17. Stella
Chapter Seventeen
STELLA
Gemini
Learn to take the good with the bad.
My arms wrapped around her bony shoulders as I clung to my sister.
She was here.
She was real.
She was alive.
Tears streamed down my face as all the emotions I’d been pushing down for the last six months came bubbling up to the surface.
I’d been existing in a constant state of survival mode.
Hyper focusing on how to find her and using humor to deflect from facing the stark reality that I might not ever see her again.
“Stell? Is that really you?” she asked, voice quivering.
I pulled away and looked at her, holding her tightly about the shoulders. “It’s me, Andi. I’m here.”
Her dark hair had lost its shine and there were purple circles under her eyes.
Her once glowing tan skin had taken on a pale, yellowish cast and she’d lost an alarming amount of weight.
The room she was in was full of a bunch of women, all wearing the same skimpy outfit—a thin white slip with spaghetti straps that were practically see through.
I could see the bones of her ribs poking out.
Did they not feed her here? She gave me a watery smile. Her eyes were full of un-spilled tears.
“Holy shit. I can’t believe you found me.” Then that relief on her face morphed into fear. “They didn’t get you too, did they?”
“No, I came here to break you out. You and all the rest of the people here.”
“How—”
Callahan popped his head into the room. “I hate to break up this beautiful reunion, but we have to go.”
I grabbed onto Andi’s hand tightly, feeling the bones shift beneath my grip. I’d worry about getting her healthy again once we got out of here. One thing at a fucking time.
“Follow me. We’re getting the hell out of here.”
I turned and looked at the rest of the women that were huddled together in that cage they called a room. “You can follow us if you want to.”
They looked around at each other with unease. I didn’t blame them for being scared. It was apparent that they had been massively mistreated in ways I might never understand. But that ended today.
Andi and I took off running down the hall we had come from, follow Callahan’s lead. Andi trailed slightly behind me, her breathing sounding labored. What the hell had they done to her in this place?
We took a left, then a right, then another left.
There were several women who’d followed us, padding along the empty corridors in their bare feet.
The stark white of their slips matched the blinding white painted walls.
It was like being stuck in an abyss. There was no color.
No life. Just bright lights and the perpetual stench of fear.
I couldn’t believe people paid to do this to other human beings.
Just as we were about to reach the loading dock, a door opened.
Callahan halted in his tracks and motioned for us to go back, but it was too late.
We’d been spotted. Men filled the hallway blocking us from either direction.
But what shocked me was seeing Carmine Underwood walk through towards the front and come face to face with Callahan.
Men came up behind us and ripped Andi and I apart, digging their hands into our biceps. I struggled to free myself from their grasp, but they were too strong. If I made any drastic moves, I was afraid they’d hurt Andi.
“I should have killed you the other day, but my nephew here promised that you were one of us. His soft spot for you blinded him, but that’s okay. I saw you just fine. Simon. Would you do the honors?” Carmine asked.
A burly man I recognized from the grainy security footage we found on the flash drive emerged.
Andi gasped and she looked downright terrified.
I’d never seen her look like that before and it churned my stomach.
I took it that she recognized him and wondered if he had been the guy she’d been seeing when she was taken all those months ago.
We were outnumbered, and even if I could get one of my weapons out now, I could only hope to take out a few goons, before being killed myself. Fuck. I knew coming here was a risk I was willing to die for, but I wasn’t prepared to watch Andi or Callahan suffer that fate.
“On your knees, Cal,” Simon said, with a smile on his face.
Holy shit. Holy fucking shit. He was going to execute him right in front of us. I pulled my body, trying to break free from the man’s hold, but he held me even harder.
Callahan sank down on his knees, eyes full of fire and jaw grinding teeth against teeth.
“Any last words?” Simon asked.
“Fuck you,” Callahan said, and then his gaze slid to me. He didn’t look scared but there was regret and longing swimming in those mossy green eyes that I’d come to like so much.
Simon smiled again, loading the chamber of his gun and undoing the safety.
A part of me wanted to close my eyes. To not see the moment Callahan ceased being alive, but I couldn’t make myself do it. Instead, I held his stare and whispered three little words I hadn’t said to any man in my life.
“I love you.”
Tears tracked down his cheeks, and he said the words back. “I love you, too.”
Simon raised his arm, putting the barrel of the gun against Callahan’s forehead. Bile rose in my throat. I was going to lose it. Tears were free falling from my face in ugly dry heaves, and snot gathered at the tip of my nose.
Just as I thought Simon was going to shoot Callahan, he turned around so fast pulling the trigger once, twice, three times, sinking his shots into Carmine’s skull, and the two goons next to him.
The surprise gave me enough leeway to throw back the guy holding me.
My skull met his nose in a sickening crunch and my foot found his.
I spun myself around and kneed him in the groin.
He went down hard. I caught him by his blond hair and kicked him with my knee in his face.
He toppled over and I disarmed him of his gun.
Immediately, I pointed it to the guy holding my sister. “Let her go, you sick fuck, and I won’t sink this bullet in your skull like your boss over there.”
The chicken shit dropped her and went running in the other direction.
“Let’s go. Now!” Callahan yelled.
A barrage of bullets came from behind us. My legs were already moving but they felt like I was running through sand. I gripped onto Andi’s wrist and pulled her with me, narrowly missing being hit.
Simon wasn’t so lucky though. He’d gotten a direct hit to his chest and was dead before he hit the floor.
“Simon!” Callahan yelled, sounding strangled.
“Leave him. We have to go!” I called out to him.
Then the sounds of male screams and grunts began echoing off the walls and a hoard of women came barreling down. Some were holding guns, some had only themselves, but they’d overpowered the guards. A few had blood and visible scrapes along their limbs.
“Woah, what the—” William called out, arms raised high as we came like a stampede out the loading dock door.
“Give me your keys, William. There’s no time to explain.” Callahan said.
William tossed the keys to him, no questions asked, mouth dropped open in shock. I could imagine we were a frightful sight.
We ran as fast as we possibly could with as many women as we could fit in that delivery van.
Every single seat was taken and if they couldn’t fit on a seat, they sat on the floor.
My heart was hammering in my ears, knowing we’d narrowly escaped death.
That was too fucking close. But we still weren’t out of the woods yet.
We still had to get the hell out of here.
As we pulled away, the compound became surrounded by SWAT cars and police vehicles.
Callahan punched the gas pedal and drove like crazy making sure the chaos that surrounded the compound was far away in the review mirror.
They didn’t manage to stop us as we drove, perhaps thinking we were some innocent drivers on the road.
I’d take the lucky break while we had one.
My phone buzzed in my pocket and I pulled it out.
“Thought you could use some help, so I called in a favor.”
Marco. Oh, my fucking god.
I was going to buy him the biggest fucking pumpkin muffin I could get my hands on. Sugar free though because I loved that man, and I wanted him to be around for a very long time.
Andi slipped her hand into mine and rested her head on my shoulder. I squeezed her and put my head on top of hers.
We were going home. Together.