Page 102 of Peaceful Chaos

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Raven

After a short stopat the apartments, we're on the way to the industrial part of town. Antonio Padilla's club is located about three blocks from Ford's gym. The parking lot is hidden from the street behind the building. Javier pulls the surveillance van we're using around and we get our first glimpse of the seedy world Damien operates in.

The buildings are gray, square, and appear run down. The windows are boarded up, and no signage appears on any of the half dozen buildings covering this city block. There is no reason the parking lot should be full of luxury vehicles, but yet it is.

"The men are in place. Padilla is giving them a difficult time," David relays after he ends a call with one of his men.

His team is comprised of former slaves like Sin, all loyal to David for saving them from a life of servitude. For the first time, they are working alongside agents of Chaos.

"That fucker has always had an inflated sense of his own power. With a gun to his head, and the threat of life in prison hanging over him, he still thinks there's a maneuver that will keep him on the board. What he doesn't realize is he isn't even playing the same game as Damien Blackthorne," Javier seethes.

Once the vehicle is parked, I take a deep breath. No matter how tightly Javier and David think they've got the location locked down, there's a gnawing fear in my gut telling me everything is about to go to shit.

This isn't like the club David runs where people enter of their own free will and engage in consensual sexual activity. While he also holds auctions, those events are role play for the participants, set up for the sole purpose to convince men like my father that he's still actively selling sex slaves. It's a ruse I can tell he doesn't enjoy but is willing to undertake in order to rescue more women like my mother. As long as he is viewed as a part of the world, he can enter these auctions without suspicion.

He purchases as many people as he can and allows slavers to believe he uses these people in brothels. In truth those supposed brothels are actually recovery centers where former slaves receive medical treatment for physical and mental trauma so they can re-enter society as free people.

David will have to slip into his persona as Martin Gerrick tonight for our plan to work. Damien is demanding he turn me over in exchange for Tempest. Of course Sin refuses to let me go in without him, and I don't argue with him. There's only so much risk I'm willing to take, especially when I don't believe for a second Damien will follow through and bring Tempest here. Sin will be recognized instantly by Padilla, but David and Javier have plans in place for this.

"Are you okay?" I whisper to Sin. He's been silent since we learned Tempest was taken. I know this is more than worry about what hell she's experiencing right now. There's a great deal of that going on with all of us, but only Sin really knows what we're going to have to do to get her out.

Sin shakes his head. He's too deep inside his own trauma to try and put up a front. I know it's not really himself he's worried about. We're going into the lion's den, and no amount of pre-planning can guarantee our safety. The truth is, we won't be exiting this ordeal the same people we are right now. Even if we emerge through this without getting captured, what we will be forced to see and do will never leave us. We both know that, but the alternative, leaving Tempest with Damien, is worse.

With the van parked, Lucien moves over to the computer hub and starts hacking into the feed. "Hey, there's a signal being broadcast to a second location."

"Motherfucker!" Javier shouts.

The others seem to grasp what this means, but I'm not as well versed in this world as they are. "Can someone explain why that's a problem?" I ask.

David's jaw is clenched, and I get a peek at the man who rose through the criminal world before he became a savior of lost souls. There's pure malice shining through his eyes, and I'm glad this man is on our side. "It's what we feared. Damien has no plans to come here."

"We abort the mission, right?" Sin asks. I can hear the desperate hope in his words. If Damien isn't coming, then surely there's no need for either of us to enter the building.

"I can track the signal, but I'm going to need some time," Lucien says, causing Sin's shoulders to slump.

Javier turns a worried gaze on both of us. "It's up to the two of you," he says. "We've got one shot to find Damien, save Tempest, and end this once and for all. But, if there's a signal coming from this place, it means that Padilla isn't as under control as we planned."

"Do you have guards in place or not?" Sin demands.

Javier nods. "Yes, but Damien's paranoid. We have redundancies in place in case he's managed to slip in his own men."

Ignoring everyone else but Sin, I look into his eyes. "What do you think?"

He exhales and rakes his hand through his hair twice. He's worried, and that makes my stomach erupt in a riot of anxious butterflies. "I don't want to let you go in there, princess."

I open my mouth to argue, but he stops me with a finger to my lips. "But," he continues, "if we don't go in there and something happens to your sister, I know we'll never forgive ourselves."

What he means is, I won't forgive him. If he doesn't allow me to put myself in danger, he thinks I'll hold it against him. In his mind, he could lose me either way.

I kiss him softly. "We don't really have a choice. She's eight years old. We can't leave her to this fate."

He nods, and for the first time I see tears fighting to spill from his night dark eyes. I don't like seeing him fall apart. It wrecks something inside of me, so I kiss him again.

I clear my throat, stand up, and remove the trench coat I put on before we left the apartment. To say I'm embarrassed by my outfit would be putting it mildly. I'm wearing a black lace corset, completely see through, and a matching pair of thong panties. The spike heels I'm wearing will be burned along with this ensemble after tonight. I can't run in these shoes, and I can't hide a weapon with the clothes I'm barely wearing. I’ve never felt more exposed.

Nodding, I hold my wrists out. In order to sell my capture to Damien I must go in shackled. Sin stands next to me, wearing only a worn pair of jeans, and holds his wrists out as well. Damien demanded me as his price for Tempest, but David is going to have to sell capturing the two of us. We just have to hope Damien wants Sin back badly enough to buy it.

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