“Unfortunately for you, that’s outdated thinking,” Idris said. “It happens and it’s here to stay. No one can stop it. It goes on all over the world. We may as well cash in on it and do good for our people. Many were starving. It can be done right.”
“There’s a right way to buy and sell human beings?” Gorya asked.
“Clearly, I’m not the one to discuss this with you. One of these days, you really should talk to Jaoa. I think you’d find him very interesting,” Idris insisted.
The men didn’t seem to notice that the room had gone eerily silent. Gorya sighed. “Sadly, I will be talking to him a lot sooner than I ever expected. I must personally deliver very bad news to him.”
Instantly, the smiles were gone from all four men’s faces. “What is it?” Idris asked.
Gorya shook his head. “It is very personal to his family. I plan on flying in our private jet to visit with him myself and tell him the news. I don’t want him to hear any other way.”
“It’s possible we should fly home to be with him if thiswill in any way impact the family,” Ian said. “It isn’t just curiosity. Jaoa has been a father to us.”
Again, Gorya heaved a sigh and put on a somber expression.
“Raul, Jaoa’s middle son, was visiting Derk Malcom, a college friend and the son of one of the more prominent leaders in our lair. Raul and Derk were caught red-handed in front of witnesses kidnapping, raping and torturing a fifteen-year-old girl. I’m certain Drake Donovan drilled into you the consequences of that kind of behavior.”
All four men straightened simultaneously, clearly horrified. “There’s a mistake.” It was Idris who spoke for the others.
“There was no mistake. The two of them were brutal and caught in the act. They were executed.”
“You don’t understand. Family is everything to him. He’ll go to war,” Ian said.
“Evidence will be presented to the council. I will also give it to him.” Gorya turned as if to walk away but then turned back. “A couple of other things you might find interesting. Those young women you kidnap and rape, quite a few are shifters. The mate to a leopard. You might not think it’s important because you’ve spent a good part of your life enjoying raping young girls and think that’s your right. You don’t think about what that’s doing to you or your leopard. You’ve been brainwashed by your mentor and believe whatever he tells you.”
The four men glared at him. “You have no right to accuse us of such a thing,” Idris snarled.
Gorya rolled his shoulders in a casual shrug. “I see no reason to get upset over things you know are facts. Haven’t you ever heard of leopard whisperers? I’m sure you’ve heard the rumors. One leopard can talk to the other, and the other tells them every memory. Those memories are recorded. They can be entered into evidence. Just today I was walking on the grounds with my woman. We strolledright past the four of you. I found out quite a bit about you, none of it very nice, starting with the things you would like to do to the woman I love. I’ll admit, it wasn’t easy keeping Rogue from ripping the four of you into tiny pieces.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Hans snapped. “That can’t possibly be true. No one can really do that.”
Gorya leaned against the wall, crossing his arms against his chest. As always, he kept his voice very low and matter-of-fact. He could have been discussing the weather. “You wanted to repeat the time the four of you were together in Panama with a girl given to you by your mentor. You each raped her in every way possible, together and separately. You made her beg for her life. Crawl to you. You promised you would spare her if she pleased you. You caned her. You called it practicing your technique. Each of you practiced a different type of whip. Idris used a thin razor strap on her. That’s what the four of you wanted to do to my mate.”
The men looked at one another, unease on their faces, then around the room at the disgust plainly showing.
“You tortured Raul, and he made that up,” Liam accused.
“Raul wasn’t there. Jaoa was there, instructing you, mentoring you, ensuring you would learn the right way to be cruel to the women he trafficked.”
Idris glanced toward the door.
Gorya shook his head. “You’d never make it. You came here to recruit for Escabar Velentez. That isn’t going to happen. We don’t like snakes in our midst. Usually, I deal with anyone who threatens my woman, but in this case, Timur and Sevastyan have the prior claim.”
All four men had whipped out their phones.
“Your phones are useless,” Gorya said. He turned and sauntered out the door as the security teams surrounded the fourmen.
17
Thankyou for seeing us on such short notice, Mr. Caruso,” Gorya said, holding out his hand. “The matter is extremely urgent, or I wouldn’t have bothered you.”
“No worries, and call me Marzio.” The older man waved him into his office. “Your call intrigued me. Few things intrigue me at my age.” He remained unruffled as Gorya escorted Maya in as well, one hand on her back. Gedeon entered with them.
“This is my fiancée, Maya. And you know Gedeon.” Gorya said.
“Maya, very pleased to meet you. Please take a seat.” He waved his hand toward the comfortable chairs across from his desk. It wasn’t an opulent office by any means. One would never know the man was extremely wealthy. His desk was a beautiful carved cherrywood, the only truly expensive item in the room that Gorya could see. The walls were bare other than professional photographsof Marzio’s wife, Ann, and their four sons. It was the office of a man who loved his family and didn’t mind his business associates knowing he did. That was a rare thing in the world Gorya had grown up in.
Is he clean?If Rogue and Gorya had read the old man correctly, he knew nothing of what the Anwar family was doing on the docks of Houston. He had nothing at all to do with human trafficking, but Gorya needed it confirmed.
