Page 27 of Seeking Salvation

“Good, we can get you under and have you snoop around a little.”

“What about me? Surely it makes more sense. If I go back, I can look around with much less suspicion.”

Titan’s skin bristled at the thought of Maya going back to that hell and putting herself in danger. “It’s too dangerous and Tyrique needs you.”

“No, Tyrique needs his father, his only living parent.”

“I’m trained.”

Maya stood slamming her hands down on the desk beside him. “And I don’t care. She was my sister. I need to do this and I’m not asking.”

“God, I think I love her.” Charlie nudged Snow on the shoulder with this declaration.

“Told you she’s badass.”

Titan raised one brow at his friends as if to say shut the fuck up and they only grinned wider.

“Maya, if you go back in, you do as we tell you. These people are no fucking joke.”

Titan stood abruptly leaning in towards Bás. “Are we really fucking considering this? She could get herself killed by those fuckers.”

“Titan, nobody knows the set-up as well as she does.”

Titan resisted the urge to throw his fist through his boss’s face, but barely. “Then send Duchess under. She can handle it and Watchdog could set up a legend and have her age work for what we need. Fuck, any of the girls could go under with a legend in place and you know it.”

His boss levelled him with a cool look as his jaw ticked. “I can’t. We need Duchess on something else and the other girls are out too.”

“Something more important than taking down the sex trafficking ring that murdered my son’s mother?” Titan grit his teeth, fury turning the room around him a cloudy blood red. “This is bullshit.”

Hurricane pushed between him and Bás. “Take a walk, Titan.”

Titan knew if he didn’t get out of there and calm his irrational anger into submission he was going to do or say something he’d regret.

Storming for the door, he pushed through, almost taking it off the hinges as he headed for his car, leaving everything else behind.

Chapter 8

Silence filled the room as Maya waited for a reaction to Titan’s meltdown, but none seemed to come. Irritation clawed through her at the way he’d behaved but she tried to remember that the last twenty-four hours had been a lot for him, too. He might be some big, bad rescue guy, but he was also a man who’d gained a child overnight.

Bás caught her attention as he moved his chair, the legs scraping the floor, and she regarded him before letting her gaze move around the room. At a glance, these people looked normal, but she was beginning to realise they were anything but. Charlie had been a freaking spy for fuck’s sake. Others were former military, according to Titan, and she wondered what his past would reveal, and if she even had the right to ask him.

Her gut twisted when she thought of the pain in his voice when he spoke of his brother being dead and how he’d made his own choices. Something told her the decisions made by his sibling had affected him as much as Rose’s had affected her. Nobody lived in a bubble and everyday people made decisions that would hurt or help the people around them.

Was that what she was doing by insisting she be part of this? Was she hurting Titan? She didn’t know him really, or owe him anything, and yet the thought of causing him further pain knotted like a fist in her chest. Was she behaving exactly like Rose, ignoring the worries of others because what she wanted was more important?

Maya found her attention back on the man in the corner. His pain radiated off him like a physical black cloud, oppressive and dark. Yet his words when he spoke at all were measured and intelligent, but also kind. No, not kind exactly but like he didn’t want to cause harm. He looked up, his gaze catching her own and, behind the empty darkness, pain and grief swirled like a sucking vortex, and she wanted to help him wash it all away.

It wasn’t the same hot desire she felt when Ti was in the room. This was more how she’d felt around her sister. She had the urge to wrap him up and protect him like she hadn’t been able to with Rose. A silly thought when he looked like he could bench-press a car but the heart was always the most delicate organ, and his had clearly been broken into tiny pieces.

“Maya, you go back to your sister’s flat and pretend like everything is normal.”

Maya pulled her attention back to Bás, who was clearly in charge of this group, his relaxed posture telling her he was used to dealing with outbursts from his people.

“Titan will go in as a bouncer at the club, and I’ll have Hurricane and Bein with eyes on you at all times.”

“I’m not sure Ti will want to do this now.” She picked at her cuticles, tearing at the skin as she resisted the urge to follow him out and make sure he was okay. She’d never intended to cause this kind of chaos for him. She’d only ever wanted Tyrique safe.

“He will. Titan is just very protective and he’s not wrong, this is dangerous, but not difficult. These people are by no means criminal geniuses. It shouldn’t take us long to take them down. Maybe a few weeks at worst.”

---