Page 107 of Ruthless Beast

“Andreas!” I shout at my friend. “Look out!”

There’s no time to wrestle the weapon away from Paolo, so I point my weapon at him and pull the trigger. Paolo goes down like a fat kid on a seesaw in a hail of bullets as Eddie joins in and fires at him.

“Stupid man,” Andreas says as he watches the life draining from Paolo.

“Come on, Damon,” I say, rushing to the door. “There’s no time to waste. Take me to the safe house.”

It’s absolute chaos inside the club. Gunfire, punters rushing about trying to escape the club without getting shot, and terrified strippers running for the exit.

“Burn it to the ground, Eddie,” I yell as we reach the exit.

“Yes, Boss!”

I hope Gallo hears about this, and it spoils his fucking day. I’m so tired of the bastard meddling in my affairs that I’ll do anything to get rid of him. He can count himself extremely lucky that he isn’t here tonight, or he’d be going up in flames along with his seedy club and all the brutes that work for him.

I may be in the criminal world, but I’ve never condoned human trafficking. It’s despicable, and I refuse to be a part of that cancer eating away at society. It warms my heart to see Gallo’s dancers running for their freedom.

The club is going up in flames as we drive away, the blaze visible in my rearview mirror.

“I hope that asshole chokes on the news when he wakes up later today,” Andreas comments.

“It’s about time someone holds Gallo accountable for all the pain he causes people,” I agree. “Okay, Damon. Where are we going?”

“It’s not far from here. Paolo likes to keep his girls close.”

“You’d better pray that he hasn’t done anything to harm Emily,” I seethe.

“I was only doing what I was ordered to,” he mumbles.

“You’d better shut your piehole, Damon,” Andreas warns the man, who is teetering on the edge of a severe beating.

“Have you still not learned anything? Listen to Andreas,” I agree.

Damon shows the driver which roads to navigate, and after ten minutes, he tells the driver to stop.

My nerves are shot. I don’t know what I’ll find inside the house that looks like it could use a good dose of TLC.

I’m here, my love. I’m here.

26

EMILY

When I come to I’m no longer in the bathroom, where I was so desperately trying to escape the man with the gun. How the hell did they find us? Where’s Maria? Oh, Lord, please let her be alright.

I sit up. What fresh hell is this? I’m chained to a bed. I look around the room to find Maria on another bed in the corner of the room. She isn’t moving and is also chained like a dog. What kind of people are these? How can human life be so cheap to them? Have they no shame?

I mean, I’ve read about situations like these in magazines and books, but you never actually think it could happen to you. This is unbelievable!

“Maria,” I call out, trying not to be too loud. Who knows who’s listening and what they’re planning on doing to Maria and me?

Maria stirs, but she doesn’t sit up just yet. I hope she doesn't have any serious injuries. I was out like a light after I hit my head on the tub, so I have no idea what to expect.

“Maria. Are you okay? Can you move?” I whisper now that I know she can hear me.

“Ugh…” she groans.

“Oh, thank God! Are you okay? Can you move?”

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