12. Obi
OBI
I waited on the ship deck while everyone else climbed down the ladder to the RHIB first. Ryu and I exchanged more than one confused look as we stared at Volpe climbing after Caspian. I’d keep a careful eye on him. If he came within a foot of Leona, I’d shoot him.
Volpe was silent, observing us while following our directions without complaint as we assisted Leona and the other women to the now-cramped vessel. Edward waited as instructed with water bottles, towels, and the first aid supplies.
Volpe stood against the wall of the main salon after refusing the first aid.
He did, however, take a water bottle and sipped from it.
Even so, Volpe’s eyes moved everywhere. It was unnerving—though that could have been more because my emotions were undergoing a constant earthquake at the sight of our woman.
Leona was in a horrible state. The gash on her face was still bleeding and would need stitching.
It would scar if she didn’t lose her eye.
Her body was covered in bruises; she had flinched with my every movement as I carried her, which told me she had multiple broken ribs.
She was dehydrated and emaciated, not to mention a burning fever .
What kind of hell had she been through? Or those other women, who looked just as terrible as she did?
I felt like a volcano, pressure building and building beneath my surface. One crack in my exterior and I would blow. The spider-cracked glass of my heart was moments away from implosion.
I would repay the hell she suffered a thousand times over.
For now, Max Volpe would have to wait, but I signaled for Ryuji to keep a close eye on him.
Caspian and Ciel had already moved the rescued women to the main salon’s couch while Max stayed on the opposite side of the ship. The women were quiet and dazed. It would take them a few hours to realize this rescue was reality and not a figment of their terrified imaginations.
Caspian sat on the large sectional couch wrapping around the main salon with Leona under his arm, with Ciel on her other side holding her hand.
This superyacht was outfitted with sleek luxury.
I had chosen it for its speed, uncaring about its interior, but now the opulence looked horridly out of place next to the condition of Leona and the other women.
At least they could rest while we traveled back to the city.
I made my way to her. She looked up at me through her good eye—the other closed and bloodied.
My lips thinned. We’d need to tend to that wound. I cupped her cheeks and gently rubbed my thumb over her cracked lips.
Her good eye rimmed with red. She leaned into my palm. “Take me home, Obi.”
“Yes,” I murmured. Everything she asked for, I would give her. I crouched at her feet and pressed my forehead to hers before clasping Caspian on the shoulder and nodding at Ciel. They both tightened their grips on her.
She was alive. She was safe. We had found her .
I repeated the facts over and over inside my head, but it still did nothing to calm me. She was ours , and we let this happen to her.
I doubted I’d be able to breathe until her wounds were treated and she was tucked in bed at home. Even then, my rage would not be stifled. Not until the Albanians paid for this.
There was one glaring lesson this entire event had taught me.
We needed more power. If I was going to protect her, protect all of us, we had to be untouchable.
I glared at Volpe as Edward’s voice crackled in the radio in my ear. “The RHIB is secure. I can sink it, or we can take it with us.”
“Sink it.”
“Copy. Ready for the last part of the plan?”
“Are we clear?” I stepped to the salon doors and gazed out at the cargo ship looming in the distance from our stern. The motor yacht rolled in the swell of the waves. We were at an appropriate distance.
“Affirmative,” Edward answered.
I glanced over my shoulder to see Leona watching.
“Stay inside,” I commanded, making sure that there was plenty of space between us.
I walked to the footlocker I’d placed at the railing of the ship, where a rocket launcher waited.
I hefted it over my shoulder, aimed it at the hull of the Albanian ship, and fired.
The rocket flew over the waves, blasting a hole into the side of the Red Talon .
The ship listed, containers toppling one over another while flames exploded across the bow.
The heat flashed against our cheeks. Leona’s face was completely passive as the light from the explosion flickered in front of her eyes.
This hell would sink to the bottom of the ocean, along with any evidence it had ever existed.
Edward engaged the engine beneath our feet.
I nodded at my brothers, watching as they wrapped a blanket around Leona and again offered her first aid.
She waved them off, instead insisting to care for the other women first. She leaned her head on Ciel’s shoulder, and he met my gaze with tears in his.
Spider-web cracks threatened my control.
We all had much to process from the past three days.
“Edward.” I pulled myself up the exterior stairs and headed toward the flybridge so I could watch the ship sink. “Head back to New York. Get us close to the city, but don’t dock in the marina until we give the go ahead.”
“Everything all right?”
I thought of Volpe, then the women we’d rescued. “Fine. We just may be one passenger lighter.”
It would take hours to get back to the city, but before returning to the below decks I needed a moment to collect myself. I needed to regain my control before we faced off against Volpe. He would not return to the city without giving us answers.
I slipped my phone from my pocket and dialed Willow’s number. She answered on the second ring.
“News?”
“We’ve got her.”
She exhaled a heavy sigh. Her voice trembled. “Wynn will be so relieved.”
“We’ll be home soon, but we need your crew.”
“You do?” Shuffling sounded in the background. “How many?”
“Six.” I described their age ranges and visible injuries. They all looked to be in early twenties or younger. Most had been beaten, and likely raped. One had a broken ankle.
She sighed. “Send me where you’ll be and I’ll have them meet you there.”
“Thank you, Willow.”
I didn’t know what would happen when we returned to solid ground, but I would not let Volpe hurt Leona again. Even if I had to be the one to put a bullet between his eyes.