Page 591 of Dark Love

WHAT? How could you sell your own child?

“She was worth too much for him not to. The day I walked in and she wasn’t there was the day I killed my father. And I only wish I’d done it sooner.”

Vex rid the world of another monster, but he’ll live with the guilt of not saving his sister. He doesn’t need to tell me for me to know she didn’t survive.

“That was the first job I paid Torment to do. But he never found her. She disappeared into a world full of misery and pain or death. Torment found a ship full of women that went down. He… we think she was on it. By the time there was a submersible capable of going down that far, all the bodies were gone. So, I’ll never know what happened to my sister.”

The pain he must feel…

“Since then, I’ve hunted down and killed every human trafficker I could find.”

“You lied to me.”

Vex blinks. “What?”

“You aren’t a human trafficker.”

“I sold people, Dahl. I took freedom away from people for money. I am and will always be a human trafficker.”

“You’re lying to yourself, too. You aren’t a human trafficker. As a child you were forced to do things—” My body shudders. “—horrible things. But the man you are, chose to save people. That doesn’t make you a human trafficker. That makes you a hero.”

“I’m hardly a hero. Doing this has made me more money than I could ever imagine. More than most people can comprehend.”

“So?”

He shakes his head at me.

“You make money and save people. I don’t see the problem there.”

“Dahl. All my money comes from human trafficking. It’s dirty.”

“All your money comes from saving people. And if I were a betting woman, I’d say you use that money in order to save more women.”

“It isn’t cheap, nor is the fund to make sure that the women Payne and I manage to save can live a stress-free life. But—”

“No more buts. I was right about the man you are.”

“How can you say that? I’ve killed so many people.”

Skip this. Vex needs a hug. I hurl my body across the space separating us.

My brave, broken man. If he can stand up and fight after all he’s been through, I can tell my mother. I can be brave too.

My therapist would say something about false correlations, but I don’t care. I will be brave!

Prue The Prude

Dahlia

Why didn’t I ask Vex to come with me? Just holding his hand would infuse me with all the strength I would ever need.

But this isn’t his battle, this is mine. When the door opens, everything in my world is going to change… for the better.

The door swings open.

“Hi, Mom.”

“Dahlia.” She wraps me in a big hug. “I’m so glad you came home for the weekend. It’s going to be so much fun.”

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