by K. A Knight
“My name’s Alisha,” she whispers back, voice low, almost snatched in the air.
“Hi, Alisha, how long have you been here?” I ask, wanting her to talk. I tilt my head and try to appear non-threatening, I need this woman to trust me. I need to rely on them and find out who can help fight or not. I don’t know if I will need them, but it can’t hurt. Plus, I’m going to be stuck in here, so I might as well make friends. I’m betting these girls haven’t got any, they seem too scared to even talk.
I wonder if Keanu hurt them.
It’s a passing thought, one I balk at instantly, no. He would never. He wouldn’t even touch them if he didn’t have to escort them to the bathroom. He looked sick the other night just from being here. He would never hurt them, or me. He’s too good of a man, even if he doesn’t know it.
“I-I don’t know,” she whispers, eyes flicking to the door. “I woke up in here drugged, but not as long as the others, I was the new girl...until you,” she adds, looking at me shyly from under her lashes.
“Okay.” I nod and glance at the other three, who are watching us now. “What are your names?”
“Do you want to get us killed?” one of them hisses, sticking her face out so I can see flashes of two green orbs, long lashes, thin lips, and...bright orange hair.
“No, I want to know who I’m stuck in a cell with. These men are going to do what they want to anyone, wouldn’t you like not to be alone?” I inquire slowly and quietly, and she stares at me for a moment before sighing.
“Lea, my name is Lea,” she mutters.
“Hi, Lea.”
It seems her replying has a knock-on effect. I catch two more whispered names on the air, but I can’t tell who they belong to.
“Sarah.”
“Poppy.”
“Okay, ladies, has anyone checked the room for cameras or mics? What about anything we can use as a weapon or to escape?” I question, clapping my hands. I might have agreed to this, but I’m not going to sit meekly by. I won’t let these girls down, not like I have with Alena so far.
I will get them free and back home.
“No?” Alisha responds, frowning then. “Should we? We saw one of the girls who tried to escape get shot, we figured we had a better chance just...being good.”
Sighing, I grab her hands, wincing when she flinches. “Alisha, do you know what they are going to do to you?”
She shakes her head then, looking scared.
“They are either going to sell us to the highest bidder or they are going to pump us with drugs and make us work in their brothels. Isn’t it worth trying? Do you really want that to happen to you, knowing you never even tried to escape? To get free?”
Her eyes fill with tears as her bottom lip starts to tremble. She knew something bad was going to happen, but I’m betting she thought she would be rescued, that it wouldn’t happen to her. “How do you know this?” Lea snaps, and I look between them, debating my options. I can tell them what Jamie already knows.
“I was sleeping with a club owner. One night, I saw him drug and sell a girl to these men and started to dig into it myself, trying to figure out how deep it went and who was behind it. The cops are looking as well, some of it in the right direction, but they have to follow the rules, I didn’t,” I offer, and Lea frowns, her eyes calculating.
“So you were digging? That’s why they took you?” she surmises. Oh, she’s a smart one.
“Yes, after trying to find out how much I know. They couldn’t risk me blabbing to anyone,” I grumble.
“Did you? Blab to anyone, leave anything behind?” she queries, excited now, leaning farther forward.
I shake my head, unable to tell her the truth. I can’t trust how they would react to Keanu if they knew. She sighs and leans back. “Of course not, so you’re just as trapped as we are, and only the police are looking, who clearly can’t help us...what makes you think you can?”
I wink then. “Don’t back a woman into a corner and expect her not to come out swinging. We are getting out of here alive and whole. Are you going to help?”
She turns away then, not willing to risk it, but Alisha nods, dashing her tears away and sniffing. “I’ll help, like you said, we have nothing left to lose.”
“If they find out, they can do so much worse to us,” Lea snaps as another girl comes forward, one I didn’t see before. She has blonde hair in a short, stringy bob and sad blue eyes.
“I’ll help, I want to go home.” She sniffs, her eyes big and round. God, she’s young. Really young.
“Sweetie, what’s your name?” I ask, and she bites down on her lower lip nervously.
“Sarah, I’m Sarah,” she answers, as she stops before me, using me to block the door, her thin body shaking.
“How old are you?” I inquire, almost growling.
“Sixteen, why? Does that matter?” she questions, eyes blowing wide and voice getting louder. She reminds me of Scarlett a little, she’s not as strong or brave, that’s for sure, but it’s in the way she speaks, it’s in those big eyes. She’s trusting, so trusting, her heart on her sleeve. Just like my sister. A pang of longing comes and I know I have to protect this girl no matter what, for her.
“It doesn’t, sweetie, okay? I was just wondering, come on.” I squeeze her hand. “Let’s take a wall each, look into every crack, whatever you can see, and check under the mattresses. At least it gives us something to do,” I offer with a cheerful smile, and receive a small, nervous one back from her.
I get to my feet and smile down at them. “I’ll take the door. Let’s do this, girls, show them we aren’t something to fuck or sell, that we are people and smarter than them.”
I turn then, letting the smile drop, because I know the likelihood of finding anything, of escaping, is slim, but they have to have hope. If they don’t, if they give up, then there is nothing left to save. Just a shell of what used to be a beautiful, smart woman who belonged in this world and was stolen.
I have to keep them strong, keep them going until we can bring these men down, and I will be with them for the whole ride. I’m not leaving them, not like I did Alena. No matter what happens, it happens to us...together.
Facing the door, I let my nerves finally take hold. I knew what I was getting into and Keanu warned me...but something about being here, locked up with these women, is terrifying. What if something goes wrong? What if I do get killed?
Then at least I died trying.
Faking confidence, I start to run my hands over the door and walls next to it, searching for anything, keeping busy and occupied so I’m not just sitting in the dark, wondering what’s going to happen to us. To me. I have no doubt they will want to talk to me at some point, maybe even hurt me, to try and find out what I know.
Keanu knows that too, and I bet he’s trying to figure out a plan as we speak.
I search every crack, cringing when I find broken fingernails and scratch marks etched onto the stone walls. Good news is I don’t find any cameras or mics, so I’m betting they trust their guards outside the door at all times, and don’t want any evidence of them touching us. That means we can talk and plot in here, but it also means there isn’t a chance of escape with a man outside the door unless we lure him in.
I shouldn’t be thinking of escaping, I know that, I need to stay, but maybe if I can get them out...get them free, it won’t matter if I die. At least I saved them.
“Nothing,” Alisha grumbles, and I look over to see Sarah shaking her head, her body trembling as she wraps her arms around herself, obviously cold.
“Okay,” I reply, propping my hands on my hips. “I need you to tell me everything you saw or heard—how many guards, how often they come in here, how often we are led away. Everything,” I order. I have what Keanu saw to go on, but he hasn’t been here long, and maybe they saw or heard something he didn’t.
Anything could help, it could mean the difference between death and life.
“Let me get this straight. We are let out twice a day to use
the bathroom, morning and evening. Only allowed to shower once a week under supervision, and given two meals a day through the door, on plastic trays, which they take back afterwards?” I conclude, and they both nod. We are huddled on one of the mattresses, our voices low and quiet.
That means if I catch the right guard at the right time, I could use the tray as a weapon on the guard and let them run past me, but then they have to get through the guys in the main room.
“Any escape places in the bathroom? They have to watch us for a reason,” I muse, and Alisha and Sarah share a look, their noses scrunching at the thought, obviously remembering the bathroom and the layout.
Alisha perks up then, looking excited. “There’s a window, it’s high up on the third bathroom stall.” She looks around and lowers her voice then. “I climbed on the toilet once and looked through it, it leads outside.” She seems so excited, but then deflates. “But the guard…” She sighs.
“That’s good, though, that’s one option. Okay, so guards, how many? Do they change often? Any to be aware of?” I ask, our legs touching, we are sitting that close.
“The one they call Razor,” Sarah whispers, her eyes filled with horror, and anger flares inside me. What did he do to her? She drops her gaze and Alisha wraps an arm around her, dragging her to her side and stares at me with angry eyes.
“He likes to hurt girls, likes it when they fight,” she explains, and Sarah shivers in horror again.
“I fought,” she whispers, broken-hearted.
Fuck.
Grabbing her hands, I hold them tight and she turns her head on Alisha’s shoulder, and looks at me with those eyes, eyes that hold too much horror and self-hatred, an expression I’ve seen in many girls’ eyes when a man does something he never should. “You are not to blame,” I state strongly, knowing she’s blaming herself. “Ever, you hear me? He will never touch you again, I promise that.”
“How will you stop him?” Lea scoffs.
I turn to stare at her, narrowing my eyes. “Whatever I have to do,” I tell her, and look around again. “We all will, we need to protect each other, stick together. They can hurt us as individuals, but as a group? Let’s show them who they are fucking with!”
A chorus of agreements goes up, and even Lea nods, a small smile on her face as she watches me. “I don’t know who you are, Nadia, but you are a fucking spitfire. Alright. I’m in. What now?”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Keanu
Standing in front of the door, I stop myself from ripping it open and pulling her into my arms. It was so hard to have to pretend she meant nothing to me, the defiance in her eyes turning me on like it always does. But she’s strong, so strong, I know she will be okay in there with the girls, and I’m out here protecting her.
Seeing her eye though? White-hot fury had ripped through me. The only thing stopping me from breaking my cover and tearing Razor apart was her eyes, the warning there. Instead, I stand outside the door and list all the ways in which he will suffer.
I will start with his hand, break every bone there and wait for him to scream in pain. Then I will do the other, then the nails. Then the toes, then the knees. I will end by cutting his dick off and watching him bleed out in excruciating pain. It’s all that keeps me sane as I stand here, knowing my girl is feet from me, but we might as well be miles apart.
A noise has me turning my head, snapping to face the hallway entrance to see one of the guards there, juggling five trays as he mumbles to himself and heads my way. I know he’s the cook, though I can’t figure him out. He seems to hate this as much as I do, but can’t hide it as well. I also caught him trying to catch glimpses of the girls...is he just wanting them or is there another reason?
He eyes me distastefully and grits his teeth, stopping before me. “I have their meals, make sure it gets to them this time,” he snaps, and I raise my eyebrows. “They never get them all if one of those pricks is on.” He jerks his head back to where we can hear the laughter and music of the other men.
I nod and unlock the door, taking two from him. “Help me then,” I offer, and step into the room.
I spot my girl instantly, sitting in front of two of the girls as she turns to face us, fire and anger in her eyes. I wonder what has pissed her off, but I can’t ask with the other man behind me. The other girls cringe back, but they don’t hide this time or cry, no, they look to my girl to see what she will do.
Of bloody course, I leave her for not even two hours and she has become their leader. I feel like grinning. She rises to her feet gracefully and stalks over to me, the other girls gasping as she draws closer and gets in my face. When no one else can see, she winks at me and grabs the trays, turning her back on me as she gives them to the two girls she was talking to, only then does she spot the other man behind me, her eyes narrowing as she spreads her legs, her hands going to her sides nice and loose, a fighting stance if she needs one...to protect those girls.
He ducks his head, his face going pale, and stretches out the trays, even as his eyes roll up, trying to search the room...for someone? He lands on a small blonde huddled behind Nadia and sucks in a breath, unable to look away from her. I look from him to her. Well, well, well, I can use this.
The blonde peeks out from behind Nadia and her eyes widen when she sees him, her mouth dropping open. She looks from me to him and covers her mouth, tears forming in her eyes. So they know each other. Interesting. Did he get the job to find her? Sort of like me?
Or did he meet her here? No, from the familiarity and confusion in her gaze, this is the first time she’s seeing him here, he knows her. Nadia seems to come to the same conclusion. She grabs the trays from his hands and gives them to the other girl before looking at him. “Don’t you know it’s rude to stare,” she teases, almost grinning at him. “Better get out of here, I hear footsteps,” she whispers to us both, and he jerks his head up to her in shock and confusion. I nod, she’s right, I can hear them too.
I grab him and drag him from the room, his eyes flickering back to the blonde, a look passing between them that has her almost smiling—it’s a ghost of one, but it’s there. Once outside, I let him go, and slam and lock the door. He looks to the man approaching, Razor, of course. He stops before us both and narrows his eyes in annoyance.
“Only one delivers the meals. Newbie, you’re on nightshift.” He turns and stalks away.
The man stares at his retreating back and swallows, looking at me with fear in his eyes. “Your secret is safe with me,” I mutter.
He blinks in shock. “Why?” is all he asks.
“We all have our secrets,” I murmur cryptically, unable to say anything else, he nods and scuttles away. I watch him retreat, his short red hair spiked, his face covered in freckles. His body is big, though, so clearly he works out, but he’s young, really young. I’m betting he’s an athlete of some kind. So how did he end up here? How did he track her? I’ll have to find out.
One thing is for sure, my job just got harder.
I didn’t plan on leaving this door anyway, not with my girl inside. I’m used to long hours of not moving with no sleep, it’s part of the job. Standing here, I ache to go inside and just hold her, just for a moment, but I can’t. The hours pass slowly, and I split my attention between my girl and my phone. I hack the cameras hidden within the warehouse and send the stream onto my mobile. I also run the plates of the vans and cars within the warehouse.
That night, I unlock the door and head back inside the cell. “Bathroom time, let’s go,” I snap, trying not to look at my girl. They file past me, their shoulders hunched as they try not to touch me in the doorway. Nadia is last and she brushes by, close, trailing her hand over my chest as she joins the others. I smile into the empty cell and then let it fade as I look at the girls. “Let’s go.” I jerk my head to the bathroom and they move that way, with Nadia at the back, shaking her ass at me.
What an inappropriate time to be hard.
She follows the others into the bathroom and they
take turns using the stalls as I keep my back to them, but a noise has me jerking my head around to see Nadia staring out of the window, obviously standing on the toilet. The other girls have finished and watch me staring at her. Narrowing my eyes, I head into the stall and yank her down, and where they can’t see I spank her softly. “Come on,” I order them, pulling her after me until we reach the cell, then I glare at her. “Behave,” I snap, and the others cringe away as she smiles.
This fucking woman.
Shutting the door, I press my back to it. What is she doing? Trying to escape? That isn’t the plan, for fuck’s sake, we are supposed to get inside as deep as we can and find the leader and kill them, then we free the girls.
But then again, I should have known better. When it comes to Brat, she does whatever she wants whenever she wants. The next few hours are uneventful, I hear the laughter and music turn down and morph into snores of the men who stay overnight—usually Razor and one other, now three including me. The rest are the night guards, but only two are on duty out there, they run a skeleton crew at night. I’m just relaxing into the door when I hear boots heading my way. Straightening, I meet Razor’s eyes as he draws closer, stopping in front of me.
“Any issues, newbie?” he snaps.
“No,” I reply.
He nods, his eyes wandering to the door for a moment before back to me. “Boss man says you know how to make people talk?”
Shit, what? Then I remember, it’s part of my backstory.
“Yes.”
“You don’t talk much, good. I’m going to get someone to relieve you. Take the hot new girl upstairs and find out what she knows. Apparently she was digging into us and they think she might know something. Find out, boss doesn’t care how as long as you don’t kill her,” he orders.
“Understood, will I have privacy to question her?” I inquire, wanting to know if they have a feed in there. If they do, we are fucked. I can’t hurt my girl, I could pretend to scare her, though, to admit to what they want to know.