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“I’m okay. Just a bit queasy,” she whispers my unspoken concern.
“Your brother’s right, Finn,” Hanna answers instead. “If we’re here, you’ll worry about us more than the task at hand. Your mind won’t be in the right place. Obviously, neither of these two situations are ideal, but considering that we got ourselves in this mess, I would rather stay out of your way. We’ll be okay.” She cups his jaw, soothing him just as he’s about to argue some more.
“Baby…”
“It’s gonna be okay,” she insists, and he slowly seems to accept our fate.
We exchange looks, then we all turn to Vin, Carter, and Madds for their confirmation as well.
“We’ve already started the work,” Carter says with nonchalance. Like it was the most obvious and logical thing in the world to do.
“I have men on standby. As soon as Carter gives me a name and a person, we’ll bring them in and find out as much as we can. He’s convinced there’s a scout in the city already.”
Did these three come here out of damn courtesy? Because they seem to have anticipated the outcome.
“If there is, shouldn’t we find him before Bartiste arrives?” Finn asks.
“Yes, but we don’t know who to look for. We’re keeping an ear out for people asking questions, but I’m not putting my hopes on finding this person,” Vin answers.
“We must lay low. You’ll make a list.” I turn to Annika. “Everything you need for the island. We’ll send someone to buy it all, then you’ll go. You might even have to split, just in case there is a scout here for you. Maybe even disguise yourselves.” This sounds surreal.
I harshly swipe my hand over my face, wishing I could fucking wipe away this whole goddamn day. This whole problem. I have this gut feeling that it will turn ugly and it’s eating me inside. But I have to get over it, all that matters is keeping Annika safe.
“Sounds like a plan. Thank you,” she says, smiling at me, and I swear I already feel a bit better. “To all of you, thank you.”
Carter nods, then stands, the other two frowning.
“This needs to happen fast. I’ll be back tonight to finalize the plan.”
He shuts his laptop, and walks away, toward the front door. Vin and Madds get the message and follow him.
I’m not sure how much time we have, but I plan to spend all of it with her. I don’t linger. I need to get the fuck out of here, away from my brother’s scrutinizing gaze. Grabbing Annika, I head straight to my side of the penthouse and into our bedroom.
“Are you okay?” I ask, shutting the door behind me.
“I’m fine. I just got nauseous. The thought of that man… he gives me the creeps in the worst way possible. I think I just got overwhelmed for a moment. This is not how I expected this day to go.”
I narrow my eyes, watching how she drops her gaze to the side, rubbing her arm.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” I ask, since that doesn’t sound like it’s the entire truth. But then again, even Hanna looked a bit sickly at the sound of his name.
She nods, meeting my gaze as she sits at the edge of the bed.
“I think myprofessionhas given me this badass image. You know by now that it’s not me. Blending into the background is my thing, observing and staying out of trouble. I wasn’t naive; I prepared myself for some form of danger. I weighed the risks, and of course, some situations were unavoidable over the years.”
The thought of her being in danger riles up a feral instinct inside of me that begs to find every single fucking soul on this Earth who wronged her, whoever put my little witch in harm’s way, and rip them to pieces.
“But this—Bartiste—is different. When he looked at me, there was no humanity in his eyes. It’s like he saw potential, a price tag on a precious stone that he could cut and shape into the exact gem he needs to fulfill his fucked-up purpose. Use it, chip it away bit by bit, until there’s nothing but dust left behind, and the world forgets there was anything precious occupying that space to begin with.”
A pressure grows in my head, my bottom lip pierced from biting it too hard, and my jaw hurts from the constant flexing.
“Hanna said he threatened you. What did he say?”
This is going to get me even angrier, but… I have to know.
“It’s been over a year; I don’t fully remember. He didn’t threaten me with death, but one of the things I do remember him saying was that if he ever found out that there was something wrong with the painting, he’ll hunt me down, and make me pay in flesh and blood, before he’ll sell me to people who will do much more to me than get their dicks wet with my cunt.”
My blood is no longer boiling—it turns cold. I have a feeling that the type of human trafficking this man enables is not the virgin auction type of affair.
