by Vi Carter
Lucca had been walking ahead of me and stops. “Take me to your room.”
His voice snaps me out of my frozen state, and I walk up to him. His cologne is strong as I pass him and lead him to not just my room but all of our room. We had always shared a space. The moment I enter it, the smell of warm sun, lotions, and perfume surrounds me.
I miss them all. The thought that they could be hurt or worse has me walking to my bed. The light streams in, cutting across the silken cream covers of my bed. I touch the stream of light, yet the heat doesn’t penetrate my flesh like it once did. I still feel cold. As I glance around the room, I know each inch of it, but it’s like I’m looking at the life of someone else; Of some poor girl who has no idea what really lies ahead. Most days, I had tried to pretend that this was it. That I lived with a group of women, and that’s how it would always be. It was an easier fate to accept than the knowledge that I was in a holding cell waiting to be sold.
“Is that where you slept?” Lucca drags me away from my thoughts. I had almost forgotten why I was here.
“Yes.”
He steps up to my bed and opens a small cupboard beside it. I don’t stop him as he removes files. He dumps the stack on my bed and takes the first one off the pile. His gaze flickers between me and the file of one of the men who might become my husband.
“What is this?”
“It’s a profile on my future husband.”
Lucca’s jaw tightens, and he holds a look of disbelief.
“We have to learn about them in case we are picked.”
He shuffles the pile on the bed. “There must be forty here.”
“Thirty-eight.” I correct.
He closes the file and throws it on my bed. He’s leaving the room, but I don’t like the mess. I quickly put the files back in my cupboard and follow him from the room.
“Let’s go to the loading dock.”
I knew this would happen, yet it still doesn’t stop my heart from hammering in my chest and the blood from roaring in my ears. I walk, and once I round the corner to the loading dock, I’m expecting to see all the bodies on the floor. All the bodies I had to step across to get out of here.
“I asked about the girl who was sick,” Lucca says.
The blood still taints the floor, and my stomach somersaults.
“There was none, Evie. So you lied to me.”
My gaze jumps to the crates. “I was the one who was sick.” I could never tell him I was trying to escape. Even admitting I was in here wasn’t something I had told Igor, but he knew I was lying about everything.
“Why come in here?” He’s closer to me, but I don’t turn to look at him.
I shrug. “I just ended up in here.”
“Close your eyes.” Lucca is right behind me, and my eyelids flutter closed at his command.
“What did you see?”
I open my eyes. I don’t want to go back there. His warm, large hand rests on my shoulder. “I’m here with you.”
I close my eyes. I’m behind the crates. Lying in wait as I knew we were docking soon. I had overheard the security talking about dropping off the crates, and I knew this was my chance; My only chance at getting out.
I figured getting into a crate would be the best thing to do. Only that day, I couldn’t get it open, so I lay behind them as the room filled up with security.
“The guards all stood in the center of the room,” I say. “I remember them creating a circle, all looking bewildered and looking around. Then three men appeared, all dressed in black; even their faces were covered. They stepped out from the shadows.”
I hadn’t known they were there. I wasn’t sure if they knew I was here. I doubt it, or they would have taken me, too.
Lucca’s hand squeezes my shoulder. “They had these darts, black darts with red-feathered heads. They shot them at the security. I think they drugged them.” I open my eyes and look down at all the pools of dried blood. “They staggered but kept the circle.” My hands start to tremble, and I need to see it’s Lucca behind me. I turn, and his hand slips from my shoulder. “They had long swords, and it was quick, so quick.”
Lucca nods. “Through all this, they didn’t see you?”
I hold my head high. “No, I was getting sick behind a crate. I waited until they left. Found my way back to my room, and that’s where they found me.”
“What about the girls?”
Leah’s screams pierce me now. “I don’t know. I heard Leah screaming, and when I got back to the room, they were gone. All of them.” And I did nothing but pray that I wasn’t caught.
Lucca doesn’t stay any longer but leads me off the ship. He’s mulling overall, I’ve told him, and is quiet in the limo. For me, I have this growing sensation like something bad is going to happen.
“Your relationship with Igor? What is it?”
“I’ve only met him three times. He’s our keeper.”
Lucca’s watching me intently.
“Each group of girls has a keeper who’s responsible for our safety. I often heard the security talking about keeping us safe, or they would have to answer to Igor.”
“Does Igor know you were on the loading dock?”
The other shoe drops, and I understand the bad sensation that’s been spinning around in my stomach.
I shake my head. “I was in too much shock when he questioned me. I didn’t mean…” I trail off.
“I didn’t lie,” I quickly say.
“I just…” I trail off again. My lie’s not helping me. Lucca doesn’t react to anything I’m saying, and I have no idea what that means for me.
We arrive back at the penthouse, and I take a look up at the large building and let out a heavy breath. I was tired of men and their power they held over us. The door is opened, and I get out. The moment we step into the penthouse, I stop. Two men are waiting for Lucca. One I’ve never seen before, the other I know. Sacha. He works on the boat. He traps me with a look that Lucca doesn’t notice as he removes his jacket and hands it to Pavel.
“I hope you have some good news for me.” Lucca steps into the living space, and Sacha releases my gaze. I don’t leave. No one asks me to.
“Autopsy report.” Sacha hands the file to Lucca, but he keeps snatching quick glances my way.
“Interesting. Blood loss.” Lucca snaps the file shut, and even I know there is something wrong. A shift in his stance. “Their blood was clean.”
“If that’s what the report says.” Sacha hands over more files. “The roster and also the loading dock inventory.”
“Thank you.” Lucca takes them and quickly looks over the files.
Leah’s screams assault me, but the longer Sacha and I look at each other, the clearer that memory is becoming. He was on the ship that day. It was only the back of his head I had seen; he was moving through the hallways. He didn’t see me. But I saw him.
CHAPTER SEVEN
LUCCA
After Sacha leaves, Evie tries to scramble out of the room.
“Stay where you are.” Her shoulders tense, but she has the sense not to leave.
All her lies, all these lies, I tighten my grip on the files before I throw them down on the couch.
The impact isn’t loud, but Evie flinches.
“You looked afraid when you saw Sacha.”
Evie had been chewing her lip and now stops and shakes her head.
She’s afraid. I can see it. She’s also lying.
“The conversation you had with Igor, what exactly was it?” I ask her and step closer.
“I told you, I was in shock.”
“Try to remember, Evie.” I bark, stepping closer and clap my hands once. Making her understand that she needs to focus.
Her eyes fall to the floor. She won’t look at me, and I stop walking. Irritation tightens my fists.
“If you don’t help me, I will never find those girls.” The moment that Evie notices my clenched fists, I unclench them. “Right now, they could be raped.”
Denial has h
er shaking her head.
“Someone could be beating them right now. Torturing your sisters. I know what I would be doing.” I allow my gaze to drag across her frame.
Her jaw tightens, but her bottom lip still drags down.
“Or…” I open my hands wide. “They could be dead somewhere, and that’s on you.”
Her eyes widen and glaze over; she’s shaking her head repeatedly.
I can see her folding. I’m close to breaking her.
“You are preventing me from closing this case because you keep lying to me. So what did you tell Igor?” I ask.
She wavers before her hands dangle at her sides in defeat. I hated breaking her down like that or placing those images in her head, but she needed to start helping me.
“That I had been sick in the bathroom, and when I returned to my room, everyone was gone, but I heard Leah screaming.” She blinks, and tears fall. Her shoulders are raised high like she can protect herself from the fear that is closing in and clouding her blue eyes.
“Okay.” She’s telling the truth to me now, and that means that she had lied to Igor. I understand the fear I see growing in her gaze.
“So what were you really doing in the loading bay?” Was she there to draw the security away from their stations around the boat? Was she part of this? Her fear seemed legit, but her want to find the girls she grew up with was questionable.
She closes her eyes, and more tears fall. Her hands are curled into small fists.
Pavel is watching her like he wants to hug her. His eyes are filling with pity, and I want to strike him and tell him to man up.
He notices I’m staring at him, and some of the pity flees from his gaze, but not enough to satisfy me.
“Go do something useful.” I bark at him, and he leaves. Evie’s eyes snap open at my raised voice.
“I was trying to escape. I thought I could hide in one of the crates, but I couldn’t get it open.”
“That was stupid of you.” I’m moving closer. The anger at how close she would have come to death fuelled my veins and propelled me towards her. “You would never have gotten out of there unnoticed.”
“I had to try.” Each word is said with pain. “You must understand that. I was trapped.”
I had grown up in confinement, in a camp that trained us to be the best we could be. Most boys there didn’t want it. We all started at the age of six—most of us kids. I’d seen so many piss their trousers or call out for their mothers. I was glad to be trained by the best. I wanted to be an assassin. I wanted this life. That’s what made me the best. We were beaten when we didn’t perform up to their standards, but that’s what turned boys into men. Soon, the thumps were welcomed to see exactly what your body could tolerate.
The thought of Evie being beaten leaves a whole different feeling in the pit of my stomach.
“Why? Were they hurting you?” I ask. It shouldn’t matter. I shouldn’t be asking, but I need to know.
She flinches in confusion, and her brows drag down over her blue eyes. “No, but I didn’t belong there. They took me from my home.” Her lip trembles and I don’t like how her words are making me feel.
She looks ready to burst out of her skin, and I move closer and click my fingers three times in front of her face. Her gaze focuses on my fingers. She steps backward at each harsh click.
“Stay focused.” I bark. “So you were hiding in the loading bay, then what?”
“One of the security was in there. I think just doing a routine check. His radio buzzed, and it was Sacha. Calling all security to the loading dock.”
“Are you absolutely sure?” I ask, but I already know she’s telling me the truth.
“Yes. He sent them there, and they all died.”
Evie appears exhausted at the confession. I can’t understand why I was being lied to or what Sacha could gain from this. Was it the girls?
“Did Sacha see you at all?”
She looks away from me and bites her lip while shaking her head. “No. But I saw him in the hallway. He called my name. He was looking for me.”
I’m being set up. Now the only person who I could get information from had just left the building.
“What are you going to do?” Evie’s words drag my attention back to her.
“Are you going to tell Igor?” Fear stretches her neck, the pull visible along her creamy skin.
I ignore her and turn to Michail, who has remained quiet the whole time, but I know he’s taking in every word, along with Pavel.
“This information never leaves this room,” I speak over my shoulder. My men were loyal, but this was way over my head. I had no idea how high up the deceit went. Igor couldn’t be involved. He wouldn’t risk his neck like that. I didn’t think he would, anyway.
I turn to Michail. “None of it.”
“Yes, boss.”
“Yes, boss.” Pavel echoes.
“Find out where Sacha is,” I tell Pavel, and he leaves at my request. I turn back to Evie, who watches me.
“Are you going to tell Igor?” She repeats.
I had no intentions of telling Igor the truth. That wasn’t required of me. The only job I had was to find the girls and return them. That’s all I would focus on. I push aside the fact that I’d hate to see anyone hurt Evie. I didn’t even know her, but something about her called to the beast inside me not to hurt her but to protect her.
“I don’t know.” I lie. “You could have made this a lot easier if you hadn’t lied so much.”
“You have no idea what happens to us.” She’s moving closer to me like we can share this moment.
It’s a dangerous thing for her to think, and I need to end it now. I grin at her, making her stop. “Once again, you have this notion that I care.”
Hurt flickers across her beautiful face. She looks up in Michail’s direction, and color enters her cheeks. She’s not just naïve sexually, but there is such an innocence about how the world works in her eyes that it makes me care when I really shouldn’t.
She grows silent for a moment. “Can I go to my room?”
I don’t want her to be alone, but I also don’t want to be around her much longer. She’s forcing me to see her as more than a means to an end. An end that will come, and then what?
“Yes, go ahead.”
She leaves, and I watch her until she disappears into her room. I wait a beat more before I turn to Michail. “How long was Sacha here?”
“Five minutes max.”
“Did he ask any questions?” I enter the kitchen area and pour myself out a drink. The vodka doesn’t help the unsettling feeling that’s coursing through me. It’s one thing to give me a target. I would watch them, learn their movements, and remove them when least expected. That’s what I did. It could take me hours, days, or even weeks, but I never got impatient. This situation was making me unsettled.
“Yeah, he wanted to know if Evie was here.”
I nod. Of course, he did. He must be afraid that she saw something. I reopen the roster and go through the names. Of course, he isn’t on it. He had a part in all this, and I want to know exactly what it was. I have two more drinks before I return to the couch and go through the remaining files. The loading inventory is mundane and, once again, a fabrication of what the ship was really transporting.
I had no idea how much of the roster was true, apart from the fact there were ten security men dead. They were the only ones that I could say with certainty were on the ship that day. The rest I had to disqualify. As for the autopsy, Evie had seen the darts, she had said they were drugged, and I believed her. Each one had a prick mark on their necks.
I lay the fabricated files down beside me and finish my drink.
Pavel is quick to find out Sacha’s home address and forwards it on to me. That’s where Sacha is now. He left my home and went straight to his own, which is perfect for me.
Leaving Evie makes me feel uneasy, but Michail won’t disappoint me again, and I’ve left him personally responsible for her. He knows i
f anything happens, I’ll have his head for it.
I don’t take the limo but my own personal vehicle. She hums to life, and I love the feel of the Astin Martin as I pull out of the underground car parking. I only use her for jobs, and she brings back a feeling I always have of contentment, and also, it’s a reminder of the purpose I have.
Going to Sacha’s will allow me to flex old muscles that feel abandoned.
I arrive at the address that Pavel gave me. The house is like cubes stacked on top of each other. It’s all glass and steel. To some, it would be stylish. To me, it looks more like a cold box.
I get out of my car that I’ve parked on the opposite side of the road. Most gates have cameras on them, and I don’t want Sacha to know it’s me. Keeping my head down, I jog across the road. The moment I reach the gate, I take my gun out. The overhead cameras have been shot out, the glass cracked, and no lights are blinking.
The gates are still sealed, but I scale the low wall easily and land in the front garden. I see three more cameras all shot out.
Fuck.
Moving to the partially open front door, I push it fully open with my foot and wait a moment. There’s no sound, and I enter with my gun raised. The inside is as cold as the outside. Gray slates under my feet meet gray walls that I move alongside. There’s no furniture to obstruct my movements. I round the corner and come face to face with Sacha. He’s in a large armchair, his throat sliced from ear to ear. His white shirt is coated in a river of red. Whoever did this is most likely gone, but I do a sweep of the house to make sure I’m alone.
I am.
I check Sacha’s pockets for his phone, but it’s already gone. He has no wallet on him either. I check the side of his face for a red lump like I had seen on the other security men, but there isn’t one there. They didn’t have to drug him to kill him. The fact his throat is slit tells me the same people who are keeping him silent are the ones that attacked the ship. Movement out the back window catches my attention. The back lawn is scattered with trees, but among them, I see a flash of black. I withdraw my gun and move slowly to the back sliding door. The beauty of new homes means everything is soundless. The sliding door opens seamlessly, and I step out onto the manicured lawn. The black silhouette still hasn’t moved any further away. Four trees separate us, and I move quickly until I am at the opposite side of the tree he leans against.
