31. Grace
31
GRACE
T he smell of animal manure burned my nose hairs, as if I were covered in it.
“Grace,” a soft voice whispered. “Grace, wake up.”
I knew that voice. But from where?
“Please,” the girl cried. “Wake up.”
My eyelids fluttered open, and I couldn’t see through the blurriness.
A chalky and bitter taste made me gag as my head throbbed. I tried to sit up, but the dizziness was too much. I grabbed on to what felt like a metal cage. Instantly, I was thrashing around, eyes wide open, pulse pounding endlessly in my ears, and sweat sliding down my spine. The metal bars vibrated with each desperate movement, sending hollow echoes through the barn’s musty air.
Slowly, my vision cleared, the darkness giving way to thin shafts of dusty daylight that filtered through the weathered boards.
My memory followed suit, playing out like a horror movie in my head.
Don’t panic. Breathe. You’ve prepared for this.
My inner voice was right. I’d learned techniques to escape a cage if I ever found myself in one again. Yet I couldn’t think clearly.
I balanced on my knees, rocks poking into my skin as I felt my body to be sure I had clothes on. The last time I woke up in a cage, I was in only a bra and panties. But I was still in my jeans and now-dirt-ridden white sweater.
I quickly took inventory of my surroundings.
A line of cages went on as far as I could see in a barn that had seen better days. The air was thick with fear and desperation, heavy enough to almost taste. My fear, my desperation. But also that of the girl still calling my name, begging for my attention.
I followed the voice, my gaze sweeping over girls huddled behind sturdy metal bars. Some were in bras and panties, their skin covered in mud. Others were fully dressed and as clean as if they’d just arrived, terror evident on their pretty faces.
But when my attention finally landed on the blonde across from me, relief and horror commingled, making my heart stutter then surge to life despite my prior knowledge that Josh had taken Fran.
“Are you okay?” My voice didn’t sound like my own.
Her long, wavy hair was tangled in knots, like some asshole had had his way with her. But thank God she still had on her clothes.
Tears slid down Fran’s blotchy cheeks. “I’m scared,” she cried, those familiar green eyes—so like her dad’s—filled with terror so profoundly strong that I wanted to kill the bastard who had shattered her perfect world.
I grabbed hold of the bars, squeezing as though I had the superpower to disintegrate them. If Brian saw his daughter now, he would go on a murderous spree. Then again, if I got out of this cage, I would too.
“You’re our only hope,” Fran said in a small voice.
She had too much faith in me.
Girls around us whispered the same message.
You’ve always wanted to save victims in situations like this. Now is your chance.
A strangled laugh broke out in my head. As much as I would like to be their savior, I had no way out.
But you do. Find out where you are. What’s around you? Who’s behind this? What do they look like? Is there a guard, or several of them, outside? Are there cameras in the barn?
I knew Josh was Zane. I knew he had kidnapped Fran as part of his revenge on me.
I didn’t see any cameras. This place wasn’t state-of-the-art. Zane’s father hadn’t liked cameras. He didn’t want evidence to come back and haunt him.
Still, I threw out the question. “Does anyone see cameras in the barn?”
“There aren’t any,” the redhead piped up in the cage next to me.
“Tell her everything you know, Eve,” Grace urged.
Eve’s piercing blue eyes focused on me as she hugged her bare waist. “I’ve been here for a month. It seems the buyers pass me up each time. I don’t know if that’s good or bad. But I somehow have become Harris’s sex toy, and since I’m tainted, according to him, no one will buy me. So after my initial shock wore off, I tried to learn as much as I could when Harris brought me to his room. The layout of the house. The people in it. Listening to conversations. Anything I could to hopefully find a way out.”
“Harris? Not Josh?” Maybe Josh Kinley had a third alias.
Eve looked at Fran. “She knows both of them.”
She knew Josh, but who was Harris?
“Harris is Sabine’s son,” Fran explained, chewing on her bottom lip. “Sabine is my dad’s former waitress.”
Another puzzle piece fell into place. Brian had wracked his brain trying to figure out why Sabine stole his folder, which was still a mystery. Nevertheless, I knew of the woman, at least.
“I thought she was a sweet woman,” Fran said. “Whenever I spent time with my dad on breaks, I helped out at the restaurant. And Josh”—she trembled—“seemed so nice and caring as Ryan’s counselor. I guess that was a lie.”
“How does Sabine know Josh?” I couldn’t figure out the connection.
“Her son, Harris, sold drugs for Drew Lopez’s sister, Loretta,” Eve said.
I recalled Brian saying that Arturo had met with a Loretta Lopez in Nashville. More pieces of the puzzle were beginning to fit.
“Sabine and Harris have been watching my dad and me for a long time.” Fran sniffled. “Why?”
I couldn’t bring myself to tell her that she was in a cage because of me.
I rose on shaky legs. “Listen up. We will get out of here. How? I don’t know yet. I need each of you to be strong. Dig deep for that fight in you.”
The rustling sound of girls standing up echoed through the high-ceilinged barn.
“Does anyone know where we are?” I asked. “Are there guards outside the door? Are we still in the state of Massachusetts? What day is it?”
After John had purchased me, he’d kept me drugged until I woke up in the backcountry of Missouri.
“Freetown, Massachusetts,” one girl said.
“The Freetown Forest, to be exact,” Eve added.
“Guards are roaming the property,” Fran chimed in. “I saw them when I got out of the van. They didn’t drug me like they did you.”
I had a feeling I knew why. I was happy she hadn’t kicked and screamed. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have seen the guards. But Fran was a fighter.
Eve gripped the bars. “Josh dumped you in the cage last night. You’ve been here for about fifteen hours or so, if that helps.”
The dark-haired girl in the cage beside Fran pulled down the long sleeves of her shirt and covered her hands. “They all have guns on them.”
“Grace knows how to use a gun, Laura,” Fran announced.
“Listen to me, all of you.” I rolled back my shoulders. “They probably have more than guns. But don’t let that scare you. I need you to obey them for now. Help is coming.” Don’t give them false hope. But I had to do something to instill courage in them. “I have a family member who’s a detective. I also have three scary brothers, and Fran’s dad can be just as lethal as my brothers. All of them will tear up every city in this state to find Fran and me.”
I had to believe my own words. I had to believe Brian would never give up. I had to believe my brothers wouldn’t either.
“Fran, I’m in love with your dad.”
I felt she needed to hear that. She needed something to latch on to, something happy. I did as well. No way was anyone going to take my future with Brian away from me. I was through being a victim.
“I knew it.” Her smile never reached her eyes, which was understandable given the circumstances.
“I will do everything I can to get us out of here. Tell me you believe me.” Again, I needed to fire her up. I needed the strength I knew she possessed.
I couldn’t stand by and wait to be rescued. They might never be able to find us. And I had promised myself if I was ever in this situation again, I would fight to the death.
“I believe you,” Fran said. “Is my dad okay? Sabine coaxed me into the van, telling me that he was in a bad car accident. At first, I panicked. Then I got into the van and knew she was lying. I hate myself. My dad taught me to be aware, untrusting of people.” With trembling fingers, she curled hair around her ear. “And Ryan? He went to the bathroom, and I didn’t see him after that.”
“Your dad is fine. I don’t know about Ryan.”
“I hope he isn’t part of all this,” Fran mumbled.
For Ryan’s sake, I hoped so too. Otherwise, Brian would rip that boy’s limbs to shreds.
I felt sick knowing that Fran had been part of Josh’s plan all along because of me.
Suddenly, the door creaked open, and the rustling sound of girls moving in their cages followed by their collective intake of breath echoed through the barn.
Then dead silence—the kind that came before something terrible happened.
Footsteps drew near. “Ladies, it’s showtime for one of you.”
I could hear the laugh in his voice.
“It’s Harris,” Eve bit out. “I want to slice off his dick.”
“Eve, I heard that,” Harris said, excitement in his voice. “But why would you want to cut off my big cock? You love it.”
The tall, lanky man, who couldn’t be older than twenty, stepped into view. His beady eyes were cold, predatory as he smirked at Eve. “You and I will go a few rounds later for that comment.” Then he turned to me, evil pouring off him in waves. “So, you’re the one Josh is chomping at the bit to have. You’re not all that fuckworthy. But tonight is not about the Grace Hart. Tonight”—he grabbed his groin—“is about my little obsession.” He stabbed his thumb in Fran’s direction then pivoted on his heel.
“Hey, asshole,” I barked. “Where’s your bitch of a mother? I want to meet her.”
She had to be a deplorable woman to allow young girls to be sold and raped. I wanted to lock her in a cage and let her experience every horror she enabled—the helplessness, the terror, the searing physical pain, and the deep, venomous trauma that had made me pray for death. Maybe then she would understand what it meant to be a young girl sold like cattle.
Harris stiffened, his back muscles tightening through the Henley he was wearing. Then he grabbed Fran.
She kicked and screamed, glancing at me for help.
I stood up straight, held my head high, and blew out a breath, hoping she got my message to stand tall and breathe. The more she fought, the worse off she would be.
She gave in to Harris, her chest rising.
I balled my hands into fists. “Take me. I’ll show you a good time.”
He finally secured Fran's wrists with a zip tie then dragged her out of the cage. “You’ll get your chance but not with me. Come on, sweetness,” he cooed to Fran, sniffing her hair. “We need to pretty you up even more.”
Those big green eyes of hers sliced through me, and guilt overpowered my rage. Brian would blame me for his daughter’s plight. I would never be able to face the man I loved—who made me feel like I mattered, who treated me with the utmost care and made me feel whole again.
“Fran, I promise we’ll see your dad.” I didn’t have a way out yet.
Harris sneered. “Shut the fuck up, bitch. Your turn will come soon enough. And from what I gather, you’ll get to watch everything in action.”
He yanked on Fran’s arm as the two of them left the barn.
I paced the cage in a circle, opening and closing my fists, then whipped off my bra.
“What are you doing?” Eve asked.
“Getting us out of here.”