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“How many? Who?” Reid demands, his voice deeper than I’ve ever heard it.
He really is holding on by a thread.
It’s a weird thing to witness—the unshakeable enigma of a man right on the edge.
Because of me.
“Honestly, I don’t know. I never kept a tally. Razor, obviously. Jonno, although I don’t think I was ever told his name.” I name a few others, making Reid’s fists tighten on the tabletop until his knuckles are white and threatening to crack.
“Your medical records?” Reid forces out.
“Because of them. But again, I don’t know who. At some point, they all just became the same nameless, faceless monsters.”
“What medical records?” JD asks, letting me know that Reid hasn’t spilled all my secrets.
“Not now,” I beg.
I expect him to argue, to force me to tell him everything, but to my surprise, he just whispers, “Okay,” and presses a kiss to the skin beneath my ear, making me shudder.
It’s such a welcome relief from the pain. My heart flutters as I squeeze his hands, needing him to know how much his support means.
“But that’s only the tip of the iceberg,” I confess, my voice already weak just knowing what I need to say aloud next.
“Jesus Christ.” Reid groans, scrubbing his hand down his face.
“K-Kristie,” I choke out, my heart in pieces just thinking about what might have happened to her. She never went to live with our mom.” My words are quiet, barely a whisper. But both Reid and JD hear them loud and clear. Both of them turn to stone as they wait for more. Fear more. “That was a lie, just like I’m sure have been told for the other girls and young women who have gone missing from this town over the years.”
I fall silent, unable to keep going as a lump of emotion the size of a basketball crawls up my throat and sticks.
Tears burn my eyes, my chest aches as I think about my little sister’s sweet smile and kind eyes. It’s like someone has wrapped barbed wire around my chest and refuses to let up.
“Pet?” Reid prompts when I continue to remain speechless.
Hanging my head, squeeze my eyes closed and ring my hands together in my lap. But nothing helps. Nothing ever does. The pain and devastation are always there. Like a living thing inside me. “She was sold, Reid,” I blurt, my voice raw with emotion. But it quickly turns to bitter hatred when I say my next words. “My father, yours, Mav’s. They’re running—or at least involved in—some kind of human trafficking ring.”
There is a beat of nothing before an inhumane roar rips from Reid’s throat. Pushing to his feet, he reaches for one of the glasses on the table and smashes it against the counter before storming from the room like an angry beast.
“Shit,” I hiss, watching him disappear through tear-filled eyes, leaving nothing but his thumping footsteps in his wake.
The pain that was already slicing up my heart only gets worse.
I startle when a door slams somewhere deep in the house. JD’s grip on my body gets tighter before he lets out a heavy sigh that tickles over my skin.
“It’s okay,” I whisper, sensing that he needs to hear it. “I’m okay.”
His entire body trembles with pent-up rage. While I hate it, I’m also more grateful than he could know that he hasn’t succumbed to it like Reid and stormed off.
“They hurt you, Dove.”
“It’s in the past,” I murmur, wishing like hell that was true.The pain now is just as raw and unbearable as it was back then.
“We’re going to kill them,” he promises. “We’re going to gut every single motherfucker who ever touched you. Hell, anyone who’s ever dared to look at you.”
“Julian,” I whisper.
“I fucking mean it, Dove. I’ll fucking slaughter them all and let you bathe in their blood.”
My stomach rolls.
