“It was cold and dark, but I could make out a door. I tried the handle, but it was locked, I sat terrified for hours before anyone came,” She bites her lip before finally meeting my eyes. “I prayed it was to let me out, but they only threw another girl in with me. She was unconscious at first, Ididn’t recognise her face, so she wasn’t a student at the academy, but she was around the same age as me,”
Fuck. Is this what happened to Marlowe. Was she another girl this person took just at a different time.
“I don’t know how long we were there in that room, scared and huddled up close. They threw in a bottle of water but no food. I thought I was going to die there,” Her voice shakes as another tear escapes.
“I woke up one night and overheard a conversation between two men outside the door. They planned on selling us,” Her voice cracks as my hand shoots to my mouth. “The girl lying beside me wasn’t a virgin so wouldn’t make as much as me. But apparently that didn’t matter because someone had already purchased me,” My stomach rolls and I fight the urge to bring up the cup of Horlicks now souring. “They weren’t allowed to touch me, but they could touch her,”
I feel my eyes burn as Asher’s hand takes on a punishing force on my fingers. He shakes his head like he is trying to remove everything from his memory.
“They made me sit and watch what they did to her. I can’t get her cries out of my head, or the monsters who were laughing at her pain as they took everything from her,” her jaw trembles. Jacob pulls her into his side, his free hand clenched tight while Daylan looks away into the distance. My own body vibrates with barely contained anger, my own memories resurfacing as Corden is sat in horror.
“They were about to transfer me to wherever the man is who bought me lived. I never made it though,” Her gaze locks on Asher, oozing with gratitude like he is her hero. “Asher got me out,” Then shifts her attention between Daylan and Jacob. “They all did,”
I glance over at Asher with a newfound respect. His sister was taken by a sex trafficking ring and him and his friends found her and brought her home. They saved her life.
When he looks at me, I hope my face shows him how in awe of him I am. This man is nothing like I first thought and nothing like he tries to show the world. He is so much more.
Shit. I’m in love with him. Completely and utterly in love with him.
“I am so very sorry for what happened to you Piper,” I finally break the silence between us, yet no words will ever be enough for her. No wonder she is so traumatised. As Corden starts to ask some gentle questions, I can’t help where my mind goes.
This is what happened to Marlowe and the other girls. They were taken into a fucking trafficking ring. Not only that, but the academy is also either covering it all up or is a part of it as well. I feel sick.
As devastating as the truth is, I feel selfishly hopeful for my future. When I find Marlowe, and I will find her just like Asher did, I will finally be free from my father. Free to live the rest of my life the way I want to. Beside Asher.
“How did you find her?” I ask Asher quietly.
“It had nothing to do with me and all to do with Jacob,” His brows meet in the middle at the thought. “He has some connections that tracked down their holding warehouse,”
“But it was Asher’s quick thinking, moving and sheer determination that got to her before she was transferred,” Jacob buts in.
“But, how did you know she was missing in the first place?” Corden interrupts, his eyes flitting between Asher and Jacob.
“We have had a system in place for years,” Piper answers before Asher can. “We have a nightly check in call before bed and a tracker on our phones,”
Corden raises an eyebrow.
“The world we have grown up in is a lot different to yours,” Asher shrugs. “I make sure I know where my siblings are at all times, and in this case, that tracker saved Piper’s life. When she didn’t call when she said she would, I checked her location. She was still on the grounds of Marrowton, but deep in a part of the forest no one ever goes,” He sighs. “When she didn’t answer my second and third call, I went to look for her. I found her being rammed into the back of a black van near some old, abandoned building, unconscious,” His hands clench and unclench. “I tried to get to her,” He pauses. “But I wasn’t fast enough,”
“But you were fast enough to get the make, model and partial licence plate,” Jacob nobs. “That’s what made it possible for my uncle to find that warehouse.
Asher nods to himself, but I can still sense he carries some guilt. Blames himself for not getting to her fast enough. I run my hand up his forearm to offer some comfort, but something he mentioned has me pausing. Asher said Piper was rammed into the back of van next to an abandoned building, one that was deep in the forest. Was that the church ruins I found at the end of the secret tunnel, or are there more buildings on the grounds? Ones that the other codes lead to.
Asher must feel my loss of focus and glances my way, his brows furrowed. “They agreed to it and they both have my location as well; I’m not completely unhinged,” He must think his will to protect his sibling freaked me out, when really, I wish someone had cared that much about me.
I hold my hands up with a dry chuckle. “Hey, no judgement here. You guys are lucky to have each other,”
He grins back. “Remind me to put that tracker on your phone,” Then he turns to the group.
“Wait, should we not check the warehouse for Bronwyn?” My spine straightens in hope.
Asher shakes his head. “I already had someone check it out when she first went missing, but the warehouse is no longer in use,” My hope dies.
“What about your connection?” I look to Jacob.
“They have done all they can but can’t find out where she has been taken or sold to,” He narrows his eyes at me, almost in an assessing way, then Corden. “Are we trusting them with everything?” He finally asks Asher.
“I do,”
