by B. B. Hamel
“It’s the safest place, actually,” Louisa said. “Just listen. Nobody knows what Emma looks like except for Dante. After we took you from the museum, we went to your apartment and cleaned it top to bottom. There’s no trace of Abram in there.”
“So why not let us go?” Brooks asked.
“Dante is still suspicious,” Louisa said. “I can’t just kill him, though. He’s too important.”
“So why would we go to the compound?”
“Gian left a message for you, which I intercepted. He wants a meeting.”
“About what?”
“He didn’t say, but I suspect he wants to promote you.”
Brooks went quiet, his expression intense. Louisa stared at him, unblinking. Finally, he spoke.
“You’re up to something,” he said slowly. “I believe you have good intentions for this city, but I think you’re a liar, and I don’t trust you.”
She smiled. “Good. That’s healthy.” Louisa looked at me. “What about you, Emma?”
“I trust you,” I said, surprised. “I don’t know why, but I do.”
She looked back at Brooks. “Come to the compound. From there, I can provide you with money, documents, anything you need to escape. Meet with Gian, find out what he wants, and then the two of you can escape the city if that’s what you want.”
Brooks shook his head. “I don’t fucking like this.”
“So long as Dante doesn’t know where you are, you’re safe,” Louisa said. “Talk it over and decide soon.” She disappeared back into the house without another word.
Brooks turned to me, frowning. “I know what you’re going to say, but listen. We don’t know Louisa. Going to the compound sounds like a really, really bad idea to me.”
“I want to go,” I said. “If she wanted us dead, we’d be dead.”
“Maybe. Or maybe she wants something from me still. You’ve seen how much power that girl has.”
“I trust her, Brooks.”
He clenched his jaw. “You’re making a mistake. You can’t just trust people.”
“Like I trust you?”
“Yes, like you trust me.” He sighed, crossing his arms. “We can’t keep having this fucking fight.”
“You’re right. Maybe you should trust me the same way I trust you.”
“That’s not the same.”
“Isn’t it?”
“I have more experience with this, Emma. I know how these people work, how this sort of thing happens. And I can promise you, we’re far from the fucking norm here.”
“Nothing in my life is ever normal, Brooks. I’m going with Louisa.”
He went silent again and looked out over the neighborhood. I watched as he slowly relaxed and uncrossed his arms. “I used to hate neighborhoods like this,” he said finally.
“Why?”
“So much money here. All this money could help everyone else. It’s part of why I became the man I am today. I wanted to punish people like this. I thought becoming a hit man for the mob would let me give out some kind of justice.”
“And did it?” I asked him softly.
“No,” he said, looking at me. “There’s no justice left in this world. Being a hit man was all about the fucking money.” He sighed and shook his head. “We’ll go to the compound if that’s what you want.”
“You don’t have to go,” I said.
“I’m not walking away from you.”
I was surprised by the way he was looking at me.
Louisa opened the door and stepped out. “Decided?” she asked.
“We’re coming,” Brooks said.
“Good. There’s a car out back. Come on through.”
Brooks gave me a long look as I went and followed Louisa inside. He came after us, bringing up the rear. The door shut behind him.
I didn’t know what was going to happen from here. I had no clue if I was making a horrible mistake or if I was doing the right thing, but something drew me to Louisa. The way her fighters had seemed so willing to die to save their girls made me feel like I could trust her.
Louisa Barone was a fascinating person. The daughter of her enemy, nobody knew who she was or what she did. Brooks made it seem like she lived right under their noses, and they had no clue that she was running a serious organization.
It didn’t matter, though. I was putting my trust in her, and Brooks seemed to be putting his trust in me. That was going to have to be enough.
21
Brooks
I’d only ever been to the compound once before.
It was early on in my career. I was shocked by its size and even more shocked by the way they displayed their wealth. Years later, walking in through the back door with Louisa and Emma, I was equally shocked.
The Barone compound was really a large mansion surrounded by several acres of land. There were horse stables, hiking trails, a beautiful, large pool, and more. The house itself was basically a large hotel, with hundreds of different rooms, a full-time staff, cleaning crews, an enormous kitchen, and much more. The main bosses all lived in the mansion, and other important people came and went.
I looked around in awe as we moved through the lavish halls. I was exhausted, running on barely any sleep. The sun was coming up and the house was slowly waking, but most people ignored us as we walked down the carpeted halls.
There was expensive art on the walls, beautiful plants, and statues everywhere. It looked like a five-star hotel had bought a museum and fused the two together. It was incredible, and I guessed that the hallway we walked down contained a million dollars’ worth of art alone.
“You two will stay near my room,” Louisa said. “I promise not to spy.”
“I’m sure,” I said. “Your family is likely watching everything we say and do anyway.”
“Actually, they are,” she said. “But I’ll keep your room protected.”
“You can do that?” Emma asked.
Louisa smiled. “I’m daddy’s baby daughter. He lets me do whatever I want.”
“Like attack his people and steal his women?”
“Not exactly that.” Louisa stopped outside a door. “Here we are. Normally you’re supposed to check in and get cleared with security, but we’re bypassing all that.” She swiped a card through the door’s magnetic lock, and it swung open.
We stepped inside. It was massive and gorgeous, bigger than my apartment. We entered into a living room area, complete with couches and chairs. Off to one side was a small kitchen area with a table, plus another room in the back.
“Bedroom, bathroom, everything you need,” Louisa said. “Call and order food if you want. Brooks, you need to be awake at four this afternoon for your meeting.”
“What do we do in the meantime?” Emma asked.
“Relax. Explore. Doesn’t matter.” Lou smiled. “Come visit me if you want. I’m directly above you.”
“Okay,” Emma said. “Thanks.”
“See you soon.” She put two cards down on the coffee table. Then she left the room. The door clicked shut behind her.
“Holy shit,” Emma said, collapsing onto the couch. “Have you ever seen anything like this?”
“I’ve been here before,” I said, “but no. I’ve never seen these rooms.”
“This is like an incredibly nice hotel, like something you’d see on TV.”
“Except this place is incredibly dangerous.” I collapsed into the chair across from Emma. “Are you sure about this? We can still get the fuck out of here.”
“Stop, Brooks,” she said, rubbing her temples. “I trust her. You should trust me.”
“Trusting you isn’t a part of this.” I stood up, annoyed that she wasn’t listening.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
“Looking around. I want to get a feel for this place before we commit ourselves further.”
“Fine. Do what you want. I’m sleeping.” She stretched out on the couch.
I stared at her for a second before grabbing a key card and he
ading toward the door.
I shouldn’t have been angry at her. I knew it was stupid for something to come down between us, but I couldn’t help myself. I felt like we were slowly getting further and further away from where we needed to be, which was as far from the Barone family as possible.
And yet I was wandering around the mansion’s hallways, ignored by everyone around me as if I belonged. As I moved, I made a note of the layout of the mansion, and slowly I realized that the place wasn’t built in any sort of logical sequence.
In fact, it seemed like it had been purposefully designed to be as confusing as possible. I was willing to bet that was a defensive function, meant to confuse anybody who was an outsider. That was going to make navigating the place much more difficult, but not impossible.
As I moved through the hallways, I took note of the cameras and the staff. They looked like normal hotel staff, but some of the men were definitely carrying weapons. I guessed they were guards, meant to look like they were just normal cleaning staff.
This place was much more than it seemed. On the outside, to the casual, untrained eye, the Barone mansion was a lavish hotel meant to show their wealth. And in truth, it was that. But it was also the home of a very dangerous and powerful gangster, a man with many enemies. Ever since the mafia and the Russian mob went to war, I was willing to bet the compound had been on high alert.
Which meant that there were more eyes around. Louisa may have been powerful in her own way, but maybe she was a little blind to her own family. She was so used to living invisibly inside their walls, so used to moving around the way she wanted to, that she forgot how it could be for a stranger coming into the compound. I was sure that multiple people were watching me every single step I took, whether they were watching through cameras or watching from the shadows.
It was an eerie feeling, and it only made me feel surer that we were making a mistake. But it was too late. We had committed to this plan. I’d been seen, so I was sure Gian knew I had come for the meeting. I couldn’t back down anymore.
As I kept moving through the mansion, I came to a more populated area. I saw more and more guys I recognized, other thugs and goons from the mafia. I guessed that these were the guest quarters, meant for thugs within the organization. There wasn’t as much gilt and as many expensive paintings all over the place, which suggested that the Barones were less interested in impressing their own workers.
As I turned a corner, I heard a familiar voice and stopped short. “Brooks!”
I turned around and saw Rice standing there, smirking at me. “Rice,” I said, nodding.
He walked over to me and we shook hands. He was a few inches shorter than me, though incredibly stocky. Rice was another hit man in the mob, a man I’d worked with numerous times over the years. He was brutal but efficient, and he was one of the better hit men. He was also much older than I was and had been doing this job for many years.
“I heard about the girls,” Rice said. “I heard you did some serious shit that night.”
“Just moved a few cars,” I answered.
“Still, you did well. Everyone is talking about you.”
I frowned. I definitely didn’t want to be talked about, not right now.
“What are they saying?”
“They’re impressed. Not a lot of guys can think fast under pressure like that.”
“Just reacted. Wasn’t thinking.”
He slapped me on the shoulder, laughing. “I’ve been saying for years that you have good instincts, kid. Shame about all those girls, though.”
“Yeah, real shame.”
“Those sluts would have brought in a lot of money for the group. Not that we really fucking need it, mind, but still. Shame so many got maimed.”
“What do you mean, maimed?”
He laughed. “You didn’t hear? One of the cars with the girls in it exploded. Most of the girls survived, but they were all burned up, disfigured, disgusting.”
“Shit,” I said softly. “I don’t remember that happening.”
“Not surprising, considering. Anyway, shame about them.”
“What happened?”
“Well, they had to be put down. Fuck, we couldn’t pay for their medical needs. Just too many of them.”
I blinked, shocked. “They were killed?”
“Sure. They didn’t matter anymore.” He turned and looked down the hall. “Shit. Gotta go. Catch up later?”
“Yeah,” I grunted.
He stalked off, and I stared after him.
I couldn’t believe that. I knew the mafia was brutal and did some fucked-up shit, but I never could picture them slaughtering a bunch of injured girls. Then again, maybe that was exactly what they would do. The girls were an investment, and if they got hurt or injured, they couldn’t work.
They weren’t going to pay for them and they couldn’t just let them go, so in their minds, they were probably doing the humane thing. Put them down, end their suffering. Make sure the mafia didn’t lose any more money on them.
Fucking scumbags. I felt so angry and disgusted at my own people in that moment. I’d heard of some sick shit, but that was by far the worst thing I could imagine. Those poor girls, sold into slavery, used their whole lives, only to die in the end, betrayed by the people who had promised to try to take care of them.
I slowly walked back toward the apartment, brooding and pissed. I wished I hadn’t run into Rice, but there was nothing I could do about that. I wished I had never heard about these girls, but I couldn’t keep hiding from the truth. In the past few days I’d seen too much suffering and evil coming straight from the mafia. I couldn’t turn my back on it anymore.
Not everyone in the mob was bad, and not everyone worked in human trafficking. In fact, as far as I could tell, only a few bosses had a hand in it. Gian definitely did, and maybe Alfonse as well. The others kept their distance.
But they didn’t stop it. They didn’t participate, but they didn’t make the others quit buying and selling girls like cattle. They didn’t stop them even when they slaughtered a bunch of poor girls for getting injured and disfigured, injuries caused by their own fucking practices.
I shook my head, unsure what the fuck I was going to do. I felt disgusted and drained. I knew I had to meet with Gian later, but the last thing I wanted to do was see his face.
Because he had ordered those women killed. That sort of thing came from the top, and nobody else had the authority to make it happen. Gian chose to end those girls, probably as casually as choosing which shirt to wear in the morning.
I came back to the apartment door and swiped my card. I pushed the door open and stepped inside, relieved to be away from people.
Emma wasn’t on the couch. I walked through the room, feeling exhausted beyond belief. I found her under the covers, curled up into a ball, sleeping soundly.
I couldn’t wake her up. I just collapsed onto the bed next to her, not bothering to undress.
Rice’s words kept ringing through my mind. They were so callous, so uncaring. He thought of those women as fucking cattle to be bought and sold and then discarded when they weren’t useful anymore.
I was so damn tired. The adrenaline had kept me going way past exhaustion, but it was hitting me like a damn lead weight to the chest. I pressed my face against the pillow, grunting to myself, and sleep took me.
22
Emma
I woke up slowly in an unfamiliar bed. Actually, every bed I’d woken up in lately had been unfamiliar, and I’d never wake up in my own bed again.
I didn’t know why I thought about that, though, as I sat up. I was so comfortable and felt so refreshed. The room came into focus around me, the expensive drapery and furniture all taking my breath away again.
And sleeping next to me was Brooks. He looked so fucking handsome there, still wearing his clothes, but I didn’t want to wake him up. I slowly slipped out of bed and went into the bathroom, turning on the shower.
I stood under the warm water and let it w
ash over me, cleaning away the memory of the last few days, the terror and the pain. I had a few scratches and cuts on my body, but otherwise I was fine. Unlike the girls that hadn’t made it, I was totally fine.
I didn’t understand why this had happened to me, but I was determined to survive it, no matter what. It would be so easy to give up and just let Brooks make whatever decisions he wanted for me, but I couldn’t.
What felt strange, though, was why he was still following me at all. He clearly thought this whole thing was a horrible idea, as if we were walking into a trap, but if Louisa wanted us dead, we’d be very, very dead already. She’d had plenty of opportunities to kill us.
Instead, her second in command had put us in charge of saving those women, and we had. Or at least Brooks had. I just helped him as much as I could.
He didn’t need to come with me, but he clearly still had some sense of obligation to me, like he needed to save me.
I didn’t need saving anymore. Louisa was going to help me.
I wanted him to stay, though. I wanted him nearby. I felt safer, secure with him at my side. I just didn’t understand what he was getting out of it, why he insisted on coming here with me.
But I liked it. At first, he was just the violent asshole who had kidnapped me. But I was getting to understand him. Even if he didn’t completely trust my instincts, he was still coming along for the ride.
Suddenly I heard the door knob turn, and the door pushed in along with a rush of cold air.
“Hey!” I said. “I’m in here.”
“I know.” It was Brooks. I could barely see him through the fogged glass of the standing shower. He shut the door behind him, letting the steam build back up.
“Can I help you with something?”
“Actually, yes.” I watched as his shadow began to take off his clothes.
“What’s that?”
“How wet are you?”
“I’m standing in a shower, so pretty wet.”
He laughed. “I mean, how soaking wet is that pussy? I know you’re watching me undress.”
