Chapter 17 #2
She’d escaped this punishment in the showers back before she was sold, saved by Nathan setting off the smoke alarm, but no one was saving her tonight.
She was going to be given forced orgasm after forced orgasm until she lost her spirit, gave up her fight, and accepted that this was all she was now.
A toy.
A pet.
Her body wasn't her own.
The orgasm that tore through her, making her sob, although not in the good kind of way, was proof of that.
August 8th
11:41 P.M.
Finally.
Despite it being almost midnight, the Kenyan air was still warm, and even though his reasons for being in Africa weren't for pleasure, he could still admire the beauty of the Masai Mara.
Nathan had been there once before, when he was a kid.
After his brother, who had been sick with leukemia for years had finally gone into remission, his parents had taken them on a safari.
Back then, little Nathan had been obsessed with animals. He’d wanted to be a vet, save all the animals, and he’d always ask to go to the zoo when his parents had some rare time to spend with him when they weren't working overtime to pay the bills and medical costs, or looking after a sick kid.
Then everything changed. His brother’s cancer returned, he donated life-saving bone marrow, and his brother once again went into remission.
But by then, the stress and strain of everything had taken a toll on his parents’ marriage.
His mom’s drinking was getting out of control, she was a functioning alcoholic, but she was drowning herself a little more every day.
Loud fights started being the norm in his home, and for a while, his dad and brother had even moved out because they’d had enough of his mom’s drinking and refusal to get help. But Nathan, even at eleven years old, hadn't been able to walk away. His mom needed help, and he needed to save her.
Eventually, he’d convinced her to go to therapy, and from there she’d slowly started to rebuild herself and her relationships. His parents reconciled, his dad and brother moved back home, and life moved on.
Until he realized the girl next door was being abused.
Then he had a new battle to fight, a new person to save.
It had taken him months to prove to the girl, who was twelve to his fourteen, that she could trust him.
He’d sneak out his bedroom window at night, climbing down the large oak tree by his room, and bring her food and clothes, talk to her, and bandage up any new wounds she had.
Only once he’d gained her trust was he able to convince her to come inside his house, meet his parents, and get their help.
He still remembered that night with crystal clear clarity, even though it was eighteen years ago.
She’d been thirteen then, so small for her age, and terrified, but his parents had listened, been supportive, and called CPS and the cops.
Thankfully, the girl had been removed from her home, placed in foster care, and moved away, and the two of them had lost touch.
He still thought about her sometimes, but knowing he played a part in getting her somewhere safe made him feel like he’d done something useful, meaningful, something with more purpose than spending seven hours a day in school.
But then the girl had been sent home. Her parents had regained custody, and he’d known from the look on her face as she walked down the garden path that she was aware she was walking toward her own execution.
The courts hadn't understood the evil lurking within her father. They’d thought they were doing the right thing, reunifying a family. They were wrong. She was dead by morning.
Only a few months away from graduation by then, that had changed the trajectory for Nathan’s entire life.
Saving animals wasn't enough, he was born to save people, and he vowed never again to make a mistake that would get someone killed. It didn’t matter that he’d only been seventeen, he should have stopped the girl from being returned home and convinced someone of the danger she faced in that house. He should have saved her.
Instead, he’d failed.
And it had followed him around the last sixteen years.
Now he’d failed again.
Emma was gone, suffering, so close he could almost feel it, and yet so far away.
They were sitting in a jeep about ten miles away from a home owned by Stephen Joseph.
A wealthy Kenyan man with a large estate in the Masai Mara.
Not only would his place be protected by armed guards, but they were quite literally out in the middle of an area that was teeming with wildlife that would be only too happy to kill them and possibly eat them afterward.
That made getting Emma out that much more difficult.
Even with a landscape that wouldn't provide a huge amount of cover, they could have moved in quietly, but with the threat of animals, they had to get as close as possible without being spotted. They couldn’t use drones since they were prohibited, and if they were spotted, they’d give themselves away before they were ready to make their move.
A move he was more than ready to make.
Nathan didn't even care that they didn't have all the intel they’d normally have. They had a location, and they’d managed to “borrow” a ranger’s jeep earlier to do a drive-by of Stephen Joseph’s property to get an idea of what they’d be up against.
They still had the jeep, and it gave them at least a semi-plausible reason to be out there, although that reason would be blown to hell if anyone got close enough to get a glimpse of them dressed in their tactical gear and armed to the teeth.
If worse came to worse, he would play the Azure card, pretend he was out there on official business, even though there wasn't really any that would take him to the other side of the world, and pray they didn't know he’d already ghosted the trafficking ring and they likely considered him either a traitor or knew he’d been there undercover.
“You ready?”
The voice startled him out of his thoughts, and he dragged his gaze away from the landscape around them and back to the man sitting in the seat on the other side of the small aisle.
Grover’s brown eyes watched him shrewdly, and he knew there was no point in lying to any of these men. On the long journey to Africa, there had been plenty of time to talk, and he’d learned some of the history of the guys and how they’d met the women they were now in love with.
From Trigger saving Gillian when her plane was hijacked, to a kiss with a stranger starting Brain and Aspen’s journey to happiness, to Grover meeting Sierra in Afghanistan and forming a connection.
It was only because of that connection that Sierra was still alive to this day.
If Grover had believed what everyone else had, that she’d abandoned her job and ghosted him, then she would have died in a cave after being abducted from the base.
One man’s determination had saved a life.
But Grover’s situation was different from his. Grover hadn't done anything to put Sierra in danger. What had happened to her was awful, but only the bad guys were to blame.
In this situation, he was the bad guy. Nathan could try to convince himself all he wanted that he was just doing his job, that he worked hard to ensure every woman had the best chances of being rescued after being sold, while still maintaining his cover.
None of it changed the facts that he had participated in Emma’s trauma, and he’d broken his promise and not gotten her out like he’d assured her he would.
“You're putting the emphasis on the wrong parts,” Grover said, even though Nathan hadn't spoken a word.
“What am I putting the emphasis on?”
“That you failed. That you promised to get her out, and she was sold.”
“That is what happened.”
“No. That’s only part of the story. You didn't get her out the way you said you would, that was outside of your control, not a failure in any way, shape, or form. And you're here now. You're going to do exactly what you told her you’d do and get her the hell out of this nightmare,” Grover said.
“And if I’m too late?” he asked, speaking his greatest fear aloud.
“He didn't spend all that money on her to kill her in a matter of days,” Doc assured him.
“Look, none of us are pretending that she hasn’t endured unspeakable things,” Trigger spoke up, his gray eyes full of empathy, but also determination.
“We don’t know what shape she’ll be in, but from everything you’ve told us about her, that woman is a fighter, and she won't go down easily. Trust that she’s holding herself together however she must. In a few hours, tops, she’s going to be back in your arms. Whatever happens from there happens, but at least you know she’ll be going home safe to her family. ”
The problem was, he wanted so much more than that.
More than he had any right to want after what he’d participated in, and how badly he’d failed her.
But Trigger was right, the most important thing was that Emma survive and be safe.