When he shakes his head, relief floods through me. “No. She’s never been much of a dater…” He looks at me with confusion in his eyes. “Until you, obviously.”
Dating doesn’t describe what happened between us, not really. We had the start of something. She triggered something under my scarred exterior I didn’t even know was there. Not anything as melodramatic as love, not yet. More like belonging.
“Fuck,” he grunts. “I just don’t?—”
“Shit,” I snap, when it hits me.
“What?” He stops pacing.
“She might be at the recovery place. I mentioned it to her, and she tried to convince me to let her help. She seemed pretty stubborn about it.”
“Yeah, she gets like that,” Julian says. “You might have noticed.”
I smile, can’t help it. Just for a moment. “Why do you think there are snowflakes on the stairs, and my living room looks like Santa threw up in there? She gets so…”
Beautiful when she’s stubborn. I stop myself before I cross that line.
“I think the Don has hired the scumbags of the Family to operate a human trafficking ring out of the rehab place,” I tell Julian, smile disappearing.
His eyebrows shoot up. “The fuck? Why?”
I tell him about my attempted raid, about the underwear. “Before the attack…” We both avert our gazes, not wanting to acknowledge what he did. It still makes my blood boil. “I noticed the way some of these men were talking—little seedy jokes, secret looks. It didn’t make sense at the time. But that underwear… it fits with their fucked-up sense of humor.”
“It’s a leap,” Julian mutters.
“It’s instinct,” I growl. “Which is what has kept me alive for so many years. I think she went there, got in too deep, and then they…” I swallow.
“Don’t say it,” he warns.
I don’t. I can’t even think it.
“We have to believe they’ve taken her hostage,” I say. “If I’m wrong, if it’s the other thing, then they’re all dead anyway. The whole fucking Family will burn.”
He nods, matter of fact. We both know it’s the truth. “What the hell are we going to do?”
“Let me think.”
Now it’s my turn to pace, my mind spinning over. It takes me several minutes to come up with something approximating a plan.
“You need to go there,” I say. “Claim that Rico told you what was going on before he disappeared on some bender. It wouldn’t be the first time he’s gone AWOL. Say you want to get in on the action – want to buy one of the girls, even. I’ll be close by. When you get visual confirmation that Celine is there, give me a signal.”
“What will you do?” Julian asks.
“What I do best.”
Unleash the fucking Beast.
Julian strokes his chin. “A lot could go wrong.”
“The alternative is to leave her there. Let some sick scumbag buy her and…”
Just the idea of it makes me want to roar.
I spin and put a hole in the wall with my fist, a layer of sweat pricking my body.
“I can’t let that happen,” I snarl, pulling my fist from the wall. I don’t feel a damn thing except the need to keep her safe.
Julian steeples his fingers, a pose I know well, the one he uses when he’s contemplating something. He tilts his head at me as though wondering if that was an act. If his best friend could truly care this much about his sister.
