Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 105065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 525(@200wpm)___ 420(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 525(@200wpm)___ 420(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
When I came into this situation, I had damned the Irish from the start. They were guilty by association. Talia worked in their club, and then she went missing. It was that simple to me. But now everything is starting to blend together. Both times that I almost got killed, it was because this gang was involved. That only leaves more questions in my mind. Nothing about this is like I thought it would be. The lines between good and evil are mingling in a world with a thousand shades of black and white. The MacKenna Syndicate doesn’t deal in women. But these guys do. So who are the real monsters here?
I have no doubts Lachlan and Dom know we’re gone now. After the bombshell that was dropped on me this evening, I’m painfully aware of my place in the organization. I’m not even good enough to be a girlfriend, let alone a wife. But one of their wives is here, and that’s my only saving grace. I have to believe that they will tear the city apart looking for her. I know it in my heart. I’ve never had anyone to come in and save the day before, but I have to believe they will.
This time, there won’t be any protests from me. I want to see these animals wiped off the face of the earth. I want anyone who partakes in this turned to dust. One look at this metal box and there’s no doubt what they intend to do with these women. They’ll all become slaves to the highest bidder.
As if sensing my thoughts, the girl across from me starts to sniffle again. They never put her gag back in when they finished with her, and she isn’t even attempting to muffle the sound. I try to catch her attention, but she won’t look up.
“Hey,” I whisper.
She still doesn’t look up. The guy in the suit is growing even more agitated when he glances our way. And then he gives one of his men the order.
“You have to be quiet,” I hiss. “Please.”
“I can’t!” she sobs. “They’re going to kill us!”
Before I can calm her, the soldier is between us, kicking her in the stomach violently. I scream at him to stop, which only earns me another boot to the chest. The girl across from me lets out a gut wrenching sob and starts screaming for help. The man in the suit barks an order, and the other soldier comes forward. Everything around me slows down as I watch in horror. He’s screaming at her. Calling her names in a different language. Kicking her over and over again. And then his boot catches her face.
There’s a sickening snap as her head flies back against the metal.
I’m paralyzed with fear. With the loss of control. The helplessness of the situation I’ve been dodging all my life. My dad brought me up to be a fighter. To protect myself and look out for number one. It’s in this awful moment that I realize how wrong he was. It was on me to look out for this girl. I should have done more for her. For Talia. For Scarlett and all of the other lost souls who need someone to look out for them.
Why didn’t I do more? Why do I always have to fail?
I’m just like the rest of these women. Helpless and insignificant. My whole life I wanted to believe I was tough. That I could handle anything. But I can’t. Not this. Tears burn my face like acid as I admit that I’m just another spectator to this crime against humanity. That women are disappearing night and day and being sucked into this world of human trafficking. But right now, I’m right in the middle of it, and there is no denying it. Because when the soldier nudges the girl’s head with his boot, it lolls back to the side, and I’m met with her lifeless eyes.
All of the emotion I’ve bottled up inside of me for the last two decades explodes out of me. I’m screaming at them. Calling them fucking animals. Worthless pigs. Every vile and hateful word that I can think of. I want to kill them, and I want to do it with my bare hands.
“Fuck you!” I scream. “Fuck all of you filthy maggots! They’re going to cut your cocks off and shove them down your fucking throats!”
The soldier in front of me yanks me up by the hair and says something to the other guy that makes him laugh. But then the man in the suit is walking towards us, his eyes cool and assessing.
“You’re the girl they took from the Irish,” he says.
“Yes,” I snarl. “And they’re going to make you regret the day you were ever born. I can promise you that.”
He makes a gesture to his men, and they let go of me, only to be replaced by his hands. He tries to lead me back to the table across the room. The same one that girl was bent over before.
“Well in that case,” he says. “I may as well enjoy my last day on earth. I’ll fuck you raw and send your body parts back to them in pieces while your friend gets shipped overseas.”
My heart is pounding so hard now I can’t breathe. His words aren’t even a threat or a joke. They’re a promise. I escaped it once, but there’s no escaping it this time. I’m trying to think, to formulate a plan. I know if I break his nose they’ll shoot me in a second. I need to be smart. I need to think of another way. But I’m clamming up, completely frozen as he rips the material of my dress.
He leans forward and presses his body against mine, grinding his erection against my ass. A wave of nausea rolls up my throat, and I struggle to control it.
“I’ll show you what a real man feels like,” he hisses in my ear.
I hear the sound of his zipper, and I try to buck against him. It only excites him more. He pulls a knife out of his pocket and cuts through my dress while his soldiers make lewd remarks. He barks out an order, and one of them scrambles into his pocket, retrieving a phone. To my disgust, they start snapping pictures. The man in the suit pulls me upright and tears off the material around my breasts, grabbing them in his hands while he laughs and they take photos.