Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
Joey
Damn it all to hell.
Her tears were my fucking undoing. The moment I saw her sitting in that chair, her entire body trembling, her chin quivering, and those fucking tears sliding down her beautiful face, I was done for. Gone for her. I’d been ready to rip the entire fucking world apart just to make those tears stop.
And in a way, I was about to do just that. I was about to do the one thing I vowed to never do.
I was calling Adelaide, and I was going to use her to bring River into the center of this.
I was going to have her come meet Elaina, not just because I knew Adelaide would take one look at her and want to take this trafficking ring down, but because I needed Elaina to see Adelaide was healthy and safe.
So she could move on from that part of her life just a little more.
Christ, I was so fucked. Royally so.
Dropping into my chair at the head of the table, I dialed Adelaide’s number. She answered on the second ring, sounding amused. “Two calls in the span of an hour?” she teased. “I’m honored, Joey.”
I sighed and scrubbed my hand down my face. “I wish it was a social call,” I muttered. “I think you might know Elaina.”
She hummed, sounding distracted. I could hear the kids in the background. “How so?” she asked.
I swallowed thickly, hating that I was about to dredge up those old memories for her, especially since everything that happened with Vin had been so closely tied to her ex, Tristan, who she’d lost to cancer.
She’d been the one to find him on the kitchen floor of River’s clubhouse where he finally succumbed to the cancer ravaging his body, going unconscious to never wake up again.
Tristan had been the one to rescue her from Vin’s clutches.
“You tried helping her escape,” I said quietly. “While you were with Vin.”
“I didn’t—” she started, but then abruptly cut herself off, making a strangled noise.
“Oh, God,” she choked out, sounding like she could hardly breathe.
My chest ached a little, hating doing this to her, but I was a selfish man if nothing else, and I needed to see Elaina stop hurting.
“That’s her? That’s who you have at your clubhouse, Joey? ”
“Yeah,” I said quietly. “That would be her.”
“Darlin’, what’s going on?” River asked, his voice clear though a bit far away from the phone. “Do you feel okay? You’re pale.”
I cringed, immediately feeling terrible but not terrible enough that I wished I could take my words back.
I wanted Elaina to feel better, and fuck, maybe this would give Adelaide a little bit of closure, too.
To know someone else had managed to get away from that trafficking ring might help her heal from her own trauma.
She hid it well, but I knew she still struggled.
“The woman at Joey’s—I know her,” Adelaide told River, her voice tight and strained.
“I tried to help her escape, but we were caught. It didn’t help that we were both drugged—enough to keep us sluggish but awake.
Her father dragged her away, and Vin forced me to watch as she—” Her voice caught on a sob, and my heart wrenched in my chest. “There were two other men in that room. She was raped, River. And her father recorded it. And I had to watch the whole fucking thing, and I couldn’t fucking help her. ”
Jesus fucking Christ.
How could Elaina have thought Adelaide wouldn’t remember her?
Who the fuck could forget that kind of shit?
How the fuck was Elaina even whole anymore?
How the fuck was Adelaide? How were they still functioning?
Adelaide never spoke about what happened to her while she’d been with Vin, and now, I understood why.
She’d been tortured. And Elaina had been as well. How many other women were suffering the same way they had?
“Fuck, darlin’,” River said, his voice closer now. No doubt, he was holding her and trying to console her. “You want to go see her, don’t you?” She must have nodded because he said, “Okay. We’ll pack our bags and head down that way.” A moment later, his voice was much closer. “Joey?”
“Yeah?” I grunted.
“Tell Alejandro to be ready for a sit-down. Adelaide’s not going to let me or you walk away from this now. It’s hit too close to home.”
I sighed. “I know,” I grumbled. “I’ll let him know.” It was what he wanted anyway, so he’d be pleased. “Sorry I’m dragging you into my shit, River.”
“It became my problem the moment I found out that mother fucker had a hand in my woman’s pain,” River growled. “We’ll see you sometime tomorrow.”
The call ended, and I tossed my phone on the table. Leaning forward, I braced my elbows on my knees, then dropped my face into my hands, releasing a long, loud groan. A throat cleared from the doorway, and I glanced up, spotting Ink. His lips were set into a grim line as he met my eyes.
“I guess we’re at war?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I rasped. “Peace time is over, brother.”