7. Lafe
LAFE
F or the time, we were alone in the compound. Both Andre and Parker had gone to the mansion to try and save Grey’s ass. Depending on Vicente’s mood, they could be gone for a few hours or a few days.
Either way, I was already regretting my decision to take this girl.
I’d give her a choice and let her decide what she wanted to do. The chopper was on standby, just in case. As much as I rebelled against it, part of me hoped she’d decide to go back.
That would make my life a hell of a lot easier. What was adding a little more hate onto the already massive pile of self-loathing?
Amorette took another bite of her sandwich, chewing slowly as she regarded me.
There was so much working behind those light grayish-blue eyes.
Stark intelligence, tinged with shrewdness, contradicted her sweet appearance.
Well, when she wasn’t beaten to hell with bruising along the side of her face.
And so tiny. That was probably why she was selected. Barely five-foot-two with elfin features and thick, lustrous dark hair. For all outward appearances, she looked like a teenager, but you only had to look into her eyes to realize she was much older. Early twenties, at least.
I allowed myself to truly study her now that I wasn’t constantly under watch at Maikel’s place. Taking her had its own set of problems I’d have to address soon, but I could at least breathe.
The girl barely blinked the entire time she held my stare. A bitter smile threatened to tug up the corner of my mouth, but I resisted. If I had two guesses, I could figure out what she was thinking. She might have a decent poker face, but I could still read her.
To her, I was evil incarnate. So why the fuck was I trying to be her hero?
Her posture loosened as she pushed her half-filled plate away. A decent meal probably went a long way to setting her at ease. She patted her stomach a couple of times, then froze. That was a very human gesture and one she didn’t appear to want me to see.
Funny. Shouldn’t she be trying to get me to see her as a person? A human being and not an object? I’d watched those crime shows too.
“What options?” Her lips pressed into a firm line and her eyes brightened.
Fuck, she was waiting for an answer. I grabbed my glass and took a healthy drink of lemon water to stall. What the hell had I been thinking? Andre was going to have my ass. Grey would probably order her death, and Parker would view her as a temporary plaything.
I loved those bastards, but this wasn’t a good idea. None of us were good men. We weren’t heroes. The best thing we had going for us was that we weren’t rapists.
Setting my glass down, I pressed the heel of my palm hard against my forehead trying to force some sense back into my unused brain.
I’d gone this far, so I might as well see it through.
Andre would never know if she decided to leave.
She had been passed out when I carried her in, so she wasn’t a threat.
“Do you know what fate had in store for you, my little killer?” I dropped my hands to cup my knees. I didn’t have to worry about her trying to run away from me right now. The door was locked with a key. The windows didn’t open. Such was the beauty of our guest apartments.
No guest was ever really innocent, and this was our insurance that they wouldn’t cause trouble. The same went for Killer. She couldn’t escape the place without my permission. The best she could do was steal a knife to try and slice me up.
I wasn’t an arrogant fighter, but she couldn’t whip me on her best day. Not when she was barely one hundred and twenty pounds.
“Sex trafficking,” she said blandly as if the truth didn’t faze her. Except there was a tick under her left eye. She was bothered all right. She just had on a brave face.
I could respect that.
“Correct.” I leaned toward her. “Patrons who pay very well frequent the girls all day long to use their bodies as they see fit. The only silver lining is that they’d keep you drugged out of your head so you wouldn’t remember much.
If you’re lucky, you’d be kept in decent living quarters to serve the wealthiest of the men. ”
Amorette’s gaze grew darker with each word that left my mouth. “And if I were unlucky?”
I chuckled. We both knew she’d be among the unlucky ones.
She’d already gotten on Randall’s bad side.
Maikel let the handler have too much power over his branch of operations to step in on her behalf.
The only thing there for her now was pain, then hopefully death.
“You’d be Randall’s pet for his amusement, and then when he loses interest, for the soldiers.
” I kept my words as pretty as possible, but there was no way to cover up the brutality waiting for her there.
Her face paled. Finally , she exhibited at least a drop of self-preservation.
She swallowed hard and glanced toward the windows. I expected her to be upset, to beg for release. But she didn’t.
“I’ve yet to hear you give me any alternatives.” Her words were firm and her tone made of steel.
Digging my fingers in my knees, I straightened. “You have two choices. You can go back. There’s a pilot waiting and ready to take you straight to Randall. Or,” I drew in a deep breath, “you can work for us.”
Her head snapped back, and a sneer covered her face. “What do you mean work for you?”
Did she think I meant sex? Killer was gorgeous, and my dick twitched to imagine her full of lust and need, but I’d never cross that line.
I hadn’t lied when I told her I preferred my women willing.
And she was anything but. In fact, I suspected she’d try to bite my dick off if she ever got her mouth close to it.
“We’d find you something appropriate for your skill-level, if you decide to stay here.
” Something that would require constant surveillance.
Andre was going to tear my ass up.
She barely let me finish my sentence before she hit me with another question. “What do you mean by pilot ?”
“We’re a two-hour ride from Randall.” I was careful not to say Maikel’s name in front of her. The less information she had, the safer my brothers and I were.
“Those are my choices. A criminal or a victim?” She couldn’t hide the disgust in her tone. “I want to go home. I have a family. A life.” She pressed her hand to her chest, curling her fingers against the thin fabric of the t-shirt.
“You’re dead to them now.” My words cracked through the room. It was callous, confirming what was probably her worst fear, but no matter what possessed me to give her a better life, I wouldn’t risk those of the ones I loved. “A survivor or a sex slave.”
Amorette shook her head. “You might as well state it plainly.” Her lip curled in a fierce grimace and her eyes sparkled with defiance. “The only choice you’re giving me is to be a victim–or an accomplice.” She spun around on the stool to face away from me as sobs wracked her body.
I allowed her that play. Who was I to take any more of her pride than the Institution had already stripped from her? Without warning, she doubled over her knees and screamed at the floor.
The sound would haunt my sleep for the rest of my life.
It wasn’t the sound of a woman afraid. The deep, anguished notes were those of an animal trapped in a corner with no reasonable way out. And I’d done that to her.
Clenching my teeth, I kept my gaze trained on her. The first time I saw her, I hated her. She was a fighter. She was determined not to be broken. It didn’t matter what they did to her or what she witnessed, she fought.
Maybe I wanted to know her, to understand what made her tick. Although hearing her now, I realized I should have left her there. Amorette would never see us for the people we were. Whether she joined us or not, we were the bad guys. She’d hate me for who she’d have to become to survive.
Join the club.
Her hand reached toward the glass plate with the half-eaten sandwich before she fisted it and brought it back to her lap. Her sobs continued to shake her shoulders. Minutes passed, and she still hadn’t turned around, even though her cries had softened to sniffles.
They sounded so alien coming from her. Every time I’d seen her, she was tough, untouchable. Now she seemed fragile, perhaps even breakable.
I almost touched her shoulder, but I didn’t. She wouldn’t welcome my touch. And I didn’t have the right to comfort her.
I was no white knight , I reminded myself cruelly.
My phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out and cursed.
Andre: V was feeling sentimental. He allowed Grey to leave with a mild lashing. He’s currently passed out but he’s fine. We’ll be back tonight. V had us do an errand for him before we were able to leave.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
A mild lashing to Vicente meant half his back was stripped off. The errand was a way for Vicente to delay them from coming back here. He loved to prolong suffering, no matter who it was on the receiving end. That cunt didn’t care who he hurt, it was all a sadistic game to him.
Killer might always hate me, and I might hate myself, but neither could come close to the abhorrence I had for Vicente and the Institution.
I’d just learned from an early age there was no escaping it.
When you were born into this life, it claimed you.
The only way out would be prison or death, and neither worked for me.
I needed to go make sure our supplies were stocked up. If Vicente let Marcos do the whipping, Grey would need something extra to dull the pain.
“Do you have a decision?” I stood from the stool, kicking it back under the counter.
Slowly, she swiveled back around. Her creamy skin was flushed pink, shiny with the tracks of her tears. So many tears, they even clung to her eyelashes.
“Fuck you.”
Shrugging, I headed toward the door. If she was trying to push me to decide for her, she’d be disappointed with the one I’d choose. Let her stew on it for a while.
“Where are you going?” The stool scraped the floor and I twisted, just in case she tried to attack me. She was a fighter, after all. Luckily, that wasn’t what she had planned. Her glowing gaze speared me.
“I have things to do. I’ve wasted enough time here with you.” Confident she wasn’t going to come after me, I made up the distance to the door.
“You’re leaving a butcher knife on the counter?” Was that shock I heard?
I used the key to unlock the door and held it open as I turned my head toward her.
“The door will be locked, and the windows are shatterproof for anything less than an atomic explosion. Yes, you have access to water, a toaster, a knife, and anything a common apartment would have. But, you will not be able to leave unless I let you out.”
“Are you saying…” She took a step forward.
“Yes,” I dropped my chin as I met her stare.
“My only concern is that you can’t cause trouble.
Kill yourself, I don’t care. I gave you a way out, and if you don’t want to take it and don’t want to go back to Randall, you have another option.
” I laughed, but it shook too much to be as cutting as I’d hoped.
“Hell, that would make my life a hell of a lot easier.”
“Accomplice, victim, or death,” she murmured, her eyes trailing to the knife.
Disappointment I wasn’t expecting flared up at her sudden interest in suicide. I thought she was stronger than that. But the truth was, I didn’t know her enough to know anything other than she had a death wish.
We’d see what she chose when I came back later.