Page 96 of Scars Run Deep

“Impeccable timing, Cal,” Asher told him.

Caleb glanced around at the bloodied scene, splatters on the walls and furniture, a bunch of furniture decimated, bodies dropped, then at Asher himself. “Impeccable cleansing.”

According to Asher, the guy had opened a series of facilities to care for people who’d been stolen away and had suffered just like the hostages in this house.

“This is just the start,” Asher told him.

“Not just a single auction now, the whole network,” he mused to himself. “It’s been a long time coming.”

“Too long.”

“Well, things had to fall in place. When we took down that auction together, we thought we had a window to take the rest as well. Alas, things got in the way. Dangerous obstacles that would’ve ruined you if we hadn’t waited.”

I frowned. Asher had taken down a dollhouse auction? He hadn’t spoken to that.

Caleb looked at me, then eyed Asher quizzically.

“Yes,” Asher confirmed, without Caleb needing to say another word or spell it out.

“Hmm, times are definitely changing then.”

One of the staff members called to him, so he gave Asher’s shoulder a squeeze, and told me, “Nice meeting you,” before then taking off to tend to the situation.

I looked up at Asher.

“What?” he asked at the curious look on my face.

“You took down one of those auctions?”

“Shortly after your father disappeared on me and didn’t make good on his promise, there was a window of opportunity, so I took it.”

“On your own?”

“Jonah and Killian don’t know about it if that’s what you’re asking.” He looked over at Caleb, then told me, “I happened to walk into a church around that time and that’s where I met Rowland. He was on a whole guardian angel vigilante kick at night dealing with abusers, and I brought up the dollhouse situation. He was familiar with the rumors through a member of his congregation. We took one of the auctions together and that was the beginning of his new line of work with his care facilities for victims of this sort of thing.”

“So, he just quit being a missionary?”

“Not exactly.”

I cocked an eyebrow.

“Let’s just say he had a crisis of faith.”

Before anything more could be said, his watch beeped again.

He left my side for a moment to let Caleb know that it was time to move out, reeling off instructions in his normal commanding way.

I sank against the wall and stared down at my hands, blood staining them as they shook with the adrenaline of the fight.

Hell, it was clearly more than that.

I’d come so close.

So fucking close to succumbing to that blackness again.

And the strange part was that it had been Asher who’d stopped it.

“Good work,” Asher told Jonah as he held his phone between us, Jonah’s voice sounding out into the still night.

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