I want to tell her that it’s okay, that I know it wasn’t her fault, but it’s pointless. My words won’t change how she feels.
“What about the other woman? Where does she fit in?” Ryat asks.
“What other woman?” Bill counters.
“Let’s just ask her. We put her in a cell.” Sin walks off down the hallway, and we all wait silently for him to return.
He’s got a woman by the back of her neck. She’s naked, tripping over her own feet, and her hands are zip tied behind her back. Her head is down, and her dark hair covers her face.
She’s softly crying. He brings her into the room, kicks the back of her legs, forcing her to her knees, and yanks her head back by her hair. Her cries echo throughout the basement.
“Christ.” Adam rushes over to her. “Let go of her,” he orders Sin.
He raises his hands and takes a step back, looking at Kashton, who runs a hand down his face, knowing who she is. “Fuck,” my husband mutters.
“Someone give me a fucking knife,” Adam barks.
Sin hands his over since he’s still the closest. “Hey.” Adam takes her tear-streaked face in his hands. “You’re okay. It’s okay.”
I take off and ignore Kashton hollering at me. I rush up to the second floor, grab a bottle of water, and manage to find a blanket, then run back into the basement. “Here.” I hand them to Adam.
“You know her?” Saint asks, looking over her.
“Yes. I fucking know her. She works for me.” He grabs Missy’s hands and pulls her to stand. She covers herself with her arms. “Thanks,” he growls at me, yanking the blanket from my hands to wrap it around her shoulders before pulling it closed.
I step back with my hand pressed into my chest. I shouldn’t have run up the stairs. Now there’s a burning sensation and I can’t catch my breath.
Kashton steps into me, but I sidestep him, not wanting to be touched right now. He can yell at me later.
“We just did what we were told to do,” Sin says, hands still raised.
“Which was?” Adam demands, walking Missy over to a chair and placing her in it. He unscrews the bottle of water and practically waterboards the poor girl, holding it to her trembling lips.
“You gave me and Ryat the address to the motel Kashton was staying at. She was there.”
Adam crouches down in front of her in the chair and places his hands on her dirty, tear-streaked face, holding her hair back in the process. “Why were you in the motel?”
She sniffs. “To get his phone.”
“Whose phone?” Adam demands.
“This one?” Ryat pulls one from his pocket. “She had it on her when we entered the room.”
Missy rubs the tears from her face, taking a deep breath. “I thought it was odd that Everett was at the bar that night. I wasn’t aware she had a job. When she left, I texted you that she was there. I watched her enter the motel room. A guy arrived not much later. I called you when she left the motel to make sure it was cleaned up, and you confirmed that she didn’t have a job, but that you would get the room cleaned. I didn’t hear from you until a few days later. You said the room had been cleaned, the body disposed of, but the guy didn’t have his phone on him…”
“I didn’t take it,” I tell her. I always leave the phones behind. You never know who might be tracking them. Adam has their bodies disposed of and their cells destroyed after they get what they need off them.
“He didn’t have a phone on him.” Adam shakes his head at her. “We checked. How and where did you find it?”
“Kashton took over the room shortly after. I had to wait for him to leave to get back into it. I had just found it under the bed when two guys showed up,” she whispers, staring at the floor, unable to make eye contact with anyone in the room.
I feel sorry for her. She doesn’t know this life. Not like we do. Sure, she works for Adam, but she runs the bar. She’s not that deep in the trafficking world. She serves people alcohol and listens to them bitch about their pathetic lives.
Adam stands, snatches the phone from Ryat’s hand, and starts to go through it. His eyes meet mine, and I swallow.
“What is it?” Kashton demands.
Adam walks over and hands it to him.
