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My eyes find Max who’s deep in conversation with his father, his mother listening in with a worried expression on her face. The police are staking out Wertens’ Antwerp home, the known addresses of Frank Armitage, Diego Alvarez and Luca Russo too.
It was Alvarez, not Al Vaz, but I was close. And Janssen is yet to be identified.
I honestly have no memory of anyone before Luca, and I don’t think any will come. Large doses of drugs knocked me out until he bought me. Through Luca, we might get to find out who those people are. I hope so. It might mean finding Irina, Lenka, Charlotte and the other girl. I want Luca in prison for the rest of his life. His face keeps appearing in front of me, above me, behind me as he violated me, his voice tormenting me over and over again.
Running to the nearest bathroom, I hurl my guts up until my stomach aches. I find my things in Max’s old bedroom and brush my teeth, rejoining everyone else as we wait out this terrifying game of patience.
“You okay?” Max asks, his hand resting gently on my lower back.
“No, not really."
“What can I do?”
I have no idea what the answer is, so I say, “Nothing.”
The afternoon quickly fades to dusk. Lights get switched on. I look around the finely furnished room we’ve decamped in. Paintings by Dutch masters hang on the walls. Antique clocks sit on beautiful seventeenth-century sideboards. At some point, Barbara tells me about her children—where they were adopted from, and where they were born. Max’s biological parents were Dutch, giving him up when he was four days old. Ellis was adopted from Quebec at age three. And Sabine was given up the day she was born in Toronto. Barbara told me the mother had worked as a seamstress for a New York fashion designer.
More connections are made, manifesting right before me. And when I hear the soulful voice fading up and up until I think my eardrums will burst, Ben’s phone rings.
He’s next of kin, the husband, and we all stare at him as he picks up his mobile and looks at the screen.
He swallows.
I can’t breathe. The next seconds last for a painfully long time.
He listens, his face crumpling. Sobs heave from his frame.
My heart is a hammer inside my chest. My eyes fix on Ben, my breathing in stasis. Is it good news? Bad?
“They’ve got her! She’s alive!”
The room explodes with tears of relief and joy.
CHAPTERTWENTY-SEVEN
AVA
A Dutch officerinforms us Sabine’s being cared for at a hospital in Antwerp. Jeremy drives Max, Ben and I. Nils and Barbara are chauffeured by a man employed by the family locally.
On the way, Ben gets a call from a doctor at the hospital, relaying everything to us when the conversation is over. “She’s going to get fully checked out.” He looks at me. “No doubt the same thing you went through. We can see her as soon as we get there.” He takes a shuddering breath. “I can’t believe she’s out of there. Safe.”
Closing my eyes to his pain, I end up dozing some of the way, the past twenty-four hours catching up with me. And the movement of the car, steady and solid as it sits on motorways, powerfully hurtling towards our destination creates the perfect backdrop to lull my body. But the last time I was in a car with these men, I was pushed out. By Max. I was pushed away. I wonder if I serve any purpose to him now that I’ve delivered on my promise to be his spy.
We park up, waiting for Nils and Barbara in the hospital foyer, and then we’re directed to a waiting area. Ben asks Barbara if she wants to come with him. She readily, happily accepts, taking his arm as they follow a nurse to Sabine’s room.
My phone pings as the rest of us take our seats, Max sitting next to me.
Hey u! Good to hear from u. Yeah, Happy Christmas! U fancy a drink soon for old time’s sake?
Jonas’s use ofuoveryouwas something that bugged me about him, but seeing the familiar text speak has me smiling.
Next to me, Max grumbles. When I look up he’s watching my expression. “Did you reach out to him?”
“Amsterdam brings back memories.”
He takes my hand, adjusting the whopping diamond on my finger. I should give it back. “You’ve got me to help you with those now.”
I look away, hearing him but not answering.
