Chapter 3 #2
Letting on that he was terrified to see her was only going to tip his hand, let them know that maybe he wasn't as loyal as he pretended to be.
They probably wouldn't outright suspect him of being a traitor, although that was exactly what he was, but they would up the pressure, make things worse for Ally, pushing him as hard as they could to see what happened when he cracked.
Which meant he couldn’t crack.
Bouncing his knee as he sat in a communal living room on the ground level of the warehouse, he waited for the others to come for their weekly meeting.
They assigned trainers and discussed who was ready to be photographed and put up for sale.
They discussed meeting any upcoming buyers, ready to negotiate purchase prices in the coming week.
Usually, he dreaded these meetings. Just because he had learned to effectively shut down his emotions, didn't mean that he didn't feel empathy for these women.
They didn't deserve this, and it grated on his sense of justice that they were innocents suffering for no reason other than someone else’s pleasure and desire for wealth.
Mateo was a good hacker, and he’d set up a bug in Azure’s system when he first arrived, to send buyer information to his encrypted phone.
That intel was then passed along to Falcon, who organized for Prey to go in and rescue as many of the women as they could.
He was sure that Nathan had his own system in place to try to get as many of the women out as possible.
“You're early,” Griffin Finch said as he strolled into the room.
The man was nearing forty and was the one in charge.
Well, he wasn't the head of the ring, but he was the second in charge, the one who ran the day-to-day operations of Azure.
Griffin only made an appearance on the day they had their meetings, and on the days when they had buyers in.
Other than that, he delegated work to the rest of them.
If anyone had decided to go after Ally to get to him, it was this man.
Struggling to keep the emotion off his face and out of his voice, Mateo merely shrugged. “I think you know why.”
Griffin grinned. It wasn't a nice sight.
The man was almost impossibly handsome. Like if you were asked to draw the perfect male specimen, it would be the man currently lounging propped up against the wall, grin still in place.
A chiseled jaw, high cheekbones, dimples that gave him a youthful face, light brown eyes that were almost golden contrasted stunningly with his dark hair, and it was clear from looking at him that he spent hours a day in the gym.
The man should be gracing the covers of romance novels and magazines, not running a sex trafficking organization.
“You’ve met our newest addition, then,” Griffin said lightly, like doing this amused him. Maybe it did, the man was a sick pervert after all.
“I don’t appreciate you snatching my neighbor,” he snapped irritably. Maybe he shouldn’t be displaying any emotion, but his instincts told him this was the way to play things, and he wasn't going to argue with them.
“He saw her?” Deacon asked, somewhat excitedly, as more of the men strolled into the room.
“Of course I saw her,” he growled. “Taking her was stupid, even if I know why you did it,” he told Griffin.
“And why did I do it?” the man drawled.
“Because you're testing us after Nathan deserted. Nathan was an idiot, he fell for the girl and couldn’t let her go.
Who knew that beneath his straightlaced, somewhat boring personality, he had it in him to get obsessed about anyone.
But taking my neighbor wasn't the way to test my loyalty.
Now the cops are going to be swarming my building, and I'm going to have to be interviewed because she lives right next door to me.” He shot a disapproving look at the assembled men, although it was hard not to lunge across the room and grab Deacon, and rip him apart limb by limb because it was apparent he had performed the abduction.
“Didn't look like she had anyone to notice she was missing,” William piped up, offering one of those evil smiles of his, and Mateo knew the man couldn’t wait to get his sick hands on Ally.
Not happening.
“Sure, she has no family or friends, it was what made her safe. You know I don’t touch the women here because mindless sex slaves don’t get me off.
I probably shouldn’t have tapped the well so close to home, but I'm a sucker for a redhead, and she’s such a mousy little thing.
Regardless, she has a job, and someone will eventually notice she’s gone.
When they do, I'm going to be dragged in for an interview. That won't be good for Azure.”
“You're not going to give us away,” Hank said confidently.
“Course not,” Josh added with a grin.
“Glad you're all enjoying this so much, because I can guarantee you, just like Griffin decided to test me, he’s got something planned to test the rest of you. I'm looking forward to watching it,” he told the others.
Griffin laughed, and Mateo knew he was right. The older man would be planning tests for all of them, he just hated that Ally was his. That even though he’d given her up to try to protect her, she’d wound up here anyway.
“I want to be her trainer,” he said, which was probably not his smartest move, but at least this way he could mitigate some of the damage done to her.
“Thought she was just a well to tap,” Henry said, brows narrowing in suspicion.
“Besides, she only just got here,” Adrian added. “We don’t assign trainers until they pass phase one.”
“Trust me, the girl will be compliant. She’s going to be easy to break.
Why do you think I chose her for sex? She’s so desperate for any attention that she’ll do whatever you ask to get it.
I can get her prepped for sale quicker than anyone else because I already know what buttons to push, and honestly, I’ll feel better when she’s long gone, because I really don’t appreciate you setting things up for me to get a visit from the cops. ”
In reality, he just didn't want any of these men touching her.
Didn't want her anywhere near them.
But Ally was here, and while he couldn’t just get her out, he could do whatever it took to make sure this was as easy for her as possible.
It didn't even come close to making up for getting her into this in the first place, but then again, nothing could. Even if Ally learned the truth, that he was undercover, she’d never be able to forgive him for being the reason she was abducted and was about to be tortured and sold.
Unless …
Nathan had tried to get Emma out when he realized he was falling for the woman. He and Falcon had even come up with a plan to fake her death, even if it wasn’t put into play because Emma was sold quickly, given her fight and the fact that some men had a penchant for women like that.
Maybe he could go to Falcon and see if they could try that same plan for Ally. Get her the hell out of here and someplace safe.
But it was a big risk.
They were already down a man with Nathan gone.
Now only he and two other unknown men were undercover.
That made gathering intel that much harder, and if he risked getting Ally out and getting caught, that would only leave two men behind.
Possibly not enough to dismantle Azure and destroy it from the top down.
It would be selfish to put his own wants above the job he’d agreed to do.
I'm sorry, little mouse, I can't risk trying to get you out. I have to focus on the bigger picture, on justice for all, not just for you. I’ll never forgive myself for this, but there’s no other choice but to leave you right where you are.