Chapter 12
CHAPTER TWELVE
Wade
Ileft Marie sleeping in my bed at midnight, her face peaceful against my pillows, her breathing deep and even from the painkillers.
Every instinct I had screamed to stay, to watch her sleep. I wanted to be there when she woke, to make sure she understood she was safe.
Even in sleep, a faint, adorable curve on her lips hinted at the playful girl I knew was buried beneath the trauma, and I wanted to see her smile without the shadows.
But I had work to do, and I'd always planned for tonight.
I'd lied to her about the timeline. I told her we'd move tomorrow night, giving her twenty-four hours to rest and prepare. But I'd been planning to go in tonight since the moment I'd reviewed the evidence.
The window was now, the teams were ready, and I wasn't going to wait another day while those women suffered in that underground hell.
Marie didn't need to know. She didn't need to stress or spiral, or try to convince me she should be part of the extraction. She needed to sleep, to heal, and to wake up to the news that it was done and those women were safe.
That was the kindest thing I could offer her.
My office was as I'd left it earlier, except the evidence was currently in use. Monitors displayed building schematics and guard rotations, along with tactical plans ready for final review. Thomas was already there, and Kyan and Alastair were on a virtual call.
The two of them made an interesting pair. Kyan was tall and built like he could break someone in half, with dark features and an easy smile that made people underestimate how lethal he was.
Alastair was quieter, shorter by an inch, with sharp eyes that missed nothing and a pale precision that made him one of my best assets. They'd worked for me three years now, worked together even longer, and their partnership made them highly effective.
"Boss." Kyan looked up onscreen. "We're ready to move. Entry teams are in position, medical is standing by, and our plants inside confirm guard rotations are exactly as predicted."
"Good." I moved to the monitors and pulled up the live feeds from our people inside The Orion. "Rules of engagement?"
"Shoot anyone underground who poses a threat," Alastair recited, his voice calm. "Secure the women first, eliminate threats second. No survivors among the staff."
"And the clients?" Kyan asked.
I thought about Marie's receipts, about the names I'd recognized, about men who paid six figures to hurt women who'd been stolen and broken. "Same rules apply. Anyone down there is complicit. Anyone down there doesn't walk out."
The men nodded. They understood. This wasn't justice in the legal sense—this was the other kind. The permanent kind.
"The women will be frightened," I continued, pulling up Marie's notes about the girls. "You tell them immediately that Marie sent you. That she escaped and brought help. Keep them together, keep them calm, get them out as one group. Their cooperation depends on trusting that this is real."
“She told you to say that?" Alastair asked.
"She did." She had earlier when she'd gone through the evidence with me. She’d insisted that the girls would be terrified of men with guns, that they'd need to hear her name to believe this was a rescue and not something worse.
"She knows them and knows what they need to hear. We follow her instructions exactly."
"Understood." Kyan made notes on his tablet. "What about evidence?"
"Find the ledger," I instructed. "Marie mentioned that they keep detailed records of every transaction. I want it brought to me intact. No copies, no digital traces—I want the original so I can see every name of every bastard who's been down there."
"And then?" Alastair's expression was carefully neutral, but I caught the edge of anticipation.
"Then we decide who else needs to pay." It was simple and clean, the way I'd been handling problems for decades.
We finalized the timeline—breach at 0200, extraction complete by 0400, and the women transported to the private medical facility I’d arranged by 0500. Fast with no room for resistance or mistakes.
"I'll be overseeing from here," I said, settling into my desk chair. "Thomas and I will have direct comms with all teams. Any problems, any deviations from the plan, you report immediately."
"You're not going in?" Kyan looked surprised.
"My place is here." I glanced at my iPad, at the security feed showing Marie sleeping peacefully in my bed. "With her. Making sure this operation runs perfectly so she wakes up to good news instead of more trauma."
Understanding crossed Kyan's face, something knowing in his expression. Alastair nodded, his expression growing distant. They'd both worked for me long enough to recognize when my priorities had shifted.
By oh-one-thirty, everyone was in position. I had six monitors running—building schematics, security feeds, team locations, medical readiness, communication channels, and Marie sleeping in my bed.
That last feed sat on my iPad propped on the desk, angled so I could glance at it constantly. So I could make sure she was still peaceful, still safe, still exactly where I'd left her.
"She's beautiful," Thomas observed quietly, nodding at the iPad. "And you're gone for her."
"Completely." No point denying what was obvious. "Forty-seven years old and I'm falling in love with a woman I met two days ago. My sons would find this hilarious."
"Your sons fell just as fast," Thomas pointed out. "Eastons don't do anything halfway."
"No, we don't." I watched Marie shift in her sleep and curl around the pillow I'd been using. My scent was all over her now—in her hair, on her skin, in the sheets surrounding her. Exactly where I wanted it.
“Which is why this operation has to be perfect. She needs to see these women safe and believe she did something good so she can start letting go of the guilt."
"The guilt of surviving?" Thomas asked.
"The guilt of managing their suffering." I'd seen it in her eyes, heard it in her voice when she'd tried to explain why she didn't deserve to go home yet.
"She thinks she's complicit because she made schedules and kept them alive.
She thinks she doesn't deserve to be saved because she wasn't in the rooms servicing clients every night. "
"But she was still captive."
"I know that. You know that. She doesn't believe it yet.
" I pulled up the tactical display and checked positions one more time.
"But when she sees those women tomorrow, when they tell her they survived because of how she protected them, maybe she'll start to understand that she's just as much a victim as they are. "
The thought of what Marie had endured down there for five years made violence twist inside me and made me want to go to The Orion myself, to personally handle every man who'd created that nightmare.
But my place was here, coordinating and ensuring this went perfectly.
Ensuring Marie woke up to victory instead of more trauma.
"Two minutes to breach," Thomas called, pulling my attention back to the monitors.
I watched the feeds as my team moved into position. Kyan and Alastair led the main entry team, with three other squads covering secondary exits. Medical personnel were ready with transport, everything exactly as planned.
"Breach in three, two, one.”
The feeds showed the doors blowing in and teams flooding into the underground structure. Gunfire sounded in controlled bursts, professional. Shouting in multiple languages sounded as guards tried to mount a defense, only to be eliminated.
"First group of women secured," Kyan's voice came through the comms a while in. “We told them Marie sent us. They're scared but cooperating."
"Good. Keep moving." I tracked their progress on the schematics, watching as room after room was cleared. More women were secured, more threats eliminated, and the operation flowed exactly as designed.
An hour in, Alastair's voice crackled through. “I found the ledger. It looks like years of records. Securing now."
“Good. Continue the extraction."
I glanced at the iPad, and Marie was still sleeping, oblivious to the rescue being carried out in her name. Her face was peaceful in the low light, and protectiveness tightened in my chest. She'd never have to go back there, never have to see that place again. I was erasing it one bullet at a time.
"All women secured," Kyan reported at oh-three-forty-five. “Nineteen accounted for. They're asking for Marie."
"Tell them she's safe and they'll see her tomorrow," I instructed. "Get them to medical. Thomas, confirm transport is ready."
"Confirmed. Five vehicles en route."
I watched the feeds as my teams efficiently moved nineteen traumatized women out of their prison and into vehicles that would take them to the private facility I'd arranged. The underground structure that had held them became cleared of anyone who might talk.
By oh-four-thirty, it was done. The women were safe, the threats were eliminated, and the ledger was in my possession. Clean, fast, and exactly as planned.
"Excellent work," I told my teams through the comms. "Return to base. We'll debrief in six hours."
I leaned back in my chair, letting the tension drain from my shoulders. It was done. Marie could wake up tomorrow knowing those women were safe, that she'd succeeded, and her guilt could finally start to ease.
"The ledger?" Thomas asked.
"Make a copy.” I was already thinking three steps ahead, already planning how each name would be handled. "I want two complete copies of every page, every name, every transaction. One for me, and one for Kyan and Alastair."
Thomas nodded, already typing notes. "Anything else?"
"Yes." I leaned forward, tapping the screen that showed Kyan and Alastair's location as they supervised the final cleanup. "Open a secure line to them. I want to speak with them directly."
Within seconds, Kyan's voice came through. "Boss?"
"The ledger you recovered. Did you read it?”