before she turns to look at me, and even before she answers, I know I’m right. I can see it in her eyes.
“I did.” She simply replies, giving us no explanation.
My brain goes over every detail I know about her, and it makes sense. Honestly, we probably could have seen this coming if we had been paying attention.
“The girls.” I say, my voice coming out in little more than a whisper, but I know she hears me when she gives me a stiff nod.
She hates this idea. I can see it written all over her. Her face may be blank, but her hands are balled up into tight fists, her posture stiff and her teeth clenched. She hates everything about this idea, but she’ll do it anyway, no matter what it costs her, and it has nothing to do with her or the need to get revenge.
It’s all about saving the girls who are just like she used to be.
