Page 19 of Fractured Heart

“Our families are the ones that sold us, none of us wish to return to them,” one of the girls calls out. I grind my teeth so fucking hard they begin to ache, I fucking hate people!

“Then you all may remain here with us where you will receive help and be safe.” Hearing that from Xander shocks me enough that I stand and turn to face him. The serious look on his face and the conviction in his tone tells me he means every word.

“What if we want justice against the bastard that brought us here?” I face the teenage girl with fire in her eyes and smile wickedly.

“Then you join me in my hunt to kill each of the cunts that tried to take something from each of us that was never theirs to begin with. I will teach you everything you need to know to survive,” I declare.

“I’ll teach each of you to fight,” Xander adds.

“I’ll show you all how to shoot,” Trey tacks on.

“And we will all fight alongside you.” I spin around to see Nano, Reid and the other Captains standing there with firm looks on their faces. Nano cuts his gaze to me and nods his head. “You earned the respect of my men tonight like I told you, kid. You have my word that we will stand beside you and help you put an end to this skin trade and keep each of these girls safe from harm.”

I hear the truth in his words. “Prove to me that you mean what you say by helping me raid his sex clubs and freeing the women there.” Nano’s eyes burn with an intensity. I see Trey and Xan both smirking at me in awe.

“We take the clubs down as soon as you have a plan, kid.” A funny feeling blooms inside me when each of the Captains tip their heads in my direction. I close my emotions down and focus back on the girls and getting them to safety.

Xander

For the past two days I have stood back and watched the woman I thought I knew command men twice her size and not even flinch under the intensity of their hardened stares. Trey and I have both been beside her this whole time, neither of us are willing to allow her out of our sight. She has spent a lot of time with Nano who seems taken by her. I wanted to skin the cunt for getting close to my girl but Trey held me back and told me to watch, so I did.

Nano made formal introductions to each of the Captains and told each of those men that she single handedly freed the girls and blew up the boat. The respect he feels toward her can be heard in his tone. Wave—Doxy doesn’t show an ounce of emotion when the men commend her on what she did. She thanks them in a monotone type of way, then goes back to planning with Nano’s three head guys—Calvin, William and Brett. Trey and I stay close by and listen in, whenever Trey adds something she will nod and acknowledge he spoke, but if I say something, she shoots me a filthy look and ignores what I have said.

I’m growing fucking tired of this game she is playing and it grates on my fucking nerves each time she speaks to Trevante but blows me off when I say a single word. Since the night we rescued the girls we have been staying at one of Reid’s safe houses. The place is perfect. It’s an old campground with cabins for each of the girls to stay in and even has room for some of the men. Reid didn’t come with us and took all the Captains except for Nano, who remains with Doxy. He’s going to England to speak with Ian. I hate that I’m not there to be a part of this talk but given that I have been stripped of all my titles, I am nothing but a glorified pet at this stage.

“We move in on Prime tomorrow night. Donald will be there and I want him alive,” Doxy announces to the three guys.

“You have our word,” Brett says with a nod.

“No one moves in until I give the order. I want all the girls out safely, no harm is to come to them.” Again they all nod their agreement. The conversation stops when Anna enters the makeshift office. Doxy shoots her a hard stare but the girl ignores her, she is only seventeen and seems to have the weight of the world on her shoulders.

“I’m coming with you,” she states. Doxy shakes her head and sighs. She may not show any emotion to me or any of the guys but it seems Anna is the only one who can force her to feel something aside from emptiness without even trying.

“You're not ready, you’ll remain here?—”

Anna cuts Doxy off before she can finish. “Why do you get to call the shots?” Something in Doxy shifts, I see it in the way her eyes glaze over and her left eye twitches.

“Because I know all of them better than anyone else. I call the fucking shots because I earned it and fought for the right to. You don’t know me, Anna. You have no idea what the fuck I had to go through in order to stand where I am. You are not coming with us.” The girl opens her mouth to argue but Doxy pushes on. “You want to prove yourself? Then you remain here. We’ll return with a prisoner and I will unleash my wrath on that cunt. If you can stomach the sight of what I am about to do, then on the next mission you get to come.” The girl's face lights up as she nods happily.

“You got it,” Anna says before she quickly exits the room. That girl has the same look of bloodlust in her eyes as Doxy.

“That’s it for tonight. Get some rest and I’ll brief the others in the morning.” Brett, William and Calvin all tip their heads to her before exiting through the same door as Anna. The moment Trey, Doxy and I are alone she turns her back to us and starts rolling up the blueprints of the club—Prime—that we are hitting tomorrow night.

I’ve had enough of being ignored and can’t bite my tongue any longer. “Why the fuck do they get a say in planning this shit but I don’t?” I snarl. She drops the stack of papers in her hands and slowly turns to face me with a dark look in her eyes.

“Because none of them have a link to my past but you do.” Her words are like a bucket of ice water.

“You think I’m reporting everything back to Knox?” Her eyes narrow at the mention of her brother's name.

“Aren’t you?” she counters. Trey the bitch shifts away from me.

“Your brother hasn’t spoken to me in eight years.”

“Why?” The air whooshes out of me at her question, it’s a simple question but one I can’t answer truthfully, yet.

“I did something that broke his trust.”

“That doesn’t explain why you are really here.”

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