4. Echo
ECHO
“I’m yours for the night,” the woman kneeling to the left of me said, reminding me she was there. “How may I service you?”
I kept my gaze forward, counting the number of private boxes occupied for today’s live auction.
We were in a mid-sized box at the Grand Palace Opera House. The auditorium seats below were empty, but not so much for the four levels of loges in the shape of a horseshoe.
Oliver and Solei occupied spaces to my left and right; we never sat together but were always close enough to get to one another if shit got a little crazy.
I pulled the silk hood covering my face down a little more before responding.
“Is kneeling what they teach you to do?” I asked, deepening my voice to mask it.
We weren’t supposed to be here. Bidding on Everwood property was a death sentence for my family and me.
“Uh… Um…”
I closed my eyes and took a breath, trying hard to quell the irritation building in my chest.
The society didn’t look out for all their people, only the ones who were useful. But the orphans, kids who were wards of the state, didn’t have a choice.
It was either join up or die. Some of them didn’t know I existed; the stories about my family were far from their world.
My goal wasn’t to be a savior; I simply wanted to set them free.
“When the curtain opens, I want you to stand by the call button and bid at my command.”
“O-Okay.”
She was shaking like a leaf, hands balled into fists on her thighs. This one was meant to serve; the one who’d enter during the auction was meant to seduce. To throw high rollers off their game.
The more invested in the experience, the more money spent down the line.
“I.. Are you him?”
Was I him?
I tipped my head back to get a better look. She was still staring at the floor, but her fingers weren’t balled tight anymore.
“Am I who?” I asked, knowing the answer but needing confirmation.
The automatic curtains began to shift as she whispered, “The man who buys our freedom in secret?”
I’d never been sure if word had gotten around about what me and my siblings were doing. Breaking every rule in their book, doing exactly what my mother hadn’t wanted.
“The auction is about to begin,” I said in response. “Move to the bid button.”
She jumped up and scurried to her new spot, slender legs barely covered. It was cold as fuck in this place, and I knew she had to be freezing.
“Knock, knock,” a silky voice called out before thick, barely covered legs appeared in front of me. “I’m here to assist with anything else you’ll need tonight.”
They treated this one with a little more respect. Fed her good, too. With my hood still covering most of my face, I couldn’t see hers.
“No need,” I said, flicking my hand toward the exit. “See yourself out.”
She stayed rooted in place for a beat, more than likely stumped by being sent away twice. And once she got to my sister’s loge, the same would happen. Eventually, she silently slipped out the room.
My phone buzzed beneath my cloak, a single vibration indicating a text.
I slid it out and read Solei’s message.
That new contract we’ve been waiting on just came in. JC is the target. Marked urgent.
Mm.
My inside source hadn’t failed me yet.
The auctioneer’s gravely voice silenced the room and gave me time to think. Urgent contracts always became bigger than initially laid out, needing more attention than most. Attention I didn’t have to give at the moment.
But this job was important and now was the perfect time to execute.
Solei wasn’t ready; she was too reckless, and I needed Oliver for other shit.
Hold.
I can do it.
Do as I said. Focus on today’s task. I’ll handle it.
She didn’t respond, and I flipped my phone over.
The first lot up for auction was a three-story brownstone on the west side in Collective territory, opened at twice the estimated value. Not because of the property, but what came with it.
Three stories.
Three fully initiated society girls over the age of twenty for sale. Buying their freedom wasn’t possible and would blow my cover sooner than I was ready for, but a few boxes across from mine lit up with bids.
I wished I could save them all, and maybe one day I’d find a way to do it, but for now, we had to move discreetly.
After the second lot came and went, another piece of real estate outside my territory, I sat up.
“This is our bid,” I said.
A five-thousand-square-foot warehouse on the outskirts of Everwood. Owned by a private company with no ties to the society.
Five underage girls were for sale. Too young to be initiated.
The number started just over five hundred thousand, and my helper hesitated before pressing the button, either afraid for the girls or herself. If I won, she came too.
The bidding escalated quickly, numbers leaping in hundred-thousand increments. On my cue, the girl pressed the call button once, then again, the panic from before gone. I watched the other boxes in view; two stayed in, while three had dropped out.
One belonged to the Carroway faction, society loyalists, and the last place those girls needed to be. The other, according to the skip-trace I’d run that morning, worked for a proxy broker, not Society-affiliated, but well funded enough to muddy the paper trail.
A bid flashed crimson on the panel, slightly illegal, but not enough to push whoever made it out. The auctioneer rang a warning bell, then improvised and singled for a sudden-death, winner-takes-all round.
“Go up five,” I ordered, knowing Solei and Oliver would purposely bid under.
The Carroways didn’t have the funds to compete.
My box lit up a solid blue, announcing me as the winner.
I stood as the curtain closed and pulled my hood back.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
She visibly weighed her options, her big innocent eyes bucking in my direction.
“Mercy,” she answered barely above a whisper. “D-Do I belong to you now?”
I waited until she found the courage to look at me.
“You don’t belong to anyone anymore,” I told her, pulling the cloak’s hood up again. “Follow me.”
Solei and Oliver would stay behind until another lot within our reach came about. Hopefully enough to save two more helpers tonight, but sometimes we weren’t that lucky.
I led Mercy down one of the side staircases, leading to a payment booth where I paid for the warehouse using an encryption key. The funds would bounce before landing where they belonged. Based on today’s date, it’d arrive in just enough time for my exchange with the O’Sullivans later next week.
My new real estate was in the perfect location to do business.
Here…” I handed Mercy a card with instructions on the back after we were cleared to leave. “Get into that black SUV over there and follow what’s on that card.”
She took a step back as if I were playing a trick on her, arms dead at her sides. I didn’t have time to be gentle.
“Mercy, look at me,” I demanded.
I pulled my hood to the tip of my hairline so our eyes could actually meet.
“Every second we stand here could cost you your life. The driver is a trusted ally…” I pointed to the card clutched in her hand. “Follow those directions and don’t deviate.”
The less she knew about every move to be made from this point on, the easier it’d be to keep her safe until she reached the West Coast.
“I’m glad you aren’t a myth,” she whispered, walking around me to get to the truck.
I watched until Lucky pulled from the curb, then slipped back into the theater.
The Carroway loge was high and centered on purpose. Mostly for security to keep an eye on all exits from every direction, but Jeremiah Carroway was too arrogant to keep a team with him.
I stood outside the curtain for a second, blending in with the dark hallway.
“Keep doing that,” he groaned from the other side, a whimper dripping in fear following.
I secured the silencer on my gun and slipped inside; the girl, perched between Jeremiah’s thigh’s had her eyes shut tight with his fingers threaded in her curly hair.
Sick bitch.
“These are the moments I live for,” I mused, pressing the silencer to the back of his skull.
He pushed his victim away and tried to stand, but I got my free arm around his neck to keep him down.
“Do you know who the fuck I am?” he growled breathlessly as I tightened my hold.
“Who you are means nothing to me, Jeremiah Carroway. And if I had the time, you’d get more than a bullet.”
I cracked him over the head with the butt of my pistol, then put a hot one in him after taking a step back.
“A-Are you going to kill me, too?”
I locked eyes with the girl assigned to his box; she’d backed herself into a corner, years of what I could only guess was mental and physical torture, keeping her silent until now.
“I’m sorry if I scared you,” I muttered, tugging my hood down as I concealed my weapon. “Follow me. I’ll lead you somewhere safe.”
There was no time to wait and coax, not when the auction was about to end and my chance to get out undetected slipped away.
Either she took a chance and followed or stayed and faced the consequences of my actions.
I poked my head out the curtain and looked down the hall both ways before ducking out and taking the same stairwell toward the side exit, light but quick footsteps trailing me.
She followed until I came to a stop a block away, where another truck waited.
This one had been meant for me, but I ushered the girl inside instead.
“From here on out, your life belongs to you now.”
I shut the door and got out of dodge, sending a text to Oliver and Solei.
Done. Leave now.