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“Because that’s what we are—who we are. We’re violent and difficult and live in the darkness. It’s our place to protect others. You? We don’t do that because you’re less than but because you’re more than that. No matter what has come your way, you’ve survived it all, you’ve kept your kindness, you kept your soul. I’ve never thought you were less than I am, and I don’t want you to think that, either. So I’m letting you go because I know better than anyone else just how tough you really are. So go on—go do what you need to do and prove it to everyone else, too.”
I nodded, swallowing down my tears and throwing my arms around Nem for a quick, awkward hug that she didn’t seem to know how to react to before I rushed out of the door.
First things first.
I took out the phone Bray had given me and dialed a number I knew by heart. If I was going to save the men I loved, I couldn’t do it alone.
Chapter Eighteen
Kenz
I hadn’t expected to ever face this man again. So far, he’d been there for some of the worst moments of my recent life, so if I did see him again, I didn’t think it would be because I came to him.
Yet here I was.
Bradley Chains. The auction boss. The cold, heartless man who had started so much of this. He wore his fancy, expensive well-tailored suit and looked at me with the same hard eyes he had before, as though none of this mattered to him beyond the bottom line.
“I didn’t expect to see you again, Ms. Fox, and I certainly never saw you coming here yourself. You seemed unwilling to endure my company before—I wonder what has changed.”
I sat across from him in a large office, one in a busy, tall modern building. Finding his information hadn’t been all that difficult, making me suspect he was one of those hiding-in-plain-sight sort of men. By day, he was Bradley Chains, land developer and property magnet. By night? He ran auctions that sold anything a person could desire—even people.
“I needed to speak to you,” I said, struggling to meet his gaze directly. It took me back to that cage, to when I’d first met him, to how terrifying he’d been.
“So I assume, since you came so far, and alone. When I first received word that you wished to meet, I had assumed you would have those men surrounding you. In fact, I wasn’t sure the meeting was worth having given the trouble they have caused me. However, upon discovering that you would come alone, I couldn’t turn that down. What, pray tell, is so important that you would risk speaking to me alone when you so obviously do not want to be in the same room as me?”
“I need your help.”
He let out a soft, unkind laugh. “I am not the sort of man who helps people. Surely you know that already.”
“I don’t expect you to do it for nothing, but this will benefit you as well.”
He folded his hands on his lap and sat back, a subtle smile playing across his lips. “Well, I can say this is entertaining, if nothing else. So what is this favor you want?”
I forced myself to look up, to meet his gaze directly. He had eyes that were just as dark as I recalled, and his facial hair was well groomed. He looked every bit the part of a rich, successful businessman, his gaze shrewd.
Even if he laughed softly, if he acted as though this were all a game to him, that expression showed just how serious and capable he was.
It also told me to treadverycarefully.
“I want you to sell me again.”
The lifting of his eyebrow might not have seemed like a large reaction, but it went to prove his surprise. “That was probably the last thing I expected to hear you say,” he admitted. “I thought you might come to ask me to deal with Lorien, to beg me to intervene, perhaps even to tell me how I owed you something due to what you went through.”
“I’m not the type to beg,” I said. “I’m not here because I think you’ll help me out of the goodness of your heart. This world isn’t made by that. This world is made by give and take, by what people need and what others can offer. I wouldn’t be foolish enough to stand before you and expect charity. Instead, let me put it this way. You offered to Hayden and Lorien that if you re-auctioned me off, you would waive the auction fee in exchange. I’d like to do that again.”
“And why?”
“You offered this.”
“Yes, but it was turned down. You weren’t interested in working with me then. When things change, I want to know why. Why now? What happened that made you think this was the right time?”
“I tried to let the men handle this, but it’s clear they can’t sort this out. They’ll end up killing one another to get this over with, and I don’t want that on my shoulders.”
“You’re here alone, which means you could escape, right? You could run away and hide and let them destroy one another. Why are you here, then, willing to sell yourself instead?”
“Because I don’t want anyone dying because of me.”
“So you’re willing to trade your freedom for their lives?” He shook his head as though embarrassed by that. “That is pathetic. No wonder you’ve found yourself in this position. Foolish people end up at the mercy of the strong. It would be for the best, perhaps, for you to sell yourself off just so you don’t end up in this sort of position again.”
