Chapter Sixteen
Before
Amirah
Clearly, I’m not going to get any help from my brother. But Lily was worried, and now I am too. How can I find Jewel, though? I’ve done everything. Lily already said she’s gone to the police, and they told her she’d probably run away, but we both know it’s something more than that.
I get out my phone for the hundredth time to text Freya about this, but I just can’t. Not when she’s hurting so badly.
Amirah: Miss you, friend. Love you xx
That’s what I message instead. At least this way, when she’s ready, she knows I’m here for her.
Down the hall, glass smashes. Lucas’s laughter drifts to me from a distance.
I smile. There’s one person who might be willing to help me—he’s certainly not focused on The Brotherhood like Gage is right now. Lucas is distracted. He’s angry, confused, and it’s perfect for me.
My fists clench at my sides as I rest back against the wall.
Fuck Gage and him being too busy to help me, telling me to drop it.
I’ve been fuming since I spoke to him last night.
What an asshole. He just wants me to stay hidden and protected behind closed doors, but I’m done with that.
I’m trying to help find out where Jewel is.
I need to do something, anything, to solve this for Lily.
Cursing travels down the hallway, along with the sound of another glass smashing. I kick off the wall of my bedroom, then move into the hallway. Lucas comes stumbling toward me.
I grab his arms, and he falls into me, laughing.
“What the hell, Amirah?” he grumbles, righting himself. His eyes are bloodshot and the tang of whiskey sours his breath.
“Have you sorted everything out with Freya?” I ask and he scoffs.
“No.”
Both of them are hurting after she killed his mom, and it kills me.
I’ll always have my best friend’s back, no matter what, but that doesn’t mean I don’t feel for Lucas.
His heart was broken in the worst possible way.
He’s like an older brother to me. He’s always been around, ever since we were kids.
But maybe his being broken means he’ll have more energy for this than Gage did.
“I need your help,” I say, looking past him down the hallway. Voices and footsteps get closer, and I grab Lucas’s arm, pulling him into the bathroom and closing the door behind us.
“What is it, Amirah? I’ve got a bottle to finish.” Lucas takes a long drink.
I grab my phone out of my pocket, bring up the photo Lily sent me of Jewel, and zoom in on the logo. “Can you tell me if you’ve seen this logo anywhere before?”
Lucas grabs the phone from my grip and studies it for a painfully long minute. His eyebrows draw inward. “Looks like Bill’s Freight,” he says.
I open, then close my mouth. I didn’t think he’d recognize it so quickly. But he’s right. I’ve only been down to the docks once or twice with Gage, but I remember that logo on one of the containers.
I snatch the phone back off him. I have to go check it out now—Jewel could be there.
Lucas grabs my wrist, stopping me. I glare at his bloodshot eyes.
He’s a mess, and I feel for him, I really do.
He just lost his parents. I grew up around them.
All they wanted was power, and they’d do anything to make it happen.
I never liked Nadine—she was a bitch—but to Lucas, she was love, and this has to hurt. We are both basically orphans.
“Amirah,” Lucas says in a deep voice. “You can’t just show me this, then leave. What’s going on?”
I yank my wrist out of his grip.
Do I tell him about Jewel? It would be easier to find her with his help, but now that I have a lead, and it’s pointing to the workers on the docks, I’m nervous to share too much.
What if people don’t talk to me for fear of him?
The Brotherhood controls the docks. But I have to try, and I don’t think I can do this alone.
Lucas has always protected me, just like my brother. I need his help.
“I have to find out what happened to my friend. She’s the one in this photo,” I say, and Lucas stares at me for a long second, as if he’s connecting the dots between the photo and my mission.
“And you’re going down to the docks now, aren’t you?” he asks, and I nod. “I’m coming with you.” He moves past me before I can say anything, and I follow him quickly down the stairs.
He pushes his feet into his shoes at the front door and stumbles before grabbing the door for support. “They got some stuff down there I want, anyway,” Lucas says, and I reach for his pocket. He pushes my arm away.
“You’re drunk. You can’t drive.”
He tosses me his keys, then we head out the front door and into the crisp afternoon air.
I slide into Lucas’s bright-red Bentley Mulliner Batur, and Lucas slams the passenger door shut. I hit the start button and shift gears, dirt flicking up around us. I shrug. The gardener can deal with it tomorrow.
I relax back into the leather seat, watching as the world flies past in a blur.
The silence stretches out around us. “What were you planning to do this afternoon?”
“Nothing,” Lucas mumbles, staring out the window.
“Sounds eventful. Any news with the Hood?”
“Nope.” Lucas brings the bottle to his lips, and I look away.
“Fuck, you’re chatty today, aren’t you?” I ask as we drive through the city. “Are you okay?”
Lucas snorts. “Wish people would stop asking me that.”
“If you need anyone to talk to, you know I’m here for you, don’t you?”
Lucas glances my way for the briefest second. There’s warmth in his gaze, and the corner of his mouth lifts slightly. “I’m not signing up for your therapy sessions, Amirah, no way in hell. This is me, dealing, and I’m doing fine,” he says, and I sigh. I can’t push him; if he wants to talk, he will.
“Offer will always be there for you.”
Lucas nods. “I know, lil sis. Now tell me about your friend.”
I spend the rest of the fifteen-minute drive to the docks telling him about Jewel, the good times we spent together, and all I know about her disappearance, which is basically nothing.
We pull up in the parking lot, the ocean spread out in front of us.
I shield my eyes from the bright afternoon sun as I spot large boats sitting docked on the water, with shipping containers nestled on them and more on the docks.
“Let’s head to the office first, and I’ll ask around,” Lucas says.
“I have no fucking idea why she’d be here, but I intend to find out.
If I discover Bill’s Freight is doing anything behind our backs, and especially if they’ve hurt some friend of yours, then they’ll have to answer to me.
” He hops out of the car and slams the door shut.
Thankfully, he sobered up a bit during our trip.
This is the only clue I have from Lily about Jewel, and I don’t know if this is going to be a waste of time or if something will come out of it.
Still, I’m not going to sit around, doing nothing.
Lily needs my help, and I won’t let her down.
She’s been there for me when I needed her, so now I’m returning the favor, and I have to admit .
. . I kind of like doing things to make a difference.
I’ve always sat around and watched others take control.
But what if I can do this too? What if I can help people in need?
I follow him through the parking lot to the large office building that’s surrounded by sheds. Rows and rows of shipping containers line the shore. Workers in reflective vests walk around, talking among themselves. A couple recognize Lucas and pretend to look busy. He ignores them.
Lucas opens the door to the office building and holds it open for me. There’s a young guy behind the desk, leaning menacingly over a woman around my age. Her hands are trembling in her lap. What the fuck?
Danger flashes in his eyes, his voice rising. “Do your fucking—”
“Hey!” I yell, and they both look up.
He steps back, and the color drains from his face, but I ignore him, focusing on her. Her cheeks are flushed and her chest rises and falls at a rapid rate.
I cock my head to the side. “Are you okay?”
She quickly nods, but I can see past the facade she’s trying to put up.
“Lucas, what brings you here?” the other guy asks, moving around the girl, and she subtly shifts her body away from him.
Lucas pins him with a heavy glare. “Speak to her like that again, and you are gone. Got it, Nick?”
Nick swallows and nods.
“Heard you got a new shipment of supplies that’ll heal my broken heart?” Lucas asks.
“Yeah, it’s loaded up in the shed, ready for inspection,” Nick says, looking up at Lucas like the sun shines out of his ass. Fucking pathetic.
“Oh, what a perfect time for me to show up, then. I’ll do some quality control.” Lucas grins, his hand on the door. Fantastic. I’ve come here to get answers about Jewel, and my apparent connection is off to sample some coke.
I cringe. “Lucas, what about—”
“Talk with Chelsea. I’ll be back soon.” Lucas walks back outside with Nick following closely behind him. What a waste of time. He was supposed to help me, not get sidetracked. Damn him.
Once the door slams shut, the girl behind the desk lets out a sigh.
“What a dick,” I say, and she laughs.
“Yeah.” She watches me closely. “What are you doing here? You don’t act like the usual people who come to pick up shipments.”
Straight to the point. I like her already.
“If I show you a photo, can you tell me what container it belongs to or if you recognize someone?” I ask.
She bites her bottom lip, her gaze moving toward the camera, then back to me.
“I’m Amirah Ledger. You won’t get in trouble for telling me anything,” I say, and her shoulders drop slightly. I reach into my pocket, pull out a fifty from my purse, and leave it hanging between us.
She looks from the money to me before taking it and shoving it inside her top. “I can try, but the containers are all the same.”
I pull out my phone, bringing up the photo of Jewel, and pass it over the desk to Chelsea. She takes it and zooms in. Then she frowns, her nose scrunching up.
“I can’t identify that container or her, sorry.” She passes back my phone and pushes her chair away from the desk. She walks around, brushing past me. “Follow me out,” she whispers and opens the front door.
What the hell? I quickly follow her out, down the three steps, and into the parking lot.
We head past one of the sheds, and Chelsea pulls me inside. Half the shed is full of crates that are wrapped in plastic; the other half is empty.
“I can’t talk in the office. You never know who’s listening, and I don’t wanna take my chances,” she says, her gaze moving from the roller door and back to me.
“I told you who I am. Anything you say to me won’t get you in trouble with The Brotherhood,” I reiterate, but she shakes her head.
“It’s not your brother I’m worried about.
You saw the way Nick treated me.” She runs her fingers through her short blonde hair.
“I have to be quick. I can’t tell you what container that was, but you won’t find your friend in a container kept here.
They knew you were coming.” She stops. Voices grow louder from outside the shed.
She leans in, holding on to my shoulder. “They cleared them all out.”
My stomach drops.
Chelsea steps back.
“What was in the containers?” I ask, suspecting the answer but wanting to hear it from her.
“You know . . .” She stops as footsteps smack against the concrete floor of the shed. My stomach lurches. I’m going to be sick.
“Here’s the second shipment. We’re still loading the rest in,” Nick says, and Lucas walks beside him. He looks our way, and Chelsea beelines for the door. I quickly follow her until we are a good distance away from Nick and Lucas.
I grab her arm. She looks as white as a ghost.
“If you don’t see me again, it’s because of this,” she says, and I shake my head.
“I won’t let that happen.”
The corner of her mouth lifts. “They need your help.” Then she pulls away from me and hurries back to the office.
I stumble backward until my back hits the shed.
This is so much bigger than I thought. This isn’t one missing person.
If what my gut is telling me is correct, it’s more than that—someone is holding a large group of women against their will.
Maybe even . . . trafficking them. Does my brother know about this?
Is The Brotherhood aware of these shipments?
They have so much on their plates with the new leadership, Lucas’s addiction, Freya, and the rumblings of discontent in the Hood . . . I have to do this alone. But I need more power, more resources, and for that, I need The Brotherhood’s help. I need my brother’s resources.
I want to save them all, but I have to start with saving Jewel.