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Walk away, Max. Walk away.
The mantra hounds me as I approach Luca in the hallway. He assesses my physique, fixing his attention on my clothes and seeing them suitably ruffled.
“A man your height can subdue any woman, no?”
I smile unkindly. “When’s the sale date?”
“Two days.”
I tell him, “I’m interested.”
He nods, smirking as I continue past him. “I like her. I’m tempted to keep her.”
My steps halt. My jaw tenses. Turning around, I try and look unfazed as I tell him, “Then keep her. But if you want to sell, make contact.”
That prick isn’t going to bait me.
I force my feet forwards because if I stop too long, if I engage in any kind of conversation I will blow my cover. If I stop, I’ll want to kill him and I can’t kill him. Not yet. Maybe not ever. And that’s a painful truth I’ll have to bear.
“Wait.” Gunman One calls.
Turning, I stare him down.
He holds out his hand. “Phone.”
Unlocking it, I slap it in his hand, watching as he checks the photos. They’ve all been pre-loaded from the internet; there’s nothing there to incriminate me.
Gunman Two pats me down, pulling out the tissue with the condoms inside. He grimaces, shoving them back in my pocket. Once my phone is returned I’m free to go.
Outside, the night air does nothing to calm me.
Thinking about Ava’s fate until the sale has me ready to spin around and burn that fucking shed down. Burn it to the ground with Luca and his men chained up inside. Christ, how am I meant to live with myself, knowing I’ve left a defenceless woman to more of that shit?
Striding for the car, I unlock it and throw myself inside, tearing out of the farmyard. Immediately I call up Ben. “FUCK!” I yell to the windscreen as soon as he answers.
“Are you hurt?” he demands. “We can see you approaching. Pull over—I’ll drive.”
“We need to kill that son of a bitch. We need to go back!”
“What? No, not until Sabine’s in my arms.”
“We need to get Ava out of there.”
“Max, what the fuck? Who are you even talking about? We’ll talk in a second, but don’t do anything stupid. I mean it. Hold it together.”
I want to ignore him but he’s right. We need the linchpin of this whole ring. We need Luca’s boss. We need to know who Sabine was sold to. We’ve had some leads but they’ve all been duds.
For now, players like Luca need to keep on playing. But when we have what we need, I’m going to cut his balls clean off his body.
Less than half a mile later, I screech into the lay-by where Ben and Jeremy have been waiting for me. Waiting for the signal to come in guns blazing and rescue my fucking sister.
I slam on the brakes, Ben opening up the driver’s door and telling me to get in the passenger seat. I nod to Jeremy, knowing he’ll follow us back to the hotel, our temporary headquarters.
“Talk to me,” Ben urges. He looks rabid, half man, half beast as he exists from one minute to the next.
“The woman was called Ava Rivas. She was so broken and so sweet. She promised to find out as much as she could, and I promised to buy her at the sale.”
“What do you mean bysweet?” I don’t miss his dubious tone. “Did youfuckher?”
