Page 83 of Soul Bound

“Not exactly the reassuring answer I was looking for.” I scowl.

I’m so close to finding the baby that not much is going to deter me from continuing on. I know it’s dangerous and at any point, a guard could walk around the corner and find me. Also, I’m currently without any real backup. All I have is Thalia and her noncommittal responses.

She still just stares back at me with her cloudy ice-blue eyes, her facial expression gives nothing away.

“Fuck,” I curse. “Okay. Let’s keep going.” I start to make my way down the hallway. We pass a couple of open doors and I figure out we are in the part of the penthouse where the bedrooms are. Thalia moves in front of me, disappearing and reappearing every few feet.

We pass by another empty room with a door open and I freeze. In front of the bed sits an empty bassinet. I have no idea what baby was in there, but it’s gone now. I wonder if the ‘item’they were talking about auctioning off in a few minutes is the baby missing from this bassinet.

I feel guilty I’m not able to save every child and woman here tonight. I have to prioritize getting Thalia’s baby out first. Now that I know Cyrus is involved, I can have Whisper put a tap on his phone and we can track where the future auctions will be and maybe we can help them that way. We just can’t do anything to help tonight.

Thalia comes to a stop in front of a closed door. She turns to look at me, a cross between pure joy and panic on her face. I race down the hallway when she disappears through the door. “Crap!” I hiss.

I reach for the door handle but hesitate to open it. I don’t know what’s on the other side of this door. By the look on Thalia’s face, I have to assume her baby is in there, but will she be in there alone? Will a guard be sitting with her? If so, how the hell am I supposed to get the baby away from them?

Way to thoroughly think this through, Winslow. You’re on a roll with these half-baked stupid plans.

I hold my breath and push the door open. The room is dark, the only light comes from a small lamp on the nightstand. It’s just enough to make out where everything is in the room. I take a step farther into the room and close the door behind me with a softclick. I let out the breath I was holding when I see the room is empty. I doubt it will be for long though.

Looking across the room, my heart lodges itself in my throat when I see Thalia. She’s standing over a white bassinet and the most beautiful smile I’ve ever seen has broken across her face. I have never seen her look like this—she lookscontent. At peace. The look on her face right now makes everything that has happened over the past couple of weeks worth it. I would do it all over again to be able to see her smiling down at her baby like she is now.

I join her next to the bassinet and look down at the baby we’ve worked so hard to find. Finally seeing her in the flesh is like coming up for air after being held underwater. Relief washes over me knowing we’ve found her and she’s safe—well,almostsafe.

“Hi there,” I coo at her. She has dark hair just like Thalia and big brown doe-like eyes peer up at me. I have no idea if she can see her mother standing there, but a toothless smile spreads across her chubby face. “You ready to blow this popsicle stand?” I smile back at her. I toss the heels I’d been holding on the floor next to the bed, deciding to just leave them here.

Thalia watches me as I reach down and gather her baby in my arms. I settle the stirring of panic that starts to rise in my chest. I’ve never held a baby before and I’m afraid I’m going to hurt her. I don’t know how big a three-month-old baby is supposed to be, but she feels tiny. “You’re a little thing, aren’t you?” I tell her as I hold her to my chest. A white blanket had been around her in the bassinet, I reach down for it and wrap it around her the best I can. I half expect her to start fussing since a stranger is holding her, but she’s just making this soft cooing noise.

“Okay here’s the deal,TBD. We’re going to have to sneak out of here, so I’m going to need you to hold your shit together until we are far,faraway from this place.” I smooth my hand over her back. “After that, you are free to cry as much as you please.Hell, I might even cry with you,” I whisper to her as quietly as I can.

I’m trying to wrap the blanket better around her when I hear a noise come from the closed bathroom door. I never thought to check in there for a someone, I got so distracted by the babyactuallybeing here. Jumping into action, I start to flee, but I only make it halfway across the room when the bathroom door opens, and a woman steps out.

She wears white scrubs and her golden hair is tied into a messy ponytail. She looks skinny—maybe a little malnourished. She’s young, just a couple years older than me. She freezes in the bathroom doorway when she sees me, her eyes dart to the baby I’m holding, and they widen in alarm.

“Who are you?” she asks, stepping toward us. “You can’t be in here.”

I take a step back from her as she advances. “I know,” I admit. “But you see, I can’t leave here without her.”

“Did you purchase her in the auction?” The woman’s voice is soft, almost musical.

I shake my head. “Not exactly.”

Her mouth gapes slightly. “Then youreallycan’t be in here and you definitely can’t leave with her. You don’t understand, they’ll kill you and her if they catch you trying to leave.”

“I figured as much,” I tell her. “That’s why I’m going to try hard to sneak out of here without anyone seeing us. I promised her mom I would find her and now that I have, I can’t just leave her behind.” I continue to move back toward the door, from the corner of my eye I see Thalia standing there watching us. I narrow my eyes at her in silent question,why isn’t she helping?

Her breath catches in her throat and her steps falter. “Her mom?” she repeats. “Her mother is dead.”

“I’m aware.” I’m so close to the door. I could just spin around quickly and open the door and make a run for it, but I don’t trust this girl to not start screaming for help. “I don’t want to go into specifics—but Thalia asked me to find her and I’ve spent the past three weeks looking for her. I’vekilledto find her.”

The woman stares at me wide-eyed. “You know Thalia?”

I raise a brow. “Doyou?”

“We were taken to Canada together. I was held there for a few months before I was transferred,” the woman explains. “When they brought the baby here, the second I picked her up I knew she was Thalia’s. They have the same energy.”

“Energy? Are you a witch?” I blurt before I have a chance to stop myself.

“Yes, I am—I’m an empath. How did you know that?”

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