Chapter Twenty-Two
Harley
W hen I get to the steel table on the far side of the room where Gabe, Ryker, and Grayson are standing a few feet back with stricken looks on their faces. I approach slowly, coming to the side of the young girl who is silently sobbing as her body violently shakes within her restraints.
She is wearing a slip dress. The same as Sammy, but this one is white not black. Her wrists and ankles are being held down at each corner of the table.
“Hey, sweetheart, my name is Harley,” I say softly.
She looks up at me through her watery green eyes, but there’s no hope there. There probably hasn’t been in a long time.
“Can you tell me your name?” I ask. She shakes her head as her lower lip trembles. “Alright, that’s okay. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. Can I undo this wrist restraint and then you can undo the others if you don’t want me to?”
She watches me for a moment as she blinks slowly. The trembling has settled slightly, and she gives me a very small nod.
“I’m going to put my hands on this wrist.” I point to the one closest to me. “Once I get it undone, I won’t touch you again unless you want me to,” I promise.
When she doesn’t protest, I move my fingers gently against her wrist as I undo the buckle on the strap. I take a step back when she raises her arm and shakily moves it over her body to the other wrist.
Glancing up at the guys, I lock eyes with Ryker, and he mimics inhaling, holding it, and then exhaling. Following what he did, I take a deep breath, realizing that I had been holding my breath while watching the girl.
The buckle on her other wrist strap clanks together as she tries to undo it, but with how hard her hand is shaking, she can’t get it undone. Taking cautious steps to the other side of the table, I look into her terrified green eyes.
“Would you like me to help you?” I ask quietly.
She just stares up at me, tears streaming freely down her cheeks, but she lays back flat and moves her free hand to rest on her stomach.
I reach forward, making sure that she can see everything I do, and undo the buckle. I then slowly move to her ankles and do the same thing. When she is fully free, she doesn’t make a move to sit up or move her legs. She just lays there stunned—petrified.
Moving back up towards her head, I do what I wish someone could’ve done for me when I was hurt and scared.
“Okay so, whenever you’re ready, you can sit up. I can help you if you’d like me to. But again, it is all your choice. Until you're ready, I’d like to tell you who these guys in the room are. Is that okay? They won’t talk to you unless you want them to, but at least you can know who they are.” I offer a comforting smile.
She stares up at me, still not speaking or moving, but the more I talk the more her body seems to relax.
“So, the guy on the far left is Gabe. He is actually my dad. Then the guy right next to him is Grayson, and he’s a very good cook. Well, he’s trying to be anyway. Sometimes, the things he makes don’t always turn out amazing.” I chuckle lightly. “Then the guy on Grayson’s other side is Ryker. He can’t cook to save his life and honestly, it’s best if he just stays out of the kitchen at all times. Everyone is safer that way.”
My heart stutters as the first reaction besides terror finally comes over her young beautiful face. Her lips tilt up just the slightest.
She puts her hands palm-down on the table on either side of her and starts to push herself up slightly, but her arms shake under the weight, and she drops back down with a small grunt.
“Can I help you up?” I ask, furrowing my brows.
Her body jolts, but the brave girl nods anyway.
“Okay, you try to push up again, and I am just going to place an arm around your back and guide you up, okay?” I meet her eyes with mine, asking for permission.
She gives me a look of fierce determination and pushes up again. With my help she is able to sit up, and then I help her slide towards the end of the table so her legs are dangling off the side. Her slip dress barely reaches her thighs and shows just about everything through it.
Looking up at the guys, I ask, “Can someone find something for her to wear? I don’t want her to have to walk around in this any longer.”
Grayson and Ryker nod and walk off while Gabe stays close by. Stepping in front of the girl, I bend over slightly to catch her eyes. “How old are you, sweetheart?”
Her eyes roam over my face as panic begins to set in and her body begins trembling.
“Okay, take a breath. If you can’t or don’t want to talk, that's okay. Are you fifteen?” She shakes her head. “Sixteen?” Another shake. “Younger?” Nod. “F-fourteen?” I stutter slightly. She nods again. “Okay, sweetie, what do you think about getting out of here?” My voice sounds strained as I try to hold in my anger. “I know it might sound scary, but we just want to help you. So, if you think you can keep being super brave, then take my hand and we will leave here, get in a van, and head to a big building where a really nice nurse named Brielle will make you feel all better.”
As she stares at my outstretched hand, I give her all the time she needs to accept it. After a while, she gently places her ice-cold hand in mine. I keep my grip loose and let her hold on.
When she slides off the table, her legs wobble slightly, but she is able to right herself and show how fucking strong she is by raising her head and walking with me. When we get towards the door, I notice that they got the two others out of the cages. One girl and one boy. The girl is in the same white slip while the boy is in tight briefs. They have to be around the same age as the girl holding my hand.
Vance and one of his guys come through the door with sweatshirts, sweatpants, and socks. Raising a brow at Vance as he hands me a set for the girl holding my hand, he explains, “We learned to always keep clothes in our cars a long time ago when we started to do jobs. Never know who will need them or for what reason.”
Nodding in understanding, I glance at the girl still holding my hand. “I have these clothes for you.”
Before I can say more, she anxiously raises her free hand to grab them. She slowly releases my other hand, pulling the sweats up her legs and then putting on the socks followed by the sweatshirt.
I glance back towards Sammy, where someone has now laid a sheet over her and then look up at Cade, who is standing a few feet away from me. He gives me a sad smile. “Vance and his guys are going to take both girls.”
“Both?” I whisper in horror, attempting to keep myself calm for the little girl attached to me right now.
He nods. “We’ll talk about it later, alright? Let’s just get home and take care of these ones.”
After the girl is ready, her eyes bounce from my face to my hand over and over again. Holding my hand palm-up, she quickly grips it again and we go downstairs, the others following us after they put the clothes on.
Once we get outside to where the van is now pulled up to, the girl holding my hand stops walking, tugging on my hand slightly. When I glance back at her, she has tears gathering in her eyes as they frantically jump from person to person out here.
Stepping in front of her to block her view of all the people, assuming she is overwhelmed, I say, “Hey, it’s alright. I promise that everyone here is good. No one is going to hurt you again. We are just going to—”
My words are cut off when she squeezes my hand with more strength than I would expect from her and shakes her head rapidly. “Oak…” Her voice is raspy and quiet, making it hard to hear what she’s saying.
By now, everyone has noticed us not getting in the van and are watching from a distance, so it has grown quiet out here.
Furrowing my brows, I lean closer to her face. “Can you say that again, sweetheart?”
“Oakley,” she finally stammers out.
“Okay, is that your name? Oakley?” I press.
Shaking her head, she makes a sound of annoyance from the back of her throat and worries her bottom lip.
“Okay, can you explain more? I want to help, but I need to understand first. Can you take a deep breath with me?” She nods hesitantly. “Okay, ready? Breathe in.” I breathe in, and then slowly exhale. “And out. Good job. Do you think you can tell me what’s going on?”
“Oakley, she is—she is inside,” her soft voice rasps.
“Another girl?” I question, and she nods. Frowning, I glance up and find Gabe closest to us. “We checked everywhere, right?”
He nods slowly. “We found another girl downstairs, but she—” His lips thin, his eyes moving down to the girl, who starts rapidly shaking her head.
“Not Oakley. She’s upstairs,” she insists.
“Alright, sweetheart. Why don’t we get in the van and a few of the guys will go check the warehouse again, okay?” I suggest.
“No. You go. You have to go.” She lets go of my hand and steps back.
“You want me to go look?” I ask, and she nods. “Okay, but I need you to get in this van for me first, okay? Then a few of us will go look again.”
She nods and hesitantly walks towards Grayson, who is standing at the van door. He smiles softly at her and begins talking before helping her into the van to sit with the others.
Gabe, Noah, Ryker, Cade, and I head back inside to look around again.
“Do we really believe her? This could be a trap or something,” Noah says with a frown.
“It’s not,” I snap at him.
“He’s just voicing his thoughts, babe. It’s a valid point, and we should be careful,” Ry says as he walks next to me. “You alright?”
“Yeah, sorry today has just been a lot,” I grumble. “We should start upstairs where she thinks the girl is and then work our way back down. Plus, we got distracted by the room with the victims when we were up here.”
Everyone agrees, and we head back upstairs, checking each room slowly. Looking in every corner and possible spot someone could be hiding. When we get to the last office that was across from the room with the cages, I head inside first. After checking the corners and under the desk that sits in the middle of the room, we find nothing.
“There’s nothing. She seemed so sure that this Oakley person was up here. Should we go check downstairs now?” I ask, my forehead creasing with worry.
Noah shakes his head and walks behind the desk, looking at the back wall where two bookshelves are. “Hey, Rage, remember years ago when I got myself in deep shit with that casino a few towns over?”
Rage grimaces but nods. “Unfortunately, yeah, I fucking remember that,” he grumbles. “But why are you bringing that up right now?”
“Because that room they shoved me in while waiting for you and Sugar to show up was a hidden office room.” He grins and points at the bookshelf on the left. “Kinda like this.”
He points out how the bookshelf isn't lined up with the wall like the other one and the flooring has marks on it to the side of the shelf where it looks like it slides open. Noah feels around the shelf until his fingers hook into some kind of handle in the back. His grin widens, and in his excitement at finding the hidden room, he doesn’t open it with caution.
Instead, he slides it open quickly, and before he can even look inside a blur is flying forward and tackling him to the ground.
“Shit!” Noah curses and easily flips her onto her back, straddling her thighs and trying to pin her down.
Her white hair is long and braided all the way down to her hips. She is extremely pale and completely naked. I quickly make my way to them and drop down to my knees next to her. She is grunting and trying to get Noah off of her, but it’s clear she doesn’t have much strength.
Grabbing her cold, pale cheeks between my hands, I manage to get her steel blue eyes to look at me. “Hey, you’re okay. We are here to help, but we need you to calm down and then he can let go of you. Can you calm down and talk to me?” I ask softly.
Her sunken in, exhausted eyes roam over my face before she very slowly nods her head. Looking up at Noah, he looks hesitant but begins to move off her and then releases her wrists.
“Do you have them?” she rasps.
“Have what?” I ask her, but she isn’t looking at me. Her focus is on Noah.
“Please. Please. I’m done. I swear. Just give it to me,” she begs, her eyes watering as her hands begin to shake.
“Is she talking about drugs?” Ry whispers to someone behind me.
Noah must have heard what Ryker said because his face goes from confusion to understanding. “Okay, I have some, but I need you to get up and leave this place first, okay?”
“No! I can’t! Not without the pills! Give them to me! He swore! Give them to me!” she yells hoarsely as her face contorts with fury.
She lunges for Noah again, taking a swing at his face and managing to land a punch directly in his nose. I leap forward and wrap my arms around her chest as she fights and screams for the pills and how we can’t do this to her again.
Someone comes up next to me and does something to her because then she slowly calms in my arms until she becomes lifeless, drooping down until I can barely hold her up.
“What?” I ask in confusion, looking up at Gabe who is standing next to me with a syringe in his hand.
“Doc gave me a few of them in case we had anyone who was struggling like this. It’s just a sedative to keep her asleep until we can get her out of here and figure out what to do,” Gabe explains.
“Whatever they were giving her, she must have been cut off cold turkey for her to be reacting like this,” Noah seethes.
“Let’s get out of here,” Ryker says as he squats down in front of me and picks the girl, Oakley, up bridal-style before carrying her out of the room.
Taking a deep breath, I stand up and glance into the hidden room which is more of a bare closet than anything. Just plain white walls and a single light bulb in the middle of the ceiling. Sucking in a breath, I can’t help but think about the basement I was trapped in for years.
These people have gone through the same thing if not worse. We’re not so different. “They’re safe now,” I whisper, inhaling. I’m safe now.
Hands touch my shoulders. “They are safe now,” Cade repeats quietly. I lean back against him, and he kisses the top of my head. “You don’t need to be here any longer. Let’s get out of here.”
We head downstairs, but the swirling thoughts in my head about how close we came to missing Oakley makes me pause again before going outside.
“What’s wrong?” Cade asks when he notices that I’ve stopped.
“We need to check again. The downstairs. I mean, we are going to burn this disgusting place down, but we almost missed Oakley. What if we miss someone else and then they get burned alive because of us?”
Cade stops my rambling when he wraps his hand around the nape of my neck and bends down to lock eyes with me.
“Breathe, baby girl. Vance and his guys went through all of the downstairs rooms. There is no one else. They combed through checking for more people and any information they could find. We checked upstairs thoroughly. Let’s turn this place of horrors into ash and go home.”
“Okay,” I breathe, and we head outside to where everyone else is.
My eyes immediately home in on Gabe and Vance where they seem to be in a quiet heated argument. Vance rolls his eyes and glances over at me and heads towards us.
“We rigged the place. Figured you might want to do the honors,” he drawls, holding out a small detonator to me.
Eyeing him warily, I ask, “Why would you figure that?”
He shrugs. “You need it. Don’t let that ridiculous mind of yours overthink it. I’m giving you an opportunity to blow some shit up. Take it or leave it, girl.”
Glancing at Cade, he shrugs, so I take the small device.
Vance explains, “Press the red button in case that isn’t obvious. Wait until everyone is at the end of the driveway, then press and enjoy the fireworks.” He smirks.
Everyone loads up into the cars or get on their bikes and start heading out. Grayson stays with the victims in the van that Atlas is driving while Cade and I head over to the truck that Ryker is in with Oakley. I climb in the back with Oakley, and Cade gets in the driver’s seat.
We wait to make sure everyone leaves before heading to the end of the driveway. Cade stops, and I turn in my seat looking back at the warehouse before pressing the button.
Nothing happens at first, and then the sky lights up.
With literal fireworks.
“What the fuck?” Ryker laughs before a loud boom sounds, making all of us jump and then the warehouse blows up into a million little pieces. As Cade begins driving away all that can be seen is black smoke above the trees.
Inhaling, I look down at Oakley and gently run my hand over her forehead. “It’s over now. You’re going to be okay. I swear it.”
Grayson
One of the men that came with Vance taps on Atlas’s window where he sits in the driver’s seat. They speak for a second, and then Atlas starts up the van. The girl who Harley helped earlier turns on her bench seat, frantically looking out the window behind her.
“Hey, sweet girl, everything is going to be okay. We’re taking you to our home. It’s really big and completely safe, I promise.”
“What about Oakley?” she asks hesitantly.
“Let’s find out, okay?” I say, and she nods.
Grabbing my phone out of my pocket, I call Ryker because I know I saw him come out with a girl in his arms a few minutes ago. He answers instantly.
“Hey, Ry, you’re on speaker and…” Deciding to use this to my advantage because she doesn’t seem to want to say her name, I ask, “What’s your name, sweet girl?”
“Tia,” she begrudgingly mumbles.
“Tia and I wanted to know if you guys got Oakley,” I say to Ryker.
His voice sounds through the phone speaker. “We sure did,” he chirps in a fake upbeat voice. “She is coming home with all of us. Does that sound good, Tia?”
She nods, and a very small smile forms on her lips.
“That sounds great,” I respond for her. “Thank you, Ry.”
After ending the call, Atlas nods back at me and we take off, others following after. As we get farther away, a loud boom can be heard in the distance, and the victims we saved startle in their seats. After reassuring them everything is okay, I stay quiet while they relax and a few of them fall asleep.
Since we’re all splitting off and taking different paths home just to be extra safe and not draw too many eyes, it will take us close to an hour to get back to the club. I text Nerds and give him all the current information I know about the people we rescued.
Oakley, who looks to be in her twenties and according to the texts from Ryker has been on drugs. Then Tia, the sweet younger teen who has injuries on her wrists and ankles from the restraints. Harley also said she had some cuts and bruises on her thighs. There were two others in cages that we helped out. They mostly all have minor injuries, and everyone is dehydrated.
We didn’t get the two from the cages’ names, but it’s clear they know each other or are even related based on how he ducked around us to get to her, and they have stayed holding hands since but not speaking much at all.
I hope Brielle and Doc are able to get more information from everyone so Nerds and I can work on finding out where they came from and if they have family they can go home to. But in the meantime, Nerds is filling in Doc and Brielle on the information so everyone can prepare for those that are coming and we can give them the best care possible.
We can give them a safe space to land, and that’s what we are going to do. I can’t even begin to imagine the things they’ve been through. I don’t even want to let my thoughts go there, so I need to focus on what I can do: helping them feel safe and getting revenge on their behalf.
As Atlas drives through the gate at the club, I gently wake up Tia and I notice the teen boy watching me before he turns to do the same thing to the girl who fell asleep against his shoulder.
Tia jolts up and frantically looks around, her chest rapidly rising and falling.
“Hey, it’s okay. Remember we told you that you were coming to our home? We are here now. You’re safe,” I remind her again and will keep reminding her until she truly believes it.
Atlas parks and hops out to come open the back doors to the van. I climb out first and then help out the boy and girl. Atlas leads them towards the club, explaining to them who each person they see is.
Holding out my hand for Tia, she watches me cautiously and then moves towards me, but she doesn’t take my hand, instead opting to get herself out. The sound of a truck coming down the driveway has us turning our heads to see Noah’s truck with the guys, Harley, and Oakley coming into park.
They all get out, and Ryker gently scoops up Oakley, carrying her inside. Tia, who had been standing next to me, sucks in a breath at the sight and then breaks out into a run. Worried she is going to freak out on Ryker because Oakley is clearly knocked out, I run behind her but don’t want to grab her, so I just try to get ahead of her.
She doesn’t go towards them. Instead, she goes straight for Harley who is still standing by the truck. She turns just as Tia throws herself into her arms, tightly wrapping her arms around her neck.
Harley pales and holds her hands out to her sides, but after a moment she softens and slowly wraps her arms around Tia, soaking in the hug. Her eyes fall shut, and I watch a tear roll down her cheek.
“Thank you. Oakley saves us. You save Oakley,” Tia cries. “Thank you.”
Pulling back, Harley cups Tia’s cheeks. “You don’t have to thank me, sweetheart. You saved Oakley, you know? You helped us get to her. You are so brave and strong.”
Tia cries, and a small smile forms on her lips. Before she can respond, the smile drops and she frowns before crying out and leaning against Harley. “It–it hurts,” she moans in pain.
“Okay, okay, can you tell me where it hurts?” Harley asks in a slight panic.
Tia doesn't answer. Instead, she cries out, “Why does it hurt now?”
Harley wraps her arm around Tia and starts guiding her inside with Cade and I following after her. “You feel safe, sweetheart. When we have been in survival mode for so long, we learn to hide the pain, but now you can safely feel it. We’ve got you. It’ll be okay. I promise.”
We head inside and to the medical room, where the other two are already getting treated. “Where’s Oakley?” I ask Noah, who is leaning against the wall by the door.
“She’s in one of the guest rooms. We don’t know how she’ll be when she wakes up, so we didn’t think it was a good idea for her to be in here with them. Plus, there's only three beds in here, so it works best for these three,” he explains.
Nodding, I stand next to him and watch as Harley helps Tia into the open bed and Brielle comes over to talk to them. A few minutes later, Nerds pops his head in.
“Think any of them are up to talking to us?” he asks me quietly.
Glancing over at the boy who seems the most alert and content watching the other girl, I gesture towards him. “I think we can get him to talk first. Then maybe the girls will be more open,” I whisper back.
Walking over to him, we grab two chairs from the far wall and bring them close. I sit up by his head and give him a soft smile while Nerds sits slightly back behind me, opening his laptop.
“Hey, do you think you can talk with me?” I ask.
He stares me down before glancing back at the girl in the bed next to him.
“Is she your friend? Or family? We want to help you find your family so you can go home, but in order to do that I need you to talk with me. I promise you both are safe,” I explain to him.
He shoots his eyes back to mine and narrows them in anger. “No.”
Tilting my head in confusion, I ask, “No what? You don’t want to talk yet? If not, that’s okay.”
He shakes his head again before letting his eyes stray back to her. “She’s my sister. My twin. We can’t go home because our father traded us.”