Page 78 of Bleed with Me

I ended the call, glaring at the marriage certificate lying peacefully on the floor. Like it wasn’t simultaneously the entrance into heaven and hell.

One afternoon with my friends couldn’t hurt, right? Everyone deserved a break.

-38-

Dorian

Standing in the dark parking lot behind the hospital, my body buzzed with excitement. Malin was highly effective in uncovering Aryna’s father’s secrets and refused to wait longer than necessary to act. My prolonged shift ended only ten minutes ago, and he already bombarded me with messages to be ready to jump into his car.

I checked the thread of texts with ma vilaine to see if I’d missed anything, but strong headlights blinded me. I locked the screen, squinting inside the car when it came to a halt right at my side. My brothers occupied the front seats, and I grinned as a thrill rushed through my veins. Good old times.

“Didn’t know you were joining, boss,” I teased, punching Zyon’s shoulder. He flashed me a wicked grin, which, in combination with his dark attire and skull mask lifted on his forehead, looked diabolical. Just the way I loved it.

“Couldn’t pass up the opportunity to hunt down the fucker, could I?” He winked at me, adjusting his leather gloves.

“That would be a waste,” I chirped, changing my white T-shirt for the black one. Malin brought me a duffel bag with clothes, boots, and my favorite knives. My fingers itched to use them properly.

“What exactly do we know?” I asked because after Malin disappeared from my office, I spent more hours in the OR, and when I finally got out, he was gone. Only the note on my desk, written in a neat, beautiful handwriting, proved he was there.

You’ll hate what I found, but love the punishment, the message said, and since then, I couldn’t wait to talk to him.

“Julien Young, Aryna’s father, is a pimp,” Zyon declared, flexing his hand. The leather slightly creaked around his thick fingers.

“Pimp?” I echoed, my stomach twisting with dread. Was he suggesting…

“Trafficker, if you prefer the term.” Zyon flashed me a murderous glare in the rearview mirror, and Malin, who hadn’t said a word since I got in, squeezed the steering wheel so tight I worried he would rip it off. “His wife, Edith, works in a store during the day, and at night, she fucks with men he arranges for her. According to Malin’s findings, their three children are exposed to sexual abuse and acts, too. Two boys aged seventeen and a girl aged sixteen are regularly offered to customers.”

“What?” I snarled, bile rising in my throat. “Aryna?” My thoughts focused only on her, my innocent little angel. If the fucker offered her, too, I would…

“That’s why she ended up at the bottom of the stairs,” Zyon explained, turning to the back to look at me directly. “Her stepsister pushed her after she overheard Julian talking to someone, and she got scared that he intended to…”

He didn’t finish. His teeth clenched, the muscle in his jaw ticking.

“What’s the plan?” I whispered, blocking my mind from picturing what those kids had endured.

The demon in my head screamed, ready to unleash hell.

“Capture and kill,” Malin growled in a voice so low that it sounded animalistic and feral. “Cause as much pain as possible in between.”

I nodded, leaning back into my seat. The world outside quickly moved behind the tinted window, but my mind was elsewhere.

Aryna’s huge, frightened eyes pleaded with me, her tiny hand hesitant to let me go. Every time I left her side, she withdrew, and even when I promised to return, she didn’t believe me. Poor girl was let down so many times in her life that I could barely see her behind the walls she built around herself.

Lost in thought, forcing myself to stay under control, I stared straight ahead like a robot. I had to bury my emotions in the deepest corner of my subconscious; otherwise, I would drag Julien Young in the middle of the busiest road and set him on fire in broad daylight for everyone to see.

“You okay?” Zyon asked while we waited at the red light. My heart thundered in my ears, but I kept a cool head.

“Yeah.” I nodded, clenching and unclenching my palm to ease some tension. “Do you know how Aryna ended up with the Young family?”

“Her mother died when Aryna was two years old during the complicated childbirth,” heanswered mournfully. “A few months later, her father was involved in a freaky accident at a construction site. He and his two colleagues fell from the twelfth floor. All three of them had alcohol in their systems.”

“Jesus Christ,” I sighed, running a hand through my hair. “No family to take her in, I presume.”

“No.” Zyon firmly shook his head. “Her parents were immigrants. No one was around for them here. And their family in Ukraine refused to take the girl in.”

I closed my eyes, regretting asking more questions. Because the more I asked, the more it hurt. My little angel was completely abandoned in this fucked up world, shoved to the people who, instead of protecting her, intended to use her for profit.

The world is full of kids like Aryna, the demon whispered inside my head, its words echoing through my mind like a curse. You can’t save them all.