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As the conversation continued, they shared their vision of growing their charity's reach and influence. They spoke of acquiring more funding and expanding their workforce. How they could turn any money Charlize helped bring in into even more.
Charlize would never be drawn in by their charm and the allure of being part of something this sinister, but they needed to believe she was.
“There is real evil genius energy at this table,” she joked. “Heavy on the genius though. I’ve got my concerns about scaling this up without opening up to a lot of liability. All it takes is one woman who goes to the authorities and we’d all be screwed. I think there might be a chance you’re minimizing the risk.”
“We have people in place to make sure that all goes well,” Stephen explained, this time sounding much dodgier. “They are persuasive people who know how to keep everything locked down.”
Charlize frowned and looked at Brenda for assurance. A large smile skittered across her face.
“This part you’ll just have to trust us on. The women aren’t reporting anything to anyone. We won’t have to worry about that.” Brenda winked and Charlize felt her body boil with rage.
“She doesn’t look like she trusts us,” Stephen chuckled. “Maybe we’ll just have to show her. No one is going to turn on us. Even if they try, we’ve got people in all the right places to make sure everything keeps moving along. Judges. Cops. Nearly all the local leadership of child protective services. One phone call and we pull the strings.” Their smug expressions were so tempting to smack away. But Charlize needed to be glad they were willing to trust her enough to incriminate themselves so badly. She’d sit on her hands if she had to, anything to keep from slugging them all.
CHAPTER 29
HARRY
Harry's palms were slick with sweat as he stood in the damp smelling basement of the apartment building, clutching a small videotape in his hand. His boss, Marvin, a man with a sinister glint in his eyes, waited expectantly by his side. Harry was nearly choking on the reality of the cruel purpose behind their presence in this dingy, foreboding room.
Rose sat on a shabby cot, her wrists duct-taped together, fear etched across her face. She had been torn from her son, Nathaniel, and Harry knew the torment she must be feeling.
Marvin was obviously getting a sadistic pleasure from terrorizing her, and it sickened Harry to the core. This had been why he’d stayed in this job, even after he knew what was going on. Someone had to stand between the women like Rose and the monsters like Marvin.
Two of the other men in the basement had gone on their rounds, leaving Harry and Marvin alone for the moment. Harry had been given a simple task: hand over the videotape from the fast-food restaurant, the one that showed Nathaniel being taken. They planned to show it to Rose, to further torment her before she would be taken to some other location, to be "dealt with." Harry also knew these men wanted proof that his story was true.
Harry reluctantly handed over the tape, his mind racing, trying to formulate a plan to get Rose out of this nightmare. The basement's gloomy atmosphere was oppressive, the air heavy with tension and despair. The room had been haphazardly sound-proofed, adding to the claustrophobia.
Marvin gloated as he held the videotape, relishing in Rose's anguish. "This will break you,” he snickered at her. “Some creep snagged your kid. He’s gone and no one is going to be looking for him. No one is going to be looking for you either.”
Rose whimpered and closed her eyes. Harry was supposed to wait for the perfect moment. To have the upper hand and make sure he had control of the situation. But as pain crumpled Rose’s face, he couldn’t take anymore.
Harry's grip tightened on his weapon hidden beneath his jacket. He had to be quick and precise; there was no room for error.
"We’re going to walk out of here.” Harry’s voice caught in his throat. “I love her," he said firmly. "I'm taking her and you’re going to let us go.” He leveled his gun at Marvin and gestured for him to drop his weapon.
“Are you stupid?” Marvin looked around the room as though he was being punked or something. “You’re not leaving with her.”
“Toss your weapon over here and your phone. We won't cause any problems for the people in charge here; we're disappearing. I don’t give a shit what else happens, but Rose and I are leaving."
Marvin burst into mocking laughter, the sound echoing ominously in the confined space. "You're crazy, Harry. You think you can just walk out of here and live a quiet life? They'll track you down and kill you both. No one gets out of here. None of them, and none of us."
That was the part that was rarely talked about. This wasn’t the kind of job you could just walk away from, even if you wanted to. Your hands were too dirty to really be clean again.
“This shit is screwed up,” Harry barked. “The entire charity is a scam. This is a prison. This is trafficking, and the children are collateral damage. How in the hell are you okay with that?”
Harry knew Marvin loved this job. He was one of the men who slept perfectly fine, no matter what had happened at work that day. No matter how dark it got. That didn’t matter. Something inside of him was broken and fed on the chaos. He hated women. What better place to work for a man like that?
“These women would be in the gutter either way. At least here we can put them to work for a while. It’s all they’re good for. Are you seriously stupid enough to die, trying to get this piece of garbage out of here?”
Harry wanted to hit him, but instead he snatched up the cell phone and the weapon and made his way over to Rose. The stakes were high, but he couldn't allow Rose to suffer any longer.
"You're not in control here," Harry said, his voice steady. "You don't call the shots anymore. We're leaving, and you won't follow us."
In the tense standoff, Harry knew he couldn’t give Marvin a moment to try to get the upper hand. As much as he wanted to turn all his attention to Rose, he couldn’t. There would be time to comfort her later. Time to explain everything. The most important thing was getting her out of there and execute the plan flawlessly or they’d never really be free.
With a swift slice, Harry cut the duct tape binding Rose's wrists and pulled her to her feet. Her legs were clearly weak, and her body was trembling against his grip.
“You’re a dead man,” Marvin hissed as Harry locked him inside the small room. An act Marvin always reveled in when a woman was under his control on the other side of the door. Now he was the one who was trapped.
