Page 12 of His Juliet

He fell to his knees. “I think she’s still alive.”

I moved so I could look over his shoulder. A young woman was curled up in a tiny fucking closet, completely naked. She was pale, unconscious, and had a nasty wound on her leg. Someone had tried to bind it with scraps of cloth, but it was a mess of blood and puss.

“Sweetheart, can you hear me?” Angelo placed his hand on the girl’s forehead and cursed again. “She’s burning up. She needs the hospital now.” His voice was filled with fury as he lifted her pale, limp body into his arms. He turned to run out of the room, but I stopped him.

“You can’t shoot with her in your arms. Wait for me so I can cover you.”

He looked ready to murder, but handed me the handcuff key and pointed the light at the chains so I could free the women. I hurried, knowing the girl in Angelo’s arms wouldn’t hold on much longer.

One girl cried silent tears when I got close, but they all stayed still and let me unlock them.

“Sofiya, can you tell them to follow me closely?”

She relayed the information to the girls and they nodded.

“Alright, let’s go.”

I went first, gun raised as I checked the hallway. My men spoke to me through my earpiece. They’d cleared the rest of the building, but I didn’t relax as I led our group to the back exit where the medics and vans waited to take them to safety. Sofiya had set up apartments in the city and upstate to provide safe, long-term housing for any trafficked girls who wanted to stay.

Accardi waited for us at the backdoor. “The men who were here are already on the way to holding. We found another two in the back. They pulled guns on us and one died in the process.”

Shit. Hopefully the men we got would have the information we needed. I was looking forward to breaking them.

I stepped out into the dark street. I gestured at Angelo, covering him as he carried the woman to the back of the van where the medics were waiting. One of them stepped forward and tried to take her.

“I’ve got her,” he growled, shoving past the medic and carrying her straight into the van. “We need to get to the clinic fuckingnow.”

“You go ahead,” I said. “I’ll follow with the others in the second van.” The woman’s listless body was scaring the shit out of me.

Once they’d pulled out of the alley, I turned to the other women and gestured for them to get in the remaining van. I hated the terror on their faces and wished I had a more comfortable mode of transportation for them, but they complied. I got in the passenger side and reloaded my gun in case we were attacked on the way to the clinic, but the ride was uneventful.

When we arrived, Aria was already assessing the woman from the closet and I cocked an eyebrow at how Angelo was hovering over her.

“You got this?” I asked Aria.

She waved me off, and that was my sign to leave and exact revenge for every wound—visible and not—that these girls had suffered.

* * *

My knife sliced through flesh.I’d sharpened it last night so this bastard’s body offered virtually no resistance, but there was no satisfaction in it.

Blood spurted from the deep cut, drenching the floor and saturating the air with the scent of coppery iron.

The Albanian men had squealed right away. Disappointing, honestly. I had been ready for a challenge.

They confirmed they were part of the Albanian Mob in New York. They had been fragmented and fighting amongst themselves since the loss of their leader, Arben, last year. We had expected the whole organization to collapse with little pressure from us after Matteo killed Arben, but the Butcher had stepped into the leadership void.

He was the Krye or Boss of the largest Albanian clan in Europe, and now the motherfucker was trying to gain power in the states, importing girls to gain the money and favor of the morally corrupt rich assholes who reveled in the opportunity to buy sex slaves.

When one of the sniveling men confirmed that these weren’t the first girls they’d brought into the club and that three others had died? I finally got the opportunity to use the sword Enzo had given me as a joke gift. It lopped off the man’s hand with ease. The useless limb fell to the floor with a thud, spraying blood everywhere. My inner monster stared impassively as the bastard bled out in front of me and the other men moaned and begged for mercy.

This didn’t feel like justice. Nothing would erase what those girls had gone through. No matter what I did to these men, nothing would make it better.

“Put the remaining trash in the cells,” I commanded Accardi. He gave me a curt nod, expression stoic. He was in his mid-thirties and had been promoted to enforcer after Domenico betrayed us. It had proved a good decision so far.

I washed my hands in the side sink. I’d take a shower once I was back in my apartment, but I didn’t want to drip blood all the way through the building.

I called Matteo on the elevator ride up, filling him in on what the Albanians had said. As suspected, none of them were high enough ranking to know much of anything. They were paid to keep the girls in the basement and were given a list of numbers that identified each buyer. The next group of buyers were supposed to come to the club in two days. If they caught wind of our raid, they would know to stay away. But in case any of them were stupid enough to come, we would be waiting for them.

---