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The whole situation makes me frown. I shouldn't care at all, but I do, and that, while relatively educational to my own sensibilities, is confusing the hell out of me. It’s the girl – my little elf. Anger and jealousy swarmed through my veins when Elias handled her. It burned under my skin, making me want to rip his head off for daring to abuse her in front of me. That's what this is all beginning to feel like now. Abuse.
My hand scrapes across my brow, frustration building. I'm not even trying to deny it anymore. It is abuse. We've stolen them from their lives, and we're preparing them to be sold. Jealousy and possessiveness should be nowhere near my thoughts, but she just looked too good in that outfit. Too fucking sexy. Throw in the fact that he had his fingers inside her pussy and was playing her, or me, like a fiddle, and I’m thinking of revenge.
A call comes in. Jamie.
“Yes,” I answer.
“You need to get here,” she says, quietly.
“Why?”
“Something’s going on downstairs. Screaming.” My frown deepens. “I tried to get down there, but Elias won’t let me.”
“What do you mean he won’t let you?”
“I don’t think I need to explain what he threatened if I didn’t fuck off. He said it was nothing to do with me.” I duck down a side street to speed up the journey. “This is not alright, Jackson. I know what they’re supposed to be, but no one said anything about screaming and pain.”
“I’ll be there in ten minutes. Stay out of the way until I get there. Elias won’t think twice about dolling out any threat he’s made.”
I end the call and keep negotiating side streets. Fuck knows what I’m about to walk in on when I get there, but one thing’s for sure, I don’t know how I’m going to stop it, even if it is something I don’t like. What am I going to do? Tell them the deal’s off? That they can take their business and merchandise elsewhere? Not happening. If I even managed to get the words out, or show how effective I can be when pushed, these brothers have long memories for vengeance and an even longer reach when it comes to heinous intent.
By the time I make it to the underground parking and slide out of the car, Jamie’s hovering at the entrance to the club and smoking. Haven’t seen her do that for years. She stubs the cigarette out on the floor and wrings her hands together as I walk over to her.
“They smell,” she says, looking at the floor.
“What? The women?”
“No. The back cellars. They smell of something.”
“They’re cellars. Cellars smell.”
I walk into the main hallway, listening for screams. There aren’t any that I can hear, but it doesn’t stop me heading through the main club in search of the sound.
Everything’s quiet.
I listen again. Nothing.
“Seriously, Jackson. I could smell it wafting up here. Like burning, but not, you know? Nasty. Made me feel sick. And the sound was terrifying, like they were in real trouble. I tried to get there, but like I said, I got threatened with all sorts of crap and I’m not down for that. Certainly not with that one.”
I keep going until I get to the doorway that leads down to where they are kept, eyes scanning for either brother. “Where’s Elias?”
“Don’t know. I did what you said and just went outside when the screaming started again.”
“Wait up here. Actually, go lock yourself in the office.”
Her hand grabs my arm, makes me turn around. “Don’t do anything stupid, Jackson.”
I tip my chin back the way we’ve come and watch her go. At least she’s safe in there. Whatever I’m about to find now, I’m not sure I can do anything about, but Jamie’s family and Elias needs reminding of that fact. Fucking with merchandise is one thing, bringing Jamie into it is not happening.
Three steps down towards the cellars and I can smell whatever she was talking about. Acrid smoke, somehow mixed with burnt plastic or metal. Sweet, though. Or cooking food, charcoal. I don’t fucking know, but there’s an almost pungent taste in my mouth by the time I reach the bottom of the stairs. It makes me gag and cough through the smoke visible in the air.
I glance through the door to the main cellar room, taking a good look over the girls. They're all there with Carmen, apart from one, and huddled at the back of the room looking more scared than they usually are.
An ear-piercing scream sounds out the second I turn for the other end of the small corridor. A laugh comes soon after, and then more muffled shouts and screams. I’m in the room and glowering at what the fuck is going down before I can blink. Elias looks up straight away, his hands holding a girl down and a fucked-up smile on his face. She twists in his grasp, tries getting her leg away.
It’s then that I notice why Dragon’s got the name he has. His exposed back is towards me on a small stool, red and black art spread across it. The heat of the room hits me as he turns his head a little, side-eyes me, then goes back to whatever he’s doing. Another scream sounds loud and clear the moment I see his tattooed arm move.
“The fuck is happening?” I grate, watching Elias smother the girl’s mouth.
