by J. M. Walker
“We?”
“Oh, Genevieve. You think I’m the one running this show? That’s kind of you but not true at all. You can’t even begin to understand how many people work in this organization. How many levels you have to go through to reach the top.” He pulled me off of him and grabbed my wrists, tying a thin strap of leather around them until my skin burned.
I let out a yelp when I was forced onto my back.
He did the same to my ankles before pulling me upright and hooked me to a cross. His hand grazed down the center of my body. “You make a man want to sin.” His fingers pushed beneath the hem of my shirt, sliding up my stomach before reaching my breasts. “Fuck, your tits are perfect and…” He gave my nipple a sharp twist. “Pierced.”
I cried out, my eyes welling at the sharp bite of pain. “Please. Let me go. Let us go.” I could feel eyes on me. I looked across the room, my gaze landing on the only rooms occupied by girls now.
No emotion showed on their face but their eyes told all. There was still some life behind them as they watched the man fondle me. They were probably thankful that it wasn’t them he was touching. They were girls. Teenagers. The man may have thought he was treating them well, giving them what he thought they deserved. Maybe they were living on the streets. Maybe they had nowhere to go but being held captive was not a better life for them. Being trained into what these men or even women wanted was not safe when most of these girls were underage.
The sirens became louder, interrupting my thoughts.
“What the hell?” the man sneered, glaring at me. “You called the fucking police?”
“No,” I spat. “I called my fucking boyfriend.”
The man let out a yell, his fist landing against my jaw.
Hot pain shot up the side of my face, my lip splitting at the sudden contact. My tongue peaked out, licking the metallic taste and laughed. “They’re coming for you, you bastard. I hope you rot in jail.”
“Doesn’t matter where the fuck I am, little girl, there will always be someone a step ahead of you. These girls?” he waved at the rooms in front of us. “They will be found by the men who want them.”
“Not if I have anything to do with it,” I growled, struggling in my binds.
“You think so, do you?” He gripped my throat, leaning his face into mine. “We are always watching. You won’t end this organization.”
“Why are you doing this? These girls have done nothing to deserve this. You’re fucked in the head if you think you’re going to get away with this.” My chest heaved. The longer I kept him talking, the safer the girls were. He knew he was caught but he didn’t try to run. Whatever the reason for that was, I didn’t know.
“We’re doing this because we can. It’s exciting knowing you can have something you’re not allowed.”
“That doesn’t even make sense.”
“It will when you realize that there is nothing you can do. These girls want this life. Some are even given to us as long as we pay their families.” He smirked. “Desperate times. Some of these girls come from families so poor, they’ll do anything to get a buck.”
“That’s…” I would be naïve to think it wasn’t true. I watched the news. I read the paper. I knew of these older men who traveled to places to get a piece of these kids when back home they wouldn’t be allowed. It was disgusting. The world was evil but it would be over my dead body before I let this shit continue in my small town. I may be one person but I would do everything I could.
“Every person has a dominant bone in their body whether they care to admit it or not. Just think of what you can do to a person far less superior than you.”
“You’re sick.”
“Oh no, little girl, I am completely healthy and with it. My mind has never been so clear.” His eyes roamed down the length of my body. “Now let’s give that man of yours something to remember me by.”
“No,” I pleaded, my heart pumping hard and fast. “Please.”
His hands moved over my torso, my ass, the flesh of my skin. His fingers kneaded, bruising every part they touched.
I whimpered, tears welling in my eyes. “Stop,” I whispered.
A loud bang sounded through the room but the fear racing through my body kept my gaze locked on the girls across the room from me.
“Hands in the air!” someone shouted.
The man grabbed my jaw, forcing me to look at him. “I will haunt your fucking dreams.” He kissed me hard on the mouth. “Remember that every time you go to sleep.” He lifted a gun to his head and pulled the trigger.
A scream sounded around me, bouncing off the walls. I could taste his blood, the remains of what was left of him.
He shot himself.
In front of me.
And he was right.
I would never get the image out of my head. The image of him taking his own life, of him crumpling to the floor at my feet. I tried to get away but my binds held me. How dare he? How dare he have the control and take what rightfully belonged to these girls? These victims who never had a chance.
“Ma’am. Miss. Are you all right?”
Someone was talking to me. Voices sounded in my head. My vision faded in and out. I would never get over this. And it was what he wanted. Control. It was always about that, wasn’t it?
“Ma’am, we’re going to get you down from there now.” A soft, feminine voice whispered across my skin but I couldn’t focus. I couldn’t understand if I was dreaming or if this was real. Where was I? This had to be some fucked-up nightmare.
My body felt heavy until I was lifted into the air and placed on a soft bed.
“You’re fine, Miss. Everything will be all right.”
I shook my head. “Please.” Nothing would ever be all right. “The girls.”
“They’re fine.” A smiling face appeared in front of my field of vision. “You’re fine.”
“Max,” I whispered, my throat burning.
“All five girls have been reported alive and well,” she continued, holding my hand tight in hers.
“Five? No. Three.” I shook my head. “Three survived.”
“No,” she frowned. “They’re all alive, Jay. Every girl in this room is. You saved them.”
Did I? Did I really? I was confused, my mind throwing image after image of the girls shooting themselves. Of the man shooting himself. I couldn’t take it. I needed to get them out. I needed to get away from the onslaught of my nightmares.
“Jay?” Max’s brows furrowed. “They’re fine. I promise you.”
Sobs wracked my shoulders, my body breaking with the weight of the mind fuck I had been thrown in.
THIRTY-FIVE
Jay
“WHERE THE FUCK is my woman? Don’t touch me. If you don’t bring me to her, I will destroy this fucking hospital until you tell me where she is.”
I groaned, the yelling pounding its way into my head. “Angel,” I whispered, bringing my hand up to the bridge of my nose. A sharp pain shot into my skull.
“You’re awake,” a woman said, lifting my eyelids and shining a light into both.
“Where the hell is she?” the yelling continued.
“Is he yours?” the nurse asked, raising an eyebrow.
I nodded but even that hurt. God, this sucked.
“She’s in here, Sir,” the nurse called out. “I’ll give you a moment but you need to take it easy.”
I thanked her and waited.
“Jay.”
My gaze locked with Angel’s. He paused in the doorway, his eyes roaming down the length of me. My mind went back in time to when he was in the hospital and I left him. He had called out for me and I ignored him. I ran away. I was scared, terrified even at the feelings coursing through me. I loved him. I had known that but for some reason that love made me believe that I had to depend on him. That I couldn’t live without him. That he couldn’t live without me. It wasn’t true. None of it was true. We lived for each other. We would survive together.
“Angel,” I sobbed, r
eaching out to him.
His eyes shone and before I knew it, he charged at me. Wrapping his arms around me, he held me against him as tight as possible without hurting me. His pushed his face into the crook of my neck, his body shaking. “I should have protected you,” he said, his voice thick. “I should have been there to stop him. I should have known.”
“Stop.” I pulled him against me, holding onto him for dear life. He was my lifeline, the reason I survived. “You couldn’t have known. There was no way to know, baby.”
“Fuck, Jay,” he continued shaking but his shoulders slumped with relief. “What he did…”
“Don’t,” I pleaded, the tears streaming down my face, soaking into his hoodie. “Just hold me. Make me forget everything.”
“I thought I lost you. I just found you and I thought I lost you. I love you. So fucking much. I promise to protect you. I won’t take this for granted ever again.”
“Angel.” I leaned back, cupping his face. “Stop. You have no reason to feel guilty. It wasn’t your fault.”
“I should have been there with you!” he snapped, attempting to shove his head out of my grip but I held on. “I should have,” he said, his voice softer. His eyes were bright but they showed a darkness I never wanted him to feel again. He had been alone for so many years. Never knowing what true love was. I would never allow him to feel that emptiness again.
“You can’t protect me all of the time, Angel.”
He cupped my hand that was against his cheek and kissed my wrist. “Maybe not, but I can damn well try.”
“How? What are you going to do that’s different?”
“Retire.”
***
(Angel)
The word left my mouth automatically. I had been thinking about it for a while but Jay being taken from me confirmed my decision. I almost lost her. I took life for granted even in my job. I went in knowing I might not make it but every time I made it home, that fear lessened. It shouldn’t be that way. Yes, I loved my job but I realized that I loved Jay more. I was ready to settle down. To have a wife. To start a family. I was ready to be home for longer than a couple days at a time.
“You want to retire?” Jay asked, keeping her hands on my face.
“Yes. Sooner than later preferably.” I kissed her mouth, holding back a growl of possessive need when my lips touched the split in her lip. “I’m ready to settle down. To start a family. To spend time with my dog. To read a book.” I was babbling but I didn’t fucking care. Jay needed to know how I felt. She needed to know that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. To start a family with her if it was what she wanted. If she didn’t want kids, it wouldn’t matter as long as I was with her.
“I like books,” she smiled, tears rolling down her cheeks.
“I like books too.” I kissed her again. “What do you say, Jay?”
“About what?”
“Will you settle down with me?” I cupped her chin, staring intently into her eyes.
“Are you proposing to me?” she breathed, gripping my shirt tight in her hands.
“Unofficially, yes. I’ll get you a ring and do it better next—”
“No!” she cried, shaking her head. “I mean, yes. I want to settle down with you, but no, I don’t want another proposal.”
“You don’t?” I raised an eyebrow.
“No!” She threw her arms around my neck. “This is perfect.”
Holding her in my arms, I hugged her tight, pouring everything I felt into that touch. Every fiber of my being vibrated with love for this woman. This woman I almost lost at the hands of a sadistic fuck. Questions went unanswered but I knew the answer to this one: I loved her and she loved me.
“Excuse me?” a voice came from the doorway.
A police officer and two men dressed in suits stood a few feet away from us.
“Sorry to interrupt,” the officer said. “I’m Officer Peck and this is Agent James and Agent Cole.” The officer looked to Jay. “How are you feeling?”
She shrugged, glancing up at me. “I was held captive for God knows how long, I saw two girls and a man blow their brains out in front of me. Other than that, I’m fucking peachy.” Although the sass left her mouth, Jay’s eyes welled. It would take a while for her to get those images out of her head.
“We understand.” The officer smiled, his eyes softening. “Now—”
“Do you know the man who held you captive?” Agent Cole asked, stepping forward.
“No. Should I?” Jay kept my hand tight in hers.
“How about you?” the agent asked me. “Do you know this man?” He pulled a picture out of a photo and placed it on the bed.
The blood drained from my face, spots dancing in my vision. “Wha…this…” It wasn’t possible. Vega’s dark eyes stared up at me from the black and white photograph.
“That’s the man,” Jay confirmed, shaking beside me. “He wouldn’t tell me his name.”
“Colonel Eric Vega,” I answered, dropping to the chair behind me.
“What?” Jay cried. “How do you know him?”
“He… He’s my boss.”
THIRTY-SIX
Jay
SOMETIMES LIFE THROWS things at you, expecting you to be able to deal with it. It thinks you’re strong enough to handle the battles, the war raging inside of your head. The battle I won was the walls I had to break down in order to give my heart to Angel.
“How could this happen?” I asked, utterly horrified at what I was hearing.
“Eric Vega had apparently been in the sex slave industry for years,” Agent Cole explained. “Although he was a decorated member of the military, he had a dark craving we hadn’t been able to pinpoint until now. Mr. Rodriguez, we understand that you were friends with him, but we have to tell you he wasn’t the man you thought you knew. We are sorry you had to find out this way.”
“Call the rest of my squad in here,” Angel demanded, his voice rough.
“Sir, we understand—”
“Call them in here,” Angel ordered. “I need my brothers, and they need to hear this as well.”
Agent Cole left the room and came back a moment later with the rest of Vice-One, my girls following behind them.
Max rushed to my side, Brogan and Meeka right behind her. To my surprise, Creena Chan stuck her head around the corner.
“Mind if I come give you a hug?” she asked me.
I nodded my head.
“Creena and Stone came to me when they realized you were missing,” Angel told me.
“Thank you.” I hugged her.
“I am so sorry,” she sniffed. “I should have been with you.”
“No,” I snapped. “Stop this, all of you, before anymore of you say anything. None of this is your fault. You hear me?”
Grunts. Nods. Even some curses. I was sick of them blaming themselves. If anyone was going to be blamed, it would be me.
“Tell them,” Angel told the agents, probably needing to hear it again for fear that it wasn’t actually true and that it was some sick joke.
“Eric Vega was the one to hold Genevieve captive,” Agent James said.
“What the actual fuck?”
“You’re joking, right? This is some sick game that you want us to fall for.”
“This can’t be happening.”
Vice-One lost their shit, rightfully so, at the unexpected news of what their boss did behind closed doors. If Angel’s brothers were anything like him, I knew they were blaming themselves. It wasn’t their fault. None of it was.
“We had been watching him for a while,” Agent Peck told them. “Genevieve is lucky to be alive.”
I shook my head. “Those girls, they are the lucky ones.”
“Jay,” Angel tugged my hand. “Baby, you saved them. All of them.”
“I didn’t. Two girls shot themselves.” My body shook, trembling with the terrible images of the girls crumpling to the floor.
“They didn’t shoot themselves,” Agent Cole said. “It
was a sick joke. It was a setup to make you think they did, but they didn’t. They’re safe. Because of you.”
“I don’t understand,” I whispered.
“The girls told us that Vega ordered them to do it. He wanted to make you think you couldn’t go on without saving the girls. Every door and window was unlocked but yet you chose to stay.” Peck pulled a tablet out of the inside pocket of his suit jacket. “He was fucking with your head, trying to make you believe that you had to stay in order to save them.” The display turned on, revealing five girls.
My eyes widened, my throat burning.
“We just wanted to thank you,” the one girl said. The one I saw take her life in front of me. “I’m sorry for what we had to put you through.”
“We had no choice,” another girl said. “But that’s not an excuse. We hope we can meet someday. We wouldn’t be alive if it weren’t for you and we’ll never forget it.”
All of the girls waved into the camera and blew kisses before the screen shut off.
“Can I see them?” I asked through my tears.
“Not right now,” Peck said gently. “They’re under protection until we can dig into this further and get a control on things.”
I nodded, understanding their reasoning. The girls. They were alive and well. They had been forced to live somewhere else, again, but at least this time they were safe. They had each other.
“Ash, did you know Vega was in on this shit?” Dale asked him. “Did you, Meeka?”
They both shook their heads.
“We knew it was someone close. Someone in this town but we couldn’t figure out who. These people are good. They know what they’re doing and won’t let you know who they are until they want you to or until it’s too late,” Meeka said, her light-blue eyes holding a confidence I had never seen before.
“What’s going on?” I asked, sitting up in the bed. “How would Asher and Meeka know anything about this?”
“Asher and Meeka have known each other for years it seems,” he said, glaring at his brother before turning back to me. “They’re undercover.”
