Page 53 of Broken Promises
My eyes grew wide, and I nodded to her highly intuitive question. “How do you know about them?”
“My grandfather and uncle were members before my uncle ended up dead. My grandfather is in prison for racketeering. My father told me all about it when I was old enough to understand. He wanted me to know in case something ever happened.”
“I’m going to be completely honest since you’re aware,” I whispered as I took another sip of coffee, trying to make it look like we were just eating and not plotting. “I believe this will be an initiation of new members. Six months ago,” I paused, afraid I was about to terrify her, “I was taken by them, but I was rescued along with two other women.”
“And they took you again?” she whisper-yelled, and I motioned with my hand to keep her volume low.
“The men who rescued us killed everyone who was there, but they think there’s someone else pulling the strings, and I can only guess it’s whoever is doing this now,” I reasoned, and she cast her eyes to the table. I reached over and took her hand into mine as I said, “They’ll be looking for me, and these men don’t fail at their missions. We have to be tough and not fall apart before they find us.”
Her bottom lip trembled, but she nodded her understanding as she discreetly wiped away her tears. “I’ll try.”
We kept nibbling on small bites of food, and I quietly asked her, “Besides the man who brought you to breakfast, how many people have you seen? I need to figure out what we’re up against.”
“There was a lady who came into my room last night and told me to comply or they’d hurt me, but she’s the only one, besides the man this morning.”
A woman?
I was expecting another power-hungry man to be leading this epic nightmare, but to hear a woman is willingly offering other women up to be assaulted nearly made me puke. She must have been as fucked up as the rest of them to do that, but I schooled my facial features and nodded.
I didn’t want to push Pearl too much, so we sat quietly as we finished our breakfast. I was sipping on a second cup of coffee, enjoying the much-needed caffeine, when the man from earlier re-entered the room.
“Ms. Pearl, Ms. Hannah, I need to take you back upstairs now.”
Pearl looked at me, and I nodded as she stood. I remained seated, determined to find out exactly what the hell was going on. I wasn’t going to go quietly and I wasn’t going to comply, so whoever brought me here needs to show themselves.
“Can you tell the lady of the house I’d like to meet with her please?” I asked him, but he shook his head and glanced to the side.
“That’s not a good idea, Ms. Hannah,” he replied, and Pearl looked worried as I settled into my chair and took another sip of coffee.
“Good idea or not, I’m not one to take orders from a phantom. So, please, ask the lady of the house if we can speak privately.”
I was terrified of my request, but the time to be weak and afraid passed when a seventeen-year-old girl walked into the room. After what I’d witnessed Claire go through six months ago, I wasn’t going to let another innocent teenage girl be violated just because she was related to someone who used tobe a gangster. Maybe it was the Sergey part of me coming to the surface, or maybe it was the strength Granny gave me, but either way, I wasn’t leaving until I spoke with whoever was in charge.
I stood from my seat, and the man exhaled as I approached him. Lowering my voice, I said, “If you’re really worried about me, call Callahan Cyber Security in Pierce Bluff, Tennessee, and tell them where we are.”
His mouth dropped open as I turned and went back to my seat before folding my hands on top of the table and waiting. I heard a noise and looked over my shoulder to see him escorting a worried Pearl out of the room, and just before he passed out of the doorway, the man locked eyes with me and gave a slight nod. I didn’t know if he would do anything to help, but at least I tried.
Picking up a piece of toast, I used the butter knife to spread some jam on it and ‘accidently’ dropped the knife on the floor. I bent over, pulling Pearl’s place setting down with my hand, and when I went to pick everything up, I slipped one of the butter knives into my boot and pulled my pants down over it. Returning to my upright position, I put all the silverware into a pile, hoping no one realized I kept one.
I waited for what seemed like forever, and when I was just starting to think I would sit in that room alone all day, the double doors in front of me opened. Snapping my head up, I waited for someone to walk in, and when I saw who was entering the room, I knew this was all connected to the fucking Syndicate.
And I could only hope Rhys and my brothers found Pearl and me before this monster destroyed the last of my sanity and damned me to hell for my genetics.
Chapter 23
Rhys
We’d gone to Hannah’s office and retrieved her phone. I placed it in a bag, so we could have it fingerprinted, but I didn’t think it would do any good. I noticed a few security cameras in the parking lot, so I suggested to James that we find the footage for review. He agreed and drove us directly to the lab to drop off the blood samples.
“Devlin and Skid are on the way, and my team should be arriving at your house within the hour,” Lucian said as I waited in my car for James to return.
He personally ran the sample inside while I called Lucian. I felt like I was going crazy, and as hard as I tried, I couldn’t keep the images from playing in my mind, images of Hannah being held down and forcibly violated. She wouldn’t return from something like that again, and I didn’t know how I’d survive without her.
“I’d be there sooner, but I have to get Rylee and the babies settled at the house before I can leave. Devlin has men watching his building, Stella’s being guarded by the Death Hounds at the compound, and Gunner sent six men to watch my house when I leave, so everyone here is protected, and we can focus on getting your woman back.”
“But in what condition?” I asked, my voice strained. I cleared my throat and asked again, “In what condition? How broken is she going to be once we finally figure out where she is or who the fuck has her? Where do we start?” My voice grew an octaveuntil I was nearly yelling at him. Pausing, I lowered my tone, and added, “Sorry, man.”
If I lost it now, I’d be no good to Hannah, so I was trying to remain rational. I knew Lucian understood what I was feeling, but at that moment, I didn’t think anyone knew how painful it was to know that whoever had her wanted to cause her pain.
