Page 40 of Out to Find Freedom

Fear vanished and agitation appeared. It had me up on my feet. “I can’t. I told him I can’t. No one else will get hurt because of me. Just go. Tell Ryan to get out and go. Please.”

Only he wasn’t listening to me. The shorts I had on came to my upper thighs. His eyes were there, and what I saw in them scared me. They’d hardened. His lips thinned and I could see his jaw clenching.

“Who did that?”

If I told him the truth, I had a feeling he would stalk upstairs and hurt Gloria on the spot. I couldn’t let that happen. I didn’t want anyone else involved; it only led to death.

“I did,” I said quietly.

His eyes flashed to mine. “Lie.”

How did he know? “N-no, I—”

“Don’t bother.” He shook his head. “We need to go and now.”

“I won’t,” I told him. He didn’t understand it, no one did, but I wasn’t being some dim-witted teen. I was saving people.

“If you don’t come willingly, I’ll have to take you.”

“Y-you can’t.” He took another step. I raised my hands in front of me. “Stop. Wait, please. You don’t understand. If I stay, then no harm will come to my friend and her family.”

“We’ll protect them,” he told me, his voice hard, and it made him sound like he believed what he’d said.

I shook my head, frustrated tears welling. “It’s not that easy. If it was, I would have called the police on the phone I have.” I flicked away the tear that fell. “Gloria knows people. If she’s taken in, she’ll still get a call out to take care of me, my friend, and her family. I won’t risk more people.”

He crossed his arms over his chest. “What do you mean by that? More people?”

I sucked in a shuddered breath. “T-they killed Donny and Mrs Minna, right in front of me, because of me. No more people will die,” I said, steel in my voice.

“No one will. We have the means to protect you. Right now, we have the house surrounded. The four people upstairs will be taken into custody.”

I gripped the hoodie at my chest. “Four?” I demanded.

“Yes. Four.”

“Three men and one woman?” I asked. He nodded. Could it bethefour? It had to be. They were the only ones who came to the house. The only voices I’d heard above and in my nightmares. Only I hadn’t heard them that day, so I couldn’t tell if it was the two other men I never wanted to see again.

I moved my hands down to my stomach when it twisted and growled. Killer’s eyes hardened once again. Heat coloured my cheeks.

“T-they….” I wiped at my eyes. “They’ve killed, but they’ve also drugged and raped a girl. I-I saw her o-on the couch.” His face blanked. I shook my head, curling my arms around my waist. My body shook like I’d been standing in the snow in my underwear for an hour. Frustration warred inside of me. This was my chance. I could be free, but I had to tell him everything. He nodded, wanting me to go on, but then he pulled his phone free and looked at the screen. He typed something back and then pocketed it again. “I….” I cleared my throat. “I think they’ve done it to more girls. Young girls. Maybe fourteen to sixteen. They’re bad people. Bad.”

He nodded. “How long you been down here?”

I looked away from him, to the floor, and whispered, “Over two years.”

My eyes snapped up when I saw feet in front of me. I let out a strangled noise and backed against the wall, arms up.

“I won’t hurt you.”

“I-I can’t trust anything.”

He nodded once. “Smart.” Slowly, he reached out and took my wrist. Gently, he used his other hand to slide up my sleeve. When he saw the scars, he cursed over and over. I pulled my arm from his hold.

He sucked in a deep breath through his nose. “Who did it?” he clipped. “You’ll be safe no matter what, but we’ll want to know.”

“I’ll be safe?”

He nodded.

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