Page 103 of Ballrooms & Blackmail

I nod. “He and I…well, we were cut from the same cloth.”

“What happened to the kids?”

“We shoved them back into the container, stole the boat, brought it to our dock and unloaded them.”

She gasps.

“I was a monster, little hen. Sergio and I fucking ate up the attention we got from bringing them in. My father was so proud of me and fuck, but I was proud of me too. Until I saw Claudette again. She was older than the client wanted, so she was employed at the house instead of being sold off.” My stomach churns. “And in order to keep her sister safe she…” I trail off, unable to finish for a long moment. “It was the first time I started to question everything I thought I knew. What the men who used her body did to her…”

“Thorn,” River whispers. “I?—”

“Turns out that Pascal was tracking the kids. He managed to get them safe—her sister, the other boys and girls. But Claudette was under lock and key. She’d become my father’s favorite and?—”

Bile burns the back of my throat.

“And since they were grooming me for leadership, I had to…”

River’s face stills.

I push through before I stop. Before I can retreat again. “The Lyons like smart kids. But they like loyal kids even more.”

River says nothing.

And the words keep flowing. “But I couldn’t do that. Claudette didn’t know, though. Or maybe she didn’t trust it, not when she’d been so abused. Still, she and I eventually came to an understanding. When she was ready to break, she’d leave a daisy in my jacket?—”

River jerks, and I know she’s thinking of the same thing I am.

The daisy cookies.

Rainbow sprinkles.

And darkness.

I exhale. “She’d sleep and I’d keep watch. But I couldn’t keep her safe, couldn’t protect her.”

“Oh, honey.”

“I told myself I didn’t have a choice. That I couldn’t get her out—and maybe that’s true. But if I’d just gone when Pascal first made contact, first offered me a way out, she would still be alive. Instead, I waited too long and…I got Claudette killed.”

“You couldn’t have known.”

“No,” I agree. “And it wasn’t like I grew up in a world where I could trust him. But the truth is the truth. It took a long time for Pascal to convince me and when I finally took the plunge, everything that could go wrong did go wrong.”

“What happened?”

“My dad decided he needed Claudette that night, and she was in bad shape. By the time I was able to get her patched up enough to move, it was near the end of our escape window.” I exhale. “Sergio caught us.”

“God, you must have been terrified.”

“More than terrified. And then when he took you. I thought—” My eyes slide closed. “Then he sent texts, taunting me, threatening you.”

“It was like that night again.”

“Yes.”

“Thorn,” she murmurs, wrapping her arms around me.

But I can’t let her hold me, not like that.