Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 57067 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 285(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57067 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 285(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
“Not seeing the one you’re looking for, Julian?” the man asks him.
“Not looking for anyone in particular,” Julian grunts.
“You didn’t come here looking for your slut sister?”
The man opposite me sniggers. I can feel the tension in the room outside without even being there. My hands curl into tight, useless fists.
“How stupid do you think we ar—”
The man bellows. A gunshot goes off, and the women and girls scream. The man opposite glances over his shoulder as though he’ll be able to see through the closed door.
A lot happens in the time he takes to look at me again. Time moves impossibly slowly. I’ve heard of time perception changing as a trauma response during my work in the ER, but I’ve never felt it myself. Now, it hits me.
Sluggish, slow hundredth seconds peel by as something dangerous and reckless triggers deep inside me.
They’re going to kill my brother. Then they’ll kill me.
Don’t think, Celine.
Don’t you dare let yourself think.
I throw myself at the man, hands flying to his gun.
CHAPTER 26
DAMIAN
Ishoot the guard outside the storeroom door square in the head, the gunshot loud even through my earplugs. My head is ringing, but I don’t give a fuck. Stepping over his body, I kick open the door. The hatch is already open. Thank God for small miracles.
I rush down the narrow corridor as another gunshot goes off. Charge into the room and find Julian on the floor with Vincent. I always thought he was one of the good ones.
Julian snarls as they wrestle. Pushes him up so there’s about a foot clearance between his head and Vincent’s.
Another bullet takes care of that. Blood spurts all over Julian and the dirty stone floor.
Another man fires a shot. Hits me straight in the bulletproof vest I’m wearing, and I feel one of my ribs threaten to break. I spin, take a knee, the collision slamming into my kneepads. One shot to center mass. As he drops, I put one right through his mouth.
These poor women. These poor goddamn girls.
Someone has triggered the alarm. It screams through the building. Must be more men upstairs.
Fuck.
We’re not going to be able to get these women out of here in an organized way.
A door bursts open at the edge of the room.
A man falls out…
With Celine attached to him, her hands on his gun. I stare in awe and terror as the man–the same bastard who pulled the alarm the first time I was here–struggles to aim the barrel at Celine.
I leap on him, dragging him away from her. Shove him up against the wall and shatter his nose with a headbutt that makes his body limp. He makes a choking noise as I bury my hands in his throat. Lift him off his feet and stare into his dying eyes.
“No one,” I growl, squeezing harder. Cartilage crunches in his throat. “Touches. My fucking woman.”
Snap.
I break his goddamn neck and let him drop.
“Damian,” Julian roars, grabbing my arm. “This place is going to be crawling with men soon. We need to leave.”
Celine tears off the duct tape around her mouth, gasping. “The women,” Celine cries. “The girls!”
“There isn’t time!” Julian snaps.
Celine ignores him and rushes across the room. Two girls run at her as if she’s their mother. She scoops them both up, red-faced and determined. She cradles them both to her chest.
Upstairs, men begin to shout.
I turn to the women. “I’m going to clear the way,” I growl.
Or die in the process.
“Once the shooting stops, run. Don’t stop running. I wish I could do more for you.”
We didn’t have time to plan a proper exit strategy.
One woman with a piece of cloth binding a broken finger steps forward. “You’ve done enough. But there are more. More rooms like these. More people like us.”
Of course, there fucking are.
I rush toward the corridor, picking up the dead man’s gun and checking the magazine for ammunition. On the staircase, I drop two more of the pricks, stepping over their dead bodies. In the storeroom, one rushes me. I grab his wrist. Push it up. Plaster falls all around us like snowflakes as he tries to redirect the gun to my head, and a shot goes off.
Snap. I break his wrist.
Crack. I shatter his nose.
Another snap, and his neck twists at an angle no man can survive.
I crouch near the hatch. “Julian, bring them up!”
I drive through the city, taking the most scenic route anyone could think of as I make my way home. The girls belonged to one of the women down there. We stuck around long enough to make sure none of the mafiosi followed them. However, we were then forced to scatter.
“Did you hear what she said?” Celine pants from the backseat, her arms wrapped across her middle. Shellshock in her eyes. “There are more women like them – more rooms. More people are suffering.”