Page 124 of The Merciless King

CHAPTER THIRTY

BRAXTON

I stand at the doorway of the warehouse and watch the buses drive into the compound. One has already been loaded with the women after the nurses checked them once released from the cells.

Their names have been recorded where possible. Some of them are not even capable of communicating, they’re in so much distress.

Amy was on the first bus and while it was hard to let her go, Mack held his hand on my shoulder, giving me strength, reminding me this process was important. That the right people with the right skills would be taking care of her tonight.

I have to trust that.

“Fuck, this never gets easier,” Nathan says, shaking his head beside me.

“Don’t know how you guys do it,” I say. “I almost lost my shit and my life after I saw them.”

But I did lose the woman I loved—should not have loved.

My eyes drift across the now lit-up yard and I wonder where Gianna is.

Decker joins us, sliding his gun into his holster, breathing heavily, and announces, “Frank Baldassare is dead.”

My brows shoot up. “Dead?”

“Not breathing. Lights out,” he clarifies unnecessarily.

I spin around to look inside the warehouse.

“Where’s Dante?” I ask.

I’m just catching up after being downstairs with Amy and the women.

“Gone,” Connor says as he jogs over, puffing. “We tracked him for about a mile, but he either has a fucking great hiding place or he’s faster than two Marines and one Navy SEAL.”

Fucking hell.

“They’ll have an escape route planned out of here.” Nathan says, and Decker agrees with him.

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