Fear tries to stop me from speaking, but I also know that once I go down there, I might never return. He’s right. I never should’ve come here without a more concrete plan. Tears prick my eyes, but I curl my fists, don’t let them fall, don’t let myself crumple.
“You won’t shoot me like this, with all these people in the building.”
He snorts, reaches into his jacket, and pulls out a thick edged blade. “Won’t have to.”
“I’ll scream.”
“Maybe you’ll have time for that. Maybe you won’t. Want to try?”
“They’ll wonder where I’ve gone?—”
Another snort. “Know how many people come to these pathetic little meetings, get cold feet, then leave? Enough. Last chance. Get moving, or Igutyou.”
He strides around the hole in the floor, bringing the knife to my throat. The cold metal kisses my neck. A shiver dances through me, not the good kind, not the kind that Damian produces.
With no other choice, I walk down the staircase. He laughs gruffly and slams the hatch behind me.
The door at the end of the corridor swings open when I prod against it.
The smell hits me first, thick and rancid. Around fifteen women and girls crouch on the other side of the bare stone room, a bucket in one corner, their clothes a mess, their skin dirty, their eyes haunted with all that’s happened to them and all that might happen.
I swallow, panic trying to seize me. When I was studying to be a nurse, a lecturer once taught me that to do our jobs well, we have to be like Buddha – handle each moment as it comes, don’t think about before or after. Nursing is about stress management more than anything else.
I let out a slow breath. “I’m a nurse,” I say, my voice far steadier than I feel. “Does anyone have any injuries? Can I help anyone?”
An older woman steps forward, holding up a trembling hand. One of her fingers is dislocated, jarringly pointing sideways at a wrong angle.
I approach her slowly. “This is going to hurt, ma’am…”
CHAPTER 24
DAMIAN
The day after the failure at the gambling recovery center, there’s a loud knocking on my door. On myfrontdoor. I grab my gun and stalk through my house, leaving my laptop open on the kitchen table. I’ve been doing everything I can to get confirmation of my suspicions, but so far, nothing.
It’s Julian, big bags under his eyes as though he hasn’t been sleeping, looking almost boyish in his panic. He strides into the house, and I close the door behind him.
“Tell me she’s here,” he growls.
I was about to chew his ass out for using the front door. But the moment he says this, I forget all about that.
“Is she missing?”
He slumps against the wall. “Tell me she’s here, man. Tell me you’re covering for her. If she wants to stay here, fine, dammit. I can live with that. But I can’t live with… the alternative.” He shudders.
I clap him on the arm. “Focus, for fuck’s sake.” My tone has turned to fire. “You need to explain what’s going on. Now.”
Julian straightens up, stiffening his lips when he hears the urgency in my voice. “She left work two hours early, according to her boss. Said she was going to meet me at the movies. Obviously, that was a goddamn lie. This is the only place I could think she’d be. Is she really not here?”
I swallow as tension twists through me. This can’t be happening. “She’s not. I haven’t seen her since she came by for her stuff.”
I haven’t seen her since we both lost control and she made my world glow.
“Think,” I snarl. “Carefully. Where would she be? Where would she go? We haven’t got time for panic.”
He paces the hallway, wringing his hands. “I’ve called her friends–nothing. She’s dedicated to her work and spends most of her time there.”
It hurts me to say this. But her safety comes first. I would tear apart any man who dared to touch her. “Any exes she might go running to if she was confused?”
