Neither one of them speak for a long time, they just stare at each other. They look so much alike. Even the way Liam’s head tips to the side when he’s thinking is something I’ve seen Boo do a million times already.
Liam gets to his feet and walks toward the end of the table. I stay on alert as he hesitantly takes a seat next to Boo. “Who took you?” he questions. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”
“I don’t know,” she whispers. “All I know is that my uncle gave me to the Screwballs MC when I was just ten years old, and I don’t have a lot of memories before that. I had lived with my uncle for a couple of years before that, but anytime I try to remember my life before him, things get all jumbled up. He used to tell me lies and stories, and he confused me on what had been real and what he had told me was real.”
“The Screwballs,” Liam mutters, his gaze darting to me. “And who are the Screwballs?”
“Very fucking bad men,” I growl. “Their president goes by the name of Big Dick, and he’s as fucked-up as they come. He has a whole club full of men who think nothing of raping and trafficking women.”
Liam’s jaw ticks as he absorbs that information. “And how did you come into the picture?”
“Big Dick’s boy is with us. The boy’s mother is with one of our men, and he wanted his boy back. Forced me to wreck my bike and took me hostage.”
Liam nods and leans back in his chair, crossing his ankle over his knee as he turns his attention back to Boo. “This true?”
She nods. “I saw them bring him in. I managed to talk to him a couple of times, and he asked me to call Judge. They rescued us both a few days later.”
“Why did they send me that picture?”
A tear slips from Boo’s eye and rolls down her cheek. “I don’t know.”
“Who is the woman in that picture?”
Another tear falls. “I don’t know.”
“Why would they tell me you took my sister?” he asks me.
“I was their favorite slave,” Boo interjects, her voice filled with sadness. “One man, Alan, he considered me his personal property. He would never let me go without a fight.” She squeezes my hand and continues. “It’s obvious they wanted you to charge in here and kill them yourself so they wouldn’t have to. Their hands would seem clean, and they could still get the money they wanted for me.”
The impact of her words washes over him. He goes to reach for her hand, pausing midair before he stops. “What did they do to you, Bria?”
“It wasn’t just me,” she says softly. “There were a lot of women. They bought and sold us, and use us while they had us. We cooked and cleaned, and whenever they wanted…” She takes a shaky breath. “They used us for whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted, and we were forced to give it to them.”
I don’t know if it’s redheads in general, or just Irish people, but Liam has the same telling blush I’ve seen on Boo many times, though his isn’t a blush of embarrassment. It’s a flush of rage.
“They raped you?”
Boo nods.
“They beat you?”
Boo nods again. Her confirmation hits me like a bullet. I knew how bad it was, but the idea that this had been going on since she was just a child fucks with my self-control.
“And what was the name of this uncle who sold you to them?”
“I only ever knew him as Uncle.”
Liam leans forward, his eyes leveling with Boo’s. “That man was not your uncle. And if he’s still alive, I’ll kill him myself.”
I want to argue with that. After everything Boo and I have been through together, I want to be the one to take that sick fuck out for her. But from the look on his face, I can see that he didn’t just do that shit to her. He may not have sold Liam the way he did Boo, but he wronged their family in a way I still don’t understand. He destroyed them. His blood needs to be on Liam’s hands.
His chair scrapes across the floor as he jumps to his feet and paces the room, his anger coming off of him in waves. “He’s a dead man. They’re all dead men.”
“That’s the plan,” I say, placing a hand on Boo’s trembling shoulder.
Liam pauses. “We need a new plan, and we need it now.” He moves to the door and looks out at the men in the main room. I watch as he motions to someone, and a few moments later, Judge steps into the room.
“Everything settled now?”