by Nicole Fox
The women are nowhere to be seen.
With Grigory just behind me, I go through the back door and out onto the gravel behind the inn.
It is not meant for guests—just a loading and unloading zone with white vans scattered around, several of which have bullet holes in the sides.
I bend down, looking under the nearest van and then the one after that.
Have the guards already delivered all of the women? Are they gone? Am I too late?
Then, I hear a shift of the gravel. It could have come from me or Grigory walking around, but my instincts tell me otherwise. I walk around the corner of the building and see one final car parallel parked along a shallow curb. Peeking over the hood I see a flash of curly red hair.
“Maddie?”
The girl jerks upright, her blue eyes peering at me from behind the car. And then, in an instant, Maddie is running towards me like I’m the last life vest on a sinking ship.
She slams into me hard enough that every single one of my bruises complains, but I ignore it and hug her back with my free arm. “How many of you are left?”
“Some of the women were already gone when the men arrived,” she says through a cascade of tears. “We didn’t know who they were, but they were killing the guards, so we just ran.”
“They are good guys,” I say.
Technically, they are criminals, but in this situation, they are heroes. Absolute heroes.
Three other women crawl out from behind the car, crouching low. They are numbers ten through thirteen.
Four women out of thirteen.
It is better than nothing, but not what I hoped for. I wish I could have done more.
“Stay with them,” I say to Vito, a short, bald man with a tattoo of a snake across his neck. “I’ll send someone back to have you bring them to the front when it is clear. Protect them.”
Maddie is reluctant to let me go, but as protective as I feel over her, I have my own daughter to worry about now.
Luka and I might get out of here alive, but the Cartel still has our baby girl.
I have to make sure Luka is okay, and then we have to get her back.
There is no other option.
22
Luka
Dead bodies are scattered across the hallways and the stairwell. Blood drips down the walls and saturates the carpets, filling the air with the scent of iron.
We move slowly through the inn as we have a thousand warehouses, drug dens, and stash houses before, but there is no movement. No sound.
I think the Cartel members may all be dead.
Then, as I move to leave the lounge, I hear the sound of a wooden cabinet door closing.
It is a soft thud, just a whisper, but in the silence, every noise is amplified.
I turn and see the bar cart behind me. One of the half-full bottles resting on the edge is sloshing slightly. Enough to let me know it was recently disturbed.
I hold my finger to my lips and limp towards it.
Silently, I count to three, and then wrench the doors open.
Kari’s pale blonde head is the first thing I see, but it is enough. Her hands are held up in surrender, and she is shaking all over.
I lower my gun and kneel down on my good leg. “Kari?”
She looks up, blinking. “Luka?”
I’m not even halfway through reassuring her she is safe and we won’t hurt her before she scrambles out and clasps her hands together as if in prayer. “I’m sorry. I want out of here. I worked for the Cartel but only because I had to. I’m not one of them. Please take me with you. Please.”
She is talking so fast I can hardly understand her, but I understand enough. She wants out.
“You saved my life,” I say, laying a hand over hers. “I don’t blame you for anything that happened here.”
She nods but still pulls away from me.
I can understand that. After everything she has been through, I wouldn’t want to be too close to a man, either.
Eve had such compassion for these women, and while I still find it difficult to fully empathize, I’m trying. I want to take care of Kari the way Eve would. The way Eve would want me to.
Kari stays close to me as we finish our sweep of the first floor. A few men come from upstairs and tell us that floor is clear, too.
The Cartel is dead.
Or gone, at least.
Edgar is lying in the hallway, a gaping wound in his neck, and I have a feeling it’s from Eve. Part of me is disappointed, but part of me is proud, too. If I couldn’t be the one to kill him, I wanted it to be her.
Suddenly, there are footsteps coming down the hallway, and I turn to see Eve, Grigory, and a few other Bratva soldiers jogging down the hallway. When Eve sees me, she visibly relaxes.
“Thank God.”
We embrace quickly, and then she turns to Kari. “Are you all right?”
The woman wraps her arm around Eve, clearly more comfortable in her presence than in mine. “I’m fine. I think I’m free.”
“You are,” Eve says, grabbing her hands. “You are free.”
Eve leads us all back down the hallway. I follow along, but my leg is starting to hurt more and more with every step. Soon, I won’t be able to go on. I need to sit down and soon.
We pass the servants’ quarters and go through a back door to a gravel alley behind the inn.
Maddie and three other women are standing there with Vito. He has an arm around a trembling Maddie, comforting her so effectively the two of them don’t even look up as we approach.
“The Cartel is gone,” Eve announces.
Maddie squeals in happiness and turns to embrace Vito. He awkwardly pats her on the back, shrugging at Grigory, but he leans into the hug when he thinks no one is watching.
“What do we do now?” Kari asks.
“Do whatever you want,” Eve says. She digs in her pocket and finds a ring of keys. “Take one of the cars and get out of here. All of you.”
“I can go home?” Maddie asks.
Eve nods gently. “You can. If you want. But you don’t have to.”
“What other option do we have?” a brunette woman asks.
Eve asks a member of the Bratva for a pen and uses the back of a business card from one of the cars to scribble our number on the back of it. “Call me if you need anything. But there are resources in the city for you. Safe houses and charities. There are organizations that will help you find a job and keep you off the streets.”
I walk over to the building and rest on a wooden crate, stretching my injured leg out in front of me while Eve talks to the women. After a few minutes, they all seem eager to leave. Kari hugs Eve, waves to me, and thanks the other men for saving them. Then, she leads the other women to the SUV.
Eve watches the dust settle behind where the SUV disappeared through the trees, and then she comes to find me.
“What now?” she asks.
I nod to the back door. “Unfortunately, we have to clean up.”
“I thought there were people for that kind of thing.”
I think of Rick Koban and how he would feel about the Volkov Bratva taking down this cell of the LeClerc Cartel. As a past attendee of one of their auctions, I’m not sure he’d approve. Besides, I have a better idea.
Eve and I walk into the building hand in hand. When my limp worsens, she loops her arm around my waist and helps me to the entryway. I nod to where Edgar is going cold on the floor.
“Was that you?”
She nods, her face pale. “It was. Both of them.”
I notice the second man lying in the doorway between the entryway and the hallway. I don’t recognize him until I see his green mask lying on the floor next to him. He stayed pretty quiet all week, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t deserve to die for what he wanted to do to Eve.
“This entire place makes me sick,” Eve says. “I know the Cartel was only using it for the weekend, but it feels tainted now.”
“Well, it won’t be here for long.”
&
nbsp; She looks at me, brow furrowed. “What are we going to do?”
I dig in the pocket of my ruined pants and pull out my lighter. “We’re going to burn it down.”
It makes the most sense. Not only do I want to torch the building that represents a week of hell for my family, but getting rid of all of these bodies will be a headache. This way, we can take care of two birds with one fiery stone.
“Won’t someone call the police?” she asks.
“Not if we call in a favor with our contacts at the emergency call center. Plus, this place is far enough out that anyone who sees the smoke will think a farmer is burning his fields.”
Eve spins in a circle, looking around the inn. When she turns to face me again, her jaw is set. “Let’s do it.”
Just then, the Bratva members come in with a few jugs of gasoline and fire starter from the maintenance shed. Eve takes one of the containers, I take another, and together, we walk through the inn and douse the place.
Eve covers the servants’ quarters, splashing a little extra across the backs of the fallen Cartel members. I douse the floor of the lounge where we spent four days playing along with the Cartel’s sick games. And Eve and I both pour out the last of our containers in the entryway, the last drops falling on Edgar’s back.
Once everyone is outside, I flick my lighter and toss it through the front door of the inn.
The flames catch immediately in a whoosh of heat and air, and I hurry off the porch, not wanting to risk second- or third-degree burns on top of gunshot wounds.
Eve is standing in the grass, looking up at the inn, and I’m amazed once again at how strong she is.
When I married her, I knew she was stubborn. I knew she stood up to me more than any other woman ever had, and I knew she spoke her mind.
I didn’t know, however, that she could carry so much. I didn’t know she could shoulder the burden of protecting our family. I didn’t know that when I was at my weakest, she would rise up and battle our demons.
And more than anything, I didn’t know it was possible to love her more than I did a week ago.
As I approach, she turns to me, eyes bloodshot and tired. “Are we done?”
“A few of the men will stay to make sure the flames don’t go out,” I say, offering her my outstretched hand. “Let’s go find our daughter.”
As soon as we are in the SUV and driving away from the flames, I borrow a random Bratva phone and begin making calls. To everyone and anyone who could help.
I reach out to every brigadier and tell them to put all of their men on high alert. They need to be on the lookout for any possible child trafficking by the Irish or the LeClerc Cartel, and someone needs to get eyes on Rian Morrison immediately. She left the inn before the Bratva arrived, and I don’t want her to skip town before Eve and I have our chance to get revenge.
While I’m on the phone, Eve fidgets with the skimpy robe and the fashion boots the Cartel forced her to wear. She looks like she is about to crawl out of her skin, but she also looks exhausted.
Dark circles are pressed under her eyes, and she is slumped forward like it is too difficult to hold herself upright.
When I hang up the phone, I slide carefully across the seat to sit next to her, my leg warm against hers. “Why don’t you go back to the house?”
She opens her mouth to argue, but I lay a hand on her leg and continue. “I know you want to help, and you can, but maybe you should rest first.”
“You’re the one who is hurt,” she says.
“So are you. Plus, you did so much back there. You fought hard, and no one would blame you if you rested. Even just for a few hours. I have every single resource at our disposal out looking for Milaya. If she can be found, we’ll find her.”
Eve shakes her head. “If?”
“Bad choice of words,” I correct. “She is out there. I know it.”
Eve turns to stare out the window, her long chestnut hair draped over her shoulder. The ends are tangled, and I think I see a bit of dried blood in the ends, but I don’t want to check.
When she turns back to me, her forehead is wrinkled in thought. “Rian told me something yesterday—or a few days ago, whenever it was. It is hard to keep the days straight.”
“What?”
“She said …” Eve pauses, tilting her head to the side before looking up at me. “She said a baby would sell for a lot on the black market. Which means she hadn’t sold her yet. She still had her.”
“Or she was just trying to torment you?” I offer.
Eve shrugs. “Maybe, but if that was the case, why wouldn’t she tell me Milaya had been sold or killed?”
The idea makes both of us shiver with dread, and then Eve shakes her head. “No, I think she let a little bit of her plan slip. I think they still have Milaya.”
I want to believe Eve more than anything. I want to believe that Milaya is fine and well, simply being looked after by strangers. But that kind of hopeful thinking is dangerous. If I let myself or Eve believe Milaya is perfectly unharmed, it will make it even more devastating if something has happened to her.
Still, I can’t bring myself to question Eve’s theory. “Maybe.”
Eve sits up a bit straighter. “Rian’s comment makes it seem like she has direct say over what happens to Milaya, but she is far too busy to take care of her herself. There is no way Rian would bring Milaya with her to the auction. So, someone else has to be watching her. Someone close to Rian.”
I nod along, growing slightly more convinced the more she explains. “So, Milaya would be near Rian, but being taken care of by someone else? Maybe someone within the Irish?”
“Maybe,” Eve nods, leaning forward, elbows on her knees as she thinks. Then, suddenly, she sits bolt upright and turns to me, brown eyes wide. “I know where she is.”
“Okay, hold on.” I lay a hand on her back. “We can’t jump to conclusions. I have my guys out looking for any signs of her. If you have a theory, I’ll pass it along and have someone else follow up on it. Then, we can go from there.”
Eve shakes her head firmly. “No, I know where she is, Luka.”
Again, I don’t want her to get her hopes up, but I also can’t bear to douse the fire I see in her eyes. “Where is she?”
“Rian would have wanted Milaya close to her, but wouldn’t want to take care of her,” Eve repeated. “Well, when I was being held before the auction, I was kept in the Morrisons’ ranch. Rian and her father both came in at different times to give me water and drugs, but I never saw her mother.”
“Rian’s mother?” I ask.
Eve nods. “I asked about her once, but Rian’s father told me it wasn’t any of my business. Well, what if she’s the one taking care of Milaya?”
I think about it for a few seconds, but Eve leans over and grabs my arm. “What do you think?”
“I think it’s a theory,” I admit. “Not flawless, but we aren’t exactly spoiled for good ideas right now.”
“It’s a good one,” Eve says. She squeezes my arm harder. “Are we going to go there now?”
I sigh and turn towards her, wincing as my leg twinges. “I think you should let the Bratva handle it from here. You’ve been through a lot and—”
“And my daughter is still out there with our enemies,” she says, face blank. “She is being held prisoner, and I am going to be the one to save her.”
I want to argue. I want to tell Eve that she should go home and wait for word. That she should sit back and let me and the other men handle it.
But then I remember how fierce she was at the inn. How in control and calm under pressure she was. How ruthless she was towards our enemies.
I can’t deny her the opportunity to save her daughter. I certainly wouldn’t allow myself to be locked away in our house while she or anyone else went to find Milaya. I can’t ask Eve to do the same thing.
Finally, I nod.
“Yes?” Eve asks, sitting at the edge of her seat.
“Yes,” I say. “You are an as
set, and I want you there with me.”
Before I can finish the sentence, Eve throws her arms around my neck. Then, she collapses against my chest and begins to shake with sobs. “We are going to get our daughter back.”
I rub her back and hope to God she is right.
23
Eve
Cole’s parents wanted grandchildren.
I remember them mentioning it the first time I was at their house.
Rian is so busy, I’m not sure she’ll ever settle down and give us grandchildren, his mother said. But I knew our Cole would find himself a pretty wife to start a family with.
That is why his family could sell me off to the Cartel the way they did. To them, I was nothing more than a pretty woman meant to bear children. And even worse, I failed to do that for their family, so why not chain me up and strip me of my freedom? I deserved it in their eyes.
Rian’s dad mentioned something about grandchildren when I was at the ranch before being taken to the inn. You could have given us the grandchildren we always wanted.
The more I think about it, the more obvious it is.
Of course, Rian’s parents would take Milaya. While I disappointed them and disrespected them and took their son away from them, Milaya was innocent and perfect and beautiful. Of course they would take her from me as payment for what Luka and I did to Cole.
Luka has the driver of the SUV pull over so he can organize our men. He sends every Bratva member we have to the ranch, and I can’t express how grateful I am to him for taking me seriously. For letting me come with him.
If anything good came out of the last week at the inn, it is that I feel more capable now than ever to stand up to the villains in my life.
I spent my entire childhood and most of my adulthood being terrified of my father’s wrath. Being afraid of disappointing him or earning his anger. Now, however, I am free.
I believe in myself. I trust my own mind and opinions. And more than anything, I trust my own strength—both mental and physical.
I am capable of more than my father ever thought possible. More than I ever thought possible.