Chapter 3 #2
Although, again, using probably wasn't the right word. Julia was a damn good investigative journalist, and she never backed down from a story, no matter what danger it might put her in. Maybe he’d be a little more worried about that danger, but Julia was married to Domino Tanner, a member of the world-renowned Prey Security’s Alpha Team.
There was no way the man would allow anyone to harm a hair on her head.
Especially now that the couple had started a family of their own.
In fact, he’d probably spent days arguing with the fiery redhead when Nathan had anonymously sent her information about the trafficking ring.
He’d want her to pass it along to someone else, let them take the risks, and Julia would argue back that no one would do a more thorough job than she would at investigating the trafficking ring that specialized in abducting and training blue-eyed women to be sold as sex slaves around the globe.
Azure was relatively new on the trafficking scene, but its reputation was already stellar, and it already had a long list of wealthy clientele.
Because it had picked a niche and specialized in it, it meant that people with specific tastes flocked to their doors.
You’d think that if you were going to buy yourself a sex slave, the color of their eyes wouldn't matter, and yet the list of hundreds of clients and prospective clients said otherwise.
Add in the fact that Azure was discreet, and provided top-quality products, and it was no wonder business was booming.
“Products,” Nathan muttered in disgust as he tossed the tablet onto his bed.
Damn, he hated that word.
He wanted to break the teeth and rip out the tongue of anyone who said it in relation to living, breathing human beings, so their mouth was ruined, and they wouldn't be able to speak any words ever again.
Sewing their lips closed and forcing them to die an agonizingly slow death from starvation had been a daydream he’d indulged in more often than he probably should have, considering he himself had used that same word when referring to the women occupying the basement cages.
It wasn't the same. Nathan knew that.
Yet he couldn’t help but feel he deserved that same punishment.
Would it ease the suffering of the women he’d played a part in destroying to know he was dead?
“Of course it would,” he growled, snatching the tablet back up and continuing to read the article.
Maybe he could pretend he was there for noble purposes, that the big picture mattered and sacrifices had to be made along the way in order to do the most good, but none of that changed the fact that he was just as responsible for what those women were going through as everyone else in this building.
Sending intel to a reporter to get the word out, make sure young women with blue eyes knew they weren't safe out on their own, wouldn't help much, but it was something.
Azure had people everywhere, constantly looking for easy prey.
Jogging alone at night in the local park, leaving an office after the other cars had already left the parking garage, slipping out the back door of a club when you didn't know the man you’d decided to make out with.
Or stopping a car at the side of the road to help a stranger in need, like Emma had.
Emma Beaumont. The woman shouldn’t be lingering in his mind. She was no different from any of the dozens of other women who passed through these cages as he worked to find enough intel to bring the whole operation crashing down.
Yet she was different.
It made no sense, yet the fact that she’d been taken while doing something she had to know was potentially dangerous, but done it anyway because all she’d been focused on was a person in need, made her different.
The way she’d played things smart, taking his advice to eat to keep her strength up, and the way she was clearly scared yet was clinging to anger, fighting the best way she knew how, that made her different.
There was a spark in those blue eyes of hers that told him she had the spirit and determination to survive this.
“You're not going to break easily, are you, blondie?”
That wouldn't bode well for Emma. Nathan gave every single woman the same advice. Don’t fight. Accept your fate and acquiesce. He didn't tell them that because he wanted them to lose their souls, become mindless toys for depraved men to play with, but because he wanted to spare them pain.
If he could save every one of them, he would. He went out of his way to tag them as they were sold, so they could be tracked and extracted. It was a risky thing to do because he had to balance it with ensuring his cover wasn't blown.
Not because he wouldn't trade his life for any of these women, but because he was needed.
This was what he was good at. He saved lives.
That sounded incongruous with the fact that he was currently part of a human trafficking ring, but working undercover was written into the very fabric of his being.
Savior.
That’s what he did. Starting as a child donating bone marrow to save his brother’s life, it had become his identity, and after a tour in the military, he’d looked for other avenues to save.
This one was unconventional, and not for everyone.
Most people didn't have the necessary skills to be able to compartmentalize their emotions, but he did.
Because it was the only way.
This ring needed to be dismantled, and he was positioned to make that happen.
So he buried his emotions deep, where they couldn’t interfere with what he had to do.
This wasn't his first undercover job, and it wouldn't be his last. There was nothing else he could imagine doing.
It wasn't easy accepting that there would be some people he couldn’t save, and sometimes that big picture faded in and out of focus, but in the end, his savior complex kept him right where he was.
These women needed him even though they didn't know it, and he didn't take their unwilling sacrifices lightly.
So he stayed the course, forced the big picture back into focus every time it wavered, forced himself not to slam his fist into the face of every man who worked there, who mocked the women, took pleasure in their pain, and forced himself to pay attention to everything.
You never knew which tiny detail would be the one to burst the trafficking ring wide open.
If only it were as easy as spending a week there, gathering information to hand over to the cops.
That might shut down this specific building, but it wouldn't solve the problem.
It was a Band-Aid at best, a short-term solution to a long-term problem.
There were people who had to be found before Azure could be dismantled for good.
Which meant allowing these women to suffer.
Hate it as he did, Nathan didn't see an alternative.
“Please take my advice, blondie. Don’t fight too hard. I know you think it’s the only way, but it’s not. These people …” Damn. These people would love her fight and take pleasure in destroying her spirit. She didn't understand, and he had no way of explaining it to her.
Scanning the rest of Julia’s article, Nathan felt a small sense of satisfaction that helped ease the frustration he felt about not having what he needed yet to do the job he’d been hired to do. Maybe he couldn’t bring down Azure yet, but he could put as many dents in the operation as possible.
Closing down the article, he made sure to clear it from the browsing history in his tablet. Nathan then brought up the feed to the camera, drawn almost against his will—and definitely against his better judgment—to check in on Emma.
“What are you doing to me, blondie? You shouldn’t matter, I shouldn’t be able to see you, yet … you’ve made it impossible not to see you,” he murmured as he checked her cell only to find it empty.
It shouldn’t be empty. It had been hours since she was taken to learn her first lesson. What you want doesn’t matter, do as you’re told.
Switching camera view, he brought up the feed from each of the training rooms, and that’s when he saw her.
Huddled on the floor as Deacon held a cattle prod pressed against her side.
The vision had Nathan seeing red, and without conscious thought, he tossed the tablet aside and stormed out of the room, about to do something he would no doubt wind up regretting.