Page 88 of Intertwined Souls

“Both?” I whisper in horror, attempting to keep myself calm for the little girl attached to me right now.

He nods. “We’ll talk about it later, alright? Let’s just get home and take care of these ones.”

After the girl is ready, her eyes bounce from my face to my hand over and over again. Holding my hand palm-up, she quickly grips it again and we go downstairs, the others following us after they put the clothes on.

Once we get outside to where the van is now pulled up to, the girl holding my hand stops walking, tugging on my hand slightly. When I glance back at her, she has tears gathering in her eyes as they frantically jump from person to person out here.

Stepping in front of her to block her view of all the people, assuming she is overwhelmed, I say, “Hey, it’s alright. I promise that everyone here is good. No one is going to hurt you again. We are just going to—”

My words are cut off when she squeezes my hand with more strength than I would expect from her and shakes her head rapidly. “Oak…” Her voice is raspy and quiet, making it hard to hear what she’s saying.

By now, everyone has noticed us not getting in the van and are watching from a distance, so it has grown quiet out here.

Furrowing my brows, I lean closer to her face. “Can you say that again, sweetheart?”

“Oakley,” she finally stammers out.

“Okay, is that your name? Oakley?” I press.

Shaking her head, she makes a sound of annoyance from the back of her throat and worries her bottom lip.

“Okay, can you explain more? I want to help, but I need to understand first. Can you take a deep breath with me?” She nods hesitantly. “Okay, ready? Breathe in.” I breathe in, and then slowly exhale. “And out. Good job. Do you think you can tell me what’s going on?”

“Oakley, she is—she is inside,” her soft voice rasps.

“Another girl?” I question, and she nods. Frowning, I glance up and find Gabe closest to us. “We checked everywhere, right?”

He nods slowly. “We found another girl downstairs, but she—” His lips thin, his eyes moving down to the girl, who starts rapidly shaking her head.

“Not Oakley. She’s upstairs,” she insists.

“Alright, sweetheart. Why don’t we get in the van and a few of the guys will go check the warehouse again, okay?” I suggest.

“No. You go. You have to go.” She lets go of my hand and steps back.

“You want me to go look?” I ask, and she nods. “Okay, but I need you to get in this van for me first, okay? Then a few of us will go look again.”

She nods and hesitantly walks towards Grayson, who is standing at the van door. He smiles softly at her and begins talking before helping her into the van to sit with the others.

Gabe, Noah, Ryker, Cade, and I head back inside to look around again.

“Do we really believe her? This could be a trap or something,” Noah says with a frown.

“It’s not,” I snap at him.

“He’s just voicing his thoughts, babe. It’s a valid point, and we should be careful,” Ry says as he walks next to me. “You alright?”

“Yeah, sorry today has just been a lot,” I grumble. “We should start upstairs where she thinks the girl is and then work our way back down. Plus, we got distracted by the room with the victims when we were up here.”

Everyone agrees, and we head back upstairs, checking each room slowly. Looking in every corner and possible spot someone could be hiding. When we get to the last office that was across from the room with the cages, I head inside first. After checking the corners and under the desk that sits in the middle of the room, we find nothing.

“There’s nothing. She seemed so sure that this Oakley person was up here. Should we go check downstairs now?” I ask, my forehead creasing with worry.

Noah shakes his head and walks behind the desk, looking at the back wall where two bookshelves are. “Hey, Rage, remember years ago when I got myself in deep shit with that casino a few towns over?”

Rage grimaces but nods. “Unfortunately, yeah, I fucking remember that,” he grumbles. “But why are you bringing that up right now?”

“Because that room they shoved me in while waiting for you and Sugar to show up was a hidden office room.” He grins and points at the bookshelf on the left. “Kinda like this.”

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