“Someone was in here. I know it. That drop in the camera feed was intentional, and there's something here that will help us,” Vick ignored what I said entirely.
I wanted to tell him there was a great chance that even if someone was here, it had fuck all to do with Mila, but since Dio and Carlos weren't making me nervous today, I decided not to fight with him on this.
We quickly secured the area, finding no one and nothing. There wasn't anything here the last time we'd come, but the fact that Victor was so irrationally convinced this would lead us to Mila, combined with his inattentiveness, it truly worried me. A random but shocking thought occurred to me, what if he did have feelings for Mila, as Claire suggested?
As I thought, we found no sign of Mila in the main auction area. We moved our search to the hall of rooms. Claire shivered in disgust as we passed through, as if she found the auction hall somehow less objectionable. Vick's face was set in bitter lines, knowing we were running out of time to find her before she disappeared forever. We may disagree on why she left, but her absence was indisputable, and the more time went by, the more likely it would become permanent.
I sifted through the contents of one of the rooms, thinking about my failures and the fact I turned my back on people who needed me. Yet, part of me knew that it wasn't selfish to look out for myself in a bad situation, and getting out and attempting to live a normal life didn't make me responsible for the crimes of others.
However, the tiny side of me that believed so remained quiet in the face of the greater majority that knew the truth. I had been born to stop this man, and I waited far too long to do it simply because he was in jail and couldn't directly hurt me. Instead, I should have taken advantage of his absence and pulled his empire from under him. There were so many girls I could have saved, and if not saved, at least stopped them from being sold under my nose.
There was a time I truly hated myself for the crimes I committed at my father's behest and truly despised myself for the blood-coated monster he raised me to be, but now I realized the truth:thiswas the real reason I should have hated myself all along. The evil acts I perpetrated would never weigh on me as much as the actions I allowed through my complacency.
“Mason!” Claire shrieked. I had left her to look around, never more than a room away, but I deeply regretted that choice at that moment. I ran toward the sound of her voice, my heart ready to burst from my chest. I found her on the floor in the room next door. She was on her knees, holding up the bed skirt with her curls spilled around her face in a wild tumble. “Mason! There's someone in there!”
Chapter 19
Claire
Foronewildmoment,my heart surged, thinking we’d found Mila, but the long black hair spilling over the woman’s back and matting around her temples did not belong to the pretty blonde teen. My hands shook as I stared at the beautiful woman lying in the cage. She was tied tightly in multiple places with a thick and fibrous rope to keep her immobile. That was extreme overkill considering she wasn’t even conscious.
She was aggressively gagged with a thick blood-stained roll of white fabric, spreading her mouth painfully wide. Her tears had dried black on her cheeks, discolored from her mascara. Perhaps, most concerning of all, were the slices all over her body. Some were more healed than others, but all were relatively fresh. None had faded into scars. A few were shallow, but others dug deep enough to need stitches. I tried not to look at the one on the side of her arm, revealing the flesh and muscle beneath.
Her chest didn't rise as I searched her for signs of life, and I feared she might be dead rather than unconscious. A horrible sob caught in my throat, and her eyes flashed open at the sound. First, there was nothing more than confusion as she blinked hard. Then, I practically heard the click when she understood her surroundings. She screamed through the gag, the sound weak. Her terror called to something deep inside me. I panicked alongside her, feeling like someone might decide to throw me in.
“Mason, help her. Please!” I shouted, making her jump away from me.
Mason was already dropping to his knees. “It's okay. You're going to be okay.” His hands and eyes were on me, not the panicked woman, “Victor, I need some help in here!” he yelled as he finally looked toward her and bent to investigate the lock.
At Mason's shout, she squealed in terror, pathetically attempting to scoot herself to the back of the cage and as far away from us as possible. But with her body tied the way she was, she barely got two inches, and her shrieks only increased in volume once she realized how ineffective her attempts were.
“You’re going to be okay. No one here will hurt you, I swear. Please stop crying in case someone hears you,” she only sounded more upset as she wailed into her gag. “Guys, she's terrified. Get the cage open and back off so I can help her.”
“Claire, we don't know who she is or why she's down here. I don't think you should take the lead on this. Instead, we'll open the cage, and you let us deal with her.” Mason's voice sounded even and conciliatory, much too calm for my state.
“She's naked and bound, Mason. She didn't start screaming until you yelled. What the fuck do you think this sobbing woman will do to me?” I glared at him, unwilling to back down. God only knew what had happened to her, and I wasn't about to leave her to these men. Even if they wouldn't hurt her, she had to be terrified.
He glared at me in return, “I need an angle grinder. That's the only way we're going to get this off.” He moved away from her as quickly as possible, not wanting to frighten her further.
“Do you have an angle grinder, Mason? No offense, but you've never struck me as a DIYer,” the angry sound of my voice surprised me.
“Yeah,baby. This is not the first time we need to get someone out of a cage. We keep a good selection of tools in the trunk.” That brought me up short, reminding me I was upset and not thinking entirely clearly.
“We have one too. I'll go get it,” Carlos offered, uncomfortable with the situation. Dio looked after him like he wanted to follow but remained standing closer to the cage than I would have liked.
“Stand back, all of you. She's scared shitless.” I wished I could remove the gag so she could speak, but even if she trusted me, she was too bound to scoot over to the bars. So I sat beside her, and she didn't scream again, to my relief.
“He'll be back soon, and we will help you. I promise no one is going to hurt you,” I assured her.
The only sounds for the next few minutes were our breaths and her soft, muffled sobs. Then, a few minutes later, he was back with a neat little power tool that, I was surprised to learn, ran off a battery.
“Claire, you have to step back.” Mason put his hand on my shoulder to get my attention and held the other out to help me up.
“Sheis this close,” I argued.
“She can't move. We don’t have another choice.”
“But what if it hurts her?”