by Vi Carter
I grin. He had to survive. I take my wallet back out and take out two more fifties, he tilts his head, and I add a third.
Reaching out, he snatches the money, his eyes growing brighter as he holds the bills tightly in his hand.
“The plate?” I ask again.
“Didn’t get it.” He quickly pockets his money.
I’m ready to take my money back when he holds up his hands.
“I did see the man who loaded the women into the van.”
He describes a man that I haven’t seen before. But with a large tattoo on his neck, it might lead me to something, but I wasn’t sure.
“You sure?” I ask him before I get ready to leave.
“Yeah, he had a tattoo of a gun and a large, red cigar either side of it; it ran along his neck. He was mean-looking.”
I leave the homeless man who disappears behind his boxes and get into the car.
I don’t start the engine but look back at the warehouse. How long would it take for them to find out the men they left behind were dead?
I take out my phone and message Nevs the job. I describe the man with the tattooed neck and also the Torpedo. I also offer him a generous amount of money that I don’t think he will refuse. Once it’s sent, I check my face in the mirror.
Fuck
That was going to leave a scar. There was no way it wouldn’t. I pull the wound apart to see how deep it is. It needs stitches. Blood oozes again, and I release the skin before starting the car and making my way back to the house.
I drive slowly around the block, just checking for cameras again in case I missed them the first time. But if there ever were cameras here, they are long gone now. I don’t imagine much survives in this area.
CHAPTER TWELVE
EVIE
I’ve felt weak a few times in my life. Even at ten, I understood weakness. When you had to stand and watch someone die, you understand there was nothing you could do about it.
The first time I was marked, I felt weak, knowing I couldn’t stop them from branding me.
Letting Lucca walk out that door without me and leaving my sisters in his hands made me feel weak again.
I hold my head high and try to remind myself of all I have survived. All I will survive.
I stay in Lucca’s room for a while. I’m tempted to go downstairs and find Anita, but each time I’m ready to step out into the hall, a security man passes, driving me back inside. Looking out the window, I spot a few security men scattered around the front yard. The amount of security should make me feel more secure, but it doesn’t. It just feels suffocating right now.
“You okay, Kitten?” Anita, Lucca’s sister, steps into the bedroom. She’s wearing a black and white polka dot shirt and trousers. The band in her hair is the same fabric and design as her outfit. She looks glamorous but cheap.
But it’s the kindness that pours from her that I cling to.
“No,” I answer honestly.
She enters the room. “Anything I can help with?”
I’m ready to tell her no. I didn’t think she would help me leave, or Lucca wouldn’t have left me with her, but she could help me in another way.
“It’s Lucca.” I start.
She pulls at one of the large loops on her ear before sitting down on the bed. “Isn’t it always?” Her smile is similar to his.
“He was telling me about growing up in Camp, and it hurt my heart.”
Anita grows serious, and I think I’ve taken this in the wrong direction.
“He told you about Camp?” Disbelief coats her words.
“Yes, it sounded brutal.”
She nods, and her silver eyes darken. I take the moment to sit down beside her.
“My brother is so strong.”
I take her hand in mine. “You must have missed him so much.”
“I did. He was like a father to me. Our own was an absolute waste of space.” Anita pulls at her earring again and rolls her eyes. Her gaze has lightened like she’s referred to her father as that a million times.
“He spent our whole lives behind bars.”
I nod like I knew that.
“My mother always believed that’s why Lucca went to the Camp. That he wanted to be the man our father never was.”
It’s a drop in the ocean. It’s small, minor, some might even say, insignificant information, but the fact it’s about Lucca is enough to try to connect the dots.
“Your mother, is she still alive?” I ask.
Anita releases my hand and shakes her head. “She died a few years back.”
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Thanks, Kitten.” Anita stands, and I think that’s all the information I’m going to get out of her.
“What about you? Your parents in the land of the living?”
The question has a hand reaching in and squeezing my heart. I had always believed they were, that one day they would find me. I had believed that for eight years. Each night my dad would come and take me back to the shore of County Clare.
“I don’t know.”
Anita is staring at me like she’s waiting for me to expand, but I have no idea of what more I can add to that statement.
“You hungry?” She asks.
I wasn’t, but I find myself nodding my head. I sit in the large spacious kitchen as she makes us a sandwich. I’m stuck in my head for a while, and we both eat in silence. We both glance as security moves every few minutes past the door.
Anita rolls her eyes. “Lucca being dramatic.”
I smile at her words. I didn’t think Lucca could ever be dramatic. He was the least dramatic person I had ever met.
It’s like my thoughts of Lucca conjure him as he pauses outside the kitchen.
Anita is up.
“What the hell happened to you?”
Lucca waves her off and turns to me. “Take your sandwich to your room.” He sounds angry with me, and I’m not sure why. I don’t pick up the sandwich but get up.
His face is cut pretty bad, and I want answers about my sisters. This didn’t install much confidence in me.
“My sisters?” I ask.
“Sisters?” Anita repeats, her head jerking between Lucca and me, the large earring swinging widely.
“They weren’t there,” Lucca answers me, and my legs grow weak.
“You're lying.” I fire back. I want it to be a lie.
“I said they weren’t there, Evie.” He turns away from me, and I’m moving towards him.
He spins back around before I reach him. “They had been there, but they aren’t now.”
A lump forms in my throat, and an ache in my heart has me fighting the burning sensation at the back of my nose.
“You were attacked?” I reach up but don’t touch his face.
“It’s a flesh wound.” He answers.
Anita lets out a heavy breath, and I step away from her brother.
“You look like you went a few rounds with Jackie Chan.”
Lucca holds up his hands, a serious expression on his face, and Anita falls silent.
Lucca leaves the room, and I follow him. He glances back at me several times but doesn’t stop me as I follow him into the bathroom. The blood which has stained the front of his shirt still leaks from the cut on his face.
Lucca opens a glass cabinet and takes down some disinfectant wipes, along with some adhesive strips, and places them on the sink.
“Let me help.” I don’t wait for him to agree but reach around him for the disinfectant wipes. I meet his gaze in the mirror, and he holds it for a moment before turning to me.
He still hasn’t moved. “Do you want to sit down?” He’s so much taller than I am, and at this angle, it won’t be easy.
“No.” His jaw tightens.
I take out a wipe and step closer to Lucca until I’m surrounded by the smell of his cologne. His large hands hang at his side, and I try to focus on the task at hand.
I dap the wipe carefully across his cheek. The cut is deep, the skin
puckered. I continue to clean the wound in silence before getting the strips and placing them across the cut, keeping it sealed. Lucca doesn’t move a muscle as I bandage him up.
“What did you find?” I finally ask, placing the second last strip to his cheek.
“They had been in the warehouse.”
My fingers falter, and I look into liquid silver eyes.
“I found where they had been sleeping. They were all together.”
Pain radiates across my body, I didn’t think the idea of them still together would make me feel homesick, but it does.
I pick up the final strip and press it to Lucca’s cheek.
“Do you think…” I look back up into Lucca’s eyes. “Do you think they are still alive?”
“They are too valuable to kill.”
My stomach churns at the honesty of his words.
“So yes, I do believe they are alive.”
“You were attacked? Did you find out anything from your attacker?”
I’m praying that he did, but Lucca turns away from me and faces the mirror. “You did a neat job.”
His remark on my bandaging him up shouldn’t have any impact on me, but it does.
“Thank you.”
Lucca faces me. There is a vulnerable look in his eyes like I’ve never seen before, and my heart starts to race.
“The men who attacked me are all dead. I didn’t get to question them.”
MY stomach squeezes at the thoughts of him killing someone. But I wasn’t stupid. I had known that, but it’s something I had pushed to the back of my mind, along with so much more.
“There was a man who saw the girls being placed in a van.” Lucca breaks eye contact and starts to remove his bloody shirt.
My heart thumps painfully in my chest. The girls were strong, we had come through the worst, but Leah, she wasn’t like us. She was fragile. I could imagine her being placed in a van, maybe blindfolded. She would be terrified, but the other girls would take care of her. They had to.
“I’m sorry, Evie.” Lucca’s words have my head whipping up to him.
He sounded so sincere, which wasn’t like him.
Heavy footsteps in the bedroom have Lucca moving me aside. I follow to see Anita in the bedroom.
“Igor is here.” Worry is etched into her words. Lucca moves past his sister and removes his shirt before placing a new one on.
“He’s here to take me back,” I say the words, and I knew this day would come. But, now that he was here in Lucca’s house, fear squeezes my throat, and the room tilts. I reach for the wall. “Please.” The air grows thin, and I have no idea what I’m begging him to do.
Lucca won’t look at me as he puts on his shirt.
“Lucca.” I plead his name, but he still won’t look at me. Too many things swirl through my mind. I don’t want to leave Lucca is one thought which is crazy. But being with him gave me hope that I might get out of being sold.
Frustration claws up my throat, and I want to lash out.
“Stay with Evie. Don’t come out of this room no matter what.”
Lucca’s words to his sister pierce my veil of pure panic. I wasn’t going down. He was leaving me up here. It didn’t mean he wouldn’t come back, but it gave me time, time to convince Anita not to let them take me.
Lucca leaves the room. Anita is staring at the door before she turns to me.
“I’m going to be sold,” I tell her.
She doesn’t respond, but she looks out of place as she pulls at her loopy earrings.
“I’m a virgin. That’s what they are selling me for.” I push away from the wall.
Anita shakes her head, wild curls bouncing everywhere. “He won’t let them take you.”
Her words have no force behind them, and I half laugh and half cry.
“You think he will stop Igor?”
“I don’t know, Evie.” Anita turns away from me, and I don’t want her to ignore me.
“You can help me.” I move around her, so I’m looking at her. “Please! You can help me get out of here.”
She’s shaking her head. “You really picked the wrong girl.” Anita looks at me with sympathy in her eyes. “I’m sorry, but I would never betray my brother.”
“I’m being trafficked, along with six other girls.”
She turns away, but I don’t stop. “They took me at the age of ten.” Her shoulders are hunched like she can fend off my words.
“They took me from my parents.” My voice breaks.
“They stole me.” I want to scream it at the top of my lungs so she will listen.
“They stole all of us. How is that right?”
Anita swings around. “It’s not.” Her voice rises. “But, I’m sorry. I can’t help you.”
I blink, and tears fall. I’m looking at the window, and for a split second, I think about opening it and jumping. Would I break my legs, my neck? Would it be a better fate than being sold? Or would I land on my feet? I move to the window. Anita doesn’t stop me, but I can see why she doesn’t care. The yard has security everywhere and not just Lucca’s, but also Igor’s men.
I turn back to Anita, who is watching me. I think if I had the power to help someone, I would do it. I wouldn’t be like Anita.
My mind trails back to the moment in the loading bay when I huddled behind the crates, ready to leave my sisters behind. My cheeks grow red. I didn’t take them with me, but I would have sent help. That much I know.
I hold my head and jut out my chin at Anita. “You are as bad as the rest of them,” I say my words clearly before sitting on the bed to await my fate.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
LUCCA
Igor is in the lounge sitting down on a large claw-legged armchair. Three security men surround his seat.
“Igor, what a pleasure to have you in my home.” I didn’t like this man being here for one second. The idea that he was here for Evie crossed my mind, but he wouldn’t come himself, instead of sending a lieutenant, so this was something more.
“How is Evie?” He starts with. He’s really watching my reaction.
I sit down across from him. His first question should have been what happened to my face, so this was all carefully orchestrated.
“She’s upstairs. Shall I bring her down?” I ask.
His down-turned lips turn up slightly. “Let us just talk.”
I sit fully back in the chair.
“Someone will collect her tomorrow.”
My gut tightens. “Perfect.”
“A doctor will have to examine her first to make sure she is still pure. No offense.”
“None taken,” I answer, but the thoughts of Evie being assessed like that have me wanting to walk away from Igor.
His smile shifts, and his lips drag back down. “I know she is a temptation that even the strongest would have to fight.”
“I’ve been too busy, Igor, with my job.”
Igor nods and touches his cheek. “I see you got hurt.”
“It comes with the territory.” I keep my tone respectful, but nothing about this meeting seems appropriate to me.
Igor is watching me, and the fact that he is here tells me he’s part of this somehow.
He sits forward suddenly and reaches into his suit jacket, and extracts a piece of paper. He leans across the space, not close enough for me to take it. I have to get up and move across the room. He releases the piece of paper that I open. It has a name scrawled across it.
“I want him found and silenced.”
I sit back down. “No problem. I’ll get onto it once I close this case.”
Igor rises, and so do I. As he steps closer to me, his security team mirrors his actions. “No need. You’re off this case. Consider it closed, and I will have Evie collected tomorrow.”
He points at the piece of paper in my hand. “Just focus on this job.”
He tries to walk away but pauses. “Oh, and don’t worry, you will still get paid for both jobs.” I wasn’t going to mention money.
“So, you found the girls?” I ask, knowing it’s a mistake when he looks at me now with a smirk.
“I’ll be in touch tomorrow.” Igor leaves, and I watch him from the sitting room window as his men climb into three separate cars and drive away from my house.
Evie will be collected tomorrow. None of this sat right with me. If Igor was already over this operation, what could he gain from planning a kidnapping? None of it made sense.
I go upstairs, and the moment I open the bedroom door, Evie spins away from the window and stares at me. She’s pale, but I see a flicker of hope in her blue eyes.
Anita raises both brows, waiting on an answer as to why Igor came to our home.
“He was just checking in.” The lie is quick to leave my lips, and I don’t focus on my sister but Evie.
“He drove this whole way just to check in?”
“There are millions on the table, Evie, so yes, he did.”
“I’ll leave you to it.”
I glance at Anita over my shoulder. “Thanks.”
She nods at me, takes one final worrying look at Evie, and leaves. Now I wonder what transpired between the two women.
“Was Igor your only boss?” I ask the most important question. I’m thinking he isn’t in this alone, and maybe he is stealing from another partner.
Evie shakes her head. “No.”
Disappointment has me looking away from her. I had until the morning to try to piece this together, or I could just hand Evie back and do my next job.
I don’t know why, but handing Evie over didn’t seem like the right thing to do. I never questioned my work before. But the way she had begged me to save her from Igor had me wanting to hand her back, so she never made me feel like I should keep her safe. Like my duty was keeping Evie away from all the other men.
“Igor will come back for you, Evie, and when he does…”
“You will hand me over.”
“You are here to help me solve this case. There was never an arrangement that you don’t go back.” I’m saying irrelevant things, but I want to understand why she continues to think I will somehow stop her from returning to her former life. What hold does she really think she has over me?
“I know.“ She twirls her fingers together while looking at the ground before her gaze travels back up to me. “You just seemed different.”