24. Anton
ANTON
I draw up outside the auction house just as it is getting dark, turning the engine off and sitting there in my car for a moment.
She’s inside. I know she is.
I scan the area ahead of me, using the cover of darkness to disguise the recon I’m currently carrying out.
There are two men on the door, both holding guns, but I can’t see any other security—I would guess that most of it is focused on the girls, making sure that they do not get a chance to escape.
Or maybe they have already broken their spirits enough that they don’t have to worry about keeping them under wraps...
My men tracked the movements of the small fleet of vehicles that left the abandoned office building to this place, just outside the city; a building that you would never think to look for, unless you had good reason, a large wooden cabin buried in the forest that looks like it belongs in some twisted version of a fairytale.
I lift my phone, shoot a text to the men who are currently waiting for my command.
I will take out the two on the door, and then go inside, slipping through the darkness to find the room where the auction is being held.
I’ve got a better chance of going undetected if I enter alone, and I don’t intend to draw any more attention to myself than I need to.
I will have my men surround the building, so anyone trying to flee will be met with the fate they so dearly deserve.
I climb out of the car once I have affirmed the order, and raise my gun, firing two shots off in quick succession.
With the silencer on the weapon, you almost wouldn’t know I had made a move at all, if it hadn’t been for the two guards sinking down to the ground, blood spattering the walls behind them.
I step over their bodies and put a hand to the door – it’s locked.
Turning to the guards, I search through their pockets until I find a keycode and tap it into the pad next to the door before I step inside.
In the distance, I can hear engines approaching, my men wasting no time in doing what needs to be done.
Inside, I can hear the low buzz of conversation in the distance, a sure sign I’m on the right track.
I make my way through the corridors, all lined with dark wood panelling but no other decoration.
As though it wants to remain as anonymous as possible, this place, to make sure there is no chance of getting caught out.
But there is something else in the air, too, an anticipation that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Anyone who comes here, they come here for something impossibly dark, to revel in the kind of dehumanization that makes this underworld tick.
And, as for my part in this, I have to put a stop to it before it goes any further.
The sound grows louder, until I reach the end of a corridor that turns off to what must be the main area. I peer around it briefly—two guards on the doors here, too, and both of them are armed. I’m going to have to get rid of them if I want to make it inside, but I need to split them up to do that.
I take a few steps back, looking around to see what I can use to make a noise and attract their attention. I settle on slapping my hand into the wood panel next to me, sending a shudder through the wall, and then I lift my gun, train it at the turn of the corridor, and wait.
“You hear that?”
“Hear what?”
“That sound.”
“I didn’t hear anything.”
I take a deep breath. Just keep steady, and everything is going to be fine.
“I’m going to check it out. I heard something. I’m sure I did...”
I hear footsteps closing the distance between us, and then a man appears at the end of the corridor—he sees me pointing the gun at him, parts his lips in shock, but before he can get a word out, I fire off my shot, blasting him through the chest and sending him crashing back into the wall behind me.
“What the—”
I rush out the other end of the corridor and take another shot, killing the man on the door. The silencer has worked its magic, but I can’t leave their bodies here, the risk of someone stepping out and spotting them and realizing that they had been compromised was far too strong for that.
I tuck my gun away and pull their limp bodies into a small room attached to the corridor, pushing the door shut and wedging it there with a doorstop. Should hold for now—dat least as long as I’m going to need to pull this thing off...
I head for the door, pressing a hand into it and opening it just a few inches.
And, sure enough, on the other side, just as I suspected, the men are gathered for the auction.
It’s the same set-up as the place I went to in the city, the tables scattered around, lighting low, nobody wanting to be seen here.
The soft clink of glasses occasionally rises over the conversation, and it’s almost peaceful.
The calm before the storm.
I step inside and slip to a table at the very back of the room, keeping my head down and my gaze trained on the floor. I don’t want to attract any attention, not yet, not until I know my men are in position. Beneath the table, I pull out my phone, and send a message to Ilya.
On my mark, send the men in.
I recieve confirmation a second later, and tuck my phone back into my pocket, aware that the light cutting through the dark of the room could attract more attention than I want. I lean back in my seat, taking a moment to drink the place in.
There’s nobody here I recognize from the first night, but then, I wasn’t exactly making an effort to get to know them the first time I had stumbled upon these auctions.
Most of them are by themselves, only a handful sharing the table with another man; I wonder if they share their purchases, or if they just find common ground in this darkness and want to share it with someone else.
“Excuse me, sir...”
My head snaps around, and, for a second, I’m sure I have been busted. But, instead, I find myself looking at a waiter, who is offering me a glass.
“Whiskey?”
“Thank you,” I reply, taking it from him and placing it on the table in front of me. I don’t want to look out of place here. I don’t know exactly what I’m waiting for—the certainty that Maya is here, I guess, though I want to crush this place to the ground even if she isn’t.
But still, I have to bide my time, as difficult as it feels when I’m faced with something like this.
I sip on my drink. It’s expensive, I can taste that in an instant. I suppose that Artem doesn’t want to leave an expensed spared, when it comes to pandering to these degenerates. I let the bitter flavor linger on my tongue for a moment, pressing my hand into my thigh to keep my leg from bouncing.
How much longer are we going to have to wait? And where the fuck is my brother in all of this...?
Suddenly, a light goes up at the front of the room, illuminating a stage that reaches about halfway into the space. The room goes quiet as everyone turns their attention to the stage, and, a moment later, my brother steps out under the fresh lights.
He is grinning widely. Something cruel. The certainty, I guess, to him that he has managed to get what he wants from me. To destroy something that I would do anything in my power to keep safe.
He steps to the front of the stage, lifting his hands to acknowledge everyone in the room.
“Gentlmen,” he intones, when he reaches the front. “I’m glad that you could join me for this evening’s affairs. I know that you are the most discerning when it comes to the kind of women you look for...”
He casts an eye over the crowd, and there almost seems something pointed in it, like he is making sure everyone knows just what he means.
I wonder what proclivities lie in the seats around me, what kind of shit these men must get up to if they have to source their partners through such utterly unethical means.
“And I’m certain that the women we have for you tonight will meet your standards,” he finishes up.
“But I won’t keep you waiting any longer, you’ve been patient enough—let’s bring out our first lot of the night, Maya.
You might recognize her—her last buyer has fallen through, and she’s already looking for a new man to take her home... ”
Everything in me tenses as I hear him speak about her like that, as though she is nothing more than a thing he can pass around as he sees fit. I squint into the bright lights, and, all at once, there she is.
My heart thuds against my ribs as I see her there before me, holding her hand up in front of her face, as terrified as she had been that first night when she had been pulled into my brother’s dark games.
But this time, the urge to save her is even stronger, even more demanding, than it had been that day. Because she is carrying my child.
I need to do anything in my power to get her out of this in one piece.
I want to get to my feet and take the shot right then and there, blow my brother’s brains out in front of this room and make sure every bastard in here knows what they are in for.
But I have to bide my time.
I need them all distracted when I make the move, and that will happen once the auction begins.
I can already feel the tension rising in the room, as they take her in, this beautiful woman who stands before them.
It makes my palms itch to think of them imagining their hands on her, but I swear to myself that not one of them will get the chance to touch her, not as long as there is still blood pumping through my veins.
“Come on, Maya, don’t be shy,” Artem tells her, reaching back to gesture for her to come a little closer. She’s wearing some ridiculous lingerie, a pair of high heels that she is clearly struggling to walk in, looking like she should be standing on a street corner somewhere.
Her perfect body is laid out on display for anyone who wants to look. But I can’t see her like that right now, no matter how much the rest of the men in this room clearly do—because she’s not herself.
“As you can see, she’s a beautiful specimen,” Artem remarks. “And has quite a libido, too. Something I can attest to myself...”
He reaches out to touch her shoulder, and I see her freeze up, her entire body seizing under his touch for a moment. It’s so obvious to see that she’s disgusted by him, but it’s clear he doesn’t give a damn.
Fuck, maybe there is even a part of him that likes it, knowing that she is utterly put off by his very touch.
“So, we’re going to start bidding high, at half a million,” he goes on. “And I think we’re ready to begin. So, gentlemen, who would like to put in the first bid for this young woman...?”
I have my hand on my gun before I know it.
This is it. The moment I will take the shot, given the chance.
Whoever dares raise their hand, they are going to pay for it with their fucking lives, and that’s how I’m going to put a stop to this.
My eyes are fixed on Artem, trying to figure out if I can hit him from here if I move fast enough.
Either way, he is not getting out of here alive. That much, I know for sure.
And then, it happens. A man at the table beside me lifts his chin, raising his hand to attract Artem’s attention.
“Half a million.”
I stare at him for a moment, this man who seems to think he can just lay claim to Maya like that. And, before I know it, I have raised the gun, and fired a shot into his head.
For a second, the room is silent. All eyes had been on him, since he was the first one to bid, and now, they are watching as he sways dangerously on his chair before falling back with a crash.
The sound seems to break some of the quiet in the room, and all at once, two men at the tables around me are on their feet.
I tap my phone, sending the signal to Ilya, and hear the doors smash open at all sides of the building.
“What the fuck—” One of the men begins, and I fire a shot into his leg, sending him to the floor with a howl of pain.
Chaos breaks out, gunshots fired, people trampling over each other to get to the exits only to be met by my men coming in the other side.
I turn to make sure that the wait staff are safe behind the bar, and gesture for Ilya to get them outside.
“Take them somewhere else!” I yell to him, as he bursts into the room. “I’m going after Artem...”
I look back to the stage, just in time to see my brother vanishing back behind the curtain with Maya in tow. I grit my teeth and check to make sure that my gun is adequately loaded. If I have to fight my way through every man in this place to get to her, I’ll do it.
And my brother is about to discover that he will become collateral damage in my fight to save the woman I love.