“Sometimes.”
“All the time,” he corrected. “You don’t have to pretend with me.”
“Quite a few of the girls I bring here have worse things to contend with,” Tanja explained, her voice soft. “I try to tell them it’s important not to give in to self-pity.”
Kyanite didn’t stop the slow massage, and Gorya noticed Tanja didn’t pull her leg away from him.
“Please continue, Tanja,” Maya pleaded. “How did you manage to escape? It seems so impossible. You were so tiny.”
And surrounded by those men,she added to Gorya, a little sob in her mind.I wasn’t with her. I couldn’t help her.
You were a baby.He put his arm around her. Maya and Tanja hadn’t embraced. Neither had touched the other. He knew Maya was afraid that if she did put her arms around her sister, she might shatter into a million pieces.
“He told me he cut my legs so I could never run from him again. And then he slashed the knife across my eyes. When he did, he laughed and laughed. My world went bloodred and then dark. The pain was so bad I nearly passed out. He thought I had. He dropped me on the ground and kicked me out of his way while he and the others dragged a couple of women who worked on our farm over to the stairs. They had bottles of something they were drinking. I couldn’t see, but I could hear them beating and raping the women. That’s when I heard Savior talking.”
Her leopard, like yours, came to her rescue,Gorya said. He couldn’t help but be a little shocked. Savior had been a toddler too. Technically, she shouldn’t have even been aware. Somehow, she had managed to become Tanja’s eyes and legs.
“There was so much blood from all the people killed around the houses, Savior told me not to worry about binding the wounds yet, just to run toward the hills, away from the farm. The pain was very bad, but I just did it. I did everything Savior told me to do, such as collect water bottles and then rags to bind my legs. She was the one who found the opening to the cave, and she also showed me how to erase tracks. I was so small I didn’t really make many impressions on the ground anyway.”
“I can’t imagine the agony you must have gone through to make your way here from where the farms were located, dragging water bottles and rags with you when you were wounded so severely like that,” Kyanite said. “You have courage, woman.”
Tanja flashed him a smile. “I think it’s called being stubborn. It took a long time to heal and to learn to work with Savior. I would steal food, but mostly I learned what plants I could eat and where to find fresh water to drink. I was here alone for several years.”
Gorya exchanged a long look with Kyanite. As far as he was concerned, the two men had hit the jackpot. They’d somehow managed to find the two strongest women on the planet.
“And then you decided to start taking back trafficking victims,” Gorya guessed.
Tanja’s gaze met her sister’s as she nodded. “I did. I hated those men so much. I was certain Maya was dead. I knew they would kill my mother. By that time, I’d snuck down to the port enough times to see what happened to the victims. But I just couldn’t bear thinking of my Maya gone from the world.” Tears filled her eyes. “You were the brightest light in my world when I was a child.”
“I understand how you feel, Tanja,” Gorya said. “She’s my brightest light. I sometimes feel as if I can’t breathe without her.”
We can’t stay any longer, baby. I’m sorry. I know you want to stay and just look at her.
Maya leaned into him. “When this is over, Tanja, please say we can spend time getting to know each other again.”
“I would love that,” Tanja said. “I guess you have a plan.”
“Our specialty is going into their homes and cutting their throats,” Gorya said. “We don’t intend to leave any of them alive. Your jobs will be to get the prisoners to safety, burn down warehouses, destroy Krylov’s drug supplies, steal his weapons and take his money. Every man and woman dealing in trafficking needs to die tonight. We’ve got the manpower to accomplish this.”
Tanja gave him a small smile. “Don’t leave out the power of the women.”
Gorya returned her smile. “I don’t think that’s going to happen. We’re counting on it.”
•••
ArturKrylov had never been more furious in his life. He’d been awakened from a sound sleep by his guards and given the report that several of his key people had been found dead in their homes.Dead. Murdered.Fires had broken out at every warehouse where the shipments of drugs and arms were held before being crated for the freighters. Millions of dollars going up in smoke. And the women and children they’d had ready for market? Gone. Vanished into thin air.
He’d been steadily losing prisoners over the last few years. The number had started small, just one or two gone with each shipment, but then a steady drain. He knew he had a few rats, and this time he was going to get answers.
“Bring me the Boston brothers. I know they’re behind this,” he snapped. “And find out how many of my men we lost tonight.” He’d texted just about everyone he trusted in his crew and no one, not a single man, had texted him back.
A chill slid down his spine. First his brother went silent on him and now this. He paced outside, back and forth, his leopard every bit as restless and as edgy as he was. He knew something was very wrong. His five personal guards stayed close, as if they felt that same unease as he did.
It seemed as if it took forever before his enforcer returned, dragging Melor Boston with him, hands tied behind his back. The prisoner was thrust onto the ground a distance from Artur. Melor struggled to his knees and regarded Artur calmly, which only infuriated him more. That was one of the reasons he despised the Bostonbrothers. They gave him no respect. He was the lair leader, for fuck’s sake, and they looked at him with contempt.
“Where’s his brother?” he demanded.
“He wasn’t home. Just this one,” his enforcer told him.
