CHAPTER 26 ROMAN
ROMAN
The girl is shaking. She’s not loud or hysterical. Just… shaking. Small, fractured tremors travel through her bones like she is trying to disappear inside her own skin. She looks about fourteen but I could be wrong because she is so emaciated.
Dirt streaks her face. Dried blood marks her knees and thighs and I would bet my life most of it is hers.
The thought makes my jaw lock harder. She is curled in on the cold concrete, her arms wrapped around her ribs like if she holds tight enough she won’t fall apart.
All I see when I look at her is Fae. A burning rage builds in my chest at the thought I have broken bread with men who facilitate this. It’s like nothing I have felt before.
I’m trying my hardest not to go over there and help. I can tell my presence alone is affecting her. I don’t blame her. I’m a scary motherfucker. I know that most people around me know that, but for a fleeting moment, I wish I could control how others perceive me enough to help her.
On three separate occasions, I’ve gone to give her my jacket and stopped. It’s soaked. Not just splattered, soaked. Thick, tacky blood darkens the already black fabric and the cuffs are stiff from where it dried after the first body hit the ground. It smells heavy and metallic.
I can’t put it on her… can I?
Shit, she’s already traumatised enough. I can’t imagine how it would go, me of all people dropping a bloody jacket in front of her and saying, “there you go.”
What was done to this girl was efficient cruelty.
It’s the kind of horror men justify to themselves until it becomes routine.
I have no idea who lies in the bloody puddle at my feet, but I will find out.
From his designer shoes, I’d say he comes from wealth, but I haven’t seen him in my circles.
Taking another quick look at the girl, I catalogue her injuries clinically.
This piece of shit is going to feel my wrath and I will make sure every injury she has been inflicted with is repaid in kind.
My attention shifts to Fae. My beautiful little Tinkerbell.
She hasn’t hesitated once. Not when she slit those men’s throats.
Not when she beat the other black and blue.
I can still see it, the way she moved in clean, certain strides.
Her hands were firm, her eyes hard, and she never once looked back at me for reassurance. She didn’t need to. She just acted.
And now, as I watch her sit cross-legged on this filthy warehouse floor, she tries to make herself smaller like she isn’t a natural-born killer.
It does something to me. Like two different creatures in the same skin.
Fae the killer, the assassin who never hesitates or second-guesses, and Tinkerbell, my fragile little one who whimpers in her sleep and holds me when she has a panic attack.
I have never had more respect for another human being than I do for her.
I can’t hear what they are saying to one another.
My focus is on my earpiece. I can’t tell Fae yet, because her focus should be on the girl in front of us, but Riggs and Victor found two more victims. They don’t seem anywhere near as bad as this girl.
According to Atlas, both were picked up a week ago after a night out in Colchester.
I hope Fae takes that as a win. Granted, we haven’t found Robyn, but there is still so much information in this warehouse that I know Atlas and Victor will find something useful.
I see Fae reaching out a steady hand towards the girl, her movements confident but soft, something in my chest shifts. Not towards the girl, but towards Fae.
She shouldn’t have to be this strong. She shouldn’t have to know how to do this and yet, she does.
As if she feels my eyes on her, she looks over her shoulder at me.
To others she may seem controlled and confident, but I can already tell by the tightness around her eyes and her drawn-up shoulders that she is cracking.
My hands itch with the need to rip her away from here and hold her close, but I know I can’t.
“Where are they?” she demands, still holding the girl’s hand as she gently rubs circles on her palm.
“They will be here soon,” I say as softly as I can. “Atlas is driving now, the perimeter is clear.” The girl whimpers at that and Fae’s head twists back to her as she tries to soften her features again.
“Can you tell me what worried you there?” she asks quietly.
“Wh… who is coming?” The girl bites her lip so hard I’m worried she is going to start bleeding, but Fae just gifts her another soft smile.
“My twin brother,” she responds. “He is as tall as this fucker,” she flicks her head like she’s pointing to me, “but he also will not hurt you, okay? I promise you that.”
“Oh.”
“Can you tell me your name now, angel?”
“M… my name is Hazel.”
“Thank you, Hazel. You’re being very brave. We will give you some clothes soon, okay? We just need to wait for the rest of our team,” Fae states as I shift on my feet uncomfortably.
“How long?” I mutter into the earpiece and turn away from the girls.
“Ten seconds,” Atlas responds as I hear his footsteps echoing down the corridor.
Breathing in a sigh of relief, I nod a hello to Atlas and Felix as they enter the room and watch their emotions play out across their faces. Seeing it projected on a screen in a van is nowhere near as harrowing as the real thing.
Felix looks like he is two seconds from throwing up. His eyes bounce between the broken girl on the floor and his sister. It’s not hard to see he is making the same parallels I did.
I hold my hand out for him to drop some clothes into it, then turn and take small steps towards the girls. Fae notices and releases Hazel as she stands in a slow, measured way before walking towards me. All her movements are calculated, like she is trying not to scare a mouse out of its trap.
As soon as the clothes are in her hands, she turns back and gives them to Hazel. Hazel offers a tentative smile before pulling the oversized hoodie over her malnourished body. Fae turns away, giving her as much privacy as she can and nods towards the unconscious body on the floor.
“Take him to the dungeon.” Both the guys move in to pick him up.
Felix detours and pulls Fae into a hug. Her whole body melts into his embrace and his face crumbles with pain. For a moment I think he might cry, but he clears his throat and cups the side of her face.
“I have some of my guys coming through to clean up, we won’t be able to talk until after…” He side-eyes Hazel and Fae nods, knowing he doesn’t need to finish the sentence. After initiation. “I don’t say it enough, Fae, but I am proud of you.”
“Thanks,” she whispers, her eyes starting to shine.
He nods and I watch as they pick up our new prisoner from the warehouse floor before taking him towards Atlas’ van. I presume we will be transporting the girls we found here to the safe house and I am just about to usher them out when Victor walks through the door.
He looks distressed. I don’t think I have ever seen him this out of sorts in the ten years I’ve known him and for a moment I worry about the toll this is taking on everyone.
Looking up from the floor, he gasps and stumbles. His face looks like he has seen a ghost. His knees buckle as he braces himself against the wall.
“H… Hazel?” he stammers, and I spin to look at the girl again as he clears his throat and takes a step towards her. “Hazel?”
Hazel is staring down at the floor, her arms still wrapped tightly around her body, but this time she is covered with clothes. At the second “Hazel,” her head whips up and her breath comes out in short, panicked gasps.
I don’t know what the fuck is going on, but I take a protective step in front of her, putting my body between them. I don’t believe Victor is part of this, but I am learning quickly that I can’t trust anyone, and I will be damned if anything happens whilst Fae is in the room.
“Victor!” Hazel cries, and a small shoulder connects with my back as the girl runs into the arms of one of my oldest friend.
He scoops her up like she is something precious, but his whole body is coiled tight.
Her sobs echo through the room as she continues to shake in his hold.
Victor presses a gentle hand to her head, smoothing her hair as she nuzzles into his neck.
He raises his eyes to look at me and vibrates with an unleashed fury I know he can usually keep in check.
Tilting my head, I scrunch my nose and turn to Fae, who is giving me a what the fuck look. At least she’s clueless too.
“You know each other?” Fae asks incredulously.
“Are you okay?” he mumbles to her, ignoring Fae. “Stupid question, sorry.”
“I thought you’d never find me,” Hazel wails.
I know they’re not going to give us answers, so I shuffle back to Fae.
I plant a hand at her lower back and kiss the part of her forehead that isn’t covered in blood.
She looks like an avenging angel and whilst it is a turn-on, seeing how well she can handle herself, I can’t wait to wash the filth off her.
She doesn’t deserve to be contaminated by these people any longer.
“Come,” I mutter to her and guide her dazed body towards the door.
I don’t need to look to know Victor is following with Hazel in his arms. Without using the back door, we make our way quickly through the warehouse and out to the rental. I open the passenger door for Victor and he slides in, still holding Hazel to his chest.
I open the front passenger door as Fae glides into her seat.
Leaning over to strap her in, those big green eyes stare at me, so many different emotions warring through them.
The words I love you sit on the tip of my tongue, catching me off guard.
I never thought they were important, but now that I’ve thought them, they will consume me until I say them.
Giving her a quick peck on the lips, I make my way around to the driver’s side and start the engine, letting it idle to warm up.