Grit (King's Harlots #1)

  “Me?” My head whipped around. “Why?”

  “How about we leave that as a secret for now.” He winked. “Now to answer your question. These girls need help. They need a motherly figure. Someone who can take care of them. They need a role model.”

  “So you’re going to keep me here against my will then? How does any of this make sense? These girls should be in school. They should be with their families. They should be free to grow and live and have families of their own.”

  “No!” the man snapped, punching the wall closest to him. A bone snapped in his knuckle, forcing bile to my throat, but he didn’t even flinch. He didn’t even look at the blood seeping from the cut in his hand. “These girls are mine!” he screamed. “Do you understand me?”

  “Why? What could you possibly want with them?”

  “I want to protect them. Keep them safe from the horrors of the world.” His voice became even again. “I am God to them.”

  This guy was sick in the head. “You can’t honestly believe they would want this over freedom.”

  “They are free. They are free with me.” To my horror, he brought his hand up to his mouth, licking the blood off of his knuckle. He didn’t even wince when his tongue slid over the bone protruding from his skin.

  “Then let them leave those rooms. Let them wander the house. Let them be free,” I insisted.

  “If you agree, I will let them do whatever they want within the walls of this house.”

  My heart raced. “What are you saying?”

  He slapped the intercom again. “Five. Stand. When I say, pull the trigger.”

  My gaze landed on the small girl standing five rooms away. “What…no.” He couldn’t honestly…

  “Now,” he barked.

  A shot sounded through the large room, the girl falling to the floor in a crumbled heap. A voice rang out, bouncing inside my head. It was mine. The horror of what I just saw ingrained itself into the recesses of my soul. It burned its way into my eyes. I screamed, lunging at the man.

  He laughed, pushing me off of him with strength I wasn’t expecting. “Now, now. Tsk, tsk, Genevieve. I was showing you what would happen if you don’t agree.”

  “So you kill the girls? You’re fucking—” A hard slap landed against my cheek, forcing my head to the side.

  “Watch your mouth,” He grabbed my cheeks, digging his fingers into my flesh. “I want you at my side but you will still answer to me and be respectful.”

  “Why?” Tears burned my eyes at the rough hold he had on my face.

  “Because I’ve watched how you are with your sisters. With King’s Harlots. And besides,” he released me, pushing me away. “My last partner died.”

  “How?” I asked on a shaky breath.

  “I got bored of her.”

  ***

  (Angel)

  “You need to stop checking your phone,” I told Meeka when she did it for the hundredth time.

  “I just don’t understand.” She looked at Asher. “She should be here by now.”

  “Who should be here? Talk to me, to us, please,” I pleaded, needing some answers before I ripped my hair out of my head.

  “We had set it up so Jay would talk to the man who took Violet, thinking it would lead us right to him,” Asher explained.

  “I put a bug in Jay’s phone a couple of days ago,” Meeka added. “But she fell off the radar as soon as we got here. That’s why I’ve been checking my phone. Angel, I am so sorry.”

  “So you went off a hunch in hopes that if you threw Jay into the pits of hell, her sister would be saved?” My blood boiled, my heart pounding hard in my ears.

  “It wasn’t a hunch, Boss,” Asher insisted.

  “You shut the fuck up,” I shouted, pointing at him. “I can hit you but I can’t hit her. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll keep your mouth closed and sit there wondering what I’m going to do to you if I don’t get my woman back. Meeka, continue.”

  “Um…” Her mouth opened and closed. “I…” She cleared her throat. “We had word that one of the higher ups of the organization was in this town and that he lived here. But we don’t know who he is.”

  “Then how the hell do you expect to find him?” Dale demanded, pacing back and forth behind me. “None of this makes sense at all. Angel, we need to just go in there and blow the motherfucker up.”

  “We don’t even know where they are,” Coby said, his voice calm but firm. “Angel.”

  I met his gaze, bracing myself. I needed to find Jay. My girlfriend. My fucking Queen.

  “We’ll find her, brother.” Coby cupped my nape, leaning his forehead against mine. “No matter what, we will.”

  “This doesn’t make sense,” I told him.

  “She was supposed to be here.” Meeka rose to her feet, holding her phone up to her ear. “Shit.” She threw her phone on the couch. “Something’s wrong.”

  A heavy knock on the door sounded around the room, jarring my thoughts.

  “It’s about damn time.” Meeka ran to the door.

  We followed behind her, not caring in the least if we were blocking the entrance.

  “Jay, where have…” Meeka’s voice trailed off.

  My gaze landed on a slender frail woman standing before me. She was blonde, doe-eyed and was vaguely familiar. “Violet?”

  She nodded, wavering on her feet. “Where’s my sister?”

  “She’s supposed to be with you,” Meeka said, pulling her into a gentle hug.

  “Where is she?” Max asked, giving her a warm embrace.

  “I don’t know.” Violet shook her head. “She was never with me.”

  “What are you talking about?” Meeka demanded. “She was brought to you an hour ago.”

  “No, she wasn’t. I’ve been here the whole time. I just woke up. I…” Violet started shaking. “I…oh, God. What if…”

  “Boss,” Coby called from behind me. He handed me his phone.

  Unknown: Give this message to your brother. How much are you willing to pay for the love of your life?

  ***

  What the fuck was going on? I couldn’t understand why Violet was there and Jay wasn’t. The whole point of this operation—according to Ash and Meeka—was to save Violet but Jay should have been right behind her. I was losing my ever-loving mind not knowing where she was or if she was okay. We had searched the house we were in, finding out that it had actually belonged to Violet.

  “I didn’t run away. I got mixed up with some bad people and had to get out. I didn’t want my father and his club to go after everyone, knowing their lives would be put on the line if they did,” Violet explained. “I should have called my sister but I had to wait for the heat to die down. Unfortunately, it took longer than I had hoped.”

  “How is this even possible? Where did you get the money?” I demanded even though it was none of my business, but when it came to Jay, I would make it so I found out everything I could.

  “I…”

  “And how the hell didn’t we find any tax records?” My eyes snapped to Brogan’s. “Wouldn’t your step-brother be all over that? What the fuck is going on?”

  “You’re not paying your taxes, are you?” Max interjected. “Who are you involved with?”

  Violet’s gaze passed back and forth between all of us before finally landing on mine. “You love my sister.”

  “Of course I do. Now tell me why we haven’t been able to find you.”

  “Like I said, I got involved with some horrible people. Everything was wiped clean so I could have a new life. I’ve been here under protection, waiting for the changes when you found me.”

  “This doesn’t make sense. Jay thought she did something that made you want to leave,” I told her.

  “What?” Violet gasped, clapping a hand over her mouth. “Never. I could never do that. I stayed away to protect her. Oh God.” Her eyes welled. “What have I done? And now she’s missing.” She sat forward, placing her head in her hands and rocked back and forth. ?
??This can’t be happening.”

  “You’ve been under protection and no one knew about it. You basically died on paper but your father and sister didn’t know. That is what I’m not understanding.” I noted the scars on her forearms, how skinny she was and how lifeless her eyes were. “What are you addicted to?”

  Gasps from the girls sounded around me. If they had been paying attention, they would have caught it when she first let herself be known.

  “I’m…” Violet sighed. “Everything. This is why I’m here. Besides being a safe house, it’s rehab for me. I have a team of workers that show up twice a week. Jay’s going to be so disappointed in me.”

  “She wants you safe. That’s all she cares about. How did you two know she was here?” I asked Asher and Meeka. “Did you know she lived here?”

  “We didn’t know she lived here. I’m…” Meeka took a deep breath. “I’ve been working undercover with the FBI, trying to bring down this human trafficking ring. Through my resources I found Violet.”

  Fuck me. This shit was messed up, and it just kept getting worse. The more answers I got, the more questions I had. “Jay is going to rip your face off.”

  “I know.” Meeka rubbed the back of her neck. “I don’t care about that as long as she’s safe. And now we have to move Violet.”

  “We’ll worry about that later.” I turned to Coby. “Anything?”

  “No. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t being watched. If Violet’s under protection, these people won’t want us seeing them. Trust me,” he winked. “I know.”

  Touché.

  “Well, who knows where the fuck she is?” My phone dinged and I braced myself for the incoming text. After the last one from the unknown person, I lost my shit. I had never reacted that way toward anyone. Ever. Even in the line of work I did. Jay’s safety brought out this Alpha in me that needed to protect her in an uncontrollable way. She could take care of herself, I knew that, but I needed to help. I needed to see that she was happy.

  Unknown: How much do you want to see your girl?

  Another ding came through, indicating a photo message.

  The image was of Jay sitting on a bed, her knees to her chest, her head curled in her arms. A second image came through of her looking at the camera, giving it the finger. I barked a laugh, my throat burning. She was sassy no matter the situation. Fuck, I loved her and I would kill the person who took her from me.

  A heavy hand clapped on the back of my neck, taking the phone from my trembling hands. “We’ll get her back, boss,” Coby whispered in my ear. “You know I’ve done some shit I’m not proud of. Angel, I’d do it all over again if it meant saving your woman.”

  I nodded, my tongue thickening. I didn’t respond for fear that I would blubber like a baby.

  My phone dinged again. This time my stomach sunk to the core of the earth. An image of Jay stared back at me with a man’s hand wrapped around her throat. Her eyes wide, showing fear and anger. A possessive roar left me. I picked up the nearest thing I could find. My knuckles whitened as I gripped the lamp. I threw it until it landed against the wall, shattering to the floor in a million pieces.

  MY KNEE lifted, connecting with the man’s balls.

  He yelled, rolling off of me and cupped his crotch. “You fucking bitch! I’ll kill you.”

  “You can’t do to me what hasn’t been done already!” I screamed, running for the gun.

  When he started taking pictures of me, he told me he was sending them to Angel. Something broke inside me. I knew Angel would have snapped. He would have lost his mind. He would tear through anything to get to me. To get me back to him and to make sure I was safe.

  “You can’t hold me here. You can’t keep killing these girls. You can’t keep taking them out of their home or wherever you got them from. It’s not right.” I reached for the gun when a heavy body landed on top of me, pinning me to the ground.

  “There is no way you will stop this. You’re not strong enough. You can’t focus on anything other than saving these girls. You didn’t even know that your sister has been living under your nose this whole time.”

  “What are you talking about?” I wheezed when he covered me with his whole weight.

  “I’ve followed you everywhere, Genevieve. You have a routine. And I’ve done my research.” He straddled my waist. “Half an hour left and the next girl dies.”

  “No!” With all of my weight, I turned on my back, shoving him off of me. Holding the gun, I aimed it at his head and pulled the trigger. A click and nothing happened. Fuck me.

  “You think I would actually give you a loaded gun. How stupid do you think I am?” The man pushed to his feet.

  “Very stupid.” I mustered up everything inside of me, focusing on what I had been taught by my father and uncles. Time seemed to slow down when I pulled my arm back and swung the butt of the gun against his head as hard as I could.

  He let out a yelp and fell to my feet, gasping for breath.

  I hit him again. And again. I hit him hard until blood splattered my clothes. My hands. My face. I could taste the warm metallic liquid on my tongue. I sneered and hit him again.

  ***

  (Angel)

  The moment my phone rang, I sent up a silent prayer for Jay and for me. “You listen you motherfucker. If I—”

  “Angel?”

  “Jay!” My heart raced at the sweet sound of her beautiful voice gracing my ear. “Baby.”

  All eyes landed on me, my friends, my family, surrounding me.

  “Hi.” She sniffed.

  “Hi.” I cleared my throat. “Where are you?”

  “I don’t…I don’t know.” Her voice started shaking, her words jumbling together.

  “It’s okay, baby. We’ll find you.” I snapped my fingers, motioning to the guys to get on the phone to start tracking where Jay was. “Stay on the phone with me. Tell me anything. What do you see?”

  “It’s a big mansion. Angel, there are girls here. Five that I’ve seen. Three… Three are alive. Oh God, he killed them, Angel. Because of me.” She sobbed. “It’s all my fault.”

  “None of this is your fault. You hear me? He’ll pay for this. Do you know who he is?” I asked, channeling my military background for fear I would lose it.

  “No. I knocked him out. I don’t…I don’t know if he’s alive, Angel.”

  “Don’t worry about that,” I told her. “Try and find something with the address on it.”

  “Okay. I’m looking.”

  I could hear her shuffling around, a heavy clinking filling the earpiece. “What are you doing?”

  “He had me chained. I’m cuffing him to the bed just in case.”

  “That’s my girl,” I said, praise puffing out my chest.

  “We got her,” Asher said, holding up his phone.

  “Jay, we know where you are,” I shoved to my feet. “We’re calling the police, and we’re on our way. Stay on the phone with me, baby.”

  “Oh God. Angel, he’s awake. Shit.” The phone disconnected.

  I heard a scream, and then I realized it was coming from me.

  ***

  (Jay)

  “You won’t get away with this,” I wheezed, my back arching off the floor.

  The man stood over me, his boot pressing into my chest, forcing me against the ground.

  “You thought you could get rid of me? I don’t break that easy, little girl,” he snarled, spittle flying out of his mouth. Blood had rolled down the side of his face from where I had hit him. If I had hit him harder… If none of this had happened.

  “Maybe not but you will die at the hands of someone more powerful than you.” It might not have been me but once Angel got there, he would destroy the fucker.

  “Ha!” he scoffed, throwing his head back. “I’ve been doing this for years and have never been caught. Now since you are here and decided to use my phone, all of the girls will die and so will you. I will make you suffer. I will make it so you never see the light of day again. You will w
ish you were dead. Die on me and I’ll bring you back to life to make you suffer all over again.”

  “This isn’t a paranormal show,” I told him, attempting to push his foot off of my chest.

  “No, but I have medical training, pet. Or should I say…slave.” He released me but not before he fisted my hair, pulling me roughly to my feet.

  “How about we go say goodbye to our friends? I will make you pay for this.”

  “They’re little girls you are holding captive in your home and who knows what else you do with them.”

  He pushed me. “I don’t do anything with them. I prepare them for the next part of their life. I make them strong, viable women who men would love to have with them. They learn everything there is to know about a man and his desires.”

  “So you turn them into sex slaves? Little girls? You force them. Do you drug them? Is that how you get them to stay here? Is that how you get them to not put up a fight? Because they’re practically in a coma?” I screamed, charging for him.

  He laughed, wrapping his arms around my waist and threw me over his shoulder. “You sure are a feisty one. I wish I could keep you.”

  Sirens sounded outside. They were still a ways away but I could hear them. Music to my fucking ears.

  The man didn’t notice. “We would do so well together.”

  “How many girls have you sold?” I asked, closing my eyes.

  “The good ones,” he smacked my ass, rubbing the spot soon after.

  Bile rose to my throat at the feel of his hands on me. “What-what did you do with the other girls?”

  “We got rid of them of course,” he said it like he was talking about the weather.

  “We?”

  “Oh, Genevieve. You think I’m the one running this show? That’s kind of you but not true at all. You can’t even begin to understand how many people work in this organization. How many levels you have to go through to reach the top.” He pulled me off of him and grabbed my wrists, tying a thin strap of leather around them until my skin burned.