Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 42863 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 214(@200wpm)___ 171(@250wpm)___ 143(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 42863 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 214(@200wpm)___ 171(@250wpm)___ 143(@300wpm)
A hard look passed over Adelaide’s face. “She witnessed two girls being snatched up. One is barely sixteen—just had her birthday three days ago. The other is twenty-five. The men who snatched them up were dressed well. The witness is under our protection, and Alejandro is already working on moving her out of the states until we get this cleared up.”
“What exactly is this?” Gin asked, leaning back in his chair with his arms resting on the armrests, his face blank.
“I made some phone calls,” Alejandro said, taking over. I sipped at my coffee despite feeling like I was putting pure battery acid in my stomach at this point. Girls being snatched up from our territory without a care in the world… this was goddamn trouble. Real fucking bad trouble. “There’s a sex trafficking ring in the area. It’s pretty new still.”
“Who’s running it?” I asked.
“Russians,” River answered me. I bit back a curse and carefully set my coffee mug down. I no longer wanted it, and that was saying something. I had my own horrors when it came to sex trafficking, and this shit hit way too damn close to home for me.
I’d been a special case. A fucking baby when I’d been delivered into the wrong hands. My mother had been a sex trafficking victim, and the ring leader had gotten her knocked up. I knew nothing else aside from the fact that she died giving birth to me due to hemorrhaging. Due to me being a bastard child, as soon as I was old enough—a fucking toddler—I was sold off to the highest bidder for the night with promises to be returned the next morning.
I was fifteen when the ring was shut down by federal and local law enforcement, but the damage had been done. Being trafficked—used, abused, broken, raped over and over and fucking over again—had fucked me up a bit. I’d mostly worked through all of it, but shit like this brought it all back.
“We got a location?” Drake asked from beside me.
River nodded. “Alejandro did some digging on his way here. The only thing we need to do is come up with a plan.”
“I have a proposed one, if I may?” Miguel asked, looking at Alejandro.
Alejandro nodded once, giving Miguel the floor. Miguel cleared his throat, looking at me. “You’re the nicest one out of all of us,” he began. Drake coughed to cover his laugh. I cut him a dark look. “I think you should run the rescuing part of the operation. Infiltrate the building with a team of your choosing and get out as many victims as you can. We’ll run interference on the outside to do our best to protect those of you who go in.”
I leaned back in my chair. “You want me to run a team,” I stated more than asked.
Miguel nodded once. “You’re calm in high-stress situations. You think clearly, no matter what’s at stake. And I know your history.” I clenched my jaw. All eyes in the room went to me, but I ignored them. No one, not even River, knew my history. My childhood was a mystery to all of them, and it would remain that way. “You’re the best for this operation. You know what those victims are going to be like.”
I nodded once, mulling the thought over in my head. “I get to choose my own team?”
Miguel nodded. “Whoever you trust the most. Because you’re going to need whoever you choose to be able to not only watch your back, but also their back, everyone else’s back, and protect whoever you rescue. Your team will have the hardest part of this entire job.”
“And what do you propose we do with the victims?” River asked Miguel. Joey remained silent, leaning against the wall with one booted foot propped up behind him. He was using his knife to clean out from beneath his nails, appearing disinterested, but I knew he was listening to every word that was being spoken.
“Alejandro will organize transport for them,” Miguel said, looking at his boss. Alejandro nodded once in agreement.
I looked at River. “Thoughts, Prez?”
He scrubbed a hand down his face. “I trust you, Tank,” he said. When we looked at Sam, the VP of the club, he nodded as well. Curiosity shone in his eyes, no doubt wanting to know what Miguel knew about me that they didn’t, but he kept his mouth shut. We were family, and we stuck together like glue, but we didn’t pry.
“If you want it, you’re the head of team A,” River finally said, looking at me.
Did I want it? Did I want to see those victims and relive every fucking shitty thing done to me? Not really, no. But I would. Because I wished for so long someone would rescue me.
No one had really come to rescue me, but I could save them.