Chapter 15 #2
But Wyatt doesn’t know that. So he tells Alec everything—how he hacked into the servers to access my account and used my credit card data to find my true identity.
How he was able to search through the in-game chat archives to discover who I talked to the most and use that information to determine who they’d use as leverage to intimidate me.
How he found out the exact car I drove, where I worked, even the grocery store I shop at; all from the account I naively assumed was safe.
“Why?” Alec asks once Wyatt finishes talking. “Why Hazel?”
Ronan steps forward. “And what about the missing women?” He spins his knife idly before tossing it into the air and catching it. “We know you had something to do with it. Don’t lie and tell us you didn’t.”
The three men flash worried glances at each other.
“Tell us!” Ronan roars. He lunges at Owen and holds the knife to his throat. “What. Did. You. Do. To. Those. Women?”
Ronan’s reaction is so unexpected, I let out a startled yelp.
Alec glances at me. His lips compress into a thin line. Though he doesn’t say anything, I can read the message in his eyes.
Are you okay? Do you need to leave?
I mouth back at him, I’m okay.
Sort of.
But I don’t want to leave. Not when we’re about to hear the rest of it.
And the truth.
It’s so much more horrifying than I ever imagined.
My game—my haven, my escape—was being used as a method of trafficking women.
“We got the idea when Kyle met up with a chick from the game,” Owen admits.
“She flew all the way from Arkansas to Vermont to meet him. Just let him pick her up at the airport and take her to his apartment. She didn’t know Kyle, not really.
Just what he told her in-game. He could have been a serial killer for all she knew. ”
“Did you kill her?” Alec growls. “Decide to test out your theory on her?”
“No, I didn’t kill her,” Kyle snaps. “I hooked up with her, sent her home, and never talked to her again.”
If I believe him, which I’m not sure I do, that woman was incredibly lucky.
Because after that, their intentions grew much more sinister. Owen, Kyle, and Wyatt did some exploring on the dark web, where they discovered there was quite a market for twenty to thirty-something women. Women who could be trafficked for tens of thousands of dollars.
“Hundreds, sometimes,” Owen confesses. “We’d get photos of the women and post them on the website first. So we knew how much we could get for them. The really pretty ones, like her”—he glances at me—“are worth a couple hundred K. Easy.”
Alec looks like he’s about to explode. In a carefully controlled tone, he asks, “Then why were you trying to kill her? If you could make that much money?”
My stomach lands on the floor with a heavy clunk.
Murder or human trafficking.
Those were the two options facing me if not for Alec and his team.
That slinking voice in the back of my head muses, Maybe it’s penance. For what happened to Marissa. Maybe it’s what you deserve.
But all of Alec’s reassurances quickly follow. All his reminders that it wasn’t my fault. That the only one to blame was Jason. That I could never have known what he’d do.
I want to believe Alec. But it’s hard.
“It was that bitch, Amy.” Owen scowls at the mention of her name. “She was trouble from the start. Fighting back, kicking, biting…” He shakes his head. “She’s why.”
Because, in her panic, Amy claimed I knew everything.
She said I knew the name of the man she was meeting. Where he lived. What he looked like. Amy claimed that as soon as I discovered she was missing, I’d figure out everything.
“She said if we let her go,” Owen recalls, “she wouldn’t go to the police. She said we’d be caught otherwise. That we’d spend our lives in prison.”
But they didn’t let Amy go.
They sold her, instead.
And then they decided they needed to kill me to ensure my silence.
Before I can stop myself, I croak, “I didn’t know. She never gave me a name. She never said where she was going. We weren’t… we weren’t close like that.”
I don’t even realize I’m crying until I taste the salt in my mouth. “I didn’t know,” I repeat. “If I had, I would have—”
But I didn’t know. I didn’t even realize Amy was missing. And now… she’s gone. Trafficked to some foreign country where she’s being abused. Tortured. She might even be dead.
A gentle hand lands on my shoulder. I glance up to see Gage standing beside me. His face is creased with concern. “Maybe you should go in the other room,” he suggests in a low tone. “We’re nearly done, anyway.”
My tears flow faster as the terrible truth sinks in.
Human trafficking. Amy. Those other women. All missing.
I was almost killed because of it.
Wendy was hurt. Jess was threatened. Alec could have died.
Intellectually, I know it’s not my fault. That it was all just a chaos of coincidences. That I didn’t do anything wrong.
Still.
“We need to call the cops,” Knox says. “We can’t wait any longer.”
Alec scowls. “Fine.” He flicks the safety back on and re-holsters his gun. “I think we have enough to go on, anyway.”
Wyatt blinks at Alec. “So you’re not going to kill us?”
“I’d like to,” Alec replies. His voice is sharp with anger. “But I won’t.” A beat, and then in a more threatening tone, “But if I find out you lied to me, if I discover there’s anything you left out… I will. And trust me. I have the resources to do it.”
Knox speaks quietly into his phone, then ends the call and says, “The police are on their way.”
Alec nods. “Okay.” He looks at Owen, Wyatt, and Kyle once more before turning his attention to me. All the anger drains from his expression as worry replaces it. “Hazel.”
“I’m fine,” I choke out. But it’s obvious I’m not.
“Go,” Ronan tells Alec. “We’ve got it.”
With a short jerk of his chin, Alec rushes to me. He pulls me up from the couch and into his arms. “Come on, sweetheart.”
I bury my face in his neck as he leads me out of the living room and back to the bedroom. Pressure builds in my chest, making it hard to breathe. Waves of hot and cold pulse through my body. My head throbs from the effort of trying to stifle my tears.
Once we get into the bedroom, Alec shuts the door behind us and brings me over to the bed.
Then he sits down and pulls me into his lap.
Hugging me close, he presses kisses to the top of my head as he murmurs, “I’m sorry, sweetheart.
I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have let you be there for that. I’m so sorry.”
It’s not his fault. I insisted on being there. But I can’t seem to form the words to reassure him. Instead, I just keep crying as the dam holding back my emotions overflows. As all the fear and worry and guilt crash into me in punishing waves.
“Haze. Sweetheart.” His hand moves in slow, soothing circles across my back. “It’s okay. It’s all over.”
With a shuddering breath, I tilt my head back to meet his gaze. “But it’s not okay. Amy. The other women.”
“We’ll find them.”
“Wendy, Jess, Angel.” Another sob slips out. “They were in danger. All because of me.”
Pain tightens his features. “No. Not because of you. Never because of you. It was because of some sick, twisted men and their disgusting plan.”
“You were almost shot,” I blurt. “You could have been killed. If not for me—”
“Sweetheart, no.” It’s quick. Fierce. He brushes my tears from my cheeks. “First off, I wasn’t shot. I’m fine. And if that was anyone’s fault, it was mine.”
“But—”
“And Wendy’s fine. Jess is fine. Angel is fine.” He stops. Cups my cheek as he looks deep into my eyes. “Hazel. I know you’re used to blaming yourself. But you didn’t do anything wrong. Not in Boston. And not here.”
I want to believe him.
“I know this has been a lot,” Alec continues. His voice is achingly gentle; a complete contradiction to the threatening tone he was using only minutes ago. “And it’s going to take some time to absorb everything. But I promise you, there’s nothing to feel guilty for. Not one thing.”
“Alec.” My voice wobbles. “What if I can’t get past it? What if I always feel like this?”
In the distance, the faint rise and fall of sirens approaches.
“Haze.” Alec shifts me on his lap. He brushes a tender kiss across my lips. “You will. Because I’ll help you. We’ll set up more counseling. I’ll stay with you every night if you want me to. I’ll remind you—”
From the darkness, a glimmer of light sparks. “You’ll stay with me?”
“Of course.” Emotion darkens his eyes. “Don’t you know, Hazel? I would do anything for you. I—” He stops. Pink rises on his cheeks. “I care about you,” he finally continues. “A lot. And I’m with you. Through everything. Okay?”
The weight on my chest lifts. Not completely, but enough to give me hope that eventually, it will.
Tucking my head back under Alec’s chin, I snuggle against him and whisper, “Okay.”