My face morphs into the most sinister smile. That soothes my soul just a smidgen, and the sound is music to my ears. Knowing that he will suffer until the blaze makes its way to him, burning him alive, is the biggest and sweetest cherry on top. Feeling relieved and triumphant, I lean back against the wall.
Everyone is all talking at once, but it's just a dull pulse in my ear. All I can do is stare at the closed doors and smile, knowing that most of the men who thought it was their right to lay their hands on me are now burning alive. Smoke cutting off their ability to breathe. Flesh melting off their bones. Completely aware that their time on earth has come to an end. It’s one of the most excruciating deaths a human can experience. That thought is a sweet bliss that I would happily drown in.
When we get to the top, the elevator dings, and the doors slide open. Lucas pushes the emergency stop button. “Just in case.” He shrugs when he sees me looking at him with a cocked brow.
“Come on, the girls are scared out of their minds and refuse to go to a hotel without you. The guys tried, but they wouldn't budge,” Lucas says as he heads off in the direction of where everyone is waiting.
We follow behind, and I look around at my surroundings. This is the first time I've seen the outside world in years. Breathing in fresh air, my eyes stop at a hotel not too far from here. It towers over the other buildings and has a perfect view of the club.
“There,” I say, pointing to the building. “We’ll spend the night there. I wanna stay closer to the club than at the other hotel we’d intended. I wanna watch it all burn down...”
Lucas doesn't ask any questions, just nods.
“The guys and I can use our credit cards and get the girls a room,” Lucas offers.
“We will put as many as we can in each room. That will save you from having to spend too much. And once we are situated, we will pay you back,” I assure him.
“It’s really not that big of a deal Queenie, we don't mind. We’re just glad you all made it out of there safely,” Lucas says, using my stage name. He doesn't know my real name. No one except Evie and Triver do. The day after I was taken, Triver asked me to pick a name, a name I would go by from now on, one that everyone would call me. I chose Queenie. But now that I'm out, I think I'll keep it. Harlow McKaven died in that fire as far as I'm concerned. Queenie is the one who made it out, rising above it all, like a phoenix from the ashes.
“Not all of us,” Roxy mumbles numbly, still reeling on tonight's events.
“I’m sorry about your girls,” he says, looking at each of us.
“We will find and save the other girls who were sold. That's how we will pay our respects to the ones we lost. If it wasn't for them, we wouldn't have made it out. They died so that we can live, and I plan on making good on this new-found freedom.” The girls nod in agreement with me.
When we make it over to the rest of the girls, they rush to meet us. We all hug and cry. They start to cry even harder when they find out about the ones we lost. Every one of us is like family, connected through all the pain we’ve had to suffer, so it’s like we’ve lost our sisters.
After we get all the girls settled into their hotel rooms, Evie and I go to our own room, and she immediately sets up the laptop and gets to work.
Making my way over to the window, my eyes lock on the sight before me. I have a perfect view of Diamonds. The whole building is on fire, orange, red, and yellow flames engulf the structure. The upper level of the building is actually a business. It's a fancy little restaurant called Berk’s Bistro. It serves as Triver’s legal facade to cover up the fact that he was selling girls, with twenty-three kidnapped and held against their will in the basement.
Fire trucks, ambulances, and police cars have arrived and surround the outer building, but no one is rushing in to put it out. What's the point when there is nothing left to be saved. The building is too far gone to risk any personnel going in. Good. They shouldn't have to risk their lives to save the monsters below. They’re exactly where they should be, burning in hell.
“It’s done,” Evie says. Taking my eyes off the beautifully destructive flames before me, I turn my gaze to her.
“How long?” I ask.
“Not too long. I say we wait a bit, let things settle down. Might look a little weird, all of us popping up out of nowhere. I transferred some money to the guys so that we can have something to live off until then. We will get them to help set us up in some place to stay. But we can talk more about that tomorrow. Right now, let’s just get some sleep.” she says, giving me a sad, tired grin.
Nodding my head, I make my way over to one of the beds and fall back onto the plush material.
While I was busy watching the pretty light show below, Evie was hacking into each of the men's accounts and transferred all their personal funds to offshore accounts. If you ask me, we deserve to be compensated for our pain and suffering.
Once it's safe to start using the money, I plan on finding a place that can hold all of us. These girls aremyresponsibility now. I'm making them my responsibility. They’re my family, after all. And, like hell, will I ever let them suffer again in their lives.
Evie bustles around the room, getting things put away and ready for bed. I don’t move from my spot on the bed. I'm still in my dancing outfit. One of the guys gave me a hoodie to put on before coming to the hotel. I was the only one still dressed like that, thankfully.
I'm too tired to change, so I don’t. I just close my eyes, mumble a good night to Evie, and go to sleep. Tomorrow, I can let reality hit me. Tomorrow, I can acknowledge the lives that were lost. But tonight, I'm gonna take this win and get a good night’s sleep on the most comfortable bed I've slept on in over five years.