Page 28 of Coal Hearts

Goddammit.

I dropped my chin as a crossroads appeared.

Sadistic fate gave me one last choice.

Shake my head and she’d leave.

And survive.

Nod and she’d stay.

And die.

It’s her or countless other women will suffer.

Is her life really worth more than those already trafficked?

She’s the key...

I held her stare.

I buckled beneath nightmarish urges.

She was just one in thousands. Thousands of missing and tortured souls I’d been tasked to save. She meant nothing. Nothing more than the tax I had to pay to be cured.

Only question was, did I have the strength to pay it?

In the end, fate made the choice for me.

With a sharp inhale, Ily suddenly announced, “You know what? Everything’s fine. I’m the one who made a mistake. He doesn’t have to go.”

Fuck, Ily, what have you done?

The bouncer muttered some French slurs about intoxicated youth and ridiculous drama, then stomped back to his post by the wall. Dancers forgot about us as the music switched to an electric trance.

Energy crushed us, trapping us with dark chemistry and strobe lights.

I had no idea what to say.

No idea if I had the courage to save her or steal her.

Raising her chin, Ily studied me.

She looked far too young and far, far too breakable.

She represented my end.

I was a motherfucking dead man.

Ever so slowly, she stepped into me and stared directly into my dirty, despicable soul.

I couldn’t look away as her beautiful gaze darkened with decisions and dangers.

And then...barely noticeable, she nodded. “A million...to see where the night takes us.”

I smothered my groan.

My life was over.