“It’ll be okay. Soon things will be back to normal and we can go on that date I owe you.” I wrap my arms around her. “Sound like a deal?”
I can tell she’s solemn by the way she holds herself, and she’s not as easy to smile. I have to do this. I have to go.
She nods. “Deal.”
When I hold her close to me, I take in everything. The smell of her hair, the feel of her warm body, even her fucking heartbeat.
Nothing is ever gonna come between us, but like with Brew and his demons—he had to fight them before he could fully commit to Erica and Olive. He had to overcome all of it in order to be a better man, and maybe that’s what I have to do, too.
If I come back a little less broken, then I’ll take it. Knowing we’ve saved lives already feels like a weight has been lifted, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have revenge on my mind.
I want them to pay.
I want all of them to pay.
Barry’s days are numbered, as are the rest of these assholes involved. They just don’t know it yet.
We sneak around the side of the motel. It’s dark and to be honest, the crew here are so fucking lazy. Nobody did any checks of the perimeter. If they had, maybe they would’ve noticed they’re surrounded. Walking around like you rule the fucking world is a recipe for disaser, as well as negligent. Which works for us in this case. Mistake number one.
A couple of the guards glanced around for half a beat, and that was it. You’d think they’d be on high alert after what happened with the ‘gas leak’ situation. Laying low isn’t Regi’s style though. He wants to set this up so he still keeps making dough, no matter what. That’s all this is to all of them. Money in the bank. They don’t give a shit about the human lives involved in what they’re doing.
I still have dread in the pit of my stomach about one of them laying eyes on my girl and Luna, but he’ll pay, just like the rest of them. I also love knowing they’re totally unprepared for an attack.
Jett and Rock are getting footage for the feds, and they will hand it over to Willow once we’re done with them.Someof them. Not all.
I still have the pleasure of going back to the warehouse to rip out Barry’s heart. Until he gets that phone call, we have to keep him alive.
The truck unloading the girls housed at least thirty of them, maybe more, and they vary in age from teens to maybe earlytwenties. No little kids yet, but that doesn’t mean shit. This could be the first truck of many. The motel is cheap and shady, and when they lead a convoy through the back parking lot, they move into a different part of the building, probably one of the rundown conference rooms. The idea that these women are held here against their will stirs something in me that boils way beyond rage. To think that piece of scum had every intention of making sure Nova and Luna ended up here, too.
I know we live in an age where sex work isn’t considered as taboo as it once was. In fact, it’s become normal in a lot of instances, and I don’t judge. If people want to do that and they’re consenting adults and are not harming anyone else, then go for it. Cam girls and OnlyFans are more popular than ever. I just hope that those doing it aren’t pressured or being made to do anything they don’t want to. Consent is high on my agenda, and I can tell by how out of it these girls look being hauled out of the truck, that they didn’t consent to this.
Hustler appears next to me and my brother. “Cash wants to go in tonight,” he says. “We have the element of surprise. Riot and Bronco are still at the warehouse, there’s supposed to be another truck, so we can’t move in until it arrives.”
I let out a breath I didn’t even know I was holding. “And Forest, any update on him?”
“Headed this way,” Hustler says. “JJ and Hawk are on his tail. The bastard looks like he’s actually gonna show. As for Regi, we don’t know.”
“Last we heard from Barry he said Regi doesn’t always show at these things unless it’s a big event like a fundraiser, can you believe this shit? He actually puts on fake charity events in order to lure big businessmen into this scheme.” I shake my head, disgusted.
“Unfortunately, I can believe it,” Hustler says, gravely.
“We shootin’ to kill?” Pipes asks. “Or has that changed?”
“We take as many down as we can, but need to leave a couple alive for Willow,” Hustler says. “Always gotta make the cops look like the good guys.”
Cash went through the plan earlier at church, but we weren’t necessarily moving in tonight. There is literally no point in keeping these unforsaken girls locked up here for anymore terrifying nights, so raiding tonight is a good call.
“You good?” Pipes asks me.
I nod. “Yep.”
Haze slides in beside Hustler. “Looks like they’ve got a truck full comin’ a few minutes away,” he says. Brew and Logan are situated at one end of the highway turn off, with Priest and Nevada at the other. “We’ll wait till they have them all inside, then hit from the back, Cash will give the signal.”
“This is so fucked,” Pipes mutters. I know this is hard for him, but these girls were lucky if they’ve only just been snatched. Of course, we won’t know that until they’ve been freed, but the idea sickens me nonetheless, and understandably he has a hard time with it. “What is wrong with these fuckin’ assholes that they have to traffic innocent people?”
I also know how much he struggles with what happened to me, but this is the reality. These girls are lucky, but so many aren’t.
“They have no conscience,” I tell him. “It’s just money to them. They really don’t give a shit about anything, only themselves.”