by Ruby Vincent
“Why?” The question I’d burned to ask sprang forth. “Cash said they bring in millions. They have wealthy patrons and the illusion they’re gentlemen gangbangers. Why trade it in for the filth I stepped into tonight?”
“It’s possible Angelo doesn’t know what Corbin’s doing. He handed him the auction, which is the least profitable part of the business. Overall, the escorts make the Kings a lot of money, but not Corbin himself. They set up the auction so the house gets a cut, but it’s a seventy-thirty split favoring the talent. Or it was that way,” he said. “I suspect the split favors Corbin now. And as for the children...”
“He gets it all.”
“Yes.”
“Money. It always comes back to that.”
“We assumed Candy knew more than she did,” he said. “If we’d known, tonight would have gone down very differently.”
“Would it?” I gave him a hard look. “Everyone is afraid of the Kings. Even the Merchants or you wouldn’t be skulking around, making plans, and using me. If you’d known they were auctioning children off to the highest bidder tonight, would you have busted in, masks on and guns blazing?”
“Yes.”
I halted. My rant lost steam before it got started. “You would?”
“Yes. Consent is everything in my business, Adeline. Plus, we’ve made ourselves clear on how we feel about rape. All four of us would have done the same thing you did tonight. With one exception.”
“What’s that?” I rasped.
“Felix wouldn’t have walked out of that bathroom alive.”
“Oh.”
“But there’s a reason we didn’t know,” he continued. “Sex trafficking is a nasty racket, and even among the criminal masses, we want nothing to do with those twisted fucks messing with kids. If it got out the Kings are involved in this, they’d still have fear, but they’d lose their respect. That loss comes at a higher cost than you’d believe.”
The hand cupping me and the frosting hadn’t moved. I didn’t want it to. Slowly the poison was leeching out, and I couldn’t bear for him to stop.
“You’ve made the first strike, Adeline, and it’s given us the means to ruin them. So if in the back of your mind you’re convinced we’ll lose this fight and those girls, you can tell that voice to shut the fuck up.”
A laugh startled out of me. Part-sob, but still a laugh.
“Hey.” Mercer brushed his nose on my cheek, turning me to him on the strength of his touch alone. “You’ve got the full force of the Merchants behind you on this one. Why wouldn’t you? You’re one of us.”
“Yes, I am.” I rested on his shoulder. “Thank you.”
Did Mercer know he said everything I needed to hear? Did he say it for that reason? To loosen the knot of pain and trauma I buried years ago.
I burrowed deeper into his side.
Maybe he did spin sweet words to soothe me. What mattered is it worked, and above all, I would make his predictions reality.
Together we scooped another finger of icing. “Hey. What did you mean by consent is everything in your business? What do you do?”
He replied around a mouthful of chocolate. “I’m a whore, love.”
I choked. “A what?”
“A whore. Manwhore. Escort. Gigolo if you’re feeling old school. Boy toy if you’re not.” Mercer bent his neck, grinning into my slack jaw and bulging eyes. “Ah. There’s the reaction I was looking for.”
SAINT
I ran my fingers through her hair. Licked her cheek. Fit her body to mine.
Since the night before when Adeline said she’d perch on my throne, I hadn’t been able to keep my hands off her. I’d have fucked her right then and there but she said we couldn’t with the kid in the next room.
Speaking of which.
I glanced around Adeline and saw the kid was staring at me again. She was pretty average as kids go. Long brown hair and big moon eyes set in a face plump from adolescence.
“What?”
“Why is your hair blue?”
“Why is your hair brown?”
She giggled. “I’m serious.”
“My hair turned blue because I ate too many vegetables. Don’t listen to adults. That stuff is bad for you.”
Her eyes bugged. “Really?”
“No.” Adeline gave me a look. “Don’t listen to him. Veggies are yummy and they make you strong.” Adeline finished chopping the carrots as if to illustrate her point. “You’ll love my vegetable stir-fry. I’m famous for it.”
I shook my head behind her back, drawing a line across my neck. The kid ducked her head, giggling again, and proved to me at least part of the story she told Adeline the night before was true. Last night was her first time on the auction block. No one had gotten the chance yet to wipe the smile permanently from her face.
The six of us were in the Leighbridge safe house. A bare-bones loft we converted out of an abandoned warehouse. There was one bed and one bathroom, but taking the kid to the fire station was out of the question. There was an entire room filled with dangerous weapons. We weren’t entirely irresponsible.
Besides, if half of what Adeline told us of the night before was true, lying low and planning was our next move.
Mercer and Cash were on the couch arguing in low tones. The phone sat on the table between them. Adeline and I were in the kitchen. Brutal was cleaning. And our newest guest kicked her feet under the breakfast bar while she resumed her staring challenge.
“What’s your name, kid?” I pulled up the chair next to her. I knew this too but I wanted to hear it from her. Adeline was set on her path. What the kid told me would determine mine.
“Kaylee Trevino. What’s yours?”
“St. John Bellisario.”
“Like a real saint?”
“I have been called that.”
Adeline mumbled something under her breath.
“How old are you?”
“Eleven.”
I nodded. Adeline said the youngest was eight. What the fuck are the Kings into?
“How old are you?”
Amused, I replied, “Twenty-eight.”
Adeline handed her a plate of vegetables to snack on. She nibbled on a carrot despite my warnings.
“Have you met the guys?” I asked.
Kaylee pointed. “That’s Cash, but his real name is Killian. Addy will shoot him if he does anything I don’t like.”
“Good deal. Keep her on standby.”
Cash flipped me off without pausing in his speech.
“See?” I snapped my fingers at Bunny. “Take care of him.”
“Oh my gosh, guys,” she cried. “It is hitting me how unqualified you all are to be around children.”
I grinned. Adeline was quickly adopting her old self.
Good. The woman crying and shaking last night had my sympathy, but she wouldn’t do. If Adeline’s going to be at our side as the city burned, I wanted the fearless, back-talking wolf in bunny’s fur. Only she would survive what was coming next, and the ultimate end goal:
Kieran.
“That’s Mercer Santos,” Kaylee went on. “Mercer bought these for me.” Kaylee showed off her new shirt. First on the list was buying her clothes and burning that dress. Literally. I lit a fire in a garbage can that morning and tossed it in.
“He’s nice,” she said.
Brutal emerged from the bedroom, gloves on and loaded down with cleaner.
“I don’t know who he is,” she whispered. “Do you know him?”
“Barely.”
“What’s his name?”
“Ask him.”
“Excuse me,” she called. “What’s your name?”
Adeline broke in. “Kaylee, Brutal doesn’t—”
“Baris.” Brutal peeled off his gloves and shook her hand. “Baris Alexander.”
I slid a look to Adeline, whose hanging jaw made both of us laugh out loud. Brutal winked at her.
“Where are your folks, Kaylee?”
Kaylee dropped her h
ead, fists balling on her lap. “My mom is dead.”
I waited for more. None came.
“And your dad?”
She tossed her head, brown hair swinging.
“Is he a good guy?”
“No. He’s not.” Her voice was getting smaller and smaller. “He sold me.”
“Saint.” Warning laced Adeline’s tone.
I focused on the kid. “Do you want to see your dad again?”
“No.” A whisper, but a firm one.
“Would you like new parents?”
That made her lift her chin. “What?”
“New folks,” I repeated. “A foster mom and dad. Nice couple. Will keep you fed and never raise a hand to you. They travel around the country. Love playing games. And they’ve got a ridiculous number of kids for you to play with. You’ll never be alone, and like Bunny, they’ll take out anyone who tries to mess with you. What do you think? Interested?”
She stared at me.
“If you are, I’ll make it happen.”
“You can do that?”
“I can.” I looked past her. “Cash, when will they get here?”
“Called this morning. They’ll be here in a week.”
I clapped. “There you have it. New foster parents coming in a week. You can meet them first, of course, then say the word and they’re yours.”
“Mine? But I don’t know them. Who are they?”
“I can vouch for them.” I tapped my chest. “They’re the people who took me in.”
Kaylee looked around at us. She stopped on Adeline.
She held the knife and celery but had ceased chopping long ago.
“Do I have to go? Can’t I... stay with you?”
Adeline came around the counter. “We’re going to figure out the best situation for you together,” she said. “You won’t go anywhere that you don’t want to go. I promise.”
Kaylee’s tiny shoulders relaxed. “Okay.”
“But this isn’t the time to talk about this,” Adeline hissed at me. “I don’t know these people either.”
I tucked Adeline between my legs, securing her around the waist. “It’s cool having you with us,” I said, “but it can’t be forever.”
Adeline’s glare drilled a hole in my head, but it had to be said. No use getting the kid’s hopes up.
“Soon, Adeline, Mercer, Cash, Brutal, and I will be busy hunting down the men your father sold you to, and stopping them from ever doing something so stupid again.”
“You are?”
“We are,” I said. “It’ll be dangerous. We’ll be gone all day and most of the night. Some nights we won’t come home at all. School, friends, and foster parents kicks sitting in an empty station by yourself for hours.”
Kaylee nodded, lips trembling.
“Hey.” I tipped her chin. “I’m telling you this because you and Adeline will find the best place for you, and when you make your choice, you’ll have the truth. You can handle the truth, right?”
She said nothing for a stretch. “You’re going to stop the bad men who took me? The men who hurt Ilona, and sold the others?”
“Yes.”
“Then I can handle the truth. Addy has to help the other girls. She can’t take care of just me.”
Adeline squeezed her hand. “We’re not making any decisions today. When I know what’s true, we’ll talk about it.”
“Do you know how you’ll stop the bad men?” Kaylee asked me.
“We’ll find the rats where they hide,” I answered, “poison their cheese, and flush them out. Works every time.”
“Good.”
“You can help us.”
She sat up straight. “I can? How?”
“If you told us the names of the other girls and what they looked like, that would help.” Cash and Mercer stopped arguing to listen in. “Also, the place the men kept you. What was it like?”
“It was really nice. A hotel,” she said. “I didn’t know it was a bad place until it was too late.”
“A hotel.” Mercer, Cash, Brutal, and I shared a look over her head. “That’s perfect, Kaylee. You don’t know how much this helps.”
“Kaylee, want to help me make lunch?” Adeline asked.
The young girl hopped off the stool and skipped after her. I let her go.
My decision was made.
The Kings changed the rules, and now there were none.
Plan A was out. Plan B was in.
I preferred Plan B anyway. There was a lot more blood.
Chapter Eleven
Adeline
“Smile,” Sinjin said. “She’s watching you.”
I glanced up. A band of acrobats jumped, swung, flipped, and soared through the air. An incredible performance that earned gasps, aahs, oohs, and “holy craps” from the audience. But Kaylee wasn’t looking at them anymore. She was looking at me.
“If you’re unsure about this, she will be too.”
“I am unsure,” I said under my breath. “We didn’t consider child services. What if they can find her a nice family?”
“Cinco’s foster care system is shit even when I’m not making a point to a traitorous bastard,” Sinjin said. “You can bet Corbin is looking for the girls who got away. If they put the word out there’s money in it, her foster parents could get in their heads that she’s worth more in the Kings’ hands than in theirs. The safest place for her is out of the city.”
Sinjin was right. We had this conversation many times, and each time I agreed this was best.
But she is the one I saved. The only one. I have to know she’ll be okay.
“What are you worried about? I told you they adopted me after I left the church,” said my son of a priest. “And look how I turned out. She’s in good hands.”
Heaving a sigh, I didn’t bother to touch that one. Sinjin maintained that the couple we were going to meet was good to him. He had no reason to lie, but the fact remained Sinjin’s ideas of good and bad didn’t match normal society.
I said as much.
“Now that I’m here, the picture of you gets clearer. You’re the one with the storied past,” I said. “It’s not every day someone runs away and joins the circus.”
He chuckled. “Happens more than you think.”
The performance ended on his cryptic note. The six of us tromped down the stands. Kaylee slipped her hand in Sinjin’s halfway down. I hid a smile.
A week had passed since that awful night. A week the five of us had holed up in the warehouse loft making new plans and taking care of Kaylee. That they were unqualified to look after children was still true. I walked in on Cash teaching her how to take apart and reassemble a gun. But the guys were good with her in their own way.
Brutal let her help him clean, and when he went back to do it properly, he didn’t let her see. Mercer entertained her with books and games. Sinjin’s cracks about his people skills came into new light.
Sinjin himself kept up his baffling charm with children. His dry, twisted humor had her giggling for hours. The other night I woke up to Kaylee slipping in between us in our makeshift bed. She put her head on Sinjin’s chest and fell asleep like she’d done it many times.
Cash remained neither chatty nor warm, but when she asked, he repeated his promise to find the other girls and stop the men who bought her. Permanently.
A promise I’ll keep. No matter what it takes.
The sun pierced Cinco’s autumn chill, granting us an unseasonably warm day. Perfect timing for Merriman Circus to arrive. Which they did in a big way. Cinco Fairgrounds went from an empty patch of grass to multicolored tents, clowns, acrobats, carnival games, food stands, stilt-walkers, and unicyclers as far as the eye could see.
“Margot and Troy own the circus,” Sinjin had told me. “They’ve taken in more than a few runaways over the years. They’re good people, Adeline. Kaylee will like it here.”
Cash handed Kaylee a twenty-dollar bill. “See those kids over there?” He gestured to a girl and two boys running a
round the cotton candy stand. “Challenge them to the balloon toss. Whoever wins feeds Elsie.”
The Elsie in question was the eight-thousand-pound elephant grazing on the edge of the fairgrounds. Kaylee was off and running at them in a blink.
We followed behind at a distance, parting the crowd of families and performers. All of us did. Mercer, Brutal, Cash, and Saint fanned around me—silent and blank-faced.
“You sent Kaylee away for a reason,” I spoke up. “What is it? Finally ready to tell me our next move?”
“Yes,” Cash said. “We couldn’t sooner because the kid was attached to your hip, or did you want her to hear the details of how we’re breaking into Paradise tonight and having a chat with Corbin?”
I stopped dead in the muddy grass. “Tonight?”
“Can’t afford to wait longer,” Mercer said. “The others might have covered for you, but taking out Bryan Acker gave you away. After he woke up, I assume he demanded his money back—plus other things. It wasn’t a leap that the girl smashing clients over the head, took out one of their guys. By the way,” he said, grinning. “Did you really tell his guards to fuck off and spank their boss’s ass?”
My cheeks warmed. “Yes. It was a heated situation.”
“Priceless.” Chuckling, he wandered close and bumped my shoulder. “Speaking of Acker, I should tell you that he remotely wiped the phone. We can’t intercept that text for Angelo’s location.”
“So, I jumped out of a window and was almost killed for nothing.” I squeezed my eyes shut. “It’s my fault. You said to download the program, not steal it. Of course, he wiped the phone.”
“It’s not your fault,” he said, brushing a flying strand behind my ear. “You had to act quickly. Besides, it wasn’t a complete loss. I read his texts before the wipe. There’s an unknown number that texts an address every Friday night. Twenty messages from that number and all a different place, but figuring out what they have in common can help us narrow our search.”
“That’s something at least,” I said.
“Something we’ll worry about after dealing with Corbin. Who knows, Corbin might answer the question for us.”
“How are we dealing with Corbin?”
“Head-on. Right now, the Kings have no reason to think Felix’s attack and the girls going missing was more than a crisis of conscience,” Cash continued. “But Corbin’s not an idiot. He’ll take steps to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
