Page 1 of Hades

Chapter One

Raven

I looked around at the Survivor’s Support System and let out a shaky breath. This wasn’t what I pictured for my life when I came to Steel City, but it was surprisingly helpful, and the people who showed up here seemed to appreciate my particular brand of support. “Look, you guys know I’m not the touchy feely type, but surviving means you’re strong as shit. Even when you feel weak, you get up each day, do the shit that needs doing, and most days we do it without breaking down. That’s more than surviving, that’s thriving.”

Those words were met with a few smiles and that made me happy because it was better to be a survivor than a victim, and it was my job as a victim’s advocate to make sure they knew that.

“Okay, that’s it for today. If you’re not feeling strong, call on your support system. We’ll be your strength when you need it.” I stood first and the others followed along. Some shifted to the table with coffee, soda, and pastries, while others quickly shuffled to the exit.

Not that I blamed them, being around all this sadness was emotionally draining, but somebody had to be the pillar they leaned on when they needed it. I’ve been where they all are now, broken and vulnerable, jumping at shadows and unsure who I can trust. Even today, years after my own shit went down, I hardly leave the motorcycle club where my brother is a patched member because it’s hard to trust strangers. Only two people in my life knew about my role at the Steel City Community Center, Laura, Hawk’s old lady, and only because she volunteered her nursing skills here a few times each month. The other person who knew was Macy, the closest thing to a best friend I’ve ever had, and that’s because I told her about my past.

Not even my brother, Falcon, knew.

“Raven?” The soft, slightly accented feminine voice pulled me from my thoughts and mindless coffee stirring despite the late hour.

I turned and offered Katya a small smile. She was young, just past her nineteenth birthday. Her blonde hair was damaged from too much bleaching, and her eyes showed all the trauma she’d been through. I didn’t know much about her as she shared little, only that she was from Eastern Europe. “Hey Katya, what’s up?”

She crossed her arms around her midsection as if she needed to be protected. She looked over her left shoulder and then her right, as if she was being watched. “Can we talk,” she glanced over her shoulder again. “Somewhere private?”

“Yeah, of course.” I nodded and pointed to the back of the building. Just before the exit, there was another door that led to the second floor that contained four small apartments. They were all furnished for anyone in need of a few nights of peace. “Is there something I can help you with?”

She nodded, still holding herself, bracing for the next blow, whatever form it took. “I have told you about my boyfriend, but he wasn’t my boyfriend. Not really.”

I sat across from her, ready to listen. “It’s just easier to explain?”

Her smile was small and she nodded, her shoulders fell slightly with relief. “Yes. He tried to be my boyfriend, but he ended up selling me to this organization.”

I nodded, listening as my body went frigid with fear and remembrance. Her story was so fucking similar to my own. The handsome, charming man who’d taken me to a party. Waking up cuffed to a wall with a dozen other girls. Being auctioned off. Sold. “Shit,” I groaned and leaned back against the sofa.

“I am sorry,” she whispered.

“Don’t be. I just,” I sighed again. “I know this story. Hell, I lived it.”

“He was kind to me. He told me I could be a model. My family were poor and it seemed a good way to help them. He told me he knew people who wanted girls like me and I believed him. Except it was all lies.”

I listened in silence as she told me what happened to her, how she’d been trafficked. Trying to imagine how scared she would be so far from home.

Her eyes rounded in shock. “I escaped,” she whispered as if she was admitting to a secret. “The man he sold me to kept me on a yacht near Los Angeles, but we were there longer than expected and I needed… grooming,” she practically spat out the word. “I was dressed very nicely and wearing a lot of expensive jewelry so I ran, pawning everything I could sell along the way to get as far away as I could. But they are hunting me.”

God, this girl! She was even younger than I’d been. “What about the police?” I asked. Though I thought I knew the answer. They probably wouldn’t do a thing.

“I can’t go to them. I’m illegal, they’d put me in jail,” she said. “And I’m not sure how much longer I will stay ahead of them. I need you to take this. Please make sure they pay. No matter what.” She pressed the black USB into my palm.

My fingers closed around the black metal and in that moment, I knew the peaceful, quiet life I’d made for myself was about to change. Again. “Yeah, of course, Katya.”

She sagged against the sofa. “Thank you. Thank you so much.” She shook her head. “I just want to go home to Ukraine and be with my family, but I cannot. They will look for me there and hurt my family to get me to come back to them.”

Shit. “You can stay here tonight. I’ll talk to my brother and see about getting you a fake ID so you can start over somewhere new. He knows people who can do that sort of thing.”

Katya opened her mouth to say something, but she snapped it shut and offered a smile that didn’t meet her eyes. “Thank you.”

“Of course.” I was lucky, having a place to land when I escaped, and the least I could do was help this girl who’d been through so much. “I’ll be just a few doors down if you need anything. Try to rest, you’re gonna need it.”

“I will.”

My mind refused to rest after leaving Katya. I was in a fog as I helped straighten up the community center and shut it down for the night. Keeping my word to stay close, I made my way to one of the apartments above the center. I hated staying here, preferring to stay at the Steel Demons MC clubhouse because that was where I felt safe, but tonight wasn’t about me. It was about Katya. The room had that slightly stuffy air from being closed up for too long and I opened the windows, letting fresh air in while I settled on the sofa.

I never slept in the bed when I stayed here, just half-slept on the sofa, waking every hour to check the door and the windows. Tonight, I had something to keep my mind occupied.