Marchant Haulage – A Front for Trafficking?
Women Smugglers: A Family’s Dark Secrets.
Horror stole my breath. Hearing my old surname when Convict’s girl came on the scene had thrown me for a loop. This brought back more memories than I knew how to handle.
With a shaking finger, I tapped on the top article. It was true. The company my grandparents had founded and operated was being investigated for suspected trafficking crimes.
A cry fell from my lips.
They’d discovered bodies on a Marchant ship. A ship I remembered the name of. Scenes from half a lifetime ago battered me, and I couldn’t catch my breath.
A horn blasted out on the water, and I jumped. A ferry approached the dock, people on the deck. Islanders returning from the mainland.
“Dixie!” a woman yelled.
My mouth fell open. I raised my hand to shield my eyes.
Lovelyn hung over the rail, one hand waving furiously.
My heart hurt more at the familiar face. She was kindness wrapped in a bow and dusted in fairy sugar. But what was she doing all the way out here?
Next to her, a massive man glowered. I shrank back so hard my soul vacated my body.
The Big Scary From Warford. The one my nightmares had on speed dial. His description fit the man Karla at Heaven had warned me about.
I stared, my perfectly painted lips in a glam little O, then a beat later, recognition followed. On the night I’d left the city, I’d seen him in the warehouse. Tyler had released him from a cell. Bad news. No doubt in my tiny mind.
And of course, thinking about Tyler sent another stab of pain through me.
God, that man. Hot as sin, muscles for days, rugged face like someone sculpted him out of pure danger. And that wasn’t even what got me. No. I was a goner for competence.
He led a whole damn team dedicated to taking out traffickers. Deadly. Furious. Enough to ruin me with a look.
If capability porn was a category, he had my subscription.
Stuck in this backwater, I’d gone premium-grade delulu over losing him, worse considering we’d never exchanged anything deeper than “hi” and “bye, don’t die.”
In real life, even if hehadstolen a glance or two, he probably wouldn’t have been into it. Not with the way my luck was trending.
None of that mattered. I’d been discovered, and now I had to run all over again.
I took a backwards step, stumbling on pebbles on my retreat around the rocks.
A gloved hand closed over my mouth, cutting off my attempt at a scream. My attacker lifted me, their other arm banding around to capture me completely.
Great. Kidnapped again. Loved that for me.
And then I was being carried away, legs kicking, dignity gone, absolutely certain that this time? This time might be the one I didn’t walk away from.
Epilogue
The Watcher
At fucking last.
I had her.
All it had taken was weeks of planning, listening, and waiting. And a boat I’d hired on the mainland, the fast engine getting me to Torlum long ahead of the ferry. After that, it had just been a matter of finding her.
