My eyebrows shot to my hairline and I hesitated, but he gestured for me to hurry up and I swiped to answer.
“Hello?”
Deja vu hit me when I heard her crying over the line. Unlike last time when I received the call, I didn’t immediately panic. It didn’t mean that my body didn’t seize up and my heart didn’t thunder, but there was a veil of doubt covering my reactions, dulling them.
“Alex… I’m sorry. So sor—” She faded off with tears.
“What, Leah?” I didn’t hide the annoyance in my tone.
“I need your help.” Looking over at Erik, I rolled my eyes expecting him to sympathize, but his face was hard and focused on hearing what he could of the conversation. “When Oscar couldn’t sell you, he decided to sell me. I tried to fight, but Bill kidnapped me and sold me. I’ve been locked in this warehouse for a week and I’m scared. It’s by the river, just outside the west side of the city. I think it’s an abandoned beer factory. God, Alex, I’m scared.”
I could imagine how scared she was all too well and I hated the sympathy that plagued me. I hated that part of me urged to go help her. I hated the voice in my head that reminded me it could all be a setup, too.
“This guy…he jus-just r-raped me and passed out. I managed to grab his phone and sneak off to make a phone call.”
“Leah.” My voice cracked on her name and I hated the weakness. “I—I don’t know what you want me to do.”
“That guy, the one who rescued you. You said he saved girls, right? He could save me, can’t he?”
I wasn’t sure it was possible, but Erik’s body hardened more and his usually warm eyes had gone blank and cold.
“Leah,” I sighed. “I—”
“What the hell is going on?” a man’s voice grumbled over the line. “You dumb bitch.”
“No,” Leah cried out, piercing the veil and hitting my heart. “Please do—”
The line went dead and I wanted to smash the phone into dust. Tears burned the backs of my eyes and I avoided Erik’s gaze, not wanting him to see how stupid I was for being upset for her.
His hand came into view to hold mine.
“Don’t panic yet.” His tone was soft and calm. “There are…things going on in the background that I haven’t talked to you about because I wasn’t sure about any of them. But this solidifies a few things. Let me call Jared.”
Wiping my tears, I nodded and pulled myself together. He placed the call on speaker phone so I could hear everything going on.
“Erik, I was just getting ready to call you.”
“What’s up?”
“There’s been more chatter about Mr. E. These guys have to be amateurs because they’re laying everything out online like it’s a fucking frat party.”
“We just got a phone call from Alexandra’s sister claiming she’s been kidnapped. Anything on that? Anything over the past couple weeks?”
“Not of her being sold,” he hedged.
“Good. Meet me at my place ASAP.”
“You want MacCabe in on this?”
“Definitely. Tell him I’ll pay extra if he can make it tonight.”
Two hours later, I sat on the couch with a hardened heart. I was surprised my molars hadn’t cracked with how much grinding I’d done as I listened to Jared lay out what had been planned.
Apparently, Bill had heard of Mr. E and had a plan to take him down. Of course not on his own. He had some friends who’d been affected by Erik’s takedowns before and wanted revenge. Jared was right, the conversation had been like a frat house chat room. They discussed how I would be a bonus to sell off—but not until Bill finally had what had been denied to him.
If I ever came face-to-face with that asshole again, I was going to deny his right to have a dick. I’d rip it off and make him choke on it.
I imagined the scenario, clutching a couch pillow to my chest and watching the crowd of giants in Erik’s dining room hover over their plans on the table.
Jack MacCabe ran a security company and had signed up to help Erik pro bono with all these cases. He was a ridiculously sexy man with ridiculously sexy men that worked for him. Even as Erik stood next to me, I struggled not to stare.
All of them were tall and muscular under their black pants and shirts, guns strapped to their sides. I wouldn’t have assumed that appealed to me, but I guess I was wrong. Erik had cocked a brow and told me to go sit on the couch, but not until he laid a hard and fast kiss on my lips like he was claiming me.
“We’re all married, dude. Calm down,” the tall blond giant said from the corner with a smirk.